I Have News ~ not terribly important, though.

A small piece of news, not terribly important, but only to me. 

I went for a walk this morning at 7:30 a.m., much to my surprise! I had been noticing flab on my belly, and other places, and decided it has to leave me. I had lost weight with my daily walks last year, I think, but I stopped taking walks during the winter. I was getting too lazy, or too busy, or something. I was lacking in energy, too.

The walk this morning was 23 minutes long, because on the way back, I noticed that there weren't too many minutes used up. I then took the longer way home, on Richland, that 90-degree angled side street. It was simply great. I made a promise to myself that I have to walk almost every day from now on, until June First!  All together now, please yell "Yay! Hooray!"

I was working on some poetry yesterday afternoon, and this afternoon, also. It seems the muse has stopped by for the last couple of days, and I just cannot ignore her. When she is around, I notice that the words come out so much easier. Strange, but true. 

For the past few days I have needed to watch some of my old videos of TV programs I liked, years ago. I've been stressing out recently, and I needed something else to think about. Two evenings ago, I watched the history/documentary of the Polka King Frank Yankovic. He really was the Polka King, writing so many songs, and playing them in so many venues. He pleased millions of people over the years. He passed away some years ago.

I dearly love the polka, and like to listen to the Polka programs I can find on the internet. I also like to listen to my old audio tapes that I had taped many years ago in Pennsylvania, where I lived, and in Michigan when I went to stay with my Mom from time to time because of her illnesses. Polkas are cheerful, and uplifting to so many, including me. I also love East European music, as well as all of European music, and there is much of that on these audio tapes. That also helps me to get rid of stress.

I was going to take a power nap, but I suddenly remembered that I wanted to write about my lovely walk! Everyone knows that I need it to retain my balance, and I neglected to walk often, to my regret. So perhaps you all may just as well telepathically hint to me that it's time for a walk, will you? I know that I have pooh-poohed the idea so many times, but please do persevere with me. 


I did take my morning drink yesterday and this morning. It was suggested to me, and I think it is a very good idea. It has settled in with me to my satisfaction, and I would like to continue it. It's a teaspoon of ground psyllium husks in a half cup of water or almond milk, a teaspoon of chia seeds, and a teaspoon of ground flaxseed, stirred together in the half cup of liquid, and allowed to sit at least five minutes to gel. It goes down very well, and I am quite pleased. 

It seems that I feel better because of that special drink; I've been needing something like that for quite some time. I am grateful for the advice. 

The weather has been calm, but a hot 91 degrees. Just a few minutes ago, the weather forecast changed, to 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms this late afternoon. I do hope it will rain for about fifteen minutes, not a cloudburst, mind you, just a nice steady rain to freshen the area. There is a 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms tonight, and Sunday night. 40% by Monday. We welcome the rain, but we want no damage or injuries! In other words, no storms!

There, that's better. I think I'll close here, and take my Power Nap: I love those naps, they're short and very sweet, and so refreshing. 


It feels so good to come back to my blog. I have missed writing it, and I apologize to those of  you who have looked forward to it. I had been so busy with several other priorities, and going through several boxes of papers: our children's school papers and drawings, many of my old papers to look over, shred, or put away. Not culling, through the years, leads to such a mountainous job now. 





I'll see you at the Corner Post...

Keeping Company with Three Dogs; Report on the Weather.

Keeping Company with Three Dogs; Report on the Weather.                               April 21, 2012

Good Morning, everyone! I am keeping company with three dogs at their house, since Bill, Jennifer, and Veronica went to Nashville to visit 

Jen's parents. They are checking up on the parents. 'S funny, when We Cute Li'l Old Fogies are ''up there”, our children like to check up on us. 

It does make me feel good, though, that somebody cares! 

Bill fed the dogs earlier than usual, just before the departure for Nashville. I surmised that the dogs would want to eat quite early in the morning, like 4 o'clock or so, and I used my “noodle” to figure this out. I gave them each half of a big milk bone treat just before I went to bed at nine p.m. 

That was a good plan, because they were quiet and resting when I woke up at 6:30. Except for 2:20 a.m. when they needed to go out to pee. One of them gave a sharp, high-pitched yelp to notify me that it was necessary. That was almost better than my alarm clock ringing,

it made me immediately alert.

After about three or four minutes the yelp sounded again. I let them in, and they went directly to their sleeping places. It was peaceful for another four hours. 

I am up for the day, fed the doggies, and already, they are settled down for a long morning nap. As soon as I begin to make my breakfast in another hour, they'll get up and be underfoot, because each will want to be the first to see me drop some crumbs on the floor! It's one of their favorite pastimes, searching the floor in the kitchen and around the stove, sniffing and licking. They are, of course, adorable! 

Now for the weather: The thunderstorms that were forecast finally came, after some rumbling off in the distance, and thundering closer and closer. We had lots of rain, enough to satisfy the fields for about a week. 

But, and this is really displeasing, it is very cold out there, only 47 degrees, with the cold air coming down from the far north. The three doggies do not like it right now, because they have gotten used to the warmer temperatures this spring. They'll probably want to spend most of the day indoors, which is all right with me. The high today will be about 67 degrees. 

Are you all having a good time where you are? I hope things are fine and dandy for you.

Now for my breakfast. I’ll write more later…

Love, Mom - Grannamae - Anna Mae.

I’ll see you at the Corner Post…

Church Picnic; Double-Dip Ice Cream Cone.

My mother’s younger sister Mary came to visit us in the coal mining town, Larksville / Plymouth for a few days. She is only three years older than I am. She lived with her parents on a farm near Nicholson. It was summertime, and she was able to come and stay with us. The year must have been about 1939 - 40.

There was a Church Picnic that weekend, and she and I walked the two or three blocks to see it. The festival was held across the street from the church. I do not remember the name of the church, but it was on Chestnut Street. The various stands were set up on a little incline in an open lot with some trees surrounding it.

We walked around and looked at all the different stands they had. I don’t remember if anyone else was with us. We walked over to the ice cream stand to buy some ice cream.  She ordered a double-dip ice cream cone - oh, how luscious it looked. I ordered something else, probably a single-dip cone because I was smaller and younger.

We were so happy with our ice cream, and were walking away from the stand, licking at our dips of refreshing ice cream. When all of a sudden, as Aunt Mary was licking the ice cream, the pressure of her tongue pushed the ice cream off the cone and onto the ground!  It hadn’t been placed onto the cone very securely. We hadn’t gone very far away from the stand, and the lady there said that Aunt Mary could have another dip.

So Aunt Mary and I went back to the stand for the free dip of ice cream for Aunt Mary. That was a kind thing that the lady did. I felt so happy for my dear Aunt Mary!

Oh, just thinking about ice cream makes me want a banana split!

I’ll see you at the Corner Post…

Josephine's Goat; Later On, Our Goat Dandee.

Josephine’s Goat; Later On, Our Goat Dandee.

On the Springville Farm, after chores were done, and we children were at school, my parents worked a few days a week at the local Auction House. My Mom Josephine loved the young goat that was on sale. She decided to buy it. We were glad to see the goat when we got back from school. I don’t remember the goat’s name, but she followed us around, which was quite enjoyable for us.

The goat was white, cute, adorable, frisky, and sometimes naughty, as in ‘being a pest’. She was quite young.

Mom and Dad would be doing the chores in the barn, and we three children would also be in the barn helping. The goat would also come into the barn, and suddenly leap around, having such fun. She was so nice to have around, we thought.

The cow feed was stored in a large chest near the middle of the row of stanchions, in front of the cows, to make it easier to dip into the chest and put the daily or twice-daily ration on the floor in front of each cow while they were standing in their stanchions.

The cute, adorable goat would nibble the food in front of the cow’s mouth and “share” breakfast. She also would reach into the cow feed in the bin if it was high enough for her to reach for a bite, and probably would jump into the chest to get a bigger bite.

If she jumped into the chest for some nibbles, sometimes she would leave those little black pellets from her last meal, and my Dad Joe would scold her to “get out of there!” and she’d quickly jump out of the bin, and race to hide behind Mom’s skirts. This was always fun to see, because she knew that Mom would ‘save her life’, so to speak.

Well, later on, when my husband and I had children, we bought a goat named Dandee, and tied her up to eat the grass and bushes that she liked. She was not a little goat, but a grown one. I would keep watch over her from time to time, and go back into the house to do my household chores, take care of the baby or toddler, and peek out through the window to see how Dandee was doing.

One day, I looked out, and she seemed to be tangled up in the fence separating our yard from the neighbor’s field. I went out to untangle her, and saw that she was really tangled up. So badly tangled was she, the rope around her neck was very tight. Her tongue was hanging out and the tongue was a deep color and not her usual pink tongue. She was trying to bleat for help, but couldn't quite do it. 

I quickly got her untangled, and thank my lucky stars, she was all right. Whew, that was such a scare! I don’t know why she just couldn’t stay on our side of the fence and eat all the grass, weeds, and little bushes that we had!   

I'll see you at the Corner Post...

Culm Bank Behind Her House; New DeLuxe Refrigerator; Penny Candy.

Across one of the main streets in my neighborhood, lived a girlfriend of mine. This must have been when I was seven, eight, or nine. I was old enough to be allowed to cross Chestnut Street. I would go to that little neighborhood to play with her. I don’t remember her name at the moment, but we used to have good times together.

I had to go up an incline from the street on a road which was really just an alley ‘paved’ with black coal cinders. There were at least two or three houses on that short little road, and my girlfriend lived in the middle one. There was a very high bank of culm, the refuse from coal mining, right behind her house.

There was a little piece of backyard with green growth, like an old lawn. We played in the back yard, on their back porch, and under the porch. The porch had a white latticed skirting on it, so it was a tiny bit secluded under the porch. We’d take the toys with us, probably playing house or something, and it was rather cozy under there.

We didn’t spend all of our time under the porch. We colored in our coloring books, and played silly games, sometimes good games, and once in a while we would play in the house, in the kitchen.

Her mom had a new refrigerator, and it was rather elegant. The mom called it her ‘DeLookes’, as it must have been a General Electric Deluxe Refrigerator, 1940. She pronounced it DeLooooooookes, and I thought that she must  be pronouncing it wrong. Being as old as I was, then, I must have been thinking that I ‘knew it all…’

Another day, my Mom gave me a few pennies to go to the candy store (the lower store on Chestnut Street), to buy some candy I would like. There were so many different kinds of candy to choose from! Almost all of it was penny candy. I felt so rich!

There were Squirrel Nutz or something; and ZigZag wrapped candies; red-hots, which were bright red colored, with a very tangy spicy flavor.

Ribbon candy colored with stripes and flavored with different flavors in each stripe. Valentine candies unwrapped, with words in pink on heart-shaped little pieces. “Be Mine” – “Love” – “Talk to Me”.

Rock candy made of sugar water and different coloring, then poured into molds. Sometimes it took so many minutes to pick and choose. I wonder how many times the storekeeper almost lost her temper, behind the candy case, waiting… and waiting…                          Aaahh … Childhood …

Swimming Hole; Dumped Out of the Inner Tube.

When we lived on the farm in Springville, we kids sometimes went to the Teel Farm over a mile from our farm, on a dirt road. They had a swimming hole in their creek. I didn't know how to swim, but I went into the water with an inner tube so that I could be floating in the water. Everyone else was in the water, so I thought I could do that too.

This may have been during the first summer that we lived on that farm, and I was not quite ten years old. There were several of us there, a couple of the Teel boys, my brother Joe and I, and perhaps four or five  others.

I was floating along in my inner tube / liferaft, enjoying the camaraderie among all the kids. Suddenly I was dumped into the water. I am not sure who it was who tipped me over. All I know is that I was extremely scared, and I was under the surface of the water, trying to grasp legs so I could hold on to life. 

I knew I was in the water, I could see a lot of legs, and I was frantic, and suddenly... I was pulled out of the water.

I do not remember very much of what happened, or who pulled me to the surface, but I know I was saved from drowning by someone. I am truly forever grateful.

I have never wanted to learn to swim, as I am terrified of being in the water, although I like to be near water so I can admire it.

As an adult, probably when I was in my late thirties, or early forties, I went to an adult class at the local high school so I could learn to swim. I enjoyed being in the pool, but hung onto the sides of the pool for dear life.

Finally the young male swimming coach wanted me to try to swim. I was wearing my hair in a long braid about five inches down my back, and I begged him to hang onto my braid and I would paddle my way a bit. He graciously did so, and for the first and last time in my life, I swam three whole feet while he hung onto my braid. Three feet! I do proudly say that I swam three feet, but that might really be cheating...



I'll see you at the Corner Post...

Vinnie Rhodes Peters.

At the Dimock vocational high school, in Dimock, Pennsylvania, during fifth grade, we had a lovely petite lady who was a very good teacher. She was loved by almost all of the students there. She had taught school as a single woman, unmarried, and then during the 1942 summer vacation, she was married to a good man. She became Mrs. Peters.

My parents had moved from Larksville/Plymouth in April of 1942. We moved to a farm in Springville Township. Up the dirt road from our house, were a family of three girls, and the older one would tell me about Vinnie Rhodes, who taught fifth and sixth grades. I was looking forward to having her as my teacher. When school started after summer, there she was, Mrs. Peters, in my new fifth grade classroom.

She was very nice, taught us well, and she and I got along smoothly. I learned a great deal from her about life and getting along with people, and much more. We students usually obeyed her directions and suggestions.

One day, we were supposed to be getting ready for the next class. We each had a seat with a flat desk area in front of us, and a drawer under our seat. The drawer opened at the right side, and was pulled out into the aisle. We kept all of our books, pencils, crayons and tablets in there. We pulled our drawers open, and everyone got their book and put it on their desk.

‘For some reason’, there was a comic book in my drawer and it lay on top of my things, opened to one of the stories in it. I may have been looking at it at recess, and I had not closed it and put it out of sight.

Instead of getting the book needed for the class, I began to look at the comic book without touching it. Mrs. Peters saw my intense concentration and came around to my aisle. She stopped right there less than a foot away, seeing my drawer pulled out with the open comic book exposed. I don’t think she said much, but I remember being mortified that she expected me to be ready for class  -  and there I was, reading an open comic book instead.

She had caught me being disobedient, and I felt that I had hurt her feelings by sneaking to read the comic book in such an untrustworthy way. I know that she had trusted me, and I felt very guilty to have done such a deed. I am ashamed that I could do such a thing to her, sweet Mrs. Peters. The memory has never left me.

We did keep in touch through the years, and I stopped at her home in Dimock on my way to my husband’s parents’ home with my growing children. Sometimes I was by myself, and we had nice visits. Her husband had died by that time, and they had had no children. She was one of the very best of my teachers throughout my school life. 

I'll see you at the Corner Post...