Wooley Worms

When I was a little girl growing up in Blytheville, Arkansas we often visited my Grandparents in the small farming town called Tomato. About this time of year we would witness the emergence of the Wooley Worms. We didn't know that these were actually the larval stage of the Isabella Tiger Moth. We thought they were just worms that spent the summer getting fat and wooley. We especially noted them down at the slough. (pronounced slew). This was our muddy playground, that sometimes filled up with Mississippi river water. Once my cousin and I went out on a tractor tire inner tube and floated around for quite awhile. He had a large stick that he used as an oar and pushed us past the muddy bank. Our fun was ruined when our Moms came running towards us, frantically waving their arms and shouting. We had to get out, but we were secretly very proud of ourselves. Anyway, some years there were just a few worms and other years there would be thousands. Sometimes they were banded black with reddish middles, or completely black. The adults would talk in hushed tones when they were large and black. This surely meant a long cold winter. Being a kid I never looked into it. But now that I'm older I am interested in the validity of their predicting the winter weather. The other day the man of the house said "Look out on the patio, what is that black porkypine thing running around?" I couldn't imagine what he meant so I looked out there and that's exactly what it looked like. It was about the size of a large fat black furry mouse and it was schooching around all over the patio, headed east. I informed him that we were in for a very bad winter. He said " How do you know that?" And I said "Cause the porkypine thing is actually a Wooley Worm and they can predict the weather." So there you have it folks, we are probably having a bad winter because the Wooley Worm at my house was fat and all black. Till next time.....

A Political Tale

Once upon a time there were two men who each owned a large amount of light bulbs. The first man took his to the street corner and stacked them up, but first he took a third of them home for himself. He thought of all the poor people who had no light bulbs so he began shouting "free light bulbs for the poor" ! People came from all around to get their free light bulbs. Soon they were all gone, and the people got angry because they didn't have any more light bulbs and their homes were dark.
The second man took his light bulbs to the street corner and stacked them up. He decided to start a business selling his light bulbs. People came from all around to buy his light bulbs. There were so many people buying light bulbs that he was overwhelmed. One of the angry people who had just left the first man came to him and said "I need a light bulb but I don't have any money". The second man said "you need money and I need help selling these light bulbs, if you will help me sell I will pay you and then you can buy whatever you need". He agreed and began helping the second man sell light bulbs. At the end of the day the second man paid his worker and thanked him, asking him to return every day and sell light bulbs. This went on day after day until so many people were working that no one needed free light bulbs any more because everyone had money and could buy their own. The first man heard about this and was angry. He went back to his street corner and began shouting and calling the second man greedy and accusing him of taking advantage of the poor people. Some stopped to listen and began to give him money to help fight this greed. Sound familiar?

False Alarm

Ok, the phone is not dead yet. I charged it and it resurrected. I do believe though that it's in "the last days". If it was just out of power, why didn't it just say "powering down" and go off. No, something is definitely up....I'll keep you posted.
To change the subject, I want to bring up a pet peeve of mine. Ever go into a restaurant and it doesn't smell right? Sometimes you realize that it's probably a piece of something burnt on the stovetop, or a dish that has an odd smell when they bring it out. I'll let them off the hook on those excuses, it can happen to anybody. I'm talking about an unexplained smell that is alarming to your senses. Here's an example: When my third child was about 2 months old Mr. Martin and I decided to go on an Anniversary trip. My Mom kept the new baby and his Mom kept the two older ones. We were so excited to get out on our own. We went to Nashville to Opryland, and all the other stuff that people do in that city(so much fun). One evening we decided to get breakfast for supper at the Waffle House. As soon as we walked in the door we were assaulted with an odor directly from the plumbing. As my nephew once said "I think they're cooking doodoo" We looked at each other, wrinkled our noses and hoped it would eventually go away. As we sat there we commented on how bad it was and that it wasn't getting any better. I thought surely we had walked in at it's worst moment and that it would dissapate quickly, but oh, no. I was beginning to feel a little sick to my stomach when the waitress came and asked us for our drink order. When she returned with them I saw something floating in mine and pointed it out to the-man-of-the-house, and he almost lost it. Ok, this was getting intolerable. I felt the gag reflex as I looked at that and smelled the ever increasing odor. Just then we looked down at my silverware and saw some dried bits of food on my fork. My eyes met Mr. Martin's, I stifled a giggle and said"let's go". We walked out laughing uncontrollably. Now to some this may sound like a disaster but for us it's one of our best memories. Yes we still have a little 3rd grade bathroom humor left in us, but you have to admit that was just too many bad eating out situations at one time to believe. The only thing missing was someone hocking and spitting. That's another blog, I'll call it "Why don't they have hocking and spitting sections in a restaurant". Bye for now....

Death of a Cell Phone

I think my cell phone is dead....it's was blinking the logo for awhile, but now the screen is dark. I've tried everything, even removed the battery...nothing. I knew this day would come. This was no ordinary cell phone. It was the original Envie in electric orange, full qwerty keyboard, 2 screens, etc....the first phone I texted on. They even started to make cars the same color as my phone. I wanted to buy one to match but that didn't work out. Guess I will just have to move on and get another one. Maybe the-man-of-the-house will let me have his 2nd generation Envie. He doesn't appreciate it anyway, not the way I would. It's the same design but flatter with more squared ends, and sort of an electric blue. I wonder if they make cars that color....

Things are Changing

Since 2004 my life has changed significantly. At that time I had one child just starting college, one in highschool, and one in middleschool. Now the two oldest have gotten married, I have a grandchild, and one child that will graduate next May. The biggest challenge I have had is figuring out how I want to fit into all this. What kind of Mother-in-law will I be? What kind of Grandmother? Who will I be as an empty-nester?
I have decided to jump into the free life with Mister Martin and just let it unfold before us. We started something in July 1982 that I would like to build on. We enjoy visiting with our children and grandchild and spending time with them, but we always look forward to our time together. Over the years we have become better friends, lovers and partners. I still have many plans and adventures left in me, and I hope to see some of the happen in the Autumn of my life. Till next time...