The Story of Rachel the Pumpkin

When my youngest daughter was in the fourth grade her teacher assigned the class a special project. She bought them all a real minature pumpkin. Their first assignment was to name the pumpkin and then make adoption certificates for it.

My baby was thrilled as she named her baby pumpkin, Rachel Ann. A very proud parent who adopted her from The Pumpkin Patch!

I was so amused that she was having such fun with a pumpkin! She carried it everywhere with her and gave me a day to day report of the things they were doing at school with their pumpkins. They painted faces on their pumpkins, made clothes and houses for them. They wrote stories about their pumpkins and at night her homework was to keep a diary of Rachel's activities. I noticed that she included Rachel's name on her schoolwork papers with her own name.

My baby's older brother began to tease her about Rachel. It was a constant challenge at home with my baby playing with a pumpkin wearing a dress and treating it like a real person to keep my fun-loving son from traumatizing her. I even began to have some reservations about this school project. My baby was emotionally attached to a vegetable!

Each day I would look at her papers from school. Her story of Rachel....

My Pumpkin Rachel

I am going to tell you about my pumpkin Rachel. She is so cute! She is funny and smart. She has orange skin and is not a brat either. Everybody at school loves her. I love her too. She is 5 days old already.

Rachel and I have had fun the last few days. Lets see.......We have gone on bikerides. We went to the mall, walked around the block a few times, played with the dogs, went to play across the street, and played basketball.

We fixed her a house for herself. It is pretty too. She loves it. She has a kitchen, restroom, her own room, and a living room.

Well that is all I can tell you about Rachel.

I was a little more concerned at another paper on adjectives to describe her pumpkin...

orange skin, brown and green stem, green freckles,
green face, white and black eyes, blue clothes, funny, smart, responsible, talks alot, shows respect to me, a girl named Rachel

Oh dear...when I remember...that child needed help...! My son was right...she was nuts...!

And...the icing on the cake was this diary entry...supposedly written

by Rachel...

Dear Diary...

My mom and I watched some MTV and a soap opera too. We cleaned her house and we vacuumed, ate a snack, and played
with two dogs. One named Angel tried to bite me thank goodness she didn't. She looked vicious but my mom saved me. Then we went to sleep.

Believe me when I say this child never watched MTV much less a soap opera! But she was definitely in "La-La Land" during this time...so I guess that explains it. This saga with the pumpkin went on for several months...even after they were through with it at school. Rachel had become a member of our family. My son kept telling me I needed to do something with his sister...

Little Rachel started to shrivel....much to my dismay....I had to explain to my baby that she wouldn't be with us much longer. We wrapped her in a blanket and kept her in the refrigerator. My baby would come home from school get her out and play with her and put her to bed there every night. We prolonged her life for several weeks. Then she started to fall apart...

We had to have a funeral...and buried dear Rachel Ann in the flowerbed.

I went to school to see the teacher ...

For a couple of years we had to buy her another pumpkin to play with with during the fall.She never loved them the way she loved Rachel.

Her brother still teases her...

Someday maybe I will tell you about her motorcycle trip to Chile with Troy Aikman!

Engineering 101

Here is the latest chapter of the perils of being married to an engineer...

It's a long story so I will try to be brief...several years ago when we moved to our country place we had plans to build a storage building but with "Mr. OCD" one is never enough...we had to have two. He managed to convince me that we needed both of them as we would build a large one for our storage needs and a smaller one to use as a well house. Of course when they came out to build them he and his partner in crime, our ex-neighbor and friend Bill, convinced me that "Mr. OCD" really needed the smaller one as a tool room for his extravagant collection of tools.

Lately I've noticed the doors on both storage buildings are looking a little ragged. Mr. OCD is a big believer in once you've got it ...that's it...no upkeep...no repair...it will last till you die! Of course the door fell off the little store room...his tool room.

Now you would think...owning at least one of every kind of saw known to man...that you would run down to Home Depot and buy a little lumber and just make you another door! But not at this house...oh no...! It is much easier just to use what you have lying around the house....in this case....he just tacked an old moving blanket over the door and turned up this huge cage on its end to cover the door.

I would go make a picture of this...but I'd rather not...it is just too revolting to have to look at...so just imagine what it probably looks like and make it a little worse that what you could imagine...and somebody send me a carpenter!

Leah

Life on the Ranch

Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, growing up on a ranch was the best experience of my life. My parents moved out there shortly after they were married to the dismay of my mother who had envisioned city or at least small town life for her family. It was a huge shock when my dad told her in confidence that if all went well they might get to move to the ranch. He was delighted and she was horrified! But move they did to live for over 50 years on the family ranch.

My dad moved out there to work for his dad who lived in town and was a pharmacist. He was paid a very meager salary all of those years as ranching is a hard way of life. My dad and mom were always supplementing their income with other jobs besides the ranch just to make a living. My dad worked at the local auction barn on Saturday’s during the big sale of the week, he built stock trailers, he artificially inseminated dairy cattle, and a couple of times raised dairy calves to sell to the local dairy farmers in our area. My mother worked for a local photographer coloring photos in the days before color photography.

We raised Black Angus cattle and Angora goats on the ranch. My dad depended on my brothers and me to help him with the livestock. We often got up before dawn to get up the horses and go somewhere on the ranch to work cattle and goats. There were several places on the ranch that were not accessible by vehicle so rounding up the livestock could be interesting and challenging at times.

What fun that was…I always was so excited every time we got up the horses and saddled them up to go work livestock. Sometimes we would just ride from the barn and corrals to the pastures to round them up but many times we would have to load the horses in the trailer and drive to where we would be working them. I could have done that for my entire life!

Of course besides that we were in 4-H and raised animals and I dragged my dad to every rodeo within driving distance during the summers just to ride in the Grand Entry. He would never let me race barrels…he always said that would just ruin a good horse. But he would load up my horse and take me to the rodeos.

Of all the things I miss …life on the family ranch is number one on the list.

Give Me A Break...

This morning as I was snoozing away...so enjoying my day off...

All of a sudden...before 7:00 A.M. - I might add...my bedroom door is flung open and there he is...
"Mr. OCD" in all his glory proclaiming..."Do you know it's seven o'clock and we are both in bed?"

My response..."It's Saturday morning...for heaven's sake...could you possibly let me sleep? Go back to bed!"

His answer...
"Oh, I thought it was still night. You mean it's morning?"

There is no rest in this house. I had a lot of trouble going back to sleep at that point.

Give me a break...
Leah

Meet the Dogs

A huge part of our life out here in the country are the dogs. We currently have four dogs...Hoopty, our 12 year old Basset Hound, Sebastian, "The Six-Million Dollar Dog" who is our three-legged 14 year old Golden Retriver-Bull Mastiff mix (you can read more about him in the Septic Tank and Storm post), Roscoe, our 11 year old little black and white part Basset mix, and Shadow, our 8 year old Golden Retriver-Chow mix.

Hoopty and Shadow are house dogs and stay in our utility room at night and when the temperature is too extreme for them to stay outside during the day. We let them come in the living area where they have beds to lie in beside the fireplace but they don't really have a free run of the house. We have trained them to stay in the utility room with the door open which opens up to the kitchen and the living area is right around the corner so they are very much a part of everything in the house.

We have all the dogs mainly because of my daughter, Jenna. She just loves animals (she is a vet tech) and while she was younger we had a menagerie. We had dogs, cats, goats, sheep, pigs, and rabbits. So we have many funny animal stories!

JR came home one time many years ago when Jenna was probably about 9 years old with two rabbits. My first question was "Surely these bunnies are not male and female?" After reassuring me that of course they weren't...how surprised was I to get the call at work that we had 8 baby rabbits!

When we moved out here to our place JR volunteered to bring our neighbors old white cat..."Mama". She had not been spayed but our neighbors said they had her for years outside and she was too old to have babies. NOT TRUE...!!! We moved her to the country and that old cat had babies every six months or so for years. She was wild and we could never get her to the vet. So we were always looking for homes for kittens. But we always kept a supply of cats around that certainly kept all the little varmits far from our home.

The only trouble was that all the kittens were always black and white. Very pretty cats but one night I was out feeding them and reached down to pour out their food and there was the cutest little skunk that came up to eat with them. He wasn't afraid of me...he was just there to eat. I like animals as much as Jenna and it was hard to explain to JR about our little skunk.

Shortly after JR had his bypass surgery and was home to recuperate he started walking to follow his doctors orders of plenty of excercise. I walked outside and glanced up at the road to see JR walking on the road behind him were the animals....four dogs...at least a dozen cats...2 goats...and a pot-bellied pig! All in a straight line like an animal parade! I was hysterical to say the least and he had no idea the animals were with him!

Life is a little calmer now without all the animals...we just have a house full of geriatric dogs!

Wedding Cakes

This past weekend I made cakes and floral arrangements for a small wedding which is always a stressful experience to say the least. My friend, June, who usually ends up helping me when I need her came over on Friday evening and helped me decorate the cakes.

I make the layers a day or so ahead of the wedding so that I can stick them in the freezer as they are much easier to handle while assembling and decorating. We worked for several hours icing the wedding cake which was a round 2 tier cake. The bride had requested the icing be a light chocolate that looked like leather as the wedding was to have a western theme and to be decorated with wild flowers. The grooms cake was a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

On Saturday morning I got up early and went to June's house where we picked fresh flowers from her lovely garden to decorate the cake. It was quite an experience with her two rowdy chocolate Labs running and playing while we were trying to gather flowers and avoid being knocked down by their shenanigans!

June and I worked for a couple more hours putting the flowers on the cake and making the bridal bouquet. Then it was off to Roanoke to deliver the cakes.

We made the delivery and then went by June's brother's house in Roanoke just to say hello. Spotting Fish City Grill in Southlake we stopped to have our favorite Oyster Nachos for a bite of lunch. I had to go to Sam's in Grapevine to get food for next week lunches and we decided to stop by a little cabin the city of Southlake has built in a park off of White Chapel Road. June's hubby, Bill, restores historic log cabins and is building this one for Southlake. It is a work in progress but is going to be a lovely addition to the park.

We finally made it home about 6:00 P.M. It's really funny how you can make a whole day of something that seems so simple. Just putting wildflowers on a cake and delivering it for the wedding...and we managed to make a whole day of laughing and visiting.

Storms and the Septic Tank

You know we were very lucky the past two years in regards to stormy weather. We did not have very many watches or warnings but it's certainly catching up with us this year! Earlier this week after listening to the weather reports that these storms were not going to be as severe and not looking like we would experience tornadic activity I was feeling a little less worried.

My fear of storms started way back in 1972. I had just gotten married to Kent (the father of my children) and we had moved to Waco for him to continue college. Remember...I grew up on a ranch far from any large city. One night we were having heavy thunderstorms and around midnight this loud continuous noise started that sounded kind of like a fire alarm and just about scared the "you know whaty" out of both of us. I thought we were having an air raid! I didn't know a soul in town and they only thing I could think of was to dial the operator and ask what was going on. I had no idea they had siren systems for tornadoes! Something about that eerie sound imprinted my brain and I have a lasting fear of tornadoes.

I passed this right on to my children when they were younger. When they watched TV it was often not cartoons but the Weather Channel. Sometimes I would come home from work late after they had gone to bed to find notes (of which are my most prized possessions) on my pillow of the weather forecast.

After Jason and Amanda (two of my three children) were born we had moved to Brownwood TX and lived there when the big tornado hit Wichita Falls in the late 70's. That same night we experienced very stormy weather as well and were under a tornado warning. In Brownwood at that time the police and sherrif's department hit the streets with loud speakers warning everyone to take cover. Kent was outside looking at the clouds while I was in the house with the kids. He came in calling my name to come hear the roar of the storm...I yelled at him our location and he opened the door to the hall linen closet where I was with 2 year old Jason wearing Kent's motorcycle helmet and breastfeeding 3 month old Amanda to keep her calm during the storm. I had taken all the pictures off the walls (in case of flying glass) and had no intention of going outside! Kent never mentions this occassion and I think he probably considered committing me for intensive therapy at the time.

When we moved out here...I am now married to JR ...we lived for several years in a 8 X 30 travel trailer. JR worked in Florida and was gone all during the week. If we had a tornado warning I would load up the kids and the dogs and we would go to DFW airport to underground parking. You would be surprized how many other people are there with kids and dogs hiding out from storms. The kids thought I was crazy and JR was just disgusted....but what can I say?

JR should have known better his house was blown to "Kingdom Come" in the Wichita Falls tornado where he lived with his wife and kids in the 70's. He was out of town at the time working but his wife and kids barely escaped to their neighbor's storm cellar.

Another memorable storm and then I will get back to the present...

When my youngest daughter, Jenna, was in high school. We had just gotten home from a basketball tournament. Our dog, Sebastian, had just had a leg amputated from an injury and was recuperating in our store room. Jenna went out to feed him and ran screaming back to the house. By the way she was behaving I thought she had opened the door to the store room and found human bodies hacked to death by an ax murderer!

It was not quite that bad ...but Sebastian had chewed his stitches and blood was shooting out of an artery about 2 feet in the air and there was blood everywhere. Jenna loves animals and had many pets so she was just hysterical about the dog. I grabbed towels and sat Jenna down to apply pressure to the artery while I ran to the house for more towels and the phone. It started raining while I was making arrangements to meet the vet at his office. Jenna and I had to get the dog on a blanket where we could lift him into the truck while still applying pressure to stop the bleeding. I quickly let our two house dogs into the house without closing the door to the utility room where they stay most of the time...

We raced to Decatur to the vet office and the vet was already waiting for us. After assessing the condition of the dog he called another doctor to come to assist him in emergency surgery. He hooked up Sebastain to the donor dog they keep at the clinic for blood transfusions, stablized his condition, and sent us home to wait for his call when they finished with the surgery.

On the way home the weather warnings were broadcast on the radio and of course we were in a severe thunderstorm warning. I asked Jenna if she would go with me to the neighbor's to help me put up and feed their four horses which was a time consuming job. We got that done in record time and got home a few minutes before the storm hit. As I walked through the back door I discovered that I had forgotten to close the utility room door on the dogs and they had tracked mud through the house that would rival a herd of cattle. I took a look at Jenna in her basketball sweats and my Martha Stewart garden clogs and then myself in my pajamas and rubber boots wondering what the vets were probably thinking....!

Then...all of a sudden the hail and wind started...huge hail...the size of baseballs or larger. The hail beat the house and cars while the wind was ripping apart the trees. Very scary and we both thought we were about to be blown away....!

By the way...Sebastian survived the surgery and is alive and well today...we just call him "Our Six-Million Dollar Dog"!

Now back to last Thursday...I should have known better...my Murphy's Law life stepped right in and the special weather reports were indicating a minimum of 80 mile an hour winds with large hail (no less than tennis ball size) and possible rotation heading directly for us in just a matter of minutes. Our house is just not very safe for taking shelter in a storm...we don't have any inside rooms or closets... everything has an outside wall ... so I usually leave and go to a neighbor's house where I feel a little safer. My daughter and granddaughter were here and after hearing the weather reports we decided to run! But my life is never easy...

After living out here for 15 years...for the first time we were having our septic tank pumped out. Wouldn't you know they arrived just a few minutes before the approaching storm! I ran outside to let JR know a storm was on the way and that Jenna and I might leave. You know men...they aren't worried at all...

So in the midst of a tornado warning for Wise county, Jenna, the baby, and I left them sucking out the septic tank. Jenna asked a little while later if I should call and check on JR since we hadn't heard from him. We had a good laugh thinking that he and the septic guys could have been blown away in a cloud of rotating sewage....!