Whats_Happening_Now_February

What's Happening Now February 2010

Jan's response: I'm really sorry to hear that your
"tune-up" was so miserable. I often toy with the idea of
getting my eyes done, as my lids are falling lower all the
time, but I can still see and I hate to spend the money
and suffer the discomfort, so I haven't done it.
Someday maybe I'll have to. I have a friend who had a
complete face-lift and said it was very painful. She told
of having to sleep sitting up for several days.

Doesn't Medicine have effective painkillers? I have
another friend who just had knee replacement surgery,
and she also was in a lot of pain. I'm not much into
pain!!!

Shall I post your message on What's Happening? Maybe
some who knew you were having the surgery would
like to hear how you're doing, and maybe some
contemplating the surgery would value your opinion.

Feb. 1 from Linda DB, regarding the surgery she had
for drooping eyelids. She gave permission to post her
note:

Update on Face: I had to have a little "tune up work"
done. My bad eye from the first time, didn't do as good
as it should. SOOOOOOOOOOOOO, back to surgery.
This time I was awake. NOT good. There were some
awful sounds. I have had a real ruff time with this one.
I got a stomach virus the same day and was so very
sick. I am just now getting back up on my feet. NEVER
again. Anyway, I get the staples (16) of them out
Tuesday. I hope then, I stop having so much trouble.
Anyway, I should have the best looking face at the
Reunion. Thanks again for all you do on the web site.
God Bless, Linda B

February Birthdays

5        Shirlene
5        Roger Staubach (1942)
6        Jenny
6        Charles
9        David B
12      George
16      Gary
21      Sammie
23      Betty
27      Elizabeth Taylor (1932)

Feb. 5 from Judy PS:
Oh, I am fine. I got a new computer last week, and this
office is a disaster. Trying to move my other one, setting
this one up...transferring files....gads a mess. I have
some new pics of Seth to send in a day or two. He is
definitely my buddy! Rain, rain, rain....and lots of it this
winter. Three more inches today. The LCRA is letting
water of Wirtz Dam at Marble Falls.....yea! It all goes into
Lake Travis. Canasta day tomorrow, so pictures of Seth
on Saturday.....love to all....j

Feb. 8 from Morris: Hi, JanBee: # 24774
here! I just perused 595 pictures on
Yahoo news of the record snowfall in DC,
VA, MD, PA, and Southern NJ. Reminds
me of CO without the mountains! I hope
you and Len stayed inside and warm and
toasty. I understand more snow is on the
way for you. Boo! Same old same old
around here. Mother continues to
decline-because of the cold, she has not
been out of the house in 17 days, and it
is to be cold and nasty here at least thru
Saturday. I had Audra and Doris (her
"sitters") here Friday and Saturday
morning so that I could go to a Gospel
Music concert in Abilene, featuring my
friends Jeff and Sheri Easter and others.
(See my note on Facebook). Otherwise, I
am cooking, cleaning, shopping, and
doing all the household chores while she
spends 98% of her time either prone or
propped-up in bed. She likes "Dr. Phil"
and "Oprah" and "Wheel of Fortune" and
"Hour of Power" and "The Gaither
Gospel Hour" on tv, so she perks up
when all of that is on. I got her a new 32"
HD tv for Christmas, so she is really
enjoying it. As you know, I sent Will and
Janean some $$ and, later, some more $$
for my reservation for out "big event". I
still have not found the perfect 50s car
yet, but am still shopping. My dealer
buddy in IL still has the '54 Ford we have
the picture of. That may be the one! Stay
warm!!! Geezer

Dave Williams is no Elvis
Presley, but he sounds a lot
like him on this cute video. It
rhymes some conditions with
which you may be all too
familiar.

Are You Lonesome Tonight?

Jan 30/Thanks, Walt!

Feb. 9 from Linda M:
I’m glad to hear from you. When I
found out that my sister had had about
2 feet of snow and that they lost power
for several hours Sunday, I wondered
if Arlington was also having such
problems. I was in Beaumont this
weekend. When I came home, I had
an e-mail from Shirley. She said the
worst part of no electricity was that
they couldn’t even make coffee,
nachos, or margaritas – though as
cold as it was, I think I would have
passed on the margaritas.

We have had only rain – and rain, and
more rain is in the forecast. My yard is
squishy. I hope the grass doesn’t
drown. It would be a good time to get
out with the digging fork and remove
all the clover and other non-San
Augustine growing things from the yard
(they are green and show up well in
the brown grass) but I haven’t gotten
around to it yet.

This year so far has featured several
funerals of people I have known and
most of them were younger than I. I
sang at a funeral a couple of weeks
ago for a doctor who had just turned
56 at the end of December. Carl was
a thoroughly nice person – had fought
cancer for several years – and had a
large turnout for his funeral. Staff he
worked with donated a memorial gift to
the church choir he had sung with for
several years and in the note they
sent, they mentioned that he
frequently regaled them with tales of

choir activities. He had a great sense
of humor and zest for life.

I had better quit for now and get ready
to go to Cynthia’s. She is one of our
Second Family care receivers and I
have made her a book with the
information from her mother’s funeral.
Her mother was 95 years old when she
died and Cynthia went back to Jamaica
for the funeral.

Hang in there – hope you are able to
get out soon, especially if you are out
of your blood pressure medicine. I
guess this is one time even having mail
order service wouldn’t do any good as
not even the post office can drive if the
roads aren’t clear. Maybe the postal
service needs to set up a carrier
pigeon service for such emergencies –
though as large as some pill bottles
are, they might need to use eagles or
herons for deliveries.

Hugs – stay warm!
Linda

Feb. 9 from Lila, whose family lives in
New Jersey:
Well I too am headed your way and my
daughter said they got lots of snow!
Will be hard on me as in El Paso our
weather has been in the mid 60's! As
much as I want to see my daughter
and grandkids I am not looking forward
to that kind of weather! Take care and
I will chat with you soon! I leave here
this Thursday the 11th and return to
warm country on the 25th!

Feb. 9 from Walt:
Wow, Sounds like you are having quite the weather. I haven't been in that
situation in a long time. Hope you get thru it without any problems. Walt

Feb. 11 from Morris:
Hi, JanBee: your snow pictures are awesome. Hard for us
Texans to realize how beautiful but challenging heavy
snowfall can be. We woke up to snow today - prediction of 4"
to 7" in the DFW area. I did all of my shopping yesterday, in
anticipation of today and tomorrow. On Facebook, I have 2
comments re: Al Gore and global warming. One of my "knows
everything" friends has said all this snow is an El Nino effect
and that global warming is still accurate. I defer to his
"infinite" wisdom. Makes me wonder! I'm glad my car is red,
so I can find it outside. Right now, it is safely in the garage. It
is colder here than La Veta, but there is more snow
accumalation up there. Wish I was there, too! Geezer

Feb. 11 from Judy ER:
Jan, I expect that you're getting
MAJOR cabin fever by now. The
weather here is, and has been,
crummy, too, but nothing like
yours. Yesterday I stayed in and
did carpentry work on the cat
condo/tree. At 7 mos., she's so big
that she couldn't fit on the top
perch anymore. The redo turned
out great and saved me a bundle.
Need any work done? ;-)
Judy

Feb. 10 from Nancy D:
Hello all,
Jan kindly reminds me that it has been
a long time since I've written, though
I've been checking in to see what all of
you have been doing. So here's the
problem with waiting so long to write
because now the list of what I've been
doing is so long that you will all think I
am very industrious, which is not
particularly the case. I still volunteer at
times with Write Around Portland, a
nonprofit that facilitates writing
workshops. I'm helping start an
ESL/citizenship class for elderly
immigrants through an immigrants'
rights organization. I've done a couple
of stints working for the census; it's
been fun to meet lots of people that
way and conduct short interviews with
them. I get together with my three
oldest kids, who all live in Portland,
and visit my three youngest ones in
the Seattle area and Colorado several
times a year.
Happily, I have lots of time for reading
and doing my own writing and am
curious to know what books some of
the rest of you have enjoyed lately.
Here are a few of my favorites:
The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a
novel about the strength of the
friendship between two black maids
and a white woman during the 1960s in
Mississippi.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
features a main character who is a
wonderfully crochety retired school
teacher with whom I could often
identify!
Haiku Apprentice by Abigail Friedman
is nonfiction and recounts how a
woman who was working as a diplomat
in Japan joined a haiku writing club
and, in the process, found a new
understanding of Japanese society. It
got me quite interested in haiku, which
had always been a mystery before.
Thinking About Memoir by Abigail
Thomas is a great little book to peruse
if you are thinking at all about writing
up your own life experiences, as she
makes it sound like something any of
us can do well.
Finally, I spent a good deal of time last
fall either worrying about or helping my
son's family in southern Colorado while
their son Noah had the swine flu and
spent five weeks in intensive care in
the Denver Children's Hospital. So I'll
close with some pictures of
grandchildren, since I always love to
see your pictures.

Nancy
(Pictures are on Home Page)

Dallas-Fort Worth Has 12-Inch Snow!
Feb. 12 from Morris: Hi, JanBee: while it is puny by your recent experience, we had a
record single calendar day snowfall here (DFW) yesterday (02.11) of almost 12", and it is
beautiful. I do not have pix, but several of my Facebook friends have posted theirs, so check
out Facebook. You should be able to see the multiple photos. I need to get a camera that will
let me link up to the computer and email, etc., but I'm still learning this. Deacons/Yokefellows
meeting this Sunday. Happy Valentines' Day to all our "gang"!!! Geezer

Feb. 13 from Linda W in response to my question about snow in Lewisville, near Dallas:
Around 11 inches! Unbelievable. It was a pleasant surprise but it was dangerous - mostly
because of the weight on the trees and houses. I lost some limbs out front in my crepe
myrtle tree and my daughter also lost big limbs out of her trees because of the weight of the
snow. The roads remained passable for the most part here except early in the a.m. or after
midnight. The temperature just hovered around 33 or so. Your area had it worse, no doubt.

Feb. 6 from Gary:
Jan, for the record, I have made a significant change to
the occasion of my birth anniversary.
Henceforth and forever my birthdate will be Fat
Tuesday, the last day of Mardi Gras before Ash
Wednesday which ends the times of celebration and
revelry before entering into the Lenten season (for
those that have been invited to and determine to
accept such).

Today, February 16, 2010, is such a Fat Tuesday and
the entirety of the coastal population from Texas to
Florida is out paradin' around and drinkin' potents and
dancin' and throwin' beads and stuff and generally
ignoring any good sense they might ordinarily
otherwise have posted as a facade.

As I wandered about, musing as to the potential
meaningful acts that would befit the sobriety of

recording an additional year to my chronology, I was
absorbed into the frivolity and Euoi! found myself a
roisterer. Such delights, bacchanalian or merely
joyful, surely should inure to the measure of a
birthday. As my enthusiasm voluminously ensued, I
felt as if the populace were celebrating, not merely
with me, but for me as well. The tidal wave of
euphoria made me feel right pleasant.
So, say I, make it so!

The many-full kind-fortune wishes forwarded to me
as a result of your gratuitous announcement of my
linear milestone have been welcome and vitalizing.
To which I express gratitude.

Gary the Coaster
(trying to reach an age where he is thought to have
accumulated sufficient scraps of related
information that he might be able to provide a
worthwhile opinion on some relevant matter)

Feb. 18 from Morris: Hi, JanBee: # 24995 here. I remember so well when we
crossed over the 10000 mark and look where we are now! I assume none of
our Austin folks were affected by the plane-into-the-building event there today. I
assure you that I understand the rage the man had against the IRS! I fought
two Hispanic female revenue agents (in Odessa and El Paso - I taught them
how to read a financial statement-profit/loss statement, and their own 1040
forms) and two African-American female revenue officers here in Dallas. Took
me from 1991 to 1998 and several tax liens, but, finally, talked to someone at
IRS who knew what they were doing. I thought my divorce from the Devil's Sister
(wife # 2) was horrendous, but that was a "piece of cake" to dealing with the
IRS. I was mad enough to kill somebody, as well, but The Holy Spirit reminded
me that He was in control and everything would turn out allright, which is has
(Praise God!). We hit 60 degrees today, almost like Summer. Still have some
patches of snow in the shady parts of the house. Snowing at La Veta! I need to
quit fooling around and get me a 4x4 Suburban, to use here and then in CO.
Geezer

Feb. 18 from Jan: Morris had noted earlier this
evening that his visit to our website was #24,995.
When I opened it later to see how my new update
looked, lo and behold! I was Visitor #25,000. This
felt like some sort of blessing from God!

8:33 p.m. Texas time Feb. 23 from Linda DB: We
got about 4 inches. It was so pretty. Then it got up to
35 and some of it melted but it's still snowing a little.
It's going to be slick in the morning. I'm glad I'm old
and don't have to go to work. Keep in touch. Linda B

Feb. 27 from Morris:
Hi, JanBee: our across the street (925) neighbor took some pix of our house late the afternoon of 02.12, with 10.8"
of snow. I am "snailing" you one of those pix. It is puny compared to your own posted pix, but will show the beauty
of the snowfall. BTW, my cousin and her husband, Trisha and Dick Price, are missionaries in Santiago, Chile. We
have not heard from her Mother (Mom's sister) about their welfare, so please say a prayer for them. They had
planned to retire and return to the States at year's end. This tragedy may expedite that! Geezer

About Feb. 17, irate after dealing with the IRS, a man crashed his plane into
the floors of this building where the IRS villains toil. No, no! Those were
hapless bureacrats who were just doing their job! (Photo by Judy PS'
grandson Seth)

Feb. 23: The
Big Texas
Snow!
Judy PS has a
picture-perfect
view, above.
Janean & Will got
"4 feet," as
evidenced by the
tape measure.
Judy E's lake
disappears!