Saturday, November 28, 2009

Funny Family History Quotes. After Turkey-Day. Shopping? Oh... No...The Important Stuff: Genealogy

Today, I was getting ready for Christmas, but just in my head. I was going to change my music to Christmas. I think I have the special ones I want to hear over and over.



Steve bought us a tree. Funny that I didn't even have a "say so" to help pick it out, but he knew I would just LOVE it and I did! It's a live Scotch Pine, I think that's what they call it, but it's the pine tree that naturally grows in our mountains around here. I'm thrilled with having one I can plant afterward. The tree smells wonderful and all my Christmas decorations are just outside the door on the porch.

We are going to the Santa Paula Christmas Parade tomorrow, then I'm going to do a real mean living room clean-up and transformation; including changing the pictures and all the stuff on all the desks, armoires, piano, everything to look Christmas.... including the kitchen. I've always wanted to fix my bedroom all Christmasy, but maybe next year. Kiely's room has a tree for it, but I don't think she wants to put it up this year. Makes me a little sad---but she has soooo much going on. Riding her horse and trying to get enough riding to last her a couple months. College get-away and preparing for school and packing, and lastly... the hardest... sprinting on her school work for good grades, now. The semester ends soon.

Yesterday was a day that was wonderful. So many people worked so hard to make the mansion next door (my Marnie's house) filled with food, fun, and wonderful friends and family. Lots and lots of people. It was great watching the movie, "Up" with those in our family that hadn't seen it. Steve and Marnie have a big TV and the main character Mr. Ferguson, looks and acts so much like my father-in-law that just passed-away a couple of years ago. Only thing missing was Mr. Ferguson was a bit more grumpy and Grandpa Doug was mostly just silly all the time. Thanks Marnie and to everyone that made the lovely dinner. I sat in the window with some pumpkin pie and watched the kids with the horses and enjoyed the children and grown children and beautiful sunset "pink moment."

I started Ancestry.com at home. It just blows me away with the amazing feats of giving hints and updating the records constantly. It was a gift (thank you, thank you) that I have coveted for years. I can only think that the only way the work would be done was from my home. I swim a lot and even though it's in Ventura, getting ready from the pool and going to the Stake Center is really a challenge. I forget to have lunch, I always forget to take my heart medication, and I stay way too long. There's no breaks... so the hurrying probably is what makes my head butter and mistakes are too common when that happens.

I always feel especially when I'm neglectful in my genealogy that this visitation is going to happen. I didn't see this Family Guy episode. But honestly, I really had this weird experience. Brightness and strong light entered my bedroom and I instantly covered my face with my warm blankets. I had no idea who my ancestor was. But, because it was a beautiful light, I didn't think it was of evil. I was really scared because I know I was going to get my butt chewed-out for flakin'out on my duties here on earth.

I woke-up Steve very gently and whispered, "Steve, (shiver) we have company." "Don't move, but open your eyes and see who it is?" I knew it was someone shaking their finger at me. Steve said, "What?" real loud and irritated. I said, "Shhhhhhhh," very quietly and shivered again and got very close to Steve. He started busting out laughing hard and sat-up. Startled by that; I said something like "Stop making fun or don't mock angels" some weird things like that. He said, "I installed a light behind the little dressing table and our electricity went out so it just automatically turned on for us." and he said, " The big light up the wall is in the plug behind the dresser." I sat-up and looked. Yep, he was right. But that didn't stop me from thinking one day I'm going to get in trouble and I hope I have time to make things right. Maybe it was a warning.

Norman Rockwell Drawing. Yep!
It Could Easily Be My Tree!

This is the BEST Family Tree.
Bree, Photoshop my other
babies in the tree (missing my
little Arkansas grand chilren!)


I slept hard last night so I couldn't wait to start working on my lines. I would start laughing while I was working...I was so happy! All the stories of the past that I have collected over the years and the absolutely crazy relatives that I have accumulated. I just think that's just what makes me like I am. Sorry.... Happy Ancestral DNA, as my dear little girl calls it. How 'bout crazy DNA? Yeah...I like the sound of that.A long time ago I found these family quotes on some website. I can't remember where, but I did copy the authors of the quotes. They crack-me-up!I just had them on my Microsoft note-pad and saw them recently when my automatic download started.


Here they are:

If you don't believe in ghosts, you've never been to a family reunion.
ASHLEIGH BRILLIANT

Cleaning your house while your children are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.
PHYLLIS DILLER

In America there are two classes of travel - first class and with children.
ROBERT BENCHLEY

Have children while your parents are still young enough to take care of them.
RITA RUDNER

Adolescence is when children start to bring up their parents.
RICHARD ARMOUR

Home is the place, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.
ROBERT FROST

In some families, 'please' is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was 'sorry'.
MARGARET LAURENCE

A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold.
OGDEN NASH

Some family trees bear an enormous crop of nuts. (Yes! That's Us!)
WAYNE H.

I grew up with six brothers. That's how I learned to dance - waiting for the bathroom.
BOB HOPE

Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist.
MICHAEL LEVINE

Insanity is hereditary; you get it from your children. (Kiely says, "Diarrhea is hereditary; it runs in your genes (jeans)."
SAM LEVENSON

Let's face it, there's lots of spoiled kids out there,because you can't spank Grandma.(HAHAHA)
JANET ANDERSON

There's one thing about children - they never go around showing snapshots of their grandparents.(HAHAHAHA!That's Great!)
BESSIE and BEULAH

Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops.
CARY GRANT

I wish to thank my parents for making it all possible...and I wish to thank my children for making it necessary.
VICTOR BORGE

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.
JANE HOWARD

I can get up in the morning and look myself in the mirror and my family can look at me too and that's all that matters.
LANCE ARMSTRONG

The best way to keep children home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant - and let the air out of the tires.
DOROTHY PARKER

Family life got better and we got our car back - as soon as we put 'I love Mom' on the license plate.
ERMA BOMBECK

My father never raised his hand to any one of his children - except in self-defense.
FRED ALLEN

Watching your daughter being collected by her date feels like handing over a million-dollar Stradivarius to a gorilla.
JIM BISHOP

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance. (This is good, huh?)
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Human beings are the only creatures on Earth that allow children to come back home.
BILL COSBY

You know your children are growing up when they stop asking where they came from and refuse to tell you where they're going.
Pat.O'BRIEN

Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he's buying.
FRAN LEBOWITZ

Never raise your hands to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.(I thought that was Family Home Videos?)
RED BUTTONS


All of a sudden big letters and colors wouldn't go away, sorry but I'm blind and can't find the HTML with the (can't write it because it's goes more freaky but it's a certain secret code called "hyper text markup language", and at 1:11 am trying to fix it again, I'm through!!!) It can have the BIG LETTERS. Go ahead you Freaky Blog. It really has a mind of it's own. Maybe I'll wake-up and it will write my blog for me. Hope it's a good one. I better moderate it though, or it will be reported.

Note: I woke-up this morning, Nov. 28, 2009 and guess what? I fixed my huge letters and "OFF" colors. The blog didn't win with its "take-over" of my site. A voice in my head said just copy paste and start over and delete the other one. I did and it and the process only took only 15 minutes. What the heck? I but it had to be one of my angels whispering in my ear this morning around 2:45 a.m. just after I turned-off Art Bell.

Okay...here's my husband with a Spinet Piano. Thank you my dear daughter from Arkansas sending us this picture of us in California. Arkansas or California? Yes, here.
Turn-off my playlist
or the song on this
video will drive you
to the BEEHIVE STATE!!!

It may anyway...

Now, about the video...My husband is such a hotshot, so talented and we were so entertained by this, it actually took a while and the quick shot of our house doesn't really show all the gang watching this and laughing, hootin' it all up, and calling Steve, our hero. Behind the piano is our old barn where Marnie's Mansion is located now. Steve's "Redneck Style" I love it with all the junk and stuff...okay...bye.
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Thursday, November 26, 2009

Whoa. .. How Did Thanksgiving Come so Fast?

Anyone for eating a "bird" considering
my last post? My bird rant, and change of
heart in last post Nov. 10th.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Wishing all... a Thanksgiving of sharing love and gratitude with family and special friends that bless and touch our lives. Wishing also that my dear friends here and all those celebrating this glorious day, have joyful gatherings and lasting love and memories! ♥ ♥ ♥

My days lately have been filled with all kinds of interesting adventures. Ups and downs (very few and unimportant) The ups have been overwhelming and without sounding like I'm the most blessed person in the world and sounding like a recorded and memorized Testimony--my life and our family's lives have taken a huge jump for all the choicest of blessings. Should I name them one by one? I really could, a very large bevy of them. There are blessings I don't even recognize yet and I'm grateful for those, as well.

I don't understand any of it and I'm so humbled by receiving so many of Heavenly Father's most precious gifts. It's a complete happiness of our circumstances. There are many things that need fixing with our house, my website, and our budget that is non-existence, really....but I'm seeing those things as blessings, also. Would I have been as close to Heavenly Father if all our needs were fulfilled? Would I be so grateful for what we do have? I can't think of one single thing I need at this time, just more opportunities to serve.

I can't even explain it and I can't really express it except to say, "I'm so thankful for my blessings. I am grateful and appreciate all that my life is. My testimony has been taken me to a level that if I were to try and express my feelings out-loud, I would just cry." Heavenly Father is so generous especially to us that are "just us" and I don't understand why.

I haven't contemplated this day much. It is suddenly Thanksgiving. The Twilight Zone marathon is on and I can't even hear it over our silly cockatiel whistling for joy. "Fabio, I wish I could just kiss you, but you'd bite my nose." He's happy and thankful he's not dinner and that I'm not trying to kiss him.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

It's About Time. What the Heck Are We Up To? Fighting The Birds

I'm not sure where to begin, so this posting won't be a book, maybe. First off, I must say it is so "Redneck" to end a sentence with a preposition--yes, I'm a redneck, yes, I have a farmer's tan, and yes, it doesn't look attractive when I go for my swimming exercise class.

We are happy! Heavenly Father has blessed our family so much these past two weeks. I can't even describe how I feel in words. I've said that before and it's true! The joy is comparable to nothing else that I've ever experienced.

Our life is not perfect at all. That is the normal mode-of-operation around here. In fact... I have some major concerns about little things that I could actually become unglued about."crazy," I'm blaming the birds. I told my sister, "I'm taking out the snake gun with bird shot and shooting annoying birds." Before you think I'm a total jerk for killing birds, let me let you into my world of birds.

Our owls--three different species are eating our kittens. I know I can't kill any of them.. but they make me so mad, I'm dangerous. We had a little black kitten that survived the big Great Horned Owl. We also have The Barn Owl or Screech Owl, and a spotty, squatty, owl. I'm not sure of it's real name and the squatty owl, I have no beef with. (ugh...preposition, again!) The Great Horned Owl and the Barn Owl... I could literally shoot with no problem, sort of. Hahahaha There I go again. Preposition.



Our little scrawny black kitten that was the runt was picked-up by the owl and the owl ate its ears, toes, broke it tail, and defurred it in many places on that little kitty's body. It was dropped in a big bush because that scrawny kitty is crazy mean! It had to literally fight to get a place to nurse when it was born. "Scrappy Kitty" is a kitten that acts like a rabid Chihuahua. No, better description---a 'big, super mad lion' personality in a very tiny packaging. Scrappy honestly chases both our dogs and if the three went to blows--the kitty would win. Wise owl wasn't so wise to pick this kitten. It makes me sad, the kitty is so chewed-up. Some of the other kittens weren't lucky with the owls. tear. I love kittys.


IS THAT A KITTEN BEING EATEN?
Kiely was out feeding late, around nine, and of course all the animals follow her like she's Snow White. Out of no where, huge flapping white wings descended and almost hit her face in the attempt to pick-up that little black kitten again! Kiely thought it was a Rodan "Giant Monster of the Sky," ("B" rated Japanese Horror Film from the late 1950s) The owl looked like an ancient Pterodactyl. It was "ginormous" and screeched at her, claws drawn and down, wings flapping, and eyes blazing. It was here! Screaming Kiely thwarted the ambush. Honestly, I don't think Kiely will ever recover from that attack and the 'assault bird' incident will never be forgotten. Okay...the huge Barn Owl gave Kiely nightmares.



That owl even tried to get our Cockatiel, Fabio.




Fabio was in the window last night and the owl came down after it and smacked into the window. Fabio freaked out and I had to cover his cage to calm him down. We actually have him because of our dear canyon neighbors, the Colvard's, rescued him. Fabio was all torn-up from a hawk-attack and survived and he is very happy now. Today, I considered letting the owl inside to feast on Fabio, because he isn't as "Fabio" as the real Fabio. My picture that I took of him was blurry because he was attacking me while I was taking his picture, so my picture is way too fuzzy to use. The good picture doesn't do him justice. Fabio, the cockatiel, has a mop of fluffy-tuff on his head that looks like a huge Mohawk.

Let's see... Fabio's now happy... He never actually made noise until Kiely found fun cockatiel songs on "You Tube." She played lots of them. One after the other, and guess which one he picked to sing? It was the one... only played once... and that bird decided he loved it? Right! "The Mexican Hat Dance!" Fabio did sing "Old MacDonald had a Farm," once because it was our home-phone-ring-tone. I changed it to the regular ring and guess what? We try and answer, the bird. He picked-up on our donkey's bray. And... he coughs all evening, that's been a recent favorite.... because I was sick. It's actually his favorite tune after the "Mexican Hat Dance." Cough, cough, cough. STOP! The bird is freaking me out. Oh, he bites, too. I won't kill him, but often... I'll cover him when he gets outta' control.

This is the kicker.. I'm resting in my bed from a huge aerobic workout. I just returned from the exercise pool in Ventura and I'm so tired. The instructor is an Ex-drill Sargent in the Marines. Actually, I shouldn't say "Ex" because he's still a Marine. You know once a Marine, always a Marine? Guess what starts on my wall of my bedroom while I'm trying to rest? A stupid woodpecker. She's drilling a hole under the eaves about 25 feet off the ground. I went out and shoo'd her away... but I just got cozy in my bed again and she started-up with this horrible drilling. Some years ago we did have a woodpecker that was quite "brain-challenged" trying to drill a hole in our metal chimney. I didn't think I could survive through all that noise and Steve was no help, he got such a break from the woodpecker by going to work. I heard it all day. Just like now.

My House! I Took These
Pictures To Prove That
Woodpeckers Have Invaded Us




I went outside and she won't fly away. I threw rocks at her and one time hit Steve's side of the window. I'm such a wimp, it fortunately didn't break the window to pieces. Out-of-nowhere, the hammering stopped. I still had my camera and guess what? She's in the hole. Me calling Steve now, will not help. I hope the bees that have relocated from my mother's house to our attic will make her fly away. I wonder why all the squirrels haven't left the attic?

And that's another thing ...okay, I am trying to love fluffy-tailed squirrels as long as they don't jump at me or touch me. Buster, the squirrel THEN, brings every relative and girl friend he knows... to come and bunk with him. I feel so taken advantaged here.


One more bunch of birds I can't tolerate, are the dang red-tailed hawks. It was nice to see one once in a while, but there are so many of them near our house when they migrate here for nesting. Guess which car they have chosen as their litter box? The FJ, my new car! I think Bree got it once on her new red paint job on her BMW. Yesterday we went to Ojai to fix a saddle with new leathers. My car wasn't home, so they used my porch. It was their calling card to let me know that the hawks are here. It wouldn't be so bad if my mom had not had a hawk drop a gopher snake on her head and shoulders. I see the shadow and run for cover, it's either a 'poop-bomb' or a live animal. I just had a thought, "What if it was a rat or worse, a mouse?" I think I would faint right there.



I'm not posting a picture of a crow...but you know they carry West Nile Virus. Never-mind... I found a perfect picture of the crow I like....

We have four horses and two donkeys. Crows awake at dawn and fly up the Santa Paula Creek every morning at dawn. Caw, Caw, "in your craw!" They didn't live here when I was little. What's up with the new population explosion? I hate giving the shot/vaccination to the horses and donkeys. It's a separate shot so they know what's coming, after the combination vaccinations. Yes, that's when I fell and hurt my knees so bad. Thank you crows. NOT!

I love the Mocking Birds, the sparrows, love the Quail, the beautiful Meadow Lark and we have our dear Road Runner that runs through our place on the same track everyday. Our chickens are precious and the Mourning Doves, in the morning just remind me.... "THIS IS HOME".



The dove's happy laugh sounds like 'Tickle-Me-Elmo' I crack-up so hard when I hear them start laughing! I need that ring-tone, right? I had to stop today because a huge flock of Mourning Doves were eating the grain in front of the chicken pen. I do love them and they are beautiful and the really do bring me joy.



Oh by-golly, the Barn Swift... I could just kick. Yeah, they say, "Let's all fly down the chimney for them and clean it!" By the way... Message to Swifts: "Swift's, it would be a good idea to have a plan how to figure out how to get out of the house you fly inside." Black soot goes everywhere and you leave all your dead friends in drawers, behind the refrigerator, behind the hutch, and in the bed and that is not good options.

Oh Swifts! The sister missionaries were at my mom's house visiting with her. My mother isn't a member yet and they all were having a very spiritual conversation. The Swifts, by the hundreds came down the chimney and scared the sisters so bad. They thought they were from the devil himself, flying black bats (they were sooty and actually do looked like a bats) They came from Satan to not only scare the sisters away, but to stop the Spirit at that moment. One sister wouldn't go back to my mom's house :( The other sister helped clean. Weird birds...You take a handful of birds and throw them out the front door and they fly back in. Tell me Swifts, "Is the fun worth the collateral damage?" The sister that was so afraid and screamed and screamed was near the end of her mission and she said she didn't have a "Welcome Home Talk" prepared. She certainly had a lively story to tell her home ward when she arrived home.



I am now in a tizzy and a little thought creeps into my mind from our Prophet President Spencer W. Kimball, the President of the Church and an article he wrote the late 1970s. "Think of The Prophets" favorite children's Sunday School hymn. Yes, I remember. I have the Book. What would The Prophet Do? This is from a message from the Prophet: Spencer W. Kimball, “Fundamental Principles to Ponder and Live,” Ensign, Nov 1978, 43
His favorite Children's hymn: Deseret Sunday School Songs was published in 1909, no. 163
"1. Don't kill the little birds,
That sing on bush and tree,
All thro' the summer days,
Their sweetest melody.
Don't shoot the little birds!
The earth is God's estate,
And He provideth food
For small as well as great.
2. Don't kill the little birds,
Their plumage wings the air,
Their trill at early morn
Makes music ev'rywhere,
What tho' the cherries fall
Half eaten from the stem?
And berries disappear,
In garden, field and glen?
3. Still, like the widow's cruse,
There's always plenty left;
How sad a world were this,
Of little birds bereft!
Think of the good they do
In all the orchards round;
No hurtful insects thrive
Where robins most abound.
4. Don't kill the little birds,
That sing on bush and tree,
All thro' the summer days,
Their sweetest melody,
In this great world of ours,
If we can trust His Word,
There's food enough for all;
—Don't kill a single bird!"
"I suppose in every country in the world there are beautiful little birds with their beautiful plumage and their attractive songs."


"I remember that my predecessor, President Joseph Fielding Smith, was a protector of these feathered and other wild life creatures.

While President Smith at one time was in the Wasatch Mountain Area, he befriended the creatures from the hill and forest. He composed four little verses as follows, and opposite each he drew a little picture. Of the mountain squirrel first, he wrote:
This is little Chopper Squirrel
Up in the mountains high.
He begs us for some grains of corn,
With thanks he says goodbye.
And then the bat was next:
This is little Tommy Bat
Who flies around at night.
He eats the bugs and ‘skeeters’ too,
Which is a thing quite right.
Then he came to the deer:
This is little Bambi Deer
Who comes to the cabin homes.
She licks the salt we feed to her,
And on the mountain roams.
And then the birds:
This, our little feathered friend
Who sings for us all day.
When comes the winter and the cold,
He wisely flies away.

Now, I also would like to add some of my feelings concerning the unnecessary shedding of blood and destruction of life. I think that every soul should be impressed by the sentiments that have been expressed here by the prophets.

And not less with reference to the killing of innocent birds is the wildlife of our country that live upon the vermin that are indeed enemies to the farmer and to mankind. It is not only wicked to destroy them, it is a shame, in my opinion. I think that this principle should extend not only to the bird life but to the life of all animals. For that purpose I read the scripture where the Lord gave us all the animals. Seemingly, he thought it was important that all these animals be on the earth for our use and encouragement."


"President Joseph F. Smith said, “When I visited, a few years ago, the Yellowstone National Park, and saw in the streams and the beautiful lakes, birds swimming quite fearless of man, allowing passers-by to approach them as closely almost as tame birds, and apprehending no fear of them, and when I saw droves of beautiful deer [feeding] along the side of the road, as fearless of the presence of men as any domestic animal, it filled my heart with a degree of peace and joy that seemed to be almost a foretaste of that period hoped for when there shall be none to hurt and none to molest in all the land, especially among all the inhabitants of Zion. These same birds, if they were to visit other regions, inhabited by man, would, on account of their tameness, doubtless become more easily a prey to the gunner. The same may be said of those beautiful creatures—the deer and the antelope. If they should wander out of the park, beyond the protection that is established there for these animals, they would become, of course, an easy prey to those who were seeking their lives. I never could see why a man should be imbued with a blood-thirsty desire to kill and destroy animal life. I have known men—and they still exist among us—who enjoy what is, to them, the ‘sport’ of hunting birds and slaying them by the hundreds, and who will come in after a day’s sport, boasting of how many harmless birds they have had the skill to slaughter, and day after day, during the season when it is lawful for men to hunt and kill (the birds having had a season of protection and not apprehending danger) go out by scores or hundreds, and you may hear their guns early in the morning on the day of the opening, as if great armies had met in battle; and the terrible work of slaughtering the innocent birds goes on.

“I do not believe any man should kill animals or birds unless he needs them for food, and then he should not kill innocent little birds that are not intended for food for man. I think it is wicked for men to thirst in their souls to kill almost everything which possesses animal life. It is wrong, and I have been surprised at prominent men whom I have seen whose very souls seemed to be athirst for the shedding of animal blood.” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1939, pp. 265–66.)" I think I have my answer, here. Follow The Prophet and I will.
Last minute update...I found my answer to all the ugly bird noises and distractions. Dance with my Ipod and sing at the "top of my lungs." My exercising at the pool did a lot for my energy, but of course the exercise just does nothing for keeping me in tune, and that's funny! You think I could just harass the birds? Oh dear, I hope Fabio wasn't listening???

Tree-huggers unite. I all the rare birds and animals have come to our home for refuge. Don't worry, they'll be safe. We'll cuss each other, but I won't harm any. This is a wild life sanctuary. BTW, if you want to bird-watch the tons of birds, please ask permission, because I shoot trespassers. Ut-Oh! Long Post. Sorry.























Monday, November 2, 2009

Finlee's Baby Blessing. Immeasurable Joy In Family


We were caught unaware of how our feelings would be... when dear Finlee was blessed at Church yesterday. I have some notes, but through my foggy glasses, I'm not sure how much I wrote about the sweet Blessing gave to Finlee.

If you read my blog at all, you know that I'm never one to be at a loss for words to describe my feelings. I reflect on yesterday and all was so heart-felt; and really a moment in time that we treasure beyond words. Truly a time that goes to that place where our written journals can't describe how much love we have and realize how blessed we are here on earth. We are grateful beyond measure to our Heavenly Father and our Beloved Brother and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Be sure to turn off my music player on the left to hear the video.





Can I write... without making a comment? My mom's a baby hog and all the children were suffering from Halloween hangovers. This picture was taken just before Primary started and Preslee had already thrown-up on her teacher. Check Dean out...all the children went "unreasonably feral" after this picture. Steve and I went home and counted our blessings, instead of sheep. The Irving Berlin song was played during Sunday morning's "Music and The Spoken Word".
Bee Happy...
Bree and Tressa: Love you guys and you were both in our hearts, as well as your family. Bree...that is a beautiful, beautiful Blessing dress.
JOY!