Topper

After 16 years of unconditional love Topper our Jack Russell Terrier time has ended with us and gone to be with his best friend Oliver and our first dog Bandit. Buddy and Scruffy, his roommates are missing him as Brenda and I.

God saw you were tired and it was not meant to be

So he put his arms around you and whispered

"Come to Me"

With tearful eyes we watched you,
and saw you pass away,

Although we loved you dearly,
 we could not make you stay,

 A Golden Heart stopped beating,
hard working hands at rest,

God broke our hearts to prove to us,

He only takes the best,....

Anonymous

2 Years Later

Well like the old saying says, Time Sure Does Fly. Since Brenda did all of the posts before, I thought it was about time to learn something new. So here goes.

Brenda and her sister Joanne started a new business called Rockin-Wreaths. They have completed a lot of awesome wreaths, gift baskets, and rug hooking carrying bags. The website has taken a lot of  brain cells but we are slowly making progress. Who knew you had to be a writer, photographer, artist, inventory controlman,  publisher, and web master. Blogging I see is a lot simpler and fun.

The new and exciting endeavor is the start of a dream of Brenda and I. The Rockin G and B farming business. Stay tuned for the next update with details.

Catching Up

I finally finished the two posts I had in drafts. See below ("Are you ready for some football" and "El Paso Trip"). Sorry Ricky, I know you have been waiting patiently for the football post. I started writing them in October but hey I have a good excuse for not finishing them until now. One word S H I N G L E S. Yes, Shingles.

I do NOT want to go through what I have been through for the last 8 weeks EVER again! Shingles also called Herpes zoster, or zoster is a painful skin rash caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV), the same virus that causes varicella or chickenpox. After an individual has chickenpox, this virus lives in the nervous system and is never fully cleared from the body. Anyone who has ever had chickenpox is at risk for the development of shingles, although it occurs most commonly in people over the age of 60. My doctor informed me they can develop at any age. Mine started in my upper right back shoulder and ran down my entire right arm to my hand. The pain was deep down in the nerves. I was beyond crying, I was wailing. Gerald had to rush me to the ER in the middle of the night. I was unable to do anything with my right arm. Gerald had to do everything for me, he should be given a badge of honor for all he did! My sister JoAnne was a big help too. She had to take off from work to take me to my third visit to the doctor, pick up prescriptions and take me to the store. I couldn't of made it through without them. I was in excruiting pain for most of the 8 weeks. The pain began to taper off around week six. I weaned myself off of all the medications (I had seven at one point) except for the pain pills. I didn't know I should of not stopped those "cold turkey". I was taking a strong morphine based narcotic. Practically hours after stopping the drug, I went into withdrawals. I don't know which was worse, the actual shingles or going through withdrawals. At the time I didn't know what was wrong with me. Gerald looked up what I was on and told me "you are going through withdrawals, did you know that what you are going through is worse than a heroin addict going through withdrawals"? Really? Oh great! I now have empathy for a drug addict who has to go through rehab! Praise God that He got me through it and I am pretty much back to normal now, whatever "normal" is. If any of you have had the chickenpox, I encourage you to talk to your doctor about getting the shingles vaccine. Typically the vaccine is for people aged 60 and over but some doctors will give it to you sooner. I am so thankful my pain didn't last longer than it did because some people deal with the post pain for months sometimes even years! A BIG Thank You to sister's JoAnne and Jan and my good friend Anita for checking up on me daily during my ordeal.

Earnest came home for Thanksgiving. He had a whole week off and Gerald took the week off too. It was nice to have them both around because I was at the tail end of my ordeal and still needed help with some things. They were both a big help as we had The Junction boys over for a Thanksgiving luncheon on that Tuesday. Thanksgiving was quiet here, then we had a second Thanksgiving at my sister JoAnne's house on Saturday.

On Friday our nephew Ryan had to have emergency surgery to remove a kidney stone the size of a lima bean. Poor guy, he would of never passed it. Hopefully he is feeling better this week!

Happy Belated Birthday's and Upcoming Birthday's

November: Stephanie (our beautiful sweet niece)

December: Zachary (our very talented track star nephew)
Grandma Yolie (our beautiful step mom and grandma)
Little Miss Maylee-1st Birthday! (our precious little great-niece)

Hope you had and have wonderful birthday's!

Are you ready for some football?

On September 19th we took a nice drive up to Wimberely to watch our youngest nephew Ricky play football against a team from Dripping Springs. Ricky played quarterback this season. When Gerald and I got to the game we took one look at the players warming up on the field and thought we were at the wrong field because the opposing team looked like high school freshmen! Ricky's team mates were a little intimidated when they first saw these guys. For the first few plays the team was a little shaky but once they made some tackles they gained their confidence. As the game went on it was like watching David vs Goliath! Ricky's team kicked butt! They wore down the big guys and in the end they won! The game was tied at zero but in the last few seconds of the game Ricky saw an opening and ran the ball in for the winning touchdown! Yay Ricky! I was down on the sidelines taking pictures and when I realized what was happening I dropped the camera (it was on a strap around my neck so no I didn't break it) and cheered Ricky on to his touchdown. I was so bummed that in all the excitement I didn't get a picture of the touchdown...Yay Rangers!

Ricky #40 AFTER the winning touchdown!

Nephew Randy did awesome this season! He played for Smithson Valley Middle School as safety on defense and receiver on offense. I was at the last game which was for district and it was exciting to say the least! In the end they won...Yay Mustags District Champions! Randy ended his season with a total of 5 touchdowns, a forced fumble, scooped up a fumble by the opposing team and ran it in for a touchdown and had several tackles for the year! Way to go Randy!

Randy #11 on the end

Earnest finished up his first season at Sul Ross on November 14th. He had an awesome year! He started in every game as a defensive linebacker. He finished #3 defensive player for the team, he placed 10th out of over 50 in conference for tackles, he was one of four freshmen nominated by the coaches in his conference for freshman of the year (a kid from Mary Hardin-Baylor won), and he was one of five freshman named to the conference honorable mention list! Way to go Earnest!

Earnest #11 Homecoming with team mates

El Paso Trip

In September we went to El Paso to visit dad and Yolanda and to watch Earnest play. Sul Ross had a non-conference game on the 12th. Sadly they lost, but played a great game. Earnest played pretty much the whole game with the exception of a much needed break after he ran approx. 60 yds. to tackle the receiver just before the goal line! We had a great time watching him play!

Gerald, Dad, Earnest, Yolanda

One of the things I miss about El Paso are the mountains. I forget how much I miss them until I see them again...

View from Dad and Yolanda's house

An unexpected surprise happened when Gerald and I rolled into town. We took a little drive through our old neighborhood before getting to dad and Yolanda's. We were driving down a street that some dear friends live on. We were looking for their old house. Now let me back up and explain that they had in recent years moved to another house on the same street but we did not know where it was. Anyways, right about the time we found their old house Gerald says "I wonder where their new house is?". I look over and about 2 houses down on the other side of the street there stood Len and Judy in their driveway! Now what were the odds of us driving down their street at just the time that they would be out in their driveway? Boy were we so glad to see them! They invited us in and we had a wonderful visit!

On our way home we stopped at Balmorhea State Park. Gerald hadn't been there in 40 years and I had never been. It was a nice relaxing trip!