TEXAS WIND FARMS

I was totally amazed during my trip to Texas at the number of Wind Farms in West Texas.  These farmers are making some money!  Check out the video below for some info on West Texas Wind Farms.  Interesting!  Does the cowboy in the purple shirt remind you of Dee Ice with a mustache?  :0) 

FIELDS OF COTTON

You'll remember me when the west wind blows
Upon the fields of cotton....

Yeah, I know that's not how the song goes, but since I grew up in my teenage years in Cotton Country, that's how I always sing that song. :0) I remember when we moved there when I was in middle school.  My dad had been living there for several months while we were waiting for the house to sell.  On one of his trips home he brought us a "cotton boll".  I thought it was the neatest thing I had ever seen.  I took it to school and all the kids "oohed and ahhed" over it.  It was hard for us to believe that that little sprig actually represented something that our clothes were made out of.  Here's some "cotton fields" pictures from my trip there last week.  Click on the pictures so you can see them bigger.  Note that the second picture is "baled cotton", and the last picture is a field that has already been stripped.  Also note the oil well in the field - dual purpose field! :0)

AT THE DENTIST

In the last 2 weeks I've had my teeth cleaned, a filling replaced, and a root canal.  Today after my root canal my dentist shook my hand and said, "Well Nene, it's been a pleasure to see you again!"  I said, "Yeah, it's been a real blast for me too."  :0+

(I was going to post a picture of a "lego dentist" but the image uploader is down.)

O HOME BELOVED

O Home Beloved

O home beloved where'er I wander.

On foreign land or distant sea,

As time rolls by, my heart grows fonder

And yearns more lovingly for thee!

Tho fair be nature's scenes around me,

And friends are ever kind and true.

Tho joyous mirth and song surround me,

My heart, my soul still yearn for you.

      I've been visiting my parents lately.  My husband and I went to pick them up, spent a couple days at their house and then brought them back to ours for about 6 days.  Then we took them back home and spent 4 more days with them at their house. 
      After we had been at their house for a few minutes, my mom said, "Oh, it's so good to be home!  There's no place like home!"  I know my mom loves her house and her town, because it's where she grew up.  She lives in my grandparents house that she and my father bought from them.  We have since bought that house from my parents and will own it completely when they are gone. 
      My mom is 85 and my dad will be 85 in April.  They both use canes to walk, and in truth, Dad should be using a walker.  Dad falls all the time and in his last bad fall, separated his shoulder.  Mom has had cancer twice (breast cancer and colon cancer) in a year and then a serious hernia operation right after that, which was pretty hard on her.  She says she has "chemo brain" - memory lapses from taking chemo medication, but her memory has not gotten any better since she went off of the chemo pills.  All in all, I have been trying to get them to come live with me, at least during the winter.  They live in a town that is about 7500 feet in altitude and gets some pretty heavy snows.  There are several people in town that come and make sure their driveway and porch and sidewalks are always clear of snow, but if those people are one day late, my dad is out there with his snow-blower trying to do it himself. 
      I tried having yet another talk with my parents to try to get them to come live with me - or even live with any of my other brothers or sisters, but my mother emphatically refused.  I think if she would agree, my dad would also, but she is the one saying no.  I have prayed about this and asked all my brothers and sisters to pray about it also, so my parents would come to the decision to live with me.  It's really hard to see my parents so old and frail and forgetful.  I know they love their home, their town, the people in it, and their life, but I also know that at some point, either they will have to agree or we will have to resort to stronger persuasions.
      I couldn't help remembering my mother's cry of "Oh it's so good to be home!" when we reached home ourselves.  There really is no place like home.