When Hell Breaks Loose

Posted on 6 September 2011 by morningtower

I didn’t realize how much fire affected me until I started reading the reports of all the fires and homes being lost and livestock and pets being in harm’s way.  Suddenly, it all came rushing back to me, the memories of when our home burned down on that fateful summer’s day back in June, 2005.  I swear, sometimes I can still smell it!  It is such an awful odor of wet, burnt things, and it just gets in your nose and stays there.  Apparently forever.

Of course, for us, ours was the only home that burned, and everything else around us stayed the same, pretty much.  Except for that tree in the front yard that never did recover from the heat damage. :(  But all we had to do was drive down the road, and everything seemed normal again. Not so here in Texas. It’s the opposite, in fact. Our neighborhood is fine, but if we just drive down the road, we can see the smoke billowing from the fires in Bastrop, and all around us we can find blackened spots where fires have been.  It looks apocalyptic.  In many ways, for far too many people, I suppose it actually is apocalyptic, if you understand that word to mean the end of your world as you knew it.

To give all of my friends and family back in North Carolina (and other parts of the world) an idea of how bad it is, I’m posting these screen shots from Texas A&M’s Texas Interagency Coordination Center.  I’ve included arrows to show where we live, in the midst of it all.

Please pray for all the families who are now homeless, and for those who are still evacuated and not sure when they will get to go home, or if they will have a home left to go to.

Where We Are In the Big Picture

The Heart is Over Our Neighborhood

Lord, have mercy on us!!

Posted in Current Affairs, Only In Texas | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Global Warming

Posted on 1 September 2011 by morningtower

So, apparently I’m not the only one who thinks that the global warming thing has reached ridiculous proportions.

Posted in Current Affairs, Humor, Politics | Leave a comment

Gardasil, Revisited

Posted on 27 August 2011 by morningtower

With Governor Rick Perry of Texas tossing his hat in the ring for the upcoming presidential frenzy, er, I mean campaign, everyone seems to be talking about his salad days with making Gardasil a mandatory vaccine for young Texas girls. He has made a big public apology, and now it seems that everyone is all abuzz regarding whether or not to trust him after such a ‘mistake’.

Personally, I don’t  really have much to say about Perry.  But I have a LOT to say about Gardisil.  I wrote a post (Not My Daughter!) about this poison four years ago, right after Perry made his ‘mistake’.  My opinion has not changed since then, and after having done some cursory research this morning on the subject, I am only more convinced that Gardisil is a bad idea.  And I am not alone.

Just some brief thoughts/facts/points:

India has halted the use of the Gardasil vaccine after four deaths.  Apparently, in a country with such dire poverty where people dying in the streets is not uncommon, they still value life more than we do, here in the United States, where:

 “Concerns have surrounded the use of Gardasil in the US for years, with more than 18,000 adverse events and 72 Gardasil related deaths in having been reported in the US since the vaccine’s release in this country in 2006.”

The National Vaccine Information Center has some pretty chilling information, as well:

In the third article, written by government health officials, it was revealed that 1 in every 1,855 Gardasil shots is followed by a bad health outcome report to the government’s Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System.

These bad health outcomes reported after Gardasil shots include lots of girls suddenly passing out and having seizures within minutes or hours of getting vaccinated and suffering head injuries and broken bones when they hit the floor. In fact, there is a larger than expected rate of girls passing out after getting Gardasil vaccine.

And, if you still need even more information:

The percentage of vaccine injury victims to suffer from fainting after receiving the Gardasil vaccine is as much as 13%, as reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS.

In our country, we make a big pretense of being all about health.  Everyone is under pressure to “Go Green!”, and cigarette smoking has almost been obliterated. Yet, we cannot turn on our television without being bombarded by ads for prescription drugs. (Oh, how I do miss the Marlboro Man!!)

It doesn’t make any sense, ya’ll!!  How in the world can we say we care so much about our health, and then willingly pay thousands of dollars to systematically pump dangerous chemicals into our little girls??

I’m going to make one last-ditch plug here for abstinence. (Because I am Catholic, and I must.) Abstinence would solve the problem.  And really, would it be such a bad idea for us to teach our children that it’s okay to wait until marriage to have sex?  Especially since, in the past 30 years or so, it has become so blindingly obvious that sexual promiscuity can kill?  Instead, we’d rather take the coward’s route and just hand them a pill, or a condom.  And then, because deep down, we all know that these methods are nothing more than flimsy bandaids, we back it up with nice little vaccinations that could potentially be even more deadly.

Do not fall for the lie that Gardasil is actually a good idea.  It’s not.  And, as stated in my previous post on this topic:

In fact, even the types of HPV billed “high risk” rarely actually result in cancer; the immune system generally removes the virus before it causes problems. Also, in the rare instances where it does occur, cervical cancer usually takes five to ten years to develop. Prior to cancer, HPV causes the growth of tell-tale abnormal cells, which can be detected by a Pap smear. Upon detection, the disease can be easily cured by minor surgery to remove the abnormal cells. Therefore, a woman who gets regular Pap smears every one to three years is almost 100% protected from cervical cancer—with no need for an expensive, potentially problematic, under tested vaccine. Cervical cancer accounts for only about one percent of all cancer deaths in US women.

So, don’t drink the Kool-Aide!  With just a minute amount of digging, you can unearth all sorts of dirt about Gardasil, and Merck.

Posted in Current Affairs, Kids, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Ghosts of 4th of July Past

Posted on 1 July 2011 by Valarie

It’s official.  I am homesick.  I am also thinking that if I got in my car RIGHT NOW and started driving, I would get to North Carolina in time for the 4th of July party at the Gundersen’s.  I miss them so much!!  For the past 17 years, I have spent almost every 4th of July with them, and if we had any friends or family in from out-of-town, we just brought them with us.  Many of the faces have changed over the years, some moved on, some passed away, and some just drifted into other circles.  But the core group has remained pretty much the same, and it is really hard for me today, as I’ve been making the potato salad that everyone always requested, to take to a party tomorrow here in Texas, to absorb the fact that we are not going to be there this year.

4th of July at the Gundersen’s is almost as mandatory in my world as Midnight Mass or the Easter Vigil!  I have so many sweet memories of being there, getting to see and visit with folks that I only saw once a year, watching Aaron shoot eggs from that giant sling shot while the kids ran all over trying to catch them without breaking, sack races, kids in the Bouncy House, water balloon fights, and of course, fireworks.  I remember Abby and Anamarie running around barely old enough to walk, proudly clutching their sparklers.  I remember A.J. and his buddies engaging in some really brutal bottle rocket battles.  I remember the year they had a mud pit. (I won’t elaborate!) I remember that crazy guy that always made a bomb in a trash can that scared the living you-know-what out of me when it went off!

Gaylon, Brett and Lisa - July 4th 2009

One year, my sister came to visit and brought some awesome fireworks from Texas.  (This year, the entire Lone Star State is like a tinder box, and firework sales are not even allowed. :(  )  I remember the year that Lisa’s dog grabbed one of the fireworks and ran all over the yard while the firecracker shot off helter-skelter in all directions, and the poor dog was too freaked out to drop the source of her terror! (Was that Sadie, or Daisy?  I can’t remember now). Anita’s Blueberry Salsa.  OMG.  That’s worth the drive alone!!

And the day after, we would always head back over to help clean up, and eat leftovers.  In the beginning, they would roast an entire pig, in the ground, and we called it a “Pig Pickin’”.  Now we’re all older and somewhat less willing to go to all that trouble, so they let someone else do all that work!  But the food is still just as delicious!

I know that moving is always really hard.  Next month, we will have been back in Texas for a full year, and somehow, I think that will help a lot.  From that point on, I will have one year’s worth of memories to fall back on.  For the past year, all I’ve had to remember ‘this time last year’ has been North Carolina.  And, I will never totally get past that, I’m sure.  But I think it will get easier.  Time is a great healer.  We are making wonderful new friends and memories all the time.

This year, we have been blessed to be invited to a great party at the home of some new friends, and I know we will begin making new memories. They are having sing-alongs, patriotic recitations, a cook-out, and more.  In lieu of fireworks, they have spent a small fortune on glow sticks! :-)  We will have a blast, I know, and next year, I will have a 4th of July in Texas memory. :)

Posted in Family Life, Friends, Kids | 1 Comment

Summertime Ramblings

Posted on 1 July 2011 by Valarie

After we got somewhat settled in here in Austin, I got with a couple of the moms who are in charge of our homeschool support group and offered to create a yearbook. They thought it was a great idea, and the Teen Board did, too, so, we dug in, and created a yearbook. That was in October or November, I think. We got a pretty slow start, but for the past couple of months, I’e pretty much not done anything but work on the yearbook.  Yesterday, it was finally finished! I have a call in to the printer, and expect to send the file to him early next week. By the middle of the month, we should be able to have a yearbook signing party! Yay! It has been absolutely delightful getting to work with the kids, and to get to know them and their families better. This is an amazing bunch, and they are so gifted and motivated. I have been so very blessed by them!

So that leaves me with a little free time before we start up with our homeschooling in August. I have some cross stitch projects I’m working on, (can’t tell what they are . . . other than it’s for Christmas!) and I also have some sewing to finish up as well. But, what I think I will spend the most time on is Genealogy! It’s been such a long time since I’ve gotten to do anything with it, and I was really inspired last weekend.

The Golden Anniversary Couple

Let me explain.  Last weekend, a lot of us got together up in Ft. Worth at my cousin’s home to celebrate his parents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary.  It was a lot of fun, especially because I got to see family that I don’t see very often, like the Guests of Honor, my uncle Harvey and Aunt Enid; my cousin Ronnie and his son Don; my cousin Jamie and his family (they hosted this shindig) my cousin Phyllis from Albuquerque, and best of all, Kendall!  (Especially Kendall!!) And it was awesome to eat real Texas Barbeque, which Jamie stayed up most of Friday night smoking.  We had an absolute blast!

Without question, one of my favorite parts was getting to see Phyllis and getting to compare notes on the Family History.  She is LDS, and has done quite a bit of research on our family tree.  I was able to glean quite a bit from her records, and was able to share some family photos with her, as well as a bit of data.  Isn’t the digital age amazing?  Anyway, she really inspired me to get off of my cyber-butt and start really re-organizing all of my files, which I have really been meaning to do since the fire (umm. . . 6 years ago!) And now that I live just up the road from the Texas State Archives, well, I have no excuses!

We also got to go see my cousin, Branden, his beautiful wife, Laura, and their family, on my Mom’s side.  This included getting to meet his brand new baby boy, Reid, and  his 2 year-old little girl, Lily, and his brother’s son, Garrett!  So, that was awesome.  I am posting a picture of all the kids together.  We were missing Spencer’s other three kiddos and Branden’s 3 stepchildren, but it was still a nice photo-op. ;)

Granny & Grandad Would Have Been So Proud!

I don’t want to forget to mention that Mom’s friend, Janet, let us stay at her lovely home in Grapevine, just minutes from my cousin’s home, so that was really nice. She is a wonderful hostess.  I think she should have been Polish! ;)

So, I know I’ve been pretty spotty at keeping this blog up, and I read such wonderful blogs maintained by women who have far more to do and many more children than I, but somehow I can’t begin to keep up with them.  (You people know who you are!!)  So, for now, suffice it to say, even though I am going to have some free time on my hands for a few weeks, I plan to spend it ‘documenting the dead’, and still may not get to this blog regularly for a while.  Oh, and I have a couple of movies I plan to go see, too!  The final Harry Potter movie, and Cowboys and Aliens.  (Seriously, how could I NOT go see that last one??)

 

Posted in Family Life, Food and Drink, Genealogy, Kids, Travel, Weblogs | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

One Nation. . .

Posted on 21 June 2011 by Valarie

So, according to NBC, we are no longer “under God” or “indivisible”.  And, to top it all off, they were trying to be patriotic??  If anybody thinks it was unintentional, I want the drugs they are taking!

Posted in Current Affairs, Politics, Sports | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Bridging the Chasm

Posted on 20 June 2011 by Valarie

I have previously lamented the ever-deepening chasm that separates the Left from the Right in this country, and how the two opposing camps are quickly deteriorating into some really nasty name-calling and downright guerilla attack tactics, rather than trying to communicate with one another with dignity and civility. I am seeing this more and more, and the progression is alarming!

It reminds me of the way, in the beginning days of Nazi Germany, people were slowly convinced that Jews were horrible, and even that they were not really human beings.  It started with name-calling and derogatory media coverage.  No facts, mind you, but a lot of really persuasive propaganda.  We all know what followed, once the Masses were convinced that the Jews needed to be exterminated.  And make no mistake:  it happened FAST.

At this point, I am not sure which side is “winning” in the United States.  The Conservatives or the Liberals. The Tea Party or the Coffee Party.  Pro-Life or Pro-Choice.  The one thing I know for sure, and that I think every one of us can agree on, is that each side is firmly convinced that the other side is evil, and therefore must be destroyed.

Point in case:  Friday, I read an article on Weather.com about the “Exceptional Drought” that is being experienced by a large portion of our country.  It was of interest to me, because here in Texas, we have the most acreage affected by this drought. The article, of course, mentioned Global Warming, as one of the many causes contributing to the situation.

When I was done reading the article, I glanced down at the Comments section, and was shocked by the unwarranted attack that the second commenter had leveled against the first guy to post.  I just couldn’t resist putting in my .02.  Here are the first 4 comments (including my own) from the exchange,  which I think is rather interesting, and certainly proves my point.

T.L: (First Commenter, identified as “Texas A&M”, “Commerce, Texas”, and whose picture shows him holding a guitar) – “It would be folly to think that mankind hasn’t had an effect on the environment, including warming patterns, however, one large volcano like the ones in Iceland, Alaska, or the Phillipines puts out more atmospheric damaging gas than all of the creatures of the Earth. What we could all save in ten years of green movement can be wiped out instantly by one of these volcano eruptions.”

D.M.: (Identified as being from “Rockwall High School”) – “I suggest you spend more time in class and less time playing your guitar so you can get your facts straight…”

A.M.: (Identified as from Fashion Institute of Technology) – “Thanks Dustin, you beat me to the punch…”

Me: (Identified as “Domestic Goddess Homeschool Mom”, LOL) – “I think it would be more helpful in general, if opposing sides could be respectful to one another. Do you seriously have to insult a complete stranger, and use such condescending tones, or could you merely present your evidence, and let others make informed decisions. Don’t expect anybody to believe your point of view, no matter how accurate you think you are, unless you present yourself with dignity and not hatefully.”

Now, there have been dozens of comments left after this initial little exchange, but I am only going to include the ones that were directed at me, by using my name:

D.D.: “Well said, Valarie”

J.P.M.: “amen Valerie, amen.”

斯光源 (aka D.S. on his Facebook page): “Valarie I think that is a sweet view, but in all honesty all that matters is the reality of facts. If someone is sweet, kind and filled with dignity, yet devoid of any hard scientific empirical evidence then they are not worth the air they have just wasted spreading lies.” (Note:  I feel sorry for this guy.  He clearly is jaded beyond repair, and not worth further comment.)

G.K.: “Yes, THANK YOU Valarie Westbrook Brooks, for pointing out the obvious. There is a serious lack of civility in discourse today, especially prevalent from those leaning to the “extreme Conservative/Right” side of issues. You made the point well, in an intelligent fashion, with sincerity and integrity, and like a lady – by that I mean as an intelligent, gracious, polite AND very well informed WOMAN. Thank YOU. Good Wishes to you as you continue on your life journey. Peace.”

T.W.: “Well put Valarie, we tend to forget we are in this life all together and a little love for our fellow brothers and sisters goes a long way.”

Altogether, as of this writing, I’ve gotten 287 “Likes”, and one lady added me as her friend on Facebook!  But the one thing I really want to point out is what G.K. had to say to me.  She said that “There is a serious lace of civility in discourse today, especially prevalent from those leaning to the “extreme Conservative/Right” side of issues.”  She also assumed that I was”intelligent” and “well informed“!  However, nothing in my original post gave any indication as to whether or not I was intelligent, well informed, or (and this is the one that I’m hanging my hat on) Liberal!  Consider that she believes that Conservative/Right folks are the vicious ones. Yet, because I was able to present my thoughts in a way that was non-threatening and respectful, it seems that folks just assumed we were on the same side of things!

Let me make this very clear:  I really, really, appreciate G.K.’s thoughts, and especially her good wishes and peace.  I totally honor and receive that!  I merely want to demonstrate that she felt like I was a good guy, because I didn’t attack the other side.  In reality, I totally agree with what the first commenter, T.L., said, and even think that Global Warming is popular science at its worst.  Normally, G.K. and I would never sit on the bus together!  But through mutual respect, we were able to build a bridge.

A great riot was dispersed, in Ephesus at the Temple of Artemis, because the most famous of all Christian evangelists, St. Paul, did not attack or insult the “other side”, as it were.  In the Biblical Book of Acts, Chapter 19:35-37, we have this amazing tale:

“And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky?  Seeing then that these things cannot be contradicted, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess.”

It is always the better choice not to insult the opposition! So, why can’t this happen more often?  Maybe I should start some sort of Facebook Campaign for “Mutual Respect”!  What do you all think?

 

Posted in Current Affairs, Opinion, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

High School, Again??

Posted on 16 June 2011 by Valarie

Somehow, my “Baby” will be starting High School this Fall.  I had been warned that this would happen, that they would all eventually grow up, and I have tried to savor every possible moment so that it couldn’t possibly slip away, and yet, time has stolen away all of those precious childhood days and left me with. . . a teenager!  Actually, Abby is growing into a delightful young lady who I am honored to call my friend. She is more fun than ever, and we still enjoy sewing and crocheting together – when she’s not busy texting her friends with alarming dexterity!

And, this is her last summer before High School!  Wow.  And yes, of course, we are still homeschooling!  I am doing things a bit differently with Abby than I did with the boys, hopefully having learned from my mistakes.  With Kendall, I simply “Forrest Gumped” my way through!  The poor kid did manage to get into the college of his choice (Belmont Abbey) and then finally to graduate from the University of North Carolina-Asheville.  He did the name of our little homeschool justice!  (We named our school “Milagro School” in reference to our Southwestern heritage, as well as to the fact that I figured it was a miracle that I was homeschooling at all!  18 years later, I still feel the same way. ;) )

We used more of an “Unschooling” approach with Alex.  He has always been a challenge!  Nevertheless, he has always managed to test ‘off-the-charts’.  He is planning to attend college in the Fall, but is not sure whether he wants to look at Austin Community College, or Texas A&M.

With both boys, I had to create a High School Transcript, and that was a very stressful thing for me.  It turned out well, in the end, and I cannot begin to tell you how highly I recommend  the “Transcript Pro” software from Inge Cannon.  This time, though, I didn’t want to put myself through all the stress of second-guessing my every move and trying to figure out what courses to take and when.  I don’t know if I’m getting tired, lazy, or maybe just finally humble enough to ask for help, LOL!  I suspect it’s a bit of all three.

So, back to Abby, and her entrance into the world of High School.  After much prayer and research and more prayer, we decided to enroll her in an accredited Private Catholic School.  However, it’s not a ‘brick-and-mortar’ sort of school!  Some folks refer to it as an ‘umbrella school’, or ‘distance education’.  Basically, everything remains the same, except we pay the tuition, they assign a consultant to us, and we work up a plan, and then stick to it!

So, we have chosen a very well-respected school, Mother of Divine Grace, or MODG, for short.  I spent two-and-a-half hours on the phone with our new Consultant, Toni M., the other day, and we have a plan for the next four years!  I already feel better. :)  We will be sending some of her work in, and I will still be administering and grading the rest.  In turn, they provide a transcript and a diploma.

Abby is very happy with this decision, as well.  She wants to be a Forensic Scientist, and is on board with wanting to have a solid High School transcript to present to colleges.  And, she doesn’t know it yet, but we can even order some of those fancy-looking polo shirts or cardigans from Land’s End with the MODG logo on them!

Posted in Family Life, Homeschooling, Kids | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Jesus Said This Would Happen

Posted on 22 May 2011 by Valarie

I really struggled with whether or not to give any publicity to the whole “Judgment Day” thing that’s been going on for the past week or so, but finally decided that I should.

First, since these “prophets” always claim they get their information from the Bible, I think this verse should have been enough to at least give the guy reason to keep his prediction on the “down low”, lest he be wrong (which he was) and alienate even more atheists and non-christians who already have plenty of reasons to mock Christianity:

“But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”
(Matthew 24:36) (RSV)

I actually heard that there were people who were claiming that the word “Son” was not actually capitalized in the original, and therefore, it actually meant “sun”, as in solar.  Really???  I don’t know the original Aramaic words for “son” or “sun”, but I’m gonna just bet they were very different, and not likely to be confused until some uneducated, self-proclaimed ‘theologian’ got ahold of them. Not that it matters.  The whole debate should have been cleared up by the “Father alone” phrase!  My reading on that is that only God knows, and unless you’re God, you don’t know.  Pretty cut and dried.

But there are some other things that really, really concern me.  I am very concerned about all of the people who actually believed in this prediction.  They were misled, and a lot of time, money and resources were wasted.  I am also concerned for the guy that made the misleading prediction.  Clearly, he needs a lot of prayer. This is not his first inaccurate prediction.  Apparently he made a similar one in 1994.  But what bothers me most is how much damage this guy and his followers have done to the image of Christianity!  It’s bad enough that we have those horrid people running around protesting funerals of soldiers!  Now we have to contend with this “End Times” hype.

Now, please understand, I am trying very, very hard to be charitable!  So I am trying to remember that, even though he did a lot of damage in the PR department, he did remind a lot of us to take a closer look at ourselves, and make sure that we are living like we should.  And that is always a good thing.  I am a firm believer that we should try to live every day as if it were our last, and treat everyone we meet as though they were Jesus Himself.

However, I guess I should go ahead and make it clear that I do not believe in the “Rapture”.  In fact, I’d never even heard of such a thing until I left the Catholic church, years ago, and folks in Sunday School were all excited about it.  They explained it to me. I didn’t buy it. I read the “Left Behind” books, which I consider bad fiction and utter nonsense. I still didn’t buy it.  When I finally went back to the Catholic Church, I discovered that they consider the notion of a “Rapture”  heresy!  (It was good to be home, where things made sense.)  Rather than go into all the pre-trib, mid-trib and post-trib stuff, I am going to just post a couple of links that discuss the subject better than I could.

“Raptured or Not? A Catholic Understanding”

“The Rapture”

So, I’m sorry that so many people were disappointed by another false prophet.  But Jesus said that would happen. (See Matthew 7).

Posted in Current Affairs, Religion | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Armored Yard Bandits

Posted on 17 May 2011 by Valarie

Okay, this post should probably go under the “Only In Texas” section, but I thought my title was a bit more catchy, LOL!  We have been absolutely baffled by a phenomenon that keeps taking place in our front yard.  We keep finding these weird holes, all over the yard, like somebody took a garden spade and randomly attacked our lawn with it!  We considered gophers, but the holes were too small, and we considered voles or moles, but the holes were too large.  Meanwhile, our grass is being annihilated!!

Well, last weekend, Gaylon was outside working on our yard, and got to talking with our neighbor, Rick.  He told him about these mysterious happenings in our front yard, and Rick told him he knew the source of our problem.  Armadillos.  No, really.  Armadillos!

So, Gaylon comes into the house and tells me he has discovered what’s been going on in the front yard.  I said “Okay. . .?”  He said “Armadillos!”  I stared at him with my mouth hanging open for a few stunned moments.  “What?????  Are you serious?”  (I mean, how could he possibly be serious, right?)  He went on to explain to me that armadillos love grubs, and they come over from the field across the way and dig around in our yard for grubs!

Nine-Banded Armadillo

Well, I needed more information!  This was too weird to be true, so I checked on Garden.com, and sure enough: armadillos do indeed sneak into people’s yards at night and destroy them by foraging around for grubs and other small insects that live in the grass.  According to Garden.com:

Anyone who has had an Armadillo in their yard knows just how much destruction can occur if left unchecked. Armadillos will tear up turf, nest under slabs and eat just about anything around your home.

Armadillos love to nest in rock piles, around trees or shrubs and under slabs. Their burrows are usually 15 to 25 feet long and cause extreme damage to tree roots. In many cases, this damage leads to the tree dying. These same burrows can lead to flooding when dug around crawl spaces and can undermine patio slabs or walkways. This weakening ultimately leads to the concrete falling apart and breaking. Armadillos are strong diggers and rely on this strength for food and shelter. They are attracted to tasty fruit which may be found in a garden or compost pile. Once they start coming around, expect them to return every night as they are mostly nocturnal. They like to establish “runs” where they will travel every night expecting to find food.

Lawns which are left untended will often develop beetle grub populations which will certainly attract armadillos from far and wide. Earthworms are another food source they like and either grubs or worms can be found by digging up sod, raking away leaves, moving carefully laid wood chips or bark, or simply digging frantically until such food is found. Either way, the mess they leave is aggravating, damaging and never ending once it begins.

Armadillos mate in the fall and have their young around February or March. Almost every litter will have identical quadruplets. These miniature adults are ready to walk, swim and behave much like their parents. By the end of the summer, they, too, will be wreaking havoc in the neighborhood!

OMG!!!!!  So, if we don’t take action now, our lawn is going to look post-apocalyptic by September!  Never mind the fact that they could weaken and destroy the foundation of the house.  Garden.com recommends trying to eliminate the food source first, as a passive means, or taking more aggressive steps by trapping them or shooting them! (Our neighbor, bless his little Texan heart, warned Gaylon that if he shot them, he should use a silencer!!)

Well, I do think they are sort of cute, in a “it’s-so-ugly-it’s-cute” sort of way, and am very much opposed to shooting them, no matter how much Gaylon swears to me that they taste like chicken.  So, I think we will start trying to kill off the grubs, and hopefully they will go away.

I have to say, though, that I really wish I had some night-vision camera equipment.  I would definitely set it up and film these little bandits!!

PHOTO: nine-banded armadillo by Robert Hosker – Fotolia.com

Posted in Family Life, Only In Texas | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Birthday Time!

Posted on 14 May 2011 by Valarie

When my daughter turned one, we threw a small, family party for her, and fed her chocolate cake.  She promptly smeared it all over her face and high chair!  We laughed, and took pictures. (What else?)  Then, for the next year, she would sing a little sing-song chant, and we had no idea what she was talking about.  It sounded like “HAP-uh-day”.

Well, DUH!  On her second birthday, when we brought out the cake and presents she immediately started singing “Hap-uh-day”, and we suddenly realized that she had been trying to sing “Happy Birthday” all that time!  Her enthusiasm for birthdays has not diminished in the last twelve years, either.  Today, she is FOURTEEN.  Wow.  I can’t believe it.  And, she is my baby, so that means that the child-rearing chapter in our lives is truly rushing toward it’s close, which saddens me greatly.  However, today, we celebrate!

And it’s working out so nicely, because there is a concert/dance at our church tonight, and we are going to set up a table just for Abby and her friends, and I will furnish it with the Birthday Girl’s favorite homemade Italian Cream Cake. :)   So, she gets to hang out with all of her friends and dance to a live band, and all I have to do is bake a cake.  What a deal!! ;)

My great-aunt called me last night, and when I told her our plans, she said “Did you say ‘Dance at church‘?”  I said, “Yes”.  She told me my great-grandfather, James Russell Hamilton, would have been scandalized!  I said “Weren’t y’all Baptist?”, and she said “Oh, yes.  The non-dancing kind.  The no-card-playing kind!”  She went on to explain to me that the first deck of cards allowed in their home was when her older sister, Alma’s, husband, John Kane, brought a deck inside the house!

I told her that being able to dance at church was one of the perks of being Catholic!  She was quick to assure me that my great-grandfather was very strict, but they didn’t mind, because he was so kind, and didn’t push his beliefs on others.  I said I thought he sounded very cool, because my dad really didn’t have any beliefs to push on anyone.  She agreed that her dad was, indeed, very “cool”.  :D I sure wish I had met him.

Anyway, our “little” birthday girl is going to have a lot of wonderful suprises today, and it should be a great evening.  L’Angelus, a Cajun Band, is performing tonight at our church, and she will have lots of fun.  We all will!

Happy Birthday, Abby!!

 

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Memory Lane

Posted on 7 May 2011 by Valarie

I have been in North Carolina all week, and it has been such an odd experience!  I have traveled 1100 miles, and yet, I feel so at home here, that it feels very much like I’ve not gone anywhere at all!  Abby and I are the only ones who came out here, and we’ve had a really great trip together. :)

I do love it here: I love the trees, the mountains, the cool air, and most of all, the wonderful people! I do miss my friends here, and have been fortunate enough to get to see many of them.  The official reason for my visit was to come out to Joey Armstrong’s graduation from Appalachian State University.  Joe is Kendall’s best friend, since I can’t remember when, and the two of them are almost like Siamese twins!  Joey spent probably as much time in my kitchen growing up as he did in his own mother’s kitchen, and Kendall certainly spent more than his fair share of time over at the Armstrongs. There was no way I could miss his graduation!

When we moved to Texas, since Kendall was a newlywed, it was Joey who drove one of the Penske trucks to Austin for us!  It was Joey’s mom, Kim, who came and collected all of Kendall’s sooty and moldy clothes after our house burned down.  She took them home, and washed them until they came clean.  I can never repay her. (Probably couldn’t afford the laundry soap alone!)  When Gaylon moved out to Texas, eighteen months before the rest of us joined him, it was Joey and his dad, Joe, who came to the house to see him off.  To say that this family has a special place in my heart would not even come close to doing it justice.

So, while it was Joey’s graduation that got me here, I have certainly used the time to visit my friends.  I stayed a night first of all at Kendall and Lishi’s townhome, and that was a lot of fun.  It is certainly a new experience to go out of town and stay at my son’s home!!  They were very gracious hosts, and even gave me their bed to sleep in, so my back wouldn’t hurt so much.

I spent the next couple of nights at Lisa’s.  And I have to say, when I walked in her door, it felt like I’d just gotten home.  For the last seventeen years of my life, her home has been my one ‘constant’ place of refuge.  While we moved all over the place, and our house burned down, and we were virtual vagabonds, Lisa’s house was always a place I could go and be totally myself, and know I was safe. Period.  I know there are a lot of people who never find a place like that, or a friend like Lisa, and I am sorry for them.  I cannot begin to imagine how miserable and empty my world would be without her!  (Or her family. . . I love them all so dearly, and miss them more than I could ever express!)

The last few nights I’ve been staying with my friend, Tiffany, who doesn’t ask any questions, and expects nothing from me.  She also got up early the first morning I was here and baked the most amazing banana muffins and made fresh coffee.  Spoiled doesn’t even begin to cover how well I’m being treated!!

I’ve had dinner with Joanne, lunch with Trish, and spent a delightful evening tonight at the Torres’ home, another place that I love walking into!  I just am overwhelmed with how blessed I am to have such amazing friends, who love and care for me so much.  I do not deserve them, but I sure am grateful they love me anyway!

I also went by to visit my precious friends at Van’s Chocolates.  I confess it was difficult for me to go there, because I am a coward and I am so selfish, but I am so grateful that I did.  Russ Vanderlois, the amazing “Candy Man” at Van’s, lost his battle with cancer last August, a week after we got to Texas. There have been precious few people in my life that mattered to me as much as Russ.  If I could have picked my own father, it would have been him.  He was far from perfect, and I’m afraid he’d come back to haunt me if I didn’t tell you that.  But he was so good to me and my family, and welcomed us as part of his own family.  I will always feel a void just because he is not on this planet with us any longer!

I am so glad I stopped by there to see the rest of the family!  They blessed me so much with their warmth and love, and as I sat there looking around the back of the candy store, with the big machines and the smell of chocolate permeating the air, I remembered exactly how much I love being there, and I swear, I could feel Russ there, too.  And it was so nice to sit down and catch up with Peg, Christy, Bryan, and Bertha.  I really didn’t want to ever leave.  (And considering that I locked my keys in my car there, I almost didn’t leave, LOL)

So now, my trip is winding down.  Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, and Kendall said he wants to grill out for me over here at Tiffany’s.  I think that sounds wonderful!  Monday afternoon, we fly home.  I am not looking forward to that flight at all, but I am trusting that God will take care of us.

Posted in Family Life, Friends, Travel | 2 Comments

Crazy News

Posted on 29 April 2011 by Valarie

I got a manicure today, and they always have the television set on CNN, so I actually watched the news today.  I have sort of been avoiding it, because it’s just so darned depressing most of the time, and it never seems to get any better.  But I was truly shocked and saddened by the things I learned today.

I am horrified to learn of the monster tornado that (as of 6:00 pm when I left the nail salon) killed 326 people as it trekked over 200 miles through 7 states across my beloved South!  My heart goes out to all of the victims, and we are definitely lifting them up in prayer.

I was shocked and saddened to learn that Rev. David Wilkerson, Pentecostal preacher, founder of Teen Challenge and author of The Cross and the Switchblade, was killed in a car accident yesterday, here in Texas.  I am obviously not Pentecostal (although we did attend Pentecostal services for several years during the time we were out of the Catholic Church) but I have always had the utmost respect and admiration for David Wilkerson.  He was the real thing, and I know he will be missed.

Texas is still burning, too.  Authorities have responded to 7,807 wildfires since the season began in  mid-December, and more than 1.5 million acres have burned.  We are desperate for rain, while there is flooding in the Ohio River Valley!  We really need some balance here!!!

I’m sure there is more, but I’ll stop.  In the midst of all of this terrible news, it seems that Prince William has married Princess Kate.  While I do wish them well, as I do all young newlyweds, I simply couldn’t care less about what the “Royals” are doing, and am certainly not going to wake up at 4:00 in the morning to watch them do it!  And the thought I kept having, as CNN kept flashing scenes from their excessively opulent nuptials, was that all of that money could have been put to much better use.

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Butter!

Posted on 22 April 2011 by Valarie

I don’t have a lot of time to write anything deep and meaningful, and with today being Good Friday I feel like I should. However, I am very happy to announce that my butter molds turned out perfectly this year!

I use real wooden butter molds from Poland. The secret to getting the butter to come out perfectly? Food grade mineral oil. We oiled the molds for several days then froze them for an hour or so before putting the butter in them. This morning, the little forms just popped right out of the molds!!! I had to take a picture to share:

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Polish Butter Molds

 

On a more meaningful note, I do pray that all of you have a very holy Good Friday, and an amazingly blessed Easter!

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Holy Week

Posted on 17 April 2011 by Valarie

I am honestly not sure if it’s the fact that news is so readily available, or perhaps that I’m older now, and so I pay somewhat more attention to it than I used to, but it does seem to me that the news lately has been exceptionally awful. And I am very much NOT an “End Times” person, but the following Scripture verse does come to mind:

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places:  all this is but the beginning of the sufferings.” ~Matthew 24:6-8

Well, how can I help but think of those verses when I hear about uprisings in Egypt and Libya and earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan and then the fatal rash of tornadoes right here in the United States over the past few days?  Oh, and let’s not forget all the wildfires burning, primarily here in Texas!

“See that you are not alarmed.” Um, okay.  That’s pretty difficult!  Yet, today is Palm Sunday, the commemoration of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem for the Passover, when he rode in on a donkey like a rock star, with wild adulation from the crowds, who would so quickly turn on him less than a week later and demand his death. And really, today, roughly 2000 years later, the crowds are still demanding his death!  Our crowds today are not Pharisee-incited mobs of Jews, but “Liberals” who need to ‘kill’ Jesus so that their way of life can be affirmed:  the pro-choice folks, gay activists, radical Sharia Muslims, socialists and atheists.  Yet we are not to be alarmed.

And that brings me back to Holy Week.  Holy Week gives us the opportunity to focus on what matters.  On what really matters.  Sometimes it seems that all the news is so bad, and that there is no hope in sight. But that is not accurate.  The news that Jesus is very, very real, and that He really did ride triumphantly into Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago, and the events that followed – the Last Supper, his Passion, and His Resurrection are the real news.  It is news that is so amazing that it must be shared, again and again, year after year, because no matter how bad all the other news may seem to be, it cannot eclipse this amazing Truth!  And each year, we recall these powerful and mystical events, beginning with Palm Sunday, all the way through this Holy Week, culminating with Easter!

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