Ramblin 's and ruminations about the events in our lives . Thank you for stopping by . It 's a pleasure to have you here and I hope you enjoy your visit . Y ' all come back now , hear ? . . . . . ( ( crickets ) ) We had our family thanksgiving dinner on the last Saturday in November this year . It turned out nice . It was almost perfect . Almost . . . Katie complimented me on my potato salad and dressing . That made me feel good . Nobody else seems to notice my cooking unless it is bad . If I burn something I usually tell them it 's Cajun cooking . The boys used to believe the smoke detector was my timer . That meant dinner was always burnt . Ah , good times ! Anyway , it 's time to plan the next wave of this holiday season , the one I hate the most , Christmas . It 's always been about the money and some one - upmanship game I don 't care to play . But I do like the feasts . I love rubbing elbows with people and catching up with them as we jockey around the dessert table . I love being with family . It reminds me of other times and other holidays and makes me hope for many more with these sweet and wonderful people . The older I get , the more I realize that 's what is important . This has been a year of change and reaching out . I am learning to treasure every moment . I just hope we don 't have any more stress because it makes me blow my gasket . We 're taking Katie and Scout to the Cracker Barrel this weekend to celebrate their birthdays . They are only two days apart . I can 't wait . Donny wanted to take a trip to Ellijay so we planned a family outing . Scout and Katie wanted to go . We all piled into the old Merc and rode over Fort Mountain . Ellijay is on the other side of the mountain . Ellijay hosts an apple festival in October every year . Donny stopped at the top of the mountain to enjoy the view . The fall colors were on full display and there was snow laying in shady patches . Bennett was excited . Well , Katie was really excited . Katie gets excited about everything . It 's all new to her . Donny didn 't feel good last year when we went to the Ellijay apple festival so we had to cut our trip short . I think that 's why Donny was determined to go back to Ellijay this year . It 's a man thing . I reckon . I 'm just glad he 's up and around . We had a heck of a scare this year . Donny , Katie , Scout and Bennett posed for me at the mountain overlook . It looks like Bennett is mesmerized with the view . I don 't blame him . That 's a long , long way down . Donny looks like Popeye . That must be where Scout got that look . Maybe that 's Don 's pirate face . Aaarrrgg ! We came home by another route . We got apples and other goodies at the Red Apple Barn ( Hwy 76 ) on our way home . I 'm glad I can eat fruit because we bought lots of apples . They didn 't last long though . It appears I 'm not the only one who likes fruit . I went to a class for diabetics at the Hamilton Diabetes Center last week and they stressed the importance of eating a balanced diet and fruit is part of a balanced diet . An RN talked to us about diabetes . She also had a nutritionist and and ophthalmologist talk to us . The nutritionist had fake food and portion sizes to help us visualize healthy servings . I haven 't got there yet but I am trying . The ophthalmologist told of dangers to our eyes and the importance of having a dilated eye exam every year . You have to take care of your teeth and feet , too . Diabetes affects every part of the body . It 's scary . It made me want to take care of myself from now on . That is why I 'm exercising and trying to stay away from the sweets . Wish me luck in my new journey to become healthy again as I wish every one of you the same fortune in your own life . This won 't be easy but the apples will help . So does the support of friends . If you think I 'm rambling now you should be listening inside my head . HAPPY BIRTHDAY I 've been through the ringer here lately . I had to go to the gynecologist for my physical and he sent me to a general practitioner who did blood work on me . I thought it was hormones . Instead , I found out I have diabetes and high cholesterol and they put me on medication . I 'm trying to get plenty of exercise so I recruited a couple of friends to go walking with me . Donny was borderline diabetic and lost lots of weight and was able to come off of his medicine . I hope I can bring my blood sugar down and do the same if I lose weight . We 'll see . Just about everyone in the family has had to go to the doctor here lately . Colt got busted in the head with a 2x4 and nearly had a concussion last week . He should have gone to a doctor but he came home and rested all day . Even old Buddy is getting into the act . We took him for his physical and to get more flea and heartworm medicine . The vet said he had a couple of abscessed teeth that needed to come out so we have to go back again for surgery . Between him , and me , and Donny , and Mama it seems like we 're going to the doctor all the time . Sometimes I get to feeling sorry for myself but I think about all the people I know who are facing bigger challenges than I am and I count my blessings . I look around me and think how thankful I am to have my husband and my mother in my life . They are two of the strongest people I know . They had a lot of health problems this year but , no matter what obstacles they face , they soldier on . I don 't know who signed me up for this roster of hospitals and illnesses but I wish they 'd take me off the list . I 've done my time . Halloween certainly won 't be quite as jolly this year , and Lord knows I 'm not going to be happy and I 'm going to be tempted on Thanksgiving . It was always my favorite holiday . I only hope I survive the holidays this year . My sweet tooth is my downfall . Mama called me the other day to tell me she got a call from Daddy . We got her a new phone with an alert button she could program two phone numbers into . She has it set with Katie 's and my number in case of an emergency . She wears the medallion around her neck . It announces the phone number and the caller 's name if we have it programmed into it . She said the phone rang and announced the caller was Roy Burchfield . It repeated the name again before she answered the call . She heard a connection before it went dead and she heard a dial tone . Spooky , huh ? Well ! Color me confused . I tried to call my doctor to make an appointment but kept getting a busy signal on Friday . I tried over the weekend and got another busy signal . I was becoming obsessed with trying to reach the doctor so I tried to call him again on Monday . I had finally surmised that there was something wrong with this picture because I 've never called a doctor 's office after hours without reaching their answering service . Today it all came together . The doctor has retired and left me in the dark . Now , where will I turn ? I don 't like breaking in a new doctor . They make me nervous . Frankly , I don 't even like doctors . You can imagine why after the year I had . Mama 's sister , Mary Jane came to visit with her all last week . She is a joy to be around . Mary 's been living in Savannah with her son , Alex , and his family . Mama invited Mary to stay with her until my aunt , Patsy , could come get her . She 's going to stay with Patsy in Illinois for a while . I think Mary was good company for Mama , and vice versa . My cousin , Donna , came to get her . They headed back north this morning . Mary Jane had intended to fly out from Atlanta to visit Pat a couple of months ago but she got confused and never got on the plane . Mary is developing dementia . Mary didn 't worry about missing her plane because the flight staff took her under their wing and invited her to their private lounge and took care of her . She was supposed to be supervised by the airline so they probably worried about getting in trouble for not getting her on her right flight . Her son had to drive all the way back to Atlanta to pick her back up . If you didn 't know Mary Jane you wouldn 't know anything was wrong with her but her memory is not good any longer . She 's a big cut up and enjoys being around people . Her mistake was almost as good as a vacation . We bought the guttering Saturday and they had it up on Sunday . Not bad for a project we 've put off for years , I 'd say . The fascia board on the back of the house has to be cleaned and then they can finish the job . I 'm almost embarrassed to admit I wish it would rain . I can 't wait to test them out . I went to the cemetery the other day . I was going to see my aunt 's grave . She was buried beside her first husband and her daughter 's grave . She passed away in January . My cousin was just twenty years old when she died mysteriously at home . They never did find a definite cause for her death . She was married to a guy who did some awful things after she died and I guess the family decided not to leave the gravestone like the original one with her husband 's name on it . When I went up there I saw Donna 's new headstone . The old double stone had been removed . I say good riddance and good for Donna . Her life was cut too short for her and she wasn 't married long enough time to endure his name for all eternity . I have little doubt that Donna would have divorced her husband if she had lived long enough . I will always hate the way she passed away . Donna deserved someone to love her and honor her . When we pieced together the last events in her life we became aware of several puzzling and heartbreaking episodes she had to endure . Her husband spread rumors and lies around the family and had us all questioning his motives . We will never have all the answers we were searching for but I am thankful Donna won 't be going through all eternity shrouded under that other name . She was too good for him . Her legacy shouldn 't be entwined with him forevermore . If Donna had of survived she would be fifty - five years old this year . It 's hard to imagine her as an old woman but it 's harder remembering her as a young girl on the brink of life before it was cut short . I wonder how she would have turned out if she had lived . It 's a never ending cycle . I 'm always thinking about ' what if ' . It 's an endless game . I love picnics but I can never get anybody to go with me . I thought my friends who started going out on a ' girls night out ' would go with me so I bought a few Susan G . Komen pink ribbon coolers to give to them . I gave one cooler to a friend and told her I wanted all of us to go on a picnic sometime . I was going to give the other gals their coolers when I saw them but I never heard from them again . I don 't know what I did to piss them off . I don 't care anymore . I ended up doling out the pink coolers to my boys . I thought it was a hoot seeing Scout wagging a pink cooler around . I bet he made a lasting impression on anybody who saw him at work but I doubt the cows cared . Sometimes it 's good to be a manual worker . He is a fencer . He 's put up hundreds of fences over the years . Every year I try to entice someone to go on a picnic with me . I try to get Donny to go with me but he 's not interested . I 've tried to talk Scout and Colt into going but they don 't care , either . I thought I might have to go on a picnic by myself if I ever wanted to go . The other day I thought , " I know . I 'll ask Katie . She and Bennett might want to go on a picnic . " It was very spur of the moment . I sent her a message the night before and told her to call me in the morning . You don 't know me but if you did you would know I am not a morning person . Heck , I 'm not much of a day person . If I ever became a vampire not much would change . Most people don 't want to wake me in the morning . Even though Katie knows my reputation , she promised to wake me at ten . Katie called and promised to come over that morning . She and Bennett piled into the old Buick and we picked up some KFC , aka Kentucky Fried Chicken , and went to the Calhoun Recreation Center . There were people at the pool but the ball parks were empty and there weren 't many people around . We found a nice picnic shed near the river and spread out our meal on the cement table . I used a red checkered fitted twin sheet . It fit perfectly ! I was so happy being with my sweet new family and sharing a quiet , tranquil day together . It was like heaven . It was a mild , peaceful day . A cool breeze was blowing . We sat in the shade of the tall shade trees and could look all around the park . Some people were walking around the road , exercising . Another couple took their picnic closer to the water . Katie , and Bennett , and I walked along the curved river admiring the wide deep stream after we ate . If the water hadn 't been cloudy in places you wouldn 't know there was probably run off from the plants that butt up against the backside of the recreation center . If I hadn 't been afraid of chemicals , I would have wanted to splash around in the water . A man made dam created a mini - waterfall in one area . Poor Bennett was beside himself because he wanted to go play with the other kids but there weren 't a bunch of other kids around . Most of them were at the swimming pool . We saw one lone little girl playing on a slide on the playground as we were leaving . He will be so glad when he finally makes some friends at school . His dreams will come true soon . Oh God ! Wouldn 't you know it ? I broke my reading glasses . I ran down to the dollar store to pick up a pair but I couldn 't decide which strength I needed so I picked the strongest pair . I thought that was what I needed but by the time I got home and tried them on everything seemed too big and too bright . It made me dizzy . I know these aren 't like my old glasses . I guess I have to run back to the dollar store again and throw more money away trying to get the right glasses . My friend , Piette , picked on me because she knows I 'm tight and I don 't like wasting money on crap . The only problem with that is that I am always doing something stupid and wasting money . I thaw things out and forget to take them out of the microwave . I did that the other day . I also forget to water my plants or feed my pets all the time . I don 't mean to be inefficient , I just haven 't had the will to do anything . Every time I plan anything , something happens and sets me back again . I quit feeding the birds outside when Daddy got sick . I was away from home too much and didn 't have time to take care of them all the time . I wanted to hang our hummingbird feeders out this spring but everything has been so hectic I haven 't even tried . I 'm a total spaz and I admit my life isn 't very efficient right now . The other day I planned on going to the dentist so I got up and got ready . I had plenty of time to get to Dalton but when I tried to crank my car it wouldn 't start . I couldn 't even get it to turn over . I called the dentist 's office to tell them I was having trouble . When I couldn 't get a ride , they rescheduled my appointment . I 'm glad because I was afraid they would gripe at me for not taking care of my teeth . I 've been neglecting them , too . I 'm not the only one that 's having problems keeping up with things . Mama had two doctor 's appointments this week and went to one a day early . I can 't keep up with her , or Donny , or even myself . That 's why I depend my FlyLady calendar so I can keep up with all the appointments and I 'm also learning to use my cell phone for stuff like that . Now I need to remember to record everything . Katie told me everybody seemed to be having a streak of bad luck . Scout and Colt broke down in Bob 's truck and were stranded for about an hour before they got the truck running again to get back to Bob 's . They were late getting home that day . Katie and Bennett and I finally made a trip to Big Lots and I bought a couple of pairs of reading glasses . I liked the weaker strength reading glasses . I got a pair of glasses for three dollars . That 's what I call a deal ! I guess Piette was right . I am cheap . I feel about a hundred percent better than I did a few days ago . I 'm finally walking upright again . Better still , I don 't need my cane . I 'm still taking aspirin though . They take the edge off my pain but I hope I don 't get addicted . I hate popping pills . Katie and I made another trek to the store later on this week . This time we went to Fred 's . We planned on making a day of it until Donny called and said he was locked out of the house . We had to come home and let him inside . I didn 't mind . We had already had lunch at the Great Wall . It 's a local Chinese restaurant . That was a real treat . I guess you have to take your fun where you can get it I couldn 't find my keys today . I was going to go with Mama to her doctor . I called to tell her why I wasn 't at her house yet but she had already left me and was in the parking lot . She is so impatient . I guess when you get old you have to be . You don 't know how much time you have left . Oh boy ! Will the fun ever end ? AS ALWAYS I 've been gone way too long . Believe me , it wasn 't because I didn 't want to be here . It was because I met a little adversity of my own . I 've been staggering around like a zombie for , going on , two weeks now . I hate to admit it but I hurt myself getting out of the chair . I was sitting at the dining room table and started to get up when a sharp pain hit me in my left buttocks . I know it sounds crazy but it made me want to cry . I must have injured my sciatic nerve . I 've been dragging myself from room to room on my walking cane . It 's the same one I used when I stepped backwards off a ladder a long time ago . Anyway , I 've been hobbling around on the little black walking cane that my parents found laying on the ground in Minnesota when they went to the Mayo Clinic years ago . It has sentimental value . I like it because it 's adjustable . Donny used it when he got out of the hospital after his bypass . In the beginning I could barely get around . I was lucky because Donny was home that week . He had just had his defibrillator surgery and was home recuperating . He was able to help me get up and down . I can 't believe how helpless you can feel when you 're not able to do anything for yourself . I told my mother I had a whole new empathy for her since this happened . Now I understand why she got so frustrated when she couldn 't do anything for herself . Walking just a few steps seems like too much of a challenge . Donny was so good to me . He went to the drug store to buy me a heat pad and pick up some medicine for me . Mama also contributed with her salves and gadgets . She generously lent me her infrared lamp and massage machine . Now I understand and now I get it . It 's not enough to just help somebody . It 's important to understand what they are going through when they are sick or restricted . It 's awful . Independence is gone , leaving you at the mercy of others . I was hoping that things would be looking up by summer . I thought I might finally get the house painted , mow a lot , get in shape , what have you . Instead I 've been given another curve ball . So , to answer your question , " No , this hasn 't been a very exciting fourth of July and I don 't feel very independent . The groom got a new car . How do you like it ? I think it 's H - O - T ! And it 's red . What 's not to like ? Scout , bless his heart , gave the old Mercury to his daddy . Now we have reliable wheels to go to Chattanooga next week for Don 's defibrillator . I can 't understand why Scout didn 't just lend us the Firebird . Can you ? Mama is improving by leaps and bounds . I am so proud of her . I knew you couldn 't keep the old crow down for long . She quit using her oxygen so she could get around easier and she started feeling better . She hasn 't needed the wheelchair around the house and was only using her walker until today . The therapist is letting her use a cane . Mama is able to take care of herself and do the laundry . She 's getting back to normal . Nothing can hold Mama back but I hope she doesn 't overdo it . She 's awfully stubborn . Katie and I like to do things together . Today I rode to the feed store with her to get goat food for Vinnie and Beatrice . We went to 41 Feed and Garden Center . One of my former beaus owns the store . I mentioned how sweet he was and the fact that he gave me an orchid when we went to the band banquet . I was only fourteen . He must have loved flowers even back then . He was a nice guy and he still is . That 's why I try to buy something from him every year . We got the sweet feed and a leather collar for Vinnie then we left . Katie asked me to help her put the goat food up when we got back to the house and we went into the upholstery room to put the food in a trashcan . Katie 's white cat was in the upholstery shop so she started looking for her . Katie found the cat and three little kitties that were in a sack . Mama would have a cow if she found out . She can 't stand Katie 's cat . She 's not going to like her kitties any better . Tomorrow I 'm going to take Mama to the doctor for blood tests . I hope it goes smoothly . Last time Mama was impatient and I was grouchy . I chewed out the nurse because we waited nearly two hours . I make a lousy patient advocate because I am not patient . The only good thing about having me for an advocate it that if you want someone to speak up for you , I will . But that 's also one of the bad things about me . If you want me to be quiet and pipe down , you 're probably going to be disappointed in me . I 've decided to be honest and upfront with medical people and they can either prove me wrong or do what they 're supposed to do . I want the truth and respect . Part of that respect entails not keeping a patient waiting nearly two hours . It took some talking but the nurse finally apologized for the delay . Donny woke me last Saturday and told me the tree cutters were outside . I jumped up and got dressed as quick as I could . They had already butchered one of my magnolia trees . I pitched a fit and asked them why the hell do they always want to cut our damn magnolias ! I have fought to protect them for over twenty five years now and it 's getting old . I don 't care what anybody tells you , when they butcher a magnolia tree it never grows back right . The trees up the road look horrible because they cut them using the Shigo tree trimming method . I call it the " Shit - Go ! " method because it looks like shit and ruins the trees integrity . They never go back to looking like they should . Magnolia trees should not be trimmed . Our trees have had the lower branches cut off . They were like that when we moved here . That 's why we can stand under the trees and walk around underneath them . Most magnolias have branches so low they touch the ground . Ours don 't and they never will . Most trees have sprouts when branches are cut off but magnolias don 't regenerate like that . That 's why I get so enraged when someone comes along and cuts our trees . Sometimes I feel grouchy like a bear . Sometimes it 's a good idea to stay out of my way . I feel that way here lately . Somebody has become too pushy and I 've only just met them . Let me get one thing straight up front . Ain 't nobody gonna start pushing my buttons and getting pushy with me on the internet . I am an American woman , by God , and I don 't take shit off of nobody . Never have , never will . That 's my motto and it 's been my motto for a long time so I don 't see any sense in changing it now . Like the dear comic genius Jim Carey said in The Cable Guy " I can be your best friend , or I can be your worst enemy . You seem to prefer the latter . " And as David Banner aka The Hulk was known to say , " Don 't make me mad . You wouldn 't like me when I 'm mad . " I have a hard time dealing with people sometimes and I think internet friendships are strange anyway . I am , and have always been , a stick in the mud . I can only reach out so far , and that 's plenty enough . Here 's the question . What makes people reach out to strangers from other countries . And why the hell do they pick people ? I have had several people from other countries who take an interest in me , and I wonder why . I am not particularly entertaining . I 'm about as exciting as watching wet cement dry . I am not talented , industrious , or anything . I am just a regular big mouth who enjoys spreading the word . I have several interests , some more than others , and they can fluctuate from one to the other . I am nothing more than an armchair activist although I do see several heroes in the world making a small or large difference in their own way . I really respect these people . They are compassionate . Whether it is a cat lover , or a dog lover , or an animal activist for all animals , or an environmentalist , or a whistleblower , or a conspiracy theorist , or a gun control advocate , or an intactivist who opposes circumcision , I admire you all . You have amazingly big hearts and respect all living creatures . You exert more compassion for your fellow humans than the rest of us do . I think it takes people with big , loving hearts to make a better future for us all . Until we all work to make the future better for all people , not just ourselves , we will never get back to creating Utopia . In the sixties , I thought we were on our way . Nowadays I wonder where the hell all the hippies went . Tomorrow is another day . I guess I 'll deal with my problem the way I always do . With tact and manners . After all , I can be gracious when I want to be . Finally , I have some good news to report . Today we celebrated the wedding of my oldest son , Scout , and his beautiful bride , Katie . They were united in marriage in a simple but tasteful ceremony in my mother 's backyard . It was a small ceremony with close friends and family . Mama was there , Colt was the best man , and Katie 's best friend was the bridesmaid . Bennett even had a part in the ceremony . We had set up tables for the guests under the shade trees but didn 't get to use them . Too bad we didn 't get to stick to our original plans . We moved the celebration inside when it looked like rain . Fortunately it never came a downpour . Last year we celebrated Mama 's birthday . Daddy always gave Mama a surprise party for her birthday . This year we are having another kind of party . A party to celebrate the joining of two families together . I wish Daddy was here to celebrate with us . He would have loved Katie . HAPPY BIRTHDAY They say no news is good news but that 's not necessarily true . Sometimes it 's just a sign that you are so busy handling the crap in your life that you don 't have time to sit down and talk about it . For nearly a month I have been running around taking care of my mother and trying to do everything I can for her . It seems like every time we think things are looking up something else happens . Mama broke her leg in April and had to stay in ICU for several days . Then she was moved into rehab for about three weeks . She started having spells where she couldn 't breathe at night so they sent her back to the hospital . What they thought was panic attacks turned out to be fluid built up around her heart and she had to stay in the hospital for nearly a week . The doctor didn 't release her until I pitched a fit . He told her she was going to go home but we didn 't hear any more from him all that day . I left the hospital to switch cars so that Mama could ride in her car . It has air conditioning . I also went by the place that was going to provide oxygen for her to see if the doctor had sent them a work order . The healthcare company called the room at the hospital around five o ' clock to see if she was coming home . I told them I would contact the doctor 's office to see what the holdup was all about . I called the doctor 's office but couldn 't talk to the doctor who was supposed to release her . I talked to the doctor on call . She told me to get the nurse to page the doctor because he was at the hospital making rounds . By this time I was becoming irate . The healthcare service provider promised to bring an oxygen tank to the hospital and take an oxygenator and wheelchair to her house even though they closed at five . When the doctor finally came into her room he tried to blame the delay on the healthcare services provider for not bringing her oxygen sooner . I wasn 't having any of that crap and told him we had been waiting since eight o ' clock that morning to be released and I had made sure everything was ready for her . I told him I had even stopped by the business to make sure they were going to bring her oxygen tanks . He still tried to blame them . I told him they weren 't the ones responsible for signing the release papers and he couldn 't blame them . I knew exactly who to blame . He said he was never going to use them again . It wasn 't his choice . We had chosen them . He finally said he was used to getting blamed for things so he guessed he would take the blame . Yeah , right ! If he is used to being blamed for things he needs to reevaluate his work ethic . Something is seriously wrong . Life goes on . Scout and Katie are planning an outdoor wedding under the grape arbor at Mama 's house . I want Mama to feel well enough to attend the wedding and be a part of the celebration . Katie has been invaluable to us throughout everything . She even went with Donny to the doctor in Tennessee the other day for his appointment to find out about having a permanent defibrillator surgically installed . I was at the hospital busy wrestling with Mama 's doctor at the time . Have you ever seen those commercials where the old lady is laying in the floor hollering , " Help ! I 've fallen and I can 't get up ? " I always admonish my mama to keep her cellphone on her so she won 't be helpless like that old woman on TV . I 'm glad she listened . I got a call last Sunday . Katie told me to get to Mama 's house right away . She had fallen . Mama tried to call us but couldn 't get anyone . Scout found her and called 911 . We rushed up there in time to see her being loaded into an ambulance . They took Mama to the hospital to examine her . She broke her leg . The doctor couldn 't do surgery right away because she takes blood thinner medicine . They finally did surgery on Monday and the doctor inserted a long metal rod in her thigh bone . Mama spent several days in SICU * until they finally moved her to a private room . She sounded coherent when she was in SICU but began to sound unclear later on . I stayed with her most of the time at the hospital because she didn 't need to be alone . It took a while for them to regulate her oxygen level and heartbeat . She began to get feisty and kept wanting to get up . She couldn 't stand laying in bed any longer . Her doctor released her to go to rehab today . I 'm glad because she wasn 't in any shape to go home alone yet . I 'd make some lame joke about my mama going to rehab if it wasn 't so sad . I hate seeing her so helpless . Everybody was concerned about Mama . Aunt Jonnie and my uncle , Robert , drove down from Chattanooga to check on her a couple of times . We went to the Oakwood Cafe for dinner while Mama was in surgery . Patsy sent Mama some flowers in the hospital because she couldn 't be there . She moved back to Illinois recently . Mary Jane had moved back to Savannah a couple of months ago to be with her son so Patsy thought it was time to move closer to Donna and Butch . It seems like we have lost so many people we love in one way or another . I counted and I 've been to four funerals since Thanksgiving . Daddy and his sister , Vivian , passed away six weeks apart . Then Scout 's fiance , Katie , lost her father three weeks later . Two weeks after that , Daddy 's best friend , Gordon , lost his battle with cancer . Since November we have lost four loved ones and Donny had a quadruple bypass . To say we are up against the wall is an understatement . I was finally glad Donny was released to go back to work and thought things were improving until Mama slipped and fell . I felt like we were under a stormy cloud and hoped things wouldn 't get worse but they did . A friend of mine who is on Facebook contacted me and told me that her husband had a heart attack and they weren 't able to save him . I was shocked and devastated because he was a good friend of mine , too . I 've known him most of my life . Steve was four years younger than me . I couldn 't believe it . I went to the funeral home to pay my respects to his family today . It seems like when it rains , it pours . It breaks my heart that my friends and family are passing away . There are so many wonderful people that used to be in my life that are now gone . I miss them so much and I wonder if things will ever be normal again . I doubt it . Nothing 's ever the same after you lose someone . I only hope all our luck improves soon . I crush crackers with my mortar and pestle . I usually start with three or four crackers at a time and add more if I think I will need them . I add the salt and pepper and any spices I want . Today I used garlic and sage . Donny 's doctors told him to exercise so that he could get his strength back . He likes to walk around the church parking lot usually but on Monday he said , " Let 's walk down Chitwood Road . " I 've been walking with him to keep an eye on him and I was ready for some new scenery . We took a slow but steady pace as we walked down the country road . By the time we got back home , Colt and Scout were arriving home from work . Donny 's stomach was messed up and he had to throw up . Donny never gets sick . I talked him into letting me drive him to the hospital . On the way we were trying to figure out what was wrong . Donny had to go to the hospital last time because he was dehydrated . I asked him what he had to eat and drink . All he could remember was three cups of coffee and a bowl of ice cream . The emergency room doctor had told him coffee isn 't good for him because it 's a diuretic . He hasn 't been drinking enough water . He didn 't want to go to the emergency room so I asked him if he 'd drink some water to see if it would help . We went to Krystal 's and got something to drink . I bet we stayed there for at least an hour while Don tried to recuperate . I got his glass refilled . He got sick again after drinking the water too fast but after that he said he felt better . He still didn 't want to go to the hospital though so we rode around town . Donny told me to take him to Mama 's house and he 'd rest there . He crashed in the sun room . Mama bundled him up in blankets and even pulled her new heater to the sun room for him . She petted him and made him pudding to settle his stomach . Scout , Katie , and Bennett came to see if he was okay . They had been eating dinner at the Oakwood Cafe while we were in town . Donny finally said he felt better and he had to go home to take his medicine . He wasn 't sick anymore . I sure am glad because I don 't do well in a crisis . My first response is to panic . Bless his poor old , new heart . Today I was eating lunch when I saw smoke outside . I went out on our little porch to see if I could tell what was burning . I thought our neighbors might be burning leaves down the road from us . I went back inside when I couldn 't see anything . Right after that , a firetruck went flying up the road . I peeked out front and saw smoke north of us . I walked up the side of the road to get a better look . Some kids were playing in the front yard of one of the houses . They said they called 911 when they saw the fire . The lady who lived there said another neighbor had called asking if her house was on fire . The fire was across the road . The lady said flames were fifteen feet high when she called . It 's hard to believe a fire could have started by accident . Although there is plenty of undergrowth , the fire seemed pretty large . Luckily we have a fire station down the road from us . Firefighters are quick to respond to any emergency . Even the " law dogs " showed up . I guess they couldn 't resist the excitement . Everyone turns out for an emergency in Resaca . Not much ever happens around here . Firefighters efforts were rewarded because the fire didn 't spread very far . If it had of gained purchase the neighbors on Chitwood Road would have been in trouble . The woods surrounds their houses . I guess that is our excitement for the week . I sure hope the fire doesn 't start back up later on . A cloud of smoke hangs over the neighborhood . I wonder what started the fire in the first place . It 's hard to believe it was spontaneous combustion . I can 't imagine that a cigarette being thrown out would have caused such a large burn before anyone noticed it . I sure hope it wasn 't arson . AS ALWAYS Live , learn , laugh and love . Nobody 's getting out of here alive . Nobody 's perfect . Try to remember you 're not Nobody . The best way to double your money is to fold it and put it back in your pocket . The old believe everything ; the middle - aged suspect everything ; the young know everything . Oscar WildeThe only thing we have to fear is fear itself . Franklin D . RooseveltLife isn 't fair and you don 't get any guarantees . " The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience , but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy . " ~ Martin Luther King , Jr .