I 've seen so much change in my lifetime it staggers the mind . I remember my family going to town to see an air show . As I recall the air show consisted of a few airplanes lined up and everybody could get up close and really look them over . It was a big deal . Somebody flew one across the sky and all the people stood and gawked at it . Then everybody went home and talked about the air show for weeks . If we happened to hear one flying overhead , we would all run outside and shade our eyes and watch it until it went out of sight . Then we had something else to talk about the rest of the week . Life was exciting back then . My grandparents had a telephone . It was a big monstrous thing that was attached to the wall . My Grandma was kind of short and had to stand on a small stool to use it . The stool was always on the floor under the phone . We happened to be there one day when it rang , and it scared me . I 'm sure glad I got over that , with all the sounds we hear today . I was only four years old at that time . Our neighbors invited us over to listen to their radio . We had never seen one before . We all sit around the living room and the voice came on out of the big box , and was talking . It was just mind boggling , as to how it could do that . We talked about the radio for a month or more . We never dreamed we would be able to own one some day . Life was exciting back then . I remember my folks buying a motorized washer to wash our laundry in . It was before we had electricity , so the Washer had a motor such as a lawn mower and ran on gas . You had to yank on a cord to get it started . My mother fell in love with it at first sight . She no longer had to stand over a scrub board all day doing our laundry . Starting the Washing Machine was kind of a big deal . At least for us kids , we all begged to pull the cord . We were not allowed to , but we could watch our father as he pulled the cord and the machine would come to life . At that point we had to clear the area so Mom could get the laundry started . Life was exciting back then . How life has chaLorrene This is a true story . I swear it is . I wouldn 't kid around about something like this . I went shopping at Wal - Mart today . I was standing near the end of one aisle and was looking at something , when out of nowhere I heard this big loud thunderbolt sound . It sounded exactly like a huge gas leak or blowout , explosion or how about fart . At that moment a lady pushing a cart with a little girl in the kiddy seat came around the corner . The lady says , " Say " excuse me " . And the little girl in her little squeaky voice said , " cuse me " . She couldn 't fool me , I know that big honking sound did not come out of that little girl . How could she blame it on an innocent child , I would never do such a thing . No , I would never have thought of it . I had another experience while there . I was about to ask a clerk where the crackers were and the clerk was my Grandson , AJ . That is not what I my experience was ; I just thought I 'd throw that in . When I checked out and she was adding it all up on their handy dandy computerized adding machine , I realized I had taken my wallet out of my purse and forgot to put it back in . Yes , I forgot . My middle name should be ' Forgot ' Retha Forgot Lemaster . Now spell check says my first name should be spelled " Retch " . Well , I prefer Retha . I never use my first name except when I go to the doctor or fill out important papers . Back to the missing wallet . I had my checkbook and thought I had saved the day , I would just write a check instead of using the ATM card . Guess what ! ! She wanted ID and it was in the missing wallet . I am also breaking the law by driving without a driver 's license with me . I showed her insurance cards and medical cards and handicapped card info and it didn 't help . She called in a supervisor and I told her that I have a grandson that works here . " Did that work " ? You ask . No , they didn 't seem to give a fig if I had a grandson that worked there . I 'll never mention that again . They said that if I would go get the ID card they would save my stuff until I returned . Wasn 't that biPosted by I had an appointment this morning so I had to take Nellie Bell out of the garage . She is old and tired and on top of that she let me know she does not care for cold weather . She proved it to me by dying at every traffic light . I had no idea she was so sensitive to cold weather or I would have let her warm up before I took off . Highly irritating , and especially at one traffic stop . The man behind me tried to help the situation along by blasting his horn a few times . That time the car died about three different times before it would keep going . When it finally stayed alive enough for me to move forward I was so tempted to give the man behind me a ' Thank You ' sign or whatever you call it . I decided it probably wouldn 't be a good idea . That 's all I have to say about that . Look at my childhood picture on the right side of the page at the top . You can see a big knot on my forehead . I was eight when the picture was taken . I remember being so upset about the ugly knot on my forehead because we were having school pictures taken the next day . Mom said , " It won 't show in a picture so don 't worry about it , and it might even be gone by morning " . The knot wasn 't gone by morning and she said , " Nobody will see the picture , but us , so it 's okay " . Little did we know I would post the picture on the Internet and the whole world can look at it . I 'm proud of that battle scar . When you survive to adulthood with two older brothers , it 's quit a feat . I 'm just kidding ! ! ! The funny thing is that I can 't remember how I got the knot at all . I just remember being upset because I was going to have my picture taken . I 'm sure my own clumsiness had a lot to do with it . Bottom line : Nobody will see it and nobody will give a rats rear if they do see it . My oldest brother , Cecil , joined the US Air Corp in the summer of 1941 . He was sent to the Hawaiian Islands shortly after he enlisted . He absolutely loved it . He would write long rambling letters on a regular basis . He told us all the latest news and in one letter he told how he was working in the bakery dept of the Mess hall and learning so many things about cooking and baking . He was stationed at Pearl Harbor . He always mentioned how perfect the weather was and the beauty of the flowers and ocean . He was a 19 - year - old boy that had never been off our Oklahoma farm , other than a few ' running away episodes ' , and a little jaunt to Colorado when our parents were seeking their fortune . He was in heaven as far as he was concerned . He already had his entire future laid out , when he retired from the US Air Corp , he would retire there . He never wanted to leave the place . We thought he was so highly dazzled with it , he may never return and visit with us again . Meanwhile back on the farm , we were living our lives and getting along the best we could . It was a mild December day , we had returned from church and had already eaten our dinner . Mom and I were cleaning up the dishes when Mom said , " Look outside , I see your boyfriend rode his horse over to see you " . Everybody in the family thought I had a crush on James . I looked out and said , " He didn 't come to see me , he came to see Ray . " I thought my crush was a deep dark secret . I guess when you 're 13 years old , you can 't keep your mouth shut about such things . In a few minutes we found out he was delivering some news that his family had heard over their radio , and they thought we would be interested . The Japanese had bombed the Hawaiian Islands . In fact most of the bombs had struck Pearl Harbor and most of the ships in the harbor . It was a very dire message . We immediately turned on our radio and my parents kept their ears glued to it the next few days . We heard all the casualty reports and were praying Cecil wouldn 't be among them . Wednesday night we had a knock on Posted by I went to our new Wal - Mart the other afternoon . While there I decided to see if I could make an appointment for a perm . They could take me at that very minute so I jumped at the chance . By the time I got out of the place it was dark as midnight and I hate driving in the dark and avoid it when I can , but here I am in the dark and I have bad eyesight until Monday . I am squinting at all the headlights and for some dumb reason I left the same way I came in instead of going straight out to Nobhill . My brain must have stalled or something because I am going out via 64th Ave . instead of Nobhill . So I take a right , thinking I am on Nobhill ( remember my brain is on pause ) and go driving down the street and there is a lot of traffic and headlights so I can 't see the landscape and I think I 'm heading for my house . I was really heading out into the country . All at once I came to my senses , sort of , but not totally . How in the world did I get on this street ? Where am I ? Why can 't I see a street sign ? I keep driving because I can 't stop or turn around in all that traffic . Finally I was able to turn left and I need to turn left again to get to Nobhill . I ended up on some road that didn 't seem to have a name and I must have driven four or five miles on that road . Here I am out in this God forsaken country road and there are headlights behind me and I couldn 't see any place to turn around or get off of that road . I was getting a little uneasy because there is a car behind me and what if this road comes to a dead end . I thought , " I must be dreaming , I 'll wake up any minute . " I just kept driving and now I can see the city lights way off to my far left . All I have to do is drive over to those lights . There was no road that went that way . Now I know I must be in the twilight zone . Finally the car behind me disappeared and that was a relief . I finally saw a street I recognized and I got on it . Sixteenth Avenue never looked so heavenly to me . Remember I started on 64th Ave . Are we in Kansas yet ? This is a follow up on my eye problems . I had surgery a year ago to have cataract 's removed , and artificial lens was implanted in my eyes . This is a year later . After the cataracts were removed a membrane or film grew over the new artificial lens . I had to wait a year for it to be ready to be removed . The day arrived and I had the film removed from one eye and I will go back in a couple weeks to have the other eye taken care of . Before the surgery the nurse took my blood pressure and checked my pulse and oxygen level . My blood pressure was 228 over 88 . I nearly fell off of the stool . I never had such high blood pressure in my life . " What 's that all about " , I asked . She said , " He may want you to go to emergency " . Then she asked if I was nervous about the surgery . I said , " Yes I 'm worried because they said it would be laser surgery and I will not be sedated ; what if I blink my eye while he is doing it " ? " Will I end up with a big round hole in my eyelid " . She said , " No , that isn 't going to happen . " She said he would be right in and left the room . I waited and waited and waited , and my blood pressure may have peaked around 500 because I thought I could be having a stroke and they are just going to ignore me until the cows come home . I forgot all about the hole in the eyelid because I now had something really serious to worry about . I don 't want to have a stroke . The surgeon finally came strolling in like it was just another boring day with the laser gun . He didn 't mention the blood pressure so I didn 't either , because I wanted to get the surgery over with before I had the stroke . It was very simple , the first thing he did was place an object in my eye . I don 't know what it was , but I think it prevented the laser from doing what it was not supposed to do . All you do is set your chin on the chin thing and stare at a red light and the surgeon operates the laser gun or whatever it 's called and he zaps around the iris of the eye and removes it . Anyway that is what I felt like he was doing . The nurse had alrePosted by What 's up with all that texting ? There seems to be some secret fascination about it that I fail to grasp . Everybody has a cell phone in their hand and while you are conversing with them they are texting . My Grandson , Tylor ( age 15 ) was over here the other evening and he is sitting on the couch and I thought we were having a normal conversation . I finally asked if he was texting while talking to me . He said , " I 'm texting with two people , Grandma " . Those same people can sit in the same room for thirty minutes and not say a half dozen words to each other . Do they just like pressing the letters on the phone . Some do it while driving a car . So many are doing it that they had to pass a law making it illegal to text while driving . I decided to try it the other day to see if I could do it without getting addicted to it . So I typed a message to Deena , one of my granddaughters . It took me about 30 minutes to type out . " Wats up Doc ? She answered back instantly , " Nuttin much " . I couldn 't think of anything else to say . I can assure you , I 'll never get addicted to it . I think it 's a kid thing and will soon lose it 's appeal . Posted by When I got my first computer , Email was the fascinating new technology of the day . Every stupid joke that was ever thought of was emailed to you . I even remember getting excited when I thought Bill Gates was going to send me $ 250 for forwarding the letter on to 20 more people . I 'm still waiting , Bill . Now it 's all about texting . They even pass laws that you cannot text while driving ? Think how stupid that will sound to future generations . Here are few examples of old laws that are still on the books : Do not hunt birds from an airplane in Tennessee ; it 's illegal . Don 't think of popping a champagne cork in Colorado on Christmas Day . Forgetting to close a gate in Nevada is against the law . You can 't sell perfume as a drink in Delaware . Wisconsin law prohibits margarine from being substituted for butter in restaurants unless requested by the customer . Kentucky law requires that residents bathe at least once a year . ( Hey , nothing wrong with that law ) I had the cataracts taken off of my eyes a year ago . Nothing ever really comes to an end . I thought that would be the end of my vision problems . That was not to be . Do you know that when you have cataracts taken off , it is not necessarily the end of your eye problem . You may or may not want to know this , but I got to the nitty gritty of it . When they take a cataract off this is what happens . Think of your eyeball as a grape . They take the upper half of the peeling off of the grape and place the artificial lens in that pulp area . The bottom half of the peeling is left in place . In some cases , the bottom peel starts growing over the new lens . It has to reach a certain stage before it can be taken off . In my case it took a year . It happens to some people in a much shorter time . They can remove the film or whatever they call it with laser surgery and you do not need to be sedated . It is painless and only takes a couple minutes . Mine is now ready to be removed , but the surgeon was not in today so I have an appointment to have it done in about a week . That is my medical lesson for today . I 'm probably crazy as a bed bug and have it all wrong , but that is the way I understood it . Or maybe he was just explaining in a way he thought the old lady could grasp . Anyway I might be able to read the newspaper again , and the novel I have started . I can read for a few minutes before the words start running together . If you have Cadillac 's ( that 's what my brother , Hollis calls them ) on your eyes you may be one of the lucky ones and not have this happen to you . Posted by I once had a friend that was so friendly that going with her to a public place was a nightmare . She would stop and talk to everybody she came in contact with , especially if they had a baby or a small child . She would ooh and aah over the little person , like they were the most adorable little creature on the face of the earth . It used to bug me to no end . I would ask her , " Why do you find it necessary to talk to everybody in the universe " ? She never gave me a straight answer . She didn 't know why , she just liked people , she guessed . Going with her to a place like the County Fair was like going out with a celebrity . Not only did she know everybody , but everybody knew her as well . Alice was the most popular person I ever knew in my life . We were very good friends and were neighbors to begin with . I became widowed and moved to another part of town , but we remained friends and since she didn 't drive anything , but a golf cart , I would take her anyplace she wanted to go . We laughed a lot and that was why I enjoyed her company so much . She could make something funny out of almost anything . Sometimes I could make her laugh . One time as we were driving down a street and a group of people were standing on the sidewalk and after we passed them , I said , " Oh my gosh ! I forgot to stop so you could talk to those people " . She answered , " Smart Aleck " . It was that sort of thing that went on between us constantly . One time we drove to a small nearby town on a whim . We both said later , that we enjoyed that little outing more than anything in our lives . We were in our seventies at the time , and had nothing , but time on our hands . She passed away a few years ago , and I cannot tell you how much I miss her . We had many serious conversations about our past lives . She had a grown son and daughter . We had no secrets between us , or so I thought . About a year after she passed away , I was invited to the 90th Birthday party of Jo , who was a sister of my friend . Jo had called me and told me there would be a special guest at the party . It seems tPosted by Early this morning as I was reading my newspaper about all the war things that are going on , I nearly jumped through the ceiling as a very loud explosion sound invaded the morning silence . It sounds like the war has come to my neighborhood . I jumped up and looked outside , up and down the street and didn 't see anything going on . I put it out of my mind and continued to read all the good news in the paper . Later in the day I heard another strange unfamiliar sound . It was a high pitch noise that just kept going on so I had to go look outside again . Now , I think I know where the morning explosion sound came from . Somebody had hired a chimney sweep and they were cleaning the chimney of the duplex that is across the street and down two houses . I don 't know for sure , but I am thinking they may be the ones that had the explosion . If so , I guess nobody was hurt . I wonder if that sort of thing damages your walls or anything . I hate to sound so ignorant , but do you have to have a fireplace for the soot to accumulate like that or does it happen with gas heat also . I wonder if I should do as the neighbors do , and hire one of those places . I sure would hate to be roused out of bed in the middle of the night to the tune of my chimney exploding . I 'll bet I wouldn 't have any trouble getting out of bed if it happened . Back on the farm in the 1940 's life was a little different than it is today . Nobody complained about the high cost of anything . Because it didn 't matter if you didn 't have any money anyway . In my youth we had stores called Dime Stores . They sold just about everything you can think of . A little something like a Dollar Store , only much nicer . They had a candy counter with all kinds of candy behind a glass case . They had a counter with a soda fountain that served five and ten - cent hamburger 's . The deluxe burger was ten cents . The stores had names such as Newberrys , Ben Franklin 's or Woolworth 's . There was always a rack with comic books , and a kid or two sitting on the floor reading them . They sold jewelry and trinkets of all kinds . You could buy anything for your house or your car with the one store shopping . I remember buying my mother a Mother 's day gift . It was a dainty white handkerchief with the word " Mother " embroidered in pink in one corner . It cost fifteen cents , but it was for my mother so it was worth it . Everything in the store was neat and clean . Clerks worked constantly trying to keep things in order . Now we have the Dollar Store with everything from soup to nut 's , but nothing seems to be in order . However , some seem to be better organized than others . I have also observed that people are not as careful to put things back where they found it . I think sometimes if they decide they don 't want it , they just drop it on the floor . You soon learn to watch where you 're stepping in a dollar store . I guess dime stores have been around for many years . I 'm sure many of you will remember them as well . . Posted by The news is so bazaar these days , you swear they must have made it up . Richmond , California ( CNN ) - - Investigators say as many as 20 people were involved in or stood and watched the gang rape of a 15 - year - old girl outside a California high school homecoming dance Saturday night . Could there possible be that many perverted brain dead people in one gathering ? It 's hard to believe . University of Nevada students asleep when motorist drove into home around 4 a . m . Authorities say the motorist was drunk when he drove into the couple 's home in Sparks , mistakenly believing it was the home of his ex - girlfriend and her new boyfriend . He evidently was bright enough to pass a test and get a driver 's licenses . It 's hard to believe . Pilots of wayward jet lose licensesWashington ( CNN ) - - The Federal Aviation Administration revoked the licenses of two Northwest Airlines pilots Tuesday in an extraordinary letter in which the agency chastised the pair , saying they endangered the public by flying an hour and half without contacting controllers " while you were on a frolic of your own . " They overshot the airport by an hour and a half . I think they fell asleep . It 's hard not to believe . 34 people died in last month 's tsunami that smashed into American SamoaPublic records show that the Department of Homeland Security had awarded millions of federal dollars in grants for disaster preparedness here , including the construction of an island - wide siren warning system . But all the federal funding was frozen in early 2007 after DHS inspectors found that the local American Samoan government had been diverting millions of those dollars for its own uses . With all the corruption that goes on these days , that one is not hard to believe at all . For the fun of it , Click Here . Posted by What do you mean , no maple bars ? We have a new Wal - Mart store in our city . It 's only a few blocks from my home . I sure love that idea . The old one is several miles away . I thought I would not rush out there the day the store opened because I pictured it being so crowded I would not enjoy it much . After a few days I decided to venture out that way . I walk into the place and my chin dropped to the floor and my eyes bugged out and I just stood there trying to take it all in . Everybody in this town could go at the same time and the store would still not be crowded . I think that store is bigger than our entire mall . You only run into a clerk about every five miles . I wanted to know where the hair products were and when I finally found a clerk , she didn 't know for sure , but told me where she thought they were . It turned out she was right . I 'll take my binoculars the next time I go out there . I somehow ran across the bakery dept . Funny , how that always happens . I wanted one maple bar . It 's my only fault , I 'm addicted to them . Here I am in a store half as big as Texas and they didn 't have one single maple bar . They had a box with a dozen , but I only wanted one . They had a tray of maple bars , but somebody had put chocolate frosting on them . That is what they do at the other Wal - Mart store . What 's the matter with those Wal - Mart people , you do not put chocolate on maple bars . Put your chocolate on round donuts . I asked a clerk if they had some hidden in the back and she thought they did , but when she came back she said they didn 't have any . I shall return another day . Car maintenance must be a " man " thing . I positively hate putting gas in the car . I had to gas up my new Van . When I say new , I mean , new to me . It 's 19 years old , and I guess you know that is ancient for a car . I think sometimes that I am building a car from the ground up . First it needed new brakes , then it needed a new battery . Yesterday I had four new tires put on it . When I paid for the tires I was informed that it needs a new CV Joint . That will be to the tune of $ 191 . 00 . That is unless I can find a shade tree mechanic . He might do it for less . When I put gas in it that day , I swiped my debit card and then I swiped my Albertson 's card because I was getting 20 cents off the gallon with the card . It told me the card was invalid . I almost blew a fuse right on the spot . I cancelled the transaction and started over , as though that would solve something . It did the same thing of course so I had to go to the customer service window and the girl came out to show me how to do it . When the card says , " invalid card " it means look to the far right and there will be a light blinking , scan your card under the light . Tunnel vision can be a serious problem . I felt better about it when another woman came from the customer window and said , " I can 't figure these things out either " . It gobbled up $ 38 . 00 worth of gas , even with the discount . To top all this off the bank charged me $ 1 . 00 twice for swiping the card two times . Anyway , I guess that is why they charged me twice . Other than that everything is peachy keen . Posted by Now that I have a new chair , I thought I would sell my old one . Anybody interested ? Just kidding of course , and if you would like to know why somebody went to the trouble , visit this web site . Fall has fallen on us and it makes me think of Chili so I decided to make some . I hate to make anything that calls for chopped onions . I always get so emotional when I chop onions . I just can 't help it , I cry all the way though the process . Yes , I have a food processor , but they need to be chopped a little before they fit into it . Anyway , the Chili didn 't taste much like Chili , but it 's pretty good anyway . I hate cooking . I had to get the dreaded blood draw this week and it was the same old dance . The needle goes into the arm and they didn 't strike blood so it ends up in the back of the hand . I am not blaming the nurse , I know my veins are hard to find or they just disappear all together . I like this cool weather for a change . Posted by Life has just taken on new meaning . Just when I thought there was nothing more to live for I became the surprised owner of a new recliner . It almost materialized out of thin air . One day I woke up out of a restless nap in a recliner that refuses to recline anymore and heard a sound outside . When I looked outside a delivery truck had backed into my driveway and before my very eyes a vision appeared . It was a vision of a large blue recliner . Wait ! It 's not a vision , it 's the real McCoy . A real honest to goodness recliner that not only reclines , but it lifts you up and dumps you out . Now , what more could I possible want to live for . This chair has brains . If you desire a nap , just press the button and you are in a reclining position . If you want out of the chair you press a button and it stands you on your feet . I remember back when I was employed , I worked in and office and this was the era before computers . When the telephone rang it usually meant you would soon be on your feet and across the room looking in a filing cabinet . One day I remember telling a co - worker that I wished I had one of those chairs that would lift me up and out . Now my wish has come true . The credit goes to Kenny and Chris . Now , I have a car to drive and a chair to sit in , and an oven door with a handle . What more could I ask for . I guess I should explain about the oven door . I had blogged before about the handle falling off of my oven door and I thought it was unfixable . Kenny glued it back on with JD Weld ( JD Weld is not a person , but a glue ) and I can tell you that it is not going to fall off again in my lifetime . Spellcheck tells me that unfixable is not a word . Maybe they don 't know what it means , but I 'll bet you do . Posted by Can you remember scary events that happened to you as a child ? Now we wonder why we thought it was so frightening . I had one scary thing that happened to me and I still think it was about the scariest thing that ever happened to me . I was about four years old and we lived in the country on a farm . We had neighbors that lived about a quarter of a mile away . The family had two girls , one was about my age and the other girl was about 8 years old . They had walked down to play with me for the afternoon . When it came time for them to leave , they wanted me to walk home with them , but my mother said , " No , I don 't think it 's a good idea . " She went on about her business and the girls went outside and I went outside with them . They still wanted me to walk home with them . They told me that my mother didn 't really care , and it would be okay . I guess I was rather gullible in my childhood because I believed them and we went to their house . On the road to their house we walked on a little country road and one area of it had huge trees on each side of it and a bridge crossed over a creek . Then we walked up a hill to their house . This place was always called ' The Sixty ' . I suppose it was a sixty acre plot of ground . Anyway we played and they showed me all their toys and that sort of thing and I noticed it was getting sort of dark and I knew I had to walk home by myself . I was scared and I kept putting it off until it was getting very dark . Their mother told me I better head for home because it was getting dark . I knew I had no choice , and I have never been so scared in all my 81 years . I kept walking and the area where the trees were was so dark that I thought I was going to meet my doom any second . I even thought I could hear something . I didn 't run , because I didn 't want to make any noise , but I walked as fast as my four year old legs would carry me . I even remember my heart was pounding . When I finally got home , my mother had a little switch she had pulled off of a tree and I received the only spanking I ever recLorrene with a few hard knocks along the way . Married at age 17 to a service man just back from the war . We moved to Yakima , WA and I have lived here the rest of my life . We had 3 children , 2 boys and a girl . Have been widowed since 1990 . My children and grandchildren live in the same state . I have 6 granddaughters and 3 great grand sons and 3 great granddaughters . Our only grandson was killed in an accident when he was 12 years of age . I read a lot and enjoy my TV and Computer . Was selling on Ebay , but that seems to have fizzled out . Gave up on it for now .