Music Appreciation

 My oldest grandson was about three years old. He and I were riding in the car listening to music. Suddenly he laughed heartily. 

He said, "They are saying Hit The Road Jack!" I believe it was the first time he realized the words had meaning.

When he was a few years older the song his parents were listening to went, "Who Let The Dogs Out?" And then my grandson started to bark. His parents looked at him like he had lost his mind. I laughed because I knew the song and it was obvious they did not. 

The first song I sang to each of my grandchildren was The Unicorn. It took three times through the song for my second grandson to fall asleep. 

One day he walked past the radio which was playing The Unicorn. He looked at the radio. Then he looked at me with a puzzled expression on his little face. He looked back and forth several times before I explained that other people sang it too.

Grease is a favorite of all my granddaughters. We have gone to see the movie several times. Usually it was one of them having a special night with Grandma. We have also seen plays and even Grease On Ice. All were special times.

My daughter's daughter was the only person who would go to see The Irish Rovers with me. She was so little that she sat with her little legs completely on the seat. After watching for a few minutes she was in love. She loved the songs and she loved (and understood) the jokes. 

She was actually glowing. I think I enjoyed watching her more than the concert. The man sitting on the other side of her did too. 

After that she and I went every year. 

It has been such fun appreciating music with my grandchildren.

Water Water Everywhere

I am sure many of you have read about the flooding in Iowa. I live about a mile from the Big Sioux River. It is one of the many that are flooding. Actually much of this part Iowa is under water right now. 

Where I live there has been flooding like this before. I live a little higher than flood waters go. I do not worry too much about having to evacuate.

I did notice yesterday that across the highway from us was flooded a bit. Every other place looked dry enough.

My son and I had a quick errand to run yesterday. We needed to cross the bridge over the Big Sioux to go into South Dakota.

As we were crossing the bridge we saw a lot of people taking pictures of the river. It was high but not too high yet. 

We had noticed a lot of water sitting in fields on the Iowa side. That sometimes happens when there has been a lot of rain.

We went on into South Dakota. We took care of our errand and started home. It took about 20 minutes. 

We returned home the same way we had gone. As we were about 1/2 a mile from the bridge water began to trickle across the road.

I looked up and saw that the fields were suddenly full of water. It did not even take a second to happen.

 Now experts tell us not to drive through water on the road. But it was only a trickle and we knew the highway was in good shape. We had just been there. Besides there was not a place to turn around to go back.

In the blink of an eye the highway was covered. Not only was the water rapidly getting deeper but it was filled with pieces of the rows of crops. The crop rows were getting bigger.

We had to keep moving. If we stopped we would be washed away. It felt like we were driving on oversized speed bumps of crops. 

We could no longer see because of the water and debris splashing up as we moved. 

Just as quickly we reached the bridge. It sits higher so there was no water and no debris. What a relief.

We could see that the highway into Iowa was clear. No water at all.

The fields are much lower than the highway there. They were full of water.

We felt safe enough to drive home. We did so with no further incident. They were just blocking the road to the bridge as we turned the corner to go home.

Our vehicle is a Jeep SUV. It was covered from top to bottom with flooding debris. We feel lucky to be here.

Just Say No

Most of us have known people involved in the use of illegal drugs. Most of those people do not have any serious permanent damage. Some are not so lucky.

My sister-in-law was obsessed with being thin for her husband. Her doctor prescribed diet pills. He kept prescribing them even though she was obviously addicted. There were days when she had to sit in a dark room because of those pills. I do not know how she finally stopped those pills after years of taking them but she did.

A good friend from the time he was a teenager started using drugs. He and another friend who was also using came up with a plan to get the money for their drugs. They would stand at an exit to the freeway and beg money when drivers stopped at the red light.

They did very well in the money department. Then they decided on a way to get larger amounts of money from the drivers. They would jump in front of their cars and pretend that they were hit. As long as they did not appear to be injured drivers would give more money so they did not have to contact their insurance companies.

One day our friend jumped in front of a loaded truck. The truck could not stop in time. The friend was badly hurt. He died 2 weeks later.

A nephew was in prison. When he got out he went immediately to see friends. That first night they were doing drugs. My nephew overdosed and died. 

I SHOULD NOT HAVE TOSAY IT... DRUGS ARE BAD! 

Melting Teeth

When my youngest brother was little he had a problem with his teeth. They looked like acid had been dripping down them and they were melting away. They were all brown and snaggled.

The dentist would not do anything with them because they were his baby teeth. One of his favorite things to do was to brush his teeth. He said it made them feel better.

When his baby teeth fell out the new teeth were beautiful. He is still the only person I know who likes going to the dentist.

He grew up and married and had two daughters and a son. His second daughter had the same problem with her teeth. As soon as her dentist saw the buds of her new teeth start to grow he pulled her bad teeth.

Then my sister had two sons. Her youngest had the same thing with his teeth. Again his dentist advised against pulling his teeth. Poor little guy loved to brush his teeth and rinse them with a mild mouthwash. It eased the pain. 

He was a bit older when he finally lost his baby teeth. He had bald gums for several years. We thought he was never going to get his permanent teeth. The dentist said they were in there but they did not come out.

When my nephew was about ten years old the dentist said he might have to cut the gums to make it easier for his teeth to come through. Then they burst out on their own.

All of them have beautiful straight teeth now. And we still do not know why their teeth did that. 

The Black Velvet Band

I had wanted to go to an Irish Rovers concert for years. At the start I lived in an area where there were few concerts of any kind. After we moved to the big city no one wanted to go with me. It is no fun to go to a concert alone. 

Then came the year that a group were going from a local community college. They were taking a bus to the next state to see the Irish Rovers. So I decided to go.

I had not yet signed up for the trip when my daughter went into labor. She had a baby girl and I was happy to take care of my grandson and help with my new granddaughter. No Rovers for me.

About four years later I read the Irish Rovers would be nearby. I was complaining to my son (who I lived with) that no one would go with me. My granddaughter was spending the weekend with me. She immediately said she would go. I immediately ordered the tickets.

We had such a good time. After the concert the band gathers at a table to sign autographs. My granddaughter was in love.

We went to see them every year after that. 

During a concert the Irish Rovers encourage everyone to sing and clap along with them. Everyone has a good time together.

One year we were in the audience happily clapping and singing along as usual. My granddaughter leaned over and asked if she and I could trade seats. I told her of course we could so we did. Then I asked her why. 

I could see the stage well. I could hear just fine.

She told me that the woman sitting next to her told her she was making too much noise. Naturally I was angry and smoke started to come from my ears.

Instead of being nasty I very nicely leaned over to the woman. I explained that the band wanted the audience to clap and sing. I also told her that if she had a complaint about a little girl the correct way to handle it would have been to speak to me rather than rebuke a child you do not know.

The next thing I knew she was crying. She had her husband leave with her. All because she wanted to pick on a child.

By the way "Black Velvet Band" is one of my favorite songs.

To Go Or Not To Go.

My husband's aunt was a nice woman with a lot of love to give. She had been married to a man who died the same year I was married. I will call her Aunt Beenie.

Aunt Beenie had worked very hard all her life. She kept her husband comfortable for his life. He did purchase and rent two buildings. They had four apartments each. He rented them so he did have an income. They had no children.

Aunt Beenie continued to work until they made her retire. Then she managed the apartments.

Eventually she met a man. They enjoyed each other's company. 

He decided to take a few days and drive to see the sights in Colorado. Of course he invited Aunt Beenie to go along. 

She would need to pay for her own expenses. He did not have a lot of money.

Now Aunt Beenie was not rich. She did have enough to take care of herself though.

She agonized over whether or not to go. She really wanted to.

When she talked to me about it I told her that saving the money was senseless in order to not do what she really wanted to do. She would not have to scrimp and save in order to do it.

In the end she talked herself out of going. He went without her. He had a good time.

About two weeks after he returned home he suffered a heart attack and died. She could have had that nice trip with him.

My opinion is that a person should not forgo pleasures to save money that does not need to be saved. 

I Wish...

Starlight, Star bright 

First star I see tonight

I wish I may, I wish I might

Have the wish I wish tonight

It is a favorite poem to make a wish on a star. It must be the first star in the night sky or your wish will not come true. And of course you cannot tell anyone what you wished for or it will not come true.

On your birthday people make a big show of bringing you a birthday cake. On the cake are a number of candles to represent your new age. Once they are all lit you make a wish then blow out the candles. If you can blow them all out with one try your wish will come true.

When my children were little they would find "wishes" in the yard. A "wish" was what they called dandelions that have gone to seed. You make a wish and try to blow all the seeds off. If you are successful your wish will come true.

Many prayers are wishes. You ask your God to grant your wish.

Going back to the stars if you see a shooting star you can make a wish on it. If you finish the wish before the star disappears it will come true.

Raindrops on your window are fun to watch as they run down to the bottom. You can make a wish on a particular drop. If you watch it carefully your wish will come true right before it combines with another drop on its way down.

Do you have favorite wishes? 

The Friendly Clown

My mother told us stories when we were little. Her favorite was about a circus.

Once there was a circus with many animals and human acts. There was a frontwards donkey that said, "Hee-haw", a backwards donkey that said, "Haw-hee", a giraffe with a big loooong neck, an elephant with big floppy ears, a mean ferocious lion who roared and clawed at everyone, and a friendly clown.

Every morning the friendly clown would get up draw on his big red lipstick smile. Then he went to say "Good morning, Friend Donkey," the frontwards donkey. The frontwards donkey said, "Hee-Haw." Then he said, "Good morning, Friend Donkey," to the backwards donkey and the donkey would say, "Haw-hee". Next he said, Good morning, Friend  Giraffe", to the giraffe with the big looooooong neck who would bend his big looooooooooooooooooooooong neck. He moved on to the elephant with the big floppy ears and said , "Good morning, Friend Elephant," and the elephant would flap his big floppy ears. Next was the mean ferocious lion who roared and clawed at everyone. The clown with the big happy lipstick smile would go to the wagon of the mean ferocious lion who roared and clawed at everyone. The clown with the big red lipstick smile would say, "Good morning, Friend Lion." And the lion would say, "Meow/"

One morning the friendly clown woke up late. He did not have time to put on hid big red lipstick smile. So he went to say "Good morning, Friend Donkey," the frontwards donkey. The frontwards donkey said  "Hee-Haw." Then he said, "Good morning, Friend Donkey," to the backwards donkey and the donkey said, "Haw-hee". Next he said, Good morning, Friend  Giraffe", to the giraffe with the big looooooong neck bent his big looooooooooooooooooooooong neck. He moved on to the elephant with the big floppy ears and said, "Good morning, Friend Elephant." and the elephant flapped his big floppy ears. Next was the mean ferocious lion who roared and clawed at everyone. The clown with the big happy lipstick smile went to the wagon of the mean ferocious lion who roared and clawed at everyone. The clown with the big red lipstick said "Good morning, Friend Lion." The mean ferocious lion roared and clawed at the clown. The mean ferocious lion broke out of its cage and ran away.

The clown with the big red lipstick smile suddenly remembered that he was not wearing his big red lipstick smile. The mean ferocious lion was afraid. He was also mean and ferocious. They had to find him.

In order to go faster the clown with the big red smile rode the frontwards donkey who said, "Hee-haw.," until he was tired. Then he rode the backwards donkey who said, "Haw-hee," until he was tired. The clown with the big red lipstick smile rode on the giraffe with the bid loooooooomg neck. He could see much farther but he saw no mean ferocious lion. Soon the giraffe with the big long neck tired so he got on the elephant with the big floppy ears. He rode until the elephant with the big floppy ears was tired. 

They sadly went back to the circus with no mean ferocious lion.

In the morning the clown got up and put on his big red smile. Then he went to say, "Good morning, Friend Donkey," the frontwards donkey. The frontwards donkey said, "Hee-Haw." Then he said, "Good morning, Friend Donkey," to the backwards donkey and the donkey said, "Haw-hee". Next he said, Good morning, Friend  Giraffe", to the giraffe with the big looooooong neck who bent his big looooooooooooooooooooooong neck. He moved on to the elephant with the big floppy ears and said , "Good morning, Friend Elephant," and the elephant flapped his big floppy ears. Next was the mean ferocious lion who roared and clawed at everyone. He was comfortably back in his cage. The clown with the big happy lipstick smile went to the wagon of the mean ferocious lion who roared and clawed at everyone. The clown with the big red lipstick smile said, "Good morning, Friend Lion." And the lion said, "Meow/"

And all was right with the world.