Sunday, March 30, 2014

Fritz

I will try to make this fast.
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Yesterday we buried our little boy Fritz.  He had major complications of dog diabetes.  The vet had his ashes returned to us.   We put his box of ashes in a plastic container and placed it in a small hole near the lake.  A pretty concrete block was placed on top of the  hole appropriately.  
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As many of you who have lost a pet know, this has not been an easy week for us.  I keep remembering situations and places and events that Fritz shared with us.  Fritz was born on January 7, 2002 and died March 19, 2014.  He was in bad shape those last few days.   He would lay down and not move except to eat - even to the end, eating was his favorite choice of activities.  He was a good boy.

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We were living in Pflugerville when my girl Mandy died.  This left little Greta all alone during the day while we were at school.  We searched the want-advs and computer for a black and tan wire-hair dachshund.  Pepper Creek farms near Hearne advertised a litter.  We called and made an appointment to drive up there.  
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We took Greta thinking we would need to see her reaction to a new puppy.   They brought this little pup - we put Greta on the floor - the puppy paid no attention to Greta - Greta paid zero attention to the little boy.  In our discussions, we had decided to find a boy and breed him to Greta.
They were a great pair...played together...ate together...were a great pair.
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When it came breeding time, Fritz had the right idea, but his skills were lacking - AND - we were not experienced enough to help the situation any.  We had no puppies and both dogs were fixed soon after.  Greta was probably too little for kids anyway.
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That is enough.  I could tell tales.  I won't.  We miss Fritz.  I am still unable to talk about his out loud.  It may take a while.  He was a good hunter, a great dog, a bad lover, quick to voice his opinions, and a terrific eater, able to eat anything at a drop of a morsel.   Ice - the boy would kill for a bowl of crushed ice.  He had a particularly annoying high pitched yelp when he needed to go outside.   I miss the sound of his voice.
m

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Preamble Ramble

Here is the premise...in one of those "Dear-Abby" type columns, a person wrote that her grandmother had turned 91.  The Grd-ma sat down and told her kids and grandkids:  "I am here.  Ask me any question you might have."   I wish I had been awake enough years ago to ask my great grandmother some things.   Grandma LeBarre we called her.  She died around 101 yrs old and was a full blooded Indian.  There were arguments about which tribe.  I had always heard Cherokee.  Then, once I heard the term  Wa-Ha.  It was explained that the Wa-Ha tribe lived down by the creek - Creek dwellers you might say.  I had the impression that her tribe was not considered high class.  Anyway, she remarried a couple times before and after having my grandparent.   The name LeBarre came in one of those remarrys I think.
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I don't know.   She had a couple of other boys  Pete and Ed LeBarre.  Ed was really named Clarence. They lived in Lawton, Okla.   I assume the boys have died now and all of their info has flown away. There was a half brother Jamie - Jamie Metz - who, last count, lived in Burkburnet, TX and has children up there.  We have lost contact.  There is no excuse for that; but, we have.
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So the newspaper column sorta reminded me of what I am doing in this bluggy  { "blog" for those who are challenged by my use of the word blug }.   My own children have their own memories of their grandparents - on both sides of the family.  The memories are limited and varied depending upon the child and the interaction they had with that grandparent.   Roger, my youngest, was born in 1970.  Both my father and my wife's (Brenda) mother died of a cancer in 1974.   My own mother lived till 1986 and wife's father in 2008.
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How much can Roger remember about my father and my wife's mother since he was only 4 years old?  He has memories of things we have said.  Christine, my oldest, was born in 1964.  She would have been 10 years old and had more memories.   [ I will be in trouble if I leave Laura out who was born in 1967. I am sure she must have a memory too. ]
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Of course, none of my children knew my own grandparents as well as my own grandchildren never knew our parents.  Things like that happen when children don't marry and have 2 1/2 kids by age 15.  So their only memories are what we pass on - and, I might add, what we pass on when the grandchildren are mature enough to pay attention and care what one might relay.  How many times have I said something / anything to my grand-girls and it passed straight into one ear and out the other?
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It is possible that these girls may never care about any family thing from the past, but, you never know. One of their children might really want to learn about the family's past.   It could be that a future generation will not be so consumed by cellphones, facebook, jeans with bling on the back pockets and so forth.  Ya never know.  It would be nice to be remembered by someone.
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With this blog I am trying to create a bit of a family history here.  I wish my wife and all my kids - hey, and my brothers and their kids -- I wish they would write stuff here about our family and childhood too - prolly won't happen.  I'd give them the password if they'd care to write.
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I could probably write a book just about my band directing adventures too.  It is all simply what I happen to think about at the time.   My next posting will have to do with food....unless I decide to take a nap first.  That sounds pretty good right now.
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Final Bit:  All of you start writing down things.  Keep a book.  I worry this blog won't have the staying power until my great grandchildren start to read and comprehend.  Perhaps I should do a bit of printing and archiving.   What cha think?
m


Thursday, March 6, 2014

cold

I am so tired of cold weather.  What must people who live in Wisconsin or Maine or, yes, New Hampshire be feeling?  The people in Alaska chose that area.   I am not sure I feel sorry for any of these folks.  I think I was living in Amarillo the last time I felt this way.
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I can remember when I was in high school in Levelland - west of Lubbock.  We always had to go sing at our church's Easter sunrise service, and it was always cold on Easter morning.
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My plum tree was covered with flowers.  Now, all are gone.  Before long it will be nice outside, then, without much warning - summer will Blast in.   Our weather man said that an El Nino is forming - or is it El Nina?   Anyway it will cause us to have more rain NEXT FALL and Winter.  No help is foreseen for the summer months.  The only blessing that I can see is that I won't be teaching marching band next fall if there is more rain.  Thanks for small blessings.
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About a month ago, we went to the Dallas Car Show.  They had 700 cars to see.  I like things like that.  We have been thinking about a new car since the Marauder is at 160,000 miles.  I want to keep the Marauder till I croak.  So we need to reduce its yearly mileage.   At the Ford booth, the lady offered us a $50 Visa card if we test drove a Ford product before the end of March.  I signed u p.
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After much to do, the email authorization came through.   In the meantime, we received a recall on our motorhome's Michelin tires.  We had to go to a Ford dealer for the recall.  Soooooooo, we drove over to Athens  ( in Texas, not Greece ) and left the motorhome.  Why waste the opportunity, we test drove a couple of Fords:  Flex and Explorer.  I thought they were both nice to drive.  My wife liked the Flex the most.  Our Visa card should show up in a few days.  Now, we are counting pennies to see if buying is viable.    When we drove the Explorer, the computer said we had 12 miles of gasoline left in the car.  That doesn't seem too brilliant if you ask me.  You'd think they would plan better than that.
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By the way, have you seen the rices of cars now-a-days?
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That was yesterday.  The Ford salesman called today.  It will be interesting to see how many times he calls before we answer the phone.  This brings me to another subject.  We don't answer the phone if the caller ID says "unknown"  or  "private caller"  or any of those handles.   My Ford salesman had one of those "names" along with his phone number.  Still, I didn't recognize that phone number.  The phone went unanswered as it should.
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stopping now - too depressing and too cold
m

Monday, March 3, 2014

weather and

There is not much worse ( in my little world ) then being stuck inside with dogs while it is 20 degrees outside covered with ice and sleet.  The ball boy still wants to play ball.  The others do not want to sleep 24-7.   Threw bird food out in the front and back on top of the frozen sleet.  It is being enjoyed by a wide variety of birds - I just love looking at cardinals.   I found a dead frozen black spider on the back porch.  I held no funeral; instead I stomped on it discovering it was one frozen hard rock spider.  
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Our plum tree was blooming.   The 20 degrees of frozen probably has done away with our crop.  For that I am sad not just for me, but for the little birds that seem to enjoy grabbing a bite of purple plum.  Maybe next year things will be better.
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Our water sprinkler is in working order.  I went out Sunday and drained the pump and as much of the water lines as I could.  I fear it was a wasted effort.  20 degrees in March!!!  It is time to move further south.
enough of the whine.
see ya later.
m