I’m Thinkin’ Arby’s…
November 14, 2008 | Check-in | Comments [3]
…is where I got a dose of FOOD POISONING on Tuesday evening!
I had a turkey & swiss sandwich about 5:00 on Tuesday, and by 1:00 the next morning I was so sick the EMTs had to come take me to the hospital. I actually went into “toxic shock” and they had to revive me with ephinephrine and Benadryl, plus some other stuff I don’t know the name of.
Spent all day Wednesday and most of Thursday in a hospital room before I was able to leave. White count was up very high, even some bloody discharge. YUCK!
So much for “fast food.”
Happy Birthday Dad Oct 11th
October 10, 2008 | Check-in, Uncategorized | Comments [2]
So many years gone by and you just seem ageless…
Lots a love from all of us…
Coal wars chapter 4
October 1, 2008 | Check-in, Uncategorized | Comments [4]
I ran through the brush, listening to the quick steps of Rosalin’s feet. Wind blew fiercely through the trees, and the leaves howled at the hard touch, as if they wanted me to loose the sound of her feet. I jumped over a log. I felt something warm and slimy under my left paw. I lifted it up to my nose and recognized the scent immediately. Blood. Rosalin’s blood no less. I began the worrying. “Artek! Where are you?!” I heard Susan and Katie’s voices not far behind me. I shot forward. If I stopped for even a moment, I would loose Rose.
Eventually I could barely hear her and I tracked her by scent instead. She was always the fastest runner, and faster still when upset. I had known Rose ever since we were kits, so I knew a lot about her. And, naturally I suppose, I wanted to protect her. Her scent became stronger, and I heard soft crying. I speed up immediately. I began to slow down again when I felt her presence nearby. I recognized where we were by the smell. She had run all the way to the edge of the border to the forest. The air was crisp and the grass crunched loudly under my paws, it was dryer here then further into the forest. I went up to the tree I felt her against a tree. I walked and sat next to her silently. She was crying to loud to here me. I heard her mumble something. “Its all my fault… its all my fault…” she said in a weak voice.
I turned to her and flicked my ear to see if I got any reaction. She gasped and the wind swooshed as she turned her head to face me. I could just imagine her face; the tan fur on her face would be all ruffled up and her dark brown eyes, almost red, would be pink and puffy. Tears would be rolling down the sides of her cheeks. I smelt the dried blood on her face and bent down closer to lick the wound. It was the only way I felt helpful at the moment. I felt her face heat up, and it confused me. She had started doing that ever since I had lost my eyes, and she never did it we were kits. I licked the blood off the wound and moved so I was more comfortable. She started to tear up again. She lowered her head on my shoulder and sobbed. “I-I’m sorry A-Artek…” “What for?” I asked, turning my head down to her. “For yelling at you like that. I was just mad at father and…” “Don’t worry about it. I could feel that you were angry, and I understand that it got a bit out of control. It wasn’t your fault that I jumped in and you felt the need to let your anger out on me. I should be the one saying sorry,” I told her. I wanted her to feel better, and I felt like I was the one making her cry in the first place. I felt her head turn to look at me. I wish I could have seen her face, because I felt she was still a bit sad, but also confused and guilty. “Its still my fault. I should have been able to control my emotions. Everything is my fault…” “No. No its not Rose, and you need to stop thinking that,” I told her firmly. She sniffled. “But Artek-” “If you’re thinking about my eyes, I’ve told you a million times, it wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anyones fault, it was an accident.” I said, gently nuzzling her ear.
It was a few minutes before I felt that she had calmed down.I grabbed each side of her and helped her up. “Now, don’t you think it would be best if we went to find the others? I’m sure they’re wondering where we are.” “Katie’s probably got Crow flying and looking for us,” she said chuckling. I was glad she felt better. “Do you mind leading the way?” I asked her. I was still a bit unfamiliar with this area, and if she went first I would remember it better. “Sure, why not,” she said, and started running for the others. It was about two minutes before we came to the log. She jumped over it and I followed. ~Five hops from moss scent~ I thought, memorizing the area so I would remember later.
We soon entered the busier part of the forest, and I could hear the others calling for us. Sounds flooded my ears. The sound of Unosqirs looking for nuts and berries, a few frogs were by the small puddle a few bounds north… the sound of a nesting family of blue jays not to far. “Rosy! Artek!” Katie’s voice chimed in my ears. Her voice was like the sound of someone playing a leaf whistle. It tickled my ears, but in a good way. “Rosalin, Artek, are you guys around?” I heard Or-Tal ask before yawning. Her voice was low and steady, soft against my ears. I heard Rosalin jump through some bushes. “Oh, there you are!” Katie said, suprised. I jumped and landed next to her soon after. “Oh, and Artek too,” she said. I felt her come closer to us. A thump on the ground; Susan had jumped off her head. She ran over to Rosalin and jumped onto hers. “Sorry about your dad and everything,” she said in her small voice. Her voice kind of tickled like Katie’s, but it was also high pitched, and so when she was to loud, it was very annoying.
Rosaline sighed. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get over it…” she said, her voice drifting. “But what if he really does make us all fight?” Or-Tal said. I could feel her close behind me. I just stood there, listening to the conversation. I didn’t really talk when it was all us like this, just when it was Rose and I. I heard distant wing beats. “Crow’s coming back,” I warned. A few seconds later I heard wing beats and feet. “Well, I couldn’t- oh… there you two are,” he said. His voice was dark and menacing, but calming in a weird way. The tips of his wings dragged as he walked over. I heard him ruffle the feathers on them. “So what we gonna do about all this?” he asked. I could hear the distaste in his voice. “We gonna fight or what?” It was quiet. “I’m going home guy’s. See ya later… I guess,” Rose said. She speed up before anyone could say anything about the matter. Susan had jumped off her head when she left. “I wonder whats wrong,” Katie asked. “Let her blow off steam,” Crow said, shrugging it off. “Better she bites her own head off then ours.” With that, he flew off, his wings beating growing fainter and fainter. Katie huffed. “‘Better she bites her own head off then ours!’” Katie squeaked, badly imitating Crow’s voice. I probably would have laughed if not for the fact that I felt like I was going to throw up. Something Rosaline said made me uncomfortable. “You know what guys… I’m heading for home too. See ya!” I said, turning and running for home. They didn’t say anything.
I was awaken by the rustle of leaves. It was now nightime and I was sleeping in my den beside my cousin. I streached and flicked my ear. I was going to see what Rose was doing ealryer, but I had to help at home and didn’t have the time. I streched a bit more as I quietly slinked out of the tunnles. I had memorized every twist and turn about this place. I soon felt cool air blowing and know I was by one of the three exits we had, hopfuly the one closest to the sound. I emerged to be covered in a blanket of cold. I shivered and raised my ears a bit. Everything seemed quiet enough… There was a crack about 12 yards away. A twig snapping? I slowly walked over to the sound. I heard the sound of feet creeping slowly and quietly past the area. I sniffed and followed the scent, trying to be as quite as possible. It smelt like… tree sap? What was tree sap walking around at this time of night? Wait… I smelt leather too. Water, bread, seeds, glass, herbs, the strong scent of medicine and… I stepped into a small clearing. I recognized it by the fell of rough rocks and slightly damp soil. I was by Spearow pond. I felt the presence on the other side of the clearing, and I sniffed. A familiar scent filled my nose, covered in a mask of tree sap. I heard a sharp intake of breath. “…Rosaline…?”
Srry if its short, but I was running out of ideas. Its hard to do Artek’s point of view! I mean, I’m no blind, so I don’t really know how to describe things I can not see. Please message at least telling me I did well on his POV, and I’ll feel better. It took me a while just to finish writing this one. Urg…
Plz message, or I will send you sad… =3~
Ike’s Strike (But We’re All Right)
September 13, 2008 | Check-in | Comments [3]
Okay, that was a lot of fun.
Ike came ashore at Galveston around midnight, and by 3:00 in the morning things were getting really interesting up here. Power went out at 3:15 AM. The noise just from the wind was unbelievable. I know we got hurricane-force winds here but I don’t know the official windspeed for our area.
We lost a lot of shingles off the roof - along with most of our neighbors. Small Live Oak tree next door was pushed over, and our trampoline (which I had “U-Bolted” to the ground at eight points) flipped over the fence and ended in that neighbor’s backyard.
The fence between us and the neighbor on the other side is completely gone - unfortunate since they have a pit bull (yeah, they’re THAT kind). I’ve got some blue tarps that I’m gonna put up on the roof over our bedroom and the adjacent space on the west (front) side of our house. The roof leaked there and the ceiling is pretty torn up, I had to put plastic cartons under it overnight (”drip, drip, drip…”)
The power came back on around 4:00 this afternoon.
All in all, we came out okay. More than 20,000 people stayed on Galveston Island, we’re waiting to hear the death toll (everyone’s sure there had to be some deaths with the size of the storm surge).
I’ll let y’all know if anything else comes up.
Love to all who’ve asked and prayed.
Ike’s Hike
September 12, 2008 | Check-in | Comments [5]
At this point, the eye of Hurricane Ike is projected to pass just east of downtown Houston by dawn tomorrow, at which time it will be a Category 1.
It’s projected to hit Galveston as a Category 2 - NOT a major hurricane, but certainly an inconvenience.
Amaya has decided that if she gets scared, we’ll all huddle with flashlights in Nana and Paw-Paw’s room, and tell scary stories.
Go figure.
Stay tuned.
* * *UPDATE* * ** * *UPDATE* * ** * *UPDATE* * ** * *UPDATE* * *
Friday 6:30 PM CDT
Winds are well up into the “tropical storm” force now, and we’re starting to hear it. Oddly enough, no rain yet.
Would you believe it? FORTY PERCENT of the residents of Galveston Island did NOT evacuate and are staying. Some people are going to be killed; the storm surge is expected to be 15-20 feet with 10 to 20 foot waves on top of that! It’s to the point now where no rescue is possible because boats and of course aircraft can’t operate. They had a small warehouse burn down in Galveston because the streets around it were flooded and no fire fighters could get to the area.
I see by the Weather Underground charts that we have about a 50-50 chance of seeing hurricane-force winds (72 mph+) where we are. And a spokesman for the biggest power company here (we have several) stated that they expect power outages “for weeks” throughout the area.
After the storm passes, we’ll decide what to do, but we may go up to Birmingham to stay with Beth for awhile. Beth, hope you don’t have company for dinner like we talked about last weekend!
Pray for us.
New Blog Post (Not Here, Over THERE –>)
September 4, 2008 | Check-in | Comments [3]
I hadn’t written anything on my personal blog in a long time. There were “technical difficulties” that I hadn’t taken the time to untangle so it just sat there not functioning for several months.
Finally took a few minutes - it was actually not that hard to figure out - and now it’s working again.
I thought the article was worth writing so I’m inviting y’all to check it out.
The Next Generation
August 6, 2008 | Check-in | Comments [2]
As you all know (even from experience after last week), Nancy and I are busy raising our three grandchildren. I say “our” even though they have no traces of my particular DNA about their persons. But I’ve been “grandpa” for five years now, and the District Court of the County of Harris, Texas, has granted me equal standing with Nancy as their legal guardian, so there you are.
I know I love them as much as I could ever love my bio-grandchildren.
We’re going to have to figure out how to get all this generation of kids together more often. Beth and I had talked in nonspecific terms about “trading hostages” during the Summers in the future, for instance having Dylan (and maybe Ryder, who definitely has his own thoughts on these things) come and visit for a couple of weeks, then sending them along with our boys to Birmingham for a couple of weeks.
I’m not sure how to work all that, but as Mother can attest, as well as Buddy and me who did have cousins on Bill Sr.’s side that we were privileged to be close to in our formative years, it’s great to have warm relations with your extended family. Mother had her McLure cousins, just to name a few, and I distinctly remember (as I mentioned during our whiffle-ball game) her dominating those Hollands as a slugger in their pick-up baseball games when she was in her late-20s.
Anyway, just a thought in passing.
Love to all.
Edouard’s Here!
August 5, 2008 | Check-in | No Comments
Tropical Storm Edouard has made landfall just to the east-southeast of Houston this morning, and is even at this moment churning it’s way STRAIGHT toward us. RIght now, they max sustained winds are at 65 mph, a few short of a Cat One hurricane, but we’re still in for quite a blow.
We should be getting a LOT of rain over the next day or so. I’ve stayed home today, because I didn’t want to go to work then just turn around and head home again.
Here’s hoping we don’t lose power or anything!
* * * UPDATE WEDNESDAY 6 AUGUST 2008 * * *
Well, the storm’s come and gone and left nothing much in its wake but a few blown-over beach umbrellas. As usual with our vaunted Mainstream Media, the hype and the build-up was W-A-Y bigger than the reality. I think we probably had some pretty good winds in the coastal areas between the Bolivar Peninsula just east of Galveston and Port Arthur, Texas, but there’s NOTHING THERE except a bunch of old beach houses, and they’re all up on stilts.
The storm surge MIGHT have been a foot or eighteen inches. Not enough to worry about.
We got about three inches of rain in our neck of the woods, although they DID get a lot more than that east of Houston proper. However, most of that rain fell in areas just adjacent to the bay, and so there really wasn’t much flooding of rivers further inland.
In fact, as the storm downgraded to a “tropical depression” and headed out over Austin and West Texas, it was more a blessing than anything else, since there has been pervasive drought there extending back several years. Those folks really needed the rain!
So, all’s well, the lights never even flickered out our way. I’m back in the office again today for the first time in ALMOST two weeks, given my hospital stay plus the reunion trip.
Love to all.
I have sound
April 22, 2008 | Check-in | Comments [8]
for some reason the sound finally came back to my computer, so I was finally able to listen to all of the talks from conference. I am so grateful for this and i love my prophet and I hope all the family knows how lucky they are to be able to listen to conference. In the days of King Benjamin , talks had to be written. We are so lucky in this day to hear our Apostles and Prophet immediatly. Praise to Our Lord!! My hope is that this year my family will really learn to love the Lord and really understand how much he loves us. It is a love we will never comprehend in this life, but he will show us if we want to know
I Have Heard From Leah
April 6, 2008 | Check-in | Comments [2]
I have just had a brief email exchange from Leah. The following are the pertinent points of information:
1) Although it’s true that she hasn’t been “communicado” of late, that applies not just to me but to her entire family on both sides. Her mother also admonished her that many family members are concerned that she isn’t talking much.
2) She has been going through a very rough time of late. I do not feel at liberty to discuss particulars, but suffice it to say that her cup overfloweth right at this moment, and not with “good stuff.”
3) I do feel to point out that one traumatic event was the death of her cousin Matt (son of Lynda’s sister Margaret) in a tragic automobile accident. This has been the toughest thing for her to deal with, but not the only thing.
4) Leah has decided to leave Mobile and move back to Birmingham this summer. Her lease is up in June and she’ll be leaving shortly thereafter. She plans to enroll at UAB in the fall. She has done well academically at South Alabama, and I hope she doesn’t have any trouble transferring her credits.
I guess one good thing about it is, Leah will be near a lot more of her family including Hillary. Perhaps some members of OUR family might have the opportunity to visit with her at some point in the future.
No one here who is a parent will fail to understand how, no matter how difficult and rocky your relationships with your children, you continue to love them and your heart yearns after them and after their welfare. Much of the “estrangement” between Leah and me is entirely my fault, and I know it. I don’t know what if anything I can do about it, but I do acknowledge it.
Please remember Leah in your prayers. I believe she would appreciate that very much.
Alex…I forgot to get your E-Mail
April 6, 2008 | Check-in | No Comments
I, Elaine, am “mother” in case you did’t get that. I need it, if you don’t mind 25 other people having it. If you do, you can E-mail it to me. I suppose you have our E-Mail.
It’s luisman65@yahoo.com
Sorry so long gone
March 18, 2008 | Check-in | Comments [3]
Sorry its been so long since we’ve shown some face around here..The baby and Lexie got colds and everything has been so busy..Nana I don’t know how you did it with all those kids.I feel like I might pull my hair out with just two…I’m also trying to potty train Lexie before I go back to work, if anyone has any suggestions let me know PLEASE!! Can’t wait for the reunion, I’ve been keeping my mom updated, she is just busy right now with work. August is a good time for both of us though. Update on James Michael- he is 23 inches long and 14 pounds already!!-Ive tried to post some pictures but I can’t get it to work right.
Hi to all my Family!
January 14, 2008 | Check-in | Comments [3]
I think I’ve finally been able to post here. WOOT!! It’s been so wonderful to read all of your posts and get updated on things. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!
Love you guys! Bethy
“Kiss My Grist”
January 9, 2008 | Check-in | Comments [3]
For some reason lately, I have found myself craving hot grits at least a couple of times a day. I dunno why, I guess I equate it with “comfort food.” I have eaten them occasionally over the last several years - Nancy, a born “yankee” who actually is a Southerner at heart (she prefers warm weather, and she loves movies and books about feisty southern dames, etc.) actually does a VERY good job of cooking them for me, almost as good as Mom used to make (I said “almost”, Mom, don’t have a conniption!)
I guess it doesn’t hurt that perhaps the largest purveyor of grits modern-day is Quaker Oats, a fine old Chicago company! We don’t have “Jim Dandy” here in Houston, and I really don’t see any other product here on the shelf at Kroger and Randall’s (the local version of Safeway). So Quaker Oats it is.
Some of you might remember the 70s sit-com “Alice,” featuring Alabama native Polly Holliday as “Flo”. “Kiss my grits” was her trademark retort.
And no, I didn’t actually misspell “grits.”
You see, we Polhemus kids were fortunate to have Mrs. Mary Ellen Lake Polhemus as our grandmother. G’mother Polhemus came from an old South Carolina family - her father was a physician - and she was incredibly “correct” in everything she said. She was a schoolteacher and used to having her word taken as law inside AND outside her home.
She would not permit anyone, esp. her grandchildren, to use the word “grits.” It was “hominy GRIST,” she told us, and only “hominy” was allowed to be used in short. Her tale is that the word “grits” was a corruption of “grist” that entered the language from, er, “African Americans in forced servitude” (she used a shorter term than that, which I’ll leave to your imagination).
It’s possible that’s true, and my dear departed grandmother’s sensibilities aside, lots of words have entered the language as a “corruption” of other words, like “banjo” (from the East African word mbanza) and “buckeroo” (from the Spanish vaquero) for example. So I don’t mind using “grits” for “grist of hominy”.
Anyway, my cravings have been tamed somewhat by keeping boxes of Quaker Oats Instant Grits in my desk. From time to time, as the cravings become too strong to ignore, I make my way to the coffee room where I mix them in the hot water on tap from the big coffee maker. Stir, let sit for a few, then enjoy all that ersatz Southern goodness!
“Like Mom used to make?” Hardly. Not even nearly as good as NANCY makes, but it’ll do when the cravings get to be too strong.
Hey, I don’t smoke, drink alcohol, gamble or go to strip clubs. My grits obsession is a small indulgence (and only 100 calories per serving, with no fat!)
Love to all, and I’ll keep on spoonin’ ‘em up!
Real Problem with G.A.S. Lately!
December 11, 2007 | Check-in | Comments [3]
Buddy will definitely relate. I’ve had a very tough case of G.A.S. (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) of late. This is where you wanna go out and buy ALL the guitars, not just eight or nine!
I decided to “upgrade” my 12-string (have an Alvarez, decided on a new Breedlove Atlas, will sell the old one), but I goofed! I purchased what I thought was the 12-string, only to discover after ripping into the newly-delivered box that it was a 6-string! Boo-hoo!
Have corrected the order, must ship “wrong” guitar back, and…no, Bill, I said SHIP IT BACK! You…
What do you mean, can’t you just play with it for a few days first? NO! NO! NO!
You KNOW what will happen! You’ll mess around with it and then decide that for some reason or other, you just HAVE to keep IT as well as ordering the new 12-string! And you already HAVE a Washburn 6-string, AND a Takamine, AND that nice little Cort Earth…
What do you mean, those are all “different”? Okay, the Washburn is actually a SMALL jumbo, not a full-size, and the Takamine is a small-body and the Cort Earth is a parlour guitar, but that…
No! I said NO!!! Do you want to stay married, or not? If Nancy catches wind of the fact that the total number of guitars in the house just mysteriously doubled, you KNOW what that means! She’s gonna kick you out and…
What do you mean, “she’ll understand”? Boy, you’re cruisin’ for a bruisin’…
No, we will NOT talk about this later, I…
*SIGH* Sorry, folks, this is going to have to be continued in private. But if for some reason Nancy and the kids show up WITHOUT ME at Christmas, you can figure it probably has to do with G.A.S. problems!
It’s like being on crack, except louder.
Mitt Romney
November 26, 2007 | Check-in | Comments [4]
I am so happy to have a mouse that works! I still have never got the copy and paste thing down, but I want you to read this informitive article on Mitt and give your opionion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_Romney
“Googleing yourself”
November 13, 2007 | Check-in | No Comments
Beware gooleing yourself, you might say “ikes” at what you find! I googled a friends name the other day and today thought “I’ll google myself and see what I find. The first two items that came up were from this site, yikes now everyone can see what I look like ! The third article about me was written in a space called “capertree.blogspot .com, a political forum, on an article about “Mitt Romney”, a guy compares me as a mormon to Mitt Romney. Saying I was the first mormon he ever knew and he goes on and on etc. You should read it, it was a very nice thing for someone to say about me , although I don’t remember where he remembered “dimples”. Anyway, I won’t be posting anymore pictures of my self anytime soon, sheesh!! I googled, Bill, and Buddy and Beth and Benny. Bill is the great “structural engineer, Buddy is the song and dance man, Beth and Brenda sell “Ryder-rubs, Benny is the movie and comic book critic and I am “The face of Mormonism”LOL
OK, im here now
November 4, 2007 | Check-in | Comments [3]
ok, I just now got on the website. don’t ask me why I haven’t before? Guess I am a terrible person. I knew about it, but just haven’t done my family duty, but I am here now, so watch out, I will be talking and commenting and posting pictures, cause I love to post pictures. First I got to figure out the digital camera, and you know what I am going to put on there??? hint!hint!
This is going to be great!! Julie, the kids are beautiful, wish I could see them, hope they know who I am.
Alley, you are georgeous, of course!!!!
Love to all!!!
diabetics
November 4, 2007 | Check-in | Comments [2]
I bought a blood testing kit and have tested several mornings and it has been around 90. I think i only tested high because i had just had a rootbeer float. Anyway , i have cut down on carbs, sugar and fat and am trying to lose weight. it is just so hard because i get so hungry. i walk 12 miles a day at work everyday, and that really makes me hungry. (I know, I wore a pedometer for several days to check. I will still keep checking just to be safe.
OUR FLOORING IS BEAUTIFUL
November 4, 2007 | Check-in | No Comments
Thanks to Carmen who got the ball rolling, and all of you who contributed, and most of all to my wonderful, talented husband, who spent three days of back-breaking labor putting down our living-room hard wood floor. We picked out the hard wood rather than the laminate. The color that we liked was better in hard wood, and the slats, or slabs, or whatever you call them linked together nicely. Of course, your Dad did a terrific job, as he always does. I just can’t quit looking at it. We’re inspired to move the furniture around. I really didn’t think it could go but one way, but I think it can go another. We’re going to have fun trying it a different way. The bay window had the TV set in front of it, and that wasn’t a good idea at all. We moved it to the corner, but we really need a small corner entertainment center, or at the least, something better than our glass coffee table (which it now sits on). Ah, the material things of life!! It’s just that I love to decorate, if only I knew how!!! The bay window is now free for the Christmas tree, and Dad bought blinds today, which we’ve needed all along. They had to be cut to size. Bill, we’re excited to have you and Nancy coming to take a look-see at the floor.
AND, to spend Merry Christmas with us.