Back to Daily Life

Hey, y'all,
Well, I have unpacked (actually did that on Saturday and have washed all my clothing, both what was here before and what I brought home) and have settled back in to daily life. 

Yesterday morning, the Bennett family gathered at Andrew and Julia's for my birthday and for Mother's day for Carol, Whitney, Julia, and me. There was a really yummy breakfast prepared by Andrew and Julia and followed by many presents. :) There was a bonus of seeing all my grands and great grands on that side of my family, except for Ben (Emily's husband) who was sorely missed.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to see "The Importance of Being Ernest" and when I went to sleep in the first half of the play, I knew the play wasn't going to be enough to keep me awake in the second half, so I left during intermission. If only they had done the play in American English instead of  "The King's English" I am sure it would have kept me awake. Almost every time I have attended that theater, it has been booked solid. I am sure the "English accent" is the problem, because the theater was more than half empty. 

Since I had not had lunch, I decided to go across the street to the Buttermilk Cafe and have supper. Well worth my time, it was! Upon arriving at home, I decided to work on making some "thank you" cards with my Cameo Silhouette and some creativity. 

This morning, it was off to Sunday School and church, followed by a lunch with some of my friends that I dine with most Sundays. We have a wonderful time joking and laughing; we decided to get together at my home on Thursday evening for a spot of supper and a few rounds of dominoes. Yay! Great fun ahead! 

This afternoon, I had the pleasure of chatting on Skype with daughter, Teresa, and then working some more on the thank you cards. I hope to get them off into the mail in the next couple of days. Nothing like striking while the iron is hot, so to speak. Tomorrow, back to working on Amy's quilt and hopefully get it completed before the week is out. 

Well, that is about it... I hope to soon be working on the next chapter of "Sleuthin' Sidekicks" where Anna Belle and Lucy Mae run into more trouble. It will be serialized on my blog just like the previous one. One day at a time is how it will progress. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Bye for now. More later. 

Suitcase Not Unpacked Yet?

Hey, Y'all,
Well, yeah, I am back in Texas, as of yesterday evening, but I was too zonked out to post last night. I brought in my suitcase and purse, put them on my bed, and went into the living room, turned on the tevee to watch, leaned back in my recliner and that was lights out until about three hours later. I woke up and took my night time medications, put my eye drops in for my Glaucoma, and went back to my recliner for the night. I did have supper at the local KFC when I got in from the airport.

My daughter, Carol's, neighbor, Linda, picked me up at the airport and took me back to Carol's; I picked up my car there and  headed to KFC. I was glad to be back home, even though I had tremendously enjoyed my visit to Tennessee. 

While I was there, I got to visit with several good teacher friends (Phyllis, Carolyn, Carolyn, and JoAnn); I visited with my good friend, Ina Ray, who is still recovering from cancer; I visited with my good friend, Judy, who is recovering from major back surgery. I stayed most nights with my sister-in-law, Mae, who has been in my family since I was four years old, so I have known her forever as long as I can remember. I was able to see my niece and nephew (Norma and Fred) while at Mae's home. I visited with my sister in law, Imazo, and she is doing well. 

I also spent Saturday night in New Market at a bed and breakfast, called The Minnis House. You can find it online. Just type The Minnis House at New Market, TN into your browser and you will find it. It is owned locally by Christian friends of mine. My daughters went to school with them. If you are ever that way, it is a lovely place to spend a night or two. They serve an old-fashioned country breakfast, too. Yum! Then on Sunday morning, I went to worship at my old church at New Market and saw a lot of my friends there.

I was able to spend some time with my some of my friends I went to Carson Newman with back in the sixties (fifty years ago-- wow!) ( Ginger and Gwen) Also I spent an evening with my neighbors from when I lived in New Market, the Benjamin family. It was wonderful to see everyone and I enjoyed all my visits tremendously. I was going to take a lot of pictures, but changed my mind. I just wanted to keep the memories in my heart. 


Today, we are celebrating my birthday and Mother's day at Andrew and Julia's with breakfast. It will be wonderful to see every one there. It will be the whole family together as they haven't been for a while. 


I'll bet my flower bed needs watering and I wrote some checks for bills this morning early. My suitcase is still lying on my bed, unpacked....oh, well... Going to the Artisan this afternoon to see "The Importance of Being Ernest". Tomorrow is Sunday School and church. I might get around to unpacking tomorrow afternoon. I'll think about that tomorrow, because "After all, tomorrow is another day..." :)


This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Bye for now. More later.

Preparations

Hey, y'all,
Well, I spent a pretty good night last night, (I think), but I'm a little off my feed today and yesterday. It must be the strong anti-biotic my doctor put me on Monday. There are also other effects from it as well. A good one seems to be the coughing is a little less intrusive on my body. I suppose, too, that having less appetite right now could be considered a good effect. However, at my age, eating is one of the great pleasures of life. Right? Do I get an "Amen" from anyone out there in Blogland? 

I am well on my way to finishing granddaughter, Amy's, quilt. I am in the process of attaching the four sections together. I will finish it after I get back from Knoxville next weekend. In case you are worried about my house while I am gone, my neighbor across the street, "Old Cooter", who is a dead shot with a shot gun, is watchin' it fer me. He won't let anybody bother it. He's there all day long, and promised me he'd keep an eye on it. Old Cooter knows everything goin' on in the neighborhood, don't cha' know?

I have a lot to accomplish today. Gotta go to the store, clean up my kitchen, do some filing, pack my suitcase, go to the doc's office for a follow up, straighten the living room a bit, visit with some of my great grands this afternoon, then to the church for supper and choir practice. After that, back home to watch "American Idol" and whatever else. Oh, yeah, somewhere in there, (this morning, I figure) a shower. Ha ha.
I usually throw my clothes into a suitcase the night before I travel. I really miss driving the distance, but am advised on all sides, "No, you don't want to be driving by yourself a long distance" so I reckon not. 

Thanks to Carol, the snake from yesterday morning around this time has been identified as a smooth earth snake. Whatever! All I know is that the only good snake is a dead snake, and that little feller sure met his demise within a couple of minutes from the time these old eyes set sight on him (or her).

Well, y'all, I gotta move these old bones and get 'em to shakin' around here. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Bye for now. More later.  

A Tiny Reptile Can you identify it?

Hey, Y'all,
Well, I am just about recovered from my month-long blogging challenge. I almost got burn-out from trying to read so many other blogs during the month (I read over 900 other blogger's work in that time, as well as writing my story). Right now, I am also recovering from a cold that I believe almost turned into pewmony. Went to the family dr. yesterday and got a shot in the rear, a breathing treatment, and a prescrip for an antibiotic. 

This morning, though, I was walking through my hallway, looked down and saw what I thought was a curved strip of batting or cloth. I reached down to pick it up and WHOA! It moved, wiggling around. I immediately stepped on it several times. It moved into the living room and I grabbed up one of my plastic crocs and began whomping the Dickens out of it. It was a tiny snake, about 4 to 5 inches long, no bigger around than a Q-tip, but I don't know what kind of snake it was. Didn't stop to ask it. I slipped a couple of sticky notes under it and carried it outside, to rot in the elements. 

Now I am wondering, "Where did it come from, and are there any more of them, and if so, are they in the house? Where is the mama?"

I reckon I'll have to do a little investigating. The next question: Do I really want to find them? What if it is a poisonous snake? Anybody got any ideas?

On Thursday of this week, I will be boarding an American Eagle and heading for Tennessee for a week. I'm hoping to see a lot of my friends and family during that time. Of course, I will be taking pictures to post when I get back. 

That is about it for right now. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Bye for now. More later. 

Can you identify this little sneaky snake?

My Week in Review

Hey, y'all,
Well, now I'm gonna tell you about my last week (beginning with last Friday to today). It hasn't been really great, but surely could have been much worse! 

Last Friday began with much sneezing and snortin' and blowin' of the schnozz. I must have used up a mega roll of toilet tissue keeping the drip from my nose wiped away. I ran out of kleenex and had to resort to the toilet tissue. Thank goodness for a good supply of that! Then my temperature began to spike and by Saturday morning, much coughing with a four degree rise in temp. Slept in my recliner from Friday night on and will probably do so till my cough is gone. I did very little of anything in the house, including eating. I did call a couple of my Sunday School class members to tell them I wouldn't be able to come on Sunday, so they had to manage the lesson without  me. 

Sunday morning dawned and went till about 11:45 a.m. and I had jabbing pains in my front left shoulder. I thought it could be my heart, since I do have heart problems, so I called my oldest daughter, Carol, who was at church. She knew I wasn't feeling well, so she answered her cell phone."What should I do?" I asked her. 

"I don't know," she replied. "Call Teresa and ask her." Teresa is my daughter who lives in Alabama and has had nurse training. So I called Teresa. Her advice was to call 911. So I did, and waited for them. 

In the meantime, I printed off a copy of my medications, took a nitro tablet, put on my housecoat, got my billfold with insurance info in it, along with my keys, and by the time I had availed myself of the bathroom, I could hear the sirens. 
I thought, "Boy, I'm providing some excitement for the neighbors! Ha!"

Well, the upshot is, I went out to meet them (they were surprised that I was walking, but you know me, I must do things in grand style). They helped me into the doorway of the rescue squad ambulance and sent the fire truck on its way. By that time, sure enough, some of the neighbors were out gawking, just like I would  have been in their place. (Are you getting tired of reading this yet? I must admit, I can be rather wordy.)

We went on to the local hospital emergency room where Carol met us, having gotten there before we did, and after spending six hours in the emergency area, having EKG run, giving blood, CT scan and X-rays made, they told me my heart enzymes were good, and I had no blood clots, and to go home and rest. So, praise God, and a lot of prayers, I'm sure, and a good staff at the hospital, I knew I was okay. I believe (as I did before I went) that it was just pain from the coughing I had been doing. The doctor did tell me that he had consulted with my cardiologist and that I was to call the office and see him this week. I saw him on Tuesday and he told me to increase one of the meds that I was already taking. 

By Monday I was already back to quilting, and finished up a quilt for a great grand nephew who was born in California, about the same time as my newest great grandchild here in Texas. On Tuesday, I began working on my granddaughter, Amy's, quilt for their queen size bed. I went to visit my cardiologist, went to the library, had lunch at Freddy's steakburgers. Yum! That made me feel much better. Then went to Hobby Lobby. That improved my attitude even more. Ha!

Wednesday was supper at the church, followed by choir rehearsal. More sewing during the day.

Yesterday morning, I decided I needed to get out my walker and take a walk down to Kroger's (about four blocks from my home) and pick up a few items for my Sunday School class get together yesterday afternoon. I have pictures of that little soiree that we had. We each brought pictures of ourselves to the meeting so that we could see what we all looked like when we were much younger (from about 60 years ago). We were really quite good lookin' chickadees! At least, we think so. Ha. We were celebrating my birthday (we had snacks and little birthday cakes) and also saying farewell to one of our members who is moving away to another town.

   There were actually nine of us (I was taking the pictures) and while I know it may actually look like there were more, some people were in pictures more than once. We were busy filling our faces when I made these, so the laughter was behind and not evident. :) We  had a great time together. I'd say the average age of my class is somewhere mid eighties. I love them all so very much. They are a delight to be around. We only had one absent, and she was at home, mourning the loss of her little dog that she had to have put down this week, due to the doggie's illness.

Then this morning, I collected all the trash, changed the filter in the air conditioning unit, and FOOT-SWEPT the living room floor. You are asking right now, maybe, how does one foot-sweep a floor? Well, if you're wearing socks, and there are a lot of scraps of cloth, and clipped threads, and pieces of tissue (used) lying all around in the floor where they missed the waste basket, you simply walk around and swish it all together into a pile in your socks, and then when you have it all in one place, you pick it up and put it into the trash. You then clean off the debris on your socks and put that into the trash as well. You will have dusted the floor, and cleared up what was in the floor, and "Voila!" you now have an acceptable looking floor again. 

Well, that is my week in review. Thanks for listening (reading) and I hope to be writing a new Sleuthin' Sidekicks story in June, God willing. 

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Thanks to all of you for reading my stuff. I enjoy writing it all. Love to all my friends and family. More later. Bye for now.  

The Night

The night had seemed very short, because I'd slept mighty good, even with all the noises surroundin' me. Believe it er' not, the nurses comin' in n' out didn't bother me much. Y'know, when yer' used ta' sleepin' in doorways like we wuz', we appreshiated a good bed when we got ta' use one. 

The nurse come in and turned on the light. "Good mornin'," she smiled. "Did you sleep well? I need to get your vital signs and if they are good, I have orders to remove the IV's from your arm. Let me check your arm bands and make you are who the orders say you are. Then you will be getting breakfast and the doctor will be in to check you all,  before you're dismissed."

While Nurse Nancy checked us out, I looked over at Lucy and winked. We sure was gettin' the royal treatment, I thought. Hmm, this was alright. I was anxious to see Clancy and talk to the Lieutenant, but in the meantime, I wuz sure gonna enjoy the good stuff.

A couple a' hours later, we wuz on our way to the station. The day wuz clear and bright; I remarked ta' Lucy about the birds a' singin' and the air smellin' so good. It didn't take no time fer her to agree, 'cause we wuz both so glad to be alive, after last night's scary doin's, don't cha' know?

We sailed inta' the station house, jest a wavin' and smilin' at the guys and gals in thar' like we wuz some a them celebrity tevee stars. They all clapped their hands at us and smiled. 

"Hey, Shannon, your lady detectives are down here," the desk sergeant shouted up the stairway. 

"Where's my little Clancy? Where are ya', boy?"

Here he came, his little ears jest a' flappin' and his tail a' waggin, and a' yippin' like crazy, jumpin' down the stairs and inta'  my arms. Oh, my! I was as glad ta' see him as he wuz ta' see me. He licked my cheeks, catchin' the tears as they run down my face. "Oh, you sweet little Clancy, you! Oh, how I missed ya'!"


Lucy Mae just stood back and wiped 'er eyes, smilin' ta' see us both so happy. The fellers kinda' stood around and hemmed n' hawed. 


The Looie came down and escorted us up to his office so we could talk. "Your carts are sitting over there in the corner. We've been taking good care of them for you. Have a seat, ladies, and let's have us a little chat. I gather they took good care of you at the hospital?"


"Hello, Lieutenant Shannon! Yes, we had good keer over thar'. They wuz really good to us. Thank ye fer gettin' us over thar, an' all. I expect we woulda' been goners if we hadn't a been rescued? Do ye know what Gloria had planned fer us?"


"Oh, yeah...she had planned to take you into your neighborhood by car, and hit you over the head while you were unconscious, leaving you dead. She had some whiskey she was going to pour into your mouth and over your clothes, to make it look like you had got drunk and just fell and hit your heads."


"Why, that old witch!" cried Lucy Mae. "The nerve a' her! She's jest a evil old woman!"


"You're right there," replied the Looie. "You know the gun you turned in, ladies, was registered to her and was used in the shooting over on Castle Way. She had gone over there the day before Xenia Clark was killed, and shot her girlhood friend, Geneva Hyde-Smythe. Gloria was singing like a canary when we got her back to the station in the interrogation room. She couldn't talk fast enough when we showed her the journal. She was bragging about how clever she had been and how she had fooled everyone, until you got to snooping around."


"Didja' find the necklace in the purse? I fin'lly figured out it musta been blackmail payment from either Xenia er Geneva. And the page from the telephone direct'ry had somethin' ta do with some coins 'er somethin' like that, cause coins comes after coffee alphabetical like. I wuz layin' in that nice bed last night a' doin' some thinkin', don'tcha know?"


"Yes, you're right, AnnaBee, as usual. The necklace had been Xenia's last payment, and Gloria had forgotten about it being in the purse. We found a set of coins in Gloria's house when we searched it. She told us that she had had the coins for several weeks as payment from Geneva. She carried her purse with her to Geneva's house with the gun in it, shot Geneva, and then ditched the purse with the journal and the gun in it, getting rid of the evidence, she thought. She thought that when the trash was carried out of the park and put into the city dump with all the other trash, she was home free. She didn't count on two little old ladies finding her out."


Lucy Mae spoke up, "What about Cookie Jack? How are we goin' to tell him that within two days, he lost both a' his mamas? His birth mama, and his adopted mama are both gone now."


Stunned, I looked at her. "You're right, Lucy Mae..but then, he really didn't have 'em to begin with, did he? One of 'em sold him, and the other one lost him to the system. when he was no bigger than a Jack rabbit, so ta speak. I think we oughta see to it that he gets the necklace and the coin collection. Whatta' ya' think, Lieutenant?"


"I think you may be right, AnnaBelle. We did locate a brother of Xenia, who may be interested in helping Jackie, since he would be an uncle to Cookie Jack."


"Say, that's great! Now, if you don't need us anymore, I think we need to get on outta your way so you can do some work. I wanta thank ye ag'in fer savin' our bacon last night! We got some people we want to visit with today. We gotta check in with Pastor Joe and all. Come on, Lucy Mae, my friend, let's make tracks."


We got our carts and I put Clancy on his leash, and we headed down stairs.


"Just one minute, ladies! Keep your noses clean today! I can't keep spending all my time and the time of my men, rescuing you out of trouble. Like you said, we've got work to do! Now get out of here!"


"Gee, do ya reckon he wuz mad at us, AnnaBee?"


"Nah, he was smilin' when he said it."


When we left, we didn't notice the Weasel following us.


The End

A Buzzin' In My Ears

A buzzin' in my ears, along with the sound of voices, dragged me from a state of unconsciousness...where was I? Why did the inside of my mouth feel like cotton was stuffed inta' it? Kinda' muzzy like. I moaned, and heard a man's voice. I was confused. I lay there almost like one dead.

"I think she's comin' out of it, nurse," I heard a voice say.

"Nurse? Where in the heck am I?" I croaked, opening my eyes, looking around. "Hey, Lieutenant, what are you doing sitting here next ta' me, and where's Lucy Mae...How'd I get here in this bed? What happened anyway?"

"Well, my little crime-stopper, you've been a busy little bee, as usual, getting into all kinds of trouble, and keeping the department busy pulling you out of it. What do you think happened?"

"Where's my little Clancy, and Lucy Mae? Are they okay?"

"Yeah, Lucy is over here on the other side of me, and one of the boys has Clancy. He's livin' it up down at the station. Lucky for him, Lucretia Borgia didn't give him any chocolate drink, laced with a Mickey. Lucky for you all, that one of my undercover men followed you and was watching her house. He saw her draggin' you out of her house to her car parked out back. What were you thinking? I could just shake you!!"

Oh, my head was bangin' away like a trip-hammer. I was still havin' trouble connectin' ever'thing. Why couldn't I remember? I tried to sit up. There was a needle stuck in my arm, connected to a tube runnin' fluid into me. "What is this? Why is it in here? Whose house? What are ya' talkin' about, Looie?"


"Just take it easy, AnnaBee...You were at Gloria Simmons' home and you and Lucy had just had a cup of hot chocolate laced with knockout drops. You were dead to the world (almost literally) when one of my men caught her dragging you out to her car. He took her into custody, and called 911. They came and brought you all to the hospital. Gloria gave him a song and dance about how you got sick and she was takin' you to the hospital. We found the journal in your jacket pocket, and we know the whole story. Lucy Mae is over here on the other side of me and recovering, too. Now lay back and relax awhile."


"Oh, yeah, yeah, now it's comin' back ta' me...I never figgered she'd catch onta me like she did. Hey, Lucy Mae, are you awake? How are ya', friend? I'm sorry I put cha' in danger like that!"


"That's okay, AnnieBee, we're friends through thick n' thin, ya' know."


"Say, Lieutenant, how'd ya know ta have somebody follerin' us?"


"I had a man outside the station who saw you turning in the opposite direction of where the Mission is located and knew you were probably still on the scent of trouble, so he just kind of ambled along slowly after you. Sure enough, there you went, headlong into the lion's den, thinkin' you could take care of yourselves. Here, have some of this water." He had noticed I was rubbin' my tongue over my dry lips.


"I reckon maybe we owe ya a big thank ye for the rescue, Lieutenant Shannon, and also one ta tha' one that saved us from Gloria."


"If you two could just stay out of trouble for awhile, that would be nice. But, we are here to serve, as our motto says, and I'm happy we could rescue you girls again. You two get some rest tonight and I want to see you tomorrow. They're going to keep you overnight. We still have things to talk about. Goodnight,now."

He left, and I looked over at Lucy Mae and grinned. She looked back and asked, "Wonder what we'll get for breakfast, AnnaBee? I hope it'll be good. It's been a long time since our last one."

"Hmm. Yeah... I wonder about that necklace in the purse and where it came from?" (to be continued)