Good night, KJ!
Quick update:
2010 broke my hip (well the femur, old ladies break hips, athletes break femurs - same injury, Google says so) had it pinned together, slow recovery, still trying to rehab garden
Meanwhile: cataracts - had one eye done two weeks ago, next one in June - results are already fantastic
No more horses, different goats - mt. lion and dogs did the old ones in - the new ones are safer now, more hot wire and a closed room at night
Gussie, the dog and four cats keep me company
Joann is dealing with Ron's pending demise, he has multiple myeloma in addition to his heart condition and is fading fast,she is dealing with it well, isn't easy
I am now a great-great grandma - that branch reproduces fast!
Kids are getting to be Seniors - how did that happen?
Anyway, that's it as it is right now.
Love you, KJ

No KJ you are certainly not forgotten. And that spammer is really rude.

Yes; he is very rude and if I weren't such a well-brought up lady by me Mum, I would biff him in that big nose of his!!

Lilo, I am sorry about your femur, but knowing you, it will be one more thing you conquer with your stoic attitude and good genes. Be careful!
I am so sorry about your poor goats being killed----that probably broke your heart.
(Mine is breaking just hearing the story)
I'm glad you have a safer set-up for the new goats----I know you must sleep easier now.

How wonderful to have good eyesight again----medical procedures are a marvel these days! I'm very happy for you!

gandle, thank you for the 'Hi!'----I've thought of you and Leone many, many times----and you two shattering bubbles on the back deck in the middle of winter!
I'm still impressed!

Well, have had a long day of more mowing, getting up piles of weeds and fallen Oak branches and doing battle with a huge wild grapevine that I noticed with genuine disgust right at dusk----I couldn't let it live one more day!!! I think my DSIL will have to get the base of it with his chain saw----it's that big---hate those bloomin things with a passion----they hate me, too!---I was reaching overhead for one of the vines with the loppers still in one hand----I knew better----bloomin' things slipped and I'm graced with an egg on the forehead with a cut in the middle of it.----I'm tellin' anyone who asks at church tomorrow that I got into a drunken fight at a local bar/pool hall on Saturday night!!!!
You watch; there's one guy who comes to our church who will try to ask me out when he hears that story!!! Snort.

-----Oh----I have to tell you one more thing----we have a wonderful fellow who has been playing acoustic guitar at our services for years as we sing hymns
(Yes, Marda---it's a Martin!!!:o)
---then a young man, whom I've known since he was still in his Mamas' tummy---moved out to the country with his wife and baby and chose our little country church to come to---and he offered to play drums---and he does a good job--
very quietly---just keeps everyone from lagging behind, really.----THEN I show up after missing a week and here is the most incredible African-American with his ELECTRIC GUITAR and snazzy white outfit who has joined the crowd!
He starts playing that baby and my daughter and I are right back at the 'Earth, Wind and Fire' concert our family went to in Charlottsville last Fall!

!!!!!!!!!!!!THAT WAS A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No lie!

So we are HAPPY, HAPPY when he loves up those guitar strings---and we GET IT-----maybe some others do also, but it doesn't matter, because we know what plane he's coming from and we are right there.

If he ever leaves---(which he probably will..) I don't think I can ever go back to just plain singing with everyone again---it would be so boring my poor heart would just break....so would my daughters' heart---but she would stand tall and sing just as she always has----and I'll have to stay and not run away and join the circus, because she'll expect me to always set a good example for the grandchildren.

Daggone it.

Oh, KJ, what a treat to read your post on a Sunday evening! I cn only imagine what a wonderful service there was in church, this morning. Thanks for sharing.

(Our pastor, who was a DJ in his youth, plays a mean set of drums. Our Wed. night service is very lively, with guitars--electric and acoustic, horns, and the drums. On occasion, he's the drummer!)

Kathy, You are such a treat.

How are things? On the upswing. I am climbing outta the financial hole that was created by a million different factors, and so, the weight of the world is coming off. Friday, funny you should mention that mwheel!, I went to a benefit concert for a mission trip our church is taking to Kenya. It was John Carter Cash and his wife Laura Cash, a duet of sisters who sing so sweetly, and a father and son team who play a mean dueling guitar and fiddle set. So there was somewhat old country (he did sing his daddy's songs and some of his mother's (and her family, Mabelle Carter)) songs, so it was also gospel, the modern twist sisters, and the father son team mostly played, how shall I describe it?, celtic/rock/polka. It was fantastic!

Saturday, my sister's youngest (of four!) graduated. She's a very special girl to me. She was born with cerebral palsy and has overcome so much! I can't believe that sweet thang that got life-flighted away from us so abruptly, and for whom we prayed hard in that hospital hallway!, is grown up. She's tall and confident. Humorous and bright. I love her so much.

The little fella is leaving his current school and it'll be the last time he changes schools until University. He's going to go to one of the best schools in our great nation. Truly! It's ranked. He's smart as whip, but is having to learn, in each pond, that the fish are getting bigger and bigger than he. This is the first year he didn't get an academic award signed by Obama and it tore him up! He only got "honor roll". HA! He placed in his science fair, went to District, and not placing there, tore him up! He's still determined to be a physician-scientist. He's getting taller and is pre-pubescent. UGH! Hormones! UGH! I'm sure I'll survive, but our relationship is really getting tested. He spends every day being sweet and snuggly, lashing out, being sorry, and then being sweet again. Can you say roller coaster? :)

I still have the two kitties, Maggie Moo and Murphy (too or boo, depending on my mood). Maggie is really calm and happy now. She follows me around and loves to be petted now. Never scratches or hisses when I touch her hinds (like she did when we first got her). She's learning how to let me carry her around like a baby. I love to do that.

Mommy is not doing as well as she could. Her health is really declining. Her degenerative disk disease is progressing despite surgery. All of her friends are retired and she's trying to find a way, but it's not feasible financially. She needs to sell her house. She just refinanced the car, so that helped. Biggest bro told me at the graduation, because I asked where dad was, he got an email this week that had daddy's last wishes in it. He's been trying to diagnosis something that is really hitting him hard and the diagnosis is incurable with no chance of getting on a transplant list. He's early 70s. I spent a lot of graduation crying that not only would he not see my LF graduate from medical school, he won't even see him graduate high school. And I'm pretty sure the very insecure wife of over 30 years just left him. I'm just doing my best to keep my job and save enough to buy a house again. Even if it's a shack. Something that is mine! The miata is on its very last leg. 22 years old, been flooded, and run into the ground. It'll last a bit longer, but not much. I'm gonna miss Cari (my car's name)!

Mostly, I'm missing you and your conversations with Jan. Y'all cheer me up. Love ya!

rob333, who is "Jan"?Does she post in the GP?

Janis in GA, she's the one who wondered where KJ was on Don's post. They're sisters of the soul and love each other dearly. It's obvious! But then, I've also talked to each on the phone, and whomever I am talking to, asks about the other! Always. They're cute.

:)

P.S. KathyJane is a car nut (as am I) is why she got the update on the car

Thanks for explaining rob. I'm used to posters by screen names.
Although, I'm a truck person myself, I enjoy reading about your cars.
Below is a Youtube video that DS sent us, fun to look at.
Brings back memories. DH had a Studebaker when I met him some 50 years ago.It did not go in reverse, the passanger window did not go up and the door was held shut with a rubber band, I kid you not.
The music is great in this video.

Here is a link that might be useful: Memory cars

My window was held shut by an eraser this past winter. All the gaskets on everything are dying. The flooding is taking its toll on the electrical system as things aren't working with any rhythm or reason to them, e.g. the two radiator fans are on the same circuit. It goes directly to the main fan and then onto the auxillary fan. The main fan no longer comes on, but the auxiallry fan still does? How is that even possible?! Love love love cars. Almost as much as I love cats and food. We seem to all get going over those, food, cars, and animals.

Here is a link that might be useful: Don's thread on cars

KJ, it would break your heart now to see Neil.
His once brilliant mind is now reduced to asking questions
over and over.
He is so thin and has been walking with a walker for several weeks now.

On the positive side and there are many, he still has his sense of humor. Every night he thanks me for taking such good care of him and although he can't remember when we got married he never fails to tell me how much he loves me.
He doesn't remember owning an airplane and being a pilot but he knows he was a doctor.

His eyesight is worse to the point that he can't see my
face any more. I must be a big blob to him when he looks at me now which isn't too far from the truth of the matter, since I've gained weight.

I miss you so much, KJ. It is so great to read a post from you. It's like having a vist.

Janis, on June 10, 2010, you posted a beautiful message titled "My Sweet Neil". I was so touched and moved that I copied and saved it. I just reread it, and it's just as touching and moving as it was, then. (BTW, it's in a folder called "Inspirational Writings", and I did, and do, find it inspirational.)

KJ, please keep on posting.