So, Harvey says to Vicky, has Brandy gone out for the night yet? No says she, think she is lurking about somewhere. Finding no place to settle, we kick her out the door for the evening. Now maybe we can get some GOOD sleep without her laying on top of us, between us, and having to get up in the middle of the night to put her out. Life has so many more pleasures when you don't have to contend with a cat too. Poor little Brandy.....

Been reading some good Irish tales in a book borrowed from a neighbor, titled "Ireland", and most from the story teller. I tried that story telling tactic the other night at the mission, seemed to hold the interest of the listeners, am afraid it didn't have too much with what I was trying to convey, in that we each have Beginnings, both physical and spiritual. I wanted them to think about a spiritual beginning, I trust the seeds has been planted.

Choir practice tonight, must get shaved and cleaned up so I can join the happy group. Sing on!

Gpa

So, how do you figure out mankinds love for their pets. It was supposed to be a romantic evening, you know what I mean. So Harvey and Vicky went to bed, and started saying their evening prayers, when their pet cat Brandy decided to join them on the bed. Naturally, she laid down between the two lovers.

Now Harvey not wanting to be the bad guy by kicking the cat out the door, kissed his wife good night, told her to have a good sleep and that he loved her. He turned his back on the cat and wonderful understanding wife, and after minutes of trying to get comfortable went to sleep. That was good for a couple of hours until Brandy decided it was time to exit the bed and go outside for the rest of the night.

Of course we feel bad for Harvey and Vicky, but another day and night will come for them someday I imagine. Know you readers must feel bad for them too, don't you. Next time you see Harvey tell him so, but lets not get Vicky stirred up in this past delimma, and please don't kick the cat next time you see her too. She probably had more sense than Harvey did.

Till next time

Gpa

Yes, the party's over, at least for this year, Jim and I were working together at WHO and in talking to him, he said "YES" he was going ahead with hip surgery before long. However, I failed to ask him the important question, "Jim, are you going to be using the petrified cane stick?" so now I have to just wait and see.

Now I called it petrified, because I don't know what else could keep it stiff and strong. Those sort of walking sticks are usually soft and certainly not stiff for too long a time. Well, you get the picture, and now we have to wait and see.

So reader, whoever you are, stay tuned. I can't promise you a daily update on this saga, but I can tell you that this country boy is interested in the situation. My grandfather had a registered bull named Chancellor of Woodside, reg # NY 2255B. He is a handsome creature and would no doubt have been able to steaks and a stick when his working days was over. Wonder what became of him, 1907 was a long time ago.

Well, time for a sign off and a trip to dreamland. After my all nighter, the mind is getting a bit feeble, jelly like.

Gpa

A new day, same old dollar.....

Less you think all I'm interested in is the reproduction of animals, fowl and people, let me reassure you that I'm not. It's been a perplexing problem all my life. I did not have a mother and father that sat me down and explained about the birds and bees. I knew about them, that is for sure, but mostly they were the creatures that flew about from tree to tree, and in the case of the birds, they built their nests, laid their eggs and little baby birds hatched, were fed and then flew away.

Well my friend Jim was not with me at the WHO event last night, so I'm unable to share more about his controversial walking stick. I've given it some thought, and after viewing the picture on a 1907 advertisement of an ancestor's farm, have concluded that it is probable possible. Let's see if I can download it now. If not then stay tuned another day for an exciting blog from yours truly.

Gpa

This is a true story, only the names and towns have been changed to protect the people in it. This all started just after Thanksgiving of last year. A friend named Jim and I were doing a all night watch for the WHO program that our church participates in. WHO stands for Winter Housing Overflow, and it helps put homeless men and women in shelters for the cold winter nights. I have done this for several years now, and enjoy the time spent in helping in the shelters.

Jim and I were going over the old age complaints common to us folks, ache joints and especially knees that grind bone against bone. Jim was saying that he thought he would have his knees operated on after the first of the year, and would probably be using a cane someone had given him from Texas. This cane had previously been the penis of a long horn bull from a Texas ranch. He said he thought he would probably even use it when he came to the church services till his knee was healed.

Fast forward two months later when Kelly and Bob and I were headed to a basketball game at a nearby school. In walking to the arena, again ache's and pains were brought up in our conversation, and I don't know why but I mentioned Jim's comment about the cane he might be using. Kelly and Bob burst out laughing for they had apparently never heard about such a thing and to think that Jim might actually use it.

We move to today. I'm trying to get in some shut-eye so I'll be ready to spend the evening from 9:00 to 6:00 wide awake. It won't work, I'm wired and my mind is quite active in many ways. I go back 60 years or more to the time on the farm where we lived. It was near The Otter Creek Stock Farm, pictured elsewhere on this blog. This was a picture of my grandfather who had died in 1917, so I know that this is a very old picture, in fact a quick research says it was from a 1907 Iowa Atlas, probably from Linn County where we lived.

We raised both hogs, cows, chickens and occasionally ducks. As a farm boy I knew that the females had to be bred if we were to have piglets, calves, chicks or ducklings. I knew what took place but had no clue as to why the action produced results. I'm older now, and hopefully better learned in those things, including the proagation of children.

I knew that when the cows started jumping one another, it was time for the bull to enter the picture so that the cow could be bred. I remember dad would sometimes take a stick for some protection, and enter the barnyard where this event would take place, and I guess with the stick, he would keep the other cows away so the bull could do his thing. He could also keep the cow that was "in heat" headed in the right way so the bull could mount her properly. That help was probably not needed, but by now the bull would have sniffed the cow's rear and would have gotten a smell of the vaginal secretion.

At times, wanting to see the action, but not to be seen watching it, I would hurry myself into the barn where I could peek out through a crack in the barn door or through a knot hole in the door. If you've never seen such an event take place, it happens rather quickly. The bull on strong rear legs, rears his front legs up and onto the cows rear quarters, and he enters her and in one lunge and plunge it is over and he removes himself. He doesn't stay around for another stab at her, it is over, and if the "sticking the cow" is successful she is "in calf" if not and another month goes by, this event will happen again.

I am much older now and I know that we stopped using bulls right after the end of World War II, our herd of cows were much smaller then and not profitable enough to have our own bull, so we used artificial insemination. A cow would come "in heat" and dad would get on the phone and later in the day, a inseminator would arrive, go to the barn and would proceed to have the cow bred. This was another event which I was able to observe again and again. I do know that he liked to have a bucket of warm water as he needed to wash his groping arm with soapy water before he was to clean the cow's anus of manure, and again to wash up after the breeding was over. It was necessary for him to put his hand and arm into the anus to guide the long glass tubing (later stiff plastic) which was loaded with seman into the vagina and deep into the right place. Again, I didn't understand it all, but knew that about 8 months later if the breeding was successful a calf would be born from the same place the glass tubing was inserted.

Who says a farm boy knows all about the birds and the bees? Not this kid, I think God must have left part of my brain out when he made me for I hadn't a clue of all these things.

Well, tonight this same Jim and I will be doing a overnight thing at the homeless shelter, and I'm thinking that his "cane" will come up again when I ask him if he is still going to have a knee replacement. My next blog may explore this kind of a cane could be possible, we will just have to wait and see.

Gpa Howard

December 24, 2010

Dear Ones near and far,

Its Christmas Eve day, and as I was sitting in my easy chair reading yesterday's news, both good and bad, I saw out of the corner of my eye, a lady coming up our front porch steps. I'm not sure if she had time to ring the doorbell before I had opened the door.

Thinking at first the dark hair belonged to my neighbor Nancy, who lives across the street, I opened the door and a stranger stood there. She said "Is Donna at home", and with that greeting I opened the door and invited her in. I figure that anyone who knows my wife, is probably not a stranger.

This stranger turns out to be Kathy, a friend of Donna's who used to come into the clinic where Donna was receptionist for Dr. Shields. This lady misses Donna's friendly face and smile, and is also the recipient of birthday cards, and cards that say "I care" that Donna so often sends out.

Her coming today, to share a small gift bag full of goodies, and to say "I miss you so much" was like getting the perfect gift. I could never go out and buy a gift that said as much. Her coming clear across town, not knowing where we live or how to get here, says a lot.

Merry Christmas Kathy, and may your New Year be filled with much JOY.

Gpa Howard