The Front Porch Swing

[Triple Willow]

Y'all know, this very thing - kids being bullied is why there are a lot of the school shootings. Those kids just can't take it anymore. That is so sad.

 

[bruceha2000]

I don't know how you all do airports. The duty free zones are hard to avoid and usually very fragrant. I alway step on planes feeling nauseous. And there are always other people on the planes. They're a hazard.

The charcoal mask. I'm sure it looks pretty weird and we had to take them off hurrying to make the connection in Chicago because they don't let in that much air. The plane left Burlington late so instead of nearly 2 hours in Chicago we had ~15 minutes and had to run from concourse F to B.

This is probably an arrogant statement, but frankly if I was looking for a friend I'd pick me.

I don't think anyone on the porch would disagree. Not meaning the first half (and the fact that you recognize the potential AND point it out!! just adds to the feeling) but the choice of you a friend. I've seen so much "this is a person I would enjoy spending time with" in your posts. Like Leslie, which is why I offered to let her invite me to visit her farm in January last year with my daughter

She could have said "no thanks" and that would have been perfectly fine too. Instead she welcomed us and I have a good friend I would not have met were it not for BYC.

I'll let you in on a little secret: Everybody puts their pants on the same way.

I thought firemen put them on 2 legs at a time

You guys that were bullied in school... did your parents not allow fighting, real physical fighting? I was the youngest of a large extended family. That could be a little rough at times. You always come or are put in last place. When I started school there were bullies. There were boys that were career first graders! LOL I went crying to my teacher one day when they were picking on me and she made fun of me. I never told on anybody for picking on me again. Instead I started fighting. I might not could whip them all but I could hurt them bad as they whipped me so it really wasn't worth it to them. It worked. Shortly nobody picked on me anymore. That worked for all the years to follow. I really didn't have to do much fighting at all because they all knew what I could and I would do if I was pushed into it. People these days act like fighting is just awful. Sometimes it is necessary and when it is necessary it doesn't make that kid bad. You do what you have to do, within reason of course.

Not any more, now you get expelled for protecting yourself. My daughter's friend was put in a choke hold a few years ago in high school and ripped the guy hard in the ribs with his elbow to get out (and breath again). 3 day suspension for fighting. They claim to not allow bullying but there isn't any "self protection" clause and both get punished.

Yep Bruce I understand. The house came that way. We have owned it since '85. The roof hasn't sagged any worse than when we bought it. The whole porch really needs some work. the mortar is crumbling between a lot of the bricks. the cement floor is cracked and leaking into the cistern / wood room below. I would love to turn the area below the porch into a fruit cellar but it is to cold and leaky. We have sat on the porch many evenings trying to figure out how to go about repairing it and it seems very overwhelming and costly so we put it off. at this point it really is more cosmetic than structural, but at some point we will do something.

If it is still OK after nearly 30 years COULD be they have quite the beam in there.

X2 on the skunk hair. And Lisa, I feel the same way about my husband. Plus he can build and fix anything, which is the hottest thing ever when you have a mortgage payment! Lol!

Yeah we boring but functional guys are WAY more interesting at 35 than we were at 15 (or 20 or 25 or ...). and 35 was many years back.

Tomtommom, you hit on a painful part of my life. High School. I never ever want to relive that.

Oh yeah. Any one recall the TV show "Freaks and Geeks"? I could NOT watch that show, it was a time machine to hell.


Janet called today and said "want to guess how much the big egg weighed?" Knowing Zorra's largest previous egg was 108 grams

(You ready Leslie, you are SO never going to beat this

)

I started at 110g.
Nope.
112g.
Nope.
So I went to 116g.
Nope, too high.
114g TWICE the size of the low end of a single large egg.

What kind of duck laid it? A Black Australorp CHICKEN "duck"!

Zorra, take a day off, you deserve it. Oh and STOP LAYING MASSIVE eggs! I can't be good for you.

Bruce

 

[Blooie]

I confess that sometimes I've gotten so wrapped up in the day to day care of my grandkids that I'd kinda forgotten the fun factor. Austin's death reminded me that I don't want to miss a minute of laughing and smiling and silly-time with the amazing little people I have left. In a few days it will be the second anniversary of his death. I usually don't dwell on it - partly because I can't change it anyway and partly because I still haven't accepted his death completely. But his lovely wife, Joy, just posted something on Facebook that reminded me of his amazing sense of humor.

Austin was a kid who made fun wherever he went - please allow me to tell a little Austin story I learned from the young lady he married 8 months before his death. It began with a question about a photo of Austin wearing a fake moustache. After he died Joy took a photo of herself wearing that same moustache. I knew there was a story there, so I asked her about it.

Their first winter together the kids were broke - way broke! But it was their first Christmas as man and wife and he wanted it to be memorable. He and Joy, with a handful of quarters, set out on a quest to find their Christmas. They hit every quarter toy machine they could find and the goodies went into one bag. Christmas Eve Austin took the few ornaments he could scape up and decorated their car for Christmas. He put a warm, red blanket in the car. Then he and Joy sat out in the Christmas car during a freezing cold, snowy Iowa Christmas Eve, and took turns pulling items out of the mystery bag. A huge, gaudy "ruby" ring and that moustache were Austin's favorite gifts that year. Austin actually wore that ring for days, until the cheap plastic finally broke! They had no way to know that their first Christmas would be their only one - but they knew they had to make it count, the way they made every day count!



Austin in his Christmas moustache.



When he was little we all called him "AJ". Somehow that got corrupted into "Ajax", which we all called him for years. So he proposed to Joy by buying them each a bottle of dishwashing liquid, his way of telling her that from that day forward they would work together as a Dream Team.

 

[perchie.girl]

It was in Grade school for me... I was "Horse" because thats all I talked about. I got straight pins stuck in my leg at the drinking fountain... Face pushed in at the founatin split lip. Cooties so dont sit with her. My first dance was a bet...

I kept a low profile in Highschool that helped. Everyone else was busy being Freshmen. It was 1969 Hazing was in still done then. Because I was quiet and vowed to never talk about horses again everyone thought I was older. So I got some pleasure in seeing certain people pushing the peanut down the hall.

I was a dreamer as well doing the homework while the teacher lectured. Or just before class... I kept a C average some classes I never did home work and Every test I took was a C. Good at test taking. Came away with a low B average and no friends because I also didnt socialize. To keep my secret.

Back in 1973 women were just beginning to break into male dominated jobs. I started college... I really wanted to become a writer. And against the wishes of my mom and dad tried to enroll in Technical writing classes. They had been dropped. So my next choice was computer programming... I knew Key punch and some programming in Fortran and Basic. They put me in classes for programming business machines. The kinds that sort documents and the programming for those machines.

I forgot to go to finals thats how interesting it was for me.

So I switched to art as a major.... Loved Metal Sculpture Love drawing and composition And creative Writing... I was on the editorial staff for the college creative writing magazine. It was going well Till a teacher told me I would never be an artist... I finished that semester but didnt go back.

I went to work. part time at Sears in the Pet and Garden shop.... This is where I wound up healing a bunch of garbage... came out of my shell or at least showed an outgoing facit of my personality. In the beginning I was horribly afraid to go up to a customer to see if they needed any help. By the end of the year I was able to handle the most irate customer with aplomb.... Yet I couldnt accept an invitation to a birthday party because I only knew the gal inviting me.

deb

 

[TexasLisa]

I confess that sometimes I've gotten so wrapped up in the day to day care of my grandkids that I'd kinda forgotten the fun factor. Austin's death reminded me that I don't want to miss a minute of laughing and smiling and silly-time with the amazing little people I have left. In a few days it will be the second anniversary of his death. I usually don't dwell on it - partly because I can't change it anyway and partly because I still haven't accepted his death completely. But his lovely wife, Joy, just posted something on Facebook that reminded me of his amazing sense of humor.

Austin was a kid who made fun wherever he went - please allow me to tell a little Austin story I learned from the young lady he married 8 months before his death. It began with a question about a photo of Austin wearing a fake moustache. After he died Joy took a photo of herself wearing that same moustache. I knew there was a story there, so I asked her about it.

Their first winter together the kids were broke - way broke! But it was their first Christmas as man and wife and he wanted it to be memorable. He and Joy, with a handful of quarters, set out on a quest to find their Christmas. They hit every quarter toy machine they could find and the goodies went into one bag. Christmas Eve Austin took the few ornaments he could scape up and decorated their car for Christmas. He put a warm, red blanket in the car. Then he and Joy sat out in the Christmas car during a freezing cold, snowy Iowa Christmas Eve, and took turns pulling items out of the mystery bag. A huge, gaudy "ruby" ring and that moustache were Austin's favorite gifts that year. Austin actually wore that ring for days, until the cheap plastic finally broke! They had no way to know that their first Christmas would be their only one - but they knew they had to make it count, the way they made every day count!



Austin in his Christmas moustache.



When he was little we all called him "AJ". Somehow that got corrupted into "Ajax", which we all called him for years. So he proposed to Joy by buying them each a bottle of dishwashing liquid, his way of telling her that from that day forward they would work together as a Dream Team.

Blooie what a wonderful story! Come back and tell more when you can.

Lisa

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Janet called today and said "want to guess how much the big egg weighed?" Knowing Zorra's largest previous egg was 108 grams

(You ready Leslie, you are SO never going to beat this )

I started at 110g.
Nope.
112g.
Nope.
So I went to 116g.
Nope, too high.
114g TWICE the size of the low end of a single large egg.

What kind of duck laid it? A Black Australorp CHICKEN "duck"!

Zorra, take a day off, you deserve it. Oh and STOP LAYING MASSIVE eggs! I can't be good for you.

Bruce

Zorra!!! Bigger egg than the turkeys laid. Bigger than my duck eggs. Zorra is a rock star!

 

[Loc20chick]

Aah, I forgot about my headgear! I don't know how I forgot about that. Had to wear it 24/7.. and it wasn't the nice inconspicuous one that goes behind your neck, oh no, it was the nice variety that sits high on your head. And it made me lisp and spittle when I talked.

Fat, immature, slow, uncoordinated, poor, awkward, no sense of style AND headgear. You just can't make this crap up.
I went full Goth in college. Well, atleast people stopped talking to me. That's good... right?

In my passport I have black hair, thick eyeliner and a spiked dog collar. Oh yes. Very fabulous. .... I tried. My ex-husband lovingly called me an oreo because I am really pale and with all the black clothes I looked well.. like an oreo... and then the blonde hair started growing out.. then I looked like a skunk.

been reading your posts and you have a way of making it sound funny now. I bet then u were not laughing then, Glad you are over this and can write about it in a light note. I pray that our children don't go through this hard times

 

[Loc20chick]

.
Ok jumping off the soap box.
I got my chickens out of my basement today. The coop isn't 100% done, but I've been living in a house that isn't 100% done for 30 years now, if it's good enough for me it will be good enough for my chickens.

,

What a cute place for your chickens, and they are big, how were you able to keep the basement free of dust?

 

[Loc20chick]

I confess that sometimes I've gotten so wrapped up in the day to day care of my grandkids that I'd kinda forgotten the fun factor. Austin's death reminded me that I don't want to miss a minute of laughing and smiling and silly-time with the amazing little people I have left. In a few days it will be the second anniversary of his death. I usually don't dwell on it - partly because I can't change it anyway and partly because I still haven't accepted his death completely. But his lovely wife, Joy, just posted something on Facebook that reminded me of his amazing sense of humor.

Austin was a kid who made fun wherever he went - please allow me to tell a little Austin story I learned from the young lady he married 8 months before his death. It began with a question about a photo of Austin wearing a fake moustache. After he died Joy took a photo of herself wearing that same moustache. I knew there was a story there, so I asked her about it.

Their first winter together the kids were broke - way broke! But it was their first Christmas as man and wife and he wanted it to be memorable. He and Joy, with a handful of quarters, set out on a quest to find their Christmas. They hit every quarter toy machine they could find and the goodies went into one bag. Christmas Eve Austin took the few ornaments he could scape up and decorated their car for Christmas. He put a warm, red blanket in the car. Then he and Joy sat out in the Christmas car during a freezing cold, snowy Iowa Christmas Eve, and took turns pulling items out of the mystery bag. A huge, gaudy "ruby" ring and that moustache were Austin's favorite gifts that year. Austin actually wore that ring for days, until the cheap plastic finally broke! They had no way to know that their first Christmas would be their only one - but they knew they had to make it count, the way they made every day count!



Austin in his Christmas moustache.



When he was little we all called him "AJ". Somehow that got corrupted into "Ajax", which we all called him for years. So he proposed to Joy by buying them each a bottle of dishwashing liquid, his way of telling her that from that day forward they would work together as a Dream Team.

A wonderful story and what a way to show that Joy does not come from having lots of cash but making do with what you have and being content!!!... thanks Blooie for sharing

 

[Alice28]

I confess that sometimes I've gotten so wrapped up in the day to day care of my grandkids that I'd kinda forgotten the fun factor. Austin's death reminded me that I don't want to miss a minute of laughing and smiling and silly-time with the amazing little people I have left. In a few days it will be the second anniversary of his death. I usually don't dwell on it - partly because I can't change it anyway and partly because I still haven't accepted his death completely. But his lovely wife, Joy, just posted something on Facebook that reminded me of his amazing sense of humor. Austin was a kid who made fun wherever he went - please allow me to tell a little Austin story I learned from the young lady he married 8 months before his death. It began with a question about a photo of Austin wearing a fake moustache. After he died Joy took a photo of herself wearing that same moustache. I knew there was a story there, so I asked her about it. Their first winter together the kids were broke - way broke! But it was their first Christmas as man and wife and he wanted it to be memorable. He and Joy, with a handful of quarters, set out on a quest to find their Christmas. They hit every quarter toy machine they could find and the goodies went into one bag. Christmas Eve Austin took the few ornaments he could scape up and decorated their car for Christmas. He put a warm, red blanket in the car. Then he and Joy sat out in the Christmas car during a freezing cold, snowy Iowa Christmas Eve, and took turns pulling items out of the mystery bag. A huge, gaudy "ruby" ring and that moustache were Austin's favorite gifts that year. Austin actually wore that ring for days, until the cheap plastic finally broke! They had no way to know that their first Christmas would be their only one - but they knew they had to make it count, the way they made every day count! Austin in his Christmas moustache. [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] When he was little we all called him "AJ". Somehow that got corrupted into "Ajax", which we all called him for years. So he proposed to Joy by buying them each a bottle of dishwashing liquid, his way of telling her that from that day forward they would work together as a Dream Team.

What a sweet story. Thank you for sharing. I don't think anyone can ever fully "move on" or "accept" loosing there child, but the memory of them can be celebrated. Every year I donate to the children's hospital that treated my niece and they send a card to her parents tell them a donation was made in Allison's name (which is so sweet). Your son sounds like an amazing boy, which is no surprise because although I've never met you, reading your posts I can see you are an amazing mother and grandmother. I will be thinking of you. I miss my niece so much and I can only imagine how her parents feel loosing her at only seven.