Happy Anniversary to Us!!!

Well, it is hard to believe, but today around noon, Rich and I marked 16 years of married life.

It’s hard to believe because in spite of the struggles, the moves, his near death illness, and everything else under the sun, it seems like only yesterday that we made the trip to Wycliffe Kentucky to visit a justice of the peace.

I remember it so well. It was a warm bright day. We dressed in the best we owned. I wore a pale purple dress with a white jacket; Rich wore his black dress pants and shirt.

We drove down to the small town, just over the border at Cairo.

We got our license but were told that we’d have to wait a bit because the judge slash justice was busy.

I remember the building was old, old, old with wooden floors and my heels clacked loudly when I walked. We went out into the center of the building, and sat down on a wooden bench.

We all know that in a small town, news travels fast, so I can only imagine that the recorders office was a buzz telling everyone there was someone here to get married, because we saw a constant parade of people. They were all passing by, staring and giving us silly Cheshire cat grins, like they knew why we were there.

Then again, maybe everyone in Wycliffe smiles like Cheshire Cats at everyone they see, who can say for sure.

We finally got in to see the judge, who was also a Gideon, and after he preformed the ceremony, he gave us a little Bible with our marriage documented in it, and we got back in our truck and headed home.

On the way home, I kept trying to examine myself and see if ‘being married” made me feel any different, but in truth it really didn’t.

The reason it didn’t was because getting married was really just the final step for us. I had committed myself to Rich and him to me nearly two years earlier, and we never looked back.

There were no bridal showers, or receptions, we simply got married and came home.

My mom gave us a gift the next time she saw us of Pillow cases that said “Mr.” and “Mrs.” on them and we were very pleased. My grandmother Ruby sent us a small glass dish as a gift, and Rich’s mom sent us a card. That was it, no other gifts, no other acknowledgments, but that was okay.

In 16 years of marriage, we’ve only had two arguments. Pretty remarkable I think. The first one was a childish, silly event not too long after we actually said our “I do’s” and it was soon forgotten.

The second one was a little rougher, a little harder to get past, but we did. In our defense though, I know that the anger we were both feeling at that time was at the circumstance we were in, and not at each other.

It was during the time that Rich’s sister was dying with cancer. Rich and I were doing all that we could to watch after Hazel, and we were tired, end of story.

I think with nerves on edge the only people we could yell at and know we would be forgiven were each other, so that’s what we did.

At the time, we had no clue that dealing with Sherry’s illness and eventual death was going to be just the tip of the iceberg for us.

After Sherry passed, Rich’s mom just couldn’t take it. She had for a long time suffered health issues of her own, especially pertaining to her heart, and diabetes.

Within two weeks after Sherry was buried, Hazel was in the hospital, and Rich and I were the ones who needed to take care of her once again.

I have not one regret that we did what we did for Hazel, and neither does Rich.

In the long run, it made both of us stronger individuals, and stronger as a couple.

And, the spat we had while Sherry was ill was all but forgotten except to say that it taught us that we needed to be very patient with each other sometimes, and to remember that if we were going to go through this kind of trial, we knew of no other person we’d want holding us up and giving us strength than each other.

My mom once told me that the things that Rich and I have gone through would tear most marriages apart, but that it has only served to makes ours stronger.

I find comfort in those words, and remember them every time something happens in our life that seems to push us to the edge. Somehow or other we always manage to talk each other down off the ledge, and we move on.

And, we’ve had some remarkably good times together. We neither one require much in the way or worldly goods, or costly entertainment.

Time spent with family is precious to us, and doesn’t come along often enough.

We can entertain ourselves in the simplest of ways.

We sometimes turn out all the lights in the house and stand in the windows watching our crazy neighbors doing something weird and theorize on what they are up to. Which by the way, we’re convinced that the ones across the street are on some major medications and have somehow gotten them mixed up because they are loopy most of the time.

We used to love to fish and mushroom hunt together, but up here it isn’t something we get to do much of anymore.

But here we have the balloons! We both love the balloons, and do all that we can to make every lift off and fly in of the weekend.

Rich really introduced me to the stock car racing, and it is something that we can share in. I have become a big fan of NASCAR, and almost know more about the teams and drivers than he does, almost.

We are not however fans of the same ones. I have several that I am a fan of, and he tolerates that and doesn’t say bad things about them in front of me at least, and once in a while when one of my drivers is in the lead, he’ll even root for them a bit.

And while farmers market does make us money, it is also something that we enjoy doing together.

When Rich was doing the greenhouse in Mason City, he would always tell me what he was doing, how he did it, and if he had learned anything new.

When we started going to the farmers market, I ended up being the “talker” most of the time (imagine that!) and would give folks complete details of how he did things at the greenhouse.

On day I overheard him say that I knew every detail about the business, and that he was really surprised that I’d paid that much attention.

And maybe that has been the key to 18 good years total, 16 today as husband and wife. We have always paid attention to each other.

We discuss all our decisions, even down to what’s for supper.

He still opens doors for me when we go places, and people who know us well, know that we never part company with out a good-bye kiss.

Right, wrong or indifferent, he is my greatest defender, protector, cheerleader and best friend, and I am his.

We never really do much to celebrate our anniversary. It always seems that there is something else that needs our attention, or our money (house payments, car payments, the electric bill, groceries, you know what I mean) so it usually ends up with us saying “Happy Anniversary to us” and that’s the end of it.

Last week Rich came home, and he said, “I’ve got a little problem here. I broke my wedding band.”

He and I are rough on stuff no doubt. I’d broken my wedding bands years earlier and was wearing an inexpensive gold band that matched his as closely as possible.

His was broken clean through. He told me he thought he could super glue it back together if he could just get it off without bending it too badly. Rich is the king of super glue, so if anyone could glue a wedding band back together he could. The problem was he couldn’t get it off over his knuckle! By the time he got it pried off it was a total wreck, I mean a real mess; so, so much for the super glue.

With our wedding anniversary only a week away, I got to wondering if we could find a set of bands that would match for not too much money, and lo and behold, Wal-Mart to the rescue!

When I was doing my regular shopping, I stopped by the jewelry department and saw that they had titanium rings that looked respectable for $38 each, which on our tight budget, was just what I needed to see. Gold bands were much higher, so I decided that it would just have to be titanium.

So today, we made the trek to Wally World and picked out new bands.

Mine feels a lot different, and will take getting used to because it is wider than the old one. With my big ole hands, I didn’t want a dainty ring, as I felt like it would look silly, and besides, when you buy inexpensive you have to choose what you like around the sizes available, and of course the price tag.

And, I think we about drove the sales girl nuts, because at one time we had a total of 9 rings lying on the glass counter. She would on occasion ask us if there were any she could put back, and of course we had to say no not just yet. Rich finally told her “we’re not trying to waste your time here; we are going to buy something before we leave this counter”. I think the main problem for her was she was worried about keeping track of everything that we had lying out.

So anyway, we finally made a decision that we could both be happy with, and as we say every year; “Happy Anniversary to us”!!

Are you Homeless? -- a must read for parents

Not too long ago I attended a meeting between Community Action and Habitat for Humanity. The two groups are joining together to do a rehab project where that they will purchase homes that have been foreclosed on, refurbish them, and offer them up for sale again.

In the course of the meeting, it was revealed that Logan County has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the state of Illinois.

For the month of June this year, Habitat identified 15 homes that would go through foreclosure and be candidates for this new program.

I have mixed emotions about the program because I believe that instead of making the homes new again, and selling them, Habitat and Community Action should be trying to figure out how to keep the original owners in the homes, but that is not the true purpose of this article, so I'll get to it.

America on the whole is facing a rough economy. Young families pursuing the great American dream of home ownership, entered into agreements that now they find themselves hard pressed to fulfill.

I sympathize with these families, who are trying so hard to make a good life for their children, and have found themselves in some really bad situations.

As foreclosures rise, families are left homeless. They may have some alternatives that include low income housing through HUD, or they may be able to afford rent on a home that is perhaps not the one they would really like to raise their family in, but none-the-less it is a roof over their heads.

Some may find that they have to take temporary residence in a motel while they re-organize their lives and try to figure out how to get back on their feet.

And, there are some who are going to find themselves in a position of calling on family for help, specifically, merging their house hold with that of a parent, or sibling.

According to the McKinney-Vento Act which was first established in 1987, and reauthorized as part of the No Child Left Behind act of 2002, children who live in motels and those who are in merged families qualify as homeless.

However, especially in the case of moving in with grand parents, if is often overlooked as a homeless situation, simply because the family is more stable than they were previously.

However, as these struggling families work to get back on their feet, they need to be aware that there is assistance available to them through the public school districts under the McKinney-Vento Act.

Today I have an article in the Lincoln Daily news, part two of a 4 part series, based on a very in depth interview with the Logan-Mason-Menard Regional Superintendent of Schools. Part one ran yesterday and parts three and four are schedule to run tomorrow.

While the stories focus on this tri-county district, there is information included that applies to all school districts throughout the State of Illinois, and I would encourage every parent to read the articles so that they might better understand the processes of education.

I am emphasizing the article that is running today, because I feel strongly that when a family is trying to rebuild their lives, they should be exposed to every form of help that is available to them.

The section in today's article explains the liaison, and talks about what is available to assist families.

Additionally, when a family is in this kind of transition, it is important that teachers are aware of it. Children are going to be feeling some anxiety during this transition, which may cause them to shut down, or act out. Teachers need to know that there is an underlying cause, so that they can act accordingly.

Hopefully, you'll read the articles, and pass them along to anyone whom you think might need a better understanding of homelessness, and other issues affecting our schools, and our children.

Today's article: http://www.lincolndailynews.com/News/today052209_roe38b.shtml

Thursday's article:http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2009/May/21/News/today052109_roe38.shtml

A Special Day for Memorial - Heavens Tiniest Angel

Good Morning!

Just wanted to stop by and say I've added some new items to Searchwarp.

Because I publish my stuff there exclusive to them, I can't copy it on my blog.

However...I can give you the links.

"A Special Day for Memorial -- Heavens tiniest Angel is a cute read, so I wanted to share it with you. http://searchwarp.com/swa481021-A-Special-Day-For-Memorial-Heavens-Tiniest-Angel.htm

And did a little tongue in cheek piece about the Logan County connection to Memorial Day, called Memorial Day, Abraham Lincoln and the Logan County Connection. It is also on Searchwarp at http://searchwarp.com/swa478583-Memorial-Day-Abraham-Lincoln-And-The-Logan-County-Connection.htm

To counter balance that piece, I've done a more reverent piece on the same topic for the Lincoln Daily News. It is published yet, but hopfully by the weekend.

Thanks for reading, I love sharing and hope you don't think I'm being too boastful in this post.

N

Cool Pix

Jan has been up in the air again!

Check out this really nice pic of the horizon near Lincoln.

Also, in the LDN today is a pictorial of the floods from the air, and I have a pictorial in there as well on the Spring Family Bike Ride.

http://www.lincolndailynews.com/index.shtml

Railsplitter Wind Farm

Note added 07/24/2009: Many searches are being done on Railsplitter wind farm, and I know that when you click you see only this post, so I wanted to let you know that I have another post that has ground pictures, some in fairly close range. To move on to that post after this one, follow this link. If it doesn't "link" you can also copy and paste it into your browser:

http://nilasmith.blogspot.com/2009/03/wind-turbines.html

I am in awe of these wind turbines!

No, I'm not the one who took these pictures, but my publisher Jan did, and they were in yesterday's LDN.

LDN does not copyright their photos, so they are free for the taking for anyone who wants to copy them.

If you could like to see larger versions, follow this link; http://www.lincolndailynews.com/Features/picturepage051309_rwf.htm then click on the phot for a larger version.

Well there are finally some tomatoes in the ground!

Rich had Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons with no rain, and he planted all the goliaths, about half of the total crop but they were the ones that were the largest and so now he has a little bit of time before he has to get the old heirlooms in the ground.

We have angels watching over the tomatoes all the time, well actually our entire home, and we are thankful for that.

For example, when the tornado came through in 2003, two houses to the south of us it was a total and complete mess with trees torn apart, sheds and garages destroyed, roofs off of houses you name it, and the only think we could find at our house that even suggested a little wind, was one of our downspouts had come apart at the joint, and was laying in the yard.

Anyway, I digress.

Last night, Rich came in about 4:30 said he was quitting before the storms hit, and he turned on the TV and there was the warning.

A terrible, horrible storm was headed right for us. It was predicting winds of 60 mph or more, quarter size hail, dangerous lightening, and heavy, heavy rain.

As I watched the weather with him, I asked him if he wanted to run out and dig the plants all back up (I was joking of course), but he just said, nope, whatever happens will happen (his life philosophy by the way, nothing ever gets to him, he just tells me things happen the way they are supposed to, and I do my best to have as much faith as he does).

So we sat there and waited. The clouds made the sky dark and ominous, the thunder rolled, and the rain came down in sheets for about 15 minutes, then it stopped, and it was over. No wind, no hail, just a heavy drenching of rain that the maters enjoyed immensely, and they grew about 6 inches over night!!

Anyway, the tomatoes are safe; no hail on them this time, and no wind to blow them over.

We talked to Rick, Becky, Rachel and Rylee Wednesday night, and I told Bec that he had 92 plants in the ground, and she was like “wow, do you have any yard left?’

Well yes, because he has those plants in a spot about 30 foot long and maybe 15 to 20 feet wide.

As I told her, you just can’t image how meticulous Rich is about his plants. When I went out the other evening to take my weekly pictures, he was on the ground with a yard stick, measuring his plant placement. There is an 18 inch gap between each and every plant and I would challenge anyone, to find one plant that was not in that 18 inch mark!






So that is the update for this time I guess.

With a bunch of rain yesterday evening, then rain most of this morning, I am guessing he will have to wait a few days before he can do anymore, but as I said, earlier, the biggest ones are in the ground, so that’s okay.

Talk to ya all later, Happy Mothers Day to all!

Weather woes for the tomato farmer

Whether it is a thousand acres of corn to be planted, or a back yard truck farm, the weather can really get a farmer down!!


The hub’s is no exception as he has fussed and worried over the cold and the rain for the last couple of weeks now.


He told me the other evening that last year he had all the plants in the ground on the 24th of April last year. Glad he remembers that because I can’t remember for sure what I was doing a week ago, not to mention a month or even a year!!


And of course, those of you who know Rich well know that he is not the kind of person who can just “chill out”, he just doesn’t have it in him. So, when the plants outgrew the greenhouse, and the ground was nothing but mud, and it was approaching the first of May, he just had to do something!




So, this past week, he started building temporary hanging spots for the tomato plants. He has one, on top of the ground spot behind the house, and today is getting ready to put up another one on the patio.




The good news is that the plants are thriving, even in the pots. The Goliaths are I would guess 3 ½ to 4 foot tall, and some of them even have blooms on them!




The old fashioned heirlooms are not quite so tall, and for the moment at least that is a good thing, as they are not worrying him too much.


Another good thing, we have had a couple of good days, and he’s been able to at least break the soil with the garden tiller.




He wasn’t digging deep, but needed to get the grass cover torn out, and open the soil so the air could dry it.


The bad thing is that we’re expecting more rain tomorrow, so the odds that he’ll get anything actually in the ground before the end of the week is slim.


He says if the sun would come out for a day it would help a lot, but it just never seems to happen. We had temps above 70 yesterday, but it was a gray day, and it is a gray day today as well.


Oh well.


BTW, the peppers are in pots and waiting to go in the ground, and the onions are in the ground already.







Those we will sell, and then just for our own use, he’s got some radishes and lettuce planted. Only thing missing now are the cucumbers.