My Chain Link Fence

Two of the things I love most about my home are my big back yard and my chain link fence.  Over the twenty plus years we've lived here I have loved getting to know my lovely back door neighbor, Marilyn.  If it weren't for my see-through-fence I wouldn't be able to take part in her beautiful and unique irises as they bloom each Spring and the rest of her flowers through the summer.  She has two bird baths so that's fun to watch and there's even a gate between our yards so I can go over to visit or offer eggs every once in awhile.  

 

On the side of my yard is George and Genia.  Their yard has a little bit of a different look than Marilyn's because they tend to let things grow naturally without lettiing things take over and I love visiting with them also over the fence.  Their children were just grown and gone when we moved in and it's fun to hear about and see their growing families when they come to visit.  Marilyn's and George and Genia's grandkids just love coming up to the fence to watch the chickens' antics or visit with Thursday (Kaylee's dog) when she's here.  

 

On the other side of my yard I've been able to watch a varied and sundry group of folks move in and out as that house has always been a rental.  When we first moved in it was vacant but filled with furniture as if someone lived there.  An elderly lady had moved out and the house sat like that for a couple of years before a niece of the lady finally decided to rent it.  The first tenants turned out to be the Hamby's and when they moved to Iowa a few years later my neighbor, Shari turned into my pen pal, Shari and we've been writing letters (yeah, real ones....on paper.....with a stamp) every week for the last eighteen years.  So when I look across the fence to that yard I see the little storage house in the back yard where Kaylee played for so many hours with the Hamby girls...and it brings a smile.

 

So I love my chain link fence.  As I show homes as part of my new career as a realtor, I see lots of sad looking wood fences that often need repair and are so high you can't even see the neighbors, much less visit with them.  In this day of privacy and stay-to-ourselves lifestyles, I'll take my friendly (and might I add, sturdy) chain link fence any day.    

Donny Osmond and the little old lady

My friend, Deanna, came over for lunch yesterday and this is what we had for dessert.  I probably need to practice my food photography so if you can't tell, it's a brownie with ice cream, topped with chocolate sauce.  And there's a story that goes with the sauce.

When I was a pre-teen I was a Donny Osmond fan.  Okay, I'll admit it--I was a fanatic.  The word was created for people like me.  I'm just sayin'.  It was bad.

Anyway, when I was about twelve, the Osmonds were coming to do a concert in Ft. Worth and I absolutely HAD to go.  My mom said that my friend, Debbie, and I could go but that I had to pay not only for my ticket but my sister's ticket because she would be our chaperone.  Suzy is only two years older than me so I'm not sure how useful she was as a chaperone but at the time I was willing to agree with whatever it took for me to get to that concert. 

I'm not sure how the little job came about but I think my mom saw an ad in the paper.  Anyway, there was this elderly lady that was looking for someone to help her clean and organize her home.  I guess she knew I was twelve because of my short stature, but for whatever reason, the lady agreed to let me "help" her.  

I don't remember a whole lot about the cleaning and organizing part except I have this vision in my mind of a room full of boxes.  But what I remember most (and I think this is mostly what happened) is the lady making homemade chocolate sauce and the two of us sitting at her kitchen table talking, having the most delicious ice cream and sauce I'd ever tasted.  Every time I went she'd serve me that ice cream and that sauce and we'd talk.  So when I became an adult I found a recipe that I'm pretty sure is exactly or very close to what she made.  And it's still so yummy. 

And I got to go to the concert!  The lady (I sure wish I could remember her name....Mrs. Bo or Beau something, it was two words) took me to the bank when my "job" was over to cash a check and hand over the money for the tickets.  I can still remember that ride to the bank and I'm not sure which of us was more excited for me, the lady or me.  She even reminisced about the Rudy Vallee concert she went to as a young girl.  

And the concert was, of course, perfect.  I told myself I wouldn't be one of those girls that went crazy, screaming and all, but it took about one song and I was on my feet, screaming with excitement and frenzy.  Oh, the life of a twelve year old......fun memory for sure!



People

I love my little second job, driving public transportation for SPAN.  It gives me an opportunity to take a break from the all consuming new life of real estate.

 

Driving for me is very relaxing and I get to meet so many different kinds of people.  And SPAN gives me the opportunity to help people who are older, mentally handicapped, or ill have a little freedom in their lives.

 

And I meet some very interesting ones.  Just this week I picked up a 30ish year old young mentally handicapped man who is apparently a savant.....about NASCAR, of all things.  For the duration of our drive, about 20 minutes, he spoke very intelligently about statistics, names, and pretty much all things racing and exotic cars. I don't think I've ever met a savant before so it was quite interesting and really amazing.  Fun!

 

Another day this last week I picked another mentally handicapped young man who truly has to be the most pleasant person I've ever been around.  From the time he stepped on the bus till he got off he was smiling, conversing happily with the couple of older people that were onboard at the time.  And when he smiled, his whole face lit up and his eyes squinted and became little smiles too.  I mean I've been around happy people before but this guy just seemed different.  The closest I can come to describing him might just be Santa.  I take these happy little events as real blessings.  

 

There's this older Japanese man I pick up periodically and he was about seven during WWII.  He lived in California at the time and he remembers that his family was given the option of moving to Nevada so that's what they did instead of being relocated to an internment camp.  I didn't know they had a choice but that's what he said.  

 

Then there's the Yankee ladies.  Pardon me if I offend anybody but I can usually tell pretty quickly the first time one of these sweet (or not so much) ladies open their mouths.  Partly because they have accents but partly because of their attitudes which is usually very sure of themselves and they don't care who knows it.  Most of them have moved down south to follow their adult children who've come here for jobs.

 

People!  As my mom used to say, "It takes all kinds!"     

A Little Date?

 I don't know if I'd call it a mid life crisis but between my new real estate career and Bob's newfound love of all things guns, he and I have sure been having a time.

 

The weather was just perfect today so we headed to the gun range.  Here's Bob enjoying his brand new toy attached to his fairly new other toy.  It's an amazing thing to behold.  Bob never does anything halfway and the gun and reloading hobby is no exception.

 

  

I don't go to the range as much as Bob would probably like but once I'm there I get into it too and it's kind of like having a little competition against yourself to see just how close you can get to that center point. 

This is my target and I didn't do too badly once I got used to the rifle.  Yeah, we were shooting rifles this time and I had one of Bobby's (shhh!  don't tell him). 

 

Bob and I are handling the empty nest just fine!  Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.  : )  

 



Little Happenin's on the Farm!

Yeah, yeah, I know I don't live on a farm but I do what I can with my limited recources.  Hey, I have chickens!  That's gotta be good for at least one "farm" blog post. 

A few years ago Bob made me this great compost bin and it has been great.  There's just something about making soil that's just so satisfying.  One year I even raised earthworms and that was really fun.  I may try that again sometime.  My garden was really happy that year.  

 

 

 As I said, I've really enjoyed my compost bin but recently one of my friends and my sister, Linda, have acquired compost barrels and I allowed jealousy to rule the day and asked for one for Christmas.  And Bob listened!  So here's my new and improved composter that is just too much fun to turn, knowing that I'm mixing up all that great new soil.  I put a lot of my kitchen scraps in it and I also collect the used coffee that our Kroger Starbucks is so nice to leave out.  Coffee grounds make great compost.   

SPAN, the transportation company I work for, gave all the drivers a Walmart gift card for Christmas so I decided to spend it on a firepit for the little patio area we built out by the flower garden.  We haven't used it yet but I'm looking forward to the first s'more party.  I still need to get some outdoor chairs for the space but that'll come. 

And now for the annoying happenin's on the farm.  I have this amazingly beautiful and majestic Red Oak Tree in my yard.  But the annoying part is that it drops these!  By the kazillions!

We planted the tree about twenty years ago (I know because I have a picture of Bobby standing in front of the sapling when he's about two) and it took about five for it to start dropping acorns.  But for the last couple it's been more like a downpour of acorns.  Last year I vacuumed them up (I know!) with Bob's shop vac but this year it just seemed like too much (ya think?) so I gave up quickly.  I hired the kids that live behind us to come and pick them up and they did a pretty decent job and then I've been collecting them a bucket at a time now and then.  The problem is that for some crazy reason I decided to plant three more of these acorn dropping monsters.  Two in the back yard to keep Miss Drop It All company and one in the front.  So I'll either figure out a way to get rid of the acorns or I'll give up and have a brown bumpy yard instead of a green grassy one.  Good grief!  I probably ought to give up on the green grassy yard anyway since I have chickens.

 

And that's what's happenin' on the Jacobs farm (aka the back yard)!

Merry Christmas to me!

I planted this Christmas Camelia about five years ago and it's bloomed once but just barely.  I had kind of given up on it ever doing anything but be a pretty evergreeen bush but this year it's really blossomed.  And it looks like it'll be in full bloom for Christmas.   
                                                                                           Merry Christmas to me!

Seminary South

I don't think a Christmas has gone by in my adult life that I haven't thought about Seminary South in Ft. Worth.  It was probably one of the first malls in the DFW area and we shopped there a lot when we lived in Joshua and Cleburne. 

In my memory it was a kid's paradise.  My mom could pretty much always be found in Sears so the rest of us were on our own and free to roam the stores and outdoor sidewalks.  Murphy's was the place to browse all the "neat" stuff and dream about how to spend whatever money I might have had at the time.  Most of the stores had escalators to basements and that was definitely a source of entertainment. 

Spencers probably should've been banned from our sphere of discovery and exploration but I'm not sure Mom and Dad even knew what was there.  I can remember walking slowly through being absolutely shocked and mesmerized by the shelves of naughtiness.

We didn't go down to the Striplings end of the mall much.  That was considered upscale and I'm sure my mom thought Sears was more affordable for our big family.

Throughout my childhood I remember my five siblings and I would exchange gifts at Christmas.  I don't know where we got the money or how much any of us had to spend but somehow I was able to buy five gifts and Seminary South was where I remember doing it with what must surely have been meager funds.   

Usually on Christmas Eve before I was a teenager, we'd travel to Dallas to celebrate with Dad's family and exchange gifts.  It might have happened several times but I remember one particular Christmas Eve when we were on our way back home from Dallas we stopped at Seminary South.   I even kind of remember not having a clue why we were stopping but I'm sure my mom had a few last minute things to get.  I mostly remember daylight when shopping at SS but this particular time it was late...and dark.  There was a sense of excitement because of that and because Santa would arrive at our house soon.  As we were walking through the outside area between the stores I saw a man laying on a bench.  I don't know why this stuck in my head but I remember feeling sad because he was there.  I don't think it occurred to me that he might be "homeless".  I don't think I even knew that word then.  But I was sad because he didn't have anything better to do when there was family to be with, warm homes to be in, and Christmas Eve to fully experience. 

 

I'm not sure when Seminary South changed because we didn't go there after we moved to Whitesboro.  But eventually it became a regular indoor mall and now I think it's a Mexican shopping area.  Now that the outdoor mall idea is becoming so popular I sure wish somebody would've had the insight to keep SS the way it was.  I'm sure it would be a hot spot in all it's vintage glory......boy, I'm old!   

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