Graduation

   My Baby graduated from Murray State on Dec 14th 2013.  What a glorious day to have the last one out of college.  And my mom got to come for the graduation.  I'm sure Christmas won't top this this joy!

Happy Graduation Madeleine!  Now it's time to go out in the real world  and I can't help but feel nostalgic.  It's a tough economy out there.

Book Club

The Graves County Library Book club has been around for number of years now.  I joined early on after I had no luck getting a book club going among my friends. And this might even be a better arrangement because we certainly have diverse views.   At our Dec meeting we shared some Christmas food together and good cheer.  It was nice.  Nancy is our recent new leader.  She's our third librarian to have this role.  She brings a lot of enthusiasm and is welcomed.  We do miss our former leader Deena but her schedule changed (for the better) and she had to leave us.  I guess my most favorite new author this year has been Jesse Stuart.  We read a collection of his poems and short stories that fascinated me.  He's a classic KY author and educator.  I loved his violent struggle with his own community to bring about change and progress.  I also loved a story he wrote about a KY wildcat.  He lived in a different time and it was interesting to get a glimpse into that.  Right now we are reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.  I love the way the book club expands my horizons.  It's a bit of work but it's been worth it all.

Nolan Reunion 2013

   The last weekend in July a big group of Nolan's gathered at Ky Dam Village in Gilbertsville.  We had 31 altogether and lots of kids.  We rented 4 -2 bedroom cabins and one 3 bedroom.  We enjoyed some good food together and went out on the lake.  We also went horseback riding and a few made a trip to Hancock's in Paducah.  It was good to catch up with family that we don't see all that often and to see how much the babies have grown.

Mama

  

Last night at work I took care of a patient who was 12 and was quite ill.  Her mother was mentally challenged.  Luckily she had a grandmother to lean on.  It made me think about how blessed I have been having my mama.  Actually I have been thinking this for years now but this incident prompted me to actually express my feelings.  Mama will be 97 this year.  She is staunchly independent and still lives alone.  She was 46 when I was born.  Our family is rather unique in that there's 25 years age difference between me and my oldest sister.  I have a brother and two sisters that never lived in the house when I did.  I do have two sisters that were older, that I grew up with.  My dad worked hard his whole life as a construction worker.  Mama stayed home with us.  I often wondered what she did all day.  I couldn't imagine being a stay at home mom until my kids came along and then I began to realize the importance of it.  Mama took care of everything at home for Daddy.  All he had to do was to go to work.  Mama managed all the money, us kids, daddy, cooking- everything.  All six of us have college degrees and are productive members of society.  Mama had 6 kids and now has 11 grandkids and 16 great grand kids and even a great great grandchild (That's 5 generations apart).  She has lived in the same house in Memphis for over 40 years.   I haven't always agreed with my mama but she has been a rock for me in my life.  She has encouraged me, loved me, taught me scolded me when I needed it.  I can remember her saying "If I can just live long enough to get Helen through high school- then college"  She never expected to live a long life because she had experienced so many deaths in her and Daddy's family.  How blessed I have been to still have her. She has gotten to witness my kids growing up.   She is really a rock of stability in my life and I can only thank God for her every single day.

 

Computer Confessions

   Sometimes you do things that are just so dumb and wrong that you have to finally confess.  It's a long story one I hope that you can learn from.  Sometime ago I recieved an email from my daughter in Amsterdam wanting me to look at a house.  It looked like a remax site.  So I opened it and looked at it.  To do that I had to put my email in.  I thought it was kind of strange- not her style of house and shortly after that she posted on facebook not to open any email from her about a house because her account had been hacked into.  Well I already had- so I ran my virus software and changed my email address and got nervous.  We had some friends come over and they told us their tale of having their email hacked into and someone ordered gift cards and merchandise on their wal mart account.  They got it straightened out and didn't have to pay but still it just makes you worry and I got more nervous.  My laptop computer, which I had used to open that bogus email began to run slow and wouldn't print.  I tried to contact a guy who had done some computer work for me but he wasn't reachable- apparently he moved or just stopped working on computers.  I figured I needed windows dumped and reloaded and he had done this for me before.  I left the laptop just sitting for a week or so and then I got it out again.  It seemed to work okay so I purchased a software program from my virus protection company- AVG that was supposed to improve your computer performance.  Well I couldn't get it to run after purchasing it so I called AVG to straighten this out.  Or so I thought I called AVG.  I talked to a nice computer guy who said he would check out my computer when I told him I was having printer problems.  He connected to the computer remotely and after some checks "a supervisor" got on the phone and told me my computer was infected with a trojan and someone else could monitor everything I did.  My worst nightmare was true!  Then they put the high power sale pitch on you- you know how that is.  For just 349$  they would fix everything and provide me lifetime virus protection with microsoft.  I still thought this was AVG and was beginning to think it somewhat strange.  Sahil said that they would refund the money I spent with AVG for virus protection, so against my better judgement I said okay.   The next day I became worried about the whole "purchase".  I called AVG and they do not offer telephone support.  The company that had "fixed" my computer was we24support maybe a real company but certainly with shady business practices.  I called my credit card company and reported the 349$ as fraud.  I also cancelled my credit card.  I'm not sure about my computer functioning as we speak.  Are the other two computers in the house in danger?  Was my computer really infected with a trojan?  Does we24support have all my information on my computer?  Am I liable to pay the 349$  It all makes my head spin and in the meantime I'm also whacking myself on the head for being so dumb.

Clay Creek Farm

     We moved to Ky in 1995.  My husband really wanted land.  This conflicted somewhat my desire for a nice house.  Anthony would have liked to have 100 acres.  Three or four acres was fine with me.  We ended up with about 30 and an older brick house.  Just recently the original owner of our property died which has caused me to reflect on our land.  Although my husband really wanted the land, I have fallen in love with it.  We have several cultivable fields, some woods, a creek and a barn.

   At first we just cut hay on the place and sold that.  More recently, a farmer has had part of it in cultivation for us.  He grows either corn or soybeans.  This income, although not much, usually covers the taxes on the place.  We had lived here at least 10 years before we came up with a suitable name for the farm.  My husband suggested jumping deer farm or windy bottoms.  (It is windy here and we do have alot of deer)  Finally we thought of Clay Creek Farm.  We have a creek at the back of the property and it has seams of clay through it.  In fact there are several clay pits close by. That name finally felt right.   The place has gently rolling hills and some flat areas.  There is a pond by the barn.  I love the freedom the land affords us.  We can take our three large dogs out walking without a care in the world.  Grandma put a trailer behind us when she got older and needed some assistance.  Since her death our kids have taken advantage of the trailer.  It sits empty now but my husband has some plans for a large workshop at that site someday. We both think about what we might grow here and supplement our income.  My husband is interested in pasture land and grazing animals.  I think about Christmas trees or pumpkins.  We do have 30 chickens and are currently overrun with farm fresh eggs.  Our garden seems to do better every year as we learn some arts of cultivation.  The land does take some work which luckily my husband enjoys.  He has cleared scrub trees and keeps it bushhogged.  It's a good kind of work too.  There's a satisfication in cutting your own wood and

growing your own food.  And taking care of the land throughout the seasons is enjoyable.  We love to watch the wildlife and to dream of the possibilities.  The land gives you a sense of responsibility to something greater than yourself.  It's something that I hope will continue after we are gone.

Christmas 2012

  We had a magical Christmas this year.  It's wonderful when serendipity happens.  Sophia came home from Amsterdam for two weeks.  My dec work schedule changed about three times but worked out for the best in the end.  I spent a little time sick, but not too bad.  Maddy was home too.  We had some snow and good visits with family.  There was lots of good food and just hanging around relaxing.  I couldn't have planned it better if I tried.