My Meadow ~ My Love!

I love Galla Meadow...it's the farmer in my
soul. It is clean and ready for cows or corn.
Daddy loved his "bottoms" the same way.
Things will grow there and the soil is rich
from collecting all that has washed off the
mountains over the years. My spirit is
in Galla Meadow this morn.

When Daddy got old, he sold his bottom
land. I hope I don't let go of the Meadow!

Looking Forward

Before long it will be time to plant Irish Potatoes,

green onions, radishes, cabbage, early peas.

I am anxious for spring. We have a new tractor

and tiller to use. The tiller tears up the ground

like saw dust. Our garden has rich, sandy soil.

I may plant pole green beans instead of bush ones.

I am looking forward this morning. I am closing

the door to 2006 and thinking of gardening, fishing,

riding my bike in Galla Meadow!

Tunnel on way to Rogers

Patsy is in ICU at Rogers Hospital. Surgery
is over and we will see how everything goes.
I hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

St. Mary's Hospital ~ Rogers, AR

The last time I was at St. Mary's Hospital, Rogers, AR

was April of 2000. I bought home a wonderful package.

St. Mary's is a Catholic Hospital. They have St. Joseph's

at Berryville, AR and St. John's at Springfield, MO. Laura

worked for this hospital as a speech therapist before

Astrid was born. She helped stroke patients regain their

ability to talk and worked with others who had speech

problems. Before Astrid was born, she decided she needed

to come home and she found a job here, but this hospital

would pay the entire bill when Astrid was born and if she

had given birth in Russellville Eric and she would have had

to pay most of the costs....so off to St. Mary's we went that

April day and the sunshine came into my life. The light is

still on and two other bulbs have been added so my entire

being is alive with sunshine each day.

Patsy will have surgery at St. Mary's today (Sunday) at

10:00. Laura and I are going up there this morning. I

pray for a little sunshine today!

Genealogy--my passion!

I love genealogy research. The Sisters
first surname to research was our own
POWELL. What a joy we all received to
learn that we sprang from poor farmers,
and trash that England transported to this
country. Over and over, we found men and women
that were willing to stand, speak and even fight for
their beliefs. It is our legacy. We are proud of who
we are and what we game from--Gene Powell always
said "our ancestors were horse thieves." But I disagree
I think we were poor whites living in the slums of London
trying to eat with no income, trying to have clothes with
no funds to buy them.

The photo above is Anna Renfroe. She married

Abe Bledsoe. Powell is not a real hard name

to research compared to Renfroe. Renfroe can

be spelled lots of ways: Renfroe, Wrenfro,

Wrenfroe, Rentfro, Rentfroe, Renfro; thus making

it very hard to find your family. The Renfroes

were from Scotland, but probably came there

from France when they opposed one of the Kings

who "kicked" them over to Scotland. Renfroe in

France was probably Renfreau! I love getting

pictures of folks I am researching. We have found

several of Powells. This Anna Renfroe may be

kin to us, but I have not found a connection!

The Renfroes were poor hunters early on more

than farmers. The Powells were farmers. First

tobacco, then corn, and finally livestock. Today

Richard Powell is still a farmer like his ancestors

of 100s years past.

Image and Importance~!

I think this sign is saying ...if we want the image

of our car to be great take it to the body shop

where the arrow points. I like this photo

it reminds me of fixing up our "outside" but

letting our "inside" self go to pot! In the long

run image, does not count for much!

Update on Patsy: Today is supposed to be

dismissal day. They have changed her blood

pressure medicine and would not let her go

home yesterday. We will see I guess.

Making Do!

I was thinking about when growing up we

"made do". That meant you just used what

you had. If we did not have glue, Momma

said just use egg white. Smear the egg white on

and it will stick. If we did not have say almond

extract for a recipe, we would just use vanilla.

In the photo above, is a "making do" flower

pot. Isn't it lovely. Making do things are often

the best!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today my Mom would be 86. She lived

only 71 years. She loved all her children

and we loved her. Her legacy was..."this

is how you love someone".

Caring, Sharing, and Understanding

This is Fleta, Patsy, and I when we went over

in Oklahoma one year and met a bunch of Powells

who were kin to us that we had discovered. We went

to their family reunion. Oh, course, Patsy was the hit

of the day as she was able to tell them stories and keep

everyone entertained. She has aged and grown tired,

but inside she is the same. On the computer, she is

young and vibrant again...up to her old antics.

My daughter Erin is a nurse and she went yesterday to

check on Patsy. She said she did not think the intestines

had a lot of infection in them like we feared.

They put a suction on Pat's intestines through her nose.

This I guess was to relieve the twisted kink. Anyway,

when they take it out if Patsy is without pain, she

will get to go home and come back for her surgery

that will be scheduled. When they take it out

the pain returns, she will have surgery now.

I was going to Rogers today, but now I will wait

to see what happens.

Patsy is an independent lady. She had been all her

life. She has worked hard in garment plants, nursing

homes, chicken plants. She often did the work of

a man. She has some mesh in her stomache from a

hernia repair. She has scar tissue there from past

operations.

Each of you who have responded by sending Patsy

a card or email, don't realize what it will mean to

Old Sister. Thanks to all for caring. If she goes

home, the hospital will forwardany mail to her

home address, she will not miss any message.

Sister's Address

This is Patsy's address. Some

might want to send her a card

and let her know we want her to

get well and get back to her

"government griping" and

"chicken caring".

Patsy Poor
Room 344B
St. Mary's Hospital
1200 East Walnut Street
Rogers, AR 72756

Patsy's intestines are kinked and blocked. There is infection

in her intestines. When they get that down,they will operate.

Her greatest joy in life are her chickens and learning new

things on the computer.

Continue to remember Old Sister. I hope Lottie will send

one of her special cards to Rogers, AR. It would lift Patsy's

spirits!

Patsy is Sick!

Sister Patsy is in Rogers Hospital

very grave condition. Remember her.

Kanas City--Fall and Winter

The Sisters' cousin, Win, lives in Kansas City.

She took a picture of her beautiful Chinese Maple

last fall and shared it with us. Sunday, she took

another view of her Maple. There is a world of

difference between the scenes. I am wondering

how many inches of snow this is. She said her

good son came over and cleared the drive way.

Welder

The first picture is of the water tower

near the school where I work. I snapped it

from the parking lot last Friday. I am carrying

my camera like Dot and Annie...right there in my

purse with my $3.78 left after paying bills.

I was thinking about Greg, Sister Fleta's son,

building the water towers. He came to Russellville

once and built one I think. I bet this is the one as it

is pretty new. Greg welds the sheets together. He

learned how to weld in the U S Marines. The water

welds are xrayed to make sure the tower will not leak.

He travels all over the western states and south into

Texas welding towers. He is now the foreman of a crew.

Greg, Hannah's dad, is near Clovis, New Mexico

building a tower. It is almost finished and soon he and his

wife and two little ones will head for Nebraska for another

build. Look what it is doing near Clovis. Snow, Snow, Snow!

Receipt From Grandma's Cookbook

On many of the recipe sheets from Grandma's Sunny

Lane Cookbook, she put a picture of the author of the

recipe. This is the sheet that has a recipe attributed to

my mother. I know it is not her recipe as she did not

use recipes. She just put in what she wanted and

really she was a very good cook. I think Grandma

asked about a recipe and she told her she liked

scallop potatoes. She used to want me to make them

for her and she did make them occasionally, also. I bet

Grandma just put in the recipe for Aunt Thelma, too.

These two are written in Grandma's handwriting and

the picture is my mother. She called the recipes ....receipts.

So I guess they were called that.

Sunny Lane Cookbook

Grandma was president of the Sunny Lane

Home Demonstration Club in about 1950,

the year of my birth. They published a

cookbook like so many groups do today.

The Sisters have one copy which Fleta

scanned in and has posted on the internet.

I tried to remember where it was and couldnot.

Here are some of their household hints:

• Box crackers will keep better is stored in the pots and pans drawer of your stove.
• To eliminate cabbage odor when cooking drop a whole walnut in boiling water.
• Give extra gloss to linoleum by adding a little clothes starch to the mop water.
• Clothes won't freeze on the line if you had a half cup of salt to the last rinse.
  

Grandma--Happy Birthday!

I wish I had another chance

To talk to my Grandmother!

Oh, the questions I would ask

About her father, sisters, brother!

Oh, to have just one more visit

Sitting in that old porch swing--

I would find out each detail

I'd ask about everything!

Grandma's gone; it's too late,

But I am going to do my part

So Astrid, Ingrid, and my Siggie

Know about my life, my heart!

When I was growing up, my Grandmother was

always there in her two story house in town.

I did visit with her a lot, but I wish I had taken

time to see more in her heart and mind.

I could have spent 100s of afternoons learning

of her hardships, joys, and early life. I did not.

I stayed with her like it was a hotel.

Oh, if I could go back and have another chance,

I would try to give to her more and see inside her soul.

Car from Sears Catalog 1953

Larry found this car on Ebay and wanted to show

me what a car from Sears looked like. I guess

this old mail order house was something. You could

order a house or car straight from Sears. The cars

were call Allstate, like they used to call their tires.

It reminds me of a Studebaker. The one with a

bullet nose.

Cold Brrr!

Brrrr! It is cold today. Nothing against
Annie but I do not like watching weather
on Little Rock TV stations. I always feel
like the main focus of the weather they
speak of is almost past me. Where Patsy
lives it is better to watch weather out of
Missouri. I don't know why I am saying all
this because I don't even watch weather on
TV anymore. I get it off the computer or out
of the newspaper....but they said it would
get down to 20 last night and I felt warm when
the temp said 25 degrees.

Sun At last!

You can't see it well in the photo, but
I took this about 4:00 in the afternoon
yesterday. The sun was shining brightly
behind the clouds! A nice sight after all
the drear!

Retirement

My brother turned 62 in September. He

has worked for Tyson foods for 19 years.

He is hanging up his apron for better things.

He has a lot of hobbies--all near the homeplace.

I know he will not miss going to work early and

staying late. I am envious of him, but I am not

ready to hang up my apron for at least 3 or 4

years. I have had the same job all my adult life.

I am 56 years old and have worked at the school

I am at now since 1973....long time in one place.

It does feel like home there.

Always look ahead!

Spring is coming. It's just around the corner.
This Bradford Pear has buds on it. The Robin
is anxious just like me!
.

Still Watching!

Yesterday, I got out of the house early to go to the
grocery store before it got so busy. I learned a tight
wad trick from Sister Fleta. I take my local grocery
ads to Wal-Mart and get all the on sale stuff there
at the sale price. It takes longer so I like to go before
the store is crowded. The Wal-Mart Grocery is the
closest to my house too. I prefer the meat from the
Harps store, but I just got it at Wal-Mart yesterday.

Mr. Hawk was out early too as I drove down Bradley
Cove Road. He seemed to be saying, "I was here first
and I am here to stay. Get on your way, Sister".

Patsy's Granddaughter

This is Patsy's Granddaughter, Casey. Back in the summer
she married this young man. They left Patsy's little town
and set off for College 100s of miles away in south AR. I
got a report on them and this picture. Casey made the
Dean's list with a grade point of 3.5. Her husband, Adam,
is working 40 hours a week at Wal-Mart and his grade
average is 3.25. Casey has a job tutoring other students.
I was so proud to hear they were doing good and wanted
to let the world know, too!

Waiting Each Morning!

As I leave for work each morning. I see

two Redtail hawks. They are always in

the same spot. One sits in a tree in Galla

Meadow. He uses his radar eyes to watch

for a rabbit or field mouse or even a snake

below in the Meadow. He will swoop down

and snatch up his prey with his talons and

beak. Then swiftly he will sail away. His

victim may kick and squeal but he will be

Mr. Hawk's next meal.

The other Redtail is sitting each morning

on a radio tower near my Meadow....watching

waiting, never even flying when he sees me

coming down the road. I stopped yesterday

to take a picture of him to show the Old Woman

on Chicken Ridge. He sat high on his tower

glaring at me, but finally did fly away....only

to return in a short time and sit again on his

perch. He seemed to be saying to me ..."this

is my domain".

It is against the law to shoot a Redtail Hawk.

Sears House

I took this picture on my way to work.

It is on 8th Street in Russellville. I have

heard this house was ordered from the

Sears Catalog. Has anyone ever heard

of such a thing? I am not at good as Dot

taking pictures while driving down the road.

It is for sale if anyone is looking for a mail order house.

Maybe Sears could send it out again.

Surpise!

My husband brought these to me at school on
our anniversery. I was shocked. I don't think
he has gotten me flowers but one other time
in our 36 celebrations! The kids all cheered.
It was really sweet and a nice surpise!

Brothers-in-law

Between spring of 1971 and fall of 1972, three sisters
married. I was first, then Helen, and then Fleta. Here
are the guys we chose. This picture was about '75 I
think because Helen's daughter Kristina is in the photo.
What did these guys have in common? Well, they are all
pretty good mechanics.

Riverboat on Galla Creek

This riverboat is moving up Galla Creek from
the Arkansas. It can not go far up the Creek
you can see how small the Creek is, but it
can make it's way up the channel a few 100
yards.

Hard time growing up! (Link to Sister's Water Bucket Story)

Sister tells on her blog about our "hard" raisin'.
It was a difficult existence. But hey, we all made
it just fine. All Four sisters who survived are
good people. And our fifth sister was literally
an angel sent to earth to teach the rest of us about
what perfection really is. I don't think any of us have
bitterness about what "we did not have". I know
that I was lucky with what "we did have". My
parents set an example for us...a way we should
behave and we followed it. We enjoy laughing,
loving, giving, reading. None of us are the type
to follow a piper because we were taught to not
believe everything that is told. We are all
examiners and doubt then decide for ourselves.

The sisters I guess are like this tree in Galla
woods. We had a hard life, a hard growing up,
but we made it and we are still all four standing.

Side note to Helen--could my knees be bad from
carrying those double buckets of water?

The Old Kitchen!

This was the summer of 1957 or 1958.
I think Patsy took the picture. It
shows my family in what I call the
old kitchen. Some things I loved
about it were the pine walls--later
Daddy and his girls covered the walls
with sheet rock. You can see Patsy's
graduating photo on the wall in the
living room. I recall the electric
clock was white with yellow trim.
Daddy was working at night on Table
Rock Dam. He slept in the day and we
had to be quiet. Mom is holding our
little sister, Debbie Lee, who is over
a year old but can not walk or talk.
I am eating a biscuit, but you can see
it is summer time and hot weather. There
is ice in the refrigerator tub and I think
probably kool aid in the metal pitcher. Daddy
is having breakfast before he has to go to
work or to bed and we are enjoying Momma's
homemade biscuits and jelly. Helen is living
the wild life--nude from waist up!

Fleta and Me-

I think Mom took this photo in 1972 or 73.
She cut off part of our heads.I do this
too so I can't make fun of Mom. You can
see how it always has been--I am big and
Fleta so scrawny. Was this after Greg was born
or before? I don't think I wore this puffy
hairdo after 1973. We had been playing badminton
in the yard. Fleta and George had put the
mobile home there so that would date this
photo. Helen, when was it?

Cleaning House!

My last day at home this week, I did do
a little house cleaning. I piled up sticks
and rotten limbs and burned them in our
side yard. My girls came up and helped by
playing in the Galla woods. They crossed
a foot log and I told them about Patsy and
Richard having to cross one to get to Coin
School over 60 years ago. We had a good day
and the room is a lot cleaner than before!