JUNE 18TH--FATHER'S DAY--STRAWBERRY PIE

what do those three have in common, they represent alsmost every father's day I can remember. Let me tell you about my Dad. He was born on June 18th and he loved strawberry pie, so every father's day we would celebrate his birthday and my mom would bake a strawberry pie. I was always very close to my dad, being the oldest and being almost 13 years older than my brother. As kids, my sister Darlene was basically with Mom and I was with Dad.
I loved it. A kinder, gentler man I have never known. He and my Auntie Alma were two people I never heard a bad word from, never talked about other people (gossiping) and were always there to listen. They were the peacemakers in the family. I miss them both a whole lot. I remember the last time I saw my dad. It was Thanksgiving of 1982 and we had had dinner at our house on Shipman. It was customary in our family to give kisses when we said goodbye, but this one time not only did my dad give me a kiss, he added a hug for good measure and said "it was the best thanksgiving ever" the following Tuesday my mom called me in the morning and said she couldn't wake dad up. If ever a person was ready to meet the Lord, I believe it was my dad. He hated arguing with my mom, and one funny story I remember was when we lived on 8th and Center and mom was mad about something and was yelling, and dad was saying now, Minnie, let's just talk thisover quietly, all the while shutting windows, so the neighbors wouldnt hear my mom, and she right behind him throwing them open saying she didn't care what the neighbors thought. Another time, he was tr ying to pacify my mom (in case you wondered she was the outs poken one) It was my sister's birthday and mom had baked a cake and my dad
picked it up saying something about helping her and wouldn't you know it, dropped it on the floor. We scooped it up, served it in a bowl witth ice cream and called it "dropcake"

On a light note, I remember one Father's day when we all went to Pomona to celebrate the dual occasion and Chip and my brother Bob were on a softball team, so after dinner, before pie we all went to the ball field for the game, then back to mom and dads for pie./ Jeff and Emery were just teeny babies. Dawn left Jeff with me while she ran to the store for Diapers. Of course the moment she left Jeff started screaming, he was hungry. Nothing would appease him and I certainly was not equipped to feed him After about 15 minutes of this, Allyn said Oh for crying out loud give hime to me. I did she promptlylet him share emery's dinner. When Dawn returned to a quiet sleeping child I told her what happened, not knowing exactly what her reaction would be, only to relax when she said I will just say in his baby book that Jeff had dinner out that night.

Go in peace, and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

ARMED FORCES DAY, 1952

Fort Lee, Virginia. We had been married a whopping 42 days and looking forward to the holiday when we got word that a few soldiers would draw duty and have to stay on the base that day, and wouldn't you know it, my
wonderful husband was one of the lucky ones. Well word came to us wives that we could get around that if we
showed up at the base stating we had come to the base from out of town just to celebrate the big day. Of course, that was the editorial "we" seeing as in our group, Wayne was the only one drawing duty that day. So
three of us paraded to the CO's office and I requested they give Pvt. Webb the day off as I had come from
Wisconsin to visit with him. It worked and he got the rest of the day off and the private who had to replace him never spoke to us again. Wayne was on KP duty and that's where the replacement went. I really didn't lie
I had come from Wisconsin to be with him, only I had arrived 5 weeks ago and was living there. Oh well!

Now, with Bryan being in the middle east, all these memories are coming back to me. I have been so thankful
over the years that the draft was abolished and that my children did not have to face the hardships and lonliness that came along with military life. Yes, I know, people live it today and I weep everytime I see soldiers being deployed or returning home. You see, it isn't only the soldier who is serving his country, it is the whole family. Ca n you imagine being married for two months and then Uncle Sam says "I want YOU" and you don't see each other for another year and a half. You just had to make an adventure out of it. Today our
armed forces consists of men and women who enlist. They choose this way of life for many reasons, and I salute them. Some do it so they can further their education at governement expense while serving their country. I applaud them. Somemake a career outof being in the service, Thank you, and others give of their
time and talents to go over there and tell these men and women that those at home have not forgotted you.
You are appreciated and loved. Thank you Bryan for giving of your God-given talent and letting our warriors know we love and appreciate them. I know Grandpa is up in heaven saluting YOU! I love you!

MOTHER'S DAY

When you think about it--everyone has or had a mother at sometime in their life, except Eve and she had the
Greatest Father there is. You really have to be in some remote state of your consciousness to not know that
Mother's day is almost here. So of course, you think about it.

One Mother's day I just cant seem to forget happened when I was a little girl. My dad had given me 25 cents to
go to the five and dime to get my mother a gift. traditionally, we would serve her breakfast in bed (streusel coffee cake and coffee) and present our gifts. I was so proud. I had gotten her a beautiful box of handkerchiefs, and a card which I gave her, stoically announcing i had done the shopping myself and had money left over, which "daddy says I can keep" was there ever greater love?

One of the traditions I truly miss, and I am not sure whether it was strictly a midwestern tradition or a national one. Everyone wore a carnation, the men, women and all the children. You wore a pink or red carnation if your mother was living and a white one if she was not.

Here's wishing you all a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY. You have made and impression on someone's life.

ALYSON SAID......................

Grandma, it's your blog and you can say "ass" if you want to. Well, here goes, after 70 some odd years, I finally got the courage to show my ass at a party and for knowing when and how to do it, I
got paid $525.00. Now don't worry, it was for a good cause, The McCaw School of Mines. I had to
donate $50 for this privilege.

Now I suppose you want an explanation for this action. I could be mean and wait a few days before I blog any further and let your imaginations work overtime, but I wont. I do want you to know that
my ass was as cute as any at that party.

Yes, I did donate $50. You all know how proud I am of the mine and for my money I was issued a
paddle, two round circles glued to popsicle sticks. One side was a picture of an old prospector panning for gold (heads) and the other side was a picture of a mule's behind (tails) complete with real
hair for the tail. It was a 50/50 game. All participants were standing showing one side or the other
and a coin was tossed. If it came up tails, all those showing heads sat down. I showed my tail 3 times in a row and it came up tails, I then switched to heads, heads came up, liked tails better so
switched back again, again tails. Now there were only about 4 of us left. I again chose tails, but then decided to switch to heads, and I was the only one left. T he fund raiser earned $1050 and so
I got half of that.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY: you are never too old to have fun and this little game is the source of
many comments among the friends of THE MCCAW SCHOOL OF MINES.

the paddles were the design of former first lady, Sandy Miller. Love that lady

AND NOW......................

THE REST OF THE STORY:

When I last left you, the pharmacy had denied me a refill on my meds, stating I had to wait 30 days before refilling, but condescendingly saying they would give me the 30 tablets they had short ed me 2 months ago.

Well, life kind of intervened at this point, and due to other commitments, I just didn't get over to the pharmacy to retrieve the meds until Monday, 5 days after I had called them with the info. I bravely walked up to the window, confident because this time I had the meds container in my purse. They were a tad busy at the
time, so I was honored to have the pharmacist herself wait on my. Obviously she hadn't read my previous blog, because she was fairly nice to me. I explained that I was there to pick up the prescription that the y had
shorted me on. She quickly fou nd it and said I guess we don't charge for this, as we shorted you/ DUH! I kept
my mouth shut. Oh, just a minute. I'd better check the computer just to be sure. Hmm, I really don't get this./
Well, to make a long story short, the dummies had not only given me the 30 tabs they had shorted me, but also gave me 90 more on the refill they had just denied me. So I guess I will just live life to the fullest before
someone comes to arrest me for overdosing on cholesterol meds. Glad I waited until my Wisconsin friends
left. It would have been embarrassing to be arrested at the HOFBRAUHAUS!

GROWWWWWWWWWWL!

I HATE incompetent people, especially those holding responsible positions.


For over 20 years, I have had all my prescriptions filled at Wal-Mart, and all was exceedingly smooth, until about 6 months ago, when a prescription which had always cost me $15 was suddenly $65 because the pharmacy decided to purchase the meds in a bubble package (one, where you pop out each pill indivually) this packaging cost more and the insurance company refused to pay for it. Personally, I preferred the pills in
a bottle myself. I confronted Wal Mart and they basically said 'TUFF" Sooooooooo when I went for my physical in feb, the MD writes me new rx's for the next year, I just decided to take them to Smith's pharmacy.

I only needed one of the 3 that day and had it filled. The prescription is for 90 and I take one a day. After about a month, I realized I did not have 90 pills, and counting them found they had given me 60, even tho the bottle said 90. I called the pharmacy immediately and told them about it. Well, yesterday I called in for
a refill gave them their rx # and said I would be in today . (wednesday). i went in and could see the pills and knew they were the wrong ones. When questioning the pharmacist she said this was pain medication. I don't
take pain meds, only tylenol. She said what did you order, I said I didn't remember the name but it was the
meds I had called in yesterday. She said well, if you don't know, how should we? i said well, I thought the
rx refill I called in yesterday should be on your computer. I tried to explain what medication I needed and she said I must have filled it elsewhere. i said no, I still have the bottle, however it is at home. I said when
I get home I will call you.

Well, I came home and called it in andshe said, we can't fill that for another 30 days. I repeated that I had
called them and told them I was shorted by 30 pills and that I had called it in so they would know. Finally
they agreed to give me the other 30 pills (which I already paid for) I asked if they didn't have my phone
call noted on the computer, she said "yes" DUH, SPARE ME FROM IMCOMPETENCY I may be getting old but I am definitely not senile yet, and don't you dare treat me like I am

TWO TEACHERS........................

I have watched the evening news for more years than I care to count. However, it is not often (thank you God)
that someone you know is featured in the local news. Last week it happened to me, not once but twice. I would
rather have done without either one, but such was not to be my destiny.

I have mentioned both these men in my previous blogs, but with all the goings on these days, I learned something about myself.

Cliff Kehoe, and Rick Rogers, both men have played an important part in my life. I have know both of them for over 12 years, and have come to love them both. they both taught school at McCaw at the same time. Cliff
taught 3rd grade and Rick 4th grade. I had their students as Mighty Miners and both teachers were loved by
their students.

Now as life would have it, both teachers are lost to the students forever. Cliff, as you know was diagnosed with
terminal cancer and Rick was arrested for child pornography. How sad for this world. I cannot condone Rick's actions, but the one thing I have learned is that even though I hate the sin, I can still pray for the
sinner. I am devastated to lose these two friends in my life. I have the feeling that there are hundreds of
people who have these same emotions as I have and I pray for them too. It is hard to let people go out of
your life, One to the loving arms of our Savior, the other to whatever the courts decide. I pray for peace for
both of them.