On The Bright Side – February, 29, 2012 – Mary Howell

On The Bright Side
February, 29, 2012

Today is Leap Day. The residents and staff are happy to have one extra day this year for God to bless us!
On February 1st our Resident Council met and selected Estella Tibbs as our resident of the month, the Domino Guys from the LDS Church as our volunteers of the month and Ashley Bumstead and Elisde Carranza as our employees of the month. The next day we were curious to know if the groundhog would see his shadow….and he did! The groundhog legend tells us that winter is not over yet.
We enjoyed playing bingo with Carletta from Texas Medical Enterprises on the 1st and 3rd Friday of this month. We also had fun playing bingo with friends from Hemphills Church of Christ,  Parkway Baptist Church and the American Legion.
On Superbowl Sunday we had a party with Juanita, she served great snacks while we watched the pre-game show and activities on our big screen tv. The Lakes Area Hospice Clowns entertained us Monday afternoon with their lively tunes and funny antics and skits. In honor of February being Black History Month, the movies we watched at our Tuesday afternoon matinees were created by black artists. We sure want to thank the Hornet Express Video for loaning us all our movies this month. On Wednesday afternoon Katherine Crippens from Texas Parks and Wildlife came and taught us about all the various types of woodpeckers that we have in this area. We sure learned a lot! This month our craft ladies(Carol & Linda) and our friends from the Hemphill Garden Club came and helped us make beautiful decorations for Sweetheart Day.
Thank you to the following church’s and people for providing worship services and gospel singing; Bethel Chapel Baptist Church, Fairdale Baptist Church, Hemphill First Baptist Church, Hemphill Church of Christ, Little Flock Baptist Church, Parkway Baptist Church The Pineywoods Pickers, First United Methodist Church Community Fellowship Church Bethany Baptist Church and Quincy Martindale from Odyssey Hospice. We would also like to thank our newest volunteer Brandi Chapman from Harbor Hospice for the interesting bible studies this month.
The highlight of the month for us was our Sweetheart Dance, which was held on Valentines Day .Our king this year was Edgar Smith and our Queen was Estelle Granger, they sure made a good looking couple. Our wheelchairs were rocking and rolling for sure. If you’ve never seen wheelchairs swing to the music come and join us for our Spring Fling Dance on March 20th at 6pm. Another highlight was our Mardi-Gras party, which was sponsored by the
VFW Ladies Auxiliary Post 10351. We had a fun-filled afternoon dancing to zydeco music and eating King Cake.
Last Wednesday afternoon the Care Center stars came out and enjoyed singing karoake with Marti Bible. On Thursday we held our 6th Annual Chili Cook-Off. We say thank you to everyone that made chili to enter in the contest. And the winner was…….Gina Jackson our Dietary Manager.
We enjoyed a Friday afternoon jamboree with C.J. Michaels, the One Man Band.
Ya’ll should have been here Monday. We celebrated National Chocolate Cake Day with several of our favorite yummy chocolate cakes. Today we will celebrate Leap Day with Quincy Martindale from Odyssey Hospice, he is coming by to tickle the ivories for us.
We would like to extend Happy Birthday wishes to Barbara Bickerstaff and Jo Kelley.
We express our love and sympathy to the families of our dear friends; Shay Felts, Ebb Dickerson, Bobbie Gross, Ann Strickland and Dot Hamilton, they will be truly missed.
We at Hemphill Care Center wish everyone a day On The Bright Side.

our tree farm gets mowed.

It was a good day to bush hog (mow) our small tree farm.

These superior loblolly pine seedlings were planted in February 2010.

Mowing controls the undesirable grasses and trees.

In a few years, the canopy of these trees will block the sun

from reaching the ground which helps control the undesirables.

Migratory Bird Treaty with Canada protects these killers

Toledo Bend 02/13/12 photo courtesy of Grumpy

The black birds are Cormorants

which eat about two pounds of fish per day.

The white birds are Pelicans

which eat about three pounds of fish per day.

On The Bright Side – 2/22/12 – Mary Howell

On The Bright Side

Mary Howell

 

Today’s date brings back special memories of my grandmother, Mary Etta Smith Thorp who was born on February 22, 1883.  She was born in the small community of Amity, Arkansas where she lived until she was 18 years of ago.  Her parents were farmers and they moved to the south plains of Texas to grow cotton.  Granny left her childhood sweetheart in Arkansas but he continued in her memory throughout her lifetime.  After moving to Texas, she married my grandfather, George Wyatt Thorp and they became the parents of six children.  Their oldest son, Johnny, died when he was 16 years of age. His health condition made medical history because his organs were all reversed.

 

Granny and Granddad continued to grow cotton until they moved from Klondyke to Lamesa where they spent their retirement.  They had three small apartments that they rented for $10. A week.

 

Since my parents and sisters and I lived 600 miles away, visits to our grandparents house were special.  I remember that I would jump out of the car and surprise Granny when we arrived. 

 

Granddad Thorp passed away just after I turned 4 years old but I remember him sitting in his big red velvet chair and seeing him smoking his pipe.

 

Granny made our visits to her house very special even though she lived on a meager income.  She cooked our favorite foods and always had ice cream for us. Granny taught me many things that prepared me for my present life.  She fell in her living room when she was 80 years old and was never able to take a step by herself after she fell. He left leg shattered before the fall. She also had another accident when she was swatting a mosquito while standing on the bed and broke her arm.

 

Although she could not walk, she lived a happy life and even took her first airplane ride from Houston to Kansas City when she was 85 years of age.  She was never afraid to fly.  She believed God would take care of her in the sky as well as on the ground.

 

Granny always had a song in her heart which she hummed or whistled.  I loved to sit beside her and listen to her hymns.  Granny was thankful for all of her caregivers and always expressed love  and appreciation to them.

 

February 22, 2012

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It is time to plant your potatoes.

Easy Growing…Irish Potatoes

Preparation of Seed

Irish potatoes are not grown from seed like most other vegetables. Instead, pieces from the potato itself start new plants. Home gardeners should purchase good seed potatoes that are free of disease and chemicals. Do not buy potatoes from a grocery store for planting.

The seed potato contains buds or “eyes” which sprout and grow into plants. The seed piece provides food for the plant until it develops a root system. Too small a seed piece produces a weak plant. Large seed potatoes for the spring crop should be cut into pieces which weigh about 1 1/2 to 2 ounces (about the size of a medium hen egg). Each seed piece must have at least one good eye (see figure 4). Cut the seed 5 or 6 days before planting. Hold the cut seed in a well-ventilated spot so it can heal over to prevent rotting when planted in cold, wet or very hot weather. Plants killed by a late spring frost will not come back if the seed piece is rotten. One pound of seed potatoes will make 9 to 10 seed pieces.

For fall-grown potatoes, most Texas gardeners plant small, uncut potatoes since they are more resistant to rotting in hot weather than cut potatoes. Potatoes have a rest period which must be broken before they will sprout. The rest period is more easily broken in small, mature potatoes. Select mature potatoes about 1 1/2 inches in diameter for fall planting. To be sure the rest period is broken, store the small seed potatoes under warm, damp conditions for 2 weeks before planting by placing them in a shady spot and covering them with moist burlap bags or mulch. The potatoes should have small sprouts at planting time.

Seed usually is more available in the spring than in the fall. Many gardeners choose to buy extra seed in the spring and hold it over for fall planting. To do this, keep the potatoes in a cool, humid spot such as the bottom of a refrigerator. Do not save your potato seed more than one year. This can cause buildup of virus disease which will reduce yield.

Planting

Potatoes should be planted when the soil temperature 4 inches deep reaches about 50 degrees F, or about 3 weeks before the last spring frost. Potatoes should be planted in February or early March in most areas of Texas. If planted too early the tops can be frozen off by spring frost. For a fall crop, plant about 110 days before the first expected frost, or mud-August in most areas.

Use a hoe or stick to open a trench about 3 inches deep down the center of the bed. Drop seed pieces 10 to 12 inches apart in the trench (see Figure 5). Step on each seed piece after dropping it to assure good contact with the soil. cover the seed about 3 inches deep. If covered too deeply, the plants will be slow to break through the soil and will be more subject to disease and seed decay.

Varieties

The most common type of Irish potatoes are red or white. Most red varieties store longer than white varieties. Most white varieties have better cooking qualities than red varieties. Many gardeners plant some of each in the spring. The whites are used first and the reds stored for later use.

our tennis player

Masonry Contractors build us a fire pit

I provided some white stones and red bricks

with instructions to build us a fire pit.

++++++++

This was their completed product.

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And then they built a fire.

Glenda applying lotion to a nursing home resident

Our family (my two sisters plus Glenda and I) have volunteered to apply lotion to the Hempill Care Center residents.

I do the hand massages with Glenda applying lotion to their legs, feet and face.

Their skin is so dry and they really appreciate the lotion.

my special friends

Lukie acting silly

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he is a hoot

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and now just smiling…

On The Bright Side Feb. 15, 2012 By Mary Howell

On The Bright Side

Feb. 15, 2012

By Mary Howell

Mary’s note

The following column was written by my niece, Kay Murphy Fatheree

Half a “stache” is better than none at all

By Kay Murphy Fatheree

It was inevitable, and I am not afraid to admit it. I am a cat lover. My brother, Doug is one too. We must have inherited this trait from our parents, Neal and Clara, as I think back on all the felines that have found their way into our homes and hearts over the years.

When I was about seven and little brother was four, we acquired two new pets; a pair of handsome, young brothers, who were about three months old.

None of us is able to recall who we got the cats from, possibly the friend of a friend, but we drove for what seemed like an eternity, clear across Houston to arrive at our destination.  I don’t remember the people that we got them from, but I do remember the gentle and friendly pair of beautiful black and white brothers that Doug and I chose. We cradled them in our arms like newborn babes as we entered the back seat of our Ford Fairlane. We soon began mulling over names for our new pets as we began the long trek back home to Bellaire, Texas.

When I asked Dad what breed our new cats were, Dad said they were “alley cats.“ I figured that the term referred to black and white cats as they both had black fur over about two-thirds of their bodies with white making a nice contrast. The white covered their bellies, necks and part of their faces and they both donned white “socks” of varying lengths.

The one I was holding had a solid black nose with a white line going upwards alongside his right nostril and he had a bright, white “smile,” adorable white cheeks and big, round green eyes.

Doug’s little guy was most handsome and had one very unique feature. He had a solid white nose that ended in a point perfectly symmetrical between his sparkling, yellow eyes. His chin and neck were snow-white along with his “smile” which seemed never-ending.

The markings on his face were perfectly symmetrical with the exception of one little feature: he had a perfectly formed black moustache just on the right side of his nose. We all commented on how cute his little half moustache was.

We debated on a few names, but nothing seemed to fit. Finally Mom called out from her position in the driver’s seat, “How about Mush and Puff!”

I said, “Those are perfect names, since Doug’s has half of a ‘mushstash.’”

The word “moustache” had not come up yet in my list of weekly spelling words. That word probably didn‘t come up until at least, fifth or sixth grade. I thought that the word was pronounced and spelled “mushstash,” and that Mom was suggesting the name “Mush” because he had half a “mushstash.” It was perfectly logical for my seven-year-old brain and second-grade spelling level.

“No! I said ’Muff’ and ’Puff,’” Mom exclaimed as she turned her head towards the back seat so that I could see her mouth more clearly as she over-emphasized the “F” sound in the name.

“But I like Mush and Puff,” I said. “See his half a ‘mushstash,‘” I said. Doug agreed and soon we convinced Mom to let us keep the names. After all, she was the one that had suggested them.

And so, we had the perfect names for our new additions.

Mush and Puff were some of the most gentle cats we ever had. The brothers, who grew to be fairly big boys, loved being petted and would sit in our laps for as long as we would sit still. They even slept with Doug and I.

They really loved the Christmas season. We always got a real tree and they were particularly fascinated with the shiny ornaments and silver tinsel. Mush especially loved to play with the ornaments and I remember Puff shimmering up the trunk of our tree one year.

On occasion, one of them, and we never knew which one, would  tear open some of the beautifully wrapped gifts laying underneath the tree.

Just thinking about Mush and Puff brings a smile to this cat lovers’ face as I am typing up this story for my aunt, another cat lover.

Over the years, I have ended up with cats named Punkin, Shadow, Zoe, Miss Kitty, Mama Cat and Lucky (who ended up not being so lucky) and all of them hold special places in my heart, but none of them ever had such a perfectly suited name as our Mush.

Currently, I am going through cat withdrawals because I had to leave my cats behind when my husband, Lester, and I relocated from Wyoming to Abilene a year and a half ago, (but that’s another story for another day.) As soon as circumstances allow, I know that I will have another cat, or two or three or more, some day. I have told Lester many times that, if anything ever happens to him, I will never remarry, and will probably end up as some crazy old lady who lives out in the country somewhere with about 5,000 cats running around the house, plus a few more sleeping in her bed!

For now, I rely on my cat memories like Mush’s bright half moustache to sustain me! And yes, I have since learned to pronounce and spell “moustache” correctly.

The moral of this story would be to embrace the uniqueness of all those around us, whether they are human or feline. Mush’s remarkable “stache” was a shining example of seeing things as assets that others might consider flaws.

Whether you are a cat lover, dog lover, are young, not-so-young, can grow a full beard or moustache, only have half of a moustache, or have no hair at all, try to bring out the “bright side” in others and always let others see “the bright side” in you.