I suppose the best thing about plans is that they are always and constantly changing. When I left the house yesterday morning I knew basically what my day would hold. I was looking forward to being in a different part of the state and seeing people I rarely see.

Usually when I visit there lunch is at a little mom and pop hole in the wall restaurant called Myrtles. They serve really good barbecue. Last time I was there I didn't know what to order, and just ordered the barbecue salad. It was good, but everyone else had ordered barbecue sandwiches with slaw on them. Evidently this is normal in that area. Yesterday, I was all set to order that. The best laid plans usually pass you by. Yesterday it was that kind of day. No barbecue, but some really good Mexican. While that isn't the blog material I was hoping for, maybe next trip.

I was also unable to make connections with the author I was hoping to meet with. I have a call in to her though, and hopefully I will hear from her soon. In the mean time I will continue to work on the book.

Have a really good day, and to all of my family and friends in N'Awlins, Happy Mardi Gras!!! I sure wish I was there for one of your burgers and a cold one, John!

Until tomorrow,
Becky
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It must be Monday. I am getting ready to leave on a two hour trip to another Troop where I will serve on a hiring board today. It will be a different kind of day, and I will see a good friend. She served on my hiring board almost twenty years ago, and we became fast friends. Those of you who follow my blog might remember me writing about the barbecue salad I ate over there a year and a half ago. Quite an experience. I had been there for another board and we ate lunch out. It was my first time to see people eating slaw ON their sandwiches instead of out of a side dish. I think I will try that today. Once must always try new things. At the very least it will be something to post about tomorrow.

I had a wonderful weekend. I went to the gym with mom and Rocky. It was my first visit back since I broke my leg in August. Let's just say I am sore but it didn't kill me. While I am a long way from running races again, I was able to walk forty minutes and run three minutes. Since my leg didn't fall off I guess it is healed after all. Saturday was a cold and blustery day, so I watched several movies that had piled up from Netflix. Must Love Dogs, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, and Two Weeks Notice. All good, but my favorite was Two Weeks Notice. The dialogue was so great, and I laughed so hard. As always things ended happy. I am not a Hugh Grant fan, but I do think it is the first of his films I really liked him in. In fact I watched it again yesterday.

My writing is going well, but not as good as last weekend. I did finish two chapters, and am over half way to being finished. I have a phone number for a woman who has had twenty novels published, and plan to call and talk to her. She lives in the area I will be traveling today and is a former teacher of the friend I will be seeing today. Call it kismet. Hopefully she will have some good advice for me.

It is kick butt Monday, so I hope that it is a banner day for you. My thoughts are with Kim and Dennis, two wonderful blogging friends who need some prayer support right now. I know those of you who know their situation are already doing that.

Until tomorrow,
Becky
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I turned on the evening news last night while making dinner, but the longer I listened the worse I felt. By the time my meal was ready and I could sit down to eat it I had lost my appetite. Things went from bad to worse when the national report was over and the local news came on. I finally just shut off the TV altogether.

This isn't a new revelation. The media most often jumps on the negative and the sensational rather than the positive and uplifting. The human interest stories and the good news pieces often end up filling file cabinets or being left on the cutting room floor. Sad.

Is it too much to ask for a little good news? I know it's out there. Has anyone heard any?

On the upbeat side of things, it's Friday! Have a great day, and I hope that in your little corner of the world something wonderful happens today.

Until tomorrow,
Becky
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No, I am not taking up snowboarding. Although I have been enjoying the Olympics, I haven't taken up the foreign language of snowboarders. I am alluding to the fact that after our temperatures being in single digit territory for three days, yesterday we hit 50* and all of the snow melted into the soggy earth. Today it is to be 60*. It is hard to know from one day to the next whether to pack a winter coat and gloves when I leave the house or leave it home.

Before the cold blast of air and the snowstorm came through over the weekend, I had seen daffodils blooming, trees budding, and creeping phlox lending color to the bleak winter ground. The local fruit growers have been wringing their hands and keeping an eye on the sky, and everyone who has Bradford pear trees already knows the blooms have probably been nipped so many times already, they will be most likely be a no show this spring. Whenever that is. Since we have had springlike weather all winter, it is a good bet we will pay for it before summer.

I am off to the Ozarks scenic riverway region today. We test twice per month there, and it is worth the long trip to see the scenery and eat the local BBQ. I hope you have a wonderful day, and have something to look forward to as well.

Until tomorrow,
Becky
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Yesterday my mom and I went to the Supercenter for groceries. When we arrived, which was early afternoon on a weekday, mind you, the parking lot looked like it had on Christmas eve. There wasn't a parking space to be had. Where else are people going to go when school lets out for a snow day? And if people can get to Wal-Mart, couldn't they go another two miles down the road and take their children to school? But I digress.

We finally found a parking space, not too far from the door and right next to a cart corral. That is always a coup. After finally finding the things we had gone after, which was a feat made more challenging due to a major store remodel still in progress, we started out the door with our carts.

As we were dodging the cars circling to find a parking place, I saw movement to my left. Sometimes you just know when something isn't right. At first I thought it was a hawk. I knew it was a large bird of some kind, as it flew to the ground from the top of a pickup truck. As we crossed the last line of parked cars to where we were parked, I saw it.

Running between cars, slipping and sliding on the melting snow, was a roadrunner! I kid you not. I tried to point it out to mom, who was most likely beginning to think I had lost my mind when I told her I thought I had seen one, but he disappeared under some cars. I hurried with my cart, knowing the direction he was traveling would bring us almost face to face with the little guy.

As we started toward the van, there he was! I pointed him out to mom, and immediately felt sorry for his plight. How on earth had a roadrunner found himself in the parking lot at Wal-Mart? In Missouri? And evidently scared to death.

Since we were in a hurry to get home, I didn't go in search of him. On the way home, I thought of Napoleon and how we had become home to a peacock. Now I'm seeing roadrunners. Strange. Anyway, now that the parking lot is empty, maybe he has found whatever he was in search of and a place to nest for the night.

Happy Wednesday. Bee-beep!
Until tomorrow,
Becky
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Having spent the whole weekend writing on my book, I am going to extend my three day weekend into a four day and stay home today. I was able to get seven chapters edited and typed into Word, which makes me very close to being half finished. I am stiff and sore from sitting at the computer ten and twelve hours a day, but the results are worth it. I can't understand now why I haven't finished this job sooner. Only seventeen more chapters to go!

Since today is trash day, I need to wade through the snow and take the two bags I am allowed to the end of the driveway. The rural mail carrier didn't attempt to deliver the mail Saturday, so maybe today she will bring me something wonderful to look at. Mail delivery is a big event in the country.

I am on my way in to make a big pot of coffee and search out some breakfast. For those of you who have asked, Napoleon has managed very well in the frigid cold and snow. Of course mom is filling him up with all kinds of food to generate warmth. Heck, I don't even eat pork chops as often as he does!

Until tomorrow,
Becky
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Well, sometimes our plans get changed for us. I used to get all bent out of shape about that, but as the years passed I have come to realize that there is always a reason. Friday night while I slept a blanket of white covered Smalltown and the surrounding area. The temperature was 4* and the wind was blowing so hard the trees were creaking outside my bedroom window. I got out of bed at 4am and looked out the window. It took me about ten seconds to weight my options. I crawled back into my warm bed and went to sleep.

When I woke two hours later things were only worse. I decided to get out my manuscript and work on my book. It was a good decision. I have five more chapters edited, entered into Word, and printed. Yesterday we were placed under a winter storm advisory and it began to snow again. The temperatures are still single digit cold, but the wind has finally laid. I have today to get some things done and hopefully get at least two more chapters done.

Tomorrow I have to go back to work, so I have to keep my nose to the grindstone and get done all I can today. I hope that you have warmth and sunshine wherever you are. Happy kick butt Monday!

Until tomorrow,
Becky
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I have to leave for KC in the morning at 5 am, so I will not be blogging until I return Monday. It has been eight months since I was there to visit my dad, and I have to see the tax man. On the one hand I always enjoy the visit once I get there. It is the drive I hate. Four hours in the car with a winter weather advisory. If it is bad in the morning, of course I will cancel the trip, but so far they are just talking snow.

Yesterday afternoon it was 70 degrees. This morning it is 18. The wind blew all night, following a doozy of a storm. I was expecting severe weather, and I wasn't disappointed. Thank goodness we escaped tornado here, but there were tornado warnings thirty miles south of us. This has been the strangest winter.

I hope that you will enjoy your weekend. It is a three day holiday for some of us, the last until May. Good Lord willing I will be back Monday....here on my country road.

Until then,
Becky
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Yahoo!

I have finished the training I spent weeks getting ready for, and can finally return to a more normal schedule. You can have the life of thrills and spills. Give me peace, quiet, and normal. Oh, I am not saying I am not an adventurer, that I don't love to travel or do wild and crazy things, just that on a daily basis I seem to love the peace that comes with life here in the country.

There is plenty to be said for the calm of my days here in Smalltown. Is there stress? Yes. Do I encounter trouble, problems and trials? Of course. The beauty is that I don't also have to deal with the daily pressure of a long and difficult commute or deal with the hoards of people one finds in the city. While I do enjoy the hustle and bustle of city life when I visit family, I find myself listening for the call of the songbirds above the city noise. After a few days, I am looking toward home.

There is always an unwinding of mind and spirit as I drive toward Smalltown, and as I enter the city limits, I breathe a sigh of relief. When I come around the bend in the road and see my little home, it is always a blessing....here on my country road.

Have a wonderful day!
Until tomorrow,
Becky
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I have to leave early today to teach a class at the office. It will be a long day, made more so by having to begin an hour earlier and staying an hour later than usual. At least when this day is done, I can return to my normal schedule and routine.

Hopefully your day will be a good one as well. I will look for you right here tomorrow.
Until then,
Becky
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While today is typically a day to celebrate love and the joy of having a sweetheart, it is meant to be a happy day. When I was a girl in school, much time went into decorating the shoe box that would be taken to the classroom to hold the valentines exchanged with the other students. We lined the valentine boxes up on the counter by the window where they sat until the big day. The week before the class party, the teacher sent home a list of the student names for the parents. A trip to the local discount store followed, and the evening was spent stuffing little heart shaped cards into envelopes and addressing the valentines to take to school. It was a laborious thing when I was younger, but in later grade school it went faster.

The day of the class party, the teacher gave us time to stuff a valentine in each box. It was hard to concentrate on geography and arithmetic when I knew we were having a party in the afternoon. The room mothers baked cupcakes and brought punch for the occasion, and after a few valentine activity games, we got to eat our cupcake and open our valentine box. Does anyone else remember the little heart shaped candies with the silly sayings written on them? "Be Mine", etc., etc.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if Valentine's day was as simple when you grow up? Since my sweetheart is halfway around the world in New Zealand at present, I will be surrounded by others who are celebrating with their significant others. It is a couples day. For all of you who have a sweetheart, enjoy the day and do something special.

For all of you who are single, don't have a sweetheart, or just find yourself alone on the biggest couple day of the year, I hope that you are surrounded by people who think you are a wonderful, giving, and loving person. There will be many people today who go unnoticed in the rush to get flowers, candy, and cards delivered. I am taking a cake to work to share with all of my coworkers. Surely I can make someone smile.

Enjoy the day! You just never know what will happen as the day unfolds.
Until tomorrow,
Becky
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Today I am home for the last of a three day weekend. This one is courtesy of President Lincoln. The blizzard missed Missouri, although we have had big fat fluffy snowflakes for two days. The worst of the storm moved on to the east, where it caught my daughter and her husband in Connecticut.

Since the housework is done, I finished the book I was reading, and I saw Brady yesterday, it only remains to take a trip down to WalMart for groceries. I have a few errands, and then I think I will come home and crochet or bake something. When I have extra time I like to just sit in the quiet house, maybe with a little music, and be quiet.

Napoleon has been visiting me some, and it is not unusual for me to look out and see him sitting from some lofty perch. I was reading Saturday afternoon, and the wind was blowing snow. I had a cup of hot chocolate and was snuggled under an afghan when I noticed movement outside the window. Napoleon had flown up to sit on top of an old bird feeder in the backyard. Although the wind was blowing hard, he sat there for some time. He seems to deal very well with the weather here. After a time he moved on.

Today I will also have to finish getting my taxes ready for the accountant. That will mean a trip to KC, which is a story for another day. Right now I have a pot of coffee to make, then that run to the grocery store. I could make do, but the cats are out of food. They don't tolerate that very well.

Enjoy your holiday if you have one, or your work day if you have to be there. I will be right back here in the morning....here on my country road.

Until then,
Becky
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As I told you yesterday, I was at the office all day for training. Although it was a long day, I did get to eat lunch with people I don't usually get to see, and we had a lot of fun. The speaker wasn't dry like they usually are, and the topic was performance evaluations, which is timely since it is time to write them for my crew. All in all a good day.

Today I will be at the office again to speak at a school bus meeting that is held annually for all of the school districts in our nine county area. There have been many changes in the process of getting new drivers qualified and licensed as school bus drivers, so that will be my function today. Normally it is an enjoyable day, and I get to see people I have dealt with over the years.

The coffee cake didn't survive the first hour yesterday. It was gone before I even got a piece, but that is okay. I don't need the calories. They aren't kind to women over fifty. Although it has been a very stressful couple of weeks, I am feeling really good about life this morning. It is Friday, the last working day before a three day weekend, and I will have a quiet day.

Hopefully you are looking forward to your day as well. May it be a good one, go quickly, and you can get to the business of enjoying your weekend as well. As they say in N'Awlins, let the good times roll!!!

Until next time,
Becky
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This morning I am leaving early for a day of training. Normally training tends to be dry and useless, but this is a class that may really be worth the time spent attending. At any rate I will be seeing lots of the people who are normally out in the field. It will be a fun day, made more so because I baked a blueberry coffee cake to take for morning coffee.

I hope that you have a wonderful day whatever you are doing, and I will see you right back here in the morning.

Until then,
Becky
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Many of you have been asking about Napoleon. Although he mainly stays down at mom and Rockys house, he travels the neighborhood. He has become pretty proprietary about his new home there, and has come to get along fine with her three outside cats. While he still fluffs and fans his tail feathers and shakes his booty at them, for the most part they have come to an understanding.

I hadn't seen him for some time in my neck of the woods, mainly because every time mom sees him stroll past the window she runs out and feeds him some tidbit. He likes her bread, and I can tell you he loves buttermilk pancakes. He is terribly spoiled.

Monday morning I came out of the house to go work, and Napoleon was perched up on the little table on my patio. He was grooming his feathers. Just before I leave each morning I let Chicky out of the garage, so I knew what was coming. The minute I let her out she ran around the garage and I heard Napoleon start honking and screeching. I walked around just in time to see him flying up on the rooftop. Some things never change.

After locking Chicky up last evening, I noticed Napoleon out on my patio table grooming his feathers. His tail feathers are beginning to get some length to them, so I would say that this summer they will really get long and showy. Since it was getting toward dusk, I called mom to tell her he was here. I talked to her about fifteen minutes, and he strolled around the yard, perched on the porch rail, and groomed yet again. All of a sudden, he jumped down and started toward moms house, so I imagine she was calling him home.

Napoleon is fit as a fiddle and doing fine. Although I think he would be happier around other peacocks, he seems happy with his lot in life. He likes it at moms because they are home more than I am and he really likes company and attention. From time to time the owl who lives here devils him and he disappears for a few days, but other than that he is a permanent guest.

Of course I will keep you posted about our big blue friend.....here on my country road.

Until tomorrow,
Becky
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With the return of winter weather to the Ozarks, familiar sights and smells reappear. The smell of woodsmoke is heavy in the air. When I went out to see how cold it was, I could already smell the evidence of people building their morning fires. The smoke curls up from the chimneys before hanging like fog in the timber.

I can remember laying in bed on those cold mornings and hating to get up. The house was cold, the floor would be cold to step out on, and the fire was only glowing embers. Only when the stove was full of dry wood crackling in the newly stoked fire did the house begin to warm up enough to be comfortable.

There has been a lot of improvement to the wood heating stoves and heating systems people use today, but when I was newly married, we had only a Warm Morning stove for our little house. I was always afraid the house would burn down, being only a little rental. We were blessed with never having that problem, at least not in that house. We did have a flu fire in another old rental house when the kids were small. Birds had built nests in the flu over the summer, and the first time we built a really big fire, the nests caught. Fortunately it was something that we were able to take care of, as we lived out in the country and the house would have been ashes before any rural fire truck made it out. I was much more careful after that about how much wood I put into the stove, and how to use the damper to control the fire if something happened.

I was so happy to finally move to a house that had propane heat. No more fear that the house would burn or catch fire while we slept. I still enjoy the wonderful heat of a wood stove, have cooked pots of beans on ours, and like to back up to one to get warm on a cold day. However, I do not miss the mess of the wood, having to help cut and split it, or haul it into the house.

I am glad that now I can enjoy the sight and smell of the smoke as it hangs in the trees and above houses. It is a staple of country life, but for me, a distant memory.

Until tomorrow,
Becky
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This weekend I hibernated. The weather took a drastic turn back into winter temperatures, the wind blew hard, and I had nowhere I really needed to be. Saturday I never changed out of my pajamas. Is there really any better place to be than at home? I had a book to finish, and a stash of movies to watch, so I made a pot of coffee and settled in the recliner with the cat on my lap.

Mid morning I got hungry. It dawned on me I hadn't eaten since Friday noon, so I made a big pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. It didn't take long for the windows to fog up, and the smell of soup filled the house. I made a batch of corn muffins to go with the soup, and after I finished my book I dished up a big bowl while I watched a movie.

I did a few chores to round out the day. Cleaning up the kitchen after a good meal is always a joy. While the washer and dryer were taking care of laundry, I settled under an afghan and took a nap. Actually, days like Saturday are good for the soul. Quiet, good hot food, the simple sounds of the household, and the furnace holding off the winter chill.

Yesterday I had to get out for a few groceries and stopped in to visit a friend. I really didn't feel like talking, but it did feel good to laugh. In the afternoon I made some cinnamon rolls to take to work this morning, and went to visit mom and Rocky, and the neighbors. The temperatures never did warm, and the wind blew all day. When I got home midafternoon, I warmed up a bowl of soup and watched a little TV.

This morning I am up and ready to begin the day. While I would prefer to stay in and enjoy another comfort day, I will be leaving the house and heading off to work. You know it is kick butt Monday, so there are things to accomplish. I hope that you had a wonderful weekend as well. For those of you who watched the Superbowl and attended parties, today may not seem as festive. Not to worry, the Olympics begins Friday night.

Until tomorrow,
Becky
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I have been so proud of myself for not oversleeping or sleeping through the alarm. Well, they say pride goeth before a fall. After not sleeping well in the night, of course I fell asleep right before the alarm went off and slept through it. Now I am an hour and a half behind.

I wanted to take the time to wish you all a fantastic Friday and good weekend. Hopefully I will catch up to myself once I get to work.

Running behind.....here on my country road.
Becky
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We have had a very mild winter here in the Ozarks. In fact, for the past two weeks the temperatures have been in the fifties and sixties. This January was the second warmest on record, with twelve days over sixty.

It is no wonder that Mother Nature is out of balance and the trees are beginning to bud. I noticed creeping phlox blooming at a house last week. While it is good to see the beginning of spring, it is way too early. We are only two days into February.

Right on cue, the weather is about to change. Local forecasts are for temperatures to dip into the twenties with possible snow for the weekend. While this is not something I look forward to, we need something to kill the fleas, ticks, and chiggers that cause problems in the warm months.

It seems that everything is out of whack and out of balance. Of course anyone you ask will say it is the global warming thing, the reason is really moot at this point. If the weekend forecast doesn't pan out, I could be gathering a bouquet of daffodils for the table soon.

Hope your day is a good one.
Becky
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Life is full of hard lessons. I know that bad things happen, and have dealt with a large measure of them myself over the years, but coming face to face with them is always unpleasant.

When I was ten we had a cat named Shadow. I used to love to hold him on my lap and listen to him purr. One morning I was getting ready for school when my brother George called for me to come quickly. He was in the dining room, and I met him there. Shadow had caught a mouse, and was merrily munching away on it, hide, bones, tail and everything. It was a defining moment for me, and I never looked at Shadow in the same way again. It doesn't help that I have a weak stomach when it comes to blood and gore, but it was more the being faced with a harsh reality that turned my stomach that day.

Yesterday when I went down to the garage to lock Chicky in for the night, I was met with the signs of a struggle. One lost. There were gray feathers everywhere. My heart sank. I am not much of a cat person to begin with, and this is most likely the reason. I never forgot the incident with Shadow, and over the years since I have seen cats toy with poor frightened critters until they were too weak to fight anymore before finally being eaten. I know it is instinct for them to hunt. Chicky has no reason to hunt, as she has a never ending supply of dry food, water, and canned food at all times. It was hard not to scold her for something she was born to do for survival. My heart grieved for the little bird and I hoped that it was a quick end for the poor thing.

I admit that I have a soft heart. It is just hard sometimes to accept the realities and harshness of things as they are. It is like receiving bad news. You can crumple and be crippled by it or you can accept things as they are, not as you wish for them to be. Life is what we make it. I choose hope. Joy. Happiness.

I wish you a good day filled with good things.
Until tomorrow,
Becky
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