Doing plant duty

New statues and plants for the entryway.

Working flower beds and taking care of plants has never really been my thing.  My Dad always had beautiful flower beds but that did not rub off on us boys.  Taking care of these things at the house here always fell to Joanne.  She also had numerous house plants that she would move out into the entryway every spring and bring back into the house in the fall.

A couple of years ago we had some hedges and ground cover removed from the entryway area and filled it all in with river rock.  We debated back and forth about what we wanted to put out there.  I wanted a big eagle statue but Jo vetoed that.  Instead we put two large flower pots there with smaller pots sitting in the middle of them.  Each spring she would put in some new flowers in both the large and the small pots.  So far this year all that was in the pots were left over dead plants from last year plus some weeds that had sprouted up.  Also several large weeds were coming up in the bed that goes across the front of the house. 

Earlier in the week I went up to Statuary World in Edmond to see if I could find a good eagle statue that I liked.  Not only did I find an eagle but also a great little statue of a sailor.  I bought both and today installed them in front.  I removed the smaller pots and put the new statues in the middle of the big pots.  A trip to a garden shop this morning got me a flat of petunias to plant in the big pots around the base of the statues.  I also brought out Jo's house plants that survived even with the lack of attention over this winter.  Four of them survived and I put some petunias in the pots of the two that did not.  (Earlier in the year, before I left for Florida last January, I gave the biggest and best plant to my next door neighbor.  It was a huge Aloe Vera plant that Joanne and raised from just a small cutting several years ago.)  I also removed the large weeds that were sprouting in the bed out in front of the house.  There are several of the plants that Joanne planted over the years that are coming back in full force so that bed will take care of itself.  (The central sprinkling system we had put in last year keeps that front bed watered over the summer.)

So, Joanne's large flower pots are still there and now have some color added and I have my eagle.  The eagle and the sailor are both facing the flag pole in the front yard.  The sailor statue has a pose of "hand salute" so it is appropriate that he be facing the flag.

Happy Birthday to my Dad

93 years and still going.



Today is the anniversary of the birth of, what I feel, is one of the greatest men to ever populate this green earth. George W. Stone was born on April 17, 1919, in Byars, Oklahoma, where he lived until he got married in 1937 and moved to Oklahoma City. The third youngest of eight children (five girls and three boys) he now is one of only two still living. He spent his younger years working the farm in Byars where the family lived.

Anyone who knows me very well also knows that my Dad has pretty much been my hero all my life. He also functioned as a mentor over the years, especially in regards to decisions I made in business and all of my working life. He set an example for his family and pretty much expected us to follow that example. He has always been there when one of us faltered along the way, there to pick us up and dust us off and help us get back on the right track. I feel very fortunate to have had the parents that God blessed me with. (Like every other occasion now this is his first birthday without my Mom since it has been less than a year since she passed away at age 92.)

Birthdays are not something that was celebrated in our family. There were four boys in the family and three of us had birthdays fairly close to Christmas. In the early years, especially when Dad was in the ministry or when he was starting out with his work for Farmers Union, there was not always enough money for birthday and Christmas presents. Christmas always won out. As a family this was just an accepted fact and birthdays really were not seen as that important. (My attitude has been pretty much that I did not do anything special to get born. If anything, my Mother should be the one celebrated on my birthday since she did all the work.) Of course, the family attitude towards birthdays did not always sit well with the daughters-in-law that came along later. Each of us four boys had to adjust our attitude as was needed to keep peace in our own houses.

Although today is Pop's actual birthday we chose to celebrate it this past Sunday. Oldest brother, Bill, and his wife Nancy provided the cake and ice cream. My youngest son and his lady, Cathy, along with their five year old daughter, Cadence, went with me to the assisted living center in Purcell where Pop now lives. We were set up to serve the cake and ice cream as soon as the center residents finished their noon meal. There was plenty of cake to go around and everyone enjoyed the treat.

So, Happy 93rd Birthday to one of my favorite people and hope to spend many more over the years.

Fun night at the theatre

Favorite niece, dinner and a play. Does not get any better.

Had a "date" tonight with my wonderful niece, Carrie. We met at her grandmothers house after she got off work. (Her grandmother is also my mother-in-law.) After she changed for a night out we headed to Romano's Macaroni Grill for a good Italian dinner. Carrie says she really enjoys when I take her out to dinner because she gets to have something beside hamburgers or other fast food that her family insist on having. Also, so far, she had never been to any of the places I've taken her. After dinner we headed down to Lyric on the Plaza to see the play "Spring Awakening". This play was very different than the normal fare that we are used to seeing done by Lyric. Not sure everyone in the audience was prepared for this show since several people did not stay after the intermission. My friend, Jonathan Beck Reed, led the cast in this show and did his regular outstanding job.

(Sorry the picture is a bit blurry. This was taken by my 91 year old mother-in-law and she tends to shake a bit.) As usual when I'm doing something with Carrie I had a great time. Looking forward to the next occasion.

A Grand Outing

Spring break, granddaughters, science museum. What a day.

This this is Spring Break for the schools in the Oklahoma City area I thought it would be fun to take some of my granddaughters to the Zoo. All last week the local TV weather guessers were predicting rain for this week, starting late Monday night. So the Zoo outing was planned for Monday. I originally planned to take the youngest of the girls, Cadence, who is five and her nine year old twin sisters. (The twins are actually step-grand kids but we have decided to leave the "step" part out. Since both of their natural grandpas have passed away they have decided they enjoy having one to do things with.) Aurora, my middle granddaughter who is six, was also invited to go with us. After thinking it over I decided taking four active little girls for an all day outing by myself was probably not a good idea so I informed my son, and these girls dad/step dad, that he was going with me.

As it turned out the weather guessers guessed wrong. The storm came in Sunday night and we woke to massive rain. Plans immediately changed from the Zoo to the Oklahoma City Science Museum instead. (This museum used to be called the Omniplex in years past.) This is a hands on interactive museum that is ideal for children. It also has a domed IMAX type theater so we took that in also. We started off by all going for a late breakfast at IHOP and then out to the museum. The girls were very well behaved and all seemed to really enjoy themselves. After several hours exploring all the exhibits none were really ready to leave. Around four in the afternoon we loaded up and headed to McDonald's for a late lunch/early dinner.

Aurora, Cadence, Catlyn & Madison at the Science Center

The IMAX movie was called "Tornado Alley" and was a documentary about the area from South Dakota down through Texas and was done by the group of Storm Chasers that work for the Federal Government. It gave the appearance of being in the center of the tornado. There were mixed emotions from the girls. The twins really got into it. Catlyn was mesmerized by it but Madison was a bit frightened and wound up squeezing my arm all the way through it. Aurora was somewhat frightened but then got bored and Cadence was bored all the way through.

After our stop at McDonald's we headed home. Dropped Aurora off at her mom's house and then took Alan and the other girls home. Wound up hanging out for a little while at their place. I enjoy being with these kids so much it is hard to let go. It was a good day by all and I promised them we would make the Zoo on another day.

Happy Birthday to my best friend

My best friend is eleven years old today.

This is Buddy Joe's birthday. At age eleven that would make him 77 years old in "dog years". It is hard to believe that this fiesty little guy is actually an "old man". He has brought much joy to our household over these past years. Buddy has been a great companion in our travels and always loves to go in the RV. Here's wishing my little friend many more birthdays.

Happy Birthday to my Mom

Today is special. This would have been Maskell L. Stone's 93 birthday.

On March 4, 1919, one of the finest women to ever grace this earth was born. She went on to be a great wife, mother and grandmother and is missed by all who knew her. At the time of her death in May 2011 she had, in addition to her husband of 74 years, four sons, nine grandchildren, eight great grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild. The standing joke was that our Mom was a petrified weed, since her maiden name was Weed but she became a Stone.

Thanks to our Dad's job she got to travel throughout the world. During that time she traveled to almost every state in the union and many foreign countries. After many years of these travels she tired of it and let Dad go on many of these trips alone or with one of his employees. She did enjoy traveling to Hawaii and they were able to visit there several times. They also came to Alaska to visit while my brother, David, and I were both stationed there with the Navy.

On one of her many visits to Hawaii.

My mom was one of my best friends and I miss her dearly. On this past Friday my Dad and I went to the cemetery and installed a retractable flower vase in front of her tombstone, along with one at my dear wife's marker. We left a bouquet of red roses for Mom. Although she has been gone since May of last year my Dad says there is not a day that goes by that he does not look over to her recliner and expect to see her sitting there.

Maskell Lee (Weed) Stone

March 4, 1919 - May 22, 2011

Valentine's Day Revisited

Another prospective on the day.

After re-reading the post I did on Valentine's Day I realize how much of a downer it was. I had to look back on previous times to remember some fun we had with it.

In the first few years after we got married we both made a big deal of it, each trying to outdo ourselves from the previous year. My favorite present from her was when she had a dozen "long stemmed chocolate chip cookies" delivered to my office. (Very large cookies on long artificial stems brought is a long, white box like roses would be delivered.) My last really big deal was the time I hired a barbershop quartet to go to her office and sing to her. They were all dressed in Tuxedos with matching bow ties and tennis shoes. After presenting her with one red rose they proceeded to sing a few songs for her. The funniest part was when they crowded into her small office she was on a long distance call to one of the outlying county office's. This made for an extended call as she laid down the phone and let the folks on the other end listen to the music.

It was very hard to top the quartet so after a few years of marriage Valentine's Day got to be routine. I would buy Joanne roses and chocolates (she did love chocolate) and she would get me a card and a big bag of peanut M&M's. We would go out to eat that evening. That worked well for us.

Valentine's Day 2012

Not the best Valentine's Day I've ever had.

Took some new flowers for my Sweetheart today in honor of Valentine's Day. Have mixed emotions whenever I go down to Byars to the cemetery. I'm always glad to go, seems that I'm closer to her down there, but it is always a very emotional time. Fortunately no one else was there this afternoon so I did not have to try to talk to anyone.

The red roses are the new ones I took today. Jo always enjoyed getting roses from me. (The blue and purple flowers are artificial. I put them there the last week of December, just before I left for Florida. With the way the winds whips across this cemetery it is surprising they are still in such good condition.) I also put some of these red roses on my Mom's grave, which is two spaces to the left of Joanne's. It was really hard to have lost two of the most important women in my life in the same year. Also found myself having a little trouble with the 60 mile drive back home. It's really hard to drive when your eyes are filled with liquid.

Anyway, this was the way I spent my Valentine's Day. I hope all who read this had a much better and enjoyable day.

Florida Bound 2012--Day 28

Still plodding along toward home.

Am still out here on the road, making my way northwest back toward Oklahoma. Left the Mobile area yesterday morning around 9:00 and headed east. After a quick stop in Gulfport, Mississippi, at the Flying J for fuel and breakfast we headed toward Louisiana and the worst Interstate road in the nation. From the Louisiana state line forward we had to slow down our pace due to the rough roadway. Followed Interstates 10 and 12 past Baton Rouge to Lafayette and then headed north on I-49. Wound up stopping in the "big" city of Ajax for the night. Drove 395 miles which is a long day for this RVer. If a person ever wanted to be in the middle of nowhere Ajax would be a good place to go. Although we were about 50 miles south of Shreveport we could get no TV reception or a Sprint cellphone signal. It did make for a long evening.

One of the things during this trip was getting used to dealing with my two dogs all by myself. Ole Buddy Joe is no problem to take care of. He is the most laid back dog I've ever known and at almost 11 years old is not as active as he once was. Little Bridgit Jeane, on the other hand, is a whole different story. She has way more energy than I'm used to, likes to bark at anything and everything (and sometimes at nothing), doesn't always wait until I can take her outside before "doing her business" and likes to chew on things that are not hers. Last night she went back and jumped on the bed and found my hearing aids that were on the night stand. She proceeded to chew the earpieces off of them. Fortunately, it does not appear that she damaged the receiver or battery compartment. (This now makes four hearing aids she has chewed up. She got one of Joanne's the weekend before Jo passed away. Later that week she got one of mine. Both of those were completely destroyed. Fortunately Economy Hearing Aid Company replaced them under warranty, which has now expired, so I do have a spare set back home. This time the repair will have to come from my pocket.)

Left Ajax this morning in heavy fog. Visibility was down to less than a quarter mile. Most of the fog had burned off by the time we reached Shreveport and turned west again on I-20. After another Flying J stop in Greenwood we soon exited Louisiana and were in Texas. Our destination for today was McKinney, Texas, only about 250 miles. We are now parked at the headquarters of MCD Innovations. Our good friends, Jim and Peggy Grich, work for MCD and live here in their Monaco motor home. They do both work here at the plant and also serve as the sales staff at RV rallies and shows throughout the country. We have known Jim and Peggy for several years and always enjoy getting together with them whenever we cross paths. The three of us went out to dinner at a great little Italian restaurant not too far away. This was the first time I've seen them since Joanne's death so we had some catching up to do.

Tomorrow will be the last leg of this adventure. I'm about five or six hours from home so should be in there sometime tomorrow afternoon. This has been a good trip but very different than any I've made before. Even though I've spent most of my time visiting people I truly care about it still gets very lonely out here by oneself. I needed to get this first trip in to help me decide if doing this RV thing as a single is really something I want to pursue.

Florida Bound 2012--Day 26

S L O W L Y heading home.

The trek home is going much slower than the trip down here. Left Polk City yesterday morning around 8:00. Had planned to drive a little over 300 miles and into the Florida Panhandle before stopping for the night. All was going good during the morning except it was cooling down as I drove north. About 11:30 we stopped at a rest stop on Interstate 75 so the dogs could stretch their legs and do other things. I also took the time to change from shorts and sandals to jeans and regular shoes and socks. At this point we were just about 35 miles south of Gainesville.

Back on the road we topped an hill and saw traffic, three lanes wide, had come to a complete halt. The signs showed it was just over three miles to the next exit. Just over three hours later we arrived at that exit where the Florida Highway Patrol was forcing everyone off the Interstate. They had closed the highway, in both directions, for a 30 miles stretch starting at Gainesville and going south. Earlier there had been a major accident, involving several cars, semi trucks and one tour bus. Apparently this was caused by a mixture of smoke from a nearby wildfire and morning fog. Later they reported on the news that at least 10 people had died in the crashes with another 18 taken to local hospital. After three plus hours sitting in traffic to advance that three miles it took another hour to get the 30 miles to Gainesville on the back roads. By stopping time for the night we had only advance to Lake City, less than 200 miles from where we started. That has really set us back in our advance toward home.

This morning we rolled out of bed early and had planned to hit the road by 8:00 AM. Knowing we would pick up an hour when we crossed back into the Central Time Zone we should have plenty of time to make up some of the time lost yesterday. Got everything unhooked and ready when we found the slide lock on the large, living room slide would not go into place. The slide had not come all the way in. Turns out the fabric of the slide topper was coated in about a half inch coating of ice. As the slide came in the ice would not let the fabric roll up on the roller. Spent the next 45 minutes working at getting the ice cleaned off enough to get the roller to turning. Of course it did not help that the ladder I carry in the coach is only six feet tall. By standing on the next to the top step, on my tiptoes, I could just reach up over the top of the slide to peal the slabs of ice away. (Who would have thought that it would get below freezing in Florida?) Anyway, got enough ice off to where all the mechanisms started working properly and the slide moved all the way in. We were on the road by 9:00.

The drive across the Florida Panhandle and the lower portion of Alabama was uneventful. We are now set up in a campground in Theodore, Alabama, just a few miles west of Mobile. Drove about 360 miles today. Hope to get an early start tomorrow since I've laid out a route of 395 miles. Original plan was to be home sometime Wednesday afternoon. Now it looks like we won't be there until Thursday. (And, I plan to pull in the big slide tonight before I go to bed.)