On Saturday morning, I drove home from Buckhorn after spending a couple of days down there with Ed. I had just gotten home when Velda and Caroline drive up to make arrangements for a quad ride. I showered while they got their stuff together and then Velda, Tristan, Grandma Mary, Caroline, Maddie and I went on a ride. We went up the Saffell Canyon trail to the top and had a little lunch and Caroline took lots of pictures (hopefully she will send some). While we were there resting and visiting, Dale Goodman's name came up and Mary asked, "is Norma still alive?" Velda answered yes and in a few minutes she asked again, "is Norma still alive?" We all laughed when Velda said "that's twice mom". After a while as this was now a joke, when Mary asked for a third time, "is Norma still alive?" I answered as I looked at my watch, "she was 10 minutes ago." We all busted a gut and had a great time. Tristan had the IMPORTANT job of driving Grandma Mary and I must say that he did a great job. Dang Caroline brought only ONE diet coke and Grandma was ready to fight her for it. Now when I recognized she (Caroline) has a Canon Digital Rebel camera, I said "s*>%" and was ready to fight her for the camera. Is is terrible, really, to long for someone else's camera? 
The forest smelled like heaven. We beat/missed the rain so that our ride was perfect! When we got back to my house, I took Caroline and Maddie down to see Larry Nicoll's new colt and then over to see his sheep. Maddie was thrilled and most especially when I pulled some grass and she fed a horse the grass. We went to Maggie's and Maddie and Kamryn played for a short while then we took Kamryn and Trentin to Velda's to play with Tammy's girls and the kids had a ball.
Steve grilled burgers for all of us and then built a fire in the fire pit so the kids could roast marshmallows and make s'mores. Those kids played and had such a good time so that when Grandma Mary and Caroline were getting ready to go back to the Valley Kamryn and Trentin were so tired they didn't fuss about me taking them to my house and putting them in the tub.
They were tired little toots.
Grandma just called and said she had the best time. She constantly reminds us that she is 77 years old but for an "old grandma" she did great. She wasn't sore, a little hoarse for some reason but still enjoying the memories of yesterday. As she hung up, she asked once more, "Is Norma still alive?" Laughing once more with Grandma Mary.
The phone rings and it's Tad. "What are you doing?" I ask. "Branding calves"...he said. "Where?" (last I saw him he had is bag and fishing pole and headed to Roosevelt to fish). "At Shaylynn's." "Harris?" I ask. "No...our cousin." "Oh...Shayla's?" "Yah." "What are you doing there?" "Branding calves..her ranch is by Joe's (Jay and Tad's friend) close to Punkin Center. Somehow they ended up helping brand calves in their flip flops. Now I would pay good money to see that! The thing that kind of choked me up was this...Tad said "Mom, I knew her without knowing her. I recognized her as family." Shayla walked up to Tad and he said, "you're my cousin - Tommy Long's sister and Shirley's daughter." She said, "you're Don's son." They haven't seen each other in close to 20 years and they knew each other. I told him that THAT was cool! Tad has been blessed to get to see a lot in this world; do a lot. He has had some real close calls and some spiritual things that make my skin tingle and yet he is out in the middle of no where and runs into family. His connections this last little bit has been on the Allred side of the family, Uncle Stan's family in particular; first with Val last month and Shirley's daughter, Shayla today. The thing I recognized both times is that it meant ALOT to Tad, I could hear it in his voice just a few minutes ago and I saw and heard it when Val was here.
I called Grandma Mary and told her this little story and she was touched as I was. She thanked me for sharing this story with her. Family is Forever is not just a motto - it is EVERYTHING!
And yes, Mary, Norma is still alive!
The forest smelled like heaven. We beat/missed the rain so that our ride was perfect! When we got back to my house, I took Caroline and Maddie down to see Larry Nicoll's new colt and then over to see his sheep. Maddie was thrilled and most especially when I pulled some grass and she fed a horse the grass. We went to Maggie's and Maddie and Kamryn played for a short while then we took Kamryn and Trentin to Velda's to play with Tammy's girls and the kids had a ball.
Steve grilled burgers for all of us and then built a fire in the fire pit so the kids could roast marshmallows and make s'mores. Those kids played and had such a good time so that when Grandma Mary and Caroline were getting ready to go back to the Valley Kamryn and Trentin were so tired they didn't fuss about me taking them to my house and putting them in the tub.
They were tired little toots.
Grandma just called and said she had the best time. She constantly reminds us that she is 77 years old but for an "old grandma" she did great. She wasn't sore, a little hoarse for some reason but still enjoying the memories of yesterday. As she hung up, she asked once more, "Is Norma still alive?" Laughing once more with Grandma Mary.
The phone rings and it's Tad. "What are you doing?" I ask. "Branding calves"...he said. "Where?" (last I saw him he had is bag and fishing pole and headed to Roosevelt to fish). "At Shaylynn's." "Harris?" I ask. "No...our cousin." "Oh...Shayla's?" "Yah." "What are you doing there?" "Branding calves..her ranch is by Joe's (Jay and Tad's friend) close to Punkin Center. Somehow they ended up helping brand calves in their flip flops. Now I would pay good money to see that! The thing that kind of choked me up was this...Tad said "Mom, I knew her without knowing her. I recognized her as family." Shayla walked up to Tad and he said, "you're my cousin - Tommy Long's sister and Shirley's daughter." She said, "you're Don's son." They haven't seen each other in close to 20 years and they knew each other. I told him that THAT was cool! Tad has been blessed to get to see a lot in this world; do a lot. He has had some real close calls and some spiritual things that make my skin tingle and yet he is out in the middle of no where and runs into family. His connections this last little bit has been on the Allred side of the family, Uncle Stan's family in particular; first with Val last month and Shirley's daughter, Shayla today. The thing I recognized both times is that it meant ALOT to Tad, I could hear it in his voice just a few minutes ago and I saw and heard it when Val was here.
I called Grandma Mary and told her this little story and she was touched as I was. She thanked me for sharing this story with her. Family is Forever is not just a motto - it is EVERYTHING!
And yes, Mary, Norma is still alive!
2 comments:
Love this Blog.. I love being able to hear all about you and the family. Makes me long for home. Thanks for the great blogging you do. We will be in Eagar on the 3 of july... Cant wait hope we can see each other. Love you Deb
p.s. glad norma is still kicking!!!!
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