Betty’s Week

  Ran late with the paper route last Wednesday. Got to Water Valley Food and Gas Mart and it was still locked. Waited for several minutes, then walked back to Larson’s to see if they knew what the problem was. They didn’t, but I picked up some breakfast and went back to wait. Linda had just arrived and was late due to having an auto problem. She had to walk a distance in the dark to get someone to bring her to work. I sure would hate to have to walk in the dark and told her I was sorry she had the problem. When I arrived though, I knew she’d had trouble, because she’s always on time.
  On the rest of my stops though,I got teased for being late—all of them accusing me of not wanting to get out of bed. Well, they were right, I didn’t. However I had rolled out at my usual 4:30.
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  I’d planned to take Thursday off for my Labor Day holiday. Didn’t happen. We had a foul-up with the IRS on our 2011 Third Quarter SS, MC and WH report. Got all our forms together, verified that we had made timely deposits and had filed the form. Then it was off to see CPA Joe Black—when it gets over my head I always can depend on him to straighten things out. He looked our data over and found nothing wrong. Told me what to send them and even printed out the proper label. Joe says that several businesses have had the same problem that we had— maybe it was not my fault.
  Left the office abut 2:30, went grocery shopping and then home. Got everything ready to go to Moms early Friday morning.  On Fridays Mom and I just sit and visit, between therapy sessions, meals, and our walks. The days are long, but it’s good to get to spend quality one-on-one time with her. This schedule will probably continue for another month or so.
  We’re taking Mom home each Saturday and Sunday, just for the day, and she enjoys this.
  Saturday, she was walking in the house, went into her bedroom and exclaimed,  “Y’all have trashed my bed.” We really had. In cleaning we’d piled everything on the bed—almost to the ceiling. We assured her that we’d get it cleaned off and made up before she needed to use it. Of course she explained that she was just kidding.
  Later in the day Jimmie and I were peeling pears and she says, “Can I help?” “Sure”, I said, “You can cut these things up and I sit in your easy chair.” She was willing but said that she might cut off a couple of fingers, because she would not be able to see where the knife was going. Jimmie didn’t want to clean up the blood so I had to finish the job. She was peeling and I was slicing and bagging for the freezer. These are the best pears I’ve ever eaten.
  There is still lots of fruit on the trees and we’re tired of peeling. At the end of the day I fixed a couple of quarts to make pear salad for Sunday lunch and it was delicious—much tastier than if it had been made from commercially canned pears. I dug out some jars and plan to can a few quarts this coming weekend just for salads.
  Friday night I ran late getting Mom to bed, so I just ran down to Courtland and slept in her bed. The electricity had been off, so I had to set the clock. Got that done with no problem—only thing was that I didn’t check the alarm, which I never use. The thing went off at midnight, just as the thunderstorms were moving in, so I was awake for a long time.
  Before I went to bed, I was watching the weather channel and there didn’t seem to be any severe weather in our area at the time. However, I heard what sounded like a train—always heard that a tornado sounded like a train. Repair to the tracks had been in progress for a long time on that stretch railroad, and I didn’t know it was back in use. That sound caught my attention, as it got louder and louder. Went outside and the sky seemed okay Just then there appeared a  sure enough train—it was quite long and contained some passenger cars. The sight of this was indeed welcomed.
  In addition to the pear chore, Jimmie again cleaned house and I cooked and cleaned in the kitchen. My primary chore for the day was cleaning two refrigerator freezers. I threw away two big garbage bags of  out-of-date and freezer burned food and the things were still full.
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  Spent Saturday night at home so I wouldn’t be late for SS and worship service.
  Parked in Bro. Ken’s parking space and it really seemed strange. We did miss the Izzards, but enjoyed a fine visiting preacher, Bro. Owen Rid-dick, a native of Coffeeville.
  Bro. Riddick was very witty and brought an excellent message. He started out with stories that most of us could relate to. He said that during his growing up years life was so boring that on the weekends the fun thing to do was go to Water Valley and fight the WV boys or WV would come to Coffeeville for the same purpose. Everyone giggled and He says, “I see some of you have good memories.”         It was the same between Pope/Courtland and Bates-ville young folks. Don’t think there was any malice intended—just something to do. I remember tales of the Kilgore boys fighting the Snider brothers and I’m sure there were others.
  Arriving back at Mom’s for lunch, I spotted a little snake on a sticky pad resting on the front porch entrance table. It seems that this little fellow was caught under the sink, right where I’d spent much of Saturday. I cut up several chickens, washed a ton of dishes, and did other chores. What if it had fallen on my feet—probably wouldn’t be here to write this column.
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  Couldn’t wait to get to church Sunday morning to see if WV had beaten Bruce Friday night. They’ve taken Channel 9 off Mom’s TV schedule and the Memphis channels don’t give our scores. Sounded like a very exciting game, with the Devils winning by a point.
  Now they just have to get by Charleston Friday night and I know they can do it.
  Congratulations on a perfect season so far, and just keep up the good work. I’ll be pulling for you even though I can’t attend the games.