Fireball in the Kitchen

In the tradition of rednecks everywhere, here is a guest post/story from my nephew Clay.   (he of Redneck Bobsled fame).  It seems all boys get into alot of trouble when left to thier own devices.  Kinda levels the world out, knowing that this is something that probably will never change.

It all started off as a normal summer day.  Tom, Will, Clint and I were looking for something to do.  We searched up and down for something to do… we even thought of ideas, but never went with them of course they all took too much effort.  So as we sat around in the heat.  We kind of had a past with fire and had been discipline prior to this but there was just one idea we couldn’t resist.

One Dark Prairie Night

I wrote about Dennis and our adventures riding the long yearlings in Remembering a Friend – She Bucked a Half Mile.  That was a lot of fun to do, think about again and write down.  Sometimes the best times are the some of the biggest wrecks.  During that same time frame when we had the two mares that Mr. Cramer wanted to turn into a stagecoach team (I wrote about them in the Honestly She Never Bucks with Me story too) was the incident of one dark prairie night.

As these two mares got to handling better, Dennis and I made longer and longer rides on them, sometimes getting in just before dark.  We covered a lot of ground and chased a few corriente steers around.  Just generally whooped it up, a couple of college cowboys getting paid to do something they would have done for free!  Just glad know one told Mr. Cramer that back then!  It was a good time, but if you push the limit to much…sometimes it will bite you!

MD Anderson – Radiation Update

It has been some time since my last MD update, so I thought I had better get one out there.  As of today, Felicia has only two more radiation treatments left.  Praise the Lord!  We have been looking forward to this, but will still have probably three weeks or so for all of the skin peeling and such to heal up.  But, no more treatments after Friday!

The treatments themselves weren’t too bad, except for the last couple of weeks (easy for me to say!).   Her skin started peeling under her arm, which made a lot of things harder.  Even skin rubbing on skin can break open a raw spot, so you can guess that under your arm would be bad.  It appears she will have several other places that are going to break open, but my trooper of a wife has hung in there. 

She had one of the radiation techs, tell her the other day (in talking about radiation treatments), “ya’ll are the bravest women I know, to have this happen and still come back”.  Which Felicia answered, “What other choice do we have?”  Sometimes I don’t think they know how to take my wife down there at MDA.  She has laughed and made jokes almost the entire time she has had treatments.

But I got to thinking about the “brave” statement.  To me the definition of bravery is doing what is required, even though you are scared to death.  I think anyone who has cancer is in this same boat, scared to death, but doing what is required.  But I can only speak for my bride.  She has been scared through this, but you would never know it to be around her.   She has laughed and joked most of the way through this whole ordeal.  I couldn’t be prouder to call her my wife!

Never once has she questioned why she has this, her attitude has been “ok, I’ve got it…what’s the next step?”  She has been a Godly example of a courageous woman to Faith and Alicia.  I pray that they will look back  at this time and use it as an example whenever they are having hardships in their lives.  She has been a faithful example to me and I cherish each moment I have with her.

Look at Psalms 119:49-50 “Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope.  My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.”  No matter the outcome, which we have been blessed with, His promise preserves her life.  What a promise it is!

The Hang Up

One problem with telling stories about others is that most of the time what happens to you, is usually funnier that what happens to others.  Now I’ll be honest, I have had a good laugh at my friends and family.  But, to be semi-fair, I have to tell on myself a little once in a while.

About a month ago my father-in-law bought one of those things that you hang upside down in for his back.  I think it is called a “Hang Up”, or some such thing.  He had been using it and just raving about how much better his back felt.  Heck, he said he was even taller!  Now it had peeked my interest because my back had been bothering me as well, I had just not taken the time to even look at it…let alone try it out!