Thanksgiving 2011

Houston, Barbara, Trey and Patrick Crowder



Last year I realized how much I missed being with family over Thanksgiving, so this year I went to Virginia to be with my daughter and her family, my son, my lady Lynn and her chihuahua, Tinkerbell, plus my former sister-in-law, Linda, her husband, Otto, and my former wife, Diane.  It was a fine celebration!  There was lots of laughter, food, drink, games, stories, a tear or two and lots of love.  I'm very thankful for such a wonderful family! 

Tinkerbell was a hit with the boys and everyone else for that matter.  She looks and acts like a puppy in spite of being nearly 2 years old.  She begged her share of snacks and did a fine job of policing crumbs from the floor. 

This was Lynn's first Thanksgiving without her children, so it was bittersweet for her as it was for Derick.  His kids were with his estranged wife, Kim, and he was missing them a lot.  Next year they'll be with him and, hopefully, back at the Crowders. 

Diane and Trey's mom, Linda, were celebrating their birthdays on Friday, which added even more to the festivities.  As they opened their cards, Houston realized that his Nana, Diane, didn't have a card from him.  His mom reminded him that it had been on the list of "to do's" and just didn't get done.  He hustled off to remedy the situation and did so in fine form.  In the pic above, his Nana, Diane, is looking at a card and his meemaw, Linda, is looking on from the right.  So here is what he did...

"Dear Nana, I hope you have a wonderful purple birthday Nana.  Tell Memaw I said happy birthday.  Purple love, Houston"  He was in a hurry and needed 2 birthday greetings 5 minutes ago.  A very funny solution to say the least!  There was much laughter and a few tears mixed in!  It was one of the funniest things I've seen in a very long time!  Until I got home. 

We got back to Fletcher about 5:30 and I was tired from driving, lack of sleep and general partying.  We had disconnected the water before leaving as a precaution against frozen, busted pipes.  After connecting the water, I came inside to discover a strange noise coming from the vicinity of the water heater, and there was no water coming from the faucets or toilet.  What the .....?  How could that possibly be?  After checking everything again, I came inside and depressed the foot petal on the toilet and a brown geyser shot up!  YUCK!!!  Thank goodness most of it went straight back into the bowl.  It was only then that I realized that I had connected the water hose to the black holding tank flush feature instead of the fresh water inlet.  The black tank valve was closed, creating lots of pressure in the tank and no where for it to go.  Once I opened the valve, the pressure was relieved and all was well.  Whew.  Catastrophe diverted, barely!  Now I truly had a lot to be thankful for!

Tomorrow we're off to Florida for the winter with a stop in Apalachicola for oysters.  Oh yeah! 

 

New Home

My new home came with its' own name, Eagle, and I like it - both the name and the place.  We picked it up last Tuesday and spent the next several days settling in.  It is spacious, comfortable and very cozy.  There are so many things I like about it that I can't yet decide on what's my favorite. 

The living area is very comfortable with 2 rocker/recliners, an electric fireplace, 32" TV, Jensen sound center and sleeper sofa with an air mattress.  The refrigerator is much larger than the old one and the gas stove has an ignitor, which means no more matches or lighter!  Central heat comes through floor vents and air conditioning through ceiling vents.  There are also 3 skylight vents with covers which allows them to be open all the time without rain or bugs coming in.

The queen size bed has a real mattress and is very comfortable.  There is storage under the whole thing that is accessible from the outside, too.  There's lots of closet and drawer space, unlike little Howhee which had practically none. 

The shower is regular size and the hot water tank is twice as big as the old one.  But I've gotten so used to Navy showers after all this time that I only luxuriate when at a motel or someone's house, like Barbara and Trey's, where I'm going later today for Thanksgiving. 

On Sunday we had an open house for family and a few friends.  I had such a good time that I forgot to take a single picture.  Darn!  But here is the guest list:  Lynn, my live-in lady love; cousin William and his wife, Joyce; Wayne and Mary Caldwell; Hugh Huntington, brother-by-choice; and Myra Grant, a high school classmate and new golfing buddy.  And of course Tinkerbell, Lynn's chihuahua. 

And finally, an update on my pony tail project.  As you can see, it is quite long.  The only time it isn't in a pony tail is after a shower, seen above.  My last real hair cut was in April, 2010, with only a few neck trims since then.  So wearing my hair long is part of my new normal, which I plan to write about soon.  The blog intro is now totally out of date, as is the picture of my rig.  There has been so much change in my life that past 3 years it is mind boggling sometimes.  I am very thankful for the changes, in spite of how sad I was for much of it.  I have a new home, truck, scooter, place and style of worship, lady love and hair style.  Oh yeah!  Life is goood!  Very good!  Thanks for stopping by!

A Funeral, A Parade and A New Home

On November 11, 2011, Veterans Day, Melvin Porter Cagle, Jr. was laid to rest after a fine, traditional service lead by Charles and Gerald Sprinkle, father and son ministers, neighbors and long time friends of June.  I was honored to be one of the pall bearers and I'm glad the hill was a gentle one.  June's wife of 55 years, Hester, held up well in spite of her ailing health.  She's one of the strongest people I've ever known.  I wish her and the family well. 

Last Sunday I went to the liquor store for boxes to prepare for my move to the new trailer.  As I turned to go back for more, there were 2 wild turkeys walking by, apparently irritated by the store being closed.  Why?  Because they were looking for....some Wild Turkey!  Yeah, I know it was bad.  I just couldn't resist. 

I miss my little travel trailer, Howhee.  It was my home on wheels for the the past year and a half, and it was a good one.  Since I couldn't save my travel map or stickers, this was the next best thing.  Thanks for the good times, Howhee, and I hope your next owner enjoys you as much as I did.  Bon voyage!

Of all the moves I've made (and I'm somewhere in the 40's now), this was the easiest.  The trailers were parked door to door at the dealership, and we hauled the stuff about 6 feet from one to the other.  And settling into Howhee II has been easy because it is so much larger.  I'm having an open house tomorrow to show it off, so I'll take lots of pics and post them here.

Today I went to the Asheville Christmas Parade for the first time in over 40 years and thoroughly enjoyed it!  The weather was beautiful and so were the floats, cars, animals and girls.  This old woody was one of the finest exhibits as was the Wells Fargo stage coach. 

My proudest moment was when my alma mater came marching by - the Enka High School Marching Jet Band.  They were in step, in tune and lookin' real good!  Enka was and still is a rural school with a wonderful tradition for excellence, which still appears to be intact.  They also appeared to be the largest band in the parade.  It sure felt good to see them again!  Go Jets!

And finally, sometime during the past 2 weeks the 10,000th visit occurred  here on the blog.  When I began this in the winter of '09, I never thought about number of visits or anything like that.  I just wanted to journal about my journey to relieve my grief and perhaps entertain my family and a few friends in the process.  I  know I have accomplished the first and hopefully the second, too.  Soon I will be changing the blog as I have now redefined "normal" and want to share that with my readers.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you will return soon!

Remembering Junior Cagle

Melvin Cagle, Jr. passed away on November 6, 2011 after a 2 year battle with the after effects of 2 strokes.  For most of my life, I knew him as my cousin, though in reality he was my uncle.  In truth, he was most like an older brother, teaching me how to hunt and fish and even a little bit about women, all when I was a young teenager.

My first memory of him was his riding his bicycle up a home made ramp of board-laying-on-bucket, flying through the air like Evil Knievel, landing on the down slope of his front yard in Reeves Cove and grinning from ear to ear.  He was exciting.  An adventurer.  An entrepreneur.  A traveler.  And the best decision he ever made was marrying Hester, his wife of 55 years.  Together they raised a family of 3, Danny, Mel and Joyce, and ran 2 successful companies, Cagle Construction and M&H Auction.  They worked hard, paid cash and enjoyed the fruits of their labor through golf, fishing and travel.  They are 2 of the finest people I've ever known.  Sure, they had their faults, just like the rest of us.  But they never put on airs and always remembered where they came from.

June taught me to shoot and one of his first lessons, at the McIntosh house in Reeves Cove, involved a double barreled 12 gauge shotgun with a plastic stock.  We were sitting under an apple tree in his front yard and I had never fired one before.  He assured me that it was okay to pull both triggers at the same time, so I did.  The blast put me flat on my back and produced a big, colorful bruise that lasted for quite a while. Tears filled my eyes and I was shocked and hurting.  But soon I had to laugh, as he sure was!   I thought Hester was gonna kill him!  She was more than a little upset and thought my mom, Emily, would kill them both!  We laughed long and hard over the years at this story. 

It seems like June always had work to be done and I was always looking to earn money.  When building his first house in Reeves Cove, he decided to dig a well in the basement and because it was solid rock, he had to use a lot of dynamite.  He hired me to go down in the well after a blast to fill the bucket with rock, which he pulled up with a windless.  He paid me off with a pair of water skis, which I thought was very cool, until I realized I didn't have a boat or a car!  So, I converted them to snow skis and careened down through the woods in the dead of winter, only to be stopped by a very large poplar tree, much to the amazement of my witness and friend, David Rutherford. 

Another time, he paid me to clean up a large pile of lumber from a barn.  This time payment was a 16 gauge, single barrel shotgun, which I still have.  I hunted squirrels and rabbits for many years with that gun and even won a turkey shoot with it one time.  It's a treasure. 

Tomorrow I will help carry his body and casket to his final resting place. It won't be easy, but it will be an honor.   He was a good man and I will miss him.