The Lucky Dog Blog

XMAS LIGHTS

On the way home last night from the grocery store M & A saw a house in the neighborhood that had Christmas lights on. In addition to the many lights, there were moving (as in motion, not emotion) exhibits –  Santa's, an airplane, a Ferris wheel and more. There are many more homes in the neighborhood that are also elaborately decorated.

Marilyn was reminded of the homes in North Kansas City in the 1960's when that neighborhood's reputed gangsters decorated to the max - as if to say “we aren't all bad”. We hope that isn't the case here in Minnesota.

    

    

Al has one light bulb that he is going to put up –  maybe –  if he gets around to it.

Lucky

A FANTASTIC SURPRISE - A PICTURE ALBUM

As many know from personal experience (or from others), one of the most devastating losses of an event like a storm of flood is that of irreplaceable family photographs.

David and Donna were among those who came to the house that awful week and helped us rescue as much as we could. David offered to take some of the many family photos and try to save them. Marilyn never dreamed that saving more than a few would be possible.

    

Last week a large package arrived. It contained the original photos, a picture album made up of the photos and a diskette and a backup diskette of everything.  It was such a kind an generous thing to do. Marilyn's sister, Zella, also took some of the other photos and saved them. She is getting copies made and another memory book compiled. These kindnesses made it possible to survive the flood of April 25,2011 with some shreds of sanity intact. (The photo on the cover is of Pineville taken in the late 1800's.)

 

One of the photos (below right) was of the Pineville School third grade class of 1940. Her brother, Billy Max, was a member of that class. Marilyn's mom had written as many names as she could remember on the back of the photo. Perhaps some of my McDonald County readers can identify some of them for me. Note: These are all thumbprint photos so click on the picture to enlarge it. The photo that is below left shows Marilyn's first grade class and a picture of her brother sitting in front of their home about 1950. She will show a larger photo of the class with names on another blog.

                    

Billy Max's class is above on the right.

Front row: Jimmy J. Shinn, ____Albright, Joe Buell, ___Myers, Billy Couch, ____.

Second Row: June Johnson, Faye Reneau, Loretta McGough, Elizabeth Shaw, Edith Ann Hix, Betty Jo Vaughn, ____, Jean Kelly

Back Row: ___ Rearrick, ___ Don Gardner, Dixie Bone, Margaret Faust, ____ Crowder, Billy Brown Bradley, Billy Max Carnell, ___ Gladys Coffee Mosier, Teacher.

I think she plans to try to identify as many people in the old photos as possible; picking up where her Mom left off. It should keep her busy this winter. If you can supply additional identities, please write me. I will be sure she gets the message and it would please her no end. It can be my Christmas present to her.

Lucky

AL'S ORCHID PLANT

Back in early September Al bought a mail order orchid.

At the time it was not much to look at –  lots of leaves and some odd stick-like protrusions.

                                

He has been tending to the orchid and now it is starting to look better and starting to bloom. Soon it will be full of tiny little orchids that are about 1/4” across. They are really beautiful little miniature orchids.

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As I said before, it doesn't take much to keep him happy.

Lucky

READING COMICS

For the past 15 years, M & A have read USA Today daily to get the news. They found they could get it delivered with their daily mail and keep up with national and world news better than the more local papers. The only difference was that USA Today doesn't publish cartoons. Since moving to Minnesota, they have subscribed to the Minneapolis Star/Tribune and are once again reading a cartoon page. (I don't see what is so funny, myself.)

    

                      

                     

I can really relate to that cat. It is getting pretty cold outside and I don't want to linger.

Lucky

MY NEW SUIT

Marilyn finally got around to making me a new suit. She thought a red plaid would set off my darkly handsome good looks. I think she was right. She made the pattern herself and has already decided on some improvements, but I'm happy. It is soft and warm fleece and I like to wear it cuddled in her lap. I didn't like to sit still for a photo op, so the first photos are a bit fuzzy.

               

Later Al caught me looking out the window at all of the sights. The photo below shows some of the things I have to look at these days. I'm making my Christmas list, but am not much for decorating.

      

Lucky

THANKSGIVING 2011

Yesterday afternoon Marilyn and Al went to the Twogood's house for their Thanksgiving meal.

The grandkids Ian and Max were happy to see them. Ian made the corn muffins for the meal and Vicki and Marilyn  prepared the rest (with the help of the Honey Baked Ham folks). Al and Max supervised; Ben fetched as asked. 

    

It was a special meal with Marilyn's son and his wife Vicki, and they told me they enjoyed it very much. They missed being with other family members this year, but they were remembered.

    

I had my special puppy food for my Thanksgiving.

Note: Click on a picture for a larger view.

Lucky

CRYSTAL BRIDGES

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We wish you a great day with family and/or friends. We are going to feast with Ben, Vicki and boys later today. (Well, M & A are; I will have to stay here and guard the house. But, speaking of things for which to be grateful, the opening of Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, AR is something that Marilyn has long anticipated and she is looking forward to seeing it in person like many of her friends already have.

 

A friend of Marilyn and Al sent us this E-Mail. Donna and David had a great time visiting the museum for the first time. Excerpts follow:

This is a new museum built in Bentonville, AR - it was a dream of Sam
Walton's wife - that the land be preserved to benefit everyone.  The outside
animals (dogs) are allowed to walk on all the walking paths.  There are
walking paths by the miles and miles and miles around the museum.  The
abundance of water that the sky pours has been taken into consideration.  A
world renowned architect (Moishe Sadie) designed to area and this has been
probably more than 10 years in the making and opened a month ago.  We
haven't lived here but 5 years so there is more to this than I know.  The
premise in bringing culture to the area and the museum is American Art -

My favorite parts were the children's art and hands on area and the library
which was magnificent.  A place that will live on beyond the legend of Mrs.
Walton.

Me shaking the hand of Pinocchio I got in so much trouble for touching and
she wouldn't even let me put my hand over the line and pretend to shake
hands said that this was wrong -- but -- she that it was a cute picture.

                           

        

These photos are just a taste of what it looks like. To learn more go to Crystal Bridges web site. It is a pretty amazing place.

Lucky

GRANNY

Once in a while I like to remind Marilyn that she is a grandmother.

Maybe she needs a new license plate for her car like the one we saw recently. Wait… that one is taken. Al favors “Granny” which really sets her cork to bobbin' even thought that was what she called her own grandmother.

                   

That would get her attention. In fact it would probably set her (used to be) red hair aflame.

Lucky

P.S. If you are traveling to a grandmother's house for the holiday, have a safe trip.

LEGO PRESENTATION PREPARATION

Last night Marilyn and Al went to Ben and Vicki's home to talk with Ian's Lego team about their upcoming Lego competition.

    

There are six members on the team and unfortunately, M & A didn't write down all of their names. These kids are amazing. The team has competed at the state level for the past two years and it appears that they will do so once again this year. They certainly impressed M & A. The topic this year is food safety. They had to choose a food with 7 or fewer ingredients and learn about its safety concerns and develop a solution. Since Al and Marilyn were both food scientists, they were invited to come and answer questions and interact with the team. I understand that everyone enjoyed their hour together.

                        

I wish I could have been there. I think I missed a good time.

Lucky

NEWSPAPER STORY

Last week an story in our local newspaper caught Marilyn's attention. Not the story but the headline. It was an all too common tale of domestic violence, one of a police officer's nightmares.  Roseville is a suburb north of St. Paul, so not near our home. So far, this has been a very calm place to live. Other than the near constant threat of dog walkers and school buses passing by, that is. I am on the case to warn M & A of their presence with my mighty bark. For some reason, they don't seem to appreciate it much.

                            

Give the Roseville police a lot of credit for shooting the dead man.

Lucky