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By Ruth Gadberry
My, oh my! Here we are in December, ready or not. December. Winter. Christmas. Cold weather. Ice or snow? Maybe. Christmas carols, Christmas cards, shopping, secrets, decorating the tree. December, a special month to end the year.
Lots of sunshine, a little more rain, wind, cooler temperatures; that’s the weather we had last week and are having this week.
Not much church news again. JC and Ruth are staying close to home, trying to wait out the Covid-19 thing. He has decided that when you get to be 87 years old, you should pay more attention to what’s going on in the world. Folks are urged to stay at home, practice social distancing, wear face masks; that sort of thing. So, he is trying to play by the rules, at least for now.
How was your Thanksgiving? The Gadberry-Brewster Thanksgiving was a bit different this year. It wasn’t canceled but part of the group decided to stay home and follow the rules, as well as possible. Neither of Ruth’s brothers and their families, her nephew and his family, got that far away from home. JC and Ruth decided to stay at home too, though it was a tough decision to make. Almost as hard as staying away from church services. They don’t like to miss ANYTHING FUN but sometimes you have too. There had been some contact with a coronavirus patient and all the Gadberry part of the family, with the exception of JC and Ruth, were quarantined, so they didn’t go. Beth and Ray decided to spend Thanksgiving with JC and Ruth rather than go to the big celebration at the Barfield’s.
But don’t worry; there were still plenty of people at the Barfield’s for a great Thanksgiving. Jan and Kenneth’s four kids and their families were there. Mmmm, that included their nine grandkids, Pawpaw Wes and Memaw Mary. Beth’s daughter, Dionna, her husband, Thomas, and their daughters joined the Barfield’s for Thanksgiving. Ah! More cousins to enjoy. GIRL cousins! In the Barfield family, Jadyn (Pickle) is the only girl with eight boy cousins and brothers. Jordan, Preslie, Kaelin and little Ava were most welcome. Little Ava isn’t actually a cousin but she and her mother live with the Kennedy family and babies are always welcome at the Barfield’s. Ava’s mom is Thomas’ baby sister and Dionna is her God-mother.
Yes, the Barfield’s had the traditional Thanksgiving with turkey, dressing, ham; the whole thing. Kenneth and Jan visited JC and Ruth on Friday and brought some of all that Thanksgiving dinner to them.
But Thanksgiving dinner at JC and Ruth’s? They had hamburgers and french fries, pie and stuff like that. You know, you can be thankful, no matter where you are.
Ruth baked JC a mincemeat pie and Beth brought an apple pie that had been in her freezer for a long time. Ruth baked the pie awhile back, Beth put it in her freezer, and Ruth forgot about even baking it. Now this is interesting. Apple pie is Ray’s all time favorite dessert in the whole world. So how did it manage to stay in their freezer all that time without him eating it? Just about anything is safe if you label it ‘Spinach Casserole’.
Ruth talked to her brother, Verland, and he said he and Patti were having a turkey leg for Thanksgiving. They are really trying to stay at home during this virus thing. He plays golf about every day and stays at home the rest of the time. Since they live on the golf course, that’s almost like just staying home all the time. Yes, staying at home does get boring at times.
Ruth’s brother Gary (Butch) and his wife, Sandra, stayed at home and were joined by their daughter, Tammy, for Thanksgiving. Tammy has already had the virus so she feels free to go anywhere she wants to go.
Butch and Sandra’s son, Justin and his family stayed at home. Justin, his wife, Valarie, and their son, Danny, all had the Covid-19 thing at Thanksgiving. It seems that someone in Danny’s class at school had the virus, shared it with Danny, and Danny brought it home to Justin and Valarie. Sharing is great, guys, most of the time. But there are exceptions when it isn’t so good.
Lots of people were in the woods over the holidays, searching for the BIG deer to hang on their wall. Actually, most people around here don’t hunt for a deer to hang on their wall. They hunt for deer to put in their freezer and on their table for the next few months.
The Barfield kids, dads and granddads – and sometimes their moms – take them hunting. They’ve learned well and are already good hunters. Take Jadyn for example. She got two deer this year and is pleased that she is helping supply meat for the family. She got her first deer with a cross-bow and her second one with a rifle. Good job Pickle! Especially for a seven year old.
Boys, don’t mess with our Oklahoma girls. They know how to take care of themselves. If someone should tell you that you ‘shoot like a girl’, consider it a great compliment.
Most of the Barfield kids – JC and Ruth’s great-grandkids – who hunted this year have been successful. Last week Kenneth was hunting with grandson, Jace. They were in their deer stand, or blind, or whatever you call it. It was an old tent with a hole in it. A deer came up, walked around the tent a bit, and finally poked its head inside the tent. Jace fed it some fruit slices, which it ate. Then it went out and roamed around some more and Jace when out and fed it some more fruit slices and petted it and scratched its ears. Yes, it was one of Jan’s former bottle babies, all grown up. It just came by to say hello and get a treat. No, it didn’t get shot. Not by the Barfield’s, and hopefully not by anybody else either. Though it might need to learn to not be so friendly with just anybody.
Dionna is the gal in the family who keeps everybody connected by way of calendars. Lots and lots of pictures, information, cute sayings; all sorts of things. Pictures of everybody in the family, birthdays, anniversaries, new pictures, pictures from w-a-y back. They are really. neat and so special. So appreciated! Ruth is really going to enjoy her calendar. Thanks heaps and bunches Dionna! What a great job you did.
Did you do the Black Friday shopping thing? You know, where you spend lots of money to save a little bit of money? Well, if you spend enough money you’ll save quite a lot of money and every little bit counts. That’s when lots of people do their Christmas shopping.
Granddaughters, Kaelin and Preslie spent Friday night with Beth and Rav. Beth told Kaelin she could name the unnamed guinea. The only name Kaelin could come up with was ‘Tree Branch’. Beth said that just wouldn’t do so she should try again. She’d best think of a name pretty soon or ‘Tree Branch’ will stick for a name.
There have been some pretty serious wrecks lately on Highway 43 East. You know, the highway going east from Stringtown to Daisy? A driver lost control of his truck and wrecked last week. They had the road blocked off while working the wreck and a Medi-Vac helicopter landed on the highway to transport the driver to a hospital.
Highway 43 East used to be a road without a lot of traffic. These days you might see lots of big trucks on that stretch of road. Are truckers using Highway 43 instead of Highway 69/75? Because it’s closer? Or maybe less traveled? Or their GPS just sends them that way? Anyway, there are some places on that highway where drivers really do need to be careful. Dead Man’s Curve for example. Locals know where it is and when to slow down. People who aren’t familiar with the road can get in big trouble in a hurry.
Well, the quarantine is over for the Gadberry gang. Zack, Amber, Brooklyn and Carter missed their Thanksgiving trip to Amber’s family in Kansas because of the quarantine. However, not a one of them got sick. They didn’t even have one symptom of the virus. Now they can go back to school or wherever. Dickson School is opening again this week isn’t it? Zack and Amber will probably be glad to teach real live students in a real classroom again rather than doing their lessons on-line. Brooklyn? She is ready to go back to school. Carter? Well, he isn’t all that excited about going back to school. His Dad, granddad, and great-granddad weren’t either at that age. Now his dad is a teacher. Life is full of surprises, isn’t it?
Well, yes, Ruth finally got all her plants moved inside before the really cold weather gets here. How many of them will still be alive and healthy when it’s time to move them back outside again in the spring? The two biggest plants, a big ponytail plant and a tub with several plants in it have gone to a new home. They are now living with Jan and we’ll see if Jan can keep them healthy. Probably she can.
Every day we hear progress reports concerning the Covid-19 thing. How many new cases in which counties. How many deaths this week and how many deaths in the state or in the United States. The prediction about how many more cases will occur in the next few months, including an estimate of how many more people will die from the disease. Then they talk about how near they are to having a vaccine available for anyone who wants to get it.
The vaccine will be available first for medical people, first responders, nursing home patients, the elderly, those with other medical problems, etc. But they think that it will be available real soon for anyone who wants to get the vaccination.
Okay now, will you choose to get the vaccine? Some people want to wait and see how effective it is, how long it will last, what the side effects might be, that sort of thing. What is your choice? Are you ready for the shots? Just wondering.
Optimist or Pessimist? Do you call traffic signals go-lights?