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By Ruth Gadberry
It snowed! It really did snow! Not enough to brag about, but it was beautiful.
Huge, fluffy flakes falling from the clouds. JC brought in a handful of snow he scraped off the car to show Ruth. She was enjoying it from the inside, looking out.
The electricity had blinked a few times, and then went out. Now that was not on the wish list.
Ruth was, of course, snuggled in her lift chair for a Sunday afternoon nap and, guess what? It wouldn’t lift.
JC had to help her get out of the chair. Just be glad you weren’t there to see that activity.
Ruth had a pot of beans cooking in a slow cooker, and stew cooking in another crock pot. Both, of course, had to be transferred to stove top cooking pots.
At least her stove is propane and she could still use it. If you light it with a match that is; it wouldn’t turn on by itself. And they dug out a couple of old kerosene lamps. The kind Ruth remembers from many, many years ago.
Some things about the ‘good old days’ she would like to go back to, but NOT kerosene lamps!
Some of the kids were coming for supper, and gratefully, the electricity came back on before it was time to eat.
Ruth was worried there for a while though. What if the electricity didn’t come back on all night? Her electric blanket wouldn’t work. And she couldn’t sleep in her chair in the living room where it was warm. Her lift chair wouldn’t work.
Why is it that sometimes you can be so tired and all you do is just sit all day? That’s the way it was with JC, Ruth, and Beth last Saturday.
It sorta started Friday night when JC was feeling quite un-well. Nausea; that sort of thing. No temperature though.
Ruth and he spent most of the night in the living room. He in his recliner and she in her lift chair. He still wasn’t feeling well Saturday, and Ruth diagnosed his problem as a sinus infection.
Isn’t that what wives are supposed to do? Tell their husbands what’s wrong with them?
They decided that if it was a sinus problem it would probably be best to get it taken care of before Monday. So Beth came out and took them to Urgent Care. It was closed. Jan recommended an Urgent Care in Durant, so that’s where they went.
He didn’t even get in the door. They talked to Ruth on the phone and thought he had Covid-19, and wouldn’t even see him but sent him to the hospital Emergency Room. That’s where they spent the rest of the day.
They put those sticky things on him, and attached all sorts of wires to him. They drew blood, did an IV, a CT scan, and all sorts of things.
They did something with the blood sample; it took about an hour or two. Then they did the whole thing all over again.
Nope, it wasn’t a sinus problem at all. Well, everybody has to be wrong once in a while. They did the Covid-19 test. Ruth was pretty certain he DIDN’T have Covid-19, and that time she was right. He tested negative.
Anyway, they said it was some sort of upper respitory viral something or other, gave him something for nausea, and sent him home with instructions to see his neurologists as soon as possible for the headaches and dizziness.
At least they let Ruth go back to the Emergency Room with JC. And that left Beth in the waiting room all afternoon.
They let her stay in the waiting room instead of waiting in the car. Most of the time there wasn’t anyone else in the waiting room.
She grabbed a book as she walked out the door to come and get JC and Ruth. Beth NEVER leaves the house without a book.
She watched a helicopter land, unload a patient, and take off again. She texted or called a few people. And she read.
Beth finished reading the whole book just before JC was ready to go home. That adventure started, probably a little before noon, and they got home a bit after 8:00 Saturday night.
Yes, they missed services again Sunday, but they have been going on Wednesday nights. And, thanks to Sassy, for leaving the bulletins out until after Wednesday night.
Preacher Joey has been putting a very interesting article on the back of the bulletins. Good job, Joey. Keep up the good work.
If you were planning on an exciting evening this Friday night with the Stringtown school kids – forget it.
You are un-invited. You know; the parade with a fire truck, floats, kids and all sorts of things? And a live nativity? And Christmas carols? Sorry – very sorry – but that has all been cancelled. And there are probably a bunch of disappointed kids and teachers.
Well, Mr. Covid-19 is on the rampage and is attacking people everywhere he roams.
Stringtown schools have been closed again, until after Christmas. Is it until after the Christmas vacation? After New Year?
Anyway, it seemed best to cancel everything to protect the students as well as the teachers and other personnel.
Didn’t we hear that Kathy Lowe has it? And Jamie and Esther Thompson? And Donnie Thompson? And some of Sherry Farris’ family? The virus rages on.
Everywhere you look someone else has the coronavirus. And it reallv does seem best to stay at home as much as possible, wear face masks when you must go somewhere, practiced social distancing, and do everything you possibly can to stay away from the virus.
And now, what you’ve been waiting for. The solution to the mystery of the bed springs in the oak tree.
First though, we’ll give you a bit of a setting as to where the action took place. You will probably recognize the place where the mystery started.
Do you know where Beth and Ray live? They built a big house up on a hill a few years ago. Their driveway is on Woodruff Loop, right before Woodruff Loop bumps into Greasy Bend Road.
Woodruff Loop on one side of their property. Greasy Bend on the other side. The driveway from the road to the house is pretty long.
There are now a couple of cattle guards on the drive way.
Way back when the Jim Sanders family lived in a big house where Beth and Ray’s house now stands; Glenda Lansdale says she can remember playing there when she was growing up, and that’s been quite a long time ago.
It seems that there was a well there. Beth and Ray haven’t discovered it yet. The well was about 55 feet deep and was dug by hand. Talk about work!
Well, the house on the hill burned, and the family decided to rebuild down on the road; Woodruff Loop, instead of where the old house was.
That house, the one down by the road, is still there, though it is unliveable. Ray plans to demolish it this spring.
Okay now, once upon a time there were three adventuresome kids. You know them; they were the Mansell kids, Jeff and Mark and their little sister, Marissa.
They also had an older brother; Randy, isn’t it?
However, he was too grown up to be a part of their antics and adventures.
The house on the hill and then the house on the road first belonged to their grandparents, the Jim Sanders family. And that’s where the Mansell kids grew up.
The year was about 1971, around 50 years ago. We’re not sure how this happened, but the Mansell kids came into possession of a pair – or is it a set? – of bed springs.
Not the box springs like you put your mattress on today, but those old wire or coil springs.
The kind you could just carry out into the yard, put your mattress on it, and sleep outside on really hot nights, Remember?
Anyway, they had the springs so they decided to use them to build a tree house.
Have you ever tried to get an old set of bed springs up into an oak tree? It isn’t easy. Especially for three kids, one of them a girl.
They pulled and tugged. They pushed and shoved. They heaved and scooted the springs up an inch at a time. They tied ropes to the springs, pulled, and swung on the ropes. It was hard work but they finally accomplished their task.
This would be a multi-use accomplishment. It could be used as a treehouse, a play house, a club house, a hideout, a fort or whatever they were in need of at that time.
It could be an airplane, a space ship, a castle or anything that their imagination could come up with. The possibilities were endless.
But the way Marissa tells it, when they got the bed springs into the tree, with her help of course, they didn’t need her anymore so they kicked her out. They ousted her.
Maybe, they were afraid she would want to hang curtains or something. Or move in a table with a vase of flowers or something else they considered ‘girly.’
But she showed them. She climbed up into the nearest tree where she could see everything they did from her perch on a high branch. Marissa was a bit of a tomboy; she could scoot up any tree that grew.
And that’s the solution to the mystery of the bedsprings in the oak tree mystery. And Mansell guys, if this isn’t exactly how you remember this adventure, give Ruth a call and she will share the story from your point of view.
Marissa told her grandson, Justice, about her adventure and he wants to go see the bedsprings for himself.
Beth is looking forward to their visit. Didn’t you say Justice will be 11 years old in January? He just couldn’t imagine his grandma doing such a thing.
Hey Justice, Grandmas were kids one time too you know. Ask her a few questions. You might learn a lot about her adventures way back when she was about your age. You just might get some ideas about adventures of your own from her.
Along with the Covid-19 thing, the problems within our nation keep growing and growing.
Is God judging us? Is the nation we’ve known and loved all our lives on its way to destruction? Has God given up on us and is letting us destroy ourselves? Can you trust anybody?
Especially anyone in the government? How do you pray in such a situation? We sometimes offer God suggestions as to how to handle the problems. We suggest things to Him as though we thought He needed our ideas and our assistance.
Is He trying to get our attention? Is He calling us to repent? Is it too late for repentance? Just remember. God isn’t surprised at what is happening in our nation. He knows all about it.
He knows the beginning and the end. Can He bring about good from a hopeless situation? Whatever the problems and difficulties with our nation as well as with our personal lives. God is still in control.
We don’t know what to do but God already has the answers. Talk to Him, often, and He might share some of what He is doing with you. And He may direct you as to what He wants you to do.
You can’t change the world, or change our nation, but there may be changes vou can make in yourself, your family, and your little part of the world.
If we should all turn back to God and do things His way can you imagine what a transformation might take place in our nation?
Only the best behavior is good enough for daily use in the home.