DOGWOOD ACRES, 2/25/08

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/25/08, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Looking at the school closing list this morning, I see that our girls are back to school. The last two weeks have given them quite a break with school in session only two days out of ten.

The ice kept me in only one day which proved to be a great day to cook. Rick seemed to enjoy the Venison meatloaf which was a change from his standard can of soup.

Ice on our steps seemed to get worse with every passing day and finally got the best of Rick on Saturday. Erin had talked him into bringing in her Angel Puppy to play with and he made a bumpy exit down the steps from the kitchen deck. After picking himself up and assessing the damage he went on out to the pen and brought the little angel back in. With all the bumps, bruises and sore muscles he is acutely aware of how much worse it could have been.

Ashton, Erin and I visited Justin and Kasie Friday night so that Justin could put their new Chipmunks CD over on to the MP-3 player and Ipod. Some music is timeless and apparently the Chipmunks fall into that category. Frankly, I am glad they got it transferred so I don’t have to listen to the little critters on my car CD player.

Erin was preparing for a 70’s day at school so we took my old jewelry box with us to Justin and Kasie’s and used that time to see what I still had. Unfortunately I had gotten rid of the funky stuff but they still had fun looking at what I had not parted with. There was the four leaf clover pins that were a gift for playing Pomp & Circumstance for Taneyville School’s 8^th grade graduation. I was in the 7^th grade that year and in my 2^nd year of piano lessons, don’t you know that was good?

We also found a pretty little white gold cross on a delicate chain. Rick gave it to me ever so long ago but over the years it had become tangled with several other chains. I handed that over to Justin who patiently and tenaciously separated them without breaking anything.

There was several beadwork necklaces that Granny Nettie had crocheted and I had worn proudly. While all three girls thought they were interesting, I could tell that none would wear them, not even for sentimental reasons. Erin liked the mask pins that Janice Wolf had made (yes Jan, I still have them) and Ashton was rather taken with a sparkly heart necklace. We all loved looking at Grandpa and Grandma Bilyeu’s pictures in the little gold locket he had given her more than sixty years ago.

Christie’s granddaughter, Vanessa, played in the basketball tournament at Sparta Saturday night and we filled the family (pews) for that. They played a good game with Galena and won by several points. Tuesday night we will go back to see them play Sparta. (picture of our family who was at the Saturday game) Bill, Dawn, Jim...Dakota,Christie,Makaylee,Sean...Tanja,Elane,Ashton & Erin)

....ooops....not quite finished with the newspaper column on Monday morning I had emailed it to my office with intentions of finishing there and then would email to Taney Co. Times...well, got to the office and it wasn't there, so improvised by writing what is below for the newspaper....so Dogwood Acres Online this week gets more than the newspaper got!

Hello friends. Time and Technology have thrown some challenges into the way of Dogwood Acres this week. I had a column written, then through some email fluke, cannot get to it in time for publishing. For those of you who never use the internet, I am sure that makes no sense and I apologize. I considered just not writing, but hate to not at least say "Hello friends".

When I left home this morning Rick was on his way outside to check on the puppies. They think they are such big dogs now and love playing in the leaves while he cleans out their run. He says puppies are much messier than big dogs, so this stage of "puppy love" may be coming to an end.

Rick's mom called Saturday to let us know that Uncle Cecil (Bashaw) is in a Portland hospital with pneumonia. Although in his 90's Uncle Cecil is never sick enough to go to the Dr. and certainly not the hospital. We trust that he will soon be back home in his easy chair.

Christie did come by our house Sunday night with a bit of news from the Biggs Family Kitty Litter. Mooch (Daddy's cat) had three babies and perhaps another yet to come. She said if any of them came out yellow they would be left on Jim's doorstep but I have not heard the outcome of that. Jim has said there may be another litter of puppies soon to be born at his house. Chances are he will leave them on Christie's doorstep.

Well, I know this is short, but perhaps a little news is better than no news. I will try to do better next week. Bye for now.

FRIDAY'S CHILD

Ashton and Erin were with me at the office for a couple of hours this Friday afternoon (snow day again). They waited patiently, playing games on my laptop and Ashton drew this guy. I called him a girl and she corrected me.

POINT OF LIGHT WINNER

Points of Light & Hands on Network has chosen Stephanie Smith as a daily Point of Light Winner. Stephanie, daughter of Leon & Connie Hammond, is a remarkable young lady. I think you will be inspired by this story of her vision and commitment. Stephanie received her degree in sports medicine from SWBU in Bolivar, MO.

Please note that I have learned to make a link to another web page. In this post, you can click above on "this" which is underlined.

CRUM FAMILY

We always love it when pictures come from Rick's family in Oregon. This is his youngest brother, Keith. After working many years in a mill making laminated beams he made a major career change and began driving a log truck. These logs are much larger than the loads of cedar that we see going to the mills here. When Rick visited in Oregon he went with Keith to pick up a load high in the mountains. He said the steep mountain logging roads were VERY different than the freeways that he had traveled for thirty years. REMEMBER - you can double click on the picture to make it full size.

DOGWOOD ACRES WEEKLY 02/18/08

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/18/07, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Ladybugs, Kittens and Puppies are the most easily seen signs of wildlife around our house. There are not many squirrels or birds to be seen although Rick would like more squirrels so that he can train his Treeing Feists. The lack of birds may be due to our cat population, although as much bagged cat food as we put out I cannot imagine they do much bird hunting. We cannot feed birds because of hungry bears that lurk in the nearby woods.

Last week’s ice finally melted and the weekend’s heavy rains have left us with lots of mud, but farm ponds are full and that is a good thing. We survived the ice storm well with only the customary amount of limbs down and no bad falls. Our electricity stayed on so we did not have to use the containers of water or burn candles. The Taney County & MODOT road people got our roads cleared quickly so I had no excuse for missing more than the first day of work. Fortunately I did not have to go north on H as the Christian Co. end stays icy for days longer.

On our way to church Sunday, we saw that Clell and Dean Smithson’s front yard was full of a huge part of a tree broken by the ice storm. There is a lot of firewood on the ground but surely a lot of work to get it cleaned up.

Swan Creek was running high, lapping over into adjoining fields and within a couple feet of Lone Star Road. A good rain or two like that changes the channels and creates new swimming holes.

There will be a lot of traffic past our house for a few days, as our Round Mountain Rd. neighbors cannot cross the Goodnight Hollow Slab. It always seems to take several days for Bull Creek to run down after a big rain.

I had a phone call from Louise Meier who lives near Monett. The storm had caused a lot of tree damage so she and James had spent their Valentine’s day picking up limbs. I told her I want to visit them and copy pictures from her old albums. She told me not to wait too long and I know what she means as I often think of things to ask my dad.

While grocery shopping in Forsyth Saturday I had a good visit with Ruby Brafford. I only see Ruby occasionally, either at church or out shopping. Sometime soon I want to go visit and look at her old pictures too. I found a picture in one of our family albums of Bilyeu ladies at New Haven Church when it was still located in Dry Hollow. Both Louise and Ruby are in the picture with their Mothers, my Mother and several others. I am going to scan it and put on the Bilyeu Family website real soon.

Rick saw Jeff Dalton at Mike Stenger’s house one day last week. Jeff was working on another custom gunstock, this one is Walnut trimmed out in Maple. It will be beautiful as Jeff always does excellent work.

I got a letter from Marguerite Burger Jennings who lives in Williams, CA. She had just celebrated her birthday with church friends who had surprised her with a party at Straw Hat Pizza. I did not know that she and her sister, Louise Burger Haworth, shared birthdays as Marguerite was born on Louise’s second birthday. She also spoke of the years when she was schoolteacher at Swan. Although I never went to school at Swan, I did go to Sunday School there when we lived in the log house across Bilyeu Creek from Burger’s Store.

My Aunt Bonnie Gimlin Bilyeu called on Valentine Day evening and we had such a good visit. She and Marguerite Burger were childhood friends so I read Marguerite's letter to her. Aunt Bonnie has just finished writing her life story and I am so anxious to get a copy. She said she waited until she was 80 years old to begin her book and now only a few months before her 90th birthday has finished it.

After church on Sunday Christie, Loretta Bearden and Makaylee Tilley went into Branson to check out the President Day sales and enjoyed a jolt of Starbucks. It was a cold and windy afternoon but was worth it for the good deals they made at the new Branson stores.

Our neighborhood is changing again as Bob and Margi Reed have sold their home near Pine Ridge Church. The new neighbors are coming here from North Carolina. Just a little farther up the road are Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Westfall who live off the Red Bridge Road. Harvey had the guys over for coffee last Saturday morning and Rick said they have a real pretty place way back in the woods.

Rick and I went to Springfield the day before Valentine’s Day. While we were out, we went to Ryan’s for lunch and called that our Valentine’s Outing. After church Sunday night LeaAnn roped the married couples into playing the Newly Wed Game. At forty years of married life, Rick and I were the youngest of the older group and we were the winners. Obviously, we agreed on most of the questions, only a couple that were up for grabs. I know that I was right and he was wrong, but he would probably say, “So what else is new?”

We met in 1962 and even then I carried a camera with me most of the time. We went to Vacation Bible School at Taneyville Apostolic Church that summer and I got him to have his picture taken with me. Just for fun, I posted that picture on my blog for Valentine’s Day. You can see it by going to www.dogwoodAcresOnline.blogspot.com Bye for now.

...this week's picture share is Marguerite Burger Jennings and her son at Lone Star Homecoming, 2007. Her father, George Burger, helped build Lone Star Church over 100 years ago.

BILYEU FAMILY WEBSITE

Tonight I scanned some old, old pictures of some of my cousins. These have been posted on the Bilyeu Family website and can only be viewed by family members who have a user name and password. If you belong to any branch of the Bilyeu Family and would like more info, please leave a comment or email me and I will get you started. If you already have a password and have not visited for awhile, better check it out! There are lots of old pictures and other historical family documents on the site.

VALENTINE'S DAY

While in Springfield yesterday, Rick and I ate lunch at Ryan's Cafeteria, deciding that would be our Valentine's Outing. We discussed the more traditional things such as flowers, jewelry and chocolate. I was not in the mood for flowers, why spend a lot of money on jewelry when there is the $1 jewelry store in Branson, and then the chocolate - he said I could only eat one piece a day, so why bother??

The chocolate discussion reminded us of one of the first boxes of chocolates he ever gave me. I hid it in my dresser and truly did make it last for several days. Apparently there was reason to believe my little brother might get into it so I counted the pieces each day. Well, I don't remember if I caught him or he 'fessed up, but the count was off and Jimmie Bilyeu was in BIG TROUBLE!!

Looking back through my old photo album I found this picture which was the first one ever taken of me and Ricky Crum. I was 12 (way too young) and he was 15. He waited for me to grow up and we were married at 18 & 21. On April 4 we will celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary.

LITTLE COUGARS

This is Erin and some of her teammates from Plainview. Their first basketball season is almost over, last two games to have been played this week and the snow/ice storm has kept them out of school most of the week.

DOGWOOD ACRES WEEKLY, 02/11/08

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/11/08, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. This week began with another blast of winter weather, again, enough to cancel today’s appointments. Freezing rain and sleet blowing from the south has glazed my office windows. A day like this seems to call for comfort food, so I fried bacon and made flour gravy to spoon over hot biscuits.

I called LeaAnn’s folks to see how things are in their county and Mary Lou had taken squirrel from the freezer. Ashton really likes squirrel with dumplings so I suspect that is the plan. Ashton and Erin are spending the day with them as Neal and LeaAnn had gone to Springfield to make a hospital visit.

After breakfast, Rick brought two five-gallon water containers up from the basement. They are now scrubbed and filled with fresh water just in case ice gets heavy on the power lines and we lose electricity. There are a few sticks of wood in the carport so if the power does goes out he should be able to fire up the wood furnace.

Rick and I went to watch Erin play basketball at Taneyville Friday night. The Plainview Cougars won all three games against the Taneyville Tigers, although all played good games. Taneyville is close enough to home that we got to see old friends, neighbors and classmates. Emmett Biggs has not missed a Taneyville game in years and has a reserved seat on the top bleacher against the back wall. Through the years he has watched nephews, Colby and Clint, now niece, Abby, who carries on the Biggs family tradition.

I visited with two of my Taneyville classmates, Janice Collins (Wolf) and Arlene Addington. Boy, did we have some good times and make a lot of memories. We were good kids, although we did skip school one day during the eighth grade. Zula Nagel was our accomplice and carried us all off in her station wagon for a picnic at Swan Creek. There was one or two who chose not to go and it was not one of us runaways who got the Citizenship Award that year.

Saturday night, Ashton, Erin and I visited our neighbors, going first to see Uncle Jim and his puppies. The three little sweet peas are two weeks old now and have a nice warm bed in the utility room. Jim used some of Grandpa Clarence’s rough-sawn cedar boards to make them a sturdy box. It holds them now but he is already planning for their new outdoor pen.

Before coming home, we stopped at Bill and Christie’s house. Sean and his girls, Makaylee and Madison, were there, everyone was full of Christie’s homemade hot rolls, and the big dinner she had fixed. Much to Bill’s dismay there is always a cat or two in the house now. Cliffy is a beautiful gray and white Tomcat who belongs to Daddy’s cat, Mooch. Mooch is “with child” again and Bill is not thrilled. Oh Well!!

A new kitten with long tail and white boots showed up at our house last week and now I know exactly how it got here. Makaylee let it slip that she and Colby had transported the little stray before Grandpa Bill came home and found it. It really does not matter now, as there are more cats than I take time to count waiting for breakfast every morning. Bye for now.

FOURTEEN YEARS TOGETHER

Neal and LeaAnn celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary on Feb. 5. With some help from Granny Hodges their daughters surprised them with cake and ice cream after church on Wednesday night.

ASHTON'S ONE-EYED GIRL

A recent creation using the Paint program on my computer.....

ASHTON'S SCHOOL PICTURE, 8TH GRADE

Ashton has given me permission to begin posting her art. As a Grandmother I surely may be prejudiced, but I believe she has exceptional talent. Seldom does she sit still for any period of time without drawing something. If she only has a 2" scrap of paper at hand, she can create something on it.

Tim Jenkins, her computer teacher at Plainview School, continues to challenge her with new assignments. She spent hours on the computer digitizing her school picture, one pixel at a time. I am impressed, hope you will indulge me by allowing me some Grandma's Bragging Rights.

THE FEISTS OF DOGWOOD ACRES

How could one not feel happy when these four say Good Morning? Left to Right they are: Angel, Leather, Pete & Bud. Now six weeks old, they eat and drink like big dogs, depending less on their Mother every day. Rick says he will move them outdoors today.

DOGWOOD ACRES WEEKLY 02/04/08

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/03/08, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. It has been a great week here in the Ozarks. We have had sunny shirtsleeve weather and enough snow to cancel school for a day or two. There is still a patch or two of snow here but most of it has now turned to mud. I hate driving a dirty car, but it is hard to keep up with the changes.

As the years of my life go by, I find that old pictures and family history interest me more. One way of keeping in touch with who I am has been a Bilyeu Family website. Through it, I have learned about various branches of the Bilyeu Family that I never knew existed. Recent acquaintances are Jean Woody and Marie Manning. These women not only belong to the Bilyeu Family, but are also nieces of Clyde and Cecil Cook who lived just north of Pine Ridge Church.

As our family has many good memories of Clyde and Cecil, I have also enjoyed hearing their memories of eating gooseberries and biscuits at Cecil’s full dinner table. Marie started school at Pine Ridge and they all explored the hills, hollers and caves nearby.

Rick continues to be in the doghouse nowadays more often than not. That is not really a bad thing though as the four little puppies like his company and tug at his overalls. They chase and drag one another around by their tales, growing Feistier every day.

Ron and Debbie Bilyeu are first time grandparents as Mark and Kim have adopted a baby boy. Baby Ethan was a preemie and doing well although it will be a few weeks before he can leave the hospital.

My Big Smith cousins did themselves proud in the world of 417 Magazine where they won the distinction of being the Best Local (Original) Music Band. The magazine described them as Undisputed Kings. They have just added a new member to the band, Miss Molly Healey, fiddle player Extraordinaire. Molly also holds the distinction of being the first female and first non-family member of Big Smith.

This week is up and running with days already scheduled full of closings, showings and new listings. The Branson area is alive and well with many shows already beginning the ‘08 season. I saw Gerald Chambers at Target last week and he said that Pierce Arrow begins shows this week. Gerald has worked at their Theater for years but I am still watching for him to make his way to the spotlight.

Bye for now.

ELANE CRUM
Cell: 417-239-4059
Website: www.elanecrum.com
Website: www.elanec2580.remax-midstates.com
Blog: www.dogwoodacresOnline.blogspot.com

Janet's Big Buck

Remember back in November when Janet Dalton got a big 12-point buck? Well, Jeff had it mounted it for her and it's a hanging on the living room wall now - along with Jeff's trophy bucks, a couple of elk, an antelope and some pheasants.

HOSEA & THELMA'S MY SPACE URL

Check this out! Hosea & Thelma now have a MySpace site thanks to grandson, Mark Bilyeu. It is filled with pictures, music, notes from the grandkids and more. Mark just added new pictures today and I have a feeling we can expect to see more on a regular basis.

http://www.myspace.com/descendantsofhoseathelma

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

With all of the Super Bowl Hype, one could not miss knowing that today was a special day in the sports world. I have never developed a great appreciation for football. Rick enjoys the game but is not tooooo obsessive about it. He played football during his freshman year in Winlock, Washington, but when he moved here had to give it up as Forsyth did not & still does not have a football program.

Our Pastor Son takes a rather conservative view of Super Bowl Sunday so we always tease him just a bit about having a party at church. He takes it in good humor but also threatened to preach a very long time. In place of a big screen TV, he did offer to set his Palm Pilot with a two-inch screen on the pulpit during the sermon. We knew he was not too serious about that, but - From his Palm Pilot he did read us a news article from The Jerusalem Post news (Monday edition) about the owner of the Patriots. Robert Kraft is the son of an Orthodox Jew with a great love for Israel and enjoys taking friends and members of his team to see the country of God's Chosen People.

Neal preaches a lot about God's plan for Israel and we enjoyed this little side bit of information. We did get home in time for Rick to see the Giants make the final touchdown which won the game for them.

SNOW DAY

Finally, the weatherman had us all hyped up for 8-10 inches of snow. No question about it, we would be snowed in - maybe for days! Snow began slowly early Thursday morning, then flakes began to get bigger and it piled up. I called Christie, she and Colby were staying in and Bill was on his way home. Called Dawn, she and Melissa were at home but Jim had left early for an appointment in Camdenton. He has always had nerves of steel when it came to driving on snow, so I was not surprised. Justin and Kasie were gone, but they are young and young folks don't think anything about getting out.
Then there was Rick and me. I put on clean pajamas and began to enjoy a day at home. We had eaten most of our popcorn the night before, so food was high on our priority list for the day. Stew seemed to be a good option and I began chopping vegetables and throwing them in the kettle, onions, celery, potatoes, corn, tomatoes & more of those wild turnips. Rick brought a pkg of deer burger up from the freezer and I browned it for stew meat. As the stew simmered on top of the stove, I baked a big pan of cornbread and a big pan of brownies. We ate well.
Thank goodness the snow only piled up to about three inches and I was able to work today. Another day of cooking like that would surely give us a tummy ache.