Almus & Dorothy Ragsdale

Congratulations to Rick's Uncle Almus & Aunt Dorothy (Thomas) Ragsdale who celebrate their wedding anniversary today. They have been blessed with 67 years together, twelve children, many precious grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

BESSIE'S QUILTS

DOGWOOD ACRES WEEKLY, 02/23/09

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/23/09, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Saturday should be a morning to sleep in, but my alarm, goes off at 7:01 a.m. every day of the week. Almost always, I wake up at 6:57 and turn it off, but this last Saturday was different. Rick invited the coffee club to our house and he was up at 4:30 getting dressed and making coffee. The doorbell began ringing the doorbell at 6:00 a.m. By 6:30, the buzz of male voices finally became a low roar and sleeping soundly was no longer an option.
I rolled over and grappled for my cell phone from which I called “home” and requested room service, a cup of coffee, black, please. Rick was struggling with the coffee pot but in just a few minutes managed to spare me about a half cup of coffee. By 8:00 a.m., finally presentable and ready for work, I made my way through the maze of coffee drinkers, visited a little and left them to continue talking about whatever 19 men find to talk about.
About 10:30 Saturday night, a Lifeline Helicopter landed in Daddy’s field near our house and airlifted our friend Frank Layson to the hospital. Jim Bilyeu visited some of the family before church Sunday morning and they think he may have had a stroke. We will continue praying for him.
I visited my Green Acres relatives, Newt & Billie Matthews, on Thursday evening. Billie had cataracts removed earlier in the week and between the two of them they were trying to get all of the prescribed drops put in her eyes, on time, all the time. I took some family pictures to her and she seemed to be seeing pretty well. We had a real good visit, just was not long enough!
On my way to work Friday, I stopped to see Bessie Braden Stombaugh and admired the dozen or so beautiful quilt tops hanging on her clotheslines. With her permission, I took some pictures; maybe will put them on my blog, www.dogwoodacresOnline.blogspot.com, sometime soon. There was also bright tulips blooming in her outdoor planters, but she said they have bloomed through the snow and ice, all winter long. Those are the kind of plants that do well for me too.
Maxine Ingenthron called last week inviting us to the weekend revival at Bryant Ridge. Rick is still coughing his head off and hated to sit through service and deal with that, so I went alone on Saturday night. It was good to be in church with friends there. Clarence and Candy Sims had just come from seeing his mom at the hospital. He said she was resting easier and might get to come home first of the week.
The evangelist was Glen Ledbetter from Wichita, Kansas. How well I remember when the Singing Ledbetter Family used to come to Forsyth School and hold concerts in the gymnasium. I think they also sang at Bradleyville School. It has been awhile since we have seen a school gymnasium packed out for a Gospel Concert. Those were good days. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres Weekly, 02/16/09

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/16/09, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Once in awhile, I have a brain freeze when it comes time to write Dogwood Acres. I think this is one of those times. We have had a good week, stayed healthy and been safe in our travels.

Neal and LeaAnn had a safe trip to Nashville and back. The Grand Ole Opry was the highlight of their trip and I believe I heard them say that Neal went to a gun show.

The three Tomcats are all stretched out sunning themselves on the deck. Actually, I am not sure it is politically correct to call them Tomcats now. Bigfoot, the one with 5 toes, is still fighting the others, so perhaps he does not realize how his life has changed.

It was homecoming weekend for Vanessa Bilyeu and Ashton Crum. Vanessa was the sophomore queen candidate at Blue Eye. Grandma Christie was there to watch and take pictures of her in her pretty dress. Ashton attended her first homecoming dance at Bradleyville and seemed to have had a good time.

Abigail Biggs attended the Valentine Dance at Taneyville. These girls are all just growing up way too fast.

Rick has gone to help Neal install cabinets today and I am working at home. Really, it is supposed to be my day off this week, but as long as there is a computer and telephone, I am still working. It is just quieter here. The TV is off, cats are not fighting and the only sound I hear is wind chimes blowing ever so gently.

Christie has the day off and Miss Madison is helping her do things at home. Dakota Ray came home with them after Homecoming on Friday night. He went with fishing with Uncle Sean and Grandpa Bill, but I have not heard any big fish stories. I don’t think they had a very productive fishing trip.

Bye for now.

DOGWOOD ACRES WEEKLY 02/09/09

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/09/09, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. I think life is about as normal as it gets now that the ice has melted. When we got to church Wednesday night, the shaded parking lot was pretty much solid ice so Rick let me out as close to the door as possible. By Sunday, the ice had been replaced by mud but that is a little easier to deal with.
Pastor Neal and LeaAnn took a little anniversary trip over the weekend; can hardly believe they have been married fifteen years! In their absence, we had guest speakers Sunday morning and Sunday night, although I guess we cannot call Dwight Wilson and Randy Dalton guests since they attend Sandy Church on a regular basis. They did a good job and we do appreciate them and their families.
Before church on Sunday morning, I fried a platter full of Walleye to take for our monthly fellowship dinner. The tables were laden with lots of good food, chicken and noodles, venison meatballs, deer steak with gravy, chocolate pie and strawberry shortcake, just to name a few. Church dinners are always good, but also a special time for the old folks to visit and the little ones to chase one another up and down the halls. We are blessed at Sandy with a lot of young couples with babies and toddlers.
There was also fried fish and hush puppies at Bill and Christie’s Sunday afternoon. Uncle Bill and Aunt Roma, Justin, Kasie, Jim and Melissa helped eat some of Sean’s catch from last year. They also helped Uncle Bill celebrate his 83rd birthday.
Jim, Dawn, Kasie & Justin went trekking in the woods Saturday and found our family’s old deer stands. Dawn took a picture of Jim way up in Dad’s old tree. I would never go deer hunting if I had to climb a tree, especially that one!
They took some good pictures that Dawn put on her Facebook page. That is such a fun way to share pictures and keep up with friends and family. We also enjoy keeping track of Trent and his life in Myrtle Beach via Facebook. He seems to have been bitten by the camera and video bug and adds new pictures and videos several times a week.
I got an email from JoAnn Rice; it sounds like she and her mom are truly enjoying life in Michigan with the family. Henrietta enjoys all the attention and love she gets from the kids, grandkids and great-great grandkids! Son, Larry, came down on Thursday to have lunch with them and watch the dual qualifying races for the Daytona 500. On Sunday, they all went to Jackson, Michigan, to be with a group of friends for a Daytona 500 party. You gotta have food at a gathering like that and JoAnn took her famous Jalapeno Poppers.
Harold and Juanita Menzies had quite an adventure on Monday afternoon when the ice storm was getting underway. They had been to Ava and almost back to Nixa when they hit a slick spot and went off the road. Although their car was totaled, Thank God, they were not hurt. They called their son, Doug, but he could not get to them because of all the slide-offs. They waited patiently and were finally rescued by the Christian County Sheriff who took them to Doug waiting at McDonald’s.
I was surprised to get a call from my cousin, Leta Gail (Meier), who lives at Granby. She had met a woman at her church who said she knew me about forty years ago. It was Shari Cook who had lived in Taneyville several years. She was very active in the Apostolic Church and got acquainted with many of our relatives and friends here. I pulled out my old photo album and found pictures taken when we were at youth camp in Baxter Springs, Kansas. That was ever so long ago!
Rick and I went to watch Erin play basketball at Plainview Thursday night. Taneyville was their guest opponent and there was some good ball playing by all teams. Three games were played, starting first with third, fourth & fifth, then fifth & sixth, and last the Jr. Hi Boys.
While Ashton and Erin were at our house this weekend, they helped me load up our male cats and we went to the Tomcat Roundup at the Kirbyville Veterinary Clinic. We had fun with it, probably more fun than the tomcats did. After being locked up all day and having their manhood taken away, the cats were glad to get home. There is still a lot of fussing and fur flying out on the deck; I sure hope they settle down soon and learn to treat one another with respect. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres Daily

It is such a gorgeous day and I had floor duty from 8 to 5. I did get out and walk a couple of loops around the building and went next door to McD's twice. Granddaughters got out of school at 12:30 and PaPa Rick picked them up. I encouraged him to take them trout fishing or help pick up blown down limbs in our yard....We'll see :)

Rick really likes to fry potatoes and does it very well! He said he would fry potatoes for supper if I would bring home fried chicken! Now, doesn't that sound fair? I think so.

Girls and I are going to the Tomcat Roundup tomorrow. I fully expect the whole experience to be unforgettable and will share more about that...after tomorrow.

Thursday night we went to Plainview School to watch Erin play basketball. They played Taneyville so we saw several people we know. It was a fun evening, sitting with PaPa and Granny Hodges and the Winkles family who live nearby. Their grandkids and our grandkids live very close and are almost inseparable.

When we got home, I was pleasantly surprised to have a phone message from my cousin, Leta Gail, who lives at Granby. She goes to church with someone I knew long ago and we tried to figure out how we all fit together.

Well, it is three minutes to five, so I am OUT OF HERE! Have a great weekend!

Dogwood Acres Weekly, 02/02/09

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/02/09, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Afternoon sun is pouring through my window and taking more and more of our ice away. As I think back over the past week I recall that this time seven days ago, we were anticipating the ice that was predicted to come. From one point of view, I looked forward to having a few ice days from work, knowing that most everyone else would be iced in too. On the other hand, there was no guarantee that we would stay warm and cozy in our home. Fortunately, there was no power loss in our neighborhood and life was quite comfortable.
Justin and Kasie are the youngest couple in our neighborhood and they got out one day and walked from house to house checking on all of their older neighbors. That was so sweet of them and they seemed to enjoy being cold and wet! I think their last stop was at Jim and Dawn's where a large pot of stew was waiting to warm their tummies.
Rick and I were both on the sickly side all week, with him still coughing and I had a head cold. The medicine I took just about knocked me out so I got a couple of good days and nights of sleep.
It was Thursday before we left the house and then just over to Taneyville so Linda could give me a haircut. A lot of the main roads were pretty clear, but H was still bumpy with ice and then we went the scenic route down Hodge Hollow over to A. The Hodge Hollow drive was pretty as the road was still ice packed and ice was just beginning to melt from the trees. Linda's road was clear but we saw Newton Matthews on his tractor coming from clearing Lisa's driveway.
Friday and Saturday I came to the office and worked with my door shut so as not to share too many of my cold germs with others who were back to work.
Rick let his little dogs out to run one day, thinking they would not go far. Well, they fooled him and stayed out all afternoon. He began to worry and decided to take the 4-wheeler down the trail thinking if they heard it, perhaps they would come to him. He did not get far down the hollow until there were trees fallen across the trail and he had to figure out how to get out of there. The trail, running through the bottom of the hollow, is so narrow with few places to turn around and he had to back out. Even in the best of weather that is not easy and with all the ice, he almost left the bike there and walked home. Walking up the steep trail to our house would not have been a walk in the park, so he persisted until he and the bike got home together. Of course, the dogs never came to him; they just came home in their own sweet time, well after dark.
Janet Dalton called a week ago Sunday to tell us of the passing of her mother, Violet Morgan. She said there was sixty-one in their family, counting all the kids, grandkids and great-grandkids. It was a sad time for them and the nasty weather certainly did not make it any easier.
I got an email from Cathey Bilyeu Idell and she said her mom, Pearl Bilyeu, just turned ninety years old last week. She has good days and bad and they consider every day with her a blessing.
Madison Tilley stayed with her Papa Olin and Grandma Janie Saturday night. Sean had planned to pick her up at church at Bryant Ridge on Sunday, but services were canceled because of icy parking lot. They met at Scooters so he could get Madison and decided to go to New Vision. Finding it closed they tried one other church that was closed and by then it was so late they gave up and went to The Longhorn for breakfast.
Christie said they had several visitors at Calvary Full Gospel on Sunday morning and wondered if it was because their own churches could not have services. She said Pastor Clint preached a good message and reminded me to listen to it on the church website, www.churchHouse.com.
After church Christie's family met up with Uncle Bill and Aunt Roma at McDonald's. She thought Aunt Roma was with a strange man until she realized Uncle Bill had grown a soft white beard. I will have to get down and see them before he gets tired of it and shaves.
Rick shaved his beard last week, not completely off, just restructured. We are having pictures taken next week and I would have preferred the old look, but too late now!
After reading last week's column about the store at Oak Ridge, Ronnie Bilyeu sent me a little note with an Oak Ridge memory. By the time he and I were born Elmer and Mable Keithley had moved into the little house where Grandma Jane had lived. Ronnie said: "I recall being at Grandpa Meier's one Saturday when I was a kid. They were probably butchering a hog or a beef as the weather was cool. Uncle Hosea and Bud stopped by. They were going to cut across the hills and Cook Hollow to Elmer and Mabel's house; so, I went along. It was a nice walk." Notice, he did not say anything about riding a horse, he said it was a nice walk! It is not a walk I would want to take today, I wonder how long it took?
Of course Mother and her brothers and sisters used to walk from their Hurricane Hollow home up through the woods to Waldo's store and to church at Oak Ridge. They thought nothing of it as that is just the way things were done then.
Noel Wilson from Merriam Woods called today with an update on their son, Nathan Wilson. Nathan is doing well after having a kidney transplant done on December 20. The Wilson family wants to thank everyone for their prayers. God is Good. Bye for now.