Dogwood Acres OnLine

Dogwood Acres, 03/21/11

2011-06-06T23:06:00.003-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 03/21/11, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. This spring weather is spoiling us for sure. Rick talks about fishing but has been raking and burning leaves. This is the earliest that our yard has gotten such tender loving care. I guess when he gets the yard done, he can then fish all he wants without me nagging about the yard.

Last fall he carried our big potted plants into the basement and has taken good care of them all winter. Now he is anxious to bring them out, but I have told him we need to wait until May or we will lose them in the last killing frost. I bought some Johnny JumpUps and Pansies today on a clearance rack, so I am just as anxious as he is.

LeaAnn has had the girls picking up rocks which seemed to multiply and grow in their yard this winter. Their thick lawn will soon need mowing and she wants to set the mower deck low and give it a good cut that will last awhile.

The first weekend of spring brought a special gift to Neal and LeaAnn’s goat pen as their Billy and Nanny goats had a sweet baby kid. The little girl weighed 5 lbs, 1 oz. and is 18 in. long. We saw her Sunday afternoon, they brought her over to Bill and Mary Lou’s for just a little while and we took pictures. With a yellow flower around her neck, she for sure looked like a spring baby.

Rick invited the neighbor fellows over for coffee last Monday and had special guests from Mo. Dept. of Conservation. The agent had quite a presentation about the black bear population and their efforts to track and count the bears and their activities. He had slick glossy handouts with information and a nice picture of a local black bear. I know it is local because I took the picture from my deck several years ago. Apparently it made the email rounds and ended up at the Conservation office and on their slide shows and literature.
I should have more news, especially since missing last week, but am running late so will save it for next time. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 03/07/11

2011-05-22T08:35:00.000-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 03/07/11, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. Rose bushes, children’s wading pools and winter clearance racks…these things on a local sidewalk display give me a warm fuzzy feeling. You know, that feeling that spring is almost here.

Justin and Kasie went on their first Swan Creek float this weekend. I cannot imagine there was enough sunlight reflecting off the water to give anyone a warm fuzzy feeling.

Rick and I went to the Taneyville Tournament several nights last week. Our granddaughter, Erin, played hard, although she was not feeling good. The final championship game on Friday night was rained out when the gym roof sprang a leak. It was raining awfully hard, but who would expect a basketball game to be rained out?

Rick and Roger had another birthday on March 3. I started to say they celebrated another birthday but Roger does not get that excited about them. Rick always calls to make sure he does not forget. I gave Rick the new Glen Beck book and a photo album for his Vietnam pictures which we had rescued from old magnetic albums.

Removing those old pictures was no small task. Only a few peeled out easily and I froze the rest of them out. After looking on the internet and trying several suggested techniques, the freezer worked best. I stuck a few pages at a time in the freezer, then using a spatula was able to separate the pictures from the old glue. It was a tedious, but rewarding project.

Sue Jenkins will be addressing the County Commission on March 14 @ 10 a.m. and asked me to invite interested voters to attend. This is of particular concern to voters in the Mark Twain & Bryant Ridge areas whose polling places have been changed for the April elections. Another issue is that married people living in the same household are directed to separate polling places.
Don’t forget to Spring Forward Saturday night and get your clocks all set for Daylight Savings Time…another one of those warm fuzzy feeling spring things. Bye for now.
　
　
　
　

OAK RIDGE STORE

2011-05-17T07:43:00.006-05:00

OAK RIDGE STORE

Davis kids, Wanetta, Zoe, Bruce, Roma

& good friend, Rita Reynolds

Summer of 1939

Dogwood Acres, 02/29/11

2011-05-17T07:38:00.002-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/18/11, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. Do stormy nights keep you awake? I usually stay up as late as possible on storm watch, but Sunday night Rick had just called his mom when lightning began to flash. I unplugged the computer and TV and encouraged him to get off the phone as it is susceptible to lightning strikes. It did not take him long to tell Mom good bye, then he went downstairs to turn off our well pump. That is our general storm routine, the only thing missing this time was a trip to the basement as things leveled out and we went to sleep.

Rick and Jeff Dalton went to Branson today and came home across Goodnight Hollow slab. Jeff pointed out a driveway near Bull Creek where he and Daddy had gone grabbing for Hog Suckers. He told Rick that Daddy said the man who lived down there really liked Hog Suckers and allowed them to go through his gate to the creek. I know it must have been Charlie Glover. Grabbin’ had to have been good that day as Jeff said they must have given him 40 Suckers on their way out. Charlie was a good friend.

Spring fever is moving among us. Walking the dogs this evening I stopped to take a good long look at our Forsythia bush. There are tiny green leaf tips pushing out all over, but no yellow in sight. Bill and Christie transplanted some wild blackberry vines Saturday. That will be a nice addition to the fruit orchard and perhaps attract another bear or two into the neighborhood. Ron Bilyeu, who lives on the banks of Bull Creek, spotted Witch Hazel blooms a couple of weeks ago. Witch Hazel is typically a winter bloomer, but still encourages us to think that spring is on its way.

On Sunday afternoon I went through a trunk containing old pictures, letters and family Bibles. Not the first time I had seen these things, but I read everything as though it were. Loved going through the pages of Granny’s Bible just to see what pictures and funeral notices were tucked away. Also found an old faded picture of barrels scattered across the ground. On the back it said “Moonshine Distill destroyed by the law on Pine Ridge, 1924”. I don’t know where it was or any more about it.

I found page 2 of a typewritten letter from unknown person with three interesting stories on it. Here is a good one about rabbit trapping. “Do you remember what trappers that us boys in my family use to be; As the youngest boy got old enough he would be given some rabbit traps of his own, Rabbit meat was about all the fresh meat that we would get at winter time; My Brother Bill became old enough to have traps so he took them out and set them in Rabbit holes. The first morning that he went to check his traps he came back with a Rabbit’s foot, second and third morning he had a foot each time. But on the fourth day he had caught the rabbit and it had three feet missing!” That story was at the bottom of page, so if there was more it was on page three which I do not have.

Later in the day I made a digital Facebook album with pictures of Mother’s family back in the day when young people gathered around the Oak Ridge Store for soda pop and fellowship. It was a good day filled with shared memories.

This is the last week for Erin’s basketball games at the Taneyville Tournament. Last week we were at the last night of the Plainview Tournament. There was a packed out gym as parents and grandparents turned out in full force. I was surprised to see one of my Forsyth classmates, Carol Ingenthron Lee. She and Ken had come to watch their twin granddaughters who played on the Mark Twain team. Forty-four years ago Carol and I graduated from high school. Oh my Word!! Where have the years gone? Bye for now.

Vanessa's 18th birthday party

2011-05-14T23:33:00.003-05:00

COUSINS ~ ASHTON, VANESSA, ERIN, MAKAYLEE

VANESSA
celebrating 18th birthday

Dogwood Acres, 02/21/11

2011-05-07T15:34:00.002-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/21/11, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. The big winter coat felt real good today with rain pouring down and putting a chill in the air. We expected to go to Erin’s ballgame tonight, but it was canceled due to sickness. The other team only had 6 players and 3 of them were sick. There are already several makeup games due to those that were snowed out.
Last week we watched Plainview play at Taneyville. It’s always fun to go there as we see a lot of hometown folks that we know.
Neal and LeaAnn brought the girls over Friday night and stayed to eat with us. Supper was nuthin’ fancy, just venison spaghetti, bread, brownies and a salad, but we filled up on it. They had a busy week on the farm, helping Bill and Mary Lou with the new spring calves.
The girls and I went to Vanessa Bilyeu’s 18th birthday party Saturday afternoon at the Oakmont Community Center near Big Cedar. There was a big crowd of cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, good food, lots of presents and then a little pool time for the younger ones.
It hardly seems possible that the first great-granddaughter of Cliff and Zoe Bilyeu is 18 now. She will be graduating from Blue Eye in May and looking forward to college at C of O.
There was a birthday party at the log house Sunday afternoon as Justin Fisher was celebrating the big 30. He traded his jeep off today and got a nice looking little car, so I guess his mud slinging days are over.
I don’t purposely go mudding, but crossed a lot of creeks in a day of house showing last week. Early one morning I went to Bradleyville and stopped to take pictures at Beaver Creek. Later that same day I was in Walnut Shade and decided to take the back road home. When I got to the Goodnight Hollow Slab, I was surprised to find a few inches of water running over it; guess it was from snow melting up stream. The water was a pretty green color where it comes out on the low side of the bridge so I took pictures there. The road up towards Meadows was muddier than I expected, but my car was already dirty, so it didn’t matter. I put that picture of the slab on Facebook and was amazed at the number of comments. So many people have memories of fun times there.
Ken and Nita Puchta had coffee at their house Saturday morning. With busy days of Christmas and weeks of bad weather, it had been awhile since the coffee club had met.
It has been a big week for new babies. At Sandy church, Makinna Humbyrd is the newest “big sister“. She had pictures of McCoy Doyle at church Sunday and made sure we all got to see them. The big boy weighed 9 lbs, 9 oz. and has already gained another ounce.
Dallas Bilyeu is finally an uncle, as Sam and Latasha Swindle are new parents to Gabriel Michael, born on Sunday morning.
Jeff and Janet Dalton have a new granddaughter, Baylee. She is a cutie and sure to be spoiled by big sis, Kiley.
Rick fired up his 4-wheeler last week and took Zoey to see her family at Jay and Brenda Gideon’s. Rick said she looks just like the mama dog and the other babies were all excited to see her. Brenda picked her up to cuddle and in all the excitement Zoey peed on her. The little dog has grown a lot since Christmas, but she is still just a little weenie dog and not going to be very big.
Make no mistake, Zoey is Rick’s dog, although he tells everyone he got her for me for Christmas. He says every old man needs a dog because they’re not judgmental, they are forgiving and they don’t talk back. Bye for now.

Neal's 10th Anniversary @ Sandy Church

2011-05-02T22:38:00.002-05:00

Tommy Smith (old friend from Marshfield) & Neal

Neal & Jason Rust (groomsman)
Shayna & DJ Warren, John (J R) Warren (Best Man) & his little girl
These are old friends from Marshfield & Conway

Family, LeaAnn on Right, my sister, Christie next to her, my brother, Jim and his family further down the table. Rick 2nd from end on left next to Jason Grant.
Jason Grant (left side) he was a groomsman in Neal & LeaAnn's wedding over 16 yrs ago!
Jason was also with Neal the first time Neal & LeaAnn saw one another in front of Dicks 5 & dime in Branson....Such Memories!!

Neal with Uncle Jim and family

Dogwood Acres, 02/14/11

2011-05-02T22:35:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/14/11, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. Valentine’s Day is almost over. Rick did good; he bought me a heart shaped box of chocolates. Now, he is almost counting the pieces to see if I try to eat it all in one day. I don’t know that it would make much difference one way or the other, but I will try to make it last all week just so he can’t say I ate it all at once! He and Jeff Dalton did their Valentine shopping together and joined the crowd of other men carrying out candy and flowers.
It is so good to see blue skies and bare ground, although there are still large snowy patches in the shadier areas of our yard. My heavy winter coat has been put aside for lighter jackets and I plan to enjoy every warm day until “old man winter” strikes again.
Little Fox has such a heavy coat that the cold and snow did not bother her. On the other hand, Zoey has fine hair and a bare belly and she got chilled very quickly on necessary potty trips. I got her a cute little sweater which helped some.
We had a big day at church Sunday with surprises for Neal on the occasion of his tenth anniversary as Pastor at Sandy Church. LeaAnn invited my family and several of Neal’s old friends for church and the fellowship dinner which followed. The whole church was in on the secret and Neal was completely surprised when all these people from different parts of his life showed up for church. He said he was almost as nervous as when he preached his first sermon.
Bessie Rossner Gideon celebrated her 91st birthday with her son Gary and other family members. They said she acted more like a 19 year old than her 91 years. Bessie is looking forward to the next nine years and is determined to best her father, Ed Rossner, who lived to be 100 yrs, 2 months and a few days.
Bessie’s little brother, Herman, enjoyed a card and pictures from Jack and Daisy Davidson. They sent pictures from the wildlife club back in the day when Herman was instrumental in restocking wild turkey in our Missouri Ozarks.
Gary and Barb Casey celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary same day as Aunt Bessie’s birthday. Barb is younger than I; surely she is not old enough to have been married 40 years! Barb, Carolyn and I used to run up and down these hollows when we were young….really young. There was no TV or video games, so we hiked in our Pine woods and the fields of the Rossner Ranch. I love technology now as much as anybody, but kids miss so much.
Another trip to the funeral home last week for Byron David’s visitation put me in touch with more old friends and classmates. I don’t mean to say they are “old”, but you know what I mean.
Ashton and Nathan had a good time at Bradleyville Homecoming on Saturday. It was a long day with games starting at 2:00 and a dance after the last game was over. PaPa Rick said they are young and have lots of energy.
Erin called to tell me she has a ballgame at Taneyville on Tuesday night. After missing 2 or 3 weeks of games due to snow, it will be fun to get back in the swing of things. Bye for now.

Snowy Days

2011-04-27T18:45:00.004-05:00

Rick & Zoey taking a walk in the snow. See the snow on her nose? She likes to root in the snow.

There was ice fog this morning. None when I left home, but just a few miles down the road it was heavy on the trees and grass @ Herman's house.

Dogwood Acres, 02/07/11

2011-04-27T18:40:00.000-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/07/11, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. I began last week’s columns musing whether or not it would snow and did it ever! Just as we were recovering from the short end of “The Blizzard” we were hit with a “dusting” of 5” on Friday night. There was a lot more of that than the first round and most of it is still hanging on in our yard and driveway.
For the first three days of snow, the only tracks in our driveway were Ken Puchta’s boot prints. He was out walking and brought our mail to the house. We felt fortunate to have a mail carrier who delivered mail to our box every day, so to have Ken bring it to our door was an extra blessing.
We like to never got out of our driveway for church on Sunday evening. The afternoon had been warm enough to let the icy crunchy snow soften and the tires on my car just went round and round. After 10 minutes or so we finally inched our way out and made it to bare ground on the highway.
Rick has kept busy on potty duty with the puppy. The snow is very inconvenient for her so they have had to find bare ground. She didn’t like the cold at first but I got her a sweater and she soon was running circles in the snow.
I spent one of my snow days scanning old pictures into digital files. One has to wonder if digital pictures will last a lifetime or be as much fun as going through an old picture box. Probably not, but it seems to be the thing to do.
Our electricity never went off but I did manage to read a book and take a nap or two. We ate on that Venison Roast that Rick put in the crockpot, I also made a pot of Venison Chili and Snow Ice Cream. There seems to be an unspoken rule that one must cook lots and eat often when snowed in.
Uncle Roscoe Keithley showed up on Facebook this week, bouncing great-grandson Brody on his knee. They both had big smiles, couldn’t tell which was having the most fun.
I was out the door for work early this morning and will hit the ground running again tomorrow….just in case there are more snow days this week. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 01/31/11

2011-04-27T18:34:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 01/31/11, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. Will we have ice? Will we have snow? Will it be an ice storm, a blizzard, or both? Only God knows and the rest of us just have to wait and see. Rick has prepared our wood furnace for a fire, just in case we should lose power. I joined the hungry throngs at the super market and am prepared with sandwich material. When I got home he had a Venison neck roast in the crockpot, potatoes and carrots, peeled and ready to put in later.
It has been years since we have had a snow or ice storm of proportions that truly altered our lifestyle. I brought home equipment needed to work, but if we lose power, I will read books, take naps and try to stay warm. That will be an altered lifestyle for me.
Last week was a sad one for our Lone Star neighbors. Rick and I attended visitations for Clell Smithson and Leora Myers. While it is such a sad time for their families, we saw several people that we do not see often. There was Jim Davis who was one of Rick’s classmates and they had not seen one another since high school. Jim’s sister, Linda, was one of my best high school friends; now kids call them bff’s or “besties”. Anyway, several other classmates came along and they all had a good visit.
LeaAnn’s Uncle Ed Turner passed away early this morning. He was such a sweet man, so special to all of his family and will be missed greatly.
Rick was with a friend at the V.A. Clinic in Branson last week and got to see our niece, Kasie, at work. She does eye tests and showed Rick her office and the equipment that she uses.
Our nephew, Colby Biggs, came to the house one night to use my printer. A Dean’s List student at Vatterott, Colby is doing his internship for Medical Assistant at The Doctor’s Hospital Clinic in Nixa. We are proud of these kids and feel better just knowing they are close to us. When I fell and cracked my head a few months ago, they were both here in minutes to administer first aid.
Rick and I are watching a movie on TV and he keeps pacing to the door to see if the weather is doing anything yet. The roast is smelling good and we are ready to settle in for a long winter night. Hope everyone stays warm and safe until this is all over. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 01/24/11

2011-04-25T22:52:00.002-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 01/24/11, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. We have survived another snow storm. I stayed home one day but still had internet and phone service so was not really a day off. Seems that kind of weather puts me in the mood to bake and I did find time to bake a batch of oatmeal-raisin cookies.
I had a client who flew from Chicago into the Branson Airport two days before the snow came. Of course, she didn’t think our little snow amounted to much, but was a good sport and stayed in her motel on the snow day. We made up for it the rest of the week with several trips to Galena, Cape Fair and Rockaway Beach.

While I had long days, Rick was a good sport and ate canned soup, frozen burritos and Braunschweiger sandwiches. I didn’t feel too bad about it as those are some of his favorite foods. Little Fox and Zoey kept him busy as he let them in and out about 20 times a day trying to avoid any accidents from the puppy.

Jeff Dalton got out to take Janet to work on the snow day and then came to visit Rick. It reminded me of how Daddy liked to get out in the snow just to see if he could.

Daddy’s birthday is tomorrow. It hardly seems possible that he has been gone almost 4 years. We always had a birthday party but his favorite birthday tradition was to go hunting; he called it his “Birthday Hunt”. He would spend all day in the woods, either on or near the day of his birthday. Whether or not the hunt was successful, it was still his special day. Happy Birthday Daddy. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 01/10/ll

2011-03-22T22:23:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 01/10/11, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. I hope none of you got in the ditch on this snowy day. Not one to blaze a trail on snow-covered roads, I waited until Shannon Wilson and my sis got to Branson and gave me an all clear. I saw three cars in deep ditches and felt sorry for their drivers.

Rick called mid-afternoon to let me know it was snowing and I might want to hurry home, but I was writing a purchase contract which takes a little time. It was 4:30 before I left the office, 31 degrees, light snow and wet roads. Those things changed when I reached the “High Country”, officially at the top of Jim Berry’s hill. The road was snow covered, temp dropped to 29 and my breathing became labored as my hands tightened on the steering wheel. The one car following me turned off at Lone Star Road, probably glad to not have my tail lights in view any longer. There was fresh car tracks going into Christie’s driveway so I knew she was home safe. I talked to Dawn who said Jim slipped and slid some, but, I know he likes a little excitement.

Rick helped Neal install cabinets at a new home near Seymour last week. I didn’t think a construction sight was a very safe place for the puppy, so Zoey went to work with me. She stole the hearts of everyone in my office, but I finally got her to take a nap so I could get some work done.

Neal, LeaAnn, Ashton and Erin came over for supper Friday night. LeaAnn brought yummy whole wheat pasta with organic tomato sauce, avocado and black bean dip with whole grain crackers and I made venison sloppy joes to go with our green salad. The girls brought their clothes and stayed until church on Sunday. I showed property Saturday while they watched movies with PaPa Rick, Little Fox and Zoey.

Christie Biggs and Madison Tilley visited the Dogwood Acres Aunts and Uncles Saturday night, starting first at Jim and Dawn’s. Then, they came here and had fun playing with Puppy Zoey. Madison is in the first grade now and we had fun talking about the olden days when Grandma Christie, Uncle Jim and Aunt Lanie were little kids in school at Taneyville.

Joe Bob Gideon triggered a few memories tonight when he posted an old pictures of his Great-Uncle Harrison Gideon on Facebook. Actually, it was a copy of a yellowed newspaper clipping with Harrison holding a 4ft+ Rattlesnake with 9 rattlers. It was the third Rattler that he had taken near his Pine Ridge home that year. That may have been back around the time that the Rattlesnakes and Copperheads made such a stir at Pine Ridge Church.

We don’t see many Rattlesnakes now, but they were sure plentiful back in “them good ol’ days”. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 01/03/2011

2011-03-21T23:24:00.004-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 01/03/2011, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends & Happy New Year! I got last week’s column in late and missed the deadline, so will write a little more to go with it. Christmas and New Year’s activities were wonderful and I wouldn’t trade the memories for anything, but now it is time to get down to business with this new year. I had a closing two days before year’s end and am working on January’s business, showing properties and taking pictures of a new listing.

Ashton and Erin went back to school on Monday, but they spent the last few days of Christmas vacation with us. There was Christmas money burning holes in their pockets so we went shopping. They know what they want and make their own decisions, which makes it easy for me. I can browse through the “old lady” departments or sit on a bench as long as necessary. Ashton needed art supplies so we visited Michael’s where her cousin, Makaylee, checked us out. She was so efficient and had us signed up for a rewards card in no time flat! Ashton was busy before Christmas doing some special order pencil sketch portraits for a lady in Branson. She is so talented and really makes the eyes sparkle in her drawings.

Erin’s basketball season started with a 5/6th grade scrimmage at Thornfield on Thursday night. We took Trent with us and had a fun trip which was 55 miles one way from our house. Just before we got to Thornfield, we went through Long Run where my grandparents used to go to revival services. The kids couldn’t believe they would drive so far and decided they must not have had much to do back then.

Bill and Christie have been traveling a few miles to watch Vanessa play basketball. This is her Senior year at Blue Eye and will be a busy ball season for all of them.

Kasie Fisher brought Justin’s three little nieces to see us Friday afternoon. They are little tykes, all pre-school age, and surely have fun with Uncle Justin and Aunt Kasie. Instead of driving over she walked through the woods, down the hill from the barn, drank water from our spring pipe, then up the steep hill to our house. No doubt the little girls must think that we live in the deep dark woods.

While Ashton and I went to Branson Friday afternoon, Erin stayed with Kasie and the girls. They all went to Dawn’s house and the little girls made pretty Christmas cookies for the Fisher family Christmas party. Kasie is young and must have a lot of energy, but she is making precious memories with these little ones.

Jeff Dalton is offering a $500 reward for the confirmed identification of person or persons who took his Horton Legend XL Crossbow and return of the crossbow with scope and quiver, all in good condition. Anyone with information can call Jeff at 546-5827.

We are sad for the Hoggard and Smith families as Dad, Don Smith, passed away unexpectedly. Don was also brother to our Uncle Bill Smith. Linda Sue and Jim were glad to have the kids and grandkids in to spend a few days with them, but all have gone back home now to work and school.

Kathy Keithley Johnston has been posting some wonderful “oldie, but goodie” photos on face book. With her permission, I am snatching some of them to put on the Bilyeu Family Website. Okay now, you Bilyeu cousins, be sure to check them out and add some of your own.

Rick talks to his mom in Oregon often and sounded like she had a good Christmas with Aunt Barb visiting from Portland. Bye for now.

CHRISTMAS PICTURES 2010

2011-03-21T22:57:00.001-05:00

Dogwood Acres, 12/27/10

2011-03-21T22:27:00.003-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 12/27/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. This will be the last time in 2010 that I say “Hello friends” and share with you some of the memories made in my life.

Rick and I looked forward to going to Neal and LeaAnn’s for Christmas Eve. I was wrapping gifts and mentally packing the car, making room for two dogs, two crates, the gifts and our own overnight stuff. During this planning process “Son” called to see if we could pick up LeaAnn’s gift. It made sense to him, after all it was somewhere between Taneyville and Bradleyville and would be “on our way”.

Me: “Well….maybe, but….just how big is this Pygmy Goat? Is it as big as Little Fox? Can I hold it in my lap?”

Son: “Maybe a little bigger than Little Fox…more the size of Dad’s squirrel dogs.”

Me: “I don’t think so. Can’t you and the girls go get it and hide it at Granny’s house?”

So, it was agreed that Dad and I would not help with that surprise. Thank Goodness!! During the evening festivities Neal disappeared and came back carrying the “surprise goat” which promptly scattered black pills all over the kitchen floor. LeaAnn was thrilled with this creature which holds the promise of rich milk, soft soap and sweet babies. I could not imagine just how we would have transported that goat in my car and so thankful to have missed the opportunity.

Neal was just full of living, breathing surprises this Christmas. On Christmas morning he disappeared early and just about the time Ashton and Erin began to wonder where he was, he came walking up the hill leading a pretty little quarter-horse.

Christmas Eve was fun with a visit from “Red-Neck Santa” or “Hillbilly Nick” as Neal likes to call her. This year it turned into a P.J. party as Mary Lou had a box full of matching flannel P.J.’s which we all pulled on over our other clothes. Oh, and there was also red Santa Hats for everyone. We were quite the comical looking bunch, but it made for cute family pictures.

LeaAnn watches yard sales all year long and chooses special items which can be personalized to each family member. Last year Rick was the proud recipient of colorful authentic “HeeHaw overalls which he still wears with pride.

Mary Lou fixed her traditional huge country breakfast on Christmas morning and Erin read the Christmas Story from Luke Chapter two. It was a very good day filled with blessings and memories.

Jim, Dawn, and their kids had an Oklahoma Christmas, visiting Dawn’s mom and the Haffner family in Western Oklahoma. We kept Malcolm here with our dogs and Bill Biggs fed Dawn’s chickens. He said something about having chicken and noodles for Christmas dinner.
Bill and Christie had Christmas Eve dinner with Steve and Anita and on Christmas Day they visited Uncle Bill and Aunt Roma. It was a good Christmas. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 12/20/10

2011-02-11T23:18:00.003-06:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 12/20/10, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. Another busy week down with chocolate fudge, white fudge, carrot cake and pecan pies. No, I did not make all of that but sure have enjoyed it. I did make white chocolate fudge just for Rick. I have made it two ways using the traditional marshmallow crème recipe If you leave out the chocolate chips, it is white and if you use white chocolate chips, it is a little more white and creamier. I don’t know that I can tell much difference between the two.

Christie Biggs and Madison Tilley came to see us Sunday afternoon. They were getting ready for Madison’s role as an angel in the Christmas program at Calvary Full Gospel and borrowed some angel wings from me. I had a tough time being good for the rest of the day without my wings, but got them back in 24 hours, so I will be okay.

While they were here, Fran Robertson came to visit. She was bringing Christmas wishes and fudge; we were really really glad to see her!

Santa came to our house a few days early last week and that is because Rick was so anxious to surprise me and just could not wait until Christmas. He brought me an adorable “teenie weenie” puppy, also known as a miniature Dachshund. The little girl is about 6 inches long and just precious. She reminds us so much of the puppy we bought in Killeen, TX, on our wedding day. Little Fox is cautiously accepting the little one. We just have to keep a close eye on their play time to make sure that Foxie doesn’t play too rough.

Monday night was our annual Bilyeu Family Christmas Party at Bill and Christie’s house. Christie played old family movies and we had a good spaghetti dinner. Our gift exchange was the “Dirty Santa” game and there was loads of fun and surprises. Vanessa was proud to get a roll of Grandpa Bilyeu’s Wheat Pennies, Makaylee got a collection of original “Lake Queen” mugs with Grandpa and Grandma Bilyeu’s names engraved on them. Kasie was the winner of a bag of blonde hair dye (wonder who does not use that any more?). It was a fun evening and the most precious thing any of us took home was new memories.

Neal, LeaAnn, their girls and Grandpa and Granny Hodges went to Robert and Arlena Maggard’s house for the Hodges Family Christmas on Saturday. They shopped in Ozark on their way home and had a very full day.

Bill and Christie’s family went to Sean’s house Saturday night for their immediate family Christmas with kids and grandkids.

Amidst all the parties, Colby begins 10 weeks of “Clinical Studies” at Ozark Community Hospital in Nixa. this week. He has worked really hard and I am proud of him.

Rick and I went to Plainview’s Christmas program on Tuesday night. Erin is a 6th grader now and loves to sing. Music teacher, Sheila Thomas, does a great job with the kids and they put on a good program.

Muzzle loader season opened on Saturday and Rick filled a tag Monday. He has hunted hard for weeks without seeing anything, so we are thankful for the fresh deer meat in our freezer.

As we try to keep up with all of the fun and activities, let us be ever mindful that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season“. We have Christmas because of the Christ child. He did not come to create a “Winter Holiday” as some would like to make it. Bye for now.

Compatibility View

2011-02-11T23:09:00.003-06:00

So - you may wonder what the title of this post means? Well, so do I, although I know a little more about it than I did two months ago. Dogwood Acres is always written in a word processing program (I use Works), then, using "copy & paste", I copy it into the blog....a very simple procedure. . . . . until a couple of months ago when the procedure no longer worked! Tonight I decided to "google" the issue and behold....millions of other people were experiencing the same problem and "Google" had the answer. Don't know why it changed, but to fix it I had to go into "Tools" on the right hand side of the So, HERE'S WHAT YOU DO. Put IE into compatibility view when on the blogger page. It's in the Tools menu. It works! This may not be an issue for every computer, but happened to me after I got a new computer with IE8 (Internet Explorer 8)

If anyone is still reading my blog, check back and I will try to get caught up with Dogwood Acres.

Dogwood Acres, 12/13/10

2011-02-11T23:05:00.001-06:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 12/13/10, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. With Christmas now less than two weeks away, I am beginning to feel the time crunch. We do not typically have a hectic social schedule, but with three invitations for last Saturday night, a choice had to be made and we went to my RE/MAX office party. It was a fun evening at my broker’s home, eating good food and spending casual time with my office family. We were all glad to see Norm France up and about, walking on both legs. He had a battle with one of his bulls back in the summer and the bull won that round I think the bull is gone now, but you can’t keep a good man down and Norm is moving round bales and salt blocks.
It was such a bitterly cold night to be out and we were really glad that our party was not on the Showboat Branson Belle. That would not have been my idea of a great way to spend a night on the lake.
One of the events that we missed was the Lone Star Christmas. Justin and Kasie were there and she texted me a picture of Aunt Bonnie sitting on Santa’s knee. I know she must have been the oldest person to visit Santa that night.
Rick had a busy week helping Neal and our church family get the new sanctuary ready for Sunday services. There were several volunteers who helped make it happen and what a blessing it was. Our piano man, Al Pulis, made a special trip from Branson to move the baby grand and tune it. New pews were in place in the new sanctuary and old pews were moved into basement classrooms and tables put in the old sanctuary which is now our fellowship hall. God moved with us and met us where we were.
Our annual Community Christmas Dinner was Sunday at 4:00 p.m., so we got to use the new fellowship hall too. After many years of eating in the classrooms it was fun to be able to meet together in one space. My sister, Christie, and her granddaughter, Madison, came to eat with us.
In spite of the Christmas spirit, Scrooge has also been sneaking around. He, or one of his sneaky helpers, broke into Jeff and Janet Dalton’s house last week and stole Jeff’s crossbow. Jeff had used the Horton bow for many years and sure hated to lose it. That is so hateful, I don’t know why anybody would want to do such a thing.
I saw Aunt Roma and Uncle Bill Friday afternoon. We had a good visit and watched the DVD that cousin Alvie sent with Uncle Bruce telling his funny stories. He sure had a knack for that and we always loved hearing them over and over again.
Jim and Dawn had an early Christmas surprise when they got up Sunday morning and found a strange car in their driveway and Trent sound asleep in one of the spare bedrooms. They had expected to see him next week, but we are all happy to have him home early. Bye for now.

Sandy Church

2011-01-01T22:51:00.003-06:00

2011-01-01T22:40:00.001-06:00

NATIVITY ON H HWY

PEWS FROM JACKSON, MO

Dogwood Acres, 12/06/10

2011-01-01T22:34:00.001-06:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 12/06/10, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. Here ‘tis, less than three weeks until Christmas and activities are in full swing. The kids from Sandy Church visited the nursing home in Ava Sunday afternoon. They took cookies for everyone and sang carols to several residents.

Next Sunday will most likely be the first Sunday service in our new building and the Community Christmas Dinner in our “new” fellowship hall. As Pastor Neal reminded the congregation of these things on Sunday morning, he also mentioned that it would be the last service to be held in the building built in 1949. Our granddaughters are 5th generation of the Hodges family to attend Sandy Church. Several members shared memories of growing up in the church and gave thanks for their spiritual heritage. Thankfully, that is something that will continue as we have many young families with small children, new babies and more on the way. That is a wonderful way to see our church grow.

Another tradition that continues is the Lone Star Christmas service to be held this Saturday, Dec. 11. Glen said it will start at 7:00 p.m., but come at 6:30 to visit. Snacks and finger foods are also welcome. Looking at the forecast it appears that the weather will be kinda frosty come Saturday night, so as folks gather in, be thankful for the toasty wood fires that will warm your toes.

There was a nice article about North Lone Star School in the White River Valley Historical Quarterly, winter edition. The church as we know it was built in 1901, but the first school building was built prior to that and then rebuilt several times for various reasons. I always enjoy the quarterly put out by the WRVHS and was reminded to go by the museum and see the cooking exhibit.

On my way to Ozark this morning I was happy to see that Violet Laughlin has her beautiful nativity scene set up near Pine Ridge Rd. It sits in a grassy spot beneath a backdrop of tall pine trees and is such a wonderful reminder of the true “Reason for the Season”. I do appreciate her sharing it for all to see.

Saturday was “Round-Up” day for LeaAnn’s folks. Rick likes to help with that and Martin’s in-laws made a special trip from Illinois to be there for it. I don’t feel like much of a cowgirl so stayed at home and tried to clean house and did a little decorating for Christmas. Ashton and Erin came home with PaPa Rick and spent the evening playing on my computer. Rick has little patience with computers and asked what we ever did without them. My answer was that we read books and watched TV, which we still do, but just have to find a balance.

Justin Fisher has been busy cutting wood on his days off. The huge mimosa tree that stood behind the log house died, so he cut that up and is also working up some dead trees on our place. I am glad to see him and Kasie with a good woodpile. If there should be an ice storm and power outage this winter, maybe they will let Rick and me stay warm at their house. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 11/29/10

2011-01-01T22:30:00.001-06:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 11/29/10, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. Thanksgiving week came and went so fast; I can hardly believe it is already the week after. Our Thanksgiving began with “Thelma’s Living Room” with our Bilyeu Family at Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Springfield. Several generations of the Jimmie & Frances Bilyeu family gathered together for an evening of singing and giving thanks for the Godly heritage that is ours. Aunt Bonnie Bilyeu was the oldest and only one left of the generation of our dads, aunts, and uncles. I hesitate to say for sure who was the eldest there of the next generation, but “think” it would have Donald or Bobby Joe. I am the oldest of the “second cousins”, followed by Norma Jean Meier, and we were both there. After that I lost track of who was the oldest ones there of each generation, but it was a wonderful evening.

There was singing from young and old, with enough young ones that we know there will be “Bilyeu Music” for generations to come. When I was a kid we would have our family dinners on Thanksgiving and Christmas, then load up and go visit Hosea and Thelma. There would usually be other cousins, aunts and uncles there and Thelma’s living room was always filled with music. Ridgecrest Baptist is a little bigger, but the spirit and love are still alive.

Thanksgiving Day was quiet at our house until late in the evening when the doorbell began ringing. Justin and Kasie came first with yummy leftover blackberry cobbler and green beans from their earlier dinner at his Aunt Carol’s house. Jim and Dawn came, still full from a big dinner with the Biggs’ at Bill and Christie’s. Neal, LeaAnn, Ashton, Erin and LeaAnn’s folks were here too for a “heritage dinner”. I call it that because instead of turkey, I fixed Venison Salisbury Steak like my Granny Nettie made, Mother’s fresh apple cake and Daddy’s baked beans. I doubt that any of mine tasted quite as good as theirs, but I like to think it did.

After dinner we had a visit from Mother’s family via DVD that cousin Alvie Doug Davis had made and sent to us. We loved hearing Uncle Bruce tell the same old tales over again and heard more stories from Aunt Roma, Uncle Bill, Aunt Wan and Uncle Roscoe.

The evening had to come to an end and bedtime came earlier than usual as Ashton, Erin and I had plans for Black Friday shopping. We slept in a little on Friday, but still hit the streets of Branson early enough to put in a long day. Ashton was looking for jeans which we did not find, so Saturday found us on our way to Battlefield Mall. It had been years since I had gone there on Thanksgiving weekend, but God was good and gave me a parking place right in front of J.C. Penney.

She found her jeans, Erin got a birthday dress and we got home about dark. Sunday was a blessed day of rest with church at Sandy and Sunday dinner with LeaAnn’s folks.

While the girls were with us on Saturday, Neal and LeaAnn laid tile in the foyer of our new church. Carpet goes in this week and new pews next week. I don’t know just when we hope to “move” from our little sanctuary to the big one, but looks like it could be soon.

Erin began basketball practice at Plainview this week and Christie went to see Vanessa play at Blue Eye, so it looks like our winter schedule is kicking in! Bye for now.

Deer Season 2010

2010-12-06T21:55:00.004-06:00

Nice Buck Rick got with Crossbow

Perfect "J" (Rick says for Jesus)
He accidentally cut himself while trimming a limb in his treestand.

These deer were eating in our yard while Rick was gone hunting.
I took pictures from the deck.

I took this picture on the last day I hunted during rifle season.
This huge moss covered rock is deep in the woods and so pretty.
Rick said Daddy used to lay on this rock and shoot wild turkeys.

Rainy morning in the deer blind.

Follow the leader...we parked the ATV and walked in to the deer blind.

Justin with his first deer!

Jim got a nice forked horn...less than 10 minutes in the woods!
Quick Shot...He is a straight shooter for sure.

Dogwood Acres Weekly - 11/14/10

2010-12-06T21:48:00.003-06:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 11/14/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Surely my brother could write Dogwood Acres. With his flair for words, he would describe our activities like this: “We have chicken heads and deer heads all over Pine Ridge”.
I do not have the gift of getting it said with such few words, so here is my version of the first weekend of firearm season. Sean Tilley and Dakota Bilyeu came over Friday night and I listened as they discussed strategies and tree stands with Uncle Rick. Rick and I took an early morning 4-wheeler ride through the bottom of our hollow, up a steep hill, down another steep hill, parked the rig, walked across a branch, and finally reached a blind where he left me firmly zipped inside. From there he hiked up the hill to a tree stand and the wait began.
It wasn’t long until we began hearing rifle shots; Rick said he quit counting at fifty. That was either a sign of many poorly placed shots or a very good deer harvest. I saw three flocks of turkey and two deer, but they stayed well out of range. About 10:00 o’clock, Rick came to visit; he said the wind just about blew him out of the treetop. He thought maybe he could help me out by using the grunt call, so I got enthused and expected a big buck to come looking for us.
After making several calls, his corner got quiet and he was sound asleep. That was okay, he had a tough morning in the treetop and I knew my big buck would soon be stepping into view. About that time, it all started to fall apart when I heard a strange 4-wheeler come riding up our trail and stopped by my blind. Turned out they had missed their deer, so decided to go sightseeing. Rick woke up just in time to hear me tell them that they had messed my hunt up.
He crawled out and got acquainted while I sat there fuming. Of course, they had not expected anyone to be hunting there, but were considerate enough to turn around and go back where they came from. I waited another 45 minutes and finally conceded to go home for a bowl of hot venison stew. We had a good nap and went back for a late evening hunt, which turned out to just be a sightseeing trip. With all of that being said, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed spending a whole day together without TV or computers.
We called around the neighborhood for buck reports but there was none for our family’s first day out.
Now for Brother Jim’s Sunday morning hunt. He went out early before church and had been in his spot less than ten minutes when God blessed him with a big 7-point buck. He called Dawn from the woods and she called us before 8:00 a.m. with that good report.
Rick and I went on to church at Sandy and came by to see the buck later in the afternoon. Jim and Dawn were outside, the buck was chilling in a tree and Dawn was getting ready to butcher four fat roosters. She had a kettle of water boiling over a campfire and a hatchet nearby. When I talked to Jim later, he said she had roosters all over the kitchen and they looked as big as buzzards. He is very proud of his Okie wife’s pioneer spirit!
Justin and Kasie rolled out in their little camper Friday night, headed for woods near Ava. They called in Sunday night to report that Justin had busted a big forked horn, his first deer! We are proud of his hunting perseverance and glad to see his buck hanging in front of the log house. That old oak tree had begun to look pretty empty.
Connie Hammond called this evening with news that she had got a fat doe. She hunts pretty close to home and Leon was bringing it in with the tractor.
Our neighbor Rich brought down a button buck, which will be good eating. He had a chance at the big buck that has my name on it, but as far as I know, it is still roaming the woods.
Joann Rice and her Mom, Henrietta, both celebrated birthdays last week. Henrietta was 97 years old; Joann said she ate chocolates all week, but…at 97 can do anything she wants too! They enjoyed all the birthday cards and Facebook wishes from Forsyth friends.
Georgine Boswell Cummings called to give me a report on her recent trip to visit California relatives. She flew with her brother Gifford and Violet Boswell to Los Angeles and stayed with brother Wayne and Barbara Boswell in Simi Valley. While there, they visited the beach, Reagan’s Library and Museum and had a big birthday party for her brother Gene Boswell who turned 92 on September 1. There were 14 who attended the party held at Wayne and Barabara’s. Another night their sister-in-law, Millie Boswell, fixed supper for a group of 11. Sounds to me like this family had a lot of fun just eating and visiting; so glad Georgine got to spend that time with them.
Well, I am balancing work with deer hunting this week and tomorrow’s alarm is set to go off extra early. Hope to have more deer reports next week. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres Weekly - 11/01/10

2010-12-06T21:35:00.003-06:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 11/01/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. The season is changing and we are trying to be adaptable. One day last week the weather forecast called for freezing temperatures which caused us to scurry around and bring plants inside. Rick has several cactus plants that have flourished in the warm sun and I have several tropical plants that have doubled in size over the last few years. He brought most of those inside, then when I got home from work I took cuttings from my Dragon Wing Begonias and Swedish Ivy and hope to carry them through ‘til spring.
After all of that effort we had neither frost nor freeze at our house, but eventually it will happen and we have our plants inside.
I was home early enough one evening to fry that fresh venison tenderloin for supper. While it was frying I called brother Jim so he could listen to it sizzle in the skillet. He was still in Springfield, but when I told him I was frying a whole tenderloin and might have some leftovers, he called it a day and headed for Pine Ridge. When he and Dawn got here I had a skillet of brown gravy and hot fluffy biscuits. Rick and I had eaten our fill but left plenty for them and we had a good visit.
Jim, Dawn and Kasie spent the day Saturday at Richard and Kelley Michael’s making sorghum and lye soap. They started with two pickup loads of sugar cane, pressed it into 35 gallons of juice and finally cooked down to 6.5 gallons of sorghum. Kelly made apple cobblers in cast iron dutch ovens set in a bed of hot coals and their daughter, Jennifer, was spinning yarn on the spinning wheel. The Voyles from Ava and Glen Kenyon and friends were there and everybody had a job to do. I enjoyed hearing about it but sounds to me like this Pioneer Day was a lot of hard work.
Turned out I was wrong about Rick’s bow hunting being over until gun season. According to the book, he can still get a doe, so the hunt continues.
While at Meadows Cemetery recently, I saw Viola and Bill Denney. They had been to visit her son, Rocky Raubs, and I just happened to catch them on their way down his driveway. I had not seen Viola for years and years, but I don’t think she had changed a bit, still slim and pretty.
Rick and I joined our neighbors Bob and Rhonda Bowman around a campfire on a cold starlit night last week. Rich and Peggy had brought their horses and set up camp on the Back Place for a few days. It was a cozy campsite and a nice way to spend an evening.
I visited the Stenger family Saturday afternoon and found Joe Dalton hanging out there with his family. Recently retired, he is adjusting quite well to a more leisurely lifestyle. I know his Mama and Sissie like having him around.
While in Wal-Mart shopping for my Winter’s Bone DVD, saw cousin Ronnie Bilyeu. He and Debbie were looking forward to a visit with son Mark and family in Kansas before Mark ships out for another tour in Iraq.
Randy Dalton is preaching at Pine Ridge church this week; sign on the church says REVIVAL, 7:00 p.m.. I know they would enjoy having you worship with them. Bye for now.

Lone Star Christmas 2010

2010-12-04T23:31:00.002-06:00

Time for Lone Star Christmas once again!
Saturday, Dec. 11, 7:00 ish...come at 6:30 to visit before the service starts at 7:00 p.m.
Bring finger foods and snacks.

Dogwood Acres Weekly - 10/18/10

2010-10-29T08:18:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 10/18/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Rick’s nine stitches are healing and he is back in the woods again. The hand has hurt more than he expected, even with pain killers, but he is tough.

A nice buck came by on Saturday but not in line for a good shot. There have been some good does, but we are going to let them go by for another week or two.

While his hand was healing Danny Frazier came for a visit. I was at work, but sounds like I missed a lot of talk about knives and such.

Going to work I have noticed a new gift shop on 160 in the H Hwy “V” and finally stopped to see who has “Chrissy’s Country Collectibles”. I found it to be Helen and Wimpy Everett’s daughter, Christine Sanderson, with help from her daughter, Dawn. They have such a cute store with a great selection of gifts, home décor and gorgeous water colors done by her sister, Kathy. They do have a watchdog in the shop; be sure to watch for him!

Our son Neal’s father-in-law, Billy Hodges, celebrated a birthday this weekend. The kids took him and Mary Lou out to dinner at Applebee’s on Friday night, then after church on Sunday, there was another one of Mary Lou’s famous Sunday Dinners. While the dishes were being washed LeaAnn, Martin and Erin provided some good bluegrass picking and singing. At church Sunday night there was more music from Danny and Connie Johnson, Abby Dobbs, LeaAnn and Erin Crum. Nothing makes PaPa Bill any happier than good food and good music so I think he had a very good day.

It is pouring down rain and seems to be a good night for sleeping. Maybe next week I will have more news. Bye for now.

Lone Star Homecoming 10-10-10

2010-10-29T08:10:00.003-05:00

Oscar & Carolyn Cook, their son Brian & fiancee

Gimlin Family

Dogwood Acres Weekly - 10/11/10

2010-10-29T07:57:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 10/11/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. 10-10-10 was a very good day. I am glad it was on a Sunday, not because of any superstitions that I have, but just because Sunday was already a very good day.

We have had a very full week. Rick’s cousin, Debbie Lathrope, came from Kansas City on Monday and stayed until after the Lone Star Church Homecoming. She has been good company for Little Fox and Rick while I worked. Rick hunted most mornings and got home in time to fix lunch. He usually eats one can of sardines a day, but got a little more creative for Debbie, making grilled cheese and opening canned soup.

Rick took Debbie shopping in Branson one afternoon, and then they came by my office when I got off work. I drove them around town to see the sights and we ended up at The Landing for Auntie Anne pretzels with Colby.

I took off work Friday and Saturday so Debbie and I could play with the granddaughters. On our way to get them at school we stopped at Century Antiques in Taneyville, shopped with Sheila Braden in the store and Lois and Lisa Lux, who had a huge yard sale outside. Saw Marilyn McDaniel and told her we miss her Taneyville news in the paper.

After getting the girls from school we came back through Forsyth where we visited the White River Valley Historical Society and Museum. Their newest exhibit, “Sportsman’s Paradise” focuses on hunting and fishing in the Ozarks. Browsing through the old pictures and clippings on display, I was surprised to find a 1955 newspaper clipping of my Grandpa Clarence with a big wolf that he had trapped and turned in for the $15 bounty.

Saturday morning Rick went hunting, and we gals took off to Eureka Springs for the day. Ashton and Erin had never been there so we looked on the internet to see what they would enjoy. Ashton was enticed by the art galleries and Erin was curious about the ghosts in the Crescent Hotel. At the Crescent we took the somewhat creaky elevator to the 4th floor and the girls opted to walk back down. Debbie and I didn’t mind that the elevator was creaky as it kinda matched the way our bones felt at the thought of walking four flights of stairs.

Shopping and sightseeing was fun and we ended up at the Mudhouse Café for a leisurely lunch before heading back home to Missouri.

Sunday was the homecoming at Lone Star Church with a full house for the regular Sunday morning worship service. There was folding chairs down the aisle and clear out onto the porch. Pastor David Koenig preached a good sermon and there was a special song by Olin Tilley. Before dismissing for lunch Glen Kenyon led a short business meeting for the annual homecoming service. Then it was time for “Dinner on the Ground”.

I always look forward to Barbara Gimlin Collins’ poppy seed bread and Pearl Hammond Driskill’s gooseberry cobbler…so glad they didn’t let me down this year!

The Gimlin Family was well represented with at least fourteen attending, Aunt Bonnie Gimlin Bilyeu, being the oldest at 92. In 1932 Aunt Bonnie graduated from the 8th grade at North Lone Star School along with George (Bodie) Stolpe, Rosa Crum and Bessie Bashaw.
There was an even dozen of “Us Crums” there, with cousins coming from Republic, Centralia, Joplin and Kansas City.

Georgine Cummings called to tell me about the Cummings family trip to Colorado last week. She went with Iva, Eugene and Dallas to visit their sister Anna May Cummings Wade. They visited the Wade family graves at the cemetery in Springfield, CO, and saw Hallie Wade’s wife, Margaret.

Rick’s cousins, Hazel Ragsdale Spurgeon and Connie Ragsdale Riddle, came by to visit while we were gone on Saturday. Finding nobody home at our house they went to visit Janet Dalton and found Rick there visiting with Jeff. Rick had a little trouble with his bow and had taken it to Jeff to sight in.

We are still having a little trouble with morning sickness at our house, sure will be glad when Little Fox gets through this false pregnancy.

Rick came in from hunting Monday morning dripping blood all over the place. That would not have been so bad had he killed a deer, but that was not what happened. While sitting in the tree stand he decided to use his pocket knife to trim a limb that was in his way. He trimmed the limb all right and sliced that sharp blade right into his hand. He lost a bucket of blood but I got him to the hospital for stitches and he will be okay. Bye for now.

Lone Star Homecoming 10-10-10

2010-10-10T22:49:00.002-05:00

Crum Family

Gimlin/Collins Family

Little Fox & Her "Babies"

2010-10-06T00:27:00.002-05:00

Big Foot, the five-toed cat

Treeing Feist Baby

Baby Bone

Dogwood Acres, 10/04/10

2010-10-06T00:24:00.000-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 10/04/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Sunday morning at Sandy Church was good with Pastor Neal seeing that we heard from The Word and special guest Herschel Letsinger sharing about the ministry of the Gideon Bibles. Bill and Mary Lou Hodges had invited the Letsingers over after church for an afternoon of Catfish and Bluegrass. Bill fried the two six-pound catfish he caught in the Spring Pond while Mary Lou fixed hushpuppies and all the trimmings. Martin Hodges kicked off the music time with his fiddle singing the sweet tune of Tennessee Waltz, with LeaAnn backing him up on the guitar. They played my favorite called Jerusalem Ridge and so many others. Herschel took a turn or two on the fiddle and guitar and LeaAnn picked some good banjo tunes. We were surprised to learn that Herschel is Uncle to our neighbor, Nita Puchta.

After the pickin’ time was over Rick, LeaAnn, Ashton and Erin took a Sunday hike visiting a nearby cemetery tucked in the trees not far from the Hodges farm. Not sure if the cemetery has a name, but there are a number of Albright graves there.

It was a good afternoon and ended just in time for evening church service with sermon from Van Menzies. We have heard some excellent sermons from Van since he answered the call to preach.
We have had an interesting development with false pregnancy at our house. Now, before you get too worked up, read on as I tell you about Little Fox. Little Fox is “Rick’s dog”, now a year old, never been spayed, nor allowed to have puppies. When they came back from the Oregon vacation, our Treeing Feist puppies were just beginning to run around and she spent several weeks playing with them for hours at a time. Perhaps that triggered her maternal instincts, but we don’t know for sure.

The next maternal behavior she displayed was allowing Big Foot, the five-toed cat to “nurse”. Well, that just didn’t seem right and we put a stop to it, at least when we caught them. Then, the morning sickness phase began. I have never known a pregnant dog to have morning sickness, so to have a dog who just thinks she is pregnant throwing up is just crazy. Thank goodness that phase has subsided, but she is still in the baby stage with a rubber yellow bone dog toy. She treats it like a baby, picks it up and whines like we should do something to help her. She and baby bone go snuggle in the doggie bed for a good night’s sleep.

Rick’s cousin, Debbie Lathrope is here this week. I know she will give Little Fox a lot of love and attention, so maybe the “baby” can be phased out without too much trauma.

Debbie is here for the Lone Star Homecoming which will be next Sunday, October 10. She drove down from Kansas City and made it all the way to Sparta before getting lost in a major traffic detour which took her far off the beaten path. I called my brother to see if he got home okay and learned that he had been lost in the same detour and also came across Joyce Stenger in the detour maze. As far as I know everybody in our neighborhood finally found their way home.

My nephew, Colby Biggs, had a big surprise at work last week when the real Auntie Anne of Auntie Anne’s pretzel stores visited Branson Landing. With over 1500 locations, he never dreamed that Auntie Anne would visit their store. He and his co-worker thought this lady was just trying to get her pretzels for free until she pulled out her I.D. They tried to apologize, but she was very gracious and told them the look on their faces was just priceless.

I visited both of Mother’s sisters last week, Aunt Roma and Uncle Bill at Wedgewood Gardens in Branson West and Aunt Wan and Uncle Roscoe at Skaggs Hospital. Auntie Wan had some trouble with her heart and spent a couple of days there getting all better.

It is October birthday week with Abigail Biggs, Kasie Bilyeu and Christie Biggs all celebrating. We always remember Granny Nettie who shared this birthday week. Bye for now.

Little Fox Helps Erin 10/10

2010-10-05T23:56:00.002-05:00

Meadows School Reunion

2010-09-28T00:33:00.003-05:00

My granddaughters were the only young people there. Ashton used this time to read her newest Ted Dekker novel while Erin played games on my phone.
Bonnie Haskett Voss & Jayne Meadows looking at family pictures

Bonnie Voss sharing her scrapbooks with us

Meadows School - much the same as when Daddy went to school there.

School desks have been replaced by church pews. The young man in this picture is Chris Meadows, son of Mark and Judy Meadows. You can read more about Chris on his website, www.terrania.us

Dogwood Acres, 09/27/10

2010-09-28T00:29:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 09/27/10, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. Granddaughters and I hit another reunion this weekend, this one at Meadows Cemetery and School. When I told a friend at work that we went to the cemetery for a reunion, she thought that a rather odd gathering place. Funny, but I never think of it that way.
This one was largely members of the Meadows family, some coming from as far away as Oregon City, OR, and others from Arizona and Texas. The oldest one there was Lorene Meadows, age 95. Lorene is the widow of Lester Meadows. The next oldest was Esther Meadows Swertfeger, soon to be 89 years young. Esther was born at Bluff, MO, but made the long journey from her home in Oregon.
Bonnie Haskett Voss brought the scrapbook made from old pictures and memorabilia of her Aunt Eva Meadows. Miss Eva passed away on 2/20/10 at the age of 93. She was born in Bluff, MO, and graduated from Forsyth High School in 1933. She received her teaching certificate from Southwest MO State Teachers College and taught at Meadows School. The scrapbook had a copy of her high school diploma and a list of students, several names which I recognized. There was Neva Matthews, Esther Whitley and others.
It was my pleasure to meet Miss Eva at the Meadows reunion in 2006. Former student Roscoe Keithley was at that reunion and got to tell Miss Eva that he really was not guilty of throwing a burr oak acorn that hit her in the head. It was some ornery girls who made him take the blame for it. I think those girls should have owned up to it and not blamed it on a little boy.
Well, Ashton and Erin were good sports about sitting by the cemetery gate while I visited with others, but we left early and got home to check on Little Fox. Rick was working at the church again and we had put Little Fox in the crate so she wouldn’t run off with the puppies.
Erin is taking a crochet class at school and spent a lot of time crocheting this weekend, putting together squares for an afghan. There are some boys in the class, but they couldn’t spell very good and thought they were signing up for a croquet class. I think they were surprised, but Erin said they are actually doing pretty good.
Rick has been bow hunting and watching does and fawns pass under his tree. He won’t kill a fawn, or a doe that has fawns with her. I have used all the deer burger from our freezer, so he has to see a buck soon as I am refusing to buy any more hamburger. He needs to grocery shop a little more to have a better understanding of food prices.
We all went to a wedding in Springfield Friday night. Neal performed the wedding ceremony for DJ Warren and Shayna Johnson at the home of her parents. The Warren family are old friends of ours from our years in Webster County. It was good to see so many of them again and we wish DJ and Shayna a lifetime of happiness. Bye for now.

79th Annual Bilyeu Reunion

2010-09-23T11:48:00.004-05:00

MY FAMILY
Erin & Ashton Crum, Jim & Dawn Bilyeu, Colby Biggs, Madison Tilley, Bill Biggs
Elane Crum, Christie Biggs

Glenette Brown holding Mia Brielle Williamson
Jackie Bilyeu and his Mother, Janice;
Jimmie Bilyeu.
They are standing at the displays of Grad Class Pictures from Spokane High School. Glenette was showing the others the picture of Mia's grandmother, Emma Lou Bilyeu. Emma Lou would have loved being a grandmother.

Dogwood Acres Weekly - 09/20/10

2010-09-23T11:40:00.000-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 09/20/ 2010, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Granddaughters were here to go with me to the 79th Annual Bilyeu Reunion on Saturday. Rick and Neal were at the church helping hang sheetrock in the basement, so we went alone. Bill, Christie, Colby and Madison, Jim and Dawn were there so our family was well represented.
Aunt Bonnie Bilyeu, age 92, was the oldest one there. There were two new babies, Cheyanne Mae Tennis born July 20 and Mia Brielle Williamson, born only two days later on July 22.
As usual, there were new faces and family members to get acquainted with and others were missing. Seems that everyone has such busy lives with too many places to go and some were just too tired. I understand that because it happens to me all the time, but I want my granddaughters to have these memories of the big family from west of Bull Creek Country.
On our way home, I took the memory drive remembering where so many of my relatives lived. I know Ashton and Erin will not remember all those names, so I showed them where I lived in the first grade. It was .4 mile down Day Road; I walked the gravel road all by myself to Noble and Lily Huff’s house out on the highway. Sometimes they would have grandchildren visiting and I stayed to play a little longer than I should and Mother worried because I was late. I don’t remember being scared of anything, but do remember seeing a covey of baby quails and catching baby frogs at the pond. It was a fun place to live; I liked visiting Ed and Pearl Gilmore who lived up the hill; she made clothes for my little rubber dolly and taught me to make hollyhock dolls.
The summer we lived there was also when Vernon Armitage picked me up with a carload of kids for Vacation Bible School at Chestnut Ridge. That was over half a century ago, but sure doesn’t seem that long to me. We moved from there to Swan, MO, and lived in the old Hammond log house for my second year of school. I walked across the bridge to Burger’s store to catch Raymond Cook’s little yellow school bus and Daisy Davidson was my teacher. We only lived there one year and then went back to Chestnut Ridge for a few more years.
Well, I did not really set out to give such a detailed history of my youth, but there it is! Oh, by the way, at the Bilyeu Reunion, we had a little game called “Name that Bilyeu”. Christie had asked for volunteers who would share a little known fact and see if anyone could guess who they were. One was “what Bilyeu had never seen the ocean?” Name after name was guessed, when suddenly I put my thinking cap on and Bingo, I was right. My brother Jim has never seen the ocean. Another was, “ what Bilyeu has jumped out of a plane?” After several guesses, it was learned that brave person was Larry Bilyeu who had that experience when he served in the U.S. Military. I was the third mystery Bilyeu with a first name that nobody knew, except my cousin Anita Kay who finally remembered.
I got over to Jim and Dawn’s one evening and saw the new chicken and dog pen which is becoming a fortress tight enough to keep the wild critters out. Jim built a nice set of nest boxes for the chickens, but seems they have forgotten how to lay eggs. Maybe when things settle down they will start laying again.
Buddy and Malcolm managed to sneak away one evening but, fortunately were found at Bill and Christie’s house. I don’t know if we could stand to go through the lost dog routine again so soon.
If you want to experience a bit more of Taney Co. history, don’t forget the reunion at Meadows School on Saturday, Sept. 25. An informal get together is planned, come when you want to and don’t forget your sack lunch and a lawn chair. Bye for now.

Big Smith Band @ Branson Landing

2010-09-09T19:26:00.003-05:00

BIG SMITH BAND at Branson Landing Fountain..
those shooting flames did put out some heat!

Band was tuning up before showtime

We made new memories tonight with Neal and family...girls' friends, Allie and Katie..my niece Kasie, and cousin Hosea who was there with his family.

I love going to Branson Landing...in a shopping or people mood, I walk down the center street and feel like I am in another country...or if needing quiet time, stroll along the riverwalk where Daddy spent 25 years with the Sammy Lane Boatline as Captain Cliff on the Lake Queen. While waiting for the concert to begin I saw the "New" Lake Queen go by...not the same, but still kindles a lifetime of memories.

Dogwood Acres Weekly-08/30/10

2010-09-09T19:17:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 08/30/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. It has been a rough week for the pups. After thinking Malcolm was gone for good last week, Jim and Dawn fixed him a fine dog pen. He did not like being confined, dug out under the gate and went hunting with Buddy, Jim’s Golden Retriever. Talk about Mutt and Jeff, they are truly opposites in size and we are afraid that the little guy will not keep up with Buddy’s long legs. Now, on the other hand, we have the other six running all over our yard and not likely a one of them will get lost. I may be going to an animal swap meet sometime real soon.
Just as Jim and Dawn were getting things situated for the puppy, someone brought them 3 chickens. They have worked all weekend transforming a portion of the dog pen into a chicken pen. If the dogs do not return, they may have an extra pen for the chicks. The little hen is already laying so will pay for her keep with several eggs a week.
We had a family outing Friday night, going to see our Big Smith cousins play at Branson Landing. Rick picked me up at work and we got there at 4:30 and found a good spot for our chairs near the front. Neal, LeaAnn, Ashton, Erin and two of their friends joined us. Kasie and Justin sat with us. She had stayed in town after getting off work at the V.A. Clinic and Justin came from the Harley Davidson Store which he manages at The Landing. Hosea and Debbie, Robin and young Molly also joined our corner so we felt like we had a good family representation. We got pretzels and soft drinks from Colby at Auntie Anne’s Pretzels…absolutely delicious!
I heard the boys say that Bob and Connie, Rick and Gay and Aunt Betty were there but we never saw them amongst the 2 or 3 thousand people that must have been there. While Rick held our seats, I walked down to Belk’s and met Steve and Kathy Keithley-Johnston strolling down the street. They had come to hear the cousins’ band for the first time, hope they found a good place to sit.
Daughter-in-law, LeaAnn Crum, Executive Director of Options Pregnancy Clinic of Ava, will be busy this week with the Clinic’s Indoor Yard Sale. It begins this Thurs @ 8am-5pm and Fri. 8am-5pm. The clinic is located at 201 N. Jefferson in Ava. They have a good assortment of miscellaneous items and all sizes of clothes and would love to see everyone. If you are like me and don’t get to Ava often, be sure to stop by Ava Drug and get a nickel ice cream cone!
Rick got up early Saturday and went to coffee at John and Marguerite Sloan’s house. Marguerite is a lovely hostess, always makes gooey cinnamon rolls that Rick raves about, but I missed out. After a week of early mornings and late nights, I took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in. Rick said their daughter was there, visiting from Kansas, and taking lots of pictures of the coffee club activities.
Shopping at Staples last week, I saw Marlena Stuart Bach, and her pretty little girl, Hannah. I was surprised to see them as they have been living in China where her husband works with Cirque de Soleil
I called Rick’s cousin, Debbie Lathrope, Sunday afternoon. She is looking forward to seeing friends and family at the Lone Star Homecoming, coming up soon on October 10.
Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 08/23/10

2010-09-05T07:42:00.000-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 08/23/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Doggie Day Care…yep, that is Rick’s newest thing. Dawn Bilyeu chose her puppy a couple of weeks ago and came after him Saturday. She took little Malcolm home and gave him a bath, babied him all weekend and did a good job spoiling him. Sunday night she called to see if could spend the day back home with Trixie and the others while she and Jim were gone to work. Monday morning she put Malcolm outside to go potty and he disappeared along with Jim’s big dog, Buddy. Sick at heart, she went on to work fearing that Malcolm would never be found.

Well, Justin found both dogs at Ken Puchta’s house and not knowing that Dawn had adopted one of Rick’s pups, assumed it was ours and put it back in the pen with Trixie and all the others. Malcolm smelled funny after having a girly bath and Trixie was growly with him. At the end of the day Dawn came home and rescued him so, one could say, “all’s well that ends well”.

We enjoyed fresh produce this week from Jay Gideon’s garden, there is nothing quite like crisp green peppers, yellow banana peppers, big red tomatoes, but I have not had nerve to try the little green peppers.

Christie Biggs is still peeling fresh peaches from their trees and making that good peach jell. Boy, do I like that, it is good with hot biscuits and butter or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Oscar Cook stopped in to visit with Rick one day last week. Last year Oscar and Carolyn took one of Rick’s puppies, but they have not been persuaded to take one from this year’s litter.

Rick has continued his frenzy of mowing and weed eating around our house. It sure looks better and with any luck he will not have to do it again before bow season opens on September 15.
There seems to be little news this week, so I will say Bye for now.

LEGEND OF KUNG FU THEATRE

2010-08-21T08:59:00.004-05:00

Bill, Mary Lou, Erin, LeaAnn, Neal, Rick, Tristin, Ashton

Dogwood Acres Weekly-08/15/10

2010-08-21T08:57:00.000-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 08/15/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. August is half over, school has started, and we are bracing ourselves for the cool front expected this next week. I wonder if it is too soon to switch my closet from summer to fall clothes.

We had a busy week filled with family, fun and work, although not all necessarily in that order. When there is work, the other things have to be worked in to keep a balance. Rick’s great-nephew, Tristin, has been here for three weeks and we have had some fun outings with him and Neal’s family. He has been staying with Neal and LeaAnn who are young enough to keep up with the three energetic young people.

Rick and I could never keep up on a fulltime basis, but have taken it in small doses with recovery time in between. We went to see The Legend of Kung Fu in Branson one night, played in Swan Creek another evening and spent a hot afternoon exploring the Lone Star Community where Grandpa Lloyd grew up. Sunday dinner was at PaPa and Granny Hodges where we all ate like hard-working farm hands. Martin and Bill made homemade ice cream, yummy with fresh picked peach cobbler.

Tristin went home on Monday and still has three or four weeks of summer vacation before his school starts. It was fun sharing our hillbilly culture with him and he showed PaPa Bill how to text on Mary Lou’s new cell phone.

In our front yard we have an old fashioned milk can that covers the opening to our well. Beside it is a hydrant with multiple water hoses for watering flowers and dogs. It has always been there and we think nothing of it, but Tristin asked if it was a moonshine still.
I have never seen a still, but have heard a few stories which I may share in the future.

Jim and Dawn came over about dusk Saturday evening to visit Dawn’s puppy. She will be taking it home soon, but Rick wanted to give shots first. Jim gave Dawn a pretty red dog collar for her birthday, so apparently he is accepting this new puppy into the family circle.

We have a blast watching the puppies as they are still small enough to wiggle beneath the kennel fence to run and play with Little Fox. It won’t be long before their fat little bodies will not fit and then it is time for them to go to new homes. If you need a good squirrel dog, give us a call anytime, day or night.

Cousin Glenette Brown asked me to remind Bilyeu family far and wide that it is almost time for the annual Bilyeu Reunion. It will be on September 18, 11:30-3:30 @ Spokane High School. Bye for now.

CRUM FAMILY MEMORIES

2010-08-16T22:52:00.004-05:00

Neal, Erin, Tristin, Ashton, Rick
Three generations of Crum's at Lone Star Church.

After a taco feed we went to visit the Crum home place near Lone Star.

Crum kids in front of the old log barn.
Rick, Erin, Ashton, Tristin, Neal

Rick said this is the "new" barn that his Grandpa Edward Crum built. He remembers that Grandpa parked his pickup in the middle area.

Two-Story house where Edward & Elsie (Bashaw) Crum raised their family. I believe that the original house they built there burned when the children were small. This house was moved there in pieces from the Red Bridge area.

Dogwood Acres Weekly-08/10/10

2010-08-14T01:56:00.003-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 08/02/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Just finished a country meal of “Hen of the Woods”. Neal was here and found it growing alongside a tree here in our yard. Rick and I have cooked Morels and Corals, but had never cooked “Hen of the Woods”. This one was pretty small, but still fried up about 4 skillets full. Neal said he and Ashton found a fifty-pounder one time; that would be a good size to do for the church fish fry.

Cousin Tristin was here with Neal; they took a ride on the 4-wheeler and got back in time for the fresh fried mushroom. The kids are doing a lot of fun things with Tristin; they have been to the creek, explored the cave on Glade Top and we all went to the Ozark Empire Fair in Springfield on Friday night.

It was hot at the fair but we got there late in the evening and spent an hour going through the art exhibits where it was nice and cool. The girls and I had taken some of their artwork and two of Mary Lou’s quilts to the Fine Art Exhibition. Mary Lou’s appliqued butterfly quilt got a blue ribbon, one of Ashton’s drawings got a blue ribbon and Champion in Youth Artwork. Erin got 2nd & 3rd with her jewelry and photography. They both got several other ribbons in various categories. Grandma is pretty proud!

Rick and Little Fox got home on Tuesday and have spent all week adjusting to the hot weather and time change. Rick was happy with the puppies, but Little Fox is not so sure she likes them. They are cute, 5 are red, 2 are white with brown and black markings and Rick wants to keep the one with a brown marble shape on its forehead. Dawn wants a little red one and Makaylee said she would like to have at least one.

Since he got home Rick has also discovered that we are expecting kittens. Bobbie is the original bob-tail cat of our little cat-ranch here and she usually has a big litter. It appears that the animal population here is exploding. Rick thought I had Bobbie spayed, but guess not!

We spent a lot of time Sunday and Monday with our Bilyeu Family and friends as good-byes were said to our loved one, Roy Dean Bilyeu, who passed away last Thursday. He and my dad were so close, almost like brothers, and shared a lot of good times together hunting and fishing, or just talking about hunting and fishing. They were never at a loss for something to talk about.
Another of Daddy’s first cousins, Anna Belle Dalton, is still having a tough time. She has been in and out of the hospital while adjusting to dialysis.

Ken Puchta stopped by to welcome Rick home and brought some fresh produce from his garden. I have not got back into the habit of cooking so we really enjoyed the fresh veggies.

Jim and Dawn’s bean patch looks good and he has taken on a new project, hand digging a storm cellar. I have not seen it yet, but have been told that anyone is welcome to stop by and remove a wheelbarrow full of dirt. This sounds like a long-term project to me. Bye for now.

Pictures from Rick's Camera

2010-07-31T20:35:00.002-05:00

Roger, Aunt Barb, Rick, Kenny, Keith

Keith, Kenny, Aunt Barb climbing to the waterfall

Little Fox made it to Oregon - Living Proof!

Dogwood Acres Weekly-07/26

2010-07-31T20:32:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 07/26/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Our vacation with the Crum Family in Oregon has ended and we are all working our way back into regular routines. As you know, Rick and Little Fox drove out a couple of weeks ahead of the rest of us. By the time we got there, they had settled nicely into a routine of long talks with Grandma Betty and long walks around Cottage Grove.

Neal, LeaAnn, Ashton, Erin and I flew from Branson to Portland where Rick and his twin brother, Roger, picked us up at the airport. It was late evening, but we still got to Grandma Betty’s in time to eat clam chowder before bedtime. We loved flying in and out of Branson and even got an extra day’s vacation because of some snafu with the airline.

Rick’s three brothers and hordes of nieces and nephews live fairly close to Grandma Betty so there was always little ones around for us to play with. Roger’s daughter, Angela, brought her camper to a nearby campground for the week. That made it easier for her and her daughters to visit with us and was also a fun place for a family cookout on Saturday night. Nearby Dorena Lake and Row River provided fishing and swimming opportunities for those who had lots of energy to burn.

There was the Saturday Market in Eugene and a hike to Spirit Falls, photo shots at one of Cottage Groves famous covered bridges and Friday morning yard sales. As usual, it took an extra suitcase from The Goodwill to get everything back home.

Sean, Makaylee and Madison picked me up at the airport and I enjoyed hearing about Makaylee’s “Beary” wild blackberry adventures. She is quite an entrepreneur, taking fresh berries, hot cobblers and jellies to the Farmer’s Market in downtown Forsyth.

Just a few days after Rick left, Trixie had a big litter of puppies. By the time I got home, all seven had their eyes open and can raise quite a racket. I am afraid they will crawl through the wire and get carried off by a bear.

I don’t think I have told you about the bear that visited our dog pen and growled outside my window in the middle of the night. It raised quite a ruckus trying to get to the dog feed and dogs just about went crazy. There was nothing I could do, except make sure my doors and windows were locked. The dogs finally settled down, I was dozing back into dreamland when, apparently, the bear made another circle, rousing the dogs back into a barking frenzy.

It makes a nightly circuit just about the time that I have gone sound asleep. I don’t know where it finds food, maybe nowhere. Perhaps that is why it visits Kaylee’s wild berry patch.

Pearl Bilyeu passed away while I was gone, but I did get home in time to attend the visitation. She was a sweet lady whose life was a wonderful legacy for her family.

Adrian and Glenette Brown and grandson, Dustin McIntosh, recently returned from a trip to Colorado. It was the 47th time that Adrian and Glenette had taken that trip. Dustin has some catching up to do if he gets there 47 times but he is still young.

My dad’s first cousin, Roy Dean Bilyeu, is in the hospital and critically ill with cancer. It is hard to see those we love struggle with such pain and there is a limit to what the doctors can do to make it bearable. Roy and Charlotte’s church is hosting a benefit to raise funds to help with his medical bills. It will be Saturday, July 31, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Aurora Community Center at the corner of Church and Washington. The flyer says: “Join us for food, auction, raffle and live music with family and friends”. Donations of baked goods and auction items are welcome.

Neal and family picked up a cousin, Tristin Crum, at the Branson Airport. He is going to stay for three weeks and experience life on the farm with his hillbilly girl cousins. They will make sure he has fun and makes loads of country memories. Rick and Little Fox are on their way home and should slide in midweek. Bye for now.

Crum Family in Oregon 2010

2010-07-31T20:15:00.003-05:00

Erin, Grandma Betty (age 87) & Ashton

Grandma Betty and Great-grands

Camping under the treetops

Marcia and the little ones

Watermelon time at the campsite

Neal lends his pinky while Ashton makes a bracelet.

DOGWOOD ACRES, 07/05/10

2010-07-09T10:24:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 07/05/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Well, I have taken a break from writing; seems that when time to write came each
week, I was totally tired and could not make myself focus on putting enough words together to make
any sense.
Rick has been gone to his mom’s now for over a week and I thought I would get a lot done. I
guess I have, but has been longer hours working and even fewer hours for home chores. Little Fox
went with him, so with the two of them gone, the house has been unbelievably quiet. They took my
car and I have been driving his pickup. His pickup is easy to drive, but hard to climb into. Just
climbing in and out of it all day wears me out.
He and Little Fox are having a good time in Oregon. When not hanging out with Betty Jo, they
go visit his twin brother, Roger, who lives just a few miles from town. Roger has a pretty place
in the country and Little Fox had a lot of freedom to run out there. Her freedom came to an end
when she discovered the exotic rooster and managed to get a mouthful of black feathers.
She plays with the cats at home and they don’t mind when she drags them around by the fur of
their neck, but she had never seen a rooster.
Aunt Barb was there from Portland this weekend and a bunch of them drove up to the mountains and
hiked in to visit the waterfalls. Rick is taking some pictures, but unless he can get someone
else to email them, I will have to wait.
We had a new litter of Treeing Feist puppies here on July 1. Sweet Trixie had 8 puppies, six
are red like her and two are white with spots like Bud and Pete, either of which may be the proud
PaPa. They are cute little things and Trix is a good mama, so not much is required from me.
After work Saturday evening I stopped at Bill and Christies for the Biggs Family fish fry.
Bill, Sean, Dakota and Andrew have been hauling in a few fish and there was plenty for all.
Christie made a fresh blackberry cobbler, Anita brought her trademark Cornbread Salad and Sabrine
brought a yummy spinach dip.
There was also a fresh batch of peach peel jelly from the peaches that Sean had picked last
week. Christie enlisted help from the grandkids in getting the peaches peeled and frozen, then had
stayed up ‘til 3:00 a.m. boiling down the peach peels like Mother used to for jelly.
The bear came back to Bill’s bees and knocked them over again, so he gave up and had Neal come
get them. It was really a heavy hive, took Neal and Sean both to get it up in the truck. Now that
the feed source is gone there, I am watching my back a little closer here at our house.
On my way to the office Saturday I stopped at Ken and Nita Puchta’s where the neighborhood
coffee group was meeting. They had tables and chairs set up on the big deck that wraps around the
log house. Ladies were on one corner and men on the other with food and coffee in between. There
was lots of chatter on both sides, but I really think the men were the loudest.
A couple of weeks ago, I was coming home late one night and saw a Mama cat and three little
kittens crossing the road from Puchta’s and headed towards Daddy’s barn. I kidded Kasie about the
illegal immigrants that were sneaking over there under cover of night. Sure enough when I was at
the barn a few days later, there was two black Mama cats and more kittens than I could count.
Justin and Kasie have a pretty garden this year. They have made raised beds in the spot where
Daddy always put out his garden. The beans are vined up on a piece of woven wire, which,
apparently, is very convenient for the deer. Justin said the deer have eaten more than they have.
I took Uncle Bill and Aunt Roma to Springfield last week for a Dr. Appointment. It was a
morning appointment so we got back to Spokane about lunch time and ate at the Gateway Café. After
leaving there, we drove to Spokane Cemetery and past the school, on down the highway past Reno
Springs Road and past the Windy City turnoff before heading back home to Branson West. Those
places hold a lot of memories for Aunt Roma and I was glad we could travel that road together.
Anna Belle Dalton is still in the hospital, it has been 4 weeks now and seems that one thing
after another keeps her there. Joyce is staying close by her side and the day I was there, her
sweet nieces, Barbara, Gay Lea and Anita Kay came for a visit. I just talked to Mike and they are
hoping she can come home this week.
Lois Andela asked me to remind her relatives that the Boyd Family Reunion will be Saturday, July
10, at First Baptist Church Forsyth on Hwy 76E. Don't forget it! Bye for now.

Rick's Oregon Vacation

2010-07-06T23:50:00.004-05:00

Kenny and Patty were sweet enough to email pictures taken on Monday's hike to Spirit Falls, up the mountain from Cottage Grove.

Rick, Roger, Deb, Keith, Aunt Barb, Kenny

SPIRIT FALLS

Aunt Barb & Rick

Aunt Barb & Little Fox

Rick & his brothers, Keith, Kenny, Roger

Dogwood Acres Daily (sometimes) 06/29/10

2010-06-29T23:52:00.003-05:00

Little Fox really likes the recliner...guess she feels like a big girl getting to sit in her own chair. :)

Rick and Little Fox are in Oregon and she enjoys Grandma Betty's couch. I was a little worried about that, but Rick says he put a blanket over it and brushes her every day.

He has discovered that walking the dog opens many opportunities for conversation with strangers. They went to see his twin brother early this morning and Little Fox managed to get a mouthfull of rooster feathers. She had never seen a chicken/rooster before and when it ran she chased it! Hmmmmm....she may have lost a little freedom at Uncle Roger's house.

When Rick was leaving Roger's house, he spoke to neighbor man who was filling potholes in the road. After telling the man he was Roger's brother, the man said, "I first thought you were Roger, but you are fatter and have gray hair". Surely that made Rick's day. No wonder he was feeling really tired when he called home tonight.

June Days Smilebox

2010-06-28T00:46:00.000-05:00

Customize a free digital slideshow

Dogwood Acres, 06/07/10

2010-06-19T23:25:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 06/07/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Rick and I kicked off the weekend by attending the Ozark Bull Rides. We went into town early to do a little shopping, stopping first at the Goodwill Store. I was looking for cushions to put on our outdoor furniture for the cats to lie on. Regardless of how I try to accommodate them, they seem to choose places I would rather they stay away from. Did not find anything, but we did see Rick and Gay Lea Thomas shopping for gardening clothes.

Next stop was the Dollar Tree where I found supplies for my scrapbook craft project at Jr. High Church Camp next week. Rick chose to sit in the car with windows rolled down and just about roasted, so he went inside at our next stop which was Wal-Mart. There I was pleased to find clay pots for the new flower feature on my kitchen deck. It was so hot, guess it was all the asphalt parking lots, so we hit Backyard Burger for a cold ice tea and cool place to relax before going on to the Bull Rides.

We like to sit on the top bleacher with a board to our back and got there about 7:15. The sun was still high, but soon cooled down and we enjoyed a blissful evening with cool breezes off the river. It was a good outing, bulls were mean and riders were brave. There were seven eight-second rides made, some hard hits, but nobody left in the ambulance.

Both of us were out early on Saturday morning; Rick to coffee at Justin’s and I had floor duty at the office. After coffee Rick went to see Jeff Dalton and found him cutting and burning brush; glad to know Jeff is feeling better.

After leaving work, I went to the wedding of Kaitlyn Cutbirth and Eric Grube at New Haven Church. Kaitlyn was a beautiful bride and I enjoyed the opportunity to be with friends and family at such a happy event.

Jim and Dawn came over Sunday night to bring their yard sale leftovers to leave with us for Ava’s Options Pregnancy Clinic yard sale. They had just got back from visiting Dawn’s family in Taloga, OK, and were home early enough to hoe weeds out of the garden. Sean Tilley and Dakota Bilyeu came and helped, so they were done before dark.

LeaAnn came over with an empty truck this morning and carted off all our good yard sale stuff . Options Pregnancy Clinic in Ava can be found across from O’Reilly’s and beside the Laundromat. They will be ready when the Citywide Sales begin on Thursday. Their sale will be inside where it is cool so if you are over that way, go visit their new clinic and do some shopping while you are there.

The young men in Rick’s Sunday School class have told him there may be a Walleye or two to be caught so he has taken his waders and gone to the lake. I hope he catches a keeper or two so that we can have some fresh fish.

Our kids went to the Phipps Family Reunion in Ava Sunday afternoon. They were honored to have PaPa Billy Hodges crowned “King” of the reunion, for having missed only two of the last 38 reunions. That is Grandma Bessie (Phipps) Hodges family.

Sunday was LeaAnn’s birthday, so we had cake and ice cream after church Sunday night. The little kids and a few of the older people really enjoy those after church snack times. When the party was over, we went up to their house to get Erin some clothes to spend the night with us. LeaAnn let the two goats, Lily and Willie out of the chicken pen, and they headed straight for her rose bushes where they got a big bite. She got ahold of their ears and finally got them out of the yard for a run through the hay field. The two dogs, Red and Bandit, also went along so she had great company for her evening run.

Rob and Mindy Frazier are proud parents of a big baby boy, Cale Ryan. At 9 lbs. And 6 oz. Cale is a beautiful baby, or at least that is what Grandpa Danny and Grandma Danita think.
Bill Biggs came home from work this week to find his beehives toppled over and ravaged by the neighborhood bear. There were no witnesses to the crime, but we know the bear was hungry. Bye for now.

May Pictures

2010-06-08T22:30:00.003-05:00

Since I have gotten so behind, will just share some random pictures from May.

Eldon Hodges @ Sandy Church

Uncle Bill & Aunt Roma's 50th Wedding Anniversary

daughter Marilyn on right, granddaughter Mindy in center, Mindy's fiance, Ian, on left

and her little boy Roman, beside Aunt Roma

When I cleaned out a box that we moved here 20 years ago, here are just a few of the things that I found. ...pictures, vacation plans, house plans

Our Sweet Kitty with a fresh bouquet from Aunt Roma's flower gardens.

Neal's 35th birthday, celebrated with kids @ Sandy Church

Picture Time

2010-06-08T22:21:00.002-05:00

I am so behind with pictures....after this computer spent a month in the shop and came back with a new life, there have been challenges! They were able to move pictures from the old hard drive to this one, but they are all in different places than before! As I add new ones, I am trying to organize, but it is going to take awhile.

I just did something new and that was add a video...I don't think it is exactly right, but if you click on the arrow it will play. I used the video mode on my Kodak Easy Share that all my other pictures are taken with.

Several weeks ago Erin coaxed family members out in the field for ball practice. Ashton's boyfriend Charlies is a good pitcher and being especially careful with Granny Hodges, who has a wicked batting arm!

Sunday Afternoon Ball Practice

2010-06-08T22:06:00.003-05:00

Dogwood Acres, 05/31/10

2010-06-07T08:38:00.000-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 05/31/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Yard sale is over, tables put away, leftovers boxed up for the Pregnancy Clinic fundraiser and we are almost back to normal. It was a good weekend and Rick is so very pleased to have sent our stuff home with many of you. From what I heard, the other three yard sales just about had a sellout too.

In addition to cleaning out the corners, the other benefit to a yard sale is getting to visit with friends, family and neighbors, both near and far. There were people here from Arkansas, Oklahoma, West Plains, Theodosia, Bradleyville, Forsyth, Chadwick, Ozark, Crane, Branson, Cedarcreek and Spokane, just to name a few.

Pete and Lois Andela celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary with us on Saturday. Pete sat in the shade and visited with Rick while Lois shopped for the grandkids. We wish them many more years together.

Ashton and Erin were good helpers; we could not have made it without them. They were troopers and didn’t quit until the last box was packed and tables put away.

Jim and Dawn had a house full of company with her family from Oklahoma visiting for the weekend. I think there was a trip or two to Bull Creek being worked into their schedule of fun.

I was delighted to see my sweet cousins, Gay Lea Thomas and Anita Kay (Pete) White, come driving in on Saturday. Rick enjoyed showing the namesake dogs, Bud and Pete, to Anita Kay. Her late husband, Bud White, had given Rick his first Treeing Feists, which are pretty special to Rick.

Gay and Anita’s Aunt Anna Belle Dalton was here with son-in-law Mike Stenger early Saturday. Annie has had a tough time with some health issues, but looking good now!

After everything was over on Saturday, I was so bone tired that I could not imagine ever doing another yard sale. Today I am rested and looking around the house, notice a number of things that should have gone in the sale, so we will see what next year brings. Thanks to so many of you who came to shop and visit.

Late Saturday evening, Christie and Bill, Rick, Ashton, Erin and I drove down to Meadows Cemetery to decorate the graves of our loved ones. It is so beautiful and peaceful there and a great reminder to us of our heritage. I always point out the graves of their ancestors to our granddaughters wanting them to remember that they have deep roots in the Bull Creek Country. They counted on their fingers how many generations of "greats" there are.
Sunday was a big day for us as Ashton celebrated her 16th birthday. We got up early and stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast on our way to church at Sandy. They spent the afternoon with Turner family cousins at Squires and we celebrated her birthday after church Sunday night.

Neal grilled burgers and there was cake and ice cream to go with her birthday surprises. While Ashton was at our house for a few days, Neal and LeaAnn had made some changes at home giving Ashton a new bedroom with private bath and huge tiled shower. Our little girl has grown up way too fast.

Rick picked Ashton up from her last day at school on Thursday and she brought home a couple of awards certificates. One was for outstanding art, which did not surprise us as she continues to do amazing drawings all the time. The other was for Outstanding Academic Excellence, a President’s Education Awards Program. She was one of two students in the school to get this impressive award.

It is picnic time again in Taneyville with the annual picnic to be on Saturday, June 5. Fun starts at 10:00 a.m. and goes through the day, ending with a music filled evening. There are dozens of events planned, surely something for everybody, so grab a lawn chair and head on over. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 5/24/10

2010-05-25T22:44:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 05/24/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Yard sale time is rolling around and we are all working hard to be ready for it. Ads have been put in the paper, Christie is making signs and flyers and we are all cleaning out the corners. Rick encouraged me to donate all of our stuff to a fundraising yard sale that LeaAnn will be having at the Options Pregnancy Clinic in Ava. He thought that would be easier, but I don’t think he realizes how many trips he would have to make to get it all there. We always have things left over and will still be able to donate. I think their sale is in June.

Rick is mowing and weedeating so our place looks decent. He swept out the garage so that I can begin stashing everything there for Friday morning. We are just hoping the day starts off dry.

Sean said Madison cleaned out her toy box, hoping to make some spending money. Brother Jim said they have everything that Wal-Mart has at 3X the rollback price. Fran and Pat are still in the moving-in and combining household sale stages so have a big variety. I am truly trying to let go of "stuff" that I will probably need the week after it is all gone.

There are four separate sales, so make sure you give yourself plenty of time to shop. From Forsyth, take H Hwy off 160 and you should see the first sign in about 7 miles. Coming from Chadwick, the first sign will be at the Taney Co. Line. Sales begin at 7:00 a.m. Friday morning.

You may remember that Uncle Bill and Aunt Roma celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on April 16 with a cake and party at Wedgewood Gardens. This past Saturday we attended a family dinner in their honor at Dobyns Dining Room at The Keeter Center at College of the Ozarks. Their daughter, Marilyn, and her family came from Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Marilyn had made them a lovely scrapbook filled with pictures and mementoes of their 50 years together.
When asked for advice on a successful marriage, Uncle Bill said to love each other and love the Lord. They have certainly done that and are an inspiration.

Aunt Wanetta was there with her sweet neighbor, Lorie Rock. Lori’s husband, Jacob, had taken Uncle Roscoe to the Emergency Room for treatment of hives. I talked to Uncle Ros on Monday and he said he had no idea that hives could be so painful, but is getting better.
Aunt Wanetta is celebrating her 88th birthday this week; finally catching up with Uncle Ros who already turned 88.

Our family has a lot of May birthdays, Marty Bilyeu and his son, Dakota, Neal Crum and then, Ashton Crum and Makaylee Tilley, both turning Sweet Sixteen. Happy Birthday dear ones. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 5/17/10

2010-05-25T22:40:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 05/17/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. We had a quiet weekend with the girls, no TV as they were both on computers and Rick was studying. Erin has discovered Facebook and is quite the little chatter box. Ashton does not usually spend much time with Facebook, but planted crops on Farmville and had to harvest before church Sunday morning.

I left the house a couple of times Saturday to show property then stopped to see Jim and Dawn. Dawn had her dining table piled high with loot that is going in the garage sale next week, May 28 & 29.

I never saw Christie, but when I called she was cleaning out kitchen cabinets. Fran already has tons of stuff boxed up, so I think we are going to have some good stuff.

Sunday afternoon was the annual Mother’s Day Fish Fry at Sandy Church. After rain had poured most of the day, the men took the fryers over to Bob Siler’s garage, and then brought the "good stuff" to church for dinner at 4:00 p.m. They always do a good job and we ladies sure appreciate all they do.

Patsy Ayers sent an email to let me know that their daughter, Debra Gibbs, was inducted into Alpha Sigma Lambda at Drury on April 23. She graduates in August with an English degree. With two kids and a job, Debra is one hard working lady; no wonder her mom and dad are so proud.

I have a big newsy message from JoAnn Rice to share with you. After having breast cancer surgery in November, she finished with infusion chemo 3 weeks ago. Now she is on the 5 yr. chemo pill once a day with tests scheduled in September to see if she is a cancer survivor. JoAnn says, "God is so good…chemo can hit you mentally, emotionally and physically, but it can’t spiritually. No matter what they take from my body, they can’t take God from me".
LaDona and Ananda visited JoAnn and her mom recently; there was lots of hugs and fun being together. LaDona is still in Kentucky and is a counselor at the Woman's Crisis Center there and loves it. Ananda's job with the International Gaming Commission keeps her living in Mississippi. Plans are for them to spend their next time together with LaDona flying to Mississippi to celebrate the big one, her 50th birthday, with Ananda. Mom (Henrietta) is still crocheting and knitting and loves all the attention she gets from the family there in Michigan. There is a 4 mo. Old great-great-granddaughter that also brings a lot of joy to this 97-year old Grandma.
To keep busy, JoAnn started a new mission at church to send coupons to Servicemen and their families overseas to use at the commissary. She also joined a group of church ladies making quilts for children in trauma or serious illnesses. She says she keeps her mind and hands busy and out of trouble. I love getting letters from JoAnn and know that she misses friends and family here. JoAnn says, "We know God had plans for us (Jeramiah 29:11) when we moved to Michigan.....we love living by family, but we miss everyone back in Missouri".

I saw Vicky Bilyeu at the grocery store and she was telling me about their son, Dallas, and his new guitar. He saved his money and bought a butterscotch yellow Fender Squier Telecaster. She said he plays with Elzy every night and is getting really good.

Rick and I were surprised Wednesday afternoon by a visit from his cousins, Hazel Spurgeon and Connie Riddle. The girls always enjoy coming back to Taney County and we are glad they stopped by. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 05.09.10

2010-05-15T20:41:00.002-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 05/09/10, ELANE CRUM Hello friends. My whole Mother’s Day weekend has been special, starting out with dinner with our granddaughters on Friday evening. Rick had helped Neal put in cabinets and then picked Ashton and Erin up after school. I was coming from work in Branson and met them for Mexican food in Forsyth. They spent the weekend with us and made beautiful cards for LeaAnn on Saturday. Erin and I took a drive around the neighborhood Saturday evening stopping at Bob and Rhonda Bowman’s, Pat and Fran Robertson’s and the Biggs’ family. Fran gave us a tour of their beautiful new home. It is so pretty and they have a breathtaking view of the Swan Creek Valley and beyond. My brother Jim was working in his sugar cane patch when we first went by. I planned to stop and see it on our way home, but he had gone back to the house. After we got home from dinner Friday evening Rick loaded his fishing gear up and went to the fishing hole. Before he left I asked him to bring a cardboard box up from the garage. It had sat on a shelf since we moved here in 1991 and was labeled, “Pictures, etc. from Rick’s desk”. I spent hours going through it discovering memories and dreams. Among the found items was pictures thought lost, Travel Brochures from trips we hoped to take and calendars that chronicled the days of our lives. 1988 was a big year for new babies with two litters of beagles; Julie had four and Frannie (guess who she was named after) had five. The red letter birth of the year was not a beagle, but my nephew “Colby” born on Dec. 22. 1989 and 1990 did not have any red letter days, but lots of school activities and birthdays. Mother’s Day was special as once again I was reminded how privileged and blessed I am to be a Mother and a Grandmother. I think God blessed me extra special. Sunday afternoon we went to Adams Funeral Home in Ozark to attend visitation for Thelma Walker. She passed away on Thursday at the age of 88. I think it was such a sad way for her family to spend Mother’s Day. They know she is in Heaven and hold fast to the hope of seeing her there some day. I saw Aunt Bonnie Bilyeu’s picture today on Facebook, celebrating Mother’s Day with nieces and nephews at Silver Dollar City. Karla and Dwayne with their kids and grandkids chauffeured her around the City in a wheel chair. Surely she was the prettiest 91-year old auntie there. We had a workday at Meadows Cemetery on Thursday with a fine group who replaced the fence damaged by the big Oak tree that blew down last spring. Walt and Kathy Riggan headed up our crew with the use of his antique tractor and Kubota, which came in handy to pull out some of the stubborn roots from the old tree. Others on the fencing crew were Don Bilyeu, James Hilton, Danny Frazier and Rick Crum. There was a surprise visit from Jean DeWitt Walker with her sons, Jim and Rick, who had come to decorate her folks’ graves. It was so good to see them and gave us an excuse to take a break and visit for a little while. Thursday night Rick and I went to Erin’s Spring Concert at Plainview School. She and her classmates have grown up so much this year. She has three more years at Plainview and then it is off to high school. A yard sale in our neighborhood is planned for Friday, May 28, and Saturday, May 29. There is still a lot of work to be done before we are ready. I have several boxes of things started and other things just waiting to be priced and put out. Looking back at pictures when we first moved in this house, there was so much less “stuff” and “clutter”. I am still thinking about simplifying and getting rid of that “stuff”. Bye for now.

Mother's Day

2010-05-10T22:48:00.003-05:00

Rick, Ashton and Erin in front of my new car. Ashton drove to church...yes, all the way. She is a very good driver. PaPa sat in front and gave occasional professional advice. Erin and I took a nap on the long drive. After church Erin drove from PaPa and Granny Hodges mailbox to the house. She did a good job too.

Meadows Cemetery

2010-05-06T23:39:00.004-05:00

Here is a picture of fellows who helped put up new fence across the front of Meadows Cemetery today. It was a beautiful day; we had a great team of workers and surprise visitors. Watch for more pictures in a few days.
L to R: James Hilton, Don Bilyeu, Rick Crum, Danny Frazier, Walt Riggan

Dogwood Acres, 05/03/10

2010-05-06T23:34:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 05/03/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Saturday was a stay-at-home & work-in-the-yard day. Actually Rick does all of the mowing and weed-eating while my job is flower-beds. Every year I add a few Perennials that do not require much attention. So far this year there are hostas, cannas and others that I do not remember the name of; got them from Betty and Steve Petersen who live down Y Hwy, just past Curtis St. and by Uncle Bill and Aunt Roma’s yellow house. I had stopped to take new listing pictures of the yellow house which is for sale and found Betty working in her flowers. I hardly realized what I was doing, but next thing I knew the whole back of my car was full of pots.
Steve has been balancing turkey hunting and fishing, although I am not sure which was the most productive. Dave Stewart and Bobby Joe Bilyeu had been down for an evening of fishing. As much fun as those three had, I don’t know how they managed to catch any fish.
I also saw Dave’s mom, Edith Stewart, not long ago. I was taking listing pictures of a house in her neighborhood, when she drove by on her way into town. Edith is amazing, 93, I think she told me and still driving anywhere she needs to go.
Saturday evening I visited my neighbors, starting at Justin and Kasie’s. Kasie works nights so was still sleeping, but Justin was working in the garden. Next stop was Jim and Dawn’s, where I found Jim strolling around the meadow looking for wild strawberries; only found a few under the pine trees. From there I went to Bill and Christie’s where only Bill was at home. On my way home, I swung back into Justin’s and said HI to Mike Stenger and Brody who had walked over for a visit. Brody is Joe Allen’s granddaughter and likes visiting Uncle Mike and Aunt Joyce.
Justin and Kasie have new kittens, bringing the cat count at their house up to nine. Finally, someone has more cats than Rick and I! On my last leg home, I glimpsed Ken and Nita Puchta out for a twilight stroll. Ken called our house today to let us know they have two kittens that are ready for homes. One is a white female bob-tail with blue eyes and the other is a tortoise shell male with a long tail.
After visiting all the neighbors and finally getting to bed Saturday night, seemed I had barely dozed off when the phone rang. It was well after midnight when a ringing phone usually means bad news and I hated to answer. Guess it was a good thing as a young lady we know had run out of gas on a sharp corner close to our house. Her husband was on his way with a gas can but we got there first with enough gas to start her car and get it out of the road. She pleaded with me to not put her name in the paper, so unless someone pays me very well, I will respect her wishes. She was not doing anything illegal or immoral, just on her way home from work and had failed to check the gas gauge.
I talked to Aunt Wanetta Keithley and got to hear about that sweet great-grandson, Brody LeRos Baker, born on Jan. 17. Brody weighed 9 lbs, 7.5 oz and I do believe he has the whole family wrapped around his little finger.
Little Fox has been working in the yard with Rick all day and they are ready to hit the hay now. We just learned that she has been socializing when we are gone. Mike Stenger said she came to his house to play with Dow and Helen Thompson’s cat, also visiting at his house. He was good enough to bring her home and we are more watchful about her time outside.
Ken Puchta is also taking care of neighborhood cats. The tortoiseshell mama who had kittens in his shed belongs to Justin and Kasie. For three weeks he has also been visited by a gray cat which turns out to belong to Bob and Rhonda Bowman. Fortunately our neighborhood watch program usually gets most of our animals back to their rightful owners. Bye for now.

Sandy Church-Building Begins

2010-05-01T23:11:00.006-05:00

First Shovel of Dirt by Senior Deacon, Stan Humbyrd. Left to Right:
Frances Humbyrd, former Pastor, Brad Siler, Deacon, Stan Humbyrd, Deacon and Pastor Neal Crum

This was our Sunday night crowd who attended the business meeting
where Pastor Neal showed final building plans.

Here are pictures that I took at church a couple of weeks ago. The very next day construction began, forever changing the physical appearance of our church. This building will stay and be used for classrooms and fellowship hall. The new building will set just to the left and be connected by a hall about where the second window is.

Dogwood Acres, 04/26/10

2010-05-01T23:08:00.000-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 04/26/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends.. When Mother was living and literally “penned” this article each week, she once told me that sometimes she had to just get the first line written before she could think of anything else to write. This is one of those days. I have now written the first line, so what is next?
We were just on the edge of the storm that came through our area Saturday. On one side of our house are the two tall Pines that we love so much. On the other side is the tall and very dead Oak tree that Neal and his friends used to swing from. Every time there are storm warnings we wonder if this will be the day that one of those trees fall on our house.
Sunday morning we drove Lone Star Road on our way to church and saw where a couple of trees had already been sawed out of the road. Clell and Dean Smithson had another huge limb blown off the tree in their front yard. That tree must have 9 lives, or at least 9 limbs, as every storm that comes through seems to take another limb down.
Ashton and Erin were here this weekend. I had hoped to let them help me work in the yard, but the weather squelched that fun. We did finally go to Branson and did some shopping and they saved PaPa Rick a ton of money. I love the way the stores print the $$ amount saved on the receipts.
The Walk for Life sponsored by Options Pregnancy Clinic in Ava was a resounding success. LeaAnn was thrilled to have 75 walkers there and a good amount of money was raised.
Turkey season is still keeping our men busy. Sean Tilley got a nice big bird with an 11” beard. Someone stole Rick’s turkey blind, it would appear that they came in from County Line Road or maybe Round Mtn. Rd. It’s not like that was the only place he could hunt, but sure doesn’t make one feel too good about hunters who visit our woods. That is not the first blind that has been swiped down there, so someone is making a good haul.
I got an email from Bill Edwards asking me to share this information about the 90th Forsyth Alumni Banquet:
The 90th Forsyth Alumni Banquet will be held Saturday, May 29, 2010 in the Forsyth High School cafeteria. Registration and visitation at 6 pm, eating at 7. Price is $10 each. Reservations are required for the meal. Call early, so we know how much food to order. Contacts are: Bill Edwards at 417-838-6178 or billdedwards@centurytel.net Barbara Hunter at 417-251-0506 or grannyonthego@basicisp.net Brenda Persinger at 417-794-3555 or forsyth5p@yahoo.com Teresa Hilliard at 417-335-0574 or teresahilliard@yahoo.com Dixie Wagner at 417-546-7285 or DixieW@co.taney.mo.us Helen Soutee at 417-546-7838 or HelenS@co.taney.mo.us

Dogwood Acres, 4/19/2010

2010-05-01T23:05:00.000-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 04/19/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Today is the first day of turkey season and Rick Crum bounded out of bed, seemingly full of energy and ready to call a big gobbler. I am working at home today so that I can be here to take a picture when he brings it in.
After suffering so much with his ribs, first one side and then the other side, he shuddered at the thought of pulling the trigger on a 12 gauge shotgun, but God is good. Sometimes things happen that can only be described as from “the hand of God”. When you see Rick, ask him about it…what happened and when the pain left.
The “hand of God” also was with Tanja and Dakota last week. They were setting at a stop sign when a young woman driving a pickup rear-ended them, then bounced off and hit two other vehicles. Tanja’s SUV was totaled, she had lots of bruises and Dakota has a broken arm. With his right arm in a cast Dakota feels pretty bad about missing out on softball.
Rick and I spent Friday and Saturday at the 128th Annual Session of White River Association of General Baptists at Taneyville. It was good to spend time with our extended church family and hear good news from sister churches throughout our area.
Tracy Frazier Fischer was telling me about their trip to the State FFA Convention in Columbia where they watched Ethan get the State FFA degree. This is quite an honor as only 2% of the FFA members in the state of MO received this award and he was the only one from Forsyth to earn it. I think Ethan was just a little sad to realize this would be his last FFA convention as he will graduate next month.
Bill Biggs and Sean Tilley are mixing a little fishing up with turkey season while Bill is on vacation this week. I saw them Saturday with some nice big white bass and walleye.
We spent Sunday afternoon with our family at Bill and Mary Lou’s Douglas Co. farm. The goats were not there, but we are told they are growing by leaps and bounds. Erin is getting ready for softball and talked the others into playing out in the field. Charlie is a good pitcher and with some coaching Erin was cracking some pretty good hits. Mary Lou has a good hitting arm and seldom missed.
The landscape at Sandy Church is changing as we enter into a building program this week. The new building will have a Sanctuary and basement which will have some classrooms and an office for the pastor. It will sit just to the left of our current building and the two will be connected by an enclosed breezeway. Our current building will continue to serve us well with classrooms and a larger fellowship hall. It is an exciting time of growth for us. Bye for now.

Friday night with our girls

2010-04-24T00:10:00.001-05:00

PaPa Rick picked Erin up at school and went by the kids' house to get a knife from Neal. He swapped for a family heirloom...pocket knife that Rick gave to Daddy 30 years ago. When Daddy passed away it was passed to Neal and now Rick has it back. He will get a lot of joy from it and Neal knows that someday he will get it back again.

Erin came home with Rick but Ashton went with Charlie to the FFA Barnwarming. The three of us just hung out here at home watching TV, Erin playing games on my little red laptop and I looked at old pictures. Erin especially enjoyed the one I found of her Daddy when he was a teenage actor. Yep...really! He was the Sammy Lane Pirate and a mighty good one too.

Charlie brought Ashton home and we got to hear all about the Barnwarming...He had never driven to our house before and depending on Ashton's directions, in the dark no less, probably had not a clue just where he ended up.

Charlie has gone on home, Rick is in bed, girls have gone to bed, but I am staying up to make sure Erin goes to sleep okay. She had forgotten her inhaler; I got her a Pepsi, which seems to help when the asthma acts up. I think she is asleep now, so I can call it a night.

Dakota's Turkey

2010-04-22T08:39:00.002-05:00

My great-nephew, Dakota Ray Bilyeu, age 13
Dakota bagged a "huge" turkey in the youth hunt, 23.5 lbs with an 11 in. beard. He decided not to have it mounted, said he will wait until he gets a big one! This boy knows how to dream big!

Technology Trials

2010-04-22T08:25:00.004-05:00

Technology Issues

I apologize for not keeping up with regular posts this month. Although there are 3 computers (Rick says 4) in our house, my old faithful desktop is in the shop. It is the one where I store everything and without it I have been kinda lost. Repair shop told me there was shipping issues with the power supply (apparently mine uses an odd size..not surprising since the 'puter is old); hoping to have it back before the weekend.

I managed to find most of Dogwood Acres on this laptop and will catch up with the missing one when "Old Faithful" comes home again.

Loving this rainy morning in Taney County...great day for listing a cabin on Bull Shoals...Watch my website for it!

Dogwood Acres, 4/12/10

2010-04-22T08:19:00.003-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 04/12/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Eating off the land…started the morning off with Venison roast in crock-pot and Rick added potatoes and carrots at the appropriate time. When I got home from work, it was all tender and ready to eat. It didn’t take long to “whop” a can of oversized biscuits and slide them into the oven. While the biscuits baked, I sliced five, yes, I did say “five”, small Morel Mushrooms into small circles. Amazingly, they did fill a skillet and we enjoyed this tasty delicacy.
Mushroom hunters are rising to the challenge and most are working really hard to find a good mess of mushrooms. Bessie and Brenda said they walked 45 miles to find 48 mushrooms. Rick made several trips into the woods before finding five little Morels huddled on a soft pond bank. I saw Kathy Tilley in the grocery store this evening and she said they had found seven. Rick thinks the mushrooms need more rain, but this week looks rather dry.
I talked to Uncle Bill and Aunt Roma today. She said they enjoy the beautiful view from their room at Wedgewood Gardens and love all the people there, very much like a big family. They do get out in the big brown Cadillac and can be seen traveling in the Forsyth area from time to time.
They will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary later this week on April 16. I know they would love to be surprised with a card shower from their many friends. The mailing address is Mr. & Mrs. Bill Smith, c/o Wedgewood Gardens, 17996 St Hwy 13, Reeds Spring, MO 65737.
This weekend was a big one for the young turkey hunters in our area. I heard that Abigail Biggs got her first turkey, a nice one with ten ¼” inch beard.
Dakota Bilyeu got an extra nice bird, the big old gobbler weighed 23 ½ lb and had an 11” beard. Sean said Dakota packed that big bird out of the woods all by himself although his insulated bibs was getting pretty warm. Someone asked why he was not going to have it mounted and he said he would wait until he gets a big one. Uncle Sean is real proud of Dakota, said the one thing he learned is not to give up on a hunt until you are back to the 4-wheeler.
When I stopped at Christie’s after work on Saturday, she was making gravy to go with the buttermilk biscuits that she and Madison had made from scratch. Maddy got her fingers in the dough and learned just how it is supposed to feel. She even tasted the baking powder and told me it was “nasty”.
The neighborhood coffee club met at Chuck and Pam Taylor’s Thursday morning, breaking the Saturday tradition, but sounded like they had a good time. Several of the ladies were there and Rick said everyone brought sweets. I had to be at work early and missed all of the fun.
Rick and I went out for our 42nd anniversary Friday evening. Although the anniversary was on April 4, he was too sick to go anywhere then. We had a nice dinner at Olive Garden and then went to the Baldknobber Show. It was their Area Appreciation show and the house was full. You would think with that many locals I would have seen someone I know, but for a change, Rick saw someone he knew. It was Junior Hensley, one of his Kraft truck driving buddies. They had a good visit and caught up with Kraft news.
We enjoyed the show immensely and loved seeing cousin Joy on stage. She enjoys singing so much and does such a good job of it.
Joy and her family are practicing for the 26th annual Bilyeu Family Concert at Ridgecrest Baptist in August. Her sweet husband posted one of the practice videos on Facebook, giving us a sneak peek at what is to come.
I called Rick’s mom in Oregon today to tell her she has new pictures to pick up Walgreen’s there in Cottage Grove. It is pretty neat to place a picture order online here in my living room and have it developed just down the street from her. That is quicker than mailing them and saves postage too. She is anxious to see pictures of the little goats, oh, and the granddaughters too, I am sure! Bye for now.

Have You Outgrown Your Home?

2010-04-16T22:25:00.002-05:00

I used to use granddaughters pictures in my real estate ads in the local newspapers. Just for fun we recently took this in front of Cousin Madison's playhouse. The caption would be something like: "If you have outgrown your home, call our Grandma Lanie to help you find a new one". With the tax credits expiring April 30, this is a good time to make that call...

Our 42nd Wedding Anniversary

2010-04-16T22:17:00.003-05:00

Our 42nd Wedding Anniversary. Rick has been sick and did not dress for the occasion. Last week when he began to feel better we did go out...Olive Garden for dinner and then to the Baldknobbers Show. It was a nice evening.

Farm Kids

2010-04-13T22:47:00.003-05:00

Our kids have added two new "kids" to the family. Lily and Willy are sweet babies who will grow up and produce a herd of milk goats. For now, they sleep in the chicken pen and follow their people family around like doting puppy dogs. When they walk across the back fields to PaPa and Granny Hodges, the goats jump along with them and may get to spend a little time among the hay bales while at the farm.

Charlie and Erin brought Lily and Willy inside to visit PaPa Rick on Easter Sunday. They have their Easter finery on...Lily is wearing a lavender head band; Willy is wearing a black bow-tie.

Erin can carry them now, but they will grow to be 3 ft tall.

I think the pictures are backward as this is the first time I met Lily and Willy. They have definitely grown since then.

Easter Greetings

2010-04-04T00:38:00.000-05:00

This digital greeting card customized with Smilebox

Dogwood Acres, 3/29/10

2010-04-01T22:55:00.000-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 03/29/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. It may be safe to say that the wrath of winter is behind us as we look forward to brighter days. My first bright spot of spring is our Forsythia, which is an early bloomer. Now the Jonquils are wide-awake, a few Sarvis Berry trees are beginning to lighten the woods and Redbuds will soon open.

Tulsa friends, D.C. & Carol Reynolds, were here this weekend hoping to see Dogwoods, but I told them to come back in about three weeks. While D.C. and their son, Tommy Smith, were trout fishing, Carol drove out and visited with us. Trout were not biting so D.C. called Carol to come pick him up. While she was gone, I made spaghetti, Grands’ Little Pies filled with strawberries and raspberries, and we had good fellowship around the dinner table.

Neal and LeaAnn were gone this weekend, first had gone to Eureka Springs to celebrate their wedding anniversary. They came home, repacked and went to Kansas City where LeaAnn attended the Alliance for Life Conference. As Executive Director for Options Pregnancy Clinic in Ava, she gained valuable information and training in these sessions.

Ashton, Erin and “the kids” got to spend extra time with PaPa and Granny Hodges. When I went to pick them up Friday afternoon, Bill and Mary Lou were building new fence around the garden. Bill said the ground was just right, making it easy to drive new posts.

PaPa Rick is still wondering what “the surprise” is. I asked the girls if they didn’t think they could tell him, since he was hurting and not able to go see them. They had no mercy and said, “NO”.

Rick is still recuperating from the broken rib and bad cough that caused the whole catastrophe. He did drive to Save-A-Lot for dog feed and satisfied his craving for fish with canned tuna, sardines and frozen fish sticks.

I spent two days last week with my Realtor friends in Continuing Ed classes. That seemed to take a big chunk out of my week, but is necessary for license renewal.

Justin and Kasie have spring fever and are doing some landscaping around the log house. They trimmed the roses, laid some landscape timbers and using Kasie’s big pickup brought a load of gravel from the creek bank. Kasie showed me paint chips samples from which she is choosing a new color for the bathroom walls.

Their enthusiasm rubbed off on me …just a little; I came home from work and rearranged my deck furniture. Rick has been less than enthusiastic about some of the changes I have made, but after I got it all done decided it might be nice to have a table and chairs on the deck.

We watched a TV show about Hoarders, people who never throw anything away, including trash. While I do not think we have quite reached the extreme that those people have, there is a yard sale in our future. It will probably be a couple of months, but I will be sure to let you know.

Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 03/22/10

2010-04-01T22:47:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 03/22/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Spring break is over and fortunately, our kids did not have another snow day. We watched the radar, only slightly hoping to get some of the snow that came so close. My first day of spring was spent showing property all day in the rain. It was not so bad and you got to figure that people who want to look in the rain are not just sightseeing.

I picked Ashton and Erin up Thursday afternoon and we went to Yakov’s Moscow Circus with others from our family. Our cousin, Alvie Davis and his wife, Judy, were visiting in Branson and we met them there. Christie and some of her bunch joined us for a fun evening.

It was an early show and we were out in time to go down to The Landing. The girls were looking for new Easter dresses and we walked from one end to the other without finding anything. I was exhausted when we finally got home, but had to be ready to go again Friday morning.

Friday was a shopping day in Springfield and they found everything they needed. It was 6:00 p.m. when we got home and threw a pot of spaghetti on the stove. Neal and LeaAnn came over for the evening and brought “the surprise” with them. For over a week, the kids had been telling us they had a surprise, so this was really exciting and so much fun. Seeing all four of them and “the surprise” load up in the pickup to go home was quite a hoot.

They had to leave before Rick came home from fishing, so now I have to keep their secret until he knows all about it (them). There is more than one.

Rick has been coughing for weeks now, but Friday was sunny and warm and he just had to go white bass fishing. Olin and Janie Tilley were fishing near him and sounded like they had a fun evening. After finally catching three white bass and coughing his head off, he came on home. Only minutes after getting home, he had a coughing spell that apparently broke a rib, leaving him in a world of hurt. Everyone has told him there is nothing to be done but just tough it out.

Our neighbor, Marguerite Sloan, had hip surgery last week and is back home recovering quite nicely. I talked to her daughter, Rhonda Bowman, who said she is not even using her walker. I imagine she will be riding her mule again soon.

Rick took Jeff and Janet Dalton to Fayetteville, AR, on Tuesday for checkup on Jeff’s knees. Jeff has been a good patient, doing everything the Dr. told him and got a good report. I have never gone with them on a Dr. trip, but sounds like they always manage to have a good time. This time their good times caught up with them when a cop pulled them over for not wearing seat belts.

Rick’s mom celebrates her 87^th birthday this week. Wish we could be there, but it will be summer before that trip is made. Plane tickets are already purchased for all of us except Rick who plans to drive so he can take Little Fox and stay as long as he wants. The kids and I are excited to be flying out of Branson into Denver and from there to Portland. Happy Birthday Mom! Bye for now.

Davis Cousins

2010-03-17T22:54:00.002-05:00

Jim, Dawn and I visited with our cousin, Alvie Davis and wife Judy, in Branson Tuesday night.

Dogwood Acres, 03/15/10

2010-03-17T22:51:00.001-05:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 03/15/2010, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Another week gone and we are only a couple of weeks away from April. Rick continues to hear about Walleye and White Bass catches, but he is waiting for warmer weather.
Ashton Crum went to the Beta Club Convention in Branson Friday and Saturday, so Erin was little Miss Lone Ranger at our house. We got out Saturday, did some shopping and went to see Aunt Roma and Uncle Bill in Branson West. To our surprise, they were not there because he was in Skaggs Hospital. We backtracked and visited him in the hospital before coming on home. He left the hospital on Monday and surely is glad to be back in his own easy chair.
After we got home, Erin challenged me to a game of Pickup Sticks. She discovered them among her Daddy’s old games recently and is really getting quite good. It did not take too many rounds before she realized that I was easy to beat, so she began trying to beat herself. I think her high score so far has been 731.
Jim and Dawn visited us Saturday night. While Dawn looked up some things on the internet, Jim went through the old pictures that I borrowed from Rita Roberts. Looking at old pictures of our Davis grandparents and great-grandparents was fun as we tried to figure out whose chin we had. We always thought it was Granny Nettie’s chin, but now not so sure.
If you remember, two weeks ago Jim and Dawn had gone “Mudding” with Justin and Kasie. Their latest adventure has been “Geocaching” with Chip and Debbie Dudden. Geocaching is a high-tech version of hide-and-seek where you explore the outdoors in search of hidden treasure. Chip and Debbie had come over to visit their dog that lives with Jim and Dawn and discovered one of these hidden treasures to be nearby in the Mark Twain Forest.
Rick and I went to visitation and funeral for Patsy Kenyon. There was a big crowd at both, with standing room only at Lone Star Church. David Koenig, Pastor at Lone Star, preached the funeral sermon and did such a good job.
I saw Hobert Collins last week and he gave me a flyer announcing the Third annual Alzheimer’s Gospel Sing. It will be Saturday, April 3, from 6:00-9:00 p.m. at Taney Center. Bob Hammon and Wildwood will be there, along with other good singers.
Today someone faxed me news about a Retirement Social for Dr. Roston and Judy. It will be April 17 from 1:00-5:00 p.m. in the multi-purpose room at Forsyth school. There will be a “Roast” early in the afternoon and socializing later. There must be many stories and memories to share of how Doc and Judy helped you and your family. Their friends ask that you write some of these stories down and bring them in an envelope.
Last week seemed to bring buyers and sellers out of and into the woods. I have climbed steep banks, walked beneath tall Pines, and jumped over logs, all the while, being thankful that it is not tick and chigger season. On the other hand, black bears will be crawling out of their caves some warm day soon so I will keep a sharp eye out for them. Bye for now.

PICKUP STICKS

2010-03-14T07:48:00.002-05:00

I recently introduced Erin to Pickup Sticks...the same ones that I played with her Daddy when he was a kid. Wow, I had forgotten how much concentration it can take. She took the challenge and after realizing it did not take much to beat me, began to work on beating her own best score. Top Score so far is 731!

Dogwood Acres, 03/08/10

2010-03-08T13:53:00.001-06:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 03/08/10, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. Our 5th/6th grade basketball season ended Friday night at Taneyville. Plainview girls got 2nd place and Plainview boys got 1st place. They all played really hard and we had fun spending ballgame time with friends and family. Erin Crum had a big cheering section Friday night with both sets of grandparents, Neal and LeaAnn, Ashton and Charlie, Uncle Jim and Aunt Dawn, Uncle Martin and Aunt Amy, and cousins, Colby Biggs, Makaylee and Madison Tilley.
Janice Wolf is the first person we see at a Taneyville game as she sells the tickets that let us inside! Thursday night she had news about the new grandbaby and on Friday night had a picture of this precious little one with red curls. Rich and Heidi’s little girl, Shelbi Dawn, came about 8 weeks early on 03/03, weighing 3lbs, 3 oz. We are happy for them and will continue to pray for Shelbi and Heidi.
We sat with Jay Gideon one night and learned that Casey and Quentin have been fishing and getting some nice Walleye. In addition to fishing, the kids also went shopping for Brenda’s birthday surprise. They went all the way to Clinton, AR, and brought home an itty-bitty dachshund puppy.
Kaitlyn Gideon had a fender-bender in Forsyth when someone rear-ended her pretty red mustang. She was at the ballgame Friday night, said she had some sore spots but is going to be okay.
Bill and Christie Biggs went to Fair Grove Saturday to watch granddaughter, Vanessa Bilyeu, play with Blue Eye’s Lady Bulldogs in the District Finals. We stayed home and listened to the radio and cheered for Vanessa’s 3-3 pointers! Springfield Catholic took first place, but we are proud of the Lady Bulldogs and the great season they had.
My goal on Saturday was to work on income taxes and I made a good start. I can never get it done in one setting,
Charlie Edwards had a birthday Saturday, his 16th, so I think a driver’s test is on his schedule for this week. We have ridden with him and know he is a good driver.
Kasie Bilyeu Fisher came to see me Saturday morning and I got the whole dirty scoop on last week's "Mudding" adventure. Justin and Kasie took Jim and Dawn out in their jeep to play in the mud on Garrison Ridge Road. They had a blast splashing through huge mud puddles and tried “one more” just before dark. The jeep did not make the crossing, but buried down to the frame. No amount of rocking back and forth would budge it, so they walked. With no cell phones, they were relieved to find someone at home after walking only 1 ½ miles. Fortunately, there was someone with a big truck and thirty-foot chain that pulled them out. He said it was the worst he had ever seen.
After leaving my house on Saturday, Kasie and her kayak were off to Lake Taneycomo for some water adventure. Oh, to be young and full of energy!
Neal was at our house Thursday to finish out some hickory trim on the new bathroom cabinet and gave the kitchen deck a facelift with new balusters all around. After living with it for 20 years, Rick said he didn’t know why he never thought of doing it before. It just takes a wife to have good ideas and see that they are carried through!
Our hearts are heavy for the Kenyon and Cook families. Patsy Cook Kenyon passed away Thursday evening from complications due to having a kidney stone removed. Visitation will be at Whelchels in Forsyth on Monday from 6-8:00 p.m.; the funeral will be at 1:30 on Tuesday at Lone Star Church. Patsy was a vital part of our Lone Star community and will be missed. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 03/01/10

2010-03-08T13:46:00.001-06:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 03/01/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Ricky Lee and Roger Dee are celebrating a birthday on Wednesday; they have already talked on the phone congratulating one another on a long life and lamenting the years of their youth. I told Rick we would go out to eat for his birthday every day this week; we’ll see how that goes.

Granddaughter Erin played in the Plainview Tournament last week, so we made that trek three nights for ballgames and on Wednesday night for church. We also tried to watch the Olympics, but most nights saw only the last hour or two.

Both girls came home with us after the Friday night game and we bounced out of bed early on Saturday to attend the 2010 Walk for Wishes with our friend Dane Humbyrd. The walk, held at Battlefield Mall, was to raise funds for the Make a Wish Foundation. It was definitely a great experience and a wonderful way to make memories with our church family.

After the walk was over, there was shopping to be done. After all, one cannot expect to take two girls to the mall and leave without shopping. Nor, can it be expected to find everything you need at one store, so we walked and walked some more. All in all the day was a success with Ashton finding shoes that pleased her and Erin finding beads for a new necklace. Oh yes, visits to two different bead stores rounded out our shopping trip.

I got reports that a Bilyeu Family Christmas party was held on Sunday afternoon. It was not ours; we did manage to do it before Christmas, but the offspring of Hosea and Thelma Bilyeu, that gathered at Rick and Gay Lea Thomas’ home. One of the kids put a video on Facebook and it reminded me of the Christmas parties we used to crash at Uncle Hosea and Aunt Thelma’s. There was singing with kids and grandkids from seven to 70+ singing songs about Heaven.

Just a few weeks ago when Neal and LeaAnn spent an evening with us, we watched videos that I took of Uncle Hosea playing the guitar and singing at a family Christmas in their Taneyville home. Sweet, sweet memories….glad there are new ones being made and thankful for Flip Video and Facebook that let me peek in the living room window.

The H Hwy Pink Ribbon Mystery has been solved. Perhaps I am not the only one who wondered why there was an array of pink ribbons tied around the “Old Pine Tree” near Leon and Connie Hammond’s driveway. Leon had no yellow ribbons, only pink, to welcome Connie home from her Vancouver hockey and Olympics adventure. As they say, “it is the thought that counts”.

Connie’s adventure was truly a mission from the heart as she shared her story of childhood polio and the challenges and opportunities that resulted. She accompanied daughter and family, Stephanie, Ross and 5-year old Caleb, and the Northern Lights Hockey Team from Bloomington, MN. Their team was invited to play exhibition games in British Columbia, participate in Olympic Torch ceremonies, speak in schools and raise money for polio vaccines as part of the Rotary International Polio Plus Campaign.

It was a strenuous trip with several modes of travel involved, including a ride in a wheelbarrow. I have enjoyed reading about the trip on their website,

www.athletevillage.com . Grandson Caleb has his own page filled with great pictures and stories of the trip through his five-year old eyes.

Glen and Patsy Kenyon’s granddaughter, Lorna Deskins, is taking off on a trip Tuesday morning. Now a sophomore at Jefferson High School in Boulder, MT, Lorna was nominated to represent her school and community at the National Young Leaders Conference in Washington D.C. Lorna’s family is so proud of her commitment and accomplishment. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 02/22/10

2010-03-08T13:37:00.001-06:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/22/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Both granddaughters stayed with us Friday and Saturday nights. Friday night we went to the revival at Taneyville Community Church, where it was good to worship with friends. Saturday was another sleep-in morning and we had a late breakfast of pancakes, sausage and gravy. Seems that everyone had been so busy that we had not seen much of our Dogwood Acres family lately, so we visited Jim and Dawn, Christie, Sean and Madison.

Jim was building a table for one of his saws and Dawn, having a little spring fever, was cleaning off the garden. She took time out to show Ashton and Erin all of the pretty necklaces she had made and then, helped them make their own. Both girls were happy with the new necklaces that matched their Sunday clothes.

At the Biggs’ house Grandma Christie was helping Madison put away crayons from a nice art project.

Bill Biggs enjoys telling friends that his wife Christie has retired...so they think she must be OLD enough to be retired. With 26 years at Bank of America Christie automatically qualified for a timely retirement program that allowed her to move on to the next chapter of her life. She is still among the employed as a Mortgage Banker with PrimeLending out of Dallas, Texas, although her office will be in Branson. If you've been trying to find her, she can be reached at 417.339.9888.

Neal and Sean worked on the log house again last week and I cooked for them. Their menu varied a little every day…Spitfire Venison Chili on Tuesday, Venison Stew on Wednesday, and fried Venison Loin Steak with gravy on Thursday.On Friday Rick made grilled cheese sandwiches to go with the week's leftovers. I think we will start this week with fish from the freezer.

I made Rick a batch of his favorite white fudge Saturday night. It is so easy, just used the recipe on marshmallow crème, but left out the chocolate chips. We like it with nuts, but left those out, so that Ashton and Erin would eat it. The girls will not eat anything with nuts or onions in it, surely they do not know what they are missing.

We went to one ballgame last week as Erin’s team, Plainview Cougars, played at Taneyville. This week we get to travel to Plainview for a tournament, then next week there will be a tournament at Taneyville. The games are always fun and we enjoy seeing old friends. Bye for now.

Dogwood Acres, 02/15/10

2010-03-08T13:27:00.005-06:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/15/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. We have had a good week and
Valentine’s weekend. Friday night Rick and I went to
the Homecoming game at Bradleyville and enjoyed
seeing all the kids dressed up for the dance. After
playing such hard games, I don’t know how the kids
had energy enough to dance. The girls fashion called
for high heels that I can no longer walk in, let
alone think of dancing in. I wanted to stay and
watch but my granddaughter made sure I knew that was
not allowed.
After years of Ashton and Erin coming to our house
after school on Fridays and spending the night, times
are changing. Since Ashton was staying for the
dance, we only had Erin for the weekend. We missed
Ashton, but Erin seemed to like having the computer
all to herself. Papa went to bed early but she and I
stayed up ‘til after midnight, watching TV and eating
popcorn.
We slept late on Saturday, then went to Forsyth
for lunch and on to Cedarcreek to take pictures of a
new listing. That turned out to be more fun than
they expected as we went to the lake for dock
pictures. Rick said if he lived that close to the
lake, he would fish every day. It was almost dark
when we got home, but his fishing fever was up. It
did not take long for him to load the fishing poles
and head out for a little Walleye fishing. He
caught his limit, but no keepers as they were all too
short.
Sunday was our monthly dinner day at church and
Sunday night was Fifth Sunday singing at Caney
Church. It had been scheduled for the last Sunday
night of January, but due to bad weather had been
rescheduled. With several churches participating,
the house was full and there was a lot of good
singing. When the service was over, we were all
surprised to see our cars covered with snow! It
snowed on us all the way home and most of Sunday
night, but was such a light, dry snow, that our roads
were not bad.
Weather was so beautiful Saturday when we were at
Bull Shoals Lake, but Sunday and Monday sure did a
flip-flop. Wearing my warmest boots and heavy winter
coat on Monday morning, I showed houses that were
vacant and had little or no heat on. Surely I was
thankful for a good car heater to take the chill off
and I never slowed down enough for the heat to put me
to sleep.
There is one more day of this cold weather before
a couple of days of warm sunshine to prepare us for
possibly more snow by the end of the week. The
neighborhood snowgirl finally melted apart and
toppled over, although, she held her shape much
longer than I expected. Bye for now.

2010 Walk for Wishes with Dane Humbyrd

2010-02-28T23:32:00.000-06:00

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Dogwood Acres, 02/08/10

2010-02-26T00:39:00.001-06:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/08/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Well, so what happened to the big snowstorm? I worked on the computer at home as the falling snow created a winter wonderland outside my windows, just never accumulated more than a couple of inches. I guess we should be relieved to not have all the inconvenience that comes with a blizzard.
Bill Hodges went squirrel hunting again last week and there was another platter full of fried squirrel for Sunday dinner, mashed potatoes and squirrel gravy too! Mary Lou always cooks a huge meal, but I usually try to take something. This Sunday I made lasagna and a cherry cheesecake, just like the ones Daddy used to make. Mary Lou had also made a cherry cheesecake, but using a different recipe, so they were not exactly alike.
After the kitchen was cleaned up, Bill and Mary Lou put on their farm boots and went out in the fields to catch a new calf. This little black one was the early bird of many more spring calves yet to come.
Saturday night Rick and I went to Clever to watch basketball. Marty’s daughter, Vanessa, plays with Blue Eye’s Lady Bulldogs and they were playing Sparta’s Lady Trojan’s for Tournament Championship. It was a good game, going into one overtime and Sparta won first place. Most of our Pine Ridge family was there to give our support to Vanessa and her team.
It was good to see an old Pine Ridge neighbor, Knial Iorg, who was there to support Sparta. We miss him on our ridge and were glad he looked us up to say “HI”.
I just heard that Earl Bradford passed away. He and Oleta were on vacation at Padre Island when he had a heart attack. Visitation will be at Healing River Worship Center (Oak Ridge) on Wednesday evening, 6-8 p.m. Memorial Service will be there on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. Earl and Oleta recently celebrated sixty years of marriage; he will be missed by his sweetheart and many, many relatives and friends.
Harold and Juanita Menzies brought a carload of giggly little girls to church Sunday morning. There was their two granddaughters and great-niece, Kambria Todd. Harold said he didn’t know three little girls could giggle so much.
We had the annual business meeting at Sandy Church last week and Neal Crum received unanimous vote to continue as Pastor. It hardly seems possible that this could be the beginning of his tenth year at Sandy; we are so thankful for God’s blessing on Neal and LeaAnn. Bye for now.

Windy Day @ Dogwood Acres

2010-02-26T00:35:00.002-06:00

Dogwood Acres, 02/01/10

2010-02-26T00:20:00.003-06:00

SNOW SCENE FROM OUR FRONT DOOR

NEIGHBORHOOD SNOW SCULPTURE - NOT IN MY YARD!!

DOGWOOD ACRES, 02/01/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. We survived the snowstorm and I enjoyed staying at home for an extra day. The 7 inches of snow that fell at our house was fluffy and light, never weighing down trees and power lines. Rick had filled several containers with water for drinking and flushing, but all amenities stayed in fine working order. Phone, TV and computer continued to work, so there was little to complain about.
Brown beans, fried potatoes and cornbread kicked off the first day’s menu. After that, leftovers and sandwiches took us through a couple of days until I fried white bass for a Sunday night snack.
There was a good crowd at Sandy Church Sunday morning as most roads were clear and Neal had cleaned off the parking lot. Sunday dinner at Bill and Mary Lou’s was served up, as usual, with fruit of the land and trees. I guess that squirrels could be considered fruit of the trees. There was a big mess of fried squirrel, squirrel gravy and mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, green beans, fluffy hot rolls and strawberry-rhubarb cobbler.
Monday morning I went to Combs Floor Covering to get a piece of vinyl for the log house bathroom and got a good fishing report from Norm. He has been putting a few Walleye in the freezer and that report may be just enough to give Rick Crum fishing fever.
In last week’s column, I had mentioned visiting with Rick Thomas at Spokane. Norm told me that he used to play fast pitch softball with the Thomas brothers and several others from Spokane. He mentioned the Pryor boys, Hosea and some other Bilyeu boys, also his cousins, the Combs boys from Spokane and probably others whose names I do not remember.
Neal was pleased with the piece of vinyl I brought back for the bathroom, so I was soon on my way to the office and he was tearing up Justin and Kasie’s bathroom. Kasie said it would be just like camping for the next few days as bathroom facilities will be outside.
I saw Ken Puchta helping Justin load some freshly cut firewood this morning, but when I came home tonight, it appeared they had been playing in the snow. There was a finely sculpted and molded snowgirl standing in Ken’s driveway, not far from County Line road. It was quite a shock and will be interesting to watch her melt away as tomorrow’s sun heats things up.
Kathy Bilyeu Idell sent me pictures of her daffodils peaking through the snow and that reminded me to watch for the first Trout Lilies of spring. There used to be a big patch of them out by our dog pen, so I will watch for them after the snow melts. Bye for now.

Snowy Sunday Smilebox

2010-01-31T23:56:00.003-06:00

This Sunday morning I chose to take the Hodge Hollow shortcut to church...this road I traveled to school...a church where I went to Sunday School...the log house where we lived one cold winter...we walked across the Bilyeu Creek Bridge to this store and the post office...neighbors...Those are my memories...please post your name and share some of your own...

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Dogwood Acres 01/25/10

2010-01-31T22:55:00.002-06:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 01/25/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. It is a blustery January day and everyone is dreading what could become an ice and snow event later this week. I find myself planning to get certain tasks done before that should happen. It is much easier to put signs into soft dry ground than to chisel through ice or snow.

I don't really mind being iced in at home because I can still work as long as there is electricity to run my computer. Well, time will tell about all that.

Today is Daddy's birthday and just so happened that some of the younger men in our family spent several hours working on his log house. For several years we have known that the bottom logs on the north end would need replacing and that time finally arrived. These boys were not yet born when Grandpa Clarence and Pa Bilyeu built the house, but they are sure getting their time in now. Wiggling under the house's low crawl space has had its challenges, but so far everyone has made it back out.

They had hoped to find some kind of treasures and were not disappointed. Grandpa Clarence's turkey tag from 1974 was found, still firmly attached to a turkey leg bone. Information on the tag stated that he weighed 150 lbs and the cost of the tag was $7.80.

If the boys ever wondered why there was such a small crawl opening, now we know that at 150 lbs,, their great-grandpa never had the same challenges they have in getting under the house.

My Uncle Walter Davis and Aunt Nadine called today and we had a good visit. He celebrated his 85^th birthday on Dec. 30 and was surprised to receive fifty birthday cards, many from old friends that he grew up with in these hills.

I found myself back in Spokane Saturday showing that same house for the third time, and, on my way home stopped to visit Rick and Gay Thomas. Gay Lea had gone shopping with Anita Kay, so I visited with Rick for a few minutes, then went on down the road to see Rita Roberts. She is one of the old gang that grew up with Uncle Walt and the rest of Mother's family. We had the best visit and just when I thought I would leave, spotted a picture album and ended up looking at pictures for the next three hours. She had a pot of Venison Chili and a pan of brownies, so we took time out for lunch. It was a good way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Cousin Ron Bilyeu lives just a few miles from us on the banks of Bull Creek and reported seeing an unusual wild animal today. "It appeared to be part dog/part coyote(Coydog?). Its coloration was that of a coyote; but it was furry like a shepherd. Legs were a reddish brown. Tail appeared to have been cut off at the halfway point. Had the head of a coyote. ???? It was definitely a wild animal." Those were his exact words and we know Ron is not one to exaggerate. I think his eyesight is still fairly good too, so have no doubt this is exactly what he saw. Hmmmm.... Bye for now.

TITANIC ICE SCULPTURE COMPETITION

2010-01-24T23:12:00.002-06:00

Ashton, Erin and I really enjoyed seeing the ice sculptures at the Titanic in Branson. This was one of the stops on our "Girl's Day Out".

Dogwood Acres, Jan 18, 2010

2010-01-23T22:59:00.002-06:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 01/18/2010, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. It seems to have been a very short week with little news. We did attend Erin’s first basketball game for the season at Plainview last Thursday night and enjoyed seeing the Cougars play. Third through sixth graders played, winning two of three games.

Rick helped Neal install a cabinet job in Springfield on Friday and then picked the girls up at school. They stayed with us until Sunday, so there was not a dull moment.

The girls went with me to show a house in Spokane early Saturday morning and from there we headed to Branson West and truly had a “girl’s day out”. Lunch was at Taco Bell, and then there had to be a stop at Wal-Mart where we saw Tanja and Vanessa Bilyeu, Tanja’s mom, Karen Badley, and Kim’s little boy.

Girls like makeup so we stopped at Wal-Green’s to see some new products. The lady at the cosmetic counter turned out to be Earlene Henry, who I remembered from Highlandville School about fifty years ago. It was fun seeing her and we had a good visit.

Earlene, who goes to church at Healing River Worship Center (formerly known as Oak Ridge), told me all about Earl and Oleta Bradford’s recent 60^th wedding anniversary celebration. Earl surprised Oleta with a renewal of their vows, which sounded real special.

While in Branson West, we visited Uncle Bill and Aunt Roma Smith in their new home at Wedgewood Gardens. It is a real pretty place and from their cozy apartment, there is a wonderful view of country hillsides. Surrounded by furniture and pictures from home, it was not much different than sitting in their living room in Forsyth. They had ventured out to Wal-Mart and had lunch at McDonald’s before we got there.

Justin and Kasie visited with us Saturday night and hooked up his new camera to our TV for a slideshow of Christmas pictures. While Trent was home, they found a snow covered cedar glade back in the hills and shot some nice family pictures.

This morning Rick and Sean visited with Justin and Kasie and put a new faucet on the kitchen sink. Kasie is so proud of her new faucet and I told her she is lucky to have such good landlords.

I think we are all glad to see brown earth now that the snow has melted. When I left for work early this morning, fog was heavy and frozen on the leaves and car windows. I had heard about a few slide-offs so took it easy and made it to Branson in one piece. Tomorrow morning I have appointments in Springfield and look forward to an early drive north through the Pinery. Maybe I will see a bear! Bye for now.

ELANE CRUM
Cell: 417-239-4059
Website: www.elanecrum.net
Website: www.elanecrum.com

Blog: www.dogwoodacresOnline.blogspot.com

Dogwood Acres, Jan 11, 2010

2010-01-23T22:43:00.003-06:00

CLIFFORD BILYEU ~ FIRST DEER

DOGWOOD ACRES, 01/11/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Almost mid-January already?? Oh my, but time does fly. I have a birthday this week and will be entering a new decade. I have been told that time goes even faster, so we will see. I am only 9 years younger than Mother was when she died on Jan. 8, 15 years ago. Now I look at pictures of her when she was my age, and wonder how she felt about turning sixty. Funny, how you don’t think about asking those things.

Neal and family came over Friday night and we watched old family movies. That really took us back a few years as our granddaughters saw Dad & Granny when they still lived in the old “Parrill” house and Dad was showing off his wildlife museum on the front porch. He was almost famous because of that. Then we saw Daddy step onto front porch of the log house for an interview with Tony Beason of KY3. He was showing a mount of the first deer he ever killed, and in his Lake Queen tour guide voice, never stuttered or missed a beat. We saw Grandpa Lloyd and Uncle Artie at Lone Star Christmas in 1992; the girls got to see their Mommy and Daddy when they were young, and Papa and Grandma without gray hair. It was an evening filled with laughter and perhaps, a few tears.

After being on vacation since Christmas, I was back to work today. There is quite a bit going on and I am organizing my office as I prepare for a busy year.

We ended our vacation in the Sunny South when the water lines on our beach house froze solid! By noon or so the sun had heated things up and they thawed, but the outlook for the nights to come was even colder. There was also snow in the forecast there so we just loaded up and came home to our own snow, but a warm house without frozen pipes.

Little Fox was a good traveler, sleeping a lot, but taking advantage of every stop we made along the way. She loved running in the white sand, but when we got home was just as happy to run in the white snow. Her coat is so dense that I don’t think she ever gets cold.

Our outside dogs and cats were all fat and warm, seeming to handle the cold well. A new kitty has taken up residence while we were gone. We know it cannot be one of our own, because it has a long wavy tail.

Sunday morning here was beautiful with frozen fog covering everything, even spider webs. Hodge Hollow was a pretty snow route to travel going to church, but by afternoon, sun was out and the frozen fog was long gone.

I missed seeing Trent but, have visited with Dawn and heard about all the wonderful Italian cuisine that he cooked for them while at home.

When I stopped at Bill and Christie’s, Bill had a pot of Taco Soup simmering in the kitchen; good comfort food for a snowy weekend.

Clell Smithson called to see if we knew who might be missing a couple of black and tan coonhounds. They showed up at his house with no collars. Chances are that someone dumped them, but maybe not. Give Clell a call if you want to claim them. Bye for now.

Dauphin Island

2010-01-17T00:07:00.000-06:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

DOGWOOD ACRES, 01/04/10

2010-01-07T08:22:00.005-06:00

Foggy Morning on DAUPHIN Island
(as seen from our front deck)

DOGWOOD ACRES, 01/04/10, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Four days into the New Year and still not committed to any life changing New Year Resolutions. We celebrated New Year’s Eve with the kids, grill on the deck with S’mores and hot chocolate on Dauphin Island. Little Fox cozied right up to the fire with us as we watched neighbor’s fireworks against the blue moon sky.

The sky was clear as a bell early in the evening, but by the time we went outside the moon seemed to be peeking its way through a cloudy path.
On New Year’s Day the kids headed for home so the girls could go to school this week. If we had only known what the future held, they could have stayed a few more days. They drove through Memphis and visited the Peabody Hotel so Ashton and Erin could watch the 5 Peabody ducks walk the red carpet. I am not sure they were especially impressed, but at least they can say they have seen this famous event.
By the time most of you read this, we will be back home, but, meantime we are still hanging out on Dauphin Island. Today’s high temperature was 43 and low tonight expected to be around 19. Wind is howling off the coastal waters all around our beach house.
We made a trip to the “outside world” today, stocked up on a few supplies and had lunch in Foley with Ralph and Renata (Ronni) Vest, who are staying in Orange Beach. It was good to see cousin Ralph again and catch up; we usually see each other at least once a year at the Bilyeu Reunion. Today we laughed about all the ways we are related…enough to almost make one a little silly.
Ralph has been catching some nice fish in the Gulf and gave Rick some fishing tips. Next time we come, Rick will have to bring a heavy duty fishing pole.
While the kids were here last week, we made a trip to Gulf Shores and Foley for some shopping at Tanger Outlet Mall. On that outing we managed to eat pizza, hamburgers, and then topped off the day with seafood at Big Daddy’s Grill on the Fish River near Fairhope. We can thank Karla Schupbach Pennington for telling us about that one.
Truly we have not eaten out much as the island has limited dining opportunities and it is almost 20 miles to a town. On our first day here we made a trip into town for groceries and stocked the shelves and refrigerator with real food like beans, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese , sausage and eggs.
The big bone that Erin found, bleached, then roasted with bacon strips finally pleased Little Fox. She gnawed and chewed at what bit of marrow she could get to, but Rick said it gave her stinky breath and hid it from her. She has plenty of other things to chew on.
On our trip to the mall today Rick found a bargain on a winter coat which he needs badly. There are plenty of coats at home, but he left home wearing overalls and a hoody. He thought it would be warm here but has shivered enough. The only other purchases we made were a booster seat, travel bed, blankie, and diapers….all for the D.O.G., who does not know she is a dog.
Sean and Makaylee have been feeding the dogs and cats at home. We feel really sorry that they are getting out in such horrible weather to do our chores, but will be home in a few days to relieve them.
My nephew, Trent Bilyeu, came home from Myrtle Beach to spend a few days with the family. I saw his picture on Facebook, but am afraid that he will be gone by the time we get home. Bye for now.

DOGWOOD ACRES, 12/29/09

2010-01-01T20:10:00.004-06:00

Live Seahorses at Estuarium...fascinated me!

A special sea shell find called for close examination.

Granddaughters got new Carrhart jackets for Christmas;

they have come in pretty handy on this winter beach vacation.

DOGWOOD ACRES, 12/28, 2009, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and is recovering from big Christmas dinners. The kids and I had a big Country Christmas breakfast at Bill and Mary Lou’s and late Christmas dinner at Waffle House in Jonesboro, AR. Nothing was ordinary about Christmas, because of the uncertain weather and our travel plans.

We made plans to travel to Dauphin Island, AL, leaving after Mary Lou’s Christmas Breakfast. Well, that is what we did, but it was after noon before we left. Several things contributed to the late take-off. Rick had gotten a bad cold with sore throat and cough and decided that he and Little Fox would stay home. Due to other unexpected activities through first part of the week, all of my Christmas wrapping, laundry, and packing for the trip was done on Christmas Eve. Got most of it done before going to bed at 2:00 a.m. on Christmas, but then overslept and was late getting over to Bill and Mary Lou’s. Rick and Little Fox were curled up on the couch and I felt bad leaving them behind, but, knew they would be safe and warm. There was very little snow at our house and even less as I drove east. I finally got there, had Christmas, a late breakfast and we were on our way. As evening approached, we began to get hungry and started looking for a place to eat. There were plenty of gas stations open, restaurants were all closed, and then we spotted a brightly lit Waffle House. Everyone there seemed to be happy just to have found food, servers were wearing Santa hats and the mood was festive. After leaving with full tummies, we got back on the road and decided to drive straight through.

According to my Garmin there was still five hours of driving time. After a few stops for gas, soft drinks and other amenities, we got here about 2:00 a.m. Driving directions to our beach house were detailed, but we had not been forewarned that the streets were flooded. It was kinda spooky driving a skinny island with strange streets that were dark and water covered. Roads were flat, Neal could see the yellow line and we finally found the right house. It has been an adventure; we are six miles from the mainland and about 20 miles from grocery stores. Surrounded by sand and beaches, the girls soon had a stash of huge clam shells.

There are four churches on the island, Baptist, United Methodist, Catholic and Episcopal; we were Sunday morning visitors at the Baptist Church where we found friendly people and good preaching. Sunday afternoon was sunny and warm enough for some good shell hunting on the beach, but sharp winds came up Sunday night and have continued to blow throughout the day on Monday. Monday night temps are expected to be near freezing and we expect sunshine and weather in the fifties on Tuesday.

Rick got to feeling a little better, so he and Little Fox drove on down. They also got here in the middle of the night and had quite an adventure trying to find the house. We got out with them today for some Dauphin Island sightseeing at Ft. Gaines and the Estuarium, an aquarium at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

Little Fox found a huge bone in the sand behind our house. Erin brought it inside for her and then threw it in the floor when a spider crawled out. To kill spiders, we soaked it in a sink of bleach water, but it no longer smells like a bone. Trying to revive her interest in the bone, I am cooking it in the oven with a couple of bacon slices. The house stinks now, but we will know tomorrow how it all turns out. Bye for now.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2009-12-23T23:52:00.003-06:00

CRUM FAMILY

@ SILVER DOLLAR CITY, 12/09

DOGWOOD ACRES, 12/21/09

2009-12-23T23:42:00.002-06:00

Jim Bilyeu, proud owner of Uncle Bill's Mule Deer mount

Marilyn, Aunt Roma, Uncle Bill, Chuck

DOGWOOD ACRES, 12/21/09, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. Christmas is almost here and our social life has kicked in for the season. Two nights in a row found us at family gatherings and by Sunday night, we were ready to curl up our toes and relax. On Friday night we were with LeaAnn’s family at her brother’s house in Nixa for the traditional “Redneck” Christmas Party. LeaAnn writes, coordinates and choreographs this part of the evening. PaPaw Rick was the proud recipient of brightly colored original HeeHaw overalls; my gift was a chandelier light bulb pendant elegantly strung with a piece of rope. For her daddy she wrote a poem to go with a warm stocking cap; for Mary Lou, an avid Fox News fan, another poem. Martin and Amy were serenaded with an original song titled, “MyAmy”, accompanied by LeaAnn on the Ukulele and Ashton’s boyfriend Charlie playing his new “Hillbilly” drum (plastic ice cream bucket). There was more and it was all in good fun. After the boisterous visit from the Hillbilly Santa, the pace changed when Martin began tuning his fiddle and LeaAnn warmed up the guitar. They always sound good, but seemed like this was just extra special. We finally called it a night and got home in the wee hours of the next day.
Bill and Christie had all thirty of us over to their house on Saturday evening for the Bilyeu Family Christmas party. They prepared several gallons of Venison Stew with cornbread and Sean fried Venison steak. Our mother’s two sisters, Wanetta and Roma were there with uncle Roscoe and Uncle Bill. Bill and Roma’s kids, Chuck and Marilyn, got to be with us and John and Marianne Webster came with the Keithley’s
There was no Redneck Santa at Christie’s house, but we did have a Chinese gift exchange, with everyone bringing something from home. There were several highly desired gifts; one being Uncle Bill’s big Mule deer mount from Modoc County in California. Marty’s son, Dakota, thought he had it pinned down, but there was stealing to be done and Uncle Jim ended up with it. Jim brought a gallon jar filled with lots of stuff, kinda looked like he may have emptied out a junk drawer, but amongst it all was a roll of Grandpa Bilyeu’s wheat pennies and some of his turkey beards. That went through a few hands before Neal Crum claimed it for the last trade.
Between those two Christmas parties, Neal, LeaAnn, Ashton, Erin, Martin and Amy, Bill and Mary Lou all went to Republic for the Hodges family Christmas dinner at Robert and Arlena Maggard’s home. After three big meals in a row, I don’t think anyone was close to starvation.
Mother’s brother, Walter Davis, will celebrate his 85th birthday on December 30. His kids have reminded us all to send cards, so if any of you old friends would like to send a card, here is his address. Walter Davis, Rt. 1, Box 11, Fall River, KS 67047.
My Christmas shopping is just about finished, most of my cards are mailed out, and we are looking forward to Christmas Day. With all the busyness of the Christmas Season, may we never forget that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season". May the message of Christmas bless you with God’s hope and peace. Bye for now.

Redneck Santa, 2009

2009-12-19T10:47:00.002-06:00

Our daughter-in-law, LeaAnn, has created a new tradition for the family called "Redneck Santa Christmas". She planned all year, shopping for unique gifts and writing original songs and poems for all. It is impossible to share all with you, you just had to have been there! Here is a Smilebox production with just a few highlights of the evening at Martin and Amy's home in Nixa.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

These Kitties need a home!

2009-12-15T09:58:00.004-06:00

These Kitties are Precious! I have already adopted one of the fluffy bobtails, but there are more! Call me, 239-4059 or 796-2357, if you want to give any of these babies a home.

Dogwood Acres 12/14/09

2009-12-15T09:54:00.003-06:00

DOGWOOD ACRES, 12/14/09, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. We had a busy, busy weekend, but oh so many good memories were made. The fun started Friday night with office Christmas party at Kelly and Sherry Grisham’s home. Good friends, food and fun there ending with a Chinese gift exchange. Lauryn said it would be more fun if we would “steal” someone else’s gift, so I did! Now they say I have a new image at the office, but “we” had fun.

On Saturday we went with Neal, LeaAnn and the girls to Silver Dollar City….in the rain. Yes, the weather man did say there might be scattered showers so we took a chance they would scatter somewhere else. Well, they did not and it was a wet day, but I think we still had fun. Rick made a remark about the wisdom of being out in the rain, but then, commented that he would think nothing of it if he wanted to hunt or fish in the rain.

Sunday was church at Sandy and the annual Christmas Dinner which is always a good time of fellowship. Juanita Menzies always coordinates our dinners but she has been down in her back for three weeks and had to miss this one. We have missed her and Harold at church, but she is hoping to get a shot that will make her all better.

After the dinner, we came back through Forsyth and stopped to visit Uncle Bill, Aunt Roma and their kids. Uncle Bill is glad to be out of the hospital and the kids are taking good care of them.

I got a phone call from Anita Bradford Allen with a special announcement that I am pleased to share in my column. Her parents, Earl & Oleta Bradford will celebrate their 60th Wedding Anniversary from 2-4 p.m., Dec. 19^thin the Fellowship Hall of Healing River Worship Center located at 265 Oak Ridge Road. They were married in a double wedding ceremony at Seymour, MO, by the Rev. Leland Daniels in a 1940 Chevrolet. They ask “no gifts, please”. This sounds like a wonderful opportunity to greet old friends and congratulate Earl and Oleta on their long life together.

A note from sister Christie said she got her deer this morning; Sean called the sheriff department and is making it legal. She likes hunting from the easy chair of her Ford…, says it is “Ford Tough”. She doesn't think her car received much damage, but I told her that Rick and I will be glad to assist with any needed repairs as we still have Gorilla Glue and Duct Tape.

While at Bill and Mary Lou's after church on Sunday, we were all entertained by the antics of Mary Lou's kittens. These may be farm cats but, they are spoiled just like the rest of us who show up for lunch every Sunday. The little ones know there will be a bowl of warm gravy or some good meat scraps once they get inside the glass doors. Bill said they eat at least twelve times a day....perhaps he is exaggerating just a bit, but they are well fed. There are now three generations and some of the prettiest cats ever, a nice mix of Siamese and tiger stripe; there are bob tails, long tails, short hair and fluffy hair, blue eyes and yellow eyes. We brought home a fluffy Siamese with tiger stripes on his face and legs, bob tailed and blue eyes; that is the one that plays with Little Fox and still remains nameless. I took pictures of the others and will put them on my blog, www.dogwoodacresonline.blogspot.com They would make wonderful gifts to put in someone's Christmas stockings. Bill and Mary Lou would love to make someone's Christmas more special with these precious kitties! Bye for now.