Dogwood Acres, Jan 11, 2010

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.