Napanee Farms

Today I got the opportunity to take some shots of Jason out at Choctaw cutting beans for his operation Napanee Farms. Well, actually, I rode out their to pick up the prawns he got from somebody so I could put them on more ice and take to Sue Sue (his mom) for her to fix for supper! At Choctaw, he and his partner/best friend Bryan, have about 2300 acres of soybeans. I think they still like about 1500 to cut. The elevator lines are so long (like 100 trucks waiting...) that they can't get alot cut and in hoppers and have a truck to dump in. And to make things worse, the elevator is shutting down tomorrow. It was so dry and dusty to have been so soaking wet and under water just a couple of weeks ago. I only rode a couple of loops (cause riding a combine is pretty monotonous and boring) and then I headed back to the house. And after I write this blog I'm going to take myself a much needed afternoon NAP!!!!

Irresistable

Would you just look at this precious little dog! This morning Mark, Brandon and I rode out to a local chicken farm on official business and this little dog was there. The farmer told us someone just dumped her out there. Well, she took a liking to me. I opened the truck door to get in and jokingly told her to "come on" and she jumped right on up in there!! She stayed by my side the whole time we were there. Well, needless to say, they convinced me this was a good dog, and would love to go home with me and I agreed. Of course I only agreed because Brandon said in the event I couldn't that he would. I called her Skeeter at first. We got on down the road and the discussion of her being a good farm dog came up and that I should take her to Jason in Mississippi. Now his mother assured me Jason loves dogs and has always had a pet dog in the past until now. So, I called him up and told him I would bring this little jewel to him! He didn't seem overly excited at that. The more and more I play with her and pet her, the more attached I get.....but reality kicks in and I know that I can't take a dog to my house and leave the poor thing pinned up or tied up all day while we're at work. So, alas, I decided to let Brandon go ahead and take her home with him to live out in the country. I did give her a KFC chicken thigh and a cool whip bowl of water while here. Anyway, she's sorta been named the USDA mascot up here. Goodbye Skeeter.....happy living with the Satterlee's....and hope you don't meet the fate that most of his outside dogs have met!!!! (that would be meeting the rubber under a tire!)

Drew County Fair

Last night was armband night at the Drew County Fair so I took Caitlin, Brooklynn and Spencer and met Roxie and Ryan out there. The parking was awful...not because it was crowded but because it was MUDDY!!! People were getting stuck left and right. Thankfully we didn't get stuck. The kids bailed out and Spencer took off to go with his friends, so that left Brooklynn, Caitlin and Ryan to ride the rides together. The girls rode the Tilt-O-Whirl, Sizzler, Swings, 1001 Nachts (wait til you see that photo below....can't believe Caitlin rode it!!!!), the Merry Go Round, Nascar Race Cars, did the big slide and little slide. I even let them waste $10 on a couple of games. Trying to throw ping pong balls into bowls floating in a baby pool of water...to win a RABBIT!!! I was praying that one of them didn't get lucky and make it. I sure didn't want to haul a rabbit home. Anyway, by 8:00 p.m. my feet were hurting, the girls had a caramel apple everywhere and were still begging to ride more. I said Hell to tha naw! We got Spencer at 8:30 p.m. and hauled our tired butts home!!!

Guess who is up there on that????? WAAAAY UP THERE????????

Yep, these 2 little heathens!!!

Drew Co. Fair Parade Day

Today was the fair parade. Me and Caitlin, Spencer and Brooklynn all walked up to the square from my office to watch. I got a shot of the girls as we were heading back down the hill to the truck and had a perfect opportunity to snap one. I thought it was so cute of them holding hands walking together. It was so hot in the blaring sun. I was sweating, Caitlin was whining (what's new huh?) and Brooklynn was right up in the middle of everything, as usual. The girls were really mad that nobody threw any candy their way though. But, all in all it was a decent parade. Looks like we'll be going to the fair for armband night tomorrow night! YIPPEE!! Not.......

My Favorite Time of Year

Cotton harvest is my favorite time of year. Don't ask me why...it just is. It's in my blood. My grandfathers on both sides and my dad are/were cotton farmers. I love being out in the middle of all the cotton picking and harvesting and module building and everything. I love to see all the fields of white and feel the cooler air in the fall and smell the picked cotton. Yes.....it has a smell. Some must think I'm crazy. I got to take these photos of Jason's dad David Aka Pop-Pop picking their first field of cotton this afternoon. Caitlin rode the picker with Pop-Pop while Jason, Spencer and I watched on the turn row.

Birthday Bash

Saturday I loaded up Caitlin, Anna and Mary Cecil and headed back to Arkansas to pick up Brooklynn to go to Bayli Boney's birthday party. Her 8th birthday...time flies. Well anyway, she's all about cowgirl and horse stuff so John's son brought his horse Yeller down to the party and gave all the little ones a ride around the yard a time or two. They had a ball. Except for all the mosquitos!!! They tore us up! But it was a pretty day and the kids had fun. I felt like I was driving a school bus with 4 girls in there! Here's a few pics from the party.


Bayli Blair Boney-Birthday Girl!


Dakota Eyeman...is he not the cutest!!!!!

Entertainment on a Friday

This has been yet another slooooow Friday around USDA. I can only recount one customer all day, and it's nearly 3pm!!! I've read all the news I can stand. I've cleaned out my desk and rearranged files. I've actually filed a bunch of papers that have been stacking up for weeks now. Then, all of a sudden, we get some live entertainment here! Sandy's little granddaughter got to spend some time with us up here while her mom shopped for diapers. (better her than me I say!) I always love it when her grandkids get to come up here for a visit. They're so cute and sweet! Chandler is 5, Emersyn is nearly 2, Asher is probably 7 months, and the newest addition, Lilly, is now 2 1/2 months old. I love to hold 'em and play with them, and then when they start to cry give them back to their "nanny" or moma!! HAHA! Well Lilly got to visit today. And boy did she give us a show. No sooner than her moma pulled out of the driveway did she set up a howl and cry. Poor little thing....I tried to entertain her with my wild designed shirt, but that only lasted a minute. I even promised her I would dance a jig for her if she would get happy again.....but that didn't work either. Think her tummy must have been upset. Well, maybe not. Cause soon as her moma got her she quieted right down. Imagine that..... Oh and these shots were taken right when her mommy brought her in while she was still happy!

Finally someone helps!!

It's been a week or more since the storm blew down my tree out front. More than a week of it just laying there, all ugly and on top of my Mamaw Mills birdbath....until today. I finally talked the guys into bringing the chainsaw over and cutting my tree up for me so I could stack the pieces for the city to pick up. And as usual............Brandon is doing the work.....and the other two are "supervising"!! Well, I did manage to get Mark to at least put my birdbath back together after he pulled the limb off of it! Now, the real job will be for me and Spencer to get those limbs hauled to the other side of the house where they pick up trash! And an even harder job will be getting Spencer to actually help without complaining. Oh well, that's the life of a mother and a homeowner I guess....

T G I F!!!

Another week has come and gone....time flies when you're having fun. Heck, time flies when you get older too!! It's a slow Friday up here at the office....lot's of time on our hands. I snapped a few photos of "the gang" today. First off we have here breakfast (or what's left of it) after Brandon and I ravaged the box!!! Yep, a whole dozen reduced down to 3 donuts left. What the hay...we were hungry!! And after a breakfast like that, you know we were just starving for lunch, so Brandon and I headed off to Ameca for a hearty meal.....HA! Just look at that happy smile those donuts put on my face! (nevermind the pounds they put on my butt and thighs!!)

The boys across the hall "appear" to be working today. Not unusual. Just funny that they all of a sudden are busy when I start snapping pictures! There's the boss sitting at Mark's PC, and he's got 2 helpers there telling him how to do what he's supposed to do...There could be some explosions going on with all that brain power at work!!

And here's ol' Mark fumbling through papers and files and plat books just busy as can be.....AND it's FRIDAY!!! Can you believe this many of us are even here on a FRIDAY!!?? Well, I guess the other guys are his "funky bunch" sitting back there in the corner with him...hee hee...

I brought Caitlin's guitar in hoping that Brandon would tune her up for me....well, he tuned it up all right!!! Tuned it up so tight he broke a string! After all that hard work of tuning it, he broke a string and had to go to Walmart and put another one on before Caitlin get's here after school. Thought I was going to get him to perform LIVE today too! But he wasn't all for that.

Just a little something something

I haven't posted in several days so I figured I better get something on here. I spent the weekend in Indianola....again....and Mary Cecil had a Jamboree to cheer at. She attends Indianola Academy there and is a 5th grade peewee cheerleader. This is her in one of her many poses after she came home from the Jamboree.

And here is my little "guitar hero" with her very own real guitar. She's been strumming up a storm (and driving me insane!!) ever since we got it!! She's begged for one every time we go in Walmart so I finally gave in. What in the world was I thinking?? No, really, maybe she can teach herself to play and be the next Jewel!!! HAHA!!!

Can we say "bored"???

Well, it's a typical Friday around here in these parts...skeleton crew, nothing much going on since it's so wet out....Ah, boredom has set in. This is what we typically look like around here too when we're this bored. Our eyelids get heavy, our heads start to nod, until the blasted phone rings and scares the b-jeezus out of us and wakes us up wide awake!! It's a miracle we're this alert!!!

Two Generations Back

This is a tribute to the greatest, most wonderful and loving grandparents a child could ever have growing up. I was lucky enough to have Mamaw and Papaw Mills for 33 years in my life. I was lucky enough that my own children could spend time with them and remember them. They married July 18, 1947 when Mamaw was 18 and papaw was 23. They remained together until Mamaw's passing in May 2006. Papaw followed her home 8 months later. They now rest in Heaven together, hopefully looking down on all these grandkids and great-grandkids smiling. The two of them hold many memories for me, and the biggest part of my memories growing up. They are missed more than words can say.

Remember what they used to look like.....

Here is a personal favorite of mine that I created with pictures of various farms. Some are crops from Jason's fields, the others I had to snap out at the Steven's farm in Drew County since Jason doesn't grow rice or sorghum. Anyway, this is how I like to remember these particular crops BEFORE all the yucky rain. How pretty and green or golden and ready to harvest they lookED...But after almost 8 inches of rain just in Monticello I shudder to think what the result will be when it finally stops. And by the way, thanks to all this weather and storming rain and wind, the kids are out of school again today.....at home.....here with me....plus a niece. I took off to stay home with them (and get to sleep sorta late!) Yeah, thanks Jason and Brandon for calling me this morning....Jason--at the crack of dawn, and Brandon--just after 8am......AAAHHH!!!!

As you can probably tell, I'm bored. I've been on the "picnik" photo site messing around. Just thought I'd add a couple of photos of Jason's children Mary Cecil and Anna. His "crumb snatchers" (as he jokingly calls them) are 9 and 10 years old. Mary Cecil is 10, and Anna just turned 9 a few days ago. They live in Inverness with their mother and come spend every other weekend at their daddy's. His girls and Caitlin all get along (most of the time) and keep us hopping! If anyone has ever seen Jason you can look at these kid's pictures and there is no doubt he's the daddy!! Anna resembles him the most. She looks like he spit her out himself! Anyway, they are great little girls, very well mannered, and mind!! Maybe someday they'll be part of my crazy family over here in Arkansas!!!

The Goofiest family around Jennie!

Sunday was the Jennie Baptist Church Homecoming service.....which means we all sing and eat a bunch. Aunt Roxy and I had a duet, which was almost a disaster, to say the least. The audio guy turned our accompaniment CD off right in the MIDDLE of our song with our mouths gaped wide open ready to belt it out!!! But since it was Jennie, and we all grew up there, it wasn't too mortifying. They just started it over and we did it again before my solo. After all that it was time TO EAT!!! Here's Angela and our crazy daddy (when he finally sat down to eat...just like his moma Mamaw Mills.....sits down AFTER everyone else has fixed their plate and started!)

Then we have a beautiful photograph here of the original Mills family (no relation to the other set of Mills' in Jennie if you can believe that??!!). I remember one other portrait of us 3 girls with our parents back when I was a junior in High School.....no spiral perm this time though!! I title this picture "The Cullhanes" cause that's what moma and daddy have always called us ever since I can remember...I can't imagine why???!!! HA!

Now I can't exactly remember too many time that me and my sisters took photos all together at once, but I insisted on it this day. It's rare that we're all 3 in Jennie church on the same Sunday. I live in Warren, Amanda lives in Monticello and Angela is still in Lake Village. So getting there all at once is a task. But it always makes my parents so darn happy that we're there!
Oh this is a good picture of my daddy AKA Honcho with his little protoge' Spenko...I did a little doodling to their picture because it's just so fitting for them! I'm sure in this photo dad was asking Spencer if he's been studying for his driver's test or if he's been scrubbing his head (long story there)....

After all the eating and visiting, we gathered back at Mamaw Skippy's house so the Roark Sisters could visit a little. Funny how when all them Roark's get together, they all try to "out-talk" each other....It turns into a loud yammering event every time! It's hard to get a word in edgewise around there!

They are seated in birth order, from right to left....Mom 1952, Aunt Teresa 1953, Aunt Debbie 1955, and the supposed accident Roxanne 1968!! Well, that's about it for my input on the Jennie Homecoming! Blog ya later!!

Gustav...........darn it!

Well here we have some of the remnants of Hurricane Gustav at my house in Warren. Look at my poor tree! It was the only tree or shrub that had any color blooms on it in the spring, and now it's gone. Guess that's one less thing to mow around. Anyway, my backyard is flooded, some small limbs are down in the whole yard, and the rain is blowing around the flashers on my fireplace and coming in through the insert!!! The kids school was actually shut down today since most of Monticello was without electricity. Here in a little while I'm going to tour the crops in the county and check out the damage further.