FIRES ARE ALMOST GONE
Today I had to go to Cross Plains on church business this afternoon and again met a firetruck coming north. A woman at the office I was visiting said that there was a fire west of Cottonwood but it was contained and they were just putting it out. I could see no smoke when I came home. The winds are dying some. We have a promise of rain this weekend. We are praying for it. Our cleaning lady, Lydia Williams, lives near the fires and spent Monday night and Tuesday staying up be ready to battle the blaze if it got to her house. Her kids came in to help move things to safer places. She moved her day from Tuesday to today and was hoping they would keep the fire contained.

Tuesday Lou got out of the house again. We went to a MURF luncheon and got a great meal for $5. MURF stands for McMurry University Retired Fellowship. Lou enjoys visiting with her old faculty friends. Rob Sledge had the program and gave a preview of a book he is working on of stories about Abilene. One great story was about the first car salesman in Abilene selling a car to a rancher who said if he could take him home without breaking down he would buy 3 cars. The salesman agreed and after he had driven a few miles said how far was it. The rancher said 80 miles. He almost got there successfully but when the house was in sight he hit a stump and bent the front axle. The rancher said he was close enough. The next day they jacked it up, heated the axle, pounded it out with a hammer and drove back to Abilene. Later the car salesman became well known for his aerial feats. He was Eddie Rickenbacker.

The president, Dr. John Russell, gave a talk. He was encouraged by the students who have gone on to seminary and are going into the ministry back in the West Texas Conference. Russell is the only person I know with all three degrees in Aerospace Engineering. He taught at the Air Force Academy before coming to McM. An unusual career for a church president.

Lou is doing some better. She is trying to move to Tylenol from vicodin and has a lot of pain but is sleeping better. She walked to the pond this afternoon and went upstairs twice this morning. She is enjoying watching the Mavericks play the Spurs tonight.

WILDFIRES RETURN TO CROSS PLAINS AREA
Today took me back a couple of years. When Cross Plains was burned in 2006 I was at the grocery store when the volunteer fire trucks roared by going west. Today at 3:30 I was leaving the same grocery store when two CP volunteer fire trucks roared to the west. I couldn't see any smoke. I had to go back through town to return a key I had borrowed and by the time I got back out on 880 I could see the smoke to the northwest. It was toward Cottonwood. By the time I got to Cottonwood where I turn north, I could see the smoke that was blowing toward Cottonwood. The wind was turning. When I went to town it was high out of the south. By the time I got to Cottonwood it was high out of the NW.

When I got home I turned on the scanner and they were calling for trucks from every place around. There were other fires to the north so there was a need everywhere. I really feel for the volunteers that man those trucks. They reported that they had a tank truck on the highway but it couldn't get off the pavement back to where it was needed. One report said 10 acres were burned but that it was in heavy cedar and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Our cleaning lady lives in Cottonwood and called a couple of times. The first time the smoke was strong, the second time she could see the flames after dark over the hill west from her but the wind was changing to the north and the smoke wasn't as strong so she was hoping it wasn't coming her way. None of the three TV stations in Abilene said a word about the Callahan fires at 6. They mentioned the Synder fires yesterday. We don't smell any smoke and I can't see any flames or color in the sky at 9:30. Cross Plains is really nervous. We will pray that they get the fires under control, but the wind hasn't died down much.

LOU TO REGENTS MEETING
Friday we left at 7 and got to Parkland Hospital campus of TWU in Dallas at 9:45 for Lou's meeting at 10. She popped prescription pain pills and worked on adrenalin. While they were working the nice people gave me access to a DSL line and I got a lot of work done. I checked my email and then wrote my Livestock Weekly column and emailed it. I then wrote the minutes of two meetings I had for the church and emailed them to those who needed them. They let me and everyone else around have one of the box lunches and I ate the whole thing. A great sandwich, pasta salad, fruit salad and a cookie. Just as I finished my work, the regents finished and we all toured the GO mobile trailer that TWU uses to help school children learn what they need to do to go to college with most of the questions about financial aid, but a lot of help on career counseling. They are primarily targeting young people who don't normally go to college. The mobile trailer has a satellite connection to the internet and about 20 or 30 laptops that can be used by the students. Lou loved talking to the TWU students who ran the trailer. They have GO centers at a bunch of highschools around the metroplex and have found them successful.

We left at 2 p.m. and were home before 5 all in all a sucessful day. Lou is doing a little better today. I made waffles for breakfast and tuna pasta for lunch. Lou walked to the pond in 77 degree weather, but the wind blew my hat off. Luckily it missed the pond. We saw one goldfish. The pond is covered with algae and I treated it with chemical. Too lazy to skim it like I should have.

Just before noon Louise Brogotti called from Fort Worth where she was looking at the books of the North Fort Worth Women's club and said they would have to close. Only 12 members and their membership campaign failed to add anyone. It is sad to see such long time organizations fold. Louise said she might come see us just to see West Texas. It looks sad during the winter, but if this weather stays this warm our peaches will start blooming.

MAJOR LITERARY MILESTONE
Today marked a major literary event when Lou finished her Spur award for short novel judging and mailed her findings to Deb Morgan. 42 books have been read and judged and now she can get on with some of her personal writing. Tonight she has been reading her fat notebook for the meeting tomorrow of the Regents. Starting this weekend she will be back working on her memoirs which she has completely revised in her mind while reading and judging. She mentally is judging her ideas.

UP AND DOWN WEEK
Monday started with a great day for Cross Plains when the Library held a fund raiser highlighting Elmer Kelton and his wife, Ann. Over 200 were present with more than half from out of town. Book sales hosted by Glenn and Carol Dromgoole from Texas Star brought about 12 boxes of books and only took 4 back. The event raised more than $3000 for the Library to operate on. It was my honor to introduce Elmer and eat with he, Ann, Glenn and Carol. We also had a box telling about our drive to get $37 each from 271 gifts to reach our goal of $10,000 and we got enough that we only need 196 more reach our goal. Lou was unable to make the event due both to her pain level and concern about being in that large a crowd with lower immune system for a while.

Wednesday night I chaired the Methodist Finance Committee and we had the treasurer resign. Because I had that job once I agreed to take it on temporarily and spent all day today working on paying bills and delivering checks in town and depositing checks. When I got home I got an email from an angel in our church, Melanie Long, a former treasurer took pity on me and offered to come back in harness and help out. It was a great relief to me to know that we have such great people in our church.

Tomorrow we are back on the road. Lou is going to take enough pain pills to get through her meeting in Dallas of the board of regents of TWU where she has to give a report. Keep her in your prayers.

COLD FRONT ARRIVES
Today we have fired up the fireplace. The temperature dropped from 34 to 32 but no ice bark yet. Had little icicles on the upper roof. They are promising an inch of rain tomorrow and we need it bad. Yesterday was the last day to sign up at the Library for Elmer Kelton's visit Monday and the final number is 210 which is great. It is a fund raiser and we need all the money we can get to operate the Library. We are still looking for $10,000 to finish the annex.

Lou is down to one book to finish her judging. She is still hurting from the surgery and chemo but hopes that it will go away soon. I am walking to the mailbox which helps my exercise and saves gas. I used to drive the pickup.

I am trying to post up everything in Quicken to get the income tax ready. The new one has vehicle mileage records that are more complete than I had been keeping on a spreadsheet, but it takes a lot of time inputting it. Next year I will keep it up during the year.

I wrote my column for the Livestock Weekly and this was my annual Engineer's Week column. I used input from Aerospace, Computers and Mechanical Engineering magazines. I haven't had time to read books lately. But I am learning how to cook!

EARLY VALENTINE

We are greatly blessed by our church. Today Valentine's day came early when about 5 p.m. Mary and Cecil Barton came in with two dinner plates of great slabs of ham with potatoes and slaw plus two wedges of pecan pie. While they were still here the doorbell rang with a bouquet delivery from Tim's Floral by Marge Sowell plus a gift from the Outreach team at our church delivered by the Chair, Amanda Sowell. It was a card made by the children with candy kisses in red and silver, a small Coke in a valentine bag. Amanda involved her school children where she teaches at Gorman, the Sunday School kids at our church and her team members. They were delivering to all of the shut-ins in our church.



As Lou says every day she feels a little better. Today she didn't take any pain pills but I encouraged her to take one so that she will sleep better and she did. Maybe tomorrow she can forgo all of them. As the chemo and anesthesia works out of her body she will be able to gain some energy. Tomorrow she plans to try to walk to the pond. She has not been able to walk more than a few steps without being out of breath. She is feeling more optimistic every day.



We had our grandson, Jim, who planned to come this weekend but when I told him about the lousy weather prediction for the weekend and because he is getting over a cold that is running through his family, he had decided to postpone till March. Val had planned to come, but she may also have second thoughts. Teachers are exposed to bugs that Lou doesn't need until she can get her immune system and blood cells built back up after the chemo.



I am working on my income tax and mad at my son because he already has his refund in the bank. So he is ahead of the curve on getting the government to give him a tax refund. I will be doing good to get it together this month.

BATS MUST BE GOOD LUCK
We will never have a more perfect trip to Fort Worth than the one we had today. Up at 4:45 we ate cereal and left at 6:15. Made our usual pit stop at the Exxon in Weatherford without any traffic slowdown. Got to Harris Methodist with no traffic slowdowns on I-30. Parked for the first time with the valet parking after seeing that it was $5 which is what we paid for garage parking. The stop was just outside the doctor's office so we were in the office after Lou's bathroom stop at 8:45 and immediately called in to meet with the PA. He answered Lou's questions and put a small bandaid on one incision. We scheduled another followup meeting in six weeks with Dr. Siadati. And were back down to get the car and out to the street by 9:15 with no traffic all the way to I-30 and none there to speak of. We got to the China Cafe in Eastland at 10:30 and were the first to eat fresh and tasty food. I had a cup of Hot and Sour and Lou a cup of Egg Drop soup to start, then an egg roll each before we both had a plate with small portions of egg foo yung, baked salmon, chicken dishes, etc. A couple of small dishes of ice cream and a cookie for dessert.

We were home at 12:30 and I got the laundry started. After I put the first load in the dryer I got a nap, then to town to pick up books to review at the Library where they said they already have 145 signed up for Elmer Kelton with 3 more days before the deadline to sign up. I bought groceries, got home and finished the laundry. Lou wanted a scrambled egg and toast for supper. I am a pretty good short order cook and fixed an ideal plate. I am glad that her appetite is a little better today. Yesterday she ate very small portions of almost nothing. Every day after the chemo things get a little better. The back pain is being controlled a little better. The PA said that walking is the best exercise and Lou is looking forward to getting some energy back and starting walking by next week. She has a lot of meetings coming up and wants to get back in shape. She plans to finish her judging report this week, write the paper she has committed for at West Texas Historical Society meeting and then get back to her memoir book project. All things in due time.

Prayers must be working!

BATS AND CHEMO BLAHS
These are the hard days after the last chemo last Wednesday for Lou. She tells me she has the chemo blahs. Her mouth has a terrible taste in the mornings and she has very little appetite. She did eat waffles I cooked Saturday morning. That is she ate one and I ate two. We each had a poached egg but I added a little piece of ham. But for lunch she ate very little yesterday and today. She hasn't taken pain pills until tonight.

In order to help her overcome the blahs we had a bat come into our lives. Last night after Lou had gone to bed and I was watching TV news like I do every night before going to bed, I saw this bird flying around the room. My first thought was that it flew like a swallow, but they aren't due back till March. Then it landed on the ceiling above my head and I saw that it was a bat. My next thought was how the heck it got in the house. I figured it must have come in through the fireplace. It then flew into the dining area and landed on the ceiling. I opened the fire place doors and the damper closed the door to the bedroom and went to sleep. This morning early after worrying about it all night, I got up at 6, told Lou to stay in bed while I checked out the other rooms. I then looked everywhere both downstairs and upstairs and told Lou that the bat must have left through the fireplace. We dressed and I went upstairs to work on my Sunday School lesson. I was aggravated that AOL was so slow that I couldn't get my supplemental material. Then I heard Lou's voice calling me. She had found the bat. He was on the ceiling over the front door. That was handy. I got the broom but when I tried to brush him out the door, he fell down back of the door on the shade and was at least 8 inches wing span. When I brushed him down to the floor he hung under the door and wouldn't come off when I moved the door. I had to use the broom to get him loose and out the front door. He still wanted to come back so I swept him off the porch. He didn't fly but crawled back to the porch but not up on it. When I left for church he was gone.

This afternoon was a bitter sweet time because I had to go to the funeral of another of my long time Sunday School students. Tommie Harris and his wife Phyllis were the most faithful members in the class. They were there every Sunday until last month when he developed pneumonia. He had been in the hospital last week but back in the nursing home where he unexpectly expired at age 91. He is the second class member to die in the last year. Bob Pipes is the Church of Christ minister who lived next door to Tommie assisted our minister, Margaret Friend in the service. Two of our choir members provided the music along with our pianist who played the funeral home organ for the service. The chapel was completely filled with people outside.

Tomorrow we get up at 5 to drive to Fort Worth for a 9 o'clock appointment for the followup check on the back surgery. Lou isn't looking forward to the drive, but we expect to come back by Eastland and eat at the China Cafe for lunch and get our nap in. I will have to do the laundry and buy groceries tomorrow afternoon if I don't sleep too long.

GREAT NEWS CA125 IS 8!

Therefore the last chemo was the last and the one scheduled for March 5 has been cancelled. Your prayers have been answered for now and Lou can begin to grow her hair back and resume her activities once this last chemo is out of her body. She continues to take 6gm of ginger each day and I hope that will keep the cancer under control or completely eliminated. Her back is some better today and hopefully the surgery pain will heal and it will get better as the chemo dissapates along with the anesthesia.

She continues to read the novels she is judging and plans to finish her report by the end of the month.

I just completed reading Sandhills Boy: The Winding Trail of a Texas Writer by Elmer Kelton. We live in Callahan county and his grandfather was born here when they were living in a covered wagon. They stopped for a while at Belle Plaine which is a few miles north of our place. They moved on to the Midland area and later to Crane where Elmer's father became the foreman of the McElroy ranch on the Pecos river. When the ranch sold to French investors Elmer's father lived in town for a while but was miserable and found a small ranch near May, TX which is about 25 miles SE of us in Eastland County. I really enjoyed Elmer's description of his time in WWII in Austria where he met and courted Ann and the problems of bringing her from the mountains to the sandhills of West Texas. I don't know how she stood the change. She must have really loved Elmer to put up with the desert after living in the Alps. Ebensee Austria sounded like heaven. Elmer will be in Cross Plains to help us raise funds to run our Library on February 18. We have really enjoyed knowing both Elmer and Ann for many years. We first met him at the Texas Folklore Society meetings. He used a lot of the folklore stories in his books.

I am now reading a book that son Mark gave me for Christmas by Henry Petroski
Success through Failure: The Paradox of Design by Henry Petroski (Paperback - Feb 21, 2008) The book takes simple things like the water glass and discusses the limitations on the design that come from the user and the manufacturer. I am a few chapters into it.

ANOTHER CHEMO DAY
The weather cleared up today for our trip to Fort Worth to Texas Oncology for Lou's scheduled chemo. Our daughter-in-law, Mary Kathryn, again came to help us through the ordeal by bringing our meal from ChikFilA. Dr. Hancock scheduled another chemo for March 5, but said it could be canceled if the CA125 test today comes in in the single digits Friday when we get the results. So add that request to your prayers. The last test was 13 so I am confident that it will be low and another won't be needed. Then Lou can begin to rebuild her immune system, stamina and normal bodily functions. She is still having back pain and tries not to take prescription pain pills to avoid the resulting constipation problems. Today she only took aspirin and tonight had to go back to vicodin after hurting all day even sitting.

An interesting phone call came to my cell phone while Lou was taking chemo. My brother, Walter, in Marietta, Ga. called to tell me he had read about the albino skunk and read three pages about skunks from some new age animal book that said if skunk was your "totem" that they were not aggressive, but when challenged had a great defense and would use it. He read from three pages for about a half hour and when I told him we also had fox in the back yard, he read that part of the book. Found out that foxes can climb trees, but we had seen ours do that last peach season in the front yard. Four fox pups ran up the tree like they were kittens to get peaches. I think I covered that story in the blog earlier.

Due to the tornados in today's news we also were remembering the tornado that wiped out Antlers, OK when I was in the US Army Air Corps at Wichita Falls the same day that President Roosevelt died. Walt said he ran into some school chums who told him that a tornado had hit and then said Roosevelt had died. He said he might have believed one story, but he thought they were stretching the truth with two tall tales. I didn't hear from the family for two weeks until I got a post card saying they didn't know about it because we lived five miles out of town. Walt said they drove to town the next day and were stopped at the edge of town by the National Guard who had been called out to protect from looting. The town was destroyed right down the middle. We had friends who were killed and a number who lost their homes so we can relate to those today.

SUPER SUNDAY
Today has been a super Sunday ending to a super weekend. Our daughter and son-in-law came in Friday and granddaughter Vanessa came in Saturday. She stopped for us in Abilene to pick up a refill on Lou's pain pills that she is needing. She had quit taking any because of the resultant constipation giving her concern. So she has been hurting when she gets in bed, stand, or gets up from her chair. It isn't too bad when she is quiet. Last night after taking laxitive she got relief and went back on pain pills and is watching the Super Bowl in relative comfort.

Kathy made some great meals for us. Keith did a lot of chores for me. Dr. Sylvia Grider came in with a beautiful chocolate meringue pie for the noon meal. Ike and Sue came out to visit a little later. About 2 Vanessa returned to Lubbock to work on her career choices after taking aptitude and interest tests that are pointing her toward a nursing career. Everyone else left except Sylvia when our pastor Rev. Margaret Friend came to bring communion to Lou. After an interesting stimulating conversation she offered a beautiful communion service using nan regon (sp?) bread she had made. I have always argued the passover or seder meal used unleavened bread, so Margaret made some great Indian flat bread that we are continuing to use. The service was the most memorable and will remain that way.

The Super Bowl is over. Sylvia's team lost and our's won which means the Cowboys aren't that bad.

This has to be one of the best Sundays ever. Keep Lou in your prayers as she continues to heal and goes for her last (hopefully) chemo on Ash Wednesday.