Two lovely ladies.

I visited them yesterday. They are so lovely. Never seen them look better! Rhonda Ray and her Mom Rosa Blakley. Sweet friends.

Birthday 10 Party

Christian Steven Newberry my number 8 great grandchild. was 10 yesterday. There was a party to celebrate and I was there!

Time for presents.

Time for cake and ice cream!

If Christian keeps this up he will be as handsome as I am some day !

Vital Signs for December 2018.

Darn. My goal for weight was 210 by the end of the year. That would have been five pounds lost in December. But I only lost two. It is getting hard to loose weight. I will try for three pounds in January or 210 pounds by February.

No colds or such in December. Just the usual esophagus.

Form 52b--MEDICAL DEPARTMENT, U.S.A. (Revised October 25, 1940)

I was going through some papers the other day. I have been doing this a lot. I am trying to throw things out to save the time of people who will be going through my stuff after I kick the bucket, I found a copy of the subject form that had been attached to me when I was wounded on Peleliu Island. The form is yellow with age, With a magnifying glass I could make out some of the writing, It is dated September 28. I know that the year was 1944. It is 75 years old!

The card is 3 by 6 inches and had a string to tie the card to me. How did I keep the card for 75 years? I made a trip back to Pearl Harbor, then to Leyte. then to Okinawa, then to Korea, and then home. I went to college, Jackie and I raised four children, and then we retired and lived and traveled in an RV for 34 years. And I still have the card!

I can make out my name and rank (PVT), gun shot wound in each knee, Xray ordered, and something about gangrene.

After my buddies carried me down off Bloody Nose Ridge I was placed on a jeep with stretchers and taken to a field hospital.

Then to a hospital ship and to a hospital on Guadalcanal.. I am really impressed that I have the hospital card after 75 years.The card was the spark for this blog.  Guess I can throw it away now.

Christmas 2018

Here is a report on my Christmas today. I started out posting this selfie on Facebook (with seasons greetings)  and got a heart warming response.

After breakfast at Waffle House with John it was nap time until the Newberrys arrived from West Monroe. Then it was more food and presents.

Ross, Joy, Ethan, David, and Christian. Joy is holding a new puppy.

Ten years old and a new 22! What could be nicer?

The Newberrys invited Grandpa John and Grandma Kerry to join them them in a photo. The Old PrunePicker was the cameraman,

RIGID RULE. No presents for the old PrunePicker !

Please do not give gifts to the old PrunePicker. 
Life is so much easier without presents. I have all I want or need. It would be a lot of work to pick out and send several dozen presents. I do not send presents or cards, except to great grand children under 18 years old. Jackie and I decided on this policy many years ago. We even had grandchildren under 18 then.

However I did receive a present the other day. As I have eaten some of the present I must accept it. (with thanks) But please no more.

A dozen Harry and David pears from Medford, Oregon. Oh so good!

Cousinhood (Our 41st President is my 6th cousin?!)

I was going through some of my old genealogy papers yesterday when I came across an old Ancestry print out of my Dad's relationship to George Walker Bush. I had forgotten about this data. Wish that I had thought of it during the funeral week for President George H W Bush. But better late than sorry. The print out was dated October 10, 2007. My wife Jackie had passed away in March, 2007 and I had plunged into genealogy studies the first years after she passed away.

The next two pictures are of the print out. I do not recall how I got the print out. I doubt that I could do it again. I trust Ancestry.com for the data. It indicates that the Monson family and the Bush family have a common Grandmother, Elizabeth Scudder who lived from 1622 to 1700. Therefore we are cousins.

I have added to the data my self, my oldest daughter, her oldest son, and his oldest daughter. From the cousin calculator chart I find the following cousinhoods. They are presented after the cousin chart.

I am the 6th cousin of George H W Bush. The senior Bush and I are both in the seventh generation from Elizabeth Scudder. I am a 6th cousin once removed of George W Bush.

My daughter Nancy and all my children are 7th cousins of George W Bush.

Matt Wrock and all my grand children are 7th cousins once removed of George W Bush.

Winter Wrock and all my great grand children are 7th cousins once removed of George W Bush.

Evidentially the Bush family is unaware of our close relationship. If they were we would surely have  been invited to the funeral of George Herbert Walker Bush. They probably have lots of cousins, however.

Ruston's Battle of the Paddle Chili Cook-Off.

Good hot chili. The Battle was held at the Framer's Market yesterday. This us the last Farmer's Market until next April.

Katelyn Farjardo joined Andrew and Andy Richardson to bring some good music to the festivities. They are good. I enjoyed their music.

Sure is a big paddle. First prize also was worth $500. Not too shabby.

The Chili Cook-Off was held outdoors behind the market on a rainy day. But that did not cool the chili or the fun. 

Breakfast anyone? A bunch of eggs on the griddle.

A nice Farmer's Market. I am looking forward to April.

They say that the old prune picker does NOT have dementia!

One of my readers was a psychologist in her other life. She and others say, based on observation, that I do not have dementia. That the memory lapses that I have had are normal. I am happy to accept their diagnosis. See how happy I am?

The old prune picker has dementia.

I have probably had dementia all my life but it is worse recently. I will give two examples. I go to lunch every Wednesday at the Senior Center. Have for years. I enjoy it and look forward to it every week. Several Wednesdays ago I thought about lunch in the morning but did not think of it again until one pm! Too late to go! How could I have forgotten?

Yesterday day at Walmart I had three items in my basket. I was at the check out stand and looked in my basket. There wer only two items there. I told the cashier that I must have dropped my third item somewhere in the store and that I would go get a replacement. Just then I looked at the counter and there was the third item! In a matter of seconds I had forgotten that I had placed the third item on the counter! I had looked all over my cart looking for that third item.

This is a matter of concern to me. Especially the Walmart checkout. I had absolutely no memory of placing that item on the counter.

Today is ‘First Thursday”

On the first Thursday of each month the Cook Baptist Church of Ruston, Louisiana holds a pot luck lunch. Over the years I have made many good friends who attend Cook Baptist. One in particular is Tommy Ledford, Sr. For ten years I have attended lunches at the Senior Center and Tuesday breakfast at the VFW Post with Tommy. Finally Tommy talked me into attending the First Thursday Potluck lunch. I am so glad that he did! I love the wonderful down-home cooking and the people. Tommy takes a wonderful apple salad every time.

If I became a Baptist I would join the Cook Baptist Church. In the meantime I hope to be at the First Thursday Potluck Lunch every month. That should make me sort of a member.

Here are a few pics of the lunch today. Hmm Hmm good!

 

Vital Signs for NOV 2018

I am proud that I lost 5 pounds last month. From 220 to 215. I have not been to 215 for twenty years. I played hight school football at 210. I have lost 35 pounds in seven months. I did not lose any weight in October. I am going to try to get to 210 by Jan 1, 2019.

I had a good month except for a week with a head cold and cough. Had a temp of 100 one day.

A blue enameled bowl full of strawberry slurry.

I remember my mom would fill a blue enameled bowl (which stayed in the family for many years), like the one in the picture, with a mixture of sliced strawberries, cream and milk, and a little sugar. The bowl was big and it was full. This slurry plus shortbread was to be the whole supper for a large family.

I was four. It was ninety years ago. My mom passed away when I was five. There were about a dozen of my family at home at that time. It was a tradition of my mom to occasionally have a strawberry supper. Nothing else to eat, just strawberry shortcake, but all you wanted. I can remember how it tasted. The shortbread was not sweet. It was a big fluffy sourdough biscuit. You placed the shortbread in your bowl and then covered it with the strawberry slurry. It was so good! Everyone was happy with their meal.

I can remember my mom standing over the bowl. This is one of the several memories that I have of my mom. If you have read some of my blogs you may have the impression that I really missed my mom and resented losing her at an early age. That is the right impression!

 I have recently became acquainted with a genealogical presentation called a timeline. The timeline presents a chronological list of all the events in a person's life. The list can include major events with age, where the person was living, etc. I am thinking of doing a timeline for my mom. She led an eventful life in her 41 years! Eight pregnancies and nine children. It would be like spending time with her. Depending on how detailed my study, it could be a lot of work. Getting or reading eight birth certificates could involve a lot of time, effort and expense.

Blogger Burnout!

I started the PrunePicker blog on April 11, 2010. As of today I have posted 3,207 blogs. Did you miss one?  The PrunePicker blog has been viewed 472,576 times. That is a lot, huh?

I used to post to the blog almost every day, Lately I have posted once or twice a week. This is just the third one this month. I just do not have what it takes (burn out?) to keep up the pace. I have thought about stopping the blog. However I do get around 150 to 200 hits a day so I will keep on going. I will cut way back. Maybe one or two blogs per month. On the right of this blog is an option to be notified by email when I post a blog. You might consider doing that. That would save you some time.

Have a great day!

My Alzheimer friend came to visit.

Yesterday was so exciting! My maid Rhonda Ray brought her Mom Rosa Lee to visit with me while she vacuumed my old Hitch Hiker RV. This is the first time in a long time that I have seen Rosa out of her home. You could tell that she as excited. I do not understand Rosa too much but we had a great visit,

Their old friend Lizard (from Jefferson Corner days) bought us lunch after Rhonda was done with my RV. Here is a pic of the three. Rosa, Rhonda, and Lizard. We had a great visit.

Vital Signs for October 2018

No weight loss!!!!  Started around 220 and ended up around 220.  My weight was down to 217 in the middle of the month. I must have relaxed and went back up. Oh well, I will do better in November. I plan to be 215 the end of the month.

A heart warming story from the Piney Woods of North Central Louisiana.

My son in law John Adams has a friend who has a few months to live. High on the bucket list of the friend is the desire is to go deer hunting and shoot a deer. John said to his friend "I will take you deer hunting".

The other day John took his friend out to the deer lease. He took him to the lowest, easiest to get into, deer blind available. His friend is not too mobile and nearly fell, twice, getting up into the deer blind. Nearly scared John to death. John spent that afternoon and the next day building a ground blind for his friend to shoot in.

Here is the front of the blind.

Here is the back of the blind. Notice the deluxe curtain door. The architect, John, can be seen in the background.

John is installing a swivel chair in the blind. After John installs the blind at the lease, his friend can step in the door and sit down. Openings built at shooting height. I thing that John is a good friend. This story has warmed my heart.

My life has suddenly become easier.

The other day I got handicapped plates for my car. It is so nice and easy to drive up to an entrance and park. Here I am at the softball game yesterday. You can not park any closer to the stands.

I should have had handicapped plates for several years. John was dropping me off at the entrance for some time while he found a parking place. (When we attended an affair together.) He bugged me to get the plates. I am so glad that he did. I had no idea how much they would help in my everyday life.

I can not walk very far without stopping to rest and get my breath. I have a balance problem also. Since I lost the sight in the center of one eye I have very poor depth perception.

"I have Alzheimer. I will not get well."

I visited my friend Rosa Lee Blakley today. I usually sit and listen to her talk. She speaks very low and I hear very poorly so I usually do not understand what she is saying. But today I heard the above two sentences. It seems to me that she is very brave. She has a right to feel blue. And I think that she often is. She will recall old memories. Her eyes will get wet and she will look away. But usually she seems to be of good cheer and is her usual pleasant self.

Today she had three of daughter Rhonda's dogs with her. You can tell that they love her. They are good company. Here is a picture of Rosa with Waffles, Jasper, and Flip-Flop.

Flip-Flop is in love.