Happy Anniversary To My Sweetheart

On December 27, 2008 Beverly and I will be married 33 years! I tease her and tell her it's been the happiest 15 years of my life!! That is not true at all, of course. Each year has been different in its own way and the years have gone amazingly fast. It seems like yesterday that we were young newlyweds starting out in Eastland in a $100.00 a month frame house behind the fire station. I remember well the night the siren went off and a startled, sleepy Beverly jumped up from sleep asking "Mama, what is it?" I'm thinking "I'm not your Mama!" During the next three years there our first baby, Jennifer, was born and the rent went up $25.00.

Every since then, we have lived here in H-town, raised 3 children and grown older and wiser. The past 33 years are filled with so many memories and we often talk about those Alan Jackson "remember when" days. We have been fortunate in so many ways. We haven't grown wealthy by any means, but we are wealthy in terms of our family, our children, grandchildren and friends. God continues to bless us richly and we give him credit for all of the wonderful blessings we enjoy. Our children are all happily married now and are where we were those many years ago. I pray that they will have the same happiness we have experienced.

Beverly, you are the love of my life. You are my best friend, my confidant, my counselor, and a wonderful wife and mother to our children. I hope we can look forward to many more years together doing things like jeeping in Colorado and enjoying each other's company. Remember, I love you the most and always will!

Our Little Man Turns Five

It's hard to believe that it has already been five years since our grandson Taylor first came into our lives! But, this past week, Taylor turned five years old! Next year he will be in school and everyone knows how fast times goes once they start to school. As parents we all know how much we love our children, but like people say, there is something very special about grandchildren. He has filled our lives with so much enjoyment and love and is a constant source of laughter, awe and amazement. He loves his PawPaw and BeBe and we have spent a lot of hours together. We know that someday as he gets older he will find other things more exciting than being here with us, but we are hoping he will remember these days and look back on them with good memories. It has been a busy week with birthday celebrations at pre-school, with family and a birthday party with his friends on Saturday. Now we look forward to the next six birthdays in our immediate family from now until New Year's Day. Wow! Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.

Here are a few favorite pictures of Taylor. We had to include one of Presley as she tried on Taylors boots and hat!

Songs About Life

What little I know about blogging, at least the format portion of the blog, I learned from Ashley and from trial and error, mostly error! One of my favorite things about this blog is the ability to download songs that really touch you from time to time. Music has a way of expressing your own thoughts when you can't express them yourself. I admire good song writers and one thing they all seem to have in common is plenty of life experiences. I think you need that in order to really tell a good story. Experience is the best teacher and from their experiences their songs are born. So here lately, when I have a little time, which doesn't happen often, I like to look for those songs that fit how I may be feeling. So, when you hear some of our blog music, you can get an idea of what's on our minds. Just some rambling thoughts from someone with some life experiences of his own. I think I'll go get my guitar and write a song!

The Lawn Ranger and His Field of Dreams

It seems to me that all I have done this summer is mow! With the recent rains, which we are very thankful for, the grass has really been growing. Not only do I take care of our yard, but I also have a lot of mowing and shredding to do at the orchard. Also, last year, the local Park Board needed someone with some knowledge of athletic fields to help them establish four new fields at the new park. Someone probably said, "Get Danny. He's retired and he knows about growing grass." So, I have been the official Forest Gump of the park for the past couple of years. I'm on a mower so much that when my children send birthday or Father's Day cards, the cards all have something to do with mowing. Jordan sent me a card about the Lawn Ranger, and that is about the truth.
The fields, 2 baseball fields, 1 softball field and 1 football/soccer field are all seeded in a hybrid bermudagrass called Princess 77. It has really grown well and we are in our second year of play on them. We are lucky to have this facility in our community.


The Lawn Ranger and his horse John Deere!

A view of some of the fields. In the background are two old bridges that once crossed the Leon River and are being "recycled" at the park and will become a part of the walking-biking trail.

What A Difference A Day Makes

Like many of you, we have been suffering through the summer with hot temperatures and no rain. But, thanks to God and Edouard, all of that changed yesterday. God does answer prayers, sometimes in a big way. During the night on August 6, sometime around 2:00 a.m. the rain started and when it was all finished we had received almost 6 inches here at the house. It was a lot of rain, but even more came at the orchard. We got around 9 inches there! There was an advertisement in this weeks Hamilton paper that simply said "Pray For Rain" and it worked. We are very thankful for this blessing. We hope that if you were not in the rain path this time, that you will receive what you need soon.


This isn't a very good picture, but the water was almost over the bridge on the little creek behind our house.


By the end of the day, the water was down, but flowing swiftly.


The Leon River overflow was up over this 5 wire fence.


The Leon River crested yesterday. Muddy, but still beautiful!


This reminded me of Colorado, but it is a little low water crossing near the house.


Today, everything looks peaceful and quiet.

The Jersey Boys Come To Dallas

Beverly has always liked music. Her taste varies from country to gospel to the music of the 50's and 60's. Of course her all time favorite was Elvis and I have to admit, I like his sound, too. She, in her younger days, was a collector of 45's and has a collection of over 300. For any younger readers, 45's came along before the use of tape and certainly before CD's. I say all of that to lead up to our recent trip to Dallas to see the hit Broadway musical Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It has been playing in New York since 2005 to full houses and just started on a national tour and the first stop was in Dallas at the Fair Park Music Hall. So, I surprised Beverly for her birthday and got tickets.

The show was awesome! These guys can sing--maybe better than Frankie himself! It was a great show and we really enjoyed hearing all of the songs as they told the story of this group of four blue-collar boys from the rough area of New Jersey. It is authentic, down to the language which can be a little much at times, but overall the show was very much worth seeing. It has been a dream of ours to see this show and we didn't even have to go to New York to see it. If you get a chance, and like this kind of music, check out their website at http://jerseyboysinfo.com/Broadway/ and listen to some of their music.

Presley Nicole Long At 4 Months

Hard to believe that Presley is already 4 months old! Jennifer and Beverly took her for her 4 month checkup in Waco yesterday. She is doing great, right on target for all of those little things that they start doing about this time. She weighed in at a hefty 11 pounds, 7.4 ounces. The pediatrician, Dr. Orr, said she is going to be one of those that we will all envy because she will be able to eat all she wants and not gain much. I wish I had that problem!!

She changes every day it seems. She is really holding her head up, laughs, coos, puts her hands in her mouth and holds things. Before long, she will be walking---oh, no! What can we say, she is precious!