What a Disgusting World.....

Violet and Mayberry experienced their first real "lockdown" today. Luckily, the teachers just let the kids think it was an extended drill. Sad Sad Sad.

Sooooo Cute!!!

Yesterday, I saw two of the cutest things. I watched Violet at her first "track meet". It really was a jog-a-thon to raise money for a new sign at her school. I can tell she is going to be a track star when she is older. I walked Herbie and Big Weld to the ice cream store. It didn't take them long to decide what flavor they wanted. They were so cute walking on the sidewalk looking like two peas in a pod, walking side-by-side talking and eating their bubblegum ice cream cones.

The poor milk cow

I was talking to The Pilot and Swimming in Laundry. They were talking about setting up college funds for their 3 kids. Their discussion made me think about how I got through business school. I started business school right after HS graduation so I didn't have a chance to work the summer first. That year Dad and Mom were counting on a new field of strawberries and the caneberries to help with my tuition and buy books. The strawberries didn't do well that year; the farmers couldn't get pickers so Dad disked his up before getting across the field the first picking. The caneberries didn't do much better. Dad had been driving school bus for a lot of years and he got $100.00 a month. When I signed up for business school, they signed up to pay $25.oo a month. They also sponsored a missionary in the Philippines for $25.00 a month. Every 3 months, they had to come up with money for books. So, Dad and Mom did whatever they had to do to get the money. It meant Dad had to go to a loan office and use the milk cow for collateral. I walked the payment in to the loan office every month. The loan wasn't quite paid off when we had to borrow some more but my parents just figured it had to be done. The milk cow was mortgaged the whole year I was in school. The real estate taxes didn't get paid that year but they made sure I graduated from business school with my diploma as a legal secretary. Training or college after HS was very important to my parents. Dad quit school during 6th grade when he was riding his horse to school and a rancher asked him to work for him. Mom got half way through her sophomore year of HS. Dad was sick for 2 years when us 5 kids were little. Mom had no training to get a job to help out. She always said her girls were going to get an education so we could take care of ourselves. Mom and Dad put 5 kids through technical schools, business school, nursing school and college with a small berry farm, a school bus driving job, a lot of hard work and determination. They got married in 1938 and they were finally able to buy their very first brand new vehicle in 1972. A little yellow Chevy Luv pick up that The Pilot eventually inherited.