Kitchen Table Tales - tamales

The story of how Mother and Daddy met goes like this.

For some reason, Daddy (about 14) was selling tamales at the tennis courts. (Why tennis players would want to eat tamales is beyond me!) Mother (about 8) and her friend Jo Bryan managed to steal some tamales and Mother hid them in her chest of drawers at home, and forgot about them. Her mother, noticing a peculiar smell found them, got the story from Mother and made her go apologize.

And the rest is history.

Trying again

Rescanned

Photo right side up

Here is photo right side up. Daddy (note cigarette) and Uncle Bill in their tennis whites. Daddy was about 5'7".

Kitchen Table Tales - Bill Dean and Polio

Daddy was the youngest of four - Aunt Jane, Uncle Bill, Aunt Katherine and Daddy. In 1933, Uncle Bill, the father of 3-year-old Katchie and 15-month-old Billy, contracted polio, which paralyzed his chest muscles. He was kept alive for over 24 hours by friends and family administering artificial respiration while the call went out for an iron lung. One was found in Houston and Bill was on his way in an ambulance when he died near San Angelo. He was 26.

Daddy had been dispatched to Fort Worth to pick up some serum (apparently made from the blood of recovered patients), but it was administered too late to help.

Pecos High School still has an award for a junior boy who excels in academics and athletics named the Bill Dean Memorial Award.

landlord, apes, Miss Margaret

I know I don't blog as often as I should - the trouble is that most of the people I might write about can read....

On another note - I am a new landlord, having bought a house that rents out. I've been agitating to buy rental property for years (and of course would have made a fortune if listened to) and am excited about the prospect of holding a property for more appreciation and collecting rent in the process. We'll see.

I've been listening to Charles Murray's book Human Achievement - 8000 BC to 1950. He is really a statistician, so lots of boring reasons for his conclusions, but I like his assertions that excellence exists. This parallels The Know It All which quotes (I should look this up) someone who said that we're not fallen angels but working our way up from apes with weapons.

We are looking forward to Christmas with the whole family here - can't wait to see Andy and already-standing-ready-to-walk Miss Margaret!

Waiting for the sprinkler man

The sprinkler man is here. One of the stations in the system which was put in before we moved here is now broken - apparently the wire from the conductor to this station is broken somewhere between the front of the house and the back yard. He has moved several of the old stepping stones we moved from Gaga's house and may still have to dig a trench to run a new wire. Who knew that there is a machine like a metal detector which can track underground sprinkler wires?

The election is over and I'm keeping a good thought for President Obama. As a Republican and a conservative, I voted for McCain, but can't say that he would have been my first choice. I've already seen a poll for 2012 in which Mitt Romney is ahead. I liked Sarah Palin and think McCain's people are chicken for not speaking on the record instead of anonymously. I can't see her as the Presidential nominee in 2012, but she will be an interesting and successful fundraiser.

The 2016 election may shape up like 2008 in that, assuming Obama serves two terms with Biden as VP, there will once again be no incumbents running on either side. Jockeying for position started last Wednesday.

In local news, my nephew from Australia is coming to visit and I'm going to make Pecos chili and beans!

Emma's baptism

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Here's the family gathered after Emma's Baptism. She was darling and precious and gave the congregation a big smile.

What a day!

1. The leak in the breakfast room is back. After hundreds of dollars, three different roofers and finally getting the room repainted, it rained in at the same place (around the skylight).
2. There was a nasty confrontation at the Library board between people who don't like the Library Director and the people who are trying to make the transition between an all-volunteer library and letting the professionals do their job.
3. One of the anti-director people resigned and sent out her nasty resignation letter to the entire board.
4. A past president who has been ill has decided to "help" the Library by inviting her 80+ year-old friends (two in nursing homes and one stone deaf) to come read to the children and told another that her job at the front desk starts tomorrow.
5. I'm trying to write the grant for one of our major Library funders and it's due Friday at 5 p.m.
6. I rushed home, changed clothes and went to meet friends for a margarita - only to discover that the party is tomorrow.
7. Misunderstanding what the hostess chairman of our Book Club told me, I emailed my committee to bring desserts for Book Club tomorrow night - but it doesn't meet until next month.
8. We are having a plague of flies in the den.

On the good side
1. I mailed off the tax return for another organization and I am done, done, done with them.
2. Good riddance to the person who resigned.
3. I did enjoy the margarita and nachos at the restaurant, even though it was the wrong day. (Always have something to read.)
4. It's not raining now, and the roofer is coming tomorrow.
5. Lysol 4-Way Spray Cleaner kills flies.

Influence

Just a note to say how much a random comment can influence. A friend remarked "what a great lipstick" and I went out and bought two Estee Lauder Hot Kiss lipsticks.

Let someone say - "That color looks great on you" and I'm stuck wearing that certain shade of blue.

Reminder to self - if you think something good about someone - even a stranger - say something. It could make their day and influence their future.

By the way - you look marvelous.

American Airlines 777

If you get a chance to choose, go on American's 777. You can sit in business class for the price of coach - and those seats are fabulous - they even recline flat for sleeping!

We flew to Ireland from Boston (our flight to Kennedy in NY was cancelled at the last minute) and flew Aer Lingus to Shannon. That plane was old, dirty, didn't have decent earphones or personal screens and our reading light didn't work. (Business class would have been $6000 more - per person!). Our flight back, which was changed to route through Chicago included a stop in Dublin (so we flew over Ireland twice on the way home).

We had raided the duty free shop in Shannon for Irish adult beverages and overloaded the overhead then when we got to Dublin were told we had to get off with all our hand luggage. Then they herded us up and down stairs (great for those rolly bags) to wait in a room meant for 50 or so passengers with a group of at least 200 - holding on to our hand luggage and purchases - for about an hour.

Recommendations:
1. Check other airlines for travel to Ireland. Ryanair doesn't fly from the US, but Delta and Continental do. There are now no direct flights from DFW, so try for the AA 777 from DFW to wherever.
2. Take your own earphones. I took my CD player and a story CD, but lost the player with disc 9 of Prisoner of Birth. I have a feeling that the girl sitting next to me might have taken it, but I did find the earphones.
3. Take crackers and cheese. You never know if they'll have anything at all to eat or how long you might be trapped on the plane. Peanut butter sandwiches work, too.
4. You can take as many little bottles of Scotch or other adult beverages as you can fit into a quart sized Baggie in your carry on luggage. Take an empty water bottle and when you are through Security you can fill it up for free with water for a mixer. Remember to take a cup and you won't have to wait until the plane has reached cruising level.

Wrong photo

I intended to publish a photo of Ireland and accidently uploaded a photo of the ranch - Mark was spreading gravel on the driveway with a little bulldozer and we all had to play on it.

Here is a photo of Redwood Castle - also known as the Egan Castle. It's in County Clare near Portumna and near Birr. Our late chief, Michael J. Egan, a lawyer in Castlebar, bought it and restored it and held the first modern Egan Rally about 25 years ago. Ever since then, the Rally is held in Ireland every four years and somewhere else two years later. So far we've been to Austria with the German Egans (the vonEgans), Salt Lake City with the Mormon Egans, Annapolis with the Naval Egans, Melbourne with the Australian Egans. We hosted them in Dallas in 2006 and the next rally is to be held in Tasmania with the Devil Egans (sorry, couldn't resist).

My iPhone is fabulous but I'm on a learning curve about uploading pictures to my computer then finding the ones I want. I upload to Kodak Easyshare which collects them in date, but not time, order. In other words, I can find photos for June 26, but they are jumbled in time - with early morning photos mixed in with late night photos. And, on Easyshare, the photos aren't numbered which would make it easier to upload to the blog.

Anyway, this is Redwood Castle, still in the family of the late chief - and when in Ireland we've always held the final meeting of the Rally there. The castle is now party subsidized by the country and must be held open for visitors so many days a year. The sign outside invites people in for 6 euro.

Unfortunately, the heirs who own the castle now are not very family oriented. They charged the 85-95 people (relatives!) 20 euro to enter! Not only that, if anyone who didn't have 20 euro in cash for every person (including children) they were not allowed to pay by check or credit card! (Of course some Egan white knights stepped up to pay.)

To make matters even worse, no preparation was made for the people attending. Chairs were not set up and not enough were provided. Tea was offered with a few store-bought cookies.

We'll never go there again and recommend that no one else go, either.

Ireland!

We are just back from an Egan family Rally in Ireland. It was great to see old friends and relatives. Our international chief, Michael J. S. Egan, planned and executed a wonderful programme of events, meals, transportation and lodgings for about 100 assorted Egans from all over the world.

As word for US travelers, though - stay home! The euro is about $1.8 - meaning when things cost 1 euro it is about 2 dollars. And not only that, the prices in Ireland are jacked up. For instance, a McDonald's Happy Meal in Dallas is about $2.15. In Limerick, a McDonald's Happy Meal costs 4 euro - almost 8 dollars! I didn't see one price that was less than 1 euro - even a pack of gum.

If foreign travelers come to America they can really buy lots of stuff at a great price.

Grammar

I originally titled my blog everybodysentitled because I thought that 's weren't allowed. My youngest daughter suggested - a lot more kindly than I usually correct someone else's grammar - that it should either be "everybody's entitled" or "everybodies entitled".

I plead ignorance of blogging rather than a grammatical error, however, and see that I can use an apostrophe and a space in there. I give Mary credit for catching the error. It is pretty great to point out other people's errors.

I've just finished reading Harry Hunsicker's "Still River". He's a Dallas author who spoke at our Issues and Interests Junior League Sustainer Group last year. He's also president of the Mystery Writer's Guild this year. This is his first novel with his hero Lee Henry Oswald - which is pretty funny considering Lee Harvey Oswald's role in Dallas history. I enjoyed the story with lots of action and with lots of Dallas landmarks playing a part in the story. He could have used a better editor, though. I'll check his later books to see if it is worth writing to his publisher.

Now, if she'd just come home and explain why my iPod copied the first part of Jeffery Archer's excellent novel "Prisoner of Birth" and won't let me download part two, even though it is on my iTunes list.

A fake fingernail update: I noticed that my nails grow pretty quickly and went back for what I thought was called a "fill" which I imagined was more pink goop near the cuticle - but the girl sanded off the old stuff and put on new stuff. It looks to me like most of the fake plastic nail is now off and the acrylic just covers my natural nail.

It has been interesting to have really strong nails that can pry up the ring on a Diet Coke with no problem and that drumming my nails now has a neat click to it. The only problem I have (except for worrying what this stuff is doing to my real nails) is that I have trouble setting my watch, since the nails are too thick to easily pry the stem.

42!

Yesterday was our 42nd anniversary.

It's all hazy now but I think we got engaged after Thanksgiving my senior year at the University of Texas and we married June 18, 1966 after I graduated. Byron had finished his first year of law school. I remember that the Sigma Nus (serenaded me at the Theta house. (They probably don't do that anymore - probably no college kids get engaged anymore).

We met at a match party. That was a party at the fraternity house - and each of the Theta pledges were "matched" with a Sigma Nu. The Theta social chairman and the Sigma Nu social chairman were dating (Cookie Mattox and Will Wills) and they made great matches - at least four couples ended up married (Byron says seven) and we're all still married. (Cookie and Will married other people.)

In those bygone days, the match party was held at the fraternity house (the boys buying the beer since the sorority wasn't allowed to buy it - and most of us were underage, anyway - and the sorority would pay for the live band). This happened every Friday night all Fall. If your date liked you, he invited you to the football game on Saturday. If you didn't like each other, you could spend the evening in the ladies room with your sorority sisters who were in the same boat.

After my classes were over, I didn't bother to participate in graduation, but went home to get married about three weeks later. My mother planned the whole thing. The wedding was at the First Christian Church with ministers from the Christian Church (where Mother and all us kids belonged) and the Episcopal Church, where Daddy belonged.

My mother-in-law hosted the rehearsal dinner at the Holiday Inn (the Pecos Valley Country Club was closed for renovation) and the day of the wedding lunch (none of that "bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony" stuff) was held at Jane and Bruce Hay's. She was Mother's best friend, frequent guest at our kitchen table for a five o'clock Scotch and a wonderful cook.

About four days before the wedding Byron came to Pecos and stayed at the house until he and Daddy got into an argument about displaying the gifts. The gifts were displayed on tables covered with white tablecloths in the upstairs hall and Daddy wanted them all on view. Byron thought some could be boxed up and taken back to Austin with friends so we wouldn't have to move them all after the honeymoon.

Daddy suggested that perhaps Byron should move on over to the motel where his mother and family and friends would be staying.

During the countdown to the wedding, Daddy called it the "possible wedding"; the week before, he called it the "probable wedding"; the day of he called it the "ominent wedding". On the way up the steps to the church he turned to me and said "You can still call this off if you want to."

The reception was held at my parents' house with cake and champagne. In those days people were expected to have eaten dinner before attending a wedding and the reception was mainly dessert. There were little boxes with a small piece of cake, tied with ribbon for guests to take home. (It was a superstition that if you slept with wedding cake under your pillow, you would dream of your future spouse.)

We left the reception very quickly - not even having a dance in the newly created "ball room" which had been the sun room which had been especially decorated for the wedding. We drove away in my Nash Rambler which our friends decorated to the filling station where Byron's car was stashed.

We spent our wedding night in the Sands Motel in Odessa, catching a plane early the next day to New York where we spent a week at the Plaza Hotel. A few years ago the Plaza had a promotion, before they closed for renovation, that invited honeymoon couples to stay there at the same rate as their original stay. I couldn't find it at the time, but came across it later - $32.50 per night.

After 42 years with Byron, three wonderful daughters and four lovely grandchildren - I'm glad that I decided to ignore my father's suggestion to call it off!

Sprinkler

I had the sprinkler people out this week to fix a head that wouldn't stay screwed on, and after replacing four heads and checking to see that the entire yard was actually sprinkled, they charged me $208. Last night about 11 p.m. I heard the system go on, then realized that another head had popped off and was shooting water about 25 feet into the air.

The stations are set at about 10 minutes per section, but this seemed to be staying on, so I went out into the night to shut off the system - but it wouldn't shut off. The water in the back yard was about ankle deep.

I got Byron up (we are leaving this morning for Virginia to see baby Margaret Anne be baptized - the car picked us up at 6:30) and we tried for 30 minutes to shut off the water in the alley.

We finally called the city fire department to come shut off the water and it turns out that we have not just two meters in the alley, but three. The last one was hidden dirt and grass, and, of course, that's the one that controls the sprinkler system.

I'm looking forward to a nap on the plane. Then I'll be making a call to Mustang Contracting to see if they guarantee their work.

Kiera Knightley, Pride and Prejudice

I just watched the Kiera Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice. Boo, hiss. 1) How can you call it "adaptation" when you change the story? Austen was a master - don't mess with her. 2. Knightley never closes her mouth! Someone must have told her that she was more attractive with a half-open mouth - but for that moue to be effective, it must be contrasted with some faces with lips together. Does she do that in all her movies?

Why did I stay up to watch that when I knew every minute was making me more irritated.

I have gone to the dark side

First the braces, now the fingernails.

This morning while making the bed I tore one of my fingernails. I have tried gelatin, nail strengthener, liquid wraps, etc, etc. My nails - unlike my bones, which are in the top 10% of my age group - are like paper. Occasionally I have had all ten sort of long, only to chip, peel or tear one, followed by the others.

So I went to my usual nail place and asked for gel nails. A high school friend said the gels are better and healthier than the acrylic ones for reasons I don't remember now, but even though "We specialize in gel nails..." was painted on the window, they don't do them now.

Being ready to have stronger nails, I decided to get "solar nails". It was a fascinating process. They trimmed my pathetically short nails to the same length, used a machine to smooth out the ridges then glued long, long, LONG plastic nails. These looked like the ones you see on some cashiers who have them painted with designs. I couldn't scratch my nose with these on my fingers, much less use the phone or the computer!

The manicurist (who fortunately spoke some English) then clipped them to about 1/8 of an inch longer than my own nails. The join between the plastic and my nail was then smoothed with the drill. She then dipped a wet brush into some white powder and piled it up on the end of the nail. She used an extra plastic nail to make the crescent shape of the white tip. After this hardened, she dipped the brush into some pink powder and piled it up on the rest of the nail. When this hardened, she used the drill to smooth the edges and the surface.

After more smoothing and polishing, I have strong nails which look mostly natural (not natural to me, but still sort of natural). Another good thing is that they always look clean!

They said I'd have to return in two weeks for a fill. I don't know if I have entered the perpetual zone - like shaving your legs - or whether I will decide that this process is actually dissolving my real nails. But it's interesting for now.

Braces, fingernails.... is lipo next?

Library

Our community library is now seven years old. The community is almost 100, which shows the interest the powers that be have had in providing a library. The Friends of the Library have done yeoman service finding a space, getting donated books, staffing with volunteers (etc. etc.)

It's been a long haul. From being open four hours a week staffed with volunteers with no checkout system to a library with four full time staffers (three professional librarians (that's with a Master of Library Science degree) and a full time circulation desk person has been a labor. A labor of love, needless to say, but a labor. We have computer check out, a web site, wifi and loads of brand new bestsellers.

We have weathered a Founder's Syndrome - when the founders expect to have a say about everything, including how books are cataloged to where to hang pictures on the wall - with only minor scars.

Now we are transitioning from a volunteer-run operation to a professional corporation. The Executive Committee will shrink from 30 to 10 and a lot of us old presidents have moved to the non-Executive level. That's a good thing.

The Director has even changed the locks so random people can't wander around after hours or at times the library's not open.

Our next challenge is extracting ourselves from our benevolent but mystic landlord and finding property on which we can build our own free standing library. After three tries at the City Council without success, it's pretty obvious that he won't be able to convince the city fathers that a library in the basement of a large office building would be in the best interest of the city.

We absolutely would not have been where we are as a library without his active help and donation of 5500 square feet of space for $1 a year for the past six years, but we need to move on.

What I want (not speaking for the Board - just as an interested volunteer) is a free-standing state-of-the-art library which is adequate to serve our high-end well-educated population of 23,000. I envision a library district, with an elected board of managers and a guaranteed revenue stream from the city.

It's amazing what a dedicated groups of people (even when they know not what they are doing) can do.

Reunions

My hometown of Pecos, TX recently had a Mega-Reunion for all classes. We held it in Austin because (1) there isn't much to do in Pecos except the Rodeo around the 4th of July, and West Texas in July is rather hot (Like 114 degrees hot) (And dry) ( And the Rodeo people usually take up all the motel rooms) and (2) the oil and gas boom means that all the motel rooms are taken up with landmen/women who want to lease or buy our mineral interests. Our family mantra is "Never sell the minerals."

Anyway, we held the Reunion in Austin and had a great time. The attendees were mostly from the classes of the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s - with one graduate from the Class of 1924 (she's 102). Elvis made an appearance and wonderful old cars were on display. The highlight of the event was the Carrico Singers- honoring our wonderful choir director Bill Carrico - who sang the School Song, "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". It was great.

Sticks and stones

While contemplating bad names to call someone, it occurs to me that most names "sonofabitch" and "bastard" are names which really don't reflect on the person called that name, but do reflect on his mother. A "bitch" and the "c" word both refer to women. If you want to call a man the worst thing, what would it be? One suggestion is "a-hole", but couldn't that be non-gender-specific? I did come up with the traditional southern epithet "sorry" - as in "He's just sorry" meaning lame, useless and unredeemably bad.

New name

I've decided to change the name of my blog from GrandmotherDearest to a more general "Everybodysentitled" to my opinion, of course.

I will give changing the name a chance tomorrow.

Easter photos

If I didn't think Katherine's photos of her own children were horrible, then I would be really upset at the photos of baby Emma et al on her blog. Here she and Elizabeth are at Fin and Feather for Grammy's 96th birthday.

Grandmothering

Let me say right away that if I ever thought that my daughters (mothers of my grandchildren) were making a big deal out of mothering - I was wrong! This is hard work! Just the lifting and carrying is meant for a young person. My mother-in-law, who delivered my husband at age 43 (surprising his brother 17 and sister 15 - not to mention herself!) used to say that God meant children to be born to young women. She felt Byron was "a consolation to her old age."

I frankly don't remember how I handled our three girls - born three and a half years apart. We didn't have a nanny, just a once-a-week maid who mainly changed the sheets (a luxury I still appreciate). I guess I hauled them all to the grocery store and took the younger ones in all the carpools, ballet lessons and soccer games. I don't have a memory of anything hideous and the girls are all still speaking to me, so I guess we survived it.

We've had the darling and precious (and very smart) three-year-old grandson and his darling and precious eight-week-old sister here for 10 days with lots of visits from our three-and-a-half-year-old darling and precious (and very dressy) granddaughter with her eight-month-old sister. There was lots of wonderful cuddling, confusion and cousinly camaraderie. We loved every minute.

They left on Tuesday and left us with the darling and precious eight-month-old prodigy who is pulling up, can clap on command and can provide a spectacular raspberry when prompted. She is dangerous because she can't be left alone and is anxious and to explore new venues - the dog's bowl, any lint or trash on the floor, pulling out drawers and pulling up on unstable tables and curtains. She is darling and precious, but Grandmother Dearest is tired.

I took darling and precious baby Emma to the library (where she promptly burst into tears and initially devastated Librarians Carla and Miss Kitty until she warmed up) - and the trek up the steps carrying the "bucket" was a true pain in the neck and back. The bucket must weigh 10 pounds without the baby! The thought of loading her up - much less with an older, more opinionated sibling - to go to the grocery store, is daunting. No wonder pizza delivery is so popular with the younger set.

Hats off to all you mothers of babies - Grandmother Dearest salutes you!

Renovation - bath, sinks, floors and beyond

In the last couple of months, I've been nesting - no, not that kind - I mean looking around the house to see all the things I've meant to do in the 18 or so years we've lived here. Once we had the conversation about never moving except to the graveyard, it just makes sense to fix things the way that pleases us (me).

Here are my projects:

Paint the downstairs woodwork.Replace the stairwell broken spindle before someone falls through it.

Paint the last unpainted bedroom (removing the old intercom receiver - why didn't I do that in all the rooms? The only one that works is the one in the kitchen. It doesn't function as an intercom, but does play the radio.)

Remove old, ugly wallpaper in the two upstairs bathrooms, paint a neutral color.

Remove the old, ugly countertops in said bathrooms, replace with Simplicity, by Corian (a couple of bucks cheaper than the regular Corian.)
Replace the old faucets (those really ugly ones with plastic "crystal" handles) with faucets with only one handle. (I really like those - you only need one hand to get the right temperature water - you don't have to put the book or the baby down to wash your hands.)Home Depot.

Have the kitchen Corian cleaned and polished. It is the 3/4" Corian which they don't make anymore. This was probably installed 25-30 years ago. Home Depot.

One of the young men who installed the bathroom countertops came back on a Sunday to do this. He also recommended we round the square edges of the kitchen countertops - which I hadn't noticed but were just the right height to catch a grandchild's head. He charged $150 for the whole job, which took hours, and was the best bargain of my renovation saga. He did bring his 3=year-old son for me to entertain, though.

Replace the garage door with a steel one. The salesman neglected to notice that the new door didn't meet up with the control for the electric opener, which left us without a closeable door over the holidays. If you use Welborn Overhead Doors, beware of extra charges.

Install Travertine flooring in the upstairs bathroom which has had damaged lineolum under carpet since we moved in. This is an ongoing production since the hardibacker underfloor is 1/2" and the Travertine is 1/2" (adding up, surprisingly, to 1").

The installer didn't have a transition piece ("they didn't tell me to bring the right size") to go from the tile to the hardwood floor, so I'm now waiting for the installing company to come view the job. I have also noticed that the tile doesn't lie flat and they may have to come tear it out, install the 1/4" hardibacker board, and reinstall the tile.

Since the floor is now an inch taller, the doors don't fit, but I don't want to get them cut before the floor issue is solved. Fortunately, we only have family scheduled to visit, so they won't mind (too much) the open air quality of the bathroom. Home Depot.
I ordered, and paid for, this installation on November 5, and after several phone calls ("we had to special order it, even though we told you it was in stock" "it's just been delivered and we'll install next week"), I called to complain and ask them to repay me the interest they would charge for the same length of time. Which they did.

At the moment, I'm waiting for the plumber to come fix the leak in the downstairs powder room (which Byron says can't be updated because he loves the dark wallpaper and three-toned accent painting on the vanity). He has agreed to replace the really fancy faucet with some plain brass ones. These are promised to NEVER need polishing. I'm going to have the equally fancy and impossible to clean ones replaced in the master bath, too.

Now all that's left to do is re-organize the office - turning it back into an office/bedroom - that's going to take awhile.