Family

Recently we held our Beasley & Etheridge, Allied Families Reunion and these are some pix of that day. One picture is of last year, when our patriarch of the family celebrated his 98th birthday in Mobile, AL. This coming August he will celebrate his 99th Birthday! How awesome that is! He is greatly loved and admired by his family, his friends, his church and his community. Last year, we had a huge birthday cake at the reunion and everyone sung Happy Birthday to Mel! This year, we managed to just cut the cake, and everyone wished him Happy Birthday. It was awfully warm--no, actually, it was just so blame hot, we could barely stand it! We did have a wonderful turnout despite the heat! One thing about this year, so many of my very good friends helped me out by providing tables, chairs, tents, fans, even baking food to help out! Some of them were able to attend, as many of them had met Uncle Mel Beasley at the funeral for our sweet mama, and wanted to help him celebrate a month early on his birthday. There will be more photos to share. one of the group photos is from a box of photographs that Cousin Comer Beasley found in his late mother's trunk. We labeled this collection "A Trunk of Memories" and ongoing is the challenge to identify who these folks are and how they fit into our family tree!

Dog Days of Summer

I suppose the dog days of Summer have hit me--as it's been extremely hot as hades in the southern part of Alabama where I reside! Mercy, it's been heat indexes of 100+ degrees nearly every single day! And FLIES!! Lord have mercy at the flies! The pups at my home have been miserable, and keeping them cooled and comfortable has been a challenge! Every moment that they can scoot in past me into the air conditioned house, they do and I can't blame them a bit! However, they rarely get to stay unless it's after one of their many, many bath times and they're clean as a whistle! Ha! I do keep a fan blowing on them when they're out on the patio, and they've been reasonably flea-free this summer, which is quite unusual! I do love my canine buddies! Every one at my house is older than dirt! With cousins and friends, I attempted to keep them in a 10 x 10 foot kennel, complete with wiring at the bottom so they wouldn't dig out--which Jack promptly found a space that he could squeeze through, and wow, he was gone in a flash! Caught up with him twice now, and he hasn't been allowed to stay in the kennel since the last episode--on the Thursday before my big 'to-do' of a family reunion at my home, I had to chase that rascal down...he was promptly placed in the crate, and hasn't been allowed to roam since! The other day I took pity on the three of them, and took them riding out in the Jeep on a Sunday afternoon! I do believe they really enjoyed it! All were smiling! I'll have to post their pictures, so y'all can see them! Mimi, my little Shih Tzu, got to go visit a new groomer this week! She's feeling much better, now that she's had her short haircut for the summer! She looked so cute and felt so good when she got home! Told her she'd get to go back! She really enjoyed playing with a new toy I purchased for her--even at her advanced age, she enjoys playing 'tug-of-war' with her human and her stuffed animal!