My Lord, My Life

1. Hello, been a long time my fault, sorry. I ran across a poem written by Stacey our fomer Pastor Jim and Karen Burke’s oldest daughter.

My Lord, My Life

Let me feed hungrily upon your word;

A feast which fills my empty spirit

And satisfies the longing of my soul.

My essence cries out for you.

Each breath speaks Your name.

For You are the sustenance,

The succulence,

The joy of my being.

Without You, there is no life.

You quicken me by bestowing

Your glorious presence.

I am a rose, not fully formed.

My thorns are many, yet You love me.

I bask in the warmth of your light.

Your love is the sun that makes me grow.

And in joy, I raise my arms,

In humble, exuberant praise,

Acknowledging You forever,

As my Lord,

My love,

My life.

I read this every day it is Beautiful. Have a God filled day.

A Senior Citizen’s checkup time

         Thought I’d let my doctor check me ’cause I didn’t feel quite right.

         All those aches and pains annoyed me. And I couldn’t sleep ai night.

         He could find no real disorder, but he wouldn’t let it rest.

         What with Medicare and Blue Cross it wouldn’t hurt to test.

         To the hospital he sent me, though I didn’t feel that bad.

         I was flouroscoped and cystoscoped, my aging frame displayed.

         Stripped upon an ice-cold table  while my gizzards were X-rayed.

         I was checked for worms and parasites for fungus and the crud,

         while they pierced long needles taking samples of my blood.

         Doctors came to check me over, probed and poked around.

         And to make sure I was living, they wired me for sound.

         they have finally concluded ; {their results have filled a page}

         What I’ve got will someday kill me. My affliction is OLD AGE….     

   A friend sent this today and how true, how true Have a good weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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BIG Mama!!

       The other day as I passed my window something  caught my eye. It turned out to be a very cute and funny few minutes.

        It was two young doves experimenting.  One was on the others back but fell off  so he started brushing up his feathers . She had her back to him. She starting brushing her feathers too, and waited, and waited. Finally she turned around and was right up in his face eyes flaring and yelling at him. He was standing there with a duh look on his face. Then she turned her back on  him and patiently waited for him to try again. Well he must have wondered about this gal she sure had a sharp tongue. So he flew up to another branch to think this over. She followed him . He did nothing so she flew to a lower branch and then the original branch and waited. Sure enough down he came and they were ready to try again. When out of the blue here comes Big Mama and scares them and me . Pflitt  they were gone,  I  dont suppose her/his mother approved of her running around with boys like that or vice a versa. In a minute they flew above her and settled on branchs above. She sat there and went to sleep. Man she was BIG……

63rd Anniversary !!!

We were married May 4, 1947. in Roswell NM. Marshall and I were trying to remember some of the day. First off my day started with a phone call from Ft. Smith, Arkansas from my brother. My father, Alice, and Don or was it Dick had wanted to be here for our wedding but their car broke down. Now your to be married at 4:00 that afternoon by the way it was a Sunday. This was just after WW2 and in those days no one was married  in a great extravaganza. You found a preacher and met at the church at 4:00. My sister Madeline, Mr Robinson, Nora Lee and Doug were the only ones to come, We dropped by to see Marshall’s mother for a couple of  minutes then headed to Carlsbad. We stayed at the Coronado Hotel. It was  the  hotel in it’s heyday. To us it really was elegant. It is gone now but I have a complimentary bar of soap to show for it. We stayed the night and went back to Roswell where my family had arrived. They were surprised we were already married! That night we were in Vaughn for the night we found a small grocery the next day and felt very unwelcome  when a sigh said dont spit on the floor shucks you cant have any fun anywhere. There was something else  that made us say we wouldn’t stay in that town anymore.

       Somewhere along the way we stopped at a museum to see cows that had survived the atomic blast at White Sands I guess I’ve forgotten where it was. At this time I40 had not been built I dont guess. Our next night was at Gallup. Then on to Flagstaff. I wrote a letter to Roswell and put it in someones mail box on the highway hoping they didn’t mind. We apent one night there. Started out for the Grand Canyon the next morning. I was 21 then and knew nothing about driving. Marshall was bad about going to sleep at the wheel so he told me to keep the car straight and if I ran into any problems to wake him up. He was waked up right then I had to know how to start the engine then how to get on the road. Told me nothing about shifting gears. I did right well but going up a hill at 2 miles an hour was frustrating ‘        He woke up with a start and grabbed the wheel and told me to climb under him. Then I got a lesson in shifting gears and was admonished for nearly getting us  killed. He said it was a wonder we didnt start going backwards. I took it all in stride, dont you know.

          I forgot we stopped at an Indian village way out in the desert took some pictures there. We arrived at the canyon and hunted for a place to stay. Blue Angel Lodge was there but way out of our price range. It must have at least been$25.00 a night against our $4. We saw all of the Canyon we wanted and atarted home 3 days later. It was so comforting to get home, we lived with Marshall’s folks for a while and then moved into a big house on the corner of Main and Mcgaffey. eventually into a house in back of the store Linda was born at St Marys Hosp. We moved into the house on Delaware after it was built and Linda was 6 months old.  

        I think I’ve taxed my mind and your minds enough Adios

WesternUnion Cont…

      Western  Union was a very prominent part of peoples lives back in the 40s than it is today. In fact after I returned to Roswell there was a big telephone strike. We were so busy  we worked our tails off and made tons of money for the company

     But back to Sprinfield and school . Mrs Craighead was a tough old bird you actually came into her class scared to death you would be late. We soon learned to be  at the door before she was. And of course no gum, sit up straight and alert. and anything else she could think of to have you quaking in you boots. We hated that class but good!! Didn’t learn much until she, as I said previously, changed into a fairy godmother. Then we were well trained. She taught counter interplay with the customer. Smile, be pleasant , and helpful. And know all the rules no matter what you were asked you knew all the answers.  We handled a great deal of money sending money orders.  So you can see her class was very important.

         Mrs Buchanan taught the mechanics of using  teletype machines. They were a bit bigger than a typewriter. For me that was a constant frustration not having learned typing in High School. You see there was a ledge that you put down so you couldn’t see the letters. I did learn [All good men, and The Quick Brown Fox] those of you  who  took typing should know what I ’m talking about. To this day I can see the fingering on that but if your hand was not in the correct place because you couldn’t see it as mine always was you were out of luck. I graduated as a Counter Clerk. Shucks…  

           Mrs Buchanan was a rather strange women . She called Lubbock   Lublock . One of the girls was from there. A habit she had gave cause for the class clown [ME] to do her thing. We sat at long tables that had a ledge  about 6 inches above the table  to hold the teletype so if you did anything with your hands she couldn’t see it. It was her habit to start every  new sentance with the phrase ” all right, now then. After a while you dream abut it in your sleep. She lectured every day before our typing began. One day I counted the all rights and the now thens with the stricks and the line across the 4. One hundred in a class period. Yes, it was very tiring to all of us.

            In Counter class we were asked to write a short paragraph on honesty, another on courtesy there might have been more I dont remember. You won .50 cents but you couldn’t win twice. I won on courtesy.    My room -mate asked if I would write one for her on honesty. Why sure I agreed man talk about honest! Well it won, never thought a thing about it except she never offered to share the dough nor did she thank me. But I decided I was paid simply winning again. Dishonesty if I had been a Christian then would have been written all over me . I wonder how I would have  reacted. Most likely I never would have written it for her in the first place.  but who knows.

          One day in typing we had to type out a number of telegrams in so many minutes,  then you took the tape which was less than a half inch wide and wind it up in a figure 8. It had your name on it and then was placed in a box until the next day. I have no idea what happened my tape was gone  and Mrs B would not believe I had one in there. That was learning day for actually putting a telegram together. Very important day she must have given me one to work with I remember doing it. What made these machines unuque you could send and receive at the same time. As the tape comes out of the machine the girl sits at the left side of it with a round amber bottle about 4 inches long . She threads the tape along  the top of the bottle which holds water , the tape has glue on it. With your left index finger with a metal cutter on it you draw the tape across the paper and cut it off at the proper place. The top line of every telegram has the same information on it. This will give you an idea B  SMAO15  PD =TDSM PEABODY MASS 30  925AME=1959 DEC 30  AM 8 09   If you used too much water you had a mess . The recepient came on next line with the address indented below. then the message  and senders name underneath. There was a tab on the bottle that you opened with one fingure and prayed you didnt get too little or too much water, Sometimes the  cutter was so gunky it wouldn’t cut. Glenn just asked why they used stop in the message all I can figure they hadn’t figured how to get periods and so fourth in the machines yet. They were working on a better machine all the time I worked for the company. Ok this ought to be enough for now. Have a great week . Love to you all    Mom and Grandma

Western Union Cont…

There are so many things to tell I hardly know where to begin. So will start at the boardinghouse. We were up stairs in two bedrooms 4 in one and 2 of us in one. We had the front bedroom. I know we must have run that poor woman and her husband nuts with thw noise we made. She was kind enough to post the rules on big pieces of white paper in each room the bathroom was wallpapered in them. And duly laughed at and disregarded. Yes I was the ring leader. One rule was only one girl in the bathroom at a time. So I had two get in a tub of water, one on the toilet, one at the sink washing clothes and two at the mirror. I then drew a picture of it all had it a good many years wish I knew where it is. I was writing a letter one days sitting on the bed and in those days you didn’t have ball point pens you had an  ink bottle, Oh no!! [cringe] I  spilled the bottle on the sheet. That ment rushing to the little dime store and buying a bottle of clorox,[ plus toilet paper to carry back to Roswell where it was scarce. ] And washing it in the bath tub a no, no. We strung a line over the tub and hung it to dry. She never came upstairs if we were there so we all stayed in that night.

             We had quite a walk to school each day so we had to leave very early however we were directed to keep our rooms clean even through cleaning every Sat morning. We did follow that directive. One day we got caught in a rain storm and all got soaked but went on to school anyway. That was the day we lost our fear of Mrs Craighead our first class teacher. If you were a second late she docked you, I forgot to tell you we were paid for going to school. We hated the ground she walked on but after the way she treated us for coming to school like drowned rats she showed her true colors and we all loved her from then on. Because I had worked at the Roswell office two weeks I was the highest paid in the school. Got $7 a week.  Lunch time was fun we all ate together at a shop around the corner. I began noticing some thing that made me feel embarrased all the girls finished everything on their plates something I never did. So I began a lifetime of putting it on and taking little off. Cleaned my plate.  Going to town was great especially with a little money in the pocket. I bought  shorts with a skirt my first, a slip that had a bra and was white at top with black skirt. Pinks were popular then. Bet you have no idea what pinks were. They were pants  fashioned like the pants of lieutenants in the AirForce, they wore pinks as they were called because they had a pink hew. We all loved them because pants were new to girls. There were other buys also but cant remember them all. Sat. we spent the afternoons in the movies. However  we passed a Spudnut shop on the way. That meant each girl bought one doz for herself and ate them during the movie. No we never did get sick. God watches over the foolish!

               The Ozard Lake Park was a neat place to go so one of the girls and I went together and we always rented a boat and glided over the water. It was so peaceful. One day some guys tried to harass us and much to our surprise the man we rented the boat from started yelling at them threatening them with taking them off the lake for good if they didnt leave those nice girls alone. How wonderful it is to know we have friends everywhere.

            We rarely stayed at the park after dark but one night we were approached by a soldier who was leading around a guy whose whole head was wrapped in bandages. He wanted to know if one of us would take his friend onto the dance floor. He explained the boy had no face and was also blind. I have no idea how he breathed. I was no dancer so had an easy out my friend simply took my arm and said lets go. I always have felt guilty about that, how would you have reacted? Next installment school days.

Western Union [2nd try]

Well the first one disappeared and I was well on my way.

             After I was in Roswell awhile I decided I wanted to stay so that entailed a job. Took a Civil Service exam for mech. learner on B52s at Walker AFB. Roswell. Madeline had done that so decided I could too. After waiting a good length of time decided I had better try elsewhere Western Union was looking for girls to go to Springfield Mo. for training and then placing. As it turned out my boss said they wanted me in Deming but he wanted  me in his office. I found that out later after training. Well school didnt start until 2 weeks so he had me come in every day and learn to use the teletype. I was headed for a nursing career so didnt take typing in high school but I did play the piano so he hired me. Anyway he said I should beable to learn the keyboard and finger placement in two weeks, neither one of us fugured on my lousy memory.

              The night arrived for me to catch the train to OKcity. Jay left me at the train station  talk about growing up over night. When the ticket seller found out who I was and where I was going he directed me to a building down from the station and said to go to the 3rd floor and get a free pass per instructions of WU.  Pitch black night and I was shaking in my boots especially in the dim stairwell.  Then the dingy poor lighted office. Got the pass and fairly flew back to the station. Waited for the train in the ladies waiting room. The trip to OKcity turned out to be very pleasant . I met a girl to sit with and two servicemen sat facing us. We had a great time together they were all young innocent folk like myself. We hated parting when I had to leave. Took a taxi to the hotel WU had picked for me and it was free too. Now the hotel  had at one time been elegant but was on the rundown side then. Found my room on the 2nd floor and ate something  saved from dinner. Then because of the loud sounds from other rooms decided  to put a chair under the door knob  and got the glass shelve from the medicine cabinet and place it under the keyhole. Stuck the key in the lock and went to bed secure in my mind that if the key was pushed out it would hit the glass and wake me up. Slept like a log in the morning the key lay on the glass!!  But I was safe. 

         Caught the  ‘Bullet’  for Mo. The Bullet was the ultra in travel such a nice train they dont make them like it anymore.  Was cornered by a woman before I got on the train who was pushy and very boring who thought it her duty to take care of me. Luckily for me she wasn’t on too long. Dont remember the rest of the trip. When I arrived in Springfield the hotel was very nice and right on <ain St. they were expecting me and a lot of other girls attending the training from all over the SW. I wish I had known it at the time I was put in a corner room that looked out on the street with a window on each wall of the corner.  I was startled to see many young men with no arms. a leg missing or worse blind and being led by a buddy. There was a large army hospital in Springfield. Being hungry I caught the elevator to the next floor  and got off and walked down to the first floor found a small sandwich shop and was sitting minding my own business when a man struck up a conversation. He asked what my business was in Sprindfield well no way was I about to tell him so I quick said I was a buyer for a store. Now that was dumb I was dressed like a kid and  looked like one . He wanted me to go with him to see the city said we’d have a good time. Oh brother, then he wanted to pay for my meal and pay for some cards I was buying. Thanks but no thanks. Then I left and walked a really round about way to my room. So who should I get on the elrvator with the next morning he was spitting fire and I was glad to get off and catch a taxi to WU.

          We were given a welcome by our teachers then assigned to homes that catered to WU girls. There were six in my house. I slept with a beautiful girl from Louisana. There was also a girl from Lubbock the rest were sweet kids from the south. We had many an escapade I was the ring leader sadly to say. That will come in the next issue. Happy birthday my beautiful grand daughter Jen Grandma I love yyou

PBS and BBC news

Just when you think you know it all you find you dont even know yourself. Maybe I’m easy to persuade, I dont know. You decide. Drugs are not good they wreck lives, right. Switzerland is now giving them free. Horrors!!! After the story I’m not so sure. There is a pharmacy I guess they are scattered to reach the addicted, anyway this is the story of an elderly women. She has a respectable job, self-esteem, and a new life. She is a heroin addict. She related that she hates the addiction but will probably have it till the day she dies. She no longer has to cheat, lie or steal. She goes to the pharmacy w here she is known and treated like a normal person and handed her fix when she needs it. She can sit at a table and give it to herself or someone  will administer it. One man was shooting himself in the neck gave me the willies. I expect we who have no addictions cant know the heart of those who do. Come to think of it I guess we have addictions only we dont call them that. Soap operas. Oprah. shopping, unhealthy foods, etc and etc, The only difference is they are socially exceptible. If every country in the world gave drugs free think of all the Drug Lords who would die because of the poor me syndrone. No, I’m still against illegal drugs but maybe I’m a little more tollerant  of the folks who get addicted.

       This morning I prayed for the Holy Spirit to lead, guide,  and direct my day. You know when he did I realized he did and has much of the time corrected my thinking. Today was picnic day and the ride took us through an area where a field was burned I just figured the farmer had burned it off. Them I got the thought unless an idiot threw a cigarette out the car window. Immediately I was hit with [ a poor soul] threw it out the window. What an eye opener so many times I have had my thoughts interrupted by a better phrse closer to the truth. Thank you Lord for pointing out my addiction to thinking I’m better than someone else I think it is called scoffing.  Have a nice weekend.

Christmases Eons ago!

When I was a little girl in the 30s we were the proud possessors of tree ornaments made in Germany. They were little houses not one alike. There was glittery snow on all the roofs. I dont think we had any other ornaments. our wreaths and trees were of the alive variety. Uncle Albert would come and stand on the front steps with a suit box full of all kinds of lollipops. He never came in which seemed so strange to me. He was my dead mother’s brother. He and my father were never close they were business rivals. Each one considered himself a better electrician than the other. In the depression Christmas presents were sparce. But children were more understanding of such things at that time in our lives. We were warm, in out of the cold, there would be a good dinner furnished by the Baptist and Methodist churches. We really were happy to see those big trucks pull up in front of our house a day or two before Christmas so Aunt Cindy had time to do some baking and put a big turkey in the over. She was using a black coal burning stove by the way. There were Christmases as we grew older when Phil, Don and I were given $1.00 each to get 10 people a gift. Phil and I usually fudged and spent 25 cents on each other and got the rest of the presents with the 75 cents. As we got older the presents were more plentiful I remember a doll carriage I got one year it was raining and 70 degrees out. When it stopped I promenaded  up and down in front of the house minus a doll. I was in heaven. Some time later I was given a set of the Dion quintuplets. I think Madeline must have gotten them for me they were in a devided box and mayby 4 inches tall. She even made out fits for them. How about a sister like that. Dick use to buy a big chocolate Santa and eat it all by himself, it was about a foot tall. Took him a long time to finish it off. We drooled, he ate. The Christmas I remember with fond memories was around my 16th birthday. Uncle Myron came, it was at Alice’s house. First time we had met him and fell in love with him immediately it was the last time I ever saw him. It’s too bad people dont know the pleasure they can have being  around other family members, every one is blessed. Well Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year

First Date

       When I first came to  Roswell I was 18 just out of high school. Had never had a boyfriend. That was mostly for the popular kids. Also I had Phil to carry me everywhere so perhaps it was surmised that I had a boyfriend. With most of the boys in the armed services they were sparce.

        However this now was a different story. The  Roswell Women’s Club held a dance every Friday night and wanted all the young ladies they could muster to show up. My  brother-in-law had a niece named Mary who became a fast friend. She was 2 years younger than me making her 16 but more mature I suspect. I remember she and I traveled around in her model T Ford. I doubt that she had a license but this was in the  1940s when you couldn’t get one till you were 21. We were never stopped because she was a careful driver. Well nothing would have it but that I enter the era of doing my part for the war effort. Dancing with the boys. Had a lot of experiences both good and bad. In the course of time I met Jimmy from New Jersey a 1st  Lt. who was a pilot of a B52. He was tall. gangely, pimpley, had bad breath and a squeeky voice. He was what they called a “90 day wonder” most of the  1st Lts. were, in other words they needed officers so badly they didnt have time to send them to West Point so gave them a quicky course in 90 days. Jimmy had crash landed a B52 but  never did know how that went. This was before I met him. Well our dates were unique we did things we had never done before. One Sunday we road horses never, never again, oh how hurtful. Another time he took me up in a Piper Cub and then had me fly it for a short distance. Keep that nose up “Yes Sir”. We could see a big dust storm brewing up so had to land. Then there was Sunday rodeos held just off north Main. I couldn’t stand seeing a man get his head stomped on by a bull so never did care about rodeos. My first and last game of poker was really embarassing. No it wasn’t strip poker. I had the winning hand beginners luck is what I called it. They were all real angry they could not figure out how I won with a hand that had nothing in it. Dont ask me all I know is Jimmy made our excuses and got me out of there fast. We were only playing for matches so what was all the fuse about I won didn’t I??? I think they were jealous dont you?. We had dates that took us to homes of his friends, dancing at the Officers Club and other things I cant remember. Eventually Jimmy was sent to Germany with the Occupation Forces. I received one letter from him which didnt both me I was off to Western Union School.