Some of you know our story. Death paid a very personal and jarring visit to our home in 2005; you can read more about it here. Last week, our first grandchild, growing in the womb of our daughter, Sarah Hartman, went to heaven. I found out the next day, and the piercing Continue reading “Sorrow again”
A Failure of Nerve
My father tells me that my grandfather, one of the most respected and best known farmers of Shelby County, seriously considered giving up and selling out in the 1930’s. It was after the stock market crash; times were very hard; he was in serious debt due to an unfortunate turn of events a few years before, and he wanted to sell out and become a doctor instead. He was almost 40 years old at the time– this would have been a very iffy road. He, and the farm, were saved Continue reading “A Failure of Nerve”
There went the Bride
Well, it’s over. Sarah got married! She is now Mrs. Hartman. It was a grand occasion, and everything went beautifully and smoothly. My impression, looking back the next week after we got home was, “Gee, that was only a blip on the radar screen! It seems as if it should have made a bigger impression. Maybe the Jewish folks, and others who celebrate for a week have the right idea after all!”
So many people asked me if I was stressed over wedding preparations. The answer is, no, Sarah and Rainey did most of the planning and preparation down there (in GA). I ordered her wedding gown, which fit perfectly so that I didn’t have to alter it. I had to find a mother-of-the-bride dress to match some jewelry I already possessed — a deal, but not a big deal. Hey, I got to shop, didn’t I? I went down 2 weeks before the wedding to take them 2 chest-of-drawers, alter Sarah’s reception dress, and help her with a little bit of shopping. I helped set up the church and arrange a few flowers and bows the day before the wedding. The most stressful part of the whole affair was fixing 3 people’s hair the morning of the wedding. And the best part was hearing Sarah say, after I finished her hair, “That’s perfect, Mom; it’s exactly what I wanted!”
I’ll put in a picture that I took of Sarah when she was all dressed and ready. Ted will fuss over the way I do it and go back and edit the post! If anyone is interested enough to want more pictures, go to this website: http://bbandcompany.zenfolio.com/p1038900398 . The password is “thomas0816” There are over 400 pictures there, but only a fraction of those actually taken. It takes 15 or 20 minutes to view as a slide show. To order pictures as prints, please contact Brenda Brooks at BB & Company.
Indian Winter and the Brontosaurus in our yard.
“Indian winter” is a term just coined by Lydia. It refers to the fact that, in all the 20 years we have lived here, this is the first time 
I have been cold in August. (Since Indian summer is when you have summer-like warm weather in the fall, then Indian winter is when you have cold weather in the summer, right?) Our weather all this week is incredible! Good incredible! While usually this time of year we are suffering under temps. in the 90’s with high humidity, our weather this week is topping at 85 or less, and getting down to the low 60’s at night. I just wish I could take it with me to Chattanooga for the weekend, where Sarah will be getting married. Her reception is outside, and the high that day is supposed to be 89. Oh, well, anything for a daughter getting married!
In other news, there has been a giant brontosaurus in our yard for the last few days. (I know, there was really no such thing as a brontosaurus. It’s more properly called an apatasaurus, but the b- word sounds better!) This brontosaurus was big, orange, metal, and weighed approximately 10 tons. It didn’t exactly eat tree branches, but it carried Ted and his chain saw on its long neck 60 feet in the air to trim the giant oak trees whose limbs were encroaching on the roof. The only catch to this mechanized brontosaurus was the short in its wiring that sometimes caused Ted to get stuck 60 feet off the ground! It took a little persuasion with a hammer to get it going again. Here’s Ted at his work.
We’re off day after tomorrow to attend Sarah’s wedding festivities. My next post will likely be pictures from the wedding!
Weirder education
Some of our friends send their children to the University of Louisville. You may have heard of it; they won the Orange Bowl recently. It seems that the students there can also get top scholarship input on black drag queens… courtesy of my tax dollars.
SO here’s my problem with this. Although I find gay drag disgusting, and wonder why it needs to be studied at U of L, I also have to wonder where all this is going:
- Will there eventually be a School of Drag funded by taxpayers, where students learn to be drag queens (AIDs and STDs included)?
- How does promoting the gay lifestyle, which this definitely does, fit with the overall mandate of a publicly supported university?
- Is it my imagination, or is there a double standard here? No doubt riots would ensure should the KY Senate propose taxpayer funding of research on using 4D ultrasound machines to reduce abortions. After all, this could be easily justified as a means of increasing the native-born proportion of KY citizens, with all the benefits of lower education costs (no English as a 2nd language), increased tax base (gays can’t help us there) and a reduction of mental health issues among women.
- Finally, is it really true that a majority of KY taxpayers wish to spend their tax dollars this way? If so, why is there a KY constitutional provision which clearly limits the benefits and privileges of marriage to one actual man + one actual woman?
I am the father of a teenager
Fear and loathing on the seacoast
Recently there has been much made of an alleged “pregnancy pact” at a Gloucester, Mass. high school among a number of 16 and under students. The school nurse reported “high fives” when pregnancy tests came in positive, and great disappointment when they didn’t; the Time magazine reporter who broke the story says that a recent graduate confirmed the basis for the pact (if it actually existed– there is some dispute about this) by noting that, “…They’re so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally.”
Indeed. Unconditional love is a need we all have, and a baby does provide it, at least for awhile. Nevertheless, in the wider world, and specifically in the world of liberated women, there has been much Continue reading “Fear and loathing on the seacoast”
Are we ready?
My daughter is about to marry Agent Z.
Don’t ask… even Palestinian terrorists are afraid of this guy!
It all happens in August… for details, click here.
😮
Lydia in China
Over the summer Lydia will be updating her own blog; you can read about all her adventures at Lydia-China.10thGen.org. If and when we get photos and news, we will do some cross-posting here as well. For those of you who might be wondering, she will actually be in China for the start of the Olympic Games, but will not see them herself.
We miss you already, Lydia! 🙂
A few roses to stop and smell
“Take time to stop and smell the roses,” to me means to pay attention to and enjoy the little, everyday things of life. So here are a few of those that have happened in the past weeks, for you to enjoy, and for our family to remember. Continue reading “A few roses to stop and smell”
My Last Week of School
Dear Friends and Family,
NOTICE: This is the last weekly e-mail you will get from me until I get back from China (I think) because I am going to get my own blog page where I can easily upload pictures, so you get to visit that once a week and read my post. However, I know that the internet is a little weird in China because the government messes with it, so if for some reason I can not access my blog in China, or you can not access it or something, I will go back to weekly e-mails. We will figure all that out when the time comes, but just don’t be alarmed if you don’t get anymore e-mails from me. I will let everyone know the web address of my blog once I get it (probably sometime this week).
Back to the main message. Yeah! Continue reading “My Last Week of School”