News For the Week of April 25, 2018

What a cold and rainy turkey season it has been so far. A few got their turkeys and many more are still getting up before daylight to get to their favorite hunting spots to cluck and yelp and try to get those big birds to pay them some attention. Two more weeks of season and we hope the weather is better for the last weeks of hunting.

Last Monday my sister Ginger and I visited with our Aunt Betty Swadley and our cousin, Judy Whitaker. It was Aunt Betty's 91^st birthday and she looks great. We meant to spend a couple of hours visiting, but when we start visiting we lose track of time and two hours turned into five. We had a great time, had cake and coffee and caught up on all the family news and solved a few world problems.

I don't hunt so next Saturday while the hunters are still out trying to get a turkey I am planning to go to the Master Gardeners of Greene County's plant sale in Springfield. I am mostly interested in the Iris Society of the Ozarks, iris being one of my all time favorite flowers, but am interested in all the plants they might have. It will be held at the Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center, 2400 S. Scenic Avenue, if anyone else is interested in going.

Congratulations to Bub and Kayla Jo Blair on the birth of their second son, Miles Derek Blair last Tuesday, April 17. Miles weighed 7lbs and 15oz and was 20 inches long. He was welcomed home by his proud big brother, 7 year old Noah.

Congratulations to Kourtney Shipley who signed to play basketball with Crowder College last week. I saw pictures on facebook of the signing and saw a picture where Kourtney had all her previous coaches standing with her. Quite an awesome event. Best wishes to Kourtney in the future.

I went last Thursday evening to watch grandson Garrett in the Mark Twain Conference Spelling Bee at New Covenant Academy. There were seven schools represented. Layla Blair and Garrett Lawson represented the first grade for Bradleyville. Congratulations to Layla Blair for placing second and Garrett placed fourth in a group of ten spellers. Congratulations also to Alexis Combs and Riley Isaacs for placing second and third in the fifth grade class group, respectively. All the kids from Bradleyville did really well but I don't have the information on all the others who were in the spelling bee.

Bradleyville School's art teacher, Camille Dautrich has been on another adventure, this time to Chicago where she got to see the sights and attended the play, Hamilton. She is always doing some fun trip, and I really enjoy seeing all her pictures on facebook.

Call me with any news you might have. Blessings to all.

News For the Week of April 18, 2018

I have a friend who says she has had a hummingbird or two already this year. Brave or foolish little birds. I guess when their instinct says it is spring, they head north no matter what, but Mother Nature surely didn't get the memo this year. I will have to get my feeders put out so there will be something for them to eat around here.

Turkey season is now going strong and several people have found a few mushrooms but the cold weather that just won't go away is hindering the mushroom production. If it warms up this week they will surely pop up everywhere. I have noticed the dogwood trees are right on the verge of flowering out so the suckers must be getting ready to shoal. Scott Collins says a good mess of fried mushrooms and fried wild turkey breast would be very welcome at his house!

Lois Lux is spending some time here at her home for a few weeks. She has been taking care of her mother who lives in Nebraska for the past few years and makes several trips back and forth each year. She showed me pictures of her brother's ranch in Nebraska this past weekend and they had gotten several inches of new snow. She said their cows were due to start calving any time and they were sure hoping they held off just a little while longer.

Tanner and Amelia Lux, along with their adorable daughters, 3 year old Lily and 6 month old Nora, visited New Mansion Church last Sunday and Lily is spending a couple of days with Grandma Lois Lux.

Pastor Jeff Marsh and Pastor Corby Lux switched things up last Sunday morning. Pastor Jeff taught Sunday School and Pastor Corby brought the message for the worship hour. Hayden Crouch brought the message on Sunday night. It is nice we can switch things around once in a while.

Please keep Julie (Bird) Murray in your prayers. She is the daughter of the late Kim Bird, and granddaughter of Margaret Herd, and was in a serious car wreck a few weeks ago. She suffered serious injury and is paralyzed from the waist down. I am sure she would appreciate your prayers on her behalf.

Ron and Sheila Hunsaker and daughter, Trinity, are home for a while from where they serve as missionaries in Nicaragua. I know their families are glad they are home for a few weeks.

I am looking forward to the all school reunion which will be held on June 9^th this year, starting at 6:00pm. Anyone who ever attended school at Bradleyville School or worked there in any capacity is encouraged to come visit. The Beta Club is going to be offering food for a fundraiser at this event. A person or persons will be recognized for their contributions to the school and community. Eddie Hunsaker is president of the Alumni Association and will try to answer any questions you might have.

A very special Happy Birthday wish goes out to my aunt, Betty Swadley who had her 91^st birthday last Monday, April 16. Aunt Betty and Uncle Jay worked at the school as custodians for many many years and drove the Kindergarten bus when there used to be only a half day of Kindergarten. Aunt Betty now lives with her daughter, Judy, just a few hundred feet down the road from where she has always lived.

I visited a while with Doris Manes online, asking her about a mutual family connection through the Gott family while I was working on the family tree and had a nice visit with her. Doris lives in Rockport, Texas now and is in an area that was really hit hard by Hurricane Harvey last year. The area is recovering but still is showing the signs of the devastation Harvey caused. Doris is planning to move soon to be closer to her daughter, Jackie and family in Little Rock. Some friends and I have been trying to talk Doris into coming to visit us here and if she will come we are planning to treat ourselves to a delicious pork tenderloin sandwich and some Springfield style cashew chicken. Doris says she can't find either dish where she lives.

Our neighbors, Mike and Nancy Howie recently celebrated their 34^th wedding anniversary. Congratulations to this wonderful couple.

It was nice seeing several friends we don't see very often when we attended several services of the White River Association of General Baptists last weekend. We heard some awesome messages and some wonderful singing. It is a reunion for many that come year after year. It was a very special time on Saturday morning when Frieda Holt was recognized for her many years of service to the Association.

Have a good week and call me if you have any news.

News For the Week of April 11, 2018

I sure hope the weather people are right and we get some nicer weather this week. I don't know about you, but I have had my fill of winter weather. I am not a cold weather person anyway, I am ready to plant garden. As usual, Bob was right and it is a good thing I didn't have plants already in the ground or they would be frozen and dead. 

We were priviliged to get to go to Gentry Church near Ava last Sunday night where we heard our grandson, Hayden Crouch bring a good message. It was good to see the pastor and his wife, Bill and Barbara Comer and to meet people there. One lady looked so familiar, she looked like a nurse I remembered from the hospital when I had two of my kids. I finally went up and talked to her and sure enough was the nurse I remembered, Charlotte Reich. She said she had worked in the past at Skaggs Hospital in Branson for many, many years. It was nice getting to talk to her.

I also saw a lady that I remembered seeing in my collection of yearbooks, and I asked her if she used to be Sharon Welker and she said yes, she was. She was a few years ahead of me in school and she said she had only gone to Bradleyville School that one year, but it was good to see her.

I have to explain, I have all the Bradleyville School yearbooks from the year 1961 to the present, except for the last two years. I used to sit with those yearbooks and just go from page to page, looking at every picture, and somehow I think I “know” everybody in those books. So if I walk up to you and start gabbing, or request you as a friend on facebook, don't think I am strange, although that might be true. I just might have seen you in the yearbooks and want to say hello.

There have been reports of a moutain lion roaming the neighborhood again. I hope it isn't around here, but if it is, I wish it would come and chase the deer out of my yard. The deer have eaten every one of my daylilies, the orange old fashioned kind we call ditch lilies and the more expensive ones I bought and planted. I have hung up wind chimes in the trees by where they are growing and hung up a shower radio on one tree and let it play all night. Only time will tell if either is a determent to the pesky animals. I love to see the deer, but just where I want to see them, not eating my flowers.

That's all the news I have for this week. Please call me or e-mail me or message me on facebook if you have any news you would like included.

News For the Week of April 4, 2018

Sometimes it is hard to believe how fast time flies. Easter has come and gone for another year. Eggs colored, eggs hid, eggs found (we hope), feasts partook of, families spending time together, memories made.

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday despite the frigid temperatures. It didn't seem to bother the kids much as they clamored for somebody to hide the eggs then hunted until they found every last one. Grandma (me) got in a little bit of trouble when they discovered the plastic eggs I had bought did not have anything in them. There was supposed to be candy in them. Well...the past few years I did just that and it took me an hour or so to fill the eggs and they left most of them laying around at my house with the candy still in the eggs. Around June or maybe July I finally threw away the candy they didn't want, so this year I thought to just put the candy in a bowl and just leave the eggs empty. I have learned my lesson and will not leave any eggs empty in the future!

Easter Sunday at New Mansion Church was well attended and we had a good service. Several nice songs were sung. Melanie Whittaker sang “I Will Rise Again”, Vicky Blair sang “My Redeemer Lives”, and Belinda Wyman sang “He Grew the Tree”. Pastor Jeff Marsh brought a good message. After the service there was an egg hunt for the kids and it had started to sprinkle cold rain, but the kids didn't care and made short work of finding all the eggs.

Our grandson, Hayden Crouch got into freezing rain Sunday night on his way back to St. Louis where he works, but made it home safely.

Our sympathy goes out to the family of Crystal Stacy who passed away last week. Crystal was in Bob's class in school and was Crystal Mitchell then. I had not seen Crystal in years but remember her being a very sweet person, and those that knew her well said she remained that way her entire life.

That's all I have for this week. Hope everyone had a nice Easter. Call me with your news.

News For the Week of March 28, 2018

The daffodils are bloomed out in full force. I love those cheerful yellow blooms. They bloom so pretty no matter what the weather throws at them, they even look beautiful in the occasional late snow. They are some of my favorite flowers. There are several old house places where they are so thick and pretty, some where they have been scattered around, maybe by a bulldozer. It just serves to thin them and they make more bulbs and bloom even stronger.

Lots of people just can't wait for those morel mushrooms to start popping up, and have been out looking for them. I think it is still a little early but several people have found one or two, so what do I know? I wouldn't be able to find them if they were popping up all over. I have never been a very good mushroom hunter.

I visited with Helen Maggard a little while Monday morning and she said her nieces, Judy Sundlie and Peggy Rush were down for a visit over the weekend. They had a nice long visit and lunch. They brought two of their little neighbors with them from the Kansas City area, a little boy and little girl, and the kids had a great time running around and also playing with Jerry Henning's horse. Helen said that her daughter, Sherry Henning would be by to visit later on Monday with Sherry's 15 month old grandson, Hayden. Hayden is Sarah Jo's little boy.

My sister in law, Sara Case called me Monday morning to let me know her brother, Dennis Sartin, had passed away early that morning. He was very well known and liked in the community and while we know he is in a much better place, free from pain and with his Savior, he will be missed greatly. Our heartfelt sympathy to his family and friends.

Congratulations to Levi and Hannah (Howie) Elsworth on their marriage last Sunday. Hannah is the daughter of Mike and Nancy Howie.

Tell Tim and Ann Blair congratulations if you see them this week. They celebrated their 41^st anniversary last Sunday.

Tim and Ann have new neighbors that moved into their new house last weekend, right up the hill from their house. Dustin Gross, Whitney Sharp and their daughter, Maddie have bought the house that Tim's folks, Bill and Gayle Blair owned.

Last Saturday evening Scott and Julie Lawson had a houseful of people to celebrate their oldest son Garrett's seventh birthday. All the grandparents were there and several aunts, uncles, and cousins. Supper was great, grilled hamburgers and brats and lots of other good food, then a delicious “Minecraft” cake baked and decorated by Julie. Garrett got lots of neat presents and loved every one of them.

Speaking of birthdays, Lance Monholland had a landmark birthday this past week. Be sure and tell him happy birthday if you see him!

New Mansion Church will have a sunrise Easter Service with special songs and a short message, followed by a potluck breakfast. Regular services start at 10:00 with Sunday School, followed by Worship at 11:00 and after church an egg hunt at 12:00. Everybody is welcome at New Mansion and would love to see you there.

The Bradleyville Nazarene Church will have an Easter sunrise service also, meeting around 6:15-6:30 at the Cunningham place where it has always been held. That is such a beautiful place for a sunrise service. Some are bringing their guitars so there will be singing. Bring your lawn chairs. Everyone is welcome.

Call me if you have news. Everybody have a blessed and happy Easter. Until next week.