The moniker, “step-father”  makes me think of Cinderella.

She had a wicked step-mother…

Who wouldn’t let her find a fella.

She had mean and simpering step-sisters…

They said she was a freak.

Poor Cinderella had to think her future would be bleak.

Then along came a fairy-god-mother…

A magic wand was her trademark.

Cinderella went to the ball…

And knocked the Prince out of the park.

For step-mom and step-sisters…

It didn’t end too well.

They couldn’t get the Prince from under Cinderella’s spell.

Some think happy ever after… 

Is only in fairy tales.

Some think it can be found…

After everything else fails.

*****

When you married my mother, I didn’t know you very well.

I hoped you’d make her happy. Only time would tell.

You not only gave her love…

You gave her what she needed more.

You were the same good man each day…

As you were the day before.

It’s been forty-six years now, since you and Mom were wed.

When asked about my brother and me…

This is what you’ve always said,

“He’s my son and she’s my daughter.” (You don’t say that you’re too young.)

You were fourteen when Bill was born. I was born when you were twenty-one.

Our family is pretty big now. To our kids you’re Grandpa Gus.

When you married our Mom…

We got the best for all of us.

(Billy, Gus, and I at Horse Creek where we spread Mom’s ashes)

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After all these years, step-father could be something I might say,

Because when friends or family need you…You’re only a step away.

And when you need your son or daughter, we hope you’ll always know…

We’ll step up just like you have… since all those years ago.

Happy Fathers Day, Gus…We Love You

I’m still going through mountains of old photographs. For a short, lighthearted post, I decided to show you a few that brought back memories and made me laugh…

My boss in Denver had babies very close together. She wore this dress so often, we all got really tired of it. For Halloween, I got the dress, blonde wig, and glasses and dressed up like her.

I was over it by lunchtime…

“Do we need to put Head and Shoulders on the list, or are you both just thinking?”

“My head doesn’t itch…I’m just thinking.”

We’re going straight to jail from here…

This is one of my favorite pictures of Nikki with her mad face.

Olivia got caught one morning helping herself to some leftover pizza from the night before. She got it out of the garbage.

Skyler stopped to smell the flower.
This is my brother, Billy, looking for our car. We were in Colorado for the Boulder Bolder race. I ran 5 miles uphill and we walked another 5 to find the car.

I’ll add these two from today. We took the dogs to the groomer and Dollie sat by the door all day waiting for them to come back.

x

Have you ever noticed that back in the 40’s and 50’s everyone who had a car, had their picture taken in front of it. Look at some of the old pictures you have of your parents or grandparents. I will bet you’ll find one with them standing in front of a car. I showed this pic in a blog I wrote the other day. Now I’ll show you what Mom wrote on the back of it.

From Kip’s family albums…

The first two are of Kip’s Uncle Klar. Doesn’t he look dapper in his riding breeches? The second two pictures are of a gal-friend of Kip’s mom ‘s. Her name is Mary Delle. I think she liked her car.

These were all in Kip’s family albums. The third one is his dad, Mack, with a crazy friend.

A couple of Mom and Dad

The first Army photo is of my dad. The second one was in Mack’s army album. He must have taken this photograph of his buddies as I don’t think he’s in it. Kip’s dad and mine were both in the Army Corp of Engineers and served at the same time. Their birthdays were two months apart. Kip’s dad was killed in a motorcycle accident when he was serving in Italy. He was only 27.

Grandma and Grandpa Sanderson

“Hey…would you all mind taking a picture of me by your car?”

It makes me wonder if people just wanted to show off their cars or did someone say, “Let me take a picture before you leave?”

We have pictures of all our kids with their cars, but I haven’t run across any except one of Mason standing by the car he disliked intensely. Kip, like most men, can tell me when a photo was taken because he knows the year and make of the car. He has pictures of all the cars he has ever owned. He almost cried when he saw the picture of his prized red Chevy Super Sport after a relative backed into the driver’s side door.

I really believe that boy’s and men’s identities are closely tied to the kind of car they drive.

Prince Phillip said that? I wonder if Queen E. knows!

You haven’t really lived until you have waded through hundreds of pictures while sitting in a garage on a hot Texas day, with only a fan to keep the air moving… Heidi and Brad, Heather and Scott and their boys, Seamus and Hudson, along with Kip and me, were real troopers. We at least got a good start and all agreed working on this daunting task together was the right thing to do.

Mason and family live in Wyoming and couldn’t make it. Craig had to work, so they had to take a pass. The girls set aside a box or two for them to peruse. 

I had the top picture taken for Father’s Day the first year Kip and I were married. The 2nd one includes a surprise for our 25th anniversary. Now each of these kids has 2 of their own and Heidi has 3 beautiful grand-children. With spouses, we’re now a family of 21.

Kip impressed Seamus with a fossilized monkey wrench. (It did look petrified.) Hudson got a fossilized shell. 

After cleaning the turkey fryer the day before, I decided to serve turkey wraps with turkey from the deli along with chips for lunch. I did, however, make delicious homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert. Heidi took a break at the end of the day to read some of her papers from 3rd grade. We even found a dental mold of Kip’s teeth, and every men’s cologne bottle Avon ever made, courtesy of his mom. My fourth and fifth grade report cards were packed away, and we found newspapers from 1914 and 1928.  

In our storage boxes we found a whole box of napkins leftover from our wedding. Can’t throw those away…(We’ll use them for camping.) There was a list someone gave me after Dad’s funeral with all the names of people I should thank and what they contributed to the luncheon 37 years ago. (I hope I wrote them all notes.) Also carefully packed were Craig’s cub scout shirt, a picture of Mason standing by the Flying Penny, the car we bought him that he hated, Heather’s drawings, stories, and a teeny tiny note she wrote to Kip that said, “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even be here.”

They looked through some of the 262 record albums they remembered listening to over and over again, including Bobby Bare’s, Singing in the Kitchen and Tom T. Hall’s Sneaky Snake. We looked through tons of pictures of our extended families and set aside things for Heidi’s two kids and their families.

I compared the picture of me with granddaughter, Olivia and me with Grandma Sanderson. I love that Grandma and I are reaching for each other’s hand. The third picture is of Kip with baby, Heidi. He said she had a bow taped to her head.

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The boys played checkers and petted the cat. Later, thinking I could cool off a little, I volunteered to take them to a local arcade. They wanted to play putt putt golf…outside in the heat. They each made a hole in one…very exciting.

This is the last thing I looked at, which explains all those things we save from the days our kids were growing up.

I get it…we don’t want them to disappear…

 “A child is someone who passes through your life, and disappears into an adult.”

Mom and Gus, sold their motel in the late seventies and after being tied down for so many years, they were anxious to hit the road and experience new things. They bought a motor home to pull behind their car, put their belongings in storage in Murdo, and came as far as Gillette, Wyoming, where I lived.

They rented a spot at the Crazy Woman Camp Ground and settled in. Soon, they met Becky and Charlie, a couple from Maine. Charlie was working on construction and I think Gus did that for a while too when they lived in Gillette. Mom got a little job across the street at the Rock Pile Museum. She loved it!

Mom and Becky were a pair to draw to. Lucy and Ethel would have loved them. One day, one of the other campers staying at the Crazy Woman drove his pick-up truck through the park a little too fast which upset Becky, who was outside hosing down the dirt road. It was so dry, when people like the guy in the truck drove too fast, it kicked up a lot of dust. Becky was upset enough that she aimed her hose at the guys truck. Apparently his window was down and she got him pretty wet. She was pleased with herself thinking he would get the message and slow down.

Later that evening, Charlie was sitting in his favorite chair by the door, reading the paper, while Becky was fixing supper. Suddenly the door opened and all Charlie saw was a bucket of water being dumped on his head. Becky hadn’t put two and two together yet, when Charlie said, “Now what did you do?”

Becky got Mom into clipping coupons and they loved seeing who could find the biggest savings. Mom wasn’t used to shopping with coupons, but Becky was getting her pretty enthused. One day they went shopping for groceries and Mom whipped out a coupon expecting to get a huge discount on the item she was purchasing. The clerk handed it back to her and told her it was “expired.”

Mom was crushed. She said in a very disappointed voice, “What? That was my best one!” I’m sure Becky was embarrassed, being a veteran coupon shopper and all.

I don’t think I have a photograph of Becky and Charlie, but I found this among all the pictures that have been stored in the attic and it made me think of Mom and Becky. Becky made this for Kip and me when we got married.

This needlepoint says “Patience, understanding, love and sympathy, unselfishness, kindness, lots of laughter for a happy marriage.”

I have a feeling I’ll be reminded of other people and stories as we go through all these boxes of memories with some of our kids on Saturday.

Oh…I found this in one of the boxes. I had no idea what it was until Kip told me. I couldn’t believe it. Would you like to take a guess??

*******

I’m frying turkeys, and pies for Saturday and we’ll make homemade ice cream. I’ve never deep fried anything before, so I practiced on a chicken today. It turned out really good and wasn’t at all greasy. The fried appricot pies turned into mush, but I’m not going to give up without one more try.

Cousin Lav said I should blog a cooking show. That could be pretty funny. I’ll call it, “I’ll fry Away.”

Are you old enough to remember opening a box of detergent and digging down to find the free glass inside? The key was to use enough detergent to get the whole set before they moved on to another promotion. Boxes of cereal contained toys, and moms faithfully collected green stamps. I remember getting a set of TV trays with books of stamps. We thought we would never accumulate enough.

Those were the days of catalogs, letter writing, dictionaries, encyclopedias, electric skillets, sixteen inch TV’s, taking baths only once a week, unsupervised play and on and on.

Of course there was also smoking everywhere, yummy high fat, high sodium foods containing lots of sugar, but it wasn’t all listed on the packages or cans like today. Who knew there were 600, bad for you calories in a chicken pot pie? Who knew what a calorie was?

We ate canned spaghetti and meatballs, canned ravioli, and canned tamales. We drank whole milk or Kool-aid with one or two cups of sugar in it. I personally think life was better when we ate bacon and eggs with crispy fried hash browns whenever we got the chance and never felt a pang of guilt.

We rode bikes without helmets and stood in the front seat of the car as soon as we could stand. Our mom’s arm hitting us in the chest was an effective restraint in case of a sudden stop.

In my case, I couldn’t wait for school to start, but the excitement ended when I had worn all of my new clothes, which took about a week.

Much has been written and many comparisons have been made about then and now, but there is one thing that never changes….

Kids grow up too fast.

We went to our grandson’s preschool graduation the other night and as I was watching all of the proud five year old kids getting diplomas, I was struck by the innocence on all of their little faces.

We watched two videos of the kids. One showed them participating in all of the activities throughout the year. The second showed pictures of each child when they were babies and current photos. I’m warning you…the songs that went with them might make you cry. Below the first video you will see a few pictures of the kids we’re lucky enough to have in our lives.

We have four kids who each have two children. We have three great grandchildren. All but Mike and Nikki are pictured above. Below is a picture of them with Mike’s son and Nikki’s two daughters.

So with all these kids, you might be asking what we’re doing with a tiny home? Hoping for a lot of invitations to their houses, I guess.

You never know who you’re going to run into.

Sound at the door: Knock knock

Sound from inside: Who’s there?

Yram: Its ‘s Yram Sicnarf. I’m a crack up reporter from Gun Barrel City. Did you get my message? Can I come inside your tiny home?

Kip: What if I say no?

Yram: My my my…what a lovely tiny home… Somehow I thought you would be smaller…Mind if I ask you a few tiny questions? I’m only going to be in Gun Barrel for a couple of days then back to Murdo I go.

Kip: I’ve heard about you. I heard you ask a lot of stupid questions and that you’ve been in a little trouble with the law as a result of your propensity to badger people. Are you here avoiding the law?

Yram: Oh cont-rare…I wear those restraining orders like a badge of honor. Have you not heard of reporters being arrested for not revealing their sources?

Kip: Aren’t your sources the ones filing the restraining orders?

Yram: As a matter of fact, I don’t have a single restraining order against me…unless you count the one I got at the royal wedding. They call it something different. Those Brits don’t like being interviewed much. Meghan was downright rude! All she would’ve had to do is ask me nicely to get out of her horse-drawn carriage and I would have…no questions asked.

Kip: Cute.. You really remind me of someone. Do you have family around here?

Yram: No…I’m pretty much a loner. I just showed up here one day and decided to make it my home. I have a cousin, Lav, but she just kind of hangs around, too.

I like Gun Barrel’s motto: We shoot straight! I like Murdo’s too. They call it The Magic City. Anyhoo, the Murdoites want me to investigate this tiny home of yours. How much did it cost?

Kip: I’ll let you know as soon as I have the courage to add it all up.

Yram: Feeling the squeeze are ya? Pouring money down a rat hole brings a person down. You look very depressed.

Kip: I do?

Yram: Yes…where’s your wife?

Kip: She needed a few things, so she went to Goodwill

Yram: Really? I see you’re out of peanut butter. (Kip is eating a PB & J sandwich.)

The Report…

They don’t call me a crack-up reporter for nothing. I was able to snag an interview with the purchaser of the local tiny home. It’s okay, I guess, if you like living in a train car next to a big brown barn, and rabbits for decorations.

FYI, here’s a scoop. They are as poor as church mice. I’m on my way to the bank right now to set up a donation fund because that’s just the kind of person I am. When I hear someone’s got troubles, I like to spread it around.

By the way. That Kip guy is almost as rude as that little Princess Meghan, and Mr. Applefloor, and Mr. Haugland with one H, and the guy who has a son with a sign outside of Murdo. But I don’t think he filed a restraining order against me. At least not yet!

I’m going to go look for those two high flying Queens. I know they live around here somewhere. I want to interview them.

There’s one! My first question will be what is stuck in your teeth?  I wonder what’s up with the double tinfoil crown…

We’ve had a lot going on around the tiny home these past few days. The factory called yesterday and said they had a cancellation and could put our siding on. We weren’t scheduled for another two weeks, so that was good news. It looks different and better. It still looks a little like a caboose, though.

Then today, the concrete guy brought his crew over and fixed our driveway. We can’t drive on it for a couple of days, but hey…progress is progress. We are slowly but surely getting there. The next project I hope Kip gets done is the steps. We also turned in our punch list of the things we need fixed. Buying a newly constructed house is not for sissies, even if it is a tiny one.

I love the house. The only thing I have found myself missing is closet space. I don’t have a place to put my broom and my mop, so the time I used one of them, I had to walk all the way out to the brown barn to get it. What do tiny home dwellers do that don’t have a big brown barn? I can’t get over the feeling that we cheated by having that building, but maybe I will feel better when we’ve gotten rid of everything but Kip’s tools and the RV stuff.

The kids have been invited to be here on the 9th to go through all of the mementos and pictures. I sent an email today and I already got one RSVP. I think they’ll come, and we’ll have fun looking through all of the crates of loose pictures, old albums, and framed photographs, but no one will want to take any of them. Someone said that if you must discard something that is really meaningful to you, take a picture of it. I think that is a great idea, and I have already done a lot of that. I’ve been scanning old pictures for the blog for three years. I took a picture of this Queen doll instead of buying her. If she shows up in a story, who will know the difference? I would have done that with my Beasterhops 5000 rabbits ago, but that’s different. I have to set up scenes.

This whole experience has had its pluses and I think in the end, we will be happy we made the move, but it has taken a lot out of Kip and me. We aren’t bouncing back from exhaustion like we normally would. It seems the more tired I am, the less I sleep. Plus…it’s hot already in Texas. On the other hand, we have to keep going and walk the dogs three times a day and we’ve both lost weight.

My goal is to go out and hit golf balls at the age of 98 like Harold Thune. Did you all see the little video his son with a sign outside of Murdo put on FB? Now there is a couple of good guys…

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I keep forgetting to tell you about the “thred up” bag I sent with gently used clothes in it? I got $76.00 for them. Since they were mostly from Goodwill or someplace like it, I guess that was a fair amount. I have also donated a lot of things to the Family Resource Center. I go in the back door and out the front, that way I can shop! I rarely buy anything now. I don’t have room for it. I guess that would be the second thing I kind of miss.