I feel bad. Today I told Mom her teeth are yellow. She was getting onto me about brushing my teeth, and I said, “Well, my teeth are whiter than yours!” I expected her to say something back, but she didn’t. Of course my teeth are whiter. Her teeth are thirty-one years older than mine are. I couldn’t really tell her that now could I? Then, I got the bright idea to make a tent out of a TV tray and a blanket, and sleep out in the front yard. It works pretty good. You can actually use two TV trays if you have a big enough blanket. You have to be able to stretch the blanket over the trays and pound a clothespin into the corners, and then into the ground. Don’t ever plan on sleeping two people in a one TV tray tent.

I got myself all set up, and I thought everything would be fun. It got dark kind of early. I have a flashlight, but what fun is it to lay there in your front yard under a TV tray tent all by yourself, without anybody to even talk to? I don’t have a dog. Billy has a cat named Yappy, but she hides up in the attic above the garage all the time. She only comes down when she brings her kittens to us. She’s friends with Pete Reese’s tomcat. Pete is the old man who lives next door. He has a tomcat we call Tommy. The cat got his tail partially frozen off one bad winter. I personally don’t think cats are all that much fun. We kept one of Yappy’s kittens once and named him Tinkerbell. After he got bigger, he ran off somewhere and didn’t come back for a whole year. Cats aren’t fun, but they must be smart to know how to get around like that.

You know, I’m just laying here thinking. I really don’t know Pete Reese very well. If he lets his cat’s tail get frozen off, who knows what he might do to a kid who’s laying outside under a TV tray tent? The ground is getting hard on me. Dad never got around to planting grass, so I’m laying here on prickly weeds. What a dumb idea this was. Mom should have told me, no. She’s probably still in there feeling self-conscious about her yellowing teeth. Maybe I should just go in and finish this night out in my bed. I sure hate to admit defeat. On the other hand, how are you going to know if something will be fun unless you try it out? I could just say I tried it out and it wasn’t fun. It’s not like I just got scared and went in. I stayed out here quite a while and I’m also without food and water.

Shoot, I forgot to go to the bathroom before I came out here. What if I fall asleep and have to go inside the house and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night? I’ll have to leave my TV tray tent unprotected. I don’t have any idea how long it’s been since somebody changed the batteries in this flashlight.

I feel sorry for Mom. What if something happens to me? She’ll spend the rest of her life blaming herself, because she started this whole chain of events when she confronted me about my teeth. Do you know how long a person should tryout an idea like sleeping outside in a TV tray tent, without food and water, and a flashlight with unknown battery life? I don’t think we have another flashlight so Mom can’t check on me even if she wants to. I shouldn’t be so thoughtless.

Oh no… I’m going to have to go inside. I just remembered something. I forgot to brush my teeth.

https://maryfrancismcninch.com/2017/10/20/murdo-girl-the-amazing-garage-sale/

We’re four days in and all I can see are millions of tables surrounding me.

I see dishes, and knick knacks, and purses, and pictures… linens and tools, and all kinds of fixtures.

We pray every day that we can get through it. We’ve piled it so high…can we get to it?

We’ve got jewelry and gadgets and all kinds of books; frames and mirrors to see how you looks.

We have tables of toys for toddlers and babies; electronics that work! We don’t sell you maybes.

Bring your dollars and quarters and a credit card. We’ve got appliances, pillows, and things for your yard

The Methodist garage sales sure are the best. Bring all your friends they’ll be really impressed.

If the sun doesn’t shine and the rain comes our way, we’ll be smiling and selling, anyway.

Friday’s the day and at eight o’clock sharp the doors will be opened and the fun will start!

Friday and Saturday, April 23rd and 24th…FUMC Mabank…across from Eubanks Funeral Home

Some photos are from previous garage sales. The pictures are older, but the people are not.

The world has changed in the last hundred years.

Let’s think about that for a minute.

If our grandparents could have been foreseers

Would they have picked now to live in it?

Back then parents raised their kids.

Now, some kids raise their parents.

Today, there aren’t as many forbids.

Back then not as much forbearance.

When Grandpa was a youngster

They had to blow out their lights.

Many years later they reached the juncture

When electricity brightened their nights.

Buckets of water were hauled from a well.

Now, it flows from a faucet.

These days we all talk on our cell

Party lines made it easy to gossip.

The homesteaders life was a gamble

Sometimes it was root hog or die.

For most it was all they could handle.

On hope and a prayer they relied.

The competition today is daunting.

The human spirit has suffered a blow.

Back then they were working not wanting

To reach each new status quo.

We didn’t decide to live now or then.

The choice was not ours to face

A good life doesn’t depend on the when

If we draw strength from God’s love and Grace?

https://maryfrancismcninch.com/2019/03/24/murdo-girl-destressing/

We had some good family times while we lived on the lake. Scott proposed to Heather on the 4th of July one year. It was a big surprise to everyone including Heather. In the picture below, Scott looks a hundred times calmer than he did before she said yes. My friend, Mary, and her daughter, Katie were there. Mary was in the bathroom changing into her swimming suit and missed the whole thing.

We had a birthday party for Sadie when she turned fifteen. We don’t do this for all of our dogs, but she was very special to our whole family. She was Kip’s Mom’s dog and the only one who was with her when she passed away. I couldn’t believe how good she was during her photo shoot for the invitations. Olivia got to blow out the candles and Kip got to open the presents which were mostly bones. We had nine family members there to help Sadie celebrate.

I’m going to stick in a few more camping pictures here.

I could only find one of the inside of the little travel trailer. Heather is on the left and Nikki is sleeping. I didn’t do a very good job taking the picture…sorry Heather. The one on the lower right is of Mason and Kip on that fateful day of the fateful night at Dangerfield State Park. Below are pictures of the lake house, Craig skiing, and Billy and I on the boat. I ran across tons of pictures I took of people skiing, but you can’t tell who it is in most of them. Billy loved our lake house. He liked to sit out on the back deck and smoke his cigars.

We decided to sell the lake house because we didn’t feel like we were really “getting away.” So we sold everything and moved to the country.

Thirty-five or so years ago, Kip suggested we take our sleeping bags up on Casper Mountain and sleep outside under the stars. It was fun until it rained and we had to roll up sleeping bags heavy with rainwater, put them in the trunk, and drive back home. We didn’t even get a chance to eat the fried chicken we brought with us.

A year or so later, we remembered that experience and bought a tent. We took the kids and went to Dangerfield State Park. We had been there on a day trip and had a lot of fun. They have a little pond and paddleboats to play with.

The camping trip was fun, too. In fact, we had only planned to stay two nights, but we decided since it was a long weekend, we would stay another night.

Big mistake…This time, it began to pour down rain around midnight. I was sleeping on one side of the tent, Kip was on the other side, and the boys were in the middle. Our dog, Baby Jane, was lying at our feet next to the tent opening which was zipped shut.

Craig had enjoyed a nerd milkshake at Dairy Queen along with his hamburger for dinner. Apparently his stomach didn’t like the combination. He said, “Mom, I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Kip!” I shouted, “Hurry up and unzip the door, and move Baby Jane.” He came out of a deep sleep and began to follow my instructions and then decided he wanted more information before going out into the pouring down rain in the middle of the night. The wind was blowing pretty hard as well.

Kip turned and asked, “Now why am I unzipping this and going outside?” Just then Craig got sick before Baby Jane had a chance to move out of the way. We spent the remainder of the night taking turns going outside with Craig…and the rain didn’t stop. By the time it was finally light enough for us to go to the campground’s bathrooms and clean up, Craig was feeling better and the rain had stopped. We even went out for breakfast though we made him sit closest to the door. I doubt he’s had a nerd shake since.

We tent camped a few more times before Kip started looking for a small used camper. He not only found a cute little camper, we bought a ski boat, skis, tubes and knee boards. There are a lot of lakes around Dallas and we had several summers of fun with that little camper.

We were so into boating and skiing that we decided we wanted to live by a lake so we sold our house and moved to a lake house about an hour’s drive from Dallas. Kip and I commuted for several years. He made that drive longer than I did.

We sold the little camper to a little couple. When they came to our house to pay us and get the title, our little Westie, Sadie, took everything out of the ladies purse which was sitting on the floor by the table where we were completing the transaction. She had hidden things like the ladie’s wallet all over the house without us seeing her. Kip and I were mortified as we hunted everything down.

You would think that living on the lake would be better than camping, right?

To be continued