The Reunion

Hi, there everybody

Have ya missed me? I've been so busy trying to keep up with all my parties I haven't had time to write in my blog. Before I forget (that's been happening a lot lately), it seems to be a very popular theory that I have a way with words. I can't imagine why anyone would think that, but nonetheless, If any of you are interested, I post another blogspot that is a collection of short stories I have written over the years. The address is:

francieann.blogspot.com

Oh, let me tell you---the last party with a real hoot! I'll try to tell you all about it if I have time between now and the next party. When I was in junior high school (Darby, to be exact) I was a majorette, and we had a band director named Bill Shaver. He was a great guy, and he really instilled the love of music in so many of us. It was in his honor that the reunion was held. It was called "The Shaver Years Band Reunion." I had a wonderful time at the reunion, except for one thing. I was the only one I recognized. The rest were just a bunch of old people. One guy approached me to talk about "old times", and I just stood there, looking at all that white hair that was on his head. (At least he had hair. Some of the old geezers didn't have hair at all.) Then I wandered over to the display of pictures and started looking for my old class. It wasn't there. Apparently, the pictures didn't go back that far. Now, there's a light that's beginning to come on inside my head, and I'm not liking what it was shining on, either. I started adding up all the gray hair and the years. I rounded it out to 50!!! Thank God for a sense of humor. I was able to laugh. (What else was there to do--stand there and cry?) Talk about spilled milk. There were a lot of years of milk that I was standing there and watching fly past my eyes, like the time my fellow majorette and I missed the school bus that was headed home after a band trip, and they called the police. Boy, was there a big crowd waiting for us when we got home!!! Okay, that's enough, folks. I'm done. Besides, it's time to get ready for the next party.

Francie

I Missed a Party

Hello out there
The thing I feared the most has come upon me---I actually missed a party. And the worst thing about it was, it was my own cotton pickin' fault. Bill was home for a couple of days, and Saturday he left without me --- again. So I threw the biggest party you've ever seen. Okay, so forget the fact that it was a pity party. It was one heck of a party, tho. when I do something, I do it up with all the trimmings. The dog and cat participated to some extent, but they weren't really much help. For the most part, they just sat beside me wondering what I was making so much noise about. Anyway, the party I missed was a 50th wedding anniversary party. I probably could have learned a lot if only I'd been there. After all, it's not every day you see a couple that have been married for 50 years and are still standing. And they're not only both still standing, but they're still speaking to each other. I only made it to 28 on my first go around, and I was not still standing when it was over with, either. Talk about getting your hat knocked in the creek...well, I went flying in with the hat and almost drowned. It only took me a few years to come to the realization that I was, indeed, still alive. The good news is, next month Bill and I will celebrate our 15th anniversary. Even though I tease him unmercifully, I actually think I got it right this time. He's a keeper --- that is if I could just keep him off the road. In the meantime, I dare not miss anymore parties. After all, it's important to keep busy. There's another one coming up this Saturday. It's my high school band reunion party. That ought to give Bill something to occupy his mind while he's on the road. (I wonder how many nervous breakdowns a person can survive in a lifetime.) Well, maybe he won't have another nervous breakdown. Maybe he'll just have a pity party.
Francie, Bill, Sammie Sue, and Ally Oops

Elephants on the Porch

Hi, friends

Bill finally decided to come home for a day or two, probably to beg me to lay off the home alone series I've been posting at his expense. I think he's about to decide it's both safer and wiser for him to keep me and the girls close to him so he can keep us --- or him --- out of trouble. He never knows what I'm going to take it into my head to write about him until it's too late. By the time he reads it with the rest of you he's "done been had", and there's not a thing he can do about it except hope everybody realizes that I have a way with words. Well, it's too late for him to put us back in the truck, too. I've decided I'm having more fun writing these snippets and going to parties than traveling in the truck, anyway. And that's another thing---he's never quite sure how I'm filling up my "alone" time while he's out tripping around the country. I can find all sorts of fun things to get into just running up and down Rogers avenue. And I'm not even alone in the evenings, either. There's lots of company on my front porch when I put Ally out to do her thing before we go to bed at night. I've got lumps all over my bod from the huge mosquitoes that have chosen my house for their nightly get-to-gethers. Talk about a party. Wow! They're as big as elephants. Ally's like Bill---she's afraid of the dark, so she thinks I am supposed to go out with her. Well, she's on her own from now on. I don't like elephants. I can find better party animals to hang out with.

Francie, Bill, Sammie Sue, and Ally Oops

I Survived!

Hi, everybody

I hope everybody is still out there. I know 2 of you are because I had a comment from Lisa and one from Earline. I'm so erratic with my blogging anymore that I'm afraid you're all going to quit looking for me. But the good news is, I made it through the first week of being home alone. I will have to admit, I kinda got down in the dumps several times. Bill would call and tell me he had seen the antelope, deer, and buffalo, and I would have the phone stuck to my ear, trying my best to keep from throwing it across the room in a fit of jealousy. Did you know there's such a thing as "silent language"? That's when these great big words are flying across your eyes, but they aren't coming out your mouth. In this case, I was using my silent language to say, "Why, you buzzard breath" every time he said the word deer, elk, or buffalo. And then Sunday at church Jean Stafford asked me how I was doing, and I told her, "I'm working myself to death trying to keep busy so I won't have too much time to think." I guess she felt sorry for me because she called today and invited me to her house for a get together of "our pew members". I hope I didn't seem too anxious, but I seem to remember yelling, "Oh, heck I reckon!" (I only say that when I'm beside myself with great and unspeakable anticipation). So, guys, you'll have to excuse me. I have to go get ready for a party. It's not till Wednesday, but I want to make sure I'm not late.

Francie, Bill, Sammie Sue, and Ally Oops

3rd day out

Hi, folks

That greeting sounds a little brighter than I am actually feeling today. I've been home alone for 3 days now, and with no sights and scenes flying past me from the truck window I'm getting more than a little

B-O-R-E-D.

I will say I am getting caught up on my two favorite soaps. One of them (All My Children) has to do with a cosmetic company. The girls and I were piled up in the middle of my bed watching it today, and we decided maybe we should start our own cosmetic company, just to have something to do. I mentioned this to Bill, and his remark was, "Those women on that show will do just about anything to get what they want." And my reply was, --- "exactly." So, as we speak, Bill is in the cab of his pick up somewhere out in Michigan, quietly having a nervous breakdown and wondering what it is the girls and I want and can he come up with it without losing the farm.

Well, probably not, so he will have to suffer the consequences when he works up the nerve to come back home.

Stay tuned for further developments in the saga of

Francie, Bill, Sammie Sue, and Ally Oops

Hi

It's Monday, and I've set about re-arranging my life yet once again. It's really all right, though. When you flunk out of as many of life's experiences as I have you tend to get plenty of experience at starting over, so I can do it one more time. And besides, living in a house as opposed to living in a truck does have its advantages. (Better bathroom privileges, for one thing) Ally Oops laid around and pouted all day yesterday because Bill left without her, and she's gotten a good start on it again today. Sammie Sue is just glad to be out of the truck. She's been in a constant state of sleep every since she got home to her own bed in her own window. I guess she's getting caught up on all the sleep she lost while stomping around on Bill at night while we were in the truck. Ally Oops checked out every blade of grass between here and the great northwest, with me right on her trail while we were gone. She and I were just having a gay old time. That'll show you who the fun lovers are in this family. It might pay me and Ally to choose a better class of dogs to run with next time.

Keep tuned in. You don't want to miss the coming attractions.

Francie, Bill, Sammie Sue, and Ally Oops

Oops! I don't know what happened to my July 4th blog. I must have fat fingered it or something because it published twice and all that other stuff, too.
We got the truck out of the shop today, and Bill will be leaving in the morning---without me and the girls. That's all right. He'll just have to read the blog right along with the rest of you, and if he doesn't like the way something sounds in it it'll just be too bad. Nanny-nanny-boo-boo. He took me out to dinner tonight as a consolation prize, and I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu. I'll show him. (He's already not liking this. He said to tell you I lied.) And now he's insisting that I not take this part out when he leaves. Okay, so I might have stretched the truth a little bit. He took me out to dinner because it's my birthday. There...that sounds better. Now, you draw your own conclusion.
Nighty-nite
Francie, Bill, Sammie Sue, and Ally Oops

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

July 4th
Hi, folksIt's sure been a quiet day to be July 4th. I don't think I've heard a single firecracker go off. It is July 4th, isn't it? Yes, it is. Of course, it is. Admittedly, I do get confused sometimes, but I know what day it is (I think). Well, I have news...I'm going to give Bill a couple of weeks off from having to deal with 3 women. We all realized how tired we were when we got home, so we decided to 'divide and conquer' and see what shape we're in later. I'll still be writing in the blog. Bill will call me every day, and I'll still be rattling as if I were right there in the truck with him. Keep tuned in. You never know what might show up in this blog.Francie, Bill, Sammie Sue, and Ally Oops
posted by Francieann @ 5:57 PM 0 Comments
About Me
Name: Francie Mann
Location: Dayton, Arkansas, US
I'm retired after many years in the retail business. I have 4 daughters and 2 granddaughters and 4 grandsons. I've been married to a wonderful guy named Bill for 15 years. We enjoy life together. One of my favorite passtimes is writing short stories, and I've been doing it since I was in the 9th grade.
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July 4th
changed plans
Truck Stop Caper
Over Here, Over There
Two Pillows
beautiful country
missed ya
RAIN
Continued
Goody, Goody, Goody
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June 2007
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July 4th

Hi, folks
It's sure been a quiet day to be July 4th. I don't think I've heard a single firecracker go off. It is July 4th, isn't it? Yes, it is. Of course, it is. Admittedly, I do get confused sometimes, but I know what day it is (I think).
Well, I have news...I'm going to give Bill a couple of weeks off from having to deal with 3 women. We all realized how tired we were when we got home, so we decided to 'divide and conquer' and see what shape we're in later. I'll still be writing in the blog. Bill will call me every day, and I'll still be rattling as if I were right there in the truck with him. Keep tuned in. You never know what might show up in this blog.
Francie, Bill, Sammie Sue, and Ally Oops

changed plans

Hi, everybody
I'm home for a couple of days. We decided not to go back to Indiana, after all. The truck wasn't acting just right, and we needed a couple of days off, anyway. We came in last night, and today I've done a load of laundry and mowed the lawn between showers. It kept threatening to pour down rain on me, so I was going as fast as John Deere would take me. Bill said I looked like Mario Andretti out in the yard on a big green machine. I guess I was pushing it too hard because a part of it fell off. Now, mind you, the part that fell off was about a foot long and made of heavy metal. We combed the yard with a fine foot comb (you know, we walked the yard--Oh, come on---I don't explain 'em--I just tell 'em). That thing was nowhere to be found. Bill had to drive all the way to Fort Smith and get a replacement part for it. Oh, yeah. He was not a happy camper, and he is no longer a fan of the racing industry. Don't come to our house looking for a celebrity. There will be no more sightings of Mario Andretti in our yard for a few days. Time for bed.
Good night
Francie, Bill, Sammy Sue, and Ally Oops

Truck Stop Caper

Hi, folks
We're in Laramie, Wyoming tonight, headed back to Indiana, where we can hopefully pick up another load. I've been watching my favorite little animals (antelope) all day. It's been a nice quiet day. Not much has happened. Well, there was one minor incident at a truck stop today. We pulled into the station to fuel up, and it happened to be one of those stations that requires you to prepay before you can pump. Bill went inside and gave the clerk his credit card and then went back to the pump and waited --- and waited --- and waited for the clerk to turn the pump on. Nothing happened, so being the southern gentleman he is, he went back into the store and asked what was wrong. The clerk made the mistake of asking him if he had prepaid. Still being a gentleman, he reminded her that he had given her his credit card. He trudged back outside to the pump and managed to get a little fuel, and it suddenly stopped working. It was hot outside, and my southern gentleman is about to forget what a southern gentleman is. He went back into the station, and I decided the safest place for me and the girls was inside the truck. After a while I began to get uneasy about the whole thing and decided that if he didn't come out of the store in 5 minutes or the police didn't go into the store in 5 minutes that I should probably consider going in to rescue the poor clueless clerk who was about to get her head lopped off clear down to the shoulders. Just as I had managed to brace myself for an inevitable confrontation and exit the truck, out Bill came, looking no worse for the experience. He paid for the gas and decided we didn't need anymore, anyway.
It's bedtime, and we can look forward to a another nice, quiet day tomorrow.
Good night, everybody
Francie, Bill, Sammie Sue, and Ally Oops