Time to Give Thanks...

 

Good news! I inquired about RODNEY FLANAGAN'S health and his wife Carolyn was kind enough to send me the following:

"Rodney was released from Shannon Encompass Rehab July 30, 24 days after the stroke. Seven of those days were spent in Shannon Hospital.  The remaining time was spent in rehab, which was crucial in his recovery. He spent time in Occupational, Speech and Physical therapy almost every day.  He is working to regain his strength by walking and doing exercises at home, which he does not enjoy.  He looks good and there are no obvious physical effects. There is some short term memory loss, and he gets tired easier.  He laughs and says that being 82 years old is part of the problem.  We are so thankful that he is doing so well and give God all the glory. Thank you all for the calls, cards and prayers.  The class of '57 is a special bunch of people."

Love to you all,

Rodney and Carolyn

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Back in May, NANCY BAKER'S grandson Rei suffered a serious brain injury in a skateboard accident. His sister Kara

set up a GoFundMe page for him and updated his condition from time to time. Last week NANCY told me that he was home with his mother Lynn in Winters, and accompanied them on their garage sale shopping! He is still on the path to a full recovery. His sister Kara wrote the following on his GoFundMe page:

"Rei has made a truly miraculous recovery. He was released from the hospital on July 16th. He was hospitalized for 7 weeks. 5 of those weeks he was kept deeply sedated, on a ventilator, and on a feeding tube in ICU. During that time the Doctors and Nurses could not tell us that he would ever be okay. Then once Rei's brain could handle coming back from sedation he literally started making a full recovery in 2 weeks and got to go home! Every other day my mom told me about a big milestone Rei overcame. I kept driving to the hospital to see for myself. God has been so good to us! Thank you all again for your support! We know many of you wanted to come see him but you didn't because you understood how important it was for him to have a completely calm and unstimulating environment for his brain to heal. We thank you for your understanding and for supporting us from afar! We love you and God bless all of you for your kindness!"

This truly was a miraculous recovery. 

***********************************************************************

Back in June I wrote about my and BOB BURTON'S grandson Branch Tanner Archer and the 70-day bicycle ride he was participating in to raise money for cancer research, I Love to Ride My Bike. Last Friday the riders completed their 6,000 mile trip, arriving back in Austin. Guess who was there to greet him? As his parents were waiting in Alaska for him to join them, Papaw, aka BOB BURTON was there with a big grin and a hug! Uncle Matthew took the photos. We are all "busting our buttons" with pride for this young man.

BOB BURTON, Tanner, Aunt Amy, Cousin Kelly

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"Ask and ye shall receive." I recently asked DENNY HILL what he has been up to in recent months. I was tickled to get a quick, funny response from him. During the pandemic, he has been experiencing some of the things that we all can relate to. Stay tuned. I will share these with you in my next post!

In the meantime, if you can keep us all updated on classmates who need our attention and/or prayers, please drop me an email. I am finally able to do a little writing, and of course, I love to hear from you all!

Peace and love -- and may you all experience "good stuff"!

Marilyn

KEEP THESE IN YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS

It has been a while since I've posted here. I apologize for appearing to neglect our classmates. Especially as there have been some things happening that need our thoughts and prayers. I hope that my sending some of this information to you via email put prayers in action. Some of you let me know. I call you our "prayer warriors".

As you know, RODNEY FLANAGAN recently suffered a stroke in a doctor's office in Winters. This resulted in a brain bleed that placed him in ICU at Shannon Hospital in San Angelo. (Thanks to  BOB BURTON for this information.) As of a week ago, he was out of the ICU, walking with some help. NANCY THOMPSON BAKER told me yesterday that he is now in the rehabilitation section of Shannon Hospital for assistance with the after-effects of a stroke.

DORIS and DON WHITE'S daughter's husband died recently in Colorado where they live. He apparently was found dead in the truck he was driving. As they have children, one of which is disabled, there was a Go Fund Me page set up for them. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find out the daughter's or her husband's name.  Their last name is Marrow. If someone can get this information, I will certainly send the link to everyone.

JANETTE AMARINE BRADSHAW suffered a heart attack two or three weeks ago, but is out of the hospital and under home healthcare. 

Sadly, today is the anniversary of  NANCY THOMPSON BAKER's late husband Jake's death. We spoke yesterday and both told funny stories about Jake and their life together. The laughter felt good. Tomorrow would have been their 64th wedding anniversary. 

NANCY also told me that her grandson Rei is slowly making progress from the brain injury he suffered on a skateboard fall. He is still unsure of where he is or what happened to him. He has a Go Fund Me page for the massive amount of medical bills.  PRAYERS FOR REI

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On a lighter note, BOB HOLLIS sent me the following email and photos. Thanks, BOB!  ( And happy belated birthday!)

       

"Robert (Bob) & Margaret Hollis just returned from their 55th anniversary trip to Hawaii. Their kids and grandkids and great-granddaughter from Texas, Arizona, and California were there to enjoy the vacation also.

"Now that Covid 19 has subsided and our family members are all healthy, we traveled. I told the kids that we were spending their inheritance and trading money for memories, so they had better take good pictures."  

BOB AND MARGARET HOLLIS

"I hope youall and yours are doing well." 

Spoken like a true Texan, BOB. However, we usually shorten it to y'all!

I have been getting notices from Google that this blog is difficult to read on some devices as the print is too small. I'm experimenting with different sizes, etc. Let me know your feeling on this. Apparently, Google wants everything to be read on an iPhone - perhaps so they can get their ads in.

Hopefully, soon we will find out which medicine I've been on has caused the serious outbreaks I've been having.  Imagine having hives on your face.. As I'm only on three, two are for breathing, it should not take too much longer!

I hope everyone out there has their COVID vaccinations and are in good health. 

Praying for peace, love, and healing for those in need,

Marilyn

PANDEMIC - YEAR II

The second year of the COVID-19 pandemic started off with a bang for those of us in Texas. The news coverage kept us informed -- that is, if we had electricity. Many lost both power and water during the "arctic blast" that lasted nearly a week and broke many records here, with temperatures dropping into the single digits. I spent a lot of time on my computer checking on family and friends. The ones I could reach. Fortunately, most of my family were lucky enough not to lose electricity or water. We did have to boil water for three or four days. Some suffered rolling blackouts, but said they didn't last very long. 

So many were without power that freezing pipes have created nightmares for hundreds, if not thousands, of residents here in Austin. Videos of broken water pipes flooding homes and even causing ceilings to collapse while doing so make me count my blessings again and again. 

(WFAA)

The lack of enough plumbers to make the repairs to the myriad of burst pipes has created long lines of people at sites that are providing drinking water. Being without potable water for nearly two weeks or longer presents great hardships for those affected. Thankfully, many volunteers and organizations have stepped up to assist with repairs and providing necessary food and water. FEMA is now helping victims and businesses as well.

*********************

I don't always hear much from you guys, but there are a few I can count on for a little (or a lot) of news. The following are some of the communications I extracted during the past few weeks.

Somewhere I let it be known that it has been over a year since I visited my hair stylist. My hair has since grown more than the thirteen inches I had cut off at that time. Denny had a clever solution for his own hair.

DENNY HILL: (Feb. 4) "It has been a year since I have had a

haircut, but it grows rather slowly. I trimmed it a bit myself around the ears, looking in the mirror with scissors." (Of course, you could always wear a pony tail and that great beret!) (Feb. 16) "Looks like not very much snow around my house. The snow around my house has melted down somewhat, but is still from 1 to 1-1/2 feet deep. At the end of my driveway there is a snow hill formed by the snowplow that is as high as my waist. That is why I am snowbound for 2 or 3 weeks. But otherwise the weather is nice, the air is very clean, all roads are clear, which means that is you have managed to dig your car out, or get it out of the garage, then there is no problem to drive around. But I prefer to just leave my cars in my garage and relax and be snowbound."

TRUMAN CONNER: (Feb. 19) "It was tough going until yesterday morning when we finally got water and electricity. We had one 24-hour stretch with no water or electricity. HEB has been a mob scene though." 

TRUMAN gets his second COVID vaccination March 13th.

JUNE HASH CURRY: (Feb. 4) "I did manage to get my first COVID shot, and the second one scheduled. (Feb. 16) It was -17 (degrees) last night but we have not lost power, thank God. Chris finally got to work today without incident, so all is good."

MARTHA NORTHINGTON: (Feb. 19) "Ok now. No power or water until yesterday. Whole family went to hotel. Water flowing but still has to be boiled. Heat working. Anne (her daughter) just stood in line at grocery and got a few things for me. Had to toss everything in refrigerator."

NANCY THOMPSON BAKER is usually up-to-date on Ballinger news. On February 12 I sent her an article about the San Angelo water being toxic, and asked her how she was holding up. This was her reply, "Wow! wow! I am okay for now but not looking forward to ice, sleet and snow being alone. My dog is too little to keep me warm...nearly all my heat is connected to electricity, so concerned...very concerned, about the duration of cold weather." She told me about VIRGINIA EGAN and Mike losing power. She didn't lose power or water, but later told me, "I had someone call to check on me as there were no tire tracks (in the snow) leaving my driveway. I have everything I need. I learned to survive when Jake was traveling!"  At one time she stuck a yardstick into the snow off her back steps and said there was at least 5 inches.

VIRGINIA HARRAL EGAN: (Feb. 19)

"Finally got a dialysis treatment for Mike yesterday. The dialysis center had lots of problems such as broken generator and the contaminated water situation in San Angelo, which has been ongoing for 2-weeks. The machines use a lot of water. He went back for another treatment today because he had gone 6-days without one. We had the rolling blackouts, but have managed to survive and our water supply has been good. If it hadn't been for the worry about Mike's health I could have dealt with it better. Family has been checking on us constantly. My daughter, Carolyn came and stayed with us for 3-days. I am looking forward to normal, if there is a normal anymore."

I later heard from NANCY that some dialysis patients had to be airlifted via helicopter to treatment centers. VIRGINIA didn't mention this and I forgot to ask.

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Mallie Sue Vessel, sister of BARBARA CAMPBELL WITTE. (March 31, 1940 - February 15, 2021) I am sorry I missed this when BARBARA'S brother Grady's obituary was mentioned on the last blog post. I think their memorial was held on the same day. You may read her obituary and leave your condolences at Lange Funeral Home.

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I'm pretty sure many of you either had recent experiences as scary as ours or have had a good laugh at the predicament we here in Texas found ourselves in during the recent wicked weather we suffered. This on top of the COVID pandemic seemed almost too much to bear. At least in this part of Texas. We definitely are not used to it. Can you imagine that Del Rio recorded a record-breaking 11.2 inches of snowfall?

My front porch.

My back deck.

The bad weather? Well, Considering what we have been through in recent years, I think we all must admit that climate change is upon us. Hopefully, the Texas leaders will do whatever is necessary to prepare us for any future events such as the one we just went through. It was sad to think that so many of the Board members of ERCOT that nearly completely failed our electricity needs don't even live in Texas. They all received salaries of six figures. (Needless to say, they have since resigned.) Even though they were advised that our grid needed to be upgraded, they ignored doing anything, which left us at a point we were less than five minutes away from the whole state losing power and shutting down completely. 

I do hope most of you have been escaping the coronavirus and perhaps have one or more of the vaccinations under your belt by now. I would love to hear from you. Let me know how you are coping with the isolation the pandemic has forced upon us. Share some of the "good stuff" you have experienced as well.

Until next time..

Peace and love,

Marilyn

HODGEPODGE

Fall has officially arrived, although until yesterday, here in Austin you would never believe it. This year was the hottest ever in the history of Austin.

"We average about 14 100-degree days per year (period of record dating back to 1898), but more recently, that number has been much higher. The average over the last 30 years (1989-2018) is 27 days of triple digit heat. The most ever (90) happened in 2011. Last year, we had 52." (CBS Austin)

I haven't found the total number of 100 degree days yet, but it is record-breaking. The month of October thus far:

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

9/29

Actual Temp

98°

77°

Hist. Avg.

87°/65°

9/30

Actual Temp

99°

80°

Hist. Avg.

86°/65°

1

Actual Temp

99°

78°

Hist. Avg.

86°/65°

2

Actual Temp

98°

77°

Hist. Avg.

86°/64°

3

Actual Temp

97°

75°

Hist. Avg.

86°/64°

4

Actual Temp

96°

75°

Hist. Avg.

85°/64°

5

Actual Temp

97°

72°

Hist. Avg.

85°/64°

6

Actual Temp

99°

72°

Hist. Avg.

85°/63°

7

Actual Temp

85°

68°

Hist. Avg.

84°/63°

8

Actual Temp

87°

63°

Hist. Avg.

84°/63°

9

Actual Temp

96°

69°

Hist. Avg.

84°/62°

10

Actual Temp

99°

78°

Hist. Avg.

84°/62°

11

Actual Temp

82°

47°

Hist. Avg.

83°/62°

12

Actual Temp

65°

54°

Hist. Avg.

83°/62°

13

Actual Temp

82°

56°

Hist. Avg.

83°/61°

14

Actual Temp

89°

71°

Hist. Avg.

82°/61°

15

Actual Temp

96°

74°

Hist. Avg.

82°/61°

16

Actual Temp

76°

56°

Hist. Avg.

82°/61°

17

Actual Temp

77°

54°

Hist. Avg.

82°/60°

18

Actual Temp

85°

51°

Hist. Avg.

81°/60°

19

Actual Temp

96°

66°

Hist. Avg.

81°/60°

20

Actual Temp

95°

65°

Hist. Avg.

81°/60°

21

Actual Temp

82°

63°

Hist. Avg.

80°/59°

22

Actual Temp

83°

50°

Hist. Avg.

80°/59°

23

Actual Temp

87°

54°

Hist. Avg.

80°/59°

24

Actual Temp

86°

49°

Hist. Avg.

80°/58°

25

Actual Temp

59°

44°

Hist. Avg.

79°/58°

Can you believe the heat? Although yesterday was so cool, I actually had to put the furnace on, today it will be 70 degrees and tomorrow 80. And they keep saying "there's no such thing as climate change". I thought Arizona was hot. I remember folks telling me, "at least it's a dry heat!" Unfortunately, we cannot say that about Austin.

I heard from GENE ROUTH. He sent the following message:

"Woke up this morning (Thursday) to 10 inches of snow. Fall/Winter is definitely here. Hope this finds everyone doing OK. See you next year, God willing."  GENE and Lenna

GENE also sent the following beautiful snow scenes at their home:

Beautiful to look at, but I'm glad you don't have to drive anywhere in all that snow. Bet the mountains of Colorado are treacherous as well.

The tornadoes that hit the Dallas/Ft Worth area and moved north into Oklahoma last week missed BOB BURTON's place in Flower Mound. JUNE HASH CURRY said the storm didn't do any damage to their home in Edmond, Oklahoma, but gave them much-needed rain. It also gave us two (2) inches of rain here in Austin. We've had such a drought of late, even the pounding on my metal roof was a welcome sound and I slept like a baby. 

Does anyone remember the snow days in Ballinger? NANCY THOMPSON BAKER said she didn't remember guys riding in a car down the park hill. They would pull an old car hood behind them with someone foolish enough to ride on it like a sled! I remember making them let me out of the car before they began that dangerous trek downhill. Also, does anyone remember riding on icy country roads on those snow days? At one time someone in the back seat had a rifle - probably a 22 caliber. The car slid off the road into a small ditch, and the rifle went off, tearing a hole in the back of a seat. It's a wonder no one was seriously injured or killed during those foolish rides. (I sure wish I still had that "pea coat".)

Nancy sent the following a couple of weeks back: "I haven't told you about our new dog named BOZO. She was found out on a country road starving.... you could count her ribs. She makes a good companion for BRANDY (another rescue dog) and our cat, BEARCAT - continuing the "B" names. BOZO escapes every chance she gets and we have chased her down MANY times. She's a Chiweenie, small and not well-behaved. She learned how to escape the yard gates quickly, and sneaks out every time I go outside."

I found this online and NANCY said "That's an exact picture of BOZO except she is dark brown and has a pink collar":

DENNY HILL has been in Rome the past week. I got a late answer to my email last night asking him what kind of plane he was flying on. (At one time he was going on one of the Boeing 737s that have been recalled. He didn't give me the type of plane, but the airline he's traveling on was on strike all day yesterday!): "Alitalia...direct flight from JFK to Rome. Meeting over today, gave my talk, and now have one day, Saturday, to walk around.  Fly back on Sunday, and teach two courses on Monday."   Busy guy!

As you can see, I took up a lot of space on some things (on weather) that may not be too interesting. I really would like to hear from more of you. The good, the bad, the stuff in need of prayer work! Unless some of us plan on living to the ripe old age of 100, we may not be around too many more years to share our news.

Peace, love, and good health,

Marilyn