No Talking To Uncle Ted

On her way to Rite-Aid, Sherry dropped Mom off at my house this week.  Mom and I passed a little of the time looking at my photos from Stalker Days.  Dad came to pick Mom up and he wanted to see the pictures too.  We all gathered around the computer and watched the slideshow until this picture came up:

This is the conversation that followed:

Mom:  Is that Bryan’s girlfriend?

Me:       Uh huh, that’s Leigh Ann.

Mom:  She’s a pretty girl isn’t she.

Dad:     Yeah, she needs to talk to Ted Potter.

Me:       I don’t think that will be happening.  I’m sure Bryan has learned from Erik’s mistake, there will be no talking to Uncle Ted anytime soon.

Clyde

Family Tradition

Here is another photo from our recent Stalker Days gathering:

It seems like I get one or two pictures like this every time any of our family gets together.  It must be some sort of family tradition.

One of these days I am going to put together a slideshow containing only ‘Rabbit Ears’ pictures.  It will be a long slideshow.  I might be able to fill up a whole Christmas CD with them.  Here is one that dates from May 2004, it is one of the first few pictures I posted on the StalkerClan:

 
Every family has its traditions I expect, this must be one of ours.  Looks like it may be passed down for a few more generations too.

Clyde

The Newest Schell

During Stalker Days we got to meet the latest addition to the Schell farm family…

OLIVER’S NEW MULE

I asked someone if it was as stubborn as Michelle but I didn’t get an answer. I doubt that it is.

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Emily and Blair enjoyed feeding it some corn shucks one afternoon…

If it eats like we all did during Stalker Days, it will be fat and sassy by the next time we get together. Maybe it will be able to pull Jeremy’s tractor around the farm.

Clyde

My Summer Vacation by Emily

School will be starting soon and little Emily Isgette will be heading off to the classroom.  I wonder if Grandma Jeff is going to have a lot of explaining to do when Emily does the traditional “What I did on Summer Vacation” report.

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MY SUMMER VACATION

This summer my Grandma and my Granddaddy, I love my Granddaddy, took me and my brother Blair Bear to a place called Kentucky.  It is a funny place. 

In Kentucky ever body talks real loud, they never use their inside voice.  They yell “Hey Carlos” or “Where’s Sherry” or “What’s for supper?”   It’s funny.

They only get one television station in Kentucky .   Granddaddy, I love my Granddaddy, said it was something called Fox News.  They talk real loud on Fox News too.

The very bestest part of Kentucky is something called Stalker Daze.  Grandma and Granddaddy, I love my Granddaddy, took us there.  Stalker Daze is a lot like Christmas. Kids get lots of toys and lots of pretty new clothes.  I got this dress I got on at Stalker Daze.

We got to play out in the yard.  We played with this big ball that sprayed water.  We got Aunt Jennie wet, I love my aunt Jennie too.

And we all played with bubbles that we got .

I was the best one at blowing bubbles. Granddaddy, I love my granddaddy, said it was because I had a lot of Stalker in me.

We all got new kites to play with.  Granddaddy, I love my Granddaddy, never could get mine to fly.  I think there was something wrong with it.

We got to meet a lot of our relatives.

That’s not one of them but it looks like some of them.

My favorite part of Stalker Daze was getting to camp out.  We camped out in Aunt Luci’s camper.  It was really rough.  There was only one bathroom and it had the smallest  refrigerator I’ve ever seen.  Granddaddy, I love my granddaddy, said we was really roughing it.  I don’t know how we survived.

And that’s what I did on my summer vacation.

Emily

 

 

The Unknown Soldier

You may remember this chart…

I posted it on the Diggin’ Up Bones site a few months ago to try to clarify all the different Winright Adkins’.  One of them, Winright Adkins 1837, is Randy Ratliff’s Great-Great-Grandfather.  He is also thought to be the man that shot and killed the Unknown Soldier who is buried along the road to the Breaks Interstate Park.

When Jeff and Randy were visiting last week we took a quick trip up to the Breaks.  As we were leaving we stopped at the grave of the Unknown Soldier and I snapped this photo.

I remember in grade school one of my teachers, I think it was Virgil Sykes, said there was a legend that the ghost of the unknown soldier would come back someday to avenge his murder.  I didn’t bother to mention that to Randy.  Heck, nobody believes those old wives tales anymore. 

Besides, there’s no such things as ghosts. Right?  That shadowy figure there in the bush, I’m pretty sure that’s just the light coming through the leaves playing tricks.  Or maybe it’s dust on my camera lens.  Yeah, I bet that’s what it is. 

I don’t think you have anything to worry about Randy.  You might want to be extra careful for a while though.  

Clyde