I missed fishin

Grampa Carroll

Gramps is feeling a lot better, almost to the point of being a pain in the arse. He is eating better and his bruises are yellow and black now. He is missing his coffee buddies down at Fishers and the Bowling Alley. Maybe I will take him tomorrow. We have a great family. Duane, Lisa, Aunt Lucy and bunches of other family and friends have been here or called everyday. What more could we ask for. Carroll got out of helping Buck with his siding.He didn't even get a chance to boss.

He said he is not getting on the boat again. He doesn't like fishing either. Man, what a bummer.

We will be married 25 yrs March 5, 2008...... So no cruise for me. I wonder how he would do with trains?

Happy Birthday Bug and Big Al

Happy Birthday to Tatum and Alex. Tatum is 9 yrs old and Al is 14. They are gorowing too fast. Sorry that Grandma missed your Birthdays. Love you Much. Grandma Retta

Update on Grandpa Carroll

Carroll ended up in intensive care on July 4th. He was completely out of it. Dave came by and nearly carried him to the car. In ER they did another chest x-ray. He has pneumonia in his right lung. With some good drugs he is feeling better today but still in a lot of pain. I stayed with him all night Wednesday night. He didn't know where he was. The Doc thinks he may get to go home tomorrow or Sunday. I want to thank everyone that stop at the hospital, called and e-mailed and all the prayers. That was a close call. Love Rett

Grandpa Carroll and his nine lives

Grandpa Carroll and I went out to help Buck with his garage siding job. What help we were! He is always johnny on the spot to help us. Wiring the garage, helping put a roof on our house, fixing our furnace, digging fence post holes and etc. We pulled nails out of his garage. We decided to go to the lake for a boat ride. What a wonderful ride, the sky was clear and the air was a little cool that Carroll put on my sweatshirt jacket. The lake was quiet. We got back and Buck dock the boat. Carroll and I had been fishing off the boat before the ride so I decided to leave the fishing poles on there. Kathy (Michelle's mom) and Ruth had gone with us.We were getting off the boat and heading up the dock. When we heard this big bang and a splash. Buck dropped his cooler and took off running for the boat. Carroll had his fishing pole and decided to leave it on the boat. The boat drifted back and Carroll fell and hit the post on the dock and fell in the water. He was half under the pontoon. Buck said all he could see was his white tennis shoe. He pulled him out from underneath the pontoon. Buck got him up to the fire and Kathy got a blanket around him. Buck and Michelle found his glasses. Carroll kept saying he didn't know which way was up. The pontoon was holding him down under the water. We don't know if he got knock out but he sure has a bad bruise on his chin and the whole side of his face was bruised. I took him to the ER because of the pain in his chest. He has a fractured sternum. Buck and Shel came in after they got dry clothes on. Thank God for those two kids! Carroll is pretty miserable but he owes his life to those two. We are so lucky to have such wonderful kids. Carroll said he is taking little Jackson T philosphy about boats. He won't get on a boat that is docked. Jackson says "I'm not interested in boats." This is Carroll's 2nd or 3rd mishap with a boat and this one had nothing to do with Duane, his brother.

Grandma was once a little girl

First, we were never bored. Even though we had so little, it seemed we never lacked for something to do. I can remember but once uttering those famous words: "I'm bored!" I swore I'd never let that happen again because you were sent to the garden to pull weeds. Fun was always out there for kids with fertile minds. The games we played were simple and needed little technology. Whether it was a group game like Red Rover, or hid and seek with your neighborhood friends, our games pulled us together instead of the joystick-pounding isolation of today's video games. With little money, we learned how to salvage good times from the recycle bin. I think the most fun I ever had was discovering how to make games out of an old stick, a ball of string or a recycled Montgomery Ward catalog. We took mom's blankets and draped them over the clothes line for tent of afternoon fun. Mom would bring us out some koolaid and cookies for our tea parties. When it came to toys, the few store-bought ones we had, were simple but sturdy. A favorite doll, sled or yo-yo -- toys we had held special places in the hearts of children who had so few. The best toys we had were formals that someone gave us. We would dress up and be the queen of the ball. We didn't have toy boxes; we didn't have enough toys to warrant that. We have so many cousins, who need toys. We had the five Ballard kids, the Morgan clan and the Cooks to play with. We played so hard; we actually got downright dirty.