On Going Home

Just bought the airline tickets and reserved a rental car to go visit Lawton, Oklahoma.  It has been 7 years since I was last there.  Our family was very close before my parents both passed in 1993.  After all of that was settled we all went our separate ways and lost touch.

So this October I'm going back to my "red dirt" to renew my soul.  I do love it here in Florida but there are also things in Oklahoma that I miss very much.  The buffalo, the wind blowing across the wheat fields, Wayne's Drive In with the best hamburgers on the planet, the Wichita Mountains and the red dirt.

My family farm, where my brother lives, is now being sold in foreclosure...the land where our family pets are buried, where I learned to shoot a gun, the Native American burial ground on top of the mountain, the tree where the porch swing hung and so much more.

I won't go out there because it breaks my heart to know how hard my Daddy worked to keep it and now it will be gone.  I will go out to Highland Cemetery to visit my family...I'll take some roses for Mama and a University of Oklahoma football sticker for my Daddy. 

My best friend...my "sister" Rusty and I will enjoy 2 days together remembering 40 years of friendship, babies, parties, boyfriends, husbands and deaths.  I am probably making this trip to see her more than anything.

My brother and his wife will make the mandatory dinner one evening.  Neither of them have ever been to crazy about me anyway.  I'm the sinner in the family.

I will be so glad to see my nephew and niece again...they practically lived at my house when they were small.  Now Pat is married with a beautiful daughter who is 3 that I am excited to be meeting.  My niece is a successful businesswoman who I am so proud of.

Keeping the trip down to 5 days is about right...I know how excited to have guests stay...a couple nights is good...

It will be a sentimental trip...we all have to go back and look at our lives from time to time.



Meet Buster The Love Sponge

Buster found his way to me after my old Chihuahua, Coco, passed away. He was such a good dog that I never though that I would want to try to replace him.  I was so saddened by losing him that my boyfriend insisted that I find another dog.

One day I was at my salon having my nails done and someone told me that they knew a girl who had worked there and wasn't taking care of her dog.  I was very interested and went over to her apartment the following day.  She was a hoarder and I had never in my life seen anything like that.

She looked for him for probably 5 minutes in the mess.  She pulled him out from the junk and roughly put him down on the floor.  The poor thing was shaking, under nourished and almost hairless.  I was holding him and I could feel him relax in my arms.  I knew that I had to get him out of there.

She offered to sell him to me for $100...which I actually laughed at! I told her that I was going to give her $20, handed it to her and walked out...she didn't follow me wanting more money which surprised me.

Buster has since been a joy to have with me.  He cleaned up real well and after a good bath and some Advantage he was soon looking good...he ate Pedigree dog food like it was manna from heaven.  Never have I seen a dog as intelligent and personable.  He's a funny little character and is loved by everyone that meets him....except for cops!

For some reason he has a dislike for policemen.  He suckers them into petting him and then hikes his leg and......waters his shoes!  Every time he's around one it will happen...but I will admit that there have been a couple of times that it was extremely comical!

My Granddaughters love him and he thinks my son, Rob, is the best thing since microwave popcorn. I know that he has enriched my life and I'm so glad that we found each other.

Listen to this playlist: blog

What happened?

For a little over a week now the police have been chasing three people, kids really, all over the country for shooting at a Pasco County Deputy. All of them siblings...2 young men and their 29 year old sister.  They had four or five fully automatic weapons with them as they ran up to Georgia and robbed a bank and then they headed out to Colorado where they were arrested yesterday.

When they were arrested after a chase with police the woman had an automatic pistol and was jacking one into the chamber when they shot her in the leg.  One boy gave it up and they had a foot race with other one.

My question is...how and why did these people come to this point in their lives?  Three young people so full of hate and violence...and there are so many more of them still out here somewhere just waiting to explode.  Kids killing people in our schools, in the streets and committing heinous crimes that I would never have dreamed of when I was their age...and I got into more than my fair share of trouble.

Their Mother was interviewed on our local news and had to be hidden from view because of fears of retaliation from some other disturbed person.  I could feel her pain and fear for her children.  As a Mama of a young man who is an addict I could literally feel every ounce of pain that she was feeling.  No Mother should ever have to feel that.

I'm sorry but I don't believe all of the "I'm this way because my Mother didn't do this or that".  I believe that everyone should take charge of their lives and make themselves into the person that they want to be. I also believe that God and prayer can help anyone who asks for it...we just have to be aware that we might not like his way of gettin' us there but if we hang on for the ride we will come out better because of it.

What put such violence into these people?  Some are going to say video games, violent cartoons and movies, some will say alcohol and drugs but the truth, as I see it, is that we have all contributed to the problem.

We have become such a "Me, me, me!" society that in our greed and selfishness we have neglected to look around us and help those that need it when they need it. We are afraid of each other!  The violence has taken away our self-confidence, it has dulled our senses as we try to ignore it.

But we can't keep ignoring it!  Try to imagine how our country will be if we continue to be blind to the fact that it is time to clean up our own house. We have to go back to showing our young people that they are our future.  We must start treating our Seniors with respect and caring like we used to.  We have to go back to the time when parents were teachers and set good examples for their families and those around us.

We have to stop labeling people and start allowing people to be themselves no matter how strange or quirky that we may thing that they are...it's time for us all to join one clique...the human race.

The Dougherty kids were fortunate that they didn't kill anyone.  They did some bad stuff...yes they did.  They will go to prison...but while they are in prison don't fool yourself into thinking they will "get help" or will be "rehabilitated".  Prisons are nothing more than babysitters for those of us who can not control ourselves.

Don't you think that it's way past time for us to make some changes to strengthen ourselves as people and as a country?  Tell your legislators that they need to concern themselves with bettering Americans and not with guarding their own paychecks...look at yourself in the mirror and be honest, after all you are only fooling yourself, do you like that person looking back at you?

That's the way that I see it anyway...

Who I Am...

Hello I'm Witchy

You found me and my little corner of the net! Good! Come on in and kick your shoes off and let's talk awhile...always have sweet  tea ready if ya want it.

You have guessed already...I'm from The South where life is a little bit slower, a little bit quieter and in my opinion the best place on Earth!

I grew up in Lawton, Oklahoma.  My Daddy was a real estate developer and Mama took care of us kids and Daddy. We had a wonderful childhood running around, swimmin' in the creek, riding dirt bikes like there was no tomorrow, blowin up milk cartons on July 4th, BBQs, stock car racing and Oklahoma Sooners Football.

BOOMER SOONER!!

I have a wonderful son, Robert, who has blessed me with two beautiful Granddaughters. Cierra 10 years old and Kara Lynn 3 years old.  I only wish that they were closer so I could see them more.

Left home at 17 and decided to hitchhike to California to be a hippie...it's too bad that the world has become so twisted that young people can't do things like that.  I lived in San Francisco for two years before it was time to head home.  Had so much fun in the Haight-Ashbury that it should be illegal...I'm sure that some of it was...lol

The world was a whole different place in the 60's and 70's...young Americans so fiercly against the VietNam War...oops soory not war but it sure looked like one to me. We walked out of the house one morning and looked around us and thought "Now this ain't right" and we were right. We asked for Peace and we still haven't gotten it.

My hometown is a large Army town and we met many people our own age going overseas. We made friends and wrote letters and then came the day that you never got a letter back or you got a call from someone giving you the sad news. It really drove home how horrible war is.

Now, we find ourselves in a world where your front door might be kicked in one night or your kids might be shot for wearing shoes that someone else wants.  We find ourselves in another war, or whatever we are going to call it now, and our people are coming home in boxes again...their loved ones crying again...our Nation crying again.

Here's a big heartfelt thank you and God Bless to all of our servicemen and veterans...thank you for protecting me and my family...

SEMPER FI

Clare E. Morford

4/10/1919-5/30/1993