Blog Entries for 2006
Well, most of you have gotten our newsletter by now and are checking this place out, so MERRY CHRISTMAS to all and to all a MERRY CHRISTMAS. Thought I was going to say Bah Humbug, didn't you.
We begin this journey by telling you that we are going over the river and through the woods to a grandpa's house in Dayton, Ohio. Our journey will continue as we spend a day or two in Celina, Ohio, where some of grandpa's brothers live (and sister in law). We may visit a cousin or two or additional uncles while in Ohio (the Overman side of the family in case you were wondering).
We've been notified that some good friends of ours are either on their way, or are there already, to Alabama to visit her relatives. We'd also like to publicly thank another good friend of our, Kym, for taking care of our pets while we are away. Don't worry folks, she got paid good money (well, food at Outback) for babysitting.
We'll end our journey by getting back to Texas next Saturday, just in time to miss the UT bowl game against Iowa. And, no we won't be able to tape it since TVO doesn't go that far in advance (ah, the benefits of plain ole vcr taping). Maybe we can pick it up somewhere and listen to McCoy take apart the defense and toss a couple of touchdowns and set the all time record.
Well, gotta go, our trip starts in about 45 minutes. Ya'll have a safe holiday.
Thanksgiving weekend was a bittersweet time. Our beloved Longhorns found another way not to win. Thanksgiving was tension free for the first time in memory. Spent too much on shopping which I hope it is not a start of a new tradition.
In a couple weeks, we'll have a garage sale to end all garage sales. NOT! We hope anyway. Then after that, right before Christmas, we'll head up to Ohio and visit dad and other relatives for a few days. I think golfing is out of the question, don't you?
Speaking of dad, Way to go Buckeyes. On to the Championship game. If it weren't the Longhorns, I'd like to see Ohio State in there. Maybe we'll be in it next year. Would have too if it weren't for McCoy getting hurt. Another Ba Humbug.
Well, it's been a little slow and slightly boring until the past week. The Longhorns have won, Kate is starring as a cheerleader (although you won't see anything but her hair) in a series called Friday Night Lights. Well, not really starring since she was only slightly visible in two episodes. BUT, she does play a slightly larger role in a move due out next year called Grindhouse. Dual movie really. You need to watch both movies since they relate to each other.
Other than that, Jeff, Gary and I took up a poker tournament last week at a place called Wings & Things. No money, only points. They play around 6:30 and 9pm on Wednesdays. Jeff was real anxious to give it a try, especially since Gary was in town for who knows what, probably a vacation from the kids. They give points if you place in the top 15. After losing fairly early the first match (we got there about 45 minutes late), I won the 2nd match and someone said I beat the points leader in a showdown (is that pretty wild or what). Jeff was pretty cool about it until this past Wednesday when I whupped him in the points again (Jim didn't do too badly himself. With only $5,000 in chips, he was able to move from 9th to 5th in points without making a single bet). Since then, Jeff's been worshipping my poker skills, enough so that I've had to retain an agent to handle my affairs. See my new website that we had to get just to deal with all the attention.
Big game against Nebraska this weekend. Who ya rootin for?
Papas has had two surgeries for some time of Mast Cell cancer. We hope we got it all and since he's pretty young, he should recover quite nicely. Along the way, some neighbors across the street saw a dog running loose and thought it was ours, so I went out and ended up bringing her home. She's a cross between Cocker Spaniel and Golden Retriever, so we think. Took her to the vet for some shots and a shave and she turned into a he (oops). So, I guess we can't call them Blondie and Dogwood like we planned. Put up notices and have walked around with him, but so far, no one has come forward. I might visit some vet places tomorrow. Haven't quite had him for two weeks yet.
I guess it hasn't been slow and boring like I thought. Till next time I feel like writing, toodles.
I'll lead you in slowly with Papas antics following up with news on Mamas. Took both dogs to the vet this past Saturday. Papas is now at that age that he don't like vets. Just like kids don't like barbers, or dentists. He's got this real pathetic look the whole time he is there. Droopy ears and eyes that look like he's going to cry.
Papas was the first for his annual exam. Got him up on the table and he cowered real bad. When the technician started pulling his tail from between his legs, he got a squirt from the anal glands. His comment of "This is not good. It's going to stay with me all day" didn't mean much until about a minute later. Yep, not good. Anyway, with Papas not being cooperative, they took him into the back for blood work. I even had to lead him out of the room with Mamas so he could go. They came back a few minutes later giving up on doing this stuff. Papas was so uncooperative, they couldn't do anything. So we tried again in the room with a muzzle on him and he behaved pretty good this time.
Mama's turn. Before we really go started I asked about her heavy breathing that she just started doing, so they took her in the back for x-ray's. While back there, Papas was in the middle of the room looking sideways at the doors on each side of the room. Really funny. He'd go back and forth waiting for Mama's to come back. And that sad look was just too much. I wish I had a camera.
Anyways, to finish this long story, the x-rays showed Mamas was either in the late stages of cancer, or had some bronchial problems. Hoping beyond hope, they treated her for the bronchial problems and wanted to bring her back on Monday for additional testing for more positive diagnosis. On Sunday, between 4 and 5:30pm, Mamas passed away. She was breathing just too much (for those that remember Maggie, this was the same style of breathing) and probably hadn't had any sleep in a few days. She ate some cheese that morning, but the rest of the day, just sat around panting. Azucena had company come over at 4 and I left to run some errands and when I was done, went around the back to sit in the hammock and read a book. Saw Mamas lying there and that she wasn't breathing. Azucena's guests were great. They wrapped her up and put her in the truck for us.
Bye Bye Mamas. We'll miss you.
Not a whole lot going on. Well, one thing happened over the past weekend. Longhorns got their butts handed to them. They'll be back and if they get their act together and not play conservatively, they should go the rest of they way undefeated and play Ohio State again in the Big Bowl. That would be nice.
Still going through a lot of mom's stuff. Found a bible that had family trees on the front and back cover. Found a few more obits that were handled by Adams Funeral Home. We'll keep all those together and see how many there are. So far, I know of 4 including mom. Azucena has gotten on a organizing kick. This is actually good. With all mom's stuff going to be around for awhile, we need to get our stuff better situated for the longer haul. She's also starting a Garage Sale section with all this organizing. So, I guess we'll have another one around December.
Garage sale this weekend took care of the rest of mom's stuff. What wasn't sold is either tossed out or given to goodwill. Now will be tossing trash stuff from her house and sheds. Then that should be the end of it. Hopefully 1 or 2 weekends to go. Then some cleaning and hopefully it will be sold.
In almost 3 weeks will be the Longhorn/Buckeye ballgame. We've invited dad to join us, but not sure if he can make it. He might come down later on when it's not so hot. Azucena is about pleading with me to go visit during Thanksgiving. Maybe see other Overmans and if it's close enough, some Rocksteads as well. She's also talking about going to Bolivia for a medical mission for her church. This isn't until February of next year. Oh, saw "Taladega Nights". Pretty good movie. If you are a NASCAR buff, you'll need to go with the flow, but yes, it's still a good movie. Will definitely get it when it comes on DVD. Haven't seen "CARS" yet, but will when it comes to NETFLIX.
This past weekend, we went south to Harlingen for funeral proceedings for Azucena's Uncle Ed (read full transcript here). Ed was into boats and woodwork, so Azucena decided to built a boat to put Uncle Ed's ashes in, put it out on the bay at South Padre Island, catch it on fire, and watch it sink (We accidentally provided an escort for his final adventure).
Well, it caught on fire, and we almost caught another boat on fire, which would have caught even more boats on fire, and who knows where it would have ended. But only one boat burned up and that was fine with us.
Would we do it again, especially for Kymie? Well, we COULD do it again, hopefully minus the drama, but WOULD we? We'll get back with you on that in a few years. Overall, we had a great time in Harlingen, even if we did do Chinese for lunch Sat and Sun. Sunday was much better. And mom R figured out how to get the hotel movies to show up. That's a dangerous area to get into, her knowing how to find the movies.
Now we'll have to concentrate on getting mom O's house cleaned out and ready for sale. Going much slower than we want, but oh wells.
Where to begin. OH MY GOD!!!.... How About That!.... Wow!... Yes we have video, but it's at night, the camera doesn't quite get a focus on the flames, and Oh My..I don't think we are building any more Viking Funeral Pyres.
We got a later start than we wanted. The good thing about it being dark, we could see the flames and watch the boat travel through the bay for about 1/4 mile.
Ok, the place we picked. Fisherman's Wharf on South Padre Island, west side about 1 mile past the entrance to SPI. Laguna Blvd and Swordfish. This is a marina. We parked at a boat dock. How smart is that??? People were bringing in their boats, fishermen were gutting their fish, others were soaking their boat in kerosene (uh, yeah, that be us). Not a good place. If we had known this ahead of time, we would have gone elsewhere.
Spent about 1/2 hour checking it out to see what is best to do, mostly trying to be away from the boats. Nothing really was ideal, but we were able to get to the end of the pier and lay the boat in the water (since it was low tide, I really had to stretch to reach the water). Spent the next 10 minutes waiting for the jet ski's to get docked. Then another 10 minutes trying to get the darn thing going. In the water, Out of the water, in the water, out of the water.....
Couldn't get the rocket booster to go, so we settled for using a "torch" to set the boat on fire (did I tell you my hand is pretty wet with kerosene by now). Got the "pyre" lit, pushed it out to sea some with the torch stick and for a short while, this was good. Then instead of drifting out of the inlet, it rode southward along the marinas. I had a remote control boat I sent out to push it further out, but I lost contact so that was useless (Ed note: In hindsite, this selfless act was not useless at all, it actually provided Uncle Ed with a much needed escort for his final adventure).
Uhm. There are more boats around the area and the boat that's aflame is drifting mightily close to the trawler that is parked. I'm going around to another pier to push the boat out some (I've got this 2 foot dowel rod that we used to light the boat with, so I'm welding a pretty pathetic stick here). Ronald (bro in law) had gone beyond excited (I think I heard him running down a pier yelling Get the Flashlight. Get the Flashlight. Get the Flashlight - or maybe it was AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH). He was thinking enough to hand me an umbrella that I used to push the flaming boat further out to sea. The IDEA of sinking the boat at that time did not (I repeat, DID NOT) enter my mind. I wish it had.
Did I say Marinas? Like about a mile of places people docked and fished. This means about a mile for this boat to come in and set other boats on fire and piers and marinas and restaurants and bars and Oh My, I'm thinking I don't have enough money to cover all the damage that is going to happen. Why did we do this. This wasn't very smart. Why did we use so much kerosene. Why is the boat not sinking.
Told the nephews after one trip down a pier that if someone official stops by, they don't know me. I also wondered why we didn't just jump in the cars and say, Ohh look at the burning boat, let's get out of here.
As I'm walking around a few restaurants to get ahead of the boat, I see a uniform and am glad it's only security for the bar. Then as I'm going around a bunch of females that are blocking a lane of traffic, I see a cop car drive by. As long as he doesn't look toward the water I should be fine, but I'm walking around with a camera on my neck and an umbrella in a hand. Not a good sign. I also left my cell phone behind, so I had no one to call if he pulled me over and wanted to take me in. This whole time, the boat appears to be drifting further away from the docks, so that is a relief.
I finally get to an area I can get back to shore just in time to see sparks shoot out. The rocket booster finally shot off. YEAAHHHH!! We are talking about 20 - 30 minutes after we started (or so it seems. It could have been about 5 - 10 minutes). The flames start to go out and a few minutes later, we can see the boat drifting backwards and flames are finally gone.
For those that know the area, we started at Swordfish and Laguna. I last saw flames at Ling and Laguna (where the carnival is at).
The Nephews thought this was the greatest thing ever. The people at the bars and restaurants got a great view of a wee burning ship, plus my remote drifting along side. The fishermen didn't seem too concerned. Friends thought it was cool at first, then Ronald tried to hide the kerosene in a friends truck. They all got a glimpse of the rocket shooting off.
So, Uncle Ed went out in a flame of glory And then some.
I wonder if the boat stayed afloat enough to go out past the causeway. I'm going to keep tabs on the SPI newspaper for stories on unexplained boat fires.
Note from Azucena's cousin April (who is in the legal profession):
What a fitting tribute the whole thing appears to have been. Also, I love Randy's narrative. Perhaps an attorney who practices in criminal law and who is familiar with Texas state law, general federal criminal law and federal maritime law could determine when the various statutes of limitations expire so the narrative could be published as an essay at a time when no one should be subject to prosecution for anything referenced in it.
Take care --
Love,
April
P.S. -- I'm thinking of naming you my power of attorney for funeral arrangements. Don't worry, a funeral pyre won't be necessary, but clearly you will go the extra mile to make sure last wishes are honored.
Note from Azucena's Godmother, Betty Ferrero (who just enjoys a good laugh):
The burning Viking burial boat adventure was so hilarious!!!! I think this is the funniest e-mail I have ever read-- those so-called jokes that are forwarded around could not touch it -- I was literally laughing out loud as I read!
Thanks for making my day, Randy (and Azucena)!
Betty
And to paraphrase a good friend of ours, Kym Nicol:
"I want you to do mine!"
Wow, didn't realize it'd been so long. Where to begin. Still getting most of mom's stuff packed up. Had a few people interested in the house, but we're not ready just yet. Sue will stop by next week for a vague appraisal. Had a great Fourth in Jersey. Spent the week in Mt. Laurel and Ocean City, NJ. Rain two days, which wasn't too bad. Gave us a break from the beach, although it cooled off the already cold ocean some more. Also, since the state government shut down, we weren't able to do any gambling at Atlantic City. Kids were a blast as usual. Dad showed up and I'm sure he had fun. Sad to say this, but with mom not being there, it was a more relaxed atmosphere that it has been. She had a way of putting tense in tension. Most everyone went body boarding, including the kids. Got some video and might get it up on the web site before long. While in Mt. Laurel, we visited Famous Dave's BBQ joint, not once, but 3 times. Azucena's fault, really. They have some great BBQ and Memphis style Pulled Pork sandwich. After inquiring, there is a Famous Dave's in El Paso, but we figured it'd be quicker to fly to New Jersey, than drive to El Paso, but much cheaper to drive. I compare the ribs to Damon's, but alas, they moved out of Texas. Nearby for Dad and could be for Gary, though.
Uncle Ed
Tomorrow the Rockstead clan head to south Texas for a burial at sea. Well, sort of. Uncle Ed Rockstead passed away last week and his wishes were to be cremated and Azucena and others decided a Viking Funeral Pyre is in order. Sort of. Azucena and Jim has built a small boat (about 1 1/2 feet) that will hold his ashes in the bottom half, then the top half will have a rocket housing to send it further out to sea (a small port in south texas is where we'll do this, so it's not really out to sea). We are hoping the rocket that propels the boat, will ignite the rags that will have been soaked in a flammable fluid. If all this works, and we'll do this at dusk, then we should get a pretty good fire, the boat will get mostly burned up before sinking and Uncle Ed will float with the fishies.
Whoops, guess I'm not keeping up with this too much lately. A lot has gone on, mainly with mom's house and stuff. We've cleared a lot out and Azucena has put several items on ebay. 2 weeks ago, we had a massive Garage/Estate sale. Sold most stuff (Anna, you'll be happy to know, the swingset is still there.). I've also been going through most of mom's papers that she stored in boxes. These are being shredded one box a day. Takes about an hour to go through each box. It gets a bit frustrating when you see that she kept 10 copies of her divorce decree. Then when she went to court with dad over child support payments, she kept 10 copies of that also. Lot's of her lawyer stuff ended up with 5 copies or more. Each tax return has 5 copies plus the worksheet. It's funny some of the stuff she saved, for example, she kept an email that said she was in charge for the rest of the day.
There's a family reunion on Saturday, but from what I hear, not a whole lot signed up for it. We may talk about doing it every other or every 3rd year.
Till next time...
Time surely has been flying quickly. I didn't realize I hadn't been out here in a while. Had been to mom's on the weekends for the past few weeks picking up furniture that mom had bought in the late 70's from Far East Gift Shop in Taiwan (don't bother looking this company up on the web, I couldn't find them). Anyway, mom had 2 octagon end tables, one long coffee table, headboard, 2 dresser mirrors, 2 dressers (one tall, one long), grandfather clock (Jeffie has this now), curio cabinet, 2 sets of stacking stools, "stacking" tables, secretary desk, bar, entertainment center, Oriental divider, papasan chair, rocking chair, two end regular end tables, and two "cedar" chests. I think this is all (all for the low price of $700). Most of the table tops are marble. Anyway, since no one in our family is really interested in them, Azucena and I have been taking them apart and bringing them home and swapping out our own furniture with them. One problem. Cigarette smoke. I've been wiping them down with furniture polish and this seems to help. This has been keeping us busy, with unscrewing, polishing, putting back together... Also packing up Jeff and Gary's glassware.
I finally got the gumption to work on the Christmas newsletters and get them posted on our website. I was able to print, scan and turn them into PDF's. Don't look too bad at all. Here you go to view them - Christmas Newsletters. Up until today, we only had thru 1999 on the web.
Azucena and I are going to visit Gary on the east coast in July. Our current plans are to pick up dad on the way there, then stop by Dean and Honey's on the way home.
UT hooked em. Overcame fumble, noncalls, and missed kicks to pull it out at the last seconds 41-38 over USC. No fireworks, ground still too dry, but lots of horns are going off. Jeff, Anna, Gary, Jim, Evelyn and Kym came over and we watched the whole game. Well, Jeff and Anna fell asleep for awhile, but we were glued. Dad too. He's in Ohio and watched the game and rooted for Texas. We're gonna try to get him down here for the UT-Ohio St game later this year and hopefully with tickets to watch the game in person.
Bah Humbug. No fireworks. It would have been boring if it weren't for Kymie and her birthday and Talisman and champaign. For all those that tried to get in touch with us, but failed, Happy New Year to you too.
UT championship game on Wednesday. Are you going to watch? Should be a great, if not a great, game.