Catching Up

It is time to write. Not think about writing, not whine about not knowing what to write, not try to impress with writing, but to just write. I have neglected this blog long enough and to my few readers I apologize. Not that I've ever written all that many things to brag about, but I do have a couple of things in the *bank* that I'm really quite proud of. A couple of stories well told, a couple of poems well written and a few really awesome pictures.

First an up-date on Rudy, the fourth grader at our school who had a brain tumor removed shortly before Christmas break. He is now having radiation treatment daily. He is in great spirits and wants to be back at school, but of course the doctors won't let him. To much risk of taking all that is going around in a school with his weakened immune system. He is doing home bound work. The prognosis isn't really all that good. I've heard a couple of numbers but they aren't from truly reliable sources. No one has ever said that this is terminal, but it hangs there filling the air anytime Rudy is mentioned. We still pray for the miracle of life for him. So I guess you could say that right now we are all living in a world of not knowing and denial.

My other friend Winnie has had three rounds of chemo for breast cancer and has one maybe two left. She will be having a mastectomy in about a month and is dreading that. Please pray that God will calm her nerves and bring her through that procedure as he has the chemo. The cancer she has is called HER2. I have no idea what that is and to be honest I don't want to know. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Her hair is all gone now, and her hubby shaved his head in total support. That is quite a sight I'm sure. This is a man with wonderful snow white hair and a beard. She didn't mention if he has shaved the beard, note to self, ask about the beard.

Now on a lighter note. I'm sure you all know the term maverick, but are you aware of where it comes from. Yesterday I was teaching a lesson in reading and the paragraph we had to discuss was about the man Sam Maverick. It seems that Sam Maverick was a cattleman/politician here in Texas in the 1800s. The paragraph went on to tell how Maverick didn't brand his cattle because *branding hurt the cattle*. As we read that I thought, "Uh, first of the PETA people. Boy would Robert have a hay day with that one." Of course I didn't say any of that. The term maverick, according to this article, comes from this man who didn't follow the conventional idea of the day. A maverick is also said to be any unbranded cattle found roaming.

Well I had to check this out. I didn't doubt the article about the term maverick coming form Sam Maverick, but it seemed a little far fetched that in the 1800's he didn't brand cattle because it hurt them. Following below is a quote from Wikipedia with the link to the complete article here for those wanting to read all about this man who actually played an active role in Texas history.

Maverick steadfastly refused to brand his cattle. As a result, the word maverick entered the English lexicon, meaning both an unbranded range animal as well as a slang term for someone who exhibits a streak of stubborn independence.[75]
Maverick's stated reason for not branding his cattle was that he didn't want to inflict pain on them.[75] Other ranchers, however, suspected his true motivation was that it allowed him to collect any unbranded cattle and claim them as his own.[75]

So there you have a bit of trivia. Teaching reading is a great source of bits of trivia. Now if I can just remember this tomorrow.

This is a picture of me (at the top in the plaid shirt) with my sisters. I'm not sure of the date. Guess I should have asked Mom. I'm going to say 1959 though since that is the date written above TEXAS.