Sometimes you get information second or third hand. "You can run but you cannot hide."
I saw Joyce Fields today and she asked how you are doing after your surgery this week.
I said, "What surgery?"
She said you were having a growth taken off your neck or something. Is that the one you have had all your life or something new? You may have told me about it, but I am forgetful. Anyway, I hope all is well.
gem
"Still in One Peace"
Elizabeth Coomer Moss
The Moss Family
Everyone smiling except the two youngest being silly
16 comments:
(Boo)
Well, the word does get out, doesn't it? I'd bout as well fess up to the rest of the crew with cc this email.
No, I am keeping my birthmark trademark! I had a few "growths" on my face that I asked the primary
physician about in November or December. He sent me to an eye nose throat guy who removed one just to the east of my eye in December which turned out to have basil cells which maybe considered the most kind of any malignant cells.
Nevertheless, they needed to dig deeper or wider
so I had out patient surgery this morning to cut and check that out as well as to remove and test a larger spot in the west jawbone area. They dug wide enough that the initial problem returned negative. I'll know about the other one next week-they didn't check this morning due to some aspect of insurance. It turned out to be more exacting procedure than I'd anticipated for something requiring just a local as I got a full tour of surgery room, prep room, surgery holding pen (well they called it holding area, but it serves somewhat the same function as a holding pen for milking parlors) etc.
I returned home about 15 minutes ago and along the way picked up the full trash bags I left on the road yesterday. Doing O.K. except I am a
bit washed out after the morning (started it with a stop at the lab to donate for a routine visit tomorrow with the primary physician) and then
went to a study at Church and on to the bank for Mom. And then, I may look a bit like either Al Capone or Blackbeard the Pirate. Well, that
is a stretch as the cuts are only a 1/2 - 1" and the ultimate outcome will surely not be as fancy as Capone's or Blackbeard's.
The grazing on Bill Cox's hills is getting more limited for Lee and/or Phillip Cox's cows so the cows started coming over to our place a few days ago. On my way out this morning, I met Phillip and gave some assistance on getting the cows headed home. Phillip has that deep chuckle that he always had and commented that they'd patch the fence up and leave major changes for the next one with the property. He went on to say that "she" (I assume either one or both of Bill's daughters) had a sale scheduled for April. Mentioned that they were to sell in tracts and then as a whole. The price "she" hopes for on the little triangle
on the east side of the road is stiff, but as he said, "She may not find things as sweet as they once were." Now I've told you more than I
know.
I was in to see Mom yesterday and read Kenn's letter to her. (I also told MD that it would be O.K. if he read the letter to her again.) She
awed and ummed through the reading, but really brightened up when I read the part about the upcoming Great Great Grand Child. She was very
interested in that. Upon finishing, she said "That is a real good letter. We need to save it." I also told her about Ron's "letter"
about seeing David and she was interested in those proceedings. I picked up our mail on the way in which had a seed catalog, so I took that by to show her. We talked about some of the plants, especially hanging hot peppers out to dry on the back porch. I asked her about Grandpa Coomer's aversion to either turnips or parsnips and that Grandma told him he should not avoid them as some day he might have to eat them. Then there came the time when they visited someone and all they had for supper was either the turnips or parsnips. Mom didn't recall the situation until I got to the eating part and then she smiled and said "He sure remembered what Berthy had told him. He did eat them but said he really had to choke them down." This description may indicated Mom was more aware of things than she really was, but it does indicate some of the things that prick her memory. She asked about Julia and thought several of the rest of you were close about.
If any of you or your kids want to drop/email her a letter, Morris David or I would be glad to read whatever to her. Frankly, it gives us something to talk with her about.
Well the anesthesia appears to be wearing off, so think I'll break.
Love, Boo
(Kenn)
Wellllll--I'll be dogged. "Well, what do you say!".
Didn't know you had plastic surgery. I do hope those basal cells are gone from your body. As I recall, they don't metastasize, but just spread locally, sometimes a lot. I believe that is what
Dad had removed from his ear edges, at various times.
Anyway, best of luck. Hope you don't have too much discomfort.
I can't match you. I do have a root canal on an upper right molar tomorrow morning. I am chicken, and wrote myself an Rx for Valium 5 mgm, and will take two or three about an hr. before, and let Connie do the chauffering.
(I am still missing two upper front incisors, where the "micro-implants" failed last year. Trying to decide with my dentist if I can be made right for conventional implants, or will have to get a partial plate. At present, I am just the ugliest man on the block--maybe in the city. Growing my beard to help cover it a little. I don't think I could practice peditrics, as I would "skeer" the children. Although, I have been going to my "tutoring" at one of the local schools for a while, on Tuesdays, and the little 6 year old Blackfoot Indian girl I tutor in reading doesn't seem to mind. About time to go--I stay there for just a half hour, 3 till 3: 30.
Good story about Pa Commer and the turnips and the pasnips! I don't care much for turnips, but I do love parsnips once in a while, either boiled and buttered, or in soup, or mashed with equal parts carrots. I think Mom liked parsnips, too.
Call from Laura a while ago. Katy went on to work today. Nothing mu h happening. The baby is due a week from today, so it should be coming any time now.
Thanks for writing. If you get a picturesque black eye, get a picgure of yourself for us!
Kenn
(GEM)
You and Morris should get together and bid in the little corner of Bill's creek that joins you. Even if it goes really high - the rest of us could donate a little to help out, as it is a vacation place for us.
Take care of your face.
Getting really cold here.
gem
"Still in One Peace"
(Kenn)
I don't know exactly which corner you are talking about, but I would be interested. How many acres, how much square feet? Does it include the corner where the spring is? I could get a bit from my retirement fund, without taxes, I guess.. Could we form a small corporation with shares, to acquire this?
I always thought the corner by the spring, and the bottom and creek land acorss the fence , was especially precious.
Let me know.
(Ron)
Sorry hear about your skin problem, I hope they have found it all.
Which way is and east face and a west face? Is it the same in the southern
hemisphere?? Are you looking north or south or did you have some good drugs?
Love, Ron
(MDM)
Boo, I'd forgotten when your follow up surgery was - sorry. Hope it all went well, and reports are good.
Was going to go see Mom today, but decided not to - I think I may have the flu. So I slept most of the day, and hope to have not too bad a night shift at the ER tonight.
Good point, that the letter(s) can give us something to talk about. I find myself really searching anymore.
MDM
(MDM)
I had one root canal - was not fun, but the pain during and after was far less than what I had endured up to the procedure.
Next week I am scheduled for repair of upper right central incisor - is broken on both sides. Hope yours goes well, Kenn.
MDM
(Boo)
To answer Ron: If North is up and South is down as it is on most maps then that gives a direction. Now, East is normally always on the right when looking North?
I don't know the acreage on the triangle on the east side of the road, but I'd thought along the 3-4 acres. It may be considerably more. Wish I'd asked Phillip if he had an estimate. He mentioned a $4,000/acre, maybe for all of the land. He also mentioned $60-80 grand for the triangle piece if it was divided into three for building/trailer sites. Course, as he said, things are not as sugary as they once were
with property. Mighty steep with limited house sites available on that site, though I can visualize a couple. Course, our Idaho Frank Lloyd
Wright could easily envision nice building sites. I recall years ago when Ron mentioned an underground house and all I could initially think
about was dark, damp and depressing living conditions. By the time he had talked a few minutes, my thoughts had made a radical 180 degree turn to thoughts of gracious living.
Sometime a year or so ago, David Reese and I was talking about the Cox Farm and I mentioned an interest in that triangle. He indicated that if
I was interested, we should come to some type of rationale before hand so we would not be bidding against each other as he was not interested
in the triangle then. Though I have not talked with him since then about the land, his interest in the triangle may be greater now as it could be a close source of water for cattle on the Lutterman Farm which they bought. If they got the Cox Farm, we would be encircled by their
operations, but they are good neighbors.
Boo
(GEM)
Yes, the corner with the spring is the area to which I refer. It goes on that side of the road all the way to the top of the hill, joining the Lutterman farmand would include the creek down to the bridge (now a big culvert). About 3 or 4 acres I imagine.
gem
"Still in One Peace"
(Kenn)
RE: the map of your face. Considering the narrator, i.e. the pt, as the one viewing the map--I assume the "East" is on the right lateral side of the face. How many mm. from the outer canthus of the eye? is it level with the canthus of the eye to the rim of the ear? Is it above the zygomatic process? Is it really two incisions, one 1/2 " and the other 1" +? Dear brother sounds like you have been in a dueling match, the dueling Princes of Heidelburg. Marks of distinction and bravery. ---------------------------------------------.
Re: that triangle of land near the home place. Sure would be good to get that for the Moss Homestead. Hope they won't want too much money.
My assests are not very fluid, on top of the usual living expenses, etc. In addition, my assets and Connie's are in common, and I can't really expend funds without an amicable agreement with her. That is true of all marriages, I am sure, even more when you are in a repeat marriage and living Out West, such as Ron and I are.
Let's say, if I could yank $1000 or $2000 from our joint savings, and maybe $2000 from my IRA, to join in a partnership buy, contributing say, $3 or $4 thousand, would that help any at all? Or, is that a very small part of what might be needed? I have no desire to borrow, at this point in time. It is too bad that I have no more available, but that is about it. Just thinking.
A partnership for some of family members, or a combined effort to buy, etc. Shares, or percentages. I would consider my share as an investment. I just really like that little area. Don't know if if would extend to across the Beaver Creek bridge, at all, where the big hickory nut tree is, but that would be nice, also.
Whatever. Just throwing out ideas; if you guys come up with a scheme, let me know. I guess we would have to re-work the spring so it would flow. Seems like it was stopped up, the last time I visited. We used to keep the milk and butter cool there, the first year we moved there, and carry water since we didn't have the well dug yet, in 1951. There was a sort of cave, or hollow, where we could store milk, vegetables, etc, to cool them, as was so commonly done in Kentucky farms. Also, there are some fine beech trees there: some with our initials and our girlfriend's initials carved on to the bark, : possibly mine, and Gerald's, and I don't know who else's.
--------------------------------------------
It warmed up to 50 here today, the snow is melting, but it is supposed to be around 30 tomorrow, and some snow. Montana weather sure is changeable!
Kenn
(GEM)
That bridge below Mom's house is not the Beaver Creek Bridge as that is the one on Hwy 68-80 below the Windy Hill store. The creek at home is Barren Fork, but the bridges do not have names as it is a small creek. Barren Fork runs into Beaver Creek, which runs into Skaggs Creek, which runs into Barren River, which runs into Green River.
I am working on a novel, set in Civil War times, which begins in that area of the county and then goes to Tennessee, then back into Ky. And if I ever finish it, it will end back in Barren County.
gem
(MDM)
Hey, Boo - to buy that parcel (esp. if the landowners know we are very interested) could be more expensive than buying the whole place, then
turning around and selling all but that. The triangle is lousy land for crops - only good for grazing, and not that good for that, so the premium price would be only due to perceived interest - and raod frontage. Maybe if (David Reece?) is interested in buying it all, we could support that with an agreement that we could buy the triangle at a more reasonable price. All I am interested in is the spring - and maybe over to the edge of the creek and the road, but (GEM-) they could keep the creek access for cattle on Lutterman's property.
MDM
(MDM)
I would consider buying it myself, but it is nigh impossible for Sandy and me to agree on such a thing, so doubtful.
MDM
(Ron)
I have some good memories of that area when it was wooded and wild. Bernie and I sledded in that little field. We went over a rock outcropping and got "air"! The area had the most wonderful wild flowers in the spring. I squirrel hunted there. Bernie and I fetched water from the spring in the
50/51 ice storm.
However, over the years the area has been heavily damaged by cattle grazing that I doubt that it could be restored to woodland within our or our
children's lifetime. Once the forest ground bacteria are destroyed it is very hard to bring back.
The spring is largely silted up. Tons of soil from Dads fields went down the sinkhole and into that aquifer. I think many springs in this country have died a similar fate after lasting thousands of years only to succumb to 200 years of intense agriculture that did not have the conservation practices lately used.
So, I have the memories and the pain. Out of work since June, Cheri and I have gotten by on her salary and my unemployment compensation. While this has been adequate and we are not hurting, we are very cautious about our expenditures. At this time, and I do not expect it to change, I would not been able to contribute to the purchase of the land.
Ron
(Kenn)
Well, bothers and sisters--
I have enjoyed all the correspondence and information this am. a good way to start the day!
Ron, you are correct, I reckon--we remember the Spring area the way it was in the early 50's. It is indeed changed a lot, and I suppose would have to have major landscaping to reclaim at least a part of the look. And, at the prices, and my finances, I will have to bow out. Just a dream or a wish. I do wish MDM or GEM or someone could get that little peice of property to add on to the farm boundaries. With proper screening, it could grow a very profitable crop of ....? marijuna? (I really AM kidding.)
Thanks for the info re: the geography and names of the creeks, GEM. Remembrances of your days working for Wilson Engineering, in part; and your geneological research. And a curious and fertile mind that holds facts like a steel trap.
One of the best Civil War era novels I have read was "Cold Mountain", which took place in the days immediately following the Civil War, and deals with a wounded Southern soldier, leaving his hospital bed and finding his way back through eastern TN and North Carolina, to his home near Cold Mountain. Some of the territroy seemed very familiar, from my year in Middlesboro and my occasional journeys into TN. A good read. Unusual punctuation in that he does not use quotation marks througout but it does not detract from the meaning or enjoyment of the story.
Another good read is "Twelve Days", (I forget the author) about the 12 day hunt for James Wilkes Booth and his accomplices, after the assassination of Pres. Lincoln in April, 1865. What a terrible time for the country that was. The writer is so skillful that it reads like a novel. Also, I have just finished "Up from Slavery", the autobiography of Booker T. Washington, the founder of Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University. I have had that book sitting on my shelf for a long time, just read it last week. It is such an interesting read--I wonder why I had waited to read it for so long. What a great man, who accomplished so much over adversity.
Gerald, Good Luck to you! Keep on keeping on! I want to heartily encourage you in this project, and it will be great, short story or novel!
Enjoyed the humor about the Dam Builders, LAMS Snow White. I had seen it a long time ago, but it is still funny! Still no word re my little great grandson or great granddaughter. He/she is due on Inauguration Day, which would be great, although I have not convinced Lee and Katy that a little boy should be named Carson Barack Hussein Lee Bittle. He and big brother Casey might get into a lot of playground fights if he was named that, anyway.
Did you notice that the new US Senator from Illinois, Sen. Roland Burris, spells his name the same as our grandmother, Media Frances Burris Moss? As far as I know, "we is not relations," as Forrest Gump and Bubba said to Lt. Dan in the movie. How about that, Geneologist GEM?
In half an hour I take my 2 or 3 Valiums and go to the endodontist. May as well get it over with, but I don't think I will get much done this day. Maybe everything will be fine when the anesthetic wears off, and I can go sledding on the nearby hillside. More likely, I will get a book and sit my the fireplace.
Have a good day, all.
Kenn
Sunday, Jan 25
Snowy and cold, between zero and 10 ab0ve all day. I awoke with muscle aching, stuffiness, and sneezing; skipped church and visit to Viola at noon. Connie went . I am feeling better now; just a winter bug, I guess.
A week from today will be the first day of February, and a week from tomorrow will be Groundhog Day, and the birthday of a certain good Dork, who is very good natured (usually, anway) about seeing his shadow and getting a lot of kidding. . I don't know--he might snarl this year. Better be careful.
The only thing is, when it is this cold, and some snow, it is rather confining. Would like to go for a Sunday drive, but, I would not like to slide off one of these steep Montana road embankments.
Just talked to David, in Oklahoma City. He goes to Tulsa, next week, then to Monterrey , Mexico, then to Mexico City. He had hoped to have some time to visit Montana, but he has to do some tech work in Los Angeles, between shows, and may not make it.
KWM
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