March 10, 2009

Country Gal by Vanita Blundell
March is here and the wind is certainly blowing. Most of the time when you think of March you remember the saying that if March comes in like a lion it will go out like a lamb- or in like a lamb and out like a lion. I think that it is more lion than lamb, at least so far. I went to Ruidoso New Mexico to help with a surprise birthday party for my brother-in-law, Randy Widener. The wind blew and the thistles were on the move. By the time I reached my destination, there were several thistles embedded in the grill of my car.
Randy and Vickie’s kids put the party on and the middle girl, Casey, was the one who organized it and made sure everything was just right. She found Randy’s old roommate, and invited him and his wife to the festivities. They accepted and they were delightful company. Come to find out they live in McPherson and he had ridden horseback on the Merrill Ranch when they had the benefit trail rides. The unusual thing is that he had lost his leg due to a motorcycle accident several years ago, but he still loves to ride horseback. He does not, however, ride a motorcycle often. I found him to be inspirational.
Sunday afternoon I spent with my niece Casey, her son Gage, and my other nephew Little John, Sheila and John Martin’s son. We decided that we should fly kites. It has been years since I tried to get a kite in the air. I was wishing that Jim was with me as he is very good at getting kites in the air and keeping them there. I never was very good at that sort of thing. Come to think of it neither was Dad. I do not think that he ever flew a kite with me, but if memory serves me correctly he tried with Vickie and Virgil. To make a long story short - Vernie was not ever intended to fly a kite. I have been accused of being somewhat like my dad - and in this case- it is true. We were in Casey’s back yard and we had assembled the kites- even though the outside of the bag said the kites were flight ready- we still had to put them together. It was fairly windy out and we thought that we could get them up in no time. WRONG! Yes, the wind was blowing but not consistently. It would gust then die down to nothing. We would just about get the kites in the air and above the house then we would lose the wind and the kites would come down. I was getting disgusted and so was Little John, so I decided that we should go to the front of the house- I thought that the house was blocking the wind. I took Little John to front of the house which is a large gravel rock driveway - Casey and Gage joined us. I thought that I would show Little John how to get the kite in the air- finally- but instead-- well-- I got the kite started going up and I started to run but in order to know how much string to let out, you have to see if the kite is on it’s way up- so that means that you run while looking backwards- I was doing pretty well but what I did not know was that Manny, Casey husband, had dug a small trench for rain run off. Yes- you have - I hit the trench fell and went *** over teakettle. After the dust settled and the laughter of my loving and caring niece- who was in my will- asked if I was hurt- only my pride and of course, my knees. I think that Manny may have to haul in some more gravel as I think I dented their driveway. After it seemed that it was not the day to put the kites in flight- Little John asked if he could go inside and play- I thought that was a wonderful idea. After all of that excitement I think it is really true there is no place like home-