Babies:

Tyler Jay Rowden:
I'm a sucker for babies! I love children and enjoy being around babies. April and I went to see this little guy last night. What a cute and sweet baby. We enjoyed visiting with his Mom, Sarah and Grandma Gail.
I also got to see a classmate of Gail's, Patsy Henderson, whom I probably haven't seen since she graduated in 1974. I knew who she was as soon as I walked in. Her smile had not changed through the years, still a happy bubbly person.
It was a nice evening and we enjoyed seeing the new little miracle.

Mom & Dad:

My Mom and Dad came down last night for a visit. We always enjoy hearing Dad's stories and visiting with them. I am so grateful I still have my parents around and in relatively good health.

Round Springs:

In October, Dwayne, April, Mike and I went on a drive through the Ozarks and stopped at Round Springs on Highway 19. I was looking through pictures last night and came across this one of April standing by Round Spring. I had told Mike how pretty and blue the spring was and then what a disappointment it was to see it looked like a huge mud hole with all of the water run-off from the rains we had last Fall.

Weekend:

Friday:
January and February were very busy and stressful months at work. I took the day off just to rest and relax.
Saturday:
Dwayne, Todd, April and I went to my Uncle Merle's funeral. It was a beautiful service and tribute to my uncle. The preacher told of my Uncle Merle being in the hospital a couple weeks ago. They were taking him up to his room and there was a Chaplain in the elevator with him. He asked if he could pray for him and Uncle Merle said yes. Uncle Merle said when he opened his eyes after the prayer all he could see was the color blue. And then he saw a light with the blue Aura and at the end of the light he saw Jesus. It was a concern of my Grandma's that all of her children be saved by the Grace of God. This testimony of Uncle Merle is even more precious as he was not one to go to church or prone to exaggeration any situation.

After the funeral, Elizabeth rode with us to the cemetery and on to Vienna for the funeral dinner. There is never a dull moment with Elizabeth around! She is quite the entertainment.
Elizabeth then spent the night with us. We watched a space alien movie and played Skip Bo.
Sunday:
Dwayne went to church early as he is on the nutrition committee. The committee fixes a meal one Sunday per month. Elizabeth and I went to church and then stayed for dinner.
When we were leaving, Elizabeth noticed she left her jacket. I told her I would get it next Sunday but then decided to just go around to the back and let her go in and get it.



As we were going home on Highway 63 the traffic had come to a stop at the top of the hill from the Gasconade River. We assumed there was a bad accident as the road was blocked. We could not see very far as there was a diesel ahead of us blocking the view. As they directed everyone to turn around and detour through Hwy 42 East we then saw the road was blocked due to heavy rock that had fallen across all three lanes of the highway. We could not tell if any cars were involved and we prayed there wasn't as the cars would have been totally crushed due to the larger boulders. That is when Elizabeth decided she saved our life. And she may be correct as the three to five minutes it took to go back and retrieve her jacket may have kept us from traveling through at the time the rocks fell as it happened just a few minutes before we got there. I'm sure we will hear the story of Elizabeth saving our lives for years to come. LOL

My niece, MacKensie Ellyne turned twelve on the 12th of February. Mom had her birthday dinner yesterday. We went to Mom's after the church dinner to visit with everyone. MacKensie is the baby of all the grandchildren and brings great joy to Mom and Dad.


I fixed spaghetti for our Sunday evening meal. Chad didn't feel well as his arm is still hurting him quite a bit from his accident a couple weeks ago, so he didn't come up. Dwayne, Todd, April, Mike and I spent an enjoyable evening visiting.
Dwayne finally got called back to work this week. I think today will be rough for him as he has not had to get up at 4:30 in the morning for over six months.
Dwayne works very hard and the six month break was good for him.
The weekend was a time of reflecting the past, visiting with family we seldom see, rejoicing the life of my Uncle Merle, and overall being grateful for the life we lead.

Uncle Merle

Yesterday my Uncle Merle passed away due to heart failure. His health hasn't been the greatest the last few years with a blood disease that resembles luekemia. My last memories of Uncle Merle are of laughter and happiness spent celebrating my Uncle Robert's 79th birthday back in October. Everyone had such a wonderful time visiting and catching up.


Eldon ‘Merle’ Feeler
74, of Rolla
Eldon Merle Feeler, of Rolla, passed away Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010, at the age of 74.
Merle was born on April 3, 1935, in Maries County, Mo., to Arch Feeler and Eliza (Balance) Feeler. On Oct. 12, 1979, he married Becky (Hastings) Feeler who survives of the home.
He was preceded in death by his parents; a daughter, Kerry Jordan; two sisters, Lucy Spencer and Opal Feeler; and three brothers, Gene, Gale and Lloyd Feeler.
Merle will be sadly missed by his surviving family which includes: his wife, Becky Feeler of Rolla, Mo.; two sons, Steven Feeler and wife, Kathleen of St. Charles, Mo., and David Weisinger and wife, Danyell of Cincinnati, Ohio; one daughter, Kathy Ard of Salem, Mo.; three brothers, Hubert Feeler and wife, Ruby, Arch Feeler and wife, Maxine, all of Rolla, Mo., and Robert Feeler and wife, Alice of Vienna, Mo.; and two sisters, Ethel Halbert and husband, Homer and Fern Jones, all of Rolla, Mo.; seven grandchildren, Francheska, Jessica, Steven, Amber, Adam, Todd and Robert; and two great grandchildren, Robert, Jr. and Gage.
A funeral service will be conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010, at the Null & Son Funeral Home of Rolla.
Interment will follow at the Lower Davis Cemetery.
A visitation for family and friends will be held prior to the service beginning at 1 p.m.
Memorial contributions are suggested to the Lower Davis Cemetery.
Online contributions may be offered at www.nullandsonfuneralhome.com.
All arrangements are under the direction of the Null & Son Funeral Home of Rolla.

Weekend:

Friday:
The day started off on the wrong foot (literally!) and only got worse as the day wore on.
I was to take a vegetable dish to church for Imogene Gray's funeral dinner. I had made my corn casserole the night before and had planned on putting it in a glass dish, then I remembered I still had a disposable aluminum pan with a lid so I used that.
I start down the front steps to go to work, carrying the dish, my purse, a cup of milk and who knows what else. I always try to carry as much as I can so I don't have to make more than one trip. Well, about half way down I slipped on the ice and landed very hard on my back on one of the steps. The dish went flying out of my hand and luckily landed face up. The lid had come off but the casserole dish was still okay, minus a few dents. Dwayne heard me yell and came out in his bare feet. Bless him, he helped me up and carried my stuff to the truck with his feet freezing. It hurt so bad I couldn't help crying but I went on to work. It still hurts today but not too bad.
That night when I got home, Dwayne actually pampered me by fixing supper and bringing it to me in the living room. I later went to bed and started reading the book mentioned below. I stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish it. It is a good story and anyone who has adult children can understand the turmoil of how much to be there for your son/daughter or how hard it is to practice tough love.

Saturday:
I love to sleep late and I was happily snoozing away when all of a sudden someone is in my face saying, wake-up sleepy head! Scared me to death!! It was my darling daughter.
April needed to go to St. James to take some pictures for a news photo for the paper and I went with her. We probably looked like Thelma and Louise driving around town doing drive-by shooting. (with a camera) We also went to an anitique shop and looked around then on to Lowe's to pick up a gallon of paint. We always have a good time when we're together.
When we got home, Dwayne had a beautiful flower arrangement on the table. I didn't even notice it until I'd been home a couple hours. Reminded me of when I used to get the kids baby pictures back and would put one on the TV for Dwayne to see when he got home. I cannot remember a time that he actually noticed the pictures without me having to point them out.
Desmon:

Desmon came and spent the night with me and Dwayne. He can be such a little stinker one minute but then so loving the next. Me and Desmon usually play farmer with the little cows and hay set Chad had when he was young. We have a routine of feeding the cows on the feeders, hauling the hay in the back of the truck and we have two cows that look like they have mud on them. These two are always in a mud pond. There are two long horn steers that are his best buddies. Mister Dwayne will play feeding cows with him but he says he dosen't do it like Miss Connie. When he got there, he ran up and gave me a big hug and said I've sure been missing you Miss Connie, melts my heart. Later when April and Mike got home he took some of the cows, hay and trucks down for Mike to play but he said Mike doesn't know how to do it right, either. LOL Guess I'm the official cow feeding person! (Lucky me)
Desmon is usually only around adults and they all pester him and think it's so funny if he does something he shouldn't. The other day Todd was there and as he was leaving, Desmon asked why he was going. Todd told him it was because he was being so mean. Desmon goes, well come back tomorrow Todd and I won't be so mean. LOL I mean how can you not laugh at the kid and the funny things he says.
Desmon and Dwayne camped out in the living room. Desmon woke up a little before daylight and came in my room crying, he had lost Mister Dwayne. I thought Dwayne may have gotten up early and was upstairs painting the bathroom. I look upstairs but he's not there then I looked in the living room and Mister Dwayne was laying there asleep. I guess Desmon only looked to one side of him and didn't see Mister Dwayne laying there. Luckily, he went back to sleep after finding Mister Dwayne.
Sunday:
I had planned on going to church but played hooky. We watched a movie and then went to Mom's for Sunday dinner. Mom had chicken-n-dumplings, a very good dinner. Desmon then went back home with Chad.
That afternoon, Dwayne and I went to Vichy for our friends, Dennis & Joyce Tipton, 40th Wedding Anniversary. We had a good time visiting with friends we hadn't seen in a long time.
Every year for Valentine's Day, I fix a heart shaped meatloaf. Dwayne, April, Mike and I had a nice Valentine's Day dinner and an evening of watching TV.

Time in a bottle:

If I could save time in a bottle............... by Jim Croce
For the past two weeks, I wish I could have put time in a bottle. Work has been so busy with year end paperwork and pet food sales going great that I haven't had time to blog. A friend told me that when pet food and beer sales go down you know the economy is bad. I can say the economy has not affected dog food sales yet.
February 1:

My sister Judy's birthday. Mom fixed Judy a birthday dinner on Sunday the 31st. Judy always requests a gooseberry cake. It is a yellow cake (made from scratch) with gooseberry filling in the middle and seven minute frosting. Mom has always made this for Judy's birthday but for the past several years Dad has made the cake. He is so proud of himself! And this from the Dad who couldn't even get his own glass of water while I was living at home. We had a great time visiting with family. It is always a treat when Judy's daughter, Tammy and her sons, Josh and Cody can come down for a visit. They lives in De Soto.

What could make a weekend better than one of my sons getting hurt or sick. The week before Todd called at one in the morning that he was sick with the flu. This weekend, it was Chad. Chad and Desmon had went to Rolla in the snow and on their way back home, they slid on the ice on the gravel road not too far from Chad's house. The truck hit a soft spot on the side of the road and slowly turned over. Desmon was buckled in his car seat and did not get hurt, just a little scared. Chad, on the other hand,( my accident prone child) did not get hurt when the truck turned over but as he was getting out of the truck on the passenger side (the driver's side was on the ground) he stepped down onto ice, slipped and landed on his right arm. Todd called and Dwayne was then off to take him to the emergency room. They stopped by the house first. Without health insurance, there is always the worry over the cost. Not to say your health doesn't come first, but if you can wait it out a little that's what we'll do. Chad was in alot of pain and the elbow was swollen to twice the normal size. Chad has a pretty high pain threshold and you could tell he was in enormous pain so we knew it hurt alot. Chad waited until Saturday and called a local doctor. He said even if the arm/elbow was broken, it could not be set for a few days until the swelling went down. Long story short, I took Chad to an orthopedic surgeon in Jefferson City. He took an x-ray and the arm wasn't broken but the tendons and muscle were very bruised. Chad elected to do his own physical therapy with guidelines to go by. Even when you think, what else could happen, you still feel thankful that it wasn't worse. So when you say your prayers, Chad could always use an extra thought sent his way as if someone is going to get hurt, it's Chad. (or Chadley, as Desmon calls him)

Happy Anniversary:

Our good friends, Mike and Susan Southard celebrated their 33rd anniversary on Friday, February 5th. The weather was pretty much the same Friday as it was the day they got married as we had a huge snowfall then. 1977 was the year for weddings in our circle as Chris and Sherie got married on March 5th, Kevin and Karen on May 15th and Dwayne and I on September 10th. Seems so long ago and then again it just seems like it was yesterday. Once again, time in a bottle.........

February 5th, 1998 also marks a very horrific time in all of our lives. Our good friend, Susan along with her children, Adrian and Kyle, were found murdered in a neighboring pond. I won't elaborate more as the memories of that time are so emotional and hard to deal with to this day. Susan (Southard) Brouk is our good friend, Mike's, sister. They were actually killed on February 1st but their bodies weren't found until the 5th of February, so that is the legal date listed as time of death. The 5th of February is a bittersweet day for Mike and Susan, a time to rejoice in their married life but over shadowed by the tragic events of their sister, niece and nephew's death. As hard as it is/was, the whole Vichy community and friends are there for each of the Southard siblings and especially for our good friends, Mike and Susan, who've endured alot of emotional pain on their anniversary.

Randy's Road Kill Grill:
We have a restaurant only about five miles from our house. When you live outside of town, this is a real treat to only go a few miles to eat. (Poet and don't know it! LOL) Despite the name of road kill, it is a great place to eat barbeque. Dwayne, April and I ate there Friday night. The dining room is decorated really neat with various deer heads, bear skins, etc. and you can look out the windows at the lake. With the snow on the ground Friday, the view was beautiful. If you are familiar with Highway E out of Rolla, Randy's Road Kill Grill is about half way from Rolla to Highway A going to our house.

Nathan Time:

Our friends, Kenny and Shelley, took their little boy, Blake to St. Louis to see Monster Jam. We happily volunteered to keep Nathan for the night. He is such a good baby, always laughing and cooing. When our babies were small, I got up with them during the night. I never thought anything about Dwayne not helping as I was a stay at home Mom and he got up for work around 4:30 each morning. But I am so fortunate that when we keep Nathan, Dwayne gets up with him and seems to enjoy that time. April and Mike brought Nathan to church with them and it seemed to make heads roll as people were trying to figure out the relationship of April, Mike and a baby. I'm sure there's alot of speculation going on this week. LOL Mom had Sunday dinner and we took Nathan with us. All of the kids took turns holding him. Ashlyne and Lizzie came home with us for the afternoon. When Kenny and Shelley came to pick up Nathan, Blake had alot of stories to tell of the Monster Jam. He had a great time and was surprised at the show as he thought it would be like the Monster Jam Cartoons him and April used to watch.

I'm not into sports, so the girls and me watched tv upstairs. Later, Judy came and picked Ashlyne up for church and Zach stayed with Dwayne to watch the game. I had fixed beans and cornbread, fried potatoes and smoked pork chops. Well first, Dwayne let the beans go dry while I took a nap and then I let the beans get scorched when I was visiting with Billy for awhile. Liz and Zach were there for supper and they kept us entertained with their goofiness. Liz asked us if we knew why she always knows things (as she KNOWS EVERYTHING) and she said it was because her initials are EAR, Elizabeth Ann Rowe. I asked if someone told her that and she said, no, I just came up with it. And she probably did, she's just like that. You can't get much on Liz, she's pretty quick with a comeback. Dwayne, April and Mike watched the game and I went to bed early.

Work has been so busy, it was nice to just relax for the weekend.