Our day of shopping, appointments and errands ended with Miss Kenzie's first experience in restaurant dining. The Hammett House, a Claremore institution, was filled with folks we knew this evening. She was a little fussy but not too bad. Erica and I passed her back and forth and both managed to eat our dinner. After putting up with pants and socks all day, Kenzie once again, asserted her no pants/no socks policy for dinner. Erica covered her with a fuzzy yellow blanket and tucked her into her baby seat. Ha that didn't last long......starting out by kicking the blanket away from her feet, then bare little legs started kicking out. Oh Lord, 3-4 inches of snow are forecast and we can't tolerate shoes, sock or pants.....like I said a little hillbilly in the making.

I guess ancestry will find it's way to the surface despite our attempts to modify things from one generation to the next. Given that Richard and I both come from families with the roots in Northwestern Arkansas it should be no suprise that some Ozark-American behaviors are ingrained and self-evident in our family -- even at McKenzie's young age. What's the eveidence you ask? Well, Miss Kenzie has consistently expressed her preference for no socks, no pants and no blankets or other coverings on her feet (and legs too if she can manage it). Although she starts the day with pants and socks, she rarely ends the day them. Additionally we have mastered the art of blanketing the baby in such a way that foot ventilation and access to open air is always ensured. This asssures cool feet and full range of motion for wiggly feet and toes. Failure to provide this freedom and ventilation results in mild annoyance if remedied quickly or red-faced crying accompanied by the "racoon noise" if not attended to in a timely fashion. Her Aunt Roxane will be mortified that she insists on bare feet. I seem to recall that we recently got a lecture about perpetually barefooted babies being a sure sign of white trash from Rox. I'll just let Rox and McKenzie discuss that while Rox is home for Christmas -- when it comes to bare feet, I'll put my money on the little hillbilly getting her way.

After listening to the weather, Rich spent Sunday night in Tulsa at my mother's to ensure he would make it to give his Monday am final. So I was home alone and awakened several times during the night by the ice breaking limbs off of the tree and dropping them on the roof over the bedroom - really loud and a bit scary in the middle of the night. Especially since we saw just how much damage trees can do when the October storm crashed trees through the roof of the show barn. At any rate I guess it could have been worse - we lost one skylight and have a small leak in the roof. TONS of trees damaged and the electric tape fence took alot of abuse - coated with ice and sagging plus tress down on it in several places. Erica says the farm is much the same with lots of tree and fence damage. But no cattle hurt and nothing damaged that can't be fixed. No power Monday and most of Tuesday, but we expected that - thank goodness for the fireplace and the generator.

After much deliberation and many suggestions from our friends, we have settled on what are perhaps the most predictable names for Richard and I as grandparents, but truthfully the only names that seemd to fit. Grandad and Kitty. In the end Rich just couldn't get comfortable with Pepaw no matter how funny it was. Every grandfather either of us has ever known had been Grandad except Richard's Dad; he was JD to the whole world. Had you taken the time to ask what JD stood for, you would have received his standard answer, "Not a damn thing." That was the truth too - he and his brothers JW and IV were all simply known by those letters and none of them stood for anything. But that's another story.......... Kitty for me is one of those deals where Richard started out making fun of my early 1980's hair-do and said it looked like Miss Kitty from Gunsmoke and, of course, as things like that happen the name stuck. Now he and a few of my closest friends call me Kitty - it's the only alternate name I have ever answered to. So there you have it.......Grandad and Kitty.

Well the first advertisement ran in the paper for the puppies today and it seems Ginger and Bella are still happy to play with them, but are done nursing. They are all fat, sassy little babies and pretty cute. Better hurry and find them new homes before we want to keep another one. Erica keeps talking about Brown Girl and Matt and Richard keeping saying "no, no, no"