Happy Trails Reprise and Home

First of all..........

.......yes, it was Roy Rogers,

often with wife Dale Evans, who sang "Happy Trails." He was usually backed by the Sons of the Pioneers. All this probably means very little to many of you younger ones.

When I was itty-bitty, he was very popular, singing and making Western movies. And I was a wee little lass of about three who was insatiably in love with him. His rival-counterpart Gene Autry, ran a close second, but Roy Rogers ... sighhh ... just unbeatable. He was a very handsome man, and was a wholesome role model for kids. My dad never seemed to mind buying me some of his records (does anyone remember the old 78s, even before "vinyl"?).

I had a "cowgirl outfit." It was a red corduroy skirt and vest, trimmed with white plastic fringe. I even had some little cowboy boots to go with it, but I don't remember the color. Oh, and a red hat with white plastic decorative trim. I was "sumthin'," I'll tell ya!! Then Daddy or Mama would put on some of the RR records, and I would "entertain" whoever was unfortunate enough to be in the living room by dancing to the music, never quitting until I was eventually shooed out of the room so the adults could visit. As I recall, however, my Daddy didn't let that happen too quickly. I was "the baby" of my family, and most certainly the apple of my daddy's eye. Those of you with kids in your life who are around three can relate to this, I'm sure.

By the time Roy had his TV show in the 1950s, I had begun to outgrow him. I still loved his movies, but the 3-4 year old crush was over. Those of you who are a bit younger might remember the TV show. I don't think I ever watched it. We didn't have a TV until the late 50s, and the show was off the air around that time, as I recall.

OK, that's my story about Roy Rogers. Now tell me ..... how many of you, after reading the title of that post, had the tune running through your head for a while? giggle, sorry! But if it's any consolation, it was in mine, too!

The night before I left to come home, I had a bad coughing spell. My allergies were up but I failed to take a pill before bed. Mistake!! I had some drainage which strangled me in the night, and what a mess! Let me explain that when I choke it isn't just a little deal; I have an extremely sensitive cough reflex, and any little thing can set it off. In restaurants, people begin acting like they want to get up and be ready for a Heimlich maneuver, and I have to wave them off. What happened Tuesday night was that I woke myself coughing, very, very hard. It would settle down, I'd lie back down, and within a few minutes I'd strangle again, cough until I though I couldn't breathe, then on and on, through the cycle. I was so tired that I would just rationalize it was OK to not get up, drink water, take allergy med, etc.

I found out that I was waking Scott during this. He would get up to come check on me, then I'd stop. He'd fall to sleep, then I'd start again. So I kept us both up. geez. I guess it went on for nearly an hour, but I didn't know that till Scott told me as there was no clock in my room. It finally abated, and we both got back to sleep. In the morning, I went in to wash my face and I was startled .... I had coughed to severely hard that I had broken little blood vessels in the skin under my eyes!! I used some light colored make up under my eyes (I rarely use makeup on my face, only blush and eyes) so I didn't look like I'd been in a bar fight and lost. Later on I noticed that I had the same in my neck, but even worse!! Luckily I was wearing a turtle neck shirt!

I had packed part of the car the night before, so yesterday morning I didn't have a lot to do to be ready. I drove to Scott's office to get some plant food. Scott is a Chemical Engineer, and he is president of a corporation that grows bacteria. Yes, you read that right, they grow bacteria. On purpose! These bacteria are many different kinds, but one of his long term accounts is to make these "bugs" for agricultural growth stimulators .... fertilizer. I brought home two big bags of strange looking liquids for my plants. No, it's not dangerous. You ought to see the decorative plants in the building. One of Scott's employees went to K-Mart and pulled plants out of the dumpsters, plants declared "dead" by store employees, brought them back to the facility, and began feeding them with the product a year or so ago, and you should see them!! Gorgeous, rich green and fully leafed!! Now it's my turn to try it. My house plants are good, but with this, they should be amazing!

The trip home was uneventful. I didn't tire as I expected after the broken sleep. We were home in good time, and oh boy, did it feels good to sleep in my own bed last night.

Ali seemed to know we were close to home when we were 30-45 miles away, and he kinda perked up. When we got to the gravel road for the last two miles, he was wide away and looking around. In the house, he ran to the center of the living room, whirled around to look at me with tail curled over his back and eyes wide, then raced from one end of the house to the other, stopping in the living room to give me the "happy" look each time he went through! I was cracking up!! China was not quite that animated, but she was following Ali part of the time and wagging her tail excitedly while watching him! Yeah, we were all glad to be home.

Say it with me .......

Life is beautiful!!!