6 Degrees of Thursday

If we could get the portable satellite to work (so we could watch the SEC Championship game), I would love to go to Rayburn this weekend since the weather is so great. We have not camped in a long time and I do miss it. We keep thinking the lottery fairy is going to descend upon us one day and have high hopes for a 5th wheel camper so we can get out of the pop-up. But I would much rather have the pop-up and the boat than just a 5th wheel. I just really get tired of going to the bath house in the middle of the night. Actually, Jim and I really love to winter camp....I qualify that with the exception of extreme cold. Jim would camp at the North Pole if we could just be out of Mansfield. We used to go to Arkansas camping every year for Thanksgiving, our tradition, when Clif was younger. We'd stop by Burge's in Lewisville, Arkansas, and get a turkey breast to heat. I'd bring stove top stuffing, canned asparagus, cranberries, Bruce's yams, rolls. It was a regular Thanksgiving extraordinaire.


Our favorite Arkansas camp (without water) was Devil's Den just South of Fayetteville. We spent many Thanksgiving's there.



However, there are two winter camps that I remember more particularly. The first was Lake Catherine, check it out:

It's near Hot Springs and it does not look so intimidating there. However, I did call it 3 mile island because it has a hydro electric plant on it. Now imagine it's January, it's sleeting, it's 30 degrees, the family is in a tent, yes a tent with no heater and absolutely NO ONE ELSE IN THE PARK...and Jim Ruffin does not want to leave. Clif and I spent most of the time in the bath house which had a heater. Sleet had stuck so much to the roof of the tent, the whole roof was solidified. I think Scooter, the Yorkshire Terrier, was still with us then and he was outraged. Finally, Clif said, "Daddy, please, can we go home?" We packed up and and the roads were so bad, we ended up having a flat in Hot Springs on the way home. Clif and I were terrified, a trauma that took weeks to get over. I don't do crises well.

Then there was the time we were at Lake Ouachita, also in the tent, and it started snowing.

That wasn't bad but the boy scouts were there trying to earn badges and even they left because it was snowing so hard. Jim said he was going to the bath house for a shower. When he got back from the bath house, there was 4 inches of snow on the ground. The dog (Sampson) had a great time. We finally packed up and left but the animals and the snow were the only ones left to say goodbye.

Weekend coming up, SEC Championship, dreaded, yet looking forward to pinestraw duty, the leg is almost healed. Let's get cracking...I'm thankful for my many blessings...

Ruffinism for the day: Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Clear, Crisp Wednesday

I'm pretty sure we had a freeze last night. When I came out of the house at 8:30 a.m. to go to work, the Nash's roof was partly frozen. For some reason, their roof is the first roof in the neighborhood to freeze. Don't know why, maybe Jack Frost likes their house better. And all of the jets are leaving contrails in the sky today, it looks like a big tic tac toe board - I had no idea so many people were going somewhere over us every day. And probably going to important places and here I am passing Billy Ray Bedsole's pasture, listening to my 2007 Christmas music CD. I make a Christmas CD every year now, download the Christmas music I like, Jim Brickman, Windham Hill, Boney James, Tom Grant & Rebecca Kilgore and Andrea Bocelli...se magnifique!

I'm starting to get in the Christmas spirit. Want to get the Christmas tree now that Jim and Clif have cancelled plans to go to Atlanta. We had a cheap hotel room downtown but the septic tank and the plumber took our money for the SEC championship...and Clif is trying to sell our tickets to his fraternity brothers. I have resisted buying an artificial tree for years because the real ones make the house smell so good. But every year Home Depot keeps carrying less and less of the real ones. Do they have Christmas tree smell at Bed, Bath and Beyond in the candle section?

Speaking of Christmas, I wish I had the catalogue concession in the U.S. and then I would be the most generous billionaire in the world. I am being inundated with catalogues. Lands End, Home Depot, J.C. Penney, Toys R Us (we haven't had a "kid" in years), Best Buy, Allen Brothers, L.L. Bean.....speaking of Allen Brothers, you must check them out...http://allenbrothers.com/ ...Rush Limbaugh, ok hear me out, spoke of this outlet...previously, Omaha Steaks was the one and only place. BUT I NEEDED STEAK KNIVES last year and Jim and I went online and LOVED their steak knives. We must have received 40 million catalogues from them in the past year, their food looks scrumptious, and it is quite expensive. But one of these days I'm going to surprise Jim with a steak package that he wants...You know the catalogues today are so much different from the ones my sister, Becke, and I used play "Me" with, we couldn't flip pages in the Sears catalogue fast enough choosing which model and outfit we wanted to be.

OK, so I don't want to be anyone of them right at this moment.

The Republican You-Tube debate was on CNN tonight...I watched most of it. I have to admit I don't know whom to vote for at the present but have a few more months before the primary. They're all white anglo saxon males, which to hear the rest of the world, is the worst of beings in the world...but they all talked like adults and addressed all of the questions, including a few I had myself. God help us if the illegal immigrants here do not assimilate...we're fighting for our very existence, our future, against the people who do not want to work yet live off of the rest of us, and the ones that want us to conform to their ways, instead of blending into our society.

"Come down off that soapbox, Susan, it's someone elses turn."

Ruffinism for the day: "I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers We are the president." Hillary Clinton.

All Things Bleached and Sanitized

I went from the depths of despair to the heighths of happiness yesterday (Monday.) We started the day off with the septic tank being dug up and emptied only to find out that it was only 3/4 full and that there was a clog in the line. Mike at Superior Plumbing had told me Friday that it was a crap shoot (no pun intended) either way...I could have him blow the line out but if that did not work, I'd still have to have called the septic man. So I opted to call the septic man first...WRONG! After a morning of $500+, I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning, sanitizing, bleaching and washing. And then the best part of the day was Mr. G paying me early for an ancillary succession I was doing for him. Notary/paralegal fees are the extra fuel that keeps me going. However, Jean and I still need to find an extra part-time job. Got any suggestions?

Jim has still not gotten over the LSU thing. Now he's mad that Houston Nutt quit Arkansas and went to Ole Miss. He is sure we will be stuck with Les Miles. Will the saga ever end? He was on the phone yet again last night debating and arguing...his face is so intense.


And while I'm at it I can't leave puppy out. Norman is so camera shy, seriously, that any time he'll let me put the camera in his face and flash, I take advantage of it. He's so sweet.

I have to give a shout out to Neila for turning me onto blurb.com on Thanksgiving weekend. I am almost an expert at Shutterfly. That is where you publish books out of pictures that you take - like a theme. I have done a couple of them now, one for Mr. G and Joye when they got married. And the other one I did of all of JRG's gas wells. Oh to be the very rich! They turned out very well I think. But blurb.com is where you make a book out of all of your blogs. I already have an account and am starting on my blog book. It's coming along well. Hopefully, Clif will want it some day.

If you have ten extra minutes, you need to go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ycgegp0KdE4%20 and watch and listen to the history of American Pie, the song by Don McLean. It's very interesting and I learned a thing or two. Actually, the guy that sent it by email is a friend of Mr. G's that works for the government in Baton Rouge. He sends us the best and most hilarious emails. Will try to pass them on when they are public approved.

Ruffinism for the day: "When people ask me what American Pie means, I tell them it means I don't ever have to work again if I don't want to." - Don McLean

Black Friday, Saturday and Septic Sunday

Clif wanted to go to Dallas with Blake, Jim went to Baton Rouge with his brother, Albert, for the LSU game. So the only Black Friday I had was at 750 North Princeton, Mansfield, looking up the chimney for an all clear to light the fire. Actually, when I got the Best Buy circular on Thanksgiving Day in the paper, I was truly disappointed. First of all, Clif and I had scoped it out on Wednesday when we went shopping. All Best Buy had was these 5 foot tall presents in the aisles that said "Merry Christmas to our Customers." The circular on Thursday confirmed that there were only (at least) 15 to 100 of the super deals. Well we would have had to get in line early Thanksgiving Day to get one of those bargains. However, I thought Wal-Mart might have had something. Nada. What I wanted was a DVR for the TV and Clif said he doubted Best Buy would have those as a Christmas special. So I wasn't really upset when Clif said he wanted to go to Dallas.

I got a lot done at the house. Until the game...total devastation. By the second overtime, my stomach was in my throat and I told Joye that Jim was 8 rows from the top of death valley pulling his hair out. I've never seen a team tank like LSU has these past few weeks. And since Mr. Ruffin has returned from Baton Rouge, I have had the pleasure of listening to him scream at himself, scream at Les Miles, scream at Bill over the phone, and analyze all of it to where I just CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! And tell me how LSU goes from No. 1 to No. 7 in just one game. It's now Sunday night and Jim is screaming at Jordy and Les Miles on the radio. Jordy won't take any call-ins and Jim is cussing him up one side and down the other, and he has a few choice words for the team and for Les Miles also. He does not want Miles to stay now, he's afraid he won't go...that Michigan won't even offer him the job and we'll be stuck with Miles. Don't know how a grown man can get caught up in such drama...note to self: The Amazing Race is on CBS in 30 minutes, must finish blog by then.

Septic Sunday is exactly what it means, our septic tank backed up and we have to have it dug out tomorrow. We live in the septic tank neighborhood. You kind of get a warning sometimes...the back toilets will gurgle. We have to have it done about once a year, it's horrible. Sometimes when you get down and I have been rather down Saturday and Sunday, God says, "hey Susan, enough of the pity parties, if you want some crap (forgive my french) in your life, I'll give you some real crap." God has a way of putting things in perspective and making you realize what's important in life....Now I know this is hard to believe but sometimes when things get so bad, that's when Jim and I have our best laughs. We were both in the front bathroom cleaning up the mess, holding our noses, with mops, buckets, old towels, bleach, comet and such, and our nut of a dog, Norman walks up to the door of the bathroom and drops his empty stainless steel food bowl on the tile floor basically saying, "I believe you've missed my dinner time," and we just fell out. Below the culprit in all of his innocence...

And at this moment, Jim is still cussing Les Miles out in the dining room. I love my life!

Ruffinism for the day: Dogs are the leaders of the planet. If you see two life forms, one of them is making a poop and the other one is carrying it around for him, who would you assume is in charge? - Jerry Seinfeld

So Very, Very Thankful

This has been a super Thanksgiving! We went to Jean's for Thanksgiving this year, and it was sooooo nice. I had the best time. I held Andrew (Calvert and Neila's two month old son) and I was smitten. I have not held a baby in so many years and it felt so good. He's a wiggle worm but oh, quite precious and we got on like a house of fire. Calvert wants to hire me as their nanny and I would absolutely love it. I missed my calling by so many years. Calvert has decided my name is Rosa and that I'm going to be their nanny that takes care of their two children, however, this is the only Rosa nanny I could find...

Calvert said he could only pay me $100 per week...it's just a little below my normal wage but all children are such a pleasure...it was my calling in life, little ones. Like I said before, Clif and I had a ball when he was young...we still do now, but it involves more money these days. The meal was super: Turkey, dirty rice, black-eyed peas, jalapeno potatoes, cornbread dressing, asparagus, sweet potato balls, delicious pumpkin pie cake, and pecan pie. My compliments to all of the chefs. And an extra shout out to Steve for supplying adult beverages.

OK, Thanksgiving pictures:

Jim and Clif chowing down:

Steve and Clif enjoying the meal:


Neila and Andrew - when he got fussy, I let Mom hold him:

Jim, Steve and their Les Miles/LSU analysis:

Jean, Donna and Walter:

Calvert and Neila and Andrew:

Camille and her Mimi:

Camille performing for us: Geaux Tigers!

Supermom extradinaire:Andrew is a handful but both his Mom and Dad can whip him into shape and out-wiggle him. Impressive stuff. Clif was such a laid-back baby, he was so calm and relaxing. I think God gives you what you can handle.

I am truly thankful this Thanksgiving...let's see a quote:

Ruffinism for the day: Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds - Theodore Roosevelt

Thanksgiving Eve

I am so thankful...Clif is home safe (you know I-10 is closed between Lafayette and Baton Rouge) although it took him six hours to get here on Tuesday...I cannot imagine what it is like now. And Jim is determined to go down for the Ar Kansas game (as Les Miles says). However, Clif will not be with him because he's already done the two and one-half hour 190 drive once and has to do it again next Monday.


Clif and I spent a great day in Shreveport, threatening storms and all. We really wanted to go to a movie, but he is over 10 years old and all that seems to be on at the theatres are cartoons.
We scouted out Best Buy for Black Friday. We also went to Gene's Tires in Bossier City in case the Lottery Fairy comes to visit. He wants 22" wheels for Christmas, $2,000.00 +...
I want a new vehicle.

We can both wish. However, it's more likely Santa is going to bring us both new underwear and socks (we'll not leave Jim out of that equation) and perhaps games for his XBox. But we had a great time playing the "want" game in Best Buy. And Sam's, and Lowe's, and Walmart, and Target....oh, hell Target was the only one who screwed the rest of the day up...


We're all going to Jean's tomorrow for Thanksgiving (hopefully I'll remember to use my camera) and I had to pick up a few last things at the grocery store. Clif suggested Target since we were close so I agreed. When we got to the counter to check out, Clif said he'd go get the car since the "storm" was coming. I checked out and lo and behold, lightning struck the building rendering all computers (read registers) inoperable. All of them came back on except guess who's? I would have left but I had already given the checker my check and she had put it in the register. 45 minutes later, I leave Target having had my groceries checked out twice and a $3 coupon for my inconvenience. THE SALVATION ARMY DOES NOT EVEN WORK OUTSIDE OF TARGET because I would have put the $3 coupon and $1 in their bucket.

Note to self: Thankfulness, having a 20 year old son drop you off at the front door of every store and/or come pick you up at the front with your groceries.



We are planning the camping trip for Friday....wish us luck.

Ruffinism for the day: Patience and fortitude conquer all things - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Blue Monday

Oh, so very feeling sorry for myself...today is the day for a pity party. We have to have those every now and then.

Bills piling up, Christmas coming, Black Friday at the end of this week and I wish I could buy Clif everything he wants. But of course that's not the reason for the season, is it?

Two years ago I had such a hard time with all of the Salvation Army bell ringers with pots at all the grocery stores, Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. I wanted to tell them all, "I gave just yesterday at the other place." I felt guilty for not dropping something in. But then I realized, what is so wrong with putting a little change or a dollar in it everytime you see one Susan, it's not going to bankrupt you.. And I resolved to myself then and there to save the Salvation Army one pot at a time (I don't think they're depending on my change to save them.) Maybe all of you already do it. Maybe I'm the last one to catch on. I find some change, I find a dollar or two, and it feels very good.

But on to Black Friday. Making my plans now for mega savings. Think I'll do Sam's first because they're giving away free breakfasts. Then on to Walmart. Then perhaps Kohl's. Oh the crowds, the pushing, the shoving, the savings!


Ruffinism for the day: "At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us."-- Albert Schweitzer

Day of Rest

GO PHONES!!!!!!!!! How stupid am I? Don't laugh but I just found out that you don't have to go to the AT&T store to get a phone. I was desperate. As I reported in an earlier blog, my phone was broken last weekend when it was dropped and the antenna broke off. Well, correct that, it worked but reception was crackley (is that a word?) and you only received every third word or so that someone spoke. There were no "Bars" unless you held it up high outside with your left hand and then brought it down real fast to speak a sentence or so and receive a garbled reply, then raised it high up again to catch more "Bars" out of the air - just joking. It might have worked in an emergency but I would have to scream at the 911 operator in slow precise words if I had my leg cut off in a car wreck. Not a possibility in Susan Ruffin world. Jim and Clif can tell you my value in a crisis.

Well, it so happens that a few weeks ago, Clif broke the back off his Blackberry and needed a new phone. My phone was due for an upgrade, so we went to the AT&T store and I switched the upgrade over to Clif's phone so he could get a new Black Jack, whatever that is....evidently, having the latest phone is mandatory at LSU. So when I went to the AT&T phone store on Youree last Friday to plead for a new cheap phone for me, they said the only phone available to me, which would be a cheap flip phone, would cost me $300.00 since I was not due for an upgrade for a year or so! Highway robbery! They might as well have stuck a gun in my face. However, the young girl took pity on me and whispered that I could go to Best Buy and get a Go Phone. "What's that?" I say. She grabbed me by the collar and said, "Shut up lady, I'll get fired. Go - to - Best - Buy - and - get - a - GO - phone."

I know all of you knew this and weren't going to tell me. I go to Best Buy, the guy at the counter is in on it with all of you...He says, "Of course mam, let me show you, you can buy one as cheap as $20 or they go up to over $100 depending on what you want. And all you do is replace the chip out of the back of your old phone and put it in the new phone. And you're good to go." "Can you do that for me?" "Of course mam, which one do you want?" I picked one that is Jim proof (no outer antenna.) He took the chip out of my old phone, put it in the new phone, got a car charging jack, I paid, and was on my way in less than ten minutes!!! I have no common sense. The Ruffin family is now going to buy all of its cell phones on the cheap rack at Best Buy - I feel like I won the lottery! This is the one I bought. It even has a camera on it.

OK, I just have to tell you two quick stories that reveal my gullibility and naivety and how bad I am in a crisis:

1. Jim and I were driving from Houston to Mansfield back when we were dating (eons ago). It was a Friday night and pretty dark. We were almost to the Livingston, TX, exit. We were passing a van that was in the right lane going slower. When we were almost past it, the driver blinked his lights at us and sped up. We were going over 70 mph or so and since I was in the passenger side, I saw hands in the van making gestures towards the front bottom of our car. I told Jim the driver was telling us that we had something wrong with our car and we should pull over and let him catch up with us. Jim said, "No way Susan." I said the guy was just being a good samaritan, just slow down a little and let him catch up with us.

Well Jim just slowed down a bit, I rolled the window down, the van caught up with us, there were about five guys in there who each looked like Charles Manson....I just started screaming "GO, GO, GO!!!!" Jim floored the Audi and we boogied. Jim hollered at me the rest of the way to Mansfield about idiots being a killers best friend. To this day it is a family joke, even Clif hollers Go, Go, Go at me when I do something addle brained.

2. Last story, I promise. When Clif was 12 or so we were going to a Dixie Baseball Allstar game in North Louisiana where Clif was going to catch. He had lots of gear, being a catcher, and I had lots of gear, being a mom and watcher...purse, tote bag with snacks and magazines and a book, folding chair. Clif played the game; they won which put us all in a great mood. I sent him to the concession stand after the game with mega money that I had taken from my wallet. Well when I put my wallet back, I put it in my tote bag instead of my purse. When we were gathering up all our gear to go home, I checked everything to make sure I had it. Well sure enough I could not find my wallet. No problem Susan, look a little harder. Beads of sweat start to break out on my forehead. Clif's noticing my mild panic. "What's wrong Mom?" I'm a grown woman, I can handle this. "Nothing sweetie, wait just a second." Now Jim has caught on and has a quizzical look on his face. "Susan are you ok?" "Yes, I'm fine, I'm just uh...looking for something." Full panic attack about to break out. I'm thrashing through my purse now looking for the wallet, already anticipating calling credit card companies, re-applying for drivers' license and the like....now full blown panic has stricken my face...just tens of feet away from the crowd, I grab both Jim and Clif and shriek in the loudest WHISPER I can muster, "I'VE BEEN PICK-POCKETED!" Jim just rolls his eyes and walks to the truck, and Clif says, "God Mom, we're in Farmerville, Louisiana, not New York City!" Well, we found my wallet in my tote but I have never, EVER lived that sentence down. It follows me everywhere when Jim or Clif want to goad me. Whether in Baton Rouge, Shreveport or even Mansfield, in their highest falsetto voice will come, "I've been pick-pocketed!"

OK, now it's Sunday evening. This is a flash from Jim Ruffin, the authority on LSU football. Jim has read the paper and listened to and watched all the talk shows, radio and TV. He and Glenn Guilbeau have decided that since Lloyd Carr, Michigan's coach, has officially announced his retirement, the best thing for Les Miles to do for LSU is quit TODAY, yes TODAY...let Bo Pelini coach the team through the post-season and hire Jimbo Fisher as head coach. He's actually waiting for this to happen today. You heard it here first folks. What about the National Championship. Nope, Jim says, Les will not be a part of that. Will someone call Les Miles and tell him?

Ruffinism for the day: “That's the secret to life... replace one worry with another....”-Charlie Brown

Game Day

Jim was so nervous about the LSU game today that this morning he had to take a drive. He drove South on 171 to see how the highway construction is coming. He reports that they are finally starting to blacktop and that the overpass at the railroad tracks is almost finished....but back to being nervous. LSU plays Ole Miss today, and you'd think Jim was a starting tackle right in the middle of things over in Oxford, MS. It's the same way EVERY game day (that's why I'm glad he spends at least 7 game days in Baton Rouge.) It must go back to his football playing days in high school. He used to throw up before every game. Yukkkk!



That may be because Jim and his cousin, Bill Calvert, never quite got over losing the state football championship in 1967 or so. They took it very hard. They come from the day when two-a-days were months long and there was no stopping for water breaks...They both swear that all they got was a half an orange at the end of practice...

They both worship at the altar of Coach Gene Rogers (may he rest in peace.) Coach Rogers made men out of boys...He seemed to take great pleasure in handing out punishment, took no prisoners, felt sorry for no one. And Coach Rogers would deck them if they got out of line, literally deck them. Jim told me a story about once when Bill missed practice or a game or something because he wanted to travel with the band to a tournament or event of some sort. Coach Rogers ended up making Bill run stands or sprints for hours when he got back. Bill would be huffing and puffing out of breath, near death, and Coach Rogers (Jim would imitate him in this gruff voice) was standing there hollering, "HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT HORN NOW CALVERT. TOOT, TOOT, TOOT....KEEP RUNNING." Jim is a masochist, Jim loved Coach Rogers, idolizes him to this day, says you're not gaining or learning anything if it doesn't hurt. So needless to say, the day will be ruined if LSU loses!!!

FAST FORWARD 7 hours and LSU has won, butttttttt nooooooooo, not in our house. Jim and Bill cussed Les Miles up one side and down the other.

Glen Dorsey was cussed out, every defensive player, along with a few offensive players. It does not matter that LSU beat Ole Miss 41-24...that was not enough, it should have been a million to nothing.

I do not know how many times Jim Ruffin threw his LSU hat at the TV but it was on the ground more than it was on his head. God bless LSU.

By the way, I can't wait to email Joe Scarborough on Monday and remind him that UL MONroe beat Alabama!!!!!!!!!! Mr. 4 Million Dollar Nick Saban......

And while I'm submitting pictures, I thought I would share a picture of Jim, Bill, Locke Harris, and David Rothell from their cross dressing days. They all look quite lovely.

Ruffinism for the day: "Football is a game played with arms, legs and shoulders but mostly from the neck up." - Knute Rockne

Cold Snap

I can't remember, but there used to be a thousand shows that I looked forward to watching during the week (or am I getting old?) But now there is only Survivor Thursday and Amazing Race Sunday...well actually I'm a COPS addict but the only new episodes are on Saturday night. And I've been known to watch the Dog Whisperer, Survivor Man and The Deadliest Catch, which pits fishermen against each other off the coast of Alaska.

And actually, it does not matter now that the writers' strike is on, nobody is watching anything. I take this moment to advertise the Home and Garden Channel (HGTV) which has my attention every night at 9:00 for House Hunters. I also watch Divine Design and Design on a Dime along with My House is Worth What? And TCM is also a favorite. Do the television shows you watch say a lot about a person? I think I'd hate to be analyzed on my selections...I would rather watch reruns of COPS than Grey's Anatomy...I know most of you are groaning right now. On to a discovery...

I have to tell you about a place I found out about today...Rim of the World High School. Have your ever heard of it? It is actually a high school high up in the mountains. Do people live on top of this mountain or do the school buses trot up and down the mountain each day. I would have been a straight A student had I enjoyed the privilege of attending. This place if fantastic, please Jesus, send me there in my next childhood...

Can you believe that view?!!!

It's in Lake Arrowhead, California. I don't think I could ever take this school for granted. The view is from heaven. I could have moved to Lake Arrowhead. And what about teaching here, you could get to spend the rest of your life taking in that vista!!

Clif called this morning to say that he got a B on his Sociology mid-term. A shout out to him...However, this is hell week..at the fraternity and he has told me of a few of the "public" hilarities that this upperclassman class has pulled on the pledges. They sent those poor pledges on journeys to UT and UA, respectively, for souvenirs. And they sent the poor boys who forgot something, back to Texas to pick up the something they forgot.

And my child, my sweet child actually went out at 2:00 a.m in the morning and bought deer corn, spread it throughout the frat house and woke the pledges up to clean the house at 3:00 a.m.

The swearing in ceremony is this weekend sometime and Clif will be home next Tuesday night. I can't wait. I want to enjoy every moment with him. We're going to Jean's for Thanksgiving and I will certainly be thankful for the one dish I have to make.

Ruffinism for the day: Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home. - Bill Cosby

Reality Wednesday

OK, the 25th anniversary is all over now...Jim drove in third gear 25 miles to Natchitoches last night and yet we don't have a standard truck. Why one puts an automatic truck in third gear, I don't know. It is in the shop today because it was overheating all the way home last night. And had we broken down on I-49, we could not have called Nash to come tow us because Jim dropped my cell phone last weekend in Baton Rouge and broke the antenna off, rendering it inoperable...however, had I wanted to play a video game when we broke down, that would be easy...The food at the restaurant was delish and we had a very good time. It was a relaxing night and we stuffed ourselves. And it was nice to spend money on us for a change. The Mariner is my favorite restaurant, their Tilapia Mornay and marinated crab claws are to die for. The place is right outside Natchitoches on beautiful Lake Sibley.




I need some extra income for Christmas...and for Clif's expired inspection sticker ticket (can you believe it costs $157!!!!)...and for the state taxes I have still not paid this year ($715)...and for Christmas presents, so I am looking to earn some extra money. I have absolutely laughed over the many possibilities:


Sell it! $1,000.00! Actually, Jean has the answer, now that poll workers are being paid better. However, I still think big money can be made by taking surveys online. Jean suggested baking cookies, perhaps we could sell them outside of Big Star grocery store on Saturday mornings like everyone else in De Soto Parish hawking their wares, would be kind of crowded but...she also suggested wrapping presents, and believe me, Jim Ruffin would be our best client.

And outside kidney donation, wrapping presents, personal shopping, or blog advertising, we're going to have to find something that will pay the rising price of gas, the escalating price of groceries, utility hikes, insurance premium increases, and college tuition boosts.

Did you need a leg, sir?

Ruffinism for the day: “If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.” W. C. Fields quote

Silver is Gold

November 13, 1982...25 years is a long time. The first time I saw Jim Ruffin, he had returned from the "Cadillac" crew in the Sahara Desert, Libya, via Benghazi, via Valetta, Malta, where he had an apartment. It was around September/October, 1981. We both worked for Western Geophysical, he was a Field Supervisor and worked overseas, and I was Secretary to the Vice President, Eastern Hemisphere Land Operations in Houston, Texas. He was based wherever they told him to go, I was a secretary, who typed on an IBM Electronic Selectric (the Mercedes of machines-hoo, ha), state of the art typewriter that had two lines of memory. And because I also worked for Dr. Pharr, chief Geologist for the ARAMCO project in Saudi Arabia, I had a "word processor" (read earlyyyyyyyyyy computer) - WANG - that was connected to the GREAT COMPUTER on the third floor of Western Geophysical. Our worlds were so very far apart and yet they collided. We went out to lunch with friends, and to make a long story short, we dated.



We got engaged in Acapulco, Mexico in the summer of 1982 and were married at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church on November 13, 1982. Oh my god, I have so many memories today. This man that I love very much used to SCOUT out places to take me to dinner, or plays, or events. When we dated, he would go visit the place he was going to take me to make sure that it was a nice place, to peruse the menu and to make sure he knew how to get there. And in turn, I would change clothes fifty times before our date to make a mess.




He bought me a dog, Scooter (Yorkshire Terrier), to keep me company when he was in Turkey, I broke my ankle the first time I walked Scooter.


Our wedding was a fairy tale, our honeymoon not so much - a hilarious story 25 years later (the cruise from hell.)






We've had our tough times, him getting laid off from Western Geophysical in 1986, most importantly, Clif's premature birth on February 25, 1987 (as you can see Mr. Premature is alive and well at the Phi Kappa Psi house in Baton Rouge, Louisiana), the stock market crash on Black Tuesday, 1987, when we lost everything, the subsequent move from our condo in the snow from Houston to back breaking work for Jim in Marshall, Texas, on a well service crew, and finally the resolution of coming to his hometown to accept a job so much below what he is capable of (he's one of the best managers I have ever met), as Public Works Superintendent for the City of Mansfield.



In between, we have enjoyed and loved Clif, hiked, camped, had a ball, frozen to death, traveled, cried, laughed, boated - our favorite, taken care of one another (mostly him of me), hollered, debated, fought, fought again, taught, studied, prayed and loved. It is such a very tenuous hard journey and not for the faint of heart. Not a lot of people make it this far. As I write this he is snoring in his chair rigft behind me LOUDER than I can think.



And Jim Ruffin is the only person in my life that has been in my corner 100% of the time in the last 25 years. He loses his temper, he has claws for hands (he can't handle anything without dropping it), he's impatient, he's loud, he can't fix anything, he's not handy. But he would give me the shirt off of his back, and has; he would walk through fire for me, and has; and he loves me very much. I'm kind of partial to him too. We're a good match, he deserves me, I deserve him.


We're going to the Mariner in Natchitoches tonight for dinner, I'm looking forward to a political debate, he will quote me LSU statistics - Happy 25th Anniversary to us...


Here's to the next 25.


Ruffinism for the day: The entire sum of existence is the magic of being needed by just one person. - Vi Putnam