So the Last Will Be First, and the First Last

I was reminded of this passage from the Gospel of Matthew while composing a title for my last post. As the third and last child of Marion and Tom Walker, all my life I have been the last in everything. I'm always the last to get the phone call wishing me Merry Christmas, last to receive good news, and last to receive bad news.

Since I was elected to help my mother buy a new cell phone last week, I seized the opportunity to be first for a change. Mother's new flip phone had three speed dial buttons on it, and when the clerk said he would program it for her, I told him to make me number 1, Tommy number 2, and Kathy number 3. I secretly thought to myself, "Kathy will just have to learn to be last!"

Two days later my phone rang. "Margie, I didn't mean to call you. I was trying to call Kathy. I forgot you were number 1. I was going to tell her about my visit to Dr. Hester, but I'll just tell you instead." She then proceeded to spend 15 minutes giving me every minor detail. It could have been told in 1 minute.

So Mandy, Ben, and Wes, let this be a lesson. Being last is not always a bad thing! Now if I can just figure out how to reprogram Mema's phone!

Emma, Brady, and Noah

It was a red-letter day in the Duncan household yesterday. After 5 months and a week, we finally got all the grandchildren together in one place at the same time. To commemorate the occasion, we attempted to get a good photo of all of them together. I'll let you be the judge as to how successful we were.

We thought, too, that it would be fun to get a photo of the grands with the moms and one with our kids and their kids.

We tried the greats with us, and surprisingly, one of them was decent!

And finally we wanted one with all of us. Matt's friend Tim Coon, or Uncle Coon to the grands, took these photos for us.

MORE BIRDS

Birds seem to love my back yard. The latest, though is not in the yard, but nesting on top one of my outdoor speakers on the back porch. Yesterday I noticed a pigeon perched on the fan with a twig in his mouth. He flew to the speaker where he deposited the twig in the nest he was building for his lover bird. She's still perched on the nest today awaiting the arrival of the baby birds.

So, Mandy, be forwarned when you come over. We're soon going to have baby pigeons. Want me to save one for you?

Road Signs

One of my favorite pasttimes while on the road is to read various signs, whether they be on official highway signs, bumper stickers, or handdone in someone's yard. I've noticed some of my favorites while on the road to and from Destin.

In the middle of Nowhere Mississippi stands one of my favorites. It's a county line sign that my friend June Owens and I are convinced makes her the official owner of that county. All of June's friends and family know that she considers herself the Queen, and she expects others to treat her accordingly. And although I'm sure the good people of Mississippi pronounce Issaquena County "Is A Kwen A", June and I pronounce it "Eyes A Queen A." June likes it so much that I had a replica made for her for Christmas one year. It proudly hangs on her back porch.

Last summer I came upon a handwritten sign in the middle of a Junkyard in Alabama. The sign read, "Pre-depression Sale." Well the looks of that yard full of junk was enough to depress anyone!

My favorite was attached to a bumper sticker on an old delapidated truck in front of me at the McDonald's drive-through in Niceville at 6:00 a.m. on my way back home. I think it speaks for itself.

The New Chicken Coop

Alan and I went to Destin via Washington D.C. last week to check up on the progress of the Chicken Coop II (the new condo). It's coming right along! Melissa asked me to post some pictures on my blog. They are a tad blurry. I think I've set some button on my camera that's messing up my pictures. If I can ever slow down long enough, I'll try to fix that. For now, blurry will have to do.

June and I are going back down there next Saturday to decorate, so hopefully I'll get some better pictures then. For now, here's the master bath, kid's bath, and kitchen, and the view.

FOR THE BIRDS

I came home a few days ago to find a Blue Heron standing in the middle of the pond. I didn't know what to do, because I know they will eat koi, and eventhough I bought 11 this last time thinking half of them would bite the dust (not a single one died at a young age), I don't want them to go this way. I did the only thing I could think of--opened the door and hollered for it to go away. It went away allright. Two minutes later it was back again. My neighbors surely wondered what the heck was going on when I'd go out every two or three minutes and holler, "Get out of here and leave my fish alone!"

After I had done this about 10 times, the stupid bird finally left and didn't come back. He didn't show up the next day, so I was feeling pretty good about things. I didn't know if he had eaten all my fish since they hide in the leaves, but he was gone.

WRONG! Yesterday morning he showed up again. I was in panic mode, so after wearing myself out trying to run him off, I decided to go to Good Earth Nursery to see if they had a fake heron. I had read that they won't come around if they think another bird has claimed that territory. The only fake heron Good Earth had was an $876 stone one.

I called Chris Olsen who landscaped my yard, and he said to go to Home Depot and buy some netting to put over the pond. The heron would eventually get tired of not being able to get to the fish. Great idea, except this particular heron was standing in my pond at 7:00 this morning with a 6" koi in it's mouth. It was frustrated allright! He couldn't get the fish out of the pond to fly off with it, so he just stood there and bit chunks out of its side. I kept running the damn bird off til I had to leave at 9:30. In an effort to save the poor fish, I put the hard plastic lid from the pond pump over the edge of the pond so it could hide. It's sort of limping along and still barely breathing, but it won't come out from under the lid. Do you blame it?

Today I ordered a $20 plastic heron online. Who knows how long it will take to get here, but I guess until it does I'll be spending my mornings running off the heron. And it remains to be seen if it works. I have no idea if any of the other 10 fish are still alive or if the heron ate them before I discovered he was there. Stay tuned to see who wins the battle--me or the heron.

Another Beautiful Destin Day

I'm back in Destin, and although it's too cold to sit out on the beach, it's still beautiful. What's not to love about sunshine and the Gulf of Mexico?

This is another "work on the new condo" trip. I forgot to bring the cord for my camera with me to download photos onto this computer, so you'll just have to wait 'til I get back to see pictures. I'm happy to say, though, that most of the tile is down and the walls are painted, so we're making progress.

Thanks to my sister, Kathy, the paint color is wonderful. Being a builder, she knows what will look good. And I went to Norwalk yesterday to eyeball the new furniture that has come in. It's great! Mama Dot is with me this trip, and she's already ready to fight Alan and the boys for the swivel, glider, rocker, recliner that they, too, have claimed as their chair.

Coming down here with DL is quite different than coming with Mema. Don't get me wrong, I love bringing Mother down here. Let's just say, though, that she's not as independent as DL. I should be able to post some Mama Dot Moments when I get back.

I'm off to look at patio furniture and dining room table and chairs today. Also, I need to buy mattress and box springs for the queen bed in the "kid's room."

I'll update you later.

Beach Bums

It's official--Emma is a beach bum, and she hasn't even made it there yet! Melissa told me last night that she loves the sound of the ocean hitting the shore on her sound machine so much that they went out and bought a new sound machine that stays on all the time. (The other one stopped after a short while.) It seems that the ocean sound will instantly calm her down. YES!! She is definitely kin to me.

We already knew Noah loved the beach. After his trip to Destin this fall, there was no doubt about it. We now have to get Brady there so all our grandchildren will be beach lovers.