Look to this day and see all things anew, it's hours are precious...forever passing you... Catharine Plumb..

As another year is passing by so swiftly, I find it a good time to reflect on what it has held for me. My goodness, where has 2009 went? I find my days to be busier than ever and there are just not enough hours in the day to get everything done.
I am a mental list maker, always deciding what needs to be done on which day, while checking my schedule. In the early days of marriage it was so easy to get it all done. Then the children came along and it was a challenge, along with trips to the park, swimming pool, and little league games, to get all my chores completed, while cooking "three squares" a day, with an occasional batch of cookies and a cake thrown in here or there. After being home full-time for about six years, I decided to start working part-time (mornings only) at the Radio Station. The children adjusted well to the new schedule and were more than happy to get out into the world, with others, and spend some time away from their mother. These were pre-computer days, of course, and many an afternoon I would drag the old typewriter home and spend it at the dining room table, typing station logs, bills, and other assorted paper-work, while daughter napped and son was in school full-time.
On days when there was illness, that required "Mom" to be home, "Dad" would come home at noon and stay with the sick child while I went to the station to work. This schedule worked out great as the kids grew older, allowing me to be home in the afternoons when they came home from school. My children very rarely came home to an empty house through the years, and for that, we were most fortunate. Some days were a challenge to get it all done, but I managed.
Then the really busy years began, you know, the PTA, brownies, tiger-cubs, Sunday school, soccer, little league, MYF, basketball, football, cheer leading, dance team, dances, dates, proms, homecomings, graduations, college, engagements, showers, weddings, and "the icing on the cake", a grandchild. Sometimes it all seems like one, big blur.
Two years ago, October 9th, to be exact, little Jack was born about 2 months early, weighing Two pounds, fifteen ounces, spent seven weeks in the hospital, no problems, thank the good lord above, and came home from the hospital weighing over six pounds. He has spent the last two years growing at break-neck speed and is like any other rowdy, into everything, busy, two-year old. It was decided by all that it would be best if "grandma" did the babysitting for him when his mother went back to work, as being a preemie meant that germs and illness would be an especially, big challenge for his immune system.
When he was just a wee little one, he would sit in his little seat by my desk while I worked. I thought to myself, this is going to be a "piece of cake". I jumped into taking care of a baby with no problems and it seemed "old hat" to me. Little did I know the surprise waiting for me and would be coming sooner than I thought. The mind has a wonderful thing it does for you, as it lets you forget all the "hard stuff" and remember only the good. My children were easy and the days were wonderful, in my mind, then reality set in, this small child became mobile very quickly, soon sitting in the chair by my desk didn't work out anymore, he wanted out, to be down on the floor crawling, getting into everything, crying, so being at the station didn't work out so well anymore. I have since found out that being 24 and 27 and raising children was sooo much easier than being 53, by the end of each day and each week, I was absolutely exhausted!
Then last January, this small child started walking and running soon followed! I then decided this "grandma" was going to have to make some changes and fast! I went on an exercise and healthy eating plan to get my energy level up, up, up, because I knew summer was going to be here fast and summer meant Jack would be out of doors running and this grandma had to keep up. Minus thirty seven pounds, I have had a very busy summer, running after him mainly. I have learned what the old saying, "love to see my grandchild come, love to see him go" means, and boy, is it ever true!
I can see one thing I have acquired through my age, and that is "patience". We spend our time together, taking long walks in the stroller, looking at books, when I can get him to sit still long enough, rocking in the rocking chair, when I can get him to sit still long enough. I adore my grandchild and I think he likes me alot, too. Seeing that little face so excited when I come over to his house at the front door, is worth a million bucks! But, when his "Paw Paw" comes in the door, I am "chopped liver", I can't hold a candle to "Paw Paw".
We both hope our days will slow down a bit, work can be put aside, and aside it is put, these days, there is dusty furniture, dirty windows, weeds outside, our yard has never looked worse, all fertilizers and weed killers have been banished because of "Jack" playing in the yard. We will not take chances with that. He is our first priority when he is with us. So in closing I would like to say that with age comes wisdom, we cannot "slow down" the clock, but we can choose to spend our time enjoying and playing with our precious grandson, because we know just how fast this time will go, and chores will always be there waiting for us, while our grandson will continue to grow and grow, much, much too fast!

Bright Autumn brings us dreams come true and hearts know sweet content..-Ruth B. Field

There is nothing that delights the senses quite like a crisp, sunny, and cool morning that emerges into a warm, breezy, fall afternoon then back again to a brisk, invigorating evening. Mid September to late October is truly my favorite time of the year. As the days grow shorter, there is almost a frenzy to spend as much time outdoors as one possibly can. We all know these days will be fleeting and over much too soon, as fall swiftly lends itself to winter. It is nearly impossible to describe the giddiness one feels in the fall at a Friday night football game, a wiener roast, a camp-out, or as one sits by a glowing fire pit while listening to a football game on the radio. From the bottom of a drawer or from the back of a closet, a favorite, comfortable, well-worn, hooded sweatshirt in your old school colors is pulled out and proudly worn along with a pair of faded jeans, topped off with your old sneakers. What more could one person ask for? You've waited all summer for this, dreamed of it, this season you love so much. Planters outside your home that had been filled with red geraniums and white impatiens, have since been replaced with gold, white, and burnt-orange mums. Flags of summer have given way to flags adorned with fall leaves of all shapes and colors, along with the sugar maples, red maples, pin oaks, crimson king maples, and locust trees out in your yard. The squirrels out in these same trees are busy hunting and storing food for the winter, with a little play mixed in. The night sounds with crickets, tree frogs, owls, the occasional coyote pack and dogs barking off in the distance. Going for an early morning or late evening walk through the crunching leaves, while visiting the stars and the beautiful harvest moon overhead, is something everyone should take the time to explore. The peacefulness and quiet is like a meditation for ones' soul. When our family was much younger, we enjoyed fall camping so very much. Our children flourished in the great outdoors without telephones, television, and video games. Taking walks, fishing, or sitting by the campfire and just doing nothing, but talking, while staring into it, was more than enough to fill the time. Those were cherished family times and I look forward to taking our grandson, when he gets a little older. Growing up on the farm as a child, the fall harvest was an especially exciting time. Pulling up to our farm in the big, yellow school bus and seeing our father and grandfather out in the fields, with the combine and wagons, meant that homework could be put off till later and we could join them to ride home in the wagons full of corn and beans. We would usually get scolded for dumping the crops on the ground while diving into them from the sides of the wagon. Oh what fun! Even now, after some 37 years as a "city girl", I still feel a certain wistfulness as I look out into a field with the harvest in progress and fondly remember those days. High school Homecoming with it's floats, parade, snake-dance, bonfire, football game and big Homecoming Dance was my favorite time of year, at school. I met my husband-to-be this time of year and we had our first date, subsequently, got married five years later, almost to the day. Yes, we had a beautiful September 27th wedding, exactly 35 years ago and there was a home football game that evening, too. Five years later we had our first child, a son, born in early November and four years later, a daughter born in early September. Imagine to our surprise and delight, smack dab in the middle of it all, two years ago, on October 9th, our little grandson was born. So you see, the fall holds a very special place in my heart and always will. You will blink and it will be gone, this fall of 2009, so get out and enjoy the splendor, the sights, the sounds, and the smells of fall.

Welcome to my new blog here on the WGCY Radio Station Website. My husband and General Manager, Gary McCullough and I, his wife and Office Manager/Girl Friday, Debra McCullough put our heads together and came up with the idea for a new blog written from a woman's perspective. When discussing what the subject matter would include, I, of course reminded my husband that I would have to be totally honest, forthcoming, and that I have always been truth full, oftentimes to a fault. Having always been an avid reader, especially newspaper columns written by women dealing with everyday issues and always wanting to take a shot at writing, this will be the perfect forum to attempt this feat. I would certainly welcome any feed-back by way of the comment section at the end of this blog. When considering topics for consideration, a long list of interesting thoughts crept into my brain. As a working wife, mother, grandmother, and daughter there is a long, laundry list of areas to explore and I will attempt that here. My first attempt will be about the frustrations of broken down contraptions around the home and how they always seems to go haywire in multiples and at the same time. To my way of thinking, the least favorite outdoor machine would be the lawn-mower. 2009 will go down in history at the McCullough household as the summer of lawn-mower adventures. Our self-propelled mower of seven years decided at the start of the summer that it didn't want to be self-propelled any longer, so off to the "repair shop" it went and later we were informed of it's demise. We cried at it's death, as this was probably our favorite lawn-mower in our almost 35 years of marriage, it always started right up, without much pulling of the cord and it was remarkably quiet, compared to other mowers. We then decided to borrow our son's self-propelled mower sitting idly in his garage. This mower had a mind of it's own and needed a tune-up, so back to the "repair shop" we went with mower in tow. It soon arrived home and was happily munching the grass in our yard. So, last Saturday I decided to surprise husband and have the yard mowed when he returned from his morning sports program, "Speaking of Sports".

The lawn mower started right up without too much yanking of the cord, we happily started through the yard, when I noticed that I was doing all of the work, the mower was not doing it's self-propelling thing at all! Forty-five minutes and much exertion and perspiration later, said mower choked on a thick patch of grass, promptly stopped and refused to start back up. Hubby arrived a few minutes later, got the mower started and a few passes later, the wheel fell off! While trying to get the wheel back on, husband got his hand too close to some part that was hot and burned his hand rather badly. I took him inside for first-aid and then went out to finish pushing this mower through the yard. Whew! Can any sane person explain to me how man can invent the cell phone, computers, GPS systems in vehicles that can talk to you and tell you just how lost you really are, but cannot invent a lawn mower that runs properly and starts without your having to pull your arm out of it's socket? I am convinced that women and lawn mowers are not compatible in any way, shape or form. If they were meant for us, they would be made in fashionable colors like fushsia and would play music when they start with a push-button, have a tray for your drink and a large umbrella over-head to keep you cool and out of the sun while listening to the built-in radio with head-phones. Now that would be a lawn-mower a woman could love! That was last Saturday, this Sunday my washing machine just let out a large banging noise and stopped while loaded down with a large load of towells. So you know what I am going to spend the next 30 minutes doing, wringing out the water before I put them in the dryer that will probably stop next. Don't you think the title for my blog is catchy and totally appropriate? Join me now and then for "Just Another Day in Paradise".