Bragg Family South

Unlike our last attempt to get Kenny to a T-ball game, last night was a beautiful night for a game. The field was still wet from the heavy soaking that had fallen during the previous week, but it was not a problem for the young T-ball team (they have enough issues just trying to figure the game out). First things first, though--picture day! Here's Kenny hamming it up for me--he had just posed for a picture for the professional photographer... Something I'm still getting used to is how many people make a living selling pictures to family members--just about any activity comes with formal poses, and they've taken his picture at least 3 times at school. Each time comes with a sales pitch to buy more. And then there's the pressure to buy an add in the local paper to publish the picture of your lil' slugger or ballerina or whatever. We're resisting as much as we can... Here's Kenny posing with his team: and Kenny playing second base: Sorry about the Yankee's ...

On Sunday, we went over to the going-away party for some friends of ours. Jeff Earl had been one of the first people we befriended when we moved to Monticello, and he seemed an almost permanent part of UAM and Monticello. Jeff's taken a new job in Texas, and will be leaving shortly. When we first arrived, there were some faculty, faculty kids, and grad students batting softballs around. Kenny was eager to join in, so they let him swing the bat at a few pitches. Kenny did remarkably well--he seemed better coordinated with a pitch than he does with the tee in T-ball. Kenny actually faired better with batting than he did just goofing around with a ball after dinner--more on that later. Today, Kenny was all excited because it was his first day of T-ball. However, as is typical in the South, the humidity was up, and the atmosphere was not too stable. Hope and I watched the skies and the radar during this afternoon, and sure enough, about 4:30 p.m. the clouds opened up. Kenny's game...

After a few days of cloudy, cool weather here in south Arkansas, the weather forecast finally called for a picnic-friendly weekend. So, we hopped in the van late this Saturday morning and drove over to Arkansas Post National Memorial. This small park is about an hour northeast of Monticello, and we've taken some of y'all here for a visit--it is the site of some of the earliest permanent European settlement in Arkansas, was controlled by the French, Spanish, British, and Americans, saw a brief skirmish during the American Revolution and a larger Civil War battle before fading into history (check out the National Park Service's website on Arkansas Post: http://www.nps.gov/arpo/ ). Today they were hosting some memorial service for veterans of foreign wars and some Revolutionary War-era reenactors, so we figured we'd take the kids out on a bit of a history lesson. We joined scores of others at this year's event just in time to see the end of the memorial ceremony (just ...

Leila says hi! Let me apologize in advance for these pictures--I took them with the camera on my cell phone, and they're somewhat out of focus... I returned last Thursday from my most recent trip up north. This was primarily a business trip, with a good dose of Bragg Family North thrown in... I had a meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, and another in West Lafayette, Indiana, to attend during this week. So, I flew to Madison and stayed with my sister Laurie and her husband Mark. After an uneventful plane ride, I arrived Friday evening. I went to Morel's to wait for Laurie to finish work that evening, and we chatted for a little while before turning in. We had to get a good night's sleep, because we were traveling to sister Lisa's home the next day (about 3 hours away) to visit her and her VERY recently expanded brood. Leila's t-shirt is courtesy of Lulu, of course! Anyhow, brother John joined us Saturday morning, and we drove to Lisa and Jon's home in Colfax...

As I indicated in our last blog entry, our beloved cat Mooch is no longer with us. When we returned from our last northern trip, we noticed that Mooch was almost constantly meowing and yowling, like she was suffering. We had suspected for a while that she was seriously ill--she had lost a lot of weight, would get sick on the floor, wasn't eating well but was drinking a lot, and was far more vocal than she'd ever been. Hope took her to the vet on Wednesday, and the vet confirmed our worst suspicions--Mooch had all the signs of kidney failure, and given her age and weakness, there was nothing we could do except have her suffering end. So, the vet put her down, and we buried her that afternoon after Kenny had come home from school. Needless to say, Hope and the kids were very upset (and even stern ol ' Don got choked up a couple times), but Mooch is at peace, and we're moving on. We had at least a decade of good years with Mooch (we got her as a fully grown cat while we w...

We just returned from our latest trip up north. Kenny was on spring break, and I had some training for work in Columbus, Ohio, so we figured we'd take advantage of the opportunity to sneak in a quick family visit. That, and pick up a new TV (thanks again, Kev!). So, after our quick but enjoyable visit from Mom and Dad Bragg, we joined them driving eastward to Houston, Mississippi, where we got in a quick visit with old family friend Bonnie Vance. We left Mom and Dad with Mrs. Vance, and then continued northward on the Natchez Trace into Tennessee. Along the way, we stopped at a few scenic spots, including this waterfall that Kenny and Beth were able to walk behind: Late that evening, we met up with Rick and Ann Pruden to continue the early grandparent theme to this trip. We met them in Bardstown, Kentucky, and stayed at the same hotel. The next day (Sunday), we traveled together for a while into Ohio, stopping at some Indian mound sites along the way. This picture shows Kenny stand...

Mom and Dad arrived in Monticello yesterday about noon. They've been having a good trip so far, with no problems to report. Had a beautiful, sunny, mid-70s afternoon yesterday here in Monticello, and looks like today will be nice as well.