Editor's Note: These entries are from a friend of mine from High School, who is one of the most intereting people I have ever had the pleasure to know.

I've told him he should publish them, but since he hasn't, I thought I'd share them with you.  Donnie has a twin named Ronnie, and his wife is Lottie. His mother Catherine and his father, Bill, have one older son, Jimmy. He'll acquaint you with all the rest.

 April 6, 2002    

Hi folks,
      Yesterday, I went to Fort Rucker and had three classes on early aviation history, aeronautic engineering, and pilot training.  It was given by Army historians on the Wright Brothers third plane, the first the Army purchased.  I learned a lot fast, but they frowned big when I call it a "crash course."
      I am going to fly in such a plane to model as Orville Wright flying in the "B Flyer," for a painting commissioned by the state of Ohio.  I was photographed repeatedly in costume for two hours with the plane, by the plane, on the plane, with the hat, without the coat, without the hat, hands on the stick or waving "Hi."  Now that I have seen the plane, and read the manuals, I'm TERRIFIED!
      I produced a Pilot Town exhibit for the Gulf Shores museum with pieces of dishes and pottery (and coins & jewelry) that Lottie and I picked up on the beach.  The items have such a strong feel, like Titanic stuff.  The Gulf Shores director who has really been working on the subject, was choked with emotion when she saw my exhibit.  She also heard me give a tour for the Birmingham Ladies Club group, got mad at herself and said "I cant do that!"
      I have a shop in Fairhope that is selling my tea, hot, by the cup.  I sell it to him for $25 @ pound, which is good.  He served it unlabeled for several weeks and said it was a big success.  He is so super-bubbly nice when I bring him tea, and would buy all the tea I'd sell him.  It's the same tea I gave John Ponder.
      I was in an 1812 surrender of Fort Conde reenactment last Sat.  It was the first reenactment I had been to in over a year.  I enjoyed talking to the crowd.  I instructed a young man how to hold, carry, and ready his toy rifle when his Mom said "Thanks a lot, you've changed his life, I can see it in his eyes, and he's gonna talk about this for two weeks!"  It was rather fun, although I have not missed them.  I am going to Blakeley for a Conf. demo this Sat.
      Ronnie has been over helping Mom and Dad in the yard on the weekends cutting and pruning.  They have lots to do.  I am going to help plant caladiums and cement a hole in their drive way soon.
      Just thought I send out a note and say Hi to everyone.
                                                                              Donnie

 

May 09, 2002

Hi folks,
      Yesterday, I went to Fort Rucker and had three classes on early aviation history, aeronautic engineering, and pilot training.  It was given by Army historians on the Wright Brothers third plane, the first the Army purchased.  I learned a lot fast, but they frowned big when I call it a "crash course."
      I am going to fly in such a plane to model as Orville Wright flying in the "B Flyer," for a painting commissioned by the state of Ohio.  I was photographed repeatedly in costume for two hours with the plane, by the plane, on the plane, with the hat, without the coat, without the hat, hands on the stick or waving "Hi."  Now that I have seen the plane, and read the manuals, I'm TERRIFIED!
      I produced a Pilot Town exhibit for the Gulf Shores museum with pieces of dishes and pottery (and coins & jewelry) that Lottie and I picked up on the beach.  The items have such a strong feel, like Titanic stuff.  The Gulf Shores director who has really been working on the subject, was choked with emotion when she saw my exhibit.  She also heard me give a tour for the Birmingham Ladies Club group, got mad at herself and said "I cant do that!"
      I have a shop in Fairhope that is selling my tea, hot, by the cup.  I sell it to him for $25 @ pound, which is good.  He served it unlabeled for several weeks and said it was a big success.  He is so super-bubbly nice when I bring him tea, and would buy all the tea I'd sell him.  It's the same tea I gave John Ponder.
      I was in an 1812 surrender of Fort Conde reenactment last Sat.  It was the first reenactment I had been to in over a year.  I enjoyed talking to the crowd.  I instructed a young man how to hold, carry, and ready his toy rifle when his Mom said "Thanks a lot, you've changed his life, I can see it in his eyes, and he's gonna talk about this for two weeks!"  It was rather fun, although I have not missed them.  I am going to Blakeley for a Conf. demo this Sat.
      Ronnie has been over helping Mom and Dad in the yard on the weekends cutting and pruning.  They have lots to do.  I am going to help plant caladiums and cement a hole in their drive way soon.
      Just thought I send out a note and say Hi to everyone.
                                                                              Donnie

 

 

November 4, 2002

 

Hi everyone,
       Well, we had to get our computer fixed again.  We got a new one then caught a boot-up viruses which shut it all down.  I lost all my programs and new files.  I am just getting them all back into place.
       Did you hear about the song Clarice was singing to Linda last week.  It was a cute little ditty about "there aint no fleas on me."  It was real cute!  She sent it to Catherine in an email.
       Ronnie made this giant birthday cake for the city of Mobile's 300th birthday party with 3 foot candles and roses on the side several feet across.  He was on TV (once in a down pour) and in the papers a couple times with it.  They sang happy birthday then shot the city's largest fireworks display which rumbled our house last night.
       I went over to help Catherine with a floppy disc problem this afternoon.  Seems she could not get her pictures to come up.  She was doing everything right, just had one bad floppy disc.  We turned it into a lesson on folders and files.  She does all this really well!
       Bill has again ordered 100 pounds of pecans, cracked.  I do not know if he can see well enough to pick them out, but we shall see.
       Today we let a squirrel out of the raccoon trap to see if Wiener would chase it.  She did.  She is a pretty cat, and great company.
       Last week my friends and I did the tableau for the International Carnival Assoc. and it reminded me of the many Civil War dances we used to do.  I had forgotten how much fun those dances were.  I also did the Fairhope Founders Day speech over the bluff with an orchestra for a back drop.  I have been wearing my 1910 suite a lot lately.
       We have started planting tea plants for this winter.  The rows in the field are long and hard work.  We are also clearing under the Oak trees to plant a tea garden, or tea maze.  It sorta looks like the patterns a UFO makes in the wheat fields, laid out with hedges of tea.  Don't come to see it yet, it will take a few years to plant and grow up.
       We had a great Halloween.  That is Lottie's families favorite holiday.  We celebrated for weeks, even exchanged cards and gifts.  I have been riding a bicycle up and down our roads a lot lately.  I have been selling tea regularly, making good milk& egg money.  I am putting together several displays at the Museum, and shot an 'opossum eating pigeons this morning.  Its a simple life, really.
       Just thought I'd try out this new AOL account and say HI!
                                                Donnie

 

November 24, 2002

Hi All,
       I had to work yesterday (Sat.) organizing files at work.  I got home in time to plant tea before dark, then came inside to watch Auburn make Alabama look like school girls.  I mixed some bourbon & water and cheered like a sideline jock at the first football game I have watched in fifteen years, if not longer.
       Last Saturday we dug again at the Fairhope Yacht Club on the 1830's pottery site.  We dug through a waster pile which yield thousands of large shards, kiln furniture, and tools.  We found interesting designs and features completely rewriting history of the first French potter on Mobile Bay.  It gave me a chance to compare handle, spout and marking designs with examples in our museum.
       We take more Orville Wright pictures this Tue.  The painter and photographers have build a large model of the Wright Bros Flyer "B." I sat in the ice-cream parlor like seats last week, high off the floor, in 35 mph wind (fan).  The artist is doing increadiable research.  We are going back up in the plane after this first sitting "to get the clothes blowing just right."  I am learning more about them than I'll ever find useful.  Today I shaved off my sideburns and put some black in my mustache.  Us Glasgow relatives have near white mustache genes.
       Lottie's Mom, Agnes, had a wreck when her car hit a telephone pole last week.  She thought someone ran out in front of her; she doesn't see well.  It hurt her knees worst of all, which already were getting bad.  She missed our usual SURVIVOR party last Thurs.
       Ronnie has been uncomfortable after last weeks hernia operation.  He said he thought "no way am I going to lay around for a week," but found it easy to do so.  He is up and going, but lifts nothing.  He got up on a ladder and cut Camellias for the Camila Ball this Thurs.  We cut a truck load of greenery from my house and Bill & Catherine's.  We are going cut more flowers tomorrow and Catherine is going to drive them over Tues.  Bill is wanting to go to Sears, anyway.
       I had a tea tour bus drive up last Wednesday.  It was raining so I served them tea on the bus with crackers and cookies.  They were highly entertained.  It worked fine as they bought all the tea I had ground and packaged.
       Our Satsumas are so pretty I don't want to pick them.  It happens every year when they grow bright orange clusters like big grapes.  I cut Ronnie a bag today.  Bill gave us both 25lbs of cracked Elliot pecans today, which is a lot of pickin'
       I wanted to go see "Caberet" this week, but Lottie protest the tickets too high ($80).  She said she will get Jeff to bring over his Liza version.  We'll make popcorn... ($2).
       Thanksgiving this week officially opens the Christmas Crush.  Have fun!

Donnie

 

 

 

January 1, 2003

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL,
       Last night we were to attend our annual Jones First Night (where Agnes, Jeff, Lottie and I watch TV and eat sweets), but I had an ear ache so we went home early.  I think Jeff opened the champaigne himself.  We watched the ball drop at 11, then went to bed.  I think all I drank was Niquel.
       We had quite a Christmas display at Bill and Catherine's to go with a very nice Christmas.  Off the cuff Bill said he wanted me to "put up every thing we ever made" which I took as a challenge.  It took two weeks to get it all up but we were the talk of the town.  The Styrofoam  toys out front got blown to pieces in a storm and some of the gingerbread men took a dive but it looked very decorative.  Hannah, Claudia, and Jimmy took them down, and today Ronnie was taking down their 16' tree.  I liked it all so much, I will probably put it all back up again next year.  Years go by fast.  Last night Catherine said now years "are about a month long."
       Lottie bought me a half gallon of oysters for New Years.  They are sooo good. I have almost eaten them all. In years past she has been buying them fresh off the boats in a burlap bag in the shell.  They are hard to open if you have a bunch and I have gotten seafood sick on them twice.  So, I will slurp them from a Bon Secuor bucket...raw...no sauce...no cracker...and go yumm yummm!
       Tomorrow night were are going to a semiformal dinner party which was a Christmas gift a friend (Steve & Mary Margaret) is giving his wife.  She has said everyone is so informal now, so for once she would like to have guest over in suites and long dresses.  We are to play parlor games and enjoy some light dancing.  It sounds like fun.
       The Orville Wright paintings are looking real good.  It looks just like me!  The characters are life size and capture a real pazaz. They will be on cofffee cups, printing, sun visors, tee-shirts, etc. I am supposed to fly one more time.
       Today I framed up a 2X greenhouse and painted it white.  Lottie helped and frets the amount of work it is going to take to fill the trays with tea cuttings and fill up such a large green house.  I also started my annual marble sculpture of 2002.  I have done one on Jan 1 since 1997.
       We killed a bunch of rosters Monday (the less glamorous side of chicken life) and one grabbed the knife in his claw and cut me three times with it.  I will bet Col. Sanders never had a chicken to fight back.
       We still have gobs of satsumas, so you'll come get a mess.
                                                                     Much Love,
                                                                                                                  Donnie

 

 

January 15, 2003

Hi All!
       Bill was telling me today that mangos are the world's most popular fruit because they are the most popular yard fruit.  In the warm areas of the world people plant them in great profusion.  Isn't that interesting?
       Linda made a big hit sending her, Richard, and John's Christmas pictures to Catherine.  She closely picked over who was there, ALL the kids names, and even Linda's exquisite furnishings.  Nice group!  Thank you Linda for also keeping us posted on Clarice.
       Today I went over to Bill & Catherine's and found them in good humor just returning from the store.  I fixed a lamp, changed some light bulbs, and made Mom a new picture folder on her computer called "Wiener's File" so she would not loose it.  Catherine sent me a picture today on email of their new house keeper, Sandra Clay, who was a school class mate of Ronnie and I.  The picture featured one of Jimmy's dynamite poinsettias.
       This was the week Dean Mosher was to sent the Orville & Wilbur drawings off to the Wright family for approval.  They decide if the images will be used.  I brought one home and Lottie said it made me look old.  For a $100,000 commission, the artist is really trying to get it right.  His research is near perfect, including materials, drawings, and photographs by Orville, and input from most all aeronautic history institutions and agencies.  I hope it flys...
       I have finished a nice greenhouse (with Evelyn curtins) and am now trying to fill it with tea plants.  For the past four days Lottie and I have sat out in the cold cutting up tea branches and putting them in trays.  We have only done 11 trays and our hands are hurting.  We have much more to do (maybe 50) but it seems to be getting harder and harder (older, maybe) to do it.  These are to finish off the tea garden which I started last year.
       I had an Elderhostel class on the Civil War yesterday which was not on my calander so I was a "no show" instructor.  The program director called me tonight and said "we have to have you" so could I do it Thurs or Friday?  They pay well and I like to do them.  I like the tea ones better.
       Lottie had her girlfriends party for her last Christmas function this year on Friday.  It was very nice.  They women would refer to me any of the "men related" questions but I proved not to be an authority, nor have many of the answers.  Lotttie did a lot to make Christmas for the family this year.
       Two young men I work with went off the Causeway and landed upside down with a SUV on them Sunday.  They were the two nicest people I have ever worked with.  One of them, Justin Hays, was a dear friend and a real sweetheart.  It seems odd seeing his picture on TV and in the newspaper.  It just doesn't seem real.  Lets you really know you are just hanging by a thread.
       Cheer-up.
                                                       Donnie

 

 

      

February 20, 2003

Hi there!
       I scanned the Orville picture at too high of resolution so here is another. It should open easer.  I spent almost an hour on the phone with Catherine this afternoon trying to get her to print out a copy.  It would have been quicker for me to jump in the car and take her a xerox.
       Yesterday Lottie and I went to help Ronnie cut tree limbs for a Mardi Gras stage.  He covers them in solid yellow-gold twinkle lights and raises them up into the ceiling of the Convention Center.  This time of year he does one breathtaking, spectacular stage after another.  He did not get job of doing the beaded trains for the Monarchy this year.
       Bill and Catherine had gone down Saturday to cut open the road back to where we could cut the pecan trees.  Bill drove around some in the pecan orchard which was the first time he had driven in a while.  He liked that!  Mom did not go Sunday because she had a big pot of soup she was dividing up, and her knees were hurting her.  She is getting bad knees which you can see when she climbs the stairs.
       I had a test for a physical today where you drink the white syrup while the radiologists watches on a TV screen.  He said I was "pretty and pink" and would be good for another five years, or 50,000 miles, which ever comes first.
       I am getting rushed by teachers, retirement villages, civic and garden clubs to come talk about history or tea, or both.  I even have one coming up for the Master Gardeners at the Gulf Coast Substation where I grew up.
       A local song writer is writing a song about Donnie's Tea Plantation.  Maybe Jimmy Buffet will record it and I'll be famous!
       Remember how excited I was when my three guinea pigs became five?  Now there are at least 12 that I can see.  They are so cute but we are going to have to start eating 'em or wearing 'em!
                                  Donnie

 

 

 

March 2, 2003

Hi Everyone,
       Lottie's mother Agnes had both of her knees replaced in an operation last Thursday.  Lottie and her brothers have been staying with her until she recovers.  Still tonight, the pain medicine they give her puts her out of her mind.  She has been doing crazy stuff and they cannot leave her bedside.  Lottie is there tonight.  Agnes is supposed to go to rehab tomorrow.  We all hope she can get up and get going.
       I went in the Joe Cain parade today and it was a lot of fun.  I led the parade as a historical Michael Kraft character dressed in 1830s clothes and carrying a red rake.  You just cannot imagine what all you see in the crowds.  People are not civilized like they used to be.
       Shelby's parade (Maids of Jubilee) was Friday night.  I did not hear from her but I am sure she enjoyed it.  I did not go watch her go by, it strikes me as really sad seeing her in those old costumes fading into the noise and crowds.
       Ronnie is now putting up stages, scenery, and plush banquet tables every day.  He has so many crews going in so many directions I will bet he doesn't know all their names.  He is always so relieved when Mardi Gras Tuesday gets here.  He said he had an "hour off" last Sunday morning to send Catherine an email.
       I am going to pose some more for the Wright painting tomorrow and next week pose as some of the flight crew on the ground.  It is looking very nice and has had a lot of input from experts from around the country.
       We finished the 20,000 tea cuttings in the green house just in time for the weather to start warming.  I have sold out of tea this year which brought me good "milk & egg" money.  I will make much more this year.
       Bill and Catherine are getting around pretty well now.  They have a good crop of baby tomato plants they have been nursing.  Last week we varnished their brick floors and they even added another coat.  Friday we dug a drainage ditch on the back side of their lot and Catherine got out there and swung that shovel like a construction worker and chopped through roots.  Last week they saw a pile of concrete block on the road side, stopped and loaded them up!
       I have been sick with the common "crud" that was passed to me at work.  I have really felt awful and have lost 12 pounds.  That is a lot for an already skinny person.
       Our fun-packed family Cedar Key fishing trip is in two weeks (March 18).  We really look forward to this trip.  This year will be different as the couple that has hosted us for so many years has both died from sickness.  We will have to make our own good times.
       My three guinea pigs are now 14!  Does anyone have any practical solution as to what I might do with so many guinea pigs???
                                         Donnie

 

 

March 25, 2003

Hi Everyone,
       We went on our annual Cedar Key, Fla fishing trip last week and it was a PERFECT fishing trip.  We had a marvelous time!  Every thing went so smoothly and the weather was so pleasant.  Catherine was the staring fisherperson.  She loaded the boat with speckled trout including a 21 inch monster!  Catherine also caught four Spanish mackerel.  We all caught fish.  Bill caught lots even though he could not always see the cork.  Lottie caught the most on our boat.  Ronnie brought his friend Jim Sapser who caught a speckled trout almost as large as Catherine's.  Jimmy and Claudia also took home an ice box of filets.
       The Cambells, Rosa and Edgar, who was our host for the past 17 years at Cedar Key have now both died and this may be our last trip.  We went to their graves on the Island which was sad.  The cemetery looks Caribbean, decorated with coral and shells.
       Bill had a pretty good fall in the driveway just before church Sunday.  His hip and knee are hurting, and he cut his elbow.  Still today he and Mom (I helped a little) planted a four foot wide tomatoe planter (kind of a strange hydroponic thing) and yesterday Bill changed the phone pulgs after a lightning strike which killed their TV in the kitchen.
       Ronnie came over Sunday and finished the Stephens Family Reunion invitation Mom and I had started.  He cut out pictures of us all and glued them cleverly into groups doing Cheaha type things.  Remember the Sgt. Pepper album cover?  You will spend a lot of time looking at this artistic masterpiece when you get it in the mail.
       We needed a program so Catherine ask me to do a tea making demonstration.  I had rather see something like Linda Airs or Elaine's program, but this year you are going to learn how ice tea is made.  I often get paid to do this and will make it short & entertaining.
       Lottie's mother is recovering from getting her knees replaced.  She was a difficult patient at best.  We are encouraging her now to simply "get up."  Lottie has cooked and cleaned at their house ever since.  Tonight she made two pumpkin pies, a Mexican dish, and a pot of navy beans (for Glenn) for tomorrow night.  This was after she made snow peas and new potatoes for us.  Twice while I am writing this she has come in to tell me how much she loves me.
       You need to come see our new steel roof!  It is like an Armadillo armor shell which is guaranteed to winds speeds of 185 mph!  That is a category 5 hurricane.  The top of our house may land in the next county, but our new steel roof will remain firmly attached!  I now have to paint the eves grey.
       I think I am going to be a Yankee in the Blakeley Civil War reenactment next weekend.  I do demostrations and living history programs almost every week but this will be the first battle I will be in in three years.  They are too noisey.  I organized this one for 11 years.
       Thank you for all the reply's from my family emails.  One even compared the Barrett Family On-line letters to the Osborne's or Anna Nichole!  Real life family-action coming in on your computer screen!
                                         Donnie

 

 

April 20, 2003

Hi Folks,
       Easter turned out very nice for us in Fairhope.  Catherine had dinner READY when we got there today.  The table was all set but we all forgot to get an Easter Lilly for the table.  She fixed meat loaf with tomatoes, sweet corn (candy), asparagus bundles rolled in bread and cheese, a sweet potato casserole which tasted like a pecan dessert, with purple peas, a nut bread cake and a batch of tea I made from their back yard.  It was real good!
       We ate at their house then came down to my house for the annual family Easter egg hunt.  We had 16 of us with the youngest being 18, Lottie's grandson, who got to hide the eggs.  Ronnie Barrett (a leading egg-finder) found the gold egg the first time and Amy Jones found it the second time with Lottie awarding each with a Susan B. Anthony dollar.  The gold egg was a peacock egg we dyed gold but it turned sorta mauve. I might have it for lunch tomorrow.  Agnes & Glenn kinda lagged behind by sitting in the front porch rockers and watching us dig through the bushes for eggs.  Cassandra and her mom, Nellie really hussled up some eggs.  Ronnie Johnson and Little Ronnie left a bit early.  Little Ronnie has just received his acceptance to Auburn!  We are so proud he is doing so well with college.
       My killer turkey has a hurt foot and was barely walking, so no family member was killed or maimed this year.  He is almost five years old and still always mean.  I enjoyed showing off my 14 guinea pigs.  Three cages of cowlick fur and eyeballs.  One black one has a white tuft on his neck just like a skunk.  Stinkie we call him.
       We clean up the yard for three days before one of these parties and they happen so quick.  They are really worth the trouble.  It is wonderful to get all our families together around the pond.  Spring time is so pleasant and we have a grand time playing in the yard.  I like using all that beautiful silver Ronnie and Mom has given us.
       I have made my first batch of shade grown tea last week, a little strong.  We are going to start picking tea this week, so if you want a cultural experience (it's like fence white washing, fun for five minutes ), we can provide it for free, just come on down!
                                  Donnie
      

 

 

May 13, 2003

Hi Folks,
       Sunday we had a Cedar Key fish fry for the mother's in our family.  We had Catherine, Lottie & her Mom, Agnes, Julie (Lottie's Daughter-in-law, Cassandra (Lottie's sister-in-law) and her Mom, Nellie.  We fried fish out by the pond for 17 then played horseshoes.  It was fun.  Bill may not see as well, but he can throw horseshoes as well as any of us.  He used his fogger to chase away our new crop of yellow flies and mosquitoes.  Moms favorite is fried shrimp so I over-fried a batch, hard and rubbery, just like she likes them.
       Jimmy and Claudia were not here as they are in Costa Rica setting up graduate student trips.  They went last year and brought us all back shade grown coffee.
       Ronnie is already starting on the 2004 King of Mardi Gras costume.  He is having a tailor friend of mine make a cut away military coat on which Ronnie will sew on tons of gold braid and jewels.  He actually makes two of them along with a 70 pound train of unbelievable ornate decoration.  It is fun to see these develop.
       Ronnie has planted Bill and Catherine's impatience beds and now we are about to plant their caladium's.  Bill had already started on them last week and may not even need our help.  They always very showy caladium's.
       I have finished painting our house gray to match the new steel roof.  We may paint the porches peach or maybe Dutch blue...haven't decided.  People are using darker colors these days.  Ronnie is painting his BIG house a peach color.
       John and Mary Joyce are in Mobile for a while helping their daughter.  We are going to have to pile in the van and go see them.  We can make more reunion plans.
       We just made 38 pounds of the best tea we have ever made.  I learned a trick in processing from a Taiwan web site which made it much better.  Tomorrow I am sending a sample to China (which is like sending ice to Alaska) for them to test.  My new green house got out of balance and about a third of the cuttings died.  This really hurt my feelings as we worked so hard on it.
       The view & prove meeting with the Wright Bros. family is this Monday.  This afternoon I spent an hour with the artist picking out the tiniest details to be fixed on the 12' x 12' painting which is very good.  They have not finalized any plans untill the family OK's the art.  I will send you all a copy attachment when I can.
       A big hug for every neck...
                                  Donnie

 

 

 

June 14, 2003

Hi Family,
       What a title, "fish kill."  It seems last weekend I was removing large over grown plants from our pond and stirred up the water too much.  This killed 7 of my largest Koi, the largest was 10 years old and 171/2 inches.  I laid them all out and it looked like a good day snapper fishing.  They would stick their heads out of the water and I would feed them cat food, and they loved to be talked to.  I have been mad about this all week and thought I had better settle down before I wrote anybody about it.
       I spoke to Olna's (my first cousin, Mom's sister's daughter) Spring Hill Baptist Church adults group this past Thursday.  I brought along a good sample of museum pieces and talked about Eastern Shore potteries.  They were most enthusiastic.  We did Indian pottery too.
       Wednesday was Agnes's (Lottie's Mom) 77th birthday.  We had a party at her house with a nice array of gifts, ice cream & cake.  She hasn't quite yet broken in her new knees as they still seem painful when walking, so she walks a bit slowly.  But her sprits are up, we had a good birthday party.  David (Lottie's brother) brought me his pet guinea pig he got from school and said it was time for him to "go to the farm."
       Aunt Clarice's funeral was May 19th.  It was so good seeing at those family members.  Linda, John, Richard and all their families were  warm and loving...all of them.  Linda's two boys have grown into two of the most polite, well mannered, communicative, and handsome young men you have ever seen.  They all looked good.  It was sad seeing such an important person's life end.  You felt good that she had such a rich and meaningful life.
       That same day I was to meet the Wright family members who came to view and prove  the Anniversary painting in which I portray Orville.  They loved the painting, accepted it as the centerpiece for their new museum at WrightPatterson Field.  They had a press party but did not announce when it will be unveiled or how else the art would be used.  The artist Dean Mosher has already started another commission form the State Of Ohio (who paid the $100,000 for the Wright painting) on a British & Indian Battle at Fallen Timbers, Ohio in 1792.  I am going to model for many of its major characters.  Lots of interesting costumes will be used as well as a "horse mannequin."
       I meet my high school friend George Fuller lll and his wife Francis at the Fairhope museum today.  They brought with them a couple from Tampa who were English.  They enjoyed the tour and wanted to hear about single tax.  I then helped Mary Lois strip the walls and cabinets of the next door Marietta Johnson museum for an over haul.  Major mess.  They have a lot of stuff we could use in our museum.
       This week I saw a cotton mouth snake, only the second I have seen around our house, catching flies in its mouth as they would fly by.  Now that doesn't seem like a bad snake to me.
       That killer turkey that has chased me up the driveway for three years has hurt his foot and cannot attack any more.  Lottie couldn't believe I wanted to take HIM to the vet after he has kicked my can all over the yard.
       I am going to take Ronnie a big bundle of 6 foot long white peacock feathers tomorrow. We have gathered a bushel basket full which is beautiful. He can use the feathers in big decorations. Ronnie is going to Seattle next week on vacation then to Utah or Ariz. next month. 
       We are going to cut off and put up corn for Father's day tomorrow.  Bill is going to get 6 bags of Silver King tomorrow which sounds like a lot but is a fraction of what we used to do.  I don't think they even planted butterbeans this year.  They have an impressive row of tomatoes with the biggest, greenest leaves.
       Mike's Fairhope program about the history and make up of Fairhope was on again last week and a bunch of people have told me they have seen it.  It was very good.  Lottie and I helped Mike down here last year when he was making it and he dedicated it to me.  That was nice. 
       Have fun tomorrow!
                                                       Donnie

 

10/9/03 - Three Parties in four days!

Hi Everybody,
       October 6 is Bill Barrett's birthday (82) and we had a dinner over at their house.  Lottie made a salad and peas and Catherine made potatoes, corn and beans and Ronnie's friend, Jim made brought his grill and we grilled steak.  It was very good!  Ronnie and I gave him shirts but Catherine gave him an auto-coin rollers and his face really lit up!  We started finding all the change in the house and emptying pockets.  Even though he had worn out two of these, it was like a slot machine; you just had to keep it going.
       We had a grand reopening of our Museum last night.  We had re decorated the entrance hall (I have been telling you about this since July) and Mary Lois had redesigned the Marietta Johnson Museum, so we invited folks out to see it.  I stood at the door in my 1900 clothes and received.  The museums really looked good.  It was nice seeing a good size crowd looking at what we have been working on for weeks to finish.  Lottie proofread and rewrote all my signs.
       Tonight was Lottie's son, Ronnie's birthday.  He is 38!  This makes us all feel old.  He was 11 when Lottie and I first dated.  When ask if he felt 38, he paused, like maybe he did!
       Lottie had made the baby-spinach salad that she made for Bill's birthday using Catherine's recipe.  They all remarked how different it was.  It is a strange combination of flavors.
       After we ate, we burned-the-cake with multicolored curly candles -- now those were different.  Ronnie and Julie are going to the North Carolina Mountains this week to go camping.  My present was a good pile of cut & dried oak fire wood.  We kept telling them "it's gonna be cold!"
       I took the pottery show down & it went really well.  We got lots of PR from it.  I loaded it in and out without a single"oops!"
       Did you hear Shane singing at Gay and Jimmy Elliot's party last weekend.  Jeanine kept saying she could sing, but SHE CAN SING!  She has the power of Witney Houstin and the soul of Areatha.  She just blew us away with her beautiful, heartfelt and powerful voice.  I am going to have to hear more of this Shane, Shane, SHANE!
       That's what's going on in this neck of the woods.  Come see us.
Donnie

 

 

11/3/03 Great Pumpkin has passed!

Hi to ALL!
       Well, Halloween 2003 is now one for the history books.  Lottie and her brother call it "the most wonderful time of the year" and go all out.  Both of our houses take on a dungon-look with all the stuff they put out.  Pumpkins, cats and ghost, in all sizes and colors.  For our wedding anniversary last week I gave Lottie a mechanical witch.  The perfect gift!
       We had three parties here this season, including the usual Halloween Country Carnival where we have hot-dogs and all sorts of strange (black & creepy) food and games.  Ronnie Barrett aced everyone with a perfect line drive to put the egg into the basket for the grand prize and Agnes, Lotties Mom with the bad knees got up and threw golf balls at the flower pots like a New York Yankee!  It was a super time!
       We took Bill & Catherine on the haunted hay ride down by our house and they really like it.  Catherine had taught half of the people operating it in school.  I think Daddy really liked riding on the wagon, even though an occasional monster would grab at him.
       We went to a Haunted Maze that Ronnie helped produce on Friday (we went to five parties in one night).  They had dead ends with all sorts of hideous creatures.  You should have seen Ronnie slither out of the Mummy sarcoficus and crawl after people like a big insect...it was creepy!
       Enough about gloom, lets talk about something more cheerful.  Like Bill and Catherine's sewer!  Their sewer lines stopped up and they have been living like pioneers for weeks now.  It seems they do not have it fixed because they are coming along the front of their house with a new sewer system they are going to hook up to.  They are trying to hold out until it is ready.  In the mean time they have a shower in the back yard by the pool, launder at the washertera, and use post holes in the woods as a septic tank.  They have become quite adjusted to it.  "Out house living," they call it.
       Bill has started picking out pecans.  He does a lot of them this time of year.  They like the Elliots, which are high in oil.  They have gone through a basket of persimmons, also.  They have given us some of the best okra we have ever eaten.
       A couple weeks ago I was published in a coloring book with some Indian art I copied off pots and shells.  Several other artist did pages (I had TWO) and we had an autograph secession which I was quite honored to be among Fairhope's distinguished artist.
       Last week I did another Elderhostel on the Single Tax.  Today I hung a large (4 x 10) painting in the museum of Fly Creek in 1935.  Tomorrow I go interview one of the first people to live on the Auburn Substation where we grew up.  Friday, I am going to Fort Toulouse in Wetumpka for a history program and Sunday we are going on a boat trip with archaeologists to the Bottle Creek Indian mounds.
       Farm news?  I have just about shot all the chickens that were scratching the mulch away under my tea plants.  Rule #1 on a teafarm, don't scratch in the tea!
                                         Donnie

 

1/06/04 - It's gonna freeze tonight!

 

Hi Folks,
       Yep, we will get our first freeze tonight.  The banana trees will turn to mush!
       Catherine's computer is in the shop doubling her speed and memory.  I wish we could get this done for Catherine.  Her knee (but she is rubbing at her hip joint) really went out last Nov-early Dec. but she is getting around on it pretty good now.
       I think their biggest news is the hooking up to the new sewerage lines just in time for inside showers.  The washed their dishes in the driveway for two months-or more-and got hooked up just in time for the cold weather.
       Bill has been fighting territorial concerns with the neighbors cat.  It bit their cat "Wiener" on the tail which was cause for much alarm.  Bill stalked that cat with his BB gun but finally caught it in his raccoon trap baited with Wiener's food.  After nearly drowning it with the hose, they turned it loose, satisfied it would not invade Wiener's territory again.
       Do you seem to be getting less junk email?  I am getting less.  Where is it all going then?
       We met Chris Jones' (Lottie's nephew in the West Point Band) fiancee' this Christmas.  We thought he was being sucked up by some old mean Yankee woman, but Nicole is the warmest, most friendly, real, truly lovable person any of us has ever met.  She was WONDERFUL!  It makes us all want to go to the West Point wedding they are having in July.
       Did you hear about Grey Redditt's son Christian having a bad wreck?  It sounded pretty bad.  I wrote asking how he was but have not heard.
       Also, did you hear George lll is moving to New Orleans?  His family is going to join him soon.  His son, Jacob, is college shopping with sports in mind.  George is booming with pride for him.
       I usually send these letters out to family members who may have missed a family goings-on but most all of us have been together this Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We have had some really nice holidays.  I did not get much Christmas decorating up at Bill & Catherine's due to an over load at work, but it did not seem to matter.  We did get up their 16 foot tree, which was very pretty.
       Ronnie is on a photo shoot dead line now to finish the robes and train for Mardi Gras's King Felix.  He had a uniform maker friend of mine make the basic uniform and Ronnie and team are hand sewing the Czkloslovician and Chinese crystals and gold encrusted bead work.  These are expensive and most elaborate. 
       We just finished planting the little tea plants form the green house and it is now time to make the thousands of cuttings to fill it back up.  Last year was a big disaster with most dying as a result of improper heat and humidity controlling.  It will do better this year.  We sold a lot of tea for Christmas.  Production this year will be three times last year.  The tea business is booming.
       I have been training for five months a young lady from Panama at work to help with the many Spanish documents we print.  It the process she is teaching me Spanish which I am picking up slowly.  We will speak back and forth in Spanish and the other co-workers look at us with their mouths open.
       I have several museum projects going on now which I am proud of, but I will tell you about them later.  I took South Alabama Archaeologists on a tour of Spanish Fort earthworks last weekend.  I have been helping them for several months to write a grant proposal from the Dept. of Interior to map, preserve, restore, and define what is left of the Civil War trenches.  They were delighted at what they saw and I was delighted that finally, after all these years, someone is paying attention.
       I think Lottie and I are going to Birmingham in a few weeks to the Titanic Artifact exhibit.  Has anyone seen it?
       Come see us when you can.
                                                       Donnie

1/28/04 - Catherine is 85!

Hi All,
       My fingers are frozen from sitting out in the cold cutting tea plants.  You remember last year at this time me gripping out loud about this.  I kinda let my museum projects slid this time of year getting the green house full and the bushes ready to put on a crop.
       Yesterday was Catherine's 85th birthday!  We met over there and went to the Nautilus Restaurant in Spanish Fort.  There was Catherine, Bill, Jimmy, Claudia, Lottie, Ronnie's friend Jim and Ronnie, and me.  We had a really delightful meal. Catherine was carrying a bright red, fine leather purse that Linda sent her from B'ham.  Clarice use to give Mom purses and now Linda carries on the tradition.
       They season their food a bit Greek style there and we like it.  Catherine had fried shrimp (cameroon frieto in my Spanish class) and would push one over to the side of her plate for me to eat "look, there's another one!"  So little by little I ate about half of her shrimp.
       We went back to their house and Catherine had made a German chocolate AND a Molly McQuien cake.  So we had lots of coffee and ice cream to go with that.  Rather, it was low fat, high carbo, but "no sugar added" ice cream.  We spent much time analyzing just what that means with Ronnie carefully reading out loud the ingredients.  We are such an analytical, scientific bunch, sifting through the latest good-for-you, bad-for-you trends.
       Ronnie gave Mom a pair of soft, white shoes and I made her a small card.  Jimmy and Claudia gave her printing paper, photo paper and picture folders.  We had a grand time at the party.  We all were in the best of humor, with much laughter, good times and story telling.  It was one of the best, warmest, and most meaningful occasions we have had in a while.  A good time was certainly had by all!
       Ronnie is head over heels in Mardi Gras now.  He has had several events lately.  One especially he can be proud of is organizing a debutante ball for the Mobile Ballet.  This extremely important event featured Jewish and black girls in their line-up of Mobiles young women being presented for society.  This ground breaking social occasion has broken an out dated tradition and will set a new precedent standard.  You just don't do that every day.
       George Fuller tells me drives right by the "Lady Slocomb" every day and I am now writing a story about this particular Spanish Fort cannon.  I'll tell you about this one later.
        Ya Ta Milou!
                                                Donnie

2/11/04 - Catherine is home from the hospital

       Hi Everyone,
       Yesterday Catherine went to the hospital to have an arterogram done on her leg as it was swelling fast and a circulation problem was suspected.  She thought she was going to have to have a stint put in but the test showed she had no blockage, just "lazy" veins.  The problem was after the procedure the punctured artery would not close and stop bleeding.  She had to spend the night where she had no TV and was cold the whole time.  I picked her up and took her home this morning where she is doing fine.  She is going to get support stockings and spend some time with her legs elevated.
       Last week a wild cat jumped out of a supply cabinet at work and bit me through the little finger knuckle on the right hand.  It swelled up like a club with infection which antibiotics is slowly making go away.  It still has a big lump on my hand and I have gotten a week behind cutting tea plants.
       I spoke to a convention at the Grand Hotel a week after Jimmy spoke to a convention there, while he was here for Catherine's birthday.  Jimmy has now gone to speak in Nigerauga, in Central America.  I hope it is a safe place where he is.
       Last Sunday's paper had the Mardi Gras robes for the several courts in Mobile.  Ronnie did the King's which was very nice and really stood out when lined up with the others.  His was quality, rich and real looking while the others were pale, poofie, and looked like high school stuff.  From appearance alone, and you couldn't even see the hand sewn Swarski crystals, all can see who does the best work!  Ronnie is very busy now putting up and tearing down sets every day.
       Oh, I didn't tell you I am writing a book on Spanish Fort history.  Well, co-writing a book.  A well known historian (Charles Phillipp) who has been writing for two years needed my help with the early history.  I am writing the chapters about the Indians, Spanish and Civil War times.  It is just pouring out with little effort to type the stories I have been telling over and over on tours for years.  It reads pretty good, too.  I am writing it a bit like I write these emails!  I would say it will make $ but I will probably be giving them away to friends.
       Take care, and come down to the farm and see us!
                                         Donnie

3/14/04 Spring means lots of flowers!

Hi All,
       Today Ronnie and I went to Bill & Catherine's and spread out a load of dirt and planted a skid of grass.  This is over where they had the sewer lines fixed just before Christmas.  We patched several other places with grass where the yard men are killing the grass with weed-eaters.
       We then drove out and saw our new cemetery monument in the Montrose Cemetery.  It is a large obelisk sitting on a large beveled block with BARRETT across it.  You can read it even as you drive into the cemetery.  It is really nice.  It is good knowing we all can be buried in one spot.
       Bill got him one of those leaf blowers the kind you strap on your back.  I picked it up today and it's heavy. I thought, now that IS a leaf blower.  He says he likes it but has to learn how to use it.  I somehow picture the 1930's picture of the jet-pack man flying out of control.
       Mom is getting around pretty good on her weak legs.  She is getting much stronger.  She had developed a burning-rash like condition all around the back of her legs which was very uncomfortable.  It is much better now.  She wanted me to work on her scanner today, but I forgot and will have to do it this week.
       Big news!  I quit my day job.  A new factory process was eliminating my job and they were getting a bit unpleasant to us out on a limb, so I just up and quit.  First thing I noticed was that everyday is Saturday and that you gear bathing, eating, flossing & all your body processes to the job schedule.  I felt disorientated for about...30 minutes, then set about heavy duty farm chores.  I have fixed electrical wiring, cleaned & painted all around, do household chores, cleared land for tea, and taken part in the excavation of an Indian mound.  It is just wonderful!  My animals love having me home.  I am going have to get at least a part time job to supplement the tea income.  But for now it is a great vacation!
       I have just about finished my part on the book about Spanish Fort history.  It reads really well.  Lottie and I keep reading over it fixing little mistakes...few people would really ever notice.  You just want something you publish to be near perfect.
       I have raised 80 exotic chicks for two weeks now.  They call me their Daddy.  They are an ocean of trusting eyes and I say "Hello, everybody!"  I am glad they did not see Lottie and I doing the unpleasant task of murdering 8 wild rosters after dark tonight.  Sometimes farming is a little tough going.
       My cousin Lucile, and her husband Jerry is coming to Fairhope with a bus load of tourist this week for Arts & Crafts.  I hope I can catch up with them and give them the deluxe tour.  I have another bus trip to Fort Mims this Friday.
       Come by and see us sometimes!
                                         Donnie

 

5/4/04 - Lottie and I on TV!

Hi Everyone,
       Well, I got my paragraph about my family ready for Harold's book on the Glasgow family.  It took me months to got to, but I got to the bottom of my "in box"the other night and there it was.  I said I would do this when I finished writting about Spanish Fort, which is in the can.
       I have completed my Japanese Garden for my worthless fourth graders who only wanted to sit in the fresh earth and stir it around.  It is getting complements from the parents and school.  This week we have made papyrus paper, cut up flowers to see plant sex, been introduced to tea, and started Tai Chi exercises.  Last week I did four school wide history programs.
       Did you see Lottie and I on the TV5 Jere Hough Program this Monday morning?  Live from my barn!  We looked good, relaxed but well rehearsed.  I made little TV studio sets for the tea demos and they came in and did them like I planned.  When Bill Barrett's 1960's pea sheller was plugged in with the big TV lights, it took off like a fired-up steam roller and Lottie and I both looked like Lit'l Orphan Annie!  It looked great!
       Next week for Mother's Day, Ronnie and I are going to plant Caladiums  at Bill & Catherine's.  We do this every year, like a real tradition.  Ronnie and I both plant them around our houses also,
       Not this Saturday, but the next, I am going to row landing craft in the in the Battle of Mobile Bay reenactment.  My and my friend Kenny McGill are going to be in blue sailor clothes.  You really have to be up for this. I'v gotten where I can do ten chin-ups.  You row back and forth from large sail boats to shore while cannon and water explosions are all around.  It is really quite fun.  This Sat we most likely we will go to the Indian Dig while the yard help works on the tea (I wish).
       Bill Barrett got a new walk behind lawn mower.  He had just bought a new one from Sears to walk behind, but the pull whells were tearing up his grass.  His new one is really modern with a drive control I had never seen.  I think it is good for his legs.
       Mom and I are going to work on a email & mail Family Reunion reminder for the event this August 7, 2004, at Cheaha State Park.  We all have the building rented and are getting ready.  Plan on coming.
       Come by and see our pen of exotic chicks, they are real cute!
                                                Donnie
6/22/04 - Is your email all ads?

      

Hi Everyone,
       I seem to go for a week at a time without ever getting any real email letters.  I thought this "new" email would get people writing more...but it doesn't seem to.
       Along with my new school teacher job comes the wonderful age old tradition of Summer Vacation (to let the kids help on the farm).  I mean is this nice, or what?  I never got any summers off working that factory job.
       I really enjoy being able to catch up on things.  I was going to hang our antique farm tools at the Museum into a mobil up in the ceiling this summer.  Done.  I was going to cut the rest of the tea garden trails in the woods, also this summer.  Done. I was going to clean out the barn. Done. It gives you an accomplished feeling.  I walk around our pretty yard and just love my house, just love my pond and fish, love my birds, love my wife ... but not necessarily in that order.  Lottie and I have a great life out here.  If you're not trading lovie-dovie's with your spouse, you're missing out on the best part of life.
       Lottie's birthday is this Thurs.  She wants to canoe out to an island in the Gulf that day, out by Pensacola.  She is busy mowing and weedeating our grass.  She gets real serious about it.  "All blades must fall!" is her motto as she fights the creeping green menace.
       Bill and Catherine have gotten their corn in the freezer for this year.  Ronnie and I helped wash and cut it off the cob but Bill shucked over 9 bushels and Catherine cooked it her special way in the kitchen B4 freezing.  Some of this is what we call the Cheaha corn.  I eat this for dessert, it is as good as any candy or cake.  We had some for our Father's Day dinner last Sunday.  Bill and Catherine had framed my Orville print and Ronnie and I hung it over their piano.
       Speaking of Ronnie, he has discovered the heavenly flavor of RAW OYSTERS!  He has been eating them at Wensel's and loves them!  Ronnie would never touch an oyster.  I open them by the sack. They are right up there with chocolate as what Lottie's brother, Jeff, calls natures "final food."
       Well, I have Maude Victoria's Mother's table (my great grandmother Hatchett's table) out side all re-planed and re-glued a-waiting sanding tomorrow.  I also am going to pose for a historical painting at 10:00 AM before sanding.  I may start painting the kitchen rich yellow tomorrow.  I don't think it needs painting but Lottie does ... bet it gets painted.
       I'm telling ya, life's great!
                                         Donnie Barrett

 

7/30/04 - Rain today...

Hi All,
       It has rained all morning which slows down farm work.  What it really does is allow one to lie around on the couch without guilt.  You cant go out and work!
       Monday I had dinner with Beverly, Kathi and Ken at Orange Beach.  It was a really nice dinner and we had a good visit. They are staying down here a week.  Vicky is going to join them too.  They are having a big party for Ester for her 85th on Aug 14, but we wont be able to go.  Ronnie is having us a b-day party on that day.
       As it turns out Mike was also staying a week just down the beach.  He came by yesterday with Barrett and Sue & George Cuzzort, Mikes newly found birth parents.  They were the most warm and wonderful people.  Sue said "Thank you for loving Mike while we were not around."  They were so interesting and full of life, she reminded me so much of Bertha.
       As soon as they left Janette and Oscar Knox came driving up.  We grew up with Jeanette on the Auburn Experimental Station.  They looked good! They wanted to see the tea and all the other things they read about in my emails.  I gave them a glass and a tour.  They were worried about Flo Simmons at the Museum who is not doing well.
       Jimmy and Claudia are passing through today.  They are most likely expecting me for lunch at Bill and Catherine's.  They came by Monday then off to New Orleans for a conference then tomorrow going to So Carolina for a horticultural meeting.
       Last week at the Museum we were given three large steamer trunks belonging to a Dr Jordan.  Ronnie & I and Lottie too were born at Jordan's Clinic down on the bay.  The trunks are slap full of letters, post cards and pictures of early Fairhope, tons of historical notes that will take months, if ever, to explore.  Just the stuff museums love to find.
       Lottie's nephew Chris got married last month in a West Point wedding which was beautiful.  His new wife Nichole came down to visit last Christmas and was so nice.  We did not go to New Your for this and really missed a good family occasion.
       Our Chinese friend, David Shen (Shen Hua) has now taken a managers position at Lassefair, a French company in Shanghai, one of the worlds largest producers of baked goods.  He has come a long way from his humble beginnings as a cook when we met.  He wrote me the most wonderful email thanking us for helping him with his career.  His daughter Tina (Ting Ling) is now 14 and writes us the most perfect English emails.  We are proud of them.
       Next Saturday, Aug 7 is the family reunion on Cheaha Mtn.  We always enjoy that so much.  We will have a problem this year.  Lottie and I were walking around the pond last Sunday and she stepped in a hole and here foot is swollen, black and blue.  Hiking those rocky trails is what we love to do.  We hope she quickly improves.
       School starts next week, and classes on Aug 9 with me teaching "first life" which is smaller kids than I had last year.  That will be a challenge.
       Hope to see you all soon!
                                  Donnie

 

8/18/04 - The Bell has Rang!

Hi Folks,
       We had a great time on Cheaha Mtn. at the family reunion.  We enjoyed Shelby and Chris so much when they stayed for supper that night.  Chris is usually kinda quite but that afternoon he talked a blaze, which was good to hear.  It was fun!  My cousin Andy and I were looking the "old" folks over and we both chilled at the same time...that is going to be us!  And, soon!!!!
       I did not get any response from the Mayor of Spanish Fort about the map I sent him on the Confederate works threatened by a new shopping center.  So I did the only respectable thing...I sent it to a newspaper reporter.  You'll hear about it now!
       We had a good birthday dinner this past Monday.  Bill went out and picked multicolored peppers and Catherine used them to glaze a meat loaf.  She made the famous Cousin Molly cake AND her killer German Chocolate cake (sorry Jimmy).  I ate too much! Ronnie, Jim, B&C all gave me shirts to wear to school.  They have very nice taste.  We gave Ronnie one of those Titanic deck chairs.
       Friday Lottie and I were dancing at a party to a live band (I assure you absolutely no alcohol was involved) and I hurt my knee.  I couldn't walk Saturday and missed a British Drill at Dauphin Island I really wanted to attend.  I also missed Ronnie's house blessing and would-have-been B'day party for us.  He had the house decked in candles, globes and flowers and even had spot lights on the roof and chimney.  He had a priest to come over and liberally splash holy water (is that like beer?) all around, even it the closets.  I missed that too.  The doctor tells me it is bone degeneration caused by getting o-l-d-e-r.  Lottie and I both are crippled and cannot decide who is better-off to push the lawn mower.
       School has started and I only have five students.  They are so sweet and well behaved.  It is amazing how all the teachers like each other, and well just love the principal and office people.  It is pure "Stepford" with the most pleasant atmosphere.  We are studying Indians now and yesterday I brought actual Indian bones and the kids couldn't have cared less.  But when I made an atalatal (throwing stick) out of a ruler that would fire the fly swatter like a missile, now they were impressed!  Today a girl left a 5000 year old piece of pottery on the carpet and another stepped on it and crushed it to pieces just after the principal photographed me showing it.
       Well, I have only four Guinea pigs left.  Thank you Tom Rae, who works in Mexico, for the fine Mexican recipe!
                                  Donnie

9/3/04- I don't know where I'm gonna go...

 

 

Hi Family,
       We would be getting in the van and going to Cedar Key, Fla for our annual fishing trip early in the morning but would beat Frances there by only four hours.  We had rooms in a new place on the Gulf with balconies.  Bill canceled Wednesday.  We will go again in a couple weeks if their wharfs are not destroyed.  We are sure glad the hurricane is not going to hit us.
       Well, after hurting my knee dancing, a neighbor's dog ran up to me while I was on my bicycle and bit as hole in my leg just under the hurt knee.  The health dept. called and said the dog did not have disease, but I still have a row of teeth marks.
       Catherine has had several things to happen to her lately.  She has had a callous on her foot, a slice of melanoma cut out of her left ear, and a bad case of poison ivy on her hands and back, all on arthritis pain in her thigh.  We don't know if it is her knee or hip, she rubs her thigh.
       I picked up Bill's generator today so he is ready for the power to go off.  Lottie and I have not dusted off ours.  Bill is real active and in good shape for all the things he has had to go wrong with him.
       School is going really well.  I am having a blast doing Indian stuff with them.  It is always what I liked to do and now they pay me to do it!  We fired our shell grouted Indian bowls in a deadfall fire yesterday, and even the coloration was perfect.  Tue we are boiling clams and scrapping them in a bowl with hand carved bone knives.  We still have hour long classes on reading, spelling, and math every day.
       None of my kids could say Republican or Democrat.  They don't watch the news.  Bliss may be best.  I did not like Bush's speech.  It reminded me of old black and white films of German people cheering on Hitler.  It all seems so senseless to me.  Seems like they would be after Ben Lauden and his men.  Oh, lets dont go there, I know everyone is Republican.
       Next Saturday is Lottie's Mother and Father's 60th Wedding Anniversary!  They fight all the time and might get along long enough for some kind of party.  I dont know what Jeff and Lottie plan to do.  They got married on Sept 11 (9/11) a good day for an anniversary.
       We're going to get the clams tomorrow, if it doesn't storm.  Jimmy and Claudia, DUCK! a big storm is comming!
                                               Donnie

 

9/15/04 - Hurricane Command over and out! 
   

Hi Folks,
       Well, It's just after 1:00 PM and we see the Storm "Ivan" heading directly at us with 140 mph winds and us on the bad side.  Lottie left with out telling the dogs where she was going just a minute ago.  She has already gone to my parents where Claudia and Mrs. Fortenberry are also..  I am going there later after I get the chickens put up.  They are walking around like they don't know gloom & doom are coming.  I just read a 1906 diary to my students Monday and those people walked around like the chickens before the storm hit.
       We have done a lot to prepare.  We have taken our pictures down off the wall and put them in garbage bags.  I have cut all the shrubbery around the house. We have prepared the generator and have lots of stored water.
       I am hoping our barn doesn't blow down, it has a lot of things I treasure.  It is up big and tall and I can see it smashed into the trees.  The same with the other out buildings, they full of stuff.  I will see if our new shinny steel roof lives up the wind speeds in the warranty.  It will take days to get going again and a year to clean it up.
            The trees in front of me are slowly bowing way over, it looks like a hurricane.  We may not have electricity for weeks, so this computer is about to go into a garbage back and I am evacuating.
       I will write you all an email and tell you how it went. 
       Donnie

   

 

9/26/04- Wired up and running!

11/23/04-Bill had an operation today

Hi Everyone,
       Bill Barrett had an operation on his eyes today in Mobile.  It was an out patient operation and he is now at home.  He is sore in the face and will be uncomfortable for a while.  He had an eye life, so to speak, to help open his eyes to let in more light.  His macula degeneration had been getting worse lately and his drooping eyelids were blocking much needed light.  He will have to rest a couple weeks to get over it.  He will probably sign up for that much needed tummy tuck next.
       Today at school we had a pilgrim party.  I worked for two days to make girl and boy hats which were so cute.  I then built a fire in the rain and cooked stew and corn on the cob.  I decorated banquet tables with fall leaves and pumpkins and Lottie made a sweet potato cake.  It was just lovely!  Well, the kids wanted to throw their food, tore up their hats before dinner, spilled food and drinks all over the table, only wanted to sit in the swings and wouldn't try the sweet potato cake "oooh, I don't like it."  How, do you know?  "OOOOH, I don't like it!"
       All this so in 25 years they will come up to me in the grocery store and tell me how much it meant to them?  That is what Catherine gets, and now I can see why she enjoys it so much.
       We have had a lot of help cutting up trees in our yard.  Jimmy helped for several days and he and Bill & Catherine cut up some really big logs.  Bill had a wedge fall on his saw, the chain came off and cut his leg...only enough to scare him.  They are going to come out eventually with the log splitter so we can make Ronnie a lot of fire wood.  I am trying to get debris off the grass before it is completely killed.  Our neighbor, Jay Thompson, came by today with his front end loader to push up a big burn pile out in front of the house.
       We are going back to Fort Mims (1813 Indian massacre) this Sunday for more archaeological work.  We think we have found the wall.  It is hard work, but a once in a life time experience.
       It seems now a land owner between us and the bay is suing us for 30 feet on our west side of our land.  We already have our driveway there and I told him to go right ahead and extend it to his land, but no, he wants it all.  He says he wants to "change our life style" and we cannot figure out what he means.  Sounds like a good neighbor to me.
       Have a wonderful day!
                                         Donnie

 

 

12/19/04 - Catherine has taken a fall

Hi All,
     I started to write an email to everyone yesterday, but thought "naw, all I have to write about is bad, and all folks wanna hear is good stuff."  Well, it is not all good.  This has been a bad year...I'll be glad when it is gone.
       Catherine fell out the back door of their house around 7:30 tonight and landed hard on the concrete deck. She just got through x-ray in the emergency room.  It seems she has a broken hip, clavicle, and finger.  They will re-estimate damage again in the morning.  She is now being taken to a hospital room.
       It is just wonderful that Jimmy and Claudia were there when it happened.  They are helping get her and Bill settled.  They were going back to Fla tomorrow, but may delay leaving a day or so.
       I just went through that same emergency room last weekend with food poisoning which really almost killed me.  Call to see how Catherine is doing.
                                  Donnie

Catherine is at Mercy Medical for two more weeks of therapy.  She is recovering well and is bouncing back.  This fall will not be her un-doing.  She is quite well and we are all pleased.  I appreciate your offer to help, but we had helper on all sides.  It is Bill who is the greatest hardship.  He is demanding and has to have everything his way.  We are getting tired of hauling him around.  Wanna pick him up some afternoon?  Feel free!  He will also get you to stop by the grocery store.  It isn't really that bad, it is all working out just fine.
                                                Donnie

 

 

1/3/05 - Starting off slowly, but...

Hi to All,
       Well, it was easy to change the year to 2005.  We had a pox on us last year and hope this year is much better.  It has started with me saving a Civil War trench on the Bass Pro Shopping Center site in Spanish Fort, which is a real good start.
       Catherine is recovering quite well from her fall out the back door DEC 22.  Her hip replacement is giving her little pain and she is starting walk on it a bit.  She is doing all the therapy and is bouncing back strongly.  She may be coming home in less than two weeks.  We have left all the Christmas decorations up until Catherine comes home.  It is starting to look like we owe the neighborhood some type explanation.
       Linda came bouncing in to see Catherine on the First of Jan.  She gave her a scarf which Catherine had given Clarice, Linda's mother years ago.  That was real sweet.  Catherine and Linda are real "buds."  Lucile and Jerry have been down to visit, too.
       Jimmy came out and help me plant tea last week.  He spent half the day removing hurricane debris, stuff I was going to just plant around.  He then helped me plants hundreds of plants - great help - and we enjoyed the visit.  We are planting a tea garden which is taking me four years to plant.
       Yesterday Bill, Ronnie, Jim Sapser, and I split up logs in our yard with Bill's log splitter.  We made Ronnie a years supply of firewood and got one big tree off the grass.  There is still one on each side of it needing to be cut up in to cedar chair legs for woodshop class.  And a big one in front of them that is so battered I want to cut it on down.  We had millions of satsumas this year - the sweetest ever!
       Tomorrow I give the kids a chisel, hammer, and a block of stone...
                                                              Donnie

1/12/05- Christmas in January

Hi Ya'll,
       Catherine got to leave the rehab hospital last Friday and is loving being at home.  She is doing really good and getting stronger fast.  She is walking all over the house on the walker and will walk off and leave it behind soon.  She really perked up when she got home! 
       We had Christmas Sunday night at their house.  It was great!  No one was rushed, had already eaten, or had to be some-place-else in 30 min.  Lottie and I burst into laughter when we came over the hill and their lights were glowing all over the house.  Bill kept "Christmas in Dixie" going all night and we really enjoyed dinner, presents and good family. Lottie made a Molly McQuin cake - using the secret family recipe. Ronnie and I want to do it again in January next year.
       When I went to court where a distant neighbor was suing us for 30 foot easement off our west side, the Judge looked down at me, came down to me and shook my hand.  He said, "Mr. Barrett, I have seen many of your history programs and love your work."  Well, it went even better after that, needless to say we lost no land.
       The Fairhope Single Tax colony is wanting to hire me to write a book of their history since 1954.  It is a favorite subject of mine and such a deal could prove good all-round.  Seems their last offical record ended in 1954.
       Friday I am taking the school kids down to the Montrose beach where we are going to have to climb over a 8 foot wall of hurricane debris, cross a stream on fallen logs to get to a secluded beach where the hurricane has left a large amount of exposed archaeological material - broken pottery and dishes.  We are going to do a simple surface survey and record the data.  We are going to then reproduce some of the pieces we have found parts.  They are very excited!  I have made comando-like maps for which areas the different classes are to go.
       Cole the roster is going back to school tomorrow.  He has gotten to be King of the Barnyard, so it will be interesting to see if he will let the girls carry him around like a baby.  I also have a big, green emu egg to take tomorrow, also.
       Take care and have a good time,
       Donnie

 

2/6/05- Happy Birthday Shelby!

Hi to All,
       Today Shelby is 31.  I thought she was 30 again, until I did the math.  She said she and Chris went to Hot Springs, AK for the weekend.  They stayed in the Arlington Hotel, the same hotel Catherine, Ronnie and I stayed in 45 years ago.  She said it was too cold to get in the hot springs.
       Today was Joe Cain day and I did not carry my red rake in the parade as I have for several years.  I must be getting old as we burned hurricane debris all day - wheeee, what fun!  We did not go to a single Mardi Gras function this year.  I did have my kids paint a 55 ft. long "lessez les bon temp roulet !" (let the good times roll!) and put it across the front of the school.  The other teachers, parents, and neighbors had not seen anything like it!
       I hear Don Glasgow has moved into his new house down at the Gulf, only 30 minutes from us.  I do not have his email address so someone forward to him...When would be a good time for Lottie and I to come visit?
       I have the kids doing a play called "Vacation in the Rain Forrest" which has 16 parts and I am the director.  It is turning out to be quiet a production.  Some of those kids are real natural actors.  We start painting flats when we go back Wednesday.
       The Bass-Pro shop shopping center people are starting to give me double-talk about the civil war trench on their property.  When corporate exects talk with forked tongue you turn elsewhere.  You will see it when you attend the grand opening.
       We are going to do an archaeological dig on the old Organic school campus this month.  It is like the new school digging up its roots.  This will be fun.  Hope we find lots of items we can trace back to the old school.  Last month we did an archaeological survey of a hurricane devistated Montrose beach park and found evidence of an 1840's French pottery kiln site.  The kids were exillerated!  It was like a real discovery.
       I have been planting tea plants in a tea garden since Christmas.  Jimmy Barrett even came over one day and we planted a whole bunch of them.  I am not going to finish this year, most likely the next - fourth year - then I will never plant another tea plant for as long as I live.
       Catherine is doing real well now.  She has graduated to a footed cane and gets around really good.  Her shoulder is still hurting her and is not improving much.  She hopes to start driving soon.  ATTENTION DRIVERS OF BALDWIN COUNTY: Catherine and the big SUV will be coming your way soon.
       Ronnie is almost finished with his Mardi Gras crush.  He has done one set after another since New Year.  He made the Queen's train this year with a million hand sewn Swarskey crystals and all we saw of it was a one inch square black and white picture in the newspaper.  I keep telling my kids more goes on than you see and they say what more can there be besides catching moonpies!
       Well, Shelby, I wish I were 31...
                                                       Donnie

 

9/10/05 - We're all still ALIVE!

 

Hi To All,

    This was the weekend of my Uncle's, Wilmer, Sr., 90th birthday party.  We did not get to take Catherine or see our family.  Ronnie is in Yellowstone, and Catherine was taking some PT on her walking.

   Ronnie and Jim Sapser went to the Burningman Art Festival and then up for a week at the parks.  They missed the entire hurricane and still have not come home.  I do not know if they had dammage, but this storm hit everyone up to Tennessee.

    Catherine wanted to buy a typewriter, was even looking at the catalogs, so I showed her how to type on the computer.  This week, in the mail, she sent me a PERFECT business letter with made up names.  All her spacing was correct and she printed the envelope on the folded paper.  Pretty good computer skills!

    We lost our back door in the hurricane.  It twisted on the hinges and would not open or close, I had to tie it down.  I tried to fix it, then re-hung it, but it still was cocked.  Debris.  We have a chunk of tree on my water lines at the chicken house, and one over our picnic table.  There is still 2/3's of our yard in limbs where Lottie is wanting to cut the grass.  Otherwise we did well. 

    This storm has taken a huge toll on many people and compels major changes in people's lives. This afternoon we rode around to the other side of the swamp (about a mile away) and counted 15 toilets along the road.  The scene was busted houses and rooftops, and ten foot debris piles on both sides of the road, a scene which we see all the time on TV...and get insensitive. We are not overwhelmed with sympathy for these "poor" people, who ignore constant warnings, and get rebuilt time and time again with gov't money.

    It is also an environmental catastrophe with all the gunk being pumped in the Gulf.  Our area was sprayed with a good soaking of salt water.  Down at the Gulf when this happens, many trees die. It turns the green into red-brown quickly.  But it makes our sun sets beautiful!

    Did you hear no more reenactments at Fort Gaines due to heavy brick errosion from the storm.  End of an era I helped to start years ago, when I was young and strong.

    I got one girl displaced by the storm in my school class.  That gives me eight.  Last week we cleaned fish with the stone hand axes they made and cooked on a fire and shucked oysters with bone knives.  We make arrows next week and start aboriginal pottery.  I really like it but it is all-consuming.  It takes a lot of work.  I got volunteered to organize the Fall Festival Halloween Carnival and dance the "Mexican Hat Dance" at the city celebration of Marietta Johnson's birthday.  Now why would I volunteer for something I have NEVER DONE.  In front of people??

    My daughter Shelby and her husband Chris are moving soon to Fort Smith, Arkansas in pursuit of some great job opportunities for both of them.  You gotta go with the $$$ but both of the want to move back to Fairhope.

    Bill and Catherine had another pipe to break in their bedroom and flooded that part of the house.  Their house is all disarranged and they have those special fans and industrial carpet suckers, sucking water out of their carpet.  Big mess for them.

    Come on by and rake some leaves awhile.

Donnie

 

 

 

10/1/05- Happy October

Hi Folks,

    Jimmy and Claudia will be up from Florida this Thurs for Bill's birthday...his 84th.  We are going to go out and eat someplace, but Ronnie and I have not decided.  It will be a time for me to hear about Ronnie's