Cargile's Chaos and Critters

Cargile Update

2009-02-03T13:09:00.000-08:00

Hard for me to believe it's been August since I posted last. As a matter of fact it's been so long I may have no readers left. Just wanted to give you an update on life in the critter corner. As usual we are the gatherers of all things animal. On New Year's Day we had a small beagle come up to me, obviously undernourished and cold. Of course I scooped her up and she's now our newest addition. We've named her Gypsey, fitting we thinks since she had been roaming around lost for what appeared to be a long-time. Our pack has accepted her nicely which we're thankful for. Unfortunately for Jerry and I, neither of us has the heart to say no to a homeless animal. I'll post a picture of Gypsey soon.

HD = HeaDache

2008-08-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

For my loyal readers I apologize for my posting record. I find that without children or grandchildren to post photos of, my posts become very uninteresting. However, I was looking forward to going home this weekend to new High Definition service from Direct TV. Come to find out this is not as simple as we anticipated. We ordered all the correct equipment (including DVR) so we could have the capability of recording our wonderful new HD channels. The technician arrived this morning only to tell us we had a few slight problems to deal with. Problem #1 is a beautiful Magnolia tree that will block the line to those satellites that are all over our atmosphere. Problem #2 is a great Pecan tree that is not even on our property. I can see a Chainsaw weilding Jerry out their now cutting down these trees, but I think he has thought the better of it. I cancelled the HD stuff from Direct TV and we're now looking at Charter Cable to work their magic. Have a great weekend with or without HD!!

A Lovely Family!

2008-08-01T12:52:00.001-07:00

The other day I received this photo from my brother, Darren. He had taken it in February at our Mom's 80th birthday celebration. This is a picture of all the Ingram brothers and sisters and my Mom and Dad. Front row L-R: Mom (Lorene), Dad (Delmer) and Darren. Back row L-R: The oldest, Richard, Susan (Sue), Phil and Nancy (me). I have a wonderful family, particularly my parents. They look great, don't they. I was raised in a home full of love and never worried about anything. We played outside till dark and could go wherever our bicycles could take us. It was a great childhood.

Too Fast!!

2008-07-28T07:19:00.000-07:00

For those who know me it's no secret that I adore my great-niece, Emma. I was in the delivery room when she was born and was the first family member to see her. She takes up a very large portion of my heart and I thank God for her everyday. Yesterday I went to pick her up for Church and out walked a grown young-lady. Where did my baby go? I commented several times during the morning how grown-up she looked. Her response was I'm just trying to dress a little more "girly." Here are some then and now photos.

The Person My Dog Thinks I Am.

2008-07-23T09:04:00.001-07:00

My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am. ~Author Unknown

Each morning as I come down the stairs I'm greeted by what seems to be the happiest creature on Earth. Each afternoon when I pull in the driveway there are four happy creatures looking for me out of our glass door. Each night as I go to bed two happy creatures snuggle as closely to me as they can. Of course I'm talking about my dogs. Today, for some reason, I'm all sentimental about my"best buddies." A friend of ours teases us that when he dies he would like to be reaincarnated and return as one of the "Cargile Critters." That's a compliment to us really because Jerry and I, along with Teeny and Jason, work pretty hard to make sure they are cared for -- however, we're the real winners really. So the quote at the top of this post is true. I'm sure I could never live up to the great person my dog thinks I am -- but it's worth a try.

This is "Cookie Cargile." She thinks I hung the moon. Jerry and I rescued her and her puppies about 2 years ago.

Weekend Update

2008-07-21T13:06:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Hope a great weekend was had by all. I spent Saturday with a few work friends on Smith Lake. Jane, a long-time United Way employee and the person who hired me here at United Way, and her husband, Brian, have a beautiful lot on the lake. They plan to retire there and build a full-time residence. In the meantime, they have made a place I like to call "The Smith Lake Swiss-Family Robinson" lot. They already have their decks built and they are so natural you hardly notice them from the lakeside. Then underneath overhanging rocks they've build storage areas and yes even a potty place :) There's electricity, water, boat, sea-do and anything else you can think of for a great day at the lake. We had a blast. I tried to ski but only was able to stand up once and had a tough time balancing. It's only been about 20 years since I skiid last. Needless to say - today - I'm a little sore. Thanks Jane for a great, relaxing day.

DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

2008-07-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

Most of my readers are from Alabama and can appreciate the fact that it's hot and it's supposed to be hot in mid-July. We just arrange our outdoor work to take place in early morning or late afternoon. But not only are us human's noticing the heat, but the crowd of Cargile Critters are too. Some of you know that the Cargile House is virtually a Humane Society. If an animal needs a home, they will eventually find their way to our house. So, with that being said, we have four dogs -- all larger than 50 pounds with our heaviest weighing 95 pounds. We have a nice backyard with plenty of "romping" room and they love to run around chasing each other. But not in this heat. They run out, do their business, and practically knock us over getting back into the house -- now that's hot people. So maybe that's why they call it the Dog Days of Summer. Let's take a lesson from them. Only do what we absolutely have to and NAP THE REST OF THE TIME. Have a great week.

CAMPING IS FOR THE YOUNG

2008-07-09T07:25:00.000-07:00

In an earlier post I told you Jerry and I planned to go camping at St. Andrew's State Park in Panama City over the July 4th weekend. This is not our first camping experience - but the way we feel now - it is most likely our last. When our son Jason was 10 or 11 we went for a week to the state park. Jerry and I slept in a small dome tent and Jason was in a "pup" tent. Other than it being hot, we had a great time. Then two years ago we attempted camping again - this time with a great cabin style tent. We were really uptown. After almost having a massive coronary from putting the thing up we managed to have a great time once again. This past weekend's trip was not so wonderful As Jerry and I age we realize we "don't work well together." Every task we did seemed to cause a disagreement. But there were bright spots and the weather was beautiful. Following are a few pics from our trip. Have a wonderful week.

Grills, Girls and Little Rich

2008-07-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

We celebrated July 4th with my sister-in-law's sister, Sharon Walker. Sharon is a wonderful host and has a gorgeous back-yard with a swimming pool. She's one of these people that makes everything look easy. As a guest you couldn't possibly imagine she was stressed in the least about 10 people coming over for lunch. Oh, I do wish I had that gift. She put my brother Richard and Jerry in charge of the grill. They did an excellent job and we stuffed ourselves and enjoyed every bite. Here's photos of the boys doing what they do best. Jerry is never happy unless he smells like BBQ smoke.

Prior to eating some of us girls decided the "water was fine." Here are Karen, Sharon and myself floating in the pool. It was WONDERFUL. That's Jerry in the background.

Several years ago while in Gulf Shores, Karen noticed a figurine for sale in a shop called "Tootie Greens." What struck Karen the most was how much this tiny statue favored my brother Richard. She bought "Little Rich" and we have great fun making sure that "Little Rich" gets to see as much of the world as possible. He travels everywhere with Karen and Richard. Oh the tales he could tell.

A few months ago "Little Rich" traveled to Hawaii with Karen and Richard. Rumor has it that he even danced with a Hula Girl. Here's a photo of him at the July 4th party. We weren't watching him closely enough and we found him a the bottom of the pool. Fortunately he survived.

After we left Sharon's Jerry and I headed down to Panama City Beach for an exciting weekend of camping. I'll post pictures of that adventure later. Have a great day!!

NEW LOOK!

2008-07-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I've once again changed my background but lost a few things on the way. I'll try and update photos soon. We had a good weekend celebrating my Mom-In-Laws 85th birthday. We had a family gathering at The Bright Star, a restaurant that's been located in Bessemer, Alabama since 1907. Great food and nostalgia. All over the place you see pictures of famous folks that have passed through. There was also a set of menus from years gone by and we noticed a slight increase in prices. Believe it or not you could get a steak for $1.45 at one time.

Attending the party were Jerry, Jason and myself. Jerry's oldest brother, John and wife Paula. Our sister-in-law, Vickie Cargile and son Will. Also, Paula's daughter Shannon came with her precious 3-year old John Cade. Teeny enjoyed herself and it was a great way to celebrate.

PC HERE WE COME!

2008-06-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

I swear to my one or two very loyal readers that I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. I wrote what I considered to be a wonderful post about our Father's Day Festivities. However, I didn't get it finished and it got saved in a "Draft" mode. Well ... being the technological genious that I am I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to publish a post from this "draft" mode. Anyway... Father's Day has come and gone and my pictures that I took are not accessible from this computer so I'm all out of sorts :)

Jerry and I are looking forward to our 4th of July camping trip to St. Andrew's State Park in Panama City, Florida. We've camped at this park several times over our blissful 25 year marriage. It's not due to the love of camping and nature ... we much prefer a wonderful condominium overlooking the gorgeous Gulf of Mexico. We camp 'cuz we're CHEAP!!

It is a nice experience though. This particular State Park is on the bay and is wooded and shady. I'll admit that my hair frizzes up and my face stays red from being overheated ... but it's just part of the camping experience. You have to drive around to the actual beach, but it's beautiful, not condos anywhere.

We bought a tent last year that we call "THE CONDO." Our first visit with "THE CONDO" was in the dead heat of August. We had just purchased the thing at Academy Sports and failed to do a dry run on putting the thing up. Needless to say, our first experience wrestling with "THE CONDO" could have won us some moola on Funniest Home Videos. We never got it put up correctly. Note in the photo how it sags. We did, however, take it home and figure it out for a much more successful second trip.

We'll be celebrating my Mom-In-Laws 85th birthday this weekend. Her actual birthday is July 5. She's pretty amazing for 85. She lives with us and we teasingly call her our "yard lady." Her favorite hobby in the world is planting flowers and vegetables. We're already munching on tomatoes and cucumbers.

Our front yard is full of blooming things. Let's hope for a blessed summer of rain so we won't have to worry about watering. Below is a picture of Teeny with our great-niece Marleigh. This was taken last year. Marleigh is practically grown now.

My mom had some surgery several weeks ago and was in the hospital for a few days. I stayed with her at the hospital at night and as always, it was quite an experience. Late one night the fire alarm went off. They closed the hall doors and I'm busy inquiring whether we should run or not. No one seemed concerned, but mom and me were figuring out how I could get her loose from the IV pole and carry her down 8 flights of stairs without undoing the good work done by her surgeon. We didn't sleep much. My mother is 80 herself and still works with my dad at his business on Southside. She's already back at work at almost 100%. She'll absolutely kill me when she sees I've put this photo on my blog. My dad can't keep his hands to himself (HA!!)

Well, that's all for now. Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer.

HOT! HOT! HOT!

2008-06-09T11:47:00.001-07:00

You'll note that in this photo I definitely do not look cool and collected. As a matter of fact, I resemble a dog panting for air on a hot day. It was a hot day -- mid 90s at noon, on the top of Red Mountain. Even Vulcan's hiney gave us no shade :) This is part of what I do at United Way -- special events. There were about 160 folks under a tent. Everyone remained cool -- but me.

Working For The Weekend

2008-05-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

This four day week has seemed like 7. This is the time of year at my job at United Way that takes every ounce of creativity to get it done. I manage the production of United Way's annual campaign video, the printed materials, etc. We filmed several weeks ago and now have an edited 7 minute video that I must say, turned out great. In the midst of this I'm planning a special event next week that will take place at Vulcan Park, under a tent no less, at straight up noon. Can you say "make your guests suffer." Friday has rolled around again and I'm certainly looking forward to it. My right side of my brain has now gone on strike. Last week Jerry and I were already on the beach enjoying wonderful Gulf Shores. Perhaps this week we'll buy each of us a plastic pool for the back yard!!! Enjoy the weekend folks. By the way - the following is a picture of my great-niece Helen. Her mom is my niece Kristy (my brother Phil's daughter). Just wanted to show you our "firey" red head.

Seashell Shuffle

2008-05-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

We had a great Memorial Day at Gulf Shores with my Mom and Dad. Jerry and I arrived on Friday to slightly overcast skies. But that never deters us from the beach. We sat out a while waiting on our room to get ready and watched the waves roll in. The "red flags" were flying which means that they're are undertoes in the ocean. This is the first trip that we've seen surfers catching the waves. "Did I say CRAZY?" As I mentioned in my previous post, Jerry is obsessive-compulsive over seashells. I'm considering a Psychiatrist to dig deep into his psyche to see where this obsession comes from (HA!) The picture of him standing is his new dance, "The Seashell Shuffle." He was walking around digging his feet into the sand to see if he could find yet another shell. (Imagine doing the "Twist" in sand and you'll get the idea.) On Saturday, I tried to see just how burned a human can get. So needless to say on Sunday I spent the day under an umbrella dodging the least little sun-ray. Oh well, life goes on.

Happy Memorial Day

2008-05-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

To all our friends and family reading our blog today we wish you a Happy Memorial Day. Don't forget to put up your American flags. Jerry and I, along with my Mom and Dad, are heading down to Gulf Shores for a long weekend. I'll share some photos when we get back but they will only show me from the neck up. Jerry has an addiction to shell hunting so I'm sure when we return I'll have to buy some sort of glass container to go along with our other thousand glass containers full of shells. Our hairy family members are staying home with Teeny (better known as Grandmommy to them) and Jason (their human brother).

Daily Living

2008-05-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

Hey folks! I'm still playing around and practicing the aspects of blogging. I promise before long I'll have something more exciting to say. Much like last Tuesday and the Tuesday before that, I'm highly anticipating American Idol tonight. What did we ever do before reality TV?

Emma's Baptism

2008-05-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

We had a great Sunday with Emma being baptised this morning. She did great!! We had a great crowd with lots of family there to see the big event. She was baptised with several other girls, one of which was Lacey, a little girl that is also in my Sunday School class. For those of you who don't know I teach 3rd and 4th grade Sunday School at First Bapitst Church of Leeds. I've had Emma in my class since she was 5 years old. Next year she promises me she'll move up without me :) She's growing up. Here are a few photos.

IT'S FRIDAY!

2008-05-16T13:35:00.000-07:00

Well it's Friday folks and I must say I'm very glad to have a weekend coming up. We don't have a lot planned, but as you know, it flies by fast. Here's a photo of Sky on our front porch. I think she's glad it's Friday also.

My niece, Emma, will be baptised on Sunday. We're very excited for her. For those who don't know she's actually my great-niece and is 10 years old. I'll post a picture when I get one. Anyway. This is my attempt had creating an interesting blog. Check in often.