Visit to see Mother

I hadn't been up to see my mother in a while, so last Saturday, I took a break from my normal Saturday routine to take the 2 hour trip.  When I got to her place, she had a list of things she wanted to get done, thinking I would be able to help her.  That was great...I love lists!  Everything on the list was easy and we got them done in good time.

We took her piles of newspapers to a nearby church where the Boy Scouts had a big container for collecting old papers.  Unfortunately, when we got there, the container was not there, so we couldn't dispose of those papers.  I told Mother I'd bring them home with me since our township would be collecting paper recyclables on Tuesday.  They were already in the trunk of my car so we could just leave them there for me to take home with me.

She wanted to buy a pair of new shoes for a grandson's wedding in a couple of weeks so off we went to the mall.  She bought the first pair she tried on - very classy and stylish shoes.  We got a few things at Target, then since we were at the mall, stopped at Panera's for some lunch.

Back at her house, we got out her little table top tree and decorated it.  It looks quite festive in the front window of her house.

While there, I asked her if she still had the kids' book Cowboy Dan.  I remembered having seen it at her house when my kids were young and wondered if she still had it.  I had looked for it online but it was out of print and impossible to buy unless you wanted to spend lots of money.  We looked in her basement and found it in a pile of old stuff.  It was loaded with mold but I brought it home and thought about how I could salvage it.

Google said to put the book in the freezer overnight, then the mold would brush off easily.  If there was still some left, wipe it with Lysol. Well, I tried those steps and some of the mold came off, but not enough for the book to be usable.

Better, but not good enough to let the kids read it.

So not to be deterred, I decided to make my own book.  There were images on Google for the cover, then I scanned each page of the inside of the book and voila...

I'm a rootin' tootin' cowboy and my name is Cowboy Dan;
I can a ride a horse and rope a steer as fast as any man.
But once I was a tenderfoot - My ignorance was sad -
And when the cowboys called me "Dude," it made me whoopin' mad.
I jumped upon a mustang that stood beside the rail;
The ornery critter sat right down and slid me off her tail.

The cowboys said that ridin' was easy as a song,
But everything I did at first just seemed to be all wrong.
I forgot my big sombrero and got sunburned as you please;
I forgot to wear my leather chaps and the bushes scratched my knees.
But when they called the roundup, I was ridin' with a vim,
And I was hopin' Tex would say that I could go with him.
The first to leave the bunkhouse was the wagon with the cook,
With beans and bacon, pots and pans all rattling as they shook.
Then came the string of horses with Slim and Hank and Pete,
And Tex said, "Come on, Danny Boy, You'll make all hands complete."
We rounded up the cattle and drove them hard all day;
When sunset came, we let them graze and sleep the night away.
For we were hungry cowboys and tired as we could be -
When cook yelled, "Come and get it, boys!"  Those beans looked good to me.
Then Hank brought out his banjo and gave the strings a twang,
And as we sat around the fire, This is the song he sang:
"Oh, He's a rootin' tootin' cowboy, and his name is Cowboy Dan;
He can ride a horse and rope a steer as fast as any man -
Yippee -e-e-e-e-e-e-e-!"

So it ended up being a profitable day for both of us, Mother got some errands done and I got a book from years ago to pass along to the next generation.  And of course, we got to spend some time together, too!