first!

second!

Three cheers for Flopsy!!!

Adorable pic!

What a great story! Here's to the safe arrival of your mom and dad, I hope we get to hear quite a bit about their visit. With pictures.

And no, I would not leave the cats unattended with them. Heh.

love the 70s avocado kitchen appliances!

also: brilliant idea, the birthday funeral.

um. Have you seen the pictures of the dude growing super rabbits? 23 lbs big!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070212/sc_afp/germanynkoreaanimals_070211235645

He's selling them to places like North Korea who eat rabbit and stuff because they are so big and breed like, well, rabbits.

Sad. I like me some big fluffy bunny.

Suzi, who never got over the Velveteen Rabbit and is to THIS DAY certain her stuffed animals are alive, partying at her house while she is away.

Once, when i was turtle-sitting in high school, i had to call and inform my best friend that said turtle had escaped. "Are you sitting down?" i ask in all seriousness, i tell her the awful news, and she LAUGHS at me. Then she asks me how the hell a turtle could have escaped?

Ten years later, she still brings it up "Hey, rememeber that time you lost MY TURTLE?" Heartless wench. *sigh*

I sympathize with your family, i'm awesome at "losing" pets, one way or another, and having to break it to someone that their animal has become another victim of my Black Thumb of Doom (seriously, pets, plants, plastic, i'm a terrible custodian.)

Poor Flopsy Bunny, may you and Herman the Turtle go on to the big Road Kill... er, i mean Wilderness in the Sky. :D

I had a hamster that I thought ran away to a better life of happy fields. I came to find out many years later that my parents had neglected to tell me that he had actually crawled into the vacuum cleaner tube, gotten stuck and my mom had discovered his little body while trying to figure out why her vaccuum wasn't working.

"The many assorted casseroles of grief"!
You ARE lutheran - I swear!
Now to finish reading.

Heh! reminds me of the time Speedy the turtle "ran away" from his pond.

I would love to come to your funeral! Wait, that didn't come out the way I meant.

My mother made us a cake like that once. The pictures of our bunny cake are similar to the one you show except in ours I am wearing green bell-bottoms with white fish on them and a matching midriff halter top. Oh, and my hair was cut JUST like Dorothy Hamill's.

Here's to Flopsy...

10-4 on the po' folks making good. See how I worked that CB lingo in there? Because all my boyfriends had CBs in their mustangs. YOU know how it goes. The only one who didn't have a CB is my now husband, who is one of them Yanks. YOU know how it goes. Us southern girls roll like that.

I love it that the whole famdamnly is coming for a visit! Take lots of pictures, OK?

This reminds me of the story my friend Erin told me about when she and her mom were living on the commune and were dirt poor and had two pet goats, Ike and Tina. And one day, Erin came home from school and Ike was nowhere to be found. She looked and looked, then found out the grim truth. Ike was for dinner...

She hasn't been the same since.

I love looking at old pictures, it's the best! Great story!

I like the free shower caps too.

Just wanted to pop in and let you know that if you still want some Patons Up Country yarn, go to
Smiley's (http://www.pagelinx.com/cgi-shopper/loadpage.cgi/smileysyarns/ezshopper?user_id=id&file=iriot.htm) where it is going for $3.99/ball. Hope that price is good for you. Oh, you can probably handle the REAL story of what happened to your rabbit now, right?

Carmen in NC

CHEESE eating grin?! There was another euphamism we had for that sort of grin, but it is probably not suitable for this g-rated blog... Wee Monkey Gurl has the same grin.

Um, Laurie? People didn't eat rabbits in the bayou, did they? Because that's where my mind went at your father's toast to Flopsy Bunny.

I was going to mention the Patons UpCountry before I knew that Carmen was going to mention it.

Poor Flopsy. God knows what happened that crazy rabbit.

What a cute picture! And what a great idea, the un-funeral. I'm scheduling one right now for my 40th birthday, lo these 5 years off still. (That was sort of a Southern sentence. BTW, I followed your link and read about Uncle Mouse, who sounds like a stone riot, bless him, and I'd like to say that I spell it "y'all" and the plural is "all y'all." If it's two people, then it's "y'all two," as in "Y'all two cut that out." So are you from the Beams side of the family? Or what?)

Tell your mama'n them we said "hey." :)

Mmmm. When you're dad said Flopsy was "one damn good rabbit," how exactly did he mean that? Tastes just like chicken, right?

Hey, is your mom Meryl Streep? And are you just the cutest thing EVER?!

Awww, poor Flopsy Bunny. My mom lost my cat Mindy (as in Mork and) and only told me the truth when I got cats of my own (that she couldn't possibly loose). And all this time I thought my brother was allergic. Go figure.

I regret to report that the kitchen cabinets in the photo have been teleported to my present-day Minnesota kitchen, where they don't look any better. Those cabinets are history, depending on when I win the lottery or my kittens get their much-deserved modeling contract, whichever happens first.

I thought your brother was much younger than you? How many sibs do you have? What else are you hiding from us?

I've officially decided that for my one of my next big birthdays- I want to throw myself an "early" Irish wake. Lots of cocktails and casseroles, and laughter. I may even allow some pasta salads (ugh!)

It just seems such a shame that you have to miss the best party of your life! My Nana died last April, and in typical high-class Doherty nature, we had the post-funeral lunch at the local VFW. Open-bar all y'all! In the "Member's Room" no less. Where we could look at the photo of my Pa in his VFW uniform while drinking our whiskeys. We shut that place down. :)

Also, Laurie, I can relate to your Flopsy Bunny story. My life is riddled with those. I was gullible until my mid-twenties. All of my chickens I hatched in 3rd grade that stayed at my Nana Alice's house (funny -we ate a LOT of chicken dinners!). The worst was when my sister and I returned from our friends cottage for the weekend, and our dog was gone. The story (that my parent's claim to. this. day.) is that some man drove by and wanted to take Prince back to his big ol' farm up north. Where he had a nice female dog that Prince could "be friends" with.

I'm still not sure of that one.

And Jessi - I once had a turtle "run" away too. Long story... I hope little Coolio is all grown up and enjoying the wild. :)

I look forward to the stories and the pictures while your family is visiting!!!
Ah the good ole days of crawdadding...But what pray tell is nutra hunting....

Your brother is DEFINITELY planning something in that picture.

OMG could you BE any cuter in that picture??? And you haven't changed one bit!

R.I.P Flopsy Bunny.

They have their own website: http://www.nutria.com!!!

I prefer to believe that Flopsy Bunny escaped and is living out his autumn years terrorizing forrest animals. A few years ago my family decided that I was mature enough to handle the "real" stories of the loss of some of my childhood and not so childhood animals. After listening to the story of how my kitten met an early demise when my father accidently sat on her, or the story of how my finch didn't actually get out of his cage and fly away as much as he perhaps was found sticking out of my sister's cat's mouth...etc.....I much prefer the fake stories!

I think my mother had a booklet with cake designs like that! I may have it in my recipe collection somewhere...

I cannot read "The Velveteen Rabbit" to this day without bursting into tears. Which would be a non-issue, except for the time I participated in this program where community "professionals" (read: employed) would go and read to elementary school kids.

And of course, the little girl picked "The Velveteen Rabbit." And of course, I sobbed my eyes out reading it to her. Didn't phase the little girl one bit: "Oh, my mommy cries when she reads that book, too."

But I did get a funny look from the librarian and a concerned, "Are you OK?" from her...

And don't even mention "The Rainbow Bridge." That sucker is like kryptonite. I can't even describe it without bursting into tears.

What a sweet photo!!

Everyone can get together and say all the stuff they'd say if I were dead then we can eat fried chicken together and get liquored up and tell stories.
This is the best idea ever (after the sticker idea, of course)
I can just picture it. I'm sure my feelings would get hurt by some of the things said, and I would need to drink more. It would be funny.
hey, I had a Flopsy Bunny too!

weird...Suddenly I'm hungry for some hassenpeffer (tastes kinda like chicken)

My maternal grandfather made what I thought was fried chicken once...except the drumsticks and the wings looked strange...and we had to watch out for buckshot. (one of the two times I've ever eaten meat that wasnt bought in a store...that I know of)

My mom is from Mississippi...she's told me stories of eating squirrel, rabbit (wild ones...I swear!) and the pigs on one of her uncle's farms that she and her sister had given names to.

When I was 5, I visited one of my dad's aunts on her farm in Central Nebraska. I picked up a baby chick and accidentally dropped it. A couple of a years later, I went back. Went into the hen house with my aunt and got chased back out by a chicken. My aunt figured that it was the same chick I dropped when I was 5...

We had some really good fried chicken that night. I just dont remember anyone going out to KFC to pick up the takeout...

Oh, but OtherLisa, have you read the 10th Good Thing About Barney? Had to read that one to a grief counseling group at an elementary school one time. Almost didn't make it through. I'm sniffly just thinking about it.

Ahhh bunnies! I love bunnies, they taste like real lean chicken.

Sorry, but my poor family ate bunnies and bambies and lots of other strange things. My Mom was always making us eat weird things like cow brain and tongue, and it was extra special when she would put the sheep head on the table for dinner. Come and eat...

Then there was the time she decided to kill our own turkey for Thanksgiving. She held onto the feet and my Dad chopped off the head then it's wings started flapping and my Mom held on with blood squirting everywhere,

Great childhood memories, sometimes I feel like I'm cheating my kids by giving them such a boring life although I did gross them out with the turkey gizzards once. Mom would have been proud.

I'm almost curious what nutra hunting is. On the other hand I'm extremely sad to say that I do know what frog gigging and crawdadding are and you didn't ewww either of those, so I'm pretty scared about what nutra hunting is too.

My husband turtle sat for a friend and one of them ran away, lost forever in the grassy back yard.

I agree with the above mentions that perhaps, just perhaps, Flopsy made a tasty dinner. That was the first thing I thought of.

Poor Flopsy.

Laurie, I had an idea about the cat litter.

Maybe you could look and see if your parents are going to pass thru a city where the litter is available, and then they could stop and buy out the pet store's supply of cat litter and bring it to you in California?

just an idea...

When did you sneak into my home and remove that picture from my old album with the sticky pages?!

My parents got a duck one day, which I thought was going to be our pet. I named it 'Webby' after the girl from Duck Tales. When it 'disappeared', my parents told me that they'd sold it to a neighbor. I cried.

Ten years later, I brought it up and my sister laughed at me, before saying: "don't you remember what we had for dinner that night?"

:(

Um, did he mean Good as in Tasty? Cuz if that's what he meant, Flopsy didn't die of old age, he floated down the crick with the chicks and goslings my mom got for Easter that one year.

Is there any way that we could get some CAP 4-H stories?? I'm a 10-year myself and always delight in other's stories. ;)

I happen to know from reading previous comments that Laurie's folks read her blog... LOL! [Waves to the nice nice people]

I hope you are going to take them to The Tar Pits. [Wow... sounds Southern, don't it?]

I envy you... my folks are gone, so enjoy!

Oh, and I meant to say... I once had to get rid of some rats for my sister... my niece SWORE she wouldn't let them mate... had like 20 babies! My niece didn't find out till she was in her 20s and still hasn't forgiven me... sheesh...

Will you allow your parents to guest blog for you so we can learn some dirt about your childhood?

So, what happened to Flopsy Bunny?

I love the early funeral idea! I have to admit that I was well into adulthood before it dawned on me that I could have KFC without someone dying. And that fluffy jello stuff. Once after a relative's funeral, I took the whole bowl of jello fluff and sat in a closet and ate the whole thing. My way of grieving, I guess..shrug

Ha, ha, ha! What a smile, you are so exuberant! Cheers to Flopsy.

Now, now k., if Laurie were Lutheran she would be calling them the "hot dishes of grief".

Oh man--my aunt made me that same silly bunny cake for one of my early birthdays! And I think I probably grinned that same grin when I saw it. And I'm a damn Yankee, through and through.

I have never been camping. Nope, never. Closest I've come is sleeping in my grandparent's RV parked in the driveway. As my mom says, "Roughing it is staying at the Super 8, right?"

OK, so one of my friends did throw a wake for one of her birthday parties and it was SO FUN! We all dressed up in mourning attire and got to put sticky notes all over her apartment of what we wanted to inherit in her will.

She did clever little tombstone invites too.

The next year, the theme was "Back from the Dead" so everyone dressed up as zombies and we sang "Happy Birthday" in zombie-dirge tones. ha ha ha!

Maybe you could get someone to dress up as Flopsy Bunny!

Find a vendor of you-know-what on your parents driving route and force them to make a pet supply stop!

I love your mom's expression. Weary amusement: "I can't believe it turned out like this, a babuska and two crazy kids."

I love your mom.

I think I had the bunny cake for my 1st bday. and here in GA, we say "likkered up." ;)

Ok, I think I was transplanted from where you grew up and they just told me I was born in Michigan. I also did disgusting things like swim in the ditch, catch tadpoles, and get blood suckers on me when I was a kid. I would not be caught dead doing those things now. I don't even want to talk about pet rabbits....not kidding, I think we had them for dinner. I am a hick. Is there a group for us? Hicks anonymous?

Please, please take many pictures of your "kinfolk" while they are here. Maybe post some then-and-now pics while you are it? I also LOVE the idea of having them guest-blog and tell us all kinds of good stories from your wild and misspent youth :)

Also, random other thought...I still cannot stop laughing about a previous witty phrase...the "Cardigan of Constant Sorrow". Damn girl, you do have a way with words!!!

I just had another thought...was Flopsy an angora rabbit?

Maybe they sold him to a nice knitter who likes to spin angora yarn???

Poor little mean flopsy...kind of reminds me of the guinea pig we had when I was little that used to bite everyone that came near it. It got loose when my mother was at the hospital in labor with my youngest brother, and our neighbor that was staying with it searched high and low. She actually found it - and I have a vivid mental picture of her on hands and knees in our bathroom checking under the sink. That guinea pig lived on to chew through his metal exercise wheel, before losing all of his hair and teeth, and we found him dead in the tank one day. I believe we buried him in the woods in our backyard, and we warped little kids staged a funeral for him.

We make that very same cake every Easter :)

Thank goodness somebody corrected me on the "hotdishes of grief." I guess I've been out of Minesota too long.
And disgusting things to eat? Somebody just told us about eating cougar. I don't think he appreciated us standing there saying, "You ate CAT???"

Your mom totally looks like Meryl Streep in that photo and you look adorable. I'm from the bayou too...though proud to say I have never gone frog giggin. But I once saw Lyle Lambert's dad hold the back legs of a huge bullfrog and, when it extended itself to try to get away, he chopped off its head and they had it for dinner. Ew.

Oh. My. Dearling! This blog and the attendant comments make my WEEK! I know what nutrias are, and eeeeeeew sums it up. I'm a North Dakotan but I read a lot. Yes, RobynE, Lutheran and Minnesotan, those ARE hot dishes of grief. I'm a yr away from my next birthday but it's #65 and I do believe I'm going to have a Funerary Party. Flopsy Bunny the Psychobun of the Bayous - may I PLEEEZE write a story about him? He's just calling to me from the gr**, um pla**, um, Great Beyond. And Otherlisa? I can't even DESCRIBE the Rainbow Bridge without sniffling. (waaaaa-ah).

PS: 1. I have those cupboards right NOW; 2. Yep, your momma IS Meryl Streep; 3. You look like my bestest friend when we were that age; 4. YES, we want to hear it all! I adopted you, Laurie, so that makes them my -- in-laws? by-laws?

Ha! That reminds me of the pet rabbit I had in college. He didn't like to be held or touched. I think I might still have claw marks on my thigh from trying to hold him while I was wearing shorts! He went to live on a rabbit farm - yes I took him to an actual breeder - the day after I found pee in my shoes and him sitting on the bed... I was taking no chances!

We had some damn good bunnies when we were kids too. My Dad's favourite was the one that would roll over on his tummy and pee up at anyone who came near him.

We grew up po' and let me tell you, I love me the luxuries. Yessiree!

My favorite is the part about you and your brother punching each other in the arm HARD. My brother and I still do that, in public, and my mom rolls her eyes all the way to the back of her head and wishes she had something to hide under.

What makes the story better is that he's 6'3" and is a big guy, I'm about 5'4" and could go by the name "Flaca."

BTW, my dad's side of the family is from Mississippi (we're Texan), and he grew up eating chickens his Grandma killed in front of them, squirrel pot pie, etc. My mom still freaks when she talks about the time she came to meet the extended family and found out that they were eating squirrel dumplings for dinner :)

Ever went noodling, Laurie? My hubby is from East Texas and grew up doing that.

You SO still have that same sh** eating grin! Cute! And your brother has a wicked gleam in his eye!

When I was about 6, I had a sweet white albino bunny with scary red eyes. He lived in a cage in the backyard. One day 2 big boxer (dogs) who lived down the street tore open his cage and ate him!

I never saw the evidence, but my mother caught the dogs, put them in our garage, and kept them until the owners grovelled and pleaded for their return. After that, we got cats.

Got any good recipes for those funeral cassaroles?

Nutrias! Eeeew! Did you hunt them for the pelt? Or was it the meat? Or just to feel smug killing a nasty water rat? But someone else mentioned crawdaddies (mudbugs?)--yum.

Excellent avocado green kitchen you got there! Ours was "harvest gold." I still have an ancient Sears electric hand mixer that color. It's senile and needs Depends, but still kinda works.

Neilochka, the guest-blogging was an awesome idea. I third it!

Bunny cake! Just like Grandma used to make!! Thanks for the memories....

Hi Laurie! I really hope you post some Hor-O-Scopes this month (yes it's March here, I'm in New Zealand, which means that when I get to LA in May I arrive four hours earlier than I leave - hurrah for TIME TRAVEL!)

Anyway back to the horoscopes... even though I'm leaving the country for good and all, the selfish (and Venus-ruled) part of me would appreciate some good news on my love life...

Oh, if you like that Easter bunny cake you need to see the Australian Womens Weekly cake book - Aussies & Kiwis my age have probably had every cake out of that thing!

ahhh yes... The Boy and I have a secret we hold from my many brothers about the fate of one of our prior dogs... (shhhhhhhhhhhhhh). I plan to take it to my grave. DH however has to be reminded to keep his mouth shut.

OMG...did they *eat* your bunny? Because that's just wrong.

The story about your fight at the funeral gave me quite a laugh. Thanks.

My DH told me this story about how his family used to raise bunnies, and I said 'oh, how cute, to have pet bunnies,' and he said, 'yeah, they made good pets, and better dinner.' I swear, I don't know how I kiss that man on the lips.

RIP Flopsy, and that had better not be what happened to Bluey who "ran away" out of a locked yard only accessable from the outside by going through a locked garage, or scaling a ten foot stone wall whilst we were away at camp. Although, knowing uncle Jimmy, I fear that's exactly what happened to Bluey. Bluey wasn't so much a cute bunny, as a bad temper wrapped in fur.

Hi, Laurie. I'm a frequent lurker and infrequent poster. Some thoughts that came to mind during your always entertaining post:

1. Sorry to hear about Flopsy. One of my bunnies had a similar fate. Although, I found out later exactly what happened to it -- my mom's cousin, Louie, enjoyed it for dinner. I didn't talk to Louie for a long time after that.

2. I was also in 4-H -- 10 years of raising sheep (which I still cannot eat) and competing in public speaking events and such. Had my first kiss at 4-H camp! Very fond memories...

3. My family also gets likkered up and eats lots of casserole at funerals.

4. Are you sure you weren't in my family's kitchen circa 1972?

Cheers,
-wendy in sf

Reminds me of when we moved from CT to TX when I was 6. We couldn't take the dog. My mom told us she'd gotten the dog another home. 20 Years later, we were back visiting my grandparents and happened to drive past the animal shelter. Mom said, "That's where we took Bang Bang." (the dog was born on July 4th; I named her. I was 4.) I was so mad at her for slipping up and telling me the truth.

Mom was also bad with fish. We always put them in the tub when we cleaned the tank. One time she forgot to put the stopper in. Another time, she didn't check the water temp and all the guppy babies went belly-up. And yet, she managed not to kill her kids... :-)

My family makes that same damn bunny cake every Easter. Are we distantly related?

Gurl: They soooo ate your rabbit while you were at camp! You know they did. (I had a Beatrix Potter-Inspired bunny: Benjamin Bunny, when I was little. He didn't get eaten, but to this day I can't eat rabbit. My dad ran over my sister's pet chicken with the car, and told her the raccoons dun drug her off. I think to this day she is the only family member who doesn't know the truth... And I'm not going to be the one to tell her!)
Love your blog!

Great story and wonderful picture!

Many years ago, when my friends and I were all in our early twenties, somehow, we wound up sitting around my apartment living room, on the floor, each one of us taking a turn giving a eulogy for each person in the room. Everyone was crying. The really sad part? All of us were sober.

do you know when or where your folks will stop in texas? perhaps you can have some contraband kitty litter shipped to that location, and then they can smuggle it into california for you?

This guy who Grasshopper used to date celebrates his birthday by throwing a wake for himself each year. Guests are supposed to tell all the stories about him that they normally would at a funeral.

Hmm, in my family when the word "good" is applied to any edible species, I get very suspicious. I too, grew up down there and did my share of frog gigging, crawdadding, etc. In our family, if it crawled, swam or walked, it was fair game for the dinner table sometimes. I guess that is why, now, I always ask.."what is this". I learned the hard way!

It really is a shame that the best family times usually happen at funerals. My grandaddy died when I was in college and my grandmama's very large and southern family packed into their tiny little house to eat up all the food that the church folks brought. I never seen that many people in that house or heard that many stories about our family at once. Being Baptist to the core, there wasn't any drinkin' but my cousin and I did manage to get scalding hot coffee ALL OVER THE KITCHEN...my grandmother's Mr. Coffee is from the days before the automatic no-drip shutoff. It was amazing how quickly that little dribble went EVERYWHERE.

My mom is equally terrified of snakes. Probably because she got into a nest of babies when she was a toddler on my great-grandparents' farm. None of them bit her, but she was scarred for life anyway.

Oh my gawd -- we are related!

And seriously your brother does not look like he wants to eat the cake, he looks like he is about three seconds from dumping it on your puddin' head.

I am not even going to tell you what I ate last time DH and I took each other out to the local too-pricey-for-more-than-twice-a-year French restaurant. Luckily all vaguely fluffy parts had been removed before I ever saw it.

Dang, you were beautiful. Some things never change.

Heh, totally had one of those funerals this weekend for my great aunt.. except she was VERY Baptist, so the booze was on the DL the night between the viewing and the funeral. When the wine arrived at dinner, my mother said, "I feel like we should toast her! Well, maybe when the coffee comes..." :) Enjoy your family's visit!

I can't believe that I read this blog for a year before I started to read the comments. Y'all crazy. Not like me. Amazing coincidence that I always have a similar story to share, tho... Hmm...

I had two adorable lop ear bunnies, Presto and Puddin. Presto knew several commands, like beg, "go to your room", down, and no. He was also litter box trained. Puddin, his girlfriend (yes - they were neutered) was Satan's Rabbit. But hey, they got along fine. Rabbits make great pets.

I was babysitting an iguana for my friend once, and in the span of one day, my chow chow ate it. Yes, she was fine after. And yes, I am that wacky vet tech. (But don't worry, everything else I have pet-sat since then has been just fine.)

Have fun with your parents. I love my parents - they are funny as hell. (In a very dry, ironic, sarcastic way.) Since I've been unemployed, I've been spending most weekends at their house hanging out. It's great to get to be 30-something and be real, adult friends with your parents.

texas here. my mom made that bunny cake EVERY year and it was the centerpiece of the HUH-YOOGE easter explosion that overtook the kitchen. my easter pictures all have me in one of those one piece jumpsuits that ties over the shoulders. you 'member? the ones where you had to strip down damned near nekkid to piss?

The more I read your blog, the more I suspect we are alike.

Ditto on the pet rabbit story. Only with us it was our pet cow.

And I NEVER camp, if I can help it, for exactly the same reason.

WHAT. WERE YOU DOING. IN MY GRANDMA'S. KITCHEN?
(degrammarized for effect)

Actually, as I like to say it, "The crumb don't fall far from the cracker."

My mom STILL makes a cake very similar to that every year for Easter. It has to be carrot cake of course, and also every year I avoid it since I am not fond of carrot cake....

Want another bunny? I'll be down there in two weeks and I have a litter of jersey woolies who will be just old enough for new homes...

Ahh the bunny story- something very similar happened to my Aunt Mary when she was little- apparently Grandpa brought home a lamb that they kept as a "pet" until um, Easter morning. According to my mom, my Aunt Mary was so devestated she refused to ever eat lamb again, she was so upset over the lamb.

I had never heard the story, but my mom told it at my Aunt's funeral- she had died suddenly and young, and my mom thought it would be good to have some humor, so she got up there and gave the eulogy about "Mary and her little lamb." She had the whole church simultanously laughing and crying....

So why is the best parties are funerals? My family is Mexican American and when my grandma died they got mariachis to sing happy party music at her buriel. I remember standing there and the mariachis struck up rowdy drinking songs, and the priest just looked seriously amused and my dad couldn't help cracking a smile (it was his mom) and I turned to him and said "dad isn't that, um party music?" and he smiled and said "its what she wanted- nothing sad or mournful- just a good party song to remember her by."

And I remember that it made me smile.

Dear Laurie, I was introduced to your blog a couple of days ago. Yesterday I was sick at home and spent about half the day going right back through your archives and laughing (and coughing, thanks very much for that) my ass off. What a great way to spend a day off :) Got my best friend hooked on ya too.

I have GOT to know what is the "Cardigan of Constant Sorrow" - please share?

I want to have a wake-birthday too, what a riot that will be.

Dear Laurie, I was introduced to your blog a couple of days ago. Yesterday I was sick at home and spent about half the day going right back through your archives and laughing (and coughing, thanks very much for that) my ass off. What a great way to spend a day off :) Got my best friend hooked on ya too.

I have GOT to know what is the "Cardigan of Constant Sorrow" - please share?

I want to have a wake-birthday too, what a riot that will be.

You had an Uncle Mouse? I had an Uncle Bunny. :-) And I was related to his children two different ways.

Your post made me laugh (as usual). If you ever get the opportunity, you should look at "The White Trash Cookbook" -- you'll love it, trust me.

thought you might enjoy if you haven't already seen this: http://www.redcross.org/museum/exhibits/knits.asp

I was so afraid you were going to say that your family made rabbit stew or the like with poor ol' Flopsy Bunny after all that talk about frog spearing and the like.

I must admit that I didn't read the whole post before. Now that I have read about Flopsy, I am reminded about the stories my mom used to tell me about the chicks that she received for Easter when growing up in the fine state of Virginia. Actually that would be the finest state. Because that's how Virginians are. A week or two after Easter, the chicks would be "adopted" by neighbors to be raised to adulthood.

Oh, dear. I infer that in that photo, your family is about to enjoy a Flopsy cake. (Now *that's* a high-protein dessert!)

P.S. You had an Uncle Mouse; I have an Aunt Mickey!

This reminds me of that Lyle Lovett song. "I went to a funeral Lord it made me happy Seeing all those people That I haven't seen Since the last time Somebody died Hearing all those funny stories that I haven't heard since the last time somebody died" (or something like that). It sounds like your funerals are much more fun than the ones in my family.

I lived for one year in Houma,Louisiana in 1957. I was in the 3rd grade and it was something else. The palmeto bugs are so large they can carry small children away. Its so humid there my mother would dampen the clothes before ironing them and had to keep them in the fridge or they would mildew before she could get them ironed. The winter we were there it snowed about 2 inches. It was the first snow in 80 years. Everyone was let out of school and off work for 2 days. Many of the people were afraid ALL that snow would make their roof cave in. But some of those homes were pretty bad, so it might have. The school I attended made you buy your lunch every day. It cost 35 cents per week for lunch (that was to pay for the milk). Most of the children were so poor that was the best meal for them for all day. Many children came to school barefooted because they only got shoes in the winter time.

Just a little bit of history from when I was in Luziana. We were glad to leave.

I am groovin' on that Harvest Gold!

Great story, too. Reminds me of the year I "grew" pumpkins in my very own punkin patch. Didn't know the truth for years.

Long live Flopsy Bunny!

you didnt by chance have rabbit stew around the time flopsy "died" did you ? Or have some sort of meat that you couldnt quite identify ?? Just wondering...

My husband once helped a friend butcher some chickens, and the friend sent him home with a live rooster. Our then six-year old son, Kjell, named the rooster "Marcia." Later that day, my husband explained to Kjell that Marcia was not a pet, but was intended for dinner. When he whacked off Marcia's head, Kjell looked at him and said, "Mom's not going to like that." My in-laws were visiting that week, and my mother-in-law made supper. I can still see Kjell sitting at the table. He looked at his plate, signed and said, "Poor Marcia" before devouring his chicken and dumplings. We also had a hamster once (named "Hammy" - what else?) who met an untimely demise. He used to escape constantly and hide all over the house, leaving droppings as a clue to his whereabouts - like it was a game we really wanted to play? Anyway, we could hear him upstairs running around one night and suddenly there was silence and then a thud. He had taken a flying leap off the stair landing - perhaps he needed glasses, but he never told us.

I think someone else in your eleventy seven comments said this, but get your parents to load up as much of your cat litter as they can get into your truck and smuggle it over the line! Then you can get the 'suitable sub' and mix the two together to get them used to the new stuff for when you run out. And don't forget--scoop and trash, not scoop and flush! It's much better for cat poop to rot in a land fill and eventually pollute the drinking water than for it to poison poor defenseless weasels, er, otters. Then again, you could get a composting toilet; then you could use it (eventually) in your Garden of Eatin' (eww) which is how I found you in the first place. If you hadn't blogged about your raised bed I'd still be thinking I was *the* crazy cat lady!

That picture is the GREATEST! And amen for growin' up "poor and grubby"... I know where of you speak... makes us enjoy our grown up treats to ourselves just that much more.

Enjoy the day.

Your mom looks like Meryl Streep!

Your mom is pretty! She looks like Meryl Streep.

Sounds a bit like my family. Though, I don't know of any particular animal death stories I could tell you. Funeral jokes are the best, huh? Why do we get all inappropriate when someone dies?

Speaking of which, you're killing me here! You left a message on my blog, saying you had an "unconventional question" for me, but you never asked it. You can't know what suspense like that does to me.

They've really never told you what happened to Flopsy? My mother JUST finally told me what became of Hamster Henry, my cherished pet when I was nine years old. The hamsters were constantly escaping their Habitrail, and one night while she was watching tv, she heard the most awful noise she says she's ever heard in her life, to this day (this was 23 years ago). The sound was coming from the closet, and when she opened the door, she saw a RAT pull the hamster through a hole in the wall! We couldn't really do much about the wharf rats, living on the river and all, so I'm glad she didn't tell me then, since I probably would have never slept again.

We also lost a rabbit to the damn devil dog across the street. But that story isn't nearly as colorful.

Oh my, yes! The things our parents do to our beloved animals when we aren't around! Now that I'm a parent I understand it a bit better.

Hey, I wanted to tell you that a friend recommended that I try your roll brim hat for my first hat project and I did...it was WAY TOO FUN, even without wine. Thanks for it. A pic of it on the head of my beautiful toddler daughter (for whom it was made) is on my blog.

Have fun with your parents!

Thar picture is so adorable. I never knew bunnies could be vicious, but you have a heart of gold for loving Flopsy anyway. I think your idea of having funerals for the living is grand. Maybe I'll plan one for my birthday one of these years. Have fun with the folks!

That last comment was me BTW

Bunnies are mean y'all. Didn't Jimmy Carter get attacked by a bunny?

That kitchen is freaking me out! Did everyone have avacodo appliances in the 70's?

Never been a bunny fan, myself...they seem awfully nervous and nippy. I've been bitten several times. "Cute," my butt!

For all that is good in the world would someone out there offer this woman a writing gig already?

I mean really, if stories about some rabbit named Flopsy Bunny don't do it, I don't know what will!

Book contract, people, book contract!

It must be people from the south, my parents decided that my pet ducks were dinner. Not only did they kill them, they expected me and my sisters to pluck them. I barfed all over my Dad's shoes and was able to get out of the plucking. Barf is the great equalizer, kinda like poo.
I do go camping but, I am known as the Galleria camper along with my sister. Frog legs were tasty as a child but, I wouldn't touch them now. Ewwww!

methinks your dad said that flopsy was a good rabbit, when INFACT he was thinking flopsy was a yummy rabbit. i recently had a converation with my eldest brother, in which he told me that his huge white rabbit just disappeared one day, and that my dad had in fact killed/butchered and eaten it! parents do these things! like my disappearing male cat, who had started to pee in the house. no explaination...yup...just not there one day.

OMFG, I used to have the same glasses as your maniacal brother!

Why is it that every time I have started to read your blog lately I've suddenly realized that I have to go to the bathroom?

Lord have mercy, girl -- funeral casseroles? Nutria? Motel shower caps? FOS daddies? We were surely separated at birth.

Just wanted to say that your post on Uncle Mouse happens to be how I discovered your journal in the first place, "lo these many years ago." I can't remember what I had Googled that brought up your bit about Longview Intercontinental, but I was hooked on the spot. I grew up in East Texas, (hi Leeny!) in between Longview and Shreveport, and thought sure enough, that sounds like every tale I've ever heard told of either end of that trip!

(And the swishy genealogy biddies, at whose description I didn't even bat an eye, were the icing on the cake. I bet I know their hairstyles too!)

I hope it makes you smile to think how much light you bring into all our days. :)

Oh and I forgot, also brothers with Tony Dorsett jerseys. ;)

I have a picture of myself with a twin of that cake from approximately 1976. Weird....did everybody make rabbit cakes like that then??

I just found this and I know how you feel about Paton's Up Country.
http://www.pagelinx.com/cgi-shopper/loadpage.cgi/smileysyarns/ezshopper?user_id=16087&file=iriot.htm

Not alot of color selection, but its Up Country.

Ack!! Just followed your Uncle Mouse link to Longview Texas!!! I was born in SoCal but we moved back to Texas so my dad could get another degree. My mom is from White Oak so we ended up in east Texas to stay. After college at OU my hubby and I moved around the great state of Texas, Houston and Austin mostly, but have come back home. You can take the girl out of Longview but you can't take Longview out of the girl! Oh yeah, there is a nice yarn shop here too. Oh Oh yeah, it is yall, not y'all or ya'll.

how good was that bunny?

From the avocado green fridge, I'm guessing that picture was taken circa 1975?

I dont know if you are a writer or not, but you should be!

A friend sent your link via a knitting egroup. I usually try to at least glance at all new knitting links. I started reading your blog and then not only reading it, but reading it out loud to my husband. I have been lmao the whole time. He didnt laugh so much, but then, he isnt a Texan AS you stated, once a Texan, always a Texan! He might have moved me to Yankee land, but I will ALWAYS be a Texan! Not only that, but a BOI Texan! (Born On Island, as in Galveston Island, not only sand between my toes, but salt water in my blood, and gills behind my ears!).

I just clicked through to the link about your Uncle's funeral and went OMG!!

I live in Longview. I was born here and have lived most of my life here.

Pity me now?

I had a mean bunny too! His name was Hoppy, and he used to lunge at us and spit. He was probably pissed off at all the times our cat tried to hump him.

Raising my Cherry Coke Zero in Honor of that wascally wabbit Flopsy!
I know how you feel about family visiting! My parents just came for a visit with me and my menfolk and I had the most wonderful time!!! It was the first time ever mom and I knit together and I'll NEVER forget it!!
Brothers...sheesh...do they every grow up?!?! LOL