Natalie Stone

EDIT: I wrote this a week after my great-grandfather passed, with the intention of filling in the rest of his story and posting it. I still plan to do that, but his life was so BIG I can’t fit it into one post. So here’s his life before Huntsville and before he was a part of my family.

I bet you do not know who that is. Well, he was my great-grandfather, and as great-grandfathers go, he was pretty darn great.

Grandaddy Charles, as I called him, passed away on Friday of last week. He was 99 years old, and he made the most of every single one of those years, as near as I can tell.

Grandaddy Charles was born in Texas in 1911. He grew up in Fort Stockton on a sheep farm, and in high school, he helped wire houses for electricity. You can read more about his life in Fort Stockton here; his local paper did a write-up on him a few weeks before he died. He attended Texas A&M, and when he graduated in 1933, he joined the Army reserves. Below is my favorite picture of Grandaddy Charles, at A&M in 1933:

Grandaddy went on to have a pretty storied career in the military. Considered too old to fight in WWII, he trained soldiers. He went on to serve all over the globe, including Japan and the Eastern Bloc. (The Eastern Bloc assignment was always the most interesting to me. It was during the Cold War, and I’ve been told that he was there to do reconnaissance on the roads and bridges in Russia.) He retired in 1962 as a Colonel. There’s even a photo of him in the Philippines, but I can’t say for sure if was stationed there or just on leave. Behold:

And that’s only half of his life!

During the years from ‘33-’62 is also when he met and married his first wife, Peggy. Peggy preceded him in death, and they did not have any children.

In the mid-60s, Grandaddy Charles moved to Huntsville to take a civil position on Redstone Arsenal, the local Army base. It was during his career at the Arsenal that he met my great-grandmother, Alice, whom I called Grandmommy. More on Grandaddy’s life in Huntsville soon.

So it’s been over 2 months since I last posted. That is lame. I’ll work on that. Anyway, I’ve been redecorating my bedroom. It’s not done, but here is a pic of the headboard I made:

I used this tutorial, with some modifications. First, I didn’t want to block an awkward window so I only made the headboard 4′ tall (the width of the insulation foam). Second, I didn’t hinge mine. (Those nuts and bolts looked scary!) I just duct taped all the pieces together when I finished. Lastly, I have to totally disagree with her on the use of duct tape to attach the fabric. It seemed to hold OK at first, but I wasn’t pleased with it overall. I bought a staple gun just so I could attach the fabric properly.

I may post a longer version of the tutorial, if you’re interested, but we’ll see. The next item on my bedroom to-do list is to pick a paint color. The almond color that they’ve painted everything in this place is so blah.

First, a New Years non-binding resolutions update: Things are progressing, albeit more gradually than I would like. I’m trying not to freak out about it. That’s why these resolutions were non-binding: all the motivation of a resolution, at leas 25% less guilt.

So the real story: what happened with THE DOG. So about a month ago, I adopted an adorable dog named Veronica. She had a sweet face and a sad story. The first couple days I had her, I did not so much sleep. I was anxious because the dog was nervous, which made the dog more nervous which made me more anxious. I understand that this is common when you first adopt a dog. But the levels to which I responded to this emotionally were not. I didn’t sleep, and I didn’t eat. I was constantly on edge.

While the dog did calm down some after the first night or two, she never settled at my place. She always seemed weary or leary, maybe both. She needed constant physical affirmation to be sure I wasn’t leaving, and when I did, she was miserable and vocal. And I felt horrible for leaving her. (Did I mention that I was not processing this in a normal way? Because I was not.) She responded well to training, but, again, she never seemed settled. And then, when my sister came to stay with me briefly, the dog lost it. She was wary of my sister and barked at her, wouldn’t come near her, even when bribed with treats.

After a while, it became clear that I couldn’t handle the dog and that she was unhappy in my home. Call me weak; I certainly called myself that. I didn’t know what to do. I never thought I would be the person who takes a dog back after adopting. And I didn’t want something terrible to happen to what I knew to be a good dog.

When it all got to be too much, Scott sweetly let me keep the dog at his place, and I stayed with him so that she wouldn’t feel abandoned despite the change in locale. While at Scott’s, there was a noticeable change in the dog. She was around people most of the day (Scott’s roommate gets off work at about 3:00), and she had more space to roam. If Scott or Wil had wanted to adopt, I would have payed for her to stay with them. But the truth is, I was the one who wanted a dog.

Ultimately, I decided to take Veronica to a local no-kill shelter. I adopted her from a kill shelter, and I didn’t want to take her back there. I was fortunate that they accepted her, and I believe she has now been adopted. I still want to own a dog, and I believe I will make a good pet owner. After all, I’ve had a dog or dogs for the  majority of my life. What Veronica needed, and what I could offer her were not a good match. I know now that I won’t adopt while I live in my current place, which sucks because I really don’t want to move.

I take comfort in the fact that most everyone around me said that I seemed totally different, in a negative way, while the dog was in my care. I will always feel like I did her a disservice by not keeping her, but I still think it was the best thing. I’m also glad that because I did adopt her, she was not put down. If I had never come into her life, it’s likely she would have been put down. (She was scheduled to be euthanized the day I put in my application to adopt her.) I’ll never feel great about this story, but at least there was a happy ending for Veronica.

This year, I’m doing resolutions again. I’ve run the gammut on New Years resolutions, from having them and keeping them to making them and not keeping them to resolving not to resolve. Ultimately, I’ve never been burned by making resolutions so I’m doing it again this year. Here are my non-binding resolutions for 2010:

1. Create something everyday. This is usually a resolution to take a photo a day for a year, but I’ve widened my scope a bit. My plan is to make something “creative” everyday. That could be a photo, a drawing, a garment, etc. If it takes more than a day, I might consider progress on something involved, like a short story, as my something for the day. We’ll see where that goes.
2. Which segues into my next resolution: write a short story. I used to be a writer, and it’s been far too long. I’ve been threatening to do this for a while, but 2010 is the year I aim to do it.
3. Be more passionate about my work. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with the work I’m delivering, but I know I can do better. I don’t want to have regrets at the end of this year about what more I could have done in 2010. So I’m planning not to.
4. Be more definite. I’ve noticed that I have an annoying habit of giving myself an out in social situations. This year, I want my yes to be yes and my no to be no. No more wishy-washiness.
5. Along those same lines, I want to be less passive about keeping in touch with friends. Are you reading this thinking, “I can’t even remember the last time I spoke with Natalie…” Get ready. I will call you or write you or harass you in some other way in the near future…
6. The one you’ve all been waiting for because it’s so damn obvious: be more punctual.

I don’t expect to change overnight, and I’m guessing I might not actually achieve all of these, but I’m going to try.

In addition to my resolutions, I’ve also started my Life List. You can find it on my Life List page. This idea is totally lifted from Maggie Mason of Mighty Girl (you should check out her site, btw). It seems a bit arbitrary, but I like the idea of setting goals, both big and small, to drive me to accomplish things I want to do. I’ll have the satisfaction of marking them off when they’re complete with the added bonus of having told someone I wanted to do it beforehand.

You may notice that foster a dog and own a dog are on this list, uncrossed off. The dog didn’t work out, much to my disappointment. Veronica has gone on to find a new home, and I’m very glad for that. I miss her, but it was the best thing.

So what are your New Year’s resolutions? If you’re looking to pick any up, you should stop by 12 Months of Resolutions.

I read this article because of work.

Are Your Friends Making You Fat? [1]

It’s a piece on “social contagion” that uses the data from the Framingham Heart Study. {Let me state for the record that I don’t think my friends are making me fat or that any of them are fat.} It’s really interesting. Social contagion is the idea that we are what our friends do or that we’re at least influenced by it.

The idea is controversial. While anecdotal evidence would lead most of us would believe it to be true, it’s very hard to prove. First, there’s homophily: we tend to hang out with people like ourselves. Then, there’s environmental influence: you buy more Target products because one just opened up down the street from your house, not because your friends all do. But the guys who did this study say they’ve managed to cull that info out of the data to accurately portray how our friends influence us.

Because of the data available from the Framingham Study, it’s mostly related to health information; this article focuses a lot on obesity and how it’s contagious. But it’s really fascinating. I recommend reading it when you get a chance {it’s a bit of a commitment}, and I’ll update with the high points soon.

I’ve been threatening to do this for awhile now. Actually move my blog to my own domain. And today I did it, all by my little lonesome. This can be accounted to the fact that I found out that it is stupid simple to install Wordpress. Hooray!

So life lately has been quite busy. Work is a bit crazy, as per usual, and I’m gearing up for a month of travel. Since that’s exciting (and work isn’t), let’s talk about it further

First: Austin City Limits
Jen, Tiffany and I are travelling to Austin for its famed music festival. We’re going to be outside (!) listening to great bands with Brooke and some Austin peeps I’ve yet to meet. (It should be noted that I’m pumped to meet them.) I may even be able to see a little bit of Geoffrey and finally meet his girlfriend. I’ve never been to Austin, and it has been WAY too long since I last went on a road trip with Jen. All in all, signs point to awesome for this trip.

Next: Cruise to Cozumel
My mom, sister Sara and I are going on a cruise to Cozumel. This was going to be Mom and Sara’s first trip out of the country, but Mom just got back from Australia for work. So she ruined that. Jerk. (Just kidding.) It will be the first cruise for all of us, and I think it’s going to be fun. We embark from New Orleans, where I’ve never been, spend a day on the sea, a day in Cozumel and then travel back. I’m excited to see New Orleans for the first time, and we’ll have a day there before the trip. We’re a bit concerned about swine flu. (Can you imagine the flu on a boat with hundreds of people? Blech!) Otherwise, it should be great fun.

Finally: So You Think You Can Dance?
Well, no, I don’t. However, the people Scott and I are going to see very much can. We’re going the day after Halloween to see the SYTYCD tour (with Phillip!). Then we’re going to tool around the city where Scott lived for 6 years after college. Should be interesting. I’ve never been a big fan of the Midwest, but it will be neat to see where Scott spent his 20s. And don’t forget the part where we get to see the SYTYCD tour. Because that part is going to rule.

I just read an article entitled, “In New Film, Urban Chickens Come Home to Roost.” I may be blowing things way out of proportion here, but doesn’t it seem to you like we stopped farming in cities for a reason?

I have no real issue with using abandoned urban areas for growing vegetables. That seems like advanced gardening to me. But animal husbandry is a *groan* horse of a different color. Animals, when properly tended to, may not be much of an issue. But the scope of disaster for people who do it wrong, yeesh! Can you imagine all the exciting disease outbreaks that could await us?

I know that people who handle this responsibly wouldn’t have as much trouble with this sort of thing (for all those respectable urban farmers reading my blog), but laws are made for abuse, and this seems like an area that would be very dangerous. These are my thoughts on urban farming. Aren’t you glad you know now?