SAMMIE LLOYD OUSLEY

SAM OUSLEY

September 7, 1939 -- August 21, 2008

A Good and Godly Man, who will be Long and Deeply Missed.

ANOTHER PRAYER REQUEST FOR SAM

Once again I want to ask my readers to pause and offer a prayer in behalf of Sam Ousley. Sam is Betty's brother and last near blood-relative; all the rest are distant cousins who live far away. We hardly know what to ask for concerning Sam and Billie (and the rest of us) except that God's will be done and that there is enough strength and comfort for all to pass through these dismal times with hope, faith, and love intact. God's grace is more than sufficient for that if we will patiently accept it.

Sam is in his twenty or twenty-first week in ICU care in a Modesto, California, hospital, and his condition (damage left by a dying pancreas) continues to erode and now more swiftly. He now has internal bleeding and the doctors fear his internal organs are beginning to shut down. He can not communicate because of the tracheotomy and breathing equipment inserted in his neck and the effects of some of his medicines leave him confused anyway. We are assured that Sam is aware and at peace with his situation and is prepared for eternal life.

We are in a series of difficult phone calls and the waiting is hard and the news is bleak. We are preparing for another trip, but we fear it will not be in time for us to be with him again in this life.

Please remember Sam and his wife Billie, and the Ousley, Swank, and Wyatt families as we maintain this vigil and await whatever lies ahead. Billie and Betty and the rest of Sam's family and friends need your support and reassurance at this stressful time.

F.Y.I. ON THE YELLOW PERIL WARFRONT

Cooler weather.... Yeah!!

After a second lethal dose by Matt of the Alpha Group (a local pesticide company), we are down to a visually rated 5% of the former infestation. We hope these are random foragers that will soon abandon the dead nest and go away looking for a viable home elsewhere.

That's all I know as of today.

A SUPER SPECIAL DAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PATTY

No one needs to know just how serious this milestone actually is!! Right?
No one needs to know just how many decades this one represents!! Right?
No one needs to know just how many boxes of candles your cake must support. Right?
No one needs to ask Vital Statistics if your birth certificate is still extant, Right??
No one needs to apply for whole body donation in your name just yet. Right?
It's only coincidental how long the Israelites wandered in their wilderness, Right?
Or how many days and nights the first ever rains fell on Noah. Remember?
Or how long Moses remained in the cloud up on Sinai, fasting and making lists. (Was it really that long? It sure was!)
Or how long Saul, David, and Solomon each reigned as King of Israel? (They did too!)
Or how many days it took to embalm Jacob. Hmmmm? (OK, This one might be coincidental!)

Congratulations, Dear Daughter!!
You have done it in high style!!

YOU ARE AGED TO PERFECTION

And Your Daddy Loves You.

THE BATTLE ESCALATES

Well, after realizing that spraying the outside of the house with spendy little cans of "Hornet/wasp foam" wasn't going to get to the nest inside the wall, I bit the bullet and called in professional mercenaries!

Inside this sophisticated but sweaty white armor is a fella named Matt who engages the enemy every day for his company. They seem to be an ecologically responsible outfit well established in the local area, and I enjoyed having Matt take up the struggle I was not winning. I'm counting on his expertise and upon his information and promises!

After some analysis, Matt drilled a few stragically placed holes and sprayed something lethal to yellowjackets inside the wall, seeking to kill the queen, after which the rest of the "buggers" should die off or go away to establish their territory elsewhere. Apparently It's going take a few days, as the foragers continue to come and go, until all the colony has been lethally exposed or has given up on what is supposed to become a dead nest.

Check back in a week or so to learn the outcome..

ANGIE LONG: 19xx - 2008

**From the very day in 1967 that Betty and I arrived to live in Juneau, AK, we were loved, cherished, mentored, supported, encouraged, and fed - often - by Angie Long and her champion Maurice. Almost everything I know about hospitality I learned or saw confirmed in the character, good works, and home life of this precious Christian Woman of God. And now, following some difficult years of health and frailty, this special Saint has finished with this world and is a part of the life and promises to come for God's elect.

**I don't have a digital image of Angie, and the photo shown is a picture of a picture, but it was taken after a wonderful visit as we were saying our good-byes on that day. As we stood at the door, not yet really ready to part company, Angie somewhat lightly remarked that we might not meet again in this life, but we did share a hope in being in heaven together someday. Oh, Angie! How many times I have recalled that comment as I have heard in times since of your struggles with health and disability. Oh, how I have clung for you to the promise found in that reminder everytime you have come to mind. Oh, how your smile and twinkling eyes will be missed here until we do meet again.

**Maurice and Angie became much like "parents" to us in those early years. We were still virtually newlywed, although we had a two-year-old who was really our best connection to Angie. By example, and advice, and soft comments in classes or general conversations, this couple showed what power there is in gentleness when combined with Godly wisdom. They were a wonderful demonstration of a Christian marriage built on mutual respect and love. Each was skilled at enabling the other to succeed and excel in every good deed or benevolent act. In fact, as a struggling young husband, I learned as much from the Longs as from my wife and a lot more than I learned in my entire upbringing. I believe the only time I ever felt like I had been "adopted" was under their care and guidance in the late 1960s, and it felt good. As two more kids came along for us, they also, in the same beautiful way, belonged to Angie and Maurice.

**There will be a host of tales, and remembrances, and honors about Angie (and Maurice) which will be shared in coming days in scores of spoken, written, and on-line tributes as we mark her passing and as we reflect on the blessings both have been to the rest of us. These comments will be full of great stories, good lessons, pertinant examples, humorous experiences, spiritual guidance, and plenty of "How-To"s about Christian Love in service to others. A wealth of family-building lore like this should be saved and shared. I strongly hope that someone will collect and compile these memories in a form (website?) the rest of us can access, so that "her story" becomes treasured "History" for it will be full of value and instruction to us, to our children, and to our children's children. What a gold-mine of beautiful memories she has created and left to us. Let's fill our poke with them and keep then nearby to display to others.

**And Angie, Thanks for the precious and personal Christian Memories you made just for me and for my family!!

YELLOWJACKETS!!

WE ARE AT WAR!!

**I've been planning to paint our house right after my Grandson Eli and his parents (Dana and Geoffrey) visit in mid-August. As soon as they head home, I want to have the house primed, caulked, and prepared for a new coat. I want to pop the paint can tops and get started. However, a little over a week ago, Edwin pointed out some "bugs" or "bees" that were crawling into the south wall of our house. Investigation soon showed that there were many of them - enormous numbers, in fact - and that they were not mere bees or ordinary bugs, but fierce and easily angered yellow jackets. So, we have gone to war indeed.

**Where the siding, old fashioned T-111, overlaps between the lower and upper floors, about eight foot above the foundation level, these critters were coming and going in hoards, droves, and busy little clouds. Upon close observation I noticed that some of the "inbound" enemy were carrying tiny little bundles of dark material. Suitcases? Luggage? Household goodies for the colony? I'm not sure, but I suspect it is material they have scraped from decaying wood surfaces like fences for use in building nest and hiving compartments for brooding more yellow jackets.

**Even more oddly, I also noticed that as many as a third of the "outgoing" insects were also carrying bundles, except these tiny burdens were pure white. My first thought was larva, as the initial examples were like tiny grains of rice or maybe these were their eggs. Alas, it turns out to be not so. These white bits are minuscule portions of the attic insulation! The beasties seemed to be mining our insulation wee bit by wee bit. Over time, several days in fact, it became clear that a lot of material was being flow away to some unknown distant location. Is it another colony elsewhere? Are they just depositing it away from inside the wall where they obviously were dwelling now and need space, or is there some other explanation?

**I have attacked with a wasp and hornet killer-in-a-can, and the numbers are way down, but still they come. I have wrapped a long lath in toweling material and nailed it in place to impede easy entrance, and I am keeping that moist enough to rub some of the pesticide off upon any individual that forces entrance or exit. A couple of times a day I soak down the strip and fill the adjacent gaps. I'm hoping that a constant diet of the spray and enough harassment will either kill or discourage these pests , and do so in time for me to paint the house in two or three weeks.

**Maybe you can shed some light on this problem. Ever hear of a similar situation? Anyone out there familiar with dealing with yellow jackets that are ensconced inside a house wall? Is there any certain way to avoid being stung? I'm sensitive to insect venom anyway, and the three (or four) hits I've taken so far are quite enough, thank you.

**Neither the library not the local extension service has been of any help. I have not yet found any useful guidance on-line, and I'm too cheap to call an exterminator until I have had a go at doing the job myself. I'm going to look for someone to question when we visit the county fair next week, but meanwhile, who has some timely, pertinent and useful advice to share?