An Uphill Battle

"It's an uphill battle," Mother always said to me. 
An uphill battle sounds like a fight and struggle to stay free.
If I'm battling uphill it takes guts, hard work, and pain;
But if I never do hard things there is never any gain.

Sunday 9-10 am Everyday People Guests are...

Sunday 9-10 am Everyday People Guests are... Check out my radio spot with Ann in New London, CT. Easter Sunday 9:06 a.m. at 980-AM Talking about Life & Death about book A Whisper of Springtime: Jason's Heart Transplant Miracle. My grandparents settled in New Haven, CT Listen to podcast after it airs.

To the Moon Alice! To the Sun Mr. Obama!

To the Moon Alice! To the Sun Mr. Obama! January 29, 2012 by Tedi Wixom Aug. 31, 2012

Remember on The Honey Mooners with Jackie Gleason as Ralph?

When he was displeased with his wife, Alice?

He’d double up his fist and say, “To the Moon Alice! To the Moon!”

Oh really! How about “To the Sun Mr. Obama, To the Sun!”

The sun is about 93 million miles from Earth.

That is nearly 100,000,000 miles away – 100 million!

Now let’s compare miles to dollars for visualization.

I could travel roundtrip in miles to the Sun and back 5 times

To equal 1,000,000,000 (billion) miles – only 1 billion!

Now think of this as dollars.

However, our national debt is just over

15,000,000,000,000 dollars – that is 15 trillion!

I could travel approximately 75,000 times roundtrip

To the Sun and back to Earth again in miles.

That is why I believe a balanced budget is good.

Mr. Obama says being in debt to China is more important

Than taking responsibility for our national debt..

“To the Sun Mr. Obama – 75,000 times. To the Sun!!”

Who wants to join me in wishing him happy bon voyage?

Does this number representing our National Debt seem possible?

Mr. Obama is caring for each of us, (the father of our nation)

So we will never have to worry our pretty little heads about

Awful, nasty, national decisions like the US spending, debt, or budgets.

“Who wants a budget anyway? These are the modern times,” he croons.

“No need for things that sound so inconvenient or old fashioned.

Go to your homes; all is well. I am so popular that I can fix everything!

Plus, I am very suave, handsome, and brainy--I did attend Harvard!” (Wink wink.)

“All the social programs I implement will be for your wellbeing, because you are . . .

I didn’t mean to say stupid, naive, middleclass, or poor, oh no-no-no I would never

Say that out loud for anyone to hear, because I can relate. Been there, done that!

But for today, I am your King! You are my loyal subjects, so fork over the taxes.”

 I say, “To the Sun Mr. Obama. To the Sun!”

(NOTE: August 31, 2012. National Debt is now 16 Trillion)

Noah Built an Ark, song

Noah Built an Ark by Tedi Tuttle Wixom 3/23/1991, transcribed 3/28/12

To be sung to Mozart’s Turkish March

Noah built an ark

By the Lord’s command

And he blessed the animals

To gather in the land

And they marched up to the mighty ark

And bowed to Noah’s hand.

Chorus:
There were horses, cattle, and some goats.

Eagles, egrets, flamingos, hawks, and doves

Elephants, rhinos, hippos, buffaloes

Tigers, jaguars, cougars, no one shove.

Honey bees in swarms; snakes in Noah’s arms

Ham, Shem, Japheth showed their guests

The rooms where they would park

And the animals came marching, crawling,

Flying into the great big ark.

My Heart

My Heart by Tedi Tuttle Wixom 4/29/99, transcribed 2/28/12

My heart pumps gallons of blood

Throughout my entire body every day.

The blood is flowing, receiving oxygen.

It goes and flows on and on

Giving life, keeping me alive.

Have I ever said, “Thank you,”

To God for this miracle?

Today, I say, “Thank you

For all the intricate things

I don’t comprehend and yet,

I continue breathing

Without thinking about my breathing

In and out, in and out

With my heart pumping,

Whooshing the blood along,

     Along it’s way.”

Die TV Die!

Die TV Die! By Tedi Tuttle Wixom 5/4/99 transcribed 2/27/12

Obituaries are packed with friends

And neighbors lying dead of heart attacks.

Why? Why in America are we insistent

Upon rushing headlong into the jaws of death?

Why can’t we relax? Why can’t we rest?

We need more rest and more silent time.

We need a few friends who are humans

Not merely Mr. Computer, Mr. TV, and Mr. Internet.

We all have the same hours in a day.

Time is a precious commodity.

I need a prescription for ocean waves to soothe my soul,

More barefoot time in the sand,

And less news to cause information overload.

Perhaps, if I cut the cables, wires, and electricity,

I could regain my senses and sensibility.

Die TV die!

I need to feel fresh mown grass on bare feet, or

Sun streaming across my face as the sun disappears

On the Oquirrh Mountains as I gaze west, while

Tossing pebbles in the Great Salt Lake.

Mother Wore a Cowboy Hat

Mother Wore a Cowboy Hat by Tedi Tuttle Wixom March 10, 2012

Over the years my mother wore various types of hats.

Her mother designed and made fancy ladies’ hats

Mother’s favorite headgear was a regular cowboy hat

And she possessed several of those amazing hats:

Beige felt, yellow straw, and an awesome white cowboy hat.

These three were dressy with a feather, for work, and everyday hats

In the summer she wore a wide-brimmed straw hat,

One that sported a pink ribbon around-the-base of her hat.

It was for when she puttered-in-her-garden-type of hat.

She would wear a colorful scarf when she wasn’t wearing a hat.

And when acting as umpire of women’s softball she didn’t wear a hat;

She put on her sporty baseball cap for that.

She also wore a baseball cap to go fishing and not a regular hat.

She fashioned out of chenille and silk flowers, dressy women’s hats.

She would wear one of these for Easter as a church-going hat.

She sometimes wore for dress up, a hot pink with a feather-in-it hat

Mother always seemed to enjoy wearing various types of hats

As an artist going painting in the outdoors she wore a painter’s hat

When she drove to town to shop she wore her go-to-market hat

And when she branded cows, she wore her old working cowboy hat.

Which brings me full circle of the favorites of Mother’s hats

She thoroughly enjoyed wearing her beige felt, cowboy hat.