Letter from Fred

Dear Clancy & Tom, Jean & Ardell,

I am lazy today and am making this letter cover more than one address. I hope no
one minds. You asked if I got over my skinned forehead in January. I did do
that. It seemed to heal faster than usual and the bad looks of it was gone in
about a week or little over. The Psychological effects of the fall are not
gone yet however. I have been fearful of walking for fear of falling again.
Seems I have just about got my courage back. Probably about ready for another
fall. It is bad to have to try to walk again. I never realized I would get in
the position of 2nd childhood.

My second eye operation turned out to be 20/30 vision. Not quite as good as the
first which turned out a perfect 20/20. I was a little disappointed in that. But
I shouldn’t complain since 20/30 was as good as I ever had before. The costs
of the 2 eye operations was approximately $10,000, $4000 for the doctors 40
minutes work, and $6000 for 4 hrs outpatient stay at the hospital. Somebody is
as great an expert stealing as Clinton’s expertise at lying. The 2nd eye was
a little red when you were here but cleared up OK. Clinton has done lyed twice
in last 2 wks, once about dope peddling from Mexico and once about bombing
Cosovo or whatever Yugoslav fighting is called. Trying to tell rest of world
what to do and its none of our business. Let them kill each other and settle
their troubles themselves.

Bettie is up in the world now. She got an 80th birthday card from Hillary and
Billary Clinton. Am sure she really has their sympahies. I got one from them 2
½ years ago. I saved it in my miscellaneous notebook and labeled it “from
the champion liar of the world”. How cruel to treat a beloved president that
way!

We have had 2 letters from Jean since her and Ardell went to Fla. to spend the
bad part of the winter. They’re down there eating oranges and grapefruit and
basking in the sun. Enjoying living in their mobile travel home whichever spot
they choose to live. Sound like aristocrats.

This is Tuesday and it has been cold here for a couple of days. 21 degrees
yesterday morning and 35 this morning and spit a little snow. Guess the
roughest part of winter is coming up. Pear trees are starting to bloom and
ready for som 10 degree weather to kill the blooms. Then after that the spring
tornado blow away.

I am on the internet now and my e mail address is n4eb@fayette.net. Got a
little genealogy about the daughter of 1st Hugh of Fayette County, Barbary
McCaleb Lauderdale. Got it from a girl in Ca. I may become addicted to this
internet mess. You can even find out what your latitude and longitude is.
Pretty well got one placed. I even find my own name on there in the
genealogical field. Billary knows all about you. Got your number.

Jean Ellen, Timm & Brooke are coming to see us March 20th. Grandson Bradley
Boswell is coming to see us by himself on his spring break Mar.7th. So I guess
we will have a little Company in March. Will be glad to see anyone that comes.

We are still taking aquatic exercise. I try to walk and do the equivalent of
about a mile of exercise on other days. Am not sure its worth anything. Have
arthritis of the neck and right arm. I guess this is enough of my complaints.
Hope everybody is well and will write me if they ever get time.

With love, from Fred McCaleb

Letter to Clancy from Fred 1997

4146 county Rd.51
Fayette,Al. 35555
November 8,1997
Dear Clancy and Tom,
I got your nice letter today. I wish I could write one that good. As far as I
can tell you do a perfect job of writing letters. We were glad to have all of
you here, and enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks for all your nice comments.
You will be welcome to come here for another reunion next year if I am alive
and welcome to come visiting any time you wish.
I am trying to take Lucille’s advice and not talk of being old and disabled
but find it sort of hard to do. The general trend of my thinking has been to
assume that tomorrow will be just the same kind of day as today, but that is
somewhat false thinking. Tomorrow can bring most anything to one, good or bad.
I try not to worry much about the future and find absolutely no reason to worry
about the past. We have only today, and have to do the best we can with it.
We went to the genealogy society meeting in Winfield Monday night and to
Tuscaloosa Thursday morning. We ate lunch with some of the old ladies at
Tuscaloosa. I told one I hoped to make it to 2000. She said she didn’t know
if she wanted to make it that long or not. Said they would have the world in
such a mess by then that she didn’t know if she would want to be around. So
some people have my kind of young outlook or worse. Poor things. Ha!
I have been searching the other CD rom disks I have for our genealogy and have
found a few pages more.
I am about fed up with genealogy. Need to get my mind on something else. About
as far or further than anybody has ever got anyway, and its very hard to find
the ancestors of wives of husbands where their only last name is their
husband’s. I will just have to pat myself on the back and admit I have done
the best I could. Some of it may not be exactly right, but I will let others
prove the mistakes. I have put? marks in most all places where unsure.
Momma told me I might find something I didn’t want to know if I went too far
with the ancestors. She was right on that. I guess none of them have measured
up to being perfect as I might have expected, but one has to take them as they
were. There is no changing of the past. Momma might have meant I might find
something about daddy we didn’t want to know. Best I can find out he was at
least a better man after he got momma but not perfect. I haven’t found faults
with momma except she did some extra worrying that was probably unnecessary.
Their combination produced good children. We are proud to be who we are.
Dad’s favorite song was “Love Lifted Me.” He used to try to sing that
sometimes when we were plowing. He may have been lifted by momma’s love and
Christianity. Lets hope so.
Guess I had better quit rambling around in my thoughts and quit for this time.
With Love,
Fred McCaleb