DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD!

My Grandpa raised my Mother as a single parent.
My Mom was young when they got divorced, her older sister ran away to get married, and her older Brother died in a car accident. So she was left to live with her Dad, he didn't know how to deal with a little girl but did his best.
He bought her a car when she turned 16, made sure she had a little money, would dance with her in the kitchen and he remained single out of respect for my her. It is weird to think my Mom was raised that way. Grandpa didn't go to church, my mom went on her own, yet when she wanted to serve a mission he paid for the entire thing.

I wish I knew him better.

After my Mom got married, my grandpa met and married a terrible lady, I don't even care to be nice on my blog. Think of the worse person you know and then add really crazy makeup and eyes that poke out, constantly adjusting her bra. That was her.
Later this woman's daughter would tell my Mom "I'm so sorry RaVoe, I don't know why your Dad married my Mom, and I don't know why she stayed with him"

My Mom was not allowed to be alone with her Dad, and while we lived less then 5 minutes from his house we didn't visit often and the visits where short.

I didn't know my Grandpa hardly at all, I can picture him adjusting his ringing hearing aids, and I can remember his turquoise cowboy watch he wore, but that's about it.

My Grandpa died about 9 years ago, and when he did this terrible woman made our lives hell. She got the house, the house that my Mom grew up in, she was allowed to stay until she died or moved. Two weeks after the funeral, two weeks, she was re-married. (come to find out later she also had three husbands before my Grandpa that we never knew of)
And all my grandpa's things were in the house and she wouldn't allow us to have anything.
No, I take that back, she filled up a grocery sack with a few items she selected that my mom could have. Mostly things that my Mom had no idea what they were. Giving away his guns to the new Husband's kids.

If we were a more catty family maybe things would have been different, my sweet Mom is not one to fight, especially when they where just things, and we just wanted to be done dealing with her.

Well about two weeks ago the witch died.
And there was much rejoicing.
It was a happy day in the Orton house hold.


Found out she did a reverse mortgage on the house so even in her death she screwed us over with money, the bank is taking the house back.

But we were able to get all his stuff. Shocked that the witch didn't burn all of it.
My Mom and her older sister went to the house, it was trashed, she had tried to make a second bathroom, in a bedroom with plywood and plastic half wall.

But they were able to recover pictures, and antlers, and coins, and keys, and so many little treasures that they had forgotten.

I went home Sunday and RaVoe was excited as I dug through all of it.
Pictures of him serving in the Navy, pictures of him on the Ormond ranch, pictures of him drinking and swimming, and a good handful of pictures of random ladies.

Then there were Picture of my Mom as a girl, and one with her dog, with nylons on her head, one of her getting a guitar for Christmas.
There where pictures of Rocky, my Mom's Brother who died.
There were letters that Grandpa had saved from my Mom wishing him a good day. Then there were pictures of the gandkids, not a ton.
And I got real choked up at the end of the digging to find a picture of me, a picture that he had saved along with all of his cowboy and navy memories. I loved that his old guy packed full of life had me on his radar. That I was part of his treasures.


I believe in God, I believe that life will be made right that maybe one day I can have more of a relationship with him, I believe that that wretched horrible woman will get a stern talking too. But for now, today, it feels like a bit of everything was made right, and we were able to discover a bit more of my Grandpa Bud.



Here is a small bit of the treasures we have now:



The Ormond Ranch in Boulder Utah

My Mom:

 "Winning a war sometimes brings more problems then losing it?"






A book full of pictures of this lady: Some bullets and Rocky's old school notebooks.

 My Great Grandma's shoes.

 Rocky, he died when he was 15, my Mom was eight, he seemed like a ball of fun:

 My grandpa the Cowboy:

 Mom said they put nylons on their heads so the gnats wouldn't get in their hair-

This book. . . . . shoot. . .

The little one is my Mom. . .

Navy Pictures, my Mom says he looks like Sam. . .

Tied it around his head to cure Measles:

My Great Grandpa:

Not sure who this guy was, but they had a bunch of pictures together,

Always drinking. . .

I should have taken more pictures, there were a bunch of cool things. . .



Bud Barney Ormond, my Grandpa.

(Such a great cowboy name.)