Ask Lou: April 2010

A reporter was recently interviewing me to promote the Gaylord Opryland Christmas show "The Gift". When the reporter asked: "What do you do when you are not Louise Mandrell, the entertainer?"- that question was really food for thought. Lately, much of my time has been invested in giving speeches and doing charity work. Just yesterday I was with Mike Huckabee helping him with a project that you will be hearing more about. The reporter said: "No I mean when you are not being a celebrity."

It was then I realized how much my sisters and I are alike. Our parents raised us with a firm hand and a lot of psychology. I am proud to say that I take after my mom. But, the truth is so do Barbara and Irlene. I've never known a harder working man than my dad. Key word being man because mom could out work dad and all of us girls. Its nothing for mom to get up at 5 in the morning to pull weeds while she waits for the paper boy. She reads the paper and worries about her grand children's future while eating her peanut butter and banana breakfast. It must be power food because she feeds the birds and squirrels, cleans the house and works in the flower and vegetable gardens. Then she makes calls to anyone in the family who is ill or going through a crisis. In the afternoon she does Irlene's books for her business. If she finishes in time she takes a thirty minute break to watch her favorite Minister on the internet. Before she eats dinner she feeds a family of foxes that doesn't mind sharing a hardy meal with a family of raccoons. Then after dinner she feeds her dogs and jogs four miles. I have never been able to keep up so I have no idea what she does next.

Every time I call my sister Barbara she is out working in one of her flower gardens. She spends 8 to 12 hours a day making her part of Nashville more beautiful. Without a doubt rain is at the top of her prayer list. You never will catch Irlene praying for rain - she doesn't like to mow. However, she does like working indoors. She just installed her own kitchen cabinets and then laid a tile floor. I think she laid the tile floor just because she heard I did one at my house.

When the reporter pushed for an honest answer I wanted to lie and tell her I was out by my pool with an umbrella in my drink making plans for a cruise. The truth is I am just like the rest of my family and I enjoy hard work. Of course an occasional vacation especially to shoot sporting clays, trap or going fishing is always welcome. I love working in the great outdoors. I have been spending a lot of time working outside on the farm. My friend Terry Walker taught me to bushhog but they don't trust me with the equipment unless I am being watched. In the last two weeks my three favorite volunteers Kelly Jackson, Kelly Shipley and Kellie Lapelle have been really busy helping me haul rocks, bricks and planting flowers. With all the long hours of hard work on the farm my body hurts but both are looking good.

It looks as if the Mandrell women are trying to accomplish something new everyday. But the truth is we are just trying to use all the different talents that God has given us. I like what a church on Ashland City Highway put on their sign this month - "Sweat never hurt anyone".