Sunday, November 18
Jim: Ernie was on-call to go out to the oil patch this morning, so Barbara and I went over to Mother’s house to take her to Sunday school and church. Following our activities at the church, we went out to the Pecos Diamond for lunch.
The afternoon was spent with watching football games and running off a seventh copy of our second journal. We remembered that the last time we went through this process we forgot to make a copy for ourselves, so I set out to correct that. I had made a Big K run last night to get more paper and ink cartridges, so I was all set to mess up the place again.
Once I completed copying the journal, Barbara turned over the files of a Christmas project while was working and I fired up the printer again. By evening I had completed all the printing and straightened the place up once again. Finally, just sit back and relax for a couple of hours!
Monday, November 19
After coffee and oatmeal, our first real chore of the day was to get Barbara’s project and the final copy of the journal down to Bryan Printers and hope they could have everything bound by Wednesday. As luck would have it, one of the ladies was just working on a sample of the project as we got there. She assured us that everything would be ready by Wednesday at the latest.
The Wednesday lunch bunch met a Chaos today since Susie was working in Artesia early this week.
We spent the remainder of the day working around Big V and making lists of the many things that had to be done in preparation for Thanksgiving activities and our upcoming trip. During the afternoon we were both able to get haircuts…something that was becoming very critical.
Tuesday, November 20
It was definitely a time for deep-cleaning Big V. With all the different activities lately, we had neglected that chore, but couldn’t put it off any longer. It took about three hours, but we finally had a clean and shiny home again.
About noon we got a call from the printers to let us know that all of our journals and Barbara’s projects were bound, so we went into town to pick them up.
We spent the afternoon at Mother’s house. She hadn’t done any Christmas decorating in the four years since she came back to Artesia. When we were helping her go through all the boxes and cabinets a few weeks ago, we found a lot of pretty and interesting decorations, so we decided that this year was going to be different.
It didn’t take Barbara long to find out just what worked to spruce the place up, and we got busy stringing some lights, hanging wreaths, and fixing up the fireplace and mantle areas with some of the treasures that Mother has accumulated over the years. When it was all done, we (and she) were quite pleased with the results. It really is “beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”
Wednesday, November 21
We didn’t know it when the day started, but this was going to be a grand celebration of “Murphy’s Law Day.” You know Murphy’s Law…If anything can go wrong, it will!
After looking at the weather forecasts for Thursday and Friday, I made the executive decision that we needed to have Big V completely ready for our trip by tonight. The weather was supposed to deteriorate rapidly tonight, and I didn’t want to be doing all the last minute chores associated with leaving while the temperature was hovering around the freezing mark.
Included in the list of necessary chores was to raise the levelers to get all tires down on the ground so I could check air pressure and add air if necessary. After that, we would close the slide-outs, take Big V over to the septic tank to drain and flush the holding tanks, hook up the trailer with the motorcycle and cargo trailer on it, and pull back around to the concrete pad, where we would be ready to pull out Friday morning with only a minimum of effort.
The first step, raising the levelers, requires that we start the engine in order to make the keypad for the leveling system function. Unfortunately, when Barbara turned the ignition key, nothing happened; the battery was down and didn’t have enough juice to get us started. No big problem…I just hooked up the battery charger to give it a little power. That was all well and good, except that the battery was so discharged that even the charging didn’t help. So, I decided that I would drive into town to see about getting a new one.
Before I went to Auto Zone to find a replacement battery, I checked the part number on the current battery because I knew that would be important. When I got there, I found that the computer did not recognize that number; obviously, Winnebago had installed a battery that was scheduled to go out of circulation soon, but that didn’t help me today. I tried to call Barbara to ask for the cranking amps of the battery, but couldn’t get through to her, so I returned to the place and found that she had gotten the engine started. She had tried to call me, but couldn’t get a connection. Neither of us put too much stock in the fact that our phones wouldn’t work…maybe all the circuits were busy.
Since it was obvious that we would need a new battery anyway, I wrote down the rest of the information necessary to find a replacement and returned to Auto Zone. It didn’t take any time to find an appropriate replacement battery and return to Big V to begin the installation process.
Once the old battery was out and the new battery installed, it was time to take the second step in the process – raise the levelers and get all six tires on the ground so I could get accurate air pressure readings.
Once again, Murphy made a grand entrance into our day. The key pad for the levelers did not respond. In fact, there weren’t even any lights showing…there was no power.
At this point, I tried to call Jack Sisemore Traveland in Amarillo to get someone from the service department to help us. Again, there was no cellular connection, so I went over to Jean’s house to call on a land line while Barbara tried to find out what was wrong with the cell phones.
I finally got to talk to one of the technicians at Traveland. When I explained what had happened so far, he said that the story was familiar, and that what probably happened was that when I installed the new battery, I had not connected the line that connected the batteries to the solenoid and motor that ran the leveling system. I went back to Big V, checked every possible wire and connection, and determined that I had not missed anything on the battery side.
I made another trip to Jean’s, made another phone call to Traveland, and talked to the service technician. He said that from this point, I would need a voltage meter to track the circuits. Since I didn’t have one, I told him I would have to go to town and get one, and then come back to the place to check the next spot.
Once again I got in the Vibe and drove back to town, this time to Big K to find the voltage meter. Bless Murphy’s little peaked head, he was still in rare form; when I got back to Big V, I found that the new meter didn’t work, no matter how many new batteries I put in it. So, it was back to town – this time to Auto Zone, where I found a better meter that I thought would be better for the job that had to be done.
I returned to Big V, checked to see that the meter worked properly, and crawled under Big V to discover the maze of wires and hydraulic lines that are the heart and soul of the leveling system. The good news was that we did have a good charge from the main battery to the hydraulic pump and solenoid. The bad news was that we still didn’t have current to the keypad up in the coach.
It was about at this point that Barbara finally got in contact with someone from Sprint (our cellular service provider) and found that all Sprint service for western Texas and eastern New Mexico was knocked out. (Murphy must have been getting v-e-r-y tired by now).
Undaunted, I returned to Jean’s house to make another call to Traveland to see what to do next. While I was getting another set of directions, Barbara found the specs for the leveling system online. When we got back, we decided to pull the keypad, disconnect it from one of the harnesses, and see if it would reboot. The answer was a resounding “No.”
After another call to Amarillo, we got directions to pull another of the harnesses from the keypad to see if it was receiving voltage. When I found that proper voltage was present to that point, I also decided to try to disconnect on it to see if it would reboot. As I plugged it back in, Barbara shouted out that she could see the lights on the keypad. Hallelujah…everything was finally back on line!
I called the folks at Traveland and told them were in good shape and thanked them for all their efforts on our behalf, and then began the other chores that should have been completed four hours earlier while Barbara went over to Mother’s house to get the clothes washed and ready for the trip.
After an hour or so, I had the black and gray water tanks drained and flushed, the trailer all hooked up, and Big V back in place on the concrete pad.
With everything back as it should be, I took a shower, changed clothes while Barbara went back into town to get the rest of the laundry. I went on over to Jerry and Nancy’s to join the clan for a wonderful fried chicken and all the trimmings dinner. Barbara just met up with us all there when she finished gathering the now clean clothes.
Thursday, November 22, 2007 (Thanksgiving Day)
Our Thanksgiving plans called for dinner at Mother’s house with my two brothers and their wives. To get things started, we took what for had a week been our publishing house and turned it into a country kitchen. Working together, we got the turkey ready and put it in the oven, and then Barbara got started on the stuffing while I put together all the makings for a loaf of fresh-baked bread.
After I made a trip to Wal-Mart for a few necessaries, we also got a green bean casserole and mashed potatoes going, and I got started on two styles of gravy – cream and giblet. Who would have ever guessed that we could have put together so many things in Big V’s little kitchen!
By noon we were ready to transport everything back to town. Ernie and Billee met us and helped to carry everything in. Billee had fixed up a green salad and some brownies, while Mother had prepared her cheese grits, a Jell-o salad, and candied yams. Jane and Jerry arrived a little later with an apple pie, and we all sat down and enjoyed a wonderful meal and great company.
The clean-up looked daunting, but many hands made light work, and we were soon out of the kitchen and sitting in the living room, admiring Mother’s Christmas decorations and catching up on all the latest news about each other’s kids, grandkids, and other family members.
Too son, it was time to call it a day so we could all return to our respective homes and make plans for the next day.
We did some more work on Big V before joining the Terpening/Francis clan at Jerry and Nancy’s house for leftovers and more great conversation…we have so very much to be thankful for!!!
Friday, November 23
Barbara: With things finally wrapped up here in Artesia, Jim and I began the relatively short journey (3 hours) over to Lubbock where we would be staying at the Camelot RV Park. Our first thoughts had been to just stay over in the Wally World parking lot close to Jimmy and Cathey’s house, but the weather forecast put a damper on that idea since the warm weather we had just experienced earlier in the week was now history!
However, before we could set up housekeeping at the RV Park in Lubbock, we needed to make a grocery run to Wal-Mart and fill up the gas tank of Big V. This worked out perfectly though since by the time we were finished with our chores, the movie that Cathey, Jaycie, and Randi had gone to was over and the girls wanted Cathey to bring them to us. Therefore, we all met at Camelot at about the same time and the fun began.
After the girls helped us set up Big V for housekeeping, they joined me in preparing a banana pudding for tonight’s dessert. Next, it was Jim’s turn to take over the kitchen duty by whipping up his special spaghetti sauce recipe while the girls got on the computers to find cheerleading performances they wanted to review. Eventually it was time to call Cathey for a ride over to the house where the rest of the Colwell clan was gathered.
Thanksgiving has become a very special occasion for our family since it’s the one holiday where all of my kids and their families make a concerted effort to be together. Making it doubly important is the fact that we have so many November birthdays in our clan…so…we use this time to celebrate everyone’s special November day.
Jimmy and Cathey and Jaycie, who live in Lubbock, open up their home for all of us to gather. And, since John’s wife, Carol, also, has family members who live in Lubbock, they and Randi split their time between families. Leah and Ryan come down from Liberal, making the family complete.
Tonight Carol’s sister, Jo Ann, and her mother, Anna, also joined us for the evening.After the meal, the visiting, and the photo op sessions, Jo Ann and Anna took Jim and I and the girls over to see Jo Ann’s new garden home, which, by the way, is totally awesome! Then Jim, the granddaughters, and I returned to the house to play games and watch the ballgames. Just for the record, I played Scrabble with Cathey, Carol, and John and to the amazement of all of us; I won with very little effort and a whole lot of luck!!!! Leah and Ryan played several different games with the girls while Jim and Jimmy were glued to the TV set and the ballgames!
Eventually, it was time to bundle up the girls and head to Big V for the night. We had intended to watch Shrek 3, but about 20 minutes into the movie, Jim and I realized both girls were zonked out…so we chose to do the same! It was time to call an end to this wonderful, wonderful day!
Saturday, November 24
After stirring around slowly this morning, the girls and I decided to get the strawberry cake we were responsible for baking for tonight’s birthday celebrations done. Then it was time to start breakfast since Jimmy and Ryan had decided last night that they would come over and join us for eggs, bacon, and pancakes…Cat and Leah voted that they would pass up this great opportunity. Go figure!!!
Anyway, the guys came over and we ate and visited just enjoying the time together…Then Ryan’s phone rang…seems as though Cat and Leah were going shopping and Ryan had the credit card…what a disaster! Luckily, this meant that they had to come over and pick it up; so we got to have a short morning visit with them, too.
After the guys left, Jim realized we were completely missing the vent cover in the bathroom! So…he had to climb on top of the ice covered roof to investigate…talk about a slippery situation! Being the creative soul that he is though, he used a towel to step on as he squeegeed the section he next would be walking on! Finally, he arrived at the vent section and was able to dismantle the remaining pieces, returned to the solid ground, and drove over to an RV dealer to get a replacement. However, as usual, nothing is quite as simple as you think it will be, because the one the dealer said he was 95% certain that was what Jim needed proved to be the other 5%, which meant going back for the right one!
In the meantime, Randi and Jaycie iced the cake, played on the computers, helped straighten the home, and then we began to watch Shrek 3 again; but, Jim, who had finally returned with the right vent, realized after he was on the roof that he needed a certain screwdriver from inside Big V. Therefore, Randi and I spotted Jaycie as she negotiated the 6 feet from the ground to the ladder and handed Gramps the tool; but the tricks of getting up wouldn’t work coming down. So…I shocked the girls with my ingenuity…I just had Jaycie get on my shoulders and then put her down! And, these girls thought their grandmother couldn’t do this cheer stuff! I showed them…
Before we left for Jim and Cat’s, Jim insisted that the girls take a ride on the cycle…
After the guys left, Jim realized we were completely missing the vent cover in the bathroom! So…he had to climb on top of the ice covered roof to investigate…talk about a slippery situation! Being the creative soul that he is though, he used a towel to step on as he squeegeed the section he next would be walking on! Finally, he arrived at the vent section and was able to dismantle the remaining pieces, returned to the solid ground, and drove over to an RV dealer to get a replacement. However, as usual, nothing is quite as simple as you think it will be, because the one the dealer said he was 95% certain that was what Jim needed proved to be the other 5%, which meant going back for the right one!
In the meantime, Randi and Jaycie iced the cake, played on the computers, helped straighten the home, and then we began to watch Shrek 3 again; but, Jim, who had finally returned with the right vent, realized after he was on the roof that he needed a certain screwdriver from inside Big V. Therefore, Randi and I spotted Jaycie as she negotiated the 6 feet from the ground to the ladder and handed Gramps the tool; but the tricks of getting up wouldn’t work coming down. So…I shocked the girls with my ingenuity…I just had Jaycie get on my shoulders and then put her down! And, these girls thought their grandmother couldn’t do this cheer stuff! I showed them…
Before we left for Jim and Cat’s, Jim insisted that the girls take a ride on the cycle…
First with Randi at the wheel…Then with Jaycie…
We whiled away the afternoon just visiting, baking, playing games, and watching more football.
Tonight David (Cathey’s brother) and his daughter Emily joined us for dinner since Wendy, his
wife, had other plans.
Before we celebrated the November birthdays, we had to sing “Happy Birthday” to everyone, even the ones unlucky enough to not be born in November! We November people are blessed because we get to have the whole family together for our b-day celebration…
November people are…Ryan, the 16th; Randi, the 17th; Jimmy and Carol, the 25th; and me, the 28th
Tonight David (Cathey’s brother) and his daughter Emily joined us for dinner since Wendy, his
wife, had other plans.Before we celebrated the November birthdays, we had to sing “Happy Birthday” to everyone, even the ones unlucky enough to not be born in November! We November people are blessed because we get to have the whole family together for our b-day celebration…
November people are…Ryan, the 16th; Randi, the 17th; Jimmy and Carol, the 25th; and me, the 28th
At the end of the gift giving, Leah and Ryan passed out gifts to each of us individually…Jim and I admit that we thought we all were getting a photo of them (which would have been great); but, instead, we received something much, much better! You see, inside each box was a gift and a note…I’ll just tell you what mine said…
Dear Grams,
Please keep this for me as I will need it when I come to visit you.
Love, Baby McQuitty
(expected June, 2008)
The gift was a baby toy! Now just how cool is that???? So…it’s official…Jim and I will add another grandchild in June.
To end this super, fantastic evening, I had prepared 10 wrapped packages for a game I used to play with my journalism and media students at Christmas.
Everyone took turns rolling the dice…if they rolled a double, they got to pick a present (but didn’t get to open it)…this continued until all presents had been taken…however, the rolling of the dice continued and people rolling doubles got to take a present from the folks who already had one. When time was called, those with more than 1 gift had to give one to someone who didn’t have a gift. It was a wild and woolly, cutthroat game…and a hoot to play and watch. Carol and Cathey, who didn’t receive any great shakes of a gift didn’t let that bother them…Aren’t my daughters-in-law real cuties??? (They really are! And, they are tons of fun to be around!)
Eventually, Jim and I had to ask for a ride back to Big V as we were planning to leave early the next morning and needed to get things organized.
We left though feeling very blessed that we could spend such quality time with all 3 of my kids and their families at the same time!
“Action in heaven begins after prayer on earth” …sign on the Northwest Florida Assemblies of God Headquarters
Thankful for all of our blessings,
Jim & Barbara
Dear Grams,
Please keep this for me as I will need it when I come to visit you.
Love, Baby McQuitty
(expected June, 2008)
The gift was a baby toy! Now just how cool is that???? So…it’s official…Jim and I will add another grandchild in June.
To end this super, fantastic evening, I had prepared 10 wrapped packages for a game I used to play with my journalism and media students at Christmas.
Everyone took turns rolling the dice…if they rolled a double, they got to pick a present (but didn’t get to open it)…this continued until all presents had been taken…however, the rolling of the dice continued and people rolling doubles got to take a present from the folks who already had one. When time was called, those with more than 1 gift had to give one to someone who didn’t have a gift. It was a wild and woolly, cutthroat game…and a hoot to play and watch. Carol and Cathey, who didn’t receive any great shakes of a gift didn’t let that bother them…Aren’t my daughters-in-law real cuties??? (They really are! And, they are tons of fun to be around!)Eventually, Jim and I had to ask for a ride back to Big V as we were planning to leave early the next morning and needed to get things organized.
We left though feeling very blessed that we could spend such quality time with all 3 of my kids and their families at the same time!
“Action in heaven begins after prayer on earth” …sign on the Northwest Florida Assemblies of God Headquarters
Thankful for all of our blessings,
Jim & Barbara
