A Little Weak :) Week

Sunday, January 20 – Wednesday, January 23

Sunday, January 20

Today may have been one of the lazier Sundays we’ve spent in a long time. Last night we put on a crock pot of pork roast for Sunday dinner and I set up the bread maker so we’d have fresh homemade bread with the meal. When we got up his morning (way before the alarm even thought about going off), I added potatoes and onions to the crock pot so they would be just right by noon. We just worked at our computers for a bit and then I went back to bed until the buzzer went off to let me know the bread was finished.

Around 7:30 we began getting shined up for Sunday school and church. Just before we left Big V, I threw some green beans into the crock pot to round out the meal that we’d have later in the day.

Since Mother is still feeling sore from the surgery, she decided to forego the church services for the day, so we put together some of the roast pork and trimmings and took it over to her house on the way to the church.

We returned to Big V after services and called Jean to see if she was up to sharing the meal with us. She was all for it and graciously offered to share her table, so we gathered everything up and walked across to her house to have a civilized Sunday dinner and conversation while we were waiting for the clock to roll around to football game time.

After the meal we came back to Big V and settled in for a few hours of NFL divisional championship football games. Now, you already know our feelings about the Patriots, but just to recap, I’m always for them and Barbara is always against them; and, you know now that, just as they have done all season, New England did what was necessary to keep their winning streak alive and win the AFC championship, moving them into the Super Bowl in a couple of weeks.

The second game was more fun to watch because I like both teams, so it didn’t really matter which of them won. I really thought Green Bay would win at home and would probably be the tougher opponent for the Patriots in the Super Bowl, but Eli and the Giants found a way to pull it off. I’m just glad that we were watching from the warmth of our own home instead of being at -4 degree Lambeau Field!

Barbara took the second quarter off to go over to see Mother for a bit. When she returned I went over to visit Jean during the third quarter of the game and then came back to Big V where we watched the end of the game, played some computer games, and then called it a day.

Monday, January 21

After a slow start to the day, we finally got in gear and tackled one of the jobs that both of us absolutely detest – straightening out all the paperwork that has accumulated during the past twelve months and trying to get our income tax information organized.

Our initial filing system is very simple…every piece of paper that looks like it might possibly be important goes into a box under my seat at the kitchen table (which is also my desk – Barbara’s desk is the front passenger seat that has the slide-out tray to hold her computer). When January rolls around, we take the box out from under the seat and begin sorting everything into piles, trying to make some sense of it. Once the piles are organized into somewhat tidy stacks, I start organizing them by date and deciding what we really need to keep and what can go to the shredder.

Each year we say that we really need to pay more attention to what we receive and what can be thrown away right after we open it, but that never happens; besides, if we did that, Barbara would not have that much to shred on a day like today.

Suffice it to say that after about three hours, we had everything organized or shredded, files actually labeled (something I’ve been thinking about, but I didn’t want to make any rash decisions), and put away. The job was much easier than last year when we were still dealing with lots of stuff we had loaded into Big V when we left Liberal.

Now all we have to do is wait for the rest of the tax information to arrive so we can put it together and either take or send it to Liberal.

When we had finished all that mind-numbing work, Barbara fixed a late lunch and we sat down to relax in our newly-straightened living area, eat a nice hot meal, and watch yet another episode of M*A*S*H…going from the sublime to the ridiculous (or was it the other way around?).

The afternoon was pretty much a blur. With the southwest wind howling, we had no sense of adventure or desire to go outside and work, so we alternately read, played at the computers, and/or dozed. I did take an hour or so to drive into town to visit with Mother and the puppies.

Around 7:00 we walked across to Jean’s house to see how her day had gone. She invited us to join her for some chicken chow mein, so we stayed for a bit, ate, and enjoyed each other’s company. Then, it was time to go back to Big V and while away the rest of the evening playing at the computers and watching TV.

Tuesday, January 22

Happy Birthday to daughter Leah Renee' Colwell McQuitty in Liberal, Kansas; she reached the ripe old age of 26 today!

Happy Birthday greetings also go out to Kelly Jividen in Richmond, Virginia. Kelly is a very special friend of the family.

Leah and Kelly might have had an exciting day, but it was plain and dull around here.

We woke up at 9:00 am – the latest either of us has slept in for a long time. Barbara’s excuse was that she stayed up until 3:00 am to finish a book she had started, but I didn’t have any excuse other than I must have needed 11 hours of sleep.

When we did get moving, it was to greet a cold, gray, and sub-freezing morning. The high for the day was predicted to be 58 degrees, but we sure couldn’t see it from here. I ventured out to refill the birdfeeder, but that was the extent of the outdoor activity for quite a while.

Around 10:30 we heard some different noises and felt some strange vibrations in Big V. I started walking around inside to find out what was happening. As I got to the front, I looked out the window and saw a tractor moving toward one of the pecan trees; Jean had hired someone to come out and shake the trees to cause the pecans to drop, and we were feeling the vibrations clear across the yard! I quickly grabbed the camera to try to record what I could of the event. I was able to snap this shot just as the shaker started and the pecans went flying…looks almost like a flock of birds taking off!

Sometime after 11:00 I walked down to the highway to check the mail. When I got back, Barbara started a large recipe of chicken and buttermilk biscuits, a Betty Crocker boxed meal that tastes every bit as good as homemade and is the perfect meal for a cold day like today. By the way, if you haven’t tried it, you ought to.

We ate and watched another episode of M*A*S*H and then took some of the meal over to Mother and to Ernie and Billee.

After a trip to Wal-Mart, where I got a haircut and Barbara picked up some things for our upcoming trip to Arizona, we returned to Big V and began picking out the clothes we wanted to take with us on Thursday and started packing.

I made one more trip back to Mother’s house around 4:00 to check on her and do some ironing. While I was there, the plumbers came by to clear a clogged drain pipe from the kitchen sink. Ernie and I had worked about three days to get the drain running, but finally gave up and called in the professionals. I told Mother that I wouldn’t want to be a plumber, but I’m sure glad that someone else did. Once the plumbers left I said goodbye to Mother and the puppies and returned to Big V for dinner and an evening of watching TV and relaxing.

Wednesday, January 23

Happy Birthday to Paul Francis in Grand Prairie, Texas!

We woke up around 7:00 and took it easy for a couple of hours...checked the computers, had a light breakfast, and did some general chores around the place.

At 10:00 we went into town to pick Mother up for her appointment with Dr. Khan here in Artesia. While we were there we thought we’d better get started washing some clothes that we would need for the upcoming trip. The appointment went well; the doctor was pleased with her progress and current state of health, especially after the surgery in December. He told her to come back in three months for another check-up.

We were back at Mother’s house by 11:15 – put another load of clothes in the washing machine and then headed back toward Big V, stopping first to drop off a new prescription for Mother at the K-Mart pharmacy.

Today was our Chaos day with the Terpening clan, so we went back into town shortly after noon…stopped at Mother’s house to take clothes out of the dryer and put another load in, and then went to Chaos where we met with Jean, Jerry, Nancy, and Susie for our weekly luncheon and an hour or so of conversation.

When we left Chaos, we took a meal to Mother and then returned to Big V where we decided to do some reading. Both of us ended up taking a short nap, but I eventually finished a book that I had started several days back.

At 5:30 I went back to town to pick up Mother’s prescription and take it to her, and then returned to Big V where we spent the evening doing the final packing in preparation for our “Arizona Adventure,” which begins tomorrow morning…did make a quick trip across the yard to visit with Jean for a few minutes before returning home to watch some TV before calling it a day.
“If you jump to conclusions, you make terrible landings.”…Gulf Breeze, Florida Church Sign

Love and best wishes to all,

Jim & Barbara

A Little Cold Spell

Sunday, January 13 – Saturday, January 19, 2008

Sunday, January 13

Since Edith said she was going to try to go to church and Ernie and Billee would pick her up, we headed straight to Sunday school. However, when we got out, we couldn’t find anyone; so we called Edith’s and she hadn’t been feeling well so she didn’t come after all. Ernie and Billee did come so we all wound up sitting together. They said they were fixing lunch and we all would meet at Edith’s at 1:00; so, after church we changed clothes and headed that direction.

It was nice for all 5 of us to sit at the table and visit. Edith was really hurting and tired by the time the meal was over so once we cleaned up, we all left. Then Jim and I went over to Ernie’s and Billee’s to visit for a bit more.

Once home, Jim parked himself in front of the TV to root against the Dallas Cowboys! We were a house divided!!! What a traitor he was today.

Jim: What can I say…I used to be a diehard Cowboys fan, but the takeover of the team by Jerry Jones and the way Tom Landry was terminated as the coach left a bitter taste. Now my favorite team is New England…my second favorite is whoever is playing Dallas (sorry about that, Jean).

Monday, January 14

After we got moving this morning, Jim told me he was going to have to spend several hours working on some paperwork that he needed to finish and get in the mail. So, I planned to occupy my time with checking bills, catching up on email, and trying to put together the slide video. However, I was saved from those wonderful chores by a phone call from Nancy, who wanted me to come over for hot chocolate and visiting. I was literally saved by the bell!

While over at Nancy’s, Jerry called and invited us to go to Hagerman tonight with them to hear a seminar on John Wesley. After checking with Jim, we decided it sounded like a good idea.

Once Jim finished the reports, we drove by to see Edith. We found that she still hadn’t had lunch so I fixed her a plate of food before we went to the funeral home to make copies of the reports.

After putting them in the mail, we headed to the print shop to see if the Journal 3’s were put together yet. They were and we were delighted with them which meant another trip to the funeral home to show Jerry the cover he put together for us. Once again it was over to Edith’s before going to Sonic for our lunch.

Around 6:30 Jerry and Nancy picked us up and off we went without Jim having to drive. What a treat that was for him! Hagerman is a small town about 20 miles north of Artesia, so the ride gave us time to converse and enjoy the company.

Having grown up in the Methodist Church, I was surprised to find that I had much to learn about John Wesley. For instance, I don’t think I realized that he only came to America for a short time and then left with very bitter memories and in disgrace. I suppose, if I thought about it at all, I thought he was one of the circuit riders of that era.

Just one story about Wesley that I found interesting:

Wesley came to Savannah, Georgia, as an Anglican Church chaplain. When the ship docked, he found the townspeople gathered with their barrels of rum to welcome the travelers. In short order, Wesley used a hatchet and whacked each barrel, which didn’t endear him to the people of the town.

He quickly fell in love with 17-year old Sophie, one of his religious studies students (he was 35) which caused quite an uproar. Finally, seeking advice from some German Moravians he had met on the ship, he was told, “Think no more about the matter!” (Give up this line of thinking).

When he told Sophie that they would continue seeing each other, but marriage was not to be, she promptly went out and within a week was married to someone else. This angered Wesley so much that when she and her new husband came to church on Sunday, he refused to serve her communion, disgracing Sophie in front of everyone.

This action of his caused thirteen grievances to be filed against him. Two of these were: speaking to a married woman without her husband’s approval and baptizing an Indian baby without 3 witnesses.

Once found guilty of these charges, he left to go back to England with everyone knowing of his failure.

Tuesday, January 15

Happy birthday to sister, Nancy, in Cleburne, Texas!

Since doing laundry and cleaning house aren’t really newsworthy, I’ll use the LHS Redskin phrase, “Enough said!”

I seemed to have caught some kind of bug last night and bowed out of returning to Hagerman for tonight’s lecture. So…I will turn the journal over to Jim…

Jim: Jerry, Nancy, and I went back to Hagerman this evening for the last presentation in the Wesley Adventure series. Tonight’s topic was about the scriptural foundations of Methodists. It was a very interesting topic and the presenter discussed how the modern church is in danger of reversing the priorities as established by Wesley.

When it came time for questions, I asked how the Methodists got their name, considering that John Wesley was a lifelong Anglican. Tom (the presenter) told us that the term, “Methodists,” was originally a very derisive term used by others because members of the sect were very methodical and narrow-minded in their scriptural beliefs.

Wesley’s plan was to educate and train the masses in methodical scriptural beliefs and daily life and then send them back into the Anglican congregations to influence a change in the church; but, the Anglicans didn’t accept the “Methodists,” so those folks eventually formed their own groups, leading to the formation of the denomination known as “The Methodist Church.”

Wednesday, January 16

Happy birthday to brother, Jerry, in Roswell, New Mexico!

Congratulations to granddaughter Jaycie…Jaycie finished in the top 10 at the Murfee Spelling Bee.

Today was our usual Chaos Wednesday with the lunch bunch.
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Tonight, while Jim went over to Jean’s to watch the Texas Tech/Texas A&M basketball game, I watched some lady give up $198, 000 only to wind up with $33, 000 on Deal or No Deal! Disgusted with TV, I returned to the computer to catch up on mail, make some travel plans, and generally goof off before calling it a night!

Thursday, January 17

We woke up to a bitterly cold morning…either 15 or 16 degrees, depending on which thermometer or weather service report we chose to believe.

While we were warm inside Big V, we soon discovered that we had no running water…some part of our waterline had frozen during the early morning hours. Luckily, it takes only the flick of a switch to change over to our onboard water tank, so we were quickly up and running as usual. Jim spent a good part of the day working on a plan to get the water running again once the temperatures cooperated. I only acted as “cheerleader.” (from inside where it was warm!)

The afternoon and evening was spent making reservations and co-coordinating plans for our next trip. We are taking Amtrak from Albuquerque, NM to Flagstaff, AZ!

Why Flagstaff you ask? Easy…it’s the only train route we could find without traveling across the state and half of Texas. And…more importantly, we’re going to take the Grand Canyon Railway from Williams to Grand Canyon! Is that not exciting? More on that trip later.

Friday, January 18

Jim: Today was another relatively slow day for us…since it was so cold outside during the morning hours, we just spent the time reading or working at the computers.

This afternoon I took apart a section of our waterline to determine exactly what would be needed to fix it. It seems that when I was installing a pressure regulator between two hoses a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t seal off a water leak soon enough; the water soaked through the fiberglass wrapping around the hose, and when the temperatures dropped into the teens, the insulation froze around the hose, causing the water in the hose to freeze…oh well, live and learn!

After going into town and checking on Mother, we made a run to the local Do-It Center and bought a couple of lengths of foam pipe insulation and some more fiberglass wrap.

Once back at Big V, Barbara stripped the old, wet insulation off the hose while I set a new cover over the standpipe. Who knows…maybe by June we’ll have this thing working right!

Barbara: One exciting bit of news, and something for us to really think about…back in November, I finally tracked down a friend of mine who taught across the hall from me at West Middle School in Liberal. Margarita went back to Puerto Rico the same year we retired and it’s been fun corresponding with her. One of the last things she told us before we all left Liberal was that now that we were retired, we needed to come see her in Puerto Rico. On a whim, I asked her how two people could find her if they wanted to. To make a long story short, after exchanging some emails with Margarita and checking airfares and schedules, we are thinking strongly about going to the Rio Grande municipality of Puerto Rico to see Margarita and her family! More on that later, too. At least we can dream!

Saturday, January 19

Jim: Today was another “take it easy” day. Barbara worked on some travel plans while I did a few (very few) chores inside. Since it was way too cold to go outside and work on the plumbing, I decided to cook up a recipe of refried beans while Barbara baked some muffins for breakfast.

By noon it was warm enough to get outside and re-wrap the water hose, feed it through the 3’ PVC pipe, and get everything hooked back up. Fortunately, it all went together well and we soon had running water again. You gotta love these modern conveniences! I guess we’ll find out early tomorrow morning whether we have the proper insulation. Of course, we can always hope that the coldest of the cold has passed us for this season.

This afternoon we made a trip to town where we visited with Mother, Ernie, and Billee. Billee had come over to cut and style Mother’s hair and Ernie was working on clearing a clogged kitchen drain. Barbara also used the time to start washing a load of clothes while I busied myself by playing with the dogs.

Barbara: When we returned to town for our laundry tonight, I took the camera so we could capture Edith and her new hair-do, courtesy of Billee. It was so great to see her perky and peppy (amazing what having your hair done can do for morale!) that we just had to document this occasion.

Upon returning to our place we went in to visit with Jean for a few minutes before going to Big V for the rest of the evening.

Tonight: Work on the journal for this week and chill out (literally and figuratively).

We’ve been sent some photos this week and decided that this was a good time to share them.

First: Our good friend Gary (the one in the cowboy hat…boy, he takes this move to Texas in style!) with his granddaughter Riley. Riley is the daughter of Joyce and Gary’s daughter, April, who is a lawyer in Houston.

Joyce and Gary have 3 daughters, but Holly is the only one who is not pictured here. This photo shows Ginger (on the left) with her son, Owen. April is on the right with daughter, Riley. Now it’s obvious why Joyce and Gary chose to move from Maryland to Texas, isn’t it?

Before the holiday season, Charlene and Danny’s son Chance graduated

from Northwestern Oklahoma State University at Alva. Charlene sent us this photo of her with Chance (center) and Spencer (right).

Not much going on this week, but sometimes that’s not all bad.

“When you’re down to nothing, God’s up to something.” - Unknown

Love to all,

Jim & Barbara

Sunday, January 6 – Saturday, January 12, 2008

Sunday, January 6

We began the morning by going by to see Edith. While there, I realized that she hadn’t used the weekly medicine dispenser Leah and Ryan gave her for Christmas; so I took all of her medicines and with her help, we got everything organized. She has been having a hard time remembering whether she has taken her pills; so we’re hopeful that this will help. That took a little longer than we expected so we missed Sunday school. However, since today was a new service day for our church, we were in time for church.

The church staff finally decided to combine the two morning services into one; so it now begins at 10:15. Unfortunately, we’re not big into the contemporary music, though the first part of the service wasn’t too bad. However, it went downhill (in our opinion) from there. It’s tough sometimes being old, because one is really set in their ways, especially when it comes to the songs in a church service and what makes a meaningful service. I’ll leave it at that.

When we finally got out at 11:45, we went by and checked on Edith and warmed up the meal Jim had put in Edith’s oven while I was doing pills. Once we got her settled, we returned to Big V. On the way, we decided we’d ask Jean if she would be interested in sharing the meal with us.

After visiting and eating, we all agreed it was bound to be nap time; so we headed home to do our part in keeping to this schedule. (Just for the record, the wind was blowing so hard, we had to close up the slide-outs to stop some of the noise! Yucky!)

The rest of the day was spent getting volume 3 of our journal ready for the printers. While Jim did that, I worked on a cover. I knew what I wanted, but for some reason, it wouldn’t print the way I designed it. We finally decided we’d get Jerry’s help tomorrow since he’s a computer guru when it comes to designing.

Monday, January 7

Jim hit the deck running today as he wanted to go to the high school band rehearsal.

Jim: Following up on Tom and Lisa Dillon’s invitation to drop by during band rehearsals, I decided to pay them a visit this morning. The band is preparing an honor band concert to present at the New Mexico Music Educators Association annual conference in Albuquerque Thursday night and I wanted to hear how they were doing.

As expected, the band sounded great on the two selections that I got to hear. I had hoped to visit some more with Tom and Lisa, but they had a band staff meeting immediately following the rehearsal to make final plans for the trip, so I just wished them well and told them I’d see them again soon.

Barbara: Once we checked in with Edith, we visited the printer’s for some advice about cardstock to be used for the journal cover, and then dropped by the funeral home to talk to Jerry. As we knew he would, he spotted the problem with my design and will fix it when we get the pictures to him. Again, we went by Edith’s to make sure she had everything she needed since we had decided to take a short trip to Cloudcroft and then Ruidoso; the weather forecast was for another w-i-n-d-y day and we needed to close up the motor home.

With my camera in hand, we blew down the highway toward Cloudcroft. We had a two-fold purpose in going this way. First, I wanted to practice taking some photos, and we were going to the Country Mercantile to do some pastry shopping since Edith and others kept talking about how wonderful their pies were.

We didn’t run into snow until we got past Mayhill, but even then, it wasn’t much to speak of. Still, I enjoyed the contrasts in scenery.

The little buildings on the right side are our “fixer-uppers”…We decided we could fix them up and live in them when we tire of Big V. J The photo bottom left is a frozen pond! Looks like a road…

What fun the mercantile store was! It was like walking back in time before Wal-Marts, K-Marts, and Targets! With wooden floors, everything dusted and spic and span, it was a treat just to browse around just knowing there had to be something we needed. Finally, we chose to buy Fruit of the Forest pies which were made with just about any berry you could think of as well as rhubarb! Yummy!

Just before dark, we arrived in Ruidoso and drove downtown to visit KFC for dinner to take to the Inn, where we had reservations. Eventually, I got tired of watching the football game; so I went downstairs to play while Jim stayed in the room to watch LSU manhandle Ohio State in the BCS championship game.

Tuesday, January 8

Jim and I were surprised to find that we slept in until 8:30, but since we didn’t have anything on the schedule, we weren’t in any hurry to get moving. We left the Inn around 10:30 and made a stop at Sonic for breakfast on the road. Even though Lydia was coming to clean Edith’s house this morning (one reason we felt we could take this short trip), we wanted to be home in time to check on her and the puppies. Sure enough, when we arrived at 1-ish, she hadn’t eaten; so we fed her before going home to unpack.

Wednesday, January 9

Yea! Today was a Chaos day! It’s always fun to visit with the bunch and enjoy a leisurely meal. Karen Francis is still home for UT’s semester break, so she joined the group today. However, since we had to have Edith over in Roswell at 2:30 for a follow-up visit with the doctor, we didn’t tarry too long.

Since we actually had an appointment, our wait was minimal and we were out feeling upbeat over the great report on her surgery. We had decided that once she finished at the doctor’s, we would take her over to Jim’s brother’s house. There we visited with Jerry and Jane for about 40 minutes…which was quite good for Edith!

I suggested that we stop at DQ for a treat before getting on the highway. Edith liked that idea and began to pull out her wallet. I said, “Edith, it was my idea, we’ll pay for it.” Without missing a beat she said, “No, it’s such a good idea, it could have been mine!” We know she is doing better when she can come back that quickly with a zinger!

On the way home, we witnessed the most beautiful sunset I think I’ve ever seen. However, by the time we got home and grabbed the camera, it was almost dark. I still got two fairly decent shots. But, I was really sorry we weren’t home to capture the true beauty of that’s day’s ending. Since we have an almost unobstructed view all the way to the Guadalupe Mountains to the southwest and the Sacramento Mountains in the west, we get to witness beautiful sunsets most evenings during the year.


Thursday, January 10

After starting a load of clothes at Edith’s and checking on her, we went by to give Jerry a copy of the photos that we want on the cover. To our surprise and pleasure, he took time to do the lay-out in no time flat! Therefore, we were able to take the journals to the printers for binding.

When we got back to Big V, Jim thought it was time (and a good, warm day) to take care of some business around the place. After dumping the tanks, he decided to rearrange all of our “stuff” in the big barn. That involved getting Little Red to pull out the car hauler, loading the ten-foot trailer on the car hauler (I helped by pushing on the back of the trailer while Jim pulled from the front – almost had a catastrophe when he tripped over the rail that keeps the motorcycle in place and fell backwards. Luckily, I was able to push against the trailer until he regained control of the tongue and we finished getting everything in place).

After I helped guide while Jim backed the car hauler into the barn, I returned to Big V and he stayed in the barn to get everything organized and straightened up.

Later, while Jim was over at Edith’s, Billee called to tell him he had a package over there. For some reason, UPS delivered Jim’s Christmas present from Leah and Ryan over there. (They had to back order this special gift!) Now Jim is decked out for outdoor cooking! If only the weather would co-operate! Guess we’ll just have to wait for supper!

Not being in the mood to cook tonight, Jim called Jean to find out if the family wanted to meet us at La Fonda for supper. Becky is going to be in a community play in February and had a rehearsal so she didn’t get to join us.

Friday, January 11

How two people can drag laundry out two days is beyond me! But, we can…finally finished it though, thank goodness.

After talking to Jerry the other day, I decided I wanted to do a slide journal of our retirement so we went to Wal-Mart to buy a photo shop program. I think it will consume my life for the next few days!

Jim received an e-mail copy of the deposition he gave while we were in Florida, so he spent about seven hours reviewing the 195 pages, marking them for corrections, and filling out the errata forms to return to the lawyer.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Jim: Today may have been the laziest Saturday we’ve spent in a long time. After sleeping in until after 7:30, we spent a large part of the morning just piddling around Big V. Barbara worked on the video journal and I read my online newspaper and sent off a couple of articles to some friends. I even managed to work in a little nap around noon.

We went over to Mother’s house to check on her around 2:00. I ironed a pair of jeans while Barbara refilled the medication tray for the coming week; then we came back home where I watched the first half of the Green Bay/Seattle football game as Barbara worked with the new program for creating a video journal. We went over to Jean’s house at halftime and visited for a bit. I stayed there for most of the second half of the game, but Barbara had an inspiration for the video journal, so she came back to Big V.

I made another trip to Mother’s house to check on her and feed the puppies…also took time to iron some pants and a shirt to wear to church tomorrow, and then returned to Big V to watch the Patriots and Jaguars slug it out to see who advances to next week’s NFL AFC championship game.

John sent us some Christmas photos of our great grandson Rhett and our teen-age granddaughter Randi since we weren’t able to be with them.

“We cannot discover new oceans unless we have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Heartwarmers

Sending our best to all,

Jim & Barbara

Tuesday, January 1 – Saturday, January 5, 2008

Tuesday, January 1

Happy New Year to everyone!

Since Nancy had come over yesterday and asked us to share New Year’s lunch with their family, that’s exactly what we did! It was a great way to start off the year. After helping to clean up the mountains of food and dishes, Jim and I ran over to Edith’s to visit with her a little while. We found she hadn’t even eaten so we quickly dished out the food Nancy had sent over.

When we returned to Jerry and Nancy’s we played Apples to Apples before Karen and her boyfriend, Conner arrived on their way back to Hobbs from Ruidoso. We all agreed that ham sandwiches would hit the spot, but before we did that, we returned to Edith’s just to check in with her. She and the puppies were doing great so we stopped by Wal-Mart and picked up the game Leah and Ryan had taught us, Fact or Crap. With that in hand, we returned once again for another meal and a night of game playing.

Wednesday, January 2

Well, it was back to the real world for us this morning. While Jim started unplugging everything, I dismantled the inside of Big V so he could take it to fill up on gas and propane as well as dump and clean the tanks. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Since he was having so much fun, we thought I should have my share by going over to do laundry at Edith’s and take down her Christmas decorations.

Surprisingly, Jim and I finished up about the same time; so I headed out to Jean’s to help get us settled back in. We completed this chore just in time to meet the Wednesday bunch at Chaos for lunch and visiting.

The afternoon was spent finishing laundry, visiting with Edith, running errands, etc. Real exciting stuff!

We found out during the evening that Edith was supposed to go to Dr. Osmani’s this afternoon. Oops! We’ll just have to reschedule.

Thursday, January 3

First rattle out of the box this morning, I contacted Osmani’s office; apparently, Edith had cancelled the appointment when an automated system called to remind her of it…so we’re back on now for next Wednesday. Then it was over to Edith’s to tell her what had happened. Sure enough she remembered saying “No” but she thought it was a political phone call. No blood, no foul…we’ll see him next week.

Jim and I then set out to find a picture frame easel so I could put out the frame Kelly and Mike gave us for Christmas. We were successful at Hallmark so we came home for me to start choosing 4 photos for it. At first, I thought I should put the kids and their families in it, but Jim sent me in another direction since he felt it should be about us. Once that mind set was lifted, I was free to really think about our life.
The mat of the frame says, “Happiness is not a Destination, But a Way of Life.”

So...here's the process I then took... First and foremost, the photos had to go with the saying. I pondered over lots of good ones...but, finally I chose these 4 because they seemed to exemplify that statement the best.

1. Us in front of Glennis' house in Marianna getting ready to take cycle and cargo trailer to Key West...certainly a happy beginning for a dream trip...so it nailed the statement a "way of life."

2. Jim and I at the 50's Diner in Richmond with Kelly and Mike...That place held happy memories of our youth (it surprised us with how authentic it was to the places we used to go in our teens). Plus, it was important, quality time with them…and they gave us the frame.

3. Me taking a photo using Jim's helmet to get the scenery we had already passed and just being silly...happy and free...enjoying what Jim loves and I sometimes don't quite enjoy as much as he...but, it's a way of life that makes me expand my thinking and photo taking skills!

4. The birds enjoying breakfast leftovers on the deck of the motel in Clearwater Beach, FL...Jim and I, as well as others, rolled with laughter when this occurred, especially when the waitress came running out apologizing and shooing those "sky rats" away...what a fun memory!
We really liked the results so for a time we are using this photo on our blog site, too. That pretty much took up the rest of my day.

Friday, January 4

Unfortunately, this morning was a no messing around one since we had to be at Edith’s by 10 to take her to Carlsbad for her Parkinson’s disease (Dr. Dewan) appointment. Everything seemed to be holding up as well as can be expected so we don’t have to go there again until July.

Once we returned home, we came out to the house to await the arrival of the propane guy. He had promised that they would deliver a smaller (125 lbs.) tank so we won’t have to continually take Big V in for refills. It also means we can put away the electric heaters! Sure enough, they arrived about 1:35.

Once that was taken care of, Jim and I decided to add indoor/outdoor two-sided tape to our big carpet by Big V’s steps. This was much more of a chore than we first thought, but with perseverance, we prevailed!

Jim spent the rest of the afternoon working outside getting the hoses, cords, and etc. cleaned up so we don’t look like pack rats out here!

I have no idea what I did, but it certainly must not have been newsworthy!

I did go out to look at his accomplishments just about sunset, and immediately ran in for my camera! This is why we love living out here on Jean’s land in New Mexico! I deliberately left in the power lines and the fence so that I could capture exactly what we see from our front porch. Is that not awesome??? This picture alone shows why we love, thanks to Jean, living in New Mexico while we take care, the best we know how, of Jim’s mom.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Wow! A morning to just piddle around here at home…it’s been super. It’s amazing how fun ordinary things can be when you seem to always be on the move.

Jim went into town to take Edith the ham salad sandwich I made her and to do some other errands while I bask in our home listening to CD’s (instead of the wind howling! Though, I do hear it, too.) I am happy to report that the outside carpet has remained stationary even through the gusts of vicious winds! Kudos to Jim for his brainy idea!

Tonight…stay home and kick back and relax a bit.

Jim: What Barbara didn’t mention was that I decided to get a jump on printing our journal for the past six months. I spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday proofing and editing all the entries since July 1 (still missed some goofs though) and began printing on Friday. The printer has been running a lot during the past 36 hours, but we’ve been able to run seven copies of the approximately 170 page book. Hopefully, Volume 3 of the Little Retirement series will go to the printer Monday for binding. It was amazing to find as we read through the entries that there were so many activities and adventures that we had already forgotten about.

With working on the journal and setting up the place for semi-permanent residency, it has been a very busy week for both of us. I think I feel a little down time coming on.

Heather and Andy gave me a little pad of church signs for Christmas, one page for each day of the year. I thought the sign for January 1 was particularly appropriate for the new year, so we’re sharing it with you here:

“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”

Starting 2008 in Artesia and wishing one and all a wonderful new year,

Jim & Barbara

The Little's Journal Three Foreword...

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow! The time has flown by and now it’s time to put together all the entries of the past six months and create Volume Three of our retirement journal.

Neither of us knew 18 months ago how we would be affected by our decisions to retire from public education and see what was “out there” for us. Certainly, it never entered our minds that we would go into the “publishing” business and lay our lives out there for everyone to see. Our address list continues to grow, though, and we are grateful for those friends (new and old) and family members who have expressed their interest in following along on our adventures.

We offer our sincere thanks to all who have kept up with us through our email attachments and/or the blog site. Your comments and suggestions are gratefully accepted.

As we sit here on the eve of a new year, we wish each and every one of you God’s richest blessings in the days, months, and weeks to come.

Thanks for coming along on the ride and keep those emails and phone calls coming!

Jim and Barbara Little
December 31, 2007
Artesia, New Mexico
http://thelittlesartesia.blogspot.com/