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
