Monday, February 4
Happy Birthday to son-in-law, Andy, in Richardson, TX!
How wonderful it is to be back in our domain…okay…so that’s stretching it a little bit since we’ve had to keep Big V closed up on 2 sides since the wind is blowing 90 miles an hour (that’s a little bit of exaggeration). However, we did awaken at 2:00 a.m. with the home rattling and shaking; so we quickly got up and brought in 2 slides. Jim was able to go right back to sleep, but I stayed up until 3:00 and then conked out again.
The entire morning and part of the afternoon was spent getting income tax records together and putting the journal on the blog. Finally, around 3:00 we wandered out into the windy weather. On the way over to Edith’s, Cathey called to report that they were having car troubles coming back from a cheer competition in Oklahoma. Yuck! At first, I thought maybe Jim and I would go to help them, but seems as they had some human angels with them. Another couple was driving behind them and stayed with them throughout the whole ordeal. What should have been a 5 hour trip, wound up being 11 hours! But, they found help in Elk City, and their friends stayed with them; so what better blessings could one have?
A trip to Wal-Mart to stock up the cabinets and refrigerator was a real necessity today which wasn’t all that much fun, but at least it’s done!
Jim went over to Jean’s to watch the KU basketball game while I stayed home to work on some bills and correspondence.
Yep! You can tell…we’re back to the “real” world.
Tuesday, February 5
It must not have been an exciting day, because I can’t remember one thing about it other than that Jim did some more work on income tax records while I worked on the blog. There were so many pictures from the Arizona trip that it took a long time.
Wednesday, February 6
Another one of those unforgettable days; but I did forget so guess it wasn’t so unforgettable. Jim did go over to Jean’s house to watch the Duke/North Carolina basketball game.
Thursday, February 7
Now! This was a day! Jim went out to continue removing an old satellite dish Jean and Cal once had, and it was so pretty outdoors that I wanted to do something. Jim suggested that I rake the pecans away from the trees since Jean wanted to start watering them. (This year she has some people who are picking up the pecans)
Now! This was a day! Jim went out to continue removing an old satellite dish Jean and Cal once had, and it was so pretty outdoors that I wanted to do something. Jim suggested that I rake the pecans away from the trees since Jean wanted to start watering them. (This year she has some people who are picking up the pecans)
Anyway, I stopped for a minute and went into the house just as my phone was ringing. It was Joyce; she and Gary were leaving El Paso (they had attended another funeral) and heading to Ruidoso. They wanted us to meet them. Needless to say, this is exactly what retirement is all about…Jim and I cleaned up, called Edith to give her a heads up, and took off around 2:00 in the afternoon.
It was 4:00 when we pulled in to the Inn and there was Gary in the parking lot. While Jim waited for Gary to get what he needed out of the car, I went in and found Joyce. I was in hog heaven! When Joyce finally retired and they sold their Maryland home and moved to Houston, I hoped and dreamed that we’d get to do things together and here it was actually happening for the 2nd time in 3 or 4 months. It just doesn’t get any better!
After eating supper, we all climbed into our vehicles and headed back to Artesia. Once home, we stayed up until 12:30 a.m. visiting (way past our usual bedtime!) But…they are planning to go on an Alaskan cruise in July and August and want us to go. We’ll just have to see about that…
Friday, February 8
Happy birthday to brother-in-law, Tom, in Cleburne!
Once we were all up and ginning around, Joyce and I went over to see Nancy while Gary and Jim visited a little with Jean before she had to go to work. Saying good-bye wasn’t very hard this
time since we’ll be staying with them the night before we go to Puerto Rico and when we get back from there.While Jim started on the housecleaning project we had planned, I went over to Edith’s to wash for the 2nd or 3rd time this week…what dirty people we are!
Once I got 2 loads going and visiting with Edith completed, I headed home to do my share of the cleaning. In no time at all, Big V was sparkling clean!
Jim then went out to continue his “grave” project…that’s what I call it since the hole looks big enough to bury someone…if I disappear, look there first!
The satellite dish was mounted on a 4-inch steel pipe. What Jim didn’t know when he started digging was that the pipe was eight felt long, with the bottom four feet encased in concrete…lots of concrete. He had to dig down four feet to break the pipe and concrete loose from the packed caliche before he could even think about getting it out of the hole!
He tried pulling it out with Little Red, but it just didn’t have the umph; and besides all of that, it was time to come in and clean up for our evening’s activity.
He tried pulling it out with Little Red, but it just didn’t have the umph; and besides all of that, it was time to come in and clean up for our evening’s activity.
Becky was a cast member in the Artesia Community Theatre and we were leaving at 7:00 with Jerry and Nancy to attend their dinner performance. Susie had come over from Hobbs with her best friend Rhonda and they were riding with Jean.
Since the play was The Pajama Party Murder!!! by Eileen Moushey, all audience members were asked to wear their pajamas. We five women were readily prepared for such a casual dress function; however, Jerry and Jim, in regular guy fashion, chose to wear their couch sleeping clothes as opposed to their regular bedtime attire.
For years, Jean would e-mail us telling of Becky’s drama events and Jim and I often wished we could be there since in “real” life Becky is really quite shy and doesn’t seek attention easily with those she doesn’t know. So…we just couldn’t imagine her acting.
Well, we’re here to tell you that she is a wonderful actress! She played Bertha a 50 year old niece who blamed her dead Uncle Cosmo for a broken romance thirty years ago. And, she’s an assistant warden at a school for wayward girls. What a grouchy, sourpuss she was! Becky had that part down perfectly!
Since the play was The Pajama Party Murder!!! by Eileen Moushey, all audience members were asked to wear their pajamas. We five women were readily prepared for such a casual dress function; however, Jerry and Jim, in regular guy fashion, chose to wear their couch sleeping clothes as opposed to their regular bedtime attire.
For years, Jean would e-mail us telling of Becky’s drama events and Jim and I often wished we could be there since in “real” life Becky is really quite shy and doesn’t seek attention easily with those she doesn’t know. So…we just couldn’t imagine her acting.
Well, we’re here to tell you that she is a wonderful actress! She played Bertha a 50 year old niece who blamed her dead Uncle Cosmo for a broken romance thirty years ago. And, she’s an assistant warden at a school for wayward girls. What a grouchy, sourpuss she was! Becky had that part down perfectly!
What a fun evening!
Saturday, February 09, 2008
We joined the whole tribe at Chaos for breakfast before heading over to Edith’s with another 2 loads of clothes…I told you we were definitely dirty people this week! A trip to Wal-Mart was next on the hit parade before my taking a nap and Jim going out to the “grave” site. Wendell had gotten the pipe out of the hole and Jerry had gotten Jim a sledge hammer so Jim was determined he was going to finish this chore today.
Once I awoke from my nap, I wandered out to see how things were going for him. Breaking that concrete base on the pipe was quite a job! Just for kicks, I asked if I could try using the sledge hammer….that thing was heavy so I proceeded to give the concrete some love taps…no way I could swing that thing like Jim…But, we alternated that way, my love taps/his pounding, until the pipe was free. Jim threw the concrete in the hole and together we covered it with the dirt he had dug up. Mission accomplished!
Jim: I guess I’ll provide the footnotes for this week’s journal.
I’ve decided that swinging a sledge hammer is not an acceptable retirement alternative. I told Jean that if I was ever in prison and got fed according to the number of rocks I cold break up, I’d be the skinniest guy there! Luckily, Barbara was there to provide water, rake up the concrete chips as they flew around, and make sure I didn’t fall into the hole.
After we got everything put away, I went into the barn and checked all the pressures on the motorcycle. We’re supposed to have good weather for the next couple of days (possibly up to 78 degrees on Monday) and wanted to have the cycle ready to ride of we get an opportunity.
I made a cycle trip into town to get gas and go over to Mother’s house to visit and get our laundry. Ernie dropped in just as I was leaving the house, so we visited a few minutes and then I headed back to Big V where Barbara was fixing supper.
Tonight…eat supper, get the journal and blog ready to publish, watch some Saturday night television, and generally sit back and relax.
“He who has tact has less to retract.” – Church Signs
Wishing everyone a great new week,
Jim & Barbara
