Monday, March 17
It was nice to take it easy this morning and just enjoy being home. We finally wandered out to visit Edith before heading to Wal-Mart to stock up on groceries. While we were at the store, Cathey called and said that she and Jimmy had decided that Jaycie could come stay a couple of days with us since she was on spring break. Therefore, we agreed to meet at Plains around 3:00 Texas time.
So…it was quickly home to put everything away and then hit the road.
By the time we arrived back in Artesia, it was time to check up on Edith and let Jaycie say hello to her before heading out to Big V.
While Jim and I were squaring everything away at home, Jaycie decided that she wanted to gather some of the pecans still left on the ground over at Jean’s. When she finally came in, she took the time to count how many she gathered…170!
Jim then took her out to ride around the neighborhood in Little Red. It didn’t take long for her to talk him into letting her do some driving on her own.
Jim then took her out to ride around the neighborhood in Little Red. It didn’t take long for her to talk him into letting her do some driving on her own.
When Jean got home from work, we walked over to give her the pecans Jaycie had picked up.
After supper, we began watching Cheaper by the Dozen 2. However, as is often the case, Jaycie wound up falling asleep and Jim and I finishing the movie alone. We are always amazed at how much we enjoy the movies she brings with her. About the only time we watch a movie is when we have the grandkids. Go figure.
Tuesday, March 18
Since today was Edith’s rehab appointment, Jim took her while Jaycie and I stayed over at Granny’s to do laundry. By the time they returned, we were finished with our chore and the three of us went to Chaos to meet the Terpening/Francis clan for our usual “Wednesday” lunch. (Susie had something to do tomorrow and came over today instead.)
After taking care of some errands, including surprising Jaycie with a stop at Hallmark to pick out a Webkinz, Jim drove us out to Castleberry Road (I didn’t even know there was such a thing) to show us where his family lived on a farm for a while when he and his brothers were quite young.
Jim and I were tickled that the Webkinz Jaycie had chosen to “adopt” was a bulldog. Since Artesia is Bulldog country, this seemed quite fitting. We were amazed with her power of observation when we asked what she was going to name it. She reminded us that on the way to Big V, we pass that water tower and it says, “Artesia, Home of Champions”. So…she has named her bulldog Champion.
While I was fixing supper, the two of them took another spin in Little Red. And, then we settled down for the night to watch another movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Can’t believe I’m going to say this, but even after teaching 37 years, I have never read or seen this story! But, you guessed it…while Jaycie slept, Jim and I finished the movie and enjoyed it.
Wednesday, March 19
While Jim did some raking over by the pecan trees, Jaycie began making a “rock city” in the dirt. As she explained it, at home in Lubbock she uses colored chalk to write on the sidewalks and since she didn’t have chalk and we don’t have a sidewalk, she decided to use a rock and build her city in the dirt! Every street in her city had the ending “berry” since Gramps took her to Castleberry Road yesterday. For instance, her house was on Ancientberry…to get there I had to find Cranberry, turn on Royalberry, and then wind up on Ancientberry…It was quite a city! In fact, she worked so long off and on that it eventually wound up being 110 feet by 80 feet! (I measured it!)
I did interrupt her city building to accompany me over to Granny’s to deliver some food and do a few other things, but once we returned home…it was back to the city life for her!
After supper, we began watching Cheaper by the Dozen 2. However, as is often the case, Jaycie wound up falling asleep and Jim and I finishing the movie alone. We are always amazed at how much we enjoy the movies she brings with her. About the only time we watch a movie is when we have the grandkids. Go figure.
Tuesday, March 18
Since today was Edith’s rehab appointment, Jim took her while Jaycie and I stayed over at Granny’s to do laundry. By the time they returned, we were finished with our chore and the three of us went to Chaos to meet the Terpening/Francis clan for our usual “Wednesday” lunch. (Susie had something to do tomorrow and came over today instead.)
After taking care of some errands, including surprising Jaycie with a stop at Hallmark to pick out a Webkinz, Jim drove us out to Castleberry Road (I didn’t even know there was such a thing) to show us where his family lived on a farm for a while when he and his brothers were quite young.
Jim and I were tickled that the Webkinz Jaycie had chosen to “adopt” was a bulldog. Since Artesia is Bulldog country, this seemed quite fitting. We were amazed with her power of observation when we asked what she was going to name it. She reminded us that on the way to Big V, we pass that water tower and it says, “Artesia, Home of Champions”. So…she has named her bulldog Champion.
While I was fixing supper, the two of them took another spin in Little Red. And, then we settled down for the night to watch another movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Can’t believe I’m going to say this, but even after teaching 37 years, I have never read or seen this story! But, you guessed it…while Jaycie slept, Jim and I finished the movie and enjoyed it.
Wednesday, March 19
While Jim did some raking over by the pecan trees, Jaycie began making a “rock city” in the dirt. As she explained it, at home in Lubbock she uses colored chalk to write on the sidewalks and since she didn’t have chalk and we don’t have a sidewalk, she decided to use a rock and build her city in the dirt! Every street in her city had the ending “berry” since Gramps took her to Castleberry Road yesterday. For instance, her house was on Ancientberry…to get there I had to find Cranberry, turn on Royalberry, and then wind up on Ancientberry…It was quite a city! In fact, she worked so long off and on that it eventually wound up being 110 feet by 80 feet! (I measured it!)
I did interrupt her city building to accompany me over to Granny’s to deliver some food and do a few other things, but once we returned home…it was back to the city life for her!
After another ride on Little Red, we went out to supper with Jean to La Fonda.
Thursday, March 20
Thursday, March 20
Jaycie wanted to go out and do some more work on her “city,” but quickly discovered that even though the early morning sun was shining brightly, light didn’t translate into heat, and it was just too cool to be outside yet. So, we busied ourselves with getting everything ready for the day’s activities. Time flew by quickly, and we soon had to load everything into the Vibe and head into town.
After Jim took Granny to her second rehab visit and Jaycie and I did one more load of laundry, we had to leave Artesia to meet Jimmy and Cathey at the Dairy Queen in Plains, Texas, a point about halfway between Artesia and Lubbock. It was time for her to return to her family.
Friday, March 21
Nothing of interest to report except…March Madness began last night so I’ll talk about it! Paul, Jean’s grandson, sent out emails asking people if they wanted to join his fantasy basketball group. Jim declined, but I decided I’d do it again this year. However, this year, I was determined that I would do some serious thinking and researching…so I did. Now, I ask what good that did when every top seed that played in Tampa lost yesterday. Anyway…I was holding my own and was in the top 10 of our group, even after being let down by UConn and Drake.
Jim: I’ve never cared about the brackets for the tournament; I just enjoy watching the games until my handful of favorites get eliminated and the tournament gets into the “who cares” brackets. That doesn’t usually take very long, but maybe I’ll still have someone at least advance to the Sweet Sixteen if Kansas can hold it together.
Saturday, March 22
Jim: While going through the pantry yesterday we found a quart jar of a bean and spice mix that had been given to us as a Christmas present. We decided that this would be a good day to do some serious cooking, so we broke out the mix, added in brown sugar, diced onion, a couple of pounds of browned hamburger, diced tomatoes, and tomato juice, and fired up the range to get everything cooking. It didn’t take long for Big V to start “stinking purty!” After bringing everything to a good boil, we transferred the mix to a slow cooker and let it go for the rest of the day.
One of the downsides of Big V is that cooking or baking in such a small space can overpower the senses after a while, but today was so beautiful and warm outside that we were able to open the door, windows, and roof vents and just enjoy the nice weather and the aroma of food cooking.
While I had fully intended to enjoy the beautiful weather by going outside and working on Jean’s place, the siren call of March Madness soon attracted both of us to the TV and we settled in to see what would happen next.
What happened over the next 4 hours was that two more of my teams disappeared from the tournament when Duke and Kansas State found novel ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
With Stanford and Marquette coming up next (one of the “who cares?” match-ups as far as I was concerned), I decided to get the motorcycle out of the barn and take advantage of the good weather for a ride since I could while Barbara worked on the journal and photos for this week.
After a great ride of about an hour and a half, I returned to Big V to watch Kansas take on UNLV, ever mindful of the fact that the Jayhawks can burn ever so brightly during the regular season, but tend to get snuffed out during the tournament. However, they did manage to win big this evening, so I’ll have at least one team left to cheer for in the Sweet Sixteen next week.
We both watched as much of the Texas A&M/UCLA game as CBS would show us (part of the game in Big V and part at Jean’s house). I’m certainly not a fan of the Aggies, but I’ll pull for almost any team (even Oklahoma, although I’d “sooner” not have that known) against one of the “Left Coast” schools. A&M gave us some really exciting moments, but in the end, they too, departed from the tournament.
After all that excitement, there wasn’t much left to do but get the kitchen cleaned up (i.e. get the aroma of the chili and beans that had been cooking all day out of Big V) and call it a day so we could get rested up for Easter Sunday activities.
“The invention of basketball was not an accident. It was developed to meet a need. Those boys simply would not play “drop the handkerchief.” – James Naismith, creator of basketball
Enjoying family and friends in Artesia,
Jim & Barbara
