Sunday, July 13
We got up fairly early this morning and moved around in time to drive over to T.J.’s house and pick up Cindy so she could attend the Rim Rock Cowboy Church with us. It was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed talking as we rode the 20 or so miles from Mineola to Quitman and then east to the church.
We got there just as the service was starting, so we missed the coffee and doughnuts. However, we got in on a wonderful service. Because the youth and their families were back in attendance after youth week at church camp, there was a considerably larger crowd than last week. The singing was cheerier, and the youth also added a great deal to the spirit of the service as they shared some of their experiences from the past week.
Again, we enjoyed a wonderful sermon, alternately nodding our heads and moving our feet to try to keep the pastor from stepping on our toes. I told Ladd after the service that if we are going to continue to attend this church, I’ll have to start wearing my steel-toed boots.
At the conclusion of the service we watched the horse trough baptisms of two young people; one had made her profession of faith during youth camp. The other was a young boy who had come forward last Sunday.
After church we returned to T.J.’s house for lunch (after first driving to Mother’s house to show it to Cindy and to let the dogs out for a short break). Lunch was delicious and plentiful, as it always is when we go to T.J.’s house.
It didn’t take long to become nap time, so we took Mother back to her house and then went home to Big V to check mail (Barbara spent a few minutes doctoring and organizing the pictures from the rodeo last night) and then we took a short nap.
Later in the evening we made a little trip to Dairy Queen for our evening meal – a butter-pecan Blizzard for Barbara and large chocolate malt for me. From there, we wandered back to T.J.’s house to spend and hour or so talking to Glennis, Cindy, and T.J….so much to say and so little time!
It was thundering and lightning when we returned to Big V, but whatever was in the area seemed to blow away; that is, until 3:00 a.m. when the bottom fell out.
Monday, July 14
Happy Anniversary to Jimmy Clint and Cathey Colwell in Lubbock!
We had talked to Cindy about riding out to Lake Hawkins and swimming with us today, but it wasn’t long after we got moving around when we realized that we had a lot to do to prepare supper to night. I was supposed to bake two loaves of bread, one jalapeno and one Italian, to go along with the spaghetti, homemade ice cream, and salad that we were fixing to feed the crew.
So, we called Cindy and begged off of the swimming for today and took care of chores around Big V and Mother’s house while we waited for the loaves to finish. There were still some more pictures and paintings to hang at Mother’s house…not nearly as many as a few days ago, but we are still trying to find just the right spaces for them.
Before Glennis and Cindy arrived, we had determined that each of us would be responsible for a home-cooked meal while they were here. Mother offered her house and said she’d pay for the food if we’d fix a meal there on Monday, so we went to the store and got all the makings for my spaghetti and meat sauce recipe.
By 4:00 p.m. we had the house smelling like a fine Italian restaurant. The jalapeno bread was on the counter, the Italian bread was baking at Big V, and I had the meat sauce simmering on the stovetop in Mother’s kitchen. Meanwhile, Barbara was slaving away at mixing up a couple of batches of her famous Big Red ice cream for our dessert.
Around 5:00 I went back to Big V to get the Italian bread and bring it back to the house. Mother had already set the table with one of her china sets…the place was looking and smelling great!
Ladd joined the six of us for the meal tonight. Angela had to work and Madeline was up at Mount Pleasant getting information about the college she will be attending this fall. It was going to be either a Big Mac or a spaghetti dinner for Ladd, so he chose us (and we’re pretty sure he’s glad he did).
We had a wonderful time sitting around the table that Daddy had refinished so very many years ago, eating and swapping stories. When Mother and her two sisters get together for any time at all, you can bet there will be stories.
One of the greatest pleasures of the past couple of weeks has been to watch Mother get the old sparkle back in her eyes and the lilt in her voice. All the preparation for the move had worn her down, but she’s showing more new life with each new day.
With dinner done and the dishes washed and put away (those that wouldn’t fit in the dishwasher), we all decided to call it a night and head back to our respective places of abode, so full that we were sure we wouldn’t need to eat again for another week, but still making plans for tomorrow night’s meal.
Tuesday, July 15
After taking our time moving around this morning, we drove over to T.J.’s house to pick up Cindy and started the short drive over to Lake Hawkins. We wrote a little about it last week after we had driven by just to see what it was all about. Today, we were going to really get the feel of it.
Lake Hawkins is located about 14 miles east of Mineola, just to the north of U.S. Highway 80. Part of the shoreline and surrounding area is designated as Lake Hawkins County Park, a part of the Wood County park system. The lake is spring fed with a surface area of about 776 acres. With a depth of about 30 feet, it is primarily a fishing lake. Predominant fish are Black and White Crappie and Big Mouth Bass. Lake fishing records include a 12.7-pound, 25.3-inch Large Mouth Bass, a 41-pound, 43-inch Grass Carp, and a 1.47-pound, 13.5-inch Black Crappie.
The section of shoreline set aside for a swimming beach features clear, warm water, smooth white sand (the original beach was developed using truckloads of sand from Panama City Beach in Florida), and a sloping bottom that runs out to a depth of 10-12 feet at the floating barricades.
We immediately fell in love with the site…what a wonderful place to bring the kids and grandkids when they come to visit. It was great, after all the days of unpacking and setting up things in Mother’s house to just rest and relax in the water and feel the warmth of the sun (even had a fairly cloudy morning, so it wasn’t too hot or glaring), as we “youngsters” got away from the others to rest and relax for a couple of hours.
Around 2:00 we went back to Big V. I decided that since I hadn’t started the motorcycle since we parked it on July 1 I’d better give it a try, especially since I was supposed to ride it to Artesia this weekend. But, when I pushed the start button, nothing happened. I checked to see that it wasn’t in gear (it won’t start if it is) and that the emergency kill switch wasn’t turned off. When both of those items checked out ok, I was faced with the fact that the battery, although relatively new, was dead. So, I got out the extension cord and battery charger and hooked everything up to start charging the battery while we piddled around Big V.
After checking on the charging process a few times, I finally got the cycle to fire up…sounded great, so I turned it off and left the charger on for a while longer to top off the battery. An hour or so later I disconnected the charger, put everything away, and covered the cycle to keep the hot sun off of it…definitely will get in some riding time tomorrow.
T.J. said she’d be responsible for feeding everyone tonight if I’d do the cooking. Since the menu was hamburgers and hotdogs, I readily agreed. We went over to her house about 4:15 and I got everything ready out on the back porch and lit the charcoal.
While the grill was going in the backyard and Mother, Glennis, and T.J. were visiting in the house, Barbara, Cindy, and I set up the washer boards and started teaching Cindy how to lag washers. She caught on quickly, and soon we had a hot competition going with Cindy and Barbara forming a team to play against me. The girls were good, no doubt, but a couple of well-timed and mildly sensational throws cemented the victory for me.
When the burgers and hotdogs were cooked, the six of us, along with T.J.’s friend Marge, sat down to do as much damage as we could to our picnic meal. Ladd was supposed to join us for the meal, but Spot had a touch of the colic and Ladd had to take care of him.
Ladd called again later to say there was no way he could get away, so T.J. offered for Barbara and me to take a load of burgers, hotdogs, and baked beans over to feed him and the young man who was going to be helping him with Spot.
When we got there, we wandered down into the pasture to find Ladd trying to get Spot to run around a ring until he loosened up enough to allow nature to take its course. The danger would be that Spot might lie down, flop around a bit, and get his intestines twisted up, something that would be expensive at best, and fatal at worst.
Ladd said he needed to run over to Wal-Mart to get some Metamucil to feed Spot and asked if I would get into the ring and make sure that Spot stayed on his feet and kept moving. Always interested in new experiences and not very sure of what I was getting into, I said I would. So, with a training whip in my hand, I entered the ring to face a half-ton of sick horse that wanted to lie down, but had to be kept moving.
In the meantime, Barbara stayed outside the ring, calling encouragement to both of us and taking pictures.
On his behalf, Spot is very well trained and responded well to the signals from the whip. I didn’t have to touch him, just wave the whip in the direction I wanted him to run. Since he was in a pen, he could only run clockwise or counter clockwise. I guess he could have run straight at me, but that didn’t seem to be his style, something for which I was very grateful. He did stop once and amble over to look me over, but I guess he accepted me in his world and soon returned to running around the pen.We had high hopes that his intestines would kick into gear…a couple of times he stopped, stood still, and raised his tail high in the air, a sign that nature was working, but in the end, we had nothing to show for our time together.
Ladd returned after a bit with a heavy dose of Metamucil that he tried to feed through a basting tube. I was glad that it was his job and not mine, because it was obvious that Spot wasn’t impressed with the medicine, and didn’t want to take it.
After running Spot for a bit more, Ladd said that he seemed to be better, and that we could go on home; he’d just run back up to the house to eat his meal and keep an eye on the horse for a while.What a day…from swimming in the lake to grilling burgers to exercising a horse…certainly no shortage of things to do in our new hometown!
Wednesday, July 16
Happy Birthday to Nancy Terpening in Artesia!!!
Since we were planning to get away early tomorrow…Barbara was going to drive the Vibe to Artesia to pick up Jaycie for a week’s visit and I was going to ride the cycle to Artesia to get our cargo trailer, we ginned around a little faster than normal.
The first order of business was to take the Vibe to Wal-Mart to get it serviced. The plan was for Barbara to leave it there; then I would pick her up on the cycle and we’d go to Mother’s house to take care of a few things there before going to the post office and taking care of all the other things that had to be done before we left for the weekend.
Surprise, surprise, surprise…the cycle wouldn’t start…there was just enough charge in it to give a dim glow to the instrument panel lights. This time I checked the water level before hooking up the charger and found that the water/acid mix was well below the level of the plates…not a good thing.
I added water and hooked up the charger, but all to no avail…this battery, which we’ve had for only a month, was shot. I called the Kawasaki dealer in Roswell and told them the situation; after much conferring among themselves they finally told me they’d give me a refund, but I’d have to bring the battery back to them.
I checked the internet for area Kawasaki dealers, but the closest was in Dallas. While I was doing that, Barbara called her sister, Nancy, about something else, but was telling her about our situation. Nancy said she buys all her batteries from Wal-Mart, Auto Zone, or O’Reilly’s, so I set out looking locally for something.
Wal-Mart didn’t have anything, but O’Reilly’s said they could order one and get it in overnight if I wanted to do that. I said that we would be leaving early tomorrow morning to go to Lubbock and I would check there, but if I didn’t find anything on the shelves, I come back and they could order one for me.
As I’m sure you have gathered by now, all the plans changed and we decided we’d both go to Lubbock in the Vibe, pick Jaycie up and bring her back to Mineola, and next weekend I’d make the cycle trip to Artesia (and now Roswell) while she took the Jay Bird back to Lubbock.
With that all decided, we went about the business of getting everything ready for the trip…wash clothes, pack, do some house cleaning, etc.
Tonight’s meal was our responsibility, but we had asked T.J. if we could fix it at her house. Big V is just too small for the group, and T.J.’s house is a lot more comfortable (translation: cooler). The menu for tonight was barbecued pork chops, Puerto Rican potato salad, fresh-baked honey wheat bread, and a pecan pie.
It took us a while to get everything ready, but by 4:30 we had picked Mother up and taken her to T.J.’s house where I went out and fired up the grill. Barbara and Cindy had to make a couple of runs to the grocery store while the coals were getting ready, and then we all just sat around and visited.
By 6:00 the pork chops were grilled and barbecued, and we were sitting down to yet another feast. We’re all going to have to go on some serious diets by the time this week is over!After Barbara and I had the kitchen cleaned up (after all, it was our night for everything-we were just using T.J.’s house), Cindy joined us and we went outside for a quick round of lagging washers. We knew there probably wasn’t enough time to finish even one of our short games, so we decided we’d play until Mother said it was time to take her home.
We went through several rounds and Barbara and Cindy were leading 3-2 when T.J. came out and said Mother wanted to go home. Since one of the girls had thrown and it was my turn, I went ahead with my three washers, lagging the last one squarely on the board, finishing the game in a tie. Sorry about that, girls.We took Mother back to her house and then headed back to Big V to get some much needed sleep…a full day of travel tomorrow, and at least one of us would need to stay awake for it.
Thursday, July 17
After loading the car for the trip to Lubbock, we drove over to Mother’s house to say goodbye and to pick up several boxes of items that we were going to donate to the local ETPA (East Texas Protection of Animals) thrift store. We met T.J., Glennis, and Cindy there and unloaded several boxes of items from both cars.
After our final goodbyes to everyone (Cindy and Glennis are driving back to Florida tomorrow), we headed north on U.S. 69 to do some exploring. We’d been along this route several times, but always at the maximum speed limit going from Point A to Point B.
We’d already decided that today would be a leisure travel day so we could look at the sights along the way and stop whenever and wherever we wanted, making note of places we’d like to return to for an extended visit.
One of the towns we decided was a “must return” was Denison, the birthplace of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The area is really beautiful, and we want to be able to visit all the sights connected with Eisenhower, including a large and very beautiful park.
We just dawdled through the day, eventually ending up in Seymour, Texas, about an hour west of Wichita Falls. We had planned to stay in Wichita Falls, but there was a dearth of motels along U.S. 82, and the two we did find were very proud of their sites…so much so that we decided we didn’t care to spend anywhere near that much just to get a few hours of sleep.
So, we found ourselves in Seymour at the El Siesta Motel, a quaint, remodeled tourist court with really nice rooms and free wireless internet (not to mention very reasonable rates). After a chicken dinner from the local Chicken Express, we settled in for an evening of TV, work on the computers, and reading before we fell asleep.
Friday, July 18
There’s not much to report about this day. We left Seymour around 9:00 a.m. and traveled U.S. 82 to Lubbock…got there around noon and stopped at Burger King for lunches to take to the house for Jimmy Clint, Jaycie, and one of Jaycie’s friends.
Later in the afternoon we took Jaycie on a Wal-Mart run to see if we could find a battery for the motorcycle (we didn’t) and Karo pancake syrup for the pecan pie recipes struck out there too). Barbara and Jaycie did find some new shirts for Jaycie to bring on the trip, and that was the extent of our shopping. After filling the Vibe with gas, we returned to the house for the rest of the afternoon.
When Cathey got home we all visited for a bit and then went out to El Chico’s for Mexican food and more conversation. Then, it was back to the house for a quiet and uneventful evening. Barbara and Cathey helped Jaycie figure out what she was going to bring to Mineola for the week. We did a little work on the computers and then watched TV until time to shut the party down and head for bed.
Saturday, July 19
Happy Birthday to Karen Francis, wherever you are!!!
With many miles to go today, we got up early, finished packing the car, said our goodbyes to Jimmy Clint and Cathey, and started putting Lubbock in our rearview mirror. First, a stop at McDonalds for McBreakfast, and then at straight up 8:00 a.m., we were up on the loop and heading back toward U.S. 82. I think we must have set a new record for distance traveling, since we didn’t stop until 12:30 when we got to Muenster.
When we were driving west on Thursday, we came to the little town of Muenster and noticed that a little German village had been painted on the walls of one of the municipal buildings. Immediately, we determined that we wanted to bring Jaycie back and take some pictures of her in the “village.” I also remembered that one of our teachers from LHS used to stop at the meat market in town and buy various sausages and cheeses to set out in the faculty workroom. I’ve driven through Muenster several times, but never took the time to stop and see what it was all about. Today, we’d make that stop.
In addition to the regular Saturday visitors, the town’s main street was lined with motorcycles of every make, model, age, and color. The Red River Cycle Rally was in full swing, so I got to drool over some of my favorite machines before we left
Our first stop was at Fischer’s Meat Market in the heart of downtown. In addition to being a full-service grocery store, the meat market specializes in packaging many different kinds of German sausages and cheeses; so many, in fact, that we had to make some hard choices about what we were going to take home with us. We finally settled on small blocks of Muenster, mild cheddar, and smoked cheddar cheeses, a stick of honeycombed beef salami, and a half-roll of beef and cheddar cheese sausage.
No self-respecting German market would be complete without a variety of German beers and wines; all I can say about Fischer’s is that they are a very respectable German market!
After doing our shopping, we took Jaycie down to the “village” to take her picture in front of some of the different shops that were depicted. Jaycie is very good at decoding context clues, and was able to “read” the German signs by looking at the items that were painted in the shop windows.
We wandered around Muenster trying to look in the real shops, but most were closed today, so we were limited to some window shopping before climbing back into the Vibe and driving down the street to the local Sonic for our lunch.
Muenster was founded in 1889 by a group of German settlers, and many of the families who live in the town are direct descendants of the founders. A community of around 1,556 residents, Muenster is located on U.S. Highway 82 about 15 miles west of I-35 (Gainesville) and 70 miles east of Wichita Falls. It is located about an hour and a quarter north of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
The community has two churches, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and First Baptist Church, each with very active congregations. It also has two school districts. Muenster Independent School District has two campuses, one pre-K/elementary, and a secondary school. Both schools have earned the distinction of Texas Exemplary School for the past eight years. The Sacred Heart Parochial School has twice been named a National Blue Ribbon Winner – in 1994 for the elementary school and in 1998 for the high school. Both districts are fully accredited and offer extensive curricular and activities programs.
After getting our lunch at Sonic, we motored on down the road to Gainesville where we stopped to give a very thirsty Vibe a long drink before continuing our journey through Whitesboro and Sherman before hitting U.S. 69 and heading south to Mineola.
We were back at Big V by 4:30. We carried everything into the house and while Barbara and Jaycie put things away, I went to the post office to pick up our mail and to O’Reilly to order a new battery for the motorcycle.
Back at Big V, we finished putting everything away and then rode over to Mother’s house to let her know we were back. From there it was over to T.J.’s so she and Jaycie could meet each other. After a trip (or two) to Wal-Mart for some “necessaries,” we returned to Big V to get settled in for the night. It had been a l-o-n-g day and we were all ready to head for bed.
"When Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of your future." sign on a church
Back in Mineola for a week,
Jim & Barbara
