Sunday, August 17
On a morning when we needed to be getting up early, we managed to sleep in, almost too late. We had volunteered to cook and take a celebration lunch for Mother since she had found a church in Mineola to call home, but almost didn’t get it started on time. We were cooking crock pot roast with all the trimmings, but didn’t get it started until 8:30, giving us just enough time to get it heated up good before we took it into town and plugged it in again at Mother’s house.
Since Mother was transferring her church membership this morning to Harvest Acres Baptist Church, Barbara and I attended church with her and T.J. (Billee and Ernie were in Fort Worth with their girls since it was Candace’s birthday.)
When the church service was over we all went back to the house and feasted on roast, potatoes, onions, carrots, and green beans, topping the meal off with a pecan pie that T.J. had brought.
And, when the meal was over, it was all any of us could do to stay awake long enough to get to our respective homes for our traditional Sunday naps.We ventured down to the beach later in the afternoon, the first time in a little over a week that we’d gone swimming. The recent rains and lots of boaters stirring up the lake water seemed to have lowered the water temperature noticeably, but it didn’t take long to get used to it and we enjoyed a short swim before heading back up to Big V for a light supper and an evening of doing almost nothing.
Monday, August 18
We woke up to cloudy skies and hints of rain. With nothing crucial on the agenda for the day, we just took our time getting around. Shortly after 11:00, we got on the motorcycle for our first real ride since we were in Ruidoso in June. With a light sprinkle starting to fall we road around the lake to FM Road 14 and then north for several miles before turning back west to Quitman.
While in Quitman we stopped at the county driver’s license office to change our address and apply for new licenses. Since we already held valid Texas licenses, the process was not very long or painful. In fact, the clerk at the office made this probably the most fun trip either of us has ever made to get a license. When we finished with the licenses we asked about registering to vote in Wood County and found that we could get that done in the same office. By the time we left, we were officially Wood County and Mineola residents, registered, licensed, and insured.
It was raining when we came out of the office, but that didn’t stop us from hopping back on the Voyager and riding the ten miles down to Mineola to check on Mother and give her a voter registration card to fill out. The rain stopped just a couple of miles south of Quitman, so it turned into a nice ride.
When we left Mother’s house we rode over to Wal-Mart to pick up some prescriptions, then to the post office to check the mail and drop off Mother’s voter registration card, and then back to the RV park and Big V.
While Barbara took a nap, I went outside to the canopy to do some reading and relaxing. Later in the evening we drove up to Hawkins to check out the inventory at Brookshire’s Supermarket. One of the items we found was Karo pancake syrup, something we’d been looking for in supermarkets and Wal-Mart grocery departments everywhere we’d traveled in the last few months. Needless to say, we stocked up on this vital ingredient of great pecan pies.
Tuesday, August 19
Jim: My job for the day was to go to Mineola, pick up Mother and T.J., and drive them to Tyler for doctor appointments. I had planned to ride the cycle to town, leave it at Mother’s house, and drive T.J.’s car to Tyler, but because of the rain (it came down all night long and was still pouring down this morning), the cycle idea went by the wayside and I took the Vibe, leaving Barbara here at the park to spend the day.
Barbara: After sending Jim off on his journey with fresh made apple cinnamon muffins, I decided to tackle the bills on the computer before doing anything else.
Eventually I cooked up ground meat to put in freezer baggies for quick use at a later time. This meant that I finally had enough dishes to wash. Are you yawning yet? The rest of my morning and afternoon were spent doing activities just as exciting; so I won’t go into detail. However, I will say that the rain was hitting the roof of Big V with such force that I did put on some “Jesus” music and sang along! Sure glad we don’t have any neighbors close by; they might have been disturbed by the joyful noise!
Finally, around 2:00 the rain slowed down to drizzle of sorts and by 2:30 I was out with my trusty camera to document changes in the lake. The first change was definitely the smoothness of the beach area…today there were little “rivers” everywhere….
Then I noticed that the water level was much higher than normal. How could I tell this? Easy…I couldn’t see as much of the legs of the docks across the lake as I could on other days. Other evidence on how much rain we had received were quite easy to spot since the sand volleyball court looked like a mini pond, the drainage ditches were flowing rapidly towards the lake, empty pads were filled with large puddles of water, and everything around Big V looked clean and soggy!
This was just a great day to stay around the house and do a little of this and that.Jim: I finally got back to Big V around 4:30. After working on the journal for a little while, we decided to take a short walk down to the beach so I could see the water level of the lake.
Barbara got busy and whipped up a batch of cornbread to go with the homemade vegetable soup that Billee had sent back with me this afternoon.
Billee is always saying that she can’t cook; Barbara and I decided tonight that this veggie soup disproves that statement! It was delicious!
The rest of the evening was just that…an evening!
Wednesday, August 20
It was another cloudy and rainy day…perfect for doing absolutely nothin
g, and that’s pretty much what we did all day. We couldn’t even use the screen house because of all the water on and around the concrete pad, so we stayed inside and read and/or worked at the computers. And, of course, Barbara had ample opportunities to take some pictures.However, the rain certainly didn’t seem to bother our one hummingbird visitor who appeared to be quite thirsty even with all the rain falling. Barbara took this shot from the front window,
but with all the rain coming down, it came out rather blurry…Still one can see that our hummingbird was not bothered by a little thing like rain.The skies started clearing in the late afternoon, so we ventured out for a short walk down to the beach. Barbara came on back to Big V while I walked around the park for a little much-needed exercise.
Later, we drove in to Hawkins to drop off a letter at the post office and stop at Sonic for an ice cream treat. Then, it was back to Big V for a quiet evening.
Thursday, August 21
More and more our days seem to have slow starts. Barbara was already up and reading a book when I got up at 6:00. She went back to bed to read while I brewed a small pot of coffee, checked my email, and sent off a couple of letters. By the time I was finished at the computer, she was fast asleep again, so I grabbed a book and headed out to the screen house to read and enjoy the peace and quiet of early morning at the lake.
We eventually got moving around…took time for our morning devotional and then got dressed and rode in to Mineola to visit a few minutes with Mother, Billee, and Ernie. T.J. was also at Mother’s house, giving us a chance to all visit together.
When everyone had said about all they knew, or at least thought they knew, we left and drove down to Southern RV between Lindale and Tyler to see about a new lightweight indoor/outdoor carpet to put down between Big V and the screen porch. The last carpet we got was wonderful out in the semi-arid country, but now it is waterlogged and difficult to keep clean. We did find what we thought we wanted and took it back to the park to spread it out and see how it will work.
During the evening we took the motorcycle out on the highway and rode it over to Big Sandy, then to Hawkins to pick up a couple of items for supper from the grocery store, and then back around the lake to the park and Big V.
After a supper of soft tacos, we just kicked back and relaxed; Barbara worked at the computer while I watched the San Francisco Forty-Niners and the Chicago Bears in a NFL pre-season foot ball game.
Barbara: While Jim was busy being a football couch potato, I was digging through files trying to find a picture of our bamboo plant. I knew that we had taken one back when we first bought it, but as you can imagine, I have a “few” photos in a “few” files; so it took me a while. Here’s why I was trying to find an old (May…2008) picture…
Jim: When we were in Liberal in April, we paid a visit to Mr. & Mrs. George and Livesy. Mrs. George had a lovely plant on her coffee table and explained that it was a bamboo plant. We decided something like that would be perfect for Big V…not too large, and relatively easy to care for; so, when we got back to Artesia, we went to Wal-Mart and bought one. As you can see from the picture on the left, the little plant fit perfectly on the countertop under an overhanging cabinet.
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The other photo shows that the plant has grown considerably and no longer fits under the cabinet. Instead, it has a prominent place toward the front of the counter.We are so grateful to the Georges for giving us this idea, as other live plants are so difficult to care for. This one serves a twofold purpose…it is a constant reminder of the way our friendship with the Georges grew, and on the base it holds a memory bracelet for Jameson. Leah and Ryan gave each of us a bracelet, but because of my activities, I can’t wear mine, so we display it with the bamboo plant.
Friday, August 22
Last night was a rough one for us. At 3:00 a.m. a tremendous thunderstorm hit the area with high winds, driving rain, and lots of close lightning and thunder. Since we were sleeping with the windows open and the rooftop vents open, I got up and closed the place up and did a quick mop job of the kitchen floor before returning to bed.
Unfortunately, by then I was wide awake, so I got up and went in to the living room to read while Barbara went back to sleep. Around 5:30 she woke up and came to the front while I finished my book. I went back to bed around 6:30 and slept until 9:30. Barbara came back to bed around 7:30 and slept until 8:30. We just can’t seem to get our sleep patterns synchronized lately.
Just after I woke up, we heard some loud mechanical noises in front. Without looking, I guessed that someone was working with a chain saw. They had been trimming trees all around the park this week, so that wasn’t a big surprise. Then, we heard a large engine running. When we looked out the front window, we saw one man cutting away at a large dead tree with a chain saw, while another was maneuvering a backhoe into place to help push the tree over. Barbara quickly grabbed the camera and stepped outside to get a sequence of action shots as the tree came down.
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We spent the next few hours just taking care of various chores around Big V and then went to Mineola at 3:00 to go to the post office and pick up some dry cleaning.T.J. had offered to host dinner tonight if I would grill outside, so we went to her house and I got everything ready to barbecue some chicken. Later, Ernie, Billee, and Mother came over. While Mother and T.J. waited in the cool air-conditioning inside, the rest of us stayed outside to play a couple of rounds of washers while I oversaw the grill (Barbara showed great disgust when I landed my first washer on the board, but she changed her mind when I reminded her that we were on the same team this time). Barbara: In my defense, I’m used to rooting against him…not for him!
Jim: Afterwards, we all sat down to a wonderful family meal of barbecued chicken, pasta salad, and a Mexican squash dish that T.J. had concocted from a recipe she found in the Sunday paper. Ladd joined us a bit later and we had a great time getting caught up on everyone’s recent activities. Unfortunately, Angela had to work this evening, but there were enough leftovers that Ladd was able to take a large plate to the house for her.
The party broke up around 7:30. We made a quick stop at Wal-Mart for a couple of items (cases of Coke products on sale for $5.00 as compared to $8.33 at Brookshire’s) and then headed back to the lake and Big V to spend the evening watching TV and surfing the net.
Saturday, August 23
Happy Anniversary to Jerry and Nancy Terpening in Artesia!!!
We decided last night that we need to look at ourselves as being on vacation, rather than having any particular lifestyle, since we’ve been having some strong withdrawal pains lately when we remember our “home on the range” days in Artesia.
We got a real boost in that outlook this morning as we slept in a little (not too late, but not up at 5:30 either). After checking our email (the broadband card has been worth every penny so far), we went out to the screen house to have our morning devotional and sit around and enjoy the warm sunshine. After a week of clouds and rain, a clear blue sky and a bright sun were welcome sights.
We later grabbed a folding chair and our floats and walked down to the beach area to get in a morning swim and some additional sun time. There wasn’t a crowd at the beach this morning, just two or three families, so we had a large section of sand and water all to ourselves.
When we returned to Big V, we decided we were hungry and voted on having breakfast instead of lunch, so I whipped up some bacon, eggs, and French toast to get us underway for the day.
For some reason, I turned on the TV, probably just to see if anything interesting was on, and found that ABC was televising the semi-final games of the Little League World Series. Those who have followed our journal and blog know that we watched many of the games last year because of the Lubbock team that was in the series; but, we hadn’t watched or followed any of the teams so far this year.
After watching the Mexico and Japan game for several innings, we decided it was time for a nap, and retired to the bedroom, waking up a couple of hours later to find that Mexico won their game and that the U.S of the bracket was beginning, with Hawai’i facing off against Louisiana.
As we got to the end of the game, the sky suddenly turned black, the winds started blowing like crazy (hadn’t had wind gusts like this since we left Artesia), and the rain started falling in sheets. Our immediate concern was for both the awning and the screen house. We were able to roll the awning in before it got too bad, but all we could do about the screen house was watch it twist in the wind (photo left) and hope it didn’t blow away. Notice that the little hummingbird also hung on, not letting a little wind and rain get in the way of a free meal.
As bad as the picture looks, the screen held up well and, once the rain quit falling (photo top right), it wasn’t too much trouble to set it in place and secure it with the stakes and guy lines.When I had squared away the outside, I came back in to get supper started and Barbara went outside to pick up tree limbs that had fallen in our driveway and the road in front of our site. About the time she got back in Big V, the power went out in the park. After about thirty minutes, we fired up the generator so we could finish cooking our meal, and then shut it down, opened up the place, and sat back and relaxed for the rest f the evening…just another quiet Wood County night. Barbara: We’ve used the term “quiet evening” many times in our journals, but tonight it took on a different connation as the whole park had no electricity for over 5 ½ hours! With the clouds covering the moon, outside was totally dark with no one outside running around. Those of us who chose to sit outdoors even found ourselves talking softly as though we didn’t want to disturb the peace that engulfed us.
“Trials keep you strong
Sorrows keep you human
Failures keep you humble
But, only God keeps you going.” Sign inside a business in Tyler, TX
From our (soggy) lake home, Jim & Barbara
