Sunday, November 30
The last day of November dawned cold, gray, and rainy in Lubbock…a perfect day for staying inside. The only problem was that Leah and Ryan had to leave for Liberal (where it was grayer and much colder) and Barbara and I had to load up and drive back to Artesia (where, we hoped, it would be sunnier and warmer).
We all slept in this morning, feeling the effects of a long and tiring day yesterday (watching all those football games just wore us out). By mid-morning we were all up and moving around. Cathey fixed pancakes and I fixed a few pieces of French toast to use up some of the bread that we had brought to Lubbock, and we all enjoyed a very casual breakfast.
The morning was spent in visiting, eating, and packing (the latter for Leah, Ryan, Barbara, and me), and by 11:30 or so Leah and Ryan were on their way to Liberal. We stayed a little while longer, but by shortly after 12:00 we were also in the car and rolling toward Artesia.
After stopping at the post office in Artesia we headed on out to Jean’s place and Big V. I carried things in while Barbara started putting them away, a system that we found works well for us. When everything was in Big V, I helped with the unpacking and we were soon settled in.
We made a brief trip over to Jean’s house to let her know we were back home and then returned to Big V to spend the evening catching up on email and working on various projects.
Monday, December 1
Wow…the last month of 2008 has landed on us…where has the year gone?!
With the realization that Christmas is coming at us like a runaway freight train rolling down a steep mountainside, Barbara tackled her projects with a new fervor. I can’t say in the journal what the projects are without giving away some secrets, so I’ll just say that most of her waking moments are spent in technical research and design…sounds intriguing, doesn’t it.
I, on the other hand, am still technically illiterate, so I do things like work around Big V or tackle some of the chores than need to be done (at least, I think they need to be done) around the pecan farm.
This morning, though, we actually had a plan of action that included both of us going to town to take care of business. We needed to go to the bank, the post office, Bryan Printers, and the mortuary. Stops at the bank and post office are pretty self-explanatory, but the trip to the printers was very important because we were so very late in getting Journal 4 printed and bound. Our faithful readers know by now that each January and July we print all the journal entries and have them bound as books that we give to the kids and grandkids…sort of a history of our retirement life and travels.
With the move to East Texas for July and August and the subsequent time on the road to Virginia and Georgia, we just never got everything for the January-June book completed. We did run off four copies while we were in Richmond, hoping to get them bound and handed out to Mike, Heather, and Whitney while they were there, but that didn’t happen. So, printing the final three books and getting all seven of them bound was high on our priority list when we got back to Artesia.
The lady that we work with at the printers was glad to see us again; she even commented that it had been quite a while since we had last come in, and said that she should have everything bound and ready to go by Wednesday.
From the printers we went to the mortuary to see if we had received any mail. Since we will be going back to Mineola over Christmas, Ernie had been letting us know what mail we receive at our post office box and then sends what we want. Jean and Jerry agreed to let us use the mortuary office as our temporary forwarding address while we are here.
Even though Ernie had told us several days ago that he had sent something, it still wasn’t here, and so we left and headed off to Wal-Mart to do some shopping. We hadn’t been gone four minutes when Jean called to say that the mail had just arrived and we had something from Ernie. She said we could come back and get it or she could just bring it out to us when she came home for lunch. Since we were already across town, we agreed that it would be easier for her to bring it to us.
After making the day official by stopping at Wal-Mart, we returned to Big V, put our purchases away, and had some lunch. Jean came by after a bit and dropped off Ernie’s envelope and another one that had been dropped off by UPS.
Since the UPS envelope contained some paperwork that needed to be taken care of immediately, we affixed our signatures several times and then I put everything into another envelope and went back to town to find a UPS drop box and get the papers going to the next stop.
When I returned to Big V it was too late to begin any work outside, so we just settled in for the evening.
Tuesday, December 2
The day dawned bright and beautiful, so while Barbara worked on her projects indoors, I went outside to tackle some chores. My main project for the day
was to hoe and rake the fence lines along Eastwind Road on the north side of Jean’s property. That part went much more smoothly than I had anticipated, so I was also able to mow a swath inside the fence and the entire right-of-way between the fences and the road. (With things just a tad dusty around here, I had to air hosed it to get the big chunks of dirt off of it.)It sure felt good to be working outside in the warm sunshine (82 degrees and only light breezes…hard to think it was December).
After cleaning up and having a late lunch, Barbara and I made a really official trip to Wal-Mart to buy a full bill of groceries…it’s too bad that eating is such a necessary habit. With that little chore done, we returned to Big V, put everything away, and once again settled in to an evening of working at the computers.
We took a short break to go over and see Jean, but forgot to take a casserole dish that Barbara had made for her, so I made a second trip later before we locked big V down for the night.
Wednesday, December 3
It was just another workday around our place. Barbara took care of business inside Big V while I went outside to get work done on the south side of the property…again, much the same as I did yesterday on the north side, chopping weeds, raking, and mowing. The weatherman had predicted that there would be a major cold front rolling in around 5:30 this evening, but he was wrong…that thing came roaring in with a vengeance at 11:00 a.m., forcing me to put the riding mower, Little Red, and the tools away.
Since this was Wednesday, Jean invited us to join the lunch bunch at Chaos. It was fun to meet with Jean, Jerry, Nancy, and Susie for an hour of visiting and eating…something we hadn’t done since last May.
We stopped at the printers after lunch to check on the journals, but they weren’t finished yet, so we just went home and took a long nap.
Later, I went back outside and worked until the sun went down and it was too cool and dark to call it fun anymore.
Tonight…more of the same, with both of us working on projects on the laptops until it was time to shut everything down and go to bed.
Thursday, December 4
This was just another day at work for both of us. Barbara spent the entire day working at her laptop, trying to finish another of the many DVD slideshow projects she has in the works; she’s reviewed and edited well over a thousand digital photos so far…a time-consuming, and sometimes mind-numbing process.
I, on the other hand, took advantage of a good day to get outside and work around the outside of Jean’s house. The bluster of yesterday’s weather had passed and even though it was cool and a little breezy, it was a good day for raking, mowing, raking some more, and hauling grass and leaves to the trash pile to provide shelter for the quail and other critters that take refuge here.
The pecan crop around the Pecos Valley is pretty much a bust for this year. Several of Jean’s trees produced nothing, while the others gave much less than in the past…it’s not uncommon to have a year like this from time to time, but it is always a disappointment when it happens.
In the past, we have waited until January to gather the crop and then rake out the yard to get it ready for spring. This year, I decided to just go ahead and gather what I could and have the property cleaned up before Jean’s family comes in for Christmas.
Since we have now finished all 11 seasons of M*A*S*H, we started our second round of watching the ten seasons of Friends that we have in our video library, limited as it is. If anyone out there has recommendations for some shows we might enjoy buying to add to the collection, please let us know.
Friday, December 5
We started the morning slowly, not getting up and moving around until after 7:00, something unusual for us lately. While Barbara was doing some work on her projects, I opened up some old journal files just to see what we did during this time the past two years. On this date in 2006 we were in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, in the middle of a reunion trip to Redondo Beach, California, to see a high school friend, Steve Kinney, and his wife, Cindy. Last year we spent this day exploring Key West, Florida, on our motorcycle trip down the Florida gulf coast, through the Everglades, and out through the Keys.
This is the first year that we haven’t taken our “traditional” birthday trip, but the proximity of Thanksgiving and Christmas and some of the obligations we have blocked us, at least for the time being. Maybe we’ll celebrate our birthdays after the Christmas/New Year season…might as well delay that aging process if we can.
Nancy came over at 10:00 this morning to pick up Barbara to go shopping with her…I’ll let Barbara tell their story.
Barbara: I felt like a bird freed from a cage the minute I opened up the car door to join Nancy for a shopping trip to buy gifts for a family from the Angel Tree Project! It has been so long since I’ve enjoyed the company of another female for running around purposes! (At least 10 days, huh, sister Carol? Oh, dear, I guess I forgot that over Thanksgiving I got to go out with Cathey and Leah. I suppose it just seems like forever since I've been out of the house! I've heard that with old age the memory is the first to go! Think that must be true.)
Our first stop was to Beall’s where we were going to select one outfit for each of the three children in the family. That was a real time-consuming project since there were so many cute selections to choose from. Thankfully, Beall’s was having a sale and with the money that Jean had given Nancy to spend on clothes, we were able to find just the right attire. Nancy also had one of those scratch coupons for an additional percent off. Imagine our surprise and shock when the clerk uncovered 50% off! What a wonderful time to have something like that occur!
Giddy with delight on our good fortune (and very grateful!), we headed off to Wally World where a toy, a book, socks, etc. were easily added to the list of gifts for our Angels.
Our final stop was to Nancy’s where we unloaded the purchases and then I helped her with some on-line business she needed to do.
Just those 2 and a half hours away from the computer and in the company of another woman gave me a clear head and much joy!
Jim: Meanwhile, I tackled some housecleaning and maintenance chores in Big V. We hadn’t done a good deep cleaning of the place since we were in Mineola, and it was past time for it. When Barbara returned and we had some lunch, we resumed or tasks; she in her “office/studio,” and me raking, mowing, hauling, and picking up what pecans I could find.
Tonight, a short visit with Jean and then back to Big V for the night.
Saturday, December 6
We ended the week pretty much the same as we started it, with both of us working inside Big V during the morning and then me going outside to work in the yard when it warmed up. Barbara continued her work on Christmas projects and was beginning to feel that they were all coming together quite nicely.
I finished raking and mowing around the last of Jean’s pecan trees and picked up more pecans than we guessed might be available. A couple of the trees still have quite a few hulls in them, with maybe a few more pounds of nuts available when they finally fall. In any case, I was glad that I was able to finish off that part of the project.
Sometime during the day we realized that we had no pictures of our activities this week, so we got the camera out and got a few shots. Since there wasn’t much variation in our activities, there was no need for a lot of photos. For our friends and family back East who see nothing but trees, you surely have to admit that there is a rugged beauty about this New Mexico land!
Tonight I grilled steaks over at Jean’s house. While I was doing that, Barbara fixed baked potatoes and some steamed broccoli and corn on the cob. We asked Jerry and Becky to join us for dinner (Nancy was out of town for the weekend) and we all had a really nice time just visiting and eating (and watching a little football). We were concerned about only two of the “major” games of the day, and were disappointed in the results of both of them, with Alabama falling to Florida and Missouri being pummeled by Oklahoma (sorry, Lance and Jill Stout, but I can’t possibly cheer for OU until they play Florida on January 8).
With dinner over and the dishes all done, Barbara and I returned to Big V to close out a busy and productive week.
Barbara: I did get an email with some photos of my great niece, Keylin. She had a school program and I can’t resist sharing them in our journal. Keylin makes a right pretty Texas cowgirl, don’t you think?
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“I’m not getting paid much for staying alive, but it’s good experience.” – Ashleigh Brilliant, British cartoonist, humorist, and poet
From our “Little” home on the prairie,
Jim & Barbara
I finished raking and mowing around the last of Jean’s pecan trees and picked up more pecans than we guessed might be available. A couple of the trees still have quite a few hulls in them, with maybe a few more pounds of nuts available when they finally fall. In any case, I was glad that I was able to finish off that part of the project.
Sometime during the day we realized that we had no pictures of our activities this week, so we got the camera out and got a few shots. Since there wasn’t much variation in our activities, there was no need for a lot of photos. For our friends and family back East who see nothing but trees, you surely have to admit that there is a rugged beauty about this New Mexico land!
Tonight I grilled steaks over at Jean’s house. While I was doing that, Barbara fixed baked potatoes and some steamed broccoli and corn on the cob. We asked Jerry and Becky to join us for dinner (Nancy was out of town for the weekend) and we all had a really nice time just visiting and eating (and watching a little football). We were concerned about only two of the “major” games of the day, and were disappointed in the results of both of them, with Alabama falling to Florida and Missouri being pummeled by Oklahoma (sorry, Lance and Jill Stout, but I can’t possibly cheer for OU until they play Florida on January 8).With dinner over and the dishes all done, Barbara and I returned to Big V to close out a busy and productive week.
Barbara: I did get an email with some photos of my great niece, Keylin. She had a school program and I can’t resist sharing them in our journal. Keylin makes a right pretty Texas cowgirl, don’t you think?
“I’m not getting paid much for staying alive, but it’s good experience.” – Ashleigh Brilliant, British cartoonist, humorist, and poetFrom our “Little” home on the prairie,
Jim & Barbara
