Sunday, December 7
Lest we forget: 67 years ago today on Sunday, December 7, 1941, Japanese naval air forces attacked United States bases at Pearl Harbor and Hickam Field in Hawaii, drawing the United States deeply into World War II. In requesting Congress to issue a Declaration of War against Japan, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared this as “a day that will live in infamy.”
Today dawned bright and beautiful. As we tried to decide where we would go to church this morning, the thought came to us that if we hurried to get ready, we could attend the service at the J-Bar-J Country Church in Ruidoso, so that’s what we did. Getting cleaned up and dressed in near record time, we hopped in Big V and headed to Ruidoso, enjoying the beautiful morning and the scenery along the way.
We slightly misjudged our leaving time and the starting time of church, so we missed the singing (a part of the service we dearly love), but got there in time to hear a wonderful sermon.
After church we did some shopping (they have a new Dollar Tree store and we spent well over an hour looking at everything in it), had a meal, and then headed back to Artesia to try to beat sundown (the sun sets a little before 5:00 in Artesia these days, cutting our traveling time pretty short).
Barbara called Cal and Carol as we came through Roswell and attempted to call Jerry and Jane, but we missed them somehow.
After stopping to see Jean when we returned home, we drove across the lot to Big V, took all of our purchases inside, and began preparing packages to send to some family members that we won’t get to see this Christmas season.
Monday, December 8
Today began one of the busiest weeks of the season for us. We got up early (It was so early that I was able to step outside and take some pictures of a gorgeous Artesia sunrise) and I fired up the bread maker while Barbara worked on her projects. A little after 9:00 I drove the Vibe to town to see about getting a couple of new tires…the rear tires were originals with more than 82,000 miles on them – a lot of miles since December 20, 200
4, and were showing too much wear. I found that Forrest Tire Co. didn’t have the tires in stock and wouldn’t have them until Friday afternoon, but they did locate a set in Hobbs, so I had them put a hold on a couple and said I’d drive over there either tomorrow or Wednesday.Since it was pretty nice outside, I decided to do a little work around the place, doing some mowing in areas that I hadn’t gotten to yet and cleaning trash out of the fences. Around noon I noticed that clouds were building up in the north and the wind was starting to pick up. As I finished the job I had set out to do, the wind started howling and the dark clouds got closer, so I quickly put the mower away and hurried back to Big V, just as a weather front arrived at 66 miles per hour. The dark clouds weren’t the rain I thought might be coming in; instead, they were huge clouds of dirt and sand. Because of the direction from which the wind was blowing, the north side of Big V, the side usually protected by the barn, began shaking and rattling; so much that we decided we’d better close it to prevent any damage to the awning that covers the slide-out.
Much to our dismay, the slide-out came in about four inches and then stopped dead. We had a set of dead batteries for some reason and couldn’t even start the engine to give the house batteries a boost. So, I went outside and got the battery charger out of one of the bays, uncovered the battery compartment, and hooked the charger up until we had enough juice to get the slide-out closed…way too much excitement for one afternoon!
While we were waiting for the batteries to get charged, I scrounged around and found a couple of boxes to wrap some presents in for mailing and later in the afternoon took packages to the local UPS drop site and the post office to send them on their way across the country.
The weather forecast for tomorrow was looking kind of “iffy,” so I spent a while working outside while Barbara did some more work at her computer. Then, we spent the evening getting more packages ready for delivery.
We received word today that a dear friend of ours, Tom Shumate, had been taken to Baptist St. Anthony’s Hospital in Amarillo in critical condition. He had been treated in Dumas for rheumatoid arthritis, but after becoming paralyzed, he was diagnosed with Barre’ Syndrome. Our prayers are with him and the family at this time.
Tuesday, December 9
Wow! Talk about a weather change! Yesterday’s sunshine and warm southwest breezes (ok, winds, but still warm), disappeared overnight and were dramatically replaced by a cold north wind, heavy clouds, light rain, and a (slight) promise of snow…don’t like the weather around here?...just wait a while and see what might come along.
We were both up early this morning…Barbara working on her computer projects and me getting ready for the 80-mile drive to Hobbs. I helped get materials ready for some presents we were building while I waited until it was light enough to see what was going on outside. I finally got away from Big V around 8:00 a.m. The drive to Hobbs was generally uneventful; there was a lot of cold wind and some pretty heavy snow flurries out in the oil fields, but nothing that seemed to slow anyone down.
I arrived at Forrest Tires around 9:45 and had a cup of coffee and an Egg McMuffin from next door while I waited for them to install the new rear tires. By 10:30 the Vibe had new shoes and I was headed back toward Artesia.
I stopped at the funeral home to let Jean know what the road conditions were like, since she would be making a trip to Hobbs this afternoon and would be staying with Susie and James a couple of days. From there, I made a quick trip to Wal-Mart to get some more baking supplies and then went back to Big V.
While the skies lightened up a bit in the afternoon, it was still cold and windy, so we stayed inside and worked on various projects. Jerry and Nancy invited us to attend a piano concert at the Ocotillo Performing Arts Center tonight, but we were just couldn’t muster the enthusiasm for it, so we declined the invitation and stayed home for the evening.
Wednesday, December 10
We both worked around Big V this morning, trying to get as caught up as possible on some of our projects so we could leave either Friday or Saturday. With Jean gone to have cataract surgery (Susie was taking her to the doctor out of town), the usual Wednesday lunch bunch was off. Instead, Barbara went with Nancy to a UMW meeting and luncheon while I went to the laundromat and got caught up on washing.
Barbara finished her meeting about the same time I finished folding and hanging all the clothes, so she came to the laundromat, picked up the laundry (and me), and we went back to Big V to put everything away.
While Barbara returned to her computer station, I went outside to do some maintenance chores on Big V so we could button it down when we leave this weekend.
Thursday, December 11
Housecleaning was the key word of the day for me. While Barbara worked up front, I began a methodical scrubbing of the bedroom and bathroom areas. It’s been a long time since the last really deep cleaning, and we wanted to get everything ready for tenants while we are gone over the holidays. Jean had asked if Big V could be available for family members to stay in over Christmas. All of the kids and grandkids will be in Artesia for a few days and the two houses just couldn’t hold them all comfortably. Jean and her family have done so much for us in the last two and a half years that we jumped at the opportunity to share our home with them.
I had finished with the bedroom and bathroom areas and started scrubbing the living room walls when the phone rang. Barbara answered it and heard, “This is your new friend from Mineola.” It took her a few seconds to realize that it was Gene and Carolyn Neyer, whom we had met while we were staying at the Mineola Civic Center RV Park. They were driving from Kerrville, Texas, where they had been staying since we all left Mineola, and were on their way to Belen, New Mexico, on a route that took them through Artesia.
Carolyn asked if we knew of a good RV park where they could spend the night and we immediately offered for them to spend the night close to us. We explained that we could provide only dry-camping (no hookups), but that there was plenty of flat land for them to park on. We checked with Jean, who was still in Hobbs for tonight and she agreed that it would be a good deal for everyone. 
So, we had our first RV visitors tonight. Barbara baked some potatoes and cooked up some green beans while I grilled some steaks (the first time I’d had the grill out since we left Virginia), and we enjoyed a wonderful evening of conversation and food. It was great to get caught up on each other’s activities since we last saw each other.
Note to Max & Marion and Bob and Teresa…We have a great place here for a reunion…you folks just need to find time to get down here.
Friday, December 12
It was a really pretty morning out, so I went outside for a while to clean out the fences. The wind on Wednesday had filled the fences with tumbleweeds and trash and I just felt the need to get them cleaned out before Jean got home sometime today.
Shortly before noon Jerry called to say that Susie and James were bringing Jean back to Artesia on their way to Albuquerque and wanted to know if we’d join them for lunch at Chaos. We are almost always ready to hook up with the bunch for lunch, so we quickly got cleaned up and drove to town to meet with everyone for a couple of hours.
The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent getting things either packed or piled up to be packed for our 2008 Christmas Odyssey, a planned two-week trip in the Vibe to see as many of the kids and grandkids as we could. The trip will take us from Artesia to Liberal and Lenexa, Kansas, Richardson, Mineola, San Antonio, and Lubbock, Texas, before we will return to Artesia to welcome in the new year.
The real trick was to pare down the amount of clothing and personal supplies we would need for two weeks so we could still have room for all the Christmas gifts that needed to be delivered. We had hoped to load the car tonight, but the weather turned off windy and cold, so most of the things stayed piled up on the floor and furniture until we could figure out a loading order.
We took time off from all the newly created mess to go over to see how Jean was doing. The cataract surgery and all the excitement of coming back home had taken its toll on her, so we cut the visit short after leaving her a list of instructions for whichever family members would be spending time in Big V while we are on the road.
Late this evening we learned that Tom Shumate died today, leaving his wife Kristen, two sons, Daniel and Andrew, and a daughter, Verva Jean. While we were in Liberal, Barbara, Kristen, Tom, and I would meet at the FBC Family Life Center at 5:00 a.m. for workouts. Barbara and Kristen would do aquarobics while Tom and I worked out on the weight machines. Our hearts go out to this wonderful family at this time.
Saturday, December 13
We were up and moving around by 5:30 this morning…hoping to get away by 6:30, but things took longer to get ready and loaded than we had planned. However, we finally pulled away from Jean’s property at 7:48 a.m. after loading the car, straightening and cleaning Big V, and taking care of all the chores that go along with closing up a motor home for a short time.
As we’ve said before, there’s not much that can be said about a travel day. The object was to get from Point A (Artesia) to Point B (Liberal) as quickly as possible. Nothing about the trip was noteworthy except that a major weather front hit the area as we were approaching Portales, but it really helped us as the winds kicked in from the southwest and pushed us all the way to Amarillo.
We made short stops at Portales (breakfast and a potty stop), Amarillo (gas and a potty stop), and Dumas (Mickey D’s and a, well…you know).
While we had some strong cross winds from Amarillo to Stratford, we again picked up the trailing winds the rest of the way to Liberal and arrived at the house at 4:30, right on schedule.
Ryan, who now works for Halliburton, was out on jobs tonight, so after unloading the car and piling everything in the spare bedroom, we ordered pizza and spent the evening visiting with Leah and watching the Heisman Award telecast.
“You don’t choose your family; they are God’s gift to you as you are to them.” – Bishop Desmond Tutu
At our Liberal home with family and friends,
Jim & Barbara
