Thursday, January 1, 2009: New Year’s Day
Happy New Year to Family and Friends around the World!!!
“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul.” – G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) English writer
If today was any indication of the way the new year is going to go, it is going to be beyond wonderful. The morning dawned bright and beautiful, easing its way into a clear, cloudless, windless, and warm day, just perfect for outdoor activities (if we had planned any). Instead, we just took our time getting around Big V, straightening here and there, reviewing and editing pictures from the Christmas Odyssey, and working on the journal.
Nancy had called yesterday to invite us to their house for New Year’s Day lunch with the family; our contribution was to be cornbread, Jerry’s favorite. We decided that we’d also bake a pan of focaccia to take along as a bonus, so each of us had a contribution to make to the meal.
We joined Jerry, Nancy, Becky, and Jean at noon, did a lot of visiting while the last parts of the meal finished cooking (we hadn’t seen any of them except Jean since we got back from our trip, so we had a lot of catching up to do), and around 12:30 we gathered around the table to feast on grilled pork loin, black-eyed peas (I should have lots of good luck this year), macaroni and cheese, fruit salad, and bread. Some conversation occurred during the meal, but since it isn’t polite to talk with one’s mouth full of food, there weren’t many moments when any two people could speak.
When the meal was over and the dishes were attended to, Jerry and I retired to the living room to watch the end of the Georgia/Michigan State bowl game, while the girls went back to the table to play Bunko, a game that we had found for them while we were traveling. The family really likes to play board games, and since we know daughter-in-law Cathey really enjoys Bunko, we thought it would be a good addition to their collection. We guess that great minds must think alike, because Becky also brought her Bunko game for the after-dinner entertainment.
We stayed with the family through the end of the Bunko game, the first quarter of the Rose Bowl game, and a slab of pecan pie with ice cream, and then decided it was time to go home and digest the events of the day.
Back at Big V we just vegged out, watching the Rose Bowl game until it became too painful to watch any more of it (I’m not a Penn State fan, but I really don’t like USC), turned off the TV and went back to the bedroom to read.
Later in the evening we went over to Jean’s house to visit for a few minutes and then returned to Big V to watch some more TV and work on the journal and blog until it was time to call it a day and head for bed.
Friday, January 2
After all the fun of yesterday, we decided we’d better get some things accomplished around Big V today; so, after a slow start, we tackled the chores of straightening the place up and filing some of the paperwork that has piled up since we returned to Artesia. In case anyone hasn’t noticed, the paperless society that was promised with the advent of the modern computer hasn’t quite come into being. We are just able to generate more paper at a faster rate.
Once the house was straightened up, we loaded the basket of dirty clothes into the Vibe and went to town for laundry day. While Barbara stayed at the laundromat, I drove over to the funeral home to have David notarize some forms that needed to be sent off to the Texas Retirement System. Unfortunately, David and Jerry were handling a graveside service, so I returned to the Laundromat for a while and then went back later to find David.
With the forms finally notarized and sealed, I went to the post office and then back to the laundromat so we could fold clothes and load them back into the car.
We then went to a couple of places looking for something that could be used as a nice storage rack at the front of Big V so Barbara could get her “office space” organized. We finally found something that we thought would work at Wal-Mart and, while we were there, decided we’d better buy a couple of digital converters for the TV sets in Big V. Since we use out antenna system almost exclusively, we were going to need the new boxes in order to stay in touch with TV Land, not that we watch that much; but better to be prepared. Of course, the thought was a good one, however, in true Artesia Wal-Mart fashion, they didn’t have any. So…we headed back to town to check out the K-Mart where we found they had an abundant supply.
Once back at Big V, we got the clean clothes inside and, while Barbara was putting them away, I started assembling the shelving unit we bought at K-Mart. From there, I moved on to installing one of the digital converters at the front of the motor home, a task that seemed, at first, rather simple, but later proved to be daunting.
The main problem with the installation process was that the space available was very tight and I couldn’t see what I was doing. To possible speed things up and prevent me from doing unnecessary damage to the cabinet, Barbara decided to call Jack Sizemore RV in Amarillo, the place where we bought Big V, and ask for some guidance.
To our dismay (although not great surprise), the person she talked to told her in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t going to pull one of his service technicians in just to answer a question like that, but we could bring the rig in and they would install the converters for a service charge.
I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I heard very clearly when Barbara responded somewhat sarcastically, “Well, that sure makes me glad we purchased our motor home from you,” and hung up the phone. (Barbara: In my defense, I don’t usually respond that way, but the voice on the phone was so condescending to me telling me to call Best Buy or an electronics company, that the words just slipped out of my mouth!)
She was telling me about the call when the phone rang…it was Jack Sizemore, the owner of the place, apologizing to Barbara for responding the way he had, and assuring us that they ALWAYS provided service for their customers who purchased units from them. He said that they had received many calls about installing digital converters from folks who had not bought their rigs there, and that was why he said what he did. Barbara handed the phone over to me and the next thing I knew, I was talking to Mike, a service technician who had talked me through an electronics issue last year, and who gave me some excellent advice on how to get the converter installed. Education “experts” preach that sarcasm is a terrible tool, but we’ve found over the years that sometimes gets results when nothing else works.
Within a few minutes of ending our conversation, I had the converter hooked up and we were on our way to realizing the benefits of digital television transmission. The only problem, we soon found, was that there is only one station that we receive that is sending out digital signals at this time…the others (we can receive seven channels through our antenna) are evidently waiting until the February 17 deadline to switch over.
Since the TV won’t show analog signals while the digital converter is hooked up, I had to reverse everything I had done and disconnect the converter so we could watch our regular channels. We’re no better off than we were before, but at least I’ll know what to do when the conversion takes place.
I called Sizemore later and left a message with Ray, the service department manager, to please thank Mike for us for the time and assistance he provided. For our money, Mike is the best thing the business has going for them.
After all that excitement, there wasn’t much to do except handle some of the regular maintenance chores around Big V. Luckily, it was a beautiful afternoon, although the wind was starting to get up a little, and everything went smoothly.
While Barbara took a nap, since she has been plagued lately with headaches, I went over to Jean’s house for a bit to help her take down her Christmas tree and get it and her container of Christmas decorations moved out to the big barn, and then returned to Big V where Barbara was preparing supper.
Barbara didn’t feel like leaving Big V, so I called Jean to see if she had planned her supper menu. She said she hadn’t, so I offered to bring over a meal so she and I could eat and watch the Sugar Bowl game. It turned out to be a great evening…good food and conversation, and Utah put some serious hurt on Alabama.
When I returned to Big V at 10:00, Barbara was already asleep, so I shut the place down and went to bed to read a while before dropping off.
Saturday, January 3
This was not one of those days that will be listed as “stellar” in our memoirs, but it did have its pleasant, if not memorable, moments.
As promised by the weatherman (who almost never gets it right), the morning was cooler than we’ve been having, but it was nice enough that I went outside to do a little work around the place. The garage door on the small barn had been a little cranky and difficult to lift, so I used the air compressor to blow the dirt and grime out of the tracks, rollers, and latches and then I sprayed some lubricant on all the moving parts. After opening and closing the door several times, they worked much more smoothly…Nancy and Becky shouldn’t have any problems getting the door opened so they can get the four-wheeler in and out.
After that little chore, I did a walk-around of the east lot to pick up some trash that had blown in and to free some large tumbleweeds that I thought should be let loose somewhere else in the county; they certainly didn’t need to be confined in Jean’s lot.
By the time I had finished the walk-around and oiled the hinges on all the barn doors, the wind was getting up and the working outside plan was taking a beating, so I put away the oil can, locked the barn doors, and retreated to the comfort of Big V.
Barbara: While Jim was playing Farmer Brown, I decided to pretend I was Susie Homebody and clean out drawers and cabinets, repair some loose screws in some cabinet doors, etc. etc. It’s always amazing to me when I get in these modes at how much stuff we can pack away in our closets and cabinets! The nicest part though about living in a motor home is that there aren’t so many places one has to clean so it goes fairly quickly.
Jim: We hadn’t fixed a good old-fashioned home-cooked breakfast in Big V for a while, so I decided that while Barbara was busy getting cleaned up, I would whip up a meal of bacon, eggs, and pancakes, solid fare for whatever might come along during the day.
After eating, we washed the dishes and put them away and then made a short grocery list of things we thought we might need in the next few days. With cold weather predicted for Sunday and Monday, we were thinking that a big pot of pinto beans and some cornbread would be just the things that would ward off the chill.
It took a couple of trips to town to get everything we needed, but we finally found it all (plus a few things not on the list) and got it all back and put away. After that, we just settled in for an afternoon and evening of relaxing and doing not much of anything. We visited with Jean during the Cardinals/Falcons football game and, after going back to Big V for a bit, I returned to Jean’s to help her watch the Colts and Chargers go at each other. Since I don’t have a dog in the fight this year, it was fun to enjoy the games without becoming too emotionally involved.
Sunday, January 4
It turned out to be a much nicer day than what was predicted…the winter storm tracked off to the north, so we were left with clear skies and cool temperatures.
We went with Jean to First United Methodist Church this morning. Becky sang an offertory solo and we wanted to be there to lend our support and encouragement. The church is undergoing some physical improvements and is still a way from being completed, but the improvements are really nice. Jerry was running the new sound board, so he actually got to be a part of Becky’s presentation.
After the service we all went to the Pecos Diamond for lunch. It had been quite a while since our last visit there, but the food was still excellent, and we got to visit with a few folks that happened to pass by our table on the way to the salad bar.
The afternoon was about as quiet as a Sunday afternoon could be…naps all around and then just sitting around catching up on the journal and watching TV.
Barbara: While Jim was working on the journal, I decided to clean some of the kitchen cabinets. Sounds like an easy, noble job; but I made it very difficult when I dropped an almost full canister of Quick Oatmeal. That little feat meant that everything had to be put on hold while Jim swept with the regular broom and then I went over it all with the Swiffer. Then, since I already had the Swiffer out, I decided to go on and mop, too. One thing just seemed to lead to another!
Monday, January 5
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This was pretty much a nothing day…with nothing serious on the agenda; we just took our time getting around this morning, although Barbara did take time out to take this picture of the landscape just to the south of us.
During the afternoon we went to town to take care of a couple of chores and then I spent the evening at Jean’s house watching Texas beat Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl while Barbara stayed home to work on some candy wrappers for a friend’s 90th birthday.
Tuesday, January 6
We decided that we needed to make a trip to Roswell to visit with Carol and Cal today. Cal is having trouble with his breathing…getting only 23% of the oxygen that he should be getting. I stayed at the house and Cal and I talked and swapped stories about folks we knew when we were growing up in Artesia and where they are now. Cal is a few years older than I am, but Artesia was a small enough town back then that everyone knew almost everyone else.
Meanwhile, Barbara and Carol went out to do their visiting and a little shopping and shop-looking. Since Cal has reduced oxygen in his system, he also has considerably reduced energy. Because of that, Carol thought that it was time to find a wheelchair so he could have more mobility around the house. They did find a chair that they liked, but Carol had to wait until she could get a prescription for it.
While they were out, they also did some shopping at Sam’s Club, where they found a new computer mouse that I needed. Barbara and I had looked in Artesia, but couldn’t find one comparable to the one I had bought her last year for Christmas, so I was grateful that they were successful in finding one today.
When we had finished visiting with Carol and Cal, we made the executive decision for the two of us to drive up to Ruidoso, only 60 miles away, to go to the J Bar J Country Church Tuesday night service. They have their mid-week service on Tuesday, with lots of singing, a covered dish supper, and a preaching/teaching service. We had enjoyed it so much when we stayed up there in June, and thought that it would be just the thing we needed this week.
So, we left Roswell and made the drive up through the Hondo Valley and into Ruidoso, where we checked in at the Holiday Inn Express for the night and then rested a bit before church started.
Shortly after five o’clock we headed downtown to get a bucket of KFC chicken as our contribution to the supper. When we got to the church around 5:30, we saw another bucket of chicken sitting on the table, a sure sign that we would have some KFC that we had been craving.
We joined in with the singing from 5:30 until 6:30 and then visited with some of the others before lining up to get a plate of food. The crowd was smaller than it was in June, so we got to meet a few more of the regulars, some of whom had seen us before, and some who were new to us (and vice versa).
As we went through the food lines, we kept an eye on the buckets of fried chicken, but it turned out that a view was all that we got. A lot of others apparently had the same cravings that we’d been having, as both buckets disappeared before we got to them. The disappointment didn’t last long though, as we piled our plates high with delicious homemade dishes that others had prepared. Boy…those folks sure do know how to cook and eat!
The meal was followed by more singing (and playing by the J Bar J Country Band) and a wonderful lesson on marriage relationships by Pastor Charles.
After the 3-hours of singing, eating, and learning, we went down to the travel center for a while and then returned to the motel for a good night’s sleep.
Wednesday, January 7
We slept in and took our time getting cleaned up and ready to start our day. When the car was packed and ready to go, we went back inside to have some breakfast. We were pleasantly surprised to find a wide variety of both hot and cold breakfast dishes available, and everything we chose was delicious. We decided that the great lodging rates and the amenities made this Holiday Inn Express a very good bargain for the way we travel.
We went up to the Inn of the Mountain Gods for a while and then stopped back by the Apache Travel Center before retracing the highway back down to Roswell, where we visited some more with Carol and Cal and Barbara helped Carol with some problems she was having with the new computer that her kids had given her for Christmas.
When the computer glitches were corrected (mostly) and we had said about all there was to say, we went to a few places to shop for some new work boots for me (yet another unsuccessful effort) and then went to Jerry and Jane’s house to catch up on the latest news from that part of the family. Jerry works the night shift as a tactical security officer at New Mexico Military Institute, so it’s sometimes difficult to arrange visits, but this was a good one and we enjoyed being with them, even if it was a relatively short visit.
We got back to Artesia just as the sun was going down, emptied the Vibe and got squared away in Big V for another night.
Thursday, January 8
Dawn was so bright and beautiful this morning that I decided this would be a good day to spend outside. After spending an hour or so straightening up inside Big V and fixing breakfast, I went out to do some mowing and cleaning on the two acres west of Jean’s house. Meanwhile, Barbara worked inside to complete a project for an old college friend.
We got a note from her friend, Carolyn, a short time back saying that her mother-in-law would be celebrating her 90th birthday at the end of January. Carolyn and John were asking their friends to send a card to John’s mother with information about who and where they were and their memories of first meeting John..jpg)
In addition to the card and the letter from us that was included, Barbara designed some birthday wrappers to put around Hershey miniature chocolate bars, much the same as she did for Mike and Kelly’s rehearsal dinner. After printing the wrappers and getting put on the candy bars, she found a nice little container to put them in before boxing them up for the mail.
Meanwhile, I made a run to Wal-Mart to get gasoline for the mower, came back and charged the battery, and then fired up the mower and began going in circles for the next few hours. Those of you who know me well know that going in circles can be standard procedure for me sometimes, but at least this time it was productive, and by mid-afternoon, the place was looking great. Better than that, the sun was shining, the temperature was in the 70’s, and the wind wasn’t blowing…a truly amazing day for January.
When I came in to clean up and wash off a few pounds of dust and dirt, Barbara gathered up all the dirty clothes and went to the laundromat to get caught up with that chore. She also made a post office run, so by the end of the day, we had both completed the chores that we set out to do.
Since the weather was so nice, I decided to throw a couple of steaks on the charcoal grill and some potatoes in the oven, and soon we had a great meal of grilled steaks, baked potatoes with all the trimmings, and green beans…it’s been a while since we did that, and now we’re wondering why we don’t do it more often!
Jean was still in Hobbs with Susie and James, but she said we could go over to her house to watch the BCS national championship football game between Oklahoma and Florida (two teams on my “unfavorite” list. I had decided that while I’d “sooner” not cheer for Oklahoma, I would cheer for the Big XII, but in the end it was all for naught as Florida won (again) and Oklahoma lost (again).
While I was watching the game at Jean’s house, Barbara kept up with it on the computer in Big V as she was doing some multi-tasking…working on projects, playing games, and checking the football game webcast.
Friday, January 9
It was another beautiful day in Artesia. My original plan was to tackle some house-cleaning chores, but it was so warm and beautiful outside that I decided to do some trim work in the part of the property that I mowed yesterday. So, while Barbara stayed inside and worked, I raked and hoed under the cactus plants and mesquite trees that grow on the 2 acres west of Jean’s house. I found that some of the grasses and weeds were extremely tough, so I went over to Jerry and Nancy’s house to borrow their gas-powered weed eater. That made the job a lot easier (once I finally read the instruction manual and figured out how to start the weed eater), and soon I had all the trimming done and the weeds and grasses raked, loaded in the back of Little Red, and hauled off to one of the trash piles.
As I was finishing that work, we got a call from Jerry asking if we wanted to join the family at Piccolini’s for a late lunch…Susie and Karen were bringing Jean back from Hobbs and Karen had requested that we eat at Piccolini’s, a really nice family-style Italian restaurant.
So, we got cleaned up and presentable and drove to town to reserve enough tables and chairs to seat the seven of us. Everyone else arrived soon after Barbara and I were seated, and it wasn’t long before we were all sharing stories while enjoying authentic and delicious Italian dishes.
When we were finished with the meal, we drove over to Bullock’s Feed Store to get a bag of wild bird seed. We haven’t put anything in our bird feeder since we returned from Mineola in December, and with all the beautiful weather we’ve been having, I thought it was time to welcome some of our feathered friends back to our place.
Back at Big V I hauled the feed bag into the barn, opened it up and poured the feed into a large container that I keep there, filled the bird feeder, and set it out for whatever visitors it might attract.
We had been up since very early this morning and after the big meal, decided that it was nap time. It must have been a much-needed nap, as we both started reading, but fell deep asleep for a couple of hours.
With no football games on the schedule for tonight, we made a short trip over to Jean’s house to see how she was doing, and then returned to Big V where I cranked up the computer/printer combination and started printing copies of our fifth journal.
Saturday, January 10
Make no bones about it; this may have been one of the laziest days we’ve spent in a long time. With cooler temperatures and higher winds, I had no desire to get outside and work, so we both just piddled around inside Big V…reading email, playing games, checking online newspapers, and printing more copies of the journal.
Around 2:30 we decided to drive to Carlsbad, just to get out of the house. Carlsbad has a really nice Dollar Tree store that even I like to look around in, and I wanted to check at their Wal-Mart for the work boots that I’ve been looking for.
While we didn’t find very much of interest at Dollar Tree, we did find a couple of things we needed and, after paying out there, we drove across town to the Wal-Mart complex. Barbara decided that rather than go into Wal-Mart, she would look through the Cato’s store while I did my shopping.
Surprise, surprise, I finally found the pair of boots I wanted…right style, right size, and right price. I went ahead and bought them and then returned to Cato’s to see if Barbara had any luck there, and sure enough, just as I was going into the store to look for her, she was coming out with a sack full of bargains that she found…a good trip for both of us.
On the way back to Artesia, we noticed the full moon rising in the east as the sun was setting in the west. This was the largest full moon of the year, as it is at its closest point to earth in its orbit around our planet. Thankfully, I had brought my camera, so we were able to get some good shots as the moon was rising over the eastern New Mexico horizon. With both the moon and the sun above their respective horizons, we even got a good shot of the Vibe’s shadow crossing under the rising moon.
We stopped at Jean’s for a few minutes when we returned to town. I stayed outside for a bit to take pictures of the moon rising above the pecan trees, Spanish Daggers, and windmill, while Barbara went in to see Jean.
We went back to Big V where Barbara finished preparing a tuna casserole. She decided to stay home this evening while I took some of the casserole over to share with Jean while we watched the Cardinals and Titans slug it out to see who would go on to the NFC finals next week.
We received some photos of great niece, Keylin in Cleburne, from her Upward basketball game. She even made a basket! Way to go, Keylin!
From Artesia with love,
Jim & Barbara
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