Sunday, February 8
We got up early this morning and Barbara started a crock pot meal of roast and all the trimmings for lunch. Then, we began preparations for going to the morning service at First Baptist Church, where Pastor Rick Sullivan delivered a great teaching sermon from the book of Exodus, going into great detail on the preparations for and meaning of Passover. We’ve mentioned it before, but Rick is a really great teaching pastor who can share new meanings to the most familiar scriptures.
When we returned home, we grabbed the crock pot and went over to Jean’s house to share our meal with her, talk, and watch a little television. When we were finished, we split up the leftovers and then returned to Big V for a nap.
Although the day had started with the promise of rain, the promise fell through as the clouds blew away while we were in church, and the afternoon was warm and sunny. We decided after our nap to make a Wal-Mart run for a few groceries to tide us over and, if possible, get haircuts. It turned out that a lot of folks seemed to have the same idea, but since we didn’t having anything pressing on our agenda, we just waited it out until Kellie could get to us and make us a little more presentable.
While we were waiting for Kellie to get to us, I stepped outside to see what the weather was doing, and what I found was that the sky was getting darker and the winds were getting stronger. Seeing the weather change, I realized that I hadn’t closed one of the roof vents on Big V, so we made a quick run back to the place to take care of that little chore.
By the time we were headed back to town, we had a full-fledged dust storm going on around us, with visibility less than a block. It turned out to be the beginning of a two and a half day unrelenting wind and dust storm that hammered the area. In fact, it was so fierce that when we finally got back home, we had to close all the slideouts on Big V to seal out the dust and cut down on the shaking and rattling.
During the evening we made a quick trip over to Jean’s house to check on her, but for the most part we just hunkered down in Big V to ride out the storm.
Monday, February 9
Today was another rough weather day…constant 35-45 mph winds with gusts in the 50’s and periods of blowing dust. I did make one run into town to get the mail and go by the church office to buy one of the new hymnals. I’ve started practicing my trumpet again, and I was getting tired of playing just technical exercises. When they announced at church that some of the new hymnals were going to be sold for $10.00, we decided that it would be a good thing to buy one.
The afternoon was spent in just hanging around Big V; it was too windy and dusty to get outside, but we were able to take care of some pending business issues. It seems that whether in working life or retirement, the business aspects of life continue.
Tonight we put together a meal of leftovers (trying to get the refrigerator cleaned out before we leave town later this week) and went over to see Jean for a bit. After the meal, I stayed to help her cheer on the Duke women’s basketball team as they tried vainly to defeat North Carolina.
Tuesday, February 10
Today was more of the same as far as the weather was concerned, so we stayed inside most of the time. Barbara spent much of her day getting caught up on our on-line banking and business, while I started baking loaves of jalapeno bread to distribute on the trip that we were planning for later in the week.
Tonight we joined Jerry, Nancy, Becky, and Jean at Jerry and Nancy’s house for enchiladas and lots of conversation…a welcome break from being cooped up for the last 2 ½ days.
Wednesday, February 11
Happy 86th birthday to Edith Little Borsberry (Granny) in Mineola, Texas!
Finally…a decent day! The morning dawned bright, cloudless, and windless, offering us a beautiful day for getting some work done before we leave town on another trip tomorrow.
Barbara loaded up all the dirty laundry and went to town to do the wash while I stayed behind and started a deep-cleaning job on Big V. With all the wind and dust of the past few days, there was more than enough work to do to get the place clean and shiny again.
We went to town at 12:30 to join Jean, Jerry, and Susie for the weekly lunch bunch at Chaos and then returned to Big V to start packing clothes (and stuff) for a two and a half week trip in the Vibe to see kids and grandkids.
When we first found out that Randi and Jaycie would be competing at a cheer event in Dallas on February 28 and March 1, we saw it as a great opportunity to once again make the Great Circle Tour, much the same as we did for Christmas, to see all of the kids and grandkids (except Mike and Kelly) in one trip. We learned from taking too much stuff on the last adventure, so we took our time deciding what we really needed to pack for this one.
While Barbara spent most of the evening watching a couple of TV shows and doing some last minute chores, I went over to Jean’s house to watch the Duke/North Carolina basketball game.
On a sad note, we received a phone call from our friends Bob and Teresa Stevens that another good band director friend, Dick Felts, passed away in his sleep last night. I’ve known Dick for many, many years and always thought very highly of him and his work. This is the second death of a band director friend (and, coincidentally, a trombone player) in less than four months. Bob Black of Mount Holly, North Carolina, a wonderful friend and mentor, passed away in October. Both men will be sorely missed, but their work as master teachers will resound through the ages.
Thursday, February 12
We were up early and ginning around to make the final preparations for the trip. With the car loaded and Big V all shut up for a couple of weeks, we finally pulled away from Jean’s place at 7:15 a.m. and headed north.
Our first stop on this odyssey was Santa Fe, where we visited with Max and Marion Johnson. We had seen them several weeks ago while Marion was in the hospital with complications from rheumatoid arthritis and pulmonary fibrosis. In the intervening time, she was moved to the rehab unit of the hospital, where we got to visit her this afternoon. We were more than pleasantly surprised to see how much progress she has made in the last three weeks; and, while she still has a tough journey ahead of her, her spirits are high and she and Max are looking forward to getting her back home.
Friday, February 13
This was mostly just another travel day for us. We got a later start than anticipated from Santa Fe (including an unintended tour of parts of the city that are definitely NOT on the chamber of commerce tour list) and didn’t arrive in Liberal until around 4:15 p.m.
After dinner with Leah and Ryan, I went up to the high school for the homecoming basketball games between Liberal and Hays, where I got to visit with quite a few of my former co-workers. Meanwhile, Leah went with Ryan to watch him play in a city league basketball game, and Barbara stayed at the house to wash clothes and get rested up.
Saturday, February 14
Happy Valentine’s Day to All!!!
This may have been one of the most relaxing days we’ve spent in a long time. Even though we were up earlier than we thought we would be, we ended up spending a leisurely morning (very leisurely for me, since I went back to sleep for an hour or so).
While Barbara and Leah went out to do some shopping, Ryan and I stayed behind to visit and play games. It was even nice enough (although a little cool) to get outside and play a couple of games of washers. Ryan beat the dog out of me on the first game, but I was holding my own when the girls returned from their trip and we gave up the game in favor of having lunch and watching a movie.
Tonight we played a couple of more games…Farkle (a dice game) and TriBond (a board game), before settling down to watch a very compelling 48 Hours episode on TV.
“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” – David Viscott, author of How to Live with Another Person
With Leah and Ryan in Liberal, Kansas,
Jim & Barbara
We received grandchildren pictures from Barbara’s sister, Carol, this week.
At the far left is Teresa’s family...Cousin Sammy, Tyler, Teresa, Tonya, and Tamra.
Upper right: Lynette’s kids – Marcus and Madison (front) and Dominick and Daniel (rear).Lower right: Madison with her First Place Blue Ribbon from the science fair. She will advance to the state competition in Albuquerque.
No trip is complete without family pictures. The following are shots from our Saturday night activities at Leah and Ryan’s house.
Barbara: It's amazing to me that this daughter of mine, who once couldn't boil water, now has become a seasoned cook...Tonight's meal was chicken parmesan, green beans, and garlic toast. Displaying her creation on the plate was important to her, but Jim kept trying to sneak little samples which meant Leah had to work with one hand fending him off and one hand serving...made an interesting photo.
