A Little Benji Time

Sunday, October 18 – Saturday, October 24, 2009


Sunday, October 18

Even though we woke up early this morning, we somehow lost track of the time and just barely got to church on time after almost deciding to not go. Boy, were we ever glad we were there! Pastor Rick was back in the pulpit with a powerful sermon (he’s a top-notch Bible teacher) and the music was just out of this world. Rick is giving a series of sermons entitled “What in the World is Going On,” and today’s message included a brief history of Islam and the contrasts between Islam and Christianity.

After church we returned to Big V where I worked on last week’s journal entry (Barbara had written the previous three weeks, so I figured it was my turn to hit the keyboard for a while) and Barbara fixed lunch. We ate our meal and watched another episode of Monk before going to bed and reading and napping for an hour or so.

Jerry and Nancy have gone to Albuquerque for a few days so Jerry can have some stress tests. They asked if we would look after their dog, Benji (who doesn’t know he is a dog), while they are out of town. We were, of course, more than happy to help out. We went over to their house around 5:00 and found Benji sitting on a chair and pouting. I sat down with him for a few minutes while Barbara fixed his dinner dish and then we got out the leash to take him for a walk before he ate.

All it took to bring Benji out of his funk was to show him the leash…he was out of the chair in a flash and ready to run outside and explore the neighborhood.

After about a half hour of walking (and sniffing and other things-speaking of Benji, of course), we went back to Jean’s house to visit for a few minutes and then took Benji back to his house. As soon as I took the leash off him, he bolted for the doggy-door and was inside wolfing down his dinner before we could get inside.

We left Benji to guard his house for the night and returned to Big V where Barbara made some sandwiches for me to take over to Jean’s house. Barbara stayed in Big V to edit pictures and paste them in the journal/blog while I went to Jean’s to help her watch Sunday Night Football.

Monday, October 19

Happy First Anniversary to Mike and Kelly Little in Midlothian, Virginia!!!

This was another “early riser” morning for me. I don’t know why I was awake so early, but I used the time to do some internet reading and starting on this week’s journal until Barbara woke up.

Benji is used to early morning walks…Nancy takes him for the ½ mile loop around the neighborhood every morning before she goes to work, so I decided I’d take him out this morning. All I had to do when I got over to the house was reach for the leash and he was headed for the door and ready to run!

We walked nearly all the way around the loop until we got to the entrance of Jean’s property and I decided we’d let Benji come see Aunt Barbara and Grandma Jean before we finished our exercise. Then, we went back to the house and Benji once again bolted for the doggy door as soon as I took the leash off of him…he was eating his breakfast before I could even get into the house…what a creature of habit!

Barbara baked up a batch of biscuits and we had breakfast (and another episode of Monk) before I finally headed out to do some more raking, pecan sorting, mowing, and various other chores around Jean’s place and Big V. While I was outside, Barbara was busy experimenting with recipes for chicken salad. She’s tried several different mixtures, and they are all delicious.

I came in around 1:00, after the wind got up so much that it wasn’t fun to be outside any longer, and we had lunch, another episode of Monk, and then took time out for some reading and a short nap.

After taking Benji for his evening walk, feeding him and getting him settled in for the night, we went to Jean’s house, grilled some steaks, had a wonderful meal and spent the rest of the evening watching the end of the Angels/Yankees baseball game and the Broncos/Chargers football game.

Tuesday, October 20

Some days are just days, and that’s pretty much what can be said of today. We started the morning by driving to town at 7:00 to do the laundry; then, we returned to take Benji for his morning walk, feed him, and water some of Nancy’s potted plants. Back in Big V, we decided it was time to do some serious cleaning and straightening, a job (or series of jobs) that took us until lunchtime.

I went over to Jean’s this afternoon to clean out under another of the pecan trees…that’s 8 down and 6 to go.

Barbara took Benji for his evening walk about the time that it started sprinkling (we had empty promises all day of thunderstorms, but it looked as if not much, if anything, was going to happen), so I hopped in Little Red and caught up with them to give them a ride back to Jerry and Nancy’s house.

Later, when it appeared that we might at last get some serious rain; Barbara went back over to check on Benji. She said he was whining and nervous because of the thunder and lightning, so she brought him back to Big V…guess he felt comfortable enough here, because he finished his meal and hunkered down with us as the thunder rumbled, lightning flashed, and the rain started pouring down.

We later took Benji back to his home for the evening (Jerry and Nancy were scheduled to return soon) and returned to Big V just as a huge storm cell arrived and began dumping rain on us. Then Barbara couldn’t remember rather earlier she had locked Jerry and Nancy’s front door; so we made a quick trip back over there. Fortunately, Barbara had locked the door; unfortunately, she got soaking wet just checking!

For the rest of the evening we just stayed inside and listened to the rain pouring down on us and all around us…what a welcome blessing, as this part of New Mexico has been in a severe drought for some time. I discovered that we can get a Fox channel out of Albuquerque, so I watched the Yankees and Angels battle it out in the ALCS…even got to hear some of it when the rain wasn’t drumming too hard on Big V’s roof.

Wednesday, October 21

After waking up several times during the night due to the thunder, lightning, and drumming rainstorms (Jean reported that we got 1.4 inches of rain here at her place), we were a bit sluggish getting around this morning. Still, we managed to get quite a bit of totally uninteresting stuff accomplished.

We made one trip to WalMart to buy some groceries and other necessaries and then returned to Big V to put everything away and give me a chance to get cleaned up. When that was done, we drove back to town to make stops at K-Mart, the dry cleaners, the bank, the post office, Honey Depot (to exchange a candle that didn’t burn properly), and finally to Chaos for our Wednesday Lunch Bunch with Jean, Susie, Jerry, and Nancy.

Jerry and Nancy surprised us with a gift (unnecessary, but very much appreciated) for taking care of Benji while they were gone to Albuquerque…a can of ‘sipping chocolate” mix and a 7-CD set of Garrison Keillor reading one of his novels, Liberty.

They also let us know that Jerry did well on all of his stress tests and the doctors gave him a clean bill of health…news that was welcomed by all of us.

While the others returned to their work, Barbara and I came back to Big V, checked our email, and then retired to the bedroom for a short nap before continuing with our day.

After our bit of rest and some additional lounging around, we took Benji for a late afternoon walk. I had scraped a knuckle on Jerry and Nancy’s gate when we left the yard, so the three of us stopped back at Big V for me to doctor myself. While I was putting on the hydrogen peroxide and looking for a bandage, Barbara got Benji a bowl of water (we hadn’t mentioned it in previous writings, but Benji seriously self-dehydrates himself on our walks).

We returned Benji to his home and then returned to Big V for supper. Barbara wasn’t feeling good, so while she went to bed early, I went over to Jean’s house to watch the Tulsa and UTEP football game before calling it a night.

Thursday, October 22

This must have been one of the laziest mornings we’ve had in a long time. We go up late and did nothing of consequence until noon…doesn’t get much lazier than that!

Since the ground was still damp along the west fence line, I decided it was time to finally get to work out there. The grasses and weeds had grown very tall from the fence out about three feet, so after hoeing all along the line, I got the mower out and started cutting down the tall stuff. One thing led to another, and by 6:00 pm I had mowed the two acres on the west side of Jean’s house, including our “front yard.”

While I was “hoeing and mowing,” I found some stray cactus plants right next to the fence and we decided to dig them up and transplant them along the edge of our concrete pad. We’re hoping they will take hold and more or less fit in with the native grasses that we are allowing to grow there.

Tonight we went over to see Jean for a few minutes before I got all the dust of the day washed off; then, we decided to let Sonic do our cooking. We returned from the Sonic run, ate our burgers, and watched the Angels and Yankees duke it out in game 4 of the ALCS.

Friday, October 23

With only a couple of exceptions, today was a repeat of yesterday morning; which is to say, not much to write about.

I got up early and went to the Friday morning prayer breakfast…brought a takeout breakfast back to Barbara, and then we decided (with a little arm twisting) to go back to town and do a load of laundry. Because of the mowing I’ve been doing, I have managed to pile up some really dirty jeans and shirts.

After we returned to Big V, we just vegged out for the rest of the morning…played computer games, worked on the journal, and read online papers and assorted email. The afternoon was more of the same, with a long nap for me while Barbara read a novel.

Barbara fixed lunch/supper around 3:00 and we watched the pilot episode of Reba (we’ve finished the first seven seasons of Monk and now have to wait until next summer to get the final season),

We did venture out later in the afternoon to do some shopping and shop-looking at WalMart, then returned home and visited with Jean for a bit. Then, it was time for me to get ready to go to tonight’s football game between Artesia and Moriarty.

Jerry and Nancy picked me up at 6:30 and we went to Bulldog Bowl for the game. It turned out to be a mismatch from the beginning, with Artesia leading 34-0 by halftime. We took the second-half kickoff and within a minute and a few seconds were up 40-0, triggering the NMHSAA “Mercy Rule,” under which the clock can only be stopped by timeouts called by coaches or officials. Needless to say, the second half moved along at a much faster pace than the first half and the game ended at 50-7 in favor of the hometown Bulldogs. Now, on to district play beginning with Roswell High School in Roswell next Friday.

Barbara: I’ve tried to figure out lately why I don’t go to the Friday night games with Jim, Jerry, and Nancy. At first I thought it was because I’ve gone to games ever since I was in junior high and “played” (really just held and faked the clarinet), then went with Henry when he refereed games, and later games with Jim as he directed the band or later supervised as an administrator. But…then I realized Jim has attended many more games than I; so that excuse won’t work. So, after much more reflection, I decided the simple truth is this…I just don’t want to go watch football at this point in my life. Guess that wasn’t worth a paragraph, but then what else do I have to do while I listen to the game on the radio?

I did receive some good news tonight while I was keeping the home fires burning. Barradine and Harold, our good friends from the J Bar J Country Church in Ruidoso, will be passing through Artesia Sunday morning and are planning to stop for a short visit. We had discussed the possibility of this happening the last time we were in Ruidoso and told them we’d treat them to breakfast if they wanted to come by our place.

Saturday, October 24

Barbara: Well, Jim certainly had a bee in his bonnet this AM because first rattle out of the box, he was cleaning house! Now, for us common people, that means vacuuming, dusting, etc. But, for him, it was wash down the walls, clean every mirror, picture frame, etc. I thought maybe he was under the impression that it was time for what us ordinary folks call spring cleaning.

I had already “cleaned” the living room…at least I thought I had…until he went into action. So, with instructions on how to really spruce up the area, I got with the program! I’m telling you…Edith certainly taught that man how to work!

Once the house met with Jim’s approval, we headed to Wal-Mart for some necessary items for tomorrow’s breakfast. Then it was back to the house for a leisurely afternoon as we basked in the cleanliness of Big V!

Nothing is on the agenda for tonight so we’ll end the week with a few photos from around Jean’s homestead and our on-loan homestead…Pretty place!

We are called to be witnesses, not lawyers and judges. – Church Signs

From our “Little” house on the prairie,

Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams

A Little Different Activity

Sunday, October 11 – Saturday, October 17

Sunday, October 11

It was a pretty chilly morning as we headed off to the morning service at First Baptist Church. When we got there, we found that Pastor Rick was not here this weekend, but the pulpit was very ably filled by the new administrative pastor, Joey White. He delivered a very meaningful message; one that hit us right where we needed to be hit today.

After church we went directly to the laundromat to do several loads of clothes. It’s getting hard for us to understand why, when we really don’t wear a lot of different clothes, the hamper is always full…guess it’s just another of life’s mysteries. While Barbara stayed to watch the washing machines, I drove over to Sonic to purchase our Sunday banquet...there’s just nothing like fine dining in the parking lot of a laundromat!

With the clothes all washed, dried, and folded, we returned to Big V to take our traditional Sunday afternoon nap. It was, after all, a cold and windy afternoon…no chance of getting outside to work (even if we had been inclined to do so), and therefore almost a sign that doing nothing was perfectly in order.

Jerry and Nancy invited us over to their house for a wiener roast this evening, so we rode over with Jean to stay out of the cold as much as possible. When we got there, we found that the plans had changed and Jerry was cooking our tube steaks on the outdoor grill instead of the traditional fire. Nancy was inside putting the finishing touches on all the “extras” that go with hotdogs and soon we sat down to a table laden with sauerkraut, relishes, chili, onions, and other assorted goodies.

Becky was absent from tonight’s wingding since she was really feeling yucky…I missed “picking” on her…she says all I do is give her a hard time. Can’t imagine why she would feel that way!

When the meal was over, we all pitched in to clear the table and get the dishes ready for washing and then sat down around the table for a rousing session of Wits and Wagers, a relatively new game that we really enjoy.

Since Nancy had to go to work Monday morning, we ended the game-playing and talking at a fairly reasonable hour and returned to Big V for the night.

Monday, October 12

Happy Columbus Day, America!!!

While Barbara worked on getting our journal/blog entries up-to-date, I tackled some house cleaning chores, mainly scrubbing the bathroom. It isn’t one of my favorite jobs around Big V, but it is one that needs doing on a regular basis, and it hadn’t been done regularly enough lately.

Later in the morning Jerry called and asked if we could give him a hand in putting up an extension on their TV antenna (he had asked about it last night and we told him to just holler whenever he was ready). We trekked across the lot and in almost no time, with Jerry and me standing on ladders to maneuver the extension into place and Barbara handing us tools, we had the antenna up and (we suppose) working. Luckily, the wind wasn’t up to speed yet, so the job was accomplished fairly easily.

Barbara spent the afternoon working on the journal/blog (lots of pictures to edit and place) and I went outside to do some more yard work on Jean’s place, trying to get as far as I can with cleaning grass and weeds out of the fence lines.

Tonight was just a kick back and relax time.

Tuesday, October 13

Happy Birthday, Becky R., in Lubbock!

I spent the morning doing some straightening and filing in my “office” area of Big V. I’ve let the mail and other “stuff” pile up to the point that something finally had to be done about it. Meanwhile, Barbara continued to hammer away at the journal and blog. We are way behind on writing and posting our entries and have the dream of getting current this week.

Artesia hosted the regional high school marching band contest this afternoon, so while I watched the smaller schools present their performances, Barbara went out and did some shopping for the younger grandchildren before returning to Bulldog Bowl to see the presentations by Roswell Goddard, Artesia, Carlsbad, and Hobbs.

It was a beautiful evening in the bowl, perfect conditions for marching bands to strut their stuff, and Artesia did just that with their presentation of Indiana Jones Meets the Pirates of the Caribbean. Tom Dillon, the AHS band director, arranged all of the music and designed the show (believe it or not, a rarity among band directors these days) and the Bulldog Band played and executed the show with great precision and enthusiasm, earning a Superior rating from the three Texas judges.

We can’t write about the band without telling about the great amount of support it receives from the school and community.

Monday was a holiday and an opportunity for the band to get in some extra practice time.

They started their day with a breakfast provided by the football coaching staff. As the band entered the stadium prior to their performance tonight, the entire football team and coaching staff set up a victory line and gave high fives to the individual band members as they passed through.

Attending the band’s performance tonight were the superintendent of schools, the assistant superintendent, the high school principal, and scores of band boosters, including many who no longer have kids in the program, but who are always there to support the “Pride of the Pecos Valley.”

Wednesday, October 14

Jean told us last night that we wouldn’t be having the regular Chaos Lunch Bunch today (Jerry and Susie had a board meeting to attend and Jean had to work through the lunch hour), so we went into full work mode for the day.

Barbara spent the morning finishing the last of the “late” journal entries and got it posted to the blog site. Hallelujah, that albatross has lifted off and we can now focus on the present instead of the past (and quit trying to figure out what we meant my all those scribbles and cryptic notes and quotes that had been stacking up).

While Barbara was editing and publishing, I went outside to do some more hoeing, raking, trash hauling, and mowing. By noon I was finished cleaning out three of the four fence lines that enclose Jean’s four acres of property.

During the afternoon I tackled the job of cleaning out the area under one of the fourteen large pecan trees that Jean has around her house. The pecans have already started falling, a little earlier than usual, but at least a sign there should be a pretty good crop this year. Today’s work was as much to gauge the time it will take to clear under each tree as it was to get this one cleaned. The work isn’t difficult, but it is time-consuming and tedious, and I found that I need to figure on spending close to two hours on raking, sifting, and sorting the pecans and hauling away the trash…hmmm…looks like we’ll be spending a week to ten days at this job.

Tonight we spent some time with Jean…watched the Boise State/Tulsa football game on TV and did some relaxing.

Thursday, October 15

Last night the moon was a sight to behold and then this morning watching the sunrise was another inspiring moment…both of which we tried to document with the camera…obviously, our camera isn’t expensive enough to really do justice to the beauty we witnessed…nevertheless, we tried.

With all the outside work I’ve been doing, I’ve managed to fill up the laundry hamper with lots of dirty clothes (can’t run the lawnmower around the place without stirring up loads of dirt), so Barbara decided she’d go to town and do a couple of loads of wash while I went out early to start cleaning under pecan trees.

The first two trees I cleaned under took a little over an hour apiece and I finished the second one just as Barbara returned from the laundromat, so I took a break to go back to Big V and help carry in and put away the clean clothes. With both of us working at it, the job didn’t last long and soon I was back outside, enjoying a gorgeous day and making some progress with the trees.

Meanwhile, Barbara swung into a full-scale cooking mode and whipped up a new recipe, crock pot lasagna…what an easy way to cook up a familiar dish!

When I finally finished with the row of five trees, I fired up the riding lawnmower and started mowing under them to get the grass short enough that we could see the pecans when they really begin to come down. One thing led to another, and a couple of hours later I had mowed down the entire east side of Jean’s property and was once again too filthy to even get in Big V; but, the lot looked great!

Jerry called during the afternoon and invited us to join Nancy and him for a concert at the Ocotillo Performing Arts Center tonight. We almost said no, but decided that maybe it would be fun after all, so we rearranged our schedule to allow us to get cleaned up and presentable.

When we were finally fit to be seen in public, we took the lasagna and some garlic toast over to Jean’s house to share the meal with her until it was time to go to town.

The concert tonight was by “Project,” a truly great jazz trio featuring a flutist, a bassist, and a cellist, all of whom started on their instruments at early ages and are classically trained musicians. We spent a couple of hours being entertained, educated, and amazed at the virtuosity that each of the musicians demonstrated and how well they played off of each other. I think our favorite piece of the evening was their own jazz arrangement (along with dialogue) of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf; they took great liberties with both music and text, but the basics were there and the arrangement could be great fun for young listeners.

Friday, October 16

I began the morning very early so I could attend the Friday morning Methodist Men’s Prayer Breakfast at the hospital cafeteria. When we were here before, the breakfast was cooked at the church (Jerry was the chief cook and bottle washer), but over the summer they moved it to the hospital cafeteria where, for only a couple of dollars apiece (and no cooking or cleanup) they could get a very good meal and have space and time for the weekly devotional and prayer time.

When I got back to Big V, Barbara was finishing her breakfast and we decided we’d go to town, do some shopping at WalMart, and post some mail that we needed to send out.

When we finished with our shopping, we decided to check to see if we could get haircuts while we were there. The Style Shop was closed, but was supposed to open in a few minutes at 9:00. No one except customers) was there at 9:00, but we figured we’d just wait around until someone finally opened the shop, which did happen around 9:15. There were two ladies ahead of us, one of whom was getting a perm, so the stylist told us to come back in an hour or so to get our cuts.

We couldn’t decide whether to hang around the store, go to Sonic for a coke, or just go for a ride while we were waiting; finally Barbara suggested that we drive out behind the airport to see what we could of the FLETC (Federal Law Enforcement Training Center) complex out there. The main campus is in plain sight just north of town, but we’ve seen busloads of students traveling on a road that leads behind the airport and decided to see (if we could) where they were going.

After winding around a bit, we could clearly see the three Boeing 747’s that were brought to Artesia to train Federal Air Marshalls to deal with hijacking and hostage situations. I also spotted the great mounds of dirt that were the backstops for the firing range (we wake up each morning and go to bed at night to the sound of automatic weapons firing.) We also saw part of the driving track where prospective agents and officers practice chases and stops. Their night exercises provide a nice balance of sirens against the background noise from the firing range.

When we drove far enough to see the main gate (FLETC is guarded almost as strongly as any military facility), we decided we’d seen all we could see and looked for a place to turn around…after all, it wouldn’t do to be loitering around the place and it WAS time to get back to WalMart.

We had only a short wait before we finally got to sit down and get our cuts. When I was finished and Barbara took her place in the chair, I went on to the post office and then came back and picked her up. Neither of us was particularly thrilled about the quality of the cuts…it’s very difficult to get anyone to understand exactly what we want, but we were less shaggy and that’s a big part of what counted.

We went back to Big V and had a bite of lunch and then I went back out to pick up pecans and hulls under the tree at the front entrance to Jean’s lot. That particular tree had a large number of nuts and hulls that had fallen, so it took about an hour and a half to get the area cleaned and raked. I decided that was enough for one day, put away my tools, and went back to Big V for a short nap.

Tonight I went to the Artesia/Clovis football game with Jerry and Nancy. It was a beautiful night for football, but unfortunately, it wasn’t a good night for the hometown Bulldogs as they were steamrollered by the 5-A Wildcats and fell to a 4-3 record on the season. The ‘Dogs have done well against 3-A, 4-A, and a couple of 5-A teams and have been beaten only by top-ranked 5-A schools. They should be well-seasoned as they head into their district schedule in a couple of weeks.

Barbara stayed home and listened to the game on the radio (until it became a rout) and then switched on the TV to watch one of her favorite shows, taking time out to have a large tray of nachos ready for me when I got back to Big V.

Saturday, October 17

This quickly became a very lazy day for us. I had thoughts of getting up early and doing some work outside, but those thoughts evaporated when we both slept in until nearly 7:30. We just took our time moving around, had some breakfast, and then I settled in to watch the Texas/Oklahoma football game from the Cotton Bowl at 10:00. I don’t know that there is much to say about the game except that it was a victory for my team, but it was an ugly one; and, I did get to watch former Artesia quarterback Landry Jones lead the Sooners after Sam Bradford went down. Because of Landry, many more Artesians now cheer for Oklahoma, but I can’t be counted among the converts (sorry about that, Lance and Jill Stout), but I do enjoy watching Landry play.

When the game was finally over, we drove downtown to take part in the annual Arts in the Park celebration at Central Park. There were around 130 tents and booths set up in the park with vendors hawking all kinds of food, drinks, and other items for sale. The main attraction for us was the annual band boosters’ cakewalk, an event in which I participated over 50 years ago when I was in the Artesia Junior High Band. (48 years ago when Barbara moved to Artesia as a senior, she got to participate in it, too.)

The cakewalk is one of the main fundraising projects for the band program and features performances by all of the bands as 60 walkers at a time trek around two circles of numbers painted on the pavement in hopes of being in a winning slot when the music ends. We walked and walked and walked, but came no closer to winning than being in slots next to the winning numbers…must have been a sign that we really didn’t need any cakes around our place.

When the high school band finished playing and the cakewalk was over, the auction of homemade cakes began, with bids ranging from 50 to 100 dollars and all the proceedings going to help support the bands.

We decided to not take part in the auction; instead, we wandered around the park looking at merchandise (and even buying a couple of things for special gifts later on) and ended up at a booth where we bought a couple of hamburgers…it had been a long time since breakfast this morning!

I asked one of the men at the tent who we were supporting and he explained that they were first responders who helped with the “Ride With a Hero” program in town. The money they raise allows them to take selected needy children out at Christmas to buy them something special. That, in itself, was a good idea, but to top it off, they take the kids to the store in the emergency vehicles and the children get to sound the sirens, play with the emergency lights, and talk to each other on the vehicle radios.

When we finished with our burgers, we went to the Artesia Arts Council booth to get diet Cokes and give Becky a little grief. Over the past couple of years Becky has learned to give as good as she gets and pretty soon we had even had other workers in the booth joining in the banter.

With our day-in-the-park activities concluded, we walked back to the funeral home parking lot to get the Vibe, drove to the post office to send out a couple of pieces of mail, and then returned home. We went over to see Jean for a few minutes and I ended up staying until after midnight watching football and then watching the Angels find a way to lose to the @##$% Yankees in the thirteenth inning.

“God’s gifts come wrapped in people.” – Church Signs

From our Artesia home,

Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams

A Little Time For Family and Friends

Sunday, October 4 – Saturday, October 10

Sunday, October 4

It was with great pleasure and surprise that we found the service at First Baptist had returned to a more traditional/contemporary type of worship service. We find that we have become the old fogies that we once thought our parents were and don’t really enjoy a strictly contemporary service. Anyway, it was good to be back “home” and find the type of worship that our wounded, tired souls needed this morning.

Once we returned to Big V, we decided that we just looked too nice not to take a couple of photos before changing into our usual hum-drum selves.

While it had been an absolutely and unexpectedly gorgeous day, the southwest winds cranked up to full force about 2:00 pm, chasing us inside until Jim went over to Jean’s to enjoy the sports’ scene and visiting.

Monday, October 5

Another wash day is all we can think of…Jim did some plumbing chores around Big V during the afternoon and then went to Jean’s to watch Monday Night Football. I’m certain I did something worthwhile, but just can’t think what it was.

Oh, yes…the highlight of the day was when I went outside and found that we had an unexpected guest…see photo on left…

When I ran into the house to ask Jim to be my hero and to grab the camera, he said there was another one under Jerry’s boat that was dead. We decided that he got caught up in a spider web…interesting, huh?

The live snake disappeared under the sidewalk in front of the barn before Jim could kill him so I keep a watchful eye out for him any time I’m outside!

One other aspect of country living in New Mexico is the awesome view that one has the opportunity to witness. Tonight as we sat outside, the moon and clouds appeared to be playing peek-a-boo with each other. It was another Kodak moment.

Tuesday, October 6

Today was an adventure day. Jim and I asked Jean to go to Ruidoso with us as we wanted to attend the Tuesday night service at J-Bar-J Country Church. So…after Jean visited the beauty shop, the three of us took off for the mountains. The ride was quite beautiful as the trees are beginning to change in their fall splendor.

Since it was too early to check in the motel, we went to the Travel Center for a little bit. Jim and Jean enjoyed the restaurant’s Rueben sandwiches while I tried the taco salad before heading to the motel. Since church isn’t over until after 8:00, it’s necessary to spend the night…driving down the mountains in the dark is not a very wise thing to do since the deer and other critters like to roam around.

Barradine, a friend we had met at the country church, had emailed that the church is renovating the kitchen area so there would be no meal; but the Good News Band begins playing at 5:30 which means that anyone there gets to sing along to the old gospel songs. Therefore, we left Jean at the motel to rest and headed to J-Bar-J with eagerness as this would be the first time that we would get to worship in the new building.

When we arrived, we didn’t see Barradine and Harold so just had a seat, grabbed a hymnal, and joined in the singing.

At 6:00 the band took a short break and we located our friends and conned some other member of the congregation to take a quick photo of the four of us. It always amazes us that even though we don’t get to attend church here that regularly, we always feel at home and by the end of the evening we are basking in the awesome spirit of the Lord.

After the service, Barradine took us out to their vehicle where their puppy, was patiently waiting. He/She is a new addition to the family and has stolen their hearts, especially Harold’s!

Since Barradine and Harold are going to a motorcycle rally in Galveston at the end of the month, we asked them to stop by Big V and let us fix them breakfast. So…with hope and best wishes, we bid them farewell and returned to the motel to pick up Jean for another visit to the Travel Center.

Wednesday, October 7

After a great night’s sleep and a good breakfast, the three of us journeyed back down the hill to Artesia. Jean let us out at Big V and she returned to work while Jim and I unpacked our meager luggage and prepared for the traditional Wednesday Chaos lunch. Susie even surprised me today with an apple fritter she brought over from Hobbs! (Can’t get them here except at Wal-Mart and they aren’t that good.)
Jim spent part of the afternoon cleaning out the rock garden behind Jean’s dining room. That is also where the bird feeders are kept and the dropped seeds seem to grow better in the rocks than anywhere else.

Thursday, October 8

Jim spent the morning cleaning out and trimming the rest of the rock garden on the north side of Jean’s house. By the time he had finished, he had Little Red piled high with green tumbleweeds, wild grasses, and other assorted organic matter. Just as he finished loading Little Red, the southwest winds fired up and he just barely had time to get across the lot and dump everything on one of the trash piles before losing it all.

Earlier in the week sometime, I had told Becky that I would love to help her color some learning center activities since she has one full schedule. This girl teaches Sunday School, sings in the choir, volunteers for lots of things at First Methodist, during the week works as a Special Needs Aide, and is involved in the community arts program which means that she now is having rehearsals almost every night for the musical Nun-Sense! I’m certain I’ve left out a few activities, but it makes me tired just listing what I did! Anyway, Jean brought home 3 folders filled with sheets to be colored and I began revisiting my old teaching memories by coloring while Jim went over to Jean’s to watch more baseball games.

Friday, October 9

Happy Birthday to Jan Jividen, Kelly’s Mother in Arizona

Yay! Today we went to Roswell to see my sister Carol and brother-in-law Cal as well as Jim’s brother Jerry and wife Jane!

First stop though had to be at the used book store since I have read everything around our house! There’s just something about shelves of books that bring us such pleasure. Thankfully, Jim is a reader, too, and in most cases we enjoy the same type books…adventure, mystery, CIA, etc. However, one author we do not agree on is Stephen King…I just can’t get into his mind set and Jim just can’t stay away from him…He has, even now in the motor home, every book King has written. Well…he was missing one but today he hit the jackpot and found the one he lacked. So…he was a happy camper.

Next on the hit parade was to go over to Carol and Cal’s. How great it was to see them after all this time! Of course, any visit there means Carol and I have to go out by ourselves shopping or shop browsing while the guys talk their way through all kinds of topics!

Today was a special trip out though, since tomorrow is Carol’s 67th birthday and Jim and I decided that she needed a treat. Therefore, it was Wal-Mart here we come! We found 2 really cute blouses for Carol before we did the usual grocery shopping she needed to do.

Returning to the house, Carol fixed us a sandwich spread that was fitting for a king! Right after lunch, Carol got another birthday surprise when her granddaughter Tanya from Truth or Consequences, NM, came bee-bopping through the door. Tanya didn’t have school today so thought she’d spend the week-end helping Carol celebrate. Needless to say, both Cal and Carol were delighted to see her as were Jim and I. We just wonder where that little girl Tanya we used to know went! See photo…

One of the side effects of Cal’s illness is that he finds having a shirt on very uncomfortable and painful. When we asked if we could take family photo, Cal was agreeable and Carol wanted to get him a shirt; but Cal had other ideas! We teased him that he just wanted to be an Indian Chief with his blanket. No matter…we’re just so grateful to have a photo and to have shared time with them!

The bottom left photos are of Carol in her new birthday blouses…She really looks good in them!

The headache I had been nursing all day long really started pounding about lunch time and by the time we headed for Jerry and Jane’s I was grabbing the Tylenol again! I don’t know if it’s the wind or what but Jim and I both are finding that headaches seem to plague us lately. Today he was fine, but I wasn’t.

Jim: Anyway…enough “medical” talk…on to Jerry and Jane’s house. Because of Jerry’s job as supervisor of night security at New Mexico Military Institute, it is difficult to work in visits with them; He “starts” his day around 3:00 pm, a time when we are usually beginning to wind our day down. However, we had visited with Jerry via email and made arrangements to extend our stay in Roswell by an hour or so in order to come over and get caught up.

As with Cal and Carol, we had a really nice visit…got caught up on family matters and Jerry and I discussed schools and students. What I’ve learned from Jerry’s stories about his work is that students are students, whether in public or private schools, and that includes military schools.

Anyway, we did have a good time and agreed that when we are all feeling chipper, we’ll schedule a visit to include a meal out, just like regular people.

We returned to Artesia to have a little supper and then Barbara returned to the coloring project for Becky while I trekked over to Jean’s house to watch baseball’s divisional playoff games.

Saturday, October 10

Happy 67th Birthday sister Carol! (Have I mentioned that you are 67?)

Barbara: I began the morning at 5:00, determined to have all the folders ready for Becky by the time I saw her today. That meant coloring until I thought my hand would fall off! How she has time at home to get these kinds of chores done is a mystery to me. Of course, it’s really not since I really can remember my old teaching days and how you do what you have to do to complete your assignments. But…it does make me thankful that I no longer have to keep my nose to the grindstone! Thank you, Lord!

After doing a few household chores, Jim tackled some yard work for Jean. The grasses and weeds have grown up along the fence lines since last spring and Jim wanted to start getting the place “winterized.” So, with a hoe in one hand and a rake in the other, he started chopping out the unwanted vegetation, raking it into large piles, and hauling it away in Little Red to the trash piles. Along the way, he discovered that Jean’s pecan trees were already dropping nuts and hulls, so he gathered up the ones that were in the way of the weed removal project. Then, he discovered some ant beds that needed killing and some gopher holes that needed treatment with bubble gum (it really does work to get rid of those burrowing little critters)…there’s always something!

Tonight Jerry and Nancy treated us to a visit to La Fonda for a Mexican dinner before we all went over to their home to play Chickenfoot. I can proudly say that I excelled tonight by having the largest score. Oh, yeah, that’s right…the object is to have the least points…guess I forgot that!

Becky had had dance rehearsal all afternoon for the musical and was really beginning to show signs of getting ill by the time we finished the night.

“You can’t worry and pray at the same time.” – Church sign in Roswell, NM

Still at our “Little” home on the prairie,

Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams

A Little Change in Plans

Sunday, September 27 – Saturday, October 3

Sunday, September 27

Wow! Jim and I must have been exhausted because we slept until 7:30. Not knowing whether Jimmy Clint and Jaycie were up, we waited for them to call us before going over to the hospital. About 9:00, J-Bird called so we hoofed it over there to catch up on the night’s happenings.

We found Jaycie in a delightful mood keeping herself occupied by “checking Jimmy’s monitors” and writing the results on the white board on the wall. Jimmy told us that about 4:00 this morning the nurses came in to check his vitals and the light woke up Jaycie who turned over and grinned at him. He said, “Jaycie do you know where you are?” She just grinned again, nodded her head, and turned over to continue her sleep. What a trooper that girl is!

If all continues as is, they will put a pacemaker in Jimmy tomorrow at 2:00. He was pretty exhausted so after Cathey came up to get Jaycie for cheer, Jim and I decided to go run some errands and make a stop at Becky’s so Jim could visit with her, too.

After picking Jaycie up from cheer, we headed back to the hospital with me dropping Jaycie and Jim off at the front door while I went back to the motor home to fix supper.

By the time I arrived back at the room, it was full to overflowing with guests; so after feeding Jaycie, Jim and I went back to Big V. Jaycie was spending the night with us again so we went back up later to get her.

Monday, September 28

It’s been a long time since we’ve gotten a kid up and ready for school! However, it was no big deal with Jaycie as she wanted to go see her Dad before we left. Being an almost teen-ager, Jaycie was not in a good mood though because her jacket did NOT match her clothes and it was too cold to go without one. Cathey has had too much other stuff on her mind to think about whether the jacket matched the outfit. Also, Jaycie decided that if she took her pony tail down, she wouldn’t be able to get it back right…she did it yesterday, but the jacket just messed her up.

Anyway, we left the hospital in plenty of time for me to take her by the house to find another jacket AND since it was one she adored, she even agreed to fix her hair!

Oh, Jimmy and Cathey are going to have some fun days ahead with her as she becomes a teen-ager!

Once back at the hospital, we all tried to wait patiently for 2:00 pm to roll around. Since Cathey’s sister, Laurie came in from Maryland for Cathey’s birthday and their sister-in-law, Wendy, was there, too, Jim and I found ourselves walking around since the room was so small.

2:00 pm came and went without anyone coming to get Jimmy. Finally close to 3:00, Jimmy was rolled up to the 6th floor where he was greeted in the hallway by a host of doctors, fellows, interns, and nurses. Not understanding a first what was happening, we finally were told that Jimmy had developed a fever within the last hour and Dr. Perez was not going to operate as to do so could cause an infection to get into his heart which could be catastrophic!

So, everyone followed Jimmy on the stretcher back down to his 5th floor room. All I could think of was how great God is! What if the doctor had been ready for him promptly at 2:00? What if his fever hadn’t been detected? This is definitely a sobering thought and one which requires giving God all the Glory!

To tell the truth, this event was so mind-boggling that neither Jim nor I can remember the rest of the day.

Tuesday, September 29

Happy Birthday to daughter-in-law, Cathey!

Happy 18th Birthday to Francisco in Puerto Rico!

If we thought yesterday was an early day, this one was even earlier! We needed to be at Jaycie’s former elementary school by 7:00 AM since she was being recognized for her achievement on the writing portion of Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) in the 4th grade. She and 17 of her classmates have been published in a book giving samples of exemplary writing. What an honor!

Once back at the hospital, Jim hopped in Big V to take her to be serviced. We were supposed to do it yesterday, but had to cancel. Today it HAD to be done.

I went on up to Jimmy’s room where I found Cathey, Laurie, and Wendy entertaining Jimmy. As a small, silly birthday treat, I presented Cathey with 2 energy bars since yesterday she never got around to eating a single meal!

Jim made it back to the hospital before Dr. Perez came in to advise Jimmy about all the tests they had performed yesterday. The blood test showed that Jimmy had at one time in the last several weeks, Mononucleosis! This is what has been causing the “wiring” between heart and brain to act up. There is no need for a pacemaker at all! With that bit of confusing, but good news, the doctor said that he would be released from the hospital today.

Later when everyone was gone, Jim and I discussed with Jimmy what we should do. Did we need to stay in Lubbock? Jimmy felt that he should get busy getting his life on track and didn’t need us to do that!

Without telling him, we were truly relieved as money has become a major factor this month. With an airline ticket, rented vehicle, Jim’s flying trip in the Vibe and Big V to Texas, the budget was pretty much shot and paying for a RV spot somewhere just really would have hit the wallet! Not that we weren’t willing to if we were truly needed.

So…without further ado, we got Big V, and headed to the house to hook up the trailer. Since we needed to get gas, Jim said to wait to load the Vibe until after he had negotiated the gas pumps at Wal-Mart. After giving Big V a big drink and getting the Vibe on the trailer, we left Lubbock in our rear view mirror around 4:45! With any kind of luck, we should make it to Artesia before dark.

And…we did it! It was just about sunset as we approached Jean’s so we were able to park the motor home and get everything connected before dark (although Jim did discover the hard way that he was standing in an ant bed while he was unrolling the shore line to hook up to the electrical connection).

After a short visit to say hello to Jean, we fell into bed!

Wednesday, September 30

As much as I didn’t want to, I had Jim take me to the Laundromat this morning after we got breakfast at Sonic. Then he went back home to try to make heads or tails out of all the mail he picked up from Mineola.

This being Wednesday, we met the Terpening/Francis clan at Chaos for lunch. We hadn’t seen any of them in such a long time that we had a lot of catching up to do.

Thursday, October 1

Happy 12th birthday to granddaughter Jaycie!

For us, today was just a day to get acclimated to our setting. We had some serious house-straightening to do, as well as grocery shopping to stock the refrigerator and pantry. Other than that, it was just another day.

Friday, October 2

After a day of just getting our house and lives back together, we joined the clan over at Jerry and Nancy’s house for a Bulldog party. Our hometown Artesia Bulldogs were playing the Las Cruces Bulldawgs in Las Cruces tonight, but we all decided we’d just stay at home, listen to the game on the radio, and cheer our team from here.

This was a good gathering for us as we hadn’t seen Becky yet. The evening was filled with good fellowship, lots of cheering as it looked like the underdog Artesia team might make a game of it after all, and then the disappointment of falling short of victory as the 5-A Bulldawgs had their way with our team during the second half.

Saturday, October 3

We spent nearly all day working on Big V. We thoroughly enjoyed the cool and rainy day and took the opportunity to wash the motorhome…a long overdue chore. It was really amazing to see the original shine coming through after a thorough scrubbing and a rainwater rinse. It’s just too bad that we don’t get more rain more often.

“I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.” - Maya Angelou

From Artesia, our “Little” home on the prairie,

Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams

A Little Family Crisis

Sunday, September 20 – Saturday, September 26

Sunday, September 20

Mike and Kelly have been seeking a new church home since they found that they would be moving to Midlothian and today we joined them to attend the morning service at Parkway Baptist Church. We never know what to expect when we go to a new church, but we were absolutely blown away by this morning’s service. There was an excellent blend and balance of music and sermon and the pastor’s message hit us just where we needed it. The main point was that no matter what we think, God is in control and we aren’t. Certainly, God was in control this morning as we were led to worship with this congregation.

We had earlier made arrangements to drive up to Lake Anna today to spend some time with our friends, Rod and Ruth. We felt we needed some time away, and the kids needed a couple of days to figure out what they wanted to do with their new home. So, after church we said goodbye to Mike and Kelly and began the trip to Lake Anna.

As we were driving west on I-64, Barbara reminded me that John Buttram, one of her former students at West Middle School and a member of one of our Odyssey of the Mind teams, was in Charlottesville attending the University of Virginia. Since it wouldn’t be too far out of the way if John could arrange to meet us somewhere, she called to find out what he was doing.

Luckily for us, John was just taking it easy today and jumped at the chance to meet us in a little town about halfway between Charlottesville and where we were at the time. In almost no time, we all arrived at the local shopping area in Louisa and walked over to Hardees to have something to drink and spend some time catching up.

It’s hard to believe, but John, who was on a team of sixth graders when we first coached him, is now a junior at UVa studying engineering…where has the time flown?!!! John even told us about an OM type project that he built in his room, a set of bookshelves that are suspended from the ceiling rather than standing on the floor…a really neat idea.

Since we needed to get on the road toward Lake Anna and John needed to get back to Charlottesville, we said our goodbyes, took some pictures (a kind customer at Hardees took our group shot), and we all headed out, grateful to have a little piece of Liberal, Kansas, to hang onto even in faraway Virginia.

Within a few minutes we were well on our way toward Lake Anna. We followed Rod’s directions as closely as we could remember, but ended up having to backtrack when we found we turned off one road too soon. Barbara called Rod for clarification and soon we were headed in the right direction and found the new turnoff right where Rod said it would be.

As we turned onto the road leading toward the house, the phone rang; it was Cathey calling us from Lubbock to tell us that Jimmy Clint had been taken to the emergency room at University Medical Center (his third trip of the week) with a blood pressure reading of 187 over 137 and a heart rate of only 20, and then had been transferred to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.

Jimmy had told us of his earlier trips to the hospital, but had insisted that we didn’t need to drop everything and come to Lubbock. However, this call changed our thinking. Even before we could stop the car in Rod and Ruth’s driveway, we decided that all of our plans (including spending a couple of nights with Rod and Ruth) had to be dropped.

We spent a few minutes apologizing to Rod and Ruth for the change (of course, they understood), took a quick photo because we hadn’t had one in such a long time, and then turned the car around and started back to Richmond.

I drove as fast as the law would allow and Barbara fired up the computer to get flight information to get her from Richmond to Lubbock. Because it was so late in the afternoon, it was impossible to get her on a flight before Monday morning, and even then the flight would take either 14 or 17 hours.

Given that information, Barbara looked up Southwest Airlines, called their flight information people, and explained our predicament. The folks at Southwest were very friendly and helpful and, while they couldn’t get her on a flight from anywhere tonight, they did have a direct flight out of Baltimore/Washington International Monday afternoon that would get her to Lubbock in about 6 hours with a brief stop in Austin.

We drove on to Midlothian, called Mike and Kelly (they had been at a shower for some friends all afternoon and were now doing some shopping), explained the situation and told them we’d meet them at their house.

The rest of the evening was a frenzy as we gathered up whatever we thought Barbara would need for the trip, advised friends and family of the situation, and tried to get a decent night’s sleep to prepare for a long day ahead of us.

Monday, September 21

Jim: What a day this turned out to be!

We got up early to make our final preparations for Barbara to get back to Lubbock. Not knowing what traffic around D.C. and the Baltimore region might be like, we decided to leave Richmond at 9:30 to allow ourselves plenty of time for her to be checked in by 1:30.

It was a fairly easy drive along I-95 at first, but the closer we got to D.C., the more crowded and harried the traffic became. We weren’t too far south of the District when everything came to a screeching halt as four lanes narrowed to 1 ½ (don’t ask how that happened, but after all, it IS Washington, D.C.).

We eventually made it safely to Washington/Baltimore International with just enough time to pull up to the Southwest departures door, get Barbara and her luggage out of the Vibe, and send her on her way as I drove away, hoping to get back to Richmond before her plane took off.

The drive to Richmond was punctuated by the occasional phone call between us, but was otherwise not noteworthy. I was about a half hour out of Richmond when Barbara called to say she was boarding the plane and would call again when she got to Austin.

After calling Mike to get directions to the IMB, I found my way to Kelly’s place to get a house key and get directions to the house from there. I did know one way, but it would be much longer than the toll road, so I grabbed a few quarters from our laundry money and struck off on a new adventure. It was, as Kelly told me, a much easier and faster way to get home than what I had considered, and soon I was back in the house, clothes changed, and working furiously on painting the trim in the primary guest bedroom, all the while waiting for a call from Barbara to let me know she had arrived safely in Austin.

I continued painting throughout the afternoon and early evening, stopping only to field calls from Barbara as she called from Austin and then from Lubbock to let me know she was there and waiting for our good friend Becky to pick her up and get her to the hospital to check on Jimmy.

When Mike and Kelly got home from work, I helped them unload some things from a borrowed pickup and then I followed Mike to another section of town to return the truck and get him back home. We stopped along the way for some takeout Chinese and then returned to the house to eat. We decided that it had been an exciting enough day for all of us, so after dinner we plopped ourselves down on the couch in the living room and watched a DVD that Mike had received in the mail today, X-Men, The Origin. I won’t say that it was the best movie I’ve ever seen, but it was fun to unwind and share time with the kids.

Barbara: Once Becky and I got the luggage in the car, we made a quick trip to the hospital where we found Jimmy in not too good of shape. However, he did his best to visit with us as we all waited for Cathey to bring Jaycie up after cheer practice. It was amazing to see how quickly Jaycie could crawl in that hospital bed with her Daddy, not letting the IV’s or any other gizmos stop her.

After receiving hugs from Cathey and Jaycie and visiting a little bit, Becky and I headed to her house to call it a night as I was still on Eastern Time!

Tuesday, September 22

Jim: When Barbara flew to Lubbock, it was with the understanding that if things were okay there, we’d find a way to get her back to Richmond to continue with our plans to finish our part of working on the kids’ house and then return to Toccoa, Georgia, and Big V to spend six weeks volunteering at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center.

After spending a large part of Monday night at the hospital and having a chance to visit with some of the medical staff, she said that we did need to be there, so she decided to stay with Becky until I could get there. Throughout the day she kept me updated on what was happening with Jimmy Clint.

For my part, I tackled the job of finishing as much of the trim as possible in the primary guest room, an all day job, and washing clothes along the way. During the evening I helped Mike with a couple of chores in the living room and packed as much as I could to be prepared to leave at a decent hour tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, Mike and Kelly installed new window coverings in their room and generally continued their job of decorating. I had taken several sets of photos of the “finished” room, but they kept refinishing it, so tonight I took the latest photos to show off what had been accomplished during the last week.

Barbara: Since I was unable to rent a car yesterday (every place in Lubbock was sold out), I hitched a ride to the hospital with Becky who works at the Medical Center attached to the back side of UMC. I had been told that if something became available Enterprise would give me a call, but to not count on it.

So…Basically this was a hurry up and wait day as we waited for doctors, different tests, and the usual hospital procedures. Eventually what we found out was that Jimmy has been ill for 48-60 months but it has taken this long for it all to spiral out of control...

High Blood Pressure


Low heart rate


vaso-vagal syncope...usually not a big deal; but combined with the other two, no beta blocker medicines can be used so are trying some medicine that is like caffeine.

Because of the VVS, they are hesitating about the pace maker...

One two hour IV of medicine today for quick release; one pill tomorrow...walk...if heart rate goes up, he'll go home with this medicine, but his system may become immune to it...if it lowers...pacemaker

The doctor said his irritability, shortness, impatience, etc. are products of the fluctuation of blood pressure (normal to extremely high), low heart rate, and VVS, reacting in ways to make his body feel normal.


Pace maker still on the table...just don't want to put one in someone so young...


Still unclear about the biopsies done on stomach, intestines???

The above are the notes I took as the doctor’s rattled off their findings.

Finally around 4:00, Enterprise called to let me know that a car was available and they would be by the hospital to pick me up. After picking up the car, I returned to the hospital to see the family before Jaycie’s cheer practice. Jaycie and Cathey had brought Jimmy a blizzard treat which he certainly enjoyed. This time I had the camera and could capture Jaycie in the bed with her Daddy!

Then I headed over to Becky’s for the night.

Imagine my surprise later when the phone rang and from the caller ID I could see that it was Jimmy. However, when I answered, I found a young woman saying, “Mrs. Colwell…ahhh…Little, this is Brooke Hedgecoth. Brooke was one of my students in Lubbock about 30 years ago!!! Seems as though Brooke is dating one of Jimmy’s friends and they were at the hospital visiting Jimmy. Wow!!! What an awesome feeling to know that one of your students from so many years ago even remembers you, much less calls and visits with you.

We made plans to see each other tomorrow at the hospital (however, as it turned out, that never happened as Jimmy was released.)

Wednesday, September 23

Jim: After seeing the kids off to work this morning, I finished what little packing was left, loaded the car, straightened up the room and, after taking time to snap a few shots of the refinished guest room and the front of the house, hit the road for a long day’s drive to Toccoa and Big V.

The drive was unremarkable…just lots and lots of miles showing on the odometer before I arrived at the campground. As I was driving through the entrance to the conference center, I saw Dennis, the maintenance chief, and waved at him. Within a couple of minutes of arriving at the campsite, Dennis and his son drove up and offered any assistance I might need. I told them I would take care of packing and closing Big V and moving her down to the parking lot of they would just drive the Vibe down and leave it for me to load on the trailer.

In the interest of speed and with little regard for where things belonged for travel, I took down the decorations and put them away, went through all the steps to close up the motorhome, and drove down the hill to hitch the trailer and load the car on it.

When Dennis came up to the campsite, he told me that there would be a dinner and church service at the conference center tonight. There had been a major flood in northeastern Georgia over the weekend and much of Toccoa had been flooded. In fact, they had been without city water for a couple of days so people were coming from town to the conference center to take showers and get drinking water.

When I finished with the vehicles, I grabbed my kitchen shoes and headed for the dining hall to help the dishwashing crew; but, it turned out that I was a little late and nearly all the dishes had been done. Still, Bill, the center’s director, invited me to join the crew for dinner. In addition to the usual dining hall crew, I also got to visit with one of our volunteer friends, John Worley, who was with a group of disaster relief volunteers who had come to Toccoa to repair homes.

When the church service was over and all the folks had left the parking lot, I pulled Big V around to one of the two RV slots in the lot, ran out the bedroom slide out, leveled, and hooked up the electricity, hoping to get a good night’s sleep before what would undoubtedly be a l-on-g day tomorrow.

Along the way today Barbara called to let me know that the medical staff had stabilized Jimmy Clint’s blood pressure and heart rate and had discharged him to go home and await further tests.

Barbara: Jimmy called this morning at 4:30 to ask me to bring him some eye drops when I came up and to also tell me that the doctors were supposed to be there around 7; so I got myself ready and headed for the store and then the hospital.

After much debating, changing medicine, etc., the doctors decided that a pacemaker was not an option at this time and by late afternoon, I was taking Jimmy Clint to his house where he planned to rest up and get caught up on some work. We had decided that I would continue to stay at Becky’s so I made a quick stop at Farmer’s Market to pick up dinner for Becky and me.

The rest of the evening was spent checking up on Jimmy, talking with Jim, and enjoying a long leisurely visit with Becky which is something she and I don’t get very often. We did decide to head for bed early as it had been a loooooong day!

Thursday, September 24

What can I say about today? The operative words were drive, drive, and drive some more.

I was up and away from Toccoa by 5:30 am, managed to hit the early morning traffic through downtown Atlanta, and then just cruised along I-20 through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana until finally pulling into the Texas Welcome Center some 738 miles and 15 ½ hours later. I had aimed for this particular stop because the Texas rest areas have great free wireless internet and I would be able to catch up on my email. But, the storm that I had been driving through for the last hour had knocked out the internet service, so I grabbed a bite to eat, laid down, and crashed for the rest of the night with the roar of diesel truck engines providing a lullaby.

Barbara: I have tried so hard to remember this day, but I can’t. All I know is that I sent Jim an email that night saying that the day had been a million years long.

Friday, September 25

Jim: This was primarily another travel day, but with all the miles I put behind me yesterday, it was possible to stop in Mineola for an hour or so to visit family and check the mail and then get back on the road toward Lubbock.

The drive was fairly easy until I got to Wichita Falls and hit those fabled West Texas winds, which I fought all the way to Lubbock. About two hours out of Lubbock Barbara called to say that Jimmy was back in the hospital. He had gone to the doctor’s office for a check of his blood pressure and heart rate and they immediately sent him to the emergency room. His heart rate had dropped to 17, so they gave him a dose of Atropine, resulting in what they called “a controlled heart attack.”

While Barbara made arrangements for us to get one of the 8 RV slots at UMC, I drove like a bandit to the house in Lubbock, unloaded the Vibe and dropped the trailer, and then drove to the hospital. Barbara and Jaycie were waiting for me to guide me to the RV section and in just a few minutes we had Big V backed into a slot, leveled, and hooked up to the electricity.

Meanwhile, Jimmy was settled in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and, although stabilized, was being continuously monitored by machines and nurses. We spent the rest of the evening visiting with Jimmy while they got me caught up with what had happened and what the doctors were planning, which was to install a pacemaker on Monday.

Jaycie spent the night with us in Big V. We set up the DVD for her and she started watching Shrek 3 and then went to bed. With over 1,800 miles under my belt (or should I say under my rear), it didn’t take long to drift off to sleep.

Barbara: Started this day by going to Wal-Mart for a haircut…it was either that or dog tags! Next I went back to Becky’s to pack my things and head over to Jimmy’s since Jim will be in today. Yay!

At 4:00 I picked Jaycie up from junior high (my how hard that word is to write…what happened to our little granddaughter?) Anyway, she and I went back to the house where she did homework and visited with her Dad before my taking her to gymnastics. I brought the camera along and did the proper grandmother thing…then I realized that my phone must be at the house since Jaycie had been talking to her mother on it before we left. Therefore, I quickly ran back home since I needed to keep in touch with Jim. After all, even though I wasn’t with him as a co-pilot, I still could be that from afar!

When I got back to the house, I found the garage door open, but the house empty. Where was Jimmy? I found my phone and called him to find out where in the world he was as he hadn’t been feeling well when Jaycie and I left for gym. That’s when I found out that he had called the doctor to report his blood pressure and heart rate and the doctor had told him to get to his office immediately. He had no choice but to drive himself since I was gone and didn’t even have my phone! Now he was in the emergency room getting ready to be admitted to the Cardiac Intensive Care Center. While in the ER, his HR dropped to 17, the atropine that they injected went in too quickly, and Jimmy said he began to flop around on the bed, blue lights flashed and doctors from everywhere came running. It was quite a harrowing experience for him!

With that information at hand, I called Jim and told him to come to the hospital instead of the house since I had seen some RV parking sites at UMC. Then I grabbed my luggage and headed back to the gym to wait on Jaycie.

By the time I got to the hospital with Jaycie, he was still in ER so she and I went to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat. Finally her daddy called to say he was in Cardiac ICU room 21 and could we come up. The minute we got in the room, Jaycie was in the bed with her daddy!

About that time, Jim called that he was at Jimmy's unloading the trailer and car. About 8:30 he found his way in Big V to the RV site in the hospital parking lot where we will live for the next several days.

I was never so glad in my life to see Jim! He is my strength, my rock, my foundation and I have sorely missed his guidance in person.

Saturday, September 26

Jim: It was good to be with family again after those days on the road.

We spent all day at the hospital, a lot of it just sitting around in Jimmy’s room, but we did get some good information about what was planned for him.

The doctors had earlier talked about implanting a pacemaker, but because it is a radical procedure, especially for a 37 year-old, they wanted to see if they could win this fight through the right balance of medications. After yesterday’s incident, there was no question that they would go ahead with the pacemaker implant on Monday. In the meantime, Jimmy’s contribution would be to relax and take it easy until time for the surgery.

We learned early on that Jaycie has a remarkable attitude toward what is going on with her daddy. She handled the hospital atmosphere with far more maturity than most adults would, and certainly more patience than even Barbara and me.

After a full day of visiting and moving around the Cardiac ICU halls, Barbara and I left Jaycie with Jimmy and went out to the motor home to fix supper. After taking supper to the hospital room where we all chowed down on some good home cooking, Barbara decided to go on to Big V for the night, leaving Jaycie and I with Jimmy to watch the Texas Tech ballgame.

Jaycie fell asleep during the game so Jimmy and I decided to leave her alone and let her spend the night with him. Therefore, I walked back to Big V to put myself to bed.

Barbara: According to the doctor we saw this afternoon, Jimmy will have a pacemaker in on Monday. Right now they are weaning him off of the HR medicine...if for 4 hours, his HR will stay above 40, they will move him to the 5th floor...it's been an hour and 45 minutes and it's down from 63 to 50...guess time will tell.

I was asleep when I heard Jim come in from the hospital, but I realized that I only heard one set of footsteps, not two. I couldn’t believe that Jim had left Jaycie, but decided that the guys knew better than I and promptly fell back asleep.

“A hospital is no place to be sick.” - Samuel Goldwyn

From the RV lot at University Medical Center in Lubbock,

Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams