Sunday, January 31
T.J. volunteered to have a “sisters’ day” with Mother today, so while they went to church and had lunch together, we got on our “Sunday go-to-meeting” clothes and headed to Yantis for Sunday school and church. I went on to our Sunday school class while Barbara had another in-service session to learn how to run the sound system during the church service. She did very well with her new job and had only minimal assistance from Mike, the guy who has been doing all the sound and recording, but can now join us in the choir.
After church we drove back to Holiday Village and joined our Kansas friends, Gene and Michelle (and their granddaughter Finley) for lunch at the clubhouse. We’re very partial to the chicken fried steak dinner that they serve and once again ate our fill while enjoying a visit with our new friends.
No Sunday seems complete without a short nap, so we went back to big V and slept for an hour or so before getting up to do some straightening and cleaning. I had quite a bit of mail and paperwork to organize and file, and this afternoon turned out to be just the time to get that done.
Around 4:45 we shut Big V down again and drove back to Yantis so I could take part in choir practice while Barbara manned the sound booth again. Since Mike wasn’t there, it was up to Barbara to cue up the DVD’s and play them for us at the appropriate time. When choir practice was over and the evening service started, she just continued with the sound system and ran it unassisted for the night.
Our very pleasant but unremarkable day ended with the drive back to Mineola where we found that T.J. and Mother did quite well without us, even taking care of Spike and Bonita’s meals and treats.
.jpg)
Monday, February 1
It was another cold and cloudy day around here…certainly not a time for working outside. We spent the morning taking care of minor chores around Mother’s house…just straightening and dusting and occasionally stopping to read and respond to email.
Barbara whipped up a new recipe for lunch today…chicken breasts sautéed and then steamed with peppers and onions and topped with mixed vegetables, and a baked potato topped with broccoli and cheese soup and sour cream. For dessert we had a piece of the butter pecan Bundt cake that Barbara baked early this morning…yum yum!!!
We had invited Gene and Michelle to come visit us sometime this week and remembered this morning that between our schedule and theirs, today would really be the best day to do that. They had some things to take care of in town anyway, so they stopped by around 4:00. After we introduced them to Mother and got Finley settled down, we had some cake and coffee and then started in on a game of Chickenfoot. Gene and Michelle had never played Chickenfoot, but quickly picked up on the rules and strategies and we were soon having a rousing good time.
With a few timeouts to feed Finley, Mother, and Spike and Bonita (along with some finger foods for ourselves…Barbara found a wonderful new recipe for spinach dip), we managed to stretch the game until nearly 7:00. It was great fun for all of us and we later told Mother know how much we appreciated her letting us entertain our friends in her house. Barbara: I couldn’t help but notice that Jim failed to mention that though I was dead last for much of the game, by the end of the game, he and Michelle had pushed me aside to take the last two places. Gene was the winner for the game…and I’ll be kind enough not to reveal whether Michelle or Jim came in on the bottom, just know that for once it wasn’t me!
Tuesday, February 2
Happy Groundhog Day!
We don’t know what the rest of the country was like today, but there was no way the groundhog could have seen his shadow if he came out around here this morning, so we figure winter is about over and spring is rolling toward us.
It looked and felt like a wintry day through the morning hours. We stayed inside the house for the most part, venturing out only when necessary. Barbara came up with a recipe for Polish sausage and sauerkraut that just seemed to fit the day. T.J. came over at noon and joined Mother and us for lunch. In addition to the main dish, Barbara fixed toasted Jewish rye bread and served some cinnamon applesauce that Jean taught us to make…no one went away hungry!
Barbara had her Bridge Club meeting at Yantis First Baptist Church this evening. I rode as far as Holiday Village with her and did a deep-cleaning of Big V for a couple of hours. We are amazed at how much dust collects in such a humid climate. We expect that sort of thing when we’re parked in Artesia for a long period of time, but never thought we’d have the same problem here. Anyway, I got the place dusted, polished, swept out, and almost looking like new.
When Barbara’s meeting was over she came back to get me and we made the very dark drive back to Mineola and Mother’s house for the night.
Wednesday, February 3
We had both planned to go back out this morning…Barbara to her weekly Bible study class and me to clear some more brush from the lot, but Barbara was feeling under the weather, so she stayed home with Mother.
Since Barbara couldn’t go to the elementary school in Yantis to do her volunteer work, I went up there to get some more project materials from Marla, our friend who is a first-grade teacher there.
From the school I drove back to Holiday Village and began cutting more vines away from a stand of trees. It just blows my mind how those little vines can get so out of control and stunt the trees. After about three hours of cutting and mowing, I could see I was getting close to having the “big stuff” under control. Cutting back the vines and fighting the Poison Ivy will be an ongoing job, but at least our lot and the adjoining gully are much better looking than they were a year ago.
I finished what I had set out to do for the day just as it started to sprinkle, so I put the tools and lawnmower away, closed down Big V, and drove back to Mineola to spend a very quiet afternoon and evening at the house.
Thursday, February 4
Happy Birthday today to son-in-law Andy Dondis in Richardson, Texas!!!
We arranged with T.J. for us to have a “date day” today; so, after feeding Mother (and ourselves) a breakfast of pancakes and eggs, and getting Mother settled in for the morning, Barbara and I hopped in the Vibe and headed north for a few hours, leaving T.J. to check up on Mother and join her for lunch.
Since it had been raining steadily since last night, we stopped first at Holiday Village to check on our lot and Big V. The first thing we noticed was that water was rushing down the gully and overflowing the creek banks. Fortunately, the lot itself wasn’t flooding the way it once did. Our efforts at flood control seem to have worked.
The pictures also show much more of the gully and creek bed than anyone could see before we started clearing out the weeds and brush. The pipe in the pictures is the main water line for our street. It was completely covered by weeds, tree limbs, and even a fallen tree on one side. Now it is possible to walk along the creek bed from Geronimo Street all the way to the beaver dam that was built on the lot behind us, about 170 feet as the Jays, Cardinals, Sparrows, Grackles, and other birds fly.
As we pulled away from the lot, we took a picture of the sign that marks the property as ours. It was cut from a large cedar tree that had fallen in the gully a long time ago. Shortly after we purchased the lot and began clearing it, one of the men in the park came by and asked what we were going to do with the tree. We told him we had no idea, but if he wanted it, he could have it.
With the rain pouring down all around us, we made our way to Sulphur Springs, where we had planned to have lunch at Appleby’s to use the gift card that Mike and Kelly gave us for Christmas. We were positive that we had seen Appleby’s on previous visits, but discovered that what we had really seen was Chile’s…close, but not close enough to use the gift card.
After driving around and seeing parts of the town that we hadn’t seen before, we returned to Big V, ate a sandwich, and fell asleep listening to the rain drumming on our roof.
We woke up around 4:30, closed up Big V, and drove back to Mineola in time to feed Mother and the puppies and fix a little something for ourselves before calling it an early night.
Friday, February 5
We spent most of this morning just hanging around the house and doing nothing of consequence. I cut out circles and strips of colored paper for one of the projects at Yantis Elementary School. (Barbara still isn’t up to par health wise) I can definitely see the value of classroom aides or volunteers for primary teachers…so many things like this that have to be done even before they start working with the kids. I’ve always said that kindergarten and first grade teachers don’t get paid nearly enough!
I also spent a lot of time on the phone trying to track down an insurance agent for information about getting the Vibe fixed. We received a call from Doug at the body shop this morning letting us know that the estimate had been approved. He gave me a couple of names to call to find out whether we were approved for a rental car. Alas, no one in the insurance business seemed to be at work today. We did, however, make tentative arrangements for a rental car for the week and the ladies at the car agency said they would continue making calls to the various agents to try to get everything squared away.
We took Mother over to T.J.’s for lunch today. T.J.’s friend Marge joined us as we tried out a new recipe of pork, seasoned mixed fresh vegetables, macaroni and cheese, and fresh-baked bread, followed by a homemade chocolate pie. We all had a good time just eating and visiting, and before we left I took care of a minor plumbing problem that T.J. was having in her bathroom. It was even a learning experience for me…most everyone probably already knows this, but in case you don’t, and you are faced with replacing a toilet flush handle, you need to know that the mechanism has reverse threads. That bit of information will keep you from over-tightening the nut on the inside of the tank and having to resort to breaking the handle mechanism apart with a hammer and chisel. There is no charge for this advice.
While Mother was taking her afternoon nap, we drove out to Holiday Village to check on the lot and visit with Josh, the young man who sold us our property. We got a letter from the park today letting us know that the Property Owner Appreciation Day for this quarter is next Thursday, February 11. Since we are going to be busy with Mother’s birthday celebration that day, we won’t be able to get out and claim our gift. Josh told us to not worry about it that the gifts were in the sales office and to just go by on the way out this afternoon and pick ours.
What we may or may not have mentioned in earlier writings and what we found out after we bought the property last year, is that at least once each quarter the company that owns the three Holiday Villages gives special gifts to property owners who want them or attend special meetings. In the past, we have received a fire pit, a halogen outdoor heater, and a screened-in canopy. The gifts this quarter are a hammock-stand combination AND a Skytex Netbook with a combined retail value of $457. Needless to say, we thought the trip out this afternoon was well worth our time.
When we returned to Mother’s house (after a brief Walmart stop), we just kicked back and enjoyed a lazy evening. We had a light meal for supper, finished the projects to take to Marla on Sunday, cleaned up our mess, and then watched a little TV before heading to our room to read.
Saturday, February 6
It was just another winter day around here…not that it was winter like many are having, but after all these days of highs hanging around 41-43 degrees, the chill is starting to settle in our bones.
After breakfast and straightening up our room and the kitchen, we started to work on materials for Mother’s 87th birthday party for next Thursday. Barbara designed a cover for Hershey’s miniature chocolates and after getting them printed, we spent a couple of hours with me cutting them out while Barbara glued them over the pieces of chocolate.
We also decided that the party on Thursday probably shouldn’t be a total surprise to Mother, so we presented her with a copy of the invitation this morning. She didn’t say anything, but gave us a “Mother’s look;” you know, the one that says, “You shouldn’t have,” but also shows little crinkles around the mouth and eyes that also say, “I pleased that you did.”
Tonight was Bingo Night at the Holiday Village clubhouse, so we drove out to see some of the friends and neighbors and get involved in a little friendly cut-throat bingo. We’ve had some nights when neither of us came close to winning a game and others where one or the other of us won a game, but tonight was really special…out of the ten games played, each of us won one, and took home a $10.00 Walmart card apiece…not a bad night at all.
After checking on Big V (she sure looks lonely these days), we made the dark drive back to Mineola and Mother’s house where we didn’t take long to get ready for bed and settle in for an hour or so of reading before dropping off into a deep sleep.
“No one is in charge of your happiness but you.” – Unknown
From Mineola in the heart of East Texas Lake Country
Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams
