Sunday, February 21
John called us late last night to tell us that Randi would be competing this afternoon in a cheer competition at the Dallas Convention Center. He said that Jaycie would also be competing in a different division, so we decided we’d forgo our usual Sunday activities and drive to Dallas to see the girls, knowing that we wouldn’t have much time with them, but whatever time we had with them would certainly be more than we’ve had recently.
When we talked to John last night, we made arrangements to hook up with his family at the convention center. Along the way this morning, we made several phone calls to Jaycie to let her know we were on the way and asked that she let us know where we could meet her. We didn’t get any calls while we were on the road, but that wasn’t unusual since they probably had a late night last night and were sleeping in.
When we got to the convention center and got parked, we called both Randi and Jaycie to let them know where we were. Randi said they were behind schedule at their hotel and would meet us at Section D of the center.
We went on inside and found a place to sit while we were waiting on everyone and continued to try to reach Jaycie to let her know where we were.
We also called Jimmy Clint to see how he was doing, but found that he had been taken to the emergency room at University Medical Center after having a bad reaction to one of his meds…a very unsettling start to our day.
John, Carol, and Randi soon arrived and we went to the concession area to have a bite to eat and to sit and visit a while. The noise in the room was deafening, so I’m not sure what all was said, but we did have a good time.
We tried to call Jaycie a couple of more times to find out when her team would be arriving. It turned out that their team wasn’t scheduled to compete until well after Randi’s team went on, so we had extra time to visit with Randi and her folks about her competition. We thought Randi did quite well, especially since she had been asked by the coach to replace an injured team member just a few days ago and had only a short time to learn the routine that everyone else had been practicing for quite a while.
We said our goodbyes to John, Carol, and Randi and began our search of the convention center for Jaycie and her team. We found some of her team members but they told us they didn’t know where Jaycie was. We then found a room where their team would meet before going off to warm up for their competition, but still no Jaycie.
We had printed some pictures of Jaycie and some materials to use with the latest addition to her American Girl collection and really wanted to hand them to her, but when we decided we might not get to see her, we went back to the room to give the envelope to a couple of parents who we had met before when we were visiting in Lubbock.
We asked Bobby and Janet if we could sneak a peek at Jaycie, but they said she was off practicing with the team but they didn’t know where. As Barbara handed them the envelope and explained what was in it, I saw Cathey standing behind Bobby and talking to another parent. When I said, “There’s Cathey,” she turned around and walked to the center of the room, not looking back, so we finished saying what we had to say to Bobby and Janet and left, feeling bad that we couldn’t see Jaycie for even a short moment.
The trip back to Mineola was relatively smooth and quick, but both of us were lost in our thoughts about what had happened today and trying to figure out why it happened that way.
We got back to Mother’s house around 8:00 had a light supper, got Mother and the puppies taken care of and ready for bed, and then called it a day ourselves.
Monday, February 22
Today we celebrate the birthday of the first president of the United States, George Washington (or as we said when I was a kid, this is George Birthington’s washday…don’t know why we said that, but we did). You can refer to the previous editorial comments on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday to be reminded of what I think of the new manner of recognizing the birthdays of these two important presidents.
Mother had an appointment with her neurologist in Tyler this morning, so TJ brought Arianna over to the house to spend the morning with Barbara while TJ and I took Mother to the doctor.
The drive to Tyler was uneventful, which is always a good thing, and when we got to the medical center, we found only one other person sitting in the waiting room, which was a wonderful sign. Within minutes of our arrival, we were in the examining room and a nurse was checking Mother’s vitals. Not only were all signs well within the normal range, we found that Mother had gained 11 pounds since we moved in with her. She winced a little bit at that, but the doctor was ecstatic. Then when he saw all the vitals' numbers, he told her that there was nothing to change, but he did recommend that she keep on doing what she’s been doing, since it was obviously working for her. When he prepared to leave and asked to see Mother walk, she just picked up her walker and sauntered out the office. At that point, Dr. Cohen (who looks like he should be in high school preparing for prom and graduation) said that he wished that his grandmother, who also has Parkinson’s, could do as well as Mother!
Since we got out of the office so early, we skipped our usual “lunch out” and returned to Mineola where Barbara had lunch waiting on us at Mother’s house. If Mother had second thoughts about eating after learning of her weight gain, she must have set them aside while she waded through a plateful of food, not even leaving scraps for the puppies!
It was obvious when we walked in that Arianna had a wonderful time visiting with Cousin Barbara this morning. She was “hiding” in her fort (a card table draped with a sheet) and toys and books were scattered all around. Of course, the scene called for photos, and we heard the call (and did something about it.After a busy morning for all and a good lunch, we all decided that it was time to retire to our separate houses and corners to read and nap.
There was no postal service today, so Barbara and I didn’t even bother to get away from the house this afternoon. Instead, we just whiled away the evening working on the blog/journal and catching up on mail.
Tuesday, February 23
On a cold, cloudy, and rainy morning, it was time for another trip to Tyler. This time, Barbara and Mother stayed behind to take care of Arianna while I drove TJ to one of the medical centers to get a shot. She had arranged to get there by 8:00 so they could just walk her through before all the scheduled patients, but sometimes those arrangements aren’t worth much, and today was one of those times.
It was well after 9:00 when TJ finally got to go into the room where her shot would be administered, and 10:00 when we finally got out of the building and on our way back to Mineola. We stopped for a few minutes at Southern RV, located between Tyler and Lindale, to check on a part I needed for Big V. Unfortunately (and unknown to us until this morning) Southern has dropped the Winnebago line, so we’ll have to work with a dealer in Mesquite.
When we got back to the house, we had a lunch of leftovers (still very good) and, after sending TJ and Arianna home and seeing Mother get settled in her room, Barbara and I tackled some of our regular chores…post office, Medicine Chest for Mother’s prescriptions, Walmart, etc.
The afternoon brought a light dusting of snow that lasted just long enough to call it snow before turning back to a light drizzle. I’m beginning to think the local groundhog got it all wrong on February 2.
Wednesday, February 24
There’s not a whole lot to be said about today. This morning Barbara stayed at the house and did laundry and other household chores while Maria came over and cleaned Mother’s room and bathroom. Meanwhile, I drove out to “Our LITTLE Lot” to see if I could replace the pressure-temperature valve on the water heater. It turned out that I couldn’t remove the old valve, but I did get some of the corrosion off of the mechanism and sprayed it with WD-40 to keep it from sticking. After that, I turned on the water and the water heater and let the system pressure up to see if the valve would blow out again. It didn’t blow, so for the time being we’ll just monitor the system and when we take Big V to the motorhome doctor again, we’ll have them change out the valve and replace the electric heating element.
Tonight we went out to Holiday Village to pick up Gene and Michelle and go to East Fork for the Wednesday night hamburger special. We called Gene and Carolyn to see if they wanted to join us, but they were having a new furnace installed in their house and felt that they probably should stick around their place.
The meal was wonderful, as we have come to expect, and we had a great time visiting with the Youngs until it was time to get them back to the park and find our way back to Mineola for the night.
Thursday, February 25
Happy 50th Birthday to Cousin Don Sandley in Birmingham, Alabama!!!
TJ and Mother took Arianna to Lake Palestine today to hand here back to her mother, so we decided to make this a “date day.”
Mother was ready to go well before TJ came to the house, so we took advantage of the opportunity to take her picture with Spike and Bonita. You can tell that the puppies really live a hard life, can’t you?
Before we got away from the house, TJ called to tell us that Ladd had stopped at her place to let her know that the Extreme Makeover-Home Edition crew was coming into her neighborhood today to tear down and replace a home just a couple of blocks from her house. So, before leaving town, we decided to swing through TJ’s neighborhood to see what we could see (but not without stopping first to get a couple of apple fritters at a nearby donut shop).
An Extreme Makeover security crew and several local and county officers were in the neighborhood, but the road wasn’t closed to local traffic yet, so were able to get a look at the approximate location of the new project. We saw a house that was surrounded by yellow crime scene tape and assumed that was the target house, but later learned that it wasn’t the one.
After doing our “drive through,” we pointed the vibe toward the east and Shreveport, Louisiana, to spend the day. It was a beautiful day for a drive and we had a god time while we were there. The only disappointment in the day was the buffet at the Horseshoe…we’ve had really great meals there in the past and were expecting more of the same today, but everything we tried was overcooked, dry, and tough…not what I wanted out of Cajun shrimp and sausages. The only good thing about it was that the meal was free, but it was worth exactly what we paid for it.
The drive home was uneventful and didn’t take nearly as long as we thought it would. We were back at Mother’s house in plenty of time to give the puppies their evening treats and to get settled in for a quiet evening.
Friday, February 26
Happy 41st Birthday to son John Colwell in San Antonio!!!
We seem to be stuck in the monsoon season…this was another morning of waking to the pitter-patter of rain striking all around us.
After breakfast, we decided we’d go over to TJ’s house and see how close we could get to the building site for the Extreme Makeover. As we approached TJ’s, we saw that a security post was set up right beside her house and no unauthorized vehicles were allowed through. There was even a sign that said, “No Walk-ins.”
Armed with our trusty camera, we approached the security guard and told him that we were at my aunt’s house and we wanted to take some pictures of the security post with the house in the background. He said that wouldn’t be a problem, but to be careful and stay out of the way of the traffic.
After we had taken a couple of photos, Barbara asked the guard if we could take his picture also. He seemed surprised to think that we’d want to do that, but agreed and ended up posing with both of us.
When the picture-taking session was over, we asked about the sign that discouraged walk-ins. He said that the only people allowed through were people who lived up the road. We looked appropriately disappointed and then he said, “Well, since this is family property, I think it will be okay for you to go on up and take some pictures if you just stay out of the way.” Then, he radioed the next checkpoint and told them we were coming up there.
With the guard’s permission, we were able to get close enough to take some good photos of the area, but we never did locate the house that was scheduled for demolition today. The area was very interesting, with special tents set up as carpentry shops, industrial-sized dumpsters, and even a temporary RV park. In fact, Barbara had answered a call for motor homes that could be used as temporary housing for some of the workers, but we never heard back from them.
After seeing all that we were allowed to see and photograph, we walked back down the hill to TJ’s house and visited with her for a while before returning to Mother’s house to get things ready for lunch.
With the weather being what it was, we just cooled our heels around the house for the afternoon and evening.
Saturday, February 27
This was just a slow morning for all of us, with absolutely nothing of importance accomplished.
We checked in with Leah to see how she was doing at the Odyssey of the Mind regional tournament. After being on Odyssey teams in elementary school in Lubbock and from the sixth grade through her senior year in Liberal, Leah, who is now a special education para-professional, was asked to be a coach of a team at West Middle School, and now she is learning the truth of the old saw that goes, “What goes around, comes around,” with both the positive and the negative aspects of the job.
We wanted to go back to the homebuilding site, but since we couldn’t get close enough even if we parked at TJ’s house, we went over to Walmart to catch a shuttle bus to the site. Local and area churches volunteered their buses and drivers to carry spectators from Walmart to the building area. To receive this service, people are asked to donate canned goods to the East Texas Food Bank located for now right on the Wal-Mart parking lot.
We were going to go out to the clubhouse at Holiday Village and take advantage of the “Buy one and get one free” hamburger fest this evening, but finally decided it just wouldn’t be worth the time and effort, so we just hung around the house (except for a quick trip up U.S. 69 to take a couple of nighttime photos of the construction site.
Leah called us tonight to let us know that they had placed third in the overall competition for her team today, but because the other two teams tied for first and her team was within six points of first place, all three teams will get to advance to the state competition. Congratulations to Leah and her WMS Odyssey Team!!!
We received additional photos from family members this week as John sent us a picture of his and Carol’s grandson, Rhett, in San Antonio. Rhett was three years old in January..jpg)
It's been quite a while since we've been able to see him so we were quite taken with how much he has grown and his face has matured. He's no longer a toddler...rather a growing young boy!
Our arms sure ache to hug both of these precious fellows!
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“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.” – George Washington, 1st U.S. President
From Mineola, Texas,
Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams
