Sunday, April 25
We were back on the road again today as we continued our trip from Lubbock back to Mineola. We both had a thousand questions but no answers about what had just happened and what the future would bring. We only had the belief that with God anything is possible and He is in control...not us.
We had heard from Bob and Mary that there had been a bad storm at the lake and there was some damage. Although Linda and Gary checked on our lot and said there was no damage to Big V, we stopped late in the afternoon to see for ourselves. There were a few broken tree branches and some scattered small limbs and leaves, but for the most part, we came out of the storm in great shape. We were glad though that we had closed all three slide outs a few days ago.
We continued the trip to Mother’s house, unloaded the car and unpacked our luggage and whatever else we had in the car and then settled in for the evening. We were both wrung out emotionally and physically from the trip and all we had gone through, so we decided we wouldn’t try to drive back out to Yantis for choir practice and church. Instead, we filled Mother in on the details of the trip, let the puppies welcome us home, and then went to bed and crashed.
Monday, April, 26
Whether working or retired, there is still business to take care of, and that’s what today was about. The internet has made some things easier, but sometimes one just has to deal with others either in person or on the telephone. Today we spent close to six hours talking on the phone to question bills and make sure all our accounts were in order. We both felt like we had cauliflower ears after the marathon session of paging through web displays and asking service representatives about what we were seeing. It was probably all worth it in the end, but it didn’t do anything to raise our spirits, except that the agents we talked to all seemed to be the angels we needed to walk us through banking, Big V insurance, and telephone account problems. In fact, after taking care of Jimmy and Jaycie’s telephone account in a very manageable fashion, Jason, the phone rep said, “Would you please convey this message to Jimmy. I was sitting where he is 12 years ago and know that he can hold his head high. There are better things to come.” His words proved as a reminder once again God’s grace and mercy are available to each of us!
This afternoon I tackled the little desk in our bedroom closet. When we were living fulltime in Big V, there just wasn’t any space to let paperwork pile up, so we got in the habit of (most of the time) filing away statements, receipts, etc. as soon as we were through with them. Now, with the luxury of a desk hidden out of view in the closet, it has become way too easy to just let things pile up…guess we’d better work on that aspect of our lives.
Since we (I) tore up the lawnmower out at the lot last week, and because we normally mow Mother’s yard on Tuesdays (and it was looking today as if it wouldn’t hurt to go ahead and get it done now), we went to Walmart tonight to buy a new mower. We use the mower at both places, and Mother agreed to go “halfies” on a new mower, so we just got that job over with and took a few minutes away from the house.
Once we returned from Walmart, we checked our email, started working on the journal for last week (it quickly became evident that we would have to collaborate more than usual), made a few phone calls, and then called it a day.
Tuesday, April 27
After all the excitement of the last few days, we all three ended up sleeping in later than usual this morning.
While Barbara worked on our brunch (way too late to call it a breakfast), I took the new lawnmower out of the Vive, unpacked it, and got it assembled and fueled.
When breakfast was ready, we called Mother in and fortified ourselves for the day before tackling other chores. Mother finished reading her newspaper and then spent a large part of the day straightening her room so it would be ready when Maria comes to clean it tomorrow.
I tackled the journal/blog writing and Barbara went outside to break in the new lawnmower by mowing the front yard. I usually use the weed eater to trim, but everything was looking good and besides, the weed eater and most of the other equipment was locked in the shed on our lot at the lake.
After doing some cleaning and straightening in the garage, it was time for a late lunch and then a short nap (still trying to catch up on sleep we missed last week).
When we were refreshed and ready to go again, we drove out to Gray’s Nursery, about a mile north of town toward Quitman, to look for more plants for Mother’s yard. Mother had mentioned the other day that she would like some Hydrangea plants for somewhere in the yard as well as other colorful small plants. When we got to the nursery, we found three Hydrangea plants that we liked…not yet flowering, but good, healthy plants. We also found some Persian Shields (never heard of them before). They have dark purple leaves and can be kept in the sunroom during winter. We were also impressed with several pots of Hibiscus and finally bit the bullet and bought a medium-sized plant to set in the big black pot (once we finally decide where we are going to put the pot).
We came back to the house and set out the Hibiscus and the Persian Shields, but couldn’t decide on a place for the Hydrangeas. The places we thought of putting them in front don’t receive enough sun, so we’ll just have to find somewhere in the back yard for them.
After setting out the plants, I took my turn at the lawnmower and mowed the backyard (first removing all of Spike’s little landmines…Spike, Mother’s Boston terrier, must have been an ordnance specialist in a previous life. He is an expert at setting one of his landmines in plain sight, while hiding another one where it will be stepped on while I maneuver to get in position to pick up and disarm the first one. Now, if Spike could only learn to remove and disarm the landmines himself, Mother would have a kinder and gentler backyard).
With the backyard cleared and mowed, I turned my attention to the vacant lot to the north of Mother’s house. We’ve cleared an area about 60 feet by 120 feet and keep it mowed to try to keep critters large and small from encroaching on Mother’s property. It takes time and effort to do that extra lot, but it really improves the overall appearance of the property. Our across-the-street neighbor, John, does the same thing on his side of the street so each of us has a great view as we come outside and look at our lots.
One really exciting thing that happened while I was mowing and Barbara was talking on the phone to Cousin Cindy in Tallahassee was that Mother came outside to see her new plants and find out what we were doing. I didn’t know it until later, but she stood out there for about thirty minutes watching me mow and talking a bit with Cindy. That was at least the fifth trip to the front of the house for Mother today, so we KNOW that she got plenty of exercise today!
Wednesday, April 28
We had a lot going on this morning, so we all got up early and hit the deck running. While Barbara was outside and I was inside getting my first cup of coffee, she called for me to come outside. I grabbed my coffee and went through the garage and she told me she had just seen our first hummingbird of the season. We’ve had feeders set out since the first of the month, but haven’t seen any hummingbirds. Maybe the word will get out that this is the place for sweet treats and sustenance…sure hope so!
Mother had an appointment for a perm at her beauty shop this morning. Since Barbara goes to Bible study and I work on the lot on Wednesday mornings, TJ agreed to take Mother to the beauty shop while she was running some errands of her own; then, they would go out to lunch.
Barbara dropped me off at our lot so I could unload the lawnmower and my tool kit (never know when something is going to need fixing) and then she headed off to the church in Yantis.
I fired up the lawnmower and mowed the entire lot before firing up the electric weed eater and doing the trimming. I even had to resort to using old-fashioned grass clippers to trim around our solar lamps and some of the smaller plants, but the time and effort were well worth it. When all that was done, I cleaned off the concrete pad and then watered all the plants we set out recently.
The place was looking really great when Barbara called to say she was late getting out of Bible study but would be back at the lot in just a few minutes. We had planned to stay and do some more work in the gully, but I was hot, tired, and very sweaty, and Barbara was feeling that it was too late to start another project, so we put all the lawn tools in the Vibe, close up Big V, and left the park.
Instead of coming right back to Mother’s house, we drove north a mile or so to check out the produce at a little roadside shed called The Tomato Shack. The lady who ran the stand was very pleasant and the produce was really fresh, so we ended up leaving with yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, jalapenos, and some fresh roasted Virginia peanuts. If the produce is on the shelves, can summer be far behind?
From the produce stand we drove to the other side of the lake to check out the progress on Gene and Michelle Young’s new house. Workers were busy inside and out, installing door and window trim inside and setting bricks and stonework outside. It is really taking shape and is going to be a beautiful home one of these days. Barbara called Michelle to let her know we were taking pictures and going on a self-guided tour of the place. Gene and Michelle were still in Kansas, but will return to East Texas early next week.
We returned to Mineola and just whiled away the afternoon and evening, doing very little of significance.
Thursday, April 29
Happy Birthday to Stephanie Francis in Lewisville, Texas!!!
This was another “up ‘n’ at ‘em” day around our place. Mother was scheduled for some tests at Tyler Cardio-Vascular clinic and we were told to be there by 9:45. TJ came over to the house and then she and I took Mother to Tyler while Barbara took care of the puppies and planned the lunch menu. Usually when we go to Tyler for one of these things, we stop and have lunch on the way back, but since the appointment was so early, we figured it would be easier to just return to the house for a home-cooked meal.
When we got to the clinic and checked in, we found that they wanted Mother there for the test at 9:45, but her appointment with the doctor wasn’t until 11:15, so I called Barbara and told her we’d be later than we had planned, but to just delay getting everything into the oven and we’d eat when we got there…surely we could be back in Mineola by 12:30.
The staff at the clinic must have had on their best running shoes, because it didn’t take nearly as long to do and read the tests and then get us into another room where they ran an EKG on Mother. When the doctor came in he asked if Mother was still having the dizzy spells and falling that she was suffering from this time last year. She said that she wasn’t, and then he read off the results of the tests, which showed everything about Mother’s cardio-vascular system was in great shape. The doctor even said that Mother had the heart of a 50-year old; she just had 87,000 miles on her odometer.
Before he left and we got ready to go, the doctor told Mother that whatever she was doing, she should keep it up and that he didn’t think he needed to see her again until next year’s checkup…good news for all of us.
We made the trip back to Mineola without incident (unless we count the six cars that pulled out in front of us as if we were invisible) and found that Barbara had a great meal waiting for us…leftover roast and meatloaf, mixed vegetables, and a new recipe for squash casserole using the yellow squash we bought yesterday at The Tomato Shack…yum-yum!
While we were eating, Barbara shared that she had visited a bit with neighbor John this morning. He told her that Wanda had been out looking at a birdhouse just over the fence from their yard when she called for John to come out there. When he got there, he found a 5-foot chicken snake waiting for lunch to come home. John got a hoe and chopped the snake’s head off and then carried the remains out to the adjoining field. When he returned to the bird feeder, he found a SIX-foot snake that he dispatched in the same manner. He didn’t say whether he went back to look again.
When the meal was over, TJ was gone, and Mother was settled into her easy chair with Bonita, we retired to our room for a short nap before getting back up to start a new round of yard work in the backyard.
The backyard has gotten short shrift so far this season. Other than retrieving and disposing of Spike’s landmines and mowing and trimming, we haven’t done very much with it. That was about to change, as e decided we would set the Hydrangeas back there.
After checking several likely places for good sun, we decided to set two of the plants in line with the back fence and the third in an existing flower bed that is wildly overgrown with weeds, new tree saplings, and various other growths. The two plants along the fence were simple to set; with all the rain we’ve had this spring, it took only a minute or so to dig each hole and not much more than that to set the plants in place and pack the dirt around them.
The flower bed was another story. We finally decided that the best plan of attack was to just pull out everything in the immediate area of where we wanted to set the Hydrangea. That included a lot of bending and stooping to grab all the saplings as low as possible and pull them out by the roots; off course, there was a multitude of different grasses and weeds that also had to be pulled out by hand.
After 20 minutes or so, I dug the hole and we set the third plant in place and then I went back and set mounds of pine bark mulch around each of the new plants.
Next, we turned our attention to the hedge and overgrown flowerbed that is against the wall of our room. Barbara and I decided that the area between the hedge and the sidewalk would be a good place to plant Zinnia seeds, so we cleared out all the existing growth and then I got the trusty hedge shears and trimmed the top and front of all the bushes…also cut off dead limbs of a large bush/small tree that is growing in the corner by the fence.
When that was done, Barbara asked Mother if she’d like to come out and help plant the seeds. I had already drawn the row for the seeds and Barbara was going to cover and tamp them after Mother dropped the seeds in place. Instead, Mother came out, set the seeds in place, and then covered them herself. We laughed and started telling her that when the plants started to grow and bloom…, and then she interrupted us and said, “I can say that I planted those!” What a thrill it was for us to see here not only excited about her yard, but also participating in fixing it up!Tonight we just took it easy…Barbara double-checked all our online accounts and I started working on this week’s journal/blog in hopes of actually getting it posted on time this weekend.
Friday, April 30
Our original plan for this morning was to get to Lindale as quickly as possible and find Leslie at the Walmart Style Shop for much-needed haircuts…it has been w-a-y too long since our last session.
We did make it to Walmart, only to find that Leslie wasn’t working today and we would have to come back tomorrow after 9:00. Since haircuts were out of the question for today, we went ahead and did some shopping in Lindale rather than driving back to Mineola. It was good that we made that decision, because the Lindale store carried some items that we’ve been looking for in Mineola for over a month.
When the shopping was finished and the groceries were in the car, we drove across the parking lot to look at Lowe’s for a trellis for one of the rose bushes in the back yard. We settled on one and bought it, but found it was too short when we got back to the house. Oh well, you never know until you know.
We got back to the house and unloaded the car. Barbara worked at putting all the groceries away while I drove the Vibe to the county tax assessor in Quitman to register Big V for another year. The registration for the current year didn’t expire until midnight tonight, but I didn’t want to be one of those who wait until the last minute.
I returned to the house while Barbara was fixing lunch for Mother. We had both had a late breakfast while we drove to Lindale, so we weren’t hungry. Instead, I used the time to get the ingredients for jalapeno bread together and start the bread maker. While Mother was eating, Barbara started on a cake…quite a little bakery we had going there!
The reason for all the baking was that our friends Bob and Mary Royar were coming to dinner tonight, so we needed to get our parts of the meal put together and then wait until they arrived with the chickens for me to throw on the grill.
The rest of the afternoon was fairly easy-going. We had a very short nap and then began preparing for company. Barbara came up with a cole slaw dressing that was absolutely yummy and both the cake and the loaf of jalapeno bread turned out beautiful.
TJ and her friend Cherry came by for a few minutes to visit. Actually, they really came by so Cherry could sell us some raffle tickets for a homemade quilt that is being used by her church for a fund raiser for a local student. Cherry must have spotted all of us as easy marks, because she walked away with ten dollars and we ended up with 12 tickets that will also double as bookmarks after the drawing is held.
When the meal was finally on the table, we dug in like none of us had eaten in a week. Soon we were able to get the conversations going again and the talk went on for a couple of hours as we moved from the kitchen to the living room and then back to the kitchen.
Around 9:00, with all of us yawning, Bob and Mary left to go back to Holiday Village and we came back inside to check on Mother, Bonita, and Spike. All was well in their room so I got out my computer and start writing today’s entry of the journal/blog while Barbara worked on some of her business. Then, it was time to go outside for some fresh (we hoped) air. Instead, we found warm, heavy, and very oppressive air…sure hope that’s not a sign of bad things to come tonight.
Saturday, May 1
Happy 67th Birthday today to our good friend Marion Johnson in Santa Fe, New Mexico!!!
Once again we set our sights on Lindale and a chance to get our hair cut. It was either that or go to the vet and get shots and dog tags, as we were well past our scheduled time to, as Mother said, “get our ears lowered.”
This time we did find Leslie at work; we also found that she had a couple of folks ahead of us, so we just took our seats and waited, and waited, and…
Finally, Leslie got to us and got us both presentable to the public. We’ve said it before, but Leslie is the only stylist we’ve met since we left Liberal who can cut my hair and cut and shape Barbara’s hair the way we like it…sure are glad we found her last year!
While at Walmart, we bought an electric hedge trimmer. I’ve been using a set of scissor clippers, but it is too difficult for me to cut and shape the bushes and hedges, so we decided we’d splurge and get something to make the job easier. Besides, when we started working in the back yard this week, we found that the hedges and bushes were way out of control and I didn’t want to take all the time and effort necessary to get them back in shape.
When we got back to Mother’s house, we fixed lunch for the three of us (baked potatoes, and leftover slaw, jalapeno bread, and barbecued chicken…yum-yum…just as good as it was last night.
Then, after a short nap, it was time to finally get some work done around Mother’s yard for the day. We started in the backyard with both of us working to retrain a rose bush on a new trellis…not an easy job and one that gave new meaning to blood, sweat, and tears in the work.
Next, I broke out the new hedge trimmer and started shaping up hedges along the back wall of the house. Boy, was I ever glad that Barbara made the executive decision to buy the trimmer this morning…it would have taken hours to shape those hedges by hand!
I moved the extension cord and the trimmer to the front yard and managed to clean up several hedges there. Some had been given only a lick and a promise with the hand clippers a month or so ago, so they were as much in need of a “haircut” as we were this morning.
Later, I moved to the back yard and put the hand trimmers to good use by cutting out a bunch of ivy vines that have overgrown the sidewalk between Mother’s house and the house next door. Of course, that only made some of the other places stand out as being in need of help, but that will just have to wait for another day.
The rest of the evening, what was left of it was spent in relative peace and quiet. Mother and the puppies got situated in bed, Barbara got caught up with some folks through phone calls and then went to the kitchen to do her Bible study homework, and I headed to the living room with my laptop to finish off this edition of the journal/blog.
“Leave it in God’s hands and enjoy the ride.” - Church sign in Nocona, Texas
Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams
