Thursday, July 1
Today was a full day of errands and chores, both at the house and Big V (and places in between).
After the usual morning routine, we drove to Lindale to get haircuts. We weren’t as shaggy as we could have been, but it was definitely time for a cut for both of us. Once we were there and Barbara was seated, Leslie told her that she was leaving the shop at Walmart and would be in a shop in Mineola beginning on July 20. That was great news for us as it will save us a trip to Lindale (not very far, but still a pain to get to) and, Leslie’s place is the shop that Mother already goes to.
While Barbara was getting her hair cut, I went to Lowe’s and bought some sunscreen material to install on the south side of our awning. When Chris and his crew installed the new panels, we had them leave out one panel at our window height so we can still have a view; but, we have some other plans to put in some kind of screen to help keep out leaves and dirt that can still blow in. We found the material we wanted to try in Lowe’s and today was the day to see if our plan might work. We also bought some tension rods in Walmart for mounting the new material…it might be a bit of a Rube Goldberg contraption at first, but at least we’ll know if the “easy way” works.
While I got my hair cut, Barbara drove over to Long John Silver’s and got lunch for us to take back to Mother’s house. As luck would have it, the haircut and the food were finished about the same time, so I met Barbara out in the parking lot and we headed back to Mineola for lunch and a little bit of rest after a busy morning.
This afternoon we went out to Big V to try out our window treatment theory. We got off to a rocky start as we had widely differing ideas on how to do the installation, but I soon saw the light and admitted that my idea was not only too complicated, it wasn’t going to work anyway. With that out of the way, we measured the opening, made the cuts on the material, and began attaching the material to the tension rods using white duct tape to make the sleeves. Now, before anyone starts thinking about this too much, we did realize that the duct tape by itself will not hold up in our heat and humidity, but I had already planned for that and bought some large needles and heavy twine for stitching through the tape and material once we get everything where we want it. It will still be a lot of effort expended, but it shouldn’t be as expensive as my idea of building wooden frames to set inside the openings.
Once we got the first panel installed, we decided to just straighten up the inside of Big V and then we gathered our materials for the screens and returned to Mother’s house where I set up a table so we could more accurately lay out the large sheet of sunscreen material to be marked and cut.
Friday, July 2
Since John, Carol, Randi, and possibly great-grandson Rhett were coming to visit for the weekend; we spent the day getting ready for the next round of visitors.
I drove out to Big V and installed two more sets of screens in the south wall and then finished getting Big V and the yard ready for weekend occupants. Meanwhile, Barbara stayed at Mother’s house doing laundry, housecleaning, and zucchini bread baking.
I got back to the house in time to take Mother to her rehab session at 11:00 and run some errands. Then, after lunch and a very short nap, Barbara and I went back to Big V so she could see what I had accomplished with the sunscreen, and to do the last minute straightening and fixing so John and Carol could enjoy their Big V experience.
Once we returned to the house, we went through all the regular evening routines. We knew the kids would be coming in late…we were expecting them around 11:00, but it was closer to 1:15 am when they finally arrived and woke us up. Everyone was pretty well zonked except great-grandson Rhett whose parents did allow him to come! Yay! (see only photo I took that night and it was of wide-awake Rhett...bottom left of Saturday morning collage). We quickly unloaded Randi’s things from the pickup and then guided John, Carol, and Rhett out to Big V to get them settled in before we returned to the house at 3:00 to finish our sleep.
Saturday, July 3
Since John and Carol and crew came in so late last night, we told them to just sleep in this morning and come in around 11:00 or so for a big brunch. Barbara and I got up earlier than we thought we would and started making plans for the day; then, we went into high gear in the kitchen, with me baking bread and fixing a pot of my world-famous spaghetti sauce while Barbara started on breakfast for the bunch.
We let the meal settle for a while as we got caught up on a lot of conversation and then we loaded our two cars and drove out to Lake Hawkins for some beach and swim time. As always, the area was beautiful, and we thoroughly enjoyed our three hours of fun in the sun, sand, and water.
The woman at the Salt Palace said that she would be closed from 12 to 1; but would re-open from 1-4. With that in mind, we scheduled our day to be there by 2 which would still give us time to fix the trimmings to go with the spaghetti lunch we were planning.
And—you guessed it—the Salt Palace was closed, but we did get some pictures of the kids outside the museum.
Once back at Mother’s house, I started the spaghetti and in just a short time we were crowded around the table again, enjoying spaghetti with meat sauce and homemade Italian bread…yum-yum!
With another heavy meal under out belts, we just chilled out for the rest of the evening until it was time for John, Carol, and Rhett to return to Big V for the night and for the rest of us to get things ready for church tomorrow and get ourselves to bed.
Sunday, July 4
Happy Independence Day, America!!!
Happy Anniversary to Brother Jerry and Jane Little in Roswell, New Mexico!!!
After getting Mother up and around, we headed off with Randi to Yantis where the kids joined us at First Baptist Church for the weekly fellowship breakfast before going off to our various Sunday school classes; Randi with the youth group, Rhett to the nursery, and John, Carol, Barbara, and I to our regular class.
One of the first things we did after church was to take Rhett and Randi outside for a couple of photo op sessions. We underestimated a 3 year old’s quest for exploring, so much of my time was spent following Rhett wherever he wanted me to go.
I guess we must have looked like the Pied Piper though because wherever we went Randi and Grams (with the camera) followed along. Grams finally found the perfect shots at the front of the lot when Rhett and I stopped to examine the ditch that runs along the front of our property.
Later, since John was there to help me, I broke out the chainsaw that Josh from the front office had loaned me a few weeks ago and, after climbing the 20-foot extension ladder, started carving away at large, but very dead branches that have been threatening to drop off of a very tall, and equally very dead tree on the lot. The tree stands in an area that we like to use for storage of some of our tools, and after dodging fate after several earlier falls, we decided that it was time to bring down as many limbs as possible.
With a little help from Barbara and Carol we eventually got the awning set up at the front of the property, giving us front row seats for tonight’s fireworks and festivities.
While we were finishing up with the tent, Grams and Randi took Rhett across the street to the special play exhibits that had been set up for the weekend. Rhett loved the “bouncy house” so much that Randi thought she was never going to get him out.
Everyone pitched in with different food goodies and a good time was had by all as we polished off finger sandwiches, chips and dips, Cherry’s deviled eggs and baked beans, and a large container of Barbara’s famous Big Red ice cream.
Once we got the food eaten or put away and the place straightened out a bit, we all went to the front of the lot and took our seats for the night’s spectacular show. As the light receded, we could see and hear assorted fireworks from all around us as folks held their own fireworks displays.
There were, of course, the standard Roman candles and aerial bombs and rockets, as well as a wide variety of sparkles and flares to delight everyone in attendance. Rhett, in his childish glee, reminded us of what the fun was all about as he exclaimed over nearly every firework that he saw.
When the show was over around 9:30, we started clearing things away from the tent and loading cars for those of us who had to travel. We let Mother, TJ, and Cherry go first after the other traffic cleared. Mother was a real trouper throughout the whole experience, but it was way beyond her bedtime and she was ready to go home and get to sleep!
With everything (except the tent) put away, we took a load of chairs and tables back to Bob and Mary’s house (Mary had driven Bob off in their golf cart and left their pickup for us to use) and then Barbara, Randi, and I returned to Mineola where we weren’t very far behind Mother in heading for bed.
What a great day…great celebration…and greatest of all, the reason for the celebration. God Bless America!!!
Monday, July 5
Even after all of last night’s excitement, we were up relatively early this morning. After getting Mother underway with a light breakfast, we sat around and waited for John, Carol, and Rhett to make their appearance. Since they were going back to San Antonio today, it took them a while to load all their things in the pickup and close down Big V before coming to the house. They arrived around 11:00 and we all shared hugs before they settled back into the pickup and headed home.
From Mineola with love and grateful hearts,
Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams
