Sunday, October 10
Happy Birthday today to Barbara’s sister, Carol Crenshaw, in Roswell, New Mexico!!!
Today was a really fun day at church as our friends Gene and Carolyn Neyer joined us for the morning service. We had visited with our music minister, Danette, about having Gene play the special music some morning on one of his accordions, and today was the day!
We thought our friends were going to be with us during the breakfast and Gene would play some background music while we dined on our omelet’s and other goodies, but as we were approaching Holiday Village and Big V on the way to church, Gene called to say their plans had changed a bit and they would see us around 10:30.
We went ahead and dropped some things off at Big V and then went on to Yantis for the fellowship breakfast and Sunday school and then met with Gene and Carolyn before the service started. The church praise band was also warming up and practicing for the morning’s music selections, so Gene just joined in on a couple of the songs. Of course, we had cameras at the ready for just such an occasion.
After an hour or so, Gene and Carolyn went back to their home and we turned in for some light reading and a short nap before returning to Yantis for choir practice and the evening service.
We did have a "little" excitement as we stepped out of Big V to prepare to go to church. That's when we spied our latest visitor...let the photo do the talking...
More pics than words to this day, but that’s okay…pictures are better!
Monday, October 11
Happy Columbus Day! (Well, according to Congress, anyway).
This was a rare day of not much of anything going on at Mother’s house. The occupational therapist and one of the nurses came by for visits today, but other than that, it was a nice quiet day on Heritage Drive.
Tuesday, October 12
Happy Birthday to Cousin Ty in Graceville, Florida!!!
After yesterday’s holiday of sorts, we swung back into action today with some light housework…also had a visit by one of the guys from Wood County Carpet in Quitman, who stopped by to measure the living room and hallway for new carpet.
The physical therapist came to the house at 1:00 to give Mother her workout and then we had Sophie come in for a couple of hours while Barbara and I drove to Lindale to do some shop-looking at Lowe’s for some possible purchases for the house.
When we were finished at Lowe’s, we went over to Sonic for the Happy Hour special (Diet Coke with extra ice for Barbara and a cherry limeade for me), and then Barbara called our friend Heidi to se what she was up to. As it turned out, Heidi and the kids were at home for a while, so we drove out to their place at Hideaway for a quick visit. Heidi had to get the girls to a drill team practice, so we stayed for just a few minutes and then returned to Mineola to go to Walmart for a few items before returning to the house for the evening.
When we got to Walmart, we saw that some group was giving away hotdogs and drinks, so we decided that would be our menu for the night. We supplemented the basic hotdogs with some sauerkraut, chili, and onions, and had a meal fit for a king!
Tonight was just another quiet night at Mother’s house.
Wednesday, October 13
Happy Birthday to our good friend Becky Roark in Lubbock, Texas!!!
This morning we had Sophie come in and stay with Mother while we went out for the Wednesday activities…Barbara dropped me off at Our Little Lot and I worked there for a few hours while she went on to church for the weekly Bible Study group.
When she returned to pick me up, she was delighted with the way I had cleared the rubble around this beautiful purple bush, tree, whatever it is!
Thursday, October 14
We went into full-blown chef mode early this morning to prepare a special brunch for Mother, TJ, and some of TJ’s friends. TJ and her friends get together for meals from time to time and we had decided a couple of weeks ago to have a brunch for them at Mother’s house.
While Barbara was in charge of putting the quiches together and getting them baked so they were all three ready at the same time, I helped prepare the ingredients and was also in charge of the bacon and gravy. The whole operation took a lot of teamwork and we managed to pull it off and have everything on the table only a few minutes after our announced serving time…the food looked (and tasted) delicious, the table was beautiful, and the ladies really enjoyed our efforts as they sat down and dug in.
We were kind of tired of being in the kitchen after several hours of that kind of work, so while everyone else was eating and visiting, Barbara and I took a few minutes to get some fresh air and drive downtown to take care of paying some bills and making the post office run.
When we got back to the house and the ladies finished their meal, we all pitched in to clear the table and soon we had the dishwasher running and another stack of dishes and silverware waiting to go in next. And…time for one more photo before the party came to an end.
All of that finished just as Kendra, Mother’s nurse, arrived for her weekly visit and to administer a B-12 injection.When Mother and Kendra finished their business, we shut the house down and headed to our room for a well-deserved and much-needed nap…with NO apologies to anyone!
Tonight we learned that Jimmy Clint was back in UMC with heart problems…his blood pressure was fluctuating between very high and very low and the doctors were having trouble getting him stabilized, so we began making some contingency plans about whether one or both of us should go out to Lubbock.
Friday, October 15
Jim: After talking to Jimmy Clint this morning and then spending time in prayer and talking to each other, we decided that I would hurriedly pack and go to Lubbock for a few days to check on Jimmy and do some work on the house that he will be living in when he is out of the hospital.
A friend and business acquaintance of Jimmy’s has a vacant house that he is going to let Jimmy use, but it has been vacant for a few years and needs some serious cleaning before anyone can live in it.
Randy, another friend of Jimmy’s has volunteered to move all of Jimmy’s things from a storage unit to the house and then help move it into the house…he is to have everything at the house by the time I can get to Lubbock.
We told Leah what I was doing and she said that since she was finished with coaching volleyball, she could leave right after work and drive to Lubbock to help with the house. What a blessing!
With all that done and Barbara staying behind to take care of Mother while I’m gone, I took off in the Vibe at 10:00 am and drove, and drove, and drove (took a route that we hadn’t taken in a long time, and now I remember why’ U.S. 380 between Denton and Greenville is a very s-l-o-w and dangerous highway.
I got to Lubbock around 6:30 pm, went to see Jimmy at the hospital, and then went to the house to begin cleaning. Leah got there an hour or so later and we worked until about 12:30 am cleaning floors and carrying in things from the trailer. We were pleasantly surprised that together we were able to unload everything except a large chest of drawers; by the time we got there, the adrenaline was all gone and we were ready to turn out the lights and crash.
Barbara: As a mother of a son, who is mighty ill with no answers in sight, it was hard to say good-bye to Jim; but…I knew in my heart of hearts that right now Edith needed my help more than Jimmy did. He knows, and understands why it is important for me to be here for Edith’s daily care and that’s all that is important to my way of thinking.
After lunch today, I talked Edith into going with me down the street to the mailbox. It was a gorgeous day and since I would be pushing the wheelchair, all she had to do was enjoy the fresh air.
As soon as we got to the bottom of the drive, we were greeted by a young teen who was selling popcorn for the Boy Scouts. We told him we’d be glad to help him out if he’d come back after we checked the mail.
Then after getting the mail, we saw Addie was in her garage and her “customers” (most of the neighborhood was having a garage sale…we decided our plates were full enough without having to deal with that!) were gone; so Edith and I went in to browse and to visit.
We had a really, really good time! Though I vowed that next time we would walk in the street as the wheelchair and the driveways didn’t get along too well. Oh, well…live and learn.
The disposal chose today as the day to quit working so I had to call Roger over to take a look at it. While he was here, Lisa came by to bring me the recorder so I could work on the CD’s for Bible Study. This was a good thing since I needed something to keep me busy!
To finish off our list of visitors today, we had Ann the occupational therapist and the nurse both come. We could have put a revolving door in…that’s for sure. This “old house” was a beehive of activity!
Saturday, October 16
Jim: Today was a full day of work at the house in Lubbock. Leah and I got up early and continued our cleaning from last night…first on the agenda was to pull out all the carpet pads in the living room and dining room areas…then it was more sweeping, mopping, scrubbing, etc.
Jimmy’s friend Randy and his wife and another friend showed up to help. Randy and Noel rip out and install flooring, so they were particularly helpful in taking up the tack strips that were nailed to the floor…nothing like having the right tools and someone who knows how to use them! Randy’s wife helped Leah and I clean out kitchen cabinets and work on the floor in there while Randy and Noel were finishing up in the living room and hallway.
The next door neighbor, George, and his brother Ernest came over and hauled away trash, distributing it among three dumpsters out in the alley. Leah and I nearly had a fit when George rolled up the garage door and we saw everything that was stored in there, but George explained that he and Ernest were just going to empty the garage and throw everything away unless we saw something we thought Jimmy Clint might be able to use.
By mid-afternoon Leah and I were getting tired and hungry…no breakfast OR lunch, so we took a break, got cleaned up, and went out for a meal at El Chico before going to the hospital to spend a couple of hours with Jimmy Clint.
This evening I installed new locks on the kitchen door and then Leah and I did some more cleaning and straightening around the place. The bedroom furniture was all set up for Jimmy Clint’s return and the house was clean and straight enough for him to set up housekeeping.
I called Barbara and told her that Leah and I had done about all we could do for the time being and that we would leave in the morning…Leah would go back to Liberal and I would drive back to Mineola. If necessary, Barbara and I (or one or the other of us) could drive back to Lubbock when Jimmy Clint is released from the hospital and help out for a couple of days.
Barbara: I failed to write down anything on the calendar so have NO idea what Edith and I did except I do know that the walk to the mailbox went a lot better with us walking in the street. Thankfully, Edith’s home is on a dead-end so we didn’t have traffic and the garages were all sold out from yesterday so didn’t have customers driving around the street.
“Nobody's family can hang out the sign, "Nothing the matter here." - Chinese proverb
From Lubbock and Mineola,
Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams
The Lake…394 Geronimo (911 address…not our address)…Taken from the street showing Big V hidden by the gully and the trees…
