A Little New Year Welcome

Saturday, January 1 – Saturday, January 8, 2011

Saturday, January 1

Happy New Year and Welcome to 2011!!!

We didn’t welcome the new year in on schedule, as we called it a night about an hour early last night. But, our sleep patterns were really messed up; Barbara woke up at 1:00 am and right after she went back to sleep around 4:00, I woke up for a couple of hours at 4:30…hope that’s not some kind of portent for 2011!

When we finally got up and around, we lazed around for a couple of hours and then got to work on our New Year’s dinner. Our part of the meal was to provide the dining room and prepare the ham and a new recipe of Hoppin’ John (a recipe using black-eyed peas and rice) that Barbara found in the Tyler newspaper. TJ brought a bowl of greens, some purple-hulled peas, and cornbread. Angela had to spend the day at work, but Ladd, Logan, and Madelyn joined us as we had a very traditional southern meal to welcome in 2011.

When the meal was over and the kitchen and dining rooms were squared away, our guests left and we stuck around the house to watch bits and pieces of some of the remaining bowl games. We had planned to go out to the Holiday Villages clubhouse for the monthly bingo game, but as we were getting ready to leave, we decided we were just too tired, so we stayed home and called it a night fairly early.

Sunday, January 2

After all the excitement of the past week, Mother was worn plumb out and decided she’d stay at home today instead of going to church. We got Sophie to stay with her for the day and after getting her some breakfast, we headed out to Our Little Lot to drop off a few things for the day and set out the new cross stone that Leah and Ryan gave us for Christmas, and then on to church in Yantis.

At church we enjoyed visiting with others during the fellowship breakfast and then went to Sunday school, followed by another inspirational sermon from David to start off the new year.

When church was over, we returned to Big V for the afternoon…took a short nap, ate lunch, and then I tackled some chores around the lot while Barbara visited the neighbors and got them caught up on our latest activities. A job that I’ve been putting off for quite a while is to relocate the bulk of our firewood pile. For over a year and a half I’ve been stockpiling wood from the clearing that I’ve been doing, but the woodpile is all the way across the yard from the only logical place for the fire pit. We recently got a small cart that we thought would be perfect for holding the firewood, but until today, I haven’t done anything about transferring the piles.

After filling the cart and moving it across the yard, I tackled some more briar vines in the gully…an ongoing job. I’ll probably never be able to eradicate the vines, so I just do the best I can to keep them cut low so they don’t climb the trees and strangle the upper branches.

This evening we went back to church for choir practice and the evening service and then returned to Mineola for the night.

Monday, January 3

Mother was feeling much better today, so after a good breakfast, I put her through her physical therapy paces. She did really well and didn’t complain…just set that jaw and plowed on through the entire set of leg and arm exercises. Later, the physical therapist, Martin, called to say he’d be coming by this morning. When Martin showed up, Mother got a second dose of exercise and walking, but she took it all in stride.

As for us, we had already determined that we weren’t going to allow ourselves out of the house until we made progress on the back editions of the journal/blog. We had not even started on the week that we spent in Lubbock for Jimmy’s funeral, so I tackled the writing while Barbara began organizing all the photos. The work was slow-going, as each word and photo brought back a flood of memories.

While we were taking a short break this evening we went outside and looked around the neighborhood. As we looked to the east, we saw three deer grazing in the large vacant field. We tried to take pictures, but the light was so poor that all we got was shadows.

Tonight we set the journal work aside and just relaxed with TV and some computer games.

Tuesday, January 4

Aside from me going to prayer meeting at the church in Yantis early this morning, today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday. There was still much to be done to get caught up on our journal writing and editing, so we forced ourselves to stay at it, taking breaks when it became just too much.

Our friends Gene and Michelle came over tonight and we had snacks, did a lot of talking (they’ve been back in Kansas for quite a while, so we had a lot of catching up to do), and played a rousing game of Chickenfoot. In fact, the game got so rousing at one point that a glass got knocked off the table we had to take a time out to clean up the mess…just can’t control a group of retired teachers!

Gene and Michelle are both hunters and when they bring snacks for a gathering like tonights, the food is generally something they have caught or shot and turned into tasty treats. Tonight was no exception as they brought us a bag of venison sticks and some venison/beef sausage…yum-yum!

Wednesday, January 5

Mother was acting a little disoriented this morning. When I checked her blood pressure, it was off the charts, so I got her an early appointment with Dr. Bankhead. We were all concerned with the ongoing dizziness that has developed the last couple of days and now the high blood pressure readings were adding to the concern. We told Dr. Bankhead that Mother was scheduled for an appointment with Dr. Drew, the neurologist, on Friday. Dr. Bankhead prescribed a couple of things for the dizziness but wanted to hold off on anything else until Dr. Drew saw Mother and made some determination over whether these new symptoms were indicative of new Parkinson’s activity or something else.

I stayed home this afternoon with Mother while Barbara went to Lindale to have a “girls’ day out” with our friend Heidi. They haven’t had a chance to visit since Heidi and the kids got back from their Christmas trip to Georgia and Pennsylvania, and were long overdue for this visit.

TJ’s son, Donnie, and his wife Lynette made it in this evening from Birmingham, Alabama, for a short visit. We called to see if they had gotten safely and made arrangements for them to join us for lunch tomorrow.

Thursday, January 6

It got busy early around here this morning when I got up and started making my world-famous spaghetti sauce. We had decided that would be a good treat for TJ, Donnie, and Lynette…fun to cook (makes the whole house stink purty all morning) and fun to eat…what more could one ask for.

TJ brought the kids over around 10:30 to visit while Barbara and I were preparing the meal. Donnie and Lynette had been in England and Scotland for several weeks last semester and had lots of pictures to show and stories to tell.

At 12:00 we sat down to a table full of spaghetti, meat sauce, salad, and garlic toast and chairs full of hungry people. We ate and talked and talked and ate until we left just enough space inside for some cheese cake to top off the meal.

After we cleaned the kitchen and got the dishwasher started, we visited a bit more and then said our goodbyes. Mother, Barbara, and I rested a bit before I went downtown to meet with Leon Anderson, our local Edward Jones agent, to discuss some investment strategies.

I could have gone over to TJ’s house tonight to watch the Cotton Bowl game, but Donnie is a huge LSU fan and I’m not, so I chose to watch the game here at Mother’s house. The only interest I had in the game was that a Big 12 team (Texas A&M, for whom I rarely cheer) was playing and I wanted to support the conference. However, it became very clear very early that the Aggies were outmanned and outcoached, so I turned off the TV and we went to bed and read our books.

Friday, January 7

We took Mother for a regularly scheduled visit with Dr. Drew, her neurologist/Parkinson’s specialist, in Tyler this morning. With the problems she’s been having the last 8 or 9 days, we had a page full of notes and even more questions for Dr. Drew.

After carefully examining and questioning Mother quite a bit, Dr. Drew ordered up a CAT scan to see if something clinical was going on in her brain. One possibility was a TIA (transient ischemic attack) that could have caused some temporary problems the other night. Another possibility is that the Parkinsonism is on the move again…neither possibility sounds good, but at least we might have answers, if not solutions.

Of course, all Dr. Drew could do today was write up an order for the scan…we’ll just have to wait to hear from “someone out there” as to the where, and when of the procedure. Our hope is that we can have it done in Quitman, thereby saving another trip to Tyler in the near future.

We returned to Mineola after seeing Dr. Drew, had lunch, got Mother settled in for the afternoon, and took a short nap before getting serious about doing some yard work around Mother’s place. The weather was beautiful…temperature in the low 60’s and just a slight breeze.

There is a long flower bed along the right side of the driveway that is gorgeous during the spring and summer, but is a huge leaf depository when the trees start shedding. Barbara started the cleanup by raking out a huge pile of leaves onto the driveway, but that was only a beginning and just from a small stretch of the bed. One clean stretch demanded another, and by the end of the afternoon we had raked out the entire bed and raked/carried all the leaves to the vacant lot to the north of the house. Our hope was that we will have several days of southerly winds that will keep the leaves moving away from us so we don’t have to deal with them again.

While we were out working, Keith, the physical therapist from At-Home Healthcare, came by to give Mother her workout. It’s amazing that Keith can get so much done with Mother when she struggles with her exercises anytime we try to take her through them. At the end of the sets of different arm and leg exercises, Keith takes Mother for a walk through the house. This evening we happened to be standing by with the camera after they made their U-turn in the kitchen and started back through the living room.

Tonight, weary with well-doing, we just kicked back and relaxed.

Saturday, January 8

Today was an all-out yard work day. It was so beautiful out that we were compelled to finish what we started yesterday afternoon and move to other parts of the yard; and, except for breaks for meals and checking on Mother we worked from sunup to sundown.  And as we worked, that beautiful weather gradually disappeared and Barbara, who is always cold, decided to put on heavier attire that didn't matter if it got dirty.

While we were reviewing what we had done yesterday – cleaning the leaves out of the bed along the driveway – we noticed that vines had crept under the leaves and that tree limbs and rose bushes needed to be cut and trimmed.

While Barbara started raking leaves out of the front yard, I tackled the trimming, cutting, and mowing chores and soon we had even more piles of “stuff” in the driveway. When we were done with the initial chores, we started in on the front flower beds, removing leaves, weeds, dead plants, etc. And when that was done, we turned to the flower bed that runs along the south side of the house, the bed that we’ve NEVER touched because it was too daunting a task.

After a lunch break, I decided to rake and mow the backyard. After all, the front yard looked great and the backyard was the next natural step. It was amazing how many leaves and fallen and how much the grass had grown under the leaves…it took a couple of hours, but by the time it was done, the place looked great.

One thing we haven’t done since moving in with Mother is to check the rain gutters. With a little daylight left and a hint of bad weather for the next couple of days, I decided to get out the ladder and see if the gutters needed some cleaning. Boy, did they NEED some cleaning…the gutters the length of the roof on the north and west sides of the house were packed with leaves, so much so that there was no way water could even seep through.

I don’t know that I’ve cleaned rain gutters in the last thirty years, but today I got my fill of that particular job…set up the ladder and climb it, scoop out leaves by hand and drop them onto the freshly raked lawn, come down the ladder, move it, and start the process all over again. I don’t know how many sets of moves I went through, but by the time I got to the south side of the roof it was getting too dark to see what I was doing. But, at the end of the day the gutters were cleaned out, the yard was raked (and re-raked), the trash was all hauled off to the vacant lot north of us, and the tools were put away (oh yes, and we were exhausted).

After a long, hard day of work, we just sat back and relaxed tonight until time to head for bed.

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.” - Edith Lovejoy Pierce

From Mother’s house in Mineola, Texas

Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams