Saturday, June 2 – Wednesday, June 20,
2012
Saturday, June 2
The booklet
is really for TJ, since she is the family genealogist, but we wanted to let
Mother have a sneak preview of what we had found.
When our
visit was over, we drove to TJ’s house to give her the finished product. We had told her when we got back that she
would just have to wait until we had time to put everything together before she
could see all the goodies we had found as we did some backtracking on the
family tree to Delaware and the Rodney family.
TJ was
thrilled to receive the booklet, but decided that since she was busy taking
care of her granddaughter, Arianna, she’d put it aside until she had time to
compare the information she already had with what we found.
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Sunday,
June 3
We returned
to a somewhat normal schedule for Sundays...went to see Mother before church,
but instead of returning to the house for lunch and a nap, we returned to the
nursing home for a visit.
While Mother
was enjoying her lunch, we hooked Barbara’s computer to the TV and Barbara
showed video footage that we had shot while on our trip. There were movies of Little Jimmy dancing,
Ava walking and sliding, and the footage of the buglers playing at Arlington
National Cemetery during the Taps 150 ceremonies. It was a fun time together, and especially
fun to watch Mother’s smile as she watched her great-grandchildren at play.
We did
eventually work in a short nap and then I went back out to Yantis for choir
practice and the evening church service.
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Monday, June 4
Some days are
just regular days, and this was one of those.
We spent most of the morning paying bills, balancing bank statements,
and generally taking care of business; Barbara working on ours and me taking
care of Mother’s.
This
afternoon I took the car in for a regular service call. We had gone a bit over the mileage for an oil
change and service during the trip to Virginia and it was well past time for
the service techs to look at it.
While Barbara
stayed home to entertain Bonita this evening, I went out to Lake Fork to join
some of the men for the Monday night fishing experience. There is a reason they call it fishing, not
catching, and we found it tonight as all four of us were skunked for the
evening. I was in the boat with Brother
David Bagwell and while we had fun, it was a very good thing we don’t depend on
catching fish to feed our families!
Still, being
back on the lake was a great feeling and we all enjoyed the evening.
David and I did have a strike apiece from a couple of fish, but the most excitement we had was when hauled in his catch of the day...a turtle (a very angry turtle, I might add).
My only catch
of the evening was these photos of a beautiful sunset over Lake Fork.
Following our
fishing adventure, I returned to Our
Little Lot to spend the evening in Big V.
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Tuesday, June 5
Although
neither of us took any pictures today, we both stayed plenty busy. I worked all morning trying to clean out a
month’s worth of weeds and grass around Our Little Lot, while Barbara was at
the house cooking meals for Mother and TJ and packing things away in the
freezer.
I got the
lawnmower out this evening, cleaned and gassed it up, and then Barbara got her
outdoor exercise by mowing the front yard.
And,
throughout the day, we couldn’t help but remember that it was 19 months ago
today that we lost Jimmy Clint. Some
memories will never fade.
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Wednesday, June 6
Barbara tries
to change the decorating scheme in Mother’s room each month, especially for
special holidays or seasons. So, while I
tackled the long-neglected front flower beds at the house, Barbara organized
the things she wanted for Mother’s room.
We had found
some cute bowls to hold the candy stash that is enjoyed by Mother, her
visitors, and the staff members at Wood Memorial, and some nice decorative
placemats that were just perfect for the room.
Just after
the start of our trip, when we were in Olathe with Whitney, Barbara spotted a
stuffed, dancing Chihuahua. There was no
doubt in her mind that Mother just had to have it, so we christened it “Bonita
II” and immediately mailed it to her. It
seems that Bonita II is the hit of Wood Memorial. Visitors and staff members can’t help but
turn on the switch and see the dog sing and dance to “La Bamba,” and each time
it happens, Mother breaks out into a huge grin and belly laughs.
I went to the
nursing home later in the afternoon for the usual evening visitation time with
Mother and TJ.
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Thursday, June 7
We were
pretty well caught up on work at the house, so this morning we left early to go
to Holiday Villages of Lake Fork to claim a POA gift, visit friends, and make a
checklist of what needed to be done around Our
Little Lot.
We visited
with the friendly folks at the sales office for a few minutes and then went
down the road toward our lot. Along the
way, we saw that there was a bunch of activity around the lot belonging to our
friends Bob and Mary Royar. Since we
hadn’t seen Bob and Mary in over a month, we decided to stop in and see the
progress on their new house. The house
once was just the cover over their fifth wheel unit, but they have decided that
their days on the road are over and are converting the cover to a full-blown
house.
We stepped
inside and asked the workers where Bob was and they told us he had gone to the
emergency room. Because both Bob and
Mary have had some serious medical conditions lately, we asked which one was
ill. The workman laughed and said it wasn’t
that...Bob had shot himself in the hand with a nail gun that morning and had to
go to the hospital to get it checked and dressed.
Happy that it wasn’t any worse than
that, we took a few minutes to take pictures of the changes that have been made
(we’ve been documenting the work for Bob and Mary since they made the decision
to convert the place to a house), and then we went to our own place to see how
big a job was ahead of us.
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Friday, June 8
We bit the
bullet today and both spent several hours working on the lake lot. Weeds and grasses have grown completely out
of control, and with the loss of several trees due to last year’s horrible
drought and the driveway construction, we had a number of tree stumps that
needed to be dug out. It was a slow and
laborious project (not to mention hot and sweltering), but we finally got a large
area under some of the trees cleaned out and looking good. We’re a long way from where we want to be,
but today was a great first step!
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Sunday, June 10
We got a text
from Andy late yesterday saying that Alexander had a soccer match today and
wanted to know if we could come watch Alexander play. It took us nearly 15 seconds to decode that
yes, we could, especially since it’s been a while since we last saw Alexander
and Abby. We texted back and asked for
details about the match...where and what time, and within a few minutes
received a call from Andy. He told
Barbara that in the interest of full disclosure, Heather was out of town,
Alexander was playing soccer, he (Andy) was coaching, and it would be really
nice for Abby to have someone to sit with instead of hanging around the bench
with the boys,(but, Alexander really had asked if we could come see him play)..
We got a
great laugh out of the situation and assured Andy and the kids that we would be
over in time to join them for lunch and attend the soccer match.
So, we got up
early enough this morning to go see Mother for a few minutes and let her know
what we were doing, go to a new doughnut shop that TJ told us about to grab
some breakfast on the run, and set off down the highway for the 2-hour trip to
the kids house in Richardson.
When we got
there, we all decided that the basic schedule for the morning could be
changed. We opted to sit around the
house and visit for awhile, rather than going somewhere for lunch prior to
Alexander’s match. That gave us plenty
of time to play with the kids, listen to them read, and generally get caught up
on the family news since the last time we saw them.
Later, we all
piled into the new family chariot and drove to a relatively nearby Panera Bread
restaurant where we enjoyed more conversation and our favorite eats.
Finally, we
were all appropriately fueled and ready for hot soccer action as we headed to
one of the Plano Sports Authority indoor stadiums.
In the past,
Alexander played offensive positions, but for the first period today the head
coach assigned him as goalie, a position he filled every bit as well as an
offensive one. He later played some
offense, but today was just not his team’s day and they lost in a very
competitive match.
We don’t know
how much fun Andy was having, but Abby, Grams, and Gramps had a tremendous
afternoon!
We returned
to the house, said our goodbyes to Andy, Alexander, and Abby and began to
return trip to Mineola. We stopped at
Wood Memorial to visit Mother and tell her about our day and then went to the
house to spend the remainder of the evening playing catch-up on the May
journal/blog entries.
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Monday,
June 11
It has been
quite a while since we took photos of Mother’s flowers and plants, but with the
beds freshly cleared of weeds and grasses and the plants shining from recent
rains, Barbara took the opportunity to go outside and capture the beauty of
nature as it appears in Mother’s front yard.
Meanwhile, I
spent the morning taking care of Mother’s business and working with the
transportation department of Wood Memorial to arrange to bring Mother home for
family dinners in June and July.
We just can’t
say enough about how friendly and professional the Wood Memorial staff is and
how well they work with families to provide the best possible situations for
their clients. God did a good day’s work
when He led us there!
We couldn’t seem
to pull together a fishing crew tonight, so I stayed home and we finished and
posted another section of the blog/journal.
Who knows, we might even get caught up one of these days.
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Tuesday, June 12
I got up
early this morning to go out to Yantis for our weekly men’s prayer
meeting. Because Leah and Ryan’s nephew,
Alec, were coming to spend a few days, I skipped working at Our Little Lot
today and returned to town. I later went
to get my ears lowered...it was either that or go to city hall and apply for
dog tags.
Sometime this
morning Barbara discovered that our chest freezer in the garage had stopped
working. We don’t know when it happened,
but the first thing we did was to empty it into cooler chests and ice down
everything we could. Then I called
Sears, only to find out that it would be Thursday before the technician could
come take a look at it.
In between
little things like that, Barbara and I worked around the house to try to get
things ready for the kids. We stayed so
busy that we didn’t get but two pictures after Leah and Alec arrived. One was when Leah and I visited Mother at the
nursing home and the other was late in the evening when Alec, Leah, and I mowed
the front and back yards and the North 40.
It sure was nice to have some help for THAT chore!!!
Leah also
went with us this afternoon to rent a freezer so we could try to salvage the
things that had started thawing out.
Unfortunately, we had to throw quite a bit away, but we kept track of
it, just in case we have some kind of insurance claim.
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Wednesday, June 13
Alec and I
went out to the lake lot this morning to do more mowing, trimming, and stump
removal. Again, it was tedious, hot,
sweltering work, but Alec worked hard the whole time we were there and we got
much more done than I anticipated.
Meanwhile, back at the house, Barbara
and Leah were working on a project for the family dinner tomorrow. While we were browsing through a Cracker
Barrel during our trip back east, Barbara saw Hillbilly Wine Glasses, which
were nothing more than Red Solo Cups glued onto a 4-inch candlestick. They were really cute, but certainly not
worth the price that was being asked.
Barbara decided she wanted to make a set of the wine glasses herself, so
between she and Leah, they gathered up a bunch of candlesticks and cups and set
out today to make their own creations.
They must have really hit their stride once they got started, because
there were a bunch of these things on the table and counter when Alec and I
returned from the lake.
This
evening we all drove out to Holiday Villages so Leah and Alec could take a dip
in the clubhouse swimming pool while Barbara read and I talked to one of the
property owners who was also enjoying the pool.
Later, we
returned to the house and Leah and I watched the premiere episodes of Dallas
while Alec played computer games and Barbara worked at her computer.
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Thursday, June 14
Today is Flag
Day...a day for the nation to honor and remember the history of our National
Ensign. On February 1, 2003, Barbara and
I were having a discussion about the lack of respect and commitment that we
sensed among students and some staff at our respective schools when the Pledge
of Allegiance was recited each morning at the start of the school day. Barbara asked me if I could write something
that she could share with the students in her classes at West Middle School to
help them get beyond the words and into the meaning of the Pledge. That evening I set to work and came up with
the following piece, dedicated to the students of West Middle School, Liberal
Kansas.
It has become
somewhat of a tradition to share this piece with our readers each June 14, and
now to post it on our Facebook pages.
Our journal is primarily to share with our children and grandchildren
the experiences we have had during our retirement years, but we also enjoy
sharing what is important to us with all our Journal/Blog Family. We hope you will enjoy and appreciate this
reprint.
I
Am the Flag
I am the Flag of the United States of
America. It is almost impossible to go
through a day without seeing me…flying proudly over public buildings and
military bases…marching at the head of parades…or displayed as lapel pins on
the jackets of patriots, young and old.
Perhaps nowhere do I strive to be
displayed more proudly than in the schools of our country, for it is there that
the first lessons of patriotism are taught to those who will grow up to guide,
guard, and defend the country I represent.
But even there, as I am seen by
millions of students each school day, I am in danger of neglect. Like all things that are commonplace, I am
often taken for granted, and the pledge that was written to show honor to my
colors and my country becomes a meaningless ritual, chanted without thought, by
young people who have not learned, or who have forgotten that I represent the
sacrifices, hopes, and dreams of all who came before, and of countless millions
around the world who would share in their freedom.
It seems that it is only in the times
of war or national tragedy that I have meaning to the masses who call this land
their home. If that is true, then our
country is only one generation away from losing the rights and privileges that
I represent, and that you take for granted.
For after all, if you don’t care, then who will teach those who follow
you?
Whether I fly proudly over the
buildings of your community, or am placed beside the flags of your houses of
worship…whether I am seen as a pin in the lapel of a military veteran, or as an
oversized decoration covering the playing field of a football or baseball
stadium…or whether you see me draped in silence over the coffin of a father,
mother, sister, brother, son, or daughter who served or gave their life for
this country, I still represent each and every one of you, and the freedoms
that were won on the battlefields around the world.
To you I make this promise…
“I pledge allegiance to those who call the United States of America
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Today was
really busy around our place. I started
the day with an early appointment with the dermatologist in Quitman. When I was finished having my face and scalp
either sliced or frozen, I returned to the house to really go to work.
We had made
arrangements to bring Mother home for a few hours to enjoy a family dinner, so
of course there was a lot of food preparation going on. I had started smoking a pork loin and a
chicken yesterday and this morning put the meat in a broiler to warm it
up. Meanwhile, Barbara and Leah were
busy in the kitchen, getting everything else ready.
The next four
hours were a flurry of activity as we enjoyed great family fun and a wonderful
meal.
Cousin Angela
wasn’t able to join us this time, but Ladd was there to make his contributions
to the cause, mainly to pester Mother (which she dearly loves.
The table
that Barbara and Leah set was beautiful, and the Hillbilly wine glasses were a
big hit.
In the end,
it was all about family enjoying family.
Surely, we got an A+ on that today!
Ronnie came
back around 1:30 to get Mother (who was completely worn out and ready to go
back to her room for a nap), the crowd dispersed, and Barbara, Leah, and I
began the process of cleaning and straightening until it was time for Leah and
Alec to return to Cleburne and for us us to rest and take a nap.
Later this evening, I made the first
of many calls to the Sears warranty people.
After being on hold for 20 minutes, all the while being told by a
recorded voice to please hold because my call was important to them, I talked
to a human voice that told me she was sorry, but they hadn’t received the work
order information yet and I would have to wait another 24 hours before I could
file my claim.
While I was
holding and waiting, getting more frustrated by the minute, I picked up a
banana that was on the table and pointed it like a gun at the telephone. Barbara laughed and said she needed to take a
picture of that.
After a long
and busy day, we were more than willing to end the evening early and head for
bed, surrounded by peace and quiet.
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Friday, June 15
After the
funeral, we drove back to Mineola and Wood Memorial Nursing Home to check on
mother. She was having her eyes checked
this morning and we needed to visit with the doctor about what he found and
what, if anything, we needed to do.
The afternoon
and evening were spent doing not much of anything except trying to get caught
up on the journal and blog.
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Sunday, June 17
Happy Father’s Day to
Dads Everywhere!!!!!
It was a very
nice Father’s Day. We went to church
this morning and heard another great sermon from Brother David, then stopped to
see Mother before going to the house to while away the rest of the day. During the course of the day I received
Father’s Day greetings from all the kids, Heather, Mike, Whitney, John, and
Leah...a really great day!
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Monday – Tuesday, June 18 – 19
We spent
these two days just taking care of general business around the house, visiting
with Mother, and getting ready for the upcoming trip to Lubbock, Portales, and
Artesia
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Wednesday, June 20
We got up
early enough this morning to straighten up the house, pack the car, check with
neighbor John to let him know that we’d be out of town for the next week, and
then drive to the nursing home to visit with Mother before taking off across
Texas to Lubbock.
"In
three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." –
Robert Frost
On the Road
Again,
Jim/Dad/Gramps
& Barbara/Mom/Grams
