Tuesday, April 1
April began with a very busy day for us. I was up early to go to Yantis for the weekly prayer meeting, followed by a full morning of work at Our Little Lot. I've been building a big burn pile for several months, but the weather hasn't cooperated. Today was a perfect day to torch the pile and add on as much as I could before I had to shut everything down and get back to Mineola.
Meanwhile, Barbara started the day by paying bills and balancing the checkbook. When she was satisfied all the numbers were in place, she did her morning thing and then went to Naturally Nails for Leslie to fix a new hairdo and work on her fingernails.
This afternoon we delivered a few more Pay It Forward gifts to some very special folks.
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Wednesday, April 2Happy 20th Anniversary to us!!!!
For our special anniversary treat, we drove to Tyler (Barbara in the car and me on Taz...all very romantic) to get the oil changed and have 5,000 mile service done on Taz.
While we were in Tyler, we drove around the loop to the Harley Davidson shop and ordered new face shields for our old H-D helmets. We had bought new helmets in Roswell right after we bought Taz, but have never liked them as well as the old helmets, so we thought we'd go "old school" if at all possible.
It was going to take most of the day to have Taz serviced, so we drove the car back to Mineola, visited with our friends Gene and Michelle Young who were in town on some business before going back to Kansas for a few months, and then returned to Tyler to get Taz and come back home. It was a day full of miles, but they ended up being worth the time and effort.
This evening we decided to fudge on the diet and try the new Wingdingers Restaurant close to the house. We even behaved ourselves (kind of) and didn't blow the diet too much. The new restaurant has a small pond beside the outdoor eating area, so we stepped out to get our anniversary edition photos.
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Thursday, April 3We were up fairly early this morning to load all of our winter clothes in the car so we could take them to Our Little Lot and store them in Big V. It's a shame, but these days, our Big V is far more of a storage facility than a traveling home...sure hope we can cure that condition one of these days!
While we were at Holiday Villages, we stopped at the sales office to pick up a special gift from the sales team. They have offers every few months, and this one was a Sony Home Theater sound system and a $50.00 gift card from Walmart...certainly well worth the time it took to drive out there.
When we got back to the house, Barbara started lunch and I unpacked the sound system and started installing it. Needless to say, lunch was ready much earlier than the sound system. Barbara sat quietly as I practiced speaking in tongues while I routed and rerouted wiring and installed components in a space that wasn't originally designed for that many components.
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Friday, April 4Barbara spent the morning building recipes from different foods that we had in the refrigerator and cabinets, trying to use up some things before they went out of date and we went out of town on our projected motorcycle trip.
While Barbara was in the kitchen, I scrubbed the bathrooms and vacuumed the carpets. We really aren't all that dirty, but I swear that Bonita sheds at least an afghan worth of hair each week, so we try (without much luck) to stay ahead of her.
It was cold and windy outside, so Barbara voted to not attend a PGR funeral with me this afternoon. More than 20 East Texas Patriot Guard Riders stood guard at Beatty Funeral Home in Mineola to honor the life and military service of Everett Leavy Ashley, Jr. (3JUL1930 - 31MAR2014). Mr. Ashley was a veteran of the United States Army with service during the Korean War.
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Saturday, April 5I went out to Yantis for the monthly men's prayer breakfast. 31 men enjoyed breakfast, fellowship, and a mind-boggling and spine-tingling personal testimony given by our guest speaker, Larry Maynard.
While I was at Yantis, Barbara was busy fixing a breakfast for our friend Heidi Hays, who lives in Lindale. We first met Heidi and her family when we were doing volunteer work at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa, Georgia, and have been fast friends since then.
I got home from Yantis in time to visit some with Heidi and take a photo of the grand occasion.
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Sunday, April 6
A couple of heavy thunderstorms passed through the area in the early morning hours and we almost decided to not tackle the rainy wet highway to Yantis for church this morning, but decided at the last minute that we needed to be there. It was very rainy on the way out, and while I was trying to find the road, Barbara busied herself with taking photos of the rain and the surrounding terrain.
As we crossed over the Lake Fork bridge on Highway 154, we saw fishing boats zipping around the lake. There was a huge fishing tournament going on today, and many fishermen weren't about to let a little thing like thunder, lightning, and blinding rain get in the way of their chance at a trophy fish and a new pickup.
When we got to the church, we found that the parking lot was nearly full in spite of the weather. While I looked for a parking place, Barbara figured she had at least one good shot left on the camera.
This morning was the first of five revival services at Yantis First Baptist Church, and it quickly became evident why we were supposed to be there, rain or shine. David Crain, a Christian musician/speaker/evangelist from Grand Saline, just down U.S. 80 from Mineola, didn't waste any time getting the nearly full sanctuary in the palm of his hand with his music, message, and testimony. We could tell that we were in for a great series of services this week.
We went back to town after church, made sure we got our Sunday afternoon nap, and then returned to Yantis for another inspiring and uplifting service.
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Monday, April 7
Today was just a Monday, and that's about all that can be said for it. We managed to do a few odd jobs around the house, but nothing important enough to talk about.
Tonight we returned to Yantis for yet another inspiring service in the revival series.
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Tuesday, April 8
Barbara worked in the kitchen this morning while I went to Yantis for prayer meeting. I was hoping to put out fertilizer at Our Little Lot, but the grass and weeds were too tall and the ground was too spongy from the latest round of rain. So, I returned to the Mineola to run errands and do some shopping while Barbara took time out from house work to have a pedicure.
While I was doing my running around, I took Taz and the trailer to the car wash for a good bath in preparation for the upcoming trip. This afternoon, while Barbara was working in the house, I tried out a new cleaner/wax on both Taz and the trailer...it was pretty labor-intensive stuff, but Taz and the trailer both looked showroom fresh when I was finished.
Tonight we went to another revival service at Yantis. We are the unofficial photographers for church activities, so I stayed busy with the camera, and when we got home each evening, Barbara posted all the photos to the church Facebook page.
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Wednesday, April 9
Wow!!! What a day this turned out to be. We were up early this morning to pick up Aunt T.J. and drive to Tyler for an 11:00 am doctor appointment for Barbara.
Several weeks ago Barbara had a mammogram. Shortly afterward, the clinic called and said they needed a previous chart to compare to the latest one. We finally located the last mammogram from when we lived in Liberal. The doctor did the comparison and determined that something, possibly serious, was going on, and scheduled Barbara for another mammogram and ultra-sound procedure this morning. Today he discovered a couple of nodules but determined that one of them was just a fibrous cyst. The other, however could be serious, and he wants to do a biopsy. When he heard of our travel plans, he said to not worry about it. The nodule is so small that it has to be very recent and he said Barbara can have the biopsy when we return from our cycle trip in May.
While T.J. waited at the clinic, I drove across town to the Harley shop to pick up our new face shields for the helmets we want to take on our trip. Then, it was back to the clinic to wait for a couple more hours until they were finished with Barbara.
We went out to Red Lobster to celebrate the (mostly) good news and have a belated birthday dinner for T.J. and then returned to Mineola.
While Barbara worked at organizing our luggage for the trip, I spent the afternoon mowing the front and back yards and the North 40, trying to get them back in shape after all the rain last week.
This evening we made the trip back to Yantis for the final revival service, came back home to proof and post the photos, loaded a few things in the trailer, and then called it a night. We were going to need some serious sleep tonight so we could start a great adventure tomorrow morning.
"It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes you heart ache, you want it so!" - Mark Twain
From Mineola, Wood County, Texas,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsy
