Saturday, March 1
Happy Birthday to our "adopted" brother Jerry Terpening in Artesia, New Mexico!!!!
.jpg)
The first day of March dawned bright and beautiful in Mineola. Since it was supposed to be warm and sunny all day and we could get rain tonight, we took the plants out of their hiding place in the garage and set them on the driveway to get nature's light and watering.
Barbara went out this morning for another session of manicure and pedicure with Leslie at Naturally Nails. She really enjoys that time of pampering, and the results are great.
While Barbara was having her time out from the house, I started cleaning off my desk. I could have sworn it was clear when we left for the trip to Virginia, and we've only been home a few days, so how could it have gotten so cluttered?
We had lunch when Barbara got back and then treated ourselves to a short ride on Taz (it was a beautiful day for cycle riding) downtown to see Monuments Men at the Historic Select Theater. If you are reading this and haven't seen Monuments Men, we encourage you to get to a theater and see it as soon as possible...it was beyond wonderful!
The wind was getting up a little by the time the movie was over, so we rode back to the house and settled in for an evening of work. Barbara spent her time designing and printing invitations for Cousin Maddy's baby shower, and I tackled the stack of papers and receipts that will be the basis for our 2013 income tax return. We both made a lot of progress on our tasks tonight, but we were bleary-eyed and bushed when it was done.
Yesterday we woke up to warm and sunny; this morning it was cooler, cloudy, and rainy. What a difference a day makes!
We were glad we left the plants out for a nice natural watering, but with an arctic front barreling our way today, there was no question that they would be moved back inside the garage.
I stepped outside to take a photo of John's budding pear tree across the street. I figured this might be the last chance for a while, because that tree will probably freeze its buds off tonight!
We have both been dealing with chest congestion, coughing, sneezing, and general crudiness since we got home from our trip, so after observing what the weather had in store and considering that no one needs to be close to us anyway, we decided to stay home this morning rather than drive all the way out to Yantis for church.
When we did finally get up and around, Barbara started working on recipes and grocery lists...we've changed our eating habits with this diet we are trying to stay on, and that means being a little more discriminating about what we buy, how we prepare it, and the portions we can have. We think it's working so far, but it does take time and effort to do it right.
While Barbara was planning our menus, I tackled our taxes once again and finally got everything put together and ready to take to the CPA tomorrow morning.
The weatherman called for the arctic front to roll in around 6:00 this evening, but by early afternoon, the sleet was starting to come down. We received a call from Jeremy at church around 3:30 saying that services were cancelled for the night. By 5:00 pm, it was evident that we were going to have a winter storm for sure, as these pictures show.
As we listened to the thunder rumbling, watched the lightning flashing, and saw the sleet coming down in thunderstorm fashion, we started paying more attention to the weather on the TV and internet...no doubt about it, this was going to be something we haven't seen in a long time.
We spent the evening alternately watching TV and working on projects. This block of time allowed me to get Mother's tax information put together and ready to go downtown tomorrow along with our own material.
One of our newest pleasures, although it is getting very gritty as it develops, is watching episodes of House of Cards, a Netflix original series. We managed to get in three episodes of the first season at various times throughout the day, and felt mentally drained after each one. I don't know that it could be called entertainment, but it sure is interesting and compelling!
Just before dark, we took a final series of photos around the front of the house to show what the storm was doing. Sleet was still coming down as we shot these pictures.
When we finally called it a day and went to bed, we checked to be sure we had a flashlight close by...our lights had been flashing off and on all evening, and we at least wanted to be able to see what we were doing if we had to wake up to a dark house.
Happy Birthday to adopted niece Barbara Francis Yehl in Roswell, New Mexico!!!
We woke up this morning to a frozen panorama. Everything was covered with ice, even though it looked like snow. Around mid-morning I decided that there was no way we were going to get out and run all the errands we had planned for the day, so I ventured out to the neighborhood mail station to send off some mail that couldn't wait. While I was out, I snapped a few shots of our house in the winter wonderland.
When I got back inside and told Barbara there was no way we would be going out in the car today, she decided that we might as well do some house cleaning while we were cooped up. We'd both been talking about the need to dust the rooms, but we kept finding other things more interesting to do. Faced with not being able to do much, we tackled the cleaning.
One of the things we do really well together is clean house. Once we set our minds on it, we are a pretty formidable team, with each of us having our own areas of expertise. Barbara tackles the furniture within her reach, and I get the window coverings, door frames, ceiling fans, and tall furniture. We were able to work our way through each room using that system, and had the job done in a relatively short amount of time. Barbara did stop from her dusting long enough to take some photos of me doing the blinds...she said that she didn't know anyone in their right mind who wanted to clean windows and blinds, but she was glad to have me to do it...if that isn't love, what is?
Barbara fixed lunch while I was finishing some work in the bedrooms, and then we sat down to eat and watch another episode of House of Cards.
Neither of us has learned to cook for just the two of us, so we almost always have food left over after fixing meals. One of our little pleasures is to prepare dishes of leftovers and share them with our neighbors, John and Wanda across the street, and Addie next door. When we finished eating out lunch, Barbara put some things together and I ventured out once again to deliver it. The ice between each of the houses was tricky to negotiate, but the food was well received by our neighbors, so it was worth the effort.
When we were done with our afternoon nap, I vacuumed the carpets while Barbara worked on one of her projects. Then, while I got in some practice time on my trumpet, she got dinner put together and we watched another episode of House of Cards, wondering all the while how this series can possibly continue at the pace it is going.
Tonight was just a time of relaxation in our nice clean house.
Today marks the birthday of W.T. Perry, husband to Virginia Perry, and father to Carol Perry Crenshaw, Barbara Perry Colwell Little, and Nancy Perry Hargrave. W.T. passed away in 1997, but lives on in the memories of his family and many, many friends.
We were still iced in in our area, so prayer meeting at Yantis FBC was cancelled for this morning...which meant that we got to sleep in, a rare occurrence when both of us sleep late.
Today is Pancake Day in Liberal, Kansas. Actually, Pancake Day (a milder form of Mardi Gras) is celebrated in a lot of places, but not to the extent that it is in Liberal. As a reminder of our days in Kansas, Barbara made a platter of sweet potato pancakes (something we picked up when we were on our trip to Virginia) and that was pretty much our celebration for the day.
We did, however, receive this photo from Whitney of Jimmy Jim celebrating Pancake Day in Olathe.
Barbara had a hair appointment with Leslie this morning. While she was doing that, I ran a few errands and finally got our tax package sent off to the accountant.
When we were finished downtown, we decided to visit our friends Elmer and Bunn at their new digs in the Autumn Winds assisted living center. Elmer is one of Mother's oldest friends, and he and Jenny were living at Wood Memorial Nursing home when Mother was there.
We had just a short visit, as it was soon time for Elmer and Jenny to go to lunch. We walked to the dining room with them, said our goodbyes, and found our way across the ice patch to the car.
We learned from that short visit that it was too cold and icy out on the streets, so we went back to the house for the rest of the day.
Wednesday, March 5
It was still too cold to get outside for any length of time, so we opted to spend the day in the house catching up on regular household chores. Barbara spent time in the kitchen building a new soup recipe that we later shared with the neighbors and TJ.
Tonight was Praise Band at the church. Barbara had planned to grab a book and ride out to Yantis with me, but decided she'd stay home instead since it was so cold.
Thursday, March 6
A couple of days ago, Barbara read a Facebook post from Claire Jackson Torres, a former student from Liberal, who said that for Lent, she was going to do a random act of kindness for someone. We were so impressed with her idea, that we decided we'd adopt it for ourselves.
Barbara went back into the kitchen this morning and baked a blueberry/raspberry fusion cake (a recipe she got from granddaughter Jaycie) and, after sharing some of it with the neighbors, took a plateful to Wood Memorial Nursing Home to share with the staff who had done so much with Mother when she was there. Needless to say, the cake was well-received by everyone who got some of it.
When we were done at the nursing home, we went to Verizon to get some help with our broadband connection that we use while on the road and as a backup in case of a power failure.
Tonight was the weekly rehearsal of the Lake Country Symphonic Band. I told Barbara that she was more than welcome to bring a book and read during the rehearsal, but she politely (kind of) declined.
Friday, March 7
Happy 8th Birthday to granddaughter Abby Dondis in Richardson, Texas!!!!
We were going to go to Dallas today and surprise Abby during lunchtime at her school, but Heather suggested last night that we come over on Saturday and watch the kids play soccer, so we crossed out Dallas on our to-do list for the day and penciled in Richardson for tomorrow.
This morning we made a run to Walmart (just to make sure it was an official day) and then returned to the house to finish addressing all the invitations for Cousin Madalyn's baby shower. Then it was off to Pizza Hut to buy some gift cards, followed by a trip to the post office to mail the invitations and do a random act of kindness for Rod, one of the postal employees who has gone above and beyond in his duties to provide professional, but also kind and caring service to us over the past five years.
Later this afternoon we went to Ladd and Angela's house to drop off some address labels and the remainder of the shower invitations for Madalyn, followed by a quick stop at Walmart to gas up the car.
Tonight was a "take it easy" night. I baked some bread that we can share with others during the month, but other than that, we did absolutely nothing of great importance.
We had set the alarm for 5:30 so we would have time to get up and have a relaxing morning before driving to Richardson, but were both awake by 4:15. This could be a l-o-n-g day!!!
Abby and Alexander both had soccer matches scheduled today, so we made our way to Richardson and went straight to the outdoor soccer park close to the kids' house. It was cold and misty when we got there, and the wind was starting to get up, so we figured we were in for a pretty nasty day.
We finally located the correct field and found Abby and Heather, but no Andy and Alexander. Heather told us that Alexander had been sick all night, so he and Andy stayed home...no soccer for Alexander today.
We had a grand time watching Abby play...she and her team have improved greatly since we last saw them, and Abby got in some really good licks today.
When the match was over, we went to Rosa's Mexican restaurant (Abby's choice) for a belated birthday dinner for her.
At the house, we found Andy and Alexander resting, but they got into the swing of things as we enjoyed some family time together and Abby opened our birthday gifts.
With no other soccer match and the weather not getting any better, we elected to cut the day short and head back to Mineola, stopping first at one of our church member's house to drop off a loaf of jalapeno bread and check on how she was doing after having a bad fall and breaking some bones.
Sunday, March 9
We had a great Sunday morning at Yantis First Baptist Church and then joined our friends Gene and Michelle Young at the Oak Ridge Marina restaurant for some friends' time and a good meal. We even managed to find someone to take a group photo of the four of us before we paid out.
While Gene and Michelle were getting in their car to go home, Barbara wandered around the parking lot to take shots of the Lake Fork Reservoir.
Monday, March 10
Our random act of kindness today was to prepare a brown-in-bag chicken meal to take to our church youth directors, Jeremy and Emily Durig and their family. It took all morning to get everything ready and then we decided we'd take Taz to make the delivery. It was beginning to look like we had too much to carry on the trike, but with some creative engineering, we got one of the pans of chicken and trimmings and a loaf of bread stored in the front trunk, while Barbara hung on like crazy to the other pan of chicken. We must have been an interesting sight, 'cause we got a number of looks and double-takes from drivers as they passed us.
One man pulled up beside us at a red light and jokingly offered to take the pan off Barbara's hands, but since he was in a left turn lane and we were going straight forward, we told him thanks, but we'd manage ourselves.
Emily and the little ones weren't home when we got to the house north of Quitman, but Jeremy and Connor were there to help us unload the trike and then give us the grand tour of the property (along with posing for a special photo).
Now, there's not many things a rider on the back of a motorcycle can do for entertainment, but Barbara manages to fill her time taking selfies and photos of whatever might be going on around us on the ride.
Tuesday, March 11
Happy Birthday to Cousin Darren Wright in Marianna, Florida!!!!
Leslie Bautista, the girl who cuts and shapes our hair and does Barbara's nails, was the recipient of our random act of kindness today. To say she was surprised and pleased is an understatement, one of the perks of being nice to someone.
Leah came over from Burleson this afternoon to spend the night and visit. Of course, there was time for some "phun photos."
One reason for Leah's visit was so she and Barbara could meet with Cousin Maddy to get the "lay of the land" and begin preparations for the baby shower they will be throwing for Maddy on March 29.
After their meeting and when Leah had left, Barbara and I went to our local Edward Jones office to surprise Leon, Marilyn, and Carla with some goodies that Barbara had baked.
Tonight I went to Yantis for a Praise Band rehearsal while Barbara stayed home and started working on ideas for the upcoming baby shower.
Thursday, March 13 - Saturday, March 15
We didn't do much that was noteworthy during these days, as they were just the stuff of everyday life...doctor appointments, housework, yardwork, and preparing and delivering a few random acts of kindness to some special people in our lives.
Sunday, March 16
We went to church service this morning and then came home so I could quickly change clothes for a concert by the Lake Country Symphonic Band. The program was all movie music, showcasing selections from a large number of movies spanning many years. We performed to our second consecutive sell-out crowd at Mineola's Historic Select Theater.
Monday, March 17 - Wednesday, March 19
We have been thinking of taking our "dream trip" on Taz to the Pacific Northwest, and it is beginning to look like it might actually happen. We haven't spent a lot of time on Taz lately because of the weather, but we recently decided we might be able to rectify that with a warm-up trip this weekend to Hobbs, New Mexico, to surprise our Artesia/Roswell/Hobbs family at a baby shower for Karen Francis McReynolds. Someone needed to know we were coming, so we talked to Jerry Terpening about our plans and swore him to secrecy. After that, all we had to do was plan the trip, get the house ready to be vacant for a few days, and pack what we needed on Taz and the trailer. It was becoming questionable as to whether we'd get everything done by Thursday morning, but the important stuff got done and by late wednesday night, we felt like we were as ready as we could be.
Thursday, March 20
We got up early this morning, delivered Bonita to her digs at the Bradshaw Hilton, finished packing Taz and the trailer, and pulled away from the house at 9:23 am, headed west on I-20.
While I was driving, Barbara made the most of her time by taking photos along the way...mostly pictures of our shadows cruising along the highway.
We stopped in Abilene for the evening, had a nice "legal" meal at a Denny's across the street, hit the exercise room for a bit, and then settled in for a quiet evening.
Friday, March 21
When we woke up this morning, we immediately noticed that we didn't have the expected blue skies for our ride. Instead, we had dark clouds and lots of wind, which didn't bode well for the day's journey. But, we got dressed, took our obligatory morning selfie, and started moving around.
After packing and having a bite of breakfast at the motel, we pulled back on I-20 and fought the crosswinds until we got to Big Spring, where we stopped for a break and a second breakfast.
On one of the relatively straight stretches when the wind was more or less blocked, Barbara was able to shoot this selfie on the back of Taz.
One reason for taking this trip was to find out what could go wrong that we might be able to avoid on a longer trip. While we knew the weather can always be fickle, what we learned today was that I didn't allow the intercom system to charge completely overnight, and about five miles north of Big Spring, we lost our communications, other than yelling at the tops of our voices...not a good situation at all.
We stopped in Lamesa for fuel, tried everything we knew to get the intercom working (to no avail) and then trekked on west to Hobbs. Fortunately, we had gotten to the far edge of the front that had been passing through, so it was a warm and fairly comfortable ride to Hobbs.
As soon as we got to Hobbs we checked in at the Lea County Inn and then headed to Furr's Cafeteria for lunch (decided that it was NOT the Furr's we used to know), did a little shopping for the baby shower, went to the bank, and then rode to James and Susie's house to surprise Susie. Unfortunately, we were the ones who were surprised, because Susie was out shopping, so after a few text messages asking whether she had received the gifts that we had "mailed," we decided to go on to the motel so Barbara could unpack and relax while I rode up to Lovington to visit my mother-in-love, Marie Neel, something I always try to do when we are in the area.
After a short visit in Lovington, I rode back to the motel in Hobbs and we then rode back to Susie and James's house to spend time with them and their daughter, Barbara, her husband, Warren, and grandkids Henry and Miriam.
Of course, Taz was a big hit with the little ones, so Barbara got busy with the camera to capture the excitement of the moment.
Tonight was fun family time until we we returned to the motel for some much needed rest.
Saturday, March 22
This was going to be a busy day, so we got up relatively early to get dressed for all the different activities. First, though, was the morning selfie.
We waited at the front of the motel for Jerry, Nancy, and Becky to pick Barbara up and take her to James and Susie's house. Nancy and Becky still had no idea that we were in town, and we still don't know what excuse Jerry gave for going so far out of the way, but it worked, and Nancy and Becky were more than surprised to see us waiting for them.
I followed the car over to the house and we guys (James, Jerry, Warren, Henry, and I) spent the morning doing "guy stuff" while the girls all went to Karen's shower.
My highlight of the morning was when Barbara called to say that her camera batteries had died and she needed new ones to finish shooting the shower. Now, the phone call wasn't the highlight, but the ride over in James's Corvette definitely was...my first ride in a Corvette!!!
When the shower was over and the girls returned to the house, we spent family time visiting. I gave more rides on Taz while Barbara busied herself with downloading the kazillion or so photos that she had taken during the morning. Later, we all went out for dinner and then returned to the house for more family time and a celebration of Becky's upcoming birthday.
The day was over all too soon. Jerry, Nancy, and Becky drove us to the motel on their way back to Artesia. We did some packing for the trip tomorrow and then crashed for the night.
Sunday, March 23
This was the day that we discovered how wrong a day can go for cycle riders.
We were up early, had Taz and the trailer packed, checked out of the motel, and began our ride...only to discover that it was 35 degrees and the winds were high enough to create a 27 degree wind chill...and that didn't include the additional chill factor from riding a cycle 65 - 70 miles per hour!
We made the first 45 miles of the trip to Seminole, Texas and then stopped at McDonald's for coffee and hot chocolate, while trying to get warmed up for the next leg.
Back on the road, we made it another 40 or so miles to Lamesa, where we stopped for the morning service at First Baptist Church (heard the best children's sermon ever), and then had lunch at Subway.
While the temperature was coming up a bit, the wind was still a big factor, so we put on our rain suits as an additional layer of clothing. That, plus turning out of the crosswind, got us to Big Spring, where we decided to find a motel room and get out of the weather for the rest of the day...it was the best decision we made all day!!!
Monday, March 24
The morning dawned bright and beautiful, albeit at little cool. By 10:30, we were back on the road enjoying a calm and smooth ride across I-20.
We decided to stop at a rest area a few miles east of Coahoma, Texas, the site of our first entry in what has become an 8-volume journal/blog series. It was on this spot in 2006 that we spent the night in Big V on the first night of a trip that would take us to Dallas, Richmond, Virginia, and a motorcycle ride from Richmond to Salisbury, Maryland. We fired off a quick email that night to a few friends to let them know where we were, and those emails evolved into a full-blown journal.
It was an easy and fun ride the rest of the day...stops for fuel and rest breaks, and then a stop for the evening at Benbrook, where Leah and Ryan joined us for a short visit and a meal at the local Taco Villa.
Tuesday, March 25
Happy Birthday to adopted niece Becky Terpening in Artesia, New Mexico!!!!
We gave the locals a chance to get work, and then headed east on I-20 through the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, making it back to the house in Mineola at 11:30 am after a 1073-mile trip that tested our endurance and patience, but was definitely a learning experience and preparation for a possible trip to California and up the Pacific Coast Highway.
Wednesday, March 26
We were back in the normal grind of life today...a trip to Walmart to make it an official day, bills to pay, yard work to do, and a baby shower to prepare for...makes us tired just thinking of it all!
Thursday, March 27
Today would have been Jean Terpening's birthday. Jean was our "adopted" mother for many years.
Any day that begins by finding a photo of a grandchild on Facebook just has to be a good one. This is a photo of grandson Jack that Kelly posted this morning.
The rest of the day was spent in preparing for Cousin Madalyn's baby shower on Saturday.
Friday, March 28
Happy Anniversary to Daughter Whitney and Jim Farnham in Olathe, Kansas!!!!
Another full day of preparing for the shower...things to do and places to go!!! Leah came over from Burleson this evening to help.
Saturday March 29
Shower Day!!! This was the culmination of a month's worth of planning and preparation. We went to the church at 9:00 to get everything set up...got back to the house around 11:00, and then Barbara and Leah returned to the church to serve as hostesses for the big event.
Sunday, March 30
We were exhausted after the events of the last few days and almost didn't go to church. At the last minute we decided we'd go, and were met with just the words of encouragement and enlightenment that we needed...isn't God great that way?!!!
It was a beautiful afternoon, so we rode Taz out to Yantis for the evening service. We're going to need all the riding time we can get if we're to take that West Coast trip.
Monday, March 31
Happy Birthday to Cousin Angela Thompson in Mineola, Texas!!!
It was Monday all day long. Barbara took care of getting us caught up on bills and banking while I researched our helmet communication systems and GPS unit so we can make the most of them on the planned trip out west.
"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." - Marcel Proust, French novelist, critic, and essayist
Back home in Mineola,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsy
The first day of March dawned bright and beautiful in Mineola. Since it was supposed to be warm and sunny all day and we could get rain tonight, we took the plants out of their hiding place in the garage and set them on the driveway to get nature's light and watering.
Barbara went out this morning for another session of manicure and pedicure with Leslie at Naturally Nails. She really enjoys that time of pampering, and the results are great.
While Barbara was having her time out from the house, I started cleaning off my desk. I could have sworn it was clear when we left for the trip to Virginia, and we've only been home a few days, so how could it have gotten so cluttered?
We had lunch when Barbara got back and then treated ourselves to a short ride on Taz (it was a beautiful day for cycle riding) downtown to see Monuments Men at the Historic Select Theater. If you are reading this and haven't seen Monuments Men, we encourage you to get to a theater and see it as soon as possible...it was beyond wonderful!
The wind was getting up a little by the time the movie was over, so we rode back to the house and settled in for an evening of work. Barbara spent her time designing and printing invitations for Cousin Maddy's baby shower, and I tackled the stack of papers and receipts that will be the basis for our 2013 income tax return. We both made a lot of progress on our tasks tonight, but we were bleary-eyed and bushed when it was done.
+++++++
Sunday, March 2Yesterday we woke up to warm and sunny; this morning it was cooler, cloudy, and rainy. What a difference a day makes!
We were glad we left the plants out for a nice natural watering, but with an arctic front barreling our way today, there was no question that they would be moved back inside the garage.
I stepped outside to take a photo of John's budding pear tree across the street. I figured this might be the last chance for a while, because that tree will probably freeze its buds off tonight!
We have both been dealing with chest congestion, coughing, sneezing, and general crudiness since we got home from our trip, so after observing what the weather had in store and considering that no one needs to be close to us anyway, we decided to stay home this morning rather than drive all the way out to Yantis for church.
When we did finally get up and around, Barbara started working on recipes and grocery lists...we've changed our eating habits with this diet we are trying to stay on, and that means being a little more discriminating about what we buy, how we prepare it, and the portions we can have. We think it's working so far, but it does take time and effort to do it right.
While Barbara was planning our menus, I tackled our taxes once again and finally got everything put together and ready to take to the CPA tomorrow morning.
The weatherman called for the arctic front to roll in around 6:00 this evening, but by early afternoon, the sleet was starting to come down. We received a call from Jeremy at church around 3:30 saying that services were cancelled for the night. By 5:00 pm, it was evident that we were going to have a winter storm for sure, as these pictures show.
As we listened to the thunder rumbling, watched the lightning flashing, and saw the sleet coming down in thunderstorm fashion, we started paying more attention to the weather on the TV and internet...no doubt about it, this was going to be something we haven't seen in a long time.
We spent the evening alternately watching TV and working on projects. This block of time allowed me to get Mother's tax information put together and ready to go downtown tomorrow along with our own material.
One of our newest pleasures, although it is getting very gritty as it develops, is watching episodes of House of Cards, a Netflix original series. We managed to get in three episodes of the first season at various times throughout the day, and felt mentally drained after each one. I don't know that it could be called entertainment, but it sure is interesting and compelling!
Just before dark, we took a final series of photos around the front of the house to show what the storm was doing. Sleet was still coming down as we shot these pictures.
When we finally called it a day and went to bed, we checked to be sure we had a flashlight close by...our lights had been flashing off and on all evening, and we at least wanted to be able to see what we were doing if we had to wake up to a dark house.
+++++++
Monday, March 3Happy Birthday to adopted niece Barbara Francis Yehl in Roswell, New Mexico!!!
We woke up this morning to a frozen panorama. Everything was covered with ice, even though it looked like snow. Around mid-morning I decided that there was no way we were going to get out and run all the errands we had planned for the day, so I ventured out to the neighborhood mail station to send off some mail that couldn't wait. While I was out, I snapped a few shots of our house in the winter wonderland.
When I got back inside and told Barbara there was no way we would be going out in the car today, she decided that we might as well do some house cleaning while we were cooped up. We'd both been talking about the need to dust the rooms, but we kept finding other things more interesting to do. Faced with not being able to do much, we tackled the cleaning.
One of the things we do really well together is clean house. Once we set our minds on it, we are a pretty formidable team, with each of us having our own areas of expertise. Barbara tackles the furniture within her reach, and I get the window coverings, door frames, ceiling fans, and tall furniture. We were able to work our way through each room using that system, and had the job done in a relatively short amount of time. Barbara did stop from her dusting long enough to take some photos of me doing the blinds...she said that she didn't know anyone in their right mind who wanted to clean windows and blinds, but she was glad to have me to do it...if that isn't love, what is?
Barbara fixed lunch while I was finishing some work in the bedrooms, and then we sat down to eat and watch another episode of House of Cards.
Neither of us has learned to cook for just the two of us, so we almost always have food left over after fixing meals. One of our little pleasures is to prepare dishes of leftovers and share them with our neighbors, John and Wanda across the street, and Addie next door. When we finished eating out lunch, Barbara put some things together and I ventured out once again to deliver it. The ice between each of the houses was tricky to negotiate, but the food was well received by our neighbors, so it was worth the effort.
When we were done with our afternoon nap, I vacuumed the carpets while Barbara worked on one of her projects. Then, while I got in some practice time on my trumpet, she got dinner put together and we watched another episode of House of Cards, wondering all the while how this series can possibly continue at the pace it is going.
Tonight was just a time of relaxation in our nice clean house.
+++++++
Tuesday, March 4Today marks the birthday of W.T. Perry, husband to Virginia Perry, and father to Carol Perry Crenshaw, Barbara Perry Colwell Little, and Nancy Perry Hargrave. W.T. passed away in 1997, but lives on in the memories of his family and many, many friends.
We were still iced in in our area, so prayer meeting at Yantis FBC was cancelled for this morning...which meant that we got to sleep in, a rare occurrence when both of us sleep late.
Today is Pancake Day in Liberal, Kansas. Actually, Pancake Day (a milder form of Mardi Gras) is celebrated in a lot of places, but not to the extent that it is in Liberal. As a reminder of our days in Kansas, Barbara made a platter of sweet potato pancakes (something we picked up when we were on our trip to Virginia) and that was pretty much our celebration for the day.
We did, however, receive this photo from Whitney of Jimmy Jim celebrating Pancake Day in Olathe.
Barbara had a hair appointment with Leslie this morning. While she was doing that, I ran a few errands and finally got our tax package sent off to the accountant.
When we were finished downtown, we decided to visit our friends Elmer and Bunn at their new digs in the Autumn Winds assisted living center. Elmer is one of Mother's oldest friends, and he and Jenny were living at Wood Memorial Nursing home when Mother was there.
We had just a short visit, as it was soon time for Elmer and Jenny to go to lunch. We walked to the dining room with them, said our goodbyes, and found our way across the ice patch to the car.
We learned from that short visit that it was too cold and icy out on the streets, so we went back to the house for the rest of the day.
+++++++
Wednesday, March 5
It was still too cold to get outside for any length of time, so we opted to spend the day in the house catching up on regular household chores. Barbara spent time in the kitchen building a new soup recipe that we later shared with the neighbors and TJ.
Tonight was Praise Band at the church. Barbara had planned to grab a book and ride out to Yantis with me, but decided she'd stay home instead since it was so cold.
+++++++
Thursday, March 6
A couple of days ago, Barbara read a Facebook post from Claire Jackson Torres, a former student from Liberal, who said that for Lent, she was going to do a random act of kindness for someone. We were so impressed with her idea, that we decided we'd adopt it for ourselves.
Barbara went back into the kitchen this morning and baked a blueberry/raspberry fusion cake (a recipe she got from granddaughter Jaycie) and, after sharing some of it with the neighbors, took a plateful to Wood Memorial Nursing Home to share with the staff who had done so much with Mother when she was there. Needless to say, the cake was well-received by everyone who got some of it.
When we were done at the nursing home, we went to Verizon to get some help with our broadband connection that we use while on the road and as a backup in case of a power failure.
Tonight was the weekly rehearsal of the Lake Country Symphonic Band. I told Barbara that she was more than welcome to bring a book and read during the rehearsal, but she politely (kind of) declined.
+++++++
Friday, March 7
Happy 8th Birthday to granddaughter Abby Dondis in Richardson, Texas!!!!
We were going to go to Dallas today and surprise Abby during lunchtime at her school, but Heather suggested last night that we come over on Saturday and watch the kids play soccer, so we crossed out Dallas on our to-do list for the day and penciled in Richardson for tomorrow.
This morning we made a run to Walmart (just to make sure it was an official day) and then returned to the house to finish addressing all the invitations for Cousin Madalyn's baby shower. Then it was off to Pizza Hut to buy some gift cards, followed by a trip to the post office to mail the invitations and do a random act of kindness for Rod, one of the postal employees who has gone above and beyond in his duties to provide professional, but also kind and caring service to us over the past five years.
Later this afternoon we went to Ladd and Angela's house to drop off some address labels and the remainder of the shower invitations for Madalyn, followed by a quick stop at Walmart to gas up the car.
Tonight was a "take it easy" night. I baked some bread that we can share with others during the month, but other than that, we did absolutely nothing of great importance.
+++++++
Saturday, March 8We had set the alarm for 5:30 so we would have time to get up and have a relaxing morning before driving to Richardson, but were both awake by 4:15. This could be a l-o-n-g day!!!
Abby and Alexander both had soccer matches scheduled today, so we made our way to Richardson and went straight to the outdoor soccer park close to the kids' house. It was cold and misty when we got there, and the wind was starting to get up, so we figured we were in for a pretty nasty day.
We finally located the correct field and found Abby and Heather, but no Andy and Alexander. Heather told us that Alexander had been sick all night, so he and Andy stayed home...no soccer for Alexander today.
We had a grand time watching Abby play...she and her team have improved greatly since we last saw them, and Abby got in some really good licks today.
When the match was over, we went to Rosa's Mexican restaurant (Abby's choice) for a belated birthday dinner for her.
At the house, we found Andy and Alexander resting, but they got into the swing of things as we enjoyed some family time together and Abby opened our birthday gifts.
With no other soccer match and the weather not getting any better, we elected to cut the day short and head back to Mineola, stopping first at one of our church member's house to drop off a loaf of jalapeno bread and check on how she was doing after having a bad fall and breaking some bones.
+++++++
Sunday, March 9
We had a great Sunday morning at Yantis First Baptist Church and then joined our friends Gene and Michelle Young at the Oak Ridge Marina restaurant for some friends' time and a good meal. We even managed to find someone to take a group photo of the four of us before we paid out.
While Gene and Michelle were getting in their car to go home, Barbara wandered around the parking lot to take shots of the Lake Fork Reservoir.
+++++++
Monday, March 10
Our random act of kindness today was to prepare a brown-in-bag chicken meal to take to our church youth directors, Jeremy and Emily Durig and their family. It took all morning to get everything ready and then we decided we'd take Taz to make the delivery. It was beginning to look like we had too much to carry on the trike, but with some creative engineering, we got one of the pans of chicken and trimmings and a loaf of bread stored in the front trunk, while Barbara hung on like crazy to the other pan of chicken. We must have been an interesting sight, 'cause we got a number of looks and double-takes from drivers as they passed us.
One man pulled up beside us at a red light and jokingly offered to take the pan off Barbara's hands, but since he was in a left turn lane and we were going straight forward, we told him thanks, but we'd manage ourselves.
Emily and the little ones weren't home when we got to the house north of Quitman, but Jeremy and Connor were there to help us unload the trike and then give us the grand tour of the property (along with posing for a special photo).
Now, there's not many things a rider on the back of a motorcycle can do for entertainment, but Barbara manages to fill her time taking selfies and photos of whatever might be going on around us on the ride.
+++++++
Tuesday, March 11
Happy Birthday to Cousin Darren Wright in Marianna, Florida!!!!
Leslie Bautista, the girl who cuts and shapes our hair and does Barbara's nails, was the recipient of our random act of kindness today. To say she was surprised and pleased is an understatement, one of the perks of being nice to someone.
Leah came over from Burleson this afternoon to spend the night and visit. Of course, there was time for some "phun photos."
+++++++
Wednesday, March 12One reason for Leah's visit was so she and Barbara could meet with Cousin Maddy to get the "lay of the land" and begin preparations for the baby shower they will be throwing for Maddy on March 29.
After their meeting and when Leah had left, Barbara and I went to our local Edward Jones office to surprise Leon, Marilyn, and Carla with some goodies that Barbara had baked.
Tonight I went to Yantis for a Praise Band rehearsal while Barbara stayed home and started working on ideas for the upcoming baby shower.
+++++++
Thursday, March 13 - Saturday, March 15
We didn't do much that was noteworthy during these days, as they were just the stuff of everyday life...doctor appointments, housework, yardwork, and preparing and delivering a few random acts of kindness to some special people in our lives.
+++++++
Sunday, March 16
We went to church service this morning and then came home so I could quickly change clothes for a concert by the Lake Country Symphonic Band. The program was all movie music, showcasing selections from a large number of movies spanning many years. We performed to our second consecutive sell-out crowd at Mineola's Historic Select Theater.
+++++++
Monday, March 17 - Wednesday, March 19
We have been thinking of taking our "dream trip" on Taz to the Pacific Northwest, and it is beginning to look like it might actually happen. We haven't spent a lot of time on Taz lately because of the weather, but we recently decided we might be able to rectify that with a warm-up trip this weekend to Hobbs, New Mexico, to surprise our Artesia/Roswell/Hobbs family at a baby shower for Karen Francis McReynolds. Someone needed to know we were coming, so we talked to Jerry Terpening about our plans and swore him to secrecy. After that, all we had to do was plan the trip, get the house ready to be vacant for a few days, and pack what we needed on Taz and the trailer. It was becoming questionable as to whether we'd get everything done by Thursday morning, but the important stuff got done and by late wednesday night, we felt like we were as ready as we could be.
+++++++
Thursday, March 20
We got up early this morning, delivered Bonita to her digs at the Bradshaw Hilton, finished packing Taz and the trailer, and pulled away from the house at 9:23 am, headed west on I-20.
We stopped in Abilene for the evening, had a nice "legal" meal at a Denny's across the street, hit the exercise room for a bit, and then settled in for a quiet evening.
+++++++
Friday, March 21
When we woke up this morning, we immediately noticed that we didn't have the expected blue skies for our ride. Instead, we had dark clouds and lots of wind, which didn't bode well for the day's journey. But, we got dressed, took our obligatory morning selfie, and started moving around.
After packing and having a bite of breakfast at the motel, we pulled back on I-20 and fought the crosswinds until we got to Big Spring, where we stopped for a break and a second breakfast.
On one of the relatively straight stretches when the wind was more or less blocked, Barbara was able to shoot this selfie on the back of Taz.
One reason for taking this trip was to find out what could go wrong that we might be able to avoid on a longer trip. While we knew the weather can always be fickle, what we learned today was that I didn't allow the intercom system to charge completely overnight, and about five miles north of Big Spring, we lost our communications, other than yelling at the tops of our voices...not a good situation at all.
We stopped in Lamesa for fuel, tried everything we knew to get the intercom working (to no avail) and then trekked on west to Hobbs. Fortunately, we had gotten to the far edge of the front that had been passing through, so it was a warm and fairly comfortable ride to Hobbs.
As soon as we got to Hobbs we checked in at the Lea County Inn and then headed to Furr's Cafeteria for lunch (decided that it was NOT the Furr's we used to know), did a little shopping for the baby shower, went to the bank, and then rode to James and Susie's house to surprise Susie. Unfortunately, we were the ones who were surprised, because Susie was out shopping, so after a few text messages asking whether she had received the gifts that we had "mailed," we decided to go on to the motel so Barbara could unpack and relax while I rode up to Lovington to visit my mother-in-love, Marie Neel, something I always try to do when we are in the area.
After a short visit in Lovington, I rode back to the motel in Hobbs and we then rode back to Susie and James's house to spend time with them and their daughter, Barbara, her husband, Warren, and grandkids Henry and Miriam.
Of course, Taz was a big hit with the little ones, so Barbara got busy with the camera to capture the excitement of the moment.
Tonight was fun family time until we we returned to the motel for some much needed rest.
+++++++
Saturday, March 22
This was going to be a busy day, so we got up relatively early to get dressed for all the different activities. First, though, was the morning selfie.
We waited at the front of the motel for Jerry, Nancy, and Becky to pick Barbara up and take her to James and Susie's house. Nancy and Becky still had no idea that we were in town, and we still don't know what excuse Jerry gave for going so far out of the way, but it worked, and Nancy and Becky were more than surprised to see us waiting for them.
I followed the car over to the house and we guys (James, Jerry, Warren, Henry, and I) spent the morning doing "guy stuff" while the girls all went to Karen's shower.
My highlight of the morning was when Barbara called to say that her camera batteries had died and she needed new ones to finish shooting the shower. Now, the phone call wasn't the highlight, but the ride over in James's Corvette definitely was...my first ride in a Corvette!!!
When the shower was over and the girls returned to the house, we spent family time visiting. I gave more rides on Taz while Barbara busied herself with downloading the kazillion or so photos that she had taken during the morning. Later, we all went out for dinner and then returned to the house for more family time and a celebration of Becky's upcoming birthday.
The day was over all too soon. Jerry, Nancy, and Becky drove us to the motel on their way back to Artesia. We did some packing for the trip tomorrow and then crashed for the night.
+++++++
Sunday, March 23
This was the day that we discovered how wrong a day can go for cycle riders.
We were up early, had Taz and the trailer packed, checked out of the motel, and began our ride...only to discover that it was 35 degrees and the winds were high enough to create a 27 degree wind chill...and that didn't include the additional chill factor from riding a cycle 65 - 70 miles per hour!
We made the first 45 miles of the trip to Seminole, Texas and then stopped at McDonald's for coffee and hot chocolate, while trying to get warmed up for the next leg.
Back on the road, we made it another 40 or so miles to Lamesa, where we stopped for the morning service at First Baptist Church (heard the best children's sermon ever), and then had lunch at Subway.
While the temperature was coming up a bit, the wind was still a big factor, so we put on our rain suits as an additional layer of clothing. That, plus turning out of the crosswind, got us to Big Spring, where we decided to find a motel room and get out of the weather for the rest of the day...it was the best decision we made all day!!!
+++++++
Monday, March 24
The morning dawned bright and beautiful, albeit at little cool. By 10:30, we were back on the road enjoying a calm and smooth ride across I-20.
We decided to stop at a rest area a few miles east of Coahoma, Texas, the site of our first entry in what has become an 8-volume journal/blog series. It was on this spot in 2006 that we spent the night in Big V on the first night of a trip that would take us to Dallas, Richmond, Virginia, and a motorcycle ride from Richmond to Salisbury, Maryland. We fired off a quick email that night to a few friends to let them know where we were, and those emails evolved into a full-blown journal.
It was an easy and fun ride the rest of the day...stops for fuel and rest breaks, and then a stop for the evening at Benbrook, where Leah and Ryan joined us for a short visit and a meal at the local Taco Villa.
+++++++
Tuesday, March 25
Happy Birthday to adopted niece Becky Terpening in Artesia, New Mexico!!!!
We gave the locals a chance to get work, and then headed east on I-20 through the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, making it back to the house in Mineola at 11:30 am after a 1073-mile trip that tested our endurance and patience, but was definitely a learning experience and preparation for a possible trip to California and up the Pacific Coast Highway.
+++++++
Wednesday, March 26
We were back in the normal grind of life today...a trip to Walmart to make it an official day, bills to pay, yard work to do, and a baby shower to prepare for...makes us tired just thinking of it all!
+++++++
Thursday, March 27
Today would have been Jean Terpening's birthday. Jean was our "adopted" mother for many years.
Any day that begins by finding a photo of a grandchild on Facebook just has to be a good one. This is a photo of grandson Jack that Kelly posted this morning.
The rest of the day was spent in preparing for Cousin Madalyn's baby shower on Saturday.
+++++++
Friday, March 28
Happy Anniversary to Daughter Whitney and Jim Farnham in Olathe, Kansas!!!!
Another full day of preparing for the shower...things to do and places to go!!! Leah came over from Burleson this evening to help.
+++++++
Saturday March 29
Shower Day!!! This was the culmination of a month's worth of planning and preparation. We went to the church at 9:00 to get everything set up...got back to the house around 11:00, and then Barbara and Leah returned to the church to serve as hostesses for the big event.
+++++++
Sunday, March 30
We were exhausted after the events of the last few days and almost didn't go to church. At the last minute we decided we'd go, and were met with just the words of encouragement and enlightenment that we needed...isn't God great that way?!!!
It was a beautiful afternoon, so we rode Taz out to Yantis for the evening service. We're going to need all the riding time we can get if we're to take that West Coast trip.
+++++++
Monday, March 31
Happy Birthday to Cousin Angela Thompson in Mineola, Texas!!!
It was Monday all day long. Barbara took care of getting us caught up on bills and banking while I researched our helmet communication systems and GPS unit so we can make the most of them on the planned trip out west.
+++++++
Back home in Mineola,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsy
