Thursday, January 1
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!!!
After spending two days being iced in at the Comfort Suites in Lubbock, we decided that if there was any opportunity at all to get on the road toward Arizona today, we'd take it, even if it meant traveling at a snail's pace.
We checked the weather for routes to El Paso and found that with huge chunks of I-20 closed around Odessa, and ice on the road between Lubbock and Clovis, the only chance we might have would be from Lubbock to Carlsbad, New Mexico, via Brownfield and Seminole, Texas.
We had a quick breakfast from the hotel offerings, loaded the car (after de-icing it for a half-hour, checked out of the hotel, and headed out of town. Luckily, a light coating of snow covered the highway, giving us fair traction, but we didn't push our luck and locked into a 40-45 MPH pace, pretty much what others on the road were doing.
The countryside was, of course, snow and ice covered, providing a winter wonderland (as long as we were inside and warm...we were pretty sure the wonderland would have lost its luster if we had to be outside the car).
Once we made it to Brownfield, we were feeling more confident that the conditions would not worsen along the way. However, there were enough icy patches that we still maintained the 45 mph speed...just in case.
As we were leaving Brownfield, we saw an emergency vehicle pulling out toward Seminole. It didn't take long for us to lose sight of it, but about 20 miles down the road, we saw it again...along with other emergency vehicles and pickup overturned in the median.
Except for that accident, nothing out of the ordinary occurred as we continued toward Seminole.
The highway from Seminole to the New Mexico state line was a little tricky, but the minute we crossed into New Mexico, all four lanes were perfectly clear and dry...finally, we were able to go the speed limit!
After a brief stop at McDonald's in Hobbs, we got back on the road toward Carlsbad. We alternated between patches of blue sky and total overcast, but the road was clear and we had to slow down only a couple of times for some tricky spots.
We stopped at Sonic in Carlsbad for lunch and a stretch break, and then headed on down U.S. 180 toward Guadalupe Pass, probably our last ice and snow obstacle before dropping down to the desert floor. From Carlsbad to White City (home of Carlsbad Caverns) and then a few miles past White City, we saw 11 vehicles that had left the highway and either spun out or overturned yesterday. Boy, were we ever glad we weren't out in that part of the storm.
About the time we reached the Texas state line, the clouds and fog started socking in again, and soon we were in whiteout conditions...time to slow down again and let Barbara take photos of yet another winter wonderland.
As we approached the middle part of Guadalupe Pass, the weather started to clear a bit and when we came around some of the curves, we began seeing parts of El Capitan, the most prominent feature of the Guadalupe mountains.
Just below El Capitan is a rest area where we pulled over to walk around a bit and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
Guadalupe Mountains National Park preserves one of the finest examples of an ancient marine fossil reef on Earth. During the Permian period, about 265 million years ago, a vast tropical sea covered much of the region. Within this sea, calcarious sponges, algae, and other lime-secreting marine organisms, along with lime from seawater, built up and formed a reef that paralleled the shoreline for about 400 miles. After the sea evaporated, the reef was buried in thick blankets of sediment and mineral salts, and was entombed for millions of years until uplift exposed massive portions of it.
Today, Guadalupe Peak, at an elevation of 8,751 feet, is the highest natural point in Texas. El Capitan (also known as Signal Peak), at an elevation of 8,064 feet is the 8th highest peak in Texas, but because of its prominence, appears to the traveler to be higher than Guadalupe Peak and other Guadalupe escarpment peaks behind it. El Capitan is the southern terminus of the Guadalupe Mountain range and stands as a sentinel over Salt Flats and the vast Chihuahuan Desert below.
After our break, we pulled back onto U.S. 180 and headed down the final part of Guadalupe Pass into the desert, where we found alternating blue skies and cloud cover, but no moisture to slow us down from the posted 75 mph speed limit.
In another hour or so, we approached El Paso, a gateway city that has expanded exponentially over the past 60 years.
Fortunately for today's travelers, there is now a loop system around El Paso, so we didn't have to get caught up in the crazy traffic patterns that exist there. Instead, we bypassed the entire downtown area by taking Transmountain Pass, through the Franklin Mountains.
Once over Transmountain Pass, a whole new vista opened up as we looked into both Texas and New Mexico.
We joined I-10 West and drove as fast as possible through Las Cruces and then on to Deming, where we checked in at the Best Western at which we stayed on our Taz Travels in late May. After getting things squared away at the motel, we drove downtown for a great meal at Denny's, and then headed back to the motel for a good night's sleep after a long and harrowing day.
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Friday, January 2
We woke up this morning grateful to be out of snow country and down in the nice warm and dry desert country...that is, until we looked out the window and saw a light dusting of snow on the tops of cars in the motel parking lot. We quickly checked the Weather Channel and saw that this was just a passing thing and we had nothing to worry about.
We packed the car and took off, enjoying the blue skies and what appeared to be gradually warming temperatures. At least, that was the case until we got halfway to Lordsburg and the skies turned cloudy and the snow started spitting.
And then it started snowing harder...
When we stopped at the Flying J in Lordsburg for gas, we were in nearly whiteout conditions again...so much for the warm desert and a nice day!
Barbara asked several of the Flying J employees about the weather and they were all as surprised as we were with the development. They had all watched the Weather Channel, too, and started their day thinking it was going to be nice weather today.
Back on I-10. we battled wind and snow. We remembered from our Taz trip through this area that there were highway signs warning of dust storm and low visibility. We didn't have dust this morning, but we did have the low visibility.
As we approached the Arizona state line, the skies started to clear a bit and we thought we were out of the bad stuff.
Barbara spotted some low-hanging clouds against a distant mountain and decided they would make good photos.
But, when we got to the approach to Texas Canyon, we found that the low clouds we saw were really the tops of a massive cloud system that had settled in the canyon...suddenly, we were back to near zero visibility again.
We pulled off at the Welcome Center rest area for a break and for me to take some shots of the scenic rock formations, but it was almost impossible to see the rocks...
So, I just took a picture of Barbara braving the elements without a coat...
Once we had crossed the fog-shrouded Texas Canyon, we left the clouds behind and began to enjoy warmer weather.
The highway was finally clear and we were able to speed along with everyone else. We did take note of an interesting highway sign that got our attention...
We're always on the lookout for new places to eat, so when we saw a sign for In and Out Burger on the north side of Tucson, we decided to give it a try. We'd seen them all over Southern California when we were on Taz, and heard about how good they were, so were excited about a new dining experience.
Well, all we can say is that in spite of the "cuteness" of the place, we don't need to try it again. Unlike Burger King (which we don't particularly care for), you don't get a burger "your way." You get it their way, and since their way doesn't include mustard (for me) or mayonnaise (for Barbara), it wasn't a real burger. But, we tried it and can now cross that off our list.
The last leg of the trip today took us from Tucson to Gilbert (a suburb of Phoenix) and the home of David and Jan Jividen, daughter-in-law Kelly's parents. Our past visits with David and Jan have pretty much been limited to overnight stays on our way to somewhere else, but this was going to be a visit of several days with folks that we really enjoy being with. When we arrived at the house, Jan greeted us with open arms as we unloaded the car and "moved in" for a bit.
One of our reasons for driving out to Phoenix this time was to attend a wedding reception for a former West Middle School/Liberal High School student, Nanny Saphongsone. Nanny had invited us to her wedding in Hawaii in December, but we had already chosen to make our New England trip in Big V. When we found that the mainland reception was going to be in Gilbert, we immediately got in touch with David and Jan to see about a visit of more than 36 hours. They told us to come on and stay as long as we wanted, so we made a plan (almost derailed by the storm in Lubbock) and here we are!
Barbara had bought a new outfit (that Carol, Randi and Leah helped her pick out) when we were in Burleson, and I dragged out a three-piece suit that I hadn't worn in ages. We felt like we were looking pretty spiffy and asked Jan and David to take some photos before we headed for the reception for a wonderful evening with Nanny and her family.
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Saturday, January 3
After a fun evening of visiting with Jan and David following last night's reception, a good night's sleep, and a great home-cooked breakfast this morning, we were ready to climb into Jan's Jeep and let David chauffeur us around to see some of the sights around Phoenix.
Our first destination was South Mountain, with its beautiful scenery and expansive views of the Phoenix area. We were a little disappointed that the road to the top of the mountain was closed for repairs, but the rest of the views more than made up for that.
Following are photos of the local flora (with emphasis on Saguaro cacti), interspersed with shots of the four of us being a Phun Bunch...
After wandering around the mountainside for awhile, we decided to stop at Scorpion Gulch, a place that just cried out for some more Photo Phun...
After a couple of hours of wandering around South Mountain, we decided to return to town for lunch at Arby's before continuing our explorations.
Since it was Saturday, David and Jan suggested that we might want to check out the weekly Swap Meet, which is the largest flea market we've ever seen. There were so many aisles and stalls that we couldn't begin to see everything, but we did manage to find some things we couldn't live without.
The parking lot provided an excellent setting for showcasing Jan's Jeep...
With trips to South Mountain and the Swap Meet under our belts, it was time to return to the house for the evening (besides, it was getting colder as the sun moved farther to the west, reminding us that it was still winter, even if we were in Arizona).
After a bite of supper, Jan and David set up their IPad and we all spent some Facetime with Mike, Kelly, Ava, and Jack. Aah, the miracles of the computer age!!!
Of course, we couldn't let the day pass without a photo of the four of us...
The activities for the night included a rousing game of Sequence, with the girls teamed up against the guys. It was looking bad for the guys when the girls won three consecutive rounds (we were playing the best four out of seven to win), but through masterful skill (as David and I claimed), or dumb luck, (as Barbara and Jan called it), David and I managed to win the next four rounds and the game.
After all that excitement, there wasn't anything else to do but call it a night and head for bed to rest up for another full day tomorrow.
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Sunday, January 4
David was a little under the weather this morning and decided he'd go to a clinic to see if they could give him something for coughing and sneezing he'd had for the last couple of days. While he did that, we went with Jan to attend the morning service at the Sun Valley Community Church campus in Gilbert.
After the service, we met David at Mod Pizza and enjoyed a whole new pizza experience. At Mod, you can either order off of a set menu, or you can build your own pizza from any or all of the many offerings on the counter. We each made our choices and then sat down to visit while our pizzas were being cooked, Soon, we were enjoying our selections while the Sunday crowd moved to "prepare" their own meals.
The Jividen's and Little's Excellent Adventure for today was a ride up the 101 to the Scottsdale area, specifically, Old Town Scottsdale, a modern "Old West" setting.
After finding a parking lot, we got out of the Jeep and immediately began taking pictures at a "pop art" exhibit next to the lot.
Barbara: Okay, Jan & I (though you certainly can't tell it) were sitting on a cube of ice and were supposed to be showing how cold it was! So much for the acting session.
The next stop was at the Old Adobe Mission, one of the oldest churches in the area...
Followed by stops at other points of interest in the area...
Barbara and Jan were obviously having a good time...Barbara: We were supposed to be running away; but...I look like I might be begging for something...
Main Street...
More Phun Photos...
A semi-serious photo taken by a helpful tourist...
After wandering through many of the shops in Old Town Scottsdale, it was time to return to the Parking Corral, retrieve the Jeep, and move on to the next adventure.
The next leg of the journey was to the very ritzy (to us) area of Phoenix near Camelback Mountain. We didn't see any shacks, mobile homes, or pre-fabs on that part of the tour.
After a full day of church and sight-seeing, it was time to return to the house in Gilbert, have supper, watch a movie on TV, and enjoy each other's company.
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Monday, January 5
David stayed at home today to work out of his home office and Jan had an early tennis match, so after saying goodbye to them for the morning, we drove to Oldtown Gilbert to for an adventure of our own.
One of our friends from Artesia days, Ken Cantrell, lives in the Phoenix area. We've called or emailed him on our previous trips through here, but never had time to get together. Ken said he had time to meet us for lunch at Old Town Gilbert, so we drove down there a little early to scope out the place.
We met Ken at Liberty Market, an old grocery market that has been transformed into a nice restaurant. We placed our orders at the counter and then sat down to start getting caught up on each others lives. We had seen Ken briefly at our Class of '62 reunion in Artesia a couple of years ago, but didn't have time to do much talking then. Since that was the first time we'd seen him since high school graduation, there was a lot of talking to do!
When David and Jan recommended the Liberty Market to us, Jan told us that we had to check out the restroom area of the restaurant. She told us it was a unisex restroom with a common sink area and private stalls, each with a unique decor. Barbara checked it out first, going into each of the stalls to take photos of the decor.
After eating and then visiting with Ken some more outside, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways until our next visit.
With a couple of hours to kill before we could meet Jan again, we decided to drive across Gilbert to the car wash we had stopped out when we first came into town on Friday. It seems that when we went through the automatic wash, the power of the sprayers knocked our magnetic Patriot Guard Riders sign off the driver side door. W had called that evening, but no one knew anything about it. As luck would have it, someone did find the magnetic sign and they were holding it for us, so we got it back, said "Thank you very much," put it back on the car, and drove back across Gilbert to Barnes and Noble to look for books for us and for Ava and Jack.
Jan joined us at the bookstore later and together we decided on the books that we wanted to send Ava and Jack from their grandparents.
We then followed Jan to a nearby Costco to buy some under-the-counter motion-activated fluorescent lights to take back to the Mineola house. David had installed some in their kitchen and we were so impressed with them that we just had to have a set of our own.
When our shopping was done, we drove back to the house to get with David, who took us all to our next adventure, a tour of the grounds at Queen Creek Olive Mill, a working olive tree orchard, olive pressing facility, herb garden, and gift shop.
Our first stop was in the gift shop, where we sampled several kinds and flavors of olives from the mill. The shop had a wide selection of wines, snacks and treats that go with the different olives, a gelato stand, and a coffee roasting section.
After looking around inside, we bought some gelatos and took them outside to enjoy them in the shade of the olive grove.
We took one more trip inside to see if there was anything we had missed. David and I paid close attention to the coffee roaster, watching closely as the employee poured the raw beans into the roaster, fired it up, and then dispensed the freshly roasted beans, which smelled heavenly!
All that was left was for David and I to purchase a couple of bags of freshly roasted beans to take with us.
We got back in the Jeep and headed out, stopping to take one last photo of one of the signs advertising this unique stopping point on our tour.
We drove back to the house where Barbara and I began packing and loading the car for our journey tomorrow. Later, David and I went out for Chinese takeout that we all thoroughly enjoyed before settling down to a last game, a fiercely contested couple of rounds of Mexican Train.
By the time we finished the last game, we were all ready to call it a day and head for bed.
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Tuesday, January 6
We had a wonderful time with David and Jan and would have loved to stay longer, but this morning it was time for us to get back on the road and head to Artesia for a visit and Christmas celebration with our "adopted" family there.
With such a long road ahead of us, we got up early, did the last minute packing and loading, said goodbye to Jan and David, and set out to hit I-10 and head east.
The drive toward Tuscon, the first heavily populated area on the trip, was fairly easy, partly because of the overcast skies that kept us from having to stare into the sun. Since we've made this particular trip several times, we didn't break out the camera until we got to Picacho Pass, a particularly scenic part of the drive.
We made it through Tuscon with a minimum of stress and then took a rest and refueling break at Love's in Benson.
Farther down the highway, we pulled off in Willcox to stop at the highly publicized Apple Annie's Orchard to see if there was anything we couldn't live without.
We did find several things to take along for personal use and to use as gifts along the way. Not only that, we explored a little mining exhibit and went into the visitor's center, where we found some special gifts for Alexander and Abby, and a book on Geronimo for me.
As a side note, we mentioned in the January blog that we had prepared little gift bags to hand out whenever we saw someone who might be homeless or otherwise down on their luck. Each bag contained a pack of crackers, a breakfast bar, a bottle of water, a couple of dollar bills, an some tracts that we got from the church office. Even with all the miles we traveled so far in this trip, today we had our first opportunity to hand out the bags, and it was interesting to note the responses. When we first turned off of I-10 to go to Apple Annie's, we noticed that there were several men who were panhandling, but because of the traffic flow and where the men were located, we weren't able to do anything. On the way back out to I-10, however, we were able to hand out two of the bags to men who smiled and expressed great gratitude. A third man, when I took a bag and held it out the window toward him, refused to cross the lane and just waved us off...we decided then that you just can't be nice to some people.
Anyway, we re-entered I-10 East and boogied on down the highway, stopping for lunch at the Dairy Queen at Butterfield Station, an old stage coach stop. Getting lunch at the DQ turned out to be not such a good deal, but in talking to one of the employees at the gist shop, we found that he and his wife were from Dodge City, Kansas, just a hop, skip, and jump from where we were in Liberal...small world!
We got away from Butterfield station as soon as possible and continued our drive toward Las Cruces, where we were impressed, as always, with the Organ Mountains backdrop of this desert city.
We cruised through Las Cruces and bent south toward El Paso, stopping close to the Texas state line for fuel and a stretch break, and then continued to the Transmountain Road cutoff to bypass El Paso.
Since we didn't get to stop at any of the scenic points of Transmountain Road the other day, we decided we'd stop for a few minutes this afternoon to get some shots of Mount Franklin and the Mesilla Valley.
On the other side of Transmountain, we got these views of part of El Paso and the Chihuahuan Desert...
By this point, we knew we were going to be on the road a lot longer than we had planned, so we drove as fast as we could across the Transmountain Loop, hit U.S. 180, and put the pedal to the metal to try to get through Guadalupe Pass before it got too dark.
The sun had dropped by the time we made it through the pass, but at least the road was fairly straight from the New Mexico state line past White's City and into Carlsbad, where we stopped at Denny's for dinner and yet another mini-reunion with a member of the Artesia High School Class of 1962, Don Scarbrough. As with Ken Cantrell earlier in the trip, we had not seen Don since graduation except for just a few minutes at the class reunion a couple of years ago, so there was a lot of catching up to do in a very short time.
Promising to get together again the next time we are in the "neighborhood," we said goodbye to Don and made the final 40 miles of today's journey to Artesia and the home of our "adopted" family, Jerry and Nancy Terpening. It was pretty late when we got there, so we unloaded the car, got everything moved into "our" room, and then visited a bit before everyone went to bed and crashed for the night.
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Wednesday, January 7
Jerry and Nancy both had to go to work this morning, leaving us to the house (or whatever we wanted to do today). Since it was cold, cloudy, and windy, and because we were still tired from yesterday's driving, we elected to stay at the house and do as little as possible until we went to town at noon to join Jerry, Nancy, Susie, and Joyce for the weekly lunch at Chaos, a favorite Artesia restaurant...good food, good company, and good times!!!
While the others returned to their respective jobs, we returned to the house to take a nap and then begin building photo files for this month's journal/blog.
When Jerry and Nancy returned home, we had dinner and visited about the day's activities before turning our attention to a game we hadn't played with them in the past. Jerry and Nancy call the game Marbles, but we've heard it called Wah-Hoo! A quick internet search lead to several other names and board designs for the game.
This particular board had been built years ago by Cal Terpening, Jerry's dad. Since Becky wasn't going to be joining us tonight, and the game is for a maximum of four people, we decided this would be a good time for us to play.
To say the game was a rousing success for us would be an understatement...it will certainly be a part of the entertainment package in future visits!
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Thursday, January 8
Jerry and I got up early this morning and went to the weekly Methodist Men's breakfast at the hospital cafeteria.. When the breakfast was over, Jerry took me back to the house and then he and Nancy went to work while we started some laundry and did some work on the computers. Later, we drove to Roswell to meet Barbara's sister, Carol, at Golden Corral for lunch.
We had invited my borther, Jerry, and his wife, Jane, to join us for lunch, but they had some other things going on and passed on the offer. So, when we finished visiting with Carol, we drove to the house to spend some time with Jerry and Jane and get caught up on what they've been doing since the last time we saw them.
Since we were in town anyway, Barbara called Barbara Yehl (one of Susie's daughters), to see if she and the kids were available to visit for a few minutes, Barbara said to come over, so we drove to her house to spend some time with son Henry, daughter Miriam, and Barbara (Warren was at work).
Then, it was time to drive to Happy Jack's Trading Post and Used Bookstore to see if any of our favorite authors were represented among the books we haven't yet read. As usual, we managed to find a few...even bought several books by a new author that we haven't read before...stretching our literary horizons by a bit.
After making our book selections and then doing some shopping at Albertson's, we returned to Artesia for a (relatively) quiet evening with Jerry and Nancy. I went to Fenn's Market with Jerry to get a batch of Bulldog Burgers for supper. When we finished eating, it was time to bring out the Marbles board again. Becky had a play rehearsal tonight, but came by the house afterward and we took time out for group photos.
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Friday, January 9
Today dawned cloudy, cold, and blustery...just the kind of weather for staying inside to finish laundry, pack clothes, and begin loading the car for tomorrow's travel. I ventured out for a bit to gas up the car at Walmart, but until suppertime, that was pretty much it for going outside (except for taking things to the car).
Nancy was home this afternoon, so we experimented playing Marbles with three players, which can be even more of an individual challenge than having four players. We probably should have had a referee in full body armor, but we all survived and even had a good time.
Tonight we made our traditional trip to La Fonda for Mexican food...the food was delicious, as usual, the service was great, and the company was fantastic!
Afterward, we all returned to the house for a rip-roaring game of Chickenfoot. And, even though Backy played her usual role as score keeper, she didn't win this time...that honor went to Barbara after a hard fought battle with the other players and a winner-take all draw against Jerry.
After Becky left, we all called it a night and retired to our rooms to get some sleep in preparation for the long day ahead.
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Saturday, January 10
With a lot of miles ahead of us, we got up early, finished loading the car, said goodbye to Jerry and Nancy, and headed east, with the game plan of making it to Burleson to spend the night with Leah and Ryan, and then to church in Cleburne tomorrow morning before returning to Mineola.
The morning was cloudy and cool...perfect for driving into the sunrise (since we couldn't see it and it couldn't blind us), and we made the 80 or so miles to Hobbs without incident. We stopped for a couple of Egg White McMuffins at the McDonald's in Hobbs and then climbed back into the car for the next leg of the trip.
Along the way, we were feeling worse and worse, with both of us suffering from coughing and congestion, and generally feeling like we'd been run over by a train while trying to stand up between cars.
By the time we got to Lamesa, we were wondering whether we should call Leah and Ryan and let them know we might not make it to their place tonight, as we weren't feeling well, and the weather appeared to be worsening.
The weather continued to get worse, with the rain that began falling in Lamesa quickly turning to ice and snow as we moved south toward Big Spring and I-20.
Fortunately, the weather system changed when we got onto I-20 toward Abilene, and we were able to pick up some speed. However, we were pretty sure by this time that if at all possible, we wanted Mineola in our sights tonight. We were exhausted and the kids certainly didn't need whatever it was that we had.
After stopping in Abilene for fuel and refreshment (the quality of the day pretty well speaks for itself when one notes that with four cameras between us, the only photo we got was of the box of chicken from Chikck-Fil-A in Abilene)...
We decided to call the kids and ask them if they'd scout out someplace along I-20 in Fort Worth to meet us and hand over a couple of boxes that they were holding for us until we came back through.
We barreled on down I-20, stopping only for a rest break at a Pilot in Weatherford, and then got word from Leah about meeting us at a Taco Bell (not for food, thank goodness) just off the highway in Fort Worth.
By the time we got to the Taco Bell, it was raining again. We pulled up beside Leah and Ryan's car, took the boxes out of their car and put them in ours, said goodbye, and pulled back on the interstate for the final mad dash to Mineola. The closer we got, the longer it seemed for us to get there, but we finally pulled into the driveway, and parked the car.
Barbara went inside to change clothes and lie down while I unloaded the car, just throwing everything in the spare bedroom; there'd be plenty of time for unpacking tomorrow.
After 16 days on the road and 2,600 miles across 3 states and back, we were finally in our own home, with all but one of our Christmas celebrations completed.
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Sunday, January 11
All we can say about this day is that if there was anyone in the area sicker than we were, we wouldn't want to meet them or be them! All of the things that were wrong with Barbara were intensifying, and I felt like I was only three days behind her. The sound track for our lives today consisted of coughing, sneezing, and moaning in pain. We unpacked only what we had to have for the day and did one load of laundry, but that was it.
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Monday, January 12
I called Dr. Martinez' office first thing this morning to see if he could see Barbara. They wouldn't be able to work her in in Quitman, but suggested that I call the clinic in Mineola. We were able to get an appointment with the nurse practitioner, but not until 4:00 this afternoon.
I was feeling a little better (except for the coughing and sneezing), so I tried to do a little more unpacking and putting things away.
We got to the clinic at 4:00, and by 5:00 were armed with some prescriptions for antibiotics and something for Barbara's cough and congestion. We stopped at the pharmacy to pick up the items and then went back home to crash and hope for a good night's sleep.
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Tuesday, January 13
I was beginning to think that what I had was severe allergies, rather than anything more serious, so this morning I got up early and drove out to church for prayer meeting. Afterward, I stopped at Our Little Lot to check on Big V, then drove back to Mineola to pick up another bottle of cough medicine/decongestant. Evidently, there has been quite a rush on Delsym products, and I wasn't able to get the same thing we got yesterday.
Back at the house, we just took it easy, with both of us sucking down cough syrup and Barbara taking antibiotics. We nearly finished the unpacking from the trip...just a few things left.
Nap time was occurring every few hours, and going outside was out of the question!
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Wednesday, January 14
This was another day of doing mostly nothing...naps and medications were the only things that got accomplished during the morning. We did make a Walmart run this afternoon for some necessary items, and this evening I felt well enough to bake a couple of loaves of jalapeno bread and some bread bowls, but that was the extent of our activity.
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Thursday, January 15
Happy Birthday to sister Nancy Jean Perry Hargrave in Cleburne, Texas!!!!
Today was the prettiest day we've had since we got back from the trip. Coincidentally, we both felt better today...not well yet, but better.
I took over the kitchen the first part of the morning, whipping up loaves of apple cranberry bread (a new recipe), beer bread (a recipe we got from Nancy Terpening while we were in Artesia), and one of my old standbys, banana/nut bread.
When I had cleaned up my mess, Barbara moved in to make up a big batch of country-style park ribs and sauerkraut (a recipe she had gotten from Jan and David)...it was almost like the old days (before Christmas).
When we weren't in the kitchen, we managed to get other chores done...Barbara paid bills and did some dusting, getting ready for our 8th Christmas celebration of the season. She also put out some new bird feeders that we received as Christmas gifts from Cousin Angela and Leah.
Later in the afternoon, we made a run to town, stopping at Sonic, and then going to Walmart for more cough syrup, and the post office to mail off a few things...whew!!!...we were on a roll!!!!
I drove up to Quitman tonight to get back in the swing of things with the Lake Country Symphonic Band.
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Friday, January 16
Happy Birthday to brother Jerry Little in Roswell, New Mexico!!!!
Both of us were showing improvement today, so we spent the time getting ready for tomorrow's "Christmas" visit by Heather, Andy, Alexander, and Abby. There were still packages to wrap and place, a birthday ice-cream cake for Alexander (whose 11th birthday was December 27, but they and we were all on the road then, so tomorrow will be the celebration day.
I baked several loaves of jalapeno bread while all the work was going on, and then we ran some errands and made a last-minute trip to Walmart for things we'd need for tomorrow's Christmas/Birthday dinner.
It's always good to receive photos of the kids and grandkids. This evening Mike sent us some shots of Ava and Jack enjoying the new books that David, Jan, Barbara, and I sent them from Arizona.
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Saturday, January 17
Today was all about this evening. Or, to clarify that statement, today was all about preparing for a visit from the Richardson bunch and our 8th Christmas celebration of the season that began a month ago.
During the morning, we wrapped the last of the presents, dusted and straightened the house, and made sure we had all the food items we'd need when the kids arrived.
Around 3:00, we fired up the grill and, when it was ready, threw on the hamburger patties, all the while getting the table set and the burger trimmings out so we could begin the party as soon as the kids walked in.
Our timing was as close to perfect as possible, as we watched the car turn the corner onto Heritage Drive just as we went out to get the burgers off the grill. We had quick greetings and then sat down to eat and start getting caught up on the last month or so.
After eating, we adjourned to the living room for the "official" family portraits...
including some that were less serious than others...
And then it was time to get into the Christmas spirit...
From the smiles on the faces and the piles of gift wrapping all around the room, one could reasonably assume that a good time was had by all!
After straightening up some of the mess in the living room, we returned to the dining room to celebrate Alexander's 11th birthday. His birthday was December 27, but because we are all rarely ever together around that date, Alexander's Birthday is like Christmas...we just save it until we we get together.
Barbara's new ice cream cake recipe (using ice cream sandwiches and whipped topping) was an immediate and overwhelming success with all of us.
When the birthday party was over, we adjourned to the living room to visit, share stories, watch Abby show us what she was learning in her guitar lessons, and generally clown around and have a good time with each other.
The party was over all too soon, but it was late and dark, and the kids had a 2-hour drive back to Richardson, so we all helped with repacking their car, shared hugs and kisses all around, thanked them again for taking the time to come over this evening, and wished them well as they drove away...what a great time we had and what great memories we made in just a few hours!
One of the gifts we got tonight was a special delivery from Olathe. When we began the Christmas season by visiting Whitnay, Jim, and Jimmy in December, we stopped at an Asian Market one evening and Barbara picked out a bamboo plant and a pot that she really liked. That same evening while we were at the house and the kids were out visiting Jim's family, we heard a loud crash from the front room. When we checked on the source of the noise, we found that the cats had knocked the plant and pot over, shattering the pot. We were disappointed, of course, but we rescued the plant and found another pot when we returned to Mineola. Tonight, Andy and Heather handed over a package addressed to us from the cats. They sent us a replacement pot just like the one they broke, and apologized profusely...what well trained cats!!!
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Sunday, January 18
All of the events of the past week or so seemed to catch up with us today. We both woke up totally exhausted and hacking and coughing at each other. We voted that no one at church needed to be subjected to whatever it is we have, so we went back to bed and spent the better part of the day sleeping, getting up every few hours to take more cough syrup and Tylenol.
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Monday, January 19
We didn't really feel like it, but we felt we just had to dismantle Christmas at our house today...the decorations had been up well past their time, and since we had the last of our planned Christmases Saturday, it was time to call it a season and return to normal, whatever "normal' is.
The task turned out to be not quite as daunting as we had thought, and by lunchtime, everything was taken down, boxed up, and returned to the attic until next December.
Leah and Angela each gave us homemade bird feeders for Christmas. Barbara took them out and hung them up this afternoon. The teacup feeder is hanging off the hummingbird feeder in the Azalea bushes in front of the house, while the large plate feeder is in a tree beside the driveway.
We were wiped out by the time we finished, so we had a bite of lunch and took a nap until it was time to get dressed and make another visit to the Dr, Martinez' ETMC Clinic just north of town.
The nurse practitioner, Gina, checked Barbara over, then drew some blood, took some chest X-Rays, and gave her a shot of high-powered antibiotics before sending us back to the house.
While Barbara recuperated from her experience at the clinic, I took advantage of the warm weather and went outside to continue raking leaves from the North 40, a project that seems to be never ending.
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Tuesday , January 20 - Saturday, January 24
Our activities for these days consisted of whatever we felt like doing and what the weather allowed, which wasn't very much. With both of us feeling the effects of whatever bug we were experiencing, we limited ourselves to some simple housekeeping chores and an hour or two a day of outside work when possible. We need this bug to go away!!!
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Sunday, January 25
We finally felt well enough to return to church this morning and then back this evening for a business meeting, and that was about all we could do, although we are both feeling better than we were.
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Monday, January 26
It was a pretty morning and I was feeling so much better than I had been, that I decided to do some more raking and clearing in the North 40. Even though it isn't our lot, it adjoins our property and if we don't take care of it, no one does, resulting in a haven for critters that we don't want as neighbors, and general ugliness. So, I took the rake and pruning shears to it, trying to get it ready for mowing before the February snows arrive.
Meanwhile, Barbara worked in the house, coming up with ideas for remodeling the kitchen (or at least rearranging some things in it), and working on new and interesting recipes.
When I had done all I could do outside, we took some treats to Wood Memorial Nursing Home to show our continuing appreciation to the staff who took such good care of Mother when she was there. Then, we took some goodies to our friends Addie and Jenny at the Autumn Winds Assisted Living Center. Addie was gone; so we spent time catching up with Jenny.
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Tuesday, January 27
While Barbara stayed at home to work around the house, I drove out to Yantis for our weekly prayer meeting, then went to Our Little Lot to rake leaves and get the property cleaned up. I wanted to torch the burn pile, but it was still wet and wouldn't catch, so I just raked up piles of leaves to move later.
This afternoon we took the car to the Chevrolet place for regular maintenance. It hadn't been a that long since the last oil change, but we put so many miles on it during the Christmas trips that it was time again.
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Wednesday, January 28
Today was a Tyler day. Barbara had an appointment with Dr. Tolleson, her cardiologist. We got there at noon, and nearly five hours and a couple of tests later, Dr. Tolleson told us that everything was just fine and, unless something cropped up, to come back in another year. That was especially good news in light of all the sickness we've had around the house the last month.
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Thursday, January 29
We just piddled around the house this morning, but it was so nice after lunch that we decided to take Taz out for a ride. Good riding days are few and far between this time of the year, so we take advantage of them when we can.
Our riding route this afternoon took us north on Texas 37 almost to Big Sandy Creek, just south of Quitman, where we headed west toward Golden. We'd been this way several times in the car, but this was the first time to really explore it on Taz.
Barbara took a break from shooting scenery to get in a few helmet selfies...
As we approached the U.S. 69 intersection, I looked in my mirror and saw a couple of cycles coming up behind us...no big surprise, since it was such a beautiful afternoon...just perfect for a January ride. The two bikers, one on Taz's cousin, broke away and went north on 69, but not without giving a wave and a shout.
We rode through the little town of Golden...
And then rode up the road to Texas 19, where we turned back to the southwest toward Grand Saline...
As we got closer to Grand Saline, we hit a weather front that was changing the skies from bright blue with white clouds to gray with a hazy sun...
Before we turned to the east on U.S. 80 at Grand Saline, we stopped at the intersection long enough for Barbara to get some shots of me...
Back in Mineola, we made a mandatory stop at Sonic for the afternoon special...
We then rode east on U.S. 80 through Mineola to Loop 562 and around town to Walmart to pick up a few necessaries, plus a couple of chocolate roses to take to our friends Addie and Jenny and Autumn Wind.
We found Addie in the game room with some of her friends, and gave her hugs and her chocolate rose.
We went looking for Jenny and found her in her apartment. She, too, loved the chocolate rose. After visiting a few minutes, we all walked back toward the mail room, where we found Addie and said our group goodbyes before heading back to the house for supper and a few minutes of rest.
This evening was community band rehearsal at Quitman High School, and then back home to chill out before going to bed.
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Friday, January 30
While we were riding yesterday, we evidently got into something that sent me into a sneezing fit. When I woke up this morning, my sinuses were going crazy and I had a terrible headache, so I started taking Benedryl, which sent me straight to bed for a series of naps. Barbara took care of the house while I slept the day and night away.
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Saturday, January 31
Today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday, except that after determining that what I had was just a bad case of sinusitis, we decided that we would take Heidi and Curt Hays up on their invitation to come to Lindale and see their new home out in the country. We didn't stay there long, but did have a nice visit before returning to Mineola where I immediately went back to bed and slept all evening and all night. (We also left the camera alone on purpose since Hannah had just had surgery and the rest of us just looked comfy...not a photo day!)
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At home in Mineola,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsy
