Friday, November 13
Our arrival back home at noon after a 46-day 4,487 mile trip on Taz marked the transition from living the dream to living a "normal" life (whatever normal might be). There were several chores that needed to be handled right away, such as going through all of the accumulated mail that John, our neighbor across the street, had bundled for us, unloading Taz and the trailer, and letting folks know that we were back in place.
Prior to our trip, our normal Friday evening activity was to get together with some church friends for an evening of fun, food, and fellowship. After contacting Reed and Luann, and Jerry and Diane, we all decided we'd start that activity up again this evening by meeting at Jalapeno Tree to eat and get caught up on all that we had missed while we were gone. And wouldn't you know it, but after six weeks of taking pictures at every turn, we got so busy enjoying each other's company that we totally forgot to take any pictures of our welcome home celebration! Oh well, the evening was a great success and a good time was had by all!
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Saturday, November 14
We treated ourselves to sleeping in this morning, but when we did get up and about, we discovered that job one was to make a grocery list and restock the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. After making our list and checking it twice, we joined the Saturday crowd at Walmart, and quickly remembered why we really don't like going there.
When we returned to the house, we put away all the groceries, did some more unpacking, and then voted to do nothing of significance for the remainder of the day.
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Sunday, November 15
it was great to get back into the routine of going to the morning service at Yantis First Baptist Church and hearing a wonderful sermon from our new pastor, Craig Vance. It didn't take but a few minutes to realize that we were right back where we were supposed to be.
Sunday afternoon is good for napping, and we took full advantage of the quiet time to rest up a bit from our recent trip...then, it was back to Yantis for the evening church service.
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Monday, November 16
The first thing on our agenda this morning was to go to the Autumn Wind assisted living facility to visit with our ladies, Jennie Bunn and Addie Provow, and let them know we were back in place...at least for a couple of days. Both ladies have become a part of our extended family, and it was so good to get to see them and visit for a few minutes. An added bonus was that our friend Linda, whom we had missed seeing when we were in South Carolina, was visiting Addie, so we got to finally catch up with her.
Following our visit with the ladies, we drove to Winona to visit Norma at the new Patriot Guard Riders Guard Shack. It was a cloudy, grey, and rainy morning, but the drive through the East Texas woods provided opportunities for picture-taking of some beautiful scenery.
When we got to the Guard Shack, Norma gave us a quick tour of the new facility and brought us up to date with information on the upcoming Snowball Express mission that the Patriot Guard Riders would be doing in December. One of the projects will be to provide leather vests for each of the participating youth. We were with Norma today to give her a batch of Army insignia and patches that had been gathered by former student Jon Harvey and his men to be sewn onto the vests.
We returned to Mineola, made a stop at the local What-A-Burger for lunch to take home, and then returned to the house to eat, take a nap, and begin planning and packing for a trip to New Mexico for brother Jerry's funeral.
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Tuesday, November 17
Happy 21st Birthday to granddaughter Randi Colwell in San Antonio!!!
Happy 21st Birthday to granddaughter Randi Colwell in San Antonio!!!
What a busy day this turned out to be! We began the day with an early morning trip to Yantis for the weekly men's prayer group. Then, it was off to Lindale for a pre-surgical consultation for an upcoming skin cancer surgery.
When we got back to Mineola, we te lunch and then went to get much-needed haircuts from Leslie at Naturally Nails. It had been a l-o-n-g time since our last visit with Leslie, and we were more than ready to be shorn.
The rest of the afternoon and evening were devoted to organizing and packing everything we might need for the trip to New Mexico.
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Wednesday, November 18
About all we can say for this day was that it was a long one. We finished loading the car and got an early start toward New Mexico. The plan was to go to Hobbs and stay with James and Susie Francis, then go to Roswell and Artesia tomorrow. However, when we called Susie to confirm everything, we found that she would be working late in Artesia and James was working late at his office in Hobbs. So, we decided that we'd drive straight through to Artesia and take up Jerry and Nancy Terpening on their offer to stay with them for a couple of nights. It made for a nearly 11-hour driving day, but we got to Artesia in time to spend a few minutes with Susie before going to Jerry and Nancy's house and settling in for the evening.
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Thursday, November 19
We slept in a bit this morning and then prepared to drive up to Roswell to take care of some business and stop at the funeral home to see Jerry and check on the honor guard arrangements for his funeral tomorrow.
As we entered the Roswell area, we noticed the UFO welcome sign on the south side of town. In the past, we've tried to ignore all the UFO "stuff" around Roswell (which is difficult to do, since there is so much of it), but this morning we thought we'd pull off the highway to get a photo of locals welcoming the UFO and its crew. We promise to not make a habit of this.
When we got into town, we called Jane to see if she wanted to meet Barbara's sister Carol and us at Golden Corral for lunch, but she was busy with her kids and decided she wouldn't be able to make it this time. So, we met Carol at the restaurant for a time of catching up and enjoying a good meal.
After lunch, we drove back to the funeral home to meet with Jane and help finalize arrangements for Jerry's funeral.
And then, it was back to Artesia to rest up a bit before enjoying time with the Terpening family and having dinner at La Fonda (because it isn't an official visit to Artesia without eating Mexican food at La Fonda).
Friday, November 20
Before we left Artesia to go to Roswell this morning, we stopped at Baish Veterans Park in Artesia to view the memorials and the newest sculpture, a magnificient wood carving made from the remains of a tree that had stood on the grounds for many years.
Today was a day that one never really imagines is going to happen. It is understood that in the natural order of things,children will one day bury their parents, but to say a final goodbye to a sibling, especially when you are so close in ages, is almost incomprehensible.
After checking in at the funeral home to finalize the arrangements for the honor guard, we went down the block to a new restaurant to join family members and friends for lunch before the funeral. As we were going to the car, I received a phone call from our friends Bob and Terry Stevens in Albuquerque. I thought they were calling to offer their condolences, but they were really calling to say that they were just a few miles out of Roswell, on their way to see us. Even though Bob and I go way back to the first day of college at Eastern New Mexico University in 1962, I didn't expect he and Terry to give up a whole day and drive to Roswell for Jerry's funeral...what great friends they are!
At the restaurant, we received another surprise when Barbara's sister took time off work to join us. She wasn't going to be able to get away from her school for the funeral, but did want to spend a little time with us.
Brother Ernie and Billee arrived from Harrison Arkansas, in time for the meal, and Jerry's son, Gary Dan and his wife, Teresa, also joined us for a time of catching up with each other and remembering and celebrating Jerry's life as a family.
After eating, we returned to the funeral home so I could change into my Bugles Across America uniform and warm up my trumpet to sound Taps as part of the honor guard. Meanwhile, others visited with each other and Barbara was able to get some really nice pictures of the gathering. Just prior to the service, Jerry and Nancy Terpening came in from Artesia to join us.
When the service was over, we went to Jane's house for a short time of family visitation, then said our goodbyes to everyone and returned to Artesia to begin packing for the return trip to Mineola tomorrow.
Saturday, November 21
Something we try to do whenever we are in Artesia is to capture sunsets and sunrises (since we never see them in East Texas), but our schedule for this short period of time just didn't allow for that. For some reason, I woke up at early-thirty and braved the cold to go outside to the front of Jerry and Nancy's house to get these two shots...
We got an early start on packing and loading the car this morning, had breakfast with Jerry and Nancy, and then said our goodbyes.
We drove into town to First United Methodist Church for a memorial service for Micah Johnson, son of one of my oldest friends, Max Johnson. Max and I go back to my junior high band days in Artesia, Micah had passed away in recently after a long illness and Max had brought him home to Artesia. Under the circumstances, we didn't have much time to visit Max before the service, but were able to share condolences with each other.
Following the memorial service, we once again climbed into the car and made our way to Lovington, where we stopped so I could visit my mother-in-love, Marie Neel at her nursing home. Following that, we went downtown to one of the shops where former brother-in-law Larry was having a photography exhibition in one of the shops. Larry's wife, Martha, and his sister, Linda, were there also. It was a great opportunity to see some of Larry's work and get in a good visit.
With time running out and a lot of miles to cover, we said goodbye to Larry, Martha, and Linda and headed down the road through Hobbs, Seminole and Lamesa, Texas, and into Big Spring, where we picked up I-20, determined to make as many miles as possible so we could be home early tomorrow, if not sometime tonight.
The highway and travel conditions were excellent, but by the time we got east of Abilene, we knew we weren't going to be able to make it as far as we wanted, so Barbara started looking up lodging along the way. She was able to get us a reservation for the night at La Quinta in Eastland, where we unloaded the minimum amount of luggage we needed and crashed for the night.
Sunday, November 22
We got up early this morning (even before the coffee had been made in the breakfast room) and continued to journey east on I-20, determined to get back home in time to go to church at Yantis. But, Barbara started feeling bad and the farther we went, the worse she felt. While we did make it back to Mineola in time for us to get out to Yantis for the morning service, Barbara was so sick she couldn't see straight, and I was wrung out physically and mentally from the past few days, so we just went straight to bed and decided we'd take care of unloading the car later.
We slept away the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon, then got the car unloaded, had a bite to eat, and crashed again, accomplishing not much of anything for the rest of the day and night.
Monday, November 23
Barbara was feeling even worse this morning, so I called and got a 10:00 am appointment with her physician assistant at the Mineola clinic.. After checking her over, we were told she had a viral infection that would just have to run its course with the help of a couple of prescriptions.
We returned to the house after going to the pharmacy and then I prepared for a trip to Tyler to see Dr. Dennis about trouble I've been having with my right knee, the one I had surgery on three years ago. Since we didn't know what Dr, Dennis would do, and Barbara wasn't able to go with me, TJ drove me to Tyler. After taking x-rays and checking my knee, Dr. Dennis explained some options and I chose to take a steroid shot that should give me relief from the pain I'd been experiencing.
This evening we had a rare Monday rehearsal of the Lake Country Symphonic Band to take the place of the regular Thursday night rehearsal that will fall on Thanksgiving Day.
Tuesday, November 24
Barbara stayed inside all day, trying to get over the infection she had. I went to prayer meeting at Yantis and then to Our Little Lot to do some raking and mowing to try to get the property ready for winter.
Wednesday, November 25
Happy Birthday in Heaven to son Jimmy Clint Colwell, who would have been 44 years old today.
Happy Birthday to daughter-in-law Carol Colwell in San Antonio!!!
The doctor had said that Barbara's infection and its after-effects would hang on for around ten days, so she stayed at home to get rest while I went back to the lake lot this morning to torch the burn pile that I had built with all the leaves, grasses, and downed trees.
We spent a rare Wednesday evening together at home because the praise band rehearsal was cancelled because of the Thanksgiving holidays.
Nephew Gary Dan (brother Jerry's son) and Teresa sent us a couple of photos, featuring their sons Caiden and Colson...a couple of good looking kids looking forward to Christmas.
Thursday, November 26
Happy 40th Birthday to son Mike Little in Midlothian, Virginia!!!
Cousins Ladd and Angela hosted the traditional family Thanksgiving dinner today. Barbara had hoped to go, but decided that no one over there needed to be exposed to whatever she had. Leah and Ryan came up from Burleson to spend the day with us, so we took the food Barbara had prepared over to the Thompson's house to help celebrate the day.
When the kids and I returned to the house, Leah used our Scrabble board and tiles, along with a few other household decorations, to prepare a Facebook announcement to share the news that she and Ryan had been officially approved to receive a foster child in the near future. Kaiden will be a foster child in their home for six months, and then they will adopt him as their own child. What a great Thanksgiving this was!
Later this evening, we received a photo from our "adopted" Terpening family in Artesia, showing their Thanksgiving gathering.
Friday, November 27
We spent the entire day doing as little as possible, and certainly nothing of consequence...just enjoyed the peace and quiet.
Saturday, November 28
Sunday, November 29
Barbara decided she shouldn't be out in a crowd today, so she stayed home while I went the the morning service at Yantis First Baptist Church.
With no service scheduled for this evening, we spent the day just resting and recuperating.
Monday, November 30
Barbara felt ready to return to the human race, so we decided we'd join the throng at Walmart for some serious shopping.
Later, feeling the need to spread our wings and get rid of the cabin fever, we went for a drive in the countryside. These are views of Lake Fork Creek as it crosses under U.S. 80 between Mineola and Hawkins. Normally just a few feet across at this point, the overflow stretched about a half mile today as it worked its way to the Sabine River.
As we entered the Roswell area, we noticed the UFO welcome sign on the south side of town. In the past, we've tried to ignore all the UFO "stuff" around Roswell (which is difficult to do, since there is so much of it), but this morning we thought we'd pull off the highway to get a photo of locals welcoming the UFO and its crew. We promise to not make a habit of this.
When we got into town, we called Jane to see if she wanted to meet Barbara's sister Carol and us at Golden Corral for lunch, but she was busy with her kids and decided she wouldn't be able to make it this time. So, we met Carol at the restaurant for a time of catching up and enjoying a good meal.
After lunch, we drove back to the funeral home to meet with Jane and help finalize arrangements for Jerry's funeral.
And then, it was back to Artesia to rest up a bit before enjoying time with the Terpening family and having dinner at La Fonda (because it isn't an official visit to Artesia without eating Mexican food at La Fonda).
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Friday, November 20
Before we left Artesia to go to Roswell this morning, we stopped at Baish Veterans Park in Artesia to view the memorials and the newest sculpture, a magnificient wood carving made from the remains of a tree that had stood on the grounds for many years.
Today was a day that one never really imagines is going to happen. It is understood that in the natural order of things,children will one day bury their parents, but to say a final goodbye to a sibling, especially when you are so close in ages, is almost incomprehensible.
After checking in at the funeral home to finalize the arrangements for the honor guard, we went down the block to a new restaurant to join family members and friends for lunch before the funeral. As we were going to the car, I received a phone call from our friends Bob and Terry Stevens in Albuquerque. I thought they were calling to offer their condolences, but they were really calling to say that they were just a few miles out of Roswell, on their way to see us. Even though Bob and I go way back to the first day of college at Eastern New Mexico University in 1962, I didn't expect he and Terry to give up a whole day and drive to Roswell for Jerry's funeral...what great friends they are!
At the restaurant, we received another surprise when Barbara's sister took time off work to join us. She wasn't going to be able to get away from her school for the funeral, but did want to spend a little time with us.
Brother Ernie and Billee arrived from Harrison Arkansas, in time for the meal, and Jerry's son, Gary Dan and his wife, Teresa, also joined us for a time of catching up with each other and remembering and celebrating Jerry's life as a family.
After eating, we returned to the funeral home so I could change into my Bugles Across America uniform and warm up my trumpet to sound Taps as part of the honor guard. Meanwhile, others visited with each other and Barbara was able to get some really nice pictures of the gathering. Just prior to the service, Jerry and Nancy Terpening came in from Artesia to join us.
When the service was over, we went to Jane's house for a short time of family visitation, then said our goodbyes to everyone and returned to Artesia to begin packing for the return trip to Mineola tomorrow.
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Saturday, November 21
Something we try to do whenever we are in Artesia is to capture sunsets and sunrises (since we never see them in East Texas), but our schedule for this short period of time just didn't allow for that. For some reason, I woke up at early-thirty and braved the cold to go outside to the front of Jerry and Nancy's house to get these two shots...
We got an early start on packing and loading the car this morning, had breakfast with Jerry and Nancy, and then said our goodbyes.
We drove into town to First United Methodist Church for a memorial service for Micah Johnson, son of one of my oldest friends, Max Johnson. Max and I go back to my junior high band days in Artesia, Micah had passed away in recently after a long illness and Max had brought him home to Artesia. Under the circumstances, we didn't have much time to visit Max before the service, but were able to share condolences with each other.
Following the memorial service, we once again climbed into the car and made our way to Lovington, where we stopped so I could visit my mother-in-love, Marie Neel at her nursing home. Following that, we went downtown to one of the shops where former brother-in-law Larry was having a photography exhibition in one of the shops. Larry's wife, Martha, and his sister, Linda, were there also. It was a great opportunity to see some of Larry's work and get in a good visit.
With time running out and a lot of miles to cover, we said goodbye to Larry, Martha, and Linda and headed down the road through Hobbs, Seminole and Lamesa, Texas, and into Big Spring, where we picked up I-20, determined to make as many miles as possible so we could be home early tomorrow, if not sometime tonight.
The highway and travel conditions were excellent, but by the time we got east of Abilene, we knew we weren't going to be able to make it as far as we wanted, so Barbara started looking up lodging along the way. She was able to get us a reservation for the night at La Quinta in Eastland, where we unloaded the minimum amount of luggage we needed and crashed for the night.
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Sunday, November 22
We got up early this morning (even before the coffee had been made in the breakfast room) and continued to journey east on I-20, determined to get back home in time to go to church at Yantis. But, Barbara started feeling bad and the farther we went, the worse she felt. While we did make it back to Mineola in time for us to get out to Yantis for the morning service, Barbara was so sick she couldn't see straight, and I was wrung out physically and mentally from the past few days, so we just went straight to bed and decided we'd take care of unloading the car later.
We slept away the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon, then got the car unloaded, had a bite to eat, and crashed again, accomplishing not much of anything for the rest of the day and night.
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Monday, November 23
Barbara was feeling even worse this morning, so I called and got a 10:00 am appointment with her physician assistant at the Mineola clinic.. After checking her over, we were told she had a viral infection that would just have to run its course with the help of a couple of prescriptions.
We returned to the house after going to the pharmacy and then I prepared for a trip to Tyler to see Dr. Dennis about trouble I've been having with my right knee, the one I had surgery on three years ago. Since we didn't know what Dr, Dennis would do, and Barbara wasn't able to go with me, TJ drove me to Tyler. After taking x-rays and checking my knee, Dr. Dennis explained some options and I chose to take a steroid shot that should give me relief from the pain I'd been experiencing.
This evening we had a rare Monday rehearsal of the Lake Country Symphonic Band to take the place of the regular Thursday night rehearsal that will fall on Thanksgiving Day.
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Tuesday, November 24
Barbara stayed inside all day, trying to get over the infection she had. I went to prayer meeting at Yantis and then to Our Little Lot to do some raking and mowing to try to get the property ready for winter.
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Wednesday, November 25
Happy Birthday in Heaven to son Jimmy Clint Colwell, who would have been 44 years old today.
Happy Birthday to daughter-in-law Carol Colwell in San Antonio!!!
The doctor had said that Barbara's infection and its after-effects would hang on for around ten days, so she stayed at home to get rest while I went back to the lake lot this morning to torch the burn pile that I had built with all the leaves, grasses, and downed trees.
We spent a rare Wednesday evening together at home because the praise band rehearsal was cancelled because of the Thanksgiving holidays.
Nephew Gary Dan (brother Jerry's son) and Teresa sent us a couple of photos, featuring their sons Caiden and Colson...a couple of good looking kids looking forward to Christmas.
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Thursday, November 26
Happy 40th Birthday to son Mike Little in Midlothian, Virginia!!!
Cousins Ladd and Angela hosted the traditional family Thanksgiving dinner today. Barbara had hoped to go, but decided that no one over there needed to be exposed to whatever she had. Leah and Ryan came up from Burleson to spend the day with us, so we took the food Barbara had prepared over to the Thompson's house to help celebrate the day.
When the kids and I returned to the house, Leah used our Scrabble board and tiles, along with a few other household decorations, to prepare a Facebook announcement to share the news that she and Ryan had been officially approved to receive a foster child in the near future. Kaiden will be a foster child in their home for six months, and then they will adopt him as their own child. What a great Thanksgiving this was!
Later this evening, we received a photo from our "adopted" Terpening family in Artesia, showing their Thanksgiving gathering.
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Friday, November 27
We spent the entire day doing as little as possible, and certainly nothing of consequence...just enjoyed the peace and quiet.
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Saturday, November 28
Happy Birthday to Barbara!!!
To celebrate today's special occasion, we did a repeat of yesterday's non-activities, except that we ordered a pizza for the celebration lunch. Boy, do we know how to have a good time!!!
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Sunday, November 29
Barbara decided she shouldn't be out in a crowd today, so she stayed home while I went the the morning service at Yantis First Baptist Church.
With no service scheduled for this evening, we spent the day just resting and recuperating.
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Monday, November 30
Barbara felt ready to return to the human race, so we decided we'd join the throng at Walmart for some serious shopping.
Later, feeling the need to spread our wings and get rid of the cabin fever, we went for a drive in the countryside. These are views of Lake Fork Creek as it crosses under U.S. 80 between Mineola and Hawkins. Normally just a few feet across at this point, the overflow stretched about a half mile today as it worked its way to the Sabine River.
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Wrapping up November from Mineola, Texas,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsy
