A Little Visit Round 2

Sunday, June 13 – Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Sunday, June 13

I played bachelor son for Mother this morning since Barbara and Jaycie stayed out at Big V for their girls’ night out last night. After fixing breakfast and serving Mother, I got cleaned up and dressed for church and then oversaw her preparations for the day before leaving her to be picked up for church by TJ while I went to the lot to get Barbara and Jaycie and load the car.

When everything and everyone was ready, we went to Yantis and joined the breakfast bunch in the fellowship hall. After breakfast we had Sunday school (Barbara and another of the ladies spent the time cleaning up the kitchen), and then we decided we needed to miss the morning service so we could get on the road to meet Cathey in Wichita Falls.

After meeting Cathey in the parking lot of City Market and getting all of Jaycie’s things transferred to their car, we stood around in the lot and talked for another hour or so and then said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways.

Barbara and I returned to Mother’s house around 11:30 pm, wrung out from a very long day and another 500 miles under our belts.

Monday, June 14

Today we celebrate Flag Day in the United States, commemorating the adoption of the flag of the United States by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation officially setting June 14 as Flag Day, and in August, 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.

Flag Day was celebrated today in Mineola by the placement of flags by the Kiwanis Club in front of residences and businesses throughout the city.

It has become our tradition to reprint “The Promise,” a piece that I wrote in 2003 as part of a unit on patriotism by some of Barbara’s language arts classes at West Middle School in Liberal, Kansas. The piece is dedicated to the students of West Middle School.

THE PROMISE

I am the flag of the United States of America. It is almost impossible to go through a day without seeing me…flying proudly over public buildings and military bases…marching at the head of parades…or displayed as lapel pins on the jackets of patriots, young and old.


Perhaps nowhere do I strive to be displayed more proudly than in the schools of our country, for it is there that the first lessons of patriotism are taught to those who will grow up to guide, guard, and defend the country I represent.


But even there, as I am seen by millions of students each school day, I am in danger of neglect. Like all things that are commonplace, I am often taken for granted, and the pledge that was written to show honor to my colors and my country becomes a meaningless ritual, chanted without thought, by young people who have not learned, or who have forgotten that I represent the sacrifices, hopes, and dreams of all who came before, and of countless millions around the world who would share in their freedom.


It seems that it is only in the times of war or national tragedy that I have meaning to the masses who call this land their home. If that is true, then our country is only one generation away from losing the rights and privileges that I represent, and that you take for granted. For after all, if you don’t care, then who will teach those who follow you?


Whether I fly proudly over the buildings of your community, or am placed beside the flags of your houses of worship…whether I am seen as a pin in the lapel of a military veteran, or as an oversized decoration covering the playing field of a football or baseball stadium…or whether you see me draped in silence over the coffin of a father, mother, sister, brother, son, or daughter who served or gave their life for this country, I still represent each and every one of you, and the freedoms that were won on the battlefields around the world.


To you I make this promise…


“I pledge allegiance to those who call the United States of America their home. I will fly proudly as a symbol of your hopes and dreams, and of the blood, sweat, and tears that were shed to gain and protect your rights, privileges, and freedoms. For as long as I am honored and respected, I will be a daily reminder that we are truly ‘one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’”

“The things that the flag stands for were created by the experiences of a great people. Everything that it stands for was written by their lives. The flag is the embodiment not of sentiment, but of history." - Woodrow Wilson, 28th U.S. president

Our day was filled with activity as we tackled jobs that had been left waiting while we had Jaycie with us…mowing at both the lake lot and at Mother’s place, and catching up on laundry.

TJ came over this afternoon for a short visit and we got caught up on the latest news from her.

Tuesday, June 15

It was another busy morning for all of us as I left early to take TJ to a podiatry appointment in Tyler and Barbara took care of getting Mother to her physical therapy session. I got TJ back to her house just in time for Barbara to pick me up in the Vibe and then we both went back to the rehab center to get Mother and take her home.

Barbara had her Bridge group at the church in Yantis tonight. We left Mother’s a little earlier than usual so we could get out to the lot and begin a thorough top-to-bottom cleaning of Big V, something that hasn’t been high on our hit parade list since we moved in with Mother in January, but a chore that was definitely necessary. I spent a couple of hours scrubbing, sweeping, dusting, and mopping until Barbara returned from Bridge to rescue me and take me back to Mineola.

Wednesday, June 16

After getting Mother up, fed, and ready for the day, Barbara and I returned to Big V to finish our housecleaning chores. I had completed the work in the bedroom and bathroom areas last night, but there was much to be done in the kitchen and living room areas before we could return to Mother’s house for lunch and more housecleaning chores.

Gene and Michelle returned from Kansas last night and had to come to Mineola to take care of some business. They stopped by the house for a bit and we exchanged stories of the past couple of weeks. They are trying to get things completed at their new house in Alba and we are trying to get ready for round two of our summer visitors when our friends Gary and Joyce come to Mineola later this week.

This evening, when the outside temperature had “cooled down” to the lower 90’s, we went outside and tackled some chores in the front yard…trimming the hedges, pulling grass from the flower beds, and mowing and trimming the yard.

Thursday, June 17

Happy Birthday to Amanda Duke in Knox City, Texas!!!

Today was a special day for Spike and Bonita as we took them to the vet at 8:00 this morning to have their nails trimmed and get baths. We don’t know that Bonita thought it was so special, but Spike seemed to enjoy the experience once all was said and done.

While the puppies were being pampered, TJ took Mother to her rehab session this morning, allowing Barbara and me to drive out to the lake and do some touch-up mowing and trimming around Big V in preparation for our guests. We had told Gary and Joyce that they could stay at the Big V Resort during their visit and we wanted everything to be just right for them.

When we got back to Mother’s house we had lunch and did a few chores around the place before going back to the vet’s at 3:00 to pick up Spike and Bonita, both of whom were more than ready to get back to their mother!

Friday, June 18

This was another rehab morning for Mother.

We spent most of the day cleaning house and getting ready for our next visitors, Gary and Joyce, our friends from Houston. We planned a late lunch, which was good because Gary and Joyce didn’t get away from their house when they planned. They called and said to go ahead and eat, but we told them there wasn’t anything that couldn’t wait, so we just held off until they got here and we could all sit down together. Gary and Joyce had visited Mother at her house in Artesia about three years ago, but hadn’t been to Mineola yet.

The afternoon was spent in visiting and getting caught up and then we took Gary and Joyce out to Holiday Village and Our Little Lot to get them situated for the weekend and show them around the place.

Saturday, June 19

After breakfast, we left Mother to do her “Saturday thing” while we drove out to the lake to visit with Gary and Joyce and do some work around the place while they went off with Josh to take the grand tour of the village.

Around 1:00 we returned to Mineola to begin preparations for a big cookout. Since tomorrow will be both Father’s Day and Cousin Ladd’s birthday, we decided we’d celebrate early by barbecuing some pork ribs, pork chops, and chicken. That, along with potato salad, beans, a couple of loaves of homemade bread, and Barbara’s signature Big Red ice cream provided the makings for a veritable feast as Mother, TJ, Gary and Joyce, Ladd, Angela, and Madeline, and Barbara and I pulled up to the table and ate until we were all miserable (but it was such a nice miserable).

When everything was put up, cleaned up, or thrown away, Mother headed to her chair and we took off with Gary and Joyce to the lake to continue our visit.

While we were at the lot, our friends Bob and Mary stopped by to visit for a while. After introductions and some conversation, Bob invited Gary and me to join him for a short boat trip out on the lake to check the jug lines he had set out to catch catfish. Gary and I took our fishing poles along, but we didn’t have much chance to use them. (Mary, Joyce and Barbara stayed at Big V to continue their hen party. At one point, Mary told them that she thought she saw Bob just drive by. Then the women decided nah that couldn’t be…what they didn’t know was…) When we got to the boat dock, Bob discovered that he had left the ignition key to the boat at his lot, so he and Gary went back to get it while I made a few half-hearted casts into the lake.

We finally got loaded in the boat and went out a short way on the lake to the spot where Bob had set his jug lines and found that he had two large catfish to add to his collection for the weekend. Looks like Bob and Mary are going to be enjoying a great fish fry one of these days.

It was getting dark by the time we got back to the lot, so we all said our goodbyes for the evening and Bob and Mary returned to their lot while Barbara and I got into the Vibe and headed back to Mother’s house for a good night’s sleep.

Sunday, June 20

Happy Father’s Day to dads everywhere!!!

Happy Birthday to Cousin Ladd Thompson in Mineola!!!

Today was another wonderful day of fellowship with friends. After getting Mother up and around so she could go to church, we drove back to Our Little Lot to spend the day with Gary and Joyce and Gene and Carolyn, whom we had invited to join us for the day. Gene was planning to bring his boat out so we guys could go out on the lake and do some fishing, but at the last minute he discovered that his trailer lights weren’t working, so we just opted for a day of sitting around and talking.

While the ladies spent most of the morning in nice air conditioned Big V, we men toughed it out by turning on the fan in the “patio” area and swapped stories. Gary and Joyce had never met Gene and Carolyn, so there was much to be said in order to bring everyone up to speed.

Of course, there was also a lot to eat (as there always is when we and our friends and family get together) and we thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent this day as we talked, ate, and Gary and I broke away from time-to-time to answer Father’s Day calls from our kids.

We all decided that before we called it quits that we would take Joyce and Gary over to Gene and Carolyn’s home on Lake Holbrook for the fifty cent tour.

Those who know the story know that we met Gene and Carolyn when we both had our rigs parked at the Mineola Civic Center RV lot during the summer of 2008. We had just helped move Mother to Mineola and Gene and Carolyn were “sort of” looking for a place to settle down after their initial retirement travels. We kept up with each other over the next year and ended up with both of us buying property in Wood County – Barbara and I got the lot for Big V at Holiday Village of Lake Fork and Gene and Carolyn bought a house and lot on Lake Holbrook.

When we first met, we were enthralled with the quality of Gene’s accordion playing and have wanted to hear him anytime that he was able to perform for us (we’re even trying to book him a slot during the music service at our church some Sunday).

As we toured Gene and Carolyn’s lovely house (a work in progress, but a beautiful work it is) Gene broke out his accordion and played for us. I ended up going to the music room while Barbara, Gary, and Joyce visited in the living room and Barbara had to haul me kicking and singing from the music room because Gene found several tunes that I could sing along with and that will make great accordion-trumpet duets in the future.

All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend a day…a beautiful day, good friends, and good food…God is good!

Monday, June 21

We got Mother up and around this morning and then left to go out to Holiday Village to have breakfast with Gary and Joyce before they left. We had time to share a leisurely meal at the clubhouse (and take a few last pictures) before they loaded the car and set off on the next leg of their journey.

While in the Holiday Village office, I tried to help Karen out by emptying the bag of M&M’s but she seemed to think she didn’t need my help!

Mother had rehab again this morning, but TJ offered to take her so we could spend a little more time with Gary and Joyce.

Once they headed out, we closed up Big V and then returned to Mother’s house where we spent the rest of the day taking care of minor chores around the place and working on the journal and making collages out of the many pictures we took during the week.

Tuesday, June 22

We got Mother up and around this morning and then Barbara and I drove back to the lake to do some mowing and trimming around Big V. The plan was that we would finish our work in time for Chris and his crew to get to our place and install three side panels on the south side of our awning.

While we were working, some of the crew members stopped by to say there was a problem at the steel place and they were running at least a couple of hours late getting their orders out this morning. So, we just continued our work, finishing all of the mowing and trimming, only to find out that the machine that cut the rolled steel sections was broken and there was no way we were going to see the work done today.

Given that bit of disappointing information, we put our tools away, closed up Big V, and returned to Mineola to spend the rest of the day cleaning house and getting ready for Alexander and Abby, who were going to spend the next week with us.

“A person that smiles in the face of adversity probably has a scapegoat.” - A. Nonny Mus

With family and friends in Mineola, Texas,

Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams

Hummingbirds, flowers, and new clothes...a sign of East Texas summer!

A Little Visit Round 1

Sunday, June 6 – Saturday, June 12, 2010


Sunday, June 6

We tried to gin around and get away from the house early this morning, but even our best efforts couldn’t get us out of the house at our appointed time. Our church began a new summer feature this morning, breakfast for everyone at 9:15…a time to eat and fellowship with other members before beginning the Sunday school classes and other Sunday morning activities.

We obviously weren’t the first ones there, but we also weren’t the last, and had time to share in the meal that others had cooked. We brought a loaf of Barbara’s world famous (at least in our house) zucchini bread as our contribution.

We had a good lesson in Sunday school and then went to church where David preached a tremendous sermon on what Christians believe. It was an overview of a series of sermons that he has planned for us during June and July and if the individual topics are as fiery and educational as the overview, we are indeed in for some wonderful preaching and teaching this summer.

We returned to Big V for lunch and to spend the afternoon. Luckily, we had taken time before going to church this morning to stop by and turn on the air conditioner, so it was very comfortable for most of the afternoon. However, as the temperature got closer to 100 (with what felt like 200% humidity) and the sun moved around to start hitting the front of Big V, it became warm enough that we moved outside to our patio area for a while and then just got ready to go back to the church at 4:30 for a Vacation Bible School volunteers meeting.

The church’s VBS program will be in late August, just before school starts, and after the meeting Sunday it looks like I will be either a paper-cutter-outer or a bus driver – or maybe even both, depending on how things are going here in Mineola at the time.

From the meeting I went to choir practice and then we went to the evening service and from there we returned to Mineola to settle in for the evening.

Monday, June 7

I entered the wonderful world of Medicare this morning at 8:15 when I rode the motorcycle over to Dr. Bankhead’s office for my first complete physical exam in about five years. I took the cycle in case I needed to be there very long and left the Vibe so Barbara could take Mother to a physical therapy evaluation.

The doctor visit went well enough, I suppose. For the last week I have been taking blood pressure readings three times a day, and three times a day my readings have been off the charts; hence the real reason for my visit with Dr. Bankhead. All of our friends have started greeting me by saying, “What is your blood pressure today and when are you going to do something about it?”

I inadvertently gave Barbara a scare when Dr. Bankhead was trying to get some family history. I knew that Daddy’s mother, Grandma Little, had died of some kind of cancer, but I didn’t know what it was; so, when Dr. Bankhead stepped out of the office for a minute, I called Barbara and asked her to ask Mother what kind of cancer Grandma died of. Of course, it never dawned on me to think of how Barbara would react to that kind of question, but considering that Henry once went to a doctor by himself and was told he had cancer and later died from it, I guess that was pretty insensitive of me to just blurt out something like that.

Anyway, Dr. Bankhead gave me a month’s supply of Benicar to start to work on the blood pressure issue and ordered the usual blood and urine tests to find out if anything goofy is going on in those areas. She also gave a prescription for chest x-rays and said she’d set up appointments with a dermatologist and someone to check out my innards…looks like I’m going to be one of those folks who schedules their days around doctor appointments.

I did get finished with all my stuff in time to get back to the house and help Barbara take Mother to her physical therapy appointment. Both Dr. Bankhead and the neurologist had advised a regimen of PT for Mother some time back and we’ve just been waiting for the appointment for a rehab evaluation. The evaluation took about an hour and at the end, Mother had two appointments for later this week.

Since Rob, the head of the rehab program, told us we didn’t need to stick around for the evaluation, Barbara and I took the time to take care of some running around that needed to be done and then I took her back to the house to take care of laundry while I went back to rehab to wait for Mother.

This afternoon we drove up to the Quitman hospital to get my chest x-rays taken. I had called to see if I needed an appointment and they said to just come on in. It wasn’t really all that simple (for those who haven’t entered the world of Medicare, there is a world of paperwork involved each time one goes to a new medical facility, and that take lots of time). But, I eventually got the x-rays taken and we returned to Mother’s house to finish out the day.

Tuesday, June 8

Today was just plain busy from beginning to end. We’ve been communicating with Cathey and Jaycie for several days to set up a time for Jaycie to visit us for a few days. We finally settled on tomorrow as the day we would meet in Wichita Falls and bring Jaycie back with us. But, before we could have a visitor, we had much to do around the house. We spent the morning doing a complete top-to-bottom cleaning of the house and the afternoon mowing, trimming, and weeding the yard. When we weren’t doing those things, we were busy posting the latest journal/blog entry.

We got a call from Jimmy Clint this afternoon. He has been in the UMC ICU for several days and was released this morning for a court hearing. He said that the assistant district attorney was not willing to combine the charges against him in the current 150-day sentence and wants to tack on another 100 days for the two incidents that constituted the probation violation that got him the current sentence. He did say that nothing is definite yet and that shorter time and probation might still be in the picture.

Late this evening we did some work in the back yard, cleaning out some of the flower beds. I cleaned out around the base of a large rose bush and piled in a bunch of mulch to help control the grass and weeds and try to keep the ground moist (it’s right next to the air conditioner unit and dries out pretty quickly). We also cleaned out the bed that has the zinnias in it and found that they are now blooming. Hallelujah, Mother’s handiwork is now being displayed!

Wednesday, June 9

Mother had her first rehab session this morning, but since we had to be on the road, TJ took her to it. We left early enough that we could get in some shop-looking along the way. I’ve been needing to find a Home Depot store (there aren’t any around the Mineola area unless we take the dreaded drive to Tyler) and found one in Gainesville, right on the way to Wichita Falls.

We met Cathey and Jaycie at the Market Street store on West U.S. 82 in Wichita Falls, had a short visit, and then we transferred all of Jaycie’s things to the Vibe and we headed east while Cathey returned to Lubbock.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Jaycie, so there was lots of catching up to do, as well as many photo opportunities of silly situations (as our constant readers can tell from the pictures below showing the many faces of Jaycie).

On the way back to Mineola we stopped at Holiday Village to show Jaycie our new awning and let her have a look around the place. The rain gauge showed that we received a half inch of rain during a shower this afternoon. When we finally got to Mineola, we found that we had received an inch and a half during the afternoon. What a great welcome home!

The rest of the evening was spent in getting Jaycie squared away in the living room. She was a great help in moving furniture around so we could put two couches together for her bed. She also decided to play a little practical joke on me when I went out in the garage. Seems as though when I got ready to return to the house, I found the door was locked. I wondered how that happened, but since Grams captured the deed in action, I now know the whole story.

Thursday, June 10

It stormed during the night and the showers continued this morning, so the possibly of lobbing tennis balls with Jaycie was out of the question. Instead, after having breakfast and getting the house straightened up (Jaycie was a big help with moving the couch around and putting the living room back together), we decided we’d drive the thirteen miles to Grand Saline to check out the famous Salt House that we heard about from Gene and Michelle a couple of weeks ago.

Grand Saline, in addition to being the home of Wiley Post, world famous aviator and aviation-related inventor, is home to a huge salt dome, one of the largest in North America. Once the home grounds of the Caddo Indians who lived on the great salt plain, Grand Saline is now home to one of the Morton Salt Company’s largest mines and packaging plants.

From its opening in 1931 until the early 1960’s, tour groups were allowed to descend on the elevator and get a close-up look at the mining processes; but due to new government safety restrictions, only workers and inspectors are allowed in the mine. Mother’s class at Quitman High School took a class trip through the mine in 1939.

Our first stop (after going to a convenience store and getting directions) was at the Salt Palace, the current home of the local museum. The first Salt House was built in 1936 for the Texas Centennial Celebration and was patterned after the Alamo. Constructed of pure salt rocks and crystals, it weathered out and deteriorated and was finally torn down.

In 1975 a group of citizens decided to initiate the annual Salt Festival, held the second weekend of June, and as a centerpiece, the Salt Palace was rebuilt at the present location of 100 West Garland Avenue. Built of solid salt rocks donated by Morton Salt, a salt mortar mixture was used to replicate the original salt house.

In 1993 the tiny salt building was melting away and was replaced by the present building. Changes were made in the design which included an overhanging roof to help protect the salt exterior from weather.

Before entering the Salt Palace, we stopped to feel the slat rocks and the mortar (and yes, I had to lick my finger and run it over part of the surface to see that it really was salty). Inside, the curator was very friendly and helpful in providing information about the Salt Palace and the mining history and operations. There was even a 15-minute instructional film that we watched to get some good background.

As we prepared to leave, the curator told Jaycie to take one of the sample crystals. As Jaycie was going through them, the lady then told her to just look in the box behind her and help herself to some of the larger crystals that had just been delivered from the mine. Jaycie picked three large crystals and was happy as a lark when we left the building.

Before driving out to the mine site, we walked across the street to a shop that specializes in manufacturing different flavors of peanut butter (and has them available to sample). Unfortunately, there had been a rupture in a sewer main right on Main Street and the businesses were temporarily closed. Oh well, we’ll have other visitors this summer and will just have to go back again.

The mine site is just off the highway about a mile south of Grand Saline. We pulled into the entrance way and stopped for some pictures before continuing our touring for the day. The salt dome in this area is about 2,000 feet deep and a mile and a half wide. In 90 years of mining operations, they have only cut down to the 750-foot mark. It is estimated that the company could continue mining for another 20,000 (yes, that’s twenty-thousand) years before running out of salt to mine and package. Now that’s a lot of salt!!!

Another thing we learned about the mine is that the temperature remains right around 75 degrees. Even though salt is a highly corrosive mineral, the equipment used for the mining operation shows little, if any, sign of corrosion because it is so dry in the mine. Equipment (trucks, loaders, scrapers, etc. are dismantled before being taken down the main shaft elevator and are reassembled at the bottom. The workers bore holes in the wall and pack the holes with explosive powder. After the last shift clears the shaft on Friday afternoon, the charges are set off and another wall of salt comes down; the next shift then returns to the process of scaling off the salt rocks (and boulders) that could fall and hurt someone and then the salt is loaded onto conveyer systems and sent back to the top for milling and packaging…very interesting tidbits of information!

From Grand Saline we drove across Highway 17 to Alba to check on Gene and Michelle’s new house. It was raining heavily in the area and Gene wanted us to check on the guttering and drain systems to see if they were working properly. I took time to take a few pictures to send to the Youngs and we happily reported that all was well at their new place.

We left Alba and drove across Highway 182 to show Jaycie the back side of the huge earthen dam that helps contain Lake Fork and then went to Holiday Village to check on Our Little Lot, where we found that we had an additional 1 ½ inches of water in our rain gauge (as well as a yard full of very green and very tall Bahia grass.

While Barbara and I were checking out the place, Jaycie found a rabbit under one of the cedar trees and took his picture. We’re pretty sure he’s the same critter that’s been gnawing the blooms off the day lilies when we aren’t around to scare him away.

The rain finally stopped by the time we got back to Mineola, but the humidity stayed high and the temperature climbed back into the mid-90’s, resulting in a little nap time after lunch…way too hot and muggy to be out running around!

This evening we made a foray to Lake Holbrook to check out the swimming beach. We all went into the water, but Jaycie was the only one to really get wet. We decided after looking around at the condition of the beach that Lake Hawkins was far superior to Lake Holbrook for our needs and thought that even though Hawkins was 8 miles farther away, it would be well worth the extra travel and expense to go the extra miles in the future.

Friday, June 11

It was a really hot and humid day, but with so many activities on the schedule, we just ignored the weather and got busy early.

After a light breakfast, Barbara, Jaycie, and I drove over to the civic center tennis courts so Jaycie and I could do some light volleying. Jaycie is on the 7th grade JV tennis team at her school in Lubbock and wanted to practice as much as possible. It’s been years since I picked up a tennis racquet and played matches with Mike, but I found that I enjoyed the activity even more than I thought I would. Jaycie and I were both a little rusty at first, but soon got into the “swing” of things.

One of Jaycie’s hits took a very high arc (she should have been playing softball this morning) and sailed over the fences and into the yard of the senior citizens housing complex next to the tennis courts. Barbara was going to go through a gate to get the ball, but she couldn’t find any gates or ways to get to the ball, so we just let it go until we were finished.

When we left the courts I drove to the parking lot of the housing complex and Barbara and Jaycie went into the yards and retrieved the ball for us.

After returning to the house, I got Mother and took her to rehab while Barbara and Jaycie stayed behind to visit and work on Jaycie’s vacation projects. It has become a tradition for the grandkids to do scrapbook/journals of their visits with us, so Jaycie was working on that and a friendship bracelet.

When Mother and I got back to from rehab, Barbara told us that Jaycie had found a new way to get into the house. She said she couldn’t explain it…Jaycie would just have to show us; so, we went to the sunroom and saw how Jaycie, with a lot of initiative and a little wriggling around, could crawl through the doggy door that Ernie had installed when Mother first moved back to Mineola…just goes to show what a little determination can do!

We thought of going to Lake Hawkins this afternoon, but decided that the newly remodeled swimming pool at Holiday Village sounded even better, so the three of us (Mother declined the invitation to go swimming) drove out to the lot and then walked across the street to the clubhouse for an hour or so of swimming and splashing in the cool water.

This evening Jaycie and I spent an hour on the tennis courts while Barbara watched. We thought we had left the camera at Big V, so there weren’t any pictures of our athletic prowess on the courts. However, when we returned to the house and started cleaning out the car, Barbara found the camera in the back floorboard. I guess we could have gone back to the courts and staged some photos, but at that point (Jaycie and I were both dripping sweat); we decided it just wasn’t worth the effort!

Tonight Jaycie worked on her projects while Barbara and I downloaded and organized all the pictures that we had taken so far during the visit.

Saturday, June 12

We had a huge day planned for Jaycie and us today. On the agenda were a few hours on Lake Fork with the Bagwells in their new pontoon boat and a Big V sleepover for Barbara and Jaycie tonight.

Once we were up and moving around (and had breakfast with Mother), we dressed in our “water gear,” said goodbye to Mother for a few hours and drove to the Highway 515 East Landing area to meet David, Lorrie, and the girls for our big adventure. We were all a little later than planned, but soon David, Lorrie, Allison, Ashley, and Amber arrived and after introductions, we were on the boat and backing into Lake Fork.

We made a short trip into one of the coves to pick up a tube from Gary and Holly, a couple of our Sunday school class members, and then were on our way on a 45-minute ride down the lake to the area around the dam for our water fun.

Ashley, Amber, and Jaycie took turns riding the tube and then Allison took a try at the knee board. It took a few tries for Allison to get the hang of it, but soon she was trailing the boat just like a pro.

When the rides were over, Barbara and I decided to just jump in the lake along with the girls. The water was a little cool at first, but it didn’t take any time at all to get used to it and we all just treaded water, swam, or splashed around for a while.

All good things must come to an end though, and soon we had everyone back in the boat and were headed back to the landing so we could move on to the next activity of the day.

While David and his family returned to Yantis for a bit, we drove back to Mineola to get cleaned up, pack all of Jaycie’s things and load them in the car, and have Jaycie say goodbye to Granny and the puppies.

We left Mother’s house and drove back out to Our Little Lot and Big V to unpack some things and then walk across the street to the clubhouse for tonight’s activity, the monthly property owners’ association dinner at the clubhouse. David and his family took us up on our invitation to join the group and shortly after 5:00 we were in line and waiting for our heaping plates of brisket and all the trimmings. Our friends Bob and Mary joined us as we filled up a couple of tables and spent the time eating, visiting, and then eating some more.

When the meal was over and we all said our goodbyes, we returned to Big V where Barbara and Jaycie settled in for a “girls’ night out” and I returned to Mother’s house for the evening.

“Old age is when you still have something on the ball, but you are just too tired to bounce it.” – A. Nonny Mus

From Mineola and Our Little Lot,

Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams

A Little More Life

Sunday, May 30 – Saturday, June 5, 2010


Sunday, May 30

This was definitely not one of our usual Sundays. Because I was leading the congregational singing and playing a trumpet special for the offertory this morning, we got a very early start on the day. We made sure that Mother was up and around (and fed) and then Barbara and I took a few minutes to take some shots of us in our “Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes.” Barbara had a new outfit for the day, but I had to make do with a suit that I got right after we retired almost four years ago.

When we were finished posing and taking pictures, we loaded all our Sunday stuff in the car and drove to our lot at Holiday Village. We had decided that we wanted meatloaf and potatoes for lunch at Big V, so we needed to get there, get the air conditioning fired up, and get the meal cooking before we went on to church.

I met with Pastor David and several other church members to go over the order of service and have a brief prayer before going to the sanctuary to warm-up and get in some practice time with Lisa (our pianist) and Chandler (Lisa’s son), while Barbara took pictures of the going’s on.

Once Sunday school was over, things really started hopping for me. Everything was ready (I hoped) in the sanctuary, but I had to get our choir members together and go over the altered order of service. Finally, it was time to move to the sanctuary and begin the service with our call-to worship.

When we got to the “meet-and-greet” part of the service, I noticed that our friends Gene and Carolyn had come up from Mineola. They’ve joined us for services before, but it was still a pleasant surprise.

With that part of the service over, we moved on to the hymns for the morning and those went well. David had asked me to do the morning prayer after we sang “Victory in Jesus” to give Amber, his daughter, time to get to the piano for the special music (and Amber did a beautiful job with the selection she had picked).

When I went back to the pew where Barbara, Jean, and Carolyn were sitting, I noticed that two of our friends from Holiday Village were sitting on the other side of Barbara; Linda, our closest neighbor, and Margaret, Linda’s next door neighbor, had also come out for this morning’s service…just like old home week this morning.

When the sermon and invitation were finished, Lisa, Chandler, and I began our offertory special, an arrangement of Battle Hymn of the Republic for trumpet, piano, and muffled snare drum. I was a little nervous because my trumpet had sat for nearly an hour and I didn’t have a chance to warm up just before playing, but the offertory prayer was long enough that I was able to blow some warm air through the trumpet and get it back to a temperature where it was more likely to be in tune with the piano.

The music went very well (I thought) and we received many compliments when the service was over. I took time to get all my things packed away and went to the foyer where Barbara was taking pictures of our four friends. We then said goodbye to David and Lorrie and Barbara and I got in the car and headed back to Big V for a quiet lunch and an afternoon nap (I thought).

It was only when we were nearly back to Holiday Village that I found that Barbara had arranged for all of our friends to come to church this morning to support me as the music director and my musical endeavors that Gene and Carolyn would be joining us for lunch…what a pleasant surprise!

The afternoon was a lot of fun for us as we ate our lunch in Big V and a lot of visiting. We’ve seen Gene and Carolyn a few times lately, but it’s been a long time since we’ve just sat and talked. They are a very interesting couple and a lot of fun to be with. Gene, an accomplished accordionist, knows a lot about music, so there’s never a shortage of things to talk about.

Gene and Carolyn left around 3:00 and Barbara and I spent a couple of hours puttering around the lot before returning to Mineola for the evening. Choir practice had been cancelled and the church was having a “Fifth Sunday” activity instead of preaching, so we voted to get on back to Mother so we could feed the puppies and get Mother fed which would give TJ a Sunday night break.

Monday, May 31

Today is Memorial Day, both actually and legally.  It is a day to honor American soldiers who have died in military service. No one is exactly sure when and where the first Memorial Day celebration took place — there are about 25 towns and cities that claim to have held the first celebration — but it evolved after the Civil War, when people put aside a day to honor fallen Union soldiers. After World War I, it became a day to honor soldiers who had died in any conflict. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday on the last Monday each May. – Writer’s Almanac

For our part, it was a fairly quiet and uneventful day. We spent the morning cleaning house, doing laundry, and getting lunch ready. I baked a loaf of jalapeno bread and grilled some pork chops outside while Barbara worked on the veggies. TJ joined us for lunch and we had a really nice “family time” together.

As you can see from the picture, Mother’s house had an American Flag flying proudly out front. One of the Mineola service organizations sets out flags as a fundraiser and many homes and businesses have Old Glory flying during national holidays.

While we were working at our computers this afternoon we received a picture of 15 year old granddaughter Randi. I immediately told Barbara to send a message back that Randi needed to transfer to a strict girls’ school and should be kept away from all boys. I didn’t tell John, as I have in the past, that he needs to invest in a shotgun and keep it right behind the front door of their house. Randi has just finished her first year of high school in San Antonio.

I worked on last week’s journal during the afternoon, trying desperately to get caught up (I didn’t, but I tried very hard) and then we made a trip to Walmart so Barbara could return a package of lettuce that was very bad, even though the sell date was for tomorrow and was guaranteed fresh until June 1.

Barbara: At first they told me at customer service that their policy was "no return on food products." I quickly pointed out that the package stated, "guaranteed fresh". The lady stuck to her guns in such a superior way that my dander was up and I decided that I'd like to talk to someone else. (Hey, at least I smiled at her as I made that request...more than she gave me...or at least that I could see.)

Next up...customer relations supervisor. The "cheerful" clerk explained the situation. The super looked at me, the package, and back to me. Then she asked for the receipt. That required a trip to the car...oops...efficient Jim at taken all receipts into the house. Back to her...I explained the receipt was at home, never thought to bring it, etc. She said, "No receipt, no return."

By then, it was a matter of the silly package says "guaranteed fresh" what part of that says you have to have a receipt...long story...this lady makes a call and I get Edith's 88 cents back. Yep, you read that right...all that hassle for almost an hour was for 88 cents. Isn't that a hoot?

As I said, that was an adventure in itself and by the time we left the store, we agreed that based on our experiences of the evening, if it had been our first trip to a Walmart store, it would have also been our last.

Once we returned home, I found the lettuce receipt and took it to Wal-Mart since the lady practically accused me of stealing the package out of their trash...sure enough we had bought 2 just 2 days ago and I was given the other 88 cents. She actually almost, not quite, appologized.

Finally the rest of the night was just a quiet evening at home.

Tuesday, June 1

Mother has been going through a “1 step forward and 2 steps backward” stage with Parkinson’s the last couple of weeks and the last few days have been three steps backward, so first thing this morning Barbara and I went to Dr. Bankhead’s office here in Mineola to get the earliest possible appointment this week. As it turned out, we were able to get a 10:15 appointment today, which was just great. Actually, we could have gotten a 9:15 appointment, but we knew Mother wouldn’t be able to get ready by then, so we chose the later time.

We got back to the office with Mother at a little after 10:00 and had to wait only a few minutes until one of the nurses got us, took Mother’s blood pressure (tried to take it, that is…that had to wait until later) and other vital readings. We were then ushered into a waiting room until Dr. Bankhead came in a started her work. Dr. Bankhead has not only a wonderful sense of humor, but she is great in giving each patient full attention as she asks questions and listens to the answers. One can tell immediately that when she is with a patient, that person is the only person in the world as far as the doctor is concerned.

After talking to Mother and us, the doctor ordered some blood tests to check for various vitamin and thyroid deficiencies, possible reasons for Mother’s extreme fatigue of the last few days.

While we were waiting for the blood work, Barbara and I decided that we might as well sign up to have Dr. Bankhead as our GP, so we sat down and filled out the necessary paperwork. Since neither of us ever sees a doctor unless it’s an emergency, they will probably never find any of our records. Dr. Bankhead will just have to take us as we are and figure out what we need.

As a result of Mother’s visit this morning and the doctor’s statement that her blood pressure was a little on the high side today, we decided that we’d all start checking our blood pressure 2-3 times a day. After the first reading, I decided I didn’t want to get that much bad news. My BP is pretty much off the charts, so I guess I’ll be finding out more that I wanted to know about health care under sociable security.

We had an earlier than usual lunch today and just as Mother finished and headed to her room, our friends Gene and Michelle stopped by to visit for a few minutes. They have been so busy trying to sell their place in Kansas and get the new house built down here that we just haven’t had time to talk to and about each other. Even today’s visit was a condensed version, but it was really good to just sit down and visit for about thirty minutes.

Later, we drove out to Gene and Michelle’s new house to give them a couple of extra sets of eyes to check out the place with the builder. They are getting very close to closing on the deal, but wanted to make sure that everything was done correctly. We each found some things that others had missed and got them on the check sheet to be taken care of later, so I guess it was good that we were able to go out there today.

This evening we took Mother to Walmart to look for some of the vitamins and health care supplements that Dr. Bankhead suggested. As usual, Mother, once she got in the store, wanted to see more than what we went for, but that was a good thing as it got her even more exercise. She was a real trouper to get out in the sweltering heat!

Once we got Mother back to the house and fed the puppies, we headed north so I could work on the lot while Barbara went to her bi-weekly Bridge meeting at the church. I spent my time setting water on our plants and “front” yard and hauling trash up from the gully to start a new burn pile for later in the week.

Wednesday, June 2

Happy Birthday today to Zeke Duke in Knox City, Texas!!!

We started the morning with a really nice surprise. When I got up to have my morning coffee and check my email, We found a couple of emails from Whitney with pictures of Little Jimmy with his birthday gifts…also a picture of a little sign, “Garden Thyme,” that we sent Whitney for her birthday. Whit also sent a really sweet note thanking us again for the gifts. It is easy to see that Little Jimmy is going to be a natural for the cameraman!

Under our present circumstances, it is almost impossible to get away long enough to take a trip to the Kansas City area to see Whitney, Jim, and Little Jimmy, and their busy schedule keeps them from heading this far south. Who knows, maybe they’ll have a few days off and will come down here to stay in Big V, do some boating and fishing in Lake Fork, and let Gramps and Grams have some quality time with Little Jimmy.

After fixing breakfast and taking care of business around Mother’s house this morning, Barbara and I drove back up to our lot to do a little work there. It seems that the more we do, the more we see that needs to be done and were grateful that we’re able to get away from Mineola for a couple of hours at a time to whittle away at projects on Our Little Lot.

We’ve talked for a long time about putting up a mock street sign at the corner of our property line and Gary and Linda’s property line. Some time back Linda got a golf cart for riding around the park and because of her proximity to our land, we suggested that she could save time by driving down our easement, connecting with our driveway, and then heading down Geronimo to the clubhouse or wherever she needed to go.

Barbara talked to Bob the other day about finding a suitable post so we could make a street sign. Last night, Bob brought a pretty good length of 4” X 4” post for us to use if we wanted. Before coming out this morning, we stopped at Walmart to buy some things we thought would work for street signs and when we got to the lot, we started to work. I helped Barbara fashion the sign boards and then I left her t go dig a hole and set the post.

Finally, we were finished with our respective jobs and I got a trusty heavy-duty stapler and mounted the signs on the post. Then, Barbara went to get Linda so she could see the new intersection of Little Lane and Linda Drive. Linda was, of course, delighted with the new sign and couldn’t wait to show it to Gary, who was off the property at the time.

With that done, I did some more work clearing the gully while Barbara and Linda sat in the cool shade of our new awning and visited until it was time for us to put the tools away and return to Mineola to fix lunch.

This afternoon I went to Mother’s back yard and cleaned out some of the flower beds. It’s been hot and dry here (high humidity, but no sign of rain). The plants that we want to raise are wilting, but the grasses, clover, and other greenery in the flower beds are flourishing…go figure! Mother came out to survey her estate while I was mowing. She was very pleased to see the new blooms appearing on the hydrangeas we set out a few weeks ago…now if we can just get those zinnias blooming!

Tonight we just took it easy around the house and worked on writing text and choosing and editing pictures for a couple of weeks of the journal and blog.

Thursday, June 3

I was up and about early this morning…don’t know why I woke up so early, but I had time after having that first cup of coffee to finish reading my morning mail and then water the flower beds. We are going through a short (we hope) drought and have the sprinkler system set to water on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; but with the heat we’ve been having, the flower beds can’t go two days without water, so we’re having to hand water them on the “off” days.

Once we got everyone underway and had breakfast, Barbara and I left Mother at the house and went to Lindale to get our hair cut and do some shopping. Besides our haircuts at the Walmart Style Shop, we needed some cinder blocks and posts from Lowe’s for the lake lot, Barbara wanted to do some shopping for Mother and herself at Cado’s, and then we returned to Walmart to buy groceries and supplies for the house. When we left Mineola this morning, we didn’t know what we’d do with all the time we had before noon, but found out by the time it was over that we didn’t have enough time.

When we walked out of Walmart with all the groceries, we decided that we’d just let the Colonel cook our lunch, so we drove across the lot to KFC and ordered meals to take back to the house.

After our meal, Barbara broke out the new outfits she bought for Mother at Cado’s. She told Mother that we bought the lunch because we spent Mother’s money buying her clothes. Mother just laughed and was very happy to see what we had purchased. She tried on two pairs of the pants and a top that matched both of them and declared that she was pleased with them.

When our (very brief) nap was over, Barbara and I drove out to the lot to set up the cinder blocks and posts to form a decorative fence along the ramp to the slab. We used the blocks and posts that we had bought in December for the patio to line the other side when we moved Big V under the awning last week and decided that we needed to finish off the “look.”

While Barbara did some brainstorming and fixing things inside and on the patio, I set fire to the burn pile and hauled a few more loads of trash up from the gully. We were hoping that the promise of rain would come true tonight and wash the lot clean, but it turned out to be just another empty promise.

When we saw TJ today she asked if Mother had told us about the little old ladies tea party tomorrow. We said we hadn’t heard anything about it, so TJ said that she was hosting a tea party/luncheon for two of her friends and Mother tomorrow at noon and that Barbara and I could have a “date day.” I said that was great because there was a lot of mowing and trimming that needed to be done at the lake and we could get that done during the morning before it got too hot. Barbara said, “That’s my husband, the great romantic!”

Friday, June 4

We started the day early this morning, hoping to get everything ready so we could start working at Big V by 9:00. Once we really got rolling, Barbara put together a sack of sandwich makings and helped Mother get dressed while I took the Vibe to Walmart for gas and went to the post office. When I left Walmart, I decided to drive by Dr. Bankhead’s office to see about an appointment for next week. After three days of checking blood pressure and watching all the numbers keep rising, I figured I’d better get over my aversion to doctors and find out what’s going on and what to do about it. Besides, all I have to do is send the bills to Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, right?

I guess it was my lucky day to set an appointment, because they have a slot just waiting for me at 8:15 Monday morning.

When we got to Holiday Village, we stopped at the sales office to visit with Josh about an idea Barbara had for developing a directory for the park…pictures and basic information about the residents and property owners…much like the yearbooks she sponsored in school. Josh seemed to think it might be a good idea, so he is going to visit with folks “in a higher pay grade” about it.

We also asked if it would be possible to have our new hammock delivered to the lot while we were on property this morning. When we first asked about it, Josh told us it was very heavy and could only be moved in a pickup. Since we are limited to the Vibe and the motorcycle, we just let them keep the hammock in storage at the clubhouse. Later, Josh said he’d have it delivered to us, but that didn’t happen, so this morning was just a gentle reminder and Josh said it would definitely be delivered today.

We went on to the lot, unloaded the mower and other assorted tools and things for the day at Big V and then Barbara started mowing while I went to find Bob to use his pickup to move our trailer in the storage lot. Char, the lady who runs the clubhouse and manages other park facilities, said that our big trailer was blocking access to some storage buildings in the lot and asked if we could move it to another slot. We’ve tried for several days to get it moved, but when we visited Bob and Mary last night, Bob said they’d be on property today and he’d be glad to help.

While all this was going on, we received a call from TJ to let us know that she was taking Mother to Dr. Bankhead this afternoon to get a cortisone injection in her swollen right knee. We didn’t know whether we should return to Mineola to help, but TJ said she had it under control.

Once Bob and I moved the trailer and got it re-set in the storage lot, I returned to Our Little Lot to do the trimming, clipping, and mowing that Barbara couldn’t finish because of the slope involved. When I finished that, I started watering a couple of flower beds, but was interrupted by one of the park employees who was delivering our hammock. As it turned out, I could have easily moved the hammock by myself in the Vibe (with the seats down, of course); it wasn’t nearly as heavy or bulky as we had been told.

Before Bob and Mary left this morning, Barbara had asked them to come back for lunch and told them that she would call Gene and Michelle, who were doing the final walk through and becoming TX homeowners, to come, too.

Just as I was getting ready to open the box and put the hammock together, Gene and Michelle arrived and shortly thereafter, Bob and Mary joined the group. So, before we knew it, we had a party going on at our place. Barbara, Michelle and Mary took advantage of the air conditioning in Big V while Gene, Bob, and I sat outside in our new patio area to eat and talk.

Of course, there was also a picture-taking session that went along with all the frivolity. I didn’t think we even had the camera with us today since all we had planned to do was work, but I guess I should have known better. Due to a little verbal prank Gene pulled earlier in the day, Mary repaid him by sitting in his lap (bottom middle). Therefore, Barbara felt that it was only right to take a photo of Michelle with Bob (top left).

Once all our friends left, we decided it was time to put the hammock together. For once, I asked Barbara to get the instructions out so we could follow them carefully. I don’t usually do that, but this looked rather complicated and I wanted to know in advance what tools I would need. As it turned out, there were no tools needed except a knife for opening the box; the frame pieces just fit together and the hammock hooked fairly easily to the end poles…who would have ever guessed?

I gave the hammock a try and declared that it was okay. I’ve never been a big hammock fan (it’s hard to have a hammock when you live in country that doesn’t have trees), but this one is free standing and needs trees only for shade.

With all that work done, it was time for a nap (had to try out that air-conditioned feeling under the new awning), and were fast asleep after reading only a couple of pages of our books. About 3:00, TJ called again to say that Mother’s blood tests from Tuesday showed that she had a bladder infection. That, on top of the swollen knee, explained a lot about why Mother has been feeling under the weather lately. We told TJ that we had some more things to do around the place, but that we would definitely be back to Mineola before 5:00, in plenty of time to stop by the pharmacy for a new prescription for Mother.

Back at the house we unloaded the car and settled in for whatever was going to happen the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Saturday, June 5

This may have been one of the most “nothing” days we’ve had in a long, long time. We had every intention of either driving the 13 miles to Grand Saline to take part in the last day of the Salt Festival or doing house work and yard work, but neither of us slept well last night…when one was asleep for a couple of hours, the other was awake and vice versa. As a result, we ended up being sleepy all day and tried to play catch up by taking naps (alternately, of course).

We finally got untracked enough to fix lunch and then felt exhausted again…maybe it was the overwhelming heat and humidity, but we were just zapped all day long.

Later in the afternoon our friends Gene and Carolyn stopped by for a few minutes to visit. They had been out and about and were headed back to their house over by Lake Holbrook (about 6 miles from Mother’s house). We invited them to join us at Holiday Village tonight for the monthly bingo blowout, but they were tired and headed on home.

After making sure that Mother and the puppies were fed and comfortable, we drove out to the village, parked our car on our lot and walked over to the clubhouse to sit with Bob and Mary and have dinner before bingo started.

I’m not sure what standard time we thought we were on, but we were an hour early of what we needed to be, but that gave us plenty of time to visit with Bob and Mary and other property owners who were out and about for the night.

Bingo wasn’t nice to us tonight, although each of us came close a couple of games; but it really isn’t about winning (although you might not be able to convince a couple of the residents of that) and we did meet a very interesting couple, Larry and Mary, who shared the table with Bob, Mary, and us. Did we take out camera? Of course not, so we’ll just have to take pictures of new friends another time.

“I think the teaching profession contributes more to the future of our society than any other single profession. I'm glad I was a teacher.” – John Wooden, legendary basketball coach (1910 – 2010)

From a hot and humid Mineola,

Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams

Just a Little Week of Surprises

Sunday, May 23 – Saturday, May 29


Sunday, May 23

Barbara: Jim was in charge of the Sunday school lesson again today so we had to put it in gear to get there in time. After all, the teacher shouldn’t walk in right on the dot or a little late, which is our standard operating mode since Mineola is about 24 miles or so from Edith’s house.

After church, we found that Big V was entirely too hot to even stay there. Inside she was 98 degrees since the outdoor temps were in the 90’s. Without a cover over her and with her closed up all the time now, there just isn’t any way to keep the temp down. We made the best of a bad situation since Jim was scheduled to meet with the church pianist, Lisa, and her son Chandler at 4:30 to practice a piano, drum, and trumpet special for next Sunday. Lisa called around 2:00 to ask if we could rehearse after the business meeting tonight because Chandler and his girlfriend went to Elephant Day at the Tyler Zoo. We said that wouldn’t be a problem. But, what in the world was Elephant Day…still don’t know the answer to that question since Lisa said we’d just have to go next year to find out.

We returned to Yantis in time for Jim to attend choir practice and then the two of us joined the rest of the members for a business meeting. After the business meeting, Lisa, Jim, and Chandler (who is a junior at Yantis High) worked on their music, an arrangement of Battle Hymn of the Republic, for about thirty minutes. They had anticipated that everyone would leave after the business meeting, but as soon as they started practicing, a group of church members came back inside to see and hear what they were doing. They finally got everything worked out as to who would play what, when, and where and decided to call it a night.

Monday, May 24

Jim: This morning at breakfast we found out that Mother and TJ had a trip to Tyler planned so Barbara and I decided that we’d head to Sulfur Springs and do some shoe/clothes shopping as well as try to talk to C & D Covers about an awning to put over Big V. Since Barbara was sporting some of her new purchases from Saturday’s shopping spree, we decided to take some photos of ourselves and add ones taken on Sunday.

We were quite successful in both of our shopping endeavors today which is quite a feat for us! I was able to find 2 pair of Wrangler jeans at the Outlet Mall while Barbara found that the shoe place there was going out of business and shoe prices were greatly reduced! And, much to her delight, she found 2 pairs that would serve her nicely.

While we were out and about, I received a phone call from Lisa asking me to consider something about the church music. I was thinking she wanted to change the arrangement we worked out, but instead she told me that Pastor David had heard so many comments about our practice session last night that he wanted us to consider putting a group together to play every Sunday morning between Sunday school and church…in
other words, to be his “warm-up act.” I said I thought it was a great idea and that we just needed to settle on the music we want to use…a process that might take us a couple of weeks due to everyone’s busy schedules.

Eventually we made our way back to the lake to wait for Chris to come look at our lot and give us an estimate for a shelter for Big V. To our surprise, the bid he gave us was very reasonable and one that we thought we could handle but needed time to discuss and ponder.

By the end of the evening we made our decision to take the plunge and begin Stage One of a building project for Our Little Lot. This will be the construction of a 20’ X 36’ steel awning to cover the concrete pad and get most of the sun off Big V. Stage Two, when we get Stage One paid for, will be the addition of a 10’ X 36’ lean-to (also steel construction) on the north side of the pad to serve as the cover of a proposed wooden deck and storage shed. We called Chris and told him to go ahead with plans to pick up the steel tomorrow and begin construction on Wednesday.

Tuesday, May 25

Barbara had a new breakfast recipe to try out this morning, so we invited TJ to come over and join us for brunch at 10:00.

Mother has been going through a stage of one step forward and two steps backward with her Parkinson’s disease, so right after noon TJ and I took her to Dr. Drew, her neurologist in Tyler. We explained to Dr. Drew some of the things we have been noticing and he said that we needed to increase the amount of Mother’s physical activity since all her vital signs are well within the acceptable ranges. He was very emphatic in stating that unless Mother gets more physical exercise, she could be immobile in another year.

Dr. Drew suggested a regimen of walking, building up to at least 1,000 feet per day of outside walking (not just walking around the house).

We came back to the house, had a light lunch, and discussed how we were going to handle the exercise program. Mother wasn’t too excited about it, but knows that exercise now is preferable to immobility later, so she agreed to work with us.

This evening we put the plan into action by going to Walmart to do some shopping for a few items. We figured that if Mother walked from the front of the store to the back to get the milk we needed, that would take just a few minutes and result in sufficient exercise for the first time out.

Once we got started, Mother was like a kid in a candy store and wanted to walk through several more aisles than we intended. She kept asking if we had enough of this or that, and had us pick out several items that weren’t on the list. An hour later, we finally left Walmart with a cart load of groceries and a very tired Edith!

Wednesday, May 26

Today was a huge day for us. Barbara had Bible study in Yantis, but first we had to go to the lot and do the hundred and one things necessary to move Big V off the pad so Chris could bring in his crew around noon and start building our awning.

To those not initiated in the art of moving a rig, whether motorhome, fifth wheel, or trailer, moving 2 miles includes all the things necessary to move 2,000 miles, and it all takes time. In our case, I needed to take Big V to Quitman (only 9 miles away) to get our annual inspection. Barbara worked on securing everything inside while I tackled the outside chores, and soon we had nearly everything done. Since she was on a tighter time schedule, she left for Yantis and I continued working until I was ready to secure the slide-outs, raise the levelers, and drive off the pad.

It took about an hour to get to town and go through the inspection process (the station that I went to was very busy this morning) and just as I was leaving town, Barbara called to say that they were through with Bible study and she was headed back to Holiday Village. We got there at almost the same time and took Big V to a site in the RV park since we had to leave our driveway open for the construction crew.

We spent a few minutes cleaning off the pad and meeting Joan, one of Linda’s friends who was visiting this morning and wanted to see what we were doing. After a couple of phone calls, we found that the crew was running behind schedule and wouldn’t be starting work until around 12:30. Since we were both hungry, we decided to return to Mother’s house, feed her and fix some lunch for ourselves, and then return to the lot to document the great occasion.

We spent the afternoon watching as the crew assembled all the support pieces and eventually started putting the sheets of rolled steel on top of the framework. It was all very interesting and reminded us a lot of the work we did on steel churches in Lady Lake, Florida, and at Ethridge, Tennessee. The crew was very personable and answered all our questions about what they were doing and why they did it that way.

While Barbara was taking pictures, I started hauling leaves, twigs, and branches out of the gully to the burn pile I had started on the lot behind ours. There will probably never be an end to all the “trash” that needs to be burned, but I tried to do my fair share for the day.

Later in the afternoon our friends Bob and Mary rode up in their golf cart to see how things were going. They stuck around for about an hour and a half as Bob talked with Chris and the members of the construction crew and Mary and Barbara sat in the car and visited.

Around 4:30 we were getting a little hungry, so Barbara and I drove to the nearby marina to get some snacks. By the time we returned to the lot a few minutes later, a thunderstorm that had been dancing around the lake to the north of us bore down and centered itself over the new awning frame. With thunder and lightning all around us and rain pouring down, the crew wasted no time in getting away from the awning. In the interests of safety, the crew called it a day just before 5:00 and said they would be back tomorrow morning to finish the job.

We returned to Mineola and decided that Mother’s exercise tonight would be to return to Walmart, but this time to check out the clothing section. While Barbara and Mother did that, I wandered through the lawn and garden and the tool sections.

Mother tired much earlier tonight, but got in some good walking while we were there. We returned straight home and Mother went to bed while Barbara and I stayed up to review all the pictures we had taken during the day.

Thursday, May 27

We got around the house early this morning so we could go to the lot and watch the rest of the cover go up. I figured it would be at least 9:00 before the crew got started, but they were already there and hauling steel sheets to the top of the frame when we arrived at 8:15.

The last of the roofing sheets were in place by 10:30 and the crew began tightening up the framework, securing the trim, and cleaning up their mess. Shortly after that, they loaded their trailer and moved out, leaving us with a completed cover for Big V…just about as exciting as a year ago this week when the slab was completed and we were digging a utilities ditch and laying PVC for electrical and water lines.

Barbara drove me down to the RV park so I could get Big V and bring her back to the lot. That was a slow process, mainly because I had to drive so slowly through the park, let traffic get past when I got to the lot, and then back up through our driveway and get Big V situated where we wanted her under the new awning.

Because of the way the support poles were set, and the positioning of the driver side slideouts and storage bins, we ended up losing about five feet of our slab space that we used as our “front porch,’ but it will be well worth it in the future when we add on the new section of awning and build a deck.

In the meantime, Barbara set about reorganizing our outside sitting area as I brought everything back to the slab from the space under the trees where it had all been temporarily stored. There’s not nearly as much room as before, but it is still cozy and very usable.

TJ brought Mother out at noon to see our new look and this time Mother even walked from the car to the front door and climbed the six steps to get inside Big V and feel the difference in the temperature. Because the motorhome had been exposed to the direct sun all morning it wasn’t as cool as it could have been under the awning, but the difference was noticeable.

After visiting for a few minutes we went across the street to the clubhouse (Mother walked about halfway down the driveway and then got in the car with TJ…she definitely got her exercise today!) where we had a great lunch. We’ve mentioned it before, but can’t say enough about the friendly folks, great service, wonderful food, and unbelievably low prices at the clubhouse. Today we all ordered (and enjoyed) the hamburger combination plates…yum-yum!

After Mother and TJ left we spent an hour or so reorganizing the inside of Big V and making her look more like a home than a storage unit. Who knows, maybe one of these days we’ll have family and/or friends who will want to come visit for a few days and use Big V as their home away from home.

While we were working we got a call from our friend Bob telling us that Mary was in the emergency room at the hospital in Quitman; so we closed down the place and hopped in the car to drive down there and see them before we went on back to Mineola.

Bob was surprised and pleased to find us there and filled us in on what was going on. We didn’t get to see Mary, but learned that she wasn’t very happy to be there, but there just wasn’t much choice in the matter.

After visiting with Bob for a while we returned to Mineola where we spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening getting caught up on chores there…light housecleaning, laundry, mowing, etc.

Friday, May 28

This morning we spent our time around the house. We had lots of regular business to take care of and also decided to do some food preparation. Barbara baked a couple of loaves of zucchini bread and I put together four pans of meatloaf for future use.

For Mother’s exercise plan today we went to the local Dollar General store where she and Barbara walked around the aisles and made a few purchases while I went to the post office to mail some things and buy stamps.

Later in the day Barbara and I went out to the lot to do some mowing and trimming. We weren’t able to follow our usual Tuesday/Wednesday yard work schedule this week because of the construction of the awning, and the grass was more than tall enough to be cut. Unfortunately, I had left the key to our little storage shed in Mineola, so I couldn’t get to the edger and we soon ran out of gas in the mower. But, Gary, our nearest neighbor, graciously loaned us enough gas to finish mowing our front and back yards and the part of the lot behind us that I like to keep mowed.

During the course of our time at the lot today we saw several of our friends. Josh, our sales manager, had his son Joshua with him for the day and we couldn’t resist a father-son picture. Also, Linda, Gary’s wife, drove over on her golf cart to inspect the new awning.

We didn’t get to the front part of our lot, but decided that we were too hot and tired to continue, so we put the mower away, closed down Big V, and said we’d just come back tomorrow morning to finish the job. On the way out of the village we drove through the RV park and in the course of the drive met a young family, Brent, Desiree, and their son Conner, who were making their first visit to Holiday Village. We ended up spending nearly a half hour answering their questions about life around the place.

Tonight we just relaxed around Mother’s place and tried to not do too much of anything.

Saturday, May 29

Since we didn’t finish mowing at the lot yesterday, we decided we’d spend this morning finishing that job and doing odds and ends around the place. There’s never any shortage of things to do in and around Big V and we figured this was a good day to take care of as many chores as possible. Little did we know that we were going to receive another wonderful surprise to end this week.

We were about halfway through the mowing at the front of the lot when the phone rang. I lost the signal as soon as I tried to answer, but could see it was from Heather. After several tries and voice mail messages from both of us, we finally connected and learned that Andy’s parents and sister were visiting Heather and Andy in Richardson and wanted to find a good swimming lake for the day. As much as we would have liked the kids and Andy’s family to come out to Lake Fork and see our place, there is no lake swimming to speak of around Holiday Village; so, we agreed that we’d all go to Lake Hawkins, a place where camped for a month or so a couple of years ago and where Heather, Andy, and the kids had visited us.

We had not much more than finished our conversation when Bob Royar rode up in his golf cart to visit for a minute and ask if we could take him to Quitman so he could see if Mary was going to get out of the hospital today. Bob had been taken by a friend to a hospital in Tyler Thursday and was without wheels since he’d left his pickup at the Quitman hospital. Of course, we agreed to take him to Quitman as soon as we finished what we were doing.

Since the Richardson bunch wasn’t going to be at Mother’s to meet us until a little after noon, we went ahead and worked for another hour before heading back to Quitman to drop Bob off and then to Mineola to prepare Mother’s lunch and get things ready for an afternoon swim at Lake Hawkins.

Heather, Alexander, Abby, and Andy’s sister (also named Heather), got to the house first because Andy and his folks had to stop at the Firewheel Mall in Richardson to shop for bathing suits. Heather introduced Andy’s sister to Mother and then we all visited until Andy and his folks arrived.

The first order of business was for Alexander to show us the new hole in his head…seems he lost a tooth recently, but he couldn’t remember the going Tooth Fairy rate.

This was a bit of a momentous occasion as Mother had never met any of Andy’s family. Andy’s folks are really very friendly and gracious, so it wasn’t long before conversations were flying all over the room. However, visiting wasn’t getting us any closer to Lake Hawkins, so we loaded the cars and Barbara and I led the parade out of Mineola and over to the lake. We had expected an overflow crowd because of the Memorial Day weekend and found the RV park was full, but even with a larger crowd than usual at the beach and swimming area, we had plenty of room to spread out and enjoy the cool water, white Florida sand (the beach sand was trucked in from Panama City Beach), and warm sunshine.

Heather had made sandwiches for everyone and we brought a bunch of snack food, so we alternated between eating, swimming, and just hanging out for a few hours. There aren’t enough words to adequately express the joy we had in this unexpected family gathering, but there are lots of pictures to show the fun.

When we finished at the beach, we all returned to Mother’s house for a few minutes to get some of the sand off and freshen up a bit and then we went to the East Texas Burger Company, a Mineola landmark, for another hour or so of good food and family conversation.

We had such a good time together that we told Andy’s folks and sister that next time they come out we’ll treat them to a Texas-style barbecue at Our Little Lot (and they readily agreed that they’d like to do that).

When the eating was done and Alexander and Abby were about to fall asleep in their chairs, we decided it was time to call it a day; but first, there was another round of photos by and of everyone. Then, our visitors got in their cars and drove back to Richardson while we drove back to Mother’s house, took showers, and crashed for the night.

“Everything can change in the blink of an eye; but don’t worry, God never blinks.” – Unknown

From Mineola, Texas

Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams