The final two days for NC this winter.

Monday was a packing day. I cleaned the car and began loading while Evelyn did some cleaning. We began carrying things into the house from the deck and front porch. When we finished, there was no place to really relax. We have more to take back with than I thought we would. I have a list of things to take that I have been making for some time. There are more than 25 entries. We had a large lunch of leftovers because we need to rid ourselves of many things that we can’t leave here. We had walked the lake and thought we had a place for our Mandevilla and diplandina, flowers in our pot. Unfortunately, the person who had agreed to keep them couldn’t. We will look for someone else. We went to the Open Door to cancel our work schedule for Friday. We came home to continue packing and found someone to keep our geraniums. We will also find someone to give our food to. We ate dinner of more leftovers and kept working until bedtime.

I was up at 6:30 but let Evelyn sleep until 8. I learned then that she had been awake until 5:30. I hope we sleep better tonight. We loaded the four geraniums into the car and drove to Eva’s, a German woman we worship with. She was sick with a bad throat so we didn’t stay long. On the way we had stopped to have our blood pressure taken but had also received a call from the Open Door saying they needed workers today. The blood pressure was fine so we went on to serve. We were needed. I tried to get a stamp for a letter I want to mail, but this post office has weird hours. I will have to get one tomorrow. Ours are packed away somewhere. We came home and gave our Mandavilla/diplandina to our neighbor, Diane. We also gave her some food. We then took many other things to Jim and Kathy’s. I also took a beer for us that he didn’t drink because he had started on vodka. We came home and continued to eat the larder down. We will take what is left with us in one of our two coolers. Evelyn mopped the floors and washed out the refrigerator and lazy susans. I had vacuumed yesterday after cleaning the car. I will go to Taco Bell for ice before we leave town. We decided to go through Cherokee and the Great Smokey Mountain National Park on the way to Nashville. I hope we don’t forget anything.

Delightful trip home

Having gone to sleep so late last night, we slept until 8:30 and decided to eat breakfast, pack up and drive. We left about 10:10 and drove until around 2 before stopping at Red Lobster for lunch. It was a brilliant day and things were quite smooth. We stopped frequently and moved around to loosen up. We stopped in Middlesboro, KY and bought some milk that we thought we might need but didn’t. We got to NC after dark and drove in concrete “tunnels”, around curves and beside 18 wheelers most of the way home. Evelyn has a tough time with her anxiety when we do that. We were home by 8:30, unloaded the car, ate some leftover pizza from last night, and watched some of the World Series. We will begin packing for our trip to Texas tomorrow. We did call Emily on the way through TN and confirmed that the boys are working on selecting some Revolutionary War sites to visit. We like talking with her and learning what is happening in their exciting lives

A happy homecoming

We were up at 7 on Saturday, grabbed some coffee and drove to West Lafayette for the homecoming game. It was milder than yesterday but still overcast and threatening. We arrived at the lot in good time, talked with Bill and Shirley and walked to the CFS alumni tent. We talked with Mick and Elle Keppler, learning of Paul Snyder’s misery and Sam’s seeming stupor in his behavior. We went to the game and had great seats on the 40 yard line 14 rows up. The game was good in the first quarter, terrible in the second and great in the fourth. Purdue finally won 35-17 for its 7th victory of this season. We walked back and saw some of the players coming out of the locker room. I talked with Selyn Lymon, a wide receiver from Paul Harding High School where I taught for 6 years (before he was born). We went back to Oefinger’s for her fabulous crab dip and drinks before going to Arni’s for delicious Indiana pizza. I always like to have this Pizza King pizza because it seems to be available only in Indiana. We left there and drove to Shelbyville to spend the night at another Lee’s Inn. The night clerk was gracious and gave us a rate listed on the coupon we had lost somewhere during the day today.

Rainy football?

Friday Evelyn went to meet with John. I waited at the McDonalds and called Ned to explain why I was not coming to visit. We left some muffins and a note for John and drove to West Lafayette to talk with the insurance people. We arrived in time to talk because we had eaten some sandwiches Janet had sent with us. We learned we had the Cadillac of plans and are required by Federal law. I went to the John Purdue Club office to ask for a free parking pass for tomorrow's game. I got one. I had decided I would not rejoin the club if they weren't going to give me a pass. I rejoined because they did. We will have to check about other plans with other companies. We went to the Ofingers to get the ticket for tomorrow and showed them our Panama Canal pictures. It began to rain hard, dampening our spirits about tomorrow’s weather predictions. We drove south to Lebanon where we had reserved a room in the Lee’s Inn where we stayed last fall. We finished the sandwiches Janet had sent so we didn’t go out for supper. We went to bed early so we could get up early and go to the CFS brunch before tomorrow’s game.

Three days behind

We had slept so late Monday that we had trouble getting to sleep. We were ready to go when the alarm sounded at 7 AM, however. We finished loading the car and were off by 8:30. I had hoped we would be driving in rain all day, but that never happened until we were well into Kentucky. It was depressing to drive past areas that were lakes last year but were only dry gullies this year. The drought has really ruined the water areas throughout the South. When we got to Corbin, it was raining steadily. We stopped at the “KFC shrine” where Colonel Sanders got his start. We do that often because Evelyn loves the stuff. Also, I thought we should stop since it was lunch time, and we would not likely be there at lunch time on the way home. We left there and drove in a steady, sometimes hard, rain all the way through Cincinnati and clear up through Richmond before it let up. We had packed sandwiches for lunch but ate them for supper instead. We took them into a Meijer store and ate our sandwiches and bought a hot chocolate for our drink. We arrived at Grotrians around 8 and visited with them until after 10. We were both tired and went to bed.

We were up and ready for breakfast of a puffed apple pancake Janet had made for us. It was delicious, but she had to leave for BSF training and didn’t get to enjoy it with us. We talked with Tom for a while and then left for Monroe to get the diamonds from the lock box. We got them and some silver ingots I had forgotten about. We had only one of the lock box keys and had to pay $10 for the lost one. Oddly, that was only half of what we were told last year. We also found copies of our wills that few of our families knew about. We were off to Ft. Wayne to find Klingler Jewelers to have the diamonds identified. Evelyn had paid to have the real diamonds removed from Mom’s rings and replaced with Czs several years ago and wondered which stones went with which. The jeweler was gracious and straightened all that out. She wants to give four to her brother for his granddaughters. We went on to the IPFW campus to visit with Louise and John. Louise was there but John was not. In fact, we went to his home and saw it was empty, meaning he and Whitney have probably moved. We went on to Casterline’s to visit with them and deliver some gifts. We learned that Shirley’s mother had a light stroke and may prevent them from returning to the mountains before we leave. We left there and returned to Grotrian’s where Janet had prepared pork loin and corn for dinner. She also made a delicious salad and gave us the recipe for the delicious dressing. The both left for choir practice and we stayed behind to watch sports shows. I am disturbed that neither our telephone nor air card will work in this area. I am going to call ATT and complain when I return to NC. I thought ATT had a much wider area of service than that.

Thursday found us going to Pauline’s, my leaving Evelyn and going to the auto auction to meet Darrell. I had hoped he had some information about a vehicle that we could take to Texas, but he didn’t. We went to lunch and used the last of the coupons we had for UNO pizza and talked about his plans and ours. He did talk about buying a car for us and shipping it to Texas. I picked Evelyn up at 1:30. She had eaten with Pauline at her home. We drove back to the Grotrian’s and went through Hoagland, stopping to visit with Dorthea Holle. She is 94 but still fairly active around town. She is frail and thin, can’t hear nor see well but recognized us. We thank God for allowing us to see her. We took Tom and Janet to Preble Gardens for dinner. The men ordered ribs and the women ordered fish. There was a huge, delicious salad bar, featuring home made broccoli salad and pickled eggs. The ribs were hard and dry from being cooked too fast and too long. I told the cashier and she comped us two of the dinners. I refused to accept it because the salad bar was so good. I gave her 6 extra dollars. We returned home to watch the second game of the World Series but went to bed after the 5th inning.

preparing for the football trip

Monday we slept late. Actually Evelyn slept later. I was up at 5:30 and stayed until 6:30 when I returned to bed until we both wakened around 9. We got up and went for our walk. It was a cool foggy morning when we began but cleared off. We didn’t finish until after 11, so we went to Taco Bell for some ice and my paycheck. I also got some cheesy potatoes for Evelyn because she had not had French fries for a long time. I think these are better than French fries anyway. We came home for lunch. We are trying to eat down our food because we will be gone for a week. I packed some of the drinks in our coolers for the week long trip. I then took Evelyn to have acrylic nails put on. I took a playbill to the doctor, went to cash my check, bought a couple of indoor/outdoor wireless thermometers, and drove to Barber orchard to get some “disgusting apple/walnut muffins
” to give away on our trip. I was to pick Evelyn up within 50 minutes of when I dropped her but was 30 minutes late because of the line of people waiting to buy the baked apple goods. We came home and I watched some sports shows until 5:30. We then went to the Rogers’ to pay our association dues and talk before we leave tomorrow. We came home and had dinner before watching “Dancing with the Stars”. It seems that the dancers who dance so that I recognize them get low scores. We can’t even recognize the dances. We went to bed early to get up early tomorrow.

soothing Sunday

Sunday was the day to drive to Franklin where I led worship at Peace Lutheran Church. Our friends, the Conovers, (he is a lay minister who pastors that church) had gone to a car show in Myrtle Beach and had asked me to replace him today. The message I had prepared on the book of Ruth was well received (it is the story of true, deep love and loyalty) but I made several errors in the conducting of the liturgy. The people are very forgiving, knowing I don’t get to do this much anymore and only twice each year at that. The message was to emphasize the long line of love Jesus was in while He was on earth and the long line of love that extends to us from the Cross. It was the story of “I’ll love you just as you are no matter what you do.” I think it spoke to all of us there. We went to the jeweler to get the ring Mom had given Evelyn. The set from the original ring had fallen out and there was a pair of turquoise stones intended for earrings that fit very well. We now have a spare incase this one falls out. We then went to the Jones’ for some gumbo he had made. It was excellent but served with too much wine. Evelyn drove home while I slept. We got home and I slept while she made a lunch to take to the band concert. She drove us there and we sat in the car to listen to the concert. I dozed frequently but did enjoy many of the numbers played. She gassed up the car on the way home for Tuesday’s trip to IN. I couldn’t get out of the car. We came home and I stumbled to bed at 8:35, and we both went to sleep. Evelyn has not slept a full night all week, so I made her stop and get some “Simply Sleep”. It worked very well.

Too much eating

More sleeping problems. Evelyn was awake until 1:30 and I woke at 5:30. I finally got up and went over the order of service and sermon again. We cleaned up and went off to church: I to the men’s breakfast and Evelyn to prepare the altar for Holy Communion tomorrow. We then went to the apple festival in downtown Waynesville. The temperature was crisp so we had an order of French apple beignets. They were warm and kept us warm. We also bought some lawn art for us and for a house gift. We came home for my haircut (the last one before going back to the Mexican barbers. Then I watched the Purdue football game, ate peanuts and drank beer. During time outs and halftime, I vacuumed the carpet. Purdue won, making them bowl eligible for the 11th time in 12 years. They might win some more games, improving the quality of bowl they might be invited to. After the game we walked the lake. The crisp temperatures had become downright hot. We completed the walk and returned home to pack for the trip next week. We ate a huge supper of popcorn, sandwich, soup and peaches. It is how I keep my weight up. I had to do some more practicing and then we watched a movie, “What Women Want”. We had seen it before but enjoyed it again. We went to bed early hoping for sleep.

A beautiful goodbye and big Kleenex day

We are not sleeping well at night. I waken around 5:30 and can’t go back to sleep while Evelyn can’t go to sleep for a couple of hours after retiring. Regardless, We got up and walked the lake. We came back, cleaned up, laid out funeral clothes and went to work at the Open Door. I thought we would have to leave earlier but got many things cleaned before we came home to change clothes. We went to church, taking our memorial Bible gift and were seated in plenty of time. As we waited for the service to begin, we both cried tears of joy as we looked at the crucifix in front of the church. We were assured that Nan knew the forgiveness from His sacrifice. The service was one of the most moving we have ever attended. It was different from some Lutheran services in that the deceased was mentioned while maintaining the emphasis on Christ. The pastor also emphasized the power of Holy Baptism in our lives. It was truly inspirational to know that while we will be in the casket someday, we too will be taken into the arms of Jesus. The OT lesson was great from Isaiah 25:6-9, describing the great banquet God is preparing for those of us who accept His forgiveness. We stayed to help with the dinner after but weren’t needed. I got to talk briefly with Phil, the widower, about his future, wanting him to know that we would be praying for him and welcoming him to visit in Texas. We came home to rest and dress for the dance. We went to Phil’s on the way to get the pan we had taken the breakfast casserole in. We enjoyed the dance and spent time with the Perrys who went to the play with us. We came home, prepared plans for tomorrow morning and went to bed.

New friends

Thursday was surprisingly warmer than the past few days. It was foggy as we walked the lake. We had to come home and ready ourselves for a visit to the doctor and trip to the Flat Rock Playhouse. The doctor thinks Evelyn should take stronger doses of Norvasc for her blood pressure. He will fax an order to the mail order prescription office in California. She also had more blood drawn to check her electrolytes again. We came home for lunch and then left with our friends, the Perrys, (friends we met at the Friday night ballroom dances) for the playhouse to see Smokey Joe’s Cafe. The music, performers, choreography and sets were fantastic, but I was disappointed in that the play had no plot at all. It didn’t even pretend to have a plot. We had a good time and enjoyed having 2 for 1 tickets. We drove back to an Italian restaurant and enjoyed 2 for 1 delicious dinners. We returned to our house for some Bailey’s Irish Creme and conversation. They showed me how to burn a CD so we could make a copy of one for Shirley when they return to NC. Or perhaps we can give it to her when we visit New Haven. We checked on what we could do for a dinner after the funeral tomorrow and learned things had been arranged, but we could see what we could do in helping to clean up. We will have to hurry home from the Open Door to dress and make the funeral.

Showing God's love

We were up and off to deliver breakfast to the husband and family of the woman who had died. He was not up yet but the daughter and son-in-law were. We left the casserole, salsa, and biscuits there and then went to walk the lake. We were home by 10 and had a bowl of green tomato soup for brunch. Evelyn had seen this prepared on Emeril’s TV show and made it of the green tomatoes we had been given. Evelyn went to have her hair colored, and I practiced the worship service and sermon for Sunday. I also worked on securing some electric wires from some appliances that have been hanging down. I need some more staples to complete the job. I also received a notice that I have to pay $100 to have my Texas license reinstated. I sent a return e-mail saying that charging me was unfair since the license should never have been revoked in the first place. It was some bureaucratic blunder. I also called the court house and had them fax a copy of the paid citation. I don’t know if this will show Texas DMV that I don’t owe any fee for my license but am old enough to know bureaucracies die very slowly, especially when they have to admit to a mistake. We shall see. We went into town to get Evelyn some jeans at Goody’s because today is 15% off geezer day. We came home for dinner and then watched TV. We had a call from Shirley saying Paul is not better and can hardly walk. As a result they will not be coming here for another couple of weeks. We made three circles around our loop, and then I shined shoes until bedtime. We pray that we will get some rain overnight and into tomorrow. We pray Alabama and Georgia get some too.

Loss of a friend

Tuesday was a very sad day. Sunday afternoon one of our dear friends from church and marriage encounter had a massive stroke. He family was in the living room with her the day after her daughter’s wedding. She just slumped over. This morning she died. Her husband had just retired at the end of August, and they planned to visit us in Texas this coming winter. The blessing is that she knew the love of Jesus It was also my final day at work. I was sad to say goodbye to some of the girls who work there, but we will likely go back a few times. We ate lunch at Taco Bell and came home to clean up and rest up. We found out that people are taking meals to the grieving family’s home, so we will take a breakfast casserole to them tomorrow morning. We also received a call from the doctor telling Evelyn to decrease her potassium dosage. This is strange since he called last week saying she was dangerously low in potassium. We will go to the office tomorrow to get the dosage change explained to us. I still have not heard from the Texas DOT, giving me the fax number I can use to send the fine receipt to allow reinstatement of my driver’s license.

Still spaghetti

I worked for 2 ½ hours before going to see the skin cancer specialist. Work was difficult because the thermolizer (tank of 197 degree water) overflowed, causing us to spend much time pushing water toward the drain. I then had to finish my work in shorter time. The visit to the doctor was productive. Both Evelyn and I had some small spots “frozen”. Otherwise we had no skin cancer. We came home for lunch and then left for Franklin. I was sleepy so Evelyn drove. Surprisingly, we found that the clerk of the court had a record that I had paid the fine last year. They tried to fax the record to Texas, using the number I was given last Friday, but it was returned. We went to the Jones’ to use their internet to find the correct fax number. We couldn’t so we sent an e-mail to the Texas DMV asking for it. I checked when we returned home but nothing had been delivered. We then went to Peace Lutheran church to check on the scripture for Sunday. While there, Barry told us where we could go to have a turquoise set replaced in my mother’s ring. We ordered it and will pick it up Sunday after church. We also learned that flu shots were being given and stopped to get one. We then drove toward home. On the way, we stopped at the Balsam Inn to check it out. It was an old Inn without air condition or television, etc. It might be a place to spend a weekend next summer. We came home, ate and watched some of Dancing with the Stars. What fun! There were actually some couples who looked like they were dancing. Others made great gymnastic routines.

A wonderful Sunday

Sunday was the day I sang the short introduction to the choir selection at church. It was only 24 bars but I was blessed to be asked to do it. It seemed to go well and I was blessed by many compliments from those who knew who was singing. We came home for lunch and then watered the newly planted grass in front which seems to be growing nicely despite having no rain. We rested until time to go to Sylva, a small town near here, for a fund raising concert featuring David Holt and the Lightning Bolts. He is good and has a female singer, Laura Boosinger, who sings with him. She is a favorite in the mountains. I called Shirley Casterline and told her about it while we were listening. I had bought a membership to the Jackson County Arts Council, thinking I had to in order to attend. When we got there I noticed many people who were obviously not members in attendance. We got our money’s worth since we had paid to hear the band, but I was a bit miffed in the way we were misled into thinking we had to buy the tickets. We were pleasantly surprised that our membership allowed us to attend a reception for David after the performance. We met him and talked with him for some time since he was originally from Texas. We came home and Evelyn talked with Carrie, her brother John, Pauline, and Joe and Bonny. We have things lined up for our trip to Indiana on the 23rd through the 27th. We want to meet with these people and others while in the Fort Wayne area. We also confirmed with Joe and Bonny, our friends from Texas, that they will come to our area on their way back to the Valley. This means we will come back from Indiana and stay here until November 10 or 11 starting back to Texas. I also talked with Darrell, our contact who is looking for a mini van for us. He still thinks he can find one before we leave Indiana. The Lord continues to bless us and we praise Him for His mercy. It is turning hot again and the drought continues. Things are quite deperate in the Southeast section of the country. We pray for rain.

Improved conditions

Things are looking better so I will try this again. The hiatus found things the same at work. The family problems seem much improved during our visit yesterday. We also got a couple of cases of wine and a loaf of delicious Kroger hazelnut/poppy seed bread. The bad thing was that I received a speeding ticket just inside Georgia. Driving in the mountains is difficult because of the coasting downhill, causing difficulty in maintaining speed limits. Worse, however, was learning my driver license had been revoked. I had received a speeding ticket last year and paid it, but somehow the money order I sent was not registered at the court house. I am still quite angry about that. (This is being written Saturday but the ticket was “earned” Friday.) The blessing was that the state trooper was supposed to take me to jail for driving without a license but didn’t. We returned home last night and I went to the post office where I bought the money order, and put a tracer on it. We will likely have to go to Franklin Monday and pay the fine again. I can’t wait for the tracer to find out what happened to the money order. We have to drive to Texas shortly. Evelyn worked on the church altar this morning, and we spent the afternoon watching Purdue’s version of football. We laid around the rest of the afternoon until time to go to the trout dinner at the Methodist church. The dinner is always delicious. We came home for the evening. Evelyn did water the flowers, and I will water the new grass tomorrow. The drought has been so bad in the southeast that one of the big reservoirs around Atlanta will dry up without substantial rain within the next 90 day. There are severe restrictions on water usage. It is not as bad here but certainly not good. I will sing a short solo at church tomorrow morning.