Home news, Grandma, Cori and Nate and Mama, my boss

Mama and Victoria made it home safe last night. I think they got in a little after 7 p.m. I got a text from Victoria about 7:15 telling me they had arrived in Amarillo. I did not immediately respond because I had fallen asleep while I was waiting to go to church. I did not make it to church.


Mama said everything went well on their drive home and they even spent an hour or so at the farm so Victoria could take some more pictures. I emailed the realtor that has been working with us to update her on the progress we are making and that we hope to see her next week when I have business there. Hopefully we get to make the offer soon.

Cori and Nate were able to close on their house yesterday. They are pretty excited. Cori is ordering countertops and Nate is buying paint. They will take the month of July to make the home improvements before they finally move in and Maggie is there to help in the work and the transition. I am excited for them. I am proud of the way they have gone about the purchase and the thousands of small financial decisions leading up to the purchase. Mama and I both wish we were closer so we could help, but that is not going to happen.

Grandma made it home safely on the 28th. She was a couple hours late from her original arrival time but eventually got back to Grandpa, who has been studying all the literature we have given him about farm-related items and ideas. I am sure they will have some catching up to do – as we will also when we get back together.

Today is the final day of work I have here in Houston. I will fly home tomorrow in the late morning and arrive in Amarillo only a couple of hours later. I am anxious to get home. While I am here I will go to see Grandma and Grandpa Kline in Chappell Hill. I scheduled my visit with them for tonight since I had a suspicion I would be out early. That would give me more time there than any other night of the working week. I am looking forward to the visit and I suspect they are also since I got a call last Thursday asking where I was. I guess I had not been clear on the date when I called to tell them I was coming over.

I spent one evening visiting with my old boss since he is here in Houston. He will not close on his house in Tomball until the middle of the month, so he is staying in his travel trailer near where his new home is. He has the same philosophy Mama and I have about preparing for hard times to come and has bought the place with the idea of raising chickens, fruit trees and a large garden.

Maybe our outlook is not that far off the mark.

Eating right, Shipley’s, Mama’s travel plans, differing levels of understanding

I have decided that it is impossible to lose weight when I am away from home if I eat regular meals. We do eat a little differently when we are out of the house but I think we give ourselves too much license when we are traveling. Almost all fast food is off the “healthy” menu although some have relatively healthy salads or chicken sandwiches, but it does not work out the same for our bodies to eat prepared foods.


Wendy’s has been our go to place in transit and lately we have added McDonald’s since they have added several salads we like. There is almost nothing else out there we can eat with any hope of maintaining our weight and at our age (Mama and me) it is getting more difficult to lose any extra pounds. A doctor told me years ago that the average weight gain is two pounds per year for a married couple. Since Mama and I have been married twenty nine years, we are under the average, but not far enough to have bragging rights.

Enter Shipley’s Doughnuts, which tauntingly placed a shop on the way back to the motel where I am staying here in Houston. In Victoria, TX I would often try to get there early in the mornings while supplies were fresh and high. I was interested in getting my favorite donut – a cream filled chocolate donut. I was more often than not disappointed because they were almost always sold out. On the off chance that this shop had one of those particular donuts, I stopped last night. They did not have one, they had a tray of forty. I got two, planning on eating one last night and one this morning. Both donuts were gone by 8p.m. – which sort of proves my point above.

Mama and Victoria are on the road today. Maggie stayed behind to help and hopefully get a job while she is there since there were no open positions at Wal-Mart for her to transfer into. Mama told me she felt awkward leaving with just her and Victoria but they got a late start and may not get to Shreveport earlier than 8 or 9 p.m. That has become our halfway point in coming from Amarillo.

I got to say goodbye on Sunday evening but I know the grandchildren did not fully understand although Blake was upset at my leaving. I am sure they had some discussion after Mama and Victoria left, but leaving Maggie behind could become really confusing. Mykenzie has adapted to the coming and going and Grant seems to be acclimating, but Blake will not be there for some months yet. At their different levels of understanding, we can hope that Blake will remember us – me especially – when we go back in September.

I’m worried that Maggie will become his favorite. I’ve never been a favorite before.

The new house, the Davis’ farm

Cori and Nate’s house is on a corner lot in a neighborhood that saw the majority of it’s constriction in the early 80’s. Many of the neighbors have lived in their homes since construction. A particular neighbor across the street told Nate and I she was delighted to see families with young children moving in. The husband was more interested in the fact that there will be a Sheriff’s cruiser parked in the driveway. I can only imagine what may be asked of Nate in the years to come. Although the older couple was obviously un-churched, they seemed sincere; enough that they mowed the yard, front and back, for Cori and Nate. It is a large yard and even with a riding mower it took some time.


The house has two rooms that are 12x30 or greater. As loud as her children are, Cori will be able to track them very well in the new home. It is single level, three bedrooms with two baths. It is very open and the kids have made great use of the space in the times we have had them over there. Nate has a 16x20 shop with a 12x20 covered area in front of it; plenty of room for Cori’s projects. More than I have ever had to work with.

The time we spent on the Davis’ farm was more than enough to encourage Cori and Nate to plant as many fruit treed as the yard can handle. They will still have room for a sizable garden and still have more space open for the kids to play than we have had since we moved off the farm in West Virginia.

The Davis’ provide farm eggs for several families in the church. They have only eight or ten hens and a beautiful rooster but they get several dozen eggs per week. Since we were invited out for the evening the nests were reloaded with the eggs gathered over several days. Mykenzie ans Grant loved gathering the eggs from the nest but it looked a little funny to me to see three eggs per nest – two white and one brown. (I thought it was staged or he had the neatest hens I had ever seen.) After several warnings to “Be careful!” all the eggs were safely placed – or softly dropped - into the basket and carried to the house.

Mrs. Davis taught us how to wash the eggs (by soaking them in a mild bleach solution) and prepare them for delivery. (We learned that if an egg floats it is bad. I plan to test that theory in the future.) Then we started gathering fruit from the peach trees. Blake would have eaten them until he was sick. I have to admit they were the best peaches I have eaten in years. Mrs. Davis had made some peach jam recently and we got to taste the results of her work. We also got to taste some spaghetti sauce she was canning when we got there – with heir own beef and tomatoes grown in their garden.

Grant was fascinated with the horses and cattle, especially the calves. There were six horses, but only four cows and a huge gentle bull. Mr. Davis told me the names of the breeds of the cows and the bull, but I could not find tem on the internet. I think I will have to translate from the local vernacular to some other language to look them up properly. There were also two cats and two dogs as well as a fish pond. He was bouncing from one collection of animals to another. He was worn out and still excited as we headed home.

We ended the evening eating watermelon picked fresh from the garden and were sent home with a bag of produce. It was a delightful evening.

On the Road Again

It is Sunday night and Mama and the kids just dropped me off at the airport here in Pensacola. I am bummed at having to miss church tonight but it was the best flight I could work out for the family so they would not have to miss. We have had a great time here, some of it spent at the beach, some of it spent working on the home Cori and Nate have just been told is going to be theirs on the 29th of this month. It had been hot and very humid to the point that I got seriously overheated on Friday as Nate and I worked tearing out some awful kitchen counters.


Maggie is staying with Cori and Nate until the wedding in early September. It will give Cori someone to watch the kids while they are packing, painting and otherwise working on the house and it will give Maggie and Aaron a chance to see each other that would not have been possible if she came back to Amarillo. One by one we are seeing our children off to their new lives. It is a bittersweet privilege we have as parents.

My number 2 grandson really adopted me while we were there this time. It was often a battle for him to decide to come to me or go to his mother. Other than choosing her he never chose anyone over me. More akin to the relationship Mama has with Mykenzie – nobody ranks higher than Grammy. I have no idea if it will remain the same between me and Blake, but I will get to come back in only a few weeks when we come for Maggie’s wedding.

One particular family here at West Florida Baptist is very familiar with the Coast Guard way of life. She told Mama before Sunday School this morning that they married only a few days before he shipped out for seven months. We introduced Maggie to her so they could talk. It is something she will need to be able to deal with as she and Aaron begin their life together. All in all, I think we have made a wise choice to leave her here while wedding plans are finalized. Time spent with Cori and Nate will be good also for Maggie to get into some deep and sensitive discussions with her married sister – discussions her mother is not quite comfortable with.

Mama and Victoria have to drive back to Amarillo by themselves. It is my earnest prayer that in twenty hours of time together in the car that the two of them are able to talk; make that, Victoria is willing to talk to Mama.

I have four days of mapping and metrics sessions in Houston. It is preliminary exposure to the training job I am looking at taking over in the next couple years. I have events planned for every evening I am there, so I will not have to spend too much time in the hotel. When I get back I will have a four day weekend to make up the time to Mama, but I will leave the following Sunday for a week in Victoria, TX. I wish I could say things will slow down as I finish these additional training activities, but I do not think that is going to be the case. At least the next away trainings I am aware of are not more that an overnight stay.

I am looking forward to being home – several weeks from now.

Church, Mykenzie’s expectations, the beach

Although I truly love our church in Amarillo, every time we are here in the church Cori and Nate attend, we feel a sense of being at home. Over the years of visiting we have made some very good friends and their welcome is warm and comfortable every time we show up. We have always felt that way, even when we were living in New Jersey, but for some reason the feeling is stronger right now. It may have something to do with the grandkids getting older.

I asked Mykenzie, who will be four tomorrow (the real reason we are here) what special day was coming up this week. She explained she was having a party. I asked what is the party for? She explained matter-of-factly, “It’s for me to marry to Stewart.” Needless to say, her Mom was shocked by the engagement, so for now, we will make it a birthday party and delay the nuptials for about twenty years.

Brittany came from Hot Springs on Saturday night. She drove over with a friend and Andrew, who happened to be stationed nearby, came over Sunday morning to go to church with us; strange how that worked out. I think he got back to base rather late. We talked after church and things were tense – to say the least. He is a jewel. I do not think Brittany could have chosen better.

Cori, Brittany, Maggie and Paige are at the beach right now getting burned. It is the only chance Brittany and Paige will have to spend in the surf and sand. They will be heading back tomorrow evening. It is a rare chance for Cori to get to the beach without her normal troop. I hope they enjoy it. Meanwhile, we are cooking a brisket and fixings for a birthday dinner for Brittany.

We went to the beach on Saturday and had a great time. Victoria got some terrific pictures of the kids and some of Mama and me. Mama was not happy about the pictures but she has not insisted that they be deleted…yet. She did not get in the water because it was full of algae. I thought it looked a particularly beautiful shade of green. She was not impressed.

The Princess Party for our granddaughter is the focus of our full attention for the rest of today and all day tomorrow. My daughter is freaking out – a little - but all things will work out somehow: the money, the venue, the guests, the cake, the meal, etc. I have to admit it is a lot of planning that goes into such a gathering.

I think I would rather plan a wedding, but that will come soon enough.

Last day, travel, Ebay sales

Today will be the last day I get to spend with my current boss. I will be extremely sad to see him go. We will be leaving for Florida tomorrow morning and I will not be back in the office until the 6th of July. He will be leaving ConocoPhillips on the 30th of June. So today will be it. I am sure he knows how all of us that work for him feel, but I will take one final time to express it and say a final goodbye.


Plans are set and we will begin our trip to Milton, FL in the early a.m. We plan on stopping by the farm so Victoria and Maggie can see it but we will have to limit our time there so we can still make it to Shreveport, LA (where we have hotel reservations for the night) at a decent hour. It will only be about nine more hours from there to Cori and Nate’s. I am trying to budget this vacation on a daily basis which is something new. I hope it keeps us from spending too much which is a normal vacation problem.

In order to build our savings accounts I have let our primary checking account drift pretty low – often below $100. That is where it stands right now. We still have to buy a Father’s Day gift for Grandpa and gas up the cars before we leave. I don’t think we will make that without going a little into our savings. It becomes a delicate balancing act to keep on track with a budget; especially when we find a good but on shoes.

We ran into a problem with the sale of Victoria’s phone. It seems the recipient claims that the phone was not in the package when he opened it. We find that very hard to believe, but Mama purchased insurance on the package to cover such a loss. The problem is that Chase is the one who handled the account on Ebay and none of us know how to move forward to correct the situation without being able to access the account. Chase is at summer camp in New Jersey somewhere, out of cell phone range.

Victoria, Mama and I are a little worried because Ebay has demanded we refund the $500 paid for the phone and without the package to play show and tell with the Post Office we are not able to collect the insurance we paid for. Hopefully it will all work out.

Mama and the girls will have to come back to Amarillo from Florida on their own since I will be flying to Houston on the evening of the 26th. She is dreading the trip but Victoria and Maggie are trying to put her mind at ease about it. After all, all three of them can drive. All three of them have AAA in case something does happen –which we all hope is not needed.

Mama is still recovering from the burn she got the last time we were at the beach. Hopefully we learned our lesson.

Retirement party, the venue, worries

Mama and I went to a retirement party for my boss last night. It was a small gathering of his boss and his direct reports; eighteen people in all. Mama got to meet all my peers and we got to meet some of the wives of the people I work with. It was a good time, very relaxed, very casual, a tiny bit somber. Mama and I sat with my boss’s boss and my polar opposite. It would have been less pleasant has we not settled some of our differences a couple weeks ago.


The party was held at a bed and breakfast near Lake Meredith, outside of Fritch, TX. The owners have built a log home with six bedrooms and a detached cabin that will sleep six. It is very tastefully done, very welcoming, beautifully and expensively decorated. It sits above a spring fed lake – very unusual for the area – that is about four acres in size.

Mama and I walked down to the lake and passed the most enormous cottonwood tree I have ever seen. The fish were popping out of the eater to get the flies buzzing around. It was almost dead silent. Across the lake is a cliff colored in the deep red of the area. The moon was out, bright and full. In an area suffering a severe drought, it was an oasis; wet, green and alive. The owners really do have an unusual place and I think they have maximized its potential.

As we make the final preparations for vacation, Mama is beginning to worry. The little ones she watches are not well and she is afraid they will not be properly cared for in her absence. I think that is what the children in her care have always loved about Mama without ever being able to understand it. Even the little ones at church, no more that we get to interact with them, sense the genuineness of the attention they receive.

She is worried that the several months old, who has an ear infection, will not get the proper formula and constant ministration of ear drops necessary for him to recover. She is worried that the oldest one will not get enough sleep, especially his afternoon nap – which he really has come to love. She is worried that the middle child, now walking, will get overlooked and while the other two keep a care giver distracted.

I am sure they will survive, and thoughts of a princess birthday party are providing a strong incentive to make the trip. Sometimes I think Mama forgets that all these children do have a mother and father and, more often than not, they will do just fine with whatever level of care they are able to provide.

It is her nature to care in that way – one of the things I love about her.