My, How Time Flies!

Hello, Everybody!


It is amazing that a month has passed, and we haven't posted a thing!! This will be a miscellaneous news catch-up blog post!


School has been going very well, except for the kids who don't want to be there in the first place. We have had a few criers and whiners, but all in all, it hasn't been too bad. This is our first holiday three-day weekend.


We both lost our hairdresser this past week. Mary, our long-time hairdresser decided to move closer to her family in Arizona. After knowing her for over 25 years, it has been an adjustment. We have known for about a year, that she and her husband were going to move at the end of August, 2009. We just kept putting it to the back of our minds in hopes that the reality would not come! She has seen a lot of life changing moments for us both. She even traveled to Lubbock to do Nichole's hair for her wedding. We wish her and her husband much happiness in this new phase of their lives!


This last Thursday, Sharon tried out a new hairdresser at a different shop. Her name is Carol. Sharon will probably go back to see if she will continue to do her hair. We hate trying to find a new hairdresser.

Tuesday afternoon brought a visit to Ellen's orthopedic doctor. He was very pleased that she had worn the boot that he had prescribed. She really has been faithful in wearing that boot; however, he told her to begin weaning herself off of the boot for a couple of hours a day. She seems to think that means she can wear it when she wants to wear it. Today, Sharon hasn't seen hide nor hair of that boot!


On Saturday, we went up to Las Cruces for the Southern New Mexico Wine Festival. We had a great time. We enjoyed the food, music, and the wine, of course. The weather was great. We went early, at noon, when they opened. It was not too crowded yet, and the lines for tastings were not long. After sampling several different kinds, we bought a cheese and grape platter and sat in the shade for a lite lunch. Some of the local high school band students were selling the cheese and grape plates. We know how hard band kids work, so it was an easy decision to support their fund raising efforts.

The past several days, the newspaper has been advertising a group who was in town buying old gold and silver. We took ourselves over to the Holiday Inn by the airport on Sunday morning. We had a few trays that we weren't sure if they were silver plated or sterling silver. Turns out they were silver plated, so we couldn't sell those; however, they were paying a good price for non-rare silver coins. Ellen had a few of those, so she sold them.

By being at the Holiday Inn, we were halfway to our favorite restaurant, BJ's! The thought of a thin crust, tomato, basil and Italian sausage pizza was too good to pass up! Before eating, we went all the way to Joe Battle Street to check out the new Kirkland's store that just opened. It is was fun to look around at what they had. We haven't been in one for quite some time.

When this weekend began, we had no plans whatsoever. All of our "goings" have been spur of the moment! We didn't even take a camera with us to the Wine Fest! We'll let you know what we come up with for tomorrow!

Until next time. . . . . . . . . .

Ellen's First Day of School!

Hello Everybody!

First days back at school are always exciting. You see people whom you haven't seen since school was out. There is a sense of a newness, even if you've done the same job for many years. Ellen was anticipating the beginning of the year -- and all the craziness that surrounds registering children and assuring parents that all will be fine.

Wednesday evening she had her clothes all ironed and ready to go. The alarm clock was set and the coffee pot was fixed for "automatic on". There is nothing like having a pot of hot coffee all ready to pour as you sleepwalk to the kitchen in the morning. Sharon was going to go to school, too. When you've taught for 36 years before retiring, there is just something about getting ready for a new year that doesn't leave your soul.

The following scenario is how Thursday went:

Ellen woke up thirty minutes AFTER the alarm should have gone off.
She went to the kitchen to pour a cup of Snickerdoodle coffee. It was COLD! The timer was set for 4:30 PM instead of 4:30 AM! Forget about reading the paper before school-- it was straight to the shower. After the shower, the coffee got heated up in the microwave. She ate breakfast, got dressed, and was ready to go. It was time to get the name tag and be off to Sharon's house. SHE COULDN'T FIND HER NAME TAG! Oh, well, that would be a job for the weekend.

Sharon was waiting for Ellen to come. She still needs a little help in the morning to get dressed, but is doing remarkably well. We get that job done, Ellen is out the door, and Sharon will follow soon.

It was great to see the ladies in the office. We have a special relationship and can't imagine working without one another. After catching up with one another, it was time to get started in the office. Ramona, our head custodian, came in to tell me that the air conditioner was not working, but she had already called it in to be repaired. (The temperature was expected to reach 100 on Thursday, and there are no windows in Ellen's office.) Okay, so it is going to be a sweaty day...

Sharon arrived at school, and her first job was to figure out why the monitor for the computer would not turn on. She solved that problem, but then it would not let us connect to the Internet. UGH! All medical records for the school are on the computer now! Ada came in to see if she could figure it out, but in the end, she had to report it to TIS (technology) so they could send someone.

Someone called to speak to Ellen, and at that point we realized her phone was not working. Susan reported that to the powers that be.

We worked real hard all morning and got most of the walls decorated. By this time we were hot, sweaty and ready for lunch. After we ate, Sharon went home for a nap. Of course, it was nice and cool at home!!

Ellen spent the afternoon getting things straightened up and all ready for when registration begins on Monday.

What a day!! There is a saying that when a dress rehearsal goes bad, the main performance is usually outstanding. Here's hoping that it is an outstanding year! After that first day, it should be just about perfect!

Until next time. . . . .

Travels To Northern Texas Panhandle!

Hello, Everybody!



After the reunion stuff was over, we headed to a little town east of Amarillo near the Oklahoma border called Canadian. Sharon used to live there back in the 70's. She also has relatives who live there. This picture shows her with her first cousin, Sue Lynn. They both have those Cherokee cheeks, don't you think? We visited with Sharon's Aunt Fannye, Sue Lynn's mother. She has not been well, but was able to visit with us for a few hours and seemed to enjoy the company. We enjoyed Sue Lynn's margaritas! Aunt Fannye's sadness was that she couldn't have one, too!


Ellen finally got to see the storm cellar and "basement" of Aunt Fannye's house. She has heard many stories of how they would gather there during the bad weather that is so prevalent in the Northern Panhandle. When Ellen saw the big, beautiful bar down there, she immediately knew why this was also the gathering place when the weather was just fine!! Her Uncle R. E. knew how to entertain.




One of the little towns on the way to Canadian is White Deer! We detoured off the highway and rode down Main Street. Sure enough, they have a statue of a white deer in the middle of town!

Ellen fell in love with the rolling hills of the Northern Texas Panhandle. Here is a picture of them as we were headed back to Amarillo.

When Sharon lived in Canadian, she and a few of her friends would drive to Amarillo every few weeks to go grocery shopping. Ellen can't imagine having to drive over a hundred miles to do that, but the scenery is beautiful. It makes the time pass quickly!

We did quite a few things in our few short days! We managed to explore some different areas of the Panhandle and enjoyed a wonderful time.

Until next time. . . . .

Drury Inn And Suites!

Hello, Everybody!

Those of you who follow our blogs know that our usual and most favorite place to stay is The Residence Inn. This time, however, the reunion group secured rooms at the Drury Inn and Suites.

This is the hotel that we stayed in during our short time in Amarillo. It was a nice place, but it didn't have nearly the room that we are accustomed to having. We might add that it didn't have a full kitchen, either. It was okay, but. . . . . . . .......
A full breakfast was served each morning, and in the evenings they had beverages and snacks. Of course, we had our morning meal there, but our evenings were so busy that we really weren't at the hotel to enjoy their offerings.

This picture was taken from the car as we were going from Amarillo to Ruidoso. If you look closely, that is rain in the distance. In the past, we have made a few trips on this road between Ruidoso and Tulia/Plainview/Lubbock. Every time we went this way, we would encounter TERRIBLE weather. It was to the point that Ellen refused to take this route ever again. One time we were in the middle of tornadoes! It was raining so hard we could barely see out the windshield and the roads were flooding. Perhaps the spell is finally broken. This was as close as any rain came to us during the drive.

It was quite warm on the Monday that we left Amarillo. It actually got to 102, but Sharon wasn't fast enough with the camera.

Within minutes the temp began to drop as we got closer to Ruidoso. It was so nice.

Wednesday morning this was the view outside our window in Ruidoso. The temperature was 54 degrees and we loved it!!

There was quite a bit of rain the night before. It was so refreshing and smelled so good.

Wednesday morning we got the car all packed and checked out of the hotel. When we got into the car to leave, the car would not start. We waited a couple of minutes and tried again. No luck. Ellen called AAA, and they said it would be about an hour. We went back into the hotel lobby. The young man looked at us and wanted to know if everything was okay. We told him about the car. He called maintenance and a nice man brought his truck and jump started the battery. Sharon bought the car at Vision Lincoln dealership in Alamogordo. That is about 40 miles from Ruidoso, and we go through there on the way home. We stopped so they could check out the car. Here we sit in the waiting room of the service department. It's not exactly how we usually end our vacations, but they replaced the battery free of charge! After that, we made our way home without incident. As a side note, Sharon didn't even take naps while we were on the road at any time during the trip!! Perhaps she is secretly counting the days until Ellen goes back to work. She knows that nap time is coming soon!!

Until. next time . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tulia Time! Swisher County Parade and Picnic!

Hello, Everybody!



In mid-July, we traveled to Sharon's old hometown for the annual Swisher County Parade and Reunion weekend. The parade started off with a fly-over of three old planes. Sharon was barely able to snap this picture as they kicked off the parade.

This is a really old fire truck. Tulia does have an updated model.

What parade is complete without tractors and equipment? The next couple of pictures show some of Sharon's favorites--John Deere tractors.

We have no idea what this piece of equipment is; nor, do we have any idea what it is used for. We do know that it is HUGE! Neither one of us would want to try to crawl into it!

Here is one of the floats that carried Sharon's sister's reunion class. It was their 50th reunion. Quite a few of them were there for the parade. For this to be a 50 year reunion, they were all able to hop onto that trailer and sit on the hay bales without a problem.

Here are the sisters--Janice and Sharon. Many of their friends remarked how much Sharon looked like her mom.

We drove by Sharon's old home place. The people who bought it have really fixed it up. It is beautiful. Sharon's family moved here in 1949. Her mom and dad lived here until 2002. Ellen visited this home many times with Sharon over the years. It holds lots of special memories.

In high school, Janice and Sharon sang with a group called, "Blue Stars." The Blue Stars got together for their own reunion to sing for the dinner on that Saturday evening. It was held at Lake Tanglewood Country Club in Amarillo. The picture below shows us in rehearsal. We started off a bit hesitantly, but after a few songs we got all warmed up! By the end of rehearsal, the Blue Stars were ready for the stage once again!!

The evening brought a special surprise for Sharon. Below is an old friend who came with her husband from Florida. She is Dana Rogers Bauer.

This picture shows Janice and her husband, Jim. They live in Plainview.

This last picture shows the Blue Stars. We sang about eight songs for the evening. People must have enjoyed us because they stopped talking and listened to us. What fun we had! We didn't discuss what to wear. It just so happened that we all showed up in black and white!

Ellen was the official photographer for the evening.

Until next time... . . . . . .

Home Grown Veggies!

Hello, Everybody!

Can you say HOT? We have had such hot weather. The days have been over 100 degrees for several days now.

We thought you might like to see our cabbages! We decided it was time to pick them. Since we have never grown anything "to eat", we weren't sure if we should try them. But we did our picking and got them all cleaned up.


Here they are! We decided they looked and smelled good, so we would give them a try. Our first bite was quite tasty, and nothing bad happened to either one of us! We were safe! We tell you, they made the best coleslaw! Besides tasting so good, we were quite proud of ourselves.

We have a friend, Jenny. Now, she is quite the farmer! She grows a huge garden at her home! We are fortunate to be the recipients of several of her vegetables. These are tomatoes, zucchini, squash, green pepper and jalapeno fresh from her garden. Our cabbages enjoyed the company!

We have harvested a red pepper from our little pepper plant, and another one is on the way! Remember our tomato plant disasters from the past? Well, we didn't even try this year. But if we get brave, we may give it another chance next year!

Almost forgot to mention our basil. Now, this we have grown from seeds. We didn't take a picture, but it has become a little bush! It smells and tastes wonderful!!

We hope you continue to enjoy your summer. We leave for Amarillo this coming Friday. We will also be in Tulia over that weekend. Now, that is farm country! They would laugh at our little attempt at growing crops! Oh well, Sharon hasn't lived on a farm in a long time and Ellen grew up in the middle of St. Louis!

Until next time. . . . . . .

Another Summer Project!

Hello Everybody!

Our summer project has been Ellen's master bath. There were two layers of wallpaper that needed to be removed. "Spare time" has been spent scraping off all the paper! The first layer was easy to remove. The second layer has been there since the home was built in the early '80's.

Ellen bought the house in August, 1998. One of the first things we did was to put new wallpaper in the Master bathroom. When Sharon removed one of the medicine cabinets, so that we could get all the paper off, this is what we rediscovered!
We both laughed out loud, because we had forgotten that we did that! Sharon got out her trusty pen and added to the note. You can see there is still a little room left, so if we need to remove the medicine cabinet again, be sure that we will leave another message!

Most of the paper has been removed. There is just a little left to do. We went to Lowe's this morning to find out about texturing the walls. We talked to the "expert" whose name is Joe. We got joint compound and directions on how to apply it. The final step will be to paint the walls.

Please pray for us!!

Until next time. . . . .

Finally- Albuquerque!

Hello, Everybody!

We had rain, glorious rain in El Paso! It all started on our way back from Albuquerque. Ellen drove through blinding rain on Sunday afternoon. That was scary! Thank goodness it didn't last too long.

We thought we would show you where we stayed. It was okay, but we still prefer Residence Inns.

This picture shows the lobby area.

This is a picture of the breakfast area where Ellen would come to get our breakfasts each morning. It is a very nice place, and they had biscuits and cream gravy!!

Below is the little computer room. They do have wireless Internet, so we didn't have to use this as we took our laptop with us.

This next picture shows Ellen looking at a book of restaurants in the city. We didn't need to use that either. We had lunch on Saturday at one of our favorite places, Marcello's. We just can't pass up the Lobster Bisque!

One of the days, we decided to go to Sandia Hotel and Casino. It is a beautiful place if you haven't been there. They have a very large non-smoking area of slots. Ellen won as she usually does. Sharon didn't, but she has a limit of twenty dollars to lose. She didn't lose all of that, but it was wonderful fun for us.

This next picture shows the entry way to the hotel. It really is a lovely place to stay.

This is one of the statues that are in the lobby of the hotel.

Would you believe that this is a fountain? It is really pretty.

Susan and Ada gave this gift to Ellen for Nurses' Week. We decided to take it on the trip with us. As you can see, there is nothing left in the bottle! It was wonderful.

When we were driving through the pouring rain on the way home, the outside temperature began to drop. Even after the rain stopped, the temperature kept going down. Sharon took a picture of the temp after it began going back up. The lowest it got was 63 degrees. That was about 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon! It was lovely!Our next adventure will be to Amarillo in three weeks. More on that, later.

Until next time. . . . . .

Lazy, Crazy Days of Summer!

Hello, Everybody!


We hope that you are having a wonderful summer vacation. It has been trying to rain all week, but nothing has dropped out of those skies on our yards. Ellen took a chance and had her car washed! Silly girl.


Ellen loves this short job she has for summer. It is with the Early College High School. It is this special program that allows the kids who complete it to graduate high school with two years of college under their belts. Besides their high school diploma, they will also receive an Associates Degree in their chosen field of study. During these two weeks of summer, the students are exposed to the programs they may take at the Community College. They also are learning about the high school and are doing various "team building" activities. The program is funded by the Gates Foundation. What does every student who attends this high school get? A laptop computer, of course!!


Sharon continues to go to physical therapy for her shoulder. The doctor is impressed with her progress so far. The therapists are also pleased with the gains she has made. Therapy will continue for a few more weeks. They will miss her when she finishes!


This weekend we are headed to Albuquerque. Maybe it will be cooler. Last year, we got an upgrade for a free night at the Homewood Suites. Some of you may remember that we had an awful time there last year.. We usually stay at The Residence Inn. It remains our favorite place to stay in any city. We just couldn't pass up a free night. Since it was about to expire, we decided that we should take advantage of it.


More from Albuquerque this weekend.

Have a great rest of this week!


Until next time. . . . . . . . . . . .

Summer Stuff!

Hello, Everybody!

Happy Summer vacation to you all! Aren't these roses gorgeous? Joe gave these to Ellen for Mother's Day. This is what they looked like TWO WEEKS LATER!!! They provided many moments of enjoyment. Thanks, Joe!

Our summer gardening is beginning to bear fruit. For a couple of weeks this pepper has been green. We have waited impatiently for it to turn red. It finally happened! It is just about ready for picking. We hope that the plant gives us more than just this one.

For Ellen's birthday, Nichole and Joe gave her a fountain that will hang on the wall. It took a while to decide where to put it. Since Ellen has been on vacation this past week, it was project #1 to finish. It sits outside the dining room window. The fountain has a light in the bottom of the bowl. It looks so pretty at night, especially.

Sharon was in charge of running the wires for the electricity and making sure that everything was waterproof. She used her trusty liquid nails to adhere the fountain to the wall! This was really her first project since surgery. She said that it felt good to be able to work again.

After moving plants around from other places and running inside to see how it looked from the dining room, this is the finished product -- for now, anyway! :o) One never know what these two ladies will think of next!

It really is a spot of beauty.

Until next time.... . . . . . . .