Home Again

We made it home with our load and got it unloaded and the U Haul into the dealer.  We spent the night in McAllester as we got a late start.  We had a great dinner at the restaurant next to the Super 8 in McAllester.  We had been to this restaurant before and it was good then and good now.  It is good to be back home.

The Garage Sale

Mary Ann and Larry made it in on Wednesday and we got everything ready for the garage sale.  The weather cooperated and we had tables set up and were ready to go.  We were getting set up on Thursday and people started showing up to buy so we sold a bunch of stuff yesterday and basically got rid of everything else today.  Hardy and Larry went to get a U Haul trailer for us and we are taking the bedroom suite from the spare bedroom back to Missouri.  Mary Ann and Larry left for Dallas to see their kids and grand baby.  Hardy and I started loading the trailer so we can take off on Sunday.  We would like to get an early start but that probably isn't going to happen.  We did make over $600 for the folks on the garage sale so will need to get that to them in the next few weeks.

Cochran's Restaurant

We made it to Gun Barrel City without any problems and checked in with the neighbors to let them know we were there.  At 9:00 we went up to Cochran's Restaurant which was Papa's place to go every day.  We had to check in with the good old boys to let them know how Papa was faring with his move to Paducah.  These are a bunch of men around the WWIII era that have coffee every day of the week.  While we were there, Papa called to talk to everyone and I think to see if we were there.

We started the house cleaning process and sorting, etc.  Hardy worked on the garage and I worked on the house so it all went fairly well.  We were tire by the end of the day and without a television to watch we just went to bed.

Gun Barrel City - here we come!

We left Tulsa and crossed the river and had breakfast at a little local restaurant with great food and good service.  We love the little out of the way places rather than the chain restaurants.  We caught the Indian Turnpike into McAllester and on to Paris, Texas where we connected with Texas 19 down to Gun Barrel City.  We are going to empty out the house for the folks and get it ready for sale.  Mary Ann and Larry are coming on Wednesday and we will have a yard sale and close up the house.

Oral Roberts University & IEEE Robotics

I met some of the ladies for breakfast in the restaurant at the hotel and afterward we met in the lobby for our excursion and exploration.  First we decided to tour the Oral Roberts University which is directly across the street for the Hilton where we are staying.

 This is the Tower at the University.  We were allowed to go inside and it is quite nice.  There are scriptures throughout the circle area and it looks out over the campus wherever you stand. The campus is quite large and very nice with flower gardens, sculptures and water fountains throughout the campus.  They are building an addition to the campus and we were able to talk to the contractors who were from Arkansas (seems strange) but they apparently are contractors for a large company that does industrial type building throughout the mid west and that company was the contractor.

This is taken from the tower down into the campus and shows some of the unique gardens that are throughout the campus. 

This is our group that did the exploring. These are wives of the engineers that are attending the IEEE meeting in Tulsa and they apparently get together whenever their husbands are together at the same meetings.  We took off in the afternoon and went to a little strip mall in the inner city area and walked through the stores and I had a great time.  It is not often that I go with women and just shop around.  I don't think anyone bought much but we sure did a lot of looking.

These young men are part of the Missouri S & T (Rolla) Robotics and they had their robot at the contest.  unfortunately there were some rule changes at the last minute so they did not do too well but they did compete and learned early on that politics are everywhere.

This is the Robot from Rolla.

Hardy and I decided not to go to the dinner and awards banquet at the Hilton and went out looking for our own place to have dinner.  We drove along the river area and ended back at the mall that I had gone to during the afternoon.  We found a steak house and that is where we had dinner.  It was so expensive and we probably would have been more satisfied at the Texas Roadhouse.

IEEE Tulsa

We traveled to Tulsa without any major problems but we did stop on our way through Joplin to have lunch and look at the progress from the tornado that went through in 2011.  The devastation is still very prevalent with lots of vacant lots where buildings used to stand.  The high school is the most dramatic as it is totally gone now.  The trees were so stripped of branches that it will take some time for them to recover.  We ate lunch at a little local shop on Main Street and will probably stop back there again some time on our way through.

We made it to Tulsa early in the evening and checked into the hotel and then went looking for the registration desk and what the plans were for dinner.  They took us to an Italian restaurant that was within walking distance and the food was very good, I am just glad we were not paying for it!  We sat with some of the folks from Louisiana and one of the ladies invited me to join them in the morning as they were going to do some exploring.

Weigh Day

After a late start this morning and getting all the clothes and everything else ready for our trip to Tulsa, OK tomorrow and then on to Gun Barrel City, TX for a yard sale, I went to Weight Watchers.  Lo and behold I lost 3.6 pounds which is really good for me as I have not weighed since March 31 in Texas.  That is a good incentive so now maybe I can stick with it.  We will be going to an IEEE meeting over the weekend and then drive to Gun Barrel where we will meet Mary Ann and Larry and hopefully sell some stuff out of the folk's house and maybe they can get that house sold!

Dancing with the stars

We decided to take the day and go to Springfield, mess around a little and then go dancing with our group.  After going to Rolla and dropping off the movie War Horse, we drove to Lebanon and took Highway 5 down to Marshall where we met with US 60 and then drove into Springfield.  Highway 5 is interesting and not much traffic so that was a nice drive.

By the time we got to Ozark we were both hungry so decided to go to Rosie Jo's for dinner. This is a favorite of ours and they have really good chicken salads, which is what we both ordered.  We drove around Ozark some and then went down to the park and took a road out to the Riverside Inn which is no longer there!

Riverside Inn near Ozark, MO

 Apparently the flooding finally took its toll.  We had never eaten there but it always had a fair crowd around it was a nice quiet area.

Old Finley Bridge near Ozark, MO

Mill and pond on Finley River, Ozark, MO

This river bridge has also been closed and they are re-routing to another crossing farther up the river.
  They do have a nice park so we stopped there and Hardy read while I took a short walk on the walking trail that goes along the river.  After all that, we went to the dance.

Advanced lessons have started and we had two squares of dancers so we had a good time.  Of course after dancing it is off to Braums for ice cream.  I was really good and only had water...weigh day tomorrow!




 

The camper is ready to roll!

We took the camper into the garage this morning to get the wheel bearings packed and the trailer checked over and it is now ready to roll.  We picked it up about 4:30 p.m. and it is housed in its little house for another couple of weeks.

After taking the camper to its doctor we went for breakfast and then messed around Rolla long enough to go to lunch too.  Breakfast was at the Huddle house and lunch was at The Round House...soup and salad.  We came home in time for me to fix dinner so that is basically what we did today...shopped for groceries and then ate!

Our Stay at Home Day

Today was our stay at home day and try getting a few things done, not that we did too much.  Our internet has been acting up so a call was placed to "Wave" and a technician came out to our house and installed a new WiFi receiver and it seems to be working better.  Our other major project, well Hardy's project, was to pull the camper from its garage and get it ready to take to the shop in the morning.  We are getting the wheel bearings packed and everything checked over so we can go on our big trip in June.

Dancing at the Zig Zags

After a breakfast at the Huddle House we took off for Laurie to dance with our local Advanced Club.  It was nice seeing all the club members and some new faces at this dance too.  Randy Dougherty was the caller and he did a really great job at it.

It took the long way home and it had been raining with some severe thunder storms having gone through the area.  There was the most beautiful rainbow in the sky and i couldn't find my camera in time to get a picture of it.  It was a perfect arc across the sky with another dimmer arc beside it.  It did rain a little but all in all it was a nice drive.

Dancing with the VanDorens

It is a cold and rainy day in Missouri.  There have been massive tornado outbreaks in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa but so far it has bypassed Missouri although we have had lots of rain.

Today is Sharayah Lee's birthday and 19 years ago I was traveling across Iowa in a snow storm trying to get to Montana before she was born.  I was working in Rock Island when I got the news she was on the way so I took off immediately and instantly ran into snow.  I didn't make it in time for her birth but the nurses were very good about keeping me appraised of the progress.

We went to a regular dance in Rolla at the invitation of Tom and Lana VanDoren.  It was nice to waltz again but we spent most of the evening just visiting with friends.

A definite Friday the 13th

Well, it is definitely Friday the 13th at our house.  We slept in, which was good, but when I went to make my ice tea, I spilled it all over the counter and down the stove, etc. so I had that mess to clean.  I was cooking breakfast and was going to fry bacon for Hardy and I incinerated it so had to throw that out.  Of course that set off the smoke alarms.  I decided to play Solitaire and that is a very frustrating game for me as i play the very hard and very seldom get it so now I am catching up on the blog and deciding what to have for lunch.

Hiking in Clements Woods

We had some running around to do and groceries to get so off to town we went again.  After getting groceries, etc. we came home and then went out to our geo cache site to check on it.  It is still in the same spot but the loggers have been in the area so now there are roads leading in and out of the woods.  (Clements Woods)  There is now a road over to another county road so we walked to that road on the pseudo-trail and then came back to the car.  It was quite a hike and we were loving it.

After getting back home and a short rest, we got dressed and went to the square dance at St. Robert.  We got to see some people we hadn't seen in six months so it was a great day, all in all and I got in 15,000 steps on the pedometer!

Columbia

This morning we got up and went to breakfast again at the Huddle House and then left for Columbia so that Hardy could fix an electrical problem that Stacie and Linda are having.  Apparently he just needed to put in a new breaker so we went out to lunch at this wonderful Indian restaurant and ate until we couldn't eat any more.  Oh my that was good food.

Hardy got the breaker fixed and we took off for home.  We stopped in Ashland at McDonalds for ice tea, ice cream and a potty break but Sharayah wasn't working so we didn't get to see her.  We wanted to get home before dark so did not stop in Jefferson City.

In Paducah

We got up early and checked out of our motel and then Hardy and Papa went to breakfast.  Hardy said that after breakfast they drove down to the river to see how high it was.  I took the dog for a nice long walk so I could get some exercise and then when I got back breakfast was over Mama had her bath and got ready to see the respiratory specialist.  The guys arrived back after their outing and we all went to the doctor's office to see what, if anything, could be done with Mama.  Apparently they will add a nebulizer to help her breathe and they were able to get their medicine filled and the doctor basically said there is nothing more that can be done and as they have a basic routine they are familiar with to just leave them alone.

We actually got them both out for lunch and went to another BBQ place in Paducah.  It was nice having them both instead of Mama staying home like she would like to do.  We took them back to the house so they could get their nap and we left for home.

Hardy and I left Paducah and went back the same way we had come except the bridge across the Mississippi is now open and we were able to use it.  We stopped again at another BBQ and Burger place and had burgers and made it home before dark.

Off to Paducah

We took off early this morning to go to Paducah and take some furniture to the folks.We stopped in Van Buren at the local BBQ place and had a pulled pork sandwich.  This will probably be a stopping place for us each time we go that way as the BBQ is good and it doesn't take too long to eat.

Since the folks moved in with Tutu they are still trying to adjust and the dresser they were using was not adequate so we took them down the one we had in our guest room which had belonged to them in the beginning.  I believe it was one they bought when they first were married. The folks seem to be doing OK but Papa is missing his coffee friends and needs to have some time out with the guys.  He apparently went to lunch with a group from the "Plant" where he used to work.  They meet once a month for lunch so that was a good outing for him.


Hardy and I went to Bob Evans for dinner before we went over to see the folks and we are staying at the Days Inn which has really gone down hill since the last time we stayed there.

Easter Sunday

As this is Sunday and our tradition has always been to dress up a little and go to breakfast.  In Texas we go with a large group but in Missouri it is just the two of us so off we went into Rolla and had breakfast at The Huddle House.  They always have good food and are so nice to us, keeping us in coffee and ice tea.

I received a text message from Hardy's oldest, Hardy IV and they were at our house so we went back home and visited with them.  The boys are sure getting tall and Emmett has long hair which makes him look like a pretty little girl!  I am sure that when he gets teased about that later on he will get it cut but for the time being he is happy with it.  Delia is a pistol right now and anything the boys can do she can also do so she is always up to the challenge.  Liam is a little tease and just so loveable.  All three kids are a delight to be around and so far they have done a great job raising them.

We went into Rolla for lunch and went to both Mexican restaurants and both were closed so we finally settled on Chinese at a local joint.  The kids had received chop sticks in their Easter basket so they got to use them.  They really did well with them.

Early Easter

Stacie, Linda, Joseph and Isaac came out to our house today for an early Easter.  We had a great visit and then they hid Easter eggs.  The eggs were plastic and they put lights in the eggs so you could see them at night.  The kids had a great time looking for them.  We built a bonfire and Isaac roasted some marshmellows that I had that must have been 10 years old.  Joseph mowed a little grass and he had a great time as he had never operated a mower on his own but he did quite well.  I had previously mowed the rest of the yard as the weather is quite nice and I wanted to be sure we did not have any snakes near the house lying in the tall grass.

Our German Dinner

Tonight was our night, finally, to have our German dinner that we have talked about for the past month. We met at Jean's place to enjoy the good German food and had a great time.  Jean's daughter and two grandchildren are here now so it was a pleasure to get to know them and to visit with our friends.  This will be the last time we are all together for this season.


Sandy also brought some very colorful and fancy "trellis yarn." She had several different colors and I was able to make at least one necklace out of this pretty yarn.   Sandy and Steve worked on some beading as Steve wants something to do when they are doing their work camping this summer.  Hardy had to help thread the needle as they could not see it well enough to get it threaded and Hardy is near sighted so he came to the rescue!

South Texas in the American Civil War

We drove out to UTPA with Jan and Steve and met with Ken and Lee so we could listen to Dr. Jerry Thompson from Texas A & M International in Laredo who spoke on “South Texas in the American Civil War”.  Alexander Mendoza, history lecturer at North Texas University will opened the program talking about “Tejanos and the Civil War”.   Dr. Thompson is nationally known as a Civil War historian and a lively speaker and it was a pleasant evening listening to him talk about the Civil War in this area. We went to Dairy Queen afterwards and talked about the lecture and what we had learned.

McAllen Town Band

Tonight was the final concert in the McAllen Town Band for this season. John and Sandy had saved us seats so we were able to get into the center section of seats.  Jan and Steve, Hal and Dorothy, John and Sandy and Hardy and I were all together.  We did not see Ken and Lee until the break and they were above us in the balcony.

The concert was great as usual but "Satchmo" which was a medley of Louis Armstrong  and the "Trumpeter's Lullaby" were special.  A local high school student played the "Trumpeter's Lullaby" and he was fantastic.  There sure is a lot of talent in the Rio Grande Valley and we especially like it when the young people perform.  This group of band members is made up of local folks who still enjoy playing their instruments.  Here is a picture I copied from Ken and Lee showing our group in the center waving to Ken and Lee.

Major Texas Storm

Tonight was our last C1 square dance of the season at Tropical Valley Acres and we were dancing the final tip when a storm broke. We could hear rain on the roof and saw lightning and could hear thunder.  The hall had emergency lighting so we weren't left in the dark but going to the rest rooms took a little skill as there were no lights back there.  Hardy and I watched the flag pole bend in the wind and then it was gone. National Weather Service reported funnel clouds and hail in the area.

This storm lasted about an hour and we were all able to leave but getting home was a little tense.  We followed John and Sandy and Jan and Steve were behind us.  The roads were flooding and there were cars everywhere and water got very deep.  We were pushing water with the front bumper of the car in many areas.  I finally turned down Conway to get to the Expressway and there were cars stalled in the road and water running into the buildings down there.  I made it through but it was just luck that I didn't stall out.  There was debris everywhere and some serious wind damage in many areas.

We arrived home and there was very little evidence of the storm in our park.  A few palm fronds were scattered around but the electricity had not even gone off.  Apparently the brunt of the storm was Mission and McAllen.

A Weight Watcher Morning

I went to Weight Watchers this morning then Jan and Steve and Hardy and I went to breakfast at Michalitas in Mission.  We are looking for a new place to meet as Angel's is closing its doors and this is pretty good place to gather as they have enough room for all of us and do not seem to mind if we stay and chat for awhile.

I am still packing and unpacking but will get it all together before we leave.

Last Dance

This is our last dance of the season and there was no C2 dance so we went to the A dance with Darryl over in McAllen.  There was serious storm damage at the hall.  All of the windows were broken out of the parish hall and there was two feet of hail up against the hall.  There was water on the floor but it was mopped and fans were turned on so by the time we danced it was in pretty good shape.  Darryl still had 14 squares for this dance but there are a bunch of us leaving this next week.  John and Sandy and Hardy and I went out to lunch after the dance and we said our farewells to them as they are leaving in the morning.

I went home and packed some more and Hardy and I went to Las Marguiritas for dinner and our final visit this season.  After watching a little television we called it a day.

Last Texas Day

This is the last day in Texas for this season..  As always, the season went by fast but it is time to go home to Missouri for the summer.

We had our last breakfast at Angels Restaurant with Bob and Pat and Jan and Steve.  They are closing down the restaurant and we are all sad to see this happen.  Hardy and I have followed these girls for the past several years and they have always treated us well.   Apparently they need some down time and time with their own families so we wish them well and hopefully we will see them somewhere around the area.  We gave them a little gift and said our goodbyes.

I finally got everything packed and repacked and into the car but it sure is loaded down.  There is way to much "stuff" in the car but some of it has to go to the kids and some back to Linda.  I won't have this much when we come back down to Texas.  I took my frozen food over to Jan and Steve and later on we went to the hot tub at the club.  Jan had made a pie for our send-off which was very good.  I hate leaving our friends but we all go our own way in the summer and sometimes we even meet up somewhere along the road.  John and Sandy left on Friday and Ken and Lee left yesterday.  Jan and Steve will be  leaving around the middle of the month and working somewhere in Texas or Louisiana for the summer so hopefully they both stay healthy.  Bob and Pat Boyink will be leaving on the 12th of April for their trip to the Netherlands and that should be en exciting time for them.

Gainsville, Texas Overnight

We are going back to Missouri today so closed down our house in Texas and hit the road around 8:00 a.m.  We stopped for breakfast in Falfureus and then continued on to San Antonio and ultimately the Dallas area, stopping for the night in Gainsville, TX.

I spotted a Braums in Gainsville so we went there and had the most decadent sundae.  It was quit an adventure just to get to Braums as it was night and there was construction everywhere and I missed the turn off and ended up going another few miles so I could turn around.  After I turned around I decided to stay on the outer road which would have worked just great if the river had not been in the path and there was no bridge so I ended up going around one more time.  I finally got to the right turn off and the wait was worth it.  I drove around the courthouse and we read the historical markers and then took a few back streets to get back to Super 8.  This Super 8 was not a top notch motel like most we have stayed in.  First they put us in a smoking room so Hardy asked to be moved.  They moved us right next door which was OK but the room sure was not very clean.  I was really disappointed in this Super 8.  The bed was comfortable so we had a fairly decent sleep.

Mouse in the house.

Today we are on the road to home to Rolla from our winter home in Texas.  We skirted around Dallas and went to Gainsville, TX for the night.  We woke up to fog and rain and after breakfast at Super 8 we went to the cemetery to visit a grave of one of Hardy's relatives but the weather was not cooperating and it was raining when we got there.  We will do that on another trip south or north whichever strikes our fancy.  The trip home was uneventful and we switched drivers back and forth every 100 miles or so.

Hardy's son, Hardy IV, called to ask about the tornadoes in Dallas but we did not know anything about it.  Apparently a tornado went through Dallas along I20 (we had already crossed it) and hit the Arlington area.  There was considerable damage in that area.  I had noticed big black clouds off to the west when we went through Dallas and thought they looked like they could develop into something and I guess they did just that.

We made it home around 6:00 p.m. so we were able to unload the car and get things put away.  We had one dead mouse in the closet and he was a little stinky and he also had traveled into the silverware drawer so I cleaned that out and soaked everything in purex.  Awful little buggers and we still do not know how they are getting into the house.  We thought we had everything plugged but I guess there is still another hole somewhere.

Home Again

This is our first day back from Texas so we had lots of things to do.  First and foremost was buying groceries so we have something to eat so we made a trip into Rolla to get a few things done.  We went for breakfast at Penelope's then to Delano's to catch up on the latest in gossip and news.  We went to the post office to get our mail that had been held for six months then we went to Walmart for groceries.  I actually had a grocery list so followed that and got everything on the list plus lots more, as usual.  Hardy let me off at the beginning of our road so I could walk to the house and I was greeted by two cute little dogs that thought they should come home with me.  That was a challenge in itself to get the to stay as every time I would turn around and clap my hands and tell them to go home, they thought I was clapping my hands for them to come.  They finally got the message when I was about half way home so they turned back.

My sister-in-law Linda is having more cancer surgery today to she is in my thoughts and I am hoping they get it all and she will be on the road to recovery again.  More chemo is in the future for her, I guess.

Heading home

The house is closed and we are headed back home to Missouri.  We drove around Dallas and Ft Worth to Gainsville, TX where we spent the night.  We drove around looking for a Brahms Ice Cream and went several miles out of our way before we got back to it.  It would have been an OK drive except it was at night.

We got up the next morning and after breakfast went back into town and around the courthouse and then out to the cemetery to look for one of Hardy's relatives' graves but it was raining so hard we didn't get out of the car after we found the cemetery.  On the way home we heard that the Dallas area had a tornado go though so I am glad we were north of that mess.  The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful and we made it home around 6:00 p.m.

We only found one mouse in our house so that was a plus although he was dead and stinking but easy to clean the mess.