February 2, 2021 - Catfish Ranch for "Breakfast?", Spending the Day Exploring Oklahoma South and East of Muskogee, Update on Bentley

February 2, 2021 - Catfish Ranch for "Breakfast?"; Spending the Day Exploring Areas Around Muskogee, Oklahoma; and An Update on Bentley

Dean and I slept well last night despite the highway traffic nearby.  Once I fell asleep I never heard another sound until I woke up at 5:30 this morning.  We enjoyed our morning coffee while waiting for the RV store to open.  I took these pictures when we left Bentley this morning.  

Pretty sky this morning.

Our parking spot for Mon and Tues night - at least we hope it's the only two nights!

Dean wanted to find a place to have breakfast, so we needed to wait until after 8, as that is when Earl's opens.  There is no need trying to figure out the best place to eat, let's just ask someone who lives here.  It was close to 8:30 when we stopped at the office.  Earl suggested Catfish Ranch - and no, we didn't try the catfish; however, their omelets were pretty good.  I couldn't finish all of mine - it was just too much food, yet not enough leftovers to take home. 

As we left the restaurant I grabbed a brochure of the Muskogee area they had in a rack at the door.  We had originally planned to visit a few places here in town, but once we saw the "ride guides" in the brochure, we quickly changed our mind.  By now, if you've been following our blog for very long, you know how much we enjoy driving around the countryside.

The sky was so pretty this morning

We made a quick stop at Bentley then headed south from Earl's down Highway 69.  At Highway 206, we turned and made a quick drive through Checotah, home of Carrie Underwood, 

Downtown Checotah

and then back down Business 69 to Eufaula, OK, home of Eufaula Lake.  

Drena....we found that long section of road you told me about!  Now to get through here with Bentley!

We enjoyed our ride in this area as the lake winds around several communities.  We drove toward the Eufaula Dam, where we drove through one of the state park camping areas.  

Patsy if you are reading this I couldn't help but think of you & Bill, and Ken and Kim - for our readers in the USA, these are our Canadian friends we met last March in California.  Below is a picture of the Canadian River in Oklahoma.  

Canadian River

One of the things that intrigued us about the drive we chose to follow today, was our interest in Webbers Falls, once we noticed it was nearby.  In 2019 much of the Midwest suffered several days of heavy rain that caused many swollen rivers.  During these downpours, two barges broke loose and hit a dam and lock upstream from Webbers Falls.  I remember that evening we watched and listened to this story on the news.  If the dam broke it would have surely destroyed the town.  Not taking any chances they evacuated the town just in case the dam became compromised.  As it turned out, both barges sunk and the dam held.  I don't know if the barges are still there or if they were later removed, but thankfully Webbers Falls is still standing.  Just before we reached the town, we saw a sign that led us up to the dam and lock area - although we didn't realize at that time this was the dam the barges hit.  We learned about that later in the day.      

The dam to the left, and on the far side is the lock where barges and/or boats pass through on the Arkansas River.

This is a picture I found online of the barges at the dam.  I just remember seeing this on television and praying Webber Falls would not be destroyed.  You can see how high the water was here compared to the picture above.

Dean loves it when I make him take a selfie with me, (and wearing our masks...made by Drena)!

Our next stop is Webbers Falls.  I noticed on the satellite map version they have a park along the Arkansas River so that is where we headed.  I have to admit I was disappointed as I had much bigger visions in my head from what I thought the picture was showing.  I was expecting "Falls" and there were none.  However, there was this tragic, but beautiful memorial.  We immediately felt grief for the families who lost loved ones in this tragedy on the I-40 bridge over the Arkansas River when a section of it failed.

The little girl is holding a dove in her hand.

This tragic accident occurred in May 2002.  This site was dedicated a year later to the day to those who lost their lives and those injured in the accident.

It was a somber moment as we visited and imagined such a tragedy.

After leaving Webbers Falls, we crossed the Arkansas River to a small park where I took my favorite picture of the day.

Our next stop, only a hop and a skip away, was Gore, OK.  I loved this mural as we drove into town.

We stopped at El Lago for a light lunch of tacos.  They were very good.

  
It was nearly 3:00pm when we reached our final destination of the day - Honor Heights Park in Muskogee.  I've visited here a few times over the years, however it has always been in the spring during their azalea festival.  If you have not visited here in the spring, it is worth seeing at least once.  Even today it was beautiful, but when it is blooming with azaleas, along with many other blooming bushes and flowers, it provides a stunning array of colors.  

Entrance to the park

The two pictures above remind me of very similar construction at our Riverside Park in Oswego, especially the pillars with the lanterns.  Even the lanterns are similar. 

There is a butterfly Papilion located in the park, behind the sign above.

Possibly a cypress tree?

Visit this website to see dates for activities held in Honor Heights Park.  We are always looking for a place to see Christmas lights.  I think this park that will be on our "to visit" list next Christmas.

On our way back to Bentley, we received a phone call from Preston, the guy who will be replacing our disc brake for us tomorrow.  He is bringing extras and will be checking all of the brakes while he is here.  He has an install before he can begin work on ours.  We hope he will be done with our job by 5 (when the RV Store closes).  If that happens, we will travel to Durant and stay for the night.  We have stayed at the KOA there many times.  They are open until 10.  Since their sites are all pull through it will be much easier to park, if it gets dark before we arrive.  Say a prayer for us that we can move on. 

I cancelled our reservation last night at Ray Roberts State Park in Valley View, TX, and moved it to Wednesday night.  When we returned I had to call and cancel it altogether since it would be too late to drive that far, especially in an unfamiliar area.  Fortunately, they gave us a full refund since we could not travel until repairs are made.  Another blessing from God!  I was unable to change our reservation at Waco online last night, so I called the park and they changed our arrival date to Thursday.  We'll still be able to spend some time there.

Even though things have not gone as planned we still managed to have a great day together traveling roads we've never been on before.  We enjoy new experiences and we can always find something interesting to see or do.  Thanks for following along.

February 1, 2021 - On The Road Again....But Not Very Long.....We Had A Hiccup!

February 1, 2021 - On The Road Again....But Not Very Long.....We Had A Hiccup!

We have had a wonderful time while in our hometown Oswego, Kansas the past three months, staying very busy.  But we had the itch and were excited to be back on the road again.  

A little back drop before I begin today's adventures.  Our grandson Logan arrived in Oswego last Wednesday.  Thursday evening he arrived at Bentley to visit with us for a couple of hours, before sister Haleigh and her boyfriend Caleb also arrived.  We stayed up until about 11pm visiting with the three of them.  What a fantastic evening it was.  Logan's friend had let him borrow his car, so Friday morning we followed him back to Parsons so he could drop it off, then we headed to Chetopa to The Hornet's Nest for lunch.  My son Marc, and daughter Misti, Logan, Haleigh and Caleb joined us as well.  We had a great visit with everyone for well over an hour or more.  I didn't think to ask someone to take our picture together!  We were too busy catching up I guess.

Dean and I have spent the last week preparing for our move, checking things out, refilling propane bottles, checking tires, etc.  I spent all week cleaning Bentley from top to bottom, vacuuming, cleaning the carpet, the pantry and storage areas throughout.  It always feel good to complete a good deep cleaning!  Everything smells so fresh.

This morning Misti and Logan stopped by around 10 to visit for awhile before we leave.  Our plan was to leave by noon or so.  After visiting for awhile we headed to Big Chief for a quick lunch and a chance to visit some more.  It's hard to leave knowing Logan is here for the week, but he has lots of people to see besides us while he is here.  He recently completed his current Naval duty in El Centro, CA and will be relocating to a base in Hawaii sometime next week.  He has not received his official departure date yet.  I'm so glad we had the chance to spend time with him! 

I had Misti take this picture of us with Logan as we left the restaurant.  The sun was in my eyes and Dean wasn't quite ready for the pic - but Logan looked great!  Lol!

After we returned to the RV Park we quickly finished the last of our packing inside and were soon hooked up; pulling out of out site at Hillside RV Park at 12:32pm.  I had not made a reservation for tonight, but on the way I contacted Arrowhead RV State Park at Eufala, OK to check on a site.  They advised there were several spots available so a reservation for tonight was not required.

As we left Oswego I noted the temperature on my log sheet...it was 31F, and within 15 miles south, the temperature in Oklahoma was 40F.  We are already enjoying those increased temperatures!!  

We stopped for our first bathroom break at the Wood Shed convenience store parking area in Big Cabin, OK, and the start of the bumpy road syndrome on Highway 69 as we continued on south.

As we approached Pryor, OK, a few minutes before 2pm, we noticed the temperatures was now 47.  This is great!  The last few days in Oswego have been wet and cold.  We are so ready for warmer temperatures.

Bumpy roads on 69 Highway.  Bumpty bumpty bumpty, we go!

Dean sent a message to our friends Alvin & Linda as we passed through Wagoner, OK - honk honk!  They will be joining us later this week in Waco, TX.  Only 20 minutes later as we drove into Muskogee, OK we noticed the outdoor temperatures were now at 50F.  Let's keep those numbers moving on up - 70 would be perfect, but I'd take 50/55 over the freezing temps we've had.

As we were nearing the southern part of Muskogee, we barely made it through a green light/it actually turned on us before we made it all the way through....then just seconds later we heard this loud semi horn.  Startled, I looked up and watched as a semi truck pulled up next to us.  The driver was looking at me and pointing down.  I told Dean we better pull over I think he was trying to tell us something.  We found a place a short distance away.  I believe in God and I believe he watches out for us, and today is one of those days proving he does.  One of the brake pads on our disc brakes was evidently falling off that caused the trucker to blow his horn at us.  It was laying on the ground behind us, when we stopped.  So besides the trucker calling attention to our situation us, we were less than 2 miles from Earl's Lake Country RVs.  We pulled in and went inside.  Earl Jr. and Dean went out to take a look at the brake issue.  Bentley will require repairs before we can leave the area.  There was other damage to the disc brake as well.

What a blessing we stopped here.  What a wonderful family group that own and operate this facility.  I cannot say enough good things about how they treated us.  They made several calls to try and locate the parts we needed to get us back on the road.  While we were waiting to hear from another RV center in Pryor, I remembered that the company who installed our disc brakes, Performance Trailer Braking, has a warehouse in Norman, OK.  Dean called Michael, the owner.  He made some calls, and will have an installer here on Wednesday morning to make the necessary repairs to get us back on the road.  Surprisingly, the installer was already scheduled to be here Wednesday for a brake install.  I'm sure we can find something to do in the area tomorrow, and hopefully we'll be on our way by early Wednesday afternoon.  We'll only arrive one day later than planned at our location in Waco, since we plan to stay near Denton, Texas on Wednesday night.  We had originally planned to leave tomorrow (Tuesday), but Sunday afternoon we decided to change our plans and leave today rather than drive a long hard day on Tuesday.  I'm so thankful for that change.  So many things have come together to turn this disappointment into a huge blessing!  We are so thankful!

In addition, the owners allowed us to set up in their lot, allowing us to utilize their electric and water hookups for two nights.  We are just overwhelmed with their kindness.

It was about 4:37pm by the time we were set up in their back lot.  After relaxing a bit, we had leftover white chicken chili for dinner.  We have our feet up, watching TV and thanking God for taking care of us today!

It's good to be back on the road - even with a hiccup!

Sunday, November 22 - Saturday, November 28, 2020 - Family Gathering for Thanksgiving/Early Christmas

Sunday, November 22 - Saturday, November 28, 2020 - Family Gathering for Thanksgiving/Early Christmas

After getting all of the presents wrapped for the grandchildren Dean and I took them to the garage to store until Thursday when we will have our combination Thanksgiving/Christmas with our family.  Brett was already making plans to come home for the holiday.  Matt and Megan decided to make the drive from NY to Kansas.  They will arrive tomorrow night.  Jarred had a few days of vacation so he and Emerson are coming to Oswego tomorrow as well.  It will be great for the younger grandkids to be able to spend time together for a week.  Other family members will be here Thursday.

I believe in what I call God moments.  I spent several days over the last week or so trying to find a place for us to meet.  We wanted to use the community center here in Oswego but both of the rooms were booked.  I can't tell you how many places I called before I called the neighboring city of Columbus where I finally found a meeting room available.  I planned to drive over to look at it, but before I left I received a call from the City Office here in Oswego letting me know someone had cancelled and we could have the building here after all.  What a blessing?  

Matt had rented an Air BnB here in Oswego but could only get it for Monday and Tuesday night.  On Wednesday they planned to go to a motel in Parsons for the night.  After they arrived Monday he learned the people who had it rented for Wed and Thurs had cancelled so they were able to book it for their entire stay time in Oswego.  Jarred, Emerson and Matt's family of 5, and Brett and his family (4) were also going to stay there.  It was going to be really tight.

We gathered at Matt's shortly after they arrived on Monday.  It was so good to see them all.  It wasn't long before Jarred and Brett showed up too.  It was a beautiful day, so we took the kids to the park so they could run off some energy after being in cars for several hours.  What a time the five younger kids had.  The City recently added some very nice playground equipment and they all enjoyed it. 

When Brett learned from Matt that someone had cancelled at the Air BnB Matt had reserved, he wondered if the Harvest House might be available too.  I called the owner Kim, and sure enough she had a cancellation for it as well, so Brett & Emilee booked it for three nights.  So God worked out all of our issues and allowed us to spend some great quality time with Brett, Matt, Jarred and their families.  Jarred's wife Andrea had to work, so she and Baby Hayden will drive to Oswego Thursday morning for our Thanksgiving/Christmas gathering at the Oswego Community Center.

It was fun to watch them and of course I took tons of pictures.  Get ready for picture overload:

Emerson and Jameson communicating - Logen, Sarah and Josh playing together as we all watched.

Moving on to the park --- where the kids had a blast and that includes the big kids too!

Emilee and Jarred came down this slide - not a good idea - they came down faster than they imagined.  Sarah hit the ground on her tummy, got right back up and was at it again.

They LOVED the merry go round and talked Daddy's Matt & Jarred into pushing, then Josh took over to entertain the girls.

Megan and I left to make a grocery store run, while the others stayed at the park to let the kids play for awhile longer.  Before they left one of Matt's classmates, Andy arrived at the park.  A few years ago someone came up with the idea of "Lighting Up Riverside Park" with Christmas Lights.  Andy and his family were there to decorate their spot/tree.  The boys had a great time visiting and catching up with Andy and his family.  

Back at Matt & Megan's place we made dinner and enjoyed lots of fun and laughter with the grandkids.

Jarred was having fun with Sam.  Sam wanted him to chase him and he squealed with delight when Jarred finally caught him.

Josh had to get in on the fun too - and Uncle Jarred quickly obliged.  He's the youngest of Dean's four boys and still enjoys being the "baby" of their family.....always having fun with the kids.  They all love him.

Well then Josh and Sarah got in the mix while he was trying to wrestle Sam.  Quite the antics with this bunch.

Josh taking on Uncle Jarred.

And here's Uncle Matt with the little girls watching a movie on his phone.

Dean and I brought the three little girls back to our RV where they slept on a blow up mattress on our floor in front of our fireplace.  Sarah was already asleep by the time I took this picture.  Logen is behind Emmy.  I didn't realize it was so dark until later.  

There are more fun times ahead in the next three days.

Since Brett & Emilee's AirBnb is larger, we gathered there today.  On Tuesday mornings a food truck called Aunt Julie's donuts parks outside.  We arrived around 7:30-8 to have hot donuts, juice and coffee.  It was another fun day hanging out together.

Jarred & Emerson (L)  Brett, Emilee & Jameson (R)

One of the more quiet times - watching a movie.

What else is in here dad?

Brett, Emilee and Jameson

This game is a hit every time these kids are together.  They had a great time with Pie in the Face!

Sarah didn't mind whip cream on her face!

Matt & Megan overseeing Pie in the Face.

Uncle Brett & Sam

Sam was worn out after a heavy day of play with his cousins.

What a cutie!

We ordered pizza for dinner, visited some more and called it a night.  The three girls stayed with us again tonight.  They didn't last too long after we had their bed made and they slept until almost 7 this morning.  Playing with cousins just wears you out!

Wednesday the three families headed to Joplin.  They took the six kids to Ocean Adventures in Duquesne, MO, did a little Christmas shopping and had lunch together.  Dean and I stayed in Oswego.  I still had several things to do in preparation for tomorrow, and I was so glad I chose to do that.  It was a busy and very full day for us - well into the evening.  Dean went to Matt & Megan's AirBnb and I joined them for dinner, plus they had a little surprise birthday party for Papa Dean.  He was sure surprised when Matt's family gave him a Chiefs shirt.  

In his new Chiefs shirt with granddaughter Hayden watching him.

I headed back home pretty quick, and fortunately Dean soon followed to help me finish the things I needed to do before tomorrow, including taking three pans of cinnamon rolls to the community center to set in the oven to rise overnight.  We spent quite a bit of time building the saran wrap balls.  One for the smaller children and one from the older KIDS!   

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day.  Dean and I were up early to gather all of the items we needed to take to the community center, presents from the garage, food, water coolers to make drinks in and a number of other things - too many to list.  Misti was already at Haleigh's.  She needed a few things dropped off as well on our way.  Fortunately, she is only a block from the Community Center!  I made chicken and noodles, rolls; and Misti made macaroni & cheese, and green bean casserole.  I also made a pecan pie.  Heath & Jarred's family brought pumpkin pie and cookies.  I can't remember now what else we had but it was all good and I think everyone enjoyed it.

We had to stop by the garage to pick up Santa's stash of presents and food.  Lol!  The sun was coming up and their was a heavy frost on the ground.

We had a great day together.  Of course opening presents was a big highlight but something all the kids (big, little and in between) enjoy is playing the saran wrap ball game.  I buy several $1 gifts at the Dollar Tree, Dollar General or similar stores where items are very inexpensive.  Each ball has a gift card in the center, which is wrapped, over and over with saran wrap, adding in candy or gift items as we go.  I buy several $1 bags of the small wrapped candy pieces - adding in one or two here and there between the $1 items.  After our first year, it was apparent the smaller children needed one of their own.  For the adults, they have to put on a pair of gloves and work to unwrap the ball, while the person next to them has to roll a couple of dice.  When they get a double, the person unwrapping has to stop immediately, then pass the gloves to the next person, and on and on it goes until someone finally gets the gift card.  We do not make the children wear gloves.  Winners this year were Heath and Jarred's daughter Emerson.  

It's a lot of fun, with much laughter and excitement.  While at the dollar store I bought several headbands orginally planning to give them to the kids to wear, but decided to have each family take their picture wearing one of them.  It was a fun thing to do.

Jarred's family

Heath's family

Matt's family

Brett's family (except for Logen who was with her dad today)

.

Misti & Haleigh

Guess who?

Heath, Matt and Jarred and their families headed to Wichita after our time together, while Brett and his family headed to Carthage to spend the rest of the day with Emilee's family.  They will join the others in Wichita to spend time with their mom in the next day or so.

It was a great day and I could not have done it without everyone's help.  I appreciate all they did!

Friday, November 27 - Happy birthday Dean!  For his birthday, he wanted an overhead heater for the garage so we headed to Atwood's in Webb City where he found exactly what he wanted.  After that we drove around the area, something we enjoy doing.  

I love Webb City's praying hands, with our country's flag flying alongside.  God Bless America!

Alba, MO - a small town outside of Webb City.  I do love water towers.

Former School Building.  I believe the year on the plaque was 1907.  Such a beautiful building.

Saturday Nov 28 - our highlight of the day was going to Marc and Jen's to take the kids their gifts.  We had a nice visit with them.

Jaxson shooting at a target with his new nerf gun.  When he hits it the target flips down - his present from us.

Another great week!

Sunday, November 15 - Saturday, November 21, 2020 - Sisterfest; Joplin Run; Jaxson Visits'; Eye Appt; Move to Idle Hour Lake; Hospital Visit-Not Me; On The Road; Jaxson is Back

Sunday, November 15 - Saturday, November 21, 2020 - Sisterfest; Joplin Run; Jaxson Visits'; Eye Appt; Move to Idle Hour Lake; Hospital Visit-Not Me; On The Road; Jaxson is Back 

Sunday, November 15 - My sinus infection has cleared up, but today I had the leftover cough that always comes with it, so I stayed home from church this morning, and listened to the online service.  I miss the music though, but Jim had a good message.   

After a light lunch for me, I drove to Cindy's to enjoy Sisterfest with Crystal and Cindy.  Jody and her husband are in quarantine.  Neither her or her husband have Covid, but they were exposed.  Fortunately, for Jody she is able to work at home.  (Good news, they never had any symptoms, and are doing fine.)

I returned to our spot at Kamp Siesta.  Dean has been working at the lot.  He just can't stay away.  It gives him something to do and he's glad for that if he isn't playing golf, or we don't have something else to do.

After dinner, Dean wanted ice cream.  Columbus Sonic is the closest to us, about 15 miles east.  When we arrived and went to place our order, they told us their ice cream machine was down so that was a bummer.  We set there for a few minutes discussing our options.  Did we want to just go home?  No, now ice cream was on our minds....so should we go to Baxter Springs to Sonic or Galena to Dairy Queen.  Guess where we ended up?

If you guessed Dairy Queen, you would be right!  I tried their new mocha oreo blizzard.  Dean chose the pecan turtle blizzard, then we set in their parking lot to eat it.

A good day!

Taken out the back window as the sun was setting

Monday, November 16 - I realized this morning I forgot to pick our mail up Saturday, so around 10 I drove to the Post Office to get it.  I had a birthday card from my step-brother Mike.  It was postmarked October 14 (my birthday was Oct 23).  I'm not sure what kind of a trip it took but it must have been a long one to take over a month to arrive.  Lol!

Our site at Kamp Siesta, Oswego - all alone.

I made an appointment last week with my optometrist.  It was pretty late in December, but they told me if they had a cancellation they would call me.  I received a call this morning they had an opening on Wednesday at 7am.  I told them I would take it.  I've had these frames for almost three years.  Not only am I ready for a change but feel like I also need some new lenses.  Things aren't quite as sharp this past year.

I made a call to a former Mayor this morning and we had a nice visit.  I also called to get a couple of prescriptions refilled at the Cherokee Health Center in Vinita.  

Misti called me to discuss our Thanksgiving/Christmas lunch plans, wondering if we couldn't have a traditional dinner, rather than sandwiches.  I am willing to do that if she helps me.  We decided chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, dressing (from a box), rolls, green bean casserole, mac and cheese with a few desserts would be plenty.  That's really a pretty easy meal.  We'll also have an assortment of pies and cookies that a couple of the boys and Misti will supply and I'll make a pecan pie.

Cindy picked me up after work and we headed to Joplin.  She had a few things she wanted to get at Walmart and Sam's.  I had called in an order to Walmart too and needed a couple of things from Sam's as well.  Cindy had a 30% off coupon at Kohl's.  I've been looking for some sweatshirts.  I ended up purchasing two plus a jacket.  Our last stop was at the Dollar Tree to purchase items for my saran wrap balls for the older and younger kids.  I think they look forward to these now, and it will be our 4th year.  It's fun to watch them try to unwrap that ball.

It was 5:30 when we left Joplin.  I was worn out, so I can only imagine how Cindy felt after working until 1:30.  She gets up around 4:30-5 to get ready for work.  

I was glad to get home and had no problem falling asleep tonight!

Tuesday, November 17 - I mentioned earlier that due to the short time frame for purchasing gifts I used Amazon this year....by the time we decided to have it, I had two weeks, so it made sense.  I have had all of the items sent to Cindy's house.  She lets me know when they come and today the first batch arrived.  The one good thing about ordering Christmas presents when you have it on Thanksgiving, you are not in a rush with millions of others.  I prefer to go to a store and pick things out, at least on most things, but for this year with the short time frame it had to do.

I told Marc I would pick Jaxson up after school today.  It worked out well for him and as well as for Dean and I.  I needed some pecans from Circle C, northeast of Parsons, and Dean needed to get an item at Orschlen's in Parsons.  Afterwards, we drove to Sonic to get something to drink before taking Jaxson home in Altamont.  We made a big circle this afternoon.  I ordered a root beer, and silly me I should have taken a sip before we left.  When I did take a drink, it was flat.  I believe they ran out of syrup.  Ugh.  I didn't want to turn around and go back,  so I just lost on that.  Thank goodness it was half price.

We dropped Jaxson off.  Marc had left to deliver something, but Kamron was home from school.  We visited with her for a little bit before we headed back to Oswego.

Wednesday, November 18 - I was up early this morning.  I have to be in Parsons by 7 for my eye appointment and I wanted to shower before I left.  By the time I dry my hair and straighten it I needed an extra hour to get ready.

As I left the campground in Oswego this morning.

When I arrived a young lady was outside putting up signs to call when you arrive.  They will call you when they are ready for you to come inside.  It wasn't long before I received a text to come on in.  I needed an upgrade in my lenses.  It's weird, that my right eye is improving in sight and the left one is getting worse, so both required a change.  No wonder I've noticed such a difference.  I looked at frames, but didn't order them today.  

We've been at Kamp Siesta for a week, so when I returned, Dean and I packed up Bentley and moved to Idle Hour Lake, south of Altamont.  We are the only ones camped here, backed up to the lake.  The temperatures were nice, but the wind blew like crazy!  The first time I opened the door to go inside, the door flew out of my hand and came back and hit the side of the RV, and I thought I was going to fall.  Fortunately I kept my balance, but after that, we both made sure we had a good grip on the door before going in and out.  

We really enjoyed camping here.  They have full hookups, and I needed to do laundry.  We had already made this reservation when Todd let me know he had a site.  Since it's close to Marc & Jen, I wanted to keep it so we could hopefully spend some time with the grandkids too.  We barely had things set up when the first load went in the washer.

My cousin Carthen called to let us know he would be at the lot tomorrow around noon to begin removal of the underbrush from the lot.  We are having him do a large section on the north side of the property.  Later on we'll have him do some more.  This area will require quite a bit of work raking the area and getting all of the small limbs and trees stacked to burn, and making sure there are no stumps left so he can mow this summer.

At least the temperatures are supposed to be mild this week, although rain is predicted Friday or Saturday.

Thursday, November 19 - I was up at 3:15 this morning.  I am taking my cousin Barbara to Labette Health in Parsons where she is having rotator cuff surgery.  She has to be at the hospital by 6:15.  I will be taking her and staying until she is released later today.  I drank my two cups of coffee, then got dressed, gathered up my laptop and phone (I hope to have time to work on the blog while I'm waiting), then headed to Oswego to pick her up.

Her surgery went well but her oxygen level took awhile to level out.  Apparently this has happened before and after a couple of hours it was fine.  (The next day she did get an oximeter to keep an eye on it.  Fortunately, it has been just fine since then)  After getting her settled in at home, I drove to the lot to see what Carthen has accomplished clearing the underbrush to the north of our property.  I'm so glad we did this.  It would have taken Dean months to accomplish what he did in four hours.  We still have work to do to get some stumps cut close to the ground so he can mow next summer, along with the 4 large piles of brush that need to be burned.  

Later Dean and I drove into Altamont and ate at MJ's Burger House.  I was too tired to cook after such a long day.

When we returned to the campground I took these pictures:

Friday, November 20 - Today is Marc and Jen's anniversary.  It's hard to believe they have already been married 16 years.  Wow - where does the time go?  I offered to pick Jaxson up from school today since they are taking off to spend the day together.  They love to go "junking" as they refer to it.  I asked Jaxson if he wanted to stay the night and he said SURE!  Earlier in the day I had to drive to Vinita to pick up a couple of prescriptions at the Indian Clinic.  From their I drove to Joplin.  The sweatshirts I bought at Kohl's last week were too big and I wanted to return them so I could be sure to get the same ones in a smaller size.  While I was there I stopped to visit with Larry & Verna for about an hour or so.  After changing out the sweatshirts at Kohl's, I returned to Oswego to pick up more packages that had arrived at Cindy & Elmer's (for me).  Next stop was to pick up Jaxson at school.  It was so cold today.  They wind was extremely gusty and just not fun to be outside at all.  We stopped at Marc and Jen's to pickup Jaxson's overnight bag, then headed to Idle Hour Lake.  I could hardly hold onto the door for us to get inside.  

Jaxson loves to cook.   I've been watching "Cooking with Brenda Gantt" on Facebook.  One of the recipes she made was coconut custard pie.  I love coconut and custard.  I asked him if he'd like to help me make it.  Sure!  He didn't want any, but he thought it was just fine to help with all of the work.  We had a great afternoon.

Dean returned from the garage and we had a nice evening together.

Saturday, November 21

Jaxson and I had a good morning.  Papa Dean left for the garage in Oswego.  He is continually working on the lot.  When he returned we had lunch and I took Jaxson home about 1:30.  We had a good time together playing games, and he helped make pancakes this morning.  This afternoon I did laundry.  It was a quiet afternoon.