Travelogue

This newsletter is way overdue. We (including Pauline) left for Virginia to visit with Will, Darice and the kids last Wednesday. We had a really good time together. Here are the highlights of the trip...

ARE WE THERE YET? If we heard that once, I’ll bet we heard it every 15 minutes. Well, it seemed like it anyway. Ben, for comic effect, began asking this question before we got out of Pauline’s driveway. (Darice gave us an aloe vera plant when we came home. I told Ben if he asked that question he’d have to hold the plant in his lap. That threat did the trick.)

We hadn’t seen them since October so it was interesting to see how much the kids have changed. Emily has changed the most. She is talking a lot and can express herself well which makes her all the more adorable. Cameron and Zachary have grown a lot too. Cameron is as tall as me and Vicki. It is one thing to hear about how much the kids have grown, but quite another to have your almost 12 year old nephew look you in the eye. His voice is starting to get deeper as well.

SWIMMING. Thursday was a very leisurely day. We let the kids play around the house that morning and then went swimming at the pool in Waynesboro for a couple of hours that afternoon. On leaving the pool I took the kids back to the house while all the women ran errands (Will was at work). That evening we grilled out and the kids enjoyed playing in the yard. The huge sandpit was especially fun.

A WILDERNESS ADVENTURE. Will took off work Friday. Will and Darice purchased some property a couple of years ago and plan to start a new house on it soon (they have been talking about it so long Darice and the boys call it the “imaginary house”). Will, Vicki and I went out to the lot and marked off where the imaginary house is to be built. It is fairly secluded so we had a great time with a briar blade, lively lad and pruners. Like the previous evening, the kids enjoyed playing out in the yard.

AN URBAN ADVENTURE. Saturday morning we headed to Washington, DC. We parked in Vienna, Virginia, and took the Metro in from there, which was the first memorable subway experience for our kids. Their eyes got big as we picked up speed. We saw all the major points of interest along the Mall from the outside: the Capitol, the White House, the Washington Monument, the WWII Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Wall. The kids did really well for such a hike.

We rented a wheelchair for Pauline and Will assumed the pushing duties. He sped along and at times was a full block ahead. I think that ride was the most memorable part of Pauline’s DC trip. We watched as she bounced across the grass by the Reflecting Pool, hopped a curb when there was no ramp (traffic was coming), and be rushed out and back in the subway car at a quick stop so she could sit with the rest of us. We were laughing pretty hard as we recalled her ride the next day.

We also went to the Natural History Museum. Pauline wanted to see the Hope Diamond. The last time I was in a crowd that tight was at a UT ball game. I have never seen the Smithsonian that crowded (and I had a wonderful opportunity to live in the DC area in the summer of 1989).

A MEDICAL ADVENTURE. We were getting ready for church Sunday when we noticed Zachary’s foot was red and swollen. In all the roughhousing he had cut the side of his foot on Nate’s toenail Thursday and it had gotten infected. Darice took Zachary to the doctor and the rest of us stayed home. We were looking forward to seeing Zachary receive a Cub Scout award for religious study. He was upset that this didn’t work out while we were there to see it, as we were. We spent the rest of the day enjoying each other’s company. The last we heard his foot is improving.

A HAPPY REUNION. Our trip home Monday was uneventful like the trip up there. It was still light when we got here. We dropped Pauline off at her house and the kids ran across the yard to see Sallie Mae. (Thank you Kenny for feeding her while we were gone.) That was a reunion I wish I had on film.

A SAD TRAGEDY. This evening we were all outside working in the garden. Sallie Mae was right in the middle of things. I’d had to lead her to the side of the garden and make her sit because Ben was using the hoe and I wanted to protect her from his backswing. We were so busy that we did not notice her leave when one of the neighbor’s dogs came up. She followed the other dog to the highway where she was hit by a car. She did not suffer, but she leaves a sad family behind.

Joe

Vacation Bible School

It’s still hot and dry. We got a nice shower since I last wrote, but in spite of that everything is starting to show the signs of drought now.

VBS. Our lives have revolved around Vacation Bible School this week (Sunday through Thursday evenings). Our theme this year was SonForce Kids Special Agents which was sort of a take off from a spy “007” idea. We averaged 210 in attendance. The content focused on several old testament characters and traits they exhibited. Vicki taught third grade this year. I worked some this week so I only had time to do one video. We have posted the video on the church web site. You will need QuickTime installed to see it, and, at almost 90 MB, a faster connection than dial-up.

SETTLING IN. At work we are settling into our new office. I think I mentioned before that our building used to be the old First National Bank building where Aunt Mar worked when I was a boy. Even after all these years I can still visualize Aunt Mar working at her desk by the big windows facing Fifth Avenue. There must have been several times when Mom and I were coming to town and had to stop for the traffic light at Fifth and Main and I could look over and see her at work.

The bank built that building sometime during Aunt Mar’s 25 year tenure with them (the original building stands across Fifth Avenue from our new office building). I mention all this because the history of this site relates to me in another way. A hotel used to stand where our office building now stands. When Dad returned home from World War II he and his oldest sister, Emma, opened a restaurant, The Corner Grill, in that hotel building. I have no idea how long they operated that business, but Aunt Emma died in 1949 so I’d say Dad probably didn’t keep it long after that.

The Circuit Court Clerk formerly occupied the space that is our new office, and while I understand the public’s confusion if they haven’t heard of the move it is really quite funny just how many people come to pay their fines and don’t read the signs. On top of that, they don’t want to believe us when we tell them the clerk has moved. But then, we occupied our old office space for over ten years. It used to be the old Health Department and we still got people come in there to get shots as recently as this spring.

MY, HOW FAR WE’VE COME! While cleaning out our office for the move I ran across an old TRS-80 Model IV. Those were new when I was in high school. Being no different from kids today, our favorite things to do on those computers was to play games. So, I brought the unit home and dug out my old disks from high school to play the games I had for old time’s sake. Vicki and I had to laugh at the kids. They were all excited to see something new come into the house, but after about 30 seconds of a green and black text display and no sound they drifted back into the study to play something more up-to-date.

GETTING A BUZZ. Vicki took the boys to Mrs. Judy for haircuts and they got buzzed about as short as I keep my hair this time. Boy, do they look different! It was when Vicki went to pay that she discovered she didn’t have any money or a check so we had to run by later in the day to pay her. When we pulled back into her driveway Ben asked, “Hey, what are we doing back here?” Without missing a beat Vicki said, “Mrs. Judy didn’t take enough off the first time so we brought you back so she could finish the job.” The poor boy, realizing he didn’t have much hair left to cut, was horrified and wailed, “No, no, I don’t want to be bald!!”

REWARDED! I reported back in February that Nate was done with pull-ups and had begun sleeping in underwear. He regressed. During the day he has been fine but nighttime has been hit and miss so much that we put him back in pull-ups out of self-defense. We kept telling him that if he could be dry seven mornings in a row we would go to Chuck E. Cheese’s. I am proud to say Nate pulled that off yesterday! We are hoping the habit will stick this time and we can truly be done with diapers.

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS. Our trip to Chuck E. Cheese’s actually started at Ci Ci’s because we like their pizza better. Ben was so excited about the next stop that he didn’t eat much lunch. We kept telling him to eat but he wouldn’t do it so by the time we were driving home he was getting hungry again. When we told him he’d have to wait until we got home to snack he started getting dramatic on us, telling us he was so hungry he was going to die. We offered to sing at his funeral. I also asked if he wanted daisies on his grave and then Vicki gave him the option of roses. We thought we had picked a little too hard and made him mad because he didn’t answer. But about 30 seconds later, after really thinking about it, he spoke up and said, “Roses, I guess.” It’s a wonder we haven’t traumatized the poor kid. Oh, he also wants Silent Night sung at the memorial service.

LEAD TEETH. Nate came in wanting help to sharpen a pencil. After we had done this he looked at the pencil point and exclaimed, “It’s got a new tooth! It lost its other one.”

PASSED INSPECTION. Jackie called me the other day to tell me the steam engine passed its boiler inspection and is fit for operation at the Threshermen’s Show next month (July 20-21). He went on to say there would be five steam engines there this year. There have only been two engines present for the last several years so this is a great thing for the show. If you are in the area you might want to consider braving the heat and coming out to see everything they have to offer this year.

Joe

Running Wide Open

The Robertson County Times reports that this is currently our fifth driest year since record keeping began in 1942. Our mower sure hasn’t seen much action in the last two weeks.

THIS HAS SHAPED UP TO BE QUITE A WEEK. I mentioned a few weeks ago that my office is moving. We have spent the last week and a half at work packing up and hauling stuff to our new, temporary office. Crunch time came yesterday when the phone and T1 lines were moved. On top of that Vicki and Jenna left Monday for Centri-Kid (they are due home tomorrow--see below). Add to that our bathroom floor. The best we can tell the caulking around the tub has failed causing problems in the subfloor, and since half the family is away I figured this would be a good time to address the issue. Oh, and the truck has been in the shop getting a new starter. I feel like a windmill in a hurricane. If it weren’t for Pauline, Mom and Jimmie Pitt this week would be a whole lot more difficult.

THE LAST SOCCER SATURDAY. Jenna and Nate completed their soccer seasons Saturday. (Even after playing two games on Saturday, Ben’s last game was Tuesday evening.) Like the preceding Saturday, we packed swimming gear and lunch and enjoyed the day at the YMCA. All the kids played really well. Nate scored a goal for his team! Ben scored as well, and assisted in several other points. Jenna, still playing goalie, didn’t see much action.

ON AGAIN, OFF AGAIN. Somehow Jenna got in on a grocery shopping trip with Pauline last week and talked her into buying, among other things, a box of doughnuts. The remains of this box made it to our house Saturday night and each kids could have one doughnut, either before bed or save it for breakfast. Jenna and Ben chose to save theirs. Nate lived in the moment and ate his. The next morning Nate didn’t think it was too fair that Jenna didn’t share her doughnut (Ben had already inhaled his). When I explained to him that he ate his doughnut the night before he exclaimed, “But I just want to lick it!” All this didn’t sit too well with Nate so he pouted the entire meal. A few minutes after Jenna and Ben left the table he got up and happily announced, “Okay, I’m ready to be friends with them again,” and trotted off.

WHIPPED EGG WHITES. Mom and Aunt Mar went with us to see Ben’s last soccer game Tuesday and then took us out to eat at the Catfish House. Mom, always the one for desert, asked if anyone wanted pie. The boys were all for that, of course, and ordered chocolate pie. When it came the meringue was about three inches high. Noting this Ben said, “Look Nate, soap!” They both thought the “soap” was good.

CENTRI-KID--This is a church camp for kids in grades 3-6. The group from our church (10 girls, 2 boys and 5 adult chaperones) is attending this camp experience at Lambuth University in Jackson, Tennessee. I have talked to Vicki and Jenna several times and they sound like they are having a blast! Jenna came down with strep. They saw a doctor yesterday and after a shot to the hip I think the girl is as good as new. I am sure Vicki and Jenna will have a full report in the next edition.

When Vicki called this evening Nate asked, “Mom, where you are?” I head Vicki reply, “I’m in Jackson. Where are you?” Perplexed, Nate looked at me and asked, “Dad, where am I?”

Joe