The things you find....

While clearing out the attic, we found this cardboard sign:

There's a bit missing, but I bet you can figure out what it said!

 

When we got married in May of 1989 at my brother and sister-by-love's farm in Virginia, the sign was put on the back of the rental car that we left in. Since I've been scanning in pictures, I recently came across the pictures in the album from that day:

Nephew Ricky was helping out with the string to tie the sign onto the car...

Regina and Aunt Libby (and Ginny barely visible under her mom's elbow) working on crepe paper.

"What do we do with this part?"

Ginny is "on task"!

I remember that I could see the activity from the room where we were changing to leave, and I saw them opening the engine compartment and yelled out the window, "Don't do anything to the engine!!!"  Aunt Libby yelled back, "Why not?!?!?"

Jimmy's arms were long enough to do the back window decorations...

Ginny and Ricky were enjoying the fun!

Instead of rice, the guests threw grass seed as there were spots in the front yard that needed seeding. I think we were supposed to take a circuitous route to ensure all the spots got addressed, but... we didn't.

There was tape over the door locks so we would be delayed for enough time to have more grass seed hit...

And so the grass seed hits!

This was a picture we took after we left the farm to show the sign on the back (the one that we found in the attic in tatters now).

With the cans trailing noisily behind us!

Since it was a rental, Dwayne suggested we go to the Hertz return lot and give a story about being parked near a church and when we came out, this had happened! But... I still remember how neat it was that folks were honking and waving at us and giving thumbs up and congratulating us from their cars. I had never thought about that impact of riding in a "Just Married" decorated car... but it was something that just added to the specialness of the day, sharing the joy with strangers who were just passing by.

The most expensive washer and dryer known to mankind

Since we've had access to the house again, I've had the ability to use our washer and dryer --

aka "the most expensive washer and dryer known to mankind"

Now, you should understand that we purchased the washer and dryer at a very good price at the Sears scratch and dent store. They each had a very small scratched place on them... who really cares in their laundry room? I had measured carefully - our house had the laundry "room" as a wider hallway between the kitchen and the garage. Technically, they would have fit, as long as we didn't want to hook up water or dryer hose (if they would have fit directly against the wall), or if we had never wanted to close the door between the kitchen and the laundry room/hallway. But... they didn't exactly work in our space...

At that point, there was a space in the front of one of the garage spaces which Dwayne had used for storing all sorts of nice things, including the kitty privy. We decided to use that space and create a larger laundry room between the kitchen and the garage. As a bonus we had room to put an extra refrigerator, and a laundry sink. Unfortunately, Dwayne's only-two-car-garage became even smaller.

So, at a later time, then, we decided to give Dwayne more garage space! We found that our house was built 13' back from the building line at the alley, and 10' back from the building line on the side. On the side, this made the side of our house more in line with the fronts of the houses along the side street, but... we decided to add a 1 car garage space on the side, and drag the whole garage space back 13', making a huge 3 car ++++ garage!

All of this necessitated by the great deal we got at the Sears scratch and dent store!

Beyond all that though - I really like these appliances. They are the only appliances that I miss from the house. I think what I like the most is that they play a pretty tune or make a nice sound, rather than buzzing. I have always said that they "sing" to me! They also do really large loads and wash and dry really well.

I guess they will be ending up with a new owner shortly - I hope the new owner enjoys them as much as I have!

I guess Max missed Dwayne too...

Monday afternoon, Max got to visit with Dwayne and let him know how much he was missed!

Being a little coy...

"I'll go over and rub Patti's legs first."

"Oh! My Dwayne! I've missed you!"

"Really, REALLY missed you!"

"Oooohhhh - right there, scratch RIGHT there!"

Texas buttercups

It is very close to peak time to see wildflowers along Texas highways. As I understand it, the effort to use wildflowers on the shoulders and medians of Interstates (and maybe other highways) was instigated by Lady Bird Johnson first in Texas in the 1980s, before it expanded to other states. The roadways in Texas truly have some beautiful flowers.

Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of the large mounds of Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush (it was just a little early for where we were), but I did get a picture of a Buttercup that started blooming just a day or two before we left Lake Whitney.

The Buttercups in Texas, unlike where I grew up in Virginia (yellow), are pink - ranging from an almost white to a deeper rose color. The flowers are about the size of a silver dollar.

This shows them "in situ", at the base of one of the juniper trees around our campsite.

We had a busy day today, starting with getting the cats in to Coppell for their annual wellness exams (they are both considered "senior" now so both had to fast from midnight onwards... let's just say it was NOT a happy morning around the bus). Then we stopped by the house to make a list of things I needed to get from the bus, I took the cats back to the bus (and cleaned up some kitty upset empty tummy results in the carrying cases), and then I went to my dentist in Irving. Starting on Sunday, I have had a very sore tooth and it wasn't getting better, so I got an appointment with Dr Westmoreland today. He is hopeful that a round of antibiotics will resolve the problem... otherwise I will need to see an Endodontist to see if I have a cracked tooth or whether something else is going on. Please pray with me that the antibiotics will take care of it! I went back to the house and got Dwayne, he brought me back to the bus, and he has gone out to visit our friend, Mohamed.

Helping with the move at church

Our church has been praying about and then working on a large addition that will have its Grand Opening this weekend. http://www.macarthurblvd.org/event/grand-opening-celebration/ There are only about 2 million things that need to be done to move into the new area - the majority of it is new Children's and Youth areas - which means that on Sunday, our whole congregation will be *on-campus* for classes and worship! Praise the Lord!!!

Pastor Josh had mentioned to me on Sunday that there were so many things to be done - things moved into the new areas, etc. - so we asked Pastor Darrin if there were any jobs that "senior citizens" would be able to help with. He said, "Definitely!" So, we went there this afternoon to help.

We primarily set up rooms - here is one of the large adult rooms that we set up.

This is the other adult room we set up. Are you impressed? ;-)

One of the children's classrooms that we set up - for the children's rooms, they had a specific way identified to set up the tables and chairs, so we didn't have to be creative!

Another of the children's classrooms.

After we finished doing classroom setup in a number of children's, adult's and youth rooms, Pastor Darrin then had us move some items out to the storage unit. These boxes contained backs and seats from chairs that are not currently needed to be used.

Dwayne and my friend, Laurie's husband, Ken, made many, many trips from the building to the storage unit.

The storage unit is on the edge of the parking lot - they worked well together!

I mainly stayed inside and moved some items to another part of the building, and then moved some other things that we had removed from one of the youth rooms to the hallway near the door for them to carry out to the storage building.

I went out on the very last "delivery" to the storage unit because there was one empty box left over, and I figured I could carry it! I got to see these beautiful bluebonnets on the side of the hill just beyond the storage unit.

On the way back to the building, we could see the cross just peeking over the top of the building (also a recent addition).

 We were two tuckered-out "senior citizens". We'll probably go back on Thursday to help after Mothers-Day-Out completes in the afternoon, as many things need to get moved from their current classrooms to the new ones before the Grand Opening this weekend.

I think Max must have missed us

On Saturday afternoon, Dwayne went to get his hair cut (I didn't do a very good job on it when I tried doing it last week), and I stayed in the bus outside the house and was going back and forth doing laundry. At one point when I was heading into the house, I heard a plaintive kitty cat cry. I wondered if Miss Kitty was looking out the window and crying, but then I realized it was Max. He came out from under the bus and wanted attention.

"Where have you been?"

"I've missed getting my head scratched."

"Not to mention my shoulders"

"How could you go away and leave and not tell me where you were going?"

"Ooooohhhh, it feels SO good to scratch my back in your yard."

Max "belongs" to neighbors Eddie and Elizabeth, but he would always be around when we were doing anything outside or in the garage. I guess he missed us!

I got a reminder from Facebook today (April 2) that 8 years ago I posted this as my status: "is enjoying the combination of colors in my backyard - the bright green of spring grass, the rich red of the 'California redwood' stained fence, and the beautiful orange of our 'next door' cat, Max!" - so Max must be getting up in years! He still acts like he feels great though.

Hey, Honey, there's a house outside the bus!

"Honey, there's a house outside the bus!"

We drove up into the DFW area today and stopped by the house in Coppell to determine what things yet need to be done to get it ready to go on the market. Our tenants left the house in good shape; our realtor walked through the house about a month ago with a guy who will be coming on Monday who will be doing interior painting and swapping out of outdated appliances (the oven and microwave are from when the house was built in the mid 1980s, and though *I* would continue using them, I guess buyers might think they are dated). 

We were pleased to see that the outside plantings look pretty good - maybe just some mulch and seasonal color needed in the two beds by the front sidewalk.

The roses along the back fence are looking good too.