Published April 24, 2011
Many years ago JR worked in Florida for MCI. This was during our Little House on the Prairie days so every opportunity I would fly to Florida just to get away!
I thought it would be nice if we took JR’s mom on a little vacation. She is Australian…she grew up in Sydney. She came to the USA when she married JR’s father and they lived most of their married life in Wichita Falls. She often remarked that she would have never left Sydney if she knew she would live the rest of her life in Wichita Falls, Texas. JR’s dad had passed on years before so she lived alone and had a lot of free time. She was a lovely person and I loved her dearly. If fact I just never could believe that she was JR’s mom!
JR flew home one weekend and we rented a car, picked up his mom, and drove to Florida for a couple of weeks. We had as good a time as you can have with JR cooped up in a car driving like a bat out of hell! There is no stopping along the way. He’s a firm believer of “gettin where you’re going in as little time as possible”! If you plan on using your camera to document the trip…roll down the windows and try to snap a photo while driving by any points of interest at about 80 mph.
His mother sat in the back seat and read her Bible.
We had many experiences along the way and while were were in Orlando JR’s mom, Elaine, and I had the opportunity to go to Walt Disney World. Elaine had gone with JR and his family many years before and she had a wonderful time. One of the guys on JR’s crew had a nephew on the staff at Disney World and could get us a free pass for a day. JR thought since she loved it when she went with them she would enjoy going with me. I never had the opportunity to go although my kids had been a couple of times with their dad’s parents.
So off I went for that magical adventure with JR’s 70+ year old mom. Needless to say the trip fell a little short of my expectations. It was dreadfully hot and humid in the middle of the summer and the lines were long. I was only able to entice her to accompany me on one ride….which she later assured to JR that we had actually taken a submarine trip to the bottom of the ocean!
We only made it through Morocco in Epcot before she complained that she didn’t want to see anything else there. We left the park at that point.
He decided along the way that we should stop in Gulfport and visit the casino. His mother had never been and he wanted her to see it.
Elaine, a staunch Baptist, read her Bible a little more …before telling JR that she didn’t think God would mind if she didn’t gamble.
At the casino after assuring her the slot machines weren’t really gambling, JR brought us both a pail of quarters. I sat down to play and didn’t look up until his mom walked up a little later grabbed my pail of quarters…saying that she had run out and needed more!
We had a really good trip other than the Disney World fiasco and she loved the casino!
TO BE CONTINUED….
Published February 2, 2011 
We are managing to stay warm, we have plenty of good food to eat, and only lost our power for a very short time twice during the mandatory blackouts.
Our dogs have their own space heater in the laundry room
and my variegated aloe is blooming in the sun room. But, facing reality…I’ve been trapped inside with a crazy person for two entire days!
You all know who I’m talking about…remember he is obsessive compulsive and he has issues. He’s vacuumed the entire house numerous times…tormented the dogs…he runs outside periodically to check the electric meter to see how fast its spinning…he gets online to our electric co-op to check our kilowatt usage…he checks his bank balance several times a day even though we haven’t left the house since Sunday. He walked to the mailbox and fell on the ice twice. He got the mail dropped it in the bar ditch and fell for a third time in a snow drift only to come crawling out onto the road like a bear emerging from his winter den.
It wasn’t enough that when the storm blew in… the wind, rain, sleet, lightening, and thunder kept me awake most of the night. At 4:30 A.M. he was up banging around in the kitchen making more noise than a bull in a china closet. He came in my bedroom to tell me it was really getting bad outside. Like I wouldn’t be aware of that situation…I really needed the announcement at that time of the morning. Then he proceeded to try to force the dogs to go outside for a bathroom break right in the middle of the storm…they were not cooperative at all which irritated him greatly and I finally had to get up and mediate that situation.
Maybe this morning I would be able to sleep late. What was I thinking? Nope. He came in about the same time this morning…his pistol in hand… asking if I knew what happened to the fireplace poker. He thought we had an intruder or maybe I was just waiting to murder him in the wee hours of the morning!
After taking a deep breath to calm myself I explained that I had the tool in my bathroom. I was running water so the pipes wouldn’t freeze while also capturing it in my big round bathtub in case we lost power and needed water to wash or flush toilets. The fireplace poker was really handy to reach and release the stopper to let the water out periodically so the tub wouldn’t overflow.
I guess I should be thankful he asked first and didn’t just shoot me right there on the spot!
Having fun out here in the country with a maniac! Stay warm my friends!
Leah
