PLANS

We had none,  just enjoying the White Sands near Alamogordo NM before heading west to "winter in AZ" at a week here and a week there as we are new at the nomadic lifestyle having begun our journey mid May!!  Then we heard that Tom's Dad had contracted COVID and we opted to head NORTH.  Not a great time of year for that direction,  but we made it in FOUR DAYS by going straight north of Dalhart TX and with only ONE freezing incident at 9 degrees in Lamar CO.  The hot water lines froze,  but obviously only in one small space as it was flowing freely by the time we got to Burlington CO.

Tom's  brother, the farmer, has a LARGE heated shop where he rebuilds his equipment in the winter, and offered us a space to park the COUGAR while we were staying at The Home Place.  We went to see Dad immediately,  fully garbed in plastic wraps, masks and gloves.  Perhaps he was waiting for our arrival as he died / went to Jesus three days later!!  The other siblings had seen him recently so that Sunday the three who were actually in the COUNTY plus the other two on speaker phone were THERE when he breathed his last - 12:20 on December 20, 2020.  No one will forget that date and time!!

So here we are, going through papers from the last 70 years or more.  Dad was 97 years old and had lived in this home for over forty of those years.  THAT IS A LOT OF PAPER, and warranties for items no longer in service, gifts and cards from all of his loving family,  freebies from the COOP, the Corn Producers, the political party of his choice, and every Veterans organization known to man!!  He was a WWII Veteran and those stalwart vets of the local VFW were at the graveside with snow swirling around trying to decide whether to land or blow to the next county.  Since the available church location was out in the COUNTY we were actually able to have a Memorial Service and nearly all progeny were there,  COVID restrictions and all!!

The youngest sibling (nearly 65) has thrown a scare into us coming down with that NASTY BUG from CHINA and is just now in REHAB after eight weeks in hospital, ventilator and all!!  A miracle for sure as he was VERY SICK!!   

I think that the whole family is happy to have us here as no one has actually LIVED in the Home Place in 18 months so Tom has not had to invent things to FIX!!  This morning it is the washer which did NOT SPIN!!  Sears Service to the rescue I hope.  Tom also has a long list of items he NEEDS to get taken care of on the rig before we continue on our merry way!! 

We have had below ZERO temperatures this past week,  so a day above the minus numbers is a day to rejoice,  and we are rejoicing that we have a safe and warm location for our winter sojourn,  but TWO MONTHS  seems a LONG TIME when we are used to traveling every two to three days, except for the weeks we stay in one place to await MAIL from our South Dakota mail box!! 

We were getting itchy feet a couple of weeks ago, then we were told by our daughter that we could NOT leave until after the 21st of February!!  Seems that our children have solicited the help of the family to throw a PARTY for us to CELEBRATE our 60th Wedding ANNIVERSARY.   They are all excited as I guess they have some surprises in store for us?!  Fortunately, the weather seems to be cooperating with Warmer Temperatures and NO SNOW!!

Stay Safe, stay healthy, and keep PRAISING GOD for our many blessings!!