Fun in Texas

We spent nearly two weeks visiting Travis' cousins, Novella and Vern. They live 10 miles east of Dickens TX just 1/4 mile from where Travis was born. It is way out in the boonies. We had an absolute blast with them. They are really from Stockton CA, but moved down there to help her mother who is 96 and now is in a private care home in Spur TX. We visited her and Travis took his guitar and sang her some songs. She had remembered us and enjoyed that. While there Travis and Vern went hunting from a pickup (since Travis doesn't walk much with his bad back) and saw deer, wild hogs, a porcupine and he shot a diamond back rattlesnake. That thrilled him. He saved the rattles for posterity. I'll post a picture of the snake. We also went sight seeing in the big towns of Dickens and Spur and at the Pitchfork Land and Cattle Co. (where Travis' dad worked when he was a young man) and the 6666 Cattle Ranch. Both the ranches are right around where Novella and Vern live and both are huge. They do cowboying from horses mostly and have lots of them. Novella and Vern have a bunch of cats, all tailless Manx variety. I had never seen one live before. Just heard about them and seen a picture or two.

Concert and Sing-A-Long Schedule

November 3, 7 p.m. Sing-A-Long at Desert Pools RV Resort, Dillon Road, Desert Hot Springs CA
This is a monthly event, every first Saturday of the month through April.
Starting Sunday, Nov. 4, 3 - 5 p.m., Jam Session at Catalina Spa RV Resort, Corkhill Road, Desert Hot Springs CA
This is a weekly event. Travis plays lead guitar for it and sings some, too.
January 17, 7 p.m. Gospel Concert at Desert Pools RV Resort, Dillon Road, Desert Hot Springs CA
February 14, 7 p.m. Country Classic and Valentines Concert at Desert Pools RV Resort, Dillon Road, Desert Hot Springs CA

More to come later.

More quilts

Gosh, it's been since Sept. 6 since I updated this. Sorry. We were traveling and visiting and going to a Mimms Family Reunion. I have been busy since we got back to Southern CA with cleaning and unpacking. Also have to make a new baby quilt for our brand new great-granddaughter, Ella Marie Nietfeld. She was born 5 weeks early and I had no access to my fabrics until I got here. I'd have had it made otherwise. I tie the baby quilts, not quilt them. But you can't call them a baby tie, can you? I am getting almost finished with the quilt for daughter Connie. It is going to be lovely. The pictures show the front and back sides of it. I have also started on one for daughter Tammy done all in wild batik prints. It'll be lovely, too, but really different from any other ones I've done. I'll show some of it later.

We had a very good summer, staying in our trailer at Tim and Leanne Robel's farm near Galeton CO. We did lots of concerts and had very good visits with lots of family and friends. We had a great time with Travis' third cousin, Novella and her husband, Vern, then the Reunion was a total success, according to me. We really enjoyed seeing 'old' acquaintances and meeting 'new' members of his family. More about that later.

September-October Concert Schedule

September 22, Cowboy Church, Hasty FireHouse, Hasty CO, 7 p.m.
September 23, Rocky Ford Wash. Ave. Southern Baptist Church, Rocky Ford CO, 10:45 a.m. Special Music, 6:30 p.m. Concert
September 27-28-29, Navajo Lake Retreat, near Durango CO
September 30, Mancos United Methodist, Mancos CO, 11 a.m.
October 7, Coronado Baptist Church, Espanola NM concert, 11 a.m.

News from Northern Colorado

It’s been a while since I updated this. I have been without a computer as mine bit the dust. Ah well, it was seven years old and had done yeoman’s duty all that time. I can’t complain, except that I’ve been without a computer and it is hard not to have one when you’re used to one... I have ordered a new one and it should be here in a week or so, at least before we leave here the 20th. My son, John, is helping me with it. Right now I am using the neighbor’s computer. Thank heaven for good neighbors.
We have been really busy this summer and have done quite a few concerts. We’ve seen lots of family and friends, too. I started a new quilt for our daughter, Connie. As of now I have it nearly half done. Many of you know that I make quilts basically by hand, using the lap quilting technique which does not require a quilting frame. I have made lots of them and really enjoy it. The quilt shown here is my granddaughter, Amanda's.
Although we have enjoyed our stay here and love the place we are parked now on the farm out by Galeton, CO, we are getting ready to leave and go back to southern CA for the winter. We also have made arrangements to go to the Mimms’ Reunion in Lubbock, TX, on October 20. Before we leave here I have a 55th Class Reunion on September 15. That’ll be fun and interesting.

Back to Colorado

We have done many things and gone many miles since the last update. We spent time at Milton-Freewater OR and did a concert there. Had a wonderful time. Then we went to Kalispell MT for about a week over the 4th of July. We visited friends Roy and Judy there and had lots of fun. We hadn't seen them for several years. Traveling south from there, we went through Yellowstone National Park and enjoyed that. We didn’t see much wildlife, but lots of geysers, etc. Our destination from there was Saratoga WY for a short visit with friends and then we headed for Loveland CO. When we arrived there, we had to move our trailer from our brother-in-law’s back yard out to a farm near Galeton, north of Greeley CO. it involved quite a bit of cleaning and putting away, as we hadn't lived in it for nine months. We also had no food in the house and so had to go to town to stock up some. On Saturday, July 14, our oldest daughter and her husband had a family get-together. If I counted right there were 38 people there, all relatives. We got to see almost all of our great-grandchildren and most of our children and grandchildren, plus many others we hadn’t seen for nearly a year. I took lots of pictures. The smaller children had a blast playing in the water as it was a hot day. The picture is of all the smaller ones. The four bigger ones are grandchildren and all but one (a grandniece) are great-grandchildren. I went back with Mary the next day to her home at Holyoke CO. her husband Jesse was gone for two weeks at Annual Training with the National Guard, so I helped her and we visited and I had a good time with our grandchildren. While there, my brother Charlie and I went to Alliance NE to see my sister and her husband who are in a nursing home there. While there we also visited our granddaughter Kellie, her husband Matt and their daughter Claire. Travis came out to visit and reclaim me the next weekend. Now we are back in our trailer near Galeton for a while.

In Oregon now

After a great time with cousin Rhonda, we traveled thru Oregon and visited more relatives and friends and wound up at Vancouver WA for a few days visit with Duane and Elsie Kennedy. While there we rested and did a concert for their Senior Citizen group, the J.O.Y. (Just Older Youth) Club. What a good time we had there. We are now near Sumpter OR visiting with dear friends, Marty and Wayne Robb. They live way out in the woods and seem to be really isolated, but in reality are only 5 miles from Sumpter. It just seems like farther and they are surrounded by trees and have a lovely log house which they built. We have had a great time with them. Thursday was my birthday and our anniversary and we went to Weiser ID to the Old Time Fiddlers Contest . That was the day for the 14-18 year old competition and we saw lots of very talented young fiddlers, including our friend, James Schlender, aged 14. He was a crowd favorite. The Robbs took us out for birthday-anniversary lunch and I had the greatest hamburger I've ever had. Anybody who wants to have a great hamburger in Weiser ID, go to the Beehive Restaurant. On the way back home, at Baker City OR, we stopped for Blizzards at Dairy Queen. What a good day!! We rode the Sumpter Valley Train the next day and it was a real experience. It broke down and we had to wait for it to get up a head of steam again several times. It was fun. We did a concert at the Meadowbrook Nursing Home and one at McEwen Fellowship Church, both of which were lots of fun. We got to meet lots of new friends and sing for the Lord. The weather has been picture perfect for our whole trip. We couldn't ask for better. We'll be leaving here tomorrow for Milton-Freewater OR to visit friends, the Chinn's there and do a concert at their church. We've met so many great people on our travels. It seems as if the word great has been overused in this post, but it has been great! We go on from M-F to Kallispel, Montana, and then to Colorado for the rest of the summer. We're looking forward to seeing all our children and grandchildren there.

August-October Schedule

August-October Schedule
August 5, LaSalle Baptist, 10 a.m., LaSalle CO
August 9, Kersey Senior Center, 11:30 a.m., Kersey CO
August 12, Galeton Community Church, 9 a.m., Galeton CO Special Music
August 14, Ault CO Senior Center, noon
August 26, Briggsdale and Hereford CO concerts, 9 & 11 a.m.
September 2, Windsor Christian Church, Windsor CO, 10 a.m.
September 5, Greeley Place, 1:30 p.m. Greeley CO
September 22, Cowboy Church, Hasty FireHouse, Hasty CO, 7 p.m.
September 23, Rocky Ford Wash. Ave. Southern Baptist Church, Rocky Ford CO, a.m.
September 27-28-29, Navajo Lake Retreat, near Durango CO
September 30, Mancos United Methodist, Mancos CO, 11 a.m.
October 7, Coronado Baptist Church, Espanola NM concert, 11 a.m.

Travelin' On

We have been busy with traveling. We left DHS on May 31 and stayed that night at Bishop CA. We never had gone that way, so decided to see what it was like. It is nicer than the trip up Hwy 99 to Stockton, much more scenic. We stopped to see several sights on the way. We didn’t go to see the Devil’s Postpile, a rock formation in the form of huge crystals. We couldn’t drive up to it and Travis doesn’t walk very well, so that was out. Lots of the driving from Bishop on was mountainous and very pretty. We could have gone through Yosemite, but opted to go over Monitor Pass instead. Yosemite is too busy now and we’d been there.
We were wiped out by the time we reached Rhonda Johnson’s house. Rhonda is Travis’ cousin, a widow, with a very nice large double wide trailer in Lodi. We have stayed with her before and she is a charming hostess. We feel right at home at her house.
She and I go shopping, thrift stores, groceries, crafts, farmer’s markets, etc. It’s always fun. We went book looking the first day here. Their library has a constant book sale, but I only found one there. When we went to thrift stores, I found a bunch. Some of them are children’s books, for my grandchildren. I usually read them first, of course. I like kids’ books. Some were just for me. I didn’t find any for Travis this time. I always look, but nothing this time.
I go walking every morning and the first morning out, Saturday, I was almost to the turn around spot (I walk about 25-30 minutes and then turn around) when I found a garage sale. I hadn’t thought about finding one, so had no money with me. When I found some stuff I wanted there, I had them save it for me and walked back to Rhonda’s to get money. It was a long walk, there, back, there and back again. I probably walked 5 miles that day. I found a couple other sales and got some good stuff, though, plus enjoyed myself.
Travis did special music on Sunday and then after church, there was a potluck dinner. Following that we went to his nephew, Brian Mimms’, home to a graduation party for Travis’ grand-niece. All the relatives of his were there, so we got to see the whole Mimms clan at once. It was a very nice party in Brian’s lovely back yard. They live out in the country northeast of Stockton. After that, we came home and crashed. We were tired!
Yesterday Travis, Rhonda and friend Jerry Courtright did a concert at a nursing home. The folks there really enjoyed it. All three of them sing together and separate. It was a good afternoon.
We'll be here until June 14, and then head north into Oregon.

Concert Schedule for June

I'm going to repeat the listing of all the upcoming concerts, etc. so you don't have to dig thru the old ones.
Gospel Concert, Ashley Place Senior Home, Lodi CA, June 6, 1:30 p.m.
Gospel Concert, Senior Social, Berea Baptist Church, Stockton CA, June 8, 6:30 p.m.
Special Music, Berea Baptist Church, Sunday, June 10, 10:45 a.m.
Gospel Concert,Berea Baptist Church, Sunday, June 10, 6 p.m.
Gospel Concert, Sunbridge Rest Home, Stockton CA, June 13, 3 p.m.
Gospel Concert, First Church of God, Vancouver WA, June 19, noon, Joy Fellowship Senior Group. This is a potluck and is open to you if you live in that area. Bring your own service and a potluck dish to share.
Gospel Concert, Meadowbrook Nursing Home, Baker City OR, June 22, 1:30 p.m.
Special Music, McEwen Bible Fellowship Church, Sumpter OR, June 24, 11 a.m.
Gospel Concert, McEwen Bible Fellowship Church, Sumpter OR, June 24, 7 p.m.
Gospel Concert, Seventh Day Adventist Church, Milton-Freewater OR, June 27, 7 p.m.

Our Pet

Since we live in a very small house (a park model of 399 sq. ft.) and before that lived in a 290 sq. ft. trailer, we opted not to replace our little dog. For a long time, we had no pet. Then our daughter, Connie, gave Travis a fish in a fish bowl for a birthday present two years ago. He is a Betta, a Siamese Fighting Fish. As you can see, he is a lovely color, silvery blue. We got him while we were in Colorado and had to bring him clear to southern California. This was done in a quart jar with holes punched in the lid. We had to bring him in with us when we stopped as it was still very hot. He weathered the move well and we have enjoyed him ever since. Bettas live in small amounts of water and live alone well. Their average life span is 2 to 3 years, so we don't know how much longer he'll be with us. We already have arrangements for someone to fish sit him while we are gone this summer.

Travis named him Gadget as Travis is a gadget man. He loves all kinds of neat gadgets, like a temperature gun which tells you the temp of whatever you point it at. He has many electronic gadgets, too.

Poem about a friend

Here's a poem I wrote about a special friend, Norma Baker. She has faithfully played the keyboard for Sunday services in two RV parks near us for over 17 years every winter season. As you can tell, she is very special. We have been blessed in knowing her. The picture shows her and her husband, John, in their Airstream trailer.

Norma Baker

We’ve got a little tiny friend from up in Washington,
Who does everything with her whole heart in it,
She’s full of vim and vinegar and always lots of fun,
In spite of being no bigger than a minute.

She is loaded with talent, plays on the keyboard,
She furnishes the music for church every week,
Both at Vista Grande and at Desert Pools
She’s one in a million, she’s really unique.

For many years at church she’s done a good job,
On her steadfastness and loyalty they always rely,
When music’s to be made, she’s always ready,
She’ll be there if needed or know the reason why.

Don’t miss her harmonica in George or in Frank,
Or maybe it’s Charlie, the key to go to,
At the Jam at Catalina on every Sunday,
She really does blow it and very sweet, too.

We love her sweet smile and jolly laugh,
She’s always ready to enjoy a good joke,
She’s willing to help wherever she can
To give a helping hand to any needy folk.

All those who meet her consider her special,
A loyal friend who is always there for you,
She’ll check in with you to see if you’re okay,
Or to see if there’s something else she can do.

She loves her children and grandchildren, too,
If you want to know just ask her of them,
She’s loyal and loving to her husband, John,
She’s really a jewel, a regular gem.

Travis always teases her that sideways she’ll stand
And stick out her tongue, like a zipper she’ll look,
Then a perfect thirty-six figure she’ll have,
Twelve, twelve, and twelve, you can’t overlook.

So here’s to our Norma, a wonderful person,
A special and talented friend we all know,
She may be small, but she’s large in her ways,
Like finding gold at the end of the rainbow.

Sunny, windy southern California

If you are experiencing rain or snow, you should be here. It’s warm and sunny, but we are having the usual spring winds. The flowers are out here in profusion and it’s a real pleasure to drive in the Palm Springs area and see them all. Right now the jacaranda trees are blooming and are really lovely. They have sparse leaves, but are just covered with lavender flowers. I look forward to them each spring.

Nearly all the winter visitors in this area are gone now. That means all the activities have stopped, too. So far Travis' water volleyball games at Desert Pools RV Park are still going on, much to his pleasure. He loves that game and it gives him needed exercise. Because it is in the water, it is low impact and doesn't hurt his back. The volleyballers have a great time and they are very noisy.

Kilroy Was Here

The end of the season is coming here in southern California. Lots of our friends either have headed home or will soon. Soon after Easter most will be gone. We had a week of hot weather a couple weeks ago, in the 90s, but it's back down to normal at this time of the year, in the high 70s or low 80s, just perfect. By the time we leave it will be hot. We are starting to get ready, altho it is two months until then. You have to plan ahead and eat up all your collected food and know what you'll need to wear for several months. It is a real logistics problem. Since we aren't pulling our home behind us anymore, it takes different planning. We drive our Chrysler van now and stay with friends, relatives and motels, mostly the first two.

I hope you like my Kilroy logo. I found it when looking at old stuff during World War II pictures and remembered him.

Catching Up

My brother, Larry Anderson, died Feb. 13, 2007, at Haxtun, CO. I flew there and stayed two weeks, leaving Travis in southern CA. It was COLD!
Back home again, our busy schedule started again and will last until Easter, when most of the Snow Birds will have 'flown' home. Then we have a time of rest before our travels start again the first of June.
We had a great time at Quartzite AZ last weekend, meeting new and old friends and singing for the Lord. Our friend, Dick Ower, bass player, went with us.

Schedule of Concerts

Jam at Catalina Spa every Sunday 3-5
Gospel & Country Concert, Sparkling Waters RV Park, Wed., February 14, 6:30 p.m.
Classic Country Concert, Desert Pools, Friday, February 16, 6 p.m.
Gospel Sing-a-long at Rainbow Spa RV Park, Thursday, February 22, 7 p.m.
Gospel Sing-a-long at Desert Pools, Saturday, March 3, 7 p.m.
Gospel & Country Concert at Vista Grande RV Park, March 5, 7 p.m.

Schedule continued

Benefit Concert, Joshua Springs Mobile Home Park, DHS, March 7, 6 p.m.
Gospel Special Music, Quartzite Baptist Church, Quartzite AZ, March 11, 11 a.m.
Gospel Concert, Quartzite Baptist Church, Quartzite AZ, March 11, 6 p.m.
Concert with Jerry Cortright, Desert Pools RV Park, Wed. April 4, 7 p.m.
Sing-a-long, Desert Pools RV Park, Sat. April 7, 7 p.m.
Gospel Concert, Ashley Place Senior Home, Lodi CA, June 6, 1:30 p.m.
Gospel Concert, Senior Social, Berea Baptist Church, Stockton CA, June 8, 6:30 p.m.
Special Music, Berea Baptist Church, Sunday, June 10, 10:45 a.m.
Gospel Concert,Berea Baptist Church, Sunday, June 10, 6 p.m.
Gospel Concert, Sunbridge Rest Home, Stockton CA, June 13, 3 p.m.
Gospel Concert, First Church of God, Vancouver WA, June 19, noon, Joy Fellowship Senior Group