Monday, September 08, 2003
Steve Weeks CG, Noxapater, MS - July 10-Sept 9
As you can see, we're still in the little "campground" by MS Hwy 15, still gently rocked to sleep by the truck & train traffic. Yet there is a hint of fall in the air, as high temps have dropped to the upper 80s and humidity is down to 60-70%. We actually woke up one morning without condensation on our windows! Our plan is to move to Columbus this Wed to be nearer HomePlace of Columbus, the assisted living facility where Willie's mother Ann is.
Ann's move to HomePlace went very smoothly, thanks to Brother Kevin, pastor, and Brother David, music director, at Noxapater Baptist Church; Willie's sister Cathy, who drove down from Illinois and provided inestimable emotional support for Willie when it was badly needed; and most of all, Ann herself, who graciously accepted the fact that she is unable to live on her own, and accepted the move with a sense of optimistic anticipation. HomePlace allows its residents to furnish their rooms with their own furniture & decorations, so Ann's room at least has the feeling of hominess. Also, Margie Coalson, an old acquaintance of Ann's from Noxapater, is a resident at HomePlace, giving Ann at least one familiar face. There are lots of small issues to deal with, both from Ann's point of view and from Willie's, in this situation, but with support from friends and patience, I think it will work out fine. Ann is doing amazingly well, considering the fact that she was totally pampered & cared for by Willie's dad, Tony, for so many years. She never had to put up with the least little thing that she didn't like.
After the move, we then had the formidable task of preparing the house for sale. We gave Willie's niece, Jennifer Perez, first refusal on any & all items in the house, as long as she would cart it away, so she & her husband Ralph drove down from IL with their 3 children to help organize and hopefully rid us of some of the 30 years worth of stuff collected in the house. The first glitch came when Ralph called to confirm the reservation he had made on a 24' moving van with U-Haul -- they didn't have his truck nor anything else in any size. When Ralph reminded them that he had a reservation, their response was "So what?" After numerous fruitless calls to other rentals, we desperately started calling relatives. We managed to find another similar-sized truck at almost twice the price, and Doug & Ralph were starting to back out of the driveway when Willie frantically came running out with phone in hand -- Cousin Linda had found a 24' truck for less than the original in Starkville, on the way to Columbus. So early the next morning 5 adults & 3 kids piled into a car & a minivan and headed to HomePlace of Columbus to visit Ann and let her meet 2 of the 3 greatgrandchildren for the first time. Afterwards, needless to say, there was not a dry adult eye in the crowd. Jennifer & Cathy then drove the kids back to Noxapater, while Doug & Willie dropped Ralph off in Starkville, hanging around to verify that the truck was actually there. Then came the joy of organizing, packing, and moving most of a houseload of furnishings in a single afternoon. They pulled if off, pulling out of the driveway in the late afternoon on their long drive back to IL. We continued to clear out & give away stuff until the house was pretty empty. People are more "thrifty" here and don't like to see things going to waste.
Most of the required actions for selling the house have been done, appraisal, survey, title search -- even finding a buyer. So now we are in the process of waiting while lawyers, mortgage companies, and the US Postal Service (Willie's sister is the actual owner of house & land) do their thing. We are hoping to get at least the land closed on before we leave town. The house is as empty as we are getting it. The new owner is our cousin, Jim Covington, son of our bridge-playing cousin Ann, so we are leaving him the "leftovers" to use or share with others, as he sees fit. The land will be purchased by Ann's daughter, Linda and her husband, so it will all remain in the family for generations to come. Willie's mom was born here, so it is nice to have it in the family.
Much of our, or more accurately Willie's, time here has been spent handling the estate of her late father. Believe me when I say this is even less fun than it sounds, and it sounds like no fun at all. We are firm believers in the "All work and no play..." adage, and to that end set out to find as much entertainment as we could in rural Mississippi in August. Like bridge -- Willie's cousin Ann & her sister Joyce are recent Life Masters, so we have enjoyed a couple of afternoons with them. Joyce had a nice afternoon of bridge in our honor with some women that they play with regularly. We were ungracious enough to win first & second place!! They also informed us that there is a duplicate bridge group in Columbus, with 4 games per week! We have only been going once a week while staying in Noxapater, visiting Ann Friday mornings and playing bridge in the afternoons. We hope to expand our bridge playing after we move to Columbus for a few weeks. We have also taken advantage of the Senior Fellowship at Noxapater Baptist: potluck and dominos every other Tuesday afternoon at the church. Quite a few of our new-found friends here have invited us over for various games; plus, a couple of old friends, Don & Janet, were on their way from Texas to Alabama and dropped by for a night. We all ate dinner at a local Mexican restaurant (with the most wonderful Poblano Peppers) and then enjoyed an evening of bridge and catching up.
An unfortunate side-effect of all this Southern Hospitality is the addition of more than a few unwelcome pounds on both of us. We have been unable to enjoy our usual walks due to our hectic schedule, the steamy weather, and the visually unappealing location of our trailer. Whatever we think of our location, the cats certainly seem to like it here -- 3 of the 4 weigh as much as they have since we started on the road. Even so, we decided to take them in for their annual check-ups. Now rural MS is not like Boulder, CO, especially when it comes to vet care. After questioning various friends, relatives, and even strangers in stores who were buying quality cat food, we selected a vet. We decided Rainbow & Amber would make the best "Guinea pigs". At least they survived. The examining room was dirty, with no door, so while unpleasant things were being done to the cats, large dogs would walk by only 3 or 4 feet away. They had a terrible time drawing blood for their "geriatric profiles". The vet found that Amber had an infected tooth and asked his aide to bring him a needle-nose pliers -- he was going to try to yank it out then & there without anesthesia. Even though I was speechless, I think the look on my face dissuaded him from that course of action. He did anesthetize her and remove it, and she seems to have suffered no ill effects, thank goodness. Watching your cat go under anesthesia is way too much like watching one being euthanized. We were both so happy when we were able to see Amber starting to move again. She remained groggy throughout the evening & was nowhere to be seen when we went to bed. At about 3 am, she came whining into the bed, looking for her favorite place to snuggle between us. We smiled and said "Amber's back"! We have kept a close eye on her since then, and she seems to have had no ill effects. Rainbow's neck is still quite shaved-looking from where they drew the blood.
Shortly after arriving here, there was an article in the Jackson newspaper describing a catfish exhibit. Many of you know that a recurring theme in our travels is our stumbling on exhibits of decorated fiberglass animals: bears in Knoxville, geese in Longmont, ponies in Carlsbad. Well Jackson MS has catfish, and they may well be our most favorite yet. Most were painted, some more imaginative than others, but a few were real gems: "Atticus" the lawyer with horn-rim glasses and legs; "Cleocatra" sitting on a throne with crown & royal robe; "Southern Bell" with hard-hat & tool-belt, climbing a phone pole, just to name a few. We took 54 photos and didn't shoot them all. On the way home we stopped at Target & PetsMart, then decided that although we were a couple of weeks late, we should celebrate Willie's 62nd B-day with Indian food. We found an Indian restaurant nearby and got there just as they were opening at 5pm. The food was excellent, but we didn't get out until well after 7 -- the service was slow, and after our main courses were served they kept bringing out more food for us to try. We were already too full to eat anything else, but finally agreed to rice pudding. Quite bizarre, all in all. But of course we'd go back!
One benefit of Willie's turning 62 (besides Social Security) is the Golden Age Pass -- free entry to Natl Parks, Monuments, etc and half-price camping! Willie couldn't wait to get hers, but had to, due to numerous unforeseen problems. Finally, the following week, she was able to buy her pass. We drove a good distance out of our way to visit the COE headquarters near Columbus to get it. We won't be able to use it until some time in October, but it will be wonderful to have. The MS State parks offer almost as good of a deal on camping rates for people over 62, so we will stay at a state park while in Columbus.
Our birdwatching has been quite limited, both from lack of time and lack of interest in going outside into the moist, hot woodlands. We did observe something we have been trying to see for years along the road between Louisville & Starkville. In Willie's earliest bird book there is a photo of Cattle Egrets actually sitting on the back of cattle. We have always wanted to see this. We finally found a whole herd of cows, lying in the shade, with several Cattle Egrets on top. We turned around to view it more closely.
Although our location has quite a bit of security lighting, the spectacular view of Mars this month has been quite visible for us -- that is, when the haze and cloud cover permit. One evening we went over to the Rainwater Observatory, located at French Camp Academy (about 40 miles from Noxapater), for a special program on Mars. It was actually one of a series of programs, this particular one being on early looks at Mars through telescopes. We also got to look at Mars (the clouds actually parted for a very short time!) through some telescopes from their very dark area. We could actually see a few of the "features" -- a polar cap and some of the darker shading.
We took one other small outing -- to Sciple's Mill, the "Oldest Continuously Operated Water Mill in the USA that still grinds corn for the public six days per week", located about 35 miles southwest. It was built around 1790 and is quite rustic & interesting to see. We bought some yellow cornmeal and are looking forward to tasty cornbread from it. We were able to sit for a few moments in two old rocking chairs and hear the water running over the small waterfalls there.
Despite the heat and basic feelings of not wanting to move around much, Doug did get a few major maintenance items done on the trailer. He had 4 new all-steel tires put on the trailer (you will remember that he had a major blowout on the way down here, so all tires were pretty well shot). This was a lot more trouble than it sounds, because they actually put on regular steel-belted, not understanding the difference, and it took a bit to convince them otherwise. Doug also replaced our storage area locks (the kind that about 50% of people in the RVing world have duplicate keys to) with cylinder locks that are a lot more secure. We like the local Dodge dealer and were also able to get some minor things done on the truck -- unfortunately the cost wasn't "minor"!
We will sell Willie's parents' car to Brother Kevin tomorrow as one of our last things "to do" before leaving town. He has been so much help to us that we'd almost like to just give it to him. Willie is not sure she could have managed without their support (both his, his wife Vicki's and other church members). It is much harder to deal with putting a parent in an assisted living home than it is to put one in their grave -- at least in our case.
Ann's move to HomePlace went very smoothly, thanks to Brother Kevin, pastor, and Brother David, music director, at Noxapater Baptist Church; Willie's sister Cathy, who drove down from Illinois and provided inestimable emotional support for Willie when it was badly needed; and most of all, Ann herself, who graciously accepted the fact that she is unable to live on her own, and accepted the move with a sense of optimistic anticipation. HomePlace allows its residents to furnish their rooms with their own furniture & decorations, so Ann's room at least has the feeling of hominess. Also, Margie Coalson, an old acquaintance of Ann's from Noxapater, is a resident at HomePlace, giving Ann at least one familiar face. There are lots of small issues to deal with, both from Ann's point of view and from Willie's, in this situation, but with support from friends and patience, I think it will work out fine. Ann is doing amazingly well, considering the fact that she was totally pampered & cared for by Willie's dad, Tony, for so many years. She never had to put up with the least little thing that she didn't like.
After the move, we then had the formidable task of preparing the house for sale. We gave Willie's niece, Jennifer Perez, first refusal on any & all items in the house, as long as she would cart it away, so she & her husband Ralph drove down from IL with their 3 children to help organize and hopefully rid us of some of the 30 years worth of stuff collected in the house. The first glitch came when Ralph called to confirm the reservation he had made on a 24' moving van with U-Haul -- they didn't have his truck nor anything else in any size. When Ralph reminded them that he had a reservation, their response was "So what?" After numerous fruitless calls to other rentals, we desperately started calling relatives. We managed to find another similar-sized truck at almost twice the price, and Doug & Ralph were starting to back out of the driveway when Willie frantically came running out with phone in hand -- Cousin Linda had found a 24' truck for less than the original in Starkville, on the way to Columbus. So early the next morning 5 adults & 3 kids piled into a car & a minivan and headed to HomePlace of Columbus to visit Ann and let her meet 2 of the 3 greatgrandchildren for the first time. Afterwards, needless to say, there was not a dry adult eye in the crowd. Jennifer & Cathy then drove the kids back to Noxapater, while Doug & Willie dropped Ralph off in Starkville, hanging around to verify that the truck was actually there. Then came the joy of organizing, packing, and moving most of a houseload of furnishings in a single afternoon. They pulled if off, pulling out of the driveway in the late afternoon on their long drive back to IL. We continued to clear out & give away stuff until the house was pretty empty. People are more "thrifty" here and don't like to see things going to waste.
Most of the required actions for selling the house have been done, appraisal, survey, title search -- even finding a buyer. So now we are in the process of waiting while lawyers, mortgage companies, and the US Postal Service (Willie's sister is the actual owner of house & land) do their thing. We are hoping to get at least the land closed on before we leave town. The house is as empty as we are getting it. The new owner is our cousin, Jim Covington, son of our bridge-playing cousin Ann, so we are leaving him the "leftovers" to use or share with others, as he sees fit. The land will be purchased by Ann's daughter, Linda and her husband, so it will all remain in the family for generations to come. Willie's mom was born here, so it is nice to have it in the family.
Much of our, or more accurately Willie's, time here has been spent handling the estate of her late father. Believe me when I say this is even less fun than it sounds, and it sounds like no fun at all. We are firm believers in the "All work and no play..." adage, and to that end set out to find as much entertainment as we could in rural Mississippi in August. Like bridge -- Willie's cousin Ann & her sister Joyce are recent Life Masters, so we have enjoyed a couple of afternoons with them. Joyce had a nice afternoon of bridge in our honor with some women that they play with regularly. We were ungracious enough to win first & second place!! They also informed us that there is a duplicate bridge group in Columbus, with 4 games per week! We have only been going once a week while staying in Noxapater, visiting Ann Friday mornings and playing bridge in the afternoons. We hope to expand our bridge playing after we move to Columbus for a few weeks. We have also taken advantage of the Senior Fellowship at Noxapater Baptist: potluck and dominos every other Tuesday afternoon at the church. Quite a few of our new-found friends here have invited us over for various games; plus, a couple of old friends, Don & Janet, were on their way from Texas to Alabama and dropped by for a night. We all ate dinner at a local Mexican restaurant (with the most wonderful Poblano Peppers) and then enjoyed an evening of bridge and catching up.
An unfortunate side-effect of all this Southern Hospitality is the addition of more than a few unwelcome pounds on both of us. We have been unable to enjoy our usual walks due to our hectic schedule, the steamy weather, and the visually unappealing location of our trailer. Whatever we think of our location, the cats certainly seem to like it here -- 3 of the 4 weigh as much as they have since we started on the road. Even so, we decided to take them in for their annual check-ups. Now rural MS is not like Boulder, CO, especially when it comes to vet care. After questioning various friends, relatives, and even strangers in stores who were buying quality cat food, we selected a vet. We decided Rainbow & Amber would make the best "Guinea pigs". At least they survived. The examining room was dirty, with no door, so while unpleasant things were being done to the cats, large dogs would walk by only 3 or 4 feet away. They had a terrible time drawing blood for their "geriatric profiles". The vet found that Amber had an infected tooth and asked his aide to bring him a needle-nose pliers -- he was going to try to yank it out then & there without anesthesia. Even though I was speechless, I think the look on my face dissuaded him from that course of action. He did anesthetize her and remove it, and she seems to have suffered no ill effects, thank goodness. Watching your cat go under anesthesia is way too much like watching one being euthanized. We were both so happy when we were able to see Amber starting to move again. She remained groggy throughout the evening & was nowhere to be seen when we went to bed. At about 3 am, she came whining into the bed, looking for her favorite place to snuggle between us. We smiled and said "Amber's back"! We have kept a close eye on her since then, and she seems to have had no ill effects. Rainbow's neck is still quite shaved-looking from where they drew the blood.
Shortly after arriving here, there was an article in the Jackson newspaper describing a catfish exhibit. Many of you know that a recurring theme in our travels is our stumbling on exhibits of decorated fiberglass animals: bears in Knoxville, geese in Longmont, ponies in Carlsbad. Well Jackson MS has catfish, and they may well be our most favorite yet. Most were painted, some more imaginative than others, but a few were real gems: "Atticus" the lawyer with horn-rim glasses and legs; "Cleocatra" sitting on a throne with crown & royal robe; "Southern Bell" with hard-hat & tool-belt, climbing a phone pole, just to name a few. We took 54 photos and didn't shoot them all. On the way home we stopped at Target & PetsMart, then decided that although we were a couple of weeks late, we should celebrate Willie's 62nd B-day with Indian food. We found an Indian restaurant nearby and got there just as they were opening at 5pm. The food was excellent, but we didn't get out until well after 7 -- the service was slow, and after our main courses were served they kept bringing out more food for us to try. We were already too full to eat anything else, but finally agreed to rice pudding. Quite bizarre, all in all. But of course we'd go back!
One benefit of Willie's turning 62 (besides Social Security) is the Golden Age Pass -- free entry to Natl Parks, Monuments, etc and half-price camping! Willie couldn't wait to get hers, but had to, due to numerous unforeseen problems. Finally, the following week, she was able to buy her pass. We drove a good distance out of our way to visit the COE headquarters near Columbus to get it. We won't be able to use it until some time in October, but it will be wonderful to have. The MS State parks offer almost as good of a deal on camping rates for people over 62, so we will stay at a state park while in Columbus.Our birdwatching has been quite limited, both from lack of time and lack of interest in going outside into the moist, hot woodlands. We did observe something we have been trying to see for years along the road between Louisville & Starkville. In Willie's earliest bird book there is a photo of Cattle Egrets actually sitting on the back of cattle. We have always wanted to see this. We finally found a whole herd of cows, lying in the shade, with several Cattle Egrets on top. We turned around to view it more closely.
Although our location has quite a bit of security lighting, the spectacular view of Mars this month has been quite visible for us -- that is, when the haze and cloud cover permit. One evening we went over to the Rainwater Observatory, located at French Camp Academy (about 40 miles from Noxapater), for a special program on Mars. It was actually one of a series of programs, this particular one being on early looks at Mars through telescopes. We also got to look at Mars (the clouds actually parted for a very short time!) through some telescopes from their very dark area. We could actually see a few of the "features" -- a polar cap and some of the darker shading.
We took one other small outing -- to Sciple's Mill, the "Oldest Continuously Operated Water Mill in the USA that still grinds corn for the public six days per week", located about 35 miles southwest. It was built around 1790 and is quite rustic & interesting to see. We bought some yellow cornmeal and are looking forward to tasty cornbread from it. We were able to sit for a few moments in two old rocking chairs and hear the water running over the small waterfalls there.
Despite the heat and basic feelings of not wanting to move around much, Doug did get a few major maintenance items done on the trailer. He had 4 new all-steel tires put on the trailer (you will remember that he had a major blowout on the way down here, so all tires were pretty well shot). This was a lot more trouble than it sounds, because they actually put on regular steel-belted, not understanding the difference, and it took a bit to convince them otherwise. Doug also replaced our storage area locks (the kind that about 50% of people in the RVing world have duplicate keys to) with cylinder locks that are a lot more secure. We like the local Dodge dealer and were also able to get some minor things done on the truck -- unfortunately the cost wasn't "minor"!
We will sell Willie's parents' car to Brother Kevin tomorrow as one of our last things "to do" before leaving town. He has been so much help to us that we'd almost like to just give it to him. Willie is not sure she could have managed without their support (both his, his wife Vicki's and other church members). It is much harder to deal with putting a parent in an assisted living home than it is to put one in their grave -- at least in our case.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 10:30 AM 
