Made It

We arrived in Yuma on Sunday afternoon. Raining all day today (We thought this was the desert!). Traveling is over for a while, next posts will be from here.

Escape From Ozona

We Finally were able to escape from Ozona (aka middle of nowhere). Finding the damaged fuel line and replacing it took about 3 hours, add a day lost for the weekend, half a day lost having the part shipped from civilization, a day lost because the wrong part was sent, a day lost because the repair shop manager forgot to reorder it, and half a day lost because after getting repaired and going 25 miles down the road the alternator went out and we had to go back and have that replaced. At least that only took about an hour. I am sure the alternator problem was partially caused by the other work, but it was also 12 years old.
If you do the math you can see it takes 4 days to do 4 hours worth of repairs in Ozona. At least I wasn't doing it, the mechanic was working outdoors in about 30 degree weather. We were staying in their lot so the rent was free. As nice a vacation spot as Ozona is, we left without looking back on Thursday morning.
We are now in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Tonya's cousin Marcus (and his wife Yvonne) live here so we stopped to visit. They had plans tonight so we are going to breakfast with them in the morning before continuing west.

Slight Trip Delay

While driving along I-10 yesterday afternoon diesel fuel started dumping from the engine compartment, I suspect from a fuel line failure. Only 250,000+ miles on the truck, guess they don't make them like they used to. Got off the hwy and towed a few miles to Ozona, TX where we are set up at a diesel repair "shop" (looks like they do all there work outdoors). We didn't want to pay the mechanics time and a half so they won't look at it until tomorrow. I am confident that it is not a major job and we will only be delayed a couple of days. Meanwhile we are plugged in to their power and water and will be home till then.

Ella Kay Has Arrived

Ella Kay Stavinoha made her debut to the world at 3:11 pm on November 28th.
Weighing in at 7 lbs 7 oz you can see from the pictures she is obviously the cutest baby on the planet.

Nana and Ella at the hospital.

An angel even when she cries.

Big brother Zack, Carrie and Ella.


Our work here is done. We're heading to Yuma.

New Granddaughter Arriving Soon.

We have been staying near Carrie's house in Pearland, TX for a couple of weeks. She was due to have a baby girl a week ago but, as these things go, it hasn't happened yet. In the meantime Leah and her family came down for the last few days so we have had a great Thanksgiving with everyone. Carrie is scheduled to get induced tomorrow if she doesn't go in to labor today, it won't be long now.

Went to the local park yesterday. Megan and Paige on the swings.

Megan, Zack and a ladybug.

Nanna has taught them how to "trash".

Grannie's New Digs

We are now back in Whitehouse, TX after staying a little longer than planned in Illinois. It took some persuading by Tonya but she convinced her mother, "Grannie", to move in to a supportive living apartment for at least three months to give it a try. We hope she finds out most of her preconceptions about the place are wrong and realizes it is where she can get the most enjoyment out of the years of life she has left. She has her own furniture in a one bedroom apartment that has a small kitchen with a refrigerator and microwave. There is a main dining room in the complex where meals are provided. Various activities are scheduled every day so there is plenty of opportunity to interact with other residents, as well as assistance if needed from the staff. House cleaning and laundry services are provided if requested. There is also transportation to doctors, church, shopping etc. provided, although in Grannie's case she has her car there and can come and go whenever she wants. We bought her a new Bedspread and TV as house warming gifts. The place has just been open since August so you can see it is a nice, brand new facility.

Greene County Fairgrounds

After a year and a half of not posting I have decided to start again and see if I can stay with it, so here goes.

We have been in Illinois since August, mostly in Carrollton visiting Tonya's mother. Tonya is trying to convince her to move in to a supported living apartment 15 miles away. She has been interviewed by a social worker to confirm that she qualifies and has put money down to hold one of the apartments there until the first of November, but every other day says she is not going. In the meantime Tonya is going through all of her old copies of bills etc. sorting, organizing, and shredding as needed. We have found all the documents she'll need if and when she decides to move. We think she is ready for supported living, which is not a nursing home but a place where meals, cleaning services, organized activities and other minimal support are provided to people with similar needs. All we can do at this point is get everything ready and encourage her to move.

We have spent some time visiting my family that lives about 2 1/2 hours north of here. While there I went to a high school class reunion and a memorial service for my aunt. I saw a lot of classmates I only see every 5 years, if I make it to the reunion, and relatives I haven't seen in 20 years or more, including some I have never met. Because I have been giving updates to so many people about how our family is doing a new "Moserism" occurred to me. "If bragging about your kids is a sin, I'm going to Hell."






We have been staying at the Greene County Fairgrounds, about a mile from Tonya's mom's house. It only has one 50 amp plug and we are the only RV here. The fairgrounds has a track for harness racing just behind us. Every morning several cart drivers exercise there horses around the track.

International Cue Collector's Show

There was an International Cue Collector's show in St. Louis last weekend. Several famous pool cue makers were there with there latest cue designs. These are not your every day playing cues but one of a kind. functional works of art that sell for thousands of dollars each. One of the cue makers there was Bill Schick from Shreveport, LA. He is in the cue makers Hall of Fame and made a cue for me in 1983 and one for Tonya in 1984 (these were the every day playing variety). He still remembered us, mainly because we brought him our own ideas for the design and Tonya wanted mauve colored highlights in the points. He said he didn't have a clue what "mauve" was at the time but didn't let on. We suspect he found out from his wife, at any rate Tonya has been playing with a beautiful cue with mauve highlights and her signature duplicated in a gold inlay on the butt for the past 27 years. I still have mine, one of a kind with my initials in gold on the butt, but have been using a different cue for the last several years.










Also at the show were several collectors of high end and famous old cues. The collectors came from all over the country and Japan to show off their collections and see what the cue makers have made that they may want to buy before the other guy gets it. I have included some pictures that do not really do justice to the craftsmanship required but may give an idea about the artistic ability necessary to come up with the designs. The cues are made of various exotic woods and the designs are inlaid wood, metal, ivory etc. some with scrimshawed engravings.