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Published: February 1st 2009
Robert and Penny
Jan 7 entry My cousin Penny and her husband Robert who live in Garland, TX Jan 1: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Tarena, Danette and I watched the Rose Parade and cooked “hoppin’ John” for prosperity in the New Year. Ward had to go to work, poor guy, so we recorded the football games for him to watch. Later in the afternoon Danette and I went back to her house. I was glad to see Sam was ok and I think he was glad to see me.
Jan. 4: Danette, Tarena and I went to a mall to see more Christmas decoration and do some shopping. I found a man making animals, etc., out of balloon and talked to him for awhile. He told me to look for tutorials on Youtube on how to do this. I had already bought some books and balloons to practice with, so I was pleased to get more information. I am now practicing making dogs out of balloons!
Jan 6: Danette took me to a costume shop and I found a fairly inexpensive costume I can use. I am excited about how things are moving along with this new project of beginning a clown ministry. The Lord seems to be opening doors all around.
Jan 7: My cousin Penny
Hosanna Hannah
Jan 8 entry Here I am; all decked out for my clown performance! Lou lives in Garland, just a few miles from Danette, so we rode over to visit and took her to lunch. We had some delicious fish dishes at a wonderful restaurant and walked around an interesting shopping area. Afterwards, we went to Penny’s house and visited with her husband, Robert and her son Patrick. It was wonderful to see her. I still hope to travel around the country and see all my cousins!
Jan. 8: Tarena took me to see a friend of hers who is a clown. She taught me some simple make up to use for my act. Now I have a costume, a face, some jokes and balloon dogs. I am in the process of becoming “Hosanna Hannah!”
Sam--Yeh, she’s a clown, all right! She keeps popping balloons trying to make stuff. Makes my ears hurt! Jan 11: Visited the church of Danette’s friend, Mark. I enjoyed the service, which reminded me of my own church in Interlachen. Afterwards I talked to the pastor and made arrangements to debut my clown ministry at their Wednesday night meeting.
Jan 12: Had a very special visit with another cousin, Cindy and her husband Joe.
Cindy and Joe
Jan 12 entry My cousin Cindy and her husband Joe who live in Southlake, TX. Tarena, Ward, Danette and I were invited to dinner at their beautiful home in Southlake, near Dallas. While there we also got to meet their children, Joseph, Mark and LeAnn. Ok, two cousins down and many to go!!
Jan.14: I did my first performance as a clown this evening! I didn‘t realize how nervous I would be, but I did all right. I spoke to both adults and kids at Mark’s church. I told some jokes and made balloon dogs which I gave to all the children. The act was not as long as I would have liked it to have been, but it seemed to satisfy everyone. Mark, Danette and Tarena were there and took pictures. Afterwards we went to IHOP for a snack. Someone from the church handed me an envelope before we left there. I had not expected anything, so was surprised. It turned out to be a generous love offering that brought me to tears. I took it as God’s way of validating this ministry. I am so grateful.
Jan 15: Time to move on. I planned to leave Dallas today and get on the road to Odessa to visit Aunt Lucille and cousin
Windmills
I loved seeing these windmills. They looked as if they were marching across the fields! The windmills are used as an alternative energy source. Dave. Plans got delayed for a bit when Sam got lost! I will let him tell the rest of the story:
Sam--I knew we were going to move again, I just knew it! I had it pretty good here at Danette’s and I didn’t want to go. Mommy locked everything up and closed my cat door inside the closet. She also closed and locked the outside (storage) door, but I didn’t know that at the time. I knew I could outsmart her so I pushed aside all the stuff she had piled on my inside door and scratched until I got it open. I sneaked down, then--but rats! I couldn’t open the outside door and home started moving!
I was scared out of my wits. It was so black where I was even I couldn’t see anything. Stuff was squeaking and groaning and falling around me! I huddled up next to the wall. Luckily, there wasn’t anything big or heavy where I was, but my little step was sliding around and some small, soft things fell over. I couldn’t keep my balance to stand up so I just crouched as low as I could get. I called, My Aunt Lucy
This is my 88-year-old aunt who lives in Odessa, TX. She taught me to play dominos while I was visiting. but everything was making such a racket I don’t think Mommy heard me. This went on forever and ever!
Finally, home stopped moving, but it was still black around me. The next thing I knew, Mommy opened the storage door. I tried to leap out, but Mommy caught me and carried me inside home. I’m glad she did. I didn’t really want to run away from her, but I was too scared to know what to do. She held me close and just kept talking to me. I think she cried, too, but I’m not sure. I just tucked my nose into her arm and sat there and shook. I have never been that scared! I think I lost one of my lives in that black hole.
Marty--I thank God I thought to check out that storage bin. I couldn’t find him anywhere else. I mean there are just so many places even a cat can hide in a 24 foot RV! I knew he had been in the RV when I pulled out of Danette’s driveway and the only stop I had made was to get LP gas. I had not seen him “escape” from the door when I got out, so he had to be somewhere! Then it occurred to me he just might have gotten the trap door in the closet up.... Yes, I cried. Poor thing, he was shaking so hard. What a nightmare it must have been for him. I held him a long time. He is such a good cat and travels so well considering it is not his favorite thing to do! He always seem to love to explore any new place we park, though.
Well, after we both calmed down and I made sure the inner door was locked down, we started up again. Hopefully we both learned something from this experience.
Jan. 15 Same day. I traveled to Weatherford and took a picture of the beautiful courthouse Danette had told me about. I also stopped and looked around store like a trading post. It had metal sculptures of every kind, made out of everything! It had chairs carved out of knarled tree roots. The whole store was fascinating and I took several pictures.
I had just passed through Mineral Wells, when the RV started acting up. It coughed and sputtered. I saw an RV park and started to turn in when it died on me. After a few moments it started up again and I pulled on into the office. Since it was almost 5:00, I knew no one would probably be available to look at it that night. I decided to stay at the RV park. It started up again for me to pull into a nearby site. The park owner helped me to arrange for someone to tow me back to town and have a garage look at it. Although it would start up, I didn’t trust it to get me back to town.
Jan 16: Spent all day at a garage only to hear the mechanics couldn’t find anything wrong. We decided there must have been water in the gas. One of the mechanics and I drove it about 25 miles around the area and it performed perfectly. I decided to take my chances and keep on going. It was mid afternoon when I left Mineral Wells, so I drove to Clyde, where I had originally planned to stay the night at an RV park. I didn’t have any more problems getting there, but was very tired.
Jan 17: I had called Aunt Lucy and told her about the delay due to mechanical problems so my drive to Odessa was leisurely. One the fascinating things I saw along this stretch of Highway 20 were the hundreds of windmills they use as an alternative source of energy. Naturally, I stopped and took pictures. I was glad that I made it on into Odessa and to Lucy's house without any more problems. She was glad to see me and I was glad to be there!
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Glenda
non-member comment
Hi Marty, I love reading of your travels with Sam and I'm jealous of you getting to meet cousins and visit Aunt Lucile. Will you make it to So. Ca.?