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All are doing well here. T. J. is just about the same as reported in the last newsletter. He did follow up with the cardiac and vascular surgeons the end of February in Salt Lake City and both felt that as long as T. J. is doing as well as he is with very little medication that he is better off not to undergo such drastic surgery. He has not gained much weight and is no stronger, therefore, he really is not a good candidate for surgery.
On the afternoon of February 14th there were 5 tornadoes in our area, most of the damage was done in our county. Tornadoes are unheard of in Idaho, almost, let alone happening in February! Barbara and Dennis had an estimated $4,000.00 worth of damage done to their house and some of their neighbors had a lot of structural damage such as the entire attached garage blown away from the house. They had built a new patio last summer and it is just a shambles. Power outages were prevalent - in some places as long as a week. We were only out of power for about 8 hours. Barbara and Dennis were without electricity for about 24 hours and Shannon and Kenneth didn't have power for almost 3 days. Barbara and Dennis hauled 8 or 9 pickup loads of stuff to the dump. They lost a lot of trees and most of the fences on two sides of their property. They surely have their work cut out for them this summer rebuilding, etc., and during the process they will get a new roof and siding on the house.
Roger is fine. He just had a nice vacation in Germany. Part of the time he stayed in a guest house on a farm. Also took in the 'Carnival' - the same thing as Mardi Gras in our country. He said there were 9 million people there for the Carnival. He starts back to work on the 17th and is scheduled to fly to Dusseldorf, Germany for the rest of the month. He has had an occasional trip to Paris and London this winter.
Shannon, Kenneth and little T. J. are fine. Kenneth is hauling potatoes from the Twin Falls area and from local areas, too. Shannon is busy with her job and home. Little T. J. is growing up so fast and gets sweeter all the time and is so cute! He went to his first Black Angus bull sale last Saturday with his Dad and Grandpa Jensen. He sat through the whole sale and was as good as could be. His Grandpa Jensen was pretty impressed with his behavior. When he was asked where he was going he said 'to see the bully bulls' and when he was asked what do the bully bulls say, he said, 'bully, bully'! Pretty smart for a 2 year old.
Our winter has really been mild - lots of moisture mostly in the form of rain and some snow. I doubt if we had any temperatures below zero which is pretty unusual. There has been lots of snow in the mountains so there will probably be plenty of irrigation water all summer. It is not quite spring yet with warm enough weather to get outside which I am anxious to do. I have plans to keep me busy outside until frost.
We are anxious to get the newsletter and hear from everybody as we have not had much family news since Christmas. This family newsletter is such a good idea and I am so grateful to Roy for doing such a wonderful job putting the letter together 4 times a year and mailing it to each one of us.
I can't make any promises about coming to the Cousins Reunion but sure would like to attend. It is hard to make any long range plans but as the time draws near, maybe I can plan to be away from home for a few days.
Our best wishes to everyone and we are looking forward to hearing from all of you in the newsletter.
Virginia Patterson
Associate Editor
It has been nearly 2 years since we have seen many of you and we are getting anxious for May 21, 2000 when we will gather at the Fairpark Reunion Room for lots of food, fun and visiting. We will have coffee and sweetrolls available at the reunion room at 10:00 AM so you can come early, but we will not start the Luncheon until 12:30 or 1:00 so those who want to go to church may do so...
Plan on a full day of fun and bring all of your Children and Grandchildren. They can play softball, tennis, swing or feed the ducks...
We have reserved the reunion room and the big kitchen again this year. The cover charge for the luncheon is $5.00 per adults, $3.00 for children 6-12, and children under 6 are free... We ask each family to bring their favorite dessert and the balance of the meal and coffee, tea and lemonade will be furnished.
For those traveling in, there are airports in Amarillo, Wichita Falls and Lubbock. The following are a list of motels in Childress along with phone numbers.
| Motel/Inn | ------------ | Phone |
| Classic Inn-Best Western | | 800-528-1234
or 940-937-3478 |
| Comfort Inn | | 940-937-6363 |
| EconoLodge | | 940-937-3695 |
| Holiday Inn Express | | 800-465-4329 |
There are RV spaces at:
| Motel/Inn | ------------ | Phone |
| Best Western | | 940-937-3478 |
| Murphy's RV Park | | 940-937-6680 |
and 5 spaces at Fairpark with Electric & Water.
For further Information and to let us know the number that will be coming, please call or write to:
Bill & Mary Watts
940-937-8897
701 Ave K, SE
PO Box 127
Childress TX 79201
Many changes have taken place since we last got together. I would like to see each of you all. The reunion is on my calendar, but at this time I am unsure if I will be there. 1999 was not the greatest year for me and for the most part, I would rather not talk about it.
On February 14, I went to work for X-FAB Texas. They bought out the Texas Instruments facility in Lubbock and are involved in the manufacture of integrated circuits (computer chips) just as TI was at that location. Basically, I got my old job back without the stress. We are not up to the production levels that TI was, but I have plenty of work to keep me busy.
Mom went to Florida 1st weekend in March to attend Dad's ship crew reunion. She enjoyed the trip and visit, however, this was the last reunion since the numbers are dwindling. One travel tip she gave me should I fly through Atlanta, pretend that I cannot walk and they will wheel me to my connecting flight. I just might try that...
I'll stop with that until I have something better to say.
Lowell Ray Elder
728 6th Place
Idalou, Texas USA 79329
806-892-3569
home: elder57@worldnet.att.net
work: http://www.xfabtexas.com/
elder@xfabtexas.com
According to all reports, everyone in our 'tribe' is doing okay. A few nicks and glitches here and there but nothing major.
Nancy & Rhett left Monday morning for Austin on Spring Break. Randal will meet them later in the week at Heather's. The guys will go to the coast deep sea fishing. Nancy will stay in Austin with Heather. They plan to return home Sunday. Heather's life is kinda topsy turvy right now as she and Todd are divorcing. Our thoughts are with her during this tough time. Rhett plans to graduate in May with his Master's. It's been a hard old road going to school and working full time too. Congratulations!!!!!
Nancy plans to resign her position as school  secretary at the end of the school year. The last couple of years have been especially hard for her.
Richie and Judy are doing real good. They have purchased a 5th-wheel travel trailer and it will be their home after Richie graduates late this summer. They are putting their things in storage and will be gypsies for a while until they decide where they want to live, sounds wonderful to me. Both girls and their families are fine.
Nancy and I picked Amy up on her birthday and went to Amarillo just to piddle and visit as we hadn't been there in quite a while--3 years. We hit a few garage sales then went and ate. Also saw Randy and his girl-friend and had cake and ice cream. We ate at Golden Corral where the wait staff stood her in her chair and sang happy birthday to her. She would have liked to choke Nancy and I. Really enjoyed the day. Amy has some problems with depression as do most of the rest of us in 'our' family. It runs rampant. If it does in yours, GET HELP!!! It will make your life so much happier and those around you will appreciate it very much. Curt will tell you if you don't believe me.
Curtis and I are doing fine. He bowls on a league and really enjoys it. He hasn't bowled since the mid 50's and is averaging in the 140's. A couple of weeks ago they had a local tournament, his team won 2nd and he placed 6th overall. He and one of the guys he bowls with plan to go to the state tournament in April and bowl singles and doubles. He was having B/P problems for a while but after he finally turned all the things and people over to God to take care of instead of trying to do it himself his B/P is fine and the situations are getting much better. I had a mammogram in February and the report came back showing a small spot that needed further testing. Didn't find a thing. We had already prayed in church and I never felt there was anything there though Old Satan kept telling me there was. We don't have to accept what he throws our way. Praise God!!!
All of our kids are fine. Connor has had a round of bronchitis but is much improved, so much he asked his Mom why he had to wait until he was 16 to drive since he already knew how. I'm not sure preschool is such a good idea after all. Steph got a job teaching in middle school in Tulsa.
Haven't talked to any of Jerry's bunch in a while, no news is good news.
Yesterday was in the high 70's and lower 80's, today it is in the upper 20's with sleet and snow. We know not the season.
Curt and I are looking forward to the cousins reunion in May. Hope everyone gets to attend.
Til next time, God Bless.
Love to all,
Linda
I remember as a kid that whenever Grandpa and Grandma went anywhere, during garden season, Grandma always had an apron full of green beans or peas and shelled or snapped them along the road. Guess she threw the shells out the window.
I also remember playing 42 with them and Monta Faye. We didn't play games at our house so I didn't know one domino from another. They'd tell me if I had so and so to play it but not this or that. Now I'd rather play 42 than any game we play.
When they'd rob the honey, they would bring so many jars of honey to the house and we'd go up and down the street peddling honey. When we sold them all we'd go home and pull green onions and use the sops for straws and put honey in a glass of 'real' cows milk and drink it. We thought that was a real treat. Don't know which one of us thought of the onion straws but the thought now makes me a little nauseated.
I can still remember Grandma drinking coffee out of a saucer, then when the coffee in the cup had cooled enough for her to drink, she always stuck out her little finger while drinking.
Linda
Over the years I have enjoyed putting together articles, puzzles and bits of wit. Memories of Grandma & Grandpa and when we were growing up are priceless and some of it is now committed to paper for future generations to enjoy.
We've shared our trials and our joys be it losing a job, having to make a trip to the hospital, graduation, weddings or retiring. Vacations have also been shared which gave others a glimpse of what they may want to try.
Any way, when I came to Colorado Springs I was excited about the increase in salary and was looking forward to getting my debt under control. Some debts still haunt me from the early 1980's. The cost of living here is somewhat higher and Colorado has State Income Tax. Each issue of Watts News runs about forty dollars and usually ends up on a credit card. As I cannot keep this up any longer, I am resigning from my position as editor. I must draw the line somewhere.
Roy A. Watts
ex-Editor in Chief
What was I thinking?
Sometimes I think I try to take on too big of a project (one that requires a lot of back breaking labor) when I get through to the middle of it (well it was kind of enjoyable at first) I realize the amount of work it is going to take to finish the job.
I decided I wanted a driveway to park my van inside the yard, next to the front door (I have a double wide trailer). I already have awnings along both sides of the house, but I thought a driveway beside the awning would be nice, that way my tools would be a bit closer in case I wanted to, or in most cases needed to, work on the van.
So I started digging it out. I hadn't done much digging since I worked for dad so I kind of enjoyed it for awhile. It's okay once you get the adrenaline flowing, digging away. I look it over, hauling it out by the wheelbarrow load, inch by inch. I thought the digging was going to be the hardest part but as it turns out, hauling was even more wearisome. But I finally finished that.
Now I need cement for a 10'x55' front Driveway. Six inches thick would take 33 bags (gulp), ahem, four inches thick would take 22 bags (sounds better, them bags are heavy) and about 200 buckets of sand. Hmmm. Can't cut down on that. I have to go to a canal in the neighborhood to get the sand and I have about ten or twelve buckets (don't want to overload the van) so at ten buckets per trip that would be twenty trips (I might get motivated enough to mix it right which means screening the sand to get gravel and since I need more gravel than sand (supposed to) and there's more sand than gravel in the sand in the canal, well it might be a bit more than that) so one trip a day, I would be done hauling in sand in about a month. Hmmm. I tried to talk Karen into helping me with this small task, but she wouldn't budge. Can't imagine why. Two trips a day and maybe five on the weekend. Maybe I can live with that.
I keep watching the ants going back and forth across the length of this (I guess they have family on both ends of my yard and they are very hard to get rid of) but they are an admirable folk (insect) working from sunup to sundown, never getting tired, back and forth, carrying morsels of food to the den. I try to make it as hard on them as possible by poisoning the hole on top of the den, covering it with oil from my last oil change, drowning them with water, and my latest tactic is ant baits. Nothing has worked so far, they just continue to work from sunup to sundown.
I suppose if "I" started at sunup, I could probably have my sand in a couple of days and be done with it. Oh well.
Terry Watts
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