Jan. 1st
    Beth, Mark, Zack, Coral & Katie went to Miami to visit Mark’s brother, Danny.
 
Jan. 2
    Went to Betty & Billy’s to watch FL:FSU in the Super Bowl.  It started at 9 pm and wasn’t over til 1 AM!  We lost!
 
Jan. 3
   Sue & Jim came up.  I started Line Dancing.
 
Jan. 4
    Dixie has been going to pray a the church at 4:30 pm & then she comes by at 5:30 & eats supper with us.
 
Jan. 11
    Zack spent the night with us so he could go to a youth meeting with Joshua at his church.
 
Jan. 15
    Had Bob, Ellie, Sue & Jim, Dixie & Carole and David & Mom here (for my birthday.) Cork & Joshua sopped by too.
 
Jan. 16
    Betty, Billy, Morris & I went to Steak & Ale for my 63rd birthday.  Janice & Victor left to go back to Brazil.  
 
Jan. 18
   Coral spent the night with us.
 
Jan. 21            
   Morris, Dixie & I drove down to Ocklawaha  & Weirsdale looking for a place to have our family reunion.
 
Jan. 26
   We went to Jax with the seniors from our church to tour and eat lunch at the beautiful new First Baptist Church.  It was a fun day.
 
Jan. 29
    Gary took Morris, Dixie, Mom & me riding around.  We went to Orange Lake Campground to see about facilities for our family reunion.
 
Jan. 31
   Sue & Jim came up & we ate at Kenny Rogers & then played cards.
 
Feb 2-7
    Betty, Billy, Morris & I went camping at the Ft. DeSota State Park in St. Petersburg, one of our favorite camping spots in Florida.
 
Feb 8 & 9th
    Had big freeze    
 
Feb. 10
    Delivered Meals on Wheels.  Very cold.
 
Feb. 13
    I answered the phone in the office at the church during the morning.
 
Feb. 14
    Zack spent the night with us.   It was 70° today! Feb. 15 80° today!
 
Feb. 16 & 17
   Carole was up for 2 days.
 
Feb. 18
    Coral cut her head & had to have 7 stiches on her forehead.
 
Feb. 19-28
    Kristi & Joe Frank took Dixie & Joe Frank’s mother to New York (22-27th). She had a great time.
 
Feb. 21
   Grandma had breathing problem & went to the hospital for the night.
 
Feb. 22-23
    Sue & Jim came up. We played cards.
 
Feb. 25  
    We had Cork, Connie, Joshua & Sara over for dinner so we could talk about our trip out west as that’s where they plan to go this summer. 
 
March 4
    Wyndall & Jean Turner spent the night with us.  They were on their way to their cabin in N.C.
 
March 9
    Our S.S. class met at Alachua and ate dinner at the Rebel House.  (I really don’t like their food but it’s buffet & cheap!)
 
March 10-13
    David has his long weekend & he went canoeing.
 
March 12
    Met Sue & Jim for supper at Steak & Ale & then played cards.
 
March 16
    Libby St. Jacques had an eye operation today.  Don’t know for a few weeks if its going to be successful or not.
 
March 17 & 18
    Carole was here.
 
March 20
    Our grandsons Andrew’s Birthday today.
 
March 26
    Had Birthday Dinner for David & Beth.  
March 28
    Coral’s 3rd grade class went to camp Crystal today.
 
March 31
    Delivered Meals on Wheels and it rained all day.
 
April 1
   Finished our income tax!
 
April 2-5
   Spring Break for the schools.  We went camping at Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine.  Beth, Mark & kids went too & camped in their tent.  Had nice weather & had lots of fun.
 
April 11
   Sue & Carole were here.  We met in Williston for lunch.  While we were visiting at Aunt Iva Mae’s house we had a surprise visit from our cousin from Michigan, Dick Steffen!  He was on a vacation with a girl friend.  Talked about an hour.
 
April 13
   We had a covered dish SS party here at our house.  Had 25 to come.  We set 2 tables up outdoors & the rest in the back porch.  It turned out good.  
 
April 17
   Morris had an endoscopy at AGH.
 
April 18
   We went to Cedar Key for lunch & visit the shops with the seniors from our church.  Had a great time.
 
April 20
   I answered the phone at the church for a couple of hours.
 
April 30
   Went to the Feaster Reunion out at the old home place.  Over 100 people there.  The Mixsons & Feasters are all related so a lot of Morris’s relatives were there too.  Beth, Mark & kids were there too.
 
April 28-29
   The ladies of our church (all ages) had a wonderful Women’s Retreat at the Hilton at Daytona Beach.  Libby and I shard a room and Carolyn Upshaw and Zella Mae Hedrick shared one.  It was very inspiring and had a good time (NO MEN).  
 
May 1
                Libby & Ernie were at their condo- this week at St. Augustine Beach.  Today Mom had a stroke that left her right side (especially her arm & hand) right and her fingers curled up & under.  She was in the hospital for 5 days & then went back to the nursing home for some physical therapy which she didn’t wan & didn’t cooperate.  So after 6-8 wks they stopped her therapy and she never really walked, roll over or use her right hand again.  We’ve had to dress her, lift her out of bed, roll her over, feed her & take her to the bathroom & clean her up.  (She is now using Depends all the time).  She is either in a wheelchair, her lounge chair or the bed.  It’s so sad.
 
May 4
   Our SS Class met at Anastasia State Park for a beach picnic.  We took Grandma Mixson with us.  Had a great day.
 
May 5
   Zack’s 8th grade class went to Epcot today so we picked him up at 10 pm & he spent the night with us.    Sue was here to see mom.  
 
May 7
   We had our annual senior adult luncheon at the church after the worship service.  It was really nice.
 
May 9th
   Sue had her 2nd hip replaced today.  Called Jim, and she came through O.K.
 
May 10
   Got a perm from Madine.
 
May 13
   David took us out to the Red Lobster for Mothers’ Day.  He so good to us.  He a good kid. (Oh, man!)
 
May 16-20
   We went camping at Ft. Clinch, near Jax.
 
May 17
   Carole was here.
 
May 22
    I had to report for jury duty. Case was dismissed after lunch.
 
May 23
   The seniors from church had a con boil and picnic at Paynes Prairie.  Had a good time.  
 
May 25
   Coral & Katie spent the night so we could go to Littlewood Art Show.
 
May 27
   Kristi won the Mrs. Alabama contest.   We had our SS class over for an ice cream party.
 
May 30
   Zack spent the night with us.
 
May 31
   All 3 kids spend the night as Beth has to be at work at 7:15 AM.  She has been working in the cafeteria since last fall.  (cafeteria at G H School).
 
June 2
   Brenda & Tom arrived with Kristopher, Jeremy and Andrew
 
June 3
   First hurricane names Allison.  Had Katie’s Birthday party early.  Had all the kids for ham supper.
 
Jun 4-9
   Brenda, Tom, Boys & Zack went to New Smyrna Beach at a condo, Ocean Sand.     
 
Jun 6
   We took Beth, Mark & the girls and went over to the beach & spent the day with Brenda & Tom.  
 
June 7
   Went to Reddick’s High School reunion at Stacy’s Buffet in Ocala.  Rode down with Betty & Billy.  Had a fund day even though I don’t know hardly any of these people.
 
June 8
   Larry flew into Jax on Value Jet.  We went to Jax to pick him up.
 
June 9
   Bob & Ellie came up for the reunion.  The whole family went out to eat at Steak & ale.
 
June 10
   What a day for our family reunion at Poe Springs.  All four of our kids were there and most of our grandchildren.  We took the motor home & brought mom.  We had a “Junior Family” Miss America contest & I was awarded “Miss Junior” It was so funny!  Susie Kessler (from Wayland, MI) (our cousin) & her 2 boys flew in for the event.  It was a great day.  
 
June 12
      Took Kristopher & Larry to the Jax airport.  Kristopher flew in June 1 from Kansas.  (He had to get back as he ha a job & had to get back to work).
 
June 15
   Brenda, Tom, Jeremy & Andrew left to drive back to Kansas.
 
June 24
   Christi and John’s wedding at Westside Baptist Church.  (Gary and Freda’s daughter)  Betty and I went to the wedding.
 
July 2
      We had Zack’s Birthday party today.  He became a teenager 13 yeas old!
 
July 4
   Today was Jeremy’s Birthday.  Wish we were around to celebrate our grandsons’ birthdays.
 
July 6-13
   Betty, Billy, Morris and I went camping at Byrn Moor at Crescent Beach.  Had a great week.  Beautiful!  
 
July 14
   Gary and Dianne & Kids left for a month or so in Maine.
 
July 22
   Sue & Jim came up for 3 days to help with mom.  Had Sue, Jim and Dixie for supper.     Someone goes up to care for mom every day since her stroke.  I’ve been going up 3 days a week, and Gary hired Paul (a nurse at the nursing home) to help us out when one of the family can’t do it.
 
July 26
   Carole came up for 3 days to help with mom.
 
August 3
   Kristopher & Jeremy fly to Virginia to meet the Youth Troup from Austria visiting the U.S.
 
Aug. 9-10-11    
   Sue & Carole come up to help with mom.
 
Aug. 15
   Jesse Yawn, Jr. died.  His funeral is today.   
 
Aug. 13
   Gary, Diane & kids get back from vacation. August 17    Beth has to go back to work at GHS today so the kids spend the day & night with us.
 
Aug. 18
   S.S. party (covered dish) at Carolyn & Lamar Upshaws.
 
Aug. 21
   School starts for the kids.  Morris and I leave in the motor home for vacation up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and then on to see Larry & Julie & then up to Maine.
 
Aug. 23-28
   Carol comes up to help with mom.
 
Aug. 24
   Dixie has been feeling bad for a long time.  She was having angina pains, tired all the time and shortness of breath.  She got so bad that Carole called Joe Frank & sent her to the hospital for a heart catheterization where they found 4 blocked arteries.    We called home to see how mom was and found out she fell and broke her hip and was in the Hospital too.  So Sunday Aug. 27 we decided to come back home.  Dixie was operated on Monday morning Aug. 28 and mom was doing very poorly.  Spent the next 5 days between hospital rooms seeing about mom & Dixie.
 
Sept. 2
      Brought Dixie home with us to stay while she recovered.  Mom went back to the nursing home.  Sally has been home too (from Memphis) and she’s staying over at Dixie’s home but comes over here every day to help, Sally leaves Sept. 4th.
 
Sept. 7-8-9-10
   Sue comes up to help with mom & Dixie.  Mom can’t walk and is in a wheelchair.  She is taking therapy but won’t cooperate.  I have to go out every day and try to get her to therapy.
 
Sept. 8
   Coral’s 9th birthday.  
 
Sept. 9    
   Fla. Plays Kentucky and we have a TV party at Betty & Billy’s.
 
Sept. 10
    Our old friend from church Alan Hasty has a drop in party for his 100th birthday.  He’s not well though.
 
Sept. 19-22
   Carol comes up to help and stay with Dixie while Morris, Betty, Billy and I go camping at Anastasia in St. Augustine.  I really needed a break and it so good to get away.
 
Sep. 25
   Dixie left to go back to her home.  Took hours to get her & all of her stuff back to her place!
 
Sept. 30
   Gator played Old Miss.  I’ve been letting Zack go to the games with Morris.  
 
Oct. 1
      Went over to visit Chris & Henry this evening instead of going to church!
 
Oct. 3
   Gary Junior’s Birthday    55 years old!
 
Oct. 5
   S.S. Party at Fran & John Strouds’ home.  Took Dixie to her doctor this morning.  She’s not doing too good very tired all the time.
 
Oct. 5-7-8
    David has a long weekend and he went to Daytona Beach to wind surf.
 
Oct. 9
    Dixie goes back to work.
 
Oct. 14
   Carolyn & Lamar had us over for supper & visiting.
 
Oct. 16-29
   Took our motor home, B&B, M and me, to Ft. Tatham Campground Sylva, N.C. (13 miles north of Franklin, N.C)
 
Oct. 17-20
   Carole came up to help with mom.  
 
Oct. 26
   Grandma Mixson’s 94th Birthday.
 
Oct 27
   Left Ft. Tatham Campground and drove to Commerce, Ga and camped Friday night.     Sat. & Sunday nights we stayed at the Holiday Inn there.  Yvette Dixon  got us rooms for $15.00 a night!  Paul & Yvonne met us there.  Also Evelyn & John Adicks came up too.  We aall went to the Fla. Ga. Football game on Sat. in Athens, Ga.  (about 36 miles from Commerce).  We won 53 to 17!  Arrived home Sunday evening Oct. 29 at 7:30 pm.
 
Oct. 26
   We bought one of the cabins at Ft. Tatham ($10,500) from Roy and Ester Mae Bedenbaugh from Lake City.  It is so cute and has lots of promise.  We are so excited about it.  They close up the campground Oct. 31 so it’ll be next April before we can move in.  Oh, yes, Betty & Billy bought one too!  Isn’t that great?

Mom and Dad first started going to Fort Tatham in October of 1991 when they went to North Carolina to see the fall leaves in their motor home. They returned to Fort Tatham in their motor home once or twice a year in the following years until they decided to buy the cabin.
 
The cabin was cute but very small. Like many of the “cabins” at Fort Tatham it started out as a small 25 foot travel trailer which some owner in the past parked at Fort Tatham but it never left. Officially they did not buy a “cabin” but a travel trailer that still was registered as a trailer and had a state tag. They did not actually own the lot the trailer was on but paid a monthly rental fee to Fort Tatham.
 
Over time the travel trailer morphed into a “cabin”, a front deck was added, then a roof put over the trailer and deck to shelter it from the weather. Later the front deck was enclosed making it a living room attached to the original trailer with its dining area, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. Dad continued with modifications, putting in a back door from the original bedroom to a small deck on the which overlooked Tatham Creek that ran through the campground.
 
I was quite surprised with they told me they bought the cabin. I asked them about their motorhome, and they said they put it up for sale. Their days of motorhome adventures traveling around the U.S. had come to an end.
 
It was the end of the season and Fort Tatham would be closing at the end of October for the winter so Mom and Dad would not get to use their new cabin until the following spring.

Nov. 3  
   Our old friend from church Clarence Rogers died.
 
Nov. 4
   Called Kristopher as today is his birthday (19 years old).
 
Nov. 6
   I’ve had a lot of trouble swallowing again so I had to go see Dr. Diavolities. 
 
Nov. 7
   Went to hospital for another Endoscopy (stretch the esophagus.)
 
Nov. 9
   Met Roy B. in Lake City at his home to pay him and get the title on our cabin in N.C.
 
Nov. 10th  
   Brenda’s Birthday (44 years old) B&B, M. & I left for S.C. to see the ball game.  Beautiful weather and fall leaves.  Stayed at a nice motel.  Ball game was at night and it got so cold we had to leave at half time & go to the motel and watch the rest of it on TV!  
 
Nov. 12 &13 & 14   
   Left Columbia, S.C. and drove over to Ft. Tatham Campground.  It was closed down but Barbara & Bob, the managers, were till there so they let us in (gates are across the drive way and are locked at winter).  We stayed in B&B cabin as the electricity was on (in ours it as tuned off).  We ate out in restaurants & kept warm by electric heaters.  We hauled water (in buckets) from the managers house to flush the toilet, make coffee, and wash up!  Left Tues. morning after going to the Tag Office & Insurance office.  Got home 7:30 pm.
 
Nov. 22-23-24
    Picked up Andrew and his friend and SS teacher in Laurence, Ks. at the Jax airport.  They flew in to see the Fl-FSU game on Sat.  and to append Thanksgiving with us.  
 
Nov. 23
   Thanksgiving Day Had 16 for dinner.  Sue, Jim, Iva Mae, Dixie, Mom, grandma Mixson, Andrew, Charles, David, Beth, Mark, Kids, Morris & me.  Sue helped cook and she brought a lot of the food with her.  As usual we had enough left over for 3 days afterward!
 
Nov. 26
    Took Andrew and Charles to Jax to catch their plane back.
 
Nov. 28
    Our old friend Alan Hasty died.
 
Nov. 29-30- Dec. 1   
   Carole came up.
 
Nov. 30
   Met Doug & Louise Turner from Jax at Sonny’s for lunch.  Met Sue, Carole, Corky & Gary to go though Mom’s stuff. (Really sad!)  
 
Dec. 1
    The Physics Department had a ground breaking today for their new building.  It will take 2 years to build.  But we couldn’t go because we went to Mr. Hasting’s funeral.
 
Dec. 2
   SEC Conference game in Atlanta.  Gators played Arkansas.  We won.  Watch it on TV at B & B.
 
Dec. 3
   Sunday
   We went to Orlando, First Baptist Church, with Chris & Henry to see the Living Christmas Tree program.
 
Dec. 5
    Senior Adult Christmas program & luncheon at church. Very nice.
 
Dec. 6
   Coral & Katie spent the night & I took them to do their Christmas shopping.
 
Dec. 8
   Our good friend from S. S. Bob Crossland died.  His services were today.  His wife, Tommie Crossland teaches at Santa Fe.  
 
Dec. 13
   Got mom from the nursing home & pushed her around in her wheelchair at the mall.  Then took her out to eat lunch.  She go tired quickly and didn’t enjoy it very much.
 
Dec. 14 13
   Went & picked up mom from the nursing home and pushed her around the Oaks Mall in her wheel chair, then took her out to lunch.  Didn’t stay very long, as she really didn’t enjoy it very much.
 
Dec. 14
    Tonight we had our SS Christmas party.  Ate at the Rebel House in Alachua then went to John & Evelyn’s home for fellowship.
 
Dec. 16
   Went to High Springs Fellowship Baptist Church to take “A walk though Bethlehem”.  It is so good, everyone ought to take the time to see it.
 
Dec. 17
   Had an early Christmas dinner for grandma Mixson, David, Beth, Mark & kids.  We exchanged gifts too.  
 
Dec. 20
   Schools out til Jan 2. Washed, clean, house and packed cloths and gifts to take to Kansas.
 
Dec. 22
     We left really early because we stopped by Dothan, Alabama to let Dixie off at Kristi & Joe Frank’s.  David drove Dixie’s car as far as Dothan then he rode with us.  Beth, Mark & 2 of the kids rod in their Dodge Ram (Big tires!) One of the kids rode with us.  Zack felt sick when we left and slept almost the whole first day.  Coral got sick the 2nd day out, and Mark got sick Sunday after we were there.   We saw snow before we got to Springfield, Mo and had snow (lots of it) all the rest of the way to Lawrence, (and it was very cold!)  We arrived at Brenda & Tom’s at 6:10 pm Sat. Dec. 22.    Had a beautiful Sunday service at the church and a really nice Christmas eve.  (Brenda tradition), French Onion soup and all kinds of goodies to dip in Chocolate fondue.
 
Dec, 25 Christmas Day
   Got up early and exchanged gifts.  What a mess we had! Oh, but so much fun all being together (see my pictures).   Kristopher’s girlfriend, Heather came over & ate with us.  We had Turkey, dressing and all the rest.
 
Dec. 27
   We all drove over to the Airport in Kansas City to meet Larry who flew in from Washington D.C.  Now we did have a housefull with people sleeping on the floor!  What a time we had all being together.  Cold -warm house
   good & lots of food and family being together, playing games and watching football.
 
Dec. 28
   Another fun day & getting ready to go home.
 
Dec. 29-30
   Left at 6:00 am.  Spent the night near Memphis, TN.  Stopped to add Dixie to our motor concave & got home 10:30 pm