Friday – 10/29/2021
I was awoken by both dogs fussing like they had an urgent need to “go” so I quickly got out of bed and threw on some clothes and headed out the door. Sandy, in the meantime, managed to upchuck before we got out as I put on my boots which only increased our urgency to get out of the door. Turns out that both of them had upset tummies judging from the amount and number of times of poop and eating of grass which usually promotes more upchucking. No idea what had not agreed with them as I have not changed their diet. Once they had gone through whatever necessary routines they needed, the rest of the walk was just fine as we strolled around the park. I got to meet the new people with the Class A that pulled in yesterday. They have two little dogs that were outside in a pen and they barked louder and kicked up more fuss then either Mikey and Sandy combined. In fact, my dogs hardly said a word as I think they were too amazed at the noise those other dogs created. We continued on with our walk back to Miss Daisy and breakfast.
I checked my emails and found I had a scanned notification from PostNet. This one was related to a life insurance that I carry which I needed to pay additional money on. I called the number provided and spent the next thirty minutes on the phone before we finally got it worked out. Apparently, the monthly payments are not enough to cover the cost and it required additional money to do so. Go figure. Guess I will never understand the intricacies of high finance.
As usual, I worked on the blog but did not spend any time on the pictures that I took yesterday. I managed to locate the electric chord to the InstaPot much to my relief and spent the next thirty minutes preparing a stew for the evening meal which should last me at least four days. That is the beauty of using that gadget as after I have prepared the ingredients, I can go do other things and not have to worry about it or need to turn it off as it has it’s own built in timer. The only problem is that with something like a meat stew, you don’t have to mind eating the same thing for a few days although I suppose, I could always freeze some for a later time. I like Beef Stew so in my case, it is just fine.
We went out for the evening walk and took a stroll around the park to see what was happening. Three new RV’s have pulled into my row. My next door neighbors have a small tow along and have two young sons I guess about fourteen or so. It looks like the boys will be staying in a tent next to me and the parents in the RV. Should be interesting. We continued walking around and then I decided that we should hit the trails for a bit to get in some real exercise. We ended up walking 1.8 miles plus this mornings walk, when I forgot to bring my Iphone, of at least a half mile, maybe more. So, a little over 2 miles for the day. Not bad at all.
We sat outside on the wicker couch and there was quite a lot of activity with people coming and going. I listened to an Audiobook before going back inside. The InstaPot needed another 45 minutes and I filled in the time working on this blog before sampling the stew. Turns out it was not quite to my liking so I need to doctor it up a bit tomorrow. I ate it anyway. The rest of the evening ended in the usual way, feeding the dogs and then me and watching a Premier League game on the television.
Saturday – 10/30/2021
I got up late again this morning although I am beginning to think that it should be my “normal” time. I sleep really well and for most of the night before the call of nature gets me out of bed. Even then, I have no difficulty in falling back to sleep. My new next door neighbors and the one next to them that pulled in yesterday are Hispanic and the Super told me, are friends and like to camp together. Between them, they have several children both boys and girls and the youngest looks to be around fourteen or so. The boys like to throw a baseball around and I am waiting for it to hit my car. Both families have large tents on their lots for each family of kids to sleep in. It all adds up to the great adventure. I hope that they really enjoy themselves as it’s a great way to spend family time.
We went out for our morning walk and this time just wandered around the park. Another neighbor has erected a tall fenced in area for his dog and when we passed the campers that pulled in yesterday with the Class A. Their two little dogs, who were in a one of the small fenced areas made for dogs, began barking up a storm. Heck, they are noisier than mine are. Actually, apart from a feeble bark or two, Sandy was very quiet. We wandered back to Miss Daisy for breakfast and coffee for me before settling down in front of the computer. Today, the internet was a bit slow which can be frustrating. but I waited patiently for it to do it’s thing. What else can I do? I suppose that I could jump up and down and curse and swear but it isn’t going to help any. No, it’s better to just be patient and wait it out after all, anything I do isn’t going to help any except to make me more frustrated.
I took a lot of pictures yesterday as we walked around the park and the trails and spent some time in developing them. I use Photoshop for this which is a much more powerful program than what I do to the pictures. Still, it is on my computer and so I use it although I am barely scratching the surface when it comes to all of its capabilities. I have a couple of other programs which are easier to use but they are not able to add my copywrite signature when I export them to my file. I also have a signature program that I could use but then it is one extra step and I am growing lazy as I get older. With the photos taken care of and imported onto my computer, I was able to concentrate on writing.
It is strange how one changes as they grow older. In my youth, it was all sports and activity and this continued through most of my adult life. When I eventually quit playing at the age of seventy two due to knee replacement surgery, my activities were then restricted to hiking and working out in my garden on the five ponds that were there. Now I no longer own a home, my activities are much more relaxed and although I make sure we walk every day, weather permitting, it is nothing compared to the hikes I used to take both in distance and difficulty of walking. To be truthful, I don’t think I could do the five or seven mile hikes anymore. Age tends to do this to you. The mind is willing but the flesh is definitely weak. Now, the mile or two that we walk on most days is my limit. I may have told this story before but this reminds me of one of the hikes I went on at Pedernales State Park and somehow, I managed to get turned around and ended up hiking in the dark. Luckily, I always carry a flashlight so I was able to eventually find my way back but it was 11:00 at night and almost twelve miles of walking before I did. If that happened nowadays, I think I would just find a place to curl up and try to sleep it out until the morning and for sure, no one would know I was gone except maybe Sandy and Mikey. Frightening thought.
It got to be later in the afternoon and Sandy reminded me that it was time to go walkies. Mikey, on the other hand was fast asleep and could care less except the minute I stood up, he was wide awake and ready to go. We made our way to the entrance and on the way, passed a group of four people throwing horseshoes by their RV. We all waved and exchanged greetings as we passed by to walk the long trail, the entrance to which is right by their site. We entered the trail and this time covering a little over two miles so we really reached our goal and then some for the day. I found a couple of different whimsies that I had not seen before probably because we had not walked this trail all the way to the end. Usually, I branch off on one of the other trails that are marked “Exit”.
Back at Miss Daisy, we sat outside and watched the next door neighbor’s kids throwing a baseball around. This time, they had moved to the play area which I felt much better about. I guess it is every man (or woman) each to their own sport but for the life of me, I just don’t get throwing a baseball. It doesn’t seem to have much purpose and looked really boring. I get it that there are different levels of skills to throwing and catching which was obvious as I watched them at it. Being Hispanic, I would have thought they would be kicking a ball not throwing it. Boy, was I wrong.
I sat there for a while listening to an Audiobook before taking us all back inside for our evening meal followed by the usual TV watching. This time, the team I support, Manchester United, managed to win convincingly over Tottenham Hotspurs. Better than last Saturday when they lost 5-1 to their oldest rivals, Liverpool. Win some and lose some which is what makes watching so interesting. We went to bed happy and content after another busy day of doing nothing (important).
Written 10/31/2021 – Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com