Written 11/14/2021
I awoke late and crawled out of bed before going out for the first walk of the day. We stuck to the perimeter of the park as that gets us the most mileage and therefore, the most exercise plus it is the easiest walking. Sandy had to greet the little Schnauzer as we drew level and I chatted to the owners who were sitting outside. Other than that, the walk was uneventful. The kids were playing on the swings and in the playground but as I passed, I could see the grownups were already breaking camp getting ready to head back to their respective houses. Great way to spend a weekend especially for the kids as it does get them closer to Nature and away from TV, computers and the ever present mobile phone.
My other neighbors in the RV had already pulled out even before I got up. Must have a long trip ahead of them to leave that early. Wait a minute, I just remembered that I got up late, again. My other neighbors in the Class B also pulled out. I think they must be new at this camping thing as the only thing I saw them do was hook up the electricity and water and it was not until they were getting ready to leave, did they hook up their hoses to empty the tanks. They never did level their rig and did seem a bit lost as to what to do. Good luck to them for the future and I hope they build a lot of camping memories. Nothing like hands on experience to learn. They sure do have a nice looking rig though. By the way, it is considered bad form to offer advice unless it is specifically asked for. With all of the new arrivals gone amid a flurry of excitement, the park settled down to it’s usual quiet place made even quieter by the fact that it was Sunday.
Everything was peaceful as I looked out of Miss Daisy. My next door neighbor was working on his RV and he told me that he just replaced his refrigerator as the old one stopped working. That’s the thing with this RV life, with older rigs and sometimes, even the newer ones, stuff wears out or breaks and has to be repaired or replaced. Some, the average handyman can take care of but sometimes, it means calling in an expert or taking the unit to some RV repair specialists which can be a problem if they are going to keep it for a period of time and this is your house and only abode. Plus, it may contain all of your worldly possessions as in my case. For someone that once had a lot of possessions in an 1850 square foot house and two workshops, mine are now very, very few all packed into 250 square feet of space. By the way, I still can’t find anything. Incidentally, my painter friend two RV’s down with the 1995 older unit has been working on rebuilding it and has almost finished with rewiring the electricity. Don’t know what else he has left to do.
When the internet service is not very good as it is in a lot of RV Parks, this one included, I rely on my Netgear booster through ATT which enables me to get internet most of the time. It may still go in and out occasionally but most of the time, it is a steady signal. The service costs me $55.00 for a 100 gigs but I have found that I run out halfway through the month if I have to use it all the time and at the last campground, it cost me $250.00 to buy extra gigs of service. I was fast running out here and called ATT and spoke with a very nice but very difficult to understand Indian lady who told me that I could renew the original service by changing the renew date which is what I have done. $110.00 is a lot cheaper than $305.00 for a month. Some parks like the last one at St Ives had very good Internet service and I didn’t use the booster at all. It still costs me the $55.00 as it doesn’t roll over to the next month. A small price to pay for what is to me, my most important pastime, writing this blog. Why is it important? Well, for one thing, it allows my artistic side to come out in pictures, writing and in the poetry but probably the most important of all is that it keeps my brain very active in the hope that the deterioration that has already started, will be slowed down.
I looked at the clock and was very surprised to see that it was already 3:30 pm. I have no idea where the time has gone but somehow, it has slipped away and another day has almost passed. With us being back to normal time, it gets dark much earlier by 5:30 pm and sooner than that on a cloudy day. So, it means that our afternoon walks which used to start at 5:00 pm or later now need to start much earlier if we plan on walking any distance. With that in mind, I got the guys (and girls) ready and we headed out the door. I decided to forgo the park and headed straight for the trails. We walked for a little over a mile before heading back to Miss Daisy where we sat outside for a bit. My neighbor came over and chatted before I headed back indoors. I worked on this blog and then fed the dogs and then myself before settling down for the evenings entertainment. And so ended another day…
Written 11/15/2021
The sun was shining as we walked around the park taking our usual route on the outside perimeter to get the most steps in. Sandy got to say “Hi” to her Schnauzer friend and I chatted briefly with the owners. A couple of other people were out and about otherwise, the park was quiet. It is Monday and some of the tenants have gone to work. it would be very interesting to know more about their backgrounds. I’ll just bet there are some very interesting stories out there as I think there are a lot of retired people here and the Super told me that there are no kids at all except from the occasional visit.
Following breakfast, I settled down to write and the dogs also settled down but for them it was to sleep. What a life! If I had a choice and if there is an afterlife, I want to come back as a dog to a family that loves me. I wrote for a couple of hours and then I decided to go into Livingstone to stock up on groceries as I was getting low on a couple of things. On the way, I passed an HEB and on the spur of the moment decided to do my shopping there. This was not a huge store but pretty much had everything I needed but they didn’t have a meat counter. All meats were pre-packaged which is OK except I had my heart set on a rotisserie cooked whole chicken which they didn’t do. I had to settle for the prepackaged turkey.
I have been looking for body lotion with sunscreen which, on the advice of my Dermatologist, is what I use everyday to help ward off the sun’s damaging rays but a couple of stores in which I had previously checked, didn’t carry what I wanted. Lots of body lotion but not with sunscreen so I paid my bill and lo and behold, there was Walgreens across the street but they didn’t carry it either. Driving down the road, I located a CVS Pharmacy and lucky for me, they had it. I bought 3 bottles which should last me for a while. Next stop was, you guessed it, a Starbucks which did me very well for the drive home. BTW, I won’t go back to that HEB again as it is not a patch on the gigondous Walmart’s which has rotisserie cooked whole chicken.
On the way in, I had spotted what looked like a King Charles Spaniel wandering on the side of the road but it was in a small village. I couldn’t stop as I had traffic behind me and in the other lane so I had to keep going. On the way back, I took a detour to re-cover my tracks just in case that dog was still wandering but I did not see it so hopefully, it either went home or someone rescued it. That’s the second dog that I have seen wandering on the side of the road. I stopped for the first one by she ran away and as it was a busy road, I did not want to scare her into it so I gave up. She wasn’t there either when I drove back later. I wonder what it is with all of these loose dogs? Some people don’t worry over their pets like I do and I understand this but even so.
Altogether today with walking the park and the stores, I covered about 2.1 miles and am averaging between 10-12 miles a week. I am amazed just how fast the days are flying by for several reasons. One is that my time here is drawing to a close. This is an absolutely beautiful area and the scenery is out of this world. I passed a huge field today that must have had more than 100 cows or steers or whatever they were. Definitely not milk cows but more of the meat kind. Wherever you looked, there were animals just contentedly grazing. Lucky for them, they don’t know their future.
I have received two email notifications in the past week. One was from my Dermatologist who I have been seeing for almost 20 years in which she said that she is giving up her practice and retiring. She had mentioned it the last time I was there only at that time, she wasn’t sure what to do as her office building was being demolished for the Hospital expansion. So, rather than go through the hassle of setting up somewhere else, she is retiring. Good for her. Then today, I got an email from my Veterinary service to say that Dr Donop, my animal doctor for as long as I can remember, after 22 years of service is also retiring. He actually is pretty young, not even 50 as far as I can tell so he must have done pretty well in that clinic or maybe he has other independent means. I know he had a lot of my money but he really cared about the animals. I am gong to miss him as we have been through a lot of trauma together and on top of that, he is a really nice guy. BTW, he has an RV and is going to move to Colorado and do a lot of camping. I have been going to that Vet service when the original owner had it more than 30 years ago.
I keep outliving my medical people. I guess that is a good thing but since living here in Texas, my first Orthopedic surgeon retired as did my first Dentist followed by my second Dentist who only lasted a couple of years before she retired due to illness. Another Ortho retired who did my knee replacement surgery but I still have the Ear Doctor who has been with me for 33 years. He too is getting old and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to get a notice that he is retiring sometime in the future and now my Vet who is actually, Mikey’s vet as Sandy still goes to Bastrop Animal Shelter for her shots. Dr Donop treated a lot of my pets both cats and dogs going back all of those 22 years and between us, we have suffered a lot of grief as we lost different ones and happy times when others recovered. He is such an understanding man and I will miss his service and dedication to the animals. He is the only man to see me cry.
Upon my return, we took our usual evening walk and stayed around the park. It was already getting dusk as the evening darkness was creeping in so we adjourned to Miss Daisy for the usual evening repass and entertainment.
Written 11/15/2021 – Check out my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com