Henly RV Park (Day 21-22)

Tuesday, December 21

Today was a very quiet day with not a lot of anything going on. No Doctors appointments or trips to the Dentist although I do still need that haircut. I do have a Covid booster scheduled for this Thursday but it is in Dripping Springs a mere 10 miles up the road. We went out for our usual mornings walk around the park just to stretch our legs and for the dogs to do their business before returning to Miss Daisy for breakfast. I had nothing planned for the day except to write and work on a few pictures but I spent some time on renaming/numbering all of the most recent blogs as somehow, they had slipped out of order. Can’t think how that happened but I am not surprised as my brain does strange things every now and then and a mistake in the numbering early on gets more exagerated down the line. This actually took quite a bit of my time as I had to go back more than 15 blogs to get it right and even then, there were several do-overs before I was satisfied. With the blog straightened out but feeling more than a bit frustrated, I took it out on the dogs by making them go out for a walk. Not that they complained as they were quite literally jumping up and down with anticipation when I mentioned “walkies?” Amazing how dogs learn the words that mean more to them and ignore other commands that sometimes mean a lot more to me! Things like stay and sit and stop pulling are all a bit like talking to myself as I never get much in the way of response either physically or activally.

Back in Miss Daisy, I watched as a couple of RV’s left and a couple more drove in. I thought about it and in my mind, there are 3 different types of RV’ers, 4 if you count the weekend warriors. The first group are generally the people who like to drive a lot and usually stay in campgrounds for a couple of days before moving on. These are generally younger people who are always in a hurry to get somewhere, never staying in one place for very long. Sometimes they have kids who are homeschooled. The next group are generally much older and not so interested in tearing around the countryside. These are nearly always older retired citizens usually driving a big Class A that has cost them a fortune. Their success in life allows them this lifestyle in luxury. They stay for a couple of weeks at a time before moving on. The last group are usually much older and don’t drive anymore at least towing their RV’s behind them. They have located a nice campground in an area that appeals to them and have parked their RV’s permanently. You can generally tell who they are as many have built permanent steps and covered porches to their units which are generally big 5th wheel campers. Me, I am in the in-between stage of still travelling and staying in a permanent site as my days on the road are numbered. Then, the last group are the weekend warriors who camp with their kids just for the fun of it. I envy them in some respects as they have their whole life in front of them and have already discovered something that took me eighty years to refind although I guess I had discovered camping when I was in the Boy Scouts what seems like a thousand years ago.
The rest of the day was spent in the usual fashion with food and television as we watched more episodes of Yellowstone including the shocking final season episode which has left me wondering and waiting for it to come back on the air.

Wednesday, December 22

Another day in which we have no major plans except to go to HEB for more groceries to stock up for the Holiday season ahead. Not that we will change our habits too much with only myself and two little dogs and as none of us are religious, celebrating Christmas which after all is a Religious holiday first or at least it was until the commercial world of big business saw it as an opportunity to part the average person from their hard earned money, is just another day. If I sound like a cynic then maybe I am as the true meaning of Christmas has long been lost. That coming form a non religious man.

Years ago back in England when I was just a kid and before my family split up into a thousand different pieces. even though it was war time with the second World War ongoing, we did celebrate. Not the Birth of Christ as my family even way back then was never religious although my Father in his latter years did bend in that direction. Probably for the fear of his afterlife considering the wicked life he had lead, at least in his mind. Our celebration consisted of the luxury of killing one of our chickens for our Christmas dinner and glad to eat it as a special treat along with roast potatoes and brussel sprouts from the garden followed by homemade Christmas Pudding for desert complete with silver sixpences inside. You just had to be extra careful not to bite down too hard. Those are my memories of Christmas and eighty years and a lot of Christmases later, nothing has come close. The simple things of life are what impressed me the most although of course, I wasn’t aware at the time.

In the HEB, a lot of people were doing their last minute shopping many of whom are no longer wearing masks especially the younger members. Whether they think they are invincible or are one of those, “you can’t make me” types is unknown. I wore mine as I would rather be safe than sorry. There are still several sorry looking Christmas Trees outside all marked down to an almost giveaway price, more of man’s mindless indiscretions and lack of caring for anything but him or herself and certainly not Nature or this Planet that we live on and call home.

I walked around the store and observed people with carts loaded to the brim, all rushing and scurrying about trying to make sure they had everything for their own particular celebration. I Iooked at my cart with the few items we needed as I made my way through the check out glad to be away from so much activity. Even then, I managed to spend $145.00 on what I called necessities so I would hate to think what most people were spending with their piled up carts. Mine did include a couple of bottles of wine. One of the things that I have noticed with grocery shopping is that the overall general price of things has gone up quite considerably. It no longer seems possible for me, a single old man with no extravagant tastes to spend anything less than $100.00 or more on a weekly visit for absolute necessities.

I drove back to Miss Daisy but not before joining the long line at Starbucks Drive Thru for a Grande Latte to be welcomed by my best friends, two very happy little dogs. I barely had time to put the groceries away before we were back out the door and walking the park and the roads for the last walk of the day. This time, I let Sandy do the leading and we covered a very circuitous route going in every which direction before she led us to the road and back down the hill before I was able to get her focus back on walking home to Miss Daisy. Still, it was fun and we were not in any hurry. We had a bit of excitement when a Police Car followed by an Ambulance came screaming in with the siren wailing and lights flashing and stopped in front of the RV across the way. They loaded in the tenant and tore off but as they did not go with the siren, I can only hope that the person was not in any danger. So ended another day at Henly RV Park.

Written 12/23/2021 – Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com