Wednesday 01/05/2021
A late start by design as we have nothing important planned for the day. We did our usual walk around this time on the outside road leading to Hwy 290. The livestock that roams the fields across from the campgrounds were all under the trees close to the road. Sandy was not at all sure about those massive beasts and although inquisitive, kept her distance. Mikey just did his usual thing, hiding behind me. It took a long time to cover that half mile as both dogs were picking up what to them were the most interesting of scents and smells and each one required inspection from both dogs. I wonder what it is that they smell and is so interesting to them?
I sat at the table working on the blogs and looked outside to see that every car in the immediate neighborhood and within my view was gone. Not even one at the eight RVs in my site line. Must be a busy day for some people although there are plenty more like myself with nothing important to do at least today.
I worked for a while attaching pictures and posting the blogs that I had completed before deciding that I really needed to go to Home Depot for a part for the hose hookup and as it was Wednesday, maybe stop at the Farmer’s Market that is held here. In the Home Depot, I was standing and looking when one of the store workers came up to offer his services and eventually, between us we figured out how to make things work at least in theory. The truth will come out when I work on it tomorrow as we have another freeze expected for the next couple of nights. I thanked him and checked out and headed for the Farmer’s Market where I walked around for a bit. The place was remarkably busy and practically everyone was mask less except for those serving behind the stalls as they wore theirs. I wore mine as I checked things out, but I really did not see anything that grabbed my attention so jumped back into the car and headed for Starbucks only to discover that they had closed at 1:00 pm due to a staff shortage. Imagine that, a staff shortage in a Starbucks. Where are all the High School students that usually fill these kinds of jobs, doesn’t anyone want to work anymore?
Disappointed at not being able to satisfy my needs, I made my way back to Miss Daisy and took my frustration out on the dogs by making them go out for our evening walk covering a little over 2 miles for the day. Not that they cared as they were jumping up and down with excitement and they tore around or as much as their combined leash would allow as we walked the lanes.
Thursday 01/06/2022
The weather was brisk when I opened the door to Miss Daisy for the first walk of the day requiring that I put on something a little heavier than a Tee shirt and reminding me that we are due another freeze this evening. We walked around the park and on one of the outside roads before adjourning to Miss Daisy for a leisurely breakfast. We have nothing planned for today except some maintenance work I need to do on Miss Daisy that I bought the parts for with yesterday’s trip to the Home Depot.
I wrote for a while before venturing out to work on the water attachments and discovered that the parts I had bought would not work. I jumped in the car and headed back into town, this time stopping at Tractor Supply figuring that as it was hose connections that I needed, they probably would have them. Sure enough, with the help of a knowledgeable salesperson, I was soon out of the door and heading back to Miss Daisy. Incidentally, Tractor Supply is the very first store that I come to on my way back into town which makes it very convenient.
Back at Miss Daisy, I worked on the problem and had it fixed in a very short time although I had to borrow a wrench from my neighbor as for some reason, I could not locate mine other than the one I had on hand, and it was a two-wrench job. I also spent some time locating my frost blankets and covered up the water spigot although I will still have to disconnect the water a bit later this evening just to be on the safe side.
With the work taken care of at least the part that I could do this early, we went out for the last walk of the day but as it was getting both dark and chilly, we did not walk far and soon returned to the warmth of Miss Daisy and the evening meal and entertainment. Later that evening, I went out and shut off the water and disconnected the hose from the RV after making sure there was water in the freshwater tank to see us through. Such are the trials and tribulations of living in an RV in winter.
Friday 01/07/2022
We got up early this morning as the RV Repair guy was coming around 10:00 am and I wanted to have the dog walks and breakfast out of the way when he arrived. The weather was very chilly with the temperature still below freezing and a cold wind blowing. Reminded me of the winters up North when I lived in New York State and why I moved south to get away from it. Lucky for us, Texas winters are not usually too bad or too drawn out lasting a day or two at the most although the winter in February of 2021 was the worst on record. Hopefully, that was a one off. We did not walk far, just enough for the dogs to stretch their legs and do their “thing.”
James Langstone, the RV repair man showed up around 10:30 and went to work on locating the leak problem. I had already cleaned out the storage areas where the low point drain is located. It took a while, but he found the leak and it was nothing more than a bad factory assembly of not tightening a part on that drain. Does not say much for their quality control. With it out of the way and the whole thing reassembled, I discussed him installing a tire pressure system I had bought which he looked at and, in the end, decided that it would need valve extensions to make it work which he did not have. He also not only showed me how to remove the air filter but did so that I could clean it as it was very dirty. I paid him and very gratefully thanked him for his efforts which I considered to be money well spent. A couple of other people approached him with their problems so hopefully for him, he has more work ahead.
I drove into Austin to Stauthouse Coffee to meet BJ who had arrived before me. It was great to see her again and we spent a busy 30 minutes sitting outside in the cold playing catch-up until it was time for her to move on to another appointment. I headed for my Bank to take care of some business before going to the Home Depot in Dripping Springs where I purchased yet another small plumbing part for Miss Daisy as the last part, I bought I could not make work as I wanted it to. The drive home to Henly was uneventful and I was met at the door by two excited little dogs who were impatient to be harnessed up for their afternoon walk. They had to wait a little bit as I needed to complete the water hook up to Miss Daisy before we set out. Our walk was short, just a turn around the park before we headed back for the rest of the evening. I noticed that my next-door neighbors with the big Class A had already pulled out, Safe journey to them. It started a light drizzle as the temperature began to rise and there is no frost forecast for the next few days.
Written 01/07-2022 – Check out my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com