01/16/2022 – Sunday
We got up early for no reason other than I was wide awake and there did not seem to be much point in trying to go back to sleep. Our walk around the park was uneventful but it did require a heavy jacket, hat and gloves as the weather was very chilly. It warmed up through the day to around sixty something degrees, but we do have several nights of freezing weather forecast for this week. At least it will warm up through the day, but it does mean having to disconnect the water every evening and making sure that the standpipe is protected.
With my computer repaired after yesterday’s trip to Best Buy, I spent time catching up on the couple of blogs that needed attention, happy to be back in my old routine. I watched as the Park Super worked on the RV across from me that had slide out problems previously although this was a different and unrelated problem as they were re-attaching the back bumper to the RV. This required some welding which Daniel, the Park Super was an expert. I saw the owner, an older gentleman like myself, although I am not sure about me being a Gentleman, work on the problem yesterday and obviously not able to fix it. It is hard for us old folks to get down on the ground and crawl under the unit. Not only hard on the knees but the body is just not as flexible as it used to be. Things we took for granted just are no longer possible. What is the saying, “The mind is willing, but the flesh is weak”? I notice that it also takes a lot of mental effort to do anything nowadays especially if you have the means to pay someone else to do the dirty work. Another problem with growing older is that it is so easy to put things off and say to yourself, “I’ll do this another day.” It’s all in the mind…
We have a really big week coming up with something every day or night as is the case tomorrow evening when I plan to attend an Olympus course for my new camera at Precision Camera. I try not to drive at night anymore, but needs must. Tuesday is the day when I must drive to Bastrop to renew my driver’s license which will decide our whole future. Wednesday is back to CRN for the final color check on my new implants and then Thursday is the really BIG day, my 86th birthday. The only big thing about it, assuming I make it through the next few days, is that I reached it at all.
01/17/2022 – Monday
We were lucky that the frost promised for last evening did not happen and my gamble of not disconnecting the freshwater hose paid off. I rely a lot on the weather forecast on my phone and in this sort of situation, can only hope we do not get any last-minute changes to the forecast. We did the usual walk thing around the park chatting to a few people along the way. The Park Super pulled up in his 4-wheeler and Sandy immediately recognized it and trotted over to get her head stroked. Even Mikey sort of advanced instead of his usual hiding behind me although not as bold as Sandy. I also chatted to the camper across from me that had his bumper fixed yesterday. Turns out, the original one had broken loose on the Interstate and was dragging. He was alerted by a passing motorist, pulled over, unloaded the unit, and drove on here to Henly, hence all the repairs. There is always something to work on with any RV and you just must hope that it is nothing major. Then you have the choice of trying to repair it yourself or calling in a travelling Specialist to do the job. Even my brand-new Coachmen Leprechaun required some repairs due to failure of the Quality Control team to spot the problem which was as simple as not tightening the connections to a water valve during the assembly. This resulted in water pouring out all over the place below the RV when I filled the freshwater tank as I prepared for the frost.
I took the dogs out walking early as I knew that I would be gone all evening. We walked around the park and along the road before returning to Miss Daisy where I patted them on the head and drove into Austin. I stopped at two different stores trying to locate a nighttime visor to help with the glare of the oncoming traffic but with no luck. All that was offered were anti-glare glasses which would not help as my own glasses have prescription lenses. No good eliminating the glare if the vision is blurry. As it happened, the drive home was uneventful, and I did not have any problems with the oncoming glare of the headlights.
The class itself at the Precision Camera Store was interesting although some of it was way over my head. I learned most of the basic stuff and with the knowledge of the other stuff available, figured that I could learn the rest as I mess around with the camera taking pictures. Not that I am a serious photographer anyway and rely on Photoshop to pretty up my pictures. There were 5 of us in the class, 3 ladies and 2 men including me, and everyone asked questions. The instructor was very knowledgeable, and I learned a lot.
It was late when I got back, almost 9:30 pm and I took the dogs out for a short walk around the park with me carrying a flashlight which was actually fun and much different to our usual routine. So ended the second day of a busy week.
Written 01/18/2021 – Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com