02/10/2022 Thursday

This is some of the rockwork on a drainage culvert recently rebuilt that we saw on our walk this morning. A true artist at work. Sandy is inspecting the work and she gave it her OK.

A late start with nothing much planned for the day. We went out for the morning walk and covered 1.5 miles some of it from me walking to the laundry room as for me, it was laundry day. This is something we only do when the laundry basket is filled up and when clothes start coming out of the top, I know it is time to head for the laundry room. Luckily, there were plenty of open machines and I loaded out two of them throwing in clothes with no particular choice of colors, whites or what have you. Actually, that is not entirely true as I did throw all the whites into one machine, but they were also along with whatever else I had. I got the App working on one machine but not on the other much to my frustration and had to make change for some quarters. Melinda, the Park Super happened to walk in and I explained the problem with the non-functional machine. She was unable to get it to work either, so I did not feel so bad. 
 
I went back to Miss Daisy for breakfast all around and then sat down in front of the computer to read emails which were mostly just a bunch of junk as per usual. I stop some of them, but they eventually show up again somehow bypassing the system. Of the 40 or so that I got this morning, I think I only answered one of them and it was from my doctor’s office. The same thing is true on Facebook where so many of the posts are uninteresting or self-serving. Most of the “friends” that I have are complete strangers to me and I have no idea how they friended me. Every now and then, a genuine friend shows up to which I usually respond, or a particular post catches my eye and I repost it. Otherwise, I really do waste a lot of my time on that program, can’t think why. Just in case, I guess. I know a lot of people who do not use Facebook for that very reason. Why would anybody ask to be friends with someone they do not know is beyond me. Worse yet, why would anyone respond with a yes to a perfect stranger? “Friends” is probably the wrong word, but the definition is very broad and not exclusive to someone you like or is close to you. 
 
The App showed me that at least one machine was ready and needed my attention, so I wandered over to the Laundry Room and transferred the clothes into the dryers. This time, the app worked perfectly and an hour later I was back again folding the laundry which took all of 10 minutes. Back in Miss Daisy, I put the laundry away and made the bed and we are all set for another couple of weeks or so. I had a few other chores to do around the Miss Daisy that I had been putting off because I am lazy. First, I cleaned my boots which were pretty grimy and in need of a polish and while I was at it, noticed that the water filter had not been re-installed after the frosty weather and added that to the list. While I was doing that, I also noticed that the Plankets that I had used to cover the water standpipe during the freeze needed folding up and with all the chores taken care of, I adjourned back inside to my two little friends. 
 
Our daytime temperatures are now pushing back into the high 60’s, low 70’s and on this morning’s walk, I actually started to sweat. Have not done that in a while. Maybe, just maybe, our winter is over here in Texas. I have started to look ahead and plan our upcoming trip to New York State. It was not until I looked at RV Trip Wizard, the program I use for planning, did, I realize just how far and how complex that trip is going to be. For one thing, it is all of 2145 miles to Fort Plain, NY and as I do not like to drive more than 150 miles day, driving alone will take at least 15 stops at different campgrounds. I like to enjoy a campground if it pleases me or has good trails and so sometimes hang out for a week or more before moving on so planning this trip will be interesting. Then too, so much depends on the availability of campgrounds along the way so I will need to be flexible on my travels. 
 
We went out for our final walk of the day before adjourning back to Miss Daisy for the evening and managed to cover 2.5 miles walking the lanes. While out there, we can hear the traffic on Hwy 290 which is always busy. I heard a truck and then someone really laying on the horn followed by the sound of an almighty crash. Next thing was this huge dark column of thick black smoke, and I knew that it was serious. I was a mile away and there was nothing I could do to help. One of my camper neighbors had passed the crash and had taken pictures which showed the tractor trailer on fire and a pickup truck in the ditch. From the TV news later, two people got out with minor injuries and the reason for the fire was that it was a tanker truck. All it takes is a second of misjudgment and a life could be over. 

Written 02/10/2022 Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com