05/22/2022
The morning walk was the same as most of the walks before. I did have to keep changing direction to avoid crossing paths with the other dogs out in the park and the ensuing barking, and in Sandys case, screeching that goes along with it. She can be very embarrassing at times, and I am always making apologies for her actions. Most of the dog owners understand but I do get the occasional dirty look. Heck, I cannot help it if she talks a lot. She is a girl so what do you expect?
Back inside Mr. George, following a quick breakfast of tasteless food which again, makes me wonder why I bought it in the first place, I settled down to write. I am in correspondence with James, the RV repair person trying to tie him down and have had to reschedule the changeover of RVs. The earliest it can happen now is Saturday 28th at 9:00 am. In some respects that is good as there are rain and thunderstorms forecast through the week and changing out the RV in the rain is no fun. It is sort of a blessing in disguise. Still very disappointing though. Like a kid with a candy jar just out of reach.
I have no plans for today at all. There is not a lot left that I could do prior to swapping out RV’s and what remains must happen at Crestview on the day. I will then have 3 days to complete moving everything back inside of the RV or into the storage areas as we pull out in our new to us RV on June 1st.
I had some time on my hands and I knew that I really should do laundry. It is not that it is a difficult job nor is the laundry room far away, but it is one of those tasks which is easy to put off. This time is a bit different as I have stored all my clean laundry in one of the totes outside under the tarps and I need a change. I can get over it by doing a load of laundry, hence the sudden burst of activity in this direction. We still have nine days before we pull out so we may need to visit the laundry room one more time before we leave. It would make sense anyway so that I arrive at the next location without having to use their laundry room immediately. Doing laundry will tie me up for about two and a half hours, give or take, but as we have nothing else planned, what the heck. Last night’s storms have brought the temperature down a bit and now it is currently only 81 degrees so walking in the heat was not a problem.
The more I sat, the more I determined that the laundry room was a promising idea, so I gathered up my clothes bag and, making sure I had the necessary detergent which I keep in the Jeep, set off walking one hundred yards. I take me a lot longer to cover this distance than Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man even if I could run…My excuse is that I am carrying a laundry bag. It took me 3 minutes and he did it in less than 10 seconds. The place was not busy like it sometimes is with only a couple of machines in use, and I had my pick of the other three. I have determined from experience that I need two washing machines for my amount of laundry as when I have pushed everything into one, it has not come out as clean as I would like. I managed to get the App to work properly for both machines so I would know when to go back over. I also discovered that the App shows any available machines as well. Bit late to find that out.
I chatted to a couple of other men in there which is unusual as it is mostly women that I see before heading back to Mr. George to wait it out only this time, the App will tell me when the wash cycle is done. The wonders of modern technology. An hour later, I walked back over and put the laundry into one of the dryers. The same couple of guys were in there as was to be expected as they were on the same cycle that I was. I watched one of the men take the dry laundry out and stuff it in his bag. He saw me watching and said he will fold it back in his RV. Me, I like to fold it before putting it in the bag while it is still warm and then putting it away when I get back to the RV. This time though, it will stay in the bag folded until we transfer RVs. With everything in the dryer and the App working telling me what time it would be ready, I headed back to Mr. George again.
An hour later, I walked back over just as my dryer was coming to a stop. Perfect timing and I spent time carefully folding the laundry. I put the towels and the clothes I would need on the top and the rest will sit in the bag ready to be transferred to Quatro. Incidentally, the dogs can jump up in the big front window if the blind is up and watch as I walk to and then back from the Laundry Room which accounts for their lack of excitement when I do get back. I am sure they do not understand why I am walking alone, and they are not with me. Who is going to protect me is going through their brain? Either that or what the heck does he think he is doing without us…
I sat for a while and worked on the blog for today before we went out to walk around the park. We decided to walk the outside road going down the hill, which is great one way, not so good coming back uphill though. There is some shade but not all the way. Altogether, for the day, we covered 1.8 miles. Not sure that Sandy could do more than a mile in a single walk as she gets tired. Mikey is a bit tougher.
Back at Mr. George, we sat around for a bit indoors in the A/C cooling off and finishing off the blog. The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way.
Written 05/22/2022 Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com
Henly RV Park Day 23 Monday
05/23/2022
We went for a short walk around the park before returning to Mr. George for a quick breakfast and coffee. The coffee is the best part as I cannot believe how poor some of the frozen food tastes. Again, I wonder why I even bought the stuff. Luckily, it is nearly all gone and will be before Saturday. Even the dogs turn their noses up at so you know how bad it is.
I settled down to write and was working away and saw Melinda approaching. I beat her to the door, and we talked for a while about different things. She offered me her site as she is moving to a different one still here in the park. I thought about it for a bit and told her yes as it is a site I had previously requested. I like the site I am in, but it is facing the wrong way and I get the sun all day in the big front windows. In her site, we will have our back to the sun most of the day. Daniel showed up to add to the conversation and we talked about an entire range of things and solved half of the world’s problems. They are both getting into hiking, so I had something to share with them. I discussed with them the advantages of changing locks and taking off the door handle I had installed. They were both in agreement that I should do both. They left and I went back inside to continue writing frustrated by the fact that there is not much I can do inside Mr. George until Saturday, bright and early.
Thinking about the move, I determined that I needed one more tote for the contents of the desk although, it will probably be the last thing I pack up Friday evening. I already have one tote for the stuff on the countertop and another cooler for whatever food is left which I am hoping will not be very much and that should just about do it Depending on the weather, one of those totes can stay outside under the covers while we are gone, the second one from the desk will go into the Jeep and we will take the food cooler with us. I will have virtually nothing to transfer, which is the general idea.
The drive into Dripping Springs was straightforward as my timing was good and I was not in the rush of homeward bound people. I stopped first at the Home Depot to buy that last tote along with screws to hide the holes after I take the door handle off, Daniels idea. Not able to think of anything else I would need in the immediate future, I drove over to the HEB and purchased ice cream that I had forgotten on my previous trip. That is the first time that I can remember when I only purchased a single item from that store. I made the usual stop at Starbucks for the drive home which was uneventful. On the way, I spotted the buzzards had something in the exotic game area although I could not see what it was. Hopefully, not one of the big animals. I have visions of hunters illegally shooting the deer for their racks or the zebras for their hide or some idiot just making a kill because he could.
The dogs welcomed me as they usually do, and we harnessed up for the final walk of the day around the park and out on the lane at the bottom. It has clouded over and cooled down and rain is in the forecast which is OK as we do not have any outside activities planned other than dog walks.
The day ended in the usual fashion with food and television. Yesterday was the last day of the Premier League season and all ten games were played at the same time. I watched two games last evening and saw my great, great grandsons’ team, Brighton and Hove Albion win and finish in the top half of the table, a great achievement. My other team, Manchester United lost and had a very dismal season under three different managers, none of whom could pull the team back together. They finished seventh which is the lowest in goodness only knows how many years. A team in real trouble.
Written 05/23/2022 Read more of my blogs at https://pondblog2011.com
Henly RV Park Day 24 Tuesday
05/24/2022
I slept well and woke early, for me, before taking the dogs walking. We ran into both Uzi and James on the walk with both making a fuss of Sandy. Mikey was his usual, hiding behind me, self. The rest of the walk was uneventful as we returned to Mr. George. I made breakfast for us all and coffee for me before settling down in front of the computer. I received notification that I have mail and decided to pick it up later today. Other than that, nothing earth shattering and in truth, mostly junk. I do like to read the news just to stay caught up with current events, not that a lot of them are worth bothering over as they do not affect me.
Some of the very latest trends in violence and such are very disturbing, and we are becoming increasingly violent as a nation. So many people think this is still the wild west where arguments were settled with a gun. Today, there are consequences for those sorts of actions. It is hard to imagine that a person in a fit of temper would shoot another person. How could rage be so bad that the person is not thinking of the consequences? They must know that when they are caught, they will be put away for the rest of their lives. Come to that, why do so many confrontations end up violently? Do people not have the ability or decency to discuss things anymore? Frightening times indeed.
I decided to drive into Austin to Far West to pick up my mail. I did not have anything else in mind, no stops at Walmart’s or similar, just pick up the mail. I drove in uneventfully, which is the way I like it and the lady remembered my name when I walked in the door which impressed me. I complemented her on her memory and quickly collected my mail. I was impressed because I cannot remember things well anymore. There was nothing that really needed my attention, but I did have a small package that I had been waiting for.
On the drive home, I considered stopping at Starbucks but decided against it arriving back to my excited little dogs. I have a couple of things to do in Mr. George like, change out the electronic lock for the original one and take off the outside door handle I had installed. I packed up as much of the countertop as I could leaving only the bare essentials that I will need for the next few days.
We went out for the final walk of the day stopping and chatting to a few people along the way. These are usually the permanent campers who at least recognize each other by sight although I like to talk to the temporary ones as well to find out where they are from and such. I’m just trying my best to be friendly.
Following the evening meal, we sat and watched television when suddenly, there was a tremendous gust of wind that came out of nowhere accompanied by thunder and lightning and extremely heavy rain. It just fell out of the sky and the lightning was impressive. I decided that it was not worthwhile going to bed with the storm raging, and I sat and watched television until 2:00 am. By then, things had calmed down and I was able to fall asleep very quickly.
Written 05/24/2022 Read more of my blogs at https://pondblog2011.com