We wandered around the park, and it was not until Mikey did his business; did I realize that I was out of doggy poop bags at least on hand. We did a smart turn around with me making a mental note of the poop location before heading back to Quatro to load up with the proper articles. Then we retraced our steps to find the offending pile before someone stepped in it and from there to the dumpster. We continued our walk avoiding contact with any other dogs as much as we could, by changing direction, before heading back to Quatro for breakfast. 

It got down a bit below freezing last evening and I had disconnected the water hose, so I reconnected it and noticed a small leak in the connection. All it needed was a new washer and I searched high and low for them to fix the problem. I know I have some but could not find them and came up with the brilliant idea of taking the old one out and reversing it. This did the trick and it saved me a trip into town, at least, this time around. Next time I go, I will stop at Home Depot and buy some and then put them somewhere easy to find when needed. Yeah, right.  

I sat and read the current world events and then switched to emails where I did have a couple to answer. My Stepdaughter, Cathy called, and we had a very enjoyable conversation for about 30 minutes before she had to go. She is a wealth of information about the goings on in the family and even is truly knowledgeable of the English side of things as she stays in touch with those still over there. She hung up and I turned my attention to writing the blog. 

There are two recliners in the RV, and they are a single unit, one right, one left. I have been using the right-hand one just because the overhead light switch is found above it and it has a nice space for the small folding table to sit when we are not using it for meals. I pulled the handle to recline the unit and the handle came off in my hands. Further inspection showed that the cable had broken. The cable is in an exceedingly difficult to reach spot and I have no idea how to repair or replace it. I had no alternative other than to switch to the other recliner which is not as convenient as the first one in terms of table and switch location. One more thing to research to see if it can be repaired. No one has ever claimed that living in an RV would be boring or without problems. 

I sat and wrote for a while all the time, wondering if there was anything that I should be doing. I need to do laundry but will wait until tomorrow so that the working members of the community can use the laundry room over the weekend. The two big RV’s that were parked in the temporary lots in front of me, both pulled out this morning. I had spoken to one of them and he was heading for Big Bend Country in West Texas which is a long drive. Good luck on their journey. 

I sat and wrote in the blog trying to keep up with current events in my very dull and boring life, at least to others. Obviously, not to me otherwise I would do things much differently. It is a grey and cold overcast day but no rain in the forecast, a good day to stay inside in the warm. In retrospect, if I still owned the house, I would not be doing anything different as life back then, although busier because of the ponds and garden, was much the same as it is now. 

Even as I wrote this, Sandy was giving me, “the look” which interpreted from dog means, “I got to go, Dad”. We harnessed up accompanied by much excitement and jumping around and went out walking the park. It was chilly outside and I was glad of my jacket. We wandered around and I noticed that the big old dog was sitting outside just as he was yesterday. He is tied up and hopefully it is something he is used to. We wandered the bottom road until I spotted another dog walking his Master further down the road and not wanting a confrontation, we turned back into the park 

I noticed that one of the campers was leaking water and knocked on the door and got into a conversation with the owner. He said that he was draining the hot water tank as he could not get hot water flow into the RV but thanked me for being helpful. We chatted for a while, and I offered him tools if he needed them and went on my way. 

We passed the big dog, and he has an orange cat for a friend so hopefully, being tied outside is something he is used to. Sandy wanted to kick up a fuss as we passed but I shushed her with a yank on the leash and we went on our way back to Quatro. Incidentally, the dogs each wear a walking harness rather than use their collars for their leashes as it is less stressful to them when they need correction. Mikey is surprisingly good on the leash as he is usually either beside or behind me as we both follow Sandy in her maze-like walk as she rushes from this smell to the next one. Funny things, dogs… 

I watched both the Third/Fourth place World Cup Final between Croatia and Morrocco which was a surprisingly good game and then turned my attention to watch the Final between France and Argentina. As expected between both of these incredibly good teams, it was a tremendous game, well played and well officiated plus it went into overtime and the penalty kicks. As watchers, we really got our money’s worth. As a sidenote, one of the absolute best players the game has ever produced, Lionel Messi of Argentina, finally got his World Cup Medal. What an achievement. 

Written December 18, 2022. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com