The pair of zebra across from us.
 
Considering what time I went to bed in the early hours of the morning, I felt remarkably refreshed when I woke up. It must have been all the beer I consumed…We did the usual bird feeder thing only today, I had to refill several of them. Now I need to add a bag of birdseed to my grocery list having almost finished the 40lb bag I had bought last week. 

Following the outside chores, I harnessed up the dogs and we went out taking Henly Loop almost to Hwy 290. The Loop has a lot of shade for about half of the walk, which is why I like walking it. Not only that, IF I am lucky, I get to see the exotic wildlife. 

Back in the RV, I prepared food for us all. Today was a good day as Sandy ate hers which included her medicine. I sat in front of the computer and realized that I was three days behind in my writing and knew I was in trouble as my memory recall really sucks.  

I started work on the missing days and managed to write about what I think happened hoping that I have not got the days mixed up. 

James, the Impact Repair man showed up to work on Delores slide out. I called Delores to see how it went and she said that even though James called the Jayco plant direct, he could not get the location of the switches he needed to get the slide to work. He has managed to get it fully extended but it will not retract. 

I talked to Delores, and she said that as long as the slide is fully extended, she is not going to bother to get the motor replaced as she does not plan on moving the rig…ever. The cost of the replacement motor is almost $1500.00, and it only gets used when the slide is opened or retracted. A good reason for not getting it done if the rig is never moving again in her lifetime. 

I happened to look at the outside temperature and it had not yet reached 100 degrees and it got me thinking that when I lived in England, the hottest part of the day was around noon time or maybe an hour after. Over here in Texas, the hottest part of the day is between 4:00 and 5:00 pm. 

I decided that as I do not have any new poems to post on Saturday, that I would post the blog on that day instead at least until I can get the poetic juices flowing again. Finding poetic ideas is not easy and I have to be in the right mood to be successful. I could dig out more from my Archives I suppose. 

After I had posted all the blogs to bring us up to date which included using Saturday as a blog day, I got to thinking about it and decided that I did not like that idea. Saturday is poetry day, so I went back into my Archives and dug out a poem and then went through the process of moving three blogs and then reposting them to a day later and posting the poem from the Archives in its place. Now, at least, Saturday is still poetry day. 

I was out of beer for myself and decided to go into town and buy some and a couple of other things as well. I said goodbye to the dogs and jumped into the Jeep for the short drive into Dripping Springs. I wandered around HEB and found what I was looking for plus added a case of beer for Daniel. I actually needed a few groceries as well and added them to the cart before checking out. 

I stopped at Starbucks and bought a Latte to drink on the way home. Arriving back at The Caboose, I was met by my noisy little dogs who helped to put the groceries into the RV. I took the time to put the groceries away and then jumped in the car to drive the short distance to Daniel’s RV to unload his case of beer. Delore and Gary were sitting over there, and I joined them and drank a beer. We sat for a while chattering and then Daniel suggested that we go into town to get some food. I thought about it and decided that I really did not want Mexican food again and declined the offer to join them. 

Back in the RV, I took the dogs out for a walk, and we wandered around as we usually do before returning back to the RV to sit outside and listen to an Audiobook and drink another beer. Eventually, we went back inside, and I fed the dogs and then myself. I made a salad and that was enough food for me along with ice cream for dessert. 

We settled down to watch the TV as we usually do and around 10:30 pm, I went to bed. I had undressed as I sleep naked and had only just got into bed and realized I had not brought in the bird feeders. I put on a pair of shorts and shoes and went outside. The minute I touched the bird seed holders, I knew I was too late, as the deer had beaten me too it. All three feeders were empty to the very last bird seed. So, I left the feeders hanging and went back to bed knowing that come morning, I would have to refill all three of them and that I had just about enough seed left to do it. 

I wondered why Mikey did not bark as he must have known the deer were outside as he always knows that stuff. Not blaming him as it was my fault for not bringing in the seed holders in the first place. 

I went back to bed and fell asleep thinking that I will worry about it tomorrow as that is another day…

Written 09/05/2023. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com  

An Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park,TX. Wednesday 09/06/2023

I slept so well that it was 9:00 am before I even woke up. We went out walking, but it was already hot, and it restricted us to the shady areas. This meant walking Henly Loop towards Hwy 290. Even then, we did not go all the way to the end as there was a 50-yard patch of sun with no cover, and I did not want to walk out in it. Even the livestock in the field next door were all laying down in the shade. 

When we got back, I tied the dogs up so they could “help” and then filled the empty bird feeders using up the last of the bird seed to do it. This means a trip back to Tractor Supply for another 40 lb. bag although I think I will get two 20 lb. bags to make for easier handling. 

I fixed breakfast for us all before settling down in front of the computer to plan the day and write the blog. I glanced at the clock and the day is just zipping by and I have no idea where the time goes. What is the saying “Time flies when you are having fun”. That is kind of how I view our life, nothing but fun and time sure as hell is just zipping by. 

By the above logic, does it mean that time goes much slower if I am bored or working on something uninteresting? 

I sat and wrote and brought everything up to date and looked around for something else to get up to deciding that I should go into town and buy that birdseed that I just ran out of. I was also needing a few groceries and could kill two birds with one stone (what a horrible saying). Why kill birds? 

I stopped at HEB first and wandered around buying the few items that I needed. I did buy a bottle of wine, well two actually, and then made my way to The Home Depot which is right next door. I only needed to visit the Outdoor section for the birdseed and was quickly back in the Jeep. I had to settle for a 40lb bag as they did not have any 20lb ones. 

Next stop was a Latte before heading back to the campsite and my little buddies who helped with putting the groceries away as they usually do. You would think by now they would know where everything should go and be able to do this job for me but no, I end up doing all the work as usual. 

We went out for another walk although it is not very comfortable outside as it is so hot and humid. By the time we get back, if we go any distance at all, I am soaked with sweat especially around my waist where my belt makes shirt, underpants and shorts cling together. Lately, when I get back to the RV, I have been taking the outside shorts off and hanging them to dry and sitting around in my skivvies until I cool and dry off. Luckily, I do not get many walk up visitors to catch me half dressed. 

Back in the RV, I did some cleanup work and then, as I usually do, sat listening to an Audiobook for a couple of hours. At least, this time, I did not nod off to sleep. 

We went out for one more walk and although there were more and longer shadows, it was still over 100 degrees and not very comfortable walking. We walk at dog speed which is not normally very fast as there are too many interesting smells along the way. Even so, I sweat profusely with any physical effort. 

The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way with food and entertainment although I had an interesting experience with the microwave oven. I had some small chunks of dog meat that needed both defrosting and then cooking. I put them onto a microwave safe plate and covered them with a paper towel, pushed a few buttons and walked away. I smelt smoke and quickly got back to the microwave to see that I had inadvertently pushed the wrong buttons and had set the cooking time for nine minutes instead of the 30 seconds I thought I was setting as one button was above the other. Luckily, the fire alarms were not tripped but the Microwave was filled with smoke and the whole RV stank for quite some time. Stupid me. BTW, the microwave safe plate melted, and I had to throw it away. 

Written 09/06/2023. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com