I awoke early and lay there thinking about the day ahead and wondering if I should get up. In the end, I took so long to make up my mind that I dropped back off to sleep. Oh well, guess I am not meant to get up earlier than 9:00 am. It does not matter much unless it happens to be one of those days when I do have something I need to do and even then, I try to set any appointments no earlier than midday or 1:00 pm. Some of that is also due to the fact that it takes me almost an hour to get into Austin and it it’s North Austin, even longer. If it happens to be rush hour, it will be much longer and much more aggravating. 

It was cooler when we went out walking and we wandered around. We got to see an older Gentleman walking his two small dogs and I chose to go in the opposite direction so as not to have any confrontations. We also saw Greg and Olive, the little Bull Terrier who as usual was carrying a branch that was bigger than she was. We waved to them as they were at the bottom of the hill. 

We walked the outside road and a part of the lane leading to Hwy 290 although we did not go all the way to the end. On the way back, the donkeys were by the fence along with the lone Zebra. The donkeys let me make a fuss of them and I made sure to keep my hands out of the way. 

The Zebra came close but would not let me touch him. Probably a good thing as a lady pulled up in her car who I assumed to be the animal’s owner as she told me the whole history of them including their names which of course, I promptly forgot. Apparently, the Zebra is the leader of this group. She warned me not to try to touch the Zebra because he would bite my hand off, quite literally. I thanked her for her information, and she drove on and we continued to walk back to The Caboose very pleased with how the morning had gone so far. 

When we got back, I decided to do a load of laundry and went outside to open the drain valves. I am not sure how much water a load of laundry uses but I did not want to find out with it flooding the bathroom. Better safe than sorry as the saying goes. I had that happen once in one of my other RV’s and looked up from whatever I was doing to see a river of water running over the floor. 

I fixed breakfast and that all important coffee and thought about my transition from tea to coffee. When I lived in England all those years ago, the day started with a “cuppa” which is one of the English slang words for a cup of tea just as over here, it starts with coffee. Maybe that has changed to coffee now in England as so much in this world has been Americanized. I still drink tea of course but it is the rest of the day drink for me unless coffee is not available then I will drink it in the morning. 

I worked on the pictures I had taken this morning when the exotics came close to the fence. I guess Donkeys are labelled as exotics in this particular setting as they were in the company of a Zebra and other deer. 

Back in the RV, I settled down to write about our interesting morning. I also worked on the pictures, some of which are included in this blog. 

I started a load of laundry as the stack of dirty clothes had grown considerably. It takes about one and a half hours for the wash and a bit longer for the dry cycle. There are ways to set the machine so that it will automatically switch to the dry mode, but I have not found a way to drop the anti-static sheets in, so I do it as two separate actions, one to wash and one to dry. Altogether, it takes almost four hours. The beauty of it is that I can do other things while it is doing its thing. 

After I have finished with any household chores and have the blog up to date and any pictures worked on, I usually just sit indoors and contemplate the state of the world. I guess that it not really true as mostly, I sit there with my eyes closed, not asleep but very relaxed generally with a dog on either side of me who are both soundly zonked off. The only thing that will wake them is if I try to get up and then they are instantly awake. 

If it is not too hot outside, I often sit outside and listen to an Audiobook with one of the fans blowing on my face to keep me cool. Sometimes, a beer sneaks into my hands brought to me by my own personal beer fairy who I have yet to meet. 

As I was sitting and writing, I glanced up to see a single deer working on the bird feeders. I got up and shooed it away and watched as it galloped off. I went back to writing and a bit later, looked up again to see two deer working on the bird seed holders. They both took off for about 25 yards and then stood there looking at me as if to say, please share. Yeah, right. Eventually, they both ran off. 

I got a message from the girls to get over to the Break Room as we were eating again. This time it was Hamburgers with all of the fixin’s. I promptly dropped whatever it was I was busy with and hustled over to the Break Room where the usual crowd had gathered minus Delores who was visiting family. We sat and ate and generally heard many outlandish stories from those assembled. I try to limit my eating as much as is allowed and in the habit of drinking my beer slowly. The others go back for seconds but I do not. As it was, the hamburger was so thick that I struggled to get through it but finally managed. 

It started to rain while we were in the Breakroom and literally just fell out of the sky. It only lasted about a half an hour, but a lot of water fell in a short time accompanied by very strong winds. Luckily, I had already brought in my awning as had everyone else. 

When the rain finally stopped, we all made our way back to our own RV’s and I settled in for the rest of the evening, this time with a glass of wine and television. I even went to bed early, for me, at 10:30 pm. 

Written 09/14/2023. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com