What is that?

I awoke and it was still semi dark outside, so I figured that it was probably about 7:00 am. Boy, was I wrong as my clock informed me that it was already 8:15 and I was awakening to a very dull, cloudy and wet day. I lay there for a little bit and then crawled out. The dogs, being much smarter than me, stayed in bed until they heard me take a shower and then they condescended to join me in the bathroom. 

They both left and wandered around the RV making sure that no boogey men had gotten in through the night. Satisfied with their patrol, they came back to the bedroom and helped me pick out clothes for the day. 

I put my boots and jacket on and included a rain slicker to go along with it to keep me dry and then gathered up the bag of trash to drop off in the dumpster. 

When we got outside, I discovered that it had left off raining and what I thought was the wet stuff dripping from the trees was from an earlier shower. 

We wandered around just so the dogs could do their thing rather than for exercise and only covered a half mile. Back in the RV, I fixed everyone breakfast which they both ate, Hooray, and fixed myself toast. Not very exciting but it is hard to mess up toast and the three pieces each had a separate topping.  

Then, as usual, I sat down in front of the computer and wracked my brain trying to remember what happened yesterday and this morning. Luckily for me, I had finished most of yesterday last evening and only had a couple of grammatical errors to correct plus adding a couple more things that I remembered. 

Incidentally, the Grackles are back but not in the same numbers as yesterday. Must be a different flock. They did not stay long, and the regular birds were back in numbers, not having to compete with the larger and more aggressive Grackles. 

The gas bottle as usual, had run out through the night but luckily, it was not cold, so I snuggled under the covers to keep warm and then exchanged the bottle with the spare when I took the dogs out for a walk this morning. This propane bottle has a problem with the valve which Daniel discovered when he filled it last, and I need to take it back to Tractor Supply and get a new one. 

That got me thinking there is no time like the present, so I loaded the “bad” bottle into the Jeep and drove to Tractor Supply. I walked in and explained that I needed a new 30lb gas bottle and wanted to exchange the old one. The guy behind the counter told me that they do not do exchanges and I had to settle for buying a new unit which I did. I did not get it filled as I did not want to carry a full bottle of propane inside the car. 

I mulled things over after buying the new bottle and decided to drive to the Home Depot to see if they would make an exchange, but they only carry the small bottles so that idea was a flop. 

I reconciled to the fact that I was stuck with both the new bottle and the old one and decided that I would talk to Daniel to see if he had any ideas. Maybe, he could use the “old” bottle which I would gladly give him. 

Back at the RV after the gas bottle excursions, I grabbed my new hoe and went to work on the garden cleaning out as many weeds as I could. Most are caused by the mulch that we put on that probably also had the grass seed mixed in plus the wasted bird seed thrown about by my feathered friends. I hoed as much as I could which would be good for a while and then went about the business of digging holes for the new plants. It was not easy as Daniel, who used to live on my site originally, had covered the entire area of the garden with rubber sheeting under the mulch to stop the weeds from growing and I had to cut through it to get deep enough to plant my stuff.

Eventually, I had everything planted but am short a few more plants for the area under the tree. So, next time I am in town…Incidentally, the hoe I bought yesterday worked just fine for this job of weeding. 

We went out for another short walk just to check the mail and then wandered around a bit before returning to The Caboose to finish writing. Incidentally, every time I look out of the window, all I see are the black Grackles who seem to have returned in large numbers. Reminds me of the Hitchcock movie… 

We went out for the final walk of the day and just wandered around. We did not see the sun all day and although it did not rain very much it was very overcast. The rest of the day was spent in the usual fashion, food, wine and television. 

Written March 21. 2024, read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com