I awoke late again, and it was almost 9:30 am when I rolled out of bed. I went through the motions of getting ready to face the day and brought out the bird feeders as it was not raining nor any rain in the immediate forecast. What was a little troublesome was the forecast for a really cold front to come through in the next couple of days with the overnight lows down to 35 degrees. Only in Texas can it be in the 80’s during the day and almost freezing at night.
Last winter, we had some snow and frost but nothing too serious and it had come and gone in two weeks and that was the sum extent of our winter. If we do not lose electricity, we will be OK but if we do, many of the RV’s are equipped with their own generator either built-in or of a moveable type. I do not have one for The Caboose and it is on my list of things to buy. If the winter is not severe or we do not lose electricity, then we will not need a generator of our own but that is a lot of ifs. Better to be on the safe side.
Following our walk which incidentally was not very long as my Glute muscle in my left hip is really playing up. I treated it with Ben Gay, a muscle relaxer and it has helped a bit. Thank goodness I bought the walking stick as it helps a lot.
I messed around with the phones in an attempt to get them to talk to each other but with no luck. On my old computer, I was able to work on photos and then add a signature, but I have not been able to reproduce that on the new computer. I dislike change and having to learn new things, which is why I am reluctant to make any with computers and such. I used to apply the same logic when I was dating women and look where that got me.
Late in the afternoon, we went out walking the Park and met a couple of others doing the same thing. Depending on the dog or dogs, sometimes we stop and talk, and the dogs go through the motions of buddying up. Other times, we wave and move on as the dogs bark at each other from a distance.
The rest of the day was spent lazing around and then eventually watching a Premier League game and then finally, the last episode of Yellowstone at least until the new version comes out. Even then, it was midnight before we crawled under the covers.
I had another of those mornings when I slept late. Not just lying in bed snoozing but actually sleeping and waking up around 9:30 am. Maybe, I should be worried that I sleep late but as we have nothing planned, to hell with it. It had already rained very heavily and was still raining lightly when we went out for the first walk. We only went as far as the dumpster and completed the circle around the Commons area before returning to the RV.
The forecast is for it to rain off and on all day. We desperately need the rain as most of the lakes, ponds and even the smaller rivers have dried up.
I had a couple of household chores that I needed to do and then settled down to the usual breakfast and coffee. Again, I cannot get Sandy to eat her medication which is mixed up in her food. I have tried all different kinds of things to mix but she just eats what she likes and ignores the rest which includes the crushed-up pill. Stupid dog. Doesn’t she know that we are trying to extend her life and manage her heart problem. It is so frustrating. Incidentally, if Mikey has a heart problem, he gets free medication as he eats her food when I am not looking after she has abandoned it.
I caught up on the blog which was not hard to do as nothing much has happened yet and then took the dogs out for a short walk in between the rain showers. Then, after toweling them off to a somewhat dryer state, I decided that I should go to HEB for groceries and the inevitable beer.
I jumped in the rental car and made the trip into town. I thought that I needed something from Home Depot, but I could not for the life of me, remember what it was. Instead, I went to the HEB which is located right next door. I had a list but of course added a few extras as I wandered around. When I reached the beer section, I loaded two 24 packs onto my cart, my share of the entertainment goodies. For myself, it was a couple of four packs of the very small wine plus one full size bottle to add to my collection.
The drive home was uneventful which is the way I like it. As usual, I had a lot of help putting the groceries away with noses thrust into bags to get the good smells but despite the “help”. I managed to put everything away. Then it was walkies time and we wandered around the park. It had left off raining and the sun was trying to shine as we ambled around.
When we got back, we sat outside for a bit watching the world go by and then I heard a shout from the direction of The Girls RV. Looking up, I saw Peggy waving at me and beckoning me to come on over which I did as I always obey the directions given me by pretty ladies. Heck, you never know, and I might get lucky and find a beer at the end of the wave. That is the best I can hope for as I am too bloody old for anything else except memories.
I hadn’t been at the girls RV for 5 minutes and Malinda, Daniel and Remington showed up and the party really started. The girls had run out of beer, and I had brought a six pack with me and when Malinda arrived, Daniel was carrying a couple more six packs and so the party started,
The girls had been experimenting and had cooked something else that looked like a pizza but had different ingredients. Then when it was finished, they brought out a real pizza which we all pigged out on. Me, I managed to eat some of each, but I do not have the capacity to eat a large amount of food, which is probably a good thing.
The liquor was safely locked up inside of the Girls RV and we made do with beer. I only had a couple of cans and remained sober for a change. When it was time, I walked myself back to The Caboose and spent the rest of the evening watching a Premier League game and then more episodes of Yellowstone.
It rained heavily in the night but after hearing the initial downfall, I fell back off to sleep waking up only for the call of Nature. I must have been tired as when I finally awoke to actually get up, it was almost 9:30 am. It doesn’t matter as we have no plans for the day.
We went out for the first walk and managed to get wet as it rained while we were out. The dogs did not seem to mind except for a lot more shakes to get the water off. Needless to say, we did not cover any distance this time around.
Back in the RV, I dried the dogs off and changed my wet shirt. I also remembered to close the bedroom door to keep Sandy off the bed as she was still pretty wet even after I had toweled them both off.
I prepared the dogs their breakfast which neither of them ate. Now, I need to keep an eye on Sandy’s so that Mikey does not eat her medication. It would not hurt him but at $3.00 a pill. It hurts my pocketbook, and she doesn’t get the benefit.
It rained off and, on all day, very much restricting any outside activity we might have planned. I did not bring out the smaller bird feeders, but the birds still have the four big feeders in the trees and off the deck. I am not expecting many birds out in the rain anyway. One good thing about it raining is that I can raise all the blinds within the RV to give us more daylight. Normally, except for the big front windows, the blinds are down to help keep the RV cool. The front ones face away from the sun, and I can keep them up except at night.
RVs are notorious for not having good insulation as the walls and ceiling are only two inches thick. Usually, they have several windows which also let in the sun’s heat requiring that the blinds are pulled down during the day. Because they are constantly working, the air conditioners are subject to many repairs and/or replacement over their lifetimes.
I have two A/C units. One is for the main living area and the other is for the bedroom and they both operate independent of the other depending on the need. Incidentally, there is only one heating unit, and it supplies hot air through ducts that are under the RV with the vents in the floor. Plus, I do have an electric fireplace that does throw off some heat and is pretty to look at. I also have a couple of moveable heaters just in case I need them when it is very cold.
I sat and wrote for a while until I was caught up and then looked around for other things to do. Not finding anything of importance, I sat on the couch with a dog on either side of me. We stayed there a couple of hours sort of dozing in the comfort. Eventually, I got up and we went out for the afternoon walk. We managed to bring our daily total up to 1.3 miles, which is what we have managed for the past 3 days. Not as good as I would like but walking out in the rain is not very appealing to me or the dogs.
My hip is hurting more than ever and is slowing me down. The walking stick that I just bought is a real help and helps me get around. Following our walk, we sat on the deck and drank a couple of tiny bottles of wine. It began to get dark, and we came back inside, and I finished writing the blog for today.
The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way, food for the dogs, food for me and then watching television at whatever ungodly hour I stayed up. I have been watching Yellowstone and it has kept me glued to the TV until the early hours of the morning.
It was dark outside and raining hard when I woke up. I looked at the clock and it said 8:30 am. I got out of bed and turned on the LP Gas water heaters and then quickly got back under the covers as it would take 15 minutes for the water to heat up for a shower. Can’t wait for the electricity to be repaired and heating the water. That stays on all the time and is governed by the thermostat. The gas heaters kick on and off to maintain the water temperature at whatever I set it at and are using propane which empties the propane tank and then requires it to be refilled. At least, that is the plan just as soon as the part comes in and Daniel completes the repair.
Even after I got up, it was still raining too hard to go out walking so we changed things around and had an early (for us) breakfast. I should say that breakfast came first, and the dog walk came second in between the showers. Even then, we did not go very far because of the rain. It did eventually ease up and we walked to the dumpster and back around the Break Room building and then returned to the RV.
I found things to do, some of which I had been putting off like updating my address at several different places so that I can eventually cancel the Far West Blvd postal service. I still have a couple more to go.
It rained sporadically all day which restricted any outside activities. We went out for one more walk after spending time on the couch with a dog on each side, and all of us were snoozing. We walked past Daniel’s RV, and they were outside with Gary. They invited me to join them, and we sat and chatted while drinking a beer. Gary left and I refused the offer of another beer until I saw that both Daniel and Malinda were both drinking their second or third or whatever the number. I changed my mind and said I would have that second one.
They make me feel very comfortable around them and are fun to be with, but I am always afraid that I will outstay my welcome. So, I do a lot of second guessing. This time though, I finished my beer and then we walked back to The Caboose where the rest of the evening was spent watching a Premier League Football match and then a couple episodes of Yellowstone,
My friendly squirrel. This is the one I found dead in the yard.
It rained in the night hard enough to wake me up. I lay listening for a while until the soothing sound put me back to sleep. When I got up this morning, there were visible signs of the rain as the deck was still wet.
I harnessed up the dogs and we went out walking in the park. It was cool enough that I had put on a jacket but halfway around, had to take it off and carry it as I got too hot wearing it.
The first order of business when we got back was to call the Rental Car offices to extend the time, I was renting the car. Prior to that, I had called the car repair place to find out how long the repair was going to take and the bad news I got was it was at least until mid-November. That darn deer is costing me a small fortune for the rental car at $550.00 a week plus the $1000.00 deductible on the car insurance. That sure was an expensive deer.
I fixed breakfast and the all-important coffee as well as feeding the dogs and then settled down to play catch up with the blog. Luckily, I was only half of yesterday behind and was able to recall what happened at that time. Today was easy as basically, apart from calling the Car Rental and taking the dogs walking, nothing had happened.
I posted and caught up with the other blogs so that now, I am up to date.
Daniel stopped by and we went over to the Break Room for coffee and spent an interesting 30 minutes chatting. He sure has some funny stories to tell. He eventually went back to work, and I continued with our walkabout.
I looked around for things to do and folded the laundry I had done the day before. I also tidied up the RV and made the bed to give it some semblance of organization. It is easy to be a slob…
I sat outside for a while listening to an Audiobook and watched as my little world passed by with campers walking dogs or hurrying off to the laundry room or even just walking by themselves. Nearly everyone said” Hello” and a couple stopped to chat.
We went out for one more walk and managed to cover 1.5 miles for the day before the evening meal all around. Then it was time to watch a Premier League game and we finished by watching more of Yellowstone before going to bed at 10:00 pm. For some reason I was tired and ready to sleep and dropped off the minute my head hit the pillow.
An Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, TX. Tuesday 10/24/2023
I slept very well even after going to bed around 10:00 pm which is early for me. It was a little after 9:00 am when I even awoke. I jumped out of bed with the intention of taking a shower but remembered that I had not switched the heat to gas and all I had was cold water. The thought of a cold-water shower turned me off, so we went without showering today. I am sure the dogs will not notice the difference especially as it is not hot outside, and I am not likely to work up a sweat.
It had been raining when we harnessed up for that first walk but had stopped by the time, I brought out the bird feeders. The deer have not touched the two hangers that hold seed cakes as they probably have not figured out, they are edible. Fine by me as it is less to take in and bring out.
It was a drizzling day, so we did not go very far. Just far enough for the dogs to do their business and then back to the RV. As it happened, it turned out to be a wet and rainy day for most of it with intermittent rain showers.
Daniel stopped by and worked on the part that controls how the water is heated. Currently, it only heats on propane gas as the part to get it to heat the water by electricity is broken. Daniel had ordered the part a couple of days ago. When he tried to install it, he discovered that he had inadvertently ordered the wrong part and went ahead and ordered the correct one which should be here tomorrow. I have hot water, but it is powered by gas and we both prefer electricity if only for the fact that all water needs is to use the switch and it is almost instantaneous. Gas takes ten minutes to heat the water plus it is a pain to get the tanks filled etc. when the propane runs out.
Daniel left to go about his other duties although with the rainy weather, it is restricted to cleaning bathrooms and such and I went about fixing breakfast and that all important coffee even by now, it was a little past noon time. Then I sat down after fixing the dogs their brunch, to work on the blog.
It was a day full of rain showers and we spent most of it indoors working on the blog and such. When I ran out of things to do, I curled up on the couch with the dogs and took a nap sort of. I did not actually go to sleep but lay there all relaxed with my eyes closed for a couple of hours.
The weather had cleared for a bit, and we went out walking and managed to cover 1.3 miles for the day. The rest of the day was spent sitting around feeding the dogs and myself and watching television.
When I bought my first RV I had no idea of what I might see travelling around the countryside just me and two dogs along for the ride actually they are much more to me my constant companions just we three enjoying this life and wondering when how much longer until the end I have given up the travelling life easy to do as I have no wife nobody telling me what I should do and sometimes I think that I have no clue we are parked in a permanent space at Henly Park a wonderful place the grass is mowed and weeds are whacked and the place looks tidy and that’s a fact Daniel and Malinda are the hosts and they have every reason to boast as they both work hard to keep it clean the most wonderful park you have ever seen they go out of their way to make people feel at home that they are welcome here and not really alone and depending on how long you stay you will still have to pay your way RV living although not cheap is a wonderful life and good company to keep and if there’s a reason to move along just hitch up the truck and be long gone.
I got up early as I knew we were planning on taking a trip to Fredericksburg just as we had six weeks ago to go to the Market there. It is a great place to visit and a lot of fun. Most of the time, we do not buy much except food and beer as we usually find a place to eat while we are there. I had time to take the dogs out walking before BJ was waiting outside my door.
I got to travel with “The Girls” who were BJ who was our driver and Peggy and Delores sitting in the front alongside of BJ, who incidentally, drives a school bus for a living. We had a caravan of three cars, Daniel was in front and the lead driver, we were second, and Debbie and Jim were bringing up the rear.
Daniel drove at 100 mph the whole way, but BJ was masterful at keeping up with him although, we lost him at the end due to traffic. We all arrived at the Fairground safely and teamed up to go in as a group and then it was sort of everyone on their own. Not intentionally but it is hard to keep a group of adults together and eventually, we were spread out all over the place. It did not matter as we just called each other and arranged to find a place to eat and listen to the music, which took another hour.
I was having problems with my hip, and it was hurting to walk. I spent my time looking for a walking pole and eventually found one that helped me get around. That made things a lot easier as not only did the pole help me to walk but it also helped with my balance.
We wandered around after eating hamburgers and eventually got back in our respective vehicles for the ride back home arriving back at Henly midafternoon. The reason we got back so early was because both Daniel and Malinda had other business that was going to take them away from the park but not before everyone ate beans that Daniel had cooked yesterday. Everyone except me that is as I was still filled with the hamburger I had eaten earlier and had not been able to finish. Heck, it had not had time to digest at all. And I like beans…
I took the dogs out walking which pleased them no end. They even got to sit with Remington and Malinda while the others were feasting on beans only, we were outside of the breakroom. Eventually, we continued with our walk around the park before returning to write in the blog.
Daniel and Malinda had another overnight trip planned and it was not long before they were driving away, in their truck. This time, Remington got to go with them. The rest of us had already dispersed to our respective RVs for the evening.
We went out for the final walk of the day before returning for food all around although I was not that hungry. I found something light to eat and of course washed it down with a small bottle of wine. I spent the evening watching Yellowstone which I consider to be a great program.
An Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, TX. Sunday 10/22/2023
I got up at a very reasonable hour for another bright sunny day. I harnessed up the dogs and then tied them to the picnic table while I brought out the seed feeders. I tried something different last evening and only brought in the feeders that contain seeds. The two that hold seed cakes, I left out to see if the deer would eat them. They didn’t this time so l will leave them out in the future or until the deer discover they are edible.
We went out for the first walk and managed to cover a mile, which is a good way to start the day. Incidentally, the walking stick that I bought yesterday is a good investment and really helps the hip from hurting as much. I think it straightens me up, taking the twist out of the body posture caused by the pain in the hip.
It was very quiet around the park as it was Sunday after all with the working people home. We met a couple of people being walked by their dogs but other than that, we were on our own. It had already started to warm up as the temperature keeps varying from day to day.
When we got back, I fixed us all breakfast, but Sandy had one of her moods on and did not eat what I put in front of her. I do not care if she decides not to eat but it means that she does not take her medication which I do care about.
I spent time watering the plants and left the dogs on the deck to watch. I was missing a perch from one of the feeders and searched around and found it under the picnic table and carefully slid it back into place in the holder.
After a couple of hours of being back indoors mixed with sitting outside for a bit with my eyes closed but not sleeping, I sat down to work on the blog. There was not a lot to report for today, but I had fun remembering the Fredericksburg trip. What with being the only man in a car full of three women did make it interesting and I got to hear some really funny stories.
Daniel and Malinda returned from their trip and waved at me as they pulled in and immediately started to go about their business of taking care of the park. I wrote until I was caught up and posted yesterday’s blog then decided to take the dogs out walking. I happened to walk by Daniels RV and Jeff and Kerry were there. I stopped to chat and the next thing I had a cold beer thrust into my hands. I suppose I could have said no but what is the fun in that?
We sat chatting for probably a good half hour to forty-five minutes and then Malinda suggested we go eat at the Mexican place named El Rey. Jeff took his own car and I piled into Daniels truck for the short trip into town. Actually, I think it is Malinda’s truck, but Daniel was driving.
The five of us sat and ate a very nice Mexican meal and I think that all of us brought home doggie bags there was so much food. I drank two beers to help keep my mouth cooled down from the spicy Mexican food. Any excuse but it was spicy enough that I thought I was breathing fire.
Daniel drove us home and I immediately took the dogs back out for the last walk of the day. Then, I fed the dogs when we got back after bringing in the bird feeders and settled down to watch English Premier League football. Brighton played Manchester City with Brighton losing 2-1. Solly got hurt and had to be stretchered off.
Then I watched more episodes of Yellowstone before going to bed around midnight.
I lay in bed and wondered what sort of an idiot I had made myself last evening. I did not feel too bad and did not have a hangover, so I am either immune to alcohol or brain dead. It is amazing how drinking a couple of beers and then a couple more ends up drinking the hard stuff. I need to stick with beer. I am lucky that I have caring friends who walked me back to my RV even after I fell on Delores and squished her.
I got up and looked around for any clues as to my actions last evening but other than not bringing in the feeders, I could not see anything that would suggest I had created any problems apart from falling on Delores, that is.
I had a lot of difficulty trying to remember the last part of the evening or them assisting me. I can’t for the life of me remember leaving the girls RV and staggering back home but I can remember getting into bed and there were no strange women in there with me, darn it. Just my luck…
I had a restless night waking up around 3:00 am and not dropping back off to sleep for the longest time. I suppose that I eventually did as I remember waking up this morning and laying there thinking about the previous evening. Oh, what fools we mortals be…
After a quick breakfast, I looked at my bird seed supply and discovered it was empty, so I jumped in the Rental car and drove into Dripping Springs. The first stop was Tractor Supply for bird feed and then onto HEB. I wandered around and managed to spend $180.00 on food and the inevitable beer for Daniel although it is almost certain that I will probably help to drink some of it. As I have said before in a previous blog, I can’t cook worth a damn, so beer is my contribution to our get togethers.
Back at the RV, I had to put up with a lot of ribbing from Malinda when she came over to take the beer back to her RV, but it was all in good fun. We have another trip organized this Saturday and we are going back to Fredericksburg.
I spent most of the day working on the blog which was fun to write as there was a lot to talk about. I had refilled the feeders when I got back from town and there has been a steady stream of birds visiting, now all I got to do is remember to bring them in when it gets dark.
Daniel invited me over to his RV for a beer. Just what I needed was another beer, but I harnessed up the dogs and walked over to his RV anyway. Gary was over there, and we sat and chatted for a bit. I limited myself to two beers this time around before walking back to my RV for the rest of the evening which was spent watching television.
An Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, TX. Friday 10/20/2023
After the recent events, it was nice to wake up in my own bed and not be wondering about what stupid thing did I get up to last evening. I missed out on the communal breakfast at the Club room because I got up late. Actually, I woke up late and it was 9:00 am before I crawled out of bed. I was in the bathroom getting ready for a shower and the dogs started barking. I grabbed a towel but somehow only got a face towel and not one of the big ones. It was enough to cover my privates as I answered the door. I knew it was Peggy and did not want to shock her a second time to see me standing there in all my naked glory. The towel, as small as it was, was big enough to cover all that I have left to offer…Peggy, being the good sport that she is started laughing as she realized that it was the second time, she had caught me without any clothes on although this time, at least I had the very small towel.
She had brought me a taco for breakfast from the communal get together which I accepted gratefully. She left and I went back to finish my matutinal ablutions and get ready to face another day.
The day started as it normally does with first hooking up the dogs and then tying them up outside before bringing out and rehanging the bird feeders. I did not have to refill any of them this time around. Then it was walkies time although we only made one loop of the park and barely covered a third of a mile before returning to the RV.
I rewarmed up the taco that Peggy had so bravely delivered to me and along with coffee, sat and enjoyed it while working on the blog. I know that not very many people bother to read the stuff that I write but I do it to keep my brain active and to stave off the inevitable Alzheimer’s which runs in my family. Both my mother and my sister lived until they were around 95 but both were afflicted with the dreaded disease. My Father and my brother only lived until their 70’s. I had one other brother that died of heart problems brought on by Rheumatic Fever while serving in the Air Force during World War 2 and he was only in his thirties. Hopefully, I will take after the lady’s side of the family. Rumor has it that I am the product of a totally different Father. If this is the case, there is no telling what my genes are.
I sat and wrote for a while until I was caught up with the blog and then looked for something else to get up to. We harnessed up and walked to the mailbox to see if we had any new mail. As it happened, we did not but I still have a couple of forwarding addresses that I need to work on.
We sat around and did a lot of nothing for a bit. The dogs both zonked off, but it was not that easy for me and although I wanted to, sleep would not come that easy.
I put together an evening meal of this and that and then we sat and watched more episodes of Yellowstone before crawling off to bed.
The morning started like any other as I crawled out of bed at a somewhat reasonable hour. At least for us. The dogs usually stay in bed until I have finished showering and have gone back into the bedroom to put on clothes. Then they will wake up or at least move around as they both look for the first petting of the day.
I put out the bird feeders as we usually do and then we went walking around the park and on the bottom road and managed to cover 7/10 of a mile. My hip was a little better although I could still feel it, but it was not quite so painful.
Back in the RV, I fixed the dog’s breakfast and Sandy ate hers meaning that she took her pill too. I ate a Burrito which was just OK from my perspective and the dogs got their share. Thank goodness for the coffee.
I had nothing planned for today although when I checked messages, I had one from the repair shop letting me know the current standings with the repairs to the Jeep. It is still at least a week away from being completed.
I continued writing in the blog and caught us up to date and then looked around for other things to get up to. Later, I took the dogs out for a walk, and we wandered around. We never really ever have any place in mind when we go walking, mostly trying to stay in the shade although it is much cooler now. In the afternoon, we always include visiting the mailbox just in case somebody sends me something. You never know…
I sat and listened to an Audiobook for a while and Gary stopped by and we visited for a half an hour or so before he left. Daniel had spotted me up on the porch and whistled and waved, inviting me over for a beer. I put the dogs inside and wandered over and ran into Gary again as he was sitting and chatting too.
Two beers later, I walked back to The Caboose and took the dogs out for the final walk of the day. I spotted the girls outside of their RV so I walked over to see if I could make a nuisance of myself with them. When I got there, Daniel and Malinda were already there along with Delores.
We sat and chatted and drank beer until it was all gone. Then the girls brought out the hard stuff and like an idiot, I tried some of it. Actually, it tasted great, but it has a kick like a mule although it kinda sneaks up on you. You would think that I would learn after the stuff that Malinda served us a while ago but no, I just had to try it.
Apparently, I needed help to walk back home, and the girls, BJ, Peggy and Delores all rallied around to perform that very difficult task of walking me back to my RV. Bottom line is that Delores was holding me up and somehow, we fell in a heap which brought roars of laughter from the others. I had a couple of little scrapes and Delores told me later that I had bloodied up her shirt with one of my cuts. Incidentally, I had landed on Delores, so she had broken my fall. Very nice of her to do that…With Delores on one side and BJ on the other and Peggy leading the dogs, they frog marched me back to my RV, unlocked the door and pushed me inside. I can’t have been too bad as I managed to put myself to bed and quickly passed out. Or maybe the girls put me to bed and haven’t told me yet as I was in no position to do anything about it,
I had completely forgotten about bringing in the bird feeders and of course, in the morning, they were empty but that is a different story for another day…From what I can remember, I had a good time, I think…
Such are the dangers of living in an RV Park with a bunch of crazy friends.
It was almost 10:00 am before I even woke up and I have no idea why I slept so long and so late. Must have needed sleep to do something like that. Doesn’t matter much as I have no plans or appointments for today.
I knew that I had to refill the feeders as I had forgotten to bring them in last night and when I remembered, the deer had already stopped by and emptied them. No biggie as I still had enough seed to refill them which I did before rehanging them. Then, we went out walking and covered about a half mile before returning for breakfast. My hip was sore, and it slowed us down and cut us back on the distance. I wish the darn thing would get better. I notice that as I age, my balance is not so good, and I must be more careful than in the past. Oh well, at least I am still alive and relatively healthy.
For a change, I heated up some left-over baked beans and had beans on toast which actually tasted pretty good. Then there’s the coffee. What would life be without that early morning pick me up. Back in England when I lived there, it was always that first cup of tea but probably things have changed because of the rapid Americanization of the world. I must admit that I changed with it and now coffee is my choice of drink although I still drink the occasional cuppa.
It was quiet out when we walked around the park and I had nothing planned for the rest of the day except the usual, walking and writing and cleaning up the RV which doesn’t get very messed up anyway. I am not the tidiest of people and things tend to get put on chairs or on countertops and such or any flat surface that happens to be available. Even with such a small space, I can never find anything and most of the time, it is right under my nose.
We sat outside on the deck and watched the activity within the park. There is a couple right across from me that have a regular van that they have converted into an RV. It obviously does not have much room, so they have storage boxes neatly stacked around the outside of the van. I do not think they have much room to live in and for me, it would not be enough space as demonstrated by the different RV’s I have owned in my comparatively short time of living the RV life.
It started to cool off and we moved back inside of The Caboose for the regular evening meal. I forgot the bird feeders …again but this time, only one was empty. I brought them in and put them on the deck out of the deer’s way and shut up shop for yet another day.
After going to bed late last evening or should I say early this morning, I did not wake up until 8:30 am. It did not matter as I have nothing of importance planned for today other than the usual dog walking, cleaning house and writing in the blog.
I enjoy writing but have no imagination so all I can write about are things that are or have recently happened. I am more of a reporter than an author. The only exception to that rule is that I can sometimes come up with the occasional poem and even then, I need to be in a writing mood for the creative juices to flow and I always need a subject to write about.
We went out for that first walk to the dumpster with our usual small bag of trash. Yesterday, when we were doing the same thing and walking across the grass, I found a dead squirrel. It was probably the one that had been visiting us, I could not see any visible signs of trauma so have no idea how or why it died. I picked it up and put it in the bag along with the trash although not for one minute did, I consider it to be that. I put it in the dumpster and murmured a few words over it and we moved on. I am sure that its soul has gone to that animal heaven in the sky.
I shook off the gloom the incident had created within me, and we continued our walkabout. We only covered a little more than a half mile on that first walk before returning to The Caboose for breakfast.
Sandy had one of those days where she did not touch her breakfast, which is always a worry as she needs her pills for her heart condition. So, it will be a game of waiting until she is ready to eat. I have to be careful to watch Mikey as he will eat her food in an instant and he does not need any of the expensive medication.
BTW, the medication is in the form of a large pill that I crush up and sprinkle on her food. It costs $3:00 a pill. This is another reason why I get bothered when she does not eat it, apart from the obvious of her not taking the medicine health wise. She must take it twice a day as she has a heart murmur.
The weather has changed quite considerably although it is not raining and there is a comparatively clear sky with a few clouds. However, the temperature has dropped a lot, and the overnight low was 46 degrees. Quite a change from just a couple of weeks ago. Today’s high is forecast to reach 71 degrees. I had to put on a jacket when we went walking this morning as the wind was cold.
I brought us up to date with the posting and looked around for something else to get up to. I wrote a poem and posted it on the site. This one was about the bird feeders that I have and all the feathery friends that come and visit.
We went out for another walk just around the park. Sandy was in the lead as she usually is and again, she did not want to go far, and we headed back to the RV where we sat outside with a small wine and potato chips listening to an Audiobook. It is kinda quiet with the girls and Daniel and Malinda away.
Gary stopped by and chatted for a bit and eventually went on his way and as it had cooled off, would you believe, we went back inside to get out of the wind which had a real chill to it. There, I worked on the blog and brought it up to date not that much had happened since I did the same thing an hour ago.
The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way. I found something to eat which was sufficient for its purpose but not particularly tasty. Not sure what is anymore. I used to like a good bowl of spaghetti covered in sauce and for a while, it was my favorite dish. Nowadays? Not so much.
RV’ers like to do a lot of outdoor grilling and at any given mealtime, you will find campers with their grills, cooking up a storm. As I walk around with the dogs, the smell of cooking meat is often in the air. I have an outdoor grill but do not use it very often. I also have an electric grill indoors that I do use quite a bit to cook chicken and pork chops and such. It is a convenient gadget and easy to clean.
I have been watching Yellowstone…again although it seems I must have missed several episodes as I cannot recall ever watching them before. In retrospect, I would have loved to have been a cowboy working outside all the time, riding a horse and living the rough and tumble life of a wrangler. OK, maybe not…
An Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, TX. Monday 10/16/2023
The friendly donkeys with the lone Zebra in the background. They all hang out together.
I got up late, surprise, surprise and discovered that the deer or some other nighttime animal had discovered where I kept the bird feeders at night. It was not difficult as they were on the small table next to the outdoor couch. Whatever had knocked them over had seed everywhere but luckily, most of it stayed on the glass tabletop and I was able to sweep it up and re-use it. Now, I will have to bring the feeders onto the top deck so whatever animal it was, cannot get at them. I refilled them and rehung the feeders and we went out walking the park. We wandered around for a bit before returning to The Caboose for breakfast. I sat and worked on the blog as I ate taquitos which incidentally, both dogs really like. They had more than I did.
Daniel and Jeff were out with their trucks and trailers transporting stuff from the other campsite that is closing at the end of this month. I imagine there is a lot of stuff for them to move and only the rest of this month to do it in.
I decided to go into Austin, well actually, Bee Cave to the Office Depot located there which is a little closer than going into Austin. I needed a desk mat to fit under my desk so that the office chair can roll around easier than on the carpet. I looked it up on the web first to make sure they had something close to what I wanted, which they did.
“Mat” is not really a good description of what I was looking for as it brings up visions of a carpet like substance. What I wanted was either plastic or wood or something similar. What I found and settled on was a 2-inch wooded slat unit joined together to form a roll up mat. It was big enough for my needs and nice to look at. It cost me $120.00 but it is well worth it as now I can manipulate my desk chair to wherever I want without fighting the already installed carpet. As I spend a lot of my time at this desk, I consider it money well spent. I also bought another cable to replace the one on the portable speaker that broke the other day.
With my purchases safely in my car, I headed back to Dripping Springs. I am not sure if it was my imagination, but the traffic fairly zipped along well above the speed limit of 60 mph. I did not complain, as I just kept up with the traffic and in no time flat, well OK, 30 minutes, I was back in Dripping Springs. Add another 15 minutes to that and I was home.
I spotted a pair of small deer as I drove down Henly Loop but was not able to get a picture of them. Arriving back at the RV created some excitement especially when I started to move furniture around. The dogs tried to help but as usual. only managed to get in the way. I finally got the new desk mat installed and at the same time, tidied up my desk as it was gathering trash. I also spent time tidying up the RV as it needed it.
With excitement of installing a new floor mat all finished, I sat down at the reorganized desk and played catchup with the blog and brought it up to date. Then it was walkies time and we harnessed up and hit the road. OK, most of it was withing the park so I guess I should say park roads. Back in the RV, we sat on the outside deck and listened to an Audiobook and drank a mini bottle of wine. Eventually, we went back inside and after making dinner for us all, I managed to get engrossed in Yellowstone until it was bedtime. Only then did I remember to bring in the bird feeders which of course were empty as the deer had visited and ate their fill. Oh well…I brought in the empty feeders anyway although I had no reason to at that point.
I think the dogs are in collusion with the deer as they never bark when we are inside the RV. They must hear them as there are usually a couple. They bark if they see them in the daylight. Maybe the dogs are scared of things that go bump in the night.
I sat inside of my RV wondering what my eyes might see when I look outside my door is it changed or still like before the wind did not blow and it has not rained so everything should still be the same I looked at the feeders filled with seed to give the birds all they need to keep them coming back to me as I sit and watch them flying free they land on the feeders to eat for a bit but something stops them continuing to sit so instead they hop from place to place trying each feeder for a different taste but alas each feeder has the same seed must be dull and boring for them indeed but then again it is their food and eating seed is what they are used the Humming Birds are a different kind with a special mix that they find in their own containers hanging high sugar water so sweet to help them fly with wings flapping at am amazing speed eighty times per second is what they need to keep their tiny bodies hovering high and sipping the mixture as they fly we even had a bird of prey much bigger and looking to join the fray only the food this time was another bird and luckily for them they had heard the hawk as it came crashing in and scattered so fast on their wings and all escaped I’m happy to say and will be back to feed on another day. I love to watch the birds as they eat and wish with some of them, I could meet but to them I present a dangerous look just like the hawk the lesson they took was to stay away from others like me and in their wisdom, I could see that all I can do is supply the seed for my feathered friends is what they need.
This is how we would like to see at least for a bit…
Friday the Thirteenth. To some people it is a very unlucky day. To others, it is just superstition and another regular day.
We got up very late and it was almost 10:00 am before I even awoke. I have no idea why I slept for so long as yesterday was not much different than most other days.
As we usually do most every morning, we harnessed up to go outside and then brought out the bird feeders, refilling them as required. Then we went out for the first walk that wasn’t very far as my left glute was very sore. I have no idea why it is acting up and decided to use one of my walking sticks to help me move. It did help a bit, but we only walked a half mile before returning to the Caboose for breakfast.
I made a bacon sandwich to go along with the coffee, but the dogs ate most of it as it did not hit the spot, I was hoping it would. Somehow, I must find something more appealing to go with the coffee.
Following breakfast, I settled down in front of the computer to catch up with the blog. I have nothing planned for today. As I was sitting there, my friendly little squirrel was busy helping himself to birdseed. I do not mind him as he does not eat very much. Not like the deer who will empty the feeders whenever the opportunity arises.
Maybe, that is not the right way to put it as technically, they are never “allowed” to eat the seed. It is always because for different and various reasons, I forget to bring in the feeders at night or sometimes, if I am away during the day. The deer are not a bit shy about coming into the park during daylight hours and helping themselves.
While we were out walking this morning, I noticed water pouring out of my friend Gary’s rig. I knew he was away and had no idea when he would return so I turned the water off at the main and then left a message with Malinda telling her the problem and asking her to get a hold of Gary.
I thought no more about it until I saw his vehicle appear and wandered over a bit later to chat with him. Greg, his next-door neighbor, also stopped by, and Gary filled us in. Luckily, the problem was outside and in the storage compartments, and he did not sustain any interior water damage.
Delores stopped by on her way to the Commons area to do some work and we chatted for a bit. Out of our group, her and Gary are the only ones left with Daniel and Malinda on a trip and the girls away visiting friends.
We decided to go out for another walk because my left hip is really hurting and going out for short walks was better for me. When we came back, I sat and listened to an Audiobook and managed to come to the end of that story. I have another story already started so I will drop back onto that one before finding a whole new one. I just love Audiobooks.
We sat for quite a while on the deck with first a wine that I was working on left over from last evening and then a can of beer. Finally, I decided that it was time to shut up shop but first, I remembered to bring in the bird feeders. I do not even put them away anywhere, just on the little table on the deck which is enough to frighten the deer off. Birds and squirrels are OK as they do not eat much.
With everything put away, we adjourned back indoors as it was cooling off fast for the rest of the evening’s food and entertainment.
An Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, TX. Saturday 10/14/2023
Inside The Caboose. The screen with the reflections is the TV. The blank area on the right is a window with the blind down.
It was 9:00 am before we rolled out of bed after a very good night’s sleep and following the usual morning ablutions, we went through the routine of harnessing the dogs and bringing out the bird feeders. With that done, we went for a short walkabout. For some reason, Sandy was a reluctant walker, so we about turned and headed back to The Caboose.
It was a nice sunny day with a bit of a breeze which had a nip to it as the temperature was a cool 65 degrees. Sitting up on the deck was very pleasant.
I moved back indoors and fed the dogs before fixing myself a breakfast patty sandwich. It was OK and as I was finishing it, both Delores and Gary appeared and sat on the outside table.
Delores had dark shades with her and handed a pair to both of us so we could watch the full solar eclipse which was happening as we sat there. It was not a very exciting occurrence but still pretty awesome. I tried to take a picture of the event, but I guess the camera lens was just not strong enough and all I got was a complete circle of light.
Eventually both went back to their RV’s, and we adjourned inside to write the blog. With the excitement of the eclipse gone, I looked around for other things to create something different in our normally mundane lives but could not come up with anything other than walking dogs and watching the Premier League. Oh well, it is good to have something out of the ordinary happen occasionally.
Then I remembered that I needed to go into town to try and find the heavy-duty plastic square that is placed under desk chairs to help them move around better. Currently, my chair is sitting on the carpet, and it is not easy to scoot forwards or backwards as needed.
I jumped in the rental car which, incidentally, sits lower to the ground than does the Jeep and we drove to the Home Depot in Dripping Springs. Unfortunately, they did not have anything that would work so I drove into Austin to the first Walmart’s who did not have what I needed either.
I searched around for an Office Depot but could not find one close by and decided that today was not my day and bought a Latte at the nearest Starbucks and drove back to Dripping Springs.
Later, Delores came over and we sat drinking wine and just chatting. Then Gary stopped by and the three of us sat and talked about all kinds of things. Gary recently had surgery for a facial problem and declined the offer of a glass of wine, so Delores and I drank his share.
Both eventually left with Delores declining my offer to walk her home. She lives in the RV next door about 30 yards away so I guessed she would be OK. We adjourned indoors and watched a Premier League game and then I switched and watched 5 episodes of Yellowstone for the second time. Needless to say, it was late by the time I got to bed, and I quickly fell asleep.
I slept very well except for one call of nature and did not wake up until almost 8:00 am. I crawled out of bed and enjoyed a hot shower in my newly repaired shower unit even if it was running on propane, dressed and was ready to face yet another day. Daniel has ordered the replacement part to get hot water by electricity and it should be here tomorrow.
I wandered around the park with the dogs in tow, but it was not one of our better days and we barely covered a half mile. Back in The Caboose, I fixed the usual breakfast and coffee for me and gave the dogs their breakfast. Today was a good day as Sandy ate hers which of course, included her pill.
I sat down to write only to discover that somehow, things that I was used to had been switched around and I spent some frustrating time trying to get things back the way I wanted. I finally had it back to where it was with some semblance of order at least that I could recognize, Sometimes, I hate computers which are, after all, only as good as the operators.
Daniel stopped by and we chatted for a bit before he returned to his outside duties. I continued writing and brought the blog up to date.
I wrote for a while until I was caught up and looked around for other things to get up to. Daniel stopped by again and asked if I wanted to go for a ride in his buggy. Not having anything better to do, I agreed and before long we were tearing around all over the park. We had a specific place in mind and shortly, I was loading the sawn branches from yesterday’s efforts onto the buggy. We eventually made two trips and unloaded the brush in the pile at the bottom of the park for later pickup.
Then it was coffee time and we ended up in the Commons to drink coffee and spin great yarns. It is amazing what guys find to talk about and how bad the stories and the claims really are. Daniel is an expert at storytelling.
We talked for a while and then he went back to work, and I walked back to the RV. The dogs needed to go out walking and we harnessed up to do just that. We just wandered around with no specific direction except that which Sandy pointed out to us. Even with a slow day, we still got in 1.5 miles.
I sat outside for a bit listening to an Audiobook, but it had turned cooler, so we adjourned back inside of the RV where it was quite a bit warmer. I continued to write in the blog. It is already getting a lot darker and much earlier as the seasons change.
The day ended in the usual way with food and drinks all around for both me and the dogs.
An Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, TX. Thursday 10/12/2023
Mikey had a terrible night as he kept on throwing up but not really emptying his stomach but just releasing phlegm. At least he got off the bed each time to upchuck. I followed him around with a handful of paper towels to clean up after him. After about an hour of this, he finally settled down and we were able to get back to sleep. I have no idea what it was with him but obviously, something had upset his little tummy.
Consequently, when the morning came, I did not even wake up until about 9:30 am. Mikey appeared to not be suffering any more discomfort from his nightly adventures and was very happy to go out walking with Sandy and me. We walked Henly Loop again towards Hwy 290 and managed to cover exactly a mile for that first walk. Incidentally, it was overcast and for the first time, I had to wear a light jacket, Sure is different from just two weeks ago when it was still 100 degrees outside.
I made breakfast for the dogs and then myself. Sandy did not eat all of hers and consequently, did not take her medication. It really is hard trying to get her to swallow it. Maybe, I need to look around for some other way to get it inside of her.
While considering what to have for breakfast, I put some chicken on the inside electric grill to be cooking while I did other things. I looked in both the refrigerator and freezer for something different and found a package of taquitos. I put four of them in the microwave to heat up and made coffee. By the time we finished eating, I had eaten three of the things and the dogs shared the other one. Not very substantial or filling but at least it was something. Food does not have the same appeal as it used to have, and I eat a lot of the time because I know I must, not necessarily for enjoyment. Even so, I still have plenty of fat where there used to be muscle. Whereas the muscle takes a lot of physical work, the fat, not so much which accounts for so much of it.
I decided to go into town to go grocery shopping and after saying goodbye to the dogs, jumped in my rental car for the twenty minute drive. I considered what I needed and although I wanted to go in The Home Depot, I did not need anything from there and decided it was not worth it. I did go into HEB which is right nextdoor and wandered around. I only purchased a few items and beer was not one of them this trip although, I did stock up on the tiny bottles of wine.
I bypassed Starbucks again not feeling like coffee and made the drive back to the RV. After unloading the few bags with the help of my buddies, I sat down to play catchup with the blog. Daniel stopped by just to chat as he did not need any help.
The rest of the day was spent quietly sitting outside listening to an Audiobook and drinking mini bottles of wine.
I went to take a shower and discovered that I did not have any hot water. Something had broken in the system. I quickly dried off my legs as they were the only thing that had gotten wet with the cold-water shower and put on some clothes.
We went out for the first walk of the day and managed to cover 1.1 miles making for a good start. Weatherwise, it was much cooler and very pleasant walking. I was having problems with my left glutinous maximus which was both sore and painful to walk. The dogs had absolutely no sympathy whatsoever and Sandy kept barreling along as fast as her little legs would carry her dragging me and Mikey along behind.
Back in the RV, I was sitting outside, and Daniel pulled up to chat. He invited me over to the Commons to eat some of last evening’s leftovers. I told him that I too was having hot water problems, and after we finished eating, he immediately took a look. He managed to get the gas heater working but was unable to do the same for the electric side of things. He called James, the RV Mechanic and between them, they did some long-distance diagnosing.
As it happened, James was coming into the park later that day. Daniel, in the meantime, went about doing as much checking as he could and spent several hours working on the electric hot water heater. He managed to get it working on the propane side but not on the electric side.
After a lot of testing and checking, he and James diagnosed the problem and Daniel went online and ordered the part and hopefully, it will be here tomorrow. He is such a helpful fellow, and he puts it down to learning as much as he can about the repair side of RV’s. But quite honestly, it is in his nature to be a very helpful guy. James, the Repair Mechanic, was also very helpful in diagnosing the problem.
It took most of the afternoon to find what to repair and around 3:00 pm, he went back to his regular duties after having to play catchup because of his helping me.
I straightened things up to make the RV a little tidier than it was after Daniel had breezed through and then turned my attention to the blog with plenty to write about. Incidentally, it was a very cloudy day and a bit on the chilly side compared to last week. Typical Texas weather.
Trying to fix the water problem in the RV had taken up most of the afternoon and we went out for another walk around the park. We wandered as we usually do and managed to cover almost 2 miles for the day. I was having trouble with my glutes on the left side, and it was painful to walk.
An Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, TX. Wednesday 10/11/2023
The day started as it usually does first by harnessing up the dogs and then bringing out the bird feeders. Then, we went walking to the dumpster which is usually our first stop. Somehow, even with just me and two little dogs, we generate a plastic shopping bag full of trash every day. Sandy decides which way we are going to walk and me and Mikey follow meekly along behind. We covered a mile for the morning walk, which is always a good thing, and we did this by taking Henly Loop towards Hwy 290 plus the walk around the park.
It is much nicer walking nowadays as it has cooled down quite a bit.
Daniel stopped by and asked me to join him as he had some clearing to do and knows that at least I can still do that. He drove his 4×4 around to several different spots and we loaded it with downed branches and such and then drove it back to the very large trash pile for later disbursement.
By then, it was coffee time and we adjourned to the Breakroom to consume some. We sat there for probably 30 minutes before Daniel went back to work and I went back to my RV with my small contribution done for the day.
I sat and worked on the blog bringing it up to date and then looked around for other things to get up to. I thought about throwing in a load of laundry but when I looked, I really did not have enough for a load. I put that idea to one side and then looked around for other things to do.
We went out for another walk which is one of the things we can always do when things are slow. The dogs never say no to walking and it is good for me too.
Finally, I went outside with a small bottle of wine and listened to an Audiobook until it started to get dark. One more quick walk, bring in the bird feeders and we were done outside for the day.
Back indoors, it was mealtime all around and then the usual watching the English Premier League. I even went to bed early as I felt tired enough to sleep.
I was up early as I knew that I had to be at the Car Rental by 10:30 am and it was a half hour drive on Hwy 290 through Dripping Springs. We went out for that first walk and wandered around on the outside roads as well as within the campground. It was a very pleasant day with the sun shining and giving off some warmth to combat the chill of the wind. I think we can safely assume that summer is over, and we are into Fall.
Back in the RV, I had a quick breakfast after feeding the dogs although both did not eat until later in the day.
By then, it was time to leave, and I drove the 25 miles to the repair shop and handed over the car. Then I went next door and managed to rent a car for the two weeks that I thought the Jeep repair would take. It is very convenient to have both places next door to each other.
With the paperwork taken care of, I drove the new, to me, car back to the RV Park and had to put up with some friendly ribbing from Daniel. Unless something changes, the Rental car will sit most of the time and only getting used for the occasional trip to HEB.
I took the dogs walking around the park before settling down to work on the blog. After the flurry of excitement with picking up the car, things have slipped into the usual quiet days that I enjoy so much. I worked on the blog bringing it up to date.
I got a text message from Peggy telling me to “Come over to the Breakroom to eat”. I took the dogs out for a short walk and then put them back in the RV. I wandered over to the Breakroom and the whole gang was there including the new couple and their daughter that had pulled in a couple of days ago, next to BJ and Peggy. The place was a hive of activity with some people eating, others serving food and even a couple just talking.
As usual, the food was very good and there was a lot of it. Enough that anyone that wanted too, could go back for seconds or even thirds. I limited myself to one small plateful and took my time in eating it, washing it down with a beer. As usual, there was a lot of conversation and some pretty wild jokes to keep us amused.
Eventually, we all went back to our RV’s as the day slowly came to an end.
I got up feeling pretty good considering that I had drunk a lot of beer last evening. The deer had emptied the feeders while I had been at the girls RV last evening and so I took the time to fill them before we went out for that first walk. I was in a bit of a hurry as we had plans to go to Wimberley to the Market that is held there.
At about 9:15, BJ pulled up outside my RV and I hurried out and I jumped in feeling a bit guilty about deserting the dogs for all day. Definitely, not what they are used to. The drive in was uneventful and we arrived at the Market, which incidentally, is huge with over 400 booths, and started to wander around.
After a couple of hours, we found a place that had live music and sat listening for a while. Peggy dragged me out onto the dance floor, and I was saved by the music ending from having to dance. Not that I mind making a fool of myself. I can do that as well as the next man.
We left the dance hall and went back to wandering around the market going from booth to booth and not covering the same one twice. Even then, we probably only visited about half of the booths. The place is humongous.
We jumped back into the car for the drive home only this time, we stopped at The Boil Shack to eat. I chose chicken along with French fries which was very good. I could only eat three pieces of the chicken and Daniel helped me out with the rest.
We finally arrived back at the campground about 6:30 pm after a busy but fun day. I went out walking playing catchup with the dogs who had given me a wonderful welcome when I got home.
I truly am lucky to have such nice and somewhat crazy friends who do a lot of “stuff”.
An Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, TX. Sunday 10/08/2023
I heard someone beating on the door which woke me up. I got out of bed and walked over to the door to see who it might be and discovered it was Peggy. I waved at her through the glass door forgetting that I did not have any clothes on and only remembering when I saw the look on her face as she covered her eyes. I am sure seeing a naked 87-year-old, with the emphasis on old, was quite a shock to her system.
She recovered enough to mouth, “Breakfast in the breakroom” as she scampered back down the steps. I showered, shaved and dressed and harnessed up the dogs and we went out for a quick walkabout. Then, I put them back inside the RV and went over to the Breakroom where the usual crowd was gathered plus a few extras. These included Delores and the couple, Jim and Debbie and their daughter, Erica, that came with us to Wimberley. Gary was also back in town and joined us. We sat and ate breakfast and as usual, there was a lot of food. I finally finished my plate and sat back to enjoy the coffee and listen to the conversation, most of which was funny.
I took the dogs out walking and we managed to cover 1.2 miles for the first walk of the day. Back in the RV, I put in a load of laundry and then prepared the food for the dogs before settling down in front of the computer. Luckily, I was all caught up as I had spent time last evening working on the blog.
I was sitting on the deck and saw that Daniel was working on his rig. I wandered over to see if I could help and discovered he was trimming the trees around and over his RV. A lot of it was very high up and required a 15ft step ladder plus an extension on his pole saw. Malinda was helping him, so I jumped in by dragging the cut branches away to a separate pile out of the way. He eventually got everything cut and I had it all cleaned up and about that time, Delores and the girls showed up heading for the pool.
Malinda quickly changed into her swimsuit and was gone in no time flat. Daniel and I sat by the RV drinking a beer or two before we decided to join everybody. I went back to my RV and changed into swimwear as did Daniel and then we hopped on his four-wheeler for the short trip.
I would like to say that I jumped in the pool as well but jumped is not the right word. The pool is still lacking a handrail by the steps, and I needed someone or something to hang onto which Gary provided. Once in the pool, I swam around for a bit to get warm as the water was pretty cold. I stayed there and complained the entire time much to everybody else’s amusement.
Finally, we had had enough of the swimming, and we sat in a group chattering about a lot of nothing before eventually heading back to get dressed. We were still not done as one by one; we gathered back in the Breakroom to eat what was left of the morning’s breakfast before eventually all heading back to our individual RV’s.
These really are a fun bunch of people to hang around with and I am lucky they let me into the group.
When I was young and just a kid it did not matter what I did as the time always passed so slow and sometimes it was hard to know should I go home to eat a bite or can we play with all our might cops and robbers, cowboys and guns in our minds were the only ones shooting each other in make belief play acting dead no small relief to play dead for a while and rest our bones till the game is over and we go home or maybe we start another game change the sides so they’re not the same different players in each team hoping that they have not been seen and in our minds we shoot to kill and cry out your dead from over the hill then the arguments will start I am not dead just playing the part your shot at me was high and wide now you must be on the other side as I have shot you through the heart and in this game you have no part we would play this make belief until it was dark and we would creep out of the woods and head back home in a group and not alone for we all feared walking at night when none of us ever had a light to show us the way back to our homes where with our folks we were never alone that was a long time ago that I was eight or nine years old or so and we spent our time out in the woods just as every young kid should away from the books and the radio too not needing those things or maybe a few for the evening when it’s time for bed and the cops and robbers and cowboys instead turn into dreams as we sleep the time to do it tomorrow will be just fine eighty years have now long gone and I remember those time just like a song when we played in the woods without a care our whole life before us ours to share and now I am old and think of those times having to put it all in rhyme so that others can share the life we had as kids without any strife even though there was World War Two we were kids and had no clue except to dive for cover till the bombers passed or the doodlebugs motor would not last and when it cut out the thing would fall with a mighty explosion with a pall of smoke and debris and sometimes a form as someone dies and we are so forlorn but in the end we lived our lives through all of the chaos of that time and eighty year later remember the day when in the fields we went out to play.
With no heavy rain or thunderstorms overnight, I slept well before getting up at a respectable hour. We went out for the first walk and covered almost a mile. It was nice walking with the sun shining and with a cool and steady breeze. Maybe, we are finished with the heat wave and the 100-degree weather. I sure hope so as it got really old really quick. We were out early enough to run into several other dogs walking their Master’s or Mistresses.
Back in the RV, I fixed us all breakfast. Sandy ate hers which means she took her pill. Yeah…I sat and worked on the blog for a bit and caught us up to date and then decided to drive to the spot where I hit the deer.
I arrived there with no problems from the Jeep even though the cooling fan is supposedly not working. I kept a close eye on the temperature gauge, but it held steady the whole round trip of about 40 miles. I walked the area of the accident covering about 50 yards in both directions but did not find the missing number plate.
I turned back and then went into the new HEB located at Nutty Brown and wandered around finding all the stuff I needed plus a bit more as I ended up spending a little over $200.00. I filled up with gas while I was at HEB as their gas is a bit cheaper but that was not included in the $200.00,
We drove home and I contemplated stopping at Starbucks in Dripping Springs but then decided against it as I just did not feel like drinking a Latte. Who would have thought that a man that used to drink at least one Latte a day now does not drink any.
The dogs helped me to unload the groceries although I had to put them away as they both are not very good at it mainly because the shelves are out of their reach. Besides, they are too busy with their noses stuck in each bag for the wonderful smells.
With everything taken care of, I settled down in front of the computer and played catch up with the blog. Today is going by really slow which is a good thing. Then we went out for a short walk, but our timing was off, and the dogs were not really into it, so we returned to The Caboose. We sat outside for a bit and then I decided to write more of the blog to bring us up to date.
The rest of the day and evening was spent doing a whole lot of nothing until I got an email from Peggy telling me to come over, which of course, I did. Delores was already there, and we sat outside chatting and drinking beer. A bit later, Daniel and Malinda joined us, and the drinking really started. Altogether, I had four beers and we had to help Delores back to her RV as she was not feeling any pain whatsoever. Later, I staggered back to The Caboose knowing that although not drunk, I was very aware that I had consumed a lot of beer.
Back in my RV, I found something to eat and finished the evening in the regular way of watching television.
I awoke at a very early hour and for a minute or so, seriously thought about getting up. Then common sense kicked in and I rolled over and went back to sleep. Actually, I did get up earlier than usual and we went out walking the grounds and the bottom road and managed to cover 1.4 miles on that first walk of the day. There was a nice cool breeze blowing which made all the difference.
I put out the bird feeders before we went out for that morning walk. Yesterday, I watched a large hawk made a dive at the birds that were feeding. It missed all of them and then perched in the tree above the feeders until I drove it off. Hope it stays away.
On our walkabout this morning, we got to see the three cows in the field across the way along with their two calves as they were congregated close to the road. There were not any exotics in view in the fields on the other side of the road.
Back in the RV, I fixed breakfast and that all important coffee for myself and then at the same time, fixed Sandy her special breakfast which today, she ate it all and licked the bowl clean. So, at least this morning, she has taken her medication. Mikey decided that he did not want his and it sat in his chair waiting for when he was ready.
I sat working on the computer and Daniel stopped by. We sat outside and chatted for 30 minutes or so and then he went back to work as did I only mine is in the air-conditioned RV and his is out in the hot sun. Another thing is that I do not get paid for mine as it is strictly a labor of love. Probably not worth much anyway…
I contacted the body shop trying to set up an appointment to get the Jeep repaired and am now awaiting a callback. The new computer handles some of my files differently than the old one and it is a little frustrating trying to find a work around.
Later in the afternoon, I tried the bodyshop again and this time figured out what I had done wrong in misspelling the log on. With the correct one to work with, I managed to email the quotes from the Insurance to the shop. They called me back a bit later and now I have an appointment for Monday at 10:30 am to drop off the car and pick up a rental vehicle. In a way, the rental is kind of a waste as it will hardly get used in the whole time that I have it but the idea of not having any wheels for at least two weeks is kinda scary.
With contact finally made, I was able to relax on that front. We went out for another walk about and just wandered around. The sun was still hot, but it was nice and cool in the shade, and we managed to cover 2.1 miles for the day.
I was sitting outside, and Daniel whistled at me from his RV and then beckoned me over. I was not doing anything except to listen to an Audiobook and I wandered over to his RV, He already had steaks on the grill, and I enjoyed a nice juicy one with all the trimmings along with a couple of beers as we sat and talked.
An hour or so later, I walked back to The Caboose and shut up shop for the evening. I had already brought in the bird feeders before I headed over to Daniels and Malinda’s rig having learned my lesson from a couple of nights ago when the deer completely cleaned us out.
The rest of the evening was spent in the usual fashion.
An Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, TX. Thursday 10/05/2023
We had a tremendous thunderstorm in the night with very bright lightning and a lot of very heavy rain. I learned later that we had 3.5 inches of the stuff which was good. The only problem with heavy rain is that most of it runs off and not a lot of it sinks in. Still every bit helps, and we will take what we can get.
I even got up earlier than I normally do just so I could get outside to see the results. There was rain forecast off and on for all day. We can sure use it.
We wandered around and got to see Olive with Greg in tow in the distance and waved to them as we walked the outside road leading to Hwy 290. The dogs were not dressed the same as their harness was soaked from last night’s rain and because I left it outside, I had to resort to each having a single leash on their regular collars.
We were stopped to let a car go by and I tried to guide Sandy to the side of the road, and she slipped her collar. She dashed into the road and luckily, the two cars, one from each direction, were paying attention and both stopped. I dragged Sandy to the side and slipped her collar back over her head and waved thanks to both drivers. By then, a third car had joined the group and Sandy had created a mini car backup. All this on our road that has very little traffic except of course, when you do not want any.
We made the walk the rest of the way without any further incident and went about the task of fixing breakfast. I fed Sandy her medicine mix and she ate it while on the bed. I think that is her special place. She got a big fuss made of her for being such a good girl (my words to her). Mikey just gave me a look as if to say, what did she do?
Then a fixed a burrito and coffee for me and turned my attention to the blog. It was raining, just a fine drizzle, but the whole appearance was of a damp and chilly day. We have not seen one of these for a while.
I sat and wrote and brought us up to date and looked out of the window at the miserable day and wondered what else I could get up to. Then I remembered that I had done laundry yesterday and that I had a machine full of folding and putting away, still to do. That got me motivated and I spent the next 15 minutes doing just that. Then I looked at the bed which was all messed up and went about remaking it. With that done, I was up to date on all the inside chores.
Daniel invited me over for coffee in the Break Room and we sat and chatted for 30 minutes or so before he went back to work. I continued with the blog before deciding to go out for another walk. I had received an invitation from Daniel to go over for supper which consisted of two different sorts of sausage in a tortilla roll. Then we finished by starting on the two plates, one of fruit and the other of raw vegetables that I had bought for the Soccer girls who had not partaken of my offer. That and a couple of beers and good company and conversation made a great ending to the day.
