I was glad to take the dogs walking knowing what faced me back at Mr. George as I was running out of room and places to store stuff. I did not realize it but the overhead storage in Miss Daisy is what allowed me to have so much junk, in so many crates. Now, without that, it is in reverse, junk and no place to put it. Luckily, I have cleaned up the outside so at least everything looks very presentable. The mess is inside with boxes all over the place still waiting to be emptied. Maybe I can donate more of it. When you stop to think that a few months ago, I owned an 1800 square foot house with sheds full of tools and such and now what I have left is packed into a 200 sq ft RV. Some of the stuff I have is really not practical for my current lifestyle. I worked with my hands all my life and even the last twenty years spent in Construction Management at the University of Teas in Austin, I still have all the tools that I had collected and used over those years. I brought a lot of them with me and will probably never use them again. Old habits die hard, but they do add weight and take up a lot of valuable storage space and I seriously need to think about the practicality of all the extra stuff.
There are two problems with having extra “stuff” in an RV. One is the lack of space for storing those items making it important that they consist of items of necessity. The other is the amount of extra weight that are added by those same items. So, eventually, all my wonderful tools and all their memories will have to go, and I will only keep the bare necessities.
Following out usual walks and breakfast I had another trip to Georgetown to pick up a couple of crates that somehow, we had left behind in Miss Daisy. It is amazing that both BJ and I did separate walk arounds to check that we had everything out of her but apparently not. While I was there, I bought an adjustable entrance step for Mr. George as the first step is high after the RV is levelled. The one, I am using is very small and tends to wobble if I am not careful. I could see an accident in the making and splurged for the new step instead. It is much bigger and has adjustable legs.
From Georgetown, I headed back to Austin to a donation shop that BJ had told me about where I wanted to drop off a bunch of file folders and such that I had no use for. I was using the map system in the Jeep that for some reason had me on the frontage road instead of on the highway, which was extremely frustrating, but I eventually found the place and dropped off the stuff. By the way, the map system had been sending me all over the place all day. Weird. Incidentally, Georgetown is a 140-mile round trip.
I made it back to Henly and to two very impatient little dogs who could not wait to get on their harness and hit the streets.
Another beautiful sunny day here in Henly. It was already warm when we went out walking, but we did not see much on our travels except a herd of deer. We walked the lanes and did very well covering almost 1.5 miles before returning to Miss Daisy for breakfast. The two dogs were out and greeted us warmly barking like crazy. Well, the big hound did but the fat little pug only croaks and does not have a real bark anyway. Unlike yesterday, I had no chores that needed doing so after breakfast and a little tidying up, I settled down to write and work on the few pictures that I have recently taken. I then posted them on different blogs and posted the blogs onto the website. All of this takes time and is not helped by the fact that the WordPress program that I use to post the blogs kept messing one of them up. I’m sure it was the program, couldn’t possibly be my error, could it? I finally got it straightened out and am now caught up with the exception of the one I am writing. I am posted out through March 3rd and I’m thinking that when I hit the road again and unless I stay longer than overnight, my writing time will be impacted and there will be a lot of catch up to do. Thats down the road a bit so I will worry about it later.
Today was a quiet day with nothing planned except to exercise the dogs which is a focal point of every day. My life revolves around them and their needs and in return, I get their love and companionship. I thought seriously about going into town but put it off to another day. I can always find something to eat and food to me is just a necessity so usually, almost anything will do. Plus, my tastes are very simple.
There are now a couple of RVs in the temporary lots in front of me. One is an Airstream owned by a young lady who travels alone with just her older grey snouted dog and the other is a Class A operated by a much older gentleman. He moves slow but is still able to set up the unit. He has a wife who is more agile than he is. Quite a contrast in owners.
I looked at the clock and it already says 4:30. I have no idea where the time goes as my life slips away. Funny but as I grow older, stuff like that doesn’t bother me as much as when I was younger. It’s as though my brain has accepted that my body has slowed down and doesn’t keep sending out the prompts as it did when I was younger. Things like, “You are wasting time or get busy and do something”. As I wrote this, my friend BJ called me just to chat and catch up on the latest going on. She is my walking buddy, but we have not been out for several months due to various reasons one of which is her hurting her knee which has taken some time to heal.
I started thinking about Miss Daisy and the faults that I find with her. Things like the lack of space and the poor kitchen arrangement all due to the confined area, I am always bumping into the fixed furniture resulting in bruises and scratches. She is easy to drive and even easier to set up but has her drawbacks and when the time comes to permanently park her somewhere when my driving days are over, I really would like something little more spacious. I started looking online at the same place that I have purchased all three of my RV’s, Crestview, to see what they might have that would suit my needs and located one used unit. I made a note of what I found to follow up tomorrow.
We went out for our final walk of the day and managed to cover 2.5 miles.
This is some of the rockwork on a drainage culvert recently rebuilt that we saw on our walk this morning. A true artist at work. Sandy is inspecting the work and she gave it her OK.
A late start with nothing much planned for the day. We went out for the morning walk and covered 1.5 miles some of it from me walking to the laundry room as for me, it was laundry day. This is something we only do when the laundry basket is filled up and when clothes start coming out of the top, I know it is time to head for the laundry room. Luckily, there were plenty of open machines and I loaded out two of them throwing in clothes with no particular choice of colors, whites or what have you. Actually, that is not entirely true as I did throw all the whites into one machine, but they were also along with whatever else I had. I got the App working on one machine but not on the other much to my frustration and had to make change for some quarters. Melinda, the Park Super happened to walk in and I explained the problem with the non-functional machine. She was unable to get it to work either, so I did not feel so bad.
I went back to Miss Daisy for breakfast all around and then sat down in front of the computer to read emails which were mostly just a bunch of junk as per usual. I stop some of them, but they eventually show up again somehow bypassing the system. Of the 40 or so that I got this morning, I think I only answered one of them and it was from my doctor’s office. The same thing is true on Facebook where so many of the posts are uninteresting or self-serving. Most of the “friends” that I have are complete strangers to me and I have no idea how they friended me. Every now and then, a genuine friend shows up to which I usually respond, or a particular post catches my eye and I repost it. Otherwise, I really do waste a lot of my time on that program, can’t think why. Just in case, I guess. I know a lot of people who do not use Facebook for that very reason. Why would anybody ask to be friends with someone they do not know is beyond me. Worse yet, why would anyone respond with a yes to a perfect stranger? “Friends” is probably the wrong word, but the definition is very broad and not exclusive to someone you like or is close to you.
The App showed me that at least one machine was ready and needed my attention, so I wandered over to the Laundry Room and transferred the clothes into the dryers. This time, the app worked perfectly and an hour later I was back again folding the laundry which took all of 10 minutes. Back in Miss Daisy, I put the laundry away and made the bed and we are all set for another couple of weeks or so. I had a few other chores to do around the Miss Daisy that I had been putting off because I am lazy. First, I cleaned my boots which were pretty grimy and in need of a polish and while I was at it, noticed that the water filter had not been re-installed after the frosty weather and added that to the list. While I was doing that, I also noticed that the Plankets that I had used to cover the water standpipe during the freeze needed folding up and with all the chores taken care of, I adjourned back inside to my two little friends.
Our daytime temperatures are now pushing back into the high 60’s, low 70’s and on this morning’s walk, I actually started to sweat. Have not done that in a while. Maybe, just maybe, our winter is over here in Texas. I have started to look ahead and plan our upcoming trip to New York State. It was not until I looked at RV Trip Wizard, the program I use for planning, did, I realize just how far and how complex that trip is going to be. For one thing, it is all of 2145 miles to Fort Plain, NY and as I do not like to drive more than 150 miles day, driving alone will take at least 15 stops at different campgrounds. I like to enjoy a campground if it pleases me or has good trails and so sometimes hang out for a week or more before moving on so planning this trip will be interesting. Then too, so much depends on the availability of campgrounds along the way so I will need to be flexible on my travels.
We went out for our final walk of the day before adjourning back to Miss Daisy for the evening and managed to cover 2.5 miles walking the lanes. While out there, we can hear the traffic on Hwy 290 which is always busy. I heard a truck and then someone really laying on the horn followed by the sound of an almighty crash. Next thing was this huge dark column of thick black smoke, and I knew that it was serious. I was a mile away and there was nothing I could do to help. One of my camper neighbors had passed the crash and had taken pictures which showed the tractor trailer on fire and a pickup truck in the ditch. From the TV news later, two people got out with minor injuries and the reason for the fire was that it was a tanker truck. All it takes is a second of misjudgment and a life could be over.
The view towards the bottom of the park which is the “new” section.
We got up late, surprise, surprise not having anything planned for the day. After yesterday, it was good to be back in my usual routine of not doing very much although, that is not really true. On the days I am not physically active, I always keep my mind busy working on the blog, writing poetry, or working on the pictures that I take. Sometimes, I listen to a story on Audiobooks, and I do have half a biography written, of the time that I lived in England. One of these days, I will get around to the American half of the story. Do not know why as no one will read it because it will never get published.
We went out for our walk and then had breakfast before settling down in front of the computer. Well, that is what I did. The dogs found their usually place and went to sleep. What a life both for me and them. I wrote for quite a while before they reminded me that it was time to go walkies. It had warmed up quite considerably through the day and I debated on a jacket for the afternoon walk. I decided against it until we got outside, and I made a quick about turn to grab one, it was chilly in the shade but still nice in the sun.
We took the long walk that goes past the two dogs previously mentioned and I could hear them barking somewhere invisible to us. Other than that, the walk was not a bit unusual except for the amount of beer cans littered along the road. I imagine it is one of the locals that throws them out as they are pretty much all the same brands, and the road is a loop and does not go anywhere. Wonder why some people just can’t clean up their trash and think it’s OK to toss it out of the car window. Such a shame that there are people like that in the world. On the way back, one of my much younger neighbors and her dog passed us on their way back from walking. They walk faster than we do, (everybody walks faster than we do) and it’s not all because I am old and take short steps. A lot of it is Miss Sandy always stopping to smell the roses and Mikey peeing on every blade of grass. We managed to cover 1.8 miles for the day.
The one fixed dwelling in the park. There is probably a story behind this one.
We have nothing planned for the day, but we did get up early and as we usually do, took the first walk of the day. I noticed was the three campers that travel together have gone. They told me that they were only here for 3 days and are on their way to Florida. Interesting that the 3 of them do that together although they are longtime friends. I wonder how it is on the road all trying to keep up and do they rotate the lead RV like the birds do to act as the windbreaker for the other two. Just kidding as they do not drive that close as it is not a safe practice. There is a need to allow for other faster traffic to pull in between as the driving conditions dictate. I wish them the best of luck on their travels, but they are old hands at this having driven down from Minnesota on this trip. Who knows where they have been before?
After the adventures yesterday filling Miss Daisy with propane, I noticed that the thermostat reads Centigrade instead of Fahrenheit and I had to do some scouting around to find a conversion table as I had no idea how to change it back. I suspected that pushing and holding buttons would do the job but that did not work so today, I contacted James, the RV repair mechanic, and he suggested holding both temperature buttons at the same time. That was one I had not done so nothing ventured and all that, I did as he suggested and lo and behold, it now reads Fahrenheit. Thank you, James. Something else to store away in my knowledge base, that is if I can remember in the future.
Today is a beautiful sunny day with the temperature forecast to reach at least 70 degrees. Not bad for February. and the rest of the week looks good. But this is Texas, and the weather can change overnight. At least we are through with the latest cold snap, but it was the end of the month when we got all that severe weather last year, one we shall never forget.
I need to start thinking about my future plans, where to go and so on as I head towards New York State. Obviously, I do not want to drive into any form of bad weather and March is also renowned for its share of that, especially in the Northern States. When we got off the Queen Mary from England on March 13, all those years ago and made our way to Fort plain, New York where my mother lived, it snowed 13 inches of wet snow that evening, Welcome to America. The plan is to drive North but I have not decided what route to take, central or east coast and I need to do some research on that. I have driven the central route before a couple of times in a car from NYS to Texas and back but that is a lot different as you can stop at any Hotel/Motel without making any reservations. Not a bit like travelling in an RV when everything must be planned ahead, even the roads that you take. It is not easy backing up or turning around an RV when you have a tow vehicle behind you and in fact requires unhooking it. Much easier to have a planned route that outlines and avoids any such obstacles like low bridges and dirt roads and even some Interstates. I use RV Trip Wizard for all my trips and so far, have not been led astray. Incidentally, on my last trip back in the Fall of last year, I drove about a hundred miles between campsites after calling ahead and making reservations except for the last stop. Because I really liked Rock’n E RV Park, I opted to stay there an extra couple of weeks and delay the travelling to Henly choosing to drive 260 miles in one day. Turns out that it was way too long and uncomfortable, and the 100-mile trips are a much better length. It requires a lot of concentration to drive an RV of any description and is a bit like driving a long-haul truck and can be very tiring. Now if Miley or Sandy could drive and take their turn…. Maybe one could steer and the other work the gas.
Trip planning is a lot of work but can be a fun, and it requires much research as to choosing which camp sites to stay at. I read a lot of the comments that other campers say about any site I may be looking at and of course, I am not interested in “roughing it” requiring all the hook ups. I like to find a site with trails whenever possible as it makes walking a lot more fun and unless not practical, prefer at least a week’s stay at each site. It I really like the site; I opt to stay longer. After all, the fun is in the adventure and nonstop driving all over the country does not give one much of an opportunity to enjoy it especially if you are the only one doing the driving. You just cannot site see out of the window while at the wheel.
When I start to write, the time flies by so fast it’s incredible. Each day is so much shorter than when I was a working man. Here we are almost a third of the way through the month with only 19 more days before we move on. Or at least, that is the plan which is flexible. All my business is taken care of here in town and I have no more appointments that I know of. I bought Miss Daisy so I could travel much easier and that is what we are going to do although the lazy part of me would be happy staying here in one place. Get thee behind me and all that stuff.
These are a small deer herd that we saw on this morning’s walk
We had to get up early as we had a doctor’s appointment for 10:30. Our walk around the park was pretty short but enough to get some exercise for all of us before heading back to Miss Daisy for a quick breakfast. I had to be in Dripping Springs by 10:30 and arrived only to find that I had screwed up and that I should have gone to the Austin office. The Staff very willingly worked with me although it was too late for me to make, the trip in and we settled for the Doctor to call me on a video call a bit later. By then, I was in the HEB store and missed the video call and had to settle for a regular phone call which tuned out to be good enough as not much had changed Healthwise since my last visit. I had also asked to get my ears syringed out, something I regularly get on these visits as my ears tend to wax up a lot. Maybe wearing hearing aids has something to do with that. I had to make a separate appointment for that procedure, but it was just for an hour later, so I drove back to Miss Daisy and unloaded and put away all the groceries, ignoring their pleading looks and patting the dogs on the head and stepping back out the door for the trip back to the Doctors office.
The Nurse did a great job, and my hearing was a lot better when I walked out. I did not realize just how much it had been impacted by the wax and at least my hearing was normal, for me, again. I am partially deaf anyway due to a childhood complaint when I was just 11 years old…
On my trips back and forth, I noticed a single vulture just sitting on the grass in the area. As I watched, two more came in as if to check on him but flew off as a car passed. There did not appear to be any carrion close by and I thought it strange and that maybe the buzzard was hurt or even sick. The next time I returned, the buzzard had laid down as if resting and in the back of my mind, maybe even dying. I went into the Doctors office for the wax removal which took about a half hour before stepping outside and by this time, the buzzard had gone. There was no sign of it so apparently, it had flown off. Either that or it had died, and someone removed it as there is a school close by with kids playing outside. For some reason, I felt so incredibly sad as I watched and feared the worst for this magnificent bird and have no idea what did happen to it. Such is the way of Nature with so many things we do not understand. They may not have the best job in the world, but someone must do it.
After such a busy morning, my day was still not over as I had made arrangements to drive Miss Daisy over to the propane filling station which is in the same campground. We had run out because of the cold weather. I have two heaters in the RV, one electric and one propane and had to use them both. Normally, I only use the electric one but had no choice on this occasion as it got so cold. The electric units’ ducts are in the ceiling and the propane ones are in the floor with a lot of cold air in between. I also have a space heater which I use when I am just sitting around as I can direct the heat at me and not waste it by heating up everything else.
Moving Miss Daisy even just to the propane filling station about 100 yards away still requires the same break down procedures as if for making a longer trip. I had to carefully stow away any moveable items just as I normally do, clear the space for the slides to come in, disconnect the hoses and electric power before lowering the jacks. I had already moved the car to anther parking spot just next door before driving Miss Daisy to the propane filling station. There was a big Class A getting filled before me, but I only waited 5 minutes and then it was my turn which took all of 10 minutes. I thought the tank was bigger, but it only holds 12 gallons. Something to remember. Normally, propane only gets used for cooking except in the cold weather and this was the first time I had filled it since I purchased her back in August.
With the tank filled, I slowly drove back to the campsite ready to park again. This time, I had learned a few things from the first time of parking there and carefully drove the front wheels up onto some levelling blocks that I knew I needed. When I initially parked here a couple of months ago and although it has an automatic leveling system, because of the slope of the ground, the front wheels of Miss daisy were literally hanging free in the air. I had to make adjustments that time and add blocks under the wheels so this time I was prepared and drove up onto the blocks. I also learned that the system does not always work unless it is plugged into the electricity probably needing the extra power.
With Miss Daisy levelled and set, I finished hooking up the sewer and water before letting out the slides and spending time straightening things out inside of Miss Daisy. Even for that short trip, a couple of things had bounced around which just shows how important it is to have everything secured and put away. Through all of this, the dogs had sat on the front seat and watched probably wondering just what the hell I was doing as we did not go anywhere which is what they are used to. So, with everything shipshape and propane in the tank, we went out for our last walk of the day. Altogether, I covered 2.8 miles for the day, some of it walking around HEB grocery shopping. The dogs probably got in 2 miles, a good day for them.
In one of my previous posts, I described the vultures that were working on a sheep. This is all that remains of it. They sure do “cleanup”..This was that cleanup crew.
We got up early for us and went out for our usual mornings walk. It was still below freezing but the wind had dropped so it was not too uncomfortable. Sandy, who is the leader in most of our walking expeditions took us all over the place and me and Mikey sort of followed along behind. She was very energetic, and we managed to cover 1.2 miles for this walk, a good start to the day. Every time I was ready to head back home, off she would go in a different direction. As it made no difference to me although I am not sure about Mikey, who was just followed along. Mikey does not have the drive or the curiosity that Sandy does and is a lot more laid back. If it were not for the fact that he does not want to miss out on anything, I think he would be happy to stay behind. Except then Sandy would have me all to herself and he will not stand for that one bit. Mikey will actively seek attention, Sandy not so much but when she does need it, she sist and stares at me with an unblinking look until I make a fuss of her. Dogs are strange animals each having their own characteristics and that is why we love them so much. I cannot imagine my life without a dog or two and I cry like a baby when they pass over the Rainbow Bridge. I usually process my grief by going to the nearest Animal Shelter and adopting another dog that needs a home.
I spent some of the day working on the blogs posting the ones that I has already completed. I am having to delve deeper into my photo gallery as I have not taken many pictures lately and the ones around this park are getting repetitious. It is time to go hiking but I really want it to warm up just a bit. I thought about going to the grocery store but the lazy part of me decided that we could make do for a couple more days.
We went out for the afternoon walk just as we usually do and managed to cover 2.1 miles for the day. The walks can be very repetitious, but I try to make them interesting by varying them, so we never cover the same road on consecutive days. I have also learned which roads have shade and which are in the sun depending on the time of day or if the cold wind is blowing at us or on our backs depending on the current temperature. One of the roads has exotic game animals and it is always rewarding when we get to see the zebra or the different deer that are there. Other roads have their own items of interest like one that has a pair of dogs, one a huge hound and the other a fat little pug with a strange bark that always come out to visit us as we pass by. Visit is probably not the right word as they bark to scare us away. Another road has sheep and horses that we sometimes get to see if they are in that particular field. Even though they are the same roads every day, there is usually always something to attract my attention, so they are not too monotonous. This would be a perfect park if it had wooded trails.
I had left the electric heater on overnight to help compensate for the RV heaters and Miss Daisy was nice and warm when we crawled out of bed. It did little to help outdoors as it was still freezing when we went out for the first walk of the day. The heavy jacket did the trick for me, and the dogs were very frisky obviously enjoying the wintry weather. Our success is judged in how many times, they “go” and today was an outstanding day. Hell of a thing when success is measured by dog poop. We covered our usual half mile before returning to Miss Daisy for breakfast and coffee.
I had stopped filling the birdfeeders as I discovered that I was feeding the deer instead which accounted for the feeders being emptied overnight. I have plans for a couple of modifications but have not gotten around to it yet, so I decided that I would fill the feeders for our feathered friends during this cold snap and chance feeding the deer. Today, the birds started to visit again making the most of the free food and a welcome sight for me. So far, the deer have not paid us a visit.
The park is quiet as it is Saturday with a few people doing their laundry. It is easy to spot the laundry goers as they walk by in the same direction with their hampers of clothes. In an hours’ time, they will walk by again and then do it all over in a second hour as it takes two hours to do a load. Then they come trudging back carrying their clean laundry, good for another week or two. If they are single men like me, then good for two weeks, or in my case, until I run out of shorts, underpants, and tee shirts but if there are women involved, then only a week as they tend to be a little fussier on how long to wear something. Not saying that men are slobs about clean clothes, but we are not as picky in wearing something more than once. After all, isn’t that what camping is all about?
The temporary spots in front of me are all empty with the last one pulling out early this morning. This is surprising as usually; the weekends are when they seem to fill up. Most full-time campers tend to travel through the week, staying overnight at various locations and finding a campground for the weekend. Mine is a very nice, blacktopped site on the end of the row. I have an Airstream on my left which just moved in, and a vacant site far left behind me. I miss the antics of the Boxer dog that lived in the Airstream that previously pulled out though as he kept me amused, tossing his toys around.
The rest of the day was spent writing and then going for the final walk of the day.in which we covered 1.6 miles.
The weather is going to get much colder as we have frosts forecast for the next several days. Shades of last February around this time when we had the worst winter in history. We will have to go through the usual winter precautions like turning off the water, draining the hoses and I cover the water source with light green sheets called Plankets that should protect it from freezing. If it gets really bad, the park will turn off the water anyway. I will also half fill my water tank which will see us through the nights. The biggest fear is that the electric grid might fail although I do have a generator that I can run and a propane heater to switch over to.
We went out walking as we usually do to check on my neighbors as they come and go. My neighbor from across the street has pulled out and another Airstream has pulled in. It would be interesting to know their stories as to why they do this and where are they heading but one of the beauties of living in an RV is that you can be as incognito as you want to be, or not. If you are of the gregarious type, the hail fellow well met sort, the extrovert, then this life may be difficult. For the rest of us that are more withdrawn, then keeping to oneself is not a problem. Unfortunately, or not, I fall into this category and although I like people well enough, most of them anyway, I do not need them to survive or maybe the word is exist.
I had to go into Austin to PostNet to get my mail which had accumulated over the past week. You must arrange a pickup day and time beforehand which I suppose is necessary for those who receive a lot of mail. In my case, it is never more than a half dozen pieces every two weeks or so. The one piece that I was especially looking forward to getting was my new driver’s license after all the worry it had given me. I collected it and this time around, it has a terrible picture. Looks like I am drunk, and it is a police lineup mug shot instead of the aging but still handsome old man that I am. Oh well, the main thing is that I am good for the next two years. After that, who knows…
I also stopped at PetSmart to buy a doggy gate that will go between the driver’s cab section in Miss Daisy and the rest of the RV. Someone and I suspect it is Mikey, has discovered it as a pee place for the night and although it is easy enough to clean up with the rubber floors, I need to point him to the pee pads that I put down in the night for just that purpose. I left a perfectly good gate at the old house when I sold it not thinking that I would need such an item in my travels. Oh well, I can say that about a lot more things that I wish I had kept but left behind because of the space problem or rather, lack of it.
From PetSmart, I went across the road at Brody Lane in Austin to the Home Depot located there and bought another small indoor mat to put in front of the sink in Miss Daisy. It matches the two that I currently have except I chose a brighter color to cheer things up a bit. I also stopped at another store to see if they have any of the Thick Cut Marmalade that I like as they were out the last time I was there. This time, I was in luck, and I stocked up with a half dozen jars and also a jar of Marmite, another English throwback. With this my last stop of the day in Austin, I just happened to drive in the direction of a Starbucks on the way home and naturally had to stop for both coffee and breakfast which I had missed with my late start.
I arrived back in Dripping Springs and stopped at the HEB to complete my shopping for the day. It was surprisingly busy and the lines at the checkout stretched back into the aisles even with all the registers working. I wandered around taking my time and carefully selecting the same old stuff that I usually buy. I am very much a creature of habit which includes a lot of the food I eat. I guess the old palate has accumulated its own tastes over the years and I like simple food. I am not much of a meat or fish eater, but neither am I a vegetarian in the strict sense of the word. It is just that food is more of a necessity than a journey and as I get older, just does not taste the same anymore. So, I settle for soups and salads with the occasional roast chicken or cooked sliced ham or turkey. My one failing is that I like a small ice cream for dessert. By the way, so do the dogs and they recognize the carton when I take it out and are all attention with a begging look in their eyes. So, one gets the lid and the other gets the tiny single serve carton, both with a little ice cream added for their enjoyment. I have no idea if it good for them, but they really do like the tiny bit they get.
We went out for our afternoon walk a bit earlier than we normally do as Sandy was giving me, “the look” which generally indicates the need to “go.” We walked around the park and out on the roads outside with her leading and pulling us in all directions. She never has a plan and is constantly changing her mind depending on which scent or smell attracts her the most. Mikey and I are just along for the ride although occasionally, I do exert my authority. We spent the rest of the day working on the blog and after the final meal of the day, watching television. Sandy was being a bug again which usually involves sitting on the couch and staring at me. If I make a fuss of her, this is normally enough to satisfy her as she is just looking for attention, just like most women. However, this time, she kept it up even after a fuss, so we had no alternative but to harness up and go out for a very short walk on the piece of grass outside of Miss Daisy. This was at 10:00 pm at night and it was dark but this short and I mean short, walk was enough and she and Mikey both did their business. So ended the first day of February 2022. Time sure does fly as you get older.
It’s the weekend although to me, no different than any other day. I can remember as a working man that the weekends, Saturdays, and Sundays, were so welcome giving us the breaks we needed from our jobs and at the same time, allowing us to do the things we liked the best. In my case, most of the time was spent in some form of physical activity either by myself like working out in the gym or going on long hikes. In my younger days, I played football, the kind with a round ball, twice a week on both Saturdays and Sundays. To me, it was all about physical activity and team sports, the more the merrier. That was not counting maintaining the 5 ponds that I had built and the half acre yard at my old house. I managed to play football until I was seventy-two when I had knee replacement surgery which put an end to my playing days which is when I turned to hiking to keep active.
Now, as I age, most forms of real physical activity are behind me although hiking is still in my future. Not so much at the present time except for the mile or more that we cover every day. Hiking by myself or with my friend BJ is one thing. Hiking with two dogs, albeit of the small variety presents a different set of problems. I do not trust them off the leash which means that they are always attached to me whether by my hand or hooked to my belt making it more difficult to walk and take the many pictures that I like to take along the way. I like to hike using two walking poles but with the dogs, I can only use one. The poles not only help my balance but also my walking speed. Back at the old house, I could leave them as they had a doggie door for both exercise and natures calls. Cannot do that in my RV which is why they always come with me. Oh well, we just got to make adjustments as we age. That is what life is all about, learning how to do things a little different to make it all work.
Today is a beautiful sunny day with not a cloud in the sky. The Park is very quiet with hardly any activity going on as people enjoy their weekend. I sat at the computer and worked on the blogs. Somehow, I had managed to get some of them out of sequence and it took quite a while before I finally had them straightened out. I tend to write several at a time before adding the photos. They get posted Monday thru Fridays. I reserve Saturday for the poems I write and then nothing is posted on Sundays. It took a couple of hours to straighten out my mess following which, as frustrated as I was, we all went out walking in the fresh air to clear the cobwebs from my overworked mind.
We got up early as I knew we had a busy day ahead of us and I wanted to make that early start so as not to be late for my Dentist appointment, scheduled for 1:00pm. We went out for a short walk around the park and then returned for breakfast. I was originally planning to leave around 11:00 am but instead set out at 10:00 am as I had added another stop to the trip, this time to my Optometrist. The new glasses needed a minor frame adjustment as they were pinching my nose. This was the first stop as it was on the way in and as luck would have it, I was seen immediately and in no time flat, was out of there and on the way to PostNet to pick up my mail. This time of the year, mail is more important than normal as some of it is tax related. I sat in the car and opened all the letters checking to see just what I had and if any of it was important enough to be worrying about or only normal stuff that is handled routinely. Luckily, none fell into the former category so with a big sigh of relief, I headed to Walmart’s to do some shopping as I had an hour to kill before the final assignment of the day. I wandered around checking stuff out and convinced myself to buy a couple of towels to cover the seats in Miss Daisy to stop the dogs from dirtying or damaging them. I also bought food as that was the principal reason for shopping there.
I headed for my last stop to my Dentists to get the caps installed to which I was 5 minutes late and was directed to the dreaded dentist chair. My memories of such visit’s years and years ago were of needles and pain as back then, Dentistry was not as sophisticated as it is today. I was there to get the new caps installed and after a bit of gum numbing on the back of a cotton swab, the Dentist got to work. It took quite a while for him to remove the temporary caps and he had to resort to using his drill and breaking them off in pieces, he had done that good of a job in attaching them. He then went about the task of fitting the new caps and had to make several adjustments before finally attaching them in place. He was immensely proud to show me his workmanship through his mirror and I have to say, they looked great to me too. In all of this, which took a little over an hour, there was no pain or discomfort and no use of any anesthetic although he offered it if I needed it. He did an excellent job and as I had paid in full the previous visit, I walked out of there a happy man, with any luck, not to return until the next teeth cleaning which is due in 6 months’ time. Who knows where I will be then?
I found a Starbucks on the way home and rewarded myself with a latte and a piece of Nut bread which lasted all of the 10 seconds, the latte a bit longer, before making the drive back to Henly. This time, I took a different route home just for a change, driving past Zilker Park in Austin and recalling the many, many hours of enjoyment playing soccer there in my younger years. Next to Zilker Park is Austin Botanical Gardens which is now home to many of the very large Koi that I raised in my old abode before donating them to this park.
The rest of the drive was uneventful, and I arrived back to two little dogs who were overjoyed to see me. I made a fuss of them and then put away the groceries before taking them out for their walk. We actually covered 2.4 miles for the day which included walking around Walmart’s for me.
Today was another of those with nothing planned of any importance and it started in the usual fashion with a long walk around the park where we covered a little over a mile and then breakfast for me. Both dogs are ignoring the canned food that I normally serve them and if they get hungry, there is always the good old standby, hard food. I vary the cans so if they do not like one, I try a different kind but lately, nothing seems to appeal to their very fussy tastes. Some of that is due to the fact that they get the chicken skins and such from my evening meal and it has made them fussy. Me, I warmed up a burrito and made coffee and I was all set probably until the aforementioned evening meal as I very rarely eat anything through the day. Occasionally, I might make an instant coffee but not often. If I am out and about and happen to pass a Starbucks, well that is a different story although just lately, I have not had much luck at the local Starbucks store as you may have read if you follow my blog.
Today, the sun is shining and after the last few miserable days, it is indeed a welcome sight. Funny how the sun can change the spirits and make a person feel good especially this time of the year. It is winter after all but here in my part of Texas, very mild compared to other parts of the country. Yet, we still complain if it gets cold or we have the occasional frost or snowfall. There is just no pleasing some people, including me. I like the sun and the feel of its warmth but when it gets around the 100-degree mark then I hibernate inside in the air conditioning. There are limits after all.
My neighbor across the street who had his carrier re-installed on the back of his RV must have some problems with it as both he and Darryl, the park super, are working on it again. I too have a couple of things I need to work on like the bird feeder that I must rig to stop the deer from tipping it and eating the seed and then indoors, I have a large wooden cutting board that I use to cover the stove and give me more worktop space. It needs a little work which is as simple as attaching two small pieces of wood, one on each side to raise the board up to make a better fit over the stove. Of course, in order to do any of this, I will need to locate the right tools which I have somewhere. Maybe tomorrow…The trouble with this RV life is that unless something is essential or an emergency, it is easy to put it off for another day. Me, I would rather write. When I stop to think of how I am today compared to how I was a few years ago when nothing was impossible or beyond my capabilities, I really am but a shadow of my former self. So much is mental although the physical side is not anything like it was. I hate growing old as I am sure does the old guy in front of me and probably 50% of the people in this park. The other 50% are still too young to realize they are growing older. Besides, they have their whole life in front of them unlike those of us that have already lived most of ours. Any years we have left are a bonus.
I spent a couple of hours trying to reset up the indoor camera. I had it set previously to where I could click on the app on my phone, and it would give me a current view of the inside of Miss Daisy. Very nice and re-assuring for those times that I had to be away for any length of time as I could see the dogs in real life. I had it situated on the bunk area so that it gave me an interior view of the RV but during one of our travels it was dislodged and has never worked since. I played around doing this and that and then doing it all over again but to no avail growing increasingly frustrated after each attempt. In the end, I had to admit defeat and put the darn thing away to try again another day. Not that another day will make much difference, but it did give me a chance to ease my frustrations by taking the dogs out walking instead, something that I knew I could do without too much trouble and managed to get in 2 miles for the day.
We met this very inquisitive sheep walking the roads outside of the campground.
Another dull and miserable day weatherwise although it was not actually raining, just damp and foggy and on the chilly side. I put on my heavy jacket with the hood to take the dogs walking and we strolled around the park and on the outside road for a bit before returning to Miss Daisy. One of the dogs, Mikey I suspect, had found a corner to pee in which I had not noticed before. The problem was it had soaked under the single mat that I have inside of Miss Daisy. Luckily, it is in an Indoor-outdoor mat, so no actual harm done. I took the mat outside and hosed it off and left it to dry and then went about the clean-up needed because of the dog pee. I also sprayed with anti pee spray in the hope of deterring both dogs from going indoors in the future. Mikey and I had a serious discussion as to his actions and he acted very contritely as I lectured him. I hope he got the message. No good further punishing him as he would not associate it with the peeing. He needs to be caught in the act for anything to register, and I suspect it all happens at night when I am asleep or during the day when I am away.
With the clean-up done, we settled down to breakfast and coffee following our usual routine. Included in that routine, are the taking of the few medications and supplements that I take daily except for my memory loss pills which are taken at night. if I can remember that is. I spent time on the blog and worked on a few pictures as we have nothing officially planned for today. I decided that I should do laundry but I still have plenty of clean clothes so there is no real urgency. I thought about it for a bit with one part of me saying, “Let us do it now” and the other part saying, “Nah, leave it for another day.” I thought of a couple of other excuses like, “Maybe there are no machines available,” and “It can wait until tomorrow.” Then I reminded myself that tomorrow never comes and, in the end, I sucked it up and headed for the laundry room as I really did not have anything else to do. I should mention that prior to that, I had to go through the dreaded change the sheets on the bed routine which I have complained about before at least a half dozen times. This time, it went much smoother as I think I have figured out a way to make it work and twenty minutes later, the bed was made.
I usually drive to the laundry room rather than carry the heavy laundry bag plus detergent and today was no exception after having previously watching a gentleman carrying an empty bag, go into the room. I sat outside waiting for him to come out knowing that with him finished, there would be at least one open machine. True to form, the washers closest to the window were both open and I split my laundry between the two. This time, much to my delight, I managed to get the app that not only pays for the wash but also lets me know of the progress, to work, although it did not register the same time for both machines for their completion time. It was off by 10 minutes even though both were set the same. Go figure. I headed back to Miss Daisy to wait for the next phase of putting everything in the driers. When both machines showed, by the wonders of modern technology and this same app that the wash cycle had completed, I walked back to the laundry room and transferred everything into one dryer adding several sheets of static control, and then, back to Miss Daisy to wait it out. By checking my phone periodically, I was able to tell when to go back. Love this system when it works. With the clothes all folded, I headed back to Miss Daisy and then took the dogs out for their evening walk. The rest of the evening was spent in the usual fashion which included putting away the freshly laundered clothes.
We got up late as I slept late after a peaceful night with no wild dreams or thrashing around and went out for a short walk. It was a dull and miserable looking day with a lot of moisture in the air. I could feel my clothes getting damp as we walked although it was not actually raining. We did less than a half mile before returning to Miss Daisy. Thank goodness that we have no plans for today as it came on to drizzle harder as we ate breakfast, and it really is a dull and gloomy day. Reminds me a bit of the English weather which was one of the reasons that prompted our coming here to America in the first place.
Following breakfast and a kitchen clean up, I settled down in front of the computer. My recent neighbors from across the street have all pulled out including the parked truck and trailer in the lot next to me. My other neighbor who lives across, must have had problems with his Airstream as he had towed if off about a week ago but had left his mats and such still outside, a sure sign that he was returning. Today, I noticed it was back in its parking space so hopefully whatever was wrong has been repaired. On our walk about this morning, we usually walk the park to see the comings and goings and there is a brand-new Airstream parked in one of the lower lots. They really are nice rigs. I wonder why I never really looked at them. Probably because they are so expensive, and I was set on a Class C because of the ease of travel, setup, and parking.
I had received Birthday wishes from the Salesman that had sold me Miss Daisy, a nice gesture on his part which also reminded me that I needed work done on her, most of it of the service and warranty nature. I emailed him and am now waiting to hear back. The problem with having any work done on Miss Daisy is that as I live in her full time and unless the repair shop has space and hook ups for overnight stays, then I will have to make other arrangements like a Motel, for the time it takes to do the work.
I worked on different things and even wrote a couple of poems to pass the time which will get posted on Saturday which I have designated as my Poetry Day. It had stopped raining, so we went out for the final walk of the day around the park and out on the lane leading to Hwy 290. For some reason, both dogs had a strong interest in whatever was in the breeze on the far side of the road and spent a lot of time just sniffing the air. Of course, I could not see or smell anything, so I have no idea what interested them. We got to see the two Zebras that are in the fields across from the RV park but not close enough for a picture. Have not seen them in a while and it is nice to know they are OK. Altogether, we covered a little over a mile for the day. Not bad considering how miserable it was outside.
We finished off the day in the usual way with food and drinks and English soccer on the television.
Sunday, start of another week here in Henly. Compared to last week when we had something going on nearly every day, this week is slow, so far. I do have a Dentists appointment on Thursday to get the new crowns installed but other than that, nothing else. We did our short walk around the park in the morning with nothing unusual going on. It was cool but this cold front has passed on and there is nothing in the forecast for the next several days. It is quiet around the park but as today is Sunday, it is supposedly a day of rest. Not that it makes any difference to us as every day is a rest day unless we choose otherwise.
I went into Dripping Springs to the HEB and did some shopping although not needing a great deal. On the way out, just on the off chance they may be open, I stopped at the Starbucks and saw a lengthy line of cars so felt hopeful that I might get lucky. I watched as the car in front of me, pulled up to give its order and then turned out of the line and knew without bothering to stop, that they had closed and once again with customers in line. It is though they have a clock that switches off all the equipment at whatever is the designated closing time for the day. Sure enough, as I passed the order kiosk, there was that sign that said, “Sorry, we are closing at ….” If they got to close, at least put the sign at the start of the drive thru. I drove home and had time to bring in the groceries before taking the dogs out walking. I covered 2 miles for the day, the dogs, not quite as much but as they do not count the miles anyway, it does not matter for them as in my mind, a successful dog walk is that each one does his or her business at least once. More is a bonus (for me).
Back in Miss Daisy, I put the groceries away and then went about preparing the evening meal for us. Currently, I am on a salad and chicken kick, the chicken, one of the Roasters from HEB. The dogs like this choice of a meal as they get their share of the chicken’s skin and such. The problem with that is they will not eat their canned food even if I mix it as they just pick out the best parts (chicken) and the rest sits. Their choice, their loss. As Marie Antoinette is reputed to have said during the French Revolution, “Let them eat cake” in this case, let them eat dry dog food. The rest of the evening was spent in the usual fashion watching the television with a glass of cheap wine.
I awoke late, surprise, surprise to a beautiful sunny day. It was still cold out but no longer freezing as we walked around the park and the outside lane and managed to walk 1.3 miles making it a good start for the day. We passed the two dogs that live in a house along the way and was greeted with a very noisy reception from them. Obviously, we did not belong in their territory. We walked on past and continued for a bit before heading back to Miss Daisy for breakfast.
Generally speaking, it was a very quiet and slow day. I worked on emails and then the blog for a while and then a few other things that needed my attention. I turned my attention to Miss Daisy where the radio/everything else are on one big screen that supposed to open when the ignition key is turned on. It is a fold out unit and has never worked properly since I had it. I tried to get it to work just to be sure that it did not as I need to contact my Crestview Salesman and get it replaced because it is still under warranty. A brand-new vehicle and this unit has never worked right. So much for quality control at the Ford end.
Getting an RV worked on when it is your only home, is somewhat of a challenge, unless it is a simple problem and easily fixed. That is why, it is easier to use the travelling mechanics that come to you rather than take it to the repair place. Those mechanics do not work on warranty projects or anything to do with the Ford parts of Miss Daisy. Some of the repair shops, are set up to let you stay in the RV at their place of business while the work is being done if it is only an overnight thing. With this being a warranty repair, Miss Daisy will need to go Georgetown and hopefully for a one-day repair. More on that later.
There has been a lot of activity across from me in the temporary lots. Temporary in the sense that short timers park in these pull through lots before moving on. I watched as an Airstream appeared to be setting up. I had not seen it come in or noticed it in site 33 where it was now parked. I was busy and not paying attention but the next time I looked, it was gone. Later, two others pulled into the same row and set up. One of them had also parked a tow vehicle pulling a large, covered trailer in another space and the two occupants joined one of the new RV’s. They must be caravanning and had to book two lots even though one is just used as a parking place.
We went out for our afternoon walk and managed to cover 2.1 miles for the day. We are averaging between 10-12 miles a week consistently which is surprisingly good when you consider it is all short walks around the RV Park. Gotta stay fit somehow as I can’t run and jump anymore and my weightlifting is now limited to 5lb and 10lb hand weights, that is, if I can find them. Sure, they are around somewhere. The rest of the day was spent in the usual fashion.
With the excitement of having yet another birthday out of the way and hoping that they never end, we settled back into our normal routine although not without incident. Sandy was demanding that we get up in no uncertain terms which is unusual for her so I deemed she must have an emergency on hand and quickly threw on my clothes and we hustled out of the door. Neither she nor Mikey could barely make it to the small patch of grass outside of Miss Daisy which is considered as “mine” before relieving themselves. I knew something was wrong before that as one of them, I suspect Mikey, had an “accident” inside of Miss Daisy overnight luckily on the floor and not on the floor mat which I cleaned up on our return. It must have been something I fed them that caused their upset tummies. After cleanup, I went back to shaving and showering that I had foregone in view of Sandy’s urgent and desperate pleading.
I refrained from feeding them any sort of canned food for breakfast in view of their upset tummies and if they get hungry, they can eat the hard food which is always available to them. It was cold out on our walk, and I was glad of the heavy jacket. We did not see any other dogs walking their humans. I made breakfast and coffee for me as I did not have the same problems as the dogs and felt perfectly fine and we settled down to our normal routine. We do not have anything planned for the day except for maybe a trip to the local HEB. I really do have to find something interesting to eat for my evening meal as most of my latest efforts have been very disappointing. Even the stew I made in the InstaPot was a disaster and just did not taste right. Something was missing but I do not know what. Food has now become just a necessity something, I must do to stay alive. I do not eat for the pleasure of it except for things like ice cream or chocolate or something similarly as bad. Oh well, like everything else in my life, things are changing.
I sat and wrote for a while and posted a couple of blogs before deciding that I really needed to go into Dripping Springs to the HEB store and get some necessities. There are a few staples that always need replenishing, bread, wine, frozen food, more wine, milk, and so on. Oh yes, did I mention wine? Actually, I am very good and always limit myself to no more than two small glasses an evening and I prefer white over red, and it is always of the cheap variety. As I know nothing about wines, cheap stuff tastes just as good to me as the more expensive variety. I noticed that about 50% of the shoppers wore masks and it looked an even split between young and old. I wore mine and the one good thing is that my new glasses did not fog up anywhere near as much. I have no idea why not but maybe it’s the different lens size or the lack of frames. With the groceries stowed safely in the Jeep, my next move was to stop at Starbucks as I had already forgiven them for their previous lack of service only to discover that, yet again they were closed due to the shortage of staff. They must be losing money hand over fist.
I drove back to Henly, and I was met by my two little buddies ready to go walking. First though, I put the groceries away with lots of help, I might add before we trucked off around the park for the last walk of the day. I remembered that I had to add water to the freshwater tank for the evening as another frost was forecast which only took 10 minutes before unhooking the water pipe from Miss Daisy and covering the water spigot so it would not freeze. Just like in a regular house where one covers the outside faucets, we do this it is to prevent the hose from freezing up and either bursting or causing damage to either the RV or the water standpipe. Putting water in the freshwater tank gets us through for however long there is danger of freezing. That was our last chore of the evening apart from the usual food preparation and clean up before settling down to watch the television. So ended another day, the first of my new year as an 86-year-old. Funny, I don’t feel any different…
I had a restless night with very weird dreams with some of the characters, members of the award-winning Women’s Soccer Team I used to coach years ago. Maybe, I was trying to turn back the clock to some of the best days of my life with that bunch of adult ladies. Anyway, I woke up much to the consternation of Mikey and Sandy who looked at me as if to say, “You OK Dad?” I must have been thrashing around as I sometimes do and if I get violent, they disappear off the bed to safer places. As they were still with me, it must not have been too bad this time around. I remade the bed, and we all went back to a much sounder sleep with no more dreams waking to another bright and sunny day.
Again, it was another day with no special plans or trips, and we hung out in Miss Daisy following our early morning walk. Maybe, I should call that the First Walk of the day as it is generally not very early especially by our standards. This was followed by the mandatory coffee and breakfast which included feeding the dogs although they can be very fussy eaters. Sometimes, they will gobble down their food the instant it is put in front of them. Other times, it sits around, sometimes all day before they condescend to eat it. Mikey must have had an upset tummy as he suddenly started vomiting while he was sitting on the couch. When I hollered at him to get down, he did only to jump up on a different chair and continue throwing up. Furthers shouts only increased his movement as he then went to the passenger seat of Miss Daisy to complete what he had started. I was angry at him which I should not have been as he could not help being sick, but he made a poor choice of where he did it not once but three times. He knew I was mad at him and sat there looking at me with his big brown eyes as if to say, “Sorry Dad, bad choice on my part.” I cleaned up the mess and made a fuss of him and he settled down alongside me as he usually does. It was probably my fault as I had stopped him from eating grass when we were walking which usually results in his throwing up outside. Live and learn.
I spent time writing the blog and watched as one RV, this time an Airstream, pulled out but not before it had to have some repair work done by James, the gentleman who worked on Miss Daisy. As soon as he had completed his work, they were gone obviously with another campground in mind. Almost immediately as if by rote, anther Airstream pulled in. It is unusual as they are not the most common of RV’s mainly due to their cost which is considerably higher than most RVs of the same size and type. They are renowned in the RV world for their quality of build and their silver aluminum exterior and unique shape. Not only that, but they have also been around a very long time.
We went out for our usual afternoon walk and covered almost 2 miles for the day followed by food all around. The evening was spent in the usual way watching TV. I watched an FA cup game which is always interesting as the minnows from the earlier rounds are now thrown into the hat against the big boys with sometimes surprising results. Written 01/15.2022 – Check out my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com
Another day with nothing planned so there was no real reason to get up early. I did make the effort though and rolled out about 9:15 am for our usual routine of walks and breakfast. Today was laundry day so gathering up my trusty bag full of soiled clothes plus a couple of towels, I drove over to the laundry room, which, as it turns out was busy. I managed to locate a couple of empty machines and divided my laundry between them. Try as I might, I could not get the App to work that allows for pay-online and also keeps track of the progress. I resorted to the old-fashioned money in the slot after also exchanging my dollar bills for quarters. There was another gentleman also doing his laundry and he did not have any problems in getting the app to work for him. Malinda, one of the Park Super’s stopped by and managed to get the machine working for me using my quarters. Frustrated at not getting the modern technology to work for me, I drove back to Miss Daisy for breakfast knowing that I would just have time to eat it before having to go back to transfer the laundry to the dryer. I only needed one dryer but again, could not get the app to work but the end result was an hour later, I was back and folding the laundry.
With it all folded and out of the way and everything back into their respective drawers and closets, I sat down and decided that I seriously needed to make an appointment to renew my driver’s license, something I had been putting off in the hope that my new glasses would be here in time but somehow, I do not think that will happen. The current ones I am using are now third generation with the new ones that are on order being the first. The second generation have scratched lenses making them difficult to see clearly although they may be OK just for reading. The last time I took the test 6 years ago, I had to run back to the car and get a different pair of glasses then as I was having trouble. I barely squeaked through back then so you can see why I am a bit worried this time around 6 years later. The requirements are also much stiffer as I must provide proof of citizenship which I can do with my Naturalization Certificate. I have never had to do that before that I can remember.
I also spent time on answering some of the test questions in the practice test section and I need to do that again closer to the day. Most were straightforward but the ones on things like what speed is safe for xxxx or those with multiple choice answers were a bit tricky. I will practice every day from here on out. Most of the tricky ones they ask are not things you deal with on a daily basis or at least not in a straightforward way and many are things that are second nature as you drive but more difficult to put into words. Things like, under certain circumstances, do you slow down to 30 mph or 35 mph like that 5 mph makes a difference at the time. Maybe in a court of law but out on the road. Please….Oh well, all I can do is my best and hope that my memory does not fail me.
Sandy kept giving me the look enough that even Mikey noticed, and he too became a bug, so I knew it was time for us to go out walking. The weather was really chilly, and I was glad that I had found the heavy coat. Need to find some gloves too as my hands got cold and I had to keep switching the leash alternating between each one with the other in my pocket. I have decided that with unfinished business still to attend to, some of which is very close to the end of the month and keeping in mind how severe the weather was last February, we will stay here through the end of January and February before heading out. I texted Malinda and made the necessary arrangements today and we are all set. Of course, a lot depends on the DL thingy as without it, I ain’t going nowhere which does lead to some interesting and disturbing thoughts. If I can’t drive anymore, there is no point in having Miss Daisy as I bought her to travel and see the country. I would have to find a location to permanently park my RV and then I might as well buy another used 5th wheel for the extra space and have someone else park it permanently at the campground of my choice. Things to ponder on.
We awoke to another lazy day which began in the usual way of walking the dogs around the park, checking out any comings or goings. As it was a bit early for any such activity with most travelling campers leaving before the allotted time of 12:00 pm and new campers arriving any time after. Unless of course, if the leaving Campers have a long trip ahead of them to their next stop, then they leave earlier. A big percentage of the campers here are either long term somewhat permanent residents or those like me, here for a couple of months or more. One gentleman I spoke to was here to Supervise the building of a store, one of the well-known chains, before he moved on to the next one, wherever that may be. Interesting way to work and bring your home with you and it did not matter where the next project was.
In my much younger days in England, I worked for a pipe-line construction company, and we travelled all over to wherever the projects were. As that was sixty years ago and RVs or Caravans as they were called over there, were not that popular an item back then, I had to find lodgings in the local town for my out-of-town stays. I stayed at some very interesting places both good and bad and in retrospect, wish I had a Miss Daisy way back then. As I wrote and watched out of my window, another camper was breaking down his RV ready to pull out. He and his family were weekend warriors out enjoying camping and were probably heading back to their “Bricks and Sticks” to resume their normal life. Between them, including a couple of small kids, they very efficiently broke down the camper after hitching it up to their truck and in no time flat, were pulling out. I was impressed in how quickly and how well they performed this task obviously well used to doing it and in a very organized and businesslike manner.
We have no plans for today other than what we normally do. I sometimes wonder what I would do with myself if I did not have this blog to fill in my time although I have been writing since 2011 in my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com which is still active. That blog was all about my hiking trips and the 5 ponds I had built in my backyard. As my interest’s changed and having sold my house of thirty-five years and moving full time into an RV, so did my blogging take a different path. Now my blog is really a diary of daily events whatever they happen to be again more reporting than writing as I do not have to think up a plot or invent characters as my normal life is doing all of that for me. Interesting enough for a few folks but I do not get the followers I used to when I wrote about the ponds and the hiking trips. In truth, other than daily walks, I have not been on a real hike in a long time. I miss hiking but circumstances have changed. I have gotten older and when I do go out very occasionally, I always take the dogs which does not make for easy walking for any great distance as I keep them leashed all the time. This also makes it much more difficult for me to use my both of my hiking sticks, usually resulting in having to use just a single stick even though the leash is a single handle with a double leash.The sticks really help if I am wanting to cover several miles aiding both in speed and balance and goodness only knows, I need all the help I can get. That plus I carry my camera and am always on the lookout for any interesting shots and dogs tend to frighten off any wildlife or birds.
We have nothing planned for this week except on Wednesday when Auto lite is coming to replace the windshield on the Jeep that was cracked by a rock way back in January. It is just a single crack and does not impair visibility and due to being away, I was unable to get it replaced sooner.
With the day almost done, we went out for the final walk mainly on the outside roads and managed to cover 1.5 miles total. It had turned cold with the wind blowing and we moved at a brisk speed for me. The dogs just trotted along without a care in the world just happy to be out. I even tried running just to see if I still could and not very far and although my legs and breathing were fine, my balance was a bit off, so I need to work on that. The rest of the day was spent in the usual fashion with food for us all followed by TV and a glass of cheap wine for me.
It was a dull and cloudy day with a light drizzle when we went out for our short morning walk around the park. We did not go far as it was uncomfortable to be outside and quickly returned to the warmth of Miss Daisy. I fixed the dogs their breakfast but as is sometimes the case with them, they both chose to ignore the food. Obviously not that hungry. Their choice but it probably due to the fact that I have spiced up their last couple of meals with the skin and stuff from a couple of roast chickens that I have been eating carefully making sure they do not get any chicken bones. As we are out of chicken, they had better eat what is in front of them. I, on the other hand had no trouble devouring the food I prepared for myself along with the morning coffee and feeling much better about myself and the world in general, went about our normal day. For me, this means catching up on emails and correspondence and the world news before settling down to write the blog. We have nothing planned for the day of exceptional importance although a trip to HEB is in the works.
I completed work on the three previous blogs and posted them after attaching pictures that we have taken. I noticed that I write a lot of “we” which is including the dogs even for things like writing and such and of course, their contribution is negligible, nothing, zero. They are too busy sleeping each in their own respective spot and figure that they contributed by taking me walking. Of course, it is a lot more than that as without them and their attention to me, it would be a lonely life. Besides, they keep me on track and make sure that I get exercise every day. Now if only they could do something about my aging brain although , indirectly, walking and exercise is supposed to be a big help
Later in the afternoon, I went in to the HEB to stock up again. Generally speaking, we go about a week in between grocery trips and even then, it is only because we have run out of certain necessary items. On the way home, I decided that a Latte would be nice, wary that the last time I tried the local Starbucks, they had closed because of a staff shortage. There were three cars in line ahead of me as I pulled up to the order window only for a voice to tell me, “Sorry, we are closed at 5:00 pm today”. I looked at my watch and commented on the fact that it was only 5.01 but to no avail as the voice said the same thing over again, “Sorry, we are closed at 5:00 pm today”. Totally disgusted and thinking, but not saying, a few choice words I pulled out around the 3 cars in line and headed home. I had 11 miles to ponder what had just happened as I fumed my way home thinking of all the nasty things that I could have said before the saner, gentler part of my brain had kicked in and I got to analyzing what they should have done. I understand that they need to follow orders, but I doubt that their instructions included not waiting on someone wanting to order and was already in line. What they should have done was to close when the line was empty, and the last customer served. It is not like that store is nonstop busy as there have been many times when I have been the only customer. I am sure, if they knew, Starbucks Management would not be too happy to hear of this.
It is either pretty sad or an indication of just how trouble free my life is right now that something of this nature made such an impression on me. There are millions of people all over the world that are not sure where their next meal is coming from, and I am worrying about poor service at a Starbucks? That truly reflects my values and how I have allowed life to become all about me. We are all so ingrained with our own perceived self-importance, real or imagined, that we have lost sight of the meaning of life and how it affects other people.
Putting those dark thoughts to one side, I went about the normality’s that I am used to by unloading the groceries from the car and putting away the ones that needed to go into the freezer leaving the rest, still in their plastic bags, spread all over the floor. The dogs were jumping up and down to remind me that, “We gotta go, Dad” so I slipped on their harnesses and with my two little friends, went out for the evening walk. Unless I need to steer them away from other dogs, Sandy usually decides where we walk so, we never really know which direction she will take us. One thing is certain, it is not going to be a straight line. If by chance, she is going somewhere I do not want us to go either because it is time to head back or something down the road like another dog, I gently re-direct her back on track. Back at Miss Daisy after about a half mile of walking for a total of 1.5 for the day, we went ahead with our usual evening routine of food, a glass of cheap wine and television before heading off to bed where we all slept like the proverbial babies.
