We went out for a walk as we usually do me and the dogs of whom there are two around the campground then out on the lane that borders the park walking the same old speed for Sandy will not let us amble rushing along as fast as she is able nose to the ground taking in the smells what is so interesting only she can tell which other dogs have passed this way dragging their humans along as if to say come on man why are you slow daylight is burning as if you don’t know and we will be walking in the dark enough already of this slowpoke lark I have no idea if that’s what they say as we rush along no time to play for what goes through any dogs mind is totally unknown to the human kind we don’t love them to talk to us it’s because they make such a fuss and look at us with their big brown eyes showing the love they do not disguise there is no better love than that of a dog they ask for nothing except to jog our memories just like before on with their collars and out the door walking the trails along with their Dad the finest pleasure that a Man ever had.
Well, a New Year is here as the old ones slowly slides off into the sunset. 2021 was a very strange year with the entire World under the grips of the Covid –19 epidemic with all that it entailed. People are so frustrated at having to live by a set of rules which they consider are forced on them or having injections to safeguard their lives to the extent that it has caused unrest in many areas of the population. All kinds of theories are circulating resulting in many of that same general population plain flat out refusing to take the necessary precautions. From my perspective, each to their own but as I would rather be on the safe side, I had my two shots plus a booster, and I wear a mask out in public. My life is winding down naturally and I see no reason to quicken up my demise by not taking the right precautions. This is supposedly a free country so hopefully, 2022 will see the end of this pandemic and we can start living our normal lives again whatever they may be and the differences that people have over shots and Covid and other similar things will be behind us. Somehow though, I do not think that will the case as this is now already a divided Nation and not just about Covid.
I drifted off to sleep last evening to the sound of fireworks somewhere outside. Not in the park but probably one of the local neighbors. Shows how old I am getting when I am in bed at 10:15 pm on a New Year’s Eve although to be fair, I have never been one to really celebrate the coming of a New Year especially if the old year was good to me. except in my younger days of course. Then it was just another excuse to drink beer. Thinking back, 2021 apart from Covid, saw several changes in my life. As I started off the year, I split my time living in the Eagle, having parked it at Henly RV Park, and in also the house as I got it ready for sale. As much as I was ready to move into the Eagle full time, the ponds required a lot of my attention as did the preparations for the house sale so I just had to be patient. We survived the winter of February in Texas, the hardest one in living memory with some damage sustained to the Eagle due to frozen pipes and in July, with the house sold, moved full time to Henly RV Park staying there a couple of months before embarking on a trip to 4 different RV Parks, all in South and East Texas.
We planned to return to Henly for the winter but before taking that trip, and after much careful thought and consideration, I sold the Eagle and the Ford King Ranch truck in favor of a smaller Class C which is easier to drive and set up. The Class C is a Coachmen Leprechaun 28-footer and happens to be brand new. Not by design but because it was the only one available that suited my needs and purpose. She is grandly named Miss Daisy and will be our home for the near future, God willing, and the seas do not rise. I also bought a used 2018 Jeep for a tow vehicle to get us about with Miss Daisy parked. It is a nice car and only had 51,000 miles on it. Still, I miss that Ford Truck although as a parting gift to me, the Auxiliary Fuel tank went bad, and it cost me $5000.00 to get it fixed just as I was getting ready to trade it in. Money quite literally, down the toilet from my perspective.
With the house sold, no more worries about fish and ponds and money in the bank, me and my two little friends, Mikey and Sandy moved full time into RV’ing and are now almost old hands at it although, for those of you that follow this blog, know that mistakes still happen as they did by leaving the faucets running not once but twice even if it was an accident. Oh well, maybe I am not so smart after all.
The start of the New Year saw us take our first walk of not only the day but of the year. Thinking about it, I can only say that once a year and just could not resist. Whether she is setting a new precedent, or it was by pure accident, Sandy had us trucking around and by the end of the walk, we had covered 1.2 miles around the park. Great start to the day. With breakfast out of the way, I settled down to write and the dogs found their favorite spots to sleep off the morning exertions. I worked for a while until late in the afternoon before going into Dripping Springs as I needed to make a couple of stops. The first was at the Home Depot as I mentioned earlier that the deer were emptying the seed out of the feeders by tilting them sideways allowing the seed to fall on the ground and then into their hungry mouths. I think I have worked something out to help control this and bought a few items. More on that later when I try to make it work.
The next stop was my other favorite store now that my taste for Starbucks has waned for a bit and that was the HEB store. It was nowhere near as busy as the last time pre-Christmas so in no time flat, I had the few items that I needed plus a couple more and got out of there. The drive back to Miss Daisy was uneventful and I was met at the door by two dogs both demanding that it was time to go out. I made them wait just long enough to put the groceries away before we headed out the door. The weather was quite noticeably cooler and there was a definite chill in the air as we do have our first frost of the year forecast for early tomorrow morning. Hopefully, it will not drop too much, or we might be in trouble again with frozen pipes or worse. Altogether, I walked almost 2.7 miles, the dogs not so much as they did not do the two Super Stores. Welcome to 2022. Written 01/02/2022 – Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com
I was so comfortable laying around that I did not get up until 10:00 am. I really was being very lazy but we had nothing planned for the day so it is not like I was ruining any expectations or was late for any appointments. Of course, by some people’s standards, I had wasted half of the day which is true but then again, to those same people, my way of life is wasting much more than half a day. I am sure that if I had a mate other than the dogs, I would set myself different standards or they would be set for me as is the way of women but as I do not. I set my own, thank goodness. That includes getting up later than usual, occasionally.
It was a dull cloudy morning, overcast with some light drizzle but not enough to warrant wearing a jacket. Just as we walked out of the door, my neighbors that I spent time talking to yesterday, were pulling out taking the long way around the park. I noticed that they had left something behind on their site, so I dragged the dogs over and picked up a couple of large lids for plastic containers and then headed out of the gate to hopefully intercept the other campers. I managed to beat them out onto the street as they had to take the long one way direction and when they stopped, handed them the lids, and wished them a safe journey. The wife was so grateful that she gave me a posy of flowers that she had been holding. Made my day that I was able to catch up with them and it saved them having to buy new lids. We continued our walk, but it was only a short one before heading back to Miss Daisy.
After a breakfast of toast, marmite, marmalade, and coffee and of course, feeding my two little buddies, I settled down in front of the computer as is the usual custom. I have an exceptionally good friend that does everything on her phone and for her, the computer is the last resort. I, on the hand, prefer the computer over the phone with the much larger screen and stability of a fixed object. Of course, I use the phone when I am out, but it is not my first choice although I use the phone’s camera a lot. Each to their own. Again, I am using the Word program to write the blog as it does so many more corrections. Incidentally, I sent away for a bunch of business cards that contain the latest blog address, but I keep forgetting to hand them out. Gotta work on that.
I spent a couple of hours posting the blogs that I have already written, attaching pictures and such. I noticed that I have completely missed a day, so I guess nothing too important happened. Oh well, I am sure that nobody is going to email me and complain about the missing day. Must have been a particularly dull day for it not to have something about it to stick in my mind.
I looked up Great Clips in Dripping Springs on my phone and found that I could make a reservation which I promptly did for 30 minutes ahead giving me enough time to jump in the car and make the short 11-mile journey in from Henly. When I arrived, I walked in complete with mask only to be told that they would call me when a chair was available. I opted to sit outside in the sun as it was only a short wait and watched the people coming and going. There was an ice cream store nearby and it had a lot of customers, mostly kids. Very soon, I was inside getting my hair cut by a young lady by the name of Ariel. She listened attentively as I described the problems that I was having with one side of my hair which naturally is thinning on the top anyway. Ariel went to work and before very long, had done a wonderful job and I had a nicely trimmed short back and sides. She had even straightened out the “trouble spot.” Overall, she did an exceptionally decent job, and I will be sure to ask for her again when I need my next haircut, assuming I am still in the area.
From there. my next stop was to the HEB which, compared to my previous visit before Christmas, was relatively quiet. I wore my mask, and it bothers me to see the number of people that are not wearing theirs. Seems to be such a small price to pay to remain healthy. Even some of the older people who should know better are maskless as are many of the HEB employees. Not that I like wearing mine as it fogs up my glasses, but needs must. With the shopping done and safely stowed away in the Jeep, I made a stop at Starbucks only to discover it was closed and that at 4:00 pm in the afternoon. They gave no reason, but it is just as well as my taste for Starbucks and coffee in general, seems to be off just lately. Even the morning one brewed at home does not sit as well as it used to. Maybe, it is time to switch to tea again, just like my days in England when we drank it by the gallon and in fact, I had been thinking of an alternative drink when I pulled in to Starbucks.
The dogs were incredibly pleased to see me and the first thing I see when I pull up in front of Miss Daisy is usually Sandy’s little white head peering eagerly through the windshield. Behind her is Mikey who is always overshadowed by the gregarious and pushy little girl. Just like all women, Sandy demands to be the center of attention even when we are out walking as she is the one that makes advances to any other person we happen to bump into who she thinks might give her that attention. Typical of the female species.
We took some interesting pictures on the walk.
Just being nosyHorse in the background and very inquisitive deer
I put away the groceries that needed to go into the freezer and left the rest littered all around Miss Daisy as we went out for the afternoon or in this case, evenings walk as it was just beginning to get dark. When we got back after covering almost 2 miles for the day, I finished putting away groceries and straightened up Miss Daisy before settling down to the evening meal and watchng football of the English kind on TV. So ended another day in paradise.
Sometimes the words just won’t rhyme no matter how many times I switch them around from this to that in the hope that for a fact I can get them right to say or maybe try another way in the end I think what I’ll do because it’s obvious I haven’t a clue on how to write a verse today my aging brain will not say the things that I want to write down I’m not a poet only a clown trying to be something I am not an artist a poet and a really big shot so I will give up on this writing today and take the dogs walking out for a play for at least I know that we will have fun me and two little dogs out in the sun.
Another day and it’s getting closer for us to move on. I have mixed feelings about leaving this park as I have really enjoyed our stay here. The one major drawback is that the internet has been really dodgy even with my booster. But needs must and I have business back in Austin in December and January. The plan is to head up North to New York State next year but we will see how things work out. As per usual, the first walk of the day was around the park and onto the short trail. It was quiet out and we didn’t get to meet any other dogs or humans come to that. With no serious plans for the day, it was a question of finding something to do other than to write in this blog.
I solved that problem by harnessing up the dogs and hitting the trails. We opted to take the longest one for a distance of 1.5 miles. That coupled with the .7 miles this morning put us well over the 2 mile mark which is our goal for most days, In the past 7 days, we have walked a little over 13 miles so pretty close to the mark. We had one wet day when we only walked for about a half mile for the day. Gotta stay fit somehow and as I can’t run or kick a ball anymore, walking is the next best thing. I have to thank Sandy and Mikey for getting me out there.
We had an interesting development while we were watching television later on in the evening. I heard a knock on the door and at first thought it was on the TV and then when it came a second time, answered it to find a neighbor standing there telling me that I had water pouring out of Miss Daisy. I thanked him and and turned to check only to see that the sink was overflowing. Somehow, I had managed to leave the faucet running and this being an RV and not a house, the grey tank had filled up and the sink was full and coming out the top. It must have been running for a couple of hours and I have no idea why I didn’t notice it. I spent the next half hour mopping up after emptying the grey tank. As far as I can tell, there is no damage but I left the cabinet doors open with a fan in front blowing cold air to dry things out. As there was nothing more I could do, we all went to bed with me chastising myself for being so dumb and wondering why I didn’t hear the water running.
11/27/2021
Wonder what Sandy is dreamingMikey has Sandy’s harness on by mistake
I got up and then I remembered the happenings of last evening and got to checking to see if there was any damage. Everything appeared to have dried out but the outlet on the counter wouldn’t work and neither would the one under the dining seating which supplies power to the computer among other things. The outlet above the dining area was working so I did some maneuvering and used a multi outlet unit to provide the power where I needed it. The one bad thing, ok, one of several, is that there are too few outlets in the RV and in order to have more than a couple of things plugged in like the computer and the printer, I have to be a little inventive and use the extension unit that when plugged in, allows for three or six other items to be attached. I usually never have more than two plugged in at the same time as that would put too big a load on the system resulting in more blown fuses.
With the power taken care of at least temporarily as I still need to locate the cause of the blown fuses, I decided to put that off until after coffee and breakfast for us all. Well, coffee for me and a burrito. Following breakfast, although I hadn’t planned on it, I had to do a load of laundry to wash among other things, all of the towels I had used to mop up the water last evening. I threw everything into the Jeep and drove the short distance over to the Laundry Room and I was lucky that no one else was using any of the machines which by itself, is very unusual. I dumped the soggy mess into the washing machine and drove back to Miss Daisy to wait it out. An hour later, I went back over and threw the clothes into one of the dryers and an hour after that, I folded the clothes and brought everything back. Them came the process of making the bed, something I have described many times before and today was no different, After much grunting and complaining to myself, the dogs having experienced the trauma of bedmaking before and knowing when to disappear, I finally got it made and after congratulating myself on a job well done, noticed that it was already getting dark so it was time for walkies. We made a circuit of the park running into the little Schnauzer who also happened to be walking with his Mom and stopped to talk. Continuing on, we bumped into the Super who had a Grandson with him and talked to him for a bit. We confirmed that indeed, we would be pulling out on the1st of December and he offered me a spot if ever I wanted to return in the future. Told me that I was always welcome which is nice to hear. Who can foretell the future, As were completing our walk, it came on to rain making our timing perfect. The evening was spent in the usual way, food for us all, a glass of wine for me and then watch football of the English kind.
We walked around the park and stopped to talk to a couple of people. The little Schnauzer was in her run so we went over to say hello. In Sandy’s case, just a brief touching of noses and then its a, “Lets go Dad”. I ignored her and chatted to the Man of the house who was sitting outside. He told me he was a truck driver for 40 years and suffers from a bad back because of it. I suppose that sitting constantly and being jarred around all of the time like that would do that to you even with the modern spring loaded seats. On the plus side, he shouldn’t have any problems in backing up his 5th wheel although I think they are here permanently. My brief spell of trucking was restricted to three winters so I wasn’t at it long enough to get the back problems, thank goodness.
We finished the walk and settled down for our normal day. After writing for a bit and watching my next door neighbor work on his motorcycle which included several rides around the park. The last of these rides, he was accompanied by a pit bull that belonged to one of the park workers and who had broken it’s collar to get free and his own large black dog who were running both alongside and all over the park. They sure got some exercise and had a lot of fun. Hopefully, they will be leashed by the time we go out for our walk. As I watched later on, I noticed that my neighbor’s little dog from across the way was loose and I know that she is very protective of it so I wandered over getting barked at and scolded most severely by the little guy because I was on his property. His owner apparently was visiting a neighbor and hurried over when she saw me and let the dog back into her RV. I’m not sure she was aware of my intentions until I explained that I saw the dog loose and was concerned. As it was, the neighbor she had been visiting was someone who knew me and said hello which I think allayed her suspicions.
The Super stopped by to drop of the package I had ordered from Amazon a couple of days ago leaving it on my glass topped wicker table. I decided to drop everything and install the part which is really just a small clamp that fits on the arm of the Carrier to stop it from rattling so much. First thing was to find a wrench that would fit the bolts and luckily, it only took three tries to do that searching in different containers each time before I located the right size. After that, it was a relatively simple process and hopefully, with the help of a couple of bungee chords, we have solved the rattling problem.
By then, it was time to go out for the afternoons walk and as it was already getting dark, we settled for a walk around the park. I should say, I settled for that short walk as the dogs don’t care as long as they get out. We made the complete circuit around the park and said “Hi” to the Schnauzer who was very happy to see us before heading back to Miss Daisy for the evening meal. Altogether, we covered 2 miles for the day.
11/25/2021
A view through the trees ay Lake Livingstone.
It was pouring down with rain when I first woke up so after a quick visit to the bathroom to ease the usual problem that old men have with their prostate, I rolled over and went back to sleep. It was 10:30 by the time I woke up and the rain had eased off for a bit. After showering and shaving and putting on the usual shorts and tee shirt, this time a clean set, I got the dogs ready for their first walk of the day. We walked the park staying mostly on the roads which were a little drier than the grass, making a couple of circuits to get in our half mile. I noticed a couple of empty spots where RV’s had left and there was little activity in the park as everyone was inside because of the dull and overcast day. Besides, today is a holiday, Thanksgiving Day so the very few working people are all at home inside their RV’s and making the most of their day off.
A large RV came in followed by another vehicle towing a boat and they parked in two separate sites, next to each other. It didn’t take them long to set up so they are experienced at this. The park is very quiet with very little activity other than the new arrivals. The weather being cloudy and dull with a light drizzle makes it a good day to stay indoors. It cleared up a little in the afternoon so we took the opportunity to take a longer walk along the trails. By the time we got back, it was getting dark and we were glad to get back inside. Just like the previous day, we covered around 2 miles.
Another sunny day in this beautiful park. As usual, the first thing on the agenda was the early morning walk. We stopped to say hello to the horses, well I did. The dogs just ignored them. We managed to cover a mile just walking around without hitting any trails, a great start to the day. I decided that I needed to do laundry and gathered up the clothes and washing detergents and made my way over to the Laundry Room where only the dryers were in use. I grabbed a washing machine and loaded it out adding detergent which is of the little plastic podules kind and went back to Miss Daisy. An hour later, I went back over to put the laundry in the dryer but for some reason, the wash had not completed properly and the liquid detergent was all over the clothes. I had no choice but to set up another wash cycle. I spent some time talking to Alice who helps out with running the office and then retuned back to the RV to wait it out. An hour later, I made my way back and this time, the wash had completed successfully and so into the dryer and again returning to Miss Daisy. An hour later, I headed back to the laundry room and the wash was dry. I spent time folding it and putting into my laundry bag, headed back home. I’m pretty good at this as I have been single for almost 30 years and have had a lot of practice although it was much more convenient back at the old house with my own washer and dryer.
Back in Miss Daisy, I put the laundry away which comprised of underclothes in the drawer, shorts and tee shirts in the closet and towels in the bathroom. Real easy. By the way, I can almost stand in one place and just shuffle my feet to complete this task with no walking involved. By then, it was time to go grocery shopping in Livingstone and this time, I went to the Walmart’s as I wanted that rotisserie chicken and I also wanted to add to my steps for the day. I found everything on my list with the exception of cans of scented spray that goes into a battery operated gizmo which quirts out a jet of nice smelling stuff to keep Miss Daisy fresh. I walked all over the place but could not locate it. Giving up on that, I checked out and made my way to Starbucks (of course) before making the drive home. I had previously stopped at Lowe’s on the way in as I need a clamp to stop the carrier from rattling as much and I know there is one available to do just that. However, Lowe’s did not carry the unit and neither did an Autoparts store which I found on my way out. Both of them had everything tow hitchwise but not what I wanted
The drive back was uneventful except for a wonderful sunset that I wanted to photograph. Unfortunately, there are no real shoulders to pull off and too much traffic which did not give me the opportunity. I arrived back to two very excited little dogs who helped me put the groceries away, at least those that needed to go into the refrigerator and leaving the rest strewn all over the floor, we harnessed up and headed out of the door. We walked the park staying mostly on the roads as by now, it was getting dark and I could not see where I was going without the help of the street lights around the park, Arriving back, we settled down for the evening with food for all of us and TV with a glass of wine. Altogether for the day, I covered 3.8 miles, a very good day indeed.
11/25/2021
One we hadn’t seen before
I managed to get up early and we headed out the door for the first walk of the day. Like yesterday, we walked the park perimeter staying as wide as we could to get in the extra steps and like yesterday, we stopped to say hello to the horses. Such beautiful creatures. I didn’t know it then, but that was the last time that we would greet or see them. As I was walking the short trail, the neighbors black dog suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Sandy growled a bit and Mikey for once, stood his ground but nothing happened in the way of a fight. I thought at first the dog was loose and was getting ready to turn back and take the dog with us when my neighbor appeared and called the dog over. We chatted for a bit before heading back down the trail. We completed the circuit and walked almost a mile before returning for breakfast.
I settled down to write and as I sat there, I saw the people leaving with the Horse RV and for some reason, I felt so sad. Amazing how the love of animals can make you feel that way. Shaking off the gloom, I got back to work with the everyday task and continued to write. Yesterday, because I couldn’t locate the part I needed to stabilize the Carrier unit on the Jeep, I decided to order one through Amazon and it should be here tomorrow. That is an amazing company as I have ordered stuff before and received it the next day which is great for us mobile people with no permanent address at least for deliveries.
Today is another beautiful sunny day although a little cooler with the temperature around 62 degrees as Fall slowly comes to an end and the Winter season approaches, officially on December 21st. With the exception of one semi permanent RV, the temporary row B which is where we first parked, is now empty. A couple more RV’s pulled in later in the day but they went into the more permanent spaces although that doesn’t mean they are staying long.
I decided that we had sat around long enough and thought that we should at least drive to Lake Livingstone State Park if only just to take a look and maybe take a few pictures. We harnessed up and I made sure that I had my real camera with the telescopic lens with me and off we went. Lake Livingstone State Park is only a few miles from the RV Park and in no time at all, we arrived where I got out and paid my $3.00 fee. The lady behind the counter asked if I was hiking today but I told her no as I wasn’t planning on it. I guess they do that for safety’s sake so they can account for everyone’s movements.
The Park is fairly big with over a hundred RV and tent camp sites most of which were full up. There were a lot of the younger generation running and playing and many Parents sitting around camp fires. Compared to the Park I am staying at, this one was like a city in rush hour. I found where most of the trailheads were and seriously considered taking a hike anyway but then decided against it. I did take several pictures of the lake and boat ramps. Maybe I’ll hike another day. We took the drive back and discovered that we had a problem with the Jeep. Not a serious one and I did learn a bit more about it. This is the first time that the dogs have taken a ride in this vehicle and of course, they are always vying to see who will sit on my lap. By itself, that is not a problem except that the dividing console has the 4 wheel drive controls plus when I got out to use one of the restrooms, I noticed that all of a sudden, the Jeep was further off the ground surprising the heck out of me. Turns out that the control to raise and lower it are also in the center console and with the dogs busy jostling each other, they activated both the height and the 4 wheel drive. Something for me to keep an eye on in the future. By the way, I knew about the 4 wheel drive but had no idea that the Jeep could be raised and lowered so actually, the dogs did me a favor.
We arrived back at the campground and went out for that evenings walk that we never got to do at Lake Livingstone State Park. We did a complete circuit around the park and the hit the short trail. On the way back, apart from the visible signs of where the horse corral had been, there was a very strong smell in the air. There is no mistaking the smell of horses. We stopped to chat with our Artist neighbor who was working on another painting of the same couple. He is very good at it although as he pointed out, it is getting a bit chilly to sit outside and pursue his art. Altogether, we covered 2.5 miles for the day.
Back in Miss Daisy, we prepared for the evening with food and drinks and TV.
The horse visitors. The RV was only parked there temporarily before pulling into a regular spot.
Another day in heaven. We walked around the park stopping to talk to a couple of the neighbors on the way. The horses were not in their paddock but at the end of the walk, when we were sitting on the wicker couch, I spotted them running loose and jumped up to help try to catch them but the owners finally caught up with them and my help was not needed. I guess they had them loose grazing in the spray fields where there is some long grass and they had wandered a bit. No harm done. Yesterday, they had gone riding on the trails as we spotted some of their tell tale signs that horses always leave. On our usual walk around the park this morning, Sandy insisted that we take one of the trails. I fooled her though by taking the shortest one available which satisfied her doggy curiosity and her bossy ways. The way we walk is that I point her in the general direction and she kinda takes over and steers the ship. We do tend to wander a bit but it makes life interesting. I noticed that another RV was sitting in our old spot which must have come in very late last evening as it was already set up
We sat and worked on the blogs as we usually do and before I knew it, it was 2:00 pm. I have no idea where the time goes as it just flies by. I had even got up earlier as well as I realize that getting up late is wasting daylight which is now gone by 5:30 pm when it gets dark. I still haven’t made it to Lake Livingstone State Park and it needs to happen this coming week or it won’t happen at all as we are scheduled to leave December1st. On our walk around this morning, one of the neighbors I was talking to expressed dismay that I was planning on leaving December. Must be that I have the right personality and am quiet enough to belong at this park. Who knows what the future holds. I may end back up here permanently when my travelling days are over. Maybe I can rent the tiny home that is here and not deal with an RV. Wonder what sort of price deal I could get?
We went for a walk in the afternoon much earlier than we usually do as Sandy was being an exceptional bug which usually signifies the need to “go”. We harnessed up and taking a bag of garbage with us that needed to go in the dumpster, set off only for me to realize that I had forgotten my walking pole. We did a quick about turn, picked it up and set off for the second time walking one of the trails. We hadn’t gone no more than a half mile when Sandy yelped and then started licking her foot. I took a quick look around but could not see any crittures and so had no idea what was wrong. She let me take a look but didn’t like me prodding around. We did a quick about turn with her limping on three legs all the way back where I took another look. She may have cut her paw on something as there was some blood. There was not a lot I could do for her and she curled up on the passenger seat of Miss Daisy and went to sleep feeling very sorry for herself. Even cutting the walk short, we covered 1.5 miles for the day.
Another RV pulled in late afternoon and the man of the family quickly set it up as I watched through my window. It was very obvious that he was organized and knew what he was doing and in no time flat, he was done. Now, all of the “temporary” sites are filled up for this weekend and all with long RV’s. Thirty plus footers and all trailers. No 5th wheels with the exception of the horse trailer. As I said before, most of the residents are permanent but at least two long termers have moved on these past few days.
11/21/2021
I wonder how this tree grew this way and why. It almost looks like one tree engulfed the other one.
We got up to a very cloudy day with a chance of rain in the forecast. Sandy’s foot seemed to be OK as she was more than willing to walk around the park but I noticed that she stayed pretty much on the roads. She took us to the trails and we started to walk a short one when all of a sudden, she decided that she didn’t want to go trail walking and turned back dragging Mikey and me behind her, I guess the trails hurt the foot she complained about yesterday. On our walk around, the horses owners were leading the horses and were walking around the park. Perched on top of each one was a kid from the last trailer that pulled in yesterday. They are an Oriental family and it looks like they have three kids. One of them, a girl, has made friends with one of my neighbors cat and spent some time playing with it. This particular cat is very curious and even tried to make friends with Sandy until Mikey chased it off. Mikey doesn’t trust any cat, friendly or otherwise. Come to that, Mikey doesn’t trust humans either other than me. Like I said before, he is a chicken little and hides behind me if we stop to talk to anyone especially if they try to make friends with him.
It came on to rain but only briefly and I sat here and listened to it as it dripped off the trees. Very soothing. One of the RV’s packed up and pulled out this morning but none of the others show any sign of moving on. I know that the horse people are here for a week but not sure about the others. We have ten more days before we head back to Henly, a 250 mile drive. I toyed with the idea of staying overnight somewhere along the way but decided that I can drive that without too much trouble. Just need to get up earlier that day to get an early start as I don’t want to be driving in the dark. The old eyes don’t do too well with the glare of the oncoming headlights anymore.
We walked under this tree arch.
We went out for the afternoon walk and this time, we hit the longer trails. An uneventful walk and Sandy did just fine. Mikey too was really into this walk which is unusual for him as he normally walks behind me. Today, he was right up there with Sandy and at times even leading the way. Altogether for the day, we covered 2.0 miles which is really good for us. Only when I walk around the enormous Walmart’s does it go higher as that adds another mile to the count. Not to say that I couldn’t walk further, I could, but it is difficult with two small dogs as they do get tired. When we got back, the Asian family had pulled out so they were just weekenders. Great way to spend family time. We sat on the wicker couch for a while before heading back inside for the rest of the evening.
Another day only this time, Sandy was not with us when we awoke. By the looks of the bedcovers, I must have had another bad dream where I was being chased by demons or something similar as the covers were all over the place. No wonder Sandy chose to sleep on the passenger seat in the front cab. Probably felt safer there with all of my wild thrashing around. However, Mikey, my faithful buddy, had stuck it out and was curled up right alongside me where he usually sleeps. Sometimes, when he is that close, his body heat is almost too hot for me to put up with and I have to move away. He really is a loving little fellow. I crawled out and got dressed and took them out for their walk. We walked by the horses just to say hello and then continued wandering around the park grabbing a couple of horse and RV pictures as we went. The park was quiet as it usually is and even the Schnauzer was not out in her run. The morning walk usually covers around .06 of a mile and only if we are really energetic do we bother with more steps. I generally use the afternoon walk to get the mileage up.
I completed yesterdays blog and posted the couple of pictures that I had taken of the horses and their RV. I should probably do laundry but from where I am sitting, I can see the Laundry Room and it looks like there is a car parked in front which generally indicates that someone is using the machines. I can wait as I have plenty of tee shirts, shorts and underwear which is all I ever dress up in. I will probably be buried in the same clothes. I guess “dress up in” is not really a good description as what I should really say is that these are the clothes that I wear on a daily basis. Dress up really refers to just that, getting ready for a special occasion and I have very few of those nowadays. Thank goodness.
We went out for the afternoon walk and met the lady with the horses. Her name is Elise and she told me that they have had horses for thirty or so years and have been RV’ing full time for five years. Interestingly enough, when I mentioned that I write a blog, it turns out that she also writes one and hers is on Camp Ground reviews. I need to get the name of it so I can check it out.
We walked the Park and then went on a couple of the shorter trails before heading back to Miss Daisy. On the way, we stopped by the horse paddock just to say hello to the two horses, Sandy wasn’t very interested and Mikey was in his usual place, behind me. We also stopped by my next door neighbors dog who is a friendly young lady but a little skittish. At least, the dogs don’t bark at each other anymore even if they are not yet nose touching friends,
Back inside Miss Daisy, we settled down for the evening and after feeding us all, I started watching my current favorite show, Midsomer Murders on the Roku channel which is an English production and has some wonderful views of the English countryside and the old houses. It is really a murder mystery and each installment lasts an hour and thirty minutes with always a couple of people getting murdered in each show, A lot of the characters are of the English nobility or of families that go back hundreds of years and the characters portrayed are mostly snobs while some of the regular people are the opposite kind, rough and hard speaking who don’t give a damn who they are speaking to. Makes for very interesting watching. The show goes back a long way starting in 1997 and is still running today with between six to eight episodes a year. That make a total of around two hundred and thirty or so. I am up to season 17. I spent last evening running through each series starting from the very beginning just to make sure that I had seen every one of the episodes as they have a habit of jumping forward when I tune in. I estimate that I have watched eighty or more of them so far. It didn’t seem like that much at the time. I guess all that really matters is that it keeps me amused.
With the latest of these still swirling around my brain, we went to bed. Somewhere in the night, Sandy decided to sleep on the passenger seat of Miss Daisy so she was either too hot or I was dreaming again. That’s what comes of watching murder mysteries last thing of the evening.
11/19/2021
Who would not like walking here?
We actually got up earlier this morning but before we did, Sandy came trooping back in to reward us with her presence after leaving us in the night to sleep on the passenger seat of Miss Daisy. She ambled over as if to say, “I forgive you Dad for having another bad dream night. Try not to do it again, OK”. After showering and dressing for the day, the first thing was to go out walking. We said hello to the horses as we wandered around but except for my neighbors dog, none of the others were outside. It was a very slow walk stopping at almost every other tree or other interesting spots and it takes a while just to cover the half mile which is one circumference around the park.
Back inside Miss Daisy and following breakfast, we settled down to write as is our usual fashion. We didn’t have any new pictures to work on and was limited to strictly writing so we didn’t spend as much time as we usually do. The dogs were ancy so I decided that we would take an earlier walk which we did. They, of course, were very happy with the arrangement. We hiked a couple of the trails and altogether, we covered 2.3 miles for the day making a total of 13.1 for the week. If I can just keep that up.
Another RV pulled in across from me and I watched as they positioned it and then set it up. It went very smoothly so they had done it all before. This time, the driver had a wife that actually helped in the positioning and levelling which made it much easier on him. I, for some reason, always feel much more comfortable when I see that people know what they are doing as without the proper care and knowledge, accidents can and do happen. With the light fast fading and nothing more to see outside. I drew the blinds to close off the outside world for one more day. We ate our evening meal and then watched more of Midsomer Murders. No wonder I have bad dreams.
I awoke late and crawled out of bed before going out for the first walk of the day. We stuck to the perimeter of the park as that gets us the most mileage and therefore, the most exercise plus it is the easiest walking. Sandy had to greet the little Schnauzer as we drew level and I chatted to the owners who were sitting outside. Other than that, the walk was uneventful. The kids were playing on the swings and in the playground but as I passed, I could see the grownups were already breaking camp getting ready to head back to their respective houses. Great way to spend a weekend especially for the kids as it does get them closer to Nature and away from TV, computers and the ever present mobile phone.
My other neighbors in the RV had already pulled out even before I got up. Must have a long trip ahead of them to leave that early. Wait a minute, I just remembered that I got up late, again. My other neighbors in the Class B also pulled out. I think they must be new at this camping thing as the only thing I saw them do was hook up the electricity and water and it was not until they were getting ready to leave, did they hook up their hoses to empty the tanks. They never did level their rig and did seem a bit lost as to what to do. Good luck to them for the future and I hope they build a lot of camping memories. Nothing like hands on experience to learn. They sure do have a nice looking rig though. By the way, it is considered bad form to offer advice unless it is specifically asked for. With all of the new arrivals gone amid a flurry of excitement, the park settled down to it’s usual quiet place made even quieter by the fact that it was Sunday.
Everything was peaceful as I looked out of Miss Daisy. My next door neighbor was working on his RV and he told me that he just replaced his refrigerator as the old one stopped working. That’s the thing with this RV life, with older rigs and sometimes, even the newer ones, stuff wears out or breaks and has to be repaired or replaced. Some, the average handyman can take care of but sometimes, it means calling in an expert or taking the unit to some RV repair specialists which can be a problem if they are going to keep it for a period of time and this is your house and only abode. Plus, it may contain all of your worldly possessions as in my case. For someone that once had a lot of possessions in an 1850 square foot house and two workshops, mine are now very, very few all packed into 250 square feet of space. By the way, I still can’t find anything. Incidentally, my painter friend two RV’s down with the 1995 older unit has been working on rebuilding it and has almost finished with rewiring the electricity. Don’t know what else he has left to do.
When the internet service is not very good as it is in a lot of RV Parks, this one included, I rely on my Netgear booster through ATT which enables me to get internet most of the time. It may still go in and out occasionally but most of the time, it is a steady signal. The service costs me $55.00 for a 100 gigs but I have found that I run out halfway through the month if I have to use it all the time and at the last campground, it cost me $250.00 to buy extra gigs of service. I was fast running out here and called ATT and spoke with a very nice but very difficult to understand Indian lady who told me that I could renew the original service by changing the renew date which is what I have done. $110.00 is a lot cheaper than $305.00 for a month. Some parks like the last one at St Ives had very good Internet service and I didn’t use the booster at all. It still costs me the $55.00 as it doesn’t roll over to the next month. A small price to pay for what is to me, my most important pastime, writing this blog. Why is it important? Well, for one thing, it allows my artistic side to come out in pictures, writing and in the poetry but probably the most important of all is that it keeps my brain very active in the hope that the deterioration that has already started, will be slowed down.
I looked at the clock and was very surprised to see that it was already 3:30 pm. I have no idea where the time has gone but somehow, it has slipped away and another day has almost passed. With us being back to normal time, it gets dark much earlier by 5:30 pm and sooner than that on a cloudy day. So, it means that our afternoon walks which used to start at 5:00 pm or later now need to start much earlier if we plan on walking any distance. With that in mind, I got the guys (and girls) ready and we headed out the door. I decided to forgo the park and headed straight for the trails. We walked for a little over a mile before heading back to Miss Daisy where we sat outside for a bit. My neighbor came over and chatted before I headed back indoors. I worked on this blog and then fed the dogs and then myself before settling down for the evenings entertainment. And so ended another day…
Written 11/15/2021
The Park
The sun was shining as we walked around the park taking our usual route on the outside perimeter to get the most steps in. Sandy got to say “Hi” to her Schnauzer friend and I chatted briefly with the owners. A couple of other people were out and about otherwise, the park was quiet. It is Monday and some of the tenants have gone to work. it would be very interesting to know more about their backgrounds. I’ll just bet there are some very interesting stories out there as I think there are a lot of retired people here and the Super told me that there are no kids at all except from the occasional visit.
Following breakfast, I settled down to write and the dogs also settled down but for them it was to sleep. What a life! If I had a choice and if there is an afterlife, I want to come back as a dog to a family that loves me. I wrote for a couple of hours and then I decided to go into Livingstone to stock up on groceries as I was getting low on a couple of things. On the way, I passed an HEB and on the spur of the moment decided to do my shopping there. This was not a huge store but pretty much had everything I needed but they didn’t have a meat counter. All meats were pre-packaged which is OK except I had my heart set on a rotisserie cooked whole chicken which they didn’t do. I had to settle for the prepackaged turkey.
I have been looking for body lotion with sunscreen which, on the advice of my Dermatologist, is what I use everyday to help ward off the sun’s damaging rays but a couple of stores in which I had previously checked, didn’t carry what I wanted. Lots of body lotion but not with sunscreen so I paid my bill and lo and behold, there was Walgreens across the street but they didn’t carry it either. Driving down the road, I located a CVS Pharmacy and lucky for me, they had it. I bought 3 bottles which should last me for a while. Next stop was, you guessed it, a Starbucks which did me very well for the drive home. BTW, I won’t go back to that HEB again as it is not a patch on the gigondous Walmart’s which has rotisserie cooked whole chicken.
On the way in, I had spotted what looked like a King Charles Spaniel wandering on the side of the road but it was in a small village. I couldn’t stop as I had traffic behind me and in the other lane so I had to keep going. On the way back, I took a detour to re-cover my tracks just in case that dog was still wandering but I did not see it so hopefully, it either went home or someone rescued it. That’s the second dog that I have seen wandering on the side of the road. I stopped for the first one by she ran away and as it was a busy road, I did not want to scare her into it so I gave up. She wasn’t there either when I drove back later. I wonder what it is with all of these loose dogs? Some people don’t worry over their pets like I do and I understand this but even so.
Altogether today with walking the park and the stores, I covered about 2.1 miles and am averaging between 10-12 miles a week. I am amazed just how fast the days are flying by for several reasons. One is that my time here is drawing to a close. This is an absolutely beautiful area and the scenery is out of this world. I passed a huge field today that must have had more than 100 cows or steers or whatever they were. Definitely not milk cows but more of the meat kind. Wherever you looked, there were animals just contentedly grazing. Lucky for them, they don’t know their future.
I have received two email notifications in the past week. One was from my Dermatologist who I have been seeing for almost 20 years in which she said that she is giving up her practice and retiring. She had mentioned it the last time I was there only at that time, she wasn’t sure what to do as her office building was being demolished for the Hospital expansion. So, rather than go through the hassle of setting up somewhere else, she is retiring. Good for her. Then today, I got an email from my Veterinary service to say that Dr Donop, my animal doctor for as long as I can remember, after 22 years of service is also retiring. He actually is pretty young, not even 50 as far as I can tell so he must have done pretty well in that clinic or maybe he has other independent means. I know he had a lot of my money but he really cared about the animals. I am gong to miss him as we have been through a lot of trauma together and on top of that, he is a really nice guy. BTW, he has an RV and is going to move to Colorado and do a lot of camping. I have been going to that Vet service when the original owner had it more than 30 years ago.
I keep outliving my medical people. I guess that is a good thing but since living here in Texas, my first Orthopedic surgeon retired as did my first Dentist followed by my second Dentist who only lasted a couple of years before she retired due to illness. Another Ortho retired who did my knee replacement surgery but I still have the Ear Doctor who has been with me for 33 years. He too is getting old and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to get a notice that he is retiring sometime in the future and now my Vet who is actually, Mikey’s vet as Sandy still goes to Bastrop Animal Shelter for her shots. Dr Donop treated a lot of my pets both cats and dogs going back all of those 22 years and between us, we have suffered a lot of grief as we lost different ones and happy times when others recovered. He is such an understanding man and I will miss his service and dedication to the animals. He is the only man to see me cry.
Dr Donop and his wife.
Upon my return, we took our usual evening walk and stayed around the park. It was already getting dusk as the evening darkness was creeping in so we adjourned to Miss Daisy for the usual evening repass and entertainment.
Another week has flown by at this beautiful park. Shame that I have to go back to Austin on December as I really like it here. All of the people that I have spoken to on my walks are all very friendly and curious and like to spend time visiting and I really like this glorified camping life. It’s not like tent camping of my youth where you are a lot closer to nature as Miss Daisy has all of the mod cons that I need even if space is a bit cramped and that I can never find anything.
We went out for our morning walk and just strolled around the park. I have discovered that if we walk the grassy perimeter we can get in a lot more steps and besides, it is much easier walking than on the gravel roads with it’s larger rocks which make for uncomfortable walking even wearing boots as I always do. We try to get in at least a half mile on the morning walk before heading back into Miss Daisy for breakfast. The first part of my days is pretty set and I generally always follow the same routine which only gets varied if we happen to have something special or different planned for that day. That routine comprises of walking the dogs, breakfast for us all and then sitting down to answer any emails that require my attention followed by writing about yesterdays adventures in the blog.
I spent a couple of hours writing and then Sandy, who I am sure has learned that if she is a big enough bug, she gets to go out for a walk. Mikey, on the other hand, is content to sleep the day away only going out to answer the call of Nature. Remembering Sandy’s performance of a couple of days ago when she really did need to go out to do her business and breathing a deep sigh of resignation, I put on my boots which only excited both of them even more. They patiently wait as I strap on their harness but after that, its a “Lets go Dad” as they pull and tug until I open the door and out they fly. By now, I am prepared and brace myself for the inevitable tug as they hit the ground running. We walked the Park perimeter and this time, I walked behind the RV’s on the far side, a route we hadn’t taken before. We got to meet more neighbors and one little Schnauzer in a caged run that Sandy managed to touch noses with. Mikey, not so much as he stood behind me in his usual spot when other dogs are around. We completed the perimeter circuit and I was prepared to go inside but the Madam, had other ideas and led us down to the trails and made us walk one of the short ones. Finally, she led us back to Miss Daisy as she had tired herself out at least enough she didn’t want to walk anymore.
As I was sitting on the couch, another large 5th wheel pulled in a parked in our old site. I watched for a while and again, the man did everything while the wife just stood around. She didn’t help in anyway that I could see as far as setting up the RV. No directions, no nothing. They also had two smaller kids, a girl and a boy. Incidentally, I got a better look at the man and he appears to be much older than the woman so maybe it’s his daughter and grandkids which would account for her not helping. Talking about tent camping, a couple of families moved in today and are doing just that, tent camping. There are several children and at least three different families with the kids of all ages plus a dog or two. They are in the grassy area in front of the office and not far from the playground. Wonderful way to bring up the kids and teach them how to get closer to Nature.
Tent Camping
Then it was time for the evening meal and the usual round of television and a glass of wine. Tonight, the Internet reception was very good and I got to watch a football game plus a couple of episodes of Midsomer Murders, an English thriller series that shows wonderful views of the old English houses and countryside interspersed with the odd murder or two just to spice things up. Reminds me of home.
Written 11/13/2021
Modern day tent camping, another view.
We awoke to the sound of the children that moved in last evening, playing on the swings in the Playground. It’s great to hear them enjoying themselves. Sandy was ready to go so out the door we stepped in our usual tangled rush and headed for the grassy area to walk the perimeter again. Like I said before, for me it is easier walking and does take us away from the other RV’s and whatever dogs may be tied up outside which usually ends in a cacophony of barking, jumping up and down and generally being very noisy. We made a full perimeter of the park and ended up close to the Trail head which was one of my many mistakes for the day as Sandy was determined that we needed to walk the trails. I tried to talk her out of it but being the woman of the group, she easily won any arguments that Mikey or I could come up with so off we went. Actually, I had the last word as I took the shortest route turning back onto a return trail at the first opportunity. She didn’t know any different. We walked almost a mile for the mornings walk, a good start to the day.
The rest of the morning followed our usual routine, breakfast, coffee and then reading and answering emails and writing in my blog. As I watched, another one of the long term residents to my left and across the way, packed up his RV and pulled out. A little while later, he came back with a trailer to pick up his two outside grilles and a couple of other items and then left again. Obviously, they have moved campgrounds but have not gone very far. There is quite a bit of activity in the Park with a lot of comings and goings by the Residents, others are busy doing “stuff” around their units or heading off somewhere in their vehicles. My new neighbors have set up their grille and are busy cooking a meal but then again, they do have two small kids that need to be fed on a regular basis. For myself, I eat two meals a day, breakfast and the evening meal and very little in between. I’m not much of a barbecue enthusiast as I don’t eat much in the way of meat. I’m limited to occasional chicken or turkey and I buy them prepared so I don’t have to. I have never been much of a meat eater my entire life and at age 85 and in good health, am not the worse for it.
A very nice looking Class B pulled in with a young couple inside and parked directly across from me. The camper looked new and they didn’t bother to level it up so I knew they were not staying more than overnight.
A Class B.
The rest of the day was spent in the usual fashion of writing in this blog and working on some photos that I took before heading out for the afternoon walk at Sandy’s insistence. We walked the park and then a couple of the trails and covered about 2.5 miles for the day. We actually ran into another couple heading in the opposite direction which was a bit of a surprise as we normally don’t see anyone on the trails. Not sure that too many of the residents are into hiking as many are older. So am I but I have always run or hiked and I find no reason to ever stop, that is until I can’t anymore. Besides, Sandy won’t let me.
We sat for a while outside and as my next door neighbor was working on his RV, I walked over just to chat with him mostly about RV stuff before calling it a day and going back inside Miss Daisy for the evening meal. For some reason, the TV reception was not very good and I ended up watching on my laptop.
I woke up at 9:00 am and lay there for a bit thinking about the previous night when we had all woken up with it being too warm in Miss Daisy. I remembered that I had turned the thermostat up last evening and had forgotten to turn it back to around 72 degrees, our usual night time setting. Sandy, in the meantime had gotten too hot and I found her in her dog basket on the floor of the RV. Then I also remembered that yesterday it was 10:00 am at this same time and that probably, the dogs interior clocks had not yet adjusted. I crawled out somewhat reluctantly and showered before heading out of the door for the first walk of the day. We covered a bit under a half mile for the walk around the park meeting a couple of our tethered doggy friends along the way with mutual barking from both sides. Back in Miss Daisy and after breakfast, I cleaned up a bit although that doesn’t take too long by my standards. Not sure if it would satisfy a consciences housewife though as my version of clean is a quick pass over with a dust cloth, vacuum the floor and put things out of sight in the cabinets where usually, I can never remember where I put the stuff when I need it and have to go searching for whatever it is. As the RV is so small with not a great deal of cabinet and drawer space to lose things in, they eventually reappear.
With breakfast out of the way, I settled down to write. I realized that I had already written a couple of short poems that needed posting so decided that I should start posting on Saturdays and that will be Poetry Day. I am a bit late making this announcement as I went backwards with the posting and three Saturday’s worth of poems have already been posted. Better late than never, as it is, I am posted through the end of November with the regular blogs and most of them cover two days at a time.
It was time to go grocery shopping at Walmart’s in Livingstone, a short trip of about 12 miles with absolutely beautiful scenery on the drive. I passed Livingstone Dam but could only get a glimpse as there was nowhere to pull off the road. I am going to visit that State Park, hopefully this week but definitely before we leave here. We do have a little time yet. Like I said before, this Walmart store is huge and had almost everything that I wanted. The exception was a skin cream that contains a sunblock and for some reason, out of the many brands they carried, I could not find what I wanted. While I was at the register, the lady behind me had a whole cartful of green apples and I had to ask her why so many. Something to do with Green Apple Day at the school. I got everything else on my list and rewarded myself with a Grande Latte from the Starbucks next door. Another good reason to go grocery shopping. The drive back was uneventful and again, very pleasant except for some object that I managed to run over not seeing it until the last minute. Hopefully, the Jeep has not sustained any damage.
The dogs were overjoyed at my return and it was already getting dark so I put away only the groceries that needed to go into the freezer, left the rest in the bags inside of Miss Daisy and we set off around the park. Altogether, we covered 2.3 miles for the day, 1.2 of that was me walking around Walmart’s. On the way, Sandy made friends with a very young puppy who was just a month old according to his Mom. Mikey, not so much but at least he didn’t try to eat it. Mikey is a funny little dog and is as timid as they come and then all of a sudden, he lunges at whatever is in front of him. I don’t know what would happen if he actually made contact but I suspect that he would chicken out again as he usually does. We put the rest of the groceries away and then I fed the dogs and settled down to finish this blog before feeding myself and watching the television for the rest of the evening.
Tuesday 11/09/2021
The Beauty of Nature
We managed to get up around 9:00 am which is not surprising as my on board clock still is working an hour ahead having not yet adjusted to the change. We went for a stroll around the park and met a couple of other dogs and their owners. Not very many people about and we only walked for about a half mile before heading back to Miss Daisy for breakfast. I talked to the Super who happened to be driving by and asked him about the one Tiny House that he has located here. He told me that he rents it out and when I asked, replied that he is glad he only has one as it doesn’t get used that much. Interesting. I tidied up Miss Daisy before settling down to write and work on the couple of pictures I took yesterday on the trail. Apart from the skull that I showed in a previous blog, I also found another whimsy.
Not sure what it is other than a decoration.
We spent a couple of hours working on this blog and on a few pictures that I had taken before heading out for our afternoon walk. We have had to re-adjust our timing a little bit now that the clocks have changed and get out a bit earlier as their is no reason to walk in the dark. It is taking a little bit of getting used to as it getting dark so early. I stopped to talk to Ron, the camper on my left who has the two little Chihuahuas and another small dog of uncertain breed. He told me that one of his dogs is now probably pregnant as she was jumped by the other Chihuahua. I don’t know why he hasn’t got them spayed as he doesn’t need more dogs. Now he has another problem to deal with, or will have soon. Maybe, he can’t afford to have them “fixed”. We met several people on our walk around and stopped to chat with a couple of them before continuing on back to Miss Daisy where we went about preparing the evening meal and then watched the television before retiring around 11:00 pm.
We got up around the usual time and as we normally do, the first thing was to take the dogs out for their morning stroll. It was quiet out with only a couple of people out and about. I passed the Laundry Room and it appeared to be busy even at that time of the morning. I guess some people get up much earlier than I do. Change that to “Most” people. We wandered back to Miss Daisy and breakfast before settling down in front of the computer to write. I am pretty caught up on writing nowadays which is just as well as my memory is slowly going and I have a hard time recollecting what I did a couple of days ago unless it was something big like going grocery shopping. A lot of that is because very little changes on a daily basis and one day is pretty much like the rest and it takes something different to make it stand out. With the writing finished for the day, I sat and listened to an Audiobook story for a while, something I like to do but never thought that I could relax enough to spend the time. In my past life, time had to be filled to the limit with whatever was going on. Nowadays, I am quite content to listen to a story read to me by another artist with no feeling of guilt that I should be doing “something”, not wasting my time sitting around.
From where I sit writing, I can see the Laundry Room and can sometimes tell if it is being used. At least I can see when a car is parked in front but for the walkup customers, I have no idea if the the machines are being used. There are only two of each, washers and dryers so they can get busy. They are all older machines and a couple work on the honor system where you put the money into a collection box as the money slide doesn’t work. I eventually chose a time when I thought the machines would be open and loaded everything into the Jeep for the short drive over. Alas, my timing was off as both washers were busy and I had no alternative but to head back to Miss Daisy and wait it out. After a couple more false trips I eventually got lucky with the assistance of Alice, who helps out around the office, as she grabbed the machines for me. My next door neighbors, Anna and her husband were using the driers so we got into a conversation about the British Royalty, a subject that I know little about other than what I read or hear or from what I can remember from my early years in England. We both returned to our respective RV’s with me waiting for the wash to complete which I figured to be about 45 minutes. In fact it took almost an hour as I patiently waited it out. What choice did I have? With the clothes safely in the dryer, I went back and took the dogs for the final walk of the day before heading back once more to fold the clothes and then going back to Miss Daisy with the laundry done for another week or in this case, ten days. I noticed a single sock mixed in with my laundry which I know didn’t belong to me and remembered that Anna had been folding socks of the same variety. By now, it was dark and I had grabbed a flashlight to find my way to their RV and found her husband was sitting outside under a tent cover and the by light of an electric lead lamp, was working on a painting of a couple dancing. He was painting with oils and was doing some correctional work. Apparently, it was for a client of his and he was working off a photo on his cell phone. Pretty neat and obviously, he is a talented guy. Anna had told me that he was an Art Major. Who would have thought it as he doesn’t come across as the artsy type. Quite the opposite in fact as he is pretty aggressive in his actions and manner of speaking. Or maybe, my idea of Art Majors is that they are all laid back. I complemented him on his work and went back to Miss Daisy.
Back in the RV, I put the laundry away and then went about the task of making the bed which, as I have described before is always a chore. This time, it went a little better as I am beginning to find ways to make it easier. Who would have thought that making a bed could be so difficult and frustrating. The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way with the evening meal and then watching the television which these last few days, has become increasingly “spotty” even with my booster. I am still trying to get used to how dark it gets and so early. I personally would be very happy if there was no such thing as daylight saving time. All we have to do is start the day earlier although that in itself would be quite a chore with many people starting work at 8:00 am or a little sooner. It was explained to me back in England when I was just a young 4 year old kid, that DST was implemented during the second world war to give people that worked outside an extra hour of daylight all as a part of the war drive and it was increased to double daylight saving time when the clocks were changed an additional hour for a total of two hours. Then, when the war ended, it kinda stuck although it was reduced to just the single hour of the regular DST. According to my Iphone, here in the US, DST was invented by George Hudson in 1895 during the second US industrial revolution era of inventions (1850-1914). In England, it was the brainchild of a man named William Willet and the Summer Time Act was finally passed in the UK in the summer of 1916. For better or worse as apparently, several countries have had different people “invent” the same thing. I read an interesting comment by an American Red Indian Chief who quoted about DST, “Only a white man would cut a foot off the end of a blanket and sew it on the other end to think that he had a longer blanket”. So true and we think we are so smart.
A leafy trail
Thursday – 11/11/2021
It rained hard during the night accompanied by a lot of lightning and really loud thunderclaps. It was close enough that Miss Daisy shook with the repercussions. I lay awake and listened to the storm first in the distance, then closer and closer until it seemed to be right on top of us before slowly receding back into the distance. I was afraid that the wind would get up and that I would need to bring in the canopy, something I was reluctance to do until I blow it off as I know that it has a good covering of leaves and pine needles. Luckily, there did not appear to be any wind and as the storm receded into the background, I drifted back off to sleep. By this time, Mikey had snuck under the covers and could not get any closer to me, worried by all of the noise. Sandy, who was on the other side, is made of much tougher stuff and was content just to push up against me a little bit. Normally she won’t at all as her little body gets pretty hot and she is uncomfortable. Morning came and with the light, I crawled out of bed hit the bathroom, dressed and was ready to face another day with whatever it may bring.
We went for a short walk before returning to Miss Daisy for breakfast and then settled down to write which is something that I look forward to every day. I really like to get the creative juices flowing even if it is only to recount the happenings of the day. I have tried to write a book and actually have completed two separate ones but have never bothered to pursue getting them read or published. As both of them are really Autobiographies and they would not be of much interest to others. The second one is incomplete anyway as I am still alive and will probably never get finished. I am not inventive enough to write a novel. More of a reporter than a novelist.
We went out for the final walk of the day as Sandy was being a bug and was very insistent. As it happens, she was just letting me know that she had to “go” which she did at least a couple of times. Mikey was in the same boat and also caught up in the same urgency. Must have been something they ate that didn’t agree with them. One thing is certain, I will definitely pay more attention to Sandy when she starts being a bug as now I know that she has a reason. We sat outside for a bit although it is almost getting too cool to enjoy it for very long and my next door neighbor came over to chat for a bit. He offered me a green pepper that he has growing but I respectfully declined. Hot peppers are not my thing unless they are in a mild salsa and eaten with chips to take off the edge. My stomach can’t handle that sort of food.
We ended the day in the usual way with food for us all and then a glass of wine to watch the TV before heading of to bed. The wine is for me, not the dogs and they don’t watch the television either usually sleeping somewhere close to me.
It had left off raining when we got up which was even later than usual and around 10:45 am. I just didn’t even wake up before then and immediately jumped out of bed to get the dogs outside as quickly as possible as with the short walks yesterday and the late start, I knew they had to be “crossing their legs”. We walked around the park but except for yesterdays arrivals, nothing much has changed. I greeted the new arrivals as I walked by and commented on his nice setup. He seemed cheerful enough this morning as opposed to yesterday. The rain had not damaged our site in any way and after brushing off the mats, everything looked shipshape again.
Back indoors, we went through the usual breakfast routine and then I settled down in front of the computer to continue writing. Nowadays, I probably spend a quarter of my waking hours writing or working on the photos that I take. Actually, that is a good thing as it keeps my brain active and the walks are a good physical activity to keep me healthy. I could say fit and healthy but compared to years gone by when I was constantly working out, I am in sorry shape. Once where there was nothing but muscle, there is an unsightly mess. Age tends to do that to you plus the mind is always nagging around saying things like, “Let’s not do that today” or “We can do that some other time” and the worst of all, “No one will ever know”.
We went out for the afternoon walk and stayed around the park. After all of the rain, I figured that the trails are probably a bit wet and muddy and I didn’t want the hassle of washing off the dogs feet. Even so, we covered a mile and a half. stopping to chat to whoever is out and about even if it only to say “hello”. One lady was carrying a broom and dustpan and told me she loves to clean. Better lady than me although Miss Daisy does not have very much floor space to even get dirty. The worst thing I have to deal with is Mikey’s black hair that he sheds all over the place. Luckily, my Ryobi hand vac makes short work of it. Oh yes, the primary rule is, no outside shoes can be worn inside Miss Daisy unless I stay on the outside mats then it’s OK.
The internet reception was really poor probably because of the stormy weather but we were able to watch a game on my laptop before finally going to bed.
Friday 11/5/2021
45ft of RV
We got up at the usual late time and much to my surprise, our new neighbor with the extremely large RV had already left so I guess we were just a stop over on a longer journey. If I was younger, I probably would drive a lot more especially as now it is so much easier with Miss Daisy but somehow, nowadays, I prefer to stay at least a week and longer if I like a campground. Besides, I have nowhere that I need to be except back to Henly for December and January. That has nothing to do with the campground, it’s just that I have set up a couple of Doctor’s appointments and the dogs need their shots so I have packed everything into those two months before heading off again.
We did our usual walking thing around the park before adjourning back for breakfast and coffee and covered almost three quarters of a mile. It was a nice sunny day with the clouds and rain all moved on although I was glad of the light jacket that I wore. I stopped to chat to the park employee that was tidying up the mess that the wheels of the large RV had left. Unfortunately, I don’t think that that driver/owner was very experienced in handling a large rig as from what I could see, he hadn’t made any allowances for the length and the subsequent off-track that the large vehicle created. There is a very definite skill to driving something as big as a semi tractor trailer that articulates at the fifth wheel. Things don’t follow along behind quite the same and because of the length, require a much larger turning space. I hope that this other guy learns as he goes or he will be in an accident by cutting someone else off with his back end. I am somewhat amazed and at the same time very grateful, that the laws governing the towing of an RV especially the very big ones are so lax when it comes to a drivers license. You need a Class C license here in Texas to drive a Tractor Trailer and yet you don’t to drive an RV of equal size and length for a rig like the one we are talking about. I drove a Tractor trailer back in New York mostly in the winter and I went to school to learn how to drive one. I let the license lapse when I moved to Texas as my work then headed in a different direction. Wish I had kept it though.
Another Class A moved in today again into my old site. They had no trouble parking that one but it is not quite as big as the one above. The owners parked and immediately jumped into their tow vehicle and took off. Probably grocery shopping. The weather is definitely cooling off and requires a light jacket on our walks. I hope that we don’t get a winter like we had early this year. There are several kitties that belong to a couple of different owners that go out for walks now and then. Even if there are a couple of them, they never walk around together, nearly always alone. Strange animals, cats. Very independent. Now dogs are a whole different story and are definitely pack animals. Besides dogs need humans, cat’s, not so much.
We went out for our afternoon walk and managed to cover almost a mile and a half just walking around the park. Not a lot going on except that another RV pulled into the slot next to my old slot. This one was a Class B and a very neat looking RV. It is small enough that if doesn’t require a tow vehicle as it can be parked in a shopping center with no problem. Makes it real easy to go shopping as the need arises. With all of the excitement over for the day, we went through our usual evening routine of food for us all followed by watching a game on the TV. The reception was really poor even on my laptop and it kept going in and out. I mumbled a lot under my breath and sometimes out loud but stuck it out before heading off to bed.
Another “normal” late rising day but what the heck, it’s Sunday, right? We did our usual half mile walk around the park just to be nosy and see what is going on. The Class A people have pulled out and couple of others including my new neighbors are getting ready to leave. I knew that they were just here for the weekend and they appear to have really enjoyed themselves. Good luck to them in their future lives and I hope they have a lot more camping experiences. Another camper has changed sites for whatever reasons but I think because he has just bought a large dog pen and where he has moved to it is not quite as noticeable. So far, I have been able to stay here in site B24 but that is going to change pretty soon as the site I am in is really for weekenders. I have now been allotted site A14 which I will move into some time this coming week. I saw a little Chihuahua roaming the park but he wouldn’t come to me. He probably belongs to somebody here and is just exploring. Hope the Super doesn’t see him as he frowns on loose dogs.
After breakfast, I did my usual thing of writing and working on pictures I’ve managed to take some good ones but the trail pics all look pretty much alike. I combined writing with doing laundry as I am less than 100 yards from the Laundry room and can see it from where I sit. Actually, that is how I knew it was empty and that no one was using it. After putting in the laundry and dumping the trash which is right next door, I walked back to Miss Daisy to write some more until it was time for the drier which took just a short walk over. Another camper came in with his two year old son who looked a handful. We chatted for a bit before I went back to wait for the drier to do it’s thing. I stopped and talked to a lady with a cat in a carrier case and she told me she has just moved sites and she was bringing the cat over. Interesting what goes on around here. With the laundry folded and put away for another week, I finished the last blog and started on this one. I thought about going grocery shopping but decided against it and will probably do that tomorrow. I can find something to eat and as long as the dogs have their food available, we can get by. Apparently, there is a Walmart in Livingstone and all I have to do is find it.
We went for our afternoon walk and hiked one of the trails eventually covering a little over a mile for the day. I found a few more whimsies along the way which always make me chuckle. Someone has a wonderful sense of humor. I think we have walked all of the trails available to us now, some more than once. The scenery is only a part of the enjoyment though as the exercise and being out with the dogs is worth so much more. Before hitting the trail, we walked around the park and stopped to chat with the lady with the cat. They are the ones who have just moved their RV from one spot to a different one and are now two rows over and in the same row that I will be moving into. Their RV is an old one that they have renovated and are still working on it. It is a 1995 model and looks to be in pretty good shape. The wife has an accent and it turns out she is from Russia.
We ended the day in the usual way only this time, my other favorite team, Brighton and Hove Albion that my Great, Great Grandson plays on, managed to tie 2-2 with the same team, Liverpool, that beat my other favorite team, Man U 5-1 last week. Such are the highs and lows of sport.
Monday 11/01/2021
Peaceful
We went for our morning walk and while out there, checked out our new site which we will move into tomorrow. When we move, it will fill that row up completely and all of them are either permanent or longer than a week. This park has very few openings and I counted five when I walked around this morning and since then, one of them has filled as another camper pulled in today. Business is good. The first walk of the day was uneventful with not a lot going on to talk about. I suppose that some people have jobs and go to work but there are a lot that don’t. Probably retired like me. It is quiet and peaceful which I absolutely love as I have had all of the excitement that I need in my lifetime.
I decided to go into Livingstone to the Walmart’s there as it was time to stock up on groceries. It was a great drive and I passed Lake Livingstone and got a glimpse of the dam which only reminded me that we need to take another trip just to view it up close. I also passed the entrance to Lake Livingstone State Park, another one to get to in the future now that I have decided to stay here through the end of November before heading back to Henly. The Super made me an offer I couldn’t refuse which is one reason I have decided to stay. That and the fact this is a very nice park with lots of wonderful scenery and some really nice trails to walk. The countryside around here is beautiful with lots grassland and tall pine trees. Everything is green. Another plus is the absence of traffic compared to Austin or come to that, any big city.
As I drove into Livingstone, I was surprised how built up it was with large stores of every description lining both sides of the street but when I looked it up, it has a population 512,000 so it not a small city by any means. My GPS directed me to the Walmart’s which turned out to be one of the Supercenters and was humongous. Just for the heck of it, I checked my step counter on my phone and when I came out, I had covered a little over a mile inside of the store just walking the aisles. Great place to work out. As I hoped, their RV section had all of the things that I wanted and a couple more that I could not resist in buying. A classic case of “gotta have one of those”. I was able to stock up on all of the groceries that I needed. As I was leaving, I spotted a hairdressers shop within the store so I parked my cart full of groceries and sat down in the chair and a very nice young lady gave me a short back and sides. She did a good job and the price was right too at $15.00 much cheaper than my Austin hairdressers. Feeling very pleased with myself that I had not only completed the shopping but had also got a haircut and when I thought it couldn’t get any better, when I came out of Walmart’s, there was a Starbucks right next door putting me in seventh heaven as I haven’t had a latte since being at this park. It sure tasted good.
The drive home was uneventful although my GPS took me a different way which was OK by me as I got to see more of the countryside. I was greeted at the door by two little and very excited dogs with Sandy just begging to go walkies. I calmed them down enough to put the groceries away and then we walked around the park for a bit before heading back for our usual evening routine. Altogether, I covered 2.6 miles for the day, a lot of it in Walmart’s.
I was awoken by both dogs fussing like they had an urgent need to “go” so I quickly got out of bed and threw on some clothes and headed out the door. Sandy, in the meantime, managed to upchuck before we got out as I put on my boots which only increased our urgency to get out of the door. Turns out that both of them had upset tummies judging from the amount and number of times of poop and eating of grass which usually promotes more upchucking. No idea what had not agreed with them as I have not changed their diet. Once they had gone through whatever necessary routines they needed, the rest of the walk was just fine as we strolled around the park. I got to meet the new people with the Class A that pulled in yesterday. They have two little dogs that were outside in a pen and they barked louder and kicked up more fuss then either Mikey and Sandy combined. In fact, my dogs hardly said a word as I think they were too amazed at the noise those other dogs created. We continued on with our walk back to Miss Daisy and breakfast.
I checked my emails and found I had a scanned notification from PostNet. This one was related to a life insurance that I carry which I needed to pay additional money on. I called the number provided and spent the next thirty minutes on the phone before we finally got it worked out. Apparently, the monthly payments are not enough to cover the cost and it required additional money to do so. Go figure. Guess I will never understand the intricacies of high finance.
As usual, I worked on the blog but did not spend any time on the pictures that I took yesterday. I managed to locate the electric chord to the InstaPot much to my relief and spent the next thirty minutes preparing a stew for the evening meal which should last me at least four days. That is the beauty of using that gadget as after I have prepared the ingredients, I can go do other things and not have to worry about it or need to turn it off as it has it’s own built in timer. The only problem is that with something like a meat stew, you don’t have to mind eating the same thing for a few days although I suppose, I could always freeze some for a later time. I like Beef Stew so in my case, it is just fine.
We went out for the evening walk and took a stroll around the park to see what was happening. Three new RV’s have pulled into my row. My next door neighbors have a small tow along and have two young sons I guess about fourteen or so. It looks like the boys will be staying in a tent next to me and the parents in the RV. Should be interesting. We continued walking around and then I decided that we should hit the trails for a bit to get in some real exercise. We ended up walking 1.8 miles plus this mornings walk, when I forgot to bring my Iphone, of at least a half mile, maybe more. So, a little over 2 miles for the day. Not bad at all.
We sat outside on the wicker couch and there was quite a lot of activity with people coming and going. I listened to an Audiobook before going back inside. The InstaPot needed another 45 minutes and I filled in the time working on this blog before sampling the stew. Turns out it was not quite to my liking so I need to doctor it up a bit tomorrow. I ate it anyway. The rest of the evening ended in the usual way, feeding the dogs and then me and watching a Premier League game on the television.
View of the park. The RV’s are not close together and there is lots of shade.
Saturday – 10/30/2021
I got up late again this morning although I am beginning to think that it should be my “normal” time. I sleep really well and for most of the night before the call of nature gets me out of bed. Even then, I have no difficulty in falling back to sleep. My new next door neighbors and the one next to them that pulled in yesterday are Hispanic and the Super told me, are friends and like to camp together. Between them, they have several children both boys and girls and the youngest looks to be around fourteen or so. The boys like to throw a baseball around and I am waiting for it to hit my car. Both families have large tents on their lots for each family of kids to sleep in. It all adds up to the great adventure. I hope that they really enjoy themselves as it’s a great way to spend family time.
We went out for our morning walk and this time just wandered around the park. Another neighbor has erected a tall fenced in area for his dog and when we passed the campers that pulled in yesterday with the Class A. Their two little dogs, who were in a one of the small fenced areas made for dogs, began barking up a storm. Heck, they are noisier than mine are. Actually, apart from a feeble bark or two, Sandy was very quiet. We wandered back to Miss Daisy for breakfast and coffee for me before settling down in front of the computer. Today, the internet was a bit slow which can be frustrating. but I waited patiently for it to do it’s thing. What else can I do? I suppose that I could jump up and down and curse and swear but it isn’t going to help any. No, it’s better to just be patient and wait it out after all, anything I do isn’t going to help any except to make me more frustrated.
I took a lot of pictures yesterday as we walked around the park and the trails and spent some time in developing them. I use Photoshop for this which is a much more powerful program than what I do to the pictures. Still, it is on my computer and so I use it although I am barely scratching the surface when it comes to all of its capabilities. I have a couple of other programs which are easier to use but they are not able to add my copywrite signature when I export them to my file. I also have a signature program that I could use but then it is one extra step and I am growing lazy as I get older. With the photos taken care of and imported onto my computer, I was able to concentrate on writing.
It is strange how one changes as they grow older. In my youth, it was all sports and activity and this continued through most of my adult life. When I eventually quit playing at the age of seventy two due to knee replacement surgery, my activities were then restricted to hiking and working out in my garden on the five ponds that were there. Now I no longer own a home, my activities are much more relaxed and although I make sure we walk every day, weather permitting, it is nothing compared to the hikes I used to take both in distance and difficulty of walking. To be truthful, I don’t think I could do the five or seven mile hikes anymore. Age tends to do this to you. The mind is willing but the flesh is definitely weak. Now, the mile or two that we walk on most days is my limit. I may have told this story before but this reminds me of one of the hikes I went on at Pedernales State Park and somehow, I managed to get turned around and ended up hiking in the dark. Luckily, I always carry a flashlight so I was able to eventually find my way back but it was 11:00 at night and almost twelve miles of walking before I did. If that happened nowadays, I think I would just find a place to curl up and try to sleep it out until the morning and for sure, no one would know I was gone except maybe Sandy and Mikey. Frightening thought.
It got to be later in the afternoon and Sandy reminded me that it was time to go walkies. Mikey, on the other hand was fast asleep and could care less except the minute I stood up, he was wide awake and ready to go. We made our way to the entrance and on the way, passed a group of four people throwing horseshoes by their RV. We all waved and exchanged greetings as we passed by to walk the long trail, the entrance to which is right by their site. We entered the trail and this time covering a little over two miles so we really reached our goal and then some for the day. I found a couple of different whimsies that I had not seen before probably because we had not walked this trail all the way to the end. Usually, I branch off on one of the other trails that are marked “Exit”.
Back at Miss Daisy, we sat outside and watched the next door neighbor’s kids throwing a baseball around. This time, they had moved to the play area which I felt much better about. I guess it is every man (or woman) each to their own sport but for the life of me, I just don’t get throwing a baseball. It doesn’t seem to have much purpose and looked really boring. I get it that there are different levels of skills to throwing and catching which was obvious as I watched them at it. Being Hispanic, I would have thought they would be kicking a ball not throwing it. Boy, was I wrong.
I sat there for a while listening to an Audiobook before taking us all back inside for our evening meal followed by the usual TV watching. This time, the team I support, Manchester United, managed to win convincingly over Tottenham Hotspurs. Better than last Saturday when they lost 5-1 to their oldest rivals, Liverpool. Win some and lose some which is what makes watching so interesting. We went to bed happy and content after another busy day of doing nothing (important).
A few more whimsies. Those are two separate benches and the second one has the “Shady” sign with it.
Mikey ready to go. He has Sandy’s harness on by mistake. Pink suits him.
I was awoken by the sound of very heavy rain with thunder in the background and just rolled over and went back to sleep. To me, it didn’t make much sense to get up as I couldn’t take the dogs out and by staying in bed, I thought maybe they would be more comfortable with me and forget about having to “go”. In the end, I was the one answering the call of Nature and had to make the move. I thought about it some more and decided to open the awning which would give us some shelter if we went out. This worked for Mikey but Sandy just stood there and looked at me as if to say, “What do you think you are playing at because it isn’t going to work”. So we came back inside as it was still raining and I made breakfast for us all and then settled down into my usual routine keeping a very close eye on both of the dogs, just in case things might get desperate.
When it finally stopped raining, I harnessed them up and we walked around the park. There was no one about except by the office where several people were gathered and chatting to pass the time whilst waiting for their laundry to do it’s thing. I stopped to talk to the Super because I had spotted an open site that I might like but unfortunately, it was already taken so I headed back to Miss Daisy to continue writing. As is generally the case, the writing and working on the pictures usually takes me until about 3:30 or so and depending on if we want a short or long walk, we usually set out between 4:00 and 5:00. Today, with the overcast skies it was already getting dark at 6:30 pm, the time we got back. I noticed that today was also a lot chillier than previously so I guess, Fall is really with us. We finally covered 1.2 miles and so far this week have walked a little over 10 miles. Not quite like when I was seriously hiking but enough to hopefully help keep both me and the dogs alive for a bit longer.
Sandy after her walk. Notice the Dachshund throw made by my friend B.J.
The rest of the day was spent in the usual fashion except that we didn’t sit on the wicker couch as it was a little cool. Back indoors, I prepared food for us all and then we settled down in front of the television to watch a Premier League football game before hitting the sack. I heard the heater come on a couple of times in the night so it definitely cooling down.
Thursday – 10/28/2021
Today was very windy and a little cool as we walked around the park. I noticed another camper hooking up his rig getting ready to pull out. He was the one with the three little dogs who he let roam all over the place. The Super told me that he has spoken to the man 4-5 times about it and whether he had enough and told him to leave, I don’t know. I didn’t get the chance to talk to him about his next stop. We only took a short walk enough for the dogs to do their thing and for me to clear the cobwebs before heading back to Miss Daisy. It was time to empty the tanks again, part of our routine chores and all it takes is opening up a couple of valves, waiting for everything to finish flowing and close them again. I don’t rely on the electronic sensors to tell me when the grey tank needs emptying as when the shower drain stops flowing and starts to fill the shower base, this tells me that it’s time. BTW, those sensors have never worked properly and this is a brand new RV, always showing that the tanks are full even after they have just been emptied. This is a constant battle in all RV’s in trying to keep the sensors clean. Most of us don’t even rely on them and use other visual signs like the one mentioned above.
I sat down in front of the computer and read a long email from my friend, B.J. who had just returned from her trip to Maine. She had accompanied her Daughter who is a Digital Editor for a Travel Planning Service and was researching luxury hotels and things to do for those with money to burn and who are looking for exotic getaways. Nice to see how the rich and wealthy spend their time because, most of us will only ever read about such luxury and never get to enjoy it. The difference between the Have’s and the Have Not’s. Below are the two pictures she sent me of the Moose Spotting Trip. I have posted them before but they are worth a second look.
I was gong to take a trip to Livingstone State Park but it was so windy out that I decided to do it another day and settled for a walk in the woods instead. There is something about the sound of the wind. It is kind off mesmerizing in it’s own way, soothing and peaceful. I could feel myself wanting to doze off as I listened to it. Then the RV rocked in an extra strong gust which awoke me from my reverie.
I watched as Class A pulled in towing a covered trailer. It was preceded by a lady, presumably the wife, in a car which pulled up at the Office. A short time later, the Super came out and jumped into his 4 wheeler to direct them to their site, a couple of rows over from me.
We went out for the afternoon walk and this time we walked the trails for about a mile. Didn’t see anything of note but the trails are easy to walk and in the shade although with the weather cooling down, that is not so much of a factor. In fact, it won’t be long before I will need to find a jacket. I pulled down the InstaPot with an idea to cook a stew but could not find the lead chord to plug it in. Good job I found this out before I had loaded the pot. So, I postponed that idea until I can locate the darn thing.
The day ended in the usual way, feeding the dogs and then me and watching television.
We had our usual late start and took a short walk as it was coming on to rain although by the time we got back to Miss Daisy, it had stopped. We did our usual breakfast thing and sat and read e-mails before writing in this blog. I spent a couple of hours of writing and working on photos that I have taken before deciding that I need to go into Coldspring as we are getting low on groceries. I took the dogs for a short walk just in case before jumping into the Jeep for the twelve mile trip.
On the way, I passed a dog sitting in the grass so at the first opportunity, I turned back to see if it was OK. There was quite a bit of traffic on the road and as I pulled up onto the very wide grassy berm to see if I could get the dog to come to me but it started moving quickly away. Not wanting to frighten it onto the busy road, I had no choice but to leave it and hope that it was a local dog and not just dumped there. It had on a collar and did not look malnourished.
I continued on into Coldspring to the one big supermarket that was there. Brookshire Brothers and walked around doing my shopping. It is not a very big store compared to HEB and such but it had everything that I wanted at a reasonable price. Interestingly enough, just like the last time, very few of the shoppers had on masks. Neither did the staff. I wore mine as there is no sense in taking a chance for a small discomfort. My biggest problem is that it fogs up my glasses and as I had on sunglasses and had forgotten to bring in my regular ones, it was a bit of a pain trying to read the labels.
The drive back was uneventful and I did not see the dog anywhere so hopefully it had made its way back home. My GPS system kept wanting to take me down unpaved roads one of which ended in a dead end but I did locate the entrance to the Lake Livingstone State Park so I will definitely be taking a trip there in the future. Not wanting to drive any further, I turned back to the Rock’n E to be greeted by two very excited little dogs.
After putting the groceries away, we went out for our afternoon walk and this time we hiked the last bit of the long loop and altogether for the day, I covered 1.4 miles, the dogs a little less as they had not made the shopping trip. The days are quiet and peaceful and the few people that I run into here at the park are always cheerful and talkative. It’s a great place just to relax not that I have much else to do nowadays. Compared to the last park I was at, this one is virtually full mostly with long term campers except for the five slots, one of which I am in which are kept for the weekenders. It is not as big and maybe that accounts for it being full.
The trails we walked today. Peaceful and easy walking.
We sat outside listening to an audiobook before going back inside for the evening meal and to watch television.
I sat here with nothing to do with the brain not working not even a clue no stories waiting to be told and no rhymes in my brain waiting to unfold as I sat and thought about what to write what special thing that may delight those who may choose to read this stuff or those that say enough is enough go back to sleep find something to do for writing verse you haven’t a clue so taking to heart the advice given here it was worth the try my efforts sincere for today is one of those days when poetry for me has slipped away and so farewell it just goes to show tomorrow I’ll give it another go or not….
Like I said, I have given up on the waking up early. We did our usual thing in the morning, walking around for a bit, coming back for breakfast before settling in front of the computer to write this blog and work on new photos.
I walked over to the office and chatted with the owner and we have arranged that we will stay here at least through November 21st maybe even to the end of the month. I have to be back in Austin at Henly RV Park for December as I have several medical appointments and some business to take care of. It will probably mean that I will have to change sites but he will let me know. Not a big deal as it is easy to set up although I do like this site as I am the only one here through the week. There is a lot to be said for not having neighbors close by or in some parks, right on top of you. I have a neighbor about fifty yards away who like to play his music really loud and I can hear it inside of my RV. I worry that I have the sound too high on the TV as one of the shows that I watch has soft vocals and loud music and I am constantly trying to control the volume.
I decided that I needed to do laundry giving us the opportunity to try out the machines in the laundry room. There are only two washers and two driers so I kept an eye out to watch the comings and goings and then when I thought it might be empty, took a chance and wandered over. It is only a hundred yards from Miss Daisy and in full view. Both the washer and the drier are on a forty minute cycle so after putting in the wash, me and the dogs filled the time by hitting the trails. This time, we met another man and his dog and we stopped to talk for a bit while Sandy made friends and Mikey cowered behind me. Mikey is all bark but when it comes to the actual confrontation, is a big chicken and ends up hiding.. So, instead of protecting me, I have to protect him? Something wrong with this picture. I put the dogs back in Miss Daisy and transferred the clothes into the drier and then came back to take the dogs for a second walk which of course to them was like being in heaven. We came back in time for me to put them back in Miss Daisy so that I could take the clothes out of the dryer and fold them before heading back to the RV to sit outside on the wicker couch. It got dark as I sat there listening to an Audiobook so we went back inside for the evening meal.
As usual, we watched television whilst eating our food and one of my favorite teams, Manchester United, was playing against one of their bitter rivals, Liverpool. My team lost very decisively by a score of 5-0 much to my disgust. Oh well, that is what sport is all about. You win some and lose some just like life.
