It was a funny old night as I kept waking up and then dropping back off to sleep. That was until the morning came and by then, I was fast asleep and very reluctant to get out to a cold RV. As is usual, the propane had run out in the night as it always does. I do not think that it has ever run out during the daytime, at least that I can remember. 

I threw on a pair of pants and sweater and went out and switched over gas bottles not bothering to change them until later. It was way too cold to stay outside in those clothes. Back inside, I gave a huge sigh of relief as the heaters kicked in. We knew it would be like this without the electric heat working. 

I thought about crawling back under the covers and decided against it and got the dogs ready to go walking. As is usual, I tied them up outside so they could “help” in bringing out the bird feeders. I glanced around and noticed that the deer had left piles of droppings all around, maybe their way of saying thanks for all of the seed they eat. Either that or the reverse punishing me for not leaving enough. 

We went out walking and ran into Daniel and Jeff who gave me a hard time as I had shorts on. I took their advice as I was already getting cold and went back to the RV and put on long pants and a heavier jacket and then we set out again. It was much colder out than I had first imagined, and I was glad to be dressed warmly. In fact, we wandered around the park just one lap and came back to The Caboose in a hurry and quickly moved back inside. Even the dogs, who normally are not in any hurry, rushed to get back indoors. 

We have another cold front coming in tonight and then it is supposed to warm up for a few days. Such are winters in my part of Texas. 

I received notification from Home Depot that my order was in and jumped in the Jeep to go pick it up as it was a heated hose and there is supposed to be heavy frost tonight. RV’s have a couple of weak spots in their design, mostly to do with water and plumbing. In our park, which is true of just about all of them, each site is equipped with a station for water and electrical hook up. Usually, the electricity works just fine but in this freezing weather, the water spigot is subject to freezing unless the owner is using a special heated hose pipe that prevents them freezing or the pipes are wrapped which does not always work. 

I had bought one of the electric heated hoses, but it was 5 feet too short to do any good. Consequently, I had to reorder the hose and it might be here on Monday. So, in the meantime we had to resort to the good old fashion method and that was to turn off the running water after filling the main tank and switch over to it. I will still have to leave the tanks dripping in the sinks to prevent a freeze up. This is supposed to be only a short cold spell and hopefully, by the time the next one gets here, I will have the water pipes heated. Always something.  

Incidentally, Malinda and Daniel both came through…again. Daniel with his help on the RV and Malinda in finding a buyer for the too short hose here within the park. So, at least, the hose is not going to be wasted or do I have the hassle of returning it? I took a $20.00 dollar loss, but it is well worth it. I cannot thank both of them enough for their help. 

Incidentally, through all of this, Delores was having her own problems and Malinda, Gary and myself went over to try to help her. As it happened, her new heated hose had literally just come in and she had retrieved it from the office. Both Gary and Malinda worked on installing it and hooking it up so at least, Delores should not have any water problems. 

With all of the excitement done for the day, we adjourned to the Commons to drink a beer and there Malinda took a look at my I phone because I was complaining that I did not get everything. She worked on it for a while and made it a little better. Thank you, Malinda…again. 

Eventually, I excused myself from the group as it was dog walking time which we did as soon as I had harnessed them up. We managed to cover 1.3 miles for the day. Not bad considering how cold it is outside. Incidentally, the dogs do fine going out and the minute we turn for home, they are pulling and tugging in an effort to get home quickly. Smart dogs. 

After all of the excitement, we settled down to some normalcy as I worked on the blog and the dogs, now well fed, found a hidey spot and hit the sack. I wish I could zonk off just anywhere and at any time. 

We spent the rest of the evening in the usual way, food and then TV. 

Written Friday, January 19, 2024, read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com  

Dreaming of warmer days…

I lay in bed enjoying its warmth and trying to convince myself that I really should crawl out of there and face the day. I kept putting it off until Sandy joined Mikey in pushing me with their noses to get me going. Once up and about, I was all energy, sort of, and we went out to take that first walk. We took the outside lane leading to Hwy 290 and managed to cover 1.1 miles, a very good start to the day. Incidentally, I had to put on long pants plus an extra heavy jacket it was so cold outside for that first walk but it began to warm as the sun rose. 

Back in The Caboose, I brought out the bird feeders filling those that needed it. I tied the dogs up so they could watch as they are absolutely useless as helpers. Then I fixed us all breakfast and managed to get Sandy to eat hers which made it a really good start to the day. Incidentally, the temperature was back to the 50’s as the cold front has moved on although, there is another one forecast for tomorrow. 

Daniel stopped by to look at the water heaters and for some reason, the electrical side was not working again. He is going to contact James, the travelling repair man to find out what he says about it. I have hot water only it is gas heated which makes it more expensive for me plus more work as I have to change out the gas bottle more often. 

I continued to write in the blog bringing it up to date as I looked around for other things to get up to. With it as cold as it is, it is hard to find things to do, especially outside. Back inside the RV, I took care of the normal chores like making the bed and washing dishes, all exciting stuff. We also did a lot of sitting around inside in the warmth of the RV. 

Late afternoon, we went out for another walk and managed to cover almost 2.00 miles for the day. I brought in the feeders for the night and put them on the deck. At least, it keeps the deer from eating all of the seed although by the looks of the spilt seed, something is working on them thru the night. 

Daniel stopped by and looked at the heating system trying to find out why it is not working on the electrical side but with no luck. Something for James to look at. 

We adjourned inside for the day and the warmth of The Caboose. I fed the dogs and Sandy ate hers again, making today a good day from that perspective. I ate mine as well, so I guess that makes me a good boy! The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way. 

Written Thursday, January 17, 2024, read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com  

I slept like the proverbial log only getting up because of the “old man’s disease” of having to use the bathroom more than once through the night. When I finally crawled out, it was around 8:00 am. A quick glance out of the window showed that at least the hoary frost was gone. It was still freezing out quite literally and very cold. 

With the usual morning ablutions out of the way, I harnessed up ready for that first walk. I swear Sandy had her legs crossed as she jumped up and down. We hustled out just as Gary was walking past and he detoured to say hello to us and that included making a fuss of the dogs. 

Prior to walking, I had left the dogs on the deck and went about the business of filling the bird feeders. Almost every single one was empty with a lot of seeds lying on the ground. Now I know why those particular bags were so cheap as they have a lot of corn and such that most birds do not eat. Luckily for me (or not), the deer come through at night and clean up most of what is on the ground. 

We went on our way and made a couple of circuits of our immediate vicinity on the first walk. It was cold out but nowhere near as bad as yesterday. The forecast is for it to slowly warm up during the day but still with frost at night for the next couple of nights and then to warm up completely. I can’t wait…. I’ll take the 100 plus degrees of summer heat any day. 

Back in the RV, I fixed breakfast all around. Sandy helped me eat mine and then totally ignored the real breakfast I had prepared for her. Hopefully, she will eat it later and so take her expensive medicine. Her pills that I crush up and try to disguise cost $3:00 apiece so when she does not eat the morning pill, she gets it in the evening but misses out on one of her doses. I sat her down and managed to get her undivided attention and tried to explain the situation to her. All I got was a lot of kisses and a blank look as she wondered what the heck I was talking about. And she still would not eat the bloody pill. 

Giving up on Sandy, I found some household things that needed taking care of and went about the process of doing just that. Then, we sat around for a bit while I made out a grocery list and with it completed, said goodbye to the pups and drove into Dripping Springs.  

My first stop was at Great Cuts, and I got lucky as normally, you have to put your name on the list and then await your turn. Maybe it was the weather being so cold, but my hairdresser led me back to her station and then went to town on what little hair I had left. She did an excellent job and now I am good for at least a month to 6 weeks. 

I wandered around HEB as I usually do with a list that I refer to every now and then. In the meantime, stuff keeps appearing in my cart and I swear I have no idea how it gets there. I paid the bill and found my car and loaded all of the groceries in the Jeep. Oh yes, I had made the normal stop at the beer display and picked up a 24 pack for Daniel and a couple of 6 packs of Brown Ale for me. Shades of England as I drank a lot of Brown Ale over there. 

As beer is wont to do, it got me into trouble on more than one occasion. But then again, that was in my younger days, and I was always in trouble. Now I am too bloody old and useless to get into any sort of trouble. Besides, I don’t hang around in bars anymore. 

I dropped off Daniels beer at the Commons as that is where his 4×4 was standing and he walked over and helped me unload the car, carrying in some of the groceries for me. Such a helpful man. 

We went out for another walk and although it was cold in the wind, it was not as bad as yesterday when it was quite literally, freezing, all day long and the wind was freezing my face. What I needed was a good old-fashioned balaclava for these occasions. I told the dogs that this was the last walk of the day and to make the most of it otherwise they would be hopping around with their legs crossed and morning was a long way off. 

We settled in for the evening watching the usual English Premier League football match and food all around. 

Written Wednesday, January 16, 2024, read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com  

I bit the bullet as the saying goes and crawled out hastily throwing on some clothes as it was a bit nippy inside the RV without the heaters. The first thing was to dress for the outside and then to go out to check on the propane. Sure enough, the bottle was empty, so I switched to the other propane tank. Normally, I unhook the empty bottle and replace it with the spare full one I carry all the time but today, I just skedaddled back indoors promising myself that I would make the change when I was dressed for the outdoors. 

I had a strange night where I was not dreaming but doing a lot of thinking in my subconscious albeit with my eyes closed. Mostly, knowing how cold it was outside and the fact that the water pipes had frozen…again. I wondered how much of a problem that was going to be and how much damage may have happened. I lay there for a while with the outside temperature already dropping way below freezing, very reluctant to get out of bed. I had noticed that the heater was not working and was probably out of propane. It seems that the heaters always run out at night, and I mean always. 

About that time, Delores came over to tell me that breakfast was on in the Commons and to get my ass over there. Actually, she just very politely invited me over as she is too much of a lady to use uncouth language. I went with her back over and the usual gang was there some busy preparing food and others just sitting around talking. I was one of the latter. In no time flat, a plateful of eggs and bacon were placed in front of me for my enjoyment. 

We sat and talked for 30 or so minutes and then Malinda and Daniel prepared to leave. This was the signal for all of us to do the same and I made my way back to the RV. I hadn’t been back no more than 30 minutes when Gary showed up and told me he had unfrozen the pipes but that the main hose pipe from the faucet connection was frozen which means that we are now working off the water holding tank, the one we filled yesterday. BTW, the house heater was running full blast along with the fireplace which is not just for display but throws out a lot of heat. 

Gary left with my grateful thanks wringing in his ears. He is such a nice man, and it is a real pleasure to know him. The same is true for all our small circle of friends, Malinda and Daniel, BJ and Peggy, Jeff and Terri, Delores, Gary, and occasionally Donna who is the newcomer to the group. Others join us from time to time, and everyone is welcome but those named are the regulars. We are the ones with nothing better to do than sit around and eat, drink and be merry and hold long conversations about either the state of the world or someone in the campground and if they are not there to defend themselves, it might even be one of the group. 

I continued to write in the blog bringing it up to date and almost up to the minute. It was warm and cozy inside The Caboose and apart from a couple of quick walk abouts for the dogs to do their business, I was very happy to stay inside. I even put on a long-sleeved T shirt and a woolen sweater to help stay warm plus I had on the long pants from my track suit. Heck, it is winter after all, and I am not trying to break any records by not wearing long pants, 

The problem with my RV and pretty much all of them is lack of insulation. When it is really cold outside as it is right now, I can feel the temperature start to go down as soon as the heaters kick off. Most RV’s have 2-inch-thick walls and the corresponding amount of insulation. A house, for instance with not only a solid and thicker exterior, also has a minimum of 4 inches of insulation plus double pane windows. 

We sat around and did a lot of nothing. Our walks were restricted to a quick circle of the block where the RV is parked so that the dogs could relieve themselves and then it was a quick scurry back to the RV to get out of the wind. 

The day passed with us not doing much of anything except sit around. I even broke my own rules and turned on the TV during the day and watched a soccer game. A slow and cold day… 

Written Monday, January 15, 2024, read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com  

Living in an RV
Henly RV Park
Tuesday, January 16, 2024

I was awake off and on all through the night. Thoughts of freezing weather and frost damage kept drifting through my mind as I sort of dozed. I eventually awoke and decided that bed was a wonderful place to be on a cold morning but managed to convince myself that I should get up. 

I wandered around lifting the blinds on the sun side so that the heat through the windows could help warm the RV. The blinds on the opposite side were left down. Then I dressed putting on the same warm clothes I had on yesterday. The dogs were jumping up and down in a “Gotta go” fashion so we harnessed up and went out to brave the cold. 

It was very cold out and the wind on my face almost brought my own tears, it was so cold. I could easily imagine freezing to death and surmised that was how it felt at the start until all feeling had gone. I read somewhere that freezing to death starts by going to sleep but my short time in that ice cold wind told me that the start was probably extremely painful until you were dead. 

We did a quick circle and when we turned for home, both dogs were pulling on the leash to get back inside. I did not hold them back and walked as fast as I could without falling over myself in just as much hurry to get back inside in the warmth as they were. 

I fixed all our respective breakfasts paying special attention to my coffee and then settled down to work on the blog. At least, I was pretty much up to date apart from late yesterday and this morning. Gary stopped by just to see if everything was OK and Daniel filled both bottles so propane wise, we were in good shape. Plus, we had water albeit of the cold variety. Can’t ask for much more. 

After careful consideration, I decided that I should buy a heated hose to be ready for the next frost forecast for early next week and checked out what The Home Depot had online. I ordered a 25ft hose which should be ready for pick up, Saturday. As is generally the case when one gets prepared, the event doesn’t happen. I will not mind that one little bit if we do not have any more cold days, ever… 
 
We did a lot of nothing for most of the day just sitting around and such feeling good about life in general. As I watched, Gary waved at me as he walked off with my garden hose on his way to help someone else. Daniel and Jeff were doing the same thing rushing around on Daniel’s 4/4 as they went from one RV to the next working on frozen up water systems. Freezing pipes are the bane of all RV’ers which is why I have just ordered the 25ft heated hose, A heated hose plugs into the power and does as it says. Heats the hose enough to stop it from freezing as the exposed hose is the weak point in the entire system. 

The afternoon turned into early evening, and we went out for one more walk about. These walks are strictly so the dogs can do their business and not for any distance at all. They are always ready to come back in when I say so. BTW, it was my face that felt the cold more than anything and I wished I had a balaclava to cover it. My hands were also cold but at least I had on a pair of gloves that Gary had loaned me. They make it tough to pick up dog poop and I generally have to take off at least one of them to use the doggy poop bags. 

The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way, food all around and then relaxing in front of the TV watching re-runs of shows I had already seen. 
 
Written Tuesday, January 16, 2024, read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com  

I awoke to literally, a freezing day with the temperature hovering around the 30-degree mark and dropping rapidly. Before the day was over, it was forecast that it would reach a low of 24 degrees and that was early evening. Goodness only knows what it is going to drop to during the night. 

Before we could go walking and as I was putting the bird feeders out, Daniel stopped by inquiring about my freshwater situation in the RV. I told him that the faucets were not working, and he said that the pipes were frozen. He had Gary with him who went back to his RV and grabbed a blow torch and went ahead to use it to thaw the problem outside valve. Then, with it thawed, it was set to drip very slowly to stop it from freezing up again. I need to remember to leave it dripping after any time that I draw water. 

The fresh water holding tank uses the same plumbing as the faucet that runs off the main with a single valve that separates them. This valve is the one giving us all of the problems when it freezes which eventually would cause the whole system to freeze. Incidentally, any exposed pipes are wrapped with the exception of that valve which Daniel took care of. 

I thanked them both big time for all of their help. Gary went back to his RV and then returned with a pair of gloves. I had mentioned that I could not find mine and was thinking of going into town to buy a pair. Daniel rushed off to save someone else from freezing up. I am sure he is very busy today. In the meantime, I fixed myself and the dogs breakfast and Sandy ate hers much to my delight. Mikey is being difficult, but it is not as important for him as his is not medicated. I ate mine which was a heated cheese sandwich helped by Miss Sandy who cleaned up anything I “accidentally” dropped. 

Then it was time to work on the blog. The RV is nice and cozy inside and very comfortable and I sat and wrote thinking about the past couple of days and about all of my good intentions that somehow, I keep forgetting. I should have left the faucet running a little harder to prevent it from freezing and I knew this but when the time came, last evening, I completely forgot to do it. Actually, some of that was due to getting the dates mixed up as I was expecting the freeze tonight and not last night. I am lucky there was no damage or at least, none that I could see. 

I posted the blog to bring us up to date and looked around for something else to do. I got an email from the girls telling me to come over to their RV for food and drinks which I was very happy to do. Daniel and Malinda were already there, and we sat around, telling stories. I had one beer and nursed it to make it last. We chatted and Daniel spun a couple of farfetched yarns as he always does leaving the rest of us in stitches. He is a funny guy. 

Eventually, they left so I took that as a cue to follow suit and wandered back to the RV and took the dogs out for a very short walk as it was cold out. Back in the RV, I fixed them their food and grabbed a glass of wine and watched a Premier League football match before turning in around 9:00 pm. 

Written Sunday, January 14, 2024, read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com  

This trail looks so tempting that I wish I was there now.

At least my stomach kept it together through the night and there were no mad dashes to the bathroom. I did wake up a couple of times, but they were more of a “just in case” type of wake up. I got up early even before 8:00 am. 

The first thing was to go walking with the dogs and I chose to ignore the bird feeders until we got back. We wandered around and bumped into Greg who was doing his best to walk Olive, his little bull terrier. She, of course, had ideas of her own and it was fun watching them. Olive, as usual, was carrying her stick with her. When we first went out, I put on a jacket but quickly discovered that it was way too hot and dropped it back off at The Caboose. Hard to believe that we have a cold front coming in tomorrow and it is supposed to be below freezing for a couple of days all day long. 

Back at the RV, I refilled all the bird feeders including the ones hanging in the trees and we adjourned back inside for breakfast. The birds are very wasteful and there are piles of seed under all the feeders.  Usually, the deer will clean up the wasted seed.

Sandy gave me the usual hassle as did Mikey and I wouldn’t feed them in the mornings at all if it wasn’t for giving Sandy her medication which she is supposed to have twice a day. I hide the medication in her food. Mikey is different. Some days he gobbles down his food, other days it just sits, and he doesn’t touch it. 

James, the RV repair man stopped by, and we had a discussion on the heating system. He couldn’t understand why we called him as the system is currently working just fine. We switched it off to let it cool down so he could inspect it, which he did a bit later and declaring that everything was working the way it should. That does not explain why we burn so much propane as the heating system is the only thing it gets used on. I have a gas (propane) stove and oven, but they are never used. Currently, the system is set on electricity and not on propane, but we still go through a lot of it. 

At least, with him coming it gave me a chance to clean up the areas under the kitchen sink that we were dealing with and to fumigate it to kill the roaches. 

He left and things returned to normal around the RV, sort of. Because I had started to clear the cabinets and such for the inspection, I decided to keep going with that project. First, I cleaned out all of the pots and pans, washed them and then put them in a different storage area after they had dried. This also gave me the chance to work some more on removing the roaches and bugs that had infested those two cabinets. A couple of the pots were so scaled up that I just threw them away. With everything clean and put away and the place tidied up, I turned my attention to other things. 

We sat and listened to an Audiobook finishing one story and starting another while drinking a beer and making a fuss of my two little buddies and then we went out for the final walk of the day and just wandered around before returning to The Caboose for the rest of the evening. 
 
Written Friday, January 10, 2024, read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com  

Today, although cloudy and cold with a heavy fog, it was not raining which enabled us to walk Henly Loop all the way to Hwy 290. It is kinda fun to walk that particular lane as we get to see the domestic cattle on one side and exotics on the other, if we are lucky. Interestingly enough, we started off in dense fog and a heavy dew and as the walk progressed, the sun began to break through and by the time we reached the end of the walk, the sun was shining brightly, and the fog had dissipated in about 10 seconds or so it seemed. Obviously, it was longer than that, but it did lift very quickly. What looked like the start of a a miserable looking day although it was not actually raining turned into a very nice day. Even so, the air was very damp. 

Back at The Caboose, I tied the dogs up to the outside table and went about the business of bringing out and refilling the bird feeders. With the birds all set up for today, I went back inside and fed the dogs their breakfast and scratched around and found a couple of waffles and covered them in syrup for me to eat. That, along with the coffee and I was all set. I sat down in front of the computer and started writing the blog for today.  

I sat around doing a lot of nothing and contemplating my life and how we have managed to reach this point of it. I do not regret selling my house and choosing to live in an RV. The house was way too big for me and two little dogs and to be truthful, I was tired of looking after the fish and the ponds and I needed a change.  No, I made the right decision in that respect. 

My only regret is that I did not discover this life much sooner than I did. Now, for everybody’s safety, I have given up the driving, camping and constant moving that most campers enjoy as I did when I first started. Seeing new places and meeting new people is something that everyone should try. It helps to have somebody to enjoy it with as it can be a bit lonely on your own, especially when driving around. As the driver, the only thing you get to see is the road and traffic ahead of you and you must be constantly on your guard as there are a lot of idiots out there. 

Modern Day camping in an RV is not like the camping I used to do as a much younger man in England and Scotland. That was done in a tent and a sleeping bag with none of the modern conveniences that an RV brings. It involved a certain amount of “roughing it” due to the nature of the camping. Modern RV’s have all of the comforts of home and there is no “roughing” it. Many campers like to lead an outdoor life even with their RV and do a lot of cooking and eating outside.

We are set up here in Henly RV Park in a very nice lot. The earlier tenants of the lot were the Park Managers and they moved to a different site just across from me for more room. Unlike many RV Parks that are designed to get as much out of the park as is possible even to the extent of the RV’s almost touching each other, this one has room between sites and there is no feeling of crowding. The earlier tenants started a flower garden, and I am very happy to keep it going. Now, if I could just figure a way to stop the deer from eating all of the plants. 

The same is true of the bird feeders that I maintain. I have to bring them in at night or hang them high in the trees to prevent the deer from eating every last seed. Still, it gives me something to do as apart from the normal household chores, life is very easy and relaxed. And for those of you that follow this blog, you know that we party a lot. 

But as the saying goes, “You only get one chance at life so make the most of it”. If there was no saying before, there is one now… 

I worked on the blog and had to rewrite some of it as I had it on the wrong day. It is frustrating when that happens but luckily, I had not posted it yet. That is another reason that I try to keep the blog up to date as much as possible as my memory leaves a lot to be desired. 

Around early afternoon, I was all caught up with the blog and started looking around for other things to get up to. By now, the weather has changed again, and the sky was blue, and the sun was shining. Typical Texas weather. 
 
We harnessed up and wandered around again and we managed to get in 2 miles for the day. On our walkabout this time, we ended up at the Girls RV as they were both sitting outside which led to the inevitable beer and conversation. Donna was already there along with Malinda and later, Daniel came over to join us. 

We sat and chatted for a while, and I excused myself from the group so that I could take the dogs back to The Caboose. While I was at it, I put on an extra jacket as it had cooled off considerably and we were sitting outside albeit around a fire and turning on the awning lights and bringing in the bird feeders before walking back to the Girls RV. 

We sat and chatted, the rest of them got into shots of liquor. I do not touch those things as I cannot handle them and get drunk really quickly. The last time resulted in falling down and tearing the skin off my leg. It was almost 10:00 pm by the time I got back to The Caboose. Considering that I had drunk 4-5 beers, I was in very good condition and not feeling any pain. But. I was not drunk either and had no problem in my maneuverability.  
I fed the dogs and looked in the fridge for something to feed myself and sat in front of the TV eating my food. I finished it and put the dishes away, sat back in the chair with every intention of watching the football match and promptly fell asleep. 

When I awoke, it was a little after 1:00 am in the morning and the game had long ended and I had missed most of it. Oh well, I can always watch it again. At that point, we went to bed. 

Written Friday, January 5, 2024, read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com  

My first car. 1936 Austin 10. Boy, that was a long time ago. I blew the motor on it in the end.

Here we go with the start of a brand-new year. Happy New Year everybody. 

We got up fairly early for us not that I have made any resolutions regarding our sleeping habits, and I was all prepared to take a shower only to discover that there was no hot water. So, I bypassed the shower bit and got into my clothes ready to get outside and face the day. 

I stepped out of the door and harnessed up the dogs and was fooled by the fact that the sun was shining brightly. I quickly figured out that it was cold out and grabbed another jacket to put on. I hitched the dogs to the railing and then brought out the bird feeders, filling those that needed it. Then we went out walking and wandered around making our usual trip to the dumpster on the way and wishing anybody we passed a Happy New Year. One camper was backing up his truck to his rig and we stopped to direct him to his hitch and wish him, “Safe Travels.” 

Back in the RV, I fed the dogs and then looked around for something to feed myself. Not finding anything that looked appetizing, I settled for a couple of slices of toast. 

I decided to throw in a load of laundry that could do its thing as I wrote the blog and walked around gathering the dirty stuff from wherever it had ended up and throwing everything in the machine and instead of timing it to do both wash and dry, I set it to wash only so I could check on several pieces before drying them. 

With the washer making lots of comforting noises, I settled down to write the blog knowing that being only a few hours into the day, I should not have any trouble remembering what had happened so far. We finished and posted yesterday’s blog and then I looked around for other things to get up to. 

Daniel stopped by as I had called him to tell him that the hot water heater had stopped working and to mention that the electric side of the regular house heaters was also not working. He worked on the units and got the hot water heater working again but thinks that the board may be out on the other problems. James, the travelling mechanic, is due out in the next couple of days and he will take a look at it. Malinda had also stopped by, and it was nice to chat to her even briefly as both her and Daniel had been away over the weekend. 

With the house heater working again, we settled down to write the blog. It was cold enough to want to stay indoors which I was more than happy to oblige. Later in the afternoon, we went out for another walk and just wandered around barely making a mile for the day. I have decided that I do not like wintry weather at all. Not one little bit and this is in Texas where the cold is usually restricted to a few days a year. 

The girls were holding a luncheon in the Commons for the usual crowd. It was scheduled for 1:30 pm and I told them that it was way too early, especially for someone like me that does not normally eat lunch. I was late showing up due to problems with the website that needed fixing before I could walk over.  

Gary and the girls, including Donna, were all over there. I sat and chatted with them but did not partake in the food. I had had two enchiladas for breakfast and could still feel them and did not need more food at that moment. 

I explained about the computer problems I was having and excused myself from the gathering to return to fix it. Later, there was a knock on the door and Peggy was standing there with two bowls of food for later consumption. I thanked her and went back to fixing the computer problems. 

The girls had set up Bocce and Corn Hole and Gary and BJ were on one team with Donna and Peggy on the other. They offered me the chance to play but I preferred to sit and watch. I finally left and went back to my RV as the evening was coming to a close. 

There, I fed the dogs and then, myself glad that I had not eaten earlier in the day. Without being a regularly active person except for the daily dog walks, it would be easy to put on weight. As it is, I am managing to hold it to 165 lbs. But the body is mostly flab. I do still have muscles in my legs, shoulders, and arms. I could work out I suppose but nah, who wants to do that? 

We watched TV for the rest of the evening and went to bed around 9:00 pm. 

Written December 2, 2024, Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com 

HENLY RV PARK 2024 
Tuesday, January 2 

Lake Bastrop North.

Even with going to bed early, I slept very well and was very happy to be cuddled up with my furry friends. Actually, Mikey is the cuddler as Sandy makes sure not to be touching me although she snuggles with Mikey. I think she gets too warm. And so, we slept with the only interruption, the usual call of Nature for me…Incidentally, when I get up in the night, the dogs ignore me and continue sleeping. Smart dogs. 

I awoke early but being the lazy person that I am, just lay there enjoying the warmth and the dog’s company before rolling out to face another day. We have nothing planned for today except to stay warm as it is quite cold outside with the temperature hovering around the 45-degree mark. There is a chance of rain later today. 

We wandered around after bringing out the feeders. They had enough seed in them for today and I decided to wait until tomorrow before refilling them. The only birds I see now are the ever-present Sparrows and a couple pairs of Mourning Doves. 

It was downright chilly out and I was glad of the hooded sweater I had on. This one is a Henly RV Park special. My hands even got cold holding the leash and the hiking stick. We wandered around but did not go far and then made our way back to The Caboose where I was glad to be inside. Even Mikey was shivering, which is the first time I have seen him do that. 

I made us breakfast and the inevitable coffee and then we sat in front of the computer to catch up with the blog. It was a very cloudy and dull day with a strong possibility of rain which is a good thing as we have not had any for a while. 

With the blog up to date, I looked around for other things to do and they needed to be indoors as it was most uninviting outdoors with it very dull and cloudy and rain sprinkling in the air. In truth, we did not do very much and spent a lot of time just sitting and cuddling the dogs who of course, were both in 7^th heaven. I tried to take a nap and although I lay there perfectly relaxed with my eyes closed, sleep would not come. Even so, I was nicely relaxed. 

We spent a couple of hours doing nothing until it was time for that afternoon walk. Neither the dogs nor myself were very thrilled with having to go out in the cold and damp but needs must. We barely covered a mile for the day before heading back to The Caboose where I brought in the feeders and shut up shop for the night. 

The rest of the evening was spent in the usual fashion with food all around followed by a glass of wine and television. 

Written January 3, 2024, read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com 

Lake Bastrop North
 
The very last day of the year and we will never, ever see this day again. The same is true of every day but being the very last one of the year does make it special. To us, it is just another day as we say goodbye to 2023 and welcome in 2024 although, I do not plan on staying up to welcome in the New Year. 

We got up at a reasonable hour and, as we normally do, went out for that very first walk of the day. It was a beautiful sunny day which is a good way to say goodbye to 2023. We wandered around saying good morning to any others we saw out and about before returning to the RV for breakfast. I heated up a couple of Enchiladas in tomato sauce which really hit the spot for me. That is more breakfast than I normally eat and hopefully, it will do me all day except the girls are putting on a party later today. Still, that doesn’t mean I have to eat or drink a lot. 
 
With the walk and breakfast out of the way, I turned my attention to the blog on which I was a couple of days behind. With my terrible memory, I knew that I would be struggling with those days as recall is definitely not one of my strong points anymore. After a couple of hours, I managed to catch up with the blog and then looked around for other things to do. 

We went out for another walk and just wandered around before returning to The Caboose. I got a text from Peggy reminding me about the party they were setting up for the afternoon. I really was not very hungry, and the food was being served at 1:30 pm. I wandered over to the commons and sat there as the others all ate and despite the girls’ efforts to get me to eat, I declined. No sense eating for the sake of it. 

I left that party and walked back to my RV to try to figure out the problem I was having with posting the latest blog. There was a knock on the door and Peggy was standing there with a couple of bowls of food for me. I thanked her and she went back to her party, and I continued to work on my Facebook problem. 

After much effort on my part, I figured out what was wrong and managed to post the latest episodes of, “Life in an RV”. Cheered up by my success, I wandered back over to the outside party as it had now moved from the Commons to the lawn outside and the girls, Donna and Gary were busy playing a form of bowls. 

I accepted a beer and sat and watched and declined the offer to play, not feeling very confident of my ability to toss the bags in the right places. We sat by the Commons just chatting and, in the end, I started to get cold and walked back to The Caboose to be greeted by my little dogs. That was the end of our outside evening’s entertainment as we prepared to eat, both the dogs and me, and to watch the usual evening’s entertainment on the television. 

Written 12/31/2023. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com