I woke up early as I knew that I had to be at PostNet in Austin to pick up my mail by 12:30 pm. For some reason, they want a specific time for pick ups which I suppose makes sense as I am sure they have to gather up a persons mail and hold it somewhere for collection differing from the normal personal locker box where each person’s mail is kept. We went for our normal walk around the park followed by the usual breakfast and then to the computer to check emails. I don’t know why I bother with this habit, email that is not breakfast, as I get very few emails of importance. There is the occasional one or two that require an answer but most are read (or not) and discarded. It’s amazing how much of our time is spent on emails. Way too much from my perspective.
With both breakfast for us and checking the mail out of the way, I went about the business of collecting all of the cameras and gear that I want to trade in at Precision Camera and Video in Austin. Somewhat reluctantly I might add as much of it has served me well over the years and we have shared a lot of adventures together, before putting everything in the Jeep. The trip in was uneventful and I arrived at PostNet and the young lady collected all of what she had to give to me. I thanked her and went back out to the Jeep and was perusing the very large stack when I got a knock on the window. The same young lady was standing there with a package mail that she had missed and had taken the time to track me down in the Parking Lot. Good job I hadn’t just driven off and that my curiosity as to what might be in the pile of letters, had got the better of me. I thanked her profusely and then drove to the Camera shop which was not very far away.
Precision Camera and Video is located on Anderson Lane in Austin and is a huge camera store. I have shopped there many times and most of the equipment that I wanted to trade had been purchased from that store. I somewhat reluctantly presented everything at the Trade In counter and then proceeded to wait a half hour or so as they evaluated what I had to offer. I knew that I would be taking a big hit on what I had paid and what it was worth as a trade in and my fears were quickly acknowledged as I looked at the invoice. But, I had made up my mind that a lighter camera and lens were what I wanted and that the “old” stuff was now history and we went ahead with the trade or rather, they gave me a listed invoice and the prices against each item of it’s worth to them. Altogether, they allowed me almost $2000.00 on the old equipment which I traded in for a new Olympus Mark 5 plus a 14/150 lens that doubles to a 14/300. The weight of the combined camera and lens were probably less than half of my old equipment. This is my first time with the Olympus brand as I have always been a Nikon/Tamron man.
I spent almost two hours in the camera store before walking out with my goodies. The lady that assisted me by the name of Tamra Green was very knowledgeable and helpful plus I might add, also very patient as I kept bombarding her with questions and demands. Incidentally, I originally wanted one of the Nikon Z mirrorless models but my old 16/300 lens would not work with it and neither did they have anything in stock that was compatible. Hence the switch in camera brand. Tamra also informed me that she was teaching a class on the new camera on the 30th of this month which I added to my diary. Incidentally, by the time I had finished, we had spent the full allowance that they had offered me on the trade-ins. Fancy that…
The drive home was uneventful except for the traffic which was horrendous as by then, I was in rush hour traffic, again. I got to work on my timing. I was greeted by two very excited little dogs and we went out on out evenings walk as we usually do covering around 1.5 miles for the day. Most of my time in the camera store was in waiting around hence very few steps not like in the big box stores where I am on the move all of the time.
Spotted on our afternoon walk just outside of the park.
We got up late but not on purpose as we went to bed much earlier than we usually do. I was watching a football game from the English Premier League and woke up at half time having missed most of the action for the first half. I decided that it was pretty stupid to struggle to stay awake like that and so we went to bed managing to wake up late as well. I must have been tired although I can’t think what made yesterday any different than any other day. Must be this worry free and contented living. That or all of that waiting around at the Firestone Store. We went out for our mornings walk and covered our usual half mile before returning to Miss Daisy for breakfast and then settling down to write. It is a beautiful sunny day with the weather forecast to reach 60 degrees, not bad for a winters day.
My Jeep. Just look at those new tires.
I got to meet my next door neighbor and her Boxer dog after we came back from our afternoon walk. Her name is Jessica and she is here for at least six months. Sandy got along fine with her dog but Mr. Chicken Little was doing his usual thing of hiding behind me. I was concerned that my TV which I am constantly trying to control the sound so that it is not too loud at night, might be disturbing her but apparently not, thank goodness. We managed to cover 2.2 miles for the day on our walks so we have done OK for this week. I spent the rest of the afternoon going through all of my camera gear of which I have way too much. My thoughts are leaning to buying a lighter camera, maybe one of the Z models as both of the Nikons are getting heavy to carry around. I just don’t do the camera work that I used to especially as I no longer video the Pond Meetings as I did for many years. In truth, I don’t hike anywhere near as much either except for walking around the park to exercise the dogs and most of the pictures I take nowadays are on my phone, mostly for the convenience. After all, it is always with me and it fits in my pocket.
The park is really in the festive spirit and the lights above are what I can see from Miss Daisy. There are lots of them strung all around the camp ground. Written 12/14/2021 – Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com
We got up at a reasonable hour and took our usual walk around the park. A couple of RV’s have moved into the new section that houses long termers. I talked to a couple who were outside and they told me they spend 6 months here in this park and then 6 months in Colorado where, apparently, they have 70 acres of land. They didn’t say it they owned a house on that property. Back in MIss Daisy, it was breakfast all around before I made preparations to take the Jeep into the Firestone store in Oak Hill. I had a 12:00 pm appointment to have work done as the Emergency brake wasn’t working properly and I could drive with it on, which I had done a couple of times, quite accidentally, of course. They told me it would take a couple of hours which I knew probably meant at least three. As it turned out, it was closer to four and a half by the time I got out of there. I ended up with a set of tires and a wheel alignment, an oil change and service, three new wiper blades, plus new brakes on the back which included the disk pads as they were that badly worn. Altogether, it cost me almost $2000.00 but I won’t have to do it again in my lifetime as the Jeep doesn’t get driven very much. As it happens, I have a plug in gadget on the jeep that reports back to my Insurance company on how little I drive and I get a break on the insurance because of it. Brakes are not really something one can ignore as they do come in very useful. I paid my bill and then made a slow drive home. At least, that is what I had in mind but by then, I was caught up in the homeward bound traffic which tended to zoom along at a breakneck speed as people had just one things on their minds and that was to get to wherever it was they were going and get there fast. Then, we all got stuck behind a Sherriff’s Patrol car which immediately brought everyone down to the speed limit. It didn’t help that we were also driving into the sun as it slowly set. Arriving back home, the dogs complained bitterly that I had left them for so long but were soon happy enough as they jumped and wagged like crazy. I had no choice but to take them out for their evening walk All in all, a very good day having accomplished something that I just had to have done with the Jeep. As a side note, I took my computer in with me hoping to do some writing but I had forgotten that it is only half charged which is a safety feature because I keep it plugged in while at home. It would not fire up on a half charge. Consequently, even though I had brought the charge chord with me, there was no place to plug in resulting in me just sitting around for those four and a half hours except when I stood up to take a walk. On top of that, I was sitting outside at a wooden bench for most of the time and I swear that my backside had the shape of every board and ridge possible. Most uncomfortable and also very frustrating. I did get to observe a lot of human nature in action and for amusement, I counted how many people actually stopped at the Stop Sign in the parking lot. Needless to say, I think I counted one as everyone else just drove straight thru. When it came to my turn, I made a point of stopping just because I had been criticizing everyone else. What else could I do…
The view of the Stop Sign. The two cars are parked in front of the store.
Saturday 12/11/2021
Art work on the shed.
It was much cooler when we went out for our walk and I was very glad to have on a jacket. Much different from yesterday as todays high is not supposed to get above 54 degrees from yesterday’s balmy 75. This is Texas after all and as the old saying goes, “If you don’t like the weather, wait a while and it will change”. With today Saturday, it was very quiet around the park with very little activity. A few people walked their dogs and a couple of cars drove around but other than that, nothing. We have no plans and after the busy day yesterday and unless something comes up, will stay close to home. We spent most of the day writing and working on photographs until it was time for the afternoon walk. This time when we walked the outside road, we went further than we normally do to get the exercise and covered 2.0 miles for the day which is where I want it to be. All in all, a very quiet day.
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 in what it left of our lives. The sun was shining and it was already 67 degrees when we walked out of the door around 8:00 am for that first uneventful walk around the park. I pretty much let Sandy dictate where she wants us to go with a gentle nudge here and there to point her in the right direction. We did our usual half mile circuit visiting the trash container along the way to dispose of a bag of garbage that we had accumulated overnight. It’s amazing just how much we generate when you consider there is really only me. The dog’s contribution to the garbage is minimal, Everything is in some sort of package and then there are the empty cans, jars and bottles which all add up. Unfortunately, this campsite does not do any re-cycling so everything is trash and it all goes in the big containers for the weekly pickup to wherever it is buried in some landfall or another. I hate to be another contributor to the earths demise in this way but there are very few other choices. I was looking at the wine selection in the Supermarket and some bottles are marked down to as low as $3:00 a bottle and I got to thinking how does anyone make any money on a price like that. Then I also got to thinking that this included a large glass bottle. If bottles can be manufactured that cheaply, no wonder it doesn’t pay to recycle them. This price is probably a marketing gimmick but even for the more regular low price of between $8-10 dollars a bottle, that is still ridiculously cheap for the cost of producing the wine and the bottle, let alone the work involved plus shipping and distribution. It makes you wonder how the vineyards make a living. I’m not complaining mind you as I probably could not tell the difference between cheap wine and the quality expensive stuff. Maybe that’s because I have never tasted the expensive stuff! It’s even worse when you compare the cost of a bottle of cheap wine to a Grande latte at Starbucks with it’s paper cup. The InstaPot finished doing it’s thing last evening and I carefully ladled out equal amounts into six different plastic containers and put them into the refrigerator, meals for the rest of this week. It sure is a lazy man’s way to cook and I love it. Guess that because I am a lazy man…Now all I got to do is to pay a trip to the HEB store for some fresh bread to go along with the stew. The InstaPot cooks other things as well as stew but as I can’t find the book that came with it, along with a whole bunch of other missing items so I’m kinda restricted. Anyway, I like Stew. We went out for the afternoon walk around the campgrounds and out on the roads and covered 2.4 miles for the day, pretty good for just wandering around before adjourning back to Miss Daisy for the evening.
Thursday 12/09/2021
Note the beautiful rock walls, a feature of the countryside around here.
I had to set the alarm in order to make sure that I woke up at 7:00 am as I had an early appointment with my skin doctor and I had to drive to Austin in rush hour traffic. I have been going to see her for many years and in a previous blog, I outlined that fact that she is retiring, rather forcibly as she pointed out, due to her Office Building getting demolished in order that the next door Hospital can expand. The Hospital owns her building so she didn’t have much in the way of a choice. She has been practicing for many years and she told me that it was too much expense, especially at her age, to set up another practice so she chose to retire. She is a great Dermatologist and I will miss her. Incidentally, she attacked me with her magic freezing spray bottle once more and for the final time. I made a couple of other stops after I got out, one of which was to World Market to buy my favorite English Marmalade. Unfortunately, they didn’t have my usual brand so I ended up with with a couple of other different types at least to give them a try. I also bought 3 jars of Marmite which is a very popular English breakfast spread usually on toast. From there, I made a stop at the Firestone Store in Oak Hill to make arrangements for them to replace the brakes on the Jeep as I know that they need it. We set that up for 12:00 pm for tomorrow. My final stop of the day was to the Veterinary Clinic that I have been visiting for 35 or more years with countless dogs and cats, 22 animals in all over that time period. I needed some heartworm and flea and tick pills for Mikey, who unknown to him, will share them with Sandy until I can get over to Bastrop Animal Shelter and pick up her supply. I’m sure he won’t mind. Actually, my real reason for visiting other than the pills, was to say goodbye to my long standing Veterinarian that I had written about in an earlier blog and who was retiring from practice at a comparatively young age, For me, it was a day full of nostalgia and mixed feelings as I said goodbye to two people who have been very central in my life over the past 20 plus years. I will probably never see them again and I wish Dr Ann Epstein, my skin doctor a very Happy Retirement and Doctor Barret Donop, my Veterinarian all the best in his future endeavors in Colorado where he plans on moving. I left the Veterinarians and took a slow drive home which I mean quite literally as there was a wreck on Hwy 290 which goes into Dripping Springs. The usual 30 minute trip took closer to an hour as we inched slowly forward at a snails pace. We finally passed the wreck which involved at least three vehicles, a couple of cars and 5th wheel tractor trailer dump truck, a part of the construction that is going on as they widen the road. Hope that no one was hurt. I finally made it back to Miss Daisy and to two excited little dogs who were ready to go out. We went for a walk around the park and roads before coming back to put away the things that I had bought while shopping a part of which was $480.00 worth, a years supply of Heartworm and Flea and Tick pills for Mikey. Sandy gets hers from the Bastrop Animal Shelter which is trip in the future for us. In the meantime, she can share Mikey’s supply. I wrote for a bit and then decided we should walk again for a couple more trips around the park. The dogs were in seventh heaven with three walks in a day. Altogether, we covered 2.6 miles, good exercise for us all.
Another view of the new section of the Campground.
We got up early determined to break the lazy late cycle that I have allowed to happen. With it getting dark much earlier, I am just wasting daylight by sleeping late on a regular basis. By 8:00 am, we were already out walking around the park and on the outside roads. We didn’t go very far, just a half mile but enough for the dogs to do their “thing” and for me to stretch my legs. I do miss the trails at the last campground but oh well, can’t have everything. We still get the exercise with walking around the park and on the roads. With breakfast and the all important coffee out of the way, I settled down to write catching up on some of the postings that I had fallen behind on. I had written the blogs but had delayed the posting as I wanted some more recent pictures which I have taken in the past few days. it took quite a while to get the blogs to my taste but I finally had them ready. By the time I was finished, it was time for the afternoon walk. Did I say walk, when we got out there walking one of the country roads, Sandy had already decided that she was in a hurry and was dragging me and Mikey along behind her at a breakneck speed. She kept it up for the entire walk of a little over a mile and the two males of the group were glad to be back inside Miss Daisy just to get our wind back and to rest up.
My clean little girl, for a while at least.
Back inside, I straightened up a bit although that doesn’t take very much as the space is so small and swept the floors and at the same time emptied the black and grey tanks, one of our regular tasks that I have to do every few days. As I sit here and write, the birds are very busy on the feeders. Mostly Black Crested Titmouse and House Finches but what the heck, at least they are birds using the feeders which is more than what happened at the last four campsites where there were zero birds. The rest of the day comprised of the afternoon walk and then the usual evening meal and then TV .
Tuesday 12/07/2021
A view from the road outside the Park
We followed our usual procedure of walk and then breakfast before settling down to read emails and messages just in case there was something important, which luckily, there wasn’t. I did some research on how to get a replacement Social Security card having lost or misplaced mine years ago. I guess lost and misplaced both add up to the same thing as I no longer have a card. It’s not something one uses every day and I know the number by heart but I need it to get my drivers license renewed next month which will be another trying time for me. The last time was six years ago and I had to run out to the car to get a different pair of glasses to past that test. I’m hoping that it will be OK this time around although the eyes are 6 years older. Now, I have to provide all kinds of documents including the aforementioned Social Security card and my birth certificate plus my Naturalization Certificate to prove that I really am the person applying for the license. Things sure have tightened up. I had spent some time putting together the ingredients for a Beed Stew in my InstaPot which will take 6 hours to cook. The beauty of it is that apart from an occasional stirring, I can leave it until it is cooked when it will switch itself off. The wonders of modern technology. I started it too late for this evenings meal but it will feed me the rest of the week. We went out for the afternoon walk and on the way, I ran into the Park Super who as it happened was using a step ladder to hang Christmas Decorations. I asked him if I could borrow the ladder for ten minutes to adjust my awning and he willingly obliged. We continued with our walk covering 1.4 miles for the day before returning back to Miss Daisy and sure enough the step ladder was leaning against the tree. I used it to lower the awning, giving it a bit more slope for the rain to run off before returning it against the tree for him to pick it up which he did later that evening. Not sure how long I can leave the awning out as there is a lot more wind here than at the Rock’n E probably due to the fact that campground was totally surrounded by the tall pine trees which acted as a wind break. We adjourned inside Miss Daisy for the rest of the evening for our usual evening meal and watching AC Milan play Liverpool in the Champions League.
A view of the new section of the park. There are trees planted but it will take a few years for them to mature.
We got up early as Sandy has a Groomers appointment and we needed to leave here by 10:30 am. We did our usual morning walk around the park and met a gentleman with a Husky. Beautiful dog and although Sandy actually tried to make friends, the other dog wanted to play which consisted of jumping all over Sandy, She did not want any part of it and backed away. Mikey, of course, was hiding behind me. What else? We walked for our usual half mile before returning to Miss Daisy for breakfast. I got to watch a couple of the campers in the temporary slots working on their RV’s. Whether in preparation to leave or the normal household chores one has to perform on a regular basis. After watching for a bit, I figured out that the 5th wheel and the Class A are preparing to leave as both owners went about the task of packing up their RV’s. The little Teardrop trailer has already left. It was time to drive into Dripping Springs for Sandy’s groomers appointment so all three of us jumped in the car for the short 11 mile trip. Mikey accompanied us into the groomers even though he was not getting “the treatment” just to provide his friend with moral support. I handed her over and did my best to ignore the accusing look she was giving me. Mikey and I then made our way back to MIss Daisy to write and wait it out before we can return and pick her up. Both the Class A and the 5th wheel have pulled out leaving just one RV in the row in front of us. It is very quiet around here. There are a couple of people walking their dogs and a couple more doing their laundry and a car here and there pulling in or driving out. Other than that, it is very peaceful with the only sound the traffic on the highway a half mile away. I received a text to tell me that Sandy would be ready to pick up in 20 minutes which I passed along to Mikey. just in case he might be interested. It should be said that he was in seventh heaven being the only dog and getting all of the attention while Sandy was away but when we arrived at the groomers, he was just as excited to see her again and made a big fuss of her. They had done a wonderful job on her and she looked clean and smart. I asked for her nose and face to be trimmed a little shorter which the groomer, a lady named Ashley willingly obliged. Mikey in his usual excited way had jumped on me and scratched my leg…again. I got Ashley to trim his nails while we were there as it seemed like a good idea. Sandy was very interested in hearing Mikey complain as she trimmed them and was looking with a fixed attention into the grooming salon and I swear with a worried look on her face as it went on. Finally, Ashley brought him back much to Sandy’s relief. Dogs are such interesting animals. Mikey just felt sorry for himself at getting so abused. We drove back taking the long way to see some more of the countryside but the dogs are not very good at travelling in the Jeep as both are vying for a spot on my lap which is really only big enough for one dog at a time. This doesn’t stop them both from trying and it gets very interesting sometimes. We arrived back and immediately went out for the afternoon walk around the park and out on the quiet country lanes that surround us meeting a couple of other campers doing the same thing. Altogether, we walked almost 2 miles for the day which is where I like to be. The rest of the day was spent in the usual way after catching up with the emails, food and television and a glass of cheap wine. Incidentally, the TV reception is very good at this park and I am not having to use my booster.
We got up around 9:00 am and as is our normal practice, went out for a walk around the park. The day has dawned to another sunny and beautiful day with just a few clouds in the sky. On our morning walk which by design, is usually a short one of around a half mile, we didn’t get to see any one else of the human or animal variety which is not surprising as it is Saturday and many of the working people, have the day off. Incidentally, as opposed to the Rock’n E, there seems to be an even split between old and young campers and there are a few kids chasing around. On the other hand, this park has many more transient campers as they are coming and going all of the time. All of the spots in the temporary row in front of me are full and they are quite a mix, an older and a newer model, class A’s, one large tow trailer, another a 5th wheel and finally, a little teardrop trailer looking completely out of place compared to the giants parked on either side of it. It takes all kinds to make a world. Probably, come Monday, most of those temporary spots will be open again. There is one Airstream here that belongs to my neighbors from my previous site. and another two parked across from me. For those of you that follow this blog, you may remember that I inadvertently left the sink faucet running resulting in blowing the GFI circuit breakers in several different places. GFI stands for Ground Fault Interrupter and the slightest drop of moisture will trip these circuits. Well, we had more than a drop with the sink overflowing resulting in several outlets not working in different places, the sink, the bathroom, the bedroom and both the outlets over and under the couch. I worried about it wondering how to fix it or would I have to call in an expert mechanic. I happened to be watching another video about a different subject and it occurred to me that I belong to the RV Repair Club and maybe they would have a video providing the answers. Sure enough, by doing a search, I located the exact video that I wanted and by following their instructions and with the single push of the reset button, all of the outlets are working again. Turns out, that membership has already paid for itself as calling in a Repair Mechanic would cost a whole lot more. Now, all I got to do is figure out why the Navigation system doesn’t work on Miss Daisy. We went out for the afternoon walk and this time we took the outside road away from the campsite which is a half mile walk one way. Altogether for the day, we managed to cover 1.6 miles. I received a call from the local Dog Grooming place with whom I had left a message and we arranged for Sandy to be groomed. Poor Sandy, she doesn’t know she has a busy day tomorrow. The day ended in the usual fashion, food, a glass of wine while watching the Premier League followed by Midsomer Murders, an English thriller series.
We got up around 9:00 am determined to get out of the lazy habits acquired at the the last campground and per usual, went out for a half mile walk around the park. After breakfast, I sat down to write having a couple of days catching up to do. While working, a couple of RV’s pulled into the lots in front of me and I was able to sit here and critique their parking techniques. Both knew what they were doing and in no time flat, they had their rigs levelled and set. As I watched, a truck load of gravel was delivered to one of the outside sites that are not blacktopped and a little later, a small dozer came in and levelled the pile. Even though there are a lot of RV’s here, I don’t get the feeling of being crowded as they are spaced far enough apart. As I am on the end, my nearest neighbor to my right is probably 50 feet away across the road. One of the good things that is happening here as opposed to the last three sites I was at is that the bird feeder pole that I put up yesterday with two hanging feeders on it, is being visited by birds, real birds of which I had not seen any at the other sites. Nothing exotic, just Finches and Sparrows but at least they are birds. Now, as long as the deer leave the feeders alone, we have it made. I know the deer are around as there was fresh deer scat outside on the grass. I worked on the blog for a while before deciding that I needed to go into Dripping Springs, about a 11 mile journey to the HEB located there. This is a large store and has everything that I need which are usually just the essentials and today was no different. I did manage to find the scented cans that I had been looking for. On the way home, I rewarded myself with a Starbucks Latte. Back at Miss Daisy, I received the usual warm welcome from Mikey and Sandy who barely gave me time to put the groceries away before demanding that we go out walking. On the road below the campsite, we met a couple of older gentlemen with a large dog and we stopped to chat for a while. Sandy made friends with their dog and even Mikey stopped barking although he was in his usual position, hiding behind me. Altogether, we covered 2.1 miles, well I did. The dogs not so much as they didn’t walk the HEB store. The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way, food for us all and then TV and a glass of wine for me. As far as I know, Mikey and Sandy are not TV watchers and neither do they drink wine. Smart dogs.
I tried to write a poem today but I could not get the words to say the things I wanted to tell the world just to let my thoughts unfurl things were all jumbled and nothing would rhyme although I tried a number of times and had several different attempts but alas in the end I had to lament the fact that my brain’s not a poet today and I tried to write some other way a story maybe but what about no thoughts of anything not even a shout for my favorite football teams or life at this park living my dream no cares or troubles coming my way at least that I know of and have a say in what to do or where to go next or let life get me down why should I be vexed if I don’t like this particular spot then it’s on to the next with a skip and a hop no cares in the world or none that I know living this life so peaceful and slow at my own pace to set my own speed controlled only by my needs for a change of scenery or to meet new friends who knows what is around the bend except on the days that are dull and dark and then we are glad to be in a park not travelling the roads and not having to race feeling safe and secure and in one place.
This is the first full day back here at Henly. While I was away, they have continued to blacktop the upper sites leaving the new and lower sites and those on the perimeter as gravel. We went out for our usual mornings walk and covered around the normal half mile before returning for breakfast. I already knew that we would have to resituate Miss Daisy to get the wheels back on the ground due to the sloping site. Following breakfast, I went outside and unhooked the Jeep driving it to the front of the site allowing me room to move Miss Daisy. Just to be on the safe side, I unhooked the hoses and power chord and brought in the slides even though I was only going to do a bit of jockeying to make her level. After the first attempt, it was obvious that I need to drive the front wheels up onto some blocking in order to keep them supported after the leveling process finished which I was able to do and with the push of a button, down came the jacks and we had a level rig. It didn’t take long to hook up the hoses and electric cable and put the slides back out and we were set and ready to go. My next task was to unload the Jeep and put out the wicker couch and table and lay down the two outside mats that I have. In no time flat, we had our home set up and ready for our stay here for the next two months or more, depending on the weather.
We spent the rest of the day writing and doing stuff inside Miss Daisy before going out for the afternoon walk around the park. I had an interesting conversation with one of my neighbors who has been here for a long time and who I had met during my previous stay and somehow, the conversation turned to Covid. First of all, she told me she is a nurse and then went on to say she has had Covid, her husband died of Covid and her two sons and a daughter have all had it. She was adamant that she is NOT getting a shot and by God, no one can force her as this is a free country. When I asked her why, she said that she had read up on the ingredients and didn’t like what was in them and no amount of discussion on my part could get her to think differently. She is a believer in vitamins and stuff like that. She kept pointing out that 2 million people have died and said probably a lot more unreported. I gave up on the discussion as it was a no win situation. I bet she is a Trump supporter too! I also ran into another neighbor, this time the attractive younger blond lady who I had chatted with the last time I was here and much more interesting to talk to and got a welcome back from her. Even Sandy condescended to like her dog which is a switch. Oh yes, the Park Manager, Malinda, stopped by to welcome me back although that doesn’t mean too much as she is just as likely to tell me that I have broken one of her rules. Still, nice that she bothered.
I miss the trails at the last park and the neighborly people but so far, this one is turning out OK. We walked 1.5 miles in and around the park and out on the roads outside the park which are very quiet country lanes. Sandy needs an appointment at the groomers where she went the last time out here in Dripping Springs and I was too late for the Farmers Market held yesterday so I will need to hit the HEB tomorrow. I can’t believe how hot it was today. The sweat poured off me when I was setting up and I had to turn the air back on from the heat cycle it was previously set. Even now, it is still 71 degrees outside. The day finished in the usual way with an evening meal and then television.
We got up early this morning knowing that we had a busy day and a long drive ahead of us. We took our walk around the park and said goodbye to a couple of other campers that we met before returning for a quick breakfast and a check on emails. Then it was to work to get ready for the trip. As I had taken care of the outside stuff yesterday, all that remained was to make sure that every moveable object inside Miss Daisy was secure before retracting the slides and unhooking the water and sewer hose and finally the electric connection. I pushed the button to retract the jacks before going about the task of hooking up the Jeep which went very well. The only problem that I had was in getting the lights to work and in the end, decided that as the RV is so much taller than the Jeep, the RV brake lights are visible enough for both vehicles. Something I need to look into.
While I was performing these tasks, several other campers stopped by to say goodbye and wish me a safe journey which I found very nice. The Super also stopped by and reiterated that I was always welcome. I took the dogs for one final walk as they would be cooped up for several hours before jumping into Miss Daisy and driving out of the Rock’n E RV park. As usual, the Navigation system in Miss Daisy was not working and I had to rely on my cell phone. I had bought a windshield holder to make it more visible. The Google Pad that I had bought showed three alternate routes and the iPhone another different route. As the one on the iPhone was from my RV Life app, that is the one I chose to use. It worked very well and the only problem was not being able to hear the voice commands very clearly and no way to adjust the volume.
The actual trip was uneventful and very long. I stopped once in some small town to gas up and the pump shut off after 25 gallons which I thought would be enough to get us to Henly. Turns out it wasn’t and when the gauge showed we had less than 60 miles until empty, I had to find another gas station with reasonable access. By then, we had reached Oak Hill, familiar territory. This time, when the pump shut off, I went through the process three times to get the tank full, sixty gallons at $2.89 a gallon. Luckily, we don’t drive every day or I would be broke. Altogether, the trip was around 265 miles. Next time, I will shorten it by half and find an overnight campground rather than drive for so long as it took all day. Actually, when I was planning this trip, I had considered make a stopover but decided against it.
It was 6:00 pm and dark by the time we reached Henly and I knew exactly where site 21 was. It is a pull through site making it really easy to park Miss Daisy and as the Jeep was still attached, I pulled in far enough not to have to unhook it until the morning. This created another problem as the site, which incidentally is blacktopped, sloped down a bit towards the front. I went ahead and levelled up Miss Daisy knowing that I would probably have to make adjustments the following day. After hooking up the hoses and power and letting out the slides, we adjourned for the evening satisfied with a smooth transition from one campground to the next.
We did a short walk around the park more for the dogs to relieve themselves before heading back in for the evening meal. The TV reception is good but I already knew that from my previous stay here. Hard to believe that this morning we were in Coldspring and now in Henly. Love this life.
It rained pretty much all night, very heavy at times but we slept though it anyways. Amazing what fresh air, exercise and a simple life can do for a man. It had left off by the morning but was still very overcast. We went out for a short walk and again ran into the little Schnauzer but we both took opposite directions. I stopped to talk to a couple of ladies doing their laundry and Sandy of course, just had to make friends. We have no plans for the day and it is a cloudy and overcast day anyway, not very welcoming at all so we will stay indoors. It cleared up later in the afternoon and we went for our usual walk only this time, not only did we walk the perimeter of the park as we usually do, we also walked every road to make sure we got in our exercise of 1.6 miles for the day. I watched my favorite football team tie with the top team in the English Premier League in the afternoon which is not something that I usually do, tending to leave TV watching until the evening. This was a very quiet day ending in the usual fashion of food and TV.
11/29/2021
The trees are tall and straight
We went to bed early last evening as for some reason, I just could not keep my eyes open and 9:00 pm saw us turn out the lights. I woke up once in the night for the usual male reasons and then never awoke again until 9:00 am, several hours later. Unheard of at least in my case. As per usual, the day started with the morning walk about followed by breakfast and blogging.
With only a couple more days left before we move on, I have nothing planned except to go into Livingstone for some groceries. This proved to be the usual food buying experience at Walmart’s which is a great place to shop having everything that I need and a whole lot more that I don’t. I wonder if I will ever be back to this store? I filled the Jeep up with gas and then was looking for an ATT store as I needed a cable for my Google Pad for Miss Daisy as those of you following my blog may recall that the built in unit has never worked satisfactorily. Somehow or another, I have mislaid the original cable that came with the Google Pad. I searched high and low for it before I left but with no luck. I found a Verizon store in the same parking lot as Walmart’s, well sort of as due to construction, one of the roads was blocked off meaning that I had to get back on the main road and then make the turn to get to the store and purchased the cable. Unfortunately, when I looked at it, I needed a different plug than what I had. By that time, I was away from the Verizon store having already stopped at Starbucks and managed to find a Cricket store almost immediately. I stopped there, bought what I needed and was on my way back to the Rock’n E. So, an ATT customer runs the full gamut of the competition
It was getting dark when I pulled in and I was met by two very excited little dogs who gave me just enough time to put the frozen goods away and then dragged me out for the last walk of the day. Altogether it was a 2 mile day for me and probably half that for the dogs. The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way, food for us all and then TV until it was bedtime.
11/30/2021
Miss Daisy and the Jeep
We woke up around 8:00 am, early for us and got up straight away as I knew we had things to do. We did the usual walk around the park not meeting any of our friends, probably because we were much earlier than usual. We did the breakfast thing and I spent some time on emails and such, just in case… Another RV had pulled into my old space overnight.
With nothing of importance to take care of I went about the business of packing up the outside, mats, wicker couch and table, brushing of as much dirt as possible before strapping them onto the Jeeps Carrier. Then I climbed up on Miss Daisy’s roof and blew off the canopy and the two slide outs. Good job I did as the roof and canopy were absolutely covered in leaves. I retracted the canopy which completed all of the outside work. I was going to hook up the jeep to Miss Daisy but it would have stuck out into the roadway too far and created a hazard, not that there is much park traffic but you never know. So, a project for tomorrow although it doesn’t usually take that long if I get everything lined up right. All that is left now is to make Miss Daisy ready for travelling which comprises of securing any loose objects as you can imagine just how much things bounce around under normal driving and the usual of retracting the slides and unhooking the hoses and last of all, the power. Oh yes, and hooking up the Jeep.
You would think that I would be excited to go back to the Austin area after living there for more than 35 years but there is a feeling of sadness in leaving this park. I am just getting to know the residents and them me and they have made me feel very welcome. It is a beautiful area and the trails are worth walking. Who knows, hopefully I will return when I can no longer drive and just park the RV which probably wont be Miss Daisy as she is my travelling vehicle and is too small for a permanent home. Another 5th wheel or maybe a Tiny Home trailer which I will pay somebody to haul in as I don’t need another truck.
We took our final walk of the day covering around 1.5 miles although we will have one tomorrow morning of course before our final preparations to leave. My next door neighbors little Chihuahua was out running around and he accompanied us a part of the way before heading back home and when we got back, we spent some time talking to that same neighbor before heading back inside for the usual evenings preparations. So ends our last day at this beautiful park. Tomorrow, we move on or in our case back to Austin.
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.
Another day in heaven. I woke up early for me and crawled out ready to face another hard day of doing nothing. We went for our usual morning walk around the park and Sandy renewed her acquaintance with the Schnauzer who seems a very friendly fellow indeed. There was not much going on to talk about and we only did the single lap around the park before returning to Miss Daisy. As per usual, it was coffee and breakfast for me and breakfast only for the dogs before we settled down to do our writing. It was another beautiful sunny day and the high was forecast to be around 75 degrees, very pleasant indeed. I worked on the previous blog and then started this one and happened to glance at the clock. To my surprise, it was already 3:00 pm and I have no idea where the time has gone.
I decided that we had sat around way too long so we went for the afternoon walk. This time, I headed straight for the trails and we walked several of them before returning back to Miss Daisy. We covered 2.2 miles for the day and it had warmed up enough that I actually broke into a sweat and had to change clothes when I got back. This in November. Go figure.
I spent some time talking to a different neighbor and again, the conversation turned to life in England and how the cops are now dressed in Bullet proof vests as opposed to the old fashioned Bobby with his nightstick. For some reason, my neighbors seem to think that England has turned into a gun toting lawless country. I couldn’t get him to understand that only criminals have handguns as the average citizen cannot legally posses one without a permit which are very hard to come by. Shotguns are different but they too have to be registered. I have no idea what channel these people watch to get their crazy ideas. And why do they want to put their opinions of England to me? Why can’t we talk about how nice the weather is or something like? After all, it’s not like I have been there in a while!
This is what the pine needles do to anything underneath the trees.
We finished the day in the usual way with dinner and television accompanied by a nice glass of white wine.
11/17/2021
A missing branch?
Up late as usual and then a quick walk around the park before returning for breakfast and coffee followed by our usual writing session. I worked on a few of the pictures that I have recently taken some of which, I find interesting. Many of the pictures are pretty repetitious especially the ones of the trails as they don’t vary much. One trail almost looks like the last one except when they cross small streams or go up or downhill. Obviously, some are wider than others but that is about it. All are easy walking which is good for me. The dogs don’t care as they will scramble anywhere. Actually, the trails as they are is a good thing as it is easy to watch ahead just in case one of the slithery things happens to be there. I won’t let the dogs get in the grass on the sides of the trails for the same reason. It will soon be cool enough not to have to worry about snakes. At least I don’t have to watch out for Alligators at this park.
One of the Park employees walked all of the roads and the empty camp sites blowing off the pine needles and leaves. Many of the permanent residents keep their campsites raked and I often see and smell the burning as they dispose of the leaves. My neighbor asked if he could rake my site just so that he could have the leaves to burn. Of course, I readily agreed not wanting to stop anybody from doing their thing and at the same time, keep my site nice and tidy. Of course, this is the Fall season and it is really a hopeless task with all of the trees and the leaves falling all of the time.
I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I did not hear or see a very large Horse RV come in until I spotted them in the leach field area where they were setting up a paddock and unloaded two beautiful horses. Then, they moved the RV/Horse Trailer into my old site and quickly set it up. They had to use levelling blocks on one sides rear wheels but with two of them, it was an easy task as this time, the wife helped and knew what she was doing. Kinda neat to be able to live with your horses like that but I imagine the horse smell is with you all of the time even if they are in a separate paddock.
Horse RV
Horse and RV
Both horses in pen
We went out for our afternoons walk and made a point of walking close to the paddocked horses. Beautiful animals. Reminded me of the ones I used to have years back. We walked a couple of the short trails and covered 1.3 miles for the day.
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.
