Today is Sunday and our last day at this very nice resort. It was an interesting night as I was so cold I had to turn on the heat. I don’t know how low the temperature dropped but cold enough that it was easier to turn on the heat rather than try to find another blanket especially in my sleep befuddled state. I managed to fall back off to sleep but I didn’t wake up until 10:30 am probably the latest so far. When I checked this morning, the thermometer had gone down to the mid fifties. At least I know what to do before I go to sleep tonight.
The walk around the park was uneventful although with the late start, I swear I saw the dogs crossing their legs, holding their belly and jumping up and down with an urgent look at me as it to say, “We gotta go , Dad”. They held on long enough to get out of the door…just. We were the only people out and about so the walk was uneventful. Our time in the dog run was a little more rewarding as Mikey left my side a few times to explore albeit not too far and quickly returned. Not sure if he thinks he needs to protect me or is just a scaredy cat and needs me to protect him. We walked around the park just to check everything out but it was all to Sandy’s satisfaction and passed her inspection.
With nothing to look at outside, we returned to Miss Daisy for a leisurely breakfast and then to write in this blog. After catching up on current events, I decided that I should load out the wicker sofa and table and the few other things that are carried in the Jeep carryall. I’ve got this down to a fine art and everything went smoothly. I really need to try to do something with the Shepherds Crook and get it to where it folds in half as it is a little long in the Jeep. It fits, sort of, but if I stopped suddenly I am not sure where it may end up. Something else to work on maybe at the next stop and if there is a hardware store close by.
We went for another walk as we had nothing else that was pressing and there were a couple of other neighbors doing the same thing. We all try to steer clear of each other to avoid any confrontations and possible dog fights. I try to get in at least a mile a day with the walking and if I happen to go to the store, it is even more than that. Gotta work on my fitness somehow if only the cardio. While out there, I took a few pictures of the flowers blooming around the pond.
The beauty of nature
We spent the rest of the day just lazing around enjoying our last few hours at this park followed by our usual evening meal and because it is the weekend, watching the English Premier League, before retiring for the night.
A view of the park. The tall thing in the background is the WIFI tower.
Everything was back to normal when I turned on the faucet this morning and the water coming out was clear and clean. One less thing to worry about so we went for our usual morning walk. Apart from one of the Maintenance workers hosing off his 4 wheeler, and of course the ever present heavy equipment operators still working on the giant pile of earth, there was absolutely nothing going on in the park. It was very quiet as we walked around and even the dogs didn’t have a great deal of interest in anything that they normally would have. We headed back to Miss Daisy for breakfast for them and the addition of coffee for me before settling down in front of the computer for the daily work. Catching up on emails is usually very easy as most are junk or uninteresting and are quickly eliminated. Very occasionally, one pops up from a friend or a company that needs my attention but generally speaking, most are junk. I try to eliminate those that I don’t want but they have a habit of popping back up again at a later date even after I have unsubscribed from them. Emails are either a blessing or a pain even though I know that majority are not worth my time, I have to check, just in case.
Today was laundry day which occurs about once a week depending on what I got up to. This time, I needed to wash the bed linens and the single blanket besides the normal clothes and towels which meant that I ended up using three washing machines and two dryers. I had received notification that I had a parcel at the office which is located in the same building as the washroom and while I was attending to the laundry, another package was delivered, one that I had been concerned might not have arrived before we leave on Monday. It is a Tire Pressure Monitoring system for Miss Daisy which I will play with tomorrow. The Jeep already has one installed. Nothing like a bit of additional safety as we drive down the highway.
I spent the next thirty minutes making and remaking the bed with the clean sheets and blanket. It really is a pain in the butt trying to make that darn thing as I can’t reach the top or get all the way around it as I would with a normal bed in a house. I have complained bitterly before in several blogs and am still trying to find a better way. I put the rest of the clothes away which at least is an easy task and then it occurred to me that I had left some towels in one of the laundry machines. So, I jumped back in the car and made the short drive back to the Laundry Room to collect them which took maybe ten minutes and in that time, the sky opened up and it just poured down catching me as I was unloading the car. I managed to get the laundry in safe and dry but in the process of rescuing the pillows from the wicker couch, I got absolutely soaked. It poured for about thirty minutes and I mean, just fell out of the sky accompanied by loud claps of thunder.
After a change of clothes and a hot cup of tea, I felt better and after another thirty minutes, the sun came out. During all of this, my neighbor who had taken his RV in to be repaired almost a week ago, returned towing it and looking to set it back up. Don’t know if he waited or just worked through the rain as I was too busy with my own problems which compared to his, were pretty small although in both cases we got wet. He already had someone with him to help so there was not much I could have done to assist him.
The rest of the day was spent in the usual way, writing in this blog, walkies, feeding the dogs and myself and watching TV.
10/16/2021
The steps and deck belong to my neighbor who just brought his rig back in last evening. Note the solitary fir tree behind. Not many of them around on this side of the park.
Two more days and then we move on. I went to bed at 11:00 pm last evening and still didn’t wake up until 9:30. Maybe that is my wake up time regardless of what time I go to bed. Oh well, we’ll keep trying tor the earlier morning rise. Monday, I will set the alarm as we pullout for a different campground and I want to be ready to leave here by noontime because we have a hundred mile trip.
The weather has cooled off quite considerably and it was very pleasant on our first walk of the day. There was a slight breeze and it was nice to walk around the park. Not much activity but we did see one more gentleman walking his dog. Other than that, nothing. As it is Saturday, I imagine the working people are making the most of their day off and resting up. I have to say, I do like the peace and quiet of this campground with usually, the only activity apart from the construction work, the maintenance crews keeping the place looking spic and span. Then again, I am a bit of a loner.
My neighbor from across the way had his RV set up and spent most of the day working on his deck and steps with the help of a couple of younger guys. They had it completed by mid afternoon and he then spent the rest of the time re-arranging his potted plants and such. He is another of the permanent residents. Incidentally, he has a Jayco Eagle 5th wheel similar to my old Eagle. Don’t know what year his is as it does look a little different than mine.
I spent some time going through the files in the cabinet to see exactly what was in there and did manage to thin out some of the paperwork. In most cases though, it was a case of, “better keep that just in case I might need it in the future”. I did locate a couple of items that I know I will need in January so it wasn’t an entirely wasted exercise. The weather today had really cooled off and the high was only seventy five degrees with a light breeze. Maybe Fall is really here. We went for the final walk of the day this time around the pond keeping a very careful eye out for any Alligators. Didn’t see any, thank goodness. Looks like we have been very lucky with our sighting just after we got here as I have not seen one since. Tomorrow is our last day here and we will spend some of it packing the Jeep with the wicker couch and the other sundry things we pack on and in the Jeep.
We finished the day in the usual way with feeding the dogs and then me before watching the Premier League on the television.
The new pool and bar. Still a lot of work to be done but the pool is open.
I still woke up late even though I went to bed earlier than normal so obviously, that is not the answer. Maybe I should give it more time. OK, we’ll try it again a couple more times, going to bed earlier that is, and if it doesn’t work, then it is that I am destined to sleep long and late. The sleep of the proverbial dead. I can’t help it if I have a clear conscience or maybe it’s that glass of wine. Damn, just when I was beginning to enjoy drinking the cheap stuff. Maybe a more expensive bottle would help? Seriously though, it really doesn’t matter what time we wake and get up as most of the time, I have nothing planned. What a life.
Our morning walk around the park was quiet and uneventful. While the dogs were in the Dog Run, I watched as an Egret walked very slowly in the pond looking for it’s breakfast. It was unsuccessful in the ten minutes that I watched before it disappeared out of sight behind some bulrushes. Such patient birds but then again, I guess you got to be when you rely on stealth to catch your morning meal. I kept waiting for the alligator to jump the bird but it didn’t happen at least while I watched.
We moved on around the park but there was really nothing to look at. The construction people have moved their John Deere Excavator to a different section and it looks like they are getting ready to install eight inch plastic pipes presumably as a continuation of the Park’s sewer management system for an area they are developing to install extra RV sites. Meanwhile, the large ‘Dozer is still working on the opposite end levelling that huge mound of dirt. The ground they are on is of an extremely wet clay type material and difficult to work with as it looks permanently wet and marshy. According to the St Ives brochure, they want to install at least another thirty RV sites in that area. If it ever stopped with the heavy rain showers, maybe they would have a chance. Watching them got me reminiscing of my pipeline days. Best days of my working life, ever, even with all of the high paying jobs that I held later in life. There was something about working out in the country or even within a city, and depending on your job, in a trench or on a piece of heavy equipment, surrounded by nature. At the time, those were the good old days. Couldn’t do it now though. Back then, I was young and extremely fit and well muscled and I even had hair. Today, sixty years later, a poor apology to that man. Such is the passing of time. If today by chance I was ever to meet him, I know I would not recognize him nor him me. He would definitely not want to know the man he grew into at least physically.
Me at 20 years old
This park is so quiet during the daytime when most of the occupants are at their day jobs. If the construction people weren’t busy doing their thing, there would be absolutely nothing going on. Occasionally some one will drive around or the odd person or two will walk their dogs but other than that, nothing is happening. We have five more days here before we move on to the next site at Rock’n E RV Park in Coldspring, about a hundred mile drive. They promise more and better trails but a shaky internet. I guess we’ll see. I can get over the internet problem with my WIFI booster which regardless of whether I use it or not, costs me $55.00 per month for a 100 gigs of service. That and it doesn’t carry over. Use it or lose it. The problem with modern day living is that these sort of things are a necessity especially if you spend a lot of time on the internet as in my case, writing this blog.
The rest of the day was spent in the usual way, walking the dogs, feeding us all and then watching television with the promise of an earlier night. Yeah, right.
10/14/2021
I actually did get up early this morning, at least for me and by 9:00 am, I was outside checking on the water supply as it was coming out of the faucet a muddy brown color. I thought maybe I might have a dirty filter unit but that was not the problem. So, we went walking out of necessity and on the way, I ran into one of the park employees and mentioned the problem to him. Later on, he stopped by to tell me that they were working on the water main somewhere else in the park and hopefully would have the problem fixed sooner rather than later. You don’t realize how important it is to turn on a faucet and water comes out until it doesn’t. Luckily, I have several bottles of water that I purchased for just such an occurrence as this. We were able to make coffee, that life giving beverage without which many of us would find it hard to start the day.
Our walk this morning took us by the area where they had been excavating yesterday and sure enough, they were in the process of installing more sewer connections for additional RV sites which are shown on their brochure. This is horrible ground to work with mainly comprising of soft, wet clay type soil that sticks to everything making work very difficult even for the heavy machinery. I wonder if it will ever dry out.
It is a dark day with rain clouds scudding across the sky and threatening to break loose at any moment. There is rain in the forecast and some parts are getting it heavy. Luckily not here, yet. When I look out of the window around the campground, there is an abundance of white pickup trucks in view especially at the 5th wheel campsites. I don’t know if white is a choice color or that the vehicles capable of towing these large rigs happen to be that color. Probably the latter as the one I previously owned for towing the Eagle, was also white. It certainly has cooled off with the outdoor temperature around 83 degrees. Very comfortable especially when walking the dogs. Fall is definitely here.
There are a lot of frogs around, none of them very big. They get into everything. This little guy had jumped up onto the wicker couch before jumping back down and posing to have his photo taken.
It never occurred to me before just how much we rely on the honesty of the various and different company’s that we deal with in our daily lives. I recently received a check that had been sent to my mail forwarding company for a substantial sum of money for unused insurance due to the sale of the Eagle which I traded in for Miss Daisy. It never crossed my mind that such a thing even existed and I would have been none the wiser if they had just kept it. It’s nice to know that some honesty still exists in this troubled world. I know it’s company policy and all of that stuff but the average person is not aware of it and we rely on the company’s honesty in dealing with us. There are still some bright moments amid all the chaos of living.
The water was eventually turned back on around 4:30 pm. Apparently, they needed a fitting which they had to go buy and it took them longer than anticipated. I let the water run for quite a while into the black tank to help with the cleaning process within that tank and to hopefully clean the sensors which, even though Miss Daisy is brand new, are not showing the tank levels correctly. They still show full after I have emptied them. I am not surprised as from what I have read, it is an ongoing problem with most RV’s regardless of age. I think I would stop working too if I was buried up to my proverbial neck in that sort of gunk!
We spent the rest of the day in our usual fashion with dog walks, evening meals and then watching TV before going to bed a little earlier.
The Pond and the end of the berm where we encountered the Alligator.
Monday morning and the park is comparatively empty and quiet again with the working people off to earn their living. It rained really hard during the night with very extensive thunderstorms that were so close, I felt the pressure inside the RV when the thunder rolled. The rain was very heavy and kept us awake for a while. Today, I notice that the heavy construction workers are not here presumably because the area in which they are working gets very muddy with the heavy rain and their equipment would just tear the place up.
Our morning walk was uneventful and I was surprised how little standing water was around considering how hard it rained. We tried the Dog Park again with the same results, Sandy sniffing around and Mikey not leaving my side. I’m not sure if he thinks that I need protection and he is the man for the job or he is a scaredy cat and is afraid to sniff around. Who can figure out a doggy brain? We passed the new Bar and they are really making progress with the construction. Still won’t be ready before we leave.
We spent most of the day working on our blog and a few other chores inside and outside of Miss Daisy. I had a knock on the door and when I opened it, there was a delivery left on the wicker couch, some medication that hade been forwarded on. Normally, like the last one, I pick these up at the main office but I guess someone needed something to do and delivered it to me. The day was very quiet which is the way I like them nowadays. I have no need for excitement. Funny how we change as we get older. Twenty five years ago I would have been bored out of my tree living this life and now I am very content to do nothing.
We went for our usual walk later in the day with Sandy leading the way, as always. It’s amazing that for such a little dog, she is remarkably strong pulling both me and Mikey to wherever she wants to go which is all over the place. If she is really determined for a special scent and I want to move on, she will lay down pulling all of the time. If I really want to move on, then a short tug and she moves along with us. Not exactly an immoveable object.
The day ended as it usually does with food all around and me watching the TV. So far, the dogs do not watch… 10/12/2021
An Egret sitting in the tree
I really need to start going to bed earlier as when I do eventually get there, I sleep so well that it sometimes ten o’clock before I even wake up. The one big problem with that apart from the fact that I have slept away a couple of hours of daytime is that it is already pretty warm outside when we go for our first walk of the day. I gotta stop watching the TV so late. OK, so from now on we have made a new resolution to try to get to bed sooner and get up earlier. Yeah, right. Hard to change old habits.
The walk was uneventful and apart from the fact that the heavy construction workers were back playing with their Tonker Toys, nothing was going on around the park. A couple of dogs were barking from inside their RV’s as we passed by but otherwise, the park was very quiet. We walked by the pond but I don’t have the nerve to walk out on the berms. Maybe when I don’t have the dogs with me. Nah, I don’t think so. I’ll stay on the bank and hope I see the Alligator again from there. That first and only time was way too up close and personal for me.
We spent time working on the blog as we usually do and then, later in the day, I decided that I needed groceries and made the short drive into Alvin to the HEB there. Compared to some, this is a relatively small store but it has everything that I need. It seems the prices are a bit higher than I am used to but what the heck, gotta eat, (and drink wine and eat chocolate), right. I tried to locate the Starbucks that I found before but my GPS kept leading me back to one located in a big store even after several tries. At one of them, I ended up in a line for a car wash only to be met by one very excited car wash attendant telling me that my car with the luggage carrier on the back could not go through the wash. At that point I told him I didn’t want the wash anyway and would he please direct me out of there. Such adventures. Apparently, Alvin has more than one Starbucks as I visited one last week. Oh well, probably just as well as it is a very expensive habit. So I gave up on the Starbucks idea and came back to Miss Daisy and two noisy little dogs who at least were very pleased to see me knowing that for them, it was walkies time.
We walked around the park and it was breezy enough that the mosquitos were not too bad as long as I kept moving. The minute that I stopped, they swarmed. Nasty little buggers. I sat outside for a while and watched as one of my neighbors, apparently a single lady, had a couple of men stop by and work on what looked like, her tanks. One of them looked older than me but he was very spritely. I heard them conversing in Spanish as they tried to fix the problem. Don’t know if they did as I decided to go inside at that point knowing there was nothing that I could contribute.
The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way, feeding the dogs, then me and watching TV with a glass of wine. What a life.
The Pond. It was at the end of this berm that we nearly made friends with the Alligator pictured below.
Another quiet day following the usual procedures of walks and breakfast. Nothing much going on or anything to see during the walk as it is Sunday and there are very few kids here. It is mostly an Adult Park not by design but just how things have worked out with travelling Construction workers and a lot of older campers. We did spend some time in the Dog Run with the usual results, Sandy enjoying the smells and Mikey sticking close to me before we headed back to Miss Daisy for breakfast. Today is cloudy with light rain showers and enough wind that I had to retract the canopy so that it would not get damaged which also meant that I needed to bring in the wicker couch cushions to save them from getting a soaking. I had to find space for them so I put so them on the bed which is a great place for this type of temporary storage. The Park is very quiet with no activity at all.
Later in the afternoon as it was Sunday, several families were out walking, many along with their dogs and there was much more activity around the park. Mikey, with his usual position on the passenger seat of Miss Daisy when he knows other dogs and humans are around, greeted them all with his loud barking until told to “quiet down” which he does although somewhat reluctantly. It’s nice to see the extra activity in the park.
Above are a few of the pictures that I have taken so far. Several have already been included in other blogs but are worth repeating
I am beginning to think that putting out the seed and humming bird feeders is a bit of a waste of time. So far, I haven’t seen a single bird of any variety even come close to investigate. There are a few larger birds around especially by the pond where the Egrets feed but I guess we are too much in the open for the smaller birds as you can see from the picture above. Most of the trees are of the larger variety and there are not many of them. so they do not provide much shelter for the smaller birds.
The evening walk was much more entertaining as I got to meet several of the other campers either sitting outside their RV’s or out walking. I even met a gentleman dressed up as the Gringe from the Dr Seuss storybooks. Sandy just greeted him as a normal person and Mikey did his usual thing, hiding behind me. I guess he is getting ready for the upcoming fancy dress parade to be held here at the end of the month which, unfortunately, we will miss.
The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way, food and then television. I was disappointed that the English Premier League games were not on until I remembered that it was International Break week when the Premier League suspends its games to release the players about once a month so that International Teams from various countries around the world can play each other usually for the World Cup qualifiers and other competitions.
Hard at it but the pile is not getting much smaller.
Today was another of those days when we woke up late. The beauty of that is that it really doesn’t matter unless we do happen to have something planned that requires early rising. On those days, which, by the way, are few and far between, I set the alarm clock just to be sure. The only problem with the late start is the sun is high by the time we get out for the first walk of the day and it is already a little warm, especially here in Texas. We did a short walk around the park but I could tell that Sandy wasn’t that interested and as she is the one that dictates how far and how long we walk, we returned to the RV for breakfast for them and coffee for me. We had nothing planned or anything that needed my attention so after cleaning up, I settled down in front of the computer to do my usual thing of writing in this blog.
As I glanced out of the window, I noticed an empty RV site and remembered that last evening, I watched lights around that RV. I put it down to having to drain the tanks or something similar but a little later, they drove out hauling the RV with them. I thought it strange that they left so late as it was around 10:00 pm and dark out. Usually, most RV’ers pull out in the daylight to arrive at their next site in time to set up before it does get dark but I guess these campers must have had their reasons. Don’t envy them having to set up somewhere in the dark but wish them well.
The heavy equipment is hard at work but the huge pile of dirt does not appear to be getting much smaller. At this rate, it will not be gone before I leave here. Looking around, I can’t believe how empty this park is as it really is a nice resort. Many of the campers are permanent residents or at least for an extended period of time like the lady I was speaking to in the Laundry room a couple of days ago whose husband is building something close by. During the day, most of the RV’s show no sign of life and it is not until the evening that things begin to pick up a bit. There are also a few that are parked here long term with only the occasional visits from the owners. I suppose that if you can afford it, parking the RV at a park is just as good as putting it in storage somewhere.
It was another of those lazy days which we spent working on the blog before heading out for the evening walk. This time I headed for the Dog Run and let them off their leashes and they actually did walk around and smell out what had been there before them. We finished walking around the park and back to Miss Daisy for the evening and followed our usual practice of food for us all and a glass of wine while watching Midsomer Murders, an English murder series on TV in lieu of a soccer game as I had watched all ten of last weekends games. This sure is a lazy life…
10/09/2021
Showing their pretty faces.
Another late rising day. Good job I don’t have anything that I need to worry about that is affected by the clock as we have no plans for today. I have looked up a couple of Parks that are nearby that we will try out next week. No need to go when the park may be crowded as today is Saturday. This morning, we did our usual walk around the park and only saw one other dog taking it’s owner out for her walk. Probably because we were late reporting for duty, I mean walk. The dogs didn’t care just happy to be out and about and smelling all of the wonderful overnight aromas. I received word that the pool was opening today at noon time. I might wander over to take a look but won’t go swimming. Not really my thing. Not that I have an aversion to water, it’s just not my sport. Besides, you get your hair wet…Actually, that is not quite true as I toyed with the idea of buying a canoe to add to our entertainment but the more I thought about, I realized that I do have a fear of open water So that idea went out of the window.
I looked on line for the next campground just in case I have trouble in locating one with room for my RV. After all, winter is coming on and the snowbirds will soon be heading South. I went back to RV Trip Planner and picked one out and called them to make a reservation. It is named Rock’n E RV Park and is located in a place called Coldspring, about a 100 mile trip. We will leave here the morning of the 18th of this month. Again, I have booked for a week and if it works out, we probably can extend our stay.
I went to the office as they had texted me that I have a package, probably supplements that I ordered online. They had been forwarded on from my mail service, PostNet at my request and only took a couple of days. Pretty good service. I also stopped by the new pool to take a look as it had just opened earlier today. A couple of the residents were using it and it looks very nice and will be even better when they finish the bar which adjoins the pool, unfortunately not by the time I leave. Not sure I am missing anything pool wise as most of the female residents are pretty overweight as are a couple of the men who live here that I have seen. The park is pretty empty and quiet through the week with not too many people out and about. Most of them are probably at work.
The rest of the day was spent in tidying up Miss Daisy, trying to make it look a little less crowded and jumbled. Of course, all I really did was move the mess into the cupboards and out of sight. I never really addressed the issue of sorting things out and putting them in appropriate places. I would have to label those places after that so I could find the stuff when I needed it as my memory is really bad. Even though the RV is small, everything seems to get lost somehow or is not where I thought it was or expected it to be. Oh well.
We finished off the day with our usual walk around the park. The heavy construction workers have a couple of days off for the weekend although others were working on the Bar. Different crew for a different project. Today being Saturday meant a whole new batch of English Premier League football to watch which is what we will do as we eat our evening meal and until we go to bed.
The new pool which has just opened and the bar still under construction.
