Rainy Monday

It’s Monday again. I hate Mondays, especially when it’s cold and rainy. I don’t care how rested I am Mondays are always a drag.

We got home from our Thanksgiving trip about 3:00 yesterday. I hope y’all had a great Thanksgiving and took a few minutes to reflect on all that you have to be thankful for. I know I did. Sitting at our campsite early in the morning with Sam lying beside me I thought about all the wonderful people and things God has given me. My beautiful wife, Connie, is on top of the list. She takes care of me, inspires me to be more, keeps me on an even keel and most of all puts up with me.

I'm also thankful for our daughter Jackie who has made me so proud over the years. She has turned out to be a wonderful mother and wife. Her and Dana are a true partnership. They have been successful because they work well together building on each other’s strengths. They have given us two beautiful grandkids. Chase & Megan are very special to us and will be the hardest to leave when we hit the road. We'll miss some of their growing up.

I am also very thankful that God sent me to two people who spoiled me first then as I aged supported me and bailed me out of some boneheaded mistakes and decisions that youth can cause. My parents, Ralph & Doris.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the big, ever hungry, ball chasing dog, Sam, lying next to me. I've had a lot of dogs but none like him. He's taught me a lot.

We left home on Wednesday morning and about six hours later arrived at Potter’s Creek C.O.E. park on the north side of Canyon Lake. It’s in the Texas Hill Country and the scenery is very different from what we see along the Gulf coast.

As we crested the hill outside the park the lake came into view and it was a beautiful blue/green color. When we saw it we knew we would enjoy our stay. Sam forgot to take a picture and neither of us remembered either.

We stopped at the office and received our map and rules for the park. The park host gave us directions to our site which I had picked on-line back in early September. As we pulled up I thought “uh oh this doesn’t look good”. The roads are narrow and lined with timber bollards about 18” high. To make matters worse there was a small dumpster on the edge of the road between our site and the next. It was going to be very tricky to back the RV into the site without hitting something. Connie must have read my face because she said “I want to do it, you get out to direct”. I must admit she backs both the RV and the boat better than I do. I think it’s just that she goes slower and thus doesn’t get in a bind like I usually do. Sam & I got out and ran from side to side behind the rig directing while she backed it in. She cleared the dumpster with the RV by about 6” and the bollards with the truck by about 1”. She proceeded to back in perfectly on the first try. No front/back maneuvering, just backup, park and get out of the truck. I’d probably still be maneuvering. I think it might be the good directing she had.

We got setup and sat down to relax when the deer started coming out of the woods. They came very close to us and acted like it was feeding time. This proved to be a early morning and late afternoon ritual every day that we were there. I counted over 20 of them at one time.

Everyone who is a regular at the park seemed to have a 50 pound bag of corn for feeding them. I guess it’s OK but I’m not a big fan of turning wild animals into semi-pets by feeding them. I would prefer the way the state parks we have been to forbid feeding them. I’m not a big fan of the way they are hunted here in Texas either. Just doesn’t seem right to feed them at set times each day during the year then shoot them from a tree house when they come to feed on opening day. I know the population has to be controlled and I’m not against hunting. I just don’t like stand hunting the way they do here. Oops, got sidetracked. In short if you want to see deer this is the park for you.

Sam was very tolerant of the deer and didn’t bark or try to chase them. This is different behavior from last spring when he didn’t want them anywhere near our campsite. I guess he’s either getting older or lazier. Maybe both.

This park is built for water activities and in the summer is probably mobbed. Other than that there isn’t much to do there. It is close to San Antonio, New Braunfels, San Marcos and Fredericksburg so day trips are in order for this time of year.

Thanksgiving morning Connie woke up with pain in her lower back. She thinks she pulled a muscle twisting around to see while backing the RV into the site. We didn’t have any Ibuprofen so I used an app on my iphone called “Around Me”. It’s a pretty neat little deal that you can use to search for gas stations, grocery stores, pharmacies, etc. near your location. I searched for pharmacies and it found several. Most were in New Braunfels about 25 miles away but it listed one about 4 miles from us. Sam & I headed out. We followed the directions and eventually ended up in the driveway of a private lake house. I guess it was owned by a pharmacist who also owned a pharmacy in New Braunfels. We were now at least 4 miles further away from the nearest pharmacy. I re-computed for a grocery store and found one about 20 miles from the park. Sam guarded the truck while I went in to get some Icy-Hot, Ibuprofen and a few other things.

By the time we got back Connie had already cut all the vegetables, baked a pecan pie and was in the process of making dressing.

She popped a couple of the pills and I rubbed a little Icy-Hot on her then she finished cooking a delicious Thanksgiving dinner for us. We ate about 3:30 and then sat around the fire for a couple of hours. Both of us were tired so we went in the RV, got ready for bed and put in a movie. Neither of us watched more than 30 minutes of it.

Friday morning I woke to a lesson. Furnace vents blow hot air. I mean real hot. Look at the table on the left in the picture below. I had pushed the table up to the RV and during the night it melted a hole in the table.

Friday and Saturday we took rides around the area and just generally hung out. We met a really nice couple, Mike & Suzie Eubanks, from Dayton, Texas. They have a beautiful Montana 5th wheel RV and gave us the grand tour. We spent some time getting to know each other Friday night. Mike is retired from his job in the oil business but has a part-time business he started up. Suzie is going to retire this spring. I asked Mike if they were going to become full time RVers after Suzie retired. He said, “No but we’re gonna be real hard to find”. He gave me several tips about 5th wheels and Ford diesels. He’s the kind of guy who does most of his own maintenance and repairs and seems to be very self reliant. I am looking forward to spending more time with them.

Two guys fishing on the Guadalupe River.

Canyon Lake

Sunday morning came fast and it was time to hook up and head out. We got on the road about 10:00. Traffic on I-10 was very heavy and we saw a sign saying I-10 was only one lane in Houston. That helped us decide to get off the interstate and head cross country on FM roads. We figured our route and ended up almost a full hour quicker getting home than going to the park on Wednesday. It was nice to see some of the countryside and not just the back of the car that just passed you.

After arriving home we unpacked the RV and just relaxed. I grilled a couple of steaks and Connie baked some spuds then we watched a movie and called it a night. Sam was snoring before we were even through eating so I guess camping wore him out too.

Adios for now, enjoy the day. --Rod

Heading off to Canyon Lake

We leave this morning for 5 days at Canyon Lake. It's just Rod and I, and of course Sam. We are all looking forward to the time off and to be out there with nature again. We are loaded for bear with all the Thanksgiving fixins and looking forward to preparing dinner in the woods.

To all of our friends, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Connie and Rod

A Stress Test Then More Stress

I had to get up at 4:30 on Wednesday morning in order to get to the Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Hospital in Houston by 7:00. I had to go for a 6 month check-up after my hospitalization in May. As usual I was a little early and had to wait until the appointed time to get registered.

This time I remembered to bring a book. I figured between that and my i-Phone I would be able to keep myself occupied in between the various fun activities my cardiologist had in mind for me. Good thing I brought the book because my phone couldn’t get a connection.

My cardiologist’s name is Dr. Patrick Hogan. He graduated from Georgetown University Medical School and trained under both Dr. DeBakey and Dr. Cooley. He has been treating me since my 2nd heart attack at age 47. He supervised one of his residents placing the stents in my heart back then. He threw one of his other residents out of the cath lab in the middle of my procedure and it was quite funny. While the residents (& I) were watching the procedure on monitors one of them said “oh shit” when the balloon catheter almost caused a blowout in one of my coronary arteries. Dr. Hogan let him know in no uncertain terms that his days in the cardiologist program were over. There is no fooling around with Doc Hogan. I would highly recommend him to anyone in need of a cardiologist.

After registration I was sent to radiology for chest x-rays and then a CAT Scan of my heart. Of course they can’t do one then the other you have to go sit in the waiting room for a while in between. When I finished there they sent me to another floor for lab work. I had the blood work done 2 weeks ago just to cut that part out. It took some talking and a phone call to the Dr.’s office to convince them that I didn’t need to be drained again. Then they sent me to the 12th floor for my stress test. Only problem was they had never heard of me and I wasn’t on the schedule. Another call to the office and I was told they were going to run the stress test in the office not the hospital.

I made my way to the Dr.’s office and signed in. Another wait. They finally called my name and I was led to their stress test facility. Since it was supposed to be a nuclear stress test they had to inject me with an isotope then send me back to the waiting room for another ½ hour. After I was sufficiently lit up they called me back to lay still under the camera for 28 minutes. This is to take pictures of blood flow thru the heart at rest. Kind of a “before” picture. When that was finished they sent me back to the waiting room for a while. A couple of chapters later they called me back in and wired me up for my test. Surprise, no treadmill, the doctor had order a chemical stress test. I hate that more than the treadmill. They inject you with a chemical that stresses your heart while you’re laying down. It doesn’t hurt but you feel like a weight is sitting on your chest, you get short of breath, have pressure on your heart and start to sweat. The whole thing takes about 5 minutes and about 2 minutes later you start to feel normal again. That’s when they injected the isotope again. This time they told me to go eat something “fatty”, get a cold drink and come back in an hour. I found a deli on the 1st floor and had a muffalotta and a 32 oz. coke.

When I got back to the office I waited for about 20 minutes and then they called me back to take the “after” pictures. About 10 minutes into the photo session my bladder realized I had drank a 32 oz. coke. Talk about stress. I spent the remainder of the session clamped down and praying I wouldn’t wet myself.

By now it was about 12:30 and I settled in to wait to see the doctor. My appointment was for 3:15. At 1:00 they called me to the desk and told me that they had switched me to the 2:00 slot because I had been there so long. I went back to the waiting room figuring I'll be on my way home at 2:30. I sat there until 3:00 before I was called to see the doc. Good thing they moved my appointment up.

Dr. Hogan went thru his check list and gave me the results of all the tests and blood work. He said the enlarged aorta hadn’t changed so not to worry about it. Told me to lose weight and exercise more and come back in a year. Hooray! No changes from May.


“Hey doc, what’s my chances of getting a disability retirement?” “Sorry, you won’t qualify” Boooooooo! Oh well I had to ask. Would have been nice to speed the counter up.

I left the office and went to the wrong parking garage. Couldn’t find my truck and after walking around for a while realized I had taken a wrong turn coming off the escalator. I retraced me steps and finally got headed to the right garage. When I found my truck it was blocked by the valet parking cars. I had to track down one of those guys to move a couple so I could get out. $12.00 later I was out of the garage and on my way home.

When I got to the freeway I was very happy I wasn’t pulling the travel trailer. Those drivers are idiots. Speeding, switching lanes and cutting other cars off is the norm. Of course you have to do all that while talking or texting on your phone. I used to drive in Houston traffic all the time but it has gotten much worse than I remember. My heart really was stressed by the time I got back across the big bridge and on the island. This is east bound on the south loop (610).

After I got home Connie told me she had heard a flock of Canadian geese going over when she was sitting on the deck before work. She usually communicates with her mom in Spruce Lake N.Y. about the geese in the fall and the robins in the spring. They’ve figured out it takes about one month for the birds to travel between our homes, a distance of about 2200 miles.

Adios for now, enjoy the day. --Rod

Brrrrrrr...a cold front

Texas is known for its mild winter weather but ths morning we woke up to barely 50 degrees and a strong wind. Thankfully, it'll warm right back up to near 70 and into the 70's by the weekend.

Thats one thing we've always loved about Texas is its mild winters. Moving from the Adirondaks 30 years ago to the south, we learned to appreciate our winters here.

I really do miss the fall in the Adirondaks it's beautiful. All those colors always reminded me of Kix Cereal.

Unfortunately, like summer, fall dosen't last long where my family is. They have already had snow and it past time to stock up on firewood or pellets, or fuel oil and get ready for the long winter season. It won't be long before the lake is covered with ice and the family's little one's are out there ice skating like we did when we were kids. We were the first house on the lake where the plows would turn around in the cul-de-sac. Us kids used to make some pretty elaborate snow forts and caves underneath those huge snow banks. We'd stock pile snow balls after we dipped them in cold water to make them nice and hard. This way when my brother and his friends started a snow fight with us girls we were prepared. We could protect our fort ! I can remember when us kids could touch the top of the telephone poles by climbing up the snowbanks the plows left behind.

I miss certain things about winter and love the snow just not for so darn long. The lake where my Mom and two of my sisters live is pretty remote and although I don't know the exact elevation, it's in a snow belt for sure.  I can remember years when the ice didn't go out on the lake till mid June or so. Then the first frost was the 3rd week in August. Summer never lasted long enough for me. The year we moved south, it never got above 35 below the entire month of February. Rod and I moved the following May. We truly treasure our winter season in Texas. Here on the coast, the tourists have left for the most part, the fishing is great this time of year, the sunrises and sunsets are incredible and life is good. After we become fulltime, we will winter here in Texas near our daughter and grandchildren.

Be well and stay warm.

Connie

Sunday Morning In Jamaica Beach

We woke up to another beautiful morning on the best coast. It looks like a perfect day to go fishing but I have too much work to do to reach our goal of selling the house ASAP. Sitting on the deck having coffee is so relaxing I'm having trouble getting started.

There are a pair of ring neck doves cooing and preening each other on my neighbor's deck. I wish I could hold one, they look so soft. I don't know if it is their coloring or the texture of their feathers but something has always made me want to hold one. They used to nest in the tops of some tall palm trees but recently built a nest in the framing under George's deck. I should go tear it down because they will make a mess but I just don't have the heart to. George will have to do it when he comes down again.

Down the canal a ways I can watch as a young guy picks up the mess left by his guests from last night. They are a young couple from Sugar Land, Tx. who bought the house a year or so ago. They had a party yesterday. I'm not sure if it was planned or not. When you buy a beach or bay house you suddenly find you have many more friends than you realized. Connie & I remarked last night how that was us a few years ago. Now we're the older generation and the new ones are continuing the traditions of living here. Life goes on.

Went back to work on Thursday and the rest of the work week went unremarkable. The boss was hunting so the office was relaxed. Since I made up my mind about retiring and set the date in my head work has become very boring. I can't get too motivated about anything there. I do my job as best I can but I don't look forward to starting new projects like I used to. I have the number of days remaining marked on my desk calendar and the high point of each day is crossing off another one each morning.

Friday the 13th brought an unexpected surprise. Our neighbors across the street were down for the weekend and invited us to go to dinner at the Galveston Country Club. Chuck & MaryAnn have owned the house since shortly before hurricane Ike hit and I have kept an eye on their place for them during the week. For a while their garage door would open itself for no apparent reason and I would close it before their stuff was ripped off by one of the transient contractors that were crawling the island after the storm. Nobody misses those guys. Chuck just wanted to thank us for that and the other help we have given them. It was a nice evening and we all enjoyed it.

Connie and I worked on painting the house yesterday. It was tiring and this old fat guy used muscles all day that hade not been used in a while so I was pretty tight and sore last night. IceyHot applied just before bed seems to have done the trick so I'll give it a go at round two today. Sam as always was close by and keeping an eye on me. I dropped a paint brush from the ladder and it landed square on his head. We aren't sure if he looks like Spike from the movie Gremlins or Paulie from the Sopranos.

I better quit goofing off and get started painting so.......

Adios for now, enjoy the day. --Rod

Veteran's Day - November 11, 2009

We would like to start by thanking all our veterans for their service. Without them we wouldn't be able to enjoy our freedoms and this great country let alone dare to dream of spending our days wandering around the USA in an RV.

I'm off today and Connie just left for work. My buddy Sean wanted me to go fishing with him and I would have loved to but I wouldn't have enjoyed it knowing I have so much to do and that I haven't taken Connie fishing all summer because of it.


I'm going to spend the day painting the pilings and trim downstairs under the house. I started the painting job upstairs on the deck railings a couple of months ago but have been goofing off since the RV Dreamers rally in Kerrville last month. I know Connie was bummed about having to work and leave me unsupervised. She knows what a sloppy painter I am. I'll be real careful today and Sam's sure to keep an eye on me.

Sam & I just went to the hardware store for supplies and as usual he wanted to drive. My truck is old school type cab so he doesn't have much room and tries to sit in my lap. Wouldn't be bad except that he is far from a lap dog. He does love to ride though and that will be real important when we sell this place and hit the road.

I better get started so adios for now, enjoy the day. - Rod

Our next trip...

Rod and I will be leaving the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and heading to Canyon Lake. It'll just be the two of us and our house horse Sam (100 lb. chocolate lab).

Sam

Rod bought me a roaster oven so I wouldn't miss making Thankgiving Dinner. :) I am already planning meals for the leftovers.

We are all looking forward to getting away. Rod and I are trying to get Sam more used to RV'ing and us leaving him inside while we ride our bikes or hike around. The last time we camped with the family, our son-in-law took him on the leash while riding his bike so we could all go exploring together. It turned out to be something that resembled a Chinese fire drill or stired up ant hill, people and bikes went every which way and I laughed so hard I nearly fell off my bike and wet myself in the process. Sam decided to take off into the woods after something, well the rest is history. No son-in-laws or animals were hurt in the process so all is well. :)

We expect he will resist when we leave him alone in the RV at first, he has horrible separation anxiety. However, he manages just fine everyday that we go to work. I guess the RV is such a different environment for him, he must assume we are going to leave him forever.

He's only been RV'ing with us a couple of times. When we went to the 2009 RV-Dreams Ralley, we kept him at The Bayside Bed and Biscuit. We get him a luxury suite. He has his own room with a TV playing Animal Planet of course, a bed, a beautiful mural on the wall. I believe his last suite was the Tahiti Suite. They even have a lab room with nothing but balls in it. They take him out for play time twice a day and try to match him up with a playmate based on their personalities. I know it's a bit much but we can't have a good time if we are worried about him. We've used this service quite a few times now and he is used to it. This time he will just have to rough it with us. ;)

I will be sure to take plenty of pics, especially if I can get Rod to take Sam on the leash while riding his bike. :D

Slowly but surely...

.. I am getting this thing set up. Rod and I enjoy reading all of our friends blogs so I thought we'd better have a place to share as well.

Today, we are flooded in by tide waters. This is at the end of our street, the only way we have out.

One thing we won't do is take our Tow Vehicle through saltwater. There is probably a little over 16" of water on the street right now, more on the lower section of the street.

I hope to keep up with this every couple of days but not sure how many of you want to relive the nightmares of sticks and bricks and 8-5 jobs.  Maybe our blog can serve to remind you of how great y'all have it. ;)

I will work on getting a picture of Rod and I up there. I called my daughter and she didn't have one and I can't find one on this computer either. Seems like when you are the one with the camera all the time, you don't get your picture taken.

Hugs,
Connie