Old Friends and New

We had a busy week last week (at least for us).

We worked Monday and Tuesday but that was the end of "normal" until today.

Connie and I have both been members of a boating/fishing internet forum for about ten years. Connie is one of the moderators. I don't know why she does it, it is all headaches with no pay or benefits but that is her choice.

A few months ago one of the members who also has been a member for a long time contacted Connie to let her know he and his wife would be coming to Galveston for a vacation in April. They live in Pennsylvania. She helped them find a condo to rent and helped them with points of interest and things to see in the area. They wanted to meet us so Connie invited them for a fishing trip. I think she was so generous because I haven't taken her in so long and she figured this would get me back into it. I have just had tunnel vision since Ike. All I want to do is get the house completed and sold so we can head off into retirement. She was right. I now realize that things will get done when they get done and we need to spend some time doing the things we love about living here.

Art called when they hit town on Saturday and Wednesday was the agreed upon day for the fishing trip. Connie and I spent the morning getting things ready. I discovered I had a dead battery in the boat but the second battery was fine. I just had to make sure the bait well and everything else was turned off when we stopped to fish. That wouldn't work in the hotter months but the water is still cold enough that the bait won't die if the pump is shut off for a while.

Art and his wife Tammi arrived at noon. We spent a little while getting to know them better then we all got in the boat and headed out to the bay. We fished several spots but the fish were not cooperating. We did catch some gafftops and one nice sized black drum but no trout or redfish. We fished all afternoon and Connie and I learned about their missionary work in Ghana, Africa. We returned to the house about six.

I unloaded the boat and put things away while Connie, Art and Tammi chatted in the courtyard. Everyone was getting hungry so I set up my big boiling pot and cooked shrimp, sausage, potatoes and sweet corn. We spent the rest of the evening talking and they left about 11:00. I did manage to get Art hooked up with a small speckled trout from our fishing light before they left so he at least got to catch one.

Thursday brought some friends we had met at the RV Dreamers rally in Kerrville last October. Connie and Tracy are a neat couple we really enjoy visiting with. They had just arrived in Texas a few days earlier. In October, like us, they were exploring the idea of becoming full time rvers. They went home, purged their belongings, sold their home, bought an F450 and a large, beautiful fifth wheel RV in less than 6 months. They came to Texas to set up their residency and mail forwarding. They had a similar plan to ours but are making us look silly as far as implementing it.

They arrived about one o'clock with their dog Hunter. Now I want to tell you Hunter is one of the coolest dogs I have ever met. He is a rescue Greyhound and has the nicest laid back personality. Sam and he got along well and I was glad to see that. Sam can sometimes be a little over protective.

We spent the afternoon in our courtyard talking and learning all we could about their transition from sticks and bricks to RV living. They had finished all their necessary paper work and were only waiting to take drivers tests with their rig. I think they were both a little nervous and anxious about it. Neither one of them had any prior experience driving something the size they now cruise around in. When they pass their tests they will be heading towards northern California where they have work camping jobs set to start in a couple of weeks.

My Connie cooked a nice fish taco dinner and about seven o'clock we said our goodbyes. They had a little over two hours to drive back to their campsite north of Houston. As they drove away I felt sad. Great new friends we had just met were leaving and I don't know when we will see them again. It's funny how sometimes you meet people and just know you want to be friends forever. We wish them all the best in their travels and hopefully we will see them again on the road. Thankfully we will be able to keep in touch through the internet.

We both went back to work on Friday. When we returned home at the end of the day our friends and neighbors George and Teresa were at their house. They live in Houston and don't come down all winter but are here frequently for the weekends all summer. We always enjoy being with them and the craziness never stops when they are here. Friday night turned out to be one of those times. Connie had to work on Saturday and kept trying to escape but wasn't able to. Our friend Sean Welsh came over from Spanish Grant and he, George and I swapped stories and BS until very late. I don't know when the girls gave up and went to bed but the three of us held out a long time.

Saturday I smoked a pork shoulder and the craziness started all over again. Connie and I went to bed at midnight. We slept in on Sunday but once again spent the day with George and Teresa. Our other weekend nieghbors Chuck and Mary Ann joined in for awhile. They left about five and George and Teresa left at nine.

It was great to meet Art and Tammi and to spend some time with Connie and Tracy. We've known George and Tersesa a long time and enjoy when they come down. All in all it was a wonderful friend week.

Adios for now, enjoy the day.
--Rod

A great visit with fellow RV'rs

Connie and Tracy made the trip from Lake Livingston, TX yesterday to come down to the island. Rod and I enjoy their company so much. They brought Hunter, a beautiful brindle greyhound they rescued some years ago who has a wonderful personality and he got along with Sam perfectly. When it was time for them to leave they asked Hunter if he wanted to go home and he headed for the stairs to the house. HAHAHA hey, we'd have had no problem with him staying. He's the sweetest dog I've ever met.

We sat in our courtyard for the most part despite the gale force winds LOL and just talked about everything you can talk about. Lots of laughs and a great learning experience for us listening to them talk about the details of getting ready for the road and finally hitting the road.

I made some fish tacos for dinner, then it was time to them to get on the freeway and head back since its a bit of a drive right straight through the middle of Houston.

Connie and Tracy, thanks for taking the time out of your schedule to come see us, we really enjoy your company. :)

Connie

Yard Work Weekend

The work week was boringly normal for me. Connie had to go to a seminar in Houston on Thursday. I'm not sure who sponsored it but there were several speakers from different government agencies including the FBI. The subject of the seminar was human trafficking. She learned alot about the scum who prey on the kids both in our country and Central and South America. Did you know that the demand for sex slaves now reaches down to kids 4 years old? I can't tell you what I think should be done with anyone involved in this.

Our weather has warmed a little and spring looks like it is finally here. It's been a long cold winter for us, much worse than normal. Of course it's a direct result of the changes to the earth's climate caused by the excesses of the American way of life. Ask Al "the hypocrite" Gore.

Sorry, got off track a little, I started to say it was warm enough for our first happy hour on the deck. Connie and I have a habit of relaxing on most Friday nights by sitting in the court yard or on our upper deck and having a few drinks. Sometimes we have company but sometimes it's just her and I. I enjoy when we have company but I really enjoy the times when it's just the two of us. We talk, dream, plan and discuss many things but mostly our future and how we want to spend it. We work and think well as a team. I think we balance each other out. Sometimes this causes us to change plans or it takes longer for us to accomplish a goal but we haven't really made many decisions that we regret later.

I have been trying to get back into photography lately. I took a couple of courses when I was in my 20s. I really enjoy it but haven't put a lot of effort into it for many years. The hardest thing to get back is something Al from the thebayfieldbunch.com blog calls "seeing with the photographer's eye". If you want to see some great photos visit his blog. I was fooling with the camera a little Friday and took these from our deck...

The clouds about an hour before sunset

Sailboat masts against the sky

Lone dove resting

Saturday I went to measure a house for an addition I'm doing the plans for and then went into town to pick up a few plants at the nursery. We redid all of our landscaping last year because Hurricane Ike destroyed everything. Last winter the freeze killed a bunch of it so we have to replace some plants again. We were trying to get a hedge along our courtyard between us and the neighbor's using hybiscus plants. They were starting to do really well by late summer. Now we have to start over again and to make matters worse there aren't many large hybiscuses to be had in this area. I was able to find some at the Tom's Thumb Nursery and also picked up a few other plants.

When I returned home I found that Connie had mowed the yard and weeded the beds. Thank you Emma! Together we planted the bushes I had bought. I edged and trimmed the yard and Connie continued working on the beds until about 4:00. By then we were both starting to run out of gas so when our neighbor across the canal hollered over an invite we readily accepted.

After showering and feeding Sam we went over to their house. Tod and his wife Trish live in Sugar Land (near Houston) and have owned their bay house for about eight years. We've come to know them quite well and really enjoy spending time with them. Another reason I hate winter is because they don't come down as often. They had Trish's cousin Alex, his best friend and friend's wife down also. Tod took us on a canal putt and we drifted around the bay for a while before heading back to their house. Poor Connie had to pee and almost didn't make it. She was in agony so Tod made a fast pull up to his dock so she could run to the bathroom. We spent the rest of the evening laughing and having a great time as we always do when we're with them.

Today Connie got up and made sausage, biscuits and gravy for them. Of course she left some for me when she went to deliver it. I read the paper and a few blogs then we started on the gardens again.

I went and bought mulch and we spread it in the beds. By then Connie's back was about to give out so she went upstairs and I cleaned everything up. I piddled around with a few things in the garage then decided a nap was in order for me too. We both dozed/watched a movie and right now I can smell dinner cooking so I'll close.

Adios for now, enjoy the day.

--Rod

Another Monday......

Start of another work week and my give a shitter is still broke, come on retirement.

I think my run of breaking everything I touch is over. I did wake up to a flat tire one morning last week. I hauled the compressor and hose out of the garage but the air was coming out of the back of the tire as fast as I was pumping it in the stem. I reached around the tire and found that the tread had separated from the tire casing. I knew the tires were getting pretty worn and i guess it came apart due to age. I changed out the tire and went to the Firestone dealer for replacements. Three hours, four tires and $620 later I made it to work.

Saturday I got up at the usual work day time to take Sam up to the "Bed and Biscuit" for a grooming and haircut. He has been shedding terribly. Connie sweeps the floor and a half hour later it looks like we have a dog hair carpet not hardwood flooring. Here he is in his new do...

When I dropped him off they said he would be ready by noon and they would call me. I ran a few errands and then went to the kid's house to kill some time. At 1:00 I still had not heard anything so I called them. They said he wouldn't be ready until 3:30. I explained that we had a wedding to go to so they agreed to have him done by 2:00. I dropped him off at 8:15 and don't understand what took so long since we were 2nd in line.

Sam and I got back home about 3:00. Connie was already dressed and ready to go to the wedding. She wanted me to see how she looked. I don't know why she worries about my opinion, she has always been the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I got ready and we headed to the big doins. An old friend of ours has been divorced for about six years and found someone he wants to settle down with. Good luck George and Carre. It was a nice ceremony (read short) and the party afterwards was a good time. We visited with a lot of old friends we had not seen in a long time.

Sunday I spent the day doing our income taxes. I got Connie real excited about 4:00 when I told her we had about $4,000 coming back. I was ready to hit the transmit button and send the return on it's way to the IRS when it occured to me that $4000 was way more refund than we had ever got before. I spent an hour going over all my figures and entries on the forms. Finally I realized that I had entered my expenses for business use of our home wrong. I was essentially deducting things twice. I corrected that and it brought our refund down to a few hundred dollars. Oh well at least I have less chance of an audit.

Adios for now, enjoy the day.

--Rod

The Easter Crawfish

Happy Easter everybody! We hope y'all had a great day.

Last Sunday was Connie's birthday and we went to Jackie & Dana's to celebrate. As usual Chase made a great production and decorated the house inside and out. He really enjoys family times and it shows in his work to make each one special.

Megan had a softball tournment so she and Dana didn't get home until about 4:00. She hit her first ever homerun on Saturday and hit another one on Sunday (for Nana). She is really turning into quite the athlete and enjoys softball as much as any kid I've seen at that age. She's bugging her father about becoming a pitcher so he's been downloading instructions and they have started practicing.

Nana and the kids

After we ate Connie opened her gifts and of course had to blow out the candles.....

I have to tell on myself here.  I had a little extra time the other morning so I took the F350 which Connie drives to fill up for her. I don't know what the heck I was thinking but I put 28 gallons of gasoline in the diesel truck. Luckily it was only about a mile back to the house so it ran on the diesel in the filters and lines until I was almost home. I called a Ford dealer and they informed me it would cost $250 for towing and $150 to figure out what damage I had done. I hung up feeling a little sick because it was going to cost $400 before draining the tank and repairing any damage. I called a friend of mine who used to be a diesel mechanic. He has a piling/bulkhead business now. He laughed when I told him what I had done. He said not to worry it happens to a lot of people and that he would send his mechanic over later to take care of it. They drained the gas, cleaned the lines & replaced the filters right in my driveway. Total cost: $150 plus the cost of fuel to fill it. I'll always be grateful George, thanks.

My next incident involved the boat. I decided to wash it and lowered the lift. Got it washed and went to raise it back up when one of the cables snapped. The boat crashed down into the water but missed the dock thank God. Total cost for that: $315.

I went to work on Thursday and fired up my computer. It decided to take a crap so I couldn't finish a project I've been working on since January. I called our IT department and got a voicemail telling me to send them an email.  HELLO, if I could send an email I wouldn't need you!

I'm getting a little shell shocked and afraid to touch anything.

Yesterday Dana & Jackie had a crawfish boil to get the family together for Easter. Dana's Dad, brother & girlfriend, Aunt & Uncle with their kids, D & J's best friends and Connie & I had a great time and stuffed ourselves. I have always been the  crawfish cook and Dana has been my help. This time he wanted to do it himself so I just stayed in the background and kept my mouth shut. He did a great job and the mudbugs were perfect. You learned well grasshopper!

Meagan took this picture of me and did pretty good considering the subject matter

Megan showing me her new hamster (don't call her a rat Papa!)

In her Easter dress

My buddy posing

Dad was busy cooking so he's missing

The water was too cold for swimming although the kids did later

Yummm!

Adios for now, enjoy the day.

--Rod