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We arrived at Martin Dies Jr. State Park on Friday at about 1:00.  It was a fairly easy, uneventful drive, me navigating and Connie driving.  She loves to drive the truck and trailer. 

The park is split into two units.  The Hen House Ridge Unit is on the south side of US 190 and the Walnut Ridge Unit is on the north.  We drove around Hen House and almost settled on a site but decided to go over to the other side to check it out before making a final decision.  We ended up in the Walnut Ridge unit because the sites were a little larger and the waterfront sites were available.  In fact most of the sites were available.  There were only 6 other campers and us in the whole 139 sites.

The whole campground is heavily wooded with large pines, magnolias, oaks and other beautiful trees.  Connie mentioned to the conservationist how beautiful it was.  She told Connie "You should have seen it before Hurricane Rita, we lost 40% of our trees."

Connie backed the trailer in and I got it set up and hooked into water and electric.  I put the slide out and turned on the water in the kitchen sink.  I should say I opened the faucet because there wasn't any water coming out.  I checked to make sure everything was hooked up properly and then tried all the faucets.  The only ones working were the hot water ones.  Next I turned on the pump for the self contained system.  Same results.  I pulled the access panel off of the pump/water heater cabinet.  After trying to find a blockage in the lines there with no luck I decided we would just use the campground facilities.  I wasn't about to pull the belly pan off in a campground.  I don't even want to do that in our driveway.  Something is moving around and blocking the water lines at various places and it is making me crazy.  I will definitely get it figured out before we take another trip.

We saw plenty of wildlife. Rabbits, squirrels, birds, armadillos, deer and even a bobcat early one morning.  I didn't realize the kids had never seen a live armadillo before.  They really are suburbia kids.  I'm glad we can take them on these trips.  They get to spend time in nature areas where there is something other than concrete and manicured lawns.

The deer were small.

This guy was wearing velvet.

We mostly hung out and relaxed.  The kids did a lot of bike riding, even talking me into taking a ride with them.

I'm the fat old guy without a shirt if there's any confusion.

We spent a lot of time just clowning around the campsite.  Connie and I introduced the kids to the Blues and helped Chase write his first blues song titled "I've Got The Detention Blues".  He's learning to play the guitar so it may be a while before the song is available on iTunes.  At least the lyrics are set.

A future Muddy Waters?? Stevie Ray Vaughan??

Megan is the family athlete.  She's playing volleyball these days but her heart is in softball.

Look out Jennie Finch.

Megan grabbed the camera and took a couple of pictures of us.............

On Sunday we all went on a hike on one of the nature trails.  We didn't see much in the way of wildlife in the woods. I think it was because it was very hot and they were holed up for the day.  Either that or the animals heard us coming from a mile off and left the county.  The trail was about a mile long and we were all panting by the time we finished.

Being such experienced hikers we were all wearing our hiking flip flops.

I think they were trying to lose Sam and I.

The park had a class on alligators on Saturday which I took the kids to.  It was very informative and we all learned a lot about 'gators.  Sunday Connie took them to a class on reptiles where they watched the snakes get their weekly meal of frozen mice.

Connie took most of these pictures and the two following.  I just hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button in picassa so they will probably be even better when she has time to fool with them a little.

These were taken from the waters edge at our campsite as the sun went down.

Of course no camping trip would be complete without the nightly campfire and smores.  Have you ever tried to get two kids to settle down and sleep after they eat a bunch of those sugar bombs and wash them down with Dr. Pepper?  Thank God I brought my Kindle.

It was a great trip for us and I think the kids enjoyed it.  They came away with memories and a couple of "camp stories" I hope they forget. 

Adios for now, enjoy the day.

--Rod

Jackie's Birthday & Camping Preparations

Saturday was Jackie’s birthday so we went to League City for a little get together to celebrate. She didn’t know Dana had invited a few other people so it was a bit of a surprise for her.

I remembered to take my camera but the battery was dead and I had left the charger at home so Connie took a couple of pictures with her iPhone.
Dana was worried that the pool water was too hot so he bought three two hundred and fifty pound blocks of ice and threw them into the pool. It did lower the temp by about two degrees for a little while but not really enough or for long enough to justify the cost of $125. The kids did have fun playing with the mini icebergs so it wasn’t completely wasted. Dana sure gets an A for his effort to make everything perfect for us and the rest of his guests.

We had beef, chicken and shrimp fajitas along with rice and beans and the usual fixings. All of the food was excellent and everyone filled up. Later we had a delicious cake and a coconut cream pie. I was hurting by the time we finished eating after snacking all afternoon.

We got home about midnight and Sam was impatiently waiting. He had quite a bit to say to us and I don’t think it was good. He even kept grumbling as I walked him. Normally we would take him with us but we can’t keep him out of the pool when the kids or Connie are in it.

Sunday morning Connie made me breakfast and afterwards she had to go back to Jackie’s. She had left her purse there. Jackie wanted to meet us for lunch but I had too much to do so Connie decided to just drive up and get the purse.

We are taking Chase & Megan camping on Friday. We haven’t used the RV in several months so I spent Sunday checking all of the systems. We don’t have a thirty amp plug at the house to I fired up my generator and ran the AC for about an hour. I also ran the hot water heater on both gas and electric. The stove/oven work as well as the microwave and refrigerator so I guess we’re ready as far as all that stuff goes.

I replaced the water hose on the outside cooktop/sink with a new 25 foot coiled hose. The old one was only five feet long and had developed pin hole leaks. The last time we parked the RV I noticed that the sway bar bracket on one side had moved so I repositioned it and tightened it down.

Last night I made sure all the tires including the spare were aired up correctly and checked the ones on the truck. Next I finally readjusted the angle of the ball on the truck hitch. After Hurricane Ike we used the truck to pull some landscaping and to drag debris out of the yard. All that pulling had tilted the ball down a little and I finally remembered to reset it.

Tonight I am going to pull the three storage boxes I use for all of the stuff we take with us. I think most of the necessary stuff is in them but I’m sure some of it has spread out around the garage and house.

The sewer box should be fine as we don’t have any tanks to drain. The other two are dedicated to tools, lights, extension cords, etc. That’s the stuff I think may have migrated. By the end of the evening I should have everything ready to go except clothes and food. Any bets on whether or not we need something that we left home?

Connie tells me there is the possibility we will be facing a storm in the Gulf when we get home Monday. I sure hope not because that’s one headache I don’t ever want to have again.

More pics from the past........

Jackie at age 2

Connie & I a couple of years ago on the Galveston Seawall (that's the statue commemorating the 1900 Storm)

Adios for now, enjoy the day.

--Rod

Neighbors and other drivel.......

I’m back. Actually I haven’t been anywhere. I just haven’t had much to write about and my mood has been kind of blah anyway.


I’m starting to think that retirement next June may not happen for several reasons. The house might not be ready to put on the market by January. Even if it is the market around here will probably still be sluggish.  Credit is tight on primary residences right now, imagine what it is on second homes.  No one is sure what effect the health care law just passed by congress will have on our health plan.  As it is right now I can insure both of us for less than $400 a month but it is reasonable to assume that will change.  Add to that the unknowns of how much more damage the current administration and congress will inflict on the country and you can see why I am starting to doubt my retirement date.


Not much has been going on around here. I was inspired to clean the garage by Rick of rickpaulettervjournal.blogspot.com a couple of weekends ago when he cleaned his shop. Connie helped me and it’s a lot better now that I can find tools and such. The trick now will be to keep it that way. I keep calling it the garage but it hasn't really been one since Hurricane Ike.  The garage door end and both sidewalls were destroyed.  When I rebuilt it I just put a wall and window in to replace the doors.  It is now a twelve by thirty shop/storage area.  I keep working on things to get the house ready for marketing but it doesn’t seem like I’m making any real headway.  Weeding out and getting rid of "stuff" has proved to be more difficult than I first imagined.


GOOD NEIGHBORS:
Last week our neighbor’s teenage daughter left for an eight day trip to Stavanger, Norway with her ballet troop. The trip is part of a cultural exchange program between the sister cities of Galveston and Stavanger. We gave her a little gift of some spending money. She was very appreciative as were her parents. I don’t care how much money you take on a trip you can always use a little more.


We have had some strange neighbors over the last thirty something years but we got real lucky when we bought this house. Forrest and Amy bought their house at the same time. I don’t remember who moved in first but it was within a week of each other.


They only had Kyle at the time. I think he was a little over a year old.  He just recently voted for the first time so he has turned eighteen.  Forrest is a teacher at a high school on the mainland and Amy is a stay at home mom who home schools the kids.


Kyle has graduated and will be attending college this fall. He works a lot so I don’t see too much of him anymore. Before I got the Kindle I passed my books on to him.  Ava, the ballerina, is about fourteen or fifteen and enjoys swimming, kayaking or jumping on the trampoline as well as ballet. She is very athletic. She also loves animals and has taken care of ours occasionally over the years.  Grant is the youngest at about ten. He is always on the trampoline or swimming with his sister. He also is a climber. He scares me sometimes when I look over and he is climbing the staircase or the side of the house. I think they have him enrolled in a rock wall climbing club in Houston.  I see a very cold, tall mountain in his future.


These three are bright, well behaved kids who renew my faith in the future of the country.  Forrest and Amy have done a great job raising them and should be very proud of their kids and of themselves.


STRANGE NEIGHBORS:
In the early eighties we lived in Pasadena and the couple next door seemed very nice.  It was a husband and wife and a preschool daughter.  Joe was from Hungary and a great cook. We enjoyed visiting with them and seeing pictures of his homeland.  He had worked on freighters in Europe and had lots of stories about traveling around behind the iron curtain.


One day something snapped in Joe's head.  He came home in the middle of the day, loaded his family into their van and drove to Chicago.  He left the family with his in-laws and returned home a couple of days later.  He told me that the world had ended while he was driving to Chicago.  He had seen the "Big Flash" as he called it.  He told me we were in a transitional period where Jesus and the devil were battling over our souls.  He was constantly reading the bible.  I tried to talk him into getting some help but he refused and kept telling me to get right with God.  He left after a couple of weeks.  The house remained vacant for months and eventually the bank foreclosed.


Flash forward two years.  We had moved to Sugar Land, about thirty-five miles away.  Joe showed up at our door one evening and asked if he could spend the night.  I let him in and we talked for an hour or so.  It was evident that he was still over the edge of reality but he seemed harmless.  I took him to the grocery store with me and it turned into the shopping trip from hell.  In the middle of the store he started yelling at various people about having red eyes. He told them they were demons and they didn't fool him.  On the way home he told me Connie had red eyes but that he could save her.  I told him he was in bad shape mentally and needed help.  He argued with me and told me I just didn't understand because demons were trying to overpower me.  We talked into the middle of the night when he finally fell asleep on the couch.  I stayed up all night out of fear for my family.  The next morning I told him he had to go.  I tried to get him to go for help and even drove him to a hospital but he refused to get out of the car.  I ended up dropping him off at the bus station and gave him a few dollars.  I have never heard from him or of him again but think about him every once in a while.


Saturday is Jackie’s birthday so we are going to be going to Texas to spend some time with her, Dana and the kids. It’s been a while so I am looking forward to it. They live just under an hour away but sometimes it seems like it’s the other side of the country.  We also have to make a coffee run to Nana's Attic.


Jackie and Dana are going to New Orleans to celebrate her birthday next weekend so Connie and I are taking the kids camping. We're going to Martin Dies Jr. State Park.  We haven't been there before so it will be new to all of us.  It’s been quite some time since we went camping and I really can’t wait. I think it will be just what the doctor ordered to get me out of the doldrums I’ve been in.


Since I don't have any current interesting pictures here are a couple from the past.....

Megan enjoyed her first birthday cake.

Nana just told Chase a fish story.

Adios for now, enjoy the day.

--Rod

Messed Up Weekend & Mower

The weekend went not exactly as planned. 

Connie woke up Saturday with stomach issues.  She really felt terrible and was reluctant to get too far from the bathroom.  We just hung out at the house. She spent all day laying on the couch and I did a few chores outside under Sam's watchful eyes.

On Sunday she felt a little better and decided we could go to a friend's fish fry that afternoon.  We went by boat and everything was fine...........for a couple of hours.  She started feeling poorly again so we headed back home and went to bed fairly early.

Monday morning she felt like she was about 90% normal.  We decided to go fishing.  Not being sure how long she would last I decided we would use artificials and not to go get bait.  We chased birds out in the bay for a couple of hours throwing all kinds of plastics.  I had a couple of bumps but that was it.  We are live bait fisherman and the artificial stuff never seems to work for us.  We returned home around five in the afternoon with no fish but it was nice to finally be back on the water in our boat.  That's why they call it "fishing" and not "catching".

That evening we made plans with George & Teresa to go fishing (with bait) early Tuesday. We had a few drinks and chatted with them for a couple of hours. George grilled some burgers and everyone had a good time. Since we all were getting up early it was a short night.

Five thirty in the AM rolled  around and I got up to make coffee.  A few minutes later Connie came down the hall and told me she was sick again.  I asked her if she could still go fishing.  After about thirty seconds of thought she said no, she better not. She told me to go with George & Teresa but I don't enjoy fishing if I'm not with Connie.  She is a hard core fisherwoman. I knew she must really feel bad after we had taken the day off specifically for fishing. I thought about going into the office but decided I would stay with her and work on a couple of side jobs I've got going. 

As it turned out the tides were very weak and it was hot so the fish were hiding out. George told me they fished all over and caught nothing but trash fish. Connie slept most of the day and I got a little caught up so the day wasn't a total waste.

Last night I tried to mow the lawn but the mower wouldn't run. It's only a year old and it's the first mower I've ever had that doesn't have a Briggs & Straton engine. It is a Honda powered Troy Built mower which I figured would last me until we sell the house. I messed with it for about an hour taking things apart that I probably shouldn't have as my mechanical abilities are very limited. I couldn't get it to start so I have to take it to someone who knows what he is doing. I can't imagine that it's anything too serious.

I have to take the F-350 in for a front brake job tomorrow. I love that truck but my wallet hates when it needs work. I guess I'll drop the mower off somewhere too.

Adios for now, enjoy the day.
--Rod