Saturday 14 March 2009

Our Last Day at Kerrville, TX

Low 37F (3C)
High 47F (8C)

No rain! Yeah! I got to walk this morning. The bridge had no water on it so off I went to the island. It was a bit muddy in the low lying areas but considering the rain we've had it wasn't bad at all. The only thing I saw were these Egyptian Geese that were hanging around the feeder. No idea where they came from as they're considered an exotic species.


There's more water in the river fork

Clouds over the island

Purple flowering tree - I think is called redbud

Question from reader: Great picture! Do you know of any upcoming photo classes in the Corpus Christi area?

Answer: No, we're not from that area although we spent a lot of time on the coastal bend this winter. Goose Island State Park was giving photography seminars three afternoons a week when we were there but they were pretty basic photography.

Today I updated our expenses in my spreadsheet as I hadn't done any for March yet and the month is nearly half way through. I also got some cleaning done.

I went up to the campground shower this afternoon. I don't like showering in the RV when it's cold and it's still chilly inside the RV especially in the bath/bed area as we keep the door closed to keep heat in the living area. They had to put a combination lock on the bathroom doors as someone vandalized the bathrooms. That's such a shame that someone would do something like that. From what I could see they must have broken the pretty hooks off the walls in the shower are as there were no hooks to hang your clothes today.

Gordon got the tanks dumped this afternoon and I put away the barbecue and the table that we had outside. We're hoping to get away fairly early tomorrow as we have about a 350 mile drive ahead of us. We also filled up with diesel at 1.89.9.

Sure hope it's not raining in the morning!

Friday 13 March 2009

Visiting

L-36 (2C)
H-42 (5C)

It was another cold, wet, dreary day. I lay awake this morning listening to rain on the roof and knowing that I wouldn't be walking so I stayed in bed an extra 15 minutes or so till I knew if I didn't get up I'd have a headache. The rain was really coming down heavily for quite a while so I did my indoor exercises and spent the morning on the computer and reading.

Right after lunch I got ready and went over to Buckhorn Lake RV resort where the rv-dreams gathering is taking place. As soon as I drove in I saw Loyce out walking the dog so I went over and introduced myself. She said that she and Rod (Retired Rod) would meet me in the Social Room so I went there and we chatted for about 1 1/2 hrs. It sure was great to meet them. What great people! Here's a photo of Rod and Loyce. They are the stars today as I didn't take any other photos.

I had told Deb (Deb and Rod) that I would come to see her as she was about the only lady that didn't go shopping today so I went to their fifth wheel and chatted with her and Rod for a while. Rod had to leave to go get propane. We're all using a lot of propane the last few days.

Hopefully we'll meet up with all these folks again.

After I left Buckhorn I stopped at Walmart to fill the water jugs and pick up a few things, then I called my sister who is in Florida at the moment as she has tried to call me twice and we have very poor Verizon service at the campground. I had three bars at Walmart so I thought it was a good time to call. The weather in Florida is sunny and warm!

I got back to the RV just before 5 p.m. in time to get dinner ready!

That's about it for today!

Thursday 12 March 2009

Oil Change, Deer and Antelope Playing

L-36F (2C)
H-45F (7C)

It rained most of the night and we had some thunder and lightning. It seemed we had thunder on and off from late afternoon till sometime during the night. It was still raining when I got up but when it came time to go for my walk, it stopped!

When I went outside and looked over at the island, I saw that the bridge was partly covered with water so instead of going to the island I decided to check out the streets around the park. After going right and seeing nothing of interest other than another small RV park, I went left. This street follows the length of the campground and at the end of the road there's a gate which takes you down to the river fork area. There was a beautiful deer. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera as I thought it might rain. She just stood there looking at me till I tried to move closer then she ran off. They are such a beautiful animal.

I went up to use the campground showers this morning as they are in the office building and are heated! Nice showers, clean and roomy and lots of really hot water!

This afternoon we took the truck in to the Dodge dealer in Kerrville to have the oil changed in preparation for our trip north.

Big chair that I photographed yesterday at the Dodge Dealer with me showing how big it is!

After that we went for a brief tour of Kerrville-Schreiner Park. I'm really sorry we didn't get to stay there. Just driving around we saw black buck antelope and lots of deer. Gordon wanted credit for maneuvering the truck around so I could get the photos. He didn't have his camera with him since we were going to be at the Dodge dealer.We then did a brief stop at the Louise Hays Park in town.

Black Buck Antelope

Closer view but a little blurry

Deer
Lookin' back at me

Cypress trees at Louise Hays Park, Kerrville


Hopefully if anyone is going to be around at Buckhorn Lake RV Resort I'll get a chance to come over and visit tomorrow afternoon.

Wednesday 11 March 2009

Staying Home



We had a thunderstorm last night but I didn't hear a thing. What I did hear was the rain that started sometime after 4 a.m. That woke me up! It also brought in a cold front. When I got up, very late, around 8:45 it was only 47F (8C) and the morning proceeded to go downhill from that.

I went out for my walk and was only about 10 minutes into it when I heard thunder so I started back. I didn't hear any more so instead of walking on the island, I walked in the park. Then it started to rain so I cut it short and came back to the RV. It looks like the next few days will be cold and fairly wet. Even though it rained quite hard this morning the ground just soaked it up.

Most of the morning was spent reading blogs and surfing and listening to the rain on the roof.

When I was out shopping yesterday I decided that since it was turning colder, we needed stew so I pickup up the fixings and made it today. That with some cornbread will be our dinner.

I started reading another book this week. This one is by John Lescroart. It's one of the first of the Dismas Hardy series. So far it's a pretty good book. I've read others of this series.

On Facebook today I came across a group called 'Merrikin is the best name to have'. It's nice that there are some young Merrikins that are interested in their family tree. Unfortunately I don't recognize any of them as being relatives but they could be related through a brother of my grandfather's as I don't have much information on his brothers.

We had lots of rain and thunderstorms late this afternoon and through the dinner hour which knocked out both TV and internet satellite for a while. The rain and thunderstorms are continuing, the TV is back but the internet is still out so I was lucky enough to be able to get on the campground wifi but who knows for how long?

The photo today is of the quilt that my Mother had left for me when she passed away. We were talking about quilts in the rv-dreams chatroom a while back and I said I would post a photo.

Tuesday 10 March 2009

Looking Around Kerrville Stores

I've felt really tired and sort of 'off' for about a week but just noticed it Sunday so blamed it on the time change. But thinking about it, I've been eating a lot of foods that I shouldn't be so I'll have to get back on the reflux food bandwagon and behave myself. It's also been mostly cloudy and dreary the last few days which doesn't help any. At least it's been warm but that's about to come to an end at the beginning of the week.

The cardinal photo on the left was taken on Sunday at Enchanted Rock.

My day today started out with 66F (19C) but very dark, cloudy and humid. I didn't bother with the camera today and didn't see anything while I was out that would have warranted it. The next few days are going to be cloudy with a high chance of rain. They really need the rain!

We had discussed moving to Fredericksburg tomorrow but with the weather forecast we decided to stay where we are so first on the agenda was to go to the office and sign up for another few days.

After that I got ready to go into town. On the way in I stopped at a really neat store called Gibsons. They sell absolutely everything (not many groceries). It was a neat place just to poke around in. Then I stopped at the mall but didn't see anything I liked better than my money. Ditto for Big Lots and Dollar Tree. I stopped at HEB for some groceries with a final stop at Walmart then home!

Gibsons



This big chair was across from HEB at the Dodge Dealer.


I was home in time for a nap!

Monday 9 March 2009

Just Stuff

Now that we're on Daylight Savings Time it stays dark longer in the morning so I'm not so inclined to get up early. Consequently it was almost 8:30 a.m. again. It was cloudy and grey but 66F (19C) when I went out for my walk. I didn't take my camera since it looked like rain and I haven't seen anything on the island that I haven't already photographed. That being said, as soon as I started to cross the bridge I saw a kingfisher on the wire above me but I kept going. He was still there when I came back so I stopped at the RV to get my camera but he was gone so I continued walking around the park and he was back again when I got to the RV so here he is.....

After breakfast I changed the bed, then went up to do the laundry. There were already two people there and there are two washers and two dryers. I got up there about 11:45 a.m. and didn't get back to the RV till 3 p.m. I had considered just going to the laundromat as there's one not far away but I didn't.

What little was left of the afternoon I spent finishing my book by Debbie MacComber that I found in the campground library. As usual, it was a good one!

They sell tamales at the office and I sat there and smelled them all the while I was doing the laundry. They are $7/doz. We've never eaten them. I asked what they're made of and the owner makes them from pork and seasonings and cornmeal so I think they would agree with Gordon. I'm considering going up and getting some.

We've been discussing what we're going to do when our week is up on Wednesday. Do we stay here, move to Fredericksburg or go elsewhere. So far, no decision has been made.

We had some cloud, some sun, humidity and a few rain sprinkles today but we did get up to 80F (27C).

Sunday 8 March 2009

Enchanted Rock and Fredericksburg

L-66F (19C) - cloudy
H-83F (28C) - sunny and humid most of the afternoon

I got up late today and because of Daylight Savings Time it was even later! Last night sure wore me out! The good news is that all the food agreed with Gordon.

I did my walk around the island again but didn't see anything of interest.

With a little imagination this plant reminded me of a saguaro.



By the time I did some computer stuff it was almost noon because I'd gotten up so late.

Gordon and I decided to go to Fredericksburg this afternoon and when we got there continued on to Enchanted Rock. It was 83F by then so I had no interest in climbing the rock but Gordon went up part way. We're thinking of maybe coming back here next Fall when it's cooler to climb it.

While Gordon was climbing the rock I sat in the picnic area and this little bird dropped by my picnic table. No idea what it is and couldn't get a very good photo of it as it was very fast!


Enchanted Rock



On our way back we stopped at the Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce and had a look around but just did a drive thru of the town. It was too hot to walk around.

That's it for our day!