Flu Shot, Propane and A Trip to Seadrift

I was up a little earlier today as we had to get ready to go into Port Lavaca for our flu shots. I still did my exercises just moved a little faster than usual this morning.

Luckily I called the doctor's office where we planned to go. The flu shots didn't come in. Sure glad I called otherwise it would have been mostly a wasted trip. I called another doctor's office and they referred me to the the County Health Department. We were told to come ahead in.

We still hadn't gotten propane so Gordon packed up the propane tank and we took that in too. First we went to get our flu shots. They were only $20/each at the Health Unit. Then we found the propane place finally and it was open! That taken care of I thought we were going home but no, Gordon wanted to go to a little town on San Antonio Bay called Seadrift. Just across the Bay is Austwell, TX which is where the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is located, home of the whooping cranes. Unfortunately we didn't see any whooping cranes but did see lots of pelicans!

Palms along San Antonio Bay at Seadrift, TX

If you look closely you can see the pelicans sitting on the poles in the forefront


This pelican was sitting at the very top of this boat's rigging

Harbor scene at Seadrift

This egret looked like it was the captain of the boat

Houses near the waterfront


We then headed for the RV but stopped for Gordon to take a few photos along the way. There's another birding spot quite close to us so we drove down that road and saw quite a few ibis, heron, and egrets although they were far away.

Road through the bird sanctuary


The area where the campground is located is called Powderhorn



It was very windy today but I sat outside for a while and managed not to blow away. It was 75F (24C) and sunny though. I came in to read after a while and guess what - had a nap!

When I woke up I got the meat packaged up and put in the freezer that I bought yesterday, also cleaned the strawberries and brussel sprouts so we're ready to eat again!

November Expenses and Shopping in Port Lavaca

This morning was cloudy and 50F (10C) at 8 a.m. and not as much wind as yesterday. I took off for my morning walk/run and exercise.

Here are our expenses for November in both U.S. and Canadian dollars. Anything paid in U.S. dollars I calculated in Canadian dollars at the exchange for that date and vice versa so you can see that the Canadian dollar is no longer at par! Our largest expense this month was truck fuel but considering we drove from Ontario to Texas, I don't think the amount is too bad. I'm hoping for better results for December though!

Pyro came to visit a couple of times today.



Late this morning I went in to Port Lavaca to get groceries and look around. I also stopped at a doctor's office and was told if we come in tomorrow morning we could get flu shots - $25 each. On the way in I went to the post office, then stopped at McDonalds for lunch. They no longer have Asian salads so I got a southwest salad I picked up some stuff at Ace Hardware that I've been looking for, stopped at Payless and Bealls but didn't see anything I couldn't live without. I went to HEB and got some groceries, then on to Walmart for more stuff. I also got a new pair of sneakers at Walmart as my old ones are starting to hurt my back. I can always tell when the heels are worn out by how my back feels. Hope the Dr. Scholls that I got work ok.

When I got back Gordon wanted to go for a drive over by the marshes and in to Indianola for sunset so we piled in the truck. Here are a couple of photos.



I also made a pizza for Gordon for his dinner and since I had eaten out for lunch I had a sandwich, some avocado, celery and grapes.

We did reach 68F (20C) today and the sun came out this afternoon so it turned out to be a nice day after all.

Sunday at Powderhorn RV Park & Marina

A cold front blew in last night so when I got up it was 46F (8C) and it was still windy so I bundled up for my morning exercise.

Today's plan was laundry. There's only two washers and two dryers here and you pay on the honor system. It's $1.00 to wash and $1.00 to dry and you put your money in the lock box or pay in the office. I've seen one other campground that does it this way and it's also in Texas. However when there's only 2 machines and 3 loads of laundry, it takes a while to get it done, so about 2 1/2 hours later I was back at the RV. Of course I had to wait for someone to get theirs done so I did some sitting around when I first arrived there. I'm in no hurry, I'm retired!

A pretty hibiscus


A lone orange on the tree


This afternoon I read and had a nap.

We both went out to the pier to take photos of the sunset.







They put up the Christmas tree and decorated the rec hall

Hangin' Around the RV

It rained some overnight so it was a bit cooler today but it was still 62F (17C) at 8 a.m. I went for my walk under cloudy skies with a few peeks of sun but after breakfast the sun came out for a while. The whole day was mostly cloudy with a few sunny breaks. Our high today was 69F (21C).

This morning I got involved in my daily expenses spreadsheet. I've done November in both U.S. and Canadian funds but don't think I will continue that. I'll probably convert everything to Canadian funds for the remainder of our time in the U.S. Either way it's a lot of work but if I want a yearly total, I'll have to use Canadian funds.

After that ordeal I took my yo yos and my book outside and did a bit of sewing. I haven't done anything on the yo yo quilt in over a year. I had only been out about 1/2 hour when I felt some sprinkles so back inside for me.

For those of you that don't know what a yo yo is, here's a photo. On the bottom left is a circle of fabric. You fold over a bit of material around the outside and do a running stitch then pull it together to make the yo yo (bottom right), then you sew them together to make the quilt block at the top. When you have enough blocks, sew them together to make a quilt - it's actually an ornamental bed cover rather than a quilt.

Most of the afternoon was spent on the computer chatting with Dee, an rv-dreams chatroom friend, surfing and generally doing nothing.

I had some turkey breasts that Gordon was going to barbecue for dinner but since it's windy, I decided to put them in the oven.

Moving Day

It was already 70F (21C) and quite humid when I got up this morning around 7:40 a.m. There was hardly any wind so it felt really warm! I went for my exercise, then had breakfast. We proceeded to pack up somewhere around 9 a.m. We had to move from the spot we were in as people coming from Iowa had that site reserved and they were leaving Iowa today and driving straight through.

Since we decided to extend our stay here we moved over to what the residents call 'the hill' but there's no hill it's just a loop with sites around it. Originally we were supposed to go into site 17. It was a bit tricky backing in to the site as there's a little palm tree right in the middle and you have to back around it. When we got on site we realized that the railing on the deck was going to interfere with our living/dining room slide so Grandpa (the owner) was going to bring his tractor over and move the deck however the people in site 18 left this morning and no one was coming in to that site so we moved to site 18 instead. After setting up I sat out on the deck and read.

The back railing interfered with our slide

You had to get around the palm tree and not hit the deck or the electric meter (which you can't see because it's behind the palm tree. But it was very narrow!

The site where we are now

View from the deck



Today was definitely a shorts day!

So we're all set up in 18, everything's working although they did have to replace the 50 amp breaker. We still have a view of the water from the deck. The wind has come up so it's not so humid and we're happy!

Happy Thanksgiving Day everyone!

Not much to report today. It was a beautiful warm day but windy with some cloud and some sun. I sat outside and read a lot, went to the Thanksgiving potluck and ate too much then went for a walk and had a nap. Here are a few photos I snapped:

The owners potbellied pig

A snowy egret with his feathers ruffled from the wind

Traps

Happy Thanksgiving to our U.S. Friends (and us too)!

I reached 50,000 hits last night. Quite a milestone for me. Thanks everybody!

It was another perfect morning, mostly sun. Yesterday's crispness and bright blue skies was gone and some humidity was in the air.

After my morning constitutional, my breakfast and internet time, I got my Calico Bean dish ready and put in the crockpot for the Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow. Tomorrow is the U.S. Thanksgiving and most people have Friday off for 'Black Friday' to make a nice long weekend. After that I got my book and sat outside. It's another shorts day although by noon most of the sun was gone.

I forgot to mention yesterday when I said we'd be staying here for a month that their monthly rate is $225 plus electricity. Can't beat that especially for such a beautiful view. Our view won't be nearly as nice as it is now but we'll still be able to see the water when sitting out on the patio.

This afternoon we decided to go out and scout the area and wound up driving down to Magnolia Beach and Matagorda Bay. There are lots of boondocking places along there. Then we drove over to Port O'Connor. On our way to Port O'Connor we came across the egrets and roseate spoonbills in a different spot. Port O'Connor has kind of a Port Aransas feel to it, lots of houses on stilts and a long pier. We drove down to the marina area where they dock the shrimp boats and there were lots of moochers (pelicans) there today waiting for the fishermen to clean the fish.

The road along Matagorda Bay

A row of palm trees line the beach at Indian Point

Pre-wedding photos being taken at Indian Point on Matagorda Bay


Boondocking on Magnolia Beach


Fishing piers just north of Magnolia Beach

A flurry of activity on the way to Port O'Connor - egrets, spoonbills & ibis

The pier at Port O'Connor

The moochers at the marina

And another beautiful sunset over Powderhorn Lake


We reached a lovely 77F (25C) today. Sure do like this weather!

Computer Back to Normal; Settled In

Today wasn't as warm as it's been the last couple of days but was bright and sunny all day. Not a shorts day but shirtsleeves.

This guy was pole sitting when I got back from my morning walk.


This morning I did some housework and then went in to Port Lavaca to pick up some groceries to make my dish for the Thanksgiving pot luck on Thursday. I looked around town a bit and found the Post Office so I could buy some stamps.

On my way to and from Port Lavaca I saw some Sandhill Cranes so when I got back, Gordon wanted to go and take some photos so we went back and I got this photo.



While I was gone Gordon worked on my computer and as of tonight it's finally back to normal. The culprit was corrupt Java cache files in my Library cache folder (whatever that is).

Today we made the decision to stay here for a month if they had room so we went to the office when I got back from Port Lavaca and they do have a 50 amp site available so we're here till December 28th. It doesn't have the view that we have now but it's not bad. I'm just glad we're settled for a while and have a new area to explore.

If there's no posting later today it's because my computer is being worked on. Not to worry!

Another Laid Back Day Here on the Gulf!

We had several downpours during the night. It would rain hard for a few minutes and then stop for a while, then start again. I had to get up and close the window. It's really nice sleeping with the window open again.

By the time I got up the sun was out and it was 66F (19C) so I had a run walk/run around the area and then came back to the picnic dock to do my stand up exercises.

My morning photo

When I was reading blogs this morning, one lady posted this website, Gender Analyzer. It's kind of neat, you put in the url of the website and it tells you if it's written by a man or a woman.

Here are some results from Gender Analyzer:
Mine - We think http://srmerrikinblog.blogspot.com is written by a woman (73%).
Howard - We think http://rv-dreams.typepad.com is written by a man (83%).
Waiter Rant - We guess http://waiterrant.net/ is written by a man (55%), however it's quite gender neutral.

Around 9:30 a.m. I had to go and dig out my shorts. Sure hope this weather keeps up. We like it a lot!

It was really hot in the sun this morning. I couldn't find my sun tan lotion so I took my chair down to the covered area in the marina and read for a while. I couldn't seem to find a comfortable spot today so I was changing spots for my chair and in and out of the RV. I went on a couple of little walks around the park where I found a couple of cactus plants.

I cleaned out my books area and took those that I've read or don't want to read in and traded them for new books in the campground library. I should be okay for quite a while now.

My computer hasn't been allowing me on the rv-dreams chat the last couple of days so today we backed up my computer and Gordon is going to reinstall the system which should reinstall Java. Apparently Java on the Mac is installed at intervals and there's no way to delete it and reinstall without doing a complete reinstall of the system. So, I might not be on chat again tonight. Sounds like this is going to take a while.

My afternoon photo




Late afternoon photo


Gordon went out about an hour before sunset as there were some interesting sunrays. I was reading on the couch when I heard a meow at the door. I went to the door and the campground kitty was sitting on the top step wanting to come in. I didn't let him in but I went out and sat and scratched his ears for a while then I went down to the dock area to take a photo of the sunrays and he followed me. He's become my best friend, sitting at the bottom of the steps of the RV. He even tried scratching at the screen. We've got to discourage that from happening!

Look at that cute little face


My shadow

A Perfectly Glorious Day!

I got up early this morning, well not early but early for me. I put on too many clothes for my walk and by the time I got back I was down to my T-shirt with the rest tied around my waist. It was just a glorious day.

Cute mailbox decorations


I had a number of jobs to get done this morning. I bought a beef roast yesterday so had to peel the veggies and get that in the crockpot, next was colour my hair, then clean the bathroom. After all that was done I sat outside on our patio for about 4 1/2 hours just enjoying the breeze.

Views from my lawnchair



The temperature got to 75F (24C) and was beautiful and sunny till around noon then we had clouds and sun and then rain around 5 p.m. with a glorious rainbow that Gordon photographed. I'm sure it will be up on pbase at some point. Keep checking back!

Mid afternoon I decided I needed a nap and didn't feel like napping in my chair. It's not a very good napping chair. I came inside and lay down on the bed, finished the book I was reading and slept for a couple of hours.

Then I had a nice shower and noticed when I looked out the window that we had a lovely sunset. I only took one photo but Gordon was out for a while.