The Adventures of Karin and Dick

Congratulations Are In Order!

Dick and Karin — 2010-09-07T13:36:00Z

Yeaaaaaay, Carl & Vance/Theresa! And Debbra, you're simply incorrigible!! And Chuck - you're just way off the mark this time, sorry!! A few nights ago, it poured - it was our first real rain of the summer, and we heard a froggie (we knew we had a couple - Bailey kept chasing them!) chirrruping aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllll night long. I mean, all night, non-stop!

The next morning, I happened to be walking by the pond (as in Beverly Hillbillies cement pond - that's what we've taken to calling the fountain) and looked in to find looooooooooooooooooooong strings of what I thought was algae. TONS of 'em! I reached down and tried to pick some up, to pull it out & clean up the thing, but daggum if they didn't just all break up and turn into lots of little beady-lookin things. TONS of 'em! Then it dawned on us, they were FROG EGGS! Sooooo, we left 'em alone. I was *gonna* take a picture, but life got in the way & we didn't give it another thought till the next day, when the strings were all gone. We looked close, tho, and there were billions and billions of tiny little spermy-lookin things. THAT's where the hint (8 hrs) comes from. Don't believe me, look it up for yourself (thank you Google & Wiki!). Gestation time for frog eggs is 8 hrs.

Soooo, they were really too tiny to take pictures of, so we waited until day 2, and that's what you saw. Yesterday was day 3, and they were even bigger! You could see eyeballs and little buds forming where legs would be. But then, Hermine moved in.

We had rain all day yesterday, and all night, too, so this morning, about 4 am, I went & checked our babies. During the night our pond overflowed, and we have several million less pollywogs today. It's still raining, giving new meaning to the term "it poured," and the sky is overcast, signalling continued rain all day. It's even become a bit breezy. Oh, and there's some thunder, too, so I'd better hurry & finish this post.

Sooooo, thanks to Hermine, our whole yard is now a pond, the doggie won't walk out from under the patio cover - heck, who can blame her! - we can swim in the flower beds, and I'm sure our grass seed has washed away with our baby frogs. BUT, on the bright side, we won't have to water the lawn this week, and probably next, too!

We are beginning to think seriously about packing up for the Valley in the next couple of weeks. What to take, what to leave. Of course, we can always come back, but it will take 5 hrs up, then 5 more hrs back down, so we want to limit those rides. It'll be nice, tho, to go & get our teeth cleaned, get some fresh avocados for cheap & maybe even ride our bikes again. Maybe, I say.

Here are some more shots of day 2; I don't know what we'll see tomorrow, but if there are any left, I bet they'll be hardy ones!

And, here's full frontal C-U-T-E:

(photo deleted as it showed our phone numbers up front & personal, and clear as a bell. Not wise!! Our friends HAVE our numbers, and our frenemies don't need 'em! but, it was a cute, cute pic, sorry!!!)

Well, that's it for now, there's a let-up, so I guess I better try to get a puppy-poop & a shower, before it starts up again. I know, TMI!

Much love & thanks for all the guesses!! Kewpie pies to you all!!

OK, Gimme your best guess!

Dick and Karin — 2010-09-06T23:54:00Z

Go ahead, take a guess what this is. I'll give you a hint - 8 hours.

OK, now who in their right minds would ever think like this?

Dick and Karin — 2010-08-11T14:04:00Z

Allrighty, then! So, last you heard, we were due to close on the new house and begin to move in, right? Umm....what you might not know is that I had ordered some Pfaltzgraff dishes back in July, in time to get the super duper sale price AND free shipping. Just getting them ordered was a trial, so I can't imagine why I'd think the receipt would be smooth! HAHA. I wasn't sure of the pattern, and since they ARE handpainted, I really wanted to see a sample before I spent a buttload of cash on something I might not like.....

So, I ordered a SAMPLE. A cheese dish. Who ever heard of such a thing, anyway? But, the price was minimal, it showed how the pattern would look and I could get a couple of (relatively) cheap side dishes in addition, for no extra shipping charges. Well, it arrived, as did the side dishes, BUT. Darned thing was intact, but daggum if there wasn't a bitty lump of clay (I guess) embedded in it, and the glaze was really poor right around it. But, all in all, the actual pattern of the dish was ok. Kinda nice even. So I called customer service right away, and they were very apologetic and kind, and offered to replace the item at no charge, and didn't even request that I return the flawed piece. Nice, very nice. So, given all that, I went ahead and ordered the serving set for 8 plus the 2 free serving dishes (platter & big bowl). Oh, and I added a cannister set (why, Jose wants to know), a 5 piece (big bowl & 4 little ones) salad serving set, a butter dish & a salt/pepper shaker set. A whopping $300, including FREE shipping. Yeah, nothing says I'm cheap!

We close, no problems. Well, yeah, the former owner's trailer was still in the driveway (we assumed loaded) when we did the final (second) walkthru, and there were a few holes in the walls, and yeah, he removed some of the screwed down stuff, but, in general, no BIG problems. And start to move in. Basically, we hustled to clean out the little storage area we'd rented while we started accumulating stuff like linens, towels, the chimney firepit, some yardsale stuff, etc. And, on day 2 or 3 (who can remember that stuff??) the UPS man comes, rings the bell & takes off! Hollers out the open door, "it's in the garage." So, we go out, and yup, there are 3 big boxes by the back door. Cool beans, our dishes are in! Open up box 1 - the cannisters. Look GREAT. Just like I'd hoped.

Open up box 2. Place settings for 4. OMG. These dishes are the biggest plates I've ever seen in my LIFE. And boy, are they HEAVY. (ok, I have to admit, I no longer heft the 50# sacks of feed any more, but still!) So I load everything into the dishwasher. Oh, yeah, got me one of those!! I've been telling Jose for the last 4 years, if we EVER get a house again, it's GONNA have a dishwasher in it. And he was good to me. House has one, and it works. So, all loaded up, we open box 3. Another set of place settings for 4. Load up dishwasher with all that fit. I'm telling ya, these are the BIGGEST daggum dishes I've ever seen. Including the TEACUPS. They hold a good 16 ounces EACH. Run the dishwasher and we leave for the night.

Come back the next day, dishes, as expected are done. Whoohoo! Go to put the clean dishes up in the cupboard, and guess what. They DO NOT FIT. Cupboards are 10.5 inches wide - how do I know that? I lined them all with that new non-adhesive, rubber, CLEANABLE shelf "paper." And had to cut every bit of it down from 12 inches wide to 10.5. Do a bit more cleaning, there's no end...and Jose paints some more. Trying to get the laundry room painted prior to washer/dryer delivery. Long story short, we'd brought dinner over, uncooked & decided it was to be our first dinner in new house. OK, no probs. Cook on electric stove - how hard can that be? I used to do it, 4 yrs on gas shouldn't have ruined me, but I guess it did. Oh, what a difference. Slow at first, then, whoop, all done, too quickly! I guess I can get used to eat, it was all timed wrong, but it was decent & edible. After dinner, we load the dirty dishes into that nifty dishwasher, and GUESS WHAT. It's brought to my attention that THEY DO NOT FIT. Unbelieveable. WHO MEASURES DISHES??? Do these designers just not talk to the cabinet makers??? GEEZ, Louise!! What good is having a dishwasher gonna do me now??  Do you think I spent the last 4 years wishing for a dishwasher I cannot use?? Heck NO.

So what's the solution? Quit eating? Return dishes?  Wash 'em all by hand? HA. NO. We are going to use the dessert plates (which are only 9 inches!!) for dinner plates. Problem solved. Not only will we be eating smaller portions (ha, ya really think so??), but now I can fit them in the dishwasher and have them magically cleaned. Well, of course, the smaller portions thing is a joke, 'cuz I'm sure we'll just go back for seconds, but hey, the good intention is there. So, I guess after all, it's a good thing we got a service for 8, huh!!?  And I'll save the big dinner dishes for when y'all come to visit and want to impress you with my Texas-sized dinner plates.

But, all that drama aside, moving is going pretty well. We were able to back the trailer down the street, to in front of our house (and some of our neighbor's lot) and unload it, all pretty quickly. We did it on a Sunday, so there was little traffic, and we moved it over to a campground not far off that has a storage area. It was more expensive than the cow pasture, but we both felt it would be a little safer, plus it was closer. Of course, soon after we moved it & returned home, we each thought of a few things we'd forgotten to remove. Yup, no matter what you want/need, it's in the other home. The laundry room got painted in time and the appliances were delivered when expected. What was NOT expected was the dryer not fitting thru the garage door. We measured the laundry room door, but not the garage door. Dumb, or what? It made it thru, but it did dent the metal door. Oh, and SOMEone put their foot on the front of the dryer & left a nice big dent at the bottom. And either we don't know how to use it (good chance, but no one can tell us otherwise), or the washer has a toggle switch that doesn't work. So, Lowe's is gonna order us 2 new appliances (they SHOULD, at $800 a piece!!) and deliver no charge. And the guest room is all painted and furniture & linens in place. So, when're y'all coming??

Oh, and the tag road trip....yup, we put puppy into the vet's - partly to board her, and partly so she can get spayed...poor thing, no more boyfriends for her!....and have motored back down to the valley.  Saw pain dr yesterday, anticipated a quick shot in the hip & a return home today. NOT to be. Am currently waiting for my 1:45 appt for the shot in the SI joint. yeah, the ucky one, where they put you to sleep.  Same one we got last month, that didn't seem to last very long. And since there's a lot more "pins & needles" and I'm beginning to drop things (yeah, even more than usual, tyvm) he's gonna work on scheduling another MRI. Oh, such fun. Can't wait.

So, that's how my day's going, how about yours?? Hoping all is well and you are following your dreams! Hugs & smiles, k

And just what do you think we saw as we rounded the corner?

Dick and Karin — 2010-07-29T00:39:00Z

This morning, bright & early (ugh, just that alone!), we hopped in truck & crossed town, in morning traffice, to boot, just to arrive at our new house for the SECOND walk-thru, to make sure that it was no longer occupied. No one wants a squatter, after all, do they. And just what do you think we saw as we rounded the corner? Oh, yeah. Trailer, locked & loaded (we'd hoped), sitting in driveway.

We parked out front of the house & peeped in what windows we could....it "appeared" to be empty, from all we could see, but really, that was only the front room & kitchen. Isn't that a pitter? Yeah, pitter's not what we said, either.

When the realtor arrived (yup, as is customary), she appeared confident that he was out & just waiting till he actually got his money...said that's how it's done here, and he legally owns the house until then. Oh well, time to move on & move in. So we walked around inside, saw the rack missing from the microwave, found the icemaker in the fridge not working, stains on the guest room carpet we hadn't been able to see before, and the outdoor ceiling fans on the patio weren't working. Well, too bad for us - they are now all our problems to deal with. And the holes, Debbra? The holes are gonna stay there till Jose gets 'em spackled & painted. The really nice wrought iron curtain rods? Gone with the wind. Well, actually, gone with the sister, but that's a whole 'nother story. (We found out at the closing that brother & sister had a falling-out - MAJOR- and she was ticked, so she took all her stuff, including the rods & curtains that were specifically listed in the contract as staying & left him to fill the holes & deal with us. Maybe she's the one who took one of the 2 matching benches & plant urns, who knows!)

So we closed, no sweat on our part & no problems either.....except....our mortgage guy didn't wire the money as he'd promised, so they had to wait till he did. A couple of phone calls later & it had been wired, but they weren't authorized to disburse it to the seller, 'cuz our bank hadn't finished checking all the paperwork. Not my problem (finally!), we had keys & we were outta there. We stopped back at the camper to pick up the puppy and headed out to the new house. OUR new house.

WHEW! Lucky for him, he somehow got his funds, got his trailer out of OUR driveway, and was gone. Sooooooooooooooooo, oh, I forgot to tell you....you've seen tornado pics on tv? You've seen those dark, dark funnel clouds??? Well, there was one hanging around the house when we got there, and JUST as soon as we got the truck partly backed into the garage (yeah, no, it doesn't fit), the bottom of that dark dark cloud fell out. No thunder, no wind, no lightning, just dark dark cloud & heavy rain. Downpour.

Didn't quite cancel out the beautiful rainbow we'd seen earlier this morning, over the camper, but it was enough to make us stop & watch for a while. Flooded the yard, big time, too....now we know where all the low spots are

We got everything (all the stuff we'd purchased yesterday) unloaded & into the garage or wherever we were gonna first need it. Softscrub to the bathrooms, trash can to the kitchen, etc. That was about 1 pm. About 4 pm, we took a break. I had finished cleaning the master bath; Dick had cleaned the fridge. Yeah, it was THAT dirty. And so was the bath. Good thing he'd had the maid come in & clean just yesterday, or goodness knows HOW long it would have taken us to clean those 2 things!!!!!!

We played with Bailey out back - she does NOT like the 2 yappies next door, and she does NOT understand the concept of Frisbee. Weird, 'cuz she's REAL good about fetching back her squeak when we throw it. ???? We'll play tomorrow (Dick & I) and hope she wants to get involved. She probably will, since we can't even hug or kiss without her jumping up to get her share of lovin' too.

in the morning, we'll empty out our storage shed (where we've been putting all the stuff we've been buying in anticipation of home ownership - do you know how big & bulky 2 beds-in-a-bag are? Add to that 4 sets of towels, silverware, coffeepot, desk, chair, rocking chair, fireplace screen, gas tank, firepit, big ole fence bookshelf, and I don't even remember what else. Adds up to quite a closet full, lemme tell ya. AND, we'll move my sewing machine cabinet & sewing machine into the house. Seems *some*one's gonna be cleaning and painting, and I'll have nothing to do except wait around till it's time to clean the brushes. Awwwww....poor me. Actually, it's a good thing, as I just got another order for an owl towel tonight. And, I have purchased the fabric for Theresa's purse. Oops, wasn't supposed to spill the beans about that surprise. Oh well.....yes, Theresa, it's bought & looks LOVELY. It is SO you.

Well, speaking of sewing & cabinets.....I must go now, and put stuff in boxes....NOW...while I still have a bit of energy left. Yes, I cleaned. To the best of my ability. And yes, I moved slow & not with the greatest of ease, but it got done. And there's oh so much more for tomorrow. Yes, gotta go. Thanks for all your good wishes & prayers!! Y'all be good!! ~k

Wooohooo! Tomorrow's the day!

Dick and Karin — 2010-07-28T02:33:00Z

Well, today was the day to spend money, geesh, did we ever spend money! Tomorrow we close on our new house, so today we had a few purchases to make: cleaning supplies, drinking glasses, more cleaning stuff, dishes, more cleaning crud, cereal & painting supplies, more cleaning crapola, and oh, btw, a car! Not sure who's gonna do what with all that cleaning stuff, but don't tell Jose. I think he thinks *I'm* gonna work it. hehe. yeah, right.

Oh, and here's something else funny!! Yesterday, our realtor finally called us to schedule our walk-thru (we've been waiting for days for this call) and we all agreed to 10:15 am today. Well, right away, she called us back & told us that the current owners were still moving stuff out & would have their maid in to clean at that time...sooooo....since she wasn't available until 6 pm, we settled on 6pm today. Who the heck hires a maid to clean out a home that they are vacating & selling, btw????!! OK, so at 5:56 pm we showed up at the new house...and just WHAT do you think we found? Yup, the dude who has THREE TIMES told his realtor he'd moved out was STILL THERE. Truck & trailer in driveway. Our realtor (a few minutes late, as usual), knocked on the door, didn't get an answer, so she let herself in. OK, so the house is mostly empty, but there's the dude's personal shaving stuff, 2 damp towels, clean clothes, food, paper towels and a bed!! THE DUDE'S STILL THERE!! On top of all that, he's taken out the wall mount for the tv, removed 2 curtain rods (and left the holes in the wall), made a gouge in the hall, and even taken one of the huge cement benches out back!! Imagine. What the heck is he planning on doing with ONE bench?! I won all my bets - realtor late, curtains & rods gone & wall mount down & gone, and the biggie - him still there.

The realtor said it really was quite common here, after all, he still owns the property until he gets the $$ tomorrow. Ummm...ok, but say we go to closing, at 9:30 am, and he's still there, so when we take possession of the home & he's still in it, then what? We have a squatter or what? Realtor says that won't happen. Yeah, she's not been married to Jose for very long, has she. If it can happen to him, it will. Murphy is his best friend. Soooooo, we'll traipse back across town first thing in the morning, check to see that he's out, then come all the way back downtown & do the closing. All at $3 a gallon, 12 mpg., 6 gallons one way. Do the math - it won't be cheap. Which brings me to the next subject.

What's green (kinda) and tan and smells good? Last one we bought was in 1995, so I guess it was time we supported the economy in a big way. At least this puppy will fit in our new garage. Camry, btw, very pretty.

Oh, and puppy!!! Yeah, remember when I said the vet didn't/couldn't find any inside organs and the previous owners said she'd not ever been in heat? HA. Murphy wasn't doing anything else, so he came to visit poor Bailey. Poor thing - even girl doggies get PMS. Well, she won't get any more, I can tell ya that! We checked out a new vet today and found it a wonderful, clean & attractive facility. Nicest one we've ever been in, anyway. So, little missy has an appointment for next week to go get her little problem fixed. What the heck - just a few more hundred, who's gonna miss 'em!?

So, there you have it - we are totally doing our share (and probably YOURS) to support the local economy!! Hoping you all benefit!! We'll be getting some furniture next week, too, so y'all will have a place to put your bones when you come see us!! So, what are you waiting for?? Oh, yeah, the douche (I mean dude) to leave! Yeah, me too. Stay tuned for more info, made available as we get it!

Hugs all around! ~k

OK, so here's why we'll never be rich!

Dick and Karin — 2010-07-16T16:46:00Z

So, y'all know we bought this new home, right? Of course you know, silly me, you read my last post and took the video tour & commented and responded & oohed and ahhed all over yourselves and now you're wondering what's the holdup and why haven't I mailed out the Open House invites already. Ok, Ok, gimme a break, it's a hunnert degrees and that's in the shade.

Back to topic. So, during the course of inspection on this house, we discovered we needed a couple of interior doors, so we've been watching the sales papers, and lo & behold, Home Depot has doors on sale. Well, ok, so they APPEARED to be on sale, but that's a whole 'nother story. Just know that they appeared to be for now. So, we thought, cool, Fri, Sat, Sun, we could buy these 2 doors and save, oh, I dunno, maybe a couple of $'s each door, but we had to get back into the house to measure the doorways. OK, no probs. We just rung up ye ole Realtor & she arranged to get the key from the other agent & meet us up there at 6 pm. Now, ya gotta know, this house is all the way at the North end of town. We, on the other hand, are staying at the very SOUTH end of town. Six pm, right? Yeah, there's a 5 pm rush hour here, too. We did our yard sale & other stuff, basically, just goofing off in town until we were done, and it was only 3 pm. So, back to the camper we went, walked puppy & took a dip. Nice, refreshing, WARM dip in the clean pool.

Showered, cleaned ourselves up & headed out to get to the other side of town to meet the Realtor. Of course, being hot as it is, man, my eyeballs were shut shortly after we got on the road. When I heard the thunk, and felt the jolt, they flew open, just in time to see the poor deer go tumbling onto the shoulder of the road....oh my gosh. We hit the poor thing. Jose was really good & kept control of the truck (Natalie, if you're reading this, I dunno why I call him Jose, but always have), not an easy task at 55 mph.

We pulled off at the very first chance, and yup, luck would have it, was a little, windy-a$$ street to nowhere. Found a pull-off spot and stopped to check out the damage. Luckily for us, we were banged up & dented, but the radiator seemed to be intact, and the wheel & tire didn't appear damaged. Ummmm, lights & grille on the right side are different story, and it looks like yet another insurance claim. Remember, we cracked a windshield last May & ran over crap on road just a couple months ago, so we were a bit reluctant to turn this one in.

Nothin' we could do about it at the moment, so we turned around & headed back out to the new house...focusing on the task at hand - saving money on new doors, right? On the way back to the highway, we passed a Jeep that was pulled to the side of this little, windy-a$$ road & commented on it, hoped she was ok. She appeared to be on the phone, so we didn't give it another thought. Why didn't WE pull off on the side of the road? OK, you remember our truck, right? Got a big ole back end, won't FIT on the side of most roads, that one included. So, we get to the house and naturally, we were early and the agent was late. We went down the street & made the dreaded phone call. Ahhhhhh, good ole USAA. What a champ! After about 2 minutes of really bad muzak, a real sweet young lady comes on the phone, commiserates with us a bit, shows some concern, sympathizes with the deer, asks a few questions, answers a few questions, and poof! Claim is submitted, body shop of choice has the paperwork authorizing repairs, we have instructions to pay the whopping sum of $100, and we're ready to go. During that time, Jose & the Realtor had gone inside, measured the doorways in question, read the electric meter number and come back out to survey the deer damage.

We *thought* the owner of the house was moved out, and we kicked around the idea (the IDEA, not the dog!) of bringing the dog out to the house, so she could run around some, but ultimately, we decided not to, JUST IN CASE someone was still there. Thank Goodness we left her home - the owner, his sister AND their dog were still living in the house.

Anyway, we leave the house, after getting the needed info, and head over to Home Depot. Lemme just say this about that. I was NOT very happy about spending an hour and a half getting 2 stupid doors on our cart. I got a survey and they probably will not be happy with my comments, should I get the chance to leave any. (Ask the general mgr of Golden Corral if I'm vocal - we have a coupon for a free dinner for 2, should we ever decide to go back!) Wouldn't it be a hoot if we won the $5000 gift card on a negative response? HAHA - I crack myself up, just thinking about it!

Oh, and how much money did we save on these 2 doors? Nada. Yup, you read that right. Not a penny. Oh, wait, yes, we did - because of my big mouth, and Jose's military service, we saved 10% on our entire purchase. But, on the doors-on-sale?? Nope. They were not on sale. They were FOR sale, just like they always were, but this week, they were in the circular. Soooooooooo, it cost us the fuel to get all the way across town, $100 for the deer damage, whatever insurance rates will rise, and at least a day's waste getting the truck repaired. Now, you, too, know why we'll never be rich.

Oh, and today, we got the estimate.....the visible damage'll run about $1500 - not nearly as much as I'd thought, but again, that's what's visible from the outside. When they open it all up, costs could easily rise.

Today we also yard-saled. Yesterday, we bought a rocking chair, a little toy-chest-bench thing & a bookcase-like structure, made out of weathered fence boards...very shabby chic. Jose says more shabby than chic, but it spoke to me, and I just *had* to have it. Today, we bought an electric hedge clipper, a desk for my serger, a wrought-iron wall hanging thing (surprisingly enough, I just said it was cute when he picked it up, little did I know it was gonna be in the purchase!) and a sewing room chair. Whoohoo! When we finished the yard-sales, we went back to the furniture store where I'd found a decent dining set & ordered it.

So, now we have the great room done, except for TV & rug; the dining room, except for dishes, pots, glasses & mixing bowls; our bedroom except for bath stuff; the guest room - all done; the sewing room needs only a storage cabinet. YAAAAAY! And we heard from the mortgage man yesterday, so we're just waiting for some paperwork now & the closing date to get here. After all that, we'll be ready for company, so y'all c'mon down!!

Take care, stay cool & don't work too hard! Much love!

We're on the move again!

Dick and Karin — 2010-07-13T02:06:00Z

OK, so y'all know we've been house-hunting for a while now, right? Actually, we've been looking for about 2 years, but really only seriously for the last 4 months or so. With my hip being what it is (PITA), I'm not really able to workamp anymore, and most places won't hire just the one worker. Well, why would they give up a whole space when they only get one worker? Besides, if I asked him, Dick would probably tell me he is not interested in pulling the whole job hours-wise....and who could blame him! So, since we can't travel much more than 45 minutes before I'm ready to stop & walk around, our full-time RV'er status is in jeopardy...big time.

Hence, the house search. Prerequisites were - one story, a yard big enough for the camper & doggie, a sewing room, a place for a hot tub (we've found that is my only relief),
and relatively move-in ready. We wanted out in the country, to keep taxes low & stay out of HOA's, and get the most land, but we weren't able to find the perfect place. You've seen my previous post about finding land & find homes, but never in the same place. Soooooo, we had to quit looking in the countryside and revisited the city. And, lo & behold, we did find an acceptable home. That's really kind of an understatement - it was built in 2004 and was a Parade of Homes home, so you know it's got a lot of custom upgrades to it. It's only had one owner (besides the builder), so there's not been a lot of in & out traffic. We've already met one neighbor - he, too, is a former full-time RV'er, so we do have that in common. Seemed pretty nice, too.

Anyway, we are NOT giving up the camper, we just have to find a suitable field in which to store it. We still plan on being camp hosts in down in the Rio Grande Valley this winter. We'll make a few trips back up to the house to make sure it's still all in one piece and safe, and maybe to switch out some stuff. But, after that, it's all a crap shoot. Who knows what the future will hold for any of us, really now.

So, I get no more steps, Jose gets to unload all (a lot) of my sewing clutter, and Bailey gets a yard to run around in! Win-win-win!! And here's the video tour:
Welcome to Green Gable

So, many thanks to all of you who have already previewed the home & sent your best wishes. I know it seems sudden, but it's not really. We looked at over 30 homes, just in this one city, and we've looked in at least 3 other areas, but this one seemed like the best location and the friendliest people (of the areas we looked). Of course, we know where the FRIENDLIEST people are, but it's way too cold for my old bones for us to live there - SORRY y'all.

Well, speaking of Ms. Bailey, she's gotten up & is now pacing the floor. Oh, now she's in Dick's lap, begging to walk. Soooooo...gotta go....literally. Much love to all!

Update, as requested

Dick and Karin — 2010-06-26T01:24:00Z

Well, well, lookee here:

you need to update your blog, it has been too long. have u found a house yet? all of us with inquiring minds wanna know

Sooooo, here it is, the update, courtesy of Debbra:

NUTHIN' to tell! Oh, wait, yes there is!! Guess WHO bought me a what! Oh, yeah, Jose found an almost brand new embroidery machine on ebay, and he snapped that puppy right up!!! WITHOUT telling me! I pestered him about it a few times, because I (not-so) secretly wanted him to purchase the lot (machine, computer, fabric, thread, supplies). Catch was, you had to go pick it up in Dallas, several (7-8) hours away. Yeah, no, I can't go that far in one easy shot, like normal people. For us, it would likely take a couple of days, with LOTS of stops along the way. Well, he DID get the machine and the original owner was able to sell everything else via Craigslist.

But the machine arrived safely - been tossed around quite a bit, you could tell 'cuz the parts were all scattered in the box - but, it was safe, sound, and unlike the first serger, it WORKS!! Perfectly! I have spent the last couple of days sewing up a storm! Actually, not a storm, there's one of them brewing in the tropics....I've been sewing tote bags & purses for my etsy shop - http://SewWriteCreations.etsy.com. I'm having lots of hits, and even a couple of sales. A few sales OFF etsy, too! Even my DENTIST is getting in the act. I haven't quite figured out how to make what she's looking for just yet, but I've promised her I will.

You'll notice in one of the purse pictures, there's a really tan model...yep, that's ME! See how well I've taken to my new position - professional pool prune. It's a hard job, but daggum, someone's gotta do it.

So, news of a house...nope. Lots & lots of looking, but nothing that suits our fancy just yet. Nice houses, crappy lots. Nice lots, crappy houses. Found one, good price, decent location, 5 acres, and my GAWD, it was gutted!! Well, no, not totally. New kitchen. Nice kitchen, no appliances tho. NO appliances. The rest of the house was stuck in the 70's, including the wet bar. Now, what would we do with a wet bar that took up 1/4 of the family room? And shag carpeting. And, my sewing room would be upstairs....ummmmm.....NO thank you. Next please.

One house was nice floor plan, right price, but backed right up to the hike & bike trail. yeah, THAT's a double-edged sword, eh? And there was a street light at the back gate, and grafitti on the other side of the fence. Plus, Dick got stung by a wasp there. Oh, and the neighbors have not only little children, but a Harley Davidson bike, too. Yeah, NO thank you. Next please.

There was another one with structural issues but a fantastic back yard, but, the fireplace is falling apart and the ceiling appears that it will be collapsing at any moment. But there's a report that says it's structurally sound. Yeah, maybe, but, NO thank you. Next please.

And on and on it went. For 13 more houses. We have an appointment to return on Monday and look at 13-16 more. Over the course of 2-3 days. We'll see what that turns up. Bailey will be taking the trip to Victoria (the city in which we're looking), but once there, we'll be putting her in a kennel. Probably safer for her that way - it's mighty darned hot here. Much much too hot for her to stay in the truck while we walk thru all these homes. She must know what I'm writing - she popped over here and is struggling to chew my fingers. Oh, now I'm getting the evil-eye - WALK ME-stare. Soooo, I guess that's it for now!!

You're all up to date, you can thank Debbra. I've thought about writing lately, but our life seems so trite to the goings on in the rest of the world. I hear Wachovia (Wells Fargo) is stressful now-adays, there's the catastrophe in the Gulf, and there's still strife in the other Gulf. We have a likely hurricane coming, but even with that, we are truly blessed and fortunate. Please pray for those under duress and especially for the animals who are caught in all that crap.

Hugs all around!

YAY! We found the perfect house!! YAY!! We found the perfect lot!!

Dick and Karin — 2010-05-31T00:30:00Z

POOOOH!! Too bad they weren't in the same place!! As you know, we've been house hunting. We actually started looking at real estate last summer, when it was really hard for me to get up & down the steps. Apparently, one of us thinks I won't be able to last much longer on the road full-time, and he's looking out for my interests, trying to find a place to put all my STUFF (sewing notions, fabric, etc) where I can still get to it at my convenience, AND, there won't be steps to climb! This is made slightly more urgent by the fact that I can no longer ride more than about 20 minutes without suffering pretty severe pain in the butt. Yeah, not my idea of fun, either. Jack, I know you can relate!

Soooo, we started looking for a place to settle down last summer, right here in Rockport. Seems the climate is mostly nice, the beach (and WALMART) is within biking distance, there's a grocery store, a couple of hardware stores, Lowe's is not far, dancing is weekly, on a nice wooden floor, and shrimp, lotsa shrimp! Everything we found was either run-down & shabby or in a neighborhood that was run down & shabby....so, we pretty much quit looking. Went to the Valley for the winter, and didn't give it another thought.

Got a little improvement from the weekly shots (yup, in the butt) and came back to Rockport for the summer, with a few little side trips in between. So now it's been since the beginning of April since my last shot, and boy, can I feel it. Takes me longer to get moving and I am really struggling to get into the camper now. Oh, and getting in & out of the truck, especially if we've been riding more than 10 minutes, is just miserable. Yeah, it's time to call & arrange another shot, but until then....

So, we started looking at real estate in earnest again. I mean, what else do we really have to keep us busy? Washing & waxing the camper, walking the dog, floating in the pool or bay, cleaning the inside of the camper, sewing, geocaching and cutting the grass only take up but so much time...

We looked pretty hard while we were up in Nacogdoches & Lufkin area, and found not much to our liking or affordable, so we hit the computer down here. And, once again, Rockport comes up pretty much empty for us. There are plenty of available homes, but nothing that really says BUY ME! Oh, except that one property that has a 1999 mobile home plus an RV pad on an acre and a half, treed. THAT was nice. Till we walked into the mobile home. OMG. Took us about 30 seconds to find the sub-floor rotted out, water damaged bathroom walls, DARK, DARK, DARK paint on textured walls (eeyuck!!), really digustingly ugly cabinets and the kicker - black mold on the ceiling. PASS. But, the lot was very pretty, and if cheap enough, we could simply move our RV and a park model into place. Provided the mobile was gone. Seller was not interested in that offer at all.

Found another property that Jose said he was interested in, but truthfully, looked like too much work and not nice enough floor plan for me. BUT, there was room to store the camper onsite. PASS, please.

So, when we decided to start looking in Victoria, I was pretty pumped. That's a nice town, has a nice mall (we visited there when we went to go see Mike & Brandi up by Houston for our anniversary) and seems to have a nice mixture of intown & countryside homes. PLUS, the demographics are to our liking, 'nuff said. Using the internet, we developed a list of about 18 properties to preview and we decided if we found anything REALLY REALLY interesting, we'd just give the listing agent a call. Granted, it was a holiday weekend, but we figured we could make an appointment for a "next trip" if need be. This was just our way of politely cutting the chaff & narrowing down the list.

It really was easy to plot the homes' locations, using our NEW Street Atlas (only $49 to upgrade with a new GPS sender and updated maps and everything, and oh, YES, Windows 7 compatible!!!!) and just go from one to another. We were able to peep in windows and walk around lots, without being bothered or watched closely. And, lo & behold, yeah, we found the very perfect country home.

One & a half acres, all cleared, but with a few mature trees around the brick house. Oh, yes, the rotted wood would certainly need replacement or vinylized, and the bricks could use some powerwashing, but look, there's a privacy fence for the pup, and there, over there, is the PERFECT place to put the new hot tub. Oh, what's THAT, you say? and THAT?? and look there - what are all those cracks from? Are they settlement cracks? Well, could be.....but why is the brick shifted? Why can I stick my finger in there where the mortar should be? Every single window had a crack leading from both bottom corners running down to the ground. Oh well, the lot may be perfect, but this house is NOT. Next?

A few more addresses later, we are at a large corner lot, again with wood needing replacement, but a cute little FENCED backyard. In the city, which is kinda unusual for us. We called the agent, who happened to be out showing properties & made an appointment for later on that afternoon. In the meantime, just 2 doors down, is another home for sale. Info tube shows it's much bigger (and pricier) than we need or want, but we called the agent anyway. Just to see. Turns out, the agent lives right next door & is home, and is perfectly willing to open up the home & let us in. OMG. PASS. Quickly. But, the water's on & there's paper in the bathroom, so one of us takes a short break. Then, get the heck outta dodge! Not without stopping next door to thank the realtor, tho. And guess what! HIS house is gonna go on the market soon & it's smaller & cheaper! Wanna come inside? SURE, you bet we do. The landscaping on his house is simply fantastic! Oh, and there are beautiful tile floors throughout. Oh, and that fireplace is working! Oh, the kitchen is reallly nice!! Oh, what a perfect little backyard. Oh, what's that, you say? Taxes are three GRAND?? A YEAR?? Oh, my, oh my. OK, maybe it's a pass too. Though it is nice. Very nice.

So, if we could only put the realtor's house on the countryside lot, now, wouldn't that be just perfect? Plenty of room to enjoy the home, and plenty of room for friends to visit, with our without their own campers. So now it's time to go back & meet the realtor in that corner house. We walk in, I remove my flip-flops & promptly fall into the sunken living room. How's that for a nice impression? And that fireplace, what's the deal with that? There's a picture AND a wreath in front of it, and when I peep inside, there's a candleabra thing. Does it work? It's supposed to. HA. Ok, so what's with these floors? They're all different! Got Pergo-TYPE in one room, vinyl looks like short, wide, wooden planks in another, old timey 12x12 stick-on tiles in the kitchen, and two more different styles of fake (really FAKE) wooden floors in the other 2 bedrooms. EVERY wall is a different (and DARK) color, and all the corners are chipped up & ceilings desperately need repair. Cabinets are OLD OLD OLD & painted white. The kitchen counter top has been CONTACT-PAPERED over formica. OMG. And wallpaper. Really ugly wallpaper, everywhere it's not dark painted. Get me out, please. The corner moldings are maroon! And yes, that's a window air conditioner in the master bedroom. PASS. QUICKLY. Now we know why this home is priced so much lower than the others in the neighborhood. Shouldda been a clue!!!

So we look at all 18 properties or so on our list, and call it a day. On the way home, we stopped in Goliad State Park & walked around the campground. Very nice! Also, VERY FULL. It IS Memorial Day weekend - first official day of summer, right? And there's a swimming pool across the street! Very charming, but, time to move on. Software says we have 65 miles & 1.5 hours of travel to reach home, and it's already 4:30. All the while, Bailey has been the perfect little girl. Well-mannered when we leave her in the truck, and sleeping while we drive. Walks nicely on the leash when allowed to check out the lots with us. Very impressive. No barfs, no arfs. Just cuddle up & sleep or cuddle up for some lovin' while we drive. Couldn't ask for better. Thank God!!

Once home, we reach the mutual decision that neither of us wants much to cook OR clean up, so we head out to China A buffet and have a great dinner. All the King Crab & shrimp 10 different ways, plus salad, sushi & steak we can eat. Oh, and ice cream. Also all we can eat. Very nice day, very LONG DAY. Very TIRING day. Very non-productive day. Oh well. There's always tomorrow. Which was today. And today was a great pool day!

Many thanks to our service men & women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we may be free to enjoy our summer days and freedoms. Let us never forget.

Y'all take care & wish us luck!

Laci Came Home Today

Dick and Karin — 2010-05-16T02:09:00Z

Hmmmm....what does that title mean, anyway? Well, it means that Dick finally got tired of me moping around & crying every day. It means the end of his freedom to go anywhere anytime. It means we start having vet bills again. YES - today we got a dog! After hours and hours and hours (days!!!) of looking on the internet, and even "interviewing" a couple of dogs (3) and being interviewed, and filling out an adoption form, we were fortunate to find a small dog available in Corpus Christi listed on Craigslist.

I called this morning (after having sent out about 3 other emails, to 3 other people (breeders & private, alike), and got her voice mail. Because we're here in Rockport once again, we know the phone reception is crappy. Beyond crappy!! Just about non-existent. That's a story for another day - just know that if you call us or we call you now, from our camper, you will not hear us, we will not hear you, and the call is liable to be dropped. Soooo, when I left the lady a voice mail, I knew she wouldn't be able to really understand it, so I replied to her ad on Craigslist, hoping she'd respond to me.

I had also emailed (and called!) a breeder about her 2 Maltese-Poodle cross puppies....but she wanted $400 for the boy & $450 for the girl, and she'd bring them by later for me to see...said she'd call when she was ready. In the MEANtime, I called Ms Marcia back, and this time, she answered. Told me that she was giving up her pup because she was surrounded by pit bulls and the neighbors' flea problem was encroaching on HER yard & her life. She didn't want her dog to suffer anymore but she couldn't control the flea population because of the neighbors' inaction. Other than that, hers was a great little dog. Could I come see her? Of course!

Off we went!!!! Didn't waste another minute. Got there, and there was Laci, tied up on the front porch. She'd just gotten bathed and mama didn't want her to get all dirty, so she tied her up & waited for us to come. As soon as we got out of the truck, head & ears popped up & the tail started waggin! As we approached, she stood up - and lookee there! She was even smaller than I'd thought! Yes, I had my heart set on a Yorkie, due to the size of them, and the problems with my back, but this little bundle of love was really not that big at all! We were lovin' up on her, when mama came outside to talk to us. Apparently, something struck a chord with her, and she was agreeable to let us have her dog - at no charge! She even gave us a monster bag of dry food and about 6 bags of treats!!! Her husband came out & talked to us, then they both said goodbye, and she was ours!

Even tho she'd just been bathed, heck, she was still wet when we picked her up, the poor thing still had a zillion fleas on her. We immediately took her to Petsmart and stocked up with all the goodies we needed for a new baby. I mean puppy. You know, pink collar, harness & leash. Dinner & water bowls and wire rack to contain them. New tag with our phone #'s. Yummy food. A nice, soft, plush bed. Squeaky toys. And, of course, some poopie baggies! All this to the tune of $185. And we have not yet seen the vet!

Yup, it's a good thing she was free! As soon as she got home, the lucky dog got herself yet another bath!!! Oh, the fleas just fell off her!!!! Then we walked around the park to dry off & she got to meet some of our neighbors. Fred, the little white Westie, a couple of black-bellied whistling ducks, a couple of wood ducks, a frog, 4 squirrels, and a very nice lady. Oh, what fun she had!!

When we got back, we played & played until it was time for dinner, and apparently, Laci knew about table food. She was ready to accept whatever we dropped! Fooled her, tho...didn't drop a thing. She scarfed up the yummy new food we'd bought her and came looking for more. After dinner, we walked over to the bridge & fed the turtles, then we walked around some more. Oh, she's got soooo much energy. I've forgotten what a youngster can do! NOW, she's SNORING away, under the table. We'd better get her up & play some more, so she can sleep tonight!

Here's a link to the photos we took of her tonight:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kcallander989/LaciComesHome?feat=directlink

We (yes, I use the term loosely) are grateful to Ms Marcia for allowing us to share our lives with her little dog. She received Laci for her birthday, and I know she's heartbroken to have to give her up, but it's really quite generous of her to let her go. She was really trying to do right by the dog and took the best care of her that she could, given the circumstances. I hope she knows that Laci will be well cared for with us!!!

Well, it feels good to say, Sorry, but I've gotta go wake up my snore-puppy now, so I'll talk to ya later....

I know that she will hinder our wanderings somewhat, but I also know there's no more unconditional need & love than what comes from a pup's heart. Except of course, that which comes from Jose! The plan is to make Laci a little cape with "Service Dog - please ask to pet me" embroidered on it. And with some training, she'll be able to go with us EVERYwhere. I can't wait to start the journey!

Good night, all!

A lifetime in Boerne took a week

Dick and Karin — 2010-05-04T00:38:00Z

Ok, it's been a crazy week, so sit back, pop a top, and lemme tell you a story!

We were sitting up in Bandera, fat & happy (ok, somewhat bored, but we were in really pretty country & could hike (after a 20 minute drive) in the state park, and geocache, so more fat & happy than bored) geocaching, exploring (yeah, that WAS fun!) Kerrville & county, hiking, taking pics, etc.... We couldn't really enjoy the pool because it was simply colder than cold, and the hot tub was either closed or cool, except once, it was super duper HOT (even for us). Sounds like Goldilocks, eh, just couldn't get it quite right.

But, the neighbors were very nice (at least the ones from Switzerland.....the single mom of 2 with FOUR howling hounds wasn't so pleasant), the scenery pretty, the stars & deer VERY cool and the price was right! So there were were, fat & happy. Till Sunday, when I began to see funny colors - kinda hot pink, purple & lime green. Also got a weeeeee bit queasy feeling...then it hit. HARD. A whopping migraine that put me back to bed right after I got up. And there I stayed, the entire day. Tried to keep it dark & quiet but it still took all day & into the night to ease up any. Well, a little help from my friends in the medicine cabinet went a long way too.

Soooo, Monday dawns and things are looking a wee bit brighter. At least I can open my eyes & not see funny colors anymore. Dick turned on his phone & immediately registers a voice mail. Call it back, and guess what! The parts for the trailer arrived at the repair facility late Friday afternoon, and if we can get the camper back to Boerne, they have cleared the bay & will be able to commence repairs. BUT, we have to get there by Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning, else, they'll start another project. Dick calls 'em back & lets 'em know we'll be in on Tuesday, by noon, so save a spot in Ancira Acres (that's what we've named our little haven here).

Next stop is the campground office, where we attempt a refund. AHA! Surprise, surprise, we get one! Four days' refund! Even though it's only $10 a night, that's a nice surprise. We spend Monday hitching up/packing up, take one last foray into Bandera and have a very pleasant visit around the instant campfire with the Swiss/Americans. Very nice, indeed.

Sooooo, Tuesday dawns, we're hitched, and off we go. Well, DOWN we go. I've got a few pics of the ride out of the park; lemme just say, I was sure glad to SAFELY hit the bottom of that hill (you know, the 45* slope), cross the creek and make it back up the next one and around the corner. Whew! Out of Bandera we go, over hill & dale, and back to Boerne, by noon. Just as promised.

Pull into Ancira & drop the trailer, and we're all set. Off we go. HA. Nowhere really to go off to! We spent a few hours just poking around town, you know, the town we didn't get to see the prior week because it was RAINING and COLD while we were here for the rally! Perused the shops, did a bit of geocaching, saw the ducks & hit the HEB. Before we knew it, it was time to return to Ancira Acres for the evening.

Wednesday dawns, and I don't feel so good again. Ate breakfast, and before Dick could hitch up, it was gone. Well, not exactly "gone," but gone from inside me. S'ok, I'll live & again, we spend the day walking around Boerne & seeing some sights and basically, just killing time. When we picked the camper up that evening, I really wasn't hungry so I just went on to bed. HA. Spent the rest of the night going between bed & bath, but mostly just in bath. yuck. By 2 am, I knew I wasn't going to be able to vacate the camper, so around 7:30 am, Dick walked up to tell the mechanic he had oughtta start working on a different project for the day, 'cuz we were unable to let him have the camper. Friday morning, Dick doesn't feel well. Oh, geez, now HE's got it. And yup, he did.

Poor fella spent Friday & Sat both being just as sick as I'd been. Even tho the mechanic had completed the repairs by Friday at 5, the insurance check had not been received by the facility, so they wouldn't allow us to leave. (Not like Jose felt like driving, but even so.) And on top of all that, when they moved the camper back to our spot (since we were still out at the Dodge dealership, getting the transmission serviced), they put the bikes back on the rack bass-ackwards, and now there was a big ole gouge on the new paint.

Sooooo, we were camping out for the weekend while we wait for Dick to feel better, the check to arrive and Monday, when the mechanic gets back in to repaint the back end. Oh, it's been quite a week here at Ancira Acres. The highlight has been the nest of barn swallows up by the shop office.

We thought there were 3 babies, but there were really four, and they are just about ready to fly! I've taken lots of pics & I tried to put them out on photoshop.com today...and here comes the REST of the story!

I've been really pleased with the Windows 7 upgrade (ANYthing's better than Vista, right??) but Dick put Photoshop Elements 8 on instead of the free photoshop starter edition I'd been using. I had just about gotten everything re-ordered back to the way it was, prior to the upgrade. Yup, I'd spent some hours on it. And it wasn't quite right, but it was pretty close, and I'd learned to accept it.

Until today. ARRRRGH. I tried to download SOME of the 103 pictures I had on the camera, so that y'all could see the baby birds! Oh, NOOOOOOO, that was NOT gonna happen. Not easily anyway. Hard to tell who was more frustrated, but let me just say, Dick UN-installed it as quick as he could. Thankfully. So I tried to go back & get that free photoshop, right? HA. NOOOOOO.

After some research, turns out, they have DISCONTINUED the download. ARRRRGH. So, now I either have to eat crow, and get Elements back on or choose yet another photo editor. ARRRRGH. So, Picasa it is! Free, relatively easy to sort & organize AT download (as opposed to AFTER download), and off we go. HOWEVER, now I have yet another online account to manage, to get pics out. Sorry y'all....I guess it'll be easy for y'all tho - you just have to follow whatever links I provide. So, without further ado, here is the duck pond down at the river in Boerne:

Duck Pond

Enjoy! Oh, and there baby swallows are out on YouTube...lemme go get that link too......Baby Swallows

So there you have it - a week in Boerne, enough to last a lifetime, me thinks! Yucks, ducks & swallows. Tomorrow, we'll be packed up & off to an early start (not too early, as we wish to avoid "rush hour" in San Antonio), and on towards Houston. We'll stop just shy of Houston, spend the night, then go thru Houston maybe Wednesday. We're headed toward Nacgodoches, just because it looks like a nice place. Should be some interesting sights to see. I'll be sure to keep y'all posted. Eventually.

Y'all take care! Cathy & Theresa, Tim & Staples - save a spot for us in your squares - we're still trying to get there!

Much love to you all!!

Well, whaddayaknow??

Dick and Karin — 2010-04-25T04:08:00Z

Well, we did it. I finally bit the bullet and gave Dick the go-ahead to update my pc to Windows 7.......that meant all those pictures I've been sorting, tagging, labeling & transferring out to photoshop risked being poof, gone. Again. Well, not the photos themselves, gone, but all the structure & tags surrounding them gone. That and the data that I promised to give Fran (but didn't yet)....risked gone. Well, heck, "do it" I say, do it. So, he DID. He used the wizard that came with the software, and my new, little bitty, 60 GB hard drive (where I've been storing all my embroidery designs of late), and POOF!! Six hours later, what do I have in my hot little hands, but a FULLY-FUNCTIONING, WINDOWS 7 pc, WITH all my pictures & data intact. Even my FAVORITES (and God knows there are hundreds!!) and passwords have been moved back over. WHOOOOOOHOOOO! And, with a bit of luck, I'll be able to get security updates & patches and NOT GET BLUE SCREENED TO DEATH every time! HOW EXCITING IS THAT!

Ok, so that was a couple of days ago. And for those of you that have been hiding under a rock, you should know that in the meantime, I have opened up a shop on Etsy.com. That's a community of people that sell handcrafted or vintage items or supplies to be used in the making of handcrafted items. You'll find me at http://sewwritecreations.etsy.com. 'Nuff said - go there if ya want something unique & handmade. I hope to be getting lots more stuff out there soon, including (pay attention Chuck - I have your cottages in mind here) some "stained-glass" quilts. That's wall-hanging art quilts that are made of fabric, but in the stained-glass style. Can't wait!

So, today is Saturday, due to the forecast t-storms & tornados on Friday night, we missed our date night. Friday has been date night at our house for ages. Long as I can remember, just about.  Well, we got the lightning & thunder, oh, my, big time, but not the tornado they promised (and I do thank God for that bit of good fortune, since we ARE on top of a hill and all), nor the hail. Now, Bandera, about 10 miles away & Kerrvill, about 30 miles away did get golf-ball sized hail, but we woke up to sunny skies & cool weather. We kicked around activity options and decided we'd pass on the Ranch Day celebration at the local state park (neither of us is big on driving 40 miles round trip just to watch kids be kids). We've pretty much done Bandera, with all the geocaching we did the other day....soooooo...let's saddle up & just head out to see what's on the other side of the mountain. Yup, that's just what we did, but when we got to the sign that suggested a truck route due to steep grades, we decided sometimes the better route is not the direct route & we took the detour. We didn't have the camper with us, but just the same.....

It really was a very pretty ride out thru the Hill Country - lots of exotic African savannah-type animals, some buffalo, lots of bluebonnets & wildflowers, and then we were in Kerrville, going over the Guadalupe River. That just has to be one of the prettiest rivers in the country, with its bluegreen water & all. And, then, why, what is all that? Heck, there's a CRAFT FAIR     (or somekind of festival) going on right in the middle of town! RRRRRK! (that's our wheels squealing as we pull into the parking lot) I don't recall ever passing up a craft fair, and Dick, God love him, is kind enough to find a parking spot just across the street!

They had barbeque (smelled great, but we were holding out for fancy cowboy dinner), veggies, woodwork, stained glass, plants, PUPPIES, more plants, more woodwork, metalwork, & of course, some sewing stuff. One of the ladies with sewing stuff had some really itneresting fabric, so I asked if there were any local fabric stores. Oh, did she ever let me in on a good one. Just 1 block over and 3 blocks down, was a quilt shop. Of COURSE I had to go! We finished up the market, which we found out was only a once a month deal (how lucky was that?) and headed over to the quilt store. Found it with NO problem. About   TWO HOURS later & $56 lighter, we were able to leave. Some people are addicted to drugs, some alcohol. My downfall is pretty fabric, what can I say?

After that, of course, we had to head over to the Super-Walmart, as they, too, had fabric. You'd think Walmarts all over would carry exactly the same stuff, but they don't. Nope, they really don't. So, every fabric dept is different. And, yup, I got some more! So, here we are, stuck in the middle of nowhere, with most of my stash all packed away, and I am still stockpiling fabrics & notions. All I can say is, I am one lucky lady to have the tolerant hubby I do! After all that fabric shopping, we went on to the Home Depot & Lowes, trying to locate & decide on a window tint.

We're trying to cut down some of the heat & light coming into the camper, provide privacy, and not make it too awfully dark in the process. We ended up with a roll of titanium heat blocking film & I guess Jose's gonna put it up & see how we like it. If it's good, we'll get more & do all the windows. After all that, we found a decent Chinese buffet and pigged out. MMMMMM. Very good. Not good cowboy chowdown, but still good.

Came home & spent the evening with our new friends & neighbors, Rita & Henry. They're from Switzerland, but have been in the USA for 19 years & have become citizens (yaaay for them!!). They had one of those little portable propane firepits, and we cozied up to it as they shared stories fo the road & wurst & wine/beer with us. Very fun.

And now, it's that time again. Time to clean up & turn in for the night. I hope all our friends & family are and will be safe from the tornadoes that are travelling east. For those that are on the road - drive safe & stay put if you need to. Y'all take care & know that we miss you!

We have arrived in Cowboy Capital

Dick and Karin — 2010-04-19T01:50:00Z

This morning finally dawned DRY!!! First dry day in forEVER, seems like. Yesterday, we were scheduled to leave the rally campground and move over to Bandera, where we could find accommodations for only $10 a night....that automatically makes them "better." The rally camp was nice and all, and it was in a real cute little quaint town, and not but about 20 miles from San Antonio, but the pool was NOT heated in any way (not that it was good enough weather to go in it, but...just the same...), but there was no hot tub (again, not that we could have gone in it, but...just the same..), but it was $26.40 a night - plus tax! That's really quite steep - that's the most we've paid for a spot since we've been on the road!! And that was even including the rally discount!! So, to have had to pay more than that for the next 3 weeks, while we wait for parts to be fabricated was just gonna be out of the question.

That meant we had to do some diggin' and find us a better spot. We came up with the town of Bandera, about 46 miles away and a Coast to Coast park, about 10 miles outside Bandera. It LOOKED like an easy ride over, but, the morning of our planned departure, Saturday, it was still pouring rain, so we decided to call the campground & check things out....see, we'd heard there had been some flooding in the area. Oh, yeah, flooding was right. The campground lady said she'd had someone try to leave & they had to turn around & return to the park, so we should call the sheriff to see if the roads were clear enough to come. OK, after some prodding, she was able to provide me the sheriff's number (like I had that in my back pocket, geez, lady, what were you thinkin?!!), and when I called, they really didn't know. At least they admitted it. We decided to take the word of the lady with the personal experience & guest that returned to camp, and we extended another day where we were. At $26.40 a night. Plus tax.

So you can see why we were so excited this morning when it was dry & skies were blue. Called up the new park, and yup, the road in had only about an inch of water on it about a half mile out from the camp. OK, we could do that. As long as we didn't take the shortcut, we'd be ok. The shortcut had been closed already for about 2 days, due to flooding. Dude told me it was a good 2 lane road all the way over to Bandera, then we may have to slow down a bit.

Dude did NOT exaggerate. When I suggested it would take maybe an hour, he told me, uhhhh, better make it hour & fifteen. OK, that's not so bad, right? Oh, geez, lemme go change my pants. What a harrowing ride it was! Actually, the first part really wasn't so bad. Little curvy, little hilly, couple of really sharp turns, couple of really steep hills (up AND down). We found the turnoffs without any problem - the landmarks were just as the dude told me - a big "Flying L" ranch sign, then the road curves to the left, but we go straight - you know, typical country directions. What he did NOT tell me, and probably a good thing, since we probably would have cancelled our reservations, hot tub be damned, was the last hill, after the water on the road, was JUST ABOUT STRAIGHT UP!!! Oh my gosh. STRAIGHT UP, I tell ya. This after a really, really, really bumpy & pot-holed one and a half-laned road, with really, really raggedy shoulders. And a one-lane bridge. Seemed that we always met someone in a curve, too....wondered where all these people were going! So, we got to the crick that was at the bottom of a hill and immediately had to pull out & UP. Did I mention, STRAIGHT up? Geez. Poor ole truck was straining and missed a bit, but, she got her done, and we eventually hit the top of the hill. Only to find yet ANOTHER hill. Well, now, this must be why they call it Hill Country, TX. Duh.

After settling in & unloading the truck (grill, ladder, plants, power washer, coolers, etc) we decided we'd see about going back into town & stocking up on some grub, since it was such a HARD trip back out, and we didn't really want to repeat it often if we didn't have to. Well, what a cute little town it was, too! We went up to the Super S (oh, yeah, no HEB up here!) & parked, then walked back a bit just to check things out. Perused the menu of the local steak house (not bad, not bad), and $6, 20 oz "pain killers." On the way back up to the grocery store, along comes a group of about 6 horses & riders....just walkin' down the "sidewalk" (where one would have been, had there been one) next to traffic. Everyone was in full Western regalia, and they all looked really nice. Of course, just like the tourist I am, I whipped out my camera & took pictures. Tacky, tacky, tacky. They must have gotten a kick outta that, 'cuz they stopped & talked to us a moment - to tell us about a band (we think THEY were the band) and free chili & chips, just up the road, we really oughtta go. yeah, ok, but, no thanks, we had grocery shopping to do instead. Much more fun.

So we go & do our shopping - meat here was actually much better looking & more reasonably priced than anywhere we'd seen yet. Produce was pretty fresh (surprisingly) and also reasonably priced. Finished up and on our way back out to the truck, the sirens went nutso. All the emergency services here are volunteers, so you shoulda seen the pickups flying by with the little dashboard/windshield lights just a blinkin, and the boys on their walkee-talkees. They all went UP the hill, except this one guy, went down the hill. A few moments later, the boy that had gone the other way turned around & came screamin' back UP the hill. I thought maybe he was going to pick up his friend, but, nope, he was still all alone in the truck. Silly boy.

Then, on our way out of town, I saw a sign (horrors!) to the "historic district" so off we went - exploring. Around the block, and what did we find, but the Cowboy Bar, where the rally people had gone & had a great time. You cook your own meat out on their grill & for $5, they give you a salad bar & potato, then there's dancing & music. I'm sure we'll find our way out there again. Sometime. In the meantime, the hot tub here is calling. Loudly. Dinner here was nice & quiet, and very simple - with SALAD, just the way we like it. I mean, pot-lucks are great, but there's just so little I care to eat, or can eat, so often, I go away hungry.

Oh, lemme tell you about the Cave Without a Name expedition. Lora drove John, Dick & me all over Boerne, looking for this hole in the ground. We bushwacked to find a cache that was really in the backyard of the cavern (ok, so maybe we did trespass a bit, but it was fun), and the cave wasn't cheap to enter, but it was really very nice. Kinda like Luray Caverns, in Shenandoah Valley, VA, because it's a live cave, in that it's still growing due to the water dripping inside. We have posted pictures on photoshop.com, so enjoy! http://www.photoshop.com/user/thecallanders/?wf=shareslideshow&trackingid=BTAGC&rlang=en_US&galleryid=50e45759e0bb42c9b348a53f1ff97112

And before we left Boerne, we toured the SAS shoe factory. For those that don't know (and I was one of those up till last week), SAS stands for San Antonio Shoes, and each one is made by hands. Lotsa hands. The company is family owned still, and apparently, the little cobblers are all very happy. There were signs everywhere thanking them for making the best shoes in the country. OK, maybe they are comfortable, but they are simply BUTT-UGLY. Anyway, we had a blast seeing how the shoes are made, checking out all the old cars and eating ICE CREAM & filling our little baggies with old-fashioned candy. Here's the picture show of all that:
http://www.photoshop.com/user/thecallanders/?wf=shareslideshow&trackingid=BTAGC&rlang=en_US&galleryid=c573b952a9a74a5fbe3ef2f3b02f6b6d

And, for those of you that have been under a rock for the last couple of days, I have finally opened up a shop on Etsy.com!!! Granted, there are only 4 little dinky products out there, but it's a start. Bookmark http://sewwritecreations.etsy.com in your favorites, and COME BACK OFTEN. And BRING MONEY!

OK, my fingers are gettin' tired of typing (never thought I'd say THAT). Y'all stay safe & healthy and know we think of you often. Much love to all! Oh, wait - one more thing!! MiFi card is working just FINE, even way out here in Egypt!! Dick & I are both using it, WIRELESSLY, as designed. Oh, what a relief! OK, bye for now, for real!

I Dunno, Maybe It's Vista!

Dick and Karin — 2010-04-16T03:23:00Z

I know you know how thrilled I've been with Vista. And you know Dick fixed it so that I would never get an auto-update for the operating system, because every time I received one, I got a blue screen at the next boot....and it would always take us a day or two (or 3) to recover & get back to where I was before I got the update. Sooooooo....when he got his new computer, we took advantage of the discount offered by Office Depot and purchased another copy of Windows 7 for only $49. That was to be MY copy, to be loaded on MY computer at the earliest opportunity. Yeah, well, we still haven't done it. And it's not for a lack of trying!! First, we had to buy an external hard drive to hold all the designs & pictures I've accumulated over the last few years. OK, I've got all the designs moved over, but none of the pictures. (Heck, I don't even have all the pics off my OLD COMPUTER yet!!)

Plus, I'd been creating all kinds of Word documents & Exel spreadsheets and Printmaster certificates for the camper appreciation party we coordinated at Magic Valley Park. So I had a zillion documents in all different formats and in all different stages of completion and I just wasn't ready to lose any of 'em due to an OS migration.

So then we begin to pack up & get on the road, right? Well, I sure didn't want to lose any online capability or my Street Atlas while we were in transit, so I wouldn't let him upgrade until after we got somewhere. Well, we got somewhere, all right. We have spent the last week with John, Lora & 28 other couples at this rally. Some of our time has been spent sightseeing in San Antonio, some of it playing silly but fun party-games, some of it working with insurance & repair shop to recover from the road 'gator, but who am I kidding? MOST of our time has been spent EATING. (BTW, John won the dessert contest tonight with his Sex in a Dish.)

Did you think I forgot to mention the upgrade? NOPE - didn't forget, just haven't done it yet. But the time must be drawing near, 'cuz quite a bit of time has been wasted on trying to get our new MiFi card to work!!!!! On one of our trips to town, Lora took us to Best Buy to check out why her printer doesn't always print. Along the way, we noticed a Verizon store. AHHHHHH......let's go check it out, he says!! OH, YES, lookit THAT! We could get one of those fancy new MiFi cards that will allow up to FIVE computers on ONE card, at no extra charge!! Even better, that card is now on sale, and we are eligible to get one for only the cost of the tax - less than FIVE DOLLARS! This is the SAME card that was offered only last year for $199!!!!! So, heck, yeah, we jumped on it! Loaded the software on my laptop (yup, carried it in to town with me, 'cuz we didn't know where we were going, and I'd already had a disagreement with Lora's Lady of the Dash), finished up our errands and went back home. Later that night, Dick loaded the software up on HIS computer, and away we went. Except, now I couldn't see our private network! Wait a minute, here, what happened to the "up to FIVE" computers???? Well, I dunno, but I do know there was only ONE. And it wasn't MINE. grrrrrrr.....

About 2 hours later, I simply gave up. Then Dick tried. Bless his heart, I know he felt awful, 'cuz I was working fine, till he loaded the software, and he wasn't supposed to load the software. According to the book AND the salesman, he should have just "seen" our network, keyed in the password from the back of the device, and away we go! Well, the poor fella felt so bad that he spent the next 5 hours trying to fix it so I could see & connect to our network. NOTHING worked. At 3 am, he finally gave it up, but went right back to it at 8 am the next morning. When all that failed, we packed our stuff up & went right back to Verizon. Got there just before opening at 10 am, but they let us in anyway. How cool was THAT? Texas friendly!!! Of course, I fired up, and whatdoyaknow???? Working like a champ - just as designed. ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGH. Worked halfway home, too, all the way to the time I logged off & shut the blasted thing down. Soooooo, when we got back to the camper, and I fired up again, I certainly expected it to work. Wonder why?? Nothing had changed AT THE CAMPER. Duh. Dick was able to work without issue. Me, not so much. Again, nothing I tried would allow me to logon to our new UP TO FIVE COMPUTERS network. Took the whole thing down to John's camper, as he was running the very same card. I tried to logon to his and couldn't do that either, but all of a sudden, I was logged on to OURS, but with limited connectivity, then almost immediately, with FULL connectivity. Yippee! SUCCESS!! Or so I thought. Brought it all back to our camper, and yup, working fine, locked onto our network. Plugged that puppy in to shore power, and BAM! Reset the modem and immediately lost my network connection. Lora brought HER pc up to our camper that night, to work on her powerpoint presentation, and she could get on our network without the least bit of hesitation or problem.

Plus, as long as I plug the device into my computer with the cable, it works just fine, for ME, but does not broadcast, so no one else can use it. Bummer. Sooo, is it Vista (she, too, is using Windows 7), or do ya thing someone's just jamming me here at the site??? See, I can take the card & laptop right up to the campground office, a couple hundred yards away and it works just fine. Well, imho, it doesn't really matter. We are soon to be leaving here, and hopefully, it will work, as designed, at all the next stops. Either that, or we'll have to make sure we add free WiFi to the list of "must-haves" for stopovers. And, eventually, I WILL have Dick upgrade me to Windows 7!

So, after a week of pretty steady rain, and lots of good food & new friends, we are about done with Boerne, without even really getting started on the town. We were lucky, tho, and stumbled onto a very good body shop, really close by. USAA has worked with them lots of times before & there's a mutual lovefest going on, so we are confident that everything will turn out ok with the camper. But, the tech said it would take about 3 weeks to fabricate all the parts we needed, then a couple of days to put 'em on & paint 'em up.

We have decided to go to the Coast to Coast park we have in Bandera, TX, just over the hill, about 25 miles away. We'll wait there, for 2 weeks (yup, it's cheap, at $10/night!!) and then, I dunno, I guess we'll find somewhere else to park it. So, our plans to go back East & visit are a bit delayed, but that's ok, we don't mind waiting for warmer weather! And, Chuck - just so ya know, we will ALWAYS make time to come see you, Stu & Buzzy, even if you didn't have a pool!!! But, since ya do, fire that puppy up!!!

Y'all need to check out our YouTube channel - we have posted lots of new videos of our journey. I'll post the still shots as soon as I can! Much love to all!

Oh me, oh my, where did THAT come from?

Dick and Karin — 2010-04-13T16:34:00Z

Well, as you know, our time in Weslaco was finally up. It was a cold (by our standards, anyway), rainy winter for us, so we didn't get a lot of time outdoors, and we lost all of our summer tans. Because of the weather, we also didn't get to the beach and we didn't do as much birdwatching & geocaching as we would have liked. Oh well, there's always next year, as we have agreed to return to Magic Valley for next season. Soooooo, we spent our final day visiting over in Mexico, getting in our last cheap taco & maragaritas, and packing up all our worldly possessions. Ya know, when you sit somewhere for six months, you have a tendency to collect STUFF and spread out. Plus, when we pull something out of the basement to use, we don't necessarily replace it when we're done using it - we simply stow it under the camper or in some nook inside.

Because we are planning to return, and we know we're not really gonna spend a lot of time in any one place over the summer, we elected to leave our new patio furniture at Magic Valley, safely (we HOPE) stored in the locked sewing room inside the rec hall. With any luck, it'll be there, safe & sound when we return. Everything else, tho, got unpacked, cleaned and re-packed (or tossed). Took us a couple of days, but everything fit and we were ready to roll on schedule, early (by our standards, anyway) on Saturday morning.

We headed out in a convoy with John & Lora, our co-workers from Magic Valley. Jack & Di were scheduled to follow us out on Sunday, but more on that later. We were all headed for the little historic town of Boerne (pronounced Burn-ee), about 25 miles northwest of San Antonio, TX, and about 280 miles from Weslaco. Everything was going well, and we managed to get through the Border Patrol checkpoint without issue. Not so for the unlucky truck driver just in front of John & Lora, tho - apparently, the drug doggie smelled something suspicious, 'cuz he got pulled over & had to open up for closer inspection (the truck driver, not John).

Shortly after that, we stopped at a rest stop, ate lunch & found the geocache someone had hidden there. Of course, I also stepped on a cactus, and being in my flippies, had to stop to remove a few stickers. Oh well, at least it wasn't a scorpion sting, or anything like that. The cache was easily spotted by the boys, then the girls, but neither John nor Lora could remember their login name. After pbb's (that's peanut butter & bananas), we hit the road once more and didn't stop again until the little town of George West, where we pulled in for fuel. We pulled up to the wrong pump (truckers have tanks on both sides, so there's often an auxilliary pump, but it doesn't have the money mechanics, so we cannot use it - we have to pump from the master pump), so we had to back up...well, THAT wasn't the problem. Dick just sends me out to be the backup guide & prevent people from ramming us in the backend. (Also prevent us from ramming THEM) When I walked to the back of the trailer, I noticed the side panel was more crumpled than usual, and closer inspection revealed a big GASH in the fiberglass bumper. Oh, my!!! What the heck is THAT?? The panel was flattened at the bottom (where it had once been gently rounded), the rear panel had a crunch in the corner, and I just couldn't get over that big ole hole in the back. It was about 6 inches long and about 3 inches high!! And the edges were all rough & fiber-y (as opposed to a smooth cut). Apparently, we ran over something that flew up, then flipped back and whomped us good.

Of course, there wasn't much we could do about it, as we were out in the middle of nowhere, and we were only halfway to our destination. So, after some pokin' around & walking around, we all set out again. We checked our maps & confirmed our route and hit the road. When we approached San Antonio, I told Dick (remember, I am the navigator) our exit number and intended street name. So, when John didn't pull over, we wondered why not. We called them and Lora answered "we're going by the GPS." OK, they've been here before, they know the way, and we followed them. Right down town! Oh, yeah, downtown San Antonio. With our rigs. Went right over Riverwalk and all. Didn't quite make it to the Alamo, but we were not far. And, oh, yes, there were some really looooooow trees. John cleared 'em by about a foot, so we knew we could expect a few leaves in our A/C. Oh, well, it was an experience, but we all decided that next time, we common sense would prevail over the GPS.

After that, we arrived at the campground without further issue. Ummm....it was only 4:30 or so, and the sign said open 'til 5, but I guess hours are flexible out here in the boonies.....'cuz the office was sure closed. S'OK, we moseyed on down to the rally section and found a couple of empty sites and parked our rigs, and out came the welcoming committee. We've never been to a rally before - hard to believe, isn't it? We've organized a bunch, from the campground employee side, and we've been invited to join them in their dances & potlucks & such, but we've never really participated in one ourselves as campers.

Speaking of potlucks, it's time to get busy on some horsey-douvers for happy hour, so I'm gonna have to get going. But, more to come, we still have to talk about our geocaching adventure at the convent, technology (MiFi card) & the SAS factory tour...but, so long for now!

How I spent my summer and other stories

Dick and Karin — 2010-04-03T00:09:00Z

Well, first I guess I should correct the title a bit...I guess it should be "How I spent my WINTER..." but, as you know, it's kind of temperate down here in Weslaco, so it is very body-confusing and people often refer to these as "summer" months. Oh, what a wonderful way to winter, too......we got very very cold a couple of times, and there was a LOT of rain, and oh, yes, the wind could be ferocious, BUT...we didn't shovel a thing!! Now, up in Dallas & Houston, there was a very different story. They had several snowstorms, and lots MORE rain, but, even so, none of their snow really stuck around more 'n a day, so while it hampered traffic, and made people crazy - well, it just wasn't all that bad, at least not for any length of time.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Lipizzan Stallion show in the next county over. The arena was the one they used for playing ice hockey, so you know the room was COLD. And the acoustics just weren't set up for sound, so we lost a bunch of what the ringmaster was tring to say. BUT...the horses were still very beautiful and spirited. We went with Di & Jack, Carl & Sharon and Harv & Marg, and a good time was had by all! The still pictures can be seen in our gallery out on photoshop.com, and I believe we currently have ONE video out on kcallander989 on YouTube. There were signs all over, and they even "searched' my pocketbook, in an effort to prohibit videotaping....sooooo, even tho the security dude said "itty bitty camers are OK" i was a bit nervous. Didn't seem to bother the dude in front of us, tho. He was pretty blatant & upfront about taping almost the entire show. And while there are several clips out on YouTube, I didn't really want to challenge them or pay any fines or penalties. Sooooo, we have the one clip out there, and I may or may not get to publish the rest. Suffice it to say, we had a great time & enjoyed the ponies very very much.

The next day, we held our very own, very first geo-vent. See what monsters you've created Tim & Staples?? We pitted the girls against the guys and went after SEVEN caches in an area none of us had yet explored. The girls had the advantage, tho - we had Rusty, the trusty puppy with us, so we always had a great cover-story (walking the dog), and then there's the fact that both Di & I serve as navigators for our respective men, so even tho they are more "toy-oriented," we were more experienced in getting around. They had a GPS that talked to 'em and told them turn-by-turn where to go, and we had only our sense of direction and Streets & Trips. Must have been a winning combination, 'cuz we had an hour to shop at Hobby Lobby before meeting the boys at Red Lobster. I think everyone had a terrific time, and apparently, two more couples are now hooked on the sport!

OK, so that was Tuesday & Wednesday, then on Saturday, Weslaco (our little town) held their 25th Onion Festival, where the 1015 onion was celebrated. Of course, this winter was cooler than usual, so our local onions were not quite ready for harvest, but, lucky for us, the Mexican ones were available. The name comes from the Oct 16 planting date, and with any luck, they'll be ready here real soon. Dick says they are very sweet & mild, much tastier than the usual ones. Anyway, they must have been somethig, because Dick & Carl spent ONE AND A HALF HOURS, oh, yes, you read that right, standing in line to get a bloomin' onion. Yup, just like Outback - split open, battered & deep fried. And in addition to that one and a half HOURS, also spent $6.50 on the bloomin' thing! They were supposed to split one, but after waiting all that time, they each got one! Then they had to eat it!! Sharon had a nibble off of Carl's, but I don't like onions and they don't like ME, so Dick had to eat his all by himself. UGH. While they were waiting on line, Sharon & I had wandered off & saw all the vendors & exhibitors and gotten all the handouts we needed or wanted, and I even held the baby alligator. He was about 8 inches long and cute as could be! Here we ARE! (Click there to see the picture of us)

But, the really FANTASTIC part of the day was yet to come. There are Spanish-Portugese dancing horses, similar to the Lipizzan stallions, but they are different in the sense that they are even more spirited and perform in much heavier tack & costumes. They also performed to a live Mariachi band. You can see our album by clicking here --> http://www.photoshop.com/user/thecallanders/?rlang=en_US&galleryid=5dcbea5b4ae449198edbd4f4745692c9&wf=shareslideshow&trackingid=BTAGC

Video of this show was permitted, and yup, I was able to capture just about every minute of the splendor and you can view it on our YouTube video channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8M9YlHR984&feature=channel (this is their entrance, but you can use it to get to the entire performance)

And, so that's what we've done since the weather turned nice. That, and went to Mexico again, got teeth cleaned & ate (and drank) well for under $20, went to the VA THREE TIMES, trying to get Jose's new eyeglasses and just generally hung out (when we weren't getting shots in the Arse & going to physical therapy for 2 hours at a whack). I know it's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it. Might as well be us!

We are getting ready to leave here next Sunday and head up to San Antonio area for a full-timers' rally. Co-workers John & Lora are Escapees (another camping club) members, and they are organizing a group campout up in a little town called Boerne (pronounced Burn-ee). We've been up that way once before & really enjoyed it, and we're looking forward to meeting some new friends. Jack & Di (our friends from Georgia) are going to go up there with us, then they'll travel back to Georgia to visit with their (and our) friends at Twin Oaks. That's what THEY're gonna do. What're WE gonna do? God knows, and He ain't tellin! We dunno!!! And, actually, we don't really care!! All we know fer sure is that there will be a pool in our plans!

Before we settle in somewhere for the summer, we're gonna think about heading East, so all y'all better watch out! Airfare is coming down, and I still need serger lessons! Don't EVEN get me started on what a ripoff the Picket Fence's serger class was - suffice it to say, I was fully torked coming out of it! The "instructor" didn't show up until 10 minutes into class, and the next 20 minutes were spent admiring the outfit she was making for her daughter's rodeo performance the following week. ARRRGH. That was just the tip of the iceberg, and since I'm almost over it, I don't really wish to dwell on it anylonger.....but, Cathy, I need your HELP!

Plus, it'll be really nice to visit with old friends (that friends we've had a while, not necessarily old farts!) And, on that note, I think I'll sign off for now! Y'all take care and travel safe. And this time, when I say "see ya soon," hopefully, soon will be sooner than later.

WHOOHOO, WE SAW THE WHOOPERS!

Dick and Karin — 2010-02-28T03:24:00Z

Well, we finally got a few consecutive days strung together that no one had dr appointments, craft shows, work, or other obligations. Jack & Di rented a car & we booked a couple of hotel rooms (free hot breakfast & wifi included), and we boogied on up the coast to Rockport-Fulton to go see the whooping cranes. Some of you may remember a few years ago, when we had first merged with FU, as a matter of fact, and we were forced to postpone our vacation, due to a team-member in Charlotte wanting the same timeframe off....and we couldn't BOTH be gone at the same time. You'da thought the world would come to an end if it had happened, big a stink as was made, but, oh well...we changed our plans...and, of course, timing was off and we missed the whoopers by the one week we'd had to postpone. So, we've been wanting to return since then (actually, that comes to about 9 years!!)...and were so looking forward to being in the right vicinity at the right time. Ya gotta understand, anywhere within a day's drive in Texas is still in the vicinity.

Sooooooo, we pack up everything we could possibly need for 3 days away, make arragements for Prissy's care, and off we go! Of course, it's a bit foggy & drizzly the morning of our adventure, but things are sure to clear up as we go north, right? HAHAHA!

Before long, it is POURING rain!!!! Remember my posts of earlier this summer? And last winter?? Nary a DROP fell. Remember the pictures of the dried up ponds? Remember the dying fish & easy pickin's for the birds up at Woody Acres? HAHAHA. Well, someone's makin' up for lost time, fer sure. We got to the first rest stop (you know I cannot pass one up), and got out to stretch our legs.....oh, my gosh, was it biting cold. AND WET. Di & I were looking for a geocache we just KNEW was there, and oh by, the stink was surpassed only by the cold & sharp wind!! Apparently, that was a good time to pump out the potties, and yup, we were downwind. Between the cold, the wind, the rain, and the STINK (oh, and the sign that warned of snakes), we decided that geocache just wasn't worth our time & trouble. We quickly bustled ourselves back into the car (where the boys were patiently (and warmly) waiting) & I checked the logs. HAHA - that cache had been reported missing back in DECEMBER! And hadn't been located SINCE. Ah, well, if only I had checked that first, we coulda saved ourselves quite a bit of trouble.

We got to Rockport in good time, tho, and stopped at both my favorite stores - HEB & Wallyworld - before proceeding on to the hotel. HEB provided us a bit of fruit and chips for the long night ahead, and of course, Wallyworld's fabric dept needed checking - it had been almost 5 months since I'd last looked there - they might have some pretty new stuff!!! Like I need more fabric. Actually, tho, I do. I am still getting orders for more product from my last craft sale, plus, I've been commissioned to make some nifty jewelery pouches.

We finally get to the hotel & settle in to kill a couple hours before we're ready for dinner. Of course, in Rockport, our first dinner is ALWAYS at Charlotte Plummer's. She didn't disappoint!!! Oh, her shrimp is simply devine! As usual, we over-stuffed ourselves & made another trip to Wallyworld to walk it off. Di just couldn't believe how CLEAN & INVITING the Rockport store is....aisles are clear, English is spoken, and merchandise is orderly and ON THE SHELVES. And, what IS that lovely sound? Oh, that's SILENCE!!! NOOOOO screaming kiddies, can you believe it?? It was actually a PLEASANT shopping experience. And, yeah, I found fabric I just HAD to have. And it was sooooo cold (remember, we are currently living in the tropics, and we're just not used to cold weather!!), I had to find & purchase a long-sleeved shirt to layer under the tee-shirts I'd brought along with me. Luckily, I'd also packed a jacket AND my fuzzy vest, AND socks, so I was gonna be ok. Jack & Di, on the other hand, were struggling to find suitable clothes...seems the cold snap had about emptied the shelves before we ever got there.

Wednesday dawns bright & clear, with promise of sunshine and WARMTH ahead...what a GREAT day to go birding! After a good, hot & hearty breakfast, we head right back to HEB (always eating or planning to eat, that's typical Winter Texan behaviour) to pick up lunch. See, there's just nothing out there at Aransas NWR...NOThing. Well, nothing for humans to eat. And, we're off to see the whoopers! And, of course, whatever else cares to show its head or tail.

After an uneventful (THANK YOU GOD) drive, we hit the turn to the Wildlife Reserve. Now, the actual preserve is about 10 miles (20 minutes) off the main road, and you have to wind your way thru lots of fields to get to the entrance. All along the way, we were floored by the number of raptors we saw - red tailed hawks, falcons, buzzards, and even some crested caracaras! Di swears she saw a green parrot, too. I didn't see, but I'm sure not gonna deny it - we ARE in the tropics, and some birds are cuckoo enough to fly that far north, regardless of the weather.

After a short stop in the visitors' center & viewing of the video, showing just what to look for, we piled back into the car and took off for a leisurely drive around the 16 mile auto loop. We were signifcantly rewarded with good views of Couch's Kingbird, a couple small 'gators, a lovely warbler, osprey, numerous egrets & a couple of great blue herons, 2 javelina, and quite a few hawks. We walked a few short trails, then headed for the observation tower & our ultimate goal, the whoopers.

Gotta give 'em credit - Jack, Di & Jose all dragged me (yes, quite literally) up the ramp to the observation tower. Not quite kicking & screaming, but not real happy about it either. I just SOOOOOOOOOOO wanted to see those birds, and we KNEW they were there.
Oh, my gosh, they were, too....just as happy & contented as 2 cows in a field. They were totally oblivious to all our squeals & carrying-on's and just went about their business without a care in the world. Their business was simply eating as much as they could, and boy, did they. Every once in a while, one would glance up & around, but they always went right back to grazing.....except once. I just so happened to have the 'nocs up when one sook a few strides & actually FLEW. TOWARDS US! Oh, my, that was exciting. Everyone got a chance to see the magnificance and splendor of these large birds...it's something we'll not forget. It was totally worth the trauma of climbing that ramp!! We spent quite some time in the marsh, on the boardwalk & walking the trails, just absolutely in awe of all the wildlife out there. The hit of the day, tho, was the begging racoon......he walked right down the middle of the road, and up to the cars, just looking for a handout! Unfortunately, he was not at all afraid of the cars or the people! Soon as I can get the pics downloaded & uploaded, you'll be able to check him out!

Dick & I are still talking about the possiblity of spending a month or so up there as volunteers. The volunteer coordinator is still very much interested in having us, but we think she may want us to work harder than we aim to....not that we've gotten lazy, but, um, yeah, we probably have. And it gets HOT there in the summer, and there is NO POOL. Oh, and no swimming in the ponds, either, since that territory is relegated to the resident 'gators. My bright idea is that we can stay up there just long enough to hike all the trails & set up a bunch of geocaches in the park. That way, it won't really seem like work and we won't have to stay as long as they want...remember, while there's lots & lots of wildlife, that's ALL there is out there! And there's NOOOOOOO fabric store anywhere close by, so, I just don't know how long I'd last!! I dunno that they're gonna go for that - they really want each couple to be there no less than a couple of months, 3 preferred, and they want a maintenance worker plus an inside, visitor center worker....umm....guess which one of us would be cleaning the potties? Yeah, he doesn't really wanna do that anymore.

Well, it IS a worknight, and I am getting kinda tired..Jose & Di have taken Jack off to the ER - he's been sick in bed all day, and a little while ago he was sorta delirious..dunno if he's got a fever or what. But, I'm expecting them to be home anytime now, hopefully, with some potent meds pumped into him so he can be all better tomorrow.

Y'all take care, stay warm!

You know what they say - give a task to the busy man & it'll get done...

Dick and Karin — 2010-02-19T20:00:00Z

Whoohoo!! Dick, Diana, Jack & I have been busting our humps these last couple of weeks, and lemme tell ya why!

In between sewing for the upcoming craft shows (one on the fourth & one on the 17th), and visiting what seemed like every dr between hither & yon, and getting shots in my you know what, and more trips to the fabric store & Wally-world (geez, have I told you lately just how much I've come to HATE Wally-world??? more on that LATER), we have all been running around like crazy people trying to solicit donations for this wild-haired idea Dick & I had. See, I started questioning Magic Valley Park's rate release...people were asking, and you know how I hate looking stupid or ignorant...*especially* if I can help it!

Sooooo, I asked Fran & Joe about the rates and what they planned to do for camper retention...thank you, Encore, Harry, Bev & Gail, for giving us the party idea... Well, I found out that rates weren't going to be released and there was no plan for retention. OK, so I'm a glutton for punishment, but I decided we needed to do something about that. And the something I came up with was a Camper Appreciation & Early-bird Registration party. OK, that was given the go-ahead. Oh, and did I mention that we only came up with this idea a couple of weeks ago????

So, I write up this letter of solicitation & start presenting it to the local community businesses. You know, the ones that are highly patronized by our campers. I'm looking for any kind of give-away, prize or assistance with the party I can get. We went here, there, and everywhere! A lot of places were highly & immediately receptive to the idea, and they cooperated fully and gave us some terrific door prizes. Di was highly successful and even got the local Best Western Hotel to donate TWO 2-night stays in a mini-suite, TWO breakfast buffets for 2, AND TWO dinner buffets for 2!! How sweet is THAT!!?? Dick & I went into the local car dealer, looking for some coozies & a hat or two, and we came out with FREE LIVE ENTERTAINMENT!

On the way home from the MRI that didn't happen (oh, don't even ask!), we passed a party store, so of course, we stopped in, knowing we had NO budget for decorations, and NO idea for themes yet....and came out with 3 packs of pretty & colorful napkins and 4 small paper bags that coordinated. We were kinda counting on HEB (grocery) to kick in some helium balloons, but, somehow, that never happened, despite our best efforts and a half dozen trips to see the Community Investment rep. Anyway, you should have seen what Di was able to produce with that little bit. THEY WERE A HIT!! She stuffed a couple napkins into each bag, cut out a couple of designs from another napkin & glued 'em on a stick, then stuffed some krinkly shred into 'em, and oh, my GOSH, they were absolutely fantastic! What that woman can do with a napkin!!! We have our own personal Decorating Diva. Think what she could do if she had a BUDGET. I'm scared to even imagine.

Back to the prizes. We eventually did get a ton of really great prizes, and even some that standing alone, weren't so great, but when combined, came to a decent reward. So, Wednesday was the final craft show I'd entered, and (again, with Di's help) I was able to recoup the money I'd spent of fabric & supplies, and even made about $50 in profit. Unless, of course, you put it to labor. Then I'm probably in the hole, but what the hey, I had fun. After the craft show, Dick took me out to Mission (30 miles away), and I got another steroid shot in my Sacro-illiac joint. Painful, but, thankfully, they now know to knock me out fully, with 10 cc of kickapoo juice. They tried only 5cc, but only once & now they know better. 10 does the trick. So, Thursday, we spent running around, getting the last of the prizes together, then stuffing goodie bags & making sure all the door prizes were accounted for & orderly & ready to be given out. Poor John (another workamper here) - we coerced him into baking at least 4 dozen homemade cookies....after all, in his former life, he was the head baker for Safeway stores in Alaska, so it's nice to have his expertise. Oh, and he's ALWAYS practicing on us....perhaps that's why we don't lose any weight. ??

This morning dawned bright and early...seems they always do, especially after a rough night (a couple of really bad coughing spells of mine kept us both up), and it was damp and chilly with off-and-on downpours....so, I expected turnout would be limited, but oh well, if 25 people came, I'da been calling it a success.

OK, so, the party starts at 9:30 am, we're over there setting up at 8:15, and here comes a couple. According to them, they're here for the prizes. HUH???? Is it 9:30 already??? HECK NO, it's not even EIGHT-thirty yet!! Well, about all I can do is ask 'em to have a seat and wait till we get the tables put up...and then comes along a very unhappy camper. Actually, they're not even campers. Just unhappy that there's someone from outside the park having the audacity to be here and who were we to be having this party anyway?? Well, as you can imagine, not everyone is pleased, and some are even really p*ssed, but, oh well, we're doing what we can with what we've got. BUT, long story short....you wouldn't believe how many people turned out!! OVER 80!!! And, according to all records, we had twenty eight couples sign up for next year!!! OMG! What a response. Of course, you know what that means now, right? Yeah, chances are good we'll be doing it again next year. Yup, even we have committed to return to Magic Valley as next year's camp hosts. Same site, same arrival day...whoohoo. At least we know it'll be warmer than anywhere else in the country.

Party on!!

What a concept!

Dick and Karin — 2010-02-10T01:48:00Z

Waaaaay back in December last year, way before Christmas even, Jose & I and Jack & Di went to Mexico, mostly to get a haircut. Usually when we travel over there, we shop a bit (and yeah, it's all junk, but it's cheap), eat lunch (cheap, cheap, cheap) or go to the dentist. But, this trip, the goal was a $4 haircut. OK, so, yeah, it costs $2 to park & .25 into the country, and .25 or .30 to get out, but, hey, they like the cut from a "real" barber and a close razor, so off we go. On this particular trek, the barber handed the boys a card with "Feb 8, 2010, 3 pm" written on the back. What's that, ya say? Well, that's their version of an invitation to a party.

So, we've kept the cards all this time and the day finally dawns. Di wakes up ill, with the creepy crud that's been going around the park and she isn't able to make it. Our next door neighbor had also gotten an invitation, so he & his wife were still up for it, even tho they didn't really know what to expect (who did??). We decided to go over a bit early & stock up on Z-packs (anti-biotics) and kinda scope out the party in case of, well, we didn't know in case of what, but just in case.

We checked the pharmacies, and they were open till about 8 pm, so we decided to get the stuff *after* the party so we wouldn't have to lug it all around. Around where, we still didn't know, but we knew we didn't want to lug it around. Next stop was the barbershop, where we thought we were supposed to go. Once there, we found we were to go down to the end of the street & stand on the corner, where a bus would pick us up to go to Gloria's house, where the party was to be held. Oh, btw, Gloria owns the barbershop/beauty salon. Well, it had been a big joke that we wouldn't get on any buses, but there we were, standing in line, along with about 10 other gringoes, waiting for the bus. When the bus came, it was a simple white panel van, with wooden benches in the back in place of seats. No A/C (yup, it was warm, by then), and fully loaded, got warmer. The alternative transport was the open bed of a pickup truck, so we were doing well, we thought. Rumor had it, we were only going about 5 blocks, down to the end of the street, then 'round the corner to Gloria's house.

Yup, about 5 dry & dusty blocks later (this is Mexico, after all, and no, the roads are not paved), we stop at a nice block home, with tall, tall, mirrored windows and several tables & chairs set up outside. They let us out and we walked into the yard where we found big tubs of canned soda on ice. We each took one & found a seat at an empty table. There were about 50 people already seated with drinks, all just "waiting." WE didn't know what was gonna happen, but they seemed to be at ease, so we were too. Wasn't too long after that, some girls started bringing out plates heaped with food to each guest. They were wearing the uniforms of Gloria's shop, and we had seen Gloria at one point, so we weren't worried at all. When our food came, we enjoyed homemade enchiladas, tomales, guacamole, bread, fajitas, and we think goat cheese. Somehow, during the course of the meal, we found out it was Gloria's birthday (she musta been 39, 59, or maybe even 79, it's really hard to tell), and she put on a party like this for all her customers every year!! And we know for a fact she was giving out invitations as late as the end of January! Anyway, after the main course, they served cake! And it was yummy!!! Some kind of raspberry or cherry mousse filling, and it was different texture than American - kinda spongey, not dense like ours, but very good, kinda vanilla-y. And the icing was cool & creamy, like Cool-Whip, with drizzles of chocolate!

After we ate all we wanted, we went into the kitchen, where Gloria and her son (we think) and daughters had prepared all this food and thanked her. She was so proud to show off her house (tho I personally felt like we were invading her privacy) but she welcomed us all. Her living room was humongous by Mexican standards, and there were marble floors everywhere. But, it just floored me, the size of her kitchen. It wasn't much bigger than MINE (and you all know how "big" that is, hehe) and she turned out all that food!! There was a HUGE stockpot of enchiladas, a big salad bowl, in which they were whipping up the batches of guacamole, a roaster pan full of the fajita steaks, and yet another big pot for the tomales. I'm pretty sure they purchased the cakes, but even so, they must have been cooking for HOURS to turn it all out.

Now, think of the expense they went to, to arrange for the van & truck, and drivers, the tables & chairs; they had to close their shop early, but still pay their employees to serve, and then pay for all the food & drink!!!!! Then, she took the time, on HER BIRTHDAY, to serve her customers!! What American company do you know that has shown their appreciation for your patronage in that way??

What a concept. We don't know how many years she's done this, but we gather it's been many. I'm still floored by this display of generosity, and lemme tell you, she sure has earned OUR patronage for as long as we return to the Valley.

Needless to say, we made it back to the USA without issue, and they let us bring back all the Z-packs we'd purchased, and it's a good thing, too, since our friends Donna & Jerry (from Branson) are so sick. Today, on our way out to my scheduled MRI (yeah!!!!), we dropped off a couple doses to hold 'em over till they can cross the border.

Oh, about that MRI...last week, when I went to the pain dr, he decided I shouldn't still be having so much hip pain after all these shots, and apparently, I'm close to maxing out on the shots, too (not like we didn't see *that* coming). Soooooo, they set me up for an MRI the following day, in Mission, about 30 miles from our camp. Well, that meant Dick had to bum a ride from Jack, 'cuz he had an eye dr appt in Harlingen, ALSO about 30 miles from our camp, but in the opposite direction!!!! Di skipped line dancing & went with me, so I didn't have to drive alone, and just in case I couldn't drive back (for whatever reason). Uhhhhhh, ooops, I forgot to check to make sure they had insurance authorization prior to arriving, soooooo, yup, "sorry, ms callander, but we cannot see you today...."

Out in the parking lot, I called Tricare, who kindly informed me that since my dr's office had FAXED the request, it wouldn't even show up for 3-5 days!!!! Of course, they could call it in & get immediate approval, but until that happened, I couldn't be seen. So, another call to the dr's office to relay the news. Thank Goodness for programmed cell phones!! OK, Di & I ran a couple of errands tokill some time, and eventually, I get the call I'm waiting for - the dr's office has gotten me an appointment. Unfortunately, it's NOT for the place in Mission, as that's not on the approved list, and it's NOT for that day, it's for Tuesday (today). OK, so, we've wasted a day & a bunch of Jack's diesel. Sorry Jack, we'll make it up to ya somehow. So, Monday (yesterday), we go to Mexico and party. We turned off our phones (thank you JACK, for finding out that international calling is VERY expensive), and since I never get calls, it never occurred to me to turn mine back on. So, today, when we arrive at the MRI place in McAllen (only about 20 miles from camp), at 11 am, we shouldn't be surprised to hear, "oh, ms callander, I've been leaving you messages. We can't see you today because we don't have authorization."

OIKS. Ok, back out to the truck & plan B. Might be plan C, by now, but who's counting. K, dr's office says yeah, insurance authorized but then didn't so they didn't know, I should call them. Of course, this is Tricare, and while they're VERY inexpensive, and they do provide very good care, there is a price, and that would be they simply are NOT very efficient. OK, back to the phones. While I'm talking to Tricare, Dick gets a call, from Janie at the pain dr. SHE says she had gotten me a 9 am appt at yet another facility. Hmmmm, since it's now 11:15, I'm betting it'll be tough to keep that one!

A call to the new facility, and off we go, directions in hand!! About 15 minutes later, and I'm on the table, strapped down and waiting for the machine to start!!! Two 35 minute scans and $12, and we are DONE! We ran a few more errands, then met Jack & Di for a lovely dinner at Olive Garden. Once home, a quick 2-mile walk around the park, and we are in for the night. And not a minute to soon - it's cooooooooooooooooooold out there!!

Y'all big good, and stay warm! God Bless.

Are we the luckiest people in the world, or what?

Dick and Karin — 2010-01-31T08:02:00Z

Thanks, Sarah, for the longtoe pictures - of SNOW!!! No matter how cold it gets down here, and it has been down to 28* (for FOUR HOURS!!) it is colder & wetter elsewhere. Our resident population is about 80% Canadian, with most of them originating in the middle provinces of Manitoba, Alberta & Saskatchewan, so we are constantly hearing of minus this or minus that degrees. The 20% that is NOT Canadian hails from Nebraska, Dakotas, Missouri & so forth, so they have their own miseries!!! Luckily for us, they left MOST of that crap back home!!! We generally have warm to cool weather, with prevailing winds from the south or east. When it turns, by gosh, we know it!!!

Last week's advance dance saw eight full squares, with 2 couples sitting out at any given tip (2 more couples would have made a full NINE squares!). Not many of them seemed much better than us, and that made it really difficult to dance well. We're not all that confident ourselves, so when we find ourselves without a partner beside us, we think we're wrong. Often, tho, we are ok, and it's the other couples out of place. But, we never really know for sure. It won't be until we start dancing with people BETTER than us that we will improve, I'm afraid. Unfortunately, as those who dance know, couples at that level are not fond of breaking down or pulling others through. So, we dance Tuesday plus, mentor on Wed & struggle thru A on Thurs. In between, we see eye, skin & pain drs. Ugh. Busy, busy, but we really haven't seen much of the Valley!

The whooping cranes are back in for the winter, so we're trying to put together a short trip back up the coast, to their home grounds. We were offered a summer host position there, but we're not sure I can handle the bugs. Remember Appalachicola?? The no-see-ems??? The hives?? No??? I DO!! And, I don't really care to repeat the experience, either!!! Soooooooo, probably not gonna go work in the woods for the summer. We are thinking of returning to Rockport-Fulton (still in TX), where we spent last summer. They do have a wonderfully warm pool there, as well as convenient beaches & shopping. And it's not too awfully far from Victoria, an area we'd like to explore further.

Jack & Di went to South Padre Island today, with his brother & sister in law. Can't wait to hear all about it & see if there's anything worth going back down to see. Of course, there's a craft show coming up, and yet another pain clinic appt this week, so it won't be anytime soon, fer sure! I'm beginning to get some custom embroidery orders - not anything terribly fun, but enough to keep me busy. Busier than expected. Plus, we do have to "work" some, so I'm managing to stay out of trouble. For now anyway. I think after the 17th I'm gonna try to quit buying fabric. I do believe that is an addiction. An expensive one. I have lots of projects to complete for my own benefit & pleasure; maybe I'll tackle some of 'em! A pillow for Di, 4 stained-glass-looking flower quilts for Jose, and a pocketbook for myself and another one for Di. I did manage to squeeze in a couple pair of flannel pj's - apparently just in time!!

The flower bed out front looks really bad. We worked so hard on getting it all pretty & planted, but then the weather turned cold & rainy, so we couldn't get it mulched with rocks, as we did the front entrance. Then the freeze hit & we lost almost everything. The gardenias & scheffleras are struggling on, but all else is gone. Nothing we can do now but tear 'em up & out and weed the remainder. Wonder why it is that the weeds can survive a freeze but the desirable plants can't? Murphy's law, I suppose.

Got an email not too long ago, letting me know that my article really is gonna be published, hopefully SOON! Remember the one i wrote about workamping? Titled, A happy camper is a happy camper, but an unhappy camper is a pain in the butt. Bet they clean that up a little.

Well, enough of my ramblings - you may note the time stamp of 2:20 AM - yeah, that's really what it is. On a worknight no less. Jose is talking about getting a new mattress - one of those sleep-number jobbies. Anyone have any experience or opinions on that? Seems like an awful lot of money, to me.....BUT, they *were* $4,000 when we started looking at 'em, and now they're down to $1,300. Makes ME wonder. Jose says 'cuz they're making more of 'em, but I think it's 'cuz they cannot unload the supply. Who knows. Lemme know what y'all think of 'em tho....

Stay warm & dry, God Bless.