I had my rig washed today and after I paid the gent I went on a sight seeing tour to the town of Shiner, TX. That's right my friend Sharon (Sprinter) would have loved being there as I toured the Spoetzl Brewery. They brew Shiner Bock, Shiner Blonde, Shiner Light Blonde, Shiner Black Lager, and this time of year Shiner Octoberfest except I think it is Oktoberfest. What a neat place to tour. We had a very small group about 8 people and it was very interesting. You can get most of the information off from their web site but it was neat to see what I had previously read about. In the lobby area they give you, upon your request, a 4.5 or 5 oz small cup of your choice of beer and three wooden tokens that you can turn in for another cup of beer until all you tokens are gone and you have consumed about 10 or 12 oz of beer. Good and COLD beer. Have to say my favorite was Bock with Light Blonde second the Oktoberfest was last...it made my lips tingle.
I made a tour around a couple of blocks in the down town area and would like to go back and spend some time walking around and into and out of the stores. They have really done a great job in taking advantage of the tourist, most were other Texans, coming into their town.
Will try to either Rockport or possibly Refugio which has a winery later this week. Need to decide if I want to stay here another week. It is a Passport America park at $13.88 a day. May have to get to see everything seen I want to see.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Monday and a trip to Stephen F. Austin State Park
Today is a day off from the volunteer job and I am so stressed out. My blood sugar has been going up since I got here. Part stress, part food, part not exercising appropriately. So since one of the volunteers that had taken a trip got back he and I talked about him filling in for me this week. Head of volunteers said go ahead you don't need me here. So George agreed to work my shift until Thursday when I get back. Blood sugar this morning was 159 which makes it about 40 above my normal and 10 above yesterday.
I did notice a stress decrease pretty quickly after I hooked up here. Just felt like a load off my shoulders. Was pretty hot here, but not sure just how hot. I moved my outdoor thermometer from the back ladder on my rig and hung it on a bolt where the mud flap is down closer to the ground. Then I promptly forgot to move it back and it is laying on the road somewhere! Dang I hate it when that happens. Oh, well. Will make a run to WalMart tomorrow and see if I can find a replacement.
Took a stroll around the camping loop and counted 5 rigs plus the host are here. Pretty quite.
Have had the animals and birds come up - 7 deer, 1 raccoon, 5 american crows, 4 male and 4 female cardinals, 3 squirrels, and lots of little birds cheaping away in the trees. Will see if I can change sights in the morning. This one has lots of nice wildlife, but I got totally roasted in the afternoon sun. Since I don't do satellite trees are good. I wanted this side because of the little birds always seem to be on this side. But I decided it wasn't worth the heat buildup.
Geraldine gave me an interesting trip down here. I was going to take I45 to 610 to I10, but took off to avoid traffic and ended up seeing some parts of NW Houston. So going back I think that I will just drive through Houston and take Hwy 156 North to the Care Center. That will probably be quicker.
Tomorrow should be another hot day. There were some nice thunderstorms down south of here this evening. I drove into Sealy and saw that there was some serious rain falling south of here. Never got up here to the park.
Good Night!
I did notice a stress decrease pretty quickly after I hooked up here. Just felt like a load off my shoulders. Was pretty hot here, but not sure just how hot. I moved my outdoor thermometer from the back ladder on my rig and hung it on a bolt where the mud flap is down closer to the ground. Then I promptly forgot to move it back and it is laying on the road somewhere! Dang I hate it when that happens. Oh, well. Will make a run to WalMart tomorrow and see if I can find a replacement.
Took a stroll around the camping loop and counted 5 rigs plus the host are here. Pretty quite.
Have had the animals and birds come up - 7 deer, 1 raccoon, 5 american crows, 4 male and 4 female cardinals, 3 squirrels, and lots of little birds cheaping away in the trees. Will see if I can change sights in the morning. This one has lots of nice wildlife, but I got totally roasted in the afternoon sun. Since I don't do satellite trees are good. I wanted this side because of the little birds always seem to be on this side. But I decided it wasn't worth the heat buildup.
Geraldine gave me an interesting trip down here. I was going to take I45 to 610 to I10, but took off to avoid traffic and ended up seeing some parts of NW Houston. So going back I think that I will just drive through Houston and take Hwy 156 North to the Care Center. That will probably be quicker.
Tomorrow should be another hot day. There were some nice thunderstorms down south of here this evening. I drove into Sealy and saw that there was some serious rain falling south of here. Never got up here to the park.
Good Night!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Still hot here in East Texas. About 113 right now (4:45 p.m.) at the back of my rig at the bottom of my rig just inside the area where the rock guard is located. That means it is awful hot. I took the thermometer off from the back ladder and put it in the shade where it would not get direct sun or reflected heat from the ladder.
Today was my day off and I took a trip over to Spring to the Smart Financial Credit Union to take care of some business. It was about 55 miles. However, I had an ulterior motive for the trip. I needed to find some 'rubber cement' for a project and I thought that an Office Depot would have it. Sure enough it did. So while I was over there I went on ahead and had lunch at the Pit Master BBQ spot that Martha, Paulette and I had lunch about a month ago. So I had lots of LO's that I brought home for later. Popped them into the freezer. For dinner tonight I am doing penne pasta with white sauce with chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms and broccoli. One glass of Cab wine will top it off.
My project with the rubber cement is to put fiberglass screening on the exterior refrigerator door to keep the dirt daubbers out. So will try to get that put on there soon as the weather cools down a little bit.
Certainly am thinking about where I will be going after I leave here. If it is still this hot, I want shade !!!!
Driving tomorrow, then root beer floats, then on call at night. Life goes on.
Today was my day off and I took a trip over to Spring to the Smart Financial Credit Union to take care of some business. It was about 55 miles. However, I had an ulterior motive for the trip. I needed to find some 'rubber cement' for a project and I thought that an Office Depot would have it. Sure enough it did. So while I was over there I went on ahead and had lunch at the Pit Master BBQ spot that Martha, Paulette and I had lunch about a month ago. So I had lots of LO's that I brought home for later. Popped them into the freezer. For dinner tonight I am doing penne pasta with white sauce with chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms and broccoli. One glass of Cab wine will top it off.
My project with the rubber cement is to put fiberglass screening on the exterior refrigerator door to keep the dirt daubbers out. So will try to get that put on there soon as the weather cools down a little bit.
Certainly am thinking about where I will be going after I leave here. If it is still this hot, I want shade !!!!
Driving tomorrow, then root beer floats, then on call at night. Life goes on.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Cool night!
Well, it has cooled down a bit here and we are quite glad for that little temp drop. Made a run to Wal-Mart go pick up some salad things. Found some 'fresh' corn on the cob and picked up that so I can grill it. Will take a look at doing that Sunday if it doesn't get too hot.
I did show one of my co-workers the Wilson signal booster that I use for my cell phone and my data card. AT&T has very weak coverage at the RV park and this really helps with that. We took the measurements of the data card. Off the booster the data signal is -107 to -101. On the booster it is -75. That is pretty good and makes the connection fantastic. The cell phone goes from 1 bar (and sometimes none) and soars to the top. So I am happy with it. He will research what he can get for his mac. Back of my mind says they didn't have one for the mac, but that might have been something else.
Okay, will have a SF popsicle and call it a night.
I did show one of my co-workers the Wilson signal booster that I use for my cell phone and my data card. AT&T has very weak coverage at the RV park and this really helps with that. We took the measurements of the data card. Off the booster the data signal is -107 to -101. On the booster it is -75. That is pretty good and makes the connection fantastic. The cell phone goes from 1 bar (and sometimes none) and soars to the top. So I am happy with it. He will research what he can get for his mac. Back of my mind says they didn't have one for the mac, but that might have been something else.
Okay, will have a SF popsicle and call it a night.
Saturday Hot, Hot, Hot end of July
Here we are on a Saturday. Just sweltering in a giant kettle. On the back of my rig it says it is now 118*. Was 120 a bit a go. Need to move that before it breaks. Had a couple of ladies over for lunch today. We had a great time. Visiting with co-workers is fun part of the job. We are all here for different reasons. Some will come back and some won't. Have spent the afternoon writing and doing some computer updates.
Later found out the schedule had changed and I had dish duty that I missed. Oh, well. Will be on time for dinner dishes at 6 p.m.
There is a greater flamingo resting at night at Lake Livingston and I need to find that spot so I can try to get this bird in my binocs. They are such neat birds and this one has been here before. I think they said this is the 3rd year for it coming here. It has been farther south on the coast. I'd like to make a trip down to the White park for some birding too. Then at Woodville there is supposed to be a board walk with birds. That is possible too.
Got a site for a live cam in South Africa called Pete's Pond. It was really neat. Would like to get a dawn sighting on it. Maybe later this p.m. as there is 5 hours difference in time.
Later found out the schedule had changed and I had dish duty that I missed. Oh, well. Will be on time for dinner dishes at 6 p.m.
There is a greater flamingo resting at night at Lake Livingston and I need to find that spot so I can try to get this bird in my binocs. They are such neat birds and this one has been here before. I think they said this is the 3rd year for it coming here. It has been farther south on the coast. I'd like to make a trip down to the White park for some birding too. Then at Woodville there is supposed to be a board walk with birds. That is possible too.
Got a site for a live cam in South Africa called Pete's Pond. It was really neat. Would like to get a dawn sighting on it. Maybe later this p.m. as there is 5 hours difference in time.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge Monday
Made a trip to Anahuac today with a new friend, Shirley. We had a great time. Not much in the way of birds but what we had was pretty great. We watched a Reddish Egret do his 'canopy' fishing and that was really a neat display. I had hoped for a Bittern but got neither one of them. BUT, a Wood Stork flew in. I couldn't believe it. Hopefully the picture will turn out nice. Will try to get it up tomorrow or Wednesday. We saw baby Barn Swallows, Grackles, and some neat Common Nighthawks flying around and one landed on a limb but photo wasn't in the works. RWBB (red-winged black birds) were all over as were Cattle Egrets.
On the way home, we saw a really neat new item. Rice farmers were out havesting the rice. It is harvested much like wheat. We stopped and watched them for a few minutes and Shirley walked over and pulled up some stalks for us. What a neat souvenir.
We came back to work to a new schedule and looks like I am up for 52 hours. Wrote a note to the boss man asking him what his fix was. I signed on 24 hours a week. I may well get my tail kicked out soon. Won't be the first time. But if I am going to put in those hours, I will get me a paying job. But, that isn't going to happen. I retired because I didn't want to work a bunch of hours with lots of responsibility and pressure. May have to do that again.
On the way home, we saw a really neat new item. Rice farmers were out havesting the rice. It is harvested much like wheat. We stopped and watched them for a few minutes and Shirley walked over and pulled up some stalks for us. What a neat souvenir.
We came back to work to a new schedule and looks like I am up for 52 hours. Wrote a note to the boss man asking him what his fix was. I signed on 24 hours a week. I may well get my tail kicked out soon. Won't be the first time. But if I am going to put in those hours, I will get me a paying job. But, that isn't going to happen. I retired because I didn't want to work a bunch of hours with lots of responsibility and pressure. May have to do that again.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Wow Sunday
Just finished, nearly, a week of work. Did complete my first 24 hour on call session. That is quite grueling. Not that the work is difficult, but it is that the responsibility is tremendous and there is no staff person on call for decision making. You make it on the fly.
The management team is operating in a bit of a fog. It's like they just 'give it to a volunteer' kind of attitude. This week will be over 50 hours of "being available and or working". If and that is a big IF I make it thru August, I certainly won't make the mistake of coming back to volunteer, unless the hours are more manageable. I was not prepared for this uncaring attitude for the worker bees.
The program is a superb program. The management of it, Top Down, is one of the worst that I have experienced. I have seen some doozy's but this is in the top 3 of poorly managed.
The best managed program I have volunteered with was a Mentally Retarded organization in Oklahoma City. That organization has grown tremendously, and though I know some of the folks that were on the board with me, I am not sure who was responsible for the overwhelming growth. But it is fantastic.
Okay enough whining...need to get ready for a trip to Galveston Island on Monday.
The management team is operating in a bit of a fog. It's like they just 'give it to a volunteer' kind of attitude. This week will be over 50 hours of "being available and or working". If and that is a big IF I make it thru August, I certainly won't make the mistake of coming back to volunteer, unless the hours are more manageable. I was not prepared for this uncaring attitude for the worker bees.
The program is a superb program. The management of it, Top Down, is one of the worst that I have experienced. I have seen some doozy's but this is in the top 3 of poorly managed.
The best managed program I have volunteered with was a Mentally Retarded organization in Oklahoma City. That organization has grown tremendously, and though I know some of the folks that were on the board with me, I am not sure who was responsible for the overwhelming growth. But it is fantastic.
Okay enough whining...need to get ready for a trip to Galveston Island on Monday.
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