Happy Birthday, Carol!

Today is Carol's 75th birthday. We drove in to town to see her and Dick and especially to wish her a very happy birthday. We touched base and agreed to meet up at the Caldwell Zoo on Saturday, each of us with two grandsons in tow.

Dick pointed out that you can see the Park Place Nursing and Rehabilitation Center behind their back fence and said that one of the residents is none other than our friend Faye Nell Monzingo. He goes to visit her about once a week. She has both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and can hardly stand up with a walker. I would like to go see her while we're in Tyler for the next month.

We stopped at Tyler State Park on the way back home to walk. The office was closed, so we'll have to ask next visit for a trails map. Today we drove back to the Big Pine campground, where we've stayed before in our Excel. We walked around the campground and on the trail across the dam and into the woods. Read more!

On to Tyler: Lion's RV Park

This morning we prepared to hook up and move. Then we went for a final walk around the neighborhood--and to the Sunbeam Bakery Discount Store to take advantage of their Wednesday Senior Day. We got a loaf of Nature's Own whole wheat bread free with our purchase of Nature's Own Whole Wheat bagels for one dollar. Such a deal.

We had been concerned about all the recent rain storms leaving the ground very soft and muddy, but fortunately yesterday was dry and sunny, so we had no problem pulling out of our site at the VFW. We went to Love's to dump our tanks and then on to Lyons Propane to fill our outer propane tank. Then we were ready to hit the road.

Our trip to the Lion's RV Park north of Tyler was just under 100 miles. We arrived at 3:30 p.m. The park is out in the country, on a Farm to Market road which is pretty well traveled. The manager offered us our choice of five sites, but only one was in a desirable spot and had a view of the southern sky for the DirecTV dish. We have a tree and a picnic table and a partial view of the small private lake.

This will be our home for the next month. Although the park has a Tyler address, it's closer to the small town of Lindale. Tomorrow we'll drive the 17 miles to Dick and Carol's house to wish Carol a happy birthday. Read more!

Last Day

David Briggs, my ex-nephew, came by to see me for the first time in many years. He was in Nacogdoches to visit his twelve-year-old son, Justin. Dave prefers to be called Bender these days, in honor of his profession as a balloon man extraordinaire. He joined us in a walk around the neighborhood, and we caught up on what has been going on in our lives.

When Sam was done with his homework, we played Chicken Cha Cha Cha (colloquially known as "The poopy chicken game." It's a memory game, and I was doing so poorly that Sam helped me out. My short term memory is definitely not what it used to be.

This evening we went to Angelina College for a program titled Celebrate America that included the chamber wind band and the AC Chorale.

One of the highlights of the program was Native American flutist named Ryan Harjo, a Creek Indian from Livingston, Texas, who played Shenandoah.

Back at the house we packed up our things and hugged everyone goodbye. Read more!

Stormy Night

We were awakened in the early morning hours by the klaxon of a severe weather alert on our phones. The warning was about flash flooding, and we're on relatively high ground, so we turned over and tried to go back to sleep, listening to the heavy downpour, wind, and thunder. When we got up in the morning, I found a text from Ed: their house had flooded.

Julie organized the cleanup with help from their landlady, who sent a couple of workers to help out. They hung the area rug from the dining room over the fence to dry. Julie wedged some folding chairs under the rug in the living room, which was wet in only the one corner.

The kids were out of school for the day because of the storm too. St. Patrick's school had no electricity. Read more!

Earth Day at the Zoo

We took the kids to the zoo again today, this time to celebrate Earth Day.

We got a map with lots of stations marked on it with conservation and animal awareness crafts and activities. We got to see lots of the animals again too. The lemurs were making a raucous noise.

Grandpa Ken was kept busy making photos of the events.

This photo was published on the Ellen Trout Zoo Facebook page!

Making bead necklaces from magazine pages

Smiling for the camera!

Painting with pine needle brushes

It's a Nene, Hawaii's official state bird.

"Bears" in the bear maze, looking for food during each season of the year.

Bears crossing a highway have to watch out for cars. Our "bears" have to watch out for flying beach balls. Jesse was a casualty!


Is your hand as big as a bear paw???

This class studied butterflies and are now helping to educate other kids about butterfly life cycles.

Making bird feeders with peanut butter and seeds.

Tired and hungry, we headed home for lunch. Then at 3:00 p.m. Sam had a birthday skating party. His sister and brother joined in, and a good time was had by all.

After dinner we went back over to visit and play a game. Ed and Sam and Jesse and I played Monopoly Jr. Sam won!




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Million Dollar Quartet

Ed and Julie took us to a performance of Million Dollar Quartet at Angelina College, put on by the Angelina Arts Alliance. We had fifth row center seats for a high energy evening. The show was underwritten by the Loving Auto Group and the Brookshire Brothers Charitable Foundation. Ed was able to get four tickets as an employee of Loving Honda. We wished that more had been available so the kids could have come too, but they enjoyed staying with Papa John.



Cate is spending the night at Papa John's to be ready to leave very early tomorrow morning for San Antonio for the fifth grade class field trip.

Earlier today we managed to close up and move the rig to Love's Travel Stop to dump the tanks. We had been concerned because the heavy rainstorm a couple of days ago saturated the ground. It was sunny yesterday and today, which definitely helped, but we still dug some pretty deep ruts in the muddy grass. We were very glad to be back in our site with mission accomplished! Read more!

Visiting the Ellen Trout Zoo

We went back to the Ellen Trout Zoo today, this time taking Ed and Julie along too. It's a nice sized little zoo, with lots of greenery and shade, and many nice habitats.

We saw lots of peacocks displaying for the peahens and making a racket. We watched a male displaying at very short range. His display included making a clicking sound with his plumes as they were spread out.

Sam and Jesse both liked the tapir, as did I. Very odd looking face. Cate liked the tiger. We all enjoyed the giraffes.

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Big Hero 6

We finally got the bikes down today and headed out for a ride in the neighborhood. Of course when we passed a garage sale, we had to stop. It turned out to be an estate sale. We looked at a lot of things, but we successfully resisted collecting stuff we don't really need. We ended up buying only a roll of masking tape.

It's fortunate that we got out on the bikes this morning, because the weather deteriorated later. It's been raining on and off, with occasional thunder.

This evening we joined Ed and Julie and the kids at St. Patrick School for a showing of Big Hero 6. It was a fundraiser for the middle school field trip to San Antonio, which Cate will be part of. She helped set up and run the concession stand.

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Cate Turns Eleven!

It was eleven years ago today that I flew to Dallas and was picked up by Blake's mom, Jan McBride, and rushed to a certain labor and delivery room where Catherine Elizabeth Shaffer was about to enter the world. Her first moments were among the most thoroughly documented events in world history. Her proud father was getting everything down on video. It was an exciting day.

Fast forward eleven years, and today is another exciting one, because we're celebrating Cate's eleventh birthday.

Cate's birthday dinner was at the Cafe del Rio, a popular Tex-Mex restaurant.

Earlier today we decided to explore Lufkin's Azalea Trail. It's a 1.9 mile path that winds along a creek and through the forest from the Kiwanis Park to the Grace Dunne Richardson Park. It is asphalt all the way and an easy trail, except for one dip under the highway. That's not a problem for us on foot, but might be on our bikes.

Most of the spring azaleas are past blooming, but a few still grace the path.

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Sunday

We went over to visit again after our brunch and walk. Ed rescreened a screen door, with Ken's help. Adzi had torn the top completely up trying to get in the house. Ed added a complete layer of heavy metal mesh on the outside of the screen: guaranteed to stop Adzi (we hope).

Ed and Cate and Ken and I played a game of Ticket to Ride, the deluxe anniversary edition we gave him for his birthday. It has little tins to hold the trains, which are much more detailed than in the basic version. It also incorporates some of the 1910 version trips and rules. Ed beat us all by quite a bit (he had both longest train and globetrotter). I was a distant fourth.

Jesse was very proud of the array of planets hanging from the ceiling over his top bunk. He is very enthusiastic about astronomy and space exploration, so of course he knows the names of all the planets. He's a traditionalist--still including Pluto.

Cate will be going to Dallas in May to compete in the Private School Interscholastic competition in the spelling bee.

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Lufkin Visiting

We made it from Austin to Lufkin yesterday and set up in the field behind the VFW hall. This time we even got 50 amp electricity (always good if we plan to run two air conditioners at once, or a microwave and air conditioner). Post commander Al Navarro came out to make sure we had everything we needed. He and a couple of helpers figured out how to turn on the main water valve for our row of hookups.

Today we went over to Ed and Julie's house. Both of them were out working, so we got to spend some quality time with Cate and Sam and Jesse. They hugged us and took us on a tour of the house, eager to show us their rooms and the rest of the house.

Sam was very excited to tell us all about the juggling/comedy show they attended last night.

Sam watching a screen

Sweet Jesse!

Cate reading

When Julie came home, we left to spend the afternoon resting and recuperating, especially me. Ken is  much better. We went over to visit after dinner again. They presented us with our belated Christmas presents,  a shiny red Starbucks stainless steel straw cup and for me some cute slipper socks, [photos later] Read more!

Visiting Loretta

I started out this morning driving to a Target parking lot to leave the truck. Loretta picked me up (that big gold truck is easy to spot), and she drove to the Texas Rowing Center on Lady Bird Lake. She kayaks weekly with the 60+ Keeping it Fun group. John usually comes along, but this time he decided to give Loretta and me plenty of time to talk.

We kayaked for almost two hours with a really friendly and helpful group. It's been a while since the last time I kayaked any distance, so I was very glad of the support.

After the kayaking, we went back to the car to get our picnic lunches.

Afterward we had a leisurely stroll on the trail around the lake. Occasionally mountain bikers whizzed by, but we managed to dodge them. When we finished the hike, MapMyHike said that we had hiked 4.11 miles in an hour and a half. We needed to get started on the drive back to the Target and to home before the worst of the rush hour traffic, so we reluctantly walked back to the car.

I went into the Target to get some applesauce and chicken soup for Ken. Although he is better, he's definitely not well. By the time I got home, I wasn't feeling very good myself. Maybe Ken's ailment isn't food poisoning, but instead something communicable. Thanks, Ken! Pretty soon I was feeling quite wretched. Read more!

On to McKinney Falls

We had an uneventful trip to Austin and arrived at McKinney Falls around 12:30 p.m. Check-in time is 2:00 p.m., but they will let you in early if space is available. We're in site #9, a really nice long pull thru.

Along the way we saw banks of Texas bluebonnets, including some gorgeous ones in the park, and lots of yellow and orange wildflowers. It's been very warm and sunny, but we're expecting rain and clouds later in the week.

Tomorrow I've made plans to join Loretta in her weekly kayak paddle and a picnic lunch and hike around Town Lake. I'm looking forward to all of that, but especially seeing Loretta.

Unfortunately, Ken has been ill today, probably with food poisoning from some bad grapefruit. He's feeling much better tonight, but still tired and not quite up to snuff. We're hoping he'll feel better by morning. Read more!

On the Road Again!

We hitched up this morning to begin our journey north. As we waved goodbye to the Rio Grande Valley, our home for the last four and a half months. As usual, we feel a bit rusty at the towing and traveling skills but excited to be on the road again. As we head out from any stay, we play Willie Nelson's On the Road Again and remember the call of the open road.

Along the way today we saw lots of wildflowers, fields full of yellow and orange and magenta. Then we finally saw some beautiful expanses of Texas bluebonnets, always a spectacular sight.

Tonight we're at the Walmart parking lot in Pleasanton, TX, where we stayed last spring. Tomorrow we'll head north to Austin where we have reservations at McKinney Falls State Park. Read more!

Exciting Show

While we were out on our walk around the park today, we spotted this disaster. The owner had tried to back across a grassy area to get to a 220v plug in order to do some welding at the rear of the coach. Big mistake! The driver side rear wheels were sunk up to the hubcaps, and the side panels were resting on the ground.



After a bit, a huge tow truck arrived. We could hardly believe that these people would be able to extricate the motor home without doing major damage. However, they did it! These folks are professionals. They used a wide fabric band and some chains in addition to the tow cable. We and the rest of the audience were warned to stay back in case the cable snapped.

It didn't, and the coach rose smoothly and quickly from the hole it had fallen into. The coach wheel had broken through the soil overlying a septic tank.

The show was over. It looked like the only damage was to a side panel access door behind the wheels, though there may be more damage to the undercarriage. We didn't stick around.

Read more!