Another Early Morning

We got up early again this morning so we could take our walk before heading over to the CARE Center to help Carl with the noon meal. It was chilly, so we walked fast, but we did stop to listen to and watch a plump, cheery songbird, a kind we didn't recognize. It seemed to be putting on a show for us.

When we arrived for our assignment, Carl was preparing meatloaf, mashed potatoes, brown gravy, lima beans, and corn. We got to fix the big salad. Carl added a sugar free cherry cobbler, sugar free peaches, and cake as dessert choices. He also put a chicken in the oven for those who didn't eat red meat.

We had a full house for dinner, so every bit of the meatloaf, potatoes, and veggies was eaten. One guy (not a resident) came in 45 minutes after the noon hour, famished and begging for food. He ended up with peaches and cottage cheese, salad, and bread and butter.

Ken took some photos today of our fellow volunteers.

Jacalyn and Brad Dacles

Mary and Vern  Miller

Shirley and Al Coleman

Bob Maybee exhorts volunteers

On our evening walk we remembered to take some photos, too.

Put it to bed for the night???

Escapees' big red truck!

Cute dog is the first we've seen at the dog park

Nice dog park!

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Root Beer Floats

We finished our on-call assignment by showing up this morning at 6:45 a.m. as directed. On Fridays  the cook prepares the "Big Breakfast," so the morning kitchen people are asked to come in at 6:30 a.m. They had made the coffee and put out the tea and water and ice and juice, etc. The housekeeper had already folded and put away the kitchen laundry. The receptionist told us that it's her job to check people in and collect the money (everyone pays for the Big Breakfast). So our assignment came down to unlocking the building at 7:20 a.m. and turning off the porch lights. We could have slept another half hour! We told the coordinator we would come back after folks had left to wipe up the tables and chairs, but he said the staff would do that.

So we checked the driving schedule--no assignments. Our next assignment was to help in the kitchen for the evening meal. That means arriving at 4:00 p.m. on some days--but not this day. Ken decided to read over the volunteer manual, and suddenly he said, "We have to go over at 2:10 p.m. to help with root beer floats"--that's a Friday afternoon tradition here. Fortunately we had an hour before we had to show up.
We walked in through the multipurpose room, where a group was playing Bingo, and went to the kitchen. Joe had already started handing out floats to the early birds. We took over the job. I scooped the ice cream and Ken poured the root beer. We had regular and sugar free ice cream and regular and diet root beer, so one of the challenges was to keep straight which was which and who wanted what. When the Bingo game broke up, the crowd arrived, and we were busy for a while. When everyone had been served, we had our own floats--a perk of the job 8-)

The weekend and evening cook, Carl, has been on vacation, so the volunteers have been doing lots of cooking. Today he was back at work, for which we were grateful, since otherwise we'd have had to cook. He made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. He certainly knows his way around a kitchen. We heard that he had cooked for years on offshore oil rigs.

Tonight I finally got around to checking my old computer for any files I might still need from it. Then I ran the recovery program, which wipes the computer clean and restores it to its original state, so now it's ready to put on Craigslist when we get back to Dallas.

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Driving

We started the day at our 8:00 a.m. volunteer meeting. One of the other couples was unlucky enough to have today as their day off--some day off! After the meeting, Ken went to check out the red Dodge minivan he would use to drive some of the residents to the doctor.

The rest of us, plus some other helpers, stuffed weekend backpacks for schoolkids on food assistance programs. In each backpack we put two individual servings of cereal, two small cartons of milk, some cans of ravioli and beans and corn, some pudding, and some canned fruit. The idea is to provide these kids with something to eat over the weekend. We packed 50 backpacks for delivery to a local school. We had a real assembly line going, and everyone had fun.

One of the residents scheduled for Ken's van had fallen during the night, and the EMTs were called out to assist him, so Ken ended up with two passengers. He drove them to a doctor's office near the new hospital. When the woman was finished with her appointment, the man was still in the waiting room, so Ken drove the woman home and went back to pick up the man. Fortunately, this is a small town, so the drives weren't very long. By the time he and his second passenger returned, they nearly missed lunchtime.

Ken and I ate at home and then went for our "morning" walk (by now it was 1:00 p.m.). We decided to try again to get propane, but we unfortunately forgot that the propane department was closed from 1:00 to 2:00 for lunch. Sigh.

Then we spent some time culling our Grand Tetons photos before going back to the Red Barn a third time at 2:30 p.m. Third time was a charm, so now we have a full propane bottle backup.

We were due for our evening on-call assignment at 5:00 p.m., so we got everything ready to finish fixing dinner when we had a break. We went back to clean up the dining room and then again at 9:00 p.m. to close up for the day.
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A Day Off!

Today was our first day off. We gratefully slept in and had a leisurely brunch. Our walk took us outside Rainbow's End. Ken snapped a couple of photos.

Inviting homesite in the trees

Pony!

 

Then we set out on some of our errands. We loaded our empty propane tank in the truck bed and drove first to Kwik Lube to get a new Texas State Inspection sticker for the truck. There was a line and a predicted wait of half an hour, so we moved on.

It turned out the next place on our list was Moore Auto Sales, right across from Walmart, so I stopped in Walmart to return some things while Ken went to get the inspection done. The timing worked well. I was just picking up a new fire extinguisher to replace the outdated one we had bought last week when Ken called to say we had passed the "inspection" (they hadn't actually checked much).

Next we stopped at the Murphy Memorial Library, where we checked out some videos and books. Then we went on to Brookshires, where we got some really good mahi-mahi and salmon. On the way home we stopped at the Red Barn for propane, only to find that the propane department is now closed on Wednesdays. Good thing we have another tank which is nearly full!
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Did I Mention That We're Tired?

Today we had 8:30 kitchen duty. We made a giant bowl of cole slaw, fortunately with the help of a Kitchen Aid food processor. Ken cut up a big bowl of fruit for the sugar free dessert. With one thing and another, we were busy until our shift ended at 1:30 p.m. and we went home for lunch.

We were on the driver availability list this afternoon, but got no assignments, so we heaved a sigh of relief and enjoyed the prospect of a free evening and a day off tomorrow. Yay! Read more!

Another Full Day

We started the morning by arriving at the CARE Center at 6:45 a.m. to complete our on-call duties. When we were relieved by the 8:30 kitchen team's arrival, we took our walk and then decided to get some shopping done.

First we stopped at West RV and picked up some replacement halogen bulbs and an extra awning wand. Next we stopped at Valero for diesel and then the Ace Hardware store. We went on to Walmart where Ken got a replacement for his lost Swiss Army knife and we picked up an HDMI cable so we could look at our photos from the laptop on the TV. Then on to Lowe's for some white coax cable (we saw another camper using it and noticed how well it stands out on the ground, so there's less danger of tripping over it).

While we were out, we got a call from the CARE Center with an assignment to take one of the residents, to the hospital for a checkup after a fall. Oh, no! We were on the driver availability list and forgot to tell the coordinator that we were leaving the grounds. He said he'd find someone else (thanks, Brad!).

We got home in time for the noon meal, which was cranberry chicken. I'd had my doubts when I saw Bobbi starting to prepare the chicken in the morning. The first thing she added was French dressing. It tasted good and the chicken was moist. We sat with a couple from the park. It turned out that he had worked for aerospace companies in SoCal, so he and Ken had something to talk about.

We had a brief break before arriving at 2:30 p.m. to start our kitchen duty. On Monday and Tuesday evenings, the volunteers prepare the evening meal. The menu called for fruit plate, and Ken turned out a beautiful platter of fruit. We also made brown rice to serve with some leftover sweet and sour pork and banana pudding (regular and sugar free). I mixed up some vanilla yogurt (again, regular and sugar free) to go with the fruit. Shirley offered to help with the serving, and everything went well, except that towards the end, we started to run out of fruit, so we had to rush some more fruit prep. Everyone ended up happy, and all the food was gone, making it easier to clean up.

When we left the CARE Center after cleaning up, setting out breakfast, and starting the kitchen laundry, it was after 6:30 p.m. and we were tuckered out. We ate a light supper and walked and then decided to watch another Masterpiece Mystery episode (we're several episodes behind on the TIVO). Read more!

On Call

Today was our first "On Call" assignment. Basically the on-call team responds to problems and emergencies that may arise, answers the phone, secures the building at night and opens it in the morning. At each meal, the on-call team keeps track of who eats and collects payment from guests. In the morning, the team records as residents call in which meals they play to be at. If someone doesn't call in by 10 a.m. (and they haven't been in for breakfast), the team has to try to contact them to be sure they are okay. Most times they have just forgotten to call.

After meals, the team cleans up the dining room. On weekends the team has additional responsibilities, like taking out the trash and vacuuming and cleaning the hallway and traffic areas of the multipurpose room. For newbies like us, it can seem a bit overwhelming, but we're sure we'll have it down after a couple of times.

By the time we finally hung up our hats for the day, I was exhausted and could hardly keep my eyes open. Read more!

Cooking at Cafe CARE

Today we had kitchen duty for the noon meal, so we had to be at work by 8:30 a.m. The weekend and evening cook is still on vacation, so guess what? We got to cook dinner for 35. The menu was pork loin, but we had to figure out how to cook it and what side dishes to serve. Fortunately, we had the help of one of the more experienced volunteers.

I found an interesting recipe on the web for roast pork loin with a spiced cranberry sauce. Everyone was happy with the meal, and after four hours on our feet, we got to eat before cleaning up the kitchen.

Shirley and Al Coleman in the foreground: Shirley was our advisor/helper in the kitchen.

We had no driving assignments this afternoon, so we took advantage of the break to get our laundry done.
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October 1--Official Start of Our Volunteer Month

Today didn't start too auspiciously: Ken was up in the middle of the night with severe abdominal pain, and we almost decided to go to the emergency room. Fortunately a pain pill eased the pain while his body recovered a bit. Though he remained under the weather all day, he decided he was going to live.

I managed to get a bit of rest before heading over to the CARE Center at 6:30 a.m. to help with "the Big Breakfast." Every Friday Bobbie fixes eggs to order, bacon, sausage, grits, biscuits, gravy, and hashbrowns. My job was mainly to help serve, and a steady stream of people showed up.

When things had died down around 8:20, I left to see how Ken was doing. He was actually up and getting dressed, so we ate a quick breakfast and went over to our 9:00 a.m. volunteer orientation session, which was a run-through of the "On Call" job and emergency response. After the two hour session, we took a brief stroll, since Ken wasn't up to our regular walk. Then he was ready for a nap before lunch.

The noon menu included some yummy looking bread pudding (one of my favorites) with lemon sauce. I got a to-go box with a large salad and two pieces of the bread pudding for us to have after lunch. Ken was ready for another nap, and I decided to lie down too and try to catch up on my lost sleep.

Tomorrow it all starts over again with an 8:30 kitchen assignment. They promise us it does get better!
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Expect Change

We went in this morning for the 8:00 a.m. volunteer meeting and guess what? Thinkgs have changed again 8-) Suddenly we weren't driving today. Instead we were scheduled for the 4:00 p.m. kitchen duty. It turns out that one of the couples will not be able to make it, so the schedule was completely reworked.

So, figuring we were free until 4:00 p.m., we headed out on our morning walk. We went over to the Escapees campground office, where they sell Escapees merchandise, to pick up a lanyard. Some of the other folks here wear them: it simplifies putting on your name badge along with a CARE Volunteer badge and a CARE bear.

We were on our way back home when my phone rang. It was Dan (the volunteer coordinator) calling to say that the lady who was supposed to come in today to do the residents' laundry would not be available and asking us to do the job. I told him we had to make a quick trip to the grocery store and we'd be right over.

Fortunately the housekeeper, Lesley, had actually collected and started some of the laundry. She went and picked up some more, so we had plenty to do, especially keeping track of whose laundry was where and how they wanted it done. Some want their clothing on hangers; others want it all folded. There were several special requests. We were making pretty good progress when we found out that there was one more resident who needed her laundry done. Her file card had not been pinned in the Thursday section of the bulletin board.

Another complication is that the machines have to be sanitized between residents, which means running an entire cycle with a sanitizer, plus one of the three dryers isn't working. We were definitely finding it a challenge, but (mostly) keeping things running smoothly, when Myrna, Dan's wife, showed up to take over and sent us home to rest up before our 4:00 p.m. assignment. (Thanks, Myrna!)

We were back over at CARE to help with the evening meal and cleanup. The good part is that we got to eat crawfish etouffee over rice with salad and banana pudding before we had to go help with the cleanup.

Friday mornings are special at CARE. Bobbie fixes a big breakfast, and lots of outsiders come to eat. She gets in very early to start. We don't have to be over there until 6:30 a.m.!
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TIRED!!!

We started early this morning so we could shadow Brad and Jacalyn, who were assigned to 8:30 kitchen duty. Dan diverted Jacalyn to doing residents' laundry, so Brad got the job of teaching us the ropes. We were on our feet from the time we arrived until we sat down briefly to eat lunch before jumping back up again to clean up.

We met Bobbie, the cook, and Calvin, her husband and assistant, who were already hard at work preparing the noon meal. They were very kind and helpful to us newbies. Joe, who is in charge of dishwashing, also took the time to teach us and to give us encouragement.

I found out that Joe is also a barber from way back and cuts hair for the CARE residents, volunteers, and Rainbow's End residents, as well as some community people, so I made an appointment for right after our shift ended to get my shaggy mane trimmed. Joe did an excellent job--and threw in a scalp massage to boot!

During the break between lunch cleanup and showing up to help with supper, Ken went over to talk with Bud and Pearl. He's driving them to Kingwood for a doctor's appointment tomorrow. At 4:00 p.m. we went back to work. More like...we dragged ourselves back over to work. I ran into Dan, the volunteer coordinator. When he saw how tired I was, he suggested that we not stick around for the whole shift. Supper is a more lightly attended meal, and they had it covered, so we stayed to help with prep and serving and then headed home.
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Volunteers!

We went to our first volunteer orientation today. It started at 1:00 p.m., so we thought we'd have plenty of time to pick up our mail afterwards (the mail window is open 1-4). Wrong! We finished up around 4:20 p.m. and needed to be back at the CARE Center by 5:00 p.m. to shadow the on call volunteers. We only had time for a quick salad and deep breath before heading back to the Center.

5:00 p.m. is the evening meal time from Monday through Saturday. The on call volunteers keep a record of who is there for the meal and generally help out in the dining room. They also get to eat if they wish. Tonight the menu was pizza and dessert. After the meal we were watching the folks in the kitchen, and they asked us to come in and watch what they were doing. Before we knew it, we were washing dishes. The idea is to learn by doing! We earned our little Care Bears today.

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Tyler to Livingston

We got up this morning excited to be opening a new chapter in our RV adventures, but first we realized we had forgotten to take a photo of our site at 5 Star RV Resort in Tyler, so here it is:

Our site at 5 Star RV Resort in Tyler was pretty basic.

As you can see, we had already started getting Venture ready for today's trip. We decided to take our morning walk around another part of the "trail" shown on the park map. As we started out, the owner stopped by on his golf cart to give us some advice. He said that he had some arrows ready to put up to direct people along the trail, but they aren't up yet. We did manage to have a nice walk in the woods. It was cool, so for the first time in many weeks, we wore our jackets on the walk.

We left for Rainbow's End around 9:40 a.m. for the 150 mile trip. We made a couple of stops to change drivers and to check out a produce stand. We were disappointed that our Verizon cell and data service were very spotty along the way. At one point I realized I had a voicemail, but I had to wait for a while to retrieve it, since we had no cell service. When I got the message, it was from Dan Duryea, the volunteer coordinator at CARE. He was calling to let us know that a space was already available for us in the CARE volunteer area, since they only had two teams of volunteers in September.

That made it easier for us. We had expected to stay in one of the regular campsites until our volunteer month started on Friday. There are seven volunteer sites, all in a row behind the CARE Center, and we chose one in the middle, site #39.

View of Venture in site #39, looking toward the back of the CARE Center.

Looking towards the south.

After we had lunch and got set up, we read over the new volunteer manual (extensive and very detailed)--most of which we'll have to read over many times. Then we went over to talk to Dan and find out our assignments. He talked with us for a while and gave us our "Care Bears."

We have a volunteer meeting tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. at which we'll learn lots more, we're sure. Meanwhile we walked around and met lots of nice people. One was a resident in a wheelchair who told us (cheerfully) that he was in a bad mood!
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Last Day in Tyler

Today was our last day in Tyler. We took the opportunity this morning to walk the trail and see the little pond. The trail wasn't much, but there was a swing by the pond, which actually had a few lily pads with blossoms.

We went over to Dick and Carol's afterward and ate the rest of our pizza from yesterday (still good) and more pumpkin custard (definitely still yummy!). Then Carol and I went shopping for a new swing set while Dick and Ken stayed home and watched the Dallas-Houston game.

We went first to Atwood's Ranch and Home Store, where we found only one swing set that didn't look too appealing. However, while looking for the swing set, Carol came upon a porch glider for a good price. She'd been looking for one since the tree the swing was hanging from fell down, so she decided to buy it. A store employee helped us load it in the back seat of the truck.

Then we drove to Spring Creek RV Resort to check it out. The sites were larger than the ones where we are now, and the parked looked more appealing and shady than this one, so we'll give it a try the next time we are in Tyler.

After a quick stop to pick up some groceries, we headed next to ToysRUs, which had advertised a wooden playset marked down. They had two left, so Carol grabbed one. Again a store employee helped us load it up, but this time the packages were *much* larger and heavier. They fit well in the truck bed, and Carol got Robert and some neighbors to help unload everything at home.

We got there in time to finish fixing the lasagna (Ken had done some of the preliminaries while we shopped). Debbie and family came over for dinner and games. Ken fixed salads. Carol had made brown bread, and we had pumpkin custard with ice cream for dessert.

Little Sam has grown quite a bit since we saw him last. He's a very smiley baby. While we were playing Rummikub, he was jumping in his jumper and put himself to sleep:

We finished the evening off by playing a few rounds of Boggle. A good time was had by all.
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Garage Sales and Blues Brothers

This morning Carol and I got to have some fun going to garage sales together. It's always interesting to see what finds are out there. There weren't very many sales, but both of us got some good bargains and had a good time looking.

Ken came over a little after 10:00 bringing laundry to do. Mostly we just hung around and talked. In the afternoon Carol and I did some grocery shopping and looking at swing sets.

After dinner tonight we watched one of my "finds"--a DVD of the original Blues Brothers movie. I hadn't seen it in many years, and the others had never seen it. A lot of the special effects are a bit dated (the movie came out in 1980), but the movie was still very funny (although some scenes run a bit long). I really enjoyed the original blues music, including performances by Ray Charles, Cab Calloway, and Aretha Franklin.
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On to Tyler

Our time at Brushy Creek has come to an end. We took our final walk around the campground and saw all the new weekend campers, including a large church group and several boaters. Then we were off to Tyler and new adventures. We are staying at 5 Star RV Park, just south of I-20. It's pretty basic: full hookups and a place to park. Unfortunately it's also been a bit noisy and the pet owners don't necessarily clean up after their dogs.

Around 5:00 p.m. we drove over to Dick and Carol's. It was great to see them again, as always.

They took us out to dinner at Bernard's Mediterranean Restaurant for my birthday. Bernard's is an upscale place featuring Greek and French cuisine. Ken and I shared a pasta dish, Ravioli St. Tropez (cheese ravioli, served in a sun dried tomato with baby shrimp and crab meat). It was delicious, and so was the fresh hot bread and olive tapenade.

The ambience and service were quite good. Here you can see the black napkin the server swooped in to trade for Ken's white one, to avoid the possibility of lint!

After dinner we had a chance to play Rummikub, which Carol had received as a 70th birthday gift. Dick won the first round, and Ken won the second.
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Getting Ready to Move

We're getting ready to move tomorrow, so today we got some chores done. Ken checked all the tire pressures and added air to the trailer tires. We made a new cover for our small propane tank and gas can, which sit in the truck bed in a rectangular milk carton. The old cover had shredded in the wind. I did some cleaning and organizing.

This evening we took another short hike marked on the map given to us by the Corps of Engineers guy. Again it was on a hunting road, but this one has clearly fallen into disuse. We had to wade through weeds and climb over a fallen tree. We did see one deer along the way. It was very near dark, and the road was not easy to see in some places, so we had some sense of victory when we emerged unscathed from the woods.
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Short Hike and a Trip to Jefferson

This morning after breakfast we set out on a short hike in Brushy Creek, actually along a hunting road. We had walked in part way a couple of days ago and finally got a map yesterday.

The Corps of Engineers guy who gave us the map told us that the "trail" is really a hunting road maintained for a special annual hunt. It's for disabled hunters, and there are several "Wildlife Feeding Plots" along the way, including this one, which also has a blind.

It's a good thing we had the map, because we came to a T in the road at which we would not have known which way to go without the map.

We emerged successfully back onto the road we had started on, but up towards the entrance. The entire trip was only just over two miles. We heard but didn't see many birds (except for buzzards and crows). We did spot a couple of deer.

We did some trip planning for a while before lunch. Then after lunch we drove to Jefferson to see what we could see. It's a quaint small town with lots of antique stores, so we browsed lots of antiques and miscellany. One store was called "Granny Had It." I recognized many of the items in the stores from my childhood. Suddenly it came to me that I was now Granny! We stopped at the City Drug, known for its soda fountain, in operation since 1953. We had a hot fudge sundae and a chocolate milkshake, both made from Blue Bell ice cream and quite authentic tasting!

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Cabin Fever

We got a bit of cabin fever today, so we decided to make a trip out to see more of Lake ‘O the Pines. We stopped at the Corps of Engineers Project Office to see if they had any maps of hiking trails. The folks there were very friendly and helpful. Although they said they don’t really have any hiking trails, they did offer us some maps of the hunting access roads that the one guy had hand drawn. They also gave us a Texas road map—yay! We really needed a new one.

We checked out the Buckhorn Campground, the next one north on the lake from Brushy Creek. It's a nice campground--but not as nice as Brushy Creek. If we stay in this area again, we'll probably come back to Brushy Creek. On the way back in to our campsite, Ken finally got to see some deer, and they conveniently posed for us.

Tonight we finally decided it was cool enough to enjoy a campfire--and it was, if we put our chairs back far enough! We did enjoy the chance to sit out and watch the flickering flames.
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Progress!

We are happy to report that we have finished one stage of our photo project: all our photos from both our computers have been organized into one series organized by month. We've made a backup copy on a portable hard drive that we'll leave at Ed's house, and the master copy is on Ken's laptop. Yay! Now we can move on to doing more culling--and then adding captions, etc. Ken, of course, will continue to tweak photos.
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Another Big Move

Today was our big move—all the way from site 110 to site 130. In between we made a trip to the dump station to empty our tanks, so we’re all set for the next five nights here. Site 130 is a double site and faces the water, so we have a great view. I drove up to the gate to check out and check in, and on the way back I finally saw a deer, just as it disappeared into the woods.

We grilled some chicken and ate dinner at our picnic table (actually, one of our picnic tables), looking out over the lake and watching the boaters. After dinner we walked down to the boat ramp to watch the sunset before taking our evening walk.

The weekenders have left, so the campground is quiet and peaceful.
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Visiting Marshall, TX

We made a trip to Marshall today to do our laundry and shopping and get diesel. As usual, we tried to locate a laundromat using the Maps program on our Droids, and it sent us on a wild goose chase. The first place was a regular laundry, and closed on Saturday afternoons to boot. The next two places didn't exist. Finally we identified another laundromat on Superpages and headed towards it with some trepidation. Finally, an open working laundromat! Success. And it had high efficiency machines too.

When we started out on our evening walk, we immediately noticed some raindrops. We hadn't expected rain--but we got a bit of a thunderstorm, so we cut our walk short.

We watched an episode of Masterpiece Mystery we had Tivoed. It turned out to be a repeat of one we had seen last year, but we didn't remember the murderer until near the end, so we watched it anyway. Read more!

Walk in the Woods

This morning we again took our walk first thing, before breakfast, to beat the heat. We headed for the hiking trail we had spotted last night. It turned out to be mainly what looked like a Jeep track. After a while we came upon a small clearing with a deer blind. Yikes! There must be hunting allowed pretty close to the campground. Fortunately it doesn't seem to be hunting season, but we didn't see any deer--nothing bigger than a squirrel. We heard birds singing and crows making a racket (they definitely don't sing!).

The trail didn't seem to be leading anywhere, so we turned around and walked back out. When we got home it was still pleasant, so we had breakfast outside. Later in the day it is too hot and humid to be comfortable outside. After breakfast we took our laptops out to the picnic table to review photos. We're working in one-hour stretches on harmonizing our photos.

Ken got the gas grill out. It's our new Weber that we've only used a few times. He likes the electronic ignition. He grilled some turkey burgers for supper. Read more!

Quiet Day

As we promised ourselves, we are taking some time out from visiting and sightseeing to just relax. This morning we took our morning walk before breakfast, before the heat could build up. One nice aspect to this campground is lots of shade, which also helps keep the walker cool.

We worked some more on our photos, hoping soon to get them all coordinated anyhow. Then we'll want to cull them and add captions and tags--it's a never ending occupation, but also good for our memories.

Tonight on our evening walk we were out after dark, and we spotted a hiking trail sign, at a place we had passed at least three times before without noticing it. We'll go explore there tomorrow in the daylight. Read more!

Exploring Brushy Creek

We walked around the campground this morning, checking out the sites and the lake. The Corps of Engineers has done their usual good job here, with well spaced sites terraced up from the lake. Each RV site has a paved pad, a concrete patio with an aluminum picnic table, a lantern hanger, and a fire pit. All have water and either 50 amp or 30 amp electric.

Some are pull-thrus, including site #130, the site we will move to next Sunday. It's also a double site. We didn't need a double site, but it was the only one left when we made our reservations. We'll appreciate the opportunity to move after five days, since that means we'll have a chance to dump our tanks.

The water went off this morning. Fortunately we had some in our freshwater tank, so we just had to turn the pump on. While we were out walking, we came upon these workers fixing the water supply.

We walked over to a remote group of tent sites, where we spotted this egret. We decided to sit down and watch it fishing for its breakfast, but it flew off.

After supper I decided to make some banana bread, so I got a chance to use my new bowls. They worked great!

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Move to Brushy Creek

Today turned out to be a rather long day. We got to bed late, so we decided to get up later than usual. It was after 11:00 a.m. when we pulled out of our campsite at Lake Park in Lewisville and headed east to camp at Lake of the Pines. Our first rest stop was at the Tanger Outlets. This is *not* the way to speed up your trip! We did find the silicone wine stoppers we were looking for.

Along the way our GPS and Droids didn't entirely agree on a route. At one point we stopped to check the map, and a lady stopped to help us out. Only she didn't know how to get where we wanted to go, but she was unwilling to admit it. "Let me see that map book!" she said. Finally she said we were headed the right direction and left. We started to see signs for Lake'O the Pines, which was very reassuring, but then we came to Tejas Rd., where our GPS said for us to turn--but no signs.... We came to a T in the road and stopped to regroup, and that's when another lady decided to *help* us.

She said, "Are you looking for the campground? That's the way to go." When I asked, dubiously, if we could get through, she said sure. So we proceeded, and the road continued to narrow among the pines. We came to a locked gate. The road continued, but we decided not to. So I turned around (keep in mind that we are about 50' long, so it wasn't a 3-point turn!). We went back out to the highway, and soon we came to the very welcome Corps of Engineers sign for Brushy Creek. Yay! When we pulled up at the campground entry kiosk, they said "Marks?" and welcomed us warmly.

The campground and lake looked so inviting that we relaxed and moved into our spot--easy access, nice paved pad, shade, but no trees in the way of the slides. Well, mostly not in the way. Ken's view out the dining table window is a bit obstructed by the large pine trunk about 8 inches from the window....

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Last Day in Lewisville

This morning Ken finally managed to have his upper GI and abdominal ultrasound. The results seemed encouraging--only a small hiatal hernia. While Ken was having his tests, I stopped over at Ed and Julie's briefly and caught these cute photos:

Then I took the Silverado in to a Chevy dealer to have a recall "service" performed. They permanently disabled the windshield washer fluid heater. This was the second recall on that item, which we never planned to use. In return, Chevy is supposed to send us $100 compensation.

After I picked Ken up at the hospital, we went back over to Ed and Julie's for a final visit, shower, and laundry.

Jesse loves Grandpa Ken's shoelaces!

We got home just in time to fix a quick supper before I returned to watch Jesse while Julie took the older kids to see Ramona and the Beezus. Ed left today for a business trip, and the kids miss him most the first evening he is gone, so the movie would make a good distraction.

This time it was much easier to get Jesse to sleep, mainly because I had learned a bit from watching Julie. I lay down on their bed with him, and he immediately started to relax. After just a little fussing, he was sound asleep.
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Sunday, Sunday

I was feeling much better this morning, finally. After brunch, we took our walk, ending up where the truck was parked, outside the campground. We drove the truck back to our campsite and then spent some time cleaning up and rearranging the truck box, putting the new oil in, etc. By the time I had finished that, I could have done the backstroke in my accumulated sweat! I had almost forgotten how oppressively hot and humid Texas can be in September.

It was afternoon by the time we were ready to head over to Ed and Julie's. Ed and Sam and I went to Costco, while Julie and Jesse went to Tom Thumb, and Ken and Cate stayed home. Costco had its usual weekend crowds, meaning we had to hunt for a parking space and fight our way through some of the aisles, but both Ed and I found plenty that looked good (Compari tomatoes, strawberries, whole grain bread, chicken, and more). Sam had a little nap in the cart, with his head cushioned by my reusable shopping bags, but woke up when Ed pushed the cart into the cold produce room. Must have been a bit of a shock to find himself refrigerated! Sam was very proud to carry the receipt to the checker at the door, who joshed with him and drew a smiley face on the receipt.

Cate and Ken had been enjoyed the peace and chatting. Cate played some computer games and watched TV. Ken no doubt did some of the same.

Ed marinated and grilled some delicious chicken for dinner. I fixed some butternut squash, mashed with a little butter and cinnamon, that Jesse really liked.

After dinner Ed and Cate and Ken and I played Ingenious. Cate and Ed had played a two player game this morning, and Ed reported that the game board got closed off amazingly quickly. The other three players left me in the dust. Ken won by a hairsbreadth.

Sam and Cate pose with me and my birthday presents.

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Quality Time With the Grandkids

We always try to give Ed and Julie an opportunity for a "date night" while we're here. Tonight they finally had a chance to see Avatar in 3D--the special re-release with "never before seen" footage. They really enjoyed it--and the chance to get out together. We had fun with the kids. Cate was a big help. She made some hot chocolate, and Ken commented that she seemed to know where everything chocolate was in the house.

After a bit, Jesse got hungry and fussy, probably because of his emerging tooth. He ate the rest of his baby food Julie had set out, along with some baby finger food. When he ran out of interest in food, I changed him and got him to sleep. Sounds easy, huh? Jesse doesn't want to miss anything, and his teeth were bothering him, so keeping him calm and relaxed until he finally fell asleep meant I got to spend plenty of time baby cuddling, but not so much playing with the older kids.

By the time Jesse was asleep, they were ready for bed too. We got into pajamas and picked out books to read, and soon they were asleep too. That's about when Ken and I turned to each other and said, Avatar is a long movie. It started at 7:30 in Plano. Guess that means we walk into the campground tonight. The gates close at 11:00 p.m.

Since the weather was nice, that wasn't really a problem. When Ed walked in the door, he said he had expected to find us asleep in his bed and a note telling him and Julie to find a couch!

Here are some interesting vehicles parked in the campground. At first we thought the one was just a hippie van, but then we noticed the front window is painted and it's evidently being towed.

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Birthday Celebration

This morning we got up early so we could stop by the doctor's office on the way to the hospital for our tests. We dropped off an SASE for our lab results and a printout of "The ABCs of Providing the Initial Preventive Physical Examination" that I found on the web, which included the correct codes to bill Medicare for the physical (as well as the required elements, not all of which we got).

Chris and Annie called to sing Happy Birthday to me. It's always wonderful to hear their voices, but I wasn't feeling too well, so the conversation was short.

Then we went over to the hospital to check in for our tests. Ken was scheduled at 9:30 for an upper GI and an abdominal ultrasound, and I was scheduled at 10:45 for a mammogram and bone density test. We were standing at registration when we realized that a) I couldn't find my wallet with my ID and insurance cards and b) Ken was supposed to be NPO, but had forgotten and eaten breakfast. So he had to reschedule his tests (for next Monday) and we had to go home to get my wallet. When we got here, I realized that it had been in my purse all along, just in a zipper compartment I hadn't checked. At least I did get my tests done successfully.

We went over to Ed and Julie's (they live near the hospital) to wait for Park Place to call about the truck. Ken ended up going to get the truck, and I took a nap. Kelley came over in time to help with the kids while Ed and Julie went to a doctor appointment.

When they came home, we had pizza and salads for dinner and then I got to open my presents. Cate gave me a ring with a jewel on it, and Julie had knitted a scarf for me. Terri sent some silicone bowls I had on my wish list, and Chris sent an Ingenious game. He and Annie and Ken and I had played it while we were in Yellowstone this summer. It's a tile laying game with some "ingenious" twists.

Kelley had baked a pineapple cake and Ken got a frozen mud pie, so I got to blow out two candles (glad it wasn't 65!). After cake and ice cream we played Ingenious. Sam was "helping" his dad, so Ed didn't get to see his tiles much. Cate and Kelley played together, and Ken and I played. Ed almost won, with five of his six colors ingenioused, but then he didn't draw the right tiles. Cate ended up sneaking past all of us, so her team won.
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Lee's (Un)Birthday

Today was my 65th birthday, but I was a pretty sick cookie, so we decided to make it my unbirthday and celebrate tomorrow instead. I definitely had a fever and overall aches, etc., as well as a very painful arm where I got the pneumonia and tetanus shots. Tomorrow is sure to be a better day.

I did get lots of birthday greetings (phone calls, ecards and Facebook postings), so I know a lot of people are thinking about me. Thanks, everyone!
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Welcome to Medicare!

This morning we got up early to find it still raining heavily outside, as it had all night, so we didn't get a morning walk. What we did was head over to Flower Mound for our appointments for our one-time-only Welcome to Medicare Physicals. We got there a bit early for our 8:00 a.m. appointments, an achievement in itself for us.

The experience was not as satisfying as we had hoped. The office staff appeared never to have heard of the Welcome to Medicare physical, despite my having specifically made an appointment for it. Neither the doctor nor the staff seemed at all concerned. They generally thought Medicare wouldn't pay for the tests we got, but their only response was to get us to sign two copies of forms indicating that we would pay if Medicare didn't. Sheesh!

Neither of us cared for the doctor. She seemed to us to have a breezy manner that waved off our concerns. She didn't listen well at all. For example, I asked for three vaccines (flu, pneumonia, and tetanus). She asked the nurse to give me the pneumonia shot. I asked about the flu and tetanus. The nurse came back in after a while and gave me a flu shot and asked if I had talked to the doctor about the tetanus shot. You get the picture.

For both Ken and me she changed medications without any explanation at all of why the new ones would be better. We did both get blood work done and EKGs. She referred me for a mammogram and bone density test, and she referred Ken for an upper GI and abdominal ultrasound (in case his gall bladder might be involved in his acid reflux). Fortunately we were able to schedule all the tests this Friday morning.

Welcome to Medicare, indeed! We're thinking we'll try again to find a doctor in the Rio Grande Valley, where we actually spend more time than anywhere else.

Some good things did happen today. Aunt Iris called and sang Happy Birthday to me (every year she thinks my birthday is the 8th, but better early than late!). A package arrived at Ed's for me from Bits and Boards, clearly a birthday present from Chris. Ken sent me a day before my birthday ecard. I've gotten greetings from several people by email or Facebook. Beth tells me I'm only as old as I act (not feel)!

In the late afternoon the sun came out! We went for a quick walk before going over to Ed and Julie's for dinner (yummy parmesan crusted baked chicken). Afterward we played Wii, of course! Both Cate and Sam are very enthusiastic about the games.

Jesse was feeling a bit under the weather today, with two teeth trying to poke out of his gums. I'm definitely feeling under the weather tonight. After three shots I have a very sore arm and headache and chills.
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Truck Repairs

Sadly, our truck needs lots of TLC--and new front brakes (again). We took it in to Park Place this morning. Ed was there to help us out--and to take his minivan in for brake work too. We were told some time back (in early July, when we were in Jackson Hole) that our rotors had small cracks and needed to be replaced. We decided to wait until we got to Dallas. Park Place has worked on it before, we trust them, and we get Ed's employee discount. What's not to like? We needed some routine maintenance done too, since the truck now has over 52,000 miles on it.

Our next stop was at Carrollton Eye Care, where we got our annual eye checks. Ken has been seeing some flashes and floaters, which Dr. Buthod said is due to vitreous separation. The symptoms may go away, they may stay the same, and they might get worse. If they get worse, the problem can be corrected by laser surgery.

We stopped at Office Depot on the way home, where Ken picked up a laptop sleeve for his new laptop (I'm inheriting his old case) and a small lapdesk. We also couldn't pass up a 4 GB thumb drive for $7.99--amazing how much the price of storage has come down.

Later in the day we got a call detailing some of the costs for our truck repair--just under $900, with more possibly to come. Just one of the costs of this lifestyle, we say, as we bite the bullet and tell them of course we need the work done. We're hoping we've learned our lesson and now know how to use the electric trailer brakes and the truck transmission to do way more of the work.

We spent several afternoon hours pulling together our medical records and concerns and filling out the online new patient forms for our doctor visit tomorrow morning.
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Labor Day!

Ed and the kids were planning to come home from Longview around 5 p.m., so we spent the day laboring--working on our music and photo files. We're actually making progress--I'm sure we are! This does give us a chance to see our old photos and be reminded of all our great family and friends.

We took a break to eat an early dinner. I went over to Ed's and visited and played Wii with the kids, while Ken stayed home and worked on his files. He's learning a new photo organizing software program called IDimager. It appears that it will save metadata in at least three different formats, so when we put captions and tags on photos, they won't disappear when we open them in a different program.
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Visiting Julie and Jesse

Today Ed and Cate and Sam were in Longview, so we had a chance to visit with Julie and Jesse. We took our laundry over and were impressed by the new electronic washer and dryer, which did a very good job.

What to do on a free day? Oh, yes, shopping. We went to Costco first, where we stocked up on some of the food items we usually get there. In addition, we found a 500 GB Western Digital hard drive on sale, just the thing we needed for Ken to back up his computer. And we found a set of three stainless steel, BPA free water bottles, each with its own neoprene sleeve, which of course I couldn't resist. (Ken says it should be years before we need any more water bottles.)

Then we went to Ikea, hoping especially to find a mirror with scissor type extension like Kelley had got there, but no luck. As always, we did enjoy looking at all the creative and colorful Ikea items and ideas. Julie got a couple of things, including a roll of paper for the kids' easel, so the trip wasn't entirely wasted.

(Note: the next day, I found the mirror online at Amazon.com, so I went to the Ikea site and checked inventory for the FRACK mirror. It said the Frisco store had 154 of them. The next day I called, sat on hold for over 10 minutes before finally getting a live person to tell me that the computer inventory was in error. They were out of stock, but expecting some sometime next week--when we won't be here anymore. Darn!)

Grandpa got to sit in the back seat and keep Jesse happy on the way home (a trick mainly accomplished with treats).

I happened to notice this very cute picture on Ed and Julie's computer desktop, so of course I grabbed a copy:

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Labor Day Weekend

It's Saturday, and officially Labor Day Weekend, but you'd hardly know it from the activity here at the park. We did see some groups of picnickers, boaters, and campers, but not as many as we expected. There are empty campsite in the campground even. Maybe more people will show up tomorrow or Monday.

Ken was very happy to watch the Michigan Wolverines beat the University of Connecticut on their first pre-conference game, especially since they won by 20 points. Notre Dame next week may pose more of a challenge.

We managed to finish coordinating our music today, so now Ken has all the music files on his computer. We still have lots more photos to work with. We have to remind ourselves to stand up and stretch regularly. Otherwise we'd just become glued to our chairs in front of the computers!
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Moving Day

Today we moved on to Lewisville, one of our favorite urban parks. On the way we stopped in Denton to have lunch with Kelley. It was great to see her again and get updated on her life. We went to Luigi's Pizza and shared a really good Neapolitan pizza and salads while we talked.

We next went to Camping World to look for a few small things we needed for the rig (always something). Then on to Lake Park. This time we got site #73 in the 50 amp row, which is usually reserved for larger rigs, mainly motorhomes. We're glad to have the 50 amp to run the air conditioning. Even though the heat wave has passed, it's still over 90 and humid here.

Once we got settled we headed over to visit the kids. Cate and Sam ran out to greet us--and both of them had the same first words: "Did you bring your Wii???" Sad to say I had forgotten the Wii, but I promised to bring it the next time we came.

Jesse has really been doing lots of growing and learning new things since the last time we saw him in April. He just turned seven months old and is becoming both verbal and mobile. He also knows when strangers approach, and he sometimes takes a while to warm up to new people. We gave him plenty of space to get to know us, and by the end of the evening, he was flirting and smiling at us and letting me hold him (although he did give me some long inquiring looks).

After dinner Cate and Ed and Sam and I played Chinese checkers. Cate really likes to set up the long jumps. Ed and Sam beat us--they had the longest jumping superhighway!
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More Rain

It's easy to tell we're back in Texas. When the weather forecast says thunderstorms are possible, we actually have a storm! Last night we saw an impressive display of heat lightening off to the east. We figured that the storm was probably moving away from us, but all night long the rain pounded down. The rain gauge showed nearly an inch of rain. The good part is that the soil is so sandy that there were no puddles on the ground this morning.

We took some bags along on our hike, hoping to find the muscadine grapes we had noticed before. We didn't find any grapes, but we did come across lots of deer hoof prints. Most of the "wildlife" we've seen here has been millions of grasshoppers. If we liked fried grasshoppers, we'd have a feast!
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Medicare Day

Today I woke up and thought--it's September, and I'm officially on Medicare. Wow, I must really be getting old.

Not much happening today. We did some laundry and watched the rain and spent some time working on our photos and trip planning. We played some more pool, and this time Ken just won a couple of games outright and let me win one. It's good to have some low-key time.
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