The Sun Sets On Another Year

As you read this, the year of 2017 is about to come to a close.  Another year of ups and downs, highs and lows, meeting new friends, and losing some old ones to the problems of aging.  We’re another year older and beginning to feel the effects.  Some friends ask; are you guys leaving home again next year?

We answer such questions with another question.  Why would we not?  Sit at home, watching the rain, shuffling through all two hundred fifty channels on the television, only to turn it off in disgust.  That doesn’t appeal to us.

2018 is about to be here, and we’ll be ringing in the New Year on the road.  The desert Southwest is once again calling our names.

Though we live in the deep South, we’ve already had a snowstorm; and days of rain and cold can bring on a very large dose of the mullygrubs.  Why hang around and experience all that?

This will our fourth year in the desert for January, and most of February.  Though there can be a few days of cold or wind, overall the weather is an improvement over home.  Add to that friends we will once again get to visit with, and it’s a no-brainer.

We have a couple of new locations scoped out for the coming journey.  We always enjoy visiting someplace new, but we also have our favorites that we hit each year.  A stop in Benson to visit with a friend is always on the list, as well as a few days at Gilbert Ray CG near Tucson. Then, there’s the Texas friends we see at Dome Rock around the time of the big tent.

We may visit Lake Havasu for a few days, as well as Lost Dutchman state park.  Borrego Springs, California is another option.  We love that little town in the middle of nowhere.  Wherever we land, it will be good.

We hope the year of 2018 brings us as much fun on the road as years past.  We’ve lots of plans, that if come to fruition, will make for a banner year.

We trust that you had a Merry Christmas season, and wish each of you a very Happy New Year.  May it be your best one, yet!!…..jc

Merry Christmas

From our little house to yours.





We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.  Please remember the Reason for the Season; and may 2018 bring each of you happiness beyond measure……jerry, Wanda, and Sally……

Blizzard of 2017

Less than six days ago, we had yet to have a killing frost, and our high last Tuesday was 79 degrees.  We watched the evening news on Wednesday as they reported on snow down in Big Bend National Park.  I made a comment about how pretty it would be with all that snow.  Little did I know what we had in store.


Thursday evening the local weather mentioned that we were under a winter storm advisory, and might get a dusting of snow, though the odds were slim.  After all, we live in the Deep South, Heart of Dixie, just a hundred miles North of New Orleans.  After watching the Saints go down to defeat to Atlanta around 10 PM, I looked outside to a mixture of sleet and light rain.


Friday morning, we were awakened by the sound of what I first thought were gunshots.  In reality it was the sound of limbs breaking off pine trees.  This is what we found outside. It was a black and white world for the most part.

















Less than thirty minutes after getting up, our power went out.  No heat, with the temperature hovering right at 32*.





There was about five inches of a heavy, wet, snow on the ground, and it was still snowing.  The blue dog wasn’t impressed.








My old J. C. Higgins bicycle.  Purchased from MGM studios back in the seventies at a prop department auction.  Now it’s only yard art.





Thankfully, we have a furnace in the Casita, as well as a couple of generators.  A Honda 2000 for the Casita, and another which we purchased during Katrina.  It supplies power for our well pump, as well as our refrigerators and freezer.  With reports of large areas losing power as the day went on, we made plans to move into the Casita for the night.  By the time it stopped snowing, there was over seven inches on the ground, and it was “cold”.


Saturday dawned clear, and colder.  Still without power.





We fixed a little breakfast in the trailer, and then talked about what to do.  A Casita gets really small after a few hours.  Wanda asked why don’t we set up the Clam in your shop, and get out the propane campfire?  A great idea.  It’s amazing how the screen will hold in heat as long as there isn’t any wind; and the roof doesn’t get too warm.  That’s what we did.  Sally thought it was a wonderful idea.





We spent the day between the Clam and the Casita.  Catching a nap or two, and trying to get updates on the power restoration.   We spent another night in the Casita, and when I woke Sunday morning, I heard a vehicle backup alarm.  A crew from out of state was clearing the lines of tree limbs, and it wasn’t long before our power was restored.  We were without for about fifty hours.  You don’t miss it until it’s not available.  It sure was nice to get back inside a warm house.


Today, Monday, it’s almost gone.   Still a bit on parts of the roof, even though it hit seventy degrees again today.



I’ve lots of limbs to be cleaned up, but overall we did well.  Todays newspaper reported some folks are still without power.  Our unexpected blizzard of 2017 will be the subject of many a conversation over the next few months, or years….jc

A Tough Week

Following the wedding weekend, we enjoyed having my cousin and his wife with us for Thanksgiving week.  Though he grew up in Baton Rouge, and I was the “country cousin”, we have always been more like brothers than cousins.  We drank that first beer, and smoked that first cigarette, together.  That, along with all the other things boys in the late fifties/early sixties, could get into.  There were a lot of “remember when” stories throughout the week.

Shortly after their departure last Friday morning, Wanda said she was tired and going to lay down for a short time.  Little did we know that she had the beginning of the Flu.  We have gotten the flu shot every year for the past 15-20 years.  This year was no different, and we had ours the first of October.  It made little difference.  She has been pretty much bed-ridden since Monday.  A trip to the doctor got her the usual meds, but not much relief from the symptoms.  Hopefully, she will begin a recovery within the next day or so.

As for me, I’m trying to be the best nurse, housekeeper, grocery shopper, etc; that I can.

After all my chores were done for today, I went for a short walk down our lane.  Our neighbor has one of the last little patches of hardwood timber in our area.  Most all other  areas of hardwoods have been cut, poisoned, or just chopped up, to make more room for growing pine trees. So sad.

It was a beautiful afternoon.  November 30th; and most of the trees still have their leaves.

That was one of the things my cousin and I talked about.  When we were kids, there was hardly a leaf on a tree by Thanksgiving Day. We would chase squirrels and rabbits with a feist dog, running through the woods on frozen feet encased in wet tennis shoes. We never had a problem spotting that treed squirrel way up in the top of a hickory tree.  I don’t know the reason, or the cure, for global warming.  But I’m confinced it’s real.

                      

Despite the sickness this week, there’s a lot of planning going on for our 2018 travels.  January and February is mostly done.  A big fiberglass rally in March, then home for a couple of months.  Then, maybe, the trip of a lifetime.  We’ll see.

That’s enough ramblings for now.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Just keeping my fingers crossed that I dodge the flu……jc

Another Milestone

Those of you that have followed this blog the past few years know we have only one grandchild.  We have been awefully proud of her many accomplishments though the years.  A few pics from the past.

First there was the little t-ball player, and on through the years.  All the way to playing college ball on a full scholarship.

    

It wasn’t all softball, though.  She could be Nana’s best kitchen assistant,

              

a living doll,

                          

or a true Southern Belle.

She was an artist, doing a self portrait as an art project in school.

She was a Homecoming Queen in high school, and an honor graduate from college.

                         

This past weekend was another milestone in her life.  The expression on her dad’s face says it all.

His (our) baby girl was getting married.

                      

It was a wonderful weekend.  She was a beautiful bride, getting married to a outstanding young man.

I think the expression on her face tells it all.

           

Another milestone in her life.  May this milestone last a lifetime…..jc

Just a short Catch-up

The last time I posted we were spending a day or two on the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway.  We were on our way East to Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA.  It was a relaxing trip with few pictures taken. 

On the way we stopped in Plains, GA to visit a Presidential museum.  Do you remember him?

               

We made our way on to Charleston, checked into a RV park, and went in search of something we hadn’t had in 46 years.  The last time being when we lived in the Charleston area while I was in the Navy.

                      

She Crab Soup.  A Charleston/Low Country tradition.  No, I don’t know the difference between she crab and he crab.

                       

We spent four days in the Charleston area, looking for old haunts, trying to find our old home location, visiting the weapons station where I was stationed.  To say things had changed would be an awesome understatement.  Charleston was once a military town, but it’s now all about tourism.  And, they have capitalized it to the max.  We had a wonderful time, there.

From Charleston, we moved down the coast a hundred miles or so to Savannah, GA.  We were meeting a few friends at Skidaway Island state park which was located just a few miles from downtown.  We toured the town which was beautiful, but seemed we spent most of our time eating.  While on the riverfront, Yelp, the restaurant finding app, said there were 102 restaurants within one half mile of where we were standing.  Hard to imagine, but all one had to do was look around. Restaurants, everywhere.  Many even catered to pets dining underneath the tables, while their owners dined above.

                      

We stood in line beginning at 10 AM, to get into Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House when it opened at !!.  Four meats, and twenty two bowls of side dish’s on every table.  Quite the experience.

                       

I found some interesting brews in the corner pubs.

                        

We cooked up our customary pancake breakfast for the friends at the campground.

  

And, I had to try a Low Country Boil.

It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great.  If these folks ever discover Zataran’s and Tony Chachere’s, there world will be changed for the better.

That’s it.  All cell phone phone pictures.  I’m getting lazy….jc