Go,or not Go!! Therein lies the question.

  

Most of the places we've spent a night, or more, in the Casita. Excluding Canada and Alaska.

Way back last Fall, before anyone had even dreamed of a pandemic, demonstrations, riots, etc; which make up all the news today, we planned a trip.  Friends were picking up their new Escape trailer in British Columbia and we were going to meet them in Montana.  Reservations were first made in Yellowstone, then Glacier, Rocky Mountain, Black Canyon, Ouray, Durango, and Pagosa Springs.  This was the first time we were to travel with a schedule, but our friends like knowing in advance where they're going to be and we were fine with that.  We were going to spend part of our long hot Summer in the Rockies.  What a treat.

Now we are faced with the reality of today.  The virus appears to have the Country in major turmoil.  One doesn't know what, or whom, to believe.  Stay home, don't travel; but send the kids to school so they can bring it home to mom and dad, or worse Grandma and Gramps?   Way too complicated for me to figure out.  Wanda and I believe we are in good health for our age.  No major medical issues to speak of, but we sure don't want the virus.

That brings me to the question(s) that keeps popping up in my head.  Glacier has already been cancelled due to most of the park still closed down, especially the East side.  Reservations for a week in Yellowstone, and all the rest, are still valid as of today.  Should we go?  What if we get within a hundred miles of the park and they shut it down.  What about Colorado, where we plan to spend most of August?  What's their plan? 

I retired in 2008, and this is the longest period of time since then that we've been home.  I'm itching to get on the road again.

Should we go? That's the question.....jc

Happy 4th.

 Seems I only get around to posting on holidays.  The problem is that there isn't much interesting to blog about while sitting at home.

We've made a couple of trips over to our daughters "camp" in Louisiana.  Take a 1950's era "mobile Home", add a couple of additional rooms, and a deck.  Turns out to be a perfect weekend getaway for them, and a weekdays escape for us.

 

 Wanda and I do a little Crappie fishing in the mornings and late afternoons.  We never caught a limit but plenty to fry up for supper.

 We've been having lots of rain. 

 But rain brings lots of produce from the garden I planted this year.  We have harvested sweet corn, squash, peas, beans, and of course, tomatoes.  What's Summer in the South without a fresh tomato sandwich?

We celebrated the Solstice with the shirts we purchased in Fairbanks two years ago.  Lots of memories there.

             Wanda's still doing puzzles.  This one had her stumbling for a few days but she got it.

 A dear friend painted me a picture.  She knew of my love for craft bears, and surprised me with this.

 One of our neighbors had a celebration of the fourth, today.  Everyone nearby was invited for food, drink, and fellowship.  Wanda decorated the golf cart for the occasion.

 That's about all the excitement from our neighborhood.  Hopefully, you will hear from us again around Labor Day.  Hopefully, by then we should be wrapping up a trip to Yellowstone, the Teton's, Rocky Mountain NP, and a few more.  If only the Corona would go away......jc

Memorial Day

There's lots of news, nowadays, about the shape our Country is in.  Depending on who's talking at which time, we're all going to die soon from the virus, or our economy is going to tank and we're all going to starve to death.  I don't have a clue as to who might be correct, but I do know one thing.

If it were not for those that have given their lives in the past, we wouldn't be here today to worry about it.  World wars I and II. Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan, and so on.  Right or wrong, thousands of men gave their lives for what was believed to be the right course of action.  We need to honor their lives this weekend as we try to find the "new normal" in our lives.

What have we been doing?  Not much.  I've been helping my friend and neighbor rebuild his fences after the tornado.

We've built back about two miles worth with the assistance of his son and grandkids.

Mothers Day found us in Natchez visiting the kids and Grands.  First time we've all been together since this mess started.  Thought a crawfish boil would be the way to go as all the spices would kill the virus.

Friends purchased a new Escape fiberglass trailer and had it delivered to the Dallas area.  The original plan was to pick it up at the factory in British Columbia, but with the border issues as they are, they shared delivery expenses with another buyer.  With the price of fuel being as it is, they actually saved money, though they missed a great road trip.  They asked if we would like to meet them for a couple of days as they checked out everything on the trailer.  Mississippi state parks had just reopened campgrounds to self contained units, so we jumped at the opportunity to go camping.

Sally giving me the stink eye for waking her up.

Way back about half a century ago, I climbed lots of telephone poles. Picked up a few insulators along the way.  We had a number of them on the fence posts down our driveway before our storm in May of last year.  Wanda picked them all up as we cleared trees and debris.  They sat in a box on our porch until one day last month.  I decided to build an Insulator Tree.

Wanda is still doing jigsaw puzzles.  She does two or three a week, normally.  One of the daughters gave her this one for Mothers Day.  It took her almost a week.  A thousand piece, busy, busy, Alice in Wonderland.

The gardens growing. Squash and zucchini are in.  Might have a ripe tomato by Monday.  Corn is tasseling.  Going to be eating really good, soon.

Other than that, things are quiet on Chapman Hill.  Sally says she is ready to hit the road....

..........jc