Bob the Builder; Reet the Shopper

Evil Eye cuts through first decorative cord
Friday, December 18, I was hoping to see the sun today like they promised but a soupy fog greeted me when I opened the blinds. The low was only 41 and it gets up to 72 after the sun finally makes its appearance late morning. I write some thank you notes while I sip my coffee. It is actually warm enough for me to take a walk this morning. One of the thing I love about Bastrop RV Park is the long walk route around the two ponds, past the miniature donkeys. I didn't spy any of the dachshunds that lived here last year. And I forgot my correspondence so I came back home to get it and got a few more steps in as I mailed it by the front gate. We saw my friend Marilynn's brother Jim cycle by on his way to Bastrop. His Avion travel trailer is still over there on the other side of the park. After a light breakfast Bob turns into 'project guy.'

He has a list of projects he has been saving up for when we got to Central Texas. Before he gets started he goes out to hang the Evil Eye that Jean gave us from the rearview mirror in Big Bertha. Yesterday we tried a decorative cord but the Evil Eye's sharp edges cut right through it. Today he has a chain and a fishing lure swivel. Voila!

First up for his projects is to drill a hole in the entertainment center for the printer cord; that's right, the RVers friend the hole saw comes into play for this one. For the first six months of life aboard The Titanic the big ugly printer cord was on top of the desk and in the way (not the small cord that goes to the USB port-there was a neat hole already finished in the top of the desk for that when we bought the RV. No, I'm talking about the big, thick honking cord that goes to the outlet. Our printer is behind the cabinet doors underneath the desk but there was no outlet down there so the thick cord came up through the existing desk-top hole and was hanging out on the side of the wall, taking up desktop space.

Bob's mission today is to drill a hole through the 'angled fridge' wall and plug it in where the fridge is plugged in. This turns out to be a double wall to the outside compartment where all of the fridge 'guts' are located. He finally gets it all sorted out and snaked through the right place behind the desk drawers. Whew! What a job he says. But it sure looks neater in that corner.

I'm cleaning the toaster oven that keeps smelling burnt every time we turn it on. There must be a crumb in there in a bad spot. I called Peggy to confirm the time for the party tomorrow night and got Michael, who of course had no clue what time but he said Peggy would be back soon and he'd have her call me. We have Alton Brown's leftover meatloaf and sides (thank you Jean!) I get myself cleaned up and head to HEB for my cookie baking ingredients for our annual cookie bake at Holly's on Sunday. I'm trying some new stuff this year and that's always fun. As I leave around 2:00 Bob is gearing up for his next project; to spray paint black the new sewer hose compartment we bought at Camping World in Denton. I leave him to it and head to town.

HEB is medium busy today but I find everything I need. Had to get out of line and go back for my soy milk as I remembered I'm almost out. The eggnog was calling but I resisted. I check my phone as I get in the truck and sure enough Peggy left a voice message. I cannot hear that darn phone when it is in my little 'phone holder' on the outside of my purse. Afterwards I went across the street and browsed at Beall's for a few minutes but didn't find anything I couldn't live without.

As I was walking back to the truck I spied a jewelry store and went in to see if they did watch batteries. Wow! I got a battery in two watches that I've been carrying around in my purse in about six minutes for $5.00 each. You can't beat that. Back home Bob is lounging in the Euro chair. He not only painted the compartment, he already has is installed underneath our rig. I go back out to look at it and can't tell which one is the one that come on the RV and which one is the new one until I look underneath and see which one is longer. The new one is just a big longer so our new hose will fit in it. We'll use the old one for our 'expansion' hose. It never hurts to have a few extra feet.

Success! The Evil Eye now stands guard over Big Bertha

I collapse and read the paper and fix myself a cup of Holiday Eggnog blend coffee that HEB had on sale (I just had to have something eggnog!) We watch Blue Collar Comedy and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. It's 9:44 p.m. and 53 degrees with 55% humidity.