Maxine's, HEB and Journaling

Saturday, February 6, the sun is out for the first time in weeks. A cold north wind is blowing but I walk and stretch anyway. I called Marilynn. She can't go to the movies on Monday and the rest of my week is full. What a bummer; I really wanted to see Crazy Heart with my favorite music buddy.

Bob and I go to Maxine's around noon for lunch. They have a big crowd; we sit at the front for once and get a different waitress. I have the Reuben and Bob has a Chicken Taco salad with chipotle ranch. We split a mile-high Key Lime Pie.

On the way home we stop at HEB for my Weight Watchers version of Key Lime Pie ingredients for Wednesday at Joyce and Dan's. Back home I get on the PC and renew Bob's driver's license successfully. It's always a relief when we can get these things done on-line. The next time we both have to show up in person for new photos and an eye test. I also pay some bills on-line and Google for Southern Oaks RV Resort on the Texas Coast--our next destination.

We relax with the paper and puzzles. Then I work on my journal for several hours. I'm almost done putting 2007 on the Good Sam site. Bob works on the digital picture frame off and on all day. We now fight for computer time. I put some pictures on his file from the 'lost ' time period that I found on my journal pages.

I watch Inspector Lindley Mystery on the TV in the bedroom. I tried to call my very pregnant niece Megan but had to leave a voice message. Her due date is 2/13! The high was 58 degrees today.

Rising Phoenix Adventures-Bikes and Kayaks

Friday, February 5, the sun streams in the windows this morning as I open the day/night shades. I feel better already just seeing the sun after so many days of rain. I sip my coffee and read The Klondike. All of a sudden I realize that after only 45 minutes the sky has completely clouded over again. The wind is blowing from the north and blew in some clouds. It stays that way until late afternoon when the sun returns. Bob got up about 10 minutes too late to see the sun.

We are both in a funk about the readout of our bathroom scale over the past two weeks. Finally Bob snaps and investigates--the battery for the digital readout is almost dead so we are getting up and down readings. At least that's our story and we're sticking to it. We get a number off the battery and hope to pick one up in town later. Then we'll have no excuses. It seems to me whoever engineers these things should just have the battery go dead instead of giving false readings. A person could get depressed; especially if the sun hasn't been out for a month!

After breakfast I get a wild hair and decide to rearrange two or three kitchen cabinets. I need a taller empty shelf for my sugar, flour, etc. cannisters. So I make a two-tiered shelf above the sink smaller and make a taller space up there. This shoves my pots and pans closer together and makes it harder to get them in and out. I also can't find room for a big plastic bowl I dislodged. Oh well, I'll try this for a while. I can always put it back the way it was.

At last I take a walk (my darn neuroma flares up after being good for a week while I wasn't walking) and I come back home to stretch. We get cleaned up. Bob loads his bike on the back of Big Bertha to take to the bike shop Steve told us about. He finds a hole in the bag over his bike seat so it is all wet from the rain.

The guy at Rising Phoenix Adventures (Bicycle repair and Kayak rentals) across from Lost Pines State Park gives us an estimate for Bob's rear spoke and a bearing on his front fork. He asks how we heard of him and we told him it was our neighbor Steve. We'll check back on Monday.

Gracie's for lunch. Big crowd there. I try Ham and Banana Pepper sandwich that Katie had. It is really good. Big slabs of country ham on a huge Kaiser roll with cream cheese dill spread, cheddar cheese, mozerella, tomato, lettuce and gob of sliced banana peppers. Bob has the Mahi-Mahi.

We stop at Walgreen's on the way home but they only have packages of two of the batteries we need for our bathroom scale. I get my contact solution and a newspaper and we go home to read and relax. Bob checks the map for a way around Houston when we leave the Coast. I work on journal pages. It's 5:32 p.m. and 54 degrees and 71% humidity; the high for the day now that the sun is out.

Kay's Cafe with Peggy and Michael

Thursday, February 4, rain on the roof woke me up in the middle of the night. It turns out that it rains most of the day too. The low was 47 degrees and it only gets up to a high of 50. Light breakfast in anticipation of lunch with our friends from our old Cedar Hills neighborhood. Afterwards I make Holly's Lemon Squares in the convection oven and am very pleased at how brown they got. I did not adjust the baking time on the recipe. I stretch while Bob loaded bicycle museum pictures on the digital frame. How fun! He found a new 'random' mode that does not include the clock. We get cleaned up and put the Goodwill donation bag 'down under.' Then we head out at 11:30 in a cold rain, stopping for a paper at Chevron.

We found Kay's Cafe east on 71 just past Colo Vista. We though Peggy (and Steve and Elaine last week) had called this new place Kathy's. So I tried to find a cell phone number for Peggy to call and make sure we had the right place. Unfortunately I only have her home phone. About that time Michael comes out the door. They are already inside. The decor is cute. I love the little girl's play kitchen stove, fridge and sink in bright red over in the corner. I can't believe I didn't take a picture.

Kay's has 6 or 7 daily specials with a list of sides. Michael and I both try the Chicken Kathryn (owner's name according to our waitress in spite of the Kay's Cafe sign--go figure!) This special of the day is chicken breast in wine sauce over rice with 2 sides and a beverage for $7.99. We both opt for green beans with tomatoes and Avocado Black-eyed Pea Salad-a tasty concoction. Peggy has the chopped steak special and Bob goes for a cute individual casserole dish of lasagna. We chat for a bit and learn they leave on Monday for El Paso to stay with their three grandchildren through Feb. 20th for their daughter who plans to join her hubby who's in Virginia for their anniversary. We eye the great-looking sweet potato pie but dessert is aboard The Titanic.

We adjourn to the RV Park where we give those guys the grand tour of the inside as it is still pouring rain outside. They both seem to like our floorplan. They have a travel trailer and have looked at quite a few of them. We have a nice visit and enjoy lemon squares and coffee. We say farewell in the late afternoon after viewing 'down under' outside with only a light mist falling. I'm sure glad we were able to get together before we all leave town. I hope we can meet up on the road sometime.

We read the paper, have leftovers and relax. It's 6:40 p.m. and 47 degrees with 91% humidity--yes, it's raining! We watch the Mentalist at 9:00. First I leave a voice message for my niece Megan again. Then I have a nice chat with Mom and Dad. They have had temps in the single digits and strong winds with sub-zero chill factors (-30 per Dad.)

Maxine's with Glenda

Wednesday, February 3, I woke up at 8:15 on a board after tossing and turning and reading until 2:15 a.m. It rained all night and rains and mists most of the day. The high gets to 55 after a low of 48 degrees.

After breakfast I vacuum and clean the whole place. Bob copies CDs of old pre-digital pictures to the PC. For some reason the laptop can't read the Wal-Mart disc. Hmmm. Bob's back started hurting him in the middle of the night and really flares up this morning. At 9:00 I just catch Glenda as she's leaving for the food pantry. She will call us around 1:00 to meet for lunch at Maxine's in downtown Bastrop. She has to take Dan's mail to the post office in Bastrop and is waiting for us in Maxine's with a table as we pull up in the rain.

Burgers for Bob and Glenda; vege plate for me and Bob and I share. We have a fun lunch. It's always great to visit with Glenda. She is tenacious and finds me four quarters for my dollar in her purse for a newspaper out front. We return to our respective vehicles in the rain and she meets us at the RV Park. We have a nice chat and visit. I show her the earrings Marilynn made for me. We don't need them but we have Ghirardelli Symphony Brownies and hazelnut coffee. She leaves before the rush hour.

Bob and I read the paper. But first I find the photos on the Wal-Mart disc by opening our browser on-line. Bob loads the rest of the CD pictures and puts the only Maids from my journal on the digital picture frame. At 7:00 we watch the new Human Target and have leftover soup. It's 7:33 p.m. and 49 degrees with 89% humidity--Yes, it's raining.

We have an email from our Iowa RV friend Shirley about her encounter with the Naked Bookseller in Quartzite, AZ! I had heard about this guy but apparently Shirley had not and had a most abrupt encounter! Check him out at Naked Bookseller

The Austin paper had a cute story and photo of an armadillo in Texas acting as the official Texas groundhog yesterday.

Discs, HEB and Starbucks with Marilynn

Tuesday, February 2, I slept like a rock and was up at 8:30 on this cloudy morning. The low was 42 degrees and it gets up to 55. We have a light breakfast with whole grain pecan bread. I spend the rest of the morning until 2:00 scanning CDs and old floppies of pictures and backed-up documents. My lost photos I thought I found were never copied correctly. The discs are blank. What a bummer. It has been a roller coaster of emotions with these travel photos. We verified that we have everything we can get off the discs for copying to our external hard drive. Then Bob destroys all of the old discs and cleans out our box of technology parts, wires, software, manuals, etc. Man, that stuff can really accumulate. This will never do in the RV lifestyle.

He takes a break and ties down the new shelf we put in the laundry closet yesterday so it doesn't fly out of the cabinet as we go down the road. Marilynn called this morning and we agreed to meet later after lunch. Bob and I have leftovers and then go to HEB to get fruit and ingredients for two soups. Back home Bob checks our Steadyfast package that picked up from Glenda's to ensure we have all the parts. I call Marilynn and meet her at Starbucks down the hill. She's on her way to HEB when I call. We have a fun afternoon break of Cinnamon Dolce Latte and lemon bread.

She added tiger-eye stones to my necklace and I love it. She also redid several pairs of earrings and gave me some new doohickeys. She has to 'close' my necklace so I won't have it for a few days. How nice to get it custom made. We had a fun visit and it was great to see her again. How I miss all the times we had, especially on the Austin Music Scene. Speaking of which UT is trying to close the Cactus Cafe, an Austin music institution. The cry of outrage is coming from all quarters. We'll see what happens. That's where Marilynn and I saw Jimmy LaFave and acted like complete groupies!

I head home to read the paper and Bob and I chop and chop for Ham Hodge Podge Soup. Peggy, our neighbor from Cedar Hills, called and I thought I hung up on her while getting my phone out of my purse. So I called her back and she had actually hung up because she had someone at the door. Anyway we agreed to meet her and Michael on Thursday for lunch. Then I returned Joyce's voice message. We're invited to lunch with her and Dan next Wednesday and they will try to teach us Ponytail Canasta.

Our soup is simmering. It's 6:30 p.m. and 54 degrees with 71% humidity.

Wal-Mart and Chili's, Hutto, TX

Monday, February 1, wow! It's Feb. and we're going to The Texas Coast this month! I tossed and turned for several hours last night and finally slept like a rock. I was up at 8:30. It is cloudy with a low of 35 degrees and misty skies all day.

After Herb Cheese Bread for breakfast (Thanks Elaine!-another great one from the lady at Bastrop Farmer's Market.) I cut up the breads in smaller portions to freeze. I do my stretching and strength routines. Then I search for my lost five months of digital pictures (Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile, AL and St. Pat's Parade in Waveland, MS--what a bummer!) I finally found a box of CDs that I thought were new, unused disks, behind the printer in the entertainment center. I'm so happy I didn't lose the early months of our travels right after I got the digital camera. Bob can now load the colorful Bellingrath Gardens Maids onto the digital picture frame.

Time to get cleaned up and we leave at 12:30 for lunch. We need to go to the Super Wal-Mart in Hutto so we hope to eat the the cafe there. On the way an 18-wheel dump truck of dirt turned over on the entrance ramp off Hwy 95 onto Hwy 79. We got around it and discovered the cafe in Hutto is closed on Mondays. Bummer. We continue west on 79 and find a Chili's near Lowe's and Home Depot (all new since we were here last.)

This Chili's has a bunch of new menu items. I have a cup of a new Chicken Green Chili and a new small Asian Salad with Salmon (soy beans, wontons, and peanut sauce-a new favorite!) On to Wal-Mart after the hostess at Chili's tries to send us to 685. But we find it on 79 west of 130. We spend several hours in there but find the perfect hamper and shelving for our laundry closet in the bathroom. At least we hope the dimensions are correct.

It's 3:45, dangerously close to rush hour, as we head home. We sure hate to by-pass 130 Tollway. We need to get a toll tag one of these days. But we do remember to take the 1660 cutoff from Hutto to Copeland. What a nasty, wet and cold day. The high only gets to 46. When we get home we go to work right away on the laundry closet. Bob puts the wire shelf together. He declares it to be a sturdy bargain for $19.99 and weighs much less than if he built shelves out of wood. Voila! It's the perfect size and the shelves adjust up and down. We put the divided hamper together and it is also a perfect fit. We are now officially organized!

We deserve a rest so we read the paper and work the puzzles. It is still cold and rainy but Steve and Elaine's Lasko heater allows us to quickly recover the heat we lost while we in Hutto all day. We have leftovers for dinner and watch House and a Castle repeat after Headlines on Jay Leno. Then at 10:00 we watch Triple D. It's 10:20 p.m. and 45 degrees with 86% humidity. Federer winds the Australian Open; Serena Williams won the women's' on Saturday.

Ricoco's and Dominoes

Latin grill in Taylor, TX
Sunday, January 31, I woke up at 7:45 on a board to 58 degrees in the living room after a low of 32 degrees last night, but I was toasty under three quilts! I don't really know where the morning went--the NY Times crossword puzzle probably. A new travel trailer arrives at the Park at 8:30 in the morning. That seems early--what in the world time did they get up to pack up, drive and arrive here that early? We had a light breakfast around 9:30 and then I stretched. I rehung Manny, Moe and Jack Frost. Then I got myself cleaned up as Bob searched for Bellingrath Garden Maid pictures. We can't find them on the laptop.

With the temperature at 35 degrees at 12:30 we leave for Steve and Elaine's. Their dogs are sleeping on the job as they do not greet us when we pull up out front. It's too cold for them I guess. Elaine has us pick out two loaves of bread from the Bastrop Farmer's Market; Multi-grain Pecan and Cheese & Herb. They both smell heavenly. What a bargain for $4.00 per loaf.

We all pile in their car and head to Ricoco's Latin Grill in Taylor, TX. We get a table in back and start with a vinegar/slaw salsa and red picante with chips. I try the Shrimp Enchiladas Verde. Bob has pork tips with a verde sauce. Elaine has a very spicy chicken stir-fry and Steve has a great looking chicken breast. What a cute place. I take a picture of a Shrek bowling ball for sale in the lobby for $100.

The high only gets to 42 degrees today as we head back to Cedar Hills for Mexican Train at Stave and Elaine's. She serves Andres Mint Chip Brownies. These are heaven and I have to try to make them. I get on such a chocolate high that I win the dominoes!

Shrek bowling ball bargain!

Steve and Elaine are nice enough to lend us their small Lasko space heater for the next few days to make it through the cold snap. We head home by 7:30 as the thermometer reads 38 degrees. We stop and find a Sunday paper at the second gas station we try on the way home on Hwy 71.

Back home we blow the circuit breaker two times with the addition of a second heater on one circuit. We finally get a doable setting for each one and life settles down. We read the paper and have a snack. It was 48 degrees in the living room when we got home but an hour later it is up to 59 degrees. It warmed up much faster with two heaters in the living room and one in the bedroom. It's 8:32 p.m. and 37 degrees with 71% humidity.