Glenda Fought the Log and the Log Won!

Bevo in Christmas attire behind the UT Coop on The Drag in Austin, TX
Sunday, January 3, I slept eight hours through at last. This morning I lounged and read. After breakfast I took a walk in spite of gray skies and 45 degrees. There is no wind so it doesn't feel too bad. We cleaned up and went to HEB to get veges and fruit. We tried to get two 6-packs of beer (they had a good price on Blue Moon and Ziegenbach.) The young gal who checked us out said "You can't buy this until after noon today." It is 11:16 a.m. Sunday morning. We are definitely back in the deep South. Oh well, I guess HEB has a good marketing technique to put their beer on sale when you can't purchase it.

We take our legal stuff home and read the paper and eat our broasted honey mesquite chicken. I cut up veges, read the paper and around 2:15 we leave for Glenda's and a night of football. Her house has lost all of the Christmas decorations. She sure has been busy. Right before we arrived a big log rolled to the front of her fireplace and smoked up the room--hence the title of today's journal page. We got a laugh out of that.

We watch Dallas beat Philadelphia handily. At half time we enjoy Rotel Cheese Dip, veges, coffee, tea and Rice Krispy Treats. I try to reset the number of rings before voice mail picks up on Glenda's cell phone but fail again. I have better luck with her HP digital photo frame. I take her 4GB Transcend flash USB memory card to her desktop PC and actually find a spare USB port on the back of her CPU tower. I drag and drop the photos I emailed to her, plug it back into the photo frame and Voila! She has eight new pictures. My favorite is Bevo the UT mascot that I took last year on a Christmas shopping trip with Glenda to the UT Coop. I sent all of these pictures to her in email resolution and they look fine. Next time I'll send more and try one in a higher resolution. What a relief--I didn't mess up her 147 pictures her son Dan had loaded on it at Christmas.

We watch the first half of the Bengals vs. Jets game. Cincinnati doesn't show up. Around 9:30 we hit the road with a promise to meet for a movie in Bastrop on Wednesday. Bob and I are home by 10:00. It is 42 degrees so we crank the heaters up and get in bed. It is nice to be home on such a chilly evening but Glenda's fire sure was nice.

Holly, Doug and Ethan Tour The Titanic

Holly, Bob, Ethan and Doug on the road between the ponds at Bastrop RV Park
Saturday, January 2, we catch up on our sleep after New Year's Eve but still have time for a leisurely breakfast, a walk and stretch before cleaning up for lunch with our Austin friends Holly, Doug and Ethan. They get here at 12:30. We give them the grand tour. Holly said she saw the Egg Art jigsaw puzzle on my website so she brought a Photomosaic puzzle that they worked. Those things are hard. We worked one a long time ago. This will be a challenge. And she brought me a Large Letter postcard fold-out of St. Louis. How nice! We pile in Big Bertha and head to Las Cocinas for lunch. We had planned on Gracie's but mentioned Las Cocinas and Ethan liked the idea of Mexican. Bob and I didn't think it was as good as it was for dinner on New Year's Eve. Maybe the lunch cook is different. Anyway, Bob and Holly's cast iron plates were sizzling when they arrived.

As we backed out of our parking place, Bob got the front bumper off of a stump he barely ran up on. He drove through downtown Bastrop, around the courthouse and past Gracie's so they would know how to find it.

Back at Bastrop RV Park we all walked down to the ponds with mints for the mini horses and donkeys. But we had to walk way around to the other side to get to them. Only one little horse came over to the fence. All Bob had to do was open the peppermint and hold it up. The mini horse was kind of chubby and we made matters worse by giving him a handful peppermints. We went around by the big farmhouse but none of them would come over. Maybe Barb, the owner, had just fed them.

Ethan gives a peppermint to a brave mini horse while Doug captures the moment and Bob looks on.

So we walked back to The Titanic for dessert and coffee. They were telling us about watching the AMA's top 100 films of all time by ordering them on Netflicks. Sounds like fun. They hit the road around 4:30 to get home before dark and in time for Dr. Who tonight. It was a fun visit and I'm glad they got to see our new home-on-wheels.

Bob gets in on the act

Bob and I read the paper we got on the way home from lunch. Then I call Glenda to make a football viewing plan for tomorrow. It looks like Fox and Time Warner Cable reached an agreement so the Greater Austin area won't lose Fox's programming. What a zoo!

I called Mom and Dad to wish them a Happy New Year. Dad said it was 4 degrees there this morning! Yikes! That's way too cold.

Holly, Bob, Ethan and Doug wait at the fence to no avail

Yesterday in our spare time Bob and I calculated the square footage in our old Lakota travel trailer (The Beauty) at 255 square feet versus our new Titanium at 335 square feet. So we gained 80 square feet of living space but it sure feels like more than that. It must have been the 'right' space that we gained.

Doug and Holly enjoy Symphony Brownies and fake Carmel Macchiatos

Happy New Year and New Decade!

Friday, January 1, I slept in until 9:30 after reading until 2:45 a.m. following our marathon New Year's Eve games. And the night before I was up at 3:45 a.m. so I almost was up around the clock. Considering my lack of sleep I don't feel too bad on this first day of the new year. The first two hours I kind of vegetated. At least I wasn't drinking last night. Pinochle was sure fun. I miss that.

This morning I skipped my coffee until noon! We had a light breakfast around 10:30. It is sunny and we have the back picture window shade up. The young gal behind us in the park model is gone! She stopped us as we pulled out last night on our way out to dinner to say she was leaving her bike rack behind our truck for a bit. We said OK but had no idea she was packing up and leaving this morning. Our new view is much better now.

I walk, stretch, and put the Christmas decorations away. Then I hang Glenda's bird quilted wall hanging in the front window. The redbirds are so colorful. I just love them as you come up the steps into the front door. Bob silicones the shower door slight leak. Then he finishes his 'down under' organization and finally, after eight months, put the golf clubs and La Fuma lawn chairs in the RV storage (they have been in the extended cab of the pick-up all of this time.) They fit like a glove in the space he has created for them. We are officially organized on the first day of 2010!

I put Dan Fogelberg's "Another Auld Lang Syne" on the CD player (thanks MT, I love having my music back!) as I do every New Year's. I had a nice email from Mike yesterday. It sounds like they had a nice Christmas.

We have chicken broccoli soup for lunch. Then I clean up the kitchen and go to Beall's for their big New Year's Day sale. I found a Rose shirtwaist blouse that I looked at before Christmas that is now 50% off. This time I brought my Coldwater Creek skirt with me to match the color. And I also found a maroon shell to go with it. Now I have possible wedding attire for this Spring. I stopped at Chevron for a paper but they were out so I had to go to Walgreen's.

I go home to read the paper and work the puzzles. We gave the Egg Art jigsaw puzzle to Steve and Elaine. Do you think they'll speak to us after that? I made breakfast for dinner; fried potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, turkey bacon and eggs with cantaloupe on the side. Then we watched Diner's, Drive-Ins and Dives at 9:00. Before that I watched The Biggest Loser finale for two hours. Maybe it will inspire me. It's 6:53 p.m. and 48 degrees with 39% humidity. The high was 67 and the low was 35.

Felíz Año Nuevo from Las Cocinas

Thursday, December 31, I woke up at 3:45 having a nightmare about a murder mystery. Maybe I need to change my reading genre. I tossed and turned until 4:45 and then gave up and got up. I had my coffee and got on-line to work on journal pages, photos and email. Then I read for a while; started a new book "Strawberry Shortcake Murder" that Elaine lent to me. I finished "Death by Sudoku." Bob gets up and prints some Sudoku forms so I work the Round 1 puzzle from the Sudoku tournament in the novel. I haven't worked one in a while but it was pretty simple so I did it on the first try.

We had Elaine's 9 Grain Bread for breakfast. I took a walk and stretched. Bob goes out to work 'down under.' I make Julie's Ghiradelli Symphony Bar Brownies using Valerie's flexible muffin cups for the first time. And, more importantly, using my new convection oven for a baked good for the first time. The RV smells so good. It's hard to tell when something is done in the convection oven. I think I would let them go for another five minutes next time but the directions warned against over baking. Of course there's nothing wrong with gooey chocolate brownies. The RV smells so good.

We have leftovers for lunch around 1:30. Then we clean up. Bob gets a newspaper while I clean up-Chevron is out again so he goes elsewhere. When he returns, he fishes at the pond for a bit but with no luck. So he comes back to read the paper with me.

Around 5:30, as the cold front from the north blows in, we head to Las Cocinas (The Kitchens, a new Mexican grill on Hwy 95) to meet Steve and Elaine. They have a table when we arrive. We're surprised by the extensive menu in the small place. I have Grouper with a spicy red sauce, onion and jalapenos. Bob has grilled chicken smothered with crab and shrimp. Their torilla chips are great and we love the warm salsa. The cold avacado dip is muy picante! Steve and Elaine get their favorite special; a huge platter of chicken, chrimp and ribs that they split. Bob and I have 'go boxes.' Steve introduces us to the owner who says they have been open for eleven months. I told him we left the area twelve months ago but we return every year and will be back for sure. The place is clean and decorate quite nicely compared to the last restuarant that was in here. They are very busy on New Year's Eve. We see several folks with huge plates of fired fish that must be popular. The owner wishes us Felíz año nuevo on the way out.

Elaine, Bob and Steve deal out the Pinochle cards

Steve and Elaine follow us to our place. They get the grand tour of The Titanic. We chat for a bit and then move the table to the living room so we can play double-deck pinnochle. How fun to play this family card game again (even though my family always plays single-deck.) I was luckky like my Mom tonight but I was rusty after so long. Nevertheless, the Monat's win. I serve Symphony Brownies, lemon bread, nuts and M&M's, coffee, tea and George Killian's Red. Around 11:30 we start a game of Mexican Train. We turn the TV on as the balls drop. Poor Dick Clark can't get the countdown backwards correct. At last a new decade is ushered in. A writer in the Statesman said no one ever named the last decade (Perhaps 'The Aughts'); he suggested 'The Zero Decade' as there is nothing we want to remember from it. Here's hoping 'The Teens' will be a better one.

We still have quite a few rounds of Mexican Train to go after the new decade rolls in. We break up at 2:00 as Bob wins the dominoes. It's 2:40 p.m. and 41 degrees. We really rang in the New Year. The RV was rockin' and rollin' in 35 mph winds so Steve and Elaine got the whole Titanic experience. The high today was 67 degrees.

Bob vs. Down Under

Egg Art Jigsaw Puzzle
Wednesday, December 30, miraculously my neck pain eased off during the night and does not come back in spite of working on the 1500-piece puzzle off and on all day. I walk after breakfast, no rain today, and then return home to stretch. Some guy's car broke down in the turn-out in the median on Hwy 71 and he blocks the whole thing so no one can turn in or out of the RV Park. It's all about him.

Bob and I were working the puzzle when my Austin friend Holly called. She's hoping we can get together for lunch and a tour of The Titanic. Today is out as Bob is finishing the storage area down under before the next cold front. Tomorrow's out as we're meeting Steve and Elaine for New Year's Eve. Friday's traffic is no good on Hwy 71, or any other highway in the Austin area for that matter. So we decide on Saturday. Later I send her a Google Map as my brain was dead and Bob had to remind me that FM 20 on the western corner of the RV Park now has a stoplight so it is much easier to spot as you head east on Hwy 71. I'm looking forward to seeing them.

After leftover turkey dinner for lunch I get cleaned up and head to HEB where I pick up a bunch of things on my perpetual grocery list, except for the two things I specifically went for. HEB has no distilled water (for Bob's RV battery) on the shelf. I wait forever while a young guy goes in the back only to return and say they have none back there in the stockroom either. They are also out of Wednesday newspapers. Me and an older gent both stare at a stack of Sunday papers and say "Where's today's?"

So I have to go under the highway and stop at Walgreen's for distilled water and a paper. I score both for $2.00 even and make it home by 3:30. Bob has constructed his last storage box and now has 'down under' under control. It looks great. We just need to move the golf club in out of the back seat of Big Bertha. But first he has to add some water to the battery while he has everything out of there. This is the first time in 8 months and it only needed a little bit. I know he feels better having our 'stuff' organized at last. We sure miss the camper shell storage in The Beast.

With our chores done we work on the puzzle. After all we have to get it off the table for New Year's Eve cards and games. This turns out to be one of the hardest puzzles we've ever worked. We end the day with a bowl of Broccoli-Chicken Soup and read the paper. It's 8:15 p.m. and 51 degrees and 76% humidity. The high was 56 after a low of 41.

Gracie's and a Jigsaw

Bastrop RV Park Miniature Donkeys and Horses
Tuesday, December 29, it is 37 degrees this morning. The rain doesn't start here until 10:30 or so. They get snow/sleet in the Hill Country but the temps are too low here and get to the mid-40's today. I waited too long to walk as the rain started before I got out there. We had a light breakfast and I stretched. Bob starts a 1500-piece puzzle of 'egg art.'

Around 2:00 we go to lunch at Gracie's. Bob has a huge portion of Mahi-Mahi. I try their Penne Rustica (heaven with shrimp, chicken, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes.) In spite of the late hour and the cold rain there are several tables full of people. We get a paper on the way back, missing the Shell station and stopping in the bright yellow no-name place after that. But at least they had a paper.

I felt bad when the little horse came over for a treat and I had nothing but my camera.

We spend the afternoon alternating between the puzzle, the paper and email. We get a message from Tom and Shirley who say they are enjoying our recommendation of Camp Wood and Cooksey RV Park as a spot to visit on their way to Big Bend. I keep having to takes breaks from the puzzle as my neck is killing me. That same sharp pain like a nerve is back. Hmmm. On one of my breaks I make Broccoli-Chicken Soup for us to enjoy this evening. We open a bottle of Kendall-Jackson Riesling that we've been carrying around with us all year. From 8:00 to 10:00 I watch the Kennedy Center Honors as Bruce Springsteen is one of the honorees. But I also enjoyed Robert De Niro, Dave Brubeck (89 year old jazz great), Grace Bumbry (diva), and Mel Brooks. I got a kick out of Jon Stewart's, a fellow New Jersey guy, comments about Bruce Springsteen. He said when you hear his songs you aren't a loser (even if you're driving an old brown Gremlin); you are a character in an epic poem about a loser!

Miniatures Donkeys at Bastrop RV Park

It's 7:40 p.m. and 42 degrees with 86% humidity.

Broccoli-Chicken Soup

12 chicken thighs, skinned (about 3 pounds)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 0.6-ounce envelope Italian salad dressing mix
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups water
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup catsup

3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed (3 cups)
2 cups frozen small whole onions (1/2 of a 20-ounce package—I use chopped onions instead ½ to one cup.)
1 10-ounce package frozen cut broccoli (or chopped)
1 medium green pepper, cut into cubes
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (5 ounces)


In 4 ½-quart Dutch oven slowly brown chicken thighs, half at a time in the hot oil. Remove chicken, drain fat from pan. In same Dutch oven combine dry salad dressing mix ad salt. Stir in the 3 cups water, wine, and catsup. Return the browned chicken thighs to pain. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add potatoes and onions. Simmer, covered, 15 minutes longer. Add frozen broccoli, the green pepper and mushrooms. Dover and simmer 5 to 10 minutes longer or till vegetables are tender. You can thicken with flour and water at the end for a stew but we like it more as a soup. I add Tony’s Creole Seasoning or Lawry’s seasoned salt to give it a little zip.

China Buffet with Cedar Hills Gang

Monday, December 28, I sleep like a rock and get up at 7:20. It is sunny with a low of 34 degrees. I cut up my desserts and wash up the pans and dishes. I make tea in spite of the water being on the pump. I relax with my java. Bob and I have Maple Pecan Loaf toast for breakfast (thanks Elaine and Steve--those breads are heaven!) I check email early but no new message from Jo.

I stretch after cleaning up the kitchen. Then Bob goes out to hook up the water and fill the fresh water holding tank. It is getting low after shutting the water off for several nights in a row due to close to freezing a.m. temps. I have a quick vacuum and we both clean ourselves up. Around 11:30 a Bastrop Sheriff's car cruises slowly around the Park. By the time Bob realizes it might be Doug, one of his old employees, he can't catch him. Maybe he'll come through again. Several times we've seen the Sheriff cars cruise through. Nice that they patrol; I guess anyway--it could mean they've had some incidents. Who knows?

At 11:45 we go down the hill and get a paper at Chevron to circle back around to China Buffet. We go in the lobby and I stick my head inside looking for Jo, Bill and Glenda but don't see them. A few minutes later they pull up and Jo asks if Joyce and Dan are here as she's sure that's their car. I'm surprised. As of yesterday's email they weren't coming. But Jo sent another email later this morning and I never got back on-line. We all go inside and sure enough there they are.

I am so glad they made it. Joyce is feeling better today. She looks great except for a slight favoring of her leg. So nice to see both her and Dan. We give our beverage orders and cruise the buffet lines. They have so many choices here. What a fun lunch visiting with all of our Elgin neighbors. We move the party to our home-on-wheels up the hill. They all follow us and come inside for a grand tour. Well, except for Glenda. She's already had the grand tour so she gets out of the way.

This is our first time to entertain seven. We had six at Thanksgiving at Lake Texoma. Seven was doable for visiting, dessert and coffee. Maybe a meal would have been more of a challenge but I think we could have managed. It was fun to show them our new digs. We had a nice chat. They are a fun bunch and always make me laugh. Joyce brought the cutest photo of her new puppy Titch. I can't wait to see him.

They all hit the road mid afternoon. Hopefully we'll see them all again while we're still here. My fortune at the Chinese restaurant was "The principle business of life is to enjoy it."
Bob goes down under to install his latest two storage units. I take a walk in spite of the chilly air (high of 57 today but wind out of the north.) One half of the double-wide on the far side is gone and they have the other half ready to pull out. It leaves as I return home. We put the awning out to dry it out but it is a bit windy so we don't leave it out long. Bob gives me two of his old storage drawers and I try to make them work for the shoes in the bottom of my closet. I may rearrange after we go to our local storage unit.

We read the paper, have leftovers and watch TV. I catch up on the past two day's journal pages. It's 7:26 p.m. and 45 degrees with 41% humidity.