Holiday stuff

Yesterday was a cloudy day, but not too cold. I rode the bike to the clubhouse to check our mail, but the mail forwarded had not yet arrived. Upon my return ride to the RV, the sky opened and rained and rained some more. Our puddles are back, and I was soaked.

I spent much of the afternoon painting my holiday carved works of art. That was a lot of fun. Should be able to finish them today. Ellen worked on our Christmas letter. I think we are going to send most of them electronically, and then snail mail those folks who don't have email. Our eco contribution!

Popcorn and a movie

We went to the Rockport Cinema 4 and saw Blindside with Sandra Bullock. Wow, what a great story. It was amazing how this lady took in a homeless kid, who ended up coming out of his shell, learning football and ending up in the NFL. The tough thing was to see and know how so many other kids never have a chance to escape the projects...Of course we shared a nice big bag of buttered popcorn.

It was a chilly day today, but the sun shone for most of it and that is very good. Ellen baked a pecan pie that is simply awesome!!! I am putting the finishing touches on my holiday woodcarving projects, and then I can paint! Hooray!

Quiet times

It has been quiet here in Rockport, TX. I feel guilty complaining that it has rained a bit and the sun hasn't shone much--after hearing what Iowa and Wisconsin is getting hammered with....a terrible blizzard.

We did putter down to Port Aransas the other day, taking the free ferry from Aransas Pass. Ate at a small diner that actually had a smoking section. We couldn't recall the last time we saw that. And pee-yoo, it stunk. Hard to believe I used to thrive in clouds of smoke.

It was drizzling much of the time., but we saw several dolphins during the short ferry ride.

Yesterday we wrapped Christmas gifts and continued watching the HBO series Rome.

Brrrrrrrr

Friday, Dec. 4

Brrrrrrrr, it's cold outside! Today was a blustery day, and we had rain and some snow showers on and off throughout the day. We were out in Rockport, renting a couple of 'Rome' DVDs from Blockbuster. The clerk had her two preschool boys playing behind the counter, and she shared that the Rockport Schools dismissed early because of the weather!!! There was no snow on the ground, and yes it was cold and windy, but it was like 40 degrees! The gal said 'hey this is south Texas, they don't know how to handle any 'bad' weather...maybe they thought it was going to freeze.' I remember braving icy and snowy roads in Iowa because it wasn't 'bad enough' to cancel school. Houston did get quite a bit of snow though, and that's only a few hours north.

It did get colder, but it was 37 when we retired to bed. We were nice and warm in our Excel, and we totally enjoyed a few episodes of 'Rome', which is really full of historical notes on the era of the Roman Empire. The special feature allows you to watch the episode, and historical notes pop up, dealing with every day life, slavery, the family situation of Caesar, etc., clothing, food, and on and on. Thoroughly enjoyable, protected from the wintry elements, but it wasn't too cold for us to snack on some Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream.

Chilly, no, it's cold

It was sunny in the morning, but it clouded up by early afternoon and got downright cold. I was carving for a few hours, almost cutting myself once---saved by my protective glove as my knife slipped! I also chipped a pice off, which had to be super glued back into place. That's when I quit carving.

We drove into Rockport and picked up a prescription, shopped a bit, and Ellen got some Apple Care help on a few items on our Apple Laptop. She had tried while out at the RV Park, but phone service isn't the best, and after 12 minutes on hold, the phone signal was lost. She got everything worked out and we headed home.

We had a nice phone conversation with Jim Pearce, our ATV Guide from Sierra Vista, AZ. He confirmed we had a Honda Rincon waiting for us when we are at St. David RV Resort in Februrary!!! Hooray! We jsut have to hammer out the details, but we are pumped about it!

A QUIET DAY, SORT OF

Wednesday, 12/2

A quiet day in Rockport...I got everything fully set up and connected, as all we did when we arrived in the rain was plug in and put the slides out. The puddles are getting smaller and the sun is shining. Got a walk in and read the paper.

After this much of the day was consumed with the news from daughter Heather that my brother Tom was moved to a Hospice facility in Ames, IA. Tom has a host of problems, including congestive heart failure, kidney failure, an internal infection, and a broken leg. Lots of time on the phone, and finally got to talk with him and that was good. With the timing I decided not to fly to Iowa.

Ellen made some great Italian Wedding Soup, which I got to roll up mini-meatballs (less than three fourths of an inch in diameter)--there must have been 200 of them. It's a great recipe, and tasted very very good.

I tried Texas Hold'em at the clubhouse which turned out to be an exercise in futility. They play really fast here, and that is not comfortable for me...this is not an excuse, just the facts. It was like 'how many hands can I deal in 5 minutes??' I went out early, not with a bang, but with a whimper.

We did some shopping, picked up some prescriptions, and took a look at the gulf. I did have very nice phone conversations with my daughters Heather and Erin.

DECEMBER!!??!! We are in Rockport, TX

It is hard to believe that December is here already! Time flies when you're having fun. We left Lake Conroe on an overcast morning, saying goodbye to a couple of folks we've visited with.

Our trip today was over 200 miles, a little more than anticipated as we went west out of Houston to get to a Camping World in Katy TX. We had to exchange a toothbrush/toothpaste holder we had purchased in Louisiana. Ellen took over at the wheel which was very welcome by me. We stopped to fix a lunch on the go, and as I took over again (somewhere between I-10 and Victoria TX), it started to rain as I approached Victoria. It never stopped raining, and at times the rain became a downpour.

By the time we reached our park (Bay View RV Resort) near Rockport, the fields were full of water, and the ditches full. As we found a site the rain increased again, so we decided to just get as level as possible, not unhook from the F-450, and just get our electricity hooked up. We have a beautiful site, nestled in some trees with character...yet we are able to obtain a satellite signal!!!--I hope to post a photo of our site here in Rockport soon.

It is nice to be warm and out of the nasty weather