Carrying my camera

So I am taking my camera with me most everywhere I go looking for opportunities. We were invited to a gathering and I have several pictures from that. Sorry, but the only names I remember are that of our hosts. They also are our neighbors. Dave and Liz were the first to invite and include us. That is something most people always remember and we will too.
We are getting settled but have not attended many functions yet. I probably should amend that, Butch has been playing golf and pool. We have started our walking routine but do not have a firm number on how far yet. We went straight from winter back to summer as the temps are in the high 80's.
This morning Butch and I went to Rio Valley Estates and visited with Mickey's sister Donna and her husband Bobby. We drove around the park and looked because quite a few of our Magnolia people have moved there but they must have been doing their Saturday morning shopping because we didn't see any familiar faces.
We then stopped at Magnolia and visited with former neighbors Mike and Carolyn and our old and dear friends Donn and Peggy Gordon. The people will be what we miss most.
A family of dogs has moved into the park, a mama dog with her teats hanging low and five or six puppies plus another single dog. They all seem friendly but that is hardly the point. I understand the dogs are being fed and befriended by a couple of different residents. The pool looked very clean and nice but Andy told me they cannot get the temperature thing figured out- the hot tub is cool and the swimming pool is hot.
We feel we have made the right decision and our only regrets are leaving our friends behind.
Here are some pictures of the past couple of days:

The above pictures were party pics the one below was happenstance on our walk. The fellow on the left asked me what I was doing with my pictures and I told him I had a blog. He said, Oh NO! I said, No worries. No one will see it or know your name! Well, Alright then!.

 The above neighbors had been working most of the day readying the yards for the sod they received this morning.

Really he is not as old or as grumpy as he appears.

Words to live by

Many of us are between 65 and death, i.e. old. My friend sent me this excellent list for aging . . . and I have to agree it's good advice to follow. The guy who sent this hi-lighted #19.

1. It’s time to use the money you saved up. Use it and enjoy it. Don’t just keep it for those who may have no notion of the sacrifices you made to get it. Remember there is nothing more dangerous than a son or daughter-in-law with big ideas for your hard-earned capital. Warning: This is also a bad time for investments, even if it seems wonderful or fool-proof. They only bring problems and worries. This is a time for you to enjoy some peace and quiet.

2. Stop worrying about the financial situation of your children and grandchildren, and don’t feel bad spending your money on yourself. You’ve taken care of them for many years, and you’ve taught them what you could. You gave them an education, food, shelter, and support. The responsibility is now theirs to earn their own money.

3. Keep a healthy life, without great physical effort. Do moderate exercise (like walking every day), eat well and get your sleep. It’s easy to become sick, and it gets harder to remain healthy. That is why you need to keep yourself in good shape and be aware of your medical and physical needs. Keep in touch with your doctor, do tests even when you’re feeling well. Stay informed.

4. Always buy the best, most beautiful items for your significant other. The key goal is to enjoy your money with your partner. One day one of you will miss the other, and the money will not provide any comfort then, enjoy it together

5. Don’t stress over the little things. Like paying a little extra on price quotes. You’ve already overcome so much in your life. You have good memories and bad ones, but the important thing is the present. Don’t let the past drag you down and don’t let the future frighten you. Feel good in the now. Small issues will soon be forgotten.

6. Regardless of age, always keep love alive. Love your partner, love life, love your family, love your neighbor and remember: “A man is not old as long as he has intelligence and affection.”

7. Be proud, both inside and out. Don’t stop going to your hair salon or barber, do your nails, go to the dermatologist and the dentist, keep your perfumes and creams well stocked. When you are well-maintained on the outside, it seeps in, making you feel proud and strong.

8. Don’t lose sight of fashion trends for your age, but keep your own sense of style. There’s nothing worse than an older person trying to wear the current fashion among youngsters. You’ve developed your own sense of what looks good on you – keep it and be proud of it. It’s part of who you are.

9. ALWAYS stay up-to-date. Read newspapers, watch the news. Go online and read what people are saying. Make sure you have an active email account and try to use some of those social networks. You’ll be surprised what old friends you’ll meet. Keeping in touch with what is going on and with the people you know is important at any age.

10. Respect the younger generation and their opinions. They may not have the same ideals as you, but they are the future and will take the world in their direction. Give advice, not criticism, and try to remind them that yesterday’s wisdom still applies today.

11. Never use the phrase: “In my time.” Your time is now. As long as you’re alive, you are part of this time. You may have been younger, but you are still you now, having fun and enjoying life.

12. Some people embrace their golden years, while others become bitter and surly. Life is too short to waste your days on the latter. Spend your time with positive, cheerful people, it’ll rub off on you and your days will seem that much better. Spending your time with bitter people will make you older and harder to be around.

13. Do not surrender to the temptation of living with your children or grandchildren (if you have a financial choice, that is). Sure, being surrounded by family sounds great, but we all need our privacy. They need theirs and you need yours. If you’ve lost your partner (our deepest condolences), then find a person to move in with you and help out. Even then, do so only if you feel you really need the help or do not want to live alone.

14. Don’t abandon your hobbies. If you don’t have any, make new ones. You can travel, hike, cook, read, dance. You can adopt a cat or a dog, grow a garden, play cards, checkers, chess, dominoes, golf. You can paint, volunteer or just collect certain items. Find something you like and spend some real time having fun with it.

15. Even if you don’t feel like it, try to accept invitations. Baptisms, graduations, birthdays, weddings, conferences. Try to go. Get out of the house, meet people you haven’t seen in a while, experience something new (or something old). But don’t get upset when you’re not invited. Some events are limited by resources, and not everyone can be hosted. The important thing is to leave the house from time to time. Go to museums, go walk through a field. Get out there.

16. Be a conversationalist. Talk less and listen more. Some people go on and on about the past, not caring if their listeners are really interested. That’s a great way of reducing their desire to speak with you. Listen first and answer questions, but don’t go off into long stories unless asked to. Speak in courteous tones and try not to complain or criticize too much unless you really need to. Try to accept situations as they are. Everyone is going through the same things, and people have a low tolerance for hearing complaints. Always find some good things to say as well.

17. Pain and discomfort go hand in hand with getting older. Try not to dwell on them but accept them as a part of the cycle of life we’re all going through. Try to minimize them in your mind. They are not who you are, they are something that life added to you. If they become your entire focus, you lose sight of the person you used to be.

18. If you’ve been offended by someone – forgive them. If you’ve offended someone - apologize. Don’t drag around resentment with you. It only serves to make you sad and bitter. It doesn’t matter who was right. Someone once said: “Holding a grudge is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Don’t take that poison. Forgive, forget and move on with your life.

19. If you have a strong belief, savor it. But don’t waste your time trying to convince others. They will make their own choices no matter what you tell them, and it will only bring you frustration. Live your faith and set an example. Live true to your beliefs and let that memory sway them.

20. Laugh. Laugh A LOT. Laugh at everything. Remember, you are one of the lucky ones. You managed to have a life, a long one. Many never get to this age, never get to experience a full life. But you did. So what’s not to laugh about? Find the humor in your situation.

21. Take no notice of what others say about you and even less notice of what they might be thinking. They’ll do it anyway, and you should have pride in yourself and what you’ve achieved. Let them talk and don’t worry. They have no idea about your history, your memories and the life you’ve lived so far. There’s still much to be written, so get busy writing and don’t waste time thinking about what others might think. Now is the time to be at rest, at peace and as happy as you can be!

REMEMBER: “Life is too short to drink bad wine and warm beer.”

Is anybody out there?

Most of the time I am too busy to take notice. And when I am out and about amongst our friends I am told on occasion that you read the blog. But we are sitting here in South Texas in an unfamiliar park and I am not hearing from anyone and it does make me wonder if anyone is paying attention. I am a big girl and it really isn't too important because I blog for myself mainly. I am also aware that Facebook is more of what people are paying attention to these days. But the thought did flicker through my head that I might be writing to the air.
Park Features that are different:
They have the little man/woman in the little house at the entrance that keeps track of the comings and goings. Butch and I rushed home one evening because we didn't know what time they closed the gate and we didn't have a code like they have at Magnolia. We found out we didn't need to rush because the people in the little house are there from 5:00 AM to 11:00 PM daily. We have a sticker on our car that tells them we are okay. The code, the gate closing hours, and the comings and goings were always an issue at the other park.

We were surprised when they informed us of parking protocol. They do not want people parking on the street because of possible emergency incidents. However, you can park in vacant lots parking or even in the grass if that is all that is available and if you know your neighbor is not in the valley yet it is okay to park in their driveway. Common sense should prevail though. If you know your neighbor just went to Walmart it would not be neighborly to park in their driveway.😉
                              XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Definition of me:

Unfuckwithable – 

definition, and meaning(adj.) when you’re truly at peace and in touch with yourself, and nothing anyone says or does bothers you, and no negativity or drama can touch you.

We were invited to a gathering at 4:00 today, Just down the street from us. Dave and Liz. Looking forward to it. I hope they are okay with me being unfuckwithable.

Combine?

I received this email and two pictures and I do not know who they are from. The text on the email said, "U we're out to early yesterday had a wild ride. Ryan finished beans early tonite. Rear axle broke in the middle."

So when you send someone pictures and they say I didn't get them and you say but I sent them, they came to me!!

Update

Butch and I toured the park looking for a bit better place to settle in. The site we were assigned when we made our reservation was on the dog run street. If you are into watching dogs do their bathroom business it would have been perfect. Or if you had a dog and you needed a place for it to do its business it was directly across the street. Not being dog owners the place held no interest for us. So we toured the park with a map in hand and checked off prospective places. A person can quickly become overwhelmed doing that and as one might expect we chose the last one we looked at and it is the next street west from where were in the first place. Moving was not a big deal and now we are settled into our new spot # 454. We had to ask that a tree be trimmed and it was done well and in a timely manner.
Butch is currently at the pool hall. No surprise there! He said he was not going to play every day like he did at Magnolia, however, the only thing that has changed is the time of day. It is now 1:00 pm instead of 6:00 pm. It does help the supper situation. I always had to rush to get supper on the table by 5-5:30 so he would have time to eat it before getting to the pool hall.
Later...
When Butch came home we putzed around for a while and then went to supper at the El Dorado in Alamo. It has been a choice place of ours to eat for years and now we are considerably closer than in past years. A quick stop at Walmart 😣and then back home in time for Survivor.

Sun where are you?

The first glimpse of sunlight for a very long time and this was on the day we left Canyon Lake. In the entire month of October, and it is nearly over, we have had  2 days of partial sunlight where we had it for a few hours only.

 This was part of the same day.

And then it turned to this- same day and been this way or worse ever since. They are telling us it will return tomorrow. Southbound 281

  A puffed up Mockingbird trying to stay warm.

A dove working at it as well. Stay warm little dove!!

déjà vu?

Deja vu isn’t what it used to be
October 17, 2018, Greene County News Online
~a column by Colleen O’Brien

I attended a high school football game last Friday with my son. It was a crisp evening, perfect FB weather. The bleachers were crowded for both the home team and the visitors. Skinny boys with huge shoulders bounced up and down on the sidelines cheering their pals as they ran onto the field like a herd of skittish ponies. The band played loudly and mostly in tune. The cheerleaders were full of pep even if they were never quite sure where the ball was. The parents shouted encouragement; a few of them yelling directions at the refs. The scene was familiar; a déjà vu, in fact, right out of my past.

Except for one thing. A young father, maybe 30, 35, sat near us with his 4- or 5-year-old son who had a toy truck. The child ran the truck along the benches of the bleachers right up to where we sat, then away in a screeching wail over the ridges of the seats. His father said nothing. Although there were plenty of looks passing among the surrounding crowd. no one said anything to the boy or his dad.

Finally, at the start of the second quarter, a young woman near me said in a low voice to the child, “Please, that screechy noise hurts my ears.”

I watched the boy look boldly into the woman’s face and zoom his screechy car back and forth in front of her.

I looked at the dad, who hitched his shoulders and sat back in his stadium chair intent on the game. He said nothing. He had a stern countenance, rough stubble on his face (in vogue right now), and I had the sudden thought that he liked that his son was annoying everyone around but would yell at his kid if he was doing this at home. I said nothing.

On the way home from the game, my son said, “I wanted to ask that dad if he’d corral his son, but I got this feeling that it might not be a good idea.”

“Yeah, me, too,” I said, and told him my theory of the family dynamic.

My son’s take was a little different from mine, however: “You never know these days who might be packin’.”

“Packing? You mean carrying a gun?”

“It’s the times, Mom. I could picture a scene of blood and screams. I felt I should do something, but I knew that if I did, things could turn ugly. Why chance it?”

Lordy. The times, they are a changing…again. Or returning to the bad old days of the wild west. There are forces afoot that bear ill will. You never know when it will break through in just the place you might be.

The next day, we went on a walk/run fundraiser for breast cancer – hundreds of families with laughing, dancing kids, babies in strollers, friends in arm, groups singing and chanting, all of us enjoying one another and the autumnal walk through trees that overnight had turned to red and gold. Indian drummers and Hispanic steel drum bands played along the way, stirring me to march instead of walk – another déjà vu – the beat of football homecoming parades around the square when I was in high school.

Toward the end of the parade for breast cancer, atop one of the buildings along the route, I spotted a watchful, helmeted, riot-geared police sharpshooter.

On second thought, my weekend wasn’t déjà vu at all.

And now for something completely different...

Here are some photos I could not get posted for one reason or another in the past week.

Large grey moth in pot on north side of front door in Jefferson.

All of these Deer pics were taken in the Linders yard at Canyon Lake Texas. A couple of them I thought were above average.

 Bamboo in Texas??

And then we did what?

Yesterday we made our way from the Terry Linder residence at Canyon Lake Texas to Trophy Gardens RV Park in Alamo Texas and it was a good day. That is a distance of about 275 miles and we saw some sun and some clouds but no rain. Traffic was somewhat light in San Antonio and definitely the reason we chose Sunday as our travel day. The next time we need to get through a city it is worth the wait to take a Sunday. Everyone we encounter is complaining about the cold, cloudy and rainy weather day after day and I have to agree with them. On top of that Hurricane Willa is sitting out in the Pacific as a Cat 5 with a plan to hit the Mexican coast soon. The good thing for us is we will not be directly hit but the area we just came from will be-San Antonio, Austin, and Canyon Lake are due for a butt-load of rain and they have already had a butt-load of rain. We will be getting lots of rain but by Wednesday it should be much better with sunshine and dry skies
We are liking the park for the most part. We found out there was free wifi and I was elated when it worked extremely well and then I stopped in the office and asked how well it worked when the park was full and the answer was not well at all! So bottom line, same old story of days gone by. Park-wide wifi does not work consistently well and that still holds true. So then I turned to Spectrum and found out it is not available in this park because the lines for it have never been run! Had I known that ahead of time it would have been a deal breaker. So all I have available to me is AT&T and that has never been good news. So staying in this park may be a one-season experience. We have some questions for the current management to see about getting Spectrum in here and they are going to give it a try. So it isn't a dead deal yet but I do not hold out much hope.