Sunday, April 13

Okay, here is something...

Slow internet connection, compared to what I am used to, and trying to do some computer housekeeping have kept me busy. But I decided to take some time to catch ya'all up.
Yesterday we went to the Bluebonnet Festival Parade in Burnet TX. I took many pictures and I will post a few at a time due to the speed of the connection. It was a great parade despite the fact there was only one tractor as opposed to Jefferson and no hydraulic cars as opposed to Weslaco!
After the parade we came back to Llano and after a couple of hours enjoyed a fine meal put on by the local fire department. It was more food than you can imagine and all of it was free. They were taking donations and I am sure it was successful for them to do so as this is an annual event. They had catfish and barbecue along with all the fixings-potato salad, coleslaw, beans, hush puppies and peach cobbler. Free drinks too including beer and margaritas as well as iced tea, both sweet and unsweetened.
And now for a few pictures:

Ice Cream anyone?  
Or perhaps lemonade sounds better.



                                     Bluebonnet Festival



Ugliest tan attempt. It was orange. Does not look as bad in this photo as it really was.




                                         Lots of pageant winners in the parade of all ages.


Senior citizen of the year.


The only tractor in the whole parade!


The Beachers are a group of senior line dancers who do line dances throughout the parade using their chairs as props.


The Plungers do line dances while marching as well. Both of these groups were great!



The Burnet Bulldogs

Pretty Pony!

Really large H.E.B. cart!



More pageant winners.


 Very simple idea- A mouse in a trap!
More pageant winners

Home from war!


Friday, April 11

Pictures on my camera

April sundown in South Texas
Trucker Checks his email

Golf course Kitty


Ready for golf


Tree Skeleton

Ball Search

Roxy tees off.

Elise at dance class


Happy Birthday, Little Leo!

Baby Leo's first Birthday! It is so hard to believe!

And it is also Big sister day for Elise! 

Llano Texas



Being on the road again and meeting up with friends leaves little time for keeping up with the blog. As we age the gears turn slower and it takes longer to get things done. In my youth I could clean a 3 story house in one day, God only knows how long that would take me now. I also know I enjoy life more now than I did then.

On the road incidents:

First off we caught a rock in the windshield, tiny little rock-didn't make much of a sound but we could tell it was deep and it spread before the trip was finished.

We had one panic stop. Butch said he put everything he had on the brake. And without the brake buddy we would not have been able to stop. The light turned yellow and the guy in front of us stopped. We would have gone through it without incident if he had not stopped. But safe and sound we are and very grateful for a safe trip. It used to be we would time it to go through cities on Sundays, if possible, because of less traffic. That thought was reinforced on this leg of our trip. Most people in cars have no idea how much space it takes to stop a motorhome or fifth wheel.
We had decided on a different highway to come into Llano, turning west, south of Marble Falls onto 71 instead of going to Burnet and then west. Road construction for a good portion of it with very narrow lanes and a shoulder drop off. Butch described it as uncomfortable. It will be fine when they finish it.
Why do I tell you these things you might ask? Because I do go back and check the blog when we plan another route with the same destination. For instance when we leave here we would normally go north on highway 16 to Interstate 20 east merging into I-30 east and then take I-820 north to I-35 north but last November we nearly missed our turn on the route due to road construction and in talking to our com-padres they tell us there is much road construction on I-35. So we will be changing our route. We will take 281 farther north to miss it if we can.

Llano is a Main Street town as is our hometown of Jefferson. So the community is working hard to make it better. That means there are many things to see and do in Llano. This weekend is a fish fry and barbecue with parade so we will be enjoying some local flavor.
Last night we went to the Burger Bar for supper with Gary and Lou Nelson, Larry and Roxy McGough and Mike and Sharon Bryce. These are great people we met through Snow Mountain Ranch YMCA of the Rockies. Terry and Lisa Linder are coming later. After our tasty meal we sat around on the patio and enjoyed superb weather and conversation.
We got started on our pets. None of us have pets currently. We have all had pets for many years but we have all decided the same thing-no more pets until we are no longer travelling. The stories about all the pets in our lives were fascinating. They have given us many happy memories.

So today I have promised to play golf with the girls. Okay, I know what some of you are thinking. So am I. But we will see how it goes.
Later...

Tuesday, April 8

Wrapping up loose ends

We will be on the road Thursday and after being in one spot for an extended length of time it takes more thought to getting everything in order. Surprises in a motorhome are not fun. So the past few days we have been slowly getting things done. It can all come together quickly if needed.
Still needed the furnace to take the chill off this morning. Unheard of in South Texas in April!

Yesterday friends Ray and Lil Droogsma treated us to breakfast and after we returned we made a last trip to Mexico . Had lunch at the Red Snapper...the one on the east side. As we were sitting there we thought of many of you who would have enjoyed sitting there with us. We were outdoors on the upper level overlooking the busy street below. Many things to look at and numerous situations to ponder. People watching at its most exciting.

So today Butch has his last South Texas golf outing and Peg and I are off to Costco for the last time this season. It won't be long now. See many of you soon!!

Monday, April 7

Greatgrands Birthday Toy

 Their Mom Amanda says:

What an exciting day! Elise and Leo got their early birthday gifts today. Daddy worked so hard to build the play set for them and they got a little time to play on it before bed time tonight. 



Saturday, April 5

Thursday, April 3

Goodreads-WEBSITE OF THE DAY


Goodreads. "Goodreads is the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations." Search books, literature trivia, book quizzes and quotes. Twenty-five million members.
https://www.goodreads.com/

Wednesday, April 2

This mornings adventure

Eldon H. from here in the park needed a pdf document signed and sent and he wanted to do it by email. He had the form scanned into his computer but needed to be able to add text to it. Now I tried to do this many years ago but did not have much luck so I was swimming around looking for solutions when I stumbled upon PDFzen. Eldon has Google Chrome and Google Drive and we added the app PDFzen which allowed us to open the pdf and then edit it. First we saved the original pdf in Google drive-opened, edited and mailed the saved document right from there. Easy Peasy although it took a long time for the stumbling around part. So if this is an app you think you could use, go to the Chrome store and search for pdfzen. It works within Google Drive.

Learning new stuff is way cool.

Very Cute Commercial

If only we could do this it would be so much fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfxB5ut-KTs

Tuesday, April 1

Daddy is in the Navy!



Scarlett, Nina and baby Skylar



Mom Ann and Nina

Monday, March 31

Missed Call

I missed a phone call from great granddaughter Elise. She called to tell me her favorite meal is *Runza casserole. It is one of our standbys and it sounds like it may become one of hers as well. I was sorry I missed her call. Elise will be four next month and it is always great fun conversing with a four year old. You are bound to find out some fascinating facts. We will be seeing her and her brother Leo later in April and we are looking forward to fun with the kiddo's!

* The runza casserole recipe can be found on the recipe page of this blog near the bottom.

Twice Baked Cauliflower

Peggy posted this on Facebook. It is for sure one on my todo list.

Twice Baked Cauliflower
(Makes 6-8 servings; recipe adapted slightly from The Low Carb Gourmet.)


Ingredients:
1 large head cauliflower
4 oz. low fat cream cheese (do not use fat free)
1/2 cup low fat sour cream (do not use fat free)
1/4 cup minced green onions
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (If you only have finely grated Parmesan, use a bit less)
6 slices bacon, cooked until very crisp, fat blotted with paper towel and then crumbled
1 cup reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
(I used Kraft 2% milk sharp cheddar)


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Cut out stem and core from cauliflower, and cut into small pieces. Cook in large pot of boiling salted water until cauliflower is tender, but not overly soft. Drain well and mash with potato masher, leaving some chunks. Mix in light cream cheese, light sour cream, green onion, Parmesan, and 3/4 of the crumbled bacon.


Spread evenly in a medium-sized glass casserole dish. Sprinkle with low-fat cheddar cheese and reserved bacon. Bake 30-35 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.

Nina Grace

Nina Grace is our great grand in Georgia/Florida.
Growing up so fast! She has two sisters, Scarlett and Skylar.

snipped from Facebook.

Thursday, March 27

For Kindle Fire Users

Judy Lowary told me about this great website for Kindle Fire users and I have to
 agree. You will need to subscribe but it is a painless process

http://www.lovemyfire.com/

With the Kindle Fire being "The #1 best-selling product on

Amazon"* there's a real need for a friendly, easy-to-use website

about these tablets.

Blog settings changed and other stuff

I have made some changes to the blog settings. One of which is the ability to post comments. Years ago I used to have it set so anyone could leave comments but then some unsavory characters left inappropriate ones so I changed it so they were not shown. So now I set it  to allow comments but you are required to be a registered user. So look in the left column and find where you can join and then be able to comment on a post. I think this will add a bit of pizzazz so I hope you decide to join and comment. Some of you have joined in the past so you will not need to rejoin. Also, let me know what you think about the changes.

Butch and I cleaned the vent covers on the roof. Now if you know me at all you know I did the ground work and he did the roof work. We had not cleaned them since they were installed so it was long overdue. A great deal of satisfaction is a result of getting these chores done.
Afterwards we walked over to the flea market. The cheese slicer I have used for my entire married life (55 years) broke. New ones like it are hard to come by. You know the ones I mean with a wire and a roller? My roller was long gone but I had learned to adjust.We saw a new one in the grocery store but the wire was wobbly and would never do a good job so we passed on it. So I looked to see if the Rada company made a cheese slicer and yes they do. It is more like a knife than a wire but I have always liked Rada products so decided to go with it. The Rada factory is in Waverly Iowa! Buy USA!   https://www.radacutlery.com/ 
I have used it once and I am happy with it. There is always a learning curve with a new utensil but I think it will be fine. Getting my slices straight was an issue but that was true of the old one as well.
On Amazon this little jewel was $10.90 while at the flea market it was $6.99
We usually go to the flea market on Saturdays so the remainder of Wednesday turned into Saturday for me.  Having two Saturdays doesn't matter when retired. It just means you are slightly askew for a bit.

My agenda for today is to continue on the cleaning. Butch plans to shuffle this morning and play cribbage this afternoon.

Another thing that happened yesterday concerned golfing in Boone. Aha! I bet that set you to wondering. I am a MyPoints member. I have been for years. Since 1998 actually. They send me pages in email, ads really and if I click on the page and go to the website I rack up 5 points merely for going to it. Do not have to buy anything and believe it or not it has never resulted in any spam for me. Once your points have accumulated you can buy things or get gift certificates. I usually get gift certificates for Amazon. 1700 points will get me a $10 credit for Amazon or many other stores. I have done this many times. Since 1998 I have racked up over 70,000 points. If this interests you let me know because I get points if others join too but that is not what this is about.
While looking at the MyPoints email, they offered a Groupon deal for a golf round in the DesMoines area. I am also a Groupon member so I checked it out. Two people with a cart for 18 holes was $29 and it was at the Boone Iowa course in town! That is a few blocks from Jason. So I  purchased the deal. Since it was through MyPoints I received 15 points per dollar too. 435 points! Win/Win!!

Most days it does not take much to amuse me.

Wednesday, March 26

Female Intuition

Butch laughed way too hard at this joke. The truth must be funny.

Tuesday, March 25

WEBSITE OF THE DAY

An RV isn't required and there are some great ideas here.
Awesome RV recipesClick on pictures of delicious food then browse through websites with tons of tempting recipes for camping or RVing. On Pinterest.

Spring on the playground


Monday, March 24

Digging Deeper

We finished the windows and the roof vents. Two big jobs done. So then I started sorting paper, throwing out some, setting some aside that stays in the motorhome and another bunch to get moved into the house  and a burn bag. The burn bag is one for the burn barrel when we get back to Iowa.
I even whittled this pile down to saving things in google drive and updating our health information . Now that is refinement, my friends.
In so doing, I came across some snippets I have saved and a short poem written and then long forgotten.

Here is the assortment...

Sayings I found tucked away here and there while Spring cleaning.


“Holding a grudge is letting someone live in your head rent free.”


“ Happiness is that little space between too much and not enough.”


A poem I wrote found in the same nook or cranny:

     Bright Side of Nasty
Some days are better than others.
The good and the bad take their turn.
Forget all the bad,rejoice in the good,
a lesson we all have to learn.


Tomorrow may try to be nasty,
and smugly think it has won.
But when the dust clears, the score you’ll see here
Bad day-zero Me-one


“Life is a gift. If we don’t live it well we are being ungrateful. And we have to love the ones who journey with us.”

Sunday, March 23

Chores and supper

     Butch finished washing the motorhome yesterday and I helped and then tackled washing the windows inside. Today we plan to take on a few other long neglected areas such as the roof vents.
     At least once a year we go through every nook and cranny and often discover forgotten treasures. They must be treasures otherwise why would we have kept them in the first place. If time permits we may also do that today. Spring brings on nesting instinct in all of us it seems.
   

 Last nights supper recipe is below and it is a keeper.

Egg Salad and Cheese Quesadillas



(Makes 4 quesadillas, can easily be increased. Recipe shared by a Kalyn's Kitchen reader.)
Ingredients:
4 hard boiled eggs
4 small size flour tortillas (use whole wheat or low carb
tortillas for South Beach diet)
olive oil or non-stick spray for spraying tortillas and pan
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 T mayo or light mayo
1 1/2 T finely chopped green onion
1/2 tsp. Spike Seasoning (optional, or use other seasonings of your choice)
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup finely grated cheese (I used a low-fat Mexican blend of four cheeses)
Instructions:
Follow instructions for making perfect hard-boiled eggs. Let eggs cool enough to handle, then peel and cut into pieces about 1/2 inch. Mix eggs with Dijon, mayonnaise, chopped green onion, and Spike seasoning. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Spray or brush olive oil on frying pan and on bottom side of tortillas. Spread egg salad mixture on half of each tortilla, not going clear to the edge so it doesn't fall out while quesadillas are cooking. Top egg mixture with 1 T grated cheese, then fold the tortilla to make a half-moon shaped quesadilla.

Heat frying pan over medium-high heat, then cook quesadillas about 3-4 minutes per side, or until cheese is melted and they are slightly browned. Serve hot, with salsa on the side if desired.



Saturday, March 22

Keeping up

At times it isn't easy keeping up with two blogs. Especially when the interesting stuff can apply to both. So if you are a reader of this one and not the magnolia one you may want to check it out. www.magnolianews.blogspot.com

Things are winding down here with many people leaving. The pace slows and we start looking to Spring cleaning and other chores we have been too busy to tackle the past 5 months. We are leaving here April 9th and headed for Sattler (Canyon Lake) Texas for a one night stay before making our way to Llano TX for a week. Then we will be making our way north with one night on the road and Peculiar MO being the next destination on Friday April 18th. Right now it looks like we will be in Jefferson on the 21st. Circumstances can change things but that is the story for now.
The weather has moderated. We are usually putting up with 90's by now but this year it is 80's and that is a good thing. Actually it is the sort of weather we usually enjoy most of the season. So once again weather is a non-issue. I like it when weather is a non-issue.
Today Butch plans to tackle washing the remainder of the motorhome. He did the roof yesterday. I am his gofer and lookout when he does this while at the same time getting some inside work done too. Windows may be my feature of interest.

My last computer class was yesterday and we had a good time. I received many Thank You's of which I am grateful. I will miss them but know we will be doing it again next fall. The beginner class has come a long way and may choose to join the advanced class next season. I think they have learned enough to feel comfortable there.