Spring! In Texas? A Taste of Spring!

Feeling like spring here in Texas!  It is in the mid 70's for the weekend! But of course next week another cold front will be passing thru, so the roller coaster of temps continues!  And I wonder why my sinuses keep giving me fits!

Got back all in one piece from Alabama. It was a nice week and it was good seeing the kids and grand kids! The "little ones" are growing up sooooo fast!  Just helps me to feel all the more "old"! But except for the normal everyday aches and pains....still can't believe I will be 62 this year!  Too bad my body can't keep up with my brain!  

Pelen and Abbie consider me their personal doorman!

And Jolene is just growing too fast!

 And I can't wait to get back up to Sunny Gulch!!!

This is the way things are supposed to be!!!

Until later....Happy Travels to All!!!

On The Road to TX

It has been a good trip so far....no really bad weather, got a fair amount accomplished in Alabama, good visits with the kids......now back to reality!

Have a ton of pictures to go thru and scan and divide up. Brought a few things back for the folks. Will have to go  back the first part of May and get a little more done in the house. If all goes well, should be done by the fall!  LOL!  It is just so time consuming and at times seems almost overwhelming! But slowly & surly getting thru it all.

I hit 3 different traffic jams last night...this one in Jackson, MS was a goodie! Between the three of them they cost me about 3+ hours of road time!

Mother's Magnolia is doing well! It is amazing what happens when someone pours I'm not sure how many gallons of "Miracle Grow" directly on the root ball of a plant when it is young! This thing is huge!

Olivia and I spent a fair amount of time playing! She is going to be a handful when the time gets here. Has already gotten pretty good at getting around...they really grow up just so fast that it passes by right in front of you...and quick!!

Addie has really gotten the skill of "big sister" down pat....at times....almost too well!  But that is just another part of growing up. 

And Sylvia is growing up so fast!  And she loves her Uncle Josh!!

The winter storm of 2016 was a flop....in Alabama, anyway! It came...it was....it was gone!!!! 

And I had a good time going thru pictures...at least some of them! I have seen pics this week that I don't remember having ever seen before.......

Sidekick was full for the run back....and what you see in this next pic...except for the shopping bag...all those boxes are full of pictures!!!  I have my work cut out for me in the coming weeks!

And I'm not sure where this came from or how it got in the boxes....but the Frog now has a Micky D's collector prize....A Frog!!

About to head on into the house...about 3 or so hours out...time to roll!

C'ya!!

 Here I sit in the deep south....waiting for the snow and ice to get here!  LOL!  The temp here was 51 at 11am....by 4:30pm it was 29....and is expected to drop another 3-5 degrees tonight. So even if we don't get but about 1/2-1 inch of the lumpy white stuff....the roads will  be GREASY/SLICK by in the morning, so I'm also interested to see just how many idiots will be out running around in their 4X4's....you just can't tell some folks that ice & rubber treads just don't mix!

I had originally planned on heading back to TX tomorrow, but as of now I'm planning on heading that way on Monday. The roads should be cleared off by then, and the temps are supposed to be coming back up some by then also.

I've been going thru boxes of pictures here for the past 2 days....and I've seen pictures that I have never seen before!  So the next few months will be very interesting as I go thru all the pics and digitally copy them and sort them, there is no telling what I might happen to learn about my kids family tree!

 

These pics of Mother and her parents I've never seen before....Awesome!

And these pages were in the front of her "wedding book"....so it gives a little more ammunition for the kids to track down more of our family tree....never know what we might find!!

"Warm" in Texas!! Kinda!! LOL!

It is still warmer in Texas than in Idaho! So I do believe that I will continue coming south for the winters! In fact, today, the high will be around 66*, and the high in Stanley is supposed to be 28*....I'll take 66*!!  

I have to admit, even though the price of oil keeps dropping, and soooo, the price of gas here keeps dropping also....I still don't think the economy is doing all that great! In case you have not been keeping up with the Stock Market....it has dropped for a 10% "correction"...and oil keeps dropping....and people keep eating out....and the "national personal debt" keeps going up....and the US national debt keeps going up....it will all catch up with us before too long!

And one of the things that amazes me is that there are so many "paper tags" running around here! Paper tags means new cars....and they are all over the place! I can't remember ever seeing so many new cars....is is just amazing.

It has been nice being able to hang out with part of the "grandkid herd"! Jolene is growing like a weed! And before too long I will be running out to Alabama to see that part of the herd before too many more months go by.

I'm getting Bertha sorted out and cleaned up a bit more each day...and putting things into storage...but there is still time for Snickers to play fetch! 

As you can tell from the pic below, Pelen is just the old man of the house and makes a good subject for pics! I do believe that you could say that he was completely relaxed here!

And I just couldn't pass up putting this pic in! Now this is what you call a work of love and imagination!  I love this thing!

The following is on the end of one of my "Universe" dvd's...look at the second paragraph...I don't think they have missed much in their description of where it is NOT allowed to be shown!

Back in Gadsden, AL we have "Nocalula Falls"...and my son Joshua posted several videos and pics of the falls during the heavy rains that they were having there. It has been a long time since I have had a chance to see the falls that full and overflowing! 

In the pic below, the "dark line" in the middle of the pic, in the middle of the creek, is a foot bridge that is normally about 6' over the creek in the middle of the walk over. Not that way in the pic! And the noise of the falls if just fabulous in this type of a flow!

I do believe that brings me about up to date with life here. I've gotten a lot done on the inside of Bertha, now I am getting ready to do the work that needs to get done for the run back up to Idaho this May. It keeps me out of trouble!!

Take care and more soon!  :-)  C'ya!

Another Year....Come & Gone!!

As I sit here on a construction site I'm looking at the old train station in downtown Ft Worth....and the downtown "old" Post Office....it makes me think about how, in today's society/system the "old things" seem to be relegated to somewhere in the closet/basement/attic....it's just not "relevant" in this advanced/progressive/technological age in which we are living! What seems rather strange to me is that the old buildings have to be torn down (even those that are in "bad shape")...get many of the newer buildings seem to have a hard time just staying up!

Granted, as things age, they take more upkeep than when new...but if they are looked after they offer a utilitarian style of almost exotic lifestyle for those that become involved with them. But old & exotic is just so much more interesting!  Things that have stood the test of time are the things folks look at to get a sense of stability in their lives.

1/7/2016.....

Adding a little bit more to the post....the New Year has started! And it has rained most of the time, more or less!!  LOL!  Today the sun is shining!  YEA!!! I come south to get away from most of the cold....but this year the relative cold and rain has followed me! But I can deal with it!

Looking a little bit more at "the old things"....the new is better is the oft used refrain....but when you balance out the cost of purchasing/paying for the new (taxes, insurance, additions, etc...) compared with being able to work on something yourself, lower insurance, no interest....just have to think about the possibility of keeping the "old" thing!!

That being said...the next few weeks will involve more "updating" on Bertha, ripping and replacing a few things, getting the propane system working, a tune-up, some painting (interior and exterior) to ready her for the upcoming summer to Idaho.  SideKick has to have a tune-up and a turn-signal/parking light socket rewired in (since one of our furry friends here decided to try to make a bed under the hood and chewed off 3 wires from it!) But that issue will hopefully be fixed by this afternoon - thanks to Cary helping (actually doing) the soldering of new wires onto the socket!

Don't know if I mentioned it or not, but last year ended up being the wettest year on record for this area of Texas...over 62 inches for the year. All the ponds, lakes, resivoirs (however you spell it!) are full and the ground is like a full sponge....but still not complaining about the rain! We're out of drought now.

Time to get to work. Hope everyone is having a great new year and looking forward to a full year!!