On The Road Again.....Kinda!! LOL

We (Abbie, Snickers & myself) are at Tiffany & Cary's. Had a pleasant drive up here from San Antonio, got settled in here and here we sit!  LOL  Waiting on another job to come open....or something to do. But it is nice to be able to sleep nights and relax.



It has been nice to just not really have any particular schedule. And the timing for my time off has been very good!  Because just a couple of days after I got here Tabitha and the kids were able to come out and visit for a few days. And it was so good to get to see them...and the newest addition to the herd!! Olivia! It was the first time that I had gotten to see my newest grandchild. And it was good!


Cary has been a big help with Bertha. While he was home of his off time he helped me to get a couple of things done on Bertha....we (he!) fixed my step that had almost been ripped off at the San Antonio site. 

Got it bent back into position/shape and he rewelded it to the frame....and now I have my step back without having to hang on to the house or put a wood block under it to keep it up. :-)  AND...then he was a major help in getting the air conditioner working again!  I believe it is the original unit...and it hadn't worked since I got Bertha, and it had never worked for the previous owner....and Cary was able to get the fan motor realigned and believe it or not,it is blowing COLD air!  YES!!!  I will survive August much better this year!  It is a closed system, meaning it can't be recharged with coolant, but it is still cooling just fine! Not bad for about a 37 year old unit!!

The girls and I made a run to Vale, AZ to pick up a Suzuki Samari for Cary. Had a chance to make a few stops...one of which was at the Rest Area outside Las Cruces, NM.  And there is a nice Rest Area outside Monahans, TX.  Cary found the truck on Craig's List, and it is in amazing condition. He had one as his first vehicle and when this one was found, it needed to be gotten for the price. It will be a great toy, and it will give him something that he can drive 

to the oil fields and back without

having to worry about whether he will get out there on time and not have to rely on someone else to get to the job. We loaded it up on the dolly and dragged it back. And it went real well!









I will be headed out to Alabama on Sunday to get some vehicle tags taken care of and go thru stuff that I have at the house to see what I want to keep and what needs to go away!  Some stuff will come back with me to keep with me in Bertha, some will go into storage....and the vast majority will be going away!!

In Round Rock for most of weekend

Bertha and I and the children (Abbie and Snickers....LOL) arrived in Round Rock at the folks Wednesday evening....amongst the beginnings of the rains!! And it has been raining here for the past 49 hours almost continuously.  And the temps have been running between 52 to 64 degrees! Just a little slice of heaven!!!

The folks are doing well. They have settled in pretty well. For the most part!

I worked out in the parking lot on Thursday and Friday....and actually got a "workbench" for Dad built. Not fancy, but it ended up pretty sturdy and solid...has enough room for what he wants to do...even has an edging so he doesn't have to worry too much about chasing tools to the floor on the back side of it....and it will still be able to have some more things added to it.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. 

The critters and I will be headed out for NRH in the morning...hopefully we will be there by tomorrow afternoon/evening....a 3 hour trip down here in a "normal" vehicle equates out to about a 7 hour excursion in Bertha!!

The trip up was quite quiet...had no issues with cooling (when you sit and idle, that big block seems to build up enough heat to make a slight leak out the overflow tube) ... but there was no overheating issues on the run up. She does seem to have a small leak somewhere on the gas tank...so half a tank at a time is all I put in until I figure out where the leak is exactly.

Generator has done fine. With the power consumption needs that I have changed in the past 7 months, a good hard charge on the aux batt lasts about  13-16 hours...I don't thing that is too bad for one battery. 

About time to go check on Abbie and Snickers. And it isn't raining too hard right now, so a good time to take Abbie out for a break!

Bertha's Charging Again!!!

Just got done with the RV repair guys...and the house is charging again. It took him about 2 hours to figure out what had been changed with the wiring! Not really the house wires, but the factory wiring under the hood.  I'm not even sure just what all he had to change, it wasn't but one or two wires....but it made the difference and he got her charging both the vehicle and the aux battery. So we can now head down the road in the morning.

Headed for Round Rock first for a few days, then headed for North Richland Hills for a little bit of rest and work on the house.  

From there I currently have no idea where I will be heading....time will tell!!  :-)

Getting Out of San Antonio??

I'm still sitting here working on getting out of San Antonio! And I do actually hope that I will be rolling out of here in the morning (Thursday 3/18/2015)! I spent the entire day yesterday replacing the alternator on Bertha....and to no avail!! She is still not charging and I have accepted the fact that I am not going to be able to fix her, so I'm sitting here waiting for two gentlemen that do RV repairs to get here about 10am. They work totally mobile and out of their vehicles, so I'm anxious to see how this works out!'

I have actually enjoyed being parked over here behind the security building for Christus Santa Rosa Hospital. It is on the top of a hill and there is always a breeze and pleasant and quiet and clean (very clean compared with the dirt/dust/mud of the site)! It is almost a totally pleasant respite!!

I've now had a week off from the job, and it has been very restful! I am actually sleeping at night for a while, and have been sleeping all night! 

When I finally get away from here I'm headed to the folks for a few days, building a work bench for dad. And just taking time to visit and relax. Then headed up to Tiffany and Cary's for a week or so. 

While at the kids place I am going to try to pull the sofa out of the house and turn it into a day bed situation, which will also seal of the outside access to the inside of Bertha. Plan on just getting a foam mattress for it with some throw pillows. Will increase my sleeping area by about 15-20%. That will be nice! Also working on the storage areas and will be putting up at least 3 sets of curtains. 

Mobile Mentality Again!!

Well, Bertha has moved for the first time in 2+ months....and she didn't fall apart!  But I had forgotten just how cold natured Mopar products were. 70 degrees outside and you would think it was below freezing!!  LOL  But, nothing fell (even if I did run over a few pots of monkey grass that I didn't see!!) and with a little power steering leak I had forgotten about, now to see just how well she does in the engine cooling area! 

 After sitting here for so long it feels like starting all over again with her!

I'm about to eat a little something, then take a nice hot shower, then take the car over across the street first, then move Bertha.  So bedtime tonight will be late, but it is on the top of a hill (even if I will be behind a building) so should have a fair breeze.

More to come later....probably tomorrow. I will be tackling the alternator in the morning to see if I can get her charging like she's supposed to be!

Guess it is time for an Update!! :-)

(Originally written 2/9/2015)

It has been a while since I got on here and did an update!  Sorry about that!

January ended up being a fairly good month. It did get pretty doggone cold for a few days down here in south Texas, but cold for here. I think the lowest temp was about 29*.....I do believe that I dealt with that just like a walk in the park!  Now, the "natives" down here were dressing like a bunch of Eskimos!! LOL  You would have thought that another glacier age was starting listening to them talk about how cold it was!  It was quite amusing!

Now what we did have down here was a massive amount of rain! Granted, they have been and still are in a drought, but there was enoung rain to raise the aquifer level several feet. And it did give me a chance to find the rest of the leaks in Bertha! But I have all but 2 of them taken care of, and those 2 are now just barely leaking, so we're almost there getting that straightened out.

I'm currently working on trying to get Bertha's wipers working again. The bushings on the movement arms finally dry rotted off and trying to get a new set into the same holes is almost an act of God! But I WILL get them fixed this week somehow!!

I also installed a set of 3 "puck" LED lights....and they are sweet!!! The pull almost now power, and talk about bright...they light up almost all of the house without being glaring! I'm going to get 3 more this week's check and in two weeks I'll get 3 more (they come in sets of 3). When I get them all installed....I'll have the whole house lit with them and will be able to see so much better, and it should increase my battery life by a couple of hundred %!

                         

Temperature Rollercoaster!!

I guess I had forgotten just how this area has temperature swings in the winter! It is just flat crazy! Most of last week the highs were in the low 50's and the nights were down to the upper 20's at times. And on top of that, it was drizzly and rainy and windy for the majority of the week. Then it jumped up to the mid 60's for a couple of days....and the past several days were in the 40's with lows in the lower 30's.  NOW....they are calling for a high of 74 today and pushing 80 tomorrow! The low last night was 35. And by Thursday it is supposed to be a very good chance of rain with a high only in the lower 50's.

I know that doesn't sound that bad, and to me it really isn't that bad....but....when you are dealing with a 30-40 degree swing in 24 hours....and the humdity level is high....the "cold" just bites thru you!  And even though I have not really gotten a cold or the flu....my chest stays clear and breathing is fine....the issue for me is my sinuses! They have always been an issue, and these swings are wrecking havoc on them!

Now add to that the fact that apparently I have once again acquired an allergy to the cedar trees that are rampant in this part of Texas....my sinuses are on a rampage about half the time!!  LOL  A little over a week ago I went and got some of the Walgreens generic Zartac (or whatever that allergy med is called) and started taking one a day.  It did the job and my sinuses dried up and my ears finally cleared....and I felt much better....for several days.  Then one morning I bent over to close my door and damn near fell out of the house! I felt like I had been on a 4 day drunk!  I immediately came over here and set down and broke out the blood pressure cuff....and you don't even want to know what my pressure was!  Let's just say that if it had been one of the mercury tubes I would have probably blown the top out of it!!!

Needless to say, I came off that med right that moment....and it took about 5 days for my pressure to get back down to an acceptable limit, and this morning it was down to 147/89.  I can live with that...literally!! LOL

Now on to catching you up on "Life in Bertha"!!  Have been working on the interior and it is coming along. Will have some new curtains up by next week, and have started working on getting "closeout" curtains up in front/over the overhead bunk area which is now storage. They will be a dark brown, I think, because that is the color of the ones that I got originally for the windows....but they will take too many panels....But I believe they will be enough to do the front top.  I want to find some nice pattern for the side curtains.

I'm also trying to decide on the color that I want to do the cabinet doors in.  It will be some shade of a moss or fern green...kind of a light pastel color. I just haven't been able to settle on just how light or green or pastel!!  LOL  But it will help lighten up the inside of Bertha.

Snickers and Abbie have finally started playing and putting up with each other. As usual, Abbie just doesn't know when to slow down and take a break....but Snickers is able to get her "point" across when she finally gets tired of it and wants to slow down. The only issue with that is that they have a tendency to play around my feet....so my legs sometimes inadvertently get the "point" also....dang little hypdermic needle claws!!!!!

I think I'll take a short nap and get ready for tonight. I'll be doing my laundry tonight...almost out of clothes again. I'm actually in shorts today...that's how nice it is today!

It has been a beautiful day here!  I just sat outside by my "porch" for an hour and a half....and it was glorious!  I'm in shorts and short sleeves and there is barely a breeze...and it is perfect!

It's about time to get ready for the night. So time to make some coffee, get my clipboard and check tire pressure! Then the circles begin!!!  More to come tomorrow and I'll have some pics of the site and Bertha. It is looking more and more like an apartment complex now!

C'ya!

The Crud!!!

It is Sunday morning...still overcast...supposed to be mid-50's today....at least it quit raining!  I have been tapped again by the crud/allergies/cold....whatever!  But feel better as of now.  I'm beginning to think that I will be fighting this garbage until Spring!  It just comes and goes...lasts about 24 hours and then it hides again. More of a pain in the you know what than being actually sick! Maybe the correct definition of it is that it is a hinderance to daily activities!  LOL 

Anyway....TODAY will be a good day....because as of 12 noon "Ice Bowl 2" starts....so it will be a good day!

I'll give an Ice Bowl 2 update after the game....maybe at halftime, depending on just how the first 2 quarters go!

10 Days into the New Year!!

It is 10 days into the New Year....and it fits just like the "Old Year"! You would think a new year would feel different....but the clock still has 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year...so, like so all times in the past....life continues on!

It has been quiet and a temperature roller coaster here for the past couple of weeks. We are having temp shifts of up to 30 degrees. And that make life for the sinuses very interesting! And I apparently have "regained" one of my allergies from the distant past...the one that had to do with the cedar trees in this part of Texas! I was miserable for a couple of weeks when the cedar count was bouncing between 800-1350! I thought my face was going to explode! But it has settled down and life continues on!

I have a new resident in my tiny house...and she is named "Snickers"! And I do believe that she will eventually get settled in....

..it be be a difficult transition for her, but I think we will weather it!!!  Heheheh









The one major improvement on my location here is the fact that I am also now on "hard power" out of the office trailer....no more diesel fuel issues!!! It is so nice to not have to worry about turning the generator off for several hours each night to make sure that there was enough fuel to last for the 7 days between fuel ups!!

It has been raining/drizzling here for the past 2 days...we were under a Winter Storm Advisory for the past 24 hours...got some sleet and ice....then tonight got a little more and, on top of that, a little thunder and lightening! So this has been a really fun "cold front"! 

I just got done watching 2 very good football games! Playoffs....with one more to go tomorrow....Cowboys vs Packers...."Ice Bowl 2"....they have not met in a playoff since the last one.....in 1967!  So this should be a good game. The Packers took the last one...let's see what the Cowboys have for this one!!

Well, it is time for another round here to make sure that the earth hasn't moved a little bit in the past hour or so! It is usually very quiet here at night, especially when the weather is like this. There is just nothing going on here! Which if really nice, as far as I'm concerned!!  :) 

Happy New Year!! Possibly!!!..Hmmmmm

Well, a new year has come and gone.....it is now This Year....as of 1/1/2015 00:01am.  And there are 364 more days and then there will be another New Year to look into....for a full :60 seconds!  Then THAT one will be THIS year also!!

But how did the past/old year go??? For me it was interesting...I went from an Independent Owner/Operator Truck Owner to a Contract Security person. Went from being in a different place every night to being in one place for 6+ months at a whack. Went from walking like a normal person to walking a lot like Walter Brennon! I'm now up to 6 grandkids! And one Chihuahua! (Lord knows I never expected to have a chihuahua with me as my "dog"!!)  When I let my hair grow out a little bit between shavings....it is a lot grayer (or should I say it is a lot whiter!!). 

Overall, the past year was full of changes, "learnings" & also a lot of the "sameness" of life. 

What do I expect for the next year....a lot of changes, more "learnings" & also a lot of the "sameness" of life!!

And that is the beauty of it all! Things change every day, we need to learn something every day (no matter how big or small, grand or trivial it is) and be prepared for the same things to happen in the coming year that happened in the year gone by.

The one thing that I look forward to is being able to grow a little more in wisdom/knowledge and hopefully a bit more in the area of experience.....and that experience is the experience of living each day to the fullest that I can live it. It might not seem "full" to me at the time, but when I look back on it....hopefully every day will offer "a something" new in my experience of life on this little blue marble in the middle of this universe....in the middle of whatever it is that lies above our heads!

I'm sure that there are many things that I can learn, experience and gain some sort of wisdom from in the coming days....I just hope and pray that I have the common sense to see those things when they are presented to me in whatever form they happen to be packaged in. Because if there IS one thing that I have learned over the past year or so, it is that we never, Never, NEVER know just where that next learning/experiencing/"wisdom-ful" thing is going to come from for us to broaden ourselves on/with!

Soooo,,,,,,so long, good-bye, good riddance 2014......Hi, Hello, Welcome, Howdy 2015!  May you be the same as last year and may you be so much more than last year....and may I have the common sense to see what all you offer me in the next 364 days!! 

Signed........A Traveler Thru The Year!!!   ;-)

A Peaceful Sunday!

This was a very peaceful Sunday....especially since I slept until 12:30pm!  LOL  And I still don't feel all that great! I'm still fighting off whatever it is that I have been fighting for the past week.  Go thru cycles of better and worse....so I'll just ride it out!  Of course, the weather/temperature shifts don't help any. Our days and nights are still going thru 20+ degree shifts....not real good for the old sinuses!!

But at least it did stop raining late morning and we actually had a little sunshine this afternoon, but they are calling for a low here in San Antonio of 32* tonight....and the high today was only 50* with a high tomorrow of 63*....that's a 31* shift for the day!

The End of the Year Cometh!!!

Well....the end of the year is getting closer....nothing on but Bowl games and only a couple of them that I can get on tv....can watch a couple of them online, but that can be a hassle.  Oh well....looking forward to next season, already?  LOL  But this is an annual thing that I have gotten used to over the years!!  Heheheh! I've learned how to handle the withdrawals!!

Things here have been pretty doggone quiet. The weather has been all over the board and my sinuses are paying the price! We are having shifts of 30 plus degrees on a daily basis. Last night the temp at 10pm was 71...at 6 this morning it was 50....and by 5 tonight is supposed to be 40....yee-hawww!! In the low 70's by Monday, then by next Thursday it will be back in the upper 40's with lows in the 30's and rain!!! Yippeeeee!!!!  The cold front passed thru here about 5:30am this morning and the wind came with it.  Bertha is rocking from side to side now....have a steady 11-15mph wind, with gusts up to 33+. Overcast and drizzly!  Love it!!  :-P

According to Mark (one of the supvrs) here, they are supposed to get rid of the generator Monday, and drop a line to the trailer. And the leasing gals and the other "office" personnel for the apartment complex are supposed to start working out of the Clubhouse and offices there doing showings of apartments and signing leases that are effective as of Jan 15 for about 40 or so apartments. They are going to drop a hard line for power to the trailer, so I will be plugging into the trailer for power. Plus I am going to move Bertha and "parallel park" her next to the curb. It will put me closer to the trlr so I hopefully will not have to buy any more extension cord. And I'm going to get a couple of cones and block out a spot for Mark to park between me and the trlr, and cone out my parking spot in front of Bertha.

Plus, when this months rental contract is up on the car, I am not renewing it. I'll just do a weekend special rental every payday weekend and stock up for the two weeks....and start walking more here and using my little stool!!  :-)  I just noticed day before yesterday that if I wouldn't lace up my shoe on my right foot it doesn't hurt nearly as much to walk, and I need to do more walking so that I can keep the swelling down in my right leg better. And the ankle is doing better, but the bottom of the foot on the heel is still very tender, feels like the heel bone is dropped down to just under the skin. Maybe by this time next year I'll be closer to normal!  LOL

I'm very pleased with the new frig...it draws less than a third of the little frig and keeps things very cold set just below the "medium" setting...I love it!

Christmas 2014

It is Chritmas Eve in the year 2014!  Which means the New Year of 2015 is right around the corner!  And I wonder what it will have in store for all of us?!?!?  2014 was interesting....but more on that later....now, back to Christmas Eve in San Antonio, Tx.

I would also like to announce the arrival of my 6th grandchild!!!!  Olivia Bozeman arrived on 12/22/2014, coming into this world at 8 lbs 1 oz, 20 inches!  Congrats to Tabitha and Jason!  If my other 3 start having kids I'm just going to have to retire because it will be a fulltime job just trying to travel around to see them all!!

And I had a package arrive from my company on Monday.....it was a 9 pound smoked turkey from Greenburg BBQ in Tyler, TX.   And WOW!!!!, is that a good turkey! It is better than any that I have ever had!!!

It's a half day of work for the crews that are here on site. Most everybody should be gone and it should be quiet here by 2pm. A day and a half of peace and quiet!  But come Friday morning, it will be work as usual.

In the past 3 days I have succeeded in having the old frig removed from Bertha. The guys actually had to take a sawz-all to it to get it out the door.  And that is how we found out that the coolant that was used in the old frig's was amonia!!!!  I can still smell it!!  But it is out and gone in the dumpster.  And YEA for Christmas sales....Lowe's had a 4.5 cu ft Frigidaire frig....it was 25% off!  So, you guessed it, Bertha got a new frig for her Christmas present!!

Tomorrow I will be headed to Round Rock for the day to visit with the folks. It should be a nice relaxed day. I'll have pics up tomorrow night or Friday.

If the weekend stays fairly nice I'm going to try to finish the H2O system in Bertha. Friday I'm going to get the connectors and hose to fix the gap in the feed line from the pump. I hope that it will be a quick fix.  Haven't pulled the water heater out yet, so will have to hit it with water to see if it leaks. If it does leak, then it will be a few days before I can get the system up....will have to remove the tank for now and bypass it.  Could be interesting!!

Also have to do a semi-permanent fix to the counter top by the door as you come in.  The corner of it is slowly disappearing....old age, old glued sawdust and just daily traffic is inflicting terminal injury to it. So I have a piece of that birch 1/4 inch plywood left that I think is large enough to get it taken care of.

So that catches me up for the week.  Looking forward to what 2015 brings!

Until later, MERRY CHRISTMAS to All!!!

Awesome Early Christmas Present!

As of 12/22/2014 I have become a grand-pa for the 6th time!!

Welcoming to this life Olivia Conner Rose Boseman
                                           8 lbs  1 oz,    20 inches

And congrats to Tabitha and Jason!

Pics to follow shortly!!

Just a Little Catch up from SA.

I've been working on Bertha again some to try to get the storage figured out. And cleaning up some more....Still have a ways to go!  But each week I throw out a more stuff that I have no idea when the last time I used it was. So I'm actually coming up with more storage room than I currently need.

As you can tell from the picture below, I have "neighbors" that lead a rather colored life!!  The good thing is that the wind seems to always be blowing from my direction towards them!  And they seem to never really smell now since the heat of summer has passed by!!!  Thank Goodness!!!  

I just had to throw in these two short little videos....you just never know when you will be having to work late!  The concrete finishers had finished their work for the day/week and needed to get their polishers down from the second floor so that they can go home.  Had to bring James back to the job site so that he could get one of the lifts and help them get down with the machines.

I did my grocery shopping yesterday, and Abbie had a spa day...and I noticed something.....there are almost no Christmas decorations in the stores out here. And I mean no decorations. Apparently most of the stores are not allowing anything that does not "promote the brand"....or might be "misconstrued" that they were favoring one group over another!  So I'm about done with getting out for anything the rest of this week and probably not getting out next week either!

Yesterday was also Spa Day for Abbie...and Ericka just did her up with bows again...and they lasted about 2 minutes once I put her in the dar...she does not like having anything on her head...much less rubberbands in her hair!  LOL

Now for really good news....gas just keeps dropping here!  This is what I paid yesterday when I topped off!  It does make my gas budget go a lot further each week!!

Then yesterday evening I decided to finally try to see how well my little egg cooker would cook scrambled eggs....andthey come out like a souffle!!  And quite good!!!

And it is such a consistency that it "cubes" up just great to make a burrito with it....and it really tasted good!

And to end this installment on a Merry Christmas note.....just look what just now has been delivered to me!!!  From the boss!! And unless I'm not remembering correctly....this is the company that sells out of their turkeys every season, in fact, you have to order well in advance to be able to get one of them!!!  And I now have a 9 lb turkey to debone and bag and hopefully have room to keep it for a few days!!!!!!!

YUMMY!!!!!!

So....Just in case I don't get back on here before the 25th of December......

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL 

AND TO ALL 

A GLORIOUS NIGHT!!!!!

Christmas Spirit?

I'm doing my grocery shopping this morning  & i just realized something.....all the talk about the "re-urbanization"of America - and i wonder just where all these folks are living & where is the Christmas Spirit?  Because in the "big city" you see very little of it. Lots of sales, lots of short fuses behind steering wheels.....but not much spirit out here.  Hmmmmm!?!?

"Tis the Season.....SO?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!

Last night was a quiet night. As they all are basically!  :-)   I had a transient pass through last night...first one since I have been here. He was very polite, very quiet and appears to be very needy. He is carrying an Army type duffle bag, and is fairly well warmly dressed. He walked up to me as I was sitting in the car. He asked me if there might be a portapot on site that he could use. A split second decision and I told him how to get to ours on site. I very quietly drove around and kept an eye on him, and he went straight in the way I told him, made his visit and headed straight out the same way. I really had a feeling of sadness for him....asked him when the last time he had a warm meal, he didn't really answer.....didn't need to, because from his looks, it had been a while. And the reason I feel so sure of this happening with him is that I gave him several dollars (what I had in my wallet), and I got a very simple thank you, no over the top reaction, a very reserved reaction and very muted emotional response (he had a tough time looking me in the eye).

And being the time of the year that it is, I spent the rest of the night thinking about the "luck" that I have had over the years. I have 5 beautiful kids.....soon to be 6 grand grandkids......having been blessed with the amount of travel I've done over the years that most folks want to do & by the time they "retire" they're not able to do......all the folks that I have had the opportunity to meet and grow to know......and the overall good health I've had (in spite of my working hard to not have it!!).....I've had a very full life and in actuality....a very fulfilling life.

As I've already mentioned....I have a lot of time to ponder, think, "philosophize" each day now....and the more I do it, the more that this life I've led stands out to me....and the grand things that I have gotten to do. As of now, I'm living the life I like....mobile (even though I'm stationary for a few months)....fixing up a "tiny house" on 6 wheels....the lifestyle I love! I don't know of too many folks that can truly say that they are satisfied with where they are in life at this moment.  I really can say it and mean it....still have things I want to do and see.....and if it is in the overall scheme of things, I will get to see and do those things before my number rolls up!

There's probably more that I want to add to this....but it is still in the thinking stage....or the lack of sleep stage....so I'll just have to sleep on it!!  LOL

Have a great day!!

It is just beginning!

I have gotten a pretty good days sleep today, but I have also been keeping up with the hostage situation in Sydney, Australia. And the sad conclusion of it.

This is an example of just what we can come to expect in the future from the groups that are what we call terrorist groups...."an isolated incident" is what they called it, but it is only going to become more frequent and more deadly in the days to come.

This was an individual that was on the watch list, and had done stupid things in the past. But even being on a watch list is no guarantee of being able to prevent this type of situation.

And even with all the work to keep folks safe, they want to complain about an "invasion of privacy" while the law enforcement folks try to keep them safe?????  Just how stupid are the American people getting??  Not to mention just how stupid are the populations of most western countries getting??

If society wants to be "safe", then you have to give up something to the folks trying to keep you safe. If you don't then you don't have a leg to stand on when you get "hurt" or killed or blown up! Because they are part of the problem when it comes to keeping up with the folks that want to do harm to the majority of the populace!

Enough said1

Now why isn't this on National News?!?!?

I have just seen this on the local Sunday morning news here in San Antonio. Now maybe I have too much time to think and consider things now with my new work and in my current state of "practicing for retirement", but I am actually watching more news now, until I reach of point of disgust and turn it off, but I keep coming back to my thought pattern of where our current society is and just how far are we going to have to drop in common sense before we wake up!

I still don't hold a lot of hope for society as a whole unless something wakes up the masses ( I still prefer "the herd" as a better description) to the fact that we have gotten way off course when it comes to how "a village" has to operate in order the said society to survive.

Here is what I sent my kids on HangOuts, and I think all that read this blog should look at this very many times!!

Now why the hell doesn't something like this make the national news instead of the bullshit that is going on with all the coverage of the "protestors"?????? Grandmother caught stealing eggs thankful for off…: http://youtu.be/jiOljF1gxuU

Take the 3 minutes to watch this news report out of I believe either Huntville or Birmingham, AL and see what I am talking about.

Spring like Storms and Advancement on Job!!

Good Morning, World!!  It has been cold, wet and windy here for the past week or so! And it is still changing from day to day. In fact, even the weathermen are having a hard time getting out the "7 day forecast" because it is seemingly changing every 12 hours! This rain today was supposed to have been done by lunchtime today, and now they are saying it will be here until tonight. The high today was supposed to be upper 70's, that will be here tomorrow. So I just sit back & watch out the window to see what it is like this hour!!  LOL

I finally dropped by that little VW shop this week to see what it would cost to get one of the VW "Things" that were on the lot....I shouldn't have....I almost fainted!! The prices for the VW's has gone thru the roof!  The most inexpensive "Things" on the lot were $8,900!  That little 'ol VW Pickup in the picture above.....well.....a month or so ago he had a guy walk in one day and offer him $25,000 for it....and he turned it down because it would bring more! My heart is broken!!  So I guess I will be looking for a mid 70's model of a Subaru Brat!  

They have really been moving along with the job here. They have been pouring concrete for sidewalks and parking areas all week. And working late nights to try to get caught up...but catching up when you're 5+ months behind is an almost impossible task! But they have about 20 or so apartments lit up trying to "condition" them so that they can finish the final details of getting they ready to turn over to the owners.

The pool guys have really been working hard at trying to  get the common area in the middle of the main building complex done. Pouring the sidewalks, patio areas and entrance/exits into the buildings.They have been here all night a couple of nights, and way into the night all the other nights.  But at this rate, they just might get done soon!

It will be nice when they do get through with it all. They also laid the tile in the pool and are coming along with the "fountain" part of the pool....I can't wait to see what it is going to look like!  They are bringing in shrubs and palm trees and are trying to make it look like a resort on the coast. Should be interesting! I'm not sure who had the task of doing decorating and furniture choice for the "clubhouse"....but I'm not very impressed. I'll try to remember to get some pics of that later and add them.

But the insides of the apartments are looking pretty good. I wandered thru a couple of them the other night and was surprised at how good they were actually looking!

 They are actually looking pretty nice. I'm not real into the "contemporary" lighting decor...or the cabinets (they are really just too dark for my tastes) but it does look fairly good!  I do like most of the plumbing fixtures they are using. The a quite nice!  :-)

The kitchen countertops are what I really like! They are all a gray marble top, well done finishes and nicely cut and edged! All the entrance doors are 8 feet, which I'm told is what comtemporary decorating is doing to give them a "classy look" for today's style....if you say so!!  Heheh!




Well, the rain just keeps coming and going each 30 minutes or so...literally! It has just started again, been about 40 minutes since the last little shower.  

And as the day wears on the green/yellow/red areas on the radar is supposed to get quite a bit larger. But I'm not complaining...these poor people have been needing raing for several years, so it is a welcome site! Now if they could just learn/remember how to drive on wet roads!! And the temperature is supposed to hit 75* today, rain moving out after midnight tonight, sunny tomorrow and the high is supposed to hit 80*!  Glad I have the A/C unit still set up!

That about covers it for today. Time to do a little house cleaning, sorting & "positioning" of "stuff"!  See you in a couple of days!  

Winter hits South Texas!!

Well....more or less....winter has hit south Texas....and you can get a good grin when you look out and see folks here dressed like they are in Denver!! It is currently 39* (was down to 34* this morning)...and tomorrow is supposed to be colder. And these poor folks are not used to temperatures like this! I'm quite happy with this weather...but these poor folks are not looking forward to this winter. It just might possibly be a long and really cold winter for this part of the world!

   The "community area" in the middle of the main buildings is also coming along nicely. The pool area is coming right along. It go slowed down with all the rain we got last week....the middle area turned into basically a small swamp!  But it has dried out (kind of) and they are getting ready to do the final pours of the pool area and walkways and "patios". So it is all coming together!

They are coming right along with this project. In fact, I am amazed at just how much they have gotten accomplished in just the past 2 weeks. In fact, they have moved in furniture at the "clubhouse" and office section of building 8. And from what James has told me, they are getting several apartments ready to be turned over to the owners....which I am quite sure has made them very happy. There is even hard power in that little section of the building. So just maybe before too long I will have a hard power drop of a 30 amp line for me and Bertha.  That will be a blessing!  No more fighting with workers that would overload my little 20 amp plug!

Now on for some of the practicality of the goings on here.....concrete!! They have poured and cured the entire driveway around the complex....to the point that all that is left is the main entrance approach!  This sounds like a minor accomplishment on a project like this...but for me and Bertha and Abbie....this is a major thing!  The generation of dust has been decreased by at least 90%!!  Which means my sinuses and the interior of the house has been brought an amount of relief that is almost tangible!! I only have to dust 2 or 3 times a week now instead of 2 or 3 times daily!!! Oh,what a relief it is!!  LOL

This picture is what my current pot of "stew" started out from...and it came out pretty good....but I will have to get a larger crock pot if I plan on using all these ingredients in a meal at once. For a meal for probably 3-5 folks, you can't beat this mix!!  LOL   Started out making a cup of rice in my rice cooker.  Then transfer it to you crock pot. Add to that 2 cans of canned beef and gravy (drain off "gravy" if you get Great Value..just too much like water), then let it simmer for 10-20 minutes.  The drain the liquid off of a can of mixed veggies and blend them in.  About 10 minutes later, add about half a pack of Lipton Beefy Onion soup mix...DRY! Don't add any water, just mix it in a best you can and put the lid on. Let that cook for on high for 20 minutes of so, then remove the lid and mix it up real well with large spoon. That's when the gravy mix will totally mix up and disperse.  What you come up with is a moist, tasty "stew/soup" that is actually quite good!  And the cost is about $7.00....maybe!  Might actually be less that that. But it is good!


Time to take a little rest period and get ready for another night. Thought I would close out today with a nice sunset pic from the heart of  San Antonio!

 

Rain, Rain, Rain!

This is what the radar has looked like here for the past 24 hrs & it has been great! Overnight we had over 2.5 inches of rain. It had settled into a good 'ol soaker! And the weatherman is saying it will be here probably until Friday morning! Glorious! And with the train had come some really cool temperatures! The high today is 60°. And cold temps are coming!