Its Getting Close to Going to The RGV

So far the weather long range forecast for the last day of the month is sunny. If this holds we will leave on the 31st and stay over one night about half way and arrive on the 1st. Its a 544 mile trip which is to far for me and this rv. Its nearly 9 hours by car but closer to 12 with the rv. We travel at 55-60 in lien of the 70 by car. We will make a fuel stop and spend the night before going on. With the Saturn Vue, we must stop at 7 hours and start the suv and let it run for 3 minutes to get oil back into the transfer case. If we don't do this, the warranty will be void to fix the tranny. plus I don't wont to drive that many hours.

I have gotten the software for the satellite dish to install it when we get there. Depending on where we park at Llano Grande, wifi may not be available. Last year wifi was not available on the east side. This is where I hope to park as its closer to the buildings where the happenings are. You will know where we are parked soon after I get the dish up and our GPS and physical location are known. This will be the last trip for the rv and us. When we get back to Fort Worth, we will put the rv up for sale in a consignment lot at Motor Home Specialists. This is the same place we originally bought the rv. Its been a good coach. We have had to make some repairs but nothing really out of line. The only thing possibly unusual is the emergency brake last year. Other than that, its been normal wear and tear. To make the coach a better sale vehicle, I will have new carpet installed. This will run about $1000-$1200. Everything works and the outside dings have been fixed.

Stay in touch for the latest happenings once we get there. Pics will be taken and hopefully we will have a good, trouble free trip down and back. See you later on the 2nd of November.

Its Getting To Be Fall Weather

The leaves are falling, critters are looking for food for the winter and the nights are getting into the 50's. Time to go south for the winter. I will be leaving at the end of the month for the RGV again. My current plans are to go to Llano Grande again and hope for better weather than last year. See the blog for last winter's weather.

I will be going by myself as DW will be working. I will be coming back the 1st of March and finding a place to stay in the area. Hopefully it will be getting warmer by then too.

The Latest Happenings Here

The pics of the tree trimming as it progressed the next day. The company brought in a truck with a basket to get to the dead limb. Once the truck was in place, it was fast work and the limb was gone. The problem with the limb was it was over the 5th wheel and could fall in the wind or just rot to the point of failure. The park would probably be responsible for the repairs. Removal was the better way out.

We both got over the flu, took two weeks. I got a sever sinus infection and had to take antibiotics for eight more days. Some where in there I got an eye infection from putting in and taking out the contact lenses. I went for my yearly checkup yesterday and have more Rx for the eye to get that fixed. That will last a couple of weeks.

I have had a continual problem of breathing and it has gotten worse. Now the little exertions of vacuuming or making the bed leaves me gasping for air. The doctor says we can try several things but an inhaler is the first line of treatment now. He listened to my lungs and said I was whizzing, like I had asthma. We will use this for a month and see how I an doing. If not better then its back to him for more tests at the Dallas clinic. It could be the lungs and it could also be the heart or both. My O2 level in my blood is 96-97% which is good. My blood tests are negative for any infection.

Shirley has been taking care of her mom and dad since we have been here. He has had some problems with blood pressure being high and low. He had a pacemaker installed and is doing better with new meds for the higher end of the pressure. It was a good thing we came back when we did. Her dad was unable to drive for a while and her mom not driving put the driving to DW. That came to a halt two weeks ago when she went to work.

The RV sits now and hardly goes. The front a/c motor shorted out and I got a new one from United RV here and put that in. Cost $151.50 for the motor and $6.00 for new screws. The old screw are plated phillips pan head and rusted in place. finally got them out and replaced them with s/s hex head screw. No more rust and rounded phillips head. I still have one more to replace on the back a/c cover. Once I get that one out, I'll get the model, serial numbers and motor info on the unit. Its not run as much as the front a/c as its a smaller unit. I now run it at night and the front during the day.

Tom Cat is roaming the house. He looks out the windows at night and thru the screen door during the day. He does get bored with nothing to do. He never learned to play as a young cat being a stray.

Thats the latest from here. Its cooling down to the mid 80's from the near 100 it has been. Nights are in the low-mid 60's. We moved DW to an apartment in Fort Worth and I'm here in Weatherford. Staying here thru the winter depends on the winter forecast. Gas down and back is cheaper than fixing frozen water lines and the inconvenience of it all. I would like to stay at the Martin area in Mission, its much cheaper. They also have a golf course too. You can read all about that from last winters notes.

I also removed the Iveys blog as it has been taken down. I hope Patti got the rig sold and has been able to move on with her life. We will miss her and her late husband. Best wishes to you Patti and the family.

Its Tree Triming Time

This is the happening of the day. The tree trimming company came by and is cutting out the dead limbs. This guy is tied to the tree and is cutting out the dead limb you can see.

Our neighbor has this long limb over the rear of his 5th and over his built storage unit. The tree guy hooked a rope around the limb and started to pull himself up. As he was starting up, the limb bent and begain to crack. He decided that this was not a good idea and stopped going up. How do you cut this limb down without damage to the 5th.

Here we have the company owner, our manager and the neighbor watching the action. I decided this was a good photo opportunity and grabbed the camera and joined in to see what was going to happen.

As it turned out nothing today. They will be back tomorrow with more equipment for the job.














So stay tuned to the update for more action.

We're Better But Not Over It Yet

DW is over the flu, I'm in the second week of it. The first week its head and chest with fever. The second week its lower bowels with lower bowel pain from gas and more fever. Not any fun for sure. Couple that with taking care of parents and Shirley is meeting herself coming and going. Her dad can't drive till he gets a pacemaker which the urologists and cardiologists must decide which comes first. We will be here till all this is taken care of. As Shirley said, we have enough income to meet our needs while she takes care of them.

No news on a job. Which means no calls either. With all thats going on here, thats good news.
ON EDIT, a call came in late today for a job fair interview with the city of Fort Worth.

My dad has been moved back to assisted living. His medical needs were taken care of in the nursing home and he could be put back to a better home that he enjoys. He is in the same home he was in prior to the move. He appears to be happier and he has more freedom.

Travel and enjoy the sights. We miss being out there and doing the same.

OPPS, We Both Are Sick

Shirley has not been feeling well for 5 days now. She and her mom probably got it at the hospital in Fort Worth last Thursday. I started getting the sore throat yesterday and today I've got the stuffy head thing. She was not in the hospital but her dad was. She is still not feeling well and has a sore throat yet. I guess this will take a week to run its course.

Nothing new on the job search. We did have to put her car, the Cavalier, in the shop. The battery went dead and it turned out to be a bad 1 year old battery. I really thought it would be the alternator we got last year in Pagosa Springs, CO.

Hope this finds everybody well and enjoying the sights. We, mainly Shirley, has been very busy taking care of her parents. With her dad unable to drive right now, Shirley is the one helping with the errands and other trips that have to be made in the car. She isn't home to much some days.


Thats it from the bedside here. We should be up and running in a week for sure.

Green Valley Park For Retirees, Weatherford, TX

We are still here. In our third month now. We started with a $225 per month and electric has been about $105. Looking at our pics of our space, we are parked with room to spare. This month the rent is up $25 to $250. Still the best deal in town or the metroplex probably. Being under the tall oak will be a benefit when it gets to 100 and over. We are mostly shaded. Our solar panels get most of the sun if we need to use battery power.

We had a thunderstorm come through last week and our power went out. We were not the only ones so we waited for it to come back on. When the neighbors lights came back, ours remained black. Humm. We waited several hours, plenty of time. In fact our shore power light would flicker on but not stay on. I went out and checked the breaker several times and it was ok. Still nothing. Finally I went out and look at the wires and looooo, we had a burnt 30/50 amp pigtail to our power cord melted. That explained the flicker and no power. I flipped the breaker and we were on battery.

Being it was dark, I put off going to get new parts till the next day. Went to W-M and nope, no pigtail. I then went to the rv park on the west side of town at Tin Top road and I20. He has about anything. Got the pigtail and the one with the wires for stripping to patch our shore line. Once that fix was down, flipped the breaker and power. We are connected to the TXU grid as there is no park grid. We are on a 50 plug which means we are getting the full 50 amps. With this new parts, the house a/c works great. The pigtail has been bad since we parked at the casino in AZ this spring. We had a/c problems there and probably other places where we used the 50 amp plug. The rv park on the west side of town does rv repairs on anything. The guy, Richard, works on any part of the rv. We had our a/c units re-juiced with freon there and he did put on a recharge valve for later use. that was in 05 and we are freezing ourselves out if we want. It can get cold in here on those hot days.

There is nothing to report on the job search. I expect we will hear from the state parks around the middle of the month for starting on Sept. 1. The good side of this is the job search can continue while we/she is doing the audit of the parks, vendors selling licenses. The bad side is still the driving to them. But, we have a plan if its workable. We will know more if/when the call to come to the training session comes and after that training. Could be a nice job yet.

In the interim, Shirley is taking care of her mom and dad. Its a good thing she is not working now. I will only say that her dad is having his heart looked at. Things are not as they should be. Her mom does not drive and with her dad unable to right now, Shirley spends lots of her time with errands and trips to the Dr that have to be done.

The update work on their house is still going on. The new tile makes a world of difference. The inside is being painted, new carpet ordered and the new doors installed. The half bath by the garage got all new fixtures and floor. The carpet is to arrive after the painting is finished.

We went house looking. Saw one floor plane we liked but this house had a single room on the second floor. Take that out and the floor plan was nice. large open kitchen with breakfast nook, dining area, large living/den jack and jill bedrooms and hall 1/2 bath and super size master with shower, garden tub etc and large walk in closet. I got the left over of the closet, IE, 2nd choice. But, with no jobs, we do not qualify now. Still, we can look and want. Oh well. If we go and take another look at this house, get some rough measurements, I can draw it up on the computer. I would have to install my AutoCad. Gosh, do I even remember how that works, its been about 4 years now. With the floor plan, we can have the house built any where we choose. And choose our own elevations, appliances, wall plugs, tv outlets, pc network, outside lighting, hum the list goes on. Even include rv hookups.