Viva Las Vegas: Day 1

Here we are in Las Vegas for our visit with my sister and brother-in-law. We arrived yesterday about 7:00 p.m. -- Sharon and Maxie were there to meet us with bells on! We first went to their apartment which is in a beautiful complex; and then walked to a small, family-owned-and-operated Italian restaurant. It was a beautiful evening so we sat outside and had a wonderful Italian dinner, great conversation, and lots of silliness. Back to the apartment for more great conversation and lots more silliness. Big day planned for today!

I'm SO Lucky!

We were sitting out in our "yard" this evening having a glass of wine and enjoying our flowers, our hummingbirds and our dogs when Carl said "I know this is not the life we chose to live, but I love our life." I am SO blessed to be married to such a wonderful man: he is truly happiest when he is with me! Now THAT is heady!!!!!

Flooding, Hail, Lightning, Tornadoes -- Oh My!

As beautiful as our wildflowers are in the spring, our spring severe storm alerts are as scary. And, now that I live in an RV, I have to say that the alerts are terrifying. As a native Texan, I have been caught in a hail storm and suffered the property damage from it. I have been stranded in rising water, and I have been a passenger in a car that was struck by lightning. But there's nothing like seeing mobile homes lifted up and crashing into an elementary school that will strike terror into one's heart who lives in an RV.

My heart goes out to those in the DFW area who suffered property losses or were stranded in high water. My heart goes out especially to my goddaughter, Adrianne, and her family (husband Wes, and daughters Teaghen -- 6, Tinsley --5 and Tatum--23 months) who had to find shelter in their coat closet as the tornado sirens sounded in Burleson.

I also am grieving for the families in Eagle Pass who lost their families, their neighbors, and their property.

Acts of God are hard to understand.

Extreme Makeover @ Jellystone RV Park

The big news around the campground is that the Jellystone Hall is getting a facelift! The walls are being textured, wooden trim is being installed to finish off the walls, and lots of other work is being done that we couldn't quite identify.

Jellystone Hall is where our pot luck dinners are held, as well as other social events. It is our not-too-humble opinion that the facelift is happening none too soon; Jellystone Hall currently is quite sterile in appearance and feel!

Texas Hill Country Wildflowers

The Central Texas Hill Country is ablaze with wildflowers this time of year. Of course, everyone concentrates on Bluebonnets, but others appear everywhere. One day while walking the dogs, out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of purple. I turned and saw this two-foot plant that I initially thought was an Iris. Upon closer inspection it was not. So, a little research resulted in identifying the Purple Spiderwort. Carl brought the camera back and took a photo. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Carl is using it as his laptop background.

A Wonderful Day

Today was a cool, drizzly, cloudy day in the Hill Country -- perfect for staying in and getting things done that don't get done when it's pretty outside. I (1) worked my way through a mountain of paperwork (does everyone else have as much paper as we do; or are we just special?); (2) got caught up on my mending -- hems out, buttons off, etc. (I find that I'll let mending sit for 2 months and, once I decide to tackle it, it takes me less than 1/2 hour!); (3) bussed the trailer; (4) watched some TV; (5) started a new book; and (6) totally enjoyed hanging out with my husband and my doglets. All in all, a wonderful day!

Merry, Merry; Linda's Not Too Contrary!

Here I am with J. J. and Grover in our "front yard." Now, I am sure that many RVers don't find it necessary to work in their "yard"; but, being the nester that I am, I have to make my outside living space as homey as my inside living space. So we have cleaned up our picnic table, put a table cloth on it, and added a plant as a centerpiece; we scrubbed all of our outdoor furniture; we put up a hummingbird feeder (and we already have one visitor); we planted basil in a pot (I LOVE being able to go outside and get fresh basil for almost anything I am making!); and we bought several large pots of geraniums! We are ready for lots of outdoor living this spring and summer!

Donde esta la biblioteca?

My earliest memory of a library was in early grade school. Each week during the summer, Mother took Sharon and I to the very small library in Iraan and each of us would check out the maximum of 8 books. At that time we were reading the Bobbsey Twins, Trixie Belden, Cherry Ames, Nancy Drew, Donna Parker, and the Hardy Boys -- to name a few. When I got to high school, we had reading lists; I had already read the books on the freshman reading list and had to get my parents' permission to check out books from the sophomore list!

Since that time, I have had a library card every place I have lived -- and I have used it! Today I took my love of libraries and books to another level -- I started volunteering there!

In Sattler (the name of the small town near where we live) there is a wonderful library -- in fact, it has grown so much that a new facility is being built. I wanted to do something to get involved in the community and decided to volunteer there. What is more heavenly for an avid reader than to spend discretionary time being surrounded by books and book lovers!

Deep in the Heart of Texas and the Bluebonnets

I have been blessed to travel fairly extensively in the US, Mexico, and Europe and I have seen some beautiful places. And I would rank Central Texas in the springtime in the top five. The Texas bluebonnets are especially beautiful this year as are the firewheels, winecups, Indian Paintbrush, verbena, and a plethora of others that I don't know the names for.

On the Road Again. . .

We are headed for the DFW area (right into the predicted storm) for the weekend. I have two AAUW "gigs" -- one Saturday morning and one Sunday afternoon -- plus we get to see Carl's oldest daughter, Veronica, and son-in-law, Brian. We will also get to see Brian perform: he is a very talented singer/songwriter in the Texana genre, and an excellent entertainer. So it will be a busy, fun weekend.

For Baby Boomers and Older

Check out this website http://www.frontiernet.net/~jimdandy/specials/remember/remember.html. It is pure fun!

Ain't Technology Wonderful -- It's a Wrap!

It's been 1 1/2 weeks, but my technology problems seem to be resolved: my memory came in and I've figured out my software issues.

And the readers of this blog breathe a collective sigh of relief!

Coming Out of The (RV) Closet

One of the first challenges we faced as full-time RVers was closet space. Our closet is not deep enough to use a regular hanger and still be able to close the sliding doors. (This is not an issue if you have only a few clothes in the closet -- for, say, a 2-week trip -- because you can angle the hangers and the doors will close.). Since we need room for all clothes for the season we are in, we need to be able to use the entire closet rod.

The first thing we did was go to Camping World, thinking that others must have had the same issue so they probably make hangers for RV closets. Well, they don't. (Note to self: would this be an opportunity for a new product???)

The second thing we did was go in search of narrower hangers; we discovered that padded hangers are almost 2" narrower than regular hangers and work perfectly. They, too, posed a problem, however. They are "fatter" than regular hangers so we couldn't get as many clothes in the closet. So we did a major purge of our clothes: it was a motherlode for Goodwill and the Crisis Center of Comal County, but we still couldn't get all our in clothes in the closet.

We tried taking some things off hangers and folding them up, but there's only so much room for folded clothes. We then tried taking some things that we don't wear very often and put them in wardrobe boxes in one of our storerooms -- without fail, as soon as a piece of clothing went to the storeroom, we would need it. So, for the past few months, we have had clothes hanging on hooks all over the walls and our closet is STUFFED!

So today I went to Target and bought some closet organizing tools. They have definitely given us more room in the closet -- we'll have to live with them for awhile to see if they are a permanent solution.

Who knew there was this much to say about a closet???

It's All About Me!

Today was all about me! I had lunch at a local tea room with 3 girlfriends, I had my car detailed (after a couple of weeks of rain and muck, this was a rejuvenating experience), I had a pedicure, and I found some designer jeans -- long enough and with a touch of bling -- for $17.00 (about 75% off retail price).

All in all, it was close to a perfect day!

Ain't Technology Wonderful -- Take 2

Well my technology woes continue: We heard on Friday that the extra memory that we ordered on April 3, and paid for 2-day delivery, had been indefinitely delayed. On Monday, April 9, we learned that it had been shipped so we got on the website and checked the tracking -- it was in Louisville, KY so we expected it to be delivered today. Well today we learned that it is being held up in customs: it has been forwarded to the FDA for checking. Folks, this is a computer chip -- does anyone understand what jurisdiction the FDA has here??????

The other woe is that the upgrade to my contact management system actually gives me FEWER features! When we called, we were told that, to regain those features, we would have to buy yet another piece of software (another $99). Because this software is very important to the work I do, we decided to do it. Well, the additional software did not restore the features I lost :-(

In the meantime, I am basically without e-mail capability which, for me, is like losing my lifeline. Carl, bless his heart, is doing everything he knows to do to help but it is all out of our control.

AARRRGGGGHHHHH!

Sleet Wave

The forecast for this past Saturday (Easter eve) was rain and 50ish degrees. Well, we had a sleet wave instead -- we were pummelled with sleet all day long and the temperature got to only 38 degrees!

I would hate to be a meteorologist in Texas -- our weather is so crazy that they are rarely correct with their forecasts. How sad to be in a profession where you have such few opportunities to succeed :-(

The best way to describe Texas weather is via a popular quip: "If you don't like the weather, stick around a few minutes and it'll change." Now how in the world do you forecast that?????

We are heading for Horseshoe Bay tomorrow about noon where we will spend the weekend sprucing up our house -- we've been showing it empty since July which shows ALL the flaws. We did replace the flooring in the guest and master bedrooms (the only two rooms we hadn't done our remodeling magic on (we had plans for them but decided to sell before we got the plans executed).

Our plans this weekend include bringing furniture in for "staging" the house; adding some window treatments,, towels and other accessories; painting the trim in my office which I didn't paint because furniture was in front of it; and installing some carpet in the guest bedroom closet (we laid hardwood flooring in the bedroom but didn't have enough for the closet and there is a major stain on the carpet in the closet (that's what I mean about showing ALL the flaws!).

I'll be back on the blog-waves on Sunday.

Happy Easter to all!

Lost in Not-Much-Space

How does one lose something in 300ish square feet? Well Carl and I have managed to lose our passports! We know we had them in July, 2006 when we went to Mexico with our best friends, but when we looked for them recently, they are no where to be found. We've checked our safe deposit box and gone through every cabinet and drawer in the RV -- no passports (AARRRGGGHHHH). We finally gave up and filed the paperwork for replacing a lost passport -- not an inexpensive filing, I might add. The new ones will go immediately from the post office box into the safe deposit box!

A'int Technology Wonderful!

Today was a challenge for my favorite technology "help desk" representative (aka Carl). We decided to upgrade my contact management system (all the new features sounded great!). However, no matter how good it sounds in the marketing materials there are always problems. Mine were in the form of: (1) when I send an e-mail to one of my distribution lists, it takes approximately 2.5 hours (or it just hangs up until we finally cancel it); or (2) the distribution list I want to send to is one that is at least 3 years old. Carl worked diligently until he finally decided I needed more RAM -- he ordered it; it should be here by Friday! So I expect to be wello by then. . .

Welcome to Our Life!

Have you ever dreamed of leaving a beautiful house in a beautiful area to live in an RV indefinitely with your husband and 2 dogs? If so, this blog is for you -- you can live out that dream vicariously through us :-)!

Our adventure began July 15, 2006. We had sold our house in Horseshoe Bay (closing date of July 28, 2007) and were going to begin living our dream in Canyon Lake, TX (west of New Braunfels) where we owned 1 1/2 acres on top of a hill overlooking the beautiful Guadalupe River valley. We had house plans and we ready to begin building our dream house. We knew we would be living in an RV park until we had our land cleared and poured the foundation. We could then move the RV to the land and live there until our house was completed. So we found an RV park in New Braunfel moved our RV onto it.

Because we were going to be on vacation on closing day and because our contract stipulated that the owners take possession on closing day, we had the movers come on July 20 and move all our household goods into four store rooms in New Braunfels. We had our personal things in the RV.

On July 25, our dream turned sour: our buyers had some financial problems and backed out of the contract. We put our house back on the market, got another contract in late November to close January 16, 2007. The day before closing we learned that the buyers had some financial problems and had backed out of the contract.

So there we were with what amounts to an additional mortgage: rental for four store rooms and space in the RV park, plus a second set of utility bills -- and no relief in sight! So, to lift our spirits, we moved to Yogi Bear's Jellystone RV Park: a much nicer park, a larger space, more amenties (e.g., indoor and outdoor pools, laundry room); and a classier group of residents.

Now, as far as living in an RV goes, we have a VERY nice set up. Ours is 32 feet long with three slideouts: 2 in the living area which makes it 14' x 19' and 1 in the bedroom which makes it 10' x 7.5' and a bathroom area which is 8' x 6.5'. We have our two laptops with wireless internet service, two printers (one is a color inkjet, the other is a laser/copier/fax combo), two TVs with Dish Network service, and a Bose stereo system.

What makes this work is that Carl and I REALLY like each, we have good senses of humor, and our dogs (J. J. and Grover) are at home wherever we are. We are living in the community where we want to live; just not in the container we thought we'd be living in at this point in time. . .

Our house is still on the market and, though we've received a number of nibbles, we've not received any serious bites. So stay tuned and enjoy RV Living, Conger Style!