Nov 27 and 28

On Thanksgiving evening I got hit with a nasty stomach virus that lasted until this afternoon.  So yesterday was a lost day - did little to nothing - oh, we went to Wal-mart for a bit (I wanted at new camera), but didn't last very long there.  We came home and the rest of the day I spent between the bathroom and the bed.  NOT fun!

This morning when I got up, I was feeling better, and since all I had to eat yesterday was a bagel, I was starving.  I made us a breakfast fit for a king and queen - Ham, eggs, homefries with onions, toast & jelly...My, it was good!  Then we decided it was time to put up our decorations, so we dug them out, and put up what we had - of course I've been looking for a tree for the MH and I have been very picky.  I've looked online and in stores the past couple weeks - and had about given up.  We decided to drive down to Aransas Pass to the Lowes there.  We have no Lowes NOR Home Depot in Rockport, so off we went.  As luck would have it, they had exactly what I wanted!  It is 19 inches tall, fiber optic, with a beautiful toy train on the bottom - I'll take a pic of it tomorrow for the blog!

Then we decided to do a little exploring, and went south towards Ingleside - and lo and behold, there was a Moose Club!!!  It is Aransas Pass Moose club, and they welcomed us warmly, giving us their Dec calendar of events, and inviting us for breakfast tomorrow morning!  For anyone passing that way with a rig and a member of the Moose, they will welcome you warmly and they have electric!  How cool is that.  We didn't know there was a moose club anywhere around here! 

Then, as we were driving through Aransas Pass, there was a Christmas Mart - just a place where there were folks selling all manner of 'stuff'.  From pom puppies to veggies, jewelry to tupperware, christmas items to summer.  We wandered around there for a little while, chatting with the vendors.  Nice!

Then, we found a place called Conn Brown Harbor, where there are many boats, lots of picnic tables, egrets, pelicans, gulls, terns, you name it!  No, no Roseate Spoonbills Ellie...I'll be sure to get a pic when they finally show up!

We came home and finished decorating - then because my tummy was still not up to par, we had the ultimate comfort food, oatmeal and toast for dinner.  Of course, I have to make it special with brown sugar, cinnamon and walnuts (raisins too for David).  We finished up our decorating, and now we're ready to enjoy the season!

Nov 26 Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day!  My day started out bright and early, when I got up at 6:15 and made my pumpkin pies.  Yesterday I made a pineapple salad that is always on the menu at my Mom's for any holiday, and I just really wanted to make it.  We also got a ham and I walked up to the Clubhouse to put it in the oven at 8.  The original plan was to eat at 11:30...I helped Teresa set up for dinner, we put tables together, put silverware together, tablecloths, etc.  It looked very festive when we were done.  I think we ended up feeding 23 people!!!

There was turkey, ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potato souffle, maple glazed sweet potatoes, tossed salad, pineapple salad, three bean salad, potato salad, stuffing, corn casserole, gravy, homemade rolls...and all manner of food!  Desserts were pumpkin pies, sweet potato pie, pecan pie, and of course whipped cream to go on top...YUM! 

We have much to be thankful for - wonderful families (though we're spread far apart right now), David's continued weaning from the oxygen bottle, our beautiful motor home, the lovely park we are in, the beach and palm trees, Cinder who keeps us on the go - walking, walking, walking.  We can add thankful for the many new friends we are making, and the many old friends who've been in touch with us over the holiday.  Indeed, we have much to be thankful for!

Once again, here are some pics of our day....

Here's the 'bird' that I got 3 years ago - he sings and the grandkids just laugh and laugh at him...and the kids today did the same thing!

This is us, getting ready for the feast!  Just in case you were wondering, we are both wearing shorts!  Nice to have Thanksgiving when it is in the 70's!

This is Terry - I have a feeling she is going to become another one of those forever friends!

The table and the kids...lol ready to eat!

The leavings!  We had enough of everything - the stuffing ran out first, but everything was so good! 

Ending on a sweet note...

The rest of the day was spent chatting, walking Cinder, taking the obligatory nap, more walking...and now I'll close - thanks everyone for some wonderful memories!

Nov 21 through 26th

Just a quick update so you all know what we've been up to! 

Here is the Rockport Blue Wave beach, complete with lovely little tiki type huts.  Very nice!

This is the beach at Port Aransas - we started out intending to visit Aransas Pass,which is only about 9 miles from Rockport.  We got on a 'ferry road' and off we went on the free ferry from Aransas Pass to Port Aransas!  It was a fun trip - and we enjoyed a lovely lunch at 'Shells' a little hole in the wall Italian place with very reasonable prices!

Yet another beach shot...yep, I love it!

Here's Cinder, and she does not know what in the world to do with this water that tastes nasty, and comes up and surprises her!  She was dancing trying to get away from it, but was going sideways.  We laughed and laughed!

Just another picturesque shot of the palm trees, and yes, we are loving them!

The reason that we took that long, round about trip was because David cleaned all the carpets in the MH this morning.  I spent hours the day before, cleaning, wiping down, vacumning, etc., because I wanted it all done before Thanksgiving.  And so it was :)  We have a wonderfully clean home.

We shopped for Thanksgiving stuff, and I made a lovely pot of ham and beans (I had a leftover ham bone from Easter, so I used that, with lots of garlic and onions, wow, was it good!), and a from scratch cornbread. 

We've looked and looked at Black Friday ads, but there really is nothing we want or need - this is the first Thanksgiving in many years that we have not spent it with Dawn, Daryl, Devon, Branden and Ariel.  Hey you guys, we miss you SO much!  Usually Dawn and I go dark and early to the sales - but she is in Okinawa, and I'm in TX.  David and I will go out and about, just to watch the people, and we will probably have breakfast out (at Alice Fay's Restaurant, you can get 2 eggs, 2 sausage or bacon, grits or homefries, and a huge homemade biscuit for $3.95.  What a deal! 

David, thanks for the memories Darling - it's been wonderful!

Nov 15 through 20th

Monday – the skies were overcast and it was drizzling, so we spent the day cleaning and organizing a few more cupboards and drawers, then went out in the afternoon to do a little more site seeing.




We stopped several places where I picked up job applications, and when we got home I started filling them out. We’ll see if I get an interview anywhere!



Tuesday we got up and headed to Corpus Christie to the VA for David. After 3 hours we finally got to see an intake specialist, and David has an appt Dec 3rd for blood work and the 9th to see a real doctor. Then we turned into tourists!



We went back across the causeway (big bridge!) and toured the USS Lexington. Holy cow, what a ship! It was an air craft carrier, and David started telling me what all the different things were – even though he was on an oiler in the navy, lots of the same stuff must have been the same, ‘cause he sure remembered where everything was! There are simply too many pictures, and none of them will do justice to her, but we spent 3 ½ hours aboard – and didn’t see it all!



We then walked on the beach and I had to stick my feet in the water  You can tell it is chilly, ‘cause my sweater is tied around my waist! Actually, on the beach it was nice, but on the ship I needed it!

Causeway bridge to Corpus Christie

The USS Lexington

A Blue Angels Jet aboard the Lex

The Blue Ghost in Leaded glass - Beautiful!

Corpus Christie Skyline from the Lex

We came back to Rockport and decided that we were going to treat ourselves to Chinese for dinner – they have a Super A China Buffet, I had a coupon so off we went. Wow, they not only had the traditional Chinese fare, they also had steaks to order, as well as Mongolian! There were 7 or 8 different seafood dishes, so good! We ate far too much, but since it was our ‘out’ treat we were happy.


Wed we once again ran around and I put in job applications. We also played tourist a little closer home and bought an ‘annual’ pass to the Rockport Blue Wave beach – for the wonderful price of $10. That is for a carload, not per person! Now when Ron & Kathy and Jim & Joan, and Joe & Sandy come visit, we can take ‘em to the beach :)

House in Rockport - built on stilts!

We also got out some more ‘stuff’, like our table and grill – and for dinner we had marinated pork chops, baked sweet potato, salad and the rest of the shrimp marinated in Lime juice and sea salt and grilled…yum yum!

Thursday was more of the same – except that we went to our first Business After Hours here. It was very similar to the BAH I attended in Cheyenne, but with less people. However, their food was sensational and the adult beverages sublime! Lots of different beers (David had some type of Island Lager – he enjoyed it very much) and I had a lovely canyon chardonnay…yum!

Then it was off to the supermarket, where we had to pick up some groceries. Do you know that the grocery stores here carry turnip greens, mustard greens, and collard greens! There are tons of different veggies and fruits that are not offered in Cheyenne…or in PA either! As I experiment with some of them, I’ll let you know what we like and don’t like :)

Thursday night we had a terrible storm. I’d forgotten just how wild thunderstorms are by the gulf! We had lightening, thunder and over 6 inches of rain in 18 hours…wow! We turned off our electronics, went to bed to snuggle and enjoy the show!

It is now Friday, and we spent part of the day cleaning, it is still pouring rain outside, the internet was down at the park, so we went to a matinee to see 2012. What a great movie!!! Kept me on the edge of my seat for a lot of it! We had not gone to a theatre to see a movie for a long time – as a matter of fact we think it might have been 7 or 8 years ago that we went together…I did take the kids to see Happy Feet 2 years ago, but nothing since then. We have DVD’s in the cupboard that we haven’t watched yet, but I wanted to see this one on the big screen!

Tonight we’re having homemade pizza for dinner – if I can get the motivation together to make the crust!

Nov 14 and 15 Getting to Rockport

Well, after spending 2 nights at a less than impressive campgrounds in Mathis TX, (passport america, very dirty, buggy and we will not stay there again!) we arrived at Seaport Village RV Park in Rockport TX.  Oh my, Steve and Carrie welcomed us like we were family, and Terri and Rex (work kampers for 2 YEARS) welcomed us too. 

This is the 'porch light' in front of our patio :)

'Our Palm tree by our patio'

After we got set up, we went to a 'Camper Clinic' in downtown Rockport - bought a couple of LED lights for the bathroom - wow, they are great!  Lots of light and very little electric use.  They also are supposed to last 10,000 hours...we'll see.  Anyhoo, they had a 'free lunch' that was really free!  It consisted of some terrific local sausage (smoked), chili, potato salad, chips, bottled water and ice cream sandwiches.  All yummy and free! 

We drove around and took a couple pictures, then just hung out at the MH with the AC on - it was 82 and much muggier than we are used to :(  We'll acclimate within a week or two, but these first couple days will be tough! 

Last evening we went to Stevie Lew's BBQ (Owned by Steve and Carrie and in front of the RV park) since they are only open Thurs, Fri, Sat, and we wanted to have some Texas BBQ.  I must say that the chicken and sausage I had, and the brisket sandwich David had, were oh so melt in your mouth!  David loved the beans, I like the cole slaw...all wonderful!  In the future, we'll probably just get the meat and come home to have it with a salad :)

This morning we got up and decided we were going to go looking for a real beach...and we're still looking!  For some reason all the places we went looking were either 'pay to get in', or were posted 'private, no trespassing'.  We'll try again tomorrow, but while we were looking we drove across Copacabana Bay, went to Goose Island (didn't go in - we've got to see about getting a yearly pass for all this stuff), then found the 1,000 year old oak tree.  We took lots of pics, but here is one!

We then drove to Port Lavaca through the Aransas County Wildlife Sanctuary - sorry, no Roseate Spoonbills yet!  However we did get this gorgeous blue Heron...and some vultures that I am NOT going to post!

When we were coming back to Rockport, we found a shrimp truck...and bought some shrimp!  My oh my, they were so fresh that when we were cleaning them, there was no smell!  David managed to clean maybe 5, he has no stomach for it...the entire time was punctuated by "EEEewwwww, yuck, these are slimy, OMG this is disgusting," and on and on.  I had to laugh, I guess I really do have a better constitution than him!  I'll be fixing part of these tonight with a shared baked potato, fresh bread and broccoli salad...I'll try to get a picture before we devour them! 

Nov 10 & 11 Lone Star Corral Hondo TX

Yesterday we spent getting caught up on all the internet stuff we've been unable to work on!  I made a batch of no bake cookies for the Veterans program that we attended today. 

One of the things we did was visit with folks, and we got the water heater fixed, and we visited some more!

Today we were at the flagpole by 9:15, and the De'Hanis High School Band gave a nice concert - and there was a fly by of some WWII planes - pretty neat.  We then went inside the clubhouse to get in the shade, and there the program continued until noon!  There were poems, articles written by veterans, recognition (David did 5 tours in Vietnam - nice to get recognition!), an 82 year old fella played two songs on a harmonica, and he was excellent!  Then a man played several songs on a guitar and sang, he was good at both! 

Here are some pics of our day!

The De'Hannis High School Band - pretty good musicians!

Hand built, and painted models of aircraft throughout all the wars.

Here is the food that the club members prepared to serve to the band and the veterans.  I made a batch of peanut butter no bake cookies, and the kids loved 'em!

Nov 8 - Hondo TX

This morning we had determined would be the day we washed the outside windows – we had bugs on them from WY, CO, NM and TX! First thing we did was get out our collapsible bucket, filled it with hot soapy water and our bug sraper (scotch brite pad), plus our squeegee and some paper towels. David unhooked the ladder from the back and was my hand me the bucket guy while I climbed up n down and scrubbed. Well, you might know, we finished that up, I made a terrific breakfast – after all that work we were starving, don’t ya know? I fixed ham, eggs, grits and rye toast…yum! While we were eating breakfast we heard a rumble, then another and the rain came pouring down, all over my nice clean windows…grrr. At least there are no bugs on ‘em!


We headed into Hondo to get groceries, and shopped at an H.E.B. grocery first. I must say they have very nice produce – we got some more corn on the cob, and I’ll be fixing that for lunch tomorrow! We then went to Walmart and spent more money – we needed a water filter so that the water coming into the MH was filtered – we have a separate one under the sink for drinking, but we wanted one on the other one too, double protection! Of course we also bought a few other things – my red tank top had gotten a drop of oil/dressing from a salad, and I missed hitting it with oxyclean before I washed it, so I found a nice one to replace it with – I’m going to go through clothes when we get to Rockport again – we both have some items that need to find good homes.

Tonight was an Ice Cream Social – you take your bowl and spoon and 50 cents per scoop of ice cream with toppings – it was great! After the ice cream, I stayed and played card bingo. It was a lot of fun and I won two games, so I actually got to play for free (I won 2.75 and it cost $2.00 to play). Met some lovely people, and was able to give some advice to a wonderful lady who has raised her grandson and is trying to get him into college – however getting custody paperwork in order so that he can get financial aid is a nightmare for her and her husband. They want me to go with them to play bingo tomorrow night at the church – it is $12 to play but the pots start at $50…we’ll see if I feel like it or not!

I'll close with a few more pictures of some very lush landscaping!
 

These caladium were as big as dinner plates...lovely!

Nov 4 - 7 Hondo TX Lone Star Corral

Well, as you can tell, we do NOT have wifi! I’ll tell you how our last couple days went :)


Nov 5th we arrived at Lone Star Corral, which is an Escapee park near Hondo TX. Imagine our disgust when we arrived to find out that they too had no internet, well, they have it but it is DOWN and has been for weeks. What a crock! So we continue to look for good wifi without having to buy an aircard or something equally expensive!

Our lot at Hondo - #46

Hondo is a quaint little town, although they do have the usual plethora of chains (Mickey D’s, Church’s chicken, Super Walmart, etc.) We’ve explored it a little but want to do more :)

Yesterday we headed into San Antonio (only about 30 miles from Hondo), and after finding some horribly expensive parking ($8.00 for 3 hours) we finally found an on street parking meter that ate $2.00 per hour :( At any rate, we walked a couple blocks, visited the visitor center, toured the Alamo – nicely done! Here are a few pics we took – but they simply don’t do justice to it!

This is a very unusual Tree...Janet, this one's for you!

Then we went to the Riverwalk – what a terrific place to shop, stroll, and of course eat. Here are some pictures, again, they don’t do it justice. We’re headed back into San Antonio probably Monday or Tuesday and take a boat tour – it is $8.50 per person and the ride is about 1.5 hours long. David can’t walk that far, and I really want to see the entire thing. They are getting ready to open a ‘river center’ and new section shortly, so that will be something we do on a future trip. Once again I had a certificate to La Paloma restaurant – and we had a wonderful lunch! I had chicken/steak fajita’s, which came with wonderfully flavorful accompaniments, David had some type of shrimp that he said was ‘fabulous’. We sat right on the river, and watched the ducks, pigeons and people play.

Saturday was back to reality – I had 4 big loads of laundry to do, and David volunteered to help get the internet back up here in the park. I got the inside of the MH cleaned up and decided it was time for a special dinner. When we stopped in Albuquerque and went to Trader Joe’s, I picked up a bag of langoustine lobster – tonight we had that with baked potatoes and a salad..yum yum! Years ago Red Lobster served this, and about 15 years ago I could still buy it, but haven’t been able to find it since (unless I wanted to buy a case for big bucks), so when I saw it I snatched it up! Now I wish I had two packages :) David was very impressed with dinner, and it was fabulous if I do say so myself!