So Why Are We Leaving?

Roger here.....  Wow!  Look at the riot of color in our back yard.  The plant life here in deep south Texas is amazing most of the year (even in January), but right now it seems to be at its peak.

The jasmine vines that we planted at the corners of our pergola are growing so fast that you can almost see them creeping up the trellis.  They are in full bloom and so fragrant.  

I just finished conducting our last community meeting of the season.  Good to have that behind me.  It almost feels like the start of Spring Break (educators understand the analogy).  It is so relaxing to sit in a comfortable chair on the back patio ---- looking at the flowers, watching the butterflies and birds, enjoying the ever-present Texas breeze, reading a good book.  SO, why are we leaving?

Well let's see....  

--  We have been working for a couple of months getting the motor home ready for a long trip:  new tires (expensive -- ouch!), new tire pressure monitoring system, annual service, oil change, battery fluid checks, repair to a couple of the bay latches, a thorough wash and wax.  It would be a shame to waste all that effort.

There's no place to sit in front of the coach house  -- our red Adirondack chairs have disappeared.   Oh, wait!  There they are.

-  The back patio looks so empty --- nothing except the camping chairs that we are taking with us.

-  Even our Texas bar has found its way inside.  Why linger here if there is no bar?

-  Necessities have been moved into the motor home and location lists have been made so that we can find them.  Dianne did most of the list making this year.  My obsessive compulsive, concrete- sequential traits are finally rubbing off on my dear wife.  It only took forty-some years...

-  Our good friend, Jim, helped me drain the water heater that lives in the attic.  We have to leave, or his help was for naught.  Have a look at those legs!

-  Anal retentive me has been planning the trip for weeks:  routes, reservations, timing to meet with family/friends, things to see, things to avoid, new adventures.  It would be a waste to not follow through after having done all that work.

-  Most of our dogs' friends have already left.  Look at those sad faces.

-  Oh, and there is a scary spider in the back yard.

This fella is about three inches long.  Everything in Texas is bigger.  I have no idea what the spirals are that seem to be caught in its web, nor do I know what kind of spider it is.  Maybe some of you readers can help.  Pretty interesting, though, isn't it?

-  There are lots of questionable reasons to leave, despite the beauty of our place right now.  However, the main reason for leaving is to begin a new set of adventures.  We are planning to travel through southern New Mexico and Arizona.  We plan to spend some time near Palm Springs to see our Los Angeles daughter and her boyfriend.  When it warms up in the northern climes, we are headed to the beaches of Oregon and the Olympic Peninsula of Washington where we will get to see both our daughters and our granddaughter --- as well as our life-long friends, Jay and Nancy.  Lady Dianne will get to spend some time in Salt Lake City doing genealogy research (seems she is descended from royalty), while I fly to Indiana for a couple of weeks.  We will then spend a month in the Colorado mountains before heading back to Texas.  I am starting to get excited!

We will be blogging more frequently as we travel, so start looking for our posts.

The pet picture of the day shows Bandido being a selfish boy while Tequila looks on.

The story behind the picture.... Dianne gave each dog a leather chew.  Bandido stole Tequila's chew, and then proceeded to chew up his own, while protecting Tequila's chew by trapping it under his paw.  In the vernacular of our friend, Bob:  Bad Bandido.  Poor Tequila.  Good Dianne (for eventually rescuing Tequila's treat).

Going, Going, Gone!!

Hi all, Dianne here.  What's wrong with this picture?

We're the only ones left from our nightly happy hour group!  Much of Retama Village is emptying out as snow birds head north.  Our friends Jim and Sue are still here, but our East Mallard Drive group has already left.  It all began just a couple of days ago when Tim and Bonnie headed out for their summer in Colorado.  I missed getting their photo as they left, but yesterday Bob and Linda were next...

Pulling Out...

Hooking Up...

Hope we remember all the steps when we leave April 11...haven't had to do it since September!

Off to start their summer adventures!

Finally, this morning Jeff and Val headed north to their home in Manitoba, Canada:

If you look closely, you can spot Val and their cute dog Maggie in the Passenger Seat

Roger and I have been working hard to get ourselves ready to hit the road April 11.  We've had the motorhome carpet cleaned, cabinets cleaned out and rearranged, but there's still more work to do before we're ready to leave.  We have a wash and wax scheduled for the motor home next Friday, and we're still moving things back and forth trying to decide what to take and what to leave behind for six months.

On March 21-26  I took a short spring break to join high school girlfriends at a condo near Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  We all went to school together in Frankfort, Indiana, but flew in from Chicago, Indiana, Michigan and me from Texas. Penny was our guide, since she lives there on Pompano Beach.  Some of my high school buds read our blog, so here are photos of the highlights of my trip for them:

 My friend Karen brought matching cover-ups for all of us so we could be "quintuplets" on our girls weekend.  Trouble is, we wore them so much and forgot we had them on -- you should have seen the looks we got from people who didn't know why five 62-year-old grandmothers (except Margy, she's just 62, not a grandma so far) would be acting so silly and dressed alike!  Let's just say those huge bubba mugs in the photo didn't contain water....

Then there was the happy hour at the Tiki Bar...

Matching eyewear courtesy of Nancy...

More strange looks, and more silliness...

Two of the guys from our Indiana high school, one a '68 classmate and another from the class of '65 joined us for a barbecue at the beach.  We can all proudly call ourselves Frankfort Hot Dogs (that really is the mascot name!)  Actually, Nancy (in the middle) wasn't from our school, but she might as well have been, and we consider her an honorary Frankfort Hot Dog.

Larry, Me, Karen, Nancy, Margy, Chuck, and Penny

On our final evening together we took a dinner cruise through the intracoastal waterway:

 As you can see in the photo, we came well-equipped (Penny and Margy discreetly hid their bottle).  We all had a wonderful time and it was great to see them and revert back to our high school silliness for a while.  It was kinda like the slumber parties we used to have, although we didn't stay up nearly as late as we did back in the day.

Back in Texas, one of the things Roger and I wanted to do before we hit the road was to make a quick day trip across the border to Progreso, Mexico for some cheap prescription drugs and shopping.  We managed to get over and back in under two hours, mainly because our favorite outdoor margarita bar wasn't open the day we were there.  I stocked up on Mexican vanilla and found some very heavy, colorful drinking glasses and a salsa decanter:

I think the glasses will go well with my Fiesta dishes.  I'll be leaving the Fiesta and glassware behind when we hit the road, for it will be paper and plastic for us for the next six months.

My wildlife cam took some exciting night-life photos behind our fence this month.  Here's just a sampling:

Big Ole' Coyote

Big Ole' Skunk

Since the local sugar cane fields have been harvested (good hiding places), there has been a lot of Border Patrol activity right here near our neighborhood lately.  If any of you have watched  Border Wars on the National Geographic Channel, much of the activity when they film in Texas takes place right here in the Mission/McAllen area.  We don't need to watch TV to catch the action.  Here are some shots of the Border Patrol agents searching the trench behind our place for illegals trying to pass through.  Most of us have the phone numbers for Border Patrol programmed into our cell phones to phone in any activity we might see. Believe it or not, we slept right through this activity which took place right behind our bedroom in the motor home.  Bandido didn't even wake up!

A little blurry, but you get the idea.  They must have been moving fast!

I'm sure the question in your mind is "Are you afraid to be there?"  My answer is no, not at all.  We feel only compassion for the poor souls who try to cross the river to find a better life.  Most have paid large sums of money to crooks who have taken terrible advantage of them.  The Border Patrol here is very responsive and constantly on the alert, and the illegals are routinely rounded up and sent back over the border.

Back here, the view through our back pergola shows empty patios where once was snacking and laughter and friends gathered around fire pits.  We know that we'll pick up next fall right where we left off, but today it sure is lonely on East Mallard Drive!

The pet photo of the day shows Bandido and Tequila as Jeff and Val drove past on their way north.  They seem to be saying "Where is everybody??!! 

Bye, Maggie!  See you next year!

Count Down to Road Trip

 Travel Books and wet wipes in front of passenger seat.

Hi all, Dianne here.  I thought I'd better give an update on what in the heck we've been doing lately -- it sure hasn't been blogging!  We have been taking our time and getting organized for our six-month road trip that starts next Sunday.  We might have been overdoing it a bit; one day I heard a voice calling out as my friend, Sue, rode her bike down the street in front of our motor home:  "Quit Working!!"  Yes, Sue, I agree, we did over-do it a bit, since this has been going on now for three weeks!  


We are really only "half-timers" now, with some storage here in Texas, so we don't have to drag everything we own on the road all summer.  We've been weeding through every bay, cabinet, drawer, closet with a jaded eye: "Do we really want to deal with this [whatever-it-is] for the next six months on the road?"  If so, how best to deal with it?  


We've had the carpets, love seat, and recliner steam cleaned and Scotchgarded.  Tuesday the outside is being washed and waxed.  Spring cleaning the motor home is officially done.  


Our first stop will be Kerrville, Texas for a week to attend the RV Dreams rally at Buckhorn RV Resort.  One of the fun activities will be a "show and tell" session where folks show their favorite RV-related items to the group.  With that in mind, I decided to blog about a few items we've found that make our life on the road easier and more convenient.  My RVing friends probably do things differently and probably better, but here's what works for us:

New Shoe Cabinet (Closed)

One of our worst problems has turned into one of our best solutions.  Our shoes have always been on a shoe rack inside the door (we kick them off when we enter the motor home).  Problem is, we need an assortment: hiking shoes, sandals, water shoes, slippers, Crocs.  They always looked like a jumbled mess, even when we lined them up neatly.  An added problem is that Tequila likes to chew on my Crocs (she thinks they are Kong toys), and it was easy for her to just pick them off the rack.  This shoe cabinet tilts out and holds all the shoes we normally keep by the door.

Shoe Cabinet Open

It works fine for us, because we both have small feet.  If your shoe size was large the door might not close.   It also makes a handy side table for our recliner.  (I found this cabinet on Amazon.com, but they sell it elsewhere on the web too.)

The new Costco has opened here in the Rio Grande Valley, so we used our credit card points ($330 shopping spree) and stocked up on meat and I froze them into two-person portions, using my Food Saver.  A basket from an old chest-type freezer lets me stack them all the way to the top without tumbling out every time the door is opened.  Our ice cube trays fit underneath, and other frozen food items fit in front.  The plastic wrap lining the back and bottom of the freezer makes it a lot easier when it's time to defrost -- I just pull on it and the ice comes off in big sheets.  I'll miss my regular-size refrigerator/freezer and ice maker while we're gone, but our road trips are more about adventures than food.


One of my favorite "gadgets" is my Fasta Pasta pasta cooker.  Space is at such a premium in the RV that I don't take a big pot.  This gadget cooks pasta in the microwave, and all who have tried it say they can't tell the difference in taste or texture.

Best of all, I just hold and tilt it over the sink and it drains the hot water out without having to take off the lid.  No more spaghetti down the drain!  You can also find the Fasta Pasta on Amazon.com.  In the background is my French-press coffee maker.  When we have electric hookups I use my electric kettle to quickly heat the water for it.  When we have no hookups, I can heat the water on my stove top using propane; no need for a generator, and no more bad coffee from my Coleman percolator.

My latest gadget is this Bag Well bag holder.  I use lots of zipper bags for food storage in the RV, and this bag holder is like an extra set of hands.

When I'm done with it, it folds flat for storage.  I also use it to dry any bags I decide to wash and re-use, like the green bags for vegetables. Link to Bag Well web site

My daughters and granddaughter have busy lives, and I didn't have any recent photos of them to display.  Facebook took care of that -- I lurked on their Facebook pages and downloaded my favorite photos, then printed them out and put them in our collage frame.  Aren't they pretty?  I can't wait to see them in Utah next month.  I'm going to try to get a good photo of the three of them together; if I do, I'll just switch it out.

Here's my version of a junk drawer.  This hangs in my closet, and takes up only a couple of inches of space.  When I find a miscellaneous item, I just stick it in one of the pockets.  Next time I need a miscellaneous item, I know just where to look, and just scan the clear pockets to find something that will work.  

But wait, there's more!  It's actually double-sided, offering twice as many pockets as you'd think.  I can't tell you how often I've found an odd screw or unidentified part on the floor, then later (sometimes much later) needed that very thing, when I figured out what it was.  

Another recent modification is this cute storage block with two bin drawers that I found at Target.  On the left you can see the bottom of my "junk drawer" pockets as they hang in the closet.  What is not shown in the photo is the tray bin that fits on top of the cube, which I fitted with flexible cubbies to hold my socks and undies.  Now all I have to do is open the closet door and grab what I want.  (I thought a photo might just be TMI.) 

Our closets are small, so another way I make space is to use sections of shoe bags mounted on the wall to hold odd things like bandannas or gloves, and closet multi-hangers for my clothes.  Except for shorts, I only use the top three hanger holes; otherwise, they hang too low and are too bunched up.

My few necklaces hang on a hook inside the closet door.  This way, they don't get jumbled and tangled when the RV bounces down the road.  If a chain is easily tangled, I put it through a drinking straw section before I hang it up.

Several years ago, before we were even RVing, my daughter bought me a set of collapsible silicone measuring cups.  These are handy riding on hooks inside my cabinet door.  

Traveling with two dogs and a cat holds its own challenges.  Where to put all their stuff?  Our RV has space for a washer/dryer.  Instead of utilizing that space as it was intended, we have four bins there: one for cat food, one for dog food, one for cat litter, and one for pet miscellaneous toys, brushes, etc.  Shoe bags hanging on the inside of the closet doors hold lint rollers and other grab-and-go type stuff.

Dog toys stay in a basket on the floor.  Both dogs help themselves to their toys; I just wish they'd learn to put them away!

One clever idea I thought of all by myself (those are few and far between) is to reuse the green net tubes that cushion wine bottles to keep small stackable containers stacked.  You can see in the lower right section of the photo how I slipped net tubes over two each small Tupperware containers so they'd stay stacked.  Another use for these net tubes is to place on glass vinegar or condiment bottles to keep them from clanging into each other during travel.

Here's another highly-organized cabinet.  The four small white crates on the middle shelf hold dish rags, dish towels, hand towels, and fingertip towels -- some of my most-used items.  The large orange detergent container which has been cut open is my "put away" place.  Rather than let items pile up, if I'm in a hurry and don't have time to put something where it belongs, I pop it into my "put away" box so it's out of sight until I have time to put it away.  Since clutter begets clutter in my house, this is important for me.  (Disclaimer:  Roger is not the messy one).  Right now it's empty, so it's holding extra paper napkins.

Another way I've discovered to stop the clutter from starting is to use this "project box" for all the slips of paper, recipes, to-do lists, and whatever other work-in-progress items are laying around. 


 Right now it's holding our master list.  This is time-consuming, but so worth the effort.  Roger made our first list a couple of years ago when I was working at Amazon and he was being Mr. Mom.  Things have changed so much since then that we've redone it, incorporating the list of items in our outside bays with items inside.  There are almost 800 items on our master list!  It's not finished; we're still editing it.  When it's ready, I'm going to put two columns per page, front and back, and laminate it.  Items are coded for location. 

 Blue items are in outside bays; red items are inside.  We have a key that corresponds to the number/lettering system.  Lest you think that some of these items should be self-explanatory, just know that I am married to a man who can never. find. anything....


 This list will help us keep our sanity this summer when we're trying to remember where we've stored items.  I plan to keep a copy here in Texas as an inventory listing, in case we have a fire in the motor home.  Thank heavens that our word processing software alphabetizes for us!  


Roger has been working just as hard on the outdoor bins.  Here's an example:

He's also been emptying all of our pots and readying them for storage, along with our other outdoor garden items:

Everything has to be cleaned and put inside the coach house when we leave in case of hurricane winds while we're gone.  This next week will be spent closing up the coach house.

Enough housekeeping!  Here's a pretty photo of our rose bush just covered in blooms.


My wildlife cam caught a culprit eating my bird food:

CLIMBING UP

CLIMBING DOWN

STOPPING TO POSE

The pet photo of the day shows Bandido and Tequila at the dog park.  It looks like Tequila is telling him a secret.  They're already wondering where all their friends have gone.  Little do they know that they'll be hitting the road next!