Adventures of the road

Soooo, we went dark a day, didn't we?  Well, it wasn't really DARK, it was simply looooong and tiresome. We started out with a free buffet breakfast, but because of COVID, items were limited to "To Go" snacks in sacks.  Driver picked up a couple on his way back in from Bailey's morning constitutional.  We laid everything out on the desk to admire the wonderful and nutritious spread of the day.  Didn't take us long! In each bag was a muffin, a cup of canned peaches in heavy syrup, a small bottle of Sam's Club water, a wrapped spoon, and the TINIEST granola bar I've ever seen.  I really shouldn't complain though; in many countries, this is a whole week's worth of food.  For four people.

Driver thoroughly enjoyed his hot and delicious breakfast.  LOL  Please overlook the bag of dirty laundry on the floor.  A little TMI there, eh?

So, we had spent the night just east of Memphis, so when we set out, we headed to Nashville, TN.  (took me three tries to type TN, as opposed to TX)  Just before we got there, we crossed over the Tennessee River.  It's been a while since we've seen so much water in one place, that wasn't the Gulf of Mexico, from one side or another.

Nashville is actually one of my favorite cities, or at least, it was many, many years ago, when we were there and I could tolerate cities better.  Nevertheless, I was excited to see the skyline appear, especially that pointy-topped AT&T bulding.  (It's the one on the right, between the two right-most lightposts.) I knew we were planning to go right by it, and I'd be getting a much better picture in just a few minutes.

But, at the VERY LAST minute possible, Google notified me that there was a 30 minute backup and I should consider taking an alternate route, down a new bypass, I440.  Weeeelllll, hmmmm...OK.  Driver was quick-draw on the lane changes, and off we went!  Oh my gosh, the new road was spectacular!  The asphalt was NEW and SMOOTH, and traffic was super light.  Almost non-existent! Soo, we added a few miles, but we saved quite a bit of time, and decreased our opportunity for an accident by quite a bit.  Always a good thing, if you ask me, and since it's my blog, I'll consider myself asked.  Only downside, I didn't get a very glamorous shot of downtown.  Please accept the photo below, and my sincere apologies.  Not 100% sure what the routing is for the return trip, but I may (or may not) come this way again soon.  If we do, I'll see about getting you a better photo.  Don't hold your breath, though, I value your life too much.

In just a couple more hours, we found ourselves on the approach to Knoxville.  Of course, that comes with more mountainous views.

Remember that bowl-dome from a couple of days ago?  I've been enlightened by two different followers.  Thank goodness there are people with more knowledge than I!  One theory is that it is the top half of a pressure vessel.  Exactly what kind is beyond the scope of the informant, but he has seen items of this nature before.  The other theory is that it is a contamination containment system, much like is shown in the movie, Monsters, Inc.  Well, I have not seen that movie (I have not seen a movie since Pretty Woman, but that's really not relevant, because now, there's YouTube!) so I had to do some research.  Pay attention at the 1:14 mark, and you'll see how it was used.  If you can't see that video embedded down there, just give a little clicky right HERE and you'll go directly to YouTube. Thanks to Ken and Jean for the new knowledge!

Wondering what yesterday's interesting load was?  Well, how about a truckload of rocks?  Not just any rocks....big, beautiful landscaping boulders!  The were spectacular, and would look soooo good around the waterfall that dropped into the hot tub that flowed into my salt-water pool.  If I had one, that is.  Think we could have this driver follow us around until we found another house and were ready to settle down again??  Yeah, me neither.

As we approached Knoxville, on the east end of Tennessee, we ran into more and more traffic.  And yet another jam up.  It's been a couple of years since we'd seen traffic like this, and it was going the loop around the north side of Atlanta.  But, we were in the coach, so it was waaaay more stressful than yesterday.  When we came upon this, we just routed around again, and BAM! We jumped back on the interstate at the very end of the jam up.  And, an added bonus - we stopped for fuel at a Kroger, right beside the street we were traveling, and there were no other cars at the pumps!  Win-win!

Right before we jumped off, though, we got to see the inside of a really big pole.  Or tube, or something similar.  Any thoughts on this one?

So, we got to our hotel.  It was a Quality Inn, and don't let that name fool ya...Quality was NOT their priority.  And it wasn't even cheap, either!  The hallway and the room smelled like cigarette smoke, and this charming decoration was already dangling from the ceiling to enhance the mood and get us ready to celebrate Halloween. And, to top it off, poor Driver, went to get his evening shower and couldn't get very much hot water at all. He waited and waited, but it never got much more than warm.  I, on the other hand, got in there, cranked the handle, didn't get more than warm water and cranked it some more!  I got hot water!  It wasn't scalding, but it was so forceful, it pelted my back and was really uncomfortable.

It was a good thing that I had not eaten all of my goodies from the Snack Sack, the day before, because, at this (low)Quality Inn, there was no breakfast.  Not a limited version, and no reduced rates to compensate for the inability to serve food.  And no Snack Sack...well, you know how Driver likes his hot breakfasts...he made do with my cup of peaches and that itty-bitty granola bar. I promised him we could stop along the way if we found something tempting.  Haha, we didn't stop.  It wasn't long before we crossed into Virginia.  And I know you can't read those signs; I couldn't either.  But, from what I gather, they refer to slowing down for poor weather conditions.

Ahhh, the good ole' Blue Ridge.  They aren't the biggest or most rugged mountains in the world, but they are pretty.  At least, they are to us.

And what was the load of the day TODAY?  Why, it was gi-normous tires!  I would love to see the Tonka Toys these puppies fit!  And can you imagine how much they must cost?  Geeze, I'd hate to foot THAT bill.

Around New Market, VA, we turned into the Rest Area for a little walk-about.  Can you see that sign, way off in the distance, among the trees?  Well, unfortunately, we wouldn't have time to visit Endless Caverns today, but maybe on the way back?  I know, I know, I keep saying that... especially to all our friends who have SOOOO graciously offered us lodging along the way. And Samuel T Bryant Distillery.  We were originally going to stop there as a Harvest Host boondocker stop, but then, well, you know...God laughed.  So, being as the distillery was right beside the Interstate, at exit 74, we were going to stop in anyway, just to see about that peach moonshine, but then, we were early, and he was closed (till 10 am), and Driver thought maybe we would have more time to enjoy the facility on the way back.  Plus, then we wouldn't be knocking a bottle of shine all around the back of the car for all those miles up & back.  But, again, I digress...THANK YOU to all you dear, dear friends who have so generously offered us assistance, without regard to their personal health and safety. 

A few miles north, still on I81, we came upon the water tower for Mount Jackson, VA.  It's (very well) painted to represent a bushel basket of apples.  Sort of like the Peachoid (yes, that's its true name, even tho I just call it The Peach) water tower in Gaffney, SC or the watermelon tower in Luling, TX.  Barbara, from Portland, OR (that's a link to her blog, not to Portland's home page) has plans to make a barn quilt, and she's already made a doors quilt (Doors of Ireland)...OK, so here's a confession, I just spent a goodly amount of time, re-reading a lot of her posts, and searching for a picture of her completed Doors of Ireland quilt, but, sorry, couldn't find one....where was I even going with this runaway train????  Oh, yeah, the watertowers.  Maybe one day.....yeah, probably not.  I'm just not that talented a quilter, nor do I have the stash left for such a quilt.  But, this one was right up there in the pretty and pretty unusual categories.

So, every night, it's been quite the ordeal, getting from the car, into the hotel.  You'd THINK we were going to move in permanently, for all the amount of stuff  crap we bring in.  For ONE NIGHT!  We have the green bag - that's toiletries and Water Pik.  The light blue bag is Bailey's daily food.  The burgundy bag, that's chips and paper plates, napkins and utensils.  The suitcase, well, that's our suitcase for clothes.  The big blue cooler holds our milk ('cuz, ya know, lactose-free is hard to find!) and beer and dinner (seafood/pasta and garden salads, for 3 nights running now) and some baggies of ice.  And some grapes and cream cheese.  And the little cooler - that is for water during the day, but we bring it in to use as a vessel to get the ice from the hotel cooler back to the room, to pour into the baggies in the big blue cooler. Hiding between the blue bag and the burgundy bag is a little brown paper bag, containing a tub of wipes, anti-bed-bug spray, spray bleach disinfectant, and a can of spray Lysol.  And, to top it all off, hanging off the side, the white mesh bag that is our dirty laundry.  In plain sight, for all to see.   Now, you tell me. ......exactly which one (or more) of those bags do we leave outside??

Yeah, we can't decide which one to omit, either.  We may look like the Beverly Hillbillies come to town, but, at least, we are doing our part to reduce our exposure to that darned virus.  It hasn't been TOO awfully bad until tonight.  You know we always ask for non-smoking rooms, and when we book online, we ALWAYS book non-smoking rooms.  Tonight, at the Travelodge, by Wyndham, the hallway was smokey, and that was our first clue.  Even though ALL the rooms had no-smoking signs posted on the doors.  I opened the assigned door (after dutifully wiping the handle down, yes), took a half a step in, and had to come right back out.  Oh my, the smoke was simply overpowering.  Trucked right on back to the front desk, while poor Bellboy Driver stood guard over our Towering Pile of Possessions, made suitable apologies to the clerk, and requested a different room.  A few clicks later, two new passkeys, and we were assigned a different room.  I entered it first, and it wasn't AS bad, but it was still smokey, imho.  I asked Driver to come check it out and offer HIS esteemed opinion, and he agreed, it was NOT a non-smoker's room.  By this time, I didn't really want to go back to the front desk alone, so he pulled our Mile-High Pile of Possessions back to the lobby and waited behind me while I asked for yet another room.  The clerk looked a little skeptical by now, but, we were both ready to walk, even though the reservation was both prepaid AND non-refundable.  

After we'd been in the third room a while, we sort of got used to the smell...it's not great, not even good, but at least it's tolerable and not causing an immediate migraine or asthma attack.  But, seriously, you'd think at these prices, the rooms would be clean, the toilets would flush, and there wouldn't be Halloween decorations up in August.  Rant over, for now, but know this - I AM SO READY TO BE BACK IN MY CAMPER I COULD.......fill in your own blank there, but mine includes a brick!

Tomorrow, we should arrive in West Chester, and we already have an appointment to meet the guy who's going to pick up the dark room and photography equipment.  Who uses that stuff anymore, anyway?  I dunno, but I don't really care, either, just so long as it gets gone and we don't have to pay to have it hauled away.  All the better that it's not going directly into the landfill.  It probably will, eventually, especially when the dude determines how old and useless it is, but, hey, that's his call, and I don't care WHAT he does with it, so long as it gets gone.  I have a lady coming to get the stained glass tools and supplies, hopefully, she's coming with about $350 cash money; Charlie says it's all worth well over $1000, so, she's getting a bargain, and again, I don't care, so long as it gets gone and I don't have to pay to haul it away.

We'll be in another Quality Inn for the next two nights...I hope it's better than the first one!  Then, starting Monday, we'll move into a private (non-chain) hotel that offers us a kitchen and costs LESS than the hotel room without kitchen facilities, but only for a week.  We are hoping to extend it as necessary.  We'll see.  When we get everything hauled off, and the buyers have looked, and hopefully, placed their offers, we are OUTTA THERE! And then it will be "the way back." So, look out friends, we'll be heading your way!

Till then, y'all stay well and safe!  Thanks for riding along with us!!

 

What ELSE have we been doing?

Ya know how I said there's ALWAYS something to do on or in the Refuge?  Well, apparently, there's been an ongoing signage update project for about 2 years now.  New kiosks have been designed and built, signs designed and printed, even the maps were updated. But there was never enough time or manpower to get them all in place.  Plus, some of the trails (and the Quarry Canyon parking lot) weren't fully developed, but they were notated on the signs.  Couldn't put THEM up, people would be all confused and go off into the wilds, wreaking havoc on, and possibly destroying, the environment. Well, apparently all the stars aligned properly, and the time is nigh!  Time to install the new signs and kios  ks!  Of course, we started with the easiest and most visited one.  This kiosk was already in place; we just needed to replace the actual signs.  Zip, Zip, Zip went the screw gun, and BAM!  All the old signs came out and the new ones went right in.  Easy-peasy!  This is gonna be a breeze.  Or so we thought.  And it was, for a while....

No sooner had we installed this one, up by the Sunset Deck, at the top of Warbler Vista, than we turned around and found it in use by a hiker, studying the trail.  I'm serious, we had only just turned our backs and taken a couple of steps, and there he was!  I took this picture on the sly (not sure he would want his picture plastered all over the internet and viewed by my thousands of followers, haha) and quick texted it to our boss lady.  She was very happy to see that her efforts were being noticed and appreciated so quickly.

We did that for each of the trailheads; there were 4 individual panels in all.  Down at the bottom of the hill, we put in 3 more new signs.  This one was the beginning of our tricky ones.  See that middle panel?  It used to house a locked, plexiglass/metal/corkboard bulletin board, sort of like a medicine cabinet.  That had to come out to make way for the new sign.  And panels one and three certainly wouldn't look right had we not been able to insert panel two, would they.  Well, it came out easily enough.....but we needed to replace it on the BACK side, so that the sign would be held in place correctly.  And, THAT is where our troubles started. I don't know why it's so, but things almost NEVER go back in easily, and never on the first try.  Rarely on the 2nd try either.  But, eventually, with a little persuasion, we got 'er done, and got 'er in.  

So we came back to do the board by the office.  Took us a while to disassemble the frame around the chimney (the display is for chimney swifts, (agile, graceful & beneficial little birds). That sucker was HEAVY.  The frame and existing panel, not the birdies.  When we finally got it down, and over to the bench for examination, we found, number one, it was made of Hardi-board, which, in case you don't know, is made out of cement & fiberglass.  And cement is HEAVY.  And, two, it has these veeeeerrry interesting little security rivet fasteners on the back:

There were four of 'em, and we didn't have any sort of tool to facilitate their removal.  Good thing, I guess, because if we HAD gotten it off, we would have had to install the NEW sign, and that promised to be a bugg-a-boo all by itself.  We contemplated just installing the new sign right over the old sign, but then it would have taken 4 strongmen to reinstall it into the chimney surround, and we didn't have that kind of availability.  Guess that one is gonna have to wait for a more fully staffed crew.  And maybe a less hot day would be good too.

The next day, we got an early start and went out the Shin Oak Observation Deck.  We THOUGHT that sign had been painted shut, so we made sure to take a putty knife and hammer, to break the seal.  HAHAHA.....apparently the Big Guy upstairs wanted to test our creativity.  The sign frame was IRON.  Painted IRON, that had RUSTED TOGETHER.  Oh.My.Gawd.  We called Ben, whose house was nearby (still on Refuge property, but about 10 minutes away, and down a dusty driveway) to see if he had any WD40.  Cuz, you know, that'll fix just about anything, right?  He did, but he was on a tractor, an hour away, so we had to go get it out of his truck, which, luckily, was in his front yard.  We came back and gave it a few more whacks with the little hammer we had brought with us.   Did.Not.Budge.  Not a smidge.  Called Ben back, did he have a maul?  Why, yes, as a matter of fact, he DID.  On his OTHER truck.  Soooo, back to his house we went.  Was actually a nice break, sitting in the air conditioned truck for a few minutes.  Got the maul, and managed to scrounge up a few paper towels and a grease gun, too.  Went back to the sign, put up the board and gave it a few more whacks.  And whatdoyaknow?  IT MOVED.  Just a wee bit, but enough to give us hope and keep us going.

We both very carefully avoided that prickly pear cactus you see down at the bottom left, and after a few (very minor) mishaps (like, "hold it" meant hold the frame, not the board) we finally got all the old signs out and all the new signs in.  And the frames wedged back in on the backside.  I bet they aren't coming out for another hundred years.

When we got home, we cleaned up and went swimming.  My, my, that was enjoyable.  As we were relaxing, a very interesting cloud formation appeared.  I posted this in a Facebook group and several people commented that it looked like the Enterprise.  I supposed it did, once I realized what they were talking about.  (Star Trek spaceship)

And then it was our days off. Hmmmm...what shall I do?  Oh, I know, I can finish up that fishermen quilt!  It's only been sitting out for a few weeks now, and y'all know how much Driver dislikes having my sewing machine take up the entire buffet, blocking all the light, and making it darned near impossible to pull the shade down properly.  Besides, if we were to leave early, as we had requested, it (the machine, the quilt, take your pick!) was going to have to be stowed properly for travel.  Or, if I could get it finished in time, we could gift the quilt.  So, pedal to the metal, and let's get it in gear!  After just a couple of all-day sews, I could finally say, "it's DONE!"  Soooo, yeah, maybe I cheated a little bit and sewed the binding on by machine.  True, I normally enjoy the handsewing of the binding, all snuggled under the quilt, and putting the last bit of finishing to it, but, ya know, it's really HOT, and our air conditioners are working overtime, trying to keep the place cool.  I wasn't so sure I wanted to spend another 3 or 4 nights handstitching, and under a quilt to boot.  So, I whipped around it, took some photos and dropped it in the washer.

I really love how the quilting motif looked like water splashes from jumping fish.  And this is the first time I ever used a contrasting thread on the back - came out really nice, if I do say so myself.  (truth time - I didn't have enough matching green, but I had a spool and a half of soft matte yellow, so that's what I used.  I sure do miss my little local quilt shop, only 5 miles away, that has a huuuge selection of thread colors for only $2.99 a spool.)

And just for a little excitement, we thought we'd catch up with Hurricane Hanna, to see where she might be and where she might be headed.  Oh, lookee there....she's gonna hit down by Corpus, and if we had stayed in Rockport, we'd be gettin' wet.  As it turns out, she headed down to the Valley, and from what Diana relayed, it was a doozie.

Soooo, Monday dawns, and we are all heading out to Doeskin Ranch, to see about putting in a couple new kiosks there.  Along the way, our good friends on Cow Creek Road were out again, this time, the babies were having breakfast.

If you can't see the video up there, just give it a little click right HERE and you will go straight to YouTube to view it in another window.  Go ahead, I'll wait right here.

When we got to the ranch, Ben and Cixto were already staking out where the sign should go.  The had a laser level and everything!  Color me impressed!

The Refuge has a skid steer (Tonka Toy, to you 'n me) that has different attachments for the front.  Once they decided where to put the holes for the kiosk posts, they used a small auger to drill a starter hole, then they switched over to a larger sized auger and drilled a really BIG hole.  Through rock, of course.  And in the course of drilling through the rock, yep, you guessed it, some of the holes moved just a bit.

Check out the concentration on Cixto's face!  He was really diligent about doing a good job.

Finally, one side is in place:

And now we have to have a discussion about the other side.

These suckers were HEAVY.

Looks kinda like a barn raising, doesn't it?  Minus a few hundred dudes...

Finally, after a few adjustments and a little bit of digging and undigging and filling and unfilling, the sides are in place and the sign panels are in place.  And, hopefully, within specs of the roof.  Concrete was poured, and we all went back to our respective homes.  Tired, sweaty and stinky.  Ben and Cixto crashed by 8 pm, while Driver and I were still up at 11, to watch the news, as usual.  Aaaaand, as usual, I was up again at 2, not falling back to sleep until 5:30.  Ben said I would make an ideal babysitter with sleep patterns like that.  Ummm, maybe so, but I'm not changing any dirty diapers!

So, the next morning, everyone contemplated how we were going to get the heavy-a$$ roof over there and up on top of that kiosk.  Yeah, the base pieces were heavy, but that roof outweighed us all, put together.

They finally got the roof loaded up onto the flatbed trailer and carried it, and the skid steer, back over to the Ranch.  After a bit of maneuvering, Cixto got it up on top of the side pieces.  And that's when we discovered that the twisted pole was going to matter.  A lot, as it turned out.

It's a wonder no one lost any fingers in the process, but they'd get two sides on and the other sides almost on.  Then they'd get another corner settled, but it knocked off the first two corners.  It was a chore, to be honest.  One that took quite a while.  Cixto used the forks to nudge the roof over, and finally, three sides were on properly.  Ben had to get that maul and persuade the final pole into place, much like Driver had done with the iron sign, over at Shin Oak.  It was quite the engineering feat, and I'm pretty sure there were some safety regulations violated along the way.  Jennifer, you didn't SEE anything, and you don't KNOW anything, k??

Here's Ben, putting in the bolts that would hold the roof down in a high wind.  We all agreed they probably weren't necessary, as tightly wedged on there as it was...but, ya know, just for safety's sake...he did the job right.

Then it was time to move down to the trailhead.  Dick drove Cixto's truck, Ben drove the skid steer, Cixto backed the flatbed trailer down, and I brought up the rear in our pickup.  What a sight we must have been, going down what is usually a foot path!  It is really a gravel/dirt road, but it was badly eroded and a bit overgrown, since no one had brought any vehicles down in ages. Once we got down there, the old two-panel kiosk was uprooted (see it in the background, balanced on the forklift?)

So I thought you'd want to see it up close.  Quick, look, because it's going away soon!

And the new kiosk holes were dug, and the new kiosk was emplaced.  Thank Goodness for power tools!

 

Somehow, the laser level didn't make it down to the trailhead, so Cixto and I used our special powers and let Ben & Dick know when it was level.  Thankfully, THIS roof was a whole lot easier to place than the 3-panel up at the parking lot.  I tell you what, these boys sure earned their nickels today!

A job well done....VERY well done.

So that's a good review of some of the work we've been doing around the Refuge these last few weeks.  We've made some obvious improvements that should last for years, and we've had lots of fun doing it.  We did NOT, however, loose any weight in the process.  I guess making brownies and chocolate chip cookies every few days didn't help any.  Oh, wait, I bet you want to know what I did with that quilt, don'tcha....I wrapped it up and gave it to Ben and his wife, Laura.  They've been so kind to us, sharing tomatoes and peppers, even a nice fat zucchini, and she's gonna have a little girl, come December.  They're living in Refuge housing, and I know it'll be drafty and cold this winter.  They seemed to really like it and I know it'll be a good reminder of the hot summer days we all spent together.

Soooo, this is yet another catch-up post.  We left Whitney, TX, early this morning, headed to Texarkana, TX.  Well....Dick Luck struck again.  Hush up Charles, I can hear you giggling all the way from Florida.  :)  Yup, when we went to pull out of our campsite, we heard a distinctive grrrroooooaaan, coming from the front end, my side, that we had never heard before.  Hmmmmm, we said.  And kept going.  We followed the GPS when we got back to the main road (30 mile mistake, but we got to see Lake Whitney), and when we went to turn onto the frontage road, to get up on I35, I looked over to see Driver absolutely struggling to turn the wheel.  Whaaaaa???  He got us going the right direction, but instead of pulling up and getting on the on-ramp, he pulled off the road, onto the shoulder.  Long story short, we are in Dallas tonight....at the FreightLiner service center.  Until Monday, minimum.  So, our 6 day journey across country has now morphed into 9 days or more.  Stay tuned for the rest of the story!  After all, tomorrow is Sunday, and if COVID didn't close everything up, Sunday will!  We have nuthin' but time.....

Stay well and safe!

What ELSE have we been doing these last 8 weeks?

Well, glad you asked that!  OK, so I asked it for you...nonetheless...we've been BUSY!  As we walked the various trails, we'd occasionally come across cairns that kids or other hikers built and left for others.  We were tasked with dismantling the cairns when we found them, so that lizards and other creepy crawlies could have their homes at least returned to them, if not fully restored. Here's Driver, up at Cactus Rock Trail, at Warbler Vista returning neatly stacked rocks to their more natural, scattered state.

But, just around the corner, what did our eyes behold?  Holy smokes, someone must have spent HOURS arranging all these rocks, juuuuuust so, in perfectly concentric and even circles.  The entire structure was about 4 or 5 rocks high, and a good 10 feet across.  It must have taken over 2 hours to amass and arrange all these rocks. Oh well, c'est la vie. Or death, if you really want to get technical.  We killed the cairn...

But we thought the path here could use a little more definition, so we took the biggest, flattest rocks and lined the pathway with 'em.  You'll note, we left plenty for the lizards and other creepy crawlies...

This little cactus was nearby...the very littlest one was only about the size of a dime.  I really did want to take him home, but...yeah....we live in an RV and we already have a houseplant, what would we do with another one? Besides, I'm pretty sure since this is Federal land, it would/could be considered a felony to remove plant material.  Especially if it turned out to be a rare type of cactus.  So, in the end, we took his photo (I'm sure he gave consent, even tho I cannot produce a signed release form) and simply moved on.  

Back on the homefront, I was able to get a little bit of sewing done.  This is an applique project that I have had in a bag for several years now.  About 12, if I stop to really count them up.  The fabrics were purchased on my very first shop hop, which took place in Sarasota, waaaaay back when I first started my quilting journey.  Gail had talked me into buying the pattern and fabrics, but I always felt it was way out of my skill set to complete.  As I recall, I knew we'd have some downtime eventually, so I bagged everything up and stuck it all under by bathroom sink.  Well, I was looking for a specific cleaner one day, and I ran across the bagged fabric.  Since I wasn't doing masks anymore, I thought it was high time to get started on this puppy.  Over the course of about 3 days, it all came together, and it's ready to be quilted here.

Here we are at the end of June, and we ventured out to the grocery store.  We were pleasantly surprised to see this posted prominently at the entrance:

And, have you heard about the Saharan Dust Storm? We had never ever heard of it before, but, apparently, it's a normal thing, at least around these parts.  We didn't really know what to expect, but when it arrived, we knew it. It was super hazy and our eyes burned after just a few minutes outside.  The hillside we could so plainly see last week is hardly visible through the haze today.

Here's the newscaster, showing downtown Austin.  Usually we can see all the buildings plain as day, but tonight, it was only clear as mud.

The next morning, Cixto, the head maintenance dude warned us about a creepy crawly that was accidentally run over on our driveway.  This is what a very large, very dead coral snake looks like.  Coral snakes are rather reclusive, but they do come out in search of water and food during excessively dry periods.  They usually only bite when handled or stepped on, but, ya know, I'm really not crazy about taking that chance, and, sorry, not sorry, I won't be missing this little guy.  (Little, he was NOT.  He was about 2 feet long, which, for a coral snake, is pretty danged long!)

Red on Yellow, Kill a Fellow.  I think this is the first venomous snake I've ever seen whose head is not triangular in shape, nor could we tell if his pupil slits were vertical (venomous) or not (friendly).  Heck, we couldn't even see his beady little eyes! Yeah, sorry dude, not sorry.  RIP

We went out to another part of the Refuge, one that is not open to the public.  There's an old ranch house there, with 2 more campsites in the front yard, that we were tasked with cleaning up.  We were to trim trees, weed whack the flower bed and cut the grass all around.  You know, all the things Driver gave up when we sold the house in Crystal River.  At one of the campsites, we found another volunteer's rock collection.  There were some really pretty ones, and I was tempted...but, like the cactus, we just took a photo and moved on.  There's only but so much room in that camper, and I'd really rather have food and fabric.  Or maybe fabric and food, yeah, that's probably more accurate. 

And speaking of food, look what WE got gifted with!  Homegrown 'maters, with a side of fresh basil.  YUUUUUMMMY!

Good thing we ate well last night, and yes, those tomatoes were the star of the meal.  We waited till it got good and hot, then we headed out to Warbler Vista, to help Cixto put in the bumpers for the new parking lot at Quarry Canyon trailhead.  You can't really tell from the photo, but, just behind Driver's left foot is a 2 foot drop-off.  And, from what we heard, someone had already driven off the "cliff."  Or maybe the Refuge Manager was afraid someone would drive off the cliff.  I don't really know for sure, but I know we were there to put those bumpers in.  Neatly, and evenly spaced.  There were 15 bumpers, all told, but only room enough for 12, so we put the other 3 as parallel spaces, on the other side of the lot. Sure made me wish I understood geometry better.  As it was, we relied on the string, the measuring tapes, OCD and my eagle-eye.

Here are the masterminds, debating on whether or not the bumper is in line with the other two.

Every now and then, I volunteer to finish up a quilt.  Sometimes, it's just a collection of blocks, sometimes, it's a whole top that's been quilted and just needs binding, sometimes it's a top that needs batting, backing AND binding.  This was one of those. It is comprised of fishing-related fabrics, with a few Norman Rockwell scenes thrown in.  I had originally planned to donate it to Friends of Balcones Canyonlands, for them to auction off at a fund-raiser if we ever return to normal, pre-COVID processes.  However, it appears to have been made with fabric that is, shall we say, less than expensive?  There were a few places where the sewist kinda skimped on the seam allowances, and the fabric is fraying a bit.  And the only way to repair it is with fusible, but there's just no fabric to turn under, sooooo.....I don't think it's going to be good enough to auction off.  I know if *I* were to win a quilt at a raffle, I would expect it to be in perfect condition, and not already falling apart.

So, I'll fix the bad spots, and one by one, I'll quilt the blocks with this splashy-looking design.  I think it looks like the water splash made by a fish and it suits the fabric perfectly.

And, back out on the Refuge, the work never ends.  The couple that was here prior to us did nothing for the entire time they were here, because they got here just as the Refuge closed to the public.  Personally, I don't see HOW they could sit and do nothing - I can look around and see at least 16 projects that need doing, in every direction!  All I can figure is they were not the outdoorsy type, nor were they self-motivated.  Or maybe they were counting on doing office work only, and since the office was closed, there was no work for them.  I dunno.  Doesn't really matter, either.  Just so long as WE were busy, we were happy.  Here's Driver, cleaning up the Handicapped path at Doeskin Ranch.

Didn't he do a good job?

We traveled Cow Creek Road again on the way back to the camper.  Check out the babies head-butting in the back.  They were sooo cute!

Daddy kept a close eye on his harem.  He was a monster.

And the next day, we got to pack up a couple of shelving units and move 'em.

This is the Arts & Crafts section...just about rivals MY collection, doesn't it!  LOL  Yeah...I am NOT looking forward to moving our storage unit contents again, but I AM looking forward to accessing it!

And, this time, along Cow Creek Road, they were just walking down the shoulder of the road.  Well, it would be the shoulder if there had been room to have a shoulder...I mean, I rolled down my window, and SHE.WAS.RIGHT.THERE!!  I could have reached out and touched the end of her horn, but I didn't.  Remember, Daddy was somewhere nearby, even if I couldn't see him, and I didn't really relish the idea of explaining a new dent in the company truck.

That night we watched the weather forecast....y'all know I like it hot, but geeze, this is just a wee bit excessive.  Break out the icees!

And what ELSE did we do?  Well, at Doeskin Ranch, there's a trail that's a bit overgrown.  A long time ago, a Boy Scout Eagle candidate created and installed numbered posts, correlating with points of interest along Creek Trail.  I don't know if anyone has ever trimmed the foliage back from the posts before, but we decided the post numbers needed painting and the foliage needed trimmed.  So that's what we did, by gum.  Yeah, it was hot this day too.  

See, this is the same post.  Doesn't it look much better now?

Annnnnd, the next day, which I think may have actually been the next week, we're back at the new parking lot up at Quarry Canyon trailhead.  Talk about figuring.  Wow, this one was quite the challenge.  First, there are specific ADA regulations governing this sort of space, and they had to be in compliance or we might just as well not have a handicapped space.  But, regulations said we HAVE to supply at least 1 handicapped space, soooo....break out the protractor and string lines again.  

Boy, that looks good.  Cixto was sure proud.

All of our shadow selves were proud and happy to call it done (almost).  But wait.....look at the blue stripe, just over Cixto's hat....Look really close!  See that place the blue paint is missing??  What the heck???

Well, here's the thing.  And, yes, you can imagine our disappointment when we discovered it.  This parking lot is GRAVEL.  And even though it was sealed, this paint laid just on top of the gravel.  And the least little scuff with your toe (or the end of the measuring tape, in the case of that blue line) dislodged the gravel enough to make the lines disappear.  Yup.  For reals buddy, for reals.  Oh.My.Gawd.  All that work.  Ugh.  Now what?  Well, let's think about this a minute.  There are firemen onsite....firemen have firehoses....So, Ben, the purveyor of those yummy tomatoes came up with the bright idea of nailing lengths of firehose into the gravel, then painting the hoses.  I'll be a son of a gun.  Genius!  So Cixto spent another day with us, installing the hoses and nailing them through packed gravel and rock.  It was hard, yes, and yes, it was HOT. But, after nailing and painting, boy, oh boy, did it look good. 

That's some even striping, even on a curve!

So, check out our campsite improvements.  In the front there, you'll see Driver's tomato plants - they're doing so very well.  Remember, they only cost 10 cents a piece!  And Ben gifted us with a little jalapeno pepper that got planted in the middle section; it's doing great too, just loaded with little flowers and little bitty jalapenos!  And, what exactly is that bright blue thing behind the camper?  Well, you've heard me mention it's hot, right?  Just how hot is it?  It's hot enough that we talked Amazon into bringing us a little kiddie pool.  Oh yeah, baby....  Yes, we have to put a few gallons of new water in every day, just to cool it off a bit, otherwise, it's scalding hot. But, whooooweeee, it is like sitting in a hot tub, very relaxing and refreshing after a hard, hot day at work.  Definitely worth the investment.

And, speaking of improvements....Cixto noticed the road leading to our campsite was eroded and almost impassible.  So he brought some bedrock and gravel up the road and started rebuilding it.  Just for us!

I tried to get him to let me drive, but, nooooo...he wasn't playing that game..

So, ya know I'm writing this post from Whitney, TX tonight, after a short day on the road.  We are on the way to PA, to clear out, and hopefully, sell my dad's house.  We have Craigslisted the darkroom equipment and stained glass supplies, and we have interested parties for both lots.  We also have 3 potential buyers for the house, and one appraisal that may or may not be done (long story, not worth telling).  But, I did want to catch you up on what we've been doing over these last few weeks.  Still lots more to come, so stay tuned!  And, YES, it stayed HOT!