And plans change, yet again

Welcome back, peeps!  Bet you can't guess what WE did on Sunday!  LOL, if you guessed not much, Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!  We pretty much batted around ideas and possible routing and best/worse case scenarios.  Other than that, Not.Much!  Oh, wait, we DID discover that if we ran 2 air conditioners, and the hot water heater, we would blow the 50 amp fuse as quick as you can say, blow a fuse.  If we only ran the 2 air conditioners and nothing else, it took a little bit longer. So, with temps hovering around 100*, with feel like temps around 103 to 105*, we ran with one A/C.  Around 3 pm, when we were both dripping sweat, we powered everything down and fired up the generator and then we cranked up all 3 A/Cs.  Wow, what a difference!!  That coach cooled right down and even got (to me) a wee bit chilly.

So, Monday morning, bright and early, at 7 am, Driver was in the office, getting us registered and in line for repair.  They immediately ordered a pump for us, knowing the one we had was most likely shot, and sent him back out to wait for Jose the techs to come in at 8:30 and get one assigned to us.  Along about 10 am, we got a knock on the door and there was our hero.  Or so we thought.  First thing he did was find a cracked reservoir and got us a new one for replacement.  Look how pretty that sucker is!

And here is our tech (I do not know his name) reinstalling our drive shaft.  Yes, it has to be removed for towing, else we will burn up our transmission.  Please don't ask any questions - that's all I know.

We had a really quiet weekend, but Monday is a workday, and boy, was there a lot of activity here!

Everywhere we looked, there were cabs, cabs, and more cabs.

There were also school buses and big trailers lining the perimeter of the concrete lot, some of whom were refrigerated units.  Do you have any idea how LOUD those suckers are?  Oh.My.Gawd.  And continuous!  What a roar!  Not to be outdone by the line of reefer trucks lined up on the road right beside us though...you see, kitty corner across the street is a place called United Freezer.  Yeah.  It has its own set of engines that run 24/7, and now there are about 20 reefers all lined up and running, waiting for Tuesday morning pickups.

So we spent all of Monday with our hoods gaping open, like baby birdies, just waiting for mama and papa to come home with a worm.  

It's not a good look, is it.  So sad.

Sooooooo, eventually, Laurie, our service writer, who also happens to be a former mechanic of 22 years' experience, and the current assistant service manager, tells us she has ordered us a new harness (?) and is having trouble finding the appropriate high pressure hose.  The didn't have one in the warehouse, despite having FOUR of these failures just last week, nor did they have one available from the factory, in Gaffney, SC.  Laurie got creative and asked if they could take one off a unit already on the assembly line.  Hmm....I'm pretty sure that isn't gonna happen.  I mean, why would it? While we were waiting for a callback from the factory, she showed us around the shop.

I didn't feel right taking pictures in the actual training room (besides which, I had left my phone in the camper, so I *couldn't*), but it was all outfitted with life-size sections of chassis.  There was a full-size transmission, a whole dash/ceiling/front of truck/back of truck assembly for wiring, brakes, and probably 12-15 computers for training.

Sooo, towards the end of the day, we checked in with Laurie once more, to see what kind of progress had been made.  We could have saved ourselves the trouble.  There was no progress, really.  There are no hoses available, and the backlog is 40 days wait.  40 days, you say?  Yup, FORTY DAYS BACKLOG.  So she put in a request to have a hose pulled off the assembly line, and it might or might not be approved.  If it IS approved, and they can get it packed up in time, the hose will be overnighted and we should see it around noon Tuesday.  If it's NOT approved, it just won't show up.  They don't seem to have a process by which anyone gets notified, so we don't really know what's going to happen or if anything is gong to appear on Tuesday or not.  IF it shows up, along with the pump and harness, they can begin working on it, and maybe we'll be done by Wednesday quitting time, and leave on Thursday morning.  So I got on the phone and reset all our reservations, yet again.  Remember, these campgrounds have been on notice to save me a spot first, in April, then September, then August, now the dates are changing yet again.  It has to be as frustrating for them as it is for me, for sure.

If no parts show up, well, genius that he is, Driver came up with another plan.  We could leave on Wednesday morning, and simply travel by car, spending nights in hotels, and taking our chances in restaurants along the way.  Definitely NOT ideal.  Not really even desirable in any way, shape or form.  But, it had potential to get the job done.  But what about all our stuff?  We travel with the car loaded with our patio chairs, a propane tank, the porches and our bicycles on a rack in the hitch receiver, precluding us from opening the hatchback.  Well, no surprise to any of us, the harness showed up, but the hose did NOT.  Yeah, Dick Luck, once again.  So we hit up Laurie with our new plan, and she understood the urgency of our journey and was kind enough to offer a corner of the shop to store our carload of possessions.  So, here's Callander's Corner at Premier Truck, in Dallas, TX.  What's that I hear you ask?  Why, YES, this DOES mean we'll have to travel BACK to Dallas to pick up the coach when all is said and done.

Once we got the car unloaded, we grabbed all our dirty clothes, and the towels we had been using and hightailed it to the closest decently reviewed laundromat we could find.  Talk about a Cultural Experience.  Oh my, oh my.  We are sooooo spoiled having our own clean, working, convenient and paid-for washer and dryer, right there at my fingertips.  Oh my, oh my.  We are accustomed to using the washers and dryers in campgrounds, sure, but it's been quite a while since we had been to one open to the public.  Talk about a Cultural Experience, it is definitely NOT one I wish to repeat.  I don't know who wrote that glowing review, but we had to work hard to find a washer that was in working order and not super expensive.  We only found ONE, yes, just ONE, but it was small, so we'd need TWO, and I didn't really have time to wash back to back in one, instead of simultaneously, in two.  So, we bit the bullet and used one of the large capacity, high dollar (as in FIVE dollar) washers.  We found an empty one that appeared to be in working order and loaded it up.  

Then we went outside to wait.  While there, we got to watch the locals doing their thing.  We were pretty sure we were going to witness a 2 or 3 car accident, but they managed to avoid the crash, but then we were almost involved our own selves.  And we were sitting still, minding our own business, in a legitimate parking spot!  We couldn't wait to get outta there!

What a relief it was when all our clothes were mostly dry (after 3 goes of free drying, I was done, whether the clothes were or not!), and we could move on with our chores.  We had decided that we would empty the refrigerator of all the fresh produce and milk we had purchased (cuz, ya know, there's a pandemic going on, and you don't want to be going to grocery stores all over the country...stick with one that you know and isn't overly populated, and stock up) and leave only the meat in the freezer, giving away all the rest.  We would also make a big garden salad and a bowl of seafood/pasta salad to take and eat along the way.  All that would require some refrigeration....so, off to Walmart to purchase (yet another) cooler.  Don't mind that we have two, back in storage, in Florida...we needed one HERE and NOW.  Thank goodness we'd had the foresight to pick up a suitcase at the park-wide garage sale while we were in Alamo Rose, that week in January.  When we got back to the camper, we packed up our clothes and started in on making dinner and dinners to come.  After all, the earlier we got on the road in the morning, the farther we could make it by afternoon.

Except for one thing.  We hadn't counted on a rain/thunderstorm.  Last time we saw rain like this was when we were back in Florida, 2 winters ago!  In the photo below, it's important to know that we KNEW there was a car ahead of us, in our lane.  No, we couldn't see him either.  That's how hard it was raining!

As we traveled, I called around to all the campgrounds holding reservations for us, and begged forgiveness as we cancelled them for good this time.  Eventually, we made it safely to Arkansas and kept going. We had to pass the sign for Hot Springs, and, boy, was it tempting!  Several years ago, we had taken baths at the National Park, in ages-old bathtubs, bathing in hot, hot mineral water, piped in directly from the springs.  Ooooohhhh, they were wonderful, and they'd feel soooo good....but, no time for that on this trip!  Drive on Jose, drive on.

We did find a couple of gents having a day like we've had a week...and this geyser was spotted at a very neat and clean rest stop.  What really caught our eye, though, was how lush and green everything was.  We haven't seen green grass like this since I cannot remember when.

Did you know there was a river running through the middle of Little Rock?  Yup, there is.  I believe this was the Arkansas River.

Shortly after crossing the river, these two vehicles passed us.  An informal poll was taken on Facebook, and the winning answer was that this was likely the septic tank for all the BS being flung about these days.  Except it probably isn't big enough to hold it all.  We really don't know what this object is, and if you have any ideas, we are all waiting to hear 'em.

And, finally, we got through Arkansas, and came to Memphis, TN.  What a lovely skyline.

Oooooh, crap....but there's another bridge!  This would be the Mighty Mississippi.  And, noooope, didn't get a picture of this one, sorry.

As we passed into Memphis, this lovely building came into view.  This would be the Headquarters for Ducks Unlimited.  Apparently, there is a decent restaurant with a magnificent view up there at the peak.  And, in case you were wondering, no, we did NOT stop.  No time, for one thing.  And, HECK NO, I'm not going up there, for another.  

Tonight, we are at a cigarette smokey Baymont by Wyndham, and we've eaten our seafood pasta salad.  Why it smells like cigarettes, I just don't know.  We were told that all the rooms are non-smoking.  I guess the rooms don't smoke, but I'm pretty sure that ate least SOME of the customers do. So that pretty much concludes our adventures since last Friday.  It's been a bumpy ride so far, and we know of several others that have experienced the same parts failure/no availability that we have.  True, that doesn't make it any better or easier to swallow, and we still have the scary prospect of hitting up a hotel every night for at least 3 or 4 weeks, then we will still have a few days of lodging to account for.  Right now, our plan is to go check out Barbara & Charles' "guest shed" down in Silver Springs, FL.  (Quotes, because it's outfitted nicer than most homes we've seen!)  We are hoping that we won't have to impose on them too awfully long, but we are really looking forward to seeing them.

Till next time, y'all be well and stay safe, and we'll try to do the same.

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!