Tyler, Texas

On Friday we left Max with the kids/grands and the next morning drove east of Dallas on I 20 to Tyler, Texas. Good friends Dave and Lois have a home there and invited us to come over for a visit on Saturday. Tyler is a beautiful area with rolling hills and lots of trees and lakes. We thought this could be New York, or Pennsylvania or some similar area. Some people think of Texas as being hot or flat or straight roads for miles and miles. In some parts of the State they would be right but Tyler is quite different. We enjoyed the drive of about 130 miles from Denton and the good roads made the time fly by. We settled into a motel and then met our friends for a late lunch and then went over to their house. They are redoing their house and can only work on projects when they can get away from jobs in Kerrville. Since it takes them about six hours to drive up here they do not make this trip often. Progress is being made and lots of additional projects are in the works. When these projects are completed they will have a lovely home.

Lois comes from Tyler and has family nearby including a twin sister. We spent most of our time together talking non stop and all of a sudden it was time to head back to our motel. This morning we left Tyler hoping to return in the future and really check out the entire area. On the way back we went to an antique glass show in Grapevine and then also found another flea market/antique show on I 35 on our way back to Denton. A lovey weekend for sure. Happy travels.

Continuing very hot here

The weather man is very repetitive in his evening weather broadcasts here in Denton. The temperature climbs up into the low hundreds day after day. Yesterday we were so uncomfortable that we went to the pool to cool off. Finally late in the evening there were showers in the Dallas area with related winds that cooled us off a bit, enough so that we could sit outside. I will sure be glad to have cooler temperatures. I can hardly imagine what our electric bill will look like at the end of this month since the AC units seldom shut off, day or night. Enough complaints.

We have finally completed our antique booth and filled it with inventory. Yesterday I commented, "Wouldn't it be nice if we finally sold something, even if it was for $1.50." When we got to the antique store, the first thing Ann said to Foxy was, "You sold something yesterday." How she laughed and had to explain to Ann what we had just been saying before arriving at the store. Yesterday we took in a three paned window which has stained glass inserts and an Ithaca Tall Case Grandfather Clock. There is no telling if or when these items might sell but if they are in storage, they will not be able to sell. While putting these things into the shop a customer came along and even looked at a commemorative plate. I got my hopes up since we have many such plates but she put it back down and went onward without buying anything.

Somehow we feel like we have been very busy as we settle into Denton. Could it be putting up our gazebo? Starting our antique business again? Helping out with the grands? All of the above. We are looking forward to a drive to Tyler. TX to see good friends Dave and Lois this weekend. Bob and Pam may also be there. We all lived together at the Guadalupe RV resort and enjoyed each others company. Happy travels.

The first day of school for the grands

Here in Denton the first day for kids in the public school is tomorrow. So Jon and Christian will be starting fourth and second grade respectively. Our job is to be at their home when they ride their bikes home from school and see how their first day at new school went. We have decided to take them out for a one time treat to Braums Ice cream parlor for a cone. Actually I have been wanting to go there for quite some time since I saw an advertisement for Black Forest Ice Cream that looked simply splendid. So we are making this occasion work for the grands and for me, grandad. I will not get on the scale to check any weight gain for several days after this excursion. And I wonder why I cannot lose weight. I am happy though.

Other sets of grands started school last week and are back in the swing of things at their schools. One final set of grands are home schooled and will be starting soon as well. We have grands in college, high school, middle school and elementary school. It is quite a bunch to keep track of and frequently I fail in that regard. I do try to remember what grade each individual might be in each year. There are only 13 to keep track of and soon there will be two great-grands to add to the mix. Happy travels.

Coupons

My Foxy is a coupon lover and saver. She even has a special pouch in which to keep the grocery coupons. When we go to the grocery store, I drive and she sorts through the coupons and decides which might save us money once we are there. Now actually I approve of this thriftiness. There was a point when I was single (As in between marriages) when I saved coupons and was glad to save the money as I had Christopher at home going to school at the time. You all know how young people can eat you out of house and home.

Once we got to Denton, Foxy ordered Entertainment books that can be used in the Dallas - Fort Worth Area. In addition to these books which have money saving coupons we also get the local newspaper which has coupons on Wednesday. We rarely go anywhere without first seeing if we have a coupon. The other day we went to the movies to see One Day which I only give a thumb up on one hand and could not use our coupon since it was really for evening movies. If we go in the early afternoon we can get the senior citizen rate which is a good deal. We also check out the store brand and find that they are frequently cheaper than a name brand even with a coupon. Does this mean we are cheap? Probably! However when you are on a fixed income you stretch your money in any way that you can. I appreciate Foxy's frugal ways and applaud her saving coupons. This way we enjoy going out to eat, watching the latest movies, and getting money back on our grocery bill. Happy travels.

The days flow by

We seem to keep very busy. For several days we put together our booth in an antique mall here in Denton. At first we were only going to rent a display cabinet when we discovered at a going out of business sale lots of display racks and bought them and changed our marketing plan to a booth. The racks are now put up in the booth, cleaned off by Foxy, since they have glass shelves and we have started the process of locating inventory on them. That took several days of work and yesterday daughter Kim needed us to watch her boys for the day so we gladly did that.

Now I have found eight more boxes in our storage unit and brought them home for sorting. If an item is selected for the inventory then it has to be cleaned and labeled and repacked for the trip to the mall and then a space found for it. This all takes time and we love it. It is like Christmas every time we open another box and find stuff that we have forgotten we had put away. I am prone to establishing collections. I had a collection of horses, mostly glass. I do not even know why I like horses except that you do not have to feed glass horses. I do not even ride the real ones. I just like them and thus a collection is born.

I also like clocks, At one point I went to clock repair school in Pennsylvania for a week and realized that I can take a clock apart and most of the time put it back together and maybe even have it running better than before. This also takes considerable time and very expensive equipment if you do it well. I decided to let others do this and just collect clocks. Part of the collection is miniature ones and I found the box in which they have been stored. What fun to see these old friends again. I think it is time for this collection to go to the antique mall and be sold. Happy travels.

Antiquing

We have decided to get back into the antique business, big surprise. We found a young lady going out of business and decided to buy her display cases. These are open glass shelves which will be a great way to display our inventory. We talked to a mall manager, Brett and have a space which we can begin to fill as of the middle of this month. So now the real work begins as we have to get each piece to be displayed tagged, priced, and displayed. We are still looking for a locking case in which we can place more expensive pieces.

Of course this means that we will have to continue to attend estate sales and garage sales to look for items which we can resell. Since we love to do this, I think that we will head out even in the rain this morning. It also gives us a chance to see different parts of the Denton area and really learn the best ways to get around. Happy travels.

It is raining

We awoke to rain this morning. After so many days without rain it was truly a wonderful sound to wake up to. It is supposed to rain for several hours here and I am sure the thirsty ground and plants will quickly soak up every drop. Max did not exactly know what to make of the rain as he went outside to take care of his business. He has not asked to have a return visit.

Last night the kids and grands came over for spiedis which is cubes of meat grilled with Cornell barbeque sauce. We actually managed to eat outside since it was overcast. We finished dinner with lots of fruit and since the boys like to eat, little food was left. We also managed to find a baseball bat that Christian needed as today he is trying out for a ball team. He has never played before but is looking forward to being selected. His cousin James played ball for many years in Omaha and really learned to be a good baseball player so maybe Christian can follow in his footsteps. Happy travels.

Gazebo use, the pool, and antiques

This morning we sat out in the gazebo and had our coffee. Last night we were out there and neighbor Bill came by and thought it looked just fine. Then another neighbor David came home from work which is being a nurse in an operating room in a Dallas Hospital, and said he wondered what exactly we were doing. So one of the benefits is that we are beginning to meet the neighbors.

We have been going to the park pool generally once each day. Yesterday we waited until the sun went down before venturing forth. We met a couple from California who are just beginning retirement and thinking about being full timers. We spent some time talking about grand kids of course and also the best type of recreational vehicles pros and cons. We gave our view of things and listened to their opinions as well. We did not get much swimming done but it was a good chance to cool off. We did hear that electricity was very expensive here and that out monthly bill will be between 2-300. Yikes! We sure will be happy when this hot weather begins to taper off. Our air conditioners have been working non-stop here.

We also checked out several antique malls and are thinking of going back into the business since we have never stopped going to estate and garage sales. We have built back up some inventory and think we will enjoy having a booth or case out of which to sell some of the items we have collected these past few years. Happy travels.

Gazebo is up

We did it, the gazebo is up. As indicated we moved the motor home back 8-10 feet and hooked everything up and then went to work to put up our gazebo. It is not a one person project. The framework for the top is mostly push buttons that lock into place but the side supports are connected with nuts and bolts which takes awhile. One bad time was had by Foxy when one of the supports came loose and hit her on her right forearm. She did not cuss but probably wanted too. Finally we finished the qazebo and now have an outdoor room with shade. If the temperature ever drops out of the 100's maybe we can sit outside. We placed it in the area vacated by the motor home when we moved it backward.

Yesterday evening we found a local sports bar and watched a bit of a baseball game while having dinner. It was slightly smoky but bearable. The food was good and I did not have to cook. I just took Max out for his constitutional. It was 105 outside and generally unbearable. I will be sure glad when we get a rain break or some cooler temperatures. If it is cool where you are, send us some. Happy travels.

Back home

Chuck arrived from Ann Arbor about 9:00 am and after filling him in on our adventures with his boys packed up our things and with Max in tow headed nearby to our RV. We unpacked and decided about noon to do some shopping visiting the Verizon, Penney's, and Belk stores and then went to Olive Garden for a late lunch of endless salad, soup and bread sticks. This is a favorite menu for us as we we seldom order seconds of any of the elements. We sat in the bar and visited with the bartender and enjoyed our meal. This way we avoided a lengthy wait for a table. After lunch we returned home and later on went swimming in our park pool. It was quite enjoyable and refreshing. Home to the showers and evening news and then an evening reading. It was nice to be back home.

This morning we took our walk about the park and later I made several trips to our storage unit for the parts to our gazebo which we will start putting up tomorrow. We also plan to make a few adjustments to our motor home location in an effort to be able to step out onto the patio instead of rotting railroad ties. Even Max does not like stepping on them to get either up or down from the coach. The rest of the day should hold a trip to the swimming pool and maybe a local sports bar for a bit of dinner. It is still hot here but may cool down to 100 by the end of the week. Our electric bill will be a doozy this month. Happy travels.

Five days with the grands

One of the reasons that we moved to Denton in late July was to help daughter Kim with her two boys Christian and Jonathan. We knew that she had a clarinet conference to attend in California in early August. The boys father, Chuck, was finishing his last week of work in Ann Arbor, MI and then moving here as well. So on Wednesday we closed up the motor home and drove the few miles to Kim's house to take care of the boys.

We got them registered for school on Thursday and then took them to Ft. Worth to see the cowboy museum, have lunch at Riskey's and then watch the boys try to ride the mechanical bull. It was very hot there and we were glad to get back in our car for the drive home. On Friday we drove to the train station and took rapid transit to Dallas to go to the Aquarium and have lunch this time at The Old Mill nearby. A train ride back to our car and a fun day had by all. On Friday we went to the library to get more books and us signed up for our library cards as well. This time it was lunch at El Guapo's in downtown Denton. We do enjoy trying out various lunch possibilities with the boys. They can sure put away the food. For the rest of the day it was read the new library books and watch some movies. We have been watching some Pink Panther movies and find them very funny. We also managed to get them to the pool on two occasions. On Sunday both parents will be here at some point and we will return to our home. Happy travels.

August is do not buy goods from China month

Foxy just told me that August is, "DO NOT BUY GOODS FROM CHINA MONTH !" I am for that and shall try very hard to buy, "MADE IN USA !" Please join us for the month. Happy travels.

Little busy jobs

I have been doing catch up jobs that have needed doing around the motor home for awhile. I do find it funny that I can so easily put them off for another day. Since we relocated here to Denton, I have been getting them off of my mental list gradually. A major job was to replace the kitchen sink faucet. I hate plumbing and had put this job off for some time even though it had an occasional leak. We bought a new faucet and I got to work mostly on my back with my head in the sink cabinet. Foxy took out most of the stuff located here which helped. I got the old faucet out and the new one in place and started to connect up the water hoses when I learned that the fittings did not match. Typical problem in plumbing. Did I mention that I hate plumbing? So back to Home Depot for the necessary fittings. Technically I needed a fitting with two male ends. You wanted to know this and are wondering what two male ends looks like. Only a plumber really cares. Finally I finished this task and took a shower. It was necessary.

Then I redid the water hookups with the new hose also recently bought so that we could water our front yard. We actually have a yard and have been encouraged to water all we want. Seems odd when we are in a terrible drought. I have now three hoses only one of which leaks. I guess it is back to Home Depot for another hose. Why do all of these tasks require a repeat trip to Home Depot? So this job is in process at this time.

We put up plastic sheets that reflect the sunlight on our front windows since the coach is facing East and we are trying to cut down heat entering in any way that we can. Of course the sheets we bought are not as wide as the windows but we managed to piece the sheets and accomplish the goal. They also prevent people from looking in but we can see out.

Finally it has been so hot that I had to check the coach's batteries and be sure that the water had not evaporated. This relatively easy job went smoothly until I closed the openings in some of the cells and managed to splash a bit of battery acid into my eye. I flushed the eye with water and decided there is a reason why some people pay other people to do these kind of jobs. Oh if I only had won the lottery. Happy travels.