Thanksgiving Dinner at this RV resort

We work at this resort on Monday through Wednesday and have the rest of the week off. This week, Thursday was Thanksgiving, and we have a wonderful tradition of offering dinner for all of the guests at the resort who would like to share in it. Of course, that means getting ready. Tables and chairs have to be set up, the place decorated, and the food organized and cooked. That seems like an impossible task when you begin to realize that 350 -400 people are coming to dinner. Don is our boss/manager/owner, and he loves to cook and plan these huge parties.

By Wednesday we had the Guadalupe Pavilion ready to go, all the while checking in the many arriving guests. Thursday was our day off, but all work campers here donate working time to get these festivities completed. Don got up about 3:00 am and began the cooking process. We have three kitchens here, and they were all pressed into service for the meal. I joined him about 5:00am. We had two types of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, rolls, and iced tea or coffee to drink. Each of the guests brought a dish to pass which might be a salad, vegetable, or dessert. There was a great deal of food and an incredible variety of favorite dishes for our Thanksgiving. Roy gave the blessing, and all the guests went through one of two serving lines and then sampled the dishes to pass. Finally, we sat down with good friends Byron, Julie, and Ron and were joined by campers from Belgium who did not know what this holiday really entailed. HW2 had explained it to them when they checked in on Tuesday, and they did their homework by googling it on their computer. They could not believe all the food that was available.

We were able to visit, eat, meet many old friends, andwe thoroughly enjoyed the whole day. It had been several long days of work preparing, but it went well, and everyone went away full and happy to be here. Many of the guests return each year for this weekend bringing their entire family and joining friends. It seemed as if our family has grown to be a bit large, but we would hate to miss this day together. Happy travels.

A Black Friday Virgin no longer

This morning we did not get up at some ghastly hour to go shopping on Black Friday for the advertised specials from the newspapers. However, we did get up and arrived at Office Max by 7am so that we could check out their laptop computers. When we arrived, we saw that our friend Byron was already in line. He had been shopping at several stores already and was looking for a computer and printer. Now Byron likes to go shopping on Black Friday and did so last year, finding lots of good tools at Home Depot. I am more of the type of shopper who knows exactly what he wants, goes to the correct store, gets the item without trying it on, and heads back home. The whole process takes minutes not hours. However, our laptop computer seems to be going on the fritz, and we thought it would be a good idea to have a replacement computer just in case because we do so much with computers these days.

At Office Max we joined the line, and HW2 went up to talk with Byron. He agreed to get us a computer ticket and shortly after seven, the store opened. We all filed into the store and most of the potential shoppers headed for the electronic equipment. Byron picked up two computer tickets, and we waited to pick up the computers and then paid our bill at the check-out counter. Everyone was polite and visited with friends and strangers. We got the computer and then went on to San Antonio to do a bit more shopping.

An hour later found us in the city at the Rim Mall, and we started by going into Best Buy. Oh, the humanity! It was so busy and loud that we turned around and left. Next to Penney's where I waited in the car while HW2 shopped. A couple of stops later and we decided we needed lunch. Then the hour drive back to Kerrville and I was no longer a Black Friday Virgin. That might mean that in future years I will stay home and let HW2 have the shopping fun. Happy travels.

Any port in a storm

Now I can be quite distracted and forget things from moment to moment. I am particularly bad remembering to get some item on a grocery list. This afternoon, Mark, another work camper here, stopped to see why we had the boss's cart. Apparently when HW2 was at the office trying to pass off chewed up money, she exited rather quickly and came home in the first cart she found. Mark said that our cart was up at the office but neither of us were there. The boss wondered where his cart was.

Well I guess it is, "Any cart in a storm." HW2 will have trouble living this down but it is quite funny. I have gotten in other carts and driven off to discover that the cart was not mine. It happens. But the good thing was that the boss's cart is the fastest cart here and if you have to make a quick getaway, after passing chewed money.......... Happy travels.

P.S. Mark went into the boss's office at the end of the work day and asked," Are you and HW2 through with your cart for the day?" The boss laughed and laughed. HW2 is afraid whe will never live this incident down.

Is Max hungry?

Now Max has food whenever he wants it. He gets about 2-3 cups of dried dog food every day. I put out two cups in the morning and one at night. He is about 25 pounds and that is large for a Westie. He is not particularly fat but seems to be well fed.

Recently we have been finding small bits of this and that on the floor clearly a finished product by Max. If he finds it on the floor, he eats it. Today we found two dollar bills torn into pieces on the floor and HW2 said, "That's why he was so quiet." I stuck the pieces back together with scotch tape and am wondering whether a bank would take them for destroying and replace them with legal untorn tender. I will say, "The dog ate it," if asked why the bills are torn and repaired with scotch tape.

I know that Max has all of his adult teeth and am wondering why he is in a chewing mode. After all, he is one year old this November. Does this chewing stage go on for another year? Will he last around here if he eats any more of HW2's things. We think it was her money that she lost out of a pocket of her jacket. It would have been better if she had just lost a stray tissue or two. He can eat all of the tissues he wants but stay out of the family money please. Happy travels.

How quickly things change

Tim's dad Ron recently sent us a copy of an email which showed many changes in our cars. Riding home from church today, HW2 and I were talking about the many changes we have seen. Now we have electric windows instead of handles to open them. We have air conditioning instead of opening our windows. We have turn signals instead of hand signals. We have levers to change our head lights from low to high beams instead of a foot pedal. I am sure that you can think of other changes you have seen in your life as well.

Much air travel is today done in jet aircraft instead of propeller driven planes. Most of our supplies arrive in trucks instead of trains. Passenger trains are almost non-existent. We have moving sidewalks in airports instead of just walking.

We used to read newspapers or listen to the fifteen minutes of evening news on our radios instead of 24 hour news cycles present today on television or the Internet.

Finally we no longer listen to how many rings we hear on the telephone to learn if the call is ours on a party line. In fact ,we no longer have to crank the phone to get the operator so she can connect us with another. In fact, we seldom even dial a phone although we do speed dial others. I think I miss listening onto other conversations to keep up with what was going on with the neighbors. These are just a few changes that come to mind right now. Maybe more later. Happy travels.

We visit the cowboy capital of the world?

Yesterday we took a field trip to nearby Bandera, Texas. It is proclaimed the "Cowboy Capital of the World" because in the 1800's, cattle drives originated here and then went north to trains and markets in the East. Today this small city, population about 900, consists mostly of restaurants and cowboy clothing stores and a few tourist places along Main Street. We visited Bandera to check out whether our church group, Seekers, might like to visit in the spring. There is a rather interesting museum and many buildings dating back to the 1800's built of stone. The Polish also settled here in the late 1800's and founded a catholic church which is the second oldest church in Texas.

We enjoyed our visit and tried out a restaurant, eating outside, and thoroughly enjoying the fall weather. Then we wandered back to Kerrville on a different road which took us through Medina, which has apples as its claim to fame. We stopped but were disappointed to see very few apples for sale. They did have apple pies for sale for about $25 each which we thought was expensive. So no pie rode home with us. It was a fun diversion and the fall leaf scenery much enjoyed. Happy travels. PS - I wanted a piece of apple pie for dinner. Tough!

Gordon and his walking sticks

Gordon and his wife Diana are also work campers here. We work with them on two of our three working days and have enjoyed getting to know them. They lived in Alaska for many years and have been work camping in many places throughout the country. In their spare time Diana makes very nice jewelry, and Gordon makes walking sticks and canes from limbs or roots that he finds in their travels. On Thursday they took their crafts to a show at a nearby country club. Of course we went to be supportive and to see all the other crafts offered. We took our good friend Byron along on this venture.

When we arrived at the country club we quickly discovered that this was a well attended craft show but primarily for the ladies. HW2 enjoyed each vender's offerings, and Byron and I quickly viewed the crafts and exited when we found a place to sit on the lawn. We figured that we were out numbered by the ladies in about a 300 to l ratio. While sitting there and waiting for HW2, I commented that she had the family checkbook.

When good friend Ed came along, Gordon escaped from his selling duties, and we four sat there and watched the ladies buy the crafts. Ed thought I would be lucky if HW2 only spent $200, and I asked him about his wife Sandy. Ed said that Sandy had her own checkbook and her own money, and that he was only there to carry her purchases home. We got to know Ed and Sandy when I made several stained glass panels for their home last winter. Suddenly Sandy beckoned to Ed, and he dutifully went to see what she needed and returned with more of her purchases. HW2 appeared and checked out Diana's jewelry and of course found a piece she needed. I bought one of Gordon's canes, and our day was complete.

Later I checked with Gordon to discover how their day went, and he commented that Diana had a good day, but he had not sold many canes or walking sticks. I guess they did not appeal to the lady shoppers. It was a fun day even if we men were totally out numbered. Happy travels.