Working when it is 90 degrees plus

We have had high temperatures here for the past two weeks. It makes working outside a bit of a challenge, and you have to change your work habits. For one thing, I am not much of a water drinker, but you have to keep hydrated or suffer heat exhaustion or, even worse, heat stroke.

Usually in the morning there are clouds and sometimes even a breeze. This makes the morning bearable. But by 2-3 in the afternoon the clouds are gone, and the temperature rapidly climbs into the upper 90's or even 100+. We find ourselves thinking of jobs that can be done inside or under the shade. Lately we have been repairing lots of water sprinklers as we need the water system functioning to avoid the grass browning or burning up in the heat. I cannot go full tilt in the heat, either, and must pace myself. Fortunately, we have our golf carts to get us around and this helps a lot. Yesterday I mowed all morning and finished the middle section of the park by early afternoon and was glad to be done, as it was certainly getting hot. Roy, another work camper here, was on the big mowing machine doing out-lying areas and came in about that time just covered with dirt. I asked him if he left any dirt out on the lawns. He laughed and said, "No." He said he would like to jump in the river, but it is not deep enough, and he did not want to scare any old ladies. I bet his shower was very muddy when he got through with it last night.

Fortunately HW2 works in an office where there is air conditioning, and this helps, since she is not quite so heat tolerant as I might be. Happy travels.

Central Texas Crossfire road trip

John P. talked us into joining the Central Texas Crossfire club and then into attending one of their monthly road trips. This trip started in San Antonio and then went north to San Marcos. Four of us met up in San Antonio. We had gone there on Saturday to see Kristy, Tim, and 5 kids who are on their way back to Omaha from South Texas. We bid them all good-bye this morning and met up with our first group. We had met John P. and Skip from Kerrville and now got to know Bill. We four then met up with other members of the club in San Marcos. Now, San Marcos is known for its shopping and HW2 was a good sport about not stopping.

We then drove through the central Texas Hill Country highlands and traveled such famous roads as the Devil's Back Bone and other roads that went up hill and down dale and around many curves. The whole idea was to drive as fast as reasonably possible and keep the club together. Altogether we had eleven cars as Fred and Mollie joined us at lunch time. They hail from Hunt which is not too far north of Kerrville. We had several convertibles and more hardtop cars. What fun! I had not ever done this and enjoyed the whole thing. It was nice to meet people from as far away as Houston and Austin, as well as in more central locations. We had about 20 people sit together for lunch in Blanco, a town that was holding a Lavender Festival. We had the added attraction of visiting the festival. HW2 found some earrings and was quite happy.

Home in time to rescue Max from doggy camp and try to get the AC unit functioning AGAIN. A wonderful weekend. Happy travels.

Air conditioner and estate sales

Now what do air conditioners and estate sales have in common? Nothing, except when you are planning to go to an estate sale, and your air conditioner breaks down; then you have a change of plans. I stayed home waiting for Greg to arrive to check our broken motor home air conditioner, and HW2 went forth to an estate sale. She came home with some new belt buckles for me and a Texas baseball hat. Terrific! Greg had not yet arrived but finally got here and rewired the thermostat, and we were back in business. I guess we need a new thermostat, but since they cost $200, I am not in a hurry.

After getting the cooling back on we went north about 35 miles to a second estate sale and came home with some more treasures. The best were five stuffed animals for Max. He got to pick out the one he could play with and started tossing it into the air with happy puppy abandon. All in all, it was a good day. We had a bit of fun ,and the cooler is working. Happy travels.

What?

One of the guys that works here will ask you, "What," when he sees you. This is not a clipped version of what but rather a long drawn out version as if the word had many a's. The other day Don came by, and HW2 said, "Whaaaaat?" In return Don said, "Whaaaaat?" This caused another round of what's, and then Don said, "We're turning you into a redneck." HW2 said, "I cain't believe you said thaaaaat." All dissolved into laughter.

Today at the Shell station check out, HW2 commented, "What is beer salt?" The guy next to her said, "What part of the North are you from? Didn't yo daddy teach you nothin'?" Beer salt is required when you drink beer, and you can either salt the beer foam, or take some of the salt in your mouth as you drink it. "Don't take too much though, as it will cause the beer to foam up." Now knowing much more about beer salt than she wanted to know, HW2 left. In Texas you never meet a stranger. Happy travels.

Threads again

I continue to mull over the idea of threads in relationships. If every one who has interacted with you spun an invisible thread of connection to you, there would be quite a thicket of threads spreading out from you to all your friends, family, and acquaintainces. I can imagine this thicket of invisible threads supporting you through good times and bad. This thicket would get more dense as you grow through life and meet and make new friends or as new family members are added.

Famous or important people would have a veritable cloud of threads as they might be on the minds of thousands of people. Religeous leaders, such as Jesus, would have two thousand years of believers adding to the cloud as they turned their thoughts to his teachings. These threads, being invisible, are maintained even though the person being connected to is no longer in this life. What a lovely way to continue to treasure someone and to send kind thoughts. Threads give me peace. Happy threading.

Goofs

I can really goof up. Yesterday I was mowing with the John Deere Tractor, working on the middle section of the park where most of our visitors park their rigs. I have to be quite careful not to hit rocks or get too close to the rigs, and we also have another man or two coming along behind the mower and weed whacking anything missed. I was about to the middle of completing this section and rotated the mower around a tree when I really did it. There were lots of shoots around the base of the tree that needed to be trimmed, and I did not see the standing water pipe next to the base of the tree since it was in the middle of the thicket of shoots. You guessed it. I neatly took off the pipe with the mower.

You can imagine that this action released a fountain of water about 6-8 feet high which I unintentionally drove through. Now soaked to the skin and very surprised, I got the mower stopped and yelled on the intercom for, "Help!" Bob quickly arrived, got the water turned off, and repaired the water pipe. Did I ever feel stupid. I had to go home to change completely. What a goof. I am going to try not to do that again. Happy travels.

"Get me the old plumber"

Don, our owner manager here, told HW2 when she was in the office the other day, "Get me the old plumber." Now HW2 did not know who the old plumber was, so being the clever person that she is, went to the phone book and looked him up. She looked under The Old Plumber, Old Plumber, Plumber, Old, and The. No luck. HW2 called Don and said, "I can't find The Old Plumber in the phone book." Don said, "Call Ken." HW2 said, "Call Kent. Who is Kent?" Don yelled back, "Not Kent. Call Ken. You know, call Kenny."

"I did not know that Kenny is the old plumber," said HW2 and called Kenny on the intercom. Kenny, who happens to be 72 works here as a maintenance man and has worked for Don for many years. So Kenny came up to the office to talk with Don, and all had a laugh over 'The Old Plumber'.

Last night we laughed again and HW2 wanted to know if Roy, who is 75, is The Old Electrician. "Yeah, commented Don, "and HW1 is the Old Lawn Mower Guy." I guess since I am 70, that puts me in with the old guys too. At least now I have a title, too. Happy travels.