Lifestyle Changes

Yes, we still live in our RV. We still visit friends and I play Bingo, Sticks, and Crazy Rook at the clubhouse. I lead the singing for the church service in the clubhouse.

Side trips have taken us to see muted russet and golden leaves although most of the deciduous trees are still green in Sam Houston State Forest. Since we are in the “piney woods” area of Texas, we see many evergreen trees draped with Spanish moss. I think that it is strange to see deciduous trees, palms, and evergreens in the same forest.

We watch osprey, hawks, cranes, herons, pelicans, and geese on the look out for fish in Lake Conroe and Lake Livingston.

Our daughter, Joy Miller, was our tour guide in the Bay of Houston and Clear Lake area last week. The ducks and catfish both tried to catch the breadcrumbs and pellet food near Laundry’s Restaurant where Joy treated us to lunch.

We viewed the area where Hurricane Ike caused wind and flood damage last year. Many areas were cleared of broken houses and now are empty lots with "for sale signs." Other houses have been rebuilt or are still in the process of rebuilding. We even saw a couple of houses, which were on a fountation in 2008, and are now on basements since the houses have been raised above the previous flood level.

I marveled at the realistic sculptures created a century and a half ago while Terry was more interested in the antique guns and tools in the museum in the Sam Houston Park in Huntsville. Margaret Houston made a pleasant home for the seven Houston children in the home that is now located in the park.

Brahmas, Long horns and horses are seen in the Texas ranches along the highway.

All these things we did last year when we were parked in Castaways Campground near Willis, Texas. What has changed our lifestyle this year is that Terry has been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. Now he is on meds and sticks his finger twice a day to check his blood sugar. He takes a walk everyday. We eat smaller amounts but eat more frequently. Terry also has stopped eating donuts, cookies, pie, candy bars and ice cream.

Yes, life changes. We grow older. Terry had another birthday on November 16.
I wonder what we happen this next year.

Jay Jay

Do you know why God planned for children to be born to young adults? When you get to be my age, you don’t have the energy to chase after them.

Jay Jay, my great grandson, had a wonderful time in the park! He was under, on top of and inside the play equipment. He understands what his mother says when she speaks English or Spanish. Although his vocabulary is limited, the words he does say are spoken clearly.

He is one step ahead of you when you speak to him since he says “Welcome” before you can say “thank you” when he gives you something.

In other words, he is a healthy, happy child who will be two years old in December. I was very worried about him when he was born since he was over two months premature and weighed a little over 3 pounds.

Halloween Fun

The RV clubhouse had more decorations than you can believe for the Halloween party. Terry and I were the cutest couple there. (Okay, many women dressed up but we were the only couple that wore costumes.)

I asked a woman at the campground Laundromat if she was going to the Halloween party. She answered, “Yes, but we aren’t going to dress.” My response was, “That should be interesting!” The jellyfish lady won the best costume prize.

About half of the group were kids but Terry didn’t get many pictures of them. They had fun bobbing for apples, going on a hayride and eating candy. We ate Frito pie and desserts and candy. The pumpkins are from the carving contest. Don’t you think that they are artistic?

SCARY TEXAS

Although Texas is our home address, we weren’t in Texas in 2009 until the 21st of October. The weather was scary since we drove through the heart of Dallas in the fog and rain with accidents happening all around us.

We spent six days with our friends Jerry and Joan who bought a beautiful new home this year with an RV pad and 50-amp service. The six days were busy with visiting, shopping and sightseeing. Joan took me to her writer’s class at the senior center. We met with Joanne and Bill, Terry’s cousins, at the Red Lobster. Jerry and Terry had a great time speaking RV language and talking “techy talk”.

Joan took her grandchildren, niece and myself on a scary drive through a campground that was decorated for Halloween.

As we drove our RV south to Lake Conroe, we saw many places where water was over the side streets and overflowing in ponds and ditches. Yesterday, there was thunder, lightning and it rained about three more inches. Yes, that’s scary.

We drove by Huntsville with a statute of Sam Houston that is as big as the trees around it. Is that scary?

What picture is most scary to you? Don’t be too scared but have a FUN Halloween!

Fall in Iowa

Yes, we like to watch the deer running free but the deer are so numerous that they are a nuisance in Iowa. We were driving around the Red Rock Lake area when we saw nine deer in a couple of hours. Before Ryan shot his small deer with a bow and arrow, a deer jumped in front of the car he was driving, smashed the windshield and put dents in the car. Since the car belonged to his sister, she wasn’t a happy camper. Saturday, Ryan shot a seven-point buck with his bow and arrow. Many farmers think that it is great to harvest the deer that have been eating their corn and soybeans. When the corn and soybeans have been harvested, some deer have a hard time making it through the winter since their food source is gone.

We expected to see fall foliage but most of the leaves are green. It is a photographic occasion when you see a tree this red.

Along the Red Rock Lake area, we saw white pelicans and these strange birds. Do you know what kind they are? (If you want to see any photo made larger, click on the left bottom of the picture.)

Iowa Wedding

Never before have I wore all black to a wedding. A person of my generation thinks that black is for funerals but I’m happy that my nephew Ben is getting married. It’s just that black clothes are the warmest clothes that I own and it was snowing on Oct. 10, 2009, the day that Ben and Shawna got married in Moravia, Iowa. The picture is of the front yard at my daughter’s home.

The wedding ceremony was traditional with the bride in a beautiful white satin strapless gown decorated with red embroidery and the traditional long white train while the groom wore a dark suit with a rose in his lapel. The three bridesmaids and maid of honor wore brown strapless gowns with flounces of red, or orange or gold and carrying bouquets of flowers of the same hue. Then they covered up with coats, hats, scarves and blankets while the whole bridal party mounted a wagon with hay bales on it to be driven to the reception. To be sure you knew what occasion had occurred; the wagon was decorated with a big red heart and flowers and the words “Just Married” on the back. Don’t you wish that I had taken a picture?

The women in the bridal party wore scarves to cover their bare shoulders and traded their thin slippers for long socks and boots. Many relatives and friends changed into pants, boots and comfortable warmer clothing until they looked like a bunch of farmers out for winter fun just before doing chores.

Actually the huge white tent with propane heaters wasn’t as cold as I imagined it would be. There were salads, chips, dips, crackers, fresh vegetables and fruit, cookies, and buns to fill with hot ham or roast beef. I even had a strawberry dipped into the chocolate fountain. There were cans of “pop”, coffee and another fountain of punch followed by the traditional cake and ice cream accompanied by nuts and mints.

Of course, the best part of the wedding for me was joining my relatives in a joyful occasion and to welcome Shawna into the family.

Family News

We had our grandchildren, Emily and Nathan, visit at my daughter’s house and our RV. Emily and Nathan made peanut butter cookies and learned that if you need 1 and ¼ cups of flour and your 1-cup measuring cup is wet, you can use the ¼ cup five times. Following recipes is a good way to learn fractions.

Nathan made a birthday card for my mother’s 90th birthday. He wanted to draw 90 candles with a flame on each candle but was spending more time counting the candles than drawing them. Then he started to write on another sheet of paper. When I asked what he was doing, Nathan answered, “I’m keeping track of the number of candles.” He wrote 32 and drew a candle and then 33 and drew another candle. I’m proud of him not only for his persistence but also that he was able to finish all the numbers and all the candles without any help.

Mother was proud of this five-generation picture that was taken at her Birthday party. Pictured are my parents, my son, Rich and his wife Shelly and their daughter Heather with her children, Shawn, Marcus and Mercedes.

Our family picture shows brother Jim seated on the left, my mother Agnes, my father Clarence, and brother Clare in the front row. The back row includes is my sister Angie, myself, and sisters Clara and Joy.

It’s bow-hunting season for deer. Grandson, Ryan, asked me to take pictures of the deer he shot before he ground the meat into ground venison. He sliced the rest of the meat as thin as possible, added spices and is drying it for venison jerky.

Autumn in Iowa

I love autumn in the Midwest. My son gave us fresh homegrown tomatoes, apples and zucchini squash. I like zucchini best in a bread so I tried a new recipe for pineapple zucchini bread this morning. Tomatoes were used in salads and for BLTs. The cinnamon applesauce is great too.

The corn and soybean fields are turning yellow but we are waiting for the leaves to change. From our living room window, we watched two deer walk the fence line.

The weather is mild with temperatures in the 50's Fahrenheit at night and 70's during the day.

We are in Iowa visiting with kids, grandkids, brothers, sisters and my parents. We will help my parents move into Fair Haven in Pella. It is an independent living facility but the next building is assisted living and another building is a nursing home.

It’s a good time to do fall cleaning since we can store things in my daughter’s basement. It’s fun to go shopping with Karol and redo the RV. I bought the flowers at Michaels and new rugs at Kohls. The bedspread was bought in Shipshewana, Indiana at the Amish flea market a month ago.

We will help mom to celebrate her 90th Birthday on Oct. 3 and go to my nephew's wedding a week later. When we move, it will be to go to Texas.

RV/MH Hall of Fame

Sorry about not sending emails or blogs lately. We had very limited Internet coverage in Newfoundland. Then we had no coverage while traveling to Elkhart, Indiana to get the windshield fixed before it fell out completely. (Little edges were raised on the glass but it stayed intact in the scotch tape.) Friday our windshield was replaced! It is beautiful! We are now in Illinois visiting with friends.

While we waited for the work to be done on the RV, we went to the new RV/MH Hall of Fame near Elkhart, Indiana. Terry took this overview of one section of the vintage RVs. The kitchens and bathrooms are sure different today. In one RV, the driver’s chair was a $35 “accessory”.

The dark blue RV is the one that Mae West used in 1931. The sign said that “This 1931 Chevrolet based custom made house car was one of the enticements offered by Paramount Studios to get Mae West to leave the Vaudeville circuit and make movies for them. It is designed as a chauffeur driven lounge and not as a ‘camper’ unit. It features a small hot plate stove, an icebox, and a small table to enjoy lunch or a spot of tea. It was used for several years to transport Miss West from her home or hotel to the shooting location. The story indicates she had a rocking chair on the back porch where she could enjoy the breeze when appropriate.”

I spoke with Al Hesselbart who is an author and historian and works at the RV/MH Hall of Fame about my RV books. Guess what? He wanted my books for the RV/MH library! That means that my books with stories by Terry Hager, Joan Pomeroy, Bill Miller, Jerry Leroy, Michele Quau and myself are in the RV/MH Hall of Fame.