VISITING MOM, A SMALL LOSS AND A BEAUTIFUL BIKE RIDE

On Thursday, March 26 we headed to visit Mom. She was in good spirits and we had a nice lunch at Denny's. She has been at Town and Country Manor for 2 years now and is doing well.

On the way home we stopped to see George and Joanie and had a nice dinner with them. I forgot to take pictures of them darn it!

They live outside Lake Medina RV Resort/The Grothues-Leibolds Ranch where Ralph and I spend the early part of the winter while we are in Texas.

George and Joanie are going to take a one month long cruise to the Hawaii Islands, Bora Bora, Tahiti and several other countries. They will cross the International Dateline and the Equator.

So during that time I am going to house sit and looking forward to relaxing. That's funny because my RV-ing life is relaxing!

On Saturday, March 28, I headed to Weight Watcher's. Loy went earlier to weigh in and had to leave because she took on the job of being an Assistant Coach for T-Ball.  Her grandson Wyatt is now playing.

Well this week I rode 3 times for a total of about 75 miles and I only lost 0.6 lbs. but it was a loss! It was a little shocking, but I have had good numbers for the last few weeks so maybe I just had a bit of a stall. I am hoping for a big lost next week. So far I have lost 22.8 lbs in 10 weeks and now weigh 181.0.

On Sunday, March 30 we had good friends of ours, Annie, Chuck and Buddy to the ranch for dinner. We met them about 8 years ago at Lake Medina RV Resort. They were from Colorado and their home was was at 10,000 ft. elevation. So they happily would spend the winters at Lake Medina RV Resort.

Just last year they bought a cute home just a few miles away from the RV Resort and now are "True Texans".

Chuck is a Cowboy Action Shooter like Ralph and he also does Cowboy Reenactments with the Bandera Cattle Company in the cowboy town of Bandera. It is a large group of cowboys who do very good reenactments of the Old West Shootouts for the tourist in the middle of Main St. on Saturdays.

We had a nice dinner. I made a low cal and low fat whole wheat pasta bake along with garlic bread, and a hearty salad. For dessert we had a Chocolate Kahlua bundt cake that I made and Haagan Dazs vanilla ice cream.

Yes, I had a sliver of cake and a little ice cream, I don't deprive myself because it is all about moderation. Normally I would have eaten a 1/4 of the cake and a couple of scoops of ice cream.

I don't keep this stuff around either. So Annie and Chuck went home with a goodie bag.

Here is Buddy, their very nice Golden Retriever who is now 10 years old.

On Monday, March 30th, I headed out on a new route with my bike without Ralph because he wanted to do some things around the RV. It was a wonderful day to ride, overcast, light wind and in the 60's, just perfect!

Debbie and Richard who have the ranch next to Hoppy and Loy and share in the Longhorn venture with them, also are big bicycle riders. They belong to a riding club and next month they are going to host a 30 mile ride from their home with a luncheon afterwards. I wanted to try the route that Debbie has planned so today I checked it out.

Well the terrain wasn't much different than what I have been riding over the last couple of months. There were several long hills but not steep and they were certainly doable for my ability.

I am a little concerned about the pace, but Debbie said that one good thing about this ride is that if anyone on the ride wants to do a slower pace, a shorter ride or gets tired, they can just turn around. This ride is not a "loop ride". The route is up and back and she assured me that there will be several that will do so.

I did the entire 30 mile route and felt good and so far this has been my longest ride. The weather helped today also, I did not have the sun and heat beating down on me.

The rain over the last few weeks have really helped with the vibrant colors of wildflowers that Texas is so well known for.

Here is the Texas State Flower, the Blue Bonnet and the pinks are the Indian Paintbrush Flowers.

As I rode, I stopped to look at the many beautiful ranch entrances.

I had to make a little time to visit with this cute little burro.

Until Next Time.............Happy Trails To All!

RIDING IN A MOTOR HOME AND BABY LONGHORNS

On Monday, March 23, Ralph did things around the RV that he wanted to get done. One being to change the oil in the generator and checking on our air conditioners.

We rarely ever needed to run both AC's at the same time, so we weren't concerned getting it fixed anytime soon. Since the one now no longer cools and the other cools but makes a lot of racket, Ralph thought he better check it out.

We met another "full-time RV-er" last fall and he told Ralph that the same thing happened to his AC. He said it was a broken blade and he just happened to have an extra blade and gave it to us.

Now normally I wouldn't leave Ralph by himself when he is on the roof, but I am on a "Mission". I want to get on the bike early and get my work out out of the way before it gets to warm.  I also find if I do a ride first thing in the morning, I am done. If I do it in the afternoon, I will not get it done because I find myself getting into other things. Also when I do it first thing in the morning, that gives me a "high" so to speak and keeps me strong and on track with Weight Watchers all day long.

Well I did the big 25 mile loop. This past Sunday I did 24 miles, but this time I added the "hill" on the way back to the ranch. Well I did it and I felt okay. I could definitely tell that it wasn't as easy as it was a week ago, but then again that ride was several miles shorter. I still wasn't huffing and puffing or zigzagging my bike to get up the hill, but I did have to go in the "lowest granny gear".

On Tuesday, March 24, Richard and Debbie who have the ranch next door and also in partnership with Hoppy and Loy with the Longhorns. invited us to go along with them to the Northeast side of San Antonio. They are taking their Motor home to Texas RV Repair Shop.

Richard drove their 1999 Motor home and Ralph rode Shotgun. Debbie and I followed in their truck.

Going through the ranch gate, notice the "outhouse" on the right, it is a replica and UPS and FED EX know to leave packages here for the 2 ranches.

Richard couldn't say enough about this repair shop. Yesterday when Richard stopped by to see us, Ralph was telling him about the AC issue and also our awning is not rewinding like it should. Richard right away called Tony the Service Manager and he spent time with Ralph on the phone on some solutions. In the end we decided to make an appt. when we got there.

After Richard got his Motor home work order written up, Tony spent a good bit of time with us and addressed our issues. We have made an appt. for mid April. Since this is our home, Tony said we could stay in their "Secured Lot" and he would give us the combination to the gate if we wanted to go out some where.

On the way home we stopped to get a bite to eat, at Benjamin's. A very popular Mexican restaurant not far from where the ranch is.

On Wednesday, March 25 I headed out for another ride while Ralph took our Dodge Truck up to Hoppy's to do an oil change.

I have a nice luggage rack with a big basket on my bike. In the past, I have hauled several bags of groceries in it. Once I even weighed all the bags when I got home and it totaled 43 lbs! This time however, I had a couple of packages to mail out at the Post Office.

A practice around here that I see often is people who have small over grazed lots, but have horses, They will stake them out along roads to graze the lush grass. Personally I can't see doing this and would have never allowed this with my horses. You are looking for an accident to happen, along with a carload of punks that would get a thrill out of shooting the horse. Not to mention that cattle and horse theft is still an issue here in Texas. This road is a 55 mph. road too.

Coming back to the ranch, I got to see the new baby that was born yesterday.

This baby has been on our website before. It was born a couple of weeks ago.

We drove the truck up to the ranch house to return the pressure washer and this calf is saying, "I am relaxing and comfy, so drive around me," and we did. This was last years baby born in November.

Until Next Time...........Happy Trails!

LOTS OF BIKE RIDING, EYE SURGEON AND WEIGHT LOSS!

Last week was great as far as getting our bike rides in even though we had several days of rain, we just had to dodge the storms.

As you can see the skies looked pretty scary. Here we are riding down the driveway heading to the ranch gate. We rode 4 days this week and we anywhere from 12 to 19 miles. 

On Thursday, March 19, we headed over to the eye surgeons office. Dr. Parkhurst did Ralph's eye surgery on his left eye back in February and now we came to have a consultation about doing the right eye. Also at the consultation was Ralph's Optometrist, Dr. Medina.

Several test were done by Dr. Median and Dr. Parkhurst. After some discussion, a
decision was made and Dr. Parkhurst is going to do laser surgery with a Toric Lense. It has been scheduled for May. They had earlier appts. but Ralph has signed up for two, 4 days shoots including the Texas State Championship, so May it is.

Over the last few weeks, Ralph has been steadily working on knife sheaths for Dr. Medina's flint knives with antler handles. Dr. Medina admired a leather holder that Ralph was wearing that had his little pocket knife in it. Ralph told him that he made it and Dr. Medina had asked him if he would be interested in making him some sheaths.

Dr. Medina keeps these beautiful flints knives in a display case in his office. Dr. Medina is also the optometrist for the San Antonio Spurs NBA Basketball team.

Well Dr. Medina just loved his knife sheaths! In the picture is Dr. Median and his assistant Alex and boy does she know her stuff. Ralph has one more sheath left to do for him.

Finally on Friday, March 20 we had a beautiful day. Heading out on our bikes, I finally got to see the longhorn calf that was born 6 days ago. Here the little one is taking a nap along with mom. The black and white bull seems to be keeping a good eye on his baby.

Finally the baby got up. Every time I have been trying to take a picture, the baby has been sleeping.

The wild flowers blooming along the roads made our bike ride just that much more beautiful.

The Texas State Flower is the Blue Bonnet below.

On Saturday, March 21, Loy and I headed out to Weight Watcher's. I felt good about weighing in and knew it would be a good one.

Well I stepped on the scale and lost 2.2 lbs. I have now lost 22.2 lbs in 9 weeks and I now weigh 181.6! Just 17.6 lbs. more to go before I reach the maximum goal that WW has set for me.

As I said in many of my previous posts, I love my WW App on my phone. I track my points and weight. It does many other things and to me it is quite mind boggling how helpful the WW App is to me.

Well today I had quite the chuckle. Each week I put in my "new" weight in the WW App. Each time a message with feedback comes back saying how good you are doing and etc. Now I don't know what it would say if you should put on weight because so far I have not had an increase.

Now that is not to say that I won't. There are reasons for this such as, you just had a rough week and just had to binge here and there or sometimes your weight just fluctuates. But my message said "You are losing weight too rapidly". There was also additional info. but that is all I remember. WW wants weight loss anywhere from 0.5 to 2.0 lbs. a week. There were some weeks I lost 5 lbs. and one week where I lost just 0.6 of a pound. However my average is 2.46 lbs for the 9 weeks.

I log in all my bike riding and step aerobics work outs in the WW app, but I guess it does not take into account that I am burning exercise calories too. Oh well, I am certainly not going to slow down. I want to get rid of this unhealthy weight as soon as possible!

On Sunday, March 22, Ralph stayed home to weed whack around the RV. With all this rain the grass has really grown. Hoppy came by the other day to mow our lot and with all the rain it has grown a couple of inches already.

I headed out to do a ride. I felt good enough to tackle a 24 mile loop. This would be my longest ride since starting my weight loss in January. I use to do this loop a few years ago when were were here, but I was a lot lighter and in better shape. However I felt good enough to tackle it and I did!

I took plenty of stops to hydrate myself and took one short 10 min. rest stop at the 20th mile mark. I could have kept going but I wanted to enjoy a little break and take in all the progress that I have achieved during these past 9 weeks. What has also helped is me documenting my progress on our website.

During each mile I rode, I thought about the wonderful dinner we had planned with Hoppy and Loy.

After my ride, I got cleaned up and made a coconut, banana, pineapple loaf cake for dessert. I enjoy baking and yes I will have a little slice. It will cost me several points, but I allowed for it, especially for the ride I did today.

I had bought a Brisket a few weeks ago and yesterday decided that today would be good day to cook it. Hoppy put it in his smoker early this morning and it has been cooking all day long. Loy is made potato salad and I made a good hearty tossed salad.

I would have like to have gotten a picture of the Brisket on the grill, but it was already on the table when we arrived at the ranch house.

Until Next Time............Happy Trails To All!

COWBOY ACTION SHOOTING AND MY FAVORITE RESTAURANT

As many of you know, Ralph does a shooting competition that is called Cowboy Action Shooting. He is in his 16th year. He competes as we travel throughout U.S.

For our friends that may not know about Cowboy Action Shooting, here is a quick summary.

You use period firearms from the western era, including 2 single action revolvers, a shotgun and rifle. You dress up in period correct clothing and you shoot at all kinds of different targets. Some are moving, stationary and some are knock down. I describe it as a big shooting arcade. I am sure most of us remember those back in our day.

It is a timed event and you shoot several stages throughout the day. You will shoot on average 140 rounds. If you miss, it is a 5 second penalty. If you shoot in a wrong order, it is a 10 second penalty.

Sometimes the targets are up close and sometimes they are far away. Some of the top shooters can shoot their single action revolver as fast if not faster than people who shoot automatics.

Normally Ralph and Hoppy go together which has been the case for the last couple of months. They went this past Saturday and Hoppy normally will not shoot on Sunday, so I went along.

I don't like when Ralph goes by himself. 25 years ago he had a heart attack while driving to work and that still plays heavily on my mind. I also get concerned at all the dangerous drivers out there. I like 4 eyes on the road rather then just 2 and I constantly am on the look out and a side seat driver. We recently put a dash cam in our truck and I am very happy we did.

Anyway, we drove north of Comfort, TX. about 1-1/2 hours from the Herbert Ranch. This club shoots both Saturday and Sunday. The range is on a real working cattle ranch called the Stieler Ranch. It was started by Adolf Stieler in 1878 and is know owned and run by Adolf's granddaughter Becky Patterson.

Every once in a while I can't get some of my pictures up-righted, so you will just have to tilt your head on this one.

Here is the club president of the Texican Rangers. He is "Yuma Jack". He calls everyone over to the gallows and soon everyone is reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Then he will give a safety meeting and talk about rules and regulations and assign shooters to "Posse's" as they are called.

All the cowboy shooters have their own Alias name that they shoot under. Some are made up and some are based on fictional and non-fictional  characters from the western era. Ralph's alias is Lefty Rhodes. He is a left handed and his last name in Roderick.

The cowboy in the purple shirt is "Phantom". He is running the electronic timer and also makes sure that the scenario is shot properly. Here I caught Lefty in the middle of reloading his shotgun.

Here Lefty is running the timer on a shooter. This shooter is shooting black powder.

Shooter's take turns with different jobs. Some are "brass pickers", "score keepers", or "spotters" and "loading officer", they sit at the loading and unloading tables making sure the firearms are being properly handled. After the shooter is done shooting that stage, they make sure that the firearms are empty.

Here Lefty is shooting his rifle. Notice that "Phantom" has several large buckles. He has won those at the Championship matches. Lefty has quite a collection of buckles what he has won over the years.

This day Lefty shot 125 rounds between his six shooters, rifle and shot gun. He had 4 misses this day and came in 9th place. At the monthly matches all you win are "Bragging Rights". At Championship matches you win buckles, plaques or bronze cowboy statues.

Here is a cowboy shooter's fancy holster.

When I go along to this shoot, we sort of take the round about way home so we can
stop at our favorite restaurant called Camp Verde General Store and Restaurant.

There is a lot of interesting history here and of the surrounding area. I will try to be brief with the help of the Internet. Camp Verde was an Army Post opened in 1855 on the banks of the Verde Creek.

The Army did a famous experiment between horses, mules and camels. This was the brainchild of U.S. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. The camels were able to carry much more weight, travel longer distances, go with out food and water for days compared to that of horses and mules. The only problem was horses and mules panicked and bolted when they saw and smelled the scent of the camels.

The General Store opened in 1857 to serve the soldiers of the Camp Verde Army Post with goods and services. The Fort was about a mile away. The Post Office opened in 1887 and still today people come and get their mail from the pre- and post-Civil War brass boxes.

The original general store was swept away by flood and in 1900 it was restored because it had become a welcome resource for the daily needs of the pioneer ranchers, farmers and the community in the area. The present day general store was built on the original foundation and the original floor is still here. I love walking on this old time floor and listen to the creaking sounds. You can see the trap door that opens to wooden steps that lead to the cellar.  

It has been steadily added onto and thankfully the history is being kept alive. During a recent expansion of the restaurant, an escape tunnel was found down in the cellar. This would have allowed those inside to emerge some distance from the store during any Indian attack.

All that is left of "Fort Camp Verde" is the foundation and that ground is now a large private ranch.

It is a popular stop for bicyclist and folks come from all over area to stop and visit here.

The General Store has 2 floors, each floor having several rooms filled with an array of products from jewelry, candles, clothing and unique furnishings for the home. It includes my favorite things and that is food stuff! Fine food items gathered from artisans and producers around the world. This includes dips, sauces, honey, relishes, candies, jams and jellies. Another room is filled with kitchen gadgets. I always find something I can't live with out.

They have summed it up in this analogy: "The more you linger, the more you will discover".

The restaurant is fabulous. It has beautiful decor and the staff is top notch as is the food! Their specialty is soups, salads, deli classics, country favorites, hot sandwiches and burgers on several kinds of specialty breads. my favorite is the sweet jalapeno bread.

Even though they have added on to the restaurant, it is still busy and wait times, especially during Sunday lunch time, can be 1 to 1-1/2 hour wait. But this gives us time to wander around and browse. They have beautiful landscaped gardens with outside seating and a fireplace.

Because I am on Weight Watchers, I did not get my 1/2 pound Three Cheese Burger with the works. I got one of their country favorites called "Donna's Meatloaf". It is described as a Camp Verde favorite. Meatloaf is baked daily with spices, mashed potatoes, vegetables and a whole lot of love topped with country style ketchup.

Ralph got his favorite, Tuna Salad Sandwich on a toasted sweet jalapeno bread with the works and a side of homemade meaty thick flavorful onion rings.

It was outstanding as usual. Every time we go, we request Debbie. Although all the waitstaff is great, we just got to know Debbie and we always enjoy seeing her.

They have a dessert bar and some lucky person ordered a banana split. It was a work of art and should have been on the cover of a magazine. Well I ran up to the counter and took this picture. Notice the chocolate camel.

Years ago I was so impressed with the food and service, I wrote a letter to them. I received a lovely hand written note from the owner. As we were leaving, we saw one of the staff wiping down the menu's. This is one of the most spotless restaurants I have ever been to.

Right next door is a ranch that has buffalo. We stopped to admire these majestic animals.

On the way through the Cowboy Town of Bandera, the stage coach was giving folks rides and a fellow riding his horse into town.

Until next time...........Happy Trails to all!

RIDING THE POUNDS AWAY!

On Thursday, March 12, Ralph and I did a nice 18 mile ride through ranch country. The roads are quiet and many have a nice wide shoulder. The scenery keeps us entertained and before we knew it, we were back at the Herbert Ranch.

These are some of my favorite times too! Bike riding with Ralph on a perfect day and seeing such beautiful open country. It was just so peaceful and on days like this, I always thank God for our life.

This horse is thinking that the grass must be greener on the other side.

After our 18 mile ride, Ralph relaxed with an adult beverage.

Soon he lit a cozy campfire. He had to use some of his hot air to get it going though, but it did the trick!

Of course we fixed our afternoon coffee and enjoyed watching the long horns graze.

On Friday, March 13 we headed out for another ride. We did another route and it took us through some nice country. This was a short ride of 12 miles.

I have done well this week on Weight Watchers. I am looking for a good loss tomorrow.

Loy and I have kept in touch through "texting". She sends me pictures of all the fun they are having. I still can't believe that I got an iPhone and I am able to work it pretty well. My friends who know me are still in astonishment over this. I am still amazed at myself that I am able to work the iPhone so well and also to do this travel blog thanks to my Montana Rancher friend Janna.

Anyway, Loy and her children Will and Wendy and their families are having a ball in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. They have taken day trips to see the sights and have seen lots of snow. That is new for these Texans although Will does live near Fort Worth and has seen at least a couple of inches. Fort Worth is about 250 miles north of San Antonio where we are at, so Fort Worth will get an ice storm to a dusting to a couple of inches of snow every few years. But a couple of feet of powdery snow will be something to see for them, especially the little ones.

They also went to a casino and Loy said the only time she got any money back from a machine was from the ATM! Her son Will who is an "Engineer" is a brainiac. He is good with numbers and I think this helped him at the Black Jack table. He didn't give the casino a dime and walked away with $900 bucks! Good for him!

Saturday, March 14, Ralph and Hoppy headed to the town of Comfort about 1-1/2 hours away for a Cowboy Action Shooting competition. A few hours later, I headed off to my Weight Watchers meeting.

I miss Loy going to the WW meeting with me. She is due home today from Lake Tahoe and I look forward to hearing about her week long vacation with her children and grandchildren.

Well I stepped on the scale and I lost 2.6 pounds! I now weigh 183.8 and have lost 20.0 in 8 weeks with WW. Just 20 pounds more to go before I reach the maximum allowed weight that WW has set for me, but 30 pounds for my personal goal. I am determined to get to 154 where I was 6 years ago.

Since I have now met my 10 percent goal and received a charm with the number 10% on it. I excitedly put it on my key chain. Needless to say, I was flying high.

The satisfying WW diet, the bike riding, the WW meetings, the Saturday weigh-in that holds me accountable, the camaraderie of the WW group and my WW leader, Karen, keeps me strong and on track.

Coming back to the ranch, the longhorns were all around the gate entrance. I had to get out of the truck and go through the gate to shoo them away. Thank goodness they were cooperative, even the bull was accommodating which worried me at first. If the bull doesn't want to do something, he does not do it. Kind a like husbands when you want them to do something. (Not mine of course!)

I drove through the gate and got out again to chain it shut and before I got back in the truck they were nestled under the tree for their siesta.

Until next time, Happy Trails to you!

HOUSE DEMOLITION AND FIXIN FENCE

SAT. MARCH 7- Off to Weight Watchers! Only worked out once with step aerobics and one bicycle ride due to the cold, rainy and windy weather last week, but I managed to lose 1.4 lbs.

Later this week, the weather is suppose to improve and be in the 60's to 70's with sun! We haven't seen this nice weather in several weeks except for a day here and there.

In 7 weeks I have lost 17.4 lbs. My weight is now 186.4 lbs. My WW goal weight is 164 so just 22.4 more lbs. then it won't cost me any more money and I will be a Life Time Member! I will maintain my LT Member status as long as I weigh in once a month and don't go over 2 lbs over the WW goal weight. I will continue to get to my "personal goal" of 155 lbs. like I did in 2009.

I was a LT Member several times having lost my weight and I kept it off until I just went "haywire" so to speak.

After our WW meeting, Loy headed off to the San Antonio airport. She is spending a week in Lake Tahoe with her middle son, Will and his family. Hoppy is not much for traveling and he likes staying at the ranch. Besides he had a lot do do this week.

Hoppy purchased several acres that adjoined his ranch. There was an small old abandoned house on it. He had his friend Dave bulldoze it down and bury it.

Then Hoppy and Richard put up some fencing.

Ralph is steadily working on getting Dr. Medina's knife sheaths done.

We visited mom and had a nice time. Talking with her you would never know she has moderate Dementia. At 87 she is in excellent health and does not even wear glasses! She has been at Town and Country Manor for 2 years now. She has adapted well and has even thrived.

We showed up right after lunch and she didn't even eat a bite. She said she wasn't hungry. No matter what we said she wouldn't eat. Unfortunately her brain is not telling her she is hungry and needs to eat. Thank goodness for You Tube video's because we run out of things to talk about.

Until next time...........Happy Trails!