OUR NEW FRONT YARD IS IN A COW PASTURE

We "Hitched Up" and said our goodbyes and gave hugs to everyone as we left Lake Medina RV Resort. Just over an hour later we were on the south side of San Antonio in a cow pasture.

We are on the "Back 40" of a ranch that is owned by our friend's Hoppy and Loy. Their brand is an "H-".  Your read it as "H Bar". H is the initial of their last name and the slash is called a "bar". They have longhorns and they all have this brand on their right side.

We traveled across the cow pasture and arrived in the back corner. There are hookups for us. Hoppy and Loy's son use to live in a mobile home there. The mobile home is gone so we are able to hook up to the connections.

We are about 3/8's of a mile from their ranch house. Hoppy must have seen us pull in because he soon showed up with his neighbor Richard. They both got busy and put up an electrical fence around our RV. This will protect our rolling ranch house from his longhorns.

A few years ago when we were "homesteading" here, the fence charger pooped out sometime during the night and at about 3:00 a.m. our RV started moving or should I say "Moo-ing"? (Oh I just had to throw that in). We jumped up and ran out the door in our PJ's. The longhorns were rubbing the sides of the RV. We herded them out of our little yard and put the fence back up. The next day we went out and got a new fence charger.

Hoppy's ranch backs up to another rancher. We are close to the other ranchers property line. About once a day, his neighbors cattle come up to us very inquisitive. Here is a Brahma Cross cow.

 As I was taking pictures, this bull came out of the Mesquite brush. YIKES!

After dinner we built a fire and relaxed while watching the sun go down. About a distance of an 1/8 mile, Ralph spotted 2 coyotes running across Hoppy's pasture. I ran and got my camera and just about missed them. If you look at the top of the metal fence post and look right about a 1/4" you will see the one Coyote. Keep looking right and along the same line and you can see the other just as he reaches the fence line. I did try to enlarge it when I was importing my pictures to Picasa, but for some reason it would not allow me to do so. It was sure exciting to see them. Coyotes around here usually lull as to sleep almost every night.                                  

Happy Trails..............

COMPUTER LESSON, PIE and a CHRISTMAS PARTY

The day before the Christmas Party, Tillie gave me a lesson on Picasa.

I caught her off guard and did not give her a chance to smile. Either that or maybe her expression says "Oh my gosh, this is going to be a challenge."

I managed to have time and cook a pie. I tried a new recipe that included fresh orange and lemon juice plus their rind. You can't tell from the picture, put I lightly carved an apple on it. It was good and I passed several pieces around to my campground neighbors. If I don't do that, then I end up eating most of it.                                   

On Sunday, Dec. 7th, the resort had their Christmas Party. Marlene, Greg and Gina smoked a  few Pork Tenderloins on the grill. They supplied delicious sides of baked potato, green beans, rolls and salad. Us RV-er's brought desserts and oderv's. 

Here is Gina serving Red Roosters, a frozen adult beverage. I don't know what was in it, but it was delicious. 

When we wanted another, we had to yell "cock-a-doodle-do" and Gina would come around and served you another.                                                                                                                                

Here is the dessert table, as you can see it is the size of a pool table.

After dinner we did a "Gift Exchange". Everyone brings a gift valued around $10. It can be a nice gift or a gag type gift. Here Gina and Greg's son, Cole is checking out all the gifts. 

I will try to explain how this gift exchange is done. 

Everyone draws numbers out of Santa's hat. Numbers are then called in order. When your number is called, you either go up and select a gift or you can take someone else's gift who's number was called earlier. However the "taken" gift can only be taken 3 times and it is then the 3rd takers gift for good and no one else can take it. The person whose gift was taken will then go up to the table to select another one. 

It can become a little "testy" but in a fun way. When you have a good gift, you don't want someone to take it! Wine, booze and good candy are popular with us RV-er's. There were many laughs and everyone enjoyed another day of fun.

This has been another wonderful day in our life with such good folks.


                                                                                   

YUMMY! LEFTOVERS AND DECORATIONS

While we were on the west coast of Oregon, we found a cute and cozy coffee shop while riding our bicycles. This sign was made for me and it is so true.

We spent Sunday walking around visiting friends at the resort. We soon headed home where I started fixing stuffing and a sweet potato casserole for the Thanksgiving Leftover Dinner at the clubhouse. They had plenty of ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, but needed sides.

I was in Heaven! It was Thanksgiving all over again! It was a wonderful dinner and we had a great time chatting with everyone.

When night falls, the Christmas lights go on. Many of the RV-er's decorate their campsites and RV's. They all do a beautiful job.

We visited Barb and Cecil for a bit. Here is Santa and Rudolph greeting everyone when they walk by. They also display a Christmas Tree on their dash board and it looks so nice from the outside.






















On a regular basis, JM RV Wash comes to the
resort and washes and waxes your RV. They
have a pressure washer and carry their own
water. They do a nice job.

We usually have our RV washed and waxed 3 to 4 times a year. While we travel we go to truck stops where they will wash your RV.





                                                                                Here is a Texas Christmas Tree

Here is our friend"s Sandy and Rich's motor home. Sandy is a seamstress and makes front curtains and covers for their side view mirrors to match what ever holiday it is through out the year.

YEEHAW AND HAPPY HOUR

SAT. NOV. 29-It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. I worked on our Christmas Letter. I do a recount of our past years travel. I try to write about the interesting stories of places we visited, things we did and people we met.

I am somewhat artsy so I add some doodles along the page margin that corresponds with the story. I enjoy doing the Christmas Letter and get a lot of fun feedback. The only thing, it is 2 pages and that includes front and back. I try to shorten it but I can't. As it is, I could not put everything in it so a lot ended up on the "cutting room floor" as they say.

Ralph and I washed the Beast! Our Dodge Dually pick up. It was long over due. I spent time doing the door jams and wiping down the inside of the doors and dashboard.

We walked around the resort visiting our friends. and then headed to the clubhouse where the owners, Greg, Gina and their children Kristen and Cole were putting up Christmas decorations through out the clubhouse.

YEEHAW and HOWDY from Texas: Years ago Ralph and George Barbour built these rocking horses for a rodeo. Greg added the saddles and they now stay on the clubhouse porch. So Ralph and I decided to take a quick ride.

In the afternoon our friends Corine and Kent from Alaska and also "full timers", had a Happy Hour. Everyone brings orderv's to share and their choice of drink.When someone hosts a Happy Hour, it is usually at 4pm and when everyone becomes so "happy"it can go into the night as this one did. We had a wonderful time eating, drinking and chatting.

Corine is also a gourmet cook and over the years I have called her many times with questions on "this and that" when it comes to cooking. She always has the answers and gives me pointers and great information. I call her my "Chef in the Phone".

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving to all our wonderful friends and family. I am so thankful for so many things and most everyday I set a few seconds aside to thank God for my life and health.

This is by far my favorite holiday because eating is one of my most favorite things to do. I love food, I even dream about it and when I lay in bed at night, I think of the new recipe I am going to try the next day.

I got up early and made sweet potato casserole, broccoli cheese casserole, fresh cranberry, pumpkin pie and homemade whipped cream.

We left late morning and headed to Gary's home in Bandera just 18 miles away. Gary already had picked up mom up at the nursing home and they were there when we arrived.

We had a wonderful visit and pulled out old family albums. Mom unfortunately did not recognize early pictures of herself, her husband or children when they were little but she seemed to enjoy looking through the album and it brought back memories for all.

Gary is a real good cook. The turkey was in the oven, mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans with ham on the stove and stuffing and homemade rolls in the oven.

Dave arrived with his mothers recipe of lima beans and dumplings. Dave is a single fella who lives here in Bandera. He is one of Gary's motorcycle riding buddies and he has a shop there  in town. He is a wood carver and furniture builder and does beautiful work. Last year we had a table made by another man who told us about Dave's carvings. Dave gave us some ideas and we picked out a design of a stage coach being pulled by a team of horses. Although the picture does not show it, it is very detailed and quite on eye catcher. The edge of the table is surrounded by wooden lariat roping and we keep lexan over the table for protection. This really added a nice touch to our Rolling Ranch House.

We sat down and enjoyed this delicious Thanksgiving dinner. We stuffed ourselves silly and mom sure did eat her share. But 10 min. later after the dishes were removed, Gary asked her what she had for dinner and she had no clue. Yet she chatted and remembered many of her stories from long ago.We had heard these same stories over the years and when she repeated them, they were exactly the same. She did not forget any details.

Gary has a herd of deer that come to his yard every day. The deer in this part of Texas are small because of the type of forage here and only come up to your waist. When the deer hear the sound of his garage door opening they come running. They know Gary is going to feed them. He throws deer feed on the ground and he hand feeds them flour tortillas. He can even pet a couple of them and has names for them all.

By late afternoon we took mom back to Town and Country Manor.She refers to T&C as the condo because she lived in one for 7 years before coming to T&C. She still believes she is working. I guess so, because she worked up until age 83 and she is now 87. For many of her years she had always worked 2 jobs.

It is always a little sad when we bring her back. She always says goodbye with a big hug and kiss.

Happy Trails until we blog again!

CLUBHOUSE BREAKFAST AND WILDLIFE ENTERTAINMENT

It was a nice morning to wake up to. The sounds of a slow steady rain with a little rolling thunder in the distance is one of my favorite sounds. Unfortunately, it was short lived and I could not enjoy it. w

We had signed up for the Saturday breakfast at the clubhouse. Every other Saturday, the owners of the RV Resort and ranch, Gina and Greg fix us this wonderful breakfast of pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast, juice and coffee all for a small donation.

We had time to have a cup of coffee at home and listen to the rain. 

We also enjoyed an abundance of wildlife entertainment this morning. It is rutting season and the bucks are quite frisky and the does are running for their lives.

It is comical too, all of a sudden you see several does running through the campsites and several seconds later here comes the buck. Poor thing looked pretty winded. This buck stopped for a breather, then sniffed the air and he is off again.

I throw scraps of veggies and apple cores outside for the deer. The deer are always close by to our front yard and when they hear me open the door and the sounds of things hitting the ground, they come running. They know there are treats for them.

Ralph and I have been busy since we arrived 3 weeks ago. Between annual Dr. visits and spending time with mom, we have not had a chance to visit all our friends here.

The breakfast allows everyone to get together and catch up. There is nothing but camaraderie and laughter at the tables.

We feel so blessed to have these wonderful folks in our lives.

As you can see from the pictures, the clubhouse is quite spacious. It has a very nice kitchen and room enough for well over 100 people. They hold potlucks here as well as wonderful holiday dinners.

There are games each night too. I use to come up and play, but here lately I am usually catching up on our travel blog and I am also busy putting this years Christmas letter together.

Until next time, Happy Trails....................

PICTURES OF OUR EARLIER ADVENTURES

Here are several pictures from our adventure earlier this year.

We stayed a several days in Lake Havasu, AZ. We stayed at a nice state park and this was the view from our front yard. Every evening we had a beautiful sunset.

Lake Havasu is a reservoir and its water comes from Colorado River. The lake is 45 miles long.

For a $3 round trip ticket we took a 17 minute ferry boat ride across the lake to California. It drops you off at the Havasu Landing Casino that is owned by Native Americans.

You can see the California shore off in the distance.

Since we don't gamble we walked a couple of blocks and had lunch at a cute little restaurant.



Here was our front yard in Lemon Cove, CA. It was a Corps of Engineer Park. We stayed here while visiting Sequoia National Park.

We were mostly by ourselves at Lake Kaweah Horse Creek Campground and look at this view we had with Lake Kaweah.

Sequoia NP is a bit over 404,000 acres. The park is famous for its giant sequoia trees.

We got to see the General Sherman. It is among the tallest trees at 275 ft. a width of more than 100 ft. and an estimated age of 2,300 to 2,700 years old. It does hold the record of being the largest tree by volume.

Here we are relaxing looking out over Morro Bay along the coast of California. Morro Rock as you can see in the picture is a 581 ft. volcanic rock. It sits at the entrance of Morro Bay Harbor. It was so peaceful. We enjoyed the afternoon watching otters and seals frolicking in the water.

Ralph looking out over the Pacific Ocean in the town Carmel-By-The-Sea, California. This quaint town is where Clint Eastwood was once Mayor. The town is full of quaint shops, restaurants, cafes, boutiques, candy shops, bakeries and jewelry stores.

More travel pictures to come. Happy Trails..................