2012 October 19

2012 October 19  Friday

            It is hard to believe that we’ve only been at Shady Oaks for one week.  It seems much longer.

            Yesterday (18^th) we went to Kingsland to the Ace Hardware and purchased some putty tape.  So, I was able to uninstall and reinstall the refrigerator side vent with the putty insuring a water tight seal.

            While we were in Kingsland we spent a little time exploring the town. It didn’t take long!  We had lunch at Dairy Queen.  I had the crispy chicken sandwich (southern style … with dill pickles and no condiments) and Ella had three tacos.  I’m not sure why, but tacos at Dairy Queen just seems somehow WRONG.

            We continued our exploring on the way back to Shady Oaks by taking a drive up the west side of Buchanan Lake.  We had heard that the Lake was very low.  However, since we’d not seen it before, we had no way of judging.  Until yesterday.  We crossed a bridge that had a sign reading, “No Fishing From Bridge”.  There wasn’t any water within a mile and a half of the bridge.  And judging from the size of the shrubs that were growing under the bridge, there hadn’t been any water there for several years.

            We drove through a state park which should have been on the water’s edge but no longer was.  It was a very nice park and had a small RV camping area with full hook ups for $20 a night plus the day use charge. That would make it inexpensive for day or two but not for a long-term stay.

            While we were out I took some more photos of the amazing landscapes around here.  I would love to be able to hike out onto some of these amazing rockscapes and get some close up photos.

            I had some success with the slideout today also.  I added a little hydraulic fluid to the pump and pushed the button.  The slide went most of the way out!  Unfortunately there is still about a foot to go before it is fully extended and sealed.  Before we get ‘some weather’ I’ll need to get it fully open or fully closed again.  Pray for us.

            We met some of our neighbors last night.  Victor and Martha have a permanent site just across from us.  This is the first time that they have been here since we arrived.  They have a house in town and only come out on the weekends.  We took some Iowa grown tomatoes over and introduced ourselves.  We had a nice visit.

            Ella also took some tomatoes to our neighbors right beside us.  They are also from Iowa (Quad Cities area) and had arrived just minutes before we did.  I had visited with Gary several days ago but I’ve not met his wife.

            Those four boxes of green tomatoes that we picked before leaving Cutty’s are all starting to ripen.  After picking through them, there is only about a fourth of them that are still green and about a fourth that are just a pinkish color … not quite ripe … but soon!

            The day hasn’t progressed enough to post about today.  It is only 7 a.m.  I will say that it is chilly this morning at 43 degrees.  For the next 7 days the predicted lows are in the 60s.