A weather event????

When I woke up this morning, I lifted the shade and this is what I saw out my window.  What's up with this?  Snow in Austin, TX???  Sure enough!  After temps in the upper 70's on Sunday, the roller coaster headed down to the 30's this morning.  Didn't I leave Minnesota to avoid this white stuff?

According to the evening news, this snowstorm (which anyone in Minnesota would ignore) is the worst since 1985.  I guess it's a weather event for sure around here.  The birds sure hit the feeders early...

and this cardinal surely must be wondering what's going on.

I headed in to work at the office.  We spent the morning getting the van loaded up with all the education program supplies that we'll need on Thursday for the training session.  Since I have the van, I'll drive them up to the Flying X tomorrow morning, and we'll get everything set up.  The few volunteers that were working, headed home for lunch with no thoughts to return for the afternoon.  Coming from the north, it's amazing to me how a little snow can shut things down in the south.

After lunch, I decided to talk Emma for a run and see what photo opportunities might present themselves.  Snow is such a rarity here I felt I had to record it.  :)

To say Emma was excited is an understatement.  This is only the second time in her life that she has seen snow, and it affected her in the same way that a sandy beach does....she went berserk!  See her ears flying in the air as she sped down the trail?  She was in heaven.

I decided to duplicate some of the pictures that I posted a few days ago when it was sunny and warm.

A little different take on this old corral.

Emma coursing down the old rock fence line.  She didn't find any treasures to bring home today, but I'm sure she covered about a five mile run before I called her in back to the leash.  I have to admit that it was a little surprising to me that she actually obeyed,,, eventually.  :)  :(   She's not perfect....yet.

A rear view to our site as we returned home.  I refilled the bird feeders, and we headed inside for the remainder of the afternoon while flurries continued.

I couldn't resist.  :)

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later,  Judy

A catch up day

I had hoped to get some pictures today, but it just wasn't to be. I really needed to catch up on chores around the motorhome, and do grocery shopping.

I headed for Beaumont, Texas, around 10:00. It's about 50 miles from here. It's really a toss up whether to go to Beaumont or Bayside (in the other direction). I like Beaumont, and was surprised that after two years, I remembered where my favorite stores are.

HEB (here everything's better) is a grocery chain in Texas that always seems to have an excellent selection of items. Finding a corned beef brisket in Texas isn't easy since this is the home of BBQ'ed brisket, but I felt confident I could find what I was looking for. I was correct. Although I only had a selection of two briskets to choose from, at least I found one. Whenever I'm at a refuge that has a volunteer building with a kitchen, I buy a corned beef to prepare. Boiling a corned beef in the motorhome is out of the question. That's too much moisture in the air inside for three hours! St. Patrick's day is the last time I was able to cook one. I'm looking forward to a favorite meal in the near future.

Once I got back to the RV, Emma needed some outside time, and I needed to fill the new two gallon water jug that I found at Walmart this morning. A larger reverse osmosis tank is supposed to be installed soon. That will certainly be an improvement. As it stands now, it takes at least ten minutes to fill a two gallon jug. That's with no one having filled a container since yesterday. I'm not sure how long it takes to produce another two gallons of good water, but a larger system will surely help. Three of the rigs here have occupants that are on the fire crew and they are in training at Aransas NWR this week. When they return, there will be seven rigs trying to get drinking water each day. That could take some time.

After we went back inside, it was time to try to tackle all the dried mud and pebbles that we had tracked in the last two days. My vacuum had to work overtime, but I got most of it up. I had planned to replace a set of rugs that I purchased back in 2005. There are five of them. Two on the entrance steps, one at the top of the stairs, one long one down the hallway, and one in the bathroom so my tootsies don't get cold in the middle of the night. :) They are rubber backed, and after four years of hard use, need to be replaced. They all match, and I purchased them from Camping World. Since there is a Camping World on the west side of Houston, I was going to put in a new set while I was here at Anahuac. Well, I think I'll still buy the new set, but after seeing the results of the mud, I surely won't put them down until I leave here. I'm glad I waited. These worn rugs can last another two months, and then I won't have to try to clean them anymore. That mud turns cement-like when it dries!

Ha Ha! Here's a news flash from the six o'clock news in Houston: The school district is going to keep the heat on overnight so students will be comfortable in the morning! For you folks up north, can you imagine a school not having the heat on overnight at this time of the year? What a hoot! With the threat of a couple of inches of snow, people here are getting all in a dither.

Fun times for the next couple of days....

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy

Oh baby it's cold outside...

People in Houston are excited with the possibility of snow on Friday. To them I say "Bah Humbug!" I came south to avoid snow. ;) Boy am I happy, though, that I arrived yesterday. The winds today have been more than blustery. It sure feels like the wind chill is below freezing. I questioned Stephanie, the volunteer coordinator, today about this since she had promised me warm temperatures if I would come to volunteer. She had the audacity to insinuate that it was my fault for bringing the bad weather with me. Well, let me tell you that I am used to that. Many people have commented that they like me, but really hate to see me come in person because inevitably bad weather follows. Hey, I'm beginning to feel like Charlie Brown's friend Pigpen that has a cloud following him. ;)

I had my re-orientation to the refuge today. If the wind dies down tomorrow, I'll get some pictures of the new volunteer community building and the interim visitor's center. Looks like I'll be doing salinity checks, bird surveys, and visitor's center work besides helping to organize the education programs. I'm happy to have a variety of things to do.

I was assigned a refuge vehicle today so I can start checking out the birds soon. Tomorrow I have to go to town to buy a water jug. The only drinkable water is in the community building. It is a reverse osmosis system and presently, you can only get two gallons of water at a time. I'm thinking a two gallon jug will do. The water at the sites is OK for showers and dishes, but not for drinking. This is really not a big deal to me. I just need to get a new jug because my last one, that I used here before, finally bit the dust last week.

Since I have a full tank of propane, I'm going to give the furnace a good work out for the next three days or so. I hate being cold. I'll deal with possibly having to get it filled before I leave later.

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy

Brrrrr!!!

Well, the weatherman was correct. It was a raw, cold, snowy day today. The snow didn't accumulate, but the temp never got above 34*. Tonight it's supposed to be in the twenties, so I unhooked the water hose so it wouldn't be frozen solid in the morning. At least the wind has died down. I don't like this weather at all.

I did venture out to find a Wal-mart this morning to get my hairs cut and stock up on needed groceries. Then late this afternoon, I headed over to Dan and Crystal's for dinner. Dan had assured me that Crystal was a good cook, and he was certainly right. Crystal had prepared an absolutely scrumptious meal. As much as I enjoyed it, I just couldn't finish the huge serving she gave me.

I got back to the rig shortly after dark and am now bundling up against the cold temps. It's supposed to be sunny and in the fifties tomorrow before returning to below freezing temperatures again. All this cold has caused me to probably change my plans again, and just head straight for New Mexico on Sunday. I'll have to come back to visit those other places in Colorado in a more friendly (to me) season. :)

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy

Sunday's Blast from the Past...

On Halloween Day in 2006, I arrived at Fort Flaggler State Park on the Puget Sound, in the state of Washington, for a four week volunteer stint.

Fort Flagler was established, in the days before airplanes, along with two other forts, to protect the entrance to the Puget Sound. There were huge bunkers with large guns to provide crossfire in the protection of the sound.

This was the view out the front windows of the rig. The deer were plentiful and quite tame. They are grazing on the parade grounds of the fort, with the Puget sound in the back.

Just to the left of the parade grounds were the barracks. They are now used to house groups that can rent them for a retreat.

The Quartermaster's house and storage area have been turned into a museum and visitor's center. I spent weekends working there. Notice the officer's quarters in the background. These residences are also available for rent.

Fort Flagler was used by the army through WWII, mostly as a training facility. I thought the pay scales were interesting.

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When I signed up for this assignment, I was told that the weather in November would be mild. Of course that's not the way it turned out. It was cold, wet, and the winds were unbelievable. There was one day that the winds were so strong that I couldn't push my door open to get out of the rig!

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As Thanksgiving passed, I packed up and planned to head to my next commitment. So much for plans...

A winter storm hit which resulted in two inches of ice topped with blowing snow. Some of the drifts were four feet deep. I was stuck for three days with a frozen water pipe before the roads were drivable once again. You can see that the snow didn't stop the locals from enjoying the parade grounds. They just moved their surf boards up on ground and snow kited!

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Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy