Walking With My Foot In My Mouth….It Ain’t Easy.

  This morning McGyver and I went up to the Rec Hall because we were running out of clean clothes. I put on my stunning “Lighthouse fleece jacket” as it was only 55 degrees this morning.. Den helped me carry the duffel bag and basket of our laundry in, then he took off for his walk.  I put the $9 in the little box on the wall,  proceeded to fill the two washers and get the laundry show on the road.  Then, I struck off in another direction to walk on my own, knowing I had a full 30 minute wash cycle to get back...I guess I should never be allowed to strike out on my own.

  Just zooming along, minding my own business, I noticed I was coming upon a couple walking their dog off to the side of the road.  As I did my Jackie Joiner pass (huffing and puffing), the lady said, “I love your jacket”..and I turned and said “Garage Sale”..She laughed, and her hubby said “My garage sales are all tools”..to which I responded over my shoulder, “I call those Man Sales”…Keep in mind I had passed them, and this conversation was being shouted at this point…His response to me was, “That was a pretty sexist remark, are you one of those “Feminists”?  Do I really need this abuse?..He didn’t leave it at that.  He was shouting again, “I tried to open a door for one of you once  and almost got my head taken off!”..NO..REALLY?? ONE OF US?? Thankfully, I was almost out of screaming range..almost…I couldn’t resist  shouting back over my shoulder, “You could hold the door for me ANYTIME!!”  and I threw my arms up in the air in exasperation and began power walking …and talking to myself…Now, I ask you..Did I provoke that exchange?? OK, maybe a Man Sale wasn’t a good choice of words…Maybe I should have said a “Man-Stuff Sale”..and maybe my last words should have been “EAT MY DUST!”

A FEW PICTURES FROM OUR DRIVE ON RT. 83 TO RIO GRANDE CITY FOR GROCERIES…

 

Remember my stove light that McGyver installed so I could see what kind of “mystery meat” I was cooking??

…Well, it looked like a airport runway landing light, not to mention it lit up the whole inside of our camper ..and was exactly at my eye level.  This was blinding me and causing me to overcook food and make meals that were terrible.. (Hey, shut up. ..that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!) Well….McGyver..being McGyver.. made me a great invention to shield my eyes AND to direct the light DOWN  upon my cooking area…You’re gonna love this!!!

 

…Oh, the things you can do with an empty Busch Lite 30 pack box….I was wondering what he was so intently working on at our picnic table…No, this is NOT permanent…THIS, dear friends, is what McGyver calls a “prototype”..When we get home, McGyver will put his sheet metal skills to use and make me one just like this one…only prettier…and sturdier…and painted black…Don’t worry, this one doesn’t’ “catch fire”, it’s too far away from any flame..McGuyver is WAS a Fireman, after all !!  I’ll bet NONE of you have a light like this at home or in your camper..they are a  “one of a kind”..I think we should patent it…LADIES, EAT  YOUR HEART OUT!!

 

I know there are a gazillion animal lovers out there…Well, Dennis and I discovered a fabulous new TV show called Blue Collar Dogs, on the National Geographic Wild channel…It showed how they train rescue dogs, police dogs, drug sniffing dogs…fabulous, fabulous show..Click the link to find out the channel and times in your area..you won’t regret it…

Before I forget it, we have a new brave follower.  I want to welcome DarnJoe to the land of the Cave Dwellers..Jump up into the GMC, DarnJoe..Don’t let all those crazy people in the back seat intimidate you…I didn’t see a blog site for ya, DarnJoe,…so come along with us…Can I  just say that you and I have something in common?..Your name is DarnJoe..and very frequently mine is DammitDonna.

             “One way to prevent conversation from being boring is to say the wrong thing.”  

                                                                                           ~ Frank Sheed                 

A “Gnatsty” Morning Walk For Treasure..

  Our weather finally dawned with the hope of sunshine, not fog…

 

I took this from our Hiker door..Yep, that looks like ‘Ol Sol just beginning to peek above the cloudbank to the East…Yea!!!

 

 

At one point in time, when we had our Cougar, Dennis was heavy into “geocaching”…A.K.A. finding useless containers of useless stuff left by other people who have caught the “geocache bug”…But, first ya gotta get on the computer and find out exactly WHERE these useless prizes are stashed according to the global co-ordinates…We headed out this AM, McGyver clutching the hand held GPS tightly..(this poor hand held GPS thought we had given it up for our Tom Tom in the GMC…(well, we kinda did forget about this little bugger.) 

Our first “cache” was hidden in a big mixed nut container (did they know us?)hidden under the ramp to the bird blind…(explanation of bird blind to you home gamers..It is a place where you can stealthily hide behind camouflage netting to watch the birds and they won’t see you…yet another stupid humanoid trick that the birds have figured out..)

We still had one more“cache” to find and that took us on one of the trails around the perimeter of the campground…and that’s where we were suddenly accompanied by swarms of “Gnatsty” Gnats..in the eyes, ears,nose and stuck between our teeth…irritating little #@*#@#@!’s…  The only thing to make it worse is finding out that they are fattening.

  We were only yards away, according to Mr. Hand Held , who, by the way, does NOT talk…He’s very vain..you have to LOOK at him to see where the H--- you are!.. McGyver was not to be thwarted by insects the size of an a pinhead,  so he dove into the underbrush to come up with….

HOLY JAIL TIME, BATMAN!  IT’S A TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE AMMO BOX!!  ARE WE IN TROUBLE??

McGyver opened it up and it contained your typical geocache treasure… a zip lock bag with the usual pen, paper, and little dumb prizes like you get from those gumball machines at the Laundromat…Dennis signed our names, (cause that’s what ya do when finding a geocache), and returned it to it’s hiding place.  All the while , I watched from the trail, expecting to hear Border Patrol helicopters hovering over us at any minute…

So much for our geocaching adventure….But, rest assured we will do this again at Goose Island..(bet you can hardly wait..) I may consider calling our son-in-law, Detective Heiser Glenview IL PD to get a bail bondsman card..hmmm

Apparently we hadn’t eaten enough gnats for the day, so we took a bike ride that same afternoon.  I let McGyver lead, and he led us down a very bumpy, sandy road to the edge of Falcon Lake..Guess who has the dirt bike?? It ain’t me!!

Hey!!! WAIT UP!!! Sheesh, you would think he’s trying to ditch me or something….I have no idea why..After all, I am my usual stunning vision of loveliness while riding my bike…

 

 

Ahhhhhhh, the wonderful wind…Suddenly my hair was all on one side of my head..making me look like Don King in drag…

 

(and I wonder why McGyver always wants to lead, and does it waaaay out front!)

 

 

The flowers are beginning to pop out, here at Falcon Lake…I know that they won’t be in full “Hay Fever” mode until the middle of February, and we will be gone..So, I will post some photos we took February of ‘09 . This is what it will look like ..Don’t get too close to the computer screen if you have allergies..

Hard to believe all this beauty from some prickly brush along the road. (It really is beautiful in person)..AAAAACHOOOOO!!

OK, I’ve succeeded in blabbering my way to the bottom of this blog , which has turned out to be about pretty much nothing…Oh…I forgot…I did get a very pretty sunset photo last night..

TOOK THIS OUTSIDE OF THE HIKER , DRINK IN HAND, ENSEMBLE ON..GETTING LOTS OF “LOOKS”..

 

“Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.”  ~ Maxine

In A Fog…Not Unusual For Me

This morning we awoke to a gray, damp and dreary day with fog turning into light “facial spa” mist.  McGyver got the spa benefits while taking visits to “the dump”, when it really should have been ME getting the facial! We have had a few foggy mornings here at Falcon lately.  The other day, while “feeling our way” on our walk, we suddenly heard the howl of one lone Coyote somewhere ahead of us near the roadside…oooooh boy.  It is unusual to hear just one of these soulful cries.  If one begins the serenade, others usually join in..but no one was singing with this dude..and I wasn’t about to try my skills at Coyote calling…We kept hearing him in the fog, and we were getting closer.  Now, as McGyver was forging ahead, I was falling purposefully behind, and really getting nervous.  I thought maybe he was injured…or rabid…or a serial killer…The Stephen King movie Cujo was doing flashbacks in my brain.

Suddenly, barely discernable in the fog, we spotted him loping across the road ahead of us, stopping right in the middle to look leeringly at these two tasty looking humanoids coming at him…QUICK!..CAMERA…ON…ZOOM…FOCUS…..WAIT! WHERE’D HE GO?? CRAP!!! He was totally onto me ,trying to catch a close up, and my camera lens couldn’t keep up with his ghostlike figure slinking off into the underbrush…I’m a little slow on the trigger finger, thus…no Coyote photos..I repeat, CRAP!

The birds here, (get ready to take a nap, bird- weary followers), are still very entertaining..but then, Dennis and I are easily entertained..

This is a Yellow Rumped Warbler (no,I did NOT make that up)..Right is an American Goldfinch..(at least I THINK that’s what they are.   Of course, we still have the cast of “usual suspects”….easily identifiable to a “Jr. Bird Nerd”..(love that title!..Thanks, Judy!).

 

…And while we are on the topic of birds, I must confess my ignorance in the fine art of Bird Feeding.  After getting the feeling that Judy was disapproving of my marshmallow frenzy, I Googled it to see if I was amiss in my choice of bird treats…DARN RIGHT I WAS!!..Correcto Mundo, my bird blogger friend…and here is the Wikipedia  PROOF  AND TRUTH..AND I CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH!! I can also hear my mother saying “Just because everyone else is doing it, does NOT  make it right!”…no truer words..So, now I’m trying to find a troop of Cub Scouts and add my bag of marshmallows to their ingredients for S’mores…

I will now quickly segue into the ever blossoming shrubs and brush around us…More and more every day!!

Don’t ask me to identify the flowers, I already flunked “birds”..

……I think this is NOT a butterfly, but a moth of some kind…Think I’ll just call him “Orange Eater”..see how I roll?  It’s no wonder my Biology teacher wanted me out of his class…He passed me just for his own mental health.

We really don’t like to make definite plans, but when in Texas during February and March, it is wise to have some firm reservations set up..and by that, I DON’T mean Wal Mart parking lots.  So, we got online to the Texas State Park reservation system (which can be a challenge in itself) and made reservations for 2 weeks at Goose Island State Park, in Fulton…and then 2 weeks at Goliad State Park, in Goliad.  From there we will jump back into the Army Corps parks so we can actually get a perk for being old and crabby..HALF PRICE CAMPING!….This means 2 weeks at Lake Georgetown, in Georgetown (duh), and then 2 weeks at Lake O’ The Pines at Jefferson, TX….OH YEAH…LOVE THIS ITINERARY.  We have stayed at all of these parks and they are definitely on our list of Texas Favorites.

Well, McGyver and I are enjoying our last full week here…We do our daily exercise,  …..

…take our daily bike rides…..                                    ..and have our daily “Happy Hour”…

Oops…I don’t wanta forget to welcome a new rider to the GMC.  Michael Kane has decided to give up his extensive movie career and come with all of us  to take a break from fame..…OH OH…OOPS AGAIN!.. I guess that was Michael “C”-aine…Sorry, Michael with a “K”, and NO “I” …Just jump into the back seat,  kick the candy wrappers aside, and explain to the crew already there why you are NOT signing autographs…

“Early each day to the steps of St. Paul's, the little old bird woman comes... In her own special way to the people she calls, come buy my bags full of crumbs. Come feed the little birds, show them you care, and you'll be glad if you do. Their young ones are hungry, their nests are so bare; all it takes is tuppence from you. Feed the birds, tuppence a bag. Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag...”  ~Mary Poppins

Donna Being Compliant …Hard To Imagine..

This AM was very foggy when we walked.  The fisherman apparently don’t mind the fog, there were a gazzillion of trucks and empty boat trailers down by the launch.  They must do something like “combat fishing”. With all those boats zooming around in the fog, and almost no visibility to see where  you are, how do you keep from ramming another boat?..My luck, I would get lost and end up in Mexican waters..not advisable…. 

This fog did give me an idea…an idea about cleaning our truck, which hadn’t been washed since we left..YUCK!

Well, after doing my research about what you can and cannot WASH here at Falcon State Park, I was still totally confused.  The rules say you can wash your body, wash your dishes and wash off your picnic tablecloth..oh, yes,  you AND the birds may drink the water.  I asked up at the Rec Hall about washing our truck, and the powers that be who are “in charge” told me , and I quote, “Oh, you can wash your truck, just don’t make a lot of mud around your camper”. AAAAAAAllrighty then…that could be hard to do if you do a thorough and nit picky job, which I like to do..So, …what to do?? Should I take a chance and get out the hose, throwing caution to the wind and my ass on the line? 

THERE’S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A CAT WASH A TRUCK!!!!

I ask you,…Do you see a hose anywhere in these photos?..Nope.  I just used the foggy moisture running down the GMC and added to it..I know..ingenious!. I could now write a book on how to wash a piggy dirty truck using a bowl of hot water, a chamois, 2 rags, a towel, and lots of sweat equity. (I know, I know, this is yet another of my fabulous ensembles from my collection…Socks and Crocks, now there’s a special look.)

Before…and After….and it only took me 2 hours, 2 wet feet, and one bump on the head from walking into the bedroom slide…(That’s when I put on my Official Steve Erwin Crocodile Hunter cap..A woman cannot accessorize enough!

 

GOTCHA!! DONNA SCORES 4 BIRD PHOTOS WITH NO WARNING TO THE READERS WHO ARE SICK OF THEM!!

That last one was taken 1/15/09 when we were here and it was flooded..OK,"Birdlady of Blogland"..What the Heck is this????

Tonight I am making a homemade pizza for dinner (with the help of Chef Boyardee)…The dilemma with this plan is that I like to prepare dinner by 4PM, so that I am in my “Happy Hour” apparel and can relax to enjoy a cocktail without donning an apron and slaving over a stove at the last minute..My problem?? If I assemble my 12” pizza ahead of time, it will be a challenge to find room in my refrig to stash it until oven time.  Not to worry, I resolved it .. after moving all unnecessary items like butter, milk, eggs, and being careful NOT to disturb my Wine decanter (Sterilite plastic pitcher), I found room for said pizza…

Had to tape a sign on the refrig door saying “OPEN CAREFULLY, SLOWLY!”..If this thing rolls out,we will be having Pizza Casserole!  The fact that I had to put a sign on the door with only McGyver and me in the Hiker is self explanatory.

I don’t wanta forget to welcome our  new found friends and lurkers/followers,  Sharon and Bill, and also another brave new soul who jumped into the truck, Jackie.  Sharon is new at blogging and you might want to check her out,  she is doing great.  Also, for those who have dogs and cats, ya gotta go to Jackie’s blog from today and check out the Dog’s Diary,and the Cat’s Diary..I laughed my butt off at the Cat’s…

OK, now… when all of you get in the truck to leave here on Jan.30th, please save all beer and pop cans for recycling, and try not to embarrass us again by giving obscene hand signals to the truckers as we pass!..10-4.

 

“Why is it when you want a nice souvenir, you find a great shell in a gift shop, but some yo-yo has affixed a ten-cent thermometer to it?” ~Erma Bombeck