TO DA DUMP, TO DA DUMP, TO DA DUMP, DUMP, DUMP!!!!

I want to wish our middle child and oldest daughter, Terrie, a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! We miss you and love you very much…you are beautiful inside and out…and we wish for you a wonderful day!

  Soooo…Before the Health Department came and closed our camper down, we decided it best to hook the Hiker back on, stow away all things that could slop or fall over, pull in the slides and drive the 4 miles to the dump station at Brushy Creek.  Our dump station was still yellow taped off (like a murder scene) , and I’m sure there was more than one set of campers who were biting their fingernails over this one…When we got up Tuesday morning, this is what we found….




Jack Frost found his way to the GMC and did a beautiful work of art on the windshield!


We put on our warm jackets and took the  Hiker on a road trip to dump our tanks….Dennis left one of the back wheel chocks in it’s exact place ..He was intent on putting this rig back in the “hole”  EXACTLY where we originally were….

He dumpeth………….                                         He backeth in………………

AND YES, HE BACKED RIGHT UP AGAINST THE WAITING WHEEL CHOCK…….WAS THERE EVER ANY DOUBT???

..Before I forget, and trust me I could, I now can officially welcome Craig and Sue from Iowa to our blog….We can get marginally politically incorrect, so I apologize ahead of time for any faux pas I commit…and I will.

We  have had some glorious sunsets here at Buckhorn Creek.  Last night we were sitting outside by the fire as it was getting dark….

   IT WAS A PERFECT SUNSET SO DENNIS TOOK A PHOTO….THEN I TOOK THE CAMERA INSIDE…WHEN I CAME BACK OUTSIDE AND SAT BACK DOWN, A BEAUTIFUL BALD EAGLE FLEW RIGHT BY US OVERHEAD….AND NO PHOTO…I KID YOU NOT, WE  TRULY COULD HAVE BEEN IN ONE OF THOSE “GO RV’ING” COMMERCIALS….SOMETIMES I THINK IT’S BEST TO JUST TAKE A PHOTO WITH OUR MEMORY AND FORGET ABOUT THE DOCUMENTATION…..AND THAT’S JUST WHAT WE DID. ..NO EAGLE PICTURE, BUT WHAT A THRILL TO SEE HIM SWOOPING BY , UNCONCERNED, AND PUTTING ON A SHOW JUST FOR US.




..These photos were taken on our walk…That pine tree, lower right, is NOT growing there…These people actually went out , got a tree, and lashed it to their lantern post…I see some lights lying around, and I have a feeling it will be decorated soon.

In my last blog I caught some flak about my misspelling of SHIN splints as CHIN splints….Mike found it amusing…and so did Rick..In fact Rick asked me to take a picture of this new invention, chinsplints…SOOOOO…HERE IT IS….



I hesitated to make this photo tooooo large, in case small pets or children might stumble upon it and require an EMT.  Plus, I didn’t want anyone, getting too good a look at this great CHINSPLINT  prototype and copying it!!! (That goes for both of you Yo Yo’s!!)….
Isn’t it sooooo great at all of the fun we have here in the blogosphere???  Myself, I am a closet comedian, so I enjoy it more than I can explain….Thanks for ALL of your comments…You inspire me to act like slightly looney, which is my favorite thing to do!!! (NO, REALLY????)…..SEE PHOTO ABOVE..I REST MY CASE…

A LITTLE REMINDER THAT WE ARE NOT FAR ENOUGH SOUTH!

I would like to give a shout out to Wandering Willy and also “Our Fiver Adventures” , who are asking that we make room in the back seat of the GMC for them…OF COURSE!! Hope you don’t get too crowded back there..Just ignore the candy wrappers and cases of  beer…I didn’t see a blog linked to you “Fiver Adventuresome kids” , so if I missed it, let me know and I will put up a link here for you.

  Well, the DADGUM weather is cold again…I guess I should take solace in the fact that nearly the whole nation is in the deep freeze, courtesy of our Northern neighbors.  Here’s some interesting news…On our walk, we discovered that the dump station in this campground suddenly has yellow tape and orange cones around it……

…JUST GREAT!!!…McGuyver asked our host what was up, and he relayed the dismaying news…Dump station is plugged up ..and it over flowed..(Man, I’m glad we aren’t camped too close to it..TALK ABOUT TOXIC FUMES!)  Of course, we were planning on dumping our tanks this day…Mr. Host guy said that someone was suppose to be coming to fix it soon…McGuyver is keeping close watch on it.  If it isn’t fixed, we will have to pull in slides, hook on, and take the Hiker to one of the other campgrounds across the dam to dump…and just for the record…that would suck pond water!

  Speaking of the damn dam….

 

 

 

We walked up by it on our morning walk..which was very cold, I might add. “ Drag out them winter coats, hats and gloves again, Den!!” I haven’t walked much in a week. I was told to rest my foot and not walk the 2 mile regime for one or two weeks.  My heel seems better, but now I have to wear these “orthotics” the foot Doc gave me… in ALL my shoes! ..The  term “orthotics”  even reeks of old age!!! And, get this…. he didn’t’ GIVE them to me…I paid $30.00 for them…I’m not really fond of them, and I think they give me chinsplints…We shall see how long I last with these goofy looking white chunks of hard foam in my shoes.

I found the tree bark on this pine tree , (picture on the right), very intriguing….It almost looks like scales on a tall ,vertical scaly reptile…OK, OK, whatever….It was a slow picture day and I have a vivid imagination!!

 

They are doing some construction here at Buckhorn Creek Campground….getting ready for a new shower house and bathrooms….

…..and they arrived today….Dennis had to inspect them to see that everything was correctly placed in the plumbing department…The bottom picture is where they will just plop these puppies down ,and attach everything afterward…Apparently not much carpentry skills are involved, but lots of “grunt work”….

  I recently put up our little bit of Christmas décor in the Hiker…

Those “suspenders” hanging in the pic on the right once hung on the front door of our first little one bedroom apartment in Sandwich, 1969…. We were married November of ‘69…and had our first Christmas together one month later…I purchased the stocking/suspenders at the local Five and Dime, then cut letters from white felt and glued them on…(sewing has never been an option for me)…I’m shocked at how long that glue has held up…better than the “gluer”!!!

I know I crab about the cold weather, but we are actually pretty toasty warm here inside the Hiker…so I should keep my big negative mouth shut!

 

WITH A SPOT LIKE THIS….WHO COULD COMPLAIN???

SON OF A GUN, WE’LL HAVE BIG FUN ON THE BAYOU..

  Saturday afternoon we drove 8 miles into Jefferson to get a few photos.  The homes are all decked out for Christmas, and lots of them have been made into Bed and Breakfasts…Here are a few of them…

….The weather today was a balmy 73 degrees, so we decided we would take the Turning Basin Bayou Tour .  Let me just say that there is virtually NO overhead in this business.  We finally found the road to take us to the “ticket office/book store” , where tickets could be purchased…(the word “shack” comes to mind.)

On the left is the “old building” where the tour tickets are purchased….and the tickets are being purchased by an “old tourist.” The photo on the right is the same building in the Jefferson flood of 1945…Now I know why it was built up on stilts. 

  This place was an absolute hoot! Once you pay your money, you just hang out till they “call your name”…Nope, no actual tickets involved…  Here is the area you lounge around in…I just HAD to get a few well screened pictures of the waiting area behind the “office”….

….Yes, I know..I was really loving this place.  My only fear was that the boats were in the same shape as the buildings.  FYI,  that building above right housed the bathrooms, and is a made of a couple converted train cars.  I couldn’t resist using the facilities, and I have to say, everything was well worn, but very clean.

 

 

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET, MCGUYVER????

 

WELL, ONE OF US IS, FOR SURE!!! (AT THIS POINT I THINK HE WAS QUESTIONING MY DESIRE FOR THIS BOAT RIDE.)

 

 

Our tour guide was the owner of the business, Captain John Nance.  He has been giving bayou boat tours for 28 years, and I really enjoyed his humor..imagine that.

The boat ride was on small riverboats left over from St. Louis, MO. Great America rides…Hey!…the guy is nothing else if not frugal!..and they were well maintained.  Captain Nance informed us that this area is in a drought, so if the boat tipped over in the bayou, just stand up and we would all be fine. Just ignore the snakes and snapping turtles…  (I TOLD you , I LOVED his sick humor!)

Above, left is an the remains of an old munitions building, left over from the Civil War…NOW WE’RE TALKIN’!  I tried to talk Captain Nance into letting me jump ashore so I could touch it and do some serious channeling of history…but this is where his sense of humor failed me…So I tried to visualize Confederate soldiers madly digging stuff out of this building to use against them “damn Yankees”…

 

  The Big Cypress Bayou area we cruised used to be used by  steamboats filled with cotton coming up from New Orleans. The Port of Jefferson, TX was the “gateway to the West” in the early 1800’s.  But in the late 1800’s, the Army Corps of Engineers dropped the water level in the Big Cypress Bayou, and it became too difficult for the big boats to navigate the narrow channel , so it began it’s great decline, and the port ceased to be used as such.

 

 

OUR “CRUISE” LASTED ABOUT AN HOUR, AND WE PULLED BACK INTO THE DOCK (RIGHT) TO CLIMB OUR WAY BACK UP THE HILLSIDE TO OUR TRUCK.  I KID YOU NOT, THAT IS THE VIEW FROM THE BOAT BEFORE WE GOT OUT..YOU JUST CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!!

 

We really had a great time on the bayou tour and Captain Nance knew his history of Jefferson.  I would highly recommend this little jaunt, if for nothing else than the distinct feeling that you will never get this kind of tour anywhere else in Texas!!!! The price was certainly reasonable enough, at $7.00 a person….So, a big hats off and thank you Captain John Nance, for a most enjoyable afternoon ….”ON THE BAYOU”!!!

In closing, I do have one serious question (one is all , I promise)… for anyone out there..(surprise, surprise!)..Has anyone been to Port Mansfield Texas?? and if so, do you know anything about an RV park called the Park At Port Mansfield?? McGuyver and I are not big fans of “the Valley”…just too busy for us old farts, and we don’t like the “closeness” of RV parks….But we found this place online, and it looks like it is just North of that really congested area, in a small fishing town.  The weather looks great for January,  and the ambience just our speed…SSSSLLLLOOOWWWW. If any of y’all know ANYTHING about this area…speak up….We are floundering around down here, not sure which way to go!!

OK, OK….WE FINALLY HAVE OUR ACT TOGETHER!!

  First of all, we need to hand out a few thank you’s to all you kids who rode with us in the back seat of the GMC. 

  Apology #1….We apologize for having to turn around 15 miles from home at 6AM Monday to get McGuyver’s glasses that ONE of us forgot!

  Apology #2….We apologize for the 4 30 packs of Busch Lite you had to sit around in the back seat…(And for those of you who tried to open them…shame on you!)

  Apology #3….We apologize for freezing your behinds off at Pocahontas , Arkansas the first night out.  Who knew it was going to get down to 23 degrees?

  Apology #4….We apologize for the bad language and nasty attitudes in our Hiker when we realized we couldn’t get online Wednesday afternoon…The language was pretty blue around here…as you can see…

 

  Up until today, we have had a PRETTY challenging trip.  It started with the forgotten glasses, the cold temps, and peaked when we couldn’t get our HughesNet hooked up until this afternoon…THANKS TO MCGUYVER..AGAIN!!!  Long story short, when Dennis got our dish all set up Wednesday, one of the blue lights wouldn’t come on..the system light…obviously this was a really important light.  He finally called Hughesnet HELP on Thursday AM and talked to Alex who lived in India or Bangeladesh, or somewhere like it…(Ya think his name was really Alex??) At any rate, Alex tried to walk Dennis through the system and finally told us that someone would call us back later…Needless to say, later became this morning and still no call.

  Luckily we had our laptop along, so this morning we took it to the nearest McDonalds parking lot, got online there and paid our bills online..also downloading our bank statement, which brings us to another reason the air was blue here ….The good ‘ol checkbook didn’t balance right away, and that totally honks McGuyver off to no end..Fear not though, we finally got ‘er to match…After that encouragement, McGuyver decided to try getting Hughesnet up ONE MORE TIME…. and…..(this is where I dropped to my knees and kissed the tripod) THANKS TO THE SATELLITE GODS, BECAUSE, FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON,  WE HIT PAYDIRT!! You all have been very patient, covering your ears when the language was just unbearable…and thanks again for ignoring the rantings of two elderly, crabby, forgetful RV’ers.

  I did manage to take a few photos on the way here…

  We left at sunrise Wednesday from Arkansas and hit the road for Texas, casting a large behemoth of a shadow in the icy plowed earth…(VERY ICY!!!)

  We are now safe and sound  (and online), here at Lake O’ The Pines in Jefferson TX.  We signed up for 11 nights which puts us leaving here the 12th of December.  This lake is just beautiful, the temps are 65 degrees today, and finally, we are ready for a campfire.  All of you kids complained that we haven’t had one yet…Well, it was either too damn cold, or McGuyver was NOT in the “happy campfire” mood..until NOW!!

 

Here is our spot…absolutely fabuloso!!!!

Wednesday evening we had a magical sunset….and I was out side in my “uniform” down by the lake to get some nice shots…

….and of course, I made friends with a Blue Heron here ….He totally ignored me while I tried to creep closer…

…Right now, it is getting very close to cocktail hour….I managed to keep myself from drinking all my liquor in the last 3 wild and crazy days….We plan on doing some sightseeing in Jefferson ..they have quite a Christmas celebration…and we will definitely post photos….now that we have calmed down. 

HANG IN THERE, KIDS….IT HAS TO GET BETTER…IT CAN’T GET WORSE…CAN IT?????

THANKS FOR YOU PATIENCE!!