Take lemons and make lemonade...

This is the only suspension bridge in Arkansas and is still usable.

It appears this covered bridge goes no where. We stumbbled upon the bridge after visiitng Eureka Springs and while looking for a grist mill. The grist mill was quite a find. Fresh stone ground corn meal and flour, wow.

The weather is great. It's warm, mid 70's during the day and in the 50's at night. Purty neer purfect, as they say back home.

We continue to watch the beautiful osprey fish in the afternoon and the bald eagle fish at sunrise. I wonder where he goes after he fininshes fishing? There is a large group of blue birds that visit each morning and afternoon. We saw the northern flickers again this morning down by the lake. The mist coming from the lake was grand this morning also.

Today we're going to take a drive around Table Rock Lake and visit Branson for a little look see. We hear there's bus loads of blue hairs arrive there daily. We'll see.

Blessings to all....

Hotsy totsy my foot...

Hotsy totsy place is an understatement. There's probably 25 million dollars in "motor coaches" here. Its not my cup of tea or cup or anything else. We were going to stay until Thursday but will be leaving Wednesday morning.

I took Roxie for a walk this morning before going to church and spoke to four people and by golly, I finally got I think a grunt from one man. I'm not sure he was acknowledging me are just had gas. I'm going with the benefit of he was being friendly in his on way.

We are parked in a beautiful spot over looking Table Rock lake. Judy was up photographing a beautiful sunrise and watching an eagle sitting in a tree near us. As soon as we get someplace with good Internet connections, I'll post more pictures.

The trees are beginning to turn. The dogwoods are getting the dark purple, the maples a bright red and the sweet gums that beautiful yellow. When we "leave" here, we'll travel through southern Missouri, Illinois into Kentucky. We should run into some great fall colors on that leg for sure.

Blessings to all...

Pictures for ya'll

Being on my air card down in the swamps of east Texas made posting photos time consuming. We're now at this hotty toddy swanky place. I feel like the Clampett's in Beverly Hill's. Thats okay, I'll put my Boomer pink flamigos out and I'll feel better.

I did want to show you a nice picture of some east Texas art.

That's okay; we're still having fun...

We left the country house yesterday morning in a steady rain and it never got less than steady until we got almost to Caddo Lake State Park, where we'll be for the next two days.

We got "set up": I connected a water hose up and connected the electric supply while Judy does the automatic leveling, extends the slides and puts the rug down. It takes less than five minutes. Now thats the way to go camping.

We walked over to the lake and Judy took some pictures of one of the most unique lakes in Texas. It was a natural lake until they decided in the 50's to dam it to control some of the downstream flooding. It 25000+ acres of cuts, sloughs and canals. A person (me) could easily get lost in short order.

After a drive down to Uncertain, Tx for a quick look see, we headed to Jefferson to do some antiquing. They have it all, from real and I mean real junk to some truly beautiful antiques. After sampling a co-zillion varieties on jellies, jams and preserves, we bought a jar of huckleberry jam. It was so good on crackers but as we found out this morning, its better on biscuits. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, as Andy Griffith would say. That was it. Didn't find another thing we had to have.

We had a great dinner and decided to watch a DVD...I fell asleep about twenty minutes in to the movie and it was a funny movie. I guess I was tired or maybe I was preparing for later in the night. About, not about, at 1:35 this morning I heard the fan stop and considered what king of problem did that mean. About, and this time it really is about, thirty minutes all kinds of traffic driving through the cg and I soon realized it was the power co-op guys checking the lines. Sure enough, about 45 minutes later they found a tree that had fallen across the line and that does bad things to switches, fuses and breakers, not to mention breaking the the power cable. Since it was back up in the "woods", they had to wait until day light due to safety issues to repair it, which they promptly did.

This is just a commentary on my part and has nothing to do with our great adventure, but... My country house is service by Houston County Electric Co-op, this was the Panola-Harrison Electric Co-Op, and these folks give the best service in the world. You want to know why? Because they are our neighbors, friends and/or relatives. We can put a face on these men and women. Try that with one of your big city power suppliers. I can call my co-op and not even have to talk to a machine. Seems I usually talk to Johnny but I saw in the latest co-op magazine that he was retiring. I'm sure going to miss talking to him but there will be somebody just as good and just as capable to help the next time I need them in the middle of the night. Makes you wish you lived in the country doesn't it? Back to our great adventure.

We awoke, again, this morning to a grand day the Lord has given us. I took Roxie for a walk in the woods and then Judy and I took her down to the lake for the first time. She thought it looked like a fine swimming hole, but I don't know, looks like a gator lake to me. Judy took several more pictures. One particularly neat one was of a Belted Kingfisher that was busy diving into the lake for breakfast. We took a country drive and found a rookery of White Ibis...oh my goodness. There must have been hundreds of them. We saw mature, immature and juvenile. Wow, what a neat find.

We are meeting some friends for mexican food tonight. It may be our last chance for real tex-mex for a few weeks so we better take the opportunity

We will be leaving early in the morning for that swanky place I keep telling you about on Table Rock lake in north east Arkansas. Don't worry. I didn't bring my tux so I'll just to go with what I brought. I never have tried setting up with a coat and tie on....

Blessings to all....

We're at the starting gate...

We're standing on ready and should be on the road by 9 in the morning to begin our next Great Adventure. By the end of this trip we will have logged about 12,000 miles this year and visited 18 states on our Great Adventures. I guess that is what retired people are supposed to do anyway.

The good Lord has blessed us in so many ways and one that I can reflect on now was the intelligence and desire to work hard and earn enough money to be able to retire at a relatively early age and live a fantastic life...as far as I'm concerned. We are just trying to enjoy the freedom and the motorhome as much as possible until comrade Obamanation and his henchmen take it from us in his share the wealth program. And did you hear today how he proceeded to sell Israel out. Of course if you only watch the state run media news, you'll never hear his pontification at the UN today. Only a select few or maybe only Michelle and the Chicago mafia know what his true polictical agenda is...and God.

We need to pray diligently for our country that we are losing a little of daily. Our grand children will possibly never know this wonderful country we had as young adults. They will certainly have to pay dearly for the mistakes made during the comrade Obamanation's tenure...however long it may be.

Sorry for the political tirade but I'm just afraid we're going down the tubes and my liberal friends think all is well with our country. I pray for them also.

Next blog will be during the first day of our Great Adventure, if you don't hear from us tomorrow its because we're busy hunting down Bigfoot in the Caddo Lake area.

Oh yea, we got our flu shots yesterday. Oink, oink!

Blessings to all....

One day and two nights to go...

We're ready. I know there will be those last minute items to pack, but for the most part we're just waiting to go.

First stop will be Caddo Lake and check out Big Foot for our friends Dianne and Randy. They will be camp host there next summer. I promise to check for Big Foot...if Roxie is leading the way.

The cool front came through this morning and brought some nice rain and much cooler temps. It rained on and off most of the day but we did get a break long enough for us to take a nice long walk around the property. We didn't see any fresh hog tracks. Maybe, since I put the trap out they moved on. I can only hope. We walked past that big old persimmon tree and some of the fruit had fallen to the ground so I had to take a sample. It was ripe. Sweet and juicy. We walked through the pine plantation looking for rub's. That's a tree a buck deer is using to rub the velvet from his horns. We tromped around out there dodging the poison ivy and bull nettle and never did find a rub. That's okay though because it was enjoyable to be walking around in the woods.

Roxie is so much fun to watch when we're out walking. She is in continuous motion, and thats not slow motion, checking for scents. When she picks one up, whether it be a rabbit, squirrel, raccoon, deer, hog or worst, she starts yelping to let us know she's on a trail. We always hope she doesn't get too friendly with mister skunk. Yep, she has done that and I'm here to tell you, that's a bad, really bad situation.

I talked with Mike, my oldest son, today and told him I'd put air in the Suzuki tires yesterday. My goodness. Eight pounds and twelve pounds is all that was in each front tire. After inflating to thirty pounds, it sure drove easier. Now understand, this is the same Suzuki that Ashlyn, my nine year old...oh ten today granddaughter has been driving around the country place for a couple years. Bless her little heart and more her little biceps for having to man handle that little truck. It sure drives easier Ash, thanks to pops for airing up the tires. Now she can concentrate on getting to third gear...yes, its standard transmission and even though she can barely reach the pedals she has mastered the clutch.

Roxie is curled up on one couch, Smooch is plastered to my hip and who know where that scaredy cat Lovie is. All is well. God loves me and my family and He loves you too, I hope you know that.

I can see it now, a boring day tomorrow but boy just wait til Thursday morning and we are off on our third great adventure of the year.

Blessings to all...

Dog gone it...

Wonder what that meant? I'm not sure but I can tell you this, me and Ms Judy are exhausted. Even though we didn't start working until 8:30 or so, we certainly got a lot accomplished today.

I started the day by cutting several cedar trees to put around the bird feeders so they will have a refuse from the hawks.

Judy came out and found me on top of the motorhome with soap and water hose. Well, the top gets dirty too, I said. Of course after washing the top I had to continue the process and wash the sides...38 feet down each side plus the front and back. Whew! Got it washed, the food in the refer/freezer and the pantry. Its nice having so much room to pack and store things in a motorhome. We have about fifteen dinners in the freezer and that doesn't include the steak, chicken and pork ready to go on the grill. We still have a couple bays underneath for extras if needed.

Two days to go and the anticipation continues to grow. Tomorrow I'll finish loading my clothes, Judy is finished. We will go shopping tomorrow for the "junk" food stuff...oh boy! I'll load my pair of shorts and a couple tee's and be ready. Oh no, I'll have to pack some hotti totti clothes for that swanky place we're going to with Bud and Jan. Maybe I can sweet talk Judy in to starching and ironing my overalls...what do you think?

I'm tired and pray you all had a glorious day and it was as productive as ours.

Blessings to all....

Here piggy, piggy...

Ain't trapped no hog yet. But its for dang sure the crows are getting fatter. I'm so bothered. I "run the trap" and get nothing but crows cawing for more corn and now the leaf cutter ants are carrying off the corn too. Ya'll probably don't have a clue what a leaf cutter ant is, do you? They will strip a plant of its leaves or needles overnight if you don't kill'em. Of course the tree hugger liberals had the only product known to kill the ants taken off the market a few years ago. Typical for the liberals...save the damn ants and lose the forest. I'm sure they think the ant will grow up and vote democrat.

Don't worry, I'll trap those suckers yet. The hogs that is. If I don't trap them before we leave for our great adventure, I'm going to dump enough corn in the trap that the crows will have to put an all points bulletin out for help to eat it. Of course I hope I trap some hogs while we're gone and they have to stay in the trap for several weeks without food or water. Cruel? You betcha, you should see what they did to my yard last year. They can wallow in that trap for days till the buzzards come calling for all I care. Can you tell I don't like hogs?

On a more positive note, the day was beautiful. Judy and I took a walk this morning and admired God's creation. And a hog wasn't one we admired. The pines have already dropped their first needles of the fall season and the persimmon tree is just waiting for the first frost to ripen its fruit. If you eat the fruit too early it will give you a bad pucker. We did see several fresh hog tracks as well as some good deer tracks. I was able to show Judy the difference in the tracks and she was soon pointing out to me, "here's a small deer track" or "man, that's a big hog". I think she's becoming a country girl quicker than I had expected.

We took Roxie for a Suzuki ride this afternoon and even though Roxie gave up and came home, Judy wanted to stay out so I boastfully showed her all the "hard" work I had done this week. You know, riding on the tractor doing all that manly stuff. I think she was impressed.

We start tomorrow getting ready to leave for our great adventure in earnest. Our clothes are pretty much "stored" in the motorhome and really only need to put the frozen and fresh foods in the refer/freezer. I will make sure the tires are at the correct inflation. I've already checked the oil in the genset and engine so all thats left is a good wash and we're set. We gave the inside a good cleaning last week. Please let me know if you think of something I've missed.

I pray you all had a restful weekend.

Blessings to all....

Hog, hogs and more hogs...

It didn't occur to me until I almost drove over it...I have a hog trap.

I forgot my game camera was taking pictures the entire time I was working. I believe it took something like 16-18 pictures. You can see where they are rooting the ground under the feeder. I set it yesterday and so far the crows have eaten about five pounds of corn and no new hog tracks to be seen. It will take a few days for my scent to go away and then they'll be back. Dang things.

More steady rain showers this morning...thank you Lord.

This will be a busy next few days for us as we finalize our next Great Adventure. Judy and I have been cooking and freezing meals so it will be easier to prepare dinners when we're out and about. After a hard day of serious looking around, cooking dinner is not on top of the list. As a matter of fact, it didn't make the list but we do have to eat.

Just as a preview, we will leave the country house Thursday morning for two nights at Caddo Lake State Park. A truly unique and beautiful lake. http://www.caddo-lake.net/

We will leave Saturday morning and meet Bud and Jan (our Lubbock, TX) friends at Outdoor Resorts in northeast Arkansas for six days. Its one of those swanky kind of places...so Bud says.

http://www.outdoor-resorts.com/ozarks/

From there its north to Springfield and the "home of the throwed rolls" restaurant. http://www.throwedrolls.com/

Then its St Louis, Louisville and up to Crittenden, KY for a visit with Judy's mom, Ms Edith and her new beau. John, the new beau, is taking us to dinner at some resturant he supplies (sells) his homemade wine. Ever Friday night is date night at this restaurant. Never double dated with a mother before...have I lost my mind?

We are then meeting Chuck and Maggie, some of our Texas Boomer friends in Nashville for a trek down the Natchez Trace. http://www.nps.gov/natr/index.htm

We should be home in 3-4 weeks...closer to four I'm sure.

So...does that wet your appetite to own an RV? Thought so. I get to sleep in my bed each night and not worry about who has been sleeping or worse in my bed.

Blessings to all.....

Is fall coming?

Oh goodness, the weather is delightful. We're continuing to receive much needed rain and its the kind of rain that is a soak-er, not one of those well known frog stranglers we sometimes get. And the temperature is in the high 60's. I noticed once last night the temp was 63. Could we be having an early fall? Oh wait, we have global warming so it can't be so. It must be a figment of my imagination.

Between lite rain showers yesterday, I was able to get some heavy duty mowing completed yesterday. You know, things like the roads leading to the house, the highway right of way that the state never seemed to gotten to this year and of course the fence line on the road frontage. We east Texans are kind of particular as to how our land looks, at least from the road.

I spread (manually) fifty pounds of winter rye grass along the roads so when we get back from our next Great Adventure we should have some nice green grass and something for the deer to munch on this winter. Did you catch the "manually"? That's one piece of equipment I don't have to pull behind the Kubota tractor...a seed/fertilize spreader. Oh well, a little walking and pushing a spreader is probably good for me. Ha! A neighbor always says, "if it ain't got a seat, don't need to work with it". Of course he has a lot more money than me.

I saw another one of those nasty feral hogs yesterday...no gun with me of course. It was a big boar, maybe 250-300 pounds and had that razorback hair sticking up several inches. Let me back up. Before Judy left yesterday, we had our regular session of coffee on the porch before day light. Roxie was very skittish and would not leave my side, much less the porch. After sunrise I realized why. Fresh hog tracks were all over the area where the flag pole is. Ya'll know exactly where I'm describing, right? Suffice to say, one hundred feet from the porch. At one time I thought I smelled them..yep, they stick like heck.

Its raining again this morning, how nice.

BTW, what do ya'll think of our tax dollars supporting prostitution through the community activist group ACORN? Of course if you don't listen to conservative talk shows on the radio or watch Fox News, you won't have a clue what I'm talking about. How sad!

Blessings to all...

Musings from the country...

We drove back to the country place yesterday afternoon through some torrential rain. That's good.

There was only about an inch of rain in the rain gauge and both hummingbird feeders looked like they had been sopped with a biscuit they were so dry. The other bird feeders were still okay but we filled them anyway.

It seems that the hummingbirds have been replaced by butterflies. Judy was trying to take some pictures while Roxie was biting at them and Smooch was swatting them. I don't think she ever got any really good pictures. Next time and without the help from the dog and cat will probably be better.

We went for a Suzuki ride to check out the rest of the place and saw that the hogs had been at work under at least one of the feeders, which was quickly confirmed back at the house. We had a good picture of a big boar that had visited the feeder at 7:15 that morning.

When we got back to the house Smooch was busy guarding something in the flower bed...not a good sign. Sure enough, Mr Snake was lurking under the ferns. Without hesitation, I grabbed the sharp shooter shovel out of the Suzuki and made "waste" of a coral snake that was about 24 inches long. I didn't realize those things got that big! Now the question; my mother always said snakes travel in pairs but I choose to believe that is an old wives tale.

On a side note. We drove down to Galveston Sunday after church and found those people have made a remarkable recovery. I did notice the parking lots for the cruise ship were about half empty and thats not a good sign.

We're sitting on the porch listening to the rain lightly fall and the drops dripping from the roof are making a soothing noise. Occasionally some hummingbirds fly by for a quick refuel on their way to South America. Ain't that amazing! South America! Judy looked in her hummingbird book the other day and we learned that their heart rate is something like 200 beat per minute. And that heart can't be much larger than a small pea.

I go to the doc today for my test results and I pray other than my cholesterol being out of whack I'm healthy.

I think I'll sit and listen to the rain for a while.

Blessings to all....

Hummingbirds

Judy took almost 100 pictures of the hummers today. So far we've narrowed it down to 80. Those suckers are amazing acrobats. She has them right side up, up side down, moving backwards and mostly drinking. They dart so quickly, there is no way to be able to count them. It was so cool to see dozens hovering at the feeder and then the oak tree being literally covered with them. The chirping noise was loud enough that even I could hear them. I once stood close to the feeder and could feel the air off their wings. How neat is that?

I just looked over and Judy is still editing the photos. God blesses us with all these creatures and we need to remember to give Him the thanks.

Blessings to all...

Another day in the country...

I'm going to need a cash infusion if these hummingbirds don't head on to South America soon. It appears they will drink about a quart of nectar every four hours or so. Well, they are either going to have to go someplace else for a handout or starve because I'm heading south this morning for a few days.

Did you watch and listen to the talking head last night? Or should I say the reading head. At one point I actually thought the man was going to look into the camera and talk to me, nay; he has to read everything he says it seems.

I'm not getting up tight today about Obamanation but did you see Sheila Jackson Lee last night? She looked like she was wearing a kite.

What a mess this nation has gotten into in such a short period of time. I know God has a plan and I also know He has a time schedule. I've thought about reading the book of Revelations again but I remember how it ends. Red armies will appear along with the antichrist. Our Chinese bankers seem to be red and well you all know who the antichrist is...

Blessing to all....

Fearless hummingbirds...

Here at the country place its just me, Roxie, Smooch, Lovey and about a co-zillion hummers. Judy left early today for Conroe to take care of some business and wait on UPS to deliver her camera thats been in for repairs.

I do have some news of a personal nature to share with all of you. I went today for a much needed and much overdue physical and while be examined the doc heard and I felt a heart palpitation. No, not the kind I got when baby Dunkette came up missing but rather a real flutter of the ole ticker. So now I'm wearing a twenty four hour heart monitor to record the goings on of said ticker. This same situation happened many years ago and I had all kinds of tests including a heart cath and they never found nor could they duplicate the "flutter" again. Maybe we'll find out this time whats causing this unusual activity. Sure hope it doesn't include another look around the heart...from the inside.

I had an exciting thing happen this afternoon. I was replenishing the hummingbird feeders and they were not being very patient. As I was trying to rehang one of the feeders, two hummers perched and started drinking and one landed on the back of my hand. I'm standing here looking eye ball to eyeball with three hummers that aren't 12" from my face. I stood frozen for what seemed like forever when finally one that had perched got his fill and the one on my hand took its place. How exciting! Another blessing from God.

I pray everyone had a fun and of course safe Labor Day weekend and ladies, don't forget, no more white till Easter.

Blessings to all...

Not much to say...

We awoke this morning and discovered baby Dunkette was gone and a nasty note had been left. I would post a picture of the note but we're so hurt. The culprits cut words from magazines so as not to leave handwriting clues or finger prints for the note. I'm concerned that because we left her outside all night that someone called CPS. Maybe comrade Obamantion sent one of the many czar's for her. He does have enough henchmen to take care of that sort of thing.

We had a fantastic get together this weekend and arrived home to the country safely. Judy is leaving "early" for Conroe in the morning and I already miss her.

We have begun to finalize our next adventure plans. Currently, Chuck and Maggie will meet us in Nashville for a trek down the Natchez Trace. We've only done a portion of the Trace and we're truly looking forward the the complete trip.

Blessings to all...

Rally...Day 2

The griddlers did a fine job of giddlling the pancakes this morning and the fruit was particularly good. However, when Rich volunteered he had helped make it by opening cans I was less impressed. It tasted better than canned fruit.

We spent the day visiting with others and watching as Steve and Richard replaced tires and repaired plumbing that was destroyed when the tire lost its tread. We may see Richard on TV soon. He bought those tires from Discount Tire about a year ago and he's not satisfied so I think he's going to take the tire back and throw it through the window. I'm trying to discourage him but he's pretty much made up his mind. Hopefully Mary can talk some sense into him.

We had the Chinese raffle and the silent auction after dinner...what fun till the brunt of the fun turned to me and Judy. For those of you not familiar with the process, you bid on "wrapped" items and then unwrap them in front of the crowd. As I recall, the first item I won was a nice three piece condiment service. That was nice. Then Judy got into the bidding action at the auction. She won, went to the front of the group unwrapped her gift...an EPT kit, oh my! She came back leaned over and told me, "I haven't had a hot flash like that in years". Well, needless to say, that prize set the theme for silliness and fun for the rest of the night. My next win was an insulated drink bag which Mike immediately decided must be a diaper bag. Things are really getting heated up now. Judy was scared to bid on anything now. Not me! I continued to bid till the Victoria's Secret Bag went on the auction block and I knew that would be a coveted prize. Yea for me! With the winning bid I excitedly tore into the bag to find a small box that contained a really nice ceramic wind chime...all I could think of and of course say,"oh look Judy, a mobile for the crib".

We just hope everyone enjoyed the evening as much as we did. Leaving the rally hall with all our loot, we quickly concluded that even though it was at our expense, it was a great night for all. We both had a headache from laughing so hard and so much.

My gosh, I almost forgot. The mexican fiesta pot luck dinner was better than fantastic and who ever made the cheesecake sopapillas has a real winner for a dessert. Its too bad we can't find a restaurant that have those kinds of dishes.

Blessings to all.....

Edit to this Blog...Guess what we found outside the motorhome this morning? Let the games begin.

Life is sweet when the Boomers meet...

We are back in the motorhome after a great afternoon and evening visiting with friends and eating. We Texas Boomers are world renown for our culinary extravaganzas and our gift of gab.

We have several new members and they seem to be really nice people, well except for maybe Wayne but I guess he's just on a learning curve. Retired Marine, nuff said. I think he was a sergeant, or a major or maybe even a general or somebody of importance anyway. We're parked next to he and his gracious wife Earlene and when we first met me he asked if I would move my motorhome as he was expecting some nice people to show up...its been steadily down hill since. I'm of course joking, they seem to be a really nice couple and have been traveling now for some time.

I met two other newbie couples and knew one was okay right off the bat, he was wearing a nice new Kubota cap but the other man, God bless his soul, was wearing a tu cap. I told him right off that the only orange I liked was on my Kabota tractor. I'll be dipped though, he came back for dinner was and still wearing it. Newbies...what do you expect? I guess we all have learning curves to deal with.

Tomorrow is the pancake breakfast. Madame Boomer has organized this down to a tee. We have griddles and griddlers to griddle so all we will need will be girdles should we eat too much. Tomorrow evening is the mexican fiesta.

The day wasn't totally uneventful. Steve and Barb had a blowout on the inside dually and Richard and Mary had a blowout on their trailer. We all certainly hope this is not an omen of things to come.

The weather is great and we are looking forward to another great day tomorrow.

Blessings to all.....

Where did the time go????

We came back to the country place Tuesday and yes the cats were madder than heck again. Especially Smooch because she's the one that doesn't understand she's an indoor cat, she loves being outside. It takes her a couple days to stop gripping. Now Lovey on the other hand is like me, make me mad and I may not talk to you for a while. Lovey is in the same place each time we come home to the country; centered under the king size bed. She won't won't come out for a day or so just to prove a point. Whatever her point might be. They are both happy now but what they don't know is we are leaving early in the morning for a RV rally with our Texas Boomer friends and won't be back till late Monday. They'll get over it, I hope.



And look who moved into the neighborhood while we were gone. They probably range in weight from 75 lbs to 150 lbs and if they keep eating my $6/bag corn, they will be bigger than that soon. I have pictures taken as early as 9pm with those suckers at the feeder. Oh, and the feeder is only about 150 yards from the house. Its just the trials and tribulations of country living.

It does remind me of the trip we took with friends this spring to Big Bend and the Davis mountains when the javelinas would practically come to the door of the motorhome. One night I got up to check because Roxie was going nuts and one was trying to get in my car, so I thought.

Enough of this mindless writing, I've got to get back to loading the motorhome. I put a good coat of wax on the front this morning because if my worse fears are what I think, the love bugs are back. Judy cleaned the leather couches, the pilot and copilot seats (thats RV talk for the driver and passenger seats) and I got nose prints of the inside of the windshield. Now I wonder where those came from?

Blessing to all... and have a safe an fun weekend doing whatever it is that makes you happy.

An honor I failed to obtain...

This story actually began in January of this year when I went to an RV rally for the first time in Cut-in-Shoot, TX, yes that is a real town just east of Conroe, and met a really cool family.

I first met Larry when I walked by his RV and he was working on his portable satellite system. I joked around with him quite some time even to the extent that if he didn't cut that 75 foot tree down, he would never get a signal. At that time I also met Trey, he and Vicky's youngest son. Trey immediately made friends with Roxie so I just handed over her leash to him. Seems I did that every time I saw him the rest of the weekend. He had fun with Roxie and she quickly realized he was more energetic than I am.

Sometime Saturday night while standing around the campfire I met Landon, Vicky's son from a previous marriage. Seventeen years old but much more mature than those years should allow and we fell into a conversation about various topics. I soon learned he was in Boy Scouts and had been working on his Eagle project. I shared with Landon my disappointment that I never completed the "work" for my Eagle. If you aren't familiar with scouting and the work that goes into getting the Eagle, you've got an awakening. Only an elite group of scouts ever obtain this honor. Anyway, back to Landon. Quite honestly, I usually don't connect with kids but then again I quickly concluded that Landon was far from being a kid, even though he was seventeen. Later that evening I learned from Larry that Landon was kind of "stuck" working on his Eagle so I asked Larry for permission to have a scout to scout talk with him. He agreed and we did.

Understand this, you get one shot at the Eagle. One you have to be a scout and two you have to be under eighteen. No matter how much I want to be an Eagle Scout now, it ain't gonna happen.
I encouraged Landon in every way I could to complete his project and shared my disappointment that I never completed my work for the Eagle.

I again saw Landon in about May and he assured me he was working on his Eagle, along with sports, along with a great deal of invlovment in his church and of course the dreaded school work. We didn't talk as much about scouts but I think he understood how I felt.

Hallelujah, praise God! This past Sunday, Vicky posted on Face book that Landon was currently at his Eagle review. A couple hours later. "We have an Eagle Scout in the family". What an accomplishment. I'm so proud of and for Landon. Get this, Sunday night he posted on Face book, I start college classes tomorrow. He's a senior in high school. We all need to remember his name...Landon Sneed. We'll hear it again.

Oh, as far as I know, Larry is still working on his satellite system.

Blessings to all.....