February 22, 2007

Apparently when it is foggy the ducks are bolder.

Wildflowers in February.

He feels safe on his island.

I spent most of today trying to find a dog groomer to give Silly a bath and a trim. I checked the bulliten boards at the post office and the local store. I had no luck so I brushed her and trimmed her face and head some. Nobody got in line behind her for a haircut but she felt pretty special. I had to pretend to cut Red's hair for the equal time thing.

The week of WIFI that I paid for runs out tomorrow so I may not be on for a while. I got my bills paid. $15.00 per week is a bit high just to post pictures and play games. I'll post when I can.

February 21, 2007

This morning a duck's head kept appearing and disappearing above the bank of the pond. See it on the right of the picture, the small white spot. I think he was checking out the dogs just as Silly was checking him out. I finally caught a picture of him peeking at us. It was foggy and drippy at that hour.

Now it is way too nice to be in here on the computer. Bye.

February 20, 2007

You know you are in Texas when you see a camper with this sort of decoration.

You know you are on vacation when you buy foolish things like I did. I wanted the 5 foot flamingo but settled for this 6 inch one with springs on his wings.

My dogs aren't the only ones living on the road. This Boston terrier has the job of marking wherever my dogs go potty. It's a big job but he can handle it.

Got a reservation for the Canton flea market. Two sites side by side which makes it 24 X 20. I can arrive on Tuesday if I want and pay $10.00 extra. It might be worth it to do that so I can get into my site before the adjacent ones are occupied. (22 foot RV fitting into 24 feet) My site numbers are 2105 and 2106. That probably means there are that many sites. I'll take a compass and the GPS if I go wandering around.

Cloudy day today with a few rain drops but nice and warm. I hear the snow is melting in Ohio. Could that be a sign of spring?

February 19, 2007

Rise and shine. This would have looked better taken from the beach but I didn't get
up in time.

Here is the piece of a ship I found on the beach with worm holes in it.

That's a ditch, no fish there, bird.

My neighbors from New York state took me for a ride to see the boats.

I snuck a picture of them.

The ships cat came ashore for the day. This picture supplied especially for Pepper, Diago, Harley, and Elliott (the cats who own my friends).

I washed the RV today. I even waxed one side and part of the front. People kept offering to let me wash their RV. I started telling them I charged $50.00 an hour. That cut down on the offers.

I called and got some information about the flea market in Canton, TX on March 1 - 4. They advertise that they hold their monthly flea market on the week-end before the first Monday of each month. They charge $50.00 for a 12 x 20 foot site from Wed. night till Tues. morning. I would need 2 sites to park my RV on. That is $100.00 for 6 nights. That is $16.60/day and it includes electricity and water. Not too bad a deal. They say they have 2000 dealers. I could get lost in a place like that but it sounds like fun.

February 18, 2007

The site of a Mardi Gras beach party. The seats are still in a circle around a smoldering fire. But notice the dark marks in the sand to the right.

A vehicle was parked here - stuck here.

I can't imagine how he got out. Probably had many people pushing.

Oops, could this be a reason for the stuck vehicle?

Or maybe this?

And let me dispel the rumours that I flashed the bead throwing people to get all those beads yesterday. In fact they threw them very fast before I could even think of baring anything.

And I wasn't invited to the beach party which is okay with me. I was there this morning and found some shells and an old piece of a board (probably part of a ship wreck) which I may take a picture of tomorrow. Hows that for a cliff hanger.

Feb. 17, 2007 plus

Self portrait.

This float is ready for delays with a porta-potti.

Watch out, here come some beads.

I got some beads.

I hadn't planned on going to Mardi Gras. Wonder of wonders it came to me. About noon today the local community Mardi Gras parade came down the road. I snapped some pictures of the floats and people. In between pictures I got some beads. Lots of fun. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

February 17, 2007

Mostly the pictures tell the story. The sign in the window supplied by Daughters who hunt me down wherever I go. As you can see in the driver's seat, Red takes her job seriously. True to her name, Silly does not.

The flower stood out this morning on our early walk. The beach pictures are some I took a few weeks ago while people watching. The young couple couldn't take ten steps without stopping to hug one another. The older couple were walking in lock step, long accustomed to one anothers stride.

I'm spending some lazy days here.

February 16, 2007

Location is back at Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Penensula which is not on the GPS system. I have found that a lot of the Texas Gulf coast is not on my GPS. There are always maps, the old fashioned paper kind as well as the internet kind. This campground, Bolivar RV park, advertised free WIFI. I was here for 3 days last week and the WIFI was free. This week there are too many people on their system so I have paid to use it for a week. I smiled and thought - I'll tell on you.

The pictures are self explanatory. The first one is this campground's Mardi Gras decorations blowing in the 33 degree wind (up from 28 in Beaumont). Somehow I can't get in the party mood yet. I dress in layers, about 5 or 6 layers. It is supposed to get up to 60 today. That sounds good, I will peal some layers off. I always feel warmer when people send me pictures of snow in Vermont and Ohio. Thanks guys.

The other pictures are where I was earlier in the week getting my repairs done. And the plant I mentioned. It lives on air. Do you suppose the air in my bathroom shower has enough "nutrients" in it? Let's hope so.

Valentine's Day

Who knew that kids worry about their parents worrying about their worries? That was one thing I learned today.

The other thing is that a bent bumper can cause something to push on a wire that can cause a turn signal light to blow a fuse. That's enough to learn for one day. The man came this afternoon to look at my right turn blinker and it now works. Whooopeee!

This connection is too slow to upload pictures. I wanted to load a picture of a plant I was given at the flea market. Its tag says Caput Medusea Hybrid and it's an air plant. It doesn't need dirt. I am not real sure how to take care of it. Right now it is in a tall plastic vase with wet paper towels in the bottom. If anyone knows a better way to get it home let me know. Once I get it home I think I should put moss around the roots and mist the whole thing now and then.

Tomorrow I plan to head back down the road toward Galveston where it is supposed to be a few degrees warmer for the next week or so. Highs in the 60's, lows in the high 30's and 40's. It is cold here, they are breaking records. Only when I hear how cold it is up north do I appreciate that it is warmer here. I just tell myself that I don't have to shovel anything here.

February 12/13, 2007

Since I can't seem to upload pictures right now I will just make this short. (Pictures were of repair shops and Walmart anyway.)

Monday = oil change, front end alignment, 1 new shock absorber, 2 new tires (got a red carnation when I left). Walmart for the night. Big storm, window leaked, wet bed clothes, bad humor.

Tuesday= Useless efforts to find someone to figure out why the right rear turn signal blows fuses all the time. The fuse that it blows is the wrong fuse, one that it shouldn't even be using. I had an offer to fix it if I could drop it off for a week or 2.

Now I am at a campground near Beaumont and a repairman is supposed to stop by and see if he can figure out the fuse problem. I did use their laundry and dump station and filled up with water. When I checked in it was interesting. I had called to be sure they had an opening for a Passport America customer (a 1/2 price club I belong to) and they said yes. I pulled in a few minutes later and they said I needed a reservation to use my Passport membership. So I asked for a reservation which really irritated the clerk. I could have gone back out to the RV and called again to make the reservation but I saw no point in that. The clerk said all Passport campgrounds were insisting on reservations for members. I didn't argue with her. I have stayed at 6 or 7 Passport campgrounds and have not made reservations at any of them.

Now the bedclothes have been dried, the window caulked (black window gasket caulked with white caulk) and I am thinking about something good for supper. I'm glad to escape the level 3 snow emergency back in Ohio.

P.S.

Just one more pictures. I got a great phone call from my sister and forgot I wanted to include some of Joe's signs. There was singing on this phone call.

I have just determined that I cannot send email while using the Holiday Inn WIFI. So I have wasted some time composing wonderfully long emails (sure they were - really) and haven't been able to send them. I plan to move to a campground that has WIFI in a day or 2 so I will be able to send emails from there.

I am going to look up a Jiffy Lube tomorrow to get the RV's oil changed. Then I will be looking up a garage in Beaumont that Joe, the sign guy, recommended. Some of the helpful, friendly people here pointed out that my left front tire is wearing badly on one side. It could be I need a front end alignment or it could be shocks or something else. But I intend to find out and get it fixed. When you own a home, either stationary or on wheels, there is always something that needs doing.

February 11, 2007

This is Joe. Joe makes and sells signs at the Flea Market in Winnie, Texas. His spot is right next to my spot this week-end. Joe got an unusual call yesterday. He made a banner and a sign. They were delivered today, along with a cake provided by my neighbors on the other side. Doesn't Joe look smug? So is my daughter looking smug, I am sure. I'm not big for celebrating birthdays. I'll have to hide better next year. I was taken by complete surprise.

Sat. Feb. 10, 2007

Surprise surprise. I am using the nearby Holiday Inn's WIFI connection. It is "very low" so I will keep this short.

I am doing fine here at the Winnie, TX, flea market, meeting some really nice folks and one grumpy one. I have a good spot this month. The grumpy one is behind me but his wife is nice so I will ignore him. There are dealers here from Indiana, Michigan, Minn., Louisiana, Illinois, and Ohio, of course. And that's just the dealers I have met. Some of the same people as were here last month.

The picture is my tripod.

February 7, 2007

Tomorrow I will be moving to a place where I won't have WIFI for several days, also no cable TV, just electricity. I will be setting up at the monthly flea market in Winnie, TX. I was there last month so I may see some people I already know.

If you want to see my beach videos you can go to www.youtube.com and search for katbulue. You don't even have to sign in to do that. I would welcome comments. These are very tame, even mind numbing videos of about 30 seconds each so be brave.

I will try to take a picture of my rig set up at the flea market for the next time I run into WIFI which may be next week sometime. I will be older by then so I'll try to remember how to do this.

February 6, 2007

Which picture should we talk about first? A post jumped in back of the RV and bent the bumper into the RV. It doesn't cause any problem with the RV and is cosmetic only. I have decided to wait until I get home to have it worked on. My insurance has been notified. The temper tantrum is now over.

The other picture was taken today at Crystal Beach. We were the only people in sight so I put on shorts. The blindingly white things in the picture are my legs. It was in the 70's today.

I am camped next to a single lady from Oregon, my same age, who is full-timing in the same type of RV I have. She travels with a cat instead of 2 dogs. We had a good visit this afternoon. We agree that running away from home is best reserved for our generation and would be wasted on younger people.

Stay warm.

February 5, 2007

No pictures today. I tried to take video while on the ferry from Galveston coming north but it didn't come out too good. It's only a 15 minute ferry so it's hardly worth getting out of your vehicle. They asked me to shut off my propane so I'll have to remember to turn it back on here pretty soon.

I am at Bolivar RV Park in Crystal Beach, just 10 miles north of the ferry. They advertised WIFI but they were just letting people use their connection which only allows 3 people to connect at a time. I was number 4 when I first got here. The owner called and is having it fixed some time this week. I'll be here till Thursday morning. They said until this week they were charging for the WIFI connection. Let's see, they paid for their connection then charged 3 other people to use their connection. A good deal if you can get it. I think it will cost them something to allow unlimited access. They will probably raise their prices.

There is a class C RV next to me that is also a single woman. She has a cat with her and is from Oregon. I hope to visit with her tomorrow.

Feb. 3, 2007

I never know which picture is going to show first so these may come out backwards. Silly, Standard Poodle, lays regally on the bed in one picture. A few minutes later, somehow the comforter has been pulled (pawed down)? and she has her head resting on my pillow. Since she didn't show up in yesterday's picture I thought she deserved her own blog.