Ponies & Johns...

It turns out Chincoteague and Assateague Island National Seashore are even better in the daylight than we imagined at night. Perhaps not having been leveled by a major hurricane in the last few years has allowed them to keep their small seashore cottages that are each different from the next. No bigger than the next one or just like the next one condos here. Also, there seem to be no direct roads from the DC area so it must be most of those folks are choosing places closer to the city to go on weekends. We did hear a group of locals talking about "road rage" that hits Chincoteague during the summer on Sunday afternoons at the bridge when everyone is leaving. Winter is definitely the time to visit.
We did see some ponies at the seashore, lots of birds, miles of "peopleless" beaches (of course it was about 40 degrees and the wind was whipping... no place for wimps!) and walked the trail to the lighthouse. (Most of the trails were closed because of deer hunt in progress to control the deer population.) Can you believe the lighthouse used fish oil until the 1960's when it was changed to electricity to run its light? If we had known to pack our mud boots we could also have picked up oysters and dug for clams. Next trip.
After a quick stop at the NASA visitor's center (we never knew many of our rockets are launched from a NASA base near Chincoteague) we headed to St. Michaels to spend the night with Virginia and Cousin John. They're in their 80's and ALWAYS a delight to visit. When Virginia (known affectionately as "the queen") needed an operation this past spring, her neighbor's gave her a going away cocktail party (and another one when she got home).
Then it was off to spend the next couple of nights with Judy & Cousin John (on the other side of John's family). One weekend when we ALL got together, all Virginia, Judy & I had to say was "John" and we got all their attentions. Sometimes it certainly makes things easier! As John says, "you can never have too many johns".

Moving north...

Waving goodbye to Phyllis and Millie we started heading north a couple of days ago. We also left a very polite Florida. We know they're polite - instead of their highway signs saying "Fines doubled in work zones", Florida's signs read "Enhanced Penalty Zone".

Luckily we did not receive any enhanced penalties and made it to Savannah without incident. Savannah is just as beautiful as we remembered it from 30 odd years ago. Unfortunately we couldn't stay long, so once we enjoyed one of their "pretty good" trolley tours of the city (we MUST be getting old - we never would have considered such a thing 30 years ago!) and had dinner, it was back to Skidaway Island for our last night of camping. The state park there is beautiful (it does offer cable but no Internet - maybe next time). In the distance is John "dumping" the tanks of Rambo in anticipation of colder weather going north.

Yesterday it was on to Wilmington to visit our friends Dick & his wife Tommy. They have a neat home on the inter coastal waterway where Dick takes full advantage of what the sea has to offer. When was the last time you had crab and shrimp that your host caught off the end of their dock? It was delicious! This morning they took us a tour of the area. Frightening how much development is going on to make everything bigger and look the same. Fast disappearing are the quaint seashore cottages and little shops John & I remember when we lived in the area.

Heading north again today, John just had to make a quick stop for lunch at Moore's Bar-B-Cue (they spell it that way), our favorite BBQ joint in New Bern, NC. Their sign says they've been "doing it right for 61 years". We wouldn't disagree.

Tonight we find ourselves in Chincoteague, VA, the home of the wild ponies. If we're lucky we may just see some in the morning before we leave.

A little Florida coast...

Another beautiful sunny day in Florida and Phyllis took us on a general sightseeing tour of Melbourne and points south. I'm not sure what has wiped out more trees - the hurricanes in the past few years or the seemingly unstoppable development (bets are on the development). Even so, there are still some nice parks along the way.

Bet you're thinking that's the ocean in the background. Well, it's not. It's the Indian River. I always thought Indian River fruit was just a brand name for fruit. It never occurred to me it was a real river along which there are still some citrus groves in addition to the houses. You better look quick though. They may not be here long.

We did see the ocean and it's beach as well with a few white Northerns trying for sunburns and skin cancer. The ocean was rather rough today so even though our friend Leigh might have ventured in, John & I were more than happy to stay on the boardwalk.

Every city down here seems to have its fleamarkets and Melbourne is no exception with vendors too numerous to count. John did acquire a plane (the type you use with wood) and an extension for some sort for a nut tightener. Apparently there's some belt on Rambo that's loose and John thought perhaps he should take care of it. Personally, I'm not sure this is such a good idea because... a) Rambo has been running fine and b) John can't seem to find the part in the maintenance book nor can he figure out what it is supposed to do. Who knows what will happen when we get on the road tomorrow? It could be an exciting day. Stay tuned!

Packing up then off to the moon...

Our final day at the Habitat job site –we’re all still smiling (and even more surprising, we're still moving...) Photo 2 – the “ladies’ vinyl crew” (isn’t that a pretty wall behind us?). Photo 3 – A little roof work. Photo 4 – a little hole diggin’. We hoped to find some of those old Spanish coins but no such luck. However we did leave them with a hole big enough to burn the wood scraps. Photo 5 – more roof work. The guys told us it was HOT up there. These silver metal roofs increase the energy efficiency of the homes by 20%. The men can testify they reflect at least that much heat – they were dying up there. Photo 6 – a gopher turtle (about the size of a helmet). They dig very deep holes in the sand providing great homes for other wildlife. Where was he when the ladies were digging their hole?! Photo 7 – we didn’t quite get the roof finished but the men were more than happy to leave it for the next crew coming in. Photo 8 – BBQ brought in for our farewell luncheon. Photo 9 – Lest we all forget what the site looked like when we arrived on Jan. 2nd. Another family is much closer to having a decent, affordable home of their own.

We hated to eat and run but we needed to be off to visit our friend Phyllis in Melbourne. It was wonderful to be fed dinner and tucked early into bed, a king size bed at that. The bed itself probably has more square footage than the whole inside of Rambo. And there’s definitely an increased comfort factor in sleeping in a bed without “cracks” running horizontally through it.

In the morning we were treated to a pancake breakfast, southern style. Please note if you will, the big block of fat back (laying beside the grill on the little "ledge") used to season the grill. Gives a bit of extra flavor to the pancakes.

We had hoped for a shuttle launching while we were in Florida but it is not to be. However, we did visit the Kennedy Space Center… VERY interesting. As you know, I’m always looking for things that set records. The building where the space shuttle is prepared for launch does that in spades. It’s the world’s largest single story building (equal to a 53 story building – so tall in the inside that if wasn’t for the ventilation system clouds would develop). It has the world’s largest painted flag and the world’s largest logo and the world’s tallest garage doors.

In the last photo, John is eyeballing a copy of the vehicle used on the moon (perhaps he’s thinking of converting Rambo). John later took a simulated “launch” ride complete with G-forces (there’s NO hope for Rambo on that score - more than 1 G and he'd probably crumble into a non-recognizable rust heap) and went "to the moon". He may never be the same again....

Tiles & Eats...

We have a LOT of volunteers working on "our" build because it got listed as both a Care-A-Vanner build and an Open build. As a result they ended up with far more volunteers than expected. Sounds nice, but with too many folks there's sometimes a "want" of things to do. So when they asked for 5 volunteers to go to another house today to lay tile, John & I quickly raised our hands. (Of course the thought of getting out of working on the roof in the hot sun may also have swayed John somewhat.) The photo shows one of the prospective homeowners keeping the fellows on their knees. It worked. We got the entire house tiled before we left work for the day.

The local hospital treated the "tiling" volunteers to lunch. (This shot was taken while they were still able to walk. After working on their knees all afternoon I'm not sure how many of them are going to be anxious to climb the ladder to help with the roof. Don't look at me - I don't do ladders....) Back to the hospital - talk about spiffy! Both outside and inside it looks more like a conference center. It even has a grand piano in the main downstairs hallway. No hospital "smell" either. And the food wasn't bad - only vegetarian offerings. As we started to eat, a short lullaby was played over the intercom. Nap time came to mind but, no, they just play a lullaby whenever a baby is born.


Since this is our last night here, we all went out to eat at the Hotel Jacaranda built in 1923. (Somehow we managed to bypass Don Jose's Mexican Restaurant that advertises "Happy Hour 3 to 10"...) The hotel is the home of the local community college's culinary program and they serve dinners, buffet style. Because the spring semester has just started I won't take too many points off for the canned peas or the frozen strawberries in the shortcake (it is fresh strawberry season here after all). The hotel has been well maintained by the college and is a pleasure to visit. The piano player is also fantastic - plays only by ear but knows every song ever written. He plays at Kevin Costner's restaurant/bar in Deadwood, S.D. in the summer and down here in the winter.

So until tomorrow....

Hammers & Hens...

Another HOT day in the sun. Low 80's (most of us agreed we liked last week's cooler temps). The "boss" means it when he says "if you aren't sweating, drink water" (a rather disgusting thought but it does keep you from fainting. Photo 2 - the "ladies" starting the vinyl siding. Photo 3 - Break time (Yes!). The house next door to where we're working is vacant so it didn't take us long to learn it was much more pleasant sitting in the shade than out in the open. The one person in the photo who's in the sun is a Florida resident. Photo 4 - part of the "ladies vinyl crew". Photo 5 - the house at the end of the day. The black on the bottom is wire mesh being applied professionally by the stucco contractors.
Then it was off for some fun at Henscratch Farms. They have live bluegrass music on Wednesday afternoons. They also grow lots of things hydroponically including strawberries that are in season right now. The pots are suspended in the air and "stacked" - makes them VERY easy to pick. The hens are used for bug control and they're doing a fine job as far as we could tell. (Perhaps I should get some hens for my garden?!)

Dreamin'

Nothing against Rambo, but some (or I should say MOST) of our camping neighbors have better "living facilities" than what Rambo has to offer. So John starts the day, sipping coffee and enjoying thoughts of grandeur...

However, there are few restful moments for the guys during the day. They "get" to do the roof work. This starts out pleasant enough but things begin to heat up in the noonday sun and they're more than happy to call it a day at 1:30 when we pack up for the day. The lake looks more than inviting to those few left with enough energy to make it down there.

Hammocks & Hammers...

Highland Hammock State Park is just up the road from where we're staying. Can't you just imagine a bunch of palm trees strung with hammocks for lazing the day away? Well, forget that. Those of you more in the know than myself, already know there's another meaning of the word hammock. It's "a forest of broad leaf trees surrounded by pine lands or marshes". And at this state park it also means it's filled with alligators and turtles and snakes and herons and all sorts of things to look at (hopefully from a distance!) but not touch. (There's at least one alligator in photo 2...)

This park was started in 1931 and, although Florida opened four others the same year, Highland likes to say they're the first because they got their paperwork done first. Florida is also VERY lucky to have it as it truly gives you an idea of what Florida must have been like before all this development took place.

Even though the temp is again in the 70's again, it IS winter here so the broad leafed trees were bare. And the swamps are suffering from severe drought which may be why we saw so many alligators and turtles in the little bit of water there was.

An added plus in the park is the CCC museum. Sebring was depicted in some of the Civilian Conservation Corp recruitment films of the 1930's (but they left out the part about building a road through the alligator infested swamp!) We had only intended to stay in the park a couple of hours but ended up staying about five. (Of course, the wild orange ice cream they make in the park probably added at least a half hour to our stay.)

Today it was back at work at the build site and, although I took my camera, I forgot to take the data card... So you'll just have to visualize for yourselves how much hammering we got done.

A little sightseeing...

Back to those murals in Lake Placid...
A few years back, Lake Placid decided to have murals painted on the "blank" walls of the commercial buildings to make the town look better, draw tourists, and share the history of the area. They now have more than 40 murals and people come from all over to see them. One of the more clever things they've done is have the artists "hide" something in their work. So if you use the written guide that's provided, you learn something about the artist, what the scene depicts and what to "find" in the painting. It's a wonderful gimmick as it makes you slow down and really look at the mural.
Photo 1 depicts the turpentine industry active until the 1940's. Photo 3 is the cattle industry (there used to be so many cows they even had a "wild cow" problem). Photo 2 is Lake Placid's other gimmick. They're making their trash cans into "art" (wonder what the garbage collectors think about this...). This yellow car even has sound effects when you put trash through the window.
You can't go anywhere in this area without seeing oranges whether on the trees on being carried in big trucks (photo 4). Photo 5 - the store at one of the orchards. The honey bell oranges (VERY juicy & sweet) are ready now. They're only picked in January and aren't suitable for shipping so we'll enjoy them while we're here (sorry we can't send you any!).
Bok Sanctuary in Lake Wales was our destination yesterday. The gardens, bell tower & estate are through the generosity of Edward W. Bok (made his $$$ from Bethlehem Steel). The gardens were designed by Olmstead (designer of Central Park). Situated in the middle of the gardens is a 205 ft. carillon tower - a National Historic Landmark. We were there for a live concert. Very pleasant to stroll on the meandering paths listening to the bells. All of this sits on top of one of the highest points on the peninsula of Florida (something like 245' above sea level - they call it a mountain but probably most folks would define it as a bump...). In photo 7 are orange groves in the distance. And photo 9 - me next to something with BIG leaves (if plants grow leaves this big, what do the bugs look like?!!)

Day 5...

To make up for yesterday - lots of photos. Carl in photo 1 took on the task of nailing every 4 inches around the bottom of the building (scores of nails and a task John said the rest of the men were all too willing to "let" him do). Photo 2 - that's me in the front helping nail together the interior walls (Now be honest - you probably thought all I did was take photos....) Photo 3 - Adrian & John (not my John but as my John says, "there can never be too many John's") displaying their matching thumb bandages with smiles on their faces (they both claim they were pounding nails, just not always the metal variety). Photo 4 - interior walls are up and the roof trusses are going up. Photo 5 - an exterior view of the "backyard" (I still can not believe anything grows here!). Photo 6 - cement truck arrives to pour the porches. Photo 7 - view from the front. Photo 8 - wrapping it up for the day. Photo 9 - a view of the neighborhood (our house is "special" - it's the one with the tree!)

After work John & I and another couple walked around downtown Lake Placid looking at the murals (more about those tomorrow I hope). Lake Placid is the actual location of the house we're building. For your history lesson of the day...
In 1895 Dr. Melvin Dewey (who invented the Dewey Decimal System) built a summer resort for this wealthy friends in Lake Placid, New York. 35 years later (probably as his friends got older and wanted a warmer place to go in the winter) he "discovered" Lake Stearns in Florida. In "exchange" for building a water tower and getting the railroad to build a new depot, he got the Florida legislature to change the name to Lake Placid. He also built a sprawling lodge on Lake Childs and had that lake's name changed to Lake Placid.

Back to walking around.... As it was getting near dark we began noticing old school buses coming into town and unloading lots of migrant workers in this one section downtown. Then we began smelling food and discovered a small little Mexican grocery/bakery/eat in/take out store. Figuring those guys have GOT to be eating well we found our way in and had an absolutely DELICIOUS dinner of tamales, beans & rice, spiced beef, gazpacho w/shrimp. (We were still in our working attire so we fit right in.) Pat & Ann had been driving us to the work site all week so John & I wanted to buy them dinner (total bill $18.88 - that's for 4 - our generosity knows no bounds!).

Day 4...

Unfortunately.... I forgot to take the camera to the work site today. Just because it was 20 something (Florida's winter must be) this morning AND the wind was whipping AND everything in Rambo's refrigerator was frozen AND even the bottom of the orange trees were frozen... Enough excuses.

However, we did get more framing done and several of the interior walls built and a LOT of nails put in the sheathing (hurricane standards). It was also decided pouring concrete for the porches directly on the sand was NOT the way to go. So several "lucky" folks from our group (I was NOT among them thank you very much!) got the honor of digging 18 inch footers and setting concrete forms in those. And they got to do it for two houses to make it more efficient for the cement truck.

Back at the campsite... we tried out the BBQ pit. This is a REAL classy pit especially now that our group "rebuilt" the grates. Bob (our team leader who's turning the sausages) said he always likes to leave sites better than he finds them. So Monday after work, "the guys" took out the old grates that were warped. One of our team is a welder who just happened to bring his grinder and he cut the old grate out of the frame. Bob picked up new grating material and before the day way out it was welded in place. Bob fired it up the next morning to burn off the oil coating and when it cooled, seasoned it with cooking oil. In spite of today's cold weather, we tried it out this evening to great success. It makes our BBQ pit at home look VERY sorry. Please note this pit does NOT have a chimney so perhaps we don't need that stone chimney of ours that fell down after all. We'll see how ambitious we get next summer.

Dreaming of warmer weather...

Days 2 & 3...

Day 2 - New Year's Day was a holiday - a rainy holiday. John occupied part of his day trying to figure out where that pesky leak was coming from in the back of Rambo. It's on HIS side of the bed so I went and played games with the others. Frackle, Mexican Train Domino's, Pegs and Jokers... games we had never heard of but turned out to be fun (and lest you think that John spent the entire day staring at the back of Rambo, he did come over and try his hand at some of the games - of course the forecast for sun may have had something to do with it).

Day 3 - the rest of the photos. It was a COLD (about 40 this a.m.) and WINDY day, but we were on our "slab" by 8:00. This affiliate is VERY well organized and the site supervisors are terrific so we all had jobs to do and got quite a bit accomplished. Because this house is in the middle of an already existing development with deed restrictions, it is being built with two porches and an attached garage (unusual for Habitat). The ladies in photo 4 are leveling the ground around the framework part of our group built to form the front porch. The "soil" is nothing but sand (in fact, I'm beginning to think Florida is nothing but an over sized sand bar...) The slab for the porch will be poured right on top of the sand. No need to be concerned about frost heaves here.

The morning was spent building the walls and right after lunch we raised them. The plan is to stucco the walls half way up (to discourage termites) and vinyl the rest of the way. Photo 5 - how many men does it take to hold up a wall?

Last photo was taken at 2:00 when we quit for the day. Not bad working hours!

The Work Begins...

Bright eyed and busy tailed, our group was on the road to the job site by 7:30 a.m. (a stretch for some of the RV'ers who are used to sleeping until 9:00).

First task - build door & windows headers and frames for the house we'll be working on. The local affiliate is very well organized and had us doing this step on the site where another of the houses will be built. In the meantime, three of our team were at the actual job site laying out the walls so they'll be ready to be nailed first thing on Wednesday morning.

Second task - help move supplies from the second floor warehouse they had been using to a ground floor warehouse that was much easier to access. Stoves, refrigerators, range hoods (Whirlpool continues to donate ALL the appliances used in Habitat houses - not a small donation. This affiliate alone has built over 100 homes.) went on the first truckload (and it turns out that was the easy load.) Next came 5 gallon buckets of paint (Valspar donates all the paint used in Habitat houses - the affiliate pays shipping) - HEAVY! (I took photos...). Boxes & boxes & boxes of floor tile, windows (light in comparison) etc. etc. - enough for two more BIG truckloads. Robert, the big guy in the photo, was our supervisor (probably a good assignment for him since he's a prison guard so was very capable of seeing that we got the job got done).

By the time the trucks were unloaded we were all VERY glad our first work day was over. The Magnolia Retirement Home across the way looked awfully inviting!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! (you probably will not be surprised to learn that none of us stayed up long enough to see the ball drop...)

Camp Cloverleaf

Leaving the Gulf coast early this morning we again headed south and east. Zipped through Fanning Springs, the "Gateway to the Swanee". (John of course broke into song with multiple verses even but we didn't stop.) Next came horse country - BIG money somewhere! Then into the heart of Florida where there are still mile after mile of orange groves although it's obvious many of them are being wiped out to put in developments. Enjoy that US orange juice while you can! We kept thinking we'd pass a fruit stand on OUR side of the road, but guess they only cater to folks going north. Tomorrow we'll take a field trip and acquire some fresh fruit. (In case you're wondering, the fine is VERY steep for helping yourself, so even though there's an orange grove across the road, we'll acquire ours legally.)

There are 18 of us working on this Habitat build. Alan, the guy at the left on his "Sunday" motorcycle, is our site supervisor. They have all the materials ready for us to get most of a house done before we leave in two weeks. It sounds like this site is very well organized so building a house does seem possible.

As usual we have a real mix of folks - Michigan, Maine, Vermont, Minnesota, (looking to escape winter in the north) as well as folks from Washington, South Carolina, Texas. As far as camping, we're enjoying the 4-H camp owned by the U. of Florida. It is absolutely beautiful plus we have the run of the place. John & I took kayaks out this evening - couldn't have been more pleasant as the temp here was in the 80's. There's fishing from the dock, a game room with pool table, a complete kitchen, BBQ, great showers. And because New Year's is coming up, we have Monday afternoon and Tuesday off to do some sightseeing. Talk about a plum place to volunteer!

The Roads Less Traveled...

Rather than taking the most direct route to central Florida, Joe sent us on the scenic route to give us a taste of what Florida "used to look like". Of course we also got a taste of what much of the coast is turning into with its high rise condos on the beach, outlet stores, and general tourist shops. Passed through Destin that advertises itself as the "World's Luckiest Fishing Village" (the fishing part I can't speak to, but with at least 15 high rise buildings in site, when does it cease to be a village?!)

Next was Panama City Beach which advertises itself as having the "World's Most Beautiful Beaches" (which were hidden from view by all the high rises so I can only take their word for it).

However, once you passed through Panama City, you can take a lovely coastal route with miles of white sand beaches (yes, that's sand - not snow in the photo). When the beach and ocean isn't in view you drive through pine forests that are lovely (for the first 10, 20, even 30 miles but eventually get a little boring to be quite honest).

However, these roads are also what take you to wonderful little out of the way villages such as Apalachicola which is supposed to have the "Best Oysters in Florida" (and they were mighty good!) It is also the home of the Apalachicola Sponge Company that just reopened after 75 years. Sponges (the kind that live in the sea) were almost "wiped out" years ago by a red tide but have made a recovery. Unfortunately we didn't discover the little bit of info about the sponge company until well after we had left the town - otherwise we would visited it for sure.

Always on the lookout for boats in need of a little tender loving care, John thought this one had great possibilities (lucky for me Rambo is far too small to tow something like that home!). A name I saw on another boat which I thought might apply to this one (and a good many others...) is "Centsless"...

Tonight we're in Steinhatchee where an uncle & aunt of mine used to come for the winter. Steinhatchee, too, is way off the beaten track (24 miles to the nearest grocery) and is obviously a fisherman's paradise. Had wonderful mullet for dinner fresh off the boat. Did as the man said, fried up the backbone (the best part) and ate it like corn on the cob. He was right - it was the best part!

A lazy day in Florida...

As luck would have it (at least for John...) the local marine supply was going out of business so first stop was a "foraging" trip for John to look for bargains for the sailboat he's building. Two plus hours and many dollars later (WAAAAAAAAAAY after my fun meter had run out!) we could go on to something far more exciting.

Like Brian's Poboys - absolutely, hands down, the best oyster poboys I have ever eaten. Joe took us there a couple of years ago, and it was still just as good.

After a little sightseeing (and all that shopping excitement), we headed back to Joe's so John could take an afternoon nap. And then it was time for happy hour in Joe's back yard with neighbors Delores & Jerry. They're on "winter hours" so happy hour starts at 3:30... Need I say more?

It's quite warm here - note the green grass, sandals on my feet, the guys have on short sleeves (my long sleeve shirt is mainly to protect my arms from the mosquitoes of all things!). There was a short article in the "things to do" section of the newspaper this morning about the "Polar Bear Club". If you want to participate in taking a dip in the chilly Gulf (I doubt they will have to remove the ice here before jumping in...) on New Year's Day you'll be rewarded when you emerge with a hot bowl of black eyed peas (a traditional way to bring good luck to you in the coming year). To ensure that Rambo makes it back to NY in January, I planned ahead and bought my black eyed peas today. Have you got yours?

Florida at last...

Woke up this morning in Louisiana to the morning news. Lumberton just voted to make their county "dry" again. Suddenly there's a big outcry about not being able to buy beer and wine locally. They're protesting the vote in court saying the proposition wasn't presented correctly or something like that (it was early after all...) The town clerk in another town has gone on record as saying "they will only allow elections required by law" (did they have other types?!) When John's waffle got "stuck" in the waffle machine we decided it was time to head east again.

The Atchafalaya (try to say that 3 times without sneezing...) Swamp has to be crossed if you're heading to Florida but it is really neat as swamps go. Plus it is comforting to cross it this time of year when you know the alligators and snakes are hibernating. In case your geography is as bad as mine, this is the largest river swamp in North America and filled with all sorts of birds, plants and critters. The educational center is DEFINITELY worth a stop.

Then it was on to Mississippi, Alabama and finally Florida where seafood rules. Joe was waiting for us with a bin of Joe Patti's famous oysters. Joe & John couldn't decide what photo they liked the best so wanted me to post both. Guess raw oysters must make men...

Goodbye Texas...

Rambo started! meaning we have started too, this time heading east toward Florida. Just in case I haven't mentioned it before, Texas is a VERY big state. And, when you start in the heart of the state, it takes most of the day to leave it especially when it's windy and you're driving something like Rambo (although if we were driving Tillie the VW we'd probably still be in Texas).

The sign is from the County Line BBQ in Austin (their version of "Sweeney Todd" I imagine). Their ribs are particularly good but it does make you wonder...

As were passing Austin I began thinking I was about due for a haircut. However, the "Cut 'N Shoot" salon, rather changed my mind.

The BIG news is that finally, finally, finally all the pieces are together AND working... the little MP3 player, the cassette connection from the radio that enables us to play the MP3 over the radio's speakers, the books on tape recorded on the player on loan from the library. We passed through much of eastern Texas Houston listening to "Dangerous Boys" which made the time go much faster!

Now a plug for local libraries... Even though our Earlville library is very small, the new books on tape they're adding to the collection are recorded on their own MP3 players. Just add earphones or speakers and listen away. No need for a CD or cassette player. In addition, they and the library system they belong to now offer books on tape that can be downloaded directly to your computer. No need to even be in the state when you do it which make it perfect if you happen to be "away" as we are now. You can listen to them from your computer or transfer them to your MP3 player. It's an absolutely GREAT service. So check with your library to see, or hear, what's new for you!

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve and we wish you a very happy holiday season! In case you didn't get one of our cards this year, the one at the right will have to do (painted by yours truly). Subconscious really must be a part of our lives... it was only after I had mailed the bulk of the cards that I realized it really would only be the cat and deer at the house for Christmas Day.

Before we leave on Wednesday heading east to Florida (John confident that Rambo will run like a top; me with my fingers crossed so John doesn't see them - he tends to think I'm negative when it comes to Rambo. I think I'm just being realistic...). Anyway, we passed this sign yesterday and all I saw was a bucking bronco and the word "massage". Close up, I'm not sure I'm any closer to understanding what the logo is supposed to convey.

Next bit of trivia. Farmers/ranchers all over Texas are always looking for ways to turn what looks like barren land into income producing property. If it's not an oil well then perhaps a pipe line. Or an electric line. Or a cell tower. Or a wind generator. Just outside Brady they discovered near the surface some of the finest round silica sand there is. (It was news to me but apparently most sand is angular.) And, as luck would have it for the folks whose land it is on, the oil industry needs a lot of it. If I understand it correctly, the sand is forced at high pressure down oil wells to "open" the fractures in the bedrock. This allows more oil to be released. (That is probably a VERY simplistic description, but if you're interested I'm sure you can find out more.)

And back to pecans... We took 24 pounds of pecans over for cracking this morning (25 cents a pound - a bargain!) It turns out the pecan "picker-outer" I pictured a couple of days ago is really called a "goodie gitter". It also turns out the company that made the one I showed (a one person operation) went out of business about 5 years ago. Another company makes a new type with a plastic handle, but the "cracker" owner who's 83 and should know about these things, says they're not nearly as good since they don't have the loop that slips over your pinkie, the key to a great "goodie gitter"!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

Texas Christmas trees...

Thought you might enjoy this Texas "tree". The ground was littered with Christmas balls blown off by the wind. (One can appreciate why Texas now has more wind generators than any other state.)

This morning it was in the low 20's - colder than NY or Ohio or Indiana or just about any place where Mother keeps an eye on the weather. That probably means "watch out folks - it's comin' your way!"

Just down the road from this Christmas tree is Cafe 87 next to the "Mexican Colony". The owner of the cafe is of Mexican heritage and makes wonderful food from homemade chips and salsa to huge hamburgers like I remember as a kid before those preformed patties became the norm. The hamburgers come with the works wrapped in paper. They also serve menudo (spicy tripe soup) which we haven't tried yet but perhaps next time. The guys at the table next to us got it and really seemed to be enjoying it. (When I reading about menudo, it's reported to be a great cure for a hangover...)

Back at Mother's we're also being fed well (with no hangovers..). From homemade chicken and noodles (the kind made with eggs and flour and hand rolled) to apple pie. And a friend dropped off homemade tamales that can't be beat. She and her mother had started making tamales at 7:30 a.m. and finished around 4:00 p.m. When I asked how many they'd made, she said 36. (How labor intensive is that?! Later my sister informed me 36 was 36 DOZEN!!! Wow!!!!)

This afternoon we're going to the movies. Big deal, right? Well, here it is. You have to drive over an hour to get to the movie theater. An adventure!