May Starts off DRY!

May started with Texas still in a drought situation, wild fires in or near every county in the state, two firefighters killed early on in their efforts to contain the fires. The weather was not quite air-conditioner-needed-everyday, but did have to turn it on once in awhile to get some relief from the hot and dry! Weatherman said we have had more wind than in many years – but I think the wind (when not gusting too high)is a saving grace! There are days that it is too hot to be inside without A/C but it is quite pleasant setting outside in the shade with a breeze. Oh, do I love my patio set and my rocking chair!

When that gulf breeze gusts, it feels like it sucks the air right out of me. After my adventure to the Corpus Christi bird mart, I was still having some respiratory difficulty early in the month. As always, eventually it cleared, life goes on and life is good!

In years past, I have found myself occasionally waking up about 1:30 AM, unable to get back to sleep until nearly 4-5 AM. This complicated matters when I was required to be at work in the AM, but being retired it is just another sleep-in day. I call those awake periods my ‘dream time,’ someone from the other side is calling my name. The amazing thing about ‘dream time’ is that it doesn’t seem to bother Holly & Li’lBit. They can snore right on through the nite, so evidentially no critters from the other side are calling their names!

Tony & Allison (park owners) left after church for points north and east to visit family. Will be gone for a month, so I won't see them ‘til I get back from Iowa. I wish them safe and happy travels.

A cold front came through early in the month - woke up to 64 degrees and nice gulf breeze. Was definitely going to be a nice day to drive to Kingsville, about an hour south of Rockport. Wanted to go to the Kleburg Bank. They were kind enough to grant me the loan for the new-to-me trailer and I wanted to make sure I had it set up on auto-withdrawal payments. It’s been so long since I’ve had to make an actual payment by putting a check in the mail, I’m afraid I’d forget and loose my ‘summer home!’

Nice drive to Kingsville. Nice town. Want to go back and check out a couple of the museums I saw signs for along the way. When I got home about 2PM it was still only 68 degrees! NICE!

Sure glad my sister keeps me in hoodies! I had to put one on to take Li’lBit out one morning. We had a couple of nites with lows in the 40s and that does make for a chilly walk in the AM!

Electric rates are going from 15 cents to 18 cents per KW hour. At least with the temps never getting out of the 60's today - didn't need A/C or the fans! Probably easier to accept a raise in rates on a cool day than on a day when the A/C is running full speed ahead!

Li’lBit needed a return trip to the vet for a follow-up. Her salivary gland is still swollen; I've noticed it comes and goes. Vet says "leave it alone." He doesn't think she needs to be subjected to a bunch of testing and surgery at her age and in her physical condition - UNLESS it gets worse or she is in pain. So we will check it again when I get back from Iowa in the fall.

Tuesday PM is dinner with the RV park “left-overs” at Mack's BBQ. Yummy brisket and lots of it! Should have brought 1/2 home; I was miserable! But when I'm setting there talking and eating and everyone else is talking and eating, I just keep shoveling it in! Came with 2 sides - I had carrot salad and cole slaw. Their potato salad looked more like mayonnaise and mashed potatoes. They had lots of different beans and stuff,but I wasn't in the mood for beans and potatoes. Boy! Am I getting fussy or WHAT!?

My project regarding the move to the trailer is to eat up the food I have here and not be buying more. It is a good reason to clean out the pantry and get rid of a bunch of boxes, cans and jars that have been pushed to the back. It is also a good time to make sure I don’t leave anything here over the summer that will attract crawly little critters while I’m gone.

However, it sure is cause for some strange meals It is giving me a good chance to clean out the freezer, fridge and pantry and toss out a bunch of stuff that ened up pushed to the back.

Stopped at the Dollar Store to pick up a can of spaghetti sauce - I would thaw out some hamburger and get that out of the freezer, use up an onion, the rest of the mushrooms, my green pepper and whatever else needs to be cleaned out of the refrig that will go in spaghetti! - guess what I was eating the rest of the week.

I won’t even go into detail on the use of frozen oysters and stove top stuffing! I have certainly created some unique meals!

While at the Dollar Store, I noticed a nice little footstool, can be used as storage - $10. I think it might work as a base for Li'lBit's steps up to the bed. If not, I'll just use it to put my feet on when I'm lounging on the sofa watching TV! I'm probably going to miss my recliner for awhile until I get used to setting on the sofa. I had the sofa taken out of the 5th wheel to make room for Tinga's cage and my recliner!

Another busy day even for a social butterfly. Donna emailed and said she would be in town, did I want to meet for lunch about 11 at the Chinese buffet -- Of course! Finished visting with her in time to run an errand and then to Panjo's Pizza to meet the ladies bunch - just had ice tea there -- didn't order any food!!! Then went to drop some stuff at the trailer. Came home to loaf around with Li’lBit, a good book, an ice tea and a nice quiet afternoon!

We all met at the flagpole here in the park for National Day of Prayer. It was a very pleasant ceremony.

Thursday was a busy day. Headed to Wally World about 10AM, then to lunch with Roberta and the in-town RV gang. Ate too much lunch! Had a patty melt with onion rings and a cup of lobster/shrimp bisque. Oh, my it was good! Brought the patty melt home for supper! Found a new place to eat – The Sugar Shack. It’s been there all along, I just thought it was a bar – well, it is, but they also have some great food and entertainment on the weekends.

Then off to the trailer to dump a small load and try to consolidate some of the multitude of plastic bags full of stuff I’ve just tossed inside! I managed to get a couple of tote boxes cleaned out and get some stuff organized. I'm not going to worry about putting stuff away until I have time to wipe out the cabinets, etc. I'll do that when I'm in Gatesville. Just want to make sure have floor space for Li'lBit's and Holly's beds, Tinga’s cage, critter food & water bowls and the kitty litter! (the important stuff!)

My cell phone is dying. I'm going to need a new one and when I get one, I'm going to loose my "deal" from Alltel that was 'grandfathered' in when Verizon bought Alltel. So, I’ll not only need a new contract for cell phone service but for my USB modem for the computer.

Went to Wally World, the WalMart here doesn't handle Verizon...sent me to Aransas Pass, about 15 miles down the road. After messing around with them for nearly an hour, the lady was new and waiting for Andrea (by the way, she never returned from lunch!) - only to find out they cannot upgrade/change my USB modem - only the phone. Have to go into Corpus to the Verizon store. I don't think so! I've done a little shopping/comparing -- Verizon is probably not my best deal – but I know Verizon will cover Iowa, central TX and Rockport (if not well, it at least gets reception!) Will check and see if there is still a Verizon store in Gatesville - but I think it was closed the last time I was in town. This is turning into a pain in the butt! I know there is still one in Marshalltown, IA. Will probably just wait ‘til I get there.

Spent Mother’s Day with Deryl & Elke and their family. Nice lunch - nice visit! Humidity was up so it was a do-nothing day when I came home.

Received an email saying that my baby sitter had passed away. How sad. Rhoda had been my baby sitter when I was little and had taught me to play canasta. Made it a sad day.

Busy day in retirementville. Nails done at 1PM, meeting Donna for late lunch at Whataburger, then it's RV park 'left overs' out to eat at Macks BBQ again. Can’t say NO to a Whataburger so I ended up only having ice tea with the “left over” gang.

May 10th my computer died (power failure thing - not a computer crash!) When I got turned back on, all of the email I downloaded from GMAIL to my email program disappeared. I have no mail from Feb 10th on! Have no earthly idea what happened. Hope there wasn't something in that batch I was supposed to answer!

Wednesday lunch group went to Miss Steaks, a little dive up north of Copano Bridge. Used to be Caroline's in an old green dive, now it is Miss Steaks and Caroline has moved to an old yellow dive - not in much better shape - just bigger! But the food is still too much and too good and great prices! Didn’t get home ‘til late afternoon - oh, my - we do get to chattering! Had a good hamburger with cheese and mushrooms, bacon and a 'special sauce' (tastes a lot like A-1 steak sauce!) But it was good! Came with lettuce, tomato on the side, pickles and french fries - really FAT french fries. Ate the lettuce, tomato, pickles, french fries and the stuff that slid off the hamburger (mushrooms, some cheese, bacon)and brought the hamburger home for supper. That's another exciting day in retirementville!

So far no rain-- just cloudy and humid -- I needed to water plants. Guess I'll have quite a few to haul with me to Iowa. Wasn't thinking when I started planting my little 'garden' this spring! Of course, when I was doing that, I was still thinking I'd be here all summer!

Finally about 3PM, thunder, lightning (not much) and RAIN -- Lots of rain pounding on my roof!! YIPPEE! Wasn't sure I'd remember what rain was when the weatherman said there was rain predicted for today! He finally got something RIGHT! We got just under 2 inches of rain. Power out down around Corpus and some minor street flooding, the rain came all at once. The high winds and heaviest part of the storm was out on the gulf before bedtime! Guess I wouldn't have needed to water my plants in the AM, huh?!

After working several days in the trailer, I emailed Deryl that I had a project for him. Remove the shelf in the closet so I can hang clothes without them wadding up at the bottom and go ahead and remove the open portion of the bunk, leaving ½ of it to be used as a shelf.

Saturday, May 14, I wasted the entire morning watching the aerial warfare going on outside my window. The park is full of those huge noisy black birds that Tinga likes to mimic. BUT, it is nesting time now and a couple pair of mockingbirds are nesting in the trees out to my back. There is absolutely nothing meaner and more protective than a mockingbird. And it looks like aerial war footage from WWII out there -- the sleek fighter jets (mockingbirds) taking chase to the big lumbering bombers (the black birds)! As soon as the war is over, I'll get up and do something!

Finally, when I did get up and do something, I headed over to the trailer to show Deryl exactly what I wanted removed. Had a nice visit with Deryl and Elke, always do! He didn’t waste anytime attacking the project – got an email a couple hours after I left to say it was completed! Sunday AM I took a few more things over and ‘inspected’ the workmanship. It is wonderful! Just what I needed, it’s almost like having another little room! Will make a great office/computer space – along with pet space and storage area. Can’t wait to move in and start using it!