Lunch Time Thoughts

Sinton, Texas,
The boat tote situation needed some improvement, so I put my minimal intellectual abilities to work on it. When carrying a load on the roof, one should always have a front and back tie down to prevent slippage either way. The problem is that I am too short to reach the bow of this small boat easily for the front tie. Leaving the rope on the bow loop always resulted in the rope giving me trouble lifting the boat onto the roof racks. Suddenly I recalled back when I had a canoe on a minivan. A friend suggested some loops of webbing from under the hood for that front tie. OK. Let us see what can be done.
For some unreasonable reason, Chevy had left a perfect spot to tie to the front fenders on the truck. After checking things out for a minute, a nylon rope loop was tied through the hole.

When I let the hood slam down the first time, I thought the hood would probably sever the loop. Nope. The loop fit just right.

Now I would be able to leave a lot shorter rope tied to the bow of the boat. The shorter rope should not interfere with loading the boat on the top of the truck. When the wind is blowing like today, loading that light boat is like hoisting a big balloon. The wind can take control very easily. WOW this worked out really well. On to the next chore.

The bed of the truck had several months of accumulated dust/dirt/leaves/junk in it that really needed to be cleaned out. So the truck was turned around so I could work while standing on the concrete slab instead of the fire ants. About thirty minutes later the bed was unpacked and I was able to wash the interior out with the water hose. Perfect timing, it was lunch time and the bed needed to dry before I did anymore work in the back of the truck.

While sitting here in the trailer enjoying my stir fried vegetable feast, a wild thought flitted into my head. There is plenty of room in my head for wild thoughts since it is mostly empty space I have been told by my so called friends. What if the boat could fit into the back of the truck now??????

It turns out it fits better than my wildest imagination. The trailer can even be coupled up and towed with the boat in the back of the truck.

The downside is I lost some “security” when I have the boat in the back for my other things back there. It is still better than an open bed truck, but not as good as when I could lock the canopy door. Loading is certainly a lot easier, especially when there is a lot of wind. The boat extends past the truck by less than two feet so no flagging is required. Now I have two ways to carry my boat. As my old buddy Ben Ngo says options are always nice.

Speaking of options, every last day of the month is the night I check myself for financial standing. Since the day for choosing if I want to start SSA payments is coming fast, tonight is particularly important. It is very important for retards, I mean retireds, to make certain that the money will last as long as they need it to. My comparison is between actual expenditures and planned expenditures. For the moment I am right on schedule per my wild guess while working. Tonight’s accounting will be enlightening to say the least.

There were not any big adventures today, but there was a lot of excitement for me. Tomorrow should be really exciting since I plan to run around somewhere to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Wrestling With Brittany

Sinton, Texas
This morning started well with the trip to the UPS Store in Rockport. A nice lady named Brittany helped me get the Yukon kayak mailed off to Virginia and it’s new owner Brenda. Brittany and I wrestled that yak all over the store getting it boxed. Here is a picture of Brittany getting the last of the taping done on the boxes.

Next on the agenda was to purchase some small clips, rivets and a hatch for the new kayak. The truck pulled into JerryB’s Kayak Shop in Four Bluff a little before noon. The clerk was busy discussing how it used to be in Port Aransas in the old days with a fellow who did kite boarding. As I politely stood by listening, it occurred to me that the clerk probably really did not want to be there. When it became my turn, I requested the small items first. She tells me she is not interesting in going into the shop to get them. The shop is in the building behind the showroom--- 15 feet away out the back door. She then proceeds to ask me to come back after Jerry gets off work from his day job at four o’clock. She must have expected me to sit on my thumbs for 4 ½ hours waiting or make a round trip costing $19 to come back. She was told NO I will purchase the items elsewhere and I left. Great after the sale service isn‘t it. Actually rather disgusting.

Academy in Corpus had some of the stuff I wanted, so those things came home with me. There is an internet shop that can mail the rest of the items to me in a matter of a couple of days. Now all that is needed is to fill out an order form and submit to get what is needed without the hassle of lazy fat clerks.

Dan the golfer and a friend of his went mackerel fishing today and got in about 6pm this evening. Hopefully they did really well. It would be bad to spend that much $$$$ on fuel and catch nothing. But I bet they had fun.

Tomorrow is guaranteed to be fun because I will be rigging the boat and rearranging the interior of the truck canopy now that the Yukon is out of the way. Maybe I will have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

The Fishcatchermans Boat

Sinton, Texas
As ugly as yesterday was, today was beautiful. Started out cool and warmed enough to be comfortable without sweating. Fabulous sunshine all day.

Most of the morning was spent verifying that all the parts to the Yukon were in the bags and all the instructions and paper work was in a baggie to stay safe during shipping. Brenda will be getting my Yukon shipped to her in the morning from the nearest UPS Store down in Rockport. Everything is twenty mile$$ or more from here.

The rest of the day was spent getting my boat for fish catching rigged so well the fish have no chance to escape. There are a couple of things that I need to get to help the rigging. From this picture from the front, when you click on it,you can see that I need to put on some more tie down points for my stuff.

It was a major surprise that the Marine ice chest ,that I use for fish I catch and have had for years, fit into the back well perfectly. Behind it my years old food cooler for day trips also fit perfectly.

Something must be right about this whole thing. Nothing ever goes this well for me. Another paddle for a spare and some fish grippers I read about are on the shopping list also.

Even a modification to how I tie the boat onto the truck went very well. A picture of that modification should be in tomorrows blog since it was to dark for a decent picture when I finished. Now I am wandering what I am forgetting????????

The rigging of the boat was slowed some when I had to unpack the under bed storage to get to some Yukon parts stored there. Once I started unpacking, getting rid of stuff became a secondary objective. And I did lighten the load somewhat. A bit of curiosity hit me and I surveyed the storage situation in the trailer. By my calculation, there is almost 50% of the storage space empty or filled with empty boxes to keep things from sliding around. After the trips in June there will even be a little more room as I drop things off to the relatives. The load on the truck could drop a good bit if I would lose the twenty five pounds of fat in my middle.

Tomorrow has the prospect of being a great day out shopping for fun stuff and trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

The Puppy Boat

Sinton, Texas
Talk about a day of goofing off. This has been it. Early today a mass of thunderstorms started coming through the area and kept coming and coming. It was about 7pm before I set foot out of my little home for a walk around the park. Much to my surprise I found five lost golf balls while walking near the golf course. My walk even visited the alligator pond back in the trees away from the normal use area. This stormy weather was probably just as well since I was very tired until later in the afternoon. Maybe all the paddling yesterday got to me.

The storms did give me a good excuse to call all my relatives to touch base for the first time in a few weeks. Plans for some visits were confirmed and solidified. Now I have some firm goals for the first part of June. Looks like the trip to Alabama for adventures is a go.

The other great news is that a nice lady named Brenda from the East Coast is going to buy my Yukon. She plans to take her puppy out in the boat with her. The Yukon is a great boat with a large cockpit that will allow a lot of fun with a puppy on board. I am excited for her.
This could end up with her and I miles apart each trying to have tooooo much fun at the same time. WOW neat. TheOFM.

An Ordinary Wild Day

Sinton, Texas
Everything was pointing to a bland day today. Wrong again, the story of my life. The morning kicked off with a trip to the grocery store, but the parking lot was full so I went to the library instead. Good move. The book I had checked out was returned and a new one checked out for my enjoyment. The librarian and I had a very nice conversation and off I went.

The HEB grocery had emptied somewhat so I was able to get my needs picked out easily and over to the checkout stand where I had another very pleasant conversation with the checker. WOW this day is looking better fast. After unloading and storing my things, I packed up for a trip to Lake Corpus Christi and some paddling.

While unloading and getting the boat ready, I found a new looking fishing lure. This is better than an Easter Egg Hunt. With some nervousness, I launched into the lake ready to get dumped immediately. No way. This boat is very stable and well behaved. It is quick to turn and a little extra work to go straight. It was purchased to piddle around in and do some gentle fishing. It behaved very well in among the stumps and obstacles. Paddling in the open to get somewhere in a hurry was definitely not its main design feature, but it was way adequate. In the picture below you can see most of the area I covered.

The route went around the close point to the left then out around the pier and over to the point at the right center and then to the point neat the right border then back across to the pier and back to the launch spot. The wind was strong, but the waves were small and well behaved.
At the center of the above picture is a small building with a red roof. As I was paddling past, the lady who rents boats from that building hailed me for a visit. Her name is Donna and we talked for a long time before I went on my way. I told her I would stop by when I finished my paddle. After the easy loading of the boat, the road took me to her place of business. Here she is on the right with a happy customer .

We discussed kayaks and camping and Rving and generally had an enjoyable visit. Then I got to meet her wonderfully nice puppy dog named Shadow. Shadow was a little bit bashful at first but soon figured out I am one of the good guys and came for an ear scratching.

This evening came with a nice supper I fixed myself, then out for my walk. As I came up near the park manager’s house, Luella was sitting out front. Ah ha another nice person to visit with. Little did I know that more excitement awaited me. As Luella and I visited into the night, a horse from the nearby rodeo arena came trotting down the road all by itself headed for the highway. In a couple of minutes trucks came down the road looking for the horse. The horse figured out to just stop and wait. A man came up to the horse and took the leash and the horse went quietly back to the correct area.

This visit ended and I headed out to finish my walk and it is after 9 pm now. As I came by the golf course parking lot, I saw an animal feeding on something in the parking lot. A raccoon is what it turned out to be and a very well fed one at that. Suddenly the raccoon turned to look into the darkness. Then it started to trot away and suddenly the turbochargers kicked in and up a tree it went to the sound of toenails scratching into the bark. What was that about I wondered????? A few moments later a small red fox came out of the darkness to feed on whatever it was laying in the parking lot. As I approached the area, the fox looked me in the eye and I stared right back at it. Finally the fox moved slowly out of the area back into the darkness. Cautious but definitely not afraid.
And now it is 10:30 pm and I have had a full day of having tooooo much fun. TheOFM

What An Experience

Sinton, Texas
The last four days have been a real learning experience. Salt water of the Gulf Of Mexico has been a part of my life for most of my life. This last four days are the first time I have spent extended time right on the coast. A double experience for me as this is the first and last time to do that. The wind sandblasted me and the rig for four days. The salt mess buildup was impervious to the sand blasting. The cleanup went on for three hours + before I could not feel any more grit on the truck or trailer. In the future for salt water trips I will stay inland on the bay waters where it is a much more pleasurable experience. Any trips to the Gulf beach will be day trips at most. Saltwater fishing is great and now I have the right boat for it. Just not from the beach front again. Here is the rig as I started on it.

Notice the ladder that is required for a short old fat man to wash the rig.

When the trip home this morning started, the wind was down to about twenty mph with gusts behind the dunes. When the rig entered the highway we were above the dunes and the wind was moving me around at sixty so I had to slow down to about fifty three before the rig was steady on the road. Now this is not nice I was thinking, since I had an unproven way I was carrying the new boat. It rode just fine all the way back to Sinton without any trouble at all. My top speed coming back got up to sixty five and everything on the roof held together. WHEW!!!

The good news was that my mail packet from the Escapees was right on time waiting for me. Which reminds me about being on time. In fifteen days I have to choose if I want to start Social Security payments on my sixty second birthday. Right now I am in turmoil about what I will want to do in the future, work wise that is. The great part of turning sixty two is getting my National Parks pass that covers most entry fees and cuts most camping costs in the Parks by 50%. That will reduce my daily cost enough to notice.

With a little luck tomorrow will involve my new boat and some water. Sounds like a good combination for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Mud Flats Are Important

Mustang Island State Park, Texas
Tonight is the last night for me at MISP. It will be wonderful to get back up to Sinton and scrub all the salty slime off of all my equipment. The wind has not let up even a little today. This morning it was 30 gusting to 40. The canvas campers all left first thing this morning. It is doubtful they slept very well with all the wind knocking their equipment around. It was bad enough inside my trailer.

When body movement started happening to me this morning, A vote was taken and the majority of the parts decided to go looking for launch sites. The truck does very well in the salt marsh for a vehicle so heavy as it is. Many false hope roads lead off into the marsh in the right directions only to dead end at a slough or bayou or wet mud flats. There is a eco area near here that I stopped at to read the sign. To my surprise it turns out that the mud flats are an important part of the marsh eco system. Here is the sign that educated me. As usual click it to enlarge it.

The rest of the day was an expensive event for me. The kayak shop I have visited twice before got a return visit today. Last night I did a lot of research and soul searching and decided I really need to change kayak styles if I am going to keep on playing on the water. My sit in kayak is impossible for me to do a deep water re-entry should I fall out. A sit- on- top (SOT) is what I took my kayak lessons with years ago. It is possible for me to get back in or on a SOT if I fell out of it. Now the decision was if I should have a boat or not. Definite yes. Further serious thought, you could see the smoke even in this wind, brought the solution that a small boat that I can physically get on and off the truck easily would be best. This means I cannot plan on long multiday trips into the nowhere lands of the USA. Of course I have never done a trip like that and have not real desire to do that.

After some discussion with the nice lady that runs the shop, I purchased a bright yellow Malibu Kayaks Mini-X. It is 9’-3” long, fairly wide, and I can load it on top of the truck without hurting myself. Bright yellow is always my first choice so I can be seen easily. Here it is patiently holding the roof racks for the truck waiting for them to be installed.


After significant effort and adjusting the racks on the truck roof in this horrible wind, it was time for the loading event to happen. In order to get it up to the roof I have to use a stepladder. It was a bit of a worry for a few moments as I hoisted the kayak aloft in this wind, but it went onto the truck easily. After about another half hour of adjustments, it was fastened securely onto the truck roof. Don't they make a beautiful couple?


Now I need to get the old kayak listed for sale in the Folbot Forum and see if I can get some money back into my pocket.

This new purchase will make it easier and safer for me to go out ant try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Another Darwin Award Contestant

Mustang Island State Park, Texas
First thing some deep thoughts, at least knee deep for me. My old buddy Mac up in Fredericksburg, TX straightened me out on what life is like. My complaint is that since quitting work, there was way more things to experience than I have life left to do. Mac explained it this way. You are standing knee deep in a stream called life. It is flowing past at a rapid pace and has sticks and leaves and other interesting things floating downstream in it. The best you can hope to do is grab a stick or leaf once in a while to look at and enjoy. There is no way to grab everything that comes flowing past. So relax and enjoy the sticks and leaves you do get to grab. The rest is for somebody else to enjoy.
WOW.

Today was spent for the most part looking for a place to get the kayak into the water and checking out fishing spots. The saltwater marsh where I thought that the kayak could be launched is nearly impossible due to extremely thin water for a long ways out. Carrying the kayak through the mud for hundreds of yards is not going to happen in my lifetime. In this picture, most of the water is only a very few inches deep like 4 or 5.

A little more back toward Corpus is a dredged channel named Packery Channel. It is where a few square miles of the marsh tidal flow enters and exits from the Gulf. In this picture the Gulf is at the end of the dirt you see. The channel dumps right out into the Gulf with the Yucatan as the next stop.

From where the picture was taken, if you look behind where I was standing, the channel goes under a highway bridge and fans out into a large salt marsh. There is a TPW boat ramp near the highway that seems good for launching my boat. Even with the twenty plus mph wind of today the channel was calm enough to play in.

On request by a reader of what does the rest of the campsites look like, here is a picture looking north from the front of my trailer.

It is not what I would call cramped, but is far from excess room between the rv slots. The rangers tell me that starting Memorial Day through Labor Day all the sites will be full seven days a week. Now that would be starting to feel cramped.

The author of this blog tries very hard to keep negative things out of the writing, however tonight I will talk of another stupidity like yesterdays kayaker. There was a fellow skin diving with a spear gun in the rip current next to the park jetty yesterday.

The waves were coming in with considerable force and the rip current was going out with a vengeance.

Later on as I was coming back from exploring the second jetty, I saw the diver getting ready to leave at his car without apparent damage to his body. At least he did not become another water fatality statistic. Maybe I am just a cowardly LIVE fool, but the risk/reward ratio for that kind of activity is way to far on the risk side for me. Not all the fishing was being done that foolishly. This bird was carefully working the swirls of water among the rocks and catching a huge number of small fish.

While I watched for a few minutes, the bird must have nailed a dozen tasty morsels for his supper. The bird was good. He seldom missed.

In the middle of the day today, the Port Aransas jetty received a visit while I searched for fish catching spots. The fogginess in these pictures is from the salt spray haze that is a constant at this coast. This first picture is from near the base of the jetty looking seaward at normal lens. This is what you would see with your eyes naturally.

The walk out to the end is about one half mile in my guess. Along the way I was reminded that the slime on the rocks will put a new crack in your butt if you are not careful. In spite of my excessive care, the slime nearly got me more than five times. Some of the fisher folks had very elaborate backpacks to carry all the stuff out for a day of fishing. One nice fellow said he had caught one mackerel and wanted one more before he left. This picture was from the sea ward end of the jetty toward the beach and shot through the equivalent of a four power pair of binoculars. The walk back in gave me more opportunities to rearrange my anatomy.
At this distance out form the shore, the raw power of the ocean swells can be felt as they crash into the rocks. It can be a bit unerving to stand on a chunk of granite six feet cube weighing a few tons and feel it quiver under the impact of a wave.

This evening the wind is blowing very hard and entraining sand. So when I took my evening walk, I came back to the trailer well sandblasted. Tomorrow promises to be a great day to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

On The Coast

Mustang Island State Park, Texas
Today started great and has gotten better. It is a little after lunch and I already have great day.

The new glasses make so much difference it is unreal. In the morning I can see immediately instead of an hour of my eyes adjusting to the other set. Thank you Dr. Ramirez and Wal-Mart optical.

Hitching up went smooth and slow this morning. A visit with a couple of folks and I rolled out at 9:30 am. Commercial traffic was very heavy on hwy. 77 but was light coming into and through Corpus Christi. My 55 mph speed did not hinder anyone and I made it to Mustang Island State Park in an hour and fifteen minutes.

Here is the main HQ for the park where you pay your money for a campsite.

A few minutes later I am set up in site 13, my lucky number. The campground is basically a nice parking lot surrounded by salt swamp and grasses. The campground has two rows of sites parallel to each other and on opposite sides of the large driving and turning area. It really is a well arranged area. There was more room to maneuver than was needed by at least 150%. The beach and dunes are to the east and the bay and swamp is to the west. Here is a shot looking through my site to the west.

Then when you look to the east you see this view.

The Gulf of Mexico is right on the other side of the dunes in the picture above.

To give folks an idea of how far the swamp goes, I climbed on top of the trailer and took a picture out to the west towards the bay. It is a long buggy way to walk over there.

To top it all off very well, the tv antenna gets a pile of stations in Spanish and English, the cell phone has 4 bars and the aircard has 4 bars also.

During a walk around the area today, it came to my attention that this foolish fellow was out trying for a darwin award. Notice no PFD. He was paddling right next to the jetty that you can see in the foreground. The waves were pushing toward the jetty and the under tow was headed back out to sea. The water conditions were very tumultus at best. However on a later walk on the beach, I saw him out on the jetty passed out with beer cans laying around him.

Tomorrow the plan is to check out an area across the road that is supposed to be a decent kayak area. That sounds like it could turn into tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Move It Old Fat Man, Move It

Sinton, Texas
Today was a very important day in my life. My newest glasses came in at Wal-Mart. The trip to pick them up seemed very long. Immediately upon putting them on, it was obvious that they were Right!! It is amazing what happens when the doctor pays attention to the 30 years of eye history I had for him and uses it in the judgment calls he has to make about the new prescription. Dr. Ramirez has a new patient for certain.

Earlier today one of my chores was to make the new cooking pan more storable. The handle was too long to fit into the storage spot I wanted to use. Out to the picnic table with my tools and off came about two inches of handle. Now it fits into its proper storage spot and I still can hold it just fine.

For those who are interested, on the way to get my glasses, diesel was purchased for $3.999 a gallon in north Corpus Christi.

This evening I did a little vacuuming of the trailer and started getting things ready to move tomorrow. My rent here goes for another 3 weeks nearly, but the hitch itch is getting almost unbearable. Mustang Island State Park is tomorrow’s goal. Here is the website for the park http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/mustang_island/

After a couple of days in the salt air, I am sure to be glad to come back here to clean the rig. It has been decades since I have spent any more than a day down at the beach, so this will be almost brand new to me. Of course, catching some fish will be in order. My blog has already had some pictures of the park, but more will be coming. There is also a large amount of water on the bay side that is perfect for kayak exploring to help keep me from getting bored. The campsites are inland from the beach about three hundred yards and across some barrier dunes. My excitement about finally getting all the stuff done that needed to be done before rolling down the road is almost too much to bear. Soon it will be time to have tooooo much fun and repeat having tooooo much fun until I pass out from all the fun. TheOFM.

PS: Mike McFall I apologize, I hit the wrong button and deleted your comment. Thank you for the compliments about my blog.

Giggling In The Woods

Sinton, Texas
As I exited the tree line on the walking path this evening, my giggling at myself disturbed a mocking bird in an adjacent tree. Most of my hiking has been done solo in my life. When I moved to Washington, the REI store up in Kennewick had classes frequently about many subjects. One of the first I went to was about solo hiking in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). A lot of the PNW is semi wild in that there are lots of wild animals that are familiar with humans and not the least bit frightened by humans. The part that had me giggling was that I caught myself looking behind me every minute or so. Why did I do that? So mountain lions could not sneak up on me. This was a precaution I was taught at the REI classes. Around here the most likely attack will be mosquitoes. Good habits are nice to keep around.

When I went to Capitol Reef NP last October, the mountain lion precaution was brought home heavily. My arrival at the visitor center to get my annual pass was right at opening time of 8 am. No one was there. The rangers live in a small group of cabins about one quarter mile away. Now what could the problem be. About 8:30 am the first of the rangers showed up. She apologized for being late. When she and a couple of other rangers started out the door of their housing, they saw a female mountain lion patrolling the parking lot by their cars. Naturally they decided that another cup of coffee was in order. The went out finally making a lot of noise and got in the cars to come to work. And me, I had been standing in the visitor center parking lot looking like lion breakfast. My hike that day was done VERY cautiously.

THE THUNDER RIDERS AND THE LOUD MUSIC ARE GONE. Except for the noise they made no trouble at all. However it is without regret on my part that they have moved on. If I happen to be here next time there is a loud group coming, a trip with my home to some place away from here will be in order.

First thing this morning, my truck took me to Lake Corpus Christi to do a little kayaking. Today must have been the everyone with a family go to LCC day. A ride around to see all the families camping and back home I came. After arriving back home, I put the kayak together to see about storing it in the boat storage yard as required in this park. The wind blew it around to much and was scraping it back and forth on the gravel. So I took it apart and put it back into the truck. Here is what a Yukon looks like after you have skinned and filleted it.
It all fits into the two green bags sitting on the picnic table.

During the day, I made several walking laps of the park for exercise. My left knee has gotten so it does not support me when it is bent. The walking I did last winter in the loose sand at Rockport had helped a lot. Now I need a different exercise since loose sand is not available. This could get in the way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Camping In The Freeway

Sinton, Texas
And the loud BOOM BOOM BOOM of the music continues from the Thunder Riders area. It starts at 8 am and goes until midnight. The crowd is orderly and not really “trouble”, but I might as well be camped on a traffic island in the center of a San Antonio freeway. At least it is all over tomorrow and we will be back to a peaceable little park. The rest of the park had a lot of family gatherings for Bar B Q today and the aromas around here can cause you to gain weight just from breathing. It still amazes me how peaceful the folks in Sinton are in general. Every family group would wave as I rode by on my bike. Even the dogs in general are very friendly to strangers and everyone knows I am stranger.

Another blogger made a comment in their blog that they started another blog because they had something to say that did not fit their current blog and folks might not like to waste time reading it. My blog is for whatever comes out of my finger tips. It would be way too much work for me to try to have several blogs on different subjects going. My retirement means not having to do many things on command. So folks what you get here is plain old fat man babble at its best or worst.

The painting of the plastic covers on the roof finally got done today since the “music” prevented a nap. Here is the before picture of the bath vent.



Here is the after picture of the bath vent. There is a lot less radiant energy coming into the bath now and of course I will need to turn on the light more often.


As far as the type of paint, it is plain stuff from Wal-Mart. On the last trailer it lasted at least two years in the desert weather of Washington state.


Sitting in place so much since last December has given me some very serious hitch itch. Mid December to mid February in Rockport to dodge cold weather, back to Fredericksburg for six weeks of truck repair and bad eye exams, and now a month in Sinton for some upgrades and receiving of important mail. There has not been much travel since mid December. That will hopefully be corrected when I get to leave here. Meanwhile the plan is to take a few two to three day trips to the coast and up to the nearby lakes for some serious fishing. At least here in Sinton I have gotten in a round or two of golf. When my time here is up, my plans are to move slowly around Texas and stay only a few days or less in each spot. Garland Texas is still my destination for June 1 and Huntsville Alabama for June 13-15. After that who knows????? Maybe after I get in some good traveling I may want to sit in one spot again for awhile. In the mean time I must work harder at trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Blood Flowing Freely

Rockport, Texas
There was blood flowing in abundance this morning at Rockport City Hall. At least three others besides me had been stabbed. The scene of the event is in this picture.

My hopes for a great turnout seemed to be fulfilled. According to the blood folks they hoped to get at least nine donations. There were folks waiting outside and inside were at least eight at one time. While my turn on the couch was in progress, I was the first one today, three more filled the remaining couches and as soon as I vacated my slot another person jumped right in. When I got outside, there were a few others waiting. The last time I gave blood I was the only participant in the hour and a half I visited with the blood folks. This is great.

Sinton, Texas

When I returned home, some mail had finally gotten here. Inside the package were the two other missing packages. The local carrier had sent them back, even though they were addressed correctly, because she did not know that I was in the park. Oh Well, I think she was trying to be helpful, but it nearly caused me a serious problem.

The Thunder Riders motorcycle group moved into the fenced area today. So far other than loud music, they have been a jovial nice group. The website says that it is $20 to enter the area where the venders are. It is against my principles to pay to go shopping. That is like Wal-Mart or Target charging to come into the store. No thanks we have competition in this country.

We had some nice soaking rains last night and early this morning, but this afternoon turned out to be a Chamber of Commerce day of the best kind. Later in the evening I strolled down by the golf course to watch the floggers do landscaping with their clubs. The “golfers” move a lot of dirt on these little muni courses. At least they are out there trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Picnics, Playgrounds and Trees

Sinton, Texas
Blowing in the wind describes today perfectly. When I awoke, it was to the trailer rocking. Even the milk in the refrigerator has waves in it from all the wind. Since it was far to windy for kayaks or golf or biking, an attempt at getting proper glasses was the main effort.

Where hwy 77 leaves the Interstate 37 going to the Rio Grande Valley is a large shopping area. The Wal-Mart there has an optometrist that was recommended by a couple here in Sinton. Fantastic luck was on my side. As I walked in, the assistant was taking a cancellation call that allowed me to get in this morning early. The Doctor was very personable and found that the prescription from the jerk in Fredericksburg was wrong. He started with the prescription from the jerk and quickly showed me how bad it was. Then we checked the glasses and they were not exactly the prescription that was prescribed. What a mess! Anyway I left there with a new exam and lenses on order for less than the jerk charged me for the incorrect lenses alone. A major fool I have been to get had that badly.

On arrival back home, my mail still has not arrived. Copies of the emails confirming the shipment of the two packages went with me to the Post Office. It did no good as far as I can tell. The Escapees have mailed another package with a tracking code on it that will help see where things are going wrong I hope.

After lunch, the local library was calling for me to join it. This picture is from at the street in front of the very nice building with wonderful librarians inside.

A card for me was quickly made available. They have internet on several machines for patrons to use. The book supply is somewhat limited, but sufficient. One book on landscape painting followed me home.

It is time to show some of the fabulous trees in this park. This shot is up into the owl tree. My golfing buddy Dan tells me there are a pair of owls that live in this tree, but I could not find them. Maybe you can.

There is an owl in the tree outside my window HOOTING right now as I type.

This park covers lots and lots of acres and there are beautiful friendly trees all over the place. This is one I am calling the Picnic Tree. It is inside the rentable secured area I spoke of a blog ago. It would be wonderful to have a family picnic set up under this great tree.

Back over in another area where a lot of playground equipment is available for everyone to use is the lovely Swings Arbor. It was very very pleasant area and the swings are great for old fat men to play on carefully. Imagine how many happy folks these trees have heard in their lifetime.

The campground is emptying slowly. Maybe a trailer or two is left to leave this year. The rest of the folks will be here until who knows when. Next weekend is the THUNDER RIDERS motorcycle group gathering. Froggi Donna from the Lilypad would likely enjoy this gathering. This will make the weekend very interesting and easy to try to have tooooo much fun.
TheOFM

Reality Check

Sinton, Texas
If you think you are getting pretty good at golf, then play a couple of rounds with a Pro. Last Monday and today I played golf with a former Champions Tour PGA professional. His game is not as good as it once was after some serious medical problems, but it is still good enough to let me have a glimpse of what it takes to be on tour. If I take my best shots of the last 10 years and put them together in one round, then I could make a low ranking pro have to work a little. Dick in Washington, you do not have what it takes either. HE HE. It is awesome the ability of a professional sports person.

They rest of the day was spent taking it easy and getting a haircut. The local fellow did a very nice job on my hair as well as providing some interesting conversation. By the time I arrived back home, the strong winds had come to town. As my home was rocking back and forth on the stabilizer jacks, I prepared a nice supper for myself. When I went out for a walk, the dirt and sand was blowing so hard that it stings when it hits you. Therefore the walk was cut short.

An email friend that I have helped get into kayaking emailed me his recent big adventure. He finally had his first upset as he was getting into the boat. Apparently he got soaked in chilly water. His attitude toward safety is the same as mine. Do whatever it takes to make a small OOPS stay a small OOPS. He has come a long way in the last couple of months and will be a good and safe kayaker. Congratulations on a safe OOPS Bob.

With a little luck the local optometrist will be back from vacation tomorrow and I can schedule a visit to get these glasses corrected to what I need. That will let me have a lot better chance to get out and try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

More Searching

Sinton, Texas
Preliminary cornflakes are the subject of the first picture tonight. The crop is looking good and the farmers are ready for a good year. The rows certainly look good don’t they.



My desire for things to be closer to where I have my campsite for longer stays put me on the road again today to re-evaluate a few places I looked into before. On the way to check the places, I was passing one of the good flats areas for fishing by kayak. To get to the flats area you paddle across the Aransas Pass channel. There was one person already over at the entrance to the maze of flats and channels.

Several folks have told me it is easy to get lost in the maze of small islands that goes for miles. Two more fishermen were setting out as I observed my prospects for doing the same thing in my yak.

The wind was blowing pretty hard but the open water is so narrow it did not have time to really get any waves going. The eventually made it across and beached the yaks on a reef. The last I saw of them they were casting and walking in the shallow water. By the way Folbot (www.Folbot.com) just brought out a little folding kayak for piddling around calm ponds and streams. It is cute.
At the ferry we had a wait of a few minutes for this LNG barge to come through.


The towboat was having a little difficulty with the strong winds blowing his tow in directions he did not want to go. In fact the ferry came into the dock a bit sideways and had to use the dolphins to bend the ferry into the proper position for us to get off. At least the water is in beautiful shape.

After departure from the ferry, I made my way down into town to the campground that needed to be checked on. There were empty sites in the place, but the manager acted like she did not care if anyone came in to fill the spots or not. Begging folks to take my business is not my style so I just moved on down the road. On the way home I checked on another one and the lady there made think that she did not want a low rent fool like me there. Color me gone.

Upon arrival home, my evening walk seemed like the thing to do. As luck would have it I found about two dozen golf balls during the walk. It turned out to be a great day for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Pasture Pool Again

Sinton, Texas
A wonderful day it has been. Early this morning Dan knocked on my door to see if I wanted to play golf today. That started the day off right. A stop by his home when I got ready and we walked over to the course. This course turned to be a very good municipal course for social play of golf. After the round, Dan invited me in for some iced tea. We must have visited for over and hour and talked about many things. When I was about to leave, there was a knock on the door and his wonderful wife Zona had arrived from her shopping trip. The goodies were unloaded from the car and a few minute visit with Zona, then I was off to my home.

After taking care of a few small chores, the course called me back to it for more golf. This time I met a very nice father and son team, Rowel and Justice I think were their names. My rocket blasted in Viet Nam ears have some trouble with words I am not certain about. Any way Justice was a very young man with impeccable manners and his dad was very nice to visit with also. This made for a wonderful close to the evening getting to see a family doing fun things together.

By now I was worn out after playing and carrying my golf club bag for 27 holes. Supper was at the Whataburger in town. There were a couple of family groups in there also. It seems that most of the folks I see or meet in Sinton are happy folks. These folks here seem to be pretty good at trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

A Day of Recovery

Sinton, Texas
Today was a day of easing by and letting my back recover. The truck feels lonesome since I never even started it today. This morning was host to a long walk at near normal speeds with a little pain. After lunch, My lob wedge and I went to do some golf pitching practice. After about an hour, my back was feeling very good. Later this evening I walked over to the driving range at the golf course and hit a large bucket of balls without any back pain. This is very good news.

Tomorrow starts the search for a competent optometrist to prescribe a proper set of lenses for me. It will be a difficult chore I imagine since I do not want to pay several hundred dollars for the same tests again.

The truck needs a bath and the trailer needs a good scrubbing also. Perhaps Tuesday will work out to do both of those chores. Speaking of chores, figuring out roads to take has been occupying a lot of my time lately. A month in one place is enough, so I plan on moving when my rent is finished. That $225 a year +$4 a day camping at New Mexico state parks is sounding pretty good to my finances now. The adsense income has dropped to pennies a week. Perhaps I need to go somewhere exciting to get the income back up a little.

Today has been a beautiful weather day, warm but not hot, lots of sunshine and gentle to strong breezes. Tomorrow is supposed to be similar. It will be great for going out and trying to have toooo much fun. TheOFM.

A Good Fence

Sinton, Texas
Isn‘t the sound of gleeful children wonderful to the ears??? My new campsite is across the street from a public use party area. To me they have done a wonderful design on it. The area is a large fenced area with covered tables for dining and a covered and a covered basketball court and many large trees. The folks actually drive inside the area with their cars and the gates are closed and latched. Now the kids of all ages have a large free roaming area to play without having to worry about running into the street or getting lost somewhere.

There has been several parties in this location and they are always a fun event without any drunkenness or brawling like some other places I have lived. The kids have been having a great wild time hollering and chasing and just kidding around in good safety.

Speaking of fun events. There was a fish fry in the campground that I did not know about. This evening as I went out to walk for exercise for my damaged back, Dan came to check if I was ok and why I wasn’t at the fry. When I told him I had not heard about it, he was very apologetic that the word had not gotten to me. This is a very informal event and I am not yet into the mingling with the others because of other things I have been doing. Any way he also told me about the 4 pm social gathering most days and the normally monthly fish fry. My speed getting over to the group was slow and I met some nice folks. After a few minutes, I excused myself to take my walk to help my back. When I finished my walk, the fragrance of the food drew me back to the group. The fish was cooked to perfection and a couple of other things I tried were way better than just excellent. My plans are to attend them on occasion to try to have some semblance of a social life.

When the trailer walls closed in to tight this morning, The truck talked me into a short ride through the country. The route was through some very pretty rolling ranch and farm land. All in all it has been a very nice day in spite of my aching back. Tomorrow holds the promise of being a great day for having tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Pain In The B___

Sinton, Texas
SLAM, SLAM, SLAM, SLAM……….. was my alarm clock this morning. The trailer next to mine has a couple of road workers living in it. Normally great neighbors because they get in after dark, take care of business and are lights out by 9 pm. In the morning the vehicle doors close once each, the engine starts and they are off to work and I barely notice them. This morning must have been load the truck to go home for the weekend after work. They have not been back since this morning, so I do not expect them back until late Sunday or maybe Monday night. Several of the road workers are living here. In fact this spot I am in was occupied by one when I first got here.

After deciding that laundry needed to be done before anything else, the clothes were carted off to the park laundry and washing commenced. The magazine that had me engrossed while seated at a table reading was a left over laying around the facility. A lady came in and we talked a little bit. She has an injured heel and is itching to get back on the golf course, but her doctor is telling her to lay off a few more weeks for proper healing to happen. As we talked, something came up that I wanted to demonstrate to her.

When I started to stand, something went bad wrong with my back. This was about 10:30 am and that was the end of my significant activities for the day. The laundry did get finished at a very slow pace. A lot of ibuprofen and some aspirin were consumed before I figured out it was a pinched nerve instead of a pulled muscle . Standing was not much fun, so I went to try out a place recommended to me for supper. The Butter Churn turned out to be a buffet style place of adequate quality. The wait staff even had sympathy for me. The waitress said she would set the table and go get my tea while I make my way to the table.

On return home, the water hose occupied me while giving “my tree” some water to help its health. The pain started easing off while watering the tree. After more than a half hour with the hose at full blast, the area finally started having some standing puddles, so I quit irrigating and turned off the water.

To my surprise the back pain had diminished a great deal. In fact, The back was feeling good enough that I took a gentle stroll of about ½ mile on the golf course. This give me hope that I will be able to give a serious try at having tooooo much fun tomorrow. TheOFM

Beautiful Tree

Sinton, Texas
A loud roar woke me this morning at the early hour of 8 am. The grass mowing had started in the park. The crew has very large and maneuverable mowers that can get in to the most silly places to do the mowing. After they got finished with my part of the campground, I went out to water the tree in my front yard. In this picture you can see the beautiful tree and the wonderful shade it puts on the trailer starting about 2 pm.

My preparations for going fishing at Lake Corpus Christi were in progress is why the truck is wide open.

Wal-Mart received a visit this morning to obtain some essential items like new fishing lures and a replacement rod for the one broken while engaged in the tire fiasco a couple of days ago. Of course that means a fishing trio is required, right. When I finally left for the lake at 3:30 pm it was only 95 deg and bright sunshine.

After several hours of fishing in different spots, the new rod still had not caught any fish. Must be a bad rod that needs to be taken back to the store for a better one. The good/bad news is I got to visit with some semi pro fishermen today and they are having nearly no luck with catching fish to sell either. Even fishing under the lights at night was yielding only undersize fish that had to be thrown back. Perhaps it would be more beneficial for me to skip fishing and just take the kayak out for playing in the water for a few days. This small cove looks inviting for some gentle paddling.

Golf seems like a good thing to do for a little while as my fuel budget recovers somewhat from all the running around I have been doing. However I have really convinced myself that these new glasses are causing me trouble. A new fitting seems to be in order.

A deep for me thought came to my mind while listening to a couple of losers talking today. When your mindset changes from “I can’t” to “How do I do that”, your life will improve tremendously. It certainly helps you to get out and try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Moving Day Again

Sinton and Aransas Pass, Texas
The big project for today was to move to my new location here in the park. Cleaning up the new site was a chore for the morning. Luella had already had her crew clean up the bulk of the left over stuff and brought a yard man over to weed eat the weeds next to the parking slab before I moved the trailer in. More effort went into cleaning the area around the sewer opening where the previous fellow had apparently not sealed the opening and sewage soaked dirt was all around the opening. If waiting had been ok, the maintenance folks would have done it this afternoon. Since I was without any other chores to do, I cleaned it up to my specifications and washed the whole area down with the water from the hose twice. It make a nice site now, especially with the big tree right outside my picture window.

The entrance to the park is rather nice. This picture was taken this afternoon late and if you know where my trailer is it is just barely visible in the far background.

After moving my home to the new site, the set up was fairly easy. For some reason it seems every parking pad slopes away from the sewer side. To level my home it takes at least a 1 ½” board on the door side to get things situated correctly for the tub etc to drain properly.
When the setting up excitement was over, my feet were very restless the truck took me for a ride.

We ended up at Aransas Pass to examine another campground that had been recommended to me by some nice folks last December. The place was very nice and relatively cheap when paying the monthly rate. It is about ¼ mile from a public boat ramp and fishing pier. The pier and ramp are located right on a dredged channel into the main bay between the mainland and Padre Island. Several of the campers use kayaks to paddle out for fishing from the boat ramp. The wind today was vicious, so only one boat trailer was in the parking lot. The pier was very nice and laid out well. Public restrooms were about 100 feet from the pier and ,surprise, clean. This pier and cleaning station had fish scales scattered on it. My guess it is a good place to catch fish on occasion.

On return home, Luella flagged me down with a list of everyone in the campground with the spot number they occupy. Now I have a better chance of getting some names correct.

I have been having email conversations about repairing aluminum boats with Tamia Nelson of www.Paddling.net fame. She writes a frequent column called “In The Same Boat”. Most of the time she is very humorous. It would likely make your day a little brighter to check out her columns. They help me come closer to having tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

New Feet

Portland, Texas
My morning started with the warm moist outside air being pulled across my body by the exhaust fan. Apparently it got warmer all through the night. When my head hit the pillow, it was a pleasant 68 degrees. When my head came off the pillow this morning it was 73 degrees and sticky. Tonight at 10pm it was still over 80 degrees, so the A/C will be on tonight.

After the morning chores, it was off to Wal-Mart in Portland for an oil change and new feet for the truck. The professionalism shown by the techs at the Wal-Mart was amazing. The oil change and lube went well. The only tires of the proper size, tread style and rating that they had in stock were some Goodyear tires with a 50,000 mile guarantee. Highway tread, instead of the usual aggressive off road tread that is the rage on trucks, is what I wanted. They are a lot quieter than those off road tires that were on the truck when I got it.

The tire tech and I examined the blown tire closely and noted that the side wall threads were cut by something sharp from the tread all the way to the bead. Whatever I hit was a mean motor scooter to cut that Load Range E tire like it did. To my amazement there was not any damage to the aluminum rim on the blown tire.

Several hundred $$$$$ later I was back home for the afternoon. These on going brisk winds are getting to be tiresome. Finally this after noon I decided to go over to Lake Corpus Christi to go fishing. It ought to be time for the white bass to start hitting sell. Right at the start of the fishing, I caught this nice pretty bass that weighed a little over 2 pounds, but was 1/8” too short to keep for supper tomorrow.

After two more hours of frothing the water in a frenzy, I had caught only two small white bass to throw back. A friendly old man and his great grandson were fishing from the shore nearby. The boy had caught a nice gou of about five pounds that they were planning to fillet and grill tomorrow. Several other folks were trying their luck at the pier to no avail. A couple of fellows with a boat in tow came to the fish cleaning shelter to clean their catch of white bass. They had about a dozen of minimum size fish. According to them the lake is full of white bass just under the legal size of 10 inches.

When I was leaving the park at dark, this pair of deer nearly got hit by a ranger in his truck. When you look at this picture, the deer are just above the sign in the lower right portion of the picture. Their eyes show up well as mystery dots in the night when you click on the picture to enlarge it.

It is a late night tonight, so I am headed to get the fish smell off me and get to bed to be fresh for trying to have tooooo much fun tomorrow. TheOFM

A Big Blowout Today

Sinton, Texas
A trip to visit the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) was chosen as today’s adventure. Pitched some food into the truck and set off with great glee. Of course the truck needed fueling. Why do stations put $75 limits on charges at the pump, when most vehicles need more than that to fill up the tank? The truck tank when down to the 1/4 mark needs twenty gallons to fill it. Most of the time I get stopped by the dollar amount before the tank is full. YUK.

Any way that is a very small pimple in a great adventuresome life. The road was lightly traveled and the traffic cops were doing a brisk business in keeping the local economy flowing well.
Upon entering the RGV south of Raymondville, the crush of people was suffocating. Hwy 77 was my route in and the drivers and traffic were as bad as Houston or Dallas. At hwy 83 the truck cried “uncle” and headed north. After stopping for lunch, the plan was made to visit Falcon Lake and Zapata and head back to Sinton.

The road that enters Roma had a big pothole in it that I did not see, but the extra strong springs on the truck let me know about it. A little farther down the road as I was stopping for a red light, there was a horrible loud noise from outside the truck. Immediately I could feel the flap,flap,flap of the blown right rear tire. This is known in the world as a catastrophic failure.

The truck managed to get onto a side street and into a white gravel parking lot. A quick glance at the temperature gage showed me 98 deg. outside for changing a flat. Since my three heat strokes, I am very sensitive to heat. One nice fellow stopped to see if I needed help. The whole procedure took me almost 30 minutes between breaks for water and shade.

While putting things back into the rear seat, a strong gust of wind slammed the rear door shut and I heard a funny little noise. Upon closer examination, a freshly broken fishing rod was the owner of the odd sound.


When all the excitement was over, it was too late to go up to Falcon Lake. It would have been foolish to do so without a spare tire anyway. There are some very desolate roads in that area and today is too hot to be walking very far. Use the cell phone. Nope, no cell service in a lot of the area away from the towns.
The spare tire carried us back home in good shape. After arriving home, Luella, the manager, came by to give me some more choices for campsites for next winter. She is a very helpful and nice lady. The sites were all carefully evaluated, as well as all the others in the park, and my choice is still the one I first chose with the big tree right in front of my door. That shades the RV in the evening.
Since my tires were getting quickly to the worn out stage, tomorrow will be a day of tire shopping and getting the oil changed in the truck. Maybe tomorrow will not be the best day ever, but it will be a good day for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.