Big Chunk

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama


Grand daughter Piper is a BIG girl. The OFM got there just in time to get a lapful of Piper. That kid is a major chunk of kid to hold.

Grandson Gavin was all over the place today. But in general he was being nice to everyone. After lunch out that included ice cream we went back to the house and visited a bit more.

It did not take much to wear down the OFM ( AKA Grandpa). Kids have a way of making things way tooooo much fun in a hurray. Then the Grands need to rest.  ZZZZzzzzzzz  z zz zzz zzzzzzz.

Involuntary Slowdown

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

It is sort of good news in a way.  Today the OFM pulled his data about his last few weeks of golf practice and playing. The news says that he is old. WHOA, make that OLD. Golf is designed to be played from the set of tees that suit your abilities for distance when whacking the golf ball.  The tees set the length that you will play for the course. For Point Mallard from the back tees plays at a distance of 7064 yards. That is longer than some of the PGA courses.

The tees the OFM started playing at seven years ago were the tees playing at 6585 yards. Then two years ago the OFM could no longer hit the ball far enough to play those tees. The next set of tees he has been playing the last two years and the start of this summer season play at a distance of 5881 yards.

 However the statistics show that the OFM is too wimpy to play them tees any more and starting tomorrow he will be moving up to the shortest playing tees at 5325 yards. This moving forward is the result of age because he still hits the fairway with 85%  of his drives. When he started playing here he hit his driver about 240 yards average distance. The data from the last three weeks shows that the OFM now hits his driver about 190 yards. That means he is right at the driving distance for a course of 5300 yards.
So what does this prove??????

It shows that the OFM is OLD and getting slower in his quickness. Rory, Dustin, Jordan and the others no longer have to worry about the OFM coming out to the course and giving them a bad beating. However the bright spot is that the OFM can still walk the front nine holes of golf pulling his clubs in a pull cart. That is 3.5 miles of up and down walking in about two hours if he hit the ball straight all the time (and that does not happen).

So there you have it. Slow, old but still out there trying to have tooooo much fun.

Correcting An Error

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

We had a serious time of forgetfulness last night. The new to us campground we will be going to in Rockport is Route 1069 RV Park.  The important thing is that they have a few more spaces available if you are wanting one. Hit the link above and talk to them. They are less than a mile from the harbor area and some pretty good bank fishing.

Today was mainly a piddle around day. Some lazy shopping and a longggggggg nap after lunch was the main events. BB now has a rear rack of a light duty style. We plan on NOT doing any heavy duty riding any more so lighter duty equipment is all we need anymore.

While testing out the latest bike changes we stopped by the lake end of the creek that runs near the Castle. It is sort of a scary swamp section when the light is not good. This picture has been lightened a bit. The still water and swampy look gives us some nice reflections we think.

There is not a lot of heavy activity going on but we are enjoying being gentle while trying to have tooooo much fun.

$7.28

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

The chore was a big one but the Teams thought the OFM could handle it. It was $7.28 of expense already but it seemed the right thing to do. The package was opened and placed on the counter to plan the attack. It certainly is a chore said the OFM.

So he sat down and went to work. First he ate that part then this part then some more and he kept on eating. It is a good thing he has a huge belly or he would have exploded. After a very long time he put down the fork and declared VICTORY.

That pulled pork was pretty good even if he had to stretch his belt a few inches to handle it all.

As you might guess it is now time for the horizontal position. Hopefully this huge meal tonight will put the OFM back into a healthy style so we can get busy trying to have tooooo much fun again.

Time Flys

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

We just realized it is near the end of September already. That means we have been here almost two months already. Currently the plan is to roll out by the end of October to ? If you know where we are going let us know because we sure don’t and we do not want to miss the turn.

For some reason this time here in Gavinland has been a very busy time. There has been nearly no art attempts since we got here. However we have had some major walking, biking, golfing and grandkidding. Of course we were also entertained with the tail end of Hurricane Harvey rains and them the western rains of Hurricane Irma.

It  seems like the spiders in the woods have been busy spinning webs so walkers can get a face full often while walking through the woods. We managed to see this web over our heads without getting too involved in it.

That sure made a pretty sparkle in the sunlight was we passed under it.

The brilliant green of the foliage is easing back in this area.  The greens are much more subdues and taking on a yellow tint like they are getting tired. Here is a nice yellow leaf cluster that was near the soccer fields.

More and more of them are showing up daily.

Another color one type of tree likes is this purplish leaf. They can be beautiful when they are in mid-purpling?  Later they get to be a main color in the area.

For the last couple of days the OFM has been trying to get his golf playing back in order. He has never been a great golfer to say the least, but sometimes he even finds the ball he hit after he hits it. The course  here has a front nine holes that are a lot tougher than the back nine holes. The OFM has been walking the front nine about five times a “week working on his game”. Par for the front nine is 36 and the last two rounds the OFM shot 44 for his score. That is about as good as he gets. He cannot handle walking the whole course in one outing. The front nine alone measures about 3.5 miles to walk. That is enough for him. It is also the most fun half of the course.

Friday is supposed to start the cooler temperatures for the area and by the end of October it will be downright chilly. That is OK because the Teams will have cooler weather for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Old Friends

Adventure Location: Birmingham, Al.

It was a good bit of driving to their home but it was done safely coming and going. Birmingham is not a great place to drive around but it is better than Houston, Dallas or Fort Worth for sure.

The Teams got there nearly on time and the visiting began. They are super nice younger folks and have a nice location out in the heavily wooded area out from Birmingham. We did some serious sitting and talking, then some serious hamburger eating and finished the visit with some more serious visiting. Catching up on a few years can be a lot of hot air you know.

Naturally it came time to head out for the Castle before we finished talking but the OFM did not want to fight the Birmingham getting off work traffic. As it was it was bad enough it took about twenty minutes longer to get home than to get there.

The OFM was pooped and went to bed early for some rest. Alas it was not to be. A migraine woke him about 0400. So he crawled over to the bath room and took a few pounds of ibuprofen and slithered back to bed.  He has been just easing around today until about 1500 when things eased off a lot. There is hope he may get out and around tomorrow for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Visiting Trees

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

Well it appears we will get a blog posting tonight. The Wifi here at Point Mallard Campground is supplied by the City of Decatur. For the last few days we have been having lots of troubles getting to do our usual things on the Wifi. There has been a lot of disconnects. Doing much of a download has been basically impossible. Today things seem to have gotten better but not as good as it used to be.

The Teams have been doing a lot of walking in the park and the nearby area. The camera has been getting a workout for sure. Usually we start at the first trail opening near the Castle and wander around the park and trails until we decide it is time to head back to the Castle. The first part of the trails is a canopied trail about a quarter mile long. At the end of that trail there are basically six different trails to choose from at that point. Here is a scene looking along the first trail.

Along most of the heavily wooded sections of trails in the park as some tree that sheds its bark. The bark falls off the tree and gets hung up in the underbrush like in this picture. The piece of bark is about two and a half feet long.

Not too far from the Castle is a creek that comes in from Flint Creek, goes through the forest and comes out near the Castle. This is where any flood waters will come in that attack the Castle. 

It has been pretty hot for the last days since the hurricane residue left the area. Today got up to 87 and really high humidity.  The OFM did not spend much time out in the heat until very late afternoon.

Tomorrow we head down to south of Birmingham to visit a fellow and his wife. The OFM met them while he was working in Washington State long ago in ancient history times. It should be a nice visit since they are really nice folks. We will likely have a great time trying to have tooooo much fun.

Tate Farms

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

Here it is 2210 on Saturday night and the OFM just has to tell the tale. The Teams hit Gavin’s house about 1400 today for a special event. Gavin’s dad had tickets to Tate Farms for this afternoon. Tate Farms is a sort of amusement park with LOTS of kid stuff to do. The OFM was sitting over there drooling “ lots of kid stuff OH BOY”. Here is their website.   Tate Farms

This was a special event  given to employees and relatives of the company the OFM’s son works for. We did hay mazes, corn train ride, petting critters, inflated bed jumping and four hours of fun. Gavin was one worn out young grandson at the end of the event. Two pumpkins even followed us home.
This is the THREE MOOCH KATEERS having the  lunch of BBQ sandwich, mac and cheese, potato salad and baked beans. It was all very good food.

We were all beat when we got home to Gavin’s house. Then the OFM had an hour drive to get back to the Castle. And now everyone is totally worn our from having WAY Tooooozzzz much fun.

44

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

The morning was nice starting out and got better for most of the day. Later in the morning the OFM started in on getting used to his golf clubs. He had not played a round of golf with them yet but it was getting to be time. Keep in mind that his legs can walk a 9 hole round of golf but after that he is finished for the day. If he is going to play 18 holes it is riding a cart from the start.

Any way he needed to work out the golf clubs some. It had been a lot of months since a serious round of golf and some of the clubs had never been on a course. So late morning came along and the Teams and clubs went to the practice range to learn about hitting golf balls all over.

An hour and a half later the OFM was tired and soaked with sweat in the warm morning sun. The good news is all the clubs worked very well. The OFM did not work nearly as well.  Anyway the clubs we chose for playing golf were stored in the bag and the others put into storage in the Castle.

Lunch came and went while taking care of some nonsense. Then in later afternoon we were able to take the OFM Golf Playing Team over to the golf course to try our luck with 9 holes of actual golf. The OFM plays the old folks tees. They are rated for 18 holes at 67.3, slope 109, and 5881 yards. This is a nice course that is interesting without being a killer but you do need to pay attention to score decently.

We were going along having a nice time in the heat and keeping the golf ball in play. The OFM did not expect to have a good round after all this time without serious playing. We had our share of OOPS shots and WOW that is great shots. To the OFM’s major surprise, when the score was totaled it was 44 for 9 holes. That was respectable for an old decrepit fool who had not played in many months. He was quite content.

Later tonight we heard from an old friend that we knew from the campground in Rockport. They have decided to not come down to the Texas coast this year for the winter. We had quite a neat group of folks for a few years but age has been changing things for all of us. Life does change doesn’t it.

Shooting a fair round of golf is a nice way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Surprise Heat

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

It was a nice wakeup this morning to sunshine. After breakfast the OFM did some more considering for travels but could not come to any worthwhile conclusions for places to go for the fall. It was turning out to be a nothing special day due to the heavy humidity from all the rains and the fact we are right on the edge of Wheeler Lake.

After returning from a trip to a couple of stores to consider some purchases the OFM decided that we could attempt to play golf about 1430. By then it was 82 and feeling pretty warm. So we hit the course and made it to the green of the second hole. You start a round of golf by heading off into the thick trees near the lake. There is no wind usually and today was worse. If you dropped a thread it would fall like a rock. However if it was dry to start when it left your hand it would be dripping wet by the time it got to the ground. It was not pleasant out there this afternoon.

On the third hole the OFM noticed his body was not feeling worth a flip. When he hit his drive, it was more like a weak mosey. It was then he noticed he was suffering from the humidity and zero wind accompanying the bright hot sun. He got under a tree and tried to cool off a bit. After a few minutes he grabbed his gear and started the long walk off the course. The heat was winning and he was leaving.
When we got back to the Castle, he sat in front of a fan for nearly an hour of recuperation time. Then it was time for some more research on the Internet. Around 1800 we hit up the chicken joint nearby for supper and have spent the rest of the evening with a fan blowing on the OFM. Yep he did good getting out of the heat and humidity today. We certainly were not expecting a heat event today but a person needs to always be careful.

Tomorrow we are planning some more bike riding for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Foolish Planning

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

The rain continued all day sometimes gently, sometimes harder and it was cold rain. The highest temp we noticed today was 63 and that was chilly running into the Mexican food restaurant in the cold rain. Virtually the entire day was spent deciding about travel plans.

The end result was we plan to leave Decatur at the end of October and head back into Texas to spend some time roaming the parts of that state (former country) that are warmer than most areas. The expected return to Decatur is not earlier than late April and not later than right after the Fourth of July.  

For the rest of the time in Decatur, when not playing with grandkids we, plan on putting serious wear on the golf course next door to the campground. And that is normally a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Cold And Raining

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

The rain started about noon and is supposed to continue until tomorrow sometime. It is not a hard rain but it is COLD large drops steadily hitting the roof of the Castle. It is cold outside to the OFM. He considers anything below 70 to be COLD.

His virus seems to finally be on the road to healing but he still is whining like an alligator bit him on a tender place. As fat as he is, you can bet it was a greasy tender place.

This cooler weather has the OFM trying to make up his mind when to leave Decatur and head westerly. Then there is the trouble that by then it will be getting chilly when you head west. We are even considering that vast wasteland around AJO, Az for a few weeks of being lazy. Who knows what the Teams will do? We do not but we do know it will not be in a COLD area.

Since we have nothing to write about, how about a picture of our campsite here in Point Mallard Campground.

Like most campsites here, it is fairly spacious for small rigs like Comfort Castle. As you can see we do not spread out very much when we set up. The KISS principle is great for our style of camping (living).
With a little luck tomorrow will see the end of the steady rain and maybe the OFM can get the golf clubs out and try to have tooooo much fun.

Whimpering But Alive

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

The OFM is still in a RAUNCHY way. We did get him out to Gavin’s home for a short visit. Gavin and his Mom seem to be recovering. Keep in mind they are young and tough.  A few minutes of holding Piper was a nice treat.

A quick trip to pick up lunch went well. Then it was time to send the OFM back home for bed time. It was a nice visit but really wore the OFM out.

After a very long passed out completely nap, the OFM thought we ought to let you know he is still alive. The hurricane remnants are due to pass just east of us Tuesday and cause some rain. So mostly he is just trying to heal enough to get out and try to have tooooo much fun.

The Raunch

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

The OFM has had a rough night and day today. Something has him feeling pretty raunchy. We did make a food trip and come back with a few days of food.A little stocking up is a good idea with the fringe of Irma looking like it has invited itself into the area starting about Tuesday. Mostly it is mild winds and a bit of rain for three days.

A couple of miscellaneous chores were done but nothing requiring serious effort was attempted. The trip over to the golf course was a joke. The OFM didn’t have enough strength to hit the ball very far. Eventually he realized he might as well go back to the Castle and sleep. That is what he did to our surprise. The OFM doing something he ought to do, now that is a real happening.

Here we are at the weekend and we have several new campers for the weekend. We are guessing that a football game or two is on tap for the next couple of days. This may be a good weekend for starting a few attempts at some new art.

 Yep that would be a good way of trying to have tooooo much fun and resting as a person heals from a case of the THE RAUNCHY feeling.

School Days

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

It was Grandparents day at Gavin’s kindergarten school. There was quite a gathering of folks from far and near. They gave a drink cup to the folks that came the furtherest to the event. Many were from out of state and had their hands up. the principal started whittling them down and soon the OFM was the last grandparent standing at 1000 miles away. So he was the big winner of the day.

Next each class group was escorted to the proper class room (ZOO). Gavin got a big surprise since he thought only his grandmother and her husband were coming. The OFM was already in the room when Gavin finally noticed he was there. He got a bit excited to say the least.  Cute little events were presented but the noise level from about 20 five year old’s was deafening. Those teachers are superhuman for sure. The OFM and grandma and her husband were very ready for some quiet time when we all exited the building.

We recently go a new picture from at the home front of Gavin doing a bit of baby care. He seems to take his duties with the baby care fairly seriously. This was pacifier replacement duty while Piper was rocking.

The OFM plans a quieter day tomorrow. Grandma and her husband are searching for a new home in this area. It is proving to be quite a search and has been going on for many months now. They are wanting to leave Houston when her husband retires in about a year or so. 

The OFM even thought he could round out the day with some golf late in the evening but he proved to be too worn from all the other activities. This trying to have tooooo much fun is hard work some times.

The Gathering

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

The Leader has called a gathering

For what we know not

We must all go on this night

For the Leader has called a gathering

Exercise Attitude

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

The cool morning got the OFM of his chair polisher and put him on Beautiful Bike for a nice gentle ride. BB has seven gears and we use mostly four of them. More that seven is definitely too many for the Teams abilities this late in life. It was a nice ride and lots of folks were out walking and riding and cheerful. 

The OFM walks and rides to the speed of his aerobicness. Heavy breathing and powerful heart beating is a thing of the past. Once he gets his heart up to a noticeable beat rate and his breathing definitely deeper, that is our exercise speed. 

We, long ago, came to be fans of the longer but more gentle type of exercise.  It also lets his joints get flexing under light loads so they hurt way less than in the past, but still get the needed exercise for a good life. Generally at least once a day we get in an hour plus of this level of exercise.

We got back to the Castle about 1000 and the campground was saying good bye to lots of visitors as they pulled out to head home. The camper density had been pretty high this weekend but mostly just pleasant folks visiting with each other. 

The OFM is going to try to make this afternoon the third afternoon in a row to play 9 holes of golf. It is about a three mile walk pulling the golf cart with the clubs. That seems to be about the right amount for the OFM to have fun and get tired. More than that we feel he needs to use a motorized cart or his hips and knees will gripe.

Speaking of griping, we have way too many tree rats in this area. Everywhere you go there is a tree rat making a mess. On our last walk here was one on a building eating and making a mess. They will tear holes in an RV if they think they want something. As you can tell we are not a fan of tree rats.

The campground back in Rockport Tx is apparently well on its way to being back in business. Their facebook page is showing the work going on. It appears that the type of damage was mostly tree blowing down. The winter Texans should be in good shape for the normal arrivals about October first. They keep coming back because the Texas coast is way far the best place for trying to have tooooo much winter fun.

Gun Fire

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama

This morning was spent pouring over the Google Maps update of the Rockport Texas area. It shows a lot of the damage so the OFM had to look around to see what has changed. The good news is that the main fishing places are still there. The Fulton pier is missing a few sections. We were glad to see there was no evidence of major saltwater wave action damage.

This is the weekend the Battle for Decatur is recreated. The OFM had forgotten about it and when the first rifle fire and cannons firing happened he banged his head on the ceiling of the Castle. Thank goodness his hard head did not damage the Castle. 

Then later in afternoon, the OFM decided it was time to attempt to play golf again for the first time in over a year. The Golf Team hit the golf course and quickly realized the OFM thought he was ready for pulling his clubs and walking the front nine holes. The rest of the Team members were very doubtful but we all pushed on anyway. It was not pretty golf. He managed a huge score of 46 for the front nine. A good score would be 36.

However when you think about it several items come to mind. He had not played in nearly a year. He was playing new to him clubs that he did not know how far he would hit them, he was playing a new to him type of golf ball (for worn out old fat men) that he had no experience about how it would behave and he was towing his clubs on a two wheel cart as he walked instead of riding a motorized cart. On the other hand, he did not lose a ball. Only one tee shot was not in the fairway And that one only missed by about five feet.

Now tonight he is already dreading the middle of the night potty run when he has to get all these long unused muscles to get rolling on command. We are betting it will be a very sore event. But the playing was worth the forthcoming misery. Yep golf for fun not competition is a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun and exercise.

Heater Time

Adventure Location:  Decatur, Alabama


What a day it has been! In reality it has been a good day. The rain woke the OFM about 0430 this morning just in time for the usual length of Comfort Castle trip during the night. It was just a light rain but a quick glance outside showed it had been raining for a good while. Going back to sleep came really easily.

Later the OFM woke up to the sound of ..... rain continuing. The day stayed a day of rain or drizzle until late in the afternoon. That gave the OFM a reason to do a few chores and hit up a store for a couple of items.

The most important item came from the BBQ place in town.

That pulled pork stuffed potato was longer than his two fists end to end. He made a heroic effort to finish it for lunch but he wasn’t man enough. However he did finish the job at supper...barely. Boths efforts were enjoyed tremendously. The nap after lunch was even better. A thirty minute timer alarm was set and the OFM never moved for over an hour. That was great.

This campground has a shallow finger of Wheeler Lake that comes into it. When Wheeler Lake floods so does parts of the campground. The manager and the main maintenance man spent a couple of days busy cleaning the very thick summer’s growth from the “creek” so it could drain better. This was done a couple of days ago in preparation for the rain of today. The campground is not spotless but is very well maintained all the time.

It is time to get out the electric heater. The next three nights are supposed to get down to 58-60. The Teams consider that time for a bit of warmth at night. Relatively warm days and cool nights sounds like an invitation for trying to have tooooo much fun.