The End For This Year

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-31-2020

The wet and cold made a major impression on the OFM and Sierra when we went to Walmart first thing this morning. In fact Sierra hated it so badly that it let the wipers stop working during the rain storm.

We wrestled our way back to the Castle to figure out the next move. First we checked the nearest tire and repair shop and they did not do that sort of work. So we went to the shop they recommended, Rockport Auto Clinic, and they could get Sierra in for examination at 1300.  So we left Sierra to the tech and caught a ride home with a friend. 

After several hours of piddling around at the campground, we called and Sierra had a clean bill of health. The tech could not get the wipers to fail like in the rainstorm. So our ride and the OFM went back to the shop and picked Sierra up.  Sure enough everything worked just fine.

By now it was scaring 1800 so the OFM headed to a Mexican food place for chicken tacos. They were open and the tacos were well prepared. And the OFM belly is definitely rounder.

It is nice to have Sierra back home tonight. We cannot say that it was a great day of trying to have tooooo much fun either.  But, at least the OFM got some “move to the new computer system” things done and we are optimistic that we are nearly finished learning the new software and getting our efforts underway using the new much faster new computer.

We think once the OFM learns to drive the new computer he will be able to be trying to have tooooo much at a faster pace.

 

A Swinging Day

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-29-2020

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WOW another beautiful day, so the OFM put off the change of computes chore for big adventures. Sure enough he ran the area roads until dark today. 100+ pictures were taken and we had to at least segregate them first. After sorting and viewing we split them into groups that sort of went together. There is several blog story entries available from those piles. Tonight we get the short one. 

                     The Big Tree. 

Do a Google search “Texas Big Tree” and check out a couple of the articles about the Big Tree. It has a long history  with Indians, bombardment, kids swinging on it and lots more. Here is a picture of that live oak that has been part of the OFM’s life for over fifty years.

It is at a very non-de-script spot on St. Charles Bay but it is a long time, hundreds of years, land mark inthe Texas and before Texas history. One of the early encounters with it was when the OFM’s three year old son, he is 41 now, was swinging on a lower limb of the tree. That limb is now gone thanks to some idiots that tried to kill the tree. Here is a picture from the information sign of the popularity of the “swinging limbs” in years past.

We took this picture of the back side where the idiots did the damage and you can tell there were some huge old limb coming from that truck back in the old days. We are afraid the weathering will do more damage these days.

This visit the OFM noticed the huge tangle of roots at the base of the tree. Some of those roots are huge. Hopefully all the extra work the locals are doing will keep the Big Tree growing for a few more generations to enjoy.

But there was still another adventure awaiting the OFM at this location. We met a wonderful young couple from the upper Texas panhandle who were here on the coast for their first time. They made the mistake of pausing to say hi to the OFM. About an hour later they finally got to leave with enough new information and where to get more information just about the Texas coast to get them to come back. We could use a lot more decent folks like them in the area.

The action did not let up for the Teams until we went into the Castle at dark. It has been a very intense day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

 

What is it?

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-28-2020

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A few days ago the OFM Walking Team was meandering the Memorial Park Trails and happened to notice a limb stump where a limb had been removed long ago. There was nothing unusual except there was a hole going back into the tree.

So naturally a good Meanderer had to look inside. But it was too dark in there to see. So the OFM set the camera to flash and took a photo of the inside of the “tree cave”. When we got back to the Castle and brought the picture up on the computer screen we were really surprised to see an object inside the cave that we could not identify.

So now we have a Christmas mystery. What is it? We have no idea but if you do please tell us in a comment.

It was a calmer day today as we meandered along trying to have tooooo much fun.

 

The Day After

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-27-2020

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It was a great day with warm sunshine to make folks happy to be alive. We forgot to grab the camera several times today and just enjoyed the moment for a change, so no pics tonight except the ones your mind paints from reading this wonderful piece of fantastic literature.

The morning grocery trip ($50) went very well including a few nice folks to talk with about Christmas events locally. The Walmart was in full swing early but the shelves in the grocery section were brimming full of good looking produce. A second trip in the late afternoon happened since the OFM got some hankerings during the day that absolutely had to be satisfied soon.

We had one of them for supper tonight. A Knorr packet with some freshly cooked chicken breast was prepared. Of course some OFM choices of seasoning had to be added, but it was great and too much for him to finish. 

So what does he do but get an idea so good it scared him.  Save the rest of the mix from tonight. Tomorrow grab a can of some type of soup to add to the mix for a luxurious supper meal tomorrow night. That FOOL is a food genius (yea right).

A visit to Cole Mansion (some friends 5th wheel in a nearby campground) proved to be a load of fun and laughter. The OFM left there with a new to him skillet of just the right size for OFM style cooking. WOW he got lucky that time.

Down at the fishing area and  beach park was hordes of really friendly folks, so we got in a lot of visiting and fun story telling and new puppy petting for several hours until the sun was starting to set.

The day was really great and peaceful but also BUSY like crazy. Of course we did not make any progress to swapping everything over to the new computer today but that can wait. We were way too busy having tooooo much fun. 

 

Nice Surprise

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-26-2020

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Out for a look around this afternoon to see what was going on, we got a nice surprise. We met several nice folks to visit over the course of the day and had a grand time overall.

First thing we noticed was the very low water level in Little Bay. Usually this bench is close to the water but today it was a good ways up from the water line. However the warm temperatures and gentle breezes made it a nice place to rest if you were tired.

Off to the left of the picture above was a wade fisherman working the edge of the artificial reef that was put in several years ago to help protect the shore line. It did a good job of that during Hurricane Harvey.  The water is not warm but not real cold either.  We did not see this fisherman catch a fish during the few minutes we observed him. We do know from personal experience he was in a good location.

When we got ready to go into the Beach Park, it had a long line at the entrance. When we got our turn to show our pass to Miki, the attendant, she asked the Teams to stop back by when we were leaving. Certainly the OFM told her. She is always good for a laugh or four. We “patrolled” the roads in the park for another good photo for the blog tonight, but the place was full of folks having fun. We really enjoy it when folks come out to enjoy nice facilities like these are.

On the way out the OFM pulled into a parking slot and walked up to the kiosk to learn what Miki wanted.  She is a very nice lady so we knew it would be a wonderful event. Little did the OFM know how wonderful.

The OFM leaned against the ledge at the side window where we could talk to Miki between customers. She was on the job so it is CUSTOMERS FIRST.  When she had a few minutes break we exchanged pleasant words, then she handed the OFM a special present. “WOW” Check out this Snowman Soup.

Now that does sound very good doesn’t it. We thanked her for it with great enthusiasm. That certainly made my day.

It would be rather difficult to top this for a day of trying to have tooooo much fun. 

Thinking Bird

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-25-2020

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We headed out for a morning walk in the chilled air to look for a nice Christmas day picture. Surprise! We found one.

Then a little meandering later we spotted this sea bird huddled in the chill wind.

THINKING BIRD

Some friends invited the OFM to a Christmas supper this evening and it was great fun. They are very nice folks to be with when you are trying to have tooooo much fun.

Christmas Eve

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-24-2020

The computer had to wait today. First on the agenda this morning was to start getting ready for a move when January gets here. We are ready to leave this rv park for better places. The first thing to do is choose the new location to move to.

Therefore we hit the road looking at lots of rv parks here in the Rockport Texas area.  The good news is we found several that would be much better for our needs. More careful evaluations will be done over the next few days. The current rent runs out Jan 21 and we plan to be rolled no later than that.

Then this afternoon was spent visiting with friends for ten minutes that turned into hours. It was an excellent visit.  They are RVers and considering their future options also.

The high point of the day (evening) came after we returned home to the Castle.  The Christmas present from grandkid land was opened and it was fantastic.  A personalized calendar with pictures of the grand kids from during 2020. The OFM has been getting one each Christmas and they are really looked forward to each time.

As it worked out we did not take any pictures today so we will try really hard to rectify that mistake tomorrow as we are running around trying to have tooooo much fun on Christmas Day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Busy Morning

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-23-2020

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At least some progress on the computer switch out is happening. The new computer has the same bad habit the old one has. It mispalls words now and them. It is so irritating. Maybe by tomorrow night we will be back to being a good imitation of a  blogger.

Taking a break from the computer swap, we headed down to the sea to calm down. The sledge hammer and shotgun was put away and the OFM drove gently down to the Beach Park for peace and recovery. Anybody who mess with computers knows these times will happen.

At least the beach park was up to calming down the OFM.  The first thing he did was rig up his fishing pole and cast a lure 6.5 miles out into the bay. Yeah he needed to calm down.  In a couple of more casts he landed a small trout. AHH that feels better.  Then a few casts more he landed another small trout.  That was really calming. The world has not fallen apart yet thank goodness.

Any way we headed into the Beach Park and got to the parking area at the end of the Beach and headed out to walk off a bunch of frustration. It was about 14 years ago he did the last computer setup and he was way out of date on the newer programs and it was giving him fits. So we walked and walked and walked and walked and suddenly WHAT IS THAT IN THE WATER??  We eased over closer to get this picture.  It was foggy out on the water but we used computer tricks to lighten the picture.

The fellow as looking for great adventures and treasures in the shallow beach water. We wished him good luck and moved on for more walking.

When we got to the turn around choice, the OFM got himself a drink of water and watched the beach water a few minutes. That is when this pelican came paddling by and enticed the the OFM into taking its picture to become a famous OFM painting for generations to over the next few decades. (yea right)

Then we walked on over to the fish cleaning table to see what had been going on over there. WOW a nearly spic and span table. No fish had been cleaned lately. That is very unusual for this area.

Then back at the wooden pier we meandered out looking for pictures and did not find any. However on the way back in we encountered a very nice older lady bird watching.  She was quite interesting to to visit and we talked for about 20 minutes. The big surprise was when she talked about something that had happened in the area a long time ago. It turns out she mentioned that she was 92 years old and still driving and chasing birds to watch. WOW!

The OFM was calmed down by now and said his goodbyes and thank you for the nice conversation. And soon it was lunch time. This was quite a morning of trying to have tooooo much fun. 

New Computer

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-21-2020

Last week a new computer was purchased to replace the

10+ year old laptop that  we were using. It has been a

trying experience. The blog should be up and running

again by tomorrow (we hope). Thank you for your patience

and be sure to go have tooooo much fun.

Checking Things Out

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-21-2020

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Some little details around the piers today. This picture shows how low the winter water is going. For a location with only three to six feet of water when at normal levels, this is really low for fishing.

That is the fishing pier at the marina in Rockport.  The shallow water we have now is really slowing the fishing a LOT. But we will make do.

These next three pictures are piling tops from the pier at the far end of the Rockport Beach.  It looks like they are getting to be time to consider replacing. They were in good but worn shape when the Teams first started coming here in December of 2007.  So they have good reason to be worn down by now.

One of the pilings out at the end of the wooden pier had some sheepshead fish eating barnacles off the pilings today.  Out of several shots the OFM finally got one to show the fish at work. Those are excellent fish for eating if you want to try them.

Well the OFM has had a bad day with feeling rotten, so he is calling it a short night of writing tonight.  Even when you are hurting trying to have tooooo much fun is worthwhile.

OFM Style Fishing Instructions

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-20-2020

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Tonight we have a response to the comments by Unknown a night or two ago about the Teams fishing.

Since we do move around some the fishing spots change noticeably with each move. Such as the Texas coast sometimes, then North Alabama in the vicinity of Decatur, then East Texas in the vicinity of Martin Creek Lake, then near Del Rio Texas in Amistad Reservoir, then maybe Falcon Lake near Falcon State Park in south Texas.  So you see we have to find fishing places wherever we happen to be located. Almost always there are pictures of the locations shown in the blog when we fished that area.

When we hit a new area, the OFM meanders around looking for fishing spots.  In Rockport, Texas the main shore fishing is at the Marina bulkhead in front of the Yacht Club, the rock jetty pier close by or the wooden pier in the Rockport Beach Park.

In the Decatur Alabama area it is the Tenneesee River banks wherever you can find a spot. Keep in mind the Tennessee River is closed to eating any fish from it.

Checking any local standing with a rod in their hand will usually tell you where to fish from their local knowledge bank. This is how we find places to fish in new areas.

What do we fish for? Mostly predator fish since we are artifical lures only. In Rockport it is mostly spotted trout, redfish, flounder, black drum, spanish mackerel, catfish etc. In other words whatever swims in the water and bites a lure.

Now what lures do we use. We keep it simple since years ago we figured out that if you find the fish when they are feeding, they will eat anything that looks edible as fish food. So here is our two most used lures the last few years. Salt or fresh doesn’t matter.

The top lure is a 3“ Storm WildEye Shad.

The bottom is a 3“ DOA Shrimp.

The particular top lure has been in on the catching of over a dozen trout since we got back to Rockport two months ago.

The bottom lure has been on the catching of about 8 trout that averaged 17“ in length in the last five weeks.

Now how we fish the lures. We put it on the end of the line and cast it out.  Then reel it in sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes jerky or any old which way until a fish hits then we repeat that action until it doesn’t work any more.

And that is how we have some of our best trying to have tooooo much fun.

Pelicans Lose The Fight

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-19-2020

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A bit of a nasty morning it was but the OFM decided to attempt a walk at the Beach Park. So Sierra carefully got us there safely.  The weather did not look very promising so we chose to walk in circles near Sierra down by the wooden pier.

A look at the nearby skies made the OFM nervous but he needed the exercise badly. Little did he know how vigorous it would get.

At the pier on the right the sea gulls were all lined up for some reason but we did not go over to see what was happening.

So we started off to the left toward the Allegro Channel.  We noticed as we meandered along that the tides were back to normal after several days of very low tides. That was good to see as was the bait fish back in the area in good quantity.

When we reached the Allegro Channel bulkhead the show was already going on. Every morning  in the 0800 to 1000 time a visit from several dolphin comes through the general area having breakfast. Now realize that dolphin are up to 12 feet in length and 1000 pounds in weight.

This one was swimming along to our left when we got there.  It seemed to be swimming along just checking things out. It was about twenty feet away. One thing neat about this area of the coast is that you get a lot of sightings of dolphin up close.

Back to the OFM’s right in the channel was a bit of commotion where this dolphin had apparently found some food to eat.  The pelicans will hang around and grab pieces of fish the dolphins leave floating around.  This dolphin was headed back into the channel area when the photo was taken.

Then right across the channel a big ruckus was going on. Apparently the pelican had got too close to the dolphin and as they tend to do, the dolphin had apparently knocked the pelican flopping. By the time we got the camera on the scene the pelican was upright again and the dolphin was moving on along.

It is not uncommon to see a ruckus between a dolphin and some bird or another getting too close.

Just after that incident the first few rain drops hit the OFM in the back. When he looked back Sierra was already a fuzzy image in the rain wall headed toward the OFM.  He tried to walk briskly but quickly decided that the cold rain was too cold so he jogged as gently as he could to get under the pavilion for protection.  He still got to enjoy the fun of getting totally soaked in cold rain water.

As soon as the first storm subsided a little he headed for Sierra to escape. We had rain squalls for several hours before things calmed down decently. However getting to visit with the dolphins again was a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun again.

Keep Mouth Shut

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-18-2020

As Rick mentioned on his comment yesterday, the OFM is hitting a sparse time for blog material. We are not even contemplating stopping blogging but it is a smart blogger when the blogger realizes that sometimes he needs to just be quiet when he has nothing to say.  So don’t worry the old fool that makes a used peanut shell look smart will be back when he has something to say about trying to have tooooo much fun.

An Exciting Plan

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-17-2020

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The big news for the OFM Teams is they are due in Decatur, Alabama to begin grandpa duties for a couple of weekends on March 5, 2021. We are all excited about this plan. It will be a great start to the new year.

Other than that it was a calm pleasant day.  Over at the Memorial  Park we happened past the ball fields on a different route than usual and noticed these pieces of art work instead of the usual wooden posts. It seems rather appropriate for ball fields don’t you think.

That is about all there is for tonight.  We need to get to work at doing better at trying to have tooooo much fun.

What Are They?

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-16-2020

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Well we found the passwords list right where the OFM hid them. It was a really good hiding spot and no we are not telling where.

After the successful password find, the OFM needed a walk to ease his tension.  So we hit up the Memorial Park for a nice walk. It did not take long to turn into a cold wet wind walk even in the trees. He stuck it out for a 1.5 mile walk and then we shut it down and moved on. Sierra was saying the temperature was 52F when we left but the wind chill with the water in the air was not fun.

After some serious consideration this afternoon, the OFM decided we would extend our stay another month if there was room available. There was so we will still be in Rockport until mid January. The three weeks of winter down here are normally from about January 1 to January 20.

We found a couple of pictures of a boat we are not sure what it does for a living. The OFM guesses it is a fish catching trawler for the open Gulf of Mexico waters. Here are a couple of pictures of it. 

A visit with some friends was really nice and went a long way towards trying to have tooooo much fun.

Password Search

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-15-2020

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Well it was a productive day in the life of a computer swapping. Very little computer work got done. It seems that about eleven years ago when the current old computer was put in service, the OFM did a very good job of writing down the pile of passwords and putting them away in a very safe place. 

MORNING BEACH

The Castle is not that big of a house so we went looking for the information. It started out with great intentions but as we unpacked or is it unearthed long forgotten items a new goal seemed to take over. 

The very full laundry bag was in the way and the laundry room was empty so we started the laundry. And then went to moving things that were in that closet out so we could dig through it all.

WWHITE FLOWER

We, of course, had no idea what form the OFM had used to save the passwords.  So everything had to be opened and examined. Naturally we found things we have no use for anymore so the trash sack was started to be filled.

BOAT RAMP AREA

We had had a quick look in the file box first thing but this time EVERY folder was pulled out and gone through.  Good grief there was a lot of “why do we still have that invoice?” since we got rid of that item years ago.  Now the file box is a LOT lighter to pull out of the cabinet it is stored in.

Still no list of passwords in sight.  So the final result of today’s search was nearly filling the campground trash bin and making the Castle about 4800 pounds lighter but still no new computer in action yet. At least the Castle has less worthless weight and STUFF in the cabinets and outside storage.

BEACH CLOUDS

The pictures have nothing to do with the narrative but were taken of the winter weather we are having as we work on trying to have tooooo much fun bringing a new computer online.

Swapping Computers

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-14-2020

Swapping computers and the old one is having jealous fits.  In the meanwhile the OFM is not having tooooo much fun.

A New One Finally

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-13-2020

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Once again it was not an exciting day.  At least today was a healing day. Our first event of the day was the 12 year old computer gave notice it was about to die.  So it was off to Walmart for a new laptop computer. Our files will be moved over to it tomorrow, we hope, and a new computer era will begin.

Mostly the rest of the day until evening was one of rest, move around some and rest some more. The good news is that the OFM is doing very well tonight.

We managed to get two neat pictures late this evening. They were taken from the same spot across a field from The Maritime Museum which is the large building in the forefront of the photo. 

Here is early evening for your viewing pleasure. 

This next shot was taken at the most,about four minutes later.

Apparently the weather front for tonight was moving fairly quickly. The OFM did manage to have some gentle trying to have tooooo much fun today.

Not Exciting Day

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-12-2020

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It was not an exciting day. The OFM took a sightseeing trip up the coast a little way, and this dormant cotton field was the high spot of the meander.

Then a massively nasty migraine interrupted supper to finish the days efforts at trying to have tooooo much fun. See ya tomorrow.

A New RV Boondocker

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-11-2020

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It was not an exciting day but it was a full of events sort of day. We started out with a fishing attempt that turned into a couple of hours of helping a lady learn more about travel trailers and boondocking. Didi was a very nice lady and seemed to be the just right sort to really enjoy the RV life.

A kayaker was working his way around the open bay when the cloudy overcast let a little sun shine to the water. We were lucky enough to catch a nice photo of the event.

And that was all the pictures taken.   Even on the 1.5 mile walk at Memorial Park the OFM did not notice any more pictures needing to be taken. That is an odd happening for him in that area. But it was a shortened walk since the OFM was not feeling just wonderful.

Then we were informed that the Rockport Beach Park vehicle entry pass was going to DOUBLE for non-Rockport resident folks to $40 on January 1,  2021. We will buy the 2021 pass soon while we can buy it for the usual $20 a year.

Then in the late evening the OFM went next door to meet our neighbor and help him with some diagnostics on his trailer.  He is a very nice young man and is talking with the Air Force about a military career. We think he could be a good career person.

And that is how some days keep you busy when you are trying to have tooooo much fun.

Wild Imagination

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-10-2020

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The OFM sometimes has a very “interesting” imagination to say the least.

Over in the Beach Park is piles of oyster shells being used for fill material.  Naturally the Meanderthall had to head on over to the fresh oyster shells to check them out.  Now all our readers know by now that the OFM has to look at everything. There are thousands of shells in each pile. Here is a small area with some left over oyster shells just waiting to be examined by a vivid imagination.

Before you can say FOOL three times he had picked out several shells that his imagination was turning into all sorts of things. Maybe you have seen the painted rocks some places that have been painted by creative minds of others. Well the OFM started talking about all sorts of images he could see in the shells. Before you knew it was coming he had decided that he needs to add oyster shell painting to his art efforts.

Here are three examples of things his demented mind was able to “see” in the shells. Good Grief.

The first is a hawks head and shoulders. The curved beak is pointed left. The eye is near the top of the head. The ridge curving from upper right to lower left is the folded wing. Does anyone else see anything?

Next is a face looking at you with a squinted left eye. The right eye is open and bulging. Below the eyes is a pair of lips partly open. And below the lips is the chin blending into the neck.

The final picture shows a monster at home in its cave. The monsters face is looking at you with bold eyes and snarling teeth below the eyes. The rest of the shell is the opening of the monster’s cave home. Boy it looks mean doesn’t it.

The OFM thinks some good paint work could really enhance these shells into great art work. The rest of the Teams are not so sure about that. At least it might be a good way to occupy the OFM while he is trying to have tooooo much fun during the long winter months here in Rockport Tx.

Cool Morning

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-09-2020

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The bright sun and cool air slapped us around a bit this morning. The OFM was ready to walk early with his knee high socks to resist the chill in the wet air at the beach. The beauty of the morning was not wasted since we managed to get a nice picture. The beach was silently waiting for its first guest of the day when the OFM finally took the picture. And here it is in all its morning beauty.

As we meandered out onto the wooden pier the sun and water were coordinating lots of neat and dancing ripples in the very shallow water. We watched for a little while when the camera mentioned that maybe some other folks might like to see the light show. Good idea.

A bit farther along on the pier we spotted this set of critter trails down in the wet sand. There was not critters at the end of any of the trails so we still do not know what made the trails. This was only a small area of the trails. Lots more trails were running all over the shallow wet sand below us on the pier. It was a game of guess who did what.

Late in the morning after the nice walk around the area we saw this fellow trying to gain control of his paddle board. After watching him and the balancing act for a good while, we were happy to see him make it back to shore safely. The OFM definitely does not have the balance required to play with a toy of that sort.

However we bet it would be a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Low Water Day

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-08-2020

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It took three efforts to finally get in a decent milage of walking today. According to some sites on the Internet, for old folks walking exercise, it does not matter how many breaks you have to take for other things.  We are not training for a competitive event, only long term health. The walking needs to be about a 2.5 mph pace when you are walking.  That just happens to be a military marching pace that the OFM body still remembers.

So today when we were walking briskly and when a joint, knee this day, started to complain we just slowed down a lot or stopped to rest on even just went and did some fishing for a few minutes. But in the end we got in the three miles and the knee is only mildly sore tonight. Maybe we have finally  discovered something really worthwhile.

The tide was WAY out today all day. So in the later afternoon we happened to be near the Rockport Beach for another reason and the OFM caught this picture of the evening beach scene.  We thought it was kind of nice.

Earlier in the day we had walked out on the rock groin protecting the harbor. As the OFM meandered around looking at the dolphins feeding in the harbor mouth, he noticed the sunshine had the first part of the boat slips lighted nicely. Here is the really pleasant scene we caught.

It was a nice warm day for running around trying to have tooooo much fun.

Research Vessel

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-07-2020

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Texas Parks and Wildlife has a biology lab here at the Rockport Marina. They do all sorts of good work toward protecting and enhancing our outdoors natural assets. The OFM has had the pleasure of dealing with occasional folk from the lab. They are always ready to help.

They maintain a small fleet of research vessels. On this day the OFM was able to get a couple of pictures of one of the fleet. Apparently they can do netting and take bottom, air and water samples as a minimum of their efforts. We do know that it is a very busy building and port.

Here is a side view of one of the research vessels. This was taken from a favorite fishing spot on a finger dock near the laboratory. 

We were lucky enough to be able to walk around the education building and get a good picture of the same boat from the stern. 

You can see one of the nets they use hanging at the ready.  The open deck gives room for all sorts of stuff to be sorted.  Then the deck is easily washed down to keep the boat ready for another activity.

Meandering around and finding all the neat stuff in Rockport is a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Special Houseboat

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-06-2020

Click the pic to enlarge it.

We were meandering the marina area in the cold morning air when the OFM had a thought.  He almost did not recognize it since he has so few of them. Maybe it is time to tell the readers about friend Tim’s house boat.

It does not  look all that special. Just a nice liveaboard houseboat moored in a marina.  Basically a water based RV.  What is so special about this boat?

Well Tim tells me that this houseboat is one of very few in the country that was designed to be able to pull waterskiers behind it. It has two “Corvette” engines in it and a planing hull so it can go fast for a houseboat.

Tim has been living in it for several years now with his neat puppy Gabby. Friendly is Tim’s first name so feel free to Howdy him if he is outside.

While this boat reporting idea was fresh on the OFM’s mind he went around the marina searching for special boats and found a few that we will report on in the future. For some reason messing around a harbor and boats is a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Unexpected Event

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-05-2020

It was an unusual event but an important lesson was learned. The Castle is a small trailer by current standards. It is only 148 square feet of interior. The box is 20 feet inside X 7.5 feet inside roughly. We do not have slides. During the course of thirteen years of living in the Castle it has been modified in many ways.

The furnace has been removed since we use electric heat because we did not like the 20+ percent of heat (propane) waste the furnace had. The furnace outside openings have been sealed off.

The vent hood is gone since the vent was always opening and rattling in the winds. That opening is sealed off.

The only unsealed openings we know of are the very small condensation drains to the outside on three of the windows.  Those are quite small.

Since late afternoon yesterday we had been in the closed up Castle with the heat on and the windows closed. This morning the OFM had a headache and thought it was just migraine remnants. By 1100 this morning the OFM was feeling pretty bad and he could not figure out why. So he decided to take a short walk in the campground and see if that helped. 

While he was getting a warm jacket on, the Castle door swung open and let cold air in.  The OFM finished the dressing and started out the open door. Then as he started to step down onto the ground he realized his bad headache was lessening. So he stepped back inside and closed the door to the cold air.  In a couple of minutes his headache started increasing again.

OK let us reason about this. Then he had the thought that those who heat with open flame heating had to be careful about. They have to have openings to let air exchange happen to replace the burned up oxygen. So he slightly opened a window on each side of the Castle to let in fresh air. Within thirty minutes the OFM was doing fine like nothing had been wrong all morning and has been fine the rest of the day.

So it seems that in a small tightly sealed small trailer it may be possible to not naturally have enough air infiltration/ex-filtration to supply enough fresh air for comfortable normal living. We had not even used the stove top even for heating water for the hot chocolate. It seems that we will have to keep a window opened a small amount in the future just to keep breathing. Not breathing could put a serious dent in the trying to have tooooo much fun.

When Pigs Fly

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 12-04-2020

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It is the start of the Christmas season  when you see this in the OFM Dining Room.

Yep, pumpkin pie, hot chocolate, a Christmas candle and of course the computer where the blog happens and Christmas shopping is accomplished.

We even hit the post office this morning to get stamps for mailing OFM art modified Christmas cards to folks. That will take a bit of time to get into the mail but it will be fun. 

To keep up the pace the OFM started another page in the coloring book using oil pastels. They are proving to be a significant challenge for him. But it will happen in some fashion.  The month long winter cold wet season of Rockport Tx is approaching and we expect to spend a lot of time in the future month or so visiting with art materials and hot chocolate. That sounds like fun. One year it even went below 40F for a few hours.

Naturally we had to stop down at the marina to see what is happening. The big lighted Christmas tree and decorations event is tonight and tomorrow night.  There is lots of vehicles down there running around in circles looking at the nice event. We plan to not be there.

One boat in the marina had some bright decorations on board. Sierra got us parked safely and the OFM walked back to the boat to grab a picture or two. Here is what you see normally.

And here is what a little zoom on the camera gave us to enjoy.

There is no telling what else will be happening to the boats for decorations, but we will attempt to keep everyone updated on the festivities.  By the way, NO fish were biting.

And now we are planning on some good rest tonight for a full recovery from the migraine so we can go nuts trying to have tooooo much fun tomorrow.