Great Neighbor

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-31-2022

When the OFM awoke this morning his mind was already working on solutions to the already to serious migraine trouble. He was trying to recall the troubles of the last few weeks and whatever else he could think of since things were certainly not going right but had a familiar feeling. Right after breakfast he had a sudden flash of memory and checked when the next eye prescription was likely due.

We are three months late. For the last few years we went to the eye doc right after we went to grandkid land in early spring. For most of his glasses wearing life the OFM has started the bad migraines about the time he is needing a new set of glasses, especially on his left eye. As of today he is about three months late and finally remembered the symptom. The meaner and meaner migraine attacks are typical of the previous part of his life if the exam is put off too long. Well yesterday was a real mean one for sure.

So when the doctor office opened this morning there was the OFM waiting to get an appointment. The doctor reasonably asked the right questions and agreed that a very soon bit of eye work needs to be done. And soon for us is Thursday morning first person in the office.

The OFM must be getting dumber since this is typical of his migraine troubles for over thirty years when it is time for new glasses prescription and he had forgotten.

Now for a wonderful event. A few minutes after we got back to the campsite and were settling in at the window to check computer messages, a very polite knock happens at the door. It is my neighbor from across the street and down a couple of doors. We gave him a big HOWDY and a Come on in. He had noticed that Sierra had seemingly not moved this morning he thought. To us it is fantastic and wonderful that he is paying enough attention to folks here to notice if they are still alive. About a third of the campground are older folks(like the OFM) who live alone and have no people to check on them to see if they are still alive and well or sick and in a bad way for medical help. Well Scott could not tell Sierra had been moved this morning so he came on over to check for medical need. That is a wonderful thing to do as far as we are concerned and puts Scott way up our list of good people to appreciate here on earth.

Severe Migraine Attack Again

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-30-2022

When we started the blog this evening, the OFM had a major migraine hit with a vengeance and shut us down, Kersplat. It is now very late and we are writing this so all folks know what is happening. When the brain recuperates enough to do more than a short note we will be back trying to have tooooo much fun.

Moon Music

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-29-2022

When we opened the computer this morning, a few readers wanted more details on the adult coloring books and how we use them. So here we go. You will have your choice of hundreds of them when you do an Internet search for adult coloring books. Our best luck for the kind of coloring books we like is a company named “Dover”. Hobby Lobby sometimes has a few decent ones also. Here is the one for tonight's demo.

There are hundreds to choose from at Dover alone much less the whole internet.

What you can expect inside a coloring book is a slightly more sophisticated drawing than a kids coloring book. All of ours so far, are landscape based and actually if you follow the blog often you have likely seen several that have been shown completed in the past. An important part to the OFM Teams is to have area and opportunities to add our own geee whizes and by gollies to the drawings.

We add parts to the drawings or take parts out or do whatever strikes the OFM as something he wants to try. These books are always under $10 and will have at least thirty drawings to work with. There are also other styles of coloring books that give you many more options that we have not tried.

For our uses we have found that the Prismacolor brand is very good and very flexible for application and forgiveness about mistakes. Faber-Castelle was very good but we liked the feel of the Prismacolor better. Try them all! Most of our purchases for supplies have been through Blick mail order supplies.

Ok that is the quick tour.

Today has been a bit of a frustrating day with all the holiday traffic. So, we got to put in some really nice time just color booking our little heart out. Lo and behold we have a painting finished we think.

Here is the latest painting for your amusement.

It was a wonderful journey toward trying to have tooooo much fun.

Adult Coloring Books

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-28-2022

Happened to wake early this morning and got going early also. Breakfast eaten and off to the Beach Park for a nice walk before the crowds hit.

we were not early enough at 0730. Check out that line of cars already entering the Beach Park. Bleeech.

So over to the Municipal Park we went and it was almost empty and the breeze just right. We made it a wonderful outing on the walking paths and even got to visit a few folks for a few minutes.

Back at the Castle we checked our food inventory and headed to Walmart and it was really busy so we grabbed our stuff and then checked out. Time to hibernate.

A new painting was started. Well actually it is in an adult coloring book with general drawings of the Sonora Desert and its wildlife. For those not familiar with adult coloring books, they can be of all sorts of subjects with some not suitable for kids.

The “adult” phrase is supposed to mean the detailing of the drawings is meant for folks that want to come closer to looking like real artist paintings. They vary a huge amount about how much detail they present in the drawing you are supposed to finish out. The OFM normally adds to the details as he is doing all the coloring to make it more like he would like it to be. They can be fun.

Most of the colorists we have met use the drawing in the book as a guide to their final painting and make sometimes strong modifications to the initial drawing.

We should finish this one in a few days as it is being done in colored pencil and CP is a very slow medium to work in. We have found adult coloring books online at several web sites and also at Walmart and Hobby Lobby. They can be a nice change from drawing everything from scratch. It seems to be very nice and fulfilling pastime for trying to have tooooo much fun. The grand-kids seem to enjoy getting grampa at the table and all three of us gossip and color. Wonderful times for sure.

Another Great day

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-27-2022

Call the OFM healed from the migraine. It was a wonderful feeling to have as the Teams headed out to see what is happening on this the first day of the hordes arrivals. And they were arriving.

After some gentle meandering around the harbor area and getting a feel for the upcoming crowds we went to the Municipal Park and got in a very nice walk of the normal 1.5 miles. It was just warm enough to get a bit of a sweat happening but not a soaking wet one like later in the day would have been.

Then back to the harbor area to get in some bumming around. The rock fishing pier caught our attention with the nearly clear water and the fishing equipment had trouble keeping up with the OFM headed out on the pier.

A lot of casting and lure changing and visiting with the tourists just getting into town made the pier fishing fun in spite of the fish not biting.

From there we headed out into the Beach Park to see what else. Well the weather was excellent so the kayakers were out in Little Bay trying to intercept some fish to take home. Here is one of them that was nearer to where we pulled over.

On the way back out of the area we saw one of the local fly fishermen walking the back on the hunt. If we recall correctly he is usually chasing red fish near the grass beds. We have never gotten to talk to him but be assured we will intercept him back at the parking lot some day.

After lunch we spent some time cleaning out more things from the Castle and Sierra that are not relevant anymore due to OFM aging. No use keeping things around that a person will not be using again. And most of all was a wonderful and restful afternoon NAP.

As the roads and area filled with holiday weekend folks the OFM spent a wonderful study time on art subjects and culling out art stuff we likely will not need again. So today's big accomplishment was the Castle got lighter and the waste container got fuller and heavier.

Then a nice meal of chicken salad and cole slaw for supper proved to fit in just right. And here we are finishing the blog entry on time for a change and thinking about the ways for us to be busy trying to have tooooo much fun again tomorrow.

Calm Winds Finally

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-26-2022

This morning started late with more recovery from the migraine. This had been a mean one for sure but as of tonight the OFM is feeling fine finally. We have been wondering if the bad allergy season is causing a lot of this mess to be more than usual. Anyway we finally got out into the world and headed to the walking park for the first time in a couple of days.

After Sierra got us parked and the OFM got ready for the walk, his normal glance at the American Flag at the Main park area surprised him.

The OFM had not noticed the lack of high winds in the area for the first time in over a week or more. It was odd feeling not having our hat whipping around in the wind. As we rounded the first curve we could see the maintenance folks were making great use of the calm weather. Check out that lift and worker busy fixing things WAY up there in the air.

We are very fortunate to have excellent maintenance help in the several parks in Rockport.

About halfway around the walking path we ran into old friend Rodney and his wonder dog Barkley. The OFM was a bit needing a rest so we sat and visited for a long time. That long time of not walking much had gotten to the OFM. We covered a lot of ground since we had not seen each other in a good while and always like a long visit anyway. It was a nice visit.

Back at the trailer we were straightening up some cabinets and found a painting we thought we had published. It is a painting that did not quite work out as planned and had been put away to “think about” for a bit. So we made a choice or three or maybe actually some errors and finished it out.

So here is Sun Explosion for our fun.

The inspiration for the painting was a photo made about a year ago at Falcon Lake we think, but have no real idea. This is one of the paintings we plan to attempt a redo in the future after we learn some new art techniques we have read about but not really LEARNED yet.

Tomorrow starts the really big crowds here for the Memorial weekend Festivities. This is a great place for families who want to try their luck at trying to have tooooo much fun.

Storm Pictures

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-25-2022

It was a night last night. Sleep was in bits and pieces but frequent and somewhat restful.

In the meantime a really nasty wet storm rattled the campground and as you will see the whole area until right at 1300 lunch time. The rain and clouds and strong winds moved out in about thirty minutes of dissipating. The rest of the day made for a couple of restful naps and reasonable temps for a change from the HOT afternoons.

Late morning we went out to check on things in the area. We had enough rain to get to the just before flooding starts before the rains quit.

Here are three pictures take a bit before the nasty weather started to shut down. This was the bulkhead out at the start of the harbor. We missed getting the big wave pictures but these will do just fine.

At one spot we got out of the wind sort of and found a bird hiding in the same area. It is perched where the shrimp boat cabin is giving the bird some wind relief. We bet that bird is enjoying its rest.

Somewhere during the meandering today we grabbed this picture of an arched spider web. The web was about nine inches high arc and twelve inches wide. We have no idea what the white stuff is coated on the web but we do know for sure it was a really strong web to be able to resist the excessive wind we were having.

From about 1300 on it was a beautiful day and the OFM just meandered around the area trying to heal faster. Healing faster was a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

The Migraine Story

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-24-2022

It was not a nice night last night. The migraine was still in full roar and sleep came in short stretches between active nightmares. We have had those kinds of nights before in the last fifty years but only a few times. The morning sun was really welcome. Most times the symptoms are much less severe.

It was about fifty years ago when the OFM went to a psychologist to find out what was happening. He was a really nice fellow and listened to the OFM tell all the things scaring the OFM. When he started explaining it the OFM was really relieved it was nothing dangerous like the chemical war weapons the OFM was exposed to in Viet Nam. At least we know what the OFM has when these things happen. We wanted to let our readers to know a bit about this affliction so they could get professional treatment if they get the symptoms. Treatment does help.

Any way we continued to have lessor and lessor troubles as the day progressed. As you can imagine little worth while happened than the four nice naps during the day.

As of tonight the symptoms have settled down A HUGE AMOUNT so we have hope of being in much better shape tomorrow for trying to have tooooo much fun again.

Migraine Madness

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-23-2022

It was not a mundane day today. We sort of rolled out of bed while it was barely dimly any light showing outside. Then we quickly noticed the really bad migraine in progress. The day has passed well with little work on anything happening. However this evening we can tell that lots of improvement is happening. So hopefully tomorrow will be a good day of vision and no head pain so we can get some traveling planned for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Piling Critters

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-22-2022

It was not a mundane day today. We rolled out of bed while it was barely dimly any light showing outside. Breakfast and miscellaneous were accomplished when the OFM grabbed the grocery list and away we went to Walmart to resupply the kitchen food locker.

While we were reading labels and learning things a big crash of thunder happened out side. We figured some rain must be near. After checking out we got to the door and it was gray but dry outside. We said our goodbye to the door guard and jumped into Sierra. A few drops hit us on the way to the Castle but when we stopped at the stop sign in front of the campground entry this is the photo we got.

The groceries were quickly put into the Castle just before the OFM jumped in. It was soon pouring down for about thirty minutes. It was a good rain for the grass here. But we found out later that this small part of town is the only part that more than a sprinkle of rain.

The rest of the day was spent in fishing, talking, staying dry and checking to make sure we had all the food parts for some meals during the next week.

Down at the harbor we saw these two critters climbing a piling that goes up into the secondary court room.

They seemed to be feeding on the algae on the piling. But no fish were biting so we moved on and found a fellow named Travis to talk fishing with for about an hour. That was fun.

What do you call a Country Fried Steak, potato salad, coleslaw and a mug of cheap root beer???

Why supper of course!

And that is a nice way to finish out a day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Food On The Vine

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-21-2022

Wow. This was about as mundane of a day as we have had in several years. We did get an early start on the exercise walk. The big excitement during the walk was seeing the new grapes getting ready for harvesting in a few weeks,

So we moved smoothly along with no troubles at all. Somewhere along the day the OFM got fancy industrious and gave Sierra a power rinse that got all the salt residues off. It was a good time to do it since we have not had any rain for weeks to get rid of the salt slop naturally.

As we moved on along in the day the big excitement happened near the Castle. A new neighbor moved in. They will be coming on holidays and weekends from Austin Tx for fun and fishing.

Tomorrow we hope to start getting reservations set up for the Alabama trip. With a bit of luck that will turn out to be an exciting way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Very Windy Day

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-20-2022

Nothing real exciting today, thank goodness. We had another very nice walking morning and the OFM got in some puppy petting with a very nice sweet pup. The wind was high all day which means the marsh mosquitoes do not bother us mere mortals. And the mosquitoes in the marsh areas of the Texas coast can be incredible in the summer.

As the OFM was eating breakfast he noticed that the entrance to the campground had a nice look to it from the inside. It has normally been a good campground since we first stayed here in December of 2007.

After the morning walk Sierra took us on a nice ride to the Beach Park to check out things for the big weekend. The entrance construction seems to be moving right along. It will be a very welcome improvement when it is put into service.

Inside the park the OFM stopped to make a few casts from a very convenient spot near the bird viewing deck. As usual nothing bit the lure but the high winds allowed him to make1473 yard casts which can be fun.

A stop at Walmart resulted on the Art Team trying out some new to us art paper. It is the blue pad on the left.

The green paper on the right has been good stuff but Walmart stopped carrying it. So we gave the the new stuff on the left a try.

It is too rough and we have not had any luck getting the colored pencil scribbles to behave like we preferred. We are still on the search but in the meantime this new paper will suffice for rough sketching concerning ideas for a new painting. That alone should be a pretty good way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Beautiful Day

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-19-2022

It seems like Google has finished the changes they were apparently doing. The OFM got an early start at the exercise walk and chose the Beach Park for the location. We rolled up to the entrance just at the time the construction was making a big paving pour of concrete. We were motioned over to the “out” side and on into the park. The day was turning into a beautiful day and the Teams were enjoying it. After parking Sierra in the shadow of a pavilion building we did a little limbering of the OFM legs before setting off on the walk.

We noticed the area where the Skimmers had been congregated for the last few weeks was empty of birds. Hmm what happened we wondered.

We did a nice speed meander around the loop road at the back of the park and there the skimmers were congregated in a new location.

This is the location that they nested in years past. We are glad that the folks taking care of the birds took the trouble to help the birds to nest by adding the new boundary lines. A few of the skimmers stayed at the old location. But by this afternoon the skimmers were once again all paired up and many of them hunkered next to the dirt like they do just before laying the eggs.

From there we finished the mile and a half and then the weather was so pretty we just had to go meander on the beach some and a few other spots also.

Today there was more than usual sea shell critters on the beach and the OFM spent a lot of time taking reference pictures of them for art. We now have a decent stock of sea shell pictures.

It was fun to be out and about this morning. As it turned out the whole day was gorgeous and wonderful day of meandering and thinking about places for trying to have tooooo much fun.

What A Mess?

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-18-2022

What a mess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Google is apparently working on their system and the rest of the world is suffering from it. We have readers not able to sign in, not able to post, not able to you name it. Sorry folks but google is treating the Teams the same as you. We have zero control or knowledge about the mess that is happening but hope it is finished soon.

In the mean time we need to clarify that the OFM Teams have many visits to both Palo Duro Canyon State Park on the north end and Caprock Canyons on the South end of Palo Duro Canyon. Both locations are great places to play. One thing different is that We have heard that Cap Rock Canyons no longer allows kayaking on there freshwater lake any more. We have no idea if that is correct or not. It was a nice small lake with good fishing in it. A place like Palo Duro Canyon certainly makes the OFM lonesome for bikes and kayaks again.

We were there several times during the first years of our full time travels. We have biked and hiked virtually every legal place to play in the canyon. And we started the travels on October 7, 2007. Palo Duro Canyon its self is a great place for lots of fun. We know there are other great spots up there. It is near the states of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado so you will have lots of places for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Finally Decisions Decided

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-17-2022

Finally some decisions were able to be made on travel plans for the near future. Tomorrow we will be attempting to make plans to be in north Alabama in early July. If this works out we have over thirty days to do things before we arrive up there. Another blog or three have been giving us the worst case of hitch itch we recall ever being struck with. One of them is

( http://www.theboondork.com/mainphp )

We will see what happens. The little two month trip last January and February to the Rio Grande River certainly started the travel itch in the OFM Teams again.

Today we started the last legal requirement that could hold us back. Sierra got the Texas inspection and now the OFM can pay the fees for the windshield sticker to allow Sierra to roam the country side. So far we are looking at the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles for touring some new territory. I.E. The third largest canyon in the USA is in the Texas panhandle and it is a four day tow from north Alabama just like Rockport Tx.

Since both the grands will be in formal schooling this next year, all the style of the last ten years travel is out the window and a new pattern is coming up. It will be interesting how things work out.

Today was spent cleaning up little nuisance things getting ready for rolling  for the serious purpose of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Some Fun Anyway

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-16-2022

Waking up started a day of errors and feel bad. No walk was done although we did a lot of walking. We hit up the beach park for some gentle meandering since the body feeling was negative in general. While at the beach park we ended up being a beach park guide for about an hour to a new to the area visiting couple. It was a very enjoyable time showing and telling them about their brand new to them area.

The OFM was still not on top of things and just piddled around doing nothing but feeling not right. Finally we hit the Whataburger and had lunch. When we returned to the Castle it was time for the major event of the day. When we went inside and tried to wash our hands there was only a trickle of water. Good grief what now.

It turned out our old weathered water hose had died of old age and sun.

Fortunately the OFM had purchased a new hose last year and it was waiting to be put in service. So the event was shortly fixed and the teams back to near full function.

The OFM was still not doing just right so we went to the harbor area to piddle around and fish some. The OFM was having fits casting in the wind he thought. He kept on back lashing and getting wind knots in the line. Frustration was building when suddenly the blindness of another migraine hit. Apparent we had been in the throes of a nasty migraine building all day and it finally opened full blast. And we went back to the Castle to start the healing process. So here it is about 2215 at night and the OFM can finally function again to report a day of fun being a guide for the area. And that part was a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Wonderful Hot Weather

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-15-2022

We had a great brisk walk again this morning but there were no pictures waiting to be taken. A wander down by the beach park got us this picture of the wonderful hot weather.

The Teams meandered a bit here and there looking for adventures with no luck. Then back at the Castle we noticed a seam that needed a recaulk. Checking our maintenance locker sent us to Walmart to purchase some fresh caulk of the proper type. Back at the Castle the old caulk was removed and the seam washed. An hour nap turned out to be good for the area to dry out. The caulk job took about a half hour and is curing now. None of the other seams were needing repair at this time.

If you tow very much the seams need to be frequently checked for openings that can leak and do huge amounts of damage. The Castle was born in July of 2005 and has a huge number of miles on it. For several years we were getting about nine to ten months on a set of tires before they were worn and ready for a new set. Now days we don't move that often or travel near as far each month as we did for about ten years. We are now in our fourteenth year of full timing. We need to get busy rolling again so we have things to write about.

Talking about things to write about check out his nice fellow's blog. Lately he is posting some great pictures from New Mexico.

https://pleinairjourney.com/ .

Now we need to figure out what we can do about trying to have tooooo much fun.

Inspiration

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-14-2022

We had a great brisk walk again this morning but there were no pictures waiting to be taken. The rest of the morning was a fuzzy blur of no memory. Then the usual Whataburger with Senior Drink for lunch.

The traffic coming into town was way too much so we went back to the Castle and had a wonderful afternoon cataloging photos from the stockpile on the memory card. The result of that bit of work is a file named “maybe paintings”. We decided on a part of one of the pictures to be the inspiration for a new painting. The OFM spent a bunch of the day just working out how we want the painting to look and what colors to be where. It was a great time coming up with so many different possibilities.

Our mail for the last month came in with the Income Tax refund check in it. Now we can afford to buy a half tank of gas for Sierra.

Nothing is planned for the next few days so the OFM could get into all sorts of trouble while trying to have tooooo much fun.

Goodby My Friend

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-13-2022

The day was easing along well and the OFM was taking it easy on some sensitive joints today. Lunch came and went and the OFM was sitting at the window chasing blog fodder for this blog tonight.

Too much activity outside for this very quiet campground got my attention. So on with the shoes and meander out to see what is going on.

At the top of the blog header it says

DON'T WAIT. DO IT NOW.

The last line of each blog entry advocates trying to have tooooo much fun.

We meandered into a couple of police cars and several folks standing around.

One of the nicest men in the world and only in his fifties had passed on to his rewards this day, He and the OFM had discussed both of the blog lines several times in the passing years and agreed that both lines were important to a good life. Mark was a leader at trying to have tooooo much fun, NOW.

Nice Day

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Today's Date: 5-12-2022

The morning walk went very well and brisk. And then we hit the Beach Park and did some fishing with no success.

Not much excitement today but we did get over to Portland Tx and Academy to look at some “walking “ shoes. We chose to keep on with the Merrells we have been wearing for years. We actually left Academy without buying anything. Next door to Academy is a nice Walmart that is normally better stocked than the Rockport one. We finally found a new rug to replace the worn out one at the do everything table in the Castle. Now we should be good for another ten years.

After supper we went to the Beach Park to see what needed a picture taken. We did find a couple. The Beach Park has a very nice bird sanctuary area. A nice bird watching shelter is placed just right to see most of the sanctuary area with the mounted viewing scope.

At the entrance ramp is a nice picture of several of the bird types we have here.

While up in the shelter this evening we got a couple of nice pictures. This first one is of the area back toward the boat ramp. This shows the wetlands part of the sanctuary.

This next picture is a very small part of the general nesting and romantic encounters area. The odd part to the OFM is that every now and then ALL the birds suddenly fly up into the air and mill around for a few minutes then settle back down and get paired up again. This picture shows about ten percent of the birds involved.

Even though we had nothing really exciting happen, it was a wonderful warm breezy day for trying to have tooooo much fun.