Slow Day

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-31-2022

It has been a rough day of seeing well but we are making it anyway. A nice slow walk on a nice good morning netted us another nice picture of Flint Creek.

The breeze was very gentle and the OFM tried a few more reflection pictures but something in the camera settings would not let him get it set right. So the one picture we got above is it for the day. We will be looking for the camera manual right after finishing tonight's blog.

We did not do a lot. A trip to Walmart for some picture hanging materials was the big highlite of the day. The OFM eyes were acting up a bit on focusing well but later in the day they got better too.

That is about all we got done in the way of trying to have tooooo much fun today.

Grade C Day Start

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-30-2022

We hit the bed after a grade A day on the eye recovery. When it was time to get up this morning we were back to a grade C day and one eyeing it around the Castle. However we worked gently on opening the right eye often and other things like forcing both eyes to open while walking. By evening we were back to grade A both eyes working again.

Late this evening the OFM Team went on a walk near the water places around here looking for photo opportunities while walking some more. We shot a bunch of pictures that did not work out at all but we have four that are not bad at all.

For a change we will just put the pictures up for viewing. There is three shot for the reflections and one for the yellow tree.

It was a good exercise for the OFM in choosing scenes for painting. Please let us know if any of them seem nice to you or you do not like one at all.

One thing for sure, we had fun doing something different like this effort trying to have tooooo much fun.

Two Eyes

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-29-2022

This morning was a step forward on recovery. The OFM woke up and headed for the necessity room and when he turned on the light he realized he had both eyes open seeing the lavatory right in front of him.

What is so special is that he only had ONE image in his sight. In reality there was still two but they were very close to aligned for a change. On top of that we were able to use the right eye ALL day instead of having to close it frequently. Even when we drove to lunch we were able to use the right eye normally. That was a major change for the good. But we did restrain from trying it out on a run on the highway until we have a day of practice. And it did get tired about 1800 and we had a nice nap to give it and the OFM some rebuild time.

OK back to morning. After breakfast we carry trash out to the dumpsters just to get some limbering done on the ancient body we are stuck with. It was such an exciting morning with two eyes for the first time in six days we went on a bit of a walk on the smooth hiking path near the campground.

This is the remains of a pine cone after the squirrels have eaten the goodies from it. It sounds like a big rock when it hits the roof of the Castle from way up in the tall trees.

The morning was cool and beautiful. Here is a picture of the nice path and the gorgeous sky we had,

There was even white flowers and berries of several colors to entertain us on the walk. With all the short walks we took today the OFM is guessing we got in nearly a mile. We are being careful to not cause any more blood vessels to leak in the OFM's eyeball.

After the long nap this afternoon the OFM tried out some more coloring now that two eyes were working and it worked pretty good.

Tomorrow morning about 0830 will be seven days since the disaster happened. And it has been very educational in many ways but definitely not a good way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Ditch

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-28-2022

This morning was a step back on recovery it seemed. To our surprise this evening we were able to use the right eye to actually see to some extent. That was a wonderful surprise.

We made several short walks today at a slightly faster speed and that was another wonderful surprise.

Then late afternoon we took a walk down to the soccer fields and their were three practice games going on with folks hollering and screaming at the action going on. It was great to see the folks having a good time.

We walked gently around part of the perimeter of the field and happened to look into a line of brush and trees next to the field fence line. Here is what we found.

A bit of nosing around and this turned to out to be one of the two ditches that drain the part of the campground that is low and floods. No wonder it floods down at that end of the campground. That is a pretty difficult flow path for water to get through there. The ditch is a few hundred feet long before it dumps into Flint Creek which is very wide and workable.

Meanwhile it sounds like the soccer players have been doing a great job of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Sold Out

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-27-2022

To our surprise when we got to the dumpsters for the morning trash run the OFM was ready to cross the road and do some more walking. We still did less than a mile but it was progress. Along the way we spotted the first berries to fall from the vines in the trees. They were proudly laying on the side walk displaying themselves for the whole world to see.

Most of the day was spent just waiting on healing to keep happening. By evening we could tell that healing of the eye was happening and it feels good. We got a nice picture during an evening walk.

Then we got to do a good bit of jawing with some neighbors about living in the Decatur area. That information may be very valuable in the next few years as we slow down on travels even more than we have in the last two years.

It is getting dark a lot sooner these days but that only means the party lights get turned on sooner. These are back through the woods behind the Castle.

That reminded me that Labor Day Weekend is only a week away and I was informed that the whole park is SOLD OUT for that event. We are betting on a long loud weekend of folks trying to have tooooo much fun.

Looks Good

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-26-2022

Our Angel came over and took us to see the eye doctor again. The result was a “looking good” and come back in three weeks for another look. As to recovery he thinks we will have a 100% recovery within a month or so.

Here is what looking good looks like.

Now all we need to do is find something safe for trying to have tooooo mjch fun.

Kiddo My Angel

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-25-2022

The night before the last fall we ordered a nice art easel and it arrived today. Only time and healing will tell if we ever get enough depth perception to use one. But we are ready now for something good to happen since the easel was delivered today.

On another note the ANGEL that is caring for the OFM agreed to let me show the blog readers Kiddo.

We also learned to drive SIERRA with only a left eye working. We made it out after practice driving in the campground for several minutes.

The plan is to drive the local roads that have little traffic. The main target is the local small Walmart for groceries.

Now to find new ways of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Lost The Fight

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-24-2022

The OFM doesn't recall a lot about yesterdays details. He was getting ready to walk and his office chair viciously attacked him as he walked past it. The result was eye damage and a few minor bruises and strained muscles. The doctor and emergency bills should be interesting.  

The OFM doesn't recall a lot about yesterdays details. He was getting ready to walk and his office chair viciously attacked him as he walked past it. The result was eye damage and a few minor bruises and strained muscles. The doctor and emergency bills should be interesting. We will return as conditions permit. For now doing nothing but healing is our idea of trying to have toooooooooooo much fun.

Caught A Turtle

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-22-2022

The OFM doesn't recall a lot about today's details. We know he made a good walk for exercise this morning. Along that walk he met a nice lady who was fishing and had caught a turtle earlier. Turtles are a pain in the neck to unhook but she took care of it and did not get bitten. We had a long talk about her and her husband who are settling into the retirement life locally. It was a great interlude in the walking.

We managed to do the whole walk without taking a picture. But we had several opportunities to HOWDY somebody new and that is a great thing to enjoy.

Back in the campground we got a list together to do some grocery shopping and came out of the Walmart to a gentle but steady rain. Back at the campground it had not rained and did not rain during the day.

A wonderful unplanned event hit us right between the eyes. Lots of folks at the campground that we have met in past trips here had not been greeted yet. Apparently some of the regulars have been off doing vacations and visiting far away relatives. Any way the OFM got to refresh many friendships here with nice long “catch back up” types of conversations. And that was a wonderful time.

So even if nothing really EVENTFUL  happened it was a wonderful day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Over Backwards

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-21-2022

We got started on the walk this morning with some strong haze in the area and cloudy skies but no rain showing. We made it out of the campground and down near the main soccer grounds and in a time frame of 20 seconds we were in a drenching rain. Back to the Castle we went until no more water could be soaked up in our clothing.

We dried off and hanged our clothing to dry. That was an ugly surprise.

We started a long day of piddling around inside the Castle until after lunch. The rain slowly quit and cleared until mid afternoon when the sun came out to play.

We hopped to it and headed out for a gentle walk. The almost injured ankle gave no trouble so we are calling it healed.

The walk went well but not really exciting. We were surprised to see this pretty pink flower amongst the white ones all along the creek shore.

At another location was these leaves turning into fall colors already. They are a nice dark red bending into a green.

Along near an inlet of the creek we got to play hide and seek with a large bird while trying to get a picture of the bird. The bird won and we have no picture of it.

But all was not lost. Where we were standing when the bird quit the game was a bush with these pretty flowers. The whole cluster was about the size of two golf balls.

From there it was a nice walk back along the soccer field listening to all the happy folks of all ages out kicking soccer balls around. Some of those really young kids get really into that kicking the ball around. Many of the really young ones kick so hard they go over backwards and bounce right up to do it again. It is great to see folks out just having a royal fun time trying to have tooooo much fun.

Nothing Special Day

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-20-2022

Well what a change from yesterday. First thing this morning was a trip to the grocery store for food since the OFM forgot to go yesterday. Next thing was a walk in spite of a slightly twisted ankle giving a bit of pain. The walk was significantly shortened and slowed down for pace. The good news is that the ankle feels fully healed tonight.

During the day we had a rain squall come through and drop us a good rain for the vegetation. And we got in a lot of colored pencil work learning. Just for grins the OFM also pulled out the watercolor pencils and did a bit of messing things up on a picture.

Then we put a new header picture on the blog.

And that is just about all there was to today for trying to have tooooo much fun. I hope every one had a nice day.

Slower Walking Needed

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-19-2022

It was another very nice walking morning. We met several new folks and dogs on the trail this morning. They were all nice and polite and that was wonderful.

From the front door of the Castle to the start of the waterfront trail is .4 miles. We wanted to try to get in 3 miles of brisk walking today. We failed. But we did better than any day before since arriving here.

When we got to this trail marker, we had to cut back to the old infantry marching speed of about 2.5 mph that we can handle better than our brisk speed whatever it is. Brisk speed causes both knees to have aches the next day so we are not going to try to speed things up but just get longer. The best we can tell we made it a bit over 3 miles again today.

But we did get a couple of pictures during the walk. As we were walking near the fishing bridge we noticed a long necked bird watching for food. We did the usual and took a picture from wherever we first spot the target. Then we creep closer to try for a closer picture. Well the OFM took one step closer too many and the bird took off at supersonic speed so what we get to see is the first shot.

But we did notice a red orange blossom in the tree above us. It was sort of pretty . The best we can recall the tree is named a Bobber Blossom Tree.

Back at the Castle we got showered and prettied up and went to work researching some things on the Internet. It proved worthwhile. Then we went to work on the picture coming up next.

We hope you enjoy it. It was a fun one to color and fuss with.

Sure enough late this afternoon we got a nice rain shower of about ten minutes. The ground slurped that all down nearly instantly.

With a good walk and a finished picture we really had a good day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Fishing Pier Picture

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-18-2022

What a fantastic start to this morning it was. The air was almost chilly and we chose to walk a piece of several different loops to search for a great picture. We did not find one but did get in a great walk. These purple flowers caught our attention so we stopped for a picture. The whole cluster of open flowers was about two inches across is all. That purple really glowed in the morning sunlight.

At another location we got a nice picture of the fishing pier the OFM mentions now and then. These folks seemed to be really enjoying the cool morning.

Over on another large bunch of shrubs the berry clusters were of berries multi colors so we just naturally had to get a picture of that.

A friend of ours is another full time Rver like us. He is roaming the western mountains and finding places we never heard of and they are really great sights to enjoy. You might enjoy going over to https://pleinairjourney.com/ and checking out the scenery. He is also a real artist and a very nice fellow.

It has been a fairly quiet day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Cooler Weather Is Welcome

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-17-2022

We are glad to announce that the computer is still working fine and Sierra had no new troubles today.

The weather has been rather nice in general for the last few days. A couple of sprinkly showers have given the vegetation some water to drink. We have been having mornings in the low 70s with highs around 90 or a bit less. The last time we checked they were expecting high 60s for our low tonight. This has been enjoyable weather for sure.

The walking trail along the waterfront is apparently getting readied for some major maintenance as soon as the tourist time is over. It will be interesting to see what changes.

Today we got a few pictures during our 3+ mile walk. At the fishing bridge over a creek there was all sorts of green stuff floating on the surface of the water in really neat swirling patterns as the slight current and wind worked with each other to produce beautiful art.

A big surprise to the OFM was a new small pond near the paved road around the golf course. Apparently the OFM for years had been looking at the golf green on the other side of the road all the times we passed here before. Today a splash alerted him to the small pond to pay attention too. At least it wasn't an alligator waiting for breakfast.

Now we have a question for our readers. There is a lot of this goldish colored vegetation growing on shrubbery all over this area. Does anyone know the name of it? We would like to look it up and find out about it.

We have another colored pencil painting well on the way. It is a desert tortoise eating prickly pear fruit. It has been a good way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-16-2022

So here we are on the way to Walmart with a shopping list short in length and long in importance. As we are approaching the main intersection in the whole town of Decatur Al about 1430 there is a LOUD bang on the driver side door and the driver side window politely rolls down. Immediately the self diagnostics of Sierra notify the OFM that he needs to roll the window down and then back up,

The OFM hits the down button and creates all sorts of wild noises. Then he hits the up button and more wild noise emits from the door. About now the traffic light turns green and away we roll wondering how big a fortune we will need to get this fixed.

One downside of being a full time Rver is not having any idea where to go for repairs you cannot do your self. Since we had just passed the dealer we had once several years used with good satisfaction we did some flopping around and headed back to the dealer to see what our situation is.

The service writer was fantastic and helpful and really knew how to calm down a distraught ancient old man down. Since it was late in the day we had no idea what to do about a couple of things and he had wonderful answers for everything.

As it turns our he had a man free to take Sierra in right then. Diagnose the problem quickly and determine they had time to fix it before quitting time. In a reasonable amount of time he came back to tell us that the part required was in stock and the price $$$$$$$ for the part and estimated labor.

The OFM did a quick YES and he went away to get the repair working. In a very reasonable time Sierra was brought out ready to leave as soon as the $500.50 bill was “credit carded”. And away we went to Walmart as originally planned. And breakfast will be nice in the morning.

Back at the Castle we found the computer would not work properly. My computer genius Kiddo and I worked on getting it going to no avail and decided that I needed to bring the gear over to his house tomorrow evening so he could look at some details in person. He also posted a comment in the blog of last night that we were out of commission. As you can see the OFM finally found a big enough hammer to get the computer fixed also. So it has been an interesting great day of trying to have tooooo much fun getting things fixed.

Double Head Trail Rebuild

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-15-2022

The OFM had a bit of a rough day today from practicing golf ball hitting yesterday. He just could not get it in gear and rolling today. So we had a few short naps and a good amount of ibuprofen for the soreness. But we did make him get out and around to help stay flexible at least. The MAJOR surprise was he cooperated for a change.

We made our way around to a trail we noticed the other day. But first some background. The Point Mallard folks do a pretty good job of keeping the 11 miles of trails in decent shape for the walkers and bikers. And there is a lot of walkers and bikers that use the trails.

About four years ago something tornadic in in nature came through the area and made a mess of several spots on the trails. The parks folks hopped to and within a few days they had the main trails open for business but not all the mess next to the trails under control. It took about a year of work to get most of the torn up stuff moved out or put in an appropriate spot to rot.

There was one short .81 mile near a slough that was not finished when the storm came through and pretty well just shut the trail down. It had been finished enough we were allowed to walk it but it was still pretty rough. The storm pretty well tore it up and made it worse than just unfinished. The OFM Team did explore it a bit back at the first chance after the storm and we did not go all the way on it. It wasn't worth the effort and danger from falling ded trees and branches.

Now for the good news. The crews are working on that trail “in their spare time” to get it usable again. We figured it was so messed up that it had been abandoned. So we took a look at it and grabbed a few photos. The work progress is slow but it is at least still in the park plans and when ready it is a very nice trail and has parking area nearby it for about 15 vehicles.

Now for the tour. The start of the trail has the usual signs and a history sign about the historical use of the area.

Chief Double Head was the leader of the Indians in the area way back then. The trail starts and stops here. It makes a nice large loop out to a pond and back.

The first couple of hundred feet have been cleaned up well and is what we can expect when the project is completed.

The trail is on a narrow strip of land so most of the knocked down or other brush, trees etc. will have to be hauled out to the brush disposal area on the other side of the golf course. So it will be slow going. The next three pictures are of the spots we could get to reasonably easily and safe to take pictures. Virtually all that timber laying around and making a mess will have to be cut up by hand and hauled out on small trailers pulled by small equipment.

Just to let you know the rough trail we followed for these pictures did not even get to the halfway point yet. From this area we turned back and headed to the Castle. Sure enough the next morning we woke with several chiggers making their new homes in the OFM body.

It will be a nice trail when it is finished and a good place for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Nothing To Do?

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Today's Date: 8-14-2022

Another exciting day went flying past in an instant. We cannot conceive how a retired person can have boring days. The OFM hit a minute “of nothing to do” he thought and kind of if there was something he could do for fun. So he sat here at the table and considered. Within a couple of minutes he gave up and got busy. The list of fun stuff yet to do was already longer than the Castle in that few minutes.

One thing to do was clean out the computer stored files “for later”. So here tonight is a tale of a walk not long ago that went into the later on file.

We do not recall the details of the walk but it certainly had a few nice pictures taken along the creek side.

The first one is of a cluster of vegetation along the waterfront trail a few days ago. There are several types of vegetation in the cluster but it combined to make a down right pretty arrangement. It was the only cluster of that much color in one spot on the whole trail that morning. We took several shots from different angles and with and with out fill in flash. This was our choice of the best shot.

This picture of a rotten tree is just a small section of the tree right next to the same trail. The tree is rotten to the core all the way from near the ground up to about forty feet high. All of the tree is dead and has been for several years but the lower section in the picture where it is rotten through and through and just waiting for a chance go on and lay down on something.

This next picture of the beautiful red-orange flower was taken in the flower bed next to the Campground Office temporary parking for checking in to camp. They keep that bed glorious for greeting new campers.

Then scattered at a few places around the campground are these beautiful pink roses that bloom almost all year long.

And that is just four of the interesting sights we found on one morning walk recently. Yep there is a lot of ways of trying to have tooooo much fun doing things.