Wonderful Walking Weather

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 31, 2023

It was a very busy day today. This is what the beautiful day sky looked like this morning.

And it got better during the day. The 65F air temperature and nice breeze made the OFM want a long sleeve shirt after we had been walking for a while. The pace was brisk and he kept on going after we arrived at the planned turnaround distance marker. The OFM was really feeling good in the bright sunlight and cool environment. By the time we got him stopped and turned around we ended up with 3.5 miles total walk. In addition we got a few nice pictures we plan to be used for blog header pics in the future.

In addition here is the pretty white flowers we mentioned a day ago that were really covering the area.

If you know its name please tell us.

It seemed like every one that planned to leave after this September was wanting to have discussions on where to go and when to be there. So we got to hear a lot of opinions. The trouble for us is they all wanted to get advice or information about expensive places instead of remote boondocking locations. For example where is a great RV park in San Antonio Tex and what good restaurants and sights and things are there to do in San Antonio Texas? ( or Houston or Dallas or

EL Paso).

We do not know that sort of information. If it is a big city we try to stay away. So anyway it was a nice day to visit a bit and play with our colored pencils again.

We missed all the hurricane weather but the folks that did get it got smashed it looks like on the TV next door.

Everybody relax for the weekend and try to have tooooo much fun.

Water Color Pencil Attempt

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 30, 2023

This morning weather was the topic of several Good Morning exchanges since it was so wonderful on the trail. The temp was nearly just right and the humidity was lower by a good bit too. In fact it was so good that the OFM body wanted to run but the OFM knew better. However we did put in 3.2 miles in a bit under an hour with no trouble at all. We think that the heat/humidity of the last three weeks has been the biggest trouble to the exercisers on the trail. This morning the trail population was about quadruple of the last three weeks average walker count.

This is what a nice morning start should look like.

Even the scenery along the trail seemed a lot nicer to us. All the vegetation seemed to be enjoying the cooler temps also.

On the way back we encounter this egret hunting over Flint Creek. The day was so nice it did not even budge as we stopped about fifteen feet away for the picture. Normally we cannot get within fifty feet of an egret up here in the woods.

On the art efforts we tried out using watercolor pencils on this next partial painting.

Obviously it is a different way of putting color on the paper and the OFM needs to practice a lot. But it is fun to do something different now and then don't you think.

With the big weekend coming up day after tomorrow and the whole 259 sites campground to be full, we are planning a low profile until Monday morning and let the legions run rampant in the area while we lay low.

Sounds like a good excuse for a nap or four to us.

Egret Stalking Coloring

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 29, 2023

An amazingly comfortable day today for a change. The walk started about 0900 this morning with a warm but not hot air temp and a bit of a breeze. The OFM was able to set a good pace at a moderate aerobic rate and hold it for over two miles to our surprise. By the time we were back to the Castle he had a nice sweat going and was ready to sit and cool off. The camera was with us but the OFM had forgotten to get the memory card from the computer and install it back in the camera. The only thing we wanted to get a picture of was the huge all over the place explosion of four petal white flowers. It was dramatic so hopefully tomorrow we can try again.

We did a bit of clean out of the Castle and got it all into the dumpster and gone. There is a lot more empty cabinets than cabinets with stuff in them in the Castle now.

Late this afternoon the OFM remembered it was stuffed baked potato sale day at Lawlers so we took a quick run over there to get one for tonight and tomorrow night. $8.52 for two suppers is not bad these days.

And today we finished a coloring that we have named Egret Stalking.

We hope you enjoy it. It was somewhat modified from the original drawing that was in the adult coloring book to meet our wants. Then the colored pencils went to work for a few days. It is a 4”x6” in size per our choice.

That is about it for tonight and we plan to have an easy night tonight and ease back a bit on the trying to have to much funnnnn by one n tomorrow.

 

Natural Pruning

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 28, 2023

Let us talk about Natural Pruning of trees tonight. The wonderful hike and bike trail here at Point Mallard park is well maintained for the surface of the trail but Mother Nature takes care of the tree pruning. The winds that whip through here often keep the bad branches etc pretty well blown out of the vegetation. However the vegetation gets to go any where it pleases when it comes down from the trees.

And yes it does fall on the trail frequently.

See the top of the tree gone. See all the dead stuff at the bottom. That stuff was originally on the trail and a couple of walkers like the OFM got it moved off the trail. And yes that happens fairly frequently along the miles of this trail. Only the large trunks get to wait for the maintenance folks to chain saw them up and carry them off. And yes in windy weather a person on the trail had better watch for limbs getting knocked out of the trees and whaping you walking by. Usually it is the 3 inch limbs and smaller that get broken loose and fall in usual wind speed when walkers are out here.

But we have seen much larger chunks of trees come down also.

The trail crosses and runs along a lot of waterfront area. Along the waterfront dirt you will see trees leaning out over the water at many locations. Eventually you will see one go down while watching.

The OFM has seen it twice in our 12 years of coming here. We quit counting the number of smaller limbs we have seen hit the trail.

Still, this is our favorite set of trails in all of our travels for exercise walking or just great pleasant scenery and nice HELLOS from the other walkers.

One other thing, by choosing your enjoyable trail section carefully you can safely and comfortably navigate with crutches, wheel chairs, baby carriages and other mobility assist items thanks to the paved sections of the trail system.

The OFM often talks of the back entrance to the campground for bikes, golf carts, walkers etc. But not motor vehicles. Well today he remembered to take a picture of that entrance to show you what he means.

This entrance opens right behind the big soccer field in the park and is very convenient when walking to a soccer game or the water park or other fun things to do in the main park areas.

Everybody be safe and try to have tooooo much fun tomorrow.

New Guard Cat

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 27, 2023

The first thing we noticed when we stepped outside this morning is that the neighborhood guard cat was on duty. We do not know where it came from but it started showing up a couple of days ago just wandering the area. Now that we think about it, the old neighborhood cat has been missing for a few days. Hmmmm what is going on?

The weather was moderately cooler today so we attempted a good walk. It turned into a 2.5 mile walk that was nice with a bit of breeze the whole time for a change. We started from the back of the campground next to a drainage ditch that has vegetation in it fed by the runoff from the well maintained soccer field across the maintenance road from the ditch. We were hoping that we could crop the picture to make it a nice pic for our readers to enjoy.

When we got to a place the OFM body considered far enough we turned around and headed back on the golf course maintenance road.

It was nice ambling on it during our return trip to the Castle. The trees did a good job of keeping the strong sunlight off us walkers.

After showering to be presentable, we headed to the grocery store we forgot about yesterday. Shopping was good and we walked out of there with two small plastic bags of food with about $27 added to our credit card account. OUCH AGAIN.

We just could not pass up the discounted pork chop center cut meat today. So it is in the freezer relaxing for a while until the OFM decides what to fix them like. The OFM sure does like his cubed pork fixings.

We got a surprise when we opened the fridge door this evening and found a nice container of stoop of pork chop meat, rice, croutons, onions, and a bit of other tidbits just calling out to be supper. Wow it was good.

Oh We nearly forgot. Some more time was spent on planning an attempt at making our own image of some things we have seen recently instead of just doing coloring book coloring. We will be having more details on the effort in the near future we hope.

It was a nice day of moderated temperatures and we hope the predicted storms for tonight will not be bad ones. A good nights sleep would be wonderful before we have to get busy trying to have tooooo much fun tomorrow.

Too Hot To Be Out And About

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 26, 2023

We did not even attempt an outdoor walk today. Later on a trip to Walmart we put in about a mile of good paced walking inside in the AC. The morning was spent trying to get the computer to allow the OFM to send and receive emails again. Something about it not allowing JavaScript to to load. That effort will continue tomorrow. We hope to soon be able to send and receive emails on the computer.

Laundry turned out to be a good item to do today since the laundry room was totally empty of others the whole time we were there. Ahhhhh clean sheets tonight.

The day was very hot and wet so folks were not as out and about as a normal weekend. Just walking from the parking spot to the store door at Walmart was a roasting experience.

Thats it for the blog tonight. Just trying to have tooooo much fun in the excessive heat of Alabama.

Lunch With Jerry

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 25, 2023

We came back from the walk at 0814 with the OFM being a bit too hot. When we left the temp and humidity was low enough that it did not even have a spot on the heat index chart. When we returned from the 1.5 mile walk the heat index was 97 on the chart. WOW the situation changed fast. Our route was a shady one for all but a quarter mile at the last. That was the big time for the day.

The rest of the day was a lot less exciting. Lunch was Burger King with local fellow/friend Jerry and we yakked for over two hours.

The rest of the day was spent playing with colored pencils and making mistakes on the drawing we were trying to color decently.

That was the whole day. The bad news is unknown and the good news is that getting older is a good thing. Everyone please take very good care of yourself in these HOT days so we can soon get busy having tooooo much fun again.

Butterfly Wreath Coloring

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 24, 2023

It was one year yesterday that the OFM tried to knock his right eye out of his head and started all the eye troubles that have been going on since then. The right eye is still showing signs of improving but it is slow going for sure.

Today was again too hot early for a walk so after breakfast we headed to Walmart and got in about a mile of decent paced walking due to a strong absence of shoppers. We saw 101F on the truck outside temp gauge this afternoon.

Therefore we did a lot of inside in the A/C coloring and completed (sort of) Butterfly Wreath. The OFM is not content with the appearance of the coloring. It seems to him that it is missing something. Until then this is what we have.

We shuffled through our library of coloring books and found another scene we started on this afternoon. Gotta do something to stay a bit busy or just go nuts.

Everyone get lots of rest during this HEAT so we can go nuts trying to have tooooo much fun when it cools off in a couple of weeks.

Butterfly Colors

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 23, 2023

A big nothing for today. It was too hot by the time we finished breakfast this morning for a walk. The Heat Index here in the swamp was 98. So we spent a lot of time in the AC in the Castle just piddling. Lunch was at Burger King where the OFM verified that their burger patties are grill cooked. The grease drains to a pan under the grill and is not used in any of their cooking. The chicken is cooked in a vegetable oil blend.

The rest of the day was colored pencil time. We hit a point that we have to color a few butterflies playing with the flowers.

Butterflies have been the subject of some internet pictures today and now we have choices to make about the coloration of the flutterbyes.

Speaking of heat, we just checked the heat forecasts for the near future. This is the normally hottest week of the year in this area. And the heat index predictions for the next seven days are about 95-100 by 0800 in the morning. We think there will be more inside a store walking in our near future. Now we need to work on some butterflies.

Keep cool while you are out trying to have tooooo much fun tomorrow.

Paint Eraser

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 22, 2023

Good news from the morning “walk”. We got on down by the river in the medium warm morning with a nice breeze. Just as we made the first turn to head for the goal of the day of 2.5 miles The breeze quit and Flint Creek went totally flat mirror style and the heat jumped a bunch. The OFM chose to reduce pace and keep going. It was not a bad decision yet but by the next quarter mile he stopped in a shady spot and drank a big slug of water and decided we were going to head back to the Castle and the AC. This was a very wise decision because by the time we took the short cut to the Castle and got back it was really hot, dead calm and miserable. Back at the Castle, after we got cooled down, the OFM decided we would go ahead and give the new pad a good work out. We cleaned everything we could from belt buckle height on down. Why belt buckle and down?

Because the OFM found that he could not kneel down on the ceiling. Any way, the pad proved to be just the thing he has been needing to have for a few years to protect his body parts that hurt when pressed against the floor or other places like cabinet edges.

The day continued with cooking meals for putting in the freezer. It is nice to have good flavorful meals waiting for a microwave episode for when you need one.

The fill in activity of colored pencil efforts finished of the rest of the day. However we had a major realization to report tonight about our coloring effort. In colored pencil art a continuous trouble is to keep the lines that put down the color from staying separate lines and to get them blended together. Today we had time to really work with that trouble and found we had a good solution on hand already but we could not recall the name of it.
So this afternoon we went to Hobby Lobby where we bought our first set of PAINT ERASERS and purchased a spare set. They are rubber do hickeys mounted on wooden sticks that we use to rub the colored pencil line into a smooth color. They also help to blend color transitions into smooth transitions.

The rubber tips do not wear down like an eraser. They have stayed just like when we first started using them several month ago. They replace the twisted paper sticks that we had been using that are called tortillions. And they do a better job for us.

Here is the latest art effort in progress using the erasers for blending and smoothing.

Tonight we ate a third of the stuffed baked potato we purchased this afternoon. That leaves us two more meals ready to go whenever we get ready for one. Sleeping well should come easy after all the work done today. Tomorrow should be another great day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Kneeling Pad

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 21, 2023

Hot is the name of today again. The OFM managed to gt out of bed early enough to have breakfast eaten and be ready to hit the trail before it got really hot. We chose the path along Point Mallard Parkway, the road that goes past the golf course and brings folks to the campground. The walk has several turn around points and we chose to attempt to make the drainage culvert as our turnaround point if the sun heating lets us. Most of the a route has shade from trees along the golf course property. That would give us a 2 mile walk. We made it but not one foot farther.

We got one nice picture of the golf course hole 11. The OFM had stopped because a badly hit golf ball hit a tree near us and bounced against the fence next to us and back on to the course. That was about the most excitement for the day.

Historically according to weather information, this next week averages as the hottest week of the year for this area. Well the forecast is for highs of 98f to 100f for this week and weekly lows in the high 78f range the last time we checked. We will be hugging the AC.

When we went out to look for a kneeling pad so the OFM knees can clean the nooks and crannies of the Castle without making him even more lame than he is now, we got to the exit we once again got to see the last street light pole laying in the the road. That happened a few months ago too with the same street light. They were getting it re installed when we returned from shopping. OF course we had no camera when we passed by.

But we were very successful at Walmart and purchased a THICK kneeling pad that was on clearance. The size is 1 inch by 12 inches x 15 inches. This allows the OFM knees to kneel on the floor of the Castle to tight places we have in this 147 sf of wonderful mobile living space without being in pain.

When we tried it out the foam was just exactly right in firmness for our knees to be comfortable. That is all the excitement for today so far. We have such and exciting life we need to get our beauty rest so we can go nuts tomorrow trying to have tooooo much fun.

Almost Did Something Today

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 20, 2023

Hot is the name of today. The OFM awakened a bit later than normal and by the time we had breakfast it was too hot outside (heat index) for the OFM to be walking out there in the humid very calm conditions. So we checked the local Walmart with Google maps and determined that by making loops inside the store we could get in about a mile in three laps. That is a lot better than no laps at all. The rest of this week through next Sunday is expected to be hotter than today so we may see a lot of the inside of Walmart for the next week.

At the finish of the walking it was time to look for some new house cleaning supplies. We were partially successful and headed home. When we got Sierra unpacked and things put away we headed for a slightly early lunch. On the way home we stopped at the Little Walmart and they had the rest of our needed supplies. Back home the OFM decided a 30 minute nap was the most important item to get accomplished. He must have needed it because he set the half hour alarm and laid down. POOF he was out of it. When the alarm went off he hopped out of bed ready to get busy.

But the house cleaning got put aside until tomorrow. At least we know from the start in the morning it will be too hot outside and we can make the floor cleaning first after breakfast on the list of fun for tomorrow. And that is how a no nothing day can be handled with enough laziness. Now to rest up from all the efforts today so we can try to have tooooo much fun tomorrow.

Situation Report

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 19, 2023

The good news is that we got the license plate sticker ordered from Texas so we will have a full legal rig for traveling when it is installed on the Castle in about three weeks. That leaves the two big repairs for the repair shop to do and one more for the OFM to do that is easy we think. It has been a worrisome time for us the last few weeks wondering what is next to need special care. And can the OFM do it himself like he likes to do. But after 16 years of living in the Castle and taking it to lots of great places in the outback of the USA we expected the rig to have some serious wear and tear on it. We have tried diligently to keep up the proper maintenance but at the same time use this tool for what it was purchased for, boon-docking in wild country. The finish line is in sight but still a couple of months away due to the repair shop backlog. Most of the back log over there are big motor homes for some reason. The expected completion for the Castle is by the end of September. We have until then to make up our mind on the after here route to go play.

The morning was nice and cool for the start of the 3 mile walk but we also had several small groups of walkers we do not normally see on the trail.

But they were all cheerful folks with lots of howdies available for the OFM Team. We hit the turn around point and it seemed that was the trigger for the breeze to slow down and the temp to jump up about eight degrees. So we made our way back to the Castle at a slightly slower pace. But we still made the loop in about 75 minutes.

The rest of the day was spent thinking about our future for the rest of the year and doing a bit of coloring and a bit of visiting with the friendly folks in this campground.

Tomorrow will have some grocery shopping as the big planned event for the day. But we need to get well rested for all that exciting fun at the Walmart Neighborhood Market in the morning.

PopCorn

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 18, 2023

Things around here are getting a bit dull on occasion so do not be surprised if the blog skips a day now and then because of nothing special happening. 

For those that have not caught on yet, the Castle is waiting on service before we can even begin to consider rolling. The back log at the only service place we trust is over two months backed up to do work. We got an approximate appointment time a few weeks that is in late September to early October.

Today was a special day out on the trail. We met three nice folks on the trail today. We got in 3 miles. Each person was ready to talk for a few minutes and each person was an interesting person to visit. We hope to see them again some day. Then while walking back into the campground we met a very nice lady putting out her trash for pickup and had about a thirty minute nice visit. Boy o boy meeting all those nice folks sure got the day started off right.

For those who have not seen them, ACT II microwave popcorn has come out with smaller bags of popcorn for snacks. They work out to be a great size for an old fat man to use for a snack.

We never found the larger bags to be really good for us as they were way to big and we never had luck storing already popped corn for eating in a day or two. This has worked out really well for this popcorn addict.

The OFM is still trying to get his days and nights straightened out. Today we did have to take a short nap in the afternoon, but we kept it short and had an alarm awaken us so we hope to sleep a normal night tonight.

Since we are so perfect in our day to day life, the OFM forgot to get out the chicken, cook it and prepare for supper tonight. OH my gosh we are in trouble now we thought. A quick look into the refrigerator spotted a serving of stoop sitting there waiting for us for supper tonight. Next to it was a container of spare cooked brown rice. Oh boy we got the rice into the stoop and put the microwave to work. About 1815 it was time for a nice meal for the evening. Stoop to the rescue. And now the OFM has a full belly to look up at when he is laying down in the bed. Maybe tomorrow will even be exciting since the weather is set to be warm and no rain when we are out trying to have tooooo much fun.

Roof Work Day

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 17, 2023

Last night was a tough night. It was after 0100 before the OFM settled down and went to sleep. Then this morning something made a loud noise and the OFM was up and at it at 0600. It all caught up with him about noon. But he made it a productive day anyway, sort of.

The morning walk in the cooler air was nice and peaceful. We got in a bit over two miles before a back ache sent us to the Castle.

That gave us a bit of an earlier start than we had planned. Today was roof day again. We needed to re caulk most of the roof caulking since we had noticed deep cracks in it while up there a couple of days ago. The big difference today is the OFM balance was back to his usual wobbly self. Being extra careful was very important. Anyway the job went well and this phase was finished in a couple of hours with no injuries to the OFM. YAHOO.

By this time it was shower time and then lunch time with a desert of ibuprofen. This evening the OFM is slightly sore in several spots but he will live we think. Since lunch we have been taking it easy from the lack of sleep and not normal exercise of roof scrambling.

We were not able to identify the snake in yesterdays blog even though we found a book on the internet of Alabama snakes. But the body structure and its actions closely resemble several of the many water snakes here in Alabama that live in swampy areas like we live in right here at Point Mallard. It is likely a good snake for keeping undesirable critters like rats and other varmints under control.

And in between nods off into dream land the coloring effort continues. This new effort is an 8x10 size of a flower wreath. It will take a while for sure.

That is all the excitement we had today and we like it that way now days. It is time to publish this entry and get rested for another big day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Snake On The Path

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 16, 2023

The day started moderately early for a change and the walk was nice with almost cool breezes moving the air molecules around. The main gravel trail was pretty well drained so we took off on it. The pace was flowing nicely and the feeling was really good for a change.

THEN IT HAPPENED. A nice polite snake scurried out into the trail just in front of the Teams. EEERK we went and grabbed for the camera. The snake just laid there until the camera got in place then the snake started to do posing to give us choices for the photo. We have no idea what the posing was all about but it was fun to watch for a little bit. Then we took two pics and put the camera away and the snake just laid there in the middle of the trail.

We guess it was about 30 inches long and an inch and a quarter in diameter. It reminded us of the garter snakes that were along the Texas coast except the coloring was totally wrong.

Anyway we stepped around it and headed on down the trail for our turn around point. Snake identification requested.

At the turn around point some water was guzzled and we decided to head back on the paved road of the last few days since the breeze was a little stronger on the road area. We made food time back to the Castle and got busy cooling down for our shower. And this looked as if it would be the major high spot of the day but the OFM was wrong.

We still needed to get over to Walmart and get what we needed to complete the leak repair on the roof. We got to Walmart after lunch and changed our plan about the rest of the roof joints getting the rubber spray coating that has to be painted like the bigger leak area needed. All the rest of the caulks just need to have the caulk cracks filled with high quality self leveling RV caulk. So we picked up some of that and checked out of Walmart,

The local salvage charity store is in the lot with Walmart so we drove over in hopes of finding a putter to use over at the golf course when it is cooler just for a change of piddling around.

As it turned out the best part of the day had just started. A nice man was walking across the parking lot and we said a couple of HOWDYs and over a half hour later we parted company after his wife came out of the store and visited for a few minutes. They are getting themselves ready to hit the road for an RV trip of 8000 miles out west in the new future. We had a long nice discussion and his wife had heard of OFM Adventures. So we got it loaded on her phone so they will be able to email us questions about things RV and tap our large knowledge base for good answers. The first thing that the OFM thought when they mentioned the round trip distance and where all they want to go on this trip is they need to quadruple the time length for the tour as a minimum. But they have a few miles under their tires pulling an RV so the OFM kept his mouth shut on that issue. They were very nice folks and we wish them well with their plans and travels.

The stuffed baked potato made a good supper tonight as meal 2. However there is still enough potato for another meal tomorrow. WOW that was a big un.

Ok it is time to get rested for another great day of trying to have toooooo much fun.

Nasty Morning Storms

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 15, 2023

The before dawn storms left a lot of wet in the area. Here is the trail we thought we were going to walk today.

Instead we stayed on the paved road again and had a wonderful walk due to the way less hot air temperature. The OFM even managed to keep a very nice brisk pace for the whole 2.1 miles. When we got back to the Castle he was properly sweated through his shirt instead of overly saturated. And cooling down only took about twenty minutes which is about right for a good speed walk in our world. These walks seem to be very important to the OFM's health especially his balance as of late. When he is getting in decent walks his balance is much better than when it is too slow or too hot.

We finally completed another try at doing good coloring and it never really seemed to come together but it is not real bad either. There are three new techniques hidden in the work and we hope to adequately learn how to use properly them in the near future. It has been a surprise to the OFM how much detail learning is required to do coloring well.

Here is Javelina Patrol for your enjoyment.

Tuesday is Baked Potato Sale day at Lawlers and we got ours and wolfed down about a third of it for supper tonight. As usual it is very good and large. Here is the left over for the next meal(s). It and root beer go together rather well in our life.

And now for the big surprise of the day. The roof work of a few days ago from our ladder had cured long enough that after noon when the sun had baked everything to perfection the OFM decided that his walk seemed to be in good balance and it was time for the next step in the roof work. So he got his gear in order and climbed the rear ladder on the Castle and got on the roof with no trouble from his balance. Trouble from old man flexibility yes, but balance was not a problem.

We got the already applied new rubber spray all painted. Then he looked around and decided to finish the rubber spray can of product on some of the other old caulking spots that looked like they might soon need help. Well that turned out to be more than we had left in the can. So tomorrow it is back to Walmart for another can of the spray. If the weather allows we will get all the roof seams sprayed and curing for the UV paint top coat required after it is cured.

But the big surprise was the OFM had no trouble with balance while on the roof today. Frequently he has to sit and scoot around while on the roof. He did not get brave (foolish) and stand next to the edge but sat and scooted for that effort. He knows his limits even if he foolishly ignores them at times.

It was a good day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Too Stinking Hot For Exercise Walking

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 14, 2023

It was hot and still this morning when we finally got going for a walk. The OFM was planning to make the best of it and also be very careful about the heat. As we left the campground we pass a slough that everyone has seen hundreds of pictures of. This is to show how still it was as we made our try at some exercise.

We were at the point we had to choose the normal hike and bike next to the creek or stay up a bit higher and more open to breeze on the paved road circling the golf course.

Since the road had good shade on it and seemed to be getting more breeze we choose it. It turned out to be a good choice. We had good shade for 95% of the walk and normally a bit of a breeze. However it

was still too hot and humid. So after we had walked a good bit the OFM just stopped, drank more water and choose to head back to the air conditioning. It was the right choice we came to believe. We got back to the Castle in adequate shape heat wise. The good news is we have some cooler, not cool, weather due in tonight for a few days.

So after the cool down and nice shower we made a point of finding things to do inside the Castle. We did notice a significant lack of folks out wandering around the campground.

The next big excitement was the Amazon package with our order came in right on time and in good shape. Now we have a few nice new white tee shirts to hide the OFM's ugly belly.

The biggest big event was that we went to Lawlers BBQ and got a pork salad to eat for supper. There is enough left over that tomorrow it will be most of another meal. That is about all we could accomplish with the heat being so rough. It sure gets in the way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

OFM Birthday Adventures

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 13, 2023

We got rolled just right to get to the grands home on time. Then the ruckus started and lasted until late in the afternoon. The visiting went very well and the grands were in a joyful mood. Grandson and the OFM did some nice visiting and the Grand son now has access to read this blog on his own and sat reading several days of the older blog entries.

Grand daughter was a bubbly nice girl having fun doing whatever came to here fertile mind. We had a lot of giggling and laughing going on most of the day. The OFM's son Kiddo and his wonderful wife were full of fun and a lot of smiles were swarming the whole house today.

When we went out for a birthday celebration of Mexican food the first place had a wait of 40 minutes to get in so we went to another location of Phil Sandavals (spelling) and got right in. The food was excellent as usual. Here is a picture Kiddo took of the OFM and grand daughter kidding around as she was eating long strings of cheese from her plate. The OFM was not egging her on even a little ---- yeah right sure.

Back at their home we did a good bit of messing around and having fun. Grand daughter remade the OFM's special bracelet but on the way home he broke the string holding it together so we will be finding a stronger string for the repair. Then we will show you the results of her efforts. It is very nice.

The weather was starting to act up with rain storms so the OFM decided to head the 40 miles back to the Castle. As it was we ran into three strong rainstorms on the way home. The one that was active as we arrived at the Castle was lighter than the others but as you can see it was bad enough.

The OFM was so whooped he had to take a nice nap to recover from all the fun. But tomorrow is another exciting day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Heat Index Re-education

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 12, 2023

This morning we had to take an item back to Academy for a return and refund. We have to give them credit for being very nice and expedient with the process.

When we got back we got reminded by the OFM note on the table to re-educate on HEAT INDEX chart meaning. So we read on that item again after many years. It seems to be much more important as the OFM gets older and weaker physically. After the education was well along he compared some of the bad days walks with the heat index chart available on the Internet the pattern was very repetitive. If the heat index hit 110 the OFM will have troubles. So now we know what to look for to help our self from heat troubles while out doing things. The OFM has some semblance of recollection of this information way back in his life. Now all we have to do is put the information into action to stay a lot safer.

Since we were nearly out of clothes and the HI was too high for a walk we started on the laundry. The laundry here in the campground is nice but a little small for the quantity of folks camping here. It took about 2.5 hours to get our one load of clothing washed and dried and folded and put away. But we had some nice conversations while in the laundry.

Since it was HOT outside the OFM spent a nice while doing coloring on the next scene he has chosen to color. Yep it is another desert scene.

One other thing we figured out today is that the water pump leak will have to be a paid repair. The OFM wrestled with the cabinets, nearby couch and his decrepit body trying to get in to try to do the repair. It is time to hire it done. The area is too cramped and his trifocals never seem to have the correct lens to see the object he needs to see. Four bandages later from bumps and scrapes on his old skin he quit trying and decided to make it an Andy repair problem and save a lot of money on medical care on his old body.

Tomorrow is a special day over at the Grandkids house and likely a day for Mexican food at lunch. We will be making a lot of special effort at trying to have tooooo much fun.

 

Morning Sun Coloring

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 11, 2023

Weather was not too hot early this morning so we hit the paths for some good exercise. It was a hike/bike path day and the nice breeze sure helped in the high humidity and warm air. We did a meandering style today just for the change of things. It worked out well until the last half mile back to the Castle. The nice breeze stopped dead still and the heat/humidity index when we got back to check it was 105F equivalent and the OFM was not doing well. It took a bit for the AC blowing on him for his recovery.

This caused the OFM to look up the climate records for this area and as it turns out on the average this week of August has the hottest days of the year each year. So we will be cutting back on the walking vigor for a few days and see how it goes. The weakness the OFM was feeling at the end of the walk stayed with him until after lunch.

We finished another coloring last night. It has the name of Morning Sun. It was a fun coloring that we tried several new techniques on and some worked nicely.

As the OFM recovered from the weakness he worked on fixing some stoop. Cubed pork shops, can of corn, can of BBQ Beans, brown rice, yellow onion, Italian Seasoning and a big dollop of Lawlers Sweet Red Sauce are the ingredients. Slow simmered on the stove top was the style.

We ended up with six meals of excellent pork chop stoop. One for supper tonight and five for the freezer to keep for another time a great meal is needed.

A new experience invite came in tonight. We have been notified of when and where grand daughter Piper will have a gymnastics competition if we choose to go. This Sunday is visit grandkid land for the OFM and we will have to get details about it to see if we can attend. It sounds pretty inviting but is a pretty good drive from here. We will see.

Now it is time to rest again so we can be ready for a FULL day of trying to have tooooo much fun tomorrow.

No Wet Feet Allowed

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: August 10, 2023

About 0300 in the morning the OFM noticed that the electrical power was off to our camping site. A little checking showed that a big chunk of Decatur was off grid. So we went back to sleep. As morning came to be the power stayed off and was off until around 0925. By then we were ready to get busy walking but the vicious weather was still showing bad news on the weather radar site on the Internet. But we decided to do short loops between rain squalls. And it worked out to some extent.

Here is what was coming our way when we headed out.

When we went out the back of the campground we expected to walk loops on the parking lots for the rest of Point Mallard Park. We basically did that plus tried a few bits of the hike and bike trails. Here is a picture of how successful that turned out to be.

We tried five different locations and encountered the same scene. So it was back to roads and parking lots. We kept it up until we were tired of doing it.

Back at the Castle we tried to make up our mind about future plans and all we came up for now was to get busy and get the onboard water system fully operational so we could have travel options when the axles etc were completed.

We went to lunch and then to a couple of stores to give the OFM mind time to consider our thoughts and check prices on a couple of items. Then it was back to the Castle and we have been here since. A short 20 minute nap late in the day sure felt good.

Some Amazon packages came in to help our mood quite a bit.

Tonight we tried to map our walking distance from this morning but it was so disjointed of a walk all we are sure of is we made over a mile and did not get the OFM's feet wet.

So everyone try to have tooooo much fun tomorrow and we will attempt to be a bright shining example for you.