6/30/24

Another Leak Again

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 30, 2024



We stepped outside to find it HOT MUGGY and NO BREEZE and stepped back inside into the A/C to do some other things today. So a decent walk did not happen. However we had some important things that needed to be done to take care of. July is a month with three family birthdays in it. The OFM went to work getting things organized and ready for the special days. By the time we were finished it was after lunchtime.



A surprise strong thirty minute rain storm hit with a vengeance this afternoon and found a new spot to send water into the Castle. The OFM accidentally had a bowl at the right spot to catch the slow drip.



The storm finished its nastiness. The OFM noticed that it was immediately bright hot breezy drying type of day so we went to work on stopping the leak. We think it was a recaulk from over a month ago that had what looked like bubbles had formed and popped in the caulk from last time. With the hot bright sun beaming down it was dry in about a half hour. So we cleaned it all well and let it dry some more. The area the blue arrow is pointing at is where the bubbles and a small crack had formed in the caulk since the previous effort had finished. It has even had a few rains since that last caulking and we had had no leaks show until today.





Well we did a first class effort again and the sun certainly did its job of drying things very well so we have high hopes we have the leak fixed again. The OFM keeps on reminding himself that the Castle is a 2005 model that has been his housing since July of 2007 and some where over 100,000 miles of not always smooth roads to bounce around on and loosen the wooden frame.



Once again it is time to rest so tomorrow we can attempt to have tooooo much fun. Good night and sleep well.



6/29/24

Giggle Time In Alabama

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 29, 2024



We had another nice day today and the walk was going nicely when we stopped to get a picture of a nice scene. Some dummy had forgotten to make certain he had the memory card in the camera. But we still had a nice nearly three mile walk. From the looks of things the brush clean up is finished now. Maybe we will get some gravel placement soon.

The only exciting item for the rest of the day was ordering some new colored pencils that supposedly make it easier for coloring vegetation and all its gentle fading of color across the leaves etc.

Now we are going to be getting my grand daughters birthday present set up and ready to give her on July 3. It might not happen that exact day since that family keeps the two kids busy doing things all the time.

In the mean time we are going to be being really careful with this hot moist weather we are having this summer. Air conditioning will be a very important part of our lives for the next two months.

Have a great day and do some giggling while being happy.

6/28/24

Trail Maintenance

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 28, 2024



We greeted the new nice weather this morning by meandering around the area on the intertwining trails to get in a bit over two miles. It was very nice out. Eventually we came to the main hike and bike trail again and started down it right where the trail closed sign was at yesterday We meandered on along from that point just enjoying the newly graded trail.





We noticed right away that the trail had been freshly graded and smoothed. They used to do that each spring but skipped the last two years. The trail was getting a bit ragged so it is nice to have it smoothed out a bit. Now if we also get the 1 inch of new gravel laid on it, walking things will be wonderful again.

As we continued on the re-opened trail section we came across a new downed tree that had already been cleared of the obstructing tree.



Now the bikes could easily continue on their way.

As we moseyed along the trail we could hear the brush clearing working on up ahead and after a half mile or so we found the new location of the TRAIL CLOSED sign.



Since a favorite bench was near and the breeze was just right the OFM sat down for a few lazy minutes of just enjoying the great day (and maybe being a bit lazy).

We finally got going again and had an easy walk back to the Castle to spend most of the rest of the day with a great nap and recalling years of travel and trying to decide where to roll toward soon.

Good night and have a great day tomorrow.

6/27/24

Herbicide Memory

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 27, 2024



It was not hot this morning with our hour earlier start of the walk. We made it nicely out the back of the campground and down the usual path to join up with the Hike And Bike gravel trail along the water. OOOOPS what is that sign? Trail Closed? What is going on?



We paused to figure out what is going on. Then we noticed behind the sign the underbrush that had had the herbicide applied was cleared out.



Then we heard the heavy equipment at work.



And finally the OFM memory of some past items about the golf course hit the OFM between the eyes and now he had the whole story again.

Here is what the herbicide was about. Several years ago the OFM played a lot of golf on the course and a few greens near this end of the course were always in bad shape. So one day the golf pro had a specialist come in to figure out what was wrong. He did his proper studying etc and pronounced the trouble as some type of fungus or ??? that was growing on those greens. The good news was that all that was needed was a lot more air circulating over the greens and the fungus would die out. It sounded silly to the OFM. The course folks and the expert went out and marked where the underbrush needed to be removed so the golf course would thrive again.
Soon after equipment was brought to remove the brush and leave the trees. To the OFM's surprise inside of two weeks the greens were putting true again instead of balls bouncing around on the dead clumps of grass, The expert recommended that every three years the brush be cleaned out.

So we should have realized what the herbicide was about when we saw it this year but the OFM no longer is able to play golf and did not recall the expert advice he had learned way back then.

So today we walked the paved road around the course for about a half mile and then there was another sign letting the trail users they could go back onto the trail. So we cut over to the gravel trail and kept walking. The walking was so nice the OFM was at the pump house before he knew it. The pump house is where the golf course pumps water out of the Tennessee river for watering the golf course.

Well here we were at the pump house and had not planned to walk that far. Turning around at the pump house would give us slightly more than three miles on the trail this morning. The best of the news is that we made the whole 3+ miles with no troubles at all and no joint pains. We call today a very successful day. Good night.

6/26/24

Sierra Diagnosis Completed and Plan Put Into Action

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 26, 2024

THE NEWS

We got Sierra to the repair facility right on time as planned. Three minutes later the “doctors” were checking out the troubles under the hood. The shop shuttle fellow was very nice and we had a nice ride getting the OFM back home. By the time we got ready to hit the trail it was over 90 and the OFM decided NO. NOT TODAY. The heat index climbed a bit more and we stayed inside letting the new AC do a great job of cooling us.

Along about mid afternoon the call came in to come back for the shop analysis and pick up Sierra and get the news. The shuttle drive showed up soon after and away we went. Back at the shop we all had a nice discussion about what to do next. The OFM made his choices and parts are now on order and in about a week Sierra will spend a couple of days in the shop getting new parts. The big part is a brand new transmission instead of a re-manufactured transmission. A bit of the injector system will also be replaced. It was “throwing codes” of near future failure also. Then Sierra should be ready for another 150,000 miles of running the country. Now we can sleep easier knowing a major failure has been prevented from happening in Nowhereville Outback America.

So we plan an early morning walk tomorrow before it gets so dadgumed hot and humid again.

Good night every one.

6/25/24

Rocket Trails???

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 25, 2024

We got a bit earlier start on the walk this morning and actually got in 3 miles of walking with out too much misery. Stopping for a couple of minutes of bench resting seemed to be a good thing one time. After we finished getting cleaned up we checked the temperature in the shade and found it too be 97F. That is enough to make us find a bench in the shade for sure.

At the turn around point we were in the shade of the pump building for the golf course and saw this lady walking on the paved road that parallels the gravel in the shade trail on the right.



Now why would someone choose a black tar walking path in that hot sun over a less hot gravel path in the shade next to the water with a bit of breeze wafting through? We definitely do not know.



A few times today we saw a straight line vapor trail going through the sky. Each time there was various contortions of vapor trails up there also. Maybe jets chasing rockets from the government facilities nearby? The OFM definite does not have the clearance required to stick his nose into that. Nor does he want to know. Ignorance can be bliss we feel.



It was showing 103F mid afternoon so the OFM got out the colored pencils and did a bit of scratching them on some paper to while away some time IN THE AC inside the castle. We feel that was a wonderful choice on our part.

For tonight we plan on some being very lazy time. Have fun everyone. 

6/24/24

Neat Spider Web Photo

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 24, 2024

It was a nice day for walking and we got in 2,5 miles without any real trouble, so it is time to get the distance up a bit more we think. Our goal is back up to 3 miles unless the joints start complaining again. But we intend to be more careful this time about tripping on things in the trail and slowing down when something hurts a bit. Working through pain does not work well for old bodies.

Not much exciting happened today. However a couple of not exciting but neat things did happen on the trail this morning. This picture of a spider web back in the deep darkness of the brush caught our attention. It is about a foot long and six inches wide. A single stream of sunshine had found its way down to highlight the web in the surrounding darkness without lighting up the whole area. Nice special effects we think.



On the way back to the start we passes close to a part of the creek with lots of vegetation growing in the water. Suddenly there was a moving dark stick in the trail. Then it stopped and laid there very quietly.



We realized it was one of the many benevolent water snakes that live in the flooded vegetation along the banks of the creek. The 18 inch snake just laid there quietly admiring how handsome the OFM is. After taking the picture we looked carefully at the snake and saw the green stripes the common bug eating water snake has on its sides. Then we told it good bye and wished it good luck with finding food. That was our first snake this year and from what we have read about them we are glad they are in the area.

We spent a chunk of today reading about losing more weight and help speeding up the process. Our conclusion is that considering the age and decrepitness of The Old Fat man body joints our best route is cut back some more on the eating habits by changing over to more vegetation consumption and more careful with the meat serving sizes. In other words do a better job of restricting calorie intake. This will take awhile since the weight loss goal is to drop from a high of 205 down to 160. My height after old man shrinkage is now 66.5 inches. Old age is full of ugly surprises. So are mirrors.

Let us all relax and have fun tomorrow.

6/23/24

Apple vs Nuts

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 23, 2024

The OFM found the morning to be comfortable but sweaty walking. However we changed routes a bit to have more shade and it helped a lot more. Here is s picture of one of the regular joggers out here. He is around 35 years old and serious about his health but also not letting over eagerness cause him injuries, A nice fellow to visit now and then.





The OFM is careful about his walking things like food and water. Today we set out a nice fat red delicious apple from the refrigerator for our after walking snack. We normally have been having a ¼ cup of nuts mix after the walk but the apple sounded extra good so it waited pleasantly on the table for our return. Here is the nut mix we eat.



It was a hot finish to the walk and the OFM had forgotten about the apple. We finished the return to the trailer necessities and started to work on that apple. We got a big surprise. The OFM was well into recovering from the walk a lot sooner by eating the apple than the nuts and a glass of water. So it sounds like we need to get fruit for the after walk snack. That snack usually happens right around 10:15 in the morning.

That was the end of the excitement for the day. Just blog readings and small research on places to revisit or visit for the first time.

Everyone have a great day and we will talk with you again tomorrow.

6/22/24

More Sierra Repairs

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 22, 2024

The OFM had no ankle trouble on the walk this morning. Along the way back we got to visit with an old couple and their son who was 61 years old. The old fellow had a rolling chair he could stop and rest whenever he needed it, He was 91 I think. We had a wonderful long visit about lots of things as we slowly made the last quarter mile back to their vehicle. It was a nice time.

Twasn't much going on until later in the day when our orders from Amazon got delivered to the office. After that we unpacked the stuff and put it away in the Castle to help be ready for rolling.

Then we did some research on Sierra's latest trouble. The symptoms clearly show the transmission is failing. It sounds like another chunk of money about to disappear from the savings account. At least we are in a good place to get it repaired instead of Western no where land. Sierra only has 148000 miles on it. That seems early for a transmission to be dying. But we will see what happens next.

But no blood shed, no bones broken, money in the emergency account in the bank and a reputable shop to fix Sierra right here in town. We are doing alright overall I guess.

No pictures again so just ease back and relax. Good night.

6/21/24

Lucky Sprained Ankle

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 21, 2024

The OFM awakened in bed and rolled out headed for the other end of the Castle for the necessity room. But there was a bit of trouble. His left ankle had a bit of a sprain in it, So he hobbled his way to the necessity room and took care of things like a sprained ankle among other things.

Any way the OFM recalls a bit of a difficult step yesterday but it did not hurt at that time. And it did not hurt badly at this time. Being over three quarters of a century old he decided on a day of ankle care and skipped the daily walk. It seems to have been a good choice since nothing special happened all day except that the ankle seems to be fine now. There you have it, most the whole day covered in one small paragraph.

But the OFM has this attitude problem. He learned long ago that a set back means that you have time to make something good happen. So we went vegetable and fruit shopping at the nearby Walmart. It was unreal how good things worked out. We have been out of fresh fruit and vegetables for a few days and the supply at the store was not really very good in quality. We think they had missed last weeks resupply. Well when we hobbled into the store, the stockers were heavy at unloading the fresh vegetables onto the shelves off the recently arrived truck. One glance around and yep the truck had arrived about a half hour ago. So we got to select our choice of the freshly delivered food for our basket. This Walmart seems to keep the fresh food items in better shape than others in the town. So we had really nice looking and fresh food to spend our $40 on for resupply. It has been a great day for healing an ankle and nibbling celery, radishes, cole slaw, grapes etc. So looking back on the day, the ankle got us into the very fresh food we likely would not have gotten too until a Sunday mid day store trip.

Now we plan on an easy night of rest and a good walk tomorrow morning. Good Night Every one. 

6/20/24

Calm Day

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 20, 2024

This had to be the most uneventful day in a long time. We did meet a nice couple on the trail walk this morning. We talked about several different full timing items. They have been local camping for a couple of years down in Florida but not traveling the country. They were very nice folks and the OFM wishes them lots of luck and fun.

Other than that, it was another good day of searching and recording to find out the best time of the year to be at places we are considering. The Internet sure makes that chore a lot easier these days. Our criteria is to not get colder than 45F at night or hotter than 92 F during the day. The camera never even came out of the OFM pocket. So we are hoping for a more exciting day tomorrow. Good night.



6/19/24

Nice And Easy Day

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 19, 2024

It was a fairly nice day all day today. The wind was strong and welcome on the warm walk this morning. The camera was not used for any photos today since nothing new was happening around here. Even the mosquitoes did not want to fly around.

Some of the day was spent checking some suggestions of travel places folks mentioned but none of them excited us at all. One decent thought is still the idea of making a few loop trips with a short camp back here in grand-kid land now and then. We are still working the logistics of that idea out.

Every one please be careful as you are running around trying to have tooooo much fun.

6/18/24

New Mexico Wildfires Attacking Tourist Areas

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 18, 2024

It was a fairly nice day all day today. A first thing the OFM noticed this morning at the start of the walk as the nice breeze driven ripples on the water.





And sure enough the temp was warm enough to help the muscles loosen up quickly and the joints work smoothly. We made a very comfortable 2.5 miles and got to visit a very nice older gentleman while on the trail. We covered a lot of topics in the half hour we visited. That was fun.

After getting back to the Castle we did a lot of catch up computer work in preparation for the rest of the summer kid vacation. The kids get out of school for only two months in the summer.

Some time some where we ran across this picture of the multiple spider webs along the ground. The OFM cannot recall where but we thought it was neat how the spiders covered an area about 8x12 feet with their web traps. That must have taken a lot of time to weave.





When we hit the turn around point on the walk near a pond this was what we saw. An egret was carefully stalking breakfast along the shore line. We watched for a minute or so and the bird never moved a feather. We guess there was some potential meals in the area.



The big news we saw about in the internet is Ruidoso New Mexico had an emergency evacuation today due to a wildfire closing in on the city. That is a real threat out there in those mountain valleys. Good luck to those folks.

Everyone have a nice sleep tonight so we can run and play trying to have tooooo much fun tomorrow.







6/17/24

Why Herbicide?

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 17, 2024

It was a fairly nice day all day today. It was hot this morning but there was some nice breeze out along the creek trail. So we got in a pretty decent 2.5 miles without any miserable environment mess like too much humidity. It was enough to work up a decent sweat to make the after exercise shower feel really good. Here is the skies we had on the trail to make us feel good.





One new thing we see new on the trail is apparently the bosses in the park are apparently spraying herbicide along the trail for some reason. Here is a picture of where they are doing their spraying.



This land here is flood plain since it is only nominally 1 foot above the design level of the lake and floods a bit a few times each year. Some day we may find out what is going on. In the meantime we will be enjoying what we have as often as possible.



We have been asked for a picture of the Marie Callendar meals we are fond of. Here is tonight's supper. Chicken, broccoli and noodles in a pretty good white sauce. We add a fruit or something to go with the meal and tonight was grapes. The meals run about four dollars. There are about ten different meals that we cycle through. None of them are spectacular but all of them are decently tasty. They all come as frozen meals near 450 calories each.





And there you have it our exciting day on the banks of the Tennessee River.

6/16/24

Scalp Frying Heat

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 16, 2024

No walk this morning. The OFM stepped out of the Castle early after checking the weather to find out it was already 93F and 87% hum ditty. He stood there in the sun so hot it would fry your scalp with your hat on. The AC kicked on in the Castle and the OFM hurried up the steps back inside. And there you have most of the story of today.

The OFM did open his Dads Day card from his son and it was delightful. Thanks again for the nice card Kiddo. And that was the end of the big excitement for the day.

The evening trash walk was almost decent. We had a bit of breeze to help with the humm ditty. The shade was good and the heat had moderated a bit so the one mile very gentle stroll to the dumpster and then around the campground to the Castle seemed almost decent now that the sun was below the tree tops. And that is how it was in southern America today. Sleep well and keep cool.

6/15/24

Grand Kid Land Adventures

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 15, 2024

It was a beautiful day today. We did not get in a walk but we did get a good day of visiting the grand kids and their parents. Lunch was at the old Phil Sandoval's Mexican food restaurant. The food was the usual exceptionally well prepared. And a big chunk of the OFM meal came home with us. It will easily make two more meals for the OFM.

After a lot of merry making fun it was time to go home for the OFM.

When we got back home the mail had come and it it was the new credit card to replace the lost one of two weeks ago. So we activated it and used it for tonight's evening meal, Everything worked well so we are back in credit card use mode now.



That pretty well sums up the nice day in grand kid land.

We need to rest well tonight to recover from all the grand kid fun of today. Nite nite.





6/14/24

Easy Day Goofing Off

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 14, 2024

It was a beautiful day today. The walk was very nice and we got to meet a very nice gentleman on the trail to visit for a few minutes. The whole day was really laid back and easy going. But nothing special happened to talk about. When we took the blood pressure test after lunch at Walmart it came back as almost normal which was nice. The OFM intermittently fights some mildly high blood pressure these days. The rest of the day was just a gentle mosey through easy living.

Everyone one have fun tomorrow.

6/13/24

Calm Water

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 13, 2024

What a day of very little it turned out to be! The walk was very nice but so calm the temps were a bit higher than we liked. Check out this pic of how calm it was.



At least we got to meet a very nice pup and owner on the trail. We had a very nice fifteen minutes petting pup and visiting with the owner. The owner was 83 years old and lived locally. It was a very nice time.

The OFM managed 2.xx miles as we lost track of the mileage markers along the way but the OFM was not at the top of his walking anyway so we were taking it a bit easy for that old wimp.

We hit up WALMART to shop for birthday gifts for the July birthdays. No luck on that front but we got very lucky and found two pair of shorts that the OFM considered good enough for him, Yep they came home with us. After checking the closet and counting what was really there instead of what the OFM thought was there we determined that we had exactly the correct styles and quantities of clothing we want to carry with us. So major clothing shopping is over. We have had several pairs of pants and shorts we have been wearing for about ten years. Suddenly this last few months they have been having a lot of failure of thread in the seams. The thread has apparently deteriorated so much it is breaking frequently. And when the OFM sews the seam up the fabric also is so weak that it rips very easily. So we decided it was time to purchase some newer clothing with better thread and fabric holding them together.

Late this afternoon after finishing some household chores we had time for a little coloring activity. Yep we made a nice bit of progress on the coloring being done now. Here is a glimpse at where we are in the project.



It is turning out to be a difficult piece to develop since it has a huge amount of small parts that have to be carefully handled or it will look very bad. We think this one will take quite a bit longer to finish than most of them we have done so far. The challenge is fun though. It is nice to have something challenging to work with when physical rest is needed but the OFM mind is still raring to go. A mind without a challenge is a dangerous item.

We hope everyone is having a great summer this year and being safe. 

6/12/24

Simplification

 


Adventure Location

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 12, 2024

There are a lot of folks living in vehicles and small Rvs in this country. Al at https://rollingsteeltent.blogspot.com/ is one of them who does it very well. The OFM has been following him since he started many years ago. We enjoy his style. Does not write every day but he is usually is enjoyable and several times a month.



Tonight is another no photo day but it was a nice day. Our walk suffered from a bit of not just right feeling so we cut it short to 2 miles and had a comfortable day just doing some house cleaning and laundry.

One interesting item is the OFM is trying to cut us back to carrying less than we have been carrying around in the past. In other words just getting more minimalist but not to an extreme. However when we were putting socks away after laundry today, the OFM looked twice at the huge pile of socks in storage. So in his usual manner, the OFM went to work to figure out how many socks we needed to carry to still be adequate without going to extremes. So after all the figuring and guessing etc. we came to the conclusion that we had enough socks for over 13 more years of travel. That is just too many. We go to Walmart often enough that we now need to calculate the best amount of socks to carry. In fact many things in the Castle are now under suspicion of over stocking. Even when boon-docking, storage space is not a trouble in the castle since we are seldom more than 20 miles from a decent department store if we really need something.

So it looks like the OFM has a bit of divesting coming up this summer as we get ready for some rolling to start in mid September.

Have some fun folks. We are.




6/11/24

Bad Cut Doing Very Well

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 11, 2024

To our surprise the cut finger gave no trouble today. Of course we kept it wrapped in the bandage and did not use it for much. We want the cut to get a good start at healing and it looks like it has begun to mend already. No infection showing at all is a wonderful sign.

The walk went way better than we thought it would. When we finished we peaked under the new cut bandage and the cut was nice with a bit of a scab along the edge of the cut and no special redness showing. We are hoping that the cut was not as bad as we thought it was last night while it was dripping blood on the counter top. Time will tell.

The rest of the day was a goof off day along with some day dreaming about where to roll when we leave here. To our surprise a nap did not happen.

Weather wise it is hot and day after tomorrow it is predicted we will be in the daytime nineties for the rest of the month. WOW.

OK folks let us be careful of the heat while we are trying to have tooooo much fun. 

6/10/24

Blood Splattered A Little Bit

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 10, 2024

An interesting day for sure but a very rewarding day also. We got the day going with a planned carefully trail circuit. Out the Castle door we went sort of excited for the trail attempt in front of us. The last week or so has had the OFM having hip joint pains by the end of the walk. Our attitude is that muscle pain is from building more muscle. Joint pain is bones etc in the joint getting more damage done to them. So we hit the trail with a plan to try. The goal was 2.5 miles of steady but speedy walking. For the last few weeks mileage over 2.5 has been leaving the OFM with hip pains by the end of the walk. So off we went to the back trail that connects with the main trail system. EEEERKK The trail is flooded from last nights thunder storm. OK reverse direction and head out the next available exit and away we go. On the trail we calculated our turn around point and off we went. It was a nice day on the trails as you can see in this next photo taken near the start of the trail.



We set an aerobic pace and was able to keep it going for the whole walk. At the end, the walk was pain free to our surprise. So we now hope we have a pattern to follow for the near future at least.



On to the attempt to cut the tip of the OFM's left index finger off of his hand. So here we are getting things ready to fix supper. But first an attitude of the OFM. If you have to put pressure on the blade to cut you then the “knife” is not sharp enough to be called a knife. So we were cutting some vegetable and noticed a quarter size pool of blood under the knife blade. Sure enough the idiot had let a finger get out of place for the cutting being done. So now it was time to STOP THE BLEEDING. The finger tip was still attached pretty well but flapping the breeze so to speak. The cut did not hit any bone. So we went to work stopping the bleeding. All in all it was not serious but it did bleed a lot for as small as the cut turned out to be. Finally the bleeding stopped and we could get the band-aid on it to keep it clean and start to heal. The hard part is trying to do all the pressure holding and bandaging with one hand but that is what single folks living alone learn to do. It doesn't look very exciting in this pic after supper does it.





After all that fun we got out a Marie Callendar meal of meat patty, chopped potatoes, gravy and noodles with cheese sauce on them. It is pretty good. This one is a bit over 500 calories so it leaves the OFM room for some nuts for a snack at bedtime.





We do not have plans for tomorrow except keep on breathing and moving and healing a finger tip.

6/9/24

Fishing Tournament In Town

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 9, 2024

An easy day of little excitement and one good long nap thanks to the antihistamine side effect of sleepiness.

The beginning trail for the walk was a nice dark tunnel in the warm morning air.



A little way from the tunnel we hit the creek side trail where it usually allows some breeze to cool us off. But not today. It was dead calm and high humidity sweaty the whole walk. Check out the calmness in this next picture.



At least we had nice shade on the trail the whole time but a good shower was wonderful when we finally made it back to the Castle and AC to cool us off.

The only other thing of interest was a chance to see how well a truck camper might work for the OFM teams. A big bass tournament is in town and lots of those folks travel with a truck camper in the bed of their truck and pulling their boat. Then the camper is unloaded at the campsite and they run around with the truck towing the boat trailer around during the tournament. We took a slow ride through the short term campground to look things over camper wise.

Once again the OFM Teams voted NO to us using that style of camping for our playing around. It is not a bad way at all according to Mr. Boondork but we have chosen no for the OFM Teams. It was nice to get to see about 19 units in their full glory while camping.



Not much else happened since it was a breeze less hot humid day that made research on the computer inside the AC cooled Castle a good thing to do.

We plan on wearing out some fun tomorrow.



6/8/24

Solar Panel Cleaning

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 8, 2024

The heart treatment , also called in this blog the walk, went very well today. On the trail we got to meet Addi a very polite and nice major social pup. Her caretakers (owners) said that she never pulls on her leash but keeps it a bit slack at all times. She was a very nice new addition to my long list of nice pups we meet on the trails around here.

We did not know it when we started but today was a super special day on the trail. When we started this morning we recognized what was going on by the orange paint all over lots of things in the trail. Here is a couple of pictures so you can see what we mean.







The local schools cross country race was this morning. The night before the race they mark lots of the tripping hazards along the route and the paint slowly fades away a few months until early Autumn. During that time the serious runners train on the hike and bike trail where the race was held. And the OFM waddles along the trail also.



It has been a nice day overall and the OFM has enjoyed the weather and his meandering around thinking about many things. Then suddenly in early afternoon he remembered we have some mild rain due in starting tonight. We need to get the solar panels washed so the rain can do a good job of finishing washing them off nice and clean.

Normally we find that rains do a sufficient job of keeping the panels clean for good performance. But this year under the low hanging trees has left a slime layer and the trees prevent direct impact by the rain drops until the water drips gently from the low hanging limbs. We had noticed a bit of decline in the performance of the panels in the last few months. When we checked them a couple of weeks ago we found the thin dirt and green slime layer on the panels.

It is easy to clean off with a brush and soapy water but is another of the many RV life special chores folks do not get to hear mentioned at an RV sales business.

The OFM purposely installed his panels along the edge of the Castle roof so he could use a ladder to allow him to wash them.



You can see the edge of the panel a couple inches above the roof in that last picture. There are two panels on the other side.

The OFM just climbed up on the ladder and was able to reach a whole panel for washing from one ladder setup. This minimizes his chance of falling.

He does not bounce well any more.

Then we repeated the set up twice more on the other side for those two panels. Here is a picture of the dirty panels on the other side before washing.





It was not hard scrubbing at all. Just soap and water and our back scrubbing brush rubbed gently on the glass front of the panel. And a rinse down with the hand sprayer we have for these sorts of chores.

A neighbor offered his high pressure water sprayer but we preferred a much more gentle cleaning for the caulk where the panels mount to the trailer roof.

The best news of all is the OFM did not get any injury from the whole process of cleaning.

Those panels were OFM installed in September of 2008 after we learned about our boon-docking needs. So they have lasted very well. Our after washing, the output for the panels was back up to100% of design. We plan to use their capacity again this fall during our rolling adventures in the western deserts.

It has been an adventurous day for us over all so we are going to shut down and see what supper looks like tonight. Sleep well and try for tooooo much fun tomorrow.









6/7/24

Heat Safety Started In Full Force Today

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 7, 2024

The walk today went well since the OFM prepared properly for it. Since hot weather is here he got his mindset to take it a bit easy when he got heated up and just see how he does with the heat. He made sure we had a good water supply with us and away we went looking for shade at every place on the trail we went. Here is a couple of examples of the shade this trail has available. And yes he twice sat for a couple of moments to cool down a bit. Having had four heat strokes in his life has taught him to not mess around with HOT DAYS.







We managed a good pace for the whole time and got in three miles total walking distance.



The rest of the day we piddled around with a visit or three and thinking about where we can roll to come September 15. Please be very careful with this heat and humidity. It can sneak up on you. If you see tooooo much fun coming by. Grab a hold and go with it.





6/6/24

Tree Limbs Running Amuck

 

Adventure Location:

Decatur, Alabama

Date: June 6, 2024

Another nice cool day greeted us this morning. The morning was gray clouds that slowly cleared out to leave us full bright sunshine. The OFM was not at the top of his game today but it was an easy day again so it worked out very well.

Late in the evening the OFM went to the office area to retake the metal butterfly bush as he promised and ended taking a big pile of pictures of the flowers out front that greet new campers when they arrive. They need to be adjusted for the blog but should be in tomorrows blog post.

In the walk today we noticed lots of medium size limbs had come down in the last couple of days along the hike and bike trail. We do not know why they are coming down from the trees but it seems like a lot more than usual. Here are two pictures of the size branches we are referring to. They could do a bit of damage if they put a good hit on you.







Maybe it is just Mother Nature doing spring cleaning but the OFM is definitely watching out for limbs running wild in the tree tops.

A long trip to Walmart this afternoon was used to walk all over Walmart looking for ideas for the three birthdays next month, son, grand son and grand daughter. So far no luck at all.



The metal shrub with butterflies instead of blossoms came out decent. Here it is in as good of a focus the OFM seems to be able to get with this object.



We still think it is a worthy addition to the flower bed.

That's it for tonight. Every one sleep well and try to have tooooo much fun tomorrow.