smooth AND warm

Today the gulf waters are not quite as glassy looking, but still very calm, almost no waves at all, with bright sunshine.  AND ... it's warm! 65 degrees with only a very slight breeze .... perfect weather !!!   THIS is the way winter weather is supposed to be.

smooth waters

This morning came with SUNSHINE for a change;  AND calm, glassy smooth surf.  I've never seen Galveston with almost no waves .... it was beautiful!

Got our furnace and electrical circuit problem fixed yesterday.  A really nice mobile RV repair team came; their attitudes were great and they worked quickly and efficiently .... and the cost was fair and reasonable. I'm thinking this is a lesson for us to remember.  We have been sorely dissatisfied with most of the large "chain" RV repair companies .... but there didn't seem to be a lot of options .... til now.

Later, Marilyn

roar vs. crash

Here we are parked just a couple hundred yards from the shoreline, in Galveston, Texas.  The sound of the surf here is a roar, actually a rather loud roar, which is fairly constant.  I was remembering the sound of the surf in Oregon .... it was silence for a time, followed by loud crashing .... then silence, etc. Quite different; must have something to do with the bottom structure. These are much shallower waves and more frequent.

There has been stormy, rainy weather for most of this week .... not what we expected here ..... 40's some nites.  Low temperatures at night is not a big thing if you have a working furnace.  You know, I'm wondering if we're jinxed or something .... this is 4 times that we have been in cold temps without the furnace working ... go figure. We had it fixed on the way down to Galveston, worked fine for two days, until we had a severe blowing rainstorm at 3 am one morning .... blew some circuits (we had a lot of extension cords outside with Christmas lights); now the furnace won't light... different reason but same result (no heat). We've reset breakers, GFI's, etc.  to no avail.
Now our dilemma is compounded by having the satellite dish frozen in the raised position (with no power to lower it), so we cannot drive it down the road to the RV repair place; and there are no mobile repair services in this region. AND it's a holiday weekend.  SO, we will live with it until Monday morning and try a regular Electrician to come out to see if he can track the problem down.   Good thing we have a couple of hot circuits still working for our electric heaters.

We have been enjoying getting together with friends, both here and Houston. 

Vera's back surgery has been rescheduled for Jan. 4th.  She had the pre-op tests done Friday, so she just shows up at 6am on the 4th.  She has nerve compression at three different locations in the lower back - no disc problems, just stenosis from bone growth and scar tissue from a back surgery in 1973.  Several of our Nurse Practitioner friends have expressed concern she will be able to get up the rather steep steps of our motorhome for a while.  Don't know ... guess we'll have to give it some thought.

Merry Christmas to everyone; remember He is the true reason we celebrate.

Later, Marilyn

Game plan change

Vera's doctor appointment generated some not so welcome news .... she will be having back surgery as soon as possible .... probably December 28th.   She actually has two distinct problems: 3 vertebrae in the lower back with stenosis, and an additional problem with the hip ..... so the back surgery may not take care of all the pain; and the hip may still need to be addressed in the future.  But this surgery has the best chance of fixing the largest percentage of pain.

So, in the meantime, we've moved on down to Galveston to enjoy Christmas with our friends here.  We are parked between Seawall Blvd. and East Beach at a new RV campground called The Sandpiper.  Actually, it is the "re-purposed" site of the former Sandpiper Motel ... which was obliterated by Hurricane Ike.  We like it very much, and can see the beach (several hundred yards away) and are within walking distance to a large portion of the east end of the Island.

Our RV furnace is still not fixed (we have two electric heaters); but the weather has been steadily warming up ... until today. When the sun went down this afternoon we got the heaters out. Low tonite to be.  We have an appointment at the RV repair place Monday morning. 

So ..... now we are readjusting our travel plans.  I imagine we'll be here through the month of January.
We had already been re-thinking our Alaska plans; thinking about going up the east coast this year and maybe over to the Great Lakes area ..... or up to Nova Scotia.  But we'll see how Vera does; and 'play it by ear'.

I hope everyone who reads this is having a great time with the Christmas preparations .... and at the same time remembering Whose birthday we are really celebrating.

Later, Marilyn

cool vs. cold

Did I say before that is was supposed to be 'cool' last nite?  .... Well, when you have not heat on during the nite, and there is cold air space under your home.... it gets 'cool-er' than is comfortable.  And wouldn't you know it .... this morning it was MY turn for dog duty (up first with the dogs, out to do business, in to feed, then out again for more business). 

It brought back childhood memories of winter on the farm up in north central Texas.  In winter we closed off most of the house and left it unheated, with towels along the bottom of the doors to block the air transfer. The main source of heat was the large fireplace in my grandparents bedroom, which was next to the kitchen. So when bedtime came around, I started dreading those cold sheets in the other bedroom down the hall.  This recollection brought to my mind a long forgotten (the original) use of the hot water bottle. To make it more tolerable, my grandfather would take the hot water bottle down the hall and put it in my bed, starting up near the top for a few minutes, then moved it down a little, then left it at the feet area and called me to 'run quick' from where I had been standing in front of the fireplace soaking up heat.  I think eventually they put a small bed for me in the room with the fireplace -- don't remember much about that -- only how cold it was running down that hallway and literally jumping into bed.

You should have seen me this morning dancing around on this cold floor with bare feet, until I could get those little electric heaters fired up.  Moccasins are on my Christmas wish list.

Later, Marilyn

workshop

When you live in a small space ... with 3 people and 3 dogs ..... large projects present a working surface shortage.   Ah-ha, that's what those recreation buildings are good for. This campground has a really large one with probably eight or so folding tables and chairs set up (plus the usual tv and couch area)..... so we just loaded the car with all the Christmas stuff and went down there ..... spread out over about 5 tables ... and spent several hours wrapping, etc.   We met a lot of people passing thru the building, just curious to see what all the mess was about.  Tomorrow, hopefully we'll get most of it mailed off.

Then later we went to do the laundry and just carried the finished loads of laundry next door to spread out on those same tables to fold.   We've started a new trend for the rec. room.
It is a nice facility, they have organized gatherings several times a week for anyone in the campground.  From pancake breakfasts on Saturdays, block parties with bring your own burgers/hot dogs, women's game nite, computer classes, etc. 

It is going to be quite cold tonite, and our furnace chose last nite to quit making heat.   The repair man came but couldn't get parts today, so we will have another cool nite.  It's not really so bad; we do have a couple of little ceramic heaters .... but I don't like to leave them running all nite.

Ms. Santa put up more lights outside on the lawn around our motorhome. In the front we have a wooden cutout of the word "Peace" ... with a nativity scene incorporated into it.... with a spotlight on it. All the comforts of home.

I saw the Chiropractor today and now I'm walking straight again!  Makes a big difference when your spine is aligned the way it's supposed to be. Doctors appointments this week .... I hope Vera gets some good information about her back or hip, whichever it is ..... because she is really having severe pain.

Later, Marilyn

Friends are Family !

Got back into Houston just in time to go to an annual Christmans Women's Banquet at our church.  So many friends tell me they read this blog and follow our travels ..... that is just so-o-o heartwarming. First, to know there are people out there supporting us (in all our misadventures); and secondly, just to have so many friends around us.  None of us have family close by; and I guess I'll have to admit always being in new places with new faces just doesn't have the same feel ................especially at the holidays ...... which is why we are here right now.
So .... before I get 'gushy', I'll sign off for a few days ..... gotta help Ms. Santa with the list.
Later,
Marilyn