Friday, June 11, 2010

A VISIT WITH OUR DAUGHTER, KELLY

Sunday, June 6 – We attended the 2nd Baptist Church of Houston, North Campus, this morning. A Mega-Church, the campus we attended in Kingwood is one of five Campus Churches. Very nice but too big for us. The five campuses have over 18,000 worshipers every Sunday.

We take Bella for a walk a few times a day. Today, she decided to be the hunter cat. Look at her catch.

bella_grasshopper

She was soooo proud of her catch….some type of green leaf hopper.

Monday, June 7- The hot weather continues in the Houston area. It's been over 100 degrees the last several days with very high humidity. It's very difficult for the MH's air conditioners to keep things cool. It's even too hot to be at the pool in the afternoon. We usually go to the pool for several hours in the morning and then find something to do in the comfort of AC for the afternoon. The campground we are in meters your electric use. Since we signed up for the monthly discount on the site, Paul's been keeping an eye on our electric charges each day ($.10/KWH). We've been averaging about $3/day. I'd say it's time to follow the other retired Texans to the mountains!

We went to Katy, TX today to see where Kelly, our oldest daughter, will be teaching next school year. She will be at Mayde Creek High School teaching Geometry.

kelly's-school

rams

That school is huge. The Katy district is humongous. We also drove over to her new apartment. She'll move in July 17. Very nice! She should be very happy with her new job and new apartment.

These are pictures of the model, but this is the layout of her apartment.

bedroom

kitchen

The workout room is awesome. Great equipment and plenty of it. It overlooks the pool.

workout-room

The pool has a fountain, hot tub and a lap lane. It was pouring when we were there, so we couldn’t get a real good picture.

pool

Then of course, since there is an outlet mall in Katy, we went shopping. Paul stopped at the Camping World first for a sewer hose extension (that was the end of my shopping) and then followed the girls through the mall. It was a fun day!

Thursday, June 10 – Paul went to the back surgeon today for his 3-month check-up. All is well, and he is progressing ahead of schedule. He will now begin some physical therapy and is encouraged to swim. The doctor told him to swim, non-stop, for thirty minutes.....yeah right! He's going to wait until we get to Ohio for the month of July to do his physical therapy. In the meantime, he'll stretch, walk, swim in the campground pool, and ride bike.

Kelly has her two kittens here while she spends sometime with us. This has been a serious adjustment for Bella, our cat. She's use to being the “Queen of the Roost” and doesn't enjoy being “annoyed” by two young, energetic kitties. She'll be happy when her “nieces” go home.....ha ha!

A little story behind this picture. Bella, the big one, was just lying there minding her own business, when along comes Cleo, the one under the chair. Cleo was doing everything possible to get Bella’s attention. She eventually reached out and touched the Big Bad Bella’s paw. Of course that through Bella into a hissing fit. “I’m not getting involved, Abby,” the one under the chair, just sat and watched the drama.

three-cats

Still hotter than blazes outside. We really don't like sitting inside the MH all the time, but it is unbelievably HOT outside. We need to be in the mountains somewhere...not Houston, TX. By evening a cool breeze cooled things off so we took a walk around the RV park and decided to sit outside and play a game of Mexican Train. Kelly won....it was a fun evening.

Thanks for stopping by. See y’all real soon.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

PLAIN OLD WEEK IN NEW CANEY, TX

Wednesday, June 2 – It's Marsha's Birthday!!! We planned on having our air conditioner fixed this afternoon, but we ended up having a thundershower. Unfortunately, he has doctor appointments on Thursday, so we'll have to suffer until Friday....and that's in 100 degree temps......YIKES!!!!

Paul washed and waxed half of the MH. That's all he could take in the heat and humidity. After that we hit the pool for a few hours!

Ahhhh....the AC guy did make it back this evening, 6:30-8:30! Unfortunately, we did have to replace the entire AC....shucks! There are some positives though. We replaced it with a Carrier AC which runs significantly quieter. The old one (Dometic) was really loud. You couldn't hear the TV when it was running. This one is very quiet. It's suppose to have a better compressor too....that's what burned out on our old one. Who knows??????? Anyway, we finally have AC running and Bella (our cat) is much happier and so are we!

We are going out for Marsha's birthday. Kind of a late start but we better celebrate. One doesn't turn 39 every year!

Thursday, June 3 – Rainy day. Marsha cleaned the inside of the MH. We went grocery shopping. Watched Girls Softball World Series

Friday, June 4 – We headed up to Livingston, TX this morning for a memorial service for a friend's wife. We met Wayne Bray this spring in Livingston while Paul was recouping from surgery. We played Mexican Train with him. His wife has been battling Alzheimer's for quite a while.

We also stopped at the Escapee's mail service and picked-up our mail. It's been several weeks since we've received our mail. Boy, did we have a ton. The mail service girl wondered what happen to us.

We visited with Wayne and Fran over lunch. Had a great time. Went by and saw their new motor home and then out to the house where they will be parking it when in Livingston, TX. They have a very nice looking MH and a beautiful home in the country to park when in Texas. Hope to bump into them on the road!

Watched more Girls World Series Softball this evening.

Saturday, June 5 – Paul finished washing/waxing the MH this morning before the heat set in for the day. We then headed to the pool for a couple of hours to cool off. We returned to the MH to watch the Girls Softball World Series and chill out in the AC....ha ha! The games today were very good. They have the final four games tomorrow and then the finals Monday and Tuesday. If each team has won one game, the final game will be played on Wednesday.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back soon.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

SWAMP BOAT RIDE

Tuesday, June 1 – nothing.....pool, shopping, Paul did win at shuffle board!!!!!

We didn’t have time to put up all the things we did in New Orleans and in Abbeville, so, we will be updating the blog with some past adventures.

Friday, May 28 – Big day today. Started out with a Champagne's Cajun Swamp Tours.

sign

Brian, the owner, did a great job on the tour.

brian-water-lilly-pad

He was born and raised in these swamps, the Lake Martin Swamps. He is Cajun and speaks French (The Cajun Language). We went in a 15 passenger, 24 foot aluminum flat bottom craw fish skiff, that he built specifically for these tours.

image

The tour is slow so you can view wildlife and take pictures as we travel through the swamp. We traveled through very dense water vegetation that is native, and non native, to South Louisiana. We also traveled into the dense interior of the swamp, and go where no other type of boat can go.

grassy-area

swamp-5

swamp-9

In the “olden” days, people use to stuff their pillows, beds, chairs, etc. from the moss that grows on trees similar to the one below. After awhile, the moss would attack all sorts of bugs that would bite whoever sat or laid on the chairs and beds…hence the saying, “Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.” Isn’t amazing what we learned on this swamp boat tour…LOL.

trees-2

Those little pieces of cypress are called knees. Paul uses these when he carves.

paul-carves-knees

We saw all kinds of birds....woodpeckers, Anhingas, Cormorants, Wood Ducks Herons, Roseate Spoonbills, and a Bald Eagle. We even saw nests of babies up in the trees.

bird-tree-4

bird-flying 

 

heron

The flowers were amazing…according to Marsha.

Water hyacinth

water-hyacinth

water-hyacinth-flower

The Lilly pads were huge!

lilly-pads-2

It was pretty hot for the alligators but we did see several swimming in the water. In cooler weather they will sit up on logs or the banks and sun themselves.

alligator

We were in the swamp for about two hours....all for $20/ea. A very reasonable price for this wonderful tour.

Lots more pictures here.

That is all for another day. See y’all later.