Beautifully Rediculous

After 5 days in the park we finally found two more people to play pickleball.  Sandy just arrived in the park yesterday and left us a note.  We talked to her yesterday evening and agreed to play today at one pm.  Meantime the guy next door finally found us on the Thousand Trails online memo board and agreed to to be a fourth.  By 1 the usual soggy overcast morning gave way to another partly sunny, partly cloudy afternoon.  The afternoon also brought a 15 mph wind which blew the ball sideways.  We played several games changing sides of the court and mixing up partners and laughing at the way the wind blew the ball around.  

You can see the wind blowing Duane's shorts against his leg.  Vaugn is holding onto his hat.  Sandy aimed that ball straight toward me.

Duane returned it  but it blew off to the side.

We spent quite a bit of time chasing balls.

A couple of hours of wind ball workout we sat at a picnic table chatting about our rv travels.  Sandy left  for her daily walk.  We said goodbye to Vaugn and his wife (who joined us as we were chatting).  Unfortunately, they are leaving tomorrow.  We will have just Sandy to play with tomorrow morning unless someone else shows. up.

Oh well, easy come, easy go.

Louise and Duane

Day Trippin'

Overcast in the morning was predicted to give way to a warm, dry, partly sunny afternoon.  We suited up and hopped the bike for a 140 mile trip.  We started on Schobel Rd., picked up SR 109 to SR36 to Brenham.  The roads were in good condition, with enough curves, dips and hills to make for a very pleasant ride.

From 36 we accessed SR 577 to reach our turnaround point--the Blue Bell Creamery.   We went first to the ell on the left to visit the Welcome Center and view the well-done exhibits chronicling the history of the Creamery.  We discovered that the Creamery originally made butter, but gradually dropped that product to concentrate on ice cream.  

Duane's favorite exhibit,

and mine.

The other part of the building holds the processing plant behind these walls.  Inside the visitors' entrance we found this small Texas baseball museum.  Next to it is the elevator and stairs to the second floor.

At the top we were greeted with gallons of every kind of Blue Bell made here.  Next came a nice ice cream parlor where you get your favorite freshly made flavor and eat it sitting at traditional ice cream parlor tables and chairs.  Beyond that, on the far end is the entrance to the viewing platform where we could see the large (enclosed) stainless steel tubs where the ice cream is flavored then piped to the packaging stations.  We watched the station workers loading the cartons, and could see them being filled then the lids applied.  An employee was available on the floor with us to answer any questions.  He explained that after the lids were put on each tub was boxed and the box turned over for shipping.  This allowed the ice cream to settle around the lid, effectively sealing the product and eliminating the need for a plastic seal.  The tubs are shipped upside down to stabilize the product during shipping. 

Duane in heaven.

After viewing the operation we ordered up our favorite flavors.  Duane chose Moo-lenium Crunch (vanilla with dark chocolate and caramel bits, almonds, walnuts, and pecans.  I opted for triple chocolate.  Blue Bell is really yummy ice cream.  I, the ice cream snob, rate among the top five brands nationwide.  Getting a freshly made dip on site was a definite plus.  To top it off, each dip was only $1.  See why he's smiling?!

After our ice cream lunch we backtracked 577 to 36, then kept going to I 10.  We made a couple of stops in Katy before enjoying some blue skies and white clouds on our ride home.

Tomorrow more rain is in the forecast, but that didn't keep us from enjoying the afternoon weather today.

Pickleball tomorrow if the showers hold off.

Louise and Duane

$$$

Rain?  More like a deluge, which revealed a big leak coming down the wall from the roof.  During a long break between thunderstorms (about an hour), we got our exercise climbing the ladder to the roof to see if we could find the problem.  Apparently the putty around the fan wasn't tight, allowing water to run on top of a waterproof membrane (between the inside ceiling and the roof outside) and exit down the wall.  The spot has apparently been leaking for a while, allowing the wood support under the roof to become soft and unsafe.  While we were on the ladder, I notice a part of the roof poking up.  Apparently a nail or screw is pushing up the roof, threatening to poke through. 

Duane will be able to repair our leak, but the roof is going need extensive repair.  Ouch!

Always something!

Louise and Duane

Getting Nervous

All of that sunshine yesterday was making us uneasy, but today things were back to normal.

Between mists and showers we opted to walk the nature trail.  Duane used his new walking poles, getting ready for next summer's hiking.

Just for fun, how many deer can you spot in these two pix?

Look closely, they're really good at camouflage.

Louise and Duane

PS  there are five in each picture.

Contrasts

Yesterday

Today

 

Yesterday

Today

Sun this morning

Moon this afternoon

Ahhhhh!

Louise and Duane

Two Good Things

Moving day today.  We drove 120 south and west of Lake Conroe to the Colorado River Thousand Trails park outside Columbus (TX) and directly west of Houston.  

During our previous visits, we have not stayed in this part of the park before.  The sites here are more staggered and further apart which makes a nicer view.

Two deer herds (about 40 animals total) roam freely throughout the park.

We didn't see this mostly white youngster the last time we were here.

While we're confined to the house by the gray soggy weather, these deer offer a welcome change of scenery.  The other thing I noticed today is that the grass is turning very green.

A sign of spring?  We can only hope!

Louise and Duane

Cozy Inside

After a week of tolerable weather which allowed us some outside activity, today was a day to relax, run the heaters, and watch the rain fall.  We managed to enjoy an entire day with nothing to do but whatever we wanted.  Important activities included eating, lounging, working pencil puzzles, reading and watching the Olympics. 

Most satisfactory.

Louise and Duane   

Looking Forward

This morning Duane and I were discussing what we had been doing the last year.  We realized that instead of our usual 9 months of visiting friends and relatives and seeing the USA, we had spent the last year visiting friends and relatives and not taking nice bike rides and seeing the USA. We are really looking forward to next summer when we will be visiting a state we’ve skirted around but not visited—Colorado.  Meanwhile, during the next three months we are looking forward to revisiting our Texas family and friends and not looking forward to seeing our doctors and getting our annual pokes, prods and squeezes.  We can’t complain, though.  We have good insurance.

Only one more day ‘til moving day.

Louise and Duane

 

Windball

Since we'd had decent weather we decided to push our luck and plan to play pickleball again today.  The morning was fine, but by 2 pm the wind was a constant 13 mph.  Needless to say, only Duane and I were brave/stupid enough to show up to play.  We practiced dinking at the net for a bit, then, for laughs, tried some serves.  Once we got away from the net the wind would take the ball sailing.  After about 20 minutes of chasing balls rolling briskly across the adjacent tennis court, we called it quits.  On the way home we passed the mini golf course and decided to enjoy some more of our afternoon outside.  We eventually rolled our balls into 18 holes to finish the course.  I did pretty well.  Duane beat me by only 18 strokes!

That's about par.

Louise and Duane

Sunday Company

Sunny skies and highs in the low 70's greeted the Comunity Center visitors who came to play pickleball in our park today.  We started at 11am with our visitors and us.  Before we all quit at 1pm, we were joined by 6 Thousand Trails members who had just recently come back to the park.

For the Comunity Center people, this was the first time they had played outdoors.  They completely enjoyed their  time on our courts.

 Yesterday I made the comment that on of our regular players, Mike, looked like actor Patrick Stewart, aka Captain Picard from Star Trek TNG.  What do you think?

Here's a little quiz for you.  Do you know what these are?

If you guessed crawfish holes, you are correct!

Tomorrow Duane plans to play at the Community Center.

Louise and Duane

Pressing Our Luck

The past few days we have been fortunate in that it hasn't really rained much.  The ground is still squishy, the air very humid, the temperature constantly changing, the clouds mostly firmly in place, and we've had a few daytime sprinkles and nighttime showers,  but we've managed to enjoy some outside activities.  We've even managed to get some people to play pickleball, though today we had only one taker, a guy named Mike, though I think of  him as Picard after Captain Picard of Star Trek, TNG, whom he resembles.  Mike and his wife (who doesn't play) have a long term lot here, and cycle in and out.  They returned yesterday, and Mike was the only person to join Duane and me for a few cutthroat games.  When three people play, one person serves.  The other two have to return the ball to his court, but he can send the ball to either court.  I do badly at this game because I'm very bad at ball placement.  Most of my good shots are "good mistakes", otherwise known as lucky shots. 

Tomorrow we have guests coming to pickleball.  Dave, a guy from the park who plays in town, invited some people from the community center to play on our courts.  5 people are expected tomorrow at 11.  Duane and I are looking forward to playign with several different people. 

Hope it doesn't rain!!!

Louise and Duane

We'll Take It!

Blue skies, sunshine, and warm temps lured us outside for a walk.

We joined a lot of other people and other creatures enjoying the sunny morning:  a bicycle rider with child in tow,

 this  king on his throne,

a family in the bay,

people out for a drive,

or a float on a boat,

a Mallard pair,

robins--the heralds of spring, along with a lot of other songbirds.

While we were out we passed the pickleball court and found this couple, Andretta and Sinatra, practicing dinking (playing soft and close at the net).  We told them that we would be back about 2 pm if they wanted to come by for more practice. 

By that time the blue sky and sunshine were things of the past, but we had some nice games with Cindy and John (whom we met earlier this week and were learning to play), a guy named Dave who stopped by for a couple of games, and Andretta and Sinatra who did come back and who proved to be very fun to play with.  

 The cloudy skies and cooling breeze brought sprinkles of rain several times, but everyone ignored them.  The teenaged kids kept playing their game, the younger kids kept swinging, the dog walkers kept right on going, the people sitting out reading, watching tv, or cooking all pretended that there was no rain.  Duane, Andretta and I finally decided, at 4:30 that we were getting tired, but when we left, Sinatra had decided that he still had some pep.  We left them practicing long shots across the court.

Another cool front is moving through but we are planning on some more afternoon play tomorrow.

Louise and Duane

Two In A Row!

A cloudy morning gave way to blue skies and drier air.  It would have been hot except for a lot of fast moving clouds and a nice cool wind.  Duane played pickleball indoors this morning while I did laundry.  After lunch and a rest watching the biathlon competition and the US curlers, he walked with me to the outdoor courts for a bit of wind pickleball practice.  It was really nice being comfortable in shorts and a tshirt again.

Sunshine and winter Olympics—a good day.

Louise and Duane

Surprise!

After  another overcast, wet, chilly morning, the late afternoon brought clearing skies and sunshine!

Everything was still prettysoggy,

and the air was very warm and humid,

but the pickleball court was dry.  Our new players weren't home, but Duane and I managed to get in a nice practice.

We were treated to an actual sunset.

Unfortunately, tomorrow is predicted to be cool and showery--again, but we enjoyed our afternoon immensely!

Tomorrow's another day.

Louise and Duane