FINALLY!!!! I finished another carving!!!

It has been a while since I have finished a carving. I started this some time ago. Between working in the park and changing rvs, I haven't had much time to carve. We got the shop set up in the back of the new 5th wheel trailer and our hours here at the park are now 20 hours for the 2 of us, I have the time and the place to work no matter what the weather is like outside. Maybe I can get a few things done now. I have no idea why I decided to carve a beer drinking biker. I don't have a bike and I don't drink beer, go figure. I just got the urge to carve this guy, so I did. I hope people like him, I do.

We are settled in our new house and quite comfortable. Despite the fact that our living quarters are smaller, the work room gives us more freedom. We like it a lot though it is still a little cluttery since we don't have everything put away yet. We will have it in order by the time we leave here next Sunday. We will be headed to Knoxville, TN and our new assingnment at Raccoon Valley Escapees park. Before we report for work we will be making a stop at an rv repair for work on our tv (great picture but no sound), and our microwave/convection oven (will work a few seconds then quit). Hopefully these problems will be resolved before we start working on the 9th. Meantime, we have one more work day here on Sat. The rest of the week we will be fixing up, putting away, and enjoying our last few days at this park. The weather is still kind of springtime iffy, but most of the time it is beautiful. Today was perfect--cloudess deep blue sky, bright sunshine, a cool north wind. We hope you all are enjoying some nice weather too.

Enough for now,

Louise and Duane

NASA Houston visit

Entrance
Lobby

Retired rockets

Paul and Marsha in rocket engine

Duane and Louise on the moon

Astronaut Marsha

Moon rover mockup

Dwarfed by the Mercury rocket & engines

Astronaut Louise

Shuttle command center

Hello from NASA's Space Center Houston. We toured this complex today with friends Paul and Marsha Weaver. The Space Center is home to several displays including a film and artifact timeline gallery of the space programs (where we touched an actual moon rock), an update of current NASA programs, a display of the types of spacesuits used, an inside look of the (hopefully) future space station living module, a walk-through mockup space shuttle, a lots exhibits and hands on activities, and the usual gift shop, food court, and kids' stuff.

From the center guest board a tram for a tour of the Johnson Space Center. This occupies more than 16oo acres and employes more than 14000 people including contractors and civil servants. It is home to Mission Control Center where Space Shuttle missions are monitored and directed from seconds after launch to landing. Astronauts are trained here and the Space Shuttle program is managed. This Center houses more than 800 lbs of lunar rocks and soil. The tram makes two stops. The first is at one of the astronaut training centers. Guests walk an enclosed catwalk viewing several training moduals. The other stop is at a rocket display. Guests see "retired" rockets and engines up close in an outdoor display. Inside the building is a full sized module and all of the fuel cannisters. Guests walk along the assembly while an interpretor explaines the purpose of each stage of the rocket.

We spent the whole day enjoying all the Center had to offer, including some snacks, but excluding the Flight Simulator. Tired and hungry, we stopped for dinner at the Saltgrass Steakhouse, then headed for home. We really enjoyed touring with our new friends and hope to spend more time with them before we have to move on.

Basta por hoy!

Louise and Duane

The BIG switch

Our new house

Our new truck

After a lot of looking and a lot contemplating we made the big move from a motorhome to a 5th wheel trailer. We had been working on several deals for a couple of months now. We decided on the Road Warrior Toy Hauler model. We are going to install cabinets in the garage part and turn it into a place I can carve in and Louise can sew in. Soooo, we bought a Chevy diesel truck to pull the trailer with. The trailer arrived here in Texas yesterday. The dealer brought it down from MI. for us. He wanted me to drive the motorhome up there too make the trade. After thinking about the long trip up there, 1300 miles, and the fact that we are still working for Escapees, I called him and told him that the deal was off. I just didn't have enough time off to make that kind of trip. He called the next day to tell me he was willing to deliver it here. The rest is history. We made a deal on the truck the next day and the trailer arrive yesterday. We have been busy trying to find place for everything that we want to keep with us. Making the change has us going through all the STUFF we have accumualated over the past 4 years and accumclate we did...lol
We had to rent a store and lock and empty all the stuff into it. Now we are making trips back and forth sorting and finding places to put things, no small task.

To make things worse, when I got back to the trailer from the storage bin, Louise came out to tell me that she smelled diesel fuel. I looked under the truck and fuel was POURING out. I called GM road service, they sent a wrecker, towed it to the dealer here. About 3 hours later I get a call that it was ready to pick up. Seems somebody at the factory forgot to tighten the fuel line and it backed way off. Lucky I made it back to campground I guess. I picked up the truck and went back to the storage for more STUFF.

We will be here in Livingston, TX till the end of April. They tell us we are going to Knoxville, TN next. We will be there till August 15th. When our time is up there we plan on doing some sight seeing till the first of the year. We put in for Cogress AZ. for the first 3 moths of next year. Not sure yet if we will get that or not.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Weekend fun

Aunt Stacy & Ava (?)
First bath together

Cowgirl Emma

Big girls

Play time

As promised, we finally have some new pix. We left here Thursday and headed north for some baby holding. We spent a couple of fun days visiting and playing with our youngest grandbabies. The weather was good on Friday so Duane, daughter in law Brandey and I whisked the girls around the neighborhood on a brisk walk. Friday evening brought rain and daughter Stacy so we spent Saturday having a good long family chat and play day. After pizza for dinner, Duane and I headed home. Emma and Ava are nine months old now and cuter than ever. Their hair is really growing and they are sitting, rolling, and crawling like pros. Mom Brandey took advantage of the extra help to bathe both girls together. They played well together then showed us how they are big girls holding their bottles. We had a very fun time, but it was kind of wierd without our house.

We are almost done with our 20 hours each. We are looking forward to starting our stint of 20 hours for both of us combined. Duane has his job down pat, and I am getting better and better about remembering details and catching errors. After a couple of days of wet cold, the weather is cooperating again. We have a little more spare time now, so Duane has done some carving, but I don't have time this week to start laying out my latest quilt. I'll start that next week maybe. I have a new friend here in the park and she is going to help me with that task. With any luck I will have it ready to sew by the time we have to move to our new location. More news when we get it.

Louise and Duane

Nuttin much

Hi people, as you can see we still have no pix cause we still are working and not doing much of anything else. In our spare time Duane has been sitting outside in the nice spring weather carving and I, believe it or not, have actually been working on my next quilt. I promised all 6 of our kids a queen sized quilt. This is number 5. Last Friday I selected fabric and ironed it. Saturday I measured and cut all day. Sunday, Monday and today I cut fabric in the evenings. I am almost finished. The next step is laying out. Fortunately the activities center here has plenty of room. The laying out process will take some time so it will be a while before I actually start sewing. Meanwhile we walk, visit the neighbors (I am teaching one new friend to crochet) and of course faithfully attend the ice cream socials every week. We are almost finished with our 20 hour apiece work weeks. After that will be 20 hours a week for both of us combined. (Can you hear our kids groaning about hard our life is? lol) This Thursday we are driving to Celina (Tx) to visit kids and granddaughters. We will come back with cute pix I'm sure. Until then you'll have to be patient.

Later,

Louise and Duane

Hooray!

We finished our two weeks of 40 hours each and one week of 20 hours each. Not too bad. I have one 6 hour day 4 days of 4.5 hours. Duane has 5 days of 4.5 hours and one of 2.5 hours. This messes with our days off giving us some weeks with a 2 hour day and 2 full days off and others with 1 full day, 1 with a 2 hour morning, and 1 full day. This is ok so far. On our days off we do the usual stuff: shopping, errands, working around the house, visiting the neighbors, computing, puzzling, reading, etc., etc., etc. One day this week I spring cleaned the house and Duane washed the outside. My how those windows sparkle! Today (Sat.) I started my rocks tumbling again, and am relaxing with a logic puzzle. Next week I think I'll start on my next quilt. Maybe. Probably. Hmmm. Ok, definitely. Duane has started carving again and has started a carving group here at Rainbow's End. They meet Wed. evenings. The first night 5 guys showed up and had a good time. More said they were coming to the next one.

The weather here has finally started cooperating. I think its safe to say that spring has sprung. We have had several dry days in a row, mostly sunny with temps in the 60's. Sometimes the breeze is still a bit chilly, but mostly the days have been quite pleasant. This is good news for Duane. He really prefers carving outside. Maybe next time we will have some pix.

Later, Dudes and Dudettes,

Louise and Duane

Oh My!!!

Its been almost a week since we moved to Livingston and we have been very busy. We were glad to get here. When we left the rv park by Kilgore we had been without power for over 24 hours and it wasn't expected to return until Sunday. We drove out of clouds and snow into sunshine and no white stuff. Yay! We spent the weekend doing chores and minor repairs. On Monday we started our training with Escapees RV Club. Duane is doing maintenance and I am training in the office. We are almost through with our first 40 hour week. Needless to say, we aren't used to these long days. Next week will be the same, then for the next month we cut back to 20 hrs a week each. So, for the next 6 weeks we will be at Livingston learning and working. Although the training is very physical for Duane and very detail orientated for me, we are doing well. We come home tired and not inclined to join any of the social activities, but we know this will only be for another week. After that we will have more free time to relax. We may even have some photos for the blog! Duane insists that he is working harder than I. He has no idea how hard it is to juggle all this information.

Basta por hoy!

Louise and Duane

Our we in Texas???????

This just isn't right.....We woke up to about 6 inches of snow this morning. They said on the news that Dallas got 11 inches in some areas. I don't know if I will be able to live with this global warming. We have spent almost as much on propane in the first month and a half of this year as we had spent all last year. We have decided that we will not plan to stay in Texas next winter....lol

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Last Visit for a While

Luke
Allie and her Daddy

Louise and her baby boy

Enjoying dinner

Well, we made it back safely from Ohio, and enjoyed a last visit with Jr, Brandey and the girls. We also got to visit with friends Bob and Sharon and Anita and John before we packed up and headed for Kilgore. We arrived last Thursday without incident after driving in pouring rain all the way. For the last week we did our things during the day and visited in the evening. One day we drove to Shreveport to consult with our financial guy. On Monday I reported to jury duty. After a couple of hours of formalities and selection, all of us were dismissed with the thanks of the court. I was relieved cause we leave on Sat. for Livingston and our new job which starts on Monday. We have been trying to walk our two miles every day, but the weather hasn't been cooperating. We have had a couple days of sunshine and chilly winds. The other days have been just like March in Ohio--overcast and damp or downright wet. Today it even snowed! Yikes!!! We are regretting being here in Texas this winter. The weather couldn't compete with the warm fire we found at son Jeremy's house, though. In the evenings we has some great visits with Jeremy, Jennifer, Allie and Luke. We played and visited, and shared meals. On Monday son Jesse came to visit also. We spent a few daytime hours playing cards and catching up with him. One day he helped Duane pull the washer/dryer out so he could clean out the dryer exhaust. It really needed it. It was full of lint. Now, though, all of our visiting is at an end. Jesse went back home to Temple this evening. Jeremy and family are leaving tomorrow for a weekend visit with Jennifer's parents. We have one more day here before we head south. Tomorrow we plan to start getting stuff put away. If the weather isn't too bad, we might drive to Tyler and visit one of my favorite quilt shops. I really don't have anything I need to buy for the next quilt, but I always like to look.

Enough til later

Louise and Duane

50 years!!!

Three brothers
(Still) happy couple

Still smilin'

We went traveling again. This time we hopped on a plane to our home area of Dayton, Ohio. Duane's brother Dennis and his wife Pat celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on Saturday. They were surrounded by their many family members and friends. We felt we couldn't miss it, so away we went. The party was fun and we were glad we were there. After the party we went to Dennis and Pat's house and had a nice quiet visit with them. The top pic is of the three boys. Dennis is oldest, then Dean and Duane. (Dennis is actually taller than Duane.)

While we were in Ohio we didn't do a whole lot. We arrived on Wed and went directly to our friend Barbara's house. On Thurs am we made a quick trip to the store. Friday evening we met daughter Stacy for dinner. Sat afternoon was the party. Sunday we visited with daughter Rachel, son-in-law Benji (when he got home from work) and grandchildren Maddy, Simon, and Judah. Monday we ventured out to the Esther Price candy store. Today we flew home. The rest of the time we stayed home with our friend Barbara. Duane kicked back in the recliner under a fleece blanket. Barbara and I sat at the table for hours playing Rummy Cubes.

There were a couple of reason for not doing a whole lot of running around. One was the weather. Cold!!! Highs in the 20's and lows in the teens. The other was that we were getting over two weeks of colds. I was down to the sniffles, but every time Duane hit the cold air, he started coughing. He was much better by Sunday, probably because he spent a lot of time resting.

At any rate, we were well enough for one last visit with Jr, Brandey and the twins today. Tomorrow we plan to goof off. On Thursday we pack up and head east for Kilgore. We will visit with son Jeremy, daughter-in-law Jennifer and grandkids Allie and Luke. I have to report for jury duty (they finally caught up with me) on the 8th. On the 15th we start our training with the Escapees.

Basta por hoy!

Louise and Duane

CA dreamin'

Flight out
View of San Francisco

Curly locks

Katie after

Katie before

Our new digs...for now

This is titled California dreamin cause we were dreamin of escaping the dismal Texas weather. Instead we got cold (50 deg) rainy weather except for a day and a half of sunshine. A couple of days it actually rained all day! We had hoped to play outside with the grandkids, do a little touring, etc. but the weather and our health finally won. In spite of these, we had a good time and enjoyed playing with Jack (2 1/2) and Katie (13mos.), and visiting with son Matt and daughter-in-law Beth.

Things got off to a rocky start when we arrived in San Francisco and had to take the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train to Pleanant Hill and walk the mile or so to the condo dragging our luggage. It was one of those rare days when Matt and Beth both had to work. We didn't know how to find a taxi so we hoofed it. The weather was overcast and damp, but in the 60's so not too bad. We stopped just up the street at the Black Bear for supper, then went on. During the next few days we stayed with Katie while Matt and Beth took Jack to look at a preschool. We played with both kids while Beth worked and Matt went to donate plasma. We all went to watch Katie get her first haircut and Jack got more of his red curls trimmed and thinned. On one night the babysitter came. We adults went to a very nice restaurant for dinner--including dessert. Then we went to see Avatar in 3D. Great fun! It really lived up to the hype. It was kinda predictable, but definitely not boring. On another day I wanted to go to Berkley to see if we could find my nephew David whom I hadn't seen in years so Matt and Beth reserved space in the daycare on Monday. Unfortunately, disaster struck. Duane and I came down with terrible colds. We coughed and blew our noses through the rest of our stay. Duane slept a lot and I had trouble breathing. When Monday came, Matt was sick too. So instead of touring, we stayed home (it rained all day anyway). Matt and Duane spent time in their respective beds. Beth and I watched a movie called District 9. Pretty good actually. Get the dvd and see what you think. The rest of the day we sat around watching Family Feud (really feeling yucky) and chatting. We did have a nice dinner of roast chicken with rice stuffing (Matt likes to cook and is always trying new dishes.) The children were gone from 11 to 7 (or so) and we did a lot of nothing. We left Tuesday. Matt was going to drive us to the airport, but was still sick. We didn't want Beth driving in the pouring rain in backed up traffic either, so we took the BART to the airport. At least we didn't have to walk to the station this time! In spite of our woes, we still had a good time. Most of the time we felt ok. We just went through a lot of tissues. Today (Wed.) we decided to do some more sitting around. We did our things. This means Duane computered and watched tv. I read and watched tv. The one different thing is that I have to cook now. O well. Can't be on vacation all the time!

Enough for now!

Louise and Duane

COLD !!!!!!!!!!

This is NOT a good year to be in Dallas, TX. IT'S COLD HERE!! The temperature on the outside of the coach is 18 this morning. This has been the coldest it has been in 14 years. We have the slides on the motorhome closed so we don't have as much area to heat. We used 16 gallons of propane the first week we were here. Normally 16 gals will last 3 months. Next year I think we will spend Jan. where it's warmer, if we can find such a place...lol

So... why are we here? Kids and grandbabies!! We will have Christmas with all the TX. kids tomorrow. Monday we get on a plane to fly to CA. to visit the kids and grandbabies there. We have had a great time visiting the big kids and playing with the little people. The babies are the cutest in the world. Their mother entered them in the Regis and Kelly baby contest, if they don't win I'll quit watching that show...LOL The Kilgore and Temple kids will arrive today for Christmas tomorrow. It will be great to have half of the kids in one place. This does not happen to often because of their working and our travels. Maybe some day we can get all six kids and nine grandkids together in one place again, hope so. They live in CA., TX., and OH., which makes it really hard work out . Of coarse it don't help that we are on the move a lot. We do workcamp some which ties us up. Quite a job to get everyone at once.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Double fun

Gramps and the girls

Who's who?

Big Girls

Hey everybody, we have been here in Celina since Wednesday visiting son Duane Jr., daughter-in-law Brandey, and of course Emma and Ava. Our house is parked in their driveway for the time being, so we are having fun being close to the family and visiting them every day. The girls are really cute and at that fun age when they recognize faces and can sit up and grab things. They are getting ready to crawl also. They still look a lot alike. We can only tell them apart when they are close together, or by looking at their different color earrings. In the top pic, Ava is on the left and Emma on the right. In the other two, they are switched. They have been practicing sitting up alone, so they got new high chairs on Saturday. They looked pleased, don't they! They are really cute and smile most of the time.

Since we were working on Christmas Day, we missed visiting our Texas kids. We will be making up for that on this coming Saturday. We will be celebrating Christmas then and are looking forward to seeing them again. If you are lucky, or --more likely-- if Duane gets motivated, you will be treated to pix from our party. Until then, you'll have to make do with the ones above.

Basta!

Louise and Duane

Tourists!

Sooo good lookin'

Our hosts

On Sunday we took one last tour. We drove to Rockport for a last visit with former Goliad hosts Bob and Ruth Bolthouse. After a wonderful 'picnic' lunch of bbq ribs, potato salad and watermelon at the dining room table, we took a driving tour of the town. It was a beautiful sunny/blue sky day, although the wind was chilly. We ended up bayside. There is a little free aquarium there and a beautiful little park space with some really nice sea themed sculptures. After our picture session, we went back to their 'house' for coffee and pie. Yum! We had a very nice visit, but eventually had to head home.

Rockport is a nice little town with a lot of rv parks and a few shops. Situated right on the bay, it looks like a nice quiet place to spend the winter. However, we were told that things get liviler after the first of the year. We will have to wait for Bob and Ruth's report on that!

Basta por hoy,

Louise and Duane

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Our Christmas Tree

Emma and Ava in Louise's sleigh

Cousins

Merry Christmas Faithful Readers. We hope you enjoy our tree as much as we are enjoying it. The pic of the twins, Emma and Ava means a lot to me (Louise). They are sitting in the little sleigh I rode in before I was a year old. Son Duane Jr., wife Brandey and the girls were visiting daughter Rachel, husband Benji and Madeleine, Simon, and Judah. As you can see from the bottom picture, two of the babies (Judah is a month and a half older than the girls) needed attention. You can also see that Maddy's hair is really getting long, Simon is mimicking his dad with his hands in his pockets and one of the girls (Emma, I think) is sitting pretty.

We are celebrating the season by going to Christmas Eve services tonight and having the neighbors (other hosts) over for dinner tomorrow. We will be serving the traditional Wegley feast of ham and homemade maccaroni and cheese. The weather here has been sunny or at least partly so for the last week, a welcome change after almost 3 weeks of overcast and rain. Today the wind is blowing to beat the band. We are off the next two days, then back to work for 4 more days. The time has flown and we have enjoyed our work camp experience here at Goliad State Park. The staff and other hosts have been a joy to work with, but we are ready to get our wheels turning again.

Happy Holidays,

Louise and Duane

My first cypress knee carving

Old World Santa

Jeremy gave me a cypress knee from his place in North Texas. I decided to try my hand at carving an Old World Santa in it. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out. I hope others like it too.

The photo above represents a breakthrough for Duane. A week ago last Thurs. he came down with a bad cold that has hung on forever. The Santa above is a sign that he is on the mend. Fortunately I have been well so was able to fulfill our hours of requirement at the mission. Otherwise, we have been getting ready for Christmas here making gifts for friends and family. We have several boxes ready for the post office. On Christmas day we will celebrate with the other camp hosts by sharing dinner here. Good times!

More later. Louise and Duane