Still under the weather

Georgetown,  TX

We left Austin area yesterday and drove all of 31 miles to where we are now parked for a week.   But before we left it was breakfast with our NOMADS group.  Going around the table from the left:  John and Kitty Hahn, Midge Morris, Bub Morris and Leonard.

Such a nice RV park.     The cost is reasonable at $140.00 a week.   We can deal with that.

Early Wednesday morning (4 am) Leonard had enough.  He got up, got dressed and told me I was going to the hospital.    Okay.    One thing about hitting the ER at 4:30 am, it was not crowded and they took me right in, being the only patient.

Doctor and then a ER nurse checked me out.  Lungs seem to be clear.  They diagnosed me with bronchitis.  Put me on antibiotics and gave me a script for my coughing.   The antibiotics might be working but the cough pills sure aren't.

I have many coughing spells a day.  I cough so hard trying to bring up whatever that my body aches and I get a headache.     I still wonder if it is allergies.     I am exhausted.   I wanted to do so much while in this area that I need to start feeling better.

Enough of my dwelling on myself.     Instead I will dwell on how fortunate I am to be able to see all the great sights we've visited in the last two years!   And the friends we've made here online.

Maybe Allergies?

Austin,  TX

Last Friday we were invited to our granddaughter Tiffany's house for dinner.  She lives about 50 miles from where we are working.   Our trusty GPS took us directly to her door.

Tiffany, Jake and great-grandson Alec.

Tiffany is Len's son Lennie's oldest daughter.  I did not know Lennie when he was this young but from pictures I've seen, little Alec has a strong resemblance to his grandfather.

 When we leave here on Friday, we will be parked for a week  at a RV park that is only about 15 miles from Tiffany and family.  Hoping to have many visits.

Last Saturday we woke to heavy fog and a light drizzle.   The weather cleared late morning so another NOMADS couple, Kitty and John Hahn and Leonard and I when to:

This is the prime time for Texas Hill Country wildflower display.

The favorite of most Texans and visitors is the Blue Bonnet.

Former first lady, Lady Bird Johnson and actress Helen Hayes founder the National Wildflower Research Center in 1982 to protect and preserve North America's native plants and natural landscapes.
The Center's gardens display the native plants of Texas with a focus on the Central Texas Hill Country

An interesting Oak Tree

Doing some sunning at one of the ponds.,

Now, why the title "Maybe Allergies?"    For the last several years I have long spells (weeks or months even) when I have a persistent cough.  I would blame it on having a cold that leaves me with a cough.  I am now suspecting the culprit is seasonal allergies.      I cough til my chest aches and my ribs are sore.  I cough through the night and through the day.  

Thinking back it is usually this time of the year that I have this cough.   This year seems to be the worse.  Maybe, just maybe mowing that 11 acres of Texas grass and weeds, some of which had not been mowed for three years, put a hurting on me.   Something to ponder.

Ah, the weekend

Austin,  TX

Our weekend starts today, Friday, as NOMADS work only from Monday to Thursday.   We are still at Decker UMC.

Leonard completed a lot of small tasks around the church but still has a bit of work to finish his main job, helping to install new gutters on the Parsonage.

I finally finished up my two main jobs.  One was mowing 11 acres of grass, a lot of which looked like this.

Once I got through it all yesterday, it was time to start over.

Up the road and around the corner was a sign for the church.  It was made with some type of signage cardboard.  It was confusing, dull, old and falling apart.  

I painted a new one on plywood using stencils I bought but drawing the Cross and Flame and some lettering freehand.   Not a bad job, I say.

Time to head out to Walmart.  Later today we are having dinner at our Granddaughter Tiffany's house north of Austin, about 50 miles from here.

Have a great weekend all.

It was Saturday

Austin,  TX

We got up Saturday morning and decided we needed to get out and see a few things.  But first it was the weekly laundry.   In this area of the country they call the place a Washerteria.   Always makes me laugh as us easterners know it as a Laundromat.


The Washerteria is about a  1/2 mile up the road next to the Travis County Expo Center.  

There is a large rodeo/fair thing going on.   I think it is for several weeks.  I am hoping there will be a fireworks display some night as we sure would have a good view.

So what to do -   The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is about 25 miles away.  We drove over there to find the place packed.  No room in the parking lot.   No more parking spaces along the roadway in for at least 1/4 mile.    I then saw a sign that there is a festival going on today and tomorrow.  I would rather visit when it would be easier to walk around and enjoy the display.  We will come back next weekend.

Next attempt - a Wildlife Refuge the tour book said was near Marble Falls - 40 some miles away.  Sure didn't seem it was anywhere near Marble Falls.   The refuge we did find had the gate closed to the visitor center.

Okay - we were by then 62 miles from "home" (home is where we park it) so headed on back.   On the way we passed a Goodwill store.  I need some work pants as I've tossed two old pairs in the last month.   I am used to Goodwill  and Salvation Army stores that sell clothing at low, low prices.  The jeans in this store started at $8.99 and went up from there.    Len looked at some paperback books.  I could not believe they were old, used paperbacks priced at $2.99 up!    Not paying that price for old used jeans and sure not paying $2.99 for a used paperback book.

This made three strikes for the day.  

We stopped at a Sonic Drive-in and got sandwiches.  Had not been at a Sonic in years.  They were quite good.  Finally a hit!

When we got back to the rig, there was a note on the door that our NOMADS co-workers were meeting to go to dinner at 5:30.

Another  winner for the day.   We piled into the one truck that would hold the 6 of us and went to the Good Luck Grill.

I had a spinach salad topped with grilled chicken.  Len ordered the chicken fried steak.   They asked if he wanted the small or large size.   He got the large and was it ever!

One steak came home with him.

Here we are.

And this is Bub and Midge Morris and Kitty and John Hahn with Len sitting across the table.

Later I remarked that the day was a bust - no wildflower walk, no wildlife refuge and no new pants.  Leonard corrected me.  He said any day that we get to spend just driving around and enjoying our time together is a good one.  He's right.

It is 3:30 am and I am wide awake.  I suffer from insomnia.   The last time I've had a good length of sleep was Monday.  I was so wiped from not sleeping that it was making me physically sick.  I worked but 1/2 day.  Slept from noon to 4 and was out again from 7 pm or so until 6 and next morning.    I go for days with as little as 2 or 3 hours sleep and then crash for a night.  Hopefully, tomorrow night will be a crash night, as this one sure isn't.

GOOD NIGHT!  I'm going to try to get a few hours in before the coffee goes off at 7.

One Texas city to another

Austin,  TX

We left the Houston area where we had been parked at our friend's Olan and Lola's on Saturday morning.

Our drive to outside of Austin took just under 3 hours.  Most of the drive was through rain.  It was pouring when we got here.  But that's okay, Leonard does the outside setting up, I do the inside.

We are working at Decker United Methodist Church.

The church was built around 1903.  The interior woodwork is beyond beautiful.

Blogger Carol from www.weremovingon.blogspot.com was in the area getting ready to start a new adventure.   We made plans to meet for dinner.   She suggested:

As we were walking to the truck to meet them, one of our NOMADS co-workers was walking back to our rig to ask if we wanted to go with them for Bar BQ.   Hey, come with us instead.  So Kitty and John joined us to meet up with Carol and Kevin.    The other NOMAD couple had not arrived at the site yet.

Okay - blogging freinds, this is what Carol looks like.  And her hubby-to-be Kevin.

Ooops, Kevin eyes are closed.  Had I seen that when I took the picture I would have taken another!

So, now we've worked two days.   One major challenge is done.   The church had an addition built in the 60's. Apparently there has been a leak under some large windows.  Our men removed and replaced the  rotted wood.    They also have had some flooding and new carpet and wood trim was put in place.  The trim was never polyurethaned.  We did that today.    The grass REALLY needs cutting.  I love mowing.   As soon as it dries up enough, I will get right on it.

I've not been keeping up with reading blogs lately.  Been really busy while in Houston visiting family and now in Austin doing our volunteering.   I do hope all is well and I will catch up as I can.

Visits

Houston, TX

We drove over to Houston on Friday to spend time with Len's daughter and her family.   WHEW!  The weather.  It was 85 and very humid.   Yesterday was much cooler, thankfully.

We've parked our rig about an hours drive from here on the opposite side of town nearer to Katy, TX at our friends Olga and Lola Halbert.   They are fellow NOMADS whom we've worked with twice.  They invited us to park there whenever we are in the area which we did last June also.  They set us up with 50 amp and water.   They are away at a Good Sams rally so we probably will not see them this them this trip.   A disappointment.    I took a picture of where we are parked but OOPS forget to bring the camera connection with me.

On Saturday we drove the 160+ miles each way back to Sulphur LA to attend the funeral of one of Len's cousins.   When we got back to Houston,  Len helped D'Juana and Joe, who have gutted one of their bathrooms and are in the process of completely redoing it.  I contributed by ordering delivery of Chinese food for dinner.  And staying out of their way.

Today Len will assist some more.  I will do as little as possible.

Tomorrow we will drive back to our rig to check on Lucky and spend  the night to return here on Tuesday night.  

The computer in the truck tells us it is time for an oil change so looks like we will have to find a place to have that done tomorrow.   Also, yesterday we heard a cracking sound and we now have a foot long crack on the windshield.   Nothing hit it that we noticed.  It just cracked as we were driving down I10.     Should have expected it.  Last month for the first in a long time we were under budget.

We need to be in Austin TX on Saturday to start a NOMADS project next Monday.   So our plan is to continue our visit here in Houston until Friday night when we will once again return to the rig and get ready to pull out Saturday morning.