March 15-March 31 I'm Glad March is Over

March was not a good month for me, I had to buy a new phone, truck and a mower. Then the covid-19 showed up and things turned crazy.  It has not really affected us much except all my camping reservations for COE parks have been cancelled thru May.  So far the Texas State Parks are still open for camping. They have closed group faciltiles, visitor centers and the headquarters.  You have to make your reservations online and they are not taking payments at the gate.  We have rearranged our trips to state parks.  Typically even in normal times we have very little contact with people at our destinations, You have to pre-register online and then print your Car Pass for your vehicle, that way you have no contact coming in thru the gate.    Anyway as I said before I had to get a new mower. I cratered my deck on my John Deere lawn tractor as I hit a pipe .  I went and bought a Kubota zero turn mower.  I never thought I would pay so much for a machine just to cut grass, but I love it.  It is so much more comfortable and faster. I can mow everything at one time and my back doesn't hurt.  Its finally drying out and greening up here. Susan has started sanding and painting bathroom cabinets. She also is making masks for the nursing home in Liberty, they loved the ones she made for them.  I got the trailer washed and doing some small repairs, I had to get new bed rails in my truck for the fifth wheel hitch so we are just about ready to roll. I check my camera on my pasture deer feeder about every two weeks. I guess with all the new growth coming in the deer have slowed down coming to feed. The coons still make it every night.

These guys are getting fat

Washing the trailer

A nice ride

Painting cabinets

March 8- 15 Spring Break

On Sunday I head to Bryan to pick up Peyton and Luke for the week.  I drove my new truck to check out the gas milage.  I managed 15.8 mpg which was about what I was expecting.  Thats a lot lower than my old truck and will take some getting used to.  When we got home the boys were ready to play.  I put them a load of dirt in the backyard and they went to digging and playing with there trucks.
They played out all day till about 5:30 and I made them come in. We  had supper and they got their baths then chilled till bed time. They got up Monday morning about 7:00 am.  They played with their inside toys while I cooked breakfast. Susan left early to go to some meeting she had. The boys and I ran errands most of the morning. When we got home they played outside most of the day. I managed to to do a little pasture mowing but its still wet in places. The boys played hard all day, that night Peyton was ready to go to bed by 7:30 pm.  put them down about 8 and they went to sleep pretty fast. Tuesday morning the boys got up about six ready to rumble.  I fixed an early breakfast because they were hungry. They played indoors because we were going to an early movie. We saw " Onward" which was an animated film. They really enjoyed it. When we got home they played outside and I was able to get a little pasture mowing done. Wednesday we ran some errands in town and went ti the city park and let them play for awhile. Thursday we decided to go to Gator World. Susans knee was really bothering her so she stayed home. Peyton and Luke really enjoyed that place. They got to see a lot of gators and snakes, also they have some goats rabbits and chickens to pet. They have a little educational program also.  You also get to watch them feed some huge alligators.  Friday we just stayed home and played around here all day. On Saturday I started washing the trailer, it was filthy from just sitting at the deer lease all winter.  I only got three sides done as my back just couldn't stand holding the pressure wand up amymore.  It would really be tough if I did't have the bucket of my tractor to stand in. The boys just played and ran all over the place.  We just went and got pizza for supper.  The boys have watched Tom and Jerry on tv all week.  They have laughed and laughed as they have never watched these old cartoons.  Sunday morning I carried the boys home. It sure was quiet in the house when I got back.

February 28-March 7 The weather is getting better

   On Friday the 28, I went to my yearly Ole Farts Reunion . I almost didn't make it because that morning I installed two new toilets and my back was killing me. I took a little nap along with some aleve and felt better when I woke. As usual it was good seeing everyone. I left a little early because I was going to Sammi"s volleyball tournament the next morning. It was in the Woodlands and I needed to be there by 7:15. Even on Saturday morning its a hour and 40 minute drive for me. Sammi played well but their team lost all three games. Her team is all first year players and were just over matched. On Sunday Susan got home from her Quilt Retreat. She was excited to have new floors and toilets. Now she has to sand and paint the bathroom cabinets and I"ll redo the walls and put up new mirrors. It will be slow as we have to work around our other plans.  On Monday I found out that the part of our deer lease that was not sold would be available for me to release. Its a long story but the bottom line is I can get 738 acres. It will be dry camping as there is no electricity or water . I had to drop the number of members so I just went by seniority.  We will have to make us a new little camp area but plan on keeping it very simple.  On Thursday i was coming home from town and my truck started shifting funny and seemed to be cutting out. I changed the air filter and the fuel filter but didn"t really help. The transmission fluid looks very clean and no smell so I think mechanically its fine. So probably could be sensors or computer issues.  Iv"e been needing to make a decision about my truck and I finally decided to retire it.  I have had it 18 years and 381,00 thousand miles.  I started looking on the internet for a good used truck. I had already decided to go with a gas engine as we are going to downsize on trailer. I ended up with a 2014 GMC 3500 Crew Cab LWB.  It has the towing capacity to pull my fifth wheel untill we get another trailer. I didn"t need a new truck as I don"t think I have another 100,000 thousand miles left in me to travel. 

A few tales being told here

Sammi

Sammi 

Sammi

Ole Blue"s replacement