Monday, December 23, 2013

Another day that started out very well went sideways in one hurry this morning.  We headed for the Arley Coffee Shop, for our usual, and it was closed.  There were no life forms detected through the windows and the doors were locked.  We had no idea why, but we now needed a place to have Breakfast.

We knew the only thing up north was the “Talk of the Town” restaurant in Houston, so we headed south toward Curry.  We came upon a “Jack’s” after a few miles, and since we had never eaten at one before, decided to try it.  We got the combo with Eggs, Hash Browns and Bacon, with a Biscuit and Gravy.  It was actually quite good and it quickly turned our day around.

On the way back home we stopped at the Williams Hardware Store to pick up some materials for Sharon’s Christmas Present.  She wanted a footstool for her new rocking chair so I decided to whip up a temporary one for her.  I’ll build the real one when I get back home.

I spent most of the rest of the day cutting and gluing plastic pipe and stopping occasionally to come inside and warm up my hands.  I won’t have any pressure on me

until tomorrow to finish it.  I’m not worried about getting it done.  I even had a chance to do some reading and TV watching during the warm-up periods.

We had Patty Melts for supper tonight along with homemade French Fries.  Patty Melts are a “staple” food for me.  If I gotta eat meat, give me a Patty Melt.  Needless to say, supper was very good even with the wrong kind of bread.

We did the dishes and then settled into our favorite positions for the next few hours.  We had a couple of new and a couple repeats on for the night.  We still stayed up until 10:45 before we called it quits.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013CHRISTMAS EVE

We were off again to the Arley Coffee Shop this morning hoping it would be open since we struck out yesterday.  However, as luck would have it we found it closed again today.  We’re now figuring that it must be closed all this week for Christmas.  We had to go into town anyway to pick up a few things, so we weren’t that disappointed.

Our next stop was the lumber yard to pick up the cleaner for the plastic pipe I bought the other day.  Unfortunately they were also closed for the day.  So off to the Dollar Store to pick up a couple of last minute things.  Our last stop was the Post Office to pick up our General Delivery for the week.  The Post Office and the Dollar Store were both open so we did take care of some of the things we had to do.

We headed for home and the Egg McMuffins that were just waiting for Sharon to make for us.  They turned out to be very good we almost didn’t even miss our Breakfast in town.  Almost!

Sharon decided early in the afternoon that she was going to take a nap for herself.  While she was napping I wrapped her gifts and got ready for a Merry Christmas.

She had already decided we were having steaks for Dinner tonight and she got right to cooking them.  It was still early but it didn’t matter because she wanted to grill them while it was still light out.  We had Baked Potatoes, Salad and Garlic Bread to go with the steaks.  She had also made up some Cherry Tarts out of Buttery Biscuits for dessert.  It was all very good.  I even had a couple of Old Fashioneds while we ate.

Afterward we marked our territory in front of the TV for the night.  We both managed to stay up until 10:45 before we folded up our tents and put away the animals for the night.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013MERRY CHRISTMAS

Well it’s Christmas and like always I’m the first one up.  I turned on all the Christmas lights and just waited for Sharon to get going. She was up in about an hour and rarin to go.

We opened our gifts and then she was off to church in Cullman.  When she got back she told me it was 31 miles to the church.  62 miles to get to and then get back from church is a trip. I ate Breakfast while she was gone and it was almost time for lunch by the time she got back.

After lunch Sharon decided she was going to take a nap and took a little snooze in her rocking chair today.

We were having Rosemary Game Hens with Red Potatoes and Peppers for Dinner tonight but she had plenty of time to make those before Supper.  The Game Hens turned out absolutely perfect tonight and there was nary a portion left over.  We did have some potatoes and peppers left but I’m sure we’ll find something to eat them with. 

After dishes we soon settled in front of the TV again for the night.  I had finished my book this afternoon (Glenn Beck’s Overton Window) and I was ready to just relax in front of the tube.

Of course the networks weren’t cooperating as it was the rerun time of year.  So we searched the cable channels and found a few nuggets to watch from there.  We didn’t have a problem finding enough to watch until our bewitching hour.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

We had our plans all mapped out today and they included a trip to Jasper to return a couple of Christmas presents but not before stopping somewhere for Breakfast.  As we drove through Arley, Lo and Behold the Coffee Shop was open for business.  Needless to say we stopped and had our Breakfast right there.  We thought we’d have to go all the way to Jasper to find something.

After Breakfast we got back on the road and headed south.  It takes about a half hour to get to Jasper and we still had to find a Walgreen and K-Mart.  The GPS located them both in short order and we got about our business immediately.  We also tried to find our way out of Arley by going the southern route but it was quite complicated so we gave up on it.  After about 20 minutes we just got back on our road and headed home.

We stopped at the grocery store in Arley to pick up some Orange Juice for Sharon since she had been sneezing all the way to Jasper and back again.  She said she needed some vitamin C and I agreed with her.

After we got back home we were trying to preserve our LP Gas when our indicators showed we were running very low.  Conserving our gas really didn’t work since we ran out about 8PM tonight.  It’s a good thing it’s going to warm up tomorrow because we’ll be on the space heater all night tonight.  We don’t expect it will keep up but it should help some.  We’ll have to shut everything down and go for gas tomorrow.  We had planned to leave on Sunday and we almost made it to our departure date.  Damn!

The heater kept up until we went to bed at 10:30 and then we jumped between the blankets and sheets.  Surprisingly the heater did a fine job overnight, although it was a little chilly when I got up at 6.

Friday, December 27, 2013

I started to take down the Christmas decorations as soon as I got up to prepare us to go for LP Gas.  I knew by the time Sharon got up we’d have to drive into town to fill up.  She was actually in no hurry to get herself rolling this morning, so we didn’t get going til about 9.  It was about 10 miles to the Lumberyard that we had to go to for the gas.  After we got there, the kid putting the gas in, had all kinds of trouble getting his pump to work.  Or the problem was my tank, who knows.

On the way home we decided to take in the Arley Coffee Shop one more time before we leave on Sunday.  It was actually closer to the Coffee Shop than it was back to the campground. The problem was going to be finding a place to park a 36' motorhome.  We managed to find a spot hoping that the police would just ignore where we put it for an hour.  Actually I have yet to see an actual police car going through this little burg.

We had our last Breakfast without incident except that they had run out of Hash Browns so I had Fried Potatoes instead.  But it was still a very nice meal; indeed.

We got back home and Sharon took off with the laundry for the week.  There was someone else using the machines so it took her an extra long time to get finished today.  Then of course we had clothes hanging in the bedroom cause she doesn’t like putting an extra quarter in the dryer.  But she has her own method and it works for her and consequently for me.

The weather actually turned out very nice today, in the 50's, with the sun shining.

Sharon whipped up Spaghetti and Meatballs with Garlic Bread and Salad for Supper tonight.  It was very good and one of my favorites.

After the cleanup of the dishes we settled into our favorite positions for the night  to watch the idiot box.  The networks are still playing reruns and will be for a few weeks now.  Generally we can find enough to watch on cable however.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Here it is, our last full day before we move on further south.  I awoke to rain which will hamper some of the outside things I have to do to get us rolling tomorrow.  I may have to wait until Sunday morning to dump the holding tanks and refresh the water.  It’s not that critical that we even have to dump at all but I like to hit the road with fresh tanks  When Sharon got up she made Egg Mcmuffins for Breakfast this morning.  They were quite good indeed and we hadn’t had Breakfast sandwiches for awhile.

We got showered right after Breakfast and literally sat around for most of the afternoon watching TV.

The rain continued for most of the day today and only let up on occasion which didn’t leave enough of a window to take care of my tanks.

Sharon was off to church early today so that she could stop and do some grocery shopping before she made it to mass.  She figured she would be back around 6:30 or so but she manage to roll in about 6:20.  She would have been home earlier but she reported that the driving was not easy in the rain.  Apparently the mass was only 40 minutes long and she was out of the church early.

I had already eaten Supper by the time she got home.  We had leftover Spaghetti and Meatballs and BBQ Chicken Wings just waiting for me in the refrigerator.  Sharon also dug into the same leftovers when she finally settled in to have something for Dinner.

Our night was taken up with reruns on TV but it look like they’re going to start regular programming again next week.  At least for some shows it will be re-starting.  We stayed up until about 10:45 even though we really didn’t have a decent thing to watch all night.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

We got off to a Rocky start this morning as we got near Jasper, we took a wrong turn and we were heading exactly the opposite direction we were intending.  We caught the mistake (mine) and turned around after about a mile or two.  After we got on the right track we decided to let the GPS direct us.  Nobody could have convinced me that we were headed in the right direction until I saw the Interstate sign.  There were no other signs directing us to it until we were actually on it.

We set out today intending to stop before 3 o’clock so that we could see the Packer/Bear game.  The winner would be the Division Champion and the only way either team could make it to the Post Season.  The game started out horribly with Rodgers throwing two interceptions on the first two possessions.  Then for the rest of the game it was, you score, we score.  I was wondering if they could score enough points to overcome the poor defensive play.  But in the end Rodgers found a wide open Randall Cobb (his first game back after being out for 10 games) to go in for a touchdown that put them ahead, and on Chicago’s next possession with seconds to go, Cutler threw an interception to seal the deal.  What a game...........for Green Bay!

We had pasties for Supper at halftime of the game when the outcome was still uncertain.  But the pasties settled a little better afterwards.

We watched TV for most of the night with the generator running to replenish the depleted batteries from watching the game.  We stayed up until about 10 but when I shut off the generator everything went black.  We had no battery power.  I thought we might make it through the night with the heat we had already built up in here but at 2AM we both woke up and it was a little chilly in here.  I got up to check out the situation and got the engine running but couldn’t get the generator running until I interconnected the batteries.  I figured out that the problem was the batteries themselves.  I twisted the cables and the power came back.  We had batteries again so I went back to bed.

I woke up at 6 and it was still warm inside so I knew the batteries did their job last night.  They were still running this morning but there wasn’t enough left to start the generator again.  I interconnected the cables again and now we had a fresh batch of power to run everything.