Monday, 22 to Sunday, 28 June 2020
Week 12. Incredible. Later this week it'll be 3 calendar months since I came back to Texas to wait out the virus. I was so sure it'd take only one month - 2 at the most. Now it's been 3 and I can't see any signs that this situation will change any time soon - certainly not before August, but I am still holding out hope for being able to head out in September.
Scientists are saying this week that it's not unreasonable to think we'll have a vaccine by early next year, which is good news. Certainly there are still many people who aren't taking the virus seriously, which is bad news. But public perceptions can change almost overnight so that perception can change too. If we had extensive public buy-in for wearing masks and social distancing and even staying home most of the time, the experience of other countries shows we could have this thing under some semblance of control.
So I think that's what I'm hoping for now - increased awareness among the 18 - 30 year olds that, while they may not get a bad case of the virus, they can still be asymptomatic carriers and be spreading it throughout society. I see that as being more likely than folks in politically conservative areas acknowledging the virus isn't a hoax or overblown to damage the president; those views seem to be pretty entrenched.
Meanwhile, though I prefer to stay home as much as possible, I spent the week out and about a lot more than I wanted to. But with mask and gloves, of course.
Cedar Hill State Park
Last Sunday I transferred myself from the Sanger/Denton North KOA back down to Cedar Hill, with my spot reserved until Wednesday. These dates were based on the weather forecasts I was seeing then.
On Monday, we got some very heavy rain and the temperature went down to an almost comfortable level, making AC unnecessary for much of the day. When we were out for our first walk of the day, we saw a coyote. From a pretty close position. It crossed the campground road not far ahead of where we were and disappeared into the campsite there. When we got up to that point, I looked to see if it was still there, and it was. In fact, after we passed by, it came back to cross the road, and stopped in the middle of the road to stare at us. Meanwhile, Dexter was carrying on like crazy and I was so extremely glad that Gracie wasn't joining him because I'm not sure I could have held them. It was intimidating for me to get stared at by a coyote, though to be fair, it was almost certainly ignoring me and staring at the dogs.
By Tuesday, that lower temperature level was still in play, and the forecast for the next few days had gone way down, enough so I couldn't see the need for AC. That plus being uneasy being in the campground where there was a coyote readily available and I decided to leave. I'd asked a park employee I saw when we were out for another walk if they had many coyotes there and he said they "don't keep no count of wild animals" in the park. I figured the coyote might be eating deer but the employee said they had no deer there at all. Sure seems odd when there're deer almost everywhere else in Texas, including at Cleburne State Park not too many miles down the road, but that's what he said.
The drive back to Richardson
When I first came to Cedar Hill State Park more than a week ago, I came entirely along Belt Line Road, so I decided to go back by following Belt Line for the rest of the way around the county. I didn't expect to see anything worth talking about, but I got a surprise.
(And I'll say now that I was surprised at how large some of these towns were so checked the population for the county. Dallas County is estimated to have 2.64 million now, with the city of Dallas contributing 1.2 million to that. Meaning more than half the county's population is in the surrounding towns. That surprised me.)
After I passed through Cedar Hill, I drove through DeSoto (pop. about 53,000 now), then on to Lancaster. I expected Lancaster to be a small town, but it turns out to have about 40,000 folks. And I passed a road sign for the Lancaster Airport and Flight Museum. I was curious what a small Texas town would be doing with a flight museum, but they say it's a nonprofit dedicated to preserving Cold War era aircraft. Lancaster was also an All America City in 2019 (they say).
I passed some houses, one with a front yard sign that said, "A Healthcare Hero Lives Here." I haven't seen one of those before. Then I suddenly came to a long stretch of very poorly maintained roadway - I had to slow down to 30 mph to keep us from being too shaken up. It was after I passed a sign directing me to the "historic town square" that I started wondering how old this town is. I learned it was incorporated in 1853, quite old for Texas which only became a state in 1845. It was laid out (and named, apparently) by a man who was born in Lancaster, KY. I didn't go see the town square, but I can report the area is full of corn fields. In fact, when I got to the neighborhood of the airport, I saw that the runway was surrounded by cornfields.
The next town along Belt Line was Wilmer, which I don't remember having heard of, though it was settled in 1850 and now has a population of just under 4,000. (Wilmer's downtown was destroyed by fire on July 4, 1929, because the wells were too shallow to provide enough water to put it out.) Along the road in this area I saw occasional horses in the fields and less corn.
On the radio I heard an interview with Ron Finley, who calls himself a Gangsta Gardener. He lives in Southcentral LA and says he's working to turn food deserts into food forests. His TED talk is inspiring, only 10 minutes long, and worth at least 20 minutes. https://www.ted.com/guerrilla-gardener In the interview he said, "Get loyal to the soil" and "If you grow it, you own it." to explain why kids are willing to eat vegetables if they grow them themselves.
I passed a business named Junka Lunka in Seagoville, and it took me ages to realize that was an auto salvage place. I guess I was too busy thinking of Oompa-Loompas to realize a lunk is a junked car.
So yeah, I was passing through Seagoville, population about 15,000; it's on the list of 50 safest cities in Texas. Fifty seems like a large number so I don't know how much that assurance is worth, but the city's put it on its webpage. This time when I saw a field with horses, I also saw a herd of goats grazing right alongside them. And I passed a yard full of chickens. Seemed bucolic.
Next town was Balch Springs, settled in the 1840s, with a current population about 25,000. Then came Mesquite, which was substantial even when I was growing up here and now has about 140,000 residents. The Mesquite High School looks exactly like all the schools that were built for us Baby Boomers and it took me right back 50 or 60 years. It was a weird feeling to be whoosh sent straight back to high school while I was driving down the street. I had fun then but am very grateful I don't have to relive those years.
Next came Sunnyvale, which I don't remember hearing about before, and that may be because they like to keep a low profile. Today they have about 5,100 residents and their population is somewhat more diverse than it used to be, but it was once known as the whitest town in North Texas, per D Magazine. https://www.dmagazine.com/the-whitest-town-in-north-texas
Next came Garland, with a current population of about 240,000. All these towns, you understand, flowed into each other as far as I could tell, and it was only the road signs that told me I was in one or another. I think it was in Garland that I almost had a wreck. I think my right-side tires caught some water in the gutter and I suddenly found myself skidding into the gutter with no way to stop it. While I was having visions of skidding up onto the curb and turning over, I was also automatically steering the right way to get us out of it. It happened so fast and was over so fast I had to deal with my nerves afterwards, not during. Just as well.
I bought gasoline in Cedar Hill at $1.69, because that was the lowest price I'd seen in ages. And for the rest of the drive I saw gas mostly $1.79 but the farther north I got the higher the price got, and by Richardson I saw one place charging $2.09. That's a big difference.
The next steps
When I got back to David and Anna's house, I learned that David had gotten the 30 amp plug installed in his garage and connected to the breaker box. All I needed was the extension cord I'd ordered and I was set. Except it didn't come.
A day or so after it was supposed to arrive, David asked me to look up the confirming email from Amazon, which is when we discovered that not only did Amazon not acknowledge having received my order, its website had also eaten the email that David had sent me with the link to the product which I'd used to place my order. David's email had evaporated, along with any indication that I'd ordered anything. Plenty of sign that Amazon thought it had signed up a new customer (me) but nothing else. Which means to me that I won't be trying to order anything else from them either.
David, being made of sterner stuff, got back online and found a product neither of us had noticed before. What I'd tried to order was a 100' 50 amp cord, and we had 30 amp adapters for both ends. Instead, David found 2 30 amp cords, one that's 75' and another that's 25'. We got out his very long measuring tape and figured out that combination would probably work fine, so David ordered them for me. Sadly, the 75' one won't be delivered until July 1st, next Wednesday. There's a lot of hot weather predicted between now and then, so I'll just have to play it by ear.
Travel on Thursday, too
I'd intended to make several stops on my way back into town on Tuesday, but driving the Belt Line route took long enough that I decided the errands could wait. But by Thursday, I'd run out of milk, an essential item for my morning coffee, so I went back out.
I only intended to go to 3 stores, and that's what I did, but it took longer than I'd expected. Things always seem to. One of the main things I was looking for (besides milk) was new dog leashes.
At some point last week while I was walking the dogs, Gracie's leash broke. Actually, it wasn't Gracie's because they have identical leashes and I never keep track of who's wearing which one. But Gracie was wearing it this time, and the latch is what broke, not the leash itself. Fortunately, we were on our way back to the campsite and I tied the leash onto her collar and we made it back without meeting anything exciting (like coyotes or other dogs). I pulled out one of the old ones I was saving for an emergency and that's what we've been using. But I worried that if one could break, so could the other, and so could the old one, and what if it broke when Dexter was wearing it while lunging to get at something.
I wanted one with a padded handle, being much easier to grip when I'm hanging on for dear life, but those are surprisingly hard to find. There were some online, but I really like buying something I can see and hold in my hand, and I saw that Petco carries one of them, so that's where we went. I almost never shop there because I don't feed my critters "premium" food, which is about all Petco carries. I really resent being made to feel like a bad pet parent for feeding Purina One, which seems to be good enough to keep all my pets healthy and happy so why should I second-guess it? But I wanted those leashes - of course I got 2 of them - and I've been very happy with them since.
While we were out, it was lunchtime and the dogs wanted a walk, so I pulled into the almost-empty parking lot of what looked like a convention center in Garland, called the Curtis Culwell Center. The dogs and I were walking along when 2 security guards drove up to us and said we needed to leave. I said all I'd wanted to do is walk them and maybe give them some lunch, but the guards said we needed to get out. So of course we did. But I thought it was weird. There were only about 5 cars in this huge empty parking lot. I'm just not used to thinking of myself as someone who presents a threat, but they didn't want me there. Not even remotely what so many Black people have to live with all the time, but I can testify to just my mild treatment as being unsettling.
Back at the ranch, I found 2 ticks inside the RV, both of them climbing on me (at different times, of course). I can't for the life of me figure out where they came from - I mean, if they were from the state park, why was I only just now seeing them. The dogs are protected, thank goodness, though Lily isn't. Maybe I should check with the vet about that. I've been thinking it didn't matter because surely the dogs wouldn't be bringing them inside so they wouldn't be able to get to her. But they got in somehow.
And more travel, on Friday
I found out that the CVS had managed to get in touch with the clinic I went to in Alabama, and the doctor had agreed to an additional 3-month extension on my blood pressure pills. Because of not knowing how long the refills had been sitting there waiting for me to pick them up, I figured I'd better go do it before they decided I'd changed my mind. So off I went.
To the CVS, then to the recycle center, and then over to Mesquite to find a business called Mesquite Graphics, aka MG Custom Tees. I can't remember if I've ever said before, but the souvenir I've collected from my month in each state is a t-shirt. They're all different, and each one reminds me of something about that state. Well, I spent an entire month in New York state finding many places I liked but no t-shirts I wanted to buy. Finally, a few days before the month was up, when I was at Elinor Roosevelt's house I bought a poster with a lot of her quotes on it. I figured I'd get that transferred to a t-shirt and that'd take care of it.
Of course since then I've been moving pretty constantly, never in one place long enough to see about getting it done. But I happen to have time now and found these folks online and thought I'd give them a try. I ran up against the problem of them needing to have an image small enough for their scanner, which the poster definitely isn't, or one that could be transferred to an email program or something online. I was ready to go see if Office Depot could put my poster onto a disk when one of the young women found my poster online (I can't find it but she sure did). So they said they'd have to check with their graphics person who was out, to see if the words would show up with the transfer. They didn't call back Friday, but I figure I'll get back to them on Monday afternoon if they haven't called by then.
While I was driving around, I heard something on the radio about a recording of people with a group called Empower Texas making ugly comments about Gov. Abbott being confined to a wheelchair. As I understand it, Empower Texas is a very conservative group that's been using campaign contributions, especially in primary elections, to swing the Texas GOP to the hard right, and has been fairly effective at it. The group's vice president and its general counsel were caught on tape using excessive profanity to disparage the governor, who is apparently not conservative enough for them, but at the same time to joke about his disability, the result of an accident. The group has done a lot of groveling and says these 2 folks are "suspended from all public activities with the organization immediately." What I'm wondering is why only the public activities? Does that mean they're not getting fired? And if they're not, does that mean their only crime was getting caught? Oddly enough, they weren't set up (something they've done to others) but instead sent out an unedited version of their podcast by accident. I think Shakespeare called it "hoist with their own petard," which sounds ugly enough to fit.
Also while I was driving around, I passed the Create Church, which says online that it seeks to "help people find and fulfill their created purpose in Christ" and wants to provide "a place where everyone can discover Christ and His plan for their life." All of which sounds a lot like predestination to me, no matter how you dress it up. I've never been a big fan of predestination, though I know that idea works fine for some people.
I also passed a business called Concentrix, which they say provides services to 10 widely varied industries, everything from automotive to banking to healthcare. I'm not sure but I think it's employees they're providing. The job market must be really odd these days.
I also heard how to find a virus testing site anywhere in the state. You go to TX.gov, click on the Covid-19 tab, and then go to the "I Want Information About" section for the label that says testing sites. They've got them shown on a map to make it easy to find the ones in each area. I'm glad I heard this announcement and am including it here in case others have missed it like me. This link might get you there. https://www.texas.gov/covid19
Finally ...
The daily temps haven't been too bad, but the high humidity has pushed the heat index up to some pretty uncomfortable levels. I wait to go to bed until the inside temp drops below 90° - usually around 9 PM - and we have 6 fans that go all night, and by about 5 AM it's gone down to the low to mid-80s. I'd really like to be able to stick it out until Wednesday, when the long extension cord is supposed to be delivered, but I'll just have to see how it goes. And hope Amazon really will deliver the cord by Wednesday.
I very much hope all of you are staying safe and staying cool.
Sunday, June 28, 2020
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Week 11 of hiatus
Sunday, 14 to Sunday, 21 June 2020
Although I'm planning to be traveling today as I have on several previous Sundays, I'm tired of being off my schedule so am trying to get this written between traveling plans.
Yesterday was the Summer Solstice - the longest day of the year. Here in Sanger, official sunrise was at 6:19 and sunset was 8:41. It's odd, really, that I've spent nearly 40 years in Texas, compared to 31 years up north, but I still think these are abbreviated days down here. Yesterday in Olympia, where I lived for 10 years, sunrise was at 5:16 and sunset at 9:10; in Juneau where I lived for 11 years, sunrise was at 3:51 and sunset at 10:07. Funny how thoroughly we can acclimatize to extremes rather than to moderation.
Where I moved to
Last Sunday I left my parking spot at David and Anna's house to go to Cedar Hill State Park, southwest of Dallas. My motive: access to air conditioning. I was lucky there and got a campsite that let me also have access to a phone signal and a signal for my hotspot, as well as TV reception.
I'd planned to stay only until Thursday, by which time I expected the heat wave to have passed. By the time I realized the forecast called for continuing heat into the mid-90s, and particularly nighttime temps in the mid-70s, I'd lost my chance at getting a reservation for the weekend at any state park.
Really. On Tuesday I spent hours checking the availability of campsites at any state park that wasn't west of Abilene, south of San Antonio, or on the Gulf Coast. I checked every other one. What I learned is that there were 5 campsites - not campgrounds, campsites - that were available over the weekend where I could plug in my AC. And all 5 of them were buried in the middle of their respective campgrounds. If I got buried, I would be able to walk the dogs only early in the mornings, before everybody else got up to walk their dogs. Impossible for my bouncy dogs to be confined like that for several days at a time.
Instead I took a spot at the KOA north of Denton. That's where I am now. Still lots of dogs but I'm in a site that gives me some options for places where I can take the dogs while dodging other dogs.
Today I'll head back to Cedar Hill with a reservation until Wednesday, but how long I'll actually stay depends on the weather.
What I saw
On the way to Cedar Hill, I passed Church of the Latter Rain - new to me so I looked it up and they say they're a "non-denominational Full Word ministry." From parts of their website I gathered that they believe the entire Bible is the Word of God, which I think means they interpret it literally. About a block away, I passed the Open Heavens Church, which says they "worship God with joy and gladness" and are "passionate" about passing their beliefs on to others. These are both in Garland. There seem to be lots of non-affiliated churches these days. When I was growing up, I think there were only the usual: Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, like that. Lots of free thinkers these days, I guess.
Crepe myrtle is in full bloom, which is nice now that the magnolias are fading.
I took Belt Line Road almost the entire drive. As usual, I wanted to stay off toll roads, and I've been curious about Belt Line since we first moved to Richardson when I was in high school. It runs all the way around Dallas County, hence the name. I drove through the towns of Farmers Branch, Carrollton, Coppell, Irving, and Grand Prairie, though I don't think that was all of them.
I passed a large building labeled Presto Products, which turns out to be that producer of kitchen items like electric griddles and electric skillets and electric pressure cookers. You know the brand.
I passed another large building labeled Halliburton. That name will forever conjure up former Vice President Dick Cheney in my mind, justifiably or not. I found a recent newspaper article that said the "oilfield services giant" had recently laid off almost 600 workers in Oklahoma and closed 2 service centers in Texas, though they didn't say how many layoffs that would entail. They did say it's due to the downturn in the oil business - or the "awl bidness" as Molly Ivins used to say.
In Farmers Branch I passed The Diner Of Dallas, A Classic Forever. So I wondered how long it had been there, checked their website, and learned it's just over 25 years old. To me, that makes it neither a classic nor forever. But I imagine they were being aspirational.
We stopped in the almost-empty parking lot of an industrial/office complex and I saw some trees that I don't know what they are. They've got what looks like fruit growing, but they also looked like some kind of pine tree. Is this what pine cones look like when they're young?
I drove by one of Chrysler Products' 2 distribution centers - this one here in Carrollton - with the other up in St. Louis, MO.
I passed a sign for the turn to A.W. Perry Homestead Museum. A.W. and Sarah (Huffman) Perry came to this area in 1844, and claimed 640 acres and built a house in 1857. That's not what's at this museum, though. Instead, their son Dewitt and daughter-in-law Francis (Grimes) Perry tore down the old house in 1909 and built a new one with the original lumber. That's what's at this museum. They say it provides a glimpse of life in northcentral Texas at the turn of the 20th century. I got that when our family used to go visit my Daddy's older sisters. But this museum is still closed because of the virus so I wouldn't have been able to visit anyway.
I passed a sign directing drivers to the Carrollton Black Cemetery. I didn't make the turn but was curious. You can see the historical marker at that site at this link. https://www.hmdb.org
I passed several large developments, "master-planned," with descriptions that make me wonder who'd buy into this: "harmonious blend of picturesque residential pockets alongside soaring towers and the finest dining and entertainment amenities anywhere;" "perfectly placed in the heart of the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex and just 5 minutes from the DFW Airport." How much do you want to bet the new residents at that second place start complaining about the noise from the airport after their first year or so.
I passed a Vietnamese Catholic Church, and online learned that there are a number of them around Texas.
Cedar Hill State Park
At Cedar Hill State Park I first noticed a lot of mesquite trees, which I always equate to dry, desert-like conditions. And I learned there's a reason I think that: their roots can go as deep as 200' down to find water; they can also regenerate so cutting down a mesquite tree doesn't get rid of it. I've always thought they were pretty trees - they look lacy - but they've got some serious thorns, as we discovered in our back yard in Wichita Falls.
They've also got an exhibit on the Blackland Prairie of Texas, which is now endangered.
These photos aren't very clear, mainly because the sun was so bright I couldn't get a good angle on them. But basically they say that there used to be 12 million acres of Blackland Prairie in Texas, and it's now down to 5,000 acres.
They also say that the way the seeds germinate is by fire, and we all know that fire is anathema to people who live in houses, which have been built in such abundance that the prairieland is nearly surrounded by them. So the people ensure that fire doesn't happen much to protect their houses, which means the plants can't propagate.
After staying at the park for 4 days, I can report that Cardinals live there in abundance. And on 2 mornings the dogs and I saw a Roadrunner.
They're about 2' long, so you can imagine how interested the dogs were in it. I wasn't expecting to see a bird I equate to desert atmospheres so it took a couple of minutes for me to figure out what I was looking at. Pretty neat.
I can also report that the park ranger told me on the way in that (a) this is chigger season so I needed to stay out of tall grass (try to tell that to the dogs, who prefer that as an environment to roll in) and (b) that many campsites were inhabited by Argentine ants and I should take precautions. I looked them up and learned that this particular invasive species seems to be really damaging. https://cisr.ucr.edu/invasive-species/argentine-ant
Actually, I couldn't remember much about chiggers either, my earlier years in Texas being way too far back to recall, so I looked them up too. And I learned that that "chiggers" is actually the regular common name (I'd always assumed it's just what we called them in Texas), and that they're found world-wide in moist grassy areas, and that only the babies bite - their saliva turns our cells into mush, which is what they eat to grow into adults, which don't bite us. No wonder we itch, if we're being turned into mush.
Sanger/Denton North KOA
And when I drove from Cedar Hill up to the Sanger/Denton North KOA, I saw almost non-stop "civilization." There's no more countryside anywhere along I-35 from southwest Dallas up into the beginning of West Texas. Meaning up here - the wind blows almost constantly, it's really flat, and it feels like I'm at the beach. My brother tells me the Texas topography begins a gradual change north of Denton, and up here I'm no longer in central Texas or northcentral Texas but changing into west Texas. It feels like it.
And I can Finally! report that I've finished my post on the National Civil Rights Museum that I visited in Memphis. I can't figure out how to get a url for it, but if you want to do a small search, it shows up between the posts for November 22nd and 23rd and is labeled "National Civil Rights Museum" (duh). Given current events, I found some clear parallels with and lessons from the past and hope this bodes well for the outcome for our national character.
In the 3 days I've been here, we've had 2 major storms. The first was my first night here. I first noticed this cloud formation, that looked both beautiful and ominous at the same time.
The clouds turned out to be ominous, bringing both heavy winds and heavy rain. Two days later and all the rain still hadn't sunk into the ground, which seemed odd to me because it hadn't exactly been soaked before.
But this morning when I took the dogs out on their first walk, I saw signs of another serious storm: a huge bank of black clouds covered half the sky - from west to east - and there were bolts of lightning coming from all parts of it. Scary for me to walk in, but I wasn't hearing much thunder so I let the dogs have their walk, just in case rain kept us from having much of one later. And now, a couple of hours later, the wind's blowing up to 65 mph, per the weather service, and they're predicting 5"-8" of rain by mid-afternoon.
The RV is rocking with each wind gust and the rain is so thick the visibility is low. Not good driving conditions. But it's not even 8:00 yet, and check-out time isn't until noon, so I'll just play it by ear.
The most common birds here besides sparrows are turnstones. But since this is June and the height of breeding season anywhere in the northern hemisphere (I'd have thought), I'd expect them to be wearing breeding plumage. But not one of the birds I've seen is anything like as colorful. Instead, they all look like it's October. These are pictures of a Ruddy Turnstone and what I've been seeing seeed so odd, I thought maybe I was seeing Black Turnstones instead. But they turn out to be strictly far north birds and don't get any farther south than the Pacific coast in the winter. Whatever they are, they're as common as Robins around here, and just about as tame.
Future plans
David's been very industrious on my behalf, finding an electrician to connect 30 amps of power to the new box David's installing, and finding and ordering part of the system that we need to connect me to that box when it's got power. My minimal share of that was to find the rest of the system, which I immediately forgot I was supposed to do. Fortunately, David's figured out he's dealing with someone of diminished mental capacity (I'm blaming the heat) and asked me tactfully how I was coming along with that, thus reminding me I actually needed to take some steps on my own behalf. Which I did. It's all costing quite a bit of money but, as I pointed out to David, their refusal to take any money from me for 2½ months has allowed me to save more than enough to pay for it. If I'd been shelling out to campgrounds - well, even the state parks are charging me $25-$30/night. Private campgrounds are in the same or higher range. Plus, private campgrounds are ready to make back the money they lost during the spring shut-down so are willing to pack in however many campers they can get, which makes me really nervous.
Speaking of which, the state parks themselves aren't taking a uniform method of dealing with their mandate to allow only 50% occupancy. At Cleburne State Park, they allowed only every other campsite to be used, so there was always extra room between campers, a solution I was very comfortable with.
But at Cedar Hill State Park, they just shut down half of their park, and are putting all the campers in the other half with none of that silly separation like Cleburne does. When I got there last Sunday, I had campers across from me, next to me, and across from the people next to me. I guess I was saved from having people on the other side of me by being on the end of the row. Fortunately for my peace of mind, they all left the next day, and I had most of the row all to myself for the rest of my stay. But it made me a little nervous and more than ever interested in staying at Anna and David's, where at least the neighbors agree that social distancing is a really good idea.
Although I'm planning to be traveling today as I have on several previous Sundays, I'm tired of being off my schedule so am trying to get this written between traveling plans.
Yesterday was the Summer Solstice - the longest day of the year. Here in Sanger, official sunrise was at 6:19 and sunset was 8:41. It's odd, really, that I've spent nearly 40 years in Texas, compared to 31 years up north, but I still think these are abbreviated days down here. Yesterday in Olympia, where I lived for 10 years, sunrise was at 5:16 and sunset at 9:10; in Juneau where I lived for 11 years, sunrise was at 3:51 and sunset at 10:07. Funny how thoroughly we can acclimatize to extremes rather than to moderation.
Where I moved to
Last Sunday I left my parking spot at David and Anna's house to go to Cedar Hill State Park, southwest of Dallas. My motive: access to air conditioning. I was lucky there and got a campsite that let me also have access to a phone signal and a signal for my hotspot, as well as TV reception.
I'd planned to stay only until Thursday, by which time I expected the heat wave to have passed. By the time I realized the forecast called for continuing heat into the mid-90s, and particularly nighttime temps in the mid-70s, I'd lost my chance at getting a reservation for the weekend at any state park.
Really. On Tuesday I spent hours checking the availability of campsites at any state park that wasn't west of Abilene, south of San Antonio, or on the Gulf Coast. I checked every other one. What I learned is that there were 5 campsites - not campgrounds, campsites - that were available over the weekend where I could plug in my AC. And all 5 of them were buried in the middle of their respective campgrounds. If I got buried, I would be able to walk the dogs only early in the mornings, before everybody else got up to walk their dogs. Impossible for my bouncy dogs to be confined like that for several days at a time.
Instead I took a spot at the KOA north of Denton. That's where I am now. Still lots of dogs but I'm in a site that gives me some options for places where I can take the dogs while dodging other dogs.
Today I'll head back to Cedar Hill with a reservation until Wednesday, but how long I'll actually stay depends on the weather.
What I saw
On the way to Cedar Hill, I passed Church of the Latter Rain - new to me so I looked it up and they say they're a "non-denominational Full Word ministry." From parts of their website I gathered that they believe the entire Bible is the Word of God, which I think means they interpret it literally. About a block away, I passed the Open Heavens Church, which says they "worship God with joy and gladness" and are "passionate" about passing their beliefs on to others. These are both in Garland. There seem to be lots of non-affiliated churches these days. When I was growing up, I think there were only the usual: Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, like that. Lots of free thinkers these days, I guess.
Crepe myrtle is in full bloom, which is nice now that the magnolias are fading.
I took Belt Line Road almost the entire drive. As usual, I wanted to stay off toll roads, and I've been curious about Belt Line since we first moved to Richardson when I was in high school. It runs all the way around Dallas County, hence the name. I drove through the towns of Farmers Branch, Carrollton, Coppell, Irving, and Grand Prairie, though I don't think that was all of them.
I passed a large building labeled Presto Products, which turns out to be that producer of kitchen items like electric griddles and electric skillets and electric pressure cookers. You know the brand.
I passed another large building labeled Halliburton. That name will forever conjure up former Vice President Dick Cheney in my mind, justifiably or not. I found a recent newspaper article that said the "oilfield services giant" had recently laid off almost 600 workers in Oklahoma and closed 2 service centers in Texas, though they didn't say how many layoffs that would entail. They did say it's due to the downturn in the oil business - or the "awl bidness" as Molly Ivins used to say.
In Farmers Branch I passed The Diner Of Dallas, A Classic Forever. So I wondered how long it had been there, checked their website, and learned it's just over 25 years old. To me, that makes it neither a classic nor forever. But I imagine they were being aspirational.
We stopped in the almost-empty parking lot of an industrial/office complex and I saw some trees that I don't know what they are. They've got what looks like fruit growing, but they also looked like some kind of pine tree. Is this what pine cones look like when they're young?I drove by one of Chrysler Products' 2 distribution centers - this one here in Carrollton - with the other up in St. Louis, MO.
I passed a sign for the turn to A.W. Perry Homestead Museum. A.W. and Sarah (Huffman) Perry came to this area in 1844, and claimed 640 acres and built a house in 1857. That's not what's at this museum, though. Instead, their son Dewitt and daughter-in-law Francis (Grimes) Perry tore down the old house in 1909 and built a new one with the original lumber. That's what's at this museum. They say it provides a glimpse of life in northcentral Texas at the turn of the 20th century. I got that when our family used to go visit my Daddy's older sisters. But this museum is still closed because of the virus so I wouldn't have been able to visit anyway.
I passed a sign directing drivers to the Carrollton Black Cemetery. I didn't make the turn but was curious. You can see the historical marker at that site at this link. https://www.hmdb.org
I passed several large developments, "master-planned," with descriptions that make me wonder who'd buy into this: "harmonious blend of picturesque residential pockets alongside soaring towers and the finest dining and entertainment amenities anywhere;" "perfectly placed in the heart of the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex and just 5 minutes from the DFW Airport." How much do you want to bet the new residents at that second place start complaining about the noise from the airport after their first year or so.
I passed a Vietnamese Catholic Church, and online learned that there are a number of them around Texas.
Cedar Hill State Park
At Cedar Hill State Park I first noticed a lot of mesquite trees, which I always equate to dry, desert-like conditions. And I learned there's a reason I think that: their roots can go as deep as 200' down to find water; they can also regenerate so cutting down a mesquite tree doesn't get rid of it. I've always thought they were pretty trees - they look lacy - but they've got some serious thorns, as we discovered in our back yard in Wichita Falls.
They've also got an exhibit on the Blackland Prairie of Texas, which is now endangered.
These photos aren't very clear, mainly because the sun was so bright I couldn't get a good angle on them. But basically they say that there used to be 12 million acres of Blackland Prairie in Texas, and it's now down to 5,000 acres.They also say that the way the seeds germinate is by fire, and we all know that fire is anathema to people who live in houses, which have been built in such abundance that the prairieland is nearly surrounded by them. So the people ensure that fire doesn't happen much to protect their houses, which means the plants can't propagate.
After staying at the park for 4 days, I can report that Cardinals live there in abundance. And on 2 mornings the dogs and I saw a Roadrunner.
They're about 2' long, so you can imagine how interested the dogs were in it. I wasn't expecting to see a bird I equate to desert atmospheres so it took a couple of minutes for me to figure out what I was looking at. Pretty neat.
I can also report that the park ranger told me on the way in that (a) this is chigger season so I needed to stay out of tall grass (try to tell that to the dogs, who prefer that as an environment to roll in) and (b) that many campsites were inhabited by Argentine ants and I should take precautions. I looked them up and learned that this particular invasive species seems to be really damaging. https://cisr.ucr.edu/invasive-species/argentine-ant
Actually, I couldn't remember much about chiggers either, my earlier years in Texas being way too far back to recall, so I looked them up too. And I learned that that "chiggers" is actually the regular common name (I'd always assumed it's just what we called them in Texas), and that they're found world-wide in moist grassy areas, and that only the babies bite - their saliva turns our cells into mush, which is what they eat to grow into adults, which don't bite us. No wonder we itch, if we're being turned into mush.
Sanger/Denton North KOA
And when I drove from Cedar Hill up to the Sanger/Denton North KOA, I saw almost non-stop "civilization." There's no more countryside anywhere along I-35 from southwest Dallas up into the beginning of West Texas. Meaning up here - the wind blows almost constantly, it's really flat, and it feels like I'm at the beach. My brother tells me the Texas topography begins a gradual change north of Denton, and up here I'm no longer in central Texas or northcentral Texas but changing into west Texas. It feels like it.
And I can Finally! report that I've finished my post on the National Civil Rights Museum that I visited in Memphis. I can't figure out how to get a url for it, but if you want to do a small search, it shows up between the posts for November 22nd and 23rd and is labeled "National Civil Rights Museum" (duh). Given current events, I found some clear parallels with and lessons from the past and hope this bodes well for the outcome for our national character.
In the 3 days I've been here, we've had 2 major storms. The first was my first night here. I first noticed this cloud formation, that looked both beautiful and ominous at the same time.
The clouds turned out to be ominous, bringing both heavy winds and heavy rain. Two days later and all the rain still hadn't sunk into the ground, which seemed odd to me because it hadn't exactly been soaked before.
But this morning when I took the dogs out on their first walk, I saw signs of another serious storm: a huge bank of black clouds covered half the sky - from west to east - and there were bolts of lightning coming from all parts of it. Scary for me to walk in, but I wasn't hearing much thunder so I let the dogs have their walk, just in case rain kept us from having much of one later. And now, a couple of hours later, the wind's blowing up to 65 mph, per the weather service, and they're predicting 5"-8" of rain by mid-afternoon.
The RV is rocking with each wind gust and the rain is so thick the visibility is low. Not good driving conditions. But it's not even 8:00 yet, and check-out time isn't until noon, so I'll just play it by ear.
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| breeding plumage |
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| winter plumage |
Future plans
David's been very industrious on my behalf, finding an electrician to connect 30 amps of power to the new box David's installing, and finding and ordering part of the system that we need to connect me to that box when it's got power. My minimal share of that was to find the rest of the system, which I immediately forgot I was supposed to do. Fortunately, David's figured out he's dealing with someone of diminished mental capacity (I'm blaming the heat) and asked me tactfully how I was coming along with that, thus reminding me I actually needed to take some steps on my own behalf. Which I did. It's all costing quite a bit of money but, as I pointed out to David, their refusal to take any money from me for 2½ months has allowed me to save more than enough to pay for it. If I'd been shelling out to campgrounds - well, even the state parks are charging me $25-$30/night. Private campgrounds are in the same or higher range. Plus, private campgrounds are ready to make back the money they lost during the spring shut-down so are willing to pack in however many campers they can get, which makes me really nervous.
Speaking of which, the state parks themselves aren't taking a uniform method of dealing with their mandate to allow only 50% occupancy. At Cleburne State Park, they allowed only every other campsite to be used, so there was always extra room between campers, a solution I was very comfortable with.
But at Cedar Hill State Park, they just shut down half of their park, and are putting all the campers in the other half with none of that silly separation like Cleburne does. When I got there last Sunday, I had campers across from me, next to me, and across from the people next to me. I guess I was saved from having people on the other side of me by being on the end of the row. Fortunately for my peace of mind, they all left the next day, and I had most of the row all to myself for the rest of my stay. But it made me a little nervous and more than ever interested in staying at Anna and David's, where at least the neighbors agree that social distancing is a really good idea.
Saturday, June 13, 2020
Week 10 of hiatus
Sunday, 7 to Saturday, 13 June 2020
I'm once again posting on a Saturday because I'm once again planning to travel, again leaving tomorrow, a Sunday. At Cleburne State Park, where I stayed from Sunday until Wednesday of last week, I had no phone signal, no signal for my hot spot, and the park's wifi signal was too weak for my computer to do any more than note it existed. In other words, I was completely out of touch with the world for 3 days. So in case this week's state park is in a similar non-signal zone, I'm posting now.
Last week
I ran into a little problem when I tried to leave my parking spot at David and Anna's house to go to the campground. I couldn't get my awning to retract. In fact, I couldn't get it to even acknowledge that I was pushing the button - not a sound, not a grunt, not a flicker of movement. I didn't have much choice about leaving since you can't get into a state campground in Texas these days without an advance reservation - no more walk-ins - so I'd already paid for 3 nights there. But I sure couldn't drive down the highway with the awning hanging out.
I called David, who came right over, checked my fuses and said the fuse looked fine but it looked like the fuse wasn't getting any power. We went online and learned that the awning can be retracted "manually" with a power drill (and a ladder to reach the right place). David's knee is still bunged-up, and we all know how I feel about heights, so Anna came out to do the ladder-climbing and drilling. And it worked. The awning got retracted and I got on the road, and I have no idea whether my relatives were glad to have me gone or glad to have me livening things up on a constant basis with bizarre requests.
Cleburne State Park is a very pleasant park. The section I stayed in is called Cedar Grove camping area, named for the large number of old cedars in the area. The air smelled like cedar, a smell I've always loved. Of course, because I went almost entirely to have access to air conditioning, I rarely smelled it. Only when I walked the dogs, and one morning when it was cool enough to turn off the machine for a while. I'm pretty certain the temp never got up to the 100°+ that was forecast, but it was still warm enough for me to be glad of artificial coolness.
I'm sorry I didn't get any photos. I kept thinking about it when I was walking the dogs, and not remembering when I was near the camera. There were lots of Cardinals, which was nice. A coven of vultures hangs out near the small lake every morning. Very odd to see them the first time, because they're so big and dark and were sitting on the picnic tables and things.
I know there are lots of deer, though we didn't see any. I know because several times Dexter and Gracie alerted on places where deer would reasonably congregate, and I know because when I first checked in the park ranger begged me to drive slowly; she said somebody recently didn't drive slowly and killed a fawn. She said the mother is still looking for it. So sad. But I counted myself very lucky that I wasn't having to cope with dogs that were actually seeing deer, not just smelling them or sensing them or whatever they were doing.
Area driving
In my valiant efforts to avoid toll roads (no easy task in Texas), I ended up going to Cleburne by traveling through central Dallas, complete with traffic. Texas drivers are just plain rude. They're impatient and pushy and speed up to keep me from changing into their lane and honk if somebody doesn't move the instant the traffic light changes color and speed and push their luck at intersections ... and so forth. Honestly, I miss the drivers from up north.
I ran into all that not only going to and from Cleburne, but also going to and from the RV repair place where I've been spending so much money lately. I went to see how many expensive parts they'd have to order to fix my awning, and learned the answer was zero because there's nothing wrong with it.
Turns out many RVs (or maybe all of them, but mine for sure) have a kind of failsafe circuit that says when the engine's turned on, the awning is inoperable. The theory goes, according to Alex, the mechanic who's been so helpful to me, that they wanted to guard against the possibility that someone might fall on the switch or drop something that hit the switch while the RV was in motion. If the awning isn't folded up tight against the RV, I imagine it could cause several kinds of severe and expensive damage. That failsafe circuit went into play for me because I'd turned on the engine so I could start the AC for the critters so when I closed up the windows and skylights they wouldn't suffer heat prostration while I finished getting everything ready to go.
That's the first time I've done that, and I won't be doing it again without winding up the awning first. But it was really nice of the repair shop to not charge me to have Alex spend time looking at it and telling me I don't have a problem. So to spend money there anyway, I ordered a cap to replace the one that's missing; the cap covers the gears that make the awning work and Anna had already pointed out to me that the gears needed lubricating. Alex lubricated them and said that cap keeps them from getting gunked up by exposure to the elements.
I passed large fields of tall corn everywhere I went. I hadn't realized Texas produced so much corn.
I passed by the town of Midlothian to and from Cleburne and was surprised to see so much commercial activity. I've now learned that it's more than doubled its population in the last 20 years, now up past 20,000, and is home to 3 major cement production facilities and a steel mill. Unless all those industries have been automated, they must account for almost every person of working age in town. Gerdau owns the steel mill; it claims to be the 2nd largest producer of structural steel products in North America; they say they turn scrap into new steel products, such as the steel used to build bridges and football stadiums. Nearby is Qualico Steel Co. which says it specializes in medium to heavy industrial and commercial products.
Weather
Since I've been back in my accustomed parking spot, the temp has been in the low to mid-90s, and getting down into the upper 60s at night. The critters and I can just about make it at that range. But I've now checked 4 different weather services (and gotten 4 different predictions) but they all agree we'll be going back up into the upper 90s beginning on either Sunday or Monday of next week, with lows in the mid 70s at night. That's really pushing it for the dogs. Lily doesn't care for it much but seems to be able to handle it. And I'm right there with her. But the dogs seem beyond uncomfortable at those temps, so I'm going to do this again.
Next week
This time we're going to Cedar Hill State Park, which we actually passed on our way to Cleburne last week. Cedar Hill is a much larger campground, though they too say they're operating at only 50% capacity, and I've been able to find a space that looks on the map like we have a chance of staying away from other folks. I'll just have to see how it goes.
By the way, I've discovered a real drawback to camping in Texas state parks: here, they charge a daily entrance fee to the park, even if you're camping there, and even if you don't budge an inch once you're there. Not many other states do that, so I find it irritating that the state I was born in is one of the few chintzy ones.
Plans
Being without outside stimulation last week, I read a lot and thought a lot. One of the things I thought was how much I wanted to get back on the road, and how depressing I found marking time, which is the way hanging around here is starting to feel.
Then I got back to the land of wifi connectibility and learned that Dallas County has been having nonstop days of increasing cases and deaths from the coronavirus. What's more, both New Mexico and Arizona - the 2 states I planned to travel to - are seeing the number of cases increasing by 40%. That's a lot. A whole lot more than I can ignore.
I feel pretty confident these numbers are the result of several factors: (1) they all seem to be increasing the number of tests they're giving; (2) it's been more than 2 weeks since the Memorial Day weekend when vast numbers of people acted like idiots (my opinion); (3) it's also been more than a week since the protests began over George Floyd's ghastly death and the equally ghastly racial inequities in our country; (4) part of those protests has been the police response which, in many places, has included tear gas and pepper spray and other substances intended to make people cough and get teary-eyed, items the CDC says likely contribute to the spread of the virus; (5) people are tired of the restrictions that've been imposed, such as face masks and staying at home; (6) many people regard following these restrictions as playing into the hands of the "far-left Democrats who are trying to bring down Pres. Trump" so are unwilling to wear masks and actually make life harder for those who do. Those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I certainly noticed that at the grocery store and gas station I went to in Cleburne, I was the only one besides the staff who was wearing a mask. People stared at me. Weird.
I have zero confidence that many of these factors will diminish in significance or that people will suddenly start behaving sensibly again, or that the federal administration will do anything very useful to help out. That being the case, I'm guessing I'm actually going to continue to be stuck here a whole lot longer than I'd hoped.
I pointed out to David yesterday that I'd had to plunk down $120 to stay for only 4 nights at Cedar Hill and he really should reconsider letting me pay him for staying here. Then I suggested that if this stupid virus and the stupid behavior of our fellow citizens keeps up, I'd be willing to check into the price of getting a 30 amp plug installed at his house. He showed not the slightest sign of hesitation or dismay, which is exceedingly noble and hospitable of him, and said there was only one company he'd allow to do that kind of work and he'd give them a call.
It's been several years since I spent a summer in Texas, but I remember quite well that June is only the beginning of the hot weather. And we're still in the first half of June and the temps are climbing to within spitting distance of 100. That means to me that it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. The state parks are operating at half capacity right now, but what happens when the governor takes it into his head to decide that the virus is no longer a problem, as the president has been claiming. And the private campgrounds seem to be operating without any regard for the virus, as far as things like operating at less than full capacity; of course, they're private enterprise and almost certainly have lost a whole lot of money in the last few months. But they don't look safe to me. And honestly, I'm having trouble finding one that's got any trees. At least here I'm sitting under some trees, which really helps with this sun.
Well, I said last week I thought I'd have plans by now, and I can't tell you how much I wish I did. But the situation continues to be so fluid I'm beginning to feel like I'm trying to pin down a bead of mercury. I have to keep hoping though, because without hope - well - what's left? I think that's where we all are right now. A whole country of people hoping (or else in denial, which is a sort of hope). We'll get through it.
I'm once again posting on a Saturday because I'm once again planning to travel, again leaving tomorrow, a Sunday. At Cleburne State Park, where I stayed from Sunday until Wednesday of last week, I had no phone signal, no signal for my hot spot, and the park's wifi signal was too weak for my computer to do any more than note it existed. In other words, I was completely out of touch with the world for 3 days. So in case this week's state park is in a similar non-signal zone, I'm posting now.
Last week
I ran into a little problem when I tried to leave my parking spot at David and Anna's house to go to the campground. I couldn't get my awning to retract. In fact, I couldn't get it to even acknowledge that I was pushing the button - not a sound, not a grunt, not a flicker of movement. I didn't have much choice about leaving since you can't get into a state campground in Texas these days without an advance reservation - no more walk-ins - so I'd already paid for 3 nights there. But I sure couldn't drive down the highway with the awning hanging out.
I called David, who came right over, checked my fuses and said the fuse looked fine but it looked like the fuse wasn't getting any power. We went online and learned that the awning can be retracted "manually" with a power drill (and a ladder to reach the right place). David's knee is still bunged-up, and we all know how I feel about heights, so Anna came out to do the ladder-climbing and drilling. And it worked. The awning got retracted and I got on the road, and I have no idea whether my relatives were glad to have me gone or glad to have me livening things up on a constant basis with bizarre requests.
Cleburne State Park is a very pleasant park. The section I stayed in is called Cedar Grove camping area, named for the large number of old cedars in the area. The air smelled like cedar, a smell I've always loved. Of course, because I went almost entirely to have access to air conditioning, I rarely smelled it. Only when I walked the dogs, and one morning when it was cool enough to turn off the machine for a while. I'm pretty certain the temp never got up to the 100°+ that was forecast, but it was still warm enough for me to be glad of artificial coolness.
I'm sorry I didn't get any photos. I kept thinking about it when I was walking the dogs, and not remembering when I was near the camera. There were lots of Cardinals, which was nice. A coven of vultures hangs out near the small lake every morning. Very odd to see them the first time, because they're so big and dark and were sitting on the picnic tables and things.
I know there are lots of deer, though we didn't see any. I know because several times Dexter and Gracie alerted on places where deer would reasonably congregate, and I know because when I first checked in the park ranger begged me to drive slowly; she said somebody recently didn't drive slowly and killed a fawn. She said the mother is still looking for it. So sad. But I counted myself very lucky that I wasn't having to cope with dogs that were actually seeing deer, not just smelling them or sensing them or whatever they were doing.
Area driving
In my valiant efforts to avoid toll roads (no easy task in Texas), I ended up going to Cleburne by traveling through central Dallas, complete with traffic. Texas drivers are just plain rude. They're impatient and pushy and speed up to keep me from changing into their lane and honk if somebody doesn't move the instant the traffic light changes color and speed and push their luck at intersections ... and so forth. Honestly, I miss the drivers from up north.
I ran into all that not only going to and from Cleburne, but also going to and from the RV repair place where I've been spending so much money lately. I went to see how many expensive parts they'd have to order to fix my awning, and learned the answer was zero because there's nothing wrong with it.
Turns out many RVs (or maybe all of them, but mine for sure) have a kind of failsafe circuit that says when the engine's turned on, the awning is inoperable. The theory goes, according to Alex, the mechanic who's been so helpful to me, that they wanted to guard against the possibility that someone might fall on the switch or drop something that hit the switch while the RV was in motion. If the awning isn't folded up tight against the RV, I imagine it could cause several kinds of severe and expensive damage. That failsafe circuit went into play for me because I'd turned on the engine so I could start the AC for the critters so when I closed up the windows and skylights they wouldn't suffer heat prostration while I finished getting everything ready to go.
That's the first time I've done that, and I won't be doing it again without winding up the awning first. But it was really nice of the repair shop to not charge me to have Alex spend time looking at it and telling me I don't have a problem. So to spend money there anyway, I ordered a cap to replace the one that's missing; the cap covers the gears that make the awning work and Anna had already pointed out to me that the gears needed lubricating. Alex lubricated them and said that cap keeps them from getting gunked up by exposure to the elements.
I passed large fields of tall corn everywhere I went. I hadn't realized Texas produced so much corn.
I passed by the town of Midlothian to and from Cleburne and was surprised to see so much commercial activity. I've now learned that it's more than doubled its population in the last 20 years, now up past 20,000, and is home to 3 major cement production facilities and a steel mill. Unless all those industries have been automated, they must account for almost every person of working age in town. Gerdau owns the steel mill; it claims to be the 2nd largest producer of structural steel products in North America; they say they turn scrap into new steel products, such as the steel used to build bridges and football stadiums. Nearby is Qualico Steel Co. which says it specializes in medium to heavy industrial and commercial products.
Weather
Since I've been back in my accustomed parking spot, the temp has been in the low to mid-90s, and getting down into the upper 60s at night. The critters and I can just about make it at that range. But I've now checked 4 different weather services (and gotten 4 different predictions) but they all agree we'll be going back up into the upper 90s beginning on either Sunday or Monday of next week, with lows in the mid 70s at night. That's really pushing it for the dogs. Lily doesn't care for it much but seems to be able to handle it. And I'm right there with her. But the dogs seem beyond uncomfortable at those temps, so I'm going to do this again.
Next week
This time we're going to Cedar Hill State Park, which we actually passed on our way to Cleburne last week. Cedar Hill is a much larger campground, though they too say they're operating at only 50% capacity, and I've been able to find a space that looks on the map like we have a chance of staying away from other folks. I'll just have to see how it goes.
By the way, I've discovered a real drawback to camping in Texas state parks: here, they charge a daily entrance fee to the park, even if you're camping there, and even if you don't budge an inch once you're there. Not many other states do that, so I find it irritating that the state I was born in is one of the few chintzy ones.
Plans
Being without outside stimulation last week, I read a lot and thought a lot. One of the things I thought was how much I wanted to get back on the road, and how depressing I found marking time, which is the way hanging around here is starting to feel.
Then I got back to the land of wifi connectibility and learned that Dallas County has been having nonstop days of increasing cases and deaths from the coronavirus. What's more, both New Mexico and Arizona - the 2 states I planned to travel to - are seeing the number of cases increasing by 40%. That's a lot. A whole lot more than I can ignore.
I feel pretty confident these numbers are the result of several factors: (1) they all seem to be increasing the number of tests they're giving; (2) it's been more than 2 weeks since the Memorial Day weekend when vast numbers of people acted like idiots (my opinion); (3) it's also been more than a week since the protests began over George Floyd's ghastly death and the equally ghastly racial inequities in our country; (4) part of those protests has been the police response which, in many places, has included tear gas and pepper spray and other substances intended to make people cough and get teary-eyed, items the CDC says likely contribute to the spread of the virus; (5) people are tired of the restrictions that've been imposed, such as face masks and staying at home; (6) many people regard following these restrictions as playing into the hands of the "far-left Democrats who are trying to bring down Pres. Trump" so are unwilling to wear masks and actually make life harder for those who do. Those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I certainly noticed that at the grocery store and gas station I went to in Cleburne, I was the only one besides the staff who was wearing a mask. People stared at me. Weird.
I have zero confidence that many of these factors will diminish in significance or that people will suddenly start behaving sensibly again, or that the federal administration will do anything very useful to help out. That being the case, I'm guessing I'm actually going to continue to be stuck here a whole lot longer than I'd hoped.
I pointed out to David yesterday that I'd had to plunk down $120 to stay for only 4 nights at Cedar Hill and he really should reconsider letting me pay him for staying here. Then I suggested that if this stupid virus and the stupid behavior of our fellow citizens keeps up, I'd be willing to check into the price of getting a 30 amp plug installed at his house. He showed not the slightest sign of hesitation or dismay, which is exceedingly noble and hospitable of him, and said there was only one company he'd allow to do that kind of work and he'd give them a call.
It's been several years since I spent a summer in Texas, but I remember quite well that June is only the beginning of the hot weather. And we're still in the first half of June and the temps are climbing to within spitting distance of 100. That means to me that it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. The state parks are operating at half capacity right now, but what happens when the governor takes it into his head to decide that the virus is no longer a problem, as the president has been claiming. And the private campgrounds seem to be operating without any regard for the virus, as far as things like operating at less than full capacity; of course, they're private enterprise and almost certainly have lost a whole lot of money in the last few months. But they don't look safe to me. And honestly, I'm having trouble finding one that's got any trees. At least here I'm sitting under some trees, which really helps with this sun.
Well, I said last week I thought I'd have plans by now, and I can't tell you how much I wish I did. But the situation continues to be so fluid I'm beginning to feel like I'm trying to pin down a bead of mercury. I have to keep hoping though, because without hope - well - what's left? I think that's where we all are right now. A whole country of people hoping (or else in denial, which is a sort of hope). We'll get through it.
Saturday, June 6, 2020
Week 9 of hiatus
Monday, 1 to Saturday, 6 June 2020
Today is D-Day. June 6th. I don't usually watch war movies, but I saw Saving Private Ryan, and that will live in my mind as how truly, incomprehensibly awful the landings in Normandy were. It's astounding that so few WWII veterans seemed to suffer from PTSD. Unless they did and coped by repressing the memories, as one of my favorite actors Charles Durning was reputed to have done.
I'm writing today instead of Sunday as I usually do because I'm planning to leave town tomorrow for a few days. This is due entirely to the weather: I'm risking the coronavirus to buy some air conditioning for me and my critters.
Summer has indeed come to Texas, and the temp's been well above 90° every day. It also hasn't fallen any lower at night than the upper 60s if that, making sleep difficult in our little metal box. I don't use the lights after about 10:00 AM (yes, AM), just a battery-powered lamp after dark to cut down on the heat from the light bulbs. When I go to bed, all the windows and skylights are open (though the windows are covered for privacy, reducing the air inflow), I have the RV's ceiling fan turned on high (just the fan, no AC), and I have 1 floor fan and 5 desk-top fans going on high speeds. When I get up in the morning, the indoor temp has dropped from the lower 90s at bedtime to the mid-70s. In other words, it's pretty warm in here.
Now I see the forecast for next Tuesday is 102°. And that doesn't account for the heat index from the humidity, which is also quite high every day. What I've been making the critters deal with is uncomfortable for sure, but putting them through that is just wrong. Sure, I'm hot too, but I have a choice. They don't.
So this morning I found a space for a few days at Cleburne State Park. I remembered that I'd stayed there 2 years ago, looked up my post, and found I'd said it was a real nice park. Of course it was nearly empty then, that being a rainy February night, but still, maybe it's still real nice. Even if it isn't, it'll still have a plug-in space for me and I can give the critters AC on the hottest day of the year so far. I'll also have a chance to see how Texas and Texans are handling their campgrounds during the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
And lest anyone think things are getting better in the virus department since, after all, the governor has reopened the state, I'd just note that the level of new cases has been rising for days this week in Dallas County. The result, I guess, of people behaving like idiots over Memorial Day weekend. I expect to see a continuing rise resulting from the protests over the death of George Floyd and others who've died from police brutality over the years. Lots of protesters were wearing face masks, but the CDC said the police's use of pepper spray and tear gas was contributing to the spread of the virus by making people cough so much.
I found a campsite that's at the end of a row of sites next to the road, and I"m hoping that'll help minimize our contact with others. I also intend to wear a mask when I take the dogs for walks, which I haven't been doing before - I've relied on social distancing. Anna and David's neighbors are as interested as I am in keeping their distance, but I have no such faith in the great camping public. The state park will be nearly full for the latter half of this next week, and the temp is forecast to be down in the mid-90s again. Hot and uncomfortable, but not life-threatening. So I'll plan to come back here again and think over how this trip went. It'll give me more information than I have right now. I'm ready to replace fear with information, knowing that the information may just engender more fear, but if so, at least it'll be based on facts.
Weekly Cleanliness Trip
Very strange day. Successful in several ways, though.
Jewelry shop
While I was in West Virginia in April of last year, the strap on my watch broke. It wasn't something I thought could be easily fixed - not like running into anywhere and buying a new strap - because it's a metal band and the little metal arm that attached the band to the watch broke. I carefully stored the watch and all the pieces I could find in a baggie, and I've been carrying it around ever since. I've never been in one place for very long and haven't known how to find someone I could trust to fix it in these various communities I've been visiting.
But I've been stuck here for more than 2 months now, and I finally decided now was the time. I found someone not far away who had outstanding Yelp reviews and, since the gov's opened up jewelry stores now, and their website said they're back in business, I went. Sure enough, a nice man in his 50s fixed my watch while I waited. He said the metal bar that attached the band to the watch had broken because it'd been worn through from constant friction over the years (I've worn it constantly since about 1992). He said it's very common and, as a precaution, checked the bar on the other end of the band and found it too was about ready to break. He replaced them both for $6 in less than 10 minutes. I just read Yelp reviews, I don't write them myself, but I'd have given him a rave one if I did. The Richardson business is called Jewelry Limited, in case you're ever in the area and need either jewelry or repairs.
Liquor store
The jewelry guy was so fast, I was early for our next appointment, so I stopped off to walk the dogs, and then I made a detour into a small liquor store I passed. I wanted some Victoria beer, which is really hard to find, and I was sure this place wouldn't have any because it was tiny and it was named Payless Liquor, so I figured it probably sold mostly domestic beer, not obscure Mexican beer. I was wrong. They had it and I grabbed a 6-pack and while I was waiting in line I looked around. The aisles were barely 18" wide and defined by huge stacks of boxes of liquor. The one employee I saw was an Asian man sitting behind a booth that looked like plexiglass but may have been bulletproof. The whole front of the store was covered with metal grills. There was a sign saying, in Spanish, count your change before you leave the store. I wondered how many languages the Asian man spoke, because there was nothing wrong with his English. But it sure looked like he'd had some trouble with crime in the past and was doing his best to minimize any future damage to him or his store. Very pleasant man to talk to, and the customers ahead of me all seemed to know him well and to like him because they were yakking on and on about their personal lives to him. It was quite an experience and I was glad I'd stopped there.
Vet's office
I went from there to a private vet to get Lily's claws clipped. PetsMart refused to let me make a reservation for claw-clipping, said I could drop her off or sit and wait for them to have time to work her in. The private vet not only made a reservation, they did it with only 1 day of notice (I'd called just the day before). They still won't let actual people into their office but instead want us to call them when we're there and they come out and get the critter.
While I was waiting I watched a woman who wasn't wearing a mask and didn't seem to understand social distancing - or in fact even personal space - because she moved so close to the vet aide he took a step back. So I was already watching her when she took out of the rear of her car a doggie stroller - 4 wheels for a container that seemed to be made like Lily's carrying case is out of nylon and mesh. It was maybe 2' high and about 15" on each side. The top zipped open. And into that container she put a small very fluffy white dog. Then added a slightly larger fluffy caramel-colored dog. And added another small fluffy white dog. And then stuck in still a 4th small white dog. Thank goodness she finally stopped at 4. I can't even imagine how those dogs could fit in there, and certainly not turn around. I was glad they got done with Lily before the vet brought them all back again.
Also while I was there I saw a pickup truck with a sign stuck on the side:
Waste tank dump site
I'd decided to go back to the National Indoor RV Centers in Lewisville, where I'd gone a few weeks ago. No ambiance whatsoever but they have places to dump my tanks and pick up more drinking water, and they're only about a half hour away from the vets' office, which was the important point with all this heat. So off we went.
Once I got there, I found one of those monster Class A RVs was blocking the narrow one-way driveway and nobody inside, so I had to go find someone to move it out of the way. Then after I'd driven all the way around the building to where the dump sites were, I found more of those Class As were completely blocking 2 dump sites and the 3rd was out of order. By this time it was around 2:00, time was moving on, it was getting hotter and I was peeved. So I parked, trying not to block their drive but not caring too much if I did, and used my little hotspot to get me directions to the Arlington KOA where I'd gone recently.
After driving in increasingly heavy urban traffic for more than half an hour, I got to the KOA, emptied my tanks, filled up my water tank, walked the dogs, and found directions to get back home. By this time it was full-on rush hour traffic, and I was very sorry to see that it was rush hour traffic, that when the gov. opened things back up they opened. People had been talking about how folks would continue to work from home, but the traffic didn't look like more than 3 people were doing it. It took me another hour to get back to David & Anna's house.
Back at the house
Both David and Anna came out to help me park in such a way that I could open the awning. I'd found a tree in the way where I'd parked before but was afraid if I backed up I'd limit parking options for other residents. And success! I could open the awning, dry it out from the rain a while back so it wouldn't get mildewed, and cut off some of the sun.
The problem I'd had all day long, though, was a piece of news I'd heard early this morning. I heard about the incident in Washington, DC, yesterday evening, where some rowdy but non-rioting protesters in Lafayette Park across from the White House had been roughly cleared out of the park so the president and his advisors could walk through the park, stand in front of the church that had partly burned the previous day, and the president could brandish a Bible and talk about law and order. The part that really got me was that Trump was waving a Bible around and, as far as I could tell, didn't refer to it or read from it or relate his remarks to it - he was just waving it around like it was validation of what he was doing.
For some reason, that made me sick to my stomach, made me cry, and left me feeling that way all day long. It turned out that I couldn't even feel good about having gotten so much done and about having conquered Dallas traffic and anything else that had happened. I hadn't been able to eat anything all day and didn't eat any supper either. That incident really really upset me. It was a very strange situation for me.
Speaking of weird political moves
I heard this week that the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, has figured out the source of the racial problems in the US: that "the left" had not yet accepted Jesus Christ. He says if "the left" would just acknowledge that Jesus Christ was Lord, then our racial problems would go away. The report I was reading, which I think was from the Southern Poverty Law Center, figured this line of reasoning was related to the rationale of the Ku Klux Klan in burning crosses in people's front yards because the Klan believed it "symbolized faith in Christ." Maybe so, maybe not, but Patrick was the one who, a couple of months ago, said people over age 70 were willing to sacrifice their lives to open the economy back up. Clearly he hadn't consulted this particular person over 70, but that doesn't mean he hasn't put his finger on the solution to the country's racial problems. Or not.
Second trip out
I've been wanting for weeks to spend some time at my storage unit, both to do some organizing and to pull out some books I want to take with me when I'm able to travel again. The problem is that there's zero shade there at any time of day, and with the weather as hot as its been, there was just no way I could leave the critters outside for what might be several hours. I finally decided to rent a car again, and I asked David if he and Anna would mind dog-sitting for several hours while I did this and a few other errands. Not only did he agree to the dogs but he also offered his car so I wouldn't have to rent one. I'm telling you, these folks are saving me some serious money and refusing to let me pay them. By the time I leave I'll have to do something drastic to pay them back. Anyway, I of course gratefully agreed.
This trip, I took several days' worth of recycling in, went to a Target to buy a couple more fans so I could give D&A back the 2 they'd loaned me, went to the storage place, and stopped at the grocery store on the way home.
I spent nearly 3 hours at the storage unit, and that was time only to haul out half of the stuff stored there, find the books I wanted, store in boxes the stuff I'd taken from the RV that I didn't want to take any farther (notebooks for the states I've already visited, pots and pans I never used, clothes I never wore, like that), and then put it all back in. That last step took up more than half that time. I'd put some stuff in, and then realize I didn't have room for some odd-shaped items, have to take it out again, rearrange, try again, realize ditto, repeat the process. I'm storing the nice old carved wood bedstead my Momma had all her life that means home to me; a photo of my grandmother as a baby; a painting my parents have had all my life that was done by a friend of theirs and that Momma used to have over the piano; the piano; boxes and boxes of books and household goods, some marked Very Fragile; all kinds of stuff. It was like working a jigsaw puzzle to try to get them all back inside safely. But it got done and I got the books I wanted and got rid of the stuff I didn't need for the trip.
And I got back without a scratch on David's car, thank goodness.
Other thoughts
I know it's summer because this week the cicadas started singing like crazy. This is the sound I grew up hearing and it means summer to me. Nice to hear them again.
I hope to be able to report in a week that I've come up with a plan to get back on the road. I know I keep saying that, but this time I'm really hoping to see that the great camping public is using its brain at least enough to keep their distance from me and my dogs and my home.
Today is D-Day. June 6th. I don't usually watch war movies, but I saw Saving Private Ryan, and that will live in my mind as how truly, incomprehensibly awful the landings in Normandy were. It's astounding that so few WWII veterans seemed to suffer from PTSD. Unless they did and coped by repressing the memories, as one of my favorite actors Charles Durning was reputed to have done.
I'm writing today instead of Sunday as I usually do because I'm planning to leave town tomorrow for a few days. This is due entirely to the weather: I'm risking the coronavirus to buy some air conditioning for me and my critters.
Summer has indeed come to Texas, and the temp's been well above 90° every day. It also hasn't fallen any lower at night than the upper 60s if that, making sleep difficult in our little metal box. I don't use the lights after about 10:00 AM (yes, AM), just a battery-powered lamp after dark to cut down on the heat from the light bulbs. When I go to bed, all the windows and skylights are open (though the windows are covered for privacy, reducing the air inflow), I have the RV's ceiling fan turned on high (just the fan, no AC), and I have 1 floor fan and 5 desk-top fans going on high speeds. When I get up in the morning, the indoor temp has dropped from the lower 90s at bedtime to the mid-70s. In other words, it's pretty warm in here.
Now I see the forecast for next Tuesday is 102°. And that doesn't account for the heat index from the humidity, which is also quite high every day. What I've been making the critters deal with is uncomfortable for sure, but putting them through that is just wrong. Sure, I'm hot too, but I have a choice. They don't.
So this morning I found a space for a few days at Cleburne State Park. I remembered that I'd stayed there 2 years ago, looked up my post, and found I'd said it was a real nice park. Of course it was nearly empty then, that being a rainy February night, but still, maybe it's still real nice. Even if it isn't, it'll still have a plug-in space for me and I can give the critters AC on the hottest day of the year so far. I'll also have a chance to see how Texas and Texans are handling their campgrounds during the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
And lest anyone think things are getting better in the virus department since, after all, the governor has reopened the state, I'd just note that the level of new cases has been rising for days this week in Dallas County. The result, I guess, of people behaving like idiots over Memorial Day weekend. I expect to see a continuing rise resulting from the protests over the death of George Floyd and others who've died from police brutality over the years. Lots of protesters were wearing face masks, but the CDC said the police's use of pepper spray and tear gas was contributing to the spread of the virus by making people cough so much.
I found a campsite that's at the end of a row of sites next to the road, and I"m hoping that'll help minimize our contact with others. I also intend to wear a mask when I take the dogs for walks, which I haven't been doing before - I've relied on social distancing. Anna and David's neighbors are as interested as I am in keeping their distance, but I have no such faith in the great camping public. The state park will be nearly full for the latter half of this next week, and the temp is forecast to be down in the mid-90s again. Hot and uncomfortable, but not life-threatening. So I'll plan to come back here again and think over how this trip went. It'll give me more information than I have right now. I'm ready to replace fear with information, knowing that the information may just engender more fear, but if so, at least it'll be based on facts.
Weekly Cleanliness Trip
Very strange day. Successful in several ways, though.
Jewelry shop
While I was in West Virginia in April of last year, the strap on my watch broke. It wasn't something I thought could be easily fixed - not like running into anywhere and buying a new strap - because it's a metal band and the little metal arm that attached the band to the watch broke. I carefully stored the watch and all the pieces I could find in a baggie, and I've been carrying it around ever since. I've never been in one place for very long and haven't known how to find someone I could trust to fix it in these various communities I've been visiting.
But I've been stuck here for more than 2 months now, and I finally decided now was the time. I found someone not far away who had outstanding Yelp reviews and, since the gov's opened up jewelry stores now, and their website said they're back in business, I went. Sure enough, a nice man in his 50s fixed my watch while I waited. He said the metal bar that attached the band to the watch had broken because it'd been worn through from constant friction over the years (I've worn it constantly since about 1992). He said it's very common and, as a precaution, checked the bar on the other end of the band and found it too was about ready to break. He replaced them both for $6 in less than 10 minutes. I just read Yelp reviews, I don't write them myself, but I'd have given him a rave one if I did. The Richardson business is called Jewelry Limited, in case you're ever in the area and need either jewelry or repairs.
Liquor store
The jewelry guy was so fast, I was early for our next appointment, so I stopped off to walk the dogs, and then I made a detour into a small liquor store I passed. I wanted some Victoria beer, which is really hard to find, and I was sure this place wouldn't have any because it was tiny and it was named Payless Liquor, so I figured it probably sold mostly domestic beer, not obscure Mexican beer. I was wrong. They had it and I grabbed a 6-pack and while I was waiting in line I looked around. The aisles were barely 18" wide and defined by huge stacks of boxes of liquor. The one employee I saw was an Asian man sitting behind a booth that looked like plexiglass but may have been bulletproof. The whole front of the store was covered with metal grills. There was a sign saying, in Spanish, count your change before you leave the store. I wondered how many languages the Asian man spoke, because there was nothing wrong with his English. But it sure looked like he'd had some trouble with crime in the past and was doing his best to minimize any future damage to him or his store. Very pleasant man to talk to, and the customers ahead of me all seemed to know him well and to like him because they were yakking on and on about their personal lives to him. It was quite an experience and I was glad I'd stopped there.
Vet's office
I went from there to a private vet to get Lily's claws clipped. PetsMart refused to let me make a reservation for claw-clipping, said I could drop her off or sit and wait for them to have time to work her in. The private vet not only made a reservation, they did it with only 1 day of notice (I'd called just the day before). They still won't let actual people into their office but instead want us to call them when we're there and they come out and get the critter.
While I was waiting I watched a woman who wasn't wearing a mask and didn't seem to understand social distancing - or in fact even personal space - because she moved so close to the vet aide he took a step back. So I was already watching her when she took out of the rear of her car a doggie stroller - 4 wheels for a container that seemed to be made like Lily's carrying case is out of nylon and mesh. It was maybe 2' high and about 15" on each side. The top zipped open. And into that container she put a small very fluffy white dog. Then added a slightly larger fluffy caramel-colored dog. And added another small fluffy white dog. And then stuck in still a 4th small white dog. Thank goodness she finally stopped at 4. I can't even imagine how those dogs could fit in there, and certainly not turn around. I was glad they got done with Lily before the vet brought them all back again.
Also while I was there I saw a pickup truck with a sign stuck on the side:
RV with a Purpose
SOWERS
Servants on Wheels Ever Ready
A Christian couples RV Work Ministry
www.sowerministry.org
I looked them up. Seems like a worthwhile organization.
Waste tank dump site
I'd decided to go back to the National Indoor RV Centers in Lewisville, where I'd gone a few weeks ago. No ambiance whatsoever but they have places to dump my tanks and pick up more drinking water, and they're only about a half hour away from the vets' office, which was the important point with all this heat. So off we went.
Once I got there, I found one of those monster Class A RVs was blocking the narrow one-way driveway and nobody inside, so I had to go find someone to move it out of the way. Then after I'd driven all the way around the building to where the dump sites were, I found more of those Class As were completely blocking 2 dump sites and the 3rd was out of order. By this time it was around 2:00, time was moving on, it was getting hotter and I was peeved. So I parked, trying not to block their drive but not caring too much if I did, and used my little hotspot to get me directions to the Arlington KOA where I'd gone recently.
After driving in increasingly heavy urban traffic for more than half an hour, I got to the KOA, emptied my tanks, filled up my water tank, walked the dogs, and found directions to get back home. By this time it was full-on rush hour traffic, and I was very sorry to see that it was rush hour traffic, that when the gov. opened things back up they opened. People had been talking about how folks would continue to work from home, but the traffic didn't look like more than 3 people were doing it. It took me another hour to get back to David & Anna's house.
Back at the house
Both David and Anna came out to help me park in such a way that I could open the awning. I'd found a tree in the way where I'd parked before but was afraid if I backed up I'd limit parking options for other residents. And success! I could open the awning, dry it out from the rain a while back so it wouldn't get mildewed, and cut off some of the sun.
The problem I'd had all day long, though, was a piece of news I'd heard early this morning. I heard about the incident in Washington, DC, yesterday evening, where some rowdy but non-rioting protesters in Lafayette Park across from the White House had been roughly cleared out of the park so the president and his advisors could walk through the park, stand in front of the church that had partly burned the previous day, and the president could brandish a Bible and talk about law and order. The part that really got me was that Trump was waving a Bible around and, as far as I could tell, didn't refer to it or read from it or relate his remarks to it - he was just waving it around like it was validation of what he was doing.
For some reason, that made me sick to my stomach, made me cry, and left me feeling that way all day long. It turned out that I couldn't even feel good about having gotten so much done and about having conquered Dallas traffic and anything else that had happened. I hadn't been able to eat anything all day and didn't eat any supper either. That incident really really upset me. It was a very strange situation for me.
Speaking of weird political moves
I heard this week that the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, has figured out the source of the racial problems in the US: that "the left" had not yet accepted Jesus Christ. He says if "the left" would just acknowledge that Jesus Christ was Lord, then our racial problems would go away. The report I was reading, which I think was from the Southern Poverty Law Center, figured this line of reasoning was related to the rationale of the Ku Klux Klan in burning crosses in people's front yards because the Klan believed it "symbolized faith in Christ." Maybe so, maybe not, but Patrick was the one who, a couple of months ago, said people over age 70 were willing to sacrifice their lives to open the economy back up. Clearly he hadn't consulted this particular person over 70, but that doesn't mean he hasn't put his finger on the solution to the country's racial problems. Or not.
Second trip out
I've been wanting for weeks to spend some time at my storage unit, both to do some organizing and to pull out some books I want to take with me when I'm able to travel again. The problem is that there's zero shade there at any time of day, and with the weather as hot as its been, there was just no way I could leave the critters outside for what might be several hours. I finally decided to rent a car again, and I asked David if he and Anna would mind dog-sitting for several hours while I did this and a few other errands. Not only did he agree to the dogs but he also offered his car so I wouldn't have to rent one. I'm telling you, these folks are saving me some serious money and refusing to let me pay them. By the time I leave I'll have to do something drastic to pay them back. Anyway, I of course gratefully agreed.
This trip, I took several days' worth of recycling in, went to a Target to buy a couple more fans so I could give D&A back the 2 they'd loaned me, went to the storage place, and stopped at the grocery store on the way home.
I spent nearly 3 hours at the storage unit, and that was time only to haul out half of the stuff stored there, find the books I wanted, store in boxes the stuff I'd taken from the RV that I didn't want to take any farther (notebooks for the states I've already visited, pots and pans I never used, clothes I never wore, like that), and then put it all back in. That last step took up more than half that time. I'd put some stuff in, and then realize I didn't have room for some odd-shaped items, have to take it out again, rearrange, try again, realize ditto, repeat the process. I'm storing the nice old carved wood bedstead my Momma had all her life that means home to me; a photo of my grandmother as a baby; a painting my parents have had all my life that was done by a friend of theirs and that Momma used to have over the piano; the piano; boxes and boxes of books and household goods, some marked Very Fragile; all kinds of stuff. It was like working a jigsaw puzzle to try to get them all back inside safely. But it got done and I got the books I wanted and got rid of the stuff I didn't need for the trip.
And I got back without a scratch on David's car, thank goodness.
Other thoughts
I know it's summer because this week the cicadas started singing like crazy. This is the sound I grew up hearing and it means summer to me. Nice to hear them again.
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