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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