States we've Traveled

States we've Traveled

Tribute to Ms Southwind

Tribute to Ms Southwind

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

cool day outside

The wind is picking up and it still cold outside. Since it's another day spent
inside i decided to try a new receipe thought up by me! I sprayed a little of pam on the pan, then I took 2 chicken breast (for hubby) 2 thighs (for me) and floured them as if i were frying, then i sprinkled meat tenderizer & cajaun seasoning over the chicken and added about a 1/2 c water and 3 chicken boulin cubes. Put in the oven on 350 and baked for about 40 minutes. It turned out really good! Then i cooked up some rice o roni chicken flavored and spiced up some green beans and we had our meal. Looks yummie huh? (I usually cook enough for left overs for a snack later if wanted).




Tuesday, February 27, 2007



It's seems it's going to be another cold day outside. The rain has stopped, but the cool temps are still here. Appears to be another day spent indoors lazying around. Here the view out my bedroom windows.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

We got neighbors!

The rain has finally stopped, and it's chilly outside today so I decided it was a good day to do some baking. I have a chocolate cake in the oven now and I have home made white bread raising on the stove. Tonight we are having spaghetti and home made bread for dinner with cake as dessert!

We have no neighbors today, I guess with all the rain yesterday Billy & Craig decided not to come back. I can't say as I blame them, not much to do in a van when it's raining. I have only seen one car drive through the park today, I guess the weather is keeping everyone inside!

I forgot to take a picture of the cake, so here is one of what is left. Hubby loves his chocolate cake!


Saturday, February 24, 2007

We've been living inside of Ms Southwind a month today!

The van dwellers came back late yesterday afternoon and spent the night again. They were sitting outside, so I went over and introduced myself and we started chatting. It was great to have another lady to talk to, I hadn't had that in a while. We discussed how they got into van dwelling and they showed me how they had their setup inside their van, wow, I was amazed how organized Billy had their van. I was also amazed as Billy (lady) is disabled and only has one leg. Yet she camps in a van and gets around like you wouldn't believe. Billy said that they are hoping to someday buy an RV and live in it as we are doing. Her husband (Craig) is still working and they have a few years left before he can retire. It was nice to have someone else in the park with us again. I had missed having neighbors. I adore and love hubby, but getting him into a conversation some times is worse then pulling teeth!

It's a cold & rainy day today, although I do enjoy the sounds of the rain drops hitting the roof. We are warm & cozy inside, I put some beef in the crock pot. I love crock meals, they are so easy!

Friday, February, 23, 2007

Wow, we got neighbors! I woke up around 4 am and looked out and we have a van on one side of us and another parked in a handicap parking space in front of the shower house. Then we have a tent behind us! I heard a noise around 6.30 am and the dogs decided they need to go outside. I got up and took them outside and the camper at the shower house drove off. Then around 7 am the van packed up and left. It's a cloudy day today and their predicting chances of rain tonight and tomorrow. The sun came out a little bit later and so hubby and I decided it was monthly maintance day. He showed me how to open the hood and how to open the batteries and we added water to them. Wow, they had bubbled over. He showed me how to check the oil, power steering fluid. I'm not sure I will remember that one. He also showed me how to check the tires for pressure. I always wondered what that thing was he carried in the vehicles.

Since the sun had come out and gotten warmer, the dogs and I took our daily walk, then of course when we got back home we had to take our daily nap!

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

longing for spring

Wow, I woke up this morning to the birds cherp and the squirrels playing. It's a beautiful day outside today! In the 60's! I sat for hrs this morning just watching the squirrels out my window. Then I took the dogs on a very long walk and they loved it. After our walk we all needed a long nap!

I'm enjoying these nice temps compared to what we had been having. Wow, makes me long for spring even more so

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Moved back today



I woke up this morning, took the dogs out to do their job and then came back and got dressed, hubby got up and we unhooked and headed back to the park. We pulled into the park and WOW, the roads were still packed with snow and ice, but melting. It was a bit slick but we did okay. While we were coming in, since our black tank was almost 1/2 full hubby decided to go ahead and do the dirty job ... Of course you all know this has to be his favorite job as a full-timer .. NOT!!! Although he said it's not really to bad, the worst part is having to clean and put up the hose. I always keep some bleach water close for him to wash his hands with afterwards.

After we got settled in and hooked back up, i sat and looked out the window at my wonderful veiw! Wow, it's nice to have a beautiful view out my window again. We were greatful to hubby's place of work for allowing us to park in their driveway during the bad weather but i sure am glad to be back in the park with a scenic view! Piece and quiet again!

One down fall to staying in a parking lot is the noise. Right now with the off season, the park is pretty quiet and right now we have the entire park tour ourselves! The squirels seem to be so happy with warm temps as they were all out running around and playing today. It was neat to watch them out my window. Not sure how well you can see them in this picture.

Monday, February 19, 2007

what a muddy mess!



Well today was suspose to be moving day, but apparently the weather men still have trouble forecasting the weather. It was suppose to be a thawing day but when we woke up this am we were still frozen. So we have decided to wait until tomorrow to move. Although it did finally warm up and get up to almost 60 degrees! Wow it felt good, but what a mess. I took the dogs for their walk this afternoon and wow, it's a muddy mess outside. When i got back i had to wash the dogs feet before i could let them inside. While we were on our walk i took the camera along and did manage to take a few nice scenery pictures. I won't show you what my veiw looks like out both my windows. It's not a pretty site.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Catch up day

Today is Sunday, and since the place of business is closed, i have been online most of the day, trying to post to my blog and replying to e-mails. I also had to check and see what my other fellow Rver's are doing. Had to catch up with their weekly happenings. Wow am i ever ready for this weather to break and thaw us out. I want my nice scenery back! Winter go away and bring me spring and flowers!

okay i have been on here all day, more later, have a good one everyone

Friday, February 16, 2007

I think were litterly frozen down

We are still parked in the parking lot. Wow these cold temps are just not letting up! I haven't did too much, with the extreme cold temps and damp weather my back is really hurting.

I don't think we could move the motor home if we wanted to, we are litterly frozen down! Last night got really cold and when i got up this am i kicked on the furance to help out the 2 electric heaters that we have running. The temp said around 67 degrees inside. The news said that it got down to 5 degrees last night with windchills -3! Wow, it's cold ... I want warmer weather!

One plus is that i have free wifi internet and so i can at least get online and play yahtzee, yes i'm addicted to that game. Out of respect for the company allowing us to park here, i wait until after business hours to access their wifi. I figure during business hours they are using it and if i get online i may slow their connection down.

I did call the park we were staying at today to see if the park was open back up yet and they said no, that they were planning to open back up on Monday or Tuesday, because Monday is a holiday no one will be around and so the shower house will not be open but we could come in since we are a self contained unit. That the roads still were not cleaned off, but by Monday or Tuesday we should be in the clear.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Happy Valentines Day



Well we made it through a bitter cold night. The motor home did really well considering the wind blew and it got down to 11 degrees! Wow it's cold. Hubby came in from work yesterday evening and he asked me if I had put up the antenna yet? I replied no, not with the wind blowing like it is. I'd like to have an antenna left when we leave here. So just to see what type of picture we get without it up he turns on the tv and behold we get a better picture then we did at the park we were in with the antenna up! Wow i could of watched my soaps yesterday :((

When I woke up this am and the temps in the motor home were still nice and cozy. The temp read around 70 degrees so we are doing fine. Tonight should be the big test as we are suppose to have dropping temps to around 2 degrees!

Hope you all remembered to get your special someone a gift, unless your like us. After almost 24 yrs of marriage the holiday's are not so much anymore with gift giving. Hope you all have a great Valentines Day and a very special Happy Valentines Day to my family!

Well i'm off to walk the dogs and then we are taking our afternoon nap!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Winter storm has touched down Houston

I woke up this morning aournd 5.30 am to sound of rain the roof, at first it didn't bother me and i enjoyed laying and listening to it hit the roof. I've always loved to listen to the rain hit the roof of our pop up .. although rain and camping are not a good combination. But hey, were not campers anymore.
We are full-timers!

I finally drug my butt out of bed and turned on the news to listen to the weather. Wow they have changed the forecast and it's not for the better! Now their predicting freezing rain, and sleet, which it is doing already! Plus a possibility of 6 - 10 " of snow with 30 mph winds and temps dropping later in the week to 2 degrees! That is cold!

I decided to go back to bed as my back is hurting from the weather. I drifted off back to sleep and then i was awaken by the sound of the power going off and it's freezing rain & sleeting. I decided i'd best get up and look outside because i hadn't did that yet. Wow, I wasn't expecting what i saw.

We had been watching this storm on the tv and this is not what their normal prediction was! Even though we know to be prepared and we are. We have a full tank of LP gas and fuel for the generator as well, we made sure that the motor home and tow vehicle both have full tanks of fuel just in case. I decided to wake hubby up to see what we should do. He got up and got dressed, and we had some decisions to make. 1. Do we start the generator and wait it out or 2. Do we head out while we can? Hubby went out and checked the roads and said that if we were going to get out safely now was it or we would be stuck for several days. After a short time of debating our options we decided that we should just pack up and move while we still could. The park we are in is isolated area and it's several miles from anywhere and with the weather predictions saying that the temps are going to drop to extremely dangerous temps. We decided to pack up quickily and head out. We figured we would be safer parked in the wal-mart parking lot then stranded out miles from no where! At least in the wal-mart parking lot we could get fuel for the genny and we could get propane for the furance, they have both! Hubby might have to walk, but it isn't a long walk .. hehe

Wow the roads sure were ice & snow packed already and we took it nice and slow but we made it safely and the motor home drove great in the bad weather. Once we got moved, hubby calls into work to explain why he isn't there yet, and he also wanted to see if they still need him to come in at all today with the bad weather. He also tells them that we are now parked in the Wal-mart parking lot. The boss tells him that they have electricity and a large parking lot, to come on over. So off we headed.

We got there but there was a problem! Where we have to park, we do not have enough cord. So we drive back over to the local wal-mart and purchased several cords needed. Wow those things are not cheap! We get back and get plugged in and i go to work on setting up our home and hubby goes to work. I'm now sitting and watching the snow fall as I'm warm and cozy inside at a nice 74 degrees! Not a pretty scenery looking at a building that looks like a smoke engine, but hey Houston, we have electric!

The wind is really blowing and every once in a bit it gust and gives Ms. Southwind a gentle rock, looks like i might get rocked to sleep when i take my nap .. hehe

It's so nice to be able to just pack up and take our home where we need to go. I love the RV lifestyle of having our home where ever we are parked.

After my nap, i called the park we were staying at to let them know that we had decided to leave this morning, but they already knew that. They had seen us leave and the host said it was good that we did, because they had to end up shutting the park down around noon and that they had locked the gate. The park is closed until further notice. Wow was that a smart decision or what? Can you imagine had we been locked inside for days with these frigid temps and no electricity ... WOW It is good to listen to your insticts!

Monday, February 12, 2007

Take a look at this time last year!


What is it with having to have snow around Valentine's day the past few years? I was just looking back and realized that we had snow on Valentines Day last year and now on the news they are predicting a big winter storm ... hmmm is this a new tradition for us? Oh I hope not! Maybe we will get lucky and it will pass right on by. what you think folks?

Sunday, February 11, 2007

struggling with hanging photo's

I need your help!!!!! all you experts out there ... I decided i would try to hang some pictures and stuff today and i'm about to scream! I've been struggling with trying to get my photo's to hang on the walls. I bought some super glue and velcro like i read online that many Rver's use. Well i have no idea what i'm doing wrong because i've had 2 pictures come crashing down! One glass broke and of course it would of been Hailey's picture. I have tried super glueing the velcro to the picture and the walls and still it comes off! What am i doing wrong?

Hubby refuses to let me drive nails into the walls, but i have to have my pictures up. It's not home without them. any advise e-mail and give me your secret

Saturday, February 10, 2007

laundry & grocery day again

I got up this morning and turned on the news and wow, their predicting a winter storm moving in around the first of the week and so it looks like we could go through our first winter storm in our new home.

We decided we hadn't been out to look the town over and it's about time we did. Also, unforuntally, i haven't been grocery shopping or did laundry in 2 weeks either. So yes, we best go looking the town around and get those dreaded task out of the way. So we went and finally found the laundry mat. Wow, it took us 3 gas station before we finally found anyone who knew where it was at. Wow, that's amazing! I can't imagine living in a town and not knowing where the laundry mat is at ... hmmmm

I guess these city folks have other things to do. We used to travel through this town years ago when we would go on vacation, WOW it sure has built up since then. I sure was shocked with all the new homes and how much traffic there is town. Wow you won't believe it, but it has a Aldie store ... oh boy my favorite! We went to the laundry mat first, but you won't beleive what happened.

After finally finding it, which is was just a few blocks off themain road, hubby carried the clothes in and sat them up on top of a washer for me to unload. Well he comes carrying in the laundry soap and softener and says, look ... oh no, we forgot to take the laundry soap out of the vehicle the last we did laundry and it was frozen solid from these frigid temps were having! hubby tells me, just get it out of that machine and of course i say "are you nuts", I'm not buying that, i can buy a large container at Wal-mart for what i'd spend to do today's laundry.

Of course you can imagine how that went over ... yes he is mumblilng .. oh heaven forbid if we'd just do it the easy way and get the soap here .. no we have to load it all back up and go get some ... LOL I told him, i will stay here and you run to Wal-mart, i saw one when just as we came into town .. he replies of course you did, you never miss a Wal-mart! Then he tells me that he is not leaving me in a strange place and so i say, well you stay here and i'll go .. of course he isn't having that either! So guess what we do ... you got it .. we pack the clothes and stuff back up and head to Wal-mart!

On the way to Wal-mart i spot a Dollar General! I tell hubby "look a Dollar Store! Let's just go there and go to Wal-mart after we do laundry that way were not making 2 trips to Wal-mart" Of course he says ... yes, he is very crabby and not in good humor. He parks the vehicle and says, i will be here. I'm like i don't think so .. come on your carrying the stuff out .. I can't with my back. So he gets out and we head in the store. Of course i find other things to look out and he so patiently waits .. NOT .. he is complaining the entire time to hurry up!

We get back to the laundry mat and hubby carry's the clothes and stuff back in and we finally get the laundry done, so now we are back off to do the grocery shopping. On the way to Wal-mart I spotted an Aldie's sign .. So I tell hubby to make a left turn ahead and he is like .. Wal-mart is on the right. I reply yes I know but were going to Aldie's first! So he turns left and behold, you can't get into Aldie's from this exit .. ughhh hubby is furious and not saying nice things. He turns around and goes to the Wal-mart exit and turns left and behold there is the entrance!

Needless to say we go to both stores and go home with $245.00 less then we started out with! Ughhh i am so glad that task is over! By the way, it is a very nice town! People seem to be pretty friendly. We made friends with the lady who works at the laundry mat and she was telling us how some of the original people from the town took a bit of getting used to all new people who moved in. I was shocked how much the town has grown in about 5 years!

While we were in town we decided we'd best also fill up the gas cans for the genny (generator) and the vehicle so we should be prepared for the winter storm moving in. I hope we are anyway. You'll have to stay tuned and find out! hmmmm are they prepared .....

Friday, February 9, 2007

Wow it takes no time to clean!

I have found myself getting into a routine in our new home. I get up in the mornings, take the dogs out and let them do their morning job. I came back in and get hubby's coffee going for him. Then i get myself a cup of tea and sit down and watch the morning news. I sure hope no one minds i take the dogs out in my pj's. Hey what can i say, i'm a country girl and I hate getting dressed! The city girl in me left years ago when hubby married me and moved me to the country.

I find I like to get up and have a bit of quiet time to myself and enjoy looking out my window and enjoying the morning veiw. I'm really enjoying our new home. I didn't mind our tempary home we rented before we finally found Ms. Southwind. It was nice to downsize from the space we had in our 13 room home. I have found that keeping the smaller space clean is so much easier! I had forgotten what it was like not to have so much space!

Now everything is organized and has it's own place. When you get something out and finish with it, it must go back to it's place. When we lived in a stick home it was just to easy to say oh i will do it later and lay it down. So then the clutter would build up. Now we can not do that. So cleaning is very easy. I can have the entire place clean in a matter of minutes! WOW I love that!

I love being able to say my home is where she is parked when people ask me where i am from.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

2 weeks as Full-timers

We've been living in Ms Southwind now for 2 weeks! We've went through some very cold days and nights. The low getting to around the low 20's at night .... brrrrr We have stayed warm and cozy inside Ms Southwind even with the cool temps. Were learning to call her home. Right now were staying in one spot as Hubby is still working. Although i would of liked to been someplace much warmer! But hey, we have to go where the work is ... right? Unforuntally, hubby has to work to support us.

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Day of rest

Hubby went and checked out the new job site. I stayed home with the dogs.
We took a walk earlier and then we all decided it was nap time.
I need to catch up on my sleep and rest my back.

Saturday, February 3, 2007

Veiw out my window this morning & Happy Birthday Larry

Saturday, February 3, 2007

Today is my brother Larry Birthday, I won't tell you how old he is getting to be. Let's just say the big 50 is much closer! Hope you had a great day. Miss you and love you big bro!


Friday, February 2, 2007




Yesterday when we arrived, the ground was clear. This morning when i woke up this is what greeted me, snow! These pictures are my view out of my front windows.

We are here for 14 days. The host says we can stay longer then 14 days since they are still in the off season, but they only sell permits 14 days at a time. So if we decide to stay longer we will have to get a new permit when our time is up.

Since i have a Golden Access card for my disability we get our camping rates half price! Wow, i love it when i get a saving! We are parked on a nice paved site and the park looks really great! It seems to be pretty secluded. The dogs have already checked out their new play area and of course marked it. Isn't that what they do best after all!

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Settling down to the comforts of home




Oops .. i forgot to mention the return of my dogs & how excited they were to see us! They hadn't forgotten mom and dad. They jumped out of the truck and ran right to us. When we opened the door to let them in they were like .. you mean we get to get inside of this one .. WOW

I sat down and of course, i was surrounded by dog breath and kisses. Once they got settled down from seeing us they started exploring Ms Southwind (which she was very excited to have them home as well)they were so excited. They knew that something was up because "hey, were back with mom and dad and there is this neat new camper thing that looks really weird. Were not sure what this thing is exactly but it sure does have lots of similarity to the pop up and we love the pop up" It was funny to watch them climb all over the front of the cab, jumping from seat to seat and looking out. Lucy climbed right up on the dash and laid down. I'm sure she was thinking "wow, this new thing sure has a really nice sun room" Duke was checking out the driver seat and i'm sure he was thinking, "boy this big round thing is really weird, hmmm this looks like the thing dad uses to drive us camping in the blazer with" Dolly, she was up in the passenger seat. I'm sure she was thinking "wow, i have a entire seat to myself and look i can look out this window and see so much better" but most of all .. i'm sure they were thinking, "Wow .. this weird thing has our toys and our stuff in it! Great, that means .. were allowed in this one and were going too!" As you can see, they have finally settled down and are enjoying the comforts of home!

I still have one baby missing, that i have to get from brother, but the boys couldn't get ahold of him in time to get her. Mom and dad miss you bunches Dixie!