February 2018

FEBRUARY  2018

February was a busy month for us.  Besides us both still working at Walmart, we also did some traveling.

In early February we planned a trip to Panama City Beach, Florida to meet up with our Michigan friends, Greenstone and Thimbleberry, who I met on my Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike in 2011.  We always look forward to seeing them each year when they travel south during the cold Winter months.
 We enjoyed stopping at the Florida Welcome Center.

It was late in the day when we arrived at our campsite at Panama Beach State Park.  It did not take us long to get our tent set up with our cots and sleeping bags ready for us to crash for the night.  We did go over and say hi to our Michigan friends at their campsite before we retired to our tent.  We were pretty road weary from the long drive from our home to here.

The next morning my sweet and thoughtful Pyro got up early and built a nice campfire since it was a very cool morning.

 The deer just wandered around all the campsites.  They are apparently used to humans.

 Following breakfast, our friends Greenstone and Thimbleberry walked over from their campsite and brought along their lounge chairs for sitting and enjoying our campfire.

Later that morning we drove down to the beach parking area and went for a walk on the beach.  What a gorgeous morning and what amazingly clear blue water!  I love the beach!

                   And....  I love you Thimbleberry!

Greenstone, Thimbleberry, and Tom enjoying walking on the beach on a beautiful February morning!

The State Park occupies this spit of uninhabited land.  We walked on the beach all the way down to the fishing/viewing pier.  Looking east it is unspoiled beach all the way to the tip of the point however as you can see looking back to the west it is all hotels, condominiums, retail, and more.  We are happy to be camping in the state park and still have access to this gorgeous beach setting.

When we got back to the car at the parking area, Tom, Thimbleberry and I decided to walk back to the campsites (probably only a mile or more?) while Greenstone drove the car back.

In the early evening Greenstone and Thimbleberry invited us over to their campsite and served us dinner at their picnic table.  What an awesome treat that was.

 After dinner they taught us a card game called Wizard.  We had never heard of it.

 

Then you know we had to go back to the beach to watch the spectacular sunset!

After a wonderful night's sleep once again on our nice cots in our tent, we decided to go to the beach again and walk east all the way out to the end of this tiny spit of land.  We hardly saw anyone, just a few hardy souls like us enjoying this unspoiled solitary beach.

The rest of the afternoon and evening we explored around the bay side of the park.  Tom built a campfire in an established park firepit in the park on the bay side for us to enjoy while we visited one last time with our Michigan friends. 

The next morning we began our journey back to Texas, stopping overnight in Louisiana.

The following morning we toured the Mc Ilhenny Co. Tabasco Factory in Avery Island.

 Truly amazing how many thousands of bottles of Tabasco Sauce are produced right here in this place.  For many, many years!

 We never knew that Tabasco Sauce is aged in these oak barrels for months and years before it is ever bottled.

 The Factory Tour is very well laid out and easy to go at your own pace.  The surrounding grounds are very well manicured, and with fascinating memorabilia.  

We also sampled different flavors of Tabasco Sauce.  Our favorite was the Chipotle Tabasco Sauce mixed with Ranch Dressing served on crackers!  Yummee!

What a great trip this has been!   Seeing our friends from Michigan, enjoying the awesome beach, and going to the Tabasco Factory in Avery Island which we had wanted to do for quite some time.

Next up is my cruise with two of my five sisters..............................

January 2018

Let's see what adventures await us in 2018.

We got a dusting of snow.  I always say that is why we live in Texas so we don't have to put up with this white stuff but here it is anyway.  Thankfully it melted and went away in a day or so.

 

We had beautiful weather for our 6th Annual Saddlebag Stampede.  These feet are made for walking!

 It was a nice cool day and we had two support vehicles with wonderful friends watching out for us and supplying whatever we needed.

                                                 
                                               And here we go!

                   This years' course covered about 8 1/2 miles.

I am not sure of the exact total but I think we raised close to $3,000 dollars for the equine charity we chose to sponsor this year with our annual walk, Throw Away Ponies in Farmersville.
http://www.throwawayponies.org

On a sad note, on January 12 we had to put my old 31 year old horse Tex down.  For the past year he has struggled with having no back teeth (so no hay), chronic diarrhea, losing his hearing, and after being totally blind in one eye for the last 15 years, he gradually lost his sight in his other eye.  Total blindness by Jan. 12.  Tex had such a good life and I have so many wonderful memories of all the many good years we had together.  He will be missed.

2017 End-Of-Year Picture Postcard

Tom's one lone pumpkin from his garden.
                                           Isn't it pretty!

 

We enjoyed getting to see all my family in November when my niece Amanda was married.  Amanda is a beautiful girl and was such a lovely bride!

Even my younger sister Donna who lives in Wyoming came to Texas for the wedding.  We don't get to see her often enough.  Love you Donna!  I love this photo of Donna with our Mom.

Needing a challenge, Tom and I adopted a different section on the Ouachita Trail, MM 23.7-MM 26, which includes this Winding Stair Mountain Shelter.  We plan to make another trip up to Oklahoma just to work on the area around the shelter, clearing out some of the low growing brush.

I was excited to see my 3 year old great granddaughter, Juliette in November.  And her dad, my grandson Dylan who is now in the Army doing his Basic Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

After visiting with Dylan and Juliette, we continued south to Galveston.  Walked on the beach, put my toes in the Gulf waters, and rode the Port Bolivar Ferry.

The first of December, Tom's brother Mark and wife Janie came to Canton's 1st Monday Trade Day so we met them there and followed Janie around as she did some of her Christmas shopping (and bought herself another puppy!).  In the evening they came over to our house where we enjoyed sitting on the patio enjoying the fire in the fire pit.  Mark was celebrating turning 60!

Aren't Christmas cactuses amazing!  We have had this one for years, one year the wild bunny rabbits came onto our patio and chewed it down to nubs, but look at it now!  Just gorgeous!

I am so incredibly grateful to still have my Mom with us, and she still likes to play cards and dominoes with us, regularly winning.  I can only pray that I am that vibrant at 92.

You know how I while away a lot of hours on rainy or cold days in Winter?  Jigsaw puzzles!  Here is just a sample of some I have completed since November.

Well Tom and I are adjusting to him working the 2-11 p.m. shift four days a week.  Hopefully he will be moved into another position soon where his talents can be utilized more fully.  Like he said he is just glad to see a few dollars going into his bank account instead of  going out.

We give thanks to God for another year.  We are truly blessed.

Hello October!

In early October we went to Oklahoma to maintain our adopted section on the Ouachita Trail.  We only had to do minor lopping and pruning as it was still in pretty good shape from our last trip up there.

We had brought along our camping gear so after our trail work we set up our tent near Big Cedar Creek and Tom "Pyro" built us a nice campfire.

The following morning we decided to do a hike beginning at the Big Cedar Trailhead, walked along U.S.Hwy. 259 for a short distance then followed a Forest Road for three miles to the Pashubbe Trailhead where we picked up the Ouachita Trail following it about four miles westbound back to our car.

It was a very overcast, misting, foggy morning and while we were mostly in the thick woods we still got increasingly wetter as the morning progressed however the woods were quite beautiful with lots of lichen, moss, mushrooms, and colorful leaves covering the forest floor.

We celebrated the 20th anniversary of our first date at the Texas State Fair, which is where Tom took me on our first date!

I think we have only missed one year going there in the last 20 years.

We always begin our State Fair day by driving one of Chevrolet's newest models on their Test Track at the Fair.  And one of our first stops is to get an Original Fletchers Corn Dog, hand dipped and fried to order.......delicious!

Another favorite is the Greenhouse, with the model trains running among all the greenery....

......and this year there was a demonstration of hydroponic gardening.........

                                    .........fascinating!.......

......and there is always a pumpkin carving demonstration.

We love going through all the Automobile Buildings seeing all the newest models of cars and trucks even though we are not in the market for a new vehicle at the present time.  Also we enjoy the exhibition halls where all the crafts, sewing, canning, photography, and so much more are displayed not to mention the 2,000 pound butter carving which this year was Texas people and places.

The weather was outstanding, just a wonderful day to be outdoors.

The tiny East Texas town of Edom sponsors an Art Festival (April & October) so I called up my sister Norma and she her grandson Devin met us there.  We walked up and down the rows of tents, booths, and displays of every kind of creations imaginable.

    Oh yeah, you can't have an Art Festival without Food Tents!

Another beautiful, actually quite warm, Autumn day.  A fun day with family!

Our next adventure was a trip to Waco.  We first went to check out the famous Suspension Bridge that was first built many years ago for the cattle drives to get across the Brazos River.  There is now an awesome sculpture park at the bridge, several cowboys and many steers all headed toward the bridge.

                           Pretty impressive entrance!

              We walked across this historical suspension bridge.

There are several bridges spanning the Brazos River in the city of Waco.

                  We enjoyed a nice walk along Waco's Riverwalk.

Thanks to the HGTV program Fixer Upper, Chip and Joanna Gaines and their Magnolia Market at the Silos is a HUGE tourist attraction in downtown Waco. 

We were there midweek and were shocked to see hundreds if not thousands of folks there also!

Inside the aisles were all packed with shoppers and tourists!

I cannot even imagine how crowded it must be on weekends!

This small building on the corner is the cupcake and ice cream shop but people were lined up out the door and alongside the building the whole time we were there, so I said "no thanks".  We got out of there!  We thought everything inside and the food trucks outside were super pricey!

We walked down the street a couple of blocks and found a great Mexican Restaurant for lunch and then checked out this interesting "junk" place.......with a cool mural on their building.

We ventured over to the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum since our next door neighbor is a retired Texas Ranger.

                Lots of history, photos, and many, many guns!

And there was this great old tree on the grounds of the Museum.

And lo and behold, surprise, surprise, Tom found Chip and Joanna Gaines in the Gift Shop next to the Texas Ranger Museum!

This is another extraordinary bridge over the Brazos River next to McLane Stadium.

The next morning we found Cameron Park where we left our car and went for a nice long walk along the Brazos River on Waco's Riverwalk.

Waco has done a great job with this lighted and very well maintained hike/bike path along the River.

                                   
                                     We loved it!

 

 

 

Tom went back to work the week after our Waco trip.  He is employed at the Canton Walmart, the same one that I work at.  We have both enjoyed his 13 month vacation from full time employment.......it has been fun to go on spontaneous adventures any time I had 4-6 days off in a row sometime since I only work 2 days a week.  Now with Tom working again it will take a little more creative planning for our little adventures!