February 2018 (cont.)

February 2018 (continued)

We wanted to cruise with all five of us sisters and our one brother and his wife, however only three of us sisters were able to get away on this February Cruise. 

Norma, Erma, Sharon.  We are the three oldest sisters in our family.

 On our drive to the Galveston Cruise Terminal, we stopped in to see our brother Don and his wife Beth.  Sure wish they were going with us but they had just been on a cruise celebrating Don's 70th birthday so decided not to join us on this cruise.

Sharon has never been on a cruise and Norma has only been on one cruise I think, to Alaska several years ago.  Anyway we were excited to be able to do this five day cruise together.

                   We are sailing out of the Port of Galveston.

We had assigned evening dining room seating at a large round table made for ten guests.  Most nights there were only 5 or 6 of us at our table until the final night of the cruise when all ten women that had been assigned to our table all showed up.  We had a great time visiting with all the other women and definitely enjoyed the awesome food and fun entertainment provided by our waiters each evening.

We were not the only sisters cruising together.  Seated at a table near us were a group of nine sisters who were on this cruise together!  Each evening they dressed up in a different theme.  I took this photo of some of them the evening they dressed as 1920 Flappers/Show girls!  They were all having such a great time together!  I remember seeing one of them on the first day when we boarded the ship........met her in a hallway......wearing a lime green tutu over her tee-shirt/shorts.  Too funny!

 

Thank you Lord for this awesome sunrise over our first port of call, Cozumel.

 Sharon is enjoying the scenery as we sail into port and watching the dock workers below as they secure our ship to the dock.

 

 Our Excursion on the island of Cozumel included a visit to a ruins park.

                                   We saw a lot of these huge lizards!

 It is obvious how much effort is being made in researching and preserving their history and culture.

 

Next we headed to the "wild" and pretty much uninhabited east side of the island of Cozumel for our lunch break and photo ops.

 The east side of the island is constantly hammered with rough waves and currents of the open Caribbean Sea.

 Norma really wanted to put her feet into the water however the Caribbean Sea's waves were crashing into shore and carrying with it piles of seaweed so deep she was unable to reach the water.

I climbed out onto this jagged rocky promontory before our Tour Guide came over and said to come down because it was dangerous.  He did snap this photo of me though!

Following a wonderful dinner with our table-mates we went to an upper deck to enjoy a spectacular sunset.

 

Our next port of call was Progresso which sits on the northern edge of the Yucatan Peninsula.  Large ships are required to dock at the end of a two mile long pier that juts out from the mainland.

 

On our Excursion we first visited the Uxmal Ruins.

                           Uxmal is very well preserved.

 The very large structures are scattered over a very large area of land.  We did a lot of walking up and down and climbing very narrow steps. 

                        The weather was awesome for a day outdoors.

Next we traveled to a old hemp plantation where sisal rope was once produced.

                            The grounds were beautifully landscaped!

          
             We saw a native woman weaving the old fashioned way.

 

Bye-Bye Progresso!  See you next time!

As always, BooBoo went cruising and as always she had FUN!

 

 

I am so thankful for this opportunity to go on a cruise with two of my sisters.  Thank you Norma and Sharon! 

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.