This is the third Kodak printer that we have had in about the last 18 months and they all went bad. They replaced the first two Kodak printers that went out, but after spending over an hour on the telephone they refused to warranty a 5 month old printer. So we went out and purchased an HP and decided to destroy the old Kodak.
To be continued...
Friday, November 13, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
water, birds, tree, boat and sunset
First a congradulations to Jen Kaufman and Dick Whitfield for solving the question of the last blog. While checking a pond for aligators we found a 30' by 2" wide track of ants going both directions. Heading one way to harvest the leaves and the other to deliver them back to their nest in the ground.
This was a first for us to see what we have seen on TV in the past. Only ants but still a very interesting find.
And now a new blog...
How about a long walk on a long pier. Every place you look around here there is another long pier for fishing and enjoying the bay. On our first day here we found the local park and took the long walk. No one fishing here today.
As we said all up and down the beach there are areas of one pier after another. Everywhere you looked there was someone fishing. I think there are even fish in the mud puddles around here.
Birds everywhere you look, these guys thought we were going to feed them and weren't very happy with us as we just took pictures of them.
Careful of the drop zone under this light pole.
This guy was posing for Dick's camera.
These guys really had an eye for the sky. They stood about 10' tall.
On a trip to one of the local State Parks we found this Oak tree that was over 1000 years old, not high but really big.
We stopped here for about one minute because as soon as we exited the truck we were surrounded by at least 100 mosquitoes. A quick walk around, took two pictures and headed back to the truck.
This is not the "love boat" that we remember. Regardless of the condition this boat was still taken out every few days. Lots of larger boats in worse condition still going out every day draging for shrimp to sell as bait at the head of the docks.
We went out to a local bar and restaurant and sat on the deck enjoying a light dinner, a cold drink and a beautifull suset over Aransas Bay.
Same place still sitting and enjoying the 75 degree temperature and watching the sunset and the boats going out for some night fishing.
This was a first for us to see what we have seen on TV in the past. Only ants but still a very interesting find.
And now a new blog...
How about a long walk on a long pier. Every place you look around here there is another long pier for fishing and enjoying the bay. On our first day here we found the local park and took the long walk. No one fishing here today.
At the end we turned around to really see how far it was back to the beach. What a view from the end of the pier back to dry land.
As we said all up and down the beach there are areas of one pier after another. Everywhere you looked there was someone fishing. I think there are even fish in the mud puddles around here.
Birds everywhere you look, these guys thought we were going to feed them and weren't very happy with us as we just took pictures of them.
Careful of the drop zone under this light pole.
This guy was posing for Dick's camera.
These guys really had an eye for the sky. They stood about 10' tall.
On a trip to one of the local State Parks we found this Oak tree that was over 1000 years old, not high but really big.
We stopped here for about one minute because as soon as we exited the truck we were surrounded by at least 100 mosquitoes. A quick walk around, took two pictures and headed back to the truck.
This is not the "love boat" that we remember. Regardless of the condition this boat was still taken out every few days. Lots of larger boats in worse condition still going out every day draging for shrimp to sell as bait at the head of the docks.
We went out to a local bar and restaurant and sat on the deck enjoying a light dinner, a cold drink and a beautifull suset over Aransas Bay.
Same place still sitting and enjoying the 75 degree temperature and watching the sunset and the boats going out for some night fishing.
To be continued...
Friday, November 6, 2009
Contest...
Okay boys and girls we are now in Rockport Texas on the Gulf of Mexico and yesterday we took a trip to Aransas National Wildlife Preserve and saw lots of birds, deer, two wild hogs an alligator in the wild and what you can see in the pictures below.
Lets see if you can figure out what Dick has photographed, the winner gets a big kiss from C C.
Give up yet?
Lets see if you can figure out what Dick has photographed, the winner gets a big kiss from C C.
Give up yet?To be continued...
Sunday, November 1, 2009
"Houston, we have a problem"...
Sorry for the long delay since our last post. We have spent the last two weeks at the Thousand Trails park on Lake Conroe, in east Texas. A very beautiful park, but although we made new friends and had fun line dancing, there is not much in the way of "tourist" things around here. And then there is the fact that we had two huge thunderstorms come through while we were here, one dumping 2 inches of rain, the other 3-1/2 inches in just a few hours and cutting the power for several hours. Luckily we are high and dry.
But, as you can see, on this last Wednesday we drove down to the Johnson Space Center, south of Houston. A very busy, interesting day. We spent the day touring the facility, and what a facility it is with over 14,000 people working here. There goes our tax dollars.
The pictures above and below are of the cockpit of the shuttle, above the commander's seat and below the pilot. Look at all the instruments! Sure wish we could get in and push some buttons and take it for a spin.
One of the tours we took was on a tram to the NASA area and into three buildings. We passed this building and wondered about the huge life-size picture on the outside. You'll see more in a minute.
And here is what was in that building -- the actual full-size Saturn V. It is HUGE. To get an idea of the size there is a person standing in the lower left corner of this picture. First Stage 1:
Then Stage 2:
Stage 3:
And the whole thing from the far end including the final stage. Talk about impressive.
The next building housed the control room for the early space missions including Gemini and Apollo. This was the room where the controllers on the ground heard those scary words, "Houston, we have a problem" from Apollo 13. I think you can still see the cigar smoke from after the first moon landing wafting through this room.
And the final building we entered:
This is a mock-up of part of the Space Station. We were on a balcony looking down through windows at the floor below. There is a full size mock-up of every thing that is in space in this building.
You can see the people working out a problem in the lower left of this picture. And more parts of the Space Station:
At the far end of the building was the mock-up of the shuttle. The nose:
The cargo section, which holds the items being taken to the Space Station.
After our tour we headed back to the Visitor Center where we saw several more exhibits including the museum. Well worth the time and money. Allow a full day.
Tomorrow we leave here for Rockport, which is on the Gulf Coast. Hopefully no more thunderstorms and great weather ahead!
But, as you can see, on this last Wednesday we drove down to the Johnson Space Center, south of Houston. A very busy, interesting day. We spent the day touring the facility, and what a facility it is with over 14,000 people working here. There goes our tax dollars.
The pictures above and below are of the cockpit of the shuttle, above the commander's seat and below the pilot. Look at all the instruments! Sure wish we could get in and push some buttons and take it for a spin.
One of the tours we took was on a tram to the NASA area and into three buildings. We passed this building and wondered about the huge life-size picture on the outside. You'll see more in a minute.
And here is what was in that building -- the actual full-size Saturn V. It is HUGE. To get an idea of the size there is a person standing in the lower left corner of this picture. First Stage 1:
Then Stage 2:
Stage 3:
And the whole thing from the far end including the final stage. Talk about impressive.
The next building housed the control room for the early space missions including Gemini and Apollo. This was the room where the controllers on the ground heard those scary words, "Houston, we have a problem" from Apollo 13. I think you can still see the cigar smoke from after the first moon landing wafting through this room.
And the final building we entered:
This is a mock-up of part of the Space Station. We were on a balcony looking down through windows at the floor below. There is a full size mock-up of every thing that is in space in this building.
You can see the people working out a problem in the lower left of this picture. And more parts of the Space Station:
At the far end of the building was the mock-up of the shuttle. The nose:
The cargo section, which holds the items being taken to the Space Station.
After our tour we headed back to the Visitor Center where we saw several more exhibits including the museum. Well worth the time and money. Allow a full day.Tomorrow we leave here for Rockport, which is on the Gulf Coast. Hopefully no more thunderstorms and great weather ahead!
To be continued...
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Goals accomplished...
When we left Washington our goal was to get to Minnesota, do some family research, take a hard right keeping the falling snow behind us and get to Texas where we could get back into shorts and T-shirts. Well, we accomplished that goal and we are now sitting in Point Texas in shorts.
The trip was not all gravy as we traveled 2,675 miles in 29 days and made 15 stops. Not much to see in most places but we still had a great time and were able to see some of the country that we had never seen before. We went through Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota again, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and finally into Texas.
We ran into a lot of rain from Minnesota south but kept the snow behind us. A day or two of rain and a day or two without it.
Last Sunday in Oklahoma we went to the local United Methodist Church in Norman, a few blocks from University of Oklahoma and were we surprised when we got there.
We have visited a lot of UM Churches and most have been small. Two weeks before there were 22 people at a little church and that included the minister and his wife. When we got to the church and got out of the truck, this is the side of the church that greeted us.
Across the street from the church was their pumpkin sales for the community. This also gives a better view of the front of the church.
We arrived in Texas last Monday under cloudy skies, set up the rig and spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry and just relaxing. And then it hit-- the rain started in the night and continued all day Tuesday with over 3" of rain. The lake that we are camped on started to rise and several people had to move there rigs. It got close to us but we stayed above water. Look behind the awning and you can see how wet it was around here.
This is the road in another part of the park, glad we didn't set up down here.
On Wednesday the rain let up but the fog came in and with it came the humidity. It was in the low 70s with humidity at close to 100%, the temperature and humidity stayed that way all night long. Neither of us slept well that night.
The moisture clung to everything including this spider's web. I think the spider left to find a drier locale.
The State Fair of Texas was going on and Thursday was senior day (free entrance) so off we went to Dallas. The day was a lot cooler and the humidity went down to about 70% so it was a lot better than the day before.
The fair was fun with lots of color and people. It completely surrounds the Cotton Bowl stadium so it was a long walk all the way around to see it all.
Yes Jackie was able to get on the rides, barely.
Friday and Saturday (today) it has been in the low 70s with a lot lower humidity so have been out and about checking out the area, including the Hwy 80 Garage Sale (miles of it).
The trip was not all gravy as we traveled 2,675 miles in 29 days and made 15 stops. Not much to see in most places but we still had a great time and were able to see some of the country that we had never seen before. We went through Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota again, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and finally into Texas.
We ran into a lot of rain from Minnesota south but kept the snow behind us. A day or two of rain and a day or two without it.
Last Sunday in Oklahoma we went to the local United Methodist Church in Norman, a few blocks from University of Oklahoma and were we surprised when we got there.
We have visited a lot of UM Churches and most have been small. Two weeks before there were 22 people at a little church and that included the minister and his wife. When we got to the church and got out of the truck, this is the side of the church that greeted us.
We were rather shocked when we walked across the street and realized that the building spanned the whole block. The inside was as beautiful as the outside. Wow, what a facility and it was full of people. We must be in the south ("Bible Belt").
Deanna, they are looking for a full time children choir and education leader. They had three choirs, one was the chancel, one for youth and the last for what looked like kids under about 8. Did we mention that they all had over 3o people in each choir and all in robes. They had an enormous pipe organ, and all of the music was beautiful. That did not include the youth bell ringers. Needless to say, we were very impressed.
Across the street from the church was their pumpkin sales for the community. This also gives a better view of the front of the church.
We arrived in Texas last Monday under cloudy skies, set up the rig and spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry and just relaxing. And then it hit-- the rain started in the night and continued all day Tuesday with over 3" of rain. The lake that we are camped on started to rise and several people had to move there rigs. It got close to us but we stayed above water. Look behind the awning and you can see how wet it was around here.
This is the road in another part of the park, glad we didn't set up down here.
On Wednesday the rain let up but the fog came in and with it came the humidity. It was in the low 70s with humidity at close to 100%, the temperature and humidity stayed that way all night long. Neither of us slept well that night.
The moisture clung to everything including this spider's web. I think the spider left to find a drier locale.
The State Fair of Texas was going on and Thursday was senior day (free entrance) so off we went to Dallas. The day was a lot cooler and the humidity went down to about 70% so it was a lot better than the day before.
The fair was fun with lots of color and people. It completely surrounds the Cotton Bowl stadium so it was a long walk all the way around to see it all.
Yes Jackie was able to get on the rides, barely.
Friday and Saturday (today) it has been in the low 70s with a lot lower humidity so have been out and about checking out the area, including the Hwy 80 Garage Sale (miles of it).Tomorrow we head out, going further south with reservation in Willis Texas for two weeks and then we have to sit down and figure out where we will go after that.
To be continued...
Saturday, October 10, 2009
More family found and still heading south...
When we last spoke we had just out-run the rain and had settled in for the evening when it caught up with us and gave us fits all night long. Getting up in the morning this is what we found, one big puddle.
We were off and running south again. This time to a small town in Nebraska called Hebron to visit the county courthouse located there for some more family research. We found some details about Jackie's great-grandfather and family. The ladies at the courthouse as well as the ladies at the two museums we visited were extremely helpful, as well as being friendly.
We did find the land that her great-grandfather homesteaded in the late 1800's. We searched the property but there was not any indication of anything that old still there.
A little out of order, but this is the extent of the town of Alexandria, where her family purchased property and which is listed as the birthplace of her grandmother. (The farm was out of town and Jackie's Grandmother, Sarah, was probably born there.)
We did find the Pleasant Plain cemetery where her Great-grandfather was buried, located about 2 miles from the homestead . Years ago a farmer had plowed and planted half of the cemetery so only about 10 headstones remained.
The last stone we looked at was her Great-grandfather's. She was pretty excited to find it. This shot is from the back of the cemetery showing how few headstones are left.
The next day we came back with some flowers and she was able to put them on his grave. Can you tell it was a little windy? We then headed about 25 miles east to another town where her Great-grandmother moved after she lost her husband. We went to the local museum and were able to get some more details on her and Jackie's grandmother and siblings.
Some of the research we did also located the headstone of three other relatives (Jackie's dad's uncle and two cousins, two of whom died in the diptheria epidemic.)
We were off and running south again. This time to a small town in Nebraska called Hebron to visit the county courthouse located there for some more family research. We found some details about Jackie's great-grandfather and family. The ladies at the courthouse as well as the ladies at the two museums we visited were extremely helpful, as well as being friendly.
After this we headed to the town where the family purchased two lots in town. We found the property that had two run-down and empty houses on it. We stopped in to a neighbors house to see if they had any details about what was there over 100 years ago. As it turned out the neighbor had details about the local cemetery but this is not the cemetery where Jackie's ancestors were buried.
We did find the land that her great-grandfather homesteaded in the late 1800's. We searched the property but there was not any indication of anything that old still there.
A little out of order, but this is the extent of the town of Alexandria, where her family purchased property and which is listed as the birthplace of her grandmother. (The farm was out of town and Jackie's Grandmother, Sarah, was probably born there.)
We did find the Pleasant Plain cemetery where her Great-grandfather was buried, located about 2 miles from the homestead . Years ago a farmer had plowed and planted half of the cemetery so only about 10 headstones remained.
The last stone we looked at was her Great-grandfather's. She was pretty excited to find it. This shot is from the back of the cemetery showing how few headstones are left.
The next day we came back with some flowers and she was able to put them on his grave. Can you tell it was a little windy? We then headed about 25 miles east to another town where her Great-grandmother moved after she lost her husband. We went to the local museum and were able to get some more details on her and Jackie's grandmother and siblings.
Some of the research we did also located the headstone of three other relatives (Jackie's dad's uncle and two cousins, two of whom died in the diptheria epidemic.)
Not an exciting Blog posting but as we said before our intent now is to stay ahead of the snow and get to central Texas where we hope to find some warmth.
After saying goodbye to her lost, and now found, relatives we again hitched up and got back on the road again. This time we got out of Nebraska and started looking for Dorothy in Kansas. After we got on the road it started to rain again. This was a real heavy rain storm and it was hard to see going down the road. We ended up in Wichita and by the time we finished setting up Dick was soaked from head to foot.
The rain stopped some time during the night and stayed that way the next day so we could go out and visit the main store of Sheplers Western Wear where we could have spent a lot of money but got out of there with only some shoe polish. We did make up for the savings that night by going out to dinner at Olive Garden. Mmmmmm goooood.
Today we left Kansas are are now in Oklahoma for the week-end. The sun is out and it was over 50 degrees here today. We even got to sit outside for a while this afternoon.
Monday we should be in Texas where we will hope to post again.
To be continued...
Monday, October 5, 2009
On the move and friends
We are still on the move to try and find warmer living. We finished our family research in Minnesota, such as it was, and tried to get to South Dakota to visit friends except the train had another idea. After getting off on the the wrong highway (never did figure out how) we found ourselves in a small town further east of where we wanted to go. We got our trusty GPS out and figured out how to go west and get to where we wanted to be.
Still in this little town we found the right road and started to head west but just as we got to this RR crossing, down came the arm. We waited here for about a half hour and then looked at the GPS to find if we went 3 or 4 blocks back north there was another crossing there. We backed up and headed north through town and when we got to the street with the crossing we looked left and sure enough the tracks were clear. As we turned left to go over the tracks the train backed across the street to hook up to the section that was on the other side of us. Now we had to wait until the whole train was moved by us!
We finally got out of town and into South Dakota.
We then walked down the street to the Agricultural Heritage Museum for a tour. It was very well set up with farming equipment and early farming life covering half and the other half was set up with South Dakota inventions.
Like this Case unit that was restored to perfection and was the main (largest) display in the building. This is the rear view of the unit.
A fun shot that made us think about Christmas. Can you figure out why?
One of the displays that caught Dick's eye was this early leather bra complete with a button down nipple cover for nursing mothers. This is another one of those South Dakota inventions.
This is the view out our back window overlooking the lake behind us. I think this is one of the few times it was not raining. Our friend Sharon took this shot and shared it with us. Dick had taken some great shots with the moon setting in this location the next morning but he deleted them by accident; that's a first for him.
Our thanks go out to Kent and Sharon for sharing your time with us and it was great seeing you again. We both wish you safe travels.
Still in this little town we found the right road and started to head west but just as we got to this RR crossing, down came the arm. We waited here for about a half hour and then looked at the GPS to find if we went 3 or 4 blocks back north there was another crossing there. We backed up and headed north through town and when we got to the street with the crossing we looked left and sure enough the tracks were clear. As we turned left to go over the tracks the train backed across the street to hook up to the section that was on the other side of us. Now we had to wait until the whole train was moved by us!
We finally got out of town and into South Dakota.
We headed for Oakwoods State Park where good friends are camp-hosting. We set up across the street from them and that evening they had dinner ready for us. Great time to relax and catch up on the last few months.
They had to work the next day so we went into Brookings to visit the South Dakota Art Museum where they had several displays that we enjoyed. One room was a collection of "Modern Art" type quilts, with various and unique designs done by local artists. Very good collection. We won't go into details here about all that we saw there but it was all well done.
This is just one of the quilts the Dick really liked.
We then walked down the street to the Agricultural Heritage Museum for a tour. It was very well set up with farming equipment and early farming life covering half and the other half was set up with South Dakota inventions.
Like this Case unit that was restored to perfection and was the main (largest) display in the building. This is the rear view of the unit.
A fun shot that made us think about Christmas. Can you figure out why?
One of the displays that caught Dick's eye was this early leather bra complete with a button down nipple cover for nursing mothers. This is another one of those South Dakota inventions.
This is the view out our back window overlooking the lake behind us. I think this is one of the few times it was not raining. Our friend Sharon took this shot and shared it with us. Dick had taken some great shots with the moon setting in this location the next morning but he deleted them by accident; that's a first for him.
Our thanks go out to Kent and Sharon for sharing your time with us and it was great seeing you again. We both wish you safe travels.Monday morning we decided to pack up and see if we could get closer to some warmer weather. We had to travel over 175 miles to finally get out of the rain in Nebraska for the night and then will continue our journey south. We spoke too soon as it has now started to rain here. Oh well there must be some dry spot in this Country.
The weather WILL get better and we'll be able to get some better pictures to share of our beautiful country.
To be continued.
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