Midwest Gypsy

March 31, 2020

Hello, Friends. 😃

Today was supposed to be the day that we’d be packing up the rest of our stuff, loading it all into Felix, our motorhome, and saying good-bye to our friends here in Bandera. We’ve been looking forward to heading to Kentucky to be with our daughter and grandkids, but that’s not going to happen for a while. Something unforeseen and deadly has thrown a virtual monkey wrench into world order, and the result is that “guidelines” have been put into place that will hopefully mitigate a virus that has already been responsible for more than 3,000 deaths in our country alone.

The latest guidelines call for all Americans to stay put wherever they are until April 30, so here we will stay. Most of our snowbird friends left a few weeks ago to head north and return home, for better or worse. Looking at websites that track the number of confirmed cases/deaths, it appears that some friends have jumped from the frying pan into the fire, but that was their choice.

The managers of the RV park we’re at are doing everything they can to protect us and keep us healthy. Not only were all social activities halted abruptly, but no new arrivals have been allowed in for more than two weeks. If people decide to leave, they’re informed that they cannot return. Bandera County is about as safe a place as any; there are zero cases of the Coronavirus here.

I’ve lost count of how long the guidelines have been in effect. All I know is that life has changed dramatically, but it’s important to realize that it’s not all tragic. With all the hype about the Coronavirus infiltrating our lives through the media 24/7, it takes determination and self-discipline to not be consumed by doom and gloom.

Those who know me might be surprised that I found myself slipping into a depression of sorts; whereas I once journaled daily, I completely stopped. And the fact that I’m blogging today is more a reflection of the calendar and that it’s the last day of the month. For years I’ve blogged at least once a month and oftentimes more…I’m OCD and knew I’d never forgive myself if I skipped this month’s entry.

Not that I didn’t try to write…I must’ve started this post at least half a dozen times, but deleted them all after the first paragraph or two. I didn’t really want to write about what was going on all around, but what else was there? An email that a friend sent me yesterday hit me like a slap upside the head, which was exactly what I needed. It contained a video that I’d seen years ago. Perhaps you will recall it, too.

The video was about a teacher who’d announced to her class that they were going to have a pop quiz. The students anxiously sat and waited while the teacher walked around the room and placed the test, face-down, on each one’s desk. When she had distributed everyone’s test, she told them to turn over the paper and write about what they saw. To everyone’s surprise and confusion, the paper contained a single black dot.

After a certain amount of time, the teacher collected all the essays and read each one aloud. Each of the students had written about the dot—its color, its size, its location. No one had written about all the white surrounding it.

The teacher professed that this is how it is in life…that so often all we focus on is what is going wrong in our lives. What we want but don’t have. What we have but don’t want. Problems in relationships. Aches and pains. Financial difficulties. And on and on.

We don’t pay attention to the “white,” on all the things we take for granted. The love of friends and family. The roof over our heads. Food we eat. Clothes we wear. The sun that warms us. Rain that’s necessary for crops and plants to grow. Kindness of strangers. Nature’s abundance. And on and on.

I’m so grateful for that email and for the friend who sent it. It instantly yanked me off the pity pot on which I’d been sitting way too long and opened my eyes to all the beauty surrounding me and the blessings I’ve been given. It reminded me to pay more attention to the “white” and not so much to the black dot.

It reminded me to be grateful for all the people who are out there working to keep things going in these unprecedented times, and especially health care workers who are on the front lines. It reminded me to pray hard and often for all our country’s leaders who are working tirelessly in a thankless job that doesn’t have an end date. It put a lot of things into perspective.

I think I’ll go outside now and enjoy the day. It sure is a beautiful one. until next time…

Monday, January 6, 2020.

With the new decade already a few days old, let me wish you “Happy New Year” before too much more time passes. Life has a way of melding one day into the next subtlety if we’re not paying attention.

As I write , it’s a little after 6 o’clock, Monday evening. Dave’s up at Pioneer’s rec center where the weekly “Burgers & Bingo” is just getting underway. The RV park isn’t filled to capacity yet, but even so, there are a fair number of “winter Texans” here—and many of us congregate every Monday to eat a meal together and play. It doesn’t cost much…$1/game and five games are played. Winning bingo pots range anywhere from $20-40, so a $5 is potentially a good investment. It’s cheap fun that attracts a certain segment of old people.

I’m typically up there, too, but both of our pups are seniors and have been having medical issues lately…and both had vet appointments today. All things considered, it was better that one of us stay home. I volunteered; Dave has really gotten into playing bingo, and I didn’t want to deny him the pleasure.

Victor, our rescue pup who’s at least 14 years old, had that many teeth extracted this morning, and he’s hurting bad. Poor little guy—his high-pitched whining is grating and sounds so pathetic. I hope the pain meds kick in soon.

Then there’s Biscuit, our 11 year old, 40-pound love, who’s has been having accidents at night. Supposedly this isn’t uncommon with girl dogs, and she’s our firs. Despite medication and doggie diapers, the problem wasn’t any getting better. I’d finally had it last Thursday when it happened again. It’s our fault that we’ve always allowed our dogs to sleep on our bed, and lately we’ve—actually, I’ve—been paying the price since I’m the one that runs off to the laundromat with all the bedding that’s been peed on. I had had enough.

I wish I had a picture of all of us at o’dark:30 Friday morning when I made the unsavory discovery that Biscuit’s doggie diaper had once again leaked majorly. While I was over-reacting and angrily ripping off all the bedding—layer by layer—in a race to save it from penetrating through to the mattress, Dave was sympathetically commiserating with the dog, petting her lovingly and whispering soothing words to her in an attempt to comfort her, I suppose.

I gave him a look that prompted him to ask innocently, “What do you want me to do?”

This incident so reminded me of our parenting styles: good cop/bad cop. You can probably guess which one I was.

“Get her out of bed!” I begged in a sarcastically demanding tone, trying hard not to sound mean. After all, it wasn’t Dave who peed on the bed. But it was 2:30 a.m. and I didn’t need this.

Realistically, I couldn’t be mad at the dog…she’s old. We’re old. I guess it was this realization that somehow led to one heck of a wake-up call.

I found myself being thankful.

Thankful that somehow I sensed what had happened and woke up immediately. Soberly and clear headed. Knew what I could do and what I couldn’t do. That instead of over-reacting foolishly, I could react sanely. That I had choices. I kept thinking thankful thoughts, and that changed everything.

Pretty soon I wasn’t ‘as crazy’ anymore. Even though I knew I’d have lots of bedding to launder later that morning, a sense of calmness replaced the chaos of just a few minutes before. It was almost miraculous. I did not react this way when Biscuit first began having problems late last summer.

…Tuesday morning, 12 hours later: Both pups are doing much better. In spite of being minus 14 teeth, Victor has been able to eat without too much trouble it seems, now that his appetite has returned. Biscuit is on stronger meds, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

I never thought much about getting older, but now that I’m Medicare-age, a certain sense of reality has come into my awareness. And this particular experience proves yet again that this, too, shall pass. Whatever ‘this’ happens to be. Because as long as we’re alive, it’s always going to be something. How we get through it is up to us.

Until one loves an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.

-Anatole France

November 15, 2019

It’s been two weeks since Dave and I left Felix, our motorhome, in Mineral Wells to have a new hardwood floor installed, and we’ve spent that time wandering around some parts of Texas—Fort Worth, Austin, and Glen Rose. We have our two senior pups, Victor (14) and Biscuit (11) in tow, and the tiny Juke is packed to the max.

We’ve stayed in four Airbnb’s so far; they’re so much homier than hotels and the cost is comparable. It’s been interesting to experience how other people live, if only for a couple of days. In the past couple of weeks, we’ve lived on a horse ranch, in an urban neighborhood, in a gated community, and on a family farm.

We hadn’t ever heard of ‘Glen Rose, the Dinosaur Capital of Texas,’ until I booked an Airbnb there. It’s about 55 miles southwest of Fort Worth and has a population of only 2,500 people. Amazingly, there are 21 churches here. I think this says a lot about Glen Rose.

In addition to all the dinosaur-related attractions here, tourist attractions include the Creation Evidence Museum and, in its 31st season, the annual 12-week run of The Promise, a live-musical depicting Jesus’ life if lived nowadays. The musical is performed at The Promise, a 45,000 gallon, moat-encircled, 3,200-seat amphitheater. I really wish we could’ve seen it.

Another event that we just missed was the Extreme Cowboy Association World Championship, which also would’ve been fun to see. It ended the day we arrived. Between our poor timing and a couple of brutally cold days, we didn’t see much of Glen Rose in the three days we were here, but there’s enough here to warrant a trip back here someday.

We really haven’t done many touristy things, mainly because we’ve had the pups with us 24/7, so our excursions have mostly taken us to parks and places where we could walk them, like the Fort Worth Stockyards. While there, we took the advice of one of our hosts and treated ourselves to a steak. The beef is especially good here. 😋

Other than temporary homelessness, our lives have been pretty normal. We’ve been able to cook just about every meal “at home,” and in the process have discovered new grocery stores in addition to recognizable ones, like Kroger and Aldi.

Believe it or not, a highlight of the trip was finding a do-it-yourself dog wash in Fort Worth, Happy K9. 🐾

The main highlight was being able to be with our son and his family in Austin. We played at the park, went bowling, and ate ice cream. Life doesn’t get much better!

We knew getting into this remodel that we’d be nomads for a while—and figured on a couple of weeks. But, in addition to the cold snap that brought work to a brief halt, there have been a couple of unforeseen hiccups that have stalled progress. Our foreseeable future is uncertain, so if ever there was good reason to practice living one day at a time, it’s now.

We arrived back in Mineral Wells yesterday, and temps are much warmer now, so work should be completed within a few days. Fingers crossed 🤞

October 25, 2019

It’s just after 6 a.m. on Friday morning. There was a time not so long ago when I’d be at the dock to capture photographs of sunrise, but lately there hasn’t been time for frivolous pleasures such as that.

So much has happened recently, and at least five times this month I’ve started writing—but all of a sudden, things would get real busy and writing had to go on the back burner. The last eight weeks have been a blur.

It all started in July when our daughter, who’d been living in our house for the past two years, surprised us by announcing that she’d bought a house of her own. Of course, we were thrilled for her, and couldn’t have been happier for her and the kids. Right around this same time, Dave’s dad passed away.

In late August, Kate and the grandkids moved out of our house. Rather than rent it, we decided to put it up for sale and listed it in September. A couple of weeks later, we had a buyer.

That in itself amazed me, but even more so is the fact that the house hadn’t even been cleared of all our stuff yet! And there was a lot of it: 3-families’-worth. Our stuff, our daughter’s and grandkids’ stuff, and all of my late father-in-law’s stuff that was shipped here from Florida. 1,500 square feet never held so much stuff.

In my mind, the house looked like something right out of “Hoarders.” We took a chance listing it when we did, considering how it looked. But people who’d somehow gotten wind of the house being put up for sale were already coming by, wanting to look at it in spite of all the chaos. News travels fast in this neighborhood.

A woman whose business is tag sales orchestrated ours last weekend because the thought of doing it ourselves was too overwhelming. It was enough just to sort through everything and put it all into logical piles. She took it from there, working for three days staging everything and pricing it all; then she dealt with people, hagglers, and looky-lou’s for two whole days. Her commission was well earned.

So now we’re in the process of packing up and leaving Hillman Ferry Campground. Our plan is to start heading south this coming Monday. The timing couldn’t be better. Temperatures in the low 30’s are predicted for Halloween.

I can’t believe how fast the seven months that we’ve been here at the Land Between the Lakes have gone by! We’ve loved every bit of this workamping experience, being relatively close to our family and friends in Hopkinsville, and discovering how uniquely beautiful western Kentucky is.

Everyone we work with here was surprised to learn that we weren’t planning on coming back next season. It was a very tough and somewhat painful decision because this place is absolutely beautiful, but we just didn’t feel comfortable making a commitment to be here for nine months. We think we might do some traveling next year.

All we know for certain is that we’re leaving Monday. We renewed our membership to Boondockers Welcome, a service that connects RVers with people who are able to host them for free—and already planned our first two stops: first, the Samuel T. Bryant Distillery, https://www.samueltbryant.com/ in Jackson, Tennessee, and then the Candy Cane Corral in New Boston, Texas, just west of Texarkana, later in the week.

Ultimately we’ll end up in Bandera, Texas, where we’ve spent the past two winters. But on the way we’re dropping off Felix in Weatherford, Texas to have its old flooring replaced. That will be at least a 10-day job, and likely more.

That will leave us and our two pups homeless except for the car, and so we’ll just wander and explore. We have no particular plans and zero expectations. It should be interesting, to say the least.

The Juke is going to be packed with us, the pups and all their stuff, luggage, the cooler… Both Biscuit and Victor are senior pups (11, 14) and love to travel.

Unfortunately, Biscuit’s been having incontinence issues, and she just started wearing diapers. Granted, they’re cute, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be putting diapers on a dog!

It is what it is. I guess we’re all getting older, so what can we do but deal with it? Until next time when I’m sure there’ll be a couple of stories, at least…xo ☺️ Maria

August 22, 2019

I started writing this on company time yesterday, but no one seemed to mind. Ever since the kids went back to school earlier this month, the campground has been slow and sometimes even boring, but I don’t mind a bit. I’m thinking that this is the calm before the storm.

Labor Day weekend is just 8 days away. I can’t believe another summer is almost over and that our time here at LBL is winding down. What an experience living in the woods has been, and I have the (chigger) scars to prove it! A year ago, I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me that I would learn to co-exist with skunks, but I have. I had to; the skunk population at Hillman Ferry Campground has taken off and they’re everywhere.

Though there had been occasional skunk-sightings here and there throughout the campground all season, they seem to have escalated this month. With no apparent fear of humans, skunks are regularly reported to wander up on campsites while campers are cooking or even just sitting outside. Indeed, just this morning I spotted two of them come close to the walkway to the dock where I usually await sunrise, and I didn’t flinch.

Another workamper here has been baiting and setting out skunk traps every day for a week, but so far has caught nothing (despite the bait being eaten.)

It’s kind of funny listening to him talk about riding around in his golf cart at night, scouting out the skunks’ dens (he knows exactly what campsites they’re nearest to), his trapping strategy, and what he was going to do with any he catches. He’s also mounted a one-man war against the squirrels, having ordered “The Squirrelinator” from Amazon, capable of capturing 25 squirrels in just hours. I just listen, knowing full well his efforts are not going to make the slightest dent in either the skunk or the squirrel population here; this campground is huge!

Something rather unanticipated happened in the weeks since I last wrote: we decided to put our house up for sale. Our daughter and grandkids are getting a place of their own, and renting our house out is not something we want to mess with. So, now comes the inevitable: having to get rid of all our “stuff.”

Kate moving into our house two years ago made it convenient to forget all about the stuff that we left behind when we moved into the RV, but now it looks like the day of reckoning has come. Since neither she nor I have any desire to orchestrate a yard sale, we’re enlisting the help of a woman in Hopkinsville whose business is tag sales, so she will be the one to deal with getting everything organized, as well as with all the hagglers. Our tag sale is tentatively set for October 18-19.

It would be easy to be overwhelmed with everything that we would like to have happen between now and our planned departure date of October 28th, so I’m just concentrating on whatever needs to happen ‘next.’ Things somehow seem to get done that way and I am beginning to see tinges of forward progress. Just recently I finished making the first pass through all our photos…what a job!

In actuality, there are many more days left before we head south for the winter—66 to be exact. That leaves a lot of time for things to happen, and with us, things tend to happen quickly. I have a feeling our journey is about to get very interesting.

Until next time!

Maria😃