Reappearance

I've been away traveling to Gouldbusk, Texas. I'm staying on a ranch caring for animals while my friends are away. I just LOVE it here. It does get hot, but I've yet to really break a sweat. At home I'd be sweating in front of the AC. There's almost always a stiff breeze blowing.

This is the house I'm staying in. Notice the two front doors. It was purchased in 1930 from a Sears and Roebuck catalog. It does have an addition on the left side of a bedroom and bath. It's really an adorable house.

One Year Ago

Last Thursday was the one-year anniversary of my arrival in Texas. A lot has happened in this past year, some good, some not so great.


The good stuff is I happened to land in an RV park that is very tolerant of dogs and old trailers. The owner is a good person and keeps the place kept up, but understands about hard times. He also loves the dogs but still expects everyone to abide by the rules.

The weather has been fantastic. It was a mild winter, even for Texas. I barely remember being cold at all. This spring has been a record breaking season. It has been cool and simply gorgeous. I have had the heat on some mornings and by afternoon I've turned the AC on, but only because the camper heats up like a tin can. My electric bill last month was $16. Amazing.

I managed to meet some Border collie people right off. They have been my life line to sanity. I don't get to visit as much as I would like too because of the not so great part of this post.

The bad stuff.

My truck started to break down and the garage finally said it would cost more to fix it than to replace it. Unfortunately, I haven't had the money to replace it. Living away from town and stores has been a major problem. My neighbor has been great about driving me to the store, but I'm becoming reluctant to ask for a ride. I've been stocking up whenever I get to the store so I can go a week or two without going to the store. Other things I order from Amazon. They have great prices but the shipping costs add up.

I was encouraged to start writing online to make money. I've been writing but the money hasn't materialized. My stats have dropped back down to where I started. \

I opened some stores on Zazzle. I did get one check after the Christmas season, but that has been it. I know these avenues of work take time, but I need an income now. I'm not giving up, but I'm not managing to save anything for another car either.

The Dogs of Zazzle - A sampling of some of my work.

Nacogdoches and Home

I took a trip this week with my dad and step-mom to Nacogdoches. It was fun, but I came home exhausted.

Yesterday I made a quick trip to the library and, yep, that was my truck smoking and smelling like something burning. I checked under the hood and it was leaking (if that's the right word for "Pouring") out transmission fluid. I bought some and poured it in to try to limp home.
Later, safe at home, I heard a crash but didn't see anything. Realized later the shelf my refrigerator sits on had collapsed. So now my fridge is sitting in the drawer below....
Not such a great day.

Montgomery and Doc

 I took a ride this morning into Montgomery. I wanted to take some pictures of the old buildings there. The sun was on the wrong side of the street so I didn't get the ones I really wanted. Here's a sample though.

 

Now I'm having trouble staying awake. It hits me every other day like this. I just want to curl up with a book and fall asleep. I don't know why. I got plenty of sleep last night. Yesterday I was full of energy. I did my "house" cleaning and wrote a pretty involved article on spinning on a spinning wheel. It's not easy taking pictures of what your two hands are doing and snapping the shutter on the camera at the same time. 

 I'm almost out of coffee and am totally out of tea. I'm drinking plenty of cold water though.