Cupboards and Western Days

Love my painted cabinets. Was going to replace all the tacky gold handles but there are 33 handles in this rig. I think that's more than than in my house. Its going to take me a looooong time to do the whole RV but I'll get it done little by little.

The owners took the entire crew to an old west photography studio and had this photo taken of all of us. Told them I was much more the Calamity Jane type than the floosy type.

Sun finally came out today but the wind just keeps blowing and blowing and blowing.

Feeling Housebound!

I keep harping on the weather but that is all there is to write about. We've had one thunderstorm after another and rain and more rain. I'm starting to get bored cause I can't get out and do anything. The dogs don't seem to mind - they just stay on the bed. Soooooo, I'm doing what I usually do when I get bored - paint. I've always disliked the orangey color of all the wood in my rig so started painting the bathroom sink cupboard a nice taupe. Was always hesitant to paint because of "resale" but finally decided this is my home and I'll do what I like! I really like the color so will do a little at a time until the orange is gone. May take all summer but there's not much else to do around here. I got my application from Kerrville Schreiner park and mailed it back the same day. Staying there a couple of months will save me more money. My reservation for Guadalupe isn't until November 1st.

Enough already!

Another workamper and I drove to Walmart in Casper yesterday. On the way home I didn't activate my Golly Garmin and Janelle and I got to yakking and I missed the turnoff to the KOA. Ended up going about 7 miles out of our way. Talk about becoming dependent on technology!

Today the wind is blowing so hard the poor sparrows are having trouble flying. I'm beginning to understand why people get irritable in constant wind. I finally went outside and took down my windchimes - they were driving me crazy. A gentle tinkling is a whole lot different than a continuous, loud jangling. The wind is so strong my whole rig rocks.

I'm waiting for an email application to workamp at Kerrville Schreiner Park back home for September and October. Might even stay longer if I like it. I want to try a park rather than a commercial campground. I've been told that even tho they usually want more hours, the work is a lot easier. Found out this KOA stays open until 10pm some nights and I'm scheduled to work 4pm to 10pm a few times. The problem is that I'm usually in bed by 9pm. I can't imagine any RVers driving that late at night. I'd rather do the opening shift even tho they're going to start opening at 7am pretty soon. Never seen a campground that opens so early or stays open so late.

We're only a week and a half away from June and Spring still hasn't sprung here.

Ahhh Heaven - Navajo Tacos

My next door neighbors are a Navajo couple (Gloria and Henry) from Farmington, New Mexico. They're up here working at one of the mines. I had mentioned to Gloria one day my love of Indian fry bread. For those of you unfortunate enough not to ever have tasted one, its kind of a thick, puffy fried tortilla. Absolutely no redeeming nutritional value but wonderful! I got off work last night and Gloria knocked on my door with a hot, homemade, Indian taco (home cooked beans, meat, lettace, tomatos, cheese on a warm fry bread). I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The sun is FINALLY out here and yesterday was in the 70's. The pool is open and warm so I may go swimming today after I get off work around noon. They do keep the pool warm - now if they could only turn off the wind that hits your wet body as you get out of that nice warm pool I'd be a happy camper. I will NOT be posting photos of me in a swim suit!!

Drove to Bill, Wyoming

The sun finally came out but the wind is still blowing. I decided to drive to the Pioneer Cemetary then on to Bill, Wyoming. Why Bill? Because if seemed to be the nearest town to where I was on Highway 59. I'm beginning to understand why people refer to all this wide open space as Big Sky country. If your trip odemeter wasn't turning regularly you'd swear you weren't moving at all. The scenery (?) is the same for mile after mile. The cemetary was interesting but rather sparsely populated with headstones. From the depressions in the ground I suspect there are a lot more people than headstones. It always strikes me in these old cemetaries how young people died and how many young children are buried there. Except for dandelions I haven't seen any wild flowers blooming out here but at the cemetary, there were large patches of tiny purple iris' growing around the headstones. The most interesting part of the cemetary were the wrought iron fences around some of the plots.

Left the cemetary and drove 35 miles on to Bill, Wyoming. Didn't blink so I actually found Bill which consists of an old store, a bar and a brand new motel and "Peggy's Diner". The picture of the snow shovel and "no spitting" sign is as you leave Peggy's. Ordered coffee and asked the waitress why there was a brand new motel and diner out in the middle of absolutely no where. Its for the railroaders around there. Did I mention that you see more trains on the drive to Bill than you do vehicles? And why is it that only one out of three oil wells are pumping? If one is pumping there must still be oil so why are the other two shut down?

Enjoy the pictures and leave me some comments if anyone is actually reading my ramblings.

Where the Hell is Spring?

The weather has been like this for it seems like forever. The wind is blowing and its chilly. Even the dogs don't want to stay outside for very long. Yesterday started out kind of sunny but by the time I'd taken a shower and gotten dressed it had gotten really cloudy and we had a little rain storm go through. So ended up reading and napping and just being lazy all day. They are starting to fill up the pool so maybe they know something I don't. I'm told they keep it really warm which suits me fine. Apparently the wind never stops blowing here. And I thought Texas was always windy. Since there's nothing exciting going on here I'll probably wait to post until the weather gets better and I actually do some sightseeing.

Douglas Museum

The sun finally came out this morning so I drove into Douglas. Walked around the downtown area (what there is of it) and took a picture of the Official Jackalope statue in the town square. Bought a pastry at a bakery and drove on to the Pioneer Museum. For such a small town the museum was really good. Had lots of pioneer stuff and quite a collection of Indian things. Left there and drove thru the cemetary - not very old so not very interesting. Got back to the RV by noon and it started clouding up again. We might even get more snow - better snow than humidity. Notice the waist size on those old dresses!!! My pictures don't do justice to the beadwork on the Indian things. The horse heads and Buffalo Bill were from a competition a few years ago at the Wyoming State Fair.

Jackalope Sighting

Douglas is famous for its Jackalopes. They were first sighted here but are very elusive. I THINK I saw one this morning but it was still pretty dark and they move really fast.

I have the next four days off - need to grocery shop and do laundry. If the weather stays nice I want to go to Lost Spring, populations one. There is also a fort near Lost Springs and they're about 35 miles from here. Don't want to do all my sightseeing in my first week.

Small Towns

Most of the snow is gone and I actually got to sit outside today and enjoy some sunshine. I work today from 2:30 to 8:30pm. I'm having trouble adjusting to working early and late. Also seems like I've forgotten everything I learned in Las Cruces. Hope it all comes back to me.

The picture is of a sign I saw shortly after crossing into Wyoming. According to the internet there are actually 3 people living there - one woman who runs the bar and two men who run the store - all single. On my day off I'm going to drive in and have a beer at the bar. The really funny thing is one of the men is a registered sex offender from 1986. What is our society coming to when a town of 3 has 1 sex offender.

Where the Hell is Spring?

Wind blowing all day yesterday and all last night. The rig was really rocking and rolling. Made it difficult to sleep - thought I was going to be thrown out of bed. My water line froze - my fault - should have disconnected it last night. Right now it and the filter are in the shower thawing out. Started to take Sassy out around 4am, thought I had the leash clipped on but when I opened the door, out she went followed by Buddy. Put on boots and grabbed the leashes. Slipped and landed on my butt in the snow Brrrrr! Caught Buddy and took him back to the rig to get flashlight so I could find Sassy. Had left the door open so Sassy was already inside. She does NOT like cold/wet weather. We all climbed into bed under the covers. Today was my first work day and it went pretty well. Not much business cause of the blowing snow. The computer is coming back to me, slowly. Worked from 7:30 to 10:30 am. They closed the office in the slower months till 1:30 pm. The snow is really powdery and is blowing and drifting as you can see by the drift right outside my door. Its funny - the dogs jump over rather than walk thru the drift. Understand its in the 80's back in Kerrville. Don't think I would change cause I know the humidity is probably getting higher and higher. Except for having to walk the dogs, this cold weather is kind of nice. You just snuggle down with the dogs and a book.