What is ten miles north of Moab, Utah? We are!

It has been three months since I updated my blog. At that time we were in Fairview, Oregon. We loved Oregon—we wanted to stay in Oregon—it's beautiful and we have family there. However, two weeks after the last post, Wayne was back to being "just" a maintenance worker in the RV park in Oregon and four weeks after that, we left. For the sake of my sanity, I am not going to elaborate. Just suffice it to say that we are in Utah and much happier and more relaxed. Movin' on!

Life is busy as usual. Sue continues to copy edit and proofread and we are now working at the Archview RV Resort north of Moab, Utah and oh, what a gorgeous area. Who would have thought that the State of Utah had so much to offer. Until a couple of years ago when we visited Bryce and Zion National Parks in the southwest corner, my "vision" of Utah was strictly Salt Lake City and the surrounding area. We have since learned that Utah encompasses far more than SLC, just like the State of New York is far more than NYC. We arrived here on the eighth of August and at this point, plan on leaving November 1st, and there is no way we will see all this area has to offer within a day's drive. The beauty of the surrounding area is stunning…there is no other appropriate word.

We have already been to several beautiful spots. Here are some of the highlights for your viewing pleasure:

Wayne @ Spruce Tree House

Mesa Verde National Park

Spruce Tree House

Spruce Tree House

The Cliff Palace

Four Corners Monument

Dead Horse Point State Park

Canyonlands National Park - Needles

Colorado National Monument

Colorado National Monument

Arches National Park

The Spectacles

Canyonlands National Park - Islands in the Sky

Life as we know it in Oregon~

It has been almost three months since I updated our blog. Life has been busy here in Oregon and truthfully, I just haven't had the time. On top of that, there just isn't much that is news worthy to report.

Things have settled down to a dull roar here at the RV Park. Wayne officially took over as the maintenance supervisor about three weeks ago. It took time to for him to learn the park well enough to step into the position for which he was hired. He works hard, and I mean hard, Monday through Friday and is pretty exhausted at the end of each day. By the end of the week, he is toast.

I am now working in the office full time, Monday through Friday. For the most part, I do what I have been doing at each place we have worked—I answer phones to make reservations as well as register guests when they arrive. However my duties expanded about a month ago to include the bookkeeping here at the park. I stumbled upon a serious embezzlement problem and when that employee was summarily fired, I took over those duties. Happy girl! One thing I don't have to do here that I had to do at every other campground is clean bathrooms. None of that at this RV park as there are specific people hired for janitorial. Happy girl again!

On top of all this, my publisher Lou has been keeping me busy with manuscripts to copyedit and proofread. I have had very little time for "fun" reading, although any reading is fun in my book (no pun intended). I work forty hours a week in the park office and the books, eating and sleeping take up most of the rest of my time. Of course we do take time to go to church on Sunday and I make sure to have at least a little down time but this is where life is right now and I'm not complaining. It's all pretty darn good. Naturally there are stressors at work, but there are few jobs out there that are free from stress. It sort of comes with the territory!

I'll end with a few pictures of some of the beauty here in Oregon: a hydrangea, a huge, dinner-plate size leaf from a tree and a rose blossom. All of the rain we get produces some gorgeous scenery. I love it!

Settling in to Oregon~

Well, we made it to Fairview, Oregon this past Tuesday and are nicely settled into our site. We are right on the top level of the Portland/Fairview RV Park and just inside the entrance. The park is beautiful, full of all different types of trees, bushes and flowers. I absolutely L.O.V.E. the cherry trees which are in full bloom with pink blossoms … so beautiful. There are tons of rose bushes around but they aren't blooming just yet. Everything smells wonderful and there is green everywhere you look. Awesome!

We are in the "honeymoon" phase of our new jobs after just two days of work. Wayne is busy, busy, busy with a ton of maintenance work to be done. This park has 407 sites with grass on each and every site! As the maintenance supervisor, he is learning all of the various things that need to be done daily, weekly and monthly. Lots to learn but I have every confidence in him. I, on the other hand, am wearing a few different hats. I am in the office for four hours in the mornings, have the afternoons off, and then on again as night host for four hours in the evenings. Right now when it still is pretty slow, the evening hours are a piece of cake. I just have to relax at home, on my couch where I can see out my window. If a rig pulls up, I walk over to them and help them register by filling out the night paperwork. Then at nine o'clock, I have to drive through the park on a golf cart and check the restrooms, make sure no one is parking in the fire lanes and note any non-functioning lightbulbs or signs. If I find any problems, I just write up a note for maintenance. Since the park is quite large, it takes at least a half hour but still, that's it! Not bad for four hours of "work." I also have one "outside" day right now but I haven't done that yet. Not sure what that will entail.

We had a nice vacation after leaving Carlsbad KOA. We spent the first ten days just relaxing on our way to California, most of that time in a nice RV park in Las Vegas. We walked around The Strip for a few days, seeing some water shows at a couple of casinos and eating some awesome food. The food highlight was when we went to Gordon Ramsay's BURGR restaurant. Yum!
After leaving Las Vegas, we were able to spend Friday the 7th through Sunday the 9th with our oldest son Jon, his wife Cristen and his beautiful daughters. We had a great time getting to know their two girls a bit more. Anne thrilled us with her reading … at just over five years old, she can read pretty much anything with confidence. Two-year-old Maddee is a happy little girl almost all the time and it was so much fun just watching her smile and laugh.


We drove up to the Central Valley on Monday the 10th and spent the next few days with our daughter Julie, her husband Ray and their kids. All four of their children—Josh (16½), Kaitlyn (almost 14), Emily (11½) and Beth (9½)—have grown and changed so much since we saw them last. It was great being able to spend time with each of them. As a family, we played miniature golf one morning and went to the LEGO movie later that afternoon. I also got to watch Kaitlyn in her ballet class and Josh in his guitar class. Emily and Beth have ballet on Mondays so I wasn't able to watch them as well. Maybe next time.


Finally, we drove to the North Bay Area to spend Friday the 14th through Sunday the 16th with our youngest son Joe, his wife Daunielle and their one year old, Oliver. The four of us took Oliver to the Discovery Museum in the area, geared to children from eight months (I think) through eight years old. It has a room where crawling babies as well as toddlers can have fun bouncing on waterbed "ponds" and crawling through tunnels. This was the best spot for Oliver at his stage but very soon, he will be ready for some of the other rooms with even more to offer as he grows. Really a cool place and very different from anything else we have seen before. It was great fun! Besides that, we mostly just hung out at their place and played with Oliver. What more could grandparents want?

We plan to check out a nearby Calvary Chapel church on Sunday and then go to lunch with Wayne's mother, brother and sister-in-law in Salem. All in all, a very successful relocation for us so far. We have high hopes~

New Beginnings in 2014

Can you believe it is 2014? Wow, this past year just flew by. I had commented to Wayne in 2012 that the years haven't seemed to go so fast now that we are traveling and workamping. I kind of figured that might be because we have typically moved to a new location a couple of times per year, working at one campground for the summer season and another for the winter. Just those changes seemed to s.l.o.w. things down. That changed this year, probably because we have stayed in one location for most of the year.

We have been at the Carlsbad KOA in New Mexico going on nine months—since April 26, 2013. Our time here has been interesting, frustrating, hot, cold, slow, fast, fun, not fun, etc. In other words, it has been a typical year! That's life, right? Some things that happen suit us and other things make us want to run and hide. 

This campground is a great place and we would highly recommend it to any travelers or workampers who want to spend time in this area. It is certainly the nicest campground around and although we constantly hear comments about the price, if you look at what you get, the price is not unreasonable at all. The facilities are top notch and the staff is friendly and helpful. Sure there aren't big trees to shade an RV from the scorching sun in the summer, but this is the desert! There are much smaller trees that provide enough shade for a couple of chairs but that's about it. However, we have found that although it is quite hot in the summer, if you aren't directly in the sun it's not bad. The humidity is very low and that makes a huge difference in how the heat affects you.

The major things that have been difficult here include the extremely hard water and the low humidity. Our skin is dry, our fingers crack around the nails, our hair is dry and flyaway … okay, MY hair is dry and flyaway … oh yeah, and then there is the wind — and the needle grass! I posted pictures of the needle grass a couple of posts ago. It was kinda fun and novel the first time but let me tell you, the novelty has worn off. About the wind — it is CRAZY here and Wayne hates it. I don't like it either but it really bugs him.

Well, all that is quickly coming to an end. When we accepted our positions here as assistant managers, it was an open-ended agreement. We made a commitment to a year but it was always with the idea that we might very well stay longer than that. We fully intended on doing that too through the summer. However, some of the things that frustrated us ended up helping us make the decision to move on when our year was up or at least mostly up. That doesn't take away from the fact that the campground is great and the owners are very nice people. Really what it comes down to is that we have wanted to be closer to our family for quite some time and we simply decided to pursue those desires.

Thus, it is with great excitement that we have accepted jobs at a large RV park just a few miles east of downtown Portland, Oregon. The park is called Portland Fairview RV Park (http://portlandfairviewrv.com) and has over 400 sites. We have conferred with the owners here in Carlsbad and with their blessing, have made the decision to leave here within the first few days of March, arriving in Oregon around the middle of the month. This is obviously a little bit before our year commitment is up but new assistant managers will need to be trained in March and we will simply not be needed. We wish them all the best!

These jobs in Oregon are not seasonal workamping jobs … they are long-term positions. We expect, Lord willing, to be there for a minimum of five years. Wayne will be working in maintenance and Sue will be working mainly in the office, but with some additional landscaping and maintenance duties as well when time allows. Our schedule will be Monday-Friday (wow!) and we will get sick time and vacation. We have already scoped out a couple of Calvary Chapels to visit and can't wait to explore the area. Yes, we know it rains a lot. Honestly, we are looking forward to the rain. We are sort of done with the dry, windy desert. We have been in the desert since October 2012 (Arizona prior to New Mexico) and seeing lots of grass, trees and flowers will be a nice change. Wayne wants to plant roses! Yay!

On the way, we will be stopping in California to see our kids and grandkids on the way from New Mexico to Oregon. We can't wait to see them as well as the rest of the family in Oregon and Washington. We will be sad to be leaving family and friends in Colorado and New Mexico, but hopefully we can find a way to get together sometime in the future. Come see us!

Approximately 42 days and counting~

Well, it has been two and one half weeks since I posted last, and I must admit that my last post was ... hmmm, how do I say it? ... almost cheating. I mean, I didn't really write anything at all, but just copied and pasted. Now granted, I did want to share what I posted. I have read the one about giving a cat a pill several times over the past ten years and it never fails to make me laugh so hard I cry. Maybe I am too easily amused, who knows?
About a week ago we interviewed with a particular campground in Colorado and were really looking forward to the possibility of working there next summer. We are familiar with the area as well as the campground and had been talking about pursuing a job in this location for the past couple of years. Unfortunately it didn't work out. Oh we were sent a contract and they wanted to hire us for sure. However, we were surprised to find that they consider their workampers "contract workers" or independent contractors. Seriously? Sure we were independent contractors working as gate guards in south Texas. We could understand that, although at least one company down there was sued for this practice and has since put everyone on their payroll. However, the only stipulations for working as gate guards was that one of us had to be onsite at all times. Other than that, it was up to us who worked at what times, etc. We were pretty independent insofar as how we did the job. That said, working in a campground is a completely different scenario. We have to be at work when we are told, do what we are told and how we are told to do it. The IRS most certainly does not consider this an independent contractor situation and neither do we. No way will we work twenty hours for our site, make minimum wage for the remaining hours, and take on the entire tax burden too! We do not have the word "stupid" tattooed on our foreheads! So the search goes on.
About that search for a 2013 summer job ... we are seriously talking about working for Adventureland in Altoona, Iowa. They hire between 300-450 workampers every summer to work their rides, games, food service areas, and retail stores. Granted this is farther away from family than we wanted to be, but quite frankly, we are ready for a change from campground work. Yes, this is what we wanted (want) to do most of the time while workamping, but our summer here in Montpelier has worn us down quite a bit. We work very hard here and get grumped at frequently. The hard work would be fine with a happier atmosphere and we have been hoping it would get better. However at this point, it has become obvious that this is not likely to happen. Boo! :-( We had a great time for the first month, but for some reason, things changed just after the beginning of June and with a few notable better days, has remained difficult. We wish we could do something to make it better, but so far we haven't figured out any way to change the situation. That really has to come from the bosses and we aren't them! Anyway, working at an amusement park would be very different, and according to many, many workampers, it is a blast. It might also give us something on our resumé to make it easier to apply and get hired by Disney. They hire workampers as well, but the hiring process is not quite as easy as Adventureland. Disney does not go out of its way to hire workampers, but Adventureland does. We will see.

Last week on one of our days off we went to the Minnetonka Caves just forty miles from here. It was cold ... only 40 degrees inside! Fortunately we knew what to expect and dressed accordingly. (There were women that came in short shorts and flip-flops! Brrrr!) It was quite a hike but absolutely beautiful. To get all the way into the cave on the tour, it was 444 steps up and down, not counting the flat parts. I don't really know the actual distance we traveled, but those steps were amazing. Of course when we got all the way in, then we had to turn around and come back out those same 444 steps! It was a lot of exercise to say the least, but well worth our time.

No more snow, we hope!

We are on our way—again—to Pocatello. We have driven up to Pocatello every week for the past three weeks and I'll get to the reason why in a minute.  Right now I just want to say that it has been thirty-five plus years since I have lived in this part of the country, and I had forgotten just how long Old Man Winter likes to stick around these parts. It was almost freezing last night and was only 40* when I woke up this morning. Correct me if I am wrong, but it IS June, right?

I do have to say though, that we have had several really warm days. This past Friday I was in shorts, but then came Saturday and the temperatures just plummeted. Stuart and Kathy (the KOA owners) tell us that by the end of the week, it will all of a sudden be, and stay, summer. We will see ... I am not convinced!

Back to Pocatello. I had my hearing tested at the Costco in Pocatello at the end of May and was rather dismayed to find it had decreased alarmingly. I knew it had gotten worse, but I didn't realize it was that bad. One of the parts of a hearing test (for those that have never had it done) is when the test administrator says words and you have to repeat them. To set this part of the test up, she spoke into the microphone and gradually turned up the volume to where it was the loudest I felt I could tolerate without being painful. Then she played a recording of a man reciting words for me to repeat. Basically the recording says, "Say the word, man,"and continues with a whole list of words. I don't really know how many there are, but I suspect the list is around 25 words or so. Last time I had my hearing tested before we left on our adventure, my understanding with my right ear was 54% and my left ear was 85%. This time, my right ear was 39% and my left ear was 55%. I have to admit I found that a bit disconcerting. The telling thing about how hard it is for me to understand speech is when you realize that I understand a man's voice much better, it was at a loud volume, and there were no other sounds.

The long and short of it is I made the painful decision to go ahead and order a new pair of hearing aids. (Good quality hearing aids are NOT cheap!)  I have had my current pair for five years or so and they just have not been doing the job. After my initial test, the audiologist reprogrammed them and turned up the volume as much as she could without them constantly whistling. It helped, but not enough. Last week, she let me demo a new hearing aid from Bernafon (same company) and it was amazing. It is bluetooth enabled and with a little device I will wear around my neck (Soundgate), it will connect to any cell phone with bluetooth capability. I called a couple of people and was astounded at the difference. The selling point was when I talked with my granddaughter, Emily, and was able to understand her clearly. It brought tears to my eyes, as I have never before been able to understand any of the girls on the telephone. I usually do a lot of pretending based on their tone of voice and then ask my daughter, Julie, what was said. It is so frustrating for all of us. However to be able to understand them is worth whatever financial pain it causes. I am excited to get them today! It won't make my hearing normal, but it will certainly help. However, the rapid decrease of my hearing reminded me how important it is to continue to work on learning ASL. At my age, it is entirely possible I will be essentially deaf by the time I am sixty-five. Not a pleasant thought, but it could be much worse. Oh yes, one more thing—my new hearing aids are blue!

Has it really been a month??

Wow—time sure flies when you are having fun ... or working ... or reading. I had no idea I hadn't updated my blog since the end of April. Sorry about that!

We have gotten acclimated to Montpelier, Idaho in every way possible. We are mostly used to the 6,000+ foot elevation, we are used to our four 10-hour day work week (Thursday through Sunday), and we are most certainly used to—and loving—our three, wonderful days off.

Today is Tuesday the 29th and we traveled to Pocatello, Idaho today. The biggest reason was because I had an appointment for a hearing test at 2:00 p.m. I hadn't had my hearing tested since 2009 and I knew things had changed for the worse. I wasn't quite prepared for how much it has changed though, and it may necessitate new hearing aids. One more huge expense we hadn't planned on. Oh well, such is life.

We are enjoying working at the campground. It is a lot more physical work for me than I am used to but about the same for Wayne. There are only 35 or so sites here, so there is really no need for me to sit in the office all the time waiting for the phone to ring to take a reservation, or waiting for a camper to come in to the office. The park is small enough that we just put a sign on the door the says, "We are working the campground" and if a camper needs us we are easily found in our yellow shirts. I just forward the phone and take it with me. No problem. Getting more physical exercise is always good, right? Anyway, we love the area and have committed to coming back here next summer. It is just so beautiful. We have also been hired in Casa Grande, AZ for the winter as housekeepers at a 700+ site, 55 and over RV park. As much as housekeeping isn't as fun as registering campers and working in the camp store, it will actually be easier for me, as I won't have to worry about hearing anyone.

Last week on our days off, we left Lucy with Stuart and Kathy, the KOA owners, and went to a bed and breakfast near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This is a second time at a B&B and we have enjoyed it both times. From there, we traveled to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. We ran into some serious snow in Yellowstone but it was so fun. Neither one of us has ever been there when it was still snowy and Wayne remarked that it looked like a winter wonderland. It was stunningly beautiful. We were able to see quite a bit of wildlife too, which was just the icing on the cake. We saw a grizzly bear, several buffalo and elk, some pronghorn deer, a porcupine and probably a few more that I can't remember. Fortunately Wayne enjoys driving, because he drove about 13 hours on Tuesday through Yellowstone, and another 10 or so hours on Wednesday through the Tetons, back to see Old Faithful in Yellowstone, out the west entrance into Montana, and back home to Montpelier. We had a wonderful time and it was over way too quickly.

Lots of snow in Yellowstone!

Beautiful colors in the thermal pools.

A few of the buffalo we saw.

Well, that should catch everybody up to date. I will try very hard to do better!

Good snakes vs bad snakes~

Aren't you glad not all snakes are venomous? I sure am, especially this morning. One of the other gate guard blogs mentioned a couple of days ago that the blogs will be full of snake sightings at this time of year down here in Texas. Truthfully, I was sort of hoping my blog would be the exception. I really didn't WANT to see any snakes, more specifically, rattlesnakes. And I haven't—at least not yet.

However, this morning I was startled to see a humongous, five-to-six-foot-long, bluish-black snake slithering away from me about 18 inches in front of my feet as I opened the gate. Now I am not panic stricken by snakes, but this was most definitely a surprise. Suffice it to say it got my heart rate up a bit!

Fortunately for me, I was opening the gate to a fellow from C R Keck Construction who was well versed in his knowledge of Texas snakes. He hopped out of his truck as he saw me jump and gesture toward my feet—he probably assumed I had seen a rattlesnake and was quite concerned. As soon as he saw the snake though, he asked me to please not kill it. Hmmm, killing this snake was not exactly on my mind at that moment. Staying away from it was! Anyway, he proceeded to explain that the indigo snake is good because it eats rattlesnakes. At that point, I was ready to keep it for a pet...well, not really, but I was happy to hear we have a protector nearby. Maybe I should name him~

We both ran for our cameras to snap some shots of this beautiful snake. I was surprised to see how quickly it moves, but I did get some good pictures. Of course they would have been better had I had my camera when it was down by my feet, but I am not sure I would have stopped to take pictures at that moment anyway! Did you notice I said it was a beautiful snake? Even rattlesnakes are beautiful. As much as I don't want to get bitten by a rattlesnake, I would hate to kill it. Now if the indigo snake wants to eat one for lunch, that's ok by me.

If I see him again, knowing myself, I will probably try to get up close and personal to see him a bit better. He won't bite, and even if he did, I would bear no long-term damage. I am fascinated by animals, insects, birds, etc. Always have been. I was the little girl who collected grasshoppers, worms, etc. and wasn't frightened when my brother tried to scare me with a spider.

Changing the subject, we have had a couple other cool things lately too. I saw a gorgeous white-tailed deer across the road the other day. He wasn't at all happy he was fenced in, and I can't say I blame him. We had a helicopter flying overhead for several hours yesterday, and I am pretty sure it was the landowner getting a good view of his deer herd. They went right over my head a couple of times and even waved at me.They couldn't have been more than 25-30 feet in the air.

Well that's it for now. Signing off at 1 week, 1 day, 19 hours and 25 minutes to go here on the La Corona Ranch.

One week, six days, 10 hours~

...until we are finished with gate guarding, at least for the time being. Unless something changes we intend on coming back in early fall, but I have to admit, it will be nice moving on for now. We have been at this gate for the past three months, and that means we haven't been in the car together for that same amount of time. It is a bit monotonous now, and we are ready to move on. Talk about "hitch itch"—we both have it bad!

We have had several instances in the past couple of weeks where we were aware of illegal activity in our area. The Border Patrol has told us of some major "bail outs" just up the road. Apparently the guys back on the oil pads have had some "visitations" they weren't expecting. Thankfully, we haven't seen hide nor hair of anyone at our gate though, and we hope it stays that way. Neither one of us is the least bit interested in meeting any south-of-the-boarder folks that have entered the U.S. illegally. No thanks!

I was able to finish copyediting the manuscript on time and mailed the USB drive back to the publisher. I had such a great time with it, and I am looking forward to the next one. I am not exactly sure when that will happen. I told him I couldn't do any copyediting between April 5th and 22nd, as that is when we will be seeing our kids and grandkids. I am not going to let anything interrupt the little bit of time we have to spend with them.

Spring has definitely sprung here in south Texas. Although they are weeds, we have some very pretty flowers all around us. Of course we understand some of the guys have already killed a six-foot rattlesnake too. Kinda hoping we don't see one of those either. Here are a couple of the flowers:

Pretty aren't they?

You would think I would have more to say since I haven't updated our blog for over two weeks. Hmmm, I guess that speaks to the monotony doesn't it. Don't get me wrong—I'm not bored. I have been able to read several awesome books. So long as I have books, I won't ever be bored. But there just isn't much going on, so I guess that's it for now.

Meep Meep!

We have a roadrunner! I saw it yesterday and was so excited. You know by now that I love seeing wildlife. I have posted pictures of deer, cows, spiders, ducks, alligators, etc. Well here he is:

He was running around out in front of the trailer for about 15 minutes or so. I hope he comes back! Of course it could be a she~

On a different subject all together, the flame burning off the excess H2S on the pad is super high tonight. It made both of us a bit nervous, but one of the tankers just came through and said it was nothing to worry about. We haven't been able to smell the gas at all, so it must be doing a good job.

New subject ... I am on a roll tonight! We had quite a rainstorm a little over a week ago. I think it was on Sunday the 22nd. Regardless, our rain gauge said we got about 3/4" in about an hour. The next morning, we realized the carpet was wet between the bed and the sink, and it was damp on the other side of the bed too. Our bed is on one of the four slides in our trailer. We naturally, but unhappily, assumed the water was a result of a leak around the slide. Ugh! One more thing to get fixed.
To dry it out and avoid mold, Wayne brought our electric heater into the room, turned it on high, and set it to blowing right on the wettest spot. This has been repeated pretty much every day for the past 10 days since the storm and as of this morning, we were still struggling with the water, which just didn't make sense. Finally, Wayne decided to investigate further and found that a fitting underneath the bathroom sink had developed a leak. The fact that the leak perfectly coincided with the hard rain is so ironic. Anyway, he worked on it before going to bed this morning, and then again once he got up. The problem has been solved ... yay!

Hmmm, I think I have run out of things to write about today, so I guess that's it for now.

Chasing cows...

Well technically, it was a bull, not a cow, but it was a lot of exercise either way. Remember this guy?

I posted about the cows coming to visit us a week or two ago. Since then we have found out that they aren't on "our" ranch, but on a neighboring ranch. We didn't realize that the land on the other side of the fence behind our trailer isn't part of La Corona. Apparently, La Corona Ranch is on either side of another ranch ... we can't remember the name. Anyway, the seven cows are neighbors.

This past week I was logging the guys out around 4 p.m. as the "parade" came by, and one of them mentioned that the big bull had gotten himself stuck between two fences. The main fence that borders the west side of the road leading back to the oil pads runs parallel to the original fence between the two ranches, and the distance between the two fences is between four to six feet or so. There are only a couple of openings in the ranch fence where one can enter or exit, and this bull had discovered his own, private grazing land on that strip. The parallel sections run for just short of a mile, all the way from the back pad (A pad) to behind our trailer.

I called the landowner (he gave us his number for emergencies) to explain the situation and found that he was in Houston -- about 4 1/2 hours away. I had already tried the ranch foreman, but got his non-English speaking wife on the phone so I hung up. Anyway, the landowner asked if I would mind trying to persuade the bull to get on the other side of the fence. At this time, I didn't know how far down he was, but I was soon to discover that he was all the way down to the A pad. I drove down the road and when I found him, I turned the truck around and honked at him. He didn't even blink! Hmmmm, what to do now? I parked the truck, got out, and started waving my arms and yelling at him. After a minute or so, he got tired of listening to me and managed to turn himself around so that he was actually facing the right way, but then he simply continued grazing. I could see this was quickly going nowhere! I tried throwing some caliche rocks at him. They weren't big enough to hurt at all, but I hoped to get his attention since he was ignoring everything else. Unfortunately I had a hard time throwing them through the fence and only a couple of them found their mark. He looked up at me, blinked a couple of times, put his head back down and continued grazing. Aarrrgggghhhhh!

I walked back to the truck and found the steering wheel lock (The Club) that Wayne had purchased a few years ago. I discovered that the metal rod came out, so I started running it along the fence to make some noise. Eventually the yelling, waving arms, honking, rock throwing and metal rod on fence noise started to annoy him enough to make him begin walking down the "path" between the two fences. Every 10 feet or so he would stop to graze, but I just kept driving the truck toward him, honking, getting out of the truck to wave my arms and yell, etc. etc. etc., until finally I got him on a bit of a run. I quickly hopped back in the truck and managed to keep him going for about 1/2 mile just driving and honking. I was so glad that most of the guys were gone. Who knows what they would have thought of the crazy lady trying to herd the bull down the fence! Anyway, after working on it for almost a half an hour, I managed to get him almost all the way back down to our trailer where he found an opening in the ranch fence to walk through! Whew! I was hot, sweaty and tired, and very glad to be done with this project! I hope to avoid repeating this any time soon!

Random stuff~

Lately, we have been making plans for our departure from this area for a while. We plan on picking up stakes on or about March 23rd. We already have an appointment on Monday, the 26th at an RV dealer/repair shop in Selma, just north of San Antonio to address some problems with our 5th wheel. Of course we will get it cleaned first ... I mentioned that in my last post.
We had our black tank replaced last January while we were in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. (I just love spelling that!) Anyway, it hasn't really been right ever since. They apparently didn't seal it correctly at the top where it joins the toilet, so we have to make sure we are empty when we travel or it leaks underneath. We also have to be careful not to let it get too full, as rather than coming up into the toilet, it again leaks out underneath the trailer. Not that we let it get that full, but sometimes when we are cleaning it out, we want to fill it all the way up in order to get a good flush-out.
On top of a leaking black tank, the gray tank is now leaking as well. We have no idea what is going on with that one. It isn't leaking like it is broken which is good, but it shouldn't be leaking at all.
Another issue is the internal flush system for the black tank. It had never worked from the get go. We would have had it repaired to begin with if we had realized that, but when we bought the unit, we were both still working "9 to 5" jobs and had very little time in the trailer at all. We were well past the first year grace period when we found out it didn't work. When we were in Goshen, Indiana during September 2010, we had the opportunity to go to the Keystone factory for a tour, and they were willing to take a look at some of our issues and fix them for no charge. Part of what they found was that the hose for the internal flush had been crimped when the unit was built. They fixed that among other things, and we were finally able to enjoy using that system ... for about four months ... then it stopped again.
Last but not least, on our way to sub for Luke & Inez last month, we completely killed our back steps. There is a huge dip in the road going onto 468 or 469 (I can't remember which one) near Cotulla where the Schwope Ranch is located.  Wayne saw it and was absolutely creeping, but to no avail. We have hit the back steps before, and he has always been able to pound out the crookedness, but not this time. They were totaled. He took them completely off and tossed them in the trash trailer on site. So far we have managed to remember NOT to try to step out the back door ... it is a really BIG step.
Anyway, we plan to have all of these issues addressed before we head west this spring. It will be nice to have pretty much everything back in order and clean!
Prior to the appointment on Monday, we have other plans. We are going to head to the KOA in San Antonio on Friday, get set up, and then visit a gun shop or two. We have finally made the decision to invest in a couple of handguns. We toyed with the idea of getting a shot gun, but quite frankly, I almost can't lift the things. We had a .22 years and years ago, and we both enjoyed going out shooting. This time, we are looking at either a .38 or a .357. For self protection, either of these will be better. We have opted not to go the semi-auto route. We hope to never use them for anything other than a hobby at a shooting range, so neither of us felt the need to get the higher capacity/higher maintenance guns. We are also going to get a "Concealed Carry License" for both of us. It is a 10 hour class here in Texas. It should help us make sure we know what we are doing so that we can safely manage them. There are many states that have reciprocity with Texas, so getting the license will help us as we travel too. We have not yet actually seen any illegals ourselves, praise the Lord, but we are aware that they have been on this ranch a couple of times. We don't want to start waving a gun even then if it isn't warranted. Most of the time we understand they simply want water, and that we can do. However, there have been cases where gate guards have been in more dangerous situations, and it just seems wise to be prepared. Besides, it will give us something else we both enjoy that we can do together.
On to the gate ... there is little to report here. They have been able to get permitted again to burn off the H2S I talked about before. Pad B is producing oil, but they are still have trouble with Pad A. We had a couple of sand trucks in here a day or two ago, and we suspect they may be doing a little more flow-back to try to get rid of the excess water that is making the oil on A unusable. We had almost no traffic this weekend and not much yesterday either, but it has picked up some today. Of course now we are in a new weather pattern where we are supposed to get rained on today and tomorrow, with severe thunderstorms possible. We got a short rain shower this morning, but it only lasted about 3-4 minutes. I just have to say that we are most definitely NOT looking forward to more mud, but we will deal with it.

I know nothing ...

You know, I was reading another gate guard blog the other day where they mentioned that those of us in this business are like mushrooms ... kept in the dark and fed manure. Of course this can be said in a much less pleasant way, but I want to keep it clean. Anyway, they are sure correct. We hear so many conflicting things about what is, was, is going to be, or is not going to be happening on this ranch ... it just makes your head spin! One minute we hear that there are plans to drill several more wells, and the next minute practically everyone is leaving because they have shut the wells that ARE here down. I know I wrote recently about the landowner being upset with the smell of the dangerous H2S gas being vented from the wells. So far as we understand, this is still the reason everything has been shut down. However, they can't really leave it like that! One of the guys told me the tanks are just full of oil and they will have to empty them sooner or later. Another problem though is there is too much water mixed in with the oil, so the tankers can't load it. Sheesh ... someone had better figure out how to solve these problems.
Needless to say, this leaves us wondering what our status is. They are apparently building tanks or some sort of facilities back there, so we should be here for at least the next few weeks while they finish that. We are really hoping they come up with a solution that will allow them to move ahead with the plans to drill more ... we want to stay here until we need to leave at the end of March. We are quite comfortable at this gate, and we might not get one as nice if/when we have to move.
One thing we are both looking forward to is getting our 5th wheel washed as soon as possible when we get done gate guarding for the winter. It will be positively embarrassing to drive even one mile down the road with it looking the way it does. Of course, most everyone in these parts will understand why it is filthy. This isn't really the vacation capital of Texas! You have to go south and east for that, way down to the Brownsville area. Nonetheless, we want to get it cleaned right away. Wayne knows of a place fairly close by that we will use to get the job done. Then, while we are sitting at a campground for a day or two, I will either rent a carpet cleaner, or have someone come in and thoroughly clean the carpets. I can only do just so much here. The dust comes in through the screens and front door, and we track it in on our shoes. The central vacuuming system in the trailer is okay, but not as good as a more robust vacuum cleaner, but we just don't have the room for one so we just make do with what we have.

Our son Jon and his wife Cristen had some professional pictures done recently and I just have to share. Jon, Cristen, Anne and baby Madeline live in southern California, and Lord willing, we will get to see them in early April. I can't wait!!

Nice day today~

Wayne was a sweetheart and let me sleep for an extra hour this morning to rest my knee. Overall, that situation is going well. It is stiff, but it doesn't really feel all that bad. Praise the Lord!
I spent most of the morning while Wayne was sleeping reading my Bible, praying, and enjoying the sun. It was an extremely slow morning so I didn't have too many interruptions, and was able to avoid much walking.
I assumed the day would get busier as it got later, but no, the gate was slow all day. Wayne heard from one of the guys that they have shut the wells down for at least the weekend. They have been having a problem with an excess amount of H2S venting, and the landowner has been complaining about the smell. We have smelled it a few times too, and apparently, it is bad stuff if there is too much of it. They have talked about getting us a sensor that would let us know if the levels are too high, but that hasn't happened yet. We aren't even a mile from the site ... whatever.
We had a yummy dinner with leftovers for tomorrow. When I was at HEB yesterday, I took notice of a sale they had going on. If you bought whole wheat spaghetti, canned green beans, dried apricots and pork tenderloin, you got $4 off, plus they had recipes to use the ingredients. It looked good so I opted to try it. Mmmmm, glad I did ... Wayne agreed.
We have spent the afternoon and evening watching football. The SF 49ers won ... Yay! Now Denver and New England are playing. Wayne is going for NE and I am rooting for Denver. Unfortunately it looks like Wayne and NE are going to be the victors tonight. Oh well, it is just football!
Oh yes, it turns out we have cattle on this ranch. We didn't know that, as we had not seen any such critters at all. Deer, yes, but no cows! Well, they came to visit at dusk.

All in all, I just have to say, it has been such a nice day!

To close, I thought I would share something I found on the AARP website today~

With 50 in the Rearview Mirror

18 Things We Can Now Tell Our Kids

And why our grown-up children would be wise to pay attention to these words of wisdom

by: Jacquelyn Mitchard

1. Don't be a jerk. The one time you are will be the time everyone remembers.
2. A great handshake and an honest smile are free, and shine as brightly as any résumé.
3. Most of the time, people are doing the best that they can. Try to believe it.
4. Use sunscreen, but not just on your face. Remember the back of your neck and, above all, your hands!
5. There are no people so far beneath you that you can't learn something from them, or so far above you that you need permission to communicate with them.
6. Don't wait for someone else to hold you to account. Do it yourself.
7. Respect others' beliefs, but don't back off on your own.
8. Your gut is always, always right. Listen quietly to your intuition, and you'll see that you already know everything you need to know.
9. Take care of your feet. Buy the best shoes you can, if not the most expensive. Go for pedicures, as a couple. Oldie moldies won't take you far.
10. Follow your passion. You'll never "work" a day in your life.
11. Make empathy the default response.
12. Even if someone's mad at you, it does not mean you've done something wrong.
13. You'll never regret eating blueberries or working up a sweat.
14. Strive to keep half your promises. (I disagree...we should strive to keep ALL our promises.)
15. Treat yourself well. Other people will, too.
16. When you say something you think is smart, don't sniff. It telegraphs conceit.
17. Nothing ever got worse from talking about it. Just pick the right person to talk to.
18. The smaller the thing you can find to be grateful for — from good coffee to soft socks — the happier you will be.