February 2010 Canton First Monday Was A Dud

For the 23 plus years we’ve been coming to Canton First Monday, we finally have a record for the lowest sales ever. To tell you how bad it was we like every vendor here all had record low sales. For the four day period we managed to jangled our cash register only eleven times and obviously did not make our expenses. The weather I’m sure had a lot to do with it as we never saw the sun expect for a brief period this afternoon. It was wet, damp, cold and just down right miserable weekend.. Why would one want to get out in this anyway. I know if it was me I wouldn’t have ventured out. Now that we have this behind us we are looking forward to the March First Monday. Things can get only better.

Today was our typical Sunday crowd a day where it seems every other customer had his fur animal out for a stroll down the aisles. We could have had a dog show. Most of them had on their sweaters and looked down right cute. One couple came by with a Great Dane that I swear might have had a little horse in him. The biggest dog I’ve ever seen.

After helping our neighbors tear down and load out we loaded our product into the motor home. Rather than drive back to Lone Star tonight, we decided to move over to the creek where they have full hook ups. Sandy wanted to do some laundry and I needed to drain our black/gray water tanks. I usually do this at the Loves Truck Stop about ten miles down I-20. We will get up early in the morning have breakfast and head out to Lone Star. Since we had to run the old furnace a lot more this time we will need to refill the propane tank before going into base. This place we go to and have been going to since we moved to this area only charges us the home rate instead of the the RV rate. This usually saves us about $0.30 per gallon.

Have a fabulous STRESS FREE day!

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Poem About A Solider

My retired Army buddy emailed me this poem today. I don’t know  who wrote the poem but it pretty well sums it up on our veterans.

He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.
And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew where of he spoke.
But we'll hear his tales no longer,
For ol' "Sarge" has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer
For a Soldier died today.
He won't be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.

He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won't note his passing,
'Tho a Soldier died today.
When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.
Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land,
Some jerk who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?
The politician's stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.
While the ordinary Soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.

It's so easy to forget them,
For it was so long ago,
That our Bobs and Jims and Johnny's,
Went to battle, but we know,
It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?
Or would you want a Soldier--
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end.
He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honor
While he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
At the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simply headline
In the paper that might say:
"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
A SOLDIER DIED TODAY

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

A Wet Day At Canton

This is the system that started rolling through here this afternoon. We are very thankful we are not in the pink/blue area. Our crowd today was non-existent and the parking lot was virtually empty for most of the day. There was not a vendor in our general area that jangled their cash register today the main reason being no buying customers. Tomorrow the weather is suppose to be clearing out so maybe we’ll have a better chance of selling our wares.

The realtor on mom’s home called and was pretty positive that we will be closing on the home place one day next week. This is certainly good news and we look forward to getting this behind the family. My sister is doing great after her reconnection surgery earlier this week. Sounded a little druggy over the phone when I talked to her today but her voice was strong. We are hoping she gets to come home by Monday of next week. Thanks for all of your prayers.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Meet Pumpkin

Our past two days have been just  gorgeous! They are saying however this is about to change as tomorrow night we will have a front dropping down that will drop our temps this weekend into the low 40’s and mid 20’s. Our best chance for precip will be Thursday. This comes as no surprise as it’s a winter Canton weekend. Today we finalized our booth set up and while out there we heard a voice come over a loud speaker system.  Since a tornado touched down near here this last week I guess they installed a system to alert us of bad weather. In looking around we spotted the speaker just above our booth. The city side has had this feature so we now have ours. I don’t know what people will do if we ever have a bad storm with a tornado as there are no shelters around. Just sheet metal pavilions with open sides and ends. The restrooms will not hold a Canton weekend crowd.

I spent most of the afternoon washing the motor home with The Solution. I’m still impressed with this product that I picked up from Mark with Rving with Poppa. It’s been a while since I have washed the Motor Home with water and soap.

Our neighbors fur kid Pumpkin is one smart dog. This evening we were out in our booth and she came walking across the aisle with her nose to the ground. Carla her owner said she was going shopping. One of our neighbors down the way has a booth that caters to pets. The usual things like sweaters, beds, rawhide biscuits, stuffed animals etc. They put up a tarp as a gate when they are not opened. Pumpkin made her way down to the booth and crawled under the tarp. In a few minutes she came back out with a stuffed elephant in her mouth. Carla will pay the vendor tomorrow.
She has her own chair and electric blanket while here at Canton. She is of the Vizsla breed. Her hair is real short, very little shedding and she easily gets cold. Another characteristic that I like about Pumpkin is she is a very quiet dog, only barking if necessary or provoked. Sometimes when these dogs feel neglected or want something, they will cry. Being a fur kid of Carla’s, I can assure you Pumpkin is never neglected. In fact Carla has just about got her saying “mama”. When  she holds a treat out in her hand Carla will coach Pumpkin to saying “mama” and I’ll  be darn if she just about says “mama”. Don Pumpkin's dad says she will just about root you out of bed. Being of the pointer breed she loves to track birds that are in the Pavilion rafters. Also on her walks out on the grounds she puts her nose to the ground for the squirrels that are out there and when she finds one she’ll come to the most beautiful point you’ll ever see. As you probably have gathered by now, Pumpkin is a very good friend of mine. We look forward to each month so we can see and visit with her and her pawrents.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

AFC-NFC Divisional Playoff Day

Will at least one of our teams won today. Sandy fells the Saints are dirty players and  intentionally were out to take Brett Farve out of the game. I admit he did take a pounding but you need to place the blame on his offense linemen. My feeling is the five turnovers is what derailed them. Regardless what you may think it was a good football game. Now on to Super Bowl XLIV 02-07-10 which should be a good game. It's the first time the top seeds in each conference made the big game since the 1993 season.

We worked on setting up our booth partially today. The wind out of the northwest was around 30-35/hour at times which made it a little uncomfortable. We have to drive to Longview in the morning where I have a 1pm Doctors appointment. I’m sure after that we will make a run to Tyler for a little shopping.

Until Next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Second Thoughts

We arrived in Canton Friday morning around 10am. We saw some of the tornado damage to the Chevron station, the electrical lineman on the poles were doing their job and there was slight damage to McDonalds and The Diary Palace. But, overall we were somewhat surprised that there wasn’t more damage than we first had thought. Don’t take me wrong any damage to ones property or injury is a serious matter. After getting parked behind our spot at the Pavilion a neighbor drove up with is cargo trailer. He is from this area and said there was a lot more tornado damage about two miles to our southwest off Hwy 64and off Hwy 19 north there was a subdivision that had about three homes hit by the storm. After we got setup we took a drive to this area with camera in hand and the desire to take as many photos as we could.
 
Upon arrival we saw where the tornado (more like straight line wind) had knocked over about a 100 yards of a wooden fence, numerous large trees laying down (some twisted in two), several homes with their roofs  damaged or missing (some had blue tarp over the roof). As I started to focus with my camera something came over me and said “why are you doing this…. do you really want to share someone's hardship and troubles”. The more I thought about it I decided to leave well enough alone and not take any photos. I figured there was probably newsmen all over this place the day after the tornado touched down and anything I had to add would be trivial.

I don’t know what it is about Canton but it seems this area is like a magnet and attracts all the bad storms. This is probably the sixth tornado that has hit near this area in the past twenty years we’ve been coming to Canton. While the downtown area itself has been spared they have touched down all around the area. We’ve been very blessed that none have hit the grounds. Can you imagine what it would be like with all the RV’s, trailers, and metal buildings. Our only shelter is across the way at the restrooms. We look like stuffed sardines in there when the siren goes off alerting us to potential tornado in the area.

Our weather today has been mostly wet. It has rained off and on for a good part of the day which has allowed me to get caught up on reading blogs, email and doing a little photo organization in Picasa. Tomorrow is the AFC and NFC championship games. For once Sandy and I have the same favorite teams we would like to see face off in the Super Bowl. Yes, the Colts and Vikings would make a good matchup.

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP                                                                 
VIKINGS at SAINTS
Sunday, Jan. 24
6 p.m. ET on FOX
 

---

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP
JETS at COLTS
Sunday, Jan. 24
3 p.m. ET on CBS

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

What A Difference Twelve Hours Can Make

What a difference twelve hours can make…. from heavy rain, lighting and thunder, tornado warnings' and hail last night to just a gorgeous day. This morning there was not a cloud in the sky, the air was crisp and clean smelling. The rain last night made everything appear to look new. The sky was just a rich blue and with a crisp wind out of the north. The air filled your lungs making you fill refreshed. It was one of those days you just wanted to be outside taking it all in. And that was just about what we did today.

We did have to make that trip into Longview for the supplies for Sandy’s mom and us. Tomorrow we leave for Canton First Monday. Our friends across the way from us were going to Canton today to pick up a kitchen island they had custom made. They advised upon there arrival you could defiantly see evidence of the tornado that hit there yesterday evening. The Chevron station on the corner of I-20 and Hwy 19 took the biggest hit. There was damage also at the McDonalds across the street and there were electrical pole lines down. They said the grounds faired well and we had electricity at the Pavilions. We did not have water as it seems the extreme cold we had week before last took out some of the above ground faucets. So, we will fill our fresh water tank before leaving. We also will drop by the local propane dealer in Dangerfield and top off our propane tank. our weather next week is suppose to be milder than the January Canton. We are expecting rain however for Thursday and Friday next week. Yuk!

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Tornado Ally

Our day for the most part was overcast, damp and little windy. The air itself felt heavy and gave you that weird feeling of their is a storm in the making. And stormy did it get! We had three systems come through the area and were under tornado watches and then warnings. A tornado was cited about four miles southwest of us that touched down and did a lot of tree damage. As far as we know all we got tonight was severe thunderstorms with a lot of lighting and thunder. At times we could hear pea size hail hitting the roof but nothing that did any damage. For the first time in the ten years we’ve been in this area we actually left the motor home and went to Sandy’s brothers’ home next door  to await the passing of the three systems. We made a call to our friend Joe aka “Speedy” http://speedysgreatadventure.blogspot.com/ as we had heard  Canton got hit pretty hard by a tornado earlier this evening. Sure enough they did get hit it took off some roofs, shut down I-20 briefly and knocked over one eighteen wheeler. Joe said they did not get the wind but did get the hail that took out his two vents, You can see photos and learn more about their adventure by going to his above blog spot. Everything has moved northeast now so we dodged the bullet again. We had 22 sever weather warnings from our weather channel out of Tyler. I believe over all they had seven tornado warnings in this general area.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

A Day Trip

Sandy received a call from a lady that lived in Edgewood TX who was interested in her purse inserts. She was an expecting new mom and was trying to decide between the extra large and extra large tall purse inserts (Extra Large = 12" across  7" tall and 6" wide Extra Large Tall = 12" across 10" tall and 6" wide). She was wanting to use it in her diaper bag. As you can see these are like large bags to begin with I just can't imagine why  anyone would need something so large. Of course being a man we never understand why women need all those things with them. Sandy being the sales person she is said we would be happy to meet her half way so that she could have a hands on and decide by trying the insert in her diaper bag. Well half way turned out to be Mineola, TX. We’ve been wanting to take a day trip to this northeast Texas town for some time as it is known for its burgeoning bed-and-breakfast spot, with a revitalized downtown area that houses a variety of restaurants, antique shops and other businesses. Texas Governor Jim Hogg lived in Mineola and his daughter Ima Hogg was born in a house in this city. The house still stands and is marked by a historical marker.   

There is also a Amtrak Station located here and it so happened when we arrived one was pulling into the station. We met the young lady at the local Dairy Queen and after trying the two different sizes she decided on the extra large. And, yes her diaper bag was huge which I understand is needed to hold all them diapers, baby powder, bottles etc.
She will have the compartments in the inside of the purse insert.
The card pocket is inside the cosmetic pocket so that it can be enclosed and secure. It also allows for some of your small items to remain close to the top of the bag for easy access. You can turn it inside out and try it with the pockets inside or outside.   Two of the pockets have zippered closures.
After the sale we drove back to Longview where Sandy had to pickup some medicine and groceries for her mom.

Sandy’s team won!

 34                                        3

 

Until next time…MtnAire Travlers.

 

Someone’s Out there Trying To Get Into Our Knickers!

Yes….there are people out there that will try anything and everything to rip you off. It all started when we received an email from our bank advising there were some unusual activities on our debit card and to call a certain 800 number if the charges on our account where not done by you. Going on line we saw right away where there were three pending debit card transactions done in California and Tennessee that we had no earthly idea what they were about let alone knew who it was that was using our debit card. After talking with the banks security department advising them of the fraudulent charges we cancelled our debit card immediately.
Fortunately, we are protected from this kind of activity but they advised us we should contact the police about the unauthorized use of our debit card. One of the accounts where our card was compromised had a 800 number to call. We called and told them about the unauthorized use of our card and they where kind enough to give us the phone number of the person that had used our number. Our first instinct was to call this number to find out who was this joker but we decided it would be best to turn it all over to the police for handling.

Now let me tell you what a circus we went through to find out the proper procedure we needed to use to file a complaint about this activity. Our local police said since this occurred out of state we had to contact the authorities in the state where the crime occurred. We next tried the CHPS in California and they said they did not do this and we needed to call the LA Police or Sheriff  Dept. Which we did ----they referred us to a special criminal investigation body who in turn referred us back to our local police. It seems we have to fill out a form here in order to get the ball rolling. Now why didn’t our police know about this? It’s probably because it’s such a small community. In the mean time the crook is probably out of the country. So, word of advise… watch your account closely we have racked our brains and have no idea how this person got the debit card number. Remember there’s someone out there that wants to get into your knickers.
Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Warmer Weather Returns To Northeast Texas

Our high today was 53F considerably warmer than the teens we’ve been experiencing for the past few days. We were up this morning early and joined BIL James at Arnold's for breakfast. He had a road to grade with a bull dozer over in Marshall TX. He had to pick up the dozer in East Mountain about 18 miles west of here. After he left Sandy and I started our cleaning chores inside the MH. She dusted, vacuumed the floors and cleaned the title floor in the kitchen and bath area. While she was doing these I did a little exterior cleaning with The Solution. Not to far into the project I had to quit because it was just a tab to cold. I did work on our state taxes for the fourth quarter of 2009 as we have to mail that in by January 20th.

Later in the day we did that hated job of dumping our holding tanks with the blue boy tank on wheels. It took us two trips to accomplish this task as it has been to cold to do this earlier. Also with the temps being in the low teens to upper twenties we probably would not have been able to rinse the tank due to the water hose being frozen up. I might add we pull the blue boy with my BIL battery powered Bad Boy which makes this task a little easier.

With that chore out of the way it was nice to just set out in the afternoon sun and enjoy the warmer weather. Tomorrow is suppose to be warmer and I believe through the rest of the week. We are expecting some showers settling in Wednesday night through Thursday.

A friend of mine sent the following clips of several old western movie stars who are no longer with us. Lots of old memories here.  
I have probably seen every western movie made by these movie cowboys.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Man It’s Cold Here… I Believe That’s What Joe Said!

This mornings low was 14F. I don’t recall that I have ever in my life time experienced weather this cold. Fortunately, we don’t have the ice and snow that’s in many parts of the country.
   Even when I was stationed in South Korea I don’t recall those winter days being this cold. We were deployed in the Cheorwon Valley and because of the rice farming could only do war games in the winter months. As it didn’t matter if our tanks and armor personal carriers tore up some of the rice paddies. I am sure our government paid the farmers and probably paid to put the fields back like they were after we completed our maneuvers. I recall being cold but how cold I don’t remember. I use to drink coffee (if you can call Army field coffee….coffee) back then to help warm the body. Before one could drink a cup it would become cold and would have to be tossed out. Also those coffee grounds in the bottom of the cup…. Yuk! I guess that experience is why I no longer drink coffee.

Right now I’m going through withdrawals (lack of football games) I guess but thanks to the Wild Card NFL playoffs this weekend we will be able to satisfy that craving. Then after the Wild Card games come Divisional and then the 44th Super Bowl. Then NASCAR returns so it looks like we will survive the crisis.

    Cowboys 34      Eagles 14 

All I can say is finally after thirteen years the Cowboys win a postseason game! Yep, the Cowboys have won a playoff game.  They will face the Minnesota Vikings next weekend and we will have a split MtnAire Travlers household…. Sandy pulling for Brett Favre's Vikings and me the Cowboys.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

WHAT IF ?

Texas Longhorns  21 Alabama 37

No one ever says 'It's only a game.' when their team is winning. 

I can only say “What if Colt McCoy hadn’t received that shoulder injury”? Would there defense had played even better like they played at the start of the game? Would there freshman quarterback thrown that shovel pass interception for a Alabama touchdown right before the end of the first half? Obviously we will never know the answers to all of these but we are still proud of the Texas Longhorns. They played like champions that they are.

Our weather like everyone's has really turned cold. Our low tonight is going to be 16F with a wind child of 7F the coldest in 20 years.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

 

Record Low Temperatures Coming

Well now I know trying to post in the old journal everyday was putting a lot of pressure on the mind and probably boring  the readers as well. Lets see what has gone on with the MtnAire Travlers since my last posting. We left Canton this past  Monday and returned to base here in Lone Star, TX.
The Cummins ISL400 engines oil pressure light/gauge did not act up so just maybe the computer update they did in Houston has put that issue behind us. Lets hope so anyway. The back up monitor did its job without any hang ups.It always amazes me how things can appear to be wrong and then the next time they are in good working order. I guess when you have something that's 41ft long and weighs 37,000 lbs with all the different gadgets and gizmos you can expect things like this to happen. While we prefer they don’t and love those kind of trips without incident it sometimes just happens.

It has been a little over two weeks since Sandy had been to her mothers we found she was in dire need of groceries. We also needed supplies and had to go to the bank. So after setting up the home we were off to Mt Pleasant where we managed to do about a two hour shop at Wally World. By the time we got back it was late. Enjoyed another evening of football. Speaking of football I have managed to watch either a part or all 33 bowl games to date with tomorrow being the 34th and of course being from Texas the biggest of them all.

Yesterday we were back at VA Shreveport where my dermatologist did five more skin biopsy’s  on different parts of my arms, hands, shoulder and neck. They still have not been able to tie the old rash problem to anything yet. Maybe this time.

This morning we had breakfast with BIL James at Arnolds and where then off to Longview to pick up a ceramic heater and special halogen lamp for Sandy’s refrigerator. Now you talk about being expensive that little bulb cost me nearly $4.00. While at the RV dealer I investigated the Extend-A-Stay LP kit for possibly adding an external auxiliary propane  bottle to the MH. I have never heard of this and was curious as to what it did and how you added it to your bottle. The young lady that helped me managed to confuse me even more so I will go on line to see if I can learn more.

The reason I’m  wanting to do this is we are expected to have record low temperatures for the next four nights here and I’m sure we will suck up the propane trying to stay warm. The ceramic heater so far is keeping it warm but our coldest weather is not due till tomorrow evening.

Wow! Double overtime the GMAC bowl game  between  Central Michigan  & Troy just ended with Central Michigan coming out on top 43-41. This was a good ballgame. Let’s just hope the game tomorrow night between the Texas Longhorns and Alabama is just as exciting regardless of winner.

Looking good!

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Typical January Canton First Monday

Friday January 1, 2010
Happy New Year everyone! We were debating how is this new year going to be referred to. Some are saying Two Thousand and Ten while others are saying Twenty Ten. Twenty Ten being the shorter won our poll here. Now this should also tell you something about our weekend. When you can set around in your booths and think up topics like this things must be pretty slow. And slow they were. I bet you could count the number of people that actually stop by your booth to see what you were peddling on your fingers and toes.

The weatherman corporated and provided a sunny day that started out cold but gradually warmed up into the low 50’s. Surely these people weren’t home watching the Mud Bowl between Penn State and LSU or the Rout Bowl between Florida and Cincinnati.
 
We were so glad to see Bobby Bowden, coach of Florida State University, go out as a winner. He is one class act. Bowden finished with a 389-129-4 record, and most importantly to him, a 33rd consecutive winning season. Toward the end of the game when the camera scanned the stands you could hardly see a dry eye and I must have had something in my eyes as they started tearing for some unknown reason too.

The Amish family with the wonderful fried pies were back this month. Yes, I had my share of those apricot pies. Had to buy some to take back to base and for Sandy’s brother James.

Saturday January 2, 2010
Our low last night was 27F. The Blue Moon was just outstanding even though it wasn’t quite full it still lit up the dark skies. The sun was out and we warmed to 53F. The crowd was much better than any day so far this weekend. Wasn’t much of a buying crowd but we at least squeezed out our expenses which is usually all you expect during the winter months.

I’ve just witness probably the most boring bowl game so far. That being the Cotton Bowl it seemed neither team wanted or could score. How many opportunities does a team need on the one yard line to score? Finally thanks to some OSU miscues Ole Miss stepped up to the plate and scored twice in the closing minutes and pulled out a  21-7 win. It was good to hear Pat Summerall’s voice calling the play by play again.  Watching the Cotton Bowl from the Cowboy Stadium in Arlington didn’t seem the same. I much prefer the old outdoor Cotton Bowl stadium played in Dallas.

We took time out from football this evening and watched the classical “Old Yeller” movie for the umpteenth time. The story is so sentimental as well as a good message about responsibility’s and manhood.  Hollywood no longer make these kind of family oriented movies. Today they have to have killing, drugs or sex for their movies.
I don’t remember the last time Sandy and I went to see a movie. Outside of Lonesome Dove, Open Range, Crossfire Trail and Monte Walsh etc they just don't make good westerns anymore either.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.