Houston… We Have Snow In Lone Star TX

  Yep! as I post this journal we have a pretty good snow fall here in northeast Texas. This is our fourth snowfall since we retired to this area ten years ago. At the rate it is falling  now I’m sure we will have a pretty good accumulation by this afternoon. I’ve called my SIL Pam in Longview and asked her if she wanted to drive up and make snow angels and snowmen. She said she would pass. My BIL James has a dually Dodge truck with four wheel drive and he said later this evening if it keeps this up he will grab some chains and head out towards I-30 to earn a little money pulling people who drive crazy in this stuff out of the ditches. If it does keep this up I will post some more pictures for my family down south of here.

Yesterday we took a drive into Longview and on our way in we finally stopped at an old cemetery we’ve passed a hundred times to learn a little about its history. The Cemetery was the Old Coffeeville Cemetery. Coffeeville is a ghost town in Upsure County, East Texas. It hosted a Civil War training camp, but after the war it was bypassed by the Southern Pacific railway. Most of the grave markers were so old you could not make out the information on them. Those that you could see seem to be dated in the mid 1800’s and tied to the Civil War.

  Over all I bet there wasn’t but 25-30 grave markers in the cemetery. One particular one stood out as perhaps the oldest in the plot. This was just a pile of rocks and the head stone was just a large rock with no markings. We also found a Walker grave marker which is Sandy’s maiden name. May have to do a little ancestry search to see if they are part of the Walker clan.

After this stop we drove to the AT&T Wireless store to look at cell phones. Sandy’s 2 year contract was up and she said I could use her renewal date to up grade my Go Phone which replaced the Motorola phone I dropped in the water bucket when doing the floors sometime back.

Well guess what with all the smart phones now you have to take out a data plan which costs between $20-$30. So, Instead of getting one of these I told Sandy to go ahead an update her Iphone 3G to the 3GS and I would take her old 3G. We are now a Iphone family. We set around last night playing and adding Apps to our phones. I guess when you are retired and have incumbent weather like we are having this winter there’s nothing better than a family jam session of the Ol Iphones. Didn’t mean this to be so long and probably boring to most  but unlike those who are in the Southwest part of America there just not a lot going on. Other than the snow of course which by the way has really accumulated. Maybe 4”-6” before its over.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

SUPER BOWL XLIV

  Who Dat won the Super Bowl? The New Orleans Saints, that’s who. Ain’t kidding. They can now put away those paper bags.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Our Day In Shreveport

Sandy and I were up Friday morning a little earlier than normal. BIL James wanted us to join him at Arnold’s for breakfast. He was headed to Tyler TX to purchase a John Deere tractor with a back hoe. His job was requiring more usage of this type of machinery and rather than rent/lease one he decided to just buy one.

After breakfast we headed out to VA Shreveport LA for my Echo Cardiogram. We left earlier as Sandy wanted to get in some shopping before my 2pm appointment. We decided we would drive buy the new RV Park that's being built off I-20. We took exit 3 near the Flying J and turned left on Greenwood Drive and drove about 2 miles and there she was Southern Living RV Park. They had most of the sites completed and probably half occupied. The office and the laundry room have not been completed. They have a park host in one of the sites up front phone number 318-470-7671. We drove through the park and glad we did as the RV’s that were parked on the south end all have 3” to 4” wooden blocks under their right wheels. The ground has a definite slope north to south. The closer the site was to the freeway the worse it got. Also the sites were not concrete as we first thought. The roadway’s are concrete but the sites were gravel. I am sure as they get more amenities this will be a nice park for overnighters and/or casino goers. Just make sure you have some blocks with you. The casinos are about 11-13 miles further east on I-20.

We went to some of Sandy's stores Target, World Market, Bed and Bath, and Best Buy. Sandy has been wanting to play her Ipod Classic or Touch through our home entertainment center so we would get the quality sound through our speaker system. Sure enough she found exactly what was required a Audio two RCA jack with a single mini jack post for this connection. When we got back to the MH she connected it up and it worked fine. Good job Sandy!

We arrived at VA about 1pm and set in the parking lot for a while before going to my ECHO appointment. Got there about 45 minutes early but they saw me right away and finished about 30 minutes later. I’ve never had one of these so you bet I was surprised seeing my heart working on the monitors screen. The sound…. well I could have done without that. The swish….swish…..swish of the blood flowing and the valves opening and closing appeared to be doing their jobs. They tell be it will be sometime next week before they will know anything. A cardiologist has to review it. While there I had my blood checked at the Coumadin clinic. I am getting closer where I need to be and won’t have it checked again for two weeks.

I guess we want see the sun for a while. We were suppose to have sun today but he never made it. Another front is headed our way Monday and we are to get colder again. Sure wish spring would hurry up and get here.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Wet But Busy Day For Sandy That Is

The rains settled in early this morning (around 2:30am) and they never let up. It has literately rained all day and it looks like it will stay through the night. Unfortunately this was the day Sandy had to take her mom to her two doctors, lab for blood work and visit with her sister in Longview in between the doctor appointments. BIL James called about 6am and asked me to join him for breakfast at Arnold's. Sandy left to pick up her mom around 6:30 am (she didn’t get home till 5pm) and I stayed home watched TV, napped and read email/blogs. Tuff life I know  but someone has to do it. I did get around to the dishes and vacuuming chores while she was gone.
Today was the TCM Classic Movies on World War II. One of the movies was the story of Paul Tibbets the pilot who flew Enola Gay and dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. I had forgotten a lot about this historic event but the movie refreshed my memory and I also went to Wikipedia to enlighten myself even more.

Tonight I am watching the Budweiser Shootout Practice and it sure feels good to see NASCAR returning to TV. I can’t wait for the big race The Daytona 500 that starts Sunday February 14th. I understand the NASCAR bosses have lightened up on the bump-drafting rules for Daytona and Talladega. So, now its back in the drivers hands and I honestly believe we will see better and more exciting racing. Speaking of exciting no less than twenty minutes into the practice session tonight they had a seven car pile-up. Bring it on baby!!!

I received a call from the realtor inquiring if my mom had a valid photo ID like a drivers license. I told her I was sure she did but it was not a valid license as mom is 92 years young and has not driven her car in at least eight years. It turns out that she will need this during the closing which we are hoping will be next week now. I’m told its something to do with The Patriot Act that is requiring this documentation???

Tomorrow we travel to VA Shreveport for my ECHO cardiogram. Keep me in your prayers that this turn out okay.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

A Day At VA Shreveport

We returned from Canton Monday morning arriving in Lone Star around 10.30 am. This was after we topped off our propane tank. After getting the motor home plugged in and set up we took what little earnings we made for the month to the bank in Mt Pleasant. We also picked up supplies for Sandy’s mom and ourselves at the local Wal-Mart.

Sandy and I were up early today as I had a full schedule of clinics and blood work at VA Shreveport. My doctor has put me on Coumadin and until I get the PT/INR to the level he fells it needs to be I will have to have the ol’ blood checked at least once a week. This stuff is pretty serious as if I get my blood to thin I could bleed to death. After this I journeyed down to the Sleep Apnea clinic to see if I qualify for a CPAP machine. I learned I must first undergo a sleep in at VA where they will place all these electrodes on my body and monitor me sleeping one night. Boy! I guess this is the price I’m having to pay for not taking better care of myself.

On our way over to VA we saw the evidence of the tornado near Waskom TX that came through there about three weeks ago. That was the week we had four tornado warnings in our area and the one that touched down in Canton. There was heavy damaged to several homes and many trees knocked down. The picture of the buildings didn’t pan out.
Shreveport now has a new RV Park just off I-20 exit 5 that finally has opened. Don’t know the name of the park as they have no sign up yet but when we drove by today the park was just about full already. We’ve watched the progress of this park each time we have gone to Shreveport. There are no trees and the sites and road appear to be all concrete with grass between each site. There are pull troughs and back ends and the best we could tell fairly good spacing between sites. We will check this out this Friday when we go back for my Echo cardiogram. Like I said “had I known”.

  Sandy’s mom Alice will be 89 years young tomorrow. So, the family had a surprise birthday party for her tonight at her favorite restaurant “David Beards” all you can eat catfish. Believe me this lady can eat the fish. I didn’t do to bad myself. Our little group went through several platters of  fried catfish, french fries, cold slaw, hush puppies and fried shrimp.

Also in attendance where the following:

Sandy’s sister Pam and her husband Mike

Sandy’s brother James and his wife Bev

We all came home stuffed!

Happy Birthday Mom Alice!!

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.