Making Dishcloths

I found this thermal baby blanket at Goodwill.  It's all-cotton in a pastel plaid.  It was coming apart on one end, so I didn't feel too guilty cutting it apart to make dishcloths.
I've been wanting to knit some dishcloths, but when I saw this I realized I could make them much quicker by cutting the blanket apart and hemming the edges.  I'll get to knitting some soon; maybe when these wear out.  In the meantime, these will happily suffice!

TracFone is the Answer for Us

Mui has a Government-issue Blackberry, which he will lose when he retires in a few months. I have had (until earlier this year) Sprint cell service with a monthly contract that came to about $10 with all the taxes and fees included — a grandfathered plan that was offered to Government employees way back when cell phones were considered a luxury. Calls were extra. Since I seldom used the phone, my monthly bill rarely exceeded $12.00. The phone really was for emergency use.

Initially, we thought we’d keep the Sprint plan and get Mui an additional phone after the Blackberry was no more. But the more we read about the lack of Sprint service in off-the-beaten path places, the more leery we became about that plan.

Next, we looked at iPhones with Verizon service.

I’m one of those people who hates — and I don’t use that word lightly — talking on the phone. If I can get away with it, I have Mui handle anything that requires dealing with someone on the phone. To me, phones are a necessary evil — be they mobile or landline.

Add to that the fact that neither of us likes to browse the web with our cell phones. Who can see anything on those tiny screens? Not me! I’d much rather do my browsing on a big screen where I don’t have to strain my eyes so much. We also already have an aircard for our internet needs — one that we aren’t willing to give up (yet) for Verizon’s more limited data plans.

With all that in mind, paying for a high-priced contract was not something I wanted to do.

So what to do? A chance visit to Gypsy’s Blog turned our attention towards TracFone. I noticed Russ (of Travels in Therapy) had left a comment on Gypsy’s blog that they were using these phones and were very happy with them. He was kind enough to answer some questions for me, and we were all but sold. Further searches of the web revealed mostly happy customers (yeah, unhappy ones are out there as well), so we decided to take the plunge. After all, the phones were reasonably priced, and without a contract to worry about, we could change our minds later if necessary.

TracFone is a prepaid mobile phone provider; they have contracts with the ‘known’ wireless carriers. They offer a variety of phone models to choose from — both CDMA and GSM; and ranging from simple flip-phones to ones with screens and Qwerty keyboards. They offer airtime cards ranging from 30 minutes for 30 days to 1500 minutes for 365 days. All reasonably priced with no contracts. Bundled minutes are also available should you use up your minutes earlier than expected. And minutes carryover if not used by the end of the period for which you purchased them.

So what did we get? We ordered two LG 501C phones with Qwerty keyboards (will make texting easier) and double lifetime minutes. We added the 1500-minute airtime cards, so we each ended up with 3,060 minutes to use through April . Yeah, I know … the math doesn’t add up, does it? Each phone came with a 60-minute/2-month airtime card — an unexpected bonus. The minutes can be used for calls, text messages (you get three for the price of 1 minute), and even web browsing.

the LG 501C was our choice from the models available; that the phone is feather-light is a bonus.

Activating the phone took a matter of minutes.

The cell phone is ready for use and Mui’s happy with how easy set-up was.

With these phones, we’re a bit more connected than we initially wanted to be, but web access will be handy for emergencies and we have no beef with that. And yes, there is a built-in camera, which I understand is not the greatest quality. We don’t really care that much about taking photos with our phones anyway, so we don’t see that as a problem.

While we’ve read on the web that TracFone does not excel in customer service. Our experience thus far has been quite the opposite. Our emails to them have been answered within 24 hours; the two phones we ordered were shipped promptly (I did have to be home to sign for them); and activating the phones and adding airtime has been a piece of cake.

So, will TracFone be the long-term answer to our cell phone needs? We’ll have to see how things go once we get on the road, but so far so good. Mui still has all of his minutes; I’ve got 2,985.50 minutes left. That means I’ve used only 74.50 minutes since we bought the phones in February — I did say that I don’t like using the phone much, didn’t I ;-)

Paralympics

With the closing ceremony of the Paralympics about to start, here's a themed window - an osteopath's clinic which always has a topical window display.

Green Screen

Those of you with larger lots may see little need to plant trees and shrubs for privacy, but where houses are crowded onto quarter-acres, there are some of us who find a green screen is not just a nicety, but is essential for sanity. Two pecans, probably planted in the late 1970’s, shade the right half of the back yard.

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When we first hauled our 100-plus pots to this house in the summer of .., that part of the yard looked and felt leafy and private, but late that fall the leaves fell, revealing not only the bare boughs, but the surrounding roofs, walls and windows. This depressing vista proved that almost everything along the fences of our adjoining yards was deciduous – pecans, crepe myrtles, ash trees, oaks, tall Mockoranges… even a magnolia ID’d as evergreen turned out to be a deciduous saucer type instead. So the next spring we added some broadleaf evergreens along the back fence, and also planted young trees on the treeless left side of the yard. When we’re sitting outside, it's not exactly our own little kingdom, but the loquat helps, and the six-foot ‘privacy fence’ makes a good background, and the greenery will fill in eventually.
While we’re waiting for that sense of enclosure to develop, let’s see how tall everything is now.
Our idea is that once these crepe myrtles get their crowns above the fence line, they’ll soften the horizontal line of the wood, and their irregular branches will break up views of roofs and house walls. The tips on the left one stretch to 6’ 6” now, and the right crepe myrtle has just hit 6-feet. By the end of this summer we may be able to tell whether our theory will work.

Halfway between the crepe myrtles is a tiny evergreen with potential. This is Pinus pinea, the Italian Stone Pine. I bought it at some garden club sale at Zilker Park a couple of years ago, and it's supposed to do well here. At the time it was an unbranched sapling, about 10” tall, growing in a plastic tube for $1. Now it has branched out, and reached the amazing height of 17”. This pine is seen in classic Italian paintings, and is the source for pinenuts. Who could resist an Italian classic for one buck?
You've seen our Magnolia “Little Gem’ folded over in the ice photos.
'Little Gem' was measured at 56” last February, and it has grown some, but not much, to 60”. But as you can see, there's more than 4" of new wood on the individual branches: Apparently, when the weight of January’s ice fanned the tree branches outward, some of the height was transmuted into breadth.
This loquat was a foot-tall seedling with a few leaves when I got it in ... It’s been in the ground for over a year and has reached 9’6” tall, and can actually cast a little shade on the patio. It's also branching out, so it's starting to look like a real tree, instead of a sapling.

Diva-of-the-Dirt Buffy gave me another foot-tall loquat seedling in spring ... I keep moving it to larger and larger containers, while occasionally taking off the bottom leaves. This loquat is now 35-inches tall.

We need beauty and fragrance as well as privacy, so we planted a small, evergreen shrub in the Triangle Garden. It's called Texas Mountain Laurel, botanically Sophora secundfolia, from the pea family, totally unrelated to the Eastern Laurels. At 26” inches tall, this slow-grower won’t make much impact for awhile, but it has a few flower buds!

In this photo from .., you can see what we hope for this spring.
We had three mountain laurels at our previous Austin house, and took a closeup of the beautiful, fragrant purple- blue flowers. The fragrance is described as grape Kool-aid or grape bubble gum.
It might be easier to catch the fruity fragrance once the flowers are at shoulder level rather than near our knees.
Do any of you grow Michelia figo, also called Banana shrub? It’s related to Magnolias, and the small flowers really do smell like bananas. I bought a one-foot, one-gallon plant in fall .., so at 38-inches, it’s done well, but will have to do a lot of growing if it's going to reach the fence top. Off to the right there are two unseen evergreen shrubs, a 40" Loropetalum, and a 30" Podocarpus, sometimes called Buddhist Pine.
Last February I remembered to measure the camellia and recorded it as 55” tall. So what happened – a year later it measures only 54"!! Since the branches show new growth, I guess this is another case where the shrub is now growing outward instead of upward.

Philo estimated the larger Pecan to be 40’ tall, and it's probably been here a quarter of a century. But we don't need our plants to be 40-feet tall - eight or ten will do, and we like watching things grow, so we'll try to be patient as we wait for our green & private Eden to develop.

Playing Catch-Up

It was a wet, drizzly and muddy day today - what better way to celebrate the muck than to invite a new pal into the arena: 7 month old MacKenzie, a red/yellow lab who Avalon adored!
And here's a movie
of my sis and I playin' with the new girl-pal!
Next up... I actually got to visit my totally pawesome brother, Jamie a couple of weeks ago. I absolutely adored playing with him and will always look up to him... well - he's waaaaaay bigger than moi!
And a week before that, you would not have believe how cold it got. Well... unless Momma took a pitchur of the hail that came down among all the pretty cherry tree blossoms!
And this might help explain why we've been so MIA. Avalon and me has been working ever so hard on our obedience routines, practicing three times a week and visiting our teach, Barbara and oh... gots a headache thinking about it all!!! But about a month ago, I did manage to earn my second leg of Open A (whoopee!). Next week, I'll be trying for my final leg - imagine... a CDX! Woo hoo... let's hope I can remember all the things I supposed to be doing! Will keep in touch!

Manawa 12 Hour

Little cool this morning (37 when I headed out). After breakfast, I went to Lake Manawa Mountain Bike trail. Visited, shot some pics of the race, ate some "THORBurgers".
I did not stay for the whole race. Went home for a little and picked up mattes for the Bluffs Arts Council Photo Contest.
The sky started spitting some rain, just enough to settle the dust. As it was nearing sunset, I decided to head home - was getting tired. Ended up processing the pics I took.
9/17 - My race photos are on my web site.

Ponds at night and a Leander RR

Over the hot, hot weekend we saw 25 of the 28 ponds on the Austin Pond Society Tour – if you drove fast and were efficient you might make them all, but for those of us who get into conversations, two days is too short! We took just a few photos - you’ll have to wait for more from the Austin Pond Society website.
Two of the locations were in Westlake, open on Saturday evening. Both featured impressive, beautiful ponds, streams and gardens, softly lit with lanterns. One even had violins sending classical music over the terraces. Many people loved the romantic ambience of the ponds at night, but it didn’t quite work for me. Climbing stone steps and feeling with one’s foot for an unknown path was rather awkward in the dark. For a plant person, it was very frustrating to see vague shapes and shadows of the leaves, and to not see the colors or flowers. But you did get an idea of how cool the parties must be at those homes!
These photos were taken in Leander, northwest of Austin, where the pond owner told me that a base for a miniature railroad track had come with the house, buried under the soil in a hilled-up area. Previous owners started it but never got very far. When the new owners recently built their pond, they decided to use the base and work the railroad into the design. This imaginative garden is still in progress – a viewing platform was built just the day before the tour folk arrived- soon the owners will use bonsai trees to complete the landscape and give a sense of proportion to the layout.
For the plant person there were huge stands of Pride of Barbados in the garden area, and the ponds were lovely, with waterlilies in bloom. In addition to the cute factor, there’s a historical factor: this miniature train is a replica of the one that once carried marble to Austin, to build the State Capitol.

Symposium Day 3 and CARP Ride

My day started with a bike ride downtown to the Convention Center. A beautiful morning.
Like yesterday, there were rolls and coffee for Trail Talk. I sat in on "The Impact of Trail Events". The talk centered around trail fundraising events.
All attendees gathered for a general session to discuss the future of trails. Four well versed trail advocates presented to "living room" talk of the history of the National Trails. Then participants got their "mike time". Comments were recorded and plans are to have the comments on the American Trails web site.
Broke into smaller groups for Concurrent sessions. I attended one titled: Improving the Built Environment: How urban trail systems and Complete Streets Provide Connections Within Cities.
In the afternoon was Mobile Workshop time. For me, it was mountain biking at Camp Robinson - lead by CARP (Central Arkansas Recreational Pedalers. OH it was a great afternoon to be in the woods, on my bike!
The day ended with the American Trails 19th National Trails Banquet.
OH, by the way, my trail bike (Trek Fuel EX7), topped 1100 miles today.

Oopsies

Bob has been doing so many things lately, including working hard, trying to get us set up as Texas residents and, last Thursday, he took my car to get a new battery at the Costco near his work. He planned in advance and took his tools with him to remove the old battery.

When he got to Costco, he took out the battery and carried it in to Customer Service. The battery was still under warranty so he turned it in, and they gave him a gift card to use in the Tire Center to buy a new battery. At the counter in the Tire Center, he was told they had discontinued the battery for the Ford Escape (seems it has its own special battery). So, he had to take his gift card back to Customer Service, retrieve the battery, and put it back in the car. Good thing the battery wasn't dead!

As far as registering our vehicles, we're learning by experience. Apparently we were supposed to get our vehicles insured for Texas BEFORE we tried to register our vehicles. So Bob's morning at the County Tax Asessor's Office was only a little productive as he was able to get some forms we needed to fill out.

This morning, I had follow-up blood work drawn, went to WalMart for a few items, came home did laundry, vacuumed, and scrubbed floors in the kitchen and bathroom.

Bob called and asked if I had time to listen to a funny story. I thought he was going to tell me a joke.

Today, Bob went to work out at the gym as he does most work-day mornings. After his workout, he showered, went to dress for work. T-shirt, underwear, shirt, socks, uh-oh, no pants!



He forgot to pack them in his gym bag. Poor Bob had to get back in his sweaty work-out shorts for a drive over to WalMart for new pants and a belt. Whoops! All worked out well in the end.

Last night, I got into bed and there was a big, cold wet spot by my feet. After much detective work, I found a leak in the casing around the Fantastic fan. It was late, so I put towels around my legs and on top of the quilt. It didn't rain today so no more dripping.

Bob will check out the roof on Tuesday after work to try to find what needs to be fixed. I appreciate all he does to keep us in repair and moving forward in our full-time RVing life.

Remember our refrigerator that needed a new gasket? Our first repairman did not follow-up with us for a month or more, even after I e-mailed him all our information for our Good Sam Extended Service Warranty. We ended up calling another mobile RV repair company. They came out last week, ordered the part and will be here tomorrow to fix (actually they have to REPLACE) the refrigerator door. They will also replace our front screen with a heavier duty metal screen so the cats can't shred it. And the inner seal on our toilet needs replacing so they will fix that too.

All for now. Stay tuned for updates.

Spiritual rainforest

It was one of those mornings when the humidity is about 169%, when you don't bother to check the temperature because it's totally irrelevant, and when the very air itself feels like the pressure is building, and something is going to give any second. Years go I remember a short ride in these conditions to visit a friend in another town on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. I remember tiring very quickly that day, simply because of the impossibility of getting sufficient air into my lungs to perform at a high level. I've since learned my lesson.

Today I went for a more consistent pace, taking my time early, gradually getting into the ride until I'd left the coast behind, and headed inland where the humidity would be diminished. Still the feeling of something about to break persisted, and in the rainforested valley at Austinville, the rain started. It wasn't heavy, and it probably only reached what I'd call moderate in a couple of instances. Still, it was a delight to behold in the rainforest. It's an almost spiritual experience to ride through a rainforest while it is actually raining.

I actually took my time here, wanting to savour the experience (although that didn't seem to hinder my average speed too much, not that I was really bothered with that). Wanting to savour the experience was probably the right move. I've often said in the past that the biggest mistake a person can make on a ride is to come home -- that proved to be the case this morning. The day just went downhill from there. I won't go into a huge rant about it, suffice to say that my contempt for the less intelligent members of the community that I have the misfortune of being unable to avoid encountering grows.