Under belly work

Saturday, March 21, 2015 - Uvalde, TX

This morning it was raining, so we decided we would stick around the fish hatchery and finish getting the under belly cover repaired.  The weather did clear up and Mike did get a lot of work done on the under belly.  It should be ready to go back on the trailer very soon.

It was another wonderful day!

First State Bank of Uvalde

Thursday, March 19, 2015 – Uvalde, TX

We took the afternoon off today to go see the art work and antiques at the First State Bank of Uvalde.  When someone told us we needed to go take a tour of the bank I thought they had to be kidding.  We tried to go there on a Saturday, but they only have banker’s hours here at this branch.  They are open 9:00am – 3:00pm Monday through Friday.  When we walked in I thought for sure they would look at me funny when I asked if we could have a tour of the bank, but Vennessa greeted us as we walked in and we let her know we wanted to take a tour and she said she would be happy to take us on the tour.  This is her job!

It is an extensive collection of art and antiques owned by the former Governor Dolph Briscoe.  There is art works from Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Remington and Warren.  And beautiful antiques.

There is also a mounted head of a bull from the Kothmann family.  The plaque below the head stated the bull lived out its natural life before being mounted.  And it just so happens an executive at the bank is the grandson of the gentleman that owned the bull.  Mike wanted to ask him a question, so after his customer left Vennessa asked him to come out.  He came out and told us about the day a younger gentleman walked in and said he is the great-grandson of the man that sold the bull to Mr. Kothmann’ grandfather.  And to top it off he was sure his dad had a picture of the bull.  Well a few weeks after the younger gentleman had come in, the father came in with the picture.  Mr. Kothmann now has a picture of the bull when it was young to add to the mounted head and article.  What a small world.  :)

We were there for about 1.5 hours.  It was a really nice tour!  If you would like to see some of the art and antiques in the bank check out First State Bank of Uvalde

We were hoping to go to the Rexall Drug Store in Uvalde, but it was closed by the time we got out of the bank.  They also close at 3:00pm.  They are supposed to have an old soda fountain there.  Hopefully we will make it there before we leave the area. 

It was another wonderful day!

Pitch-In

Tuesday, March 17, 2015 - Uvalde, TX


This morning Dave from the USDA did a presentation on why they were doing the copper sulfate study. They are hoping to get a USDA approval on copper sulfate to use as a way to prevent a fungus on food fish eggs.  They have already done this study on stripe bass and catfish.  Here they are going to do it on pup fish.  :) It was a very interesting presentation.

For lunch we had a pitch-in.  Mark brought some of his home made deer meat sausage.  This was the first time I have ever had it and it was really good!  Also, Thomas and Patricia were presented with a pin for having reached 1000 volunteer hours each!  Mike already has over 250 volunteer hours.  We will be getting a National park pass, which will be good for a year!  :)

It was another wonderful day!

Railing Installed

Monday, March 16, 2015 - Uvalde, TX

This evening the railing was ready to be installed.  We did a test fit and of course it did not fit.  So we took it up to the shop and did a minor adjustment.  It is now fixed and installed.  No more boards holding up the gray tank!  :)

Also this evening a couple of people from the USDA arrived.  They will be here for the next couple of days to do a copper sulfate study.

It was another wonderful day!

Getting the new Rail Ready

Sunday, March 15, 2015 - Uvalde, TX

After the late night last night we once again slept in and went to noon Mass.  :)  After Mass we ran by WalMart to pick up some paint to paint the new rail for the gray tank.  Then we got home, eat breakfast (?), I am not sure you would call a meal at 2:30 in the afternoon breakfast.  :)  Then we were finally ready for the day!

Mike got the railing all painted and started working on repairing the cover.  Hopefully we will be able to come up with a good idea on how to fix the missing corner.  I cleaned the trailer, while Mike worked on the cover.  It was a short day!  :)

It was another wonderful day!

Working on the Trailer

Saturday, March 14, 2015 - Uvalde, TX

The weather was very nice the rest of the week and we did not really do anything exciting.  :)  We are down to our last few weeks here in Uvalde, TX, so we thought we better get to work on fixing the underbelly cover on our trailer.  So we got started today! 

It did not take us very long to get the cover off, but once we did we discovered that our gray tank had fallen off one of the rails that holds it up. But the cover is off!

The only reason the gray tank did not come all the way down was because it was wedged against the railing.  It took us some time to get the railing out, but we accomplished it!  The tank is now being held in place by a couple of boards.  We have left the valves open until we can get the new railing in place.  We discovered a reason why it came off the railing is there is only about an 1/8" overlap.  :(

After a long day of working on the rig we decided to go and sit down by the campfire with Thomas and Patricia.  We enjoyed a few drinks!  Oh my, what a night!  :)  We finally headed home around 1:40am.  :)

It was another wonderful day!

"The end of that one"

Monday, March 9, 2015 - Uvalde, TX

This evening Mike decided he would take out his silver and pink Speedy Bee for it's maiden flight.  Here are a couple of pictures from the maiden flight.

Thomas caught the crash on video.  It is a 5+ minute video, but the end is worth it!  LOL

 Plane Crash

It was another wonderful day!  :)

Another Rainy Day

Sunday, March 8, 2015 - Uvalde, TX

Another rainy day!  We slept in and went to noon mass.  Not much else happened today!

It was another wonderful day!

Garner Museum

Saturday, March 7, 2015 – Uvalde, TX

This morning we were going to go to the museum at the First State Bank of Uvalde, but it is only open Monday through Friday from 9:00am to 3:00pm.  Banker hours.  :)  So then we drove over to see if the Garner Museum was open and it was.

It is not a big museum, but it is a very nice tribute to James Garner.  This was his house here in Uvalde.

We also drove by this strange tree and we just had to take a picture.  :)

It was another wonderful day!

Rainy Week

Friday, March 6, 2015 – Uvalde, TX

The beginning of the week was rainy and now it is cold.  We were sure that by March it would be very warm.  At least the sun came out today.  :)

Today Mike was working on the wiring of the trailer that is here for visiting biologist.  When he picked up the inverter several geckos came running out.  He came into our trailer and got a container to put them in and I just had to go look.  By the time he was done getting them out he had 9 live ones and 3 dead.  Everyone was calling it the gecko hotel.  :)  We should have gotten a picture.

They ended up releasing the geckos in the shop.  Evidently they will keep the bug population down.

It was another wonderful day!

Rainy Day

Tuesday, March 3, 2015 - Uvalde, TX

Today was a rainy day.  We did not do much.  I did my laundry again.  Mike was looking at the drinks I brought back and we realized it was just soft drinks.  :)  Not hard root beer.  LOL!  :)

It was another wonderful day!

Head back to Uvalde

Monday, March 2, 2015 – Fort Myers, FL

Today was my last day here.  Once again the weather was just beautiful.  When we got up we put on our swimming suits and headed for the pool.  I really enjoy swimming. :)

After taking my shower and getting ready for the day I threw my dirty clothes in the washing machine.  While we were waiting for my laundry to finish we pulled out the Qwirke tiles and played a couple of games of Qwirkle.  Dad won the first game and then I finally won one.  :)

Once my laundry was done, I quickly packed everything up and we headed to Pincers Crab Shack for lunch.  The food was very good and the waitress was great!

After lunch we headed for Total Wine and More, which is a liquor store that the waitress from Ford’s Garage told to go to if we wanted to buy any of the beers they sold at the restaurant.  We wanted to buy some of that hard root beer.  Wow what a store.  If they don’t have the kind of liquor, wine or beer you want, then you are just too picky!  :)  We picked up some hard root beer and hard red cream soda beer.   We bought 3 six packs and I took 2 bottles from each 6 pack and stuffed them into my luggage.  Sure do hope they make it home ok.  :)

It was getting to be time for me to get to the airport to catch my plane back to Uvalde.  Dad says next year they want me to stay for a whole week and I just might take them up on that.  :)

The flight from Fort Myers to Dallas landed about 25 minutes late, so I only had a 10 minutes to make it to my next flight.  I did me some running.  I always hate running through an airport.  I made, but did not have any time to spare.  Both flights were good and when I got to San Antonio Mike was waiting for me.  :)

Once we got home, around midnight, I wanted to check to make sure the bottles made it, but cap on one of the loosened up and I had wet smelly clothes.  Guess I will be doing laundry tomorrow.  :)

Mike said it has been a heavy mist every day since I left.  Looking at the forecast it looks like it is supposed to last for the rest of the week.

It was another wonderful day!

Dinner with Uncle Mike and Valerie

Sunday, March 1, 2015 – Fort Myers, FL

This morning Mom, Dad and I headed for 9:00am Mass at St. Andrew’s.  After church we went back to the house.  Patsy pulled out her Qwirkle tiles and we taught Mom and Dad how to play.  This is a game that Sue showed Patsy and I how to play last year and I really enjoyed it.  After a couple of games of Qwirkle we headed to the Boat House for lunch.  When we got there the line was so long we decided we would try Ford’s Garage. 

The food here was very good and so was the service. They have many different kinds of beers, so Patsy and I decided we would each get a sampler.  You could pick 4 different kinds from their list of draft beers.  I had Imperial Red, something orange, sweet water 402 and sweet water blue.  Patsy ordered a couple of different ones, along with a bottle of hard root beer.  We tried the hard root beer first.  I was surprised how much it smelled and tasted like root beer.   That is a drink that could be trouble for me. I also really liked the sweet water blue.

Earlier today Mom got a hold of Uncle Mike and Valerie and invited them over for dinner.  When they arrived we were in the pool relaxing and dinner was in the oven.  Patsy made a chicken casserole with chicken, spaghetti sauce, tortellini and green olives.  It was very good!  

After dinner we played a game of Qwirkle and a game of Toss Up, which is a simple dice game.  I could not seem to do well at either one, but we all had a great time.  :)

It was another wonderful day!