The new inflatable bed is working just great so I get a good night's sleep to tackle the next day. We each have a lawn chair to sit in at the end of the day and even their old ginormous TV to watch. I brought my laptop along and my Kindle so I am set for any free time.
We've been busy each day since arrival working on the kids house here in Florida. Helen had gotten a lot done while Steve was in San Antonio handling things. That was a really nice surprise. First thing to tackle back here was the grass. The seed heads were waving high although the grass itself wasn't that long. It's a fairly big yard too. I started washing some windows and screens as well as cleaning up spots with a magic eraser. Even though most of the rooms have been repainted, having movers come in to pack up always leaves clean-up. I also did a bunch of paint touch up. Just little dabs here and there that needed cleaning up.
Wednesday the master bedroom and the office/bonus room had new carpeting installed. It looks great and really changes the look of things. So yesterday, Steve and I spent the entire day cutting, piecing, and installing baseboard. We completed the master bedroom, the laundry area, the master closet, and are still working on the office/bonus room. Helen had painted all the baseboard while Steve was gone which helped a lot. They have an enormous 4 shelf high shoe rack running the length of the master closet. I painted all the boards and blocks for it in the office the day before they came to do the new carpet. Worked out really well as I wasn't outside in the heat not to mention the rain. That is all back in place now too. Today we will finish the baseboard in the office/bonus room. I think we are going to need at least one more piece. Then we have the caulking to do.
Got to run. Steve is back with coffee.
The Longdogs
Gretchen, Willy, and Harley have all taken their roles as navigator seriously! Now it's Xena's turn with guidance from her role models.
On the Road Again
After a couple of days of trying to bring some order out of the mess at the new house, Steve and I hit the road for Florida. No, not in the RV, just in the RAV5. Steve is a great traveling companion and it is fun to have a travel partner anytime. We left at 5:45 AM (not my idea you can bet) and arrived in Panama City at about 7:00 PM.
I think I forgot to mention that I haven't been able to find my camera since I was at the Memorial Day party. Searched my house high and low without any luck so I didn't get any pictures until I remembered that Steve's big camera was in the back seat. So we were already heading into Mobile when I got a few photos.
Ah yes, Florida is not far down the road now.
Mobile has some interesting buildings near the highway.
Is there is light at the end of the tunnel?
The end is in sight. Only a few hours more to Panama City. Thank heavens we just have to make the panhandle and not the middle of the state.
That's right. Rain ahead.
All in all, we had a good trip, stopped at some nice rest areas, got gas a couple of times, and got some barbeque at The Shedd in Ocean Springs, MS. We got to use the HOV lane in Houston which saved us a long wait in traffic. We saw a couple of accidents holding up traffic on the west bound lanes. We had one of those accidents occur right in front of us. An SUV either had a blowout or got hit by another car's blowout and swerved and skidded across eastbound lanes, then the median, and rolled over onto it's side in front of three lanes of west bound traffic. By some miracle, all three lanes of westbound traffic managed to stop before hitting the SUV. If they had their seatbelts on, they were probably shaken but okay.
DIL pulled into their driveway right ahead of us so timing was great. So here we are in Florida....almost totally empty house. We each have a lawn chair. There is a huge very old TV. The washer, dryer, and fridge are selling with the house so we have them along with the stove, microwave and oven. Steve and Helen have some camping pads to sleep on. I brought along an inflatable mattress. We used a bike pump to pump it up. And, while unloading the car, Steve found my camera down between the front seats. I was a happy camper.
About two hours after I went to bed, I woke up on a deflated mattress on the wood floor. Scrambling to get up off the floor to go to the bathroom was not a pretty sight. There won't be a picture of that. Trying to get back to sleep on the floor was not any prettier. I was not a happy camper. Good thing I had a glass of wine for dinner and two Tylenol PMs before bed so I managed to get back to sleep.
Today I painted woodwork and cleaned windows and screens. Helen had to go into work and Steve did the yard and installed a new light fixture. Tonight I went to Walmart and bought a new inflatable bed and a pump that plugs into the wall. I think I'll go with the two Tylenol PMs again.
Somebody please come and buy this nice renovated house next week.
I think I forgot to mention that I haven't been able to find my camera since I was at the Memorial Day party. Searched my house high and low without any luck so I didn't get any pictures until I remembered that Steve's big camera was in the back seat. So we were already heading into Mobile when I got a few photos.
Ah yes, Florida is not far down the road now.
Mobile has some interesting buildings near the highway.
Is there is light at the end of the tunnel?
Yes, I do believe there is. We just have to get under the river to the other side.
That's right. Rain ahead.
All in all, we had a good trip, stopped at some nice rest areas, got gas a couple of times, and got some barbeque at The Shedd in Ocean Springs, MS. We got to use the HOV lane in Houston which saved us a long wait in traffic. We saw a couple of accidents holding up traffic on the west bound lanes. We had one of those accidents occur right in front of us. An SUV either had a blowout or got hit by another car's blowout and swerved and skidded across eastbound lanes, then the median, and rolled over onto it's side in front of three lanes of west bound traffic. By some miracle, all three lanes of westbound traffic managed to stop before hitting the SUV. If they had their seatbelts on, they were probably shaken but okay.
DIL pulled into their driveway right ahead of us so timing was great. So here we are in Florida....almost totally empty house. We each have a lawn chair. There is a huge very old TV. The washer, dryer, and fridge are selling with the house so we have them along with the stove, microwave and oven. Steve and Helen have some camping pads to sleep on. I brought along an inflatable mattress. We used a bike pump to pump it up. And, while unloading the car, Steve found my camera down between the front seats. I was a happy camper.
About two hours after I went to bed, I woke up on a deflated mattress on the wood floor. Scrambling to get up off the floor to go to the bathroom was not a pretty sight. There won't be a picture of that. Trying to get back to sleep on the floor was not any prettier. I was not a happy camper. Good thing I had a glass of wine for dinner and two Tylenol PMs before bed so I managed to get back to sleep.
Today I painted woodwork and cleaned windows and screens. Helen had to go into work and Steve did the yard and installed a new light fixture. Tonight I went to Walmart and bought a new inflatable bed and a pump that plugs into the wall. I think I'll go with the two Tylenol PMs again.
Somebody please come and buy this nice renovated house next week.
Moving Right Along
My posting has been a little erratic lately since I've been busy trying to help my son and daughter-in-law with their move. They are moving to San Antonio but it is kind of a drawn out process. First, we have a new Dr. in the house. Helen finished her PhD. Yay! Lots of hard work there but it is done and she did it in less than normal time while working a full time job and keeping up her triathlon training. She is definitely the energizer bunny and such a smart and sweet DIL. Second, they have the house in San Antonio now so I was helping out by cleaning the kitchen cupboards and some other things before Steve got back to San Antonio. They had their household goods packed up about two weeks ago in Florida. Steve came west early because he had the kids for the weekend before the movers were to deliver here. We worked on some last minute updates to the new house like caulking and painting in between the kids visit and the furniture delivery. I can't say too much because Helen doesn't know all about it yet. lol.
Then we had the household goods delivery. OMG, if you have never lived through household goods shipment, you have never lived. One company in Panama City packed up the household goods. Then a driver from another company loaded it up in his truck. Finally, it took over a week and a half for it to be delivered to San Antonio. It was actually delivered by another driver because the first one got sent on another job. So the second driver brings it to the house and another company's helpers come to help him unload this. Sounds really convoluted doesn't it? And why you might ask? Well, Congress wants to support small business. Now, don't get me wrong.....I support small business too. But when everyone gets a piece of the pie, the owner of the pie (the household goods) is left to try and prove just who out of this convoluted process is responsible for damaging the goods or the property while they were loading the goods.
On the Florida end of the pickup, they managed to scratch the brand new tiles and tear out the new transitions strips between the new tile and the wood floors. We were much luckier at this end because the driver padded the entrance door frames as well as the door frames into the other rooms. He also padded the banisters going upstairs and rolled out a runway for the carpet going through the downstairs rooms and up the stairs. So that was a good start to the day. They were also very careful bringing all the boxes and furniture in. Even the driver and helpers at this end were really frustrated by the job of marking the items that was done on the other end. They couldn't tell what rooms things belonged in because they were so poorly identified. The driver actually called his company and the other company to let them know how bad it was.
We were all exhausted by the time boxes were marked off the list, unpacked and boxes hauled out. I really hated when my DH insisted on everything being unpacked when we were active duty military and my son wanted most of it unpacked too because these days it is so hard to get rid of all the boxes and packing after the movers leave. And you always need to make them put the beds together and the mirrors on the dressers or you will never see the screws again. I can remember moves when we slept on the mattresses on the floor because the movers could not find any of the screws to put anything together.
As I said, we were fortunate with the crew in San Antonio. They worked hard and they both cared about what they were doing and knew how to do it well. We had lots of bottled water available and brought in pizzas for lunch for everyone. The driver told us he was going to go back to only doing moves for corporations. When a corporation hires a move, the same crew packs it up, drives it directly to the new location, and unpacks it. There is no confusion about who was responsible for damage. He enjoys helping military families but the breaking up of the move to give everyone a piece of the pie is just too stressful on everyone.
Before I retired, I was a contracting officer supervisor for the Air Force so I know about all those laws and rules passed by Congress that we were required to abide by when awarding contracts to businesses. DoD is the easiest target for Congress to use to enforce their special programs. I believe in supporting small business too but it shouldn't be on the backs of military families when they are already stressed by uprooting families and moving. Tearing down one household, moving, and setting up a new household is a stressful and tiring business. It's good when family can help. We began the task of putting things away. That is gonna take some time. Enough said.
And then we were off to Florida to get that house sold......
Then we had the household goods delivery. OMG, if you have never lived through household goods shipment, you have never lived. One company in Panama City packed up the household goods. Then a driver from another company loaded it up in his truck. Finally, it took over a week and a half for it to be delivered to San Antonio. It was actually delivered by another driver because the first one got sent on another job. So the second driver brings it to the house and another company's helpers come to help him unload this. Sounds really convoluted doesn't it? And why you might ask? Well, Congress wants to support small business. Now, don't get me wrong.....I support small business too. But when everyone gets a piece of the pie, the owner of the pie (the household goods) is left to try and prove just who out of this convoluted process is responsible for damaging the goods or the property while they were loading the goods.
On the Florida end of the pickup, they managed to scratch the brand new tiles and tear out the new transitions strips between the new tile and the wood floors. We were much luckier at this end because the driver padded the entrance door frames as well as the door frames into the other rooms. He also padded the banisters going upstairs and rolled out a runway for the carpet going through the downstairs rooms and up the stairs. So that was a good start to the day. They were also very careful bringing all the boxes and furniture in. Even the driver and helpers at this end were really frustrated by the job of marking the items that was done on the other end. They couldn't tell what rooms things belonged in because they were so poorly identified. The driver actually called his company and the other company to let them know how bad it was.
We were all exhausted by the time boxes were marked off the list, unpacked and boxes hauled out. I really hated when my DH insisted on everything being unpacked when we were active duty military and my son wanted most of it unpacked too because these days it is so hard to get rid of all the boxes and packing after the movers leave. And you always need to make them put the beds together and the mirrors on the dressers or you will never see the screws again. I can remember moves when we slept on the mattresses on the floor because the movers could not find any of the screws to put anything together.
As I said, we were fortunate with the crew in San Antonio. They worked hard and they both cared about what they were doing and knew how to do it well. We had lots of bottled water available and brought in pizzas for lunch for everyone. The driver told us he was going to go back to only doing moves for corporations. When a corporation hires a move, the same crew packs it up, drives it directly to the new location, and unpacks it. There is no confusion about who was responsible for damage. He enjoys helping military families but the breaking up of the move to give everyone a piece of the pie is just too stressful on everyone.
Before I retired, I was a contracting officer supervisor for the Air Force so I know about all those laws and rules passed by Congress that we were required to abide by when awarding contracts to businesses. DoD is the easiest target for Congress to use to enforce their special programs. I believe in supporting small business too but it shouldn't be on the backs of military families when they are already stressed by uprooting families and moving. Tearing down one household, moving, and setting up a new household is a stressful and tiring business. It's good when family can help. We began the task of putting things away. That is gonna take some time. Enough said.
And then we were off to Florida to get that house sold......
Memorial Day Get-Together
We were invited to a barbeque held by our neighbors this year to celebrate Memorial Day. Almost everyone from our cul-de-sac came in addition to several neighbors who live behind them. Many of us are military or retired military families so the day is especially meaningful. We had kids from college age down to three years old but there were about the same number of adults as there were kids. Some of the neighbors were new and the ones from the street behind us we had not met so that was really nice too. Carolyn and Kevin fixed ribs, someone brought some hamburgers, there were hot dogs too.
A wide variety of side dishes and appetizers also showed up. For dessert, Carolyn also made a cake and had ice cream. Nobody went away hungry for sure.
The kids had a ball in the pool all afternoon and early evening. They only came out to eat. At first they played individually because they didn't all know each other but later on there was lots of laughter and tag going on.
Kevin gave a wonderful prayer before dinner so that all the kids understood the meaning behind Memorial Day and why we celebrate it. Everyone had a great time.
A wide variety of side dishes and appetizers also showed up. For dessert, Carolyn also made a cake and had ice cream. Nobody went away hungry for sure.
The kids had a ball in the pool all afternoon and early evening. They only came out to eat. At first they played individually because they didn't all know each other but later on there was lots of laughter and tag going on.
Kevin gave a wonderful prayer before dinner so that all the kids understood the meaning behind Memorial Day and why we celebrate it. Everyone had a great time.
An Unwelcome Visitor
A few days ago, I found myself with quite a ruckus going on in the backyard. The longdogs and I had words about it but the noise didn't stop. So I was forced to go outside to the site of the ruckus. Everyone on the ground was carrying on. The dogs on the other side of the fence were also carrying on.
So, this was why the squirrel is not moving. He looked really bad, I mean really sick. I came back in the house. Good thing DH was coming home in a while. I checked a while later and the squirrel was gone! Oh, oh, definitely not good. I checked my whole yard then I told the neighbors behind me and they checked their yard. I went next door and told my other neighbor she needed to check her yard before her dog went out there. She definitely didn't want her dog finding that sick squirrel. She didn't want to be the one to find it but fortunately, my DH arrived home just then. He said he would go over and look but he figured the squirrel just ran away. I knew that squirrel didn't run anywhere; he might have crawled but he didn't run.
The squirrel was just on the other side of the fence. He wasn't going to be running around anymore so DH scooped him up and got rid of the evidence.
So far, no other sick squirrels have been sighted and Weeniedog land is safe once more for fun and games.
No one would listen to reason. This is very unusual. The rules of the game were definitely being violated. Normally, the squirrels tantalize and the longdogs chase. Very little barking is involved. Gretchen and Willy were 10 last month and Harley will be 5 in July. I have to tell you, Gretchen is the fastest. She can fly across that yard faster than you can imagine. But, as I said, there are rules to the game. If the squirrel isn't as fast as he thinks he is, I have actually seen her put on the brakes and come to a screeching halt. The game is only to chase, never to catch. This squirrel just wasn't playing by the rules, he just sat there. Gretchen finally came when I called her because she just hates to get in trouble. So I brought her in the house. The boys, on the other hand, were not coming willingly. So I headed back out to get them. And still the squirrel didn't move. I brought the boys in the house one by one. And still the squirrel didn't move. This was not good.
So, this was why the squirrel is not moving. He looked really bad, I mean really sick. I came back in the house. Good thing DH was coming home in a while. I checked a while later and the squirrel was gone! Oh, oh, definitely not good. I checked my whole yard then I told the neighbors behind me and they checked their yard. I went next door and told my other neighbor she needed to check her yard before her dog went out there. She definitely didn't want her dog finding that sick squirrel. She didn't want to be the one to find it but fortunately, my DH arrived home just then. He said he would go over and look but he figured the squirrel just ran away. I knew that squirrel didn't run anywhere; he might have crawled but he didn't run.
The squirrel was just on the other side of the fence. He wasn't going to be running around anymore so DH scooped him up and got rid of the evidence.
So far, no other sick squirrels have been sighted and Weeniedog land is safe once more for fun and games.
Thanks For Your Love of RVing Mom
I've seen several different posts and comments on Facebook about mother's this Mother's Day weekend. They ranged from tributes to the perfect mom, discussions of moms who just did the best they could, and even some discussion of moms who should probably not have been moms.
Let me tell you about my Mom. She wasn't perfect by any means. But then who is? She was a strong woman with lots of love and a temper. She started her life as a Canadian and became a naturalized American citizen. She was stubborn and determined. My Dad was an American pilot who guided foreign ships through Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior. He was gone and had only five days a month off during the months the Great Lakes were not frozen over. Then he was home full-time December through March. Mom held the family reins during the rest of the year. It seemed to work well for them although I'm sure there was a period of adjustment whenever the reins were handed over. Mom angered easily; Dad had infinite patience and was slow to anger. They complimented each other. Dad was determined that my brothers and I would not miss out on anything just because he had to be gone most of the time in the summer. So he set things up but my Mom carried things out. We didn't miss out on much.
I don't have a great memory but I do remember our first trailer. It was red on the bottom half and silver on the top half. It was very rounded sort of like the TAB trailers you see now and fairly heavy for it's size. It had a bed at the back and a dinette at the front.....no bathroom. We lived in Duluth, Minnesota and Mom would hook the trailer up to the car and haul it and us out to Island Lake frequently on the weekends. There was a free campground with pit toilets.....there were no utilities but lots of other campers. There was a store and tavern across the road that would let you fill up containers with water from their outside faucet. The beach was somewhat gravelly but the water was crystal clear. Now Mom didn't swim; in fact, as hard as it was for us to believe, she was afraid of the water. So, of course, Dad made sure we all had swimming lessons and learned to swim early on. There certainly weren't any lifeguards at the beach. I can remember a terrific thunderstorm where we had pots all over the inside of the RV to catch the leaking water. Shortly after that, my Mom and another very independent neighbor lady recoated the roof of the trailer with some kind of a very thick coating. The neighbor's husband had been a roofing contractor before he died so she had the knowledge and Mom provided the material and half the labor. No more leaks.
Every summer we would head up to Regina, Saskatchewan in Canada to visit my grandpa and other relatives. My youngest brother was born when I was 15 and we still had that trailer when I got my driver's license so I did my share of the driving pulling that trailer that summer. There were long stretches of road to cover.
Dad thought we should also have the opportunity to have a boat. Now with Mom being afraid of the water, that was quite a trick. He convinced her that a pontoon boat was virtually impossible to sink because it had four separate air chambers. Pretty soon we had a pontoon boat and Dad found a place we could tie it up and leave it in a cove across the bridge from the campground. He found a small 10 HP motor that Mom and I could carry from the car trunk to the boat, attach it, and hook up the gas tank which we also had to carry. My brother Mike was two years younger than me but he helped when he got big enough. Then I would drive the boat across the lake to the beach while Mom pulled the trailer over.
My boys were about 3 and 8 when Dave and I got our first camper. By then, my Mom was on her second or third motorhome. Dad would travel with her and my brother Tim in the winter. Our camper was a pop-up. You can read about our first adventure here. My 13 year old brother came along on our first trip with the pop-up. We were enjoying hotdogs over a campfire when he made a comment about this being real camping. When I asked him what he meant, he said Mom never really camped because they didn't have campfires. I asked him how many of his friends got to travel around the country in an RV....he said a few had campers. Then I asked him how many of his friends mothers drove the camper across the country and took them places all by themselves. I think he got the point that his mother was very unique and he was very lucky. Mom was in her mid-fifties then. A few years later, Dad got glaucoma and had to retire. He and Mom still traveled with her doing all the driving. On one of their trips home from visiting us in Spokane, they had a fire in their motorhome. Mom got the motorhome off the road and got my Dad, my brother, the dog, and her purse out of the RV before she fell apart. The motorhome was nothing but rubble and ashes by then. A few months later, she found another motorhome. My Dad was 70 when he died and my Mom died several years later when she was only 67. But she lived a full life and was still planning trips when she passed away suddenly.
So.....thanks for setting that strong independent woman example for me Mom. I came prepared to handle things on my own before I ever became a military wife and had to do it. My husband was able to go TDY or deploy without worrying about leaving a basket case wife behind. I ran the house and took the kids camping and boating. Of course, he has to deal with a woman with a mind of her own too but I think it's a fair trade off. And I hope my boys have the same good memories of those times as I do.
And thanks especially for passing along your love of RVs and traveling Mom. We've had travel trailers, Class Cs, a Class A, and 5th wheels since then. I've driven or towed them all. So thanks for the knowledge that I too can handle it all by myself. I miss you Mom. Happy Mother's Day.
Let me tell you about my Mom. She wasn't perfect by any means. But then who is? She was a strong woman with lots of love and a temper. She started her life as a Canadian and became a naturalized American citizen. She was stubborn and determined. My Dad was an American pilot who guided foreign ships through Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior. He was gone and had only five days a month off during the months the Great Lakes were not frozen over. Then he was home full-time December through March. Mom held the family reins during the rest of the year. It seemed to work well for them although I'm sure there was a period of adjustment whenever the reins were handed over. Mom angered easily; Dad had infinite patience and was slow to anger. They complimented each other. Dad was determined that my brothers and I would not miss out on anything just because he had to be gone most of the time in the summer. So he set things up but my Mom carried things out. We didn't miss out on much.
I don't have a great memory but I do remember our first trailer. It was red on the bottom half and silver on the top half. It was very rounded sort of like the TAB trailers you see now and fairly heavy for it's size. It had a bed at the back and a dinette at the front.....no bathroom. We lived in Duluth, Minnesota and Mom would hook the trailer up to the car and haul it and us out to Island Lake frequently on the weekends. There was a free campground with pit toilets.....there were no utilities but lots of other campers. There was a store and tavern across the road that would let you fill up containers with water from their outside faucet. The beach was somewhat gravelly but the water was crystal clear. Now Mom didn't swim; in fact, as hard as it was for us to believe, she was afraid of the water. So, of course, Dad made sure we all had swimming lessons and learned to swim early on. There certainly weren't any lifeguards at the beach. I can remember a terrific thunderstorm where we had pots all over the inside of the RV to catch the leaking water. Shortly after that, my Mom and another very independent neighbor lady recoated the roof of the trailer with some kind of a very thick coating. The neighbor's husband had been a roofing contractor before he died so she had the knowledge and Mom provided the material and half the labor. No more leaks.
Every summer we would head up to Regina, Saskatchewan in Canada to visit my grandpa and other relatives. My youngest brother was born when I was 15 and we still had that trailer when I got my driver's license so I did my share of the driving pulling that trailer that summer. There were long stretches of road to cover.
Dad thought we should also have the opportunity to have a boat. Now with Mom being afraid of the water, that was quite a trick. He convinced her that a pontoon boat was virtually impossible to sink because it had four separate air chambers. Pretty soon we had a pontoon boat and Dad found a place we could tie it up and leave it in a cove across the bridge from the campground. He found a small 10 HP motor that Mom and I could carry from the car trunk to the boat, attach it, and hook up the gas tank which we also had to carry. My brother Mike was two years younger than me but he helped when he got big enough. Then I would drive the boat across the lake to the beach while Mom pulled the trailer over.
My boys were about 3 and 8 when Dave and I got our first camper. By then, my Mom was on her second or third motorhome. Dad would travel with her and my brother Tim in the winter. Our camper was a pop-up. You can read about our first adventure here. My 13 year old brother came along on our first trip with the pop-up. We were enjoying hotdogs over a campfire when he made a comment about this being real camping. When I asked him what he meant, he said Mom never really camped because they didn't have campfires. I asked him how many of his friends got to travel around the country in an RV....he said a few had campers. Then I asked him how many of his friends mothers drove the camper across the country and took them places all by themselves. I think he got the point that his mother was very unique and he was very lucky. Mom was in her mid-fifties then. A few years later, Dad got glaucoma and had to retire. He and Mom still traveled with her doing all the driving. On one of their trips home from visiting us in Spokane, they had a fire in their motorhome. Mom got the motorhome off the road and got my Dad, my brother, the dog, and her purse out of the RV before she fell apart. The motorhome was nothing but rubble and ashes by then. A few months later, she found another motorhome. My Dad was 70 when he died and my Mom died several years later when she was only 67. But she lived a full life and was still planning trips when she passed away suddenly.
So.....thanks for setting that strong independent woman example for me Mom. I came prepared to handle things on my own before I ever became a military wife and had to do it. My husband was able to go TDY or deploy without worrying about leaving a basket case wife behind. I ran the house and took the kids camping and boating. Of course, he has to deal with a woman with a mind of her own too but I think it's a fair trade off. And I hope my boys have the same good memories of those times as I do.
And thanks especially for passing along your love of RVs and traveling Mom. We've had travel trailers, Class Cs, a Class A, and 5th wheels since then. I've driven or towed them all. So thanks for the knowledge that I too can handle it all by myself. I miss you Mom. Happy Mother's Day.
Blog Renovation
Just in case you were wondering, I am alive and well here in San Antonio. We've even had rain several times. Not enough to fill the lakes and aquifer of course but still, every drop helps. Just everyday stuff going on and before you know it, I am way behind on the blog posts. I've actually been working on the blog itself. Well, the internal stuff. Hopefully, you haven't gotten notices that I've been updating posts. And why would I do that?
When I initially started blogging, I just set the blog up and started blogging. Well, I did read all the information on Blogger but you know how that goes. Sometimes it is not totally clear until you have experienced it. Anyway, I didn't know anything about "labels" or "categories" as Wordpress calls them. I wasn't aware of what they could do for you. Now I am semi-aware. So I began adding them. And I decided they would be quite useful to me. My latest project has been to go back to the beginning of the blog posts and add labels to each post. That is well over 300 posts so it took a while, quite a while in fact. But it's done. Now I can sort posts by the labels....for example, "Camping/RV Parks". That should be quite useful when I want to find info on a place I stayed. I had also hoped that I could add a page like "Camping/RV Parks" to the blog and use that label to link those posts to that page. Alas that does not seem to work. Seems like a good idea right? Am I missing something? Let me know if you have any insight on that idea. But it was still a very worthwhile project for me.
If you are a new blogger, I recommend that you use the labels so you can easily find things later. You might even go back and......
UPDATE TO THIS POST
While I was renovating the blog, I apparently clicked a checkbox about Google+ comments. It definitely had unintended consequences. There were 5 comments.....all from readers with Google+ accounts. Rick Doyle mentioned the Google+ comments change and said he would be interested in seeing how that worked out. Hmmmm......not what I intended. Definitely don't want to limit comments to Google+ account holders only. So.....I went back, and after some hard searching, found the box and unchecked it. The 5 comments disappeared from the blog. I checked Google+ and the only comment I found was from Judy Bell. Very confusing. Beware of unintended changes!
When I initially started blogging, I just set the blog up and started blogging. Well, I did read all the information on Blogger but you know how that goes. Sometimes it is not totally clear until you have experienced it. Anyway, I didn't know anything about "labels" or "categories" as Wordpress calls them. I wasn't aware of what they could do for you. Now I am semi-aware. So I began adding them. And I decided they would be quite useful to me. My latest project has been to go back to the beginning of the blog posts and add labels to each post. That is well over 300 posts so it took a while, quite a while in fact. But it's done. Now I can sort posts by the labels....for example, "Camping/RV Parks". That should be quite useful when I want to find info on a place I stayed. I had also hoped that I could add a page like "Camping/RV Parks" to the blog and use that label to link those posts to that page. Alas that does not seem to work. Seems like a good idea right? Am I missing something? Let me know if you have any insight on that idea. But it was still a very worthwhile project for me.
If you are a new blogger, I recommend that you use the labels so you can easily find things later. You might even go back and......
UPDATE TO THIS POST
While I was renovating the blog, I apparently clicked a checkbox about Google+ comments. It definitely had unintended consequences. There were 5 comments.....all from readers with Google+ accounts. Rick Doyle mentioned the Google+ comments change and said he would be interested in seeing how that worked out. Hmmmm......not what I intended. Definitely don't want to limit comments to Google+ account holders only. So.....I went back, and after some hard searching, found the box and unchecked it. The 5 comments disappeared from the blog. I checked Google+ and the only comment I found was from Judy Bell. Very confusing. Beware of unintended changes!
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