A Visit to Burnett TX

Before we head out to Burnett (pronounced like dernitt) for a tour, here are a few more shots around Inks Lake.

This is the State Park store with the little marina where you can rent boats and canoes.

Notice the large mountain in the background.  Okay, well this is the hill country not the Rockies you know.

Yes, that me right next to the water.

 On our way in to Burnett, we passed by the Inks Lake Dam.

And then the Buchanan Lake Dam.  Both Buchanan Lake and Inks Lake are on the Colorado River and managed by the LCRA (Lower Colorado River Authority).  We stopped at the Buchanan Dam.  If you look closely at the picture, you will see some orange floats.  This area is the swimming beach and the floats mark the far edge of it so boats won't come in close to the swimmers.  So you can see just how far down the water is here as it is on many Texas lakes due to the drought.  You can also see the lines on the dam where the water should be.  While we were at the dam, one of the rangers came out to chat with us.  If you look back at the photos of Inks Lake, you will see that it is not down at all.  The ranger told us that because Inks Lake is very small and it is located between the two dams, they keep the water level within a 6" range at all times.  It's size and the fact that there is a National Fish Hatchery on the lake are the reason for this.  Another lake, Lake Bastrop, east of Austin is also managed at the higher level because it was built as a cooling lake for the electric plant there.  That also means that the water is about 95 degrees because it flows throught the cooling fins.  Nice to know!

After we learned all about the lakes and the dam, we were off to Burnett.  Like many small Texas towns, Burnett is built in a square around the courthouse.  In Burnett's case, the courthouse is not one of the unique old ones and the main road does not go round the square.  We saw lots of cars but not lots of people so we were guessing they were all in the courthouse.

We stopped in the Cookie Cafe & Bakery.

They had so many cookies to choose from but we held back and only sampled three.  They were delicious with ice cold tea.

This used to be a men's store but now is plants and other goodies.

Burnett has a Bluebonnet festival in the spring and this lovely metal sculpture is capitalizing on that.

This building is the jail and there is a sign with visiting hours which also urges you not to talk to the prisoners through the windows.  We didn't see any prisoners so we were not tempted.

There is a huge church which has buildings and parking lots in a four square block area.  Each corner had this unique sign on the sidewalk.  I guess the church wanted to ensure that the parishioners were not just relying on divine protection when they crossed to another area.

It was a nice afternoon.  As you can tell, I am trying to catch up on my trip.  Not having Internet while out makes it a little more difficult.  Just one more post to come.

Inks Lake State Park TX

Headed out about 11 AM after hearing back from my friend Birdie that she was on the road.  She was at Dinosaur Valley State Park.  I called her earlier but she didn't have a phone connection from either AT&T or Trac Phone at her site. When we initially connected via email, she wasn't sure if she was going to hit the road because of rain but it was looking better so we both headed out to connect.  The doxies and I stopped to get a bit of lunch in Marble Falls because I knew we would be at Inks Lake before Birdie.  Okay, I had lunch, the doxies only do meals twice a day so they got a dog treat.

Birdie arrived at Inks Lake State Park near Burnett about 15 minutes after I did.  The doxies had a joyous reunion with her as I did.  It has been 5 months since we saw each other as she was off on her Alaskan journey.

Can't get much closer to the lake than this.

Birdie was just above me with a great site as well.  It sure is nice to come during the week as it is very quiet and peaceful here.

Inks Lake is not low like a lot of the Texas lakes because it sits between two dams on the Colorado River and the LCRA keeps the water level within 6 inches of the same all the time.

You might be interested in renting a cabin.  They have two sets of twins bunks as well as a table and chairs.  They are also air conditioned.

There are quite a few loops for camping but the number of campsites on each loop is small which is nice.  We had a young couple with 1 and 4 year old boys in a tent just up the hill from us.  It was their first time camping and they were having a ball.

There were some fisher people across the way.

We are sitting about twenty feet from the restroom to get an Internet signal.  It's sunny and a bit hard to see the screen so you may not get another post until I get home.  Having a great time....wish you were here.

The Skies Are Leaking!

Yes, it's true.  It's raining in San Antonio. I can hardly believe it.  Twice in a month, several days each time.  The burn ban is still at bay.  So how does that affect me?

Well, I have a friend on her way back from an Alaskan RV excursion and she is getting close.  I traveled to Alaska via her blog and blogs from about 5 other ladies who all the made the Alaska trip this year.  Yes, that's right, all women.  Sometimes some of them traveled together for parts of the journey and sometimes they traveled alone.  Anyway, my friend asked me to meet her up the road for a few days of RVing so, of course, I said YES!

The only thing that I worried about being able to do with my 5th wheel is putting the battery in.  Yes, I know how, silly, but it is pretty heavy and the battery bay is about shoulder level.  We take the battery out when the RV is in storage and keep it on a maintenance charger.  DH was going to put it in for me yesterday before the rain hit.  Well, he called at 4:00 and said he was going to have to work later than planned.  So I decided that I would take the battery over and see if I could get it in before the rain hit.  It wasn't raining at the house but by the time I got to the 5th wheel, only 1 1/2 miles away, it was coming down like a deluge.  Long story short, I got the battery installed but I looked like a dripping, wet rag by the time I got home.  And the run off ditch in the storage area was full and running fast.

Yesterday the chance of rain was only 80% and today it was supposed to be 100%.  Hmmmm.  It wasn't raining this morning so I thought I would hotfoot it over there and see if I could get hooked up and out of there--just hoping the ditch wasn't running over the road.

Success!  The ditch was down and I backed up, hooked up, and high tailed it out of there.  Made it home, circled the cul-de-sac in spite of all the cars angle parked in the circle, and backed up into the driveway.  By the time I put out the chocks and put the front stabilizers down, it started to sprinkle.

By the time I scooted in the front door, it looked like this.......

Yes, it did rain in San Antonio.  The aquifers should be filling up from all the run off.

The rains were heavy then stopped then heavy again.  At 5:00 PM they were predicting more heavy downfalls with thunder.   You guessed it...the sun was shining.  Well, in between showers, I started loading up.  I will finish up with fridge and freezers items in the morning and then I'm out of here!

Fun With A Friend

Yesterday morning Margareta picked me up about 10:00 AM in her Zigeunerink (Winnebago View) and we were off to New Braunfels.  Margareta drives her View everywhere.  Usually Lusci, her retired working K-9 rides along.  No need to lock those vehicle doors with Lusci on the job.  Today Lusci stayed at home because it was going to be pretty hot.  Our first stop was Granzin's Meat Market.

This place is located behind Bluebonnet Ford right off I-35.  All the times I have been to Bluebonnet, I never had a clue this place was there.  Margareta buys most of her meat there.  It's a real butcher shop where they cut it onsite.  If what you want isn't already in the case, just ask and they will cut it for you.

She picked up a couple of bones for her neighbor's dogs and had them cut into smaller pieces.  She also got some meat to make more rouladin.  You may remember the luncheon at her house last week where she served rouladin.

Granzin's is not huge but it is a pretty fair size and they carry a wide variety of food items including fresh fruit and vegetables.

Margareta popped her purchases into the freezer of her RV along with some freeze blocks.  She doesn't keep the refrigerator running all the time but this works great to transport cold items.  Our next stop was the Outlet Malls in San Marcos.  Margareta was on the hunt for some Oscar de la Renta body lotion and soap for her sister in Germany.  We checked out about 6 perfume shops and found the body lotion.  (An Internet search later on turned up the soap she wanted.)

Back in New Braunfels we stopped at the Theis German Bakery.  They have German specialty bakery items.

A cup of coffee and genuine apple strudel.  Mmmmmm, heaven.

Margareta had a pretzel--also delicious!

Theis Bakery is actually part of the Fork and Spoon restaurant.  They serve authentic German food Thursday through Sunday nights and lots of other good food at other times.  Margareta and her German friends all frequent this restaurant so you know it is good German food.

Oops, didn't get a picture of the Bienenstich Cake (bee sting cake) that I took home because it disappeared right after dinner.   It was delicious.  But I did find a picture for you. http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/recipes.recipeListing/filter/dianas/recipeID/474/Recipe.cfm

Return of the Adventurer-Pursued by Rain

The last couple of days have sped by.  Saturday morning my DH called from his overnight stay in Ft Stockton to check on the weather here.  It was already 10 AM and he hadn't left yet because it was pouring with rain there. Our forecast here was for the rain to move in around suppertime so he decided to head out.  He rode through 40 miles of rain before it cleared up.

While he was traveling, I spent most of the day with Margareta, one of the Pink FlaminGoes from the lunch on Friday.  We met at Costco in the morning and then I went back to her house to provide a little more computer assistance.  She has friends across the world from all her travels so I helped her make some "business cards" a while ago.  That way she doesn't have to spend so much time writing all her contact info down when she meets people with whom she is interested in sharing.  She used almost all of those cards on her last jaunt to Alaska this summer.  We made a couple of changes, added a little info, and changed the picture she has on them.  She travels in her RV with a retired "working dog, K-9 Lusci" and Yenta, a cat who walks on a leash.  She had a new better picture of them with her Winnebago View motorhome.  Margareta is a retired working dog trainer so she is well qualified to provide one of these K-9s with the right type of home when they retire.  While she was busy making some vegetable dumpling soup for us, I spent some time helping organize her computer recipes and showing her how to organize a little better with folders.  She has thousands of photos from all her travels.

DH had just arrived at home when I pulled in.

After my post on Thursday night's rain, we didn't get any on either Friday or Saturday.  It started raining again about 6:30AM this morning and just quit a few minutes ago.  Let me tell you, 67 degrees is pretty cold when you are used to 95 or better.

"No, mom.  We don't have to go outside to potty.  It's raining."

"Nope, nope, still don't have to go.  Why do you have the leash mom?"  Gretchen gritted her teeth and headed out to go potty on her own.  The "boys" got taken out on the leash several times during the day.

Can you see the rain??

Okay, how about here?  It rained all day, not hard, just a nice steady soft rain.

And tomorrow (Monday), the sun will be back and the temps return to their normal 90 plus degrees.  Yay!  I think the nights will be down in the high 60s so that will be nice.   Now to prepare for the muddy paw syndrome.  The dogs will want to check out their yard including the flowerbeds which is where they get muddy.  Darn.

Lunch with 3 Pink FlaminGoes

Today we had an impromptu gathering of Pink FlaminGoes at my friend Margareta's house.  She invited Vicki and me to lunch at her house where she had fixed a special German dinner.  We had Rouladen which is beef wrapped around pickle, bacon, ham, and some other ingredients all browned and simmered in a special sauce.  You can see it in the upper middle  of the plate below.  It was served with Semmel-knoedel which is a kind of bread dumpling shown on the left side of the plate.  On the far right side of the plate you can see the Goulash.  She also made a gherkin (cucumber) salad which you can barely see in the bowl to the left of the plate.  It was all delicious. 

Vickie (on the left) is just getting ready to enjoy her dinner.  Margareta is on the right.

Vicki and I had to pose for another picture.  You can see the gherkin salad on the left, goulash in the blue bowl, rouladen right behind the goulash and semmel knoebel dumplings in the cornflower corning dish to the left.

 We had a great time telling each other about our summer trips.  Margareta took her RV to Hyder, Alaska and points along the way.  Vicki went to Seattle and took a cruise part way up the Alaska coast to Juneau.  I stayed with the hotter weather and took the RV to Florida as you all know.  All in all, we all had a great summer but it was good to get together again.

San Antonio Can Count on Rain

Well, San Antonio is definitely going to get some rain.  How do I know that?  No, I didn't wash the car.  I scheduled carpet cleaning today.  Usually I rent a machine and do it myself but, my shoulder is still sore from that hiking trip back in July.  So I called in a pro.  Everything looked fine this morning before they arrived with their equipment.  They did a thorough job which took about an hour and a half.

Mom.....Mommm........Mommmmm.

Are you serious, we are locked out?????

I say we hit the doggy door all at once and break it open.  Gretchen...you go first, Harley....you're second.....if you guys screw up, Big Willy will get it.

An hour after the carpets were finished......

Hey, we've had days like that before and haven't gotten any rain.  So I decided to take the Traveling Longdogs for a ride to keep them off the carpet while it dried.

Hmmmm......

Well, that was the middle of the afternoon and those droplets were about all we got.  Those big black clouds skidded from east to west without dropping much around here.  Ha!

However.............I just listened to the news and they have flood warnings out for downtown San Antonio right now.  This time it's coming from the southwest!  And it is headed right for us.

Now, the Longdogs won't be eager to head out in the rain.  Gretchen will go out first.  Then the boys.  That won't be a problem.  They'll "hold it" and then they will run out so we are okay there.

The problem will come when the rain ends and the mud in the flower beds begins.........ahhhhhhhhh!  Remember muddy paws????