Happy Birthday Linda Lee

Happy Birthday Linda Lee
Linda's birthday is today and being so close to Christmas it is sometimes overlooked. Linda's mom Maggie made sure that she got her birthday presents before anyone opened their Christmas presents.
I have tried to do that also.
I went into town the other day to pick up a few things and wanted to get one of those small cakes that some of the grocery stores sell. The H-E-B in Pearsall did not have any, or else they were sold out, but I spotted a cherry covered cheesecake that looked like it would do the trick.

I will not say how old she is, but she started drawing her social security this past year. Early.
Happy Birthday my Dear, I love you more that I could ever say.

One another note, I keep telling you how dust it gets here. This part of the country has been in a drought for quite some time and the calichi seperates into rocks and dust.
Here is the road without a truck

And here is the road after a truck went thru

Hope you have a wonderful day and may Santa be good to you
love to all of ya
Jim and Linda

Beautiful sunrise

Yesterdays sunrise was spectacular. The first light coming onto the clouds was this beautiful redish orange color. I missed the best of it while checking in the day workers but here is the rest of it....
some of God's wonder

Pretty spectacular, huh
Remember, you can click on a picture to enlarge it

At our last gate we had lots of clear space around us. One of the ranchers said we would not see many, if any, snakes because there was no brush for them. Here we have brush and some trash right behind us. The people we relieved had put out rat/mice bait. Hope that takes care of those critters.
Linda went into town to do laundry and picked up some mothballs and I spread them around. They are supposed to help with snakes and other critters.
Very slow, 1 oncoming so far today.
Have a wonderful day
love to all of ya
Jim and Linda

New Location and steps

We got a phone call last night saying we were relieved. Meaning our assignment was over and they would be out today to get us disconnected so we could head back to the yard in Whitsett. We were both kind of excited that we would have some time off, but again, we would not be making any money and who knows how long we would be in the yard because of the holidays.

When the serviceman came this morning they told us we could move down the  road about 2 1/2 miles, closer to the highway or go back to the yard. The gate guards there were leaving and we could take that position.

We both thought about that and were about to say no, but again, did not know how long we might be in the yard and $125 a day is better than nothing.

So here we are. This is a much slower gate as far as activity goes according to the people we relieved. They said they are only getting about 10 ins a day and that includes the hunters....holy cow....I thought it was slow where we just left. We were getting 20-50 ins a day.

I designed and built a set of steps that we could use while we are gate guarding. Using the rv steps is difficult when you are going in and out so many times a day, and it is very hard on the steps. The steps I designed come apart into seven pieces for when we move and there are no screws or other fasteners holding the sections together. We have been using them about a month now and they are much easier going up and down.

Looks like it will be a lonely birthday for Linda and a lonely Christmas for us.....
Hope all is well  with you and you have a very happy Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all, and may your new year be prosperous and healthy.
love to all of ya
Jim and Linda

Bats

This morning shortly after sunrise I was outside in the cold and saw these dark things flying past. They were bats....wow wildlife. When Linda got up, she noticed something between the rear window and the sunshade. It was one of the bats. We thought it might be dead, but after removing it from its resting place it was very much alive. It finally crawled under the trailer where we assume it will stay until dark.

About midnight a storm front started coming thru with strong winds from the north. About 2am I had to get up and put up the awning as it was making lots of noise. Layed back down with my clothes on as I had to get up in about an hour and a half. Suposed to stay cold (60's during the day, hight 20's at nite) for the next two or three days, than back into the 70's.
Have a great day
Love to all of ya
Jim and Linda

Hunting and hunters and breakfast

  Some of the land owners where we are gate guarding allow hunting on their property. One place has an actual hunting camp where the hunters come in for several days. The land owners give us a list of who is authorized to come onto their land, and we have to abide by the list.
  The other day one man came in before daybreak and left before noon with a buck. He came back later in the day and got another buck. One guy got a cougar, aparently big enough he is going to mount the head. Another one got a couple of havolini's (kind of a wild pig) (not sure I spelled that right)
  One of the land owners was talking to us one day and telling us that the hunting is big business at some of the ranches. They have large areas fenced off with high fences to keep their deer in. He told us that some of the bucks can go for up to $200,000 dollars as breeding stock. They breed to get larger deer.
Some hunter pay us much as $10,00 to kill some of these trophy bucks, and some of them kill the bucks while they are caged up and unable to move.  After paying that much money the "hunter" does not want his trophy to get away.

  Now on another note....I love breakfast. When we got out to eat breakfast my standard order is,
egg's over east, bacon still soft and wiggly, and fried potatoes with a little onion. A glass of milk when the food comes out.
  When I make breakfast it consists of: spam and pancakes, spam and french toast, spam and scrambled eggs. I love spam. And make great scambled eggs. Have to tell you how some time.
   I rarely make eggs over easy, as I tend to undercook the eggs, and they are too runny...can't seem to fix that problem.
This being Saturday morning I have not had a customer yet and it is, 7;22am, almost 4 hours. Now that it is daylight I should see a few coming in.
hope your day goes well.
GO ND, BEAT ALABAMA
Love to all of ya,
Jim and Linda
 

Reflection

That cold north wind they have been predicting has finally got here. It's supposed to be 20 degrees tonight......an we don't got us no union suit to keep us warm....
The wind is blowing very strong, 20-30mph, and of course it is full of dust. I can only hope we are not too busy today.
Oh, by the way....a union suit is a set of red, one piece, long underwear with the trap door in back....yes, they still sell them here in Texas.

  On another note, I am sitting here kind of bored as usual and thought that I would comment on the quote from Mark Twain in our header above. I found that one day on another blog and thought that it kind of reflected on our lives the past 12 years plus. Actually longer than that, as we have both wanted to see things and do things and enjoy life. Not sitting at home and withering away as some people do who are afraid to get out and explore, see new things.
  For years we knew we were wanted to see the country and live in an rv. We read everything we could find on the subject and subscribed to the magazines that talked about rv's and the lifestyle. We tore out all of the articles on travel and places to see and put them in a binder, seperated by state. And afterwards, when we went on the road, we would check our file and remove the article after we had visited that area. It sounded great to us, and it has proved to be so.
  Oh, we have had some setbacks. A number of repairs, things failing, blown tires...days in repair shops while something got fixed. It's not fun sitting in a motel room waiting for your house to get fixed, and hoping they fix it right.
  We had to go back to work for three years, and we are sitting here in south Texas gate guarding because we need the money...but overall we have had a great time.
  Obviously this life style is not for everyone....you have to really like, love and respect your partner as you are spending a lot of time together in a very small amount of space. But we have made it work, as have thousand of others that share the life style.
  We have met some great people over the years and become friends with a number of them. Some of them we only see occasionally but they are still friends and when we meet up on the road, as we often do, it is always hugs and smiles and talking of times past, and where are you going next.....maybe we could spend a little time together going down the road.
  O.K. enough of that stuff....I am getting misty eyes. Besides it about time for the day crew to start coming in and I need to put some more clothes on.
Take care our dear friends and family
we love you all
Jim and Linda

Dust, Dust and more Dust

Not much to report.  We are starting our 7th week here and, more than likely, will be here until we leave for home the end of April.  We have been told that we are here at the request of the ranchers and that as long as they are doing any kind of work on these sites, a Gate Guard is required.

The excitement for the week was going into town to do laundry yesterday, having lunch with Bobbie, getting my nails done and picking up a few things at Wal-Mart.  Now how is that for an exciting day?????

Those of you who know me well, know that I am somewhat of a "neat freak".....so you all can imagine what I think of the these images:

Tell me again why we are doing this...........oh yeah.......MONEY!!!!!

Y'all take care......

Linda and Jim