25 Random Things About Me

I have been tagged in Facebook by just about everybody I know and haven't responded. I don't like those stupid lists because to me it's work trying to think up stuff about myself. Soooooo, I finally did it in Word so I could come back to it periodically and write down something else. It's really, really hard to come up with 25 things about yourself. I'm not tagging anybody else nor am I challenging anybody. I'm just doing it because I was tagged SO many times. Anyway, here it is:

25 Random Things About Me


1. I love to cook

2. I can’t stand Rachael Ray, The Neelys, or Anne Burrell

3. I’ve lived in 3 corners of the US, not interested in the Northeast

4. I miss Florida but not the humidity or the crowds

5. I really hate these kinds of lists! (So I won’t be passing it on or challenging anybody)

6. I LOVE fried Spam!

7. I will have been married 18 years this July 20th (who knew???)

8. I will be 53 in June

9. I am really looking forward to spending this summer in Alaska

10. I honestly don’t know what I would do with the money if I won the lottery

11. I think turtles and lizards are cute

12. My satellite TV and internet are the best!

13. I’m halfway through this stupid list

14. I have the CUTEST grandkids

15. I have some really good friends that I haven’t even met in person yet.

16. I really miss my neighbors in Sunrise, Florida

17. I drink a whole pot of coffee every day

18. Captain Morgan with diet coke is my favorite cocktail

19. I’ve made some really good friends with people I’ve met since being on the road

20. I worked for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line for 6 years traveling all over the world including Spain, Italy, Chile and just about every port in the United States

21. I’ve never lived in a house or apartment for more than 6 years

22. I love playing computer games and probably spend way too much time doing it

23. I’m left handed and have broken my left arm 3 times

24. Even though I’m a woman I have no interest in shoes

25. I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the lifestyle I’m living right now!!!


There!! It’s done. You people can stop tagging me now.

Goose Island State Park

We started the day with the intention of going to a late lunch at The Big Fisherman because of the $2.25 all you can eat fish & chips and then going fishing at Goose Island. When we arrived at the restaurant the parking lot was packed and more people were still pulling into the vacant lot across the street. When I looked toward the entrance there was probably about 50 people waiting in line to be seated. Well, nevermind that. We went to Popeye's Chicken instead. I LOVE Popeye's but don't eat there very often because it's fried chicken. It's SOOOO good though.

Yesterday was supposed to be the last warm day for at least a week so after we were done with lunch we headed over to Goose Island State Park to their fishing pier. They have a really long pier and since it's a State Park you don't need a fishing license. It did cost us $5.00 each to get in though. A few times fishing there would pay for a license. Might have to rethink that plan. It was quite windy out at the pier. Not too cold but it was windy enough to require a jacket. We had planned on staying till the lights came on but it just got too cold for me. We weren't catching anything anyway and neither was anybody else. Rod did catch a little catfish but we don't like catfish and it was pretty small anyway. So we packed it all up and headed home.

He looks like he's having a good time


It WAS kinda cold


It's a LONG pier


And here are the rules......


We stayed until the sun was almost down



The next few days are supposed to be really cold here. Now, I know it's not as cold as the people up north are experiencing but for me this is COLD. I guess we'll just hunker down inside until we can go fishing again.

Lazy, Lazy, Lazy

The title pretty much sums up the last week. We've pretty much done nothing. The weather here is so weird that when we did plan to do something a cold front would move in and we didn't want to go anywhere. I've also become addicted to Bejeweled. It's a computer game that I used to play years ago. It's kinda like the old Tetras game but better.

We also had visitors arrive in town. Mark & Dortha and Ellie & Jim arrived last week and we've been able to visit with them. We are all fulltimers and have been reading each others blogs for quite some time now. It's so cool to finally meet. We've gone to dinner once and lunch once and both times were to The Big Fisherman. We have found a new favorite in this area! The food is really good there and lunch the other day was either fish & chips or chicken fried steak for $2.25. You can't feed yourself at home for $2.25! Tomorrow's lunch special is ALL you can eat fish & chips for $2.25!! They also have some other choices but that's the only one I was interested in. Dortha does the fried chicken livers, yuck. But, I guess that's why there's so many choices in restaurants, everybody can get what they like.

After lunch on Thursday we ran some errands and got diesel at Walmart for $2.06 a gallon. Boy oh boy, are we loving the fuel prices these days. After we were done we headed over the the RV Park that Mark, Dortha, Ellie & Jim were staying at. It was in the Garmin (our GPS) but it took us to the airport and there was no RV Park there. I called Ellie and she told us how to get there. We enjoyed some time with them outside until it got too chilly and we moved it inside.

Ellie, Jim, Mark & Rod


Yesterday we finally made it to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. We were going to go last week but never got around to it. We knew it was going to be cold and we had heard this was mainly a driving tour so we thought it would be a good day for it. Well, there were several places to stop and take one of the trails to the beach. We did a few of the trails but it was just too cold to stay out for very long. We ended up taking the big loop and didn't get out anymore except to snap a few pictures of the javelina. If you click on the word you can read all about what it is. I don't know how dangerous they are but I wasn't going to get close enough to find out. By the way, the "j" is pronounced like an "h".

You can barely see two javelinas here but when they heard the truck they took off


This ugly black vulture greeted us just before the entrance




YIKES!! Actually, we didn't see any, it was too cold.


This little armadillo was so busy looking for bugs he didn't even care about us


This was on The Big Tree Trail


Sure doesn't look like the Florida beaches. **SIGH**


White tailed deer


So, today we were supposed to go fishing but Rod still hasn't put the new reels on our rods and as I sit here writing this he's playing Mah Jong on the computer so it doesn't look like it's going to be a fishing day. Hmmmm, maybe one day this week.

UPDATE: Look what happened after he read the blog!

Texas State Aquarium, Corpus Christi

Tuesday we took the truck to Corpus Christi for some needed work. We had the fuel filters and the air filter replaced and also a leak in the A/C was fixed under warranty. They didn't get everything done so we had to return on Wednesday. Luckily it's only 30 miles away. We also found a place to get valve stem extenders. We need the extenders because we are unable to reach the valve stems on the inside duallys in order to install our Pressure Pro sensors. Those sensors give us the tire pressure electronically without having to use a tire pressure gauge.

Thursday we went to another potluck here at the RV park. It was crazy hat day. Whatever. The potlucks here are starting to not be very enjoyable. It's way too crowded there and everybody gets there really early so they can get a seat. We ended up in a little room off from the big room at a table in the corner all by ourselves. Fun. We ate and left. There was a "jam session" afterwards that apparently was pretty good. We heard about it the next day.

This morning we went out to breakfast (I know!!) with Donna & Nolan. Anybody who knows us knows we don't usually do breakfast. Anyway, we had decided yesterday we were going to Alice Faye's and meeting at 9:00. We took that to mean we were all going together. We walked over to their trailer at 9:00 on the dot feeling pretty proud of ourselves for being on time that early in the morning. Imagine our surprise when we saw their truck gone and nobody answered the door. Uh oh! They must have meant we'd meet at the RESTAURANT at 9:00! Oh well, at least it was close and we were only 15 minutes late. We had a GREAT time with them just sitting there talking and drinking the brown water the restaurant disguised as coffee.

Nolan and Donna

After we left them we drove over to the Walmart to check if Mark & Dortha could get their motorhome in there for fuel. They're coming down here to Rockport and since fuel is so cheap here I think they may have wanted to get it when they got here. I don't think they'd be able to make it in there to turn around and get out though.

We drove AGAIN to Corpus Christi to pick up the mudflaps we had ordered from a truck store but when we got there the guy opened them up and they were the wrong ones. The ones he had were for a Chevy and wouldn't work for us. Sheesh. We decided to go ahead and go to the Texas State Aquarium while we were in the area. I really enjoy that kind of stuff or anything having to do with the sea. Warning: LOTS of pictures coming up. First stop was the dolphin show that had just started when we got there. It cracked me up because there were three of them and the girl was calling them "the boys". It reminded me of Jesse and Ginger's dogs. Ginger calls them "the boys" too.

These pictures were taken from the underwater windows of their tank.



From there we went to watch the otters playing. They're so fast underwater.


How's this for a closeup??


From there we went to the turtles. They have a new exhibit for rescued turtles. All the turtles have some kind of disability. Most of them have had a flipper or back foot amputated somehow. It's pretty amazing how they can still swim.




From there we went inside to the BIG aquarium. There were also smaller aquariums and other exhibits where you could pick up the hermit crabs and the sea urchins.

Sting Rays (no, you couldn't pick them up).


Cool looking hermit crab


Little baby alligators


Pretty fish


Sea Horses


How would you like to see THIS coming at you???


The same bull shark


Piranha


Various species of jellyfish




We finally left the aquarium after a couple of hours and decided to stop for some fish and chips.


Now, if you're still reading this, this is a picture for Jenny who accused me of leaving the mustard lid open. These are all the mustards in my refrigerator and you can plainly see the lids are all closed. Whew, that's a load off my mind.....

Fridge & Pantry Challenge

A few days ago in Sandra's blog and in Karen's blog there was a challenge to show your refrigerator and your pantry. Now, if you live in an RV you know it's quite a challenge to find room for groceries and if you're like me and do your shopping at Sam's Club it's even more of a challenge. We had just gone to Sam's so my freezers (yes, I have 2 freezers) and refrigerator are jam packed. AND I had just made a eight pound ham and also macaroni and cheese.

Refrigerator & Small Freezer

Bigger Freezer


The Pantry


Also Dee and Lynette were asking for pics of the campsite and also Terry and Randy are coming here soon so she'd like to see it too.

Our Campsite (really, really tight spots)



Well, that's it for today. I'll be glued to the TV for the rest of the day.

GO CHARGERS!!!

Corpus Christi, Texas

I really do have a good reason for not posting lately. We've done absolutely nothing this week. You would think when we're in a park like this surrounded by RV's and concrete we'd WANT to get out but nope, no motivation. At least if I stay home I don't run the risk of getting a cold like Donna did. Poor Donna, hope you're feeling better.

Yesterday we decided it was time to go to Sam's Club in Corpus Christi which is only about 30 miles away. We went over to Aransas Pass and took the ferry over to Mustang Island and then the causeway to Corpus Christi. It was a beautiful day for a drive and the temps were in the low 80's. Nice.

See how tightly packed in we are?


Leaving the ferry dock


From Aransas Pass to Port Aransas on Mustang Island


Heading up to Corpus Christi


Our plan was to find a Ford dealer (we're having A/C issues again) and then go to Sam's and then go to dinner at Landry's Seafood House on the waterfront. On the way to the Ford dealer we were sitting at a red light and I happened to look on the other side of the freeway and saw a Rudy's Barbecue!!! We decided to stop in there and pick up some sauce, some smoked turkey and this one also had smoked pork loin. YUMMY!! We had our ice chest with us with ice in it so we knew it would be fine. The only problem was we were now so hungry we decided to go to Landry's for lunch. We didn't eat at Rudy's because we had LOTS of giftcards from John & Erica so we really needed to use one. We figured we'd have the turkey and pork for dinner and we did. At Landry's we had the special which was blackened red fish with an etoufee sauce and rice and salad. Wow, was it ever delicious! We were even too full for dessert. Thank you very much John & Erica!!


After leaving Landry's we stopped to look at an old sailing ship we had seen on TV. It's a replica of one of Columbus' ships the Nina. It was restored in Spain in 1992 to commemorate the 1492 voyage and sailed to the US with the other two ships the Pinta and the Santa Maria. The Nina is in dire need of restoration again before it can be moved anywhere. I think they're trying to raise money here to restore it. I have no idea how it ended up here in Texas.



Some pelicans being really lazy


After that we headed to Sam's Club and then home. On the way there we passed by the USS Lexington which is an aircraft carrier that is open to the public. Pretty cool but having grown up in San Diego I've seen PLENTY of aircraft carriers.


Hopefully this week we won't be so lazy that we just sit at home. We have my Chargers in the playoffs tomorrow so we won't be going anywhere but Monday I think we'll go to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. You can read about it here: Aransas Wildlife Refuge before we go.