Day 34, We Are Staying In Houston For A While

The bank has credited all of our money back to our account.  All the pending transactions are gone, so it appears that everything is okay now. We will see tonight if Dad's debit card still works as they are going grocery shopping.  If it doesn't work, Mama will have to figure out how to get cash, but she will cross that bridge if she needs to do so.

We found out last night that we will be in Houston until July 20th.  We get to experience a real Houston summer.  It is going to be hot.  We are happy about it though because we will be able to save money since we won't be spending it on gasoline.  We also found out that Dad's trip to Washington DC has been postponed for 45-60 days.  Mama is somewhat happy about that.  She was not worried about staying here without Dad, but she was not thrilled about taking him to the airport and picking him up.  She was kind of looking forward to having a car for a few days though.  She could take Dad to work, but it seems silly to be on the road for four hours just to have the car to go shopping.  Hopefully, the next place we stay will be closer to Dad's work and we will have a car from time to time.  We have looked to see if there is anything closer here and there just isn't.

We did not have storms here yesterday.  In fact, it didn't rain at all.  It got kind of scary looking for a little while, but nothing happened.  There was a tornado warning for the next county, but not here.  When there are tornado warnings or severe storms at home, the TV stations break in and sometimes they stay on for hours reporting on it.  Yesterday, Mama was surprised that they broke in for maybe a minute and said there was a tornado warning and to take cover. That was it. LOL  It is so different at home.

It's very dry here.  The ground is all cracked. We do have grass, but we wanted you to see the cracked ground.

Our weather was so nice this morning.  Mama and I took three long walks because we wanted to take in the cool weather while it was here.  Mama is learning to live in the moment like I do.

Here I am on the dog walk this morning.  It's really long.  You can't even see the end in this photo. I walk the full length of it at least twice a day, but sometimes more.  It is shady in the morning.

Last night, Mama fixed Ham and Cheese Special. 
(3 T olive oil, 1 T garlic powder, 2 t Italian sng)
13 oz tube pizza dough
1 c shredded fiesta blend cheese
½ to 1 c cubed ham
(Butter, Ranch dressing)
Whisk together olive oil, garlic and Italian seasoning. Roll out pizza dough and brush with seasoned olive oil. Top with cheese and ham. Tightly roll up the dough to form a log. Slice into desired size pieces and brush with melted butter. Bake at 375° until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with Ranch dressing for dipping

Mama's didn't turn out like it was supposed to.  She either put too much on the dough or pulled the dough too thin.  She ended up leaving it in a log and baking it that way.  It was not going to do well being cut in pieces.  It tasted good.  I know because I tried a few bites.

Tonight we are having marinated chicken.  Yum!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Having Fun In Texas

Day 22, Old Town Spring, TX

Yesterday, the folks visited Old Town Spring, TX.  It is a town that was established in the mid-1840's when German immigrants settled there.  Today, the old buildings have been turned into shops, restaurants and museums.  There are 150 of them.   Here are a few photos from the town.

One of the 4 or 5 pet stores.  No, they didn't buy us anything.

Shops along the street.

Another pet store where Mama didn't buy us anything.

Nice landscaping at a shop.

Cute birdhouse.

Another view of the town.

The folks ate at Wunsche Bros Cafe and Saloon Restaurant.  It originally opened in 1902.

Wunsche Bros Cafe and Saloon Restaurant

Inside the restaurant.

Egg crates covered the ceiling of the restaurant.

Mama ordered a cheeseburger and onion rings. Dad ordered Sausage Sauerkraut Balls as an appetizer and a German Sausage Sandwich which is a bratwurst with sauerkraut and German mustard.  Mama would have ordered a country fried steak, but it seemed to be too big for lunch.  They both said it was good, but not great.

More nice landscaping outside of Thad's.

An interesting way to display photos.  It looks like half of a large bird cage.

The Loose Caboose is a restaurant. You eat outside of it.

Mama didn't buy a single thing.  Do you believe that?  They had a fabric store, but she didn't want to bore Dad too much.  She did not bring the sewing machine along after all.  It was a last minute decision to leave it behind.

The town was quite large.  It is somewhat like a place near us called Kimmswick, MO, but this place is probably 3 times as large.  Mama enjoyed it even though she didn't buy anything.

They came back to the RV for a few hours and then they went out to dinner.  They ate at Chuy's, which is a Mexican restaurant.   Mama ordered a burrito with sirloin steak.  Dad had steak fajitas.  Mama had a jalapeno sauce on her burrito.  She read the reviews and that seemed to be a favorite.  She liked it, but it didn't taste like jalapenos to her.  It tasted more like a ranch dressing.  They both said the food was good, but not great.  They probably will not go back since there are so many other places to try.  There were two unique things about Chuy's:  1) they had women making the tortillas on display 2) They had a trunk from a model of a 50's Chevy and that is where the tortilla chips and sauce were kept.   The restaurant had an Elvis theme for some reason.

Inside Chuy's

After they ate, they went to Walmart to do their grocery shopping.  Mama does not like going there because the lines are so long.  She has been there three times and has had to wait in long lines each time.  She picked up an oven thermometer, ice cube trays and some knives.  She has steak knives, but not regular knives.  She is not sure why she didn't pack any.  Last week, she bought some tablespoons.  Each week, she is buying something small that makes her life a little easier.  Dad bought shelving material at Home Depot to put shelves in Mama's closet.  They still want to buy a spice rack because that will give them more room in the pantry.  That might be next week's project.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Has Not Been Chewing On Bully Sticks Much

Day 21, Ironman Competition

An Ironman Competition is being held today near where we are staying.  A few of the competitors are staying in our campground.  They swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run 26.2 miles.  Can you imagine doing that?  I'm an ex-athlete and I can't imagine doing it.

Speaking of being an ex-athlete, Scout and I were walking by a little boy yesterday. I heard him tell his Dad "The white dog is definitely faster than the tiger dog."  That kids definitely knows what he is talking about.

Scout is fine.  Mom checked her over yesterday just to be sure.  She went out a lot more yesterday, but when it came time for our last walk, she didn't want to go.  This morning, we took separate walks and she walked for a long time. She is eating fine.  She is just lazy.  Daddy says she just likes doing what she wants and that is laying around.

Yesterday afternoon Mom (if you just noticed I sometimes call Mama, Mom), Scout and I were sitting in the RV.  All of a sudden we heard BANG and the RV shook, then BANG and and the RV shook again.  Mama thought someone ran into us.  She went outside to look and our awning had broken free of the RV. The rod that holds it to the RV was dangling down. A gust of wind must have taken it.  Now, we are very well aware that an awning should be taken down when it is windy, but it wasn't.  Mama thought it was completely broke.  She had lessons in how to put it away, but did not have lessons on what to do if it came loose from the RV.  A  lady stopped by and asked if she needed help.  Mama didn't think she could help, but it turns out she knew what she was doing. Anyway, with her help, they were able to re-attach the awing to the RV.  Mama was so grateful that the lady stopped to help her.  A little later on, we were walking and ran into the lady and her husband.  The husband said that his wife does all the stuff around the RV. Mama is always impressed when she meets a woman like that.  Mama would like to be like that one day.

We were asked if our Mexican casserole needs to go in the oven.  Yes, it's supposed to be in a 13x9 pan and heated for 30 minutes at 300 or until bubbly.  We only have an 8x8 pan and it did fine in that.

The folks are going to do some tourist things today.  Scout and I will be left behind. Boo!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Knows He Can Run Faster Than His Sister

Day 19, It's Getting Hot

We've been having some really nice weather here in Texas, but now the temperatures are heating up. We will make limited trips outside today. Last night, Mama made the Ham, Caramelized Onions and Cheese Panini for dinner. She said it was really good. She made a sauce of Dijon mustard, horseradish and honey for the ham. The bread was buttered and then heated in a skillet until it was golden brown and the Swiss cheese melted on the ham. Mama had never caramelized onions before, but that is the nice thing about Emeals because they give instructions on how to do things. She has learned a lot of cooking techniques since she started using them. She used to not know how to make gravy, if you can believe that. Sometimes the meals take a while to prepare and would be hard for people working outside the home, but Mama has the time to cook and she likes it. Tonight, we are having a Mexican casserole for dinner. Mama loves Mexican food, so she is looking forward to it.

Mama met the neighbor who lives next to us. She has a three-legged Irish Setter named Gus. Gus shattered his front leg about a year ago when he jumped from their fifth wheel instead of taking the steps. He is 8. His Mom decided to amputate his leg instead of putting him to sleep. He gets around well, but his stamina still needs improvement. It looks exhausting watching him hop around. They have been here for 6 months and will probably be a year more.  She is a nurse and works nearby. Mama asked the neighbor if she minded if we hung our hummingbird feeder from a tree that is more on her property than on ours. She said that was fine with her. We can now view it from inside our RV, so that's nice.

We sat outside this morning. Scout even joined us. We took a quick walk around the lake and then we headed into the air conditioning. Here are a few photos from this morning.

Come on, let's do something.  I'm bored.

A squirrel!

Ducks!

Scout says "Okay, I'm done, let's go back inside."

Posing next to the Texas star.

Have a great day!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Keeping Cool Inside Today