More Bang for your Buck

Hey two entries in one day...are you lucky or what. I have some pictures I wanted to share with all of you and I thought while I was on here I would say a little about what we did after Sherri picked me up at work.

We had to take the truck in today to have some maintenance done and they needed to keep it overnight. We got a rent car to use until tomorrow. After picking up the rent car Sherri took me to work and then she headed back to the the RV and did chores. I had to put in 8 hours today so the day was pretty short. Before I knew it 3:30 rolled around and Sherri was back to pick me up.

We headed to Wal Mart to pick up some groceries and other items for the week. Sherri had to take back some clothes that did not fit. While we were there we took a look at the packages they have with Direct TV. They have some good deals going on so we decided to call and order it for 24 months so we would have more than 4 channels to watch. They will be out next week to hook us up so we will be TVing it soon .

Not much other than that to report but I do have the pictures of our set up at Jennifer's house and as I get things done I will up-date everyone Somewhere in Time.

I Will Try to Catch up

OK I left town and once again I have no Internet capabilities so I have to catch up on Monday morning. I guess I will have to find some place in that part of the country to get on line so I can stay in touch! No chat no post no nothing.

Sherri picked me up at work and we headed to East Texas about 1:00. We had to make some stops in Mesquite Texas to pick up some gifts for our daughter, Jennifer, it was her birthday. Sherri got her some genes and blouses...these are things that Jennifer would never go and get herself...she just buys for the kids and she goes without most of the time. We thought it would be nice for her to have some nice clothes for a change.

Leaving Mesquite we headed to Terrell Texas to pick up some electrical supplies I needed to wire my shop. Home Depot was the destination of choice and we picked up all we needed in short order and soon were on the way to Tangier Mall for some balloons and gift wrapping. Yes we did it up right for our youngest...she always had a birthday week when she was young...and sometimes it turned into a birthday month! We lived next door to both sets of grandparents most all of the kids younger life. You can imagine what our kids were like living that close to the g-parents... yes it was some experience for us...we would not have had it any other way.

Speaking of g-parents next door...you can see where we are setting up our home base. HE HE... yes we are following in our parents foot steps...they are all in heaven now but we feel they have left us in charge of taking over their duties of spoiling ....Ya Think. We do pay for that privilege, however, by mowing the lawn and helping with laundry cooking cleaning home repair. with Frank on the road most of the time to hurricane devastated towns...as a police officer...Jennifer is left with raising 5 children and caring for the house hold task...plus she is attending the Police Academy on top of all that. So we don't mind helping out and we do get a kick out of spending time with her and the kids.

Well I have some pictures of our place in Wills Point. I cannot upload them here at work but I will post another entry tonight when I get home. Sherri and I have some errands to run when I get off work so it will be later on when I can get them done.

Until that time I will be here at the office wishing I was not here at the office and dreaming of being on the road Somewhere in Time.

It Is Our Jennie's Birthday Today

She's back and she gave me a thumbs up on the TV installation. I still need to stain the mounting board in the back and build the drawer under the TV set. But other than that all was good to go and I feel great.

I drove to Randy's last night to pick Sherri up and Randy's wife fixed us all dinner. Hey was that ever nice. She made spaghetti and sausage and let me tell you that was the best I have eaten hands down!. Thanks Nena your a great cook. She is also fun to be with. She told us stories and we all laughed until we hurt. After dinner we retired to the den to watch the weather. Looks like hurricane Ike will have a big effect on East Texas this weekend. Sherri and I will head out to Wills Point to stay with our daughter...by the way it is her birthday today...Happy Birthday baby...we love you. She is by herself...Frank, once again was deployed to Galveston...he is a police officer and they recruit additional officers in times of disasters to help out. The last time Frank was gone was on his daughters birthday and now he is gone again and it is his wife's birthday.

My sister lives in Galveston and she and her husband went to Killeen Texas to their daughters house. Their daughter Debbie and Scott live on the military base there. Scott is in Iraq and so they have gone to stay with her until the all clear is sounded. June and Jim just called and told me they were safe and sound. I am so glad that they did not decide to stay.They said they would call me as soon as they could return to Galveston. I told them that if they needed any help in getting things fixed that I would come down and help them. Me being a plumber electrician carpenter type person I could be a hand for them. One storm sure has displaced a lot of people.

OK so Sherri and I will head out of here about 1:00 or so. We will stay with Jennifer until Sunday or until the storm has cleared out. The weather folks have said that East Texas should get some wind and rain for sure. While I am there I hope to get some of the wiring run in my barn for my woodworking equipment. I would like to get our RV plug installed so when we get the culvert in we can hook up and stay a while.

I will not have Internet while we are there so I will post my journal in word and have it ready to up-load Sunday night upon my return home. Which reminds me We need to get all our furniture outside secured before we head out. They say the winds in Dallas will be around 30 to 50 mph. I hope that all is well when we get home. I pray for no tragedies during this storm All our prayers go out to the folks on the coast and all those traveling.

I pray that the winds will die and the rains will subside...the Sky's will clear and we will see a wonderful rainbow Somewhere in Time.

Can't Get it Right

Another typical morning....I woke up and that is a good thing...made the coffee took my shower and got dressed. Fixed my lunch did the dishes made the bed took out the trash located all my pocket

S T U F F and bingo I am on the road again. Not the road I want to be on but the road that takes me to that place I don't want to be at.

Work went about the same as a bad bowel movement but I got over it and got the heck out of there. Oh while I was at work my SIL called and said the electric company was going to try and get my electrical hook up today. It was raining out there a little but they thought that they may be able to get in. I told Frank to tell them that the weather would not get any better and that I needed that electric to run my IRON LUNG this weekend. Hey you have to do what you have to do to get things done.

Why is it when your wife ask you to do something for her and you don't do it just right she has a way of making you feel like your a little less than gum on the heel of a shoe??? Sherri called and wanted me to pay the Verizon bill and our AT&T bill. Well I have never done that on the computer so she had to walk me through it. I would read what was on the screen and she got upset because it was not what she wanted on the screen ....like a purposely pulled up some other screen to aggravate her. I could tell she was getting real upset because I would read all the things on the screen to her and she did not want to hear all that...just my way of making sure I was doing it right... When I told her what the amount of the bill was she asked me why it was so high. I don't know I am just reading what is on the screen. So I said OK I will look at the breakdown...she screeched NO!!! don't leave that screen it took you 30 minutes to find it don't lose it now! Anyway I got the bills all paid and she calmed down and all was well.

We are waiting to see if I work Friday or not. Sherri said she would just have Randy drop her off at Wills Point on their way home and I could meet her there ....or....she would come home and we could ride together back up there. We have to stop off and buy a culvert for the drive and get some electrical supplies for the barn hook up. I hope she decides to come on home so we can ride together up there.

Well, that is about it for now. I am going to finish up this entry and then get on chat with all the Dreamers and maybe fix me a bowl of ice cream...oh life is good. I guess I will drop you off here at this intersection in my life and pick you back up...

Somewhere in Time.

Playing Hooky is Fun

Yes today I played hooky...but everyone knew that I would which still makes it fun. I had to get my electric hooked up at my home base camp in Wills Point Texas. I had to get up somewhat early about seven-ish so I could get my coffee and get all my S T U F F ready. After I had my coffee I called my SIL to see if he would be home today. He answered the phone and sure nuff he would be there and suggested that I just stay here in Dallas and he would meet the electric company at 12:30...No need for me to go all the way out there to get that done when he was right there. Hey it made sense to me so I just stayed put... and planned out another project that I needed to get done.

I had been meaning to get my flat screened TV mounted on the cabinet for some time and this seemed like the opportune time to get er done. I made a few measurements and got a list of materials together that I would need to hang the TV and viola I was off to Lowe's to get what I needed. It was getting close to lunch time so I decided to stop off at the Wataburger next to Lowe's and grab me a bite to eat. With all the materials in the back of the truck and a Wataburger next to me I was off to the RV.

You know I have been begging for rain for some time now and to no avail. Well as soon as I turned into the RV park the sky's opened up and all the water in heaven spilled out on me. Here I was needing to cut all my wood braces and my wish came true. That is just my luck...and I washed my truck the other day! Being the bright intelligent person that I am I pulled out the awning and soon was cutting wood like a wood chuck. All the braces cut it was time to head inside and mount all of them for the TV bracket to attach to.

I had to make sure the bracket was level so the TV would hang straight. Sherri has the worlds sharpest eye when it comes to level and plumb. She is a good person to have along if you forget your level. LOL

Everything went together real well and when completed it looked pretty good...I think. The proof will be when the boss gets home...she is the final inspection point and if I pass I will be real happy.

Frank called me and said the the electric company came out and he wrote them a check for the hookup. They could not do it today because....you guest it ....it is raining. They said they would try to have it by the end of the week. That will be fine...we have to go to KC weekend after next so when I get back it will be done and we can pull the trailer down for a trial run. By the way for Ellie...We are planning on having DSL hooked up as soon as we retire out there. I have to have my chat and journal connection!

I promised some folks that I would have some pictures of the TV installation when I got finished so I am loading them up now. I hope you all have a good evening. I will say good-bye for now and wish you sweet dreams Somewhere in Time.

Up Early To Deliver Sherri

This was an early morning alarm day. Sherri had to be delivered to McKinney so she could ride with Randy to Chandler Texas. She will be working there the rest of this week. We had to get up at 5:00 so we could leave at 5:30. It is about a 30 minute drive to Randy's house and with the completion of hwy 121 in north Dallas the trip was uneventful. Hwy 121 is a toll road...as so many are here in Dallas. We jumped on it just north of the RV park here and before we knew it we arrived with time to spare.

After dropping Sherri off I had to make the trip in to my work which took me close to an hour. Upon arriving at work I found out that once again I was in charge of everything. Tom was out and that meant I had to run the press room and my area too. Oh well as they say it all pays the same...when I do just my job it is a little easier.

One of my inspectors was out today due to her daughter graduating from boot camp in San Antonio Texas. She would not be in all day and that left me with just one inspector for 10 presses. Well if that was not bad enough the one inspector that came in left about 3:30 and that meant I had to take on that responsibility until 5:30...Ain't lift grand.

I will have to say that the day did go fast and that was about the only good thing that came out of it. Tomorrow I will not be at work. I have to take off and go to Wills Point to see about my culvert and my electrical hook up. I wont have to leave that early because the electric man will not be there until 12:30. I will have to see about getting the culvert delivered by someone...so I will have to do that before the 12:3o appointment.

Not much of a "Day Off" but at least I will get all that done. It will be nice to take the RV up to Wills Point and stay a long weekend with my own bed and S T U F F.

OK I must depart from you my dear friend...I must do the dishes and fold the clothes and walk the dog....Oh I don't have a dog...that is good I will have time to get on the chat then...TEE HEE

Stay safe out there and I will be back Somewhere in Time.

Breakfast With The Kids

Yes this morning we were up early again....or Sherri was I hung back in the bed to get just a little bit more sleep...I am much sharper if I get that extra sleep each morning. Today I am not too sharp I guess I did not get enough after all. OK no snide remarks from anyone.

We were up early today...no we were not going to the casino...we are going to meet Jason and Susan at Ham and Eggs for breakfast. We try to get together with them at least once a month to visit and catch up on their adventures. No better time to do this than over a good breakfast with coffee and all the trimmings.

They had just returned from a trip to Orlando Florida where they toured Disney World. They related all the stories of the sights and rides that they had been to and from what we heard they had a great time. Susan said she was a little weary from all the walking and that if we go we should get in shape because you walk 10 miles a day. She said that you can get wheel chairs to ride in if you need one...she told Jason that if he did not slow down that she would have to get one. Susan is a hoot...we love hearing her stories and she is just plain fun to be with. Jason is fun to be around too...he makes us laugh and we never feel down when he is around. Thank you both for being who you are we love you guys.

Well we had to order breakfast and we had heard that they have a real great one here. Jason pointed out to us that the Dallas Cowboys eat here a lot. It is not to fare from their training center. If you look around on the walls you will see autographs from many of the players that have been there. The waitress told us that Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson had been there the other day and had breakfast.

Jason ordered the short stack of pancakes and Susan the ham and biscuits. I ordered eggs over easy with sausage and hash browns. Sherri could not decide so she ordered what Jason had ordered and bacon well done. We visited some more and heard more stories about their trip. We both decided that we too would like to go there some day but we would take our home with us.

They said they have campgrounds close by for those with RVs. We will be planning this trip now along with all the others that we have in mind

Well our order did arrive and you should have seen the look on Sherri's face when her order arrived! The short stack covered the entire plate and then some. Two pancakes that would have fed and good size family. We all got a real good laugh out of Sherri trying to eat all these pancakes. We ended up getting two to go boxes....yes I said two... and they were both full and Sherri ate some of the pancakes so you can imagine the size. I will post a picture I took at the restaurant.

We had such a good time with both Susan and Jason and by the way Jason picked up the check...thanks again son you are the best. We always walk away from our visit with the two of them feeling better about ourselves. We did good with all our children and we are so proud of them all.

After our hugs and good byes Sherri and I headed out for Lowe's to get some more pea gravel and sand for her flower bed. She found some ground cover to fix up around our patio area. She has always enjoyed landscaping things and even though we are fulltiming now she still has fun making things look good around the 5Th wheel. We will have to wait until it cools off some before we tackle this project.

After getting home Sherri was looking through the Garden Ridge ad and she found some recliners on sale. I think we will take a ride out there later and check them out. Oh well I guess I better get to work on our inside projects...cleaning etc. We have to change the filter out in the AC unit and our ceiling fan is in need of cleaning too.

Everyone have a good Sunday and Sherri and I will catch you later Somewhere in Time.

Day At The Casino

Sherri and I got up early this morning...no we did not have to work today...the only reason we would get up early if we were not working is to go to the casino and sure nuff that is where we were headed. Two cups of coffee and a shower later we were both loaded in the truck headed to Oklahoma. The Windstar is located just across the boarder from Gainsville Texas at exit 1.

It took us about 45 minutes to get there and and just a short walk from the truck to the front door. As soon as you walk in the door the cigarette smoke almost knocks you down. The ladies at the front door provided us with candy bars as soon as we got there and I mean big candy bars YUM YUM I like candy. I had to get a new card because mine was well out of date and so I got that at the front desk. Then it was time to find the winning machine. Sherri found the first machine and she started winning immediately. I sat beside her and lost just as fast as she won. Good for me she is lucky or we would be broke.

We played until about 12:00 noon and hungry took over. We passed up the buffet for the grill which was much cheaper in price and we didn't really want that much to eat. Besides that we were going to meet Rodney and Becky later that day to eat dinner. So a hamburger for me and a salad for Sherri and we were ready for the second round of gambling.

We neither one gamble much for we do not have much to gamble with. We like playing more than gambling. The machines fascinate us...the animation and the bells and gongs the bonus rounds free spins etc. Dortha told us that we needed to play the Lady Bug game but we did not find it till late and they were packed in there tight. No one was going to budge off those machines so we settled for some new games and did pretty good on them. Sherri won $30.00 on the first machine and moved to the second machine where she won $37.00 and the 3rd machine she won $20.00 ...she ended the day out on the machine she started with and she won $57.00 on it.

The only thing I won was at the gas station where I scored diesel for $3.88 a gallon! Not bad for a poor gambling guy like myself. We topped off and then it was back to Big D. We called Rodney and Becky on the way back to set up our dinner date which we did. We decided to meet them at our place and leave from there. They arrived about 6:30 and we loaded up in their van and headed to Macaroni Grill. We had a good time....even though Sherri and Becky made fun of Rodney and I for having spaghetti on our chins. It was good vitals...we had dogie bags to take home and that will make for a good lunch tomorrow.

We got home about 15 till 9:00 and said our good byes...Sherri and I had to jump in the truck and head to Kroger's to return our movie we had rented last night. I am Legend...now there is another story. Some kind of movie that was.

Well Sherri is on chat with all our Dreamer friends so I will leave you here Somewhere in Time

Different Kind Of Work Day

Today was a usual arise and shine day. I had to go to work ....yes on a Friday...I switched over to 5 day week so I could oversee the maintenance team in the press room. I am also in charge of all the maintenance on the Komori presses and when my guys have to work 5 days so do I. The more I work the less I make....now that is fair wouldn't you agree. My team had several items today to be worked on and I pitched in and helped with the repairs. Hey I use to be a pressman in my younger life and I know a little about the machinery. My guys say I know just enough to be dangerous. Well it turned out to be a little different than my typical day behind the computer crunching data and making numbers foot out.

Man when I got home I was give out...but not too give out to take my favorite girl to Kohl's. She needed some more hand towels for the bathroom. Of course she also needed to shop some. You ladies know about shopping...once you get to the store you have to look around for that special something that might appear. Anyway we got the towels some jeans and we were ready to head out. Next we stopped by Lowe's to get some pea gravel for Sherri's flower bed. We were all fixed up after that so it was back to the house from there.

Oh we did make one other stop before we go home and that was at the grocery store for something to grill out and a movie. Steaks were the choice and I am legend was the movie. Well that is about it for today...we head to the Windstar Casino tomorrow morning so the next entry may be about all the money I won....NOT.

I will catch back up with you Somewhere in Time.

Up Early And Ready To Go

This morning the alarm went off and it felt like I just laid down...sure nuff I had ...it was Sherri's alarm. She had to get up at 4:00 so she could leave at 5:00. Oh I am so glad that I don't have to get up that early. When we lived in Wills Point and had to drive back and forth to Dallas every day, I did have to get up that early. Then I had to drive in which took about 1 hour and 15 min. I am glad those days are behind me. At the time I thought nothing of driving that long but now when we have to drive back to East Texas....UGH it takes forever!

Well Sherri got off this morning and I fell back to sleep but as you know my alarm went off what seemed like minutes after I laid down. Oh well this too shall pass some day and I will not have the old alarm to deal with.

I will not have to run myself crazy today at work because the other staff will be back and I can just do my job. I don't mind filling in for folks it just makes my job harder to complete. When I am out no one fills in for me so when I get back I have to catch up all by my lonesome.

Sherri did not have time to make coffee this morning so I loaded up the coffee maker and it is ready. I poured myself some hot brew and here I set relaying my daily plan out to all my family and friends. I have to go by and get some propane today without fail. We ran out of one tank and the other is getting low. With my electric element out I have to have gas for hot water. Sherri will not be a happy camper if I let it run out and she goes to take a shower...

OK time is running short this morning... I heard from the guy that will put in my culvert and I hope to have that done today. Maybe by next weekend I will have a culvert and electricity! Wow

Better head on out to work....I will catch you a again ...
Somewhere in Time

Posting Time Again

I have been so neglectful about my posting that I should be ashamed. Seems like I get busy and just forget all about my faithful readers out there that depend on me putting them to sleep each night. What kind of a friend would do that to his following???

OK so I will be more dutiful in my posting and from now on I will try and write in my journal every day without fail. Now that I have made myself feel so bad I must reflect on things that make me happy...what would that be.

I have had many say to me Speedy why would you want to buy a new trailer now when you are so close to retirement. Well that is not as easy to answer as it may seem. Sherri and I have been looking at the Cameo full side slide since it came out last year. We love it and it has everything we would want in a trailer. OK so I would have to work longer but this deal came along and it is soooo good that it would be hard to pass up.

Really I have left it all up to Sherri.. she is in charge of making this decision and I will stand behind her choice 100%. I told her if she wanted to get it now I will work to pay it off...which would not be all that long seeing as how we now owe nothing and we could triple up on the payments if we please...and she is working so she could also put extra towards it.

Now if we wait until after I retire this type of purchase may be out of reach. We will see what she decides to do. Don't get me wrong I love the trailer and I will enjoy it as much as her but she will have to make the call because she too will have to work longer.

Hey I see where H & L are looking at a place in Colorado for the next rally!!! I love Colorado and I will be the first in line at the gate. I am just waiting on the call from them on when I should start the ticket sales. HEEEE HEEEE...

As I look at the clock on the wall I see that it is time for my shift here to end.....so I will bid you a good evening and slowly slide out of here and into Somewhere in Time.