Finishing Touches and Preparing for a Wedding

Friday
April 3, 2009

This is but One Reason Gina spends so much time in her Garden

It was so refreshing to wake up next to Gina this morning. She got up out of bed first and put coffee on and then I got up about 15 minutes later to enjoy a cup with her. We didn't waste any time before headed outside and started working in the Garden. It was mulch time for her and clean up time for me. Gina started laying the mulch in and around all her plants. I got started cleaning up all the plastic pots and leaves. Then I moved on to getting the pressure washer all connected and washed the carport and driveway. By 1 o’clock Thomas cut the grass and then got the weedeater out to finish up. My dad stopped by with the new air conditioner for my truck. We got it unloaded and started discussing how and where we would mount the two pieces. The outside unit will be easy but where I wanted to mount the inside unit wouldn’t work so now we are looking at another location. We will not install the ac until the 18th but there are some brackets that he will make so we will be able to mount it.

By this time Jack & Sue stopped by before their son and future daughter-in-law got to the house with all the tables, chairs, and decorations. After they were all unloaded they got started arranging tables and chairs and then moved on with the decorations. They finally finished up around 5 o’clock at which time they left. We had not eaten all day and we were very hungry so we ordered a Stromboli from a local pizza restaurant. We took a break to eat since Gina had run out of mulch. I went and borrowed my uncle’s truck to get some more mulch.

I said I would have pictures for you today but Gina wouldn’t let me take any until she had the mulch down but here are a few pictures of what she had completed so far. The biggest addition this year was adding a 35 foot flower bed along a section of fence. This year we will be making a flower bed along the all of the fence. This is just the first part and only 150 feet more to go.

Gina's new Addition

Gina's garden has been done in phases since it gets expensive and it takes so much time. However, when we sit in our swing, we get so relaxed and just soak up the beauty of it all. We eat outside a lot just to listen to the water coming out of the fall and rushing down the stream and into the pond. Gina jokes with me that she is going to make a recording of it so she can play it at night to drown out my snoring.

Nicole called us when we were leaving Home Depot with the mulch and asked where we were because she was at our house. We said, we would be right there. When we drove up she had all the tiki torches lit and was sitting outside. It was so beautiful driving up seeing the garden all lit up. I decided to walk to the back of our property and take a picture looking at the garden with all the tiki torches lit.

Night Time in the Garden

This picture doesn’t do it justice because the ambience and atmosphere with the glow from the torches is so romantic. Gina and I spend most days when we are here by ending our day sitting outside in each other’s arms relaxing the night away.

Gina had to water all the plants which she was doing while I was playing around taking pictures. Once she finished we walked around our property to see the different effects that the torches had on the garden. It was now 10 o’clock and we were both were tired and wanted to get cleaned up. I hoped in the shower while she relaxed in her Jacuzzi. After that we called it a day and got in bed. Today was a wonderful day. The weather could not have been more perfect and tomorrow is supposed to be the same. So tomorrow should be a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding. I’ll have pictures for ya’ll to enjoy.

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed each one us with.

Heading Toward Louisiana

Thursday
April 2, 2009

Again I woke up without Gina but I’ll see her tonight. I got dressed and went to work. I gave Gina a very nice wake up call so she could start her day knowing that I was thinking about her and missing her very much. She doesn’t have very much time to work in her garden today since she a couple of medical tests that she has to get done today. Hopefully they will find out what’s been going on with her body.

I left work at 5 o’clock today to start heading toward Louisiana. Gina called me after her last test was finished and said the doctor told her he didn’t find any problems so she’ll have more doctor appointments. We’ll see when we can schedule them so I can be here in Louisiana with her. I finally made it home at 10:15. Not only did she work in her garden this week but she created this table to show off our son going into the Marines.

Showing off Thomas being a United States Marine

Gina is so talented and we are both so proud of his decision to serve his country. We are both love this country very much and to say the least we are proud Americans. We didn’t do much else after I got home other than discuss how busy of a day tomorrow will be. Another Great Day and I’m happy to be back with my bride.


Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed each one us with.

Another Good Day

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Woke up again without my bride, that’s three in a row and I only have one more to go then I’ll be heading to Louisiana to get my bride and bring her back to Texas with me. This week doesn’t seem to be changing very much. Gina is working in her garden and I go to work. I’m not sure how long I could handle this. I used to be able to do this with ease but that was when it was part of my chosen profession. It’s just not what we want to do anymore. The highlight of the day for me was calling “The Last Resort” in Rockport and made reservations for April 9th. Gina & I are going down there for three days to visit with John & Brenda. I hope no one takes this as complaining but Gina and I have spent a lot of time between Rockport and Aransas Pass and the nightly rate of 40 dollars is high for around there. I’m not sure what all this park has there but I was a little shocked when I heard the price since the most I have ever paid was 30 dollars a night down there. I then went online and searched the area and it looks like the average is 25 to 30 dollars. Now I know that some of those campgrounds and parks are pretty run down but we are going down there to see John and Brenda and it gave me some practice comparing campgrounds in a certain area. Some you are thinking, didn’t ya’ll just see them three weeks ago in Kerrville. Yes, we did, but we enjoyed there company so much that we got the site right next to them and as I said previously Gina & I really love the area around Rockport.

I left work at 4 o’clock today since there wasn’t much going on after 3 o’clock and my ride home was leaving then and I wasn’t about to walk 16 miles to get home. There were some things I wanted to do on my truck so it worked out well by leaving work earlier than normal. First, I went up to the office and paid the campground for another month. Then I worked on making sure my freezer was going to work off the inverter and then routed the electrical cable inside the cab. Normally I do not worry about the freezer since I never go longer than 12 hours without connecting to power. However, tomorrow it’ll be close to 18 hours and I just don’t want to take a chance with the meat inside of it. After that I worked on the armrest on the driver’s seat since it broke in Kerrville and then it broke again last weekend. I have ordered new seats so I was not looking for a permanent fix just something that I could rest my arm on until the new seats come in. I saved the hardest job for last which was crawling under the truck to see why the side fairings were vibrating so much. There was a bolt missing so I put one in for now but it will need something else to hold it better. That completed the things I wanted to do. Now I have the must do items, clean up our home so when Gina comes back on Sunday she will be happy that I kept it clean. By this time I’m getting hungry so I fixed leftovers and ate.

After dinner I relaxed by playing around with the blog and learning how to do certain things. I watched a few short videos that Jim & Chris Guld have available on their website Geeks On Tour. They have a member sign up plan which I did when they first started it but never needed the info but they’re fulltime RV’ers and as most fulltimers any money is nice and I thought I might someday need help with computers or the internet so I joined. Anyway check out their site. I also added music to our blog from playlist.com. They have a lot of songs to choose from. It’s not like I wanted music in our blog but more of I wanted to see if I could do it.

Gina called me around 9 o’clock to say she was inside for the night and that she was getting in the tub to relax. She then told me some bad news that she had dropped her brand new Iphone and cracked the glass screen. I told her, “It’s nothing but a thing”. I think she was just upset at herself for dropping it and considering that she just got it and her last Iphone was broke for two months before it was replaced. There are some things that get to me but Gina breaking her new Iphone is not one of them. Now I have to confess that Thomas had already called me and told me that she was upset because she broke her Iphone so I was prepared for when she told me. Either way things like that really do not bother me since I know she didn’t do it on purpose. I think after that we spoke one last time around 10 o’clock to tell each other good night. I want have to sleep by myself tomorrow night (yee-haw)
I promise to have some pictures tomorrow since I’ll be able to see what Gina has been doing these past few days. It’s so much nicer to have pictures in the blog plus it seems like you don’t have to write as much.

One last item, I wanted to provide an update on my son-in-law’s grandfather. He had his heart valve replacement surgery and only spent two days in ICU before he was moved into a regular room. He stayed in there for 4 days and is now in a rehab facility for a few more days and then he should be back at home sometime next week. His body has recovered unbelievably considering he’s 85 years old. Gina & I thank you all for the prayers.

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed each one us with.

Visiting with Family and Garden work Continues

March 31, 2009


I woke up again this morning missing my bride. We decided that we would do our best not be apart anymore after this week. I will take off from work if she has to go back Louisiana or for any other reason. We will rearrange our plans so we can just be together. We’ll just have to see if we can hold to that. I did call her and gave her a sweet wakeup call again this morning. The weatherman had forecast a slight chance of rain and she wanted to get out in her garden just in case it actually did rain. I drove my big truck into work today. I enjoy driving it however I cannot park it in the parking garage (figure that it's only 13' 4") so I have to park in an open parking lot about 300 yards away. I can keep an eye on it through the office window which keeps me a little more at ease.

Gina got outside and planted a few bedding plants before she stopped and went to Lowe’s to get some other things for her garden. After that she stopped by the cemetery and picked up the vase on our son’s grave and took it to get a new arrangement made. From there she stopped by to visit with our Aunt Nell and Uncle Jim and invited them to come over to our house later for desert. She finally made it home and got back in her garden to continue her therapy (really work). Around 3 o’clock our aunt & uncle stopped by for some key lime pie that she made Monday. They left and then our children’s adopted grandparents stopped by to see the progress that Gina has made in her garden. It is their son that is getting married in our garden this Saturday. They were highly impressed with how it was looking. Gina is so gifted with landscaping that if we were still aspiring to reach for that American dream, she could easily go into business doing landscaping. Once they left Gina went back to planting. Well, for me, I still had another busy day at work but it should slow down by Saturday until the beginning of May. I left work at 5 today and went straight home. I did sit down and talk with our neighbor that is from Illinois for a little while. The campground is slowly empting out. I expect that a lot more winter Texans will be leaving on April 1st and then most, if not all of them will depart by May 1st.

I cooked up some dirty rice for my dinner and finally finished up Sunday’s and Monday’s blog entry so I’m finally up to date. Gina called me at 9:30 to say she was getting in the shower and to tell me good night. I was already in bed with the TV on but again there didn’t seem to be anything worth watching.


Another beautiful day and tomorrow’s weather forecast is supposed to be a beautiful spring day. We both love spring and watching all the blooms and trees coming back to life.


Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed each one us with.

Doctor Visits and a Busy Day at Work

Monday, March 30, 2009

Today was the first morning that I woke up in a long while without Gina next to me. Not that she wakes up with me but it feels so nice knowing that she is there. However, I did get to call her and give her a very nice wakeup call. She had to wake up early this morning so she could get all dressed up for her first doctor’s visit. She called me to let me know she was leaving our house and I no sooner hung up the phone and she was calling me back complaining about the traffic on the interstate and how she was just sitting still. I told her to calm down and that it’s just the way traffic is at that time. She was worried that she would be late for her appointment since she was supposed to be there early because she had never seen this doctor before nor did she really know where his office was located. She called me to tell me that she found his office and that she made with a few minutes to spare. I will spare you the details of that visit but she was happy. She then headed back to the house since her next doctor’s appointment wasn’t until 1:45.

I went to work later than normal this morning since I just didn’t want to be there and I was not in any hurry. I knew it was going to be a busy day since I had already received 12 emails on my blackberry by 5 o’clock in the morning and none of them were the nice kind. They all seemed to want me to do something for them as soon as possible. I did finally make it into the office at 7 o’clock and was busy before I even had a chance to sit down in my chair. Gina called me when she got home at 11 o’clock to let me know she made it home. She needed to get to the house so she could get everything prepared for her pokeno ladies that were coming over to eat and play that game. She called me at 3 o’clock to tell me about her second doctor’s visit and again she was happy but she still has some tests to do on Thursday. Hopefully those go just as good. She said, “it sucks getting old” and I told her, “she isn’t old yet” then she said, “it sucks getting older”. I said, ok, I can agree with that. She was now heading back to the house to play hostess for her pokeno group. There are 12 ladies from church that get together once a month. They draw names in December each year to see which month each person gets to play hostess. She has been playing with this group for about 12 years and even though she has not played with them since December because she has been here in Houston with me.

I finished up work and left at 5 o’clock. I couldn’t get out of the office fast enough even though I wasn’t in a hurry to get home. I stopped by HEB to pick up some deli meat and bread, then it was time to get home. I boiled some eggs and made some tuna salad. I didn’t make a sandwich but I did enjoy it with crackers. I was getting a little bored and I couldn’t even call Gina since she was having fun telling her pokeno ladies that she would not be playing anymore. She tried to get our daughter, Nicole to come over so she could give her moral support to tell them. But, Nicole said, “You just tell them”. I decided that I would go to bed early since there didn’t seem to be anything good to watch on TV. I’m not sure what time I fell asleep. But, Gina called me at 10 o’clock and said you weren’t sleeping were you? No, why would I be asleep it’s only 10 o’clock and I get up at 4:30. I didn’t really say that to her but I was thinking it. Anyway, we talked for a little while about her night playing pokeno and she said that she told them she was going to stop playing. She said that they were sorry that she would be leaving their group but that they understood. Not much else to say about today other than, we both still had a wonderful day!! If any of you know Gina and me, you know that we both feel extremely blessed. Regardless of what may come our way, we are humbled by and thankful for all the blessing that Our Father has so freely given to us and we in return give all praise and glory to him for only he is worthy.

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed each one us with.

More Garden Work and Driving to Houston

Sunday, March 29, 2009

I apologize before hand for not posting until now. I had a good routine last week but I’m struggling this week. I need my bride here with me so she can keep me on schedule.

Today we woke up early to get outside since I would be leaving later to drive back to Houston. Gina wanted me to help her get all the bigger plants in the ground, so that would be my priority. Gina went back inside and made homemade biscuits and cooked some bacon & eggs around 9 o’clock since Thomas and I were hungry.. Then it was back outside to put more plants in the ground. My goal was to get on the road by 2 o’clock but I didn’t quite make it. Nicole, our daughter stopped by to see me before I left. I spent some time visiting with her until 2:30 and then it was time that I had to go jump in the shower. Loaded up the truck and left the house at 3 o’clock. I did take a few pictures this morning of Gina working and what the new flower bed will look like.

Gina's therapy, I call it work

Gina's new Flower bed taking shape

For all the girls that went shopping while we were in Kerrville and if you remember Gina had bought an eagle. You can now see where it will go in her garden.

Gina's Eagle Watching Over her New Addition

While I was taking pictures before I left, Thomas was goofing around with me and he said I wouldn’t put a picture of him like this on our blog, so this picture is for him.

Thomas showing off his RedNeck ways

We really got a lot done this weekend but Gina and Thomas still have a lot more to do. I had to stop and fill up with diesel since it had been over four weeks since I last put diesel in the truck. So after 140 gallons and 294 dollars later she was full again. Not great fuel economy but the ride is worth the 8.9 mpg. That was for both towing the camper and solo driving. I normally get 7 mpg towing and 10.4 solo if anyone is curious. I was having a really good drive until just before Baytown, Texas. There was a six car wreck on top of the Trinity River Bridge. That only delayed me 20 minutes but then the interstate was shutdown at the San Jacinto River for construction so I decided that I would just head north and come in on Hwy 90. When I turned on Hwy 90 there was a train stopped on the tracks and it wasn’t moving. So I did a U-Turn in the middle of the highway and headed east for about a mile and decided that I would just go through a lot of towns and red lights. I was only about 40 miles from the campground. For a trip that normally takes 4 and a half to five hours took 6 hours today. I finally arrived at the campground at 9 o’clock and by the time I unloaded and connected power to the truck and fixed something to eat it was 10 o’clock. I called Gina and talked to her for a little while. She did say that they got everything in the ground except the bedding plants which she will do on Tuesday. I told her that I would give her a wakeup call since her doctor’s appointment is for 8:45 and it will take her over an hour to get there. Well, I said goodbye to her and headed to bed wishing that she was there with me. I really miss her but I know she really needs to see these doctors this week and it's not like it is a long time. We will only be apart for four days and that is nothing compared to 274 days that we were apart in 1985. We just don't like being apart from each other anymore.

Until tomorrow Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Garden Work, Baby Ducks, Good-bye Christmas

I Woke up early this morning and got coffee going then hoped in the shower. Fixed both us a cup of coffee and discussed our day. I left and went to get my hair cut and was back home by 8:30 only to find Gina already out in her Garden. I had to take a few pictures because I just knew she was going to fall in the pond but somehow she managed to get the pond cleaned up without falling in.

Gina Cleaning out the Pond

Gina Streching to Prune Plants in the Pond

I needed to get on the computer so I could write our blog entry. Gina came in and fried some bacon and put some crescent rolls in the oven. This was our brunch. This has been our normal routine for as long as I remember we have always done brunch instead of breakfast and lunch. I finished up the blog and headed outside with Gina. The hardest part for Gina was deciding which flowers to leave in the ground and which one to pull up. This is where I just sit back and wait for instructions. She finally made her decisions and a lot of flowers got pulled up that I thought looked good but she said they would eventually die once summer got here. Something about they were winter flowers. I just said ok. Our children’s adopted grandparents (Jack & Sue) stopped by and Gina had to give them a visual of where her new flower beds were going and how it would look by the end of this week.

Gina is showing where her new Plants will go

We had to leave and go pick up some special dog food that you can only get at the veterinarian. After that we stopped at guess what, another plant nursery.

Gina Shopping for more Plants

She was looking for some kind of tall tropical plant to fill a whole. She finally found some kind of palm tree along with another bush. We then headed for Home Depot to look for an outdoor lamp that you could mount on a pole. Yesterday when my dad and uncle stopped by Gina had asked them if they could make her a portable lamp that she could put outside of our home on wheels. Well they said sure bring us a light and we’ll do the rest. Now, this is not going to be just any run of the mill lamp post but she wants to hang a sign with our names on it and on the other side she wants to hang a bird feeder and on those arms she wants some eagles welded on it too. I will post pictures when it’s finish. We did find a lamp and then we headed back to our house to continue working in the garden. Gina had decided that she wanted all the beds ready for planting so she could get started first thing this morning.

Flower Beds ready for Planting

We were both getting hungry so we decided that I would grill hamburgers. We decided to eat outside by the waterfall and just enjoy the sound for a few minutes since Gina was getting tired but she still had a lot more to do.

Thomas drove up with some baby mallard ducks. Gina has wanted ducks in our big pond since we moved here over thirteen years ago but we have always been scared to get them. So with Thomas bringing them home it really made her day.

One week old Baby Ducks

This is our pond & will be where the Ducks will live

Gina fnished preparing her flower beds and then moved on to determining where her new flowers would go. While she doing this I was trying to get all our tiki torches (all 25 of them) filled with oil and lit. I thought it would be nice to sit and relax on our swing enjoying the nice weather and the cool breeze blowing. I tried to take a picture. But it didn't come out great but you can at least see what it looks like at night. We sat outside for awhile until we were getting tired and we knew our day was still not over. We both went inside and jump in the tub to get cleaned up. (not at the same time)

At Night in our Garden

We have only spent a few days at our house since Christmas and guess what our Christmas tree was still up in our living room. We started removing all the decorations so I could disassemble the tree. We finally finished up a little after 10 o’clock and we both sat on the couch to relax for a few minutes before we went to bed. We are both extremely happy that we accomplished all the tasks that we had planned. This is where we wanted to end the day. Another wonderful day.

Good Bye Christmas 2008

Until tomorrow Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.