Forest in a hunting blind at South Llano River State Park Thinking: While we were camping last weekend we had to take a road back to make it a loop to the car from the trail we were on. About 10′ off the trail into the vegetation was a large empty chip bag. I deviated off the road for a moment to pick up the back to LNT the thing and as I was stepping off the trail Forest says “Are we going bushwhacking?” Chris and I chuckled because it was so funny and he used it in the right context! I was going off the road but not with…

Phlox drummondii Over the weekend we went to the Hill Country to camp at Inks Lake State Park, and we were in for a treat. The Lady Bird Wildflower Center has been sharing their wildflower reports on social media, basically reposting what people are sharing that they’ve seen, and I’ve seen bluebonnets from Big Bend to the Hill Country posted. Sure enough, as we headed into the Hill Country we found wildflowers galore, including plenty of early bluebonnets. Closer to Houston there are some paintbrushes beginning to bloom but the big awakening is yet to happen. As we traipsed along the Gneiss rock formations in the state park, I think…

Thinking: On the politics front: +An Open Letter to Howard Schultz by Jon Lovett of Crooked Media/Pod Save America/Lovett or Leave It. Unless you are a third-party (and not insane) conservative, stay out of the 2020 race. We don’t need you jacking up the election. +Any time Ted Cruz gets taken down a notch is a good day in my book. From what I understand Senator Bennett is usually mild-mannered so him going off on Ted is pretty spectacular! +I’m glad to see so many women announcing exploratory runs for president but the only two that I see so far having a chance are Senator’s Warren and Harris. And to…

As I mentioned a few posts back in my 2018 Year in Review, I thought I might try to write out 39 Goals or Wishes to Complete for 2019. I’ll be 39 in July and so I thought I might write up a list of things I’d like to do this year instead of a random word that I seem to continue to forget sometime mid-way through the year. I may not hit all of these but I do find when I see what I have listed that I tend to try to make things happen. At least that’s what I did when I had the 28 list, or when…

Well, 2018 is closing out and I honestly can’t believe it. We’re inching closer to the end of the decade and it feels like yesterday we were at the beginning of the decade. And as per usual it is time to start reflecting on the previous year and thinking about the next. First, I think I should review my word for the year, which was apparently strong and of course I forgot about until I went to look it up. I think I tried to be strong in some ways. I’ve been fairly consistent with workouts despite not losing weight (lots of thoughts on that for another time) and have…

We were supposed to be camping this weekend. And then the weather forecast last week stated temperatures in the 40s and rain starting Friday afternoon into early Saturday morning, tapering off around breakfast. The rain started later than anticipated on Friday so the rain became heavy by nightfall. The problem pipe draining our front yard still hadn’t been solved; Chris had been unable to pinpoint the actual issue. Friday night I started packing up my clothes and Forest’s clothes and a few other items, with Chris to bring in the storage bins for packing the rest of the gear later in the evening. However, the rain never let up. Secretly…

On Sunday I got on our NextDoor group and saw that several people were posting about President Bush’s funeral train supposedly traversing a track that runs through a town very nearby. I can hear the train horns from inside our house, that’s how near this track is. Sure enough, I looked up the route and it was set to go through Magnolia sometime around lunch or just after. I told Chris about it and thought it would be neat to go. Honestly, when I thought about going I didn’t imagine that a ton of people would be going considering it was the middle of a work day. Little did I…

Thinking: I didn’t write about it earlier this month but I went on my first overnight trip away from Forest in early November. I’ve been ready for a weekend away for several years now but I knew Forest wasn’t. Finally this summer I knew that it would be a lot easier to get away for the weekend and so two of my friends and I made plans to spend a night away. We’ve been friends since the summer of 1998 and were living aboard the TS Texas Clipper II. Ideally we would have liked some quaint cabin in the Hill Country but with last minute planning and driving distance we…

Thinking: + via GIPHY Chris and I got our early voting in yesterday. I’m not usually an early voter, I’ve done it once or twice before. I like to go on election day but I felt it was important to get it done with just in case I couldn’t vote next Tuesday. I sure hope Beto wins. It would really be nice to send an email to my representative for once and get a response that sounds like they are listening. I don’t know why I bother with Cruz and Cornyn other than to make sure they know there are people other than them living in Texas. +Got an ocular…