Or so the expression goes. During our New Year's Rally, the hosts typically try to plan for events to keep everyone entertained/busy. We've done tours, shows, museums and the like. This past weekend's rally had something different. We attended a dinner show in a local castle. Now, if I was over in Germany or England, visiting a castle wouldn't seem so out of place, but in a small Central Texas town of barely 4000 people? Turns out that we do have a few, if you know where to look. Several years back, the owner of a bakery in downtown Bellville, bought 20 acres of land just outside of town. He was going to build a house on it but nothing really struck his fancy. Then one day, he came up with the idea to build a castle. He spent eight years erecting a 3,400-square-foot castle - and then he moved in. He surrounded the turreted structure with a moat and installed a working drawbridge, portcullis, and a trebuchet that can shoot big rocks about 100 yards. He opens the castle for tours and various events (weddings, receptions, dinners). In 2010, he began working with Murder by Chocolate, a Houston group that stages [dinner theater] murder mysteries on weekends. There’s a mock siege of the castle, and someone is kidnapped and murdered. People can participate and get into costumes and follow scripts. For dinner, he serves a medieval feast with a whole roasted pig and all the fixings.
Was a very interesting/fun event, if not a bit cold. It turns out that central a/c and heating were not part of the old medieval architecture. I had taken a few pictures of the event but it was at night and many did not come out well. Besides, I was knighted (Sir Cuss) to stand guard over the drawbridge. At least I wasn't named Sir Circumcision. Everyone got to play a part in the play and entertainment. Kind of a campy play, but it was very entertaining.
I meant to post an update before we high-tailed it out of town last week before the weekend. Christmas came and went as planned. Kids came done for a few days, we celebrated only two Christmases this year with them and my family. Was fairly quiet/uneventful (aka drama free). Everyone got new toys to play with (including the dogs). Last weekend we loaded up the wagon and headed west of town for our annual New Year’s Eve rally in a small campground out in the country. Nice, quiet affair. Good way to ring in the New Year with friends and family in the country. 3rd time out in the new trailer with momma and the dogs. The more I use it, the more I learn how to make things work or, more importantly, what doesn't work. A 16 year old trailer is going to have a few quirks/hiccups – my parents have been cruising the country in their trailers for over 30 years and they have pretty much seen & done it all. From flat tires, melted power lines, lost wheel, refrigerator quits, a/c problems, water leaks, broken hitch, and even rolling their trailer has not dimmed their thirst for the road. My old trailer was always having one problem or another. The A/C was built like a tank – it would run, but it was noisy, vibrated all night long but it would put frost on your pumpkin. I was always chasing leaks in the trailer, the floor needed replacing, and I won’t even begin my diatribe on tambour doors. The new rig is light years ahead of our old one. 5 feet longer, 3 feet wider, lots of room, lots of storage, bigger holding tank capacity, quieter a/c, great shower. Makes the trek a lot more enjoyable when we have the room. We are still learning how to operate the trailer and some of its quirks. Last trip I deemed I needed a sway control/stabilizer. On this outing we came up with a few new challenges that made the trip interesting (lost a sky light, the furnace didn't work). Arrived late Friday evening only to find my sky light in the bathroom had not made the trip out of Houston, so now I had a 2 foot hole in the top of the trailer (much foul language ensued). Spare sky lights are not something I normally keep in the tool bag, so I had to improvise a cover from some cardboard, garbage bag and duct tape. After all that drama, I wasn't really in the mood for Mexican food at a local restaurant. Maybe the mini-crisis put me in a bad mood, but the food wasn't appetizing at all to me (or perhaps it was the 3 hour wait). The furnace never came on and I called in a local repair guy that specializes in RV repairs (handy when you live next to an RV park). He figured out that the relay was shot and needed to be replaced. Of course, he didn't have that part and would have to order it (remember it is the weekend before New Year’s) but it would probably not be in until Tuesday (the day we go back). This did not really pose a major problem since we had a heat cube (small ceramic heater that will pretty much cook you out of the trailer) and electric blankets. New Year’s Eve we had plans for a lot of activities but the front hit early and it was pretty much nonstop rain all day. Normally I don’t mind the rain but camping with two very hairy dogs that love to walk, I envisioned chaos inside my new rig. No matter how much I tried to dry them off and lay down towels, it was a mess. I was also worried that my jury rigged sky light would not hold up well in the rain, but it held up quite well. Despite those challenges, the rest of the rally went well. Saturday morning we had biscuits on a stick - cooked over an open fire (or heater). Saturday night we attended a local dinner theater - "Murder By Chocolate" in a local castle (yes, I said castle). I was going to cover that trip here but it would make the post way too long so I'll go into detail in one of my next posts. Sunday night we cooked turkeys Scout style (in a foil tent with charcoal) but the cooks were having problems getting the turkeys to the right temperature so we "rigged" up some of our propane heaters and created an outdoor oven. Not exactly per the manual, but it did the trick. (Improvise, Adapt, Overcome)
Home sweet home (before the rain set in)
Sadly, our planned New Year's Eve parade was cancelled due to the rain so I will just pass along some of the pictures from last year's festivities.
The 2011 Toilet Bowl Parade
One good outcome was that my sky light repair job held up on the trip back home. Had fears that it was going to blow off on the ride and the inside of the trailer would be soaked. Never underestimate the power of duct tape.
Now quite an official "Airstream" approved modification
And just to tease you on the castle visit, there was an actual working trebuchet that we got to operate. To give you an idea of how it operated, I snagged this clip...
And for anyone keeping count, 7 days until liftoff...
I hope everyone is having a safe and Merry Christmas. After all the panic and scrambling, we've finally slid into Christmas. I'd love to say we've been taking it easy and got all the baking done and gone for a quiet (but cold) bike ride, but that ain't true. For one thing, it's 76 degrees down here. No white Christmas this year. I've been working on various projects/problems leading up to the holidays. Some people have asked if I am taking off time over the holidays, but I'm not. Worked all of last week and and will work most of this week as well. This puts a slight damper on the holiday mood (at least for me). I've even had a conference call with a supplier booked for yesterday morning (Christmas Eve) to address some crisis. I guess it's my turn in the barrel. I'm sort of paying for that 10 day boat trip in November. Kinda reminds me of when I was in the Army and pulled duty for Thanksgiving AND Christmas back in Germany. I got tagged for that plum assignment because we were a young newlywed couple and had no kids. Good news is that the newlyweds came home Saturday night. They are home for a few days so we will get to enjoy the holidays with them. It is getting harder each year on how to coordinate the family gatherings. With the various new families branching out, we are looking at 3 or 4 Christmas celebrations. One for us, one with the daughter-in-law's family, one with my parents/brother, one with my wife's parents. We tried to gather everyone over here a few times over they years, but with the new additions, it has turned into a regular circus. Still, will be good to share some Xmas joy with all the parents, brothers, sisters (in-laws), children, nieces, nephews, etc. This morning, the kids are over at the DIL's parents to celebrate Christmas with her sister and long time family friends. We get our turn this afternoon. I've invited my parents over as well. My brother had his annual gathering this morning across town at his house with the entire crew (15+) which includes the new grandchild. They do an early opening with a breakfast casserole as the main dish. Since my crew is older and gets up later, we tend to do a later (2nd shift) event. I find it's getting harder each year to coordinate all this hoopla, but somehow we will manage. Merry Christmas to all my friends out there and I'm looking forward to another great year.
Doggy Christmas! And, no, these are not my two mutts.
Nope. Still not done with my shopping. I am still hunting for the right gifts for the nephews, parents, but keep striking out. Spent most of yesterday searching for ideas, but kept coming up empty. I even made the trek to the mall yesterday for several hours but only came away with something for momma thanks to James Avery. I will be out again today to try and tie this one off. In interim, to all the hard working moms out there cooking and wrapping for the holidays, this one's for you...
I've been a rather quiet lately. I am still shocked/horrified/depressed/outraged/sickened over the tragedy in Connecticut and I really haven’t found anything worth writing about that seems important. I applaud others that have been able to carry on and keep posting, but, right now, my heart just isn't into it. It’s hard to really be in the Christmas spirit this year, but I am working at it. My heart and prayers go out to the families in Newtown.
I have to remember for all the really bad things that happen out there, there are still a few miracles to be grateful for. In the midst of all this, a small ray of sunshine has shown through the darkness. My nephew got married last spring out in East Texas (the Hunting Lease Wedding). The young couple just gave birth this morning to a 9 lbs, 3 oz boy named Austin Garrett. Momma and son are doing ok. The dad has always been a bit questionable.
I've said it before - when I run 5 or 10ks, I normally run for a reason (or at least a cool shirt). I've done a prostate cancer run, a breast cancer run, dog/cat cancer run, Humane Society run, SPCA run, a Pumpkin run, rodeo run, several Turkey trots, a New Year's Resolution run, and even a German langlauf. Whether it's a Chocolate run or dirty girl run, there is always a run to be made and a cause to be supported. I have considered doing a mud run, but that is pretty gnarly and I really would prefer doing it with a friend (more fun when you share the trail). I was looking over some of the upcoming runs as a tune up for my upcoming 1/2 marathon in January and this one peaked my interest:
By now, if you ain't sick of hearing about my danged cruise, you should be. We are finally getting back to some sense of normal around here. Hard to be gone a weekend without falling far behind in normal chores. Make it a 10 day trip and we are really out of sorts. We got back to a ton of laundry, a pile of mail, several hundred e-mails, no Thanksgiving dinner plans, and two very happy dogs. When prepping for the trip, I did a lot of up front planning/logistics. I stopped the paper, stopped the mail. Set the alarm, turned on various timers, gave out emergency contacts to family, secured the fortress. One thing that worried me the most this time was what to do with the children. When we did our first cruise in '08, Shadow was still here. He was old and had a lot of issues, but we didn't feel he would put up with a kennel stay for a week, so we left him at home and arranged for someone to come by 2-3 times a day to take care of him. Let him out, walk him, feed him. He was over 12 years old and one of our biggest fears was that he might pass away while we were gone and we didn't want the woman taking care of him to stress out. He did ok, but wasn't happy with us being gone for a week (sulked for a few days). The next long term trip was a week in Seattle visiting my son in 2009. At the time, we had just had Grayson for under a year and I was uncertain what to do with him. At the recommendation of one of the GBGRR group, I talked with a former member, Mary Beth about taking care of Grayson for a week. She had lost her Golden a year prior and wasn't ready to take on another fuzzy mutt at this time but was happy to keep an eye on my furball for the week. Grayson wasn't sure about the new deal, but they did work it out and both survived the week without any drama. As a matter of fact, I think Gray might have worn her down a bit. After keeping Grayson for a week, Mary Beth wound up adopting not one but two Goldens and is fostering another one (temporary basis). For this trip, I had two Goldens to deal with and a longer time out of pocket. I did not want to board them in the kennel. Claire would not be happy with me at all. As for keeping them at home like with Shadow, I felt that 10 days was too long and they would get bored/depressed. Sticking these two into someone else's home seemed to be a lot more of a burden than with one dog, so I was running out of options. Someone in the club recommended a camp northeast of town called Golden Retriever Camp. Sort of a day camp for dogs. The guy up there has a small ranch and boards Goldens and miniature horses, llamas. I had scoped out the place a month ago to see if Chaos and Pandemonium would fit in up there. Turns out they fit in with the tribe real well. Not sure how he does it. When we visited his place in October, he had 14 dogs at the time. On the day I took my two up the day before we flew out of town to let them get use to the system. At that time, he had only 10 dogs but was expecting a few more visitors. He boasts that a few years back over Christmas, they were up to 24 dogs. Crazy, but he can handle them. No fights, no drama (well, not much). About half the dogs are older Goldens that are content to hang out on the porch and enjoy the sun. When I dropped dropped them off, Grayson was the typical kid, running around and sniffing everything and exploring - enjoying the moment. Claire, the elder one of the two, was a bit more circumspect. She checked out the new place and new dogs, but all the while she kept her eyes on me. She's a smart girl and I feel she knew what was coming. She knew that something was amiss.
How can you leave me?
I felt bad/guilty about leaving them there, but they were in good hands and would get lots of attention. When we came back to get them, they were overjoyed to see us. Claire lumbered out to the gate to greet us like a kid coming home from daycare. Got them a few french fries as treats and, by the time we got home, all was forgiven. The people said Claire and Grayson go along well and there were no problems, so the camp was a definite success. On my way back home, I had spotted several interesting restaurants in the small town that I wanted to try. One was a nice BBQ joint called Straight Off The Road BBQ. Had to stop off to give it a try. Nice fairly new place, clean, good staff with some generous portions and a ton of trophies for the county fair BBQ contest - all good signs. I had to try the pulled pork sandwich and it was amazing. Juicy, lots of meat, and with a sweet/tangy BBQ sauce that really tasted great. Definitely worth a 2nd trip to me. Unfortunately, I tried to take momma there when we picked up the dogs, but it was closed on Monday. Bummer. It's probably a good thing I did not try to scope out the place beforehand. I looked it up on Yelp afterwards and some folks panned the place they were not as impressed with the brisket or ribs. I would tend to disagree as my sandwich was great, but maybe I hit it at the right time. Regardless, I would still be willing to give it a try again if it was a bit closer.
