What a Year It Was!!!!

How did the year 2019 end for us?  Pretty much a blur, involving every realm of emotion it seems. 

So to go back in history, we did end up leaving our spot at Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Reserve due to an evacuation from Hurricane Dorian on September 3.  We traveled on a route that took us south and inland through South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia, then Louisiana and home to our hometown of Sweeny on September 6. Whew!  We were able to mooch dock at Ron’s brother Don’s house.  Funny thing is with all of the RV parks in the area (and I mean there are a LOT), we were unable to find a spot for a few days here and there.  (And I’ll come back to this subject shortly.)

In the meantime, we enjoyed family time which included birthday dinners for my daughter Amy and also her husband James.  Ron went to fish camp with his brother.  Believe it or not, I got a call from my old job wanting to know if I’d like to come out for about a month to help with a PC rollout. And get this – they needed me to drive the contractors around to all of those hidden locations in the refinery and I wouldn’t even have to lift a finger to help them, and it paid pretty darn good. So I said yes, I believe I could be an Uber driver for a month.  

Spent a weekend with granddaughter Lucy at Splashway for Halloween.

Ron's catch from fish camp.

Took grandson Aiden to Sweeny's homecoming football game.

Aiden hunting with his bow and arrow.

Aiden and Lucy walking his heifers getting them ready for the county fair.

In the meantime, being a nostalgic person, I decided to drive by the house I grew up and low and behold, there was a For Sale sign in the yard.  My dad built this house in 1950, sold it to Coach Dupler in 1977 after my mother died, where this family lived in it for the next 44 years.  Well, I talked Ron into going and looking at it.  Long story short:  What a great opportunity, what a great vision we had for fixing it up, and also what a great place to park the motorhome. It’s nice and small, nice small yard – something that will be much easier to lock the door and travel away from than our little farm was. Here's a before shot of what the house looks like.

The house, before we got started on it.

And here’s an after shot after we have poured more concrete, tore off the old siding and replaced it with smart board and painted it. It took 6 weeks to decide on a color. Whew!  I think it’s looking good. Still need to add shutters and a new front door. And landscape!

The house with new siding, enclosed garage, more concrete, new paint. The carport is getting turned into a She Shed in the back yard.

We weren’t looking to buy property. However, we were looking at hanging around Sweeny a lot more. Ron’s mom turned 91 and was requiring more help and we were definitely wanting to be near her. Our kiddos and grandkids are close by, as well as family and friends.  I noticed at my mother-in-law’s house that something was wrong.  You see she has an awesome green thumb and every fall she had several Christmas cactuses that flourished and bloomed.  When we got there, one plant had nearly died while the other looked sad and forlorn. A week after we celebrated mom’s 91^st birthday, we came the next morning to find that she had passed away peacefully in her sleep.  I now have her Christmas cactus and will do my best to cheer it up!

Celebrating mom's 91st birthday at K-2 Restaurant in Bay City

The boys and their mom at her birthday lunch.

She gave me one last cooking lesson and that was how to make strudel.

Maybe they weren't the prettiest, but they were the most delicious!

Some of the grandkids on Thanksgiving day

Grandma, Matthew and Liz at Thanksgiving

So things have been extremely busy.  Ron is happy with doing all the remodeling work on the old house. We’ve had a lot of emotional moments these past few months.  We were able to enjoy our grandson show his heifers at the county fair. We’ve been on a few close by camping trips, competed in the Flatonia Cziliespiel, and gone dancing at a very old recently opened historic dance hall – the Hye Hall near Stonewall, Texas.  We enjoyed a wonderful family Thanksgiving, not knowing at the time it would be our last one with our Mom.  And Christmas and New Years has come and gone. We celebrated at Matagorda on the beach. And we’re starting the new year out at Coleto Creek Reservoir, one of our favorite spots to camp when the girls were young, and we’ll end this little road trip at Brazos Bend State Park visiting with our dear old friends who we have volunteered with in past years. Here are a few more pictures to help illustrate what we've been doing these past few months.

Aiden is proud of his heifers. He placed second with Liberty.

And first with Faith

What a handsome young man!

Ron engineering how to remove the unattractive carport to the back yard and making it into a She Shed.

My new She Shed!  And by the way, where you see all this dirt back here - it was covered with vines and all kinds of stuff.

 

Adding the smart board siding

Moving back my piano!  It takes up the whole dining room!

Ron and daughter Liz dancing at a wedding

Me and my girls!

Living room with a Christmas tree and sheet rock gone, looking through the enclosed garage into a future utility room.

Always time for an ugly Christmas sweater party!

And an invitation to the Brazos Bend State Park Christmas party!

Aiden helping us paint in the house.

Lucy helping me cook Christmas Eve dinner

Maggie enjoying her Shiner beer!

Christmas morning!

These kiddos have our heart!

Happy New Years Eve sunset at Matagorda

And to answer the question that is burning in your mind:  Does buying a house mean you’re not going to travel? Absolutely not.  It’s just a place to park and it will make a wonderful home when down the road we realize we need to slow down and put roots down again.  Not sure where our travel plans will take us in 2020. I know in February we’re headed to Big Bend National Park, but we’re going to take a road trip and visit some Texas state parks on the way. We also plan to take the grandkids on a road trip to the Grand Canyon, Utah and Colorado. And who knows – if there’s a super bloom happening in the deserts out west, we might just get in our bus and travel on out to see!