Spring Break- Lake Texana

Let's begin.

In preparation for my trip to Alaska, I want to accomplish 2 things. First, I am working my feeble photographic skills by only using my 20 mm lens for month, so I can better share with family and friends about our experiences while travelling. Second and lastly, I want to write about our trip, so I am using this blog in coming days just for that. My writing skills are not that good, but that's because I hate to write. The words don't flow for me. I have to hack away at it like I'm trying to cut a tree down with an ax. It ain't pretty, but eventually the tree falls down. 

If you are reading this, then you are my guinea pigs. Yep, if this were an English class, and I was writing an essay, this would be a pretty poor opening paragraph. But since it is not,  I will take the luxury of taking perfectly good thoughts and rearranging them into disjointed ramblings. I heard someone use the word"efforting" last week. I'm not sure that word was used in the proper manner or not, but maybe my writing could be called "efforting."

During spring break we spent a couple of days camping at Lake Texana at the campground located there. It's a pretty camping spot with live oaks, yaupon, and scrub oaks, located about 8 miles east of Edna Texas. Wildlife can be seen in abundance. You can see deer every morning and evening grazing away without a care in the world. A pretty place to drink a cup of coffee and ponder God's creation.

Some friends of ours from church went with us camping. They like to tent camping, we prefer our little trailer.

Here is our little 14ft trailer. This will be our home away from home on our trip to Alaska

The weather was overcast most of the time, with temperatures in the high 40's at night and mid 60's during the day.
 Perfect camping weather.

Janet had discovered this huge oak tree on our last trip at Lake Texana.
I think it spreads over 60 feet.

Janet is hiding in the tree. Can you sport her?

Me, I'm just admiring the view, wishing I was a kid again.

The next morning we traveled to Yoakum to explore and wander around and take in that quaint town of 5900 people.

Outside one the shops was this unusual table made from spare parts.
3 table legs, a cabinet drawer, an old level, and some old wood.

I am a hardware store freak. I love to go into old hardware stores
 and look around at the odds and ends you can find.

Some real metal funnels, hard to find these days in the big box stores.

Morrow Hardware, Yoakum TX

What a great way to end the day. Moonlight falling across the lake, a crisp coolness in the air, and food cooking on the grill

Honing the skills

It's been awhile since I have added anything lately to my blog. I guess a person has to be in the mood to pursue their hobby. Since I am not very disciplined when it comes to doing things with my leisure time, like writing or photography, these things kind of come and go. When it gets difficult or I am not pleased with the result, I lay it aside for awhile. I am beginning to understand the only way I am going to get any better at these pursuits is to be more focused and methodical about them.

This has been spurred on because my wife and I are planning our bucket list trip to Alaska this summer. Our plans are to drive from Houston, through Canada, all the way to Anchorage and back, staying in our travel trailer. We have set aside a month for our trip. We started planning almost a year ago, and now it is only a few months away. Naturally, I will taking photos of every place we go, documenting our adventure. 

One of my trip preparations is sharpening my photographic eye and skills. With that in mind, I am taking up a personal challenge of using only one lens for a month. The one I have chosen is a Panasonic 20mm 1.7 on a Panasonic G5. I am want to accomplish three things. One, to reignite my passion for photography. I am feeling “eh” about it. Two, take pictures in such a way that no adjustments have to made after the leave the camera. Right the first time in other words. I genially do not like fixing photos on the computer. Lazy maybe, I don’t know. Three, I have never used only one lens for any length of time. It will be good discipline. I think it might really help me to see.


P.S. and BTW, Janet and I are open to any trip suggestion you might have.

Here are some photos to gander, comment, criticize, and ponder on, or about, you get my drift.

1/60 F1.7 ISO 320

Home in the evening after a busy day.
It's not much, but for some reason I like it.

                                                      1/250 F2.8 ISO 160

I saw the wind chimes hanging perfectly still. My thought- they are frozen in time.

 1/320 F3.2 ISO 320

It's not really a good picture at all. Not quite sharp enough, the colors don't really pop, but it reminded me that life is like that sometimes. You get what you get, and work with what you have.

                                               
                           1/500  F4  ISO160

An imprint in time.

1/125  F1.8  ISO160

A cross
It hangs there silently as a reminder.

                       1/160  F2.2 ISO 160

It's in color. Why? I don't know. But I thought exposure was just right.                                

1/125  F2  ISO 160

Summer will be here soon.
I like the image of Mr. Sun

Just Piddlin' in Crockett

      We made a road trip this last weekend to Crockett for their Christmas on the Square.  It was our second trip with Just Piddlin'.  After the first trip, several modifications were made, such as, added shelves, hooks in various places, and insulating the floor.  The weather was wet and cold, in the thirties and forties most of the time. It was a real test of just how well Just Piddlin' would function.

We had no problem staying warm and dry at all. We barely ran our little electric heater, maybe 5 or 10 minutes as needed, which turned out to be about every 4 or 5 hours. Condensation was a problem, until we opened the windows to let allow for better ventilation and air circulation. My idea for the tarp to use as an awning did not work out very well. The size I decided on was too small, and water would pond on it, and not drain properly. We solved that problem by replacing it with a pop up shelter. It works great, and gives us more covered room outside.

I took a lot of pictures and will be sharing them as time goes by. Here are a few however to further tell about our trip.

We stayed at Mission Tejas State Park, outside of Crockett.

We weren't happy with our awning setup.

It was raining and wet, but the atmosphere and surroundings were beautiful.

Trash turned into treasures.

Dr Pepper anyone.

Bobby D's from Henderson. I like the Smokin Walking Taco.

My dear sweet wife, drinking hot chocolate.

Cheyenne, our daughter, joined us for the day in Crockett.

We ate lunch at the Moose Head Cafe, right off the square in Crocket. The BBQ stuffed baked potatoes and onion rings were wonderful.

Me with a full belly

Our pop up cover. It works great. Notice the Christmas lights. Not too early, besides I like the look.

We did drive over to Alto, just to take in the sights.

The muddy Neches River.

Road the road for the first time!

Thursday evening, we took Just Piddlin, ( our camping trailer), our for the first time. Pulled it behind my truck down the highway and through the neighborhood to see how it handles. Great no problems.

Friday, we headed south to Goliad State Park, after work. Naturally, we got stuck in Houston's famous rush hour traffic pulling the trailer. Again, no problems. Arrived at Goliad around 9:30 pm. It was nice not to have to pitch a tent in the dark. The trailer was set up and ready for use in about 15 minutes.

Saturday, Janet and I, met up with Cody, and went to Goliad Market Days that was set up around the town's square. There we lots of booths with various craft items and if course, great food, like chicken on a stick, kettle corn, and fresh squeezed lemonade. Lunch went like this, Cody had a cheeseburger, Janet had a chicken kabob, I had a bowl of chili. We all shared  family size order of ribbon fried potatoes, along with fresh lemonade. Oh Yeah.

Alright, Just Piddlin trailer report.
Not all was great. A few things I need to fix. (I'm sure there will be more as time passes with use)
1. I need to build some shelves.
2. I need to install hooks in various places.
3. I had condensation around the bottom of the door and on the floor under the mattress.
(Those were the only two places without insulation)
4. I need to run wires for lighting to a different spot.
5. I need to mount a paper towel rack.
6. I need a small table.

Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Most things in south Texas, sting or prick. Fire ants and cactus.

A nice 6 point.

I saw this and thought it was very unusal.

Does anyone know what the name of this plant is?

Downtown Goliad.

Ok, I had to ask, the man said it's called a Bandle. A cross between cowboy boots and sandles. He even has a patent on them.

Just Piddlin Build 10

It's almost ready. The paint is dry. The inside is finished. Now for a road test. My plans are to take it on a shake down ride tomorrow, and if all goes well, take it camping for the first time this weekend.