Just a Swingin'

Before we exited our place in LaCombe, Louisiana, we took our truck to Supreme Ford in Sliddell to have the accelerator pedal fixed.  Sometimes it would not engage when pressed.  Well, when they were working on that, they discovered we needed the front end (ball joints) repaired...$3000.00 later, we picked it up from the dealership and noticed the steering is now loose!!!  We took it back...now the steering box needed to be replaced and one of their mechanics works on the side and he can fix it.  Oh Yeah.  It's time for us to move on to South Texas (doctor's appointments).  We have so much play in the steering, but we manage to make it to Bentsen Palms in Mission, Texas where we stayed for two weeks...just a swingin.'  Wallace took the truck to Boggus Ford in McAllen to have them look at it.  Our mechanic discovered a part on the repair had been left off (dust cover) by the mechanic in Slidell.  Good Grief!!!  He can't work on it because he is booked up until after the holidays!!!  Supreme Ford supposedly is going to make it good.  Can you rely on anyone out there to do their dang job right?  Our advice  is don't have any work done at Supreme Ford in Slidell, Louisian!!!  

We left the Valley and are now sitting on the side of the road about 30 miles from Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR where we will be parked for three months...we just blew a tire on the 5th wheel that is only two years old.  Towmax STR tires made in China.  I tried to get Wallace to change them out from the start, but he thought they would be okay.  We are now looking to buy all new tires!!!  It has been an expensive closure of 2013.

We did have a wonderful two weeks at "home" in the Valley with family and friends.  But for now we are still Just a Swingin.'

Until next time...

Family Fun at Christmastime

We have been in the Valley with family for Christmas for the past two weeks staying at Bentsen Palms in Mission, Texas.

Our youngest son, Mitchell and our Granddarlins,' Lindsey and Joaquin.

We have been enjoying family, fruit, and FOOD.  One of our favorites is the beef and bean patos.

We will be moving to Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR, near Houston tomorrow...so getting all the hugs we can possible get!!!

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family too.

Until next time...

This n That

We have one work week left and we will be moving on to spend Christmas with our son in South Texas before we move back to Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR for our second time.

When we first got here to SELA NWR, Wallace and I worked together.  Then we were split up, much to my dismay.  Seems like some manly jobs came up...oh well!!!

Since we were not together, it was hard to document our work and share on the blog...so here are a few things we managed to get photos of.

Brochure inventory along with somewhat of organization with the list for someone else to type up and make sure it gets to the proper person.

A picture of the boardwalk at Bogue Chitto before we worked on that.  I operated the blower.

Below is what it looked like afterwards.

Under the railing, the leaves and gunk were so compacted it took a lot of bending to get the blower to finally release the stuff...oh, my back...as the blower was a heavy duty blower.  But, we gotter done!!!

Wallace and I paired up once again to do the brochure run which includes picking up trash at several places along the route, and recording visitation counts.  There are five counters at various places and this is what he is doing in this picture.

Back to the pink jobs.

I planted 57 snapdragons in this sugar pot. Sugar pots were used by the sugar plantations to boil the sugarcane.

Time out for a little fun on Cane Bayou out to the mouth of Lake Pontchartrain.

This is a huge bat box Ken wanted installed...Wallace got to help on this project.  Ken asked us to put the brace on it with specific instructions on how he wanted it done...ha...I got to help with a blue job.

Another semi-blue job.

Replacing three interpretive signs that were bad or changed because of the death of a tree.

Ken had 18 pictures he had printed out.  My job was to find the best placement of the subject, cut and place in a mat. They were then placed in a frame to hang.

Ken is a stickler for details. This wall was to have 5 pictures hung evenly across this wall.  This was the stressful assignment as there were 13 of these large pictures that were hung, all at the same level.

Is that level or WHAT?

I am a stickler too and put a lot of stress on myself, but I must say I was satisfied at the end of that day.

Later, Ken said he was very pleased...allrighty then.

Wallace helped with this bridge so the mower could cross the ditches.  The guys put two of them together and they did a super job.  A post will be installed later so some bozo want try to drive his car across.

Santa Claus is coming to Bayou Lacombe at the visitor center.  We have all pitched in to decorate and it really looks nice.  This is just one little corner.

We won't be here for the festivities, but the building is now ready.



Until next time...