2018 January 05 Friday

2018 January 05 Friday
I turned the new milkhouse heater on low before going to bed. As far as I know, the furnace never ran through the night. However, we woke to a pleasant 60° in the RV this morning.
We dressed, opened all the window shades (to allow as much passive solar heating as possible), and then drove to IHOP in Cedar Park for pancakes. IHOP is celebrating their 60th year by doing “endless” pancakes for $3.99.
We each got a stack of six pancakes. I generally do not eat syrup on my pancakes (diabetic) but after eating the first four with butter only, I

had the last two with a small amount of butter-pecan syrup. I finished mine and declined the offer of more. Ella ate most of hers (bathed in old fashion syrup).
While at IHOP, Ella began looking for flights to Des Moines so that she can attend her foster daughter’s husband’s funeral. She founds some less expensive flights but hot in the time frame she needs.
The next stop was the Senior Center in Leander. There were only 8 of us there for lunch and games. The new game that they are playing is Rummikub.

I don’t care for it but the rest do. So I played canasta on my phone while everyone else played their game. Before lunch was served, Ella received a call from our grandson in Iowa. He said that he would book a flight for Ella if she’d give him her credit card info. We got a return call shortly after to say that she was scheduled to leave Austin around nine a.m. tomorrow and to return on the nineteenth just before midnight.
After lunch, we came home so that she could pack for the trip.
The temperature reached a sunny 58° today which brought our inside temp to 74°. On a somewhat related note: I recieved an email from the place I’d ordered the new thermostat saying that they were our of stock on that modle and not sure when they would receive more. They asked if I wanted to cancel or wait. I chose to cancel. To their credit, the payment was immediately returned to my PayPal account.

2018 January 06 Saturday
Well the furnace was running when the alarm went off at 5:30. Oh boy was it running...82°. I shut it off. 37° outside and I opened the door to let it cool inside.
“So, Tom,” I hear you asking, “why was the alarm set for 5:30?” I'm glad you ask. Ella has an 8:25 flight and you are supposed to arrive at hour early. Add in the hour long drive to get to the airport and factor in the time involved in finding parking, we needed to both be up.
I microwaved some bacon and then I microwaved some eggs and made sandwiches for us to eat as we went to the airport.[caption id="attachment_3321" width="355" align="alignright"] This was on the way back from the airport[/caption]I took the toll road all the way through town and it was foggy all the way.
It was foggy all the way back also.
I got off the toll-road at Whitestone because I wanted to stop at Home Depot. Even though I knew where I was, I couldn’t see what was on the edge off the road. I could have been driving a lonely back-country road instead of one of the busiest stretches of road in town. There is a huge shopping center to the north side of road and I couldn’t even see any lights from the stores and signs. I felt so unsure of my location that i activate Google Maps to tell me when to turn. At that point I was only a half mile from my destination.
Upon leaving Home Depot i decided to take Ronald Reagan Boulevard back toward Liberty Hill because there would be less traffic lights. Again, I relied on Google Maps to show me when I was approaching an intersection. That way I could slow down and look for the traffic lights ahead. There was a couple of times that I came upon vehicles driving without their lights. Yes, the sky had become lighter by then but there was still fog. Even if their headlights would have been little help in them seeing any further down the road, it sure would have made THEM easier to see.
I made it home in time to unload the items purchased at Home Depot, change clothes, and make it to church in time to sing in the choir for a funeral service.There was a luncheon afterward so I didn’t have to fix a lunch for myself.
After church, I returned home and changed into work clothes. I started putting insulation board around the base of the RV. I don’t know if we will have anymore multiple days of below freezing weather this season, however, my plan is to save the insulation when we store the RV for the summer. That way I can reuse it next winter.
The wind came up (gusts to 24 mph) which made it impossible to handle the insulation board. So I quit and went inside for a nap.
When I picked up my phone, I saw that Ella had sent some texts and was safely back in Iowa. I called her but was only able to talk for a short time because of all that was happening up there. It took her about 8 hours to get there and will only take her 3 to return. I guess that’s because Texas is “downhill” from Iowa. Grin.
The rest of my day was pretty boring. Napping. Watch TV. so I’ll stop here.