Due to popular request, I am restarting this blog. My intent is to have a place to send you when you ask me "What's up". This will let you see a condensed version of my life - and not be a daily posting. I am starting with the big event that happened at the end of March. Lightning hit the tree 6' from my bed in the trailer. It caused me much grief, having taken out most of the major systems in my life - not to mention scaring me awake. But more about that grief later.
You may wonder where I am and what am I doing here. Well the place is Stephen F Austin State Park (SFA) and I am a park host here. I take care of the entire tenting area, including, but not limited to mowing, cleaning fire rings and bathrooms, and giving visitors information. The park is really pretty now that Spring is here. We have bluebonnets at the office area and wildflowers, birds, and wild animals (including humans) all over the park.
I have my own site with a great side yard and they have even loaned me a second vehicle to make my rounds easier. Since I get two days off and I can have family visit free, it is really not too demanding.
Here's a picture of Kristi, Victor, and the GGKids heading down to the Brazos River to fish. They didn't catch anything but the exercise was good. I lagged behind Kristi and Gianni here on the trail.
Here's a picture of the kids in my side yard after lunch. The girl (30) in the green dress is Sara, another one of my granddaughters, who is living with the Ingurgios until she gets her own apartment in June. Victor is getting the fishing gear ready to go. I really enjoyed the day after having spent a couple of weeks getting over the lightning problem.
Here is a picture of the tree that was struck at about 3:30 AM, Thursday the 25th of March. Notice that it is very close to my trailer. When it hit I was raised out of bed by a sound and light show going off in my head. My ears are still ringing now over a month later. I have tinitis and it was increased considerably. After I realized that I was still alive, I looked around and checked all of the trailers systems. The electricity was knocked off and resetting the breakers only brought about half of it back. I found that the power strip to the TV had done its job and protected the TV, but although the TV worked it didn't receive any stations. Later I found that the amplifier for the antenna had been blown - probably saving the TV from a direct hit. The ground fault circuit had been blown and would not reset, so I went to town later in the day and got a replacement. Incidentally, the flourescent light bulbs at my site and at the bathroom, 100 feet away, all had to be replaced. After about 3 hours the overload circuit in the converter restored my DC power. Fortunately I have DC power available in my tow vehicle, so I had been able to keep the refrigerator and lights going. The AC side of the water heater was also taken out, and that part still hasn't come in to Camping World. I have hot water using the propane side, so that isn't a problem. Oh yes, my computer also would not go online - the amplifier for the cell signal was blown out. On Friday I bought a new amplifier and a new TV antenna with amplifier. That restored my electronics. Later I found that the computer amplifier was not blown, only it's power supply. After replacing the power supply, I now have an amp in both the truck and the trailer. The repairs didn't cost a lot - but the trip to Best Buy did because I bought a new Dell computer with Windows 7. The month of April has been very hectic learning the new system and - oh yes.....
The 28th of March was my day to be eligible for a new phone and I had decided the one for me was the iPhone. So on Monday, in the midst of my repair efforts, I got my new iPhone. More learning than I probably needed at this time, but the iPhone is great. It has truly changed my life by making communications so much more complete and rapid. The geocaching applications (more learning) seem to have completely replaced my old equipment and procedures with more efficient searching.
So, that's what I've been up to for the last month. I'm leaving the host job and heading to Houston for some family events - and then who knows? If you are on facebook, I will make a post there to say that I have updated my blog.
You may wonder where I am and what am I doing here. Well the place is Stephen F Austin State Park (SFA) and I am a park host here. I take care of the entire tenting area, including, but not limited to mowing, cleaning fire rings and bathrooms, and giving visitors information. The park is really pretty now that Spring is here. We have bluebonnets at the office area and wildflowers, birds, and wild animals (including humans) all over the park.
Here's a picture of Kristi, Victor, and the GGKids heading down to the Brazos River to fish. They didn't catch anything but the exercise was good. I lagged behind Kristi and Gianni here on the trail.
Here is a picture of the tree that was struck at about 3:30 AM, Thursday the 25th of March. Notice that it is very close to my trailer. When it hit I was raised out of bed by a sound and light show going off in my head. My ears are still ringing now over a month later. I have tinitis and it was increased considerably. After I realized that I was still alive, I looked around and checked all of the trailers systems. The electricity was knocked off and resetting the breakers only brought about half of it back. I found that the power strip to the TV had done its job and protected the TV, but although the TV worked it didn't receive any stations. Later I found that the amplifier for the antenna had been blown - probably saving the TV from a direct hit. The ground fault circuit had been blown and would not reset, so I went to town later in the day and got a replacement. Incidentally, the flourescent light bulbs at my site and at the bathroom, 100 feet away, all had to be replaced. After about 3 hours the overload circuit in the converter restored my DC power. Fortunately I have DC power available in my tow vehicle, so I had been able to keep the refrigerator and lights going. The AC side of the water heater was also taken out, and that part still hasn't come in to Camping World. I have hot water using the propane side, so that isn't a problem. Oh yes, my computer also would not go online - the amplifier for the cell signal was blown out. On Friday I bought a new amplifier and a new TV antenna with amplifier. That restored my electronics. Later I found that the computer amplifier was not blown, only it's power supply. After replacing the power supply, I now have an amp in both the truck and the trailer. The repairs didn't cost a lot - but the trip to Best Buy did because I bought a new Dell computer with Windows 7. The month of April has been very hectic learning the new system and - oh yes.....
The 28th of March was my day to be eligible for a new phone and I had decided the one for me was the iPhone. So on Monday, in the midst of my repair efforts, I got my new iPhone. More learning than I probably needed at this time, but the iPhone is great. It has truly changed my life by making communications so much more complete and rapid. The geocaching applications (more learning) seem to have completely replaced my old equipment and procedures with more efficient searching.
