October 31, 2012. Harper, Texas. Distance.

My son David was surprised when he looked at Wendy's pictures of the old farm house.    He said that it never looked so derelict in real life, at least, not in his memory.  The truth was really seen in the picture but the distance from then to now is almost forty years, and memory does wonderful things.  What he is remembering was the thousands of good times we had at that old farm and he is not paying any thought to the primitive old house in which we stayed.

For us, it was much better than camping.  We left staples in the kitchen, and the beds were all ready for us when we arrived on Friday.  The boys had much freedom at the farm.  They played with weapons;  first with sling shots, then BB guns and finally a 22 rifle.  They sometimes shot five hundred rounds on a weekend.  No wonder they became good shots.

My sister in law Wilma, when she saw the picture of the old farm,  commented to me that we have come a long way, which would be true.  But the path to the homes we own now started with that derelict old farm house.  It is certainly true, that the most important step in any journey is the first step.  The distance from then to now, a distance of almost forty years, all began with that first country property.

October 30, 2012. Harper, Texas. Sandy, The Storm.

It was indeed a big storm with high wave surges,  many inches of rain and very high winds.  The pictures of the east coast shore look grim.    Many millions of people are without electricity, so it is back to the 19th Century for them.  No electricity means no TV and no Internet or cell phones,  and if you live in a high rise building, no elevator.  New York city is a mess as is New Jersey.  Ken and I have yet to hear from anyone at the farm but we know from the weather on the iPad that they might be getting snow and we know they had many inches of rain.  Horrors.

No one seems to know the answer but I wondered if power failure is more frequent now than sixty years ago.  I don't recall years ago the electricity going out with every storm.  Maybe I just didn't pay attention but I suspect that the trees have grown up and now bring down the power lines,  and I bet the tree trimming is done less often.  And why don't we put these power lines underground anyway?  It seems that there is no political will to improve the infra structure.   Big storms bring big problems and this storm Sandy was a big one.  Lake Michigan had 28 feet waves.  Whew.  I am so pleased to be in Texas.

October 29, 2012. Canyon Lake, Texas. Shopping.

I have been acting like Santa Clause.  I have my lists and checked them twice.   Today Ken and I went  shopping.  It seems a long time away, shopping for our 55th, but we will only be here one more time before the celebration begins in October, 2013, so I must get things done ahead.

First thing this morning I shopped at the Ace Hardware store in Satler.  It is a great store.  It is big and the working people are helpful so I enjoy shopping in their store.   As I walked in, a man offered to help so of course, I said yes.  He accompanied me to the lighting department and helped me chose the bulbs that Ken had on his list.  Then the man stayed with me, helping me find tubs for recycle cans at the ranch, then four coffee pots, a shelf needing assembly and finally a large sturdy cooler on legs.  Finally, after checking out, the Manager helped me load the truck.  The whole shopping experience was a pleasure.

Next Ken and I went to Cosco in San Antonio.  It was a polar opposite to my shopping at Ace.    The store is huge with no sign in sight and no one to ask so I spent the first fifteen minutes just finding out where things were located.  Ken had a list too so we quickly lost each other.  But the shopping was great.  I bought towels for the bunk house, paper plates and plastic cutlery, hot and cold cups and large plastic bags for the trash bins.  

Cell phones are great for finding your husband.  Both our baskets were full so we checked out.  The checker was fast and the young man fitted the baskets so we were out of the store quickly.   Then we filled up the truck, the whole truck.  We are well on our way to completing our list.

Farmhouse from Wendy

October 28, 2012. Canyon Lake. San Antonio.

This city of San Antonio is either the seventh or eighth largest city in the United States.  The interesting thing is that no one knows.  As a city,  it is overlooked.  Only one professional franchise lives here, the San Antonio Spurs, which is a basketball team.   There is no football team or baseball team even though much smaller cities brag about their teams.

In addition, the Spurs are a wonderful team, even though the NBA ignores them.  The team hires decent solid citizens as players and coaches and the players work hard every game, not just in the playoffs.   The stars do not preen.  They work hard.  No prima donnas here in San Antonio.  The league itself does not really like the team but I don't know why.  It is interesting to observe.

Tonight Ken and I drove back to the lake after the day with the family.  If you had not driven the road every year but just seen it 17 years ago and then again today,  you certainly would not have recognized the way.  The lights and the businesses and the traffic are so much more today.  Stores and restaurants all along highway 46.  This city has really grown but the people of San Antonio are perfectly happy to have everyone else  ignore them and just leave them alone to enjoy their fair city.   And I like it too.

October 27, 2012. Canyon Lake, Texas. Cold.

Last night at the ranch the temperature went down to 42 degrees.  Last evening while sitting in the living room we enjoyed the warmth of the gas fireplace as well as the heat from the furnace.  This morning when we left the ranch it was only 50.   Texans love it when the cold northern air blows in perhaps they know that soon the heat will come back.  For example, the 80 degrees will return on Sunday, but in the meantime, Texans shiver in the cold air and congratulate each other that they had some rain too.

Ken and I are pleased to be using the furnace heat at the lake house but we prefer the open windows and the 75 degree days.  We thought we went south for warmth but today we needed wool socks to keep warm!!  I went for a walk late this afternoon, wearing a T shirt and light long pants.   By the time I returned I was so cold I took a shower to get warm.  How soon we forget about being a Canadian.

October 26, 2012. Harper, Texas. The Old Farm.

A normal person would have turned down their noses at this old place, but Ken and I and the boys were thrilled.  In 1972,  in Bethesda,  Maryland, we purchased our first home.   Soon after, we started looking to buy a place in the country.   Every other weekend, we four went exploring.  We looked at Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.  The first decision we made had to do with distance of being no further than a two hour drive from home.  Next we checked the taxes and decided to focus our search on Pennsylvania as the taxes were low.  Finally, we wanted land and if possible a cabin.    We spent one day with a Realtor, Dan Kimble, and he showed us property.

He showed us a 55 acre piece of land with a house and an old cabin.  The house had not been lived in for twenty years so it had been taken over by the birds.  We wanted to buy it but couldn't.   It was too expensive, so I did what I have always done, which was to call my brother and sister in law to see if they would like to buy it together, which they did.  We settled on the old place and quickly made it livable...kind of.    No indoor plumbing,  only one cold water tap in the kitchen, no heat  for the first year.  But we loved it.  We hiked and made fires, and visited with the neighbors.  We swam in the  creek.   And we did no housekeeping.  When we got  back home after a weekend at the old farm we all headed to the showers.  We loved that old place.

Today we sold it.  It has settled and the money is in the bank.  Son  David commented that he hoped  the purchasers have children who will love it as much as he did when he was a kid.  He speaks for us all.  It started us on a path that enhanced our lives.  It is just a mile or so from our new farm which is definitely not primitive, but our decision to buy the old farm started us down that path.