"Fresh air class"

Our mom told being embarrassed at having been put into the "Fresh air class" when she was at school. In going through things at home, I came across these two "report cards" on her weight at school.

When she was 9, her card was red, indicating 7% or more below the average weight that is recorded as 74 pounds.

By the time she was 10, she made it onto the blue card, which is "less than 7% below average" where the average weight was 76 -- she made it up to 74 pounds during this year!

Guidelines were given for underweight children (this is the back of her 9 year old card).

The "less than 7%" folks were also given guidelines.

This would have been in 1930-1932, in the depths of the Great Depression. I think Mom's embarrassment was at least partially because she associated this with being poor. I honestly don't think that Mom was skinny due to being poor, but rather just the body style she was born with!

Mom told us that the "Fresh air class" was located on the roof of the school building, I guess so they would get lots of "fresh air". She said that the students would be allowed to go into the stairwell and sit when it was bitterly cold outside. Can you imagine?

I guess obesity wasn't a problem with schoolchildren in the early 1930s...

What kinda gas mileage do you get?

A question that we frequently get is "what kind of gas mileage do you get?"

Well, now that we have a diesel, we don't get any gas mileage!!! We get fuel mileage -- but I say "gas" by mistake all the time. Hopefully I never purchase gasoline by mistake!

It seems that the pumps for trucks at truck stops don't usually provide receipts at the pump. The trucks often seem to pull up far enough that the next truck can start filling, and then the driver goes in, maybe to get a receipt, but certainly to get snacks. We decided to just take a photo of the pump to keep our records.

When leaving Virginia we filled up...

My intention was to take a picture of the odometer each time too... but my rememberer doesn't always kick in!

This was on the way through Tennesee

We filled up one more time when we got to the Dallas area. We figured it cost us about $600 to drive from Virginia to Dallas (the fill up in Virginia doesn't "count").

We think we get about 6-6.5 miles per gallon of fuel. Pretty poor mileage for a car, but not bad at all for a house! What mileage does YOUR house get???  ;-)

You expect me to believe that you are hungry?

Tabitha is not a very active kitty. She is also not a very outgoing or friendly kitty (though she is loving towards me (Patti), and Dwayne if he is in bed and non-threatening!).

However, if her food dish is empty or missing or needs attention, she will come around to find me and communicate her displeasure.

"Poor, poor pitiful me."

"Please ignore the fact that my belly sticks out so wide on my left side..."

"Unfortunately it also sticks out wide on my right side..."

Miss Kitty also lets us know if the food dishes need attention, but she is somewhat more svelte, and not quite as demanding or effective with the "poor, poor me" look.

What are these things?

On some tractor trailers, we've seen wheel inserts. I got a picture of some... posting on my blog so Jimmy can tell me what they are!  I'll come back and update this post once he enlightens me!

Update: Jimmy called me last night. These are added to the wheels as an energy saving mechanism, supposedly making the air slip more easily past the wheel. There is probably science to indicate under what circumstances it is more or less effective (I would say, "the jury is still out!").

Pretty girls

We won't be able to take all the pictures and tchotchkes* with us in the bus, so we're taking digital photos of many of them, or scanning in hardcopy photos to softcopy, so we can display on a digital photo album that we can take with us.

Two of the pictures that I've had since childhood are of two pretty girls.

This one was hanging in the living room of the house where we lived until I was six. As I recall, the frame was painted to match the woodwork in that room. I think it also hung in the house on the farm, but I cannot recall where.

Isn't she cute?

It was interesting that as I took it out of the frame, I found information about the picture. Evidently someone started with a black and white version of the picture and painted it according to instructions - the instructions indicated the color of hair, eyes, and dress. I always figured that they started with a color photograph and painted a likeness. (Note: the picture is of me!)

The second is of one of my good friends in grade school. I think we were in the same class in 5th grade, then separated in 6th (our last names determined which class we would be in, and she was in 6A and I was in 6B), and then together again in 7th grade.

This was the dress she wore for our 5th grade play, and the picture was done at the Ward's house, if I remember correctly.

 This is the friend, Becky, with whom I was able to re-connect that I wrote about recently!


* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tchotchke

Neat app for RVer's blog

I found this blog entry today:
http://www.doityourselfrv.com/full-time-rving-secrets/

Within the "secrets", they had a map of the US and showed where they had been - I really like the app they have built!
http://live.watsonswander.com/

I have emailed them to see if they have a version for sale!

Men's hula contest!

A week ago Saturday night at the RV park where we have our bus parked, they had a "Hawaiian night" complete with a men's hula contest. It was nice to get to meet other folks living/staying here (there are a number of mobile homes and people who live fulltime here). Dwayne competed in the hula contest.

Dwayne with our nextdoor neighbor in the campground, Fast Freddie. The campground hosts provided the leis, coconuts, and....

grass skirts.   Dwayne is practicing the "swimming fish" motion.

Dwayne did a very good hula! We shoulda invited more people for a fan base!

We enjoyed Aryn Michelle Calhoun's concert!!

One of our church family members, Aryn Michelle Calhoun, has recently released a new album, and we were able to go to the premier concert (which was also at our church).

The album, Depth, is really wonderful, and shares the depth of Aryn's relationship with our Lord.

Aryn shared with us that it is quite an exciting time in her life - the release of the album, 30 weeks along in her pregnancy, and their oldest child will return to school in just a few days.

Love her voice,

her joy,

her commitment,

her sharing,

her smile,

her talent,

her devotion

Jovie was particularly excited about the final song! She moved up close to the stage near the end of the concert, and when the music started for "Fight the Good Fight", she got the biggest grin on her face!

Brandon sang with Aryn on "Fight The Good Fight" during the concert (as well as some others)

Beautiful lady, beautiful album!

Please buy the album, or start by listening to some of the songs - here are some links:
About the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ics1bPCEFRE
"Fight The Good Fight" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzyAHdxZOkI

My favorite, "Do The Same": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYJtf8TxZDk

Uh-oh - there are pushbutton controls...

Last night was the first night that we spend in the "new" bus with the kitties. It was a good reminder of why we determined that a motor home was the best choice for traveling for us - the first night in a new place is a night of exploration and never settling down for kitties. They seemed to be up all night long, checking things out - inside and out (looking out windows).

This morning, we noticed that one of the outside lights was on - I thought I had accidentally left it on, but Dwayne pointed out that Miss Kitty may have turned it on. The controls are on a panel next to the driver's seat:

The "Clearance" light - middle button on the second row - was on - easy enough for a kitty to step on and control! What other things might she adjust????

Left half of the dash - this panel is not flat, so not as easy for her to walk on, but she might land on it by accident if she misjudged a jump from the floor to the top part of the dash.... hmmmm - maybe something else we will need to figure out a way to protect from kitty-access!

Improvements around the RV Park

The RV park where the bus is parked is Sandy Lake RV Park - just down the road from where the house is, very convenient.

They had a tough spring with all the rain causing significant flooding in the park. The residents (of RVs and mobile homes) had to evacuate. Since the flooding has gone down, they have been working on many fixes - to sewer, electric, and streets. During this time while we are staying in the park, they are paving the streets right in front of and behind our rig.

They have been doing a lot of work to prepare the under-surface...

The Jeep, prepared surface, and newly asphalted surface.

The guys on the right side saw me taking pictures and were waving!

They are really doing a lot of updates on the park!

It's for sale!

Our house is on the market starting today!

An open house is scheduled for Sunday.


http://www.mlsfinder.com/tx_ntreis/kw_296/index.cfm?action=listing_detail&property_id=13216316&searchkey=2c7d6d78-c7a6-03b4-ac37-29e7d81fa828

We are staying in the motor home -- learning lots!