Mammoth Workhorse, Day 13

Thursday, May 28

Partly cloudy and warmer this morning. Should be a nice day.

Despite getting a while to himself to watch TV yesterday, Ed is beginning to lose his patience for this trip. Last night he didn’t want to swap the stuff between the kids’ car and the Jeep because it was "dark". Yeah, really—like it ever actually gets dark around here. And all that needed to be swapped was two car seats, a couple of water bottles and a few grocery bags.  So I just did it myself.

I’ve been trying to find a restaurant with a good molcajete for him but no luck so far. Oh well. All I can do is avoid talking to him, don’t ask him to do anything, and hope he pulls himself out of it.

We made a quick trip to Walmart in the morning. Then fixed breakfast. I got in a 30-minute jog but it was nearly noon when I started and the sun was brutal.

In the afternoon we went to the splash pad at Sue Young Park. May was too busy yakking on her phone to put the kids' swim suits on them so we had to lather on sunscreen.  None of the other kids were wearing swimsuits, though, so it didn’t matter.

It was a blast for the kids. Kind of boring for the grownups. I wish I'd brought a book.

Then cookout on the grill and bedtime. A little early which was fine by me. Spectacular sunset but I was indoors and missed most of it.

 

 

Mammoth Workhorse, Day 12

Wednesday, May 27

I did a colossal stupid on Wednesday morning. My first and hopefully my last one of this trip. I decided to make fried pies for breakfast, so we went to Food Lion to get the stuff. It seemed to be an okay grocery but it had a supremely annoying price posting policy--they post their cost price and charge 10 percent more at checkout.  How can the average person make that calculation while shopping?

Aggravated, we left there and went to Albertson's instead. It was a very nice Albertson's. Seemed brand new and supremely well stocked.

Needless to say, by the time we got back and I finished cooking it was very late. And of course the kids didn’t eat a single one of my fried pies.

Edw worked all day. We did kites with the kids and then played in the family room; it was tiring and a little tiresome, but a little fun, too. Did a little soccer practice while Ed and May went to Walmart. Elyanna is getting the hang of it but still too young to enjoy.

 

 

 

Supper had issues. I found a Chinese restaurant that was highly rated and they all chose their orders. But when we arrived at the place, the nice lady said they were sold out of beef.  And of course that’s what my moron family wanted.

I found another place and it was okay but slow—we waited on the food at least fifteen minutes. And that plus the driving made supper really late. And since Ed refused to set up their beds for them while they were in the showers, because he wanted to teach them the “right” way to do it, we got to bed really late. It may have been important to teach them the setup method, but 10 o'clock at night is not the right time.

I did get to read the kids a bedtime story, which they all three enjoyed very much. I love that.

Mammoth Workhorse, Day 11

Tuesday, May 26

Molly tanked up on water before bed and at 12:30 in the night started whining to go out. Eventually I got up and took her. It’s a rare happening; only twice do I remember her ever having night time emergencies and those were both throw-up episodes.

I had no trouble falling back to sleep but later I woke up and lay awake for an hour or so. It was horrible.

Motor home accomodations, 

Edw returned from PT before I even started breakfast. Eggs, spam and leftovers for them; I made oatmeal for Edw and me. Breakfast seemed to drag on forever and then there were all the dishes to wash. He and May left to take possession of their rental house at 11 or so.

The kids played alone in the tiny playground while I put Molly in a dog run and then walked to the office to pay for another week. Then it was time to meet everyone back at the new house.

Nice house. I hope they don't destroy it.

The rest of the day was pretty miserable. We went to Lowe's for a long, long time, perusing window treatments, then we went to Home Goods. The kids and I played a little soccer. We had leftovers for supper. And then it was bedtime. Blessed bedtime.

Mammoth Workhorse, Day 10

Monday, May 25

A very rainy Memorial day. I saw a rainbow to the west in the morning, but it did not signify that the rains were over...they weren't even started yet.

We splurged for a late-ish breakfast (10:00) at At NewClock Diner. The place was very crowded on account of the holiday. We were seated immediately but the food was slow. Ethan finished reading the first story I wrote. He smiled a couple of times at my lame humor.

Afterwards I went jogging. It was a good jog but I could see patches of rain in the distance here and there. Toward the end, sprinkles and a little thunder got me headed toward the RV park. But I managed 45 minutes and finished my Murderbot audiobook before the deluge began.

They were still all sitting around, of course.

Then it started raining, lots. Intermittent and not a huge quantity, but way too much to enjoy playing outside. Eventually we took our new ping-pong gear and invaded the playroom. We played all afternoon. KFC for supper. I will never do that again--KFC ignored our requests and just packaged the default dinner. What a waste.

I am beginning to get itchy feet. Ready to move! So much cool stuff to see and I am stuck right here. Damn. I've washed the same dishes a thousand times and cooked way too many pots of rice. At least Ed did the pork chops and the grilling.

 

Mammoth Workhorse, Day 9

Sunday, May 24

Couldn’t find Molly's ball! She wanted it, too! She doesn't always.

Everyone slept very late. Except me, because how else would I know they did? Ha ha.
Eventually I rousted them up and fixed pancakes and spam. Made some gravy for Edward (Ed was busy eating) (Edw still working on those leftover pork chops) and somehow managed to cement the bottom of my skillet to the stove. Heat on low and  little water eventually worked it loose.

Nothing much else went on that day.  We went to Walmart and wow was that a mess. On a Sunday?!?!

But we got some stuff for our Memorial day cookout -- hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken, kielbasa. We planned to have the cookout on Sunday instead of waiting. Which we did.

Ed and kids flew kites in the afternoon while I was walking Molly and doing some motorhome tidying. And that’s about it.

Mammoth Workhorse, Day 8

Saturday, May 23

Slow Saturday. It was very windy and sunny in the morning. That's been true of almost every day we've been here. The wind  dies down by noon and clouds start to build up, but it’s still hot. Not super hot yet—just in the 90s.

After fixing bacon, eggs and leftover muffins from Walmart, I jogged around the high school. Teams of kids were having soccer games on the football field and I wanted Ethan to see them.
But somehow they all decided to go, too. By the time they got ready and we drove (very very slowly behind a big RV) over to the field, it was fiercely hot. But one team was still playing so we watched for a while.

Then to Chuck Heinrich Memorial park to play on the playground. It borders Franklin Mtns SP and has cool trails all up into the mountains. No trees of any height--mainly creosote and stuff--so it would be pretty hot hiking around there. I saw a hummingbird but didn't have my binoculars with me--I took them but left them in the Jeep.

 

We returned after two p.m. and decided to eat an early supper at Lin's buffet. It was a longer drive on busier highways than I expected--route 54 and Interstate 10. They had pretty good food (but a horribly skimpy sushi selection) and plenty of variety. Very, very expensive, of course.

I ate pretty sensibly until it was time for dessert. Then I pigged out with pudding, cake, ice cream, and more cake.

By the time I finished my three (or four) desserts and we got home, Molly got only a short walk and it was pretty much time for baths. And of course time sped up until it was bedtime.

Mammoth Workhorse, Day 7

Friday, May 22

Railroad museum day! I’d mentioned to little Edward that there was a railroad museum we might go to, and he kept asking when. So I decreed that this would be the day!

We had an easy breakfast of quesadillas, oatmeal, sausage-egg muffins, and leftover pork cbops. Ed made the gravy. Then we headed out to Las Cruces to the railroad museum.

We had all three kids in the Jeep and google took us on the trans-mountain loop. Cool drive and much enjoyed. Only at the end of the 50-minute drive did they get restless and start to annoy us with the racket. It was fun racket, though.

We had to stop at the New Mexico welcome center for grownups to pee, so having that little break helped.

I can’t say enough good things about the train museum. There were three model trains, one of which was operational. Outside there were a couple of real trains on tracks—actual working trains—that came by, one slowly easing along, probably for show, and one that left the station picking up speed and tooted at us as it went by. 

 They had an interactive, big screen game--"build your own train.” On a timed challenge. Everyone tried their hand at that. And they had a big playset of wooden tracks for kids to construct their own track and run wooden toy trains on. Once Edward got started playing with that, it was hard to pull him away.

For the grownups, there were exhibits and an old guy working there who had lots of stories to tell.

 

After a good long time, we finally left and found a nearby sonic drive-in. Then we came back to the RV park and played on the playground. For supper we did carryout fish ‘n chips for grownups at the Tugboat Seafood nearby, and made chicken nuggets for the kids.