(The date that is posted is off by a day and I’m still trying to figure out how to correct that!!)

When we last left off, I was worried whether I would be able to disconnect my outdoor sewer system in time to move sites. Since today, Thursday, is the day I need to change sites, I had to have my system thawed and disconnected. Well, I made it! 😬

Yesterday afternoon it warmed up enough that I could finally work periodically with the hoses, disconnect them, and get the ice out. I felt really good by the time I was able to stow them away in the RV!! I also was able to get that blue filter off of my water hose and I put the that hose away as well. Thank goodness!! The weather started cooling down again and it went below freezing again last night. The timing to disconnect everything worked out perfect.

Today I drove to my new site. This site gives me more room and I was able to disconnect the truck from the RV. Freedom! Since I was low on supplies and the roads were dry, I drove 30 miles down to Walmart in north Corpus Christi. I have been told that stores were running out of supplies because the trucks have been unable to or were delayed in their deliveries. Well that was absolutely true!

Walmart was really busy! However, unlike the panic buying when the quarantine started, the rest of the store was decently stocked. I was able to get whatever soups, cereals, Kleenex etc. that I needed. The other item that was rare was drinking water. Again, they must have just stocked a few bottles, because I was able to get a gallon of water. They were all taken, one to a customer, before I even left the aisle! All the packs of 16 oz. bottled water was long gone.

You know how I knew I wasn’t in Wisconsin? Look at this aisle!! 😂

There were lots of checkers open and lots of lines. It was very busy, but people were just focused and not rude or rushed or crazy.

From there I filled up with diesel. The interesting part is that I spoke to the woman at the other pump. She said they had been without electricity for 4 days. They finally got it on at 3:00 in the morning today. They had a fireplace in their home that they used for heat and bought those Dyna logs. She said each log only lasted about 2 hours but it got them through. There are so many stories on the news and you probably heard them as well, where people are taking down wood fences to burn and some even went as far as burning furniture. Makes it sound like Russia during world War II !! And now all the broken water pipes at so many homes. What a disaster! I am a half hour from Corpus Christi and an hour from San Antonio. I am very fortunate that I was able to get into this state park, and this state park has electricity! And now the water is flowing again.

Tonight is supposed to be the last night of the temperatures in the twenties. I am hoping to be able to hook up my water tomorrow. Then I will find out whether I have any damage to my water pipes!! 🤪 🤞

I want to share with you what I felt I had to do in order to keep enough water on hand to use these last 4 days. Plus, since I was unable to close my valve to the sewer hose because it was frozen open, and that allowed water from my sinks to go out and eventually freeze in the hose outside, I couldn’t let any more water go down the drain! Therefore I would carry water from my kitchen sink and pour it down the toilet into that holding tank. That valve I had closed. So I reverted to using some of the techniques that we had used when we were tent camping as a way to preserve water!

When you don’t have running water, it is amazing how many times a day you need to wash your hands, or at least your fingertips! Whether cooking or feeding the cats, cleaning their litter or doing things outside that need to be done, I needed to wash my hands!! So since it is just me, this system worked pretty well and I could just keep changing the water and pour it down the toilet. Now I can pour it down the sink again since I was able to close the valve and it will stay in the tank. Yoo-hoo!! It’s the little things!! 😏

I also couldn’t do dishes until the outside water faucets thawed so I could get more water (and I got the valve closed). So this is what I put up with in my kitchen with the dishes waiting to be washed.

Notice the water gallons on the counter. On the floor is kept the water for washing and on the cupboard is the water for drinking.🤔 I put an x on the gallons that are only for washing so I don’t mix them up. The water for washing is from the outside faucet which is from a well. As a safety measure, I do not drink any of the waters from the wells and buy bottled water for drinking. 🤞

I could heat water on the stove now and do the dishes the old fashioned way. And I have done that in the past.🤔 …Ha! 🙄 I’m going to wait until tomorrow, hopefully hook up to the water faucet and have my hot water heater provide my hot water so I can wash dishes normally!! And you know what else this means? I haven’t been able to take a shower for 4 days! 🤦 Good thing it’s only me and the cats!!! 😹

I also try to keep out of the cupboard my cereal, crackers and soups. With the slides in this is the size space that I have to squeeze through in order to open the cupboard , pull out the sliding shelf and try to find what I need. For 4 days it’s been like this. So once I bring something out it stays out!! 😬

I can’t believe that by tomorrow, the temperature is going to start to rise, it won’t be below freezing at night, the winds won’t be blowing from The NNW at 16 to 18 miles per hour , the sun will come out and I can put the slides back out!💃 It’s going to feel like I’m living in a mansion !!

It’s been one heck of a week! I plan to get back to writing about people and sights of the area again!! Promise!! 😊