Month 2 starts in the Leander KOA park

Yep, the 28th of Feb is the end of one month in the park here in Leander. Time flys when you are having fun. Our grandson is 3 weeks old today. What a change. It is so cool holding him and rocking him to sleep. As many of you know I can't stand still. So I am well suited at putting him to sleep. I like being grandpa.
We are continuing to explore a little at a time. We went to Round Rock to find the outlets and found that coming out of the outlets we were in Georgetown. They are really close. Then we went the other direction to find a mall that I have visited a couple of times with Mindy and been totally lost. Found it and was STILL lost. What a confusing place.
Lizzie is getting used to her digs. I think the RV is a dog house and she is sharing it with us. Not sure when I lost control. I opened the door yesterday and she was out before I took one step. Where is the discipline?
Our cobra medical cards still haven't arrived and here we are making another payment. Whow what a great benefit! Maybe I need to fly back to the bay area and escalate the process. Couldn't cost any more!
So we have spent a lot of hours watching the Olympics. I'm ready to start curling, seems like a great way to throw rocks and not get into trouble!

We have been cold and busy

It is that time of year when taxes are on my mind. I have been trying to keep track of all the paper work as we go through this process of life change. Linda and I have been working on it for a few days. I finally got it all together and linda spent the night working on all the stuff we took to Goodwill, determining the value of it all. The next morning we were going to mail it to Kay for processing and we wake up to a white out. It snowed all day. I had several inches on the top of the car. It was a packing snow. All you had to do was grab a hand full and you had a snow ball.

I got some pic's from the rv park but forgot my camera when I took a trip to Georgetown. What a strange thing a full day of snow. This morning the only snow left was what fell off the car.

So Cameron is looking good. What a young man he is. Mindy got a picture of him in a big yawn. I think I am hooked.

Oh, yea, I forgot.

Last night while relaxing at the kids house and Cameron was sleeping, I decided to update the maps on my TOMTOM. I ordered the new maps and then a year of updates. I suspect it may be handy with the traveling. Well I install the update maps and it failed. Not enough memory. So I remove some stuff like different languages and other country maps etc to make room. i retry and get the maps downloaded. After that I had no maps of the US. All I had was Great Britan and some other place. I worked for two hours and no luck. I was about to decide that TOMTOM was dead. It would freeze when starting etc. Finally I got to a point I could manage it from the computer so ended up deleting the us maps from my computer and TomTom and reloaded from the net. Finally I could see our country. I used it today and it worked. CLOSE!
After that wonderful experience, I noticed my iPhone had a new load so I installed it as well. Fortunately it worked without an issue. Had it broken, i would have been really frustrated with my evening.
Well back to watch Curling. i kind of like that. i would like to try it some day.

Cameron and mom and dad are doing well Austin made news big time!

Well, a new day and being a grandpa just gets better. I was rocking my grandson and observed him focused on something on the wall and he followed it with his eyes while we were rocking. Yep, another milestone. What a guy. I have moved back into the motor home as he is sleeping and doing well with his circumcision healing. So grandpa and grandma needed to back off and allow mom and dad to adjust to their new life with grandparents that live in the area not in the house.
On the local front I'm sure you heard about the nut case who flew his plane into the irs offices in
Austin. His plane was parked just a few miles from where we have our rv parked. Also I heard that the plane is registered in California and that when he was there, he was flying out of Lincoln. The airport that was directly in the flight path where we flew our powered parachutes.
Small world!
Linda and I drove out to Georgetown Texas this afternoon just to look around. It is a nice area. We really liked it. It had some of the old Roseville flair as far with respect to old roseville look and feel. No rail road yard though. I kind of miss the trains. On our trip to Texas we were constantly next to rail tracks and trains. Once we got to Texas we have a track going through the area but seldom is thre a train. We heard one a couple of nights ago. Felt good!
Ya know there are some things we have to deal with no matter what or where we are. Taxes. I have been working on tax paper work. I hope to put it in and envelope and ship it off to get the paperwork done tomorrow. It will be nice to get this behind me.
Oh yea, I ended up making another call to the cobra people. i swear they seem to me like they try to find anyway possible to cause you to loose coverage. Finally they cashed the check for our first months premimum. It would not have happened, I am sure, had I not made another call to them. So Feb will be over soon and we have had no access to medical. You just got to love it!

Well this time it worked. Diaper Changed and sleep

So why is it that when you feed him he toots. Usually after you just changed him when he woke up hungry? It must be a viral implant by diaper manufacturers. They must be in cahoots(sp?) with the hospital or something. I love it when the halo appears around kids. It shows up about the time they nod off. I had forgotten how that was. It has been a few years since I paid much attention. It is wonderful to hold a child and feel them fade into a restful sleep. So peaceful.
Now it is time for grandpa to nod off to sleep once again. A few hours later we will start the process again.
On the Lizzie front, she goes to the groomer tomorrow morning to get trimmed up a bit. Her last cut in CA is really growing out. Almost like growth hormone. Maybe there is something to this thing of bigger in Texas. Maybe it is in the water? Lizzie's hair is growing so fast! I'll have to take a before and after pic.
Good night my friends!

Do you see the time?

Well here we sit. Mom and grandpa. Cameron is awake. Just fed and did his business which we changed and now he should be ready to sleep. NO! Let's warm up this new diaper! So here we go again. Back to the changing table to clean up another mess. For some reason he seems to be more tollerant at night. THAT IS A GOOD Thing! Helps he rest of the house sleep.
So why should that happen? Because we are nice! Shhhh don't let any one know that. Ed and nice don't fit in the same planet let alone a blog. So we are going in. Hopefully for the last time tonight. Never fear though, gramps will be waiting for any sign of need.
We are going in!

Guess what happens to little boys a week or so after they are born.

Yep, they did it to my grandson. He took it like the little man he is. Other than just after the procedure he is doing very well with it. It takes two of us to change his diaper. He is doing great though. We actually got a good nights sleep last night. He slept for 4+ hours.
On the long lost car front, our van finally made it on to a truck. My friend Collin was getting ready to auction it off as it had been in his shop for about a month. I am greatful to him for his help in getting that one last thing taken care of. It would have really dampened our trip to have had to wait there until the car was shipped. I think the car haulers are in with the dmv. My tag's expire in Feb. I knew if I did not renew it would become a problem. I renewed and it was a problem anyway. Go figure. Like other things on this trip I can not second guess the events to follow.
Grandpa got some extra sleep last night as well. That was great. It has been getting down to freezing in the evenings so I guess it is a good thing we are with the kids. The rv gets a little cold when the temp gets that low.
Well we have errands to run so I better get off the computer before Linda leaves without me.
TTFN
ed

Ok I'll catch up.

Grandma Graves needed to head back to CA so we made a trip to the Austin Airport. After 3 short trips to the airport, I think I can find it now. So you can come visit us and we can find you at the airport. We are staying with Mike and Mindy again so we can help with our grandson. It is a lot of work taking care of a little one at this stage. He knows the ropes at this point and he pulls them well. It didn't take grandpa long to remember how to change diapers. I have been getting up and taking care of him in the early morning.
They say babys don't smile at this stage. He may not smile unless he has gas but I think he is laughing at me on the inside as I struggle to get hands and feet away from the mess and clean it all up. I find he tends to get impatient with my slow process so by the time I start putting feet back in his cloths he is starting to get irritated. But once things are closed up he calms right down. Then we have Grandson and Grandpa talks. I asked him a couple of days what he wanted to be when he grew up? He gave me the silent treatment. I have grown to expect that when I am talking. Seems he goes to sleep when we are having these chats. I wonder if he is trying to tell me something???? Oh well. They are great talks and he will reflect back on them one day, I am sure.

So that has been our past couple of daysj, other than trying to keep up with news from around the globe. It is great having friends even if they aren't close to us physically any more! I know, Who's fault is that! Not mine! NOTTTT.

I hate it when that happens!!
Later,
ed

Cameron makes his presance known

Well Cameron is making hsi presence known. He is communicating nicely when he wants to eat. he is checking out anyone who gets near. I don't think I have ever seen a newborn with such strong neck mussles. He can almost roll over when pushing back with his head. He is still fighting the jaundice contition. It appears it is leveling out which is a good thing. Grandma Jane has been getting up and helping in the early morning hours. Mike and Mindy are being troopers and working hard to make sure Cameron gets all he needs in love and attention.
I forgot how much work it is integrating a new life into your home.
But I do remember the ride being so much fun and how it introduced so much joy and challange into our lives. Cameron will follow in his parents food steps and that is a good thing, for sure.
I need to wear shirts without buttons these days. Other wise I would be sewing on new buttons every day. Linda and I are so proud of Mike and Mindy.
Well, I better get ready and go provide some relief to the crew after another night of hard work.
later, ed

I FORGOT! Actually my wifi was down this weekend.

Well we have been doing the grandparent thing. At least I think we have. Really don't have any grandparents to compare with. Oh well we will figure it out. Cameron finally came home. He was a day late as he was jaundice. He got the spa treatment. Laying under the lights. He went to the doctor today and his count was up again. He will have to do another test tomorrow morning. Cameron's great grandpa Graves passed away so his grandma Jane is going to head back to LA tomorrow.
On the personal front, we finally have a pickup date for our van which ended up at Collin's shop. Seems that sending an auto across country on a truck is not as easy as I was led to believe when I first started the process.
We called the cobra company to see what happened to our application for coverage but they aren't talking yet. They say it takes 2-3 weeks. Seems kind of yuk you loose your first month's payment for them to do the paper work. Wow, what a scam.
It's time to start working on taxes. I took a quick look at it this morning but put it away. It was time to go check on the kids and see how Cameron's night was. It seems he was not so sleepy last night. He may have day and night reversed.
Oh yea, we had very small sized hail and some snow and some rain. All were trace amounts. Am I in Texas? Really????

It has been an eventful couple of days

Well Grandpa and Grandma are enjoying Cameron Eugene Graves. He came sliding in on Feb 6, at 7 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long. According to Mindy it wasn't a bad labor. Couldn't prove it by Grandpa though, but I heard everyone but Mindy. The hotpital was great and the staff were great. Nice facilities. One nurse keep me occupied while things were starting to progress. Grandpa got to hold him for an hour or so yesterday. He is awesome!
Linda and I are learning the leander area a little bit. We have figured out how to get around the area. I am back into my uturn mode of travel. Woops and flip around. Some of my older friends will recognize that style of travel. I used to be great at it.
I started doing some computer update work on my own computer. Some remember I purchased a new notebook after my job went away. It was going to be use to do some contract work, that didn't work out so I have a new notebook. One negative was that the harddrive was only 5400 rpm. I found a new drive the same size that runs at 7200 rpm which provides better performance. One big problem, I am running Win 7. I installed my disk cloaning software and it crashed Win 7. We had to do a recovery to return to life. I contacted the software vendor and they gave me a link to download a new version for win 7. It worked great. However my hardware has a timeout and idle out setup. The cloan operation started and it was running along and all of a sudden things stoped. I pressed the shift key and it all continued but without video. this went on for a couple of days as we were out to the hosital with all that grandson stuff above.
This the morning Cameron was born the process stopped just after continuing. I pressed Enter and the sytem shut down. I restarted it and it said that Apricom had completed. At this point we shut down and headed to the hospital for the arrival of our grandson. Anyway the next day I was feeling gutsy so I removed the old hard drive and put in the new one. I pressed power and it started to my surprise the Win 7 logo popped up rather quickly. What a surprise! Anyway I have a full back of my notebook stashed away in the form of a hard drive. I LIKE IT!
Well we will start our day of rain soon and expect to go to the hospital and make the move back to Leander with Cameron and his mom and dad as they start this new chapter of their lives. (and ours) :-)

So here we sit in yet more rain.

Two days of rain. They need it here as bad as CA needed it so I guess complaining is not in the cards. We had a kick back day today. I had lunch with an old friend from Sac. Craig Whitney. It was great getting to catch up. Just strange doing it in Texas. I have worked on the computer a bit today. Not much accomplished but hay what me in a hurry? I worked on the kids notebook yesterday, one of the things I needed to do. I blew a lot of dust out of it and it seems to have helped a bit so far. I want to find out the trick to opening the HP system up so I can clean it out much better. May need to chat with my friends Steve and John. I bought a new disk for my new notebook that is bigger and faster than the one that came in it but when I installed my clone software it would not reboot. It had to repair by doing a recover. So I need to find software to clone a disk running under Windows 7. Never an easy answer.
Always changing.
Oh yea, I saw our Son-In-Laws office he is opening for his business. Nice office. It should work well. Mindy drove us around downtown Austin. Nice city. She knows it better than I knew Sac. Lots to learn here.
G-Baby is holding out on us. He is being really slow at making an appearance. The Dr. said he wanted to check again this next Monday and see if maybe it isn't time to help things along. So I am anticipating that things will be happening soon. I will keep you all advised best I can.

Escape escaped AZ and is not in TX

Well, it has been a couple of days. Mindy got up early on Monday morning and drove me to the Austin airport. Flew to Phoenix and Pam and Carl picked me up. We visited Brian and Christie at their home with Sadie, she is a cutie. We then went to Goodyear AZ and picked up the Escape. So after a couple of days on the road retracing the trip in the motor home I am back in Austin. HOME! Did I say I have a great daughter and Son-In-Law? They are great. We have totally taken over their time. Lizzie is not picking up on Rillie's attempts to play. We have been out looking at homes. There is some great potential here for homes. I think I am going to like Texas. There is such a sense of community in Texas.
Today's drive was interesting. There were places I saw while driving the RV that I wanted to stop and take some pictures. Well today I was socked in with fog so, I shot pictures through the windshield while driving down the highway. I don't expect to have any great shots but some may have potential. Pictures to follow. Maybe tomorrow.
We thought we might see American Idol tonight, but guess what? We are in central time zone. So we turned on the tv and saw the last 10 minutes. Woops!