Real Housewife of Oak Hill

#94. Play A Round

 

 

I get it.  I get golf.  I can’t believe it.

I warned my coach that I wasn’t sure how long we’d play since I was so sure that 1. I’d suck and b. I’d hate it.  Well I’ll be ding-danged if I didn’t love it.

FDL was an amazing teacher, I know that helped.  Calm, patient, encouraging.  He said you only have to remember three things: keep your knees bent, keep your head down, and have an easy swing.  It was always one of those things if I messed up.  Which, to my surprise, I didn’t do quite as much as I thought.  I mean don’t get me wrong… I DID mess up, but on a 9-hole, par 3 course I scored 51.  For my first time, that’s not terrible.  At least I don’t think so.

And I only lost two balls.  

 I'm pretty sure those palm trees ate one of them.

 

• Butler Park Pitch & Putt

 

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#93. Soak It Up

 

I had the hardest time trying to figure out where this ding-dang place was! 

It was one of those things where the description of where it’s located is just vague enough to be confusing or different sites are the slightest bit contradictory so I didn’t trust that I knew where I was going.   Wasted who knows how long.  I finally went where I knew it must be and there it was!  Duh!  I’m sure all of you who know where it is think I’m a dummard.

It’s not the first time I’ve had trouble finding a place.  Ages and ages ago, someone took me to Ginny’s Little Longhorn one night.  Days/weeks later I was driving by where I was sure it was and I couldn’t find it.  This went on every time I drove down Burnet.  For years.  For the life of me, I could never find it.  I became convinced it was one of those places that only appears at night and that’s why I couldn’t see it.  I was driving by during the day!  At some point after that, I moved near that neighborhood and I’ll be damned if I didn’t see Ginny’s as plan as day, during the day!  It wasn’t that you couldn’t see it in the daytime.  It’s that you couldn’t see it if you didn’t live there!  Makes perfect sense.

 

Campbell’s Hole (also called Camel’s Hole, not to be confused with Camel’s Toe) is a cool spot!  Calm parts for kids, fast parts for grown-ups.  I had heard horror stories about the trash and the drugs and the drinking.  I didn’t see any of that.  At least no more that I see anywhere else.  There was a lot of dog poop, I will say that.

Maybe if I went at night I wouldn’t see it…

 

• Campbell's Hole - There isn't a good website - I looked at them all.  You guys are on your own.*

 

*Just kidding.  One get-in is at the corner of Barton Skyway and Spyglass Rd.

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#92. Grab A Paddle

I used to be scared to kayak, but thanks to stand up paddling, it was a cinch!

Not much to report, except I saw a snake slithering across the water.  Told a passing canoe of pre-teens that they just missed a snake and the look on their face made my day.  Sometimes it’s fun to be a mean old lady.

What I found so interesting was that I could not get my bearings.  It took me a long time to understand where we were in relation to the Hike & Bike Trail path I normally take.  I was all kinds of backwards.  ZPBR is a little family run operation on the side toward Barton Springs.  You gotta get in and out of your kayak in the muck.  That was kinda gross, but I survived.  My partner-in-crime said she liked Texas Rowing Center better.  It’s just her opinion, man.

This partner-in-crime is a new friend of mine that I met in a coffee shop earlier this summer.  I had just gotten my eyebrows waxed and stopped at Jo’s on 2^nd for breakfast.  I sat outside by myself next to another lady by herself.  I noticed she had two coffees – one large, one small.  Eventually, I said “Did you have an appetizer coffee before your real coffee?”  She laughed, I laughed.  Then her husband walked up.  He laughed.  It was all quite funny.  We chatted and traded numbers.  After a couple of attempts we finally met in July at Jack Allen’s for Happy Hour.  The waiter came to take our order and we said we needed a few more minutes, “we’re on a first date and we’re talking too much”.  He said he could tell and that he had a good feeling about us.

Our second date was kayaking.  I think it’s going well.

 

•  Zilker Park Boat Rentals

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#91. Be Pioneering

 

Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farm sits out in a field, practically in the middle of town, behind a neighborhood.  Seems like you’d know that while you’re there, but you don’t.  You forget you’re not on a… well… pioneer farm.

They have an impressive number of buildings (some original, some reproductions) that represent the types of architecture and lifestyle changes common throughout the 1800s – including a tee-pee town.  (Hee hee, tee-pee town.  That’s funny.)

Spoke (read: listened) to a guy for a long time at the only building that was original to the property.  And I don’t want to get all Ghost Hunters on you, but I heard three distinct knocks come from either the attic space or the room we’d just left.  I’m just sayin’.

 

 

This was the third living history/pioneer farm I’d been to.  (I didn’t write about Barrington Living History Farm because it didn’t do anything for me.  It’s right next to Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park and that was way more interesting.)  No one was ever doing any “living history” when I was at any of them.  I expected to be handed a pail and told to milk cows or mend fences or churn butter or something.  Some had just had lunch, some were about to repair something, some were just hanging out.  I guess even pioneers just had to hang out sometimes. 

One thing I did get out of it was the realization that I really should be working at one of these places.  It’s that or be a tour guide.  But one of the guys at Barrington gave me a cotton boll.  Doesn’t that mean we’re engaged?!  He’s going to be so disappointed when he finds out I never put the laundry away.  Hell, sometimes I don’t even do it.

So next time you go, I’ll be the one in the dirty apron.

 

• Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farm

 

 

 

 

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“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans” - John Lennon

I had seven Fun Things left to do.  

I know you caught that.  "Had".  Not "have" in present tense, but "had" in past tense.  Because it's over.

Monday night we received a call from my dad that his father had taken a turn for the worse.  He's been battling prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.  Although in a wheelchair, as late as last Wednesday he was over at a friend's house for dinner, laughing at youtube videos.  Even Friday morning, he had his usual bacon and eggs.  But sometime over the weekend, things changed and by Sunday he was very different.  Monday he was exponentially worse and we were on a plane Tuesday.  Last night he was able to sit up in his chair, but today he can't get out of bed.

I know I am very lucky that I am 40 years old and still have all of my grandparents.  It makes me sad that is about to change.

We arranged for in-home hospice care and the regular lady that helps during the day has offered to stay overnight as long as we need her.  She loves him and doesn't want someone new taking care of him.  Thank God for people like her.

I've been very close with these grandparents since they live in Texas.  I spent many a summer catching horny toads in their backyard and until two years ago they were still coming to Austin to see me.  

While there was a never a question of whether I would come up here or not, it makes me sad that I can't finish my adventure as I had planned.  Seven measly things!  I was so close.

I realize the blogs are behind.  My whole goal for my required time at the Float House was to catch up, but the internet being down while we were there followed by our hasty departure means that didn't happen.  What'd I say before about the best laid plans?!  

The plan now is to help my dad and my grandmother the best we can.

I will catch up on the posts.  I will finish this adventure.  But right now there are bigger things to do.

I know you understand.

Here's to you, Red!! 

News

Well, first if all... I can't even get on Typepad at my house so I can't correct the typos my husband found in my last hastily typed post. It's bugging me.

Second, I can't update the main list so you can see what I've done. I have like 5 things left!!! I had planned on catching up on my posts while at The Float House, but that didn't happen since the Internet was down. So much for planning.

There's more to the story, but I'll post that later.

Thanks for sticking around.

Internet down again. Sonofabitch.

Internet down again. Sonofabitch.

Sent from my tiny handheld computer that also makes calls.

#90. Be Cool

 

 

For four years I lived across the highway from this place and never went.  The rumor was, you couldn't go until you graduated.  I have no idea why.  Unfortunately, it meant it took me 18 years to get here.

Did I just say 18 years?  Oh god, I need to lie down.

 

In a nutshell... IT WAS AWESOME!  Wonderful staff, in-freaking-credible formations, a fun group.  I actually felt like I learned something.  I know I said I liked Longhorn Caverns, but this was WAY better.  Inner Space was only found in 1963, so it has not had the exposure to the elements (or human wear & tear) that Longhorn has.  And my Longhorn tour guide needs to take some lessons from Doc, he was so sweet (he didn't want to accept his tip when he heard I wasn't working!).  I thought it was a superior experience all around.

I don't recommend you wait 18 years to go.

 

 

 

• Inner Space Cavern

 

 

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Technical difficulties at the lake

Technical difficulties at the lake house. No way to post. Will update ASAP. For now... I'm going to bed. This housewife is tired.

Sent from my tiny handheld computer that also makes calls.

#89. Art and Soul

I wish my mother-in-law was around to go with me to the Painted Churches of Schulenburg.  She would have really enjoyed it.  In the second church I was overwhelmed by how much I miss her and I just sat down and cried.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I lit that one for Clare.

 

 

• Painted Churches of Schulenburg

 

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