Saturday, July 5, 2014

Hot in Arkansas

We've been checking out a couple of Arkansas Coast to Coast campgrounds during Jeff ' s VA visit in Little Rock.  First we stayed a week at Golden Pond near Shirley,  AR, which is an hour & a half from the VA. Then we moved northeast an hour to Anglers campground for 2 weeks to get beyond 4th of July before returning to Branson.

This is a shaded campground along a small (for now) tributary to the White River - the river starting east of Fayetteville, wiggling up thru MO before returning to AR, with four dams to control the significant amount of water flowing off these Ozark Mountains.

It’s been fairly peaceful until this holiday weekend.  OMG, this place is packed with RVs, tents for sleeping & gathering, & lots of cars. At least a little cool spell has helped with outside comfort, 'cause early last week was miserably hot & HUMID!

In fact, fuzzy-wuzzy Kira even asked to come inside to the A/C two days in a row. Apparently it wasn't soon enough tho as Thursday we noticed a quickly worsening spot on the top of her tail which turned out to be her first-ever HOT SPOT that required a quick trip to a local vet. He had to shave hair off her hips & legs to check for any other areas, but we caught it soon enough to not spread anywhere else. Boy, she sure misses her hair back there. In fact I've been calling her "possum butt". She's getting along fine other than the missing hair.

I've always typed my blog posts on my laptop using Live Writer,  but suddenly the 'e, t, i, o, & u" keys have stopped working. GEEZ, I didn't realize how often those letters are used in words. I discovered a virtual keyboard on screen to use my cursor to fill in words,  but that was a hassle.  So. . .I'm experimenting with an Android app called Blogaway to compose a post off-line. . .using one-finger typing. Not really all that horrible actually for this touch typist. It won’t publish tho with even the smallest photos included tho. So I've inserted a couple of fon photos I Blogger but can't pick where the display.

The wi-fi here is pretty good most of the time, so I had an idea of using my old Motorola Droid fon with the broken screen as a remote backup camera to hitch up the trailer or back in to a tight campsite. I tried one application but the fons wouldn't stay connected via Bluetooth,  so I tried another app. Remote Camera (free, of course) works pretty well. Now I need to figure out a way to secure it when in use. Fun times!

We're occasionally asked if we miss anything about living in a regular house, & occasionally I do miss having an oven. So I've been researching recipes for using a Crockpot.  Lots more options than I expected.  Found one to make biscuits,  & one for banana nut bread I want to try. We have a toaster oven back in our storage unit, but it's rather bulky to haul around, so we'll see how the crockpot works out. Lots of things can be 'baked' in a microwave too. Hmmm, now I'm getting hungry.

We've explored the area a little,  eating fried catfish at a neat restaurant right beside the White River, & frequented Walmart often. Also got some fresh tomatoes,  peaches, & a canalope from a local stand. Haven't found anywhere for ice cream except McDonald's tho.

We still haven't gotten much done to help Jeff's back pain except meds, so guess we'll be in the heat & humidity most of the summer - instead of Colorado or some place cool & dry.

Maybe I'll post even the boring portions of our small, mobile lifestyle more now with this app. Afterall, my cell fon is never out of reach!!

2 comments:

  1. Great pix ! We will move over to Big Fir as soon as the 4th of July Loonies all leave. Hope you guys can make it.

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  2. I lv my mini Breville toaster oven....bakes like a charm. Have you tried your blog with WordPress....nice Smartphone features. Hope things go well with doc...

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