Gate Guarding

Sorry I haven’t written in a few days but there is not a lot to write about while sitting here in South Texas.

I have almost finished up the Insurance Claim for the Storage Theft from back in April. Farmer’s Insurance has been great to work with. Every time I questioned a price that they approved, they have adjusted that price to what it actually cost for us to replace.

There were so many things in that Storage Unit that we cannot replace…sentimental things. We have replaced some things already…TV, Sheets, Shoes, Antenna….things like that…that we can use in our day to day life. We have until May 0f 2013 to replace things to get the additional depreciation cost back.(They paid us a depreciated price…and when we replace an item, they pay us the additional depreciated price, so we get full replacement cost. So if we don’t replace an item, all we get is the depreciated price).

I posted a photo of a bird on Facebook that Mac & I thought was a Hawk, but a friend of ours sent me a message and told me that the bird is a CaraCara. It is usually only found in Texas, Arizona, and Mexico…and rarely in Florida. Click on the name for a link to information of the bird. Here is another link for the bird,

sometimes called the Crested Caracara

Well, back to our day to day life here in South Nowhere Texas….LOL. We are out in the middle of nowhere, about 14 miles northwest of Yorktown, TX , and about 26 miles northeast of Kenedy, TX.

Things have gone really well for us at this Gate Job. We started out at a gate that isn’t really crazy busy.

I have the night shift and it is usually pretty slow. I don’t have a problem staying up until about 2:00am, but after that I get really sleepy. No one usually comes until about 5am, so I try to rest a little bit…usually doesn’t work because I think somewhere, someone knows…Ohhh she dozed off…I better go out there and check in at the Gate…LOL. I’m so worried about missing someone that I never can really relax.

This time at night I am usually playing games on my iPad.

The crew has been very nice to us. What a great bunch of guys! A couple of days ago they started showing up with meals for us! Now they have brought lunch on Wednesday, from Hoss… Cheeseburger & Fries…

breakfast on Thursday…compliments of Brad…Sausage, Egg & Cheese Croissant…

and lunch on Thursday from Brandon…Chicken Enchilada, Cheese Enchilada, Beef Enchilada, with Rice and Beans…

and then lunch today(Friday) from Hoss…Rib eye Steak Sandwich and Fries…

The food has been really good, but remember, I work nights and get up about 1:30pm…so this is more like breakfast to me…lol.

Not sure how much longer we will be at this gate. No one has said anything about when they will be finished.

We have been taking turns going in to town so that we can get away for a little while. I have went in to Yorktown, and then went to Cuero, the closest town with a Wal-Mart and HEB. The Wal-Mart is just a small one..not even a Super Center. The HEB is also very small…no Bakery, Deli, or Meat Market.

I went in to Kenedy on Wednesday to see if their shopping was better. They do have a Wal-Mart Super Center that is pretty nice, but one of the small ones, but their HEB is probably the WORST one I have ever been in! They have no selection of anything…very small and seemed kind of dirty. If I go into Kenedy again, I will be buying my grocery things at Wal-Mart…they have a much better selection.

Well, that brings us up to today….

Have a great weekend everyone!

(((HUGS)))

Gate Guarding in South Texas

Sunday, July 15th

It’s not real exciting what we’ve been doing here in South Texas….we log vehicles in when they want to go to the Rig and then we log them back out when they leave…

There’s not a lot to write about. We have been just hanging out and one or the other of us runs in to Yorktown once or twice a week to go to the store for supplies.

Between Logging Vehicles in & out this is what we’ve been up to:

I have been doing some crocheting, a lot of reading, reading blogs, Facebook, and playing some games on my ipad.

Mac has been spending his time either outside cleaning on the vehicles, watching TV or Facebook & playing games on his computer.

See…it’s been a real busy life here in South Texas. We are busy with the Gate job, but with us having to stay on site 24/7 we do have some spare time.

It’s cloudy and looks like rain today. The temperature is only 77* today at 6:00pm. Not bad for July here in Texas. The weather looks like rain through next Friday with temps in the mid to high 90’s.

Here’s a couple of photos from last nights Sunset.

(((HUGS)))

Business is picking up at our Gate in South Texas….

Sunday was pretty slow around our gate. They are finishing up on one of the wells today and will start working on the other well in a day or two…

We were told by the Company man that we would be staying at this gate because they really like us…

We set outside some, watched TV, and kind of relaxed. They started bringing in some equipment in the evening…but only a couple of trucks.

Monday started out early with some more equipment being brought in for the “Workover” on the other well. Stayed pretty steady all day. Mac made a trip in to Cuero looking for some connections for our Wide Band Directional Antenna and to the Grocery Store. No connectors, but he did get a few groceries.

Went to bed pretty early since we knew that Tuesday was going to be a busy day… rained all night…Mac was up at 1:30am with a truck wanting in the gate, and then again about 30 minutes later…so he just stayed up.

They have been delivering some heavy equipment all morning so far…and it’s been really gloomy and just misting outside.

About 10:45am it has started raining again pretty heavy….that’s gonna be fun checking these vehicles in and out in this rain….and I think I’m getting Bronchitis….ugghhh…..

I ran in to Cuero to WalMart. I needed new print cartridges for my printer. First time into town here so used the GPS to find my way. It took me right to WalMart. When I left Cuero and came back through Yorktown I stopped at Angelica’s and got some dinner for Mac & I. We had Crispy Tacos, Puffy Tacos, and Enchiladas. Also Rice & Beans….The food was all good except for the beans…not so much.

It rained off and on the rest of Tuesday and started raining again Tuesday night for most of the night. It was my shift so I was lucky that I didn’t have any vehicles to check in or out until about 6:00am. I went to bed, but couldn’t seem to really go to sleep. Just dozed.

Today we start our 7th day of being Gate Guards here in south Texas. It has rained all day today(Wednesday)….Mac has been really busy checking in and out vehicles in the rain…thank goodness for the digital recorder. It has come in very handy today.

I have tried to sleep off and on since I will be on duty tonight but I just can’t seem to unwind enough to relax…I have a terrible headache and maybe that is why sleep just won’t come to me.

Ohh, I need to let everyone know that the Wide Band Directional Antenna that we purchased needs to have a Female “F” connector on one end. There are several kinds but if you purchase one it needs to be:

Wilson Electronics 75 Ohm Wide Band - 700-2500 MHz Directional Antenna with F-Female Connector

Click on the name above and it will take you to the Amazon.com link for the Antenna.

Otherwise the end connector will be different and you will need to find an adapter connector.

We also use a Sony Digital Recorder that we purchased at WalMart. It works great, but I wish that we would of bought one that was voice activated.

I have stocked up on yarn before we arrived here and should be able to get some crocheting done since we are pretty much tied to this place. Also, I can get some reading done on my Kindle Fire. I have lots of books downloaded to keep me busy for quite a while.

I will keep posting but it may not be daily..just depends on what it going on around here.

Have a great day everyone!!

(((HUGS)))

Gate Guarding, Saturday, July 7th

Saturday morning came early at our RV…Mac got up about 5:30am and was ready for the trucks to start rolling in about 6:00. I slept in until about 8:30 and then got up, showered, and had a Breakfast Bar.

Someone mentioned that we should tell what company we are Gate Guarding for…but that is not allowed now. Friday we stayed busy as this was our first working day.

We have a Canopy set up with our Lawn Chairs underneath. Also a table with our sign in log sheets on it.

We set up a set of Wireless Motion Sensors along with the Bells that the company set up for us. The Motion Sensors are working very well.

The Motion Sensors are

Safety Technology International STI-34100 Solar Powered Wireless Driveway Monitor

Safety Technology International STI-34101 Additional Wireless Sensor for use with STI-34100

We ordered this set and an extra monitor through Amazon.com They have been working much better than the Bells. Mac programmed one so we can tell that someone is coming in the Gate and the other to alert us that someone is coming up to leave the Gate.

We also invested in a Wilson DB 65 Pro Booster & Antenna Kit. We also got the Wide Band Directional Antenna to put up on our Flagpole. Our internet has been pretty good and our Cell phones are 4 Bars of 1x right now with just the regular Wilson Antenna. We didn’t have the right connectors to put up the Wide Band Directional…so when we get to a Radio Shack or somewhere we will need to get the right connectors for it.

Wilson Electronics 841262 DB Pro 65 dB Adjustable Gain 800/1900MHz In-building Wireless Smart Technology IITM Signal Booster Kit with Omni-Directional and Panel Antenna

Wide Band Directional Antenna 700-2700 MHz

We also bought a Misting System at Tractor Supply for about $25.00 and put part of it up to help cool things down a bit. Don’t have a photo of that….

Hope this helps anyone that is thinking about Gate Guarding. We got some of these ideas from a couple that are Gate Guarding right now…Greg & Jan White wrote about them in their blog. Click on their name and it should take you to their Blog.

I’d like to take some photos of our area, but everything looks about the same. Farm ground, Trees, and Sunflowers… maybe I can find something interesting to take a photo of later today.

and more Sunflowers…

and all the workers left the Gate by 4:00pm so we are free for the evening to enjoy some TV and the NASCAR Race.

Y’all have a great day!!

(((Hugs)))

Buying a Car, Aransas Pass, TX and a New Adventure

Well, we didn’t leave Lake Conroe thousand Trails RV Resort until Saturday morning.  Why? We bought a car. We have been looking for a small car to do all our running around in because that big ‘ole Black Truck gets terrible Fuel mileage. We wanted something pretty small because we want to tow it behind the RV and we are limited on weight and length. We looked at a lot of vehicles but we were both most interested in the Honda CR-V. We did not want to buy something very new because this will be kind of an experiment to see if we like towing it….remember the DLT…..LOL

We finally found one we liked and met the owner on Thursday evening to make the deal. Now that leaves us to run back over to Livingston, TX to get our tags & registration taken care of.

After we got that done, Mac called Bob & Molly and we met them for lunch and another great visit! Afterwards we headed back to Lake Conroe in the little Blue Bopper as Molly calls it. We had a dinner date with Arlene since we will be leaving on Saturday morning. We had a nice dinner and a tearful “see ya later”…don’t like to say goodbye.

We were up and on the road in pretty good time on Saturday. This is the first time I have had to drive and follow Mac….and it had to be through downtown Houston on a Saturday morning in the pouring rain! I was never so glad to see Houston in my rearview mirror….

We got to Aransas Pass, TX with no problems and all set up at Aransas Bay RV Resort

and then ran out to have some dinner. Sunday we were going to go to Port Aransas but it was raining…..huh….I guess it followed us from Houston. So we just ran some errands and went to the Grocery Store.

 

Monday we decided to run to Corpus Christi to Gate Guard Services to get some more information on the Gate Guarding jobs…we ended up taking the paperwork home with us to fill out. We had to have our fingerprints taken but when we got there the person who does them had left for a doctor appointment and weren’t sure if she would be back. So we took off and drove over to North Padre, Mustang Island and on to Port Aransas. We went to the beach for a little while. It was really busy! The wind was blowing pretty hard and the water was rough…

We drove around town for a little while and then rode the Ferry back to Aransas Pass and home for dinner.

Tuesday we headed back to Corpus Christi to Gate Guard Services to turn in our paperwork and fingerprint cards. They gave us our orange vests and instructions on how to get to their Whitsett, TX office on Thursday. We left and went back to Port Aransas and to the beach again….

Still windy with rough water….

 

We saw so many Pelicans today…some just sitting on the beach, and a whole flock over the water dive bombing for their dinner….it was sure funny to watch them.

We rode the Ferry back to Aransas Pass and went to China A for some dinner.

Wednesday, July 4th, we just hung out at the RV. Mac had been working on our Water Pump. There was a leak somewhere and he took it apart and never got it fixed, so he decided that Thursday morning before we left town he would go to the RV Dealer and just get a new one. We just replaced that one last September while we were in South Dakota.

Mac was up and off to the Dealer when they opened at 8am. He returned with the Water Pump and got it installed and we finally took off about 11:15am. We arrived at Gate Guard Services Whitsett Office about 1:30 and talked with Jamie & Diane for a while. Then Jamie sent us to Kenedy, TX to wait for Mark to meet us and lead us to our new Gate Job.

It was pouring rain again…imagine that…lol We arrived at the gate about 6pm and got all set up. No work tonight, but had to be up by 5am this morning(Friday) for the truck to start arriving. We have to sign in every vehicle that comes to our Gate and then Sign them back out when they leave. We signed in about 40 or so vehicles today and then signed them back out early this evening. Nothing for tonight so we will get to sleep and be up by 5am again tomorrow…

Took a few photos around our site today…

Sunrise…very foggy this morning

our site setup

and Mac trying to be Official…

Stay tuned and we’ll try to keep you updated on how things are going with our new Gate Guard Adventure…

(((Hugs)))

Visiting Friends in Texas & trip to our home in Livingston

We left Plains on Monday June 11th and stopped for the night in Vernon, TX. We didn’t even unhook the truck. Had dinner and relaxed. Went to bed early for us…lol

Tuesday we traveled on to Cowtown RV Park in Aledo, TX. It is a Passport America Park and you can stay 3 days for $16.25 a night. It is a wonderful Park and we will stay there again!

We are here to see our friends, Donnie & Karen. They live in Weatherford, TX. We went over after we got all set up. Karen had cooked dinner for us! Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Salad, Biscuits, and Chocolate Cake…..it was so yummy! I had been craving home fried Chicken for quite a while…Thanks for cooking for us Karen!

We had a nice evening with them catching up on things since we had seen them last in Yuma in February.

Wednesday, we went over to their house again and we took off in their Jeep to look around the town and do some shopping. Donnie was wanting to get one of the new ipad’s and was wanting some opinions…they looked them over and he went home with a new iPad3.

After all of the shopping and looking around we were getting hungry, so they took us to “Mesquite Pit” a local BBQ Restaurant. We enjoyed a nice quiet meal and talked &talked…

We had a great time with Donnie & Karen….and are trying to make some Fall plans to see them again…maybe October or November after their new granddaughter is born…

We left Cowtown RV Park on Thursday morning, June 14th heading toward Lake Conroe Thousand Trails RV Resort in Willis, TX. We really like this park. Our main reason for coming to this park is to see our dear friend Arlene. Arlene lost her husband back in February and we weren’t able to be with her at the time.

She came right over once we got to our site and set up. We had lots of hugs & a few tears….it was so good to see her. We talked for a long time catching up on how she’s been..

Friday we went over to her house  to see her. She has a very nice little house behind her daughter’s house. It is only 1000 square feet but it has everything you would want. 2 Bedrooms, large Bathroom, Linen Closet, Laundry Room, Large Living Room, and Large Kitchen with Dining area. French doors out to the Pool.

We went over to the RV Repair Business & picked up her RV and pulled it back to her house so that we could finish getting the things out of it…

We decided to go out to dinner at Goodson’s Restaurant. It is well known for their Chicken Fried Steak. That’s what we all ordered…wow the steak was huge! Arlene & I took home enough for 2 more meals…it was wonderful! Thanks so much Arlene!

After dinner we stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a few things we needed and Arlene wanted to look at TV’s. She bought a 32” TV for her bedroom…

Saturday, Mac & I went out to so some errands and some shopping…..boy did we shop….Mac got a new All-in-One Computer

and I got a new iPad3..

I was exhausted when we got home!

Sunday, we went over to Arlene’s to help her move some things out of the RV since we would be taking it in to PPL in Houston on Tuesday for them to sell for her. Mac also installed her wall mount & TV in her bedroom. Arlene & I sat around for quite some time just visiting. I have missed her so much!

Tuesday, we hooked up the RV and headed in to Houston to PPL for Arlene to do the paperwork so that they can sell her RV….pretty emotional day.

Wednesday, Arlene & I took off to The Woodland’s Mall to meet Molly & Donna for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. We had a great lunch and spent a couple of hours catching up on everything that has been happening.

Thursday morning Arlene came over to our RV and Mac, Arlene & I took off to go to China Buffet in Conroe to meet a Chatroom friend for lunch. Mac & I had never met Penny in person. We had a great lunch and visited for a long time…It was great to meet Penny in person. I was so used to talking to her in the chatroom that I had forgotten that she had a British accent….lol. It was a great lunch!

After lunch, Mac, Arlene, and I took off and traveled over to Livingston, TX. That is where the Escapees Club is and where our actual address is…

Bob & Molly are at the Escapees Park so we wanted to spend some time with them also. They took us on a tour of the Park and then I picked up our mail and we got a tour of the Post Office and the Escapees Offices.

We went back to Bob  & Molly’s Motorhome and visited for a few hours…and then everyone was getting hungry again!! We went over to this little Gas Station/Convenience Store….they have a small Cafe in the back. Molly said that they have wonderful Hamburgers…well, they really do! We all ordered one. I should have shared one with Arlene….they are huge!

Friday, Mac & I went car shopping. We are looking for an older car so that we can use it to drive around while we are parked somewhere that gets better than 8-9 mpg’s. We looked at a few but nothing was just what we wanted so we went to this furniture store to look for a couple of Dining Chairs to replace the ones in our RV. They are just about worn out. The store named “The Dump” has about everything you could ever want. Regular furniture to very very expensive furniture. We found a couple of chairs and we were out of there …

headed home when we passed by “Sweetwater BBQ” and realized that neither one of us had had anything to eat all day….so we stopped and had dinner. The food was very good. It is Buffet like…you order your meat selections…and then go through the line and get whatever sides you want…side are unlimited…also their homemade rolls are to die for…lol

Saturday, Mac & I were going to go and look at a few more cars, but decided to just stay home and relax and get some laundry done and then a trip to the grocery store.

Sunday, Arlene came over to visit….and Mac cooked Steaks, Grilled Corn, & English Muffins for us for dinner. Arlene brought Baked Potatoes & some Chocolate cup Cakes…yummy…

I had made something for Arlene for her new Home and wanted to give it to her….I hope she likes it as much as I did making it….lots of memories in this photo…

I tried to help Arlene with a project she is wanting to do. She is wanting to have her Blog converted into a Hardcover Book. We never got it finished as she needed to download a couple of programs to get it to work.

Today, Monday, June 25th, I woke up not feeling very good…Allergies I think…so we decided we are not going to leave here until at least Wednesday so hopefully I’ll feel better tomorrow.

Oh….and I forgot to mention that Mac got a Speeding Ticket last week….60 in a 45. So today he is off to the Conroe City Courthouse to apply for a Defensive Driving Course so that the ticket won’t show up on his License or Insurance….oops!

We haven’t done much sightseeing around here which is sad…I want to take a drive and look at the lake. It looks really big with nice homes and businesses around it. Maybe tomorrow…

We will be leaving Lake Conroe on Wednesday if I am feeling better or maybe Thursday…heading to Corpus Christi

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

(((HUGS))