An Overnight Trip

After more than a year, Donna and I made our first overnight trip. In fact, this is the first time we've even left the city limits. We've really tried to be careful during the pandemic and to do our part to slow or prevent the spread of this disease.

Daughter Courtney and son-in-law Michael are closing on a new home in the "Petroplex", a term locally applied to the Midland-Odessa area. They wanted us to see the place before they moved in, so we drove up this past Friday. We've been considering moving to the area to be near them, so we spent some time looking around at prospective neighborhoods in both towns. I don't know that we will ever leave our current home because we really do enjoy where we live, but we do need to at least consider our options.

Shortly after arriving, we stopped by our son-in-law's place of business and he gave us the grand tour. It was nice to finally put an image with things so that when he talks about his work we can picture things more clearly. Later that evening, the kids came to our hotel for a nice visit. On Saturday morning, we went to their new home. Michael and Courtney were involved with the walk through, so we stayed with the kids and had another good visit.

At one point when Courtney was leaving the room where Donna and I were with the kids, Courtney turned to oldest son Xander -- who is 18 and a senior in high school -- and said, "Keep an eye on your grandparents." Now, I'm not sure exactly what she meant by that, but I can't think of any translation that is good for Donna and me. Did she mean to keep an eye on us because we might drop dead at any minute? Or did she mean to keep an eye on us because we might steal something? Not sure, but it doesn't make us look good at all.

It's a lovely home in a new neighborhood. I snapped a few pictures to include in the blog. By my estimate, it's located 8 or 9 miles from where Michael works, and that is certainly a plus. Sod has already been put down in the front yard; I'm not sure what will be done in the back yard. It's a 2 story house with the master bedroom/bath downstairs and 3 bedrooms and another bath upstairs. There is also a large family room upstairs. Downstairs, in addition to the master bed/bath is the kitchen, a living area, and a small front room, which might make a nice office area. There is an additional half bath downstairs as well.

Front of house, with Michael's truck parked in driveway. Xander has already claimed his room. That is his window upstairs. He intends to use this perch to spy on his neighbors and report any un-American activity he may see.

Back of house. Master BR is at left while living area and dining is near back door. 3 small windows upstairs is location of family room. I don't know what will be done in back yard. Perhaps I can hire on as the yard boy. I can see flower beds lining the fence and various raised beds for veggies.

Donna with Bandito Brothers in kitchen, with small room behind them. Sink and more counter/bar space is located where I was standing to take this pic.

Master BR looking into master bath.

Taken from upstairs family room looking onto entrance. Pieces of tape on wall indicate paint needs to be touched up.

Donna and I ventured out to Sam's Club recently for their senior time. On the way home, turkeys were blocking the road, and that enabled me to take a few pictures of these strutting road hogs.

The turkeys had just crossed the road when I snapped this shot. The cluster nearest us has all their tail feathers up. You can see other turkeys grazing in the background.

All of these guys were strutting around with their tail feathers up.

I took the car in to our dealership last week for regular maintenance, to get a new set of tires, and to get it inspected. Since we've not been traveling, this is the first service work we've had done since last March. Yeah, we've put fewer than 5,000 miles on the car in a year; normally, we put anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 miles per year on a car. I'm now filling the gas tank once a month, and even then I'm only putting in half a tank or less. We have saved considerable money on fuel and travel expenses this year.