Fifteen Weeks!

Today marks 15 weeks---three-and-a-half months---since we left Western Massachusetts. We write this post by candlelight, with the starry Texas night all around us. After what seems like weeks of clouds and rain, the sun broke through late this afternoon over Lake Buchanan here in Central Texas. We hear that the Dallas/Fort Worth area, where we recently spent a few days, just had seven inches of snow. Our son Rene said on the phone this evening that the New England winter has been chasing us since we left. Perhaps we've finally escaped its grasp.

There is so much nature around us, and maybe the return of the sun---to our delight---brought many of earth's creatures out into the open today. In the course of one day, we were fortunate to see a roadrunner crossing the road, a family of wild pigs running along a river bank, a large red fox (perhaps the largest we have ever seen), vultures, a large snake, and hundreds of robin redbreasts who seem to be wintering here at Lake Buchanan.

Here's a photo of a roadrunner pilfered from Google images ("Beep beep!"):

And here's a photo of the wild pigs shot by an excited Mary just this afternoon:

Keith, who has a real snake phobia, is happy to not mar this blog with a photo of a snake, but the one that he and Tina disturbed by the shore of the lake was about two inches in diameter, dark, and probably three feet long.

We're now back in our rig, parked in a lovely spot on the hill above Rainbow Hearth. This weekend, we'll be doing food prep, dishwashing, and otherwise helping our new friend Mariah care for an inn filled with guests escaping to enjoy a Valentine's weekend in the countryside.

With no electricity hook-up, we're using our solar-powered batteries, candles and battery-operated lanterns here in our cozy little home. Luckily, our fridge runs on propane and keeps our food nice and fresh without the use of electricity.

As we said earlier, the stars are bright tonight in the clear Texan sky. Tina, bless her heart, is exhausted by it all, and sleeps at our feet as we open mail before finishing watching the Wim Wenders film, "Paris, Texas".

Stay tuned for more tales from Mary and Keith's excellent adventure!