A Little Exploration

Click on photo for a better view.
This is St. Dominic Catholic Church in D'Hanis, TX. Or, it used to be. These are its ruins. The church membership moved to another location after a diptheria epidemic in the late 1800s. They took the roof beams, and left everything else. There's a small cemetery and a historical marker located just to the north (left). The sign at lower left of the structure reads "Restoration Contemplated" and warns of taking the stones the church is made of. This is all located in the middle of ranching/farming country just outside Hondo. Our RV park is maybe a quarter-mile away, and the church is surrounded by small houses in what used to be D'Hanis. A local longtime resident came to the Park yesterday afternoon and gave a one-hour talk on the history of the town. The only thing it's got going for it now are a Chevron gas station/convenience store and a pretty good restaurant/honky tonk. I had lunch with some other single women in the Park yesterday and the food was very good and very cheap. I had grilled tilapia, potatoes au gratin, and squash.

The dogs and I took a long walk down a country road just alongside the Park after lunch. We had no real destination; just wanted a good walk. The dogs met their first horses and are properly awed, I think. Dogs and horses did a little nose-to-nose greeting and were pretty friendly. I've always been a little afraid of horses, so the stroking of their jaws was about as close as I was going to get. I'm thinking of taking them some apples this weekend. The road we were walking on led to endless farmland, growing I-don't-know-what, but I think it was corn, judging from the remains of the previous crops.

On Tuesday, the folks from DirecTV came to the Park and were all set to install my new satellite dish when it appeared that whomever wrote the work order forgot the tripod. I had taken pains to ensure that they knew I'd be living in a motor home, i.e., that I'd be moving around. Sure enough, the work order was written for a permanently-fixed dish (affixed to the chain link fence alongside the RV space! Duh!). They made arrangements to come back the next day with the tripod.

The dogs and I went to Bandera that afternoon, on a lark. I was actually headed for Bulverde, which the Enterprise Rental Car guy had said was a nice drive. Unfortunately, he gave me some bum directions, but it was nice to see Bandera again; I like the looks of that little town. It's truly hill country: there's a deep, craggy ravine where (name of river escapes me) falls, and even some shallow waterfalls. I saw acres and acres of green and purple cabbages on the farmland just outside Bandera. Could've taken a head if I'd wanted to; Hwy 173 from Hondo is a pretty, and not-much-used drive. Very little traffic.

I've got a nice little four-cylinder car from Enterprise; can't tell exactly what it is. The logo/icon look familiar (Plymouth, maybe?). It has awfully good gas mileage.

On Thursday, I took another drive in to Hondo's Walmart to get a few groceries and dog food. Found a couple of books that looked interesting: "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen, and John Grisham's latest, "The Appeal". "Water for Elephants" was wonderful! I read it in about seven hours. I couldn't put it down, satellite tv or no. The protagonist is an elderly man who reminds me of Dad, so I'm going to send it to him; I think he'll like it. Haven't started the Grisham tome yet; must save it for a rainy day or some other time when I've nothing to see/do.

The weather here has gone from warm/near humid when I arrived a week ago to cold/dry all this week. The highs have been in the 50s and 60s, and the lows have been down to around 28 degrees F. The dogs and I are still comfy every night; sleeping well and warm. Winds have been a little strong and even blew the satellite dish over, necessitating a visit from the DirecTV tech to right the tripod and reprogram the dish's aim. Allergies have really taken over and I'm told it's the famous (or infamous) Mountain Cedar grown here. I must have acclimated myself to whatever grows in/near Houston, because my old allergies haven't really bothered me much 'til now. Guess I've got a new one. Someone recommended Chlortrimaton (sp?) as a replacement for Benadryl, which has been no use at all lately. The Chlortrimaton works very, very well and I'm able to enjoy being outside again. Today, a little heat/humidity is moving this way from the Gulf; I feel it already: the hair at the nape of my neck gets damp.

Am having no luck finding a small vehicle to act as toad. The Ford dealership has their eye out, as does the Saturn (Saturns were originally made to tow) guy, but no luck yet. I plan to stay here in Hondo 'til February 23. If I still don't have a toad by then, I'll continue to look in Deming, NM, then in AZ.