Beating the Storm

The weather guessers had me scrambling yesterday. I wanted to get things done since they were certain we would be in for a wet and stormy Sunday. I packed up the tire covers and the windshield covers. I wanted to store them away while they’re dry – packing them when they’re wet makes a good environment for mold.

I broke out the ladder and climbed up on the roof. Our front air conditioner shroud is cracked. I put duct tape over the crack. Then I checked the rear cover – it’s cracked as well. I need to order new shrouds soon. I thought the shrouds were made of fiberglass but it appears to be molded plastic. Baking in the sun on the roof eventually leads to deterioration. Our air conditioners are Dometic Duo Therm Penguin 15,000 BTU heat pumps and parts aren’t cheap. The plastic covers are about $100 each!

Workers here at Copano Bay RV Resort were also going double time to beat the weather. The park is pouring new concrete. The workers are prepping unoccupied site pads. About a dozen of the pads already have new concrete. They’ve prepped about a dozen more over the past couple of days. I’m thinking they should be using rebar in addition to the wire mesh to strengthen and reinforce the concrete. After all, there may be a 40,000+ pound RV rolling over it. But they’re the experts, not me.

Pad ready for concrete

Pad ready for concrete

I don’t know when they will pour the concrete. They need a window of dry weather for a day or two.

Donna took the scooter grocery shopping in the morning. When she returned, I rode it to Walmart and picked up a case of water and restocked my beer supply. Then I finished organizing the trailer and loaded the scooter in preparation for Monday’s departure. I figured we wouldn’t be using the scooter on Sunday if it’s stormy and I might as well have the trailer packed and closed up while it’s dry.

My daughter Jamie came up from Robstown with her friend Ruby, two of her step-kids – Rayleen and Ariana – and their cousin, Victoria. Donna took them to the community pool while I was packing the trailer.

The rain held off while they were at the pool. When they returned at 5pm, I could see a storm approaching on the weather radar app. We said our goodbyes and they left, trying to beat the storm home. I don’t know when we’ll see them again, but we plan to return to this area at some point – hopefully at a time when the weather isn’t so wet. May has been a very wet month – more than twice the average rainfall for the month.

One of the things Donna bought at HEB was jalapeno salmon burgers. These are made fresh at HEB, not frozen. I fired up the grill to cook them and also toasted onion ciabatta rolls. Donna made a remoulade sauce and garnished the burger with lettuce, avocado and remoulade. These were the best salmon burgers I’ve ever tasted.

Jalapeno salmon burgers and toasted onion chiabatta rolls hot off the grill

Jalapeno salmon burgers and toasted onion ciabatta rolls hot off the grill

One tasty sandwich

One tasty sandwich

We rarely buy bread, but when Donna asked the guy at the seafood counter if the salmon burgers were good, he told her how he makes them and it sounded so good, she had to do it! Since she had to buy the onion rolls in a package of six, she bought four more salmon burgers and stashed them along with the rolls in the freezer.

It started raining while we were watching Homeland. The lightning made a great backdrop for the show.

This morning it’s dry out. The forecast has backed down from the dire storm warnings. Now they say there’s a 30% chance of thundershowers this afternoon. Oh well, I guess it didn’t hurt to make our preparations for travel a day early.