Sunday June 30, 2024
Dear Diary,
I woke up at midnight and thought I heard some noises outside. Since I was pet sitting at Val and Rita’s, I thought I should check it out. There was nothing going on but I wasn’t able to fall to sleep again until 1:30 am. I woke up again at 3:50 am to the gate bell going off. I looked outside but nothing was going on at the gate. I edited my blog and posted it. Then I got up and loaded the hammock and our overnight stuff in the side-x-side. I woke Angel up and drove home. It was a nice early Sunday morning ride on the county roads. The air was cool enough, I even got chilly. It was lovely feeling chilly, while being outside, during a Texas summer.
I arrived home at 5:05 am. I was meeting up with friends to go kayaking at 5:45 am. When I went in the house, Christopher was still in bed and Angel crawled in bed with him. I made tea and smoothies. One smoothie was a honeydew melon smoothie and the other smoothie was bananas, peaches, turmeric, homemade almond milk and fresh pineapple juice. I packed up my food and put on my swim suit and water shoes. I told Bits and Sophia they had to stay and I drove to Cefco in Milano to meet up with everyone.
I arrived 5 minutes late, Alan and everyone was already there. Three of us were kayaking; Alan, Peggy and myself. Alan’s wife and son came along to drive the truck and meet up with us at our take out point. We are kayaking the Brazos River. We will be putting in 4.5 miles above the “Falls on the Brazos” and we will be getting out at a boat ramp right before the falls.
When I pulled up, Alan got out to talk to me. He said they were all going to eat at a restaurant in Rosebud after we finished kayaking. He gave me the option to follow them and leave my truck at the restaurant so I could leave from there or I could leave my truck at Cefco and they could bring me to it after we all ate at the restaurant. With my body being susceptible to inflammation lately, there was no way I was risking eating restaurant food. I said I would leave my truck at the restaurant so I could go straight home afterwards.
Alan’s wife rode with me on the drive to the restaurant and we enjoyed each other’s company. I dropped my truck off at the restaurant and we got in Alan’s truck with his son and Peggy. Everyone was in good spirits on the ride to our starting point, we laughed and had fun lighthearted conversations.
When we arrived, the bottom half of the boat ramp was covered in deep mud. Alan and I looked for another spot to put in and found a decent one just past the boat ramp. Alan and his son unloaded 2 kayaks and a canoe. I wasn’t able to help much because my rotator cuff was acting up. (Oh body, why are you having so many aches and pains lately? I refuse to accept that it’s because I am aging. I am still young and vibrant 😂).
While the guys were getting everything ready, Alan’s wife and I picked up garbage around the area. I don’t understand why people throw their garbage all around but it does give me the opportunity to clean things up and make the world a better place.
When everything was ready to go, we got on the river. The water level was high at 2400 cfs. It was flowing along nicely but it still felt like we were moving slowly. I was feeling really tired from having such a little sleep. I would close my eyes and feel myself start to nod off almost immediately. It was difficult to enjoy kayaking when I was feeling so tired and my body was feeling so worn down. I prayed for strength and resilience and received a message to do some deep breathing. So I did breathing exercises while I paddled. I breathed in for 8 paddles and held it for 4 paddles. Then, I breathed out 10 paddles held it for 4 paddles. I did that a few times and was amazing how much the breathing revived me. I started to enjoy myself. I felt much more awake and my body pains started feeling better. I did stretches in between paddling, stretching my neck, stretching my shoulders, stretching my arms, putting my hands together behind my back and stretching my chest.
We saw a bunch of swallows living in the high banks along the river. I think they are called “cliff swallows”. At one point I heard splashing and saw a deer swimming in the water along a high bank. She swam next to the bank until she reached a low spot and then she wandered off into the woods. Alan shared some geographic history about the Brazos River changing its course during a flood in 1913. There was an area where we could see where the other channel had gone. I love learning the history of the land and rivers.
By the time we reached our takeout point 1.5 hours later, I was feeling great. Alan and Adam loaded up the kayaks and the canoe, while I drink a smoothie and talked with Peggy and Alan‘s wife. When everything was loaded up, we all got in the truck and Alan’s son drove us to the restaurant in Rosebud. At the restaurant, I went inside to use the bathroom, when I came out, everyone was just sitting down at a table. I told them goodbye and thanked Alan for putting the kayaking trip together and I thanked Alan’s wife and son for making the trip possible by meeting us at our take out point. I told everyone I was looking forward to the next one and hearted (headed) out.
I got in the truck and drove to Val and Rita‘s house to check on their dog Mia and the cats. I had left so early that morning that I wanted to let the dog out and check on everything before Rita and Val got home later that day. Tracey was there and I chatted with him for a bit before going home.
When I arrived home, the first thing I wanted to do was take a nap. Angel asked to go to the neighbors and I said that she could. I gave the ducks, chickens, and geese freshwater in their pools. I cooled off the goats water and filled up the fountains. I collected eggs and let the water out of Angel’s swimming pool. Then Christopher and I had some cuddle time in the banana hut. Things are going much better between us and I am grateful. We fell asleep for about a half hour and when we woke up Angel had come back home and was in the house playing on her phone. She was hungry and I helped her make waffles for herself. She wanted to learn how to do it and I was very happy to teach her.
While Angel was eating, I went outside and filled Angel’s swimming pool. Then I went into the garden to see how things were doing. I ate some figs that were ready. Nothing else was ripe but the garden needed water. I watered everything really good, then Angel and I played board games together sitting by the fountain with Christopher. First, we played battleship. Christopher helped Angel and it was a fun game. I won, even though Angel was trying to cheat.😂. Then we played Mancala twice. I showed Angel some tricks on how to get points. She caught on really quick and won both games.
I took a bath in Angel’s swimming pool. It had nice clean water. I floated on my back and stretched while I was in there. Then I called my son Scott and talk to him for a while and I called my son Shawn and talk to him for a while. Then I called my sister Trish and talked to her in the banana hut while Angel and Christopher were eating dinner. I’d had my smoothie earlier and wasn’t hungry. When I got off the phone, Angel wanted to play another game. I told her she needed to take a bath first. She went out and got in the swimming pool. I collected eggs and went back in the banana hunt. Angel came in and was clean with her PJ’s on. We played “snakes and ladders”. Then Christopher came over and asked if we wanted to go for a walk to the gulley and back. I was feeling really tired by then and it was getting late so I stayed and went to bed. Angel went with Christopher and I was fast asleep when she came back. She woke me up and wanted to connect my phone to hers. I did that and she got in her trundle bed next to me. I fell right back asleep at around 8:30 PM.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I appreciate you.
Love, Victoria
Hey. S.. This blog post was inspired by the Holy Spirit.