Perfecting the process

 

 

The upgraded office.  A fold-up portable table, just the right size.  A second screen for the laptop that doesn’t add to the footprint on the tabletop.

 

Just enough room for a mouse on the right.  I’ll put the 10-key pad on the right side as well, but didn’t bring it this trip.

 

The second monitor attaches magnetically to the back of the laptop.  It rotates and folds around the back when the laptop is closed.  They stay together and fit inside the laptop sleeve of my knapsack.  (I had a two extra screen setup, but it was cumbersome and complicated to get all the cords plugged in right.  It required its own power.  This one is simple.  One C to C cord plugged into an outlet on the computer.  Done.)

 

 

Very handy.

 

For internet, Starlink is working great.  Sometime there is too much tree cover for it to work right at the van, so we stretch out a long cord to reach a clear view of the sky.

 

 

What a concept

 

 

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

 

People were struggling, so the government stepped up.  They didn’t hand out money, they ran a program of pay for hard work, which at the same time provided training.  The participants got the dignity and reward of work, and we’re enjoying the benefits today, almost a century later.

 

 

We run into CCC projects all across the state of Texas.  We’re always glad when we do, because the work is always charming.

 

The morning view

 

 

 

 

Gain a little elevation,

 

and the oak forest yields to juniper and mountain laurel.

 

Garner State Park

 

 

 

February 2026 Trip Link

 

Not far.

 

 

 

Nice enough.

 

 

 

We’ll stay a while.

 

Her name is Shelly

 

 

 

She’s a Sulcata Tortoise (African Spurred Tortoise).  Endemic to the transition zone at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert in North Africa.

 

A rescue, housed at the birding and nature center on South Padre Island.  They have several of them there.  They’re solitary animals, so they keep them separated.

 

I took the shot

 

 

Leqvio.  It’s to reduce LDL cholesterol.

 

Cardiovascular issues.  Statin intolerance.  Elevated LDL cholesterol numbers; not way out of range, but elevated.  Advice for all these years to lower my LDL numbers.  But no solution that’s not worse than the problem.

 

If the physician documents a person as intolerant of other medications, or other medications don’t work, that person can be cleared for Repatha or Leqvio.  They are both shots instead of pills.  Repatha you give yourself a shot every two weeks.  Years ago, after I got my heart surgery, I got cleared to use it.  I didn’t have a problem with injecting myself every two weeks, but I never pulled the trigger.  I had this reservation about messing with a machine so complicated and effective as the human body, and throwing it out of balance, creating more and different problems.  Unintended consequences from trying to go from good to better.  Risky.

 

Now, years later, we’re still having the same conversation about lowering LDL cholesterol and the numbers continue to climb a bit.  So we’ll give it a go.  With Leqvio, instead of an injection every two weeks, it’s an injection twice a year, administered at a clinic.  Got the shot on Tuesday.  Felt crummy for the rest of the day.  Not an unusual reaction to the shot.  Wednesday and after, I’m feeling just fine.

 

I think two weeks will be the key.  Every other medicine I’ve tried to lower cholesterol, I’ve reacted within two weeks.  From my experience I conclude that either I just can’t tolerate the particular drugs, or I can’t tolerate being without the amount of cholesterol my body normally produces.  Don’t know which is it.

 

I think we’ll know soon enough.

 

 

 

Two boats

 

 

 

On the same body of water.

 

The very definition of a boat race.