Kerrville, TX 1/9 - 1/12

 January 9, 2021 

This morning we had sunshine and a few ducks on the creek at our site.

We headed downtown to walk some of the River Trail in downtown Kerrville.

So here we are across the river from the pavilion we were at the other day.

The clouds have started to move in over the River.

The river trail is an easy to follow wide concrete path.

There seems to be a lot of concrete here in Texas.

We spied a gander and a couple of other birds along the shore.

It was easy to socially distant ourselves as the path was fairly empty today.

The river is lined with Bald Cypress Trees.

"Joshua D. Brown is the first recorded settler of present day Kerr County. Originally from Kentucky, he learned to make shingles at Curry's Creek, a small settlement in present day Kendall County. Reports of giant trees upstream to the west enticed Brown to investigate. With a group of 10 men, he set up a shingle-making camp in what later became Kerrville."

The river trail was nice and peaceful.  I would have liked to have seen more of the river, there are times when it bends away from the river.  However, since it is January I probably had a better view of it now without more foliage in the summer or fall.

The weather report is chilly for the next few days, especially overnight.

With temperatures near or below freezing, it is not good for the water pipes in the RV.  After Sunday the daytime temperatures are nothing to complain about so we should still be able to enjoy ourselves.

So we have picked up a couple of heaters, one will go underneath to keep the pipes warm and the other will go back to Lowes as it was not a nice as the small one.  We will pick up another small one to be used to heat the bedroom.  Electric heat should run cheaper than the propane furnace.  All in all this should keep us and the pipes nice and warm.  We do not want frozen pipes.

January 10, 2021

This is snow in Texas, at least today.  We at home call it a wintery mix.

Twice the weatherman broke into tv programming to warn about this snow.

With 3 wild card games on today, we hunkered down and stayed warm in the RV.

🏈🏈🏈Congratulations Cleveland Browns!🏈🏈🏈

Thanks to Sarah & Mike for the puzzle, its kept me busy while the weather is cold and football games have been on all day.  The winter snowflake decorations are the work of my talented grandchildren.

The temperature at night is falling below 32 degrees but so far the portable electric heater is working great to keep the pipes from freezing.  And now my packing some warm sweaters has become a smart idea instead of excess weight. 

January 11, 2021

It's a cold and cloudy day.  Since we are going to Lowe's to return the larger heater (it wasn't as nice as the smaller one) we are also going to check out "The Coming King" Sculpture Prayer Garden.

It is high on a hill, and the cross is noticeable from the Lowe's parking lot across the street.

"The Lion of Judah"  was my favorite sculpture.

"The Lion of Judah is a Jewish national and cultural symbol, traditionally regarded as the symbol of the Israelite tribe of Judah. According to the Torah, the tribe consists of the descendants of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob."

The pathways to the statues were paved with bible verses.

"The Divine Servant"  Jesus washes Peter's feet

"The Empty Cross" not so empty with Jim at the base.

Prayer rocks left by people along the pathways.

Yes, it is cold today and windy up at the top of the hill.

"The Coming King" , Jim's least favorite sculpture here.

"Fisher of Men"

At first, since I was in Texas it looked like Jesus had a lariat in his hand.

At the entrance The Coming King torso only.

Well the day is young and since we are out and about let's go to Stonehenge II.

"History of Stonehenge II:  In 1989, Kerr County native Doug Hill finished work on the back patio on his Hunt, Texas property and was left with one extra limestone slab. As a joke, he offered it to his good friend and neighbor, Al Sheppard, who then accepted it and stood the slab upright in the middle of his pasture. Sheppard and Hill liked the look of the monolith.  The 13 foot arch reminded them of Stonehenge in England. Soon a vision formed and Sheppard contracted Hill to build their very own Stonehenge II."

The original Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England was erected around 2500 B.C. and is believed to have functional as an important site for religious or astrological ceremonies.

Sheppard and Hill's project took about 9 months to complete. Hill fabricated the stones from steel, metal lathe, and plaster and anchored each with cement. Stonehenge II is 90% as wide and 60% as tall as the original.

Inside the circle of stones

 Later, after visiting Easter Island off the coast of Chile, Sheppard was inspired to add two 13 foot tall Moai head statues to the collection.

After Sheppard died his family donated all this to the Arts Center which is where it sits today in Ingram.

Here is the Guadalupe River behind the Arts Center, love the color of the water.

As long as we are in Ingram, let's go to Historic Ingram Loop.

"Originally settled as Ingram in 1879 along the banks of the Guadalupe River, the area thrived as a bustling center of commerce centered around a well-traveled stagecoach stop and a stop on the Great Western Trail. "

The railroad came to a nearby town and eventually this area was abandoned by folks wanting to be nearer to the train.  It is currently an area of small artist galleries and shops.

One more stop, as guided by an anonymous commenter.

Jim ordered a double burger and fries, the spicy ketchup was tossed in the bag.

Jim described it as a good burger but he was not a fan of spicy ketchup.  I had a bite, it was ok, the bun was awful.

Well that was all for our adventures, but I still went for a hike.  I waited for the heat of the day, around 3:00 pm when it was all of 41 degrees. 

Here are the first three deer I saw out of 18 on the whole hike, including two that ran across the river.

This is my path, okay this is beyond the campground, but still a path along the river.

The water apparently widens in the spring but for now my path

 is all this open limestone on the edge of the river.

I walked to the spillway upriver.

Here is the river beyond the spillway.

As you can see it stayed cloudy all day today.

And near the end of my hike, back in the campground, more deer.

If you look at the deer on the left that is not a spotted fawn but a full size Axis deer.

"Axis deer are also called chital deer or spotted Indian deer. In India, the axis deer population has declined mainly due to habitat loss. Originally from southern India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, the axis deer was introduced to Hawaii in the 1860s. Then in 1932, it was introduced to Texas as a game animal."

The deer on the right is a white tail deer.

Well that was how we spent a cold and cloudy day here in Texas.

January 12, 2021 

Today we are going to tour the Schreiner Mansion in downtown Kerrville.

Here is the front entry

The front porch is the best part of the house for me.

But I love a good porch.

The decorative carvings in the limestone are sweet.

The docent took our picture in front of the fireplace in the front parlor.

(We wore facemasks while here but took them off for the photo)

The front double doors

The living room

The door plate is quite decorative

Charles Schreiner made his money by owning the general store in town,

this is the time clock from the store.

The back stairs with the original banister from the front stairs;

when the masons bought the building the replaced the front stair banister.

An old tradition was to notch your newel post once the house was paid off.

The newel is also hollow and is where one would store the house plans.

Unfortunately no plans were found for this house.

This is the etched window in the back door.

Here is the back of the house.  It is very plain.  The front of the house 

would have looked more like this until the porch was put on years after it was built.

The front hall

The dining room floor, a parquet pattern, was made with wooden pegs, no nails.

The windows are so deep they could have window seats.

The spiral banister purchased by the masons and put on the front stairs.

No notch on this newel, I guess the masons never paid off their mortgage.

The Schreiner Mansion was nice but not stunning and the two guides were not very well informed on the house and even though the house is used for weddings and receptions the tour did not include the upstairs.  Originally the upstairs had 6 bedrooms but the Masons needed a meeting room so they removed 4 of the bedrooms and the upstairs is now one large room and 2 small bedrooms.  

Its chilly but sunny day so we take on the other half of the River Trail after touring the mansion.

It starts with clear views of the river.

But then it bends away and for a long stretch we can only see rocky grassy land.

The Guadalupe rive forks and splits repeatedly.

It was a pleasant walk

It's always good to be outside on a blue sky day.