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Cellphone communications

 First we got phones so we could talk to each other.  Then we got cellphones so we could talk to each other no matter where we were.  Then we got texting so we could talk to each other without actually talking to each other.  Then we got voice recognition so we don’t have to type our texts, we can just speak them into the phone and the phone types them for us. Which leaves us with…..a really slow disjointed phone call?  We dropped the motorhome off at Holt Cat this morning.  The mechanic that rode with me on the test drive felt the shudder, but couldn’t tell what was causing it.  Nothing abnormal showed up on the computer screen he was monitoring engine performance with, even while the engine was doing its shudder thing. We left the motorhome there for further study (and didn’t have to move into a motel).  They’re leaning toward an injector problem.  We put in all new injectors in connection with the engine rebuild, but that doesn’t mean one of the new ones wasn’t bad. We’ll see.  
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Moving trees

 They’re moving trees here at Sandpipers.  Big trees. There is a giant digging contraption on the back of a truck.  It splits open to go around the trunk of the tree, then closes.  Four giant spades, alternating, methodically dig into the ground around the tree until a giant root ball can be lifted out.  The contraption continues to hold onto the trunk as the entire tree is lifted, then tilted down for carrying. Here is what it looks like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuTshWxp6gs  
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We’ve moved on

 Now we’re back at Sandpipers, 300 miles south of Bandera.  Palm trees.  Crested Caracaras.  Green Jays and Great Kiskadees.  Way south. We’ve got an appointment at Holt Caterpillar in Edinburg to get the motorhome motor looked at on Thursday.  
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The summer that didn’t happen

 Well, summer itself actually happened, but it sure didn’t happen like we planned.  We spent our summer abandoning plans and pretending we really wanted to do something else instead.  When confronted with certain defeat, change the rules and declare victory. I added the last few stops to our summer travel map.  It doesn’t make any sense at all.  It’s just a jumble.  And I think it ran out of pins.  The last several places on the list, through Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma, don’t even get pins on the map, but if you click on them, they get a description pointing to where they are: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=205131835882428706345.0004a0e19bb8bf61d6456&msa=0&ll=34.488448,-99.492187&spn=22.953946,56.118164