Hi Everyone,

Apologies for not updating the blog sooner, but I will be back online on August 21 for our latest adventure back to Fredricksburg, Texas.

I look forward to having you along for the ride.

Until then,

Stay safe,

The Blogging Brit

_{Wishing all Americans a Happy Independence Day and as you clink glasses in celebration of the last farewell to those pesky Brits just think what you have missed … Queenie, claiming Benny Hill as your own, The Great British Bake Off, Football and proper Fish & Chips … oh well, perhaps some other time!}

 _{In honour of July 4th, I have dug out some fun facts which you may enjoy:}

• _{President Roosevelt served frankfurters to King George VI when he visited the US in 1939.}
• _{Nearly 90 percent of hot dog eaters choose mustard as their topping.}
• _{The world record in hot dog eating is 69 hot dogs with the bun in 10 minutes … that’s going some!}
• _{On average Americans consume 44 pints of ice cream per year, per person … that’s an awful lot of ice cream!}

_{We are now home, the motor home has been emptied, cleaned and put back in storage awaiting our next big adventure. Thank you for joining us and I look forward to seeing you around the middle of August when we will hit the road again … I’ll update the website once I know the dates but I would have thought around August 14th ‘ish!}

 _{Until then, stay safe, socially distance, wash your hands and wear a mask!}

_{The motor home in her new storage unit. Sadly, she was broken into at our last storage location … $10k worth of damage and all for a built-in GPS that won’t work and damage to internal cabinets that the thief couldn’t get open as the motor home sides were closed!}

_{The Blogging Brit}

_{Sorry for no blog yesterday, but we drove home and decided to empty the motor home in one concerted effort and that was the end of my evening!}

_{Since our lockdown began, we adopted yet another kitty whom we have named Latte! She is now just over four months old, completely adorable and purrs like a banshee the minute you look at her. We learned with Miss Cricket that kitties like to race around the place until they reach about six months old and are spayed. This is all well and good at home, but a little kitty running off the walls in a motor home becomes a bit much. So, this time around we kept our newly minted BFFs together (Miss Cricket and Latte) at home with a pet sitter visiting twice a day.}

_{It worked out pretty well until the last few days when Miss Cricket decided that she didn’t like the pet sitter and was going to hide every time she visited! So, pre-warned, Mike and I were able to remotely tap into cameras we have set up in the lounge and call Miss Cricket to ensure she was well and just misbehaving and that nothing was wrong!}

_{As you may recall, Miss Cricket is a Tortoiseshell kitty and they have what’s known as “Tortitude” … and she certainly does.}

Latte who is now just over four months’ old taking a break from chasing anything that moves!

Miss Cricket, Latte’s BFF – they chase each other around the house all day long. It’s cute to watch!

_{As I have mentioned, being in lockdown offered Mike and I the opportunity to revisit our ideas for our next home and we came to the conclusion that although we fell immediately in love with Northern Michigan, it would be for a summer home as the winters are long and snowy!}

_{Fredericksburg, Texas became an area of interest to us to potentially purchase a plot of land where we could build a home and have space to accommodate a separate building to house the motorhome, have guest quarters and what they call here a “shop” (aka garage with air-conditioning) where Michael can potter to his heart’s content.}

_{We like Texas and it has been a very good state for us. We want to get away from any tail-end issues with hurricanes and from the very hot summers. That said, here we are on July 1st, and because of the pandemic, we remain in Texas and are getting used to the intense heat, something which we have been absent from since we bought the motorhome.}

_{All this leads to a development called Hidden Springs some ten-minutes’ drive from Fredericksburg. Set on some 750 acres of rolling countryside, there are going to be 109 homes each on a minimum of five acres. The development will, most unusually, have a 30-acre fenced farm in the middle where they are now planting peach and apricots trees, vines and eventually vegetables.} 

 _{We shall see where all this leads …}

Hidden Springs: keeping six feet apart is a lot easier in this environment.

_{Lyndon Johnson is the Texas Hill Country’s best known son who became the 36th President of the USA in 1963 following the assassination of John F. Kennedy.}

_{Him and Her, pictured above, were the most well-known beagles of President Johnson who are being walked while the President speaks with the press. He raised the ire of many when he lifted Him by his ears while greeting a group on the White House Lawn!}

_{Her died at the White House after she swallowed a stone and Him died when he was hit by a car while chasing a squirrel on the White House lawn.}

 _{After the loss of Him, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation J. Edgar Hoover gave the President another beagle. The President named the dog after the Director but later dropped the “J” and simply called the dog Edgar. When Johnson left the White House, Edgar moved to the President’s ranch in Stonewall, another town down the road for where we’re staying.}

_{Pictured above, President Johnson singing with Yuki as the US Ambassador to the UK, David Bruce, looks on.}

_{Yuki was a mixed breed dog found by the President’s daughter at a gas station in Texas on Thanksgiving Day. Given the name “Yuki” meaning snow in Japanese, the dog initially lived with the President’s daughter but while visiting the White House, Yuki won the President’s heart and became his faithful companion.}

_{When President Johnson left office in 1969, Yuki returned to his ranch on board Air Force One!}

_{They say that everything’s bigger in Texas, and while the state’s wine industry may not be in the same league as California, Washington or Oregon, it certainly has come a long way in a short amount of time.}

_{Wine production in the Fredericksburg region dates back to the original settlers who used the native mustang grape to produce wines. Today, clocking in at a whopping 9 million acres, the Texas Hill Country wine area is the largest in Texas.}

_{Located around where we are staying in Fredericksburg, modern winemakers realized that the landscape comprising largely of low, rolling hills and steep canyons with the highest elevations being around 2100 feet were ideal for growing grapes. Drought is relatively less of a problem here with the region receiving some 24-28 inches of rainfall annually (just 200 miles east where we live, our annual rainfall is 55 inches) but winemakers can be challenged by spring frosts and hail (literally the size of golf balls).}

_{There are some 40 wineries and tasting rooms in and Fredericksburg and “Happy Days” should be here again! However, because of the virus, the vineyards and tasting rooms have very limited opening hours and we have yet to make it across the threshold of one! But when we do, the first one will be the “Fat Ass Ranch and Winery” – only Texans could give a vineyard such a name!}

_{Vines are a sight seen everywhere in and around town! Here in Fredericksburg, the main wine varieties are Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Merlot and Pinot Noir.}

_{As we expected, we have fallen in love with Fredericksburg, TX and the surrounding area!}

_{The area is called Texas Hill Country for good reason in that it is one series of rolling hills after another. And, in spite of the heat, it is so green … lovely trees are everywhere you look. There are no flyovers, no highways on stilts, chain restaurants are tucked away from the main street leaving space for artisans selling unique, one-off products.}

_{Texas Hill Country is no longer a well-kept secret and the genie is most definitely out of the bottle but I think our needs are slightly different from those who first found the area. As we have learned, if all you want is a magnificent view of the surrounding rolling hills, then you are most definitely late to the party as the prime slots have gone. These homes are not built on any serious acreage and we couldn’t get our motor home up to these spots and would certainly have nowhere to park it.}

_{However, if you want some 5 – 40 acres not on top of a hill where you are able to have a separate building for a motor home and whatever else is your thing, there are still opportunities available.}

 _{It is early days. The more we see the more we focus in on what we do and do not want. It’s a long and fun road ahead …}

_{The view from a seven-acre lot in a neighbourhood called Hidden Springs.}

_{Some of the neighbours in Hidden Spings!}

_{Through the ages, Mother Nature has worked alone to splash the countryside with brilliant colours. In 1983, there were very few sources for wildflower seeds and the seeds that were available were prohibitively expensive.}

_{Today, Wildseed Farms in Fredericksburg, TX where I visited yesterday, lends a hand. The farm’s founder recognized the importance of beautiful wildflowers along the highways and the public’s love of those flowers and turned his turf seeding business into a full-time wildflower farm.}

_{The new company pioneered the practice of planting wildflowers in rows on large acreage and developed machinery to plant and harvest the tiny seeds. The farm has more than 1,000 cultivated acres in Texas and over 200 acres of wildflower fields at its Texas Hill country headquarters outside Fredericksburg. It is the nation’s largest working wildflower farm and has been growing fields of wildflowers for the production of seed for over 35 years.}

_{Visitors can walk the trails and enjoy the flowers, all free of charge, or visit the onsite shop and stock up with seeds or a catalogue.}

_{Although this is not the right time of year to enjoy our famous Texas bluebonnets which make a glorious splash of colour around the middle of April, or the fields and fields of red poppies which are planted at the farm, I am very keen that my next garden will be designed around native Texas plants that can survive the intense and prolonged heat of summer without having to waste water keeping them or acres of grass green!}

_{Long before Fredericksburg was the heart of Texas Wine Country, the area was one of the state’s largest peach producing counties. Today, peaches are still grown throughout the area, known as the Texas Hill Country, and continue to be a celebrated crop for locals and visitors alike.}

_{The juicy summertime fruit got its start in the region with the first German settlers. Those early farmers found a climate and soil perfectly suited for peach production. Agricultural experts credit the unique blend of minerals and micro-nutrients in the Texas Hill Country soil, as well as the area’s altitude and change in temperature from day to night, with the properties to produce local peaches celebrated for their sweet, intense flavour.}

_{Peach season here typically runs from the middle of May to August but weather is always a deciding factor when any of the 40 varieties of peaches produced in the region ripen.}

_{The Texas Hill Country peach growers can be called trailblazers of the farm-to-table movement. Starting in the early part of the 20th century and continuing today, peach growing, harvesting and selling typically all happens within a couple of miles of each other.}

_{Peaches are taken so seriously that this weekend the 2020/2021 Peach Queen contest will be held! Due to Covid-19, the event will not have a live audience other than the contestants’ immediate family but will be streamed on the local radio. The winner will receive a $3,000 scholarship and will be required to help out with various community events to represent the local chambers of commerce and the annual Peach Jamboree!}

_{From humble beginnings in Fredericksburg, Texas, Chester Nimitz rose in the Navy to command thousands of ships and planes and millions of men in the Pacific during World War II. When it ended, universities awarded him honorary degrees, communities named public schools after him, cities across the US named streets and highways in his honour and in 1972, the Navy launched the USS Nimitz the first in the Nimitz-class of nuclear powered aircraft carriers.}

_{His legacy really began to take shape some ten days after the attack on Pearl Harbour when President Roosevelt selected Nimitz to be commander-in-chief of the United States Pacific Fleet.}

_{Assuming command at the most critical period of the war in the Pacific, Nimitz organized his forces to halt the Japanese advance, despite a shortage of ships, planes and supplies. However, he did have a significant advantage in that the US had cracked the Japanese diplomatic naval code and knew that an attack on Midway was being planned.}

_{Nimitz faced superior Japanese forces at the Battle of Midway but his strategy of a surprise attack and Japan’s over confidence that the US Naval fleet was finished, worked magnificently and resulted in four Japanese aircraft carriers being lost in the battle. This changed the balance of naval air power during the remainder of 1942 and effectively changed the course of history.}

_{Admiral Nimitz and Mike outside the National Museum of the Pacific War here in Fredericksburg. Admiral Nimitz appeared somewhat youthful, although his once incredibly blond hair had turned so white that some, behind his back, nicknamed him “Cottontail.”}