Friday, January 24, 2014

This better be it. . .

Sitting in the nice warm motorhome last evening when someone threw a switch. The wind changed direction and instantly started blowing hard from the north. North winds are bad down here. They are always cold and almost always strong. The temperature dropped from the high 60's to the low 40's in a matter of minutes. That always makes it feel colder because you haven't had time to adjust to it. The wind was really strong, too. Then it started raining. Grrrrr. The forecast said we could have "ice pellets" whatever those are. Don't even want to think about it. Oh, BTW, that is the same forecast for today. . . yeah. . . ice pellets.

The girls have not learned to "potty" in the rocks of the desert-scape, preferring the "pee patch" down the road, so this morning I put on my long johns and bundled up and took them down. I'd say three minutes tops. . . they both did "both" jobs and were back in the cart to go home. Hah. I guess if they will get the job done that fast, it's okay. I don't make Terry get out in the cold, though. Too hard on him. . . don't want him passing out from the cold air. Now the girls have been fed, one is on the couch and one is laying in front of the space heater. LOL

Pretty much got the taxes done yesterday. . . at least my part is done. I have to wait on all our W-2's now, but the work is pretty much done. Whoo Hoo!

I'm invited to the hall this afternoon and someone is supposed to teach me how to crochet. I've been wanting to learn. . . I need someone to "teach" me, not someone who grabs it and finishes it or "fixes" the mistakes. I want to learn to do it myself. Hopefully I'm not too stupid to learn.

Whatever we do today, it will involve staying warm. LOL

Till next time. . .

Dale

Thursday, January 23, 2014

New look for an old shed.

Mom and Dad are having their shed re-sided. It was requiring painting and they cannot do it anymore. So they engaged the guy who built our Texas Room and he is re-siding it for them. He worked today and just needs another day on it, but tomorrow is supposed to be 40 degrees and windy, so he told them he probably wouldn't be working tomorrow. He will finish it next week. it will be totally maintenance free when it's finished.










Till next time. . .

Dale

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

New and Old Projects

I am still working on taxes. Thought I would be done by now, but I switched to doing a lot of stuff on line and found that when I needed the records, I didn't have them. I am still a fan of paper, but trying to cut down a lot. I have everything organized now and planning on getting it in the spreadsheet tomorrow. So it is going to be finished shortly. I don't have any of our tax papers from employers, etc., so I will be waiting till I get all that to finish.

We wanted to put a back seat on the golf cart so we could all go for a ride. It is only a two-seater, so that means that we cannot all go out for a ride, or to see Christmas lights, etc. Terry ordered all the parts and put those on today. It wasn't a hard job, but he had to take some stuff off and put new stuff on. One of the neighbors came over and helped a bit. It looks a lot different now and the back seat folds down to make a platform for carrying stuff. That will be useful for those park sale days they have down here.

My sister had surgery today to correct her bunions. She had both feet repaired and hopefully she will be out of pain now. At least once it heals. I understand she is a bit miserable tonight. I hope mine never get bad enough to require surgery.

Prayers go out to the family of the young man killed at Purdue. We have a lot of ties to Purdue. . . our son is a graduate, many of my nieces are graduates and my one niece's husband is an alum plus he is employed there in a building next to where the shooting occurred. It was a senseless, tragic, loss of life.

Our weather continues to be a roller coaster. One day warm, next day cold. Right now we are having cool, sunny days and cold nights. Hopefully it will get warmer one of these days and then we can enjoy it.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Life in the Slooooooow Lane. . . .


We have not been on the receiving end of very good weather down here in the Rio Grande Valley. It has been downright cold and wet. Still not as cold as our friends and relatives up north, though, so we try not to complain. But it is not comfortable for either one of us. We still get out several times a day to walk the girls, but after that, we stay inside. This week has finally warmed up and is getting much nicer outside. It was 56 out this morning and we walked, but came back early because it seemed to be too cold for Terry. He cannot handle cold weather at all.

We are doing well and I have started the work on our taxes. I like to get it out of the way early so I can enjoy the rest of the nice weather. It will probably take me about a week to get it all done. It wouldn't take near as long if I worked on it occasionally during the year. LOL

The Texas Room is really nice. It gives us some extra space and is very comfortable. We did get a storm door hung there. It is a security door and has glass all the way to the floor, so the dogs can lay on the floor and look out. We can also swap out the glass for a screen, but for the present, we are leaving the glass in. It had a regular knob and also a deadbolt, so if I am over there by myself working at night, I can be nice and secure and still be able to look outside.

The girls seem to be adjusting to retirement. They sleep a lot, but now that the weather is nice, we let them sit outside under the canopy. They have shade when it is hot and can move back in to the air conditioning if they like. They certainly have made a lot of friends. They let everyone pet them, but they still don't care for other dogs. I have talked with a couple dog owners and we are going to start walking them all together. That should help with that socialization. They love going in the golf cart. We usually have it parked out front during the day and they will go sit in it. LOL Always ready for a ride.

Our daughter and her family recently traveled to Florida to visit relatives. They stopped by Brandon and Megan's and took some pictures of our family. Megan took the first picture, so the second one includes her!
 Aenea, Tom, Ronan, Jocelyn, Brandon and Brynlee

Brandon, Megan, Brynlee

As the weather gets nicer, we will get out more and I may have more to report.

Till next time. . .

Dale