Enough's ENOUGH!!!!!!

What was cute and beautiful is now ugly and crappy! As I was sitting here in my chair catching up on the morning news, a beautiful little bluebird sat on the arm of the external sideview mirrors of the motorhome. He seemed intrigued by his reflection and interested in meeting the little bird in the mirror. He was joined by his mate, a smaller, less colorful female and together they alternated sitting on the wiper blades and desperating trying to connect with the bird in the mirrors.

Well, I have often times seen people cover their mirrors with bags and I always assumed it was due to glare from the sun. Not so, it seems. It is to keep birds from attacking the mirrors. I must say, I have never seen this until now.

Now two hours later, the mirror is almost obliterated by bird snot and they have pooped all over the arm and the wiper blades. Looks like we will be getting out the hose and washing down those parts before we take off. They are now coming at the side door. . . where is that owl? I guess we need to carry one. We did also see two beautiful red birds here as well. From the looks of the bird houses around the pond, the owner wants to attract these small beautiful birds.

We will be leaving in about an hour. I put a load of clothes in this morning and we are waiting for it to dry. We don't have a long drive this morning, so I took the opportunity to catch up on the laundry.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Yum yum. . .

The time arrived. Chris graduated from college and the family threw him a party! And what a party it was. There was a crawfish boil! That means water is boiled in huge pots and then potatoes, corn on the cob and onions, garlic and lemon are tossed in along with whatever crawfish boil seasoning is desired. There were a couple different kinds that went into the three pots they had boiling. Once the potatoes have boiled a bit, the crawfish are immersed into the boiling water and cooked for just a few minutes. Then the "mudbugs" are removed and placed in a huge cooler to "steam" before eating. The corn and potatoes are added when they are done cooking, but it does not take long. They use small potatoes that cook quickly.

Later sausage was added and large whole mushrooms. They absorbed the flavor from the cooking broth and were delicious. I liked the corn and the mushrooms the best, but I did eat the crawfish too. It does seem like a lot of work. You have to pluck off the head and peel the tail to get to the meat which is really quite small, but very delicious. Even Terry ate the crawfish. I was proud of him for trying something different. He also ate some sausage and a hot dog Gary fixed in case anyone did not want to eat the mudbugs.

Later after everyone had had their fill, we moved inside and had cake Jo had bought for the occasion. A lot of relatives gathered around to congratulate Chris and to wish him the best. Chris started his college career after high school in 1988 I think and has recently gone back to finish his degree in psychology. Congratulations to him on a job well done!

After all that, there was still the issue of the remaining crawfish from the 200 pounds that were cooked. So, many of us gathered at the table on the patio and "plucked" the heads off. Jo packaged the tails and will probably freeze them and later remove the meat and use it in stew or efoutee.

It was a great evening and a great time!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Our Favorite Campsite!

Nothing beats camping in cousin Gary and Jo's backyard. We have a great site with water and electric, so it would be easy to wear out our welcome if we're not careful! It is quiet back here and our front window looks out over the side yard and on into a pasture where the cows roam during the day with their donkey escort Clarence. He is there to keep the coyotes at bay.

Gary and Jo bought a mid-1980's Prevost three years ago and Gary is in the process of converting it to a motorhome. He bought it from a father/son team who had begun the conversion. When the father died, the son lost interest and sold the bus. It is a nice looking bus and Gary is doing a great job on the inside. He still has a lot of work to do, but it is easy to see the progress he has made so far.

During hurricanes Gustave and Ike, the area north of Baton Rouge, where Gary and Jo live got hit hard. They had considerable damage to the roof of their house and to the barn as well as losing trees, etc. The roof has been replaced and Jo recently had some landscaping done and it really looks great. They have quite a bit of land here and no close neighbors. Very peaceful.

Preparations were underway early in the morning and afternoon for the crawfish boil to celebrate Chris' graduation from college. While everyone else was at graduation, we held down the fort and watched over the coolers of crawfish. Despite my inclination to drag them over to the pond and let them all go, all 200 pounds, common sense prevailed and I decided it would not be a good idea to upset the cajun celebration by releasing from captivity the entire main course. So instead I gave them last rites and promised them a swift demise.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Leaving Texas. . .

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the sunrise when we left the camp in Edna, Texas. It was spectacular. We plan to use this campground again. . . nice, quiet, lake, deer. . . it seems to have it all!

We left around 9 a.m. and made our drive toward Houston. We choose the times to go through Houston carefully and we have never been disappointed in planning carefully. We did get in the wrong lane once and ended up getting off 59 and onto I-45, but that road also curved around and connected with I-10 which was our goal all along. It turned out to be a good way to go anyway, so no time was lost. Those of you who have traveled I-10 know that it can be a bad road, but we didn't have too much trouble with it. The bridges were the worst as those all seem to need resurfacing, but most of the roadway was fine. We continued over to 165 in Louisiana and headed up toward Kinder, Louisiana. We made camp at Coushatta Red Shoes casino on the Indian reservation. This is a favorite stop of ours going to/from Cousin Gary's because the campground is so nice and well appointed and the casino is normally friendly. The fee for camping here for FHU's 50 Amp is $17/night. Although it is not an adult only park, I have only seen adults there so it is very quiet and the people are always friendly.

We did trek to the casino a couple days and did poorly one day and good the next, so we actually came out a little ahead. And we were sufficiently entertained so we left happy.

Yesterday we left and drove 120 miles to Cousin Gary and Jo's in Zachary, Louisiana, for a couple days. On our drive over here, we saw many boats in the crawfish ponds harvesting the crawfish. It would be interesting to get a closer look at exactly what they were doing, but it is hard to see from the road. The boats are very low slung in the marsh and they are "sternwheelers" having a large wheel on the back that pushes the boat through the shallow muddy waters. Also while we were observing that, we saw crop dusters, but they weren't crop dusting. They appeared to be feeding the crawfish! The ponds are numerous and close together. I guess it is easier to drop the food onto the water from the air, so that is what they were doing. Crawfish ponds are used every year, but they alternate between raising crawfish one year and growing rice the next.

While traveling back and forth across the southern part of the U.S., Gary's is a great stopping off point for us. If we are headed to/from Indiana, it is right at the point where we would make a big turn, so we never pass up the opportunity to see them. We haven't been here in over a year, however, as we have modified our normal routine the last couple winters. It happens that Gary's son Chris is graduating from college today. He started college in 1988, I think, so this is a big event! They are having a crawfish boil after the ceremony which is in Baton Rouge. We are looking to kick back today and enjoy the weather (high 77* and sunny) till the party starts this evening.

Neal is a little nervous. We are sitting out back by Gary's barn. They have had so much rain here this winter that his huge yard is soft and wouldn't support Phaeton Place. Fortunately, there is an old road bed here on the farm that runs from the front drive through the side yard to the back pasture. It actually is covered in grass and you cannot see it, but Gary knows where it is and we drove the motorhome back on it and parked close to the barn. . . not in our regular spot. It is a perfect spot and not soft at all. Always before we could hear coyotes at night, but Gary says they don't seem to be as numerous or as noisy as usual. But the cows pass within a few feet of us on the way to the back pasture. They "moo" a lot and Neal seems confused by that. He's not sure what that sound is and seems a little uncomfortable with it being so close!

Till next time. . .

Dale

And we're walking. . .

Took a little stroll around the campground tonight. Lots of sites here and we're thinking this would be a great spot for a rally. Warm weather right now, full hookup sites and areas where many rigs would fit and be somewhat private from other groups.

We saw some "visitors" who viewed us with curiosity. In the wooded area we also found this church. It is the oldest church in the county and was originally located in the town of Texana, Texas, which met its demise when the railroad bypassed it in the 1800's. The town is now a ghost town. This church has been moved twice, the first time was using logs as rollers and it was pulled by oxen. It is quite a large structure. . . I wonder how many oxen it took to move it. Of course, in some ways it would have been easier. . . not much in the way of obstructions.

Till next time. . .

Dale

DON'T FEED THE ALLIGATORS!

We are keeping a close eye on Neal when he is out. The sign says it all! We are camped at the Brackenridge Plantation Park and Campground, 7 miles southeast of Edna, Texas. We left the valley at 8:30 this morning and drove up here. It is just past Victoria, Texas. We had plans to go to the state park and we did drive through. This area had 2 1/2 inches of rain over the weekend and a lot of the sites had standing water on them. The park is obviously much older and the sites were very short. You could not park on the grass, so most places could not accommodate a big rig. We left there and came across the highway.

Brackenridge Recreation Complex is a huge indoor rodeo that was just completed in the last couple years. It is surrounded by fields and on down the lane sitting on Lake Texana is the park where we are camped. It is a beautiful park in a beautiful setting on the shores of the lake. The state park is actually on the lake as well, but on around the bend from where we are.

We had a nice driving day. There was a lot of sun, virtually no wind and no rain. The drive was easy and uneventful. . . just like we like them. We did leave a day earlier than we planned to because tomorrow wind is in the forecast for the valley all the way up to where we now sit. We are leaving early in the morning to get through Houston then on up to Kinder and the Red Shoes Casino.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Ready. . . Set. . . Go!

Our original plan was to pull out Wednesday, because I wanted to play bingo on Tuesday night. We are headed to Baton Rouge to spend a day or two with cousin Gary and wife Jo. They are having a big event over the weekend and we thought our arriving in the middle of it would not be ideal, so we changed our plans and decided to leave Tuesday. I haven't been winning much at bingo anyway, so no problem there.

So as we prepare for our departure, I was checking the weather report for next week and discovered Tuesday was going to be windy. The valley is breezy all the time, but the wind can get downright fierce. Since that is the only day wind is forecast, we decided to change our leave date. By leaving Monday, we will be past the wind area when we stop for the night and have another clear day on Tuesday to make it to Louisiana. Wednesday and Thursday rain is forecast from the valley up through Kinder, where we will be visiting the casino for the rainy days. Then on to the cousin's. Sounds like a great plan to me. We leave a little earlier, but have great driving weather every day.

It is always bittersweet to leave the valley. Mom and Dad will be staying for another month, but we have to be in central Indiana for doctor's appointments in early April. We also have an apartment to rent, so have to get that ready. After two weeks in Indiana, however, we head to Virginia for Ronan's THIRD birthday! It doesn't seem possible that our little grandson is already three. We are anxious to see him. There is a chance that our son and his girlfriend will be there as well.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Batteries, Schmatteries!

Well, it had to happen. We have been nursing a couple of "so-so" chassis batteries all winter. When we move, we have to charge them up the day before. We really thought they should last a wee bit longer, but that was not to be. Actually, we probably got a year more out of them than we should have.

Since we plan on leaving here next week, Terry decided to get them charged up. He put the charger on them and it showed a full charge, but when we tried to start the coach . . . no go. So he did another test and found one battery was still below where it should be, while the other appeared to be fully charged. Well, you cannot have that situation, so with the help of the neighbor, he was able to pull them out. They sit behind four coach "house" batteries, so help was necessary. We put them in the back of the truck and took off for the Freightliner dealer. I hope no one down here has to deal with that Freightliner dealer, because they certainly don't seem to want motorhome business. Terry had talked with them earlier in the day and when we arrived with our batteries, he said he didn't have anything like them and couldn't order them. Okay. . . well they are Freightliner batteries, but he suggested we try Kenworth or Peterbilt up the road. So we drove up to the Kenworth dealer. They were really nice, but also did not have the same battery but suggested we try Interstate Batteries up the road. We had tried to find the Interstate dealer, but they had moved. We ended up calling them for directions as they operated out of warehouse 17 in a huge warehouse complex. These people were very nice. They came out to the truck and load tested the batteries. The one was totally dead and the other operating at 1/3 capacity. The situation with the new ones is that the strength posted on their batteries is the minimum the battery puts out. The label on our Freightliner battery considerably higher leading one to believe they don't match. The tech said Freightliner does that so that you are fooled into believing that nothing but that specific EXPENSIVE Freightliner battery will work. He load tested the new battery and proved that the output is actually considerably more than the minimum the label indicates. No question that the new batteries were what we needed.

So we left with two new batteries and a lighter wallet. We stopped by our favorite restaurant, Rudy's, and picked up some barbeque to go since it had gotten late since we started this afternoon trek. Once we got back and ate, Terry got the new batteries installed. Phaeton Place fired right up and we are ready to go!

We plan on leaving here on Tuesday next week and staying south as we make our way toward Louisiana.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Marking Time

Seems like that is what we are doing now until we get ready to head north. We have been busy with various projects, but nothing too strenuous.

Terry has been working getting his shed in order. He's been hanging up tools on the pegboard and sweeping off the shelves and floor. It is very neat and will be a great place to store things. Since it appears we will be spending Christmas here many times, I am going to leave what few Christmas decorations I have here. All things considered, the weather here is much better in the winter than anywhere else we have ever been, so we figure we will be here for several months each winter while the rest of the nation fights cold weather. It has not been a good winter here, however. It has been cold, wet, windy, etc., but it still has been better than most places up north. Even Florida where Brandon lives has had bad weather this winter.

One thing we never are short of in the valley is entertainment. Our park has a "jam" every Thursday evening and I have started going to those. Terry sometimes tags along. I must say that 98% of the people who come to sing should stay home. They can't carry a tune, have no sense of rhythm and are hard to listen to, but the audience is generous with applause and they come back week after week. What is awesome is the band. . . which is different every week, depending on who is available and who wants to help out. There is on any given week a steel guitar player, a bass guitarist, lead guitar, alto and baritone saxophone and harmonica player. They are just thrown together that night and play accompaniment for the various performers and do a wonderful job. They play a few tunes by themselves and then each gets a solo at the end. They are really great.

One woman who lives here with her husband actually teaches at a junior high down the road and she sings country western and puts on her own show. We went to watch her and she is pretty good. Her husband is her sound man and they do a great job. Last week we also had a family band come and perform. They are the Lindley Creek Bluegrass. The Greer family travels full time in their RV and performs at hundreds of parks. They also gather with other family bands in combined performances. Many of these family groups have adopted the Rio Grande Valley as their winter home because of the weather and so we have a large selection of their venues to choose from during the winter. The prices are so reasonable as well, usually $4 for a 1 1/2 hour performance.

One evening we had some local students who came to perform "Folkloric" dances for us. The teacher of these students is trying hard to preserve folk dances from Central American countries. Some of the dances are very old and risk dying out. There were all ages of children from 5 to 17 performing. Each dance required a change of costume and the teacher would explain about the dance and the costume. She also makes all the dresses for the girls and most of the dresses required 50 yards of fabric! There are multiple pleats in the skirts so when they swirl, the dresses fly over the girl's head. All the money from the admission goes to the children to provide costumes for new dances.

Mom and Dad were honored along with other couples in the park on Sunday for being married 50 or more years. In fact, Mom and Dad got the prize for being married the longest. . . 64 years this year. They allowed guests, so I went along to join in the celebration. What a great idea. We also had entertainment. . . a couple here in the park who perform and they sang a few love songs.

Outside the park, there are many things to do. . . parks to visit, birding and wildlife preserves, entertainment and museums. A couple weeks ago, we went to the 2010 RV.net gathering for Winter Texans. What a great bunch! We have been gathering for 3 years now and we have moderators that attend as well and it's always great to touch base with them. I don't know how many we had, but we filled the Cactus Club at Victoria Palms with only a few seats empty. It was a cold, wet rainy day, so it was great to have something to do!

We have a launch date now. As expected, Terry is getting a bit antsy and wanting to get moving. We are leaving March 24, I think. We have two apartments that have come open as of April 1, and we plan to get there and put the sign out and start the screening process for new tenants. So we will head back to Indiana, work in the doctor appointments, then head to Virginia for Ronan's third birthday!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Elvis has left the building. . .

Today was the annual Ladies' Luncheon here at our park. It is always a well attended event. We all sign up to take mostly salads, finger foods and desserts to share and then we have a short program. The theme for this year's event was the Fabulous Fifties and they encouraged you to dress up in 50's garb. Today we saw mostly poodle skirts and rolled up blue jeans and shirts with rolled up sleeves. It was great fun. Mom, Mom's friend Pat, and I all won door prizes.

The entertainment was a really BAD Elvis impersonator. It was really hilarious because he was so bad, but I'm sure he was cheap. The guy came out dressed in a white bejewelled jumpsuit. He had just a few of Elvis' moves down and appeared to be a little unsure of whether or not he wanted to do them. On top of that, he was lip-syncing. . . not even karaoke. The music was really low, so most of the time, he just kind of stood up there swaying. Even his lip-syncing was unenthusiastic. Finally the photographer stepped up and adjusted the microphone so it would pick up the music better so we could hear. That certainly helped and people started singing along with their favorite Elvis tunes. Then the unthinkable happened. . . the recording skipped and stuck, repeating the same phrase over and over. Hahahahahaha. Well, Elvis didn't know what to do, so he just kind of swayed back and forth until the photographer once again stepped up. But, alas, there wasn't much of a fix as the recordings kept malfunctioning through the rest of the "performance."

At one point, the recording on one song just stopped, but that didn't stop the French Canadian women who picked up and finished the entire song. . . in pretty good form, too. Mom said, "Those French Canadians really seem to have a good time no matter where they are." I said yes and we could all take a lesson from them. I don't think they ever have a bad day.

The shelves in our cart shed are going in pretty well. Only a few more to go and the cart shed will be done. The golf cart is in there tonight plugged into the charger. We have a dedicated shelf for the charger so that all Dad has to do is drive it inside and plug it in.

The weather has been cooperating nicely the last couple days. High's in the 70's and lows in the high 50's. No rain today or in the forecast. Nice weather down here in south Texas.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Six more weeks of winter weather. . .

Well, what can I say? Punxsutawney Neal has spoken. This morning we awoke to a chilly 22 degrees here in Kerrville, Texas. Neal poked his head out of his hut which has blankets thrown over it for insulation and a fuzzy fabric flap to keep him warm at night. He looked around and rushed back in. My guess is he is ready to head back down to the Rio Grande Valley where we will be enjoying warmer temps at this point in the year.

We have had a fun time here in Kerrville. We were here for the RV.net Sweetheart Rally and several of us stayed over because it's hard to say goodbye to friends. One of our friends drive this big HDT and tow a Grand Junction fifth wheel. Their smart car fits right behind the cab. Quite the setup. We also had two RV.net moderators who attended and it was interesting to sit and talk with them over dinner last night. The restaurants here in town are sure going to miss our group because we have eaten out every day. Hah!

Yesterday we drove in to Gibson's store which is kind of a general store that has everything you could ever want. I never buy much but it is an interesting store to wander through. When we left there, we drove out to Hunt and viewed the Stonehenge site. It is a one-third scale replica of the real thing. It is interesting because it actually looks like Stonehenge with all the stones in place. There are also two Easter Island statue replicas. The area around Kerrville is very hilly and a beautiful place. . . if it was just a little warmer in the winter, it would be a nice place to stay. Summers are usually milder than south Texas, which would make it ideal in the summer.

Well, we are getting ready to move today. It's a six hour drive and we want to get started as soon as we get around.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Fun in Kerrville

Nothing like a good RV.net rally to boost your winter time spirits! Today we started off the day in the hall with egg-roll making. One of the couples makes super delicious egg rolls and prepared all the ingredients and supplied instruction and we made our own eggrolls. This was really fun and was actually very easy. We also all brought a recipe to share and traded them with each other. I got lots of recipes to try.

Tonight we had dinner at Mamacita's in Kerrville. It is a large Mexican restaurant. Last year a lot of our group went there, but we hadn't made reservations, so not everyone could be accommodated. This year we made reservations and I think most of our 50+ couples were there. We had a great time and got to meet even more people.

Today we met up with Tom and Nan. They are a couple we met at the Elkhart Campground last summer and are new fulltimers. When I found out that Nan likes to play Mexican train, I told them they should come to this rally as they have multiple games of Mexican train going every night. They signed up and we got to talk with them this morning and also at dinner. What a fun couple. We give them a hard time about their "Schmart" car. Tom drives a big Class 8 truck and pulls a big 5th wheel. They have ramps and drive the Smart car up on the bed of the truck where it rides right behind the cab. Quite a setup.

Ron and Betty were kind enough to take us to dinner, since we are still without our car. But the good news is that it is fixed and we can pick it up tomorrow. Ron and Betty are going with us to breakfast in the hall tomorrow and then driving us to Fredericksburg to pick up our car. They are great friends and we certainly appreciate their helping us out.

We have a nice site here in the park. We pulled into our lot and are right on a river, so we have an unobstructed view.

I forgot to mention that on the way up here on Wednesday we passed a wagon train along 281 in Texas, north of Falfurrias. It was a "trail ride" and there were covered wagons pulled by mules and horses. Some people were in the wagons and others were riding on horseback. It looked like a fun time.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Kerrville, Texas, RV.net Sweetheart Rally 2010

We arrived in Kerrville yesterday about 3:30 p.m. It was about a 6 hour drive up from the valley. We got parked on our site and set out to greet some friends. This is a rally for people who have "met" on the RV.net forums on the internet. The RV.net forum is a discussion forum for people who enjoy RVing. There is something for everyone on the forum and you can always find answers to problems you may be having or get needed information on a route you plan to take, etc.

Today we drove up to Fredericksburg to do a little browsing in the shops there. We were there for a couple hours and planned our visit so that we would be back in time for the twin 150's of Nascar. We moved the car several times as it was raining and cold so we drove closer to areas so we wouldn't have to walk in the rain. We finally decided it was time to leave and we got into the car and it wouldn't start. Grrrr. We tried and tried, but it appeared it wasn't getting gas to the engine. We called Ford, who recommended a tow service. We called there and within 15 minutes, the truck arrived. He first tried adding 5 gallons of gas to the tank, but that didn't work. We had been down to 3/8 and since we were parked on an incline, we thought maybe the gas wasn't getting to the inlet. We were towed to the Ford dealer. They believe it is the fuel filter or fuel pump, but we didn't hear anything else before we left. Kerrville is only 22 miles away, so we called some friends at the rally and they drove up and picked us up. Thanks to Ron and Betty. They may take us back up when the car is fixed, or we may just leave it there and pick it up Monday when we leave the rally. We could drive up and hook it up behind the motorhome and take off for the valley.

Once we got back to Buckhorn Lake, we went over to the "meet and greet" and then had dinner that was prepared by the park staff. It was very good and we enjoyed seeing friends we had met last year.

Till next time. . .

Dale

The shed is DONE!!!!!!!

Thursday when the two men arrived to work, it was still a bit damp, but they worked all day. Yesterday when they arrived, it was overcast, but it warmed up in a hurry.

They started by placing the windows and then the double doors in the rough opening. The doors swing out so when they are both open, the opening is 6 feet wide, which is plenty wide enough for Mom and Dad's golf cart. After getting the doors in, they trimmed out the doors and windows, then started hanging the vinyl siding. It was a long day for them, but they finished it by 7 p.m. It looks great and we are glad to have the extra storage. Terry had it made with a shed roof because he wants to add inside shelves up over the door on which to place storage bins.

Today we will get the pad cleaned up and sort material. We have some we will be able to return. We are going to be busy for the next couple days as we are leaving on Wednesday to go to Kerrville to the RV.net Sweetheart Rally. We are excited about seeing friends we haven't seen since last year's rally.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Up we go. . . .

The cart shed is going up as I blog. John and John, the builders, are doing the work. These two guys are ace carpenters and say this shed is a two-day job. If they had been able to start yesterday, it would have been finished today. Yesterday, however, we had rain, rain, then more rain. The streets on the east end of the park were flooded. Fortunately, that is not where we live. But even though the shed is under cover, it was just too wet to work, so they arrived early this morning to begin.

The cart shed will house the golf cart. No, not ours, but Mom and Dad's. They originally owned the first lot we bought and had put a shed on it for their cart. Once we build our Texas room, that cart shed will be history, so we are building one for the cart. We especially wanted a place to put the charger, so no one has to carry the charger in order to place it for recharging the cart. This way it will have a permanent home in the shed and all we have to do is drive it in and plug it in. This shed will be larger and Terry will be putting some shelves in so he has a place to tinker on things and we will have storage for items we leave here. This will be the last project for us this year. Next year we will put up the Texas room and will probably have John X2 do that as well.

These two guys are part of a 5-couple group who go to Mexico every weekend and build houses for the poor. Kind of like a Habitat for Humanity but for the poorest of the poor in Mexico. Most of the "houses" they build are 16 x 16 and house 7 people. They donate the completed house and their labor. These 10 people do this EVERY weekend. He has a little trailer that has his tools in it and a friend in Mexico gives him a secure place to park it. They are not affiliated with any group or church or anything. . . this is just something they got together and decided to do. I don't know how long they have done it, but it has been several years. These people are in their 70's and are working like young men. But they are quite fit and are giving back to their fellow man in a way not everyone would be able to do.

Cheers to John and John and their 5-couple humanitarian group. Our prayers go with you.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Work begins on the cart shed. . .

We spoke with a builder here in the park about getting a golf cart shed erected. Mom and Dad have a golf cart and they keep it in the shed on our (formerly their) lot. We will be removing our shed next year and building a Texas room, so they will lose their cart shed. So we are erecting one on our double lot and it will include a workbench for Terry to tinker with whatever he likes to tinker with. Terry wanted to put down a two inch concrete cap to set up off the pad in order to keep it dry and to deter termites which can be a problem down here.

Terry called Oscar on Monday morning and he came by yesterday to tell us when he would do the job. It was a very small job as concrete goes and he said they would be here Thursday morning. Today we had to take Neal to the vet, and when we got back, Oscar's guys had already started. Wow! A day early. They formed it up this morning and came back this afternoon to pour the concrete. Oscar had several small jobs to do so he ordered concrete in one larger load and spread his men out to do all the jobs. Oscar is the man who is responsible for most of the concrete in the Martin ranches. He got together early with the developer. He is quick, efficient, and knows concrete. I took this picture of Oscar while they were waiting on the concrete. Hah. I'm sure he was tired, because he gets up and on the job early and worked past 6:00 this evening. A lot of people have cause to complain about the Texican workers they hire here in the valley. But I must say that everyone we have hired has been here on time or early, worked long days, and finished on time. Hopefully we can now get the cart shed erected and then next year we will concentrate on the Texas room.

Our white Scottie, Neal, has been having some digestion problems. Neal is our special needs Scottie and never complains, but we know he hasn't been feeling well. He isn't eating and has lost a couple pounds and we have tried numerous things to get him to eat. We decided we can no longer treat this problem ourselves so we took him to see a vet today. We weren't really impressed with the veterinary clinic he visited last year for the rock removal, so we found another. This doctor was very interested in helping and ran some bloodwork. Neal really has nothing wrong that shows up, but his stool showed no signs of any bacteria at all. No bad and no good bacteria. Since good bacteria is essential for good digestion, the vet suggested we add some fiber to his diet and also some enzymes to aid digestion. Well, he has not been eating well, but he ate the canned dog food the vet sent home. I hope it helps. We never change his food because that doesn't set well with him either. He is too much a creature of habit. Having autistic traits, he doesn't handle change well. Hopefully this will help him and we may just need to change to a senior dog food for him.

Tomorrow we are meeting some friends for lunch at BJ's Brewhouse, then Friday we are meeting other friends at Rudy's BBQ. Yum yum. Let it never be said that Winter Texans go hungry! Hah!

Till next time. . .

Dale