Heading out. . . and more family time!

Saturday morning we said goodbye to Mom and Dad and our other neighbors and friends and headed north from the valley. Our plan was to stop in Sinton at a different campground and then head into Houston and Lakeview on Sunday. The camp, however, turned out to be "less than advertised" which is almost the norm, sad to say, and we took a run through the park and back out onto the highway. What were supposed to be "pull-through" sites were actually "back-to-back" and not really useable for big rigs. So we drove on to Victoria to our favorite camp there, Gateway to the Gulf. We got a back-in site and after wrestling the "spotter" duties from the park person, I got Terry in there first try. I don't understand parks which insist that they spot campers into spots. I know they are worried about their pipes, hookups, etc., but in addition to my being concerned about those things, I am also worried about the four corners of the rig as well as what's over the top of us. They try to use the same instructions for everyone weather they are in a small trailer or a big Class A. I am going to start having a "release" they have to sign saying if they mess up and we end up with damage, they will be responsible for it. Nobody does my rig better than me. Period.

After getting set up, we took off to Mumphford's Place BBQ, our favorite in the area. We hadn't planned it, but since we drove further, it was handy. LOL We got up on Sunday morning and drove into Houston and into our spot in Lakeview.

Sunday evening we drove over to my cousin Jim's house. He is recovering from a heart event from last year and his sister Pat is helping out. She lives in Oregon and is a retired registered nurse, so he has some good help. He is making good progress and when his brother was here a few weeks ago, they both rode in the Tour deHouston, which is what Jim was doing last year when he was stricken. Jim rode his recumbent trike while Rick rode one of Jim's other bikes. They rode 20 miles which is a remarkable feat for most anyone!

Pat and Jim hosted a dinner party Sunday night and we had lasagne, bread, salad, and apple cake and ice cream for dessert. Yum yum. Even got to bring home some lasagne and salad to eat on the road. There were other guests, all people we had met when we were living in Houston for Terry's cancer treatment. We were often invited to Jim's home to share with other friends and we have come to know these people well. Such a great time and we all enjoyed the company and the visit with friends and family.

We returned this morning and visited one last time with Jim and Pat over lunch. Pat will be there probably another month, then head back to her home. It has been great that Jim has had family to help him and we were glad we got the chance to see his sisters while they have been here.

Tomorrow we head north looking to stop at Motorhomes of Texas to look at Foretravel coaches. They have some sharp ones listed on their website. Just gonna look at what they have. Then it's on to Henderson to see some friends.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Bittersweet!

Leaving the RGV is always bittersweet. We left Mom and Dad after sitting behind them all winter, but they have guests arriving in a few days, so they won't be alone. Her brother and his wife are going to be arriving in another week or so and then after they leave, my sister and her husband will be flying in and getting ready for the big drive home.
 
I took pictures of what my cactus looked like when we left. They don't grow much in the winter. One would think with all the rain, they would grow quickly, but they wait and grow best in the scorching heat of the summer. Go figure. The flat paddle cactus have been trimmed greatly. We are trying to get them to grow up "tree-like."

We had planned on leaving Sunday, today, but decided to skip out a day early. We are anxious to see my cousins in Houston and arriving there earlier in the day would be a big plus. It is a 7 hour journey in the motorhome and unless you leave at the crack of dawn, arriving early afternoon is not gonna happen. We had planned to stop at a park in Sinton, but we drove in and it wasn't "as advertised," and we decided to move on down the road. So we stopped at our regular stop in Victoria, Gateway to the Gulf RV Park. This is a nice park, but we weren't able to snag one of the pull throughs, so we had to unhook the toad. No problem, and while we were unhooked, decided to run into town to Mumphford's Place BBQ once again for a great dinner.

While we were driving through Kingsville, we saw some really outrageous traffic. Really, I didn't know there were that many cars in that part of Texas. Fortunately they were all getting off the expressway and heading east, so it didn't create a bottleneck for us, but there were miles of cars waiting to exit down the ramp. We had no idea what the attraction was until it appeared we were going to get strafed by. . . MIGS! Yes, MIGS! I said, "What kind of plane is that anyway, Terry?" He looked up and said, "It's a MIG!" Wow. It WAS A MIG! We knew then it must be an airshow and the cars were all headed to the airport. I looked it up and it is the "Wings Over South Texas" airshow this weekend at Kingsville. And they mention on their website the Migs they have in the show. We saw two flying over us. That way quite a thrill, but it was too late to get any kind of picture.

Our drive was easy and uneventful. . . the best kind. For once, all our monitors worked without error. Terry's new Silverleaf diagnostic program was flawless. We had trouble with it before and at one point it even caused a "check engine light" to come one. That seemed to be remedied with the physically installation of the software that came with it. . . duh. . . found when Terry was putting it back in the box. LOL Since the install, it runs perfectly. The new TPMS, tire pressure monitoring system, a series of 10 sensors on all the motorhome and truck tires worked perfectly for the first time. Out of 10 sensors, one was bad out of the box. The company replaced it and now all 10 are working. Man, I love it when a plan comes together.

We are spending 2 nights in Houston starting tonight and visiting with Jim and Pat, then on to Nacogdoches, Texas. We are going to Foretravel and look at their coaches. Just browsing, but who knows. . . ????? Then we are off to Henderson to visit with friends we met while we were in Houston for Terry's cancer treatment. It's been awhile since we've seen them. Our trips back to Houston never seemed to coincide, but we like to touch base now and then.

From there we will cut across country to Virginia to see our grandones. We will be arriving between their birthdays, so it will be a double celebration! So anxious to see them. They change so quickly when they are that little. Course, we come bearing gifts, so that should endear us to them.

I hope we don't hit any bad weather on our travels. It was a miserable winter as winters go in the valley, but much, much worse in other parts of the country, so we try not to complain. Last year we had a snowstorm while we were camped in Richmond, Virginia, and hoping that doesn't happen again.

The girls are doing well and enjoy getting out and sniffing new territory daily. If they are confused, they don't show it. They did love having Grandma and Grandpa around. Yesterday they took care of the girls while we were getting Phaeton Place ready to roll. They certainly don't lack for attention. It's hard to tell from the picture, but Duchess has her head resting on Butterscotch. LOL

Today starts as a lazy day. We are further toward Houston than we had planned with a fairly short drive today, so don't need to be in a hurry.

All you snowbirds and fulltimers out there hitting the road, be safe and take care on the roads.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Final full day with friends

Today we took Jim and Luanne to the Pulga, which is the Mexican flea market across the expressway from us. What a hoot. They actually enjoyed it and we all bought a few things. Not a lot, but it was fun and we got in a good walk.

From there we took them to the 492 BBQ which is fairly close to the park and in a two-story house. It was actually built that way, so it has small rooms. I guess if the restaurant ever fails, they will just live in it. LOL

We spent more time in the afternoon taking them on golf cart tours of the remaining Martin Parks, there are eight I think. We played some more cards and sat out in the warm air again.

Saturday we plan to all go to Pleasant Valley for their breakfast. They have the best breakfast around us, we think, all for $3. Then they will be leaving to go back to Falfurrias to visit their friends and then head back to Indiana in the middle of the week.

Safe travel dear friends. It was great having you here!

Till next time. . .

Dale

More museums. . .

We headed out Thursday to Hidalgo to tour the Hidalgo Pumphouse. The pumphouse was built to draw water off the Rio Grande River for irrigating the valley. Without irrigation, they would not be able to grow the crops they do. Cotton was actually grown in large quantities down here. I don't think they grow it anymore, but they grow a lot of citrus and sugar cane now. Irrigation is still very important and the museum showed the pumps and other machinery used to pump the water and disperse it through the irrigation system. It's another place we had always planned to visit and never did. Quite interested.

The pumphouse sits right inside the levee where the fence is situated. There is actually a gate there, but obviously it wasn't open. I think the gates are for the border patrol and in some areas, I think farmers actually use them to access their farm land on the other side. We were able to walk right up to the fence and take pictures. There were some makeshift ladders laying on the ground and we are sure they were from illegals making attempts to get across.

We headed back toward Mission and visited the La Lomita Mission, which is the mission that Mission, Texas, was named after. It is always an interesting stop and we were able to go inside and take some pictures as well as some outside. Then we drove down the levee and stopped at The Riverside SupperClub to try out their tenderloins. We have had them before and they are very good. After lunch we able to walk out onto the deck of the restaurant right on the river and watch the river a bit.

Once we had our fill, we traveled on to the Bentsen State Park and World Birding Center. We walked into the park and then sat at one of the bird feeding areas while we waited for the tram. We were rewarded with several birds including the Chachalacas which I had told Jim about. They are large birds and make a lot of noise, but they were quiet when we saw them. We did see the elusive green jay, but no javelinas. They say that in the flooding of 2010, those animals were all swept away and haven't repopulated yet. There is a bobcat we just missed seeing that seems to stay and live in the park. The park is all wild now and nothing like it was when we stayed there and camped. They said that because of the flooding, much of the landscape has changed and even the vegetation is different than just a few years ago.

We headed back to the house and rested a bit before having a light supper. Then we went over to the jam. Fortunately for Jim and Luanne, it was better than usual. LOL They have been having some problems with the jams with personalities and egos getting too large and affected the music and participants in general. But things were better than what we have seen this year.

We spent more time outside as the weather started warming up and we were able to visit outside under the canopy.

Till next time. . .

Dale

More fun in the valley!

Today we started out in the rain/mist. Another cold, wet day. It sure has been a bad winter weather-wise for us down here in the valley, but we cannot complain, when Jim and Luanne came from 90 inches of snow with the promise of more snow and sub-zero temperatures before they get home.

We took them on a tour of the newer Martin parks so they could see how those looked. Then we headed toward Edinburg to the Museum of South Texas. We spent a couple hours there. It was one place we had always thought about going to, but had never gone. It was really good. It's not real big, but it is laid out well in chronological order and just enough reading to lay out the history without bogging you down. There were many rooms and lots of displays as well as the timeline of how the Rio Grande Valley was developed and populated. I would recommend it to anyone here in the RGV who would like to learn a bit about the area.

Once we left there, we went to Rudy's BBQ for lunch. It was very good and we all enjoyed our meal and conversation. Once we got back to the park, we visited more, then we played some cards.

Another great day!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Friends have arrived!

Monday afternoon Jim and Luanne pulled in. They had spent the night with friends in Falfurrias and plans were to stay a few days there. But they were having car trouble and decided to try to get into the Kia dealer here in town for repairs. They were having heat/AC problem. They had heat, but couldn't control it and no A/C. Hmmmm. That's a problem down here because it is starting to warm up. We took them in the golf cart and showed them some of the parks in our system here. With the extra seat on the golf cart we added, we were all able to go. It was fun.

They were able to get an appointment for Tuesday morning. Once they got here we just sat outside enjoying the nice weather and visited. I thought after two hard days driving down here from Indiana, they might welcome a break and we got them settled in the Texas Room.

Tuesday morning we took their car to the Kia dealer and took off west. it turned out to be not so nice a day with misting and cool temperatures. So we decided not to do anything outside. Our destination was the Los Ebanos Ferry and it has been so long since we have been there, we missed the road. We ended up in Rio Grande City. We took them to the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto at the Immaculate Conception Church. The mist held off so we could walk around and take some pictures.

We headed back to Mission and found the road to the ferry. We were so shocked when we got there. It has been several years since we have visited and they have put in a border checkpoint. It is a large building with driving lanes and all kinds of security. I always wondered why there wasn't a more secure checkpoint here. There used to be just a kiosk. We walked up to the little building in front of the fenced in walkway which was part of the new structure. The guy there charged us $1 to walk to the bridge and told us we only needed our drivers license. I wasn't sure why we needed that to go look at the ferry. But SURPRISE! You go past the border checkpoint, so you actually need a passport. After taking pictures of the ferry, which hasn't changed much, except they've added a checkpoint on the Mexico side as well, we walked back up to the building to go back to the car. We were stopped and asked for our passports or a birth certificate. Well, now, I know we need our passport to go to Mexico. But we didn't leave the U.S. But they wanted them. In the end, they took our drivers licenses which they used to call up our passports. Luanne, however, doesn't have a passport. We really didn't want to leave her there, but they allowed us all to move on, reminded us next time to have our passports. Nuff said.

On the way back to Mission, Kia called and said the car was done. All they had to do was reprogram the computer and all is well. Covered under warranty. I was so glad they were able to get it in quickly and fixed it. Hope they don't have any trouble on the way home.

Later in the evening, Luanne and I went over to the hall to play Bingo. The guys hung out and rested up from their day!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Busy, busy, busy. . .

This retirement stuff is so overrated! We have really been busy, but things are slowing down for now.

Last week we had the Birch Street Dinner on Wednesday. All the streets in the park put on a dinner and sell tickets to the park residents and anyone else who wants to come. The dinners have been very popular. . . one is a meatloaf dinner, another is spaghetti, ham balls, lasagne, roast beef, baked ham, and ours which is a pork loin dinner. We serve it with real mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, roll, applesauce or jello, coffee, tea, and cake for dessert.

We start with a meeting about a week before and assign all the duties. Hopefully everyone on the street participates and our street is very good with lots of help. Not too much for any one person when everyone chips in. We start at 9 a.m. on our day and peel potatoes. Then they are placed in pots and turned on later. We unwrap the loins and they are rinsed and placed on foil on large baking pans. Then each gets mushroom soup and dry onion soup mix and rosemary on top, then it is wrapped up. Later, all the pans are stacked in the convection ovens and they are slow roasted. The tables are set up, washed, salt and pepper put out. The coffee/tea tables are set up and the cake tables are set up and plates and knives for cutting are set out. The rolls are put in airtight boxes and set in place and the applesauce is put into serving cups.

Once the preliminaries are done, we get to go home and relax and have lunch. We return at 1 p.m. and mash potatoes and check on the meat. We put the green beans and corn and potatoes in the roasters. Once that is done and everything else is checked again, we get to go home. First shift starts at 3:30 and serving starts at 4 p.m. People are always waiting to eat. Mom and Dad went over early and since Terry and I worked second shift, we caught up with Mom and Dad and we ate a leisurely dinner with them. After we were done and saw them home, we took our turn. Terry was serving. The men always serve. I think it's because the counters are tall and the guys can easily serve from the roasters. I had cake detail so I was on the other end of the hall and cutting up cakes and seeing that everyone got what they wanted. We had cake left over, but no whole cakes, so we figured it out pretty good.

When we are done serving at 6, cleanup begins. I cleaned up the cake area with the help of the other gals working. We are a great group and everyone helps. By 7 p.m. everything is cleaned up and everything back in place.

The dinners are one of the ways our park earns money. By raising money we are able to keep our assessments down to a manageable amount and the common areas like the clubhouse and pool are maintained.

On Saturday after our street dinner we had the Ladies' Luncheon. The theme this year was "Bal en Blanc." I think I spelled that right. It was all done by our French Canadian ladies and the theme was a "white ball." Everything was white and everyone was supposed to wear white. Hard to believe how that theme was so interesting, but something about everything being white was quite refreshing. They decorated the entire hall in white and covered the backs of the chairs in white and covered other visible furniture and items in the room with white coverings. It was really pretty cool. We all pitch in with salads and eat lunch. Then there is entertainment and this year several women from the park sang and some line danced. Awards were given for the white outfits that seemed to capture the essence of the theme. It was a wonderful afternoon and our French Canadians ladies outdid themselves with their preparation. Thank you Ladies!

Today I spent getting ready for our first visitors down here! Yes! Luanne, my high school friend, and her husband Jim are due in sometime tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing them and the weather is supposed to be pretty good. Not too terribly hot, but was enough for shorts and it will be a nice diversion from Luanne and Jim and all that snow they have had this winter.

So, until next time. . .

Dale

Cousins!

Last Thursday, we took Mom and Dad to Houston in Phaeton Place to visit some family. We left around 8:15 a.m. in the misting and cold wet weather and made it to our planned stop in Victoria. Once we got there, we unhooked the truck and we all went to Mumphford's BBQ. I had taken them and Nita there for lunch when we brought Mom and Dad down in October and they really loved it. It was just as good this time and since we went in the early afternoon, there weren't many people there. There were customers, but it wasn't crowded, so that worked out great. Afterwards we went back to the motorhome and turned up the heat. We had finally run out of the rain/mist and we were hoping that was it. We stayed in the rest of the evening and went to bed early.

Mom and Dad were in the bedroom, so we put an air mattress in the living room. Some time during the night, the air started leaking out and we suspect the valve wasn't tightened. We didn't want to use the pump at 2 a.m. fearing we would wake up Mom and Dad, so we opened the couch and slept there the rest of the night. We were able to get out the backup air mattress for the second night out and that worked great.  On Friday we drove 115 miles on to Houston and parked Phaeton Place at Lakeview RV Resort, where we had spent three months when Terry was undergoing cancer treatment. We had lunch and then we headed out. We took Mom and Dad to see where Terry's treatment had been and also past the Astrodome and the Reliant Stadium. We also passed by the main hospitals in the area which have changed a lot since their last visit.

We then went to visit my cousin Jim. He is having some health challenges and his two sisters have been taking turns spending time away from their homes in Oregon to help him here in Houston. I haven't seen the girls in over 40 years and we planned our visit when they would both be there.  It was so good to see them all. Jim and his wife Lillian you may remember from my blog of a couple years ago did a good job of keeping us entertained when we were here for Terry's treatments. They invited us to dinner parties frequently, a Super Bowl party, and gave us lots of information on where to go and what to do to keep us busy. We will always be grateful for that time. Jim's wife died suddenly about 14 months ago and he was stricken four months later. But he is back on the road to recovery and is making good progress. 
 
We visited all afternoon, then headed back to the motorhome. Mom and I had made a couple casseroles that were ready to pop in the oven, so we had a good dinner waiting on us. It was still cold and wet out, but the wind had died down, so it was easier staying warm. We spent the night there, then headed back home to the valley Saturday morning. We are back home now in Mission and it was a bit warmer yesterday and today.

I hope it won't be as long before we see each other again, Cousins

. We had a lot of fun talking and did a bit of catching up, but we have lots more to talk about!

Till next time. . . 

Dale

Shed's finished!

Mom and Dad's shed is finished and John did a great job on it as usual. Mom and Dad are very happy with it and it no longer looks like the eyesore that it was. It isn't totally maintenance free, as the trim requires some painting. John did paint that though, so it will be several years before that will have to be done again. So now they are pretty much maintenance free on their place. That is good.

Here are some more pictures of the various stages and the finished shed.

 

  Till next time. . .

Dale

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

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

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

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

Merry Christmas!

The holidays are here. Things start ramping up after Thanksgiving with people putting up Christmas decorations in the parks. Where we live we have five parks in close enough proximity to take the golf cart and go to each of them. The other night Mom and I rode through all five parks to look at the decorations. Some parks that had a lot of decorations in years past, have very little this year. But one park which normally doesn't do much really has a lot of decorations this year. It was fun to visit all of them and see the different displays.

Most of my Christmas shopping this year has all been on line. Even having stuff giftwrapped, I think I still spend less than if I got in the car and went shopping. And it's a great time saver, that's for sure. I used to like to shop just to get into the Christmas spirit, but I don't seem to get that down here in Texas. I used to love shopping in my hometown when the stores would be open in the evening and snow would be falling. It seemed like a magical time. But I don't really care to be out in that cold air anymore. We actually had some cold weather in Indiana before we left and we really were so not used to it that we were both quite uncomfortable.

Our days are spent doing what we want, which isn't much. . . retirement is great! We do some walking the dogs and that is several times a day. When they get back from their walk, they always want to go visit Mom and Dad. They love going over there and checking under the table for any scraps that may be left over from supper. LOL On the way back tonight, there was a piece of red tinsel that blew in off somebody's display and the dogs thought it was alive! Haha. What a sight. They both barked at it and pounced on it. Course it was moving because the wind was breezy at the back of the pad and it would sorta swirl. They got all excited and pounced on it and observed it growling and barking. Those were some brave Scotties, I tell you. I took some pictures and a movie, but failed to get the movie transferred. I really have to work on that skill. Since I always delete the pictures after transferring them, I deleted the movie before I realized I didn't have it.

I have mentioned my cactus before and I have some April pictures and some December pictures. We still can't believe it. We trimmed one of the bushes and are waiting to see how it handles being whacked on before doing more. We have taken some seed pods from Spike, my golden barrel cactus and are going to try and start some. We've had a lot of people ask where I got him and it was in Phoenix, so they can't go right out and buy one. I haven't seen another in the park.

Today I made fruitcakes. Before you groan, this was Terry's Uncle Bill's recipe and is all fruit and nuts with no flour and it is totally gluten free! It uses coconut and sweetened condensed milk as a binder and it is a fruitcake for those who don't like fruitcake. . . like me. Then later I made divinity. Never have made it before and always wanted to. I think it is a very festive candy and I love seeing it, but I'm not much for eating it, but it is good. Mom said it was very good.

I have been starting on my sewing. I got two pairs of jeans shortened and have a couple more pants to do as well as some shirts. When you're short, you have to do that. Tomorrow I will probably do laundry. It's a snap in the new Texas Room, but I still do a load every week in my motorhome washer/dryer. That will keep the seals from drying out, etc. While I'm out there in the Texas Room I will get things straightened up so we can have Christmas out there Wednesday morning. I still have the table set up for wrapping, etc., but we're all finished with that.

We've had a couple golf cart parades through the park. That's always fun to watch. They decorate their golf carts and some are pretty ingenious. They put lights and other decorations on them.

Earlier this week, Dad decided he wanted a bicycle. He thought he would be able to ride a trike. Since his knee surgery three years ago, he hasn't gotten much exercise and he decided he needed to do

something. Walking is difficult for him with his back problems, so we went looking for a bike. We found one and they bought it and we brought it home. I have to say, he has ridden it every single day. He has ridden around the block which is a big thing for him. It doesn't seem to make him winded either, like walking does. I am so glad to see him up and doing something like this. Even if he just rides around the block once, it's good for him. On really windy days, he has been doing laps in his driveway. He actually can do that and spin it around on both ends. 

Wednesday we go to the hall for Christmas dinner. They will have ham and turkey and then everyone brings a dish. It's always a feast, like Thanksgiving and we always look forward to do.

I have some pictures of my beautiful grandchildren. Ronan and Aenea got to open a gift from me the other night. I think they enjoyed them. I got Aenea a baby doll and Ronan a Mike the Knight castle playset. The last is a Christmas picture of Brynlee, our newest granddaughter.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Texas Update

We made it to our lot in the Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We got set up and visited with Mom and Dad a bit. Mom made supper for us so that was great that I didn't have to stop everything to cook.

We made it to the hall for Thanksgiving. That is always a fun time, wonderful smells, happy people, and lots of good food. Got a picture of Mom and Dad and one of us as well.

Since then I have been decorating, putting up the Christmas trees in the Texas Room along with other decorations there and here in the motorhome. I am going to put up the little tree here in the motorhome tomorrow. We have been having some pretty unseasonably cold weather here in the valley now, so we are only doing inside jobs right now.

My cactus are huge. I can't believe how much they have grown. Our lot looked so sparse before we left last spring and now the cactus have taken over. We are going to do some pruning because Terry wants the "bushes" to grow into "trees." We have seen their parent "tree" and that is what we are going by. This cactus doesn't have spines, but it does have fine little hairs that can cause some irritation. The "twins" which were single stalks I planted have grown large arms and both have three arms on them. I will try to get some updated pictures.

"Red," my poinsettia started turning red again. She does that around Christmas. She is green the rest of the time, but starts getting red late in the year. She also has quit sprawling out and is growing up bushy now, which is pretty cool. I was told she was not the "type" of poinsettia that would survive outside planting. . . hmmmmm. Guess someone didn't know anything, eh?

The girls seem to be adjusting to the routine of retirement. They would like to chase the bunnies they see here in the park, but they must be content to whine from a distance. LOL We walk several times a day down to the dog patch. They sleep a lot of the time. We have been taking them out on the patio on nice days and let them watch what's going on in the park. That way we can run back and forth to the Texas Room. They like the Texas Room, but they cannot see out. We are going to get a new storm door installed that has glass down low so they can see out. I think they will like it better then.

Having an issue with the little truck. Coming back from church this morning, I smelled antifreeze. When Terry checked the radiator, he couldn't see any fluid in it. . . not a good sign. It hadn't been running hot, though. He added water later and we will be taking it in for service later this week.

Have most of our Christmas shopping done. . . . did it mostly online. That is just too easy. But it's better than fighting the crowds.

We will be going to the hall for Christmas dinner in a couple weeks. Another good dinner is in the works!

Till next time. . .

Dale