Just another day at the Beach????? OR WAS IT?

Hah. I have some pictures of our drive today, but I have to say one of the biggest highlights was not the alligators or the pink spoonbills, but the sunburned naked guys on the beach. Hah. What a hoot. We were on the Cape Canaveral National Seashore and everywhere we went out on the beach, there were signs up prohibiting nude bathing. Like they had to worry about us!! But all the way down to parking area 12 at the end of the road, we hiked out to the beach and there in all their glory were several men who were strolling, fishing, sunbathing. . . all in the nude. I guess they couldn't read the signs. Hee hee. I didn't take pictures of them. Sorry. Figured I'd get my camera busted if I did. I was commenting to Terry that I didn't know why they feel a need to do that and he just said. . . "Look at them, Sweetie, they're showing off." I guess that might be it. Hahaha. Oh well, back to the matters at hand.

When Jocelyn and Tom were here at Christmas, they drove up to Merritt Island to the Wildlife Refuge. I had been wanting to go and we had a day free today, so off we went. It is just north of the launch site for the shuttle and the shuttle is actually primed at the gantry and ready to launch. I have a couple pictures, but you cannot get close. With the naked eye, we could see what we believe to be the shape of the shuttle with the solid rocket fuel boosters attached. We are kind of hoping we get to hang around Florida to see the launch, which now has been postponed and no defnite date set.

Once we strolled along the beaches for awhile, we drove back through the wildlife refuge. We saw osprey at the Visitor's Center as well as a few turtles, but the illusive alligators were no where to be found. We did take a primitive road through the wetlands and there they were. We saw at least a half dozen of them and they were busy lounging on the banks of the ponds sunning themselves. We drove on down to where there is a manatee viewing area, but sad to say, didn't see any today. We then traveled back toward the Visitor's Center and took a 7-mile loop through another area of wet lands. We saw several posts which were there to encourage the bald eagles to nest, but we didn't see any nest, nor eagles. So many other birds, however, make this their habitat. I love to watch the water birds. There were white pelicans, which we hadn't seen . . . only brown ones before. Lots of herons, egrets, terns, gulls, etc. Just before exiting the loop, we saw a large group of spoonbills, the pink ones. The color on their feathers is so bright. They all have a dark stripe and then the rest is lighter pink. I find them fascinating and very beautiful.

It was a beautiful day for the drive and it was warm to go out to the beaches. If you get a chance to go there, those beaches do not seem to be widely used. There were people there and families and surf fishermen, but they definitely were not crowded.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Surf's Up!

Today we drove down to Sebastian Inlet, about 20+ miles from the "house" to watch the Sebastian Inlet Pro Surf Tournament. It was fun and probably will be more exciting as the days roll on. You have to remember that yesterday they claim there were snow flurries down there, although we didn't see any. It was 41 degrees when we got up yesterday, but today was a much better day. I don't know if it was 70, but we stayed warm. We had a sweatshirt on and then a hooded lined jacket. We took a beach mat and sat all bundled up. Probably looked pretty funny, but the people in shorts and flip-flops certainly looked cold. The surfers, I'm told, said the water temperature was in the 70's and they wore wet suits, so they stayed warm, but their feet would get numb.

The surf was pretty strong, but not a lot of big waves. Still, the competition "waved" on. We saw lots of surfers out there, but I have no idea how they score such a sport. An afternoon sitting on the beach is never wasted on me, however, because I could sit an watch the ocean for hours. I took pictures and a couple movies. On the way home, we stopped at Coconut Point, a small park with beach access closer to Melbourne Shores. The ocean was so loud. It was roaring and looked so mean and angry. The sky was dark, but there is no bad weather. Probably left over weather from the day before when we had such high winds.

Things are really quiet. We are waiting to hear if the bank accepted Brandon's latest offer on the house he wants. His second offer was the same as his first. The house was foreclosed earlier, so if the bank wants to get rid of it. . . now's their chance. Sure hope he gets it. It is a beautiful house and he would be happy there for a long time.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Time to Breathe. . .

Finally. The house hunt is on in full swing. We have a realtor who is such a go-getter than we haven't had time to stop. We looked at about 13 houses the day after Christmas and found several that Brandon really liked. Two in particular were great possibilities. The one he could probably make an offer, have it accepted and move in as soon as it closed. Beautiful home. But it is minus a few key features he would like. He didn't really think it was possible to get everything within his price range. . . that is until we saw the "other" house. It is EVERYTHING he wants, but the price is a little higher. However, it has already been foreclosed and is ready for occupancy, even quite clean. The realtor suggested an offer she thought the bank might go for. No deal. They countered, Brandon counter-countered, if that is a word. He didn't budge on his price. Houses down here are a dime a dozen, thousands of foreclosures or those in process. This is a chance for a bank to get some of their money back. He will go a little higher. We will see what they say. Hopefully he can get this done. The big problem is that this one just went on the market, so the bank probably thinks they can wait for a higher offer. But not much is selling here. Our realtor said she hasn't sold a house since July.

So our time has been spent running back to the house to take a closer look, meeting with the realtor and the bank, etc. Sunday Brandon leaves for 3 weeks, so he would like to have something by that time. . . but don't know if that will happen. . . but then again, it might. We are hoping for that result.

We did go to visit with Tom's Grandmother Mary, his Aunt Donna and cousin Derick for Christmas. It was a great time. We had never met Grandma before and she has had some health problems recently, but she is a tough lady. She loved Ronan and pushed him around in her wheeled walker which has a place for him to sit. As long as it was moving, Ronan was happy. We stayed till after dark, then started home. It is about a 2 hour drive from Melbourne.

Last night for New Year's we went with Brandon and some friends to Meg O'Malley's. It was a fun place, but it was already crowded at 9:30. We stood for an hour and still didn't get a table. Terry and I decided to head home and celebrate in the comfort of the rig, which we did. Since we hadn't eaten, we put out some snacky stuff and enjoyed the quiet time.

Today it is raining in Florida. The dogs are sleeping and the door is open letting fresh air in. It is supposed to get cold tonight, but just really for one night, then it will be in the 50-60's at night and 70's during the day. Good weather.

Terry got me a new sewing machine for Christmas and I finally got an opportunity to get it out. I made new cushions for the dogs and bought some new material for me so I can make some new tops. I'm tired of wearing T-shirts all the time. The new machine is really neat. It is digital. . . not an expensive one, but very light weight, which is why I wanted this model. It is very easy to move around. I will probably sew again today since it is raining

Till next time. . .

Dale

Ronan has arrived!

The kids arrived Saturday around 5:30, so we got to visit with them a little bit before they headed on down state to Grandma Mary's. At 8 months, I thought he might be afraid of us, but he wasn't. I took him immediately to see the duck at the pond near Brandon's front door. He is curious about all things and especially Uncle Brandon's red beard! Hah. He kept feeling Brandon's face with his little hand. There must be something about the red hair, because his Daddy has a beard too.

We each passed him around and let him unwrap some presents. I had sent his Christmas stuff earlier since they were going on a trip, but I had to have SOMETHING for him to unwrap, so I got him a couple rattles. . . things he could use in the car. He is becoming more vocal and likes things that make noise. . . what baby doesn't?

Today we are headed down to Lake Worth to see them at Grandma Mary's where we will have Christmas dinner. She graciously invited us down to be with the kids on Ronan's first Christmas.

The house hunt continues. Yesterday we kidnapped Brandon and dragged him around for hours looking at 23 houses on our new list. We have quit looking in Palm Bay and are concentrating our search on Melbourne. The neighborhoods are much better and don't seem to have the water problems they have in Palm Bay.

The Pace household wants to wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Till next time. . .

Dale

House Hunting in Melbourne!

Well, that about sums it up! That's all we've done since we got here, besides a little Christmas shopping for each other. We already went to the bank and Brandon is pre-approved for a loan. That was easy. All those lectures about saving/spending money with a goal seemed to have worked. We have been searching on the internet for houses in specific areas with his required features. Then we print out the data sheets, color code them, then Terry plots them on his Delorme Street Atlas program and we print out the maps. Then we plan our route and do drive-bys. Many we have elminated that way. Once the weekend gets here, Brandon will go with us and we will show him ones we think are "worthy" of visiting in person. It seems to be working this way, but man, oh man, am I tired of it already. So today, I will be calling a real estate agent and telling her what we are looking for and give her a couple we would like to go through.

Things are really quiet here in Enchanted Lakes. A lot of people here work, so they are gone every day. Not a lot of mixing around like you get in our park in Texas. They do have activities here, but we are pretty busy at the moment. They are some really pretty Christmas decorations which I will have to get pictures of and post, so check back later tonight or tomorrow.

Daughter Jocelyn, hubby Tom and grandson Ronan and grand-dog Jericho are headed down here today from Virginia. They are going to Lake Worth, about 2 hours south to spend Christmas with Grandma Mary, Tom's grandmother. I have never met her, so we are going down for Christmas dinner.

Well, must get ready to take off again, so take care.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Just in Time!

We are here in Malabar, Florida, at Enchanted Lakes, our home for the next month. We met our son last night. He brought 3 of his friends and we had a cookout. We had a lot of fun before they took off for some nightlife. Ours consisted of an early bedtime after having been on the road for 4 days.

We arrived and got settled in just before the storm we were supposed to have. Fortunately, we didn't have much down here. It is quite breezy out there, but having been in Texas for 5 weeks, we are conditioned to that. It is wet out there as well today, but not raining hard. There was a warm front colliding with a cool front last night that was supposed to give us some nasty weather followed by a cool down, but it is still "shorts" weather outside. Hopefully that will continue.

I guess we were ahead of the weather front as we made our way down here yesterday as there was some tornadic activity around the panhandle after we came through. Glad we were in front of it. It would catch up with us at night as we came across Texas, but we got ahead of it once we started heading east on I-10.

Fortunately the drive was uneventful. I was driving on Friday when an 18-wheeler was passing me. His nose was almost even with mine when I heard what sounded like a gunshot. I am always wary about running along side of trucks due to blowouts. I had just started to glance in my side-view mirror when I heard the pop and looked at the precise time the tire on the rear of his trailer exploded. Fortunately the rear of his trailer was just behind the SportTrac, so when the tire blew, it actually flew out behind the little truck. Whew. I pulled over as far as I dared in my lane and picked up my speed as the trucker was instantly aware of what happened and eventually reduced his speed and pulled over when I was clear. Fortunately he only slightly wobbled with the trailer, so all was well. That is how I hoped it would all happen. A front tire would have been another story.

We had some interesting experiences with campgrounds. In Biloxi, Mississippi, there is still very little left of what was once a great visual experience. Most of the old stately homes along the coast are gone, some rebuilding is being done, but a lot of ocean front land is for sale, the owners not planning on rebuilding. That is really sad. There are very few campgrounds, but we found one . . . Fox RV "resort." Hah. That's a laugh. It's a FEMA village. Over 100 sites, but most are still taken up with FEMA trailers. Sites were too short to park our 40'er plus our truck. But we couldn't use the receptacle on our site because it was hanging out of the box, so we plugged into the one that was directly behind ours and parked our truck behind us. So we took up two sites, but they couldn't use one anyway. The pool was no longer used, the liner hanging off the sides down into the pool. The park was not trashy, but some of the units in there for the long term were. I think once people surrendered their FEMA trailers, they went out and purchased old run-down travel trailers and parked them in there.

We did a driving tour of Biloxi. We had been there 20 or so years ago with the kids, and very little is recognizable. They have done a tremendous amount of cleanup. Having seen other hurricane devastated areas, it was clear that in the two years since the hurricanes hit, they have cleared a good part of the rubble away. The beaches are gorgeous, but there was no one on them. Not many people/tourists. Several casinos are built. I suppose those draw more tourists and money than most businesses. We couldn't find any remains of the campground where we had stayed years ago. It may have been gone long before the hurricanes, however. We passed by Bouvier, Jefferson Davis' home. In fact, our campground was directly behind it. What a state that was in. It was ravaged by the hurricanes, but is being lovingly restored. I think the library was totally lost, but the main house is there and they were working on it. We toured that when we were here before.

Friday night we pulled into the Madison Campground. Don't bother ever stopping here. It is a former KOA and at one time would have been a beautiful campground. The pool was overgrown as was the tennis court, the miniature golf, the campground itself, etc. The building was in disarray from years of neglect, eaves falling down, etc. We were the only overnighters, but there were permanent sites rented. Some of the electrical boxes had been knocked over, there was no maintenance. The campground was adjacent to the Deerwood Motel which looked to be in very good shape. It is a combination motel/campground. It is sad to see what used to be a really nice campground being so totally neglected. However, our electric did work and we got a good night's sleep.

Not sure what we are doing today. Brandon wanted to bring his motorcycle over and work on some lighting, but it is raining and windy, so that will have to wait. I'm sure, however, that adventure awaits!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Head 'em up, move 'em out. . .

Today we roll. Headed for Florida to see son , Brandon, and hopefully help him find a new home. He has been in Florida for 4 years. He has changed jobs and decided to stay right where he is at. Melbourne is a beautiful place and unlike a lot of Florida. They have had some hurricane winds in recent years, but nothing like other parts of the state. He is close enough to the ocean to always have a breeze, so few bugs and moderate temperatures. We are excited for him and anxious to help him find a place.

We also will be seeing our grandson, Ronan, who will be with his Mom and Dad, our daughter and son-in-law, Jocelyn and Tom. Tom's grandmother Mary lives about two hours from Brandon and we have all been invited for Christmas dinner, so we are going. Ronan is seven months old, so this will be a first. Also, it has been years since our children have been together with us for the holidays, since one lives in Florida and one in Virginia and we lived in Indiana. Fortunately, our lifestyle permits us the luxury of traveling to see our children. Otherwise, our visits would be much fewer. Jocelyn did manage to get Ronan to sit still for Santa, but he wasn't too happy about it. Hah.

We sure hate to leave the RGV. The doctors have decided not to do surgery on Dad. He has a few things that complicate what they wanted to do and since the aneurysm is not at the point where it must be repaired, they are not going to do anything except monitor it. So, we have decided to move on to the next adventure.

We did take Mom and Dad out to Hidalgo to see the city lights. The entire town gets involved in light displays and every park and many houses and city buildings are lit up. I thought we saw everything there was to see there. However, many of our RV.netter friends have taken the horse-drawn carriage tours and the tour guides give a history of the town along with the light viewing. I think next year we will take Mom and Dad there for the tour. The lights were beautiful and always enjoyable. They add more displays every year.

We will miss what is becoming the weekly RV.net gathering at the Horseman Grill and Saloon to see our favorites, 12-string Tim and Sharon. I'm sure our friends will manage to keep the gathering going and we will be back next year to enjoy the music once again.

So, we are on the road at 8 a.m. today. Hope the wind is at our backs today! Stay safe, friends and family, and I'll post again on down the road.

Till next time. . .

Dale

I love this Bar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Horseman's Saloon and Grill in Weslaco, Texas. What a great place. We joined about 20 other RV.netters last night around 4 because that is when the entertainment starts. Twelve-string Tim and Sharon. What a duo! And what a hoot! They played for 4 hours, taking only 2 short breaks. The bar looks like a barn and inside there is a bar, tables and chairs, a dance floor and a stage.

We were greeted outside by 12-string Tim himself. He always looks on the web for hits to his website and his name and had been reading up on our thread about activities, etc., in the Rio Grande Valley. Talk about doing your homework. You get an A+ from the teacher, Tim. When we arrived he asked if we were with the RV.netters. What a surprise. I'm impressed. He handed us brochures and business cards and leis with their contact information on them. We chatted and got our picture taken with him. He has a website: http://www.12stringtim.com/

Inside we waited for most of the rest of our group before ordering. Then at 4, Tim and Sharon started their show. What a great time and great entertainers. Tim plays twelve-string guitar and Sharon accompanies on a synthesizer. In their repertoire, they must have thousands of songs including, pop, oldies, ballads, rock, parrothead songs, etc. They have something for everyone. And along with the songs, Sharon dresses in character and engages the audience in lively participation. They take requests from the audience and they played all our favorites, which included the Winter Texan Song. In fact, there is a sign hanging up that says, "Welcome Back, Winter Texans." Thanks 12-string Tim and Sharon for a great evening and exceptional entertainment. We plan on going back. Our only regret was that The Texan himself wasn't with us, having pulled out for Mexico earlier in the week. Oh well, there is always next year!

Now to bring you up to date on other matters. We haven't left the Valley yet and not quite sure when we will. My Dad has an aneurysm that needs to be repaired. It is not an emergency and we aren't sure when they will do the surgery. We are awaiting some new test results as it looks like they will be putting stents in the leg arteries as well. So we are waiting, waiting, waiting, on the medical community to let us know when this will happen. If it is before Christmas, we will stay and wait and make sure all is well before heading out. If they wait to do it after Christmas (and we will know by the 12th), we will go to Florida for the holidays with the kids, then come back to Texas.

In the meantime, we are just enjoying the fantastic weather of the RGV, the Rio Grande Valley. Warm, hot days, and cool nights. Just about perfect in my book. I have won $10 each of the last 2 weeks at Bingo! If I wasn't already retired, I would be tempted to quit work and just play Bingo. There is a game every night in one of the parks. I have finished up the inside shades for the motorhome front windshield. They really cut down on heat transferrence.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Grandma and Bailey

Grandma taking Bailey, the Scottish Terror, for his daily walk. When she comes over in the morning, he is just not content until they have gone for their walk. She cannot stand to see the disappointment in his eyes if she doesn't grab his leash.

Till next time. . .

Dale

RV.NETTERS doing what we do best!!!!

Meeting, greeting, eating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It just doesn't get any better than this! We met up with fellow forum-busters at Gonzales Burgers in Donna, Texas, for lunch today. You really have to have specific instructions on how to get to this place, because the address actually puts it on the other side of the road. The beige building has NO markings or signs of any kind, there is no parking lot and the windows are dark tinted so you cannot see inside. They said their sign blew down in the hurricane of '67 and they never bothered to replace it. Hahahahaha. Like . . . what's the rush anyway???? BUT. . . we made it. We ordered burgers (as big as your plate), fries and onion rings. . . yum, yum. Great food.

There we met up with Don and Mary (DonP), Ed and Becky (Hoops), Bob and Barb (Fox & Bear), Paul and Karen (Kbix), Roger and Alicia (HappyTrailsRVing), Bob and Betsy (The Texan) and yours truly, Terry and Dale (Teacher's Pet and dapace). So much fun and conversation. We had so much fun talking about what there is to do in the Valley, places to eat, shop. . . where we've been. . . where we're going, etc. We stayed for a couple hours total and then left as more people came, surrendering our seats to other diners.

We must plan another outing soon, as The Texan(s) are going to be headed to Mexico in another week.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Winter in the Valley

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Wednesday we had 100 degrees here during the day, but when I let the dogs out later it was down to about 77, very comfortable. When we awoke on Thanksgiving Day, it was 55 outside. Now today it has not been much above 50 and has been misting all day.

We went to the hall for Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday with Mom and Dad. We had a beautiful dinner with really good turkey, ham, dressing and everything else you normally find. We came back to our warm motorhome afterwards and didn't really venture out the rest of the day.

Now today it is really a miserable day. . . 50 and getting colder and misting. Terry is sick. He has been sick for a couple days but much worse today. Fortunately I was able to run to Walgreen's to pick up some prescriptions, so I got him some other stuff and I think it is starting to work. He has slept in the recliner the last two nights so he doesn't cough so much. While I was out, I bought the ingredients for a fruitcake. . . I know, I know. . . who eats fruitcake. But if you ever tasted Terry's Uncle Bill's fruitcake, you wouldn't be laughing right now.

I did get out and walk by myself this morning, and this afternoon we both took naps. Ah, such is the life of a retired soul.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Peace in the Valley

Finally, after having caught the county planner in a lie, I persuaded him to get his job done so we could have our meter installed. It was either that, or I would have to start the entire process over again and I think he decided he didn't want that. Whatever the reason, he faxed in the permits and Monday of this week we came home from Mexico to find our meter installed. Terry did one last check on his wiring and plugged us in. Oh my. . . . it has been really hot here and we manage to stay cool enough, but we could only run our one air on Dad's 30 Amp. Now we are running everything including the washer/dryer and doing well. Water and sewer were put in earlier in the week.

We were a little concerned about going to Mexico as some other people in the park said the lines to get back were 5 hours long the other day. Mom and Dad always go early. . . like 8 a.m. We shopped around and picked up a few little things. I wasn't really interested in a lot, but I got some numbers to put out front since our lot number is no longer visible. Mom said people come around to paint them, but I haven't seen anyone so far. It took us an hour to get out of Mexico this time.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. I hope you all enjoy your day and take time to reflect upon the many blessings we have. We are going to the hall for dinner at 12:30. I am taking Bok Choy salad, cranberry salad and Texas Sweet Potatoes. Most everything is ready. I just have to bake the sweet potatoes and chop up the bok choy. Mom and I went over earlier to help set up.

It was very hot today. Registered 100 degrees. Very hot in the sun, but tolerable in the shade with a breeze most of the day. It was still hot and muggy at 7 this evening, but I just went out with the dogs an hour ago and it has dropped probably 20 degrees. Tomorrow's high is something like 57 degrees. Brrrrr. I'll still take it, though.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Road Trip!

Yesterday after fighting with the County Planner hopefully for the very last time, we decided to go on a road trip. We packed Mom and Dad in the car and took off to find The Texan, a fellow RV'er who is manning a gate at a large ranch with oil and gas wells. Since he cannot leave, we thought we would look him up and confirm our dinner date for Sunday afternoon at Pepe's on the River.

Suffice to say that the two GPS's we use don't realize that 16 Mile Road is a COWPATH. . . and not a very good one at that. We drove 16 miles (hence the name) to 490 and made it to the gate which is on a paved road that is easily accessed if we had just gone east instead of west to begin with. Ugh.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Progress!

Well, we had progress today. We thought since no one came yesterday to start on the water/sewer lines, they would probably come today. Started by getting things put back in place in the motorhome and getting things swept and cleaned in the ritual we do every time we move. The plumbers came at 9:30 and by the way they started working, we figured we'd be done by 1-2:00. Not to be. The workers started digging while the head honcho left. They got done digging by 11 a.m. and sat and waited for 1 1/2 hours until the head honcho got back. He picked them up and they took off for lunch. They got back and put in most of the water lines. Then the HH left again and was gone for 1 1/2 -2 hours. He had to get more parts. He finally arrived back around 3 I think and they laid the sewer pipe, put in the spigots and tested them. All is well. Finally got around to filling in the trenches and put the gravel back in place. By 4:30 they were paid and gone and we moved Phaeton Place back in position. You really cannot tell much difference except that the sewer hookup is there and we have a couple water faucets on the sides of the pad.

Mom had invited us for supper since Phaeton Place was all closed up. It was great for us to be able to go "out" for dinner. We got the motorhome moved back and most everything set up before time to eat. We are just relaxing this evening and watching CSI.

Yesterday we had about the hottest day since we have been here and then today we had the coolest. I think it made it to 70, but it has been quite chilly all day. I imagine the workers were much more comfortable digging that trench in the cooler temperatures.

Hopefully tomorrow we will get our electric meter installed. . . but I'm not holding my breath.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Birdie, birdie, can you see the birdie?

We have a nighthawk nesting on the ground between two units here in the park. Just a stone's throw away from our lot. At first I thought it was injured and was going to take it to the birding center, but it flew away when I got too close. A neighbor has been watching it and said it is a nighthawk and that they nest on the ground, like killdeer. So far I haven't seen any eggs, but I'm guessing the eggs would blend in well with the stones, considering you can hardly see the bird.

In other news. . . oh, yeh, that's right. There isn't any . . . Well, let's just say the wheels of county government turn sssssssslllllllllllllllllloooooooooooooooooowwwllllllllllllyyyyyyy here in Hidalgo County. What a fiasco. We were told to "keep on 'em" when we applied for our permits over a week ago. It was supposed to be done the next day. I finally called a week+ later and was told to come in at 2 p.m. and pick up our permits. Hahahah. What a joke. So we went. After having to wait the required half hour, we get called into the office only to sit and watch the planner fill out all the paperwork. So I'm guessing this is how it works:

1. Go to the office and fill out the paperwork.


2. Your permit never gets acted on.


3. Out of desperation, you call. . . .


4. They check to see how long you have waited for your next day permit.


5. If it's 10 or more days, you just MIGHT get called in and get to watch them fill out the info.


6. THEN you have to wait for the inspection you thought was done 10 days before.


7. By this time, the power company has called to tell you the reason they didn't come to install your meter was because you didn't have the STINKIN' permit.


8. Grrrrrrr.

Good news. Called the plumber. Said we didn't have our permit yet. . . He said. . . . I don't need no permit. Yayayayay!!!!! They start tomorrow.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Home on the Range

We left Austin on Friday last week and made it down to the RGV (Rio Grande Valley) by 4:30 that afternoon. A very nice drive on red roads with no problems. We got parked in short order on the lot behind Mom and Dad.

We have really been busy this past week as we have officially bought the lot from my parents and are busy getting the services, i.e., water, electric, and sewer installed. That seems to be a joke around here. We applied for the permits, which they told us we would have the next day. That was Tuesday and we still haven't seen them. Called back once and no answer. That's the other joke around here. . . phone numbers. Nobody answers their phone, and sometimes they put it over on fax so you end up with that whiney sing/song in your ear. Terry did all the electrical wiring, but we cannot get the meter installed without an inspection. But once that is done, all Terry has to do is hook up three wires and we are good to go.

Yesterday when I checked about getting the water meter installed that they told us would be done Tuesday, they said it would now be next week because they had to dig. (Big surprise there?) We weren't home 10 minutes and the backhoe arrived along with three workers. It took several hours, but by 4:30 we had our water meter, so now we have to call the plumber. We aren't leaving here until this is all done. Certainly wouldn't want to look forward to starting this entire process over next year when we come down. Ugh.

Good thing we have time. Meanwhile, the weather is beautiful. Warm during the day, but with a breeze. If you stay in the shade you are very, very comfortable. The sun is a little hot. We have been walking every day. Today Terry and I went to "patio" sales in two neighboring parks. Got some new reading material and a couple shelves for the cabinets. I really do love the weather here and these Martin Ranch parks. They are all connected so you can walk, bike or run the golf cart up and down all the parks.

Mom and Dad's passports came in the mail, so they are all ready to go to Mexico. They can't wait to try them out. We hate to go away during the day in case the inspector comes, but the weekends should be pretty safe. May do that tomorrow.

Bailey has been enjoying walks every day and Neal gets to ride in the stroller. He is very content to do that. He sits up, but very still. If we stop to visit, he lays down. They are such sweeties.

We played Bingo the other night. Mom won the first game, so she was pretty happy. Dad went along and played with us, but he and I didn't win anything.

We are just enjoying the weather and visiting with Mom and Dad. Plans are to leave here shortly after Thanksgiving, but we aren't leaving until all the utilities are in place.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Austin, Texas, and #1 Son Brandon!

We arrived in Austin Monday afternoon. Brandon had arrived earlier in the day, but was at work. In his job, he troubleshoots software issues as a consultant for his company and is here for the week. He really likes his work and does it well. He will leave tomorrow afternoon and fly back to Florida. He will leave in two weeks and fly to Ottawa to work with a bank there. He is looking forward to the job, but thinks he will hate the cold weather. Heh heh

We took him out to eat at the Salt Lick. It is about 25 miles outside of Austin in the country and about the greatest BBQ place we have been to. Just awesome.

We have been doing some sightseeing while we have been here, but I must say. . . the traffic here really makes you want to stay home. They do not have a beltway around the city, so everyone has to go through the middle of town to go anywhere. We thought about going to watch the bats at the Congress Street bridge, but last night they were having a Halloween party downtown and had the streets closed off. Figured we would get good and lost and the Garmin would probably just give up, so we didn't do that. This is nearing the end of the time there are here. . . they will migrate south soon, so there may not have been a lot to see.

We are in the Austin Lonestar RV park. It is a passport park and they give you two free pancake breakfasts EVERY DAY! We will go one last time tomorrow morning before we head out. The park is really pretty forested, but the keep the trees and bushes cut back so they don't interfere TOO much. They really could cut back a lot more, but it is passable. Our site is plenty long enough but not too wide. This is an old KOA. You can tell by the telltale A-frame entrance building. But it is clean and the people are super nice. Where else can you camp in the state capital for $17 a night for FHU's?

Tomorrow we leave for the RGV. Don't know if we will make it down there tomorrow or not, but we will try. Mom and Dad arrived last evening, so they are waiting on us.

Till next time. . .

Dale