Sunday January 30th 2011

I got Linda up early this morning, well, not to early, but we went to church down at Tip O Texas and got to hear Don preach this morning.  Had a great service, Praise the Lord!!!!  Psalm 100 says make a joyful noise to the Lord, praise Him in everything and all the time.  That is my version.

We went out for breakfast after church to a motel that was a couple of miles from the campground.  Had a great breakfast of biscuits and gravy, eggs, hash browned potatoes, sausage and bacon.  Linda and LaVon had omelets.  The breakfast was excellent.

We dropped Don and LaVon off at their camper so he could rest.  He has a funeral this afternoon and was kind of tired.  Don told us of a job in Kerrville TX where they are going for the summer and it sounds pretty good.  I think we will wait to see what transpires with the other jobs and see what the Lord has in store for us.

It is getting warm out, in fact it is getting hot out.  The temperature is in the eighties now and beautiful sitting outside in the shade.  Sparky and I sat outside for about three hours, kind of napping off and on….

We tried taking a nap inside but the bedroom was 89 degrees and a little uncomfortable.

Two of the neighbors asked us to take their dogs out this afternoon because they were heading to South Padre Island.  Sounds good to me, I was pretty busy but I took time out of my busy schedule (above) to take their dogs out.  Got a picture of Tater, an Australian Shepard, a very nice and well behaved dog…

Isn’t he cute??  He doesn’t even need a leash, he minds and does what he is told.  Kind of not like Sparky!!  Sparky needs a little training!

I took Tucker out also but while I had him out Dale and Velda came home so I could give them their dog and keys.  Glad they could leave and have a good time and not have to worry about their pet.  I will have to get a picture of Tucker.  He is also a very nice dog.  Doesn’t like to walk down the steps but that is OK he only weighs about 90 pounds!!!   Just kidding, he probably weighs in at 12 pounds, give or take a couple.

Our vent fan is automatic and I’m not sure if it is temperature controlled or humidity controlled but it was warm last night when we went to bed and it closed.  Bummer, it was still warm so I figure it is humidity controlled.  It is still cool enough to sleep but I would like to have had the vent open.  Supposed to get very warm again tomorrow and Tuesday but Wednesday is going to be a really cold one.  Going to warm up again next Sunday.  Guess it is still winter!!  Well, I am going to stop now and try to get this posted but with pictures it probably won’t work to good.  Night Y’all….

Saturday January 29th 2011

Warm out this morning and windy!!  Going to be a nice day I think.  I was going to have the propane tank filled this morning but I forgot and when the propane guy got here I knew I couldn’t get Linda up and dressed and everything ready in a couple of minutes so I guess Tuesday will have to do.  I think we have plenty of propane.

Got a couple pictures of Linda’s new hair cut…

The picture of the back didn’t turn out like I would have liked it to…

I think it looks pretty good.  Can’t really tell much about the back but it looks nice.

We aren’t going to do anything today, just hang around and enjoy the warm weather.  I like sitting outside in the shade and relaxing. The wind is blowing pretty hard but still feels good.

Finished up the Mexican Spaghetti tonight.  That stuff sure is good..  I even have time to do the blog so I will get it posted tonight if the wifi here works.  If not I will do it later.  Anyway, will try to take some pics tomorrow and post my blog with something interesting.  Night Y’all..

Friday January 28th 2011

Today is coffee klatch day at the club house. Every Friday morning a group gets together for coffee and rolls etc.  There is usually a pretty good sized crowd there for a small park.  I think today was down some, around sixteen people, give or take.

After the coffee klatch we have a small bible study or discussion.  We were in the second chapter of James.  Have a lot of discussion on the chapters, no leader really, just discussion.

I think it was today that I made a couple of loaves of bread.  Brenna, our daughter, wrote and said she could smell the bread so now I’m wondering if I did it today or yesterday???  I think I did it today.  I had trouble again with the yeast, it isn’t rapid rise yeast just regular yeast so I am going to pick up some more rapid rise and mix them to see what happens.  The bread tastes OK it just doesn’t rise like it should.

I made a couple DVD’s of Aunt Virgie at Christmas and got them ready to mail to Rick and Steve.  Not real good but it is good enough to see all the happenings, I just don’t do a good job of holding the camera.

After the post office we went to Wal Mart, Linda wanted to get her hair cut.  I will have to put a picture in here tomorrow.  She got it cut pretty short.  We also filled up with gas at HEB because of the crises going on in Egypt the price of gas will sky rocket again.  Glad I have my girlie car.  I think maybe we (the U.S.) should get our act together and start depending on ourselves instead of foreign countries.  We are shaky now and with a big hiccup you just don’t know how badly we are going to stumble.

We spent the rest of the day at home doing not much of anything.  Sometimes I get on the internet and it works like crazy and other times it doesn’t work at all.  This afternoon it worked like crazy.

I put in a couple of applications for jobs, probably won’t hear from either one. One was in Utah and the other, well, I’m not sure where that would be.  Hopefully that one would start in Pekin IL and be in IL for awhile.

Not much of anything on TV tonight, maybe that is why I can’t stay awake in the evening, think maybe???  Time to quit, have a great night Y’all….

Thursday January 27th 2011

It is kind of cool this morning but I think it will warm up and be a nice day.  The weather is supposed to be nice through the weekend and then we will get another cold front moving through.  Lows in the 40s and 50s I guess.  It will be cool but this is Winter!!   It did turn out nice, I opened the camper again today…

I washed all the clothes we got at Ropa last night and the sweaters just wouldn’t dry.  I left three of them outside on a lawn chair hoping that they would air dry.  This morning they were dry and I put two of them in the trunk of the car because I’m sure I won’t need them.  I kept one out and my sweater that I have been wearing here I put in Sparky’s cage. Linda got Sparky’s bed out this afternoon because he was not satisfied with much of anything….

He looks pretty comfortable here but he must have moved his head, his ears are kind of blurry.

Linda fixed some Mexican Spaghetti tonight with some of the red peppers we bought at Pulga…

This really turned out great.  I love Mexican Spaghetti.  It sure isn’t like Italian Spaghetti!

Had a new couple come in this afternoon from Rock Island IL.  They used to go to Angelo’s Pizzeria in Rock Falls, for Italian sandwiches.  They do have good sandwiches there, they also make a spaghetti pizza that is great.  The baby spaghetti pizza has to weigh about five pounds.  Charly and Pat, from New York City, call it a spaghetti pie.  It is good whatever you want to call it.

I spent the afternoon on the computer downloading my blog, or uploading it, to the internet.  I also downloaded an application for a job.  I am trying to fill it out but I’m not real good at applications.  Printing things isn’t easy either.  I have to get the printer down and hook it up which isn’t easy and there isn’t a lot of room on the table.  It works, not good, but it works.  The printer works fine, it’s just big.

Not much going on tonight, we will take it easy.  Need to do some running tomorrow and bake bread etc.

PS…Found a little thing in the bible that I really like, it is from Ecclesiastes 9:10   “Whatever your had finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom  in the grave where you are going”.  HMMMM.  I like that.  Do the best you can now, you won’t have a chance later.  Proverbs has a lot of this kind of thing also, like “idle hands” anyway, this is something to think about….Night Y’all…..

Wednesday January 26th 2011

The weather is pretty cool this morning but I think it will warm up and be kind of nice.  Not supposed to get real warm though.

We are supposed to go to a place called “Ropa”  today with the neighbors. We still don’t know where it is but there are a lot of people here that have been there.  We figured this would be another experience that we really don’t want to miss.

When we finally got on the road it was probably about 1PM and we went to another campground to deliver a vehicle to Mary’s brother and pick up a couple of people.  On the way to Ropa, we got separated from the leader, Joe, and we happened to see the place and we pulled in and waited, or looked around, for the others.  They finally called and asked where we were and of course we were where we were supposed to be so we told them and they finally made it.  Ropa is clothes in Spanish and there are a lot of them on this road. This is the road going to Reynosa, MX and it isn’t far from the boarder.  These warehouses are really unique, got a couple pictures…

Wonder where all the clothes come from.  They move the clothes around with a fork lift tractor!  I thought I would look for a hooded sweat shirt,  mine is getting kind of old.  I actually bought four of them and Linda found some jeans, a sweater and some other stuff.  Cost us about $7.  The sweat shirts are in pretty good condition.  They needed to be washed before bringing them inside though.  I thought that if they weren’t very good I could always use them for bedding for Sparky.  I won’t have to buy another sweatshirt for quite some time now.

We climbed over the clothes for about an hour maybe two then headed home.  There are people that make a living going through this stuff.  It cost thirty cents a pound and then they take it to a flea market and sell it cheap there but they still can make a good living doing this.

Taking it easy tonight.  Velda brought over a couple of pictures of Linda and I climbing around on the pile of clothes.  Linda fell down (softly) and couldn’t get up so I helped her.  It isn’t easy walking around on these clothes.  We watched some TV and I really get tired at night for some reason and have a hard time staying awake watching TV so I think I will call it a night and go to bed….Night Y’all….

Tuesday January 25th 2011

Can you believe that this is the 25th already?    We have been here almost four weeks now, it will be four weeks tomorrow (which is actually today). We have been enjoying the weather here even though it has gotten pretty cool at times.  That is OK, even if it is only in the 60s it gets warm enough in the afternoon that we have to open up the camper to cool it off.

We went to Pulga today.  That is a flea market just down the road from us. We took Dale and Velda with us.  Now Pulga is a flea market!  No they don’t actually sell fleas, they are free.  They have almost anything you would ever want.  I found some mauls and double edged axes but I still didn’t see any splitting wedges.  The mauls are pretty much the same price as the flea market back in Sikeston.  I did find a couple used ones that were quite a bit cheaper.  I didn’t get any because we aren’t going to leave for awhile.  I didn’t take any pictures at Pulga, wish I had!  Linda bought a lot of “stuff” and I bought some “stuff” too.  I bought a coffee server thermos for three dollars.  I cleaned it up and put hot water in it with bleach to clean it up.  I filled it with hot water to rinse it and thought I would leave it until morning just to see if it works…(it works).  Linda bought a bunch of vegetables.  I got some Pablano  Peppers and I’m not sure if that is how it is spelled.  Linda found a lot of good bargains and I would like to go back.  We spend about three hours there and still didn’t get to see it all.  Maybe next Tuesday we will go back again.

We decided to make something with the Pablano Peppers.  Chili Rellano  with some of the jalapeno peppers she got.  Only used one jalapeno pepper and glad we did. Those peppers are really warm!  We also made so Spanish Rice to go with it.  Turned out pretty good but there was something missing from the Chili Rellano stuff, not sure what, it was good though.

Not a lot on TV tonight so I thought it would be a good night to play some of the things I had recorded.  A lot of the programs we had already watched and I just had to delete them.  After all that work I was pretty tired so thought it was a good time to hit the hay…Night Y’all….

Monday January 24th 2011

Now I’m going to have a hard time with today’s blog!  This is actually Wednesday.  I have a hard time remembering what happened on the same day let alone two days later.

I think that I may combine some things from Monday and Tuesday.  Monday we went to Wal Mart because I couldn’t get the computer to work. Well, just part of the computer.  I couldn’t down load any pictures.  I was going to buy a new computer but they didn’t have any.  Thought about getting a Net Book (cheap).  We went to another Wal Mart and they didn’t have any either and I took this as a “sign” that I wasn’t supposed to get a new one.

When we got home I thought that I would try the cordless mouse from Linda’s computer and it worked so I tried the camera again and it worked. Glad I didn’t spend the money to get a new one now!

We went to Chisito’s for lunch.  Linda got a breakfast and liked it.  I got nachos and I couldn’t eat it all.  That is unusual for me to leave something on my plate.  That meal was so filling all I ate tonight was a bowl of Cheerios!  We did this before going to Wal Mart (not the cheerios).

I’m sure we watched some TV tonight but can’t remember for sure, no that isn’t quite true, I can’t remember what we watched!!

I think that all in all it was a pretty good day.

Sunday January 23rd 2011

It is going to be a gorgeous day today!!!  It is already nice out, sun is shining the wind isn’t blowing and it is warm!!  Love this weather..

Bad news…can’t download any pictures for some reason, I think it is the computer.  I tried Linda’s camera and no luck.  Just doesn’t want to download anything.  I’ve had this computer for a long time but still works good except for that.  Started with the Kodak not wanting to download and now Picasa won’t take them either.  Not sure what I’m going to have to do. Hope not a new computer!!

Went to church at Blue Bonnet again this morning, close enough to walk. I may try some different ones also.

We have no other plans for today, our neighbor, Velda is feeling better but still not real good.

I sat outside for awhile and Sparky likes to lay in my lap.  He has learned now to jump up into my lap and today I thought he was going right over my shoulder.  He didn’t jump that far but with his leaping after he got in my lap he almost went on over.  He is pretty hyper.  He does lay down in my lap pretty good though.

LaVon says she is having trouble taking pictures of flowers that are red so I took a couple and they turned out very nice, just can’t get them on the computer.  I will try to download them on Linda’s computer then transfer them to a thumb drive.  Might work.  It didn’t!!  I think I did find the problem though, my USB ports don’t work.  My thumb drive doesn’t work in them either so I guess I either have to get the computer fixed or get a new one.  Sure don’t want to get a new one but I don’t want to pay to get this fixed either, probably wouldn’t work very long.  What a bummer!

Well, we didn’t do much the rest of the day, I think it will be a sit around and do nothing day.  I know I was going to write something else but I sure can’t remember what it was.  We watched some TV, not much on and I guess I fell asleep sitting here for about a half hour, I missed one of the shows that we were watching.  Guess I may as well go to bed…Night Y’all….

Well, it started working and here is a picture…

This is as close to red as I could find….Looks pretty decent…

Saturday January 22nd 2011

Today is the day of the big sale here in the park.  I took Sparky for a walk this morning about 7AM and the traffic was terrible.  I forgot about the sale and even if I had remembered it was really early for it to be starting.

We didn’t join in in the sale, I went to the club house to check see what they had and then take a couple of pictures…

They had lots of “stuff” for sale.  Linda looked around and bought a few things.  Guess we needed some more “stuff”.

I made some jalapeno bread this morning, different of course.  I’m not sure if it was cold or what but the bread really didn’t “rise” very much.  I baked the bread and we tried a piece and it tasted pretty good.  We took a loaf over to Don and LaVon and there found out that it didn’t finish baking.  The center had a real soft spot but the outside was nice and brown.  I’m not sure what our loaf looks like on the inside, haven’t gotten that far yet.

We had a good time at Don and LaVon’s, Don fixed smothered hamburger steak and LaVon made mashed potatoes.  Don also made a great salad. We played three games of zilch and had a good afternoon.  We wanted to get home before it started getting dark and we had left Sparky at home so I’m sure he needed to go out.

Sparky and I walked the park at least twice trying to get him worn down.  He played in the camper for about an hour then decided it was time to take a nap.  FINALLY!!! 

Our neighbor Velda, is feeling better, we saw her when we got home. She isn’t tip top shape yet but feels much better.  A few more days and a few more prayers she will be as good as new.

That is about all for today, we aren’t doing much tonight just going to take it easy and get ready for tomorrow.  Not much going on tomorrow either but nice to be ready

Take care and enjoy the winter Y’all…

Friday January 21st 2011

It is COLD this morning!!!  The wind drove in the cold from up North I guess, but the wind isn’t blowing very hard and it really isn’t to  bad, in fact this afternoon we opened up the camper, a little, because it was really getting warm inside.  It didn’t last very long though, maybe a couple hours.

We don’t have anything planned for today, I went over to the “coffee” thing this morning at the club house.  Had a pretty good crowd there.  Nice not to have to worry about bringing in the rolls.

I got on the internet for awhile this afternoon and posted a day or two of my blog and got to read LaVon’s blog but couldn’t respond to any of it.  The internet doesn’t work very good here.

Our neighbor, Velda, got sick last night.  Stomach problem.  Dale took her to an Urgent Care place this afternoon and they did a pretty thorough check on her and found that she has a virus!  They gave her some antibiotics and some other meds for the other part.  Hopefully she gets to feeling better.  We are praying for her.

Sparky isn’t liked very well around the park, everyone stops as he grovels on his stomach up to them so they are nice and pet him!  He will be four months old tomorrow.  He is quite a muscular dog from all the pulling and running he does.  There isn’t much fat on him.

I thought about baking bread tonight but will wait until morning because it is supposed to be colder in the morning than it was this morning.  Guess I will just have to put up with the cold, can’t go any farther south, don’t have passports.

Will stay in tonight and watch TV.  I don’t like to go out at night, my night vision isn’t the greatest and I really don’t trust myself or the drug cartels and the gangs in the area, which according to TV there are about seventy gangs.  I am satisfied with staying in and keeping warm!!  Well, will write some more tomorrow, maybe I will be able to take a couple pictures!!  Night Y’all…

Thursday January 20th 2011

Cloudy today but it is warm. I had my sweatshirt on when I went out with Sparky and it was almost to warm but the wind was blowing so I was OK.

The neighbors have been here about three days.  I saw them when they came in but they really seemed busy then I didn’t see them again until this morning…they are leaving…

This is Glenn and Iris Scott from Austin TX.  When he came out of the camper I asked if my car was in the way.  I hadn’t moved it since they arrived.  We don’t go much.  They are bird watchers so they are gone most of the day.  When I got a good look at him I told him that he looked familiar!  I asked him about the RV School in Bowling Green KY and he said he had been there and we actually went to school together!!   This was about eight years ago and he only took one or two courses, electricity and something else.  What a small world.  They were heading to Dona for a couple days and then back to Austin.  He said they had been around. They drove to Alaska, Nova Scotia and Belize!!  I had to ask about the travels and they were glad to tell about them.  Sounds like they had a good time in all their travels.

We took off this afternoon with Dale and Velda to go to Pulga Flea Market just down the road.  It was closed.  Not sure what days they are open except Tuesday.  We will try it again next Tuesday.  Went to Wal Mart instead.  Got a few things there before heading back home. 

The wind picked up this afternoon but it is still warm out.  There is another cold front heading this way.  I called Daniel in Sikeston and he said the roads had ice and snow covering them.  We thought about going to Illinois to see Linda’s sister Marilyn, she is going to have surgery but I think we will stay here in Mission for awhile.

We watched a couple of our favorite shows on TV tonight, they are getting kind of gory but the stories are good.

Time to turn it off and go to bed, the camper is really rocking in the wind tonight!!  Getting colder out to.  Got plenty of propane so we should be set. Night Y”all…

Wednesday January 19th 2011

Not a cloud in the sky this morning, going to be a beautiful day!!  Sparky and I took our walk(s) this morning and it is just gorgeous! We don’t have anything planned for today, may go see if we can get some Wi-Fi somewhere.

Hard to believe that we haven’t left the campground for about three days now.  We thought about going to the flea market Tuesday but may wait until Thursday.  Not sure we will do it then either.

I guess I don’t have any pictures from today, all the pictures are from the last two days and I haven’t deleted them.  I can’t get the Kodak Easy Share to download them, they are on Picasa so I may as well delete them but I have a hard time backing up my Picasa pictures and the Kodak pictures are easy to back up.

So far today we haven’t done anything, boring huh?  Not to worry, we aren’t spending any money either.   We have a few things that we, or I, want to do so maybe tomorrow.  I’ll see if I can get this to post.  Hope everyone has a great day….Night Y’all….

Tuesday January 18th 2011

This is going to be a great day!!  Supposed to get up into the 80s after the fog goes away and the sun comes out. It isn’t to bad out right now, I think we are getting a South wind and it is warm.  The is supposed to be a cool front coming in this morning and it is supposed to be a dry wind.  We will see what happens.

We aren’t planning on doing much today. We will probably stay in until it is nice enough to sit out.  Now would you look outside…

I put the chair out by the neighbors so when the sun comes out it would dry it out.  It wasn’t wet from rain but the dew.  The sun is really shining bright now and I think the chair will be dried out soon and then it will be time to go out and sit.  Sparky is getting bigger, he can jump up into my lap now when I sit in the lawn chair.  He did it twice today!!!  He is a lap dog.  Not sure why he likes laying in my lap when it is hot outside but he does!

There is going to be a spaghetti supper tonight and we thought we might go to it.  We had a spice cake mix so I baked it.  It didn’t turn out very well, I baked it in a Bundt pan and it just kind of stuck.  We had some frosting so Linda frosted it.  Guess it tasted OK. I didn’t sign up for the supper so I went and checked to see if there was a sign up sheet.  I couldn’t find one so we asked about it and they said that the sheet was already down and they had fixed just the right amount for the number signed up.  OK, no big deal.  As we walked away they called us back and said there were a couple that couldn’t make it so it was OK if we wanted to come.  The meal was pretty good and I would say they probably fixed twice as much as needed and they were giving a LOT away after the meal.

There was a jam tonight at the club house.  I got a picture of the performers..

The couple on the left are professional entertainers and the lady on the right may be but I’m not sure, she is a good singer.  The rest of them were really talented also.  In the bottom left part of the picture is a wash tub, the lady in the yellow played that and it sounded really good!  They had a lot of instruments like the wash board and she played a miniature banjo that really sounded good.

I took a picture of the moon and I am kind of proud of it.  Never have been able to take a good picture of the moon, never turns out…

It is still kind of blurry but just holding the camera I thought it turned out quite well….

I taped a lot of shows tonight so Linda and I stayed up until about midnight watching some of them…It is time for bed…Night Y’all….

Monday January 17th 2011

The fog is really thick this morning and it isn’t quite as warm as they said it was going to be.  I still have to wear my coat and later I put on my hooded sweat shirt.  It isn’t bad but it isn’t great.

Not much going on today, I think we will probably stay home and vegetate again.  Dale and Velda  asked us to let Tucker out because they were going to Mexico for the day.  It will be late in the afternoon when we let him out if they aren’t back.

I took a nap this afternoon (with Sparky).  He does pretty good, a little hyper at first but settles down pretty good.

I wanted to put a picture of Sparky in here.  I can’t tell how much he has grown but I know he is a lot bigger.  He can almost jump up in my lap now when I’m in the lawn chair.  He is pretty fragile though.  I think he has a sore front right foot, not sure why, maybe the sand burrs.

I got to watch my shows on TV tonight.  “Chuck” and “The Cape”.  Other than that there wasn’t much going on.  Tomorrow I will have the camper filled with propane again, we used quite a bit during that cold snap and there is another one coming but not quite as bad… so much for another exciting day….catch Y’all tomorrow….

Sunday January 16th 2011

Well, it is still cloudy out and we did get some rain last night.  I guess it stormed but I think I missed that part of it.  Linda said she didn’t hear anything either.

I walked down to Blue Bonnet again for church.  It was kind of funny because Linda and I watched the movie “2012” yesterday or maybe Friday and then the preachers sermon was on “2012”.  Thought that was kind of interesting.  I didn’t know the movie was based on things that are really supposed to happen.  Doesn’t make much difference to me though, I’m ready.

During the service the sun came out!!!  YES!!!!   When I walked back to our campground it was still cool but the sun was shining at least a little.  You could see blue sky.  Beautiful flowers….

I also took a picture of my shadow but not going to put it on here.  I am amazed though that we have flowers and back home they have snow!!  I’m not bragging or complaining, I love this warm weather but not very far north of here there is snow.

I went to the club house this afternoon to watch “Gulliver’s travels” but the movie wasn’t good so they showed a Chevy Chase movie, Las Vegas Vacation.  I’m not impressed with Chevy Chase and the movie really wasn’t very good but I guess the price was right and Mary had popcorn so who am I to complain??

Linda was hungry for bagels with tomato and cheese….

Can’t remember where we got the tomato but it was really good, well the whole thing was good, I ate three of them!!

Sparky got sick this afternoon, not sure what is wrong but he up chucked about four or five times.  I made some plain rice for him.  He seemed to like it and seemed to feel a little better.  She slept most of the evening and didn’t want to go to bed.  I can’t say the same about me, I kept falling asleep watching TV and that just isn’t comfortable at all.  Night Y’all….

Saturday January 15th 2011

It is warming up outside but it is still raining.  Sparky really doesn’t like the wet and rainy weather (cold weather either).  I thought it was pretty warm this morning but Sparky couldn’t quit shivering!  When we got in I put him in bed with Linda again, he was a happy camper.

Not much going on today.  Linda doesn’t feel good and we will probably just stay inside and watch some movies or something like that. 

I fried up some more chicken to go with the left overs but Linda didn’t want the left overs just the chicken….HUMMMM I thought the left overs were pretty good, I even put some frozen peas in with them, of course I heated them up before eating them.

Really not much going on today, we stayed home and kind of took it really easy.  Will catch you tomorrow…Night Y’all…

Friday January 14th 2011

Well, it is finally warming up outside!! I got up real early this morning, I think about 4:30 or 5:00AM.  Today is the day I (we) get to host the coffee at the club house.  I took Sparky out and let him do his “thing” and then brought him back in.  He didn’t want to stay up, so I put him in with Linda.  He was a happy camper.  I didn’t see him again until 10:30AM  He got under the covers and went back to sleep.  I started the cinnamon rolls and when they were raising I decided to go to Wal Mart to pick up the rolls I ordered yesterday.  Glad I ordered them, there weren’t any on the shelf.  They had three dozen mixed donuts ready for me!!  I thought they were just going to be donuts but there were all kinds of things in there.  Three dozen for just over ten dollars.  Very good.  Got a picture of the cinnamon rolls…

I made two of these and glad I did.  I saved one out for Linda (she isn’t feeling to good) and took the rest over to the club house. I had a can of cream cheese frosting that I put on most of them but not all.  YUMMY!  Love cream cheese frosting!  The coffee went quite well!!  Someone had the coffee made so it was done when I got there.  I just had to clean up a little afterwards.  I did these a little different (so what’s new?).  I let them raise once then rolled them out, put on the goodies and stuck them in the oven.  They turned out very nice.   I could only bake one pan at a time so I took the rest over to the club house while the others baked.  They were still warm and that is when they are best.

After the coffee we had a bible study, or discussion which I thought was really good.  There were nine or ten of us there and we discussed the first chapter of James.  Lots of discussion, I like that.

When all that was over I got Sparky and we went for a walk.  I think I may have tired him out.  He is hyper most of the time and in the afternoon when I was talking to the neighbors he just plopped down between my feet.  When he gets tired, it seems to happen really fast.  Janice (they are from Canada) had to get a picture of that.

I figured that I would try to fix some chicken tonight.  I just baked the chicken with some potatoes, carrots, onions, salt and pepper.  Man that black pepper is HOT!!  I may have used a little to much though.  It turned out pretty good.

Not much going on tonight.  I have been trying to post my blog for a couple of days now and haven’t had much luck.  Tomorrow is another day.  Not much on TV tonight.  I tried a couple times to post the blog but just not fast enough to do it.  I may end up going to McDonalds or somewhere to post it.  Time for bed now though…Night Y’all…

Friday January 14th 2011

Well, it is finally warming up outside!! I got up real early this morning, I think about 4:30 or 5:00AM.  Today is the day I (we) get to host the coffee at the club house.  I took Sparky out and let him do his “thing” and then brought him back in.  He didn’t want to stay up, so I put him in with Linda.  He was a happy camper.  I didn’t see him again until 10:30AM  He got under the covers and went back to sleep.  I started the cinnamon rolls and when they were raising I decided to go to Wal Mart to pick up the rolls I ordered yesterday.  Glad I ordered them, there weren’t any on the shelf.  They had three dozen mixed donuts ready for me!!  I thought they were just going to be donuts but there were all kinds of things in there.  Three dozen for just over ten dollars.  Very good.  Got a picture of the cinnamon rolls…

I made two of these and glad I did.  I saved one out for Linda (she isn’t feeling to good) and took the rest over to the club house. I had a can of cream cheese frosting that I put on most of them but not all.  YUMMY!  Love cream cheese frosting!  The coffee went quite well!!  Someone had the coffee made so it was done when I got there.  I just had to clean up a little afterwards.  I did these a little different (so what’s new?).  I let them raise once then rolled them out, put on the goodies and stuck them in the oven.  They turned out very nice.   I could only bake one pan at a time so I took the rest over to the club house while the others baked.  They were still warm and that is when they are best.

After the coffee we had a bible study, or discussion which I thought was really good.  There were nine or ten of us there and we discussed the first chapter of James.  Lots of discussion, I like that.

When all that was over I got Sparky and we went for a walk.  I think I may have tired him out.  He is hyper most of the time and in the afternoon when I was talking to the neighbors he just plopped down between my feet.  When he gets tired, it seems to happen really fast.  Janice (they are from Canada) had to get a picture of that.

I figured that I would try to fix some chicken tonight.  I just baked the chicken with some potatoes, carrots, onions, salt and pepper.  Man that black pepper is HOT!!  I may have used a little to much though.  It turned out pretty good.

Not much going on tonight.  I have been trying to post my blog for a couple of days now and haven’t had much luck.  Tomorrow is another day.  Not much on TV tonight.  I tried a couple times to post the blog but just not fast enough to do it.  I may end up going to McDonalds or somewhere to post it.  Time for bed now though…Night Y’all…

Thursday January 13th 2011

Another cold day!!  Raining and pretty cool outside.  I got up early and took Sparky out, he didn’t stay out very long.  I was going to leave Sparky on the seat while I made some cinnamon rolls.  He didn’t want to stay there and I finally, well, I am a day ahead of myself, let me think of what I did.  Linda said we went to the UPS store to pick up our package.  The didn’t deliver it here because I had 3900 as the address instead of 3000.  Oh well, we took off and went down there, well, not right down there, I forgot to ask what city they were in.  It wasn’t Mission!  We found the street but it wasn’t the right one so I stopped and asked.  I was given directions, well, I made a mistake, there is a Jackson Ave and a Jackson Rd at the same off ramp.  I took the wrong one of course so I had to stop and ask directions again.  Got to go back and take Jackson Rd.  We finally found the UPS place and they had the package so I took it out to the car and opened it so the foam could go back to the original shape.  Linda wanted to stop at Sam’s Club.  We spent an hour or 2 walking around and didn’t buy anything.  I bet this store does a million dollars worth of business each day!!  I didn’t want to stand in line and Linda had 2 books so I told her to look at the lines.  Really long!

We finally went on home and, well, we stopped at Wal Mart first and looked around for about an hour so I placed an order for three dozen assorted donuts for tomorrow. I will pick them up around 7AM.  When we got home I got started on the cushions…

We are changing the foam here, The orange is the old and the white is the new.  It wasn’t really to bad changing them.  The are nice!!!  The seats aren’t like sitting on boards.  Linda fixed chili and we had a great supper.

Well, not much going on tonight, I think I will be going to bed shortly…Love to get it out of the camper.  Time to go to bed Y’all…

Wednesday January 12th 2011

What is it they say, a picture is worth a thousand words???

It is COLD!!!!

The wind is blowing out of the North West and it is damp and about 42 degrees.  This is the kind of weather I don’t like.  I guess it could be worse. Could be back in Sikeston where the weather is about like this only about 30 degrees cooler, not fun!  Oh, the cushion (back) that is not straight is the one that I hope to fix today along with the one I’m sitting on and the ones on the other side.  To make a long story short, they didn’t come today.  What a bummer!  I figured this would happen, the address changed here and the UPS person couldn’t find it.  I would imagine that they didn’t look.  The address changed from 3900, the one I used, to 3000.  We used an old camping book and the manager said the address has changed three times.  The UPS person did call tonight and I told them I would come and pick it up at the center, or store or whatever it is, they told me how to get there.  I plugged in the GPS and the first address was over 50 miles and I thought I had made a mistake, they I put in another city and street and it is about eight miles, I can handle that.

Don and LaVon asked us over for chili, and I thought that was an excellent idea.  We were going to fix it but we didn’t have the fixins!  I thought that I would whip up a couple loaves of bread and take one over.  I didn’t take any pictures of the bread but it turned out pretty good.  Linda really liked it. I tried something different (as usual).  We have the olive spread that we bought in MS and I used that plus some jalapeno spread plus some parmesan cheese and onions etc.  We are really anxious to try it toasted!  Back to the chili, well, it was excellent, had chili dogs first then a bowl of chili. Then to top it off a piece of cheese cake (or two).  Actually the cheese cake came later, not on top of the chili dog… We played three games of Zilch before heading out into the cold weather back home.  We left Sparky in the car.  He wasn’t a happy camper on the way home, I think he may have wanted to use the fire hydrant, not sure but I think that may have been part of the reason he wasn’t happy.

When we got back is when I found out the foam hadn’t been delivered.  I got online and looked at the tracking and it said it was undeliverable.  What a bummer.  I was trying to get ahold of the sender when UPS called and I was really glad that they had our phone number.

Had an excellent day, was glad I had the camper filled with propane, the furnace has been working quit a bit lately.

We watched some TV tonight, mostly HGTV.  I really like seeing people try to figure out which house they like.  I like seeing the houses too.  Wonder where they get all the money.  Last night a surfer girl, single, bought a house in Nicaragua for about seven hundred thousand dollars. I’m not sure I have made that much money in all my life!!!

Well, time to call it a night, Linda is playing computer games.  She finally made it to bed at 4AM.  She will probably sleep until noon, unless I take Sparky in to wake her up now that is a good idea, maybe about seven in the morning, am I mean or what???  Night Y’all…

Tuesday January 11th 2011

The cold front made it here!  For some reason our top vent, big top vent, over the cab came open last night in the wind!  The darkening shade was really mangled so I got it back far enough to close the vent, which by the way wasn’t latched or something, and the wind caught it.  We heard the banging noise during the night but I thought it was the flap for the exhaust vent over the stove.  Anyway, I got it straightened out and it looks good now without any wrinkles in it.  It was pretty cool in the camper….

We aren’t going to do much today, I think that we will probably stay in out of the cold.  The propane man is coming this morning and I want the tank filled for the next three cold days, I would sure hate to run out.  I got it filled and it took 4.7 gallons which is quite a bit, wish I would have looked at the counter before he started.  Cost $15 which really isn’t to bad.  I think the last time I had it filled was either in Branson or Sikeston.  It does pretty good on gas, better than the engine does!!

The temperature isn’t supposed to get above 45 degrees today.  That is just too cold!!  The furnace works good though so we are staying in where it is warm….

Linda bought some new computer games and she kept busy…Sparky kept busy too…..

He definitely isn’t a cold weather dog. He was snug as a bug in a rug…

We really didn’t do anything more than we had to.  Watched some new shows on TV tonight, Tuesday is one of our favorite nights for TV.

Well, time to sign off until tomorrow…..Night Y’all…

Monday January 10th 2011

It is kind of foggy this morning but not cold.  I wore my sweater out with my hood up.  I think later on it will clear up and the sun will shine.

We looked at a camper here in the park.  I didn’t take a picture of it but it was older and for sale.  Thought about getting one that we could just come to every year.  I think we will probably wait and look around.  Can’t really afford one now.  Judy, one of the planners here, stopped me and asked if Sparky could have a treat.  Why certainly!!  He likes treats.  She also gave me a lemon.  What a lemon…

This has to be the biggest lemon I have ever seen!  It is humongous!  I looked at the tree and the lemons are really big and it is blossoming again so it will have more.

We went to Peter Piper Pizza for lunch.  Can’t remember how many came from the park but I guess I could count them in the picture…

Looks like fourteen to me.  The first lady on the left is Judy and they have the big tree, actually the tree is small, the lemons are big.  Guess it isn’t really theirs but the parks, but it is where they are camped.  We had a pretty good time there at the pizza place and we stayed for about an hour.  They do this every Monday at noon.  There are other parks that do the same thing.

We went back to the camper and later in the afternoon I needed to give Sparky his last puppy shot.  Not fun.  I couldn’t get the “giant” needle to penetrate his skin.  I really felt sorry for him, I sure wouldn’t want to get a shot with a needle that big.  There is a retired nurse here and I asked her if she know anyone that had a really small syringe to give him the shot, she didn’t, but she gave him the shot with no problem at all.  She doesn’t like doing that because she is retired.

Not sure when I will be able to post this but I will try it but may have to wait until tomorrow or later tonight….Night Y’all….

Sunday January 9th 2011

Sunday morning and it is cool outside but not real bad.  Supposed to warm up again today.

I decided to go down to Blue Bonnet for their Sunday Services.  He had a pretty good message, one that I had thought about many times… 2 Chronicles 7:14.  “if My people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” I’m sure there are a lot of people who would disagree with this for our country.  He made a statement that I agree with even though I’m sure there are a lot that would disagree.  Glenn Beck, on public TV, says we need to get back to God.  Doesn’t matter to me if he is a Mormon, he has a message we need to listen to. How many on public TV say something like that?  Billy Graham used to and Franklin Graham I guess doesn’t, not that he doesn’t believe it, I guess he is kind of shunned because of his past.  Anyway, I took a picture or two at Blue Bonnet…

Inside the meeting hall….

The man sitting on the stage on our left is Cletus.  He is the only person I remember from eleven years ago.  Back then I was amazed at how much he could remember.  I sang a song that I figured no one ever heard before, well, it wasn’t well know, but I couldn’t remember how the second verse went and he started singing it.  I was amazed.  He made an impression on me.  My brother Ed may remember him also.  We went to his place for a little singing.  Had a good time.

I was going to go to the Gospel Jam tonight at Blue Bonnet but I was a little late and I couldn’t find a parking place and the hall was packed, not even standing room, so I went back home.  I guess the Gospel Jams there are really good.  I remember eleven years ago they were good.

Not much going on tonight will probably take it easy and go to bed and wait for the cold weather to come.  I sat outside for awhile this afternoon and enjoyed the warm weather.  I think it got up to about 75 degrees.  Was nice sitting in the shade in a T shirt!!   Bye Y’all…

Saturday January 8th 2011

I think today is going to be another warm day.  Love it!!!

We don’t really have anything planned for today, may go to Wal Mart and get a needle and thread.  Our lawn chair is coming apart and I would rather try to sew it back together than to buy a new one.  This one still looks good but is coming apart at one of the seams.

We checked out the new Wal Mart down the road from us about 6 miles down the road, or is it up?  I don’t care a lot for this Wal Mart, it is really big and new but something about it is different.  We found the needle we needed and the thread (fishing line) and a couple other things then headed to Camping World. They have some great stuff there but the prices are pretty steep.  I may end up buying some things that I would like to have but not now, maybe later…

We fixed the Muffaletta  sandwiches again and they were really good.  It is funny because I don’t particularly care for olives but this makes a great sandwich.

I finally got online last night and got my blog posted for yesterday.  I had a switch turned off for the Wi-Fi.  Finally figured it out and got online.  Very SLOW!!  This one should download pretty fast since I don’t have any pictures.  We checked out Blue Bonnet RV Park and it looks about the same only bigger.  The rates there are quite a bit higher than here but we are happy here.  I think I may try their Sunday service there and also their Gospel Jam tomorrow night.

Time to wind down and see if I can get this posted…Night Y’all…

Friday January 7th 2011

Got up really early this morning, I think it was about 5:30AM.  Got Sparky up and out and when he came back in I was surprised that he didn’t want to eat or play etc…

Yes that is Sparky, he just wanted to go back to sleep. I think this is the first time he has done this.

We went to the breakfast at the clubhouse.  Joe and Mary hosted this morning.  They are right behind us.  She made French Toast and I had never had this kind before.  She made it out of cinnamon graham crackers, eggs and milk.  She just layered the graham crackers then poured the egg mixture on top and let it sit all night!!  She baked it in the morning and brought it over to the clubhouse.  It was very good!  Tasted just like French Toast and the consistency was almost the same also.  We will have to try that sometime.

Joe and Mary invited us over tonight to have “Hobos”.  We have had it before but thought it would be very nice to have the fellowship with them and Dale and Velda.

Don and LaVon came over for lunch about noon.  One of the couples at the park are having troubles (Tip O Texas).  The husband is in bad shape and he just accepted the Lord but the wife hasn’t and it is kind of a messed up situation that needs a lot of prayer.  Well, there are a lot of situations that need prayer all over but this is a special one.

We played a couple games of zilch and Linda fixed brownies that turned out perfect!  Nice a gooey and not hard at all.  The convection oven bakes brownies in less than half the time called for on the box!!!  I like our convection oven.

We took the brownies over to Joe and Mary’s this evening and after the great supper we had brownies and ice cream.  We had a great time over there and will probably do this again sometime.

Had another camper come in from Roscoe IL.  Their camper is a little bigger than ours.  They were going to park next to us but the little palm tree was in the way…

They had to move to the next site because the tree palms was touching their camper and may have even gone inside.  They seem like a really nice couple and probably won’t stay here to long.  They are waiting for a part to come for their slide out(s).

Well, we will probably watch a little TV but I am really tired and think I will go to bed early.  Night Y’all….

Thursday January 6th 2011

Just a little on the cool side this morning, not bad but a jacket is necessary.  I spend quite a bit of time outside with Sparky, he really likes the warm weather.

We decided to take in the travel show at the convention center. Not much there for us but the entertainment was pretty good…

The convention center is beautiful..

We decided to stop at HEB after this and look around.

When we got home Linda finally decided to give me a haircut!!  OOOPS!

Just a little mistake here!  Linda forgot to put the plastic thing on the clipper!  Do I look upset??  Mistakes happen… Looks good huh???

If it would have been a little longer I could have given it to the pony tail thing..

I don’t mind having short hair.  I am kind of surprised, the only cold spots are around my ears and neck.

We pretty much took it easy the rest of the day.  Watched some TV and tried making some sandwiches, muffelatas, which probably isn’t spelled right.  The sandwiches are almost regular sandwiches with an olive spread that really makes it taste different.  I thought it was really good but Linda thought that it was to rich.  It definitely was rich but sure tasted good.  I guess these sandwiches are really popular in New Orleans.

Going to stop for now and will be back again tomorrow…Night Y’all…

Wednesday January 5th 2011

It is very nice outside.  We had the camper open all night, even the big window in the bedroom.  The only problem with leaving the window open is the humidity.  The temperature was great for sleeping though and I left the window open until about 10AM but left the rest of the camper open.  The weather is great but have another cool front coming in Sunday I think and they say the temperature is going to get down in the 40s and only in the low 50s for daytime highs!  This is Winter though and I guess we will have to tough it out!!  Got a picture of the neighbors dog “Tater”, I think his first name is Dick, not sure though, and Sparky…

I think Tater is an Australian Shepard, not sure, but they get along pretty good.  Sparky gets pretty hyper and Tater likes to put him in him in his place, on the ground!  Tater seems to be a very gentle dog with a good personality.

We made plans to go to Don Wes Flea Market this afternoon with Dale and Velda and Joe and Mary…

Dale and Velda top left, Joe and Mary Top right and Linda and I on the bottom.  We had a good time, we went over in Dale’s Ford truck.  I thought it was comfortable, not a long ride, about twenty five minutes or so then we got to walk around the flea market and the fruit market.  Linda bought a rock.  Sounds interesting doesn’t it??? She is going to get it warped or wrapped or tied up with wire or something like that.  We also got some onions and a pineapple.  I think the flea market at, or on, Menge was a little better, smaller, but the prices were better and they had a better variety of things.  Oh, Menge is in Biloxi MS or close by.  There are a lot of flea markets here and we will probably make it to a couple more.  The pictures above were from our hamburger night at the club.

They are going to have Bingo at the clubhouse tonight.  Not sure if we will go, I should probably go and get some pictures.  I didn’t. 

We didn’t do much tonight, watched some TV etc etc etc….. We had left overs today for all our meals.  Pretty good stuff… time to go to bed though and get rested up for tomorrow  Night Y’all……

Tuesday January 4th 2011

I think today is going to be a beautiful day, it is kind of warm and cloudy but I’m sure it is going to get pretty warm.  I need a haircut and I think Linda may give me one today. (Maybe) (she didn’t).

There is a flea market just down the road from us and a guy (Dallas) told me it was as big or bigger than Don Wes!  That one is pretty big.  I guess flea markets are a big thing down here.

We had a card we had to mail so we took off looking for a Post Office down the road and it was a lot closer than I thought it would be.  The flea market was closer than the post office.

We mailed the card and then found the flea market.  It was packed and we couldn’t even find a place to park.  We decided that we would try it another day.  We don’t have to get anything just wanted to check it out. 

There is a hamburger, pot luck tonight at the club house.  I took a few pictures, some turned out pretty good others not so good…

These are our neighbors from Pana Illinois, Marsha and Jack.  Very nice people and glad to have nice neighbors here.

We had a good time at the pot luck and one of the people wants to copy the pictures so I will take the card over to her tomorrow.

We will probably take it easy tonight.  We have the camper open and the breeze coming in feels great.  Not going to get real cool tonight but that is OK.  We slept good last night and this afternoon we took a nap and it was on the hot side.  Not real hot but enough to be just a little uncomfortable.  We have plenty of spaghetti salad left and two other people gave us Cole Slaw, so we have plenty to last us awhile.  See Y’all tomorrow!!!

Monday January 3rd 2011

It’s Monday and I think we are going to take it easy today!!! It is a little cool today maybe in the 60s but still pretty nice.

I decided to wash the camper.  It hasn’t been washed for, oh let me see, maybe four months or more.  It is dirty.  Some of the places we stayed had dirt or gravel roads so the camper is pretty dirty.  I had asked Bob, the manager, if it was OK to wash it, he was hesitant but said OK.  It really doesn’t take a lot of water but they don’t want people washing their cars everyday.  After I finished with the camper I took the car to the car wash to wash it.  It really needed it!  I also went to HEB for some pasta.  They sure have some good deals!  Oh, back to the car wash.  Cost $2 to wash the car.  I had to go twice because the dollar changer  wouldn’t work.  I got some extra quarters at HEB…

The camper and the car may not be the cleanest but they sure look a lot better than before.  I also vacuumed the car after I got back home.  Sparky doesn’t like the vacuum cleaner.

Linda made the spaghetti salad for tomorrow afternoon.  They are having a hamburger cookout and we signed up for a salad.  I think spaghetti salad sounds really good and after tasting it, it really tastes good.

Linda had to watch the “bachelor” tonight.  Two hours!  I think the show is stupid!  Thirty girls after one guy, on TV.  That is ridiculous!  Thirty guys after one girl is just as ridiculous!  I played games on the computer and made snide remarks.  Sorry all you people that like this show, this is just my opinion.

We went to bed about 11PM, that isn’t early for me.  We closed the camper up except for one window because it was sprinkling. Oh, I want to add this,  Matt, you are my kind of guy!  Linda and I partied until 10:30PM on New Years Eve!! I woke up at midnight and rolled over!  What a party!!  Thanks for sharing that Destiny….Night Y’all….

Sunday January 2nd 2011

We had to get up early today to go over to Tip O Texas to church.  Wanted to hear Don preach.  We got there late of course.  It is about a twenty minute drive even without traffic.  Not sure where we will go next, might try Bluebonnet again.  It is within a mile of here.

I had to take a picture of the banana tree…

I love banana trees.  I don’t know why, guess I just don’t see very many and I like bananas.  There are a couple in the park.  Not sure how long it takes for the bananas to ripen, well, they don’t ripen on the tree I guess.

We checked out an HEB store over in Pharr.  I really like HEB, they seem to have a very large variety of most everything.  Meats and veggies both look better than Wal Mart.

Went to Don and LaVon’s for lunch.  Had ham sandwiches which were very good.

We went back home after playing a game of cards and relaxed.  Didn’t do anything the rest of the day.  I know that Bluebonnet has a Gospel Jam on Sunday but not sure what time.  We will try to get to that one of these days.

We watched some TV tonight and some of the shows are new. Guess they are done with repeats until a little later. So, guess it’s time for bed.. Night Y’all….

Saturday January 1st 2011

First day of the new year 2011!  I will have to get used to the new year, will probably make a lot of mistakes before getting used to it.

It was very cool this morning.  Not sure what the temp got to last night but was sure cooler than usual.  The cool front made it here some time during the night.  I figured as cool as it was outside I may as well make some jalapeno bread!  Good day for it.  I got it all mixed up and I checked the meter reading just to see how much electricity our convection oven used. I baked three loaves of bread and a pan of brownies.  It used less than two kilowatts of power.  I am happy.  I figure at seventeen cents a kilowatt hour it cost about thirty two cents to do all that baking…

I am getting so used to the convection oven that it is hard to use a regular oven because they bake so different.

We took a loaf of jalapeno bread over to Don and LaVons.  Don fixed a ham and black eye peas for dinner.  Excellent.  He also made a vegetable salad and pickled beets.  Linda took the brownies.  Had an excellent dinner and a couple of hilarious games of zilch.  We wanted to get home before dark so we left about 4:30PM but it was dark when we got home.  We had to stop at the $100 store.  I am still trying to figure out the roads here and which ones to take to make it the shortest distance. I may learn but I will probably forget.

When we got home (we left Sparky home), Sparky was hyper. He was hyper all night.  I have a pair of old tennis shoes that he really likes to play with.  I think I posted a picture of that yesterday.  Anyway, he wanted my shoe, he only plays with one, and he kept busy most of the night playing with my shoe, I had to clean up the mess, he did a pretty good job on it. We finally made it to bed about 10:30PM I guess, we were pretty tired. Tomorrow is another day…Night Y’all….