Saturday March 31st 2012

Today is Saturday and I think that I will go into work again today, I have a lot of mowing to do yet and it looks like it could be a nice day.

We didn’t have any plans for today so in to work I go.  I can’t believe how tall the grass is.  I finished mowing the RV Park about noon and then this afternoon I started over in the mobile home park.  I took a picture of the white fence and outside where I was mowing…

The grass doesn’t look bad but it sure was tall and that poor little Kubota tractor is really getting a workout.  The trees on down the road are Bradford Pear Trees.  The ice storm really took it’s toll on them.  They are beautiful trees, well, they were.

I worked until 5:30PM and got some sun!  I can feel it.  Still have a lot more work to do to catch up. I will have to mow again to make the grass look decent. It looks better but that’s about it.  Next time!

Well, time to take it easy again.  I am getting my blog done early so I won’t have to worry about it tomorrow.  Night Y’all….

Hey LaVon, the blog is better with pictures I just have to take them! 

Friday March 30th 2012

Nice to be home and in our own bed again.  We really enjoyed Illinois and visiting with all the family and friends here.  Sometimes we wished we were back again.  We don’t have many close friends here in Sikeston.

Back to work today.  Got to work at 9AM and talked to Mark for awhile checking on all that had gone on.  Noticed that the grass was really tall.  I started mowing the sites and down in the South part the grass was so tall it was almost up to the seats on the picnic tables!  It didn’t mow well and will take another mowing next week to get it looking decent, it does look a lot nicer though.

This afternoon I didn’t have enough gas to keep on mowing so I used the weed eater for a couple of hours.  I also helped Mark clean and air conditioner that wasn’t working well.  It was plugged up with dirt. When we got done with that it was 5:30PM and time to go home.

I had to take a shower then I had a pair of blue jeans with a big hole in the knee so I cut the legs off.  Should have let Linda do it, they aren’t even.  This is the first pair of shorts I’ve worn since, well, I can’t remember ever wearing shorts but I’m sure I did when I was little.

No pictures yet.  I have the batteries charged up now so I can use it.  I may take a picture today not sure, depends on whether I see anything interesting!

It was nice to sit and relax for awhile.  Our little lights (solar) came on when it got dark so they work!!!

Linda fixed burritos for supper.  Really hit the spot!  We watched a little TV and I, for some reason, had a hard time staying awake! Can’t hardly believe that.   Night Yall..

Thursday March 29th 2012

We are heading back to Sikeston today.  Got up kind of early and wanted to get started early.  The temperature outside is about 42 degrees but looks like it will be a nice day. (by the time we got home it was 85!)

We got on the road about 8:30AM and drove on to Peoria before stopping to stretch.  Not going to get gas here it is still over $4 a gallon.  We stopped later at Litchfield and got gas for $3.85 which was pretty good in my opinion especially for Illinois!

We both got a Reuben sandwich at Arby’s.  We thought it was taking a long time to get the sandwich, we went to the drive through.  When we got to the window we paid for the sandwiches and she asked it we would like a half gallon of tea.  I had to ask why, and she said for waiting for so long in line, she had made a mistake.  Sure we will take a half gallon of tea.  It was very good tea!

When we got to Sikeston we had to stop at Wal Mart for dog food and a couple of other things.  We picked up Sparky then and headed home.

We unloaded the car and I mowed the lawn. Larry, our neighbor brought over a couple of boxes and our mail. Christmas again in March.  Bren had sent us some Christmas presents (we weren’t home).

After mowing I burnt some paper and Sparky acted like he hadn’t been outside for a week!  He ran around like crazy.  He will sleep tonight!

Not a lot more went on tonight. I tried to watch some TV but couldn’t stay awake. Went to bed around 10PM….Night Y’all….

Wednesday March 28th 2012

Today is very cool this morning and it isn’t supposed to warm up a lot, the sun is shining though and in the sun it isn’t to bad but the breeze is very cool.

We are going over to Marilyn’s this morning so Linda can do her hair and I am going to make a batch of cinnamon rolls for her (them).

We made it over at around 9AM just when we told her we would be there.  Linda got busy on her hair and I got busy on the cinnamon rolls. Now I tried to take some pictures and my batteries are dead, so I put in the spares and they are also dead.  I am going to try something different this time. I took a picture with my camera and emailed the picture to myself s right now I am going to go to my email and see if I can download it..

It worked!!!   I downloaded it and then I had to look for it but it couldn’t hide from me!!!  Didn’t Linda do a good job on Marilyn’s hair???  She looks like she is normal now, the last person that did it made her look like an old lady!   She needed it done right and Linda did it!!!!

I guess the rolls turned out OK, I didn’t think they tasted right but everyone else liked them.  Seemed like something was missing or just wasn’t right.

We left and went to Dave and Judy’s for lunch.  Had a great time.  Frank and Maggie were there and it was an excellent lunch and excellent time of fellowship. We left around 3:30 so Linda could take a nap.  She is pretty well worn out.

We were going to go over to Dalmus and Jane’s tonight after church but Jane is having back, hip and leg problems, she is really hurting so we won’t go over tonight.

Dalmus had a great sermon tonight.  It was out of John about the shepherd and the hireling.  Even though this wasn’t new it was very good and had some points in it that I hadn’t picked up on before.  Jesus said His sheep couldn’t be plucked out of His hand and then He said His sheep couldn’t be plucked out of His Father’s Hand, double security, I had missed that before.  Very interesting!

OK, I am even doing this today, not waiting until tomorrow, very unusual for me to do it on the VERY day!  OK, we will probably not do much of anything the rest of the night, it’s almost time for bed….Night Y’all…

Tuesday March 27th 2012

Very chilly this morning.  It is cloudy and looks like it could rain.  I think it is supposed to make it into the 70s today though.  Sure doesn’t seem possible right now!

I can’t believe what I’m doing, or not doing!  I haven’t taken any pictures up here or at least very few.  We have been so busy and with visiting and everything I forget to take pictures!  This is a real bummer!

We met Frank and Maggie and Don and Marilyn for lunch at Parkway this noon.  We had a great visit. The lunch was OK, I had a rib eye steak sandwich which was actually very good, I think the steak probably weighed about two ounces but was very tasty.  Linda didn’t care for hers.  She got tostados I think.  She said they needed some Mexican flavorings in it.  The fellowship was great though, lots of laughs and sharing of things going on around here now and in the past.

We headed down to Morrison to see Tim and Connie (no pictures of course).  Got to see Joey and Candy’s little girl Vanessa which I probably spelled wrong but again, no pictures.  Vanessa is eight months old and a real cutie!  She smiles a lot and she isn’t shy.  I got to hold her for awhile and sit on the floor with her. 

Connie made Mexican Spaghetti for supper.  Haven’t had that for a long time and it was really good. Tim bought a chocolate turtle pie which was delicious and they had some “fried” ice cream, that was the flavor, which  I thought  was good but they didn’t like it.  We couldn’t take it, but if we had had a place to keep it I would have taken it!

We played a game of zilch after the “Dancing With the Stars” was over.  Linda won the game and by the time the game was over it was almost 10PM so we need to head back to the motel.  I wasn’t looking forward to the drive in the dark but it went fine.  Even the oncoming cars didn’t bother my eyes.

All in all we are having a great time up here in Illinois but I think our home is now in Missouri.  Sure nice to visit family and friends though. Missouri is friendly enough, we just haven’t really made many close friends there.  Now Texas is another story, I think we have as many friends in Texas as we do here in Illinois. Well, they probably aren’t in Texas now, they come from all over the US and Canada, which reminds me of Andre and Norlita. They are from Quebec and he is French and she is Phillipino.  Love to sit and talk with them, they are really friendly and being from such a different part of North America we seem to have a lot in common.  Good friends and looking forward to seeing all of them next Fall.

Well, guess that is about all I have to say for today, as Jean Louise, (sister), says I am pretty wordy but I probably don’t say much.  Night Y’all….

Monday March 26th 2012

Today is going to be kind of a lazy day.  We don’t have anything planned until later this afternoon so we can sleep in a little later.

I went outside about 7AM and was going to go for a walk, I don’t think so, It’s raining and really cold!  I think the temp is around 45 degrees but feels like 20!  I walked a few feet and decided my coat just wasn’t heavy enough to walk very far.  I came back in and worked on the computer for awhile.  Linda got to sleep in until about 10AM!

I went to Angelo’s and got Linda an Italian hamburger.  I had some things in the refrigerator I wanted to finish up so I didn’t get one.  Later in the day I think the hamburger disagreed with her.

This afternoon we were going to meet Mike and Cindy at Applebee’s for supper.  I wanted to stop at Menard’s and look at lights for the place in Texas!  A little early right?  We just got back from Texas but I was looking on line at wall lights for the park model and they had a couple really nice looking ones for under $10 which I thought was great but they were on line and I wanted to check the store.  They actually had them so we bought two and then saw some solar lights for $1.79 apiece!  I’ve never seen them that cheap before, Wal Mart’s lowest price is $2.50!  We picked up ten of them.  Don’t know where we are going to put them but we have them now! I also wanted to say that we don’t have a Menard’s down around Sikeston and none at all in Texas that I know of and I checked on prices from Lowe’s and Home Depot and their prices are ridiculous!

We were a little late getting to Applebee’s but made it and they were waiting for us. Linda and I both got pasta dishes.  I know I will get the steak next time.  The steak that Cindy got really looked good.  They have the two for twenty deal and being “old” we got a ten percent discount!!  The waitress was really nice so what we saved we added to her tip. Really enjoyed the meal!

We went over to Mike and Cindy’s place to watch some TV and talk and reminisce about the “good old days”. We had a lot of laughs and a really good time. They watched “Dancing with the Stars”, and I suffered through it!

We got home around 11AM and figured it was time to call it a day, night y’all….

Sunday March 25th 2012

Going to go to church at Harvest Time today!  We like to go there when we are back home.  We don’t have many plans for this week but I’m sure that will change.  We got to go visit Linda’s sister, Marilyn last night at Coventry Village.  She will be discharged tomorrow and will go home.  Hopefully she will be OK.  She sure has lost a lot of weight, to much.  She has lost almost all of her muscle and looks very anorexic.  She has lost her appetite, nothing tastes good to her anymore. Linda and I would like to lose some weight but not that way.

Church was very good this morning.  Love listening to Dalmus preach.  He had a great sermon and one lingering question which no one has answered for sure is “where was Jesus during the three days after His crucifixion?” He has his own theory and it is just about the same as mine. Did he go into hell to preach to them?  I don’t think so, they had their chance and blew it.  My theory is the saints that haven’t been resurrected yet He may have gone to see them and give them hope that “their” time is coming, but that is just my opinion.  The rich man and Lazarus is an example, the rich man tried to talk Abraham into just giving him a drink of water but the rich man had made his earthly choice already along with everyone else, along with the fallen angels and there eternal fate is already sealed, not a fun thing to think about!

After church we headed to Dixon to Wal Mart then on to Franklin Grove to meet with who ever shows up.  My sister, Sr Margaret Anne, (Betty Gay) said she was going to call the rest of the family for a little get together at the little restaurant in Franklin Grove which I don’t know the name of it but in the window is says “open”.  Fred, Ed and Larena, Dennis and Joan all showed up but Fred’s wife Joan was under the weather so she stayed home.

We aren’t sitting in order of age, Ed and I should be turned around.  We were talking of ages and even my little brother Dennis is 65 (still working) I guess he really loves his job and they really like him.  They don’t want him to retire. Ed is 75 and still climbing towers to work on antennae systems. He hopes he is still able to do it when he reaches 80!  Fred is retired, he doesn’t do anything…  I think Fred is 78.  Looking at the picture Dennis is the only one with dark hair and he doesn’t use “Just for Men”, at least he says he doesn’t.

Went back to the nursing home to see Marian.  She just isn’t happy.  She used to talk up a storm and now she doesn’t have much of anything to say! Marian had fallen and broken her hip I think and hasn’t walked since. Guess it would be really scary to try to walk and think you may break another bone. 

Went back over to see Marilyn again.  She is home now and her daughter Sherry and her husband Doug are trying to get her settled in and comfortable.  They have a call system for her to get ahold of her son who lives with her so if she has problems she can call him.  Had a real good visit with Doug and Sherry.

Went back to church tonight, Linda was pretty well wiped out so she stayed at the motel and rested.  I got to see the “Jews for Jesus” at church tonight.  He went through the “Passover Supper” and the scriptures that go along with it.  Very interesting.  We had almost the same thing in Morehouse MO one year when they actually had the “Passover Supper” shown to us by someone that actually knew how to do it and that was very interesting!

We have plans now for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  I think we will head home on Thursday.

Time to say Night Y’all….

Saturday March 24th 2012

Well, we got up pretty early today and got things packed in the car and got ready to go.  Kind of made Sparky scared because he doesn’t really know what is happening.  He knows there is something different going on.

We got Sparky to the Vet’s about 9:15AM and got him boarded.  The gas station beside the vet clinic was $3.65 per gallon but thought I would wait.  Didn’t really need much gas right now.  The trip went quite well, depressing when we got to St Louis, gas was $3.98 per gallon, quite a jump in just a 140 miles.  I waited until we got into Illinois, $4.09 a gallon here, wonder if it will keep on going up??  We got gas in Litchfield for $3.89 or maybe it was $3.99, I can’t remember for sure.

We drove through a lot of rain on the way up but it cleared up around Peoria or maybe before that.  The car is really dirty.

We got checked into the motel which turned out to be very nice.  I think they remodeled the room, new carpeting and new tile in bathroom and a small flat  TV.  We were really tired but decided we needed to go see Marilyn at the nursing home before going to bed.

She is really skinny! She seems to be doing pretty good but is really weak. We visited for awhile before heading back to the room.

We had a sandwich in the room.  Nothing special.  We are going out tomorrow and probably every day while we are here.

We are ready for bed though so…yep you guessed it…Night Y’all…

Friday March 23rd 2012

We decided not to head to Illinois today.  We are just going to relax and get a few things done around here.  Not a lot to do but just relax.

I called my sister, Sr Margaret Anne, to let her know we were coming back to Illinois for a visit so we made plans to meet at the little restaurant in Franklin Grove on Sunday at noon.

I’ve been unloading the camper and we still aren’t done yet.  Got lots of “stuff” to take into the house yet.

Glad I mowed when we got home.  It has been kind of rainy and not real nice for mowing.  I can tell that it will need mowing again when we get back.  It is really growing fast.

Not a lot more to say about today.  Guess it was kind of boring!  Night Y’all….

Thursday March 22nd 2012

Looks like rain today but it isn’t cold.  Kind of nice out in fact!

We have quite a bit to do today, unload the camper, go to town and do our taxes, go to the post office, pick up Linda’s prescription, etc…

I did a lot of running back and forth from the camper to the house trying to get stuff unloaded.  We have lots of “stuff”!!  Going to take awhile to get all this done.

I’m not sure what time we headed into town but our first stop was the veterinary to make a reservation for Sparky for Saturday. Next stop was to get our taxes done. I forgot one of the W-2 forms.  I didn’t even think about that one.  Well, we had to go back home to get it and then brought it back for Jennifer to finish the taxes.  I think I should probably do the taxes myself and save the $65!  It takes her about 5 minutes so it shouldn’t take me more than 5 hours!

We got a lot of the other stuff done and ended up at Aldi’s.  Spent a lot there on things we could have gotten along without but sometime we will use most of it.

When we got home I worked on the camper some more and got a lot of things taken into the house.  I even started the generator three or four times.   It needs to be used more than I’m using it but it sure starts good and runs good.

I’m considering a carport, or camper port, for the camper.  Not sure if I can afford it but it sure would be nice to be able to park it under something.  I’m checking prices and it’s expensive.

We had pizza for lunch. Bought it at Aldi’s.  We added some cheese, broccoli and jalapeno peppers.  It was very good!

Going to take it easy tonight.  Linda had a bad headache so she is sleeping and I will be heading for bed shortly…Night Y’all…

Wednesday March 21st 2012

I wasn’t really raining but sprinkling this morning.  I got Linda up a little after 7AM so we could get on the road.  I wanted to make it home today if at all possible. She didn’t want to get up so I told her when I was ready I would go ahead and leave…She got up!

We got on the road about 8:15 which was really good.  More rain, not good! We made it to Texarkana but the rain started again.  I pulled into a truck stop to get gas and this place is definitely not camper friendly.  The one across the road was worse, I don’t think I could have gotten to the pumps. At least I filled up with fuel and we got back on the road again.  RAIN!!! I can’t believe how hard it rained.  We ran across a lot of accidents and some road work.  Can’t believe how the traffic backs up when it goes from two lanes down to one.  Traffic backs up for miles!  This was in both directions!

After we made it to interstate 55 the rain was down to a sprinkle and the roads were finally drying out.

We filled up with gas in Kewanee MO and the most I could get was twenty seven gallons which was almost $100.  Linda figured out what we paid for gas on the way back and it was around $410 I think, which is about $190 less than I figured it would be.  Still only getting 8MPG though if that.

We pulled into our house around 6:10PM which was a lot earlier than I thought it would be!  Had a pretty good trip but we are glad to be home.

Taking it easy tonight.  I unloaded the refrigerator and freezer and took a few things into the house. I think it will probably take a month to unload the camper.  Next year it will just be the car.  Going to have to cut down just a little on what we take with us.  Have a great night y’all…

Tuesday March 20th 2012

WOW we got some rain last night!!!  A really loud thunder this morning and the rain came down pretty hard.  Was wondering if we would be able to leave or not. The forecast for here in Ganado is for showers but for Houston it is supposed to really be bad all day.  We are only about 90 miles from there and we have to go through Houston.  We took off and drove in rain most of the day and we hit a few accidents that took a long time to get around.  The traffic wasn’t all that bad, bad enough though.

We made it to Marshall TX and stayed in a small campground  called Shady Oaks I think.  The guy was upset because we didn’t make reservations and came in when the news was on…sorry!  We couldn’t make reservations because we didn’t have a phone number and we really didn’t know that was where we were going to stop! Guess he will just have to live with it!

We were pretty tired, didn’t drive all that long but with the rain it was pretty tiring.

We got to watch a little TV tonight but that was about it.  It quit raining, well, at least it quit raining hard.  Night y’all…

Monday March 19th 2012

Today  is the day we leave for Sikeston.  It is pretty nice this morning but the wind is blowing pretty hard.  Hopefully it will blow us home!

Well, it isn’t blowing us home, actually it is blowing us all over the road. We find out now that there is a bad storm coming out of the West and now it will hit us tomorrow around Houston.  Not good!

We got stuff put away and got the car on the dolly with a lot of problems. I have new tie down straps that are really different but are working well, after they are hooked up.  Test the lights….right light and brake light won’t work. I think about half the campground showed up to help with the problem.  I couldn’t even get in there to work on it.  They replaced one of the receptacles in the hookup line.

They are working and I’m taking pictures.  Took probably an hour to get it fixed and working properly.  They did a good job and I’m really thankful for friends that really like to help.

We got on the road about 10:45AM and stopped at the Flying J to fill up with gas.  Didn’t fill up on the way down so it was kind of expensive and we had run the generator a couple of times so I figure 8.1 MPG was pretty good.  Next fill up was 8.9MPG.  Not good but better.

We stopped for the night at Shady Oaks RV Park, in Edna TX, same place we stopped last year on the way home.  Now I can’t remember where we stopped the next night.  I will have to look it up in the blog I guess.  Had a petty good trip except for the wind.  Now tomorrow may be a different story. Hopefully the rain won’t be real bad.  Just have to wait and see.

Got a couple more pictures this morning…

The ladies, Linda, Mary, Elinor, Marsha and Joan are here to look for rocks, say good bye talk etc…

Dale and Velda from Nebraska…

Burnie and Elinor from Michigan…

This is Jack, Joe, Andre, Dale and Burnie.  I think the camper is fixed here…

Linda is watching dancing so I am working and playing on the computer.

Guess that is about all for tonight….Night Y’all….

Sunday March 18th 2012

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood!  Going to church this morning.  It will be our last Sunday here!

Had a couple of good services this morning.  Had a person get saved in church this morning.  I think he had some problems, he said he was bi-polar and he talked a lot, almost constantly.  Wanted to ask questions in church and Sunday School.  I’m sure he wanted to know things but was just a little disruptive.

We are going to El Charco this afternoon, Ed and Joan are going with us. Joe and Mary are taking Frank and Carolyn. The Renaissance  Rockers are playing there and they are really good.

We got there about 1PM and the band was just getting ready.  We had a good time.  Carolyn joined Mary in the Alligator Dance…

I was surprised that Carolyn joined in but I think she is game for most anything just like Mary!  They didn’t play Proud Mary, where Mary rolls on the floor, we left a little early though.

I asked this guy for some information but he was pretty quiet…

We had a lot of people stop by to say “goodbye” to us because we are leaving in the morning.  Kind of sad but most people will be leaving within a couple of weeks. 

Got to go and get ready to head out….Night Y’all…

Saturday March 17th 2012

Another beautiful morning, great for walking around the park, nice and breezy and the temperature is great, about 72 degrees!

We had line dancing practice this morning.  I am learning but I forget almost as fast as I learn.  When Linda and I get home we will have to keep practicing so we will get to where we can join in without looking like a couple of “want a bees” I am enjoying the dancing especially where it works that we can join in on  the dances we know!

This afternoon is the St Pat’s day dinner.  Got a couple of pictures…

Mary did an excellent job on the corned beef and cabbage.  It was delicious. Had a little trouble with the first batch, it was a little over cooked.

Norlita made this dish of stir fry and cut the green peppers into shamrocks! Did a great job.

I think everyone had a great time at the party.

I want to add a little from yesterdays blog, Bernie, Elinor, Al and Nancy hosted the coffee this morning.  It was really good.  Linda even made it to the coffee.  I always have a good time listening to stories.  OK that was yesterday.

We took it easy the rest of the day not going to do much but watch TV and maybe visit a little.  Night Y’all…

Friday March 16th 2012

I’m so bad!!!  I keep putting off writing the blog and then I forget what we have done! 

To start with the weather, it has been nice and cool in the morning, in the low 70s, then warms up during the day but no rain!

I don’t think we did anything really special today, even if we did, I can’t remember what it was!!

We are slowly closing in on the day we have to pack up and leave.  Not looking forward to the drive back.  I imagine we will hit all kinds of bad weather.  We were going to leave Wednesday but decided to stay another four days. We took in Rio Grand City and line dancing will be Saturday morning then the St Pat’s day dinner and on Sunday we will probably go dancing at El Charco in Panitas.

We are slowly getting things put away and hopefully it will be an easy day on Monday to get on the road.  I’m going to say “Night Y’all”…

Thursday and Friday March 15th & 16th

This morning is coffee morning again.  Bernie and Elinor helped, or co-hosted the coffee this morning with Al and Nancy.  Had a great time.  We usually have a good time though.

After coffee we stopped at Bernie and Elinor’s and they wanted to go to Polga, the flea market, to do a little looking around.  We tried a Spiro papa which is a spiral cut potato deep fried and then you put on ketchup, mustard, hot sauce or mayo.  It is very good. I could have probably eaten three or four, they were that good!

Bernie and I sat most of the time under a roof and waited for the women to get done shopping. Linda got a chain for her rock that Mary made for her this morning.

We stopped for an ice cream cone at Stars.  We waited for quite awhile to get them and the manager gave them to us.  Now it is probably close to ninety outside and the ice cream wasn’t exactly solid.  I tasted good but it was melting faster than we could eat it.  Bernie almost lost his and he had ice cream all over his hands and feet.  The picnic table had lots of holes in it!  We had a good time though.

We didn’t do a lot the rest of the day.  Tried to keep cool.  We told Bob we would be leaving Monday and he said he would get the meter reading and the bill to us Sunday night.  Sounds like a plan to me!

This is a picture of Linda and I at a grotto in Rio Grande City.  The tour wasn’t exactly great but probably saw things that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. 

Now I can’t remember if I put out a blog yesterday.  HMMM.  Well, I may have missed a day but that is what we did was the tour to Rio Grande City and we ate at a Mexican Restaurant called Caro’s.  It was OK, different but good enough.  I think we are used to good old Tex-Mex!

Not going to do anything tonight, maybe go to Wal Mart for a little while. Sparky stayed home.

Guess it’s time to say night y’all…

Well, I guess I did forget yesterday so I’m combining yesterday and today.  I may get it right some day…

Wednesday March 14th 2012

Not a lot going on today, waited until this afternoon to do the laundry, should last now until we get home.  We couldn’t do much today, all of Linda’s clothes were in the wash.

Spent the afternoon doing laundry because Frank had one of the  machines in use so I started one and when he got finished I started the next load.  Washing went pretty fast!  I napped during the wash and the dry cycles.  Got a pretty good nap in if I don’t say so myself!

Went to the dance tonight at Mission West, the last one until next year.  Had a good time, I think there were probably twelve of us there.  Had a great time.  Linda and I tried a new dance and it didn’t go to bad, well, not real good either, but for us it was pretty good.  We tried the Texas Two Step and for some reason it just didn’t work.  Very easy dance but not for us.  We had many problems with this easy dance!  Oh well, we had fun anyway.

Got home late and after I took a shower it was about time for bed.  Still very warm outside but bearable with the windows open.  Night Y’all…

Tuesday March 13th 2012

It is another beautiful day, cloudy and warm. Warm enough to walk around this morning in a T-shirt!  Love it!

Today was biscuit and gravy day and I’m going to make the biscuits for this morning.  Well, I waited until about 6:30AM to start them.  I should have checked a little earlier on the things I needed.  I was going to get baking powder when we went to the store and I forgot it.  I still have some and maybe it will be enough.  I started to put all the stuff together and I wasn’t sure if I had enough baking powder or not so I went to ask Joe, he was outside, and Mary said she had some so back to the bowl again. I am making a large batch and sure enough I added to much liquid and it was really sticky!  I rolled the first batch out and put them in the oven.  While they were cooking I rolled out another batch and put them on a pan. I started the second batch and put the first ones in a bowl and before the others were done I figured I had better get some to the club house just in case there were some early customers.  It was good!  I went back and the second batch was finished so I had half dozen more to bake and I put them in the oven and baked them then I took over the second batch.  I left the half dozen at home.

I had some biscuits and gravy and paid to take some home to Linda.  I only had one, I’m not much of an early morning eater.  I like to eat late at night and that isn’t good!

We had a good day today. We stayed home until this afternoon when we went over and played a game of Skip-Bo with Burnie and Elinor.  We always have a good time with them and Sparky surprised me, he laid down on the floor and went to sleep.  He doesn’t do that in the camper, he is always in a chair on on the bench.  I think he is at home there.

Not much going on the rest of the night.  Watched some TV and had a terrible time trying to stay awake!  Going to bed….Night Y’all…

Monday March 12th 2012

Cloudy this morning but I think it is going to get warm!

Went for line dancing lessons at 9:30AM.  Always have a good time doing the dancing.  Learned a new dance today, can’t remember how to do it because it had a lot of moves to it but I think with practice I will be able to remember it, it will take a lot of practice!

We went to the store, HEB, to get a few things.  I am going to make biscuits for tomorrow morning.  They are having biscuits and gravy.  I don’t mind making biscuits,  kind of fun in fact.

We asked Dale and Velda if they wanted to go to Mission West RV park for hamburgers.  I had won a free hamburger at the dance last Wednesday night.  Something different to try!

We left here about 3:30PM and we were told that 4PM would be a good time to get there.  They were right, there was a line but not a long one.  The hamburgers were good and all the time we sat there the line continued to get longer.  We headed back to the camper then at 7PM we had a private dance lesson, with a couple more couples, to learn the Texas Two Step.  The Two Step is easy, the turns are something else.  A little more practice and we may get it down enough to try it at a dance.  Hopefully there will be a lot of people there and we won’t feel so bad at making all the mistakes! 

The practice wasn’t hard but we sure were sweating after that!  Whew!  We sat outside for awhile and cooled off, it is another beautiful night in the neighborhood!!!!

Time to call it a day…Night Y’all….

Sunday March 11th 2012

I think that today may end of being pretty nice weather wise. It is a little cool this morning and cloudy.  It is even misting and getting things kind of wet.

Linda and I went to church at Mission FBC this morning.  Had good services this morning.  Proud Mary didn’t make it, her leg was really hurting her.  She went to the doctor later today and got a shot to help get rid of the pain.

We didn’t do a lot today but decided to go to a Gospel Jam this afternoon at Lamplighter RV park.  Don and Denise, from New Brunswick are playing in it and I thought that it would be a good thing to do on a Sunday afternoon.  Had a good time there but only stayed for half of it.  Got a picture of Don and Denise…

We went back to the camper and took it easy the rest of the night.  Not a lot going on, it was a nice night to sit outside.  When the sun starts going down it cools off and is just beautiful out!!!  Love it!!

Time to say Night Y’all…..

Saturday March 10th 2012

This morning it is pretty chilly and the wind is blowing and I think the “appreciation party” will be in the the club house.

We got dressed up in our Mexican outfits to go to the party.  Hopefully I have some good pictures I can put in here.  I have a video that I can’t put in but Mary, our neighbor did a fantastic job with a song she did.  It was hilarious!  I think everyone loved it!

This is “Proud Mary” and Jack.  Mary kind of overdid the dancing.  She was hurting before the party was even half over!

I had to put this picture of Al and Nancy in here.  Nancy is the line dancing teacher.  She does a fantastic job!

This is Joe and “Holy Mary”.  Mary did the song that was hilarious!  I have the video that I want to make a copy of it for Mary.  There are three Mary’s in the park and the other Mary is “Happy Mary”.

We took a nap after all the partying!  The food was pretty good.  Bob, the owner, had tacos, refried beans, Spanish rice, guacamole, chips, salsa, etc.  Very good feast!  Desert was excellent.  They deep fried tortillas and rolled them in cinnamon sugar, put on a dip of ice cream and a topping of caramel.  All in all it was a great party.

We went over to Burnie and Elinor’s this evening and visited for awhile.  Had a nice evening, Elinor’s brother, John or Frank, not sure now, we are both having trouble with names for some reason, can’t believe it!

Well, time to call it a day….Night Y’all…

Friday March 9th 2012

Well this morning we had donuts and coffee this morning and I think it was hosted by Jim and Sue.  Had a good time this morning.

We had bible study at 9:30AM.  Kermit leads the study and we had about 8 or 9 this morning and had a nice time and a good study.

We aren’t going to do much today probably stick around the camper and take it easy.  I had to take a picture of Frank next door, Sparky got in his lap, by himself.  Frank loved it.  Sparky really doesn’t have much to do with with him and Frank really wants to be friends with him!!

Sparky got in his lap by himself but he is really wary of Scooter who is looking at him and I think he is licking his lips!!!  Wonder if he is hungry?

Can’t think of anything else we did today, so I will sign off for now…Night Y’all…..

Thursday March 8th 2012

I sit and look at the date and wonder where the time has gone, it will only be a few days until we head back to Missouri then to Illinois!

It is just a beautiful day today, at least this morning is beautiful.  Wind is blowing pretty hard but the temperature has to be around seventy.  I am sure it is going to get very warm today, supposed to be in the middle 80s.

I am baking bread this morning.  I baked yesterday and gave it all away so I will bake some for us this morning.  After we gave it a try Linda gave part of a loaf to Judy.  We think it tastes pretty good.  We had some toast and it seems to be pretty light and the taste isn’t to bad either.

We had to turn on the air about noon.  I think maybe it made it up to 90 this afternoon, not sure but it was hot and humid.  Our air conditioner sure doesn’t work well, I haven’t been happy with it since we bought the camper.

I took a picture of our neighbor Frank with his two dogs Scooter and Buddy. They are very friendly dogs.  The yellow dog has the funniest bark(?) or something.  Usually does it when he is hungry…

Frank would really like to be friends with Sparky but Sparky won’t go up to him for some reason and I think it is the two dogs, especially the black one because he is jealous, whenever Frank tries to pet or get close to Sparky, Scooter tries, and succeeds, to get in between them.  He calls Sparky, “Sparkles”.

Tried to take a nap this afternoon and it was almost to hot even with the air conditioner on full blast.

Linda went out visiting, not sure where all she went but I did see her in the club house talking to Sue and Eleanor when I checked the mail.

Paul was in the dog park with Angel when I went in with Sparky, may have been the other way around, not sure, but they played together for about twenty minutes until Danny brought Bell in and Bell is a very large dog and Angel and Sparky are both quite leery of her.  They still had fun though and Paul was asking when we were leaving and I told him and he was kind of disappointed because Angel and Sparky were becoming friends.  They are both very submissive to other dogs and both have a lot of energy.

Not much else going on today, watch a little TV and go to bed.  It cooled off enough by about 7PM to open the camper and turn off the air.  Nice to get the fresh air!  Supposed to cool off tomorrow though and actually get down right chilly! I sure don’t want to run the furnace but whatever!  Guess I will sign off now….Night Y’all…

Wednesday March 7th 2012

This morning I have plans on baking bread over at Burnie and Elinor’s place. Elinor has been using the oven and stove and she seems to really like it so now it’s my turn.

I took everything over to their place to mix it up and bake it.  I think I made it over there about 7:30AM.  I left Sparky at home in the cage so I wouldn’t have to take care of him over there.

It doesn’t take long to mix up the bread, so Burnie and I sat and talked and had coffee.  It raised the first time and I made loaves out of it and then made some cinnamon rolls!  I had them in the oven before Elinor got up, well, before Linda got up to.  After baking the rolls I went home and got Linda up and brought Sparky over.  Linda made it over a few minutes later so we had cinnamon rolls and bread for brunch?

Everything tasted pretty good.  We left a loaf with Burnie and Elinore and on the way home we talked to Ed and Joan from Wisconsin.  We gave them the rest of the bread so I will have to bake bread again in the morning.

We took a nap this afternoon.  Had to have the air on, it is really warm!

Tonight we are going for banana splits at the clubhouse, they cost $1 and they are really pretty good!  We haven’t missed one yet.

We are going dancing at Mission West tonight with Al and Nancy.  Nancy is teaching line dancing.  We were joined by two other couples, Kermit and Bev and John and Carolyn.  Had a good time tonight. I won a ticket for a free hamburger at their park so we may head over there Monday.

We got home a little after 10PM and I let Sparky out, he is such a good dog when he is in his cage.  Finally got to bed late and I’m really tired…Night Y’all…

Tuesday March 6th 2012

Linda got up real early this morning, we are going to go to the Hildago County vehicle place to get the title changed.  I have to pay tax and registration on it and also pay Burnie and Elinor.  Like I said though we won’t be taking it over until we come back down next Fall.

We got there early and there were probably a hundred people lined up outside waiting to get in!!  We may be here all day!  Burnie and I stood in line for about 15 minutes outside and it was cold.  Neither of us wore a jacket and the wind was really blowing and I think the temperature is about 65, give or take a few degrees.  Finally got in and got a number, we are number J76.  At least we got a place to sit down!  The line went pretty fast, I think it took us about thirty five minutes to get to a window and then it took about ten minutes to get all the paper work done.  Not to bad.

After we got home and got things ready we went back down to a “Mail It” Store to send a fax to get our insurance.  This took awhile.  I called the insurance place and they faxed back our papers.  $12 to do the faxing!  I should have bought a printer and emailed them.

After this we went to Wal Mart and I did buy a printer.  I still had to send one more paper to them with my signature.  The insurance was really reasonable, $201 per year.  I was happy about that.  The printer was just a little different than the one we have at home so I had to go through a lot of stuff to get it to work, and after I got it working, I think I spent about two hours trying to find the paper I scanned and wanted to email.  Finally got it!

After this we went over to Burnie and Elinor’s to let them know we had it insured and they can cancel their insurance.  Elinor was really busy using the stove!!!  I had to take a couple of pictures of her making bread!!

She made sour orange bread.  The orange tree just outside the kitchen window has both the sweet and sour oranges.  Elinor said she really likes the stove, she had used the top to cook with and now the oven.  I think I will make bread tomorrow and bake it in that oven.  Give it a try anyway!

Here is a picture of Burnie and this is how he was dressed this morning when we were standing in line…

These are a couple of the pictures of the inside of the house also.  Nothing special but I think it will be very comfortable.  They have really enjoyed it for the last ten years.

Well, tonight we had some pork fajita's!  They are good and we will have enough left for a long time.  I think there was over five pounds of meat and it filled the crock pot.  She couldn’t get the pablano peppers in it so she will have to add them later.

Time to call it a day….Night Y’all…

Monday March 5th 2011

It is very nice out today, supposed to be sunny and warm!  Love it!!!

I went to line dance practice this morning. Had a good time, I’m not very good at it but I may as well give it a good go and maybe I will be able to join in at some line dancing dances.  Nancy says that Wednesday night they are having a dance at Mission West so we may try to go to that one.

We were going to do the title change this morning but I really didn’t want to miss the practice. I need all the practice I can get.  Burnie said it was fine to wait until Tuesday.

I do have some things to do today, I have to call the insurance man and make sure he gets a copy of the insurance to Bank of the West.  I also had to go out and find the parts to hook up the stove.  They were missing a part, well, they didn’t have the right size.  I thought the propane place would have them, but I ended up going to a hardware store and getting them.  After hooking up the gas I gave it a try and it works…good.  I was going to make some bread and bake it over there  this morning but it is already past noon so I guess I will wait.

We took a spray bottle over to check for gas leaks and I didn’t see any!  I showed Elinor how the stove worked but I’m sure she could have figured it out for herself!

We pretty much took it easy the rest of the day. It got nice out today, almost perfect, maybe a little windy but excellent weather!  Time to sign off for today…Night Y’all…

Sunday March 4th 2012

It’s our anniversary today!  40 years!

I went to church at Mission FBC and the service was a step above the ordinary!  The ordinary are good this was real good.  He was preaching on the Sermon on the Mount.  “Blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted”. For a short verse he really did an excellent job, really made people think.  There is a couple from Morrison IL and she was really crying when the service was over. Her name is Pat.  I don’t put the last name in the blog of most anyone but once in awhile a Pastor or a business man would like the publicity, right, like everyone reads my blog!

Linda and I went to Pappadeaux’s for our anniversary dinner.  I really like their linguini pasta.  I tried a new one today and it wasn’t as good as the one Linda got but they were both great and the assistant manager treated us to a sampler desert for our anniversary.  Her name was Catherina I  think but I’m not sure now, she was very nice and the place was really busy for 3PM!

Burnie and Elinor brought us a beautiful bouquet of flowers…

I can’t remember the name but Elinor called them Dutch Orchid but I think they are some kind of iris.  Whatever they are they are really nice…

Took Sparky for a walk again and it’s time for bed.  We have had to open the bedroom window last night and tonight.  It is still really warm, maybe tomorrow it will cool off….night y’all….

Saturday March 3rd 2012

Well, this morning I have dance practice, line dancing, not ballet!  I am enjoying the line dancing.  Wasn’t sure until I started and I guess the first day I felt like quitting but I’m sticking it out.

We went to HEB this afternoon to get some groceries. We took a bunch of coupons with us and ended up buying about $55 worth of groceries and saved about $28!  We bought a bunch of stuff we probably didn’t need but can use all of it sometime.

Went to the flea market with Burnie and Elinor for about an hour and had a great time.  I like walking through the flea market.  Linda bought me a hat, a sombrero, that I will wear to the pool party next Saturday.  Linda also bought a pair of boots that people here say is a great buy.  She likes them and she is wearing them to get used to them.

Tonight we went over to Burnie and Elinor’s and played some games.  Had a great time.  They are really interesting people.  Can’t remember who won the games and it really doesn’t matter, we just had fun.

Got home about bed time. Took Sparky for a walk then went to bed….Night Y’all…

Friday March 2nd 2012

I did it again!!  I am almost four days behind and now I have to try to remember what we did the last couple of days!

I think we went to see if we could find a part for the stove but had no luck so we went to Conn’s and bought a new one.  I will take a picture of the new one when we get it, well, when Burnie and Elinor get it.  They are supposed to deliver it Sunday.

We got a letter in the mail from Bank of the West and they need to see the insurance for our camper.  Well, trying to get ahold of Bank of the West is, well, kind of ridiculous.   I tried but no luck.  I will get ahold of our insurance agent and have them fax the declaration sheet.  They are pretty good at that kind of stuff.  Seeing how it is Friday we can’t do much of anything because most places are closed on the weekend.

Linda went to the happy hour and had a pretty good time.  We aren’t going to do much tonight just stay in and relax.  Night Y’all

Thursday March 1st 2012

Here we go, March 1st already!!  This morning is just beautiful outside, the temperature is about 70 and a little breeze, maybe quite a little breeze but it sure feels nice outside.

We stopped at Bernie and Elinore’s place and told them yesterday that we bought a new stove, well I took a picture of the old one…

Kind of tight quarters in the kitchen but this is the old one.  The stove works fine but the oven thermostat is broken and with all the bread I bake we need one that works.  I will put a picture in of the new one Sunday after they deliver it.

I also had to take a picture of the Texas Blue Bonnet!   This is just outside the door at Bernie”s…

I’ve never seen the Texas Blue Bonnet up close. They are very small but very colorful. I believe it is the Texas State flower!.   You can see them growing wild in the ditches along the freeway but can’t stop to look. Can’t pick them either if I remember right.

Our neighbors across the way are heading back home.  They stopped over to say good bye, I thought they had left already but they were just hooking up their trailer with the Harley in it, you may be able to tell that he is a Harley guy just by the way he looks…

They are really fun people and characters, just like Linda!  Linda gave them a box of Mexican cookies because he mentioned he liked them. Then he gave her a box then she gave him another box and it was back and forth like that.  Ken’s birthday is February 6th the same as Linda’s.  For some reason Ken thinks I’m a biker too.  Love motorcycles but people are never on the lookout for people on bikes and down here they aren’t on the lookout for anything else either.  People drive crazy down here.  Dee is also a character.  They’ve been here before and will be back next year. They are going to bring his mother back, she is 92 and likes to square dance!

We were going to go to a dance tonight but decided against it. It is really hot and we are really tired!  Maybe next week.

I tried to watch TV tonight but can’t keep my eyes open, think maybe the heat had something to do with that.

Time for some sleep. May open it up, the temp is dropping off but it is still in the upper seventies….Night Y’all….

Wednesday February 29th 2012

Last day of February and it’s leap year and also Bren and Darin’s anniversary!  Happy anniversary Bren and Darin!

Sparky and I made our laps around the park this morning and Bernie stopped me and asked me in for a cup of the coffee they really like.  It is called  Don Pedro I think.  My first taste was really strong!!! Not bad but really strong.  After a few tastes it was more tolerable.  We sat out on the patio and got to watch the Starlings fly around their house and chase the sparrows out.  Sitting on the patio was really nice!  The temperature was great the sun was shining and a little breeze was blowing and I just didn’t want to leave.  Elinor joined us and made another pot of coffee that wasn’t quite so strong.  Linda was still sleeping so she missed out on a wonderful time!

I think it is going to get pretty warm today.  The sun is really hot so I will turn on the air conditioner a little later.

Linda is going with the ladies to a brunch and fashion show about noon.  There are nine ladies going I believe.

Yep, I turned the air on and I went outside and sat in the lawn chair and when the wind quit blowing I went back inside.  I closed of the bedroom and the bathroom and turned the air up so it would keep it around 85 degrees.  At least the air conditioner cycled on and off and kept it decent in here.

Linda got back and we went to Conn’s, an appliance store, to look at a stove again. An apartment size stove that is 20 inches wide is hard to find and there isn’t much of a selection but they had one that would work perfect in the park model.  We bought it and they are supposed to deliver it Sunday and set it up.  I thought about doing it myself until I saw the parts and I figured I should let someone do it that knew what they were doing! Then when we stopped at Bernie and Elinor’s and saw what would have to be done to unhook and hook up the new one I was glad I spent the extra money!

Banana splits tonight.  We went on over and then went and taught Elinor and Bernie how to play Zilch.  Had a good evening. I think Bernie won!

So much for a nice warm day.  Got to open the camper about bed time and I think we will sleep good!  Night Y’all…