Saturday February 13th 2010

This is Saturday morning, pretty nice day, cool but supposed to get warmer.   Thought I would take a little walk and got these pictures of Grackles.  Now I think these birds are neat.  They are a little smaller than a crow and bigger than a black bird.  They have a unique sound.  Nothing like the “caw” of a blackbird but they have a high pitched whistle (?) and they have a grating sound that is really hard to describe.  I think the first time we came down here in the 90s was the first time I ever saw and heard one and I think I relate that time, which was really good, to now or every time I hear one.  I don’t think other people like them very much but I love to hear them talk, or sing or what ever they do.

Linda and I took it easy yesterday, got a couple things done here at the camper, watched the “Incredible Hulk” on TV then watched a “Country Family Reunion”  which lasted about 4 hours.  I’m not looking forward to the trip on Monday.  It will be about 400 miles, after we get hooked up. That is going to be one long day.  Guess we will have to rest up tomorrow.

Friday February 12th 2010

The sun is shining this morning!!  The wind is blowing!!!  It is chilly!!!!  Oh well, better than snow and below zero weather:-)   Had to do laundry this morning, the washers are small and expensive and the dryers are the same.  Couldn’t get the clothes completely dry for $1.25 and wasn’t going to put in another $1.25.   Guess I am kinda cheap.  No guessing about it, I am cheap.  We have a meeting with some friends at La Faria at 11:30.

Above are Gene and Jane.  We met them at Lake Pointe RV Resort here in Texas, well, that is where we came from last week.  I had coffee every morning at Lake Pointe with the coffee club at 7AM every morning and Patricia, Jane”s sister, was there every morning except maybe one when she had to take Milt to the Doctor in San Antonio.  We were at Church’s chicken place and had a really good visit and some good chicken too.

I had the waitress take this picture and she did a superb job.  I have asked others to take pictures and they usually turn out blurry but this one is really good.  Gene and Jane will be going back to Lake Pointe this summer to work, we aren’t sure what we will be doing, still up in the air.

When we got back to the camper I was tired and took a short nap, we also called Frank and Maggie and let them know we probably wouldn’t meet them to hear Ronnie Furr sing.  We have been on the move since we got here and may stop for awhile and take the night off.  Linda wants to get rested up, we have a long trip on Monday going to Conroe TX. 

I was going to say that Gene and Jane taught us how to play Jokers and Pegs.  That was a couple years ago and my memory isn’t real good.  If we get together they will have to explain to us again how to play cause I can’t retain that kind of stuff.  Going to watch some of the Winter Olympics I guess….Until tomorrow…..

Thursday February 11th, 2010

Today is another rainy day, cool and the wind is blowing.  We went to Frank and Maggies again this morning for breakfast.  I think we are gaining weight!!   Can’t figure that out.  We had a good visit and got a call from Terri  Furr about our post on the blog.  I put her name as Tracy, and I corrected it to Terri.  I think we are going to see them again tomorrow night.

We met another couple this afternoon. Bill and Debra worked at Amazon in 2008 when I was there.  We had a good time and Bill really kept things from being boring.  He was a real laugh.

We stopped at chili’s for a burger and a lot of laughs.  We had a great visit and got caught up on what they had had been doing for the last year or so and what they plan on doing.  We don’t know what we will be doing this summer, it is still up in the air.  Have a couple of jobs that we could do but….we have to do a lot of thinking before taking one.  Well, I am about to take the rest of the night off

Wednesday February 10th 2010

This morning is cool and cloudy, not raining yet though.  We contacted Gene and Jane and are trying to figure out the best time to get together. I think Friday will work but need a little more planning.  I got in contact with Bill and Debra and are trying to figure out a time to get together with them also.  They are pretty busy and we are kind of busy too.  We went to HEB yesterday to get a few things. When we left I completely got lost and ended up in Mission about 20 miles out of our way.  We figured we were somewhere where we weren’t supposed to be so Linda got out her trusty little compass and found out that we were heading West instead of East.  I wanted to argue but decided I shouldn’t since I saw a sign saying Mission, which is a long way from Donna.  Before we left I started a batch of bread and was letting it rise while we were gone.  Glad it wasn’t a big batch, cause it really worked.  I finished it when we (finally) got home. Turned out pretty good.  We were going with Frank and Maggie to see a friend of theirs sing at a saloon, I think the name was the Horse Shoe Saloon.

This is Ronnie Furr and he does an excellent job of singing.  We stayed for about an hour and he didn’t stop singing, one song right after another.  We had to leave though, the atmosphere wasn’t to our liking and there was a lot of smoking also.  His wife, Terri, I think, is in the top picture with her back to us.  He is over 39 years old and really has a good voice.

After this we left and went back to Frank and Maggie’s and she fixed chili so we had supper with them again!!  Linda is going to forget how to cook! We are also going over for breakfast tomorrow.  Went home about 9PM and relaxed for awhile then hit the sack.

Tuesday February 9th 2010

Turned a little cool this morning, have to run the heat but the sun shines part of the time and it isn’t raining.  Guess I can handle that.  We called Frank and Maggie to ask if we had planned anything today (I can’t remember).  We had made plans to go to the jam at Bit O Heaven at 12:30.  We got there early and they were there also.  The jam was pretty good.  Some of these seniors are really talented.  My pictures didn’t turn out the greatest but I will put at least one on here.  We sat towards the back and I had to hold the camera up (telephoto) to get a decent picture.

I think this lady was kind of a comedian.  Her song was funny, it was about a spinster going to bed taking out her eye and false teeth and a burgler hiding under her bed.  The jam lasted about 2 hours.  We left just before the last singer so we could get out before the rush.  I think there were probably around 200 in the meeting hall.  After we left we went to Frank and Maggie’s for coffee.  They asked us to stay for supper so we went back to our camper and got desert and a salad.  The supper was one of my ultimate favorites….LEFTOVERS!!!  YES!!!  We had BBQ beef, scalloped corn and potatoes, FRIED CABBAGE (UMMMM), string beans, the salad Linda made and desert I made (from yesterday, the sour orange stuff).   Ate way to much…

The picture above is Frank and Maggie and the spread, which was better than most restaurants!!  Excellent dinner!!! Thank you Maggie and Frank! After we finished the fellowship we figured we should stop at Wal Mart for a few things.  Big mistake.  Couldn’t hardly get into the parking lot, so we turned around and came home.  Watched our favorite programs and went to bed.  We have plans tomorrow afternoon to go with Frank and Maggie to see their friends, the Furrs, singing somewhere.  I will have to take some pictures of that.  Time for some sleep…..

February 8th 2010

This is Monday, a little cloudy today but not to bad.  The temp is comfortable and I think it will be a nice day.  I decided to try to make the sour orange pie.  Can’t remember the ingredients though.  Linda says it was OJ, sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese.  Well, I had to do my own thing and added ricotta cheese, powdered sugar, and a little flour to help get it a little more solid.

Had to take a picture of it.  I was to cheap to buy a graham cracker crust so I whipped up a flour one that didn’t turn out the greatest but it is OK. The filling turned out OK too.  Well, it tastes like a cross between cheese cake and well, something else, not sure what.  I guess it will pass.

I went to a different park today, Casa Del Valle and had an interview with a person from Adventure land.  I have a job if I want it but not sure if I really want to do that.  The best part would be being close to Sterling and Rock Falls to see family and go to the family reunion.  The job sounds OK, I think I would be working in food, not sure what kind of food but that is the department. 

We took a ride to Rio Hondo to see Gene and Jane and I think they were fishing or something. Was a pretty good ride though.

When we got home Frank and Maggie stopped by and we tried the desert. Nobody got sick so I guess it passed that test.  We went to a Mexican restaurant called Fiesta and had a great meal.  The service was also great even if it was a little slow, but they had a big party in the other room and we weren’t in any hurry.   Going to watch a little TV tonight and think about the summer job…..

February 7th 2010

This is Sunday, went to Bit O Heaven to church with Frank and Maggie.  Saw Jim P and his wife Jenetta there.  Wasn’t really expecting to see them but was glad I did.  I didn’t take the camera of course so I didn’t get a picture of them. Frank, Jim and I all worked at the steel mill together.

The above picture is the place they had church and also the sing tonight. It was a good service and then Linda and I came home and spent the afternoon at home taking it easy.

This picture is the preacher/singer and he had a good service this morning. Liked his message, but he used a different bible and couldn’t follow the scripture very well.

Out of all the singers tonight I think these 2 were my favorite.  They had a good song and their voices were very good for as young as they are! Didn’t know the song but it had something to do with “the worst thing is being alone”.  All songs tonight were gospel songs.

This is super bowl Sunday.  I’m not real interested in the game but I am watching a little bit of it.