Moving Day--Again

We were up early and pulling out of Bentsen Palm Village for the last time at 7:45 a.m., on our way to Green Gate Grove. We parked behind the clubhouse and set out for a morning walk around our new neighborhood. At 8:30 a.m., Gabriel and his crew arrived, ready to go to work. They planned their strategy and set about removing gutters and cutting back the canopy so that it wouldn't interfere with parking the Majestic.

Meanwhile we started stripping the fruit off our three citrus trees. We soon realized that we needed a fruit picker, and one of our neighbors offered one. Steve brought Hardy and Judy's picker over too. Theirs has an extension handle, the better to reach the high fruit in the middle of the trees. Steve and Jan had doctor's appointments this morning, but as soon as they got back, Steve arrived with his tree trimming paraphernalia and set to work cutting the grapefruit tree back so that it wouldn't hang on and over the Texas room. Ken and I cut the fallen limbs into four-foot lengths and hauled them out to the curb, where we were assured that Juan, the park maintenance guy, would come by and remove them.

Pretty soon Jan showed up and set to work helping us remove the debris. Meanwhile Gabriel and crew did a beautiful job of cutting back the canopy and reinstalling the gutters. They cut the center support post off at the ground and propped up the canopy temporarily while we got the trailer maneuvered into position so that we could determine precisely where the post should go so that it would clear the slide and not interfere with the door.

When we plugged into the 50 amp electrical outlet, our EMS (energy management system) reported that we had an open ground, so it would not allow a connection. Luckily, the neighbors recommended a retired electrician who lives just down the street. When he arrived home after his bowling outing, he came over and checked out our problem. The ground wire had been connected improperly. Once he switched it, all was well with the EMS, and he refused to take any payment. This is a great neighborhood.

Once we got settled, I decided to take a quick nap, but an annoying beeping noise made it hard to relax. Of course we thought someone in the neighborhood was causing the noise. It turned out to be us. Our Bigfoot leveling system beeps to alert us that it has been shut down before it has finished its sequence. All we had to do was press "enter" to acknowledge that message, and all was quiet and peaceful again.

Tonight we went to Joe Saltel's dance. Steve and Jan rode with us. After the dance, Jean reminded us that she had invited us over for beer floats. This we had to check out. Jean first served us vanilla ice cream topped with a good oatmeal stout. Then she brought out the last bottle of her son Bill's premium beer for us to share over ice cream. Despite our misgivings, we pronounced the combination quite interesting and flavorful. Jean served pecan nut thins with cherry salsa to go with the beer floats. She usually has something unusual and delicious to share.


Everyone is starting to make plans to leave the Valley for the summer. Jan and Steve are hoping to move up to Choke Canyon on Sunday after breakfast (if they get their trailer back from Bert Ogden with all its problems fixed). David and G.W. will leave on their cruise Saturday. Jean will head for Indiana.