Moving Day

We took a last walk around Bentsen Palm Village this morning. We were surprised to see several hawks circling overhead. Then they were joined by more, and as we looked around, we counted 17 hawks circling overhead, quite a sight.

We've been sitting still for three months, so packing up to leave and hitching up were very unfamiliar feeling tasks. We went up to the office to check out and pay our final month's electric bill. The nice lady at the desk turned out to be Mark Brown's wife, and we thanked her very much for being so patient when Mark was out so late working on our plumbing leak.

We drove over to Tropic Star for our C-1 lesson. When we arrived it was noon, so we fixed a lunch and went into the hall to eat and wait for the class to start. I finally had a chance to call Julie back. Yesterday she had left a voicemail that wasn't too clear, but mentioned an accident and damage to Ed's car but said he was okay. It turns out that he was the third car in a three-car pileup on a rain wet road. No one was hurt, and Ed's airbag didn't even deploy, but the front end of the car was damaged, and he was pretty shook up.

Doris came to class with her friend again, and without Bob, who felt even worse today than yesterday. We're hoping he recovers soon. Doris danced a couple of tips with Don and one with Ken. We learned Linear Action and Zing, neither of which is too difficult, and reviewed Percolate and Relay the Shadow and several others. We're really doing pretty well, but we don't like getting muddled, and that's bound to happen in lessons. Everyone is good natured about the mistakes and helps each other out, fortunately.

After the lesson we headed to Edcouch and checked in. I'll get to hitch up and park the rig for a while, because both require twisting around to look out the back of the truck. It felt good to get our house back together, especially since it was quite windy outside. After supper we went over to the exercise room, hoping to find treadmills and TV, but instead found an exercise bike and an elliptical trainer and no TV, so I played my Motzart Pandora channel on my Droid. The elliptical trainer is much more strenuous than a treadmill, and 15 minutes was about all I could handle. Ken rode the bike, which he also felt was challenging.

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Mariachis!

We started the day by going to our C-1 class at La Hacienda with Darryl Lipscomb for the last time. We're "graduating" to attending his C-1 workshop  instead. Today we learned to Relay the Shadow and Checkover, among other things. Now we have only a few calls left to learn, but we have been dancing all the C-1 calls mostly from a single starting formation, so it will take a while for us to feel comfortable with doing them from all the possible starting points.

We talked with Doris at the class. She has seen the orthopedic surgeon, who took some x-rays and now wants to do a dye injection to see more clearly what's going on. She sounded impressed by the doctor's experience with scoliosis patients and his understanding of her situation.  She also has an appointment with Dr. Six towards the end of March, but she still has to get her CAT scans from up north to him. She was dancing with Lila today because Bob was at home with a sore throat. Her friend Karen had flown in from Salem, OR, to visit for a week and was observing the class. She seemed much quieter than Doris, but evidently they have been best friends since they lived in Denver together many years ago.

We headed home for a quick lunch and then set out for Palmview High School to attend a mariachi performance. As we were headed north on Bentsen Palm, we got a call from Steve. They and Pottingers were traveling together and had gone to the new school, where they had directed us, and found out that the show was actually in La Joya. We met and followed them out to the school, arriving in time to find some good seats in the balcony.

The performing arts center at the high school was state of the art and would have put many community arts centers to shame. The show was equally impressive. The musicians and dancers were skilled and energetic, and they presented a varied selection of dance and music from various areas of Mexico and South America. The costumes were colorful and flashy, and the lighting was varied and dynamic. All in all it was quite an experience.  The show included three performing groups: Mariachi "Los Lobos," Grupo Folklorico "Ozomatli," and Conjunto "La Tradicion." All the performers were in 9th through 12th grades and must maintain academic excellence to participate.

We forgot to take the camera, so the photos we have were taken with Ken's Droid from the balcony, so it's a wonder that any of them came out as well as these two did:

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Leak Repair Success!

One of the pluses of being in site 244 is that we back up onto the dog run and a field where cattle graze, so we get to see some interesting animal behavior. This morning we watched a man with a dog and a ball. We've seen lots of dogs chasing balls, but this one was different. First Ken noticed that the ball was a large red one. Then we saw that the dog was moving it about using only its nose. It looked like a soccer player as it pushed the ball back to its owner. When the ball was lodged against the fence, the dog managed to toss it up and balance it on its nose, like a trained seal. This provided us with entertainment during breakfast.

After breakfast we drove over to Mission Bell where we dance to Darryl Lipscomb. This morning I danced with Jean. She'll be leaving the Valley on March 10. I'll miss her--she's been a great partner and I've been lucky to have her to dance with. She's an accomplished dancer and very sociable and nice. Our C-1 class level tip included Marty and Kit, Clint and Helen, and Bill and Marlene. We did well with lots of help from the experienced dancers.

After the dance we drove over to McAllen to see if we could get our vacuum power brush fixed. The guy who looked at it concluded that there was nothing wrong with it. He explained that it is vacuum driven, so if it wasn't spinning fast enough and working effectively, it must be a problem with the vacuum cleaner. We thanked him and went home to wash the filter and change the bag on the Dirt Devil. Although the bag had not seemed overly full, the difference was dramatic, and the whole rig got swept.

This afternoon was the test for Mark's latest efforts to stop our leak. It was with hope but trepidation that I got ready to hose the side of the slide. First I taped off the window and the slide seal area, although we did not think these areas could be involved. I turned the hose on the crucial area and let it run at fair pressure for a minute or so, and then I waited five minutes before checking to see if any water had appeared in the slide corner inside. So far, so good. I decided to wait a few more minutes and look again, then went out to spray more heavily and for longer. Successive checks inside were negative, so I removed the tape from the window area and hosed it all again. When no leak appeared, I removed the rest of the tape and really hosed the area heavily. Success! I called Mark and thanked him for his persistence and insight.

We paid two RV dealers hundreds of dollars to fix the leak with no success. Mays RV told us they had removed the screws and put sealant in the holes. Watching Mark remove the screws, it didn't appear that the screw holes had been sealed. We were surprised to see how large the gap was between the sidewall of the slide and the metal strip along the outside. Mark pumped a lot of sealant into the gap, and that may have been the key.

Ken started preparing the bike rack and other areas for painting. He spent a couple of hours sanding the rust off, but the wind was too high to spray paint. It's springtime and the sunshine is encouraging us to catch up on our maintenance tasks.

Tonight we watched our recording of the Olympic Women's Figure Skating Finals. All of the skaters were impressive, but the gold medal winner, 19-year-old Korean skater, Yu-Na Kim, was entrancing.  We are casual skating viewers, but we learned a lot about some of the finer points by watching the skating during this Olympics.  We really liked the Americans Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu. Although they didn't medal, they're definitely talented and at sixteen should have more Olympic games in their futures. Both have appealing personalities too. Read more!

Bike Ride

We took a bike ride this morning to the park,this time remembering to take the binoculars so we could get a little better look at the birds. The sun was shining and the sky was a deep, clear blue, but it was cool and very windy. The windy part means that I had to shift to 1-3, a very low gear, and still made only 7 mph heading into the wind (although that may be a reflection of my being out of shape rather than the actual force of the wind).

In the last couple of weeks the redwing blackbirds have invaded, and we saw many of them in the park, jostling with the green jays and the kiskadees and the cardinals and the Altamira Orioles for access to the feeders. They are a noisy bunch! We did see plenty of birds at the feeders, but almost none in the resacas--only a few grebes. I didn't notice a single butterfly--between the freeze killing them off and the wind blowing them away, they didn't stand a chance.

How about those Green Jays???	Peeking out

Free souvenir! Woohoo!

Turtles sunning

Squirrels and javelinas appreciate the overflow from the feeders

Hmm, can I leap onto that feeder and get away with an orange?

This afternoon Mark came by to work on our leak, again. He painstakingly removed all the sealant and screws near the leaking corner and loosened the trim, then injected sealant under the trim and the screws and replaced them and put a sealant bead along the edges. He suggested letting it cure overnight before spraying water on it to see if the leak still leaks--or we've actually finally licked it. Here's hoping.

Nick's RV Wash team showed up to gussy up the Brute (our truck). Three guys made short work of it, and now you have to wear sunshades to look at the truck. They did a great job.
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That Darn Leak

We dried the area by the bed where we've had our leak thoroughly so we could test it. I started with a gentle sprinkle and was encouraged--so far, so good. Then a harder spray--still dry. Did we dare hope? I tried a hard shower, and this time the telltale wetness appeared in the corner. Damn! I called Mark, who agreed to stop by tomorrow afternoon to take a look.

Ken checked all the tires and topped off the ones that were low. I cleaned the end cap and started to wash the truck, but then decided to call Nick's RV Wash. We had seen them washing a truck in the park and asked how much they would charge to wash and wax it. They'll come tomorrow afternoon, and we'll have a shiny truck for just $20.
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Medicare Signup

This morning we went to Joe Saltel's dance at Tropic Star. I danced with Jean again, but I found out that she will be going back to Indiana in a couple of weeks. Most of her other partners have already left. In the hot hash tip at the end, I finally got to dance with Marty and Kit for the first time this season. The dances are so big that the odds of dancing with any given couple are pretty low. Hardy and Judy and Linda and Terry were in the square too--we had a great time.

On the way home we stopped to do some grocery shopping, then headed home to eat lunch quickly before Ken's scheduled call from Social Security about his Medicare signup. Interestingly, you can't sign up for Medicare online; you have to call, and when you do, they make an appointment for a telephone call. It was quick and pretty straightforward. Ken signed up for Medicare Parts A and B, which will start of May 1, although his birthday isn't until May 14. We're still waiting for the information from Northrop Grumman about the Medicare supplemental type policy they will subsidize.
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Wet Carpet

This morning we got up and did our laundry. The laundromat has raised their prices on the washers and decreased the number of minutes per quarter on the dryers, but we have clean clothes again.

After lunch Ken went to pick up Steve and Jan. Steve had offered to help us with our leak problem in the bedroom slide. At his suggestion I had tried to cut and lift the carpet under the bed where it has been getting wet so that we could inspect the damage. Also, once the area dries, we will be able to tell more easily if it is continuing to get wet when it rains. My efforts weren't getting anywhere, so Steve came to the rescue. He brought his newer, sharper box knife, strength, and determination--and succeeded in laying bare the damaged particle board, which is definitely damp, mildewed, and soft in the corner. He looked outside and could find no area that didn't look well sealed. So now we'll wait and see. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, but we don't know how much.

Afterwards we all went to Pharr South for Randy Dougherty's C-1 lesson. Randy is a good teacher and managed to encourage everyone and teach a couple of new calls. He also took a poll of how many class members would be staying in the Valley during March (most are). The program is going to change in March, with Randy and Darryl discontinuing their C-1 classes and instead inviting the class members to attend their regular C-1 workshops on Monday (Darryl) and Tuesday (Randy). Joe will continue his class through the middle of March.

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Trip Planning

Today we went to Joe Saltel's C-1 class. Everyone was having difficulties, and Joe's explanations did not seem as clear as Darryl's had been. We learned a couple of new calls, including Cross Chain Thru.

We finally got around to doing some trip planning this evening. Dennis and Cheryl had suggested that June would be a better time to explore the Utah parks with them, so we looked at reversing our route to go first to Utah and Yellowstone before the Badlands and the Black Hills. It should work fine, since our Yellowstone reservations are right in the middle of our travel time, the five months from May through September. We are committed to volunteering at CARE in October. We still have plenty of flexibility on both sides of the Yellowstone visit. Read more!

Dancing

This morning we went to Darryl's C-1 class. It started with 26 couples, and we thought we were going to have to sit out a tip, but two couples from the neighborhood came to fill in the squares, so everyone danced. It was a good session--Darryl's an excellent teacher, and we came away feeling like we had learned something. He reviewed Shake Down quite a bit, using two couple squares, and taught Flip the Line. Most of the rest was review, which we need plenty of.

Steve and Jan were there, mainly recovered from their recent ailments. Bob and Pat were there too, after being out because of Pat's allergies this week. It was good to see everyone. Bob Reece has been busy rewriting the La Hacienda  neighborhood covenants, but he says they are almost certainly DOA, which is very discouraging. Some of the residents are just problematic. Doris has gotten her films now and is planning to call Dr. Six Monday and go to her ortho appointment Tuesday. We are sure hoping she'll get in with Dr. Six and get some relief.

This afternoon Hardy and Judy picked me up to go to the Saltel/Nordbye special. Ken stayed home to rest. His back has been bothering him. The dance was fun, mainly because Joe and Dan have fun together, but the dance level wasn't very high. Afterwards we came by and picked Ken up and went to a Cuban restaurant that Hardy and Judy like called Cucina de Caribe in Mission. Ken and I shared the Mayor's Special: pork roast, plantain chips, Cuban black beans and rice, and cole slaw. Everything was delicious, especially the well seasoned beans. Ken's back started bothering him from sitting in the chair so long.

We had a good conversation about Yellowstone and things to see nearby. Judy is from Montana and has been to the park all her life, so she has lots of insights. They are planning a cruise to Alaska from Seattle this summer with one of Judy's brothers. Read more!

Medicare

Ken finally got through to talk to someone about Medicare, after trying a few times earlier in the week. Now someone from the Mission Social Security Office is supposed to call him next Tuesday afternoon to make an appointment. Progress!

Danced to Darryl this morning with Jean. I reminded Bob that he had agreed to dance with me tomorrow at the special Joe Saltel & Dan Nordbye A-2 dance in the afternoon. Unfortunately he had forgotten and asked Jean. She bowed out, but definitely wanted to attend the dance. We all tried to find her a partner, but nothing worked. I really felt bad about her being left out, but I understood that Bob has been very busy and just forgot the earlier plans. He did say that he is dancing with Jean regularly for the next few weeks, which is good.

It rained more this morning, but not enough to be a really good test of our bedroom slide leak repair.  We are afraid that it's still there. The carpet seems damp.  We tried to cut and pull up the little strip of carpet under the bed by the window as Steve had suggested, but I couldn't get it to come up, and Ken can't twist and maneuver to reach it, so we'll have to get some help.

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Ordinary Day

Today was quiet. It was cool, windy, and rainy, not the kind of day that invites much outdoor activity. We walked around the park a couple of times, dodging puddles. Our mail arrived, mainly with junk to recycle, plus some tax forms, and of course several envelopes from Blue Cross. We'll be dealing with those for a while.

One was an EOB from my visit to the Castrillon Family Clinic, where I went when I had my scary episode of vertigo. They did not inform me that I was being charged an arm and a leg for each thing they did. For example, they charged separately for doing an EKG. My internist in California, and other doctors I have visited, included the EKG in the office visit, but not this outfit. Live and learn. Read more!

Dentist

The big event today was our trip to the dentist to have our teeth cleaned and get our annual exam. There was only one Cigna dentist in the area who treats adults, so our choices were limited. Fortunately, our experience at Dr. Tom Canales' office in Mission turned out to be one of the most positive ever. The staff were friendly and helpful. We didn't have to wait, and the hygienist was gentle, thorough, and nice. After our last dental experience, this one was 1000% better.

This afternoon we took advantage of the sunny day and headed over to Bentsen Palm State Park on our bikes. The birds were out in force. We saw lots of green jays and red-winged blackbirds, some Altamira Orioles and cardinals, and doves, plus some LBJs (little brown jobbies) and a javelina. All in all a pleasant ride. We're hoping for a couple more good days to visit before we leave the area.

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Mardi Gras

I danced with Jean this morning to Joe Saltel, and as usual had a great time. Joe had asked everyone to wear purple, green, or gold for Mardi Gras, and Jim and Jane Booth stood at the door putting Mardi Gras beads around everyone's neck. It made the dance seem festive. Jim and Jane were dressed to the nines for the occasion, including a purple feather boa around Jane's neck, stripes painted on her pantyhose, and Jim's brightly colored purple, green and gold striped shirt. They made quite a couple.

Hardy and Judy always eat lunch at the next door Mexican restaurant, since they dance in the afternoon at Pharr South, across the street from Joe's dance at Tropic Star. Today they invited us to join them, and a good time was had by all, as usual. We finished just in time for them to dash over to the next dance.

We headed to Madden's Pick-Up Covers, a dealer for Delta Pro truck boxes.  The owner came out to help us. He ended up drilling out the rivets on one of the latches. That loosened things up enough that the cover came up finally. Nothing was jamming the mechanism, so he ended up saying maybe it had just closed wrong for some reason.... Life's little mysteries. Anyhow he put in new rivets and we're back in business. At no charge--thanks, Art! Read more!

Escape Day!

Today is the second anniversary of our setting out for the adventure of a lifetime, leaving behind the world of work and "sticks and bricks" houses and becoming vagabonds. Every once in a while we pinch ourselves and ask if it's really true that we're being paid for not working.

This afternoon we went to Randy's C-1 class, where we learned to Percolate, Cross By, Shakedown, and Square the Bases, as well as reviewing several recent calls. As usual, it was more like we were "exposed to" the calls. It will take quite a while before any of them become really fluent.

We were planning to take my bike in for repairs, but when I tried to open the truck box to get a tarp out, it refused to open. We got the names of a couple of local Delta Pro dealers, but we weren't able to get through to either one, so we'll try again tomorrow. On the brighter side, it rained a bit last night and the carpet in the bedroom slide remained dry. We won't be resting easy until we have a hard rain and still have dry carpet.

Tonight we attended a talk at the clubhouse on RVing in Yellowstone. It was an excellent presentation by a solo fulltime RVer named Robin who has worked in Yellowstone and visited many times. She had good slides and great tips and advice, and a lot of enthusiasm for the park. We're really looking forward to our visit. Read more!

Valentine's Day

It was a lovely warm sunny day, just right for Valentine's Day. This morning while we were out for our walk, Hardy and Judy showed up with two large bags of grapefruit from their tree--thanks, friends!

We went to Joe Saltel's C-1 class from 1-3. I still wasn't feeling too well, so we just stopped by Gary and Mary Ann's for a quick goodbye--didn't want to share any bugs with our friends. They are moving on to Corpus Christi and then Fredericksburg. They are hoping that Gary will be able to get in to see a specialist about his back on their way home.

Tonight we watched the Star Trek movie--just about all I felt up to after fixing leftovers for dinner. The movie is a prequel of sorts for the original Star Trek series, showing the boyhood and first meeting of the various characters, with lots of special effects and Trekkie insider stuff. We were both glad we had seen it, but wouldn't need to see it again. It was a bit over the top. Read more!

First C-1 Dance

Today was a bit of a milestone. Darryl called a class level C-1 dance just for the students. This was after we had our morning lesson. We learned Scoot and Plenty, which is reasonably easy, but has lots of parts. The dance was great fun, but after a while Ken said that his back was telling him he'd done too much for one day. I danced the last two tips with men who were sitting out.

My sinus infection has gotten worse again, and this afternoon I decided to stay home and nap rather than going to a geocache event at McAlister's Deli that Hardy and Judy had invited us to. I was sorry to miss that get together, but just didn't feel up to it.
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RedHead Express

This morning we went to Darryl's dance, where I danced with Jean again. Afterwards some of our friends went to Mexico, but we decided it would be too much for one day, since we had tickets for the show tonight.

We joined Gary and Mary Ann and went over to the 7:00 p.m. show at 6:30, to be sure of getting good seats. Many others had the same idea, since the hall was already half full. The entertainers were setting up and testing the sound system. The RedHed Express is a family act, and what a family. Mom and Dad are joined by daughters 20, 18, 16, and 14 and sons 11, 9, and 7. The father quipped, "All your contributions tonight will go to feed hungry children."

The fourth sister is behind the leftmost girl. The woman on the right is the mom, and the dad is standing off to the right. The three little boys were in the back of the hall playing with their trucks.

They put on a high energy show demonstrating their talents as musicians, singers, and song writers. The stars of the show are the four girls, red headed and full of Irish vivacity. They played fiddle, banjo, bass, mandolin, and guitar. Alisa's fiddle playing and Kendra's singing were highlights, but the whole family is multitalented. Ken bought a CD so we can continue to enjoy their music.

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Leak Repair (Again)

We're hoping that the third time will be a charm. Today Mark Brown came over with his ultrasonic leak detector to try to get to the bottom of our bedroom slide leak problem. He did not actually find a strong signal anywhere, so he just caulked around the leak area and the window above. Since everything was wet already, it's hard to tell whether the leak has been stopped. It will rain next week, and Mark promised to come back and try again if there's still a leak.

This evening Gary and Mary Ann came over for a movie night. Mary Ann had given me a zucchini earlier, and I repaid the favor by serving zucchini muffins along with the popcorn. We watched the Disney/Pixar animated film, Up! It's a very touching, heartwarming, comic tale of fulfilling dreams and finding adventure in life. If you haven't seen it yet, go rent it. Read more!

Taxes Done!

The main thing we accomplished today was filing our taxes. We had been waiting to get the W-2 forms, etc., that we needed. As we expected, we'll get a large federal refund. That's because we get a tax credit of 30% of the cost of our solar system. Also, we hope this is the LAST year we will ever have to file a California income tax return. We thought we were done with it last year, but then to our surprise Ken got a final "results sharing" bonus from Northrop Grumman, from which they withheld California income tax, most of which we'll get back.

It's a good feeling to be done with the taxes for another year, especially since we didn't owe any money. We try to plan for our refunds or taxes owed to be minimal, since we don't want to give the government an interest free loan.

We also dropped by Guest Services and bought tickets to the entertainment Friday night. It's the RedHead Express, a family acoustic music, singing, clogging, and comedy show. Gary and Mary Ann are also planning to go.

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New Site for Next Year

We started our time at Bentsen Palm Village last season in site 515, which is part of the 500 Circle.  We were next site neighbors to another Excel, which led to our friendship with Gary and Mary Ann. For the last month of our stay, we had to move to another site (244), since 515 had been reserved by someone else. The new site was better than nothing, but it wasn't in the 500 Circle--it was a back-in site along the edge of the park and actually too short for us, so we have to park at an angle and dodge between the truck and the front of Venture to get in and out.

We ended up having to spend the entire season this year in 244, so we were determined to somehow get back in the 500 Circle for next year. Reservations opened yesterday for next season, and today we found out that we will be in site 510 next year--back in the Promised Land 8-) We are very happy.

I danced with Jean at Joe Saltel's this morning. She had dropped her daughter off at the airport to try to fly back to Indianapolis today. Jean didn't think she would have much luck, given the winter storm in the midwest.

Chris called this evening. He mentioned that his trip to DC scheduled for today had been cancelled, after he had almost gotten on his flight to Phoenix. Luckily he'll be able to teleconference tomorrow. Unluckily that means he'll be on a teleconference call from 5:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Ouch.

He also said that he and Annie will be traveling to Puerto Rico the end of the month. Three days of the trip will be a business meeting, but they are going three days early to spend some time in the El Yunque Rain Forest . What an opportunity!

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X-Rays

Ken's follow-up x-rays to check the healing from his surgery were made this morning. When Dr. Six looked at them, he said that everything was just as it should be. He encouraged Ken to be smart about physical activity, but other than bending, lifting, and twisting, didn't put any limits on him. In fact, he said that continued walking and other exercise would contribute to successful bone fusion and soft tissue healing.

So we drove to Pharr South and walked around the park while waiting for the afternoon challenge lesson to start. It was sunny and 80 degrees, so we actually were hot and enjoyed the air conditioning in the dance hall. We mainly reviewed calls today, including Tally Ho and Regroup and 3-2 Acey Deucey. We were introduced to O and Butterfly formations and calls. As usual, we have so many new moves jostling in our brains that it's hard to keep track of all of them.

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Super Bowl

This afternoon we went to Joe Saltel's C-1 lesson at Tropic Star. Since we had missed last Monday's lesson, we were playing catch-up a bit, especially with Tally Ho, which we didn't realize had been taught. It's still a bit fuzzy, like many of the calls, but I'm sure it will clear up with time and practice.

Afterwards we stopped at the store to pick up a couple of rotisserie chickens to take to the Super Bowl party at G. W. and David's house. It was a super party, and a good game. Most of the commercials weren't very memorable, though I did like Google's. Doritos must have money to burn--they sponsored the halftime show and had several other ads scattered throughout the game.

It was a surprise to see the Saints win, since they were the underdogs. The final score, 31-17, meant that Ken's number came up on the board, so we'll get to host next year's party. It would be a rather small party if we held it at our place, so we'll probably take advantage of Hardy and Judy's offer to let us use their home.

One interesting note is that we ran into another patient of Dr. Six, Nancy, who had her surgery just a week and a half ago and is quite pleased with how well she is doing. Ken will go tomorrow for a follow-up x-ray to check his progress and have one last meeting with Dr. Six. Read more!

Home Again

Today I flew home from Dallas, sorry to leave but glad to be back with Ken. The flight was uneventful (the best kind), except that I left my cellphone charger at Ed's. He graciously made an extra round trip to DFW to return it to me (thanks, Ed!). The weather in Mission is much warmer than in Dallas. Julie's parents will be leaving tomorrow. Jerry is especially anxious to get back to Florida warmth. Despite wearing a sweater most of the time, he's been chilly.

This morning I realized that I didn't have any photos of me with the grandkids, so Ed took some. Here's my favorite:

Lee with Cate, Sam, and Jesse

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Carol's Visit

Carol drove over from Tyler yesterday and stayed with Andy. She woke up at 3:30 this morning, but managed to stay in bed until 4:30, so she'd already been up more than four hours when she arrived at 8:45 to visit. It was really good to see her again. We mainly stayed at the house and talked and shared photos. We did go for a walk with Ed's two dogs. I had Charlie on a leash, and Carol had Bijou. The weather was actually rather pleasant, since it had stopped raining yesterday.

Ed and Julie were able to take advantage of a surplus of babysitters to go out for dinner together. Kelley came over to visit, and Martha fixed some nice beef stew for our dinner and a blackberry cobbler for dessert, yum! Kelley's boyfriend, Tim, is out of town for a rugby game, but she has plenty of homework to keep her busy. Read more!

Cooking

The highlight today, besides holding the baby and playing with the kids, was cooking up a storm. I wanted to leave Julie with some meals in the freezer. The first step was to clean out and reorganize the freezer. In the process I found a piece of frozen ham, which quickly became part of some navy bean soup for dinner. Then I went to the store for provisions. I made a chicken enchilada casserole (a favorite around our house for years and always called "Betty McDonald Casserole" in honor of the friend who gave us the recipe).  It was put in a foil lined casserole dish so that the dish would be easy to clean. Don't you just hate baked on casserole remnants?

Next came a meatloaf, for which I lined the pan with foil so that once it was frozen it could be taken out, wrapped, and frozen separately. When Julie is ready to bake it, all she has to do is open the top of the foil and put it in the pan, which will then be very easy to clean. Neat trick.

Finally I made a big batch of spaghetti sauce, which I always find handy to have in the freezer. Read more!

At Home

Another very quiet day. The good news is that Julie's blood pressure has come down to normal or near-normal with her new medication schedule. Jesse is still doing great. He does have a tendency to wake up at night, but otherwise is a very easy baby and mostly asleep. So far he's unaware that he's the center of attention.

Carol called. She'll be driving to Dallas after work Thursday to stay with Andy. Then we'll get together on Friday for a visit and lunch. We're hoping the weather will clear up so we can spend at least some time out walking. Read more!

Baby Brother

It was another quiet day today. Julie's dad drove her to a doctor's appointment this morning. She saw a cardiologist about her continuing high blood pressure. Now she has an echocardiogram scheduled for the 16th, and the doctor wants to wait and see how she does on the medication she's taking, which he says is the "baby dose." If it's not enough, she may need to consider moving to stronger medicine, but for right now the doctor doesn't seem to think it's a crisis.

Both Cate and Sam are very interested in their baby brother. They love to hold him, with the help of the Boppy or "Breast Friend." They are very gentle and sweet with him and make quite a picture stroking his hair and giving him kisses. He's starting to stay awake a bit more. To Julie's dismay, he decided to spend a couple of wakeful hours in the middle of the night last night.

Sam had a good nap this afternoon, but it just gave him energy to resist going to sleep tonight. Two hours after bedtime, when Ed walked in to check on him, he was sitting up tailor fashion and cheerfully said, "Hi, Dad!" I on the other hand fell asleep on the couch in the middle of a conversation.
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Flying

Gary picked us up for the trip to McAllen International Airport just before 9:30 a.m. Sounds like an impressive place, doesn't it? Actually, although small, it is a very modern, pleasant airport. I had plenty of time to soak up the ambience before my 11:20 flight. The only think I noticed was different about the security check was that you can now leave your laptop in its case if it's a "checkpoint friendly" case. Wow, progress. Oops, actually, the bins piled up exiting the scanner and dumped all my possessions on the belt, where I had to scramble to retrieve them.

The hour and a half flight was uneventful--just time to look through the Sky Mall and the American Way Magazine and scan the USA Today before we touched down in Dallas. DFW is quite a contrast to the small friendly McAllen airport. Julie's dad, Jerry, picked me up and before I knew it, Julie's mom, Martha, put a tiny 6 lb. something baby boy in my arms. What a little doll he is, this Jesse Edward Shaffer. At this stage he is a great sleeper. Nothing much disturbs him, even his big brother, Sam, playing the drums.

After a while Cate came home from school, and later Ed came in from work and Kelley came over for dinner. With the two dogs, Bijou and Charlie, we had quite a troup and a happy evening. Ed had a present for me, a big box of Whitman's chocolates, and I do mean BIG, so everyone had a piece of their favorite candy for dessert.

Sam and Cate both like chocolate, as you can see.

Kelley, just 22, and Jesse, just born--my oldest and youngest grandchildren. Aren't they both beautiful?

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