DVR Crash!

We often listen to music on DirecTV during the day, but today the DirecTV receiver (our HD DVR) kept restarting itself (which takes eight minutes or so, so it definitely interrupts the signal). This has never happened before. Our first move was to reset the receiver, which seemed to work, but only for a few minutes. Googling our problems, we found a suggestion that blips in the power supply could cause restarts, so we turned off our shore power and ran on the inverter for a while. No help. We found something online suggesting unplugging and keeping it off for at least 30 minutes, so we tried that.

When we returned from our evening walk, we saw that the DVR had frozen and would not respond to either the remote or the buttons on the front of the unit. After that it started saying it was searching for a software update or downloading software, but no progress was made. Then three blue lights started flashing on the front of the DVR, and it was sending no signal to the TV. Bottom line, we called DirecTV technical support, and after some troubleshooting were referred to the Protection Plan department (we pay $7.99 a month for this protection). They finally decided to send a tech out tomorrow afternoon, so we'll see.

Today was very windy and definitely cooler. We were nearly blown over when we were out in the open walking this morning.

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Unseasonably Warm

I don't know if it made it, but today was supposed to be a record high temperature here. It was definitely over 90 degrees, which is actually too hot for a good bike ride, but we rode around the park anyhow, hoping for some shade from the trees. We didn't see many birds, just a roadrunner and the flock of chachalacas. Maybe the rest were trying to stay cool!

We danced to Jerry this afternoon and Joe tonight, both interesting dances. Jerry was calling back to front and front to back J box calls, including Zing. The floor was hopelessly confused. I think we finally saw the formation, but it wasn't easy. Joe worked on some difficult any hand swing the fractions. No blood on the floor, and we laughed a lot.

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Johnny Cash!

We had a quiet day today--did our laundry, soaked in the hot tub, and did some planning for our trip to New Zealand. I finally did my Gelish nails again (it's been over three months).

Tonight we joined a group and watched a DVD on the big screen TV of selections from the Johnny Cash Show, which aired from 1969-1971. Lots of old memories there. It was interesting to see and hear all the musicians from our youth. A very young looking Ray Charles was on the show singing his own version of "Ring of Fire." Ray was celebrating his 40th birthday. The Everly Brothers appeared with their dad, Ike. The boys looked like young teens. Nothing like nostalgia for the music and songs of our long ago youth.

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Christmas Decor

We danced to Darryl at TVA this afternoon. The hall is decorated for Christmas, so Ken took a couple of photos of Darryl with the Christmas decor. Hal and Dorothy were there, having recently arrived in the RGV. We had five squares exactly so no one had to sit out. Dick was dancing with Lila--Mary Ann is still down with a respiratory/flu infection. Steve and Jan weren't there because Steve was in Kingsville getting a hitch put in their new pickup.

Darryl worked us hard on Relay the Shadow from various starting formations, including left handed ones. The floor seemed to be having serious difficulties with the call from any position other than plain vanilla.

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Wanda

Somehow I managed not to see A Fish Called Wanda when it came out in 1988, so when we watched our recording today, it was my first introduction to its wacky British humor.

The movie was definitely full of zany characters and wildly entertaining, even though none of the characters was at all endearing. Kevin Kline won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Otto--the guy you love to hate even while you're laughing at his antics. Despite the guns and knives and general gore and violence, no one is realistically hurt--except for the poor fish that Otto swallows (and I'm sure no dogs were actually harmed in the production). We were hardly tempted to quibble at the giant plot holes. Imdb describes it as a heist film, but the heist itself is only a bare preliminary to the double and triple cross action.

This morning as usual we joined our friends for breakfast at Mi Challitas. We talked about our plans for the End of the World Party at Jean's and for Christmas at Pat and Bob's. Judy told us that John and Sandy had left on their trip south, so they'll be here soon and join us for the parties. We'll be glad to see them again.

We biked around Tanglewood this morning, trying to keep ahead of the mosquitoes. Tonight we walked on the treadmills, also trying to evade the stinging critters, but we both got bites just in walking the couple of hundred feet to the exercise room and back. Have I mentioned that we hate mosquitoes? We'll be glad when at least some of them clear out!
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Garage Sale Fun

I don't often get out to garage sale, but this morning was Aladdin Villa's neighborhood wide sale, so I got up early and ventured out. Most of what I saw was stuff I could easily live without, but I did find a few treasures. My favorite was a brand new unopened Oregon Scientific atomic travel alarm clock. I've been looking for a better small flat battery powered alarm for my bedside. Another fun find was U-pick grapefruit and oranges.

This evening we went over to Retama Village for the annual Christmas reception. We shared punch and cookies and chatted with our neighbors. We saw Ron and Barb Bergquist, whom we had met at Sedalia in the vendor area (they distribute waterless car wash products). Of course we also visited with Stuart and Lynn.
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Beauty and the Beast

We were shocked and very saddened, along with the rest of Americans, by the senseless loss of life at a Connecticut elementary school today. Our hearts go out to the parents and loved ones, and we can't help thinking the unthinkable--what if it had been our children, our loved ones. What can have motivated the shooter to cause such overwhelming grief to people who had done him no harm?

We got most of our Christmas cards out today--but we send only a limited number. Most of our Christmas greetings are via the Internet or the telephone these days.

This evening we attended a high school musical with a group of our friends. Sharyland High School choir and drama students presented Disney's Beauty and the Beast. No photos or recordings were allowed during the production (lest the long arm of the Mouse reach down and impose a fine on the school), so we can't show you how impressive the set and costumes were.

We were very impressed by the talent and energy of the students--sixty-six were involved, and many of them were actually on stage at the same time. It was rousing entertainment, and we were very glad we had chosen to attend.

NOTE: Mr. Watkins followed up on this post, offering some photos from a tech performance, so here's a photo of the cast:

Afterward we went to the DQ and visited with our friends. Everyone agreed that the performance was really great.

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Bike Ride

Today is my grandson Sam's sixth birthday! Happy birthday, Sam the Man.

We went on a group bike ride this morning. About half the group (including us) rode ten miles (five out and five back) on the Mission Hike and Bike Trail, while the other half stayed in the state park, either riding around there or bird watching.

When we returned from the Hike and Bike Trail, we joined the rest of the group at the picnic pavilion to eat our lunches. Then we rode around the park, stopping at the bird watching stations. We saw green jays and chachalacas, a couple of squirrels and several butterflies. The highlight was an Altamira Oriole. They are so brightly colored that they are very easy to spot.  Altogether we rode fifteen miles and felt like we had gotten a good workout.

This evening we danced to Darryl, but not at our usual Thursday evening location. Tropical Valley Acres was using their hall for a holiday event, so the dance was moved to La Hacienda. That's where Bob and Doris used to live, so of course we thought of them and missed them.

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Sunny Dancing Day

We danced twice today, first to Jerry Story at the Peppermint Palace and then in the evening to Joe Saltel at Tropic Star. We saw lots of the same friends at both dances, but at Joe's we missed Steve and Jan. Steve's back has been bothering him.

We heard some sad news on the radio today: Wolf 832 was killed by a hunter just outside Yellowstone National Park on December 6. One of the thrills of our trip to Yellowstone was seeing this wolf up close as she crossed the road ahead of our truck. She was the alpha female of the Lamar Valley pack.

On July 18, 2010, we were driving Chris and Anara to the airport at the end of their visit. We were heading into the Lamar Valley area when traffic stopped, and the magnificent gray wolf crossed the road. On the other side, she stopped and looked back, presumably for her cubs to follow her, we thought. When they didn't show, she crossed back.

The wolf on the right is 832, leader of the Lamar Pack.

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Chilly and Overcast

Not my favorite weather today: cloudy, with one of those gunmetal skies that just seems to oppress the spirit. We bundled up and braved the chill for our walks, but otherwise stayed inside most of the day. We played a couple of games of pool. Ken won both, or rather I lost both by fouling, darn it.

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Almost Margaritas

We woke up this morning to high and gusty winds. The effect inside was quite a racket, since all the slide toppers were flapping in the wind. We decided to get our exercise indoors at the exercise room. We noticed a couple of new machines, including a shiny new treadmill, which I used. It had a great place to prop a book or something to read (I was reading on my phone, but next time I'll take the iPad).

We danced this afternoon to Darryl. We had 23 couples--almost six squares, but that meant three couples had to sit out each tip. Bummer. Darryl workshopped lots of concentric calls. We all definitely need the practice.

Afterwards our gang decided to go to Las Margaritas for dinner. We've been hearing good things about the restaurant, so we decided to go, even though it was only 4:00 p.m. and rather early for us for dinner. When we were almost at the restaurant, we got a call from Jan and Steve. The restaurant was closed, so they were going to Diaz Diner. We decided to pass. So . . . almost Margaritas!
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Sunday Breakfast and Bike

We both set our alarms for this morning, and both of us promptly turned them off and went back to sleep. Luckily Ken woke up and looked at the time: Yikes! We had to run to make it to breakfast with our friends. They saved some seats for us, and a good time was had by all.

We biked through Tanglewood today, figuring that staying out of the woods was a good idea to avoid the danged mosquitoes. We did evade most of them. We saw several more homes under construction. Ken took some photos of the McMansions.

This evening we walked around BPV and spotted several rigs that have moved in recently. (We did not, however, manage to escape all the mosquitoes.)
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Another Quiet Day

On our walk this morning, we visited Retama Village and walked around, checking out the new construction in progress now and the homes added since we left in the spring. It's pretty clear that sales at Retama have begun to recover.

Then we walked through Tanglewood, the family residential neighborhood to the north. We saw materials laid out to begin construction on a new home and a couple of spec homes available, but otherwise not much going on there. The homes are mainly quite large--the type we refer to as McMansions. Some are even three stories high.

A few mosquitoes found us as we walked, but there weren't many, fortunately. We'll definitely be glad when their numbers decrease (soon, we hope).

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Resaca Vieja

We walked over to the park today and hiked the Resaca Vieja Trail. Workers have been cutting down dead trees and clearing some of the tangle of dead wood caused by the flood a couple of years ago. We were able to walk all the way to the observation platform. A tree emerging from the platform used to provide some shade, but it died and has been cut down.

I stopped by the holiday bazaar at Retama Village today. Didn't find anything I couldn't live without. There weren't many vendors.

I finally got it together to get a hair cut. After eleven weeks it was looking pretty shaggy. While I was out I went to Sprouts and also looked for a couple of thrift stores, but didn't find either one, so I settled for stopping at Target to pick up a few things.

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Ride in the Park

Today we made our first visit of the season to the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park/World Birding Center. We biked through the park, figuring that maybe the mosquitoes wouldn't be able to keep up with us! It probably also helped that we went during the day, the sun was shining, and the sky was blue.

On the way in we saw this sign:

We're not sure what all the "repairs and improvements" might be, but we did hear that some drought stressed trees are having to be removed because they might fall on visitors.

We didn't see much wildlife on our flying trip through the park, but Ken did spot this little critter walking along beside the road. It basically ignored us. Guess having a hard shell home makes it feel safe

We saw some green jays and cardinals and chachalacas.

This afternoon we went to an informational presentation in the clubhouse about NABA and the nearby North American Butterfly Center. The new executive director is a native McAllen girl and full of energy and enthusiasm. It was interesting to hear about the fermented banana brew they make to entice the butterflies. The secret ingredient is imported dark beer, which they figure is especially good for fermenting the bait.

After the program we headed home, and Tim and Rosie knocked on the door. It turned out that they also had been at the butterfly presentation. We enjoyed our chat with them. When they left we realized it was after 5:00 p.m. so we hurried to put dinner on the table.

After dinner we cleaned up and dressed for dancing. Hardy and Judy are back from their trip, and se were glad to see and dance with them. We also were glad to see that Gabe and Martha are back in the RGV.
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Double Dancing

Jerry Story has arrived in the RGV, and today was his first Wednesday afternoon C-1 dance at the Peppermint Palace. Needless to say, we were there, along with 17 other couples, so we had four squares dancing. Lots of fun as always.

Tonight we went to Joe's dance at Tropic Star, We had five squares, including many of the dancers we danced with earlier today. Joe called a pretty challenging dance, including some variations on Tally Ho and some Tandem and Siamese calls. Jan and Steve were there. They had heard from Hardy and Judy, who were in Falfurrias and planning to be home tonight.

This morning we started out on our walk but ended up visiting with Beth and Lee. We got to tour their new Excel. Beth is very positive and high energy, so she's fun to be around. She's also very creative. She didn't like the paisley fabric on the lambrequin covers, so she replaced it with some cream colored fabric she found on half-price sale at Joann's.

Lee and Beth came over to get the nickel tour of our new home too. It's always fun to share ideas and admire each other's new toys. However, the hour that we spent on tours meant that we didn't get our walk in. However, since we had two dances today, we didn't feel too bad about that.
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Mosquito Hordes

This morning we did our laundry. Some of it didn't dry completely, so we hung it out behind the rig on our ladder mounted drying rack.

After lunch we went to DSW where Ken found two pairs of shoes. Of course I didn't find any that fit. I suspect that I'll end up buying online.

When we got home from the shopping trip, we went for our evening walk. I put on some Deet repellent, but it was very warm, so I wore a short sleeved shirt and shorts, as did Ken. We walked along the levee over to NABA and then along the road back to the park. We were bombarded by mosquitoes the whole time, but they got even worse as it got later. By the time we were approaching the park, we noticed it was after 5:00 p.m. and the back gate was closed and locked. We were slapping ourselves silly trying to reduce the local mosquito population, but without much success, so now we're both covered with welts.

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Friends

We visited with fellow Majestic owners Stuart and Lynn Jeffries this afternoon. They've been at Retama Village since November 6. It was good to see them again. While we were sitting on their patio, we heard a loud crash. A motorhome next door at Bentsen Palm Village had backed into the chain link fence between the two parks. It was actually their motorcycle trailer that impacted the fence, so no serious damage except to the fence.

We danced today to Darryl. Kurt and Jean were there, and Steve and Jan were back. Still five squares, but lots of fun.

We got our cable modem from Solstar today, delivered by Joe, and I'm happy to report that we now have a 3.0 MB upload, blazing fast for us. It definitely took a while to finally get the Wifi Ranger to recognize the Ethernet WAN input, but now all is well.

We missed Tom and Donna Clapham. They're only in the RGV visiting briefly, and we were out at the dance when they stopped by.

We watched an episode of Downton Abbey Season #2. It was a repeat of course, but we still enjoyed it. Nothing like a good soap opera set in an English mansion!
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Busy Sunday

Today was a full day. We started by joining our friends at Mi Challitas for breakfast. There were only eight of us today, because Hardy and Judy are still out of town. We had fun planning for Jean’s End of the World party.

After breakfast we went with Jean to Sam’s Club. Jean had a coupon that had been printed in the newspaper for a one-day pass. When we arrived, we first had to stand in line for nearly half an hour for Jean to register and get a pass number. Altogether we didn’t have a very positive experience. Jean wasn’t able to find the things she had hoped to buy. The store was crowded and just didn’t seem to have the same variety and quality of offerings we find at Costco in the Dallas area. Then when we checked out, we were charged a 10% non-member “upcharge.” We all agreed we wouldn’t be back.

When we got home, Ken set up the chairs and tables and solar lights outside. He deployed the rear window awning and set up our LED path light “bushes.” Meanwhile I got out our Christmas decorations and figured out how to set them up in our new home. They came out looking rather festive.

This evening we attended our second McAllen Community Concert. It was a piano performance, and rather an unusual one. The pianist, Yana Reznik, is an entertainer as much as a musician. She is definitely a talented pianist and plays with passion and grace. She’s on a mission to spread the love of classical music around the world. She told several stories of the lives of composers and how they influenced their music—mainly tragic stories—but she managed to keep the mood light and injected plenty of humor.

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Moving Day

Today was a moving day for us, and it was the big moving day for Chris and Shawn and Anara. We moved to Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort. They moved to the brand new townhouse (still in Portland, only 2.6 miles from the duplex). We saw the townhouse under construction when we were visiting in July, but we're looking forward to pictures of the finished home.

Speaking of homes, here's a photo of our new home for the winter.

Here's a view of the 600 circle, where our site is:

We have Excel owners two sites over, Lee and Beth. We met them last year toward the end of our stay. They're here for six months this year, and with a brand new Excel. Tim and Rosie also arrived today, another couple of fellow Excel owners we met when they were here year before last. We're looking forward to visiting.

We also stopped and chatted with one of our 500 circle neighbors, Darlene. She and Ron have moved to a supersite. She caught us up on all our mutual acquaintances. We were sorry to hear that Ron and Ann won't be coming this year because of some health issues.
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