Mexico and Don Wes All in One Day

We picked up Steve and Jan this morning for a trip to Progreso. First we got a peek at the finished Texas room. What a remarkable transformation. It now has an accent wall, shortened curtains, and lots of other new features. We wouldn't recognize it as the same place we stayed last year while our Excel was being repaired.

We ran into Bob and Pat at the parking lot and walked across the International Bridge with them. When we got to Jessica's Center/Santoni's, Jean had just arrived before us. A bit later Bill and Mildred arrived, making our group nine, which is a good number. We could all see and talk with each other. After drinks at Santoni's, we walked over to the Red Snapper for lunch. On the way back to the truck we stopped at a leather goods store. I looked at fanny packs but didn't care for any they had.

Lee, Bill, Mildred, Jean, Steve, Jan, Pat, and Bob (Ken behind the camera)

Lovebirds!

Next we drove to the Don Wes flea market, where we parked right next to Jean. It was difficult to keep a group together, since everyone had something different in mind. We were hoping to find a battery operated refrigerator fan, but Steve and Jan and another couple got the last two in stock. We did find some replacement light bulbs we were looking for. Steve and Jan got a nice new patio mat. Their last one didn't survive a summer in the rocky area where they were guarding an oilfield gate in south Texas.

I did find a nice ripstop fanny pack with lots of good pockets for $4. It was just what I've been looking for. Then we headed over to the produce market across the street and picked up some nice fruits and veggies, including a watermelon and a head of red cabbage. both of which we split with Jan and Steve.

Read more!

Refrigerator Woes

From our breakfast table, Ken can see some distant palm trees where he has spotted woodpeckers at work, drilling into the trunks. Today he pulled out his new camera for some zoom shots. The bird is just barely visible with the naked eye.

We finally decided to call someone to look at our wonderful Dometic RV1350, which has been behaving erratically recently. The tech checked everything and said there were no defective parts. He "reset" the circuit board by turning off the fridge and removing the 12v connections for a while and said to monitor it. So far, no joy.

Read more!

Success

We biked around the state park loop four times this morning, for a total of just over ten miles at 10.5 mph. That's definitely the best we've done, so guess our legs are getting in better shape.

The top success for today was calling the IRS to check on the status of our most recent fax to them. (We've been involved in an ongoing audit of our claim to a solar credit in 2009.) Finally today we found out that our case was closed on February 4 and that all of the credit we claimed is being allowed. Yay! We knew our credit was legitimate, but we still faced an uphill battle convincing the IRS. Glad that's over with.

This evening we danced at Darryl's with ten squares and two out couples. Darryl played around with some interesting triangle calls. We danced with some couples we hadn't seen before. One couple flew in from Mesa for the week to check out the square dancing in the RGV.
Read more!

Sprinkles

We got up this morning planning to bike through the park. Our plans were changed when it sprinkled briefly a couple of times and we saw a forecast of possible thunderstorms. Guess we are wimps, but we decided to stick near home, so we walked around BPV and Retama.

We had eight squares at Jerry's dance this afternoon, but only six at Joe's tonight. The dropoff was expected because many dancers were attending a showing of Cirque du Soleil's Quidam at the State Farm Arena in McAllen. We missed some of our friends we expected to see at Joe's. The dancing was good, as usual. Joe played around with some Tally Ho from unusual positions and some block calls.

Read more!

Dance

We don't square dance on Tuesdays, but tonight we did some non-square dancing to Jackson Haney. He's a singer and guitarist, plus for his show he uses what seems to be karaoke accompaniment. His forte is the music of the 50's and 60's. He played with the original Comets.

Haney is the guy on the left end.


Tonight he performed a few slow numbers, which we are brave enough to get on the floor for (especially if there are lots of other dancers). Lots of the numbers were rock and roll or two-step. We enjoyed watching other dancers dancing these. Some of our friends are really accomplished dancers.

The weather was perfect for hitting the hot tub, so that's what we did. Then we lounged by the pool reading. Tough life!

Read more!

Twelve Squares

There were twelve squares dancing at TVA for Darryl's C-1 workshop. That's the most dancers we've had in that hall, and some of the tables were pushed against the wall to make more room.

This morning we walked into the state park. At the tram stop, three Border Patrol agents on bicycles asked if we'd mind posing with them. We might end up being famous. I think the point may have been to show the agents in friendly interchange with bird watchers and other park goers.

Read more!

Super Sunday

Today is that great annual celebration of friendship, food and drink, side bets, and oh, yes, Superbowl XLVII. We started the day with breakfast with friends at Nelda's. There were only seven of us (Bob and Pat, Steve and Jan, Jean, and Ken and I). Hardy and Judy are out of town, and George hasn't joined us for the last two weeks.

Afterward, we walked with Jean in the state park. We did the complete loop, plus the Rio Grande River Trail. For most of the time we had some cloud cover, so the weather was quite nice for hiking.

Rio Grande with a view of Mexico on the opposite shore

Later we joined our group of friends at G.W. and David's house. Everyone brought food to share, so we had plenty of snacks. The guys had a nice sliced beef brisket and two huge fruit pies. TVs in the living room and rear sun porch showed the game. Some of us watched only part time, distracted by the opportunity to chat, or knit, or play card games, or get just one more thing to eat or drink.

Bev Kramer, Hal and Dot, Bob, Steve, and John waiting for the big show to start.

Some played Five Crowns during the blackout. I won! (Lee, Jean, Jan, and Terry)

Our wonderful hosts, this year and next, David and G.W.

We had a great time. G.W. and David have a perfect house for entertaining, so it's lucky that G.W. won the pool, which means they'll be hosting the party again next year.
Read more!

A Funny Thing Happened

We attended the Nikki Rowe Choir 2013 high school musical tonight with friends. We hitched a ride with Steve and Jan, so we got to experience their new truck (love that new truck smell--and it's very comfortable). We arrived at the school around 6:20 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. show. Quite a few people were there before us in line, but fortunately the line forms in the cafeteria, seated along the tables, so you're inside and not required to stand. We walked in with John and Sandy, and right in front of us in the line were Bob and Pat. A bit later Hal and Dorothy and Jim and Joanne arrived. They weren't seated with us, but we saved them seats in the auditorium.

The play was "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," and it was a real hoot. The kids are talented, dedicated, and uninhibited in giving their all for the performance. We laughed our way through the 2 1/2 hour show and hardly noticed the time. To get tickets for the show, you have to show up at O dark thirty on the day they go on sale. Steve and Jan did the honors this year and last. Thanks, friends! Ken took some photos of the group waiting in the cafeteria with his new camera, but evidently the SD card is faulty, so no photos for the blog. Of course no photos were allowed during the performance.

When we got back to Green Gate Grove, we got a peek at the Texas room, which now has new paint, including a sharp accent wall in chocolate to enliven the pale yellow walls. Today Steve installed the new crown molding. They'll wait until next year to replace the carpet with new wood flooring--and then Steve says the room will be done. It has been transformed from its lowly origins when they bought the place, that's for sure!

Read more!

Quinta Mazatlan and the McAllen Public Library

This morning we went to Quinta Mazatlan for the first time--and it won't be the last. We took the weekly house tour and learned a lot about the history of this historical adobe mansion, which is also one of the sites for the World Birding Center. It's a Mansion With a Mission:

Quinta Mazatlan is now an urban sanctuary working to enrich people's lives by sharing knowledge about birds, plants and environmental stewardship in South Texas.

This sign looks like a bit of humor, but our guide indicated that a similar sign was used in the mansion's early days to discourage thieves and such, since the home was outside the city and quite isolated.

The tour took us outdoors too, to explore some of the 20-acre Tamaulipan Thornforest property.

Ceiling beams are reputed to be from the cedars of Lebanon.

After our visit, we went to the Remington Restaurant in the Embassy Suites Hotel  to enjoy the seafood buffet. The food was very rich and delicious--good for an occasional treat, but not a steady diet. We had Christmas dinner here with friends a couple of years ago. On that occasion, Santa came around and offered to pose with guests sitting on his lap. Jean took him up on that for one of our more memorable photos.

Our next stop was the McAllen Public Library. It's in an old Walmart building, but completely remodeled and landscaped. We signed up for library cards, which are free and available to anyone (you needn't be a resident of McAllen). Now we can check out eBooks from the comfort of our home, but of course we didn't leave the library empty handed. I checked out a book and a DVD movie, and Ken bought a couple of books from the Friends bookstore.

Read more!

Dancing with Friends

We didn't do too much today, but this evening we went to Darryl's C-1 concept dance as usual. We had 38 couples, so there were nine square plus two sitting out each tip. Jean decided to come, even though she doesn't have a regular partner for this dance. She danced with Lila, but on the computer, the couple was listed as "David and Jean." Lila says she's a bit shorter than David, but she still makes a great partner.

We talked some more about the upcoming unbirthday party at Jean's. Several people admitted to having birthdays during the months we are not in the RGV. We think it's only fair that we should celebrate everyone's birthday. Besides, it's an excuse for another party (as if we needed excuses).

Read more!

New Neighbor

We seem to have a new neighbor. This quiet little bird takes little notice of us. It seems quite at home in one of the bushes by our patio.

We walked the state park loop this morning. On the way to the park and back we were battered by strong winds, but fortunately the trees cut the wind and protect park visitors. We saw plains chachalacas and green jays, and we heard lots of other birds. At the first feeding site, a large number of birds chattered in the trees but seemed to be hiding, perhaps having spotted a predator.

We danced twice today, as usual. We had 34 1/2 couples for Jerry's dance and 34 for Joe's. This remarkable stability is not due to the same people attending both dances (though there is definitely quite a bit of overlap). Instead, people seem to take turns, some coming to the afternoon dance and some to the evening.

Read more!

Hot and Windy

The high today was 91 degrees. Not only is that hot--it broke a record high of 90 degrees set in 1947. Fortunately, the breezes kept it reasonably comfortable.

Ken ordered a new Canon Powershot XS50 from Amazon. He's been wanting something with a higher zoom level, and this one has a 50X optical zoom.

The movie in the clubhouse tonight was Flight, starring Denzel Washington. It sounded interesting, but we decided after the first few minutes that we just weren't in the mood for a drug and alcohol sodden hero tonight, so we left.

Read more!

Waterfront Property

Out for our walk this morning, we ran into Hardy and Judy, who invited us to accompany them on a hunt for "Waterfront Property." It's a geocache near the Mission Main Canal at the entrance to the state park. No joy. Hardy has tried to find this one before, but so far it has eluded him and now us. Darn!

We have new neighbors. They moved in while we were eating breakfast. It turned out that Paul and Barb and their schnauzer Lexie are only short term in this particular spot, although they've been in the park since December 1, the same as us. They originally planned to stay only a short time, but they've extended. The park is pretty much full, so they're waiting for a longer term site to open up in a few days. Lexie likes to play with Obi (Beth and Lee's schnauzer), so it's nice that they are neighbors now.

This afternoon we danced to Darryl. We had eleven squares again, and a good time was had by all.

Read more!

On the Trail

Eleven of us gathered at Nelda's for breakfast this morning. It was good to see Hardy and Judy again, although their stay in south Texas this time will be brief. On Thursday they'll head up to Dallas for an IEEE meeting at which Hardy will be presenting a paper. Then they'll probably run up to Kentucky to see Hardy's folks again before they go to Gulfport to meet Jim and Jane for Mardi Gras. Breakfast was also our last time to see Cheryl and Debby before they return to Wisconsin.

After breakfast Ken and I joined Judy and Jean for a walk around the state park trails. We did the main Resaca Vieja Trail, Roadrunner Crossing, and the Acacia Trail (the old camping loop) in addition to the main park road loop, for a hike of almost five miles. The time passed quickly because of course we chatted the whole way. We heard that a javalina had been spotted, but we didn't see it. We did see lots of birds, including a hawk, Green Jays, red-winged black birds, turkey vultures, and cardinals, among others. We also enjoyed the antics of the squirrels that show up to steal grapefruit and bird seed at the feeders. However, they chase the birds away, so we'd just as soon they find their own feeders!

Lots of different kinds of birds have been spotted in the park (most by more serious birders than we are). Near the Nature Center, people can make a record of the kind of bird they've seen and the date and general place. The dates are updated as people continue to report seeing a given kind of bird.

We got the truck cleaned up a bit again. It's a losing battle, but it had just gotten too dirty to stand.

Read more!

Windy day

Our rear window awning is securely anchored. That's a good thing when the wind kicks up, as it did today. The scalloped edges of the awning were flapping about quite vigorously. We walked this morning rather than riding our bikes, because we don't like to fight headwinds. This evening the wind had died down, so we biked.

Despite the wind, we saw quite an assortment of butterflies, especially around the flowering plants.

Read more!

Jesse Is Three

Ed woke Jesse up this morning with the announcement, "You're three!" Unimpressed, Jesse replied, "No I'm not, I'm Jesse!" What a little charmer!

Not much happening today. I got a good haircut from Mia, who came recommended by Judy and Sandy. She provides a very relaxing atmosphere as well as good taste.

Read more!

Sweet Suite

We went for a bike ride this morning. We biked through Retama and stopped to talk with Stuart about the "Check Coolant Additive" message our truck is giving us. When we rode past an Elite Suites, we stopped to say hi to the owners and expressed an interest in seeing their home. They were cleaning the carpets, but invited us back this afternoon for a tour.

We enjoyed touring the Elite Suites, the first one we have ever been in, and we very much enjoyed meeting the proud owners, Perry and Jasmine. They just acquired the 2006 36 TK3S in December. They bought a Volvo to tow it with in Arizona and the trailer in North Carolina. Perry is a model railroad enthusiast and has actually operated the models in the museum in Balboa Park. He's also a Pepsi fan and has been to New Bern not only to visit the Pepsi birthplace but also to research the railroads that pass through town.

We enjoyed watching Finding Nemo this evening. We had both forgotten some of the scarier parts. Dory is such a character! Ellen does a great voice job.

Read more!

Another Biking and Dancing Day

Happy 25th birthday to my oldest granddaughter, Kelley!

This morning we biked around the state park a few times. We criss-crossed the Roadrunner Crossing and the old RV park, where we were delighted to find some new feeding stations and water features--as well as a Great Kiskadee that agreed to hold still a split second to have its portrait made.

Great Kiskadee

New water feature

Nesting box

We biked just short of ten miles at 10.4 mph, a good workout for us.

We also got a workout for both mind and body at two square dances, Jerry Story in the afternoon and Joe Saltel in the evening. We missed our friends Jan and Steve (tired out from their trip to Don Wes with the girls) and Hardy and Judy (now on their way back to the Valley from Kentucky).
Read more!

Pleasant Day

The sun broke through earlier today, and the high was 76 degrees. We've decided that winter is over in the RGV, so out to the hot tub and lounge chairs. We did our laundry and enjoyed some delicious chicken and wild rice soup made by Joyce.

Read more!

Inauguration

Today was the 57th time that Americans have inaugurated a president. We are proud of our enduring democracy. Thanks to all who have struggled and fought to preserve, protect, defend, and expand its rights and freedoms to all.

This morning I got up early and picked up Jan and the girls for a run to Mission Bell for the annual craft show and sale. We all enjoyed looking around, but we didn't buy much. The girls each got a paperback. Jan bought a Corning Ware teapot, and I got a Corning Ware lid to fit the two small casseroles. I was surprised to see that one of the booths belonged to fellow Escapee Pam Pelc, who displays cards featuring her photography. She just had a photo printed in the Escapees Magazine.

This afternoon we went to Darryl's workshop, where we danced with eleven squares, including a few new couples. Cheryl and Debby came to cheer us along. We had fun, but missed dancing with some of our friends.

Read more!