About Me

Lee Creek, North Shuswap near Chase, B.C, Canada
We went full-time Rving in October of 2005! We retired from full time to part-time as of the end of 2015. Our present "small but comfortable" Wagon is a 2008 Camper trailer(TravelAir Rustler), pulled by a 2008 Dodge Dakota, 4X4.l. Our home is now a Gated Community Park, in Oliver, British-Columbia, Canada. I retired in 2005 and my Life Companion, Valerie, retired October 1, 2006 from nursing. We invite you to follow and share our new adventures and mishaps. Life is but an adventure full of dreams yet to be fulfilled!

Monday, December 31, 2012

December 27 to 31, 2012; end of another year in Texas

DEC  27, Thursday, Weslaco.
Cold but as much as yesterday!  We did go up to 68*F!  Anyway, after our morning routines, we went geo-caching and found the balance of the ones we missed in Weslaco.  We were really good in that we didn’t stop for a beer at any pub (we saw two!J)  I stopped at Radio Shack too to pick up a new in line fuse holder then we came home, had a drink outside, dinner and the tube!

 
DEC  28, Friday, 
We’ve been one month already, time is flying by!  We went into town to pick up a couple things and some movies.  We had lunch at a local Pub, “The Pecker”, then came home to watch a movie.  It was cloudy most of the day with a North wind but the sun did come out at the end of the day, our high was 69*F.!  We got a new neighbour behind us from Kansas.

 
DEC  29, Saturday,
Another cold night and morning, the wind is from the North again!  Val’s friends didn’t show this morning so she didn’t do any walking.  Val made some small dog rolls then at 3 pm, we went to the Hall to celebrate a friend’s birthday.  His wife made a delicious tourtiere, the “Lac St-Jean” way and other people brought different dishes and hors d’ouevres.  It turned out to be dinner out too.  There were about 16 people present.  We even met new people.  Anyway, we had fun and lots of stories to be heard.  We got back home around 6 pm and watched a couple movies in the evening.
We learned late in the evening that our good friend, Glenda (& Terry) who is presently in Mesa, received the sad news that her dad passed away earlier.  We shared in her sadness as we knew him too as “Uncle George”, a great man who will be dearly missed.  Our thoughts are with the family.

 
DEC  30, Sunday, Weslaco
Cloudy and cool again today but the wind has switched to the South-East which means warmer air.  Val did laundry and I repaired a couple things around the house, washed the kayaks and moved them away from under the tree as the birds were messing on them.  We got a lot of new arrivals today, I’m told over 40!  We now have three new neighbours.  At 4 pm, we went over to Ed for happy hours and met a new couple, Bill and Joan.  After dinner, we watched a couple movies we picked up earlier.  We had a warm evening, it is still 65* at 11 pm.

 
DEC  31, Monday; Last day of 2012!
Cloudy, warm and windy was the last day of 2012 in Weslaco Texas!  Val went for exercises and I took Tucker for our morning jaunt.  In the afternoon, we went to town to return some movies and pick up some stuff for tonight.  At 4 pm, we went out with 8 other friends for dinner at LIN”S, a Chinese/steak buffet bar.  It was quite delicious.  We came home, watched the tube for a while, got ourselves ready for the New-Year’s dance at the hall.  We went over at 8:30 and joined our neighbours (12 of them) for a wonderful and fun-filled evening and brought the New-Year in style.  The Hall provided us with sandwiches and a variety of other small snacks around 10:30 pm.  The music was fairly good and we did lots of dancing.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

December 22 to 26, 2012; Christmas in Texas

DEC  22, Saturday, Weslaco
A very windy day which began with sunshine but ended with dark clouds and mid 70’s for temperature.  This was a quiet day, I fell asleep reading my KOBO and Val went to the club house to do her puzzles.   I had to go to the bank to get some quarters as Val wanted to and did the laundry.  We had an early dinner then relaxed for the evening

 
DEC  23, Sunday, Geo-Caching in Mission
I went for a mile hike this morning then walked Tucker. (Been eating too many chocolate) then I dumped the tanks for excitement.  After our showering, we went geo-caching in Mission near Bentsen Park and found 17 of them.  I now have over 900 of them registered!  We stopped at “PEPE” but it was closed so went over to “Riverside Pub” just down the road from PEPE.  We got back around 4:30 pm and Al and Judy came over for a drink.  As we sat there chatting, a group of people came down our street singing Christmas Carols.  They stopped at our neighbour across the street then over to our place.  Tucker joined them singing!  J  It was cute watching him begging for attention.  A very nice way to end the day!  I watched Sunday night football...SF 49 vs. Seattle Sea Hawks; what a massacre!

 
DEC  24, Monday, Christmas Eve
Val went for her morning routine and after taking Tucker for his morning jaunt, I took the bike and did a couple miles around the park.  It is a very nice day but cloudy.  We went to Walmart to pick up a couple things and return a bowl had bought then on to the Post Office only to find out they were closed as of noon.  We drove to Olive Garden and had a light lunch then home.  At 3 pm, we walked over the club with Al and Judy and listen to music and dance.  We came home and sat outside with Al and Judy until dinner time.  A quiet evening at home and early to bed.

 
DEC  25, Tuesday; MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
The day was beautifully warm and sunny.  We spent the morning getting ready for our group meal then at 11:30 am, we took everything to the hall and proceeded to put everything ready for the meal.  At noon, we had a group prayer then the turkeys arrived.  Al was nominated to be the official carver.  We had a table set for the food and a table to eat, there were 10 people at our table and there must have been over 30 tables like ours all set up and decorated.  It was noisy with chatters and laughter.  After the meal, which was delicious, we had to put our tables away and clean the hall then returned home with big full bellies.  The rest of the day was relax and read.  At 4 pm, we went over to Charlie and Nancy for a drink with the rest of the group then came home for dinner.  We called the kids and my family and wished them all a great day and caught up to news.

 
DEC  26, Wednesday, Boxing Day
Which is NOT celebrated in the USA, just another day?  Yesterday was 85*F and today, we barely reached 60*!  Just amazing how fast the weather can change here but we had been warned.  Val forfeited her exercises this morning and slept in.  It was 35*F (3*C) when I got up at 7 am and beautiful blue sky. 
After a lazy morning, we decided to go to a movie and went to see “The HOBBIT”.  We enjoyed it!  Afterwards, we came home, prepared dinner which consisted of all left over from the last couple days then watched the tube.  I was in bed early!

Friday, December 21, 2012

December 16 to 21, 2012; Weslaco

DEC  16, Sunday, Weslaco TX
Another day like yesterday in terms of weather, hot and humid!
We got an exciting phone call yesterday; my daughter and son-in-law are making plans to come to San Antonio for 10 days in January.  We are very excited about the prospect of entertaining them here and San Antonio.  Now I’ll be counting the days!!!!
After our morning routine, Val did puzzles at the club house and I dumped our tanks, backed up my files and pictures on the computer, ordered a new pillow that Val wants and thinks it will help her neck, then watched football.   Afterwards, we sat outside for a drink and our new neighbours; Jan and “De Wayne” came over and sat with us for a drink and a chat.  In the evening, we watched the last episode of “Survivors”, of course.  We also watched the President’s speech at the memorial for all those kids that were killed in Newton, CT....so bloody sad!  I sincerely hope the President awakes and motivates Congress to make some changes with the right to bear arms!!!

 
DEC  17, Monday, 
It rained overnight and right now it is overcast and 68*F but going up to 80*F by the afternoon.  I got propane this morning (a truck comes around the Park) and paid $19.25, not bad.  After Val’s exercise and dance lessons, we went for a drive and to find some more caches; we found one but it was destroyed!  Once home, I went over to Art’s place to check out on his new tablet but he wasn’t home so I went to the club house where happy hour was happening and I found him.  We ended up meeting new people, Mark and Joanne who are avid geo-cachers.  Art (Cookie) thinks he will have to send his tablet back as he can’t get the memory card out to replace it with a bigger storage capacity.  After HH we went home and had dinner and watched the news and read.

 
DEC  18, Tuesday, back to Mexico
Sunny and very warm today but no humidity.  We went to Nuevo Progresso to see our dentist.  Val had an adjustment that she wanted done and I just wanted a check-up.  We had a quick beer and came home.  The wind is picking up a bit making it very comfortable.  Val loaded more music on her I-Pod.  She download CD’s on the computer, chooses the song she wants then uses “I Tunes” to load it on the I-Pod.

 
DEC  19, Wednesday, Geo-Caching
Windy, hot, overcast with sunny breaks and humid, that was our day!  After our morning rituals, we went geo-caching around Weslaco.  On Business 83, we found a really good Chinese Restaurant with a cheap smorg...$6.99 for all you can eat and the food was excellent.  After lunch we continued on with our searches and ended finding a dozen more caches.  Once home, we went to the club house for hamburger, chips, ice tea for $2.50 and an ice cream sundae for $1.00.  We came home and stopped at Al for a quick drink then came home.  Oh yeah!  Almost forgot, found a Shell Station that sold diesel at $3.70 so I filled up.  Also sent e-mails with our pictures for X-MAS.

 
DEC  20, Thursday
We have a cold front coming through, dropping the temperature down to 65*F (16*C) and winds gusting to 30 MPH at times.  Exercises for Val, walks with Tucker for me then we went shopping for X-Mas groceries and stocked up on booze too.  We came home, put everything away and relaxed inside as it is just too windy outside.

 
DEC  21, Friday, First day of winter
If you want to call 75*F winter!?  And it also means that the days are gonna get longer from here on in!  Val was invited and went to a lesson on line-dancing at another park near here with a few girls from this Park.  I spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon making and baking “Tourtiere” with a recipe from Quebec.  Val went shopping with some friends and came home with egg-nogg and rum so we had to have one!  For dinner, we had cat fish and rice then watched the tube.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

December 10 to 15, 2012; Weslaco, Texas

DEC  10, Monday, Weslaco,TX
I was up at 7:30 am and the wind was calm and it was still fairly warm (70*); a half hour later, the wind became very strong all of sudden and the awning banged up against the trailer.  I tried to bring it in but it wouldn’t work and that’s when I noticed a wire had cut so here I was outside in strong winds, trying to control the awning and re-connect the wire.  Allan came out and gave me hand and we finally got the awning in.  Just as I finished, the rain began, more like a drizzle and when I checked the thermometer, the temperature had dropped 10 degrees to 60*F.  WOW!!!  I also reinforced the tie-downs on the satellite dish.
At 3 pm, we went to the club house to listen to live music and danced the Happy Hour away.  Beer is $6 for a jug and entertainment cost us $2, can’t beat that!  The wind has calm down a bit and the sun is trying to shine through; it is a balmy 60*F.  I BBQ’ed pork chop for dinner with potatoes and veggies.

 
DEC  11, Tuesday,
Brrrrrrrr!  A cold day; we only reached 55*F and cloudy.  Art and Rose Marie came over for a visit this morning as we were getting ready to go to town.  He was interested in the Tablet we bought and they took with them so we loaned it to him to try out.  Debbie also came over to invite Val for a shopping spree in McAllen tomorrow and she accepted.  I set up the X-mas tree and the lights around the place.  We went to town to find a cable I needed and to take a pillow back to Costco that Val bought a couple weeks ago.  We had a delicious lunch at a local Deli then we made a stop at Walmart, filled up the truck then came home.  Walmart has this deal that you buy a gift card, use that card at the Gas Station for a fill up, you save $0.10/gallon so my diesel cost $3.72/gal.  Pretty good savings!  The average price around her is $3.84/gal.  I can refill the card anytime and re-use it for more savings.
We went to Art and Rose-Marie and Art told me he wanted a bigger screen and gave me a stick full of e-books to download.  We went to Debbie’s and her husband Al to load Val’s I-Pod with music as he has a load full of it.
We came home and had dinner then watched the tube.

 
DEC  12, Wednesday,  Shopping day with the girls
We got up this morning to 39*F temperature but it soon went up to mid 60’s by early afternoon.  After her exercises, Val went shopping in McAllen with 3 other girls.  I am sure she will have a good time.  As for me, I worked on the computer for a while then took Tucker for his jaunt.  It is sunny today and the sun feels really nice after these last days of cloud and cold temperature. 
I picked up the mail and found a letter from the Royal Bank which I had been waiting for.  I faxed that over to our Life Insurance then came home and got our stuff ready for dinner.  Val got home around 4 pm and she said she had a great time with the girls.  We walked over to the club house and had hamburger dinner with our friends from our street.  After dinner, we went over to Al and Debbie to see if her I Pod was loaded but Al never had a chance to get around to it.  We made plans to meet tomorrow and go see “The Life of Pi” in 3D at a local theatre.  After this, we came home to watch “Survivors”

 
DEC  13, Thursday, Weslaco
After our usual morning routine of exercises and walks, we went out with Debbie and her husband Al to the local theater to see “Life of Pi” in 3D; what a strange movie!  It was interesting but slow with a twist to it.  Afterwards, we went to a local restaurant that served sushi and Japanese food.  Surprisingly, it was really good considering it was run by Mexican and not one Oriental in the place.  Once home, Kim came over to return my GPS cord and asked if I would help Carol with the computer program for Geo-Cache so I went over.  She is really into this Geo-cache.  I showed her how to create list and download them.
It was cloudy all day but it did warm up to mid 70’s

 
DEC  14, Friday,
This was a busy day!  After our morning routine, we went to McAllen to shop.  First we stopped at Costco where we bought some meat, coffee and bourbon ($12 for 1.75 liter) then on to find a Radio Shack but first we stopped at “PETER PIPER PIZZA” which is quite popular.  The pizza was quite good but the atmosphere was more for a family then regular population.  What I mean is it was quite noisy because of the arcade in the rear and long tables as in a hall.  Anyway, we did find a Radio Shack and got what we needed.  We then went to HEB and got some groceries then back home.  Traffic was heavy everywhere, you sure can tell X-Mas shopping is in full swing.  At home, after putting everything away, we went over to Ed for HH.  We had BBQ steaks for dinner and watched the tube in the evening.  Weather today was cloudy, windy and warm!

 
DEC  15, Saturday,
It was windy all night and still is.  It is humid, warm with sunny breaks between the overcast sky.  Forecast is for 85*F (26-28*C) today!  Val did laundry and we read and stuck around home all day; too hot and humid to do anything else.  We had an early dinner and at 6:30 pm, we walked over to the hall and danced the night away, sort of.  We sat with our neighbours and Kim & Carol joined us.  The musician was good and is well liked by this crowd but he only played, slow dances, waltz and some cha-cha or something like that.  At the end he finally played a couple of rock & roll songs.  By 10:15 pm, the hall is cleaned and emptied and we walked home.  Very warm still, we sat outside for a while before going in under the A/C and go to bed.

Monday, December 10, 2012

December 6 to 9, 2012; Weslaco Texas

DEC  6, Thursday, Bird watching
We did our morning routine then at 10 am, we went with Carol and Kim to the ESTURO LlANO GRANDE STATE PARK near the border here in Weslaco, 230 acres of wetland with different local birds and many varied butterflies.  There were numerous paths and we followed a couple of them ending spending over 3 hours taking pictures and watching birds.  Kim had a powerful telescope so we got to see them quite close.  We even saw a pond with a huge alligator.  We were standing by the view point observing turtles and birds and were just about to leave when he floated by.  It was quite neat to see.  There is also an arm of the Rio Grande call Llano River where one could actually kayak as it is out of the Park.  We came home around 2 pm and relaxed for a while then went over to our neighbours and had HH with Jack & Pat, Al & Judy and a new couple Charlie and Nancy. 
 

DEC  7, Friday,
Very foggy this morning, Val went for her group power walk around the Park and Tucker and I did ours.  We went back to TARGET to exchange the I-pod Nano then stopped at H.E.B for groceries.  From here, we went across the highway and checked out a RAVEN trailer made by Winnebago...very nice!  We then went to another local restaurant near our place call “Ranch Burger”.  Quite a neat and funky place with delicious hamburgers and live music and dance in the barn on Wednesday evening.  We came home and put everything away. 
I don’t remember if I mentioned this but back in November while at Casa del Sol, Val did laundry and one machine ruined the load by spilling oil on it.  We had called COINMACH on numerous occasions but they never called back.  Well, yesterday they did and refuse to make good on our claim to replace the clothes and towels we lost in that machine because the Tech never found anything wrong with the machine even though the Park manager had seen the machine and agreed it was oil from it.  I argued with the guy but no avail so after hanging up, I wrote to the BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU in Houston where the company HQ is situated and filed a complaint.  Today I received confirmation that BBB had written to COINMACH so now we wait.

 
DEC  8, Saturday, flea market
Another hot day!  The forecast is for rain and a cooling trend by tomorrow evening, looking forward to that.  Charlie came over to ask me if I was going to the “Men’s lunch” but I had to turn the invite down as we were going out shopping at Donna Flea Market on US 83.  We ended up buying a couple of t-shirts for both of us and a new chair for me (we needed a second one anyway).  We then drove to Best Buy where I returned my X-mas present that we bought a week ago as I am not using it and to Michaels for some wool and a needle for Val.  We came home, Val went to the club house and I put the new chair together.  We joined our friends for HH at Eddy’s place.  Another busy day!

 
DEC  9, Sunday, Weslaco
It was so warm overnight that the A/C came on quite a few times according to Val.  This morning is humid, cloudy but the sun is burning the clouds pretty fast.  This is supposed to be the hottest day of the past week before the cold front tonight.
We went back to the Donna Market to exchange a couple things but didn’t buy anything.  From here we geo-cached and found three more then came home.  Val cooked a roast for dinner with all the trimmings; it was delicious.  In the evening we watched “Amazing Race” then football so Val went upstairs to watch her program.

Thursday, December 06, 2012

December 1 to 5, 2012; Weslaco, Texas

December  1, Saturday, Weslaco, TX
Another hot and humid day!  We had a relaxing morning, walked the park as they had a yard sale and flea market in the club house; had a sandwich while there then I walked home but Val stayed a little longer.  After lunch we went to Walmart for some groceries then went looking for a Pub.  We drove almost to La Feria and finally found one just across the Highway where we turn off to go home.  It was call Roadside House Bar & Grill, a neat place with live music as of 4 PM and food after 3 PM.  We came home, unloaded the groceries and relaxed outside before dinner. We were entertained by our neighbour across the street; she was singing and playing guitar, very good too!
This Park has a lot to offer; Happy Hour every afternoon with live music on certain days, dancing with live music every Saturday nights, friendly staff and guests, lunch and breakfast almost every day at a reasonable price, grass throughout and paved roads, a huge hall with pool, hot tub, library, sewing room, craft room and more.  The longer one stays, the cheaper it becomes...Totonaka should learn from this!  However there are not many trees for shade and being the Rio Grande Valley, it is windy most days, very warm and humid (80-85*F).  It is close to the Mexican border, shopping galore and grocery stores.  McAllen is only 15 minutes away to the West and Brownsville and Padre Island about an hour to the East.  We would come back here.

 
DEC  2, Sunday,
We were up early, 70*F at 8 AM.  Val did the laundry and I walked Tucker then puttered around BEAR and site.  I fell asleep while reading which was Ok by me.  Val spent some time at the club house doing jigsaw puzzles.  Allan and Judy came over for a drink at HH.  For dinner, Val made pasta with shrimps I bought the other day.  A quiet evening at home watching the tube

 
DEC  3, Monday,
Val went for exercises and then line dancing lessons.  I walked Tucker then read and fell asleep again.  It was quite windy today and kept things cooler somewhat; it is 84*F!  At 4 pm, I went to the club house to find Val and we ended up staying in the hall where HH was happening and live music was being played.  We came home, BBQ’ed ribs and sat outside for a while.

 
DEC  4, Tuesday, back to Nuevo Progresso
Val was up at 7 to attend a walk around the park with a bunch of other women.  I walked Tucker then drove to the dentist in Progresso where I had an adjustment done.  While there, I checked on my famous glasses and of course, he wasn’t there!!!!  I think I can kiss that $20 goodbye.  I walked to the police station to make a complaint but no one was there.  As a matter of fact the place was wide open.  I definitely would not want to spend a night in one of their cells, they were very dirty.  I came home and had a haircut then took the truck to GOODYEAR to have a wheel alignment done.  Today is really warm; 85*F and NO wind to speak of, I don’t do well in this heat.

 
DEC  5, Wednesday, Weslaco
Boy, did we get a rain storm overnight!!!  Strong wind that forced me to put the awning up, heavy rain, lighting and thunder; we had it all.  It lasted about 15-20 minutes max and ended just as suddenly as it started.  A cold front came through at the same time and it is much cooler this morning; 64*F and everything is soaked out there and it DIDN’T blow the satellite over which means I tied it down good.
Val went for her exercises first thing this morning and I went for my walk with Tucker.  In the afternoon, we went to the town of Mission, west of here, where we stayed the first time we came here.  It has grown a lot and quite a few changes.  We thought we knew where friends we met here lived but it turned out we couldn’t find it so we came home.  On the way back, we stopped at TARGET as Val wanted and bought an I-Pod Nano so that she could listen to music while exercising and doing her Tai-Chi.  When we got home, I found out it didn’t work so will have to take it back for an exchange. Today was a pleasant and comfortable day with temperature reaching 79*F.