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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
