Our Grand-dog Devon

As I mentioned yesterday I was e-mailed by our daughter Renee' that the Grand-Dog was hurt because he wasn't on our blog. So here's a picture of Devon. I believe this was taken after he realized he wasn't on gr-ma's blog.
Here is Devon after Renee' explains to him that gr-ma didn't mean to leave him out and that she would email me to let me know how hurt he was.
The last one I'm sure was taken after I sent a email back to Renee' telling her to tell Devon I would put him on our blog as our "favorite" grand-dog of them all.
So a little history about Devon. Renee & Brian adopted him a couple of years ago shortly after they were married. He was pretty shy at first and it took several trips to the adoption place for Devon to decide they were fit to be his parents. I'm not sure where the name Devon came from but I believe it had something to do with him being a devil. Devon/Renee'/Brian live in Avon Park Ohio which is just outside of Cleveland. While his parents are at work he spends his days at either his other gr-ma's house or at the Doggy Day Care. The day care has a website with a real time camera in the rooms so this gr-ma can log on and see him. I'll admit this isn't quite the way I raised our dogs but that's OK. Devon is part Border Collie and Brian decided to take him to a Sheep Herding School. It seems Brian has this wish of some day having a farm and believed Devon would be a great herding dog. I understand Devon did quite well staying behind Brian's legs, keeping Brian between him and the sheep. So much for that career. So I guess that fills you in on our gr-dog, hopefully I'm out of the dog house. Till next time...................................

Retama Yard Sale

This morning we had our neighborhood yard sale. If you've been reading this blog you will remember that there was a bit of a hassle on getting the City Permits. But it's done and from talking to other residents everyone was pleased with the results. The sale was suppose to be from 9am to noon and it was decided that everyone would have their things out by 8am so residents (the women) could go around before opening the gate. Bonnie, Donna and I went around putting the arrow signs up and of course stopping at each lot to wish them luck and take a peek. By 8:20 there were cars lined up from the gate (still closed) down the street. So we decided since everyone here was ready we'd open the gate early. There sure was a great turn out as the pictures below will show you.
I watched the weather forecast all week and every weather site said sunny skies. But temps from 52 to 72, so basically they had no idea what it was going to be. Well the 52 was the winner. Here's a peppy group, this was the best place to be to get the sun and out of the wind.

Here's Mariylnn and Pat. Do you think they are just a bit cold.

Dick volunteered to help keep Mariylnn, Donna & Linda warm. Me thinks he looks like he is enjoying his job just a little too much. Helen his wife wasn't able to come down to the sale so yours truly wanted her to see what a wonderful caring husband she has to sacrifice his time helping neighbors, so I emailed this picture to her. Isn't this what good neighbors do for each other.
While Donna was snuggling with Dick her husband Grant was busy manning the sale table.
There's no one that could say they got rich on the sale but we sure did have fun.

Tomorrow I have a special pet blog to do. I received a email the other day from our daughter Renee' telling me she read all the pet blogs to Devon our Grand-dog and he was very upset that he wasn't included in gr-ma's posts. So tomorrow I will introduce you to our "special" grand-dog along with pictures that he posed for just for this. Till next time...........................

Meet Begget & Hockey Game

Last night there was another Winter Texan Night for the Killer Bee's Hockey Game. I've posted on this a couple of weeks ago so won't go into detail. But will say we had a good group from the park in attendance (+60) and the team scored four goals which means everyone there holding tickets get a free hamburg at Jack in the Box. I bet that place was busy after the game. Larry and David are going for their freebie tonight while Linda and I go to a Military Band Concert.

So here are some pictures of Begget who's parents are Larry and LaVila. She's a pretty neat dog that loves to crawl up in your lap and give you kisses. She spends her winters down here in RGV and summers in IN or IA. We first met Begget in Quartzsite AZ when we spent a week in the desert with them. I believe she was a stray that showed up at one of their relatives homes and Larry/LaVila couldn't resist her.

Here she is in her bed

Another trick is playing dead

And I'm sure if she was allowed at dances she'd be the hit. She knows all the latest steps.

So that's it for today. Till next time.........................................

Old people/happy hour/Awesome outdoor kitchen

Yesterday (Monday) there was a meeting at the clubhouse with one of the Border Patrol PR's. We didn't go, figured it was going to be crowded with the new people in the park and we heard them last year. Two of the woman in the park found out first hand that the Border Patrol keeps a close eye on our park during the night. Seems one of the woman was taking the other to the airport at about 4AM the other morning. They barely got outside the gate and were stopped by the patrol. I guess they were told that their vehicle was spotted coming out of the "retirement home park" and figured the "old" people there don't get up that early. Thanks a lot!!!!!

Last night we had a happy hour over on Jim Brumfield's lot to celebrate Dale Bruss's birthday. Thanks for the use of your lot Jim, to bad your not here to enjoy it with us. Joining us were the owners of The New Horizon RV manufacture. They were at the Tampa FL RV Show last week than came down here for a couple of days displaying one of the upper scale RVs. The RVs are all custom built and there are three here in the park that have them on order. Sure is a pretty rig but way out of my price range.

This afternoon we went over to Larry & LaVila Lawrence's to see their new outdoor kitchen. All I can say is WOW and it's not even done yet. What a beautiful outdoor area they will have. If there was a vote on #1 host/hostess in the HDT group these two would be the winners. They know how to put on a party both in food (no one leaves hungry) and drinks (everyone is a happy camper). Now they have a area on their lot that I'm sure will be the "in" place to spend happy hour. Here's a couple of pictures of the guys working on the granite counter top.

The kitchen area is complete with full size refrigerator, convection oven and microwave. The picture above shows the bar and the cut out on the left is for a another small refrig. In front of the bar will be a seating area.The whole thing has this beautiful concrete tile roof covering it.

Can't wait to see if finished. Will definitely post the finish project. Their lot is down in Weslaco which is about a half hour from our place. Oh I forgot to mention that Larry has his man room behind the kitchen. Can't remember the size but it's big enough to park their future golf cart along with anything else he might want to put in there. Can we all say "JEALOUS".

I was going to introduce you to Begget who happens to be Larry and LaVila's pet. But I'll save that for tomorrow. Till next time............................

Quiet Sunday

The day started out perfect with sun and very little wind. We were invited over to Linda/Davids for a outside breakfast. Also there was Gary & Marilynn & their grandkids who are visiting from WI. After breakfast we did our bike ride in the park. It was a little breezy when we went in. The park is pretty well protected with all the trees and vegetation along the paths so you don't realize how windy it might get. But it hit us coming out and riding back to our park with a big open field all along the road wasn't easy. Luckily we didn't have far to ride. So the rest of the day was really windy (gusts over 30mph) and the humidity right now is only 10%. So even tho it's in the 70's it doesn't feel very warm. Here's the pictures of the day

First one is Chole who belongs to Phil and Kathy Detweiler. I'm not sure what breed Chole is but she's a neat friendly dog. Chole spent part of last summer and this fall in North Dakota while Phil worked on the oil lines. I don't think any of them enjoyed the sub zero temp's up there, all were glad to get back to Mission on xmas eve day. But it was short lived as they will be leaving for PA in a couple of weeks for another job. Only one picture of Chole, she kept turning away from the camera and didn't think we needed her back side.
Here's a couple more pictures from the State Park. There are paths off the main road you can go on and it's pretty neat. Still waiting to spot that bobcat.

This is a neat quiet place to take a break. There's benches on the side for the bird watchers.

David, Larry and the other Linda taking a break.

One more picture of the path. It's looking pretty dead as far as the plants. Both from the natural
part of it being winter but also the heavy freezes we've had. Things are starting to green up a little and hopefully the flowers will come back.

I only have two more pets to introduce, Cookie & Begget. But I need to get a pictures of them yet. Cookie I will get this week and Begget lives in another park & we'll be going there on Tuesday. There are many, many more pets in our park but the ones I'm showing you are our favorites.

This week seems to be a busy one. Looks like we have something going every day except Friday. So you'll have something else to read about besides pets and the park. Till next time...............

One talented Man

This morning after our bike ride in the park we went to breakfast at McDonald's with Dave/Linda. OK, I know, it kind of defeats the purpose of riding bikes every day by going to McDonald's but heck have to enjoy some good "grease" every now and than. So after eating we went to the Valley Woodcarving Show to support one of our neighbors Gary Orthober who had several carvings that he entered in the competition. My pictures below don't do his carvings justice.

Here's Gary at his table

Gary got 2nd place on this Redheaded Woodpecker

Here's a closer view of it. Awesome!!

Click on the picture and zoom in on this Eagle

So you can see what I mean about Gary being a very talented man. He works many hours and hours on these carvings and we are just amazed when looking at them.

OK, now the next picture is a gentleman that I have no idea who he is. While taking pictures he came over and said he wanted to pose too. So I told him I'd take the picture but his face will be put on the Internet. He said he doesn't have a computer but that would be great. So here is Mr?

That's it for today. FYI another sunny, beautiful day here in the Valley. Larry and I did another bike ride this afternoon so we logged 9 miles today. Till next time..................................

Ms Megabyte2

Ms Megabyte belongs to Mike and Pat McFall. Ms Mega was a resident stray at Retama when Mike first met her just a year ago and started giving her treats early in the mornings. The relationship started simple enough, Mike wanted to see if he could convince this wild kitten to be friends with him. It wasn't long and she would be waiting for him each morning and they became close friends. It was getting close to the time for the McFalls to leave Retama and head for AZ. and Mike decided he wanted to keep the kitten, only he now had to talk Pat into this. The final decision wasn't made until the day before departure than it was a mad trip to the local pet store for all the things a kitten needs to live with humans. I've copies these pictures from Mikes blog as the one I had didn't turn out that well.

Isn't she the cutest thing.

As it turned out the McFall's saved this little kitten's life. After leaving Retama they found out she was going to have kittens. Poor little thing was just too young and the vet had to take them. So now Ms Mega gets to travel with her parents. She spends winters in TX and AZ than summers in Custer SD. I understand she's taken to her new life as a "gypsy" very well and enjoys spending her days laying on the back of the sofa looking out the big picture window.

Guess that's it for tonight. Our next pet will be Chole. Come back and meet her. Till next time..

New friends-A goodbye - Birthday

I'll postpone the pet blog until tomorrow as I want to share our evening with you. Pat McFall sent out a email blast to friends about having a pot luck tonight for several occasions. One Pat and Mike have friends here from Tallahassee FL that use to be neighbors, plus there is a new couple that are renting Jack/Danielle's lot that they know from Custer. It's always nice to meet some friends of friends. This was also a "see you down the road" going away party for Mike/Pat as they will be leaving next week to head for AZ to spend time on their other lot before going to SD for the summer. This also happened to be Kathie Bevington's birthday so of course we had to have a cake for that. Everyone had a good time, but than we always do.

Here's some of the cooks getting things ready

Had to have a group picture of the ladies

Here's the guys. Had a heck of a time getting them to pose.

Had two guys missing tonight, Jack Mayer and Rocky Rhodes. Jack is up in KS getting their new trailer and Rocky is in Mexico. Sorry guys, we'll make sure your in the next one.

Did our bike ride this morning with Dave/Linda in the State Park. The humidity was really high so by the time we got done my hair looked like I put my finger in a light socket. Went and got groceries at the local HEB Store. Lots of great buys on meat so I have enough chicken, beef and pork to last for quite awhile. Glad we bought the little freezer this fall, sure has come in handy.
Guess that's it for tonight. Till next time.......................................

Meet Lucy the Cat

Lucy joined Wendy (her doggy sister) and parents Donna & Grant just over a year ago. She came from the local shelter and was only a few weeks old. I've never seen such a curious cat and from the stories that Donna & Grant have told us about this summer she has already used up six of her nine lives. She loves being outside so you have to be careful opening their door as all of a sudden there will be the flying kitten going pass you. Lucy does give us entertainment when we look out and see Donna crawling on her hands and knees around the Big Truck looking for her. I'll look out the door and she has herself all tangled up around the trailer tires just waiting for someone to notice her predicament. But she is adorable and she knows it.
Today was another shopping day. Linda, Muriel, Adele and I went over to Mercedes to the Outlet Mall. I think someone forgot to tell these stores they are "outlets". Lots of signs saying 30/40/50% off but even at the lowest price it's over my budget. But there is one store there that I love going into and that's the Kitchen Shop. So many neat gadgets but than I'd have to starting cooking & baking more and that's not going happen. So that's it for tonight. Tomorrow I will introduce Ms Megabyte2. You'll have to come back to see what kind of 4-legged friend she is. Till next time.........................

Pet Break

I'll give you a break in meeting the pets in the park tonight and show you a couple of pictures from Bentsen State Park. We took off about 9am to ride through the park. We stopped at the Kingfisher Overlook which is a area of water that partially surrounds a island that has a church camp on it. People are not allowed to go over there but some day we'll get some canoes from the RV Park and put them in there. Here's some pictures.

There wasn't anyone there today but most times there will be a family of Mexican's fishing off the boat ramp. Must be a good place to catch them but not sure I'd want to eat anything from there. Below is another path we ride on.
Now for the best part. When we came around the curve to the first bird feeding area there were some Javelina's.
If you look real close in the next couple of pictures you'll see the two baby Javelina's. Click on the picture to enlarge it. One little guy sure didn't like his picture taken, always wanted to hide under his mama.
The picture above does give a little better look at him/her. So that was the excitement of our bike ride. The Cypcars caught up with us so we had a nice ride through the rest of it.

Larry's been helping Doug/Jutta Franks put a new slide seal on their Teton the last couple of days. Lots of standing on a ladder which he sure isn't use to. I've been busy too. Danielle Mayer and I had to go out yesterday and look for a new bathing suit. Five hours later we're back home with no suit, so guess that means another trip out.

Larry and I did go over to the airport last night to picked up Bill & Kathie Bevington and than stopped and had dinner at Road House. Guess that's it. Till next time.......................................

Meet Wendy

Tonight you'll be able to meet Wendy who belongs to Grant and Donna Zinneckerg. Wendy is a pure breed Britney who is 14 years old and still going strong. You would think she was a puppy the way she runs around and loves to climb in Larry's lap when we are having happy hour at their house. Wendy has never lived any place but in a RV and traveled all over the country and even two winters in Mexico. Until recently she never stayed in one park longer than two weeks. If only she could talk and give us a dogs impression of what it's like to travel across the country.

Normally Wendy is all over me when she sees me but for some reason she was really camera shy the day I took these. I'd taken several but she kept turning away. Last fall was the first time that she didn't go hunting in South Dakota with Grant. Afraid she won't do that again, like the rest of us, the mind says we can but the body says no.
Tomorrow we stay in the same family and I'll introduce you to Lucy. Till next time...............

Meet Poppy

Meet Poppy who is an Australian Shepherd mix that adopted Jack and Danielle Mayer as her parents back in 2004. Poppy loves to go for "Jack" walks which is more of a slow stroll than a walk. She is such a neat dog and I know if Larry had his way he'd adopt her. She has such a easy going nature as you will see on the pictures below. Poppy and her parents spend part of their winters in Foley AL, Congress AZ and here in the park. During the summer she helps Jack/Danielle work camp in Woodland Park CO. I'm sure she's the hit of the park.

Doesn't she just have the sweetest face.

As you see from the pictures below Poppy is all set no matter what the weather brings.


Notice her boots. Those come in handy when she's in AZ and running in the desert.

So that's all for today. Oh FYI- the sun is out and temp's in the mid 70's. Life is good again. We went for a four mile bike ride today, sure can tell we haven't been riding for awhile. Tomorrow I will introduce you to Wendy, but right now I'm heading outside to sit in the sun. Till next time.......

Milano Dining & Part 1 of 4-legged friends

Here's the pictures of the restaurant we went to the other day with Phil and Kathy. It's called Milano's and it's in Weslaco which is about a half hour from here.












It looks huge but the room really isn't that big. But sure is pretty.











So now I'd like to introduce you to a few more of our four legged friends here in the park. There are so many residents here that have pets that we don't have to actually own one to get a pet fix. You can have all the advantages of petting and enjoying a dog or kitten and not have the disadvantages of owning one - cost of food, vet bills and especially poop duty. Tonight you'll meet Molly, tomorrow night come back and I'll introduce you to Poppy.




Here is Molly who belongs to Dave and Linda Cypcar. Molly is getting up in years so pretty much stays around her home. But once in awhile she wanders over to her neighbors Dick and Helen to beg for a treat. Molly spends about 8 months in Mission than spreads her summers between ND & MN. She use to live in the UP of Michigan when she was young. We took care of Molly a couple of times when her parents were gone for the day. She has a very set routine on her walks. Now most dogs go out on the grass and lets say "do their business". Molly seems to think she has to do a three dumper each time and can't do it all at once. Has to move over at least two feet between dumps. Her parents go through a lot of poop bags. But she's a neat dog and her parents pretty much do what she wants them to.

ENOUGH ALREADY

I'm starting to look at the weather map to see if there is any place in this country that can give us the type of weather we so richly deserve in our retirement life. We are SO tired of these cloudy, rainy, chilly days. I think if we could find an area that would guarantee us decent weather you would see a wagon train of 5th wheels and motor homes heading that way. But since there doesn't look to be any such place we'll probably just stay put.

Wednesday was ladies coffee at Linda's place. There was six of us and we spent about a hour talking about dieting, eating better, complaining (sorry no details on that) and enjoying being out of our homes. The monthly ladies luncheon was also that day, there were lots of salads that day, some of them really different and good. One of the nice things about having new people come into the park is having new dishes to try. We had an interesting speaker from the Butterfly Park. Never realized there were so many unique and rare butterflies in our area. No wonder we have so many people wandering around here with binoculars glued to their eyes. You think computer geeks are weird you should see some of these people with their camera's, binoculars, big safari type hats and they all wear the same tan pants and vest.

Guess that's it for now. Till next time.............................................

Long days, a little sun and more rain

Sorry it's been a few days since the last post. Between the weather and my cold I really haven't been doing much. Sunday the sun did come out but the north wind was still chilly. We went down to Dave & Linda's for a 3pm happy hour cause we figured by 4pm it would start getting too cold. Exciting ha! By 3:30 I couldn't keep my eyes open so we called it a day and went home.

Monday was warmer but cloudy all day. We went for a few walks around the park and stopped at Bonnie Quinn's to go over things for the Yard Sale. I found a couple more people to go get a permit and open their lots to the their neighbors so we should have enough locations.

This morning we had our monthly meeting for the village. I had to explain some things about the yard sale and each month I wonder why we go to them. But we'll continue going, can't complain or comment on things if you don't at least show up for these things.

After the meeting Dave/Linda came over and we all decided we had to get out of the house. So we drove over to the mall and did a walk about and had a bite to eat at the food court. You know it doesn't matter what State your in, all mall food courts seem to have the same kind of places to eat.

This afternoon we had our happy hour at the clubhouse. Good thing since it was raining again. Tonight we went out to dinner with Phil and Kathy Detweiler. We went to this neat restaurant down in Weslaco called Milanos. What a neat place inside, a very comfortable setting to have dinner and talk. Tuesdays are all you can eat spaghetti for $6.99 which was pretty good. The rest of the menu was a little expensive but for a special occasions I'd go back again. It was nice spending some quiet time with Phil & Kathy. We haven't had much time together since they returned from ND a few weeks ago. Kathy had her camera with her so took some pictures. When she forwards them I'll put them on the blog.

Tomorrow is a little busier day so maybe will have more to blog about. Till next time................

Lord please give us HEAT

Ok, this is enough. I've been cold now for several days and have had it. We had our "hard" freeze last night (thanks weatherman, first time right all season) and luckily Larry did unhook all the water lines. It was in the 20's most of the night so we left both electric heaters going. Actually it stayed almost too warm in the bedroom last night, I did say "almost".

We went out to dinner last night with Kathy/Bill Bevington to the Texas Road House. The place was packed but Kathy did call ahead so our wait wasn't very long. I'm sure the people waiting weren't happy with us going in before them. Larry and I both got the ribs and Bevingtons got the steaks. Rib's were good but wasn't impressed with the season rice. Especially when the waitress forgot to take it out of the bag they microwaved it in. But the best part was spending time with our friends as we don't get to do that too often.

I was suppose to help this morning at the community breakfast but had to back out. As much as I tried not to I caught Larry's cold. So figured it wasn't a good thing to work around food today. Jack/Danielle Mayer stopped by later and wanted to go for a walk, than Doug/Jutta Frank joined us. The sun finally came out, no wind but only in the 40's so I couldn't resist. It just felt so good having the sun on you.

Our lot is right on a curve of the main street coming into the park. When sitting on the sofa the bedroom slide blocks part of that street. So if people are walking on the right side of the road I pretty much only see them from the waist down. I've gotten very good at knowing who's walking just by the way they walk but with this cold weather everyone has big baggy clothes on. So unless they have a dog I can't tell. I can hear my kids saying - mom get a life. Which I do have it's just a little different then most people's.

This is it for tonight. Time to find something for dinner, grab my blanket, take my cold med's and curl up on the couch until it's time for bed. Till next time..............................

Burr, soup, table runner

I saw something on the local forecast last night that I hoped I wouldn’t see again, a “Wind Chill Advisory” for our area. It looks like if we can get through the next couple of days it will start warming up and maybe get back to normal. The park doesn’t look very nice right now for any potential buyers. Every lot has blankets, sheets and what ever people have covering their plants. Larry filled the water tank and disconnected all the hoses and stored them inside the shed. I pulled all the day/night shades and drapes to keep out as much cold as I could. We have the storm windows on but it makes me feel warmer with the drapes closed. The wind chill this morning is 23 degrees.

Soup night last night turned out really good with very little left. I think it hit the spot and the two desserts (rhubarb and a cherry one) was really really good.

I thought I’d show you the table runner that Linda Cypcar made me. It looks so nice on the kitchen table, just gives the area some color and homey. Thanks Linda, I owe you a Starbucks.


click on picture to make them larger

Nothing much planned today. I do need to find a calendar for 2010, getting mixed up every time I look at the 2009 one. Maybe a trip to the Dollar Store for that.

We made plans with the Bevingtons a while back to have dinner with them tonight. Wasn't sure if we'd be able to go but Larry's cold is pretty much gone now. They are flying out tomorrow to the Tampa RV Show (Bill works in sales office here) as they have a booth there for Retama. This is a near RV Show at the Tampa FL fairgrounds. We were there back in 2006 and has just about anything a person would want or need for your RV.