Grandson's happiest & saddest day in one

Our poor grandson Darrius had the happiest day of his life and than ended in being a sad one.

First the happiest but need to do a little background information. For some strange reason Darrius has been totally engrossed with anything to do with wrestling since he was just a little guy. He would watch it on TV and not only could tell you all their names but most of their wrestling history. He use to (& still try's) put head locks on his half brother, (who by the way is now 15yrs old and wears a size 16 shoe) and luckily loves his little brother so puts up with it. Anyway the Breslin Center in East Lansing had the WWE (not sure what that is) show so Darrius along with his dad and brother headed for the Breslin for the time of his life. He was so excited to be able to see these men in real life. A night to remember for all of them.

But on the sad note. Again a little background info. If you have been reading this blog you might remember the afternoon last summer of heading to the fish store to find Darrius a new pet for part of his birthday. This turned into an intense challenge of finding not only the right fish but the right home and furnishings that had to go in the home. Special stones, grass's, water. If you missed it go into the 2010 yr at the right hand side and to the blog dated Sept 5th "Darrius Pet". So back to the sad part. It seems Mr Drippy went to the big fish Heaven while Darrius was gone to the wrestling match. In talking with his mom there were tears shed for Mr Drippy that only the love between a boy and his fishy could share.

I'm not sure when Mr Drippy the 2nd will be brought home. Could be soon or Darrius may wait for us to get home so we can have another fish hunting afternoon (gr-pa will love that one).

Last night we had Happy Hour over to Jim's house. It was also a celebration of birthdays for Gail & Jutta.

Happy B-day to Jutta and Gail

Jim & Hazel purchased their home in Phase 2 and they've done a beautiful job in decorating it. Here's a couple of pictures of the living room and kitchen.

That's it for tonight. Cold front suppose to go through tonight. Only a high of 75 tomorrow. Guess we should of waited one more day before putting a new roof on one of the slides - but that's another blog.

Till next time......................................

So many gatherings

Where did this week go? Wednesday we had a fair well dinner for David/Linda Cypcar. As I mentioned they purchased a home about 30 miles from here so they will be leaving our little neighborhood.

I'll fast forward to Saturday and tell you they have a really cute home. Linda and I worked on cleaning and getting the kitchen settled while David and Dick Goodman unloaded the trucks and made a new bed frame. They purchased the home completely furnished and the previous owners did a nice job. We'll miss them but I know they will love being in that home.

Thursday - was the last major event at the clubhouse called the "Tail-Light" party. Many residents will be pulling out in the next couple of weeks and instead of a goodbye party we had the tail light party at the clubhouse.


Friday - Had some errands to run than went over to the other trailer to finish a couple of things there. We have these heat reflector type things that I put in all the windows to help keep the inside cooler during the hot summer days here.

That afternoon I went up to the pool for a ladies bday party gathering for a friend.

Copied this picture from friends FB so it's pretty small but you get the idea.

Happy hour that night was at the McCarrons and we had a Daiquiri party. They sure hit the spot on that hot afternoon.

The weather here has even been a little too warm for me. Around 90 all week so the air conditioner has been doing it's job. Even tho we complain about the wind here in the Valley it sure was needed this week during happy hours. Actually it wasn't to bad as long as we were in the shade.

One last thing, need to say a happy birthday to our sister in law Diane Bishop back in Michigan and our good friend Jutta Franks that's two lots down from us.

Till next time..................................................

Happy B-Day Brandi

First thing is we want to wish our daughter Brandi a very Happy Birthday today. I won't mention how old she is, lets just say she hasn't had to show her ID at a bar for several years. Enjoy your day and we love you.

Our neighbor had a visitor the other night. No not a two legged one and not even a four legged one. Actually I don't think these things have legs at all, they just kind of slide along. Grant was going out to close up the vehicle when he heard this rattling sound. There was a rattle snake right outside their trailer door. He grabbed a pry bar and held it's head down than hit it with a hammer. Ugh, not a pretty thought. But here is a picture of what's left of it.





This is the third rattler that's been killed in our park in the last few weeks. Not sure why, possible having the State Park flooded last summer moved them into our area but trust me from now on I will be keeping a close eye out if we go out at night.

Had a girl day in Mexico the other day. Danielle, Donna, Marilynn and I took a few hours to wonder around Progresso. Each time I want to go down there and each time I wonder why. There really isn't anything new or different from one year to the next. There use to be five blocks of stores and vendors, this year it's down to two blocks with each place having just about the same things for sale. So not sure if we'll go back down there again this year but we had fun that day just shopping together and stopping for lunch.

I have one more picture to share with you. My family has been saying how great the weather was back in Michigan and it was time to start heading for home. Than today I get a picture from my brother Bob.

I Don't Think So!!!!

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

St Patricks Day Dinner 2011

Early Thursday morning we were up at the clubhouse getting the veggies ready for the big St Patricks Dinner that night.

It took eight big roasters but we got everything cleaned, peeled and cut within a couple of hours and starting too cook. The final count of attendance was 121 people. Things were going pretty good until we realized that the three roasters we had plugged in at the outside kitchen were know longer hot. Quick reset and a extension cord over to another plug and things were good again. One of the biggest pet peeves of this clubhouse is the way the electrical system was done. The kitchen sure is pretty to look at but it sucks when your trying to prepare a meal for a large group. Anyway once the veggies were cooking and the helpers left Donna and I worked on cutting the soda bread and frosting the 10 cakes that the ladies who had ovens baked for the dinner.

What's St Patrick's Day without a parade and even here in our little park we enjoyed one.

Here's Gail Quinn all decked out in his St Patty's outfits

And Bonnie Quinn was all dolled up in her's

Even the Gee's Smart Car wanted to get in the act.

The Retama Line Dancers gave us a good show

What would a parade be without the
Lawn Chair Performers

Once the parade was over the pre-dinner Social Hour began

While the villagers were sitting outside enjoying their favorite beverage the workers were busy inside getting the tables set up for the serving line. Donna/Grant Zinneckerg (the hosts), David/Linda Cypcar, Larry & I and Mark Bruss took our stations and the door was opened. Sorry no pictures, too busy dishing out food.

After everyone had been through the line and dessert was served we (workers) sat down and had our dinner. One of the residents brought over a bottle of Irish Whiskey to our table so we enjoyed a little toast to ourselves.

Than the clean up began but we had a lot of help from the villagers and it went fast. It was such a nice warm evening that Donna/Grant and I sat outside and enjoyed a Margarita (or two).

Till next time.............................

New Baby, -St Patty Day Dinner - Taps and Coyotes

We have a new member in our Moore family. Kayla our great niece delivered a little boy on Sunday. Meet our great great nephew (ugh how old does those words make me feel)

Reilly Joshua

He sure is a cutie. Congrat's to Kayla and we'll see you both in a couple of months.

Monday we had to go over to the rental and check out our tenants. They were heading out early Tuesday morning. Will need to go over and get it cleaned and summerize (like winterizing) it. We have the place rented for next winter already so that's nice.

We are trying to get back into riding our bikes again. Have gotten pretty lax since the first of the year. We can always come up with a pretty good excuse but it's time to quit finding excuses. We need to get out by at least 8AM as the wind normally starts up by 9 or 10. I hate trying to ride against the wind and if I don't like something I normally don't do it.

Today Larry and I along with David Cypcar went up to the clubhouse to help Donna & Grant Zinneckerg weight the corn beef for the big St Patricks Day Dinner tomorrow. Donna and Grant have been hosting this event for the last three (or is it 4) years and they have it down to a science. Yesterday was cooking 92lbs of corn beef. Today was cutting and measuring 5oz and wrapping it in foil. This way each person gets exactly the same amount of meat. Tomorrow morning we'll be back up there at 9AM to get the rest of the dinner ready and put in the roasters to cook. Last week we made the Irish Bread and froze that. The parade starts at 2PM, cocktails at 4:30 and dinner at 5:30. Going to be a busy day. Should have some good pictures on the next blog.

Tonight was pizza night. Once a month an order is called into Bucks Pizza and we're able to order anything off their menu. Dave and Sue McCarron are the hosts of this and they do a great job calling in the orders and keeping things straight.

I'm thinking with all these meals we not only need to do the biking but maybe longer evening walks. Speaking of walks I was reading an article that one of the residents here wrote for a RV magazine and it reminded me of one of the neat things during our walk. We usually are out shortly after dinner each night and walk around the park. As I've mentioned before there is a VA Cemetery not far from us and every night at 6PM Taps is played. It's neat to hear this drifting over the fields when the wind is calm. As soon as the Taps stops a chorus of coyotes starts. It's like the coyotes are saying goodnight to everyone.

Guess that's it for tonight. A big Welcome to:

Dunedin FL, Didsbury Canada, Manila Phillppines, Westlake OH, Montrose CO, Ingram TX
Spring Hill FL, Plano TX, Joshua TX, Orangeville Canada, Lower Hutt Wellington New Zealand, Mississauga Canada. Come back and see us again.


Till next time....................

Cabient Hardware - Brush Fire

Yesterday (Friday) Larry wanted to go to Lowes and see about a part for my dryer. Thankfully it's a simple fix (sort of). He said the blower wielded itself to the housing for those out there that really care. I only care that it's going to cost less that $25 to get the part and have my dryer back. I do have another washer/dryer in the trailer but it takes forever to finish a load and does only about half the size.

On the way to Lowes we decided to stop at this shop that Dave/Sue McCarron told us about that has kitchen/bath hardware. It's a small shop attached to this guys house and when you pull in our first thought was this place can't be much. Wow were we surprised. This place has a ton of cabinet hardware and even some ceiling lights and crown molding. We pretty much new what we wanted for the kitchen and we found it.

The length is 14.5 inches and is really heavy

All the cupboards will have these larger handles and the drawers will be a bit smaller. Now the great part is the cost. The manufacture is Jeffery Alexander and I looked it up on line to see what the price was there. The cheapest one I found was $9.00 each plus shipping and tax. This place has them in stock and the cost is $5.60 each. We'll pull the purchasing order out for the cabinets and get back over there.

This morning Donna and I headed for the Dollar Store that's just down the road from us. On the way we went into one of the parks to check out a yard sale. When we got out of the car I said something about there being a lot of smoke and we figured probably a sugar cane burn. Within just a few minutes the smoke was all around us and we decided to get out of there, just to hard to breath. Drove back towards our park and that's when we realized it was a brush fire in the field behind the parks. I drove down this one lane so I could get some pictures to share. All I had was the phone but they turned out pretty good.

Just glad the wind (30mph) was from the south and not the north.

We left and went to the store as more vehicles were coming down the road we were at and I really didn't want to get blocked in. When we came home the smoke was pretty much gone so I think they got it out before getting to any structures.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful and we just did some running around. Larry started watching basketball yesterday and that's pretty much all that's been on the TV. I swear basketball has been going on since last Sept.

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

Electronic Gods strike again

OK I give up. I don't know what we've done to piss off the electronic Gods but I'm raising the white flag and asking for forgiveness. First Larry's computer, than our cell phones, than the convection oven and today I put clothes in the dryer out in the shed and that wouldn't work. All of this within a three week period. Pleaseeeee old Mighty Ones, we are good people and don't abuse our electronics (except for the one time- well never mind) so please remove the spell that has been placed upon us.

The other day Larry and I went to a new Tile Store that just opened near us. We know that tile is much cheaper down here than up north so we decided to just take a look. Prices started from 40cents a sf up to 2.99 sf. This is the same tile that you can get at the big box stores for a whole lot more. So it looks like we may be changing the flooring in the kitchen and maybe even the back splash.

I very rarely post on Face Book. I'm not one of those that has to read everything that's posted every day but I do get on. So yesterday I thought it would be nice to share with my family what our weather was like here to give them a uplifted feeling of the warmth and sunny days that will soon be coming their way. So what do I get for trying to brighten their day - comments such as - going to disown you- Grrrrrr's - Hisssss- Booooos- Snow balls being thrown at me. Now tell me - is that any way to treat a family member that only had their spirits in mind, that feels their pain of having to live in a northern State. What can I say, even tho they have treated me shamefully I still love them all and will forgive them.

Today we had the ladies luncheon. It was a Mexican theme and there was a lot of different types of dishes to try. This was our last official luncheon for the season but plans are in the making for those of us still here next month to go out for lunch someplace.

So that's about it for tonight. Welcome:
Royse TX, Lansdale, PA, Alice TX, Dunedin, FL, Melfort Canada, Noblesville, IN, Topeka, KS, and Shakopee, MN. Come back and see us.

Till next time.........................................

Ride in the park, illegal visitors

What a perfect day. Blue skies, slight breeze and temperature in the mid 70's. Now could you ask for anything better for March. We went for a bike ride with Marilyn and Gary in the State Park. There was a lot of bike/foot traffic today but than it is Sunday. It's nice to see so many families with young kids walking and stopping to see the birds. We left our bikes and walked to the Hawk Tower. I forgot to take the camera but there still is water from last summers floods around the tower. I've never seen water standing there.

We had a heck of a storm go thru yesterday. It didn't last long but it was fast and furious and it really cleaned off all the dust from the yards and plants. Things looked so pretty and green today.

I guess we had some visitors in our park the other night (3am). Border Patrol caught eight illegals here and another 14 were spotted in the RV park next door but they didn't catch them all. We had our windows opened and never heard a thing. The last week or so we've had a lot of activity with the helicopters over head. We figured something was up with all the fly overs. There may have been more illegals in the area that we didn't hear about that night but since then the helicopters haven't been around. The local news doesn't report a whole lot of what's happening around here. Nothing like what's reported up north, but than the news reports really blow things up on what's happening on the border. We had a BP rep here last week and someone asked him from a scale of 1-10 how safe we are here in our park, he said 10. Can't beat that.

Remember we had to replace Larry's computer. Well this week we finally got fed up with our cell phones and went to Verizon. They overnight two new ones and so far they seem to be doing better. Than our convection/microwave oven bit the dust. Really not happy about this as a replacement one costs as much as my new stove for the house will. We've decided to hold off until we get back to MI and take it someplace there to have it checked out. Luckily we still have the small microwave from the truck so we can use that.

Guess that's it for today. Kind of slow last week but more things happening for the rest of the month. People are getting ready to leave shortly after the 1st of April.

Till next time...........................................