More Good-byes - Rigs cleaned - cold front

We down here have been complaining about how hot and dry it's been for the last month but after watching all the major storms moving across the country the last few weeks I guess we're pretty lucky. In talking with family in Michigan and watching their weather the rain just never seems to quit. My brother (Larry) the farmer hasn't been able to get in the fields yet. Last year at this time he was finished. Knowing my twin this has got to be driving him up a wall but if your reading this dear brother there's nothing you can do about it so relax. I'd tell him to go shopping but the only store he's willing to go to is called John Deer and I'm sure the SIL (Stint) would just as soon he stay away from there. Only thing that place has is Big and Expensive. I remember when we had the farm how expensive those John Deer hats were when my Larry bought one and that was a lot of years ago.

Our cold front is suppose to go through today. Temperature wise it's still going to be around 90 but the humidity is really suppose to drop. So looking forward to that. Want to turn the air off and open the house up.

So lets see if I can remember what we've been up too since the last post.

Friday
We went over to Larry and LaVila Lawrence. They were getting ready to pull out and we wanted to spend a little time with them. We went to this little place not far from their place for lunch. I can't remember the name but I think it use to be a house that they converted the downstairs to a little cafe. You place your order at the counter and after the woman wrote it all down and took our money she reached up and clipped it on wire than gave it a hard shove across the room to the kitchen. Than you go sit until they bring out the food and call out your name. The people there were so friendly and the food was really good. Larry said it's the best wet burrito he's had down here. After we finished we had to try their choc shakes - yum. We'll be hitting that place again next year. Safe travels to Larry & LaVila as they make their way north.

Saturday
Pretty much stayed home and inside. Happy hour was at Dale/Mark Bruss's and we crowded into their carriage house. They like many of the owners here have finished off the 12x20 building that is on each lot. It's very nice in there and the air conditioner was really great.

Sunday
We along with Donna/Grant Zinneckerg where invited over to Dave/Linda Cypcars home for Easter dinner. So that morning I baked an apple pie in my new oven. If I do say so it turned out pretty good too. Dinner was wonderful and we really enjoyed the day with friends.

Monday
Laundry day and ironing. What is it with this ironing crap. I've done more in the last two weeks than I have in the last two years. Friends Gail/Bonnie Quinn left this morning for KS. They are heading to the factory where they purchased their new 5th wheel to have a few things taken care of before they move up to their place in WI. Again safe travels to them.

Tuesday
We made a appointment with this guy to have him wash and wax our trailer and truck. He was suppose to come on Wed. but called on Monday to see about coming today instead. Temp's were suppose to be better. So they showed up at 8am and got started.

Here's Nick and his worker up on the roof
Look at the shine on the trailer

And the truck

Larry and I have always cleaned the rigs ourselves but we decided to have Nick do it this year. One because it takes us two days to do just the trailer and two weeks of recover on the aches and pains. Two Larry wanted to get a good hand wax on everything which there was no way I was going to do. They did a good job especially on the vinyl strips and rubber roof that were terrible and now look much better. It took them from 8am to 4pm and well worth the $$. So we have them scheduled to do our other trailer next week.

Guess that's it for today. Update on the cold front. (5hrs later) Yes it's gone through. The current temperature is 102 with a heat index of 96. The humidity went from 94% this morning to 14% right now. I so wanted to open the windows but that's not going to happen at 102. Bummer

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

So long Goodmans - fires - crop duster - hot-hot-and more hot

Another hot week here in Retama. We try to do our bike rides before 9am and any thing outside completed by noon. Heat index has been over 100 and even for me that's a bit to warm. We made a couple of trips up to the pool and the last time the water felt cold. Course when it's 100 outside and pool could be 20 or more degrees cooler it's a bit of a shock.

Sunday
We went for our bike ride early and came across a coyote in the road. Someone had tossed a garbage bag along the side of the road and he was pretty interested in it. So much so we got awfully close and had to yell at him to scram. He stayed just inside the brush than came out as soon as we passed. Sure wish I had my camera with me, would of been a great shot.

Monday
Pretty quiet day of doing laundry and ironing. Yes I said ironing. Over the weekend we went shopping. Both of us needed some new summer clothes and unfortunately we both were able to find some things. But everything we got needs to be ironed. Ugh.

Tuesday

The grounds crew here started trimming the palm trees that are out in front of each lot.

Here's some before and after pictures of looking down our streets from our lot
These pictures you can hardly see the trailers

What really surprised everyone was how tall these palms are on our side of the street.

Wednesday
We had dinner last night at Donna/Grants. It was a goodbye dinner for Dick & Helen Goodman who were leaving the next day for their home in CO. Wishing them a safe trip and hopefully when they get to their home there isn't snow on the ground. But that's probably asking a lot since they are around 9,000 ft.

Thursday (today)
Not much happening today. Went for a short walk early but the humidity was really really high. Been puttering around in the house and doing laundry. The crop duster started early this morning on the field across from us. Was able to snap a couple of pictures.

You've probably seen the reports of all the fires in northern Texas. As I've mentioned before we've had some pretty close to us and it's always a little nerve racking seeing the smoke. But not only is Texas having the fires but just south of us in Mexico they are having the same problem. Even tho we can't see the smoke all the time there's always a haze from the smoke.

Illegal activity has seemed to increase in the last couple of weeks. Not sure why but the helicopters have been hovering just outside the park and that's a sure sign that they have a group. There's a program on TV called "Border Wars" that is really interesting if you can get it on your package. Actually I'm watching it right now (Direct TV channel 276 National Geographic) and it's showing our area with chases and finding drugs in a vehicle.

Guess that's it for today.

A big Welcome to new hits from:
Mechanicsville VI, Hatley WI, Bari Puglia Itally, Ionia MI, Kaukauna WI, San Jose CA, Stephenson MI, Chihuahua Mexico, Hermosillo Sonora Mexico,

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

Happy B-Day to Brian, Marcey & David M & David C

Wow, there sure are a lot of birthdays on the 15th of April. So right off want to wish a special birthday to our son in law Brian Nowak. Daughter posted on FB they were trying to grill outside but they didn't get the 50 degrees that was forecast so a bit chilly. (Guess I won't rub it in on our temps)

The next birthday wish is to our niece Marcey Hoover who lives in Albq. N.M. She said she was just taking it easy today. If I know Marc her taking it easy is tearing the back yard up and redoing.

Than another wish goes to David McCarron who is a friend that lives here in Retama. Sue (wife) invited friends (16 of us) over tonight so we threw a big pot luck together and had a wonderful meal. David put 16 steaks on their huge grill and each one was perfect.

The other birthday boy was David Cypcar and his was on Tuesday. So we meant Linda and him at Rudy's for lunch that day. The place is attached to a gas station and doesn't have a huge menu selection but the food is good and people are friendly.

Thursday Dennis and Kathy Pike left heading home to Rapid City SD. Now WHY anyone would leave 90 degree weather to go to a State that had a Winter Storm Watch out is beyond me. There are a lot of South Dakota license plates (including us) in this park but they are the only ones here that are real SD residents. Safe travels to you and see you next fall.

Really not sure what else we did this week. The last community meeting was on Tuesday. More people attended than I thought was here.

Needed a few things at Walmart today and I just can't believe the price of food. As I told my sister Nadene, it would almost be cheaper to go out and eat on the $1.00 menu. I refuse to pay some of these prices, you'd think we'd drop a few pounds but unfortunately the candy packages are still only a $1.00.

Wednesday was the last ladies luncheon and there was 20 of us that went out to eat. Can't remember the name of the place but it was just a little cafe in the back of a big health complex. The food was good but wasn't impressed with the service. Especially when they asked our group to come earlier than we planned so we could be served before the lunch crowd.

Friends Doug/Jutta Franks are finally on the road heading out West after a weeks delay in San Antonio to get their truck fixed. They stopped at Deming NM and went to one of my favorite winery's there. While staying in Deming we made our first trip across to Palomas Mexico. I wasn't impressed, pretty dirty and ugly looking except for one building. called the Pink Building.

Saturday - what a perfect morning for riding bikes. Sometime during the night a cold front went through and it was in the low 60's this morning. So far the temps staying down and humidity is perfect. Opened the house up and letting some fresh air in. As I said it was perfect for riding and we ended up doing just over seven miles. It was fun but lets just say there's a part of my body that wasn't liking it that last mile.

Guess that's it for now. Lots of Welcomes today. Hope you come back again.
Round Rock TX, Lake Odessa MI, Carthage TX, Butler MO, Suttons Bay MI, Laguna Woods CA, Tokyo Japan, Gillett WI, Littleton CO, Etters PA, Merelbeke Belgium, Gaithersburg MD, Wilmington DE, Fort Dodge IA, Orleans MI, Whitelaw, WI, Warsaw Poland, Ypsilanti MI, Pune Maharashtra India, Chagrin Falls OH, Enterprise AL,

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

Happy Birthday Renee'

First thing - Happy Birthday to our daughter Renee'. Again, I won't give out her age but will say it has been even longer than her sister that she's had to show her ID at the bar. Thinking of her being ** really makes me feel old. But I have to admit she sure knows how to celebrate. Like our other daughter said this is the only way to have a designated driver. This arrived at Renee' and Brian's house to take them and 20 of their friends around Cleveland's Wineries.

Oh I totally forgot to tell you last week that our new microwave/convection oven came on Wednesday. You would think for what that puppy costs it would at least look a little different but it's exactly as the other one that died. But it's nice having a oven again.

Our friends Gary/Marilynn left Sunday morning for home in Door County WI. But before they left we needed to help them on Saturday put the cover over their 5th wheel. This went a little easier than the last one as the wind happened to calm down just at the right time.

Here's the beginning (& yes its barely daylight)
And we're finished

While the guys were tieing the tarp down I took some pictures of the sun rise.








Pretty isn't it

About the only other news around here is the Grass Fires. With the high temps so early in the season and about a half inch of rain since last summer it doesn't take much to set one off. We were watching the smoke today north of us but at least this one was probably 6 miles away. What we were seeing was when it got to a tire storage place.

Oh I also forgot to mention happy anniversary last week to Dick and Helen Goodman. I think they celebrated their 59th anniversary.

Another birthday wish to our good friend Larry Lawrence who is now my age. Happy Bday Larry.

That's it for tonight. Till next time........................................

Grass fire, Mexico trip, tarp & wind doesn't mix

Monday 4th
There was a little excitement in the area as a grass fire started just down the road. We walked to the entrance of our park so I could take a picture. Didn't stay out there long, was really hard to breath. There were times we couldn't see that water tower at all with the smoke, luckily we had the trailer closed up because of the heat so that helped keep some of the smoky smell out.

I asked Larry if we should be hooking up and he said it was miles away and we're just having so much smoke cause of the 30mph winds coming straight at us. Again I'm thinking - fire +within 2 miles-+30mph winds+coming straight at us = get the heck out of the way.

Local newspapers picture

The next day we drove down the road to see if we could see where the fire was. In the first picture above you see the water tower, well that was where the fire was. Just a tide bit closer than the "miles" away like I was told.

Tuesday 5th
This morning we made a quick trip down to Mexico. I wanted to pick up a couple of things and Larry wanted his $4 hair cut. I was a little surprised there were quite a few Winter Texans down there. The parks are all really looking pretty empty. Many of the vendors on the streets have closed up so it didn't take long to walk the two blocks in and back out. The last time we were there they wouldn't dicker at all but today they would.

Wednesday 6th
Since I can't remember doing anything on Wednesday I guess I don't have much to write about. Happy hour was at Donna/Grants and we had a chance to meet Grants brother Ralph and sister in law Pat who flew in last weekend from Michigan. Talk about a sticker shock for them getting off that plane - 30 to 90 degrees within a few hours.

Thursday 7th
This morning we made a quick trip over to the other trailer to finish up the last items of getting it ready for the summer months. Than I needed to go to Walmart for a couple of things. Linda called me while there and I had to cut her short. When Larry's with me there is no "do overs" if I miss an isle or something on my list. That night we went over to Gary/ Marilynn's place for happy hour. David/Linda came over to see Lon/Pat one more time before they leave.

Bill/Kathy phoned about 7:00 that night and mention a trip to Home Depot and the Dairy Queen. Larry told Bill I was already in my PJ's but I jumped up and headed to the bedroom before he could finish his sentence. After I came back down I had to ask who we were going with. I think that's the first time in over a year that we were out after dark, felt weird.

Saturday 8th
This morning we helped Lon/Pat put a cover on their 5th wheel as they were leaving to go home to Michigan.

Here's the beginning of unfolding the tarp
Things were going well
Until - the wind picked up
This is when I put the camera down and helped. Never got a chance to take another picture until it was all finished. I wanted to get one of Larry and Pat up on the roof of the trailer but it took everyone to hold the tarp while they pulled it to the back of the trailer.

Safe travels Lon & Pat and we'll see you again in Michigan for one of our monthly lunches.

Guess that's it for this Saturday afternoon. We just walked to the mail box and it's really toasty out side. Our temp thing says 97 degrees in the shade. It's suppose to stay this way for awhile now. So we'll just hunker down in the air conditioned trailer.

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

Friends, Goodbyes and warm temps

Had to share this picture I took for my siblings. Sometimes I think they don't believe me when I say how warm it is here so yesterday when we were going over to friends house I had Larry take this of the dash board.

As I mentioned the Mayers pulled out on Saturday morning. We received an email from friends Betty & Al Miller who left last week and arrived home in Nebraska Saturday with an uneventful trip (which is what we all want).

Saturday afternoon several of us went over to Larry and LaVila's for dinner. Of course it was wonderful food, LaVila knows how to put on a spread and we all had a good time.

Here's Larry, Dale, LaVila and the other Larry

Along with Gail, Jim and Mark

Of course Trash had to make sure he got into the picture

Sunday morning we had to say "so long" to friends Jim & Pat Olsen. They are headed back to Wisconsin to some of that nasty white stuff. Good travels and see you next fall.

That afternoon we were invited over to Dave & Linda Cypcar's new home for dinner. They have such a cute place so wanted to share that too.
Another good meal with friends and really enjoyed sitting outside on the back patio.

This morning was another hot start of the day. We went for a short walk and bike ride than we hit the pool before lunch. Sure was nice and we had the whole thing to ourselves.

But on a sad note we had to say good-bye to our good friends Doug and Jutta Franks. They left this morning to work their way out to Washington in the hopes of finding a home and employment in the Vancouver area. They have spent the last several years living the life that only a few people their age are able to do but now it's time to find a place to settle down again. It's a new adventure for them (this job hunting) but I'm sure they will do fine in know matter what they choose. The only sad thing is they won't be coming back to Retama again so we'll have to keep in touch thru the internet. Safe travels friends and we'll miss you.

Haven't done a Welcome for several blogs so here's a few new ones.

Staunton IL, Parksville British Columbia, Berea OH, Bronx NY, Burlingame CA, Chickasha OK, Spicer MN, Gap PA, Huntington WV, Itasca TX, Donna Tx, Katy TX, Puerto Vallarta Jalisco Mexico (not sure where that it, need to google it). Thanks everyone for dropping in and please come back.

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

I'm so brave

As I mentioned in my last blog I did something for the first time ever. Larry needed to put a new rubber roof on one of the slides so bright and early Tuesday morning he climbed up the latter and started removing trim etc. Soon our sweet, wonderful, fantastic, neighbor Grant came over to help. They were able to remove the rubber roofing and get the new one on before Grant had to leave. This isn't the easiest thing to do and required lots of up and down the ladder, moving the slide in and out several times, applying the glue and making sure there wasn't any bubbles and it laid nice and flat. After Grant left we needed to put eternabond down. The only way I was going to be able to help was to climb alllll the way toooo the TOP of the ladder and crawl onto the roof of the trailer. Now this is coming from a person who just concord the top step of my 3-step ladder which only took me 30+ yrs to over come. There was know way Larry would ask me to do this but I also knew he needed help so slowly in little baby steps, knees shaking and a firm death grip, I worked my way to the top. Larry's so proud of me. Standing up on the roof - not a chance in he** but I did get quite fast at scooting my bottom across that slide. Finally we finished and now it was time to go back down that same ladder. OK what's my options, a) live permanently on top of the slide, b) call local fire dept to bring one of those basket things, c) 6-shots of tequila, d) suck it up move to the edge of the slide and climb on to the ladder. I'll admit C did sound pretty good but I kept telling myself I'm a big girl and I can do this. Did I not concur the 3 step stool. So I scooted over to the edge and luckily we have a railing on the top of the trailer that I could grab while I moved on to the ladder. So friends and family that was my "first" and just so everyone (including Larry) knows this is my LAST. By the time we finished it was after 4pm and we were both beat so after quick showers we went over to the local DQ for a hamburg and a much deserved Blizzard.

Today seemed like a mass exit in this area. Steady stream of RV'ers pulling down the road between our community and the RV park next door. I'm just glad we weren't one of them. I can imagine the road block of trailers on 281 where the news said this morning it was down to one lane (was 4). More residents will be leaving over the weekend so it's really going to feel quiet around here.

I got an email early this morning from my dear sister Nadene trying to put a guilt trip on us that we should be pulling out with the other "fools" (my words not her's) and head home. Probably about a hour later I received another email from her mentioning something to do with snow tonight. See I know what we're doing.

Guess that's it for tonight. We have a busy weekend which I will blog about next week and I also want to do a walk about and take some pictures of the flowers here and share them with you.

Need to say "so long" to our good friends Jack & Danielle Mayer. They will be pulling out tomorrow morning working their way to CO. where they work camp starting in May. We'll miss our evening walks with them. Oh and we'll especially miss their dog Poppy. See you guys next fall and safe travels.

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