Mexico Trip, New Family Member

Last Friday we made a trip down to Mexico. It’s so much nicer going before all the Winter Texans arrive. Which is usually the first of December. Larry found a pair of ostrich boots that we got for a whole lot less than the other pair he got in the U.S.

Thought you like to see the crossing. We always park on the U.S. and walk over but many drive.  

One of the things I got, well actually I bought two of them, are the rope type swings for a porch. I got the brightest colors they had and plan on putting them on the front porch. You’ll have to wait until spring to see pictures of them.

Last Saturday several of us got together on the patio and did our annual scrubbing of the chairs and tables. There is a cleaning crew that comes weekly but we like to give everything a good scrubbing before the main events start. In two hours we cleaned every table and chair used in the clubhouse, all the patio’s chairs and tables, power washed the patio, swept out the storage room and everything put back.

The other day one of the residents here took a picture of the sunrise. That same day our niece posted one taken in Michigan.

Grand Ledge Michigan

Mission Texas

Meet little Madison the newest member of our family                   Born 11-12-13

One proud Grandpa holding her

Still haven’t asked my computer lady Kathy if I can post a link for the newsletter.

That’s it for this week. Heading over to have lunch with friends Marilynn and Gary (finally arrived) and Linda & David.

Till next time…………………………………….

A Baked Potato, Newsletter, Texas Residents

We finally got over to Excalibur Bar last weekend.It has the best Margarita’s and loaded bake potato’s around. We normally only go there early in the fall and late in the spring as they have entertainment every night which is loud plus your allowed to smoke there. Yes there are States that aren’t smoke free. Although I did see a sign that said “Smoking at the Bar only” which is less than 20 ft. from the farthest table. But at least they are trying. This is the “Small” order, have never been brave enough to try the “Large”. We both get two meals out of this.

We got a sample of winter here Saturday night. OK, maybe it’s not the “real” winter but after having heat index’s in the upper 90’s for almost a week and lows around 80, getting up to 53 degrees felt like winter to us.

Kathy and I got the first addition of the season’s newsletter Retama Connections out last Sunday. It’s just a short two pager of things happening around here. I’ve re-read it several times and just not happy with it, so I’ve come up with some new idea’s that I want to try. It just seemed a little boring. If I can figure out how to attach it to this blog I might start doing that so you can read it. Guess I need to ask my computer guru Kathy – she knows how to do everything.

One of our residents here took this picture on Sunday morning. No these aren’t Texas Cowboys, it’s actually our Border Patrol Agents. They were out looking for some uninvited visitors early Sunday morning in our park.  But this is just a awesome picture that I wanted to share.

Here’s a picture that daughter Renee’ took in their back yard of the white deer.

We’ll we are officially Texans now. Wednesday we went and got our drivers license and I think we’ve notified all the places we need to with our Texas address.

So I took my sister Nadene’s advice when I told her I was thinking about not doing the blog and started writing things during during the week and not wait until the weekend. I’d sit down on and could never remember what we did that week. Now by doing this I may be making it too long.

That’s it for this week. Till next time………………..

Becoming Texans, Uninvited Happy Hour Visitor

A busy week for us. One of the things we wanted to do this winter was become Texas residents. It gets confusing sometimes trying to remember which zip code we need when you have three of them. One of the weird things about this State is you have to go to two different locations to get your tags and driver’s license. And you have to do things in a certain order. So step one, had to get Texas Insurance for the vehicles. That one was simple stopped in at the agency we have the trailer insured at and they had us all taken care of. A little bit of a sticker shock going from one of the lowest cost State but we knew this was going to happen. Once that was done we decided to stop in at the County Tax Assessors Office to find out just what we need to take care of registration the vehicles. Since we have the truck in Michigan and Texas requires a vehicle inspection we have to send a request to Austin Texas for a waiver before we can register that vehicle. So the next day we gathered all the needed papers, filled out the forms and went back to the Assessor’s Office to take a # and have a seat. This is where we’ve heard stories of waiting for hours and the people behind the glass windows not being friendly. But we were in and out of there within an hour and the people there were very friendly and helpful. As of today our vehicles (or at least one of them) are Texas Residents. Now on to getting the driver’s licenses – but that will be next week’s blog. Hopefully that will run as smoothly.

Another thing we needed to do is get our flu shots so we stopped into the County Health Dept that’s by us and got that taken care of for $15 each.

My friend Kathy and I have been working on the Retama Connections Newsletter to get this up and running each week. It’s only two pages but I’m a little nervous on finding things to fill these pages up with. But the first one is almost ready and we’ll put it out on Sunday.

The first official event here was last night with the Oktoberfest. The activities committee hosted this (did I mention I’m on this committee) and we had a great turn out. The weather has been pretty warm (90s) most of the week and they were calling for rain so we set the tables up inside the clubhouse where people could be in air conditioning. But just before people arrived the sun came out, the humidity went down and a nice breeze (and not the wind storm we’ve had for two days) came so the majority sat out on the patio. It was just a nice evening of seeing people who came in during the week and getting caught up on summer activities.

OK, can’t have a blog with at least a couple of pictures. This one is what showed up at our happy hour one afternoon uninvited I might add. These are called Cane Toads and they can be deadly to dogs if they come in contact with the toxin that is released. Luckily we caught Pepper before she got close to it and Larry took care of the unwanted happy hour guest.

This is our favorite picture of the week. Grand-son Darrius went all out on his Halloween costume.

So that’s this week. Till next time………

Returning to the Valley

Thought I’d share the gas prices here in the Valley with you. Haven’t seen it this low in – who knows when.

Actually since this was taken it’s dropped another three cents. I looked at the local prices back in Michigan and it’s still around $3.30.

Our first week back in Texas has been full of sunny skies, warm temperatures and light breezes. And this is why we drive 1800 miles to get here. That and the local folks are one of the most friendly people we’ve ever come across. Signs and banners are every where all saying Welcome Back Winter Texans.

The trailer was pretty dirty inside for all the construction going on this summer in our park. So I worked on cleaning and pulled all the clothes out to wash. As long as I was doing that I decided we needed to go thru items and get rid of things we haven’t worn. Now I have room for all the clothes I couldn’t bring myself to leave up north.

The other day we were sitting outside with Dave/Linda and he said Pepper found a toad. As it turned out it is what they call a Cane Toad and is very deadly to small animals if they touch the toxin these toads release. Luckily we got Pepper away from it before it got to close.  Larry then gave it a dose of Shovel-i-ts

These things are huge and there seems to be a lot of them in our park. So no more letting Pepper be outside by herself.

Have to share our Grand-son’s school picture. What a heart breaker he’s going to be.

Guess that’s it for this week. Till next time……………..

2013 Fall Trip back to Retama

A lot has happened since the last blog but I’m only going to give you the short version.

Saturday: After blowing pipes out in the house we were on the road before 8am heading north and had a nice uneventful drive of seeing all the color.

Reached the Mackinaw Bridge with very little traffic and blue skies as we crossed.

I am not one for bridges, so I was pretty proud of myself that I kept my eyes opened and even looked out the side window. We got to our hotel in Escanaba that afternoon and ended up staying inside as it was raining and chilly. Was hoping to see a little of the sights around that area.

Sunday: We took our time getting on the road as we had less than four hours to get to friends Marilynn & Gary’s house in Sturgeon Bay WI.

That afternoon we got the chance to go over to their son’s homes for a quick visit before Jim & Pat (Retama friends) came over for dinner.

Monday: Gary was our tour guide taking us north in Door County along the Bay through some neat Bed & Breakfast communities. Gary even got me to walk out a very high ledge to overlook the water which that in itself was quite an accomplishment seeing I’m as thrilled with heights as I am going over bridges. That night we went over to Pat/Jim’s for dinner and got to see their new place.

Tuesday: Off to an early start with our first stop at the Winery just down from them. Of course you can’t go to a Winery without doing a taste test and so what if it’s 9:00 in the morning. Then over to the Coffee Shop across the street for a yummy latte before driving into Sturgeon Bay to the Museum. Their son Michael designed, carved, stuffed, and painted the Seasons of Life Display, what a unbelievable display of talent that this young man has. Here’s a little article and pictures about Mike http://map.co.door.wi.us/museum/Wildlife_Diorama.htm

Wednesday: It was time to say our good-byes and start working our way south to Retama. Always sad to leave these good friends but we will see the again in less than a month.

The rest of the week was pretty much the same. On the road, stop at motel, order delivery for dinner than start all over again. We took a different route then we have before going straight down I55, than across I12/I10 before turning off on 124 down to Galveston. I thought it would be fun to take the ferry across, but I wish I’d of thought this through a little more, like the chances of having rough water. Between crossing the Mississippi three times along with many other bridges and taking a ferry that felt like you were on a swing I have decided we will not be taking this route again.

So that’s it for this week. Till next time………………

Time to head south

Well this is our last night in the house. Tomorrow after we finish getting the house ready for winter we’ll take off and head north. I made a reservation at a hotel in Escanaba which is a few hours from the Mackinaw Bridge.

Sunday we will be getting into Sturgeon Bay to spend a few days at the Gary & Marilynn and see friends Jim & Pat. Can’t wait.

The week has been full of having dinners with family and friends.  I told Larry tonight that once we get back to TX all three of us are going on a diet and getting back to walking. Especially Pepper, she’s really put the weight on this summer without having a dog park to run with her friends.

Had a special day this week with grand-daughter Anissa. She and I always seem to have a good time on one of “our” days just walking around an antique store. Course when I have to explain what some of the things are “like how a manual typewriter works” I do feel a bit old.

I’ve put clothes in and taken clothes out. Just couldn’t decide what to take or leave and finally Larry said the words I wanted to hear, just take what ever you want. AL righty!!  Those Vacuum Bags are the best thing a woman could ask for.

Poor Pepper just doesn’t know what’s going on with all the activity. She sticks right by us and really hates it if we’re not in the same room.

Have one picture to share. This is Darrius all ready for the big Halloween night at his house. 

That’s it for now. Not sure where we’ll be next weekend. Could be on the road or at our place in Texas. Till next time……………

Friends+Snow=Yuk, Fall has started

Not a lot to write about this weekend. The pass week has been mostly doing things to get ready to leave on the 12th. We finished putting lawn furniture away so my cute little porch looks so lonely and sad. But I already have ideas of things to do next spring to the front yard and around the porch. But that’s next spring, guess I need to concentrate on what I want to do for flowers down on the lot in Texas. Which I do have ideas for there too and I’m sure I’ll post pictures when it’s done. We also got the plants cut down and Larry lowered the deck on lawn mower and cut the yard. One more time towards the end of the week should do it.

The trees have really started turning here and within a few weeks we should have full color. A storm went through last night and the rain brought lots of leaves down but there’s still tons left. Hopefully when we drive through the U.P. we’ll see some of that gorgeous color they always talk about 

We went for a ride after dinner one night to see who was in the fields working. I guess even though we haven’t had the farm in many years you never really leave it. Lots of farmers out doing soy’s and I have a picture to share that our niece took of my brother.

I’m sure you’ve all heard about the snow in South Dakota over the weekend. We have a couple of friends there so thought I’d share a picture of what they are enjoying (or not)

This is Donna & Grant’s taken from their 5th wheel. They did a work camping job this summer near Rapid City S.D. They are going back there next summer again, wondering if they are having second thoughts.

This is of Pat & Mikes place which is just south of Custer. You can see the rigs in the background which should be on their way too AZ to their winter home. Guess that won’t happen for a few days.

One of the things we did was go to a Estate Sale this week. This one was something else, to give you a visual think of the show “The Pickers”. If you’ve ever seen that you’ll know what I’m talking about. They say the house has been in the family since 1896 and I don’t think a piece of paper has ever been tossed. The guy said they had already taken two 30 yard dumpsters out of there. But we walked out empty handed (things were priced way to high) and came home to lots of soap and water.

Today Nadene and I went to a craft sale where our SIL Diane and niece Candace had a table. I haven’t been to a craft sale here in many years as normally they don’t start until after we leave. Had a good time and we both found a few things we couldn’t live without.

Guess that’s it for this week. Have a full week coming with getting things ready to head south.

Till next time…………………………………..