The Junkyard

Sunday we had planned to go to Crazy Joe’s, a honkey tonk here in the valley for a beer and to listen to Roland Garcia, our favorite local country singer.  Unfortunately we heard he would not be performing this week but decided to go for a beer anyways.  What a great time we had. 
Our first stop was at Cabrera’s a real dive.  They had outdoor seating and a band playing but we chose to sit inside.  We love these little hole-in-the-wall bars. 



The guys here at the park frequent this bar on Saturdays, and they refer to it as the junkyard, for obvious reasons.

This is a view of the junkyard from the parking lot of the bar.

After we left here, we went to Crazy Joe’s a popular hang-out for both the locals and the Winter Texans, as well as half of the people in our park. There was a group of young fellows there performing country music, trying to make a go of it.

We enjoyed a few beers, a few dances, and great company with our friends.  Can’t wait till the next time we get together with them!

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Here at the RV park we have moved from Thanksgiving into the Christmas Season.  After coffee hour on Saturday we enjoyed a few hours of decorating the clubhouse, putting us in the Christmas spirit and singing some Holiday tunes.


On Monday evening, all the workcampers got together to decorate the park office and partake in some food and a little Christmas cheer.  Since it gets dark so early now, I was only able to get one picture of the tree with my cell phone.

Every year there is a contest in the park for the best decorated sight.  I believe our neighbors have won at least four times.  A look at these pictures will see that it is well deserved.



Every year they add a little more to the display.
Then you have our display, and you can see why we are not in the running for the prize….but then you only have so much storage in an rv. We do love our little tree though especially when it is lit at night in the back window.



This week also was the start of our craft group which meets once a week for four weeks.  This week we made the snowman ornament which is on the top of the tree.  We not only look forward to making the craft, but have just as much fun getting together for a good laugh and conversation.

This is just the start of all the hustle and bustle here, with so many holiday activities planned….can’t wait for more to get underway!

Counting our Blessings

Now that Thanksgiving is over and I am relaxing from eating a great dinner, it occurred to me that I haven’t posted lately.  Well, let me catch you up on our past week. 
It started Saturday night with Jerry waking us up with a terrible cough.  It reminded us of the kids when they were young and had croup.  We had no idea what the problem was but of course, the vet was closed on Sunday and he was still coughing.  We recalled that one of our friends who we play cards with was a retired veterinarian and decided to see what he thought.  Of course Jerry, being the perfect dog that he is, performed perfectly by coughing for him.  It turns out that he had swallowed a bur.  They are very plentiful here this year due to the very dry weather.  It was lodged in his windpipe and all we could do was wait for him to dislodge it or for it to dissolve.  After two days he was back to his old self. We are so thankful for that.



Tuesday evening our park managers, Guy and Juanita had a party to welcome all the work campers.  It was held at their favorite restaurant, Agave, where we had a great dinner followed by dancing afterward.


We have begun working in Activities, with our first coffee hour and Margarita night.  It was nice to see so many of our old friends back, but just as nice to meet some of the new guests in the park and welcome them.



That takes us to Thanksgiving Day, where as part of the activities team we hosted a wonderful dinner attended by 96 people.  The turkey was prepared by a restaurant here in the valley, and each couple at the table brought a side dish.  We were fortunate to have such great volunteers to help us with set up and clean up. To top it off, it was a beautiful 85 degree day, perfect for taking a walk after dinner and visiting friends.

I have to say, as great as all this was, nothing was as special as face-timing with our kids, being able to see them together, chat with them, and even see our granddogs. We have so much to be thankful to God for!

Ranching and Reminiscing

On Thursday Ray got a phone call from the manager of our park Guy Carvajal, asking him to meet his dad to give him a hand feeding his cattle.  He had helped him once before and I knew what a kick he got out of it so I had to go see for myself what he did.  Guy and his dad and his cousin own cattle, a bull, two llamas (or impalas as Mr. Carvajal calls them), two horses and two burros. The baby burro (named Bob by Guy’s granddaughters) was born a few days before we arrived at the park.
 
First things first, moving the feeder over to the fence.

And then throwing the hay to the cattle along with the feed which is a mixture of corn and mesquite beans.

The benefit to having the llamas is that they will contract any diseases first, thus alerting the rancher to protect the cattle.


This is mama burro with baby Bob.  She is very protective of Bob but I was able to get a photo of him milking and Ray was able to get close enough to him to pet him.

This is the bull with the ring in his nose.  He is very tame, however.  I told Mr. Carvajal he probably has no choice being the only bull among all those female cattle.


I just love this picture of Ray and Mr. Carvajal.  It took them about 15 minutes to feed the cattle, but we spent about 1 1/2 hours there.  Not only did we enjoy watching the animals (especially when the horses would kick at the llamas) but were so privileged to be able to listen to so many stories told by Mr. Carvajal as well as to learn so much about his life, the cattle and the history of Mission, Texas and the Rio Grande Valley.

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

Since we have been here in Texas we can’t believe how fast the time goes and how we have managed to keep busy.  As members of the Activities Team we are responsible for all the events in the clubhouse, and that means cleaning it and getting it ready for the season. Fortunately a woman was hired to do the bulk of the cleaning, but we were still left with the kitchen and everything in it as well as the storage room, grill, etc.  This took a good portion of Monday, and I must say it was a very warm day and we really worked up a sweat.  We did have a lot of fun working with the other two work camping couples, Bruce and Patsy and Jim and Gayle. 
Monday also found Ray and I attending a trade show sponsored by Welcome Home RGV.  There were several vendors there with useful information to bring back to our park to assist us in planning events and activities.  Ray has also been busy helping with small projects around the park and I have been helping out in the office when needed.
The next month will bring many more of our friends to the park as well as the start of our activities including coffee hour, margarita night, movies, dances, entertainment, bingo, crafts and guest speakers.
So, what do we do for fun you ask?  Well, we always manage to get a long walk in every morning, a swim in the afternoon, and a happy hour with friends here and there. We have also been getting together with friends to play cards and as soon as the weather cools down we will try our hand at washer toss and golfing and get more bike riding in.
We do find time to relax, either reading, spending time on the computer or taking snapshots around the park.

This is a view of the sunrise out our back window every morning. We love to sit and have our morning coffee and diet coke and watch the sun rise.

This dragonfly came to visit the bush in our yard and posed so still for us. These two palm trees are across the street from our site.  I believe they must be the tallest ones in the park. 

Every day since we have been here has been a picture perfect day!