Time to Go

   This is always a bittersweet time. We've made good friends here and each year it gets a little harder to leave. We will leave here on Wednesday morning and go to San Antonio for a few days. No beach time and no big shrimp at Dirty Al's this year. We plan to check out the River Walk, Alamo, Fredsrickburg, and Lukenbach and maybe meet up with Sticks, Kenny & Nilia at some half way point for them. 
    Before we left to go to Chillicothe, we had been invited to dinner at a friend/customer of Dennis for Sun. noon. We remembered it about 2pm that Sunday afternoon. Dennis called and they assured him they hadn't cooked, but I still wonder. Anyone who knows me knows I don't forget about invitations where someone else is doing the cooking! They extended the invitation again and this time we remembered to go. I felt like I was back in Grandma Minnie or Grandma Albertson's kitchen. We had roast, mashed potatoes, gravy,  slaw, green bean casserole, scalloped corn and hot rolls. I could of very easily embarrassed myself but used as much self control as I have. We sit and visited for a few minutes and she got up to make coffee and pulled a very tall angel food cake out of the microwave. She hadn't cooked it in there, just stored it there and then she pulled fresh strawberries out of the fridge!! This is my kind of eating. I don't know for sure where Bob found Arlene, but I hope he hangs on to her! After lunch, we headed over to their activity hall for a jam and Dennis sang.
    They have a good jam, but there are lots of accordion players. I like a good accordion song but after 10 they all begin to sound alike and there was 14/15.

It is now March 15 and I just realized that this actually saved. We made it to our RV park just south of San Antonio but had quite a scare before we got here. The driver's side inside tire blew out and I thought the whole motor home had blown up. It was very loud. Called our insurance agent and just left a message for them to call me without telling what I needed. They didn't call back for 2 hours! By that time we had realized that we needed to call the 800# on our card. Since it was a inside tire Dennis drove on the shoulder the last 15 miles to the RV park. Then we called the insurance and they sent someone out right away and changed it. A very pleasant young man had it changed in about 5 minutes. I was glad we didn't have to set on the side of the freeway with people going by 75mph.

  We are in an RV park that we've stayed in a couple of times on our way to Mission. This year it is almost full with workers. I assume they are oil workers because we see lots of signs about oil worker camps. It is very clean and well kept. We had to laugh last night because there were kids outside playing and laughing. We haven't heard that for a long time.

   Today we spent the day at the Alamo and walking the River Walk. I have posted some pictures and will post more later. Tomorrow we are going to Fredsrickburg which is a German town about 60 miles from here. Hoping to get better pictures of the wildflowers since we won't be on interstate.


 

Alamo and River Walk

This tree was on the grounds of the Alamo. Does anyone know what it is?

One of the waterfalls on the way to the

 RiverWalk

The Alamo. The line was so long  that we didn't go inside the church, just wandered around the grounds. We had been here before but were very disappointed by how commercialized it was. It used to be a shrine to the people who died in that war.

Musicians performing on the River Walk

Dennis waiting for lunch on River Walk

Long Week

When I typed last Wednesday morning that I didn't have too much to tell, I had NO idea what the next week would bring.
   That afternoon we got a phone call from home that no parent ever wants to hear. Marcy kept assuring me that everyone was ok but took a while for her to get out what wasn't ok. As I'm sure you all know Denny & Margie's house burnt last Wed afternoon. They lost all 3 of their little dogs but they were at work and Jaime & Jaxon were at school so we thank God on a regular basis that they were not injured or worse. We sit and looked at each other for awhile and finally Dennis said "what do you want to do"? Like any Mom I said "I want to go home". We started grabbing a few clothes and meds and headed out the door. Left the motor home here because we could get there quicker in the car. I kept assuring the kids that their Dad had a level head and he wouldn't drive all night. Wrong! He did park in a Walmart parking lot and slept for a couple of hours. We left Mission at 5pm Wed. night and pulled into Chillicothe at 6 pm Thurs night. That's a lot of driving/riding and hope we don't have to do that again! There was nothing we could do when we got there, but I could touch everyone and give hugs and know for myself that they were all ok.
Denny & Margie and the kids have handled this with such dignity and grace. It amazes me, because don't know if I could of been as calm and collected. I told them it hurts worse to see them go through this than if it had of been my stuff.  They have some awesome friends and family that have supported them with food, cash, gift cards and lots of prayers. Jaime was upset not because her stuff was gone, but because she had clothes and her Daddy didn't. Think maybe she's been raised right! I know that lots of you who read this have donated to them and I say a BIG thank you. I'm sure you will hear from them when their life gets settled down to a new normal. 

   We were able to see where Marcy & Wes' new house. It is a very neat house and I'm sure they  will make a beautiful home out of it. More than 1 person has commented on facebook that it would be a great place to raise a family, but Dennis says I can't say that!! Wish it was a little closer to Chillicothe but don't think I'm supposed to say that either! LOL Marcy we love you guys!

   I'm sure some of you are wondering why we are back in Texas. Denny and his family are staying at our house while they are hunting for a new place. We will go ahead and stay here for a week or 2 and then start home to be home by March 24th for Joy's birthday party.
 
   Since we were in the car Dennis decided that we'd try a new route and go through Mineral Wells, TX where his parents were married. We spent the night there Monday night and made a couple of phone calls and found someone who had known the people who lived there in 1945 when they got married and could give us an address and directions to get there. I had found the marriage announcement online in the archives of our local newspaper and it gave the name of the people who she was rooming with while his Dad was in the Army and it said they were the witnesses at the wedding. As soon as Dennis told this historian the name she said oh said she knew them and knew where their place was. I had also emailed the Mineral Wells library and asked about old phone books or cities directories that might have the address of Cameron Guinn in it. If I can figure out how to do it I will include the emails I've received back:

Ok once again, the pictures didn't go where I wanted them to. But for the Albertson children/grandchildren, this is where it all started. The pictures that Grandma showed me it was white and the yard was much neater. Don't know if that was taken when they got married or if they went back later. We found it cool that the flag on the porch had an A on it.

"'Dear Dennis and Sharon, 

When I came to Mineral Wells in 2005, I bought their home at 2315 NW 3rd Avenue and remodeled it extensively.  It is a wonderful home with a spectacular front porch.  I may have some pictures from the time I bought it but it should look better now.  It had been vacant for some time.

A young couple own it now.  Good luck with your research.

Sharon, the house was to be a two story house but the stairs were never added.  Instead of walking into a anteroom with the stairs in front of one and a hall way to the north opening both to the parlor and dining room, one walked into a large room about 23 by 15.  

In the front of the house, off the big room to the north there was a room, a parlor, about 12 x 14 with two pocket doors that use to slide into the wall on either side.  Through the doors, a dining room as big as the parlor with a large opening back into the big room and a door into the bathroom, both doors on the south and a door on the west into the kitchen.  So the north side of the house was a parlor, dining room and kitchen.  The other side was the big room, then side by side, a bedroom and the bathroom off the dining room.  

Sometime, someone married a corner of a preexisting structure behind bedroom and the bath, giving the kitchen a room to the south, squaring out the back of the house.

At one time, the lot was bordered by 4th Avenue, 3rd Avenue, and 23rd Street.  The yard with those old oaks must have been lovely.

The ceilings were over 9 ft high, it had wood floors, and solid wood doors.  The kitchen had a large window (the window may have been the original back door) and one over the sink.  The parlor, dining room, and bedroom each had two large windows.  The big room had a window onto the covered porch and two at the end.  The dining room did not have lathe but the wallpaper was papered onto the boards.  The paper was rotting but very spectacular.  The wallpaper had grayed black background with a repeating floral design with muted green leaves and large white flower similar to magnolias.  The accent colors in the flowers were gray, yellow and red.  Very fashionable for the late 1920s.

It would have been a splendid site for a wedding."

The genealogy Gods were smiling down on us! We had an old picture of the house and except for paint it hasn't changed a whole lot.

 

  So as you can see the past week has had some good points along with the bad. We have some friends that we've made here that live in Anadarko (probably not spelled right) OK. They are the ones who had to leave early last year because their only child had passed away. They kept telling us that we need to stop by when we are going home so since it was right on the road, we stopped and said "hi" on Monday. They acted like they hadn't seen us for months and were so thrilled we came by. Never mind we'd just left on Wed and they went home on Thurs. Don't know if we'll go that way with the motor home. We paid $11.50 tolls in the car so would of probably been $40 in the motor home. The roads aren't that great either.

  

  Tonight we went to Riverside to eat tenderloins with Butch/Brenda and 3 other couples from the park. They have really big good tenderloins. We ate out on the deck right on the Rio Grande river. Yesterday it was 92 degrees when we got back here at 6 pm. Today it has been mid/high 80s but lots of wind so very comfortable.

 

   Brenda & I did water aerobics this morning and we are both still moving so that is a plus! For the ones of you who visualize these little old people teetering around, you should try to keep up with them!! There is something going on ALL the time.

 

   Last Wed Dennis went across the street to one of the other parks and they were having a karaoke day. He sang 3 songs and is beginning to really get his voice back and he loves singing as much as he did 30 years ago.

 

   Something to add to my list of things that make you go hmmmm: Denny & Margie had made reservations in Kansas City for Friday & Saturday night to celebrate their anniversay. After the fire they decided they couldn't go and asked their friend/travel agent to see if she could get some of their money back. She called the hotel on Friday and explained the situation and offered to send them fire reports, police reports, etc. Their comment was "why didn't they call sooner?" As I'm typing that I'm still thinking "they really didn't say that" but they did. They did credit 1 night and said if they'd called sooner they'd credited both nights.

 

  If you've read this far, please know that this is mostly for me to have a record of what we are doing. Some of you requested to receive these updates and some of you just got added. If you want to be taken off the list, let me know.

Pictures

Seems like we don't have lots to tell. We aren't doing much sight seeing this year since we've pretty much done all of that in past years. When we leave here, we are going to visit the Texas Hill Country and there will be more to show and tell. We are planning on leaving here on March 7th and were making plans to get together with Sticks and Nilia & Kenny somewhere between their homes. Nilia is having more heart surgery on the 7th so won't be able to travel. Prayers for her please.

I'm going to add some pictures with some of what we've been doing.
Well I haven't figured out how to put the pictures where I want them, but bear with me. This is my $5 produce purchase. There's 1 more sweet potato that is not showing and there was 2 more tomatillas. I traded Brenda for some peppers that she bought so we could make a sauce the young Hispanic man at the produce market told us all about. He even offered to go home with Brenda to make it for her. LOL The avocados weren't really that black. They were very ripe but perfect for the "not dumb salad" that Marcy found on Pinterest. The prices on produce still amaze me. We should lose lots of weight here, but doesn't happen. We eat all the healthy stuff (well Dennis not so much) but we also eat all the junk. Ice cream jumps out at us often and the fact that the banana splits are $2 on Saturday instead of $1 hasn't seemed to slow us down much.

You will have to click on this picture to see the dentist prices listed (at least I have to) I don't think the locals go to the dentist, but all the Winter Texans go to Progresso to have their dental work done. I keep thinking I will, but haven't yet.

This is the baked potato from Willie's BBQ. It really is bigger than it looks and it is delicious. Don't think I've ever made it completely through it but give it a good try.

This is another 1 that you might need to click on to see. It is an aloe vera field. We didn't know they bloomed and had NO idea that they grew them in fields.

This is what I've done in my spare time since I've been here. Can't believe I got the whole thing done in 6 weeks. It has been donated to "Betty's babies". Betty was the woman in charge of the craft room in the park for 28 years. Her and her husband are moving this weekend to Arizona to be with their daughter. She started donating to the babies at Mission Hospital all those years ago. Our park has made so many baby hats for the newborns that they finally told us they wouldn't need any for a few years. We only do hats now if there is a blanket or sweater to go with it. I've started a new to me hobby Crohook. It's kinda of like crocheting but not really. Still not for sure I like it and won't be able to do it around people since the hook is 2 foot long and I tend to stab people.

This is what Dennis does in his spare time when he can find a place to sing. This is at our park jam. He is sounding pretty good. We went to a karaoke place last Thurs. and stayed out til 11pm (and there were still streets when we came home, they had NOT rolled them up lol). He sang 3 times that night. About 50% of the songs were Spanish. Even when you can't understand the words, you can tell if people can or can't sing. He's going across the street this afternoon to sing at a karaoke session.Didn't take long for him to get back to liking the stage.  He also has been playing pool and once in awhile playing Texas Holdem.

Spell check

I forgot to spell check the last entry before I published and now I notice several misspelled words. Bear with me, I will figure out how to do this. Haven't figured out a way to go back and edit, but if you can tell me how to do that, I will.

Rainy Saturday

    The day started off as a very warm muggy day. We went to Donna to the Don Wes flea market and the veggie market across the street. Bought lots of veggies, but thankfully not nary a flea! This flea market is all Americans and is huge. The local ones around our park are mostly Mexican but since I've gotten braver, I like them better than Don Wes. I love seeing the little kids and at the American one it is mostly us old people! The booths that were inside, we couldn't even enjoy looking because it was so hot. Butch & Brenda were buying a sign with their name on it. As soon as it was finished we got our vegetables and headed back to the motor home.
    There is a little hamburger joint in Donna that tends to call out to us at least once a year when we're in town. Today was the day to go to Gonzales. I'm sure I told you all about the size of the hamburgers last year and I forgot to take a picture today since  I have a new fangled phone that would of done that. Let's just say that Dennis has agreed to share 1 next time. This is a family owned business, a Mother and her 3 grown children. It used to be an old grocery store and just did hamburgers as a lunch for the locals. Now it is all hamburgers/fries/onion rings. There is no sign showing that it's anything. They do NO advertising and they are only open from 10:45-2, 6 days a week and apparently are supporting 4 families on that. It is real beef and they cook it after you order it. There is at least a 30 min. wait and we heard them tell someone today that it would be an hour and half. It usually doesn't take that long but always a wait and people don't fuss about it. We've never been there when there wasn't a line, but today it was fairly short. We visited with some people from St Louis  and another couple and their 2 grown children from Minnesota while we waited. They told us about some more good places to eat. Everyone always knows the good places to eat around here and there are lots of them.
      The thermometer in the car said 85 on the way back to the motor home at 1:30 and at 3:30 it was 65 and now it is 59. I think this is our winter. We've had rain off and on all day and sometimes the roads/driveway even got wet. The weather forecast shows rain 5 out of the next 7 days. I really wish it would rain an inch or 2 and then get on with it, but guess I don't get to make that decision.

      I'd had a ride around the park on the trike and about 3:00 decided that I would take a little nap. We are 1/2 block off of a business highway with 3 major hospitals within a 3 miles radius so we hear sirens ALL the time and have gotten to where we don't pay much attention to them. Just as I started to lay down, I realized that the siren quit right outside my window and when I looked out there was a huge fire truck in our yard! We had 25/30 people out watching a 5th wheel back in this week so you can imagine what a fire truck in the park brought out. Found out that our next door neighbor had numbness in her arm and she or someone had called 911. Not for sure why they sent a fire truck first but the EMT quickly called for an ambulance and they took her to the hospital. That is one real disadvantage to living in a 55+ park. This lady is in her late 80s and goes all the time. I said she probably just slowed down enough today to realize that she didn't feel right. My little 92 year old  friend who I always said looked and acted just like Grandma Albertson would of at that age if she lived had a stroke before Christmas and had gone to stay at her daughters. She thought she was ready to come back so the daughter brought her and was planning to stay for 2 weeks  and then leave Etta here. The 1st week she was here, she fell and couldn't get up so decided that she wasn't ready to be on her own. Another friend's husband who is on the go all the time is having balloon surgery on Tues. If you would say a prayer for all 3 of them I'd appreciate it and I'm sure they would too.

       I added this picture just because it makes me smile. Dylan was helping Papa with something on Darren's camper.

      Apparently senior citizens  like fun toys. These are 2 pictures of golf carts we've seen the last 2 days while we were out riding around.

   I love the red one that looks like a 57 Chevy but guess I'll just keep on using the trike for now. Wonder if that kit would fit on the trike?    Think that all for today.

Tomatoes in Feb.

   I played L R C or however those letters are supposed to go last night and won finally! Now I know what all the noise was about New Years Eve when the kids were playing it. It is a fun game.
   Today we did something I've never done in Feb. We picked fresh tomatoes! I first said Dad would of laughed at those little things but then decided that if he could of picked them in Feb he would of liked them as much as I did. They were small but very tasty. We went right to the store and bought bacon and cottage cheese. What a yummy lunch. The bacon brings me to a hmmm moment!
   I have not bought bacon since last summer and when I bought it last it was sold in 16 oz packages. Today everything in the store was 12 oz, but still the same price as the 16 oz packages! Do they think that we won't notice that they've taken 1/4 of the bacon away? The pound of smoked sausage that we had for dinner is now 14 oz. The 32 oz jar of Miracle Whip is now 30 oz. I could go on and on. I understand raising prices but I don't understand completely changing the packaging to save money. Seems like that would cost more than it was worth.

Some of the 2500 tomato plants in this patch.

Picking a few tomatoes. Some of them were bigger than these, but even the little ones were very good!

  We had a real rain today. It got the street and driveway wet. Probably not a 20th of an inch, but better than nothing.
   I really won't write every day (unless we do something really exciting) but still trying to figure this out and how to do the pictures.
   Not for sure why the pictures ended up being in the middle of the text, but I will get this figured out.