Sunday, December 25, 2011

A nice bike,a beautiful kitchen - opening packages....PRICELESS!

Isn't funny what a two year old considers exciting at Christmas? We got her a nice bike, her mom and dad a nice kitchen, what did she want to play with? Opening everyone's presents - priceless! She even cried on Santa's lap.

More pictures on the way,this is a quick post from my phone.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Hello Santa..we're almost there!

Tuesday, Dec. 20th.   Just two more days before we leave to head to the stepson's for Christmas.  This will be a great trip home for a week.  Family, then on to friends for a couple of days to see Larry and Ruth Ann.  They are some of our best friends, who also ride a Gold Wing motorcycle.  They are coming down to Texas for a month to spend time out and about with us as we travel around to see the valley.

In preparation for leaving on Thursday, everyone has been asking us if we are packed yet?  What's with this?  We always pack either the night before or the day of a trip.  Doesn't take us long.  We did do a dry run with our puppy though.  Took him to a neighbors house to do a sleep over last night.  She is going to keep him for us while we are gone so we both thought it would be nice for him to try a night so she would know what to expect.  But I must say - he is the best behaved dog I have ever had.


I just know he is going to miss us when we are gone.  He will sit like this for hours looking at me waiting for me to give him a command, play ball or ask him to sit on my lap.  He is a blonde Cocker Spaniel at 2.5 years and EVERYONE in the park loves him as he is so friendly, never barks and is well behaved.

I think our biggest problem will be in the transition from 70 degree weather to snow and cold in one day.  At least it will feel like Christmas.  Can't wait to see grand daughter number 6, she's two and a real bowl of energy.  Here's a picture of her fashion choices for yesterday:

I just love the idea of wearing your boots all day just in the hopes of going outside to play in the snow.  See you soon Claire....

Friday, December 16, 2011

Where's the beef?

Texas... the name is synonymous in my mind with cowboy movies showing the long cattle drives.  In fact we visited  the largest cattle farm - King Ranch last year.  And as you travel the roads to get to the RGV (Rio Grand Valley) you pass ranch after ranch, miles and miles of cattle.

So you would think that Texas has great beef, wouldn't you?  Well not so much!  I don't know why but I think the explanation has to be that the cattle are on so much of a subsistence living, i.e. living on scrub brush and thistle grass, that they never can put on enough muscle and fat to be good meat.  We haven't found any good steaks while here.  So this year we brought a freezer full of steaks with us.  Maybe we'll get more when we come to PA for Christmas if we have room.





One of our past times while here is bicycle riding.  As we said in an earlier blog, the rear tire on my Sun trike was destroyed on the way here.  But do not dismay, for a couple of hundred dollars it can be made all well!  So that was done last week and now I can run around to my hearts content on my tricycle!  That is all around the five RV parks that make up our complex.  You don't want to go out on the roads here - too many O.F.'s on the road.  They'd run over you and never see you..ha ha ha ha.  Went out the other night to look at the Christmas lights in the parks, some of the trailers and park units are really decorated to the hilt. But again almost got hit by one of the OF's from Canada driving on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!  All he said as he passed me was "Je suis désolé! " (Sorry)

Good news for us - our house closed on Thursday, Dec. 15th...... and we didn't even have to be there!  We did all the paperwork before we left PA back in early November, so the agent went to oversee that everything was filed properly and the monies were deposited into our account.  So sorry to say we are no longer South Dakota residents who owned PA property but now we are S.D. residents who have NO fixed location.  So the RV is truly our home.  And we are enjoying it. Probably the worst part of living in it is the emptying of the tanks about every 4  or 5 days. That and having to move stuff in the basement when you want something.  Other than that it's great.

Speaking of the home, 5th wheel, RV, we woke up to cold water last week.  We were using the electric hot water heater and for some reason it wasn't working to I had a cold shower.  Since I figured out the electric heater wasn't working, I flipped it to propane.  Guess who had a nice warm shower?  Oh, she deserves it I guess.

We have been going to Alejandro's on Fridays for lunch.  This restaurant has a sea food buffet that we love - Gulf shrimp any way you like it.  Had gone in the evening with my Mom and stepdad along with Jim and Annette from Keokuk, Iowa (I am an Iowa boy after all).  Last week we went at lunch to the second location by our selves, it was even better.  Today we are going to go with Morris and Judy, a couple from Missouri who are living on the street over from ours.  We met last year because their Corkie  would bark at Cory when we walked by.

That brings us up to date.  On Thursday we will be flying back to PA for Christmas so we will be seeing all of our friends there after Christmas.   Hope all of you reading this have a very Merry Christmas.  Remember  - Jesus is the reason for the season.