Saturday, December 10

ConsumerSearch.com

Link of the Day

ConsumerSearch.com

http://www.consumersearch.com/

"ConsumerSearch.com reviews hundreds of product reviews, analyzes them,
distills the information shoppers need and recommends which products are
the best."

Friday, December 9

Weekend

The weekend is approaching and for me it is a quieter time. Oddly enough the flurry of park activity is mostly through the week. The weekend gets here and many people take off for other parts of the valley to do other activities- like South Padre Island where we have not been as yet. It does not look like it will happen this weekend however as we are forecasted rain. Rain has not happened here for quite some time so we cannot fault them for being glad and grateful for the rain despite the fact it is landing here on a weekend.
As Butch and I have traveled around the valley we have noticed the fruit on the trees is very small. At first I thought I was seeing oranges but as it turned out we were seeing grapefruit. Grapefruit needs rain at the right times like any other crop but it also needs a cold snap. It makes the fruit sweeter. I believe they harvest 3 crops from the trees in one year. I do not think the current crop will be one they brag about.
The latest member of the family. A gift from Donn and Peggy. 

Wednesday, December 7

Interesting Day

Actually it started during the night...Butch started kicking me vigorously. I said, "WHAT are you doing?!!!" He said,"Sorry, I was dreaming I was in India in the bush and a wild pig had me down and I was kicking it to get it away from me."  That was a bit scary...
Today we went to Mexico to pick up some meds for us and Marlene. Short, quick trip in and back out again. The military presence is now in the southern part of town and no tourists see them at all. It used to be they were right on the bridge entrance/exit . There has been a bunch of cleaning up. The town looks pretty good really.
After that we stopped at H. E. B. to pick up a few groceries. It was lunch time by then so we went to Whataburger for lunch. Butch and I were in a booth with me facing the interior of the building. I saw a fellow digging around in the pepper condiments container. It looked strange and that is what caught my attention. People do not paw around in the pepper packets. They pick up a couple of packets and move on. Less than a minute later another young fellow comes along and digs around in the pepper packets, picks out something and carefully wraps it in a napkin and puts it in his pocket. He looked over his shoulder once when he did this. I was looking right at him but he did not make eye contact with me. The first fellow comes back again and "gets more pepper". It is the first time I have ever witnessed a drug deal but it was very obvious to me that is what was happening. I was giving Butch the play by play as it happened.
It all made for an interesting day.

Tuesday, December 6

Memories

Memories came flooding back. I was 13. We lived at 503 W. Head St. in Jefferson IA and it was Christmas night 1957. A fire started and I woke up and screamed at my mother. She ran down the stairs. I dropped out of a second story window. We awakened my grandmother and two sisters who were in the other side of the duplex house not knowing that my 10 year old brother had returned to his bed on our side. He perished in the fire.
I read this news headline and story and remembered all the above as if it happened yesterday.
 http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20111206/NEWS/111206001/1001/?source=nletter-news

Thought for today

I was thinking this morning that it is coming up on 10 years of keeping this blog! Can you believe it? I hardly can. I remember how excited I was to start it and thought what a fun way to journal our life. At first there wasn't a way to add pictures but that came along. And it made it much easier for me. If I were too busy to write much then I could slap on a couple of pictures in a hurry. Then people started telling me they really liked the pictures. They are worth a thousand words. Lately I have written more than posting pictures. We have been in sunny South Texas for so many years now that I most likely have taken pictures of many of the local attractions. And we have become so enmeshed in the park and it's activities that we rarely leave it. It might sound a bit like I plan to end it and that is not it at all. The fun stuff and interesting posts may not be as plentiful as in years past but I plan to continue as long as my chubby little hands can hit a keyboard.
December is a busy month in the park and my duties as president of the association sometimes leaves me little time and if you feel the need to give me a nudge or if there is something you would like to know more about do not hesitate to let me know.
I will just keep blogging along!

Monday, December 5

Sunday, December 4

Friends

Friends Donn and Peggy have arrived from Nevada. Donn being an Iowa boy gets very hungry for a pork tenderloin and living in Nevada they are not plentiful. He knows and likes the ones they prepare at Riverside. So a group of us made our way over for a tenderloin.
Many of us had enough for supper too. Pictured are Donn and Peggy, Bill and Kay Dean and Rozetta and Butch.