Wind, Rain and Whatnot

We have had a period of time and several days where the wind blew "like sixty" as my Grandma Brock used to say back in the day when sixty was fast. Today the weather guys are saying we are in for heavy rain. Ya think? It has been my experience this season that predicting rain is like predicting the actions of a two-year-old. It may happen in a sprinkling or it may not happen at all with the latter being the usual. This morning certainly looks like it could rain but that is not a good indicator either.

The whatnot is the fact that the RGV is in their busiest season. The park is full or as full as it is likely to get this season. If the up-north folks are not here by now they probably are not going to come. The last tally by management that I saw said we had 607 people in the park. That is double the amount of people who live in Cumberland Iowa where we lived for twenty years. So I doubt that I learn everyone's name in a few months.
The strain on the Internet is particularly apparent now. When you take into account that Butch and I own 5 internet capable devices and multiply that by 607 or even 303 it is not hard to see why it is dysfunctional. Don't get me wrong, we do not have all of our devices connected at the same time, Not even close. I must admit that it is difficult to remember to disconnect when I get up and walk away from my computer. It is easier now when I am trying to do the simplest action and find myself stymied. I woke up this morning at 5:00AM and briefly thought about getting up and on the computer, thinking I could beat the crowd. As I am working on this blog entry I can almost guarantee I will have to wait for a hole in the cloud before I can get it posted. Having bad weather magnifies the situation. That is the bad news. The good news is that a good number of these people will start leaving at the end of February and first of March. That always amazes me as well. It is as though they forget that it is a long way from Spring in the North country. Oh well, that makes it decidedly better for those of us with better weather memories.

Another Whatnot. Butch and I went for a walk yesterday and we encountered Pierre. They certainly look happy, don't you think?

Tuesday Trivia

Tuesday Trivia winners were The Newbies. There was a tie for 2nd so a tiebreaker question was needed with the winners being Team Wilder Wild. 3rd place was Team Smartypants. We met the goal of having a great time and will commence with more fun next Tuesday night at 6:30 PM near the Sunrise Room in the Main Hall.

Hosts Barb and Butch Brooker

Thinking it over

One of our sons was contemplating a trip to the Rio Grande Valley in March. As it turned out, it will not happen but I decided to post the info in case it caught someone else's eye. There are 18 apartments in Trophy Gardens so I went to the office yesterday to see if it would be possible to rent one by the week or by the day in Mid-March and the answer was yes. Much to my surprise! The weekly rent would be $400 a week or $65 a day. She told me they had 5 apartments available for that time frame.
And then I received this email for cheap airfare. So if you can make it work we would be happy to host your stay in Trophy Gardens. Just sayin'!

http://m.iluv.southwest.com/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%408OjiLzm0Zup4887XCvwvdV1zKiE43WFK75C%2FyjhcSeM%3D&RR_NUMBER=b6589fc6ab0dc82cf12099d1c2d40ab994e8410c&src=MAILCNS989032&RSD=0000&RMID=AC_CNS_Promo_20190122&RRID=db6a51a9da5a6edc09517b7156c43983b42c5e8adecbb5eab15154adaf2d4b54%0D

Crickett Thermometer

DID YOU KNOW?

Crickets can tell you the outside temperature. It’s true! In 1897 physicist Amos Dolbear claimed that the outdoor temperature determined the number of cricket “chirps” one would hear, but a few years later, that theory was flip-flopped; the number of cricket “chirps” would identify the temperature. To convert cricket chirps to degrees Fahrenheit, count number of chirps in 14 seconds then add 40 to get the temperature. Example: 30 chirps + 40 = 70° F. It’s been proven, try it yourself!

Moon Eclipse

My friend Deon from Magnolia filmed the lunar eclipse and shot some really great photos. See them here:
https://magnolianews.blogspot.com/2019/01/lunar-eclipse.html

Mixed double results from Bits and Pieces

Sunday, January 20th. at the Championship pool hall, there were 28 people playing in the mixed doubles tournament...    Each team played 8 games...   Winning seven games was team Henry Mandziuk & Linda Lang...   There were three teams winning six games.   They were teams Butch Brooker & Janet Tisdall,    Lorin Martinuk & Barb Brooker,     Dan Lang & Lil Martinuk..    Two teams winning 5 games were teams  Donna Hanke & Terry Steinbeck and Liz Pish & Don Wolf.

Internet update

How quickly I can forget that a reboot on the wifi system can cure a multitude of problems. I rarely if ever have to reboot the system in Jefferson and I very infrequently had to reboot when I was on Spectrum. As I understand it here the system needed a reboot and for most people that cured the slow/no Internet issues. It had worked so well and for so long I did not even think of the possibility. I expected things to go wonky when everyone arrived and I do believe everyone who will be here is here by now. Since the reboot, it is nearly normal. A little slower to be sure but not so slow that you want to throw up your hands and give up. There is a smile on my face.😄

Mixed Doubles Pool

In Mixed Doubles Trophy Garden style you sign up as couples. Then when you arrive a card is made out for all the women players and they also put a woman players name in a hat and the men draw their partner. The women always break. They toss for which team breaks. After the game ends the woman fills out her card as to a win or a loss and who they played. We played 8 rounds today. My partner and I won 6 of the 8 games. And a good time was had by most. Butch and his partner also won 6 of their 8 games. It is a good way to meet people.

Funny

It sure is funny how things that I have been resigned to seem to resolve themselves in a positive way. I was not happy about our location for trivia but had decided I had done all I could to get things changed without success. However, the players themselves went to management and came up with us getting the big hall for trivia. I was surprised and pleased. There will be some unhappy card players but there are only 12 of them whereby there are 48 of us.
And then I texted with Keri this morning and found out there is a For Rent sign on the house next door south of us in Jefferson. It may not stay good news but for now it certainly is. It will depend on who happens to move in. There have been some fine people live there and then some not so fine. Time will tell.
This afternoon Butch and I are playing in a mixed doubles pool tournament. I have practiced enough to gain some confidence. Not much, but some.  They hold these events on Sunday afternoons. The other Trivia event is also on Sunday afternoon. It always comes down to choices when there are so many activities to choose from. I have told Butch that next week we are checking out the trivia event.