Animal Rescue

Sister Myrla does animal rescue. Her "new" cat named Church has it better than he used to!
Hewy loves Church by the way.

Churches hut has layers of blankets and plastic.

Border Crossing Trouble

This one is a must read if you plan to go to Mexico. Congress be da$%&* they are going to be tough at the border. And this begins January 31st

http://www.rvtravel.com/blog/canada/2008/01/homeland-security-locks-horns-with.html

Butch is leaving...

to go to Colorado and Snow Mountain Ranch for three weeks. Angel and I are staying in sunny south Texas. Butch is putting in three weeks of volunteer work to have the privilege of skiing in Colorado high country . He bought the ski's he is in a toot to use at a garage sale in Denver last summer while we were at Snow Mountain Ranch. Gary and Jason will be joining him up there for a few days of that three weeks. He is leaving here Sunday and driving to Canyon Lake TX just north of San Antonio and riding up with Terry and Lisa Linder who we met last summer at Snow Mountain Ranch. These Texas people are going back for three weeks to get a taste of winter. I think they are all silly but that's just me!
For those who wonder I am not taking Butch to San Antonio and will be without a car for three weeks. Before you make him out to be the bad guy that is my choice. It saves me two ten hour days of driving by letting him have the car. In the meantime I am in a park with many friends who are more than happy to help me out.
Angel and I will do fine...it remains to be seen how the ol' guy will do. I am sure I will know before long. Neither of us can remember being apart for that length of time in our 49 years of marriage. Butch used to travel in his job both in sales and in line work on storms etc. but never was he gone for more than two weeks.
I am in the perfect place for him to do this because of the support system in place for me and the schedule here is hectic. Never time to get too lonely...but three weeks will be long enough.

Blogger Barb

Where oh where has Barb the blogger been?!!! Putting the park directory together is the answer. It has been taken to the printer and they should be ready for purchase within the next week. There are 208 entries and 21 lack a picture. Now some of those do not want their picture in there. So I am not totally to blame for those that are missing. I do what I have to to get pictures. You will notice one fellow is in the swimming pool when his picture was taken.
Until this project is out of my hands I am tinkering with it so now the tinkering is done and I can get on with other things like catching up the blogs.

Bill & Maggie

My first attempt at posting a video. I think I made it too big...

Ocelot Info

How rare is this cat ? The International Species Information Service lists 217 worldwide, with 108 being in the U.S.
WHOOPS...107!!
You can go to this site to find out more about the Ocelot.
http://www.bigcatrescue.org/ocelot.htm

I have been asked where we saw the dead Ocelot and it was about a mile west of the Intersection of Expressway 83 and Hwy 100. We were headed to Los Fresnos TX

Oh My...a DEAD Cat!!

I have had much feedback on the dead cat after I sent out the call. One guy said "I saw that dead cat." And then there was this response from my friend and former classmate Jayne.

"GOTTA TELL YOU MY STORY -

THE FIRST DAY WE WERE IN BIG BEND, WE WENT FOR A RIDE EARLY IN THE MORNING.

SINCE IT WAS CHRISTMAS DAY, TRAFFIC WAS SLOW TO NONE. WE CAME BY A ROAD

KILL BOBCAT. WE JUMPED OUT WITH CAMERAS, TOOK LOTS OF MACRO SHOTS, ESPECIALLY OF THE FACE AND HEAD. ALL THIS TIME NOT ONE CAR CAME BY US.

ANYWAY, WE FINALLY WENT ON UP THE ROAD ABOUT TWO MILES AND DECIDED TO

GO BACK AND THROW THE CAT IN THE BACK OF THE PICKUP. MAYBE SOMEONE

WOULD WANT TO STUFF IT SINCE IT HAD NO "DAMAGE". WELL, IT WAS GONE --

AND WE HAD NOT MET ANY CARS! SO WAS IT JUST STUNNED ?? IMAGINE WHAT

WAS GOING THROUGH THAT CAT'S HEAD --

ENJOY YOUR DAY. IT IS SNOWING HERE - BUT IT IS BEAUTIFUL ----"

JAYNE

Too Cute!!

Los Fresnos and S. Padre

On the way to see a classmate of Butch's in Los Fresnos we happened to spot this dead ocelot alongside the road. It was about the size of a medium size dog. It is the first time I have seen roadkill of that kind!! Mary Ellen and Brian Carlson




Mary Ellen Minnehan Carlson was a classmate of Butch's that we haven't seen in 30-40 years.
In those long ago years we had a lot of laughs and we had a bunch of fun with Mary and Brian yesterday too.

Polarity testing

The following is from an RV newsletter we subscribe to...

Bill's Hints
From Motorhomes Made Easy
"Carry a 'polarity tester,' available in RV stores. Use it before plugging in at an unfamiliar campground. It's small, inexpensive, and displays two green or amber lights when plugged into a properly wired outlet. Using one of your adapters, you can test the campground outlet before you plug in."

And Butch says you would be amazed how often he finds reversed polarity in peoples homes.

Trivia

Trivia. . .
When you look at the full moon, what you see is only one-fifth the size of Africa. And speaking of the moon, the last time a human walked on its surface was in 1979.

Tell me why?

Tell me why did this dog bring me this bowl?










She is begging for beer!!

Last Blooms of Summer

After Labor Day when we were getting ready to close the campground for the season, Marilyn offered to let me have one of the hanging baskets that had decorated the place all summer. After all, cold weather was approaching and they would not last long in cold temperatures. Butch grumbled a bit about ALL my flowers but I just let him grumble. Well here it is a whole new year in January and my basket is still looking good! I must admit that it is like a needy pet and needs fed and watered daily. And a haircut once in a while but I don't have to take it for a walk.

Gentle nudge

I received a gentle nudge from friend Peggy that I hadn't posted for 5 days. I was shocked but not surprised. If you do not see anything on this one for a while go check the other one. It is listed under "Links" on this page. We are in the park now and that one tends to get more of my attention. Also I am now needing to start on the park directory and I seem to have trouble finding time to get started. It is no wonder we feel like we go on vacation when we leave the valley. There is so much that we do here. Not that we are complaining...it IS one of the things we like about being here. And then little life things come into play as well. Like my printer went belly up. Hated that too because I really liked it. The one I have now is considerably larger though cheaper. But the choosing and purchasing of a new one is time consuming...and then we have installing it and getting used to it etc.
I had it all in my mind how doing the directory this year would be a much easier procedure and it might have been had I remembered how I had it all nailed down. I spent quite a bit of time yesterday getting reacquainted with how I was successful last year. Still not quite there but in the meantime my email had piled up so needed to do lots of deleting and a little answering.
So give me a nudge when I need it or go check the other one...Oh! and Butch is either doing golf, pool or helping someone with an electrical problem but you are not likely to hear from him anyway!

An old tired dog...

An old, tired-looking dog wandered into the yard. I could tell from
his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home.
He followed me into the house, down the hall, and fell asleep in a corner.
An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.
The next day he was back, resumed his position in the hall, and slept
for an hour. This continued for several weeks.
Curious, I pinned a note to his collar: "Every afternoon your dog
comes to my house for a nap."
The next day he arrived with a different note pinned to his collar:
"He lives in a home with ten children -- he's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?"

Myrla at a Clinton Speech in Ft Dodge IA

Click on it!

Computers Plus

When I get down here and start computer class it is like going to school. I have to get myself updated on a myriad of issues. Very good exercise for the brain cells. Today we had the dreaded BLUE SCREEN on two different computers. On one it was brand new and there was no apparent reason for it. So we took the battery out then reinserted it and it seemed to take care of the problem as it was back to normal. BUT isn't that a scary happening after buying a new one? Do they take it back to the store before the time period has elapsed whereby they would have to deal with the computer manufacturer ( in this case Toshiba)? Or was it a one time incident never to occur again? Dilemma!
The other one was an older computer and she needs her recovery disc. But her recovery disc is in South Dakota. Do you have someone go into your house and get it and mail it to you? Think about that one for a moment...hmmm, where exactly did I put that thing?.... or do you take it to an unknown fix it person down here that would be able to use an unknown recovery disc and may charge you an unknown amount and perhaps not fix it right even then. Dilemma!!

On a brighter note, at least for me, brother in law Bill's children bought him a new laptop computer for Christmas. Toshiba- Windows Vista-very nice computer but it had 512MB of RAM. In the olden days that was plenty but remember this is the new and not improved VISTA!! It takes 1 GB of RAM just to get up in the morning and 2GB makes it purr like a kitten. So he was having more than a few memory issues. I went online in search of more RAM memory to add to his computer. I googled the specs for his particular model and found a 2 day online sale at Best Buy that was expiring that night. I went ahead and ordered 2- 1GB chips at $29.95 each (Regular $93 each) for in-store pick-up in McAllen. Best Buy has this deal whereby you order online and go to the store to pick it up...I think you have to give them an hour first...and if they do not have it ready and give it to you in one minute you get $10 off! You guessed it!! They did have it but it wasn't ready so I got $10 off of EACH item-making my purchase total $43!! I was impressed!!
Step two- Had to get this installed and working. I haven't done that in awhile and not on a laptop. Best Buy would have done it but it would have cost $126. For that much I figured I would try. It went smooth as silk and he is now buzzing along with 2GB of Ram memory. I was so proud!!!
So my time has been used up getting computer issues resolved or partly resolved. I like that for a change of pace. The only time I do not like it is when I have to pronounce the patient dead or in a vegetative state. For so many of us anymore the computer and email is our lifeline to back home and who better than I understands that. So when you do not see a post on here for a few days you can bet that I am working on computer issues...or maybe I am in Mexico sipping on a Margarita!!

Myrla and Scott

Many of you have seen Myrla and Scott's dog pictures...remember Hewy?...But she sent me this great picture of them and so I thought I would show you what the dog masters look like.

Howdy

Howdy Keep Movin' On Blog readers!
Christmas and the new year are fast approaching. It always seems a little strange in 80 degree weather and you would think after several years that we would get used to it. I never seem to though. When I get a hankerin' to see the white stuff I click on the link to the right and view the Snow Mountain Ranch webcam. That has been a nice addition and I look in frequently in hopes of seeing some wildlife. Today I saw what I think are deer tracks. Not sure though.
We have had a good year with many adventures and if you are a frequent reader you are all caught up. I like doing the annual letter as we go along and in the blog. Sure saves me much extra work. Unfortunately those who are not connected get left behind although there are very few anymore not part of the tech set.

There have been some folks with new computers in the park and some I know who are getting new ones and I have been busy setting them up for streamlined use. I take off all the "free" stuff they load on as most of the freebies are for 30 days only. They want to get you hooked on their programs so you will pay for the full version. The truth is most of it you do not want anyway. Microsoft Office is one of the big offenders. Check out www.openoffice.org and you can have all the features of MS Office for free. Some folks are suspicious of things that are free but I do not recommend anything that hasn't been checked out upside down and sideways.
Still learning about Windows Vista and without the operating system on my computer it is slow going. Right now I am not overly impressed but the jury is still out.

Butch has been busy keeping electrical issues to a minimum and his brother Bill takes care of plumbing. They make a good team. They play golf in between times.
We haven't done much out of the ordinary but I imagine things will liven up after the first of the year.
We wish all of you

Iowa!!

This young fella did a youtube video doing a jig in front of many Iowa landmarks. It is 7 minutes and 9 seconds long but it is worth it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsWBD3UPfg4