Eating is great fun

Evelyn exercised today, but I didn't. I had some online banking to do and thought we had lunch plans at 11:30. It turns out that it was for 12:30. I watched one of the programs I had recorded last night and off we went. We went to be with some friends from Winnipeg: Heinz and Alice Bauknecht. She served delicious lasagna and salad. She also had banana creme pie and some date cakes. I have decided to limit myself to dessert on only two days per week. I saved up for today because I was sure Alice would have delicious desserts. We then played her favorite game: hand and foot. It is a form of canasta. We stayed until 5:00 and came home to ride our bikes around both parks. We planted a tall poinsettia from Heinz. He gave us two last spring and both died during the Christmas freeze. We think we can grow more the same way. We have been trying to contact Tom and Diesta Crouch to invite them for lunch or dinner Saturday. They didn't return the call I made to them. I will try to contact him early tomorrow because we are to meet the Harlingen renters for lunch tomorrow. I watched CSI and Without a Trace while my lovely wife worked on her shoes and our ironing.

Off to the hospital; some scary news.

We both arose at 7:00 to volunteer at Knapp Medical Center. Evelyn always works there, but this was my first day. I shadowed another volunteer as we worked at the reception desk. As always, too much information was pumped into me and will not be retained for the week until we return. I had a good time as do most of the volunteers. We came home at 12:30 for lunch and some relaxation. We knew we had to go to Mexico to get some Crown Royal for buddy Sam. We also needed some medicine and needed to check prices on some that Evelyn will need. She will go on Medicare in September, but we won't return here until November. We want to have enough with us to prevent our having to buy it in the US without any insurance coverage. I got some Toprol and will get some Lipitor next week. We could not buy as much booze as we need because of the customs limit. We still need some more Whiskey and some Bailey's Irish Creme for Stacy. We will use a calendar and take inventory on Saturday to see how much we will need to buy ahead. She will have enough covered by insurance until then. We also did some Christmas shopping while in Mexico because we are almost never with any of our families at Christmas. We will give gifts to the Georges in the summer/fall and the Beelis don't celebrate Christmas by gifting each other. Sometimes not at all. We went to the neighbor's tonight to play dominoes. We enjoyed the diversion.
We do have some scary news. The oncologist's office called and said Evelyn needs to have another mammogram next week. This implies that the first one taken last week had some questionable marks on it. We will pray pretty hard that things are not stirring up in the other breast (the right one) or any other area in her body. We need prayers from any of you who are disposed to conversing with our Heavenly Father.

Giving out and keeping out

I walked both parks while Evelyn exercised. She didn't get finished until 9:00 and then had to get ready for our lunch date. We wanted to look for a new Easter flag because ours is faded and they might be marked down after Easter. We could not find one where we looked, so we went to the Chinese restaurant in Alamo for the AARP workshop and lunch. We may have to take Chinese lessons soon. We came back to Weslaco because I had to meet a brother Gideon and go back to Alamo to distribute New Testaments to 5th graders at an elementary school. I did have a problem in that I had forgotten that we always wear dress clothes to distributions, but I rarely wear long pants here. I had to have my friend take me home and quickly threw on my suit. Off we went. The children were very receptive and well behaved. They were a joy to serve. I always tell them that the scriptures are love letters from Jesus. I returned home to find Evelyn resting so I joined her for a while. She got up and made a salad for dinner and then went off to her Tuesday Bible study. I stayed home and recorded Scrubs for her because we think it is a funny show. I am going to try to lose some weight by not eating any sugar desserts or candy for five days each week. I know I will eat some so I will just schedule the days. I am also going to stop eating at night. I doubt that this will result in much significant weight loss, but perhaps it will slow the increase. Perhaps I will go back on the Weight Watchers program, but is hard when we go out to eat with so many friends. We often share a meal to cut our calorie intake, but that won't work if I come home and eat many cookies, candies, ice cream, et cetera. I will give it a go--at least until tomorrow.

Another goodbye

I slept until 8:30! What sloth! Actually I must need the rest. I got up and walked to the doctor's to find out when could see him. The receptionist was irritatingly unapologetic. She did tell me to come back at 2:00. I came home and showered. On my way back I was surprised to see Tom and LuAnn leaving the park. Their buyers were delayed in arrival so they had to wait until 2:00 to close. Since they were not leaving until tomorrow so we made plans to go to the China Garden for dinner. Evelyn rode to the imagaging center to have a doppler kidney test. Whe came back, and we had a light lunch. We took a lily to Ruth Muller who has been sick, stopped to visit with Lionel and Lois, took items to the recycle center, bought some much needed gasoline, and went to the bank to cash a check. We drove home, and it was time for me to ride my bike to the doctor. I waited the required 45 minutes and then went in. My PSA was a good 1.2. I talked with him about urinary problems, skin problems, erectile problems, and prostate problems. He gave me some samples for the latter. I am to try it for a week. We messed around until 5:45, picked up the Joneses, and went to dinner. We said our 10th goodbye and came home for the evening. We called Janice because today is her 66th birthday. We have a day of searching tomorrow. We are looking for a new Easter flag that is relevant to the Resurrection. No silly rabbits, etc.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Happy Easter! We praise God for this glorious day of promise. We went to Trail's End to lead worship as usual. We were surprised and blessed to have 36 in attendance. The people there are very kind to us and a great blessing from the Lord. There were several people who like my messages that came from Immanuel. Some had gone to the sunrise service and some came here instead. We were blessed with one couple who had likely gone to worship twice all season and both were to hear the message God had given to them through me. We then scurried off to Immanuel where we rehearsed our Easter numbers and then sang them during the service. The pastor's message was tremendous! Perhaps one reason I say that is that I have been trying to say many of the same things for years. For example, rejoice when returning from the Communion rail. It is a time for celebration. Don't look like you are having gas pains (my image but the same feeling as his). I wanted to have a copy to share, but the one Sunday when the message was not tape recorded was today. We waited until 1:00 for Don and Janice Waters to arrive so we could go to enjoy an Easter buffet. Fat people need buffets: they keep their strength up. We enjoyed the Golden Corral and left from there to go to Randy Winston's since Bonny had invited us and Don and Janice had never been to Progreso Lakes. We spent an hour talking with them and then brought the Waters back and they left for home at 6:00. I watched the end of the MSU/KY game. It was a great game. Evelyn took a short nap and I went for a walk. I came home and watched my Sunday shows. I will have withdrawl symptoms during this next week since I don't have sermons to prepare anymore. I must see the doctor tomorrow and learn what medicine I need to get from Mexico for both me and Evelyn when we head north. She will go on Medicare in September and we won't have enough medicine to last until we return to the Valley. The medicine will cost at least twice as much.

Bike ride and conversation.

Up to Gideon prayer breakfast. I volunteered to help with scripture distribution at a school in San Juan next Tuesday. I came home and got ready to ride to Tierra Santa with our friends. It was not too hot so it was a comfortable ride. We enjoyed the 2 for 1 hamburger special. The service was very lacking, but there was a golf tournament in progress and perhaps that took our server's time. We rode back home and went to another RV park that had a tree with actual thorns growing out of the bark and limbs. I can't remember ever seeing a tree like that. If I have, it was probably that one when someone else showed me. Regardless, we returned here for a great chocolate dessert Evelyn had made. After everyone left around 2:00, we crashed and slept until 5:30. We are both still smitten with the chest congestion which keeps us from truly restful sleep. But, praise be to God, we can sleep without coughing much. We got up, had some popcorn, and went for a walk around the park. We met Jack and Kay Head, walked with them and stopped at our place for popcorn and soda. I forgot to write this blog last night but still didn't get to bed until 10. We had called the Beelis and were blessed to talk with Andrew for a long time, Noah and Rosalie. We don't get to talk with the boys enough. We didn't talk with Elizabeth because Rosalie said she was sick. We sure miss seeing them but living far apart has its ramifications.

One man's junk....

Sleeping in is not hard to do. I did finally struggle out of bed and walked over to the Durkins in order to anoint Genny for her surgery that will happen in about two weeks. I had been looking for my anointing oil since Monday. This morning the Lord allowed me to find it after looking like a CSI worker with my little flashlight. Evelyn and I had talked before she went to exercise so I talked with the Durkins about riding our bikes to Tierra Santa tomorrow for lunch with Tom and LuAnn Jones who are cleaning out their mobile that they have sold. We all agreed. When I went to see the Jones', they gave me a wheelbarrow, an amyrillis, two swimming pool "noodles", a shovel, a sprayer and a step ladder for later. We had been given some grapefruit weeks ago and decided to juice them. We must have at least six quarts of juice. We finished the pizza from the other night for lunch. I was scheduled to have an appointment with the doctor to review my blood work, but the office was closed. I wonder who made the mistake. I don't have the card they gave me because I had it written on both my calendars. We went to the grocery and the post office to mail a letter to my niece's ex husband and a sermon that I hope will show him the need for repentance. We came home to relax and have a light dinner. It was then off to Good Friday service. It was different in that it continued the trial/drama format used throughout Lent. We came home for the evening watched one programs and went to bed. It will be lonely next week since nearly all of our friends will be gone back north. We won't leave until April 20.

The Last Supper

Enjoyed another sick sleep-in. I just can't seem to get enough rest. I am taking coricidin, ibuprofen and expectorant cough medicine in addition to the regular fistful. I worked on a letter to the church committee here at Southern Comfort and laid around until about 11:00. I cleaned up and went to the bank to deposit the rent deposit on the motor home for next season. When I returned, we had a great salad and some Ramen noodle soup for lunch. I walked to Knapp for a volunteer orientation meeting but no one else was there. The director gave me three videos and some reading material and said to come to serve with Evelyn Wednesday. So I turned around and walked home. Evelyn left shortly thereafter to have an ultrasound. She returned quicker than I had because she had not been given complete instructions which included fasting. She will have her exam on Monday at 10:00. We took a nap and got ready to go to the Seder meal at Immanuel. The secretary called and asked us to take a woman and her granddaughter to the meal because they live on our way. The meal was probably as good as it could be in the setting we had. It was not very spriritual, however, even though it featured Holy Communion. We took the people back and came home. I had to write this and then go to bed. I got a call from Jamie asking me to not send anything to Jim. I had called and asked for his mailing address.

A great lunch

We slept in again. We are both sick with a cold of some kind. Evelyn is recovering, but I am getting worse. I slept fairly well last night but am still tired. I showered and went to the bank to cash some checks. I went to a car wash and sprayed the Jeep. I parked it at the hall so our lunch guests would have places to park. I helped prepare just a bit because Evelyn prefers I stay away from the food, etc. while the germs are active. Everyone arrived at 11:30: the Veits, the Birdsongs, Janet Balou and Marie Watts. The ladies are widows and need some friends. The couples helped arrange the worship area. We enjoyed the lunch and everyone left about 1:00 and we did minor clean up and went to bed. We both slept hard, but Evelyn wakened first. I got up around 5:00 and we went to Trail's End to get a check from next year's renters. A couple from Wyoming sold their trailer but still want to come here for the winter. They will rent January, February and March. We went to Wal Mart to get some expectorant to loosen our lung congestions. We went on to choir practice that should have lasted less time than it did. We went over an easy song for 20 minutes that we had sung for at least one year. I think there are too many directors. We were home by 9:00,and I ate some Ramen noodle soup. It is as close to chicken soup as we have. I hope it makes me feel better and helps me sleep again tonight. Good night.

Two days in one

We didn't rise until 8:00. Evelyn went to exercise while I showered. We wanted to stay for the final park meeting, featuring a report from the national park representative. It does seem that many improvements will be made this summer. We went on down to Nuevo Progreso for tourist appreciation day. There were thousands of people hoping to get free magaritas and some food. We were not even offered any drinks until we went to the Rose Garden and had a free 7 ounce beer and a tortilla stuffed with meat and potatoes. I had a haircut and Evelyn had a pedicure. We also bought two bottles of Kahula for Shirley and a three partition candle showing the nativity for Ray and Genny. The prices were lower during this celebration. There were many spots of entertainment along the main street. All the emcees spoke in Spanish but the dances were in a language that people understand throughout the world. We came home much later than we planned after stopping at a pottery shop to buy a tall urn to set on the porch to hold umbrellas. We spent the night at home. I still have the crud and slept in hour segments wakened by fits of coughing and nose blowing.
We didn't rise early Tuesday morning either. Evelyn went to Knapp for a mammogram, and I went to Dr. Mejia for a blood draw. I laid around and tried to sleep but kept getting telephone calls after dozing off for less than ten minutes. I finally gave up and readied for my golf game with Ray, Joe and Cecil. I had been given a free pass and we paid for a cart. It was in the high 80s but the humidity was low. I had a better than average round but scored 53 on both rounds. The irony is that I beat someone. We were home shortly after 5, and I joined Evelyn for dinner with the bike club. The leaders had gathered up prizes from local merchants and gave them away in drawings. I won a very nice halogen rechargable flashlight. I was somewhat embarrassed because I had not joined the club and was only there because Evelyn had and I am her spouse. Evelyn won something too but we didn't want it so we just kept quiet and someone else took the gift home. We came home and Evelyn did more preparing for the lunch tomorrow. The bad news is that the ribs I smoked Sunday night were tough. It might be that they were from Texas although I think they were pork ribs. Earlier while I Was golfing, Evelyn went to Mejia who didn't renew her prescriptions for the fall. This will cause a problem for us because we will be in the north when she goes on Medicare. We may have to go to Mexico and buy medicine for that period. He also wants her to come back for an ultrasound because two of her medicines she takes are hard on the kidneys. We will be praying that her kidneys are still healthy. I have to go then so I can have my psa results. I will try to talk him into giving us prescriptions for Evelyn. I have decided to sleep on the couch tonight because I will certainly have another night just like last night. I am going to bed now.

Spiritual help and a cold

Misery. I am sick with the cold Evelyn had (has). We thought we had escaped the winter virus. I thought as least I had. But no. I was not too bad during the worship service this morning, but things went downhill from there. I mean physically, not spiritually. We had 37 loving worshippers, and I hope they were blessed by the message as I was. They seem to like me as a worship leader. We invited the people in charge of arranging the chairs for the service over here for lunch on Wednesday. I spent the evening smoking some country style ribs for the event. We also invited two widows, one of whom had a stroke this past summer and the other whose husband died just six weeks ago. In the service I could see that she was visibly upset. I went to her house to invite her and learned that her husband, one of her best friend's husband, a friend who had alsheimers and her neighbor in Duluth had died just this season. We prayed and the Lord was surely present. We went on to Immanuel for Holy Communion and bought tickets for the seder meal Thursday. The tickets were $8 each because lamb is quite expensive. We came home and had linguini for lunch with a salad from the garden. We went to bed for a nap, but I didn't sleep all that well. We debated whether to go to the stock show to buy a picture but decided we didn't feel that well. We stayed here and smoked meat. We took a video and telephone to the Durkin's and learned that Stonecroft may be for sale. We are going there to volunteer so we will get the scoop for them.

Bad news from the north

I neglected to set the alarm last night so I barely made the Gideon prayer breakfast on time. After we all went to the Courtyard restaurant for the buffet. I had a good time visiting with the brothers. I came home to an empty house. Evelyn had been exercising but was quite late in returning. I talked with Janice for some time and worked on the sermon for tomorrow. I had to make several changes that I hope were improvements. Evelyn came back and told me I had missed the park garage sale. It is must as well because I might have bought something that I didn't need. It was nearly lunch time and we ate. We took a trip to Wal Mart and bought $100 worth of supplements and herbs. We came home to take a nap and ready ourselves for the going home party. The park gives us a welcome back dinner and a going home dinner. We had roast chicken that was superb. It was accompanied by California blend, rice and a roll topped off with orange sherbet. This is a very nice gesture by the management. It makes us wonder what they are up to! :-) We planned to returned to the stock show, but Evelyn got on the cell phone, talked to Jamie, left a message for Pauline, and talked to son-in-law Tom. We never made it but that too was just as well: I can always use time to practice for worship. We also had a call from a couple that might want to rent the motor home for next season. We will see what the Lord has in mind for us. It is always exciting. Earlier today, Evelyn talked with her brother. Mom is getting worse in her memory. She forgot to get ready for church last week, something she looks forward to doing. She also didn't remember what Palm Sunday or Easter were. It looks like she may need more help than we care to admit. We will see her in May but don't know if she will know who we are. We pray she is happy as she seems to be even if she doesn't know much.

Having fun with liberals

Friday was another workout day. After, I went to the coffee table and had to leave. I have a hard time listening to men discuss why things happen in government or politics or "religion" when it is obvious they have no shred of hard evidence of anything. Today I learned why gasoline prices are so high. And why they are coming down now that the Anwar drilling permission has been given by congress. Most problems on that scale are so complex that I wonder if anyone really knows why things happen. If anyone did know, he would be the richest man in America. Tom crouch came over to repair our bathroom light fixture. I really thought it would take a very intricate procedure so I enlisted the old electrician. He took the fixture home and repaired it. I insisted on paying him some nominal amount which he reluctantly took. Don and Donna Reddel wanted to take us to lunch so we let them. They picked us up and announced that we were going to Dennys. We didn't argue because they were buying, but we were apprehensive. As it turned out, the experience wasn't as bad as we were used to. We would never go to a Dennys by choice. We came home and took a nap so we could rest up for the last dance in our park for the season. We sat with some visitors from another park who winter here from South Dakota. They were big Tom Daschle fans who was one of the most obstructive people ever in the Senate. Neither of us said anything about how happy we were that he was no longer in the Senate. We had a good time with them, talking mostly about sea sickness. A strange topic of conversation since I have been sea sick at least twice. At least I recovered and the country may never recover from Tom Daschle. He made me sicker than my deep sea fishing trips. Evelyn still doesn't feel good so we came home an hour earlier than usual. She wrote a letter to her mom, and I wrote this blog. I hope you liked it.

The beautiful weather of the Valley

What happened to Wednesday? I took Evelyn to Knapp and went on to the grocery. When I got home she called me to come after her. They ran her out because she was sick. How many times is someone sick run out of a hospital? I fixed Ramen noodle soup I had just bought at the grocery for her. All I remember of the rest of the day right now is that I went to worship where the pastor is doing a trial drama for the Lenten services. Ken Eilers called and asked me to replace him as Ciaphas in the trial. A different character from the Passion story is put on the witness stand each week. I tried to swagger to the altar when called and tried to sound arrogant during the questions by the prosecution (played by the pastor) but tried to sound beaten when questioned by the defense attorney. I received many compliments but tried to avoid them. I don't want the focus on me. The choir practiced afterward and planned to sing Good Friday and Easter.
Thursday was busy. After the workout, I cut the neighbor's and our grass and ran the accursed weed eater. Those machines would be great if they didn't eat the cord, necessitating me to stop and pull more out. It makes the process about twice as long as it would if the thing worked properly. After that, I decided to use the electric juicer and deal with the half bushel of Mars oranges we had bought at Granny's orchard. That took all morning. Evelyn went off to what turned out to be the dirty King Buffet with the Ladies Leisure. They then went to the welcome center where she was impressed with the building and service. The day was so beautiful that I called Ray and off we went to play golf. Unfortunately many were waiting to tee off and he had to be back for a buffet at 5:00, so we couldn't wait to play. Instead we went to a driving range for some practice. We came home and we had our dinner of salad from the garden. We decided to go to the stock show again. We didn;t stay too long because it was cold and Evelyn was still not well. We did get to see Christian Winston's painting of the Alamo and her grand champion chickens. She got 4th place last year and sold the chickens for $6,000. She may get more than the lottery winner when these are auctioned on Sunday. We came home and had some popcorn while Evelyn talked with the Beelis. She talked with Emily who was hanging drapes in their bedroom with her husband. She asked for prayer for harmony or at least only slight animosity during the process. We remember the tension inherent in this process. While at the stock show, we saw a neat bench that unfolded into a picnic table. We might buy one and take it to NC because it might fit on our porch.

The sick wife

I let Evelyn sleep in again today. I took my usual morning walk/jog, but when I returned home, she was gone. I went to the exercise room and there she was. I really thought she would stay in bed. Wrong. I also talked with the Reddels, and we decided to go to dinner on Friday. We will try to find some acceptable restaurant in our coupon book. They insist on taking us out, so this plan may save them some money. I cleaned up and Charlie came over to look at the shower faucets. We both thought that it was perhaps the cold water, not the hot. He changed the washer and that seems to have done the job. After lunch Evelyn went to bed, and I went to the bank to deposit $1140, the rent money from the two renters. I returned home so we could go with the Durkins and their son and family. We toured a citris orchard east of La Feria. It is called Granny's orchard. The owner, Bill Barnar, took us on a tour in his tram. He gave a very interesting tour of his orchard and beautiful grounds. We all enjoyed it and bought some Mars oranges to make juice from because we were given samples to drink. We also thought it proper to buy some product because he did not charge for the tour. When we came home, Evelyn came home and cancelled her Bible study for tonight. She really doesn't feel well. We spent the evening at home. Some friends called from North Carolina to see if we wanted to buy a dining room table from them. We would like it but know it is too big for our space. We will find one in Ashville or somewhere in that area. It rained a bit this evening and more is predicted for tonight. I say "bring it on."

Illness has come

We arose to the coughing of the wife. Actually, we heard it Sunday night. I haven't been sleeping well so I awakened at 5:30, slipped out of bed and came to clean off my desk somewhat. I let Evelyn sleep until around 8:00. She felt better so she went to exercise. I met her at the town meeting, came home for an early lunch, and left for the information booth at the RGV Stock Show. We gathered surveys until 3:00. We also heard a talk about the western chuck wagon and how important coffee was to them. They loved it but used it to help purify their water. Cowboys carried a wallet (saddlebag) that had coffee in it. The chuckwagon carried cured bacon, not beef, beans, flour, and rice. The cattle were driven to Abilene from circa 1865 to 1890 because the railroad ran through there. We ate some overpriced junk food for dinner and then came home so Evelyn could go to bed. I stayed up until 9:00 so I could possibly sleep through the night. I was so sleepy that I went to bed before finishing this blog entry. :-)

Helping the Valley

I couldn't sleep last night. I stayed up too late and woke too early. I was up at 5:30, working on clearing my desk. I made contributions to several organizations, removing many envelopes. I was quiet because Evelyn needed sleep to fight this possible cold coming on. She finally got up at about 8:00, about an hour later than usual. She went up to exercise, and I showered and then went to Charlie's seeking advice about the dripping shower head. He said he would come tomorrow morning to look at it. I had changed the washer, thinking the problem was solved but something else is wrong. We went to the park meeting and then went to the RGV Stock Show to hand out surveys for four hours. It was a cool day off and on. When the sun burned through the clouds, it was warm. After completing our time, we went to hear a man talk about the cowboy chuck wagon. We were surprised to learn how coffee was loved by the cowboys but also served the function of killing the germs in the water. After the fine talk, we bought an large tenderloin and a smoothie for our dinner. We finished off the meal with a funnel cake, something like a misshapen doughnut sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon. We went right home and Evelyn went to bed. I fought sleep because I want to be able to sleep tonight, a situation unlikely if I were to retire at 7 or 8. We had some toast and then I turned in just before I finished this journal entry. :-)

The money flows in.

Sunday, as always, began with worship at Trail's End. I continue to be amazed at God's Grace as 44 people attended. Unfortunately, one of the major couples sold their unit and will not return next year. I announced that and asked the people to pray about whether they wanted to continue the service next season. I made it clear that three or four couples will need to accept responsibility for arranging the worship area. I asked that they all pray to learn what God would have us do and what their part in it would be. We will miss Donna and Marlin. He wants to stay in Kansas for the next winter. The renter, Eric, came to the service for the first time. They came at 1:30 to pay the rent for March 15-April 15. They said they would leave no later than early April 13. Evelyn had to go to a bridal shower for a young lady in our church. I took her to Bonny's so they could ride together and I would have the car to pick her up at 4:00 and head to Harlingen. We are to meet our other renters so they can pay their rent for the next month. We certainly wish the Lord would bring someone forth to buy that place soon. It is hard to find any renters for a long enough period to make it worthwhile to keep it. On to Rio Hondo to meet Don and Janice for church at 6:15. We went to an inspiring praise service of music by the Greek family. The Rio Hondo Baptist Church is very friendly and almost family. Don and Janice know and are known by everyone. We went off to Jason's Deli for a sandwich for dinner. Evelyn and I shared a very mediocre Mefalatto sandwich. We came home, and Evelyn went straight to bed. She thinks she may be catching cold or something. She is taking extra vitamin C, and we are praying for her health.

A fond, fattening farewell; The Stock Show opens

Walking again. After exercise, we cleaned up and planned breakfast. I began to work on the sermon for Sunday. Heavens! When I finished it was about 29 minutes long. I worked for some time chopping things out. I still have a long way to go. I will have to cut out some of the responsive reading time. A kind lady offered to sing a solo after the previous service. I hope she doesn't want to sing this Sunday. We may have to spend the afternoon there. At 5:30 we went to Peppers Hamburgers and steaks with the Jones and Newcomer families. It is possibly our last gathering together since the Joneses are leaving and Sharon Newcomer is going to DC for a month of grandmothering. We liked the burgers and the Joneses surprised us by paying. We did have fun and lots of Shiner Bock. We returned to our house for some wonderful black forest trifle that Sharon had made. We then played the craziest game of dominoes ever. I remember a game called tegwar (the exciting game without any rules), but this had more instances of violations of any logical rules than even that one. But we all had fun. I forgot to mention that Tom's mother Gloria joined us for dessert and games. She noticed the plays became rather ragged.
On to Saturday. I went to the Gideon prayer breakfast and then returned home to get Evelyn. We went out to the RGV Stock Show to help with the Lutheran Layman's League booth. We are to give away Christian tracts and Bibles to anyone who wants anything. There are many items for children and an opportunity to win a picture of Jesus to anyone who fills out an entry blank. Actually, this is a way for churches to get their names and addresses so they can be contacted if they are unchurched. The names are shared with churches in the Valley near their homes. We had few visitors so we were able to watch the parade at 3:30. We came home and took a nap because we wanted to return for the ranch rodeo. These are competing groups from actual working ranches simulating activities they do ever day. Our favorite was an add on, however. One cowboy rides a horse and pulls a shovel on which another cowboy rides on his stomach without falling off. Pulled to the other end of the arena, the first rider gets off and another replaces him on the shovel for the ride back. The fastest team wins. One of the shovel riders must have spun at least twice: he rode the shovel and then the shovel rode him. He looked like he was spinning every 100 feet or so, but he hung on. I don't remember whether they won or not. Other events were calf branding, steer roping and tieing, cow milking, bronc riding and loading a steer on to a trailer. We enjoyed this more than the professional rodeos. Those cowhands were having fun. What a way to have it.

Why are we eating sand? Are we birds?

My hips didn't feel good this morning so I just walked my route, no jogging. Evelyn did exercise while I was showering. I took some trash to the dumpster and went to get coffee and talked to a neighbor about the coffee job. He is going to take it for next year too. Then we gathered our beach things and loaded them into the Durkin's van. We picked up the Bowers and went to Brownsville to get Popeye's chicken and take it to Boca Chica beach for a picnic. It was a pleasant but cool day. The wind was much stronger on the Gulf than it was in Weslaco. Therefore, we were cool and had mouthfuls of grit. We did have a good time and were back by 5:15 so Evelyn could go to her Thursday evening Bible study. I just stayed home and watched CSI and Without a Trace until she got home. We just had popcorn for dinner. We will go out with Jones and Newcomers for hamburgers at Peppers in McAllen. It will likely be our final party together since Sharon Newcomer is leaving Monday for a month and the Jones' will be leaving before she gets back. Good night, Ray.

Unemployed.

Off to the hospital for Evelyn. I dropped her off and went to the Circle K for a 2 for 1 breakfast burrito. I brought them home, ate one and saved the other. After showering, I read through the e-mails and then washed up my "new" golf clubs and bag. It was then time to start lunch for us. I heated the steak we had brought from the Remington last Monday. They had packed the salad, the potatoes and vegetables. I picked up E from Knapp, and we enjoyed the meal. We were both tired and took a nap. After waking, we read a while and left for Lenten service. Bonny was not there since she was still in Austin with the newest grandson. Joe was there and suggested we get together sometime soon. I might add here that on March 8, a letter was sent letting me know formally that my call, which should have begun in November of last year, was not renewed. What timely communication! I am certainly not happy about anything in this deal, but Jesus knows what He is doing. "...forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." We came home and watched a special about some model who lived through the tsunami last Christmas. What a miracle! Unfortunately, she gave no broadcast recognition of the mercy of God even though the piece was titled "Amazing Grace". I had set the VCR to record American Dreams, Evelyn's favorite program. We will watch it before we retire. We have also made plans to go with the Jones family to dinner on Friday. They have sold their unit and will not return next season. We will see them in NC, but perhaps not in Texas. Newcomers will go with us. Tomorrow it is off to Boca Chica beach in Brownsville.

Good morning, bad afternoon

Today was gorgeous. I had to get up and get my parking volunteers started since today was the final craft sale. The men in the park have been very helpful all season. I remembered that I had a sweeper and my old set of golf clubs to sell, so I came home and got them. I almost just skipped the process but didn't. I thank God because I hardly got them displayed before they were sold. I got exactly the price I wanted in no time. I also got my free lunch for being a volunteer. Each volunteer receives a free lunch or breakfast. I always get two sandwiches and bring them home. We don't know when we will eat them. We had lunch of left over chicken and potato salad from Sunday. I went to Mid Valley golf course to play golf with Ray at 2:00. We should have turned around after the first shot and gone home. We continued, however, and things did not improve. I was able to birdie one hole but did little else right. A small part of the problem might have been the new clubs I have. They are just a bit longer than the old ones, so I may have had some adjustment problems. At least that could be a small part of the problem. I returned home for dinner of what we call no nothin' soup because people on Weight Watchers are not charged any "points" when they eat it. Evelyn went off to her Tuesday evening Bible study, and I stayed here to work on tweaking Sunday's sermon. It is too long, and I must find some way to pare it down. I was ready to go to bed at 10:00 but remembered that I hadn't written this as yet. Now I am finished.

Success at last

We began exercising again today. I jogged a bit farther than I had before. Evelyn went to work on the treadmill and with an exercise video. I showered and met Evelyn at the town meeting. For the first week in more than a month, neither of us needed to talk at the meeting. I have all six volunteers to help parking for tomorrow's final craft sale. After the meeting we came home and Evelyn called a man who lives in the park to clean our carpets. He came and inspected. He said he would do the bedroom and Texas room for $25. He planned to return to do the work at 2:00. We had lunch of left over brisket from Saturday. We read and vacuumed the floor while waiting for the cleaning to begin. I figured up how much we had gained and lost on our business transactions in 2004. The cleaning began and we went to the bank to deposit checks. When we returned, Evelyn was ecstatic with the way it looked. We again waited until 5:00 when we went to pick up the Durkins for our third attempt at going to the Remington Steak House for dinner. This time we made it. Three of us had rib eye and one had lobster. We could afford this extravagance because we had 2 for 1 coupons. Evelyn and I shared one of the dinners and took one home. We all enjoyed our dinners and went to the Marble Slab to celebrate with another 2 for 1 coupon. We returned home and brought the Durkins in to inspect the clean carpet. They were dumbstruck by the exquisite beauty glowing before them. I suppose they went home and steamed with envy. I guess we float in a higher social plane. :-) Ray and I may play golf tomorrow afternoon. I got an e-mail from a friend who is a travel agent. He is looking for a deal on a Panama Canal cruise for next November or December. Things are not looking good for it. Good night.

Another day of blessings

It was a great day for worship. We went to Trail's End expecting a very slim crowd but 44 people came to worship with us. It was the Sunday for the brunch at the park and I expected many of the people to be working. We also thought many would have left for home but no one is even leaving next week. There were even some faces I don't remember having seen before. Everyone seemed to have a blessing from the service. I then went to Llano Grande and brought the same message. There were 337 there and they seemed to be blessed also. We then went to Immanuel for Holy Communion. It is always a fantastic day when we can share in the true Body and Blood of our Lord, Savior, and Brother Jesus. We came home and finished preparing for the dinner we had planned with some friends from Winnipeg. Evelyn had made hot German Potato salad, Cajun chicken and blackberry cobbler. Delicious. We then spent a couple of hours playing "hand and foot" which is really canasta with five decks of cards. After they left Evelyn took a nap and tried to call Stacy. We rarely are able to get her on the phone. We then went to the hall because I had volunteered to serve ice cream. What a deal. For 50 cents we can have all the ice cream we can pack into a 5 inch Styrofoam bowl. Then we had entertainment, "The Singing Mountain Man" who was supposed to have a strong Christian witness. He played Christian CDs before the concert of cowboy folk songs, but was not very strong during the show. It was good, but not strong in the witness. We were home by 8:30 and watched some TV, and I wrote this blog. I hope you were blessed to have read it.

March 4 and 5

The morning found that Evelyn's portion of her Mary Kay order had arrived. She has an agreement with another consultant here in our park to interchange orders so they don't have to order so much each time. She brought her portion home and delivered an order. She was paid in check so we had to deposit the money. I exchanged my rolls of quarters so I could look for some more 1999s. We also got some supplies for the kitchen. We came home and replanted some aloe plants from the pots in the front of the house to the garden in back. We had not trimmed the aloe from the burns suffered in the snow and freeze of the past Christmas. We will have aloe for all occasions.:-) The evening featured a dance, as does each Friday, played by Lyle Beaver. This one emphasized sports. Some people wore hockey pads while others just wore the colors of their favorite teams. There were several Green Bay Packers jerseys. We wore the best ones: Purdue shirts. Speaking of Purdue, Evelyn has decided we should re-purchase our football season tickets. We will see how that plays out when the order form arrives. We came home and I worked on the sermon just a bit and then went to bed.
Up at six to get ready for the Gideon prayer breakfast at the Palm Aire. There were only seven there, about half of those attending last week. Afterward I went to Mercedes to walk in the walk-a-thon to raise money for the food bank in Mercedes. The walk didn't begin until 8:30 so I had to kill some time until Evelyn arrived with John and Sue Hamel. We all walked the three miles and met all together at the point of origin. Immanuel had the most participants and raised the major portion of the nearly three thousand dollars collected. We again had some time to kill because we wanted to take a fund raising brisket dinner home to help the school. We got it shortly before eleven and went to a local RV park to get a chicken dinner to support the sponsoring of poor students in Mexico. The brisket was ten times better than the chicken, even though it was supposedly cooked by a chef. I must tell the Mabel's people to give up that idea for the future. We came home and napped shortly in the afternoon. A friend brought a "new" set of golf clubs, bag and cart for me. I called Ray to come over and help me "cull" the clubs. I will try to sell the old set at one of the flea markets coming up in the next two weeks. We ate some burned sausages for dinner. Evelyn forgot about their being on the stove because she was talking to Emily. I cut the terribly charred portions off the sausages and gave the residue to the barking dogs over the back fence. We relaxed in the evening and rewatched the video, "What if Jesus Had Never Been Born?" It is really inspiring and makes one wonder how anyone with any knowledge of history could fail to realize the importance of Christ on the world. But God knows what He is doing.

Work for the Lord

No jogging today. I rode to Mercedes with the Hamels where we unloaded a semi full of food and mostly clothing, bedding, and toys from Wisconsin via the Orphan Grain Train. The items will go either to Mexico or to the indigent in the Mercedes area. Evelyn exercised and had lunch nearly ready at 10:30 when I finally got home. There were eight or so gringos and ten or so Hispanic members of the Mision Emanuel church that distributes the items. We enjoyed a lunch of left over shrimp etouffee. Then Evelyn got ready to go to her Ladies Leisure meeting. She brought me some tastes of the dessert items that were brought to the meeting. In the afternoon we just did dink around things until time for the evening Bible study to begin at 6:30. I had to leave the house because the women needed to use the VCR for the study. I left and messed around at Big Lots and Wal-Mart. I returned home in time for CSI at 8:00 but the women were still here, and it was a rerun anyway. We went through the mail and retired after the news.

Exercise again. I even jogged farther than I can remember jogging for years. Evelyn went off to her Bible study. I visited the neighbor and decided to cut the grass in our back yard and run the weed eater. It was relatively cool so I did it. The neighbor had done his yard and had run the weed eater, even though it is bad for his back to run it. I finished the lawn and cleaned myself up. I had proposed to Ray that we play golf in the afternoon. We could not get on the course we preferred but went to a sort of par three after three. (the price goes down) In the early afternoon Evelyn and I took a nap. After playing golf (I shot a 40 for nine: my best round in recent history), we went to the Fiesta Tex Mex for dinner. We had more two for one coupons so we went there. The dinner was very good, and we returned to our home to watch "Friday Night Lights". Evelyn had an appointment to have her hair cut by a woman in the park so she could not join us until around 8. In order to fill the time, Ray and I went to the Dairy Queen for a moolate (guess what we had for that). We ate ours and then watched the movie. I waited until Evelyn returned to eat mine. We finished the movie (which was very graphic) and then went to bed.
Wednesday is Evelyn's morning to volunteer at Knapp hospital. I took her and then went to the bank to cash another check and get new rolls of quarters. I came home and got our ironing board, which had broken, and took it out to George Erchinger's to see if it could be welded or JB welded. It couldn't. I brought it back and showered. It was time to begin heating the lunch of hamburgers I had grilled some weeks ago. They were still delicious. I brought Evelyn from Knapp, and we ate. We were both so exhausted that we slept for at least and hour and a half. We arose and then went to the grocery, followed by a trip to DQ to have a sundae. We went on to church and then home to write this. Evelyn worked on cleaning the Texas room for her hosting the Bible study tomorrow night.
I must comment on the audacity of the the Supreme Court liberals who find it necessary to legislate from the bench. They have no right to misinterpret the constitution by allowing murderers under the age of 18 be exempted from the death penalty. It is ridiculous to let world laws affect the interpretation of our constitution. Just as it is ridiculous as granting the prisoners in Guantonomo the same rights as U.S. citizens. Today follows that decision with the interpretation of whether the Ten Commandments should be allowed in governmental settings. I will be surprised if the display will be allowed, even though the overwhelming majority of caring Americans approve of the display. It is time for the majority re assume the right of rule in our country. What a time in which to live. The only hope we have is in Christ.

I can't keep up with my wife.

We began the day as usual except that I jogged a bit farther than usual. I never go very far, but this was farther. We then attended the park meeting where Evelyn won a worthless fake plant. She came home to shower and then prepare to go to lunch with some ladies from one of her Bible studies. I went off to the bank and to mail a bola to Emily. Evelyn, who could not knit a month ago, finished her third bola for the Beeli girls. I returned after she had gone and had my lunch to finally finish the fajitas. It was good but the blackberry cobbler I had to finish was even better. Evelyn came home just long enough to change clothes to go to her volunteer party at the "rancito" of the hospital volunteer co-ordinator. It was a placial home just south of here. She returned and took a very short nap before we went to the memorial service for Blanche Langenberger. It was one of the most inspirational services I have attended. The service was followed by a dinner prepared by many of the ladies of the church. The food was superb as usual, especially the desserts. I went for the potato salad and the layered salad. On the way home we decided to use our rent one get one free coupon. We rented The Terminal and Friday Night Lights. We walked over to invite Ray and Genny to watch one of them, but they had other plans. They had already seen The Terminal and had a copy of Hidalgo, so we came home and watched The Terminal and saved the other two. Ray and I may go play golf tomorrow if he finishes washing his roof. The weather prediction is tomorrow will be like today: 77 and partly sunny. Rain is in the picture for Wednesday and Thursday.