Readying the rental unit and volunteering

We both awakened around 4 AM again. This is getting old. After being up for about an hour. We were able to get two more hours of sleep because we went back to sleep until 7. Evelyn went to exercise while I got ready to go to Harlingen to deal with the unit. I stopped at Diana’s in Mercedes for a breakfast taco. I had not had one since our return. On to HRL. I went to the office and got the keys that had been found. I tried them all but none fit the door to the unit. I did find one to fit the padlock so I did not have to use the hack saw that I had brought. I carried the TV into the unit and smelled a very fetid odor. I could not find any dead carcass but couldn’t see under the unit. I put our electric grill into the shed. I turned on the water and the electricity so things would be ready for the renters. I even filled the ice trays with water so they would have ice. The park maintenance man came over and said he would have his men come to look under the unit for an opossum that may have died. I did notice the smell stronger under the kitchen sink and poured some pine sol cleaner on the floor under the sink. I also opened many windows to allow the breeze to help. I wrote a note but hoped the roving propane truck would come while I was there. I would have waited longer but had to return to Weslaco so we could go volunteer at the hospital at 12:30. I grabbed a quick lunch and put on the clothes Evelyn had ready for me. We had a steady day at the information desk, and I learned many new things. I won’t remember them by myself next week, but the old timers will help. We came home and made a pizza for us and Ray and Genny. Afterward we played hand and foot for about two hours. They left and we went to bed. I did have a man call about the Jeep. He sounded interested but won’t be able to meet with me until at least Monday.

Relieved

We slept late because we were very tired. Evelyn went to exercise until 9 when a young man from Purdue was to call us regarding our drug coverage in lieu of Medicare part D. She returned right on time, and he called right on time. We talked and decided both of us should apply for Pacificare and take the drug coverage. It will cost us $238.72 each per month but is likely better coverage than the government plan. I really don’t need the prescription coverage now but likely will sometime in the future. It is only money. We received forms to apply in an e-mail sent from Cory at Purdue. I printed them off and we filled them out. I put them into an envelope with a check for the first month’s premium and Evelyn took it off to the post office so it would go out in today’s mail. She also went to the grocery to get some spinach for a salad she will take to the New Year’s Day dinner at the Newcomers. Janice called and asked us to come to their house for New Year’s Eve. We already have tickets for the dance at our park, so what we can do is go there at 6:30 and leave at 8:30, giving us enough time to dance a while before going to bed. Janice agreed with that plan. We took a nap and then we went for a bike ride with the park members after dinner. We had invited a couple to come for eggnog and cookies but never heard from them as to whether they would come or not. We just spent a boring evening at home. I watched TV and Evelyn read a magazine. I also tried to call our January renters but perhaps they are on the road and can’t answer the phone. We are really thankful that we were able to get the insurance problems solved today.

Wonderful weather

I awakened a little before 4 AM because I was bothered by the high “nominal” fee to pay our NC taxes. I would have mailed it earlier had I known it would cost $30+ to pay on line. I finally wrote a check and mailed later in the morning. I thought seriously about driving it to the post office to make sure it made it to NC before it became delinquent. I went back to bed shortly after 5 and slept the hour and a half until time to get up for golf.
Up early, shower, pick up Ray and off to Tierra Santa Golf Club. We had the $35 special: 18 holes, cart, bag of balls to hit, and hamburger lunch. It was very foggy at first while we hit our practice balls but cleared up by our tee time of 8:53. Ray and I both played poor first rounds and then stopped for our hamburger while the other two in our foursome went on. It was a beautiful day albeit a bit warm--85. We played the back 9 by ourselves and played even worse. We came home and I tried to work on the computer but finally had to take a nap. When I wakened, we distributed our medicine for the next two weeks and got ready to go out with Ray and Genny for dinner. We used my $25 coupon that I got for $5. We enjoyed the dinner and Evelyn and I brought some of ours home. We returned here for cookies and eggnog after which we played farkle with the Durkins. Ray was still tired from the straight through drive from Kansas. We were tired too and went to bed before the Alamo Bowl game was over.

Not much action

I got up and walked a menu over to the Durkin’s and found Ray working on a badly clogged valve at their house. There was no hurry to fix it because the entire park was without water. I was able to supply some of the parts he needed, but he still had to go to the hardware for others. I came home and loaded the Saturn for tomorrows golf date. I got an e-mail from Glenn saying he would be attending a funeral and would not go with us tomorrow. We had lunch and then took a nap. We were wakened three times by people calling about the Jeep. No one was seriously interested. Evelyn went to the pool (although she never went into the water) while I worked on preparing sermons in advance. I want to hang announcements showing titles for the month. We came home and had soup before we joined the bike club people for the ride around the park. We came home and Evelyn read while I continued working and watching football. Sorry about the lack of detail but I wrote this very late and have to get up early tomorrow.

Bargains

We got up and did our exercising and then took the Jeep to the welder to have the mounting iron removed. We were late so we left it there and drove the Saturn to Wal-Mart looking for after Christmas bargains. To our surprise there were many lights which we needed for replacements. For example our pre-lighted tree had lost the upper half of its lights. We have worked a long time trying to locate the problem, but just gave up and bought a string of colored lights and strung them around the tree, leaving the other lights in tact. Who knows: after taking them out next year, they may work. That happened with the garland we hang from our porch. We also bought a few other items and returned to bring the Jeep home. I forgot what I wanted to do and sent Evelyn home while I went to our electronics repair man to see if he would allow me to park the Jeep there with the for sale sign in the window. When he agreed, I remembered that I needed a ride home. I called and she came. We had lunch of turkey and sweet potatoes before taking a nap. I then went back to Wal-Mart to get more lights because the star/cross that hangs above our lighted nativity scene had gone out. I also got some other things and returned home to restring lights into the cross. I did a fairly good job and finished just after dinner. We then went to the hall to play bingo. We rarely go but when we do Evelyn wins at least one game. She won tonight just as she did last year. We came home and entertained the Newcomers for eggnog and cookies. The Durkins have arrived and we are eager to see them. I did not return the call they made to us because they have been up since 4:00 AM or so and the Newcomers left at 10. It was too late to call, but we will see them in the morning.

Another blessed Christmas

We arose, dressed, and picked up John, our accompanist, heading for Trail’s End. Many were there and the room was set up as usual. We did something different today. We read from the Luke 2 and then sang Christmas carols written in relation to those scriptures. We sang 16 hymns in lieu of a sermon, and many people commented that they appreciated the experience. None of us had heard many of them during this season. We came home and cooked the smoked turkey we were to take to Winston’s for dinner. It had to cook 1 ½ hours and we started it at 10. Around the time it was done, Bonny called and said the dinner would not begin until 1:30, so we had some time to kill. When we left we went straight to Progreso Lakes where Randy and Tracy live. We had side dishes of mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh green beans, variety fruit salad, and two types of sweet potatoes. We brought one and someone else brought the other. We were surprised that there were two servings. We toured the grounds and watched the boy Mark fide his board behind the jet ski driven by his father, Randy. We came home and just laid around watching TV after taking all the meat off the turkey carcass that we could. We will have some sandwiches and some soup from the broth from the carcass. We had popcorn instead of a meal. We talked with both girls and some of their families, wishing each other Merry Christmas. I also talked with Ray. They will leave Kansas early tomorrow morning and will arrive here around 7 tomorrow night. Glenn called and will try to make a tee time for us Wednesday. A thought about Christmas: it is truly a blessing to know the truth about the coming of God in the flesh to live a perfect life for us and die for us as the perfect sacrifice. I don’t understand why God revealed this to our family, but I thank Him for what He has done. Blessed Christmas to each of you who reads this web blog.

Blessings of living in the Valley

The morning brought some relief from the back pain. I was able to move around the house and even went to the HEB for some flowers to give Evelyn for Christmas. I got some other things too. I came home and worked on a sermon for January 8 and continued to rest. In the late afternoon we went to the vespers service at the park hall. The choir does this every year. I thought I would participate this year but did not take time to learn when the rehearsals were. After the cantata, there is a finger food lunch put on by the ladies in the park. We had hoped to take someone to church with us this evening and then entertain them after. We could find no one who was able to go with us. We went anyway and sang three songs with the Immanuel choir. We came home and began watching a video of the Nutcracker. Neither of us had ever seen it but could not make it through. We will try to finish it tomorrow or at least sometime soon. We plan to have Christmas dinner with our friends Bonny and Joe. It rarely seems like Christmas due to the warm, 70 degree weather. Christmas is a state of mind and heart anyway, not a place in the weather. As I was watching the 10:00 news, I was really moved to think what a wonderful place this is to live. There are many commercials on both radio and television that exalt Christ and remind the audience of the “reason for the season”. The people here in the Valley are not afraid to verbally commit themselves as Christians regardless of the tenor of the rest of the country in its obsession of trying to eradicate Christ from any part of the celebrations. It is, however, the gift of a Savior that makes us realize how much God loves us and wants us to have a truly wonderful life knowing that we are forgiven out sin because He was willing to come to earth and be the perfect sacrifice. What an unbelievable gift that is.

Doing the Lord's work

We got up, and I went to a Fed EX station to mail the troublesome Kahlua. I got it off and returned home to get ready for the trip to the Mexican Colonia. Evelyn met me there after exercising. We had twenty vehicles in the entourage. We rode with some friends who had their big honken diesel truck full of 45+ bags of food, one for each family. We took our camera and drove across the international bridge, down the levy road (one of the bumpiest roads imaginable) and into the Colonia. The people began to crowd around the vehicles, anticipating the distribution. We were parked in and had to wait while Santa distributed toys to the children and the parents came to points where various kinds of shoes and clothing (ropa) were laid out on sheets of plastic. It was fairly well controlled by some of the young men in the community who spoke English. The mothers were allowed to come and gather a limited amount of goods. Last year we had much less control and many gathered armloads. No one really blamed them; many of them had little else to wear. After the orderly distribution, the families came for the bags of food we had (most weighing 40-45 lbs) that were marked with the names of those to receive the bag. Often 7 names were on the bags because of the number of people living in the “house”. We also delivered bags of citrus fruit. For some reason they don’t have access to any trees there, even though the Valley is full of them. They love to receive citrus. We left when we could and went into Nuevo Progreso so I could get a haircut and give the young man who usually cuts my hair some letters so he could put his name on his mirror as the other barbers had. I didn’t get him for my barber this time but did get an invitation that the shop owner has for the patrons at her home (Gloria’s is the name of the shop). All the young men and women who work there are Christians. The sign in the shop says “To God be the Glory”. We had to hurry back to Weslaco so I could have a quick lunch and run out to the Palms at Mid Valley to play golf with some people from our church. We played best ball and rode carts. The golf pro gave me my annual free round so I only had to pay for the cart. I also bought a 10 play card at a discount so I will have to play that many times this winter. My back was really hurting, probably from lifting the bags of food. I wish I could blame my back for my score but can’t do that in good conscience. I have played that poorly in a healthy state. Of course, I have played better too. I came home after dark and had dinner. I then sat with an ice pack on my back. I hope it and a night of rest clears up the situation.

Good news and "free" money

Evelyn to exercise, and I to walk. She and another lady watch an exercise video, and she walks on the treadmill nearly everyday. I don’t always walk but I try quite often. Today I had to get back in order t get to the welding shop to see if he could use the old mounting brackets on the new Saturn. Evelyn thought it best to take the Jeep too, so we both drove there. He said he would be there at 9 but did not show until 9:45. It happened to be his birthday, and his friends had taken him out for breakfast. He moved half a dozen cars out of the way and then put the car on a hoist to inspect the frame. He said he could use the brackets and would take the iron from the Jeep next Monday. I then went to Trail’s End to have copies of some carols we will sing next Sunday copied. They were good enough to make them for me. I also left a sign up sheet for the AARP class and a for sale sign mentioning the Jeep. I went to another park and left them there too. I also went to the recycle center. I came straight home because John, our pianist, said he would come around noon to get his copies of the songs. We had lunch but he never showed up. We worked on trying to find the break in the line of one of the Christmas tree lights with no success. We set up our new Q-grill that had come yesterday and I even went to get a propane cylinder for it. Evelyn wants to try it out soon. We decided to eat Popeye’s chicken for dinner and John showed up just after we finished. During the afternoon, the DHL truck came to deliver our $500 gift certificate from Target. This was an incentive for buying the Saturn Vue. We will use it to buy a TV for NC. I wouldn’t buy anything from Target but the money is already spent there whether we use the certificate or not. We felt very good all day, completely recovered from our colonoscopy. They told us at the hospital that we were clean and they would check on us today. They did. We really like that hospital and its policies. We spent the evening at home. We will go to deliver Christmas food in Mexico tomorrow morning, and I am scheduled to play golf tomorrow afternoon.

getting the big "C"

Up at 5:15 and waiting for the delivery service by 5:50. He called and said he would be late so we opened the box of Kahlua and checked the tightness of the bottle cap. We will put it back into the box UPS returned it to us in and send it again. I also opened our new Q-grill that I ordered last week. It arrived much sooner than I expected. We just got the things opened when our transportation arrived. We left for McAllen with a very nice man driving us. He took us directly to Renaissance Hospital for our big C (colonoscopy). We realized that it had been 10 years since our first one; that realization surprised us. We were prepped and waiting by 7:30 (IV in, clothes changed into the cutest sea foam green shorts with the fly in the back, and blankets for warmth. There was a TV in my room and I watched (not by choice) the weather channel. I dozed off a couple of times, tiring quickly of watching people standing in the snow and cold telling me how cold and snowy it was. It was not until nearly 10 that we were taken to the procedure room. About 15 minutes later the doctor came in and the cute anesthesiologist gave me a dose of la la land juice. I awakened over an hour later, not recalling a thing. This was the most painless experience one could imagine. Praise be to God working through medical science. The previous one 10 years ago was not bad but the IV insertion had hurt and the anesthetic felt like someone had hit me on the hand with a hammer. None of that this time. We wondered why we were spending so much time in the recovery room when we felt much more oriented than we had in Fort Wayne. A nurse came in and asked who would be with us after we got home. We had never thought this would be necessary so we called Dummers, our neighbors, and they agreed to come over. The hospital agreed to let us go and our driver, Leo, brought us directly home. We were famished so we ate some leftovers and went to bed. After sleeping an hour, I got up and went to the welder’s shop to see if he can put mounting iron on the Saturn (even though, unbeknownst to us, I was not supposed to drive all day). I felt very competent but was especially careful in case I was just feeling overconfident. Unfortunately, I should have called him first because his hoist was occupied, so I will go back tomorrow morning at 9. I came home, finding Evelyn was up and headed for the treadmill. I opened the mail, sent some e-mail and basically sat in a stupor, waiting to go to choir practice at 7:30. We have no Advent service tonight. We rehearsed and didn’t think we sounded very good. We have too many people who want to be director. We did find out that we weren’t planning to sing Christmas Day. I don’t know when would be a more appropriate time other than Easter Sunday. We came home and relaxed a while before going to bed. We still plan to go to Bonny and Joe’s for Christmas dinner.

preparation for the big "C"

Tuesday was the big day. Evelyn went to exercise while I rode to the doctor’s office to see if we could register for the ride to the hospital in McAllen tomorrow. I was too early for the registration and was told Evelyn had to come with me anyway. I rode back, brought her bicycle to the hall and left with her to the office. It was difficult riding into the wind but the trip is short. When we arrived, I understood why she had to come along: we had to have blood drawn for some reason. We completed the necessary forms and returned home in time for the appointment with the potential driver. She, her sister and father came and test drove the vehicle. She said she really liked it but was thinking of finding a car for around 5.5K. I don’t know why people do that. I advertised my price of 6750 very clearly. Who would think that a private owner would cut the price by more that 20% of the asking price? If I were in the market for a car, I wouldn’t even bother looking at a car advertised for 20% more than I could afford. She said she would talk with a banker to see what she could borrow. The car is priced in line with the Kelly Blue Book price so she should be able to get a loan if she really wants to. I did tell her we would take 6450 as a bottom dollar price. We came in and began our clear liquid day. Evelyn had some white grape juice, apple, and pineapple juice. She also made both chicken and beef bullion for our entree. These were not leftovers. We drank much of the afternoon. She read and I tried to work out a worship service centered around the congregation singing carols. I think I have enough and will have to have some copied at the Trail’s End park office is they will let me. I got a call from another man declaring himself very interested in the car. He said he would call back in an hour but failed to call all day. At 6:00 PM we began the drinking of a gallon of politely, a liquid to facilitate the clearing of the colon prior to the big C tomorrow. It worked well and we both became dehydrated and empty. The doctor provides a service that will take us to the hospital at 6:00 AM tomorrow and return us here when we finish. I wanted Evelyn to make some sandwiches to eat on the way home, but it was hard for her to work during our ____a-thon. I guess we will survive until we return home. We will pray that there are no polyps or cancerous areas discovered. We also pray we are not the “one in fifty ’ that suffer a puncture in the colon, requiring surgical repair. We went to bed as soon as we thought we dared to.

wonderful dinner

We had to miss the park meeting because we were to attend an AARP meeting in McAllen. Evelyn dropped me at Denny’s for the meeting and went to the Saturn dealership to check on the XM radio and get the car washed. We get free carwashes for as long as we own the car. She also returned some shoes for me at K-Mart. I wanted to exchange those shoes for some others but now don’t have either. Meanwhile I was wasting an hour at the meeting. We have to be trained again because a new edition of the training workbook. The kick in the head is that the training requires two six hour sessions. This is really outrageous for volunteers. I don’t know whether I will do it or not. I did check in the park to see how many were signed up for my class here in January, and it was up to 8. When Evelyn returned we ordered our lunch. I had lemon pepper tilapia and she ordered a spicy buffalo chicken melt but we brought it home. We came home and took a nap because we were to go to Bauknecht’s for dinner. Alice loves to cook and entertain, and she is very good at it. We enjoyed her schnitzel, followed by our traditional game of hand and foot. They love to play cards and we love to play with them. We played 4 hands and then came home. We had to prepare our clean-em-out drink for our preparation day preceding our colonoscopy Wednesday. We mix water with some laxative in a gallon jug that we have to drink tomorrow. We watched Jay Leno’s headlines and went to bed. Tomorrow will not be fun.

relaxing

We had a great worship service today, but things didn’t start right. The alarm went off but the radio was playing programs that were an hour later last week. I don’t know what happened, but it gave me quite a start. We had a good Bible study too. Evelyn invited two couples for dinner, but they couldn’t come. We came home and waited until noon to eat. We called some friends in the park but they too were busy. We ate alone and then watched the Colts winning streak come to an end. They were beaten by Drew Purdue Brees and the Chargers. We went for a walk and I went to the Derrs to see if we could ride with them to Mexico Thursday when we want to deliver the gifts from the Ladies Leisure to the women of the houses in the colonia. We will see what they find out. We laid around in the evening and Evelyn talked with Stacy. They have such a great time talking together. Stacy is crazy and keeps her in stitches with her clever repartee. We are experiencing cold weather for the Valley. Even so I don’t mind. We finally made contact with the woman who wants to look at the Jeep. We made an appointment for Tuesday morning at 10.

Caroling the love of Jesus

I decided last night on the way to bed to set the alarm for 6:20 so I could get ready to attend the Gideon prayer breakfast. I went and after prayer, I was jumped to try to get a service at Southern Comfort and at Immanuel. They also wanted me to have a speaker come to Trail’s End. We don’t have enough people with money enough to pay them to come. I left with a very uncomfortable feeling. I came home and began helping to clean. I ran the vacuum again and set up some chairs and tables. I carried the cooler containing the beer and sodas to the porch and added the ice from the cube tray. I also put the wine in the cooler that the Omaha steaks came in and added ice too. I wrote a note to Frank Richards, a Gideon in this park who is on the church board, asking him to try for a service. I took it to the hall and got the mail. I came back and we had a light lunch. Evelyn then lay down to rest, and I worked on the sermon. It is somewhat short. She dressed and I dressed around 2:30 and continued preparation. At 3:45 John and Sue picked us up to take us to church to meet with the other carolers. We went to six houses and caroled the shut ins. We returned here around 7. Evelyn had a good idea to have us park the five cars at the hall, go to the bathroom there (we had not gone since we started at 4) because we had only two bathrooms, and walk to our house. There was more parking space there too. We came here and enjoyed two salads, two King Ranch casseroles, beer, wine, sodas, and many sweet desserts. The guests brought either a salad or dessert. Everyone left by 9:15 except Joe and Bonny. We talked with them a short while about taking a barge cruise next summer. We sent the brochure home with them to look over. We cleaned up and relaxed, wondering who we could invite for lunch tomorrow. Go figure!

computer troubles, volunteering and cooking

Up and exercise until 9:00 when I took Evelyn to Bonny’s so they could go to some woman’s home to look at her landscaping. I worked on the computer until it suddenly wouldn’t let me get onto the Internet. I tried everything I could think of to correct the problem, but couldn’t. I shut down and rebooted. I engaged both of my virus protections which scanned the computer but found no virus. I tried to find some program information in my control panel but found no way. I gave up and took my shower so we could go work at the HEB Feast of Sharing, a dinner the grocery giant puts on for several communities throughout the state each year. Evelyn and I were supposed to work from noon until 2:30 but she didn’t even leave the landscaping visit until shortly after noon. I removed some of the panels in the skirting of the mobile, looking for the source of the stench again. I could not see anything under there. I called the hardware and they recommended using lime to dissipate the odor. Evelyn finally arrived and I was not pleased. I don’t like to be late. As usual it didn’t make any difference. We were assigned to be greeters along with around a dozen others. No one needed us at all. We ate our dinner of ham, instant mashed potatoes, Mexican corn, roll, and apple pie and then went back to greeting and saying goodbye to those leaving. We worked until 2:30 and, as we were leaving, the band of two played a samba. We danced to it and learned that it was a salsa dance. We went in to look at the old Albertson’s grocery that is now city hall. We met the mayor leaving his office and chatted a while. He had come to speak at the Ladies Leisure last year, telling of the plans for expansion of Weslaco. Most of what he predicted is coming to pass; even the rumored outlet mall which is waiting for a water hookup. The new hall is quite impressive. We went to the hardware to get some lime which I spread under the unit as best I could. While I did that Evelyn began preparing the King Ranch casserole for the choir party tomorrow evening. We then decided to take a nap. When we arose I tried working with the computer again to no avail. We heated our ettouffee like soup for dinner and began the casserole preparation. There are 16 different ingredients and we had 14 of them. We borrowed chili powder from one neighbor and a can of evaporated milk from another. I chopped all the onion, jalapeno, bell peppers and garlic. As soon as the food was assembled, we put it into the refrigerator for baking tomorrow. I came in and called Ray’s computer consulting service and found that somehow my wireless internet connection has been voided. I had to go back to dial up to get on line. He led me through the possibilities and arrived at that conclusion. I got on long enough to publish this and will try to recover the wireless connection tomorrow.

The first car offer.

We arose and Evelyn went to exercise while I walked the park for a short while. I had to get back and get ready for the man who wants to look at the Jeep. He and his wife arrived right on time and took it for a test drive. We talked for a while (they were from Oklahoma) and then they left. Evelyn had worked on making an etouffee like soup while I talked with them and we ate a bit early so she could get up to the party site to help the hostesses. Evelyn got dressed, and I drove her to the hall to pick up the box containing the gifts for the mothers in the colonia in Mexico. It was too large and full to carry to the Outback. We also had to take an urn of coffee for the Ladies Leisure meeting. It featured two young girls from UTPA who told of some of the traditions Hispanic families observe at Christmas. One of the major traditions is making tamales, and they showed how that was done and even brought some to share. Meanwhile I went to pick up my bicycle that needed two tires (I thought it needed one on the back) for $33. I then took the gift for the Angel Tree to the church. I stopped at Best Tire on the outside chance that Jaime might have a tire but he didn’t. I came back home and washed the dishes and some plastic Christmas cups that Bonny gave us for the party. I washed far more than I thought we would need. She came home much later than I had anticipated and was tired so we took a short nap. We then walked to our friend’s house to ask them to come for eggnog and cards this evening, but he is in charge of a game called “pitch” at the hall and couldn’t come. We came back and she made sausage and Sauer kraut for dinner. We decided to invite the couple across the street for cards. I had hoped they would leave before 8 so I could watch CSI, but they didn’t. We had a good time and they did leave around 8:45. I watched Without a Trace instead. I haven’t seen one episode of CSI this season but will probably see the ones I missed on TNT sometime anyway. I need to call the prospective buyers. He called and made an offer of $5900 but that seems low to me. I had gone to the Mid Valley Town Crier earlier and placed an ad for $6750. I will try to talk him into waiting until the ads run out. I also worked on trying to find the source of a fetid odor coming from under the unit. I can’t see a thing under the mobile, even with my high powered flashlight. I don’t think we can do anything except try to cover the smell. I will have to call someone for advice.

Cleaning up

We got up for the usual activities. We showered and then got ready to attack the world. I went off to the pharmacy and complained about the price of the preparation for the colonoscopy. After trips back and forth to the doctor, we were given a new prescription for a generic product. I then took my bicycle to French’s repair and left it for who knows how long. It was on to the motor home to get the mounting brackets that we have kept for several years and take them to Juan’s welding shop to see if he can put that set or build a different set for the Saturn. I know he has to take the front portion off the Jeep because the tow bar fits it. He said to call next week and bring the Saturn for him to look at. I then went to Mercedes to see if I could get a used tire to stop the shimmying of the front end. He didn’t have any but said some should come in this week. One tire to complete the set would be $15. I am doing this because I received a call from a man in Donna who wants to come to look at the Jeep tomorrow morning. He saw it on cars.com where I placed an ad yesterday. We sure hope he buys it. While I was gone, Evelyn picked up Bonny and went to the Christian Women’s Club luncheon. Bonny was impressed with the program. On the way home she invited us to join their family for Christmas dinner. We have just signed to attend the hall party and sit at a table with many others. We have to decide which way we want to go. Before she came home I vacuumed the car and got it real clean. She wanted me to play golf because the weather will be inclement for the next few days, so we went off to the Executive par 3 course. I played and she walked around with me. I didn’t play too badly and lost only one ball in some bushes. I shot a 41 which is good for me. But I came up 6 inches short on two putts, rimmed the cup on one and put a chip shot within two inches. Since those shots should have gone in, I decided not to count them, making my score 37 which is excellent for me. On the way home we went to the car wash and cleaned the outside. We came home and I made popcorn and we set out chairs up to watch the parade of bicycles and golf carts decorated for Christmas. We would have been in the parade but didn’t think we would have time to get to church after. The parade had more than 50 entries and was very entertaining. We then went in to get ready for church. Evelyn thought it started at 7:30 (it said this on the calendar) but I knew that the other two had been at 7 so we were late. After we got home I called Clay, the pastor’s son who gave me an idea as to what to get for our child we adopted from the church Angel Tree (a service of Prison Fellowship). The boy asked for a “personal music player” so we went to Wal-Mart to get one. The gift is supposed to be from his mother who is in prison, probably in Elsa. We came home and finished the evening as usual. We should have distributed medicine but

conflict in paradise

I woke at 5:30 worrying about all I had to do before Sunday. I had to finish the sermon, choose the hymns, plan the service, pay some bills on line, donate to charities and clean the house before Saturday evening when we host the choir for a party. I worked until 6:30 and then went to the hall to get my parkers started. At first I couldn’t get to the orange vests and flags but then found that the room in which they were stored was unlocked all the time. When I went to get the coupons for free breakfasts for the parkers and myself, the woman in charged challenged whether I deserved one since I wasn’t “working”. I figure that getting up at 6:30 and getting the equipment to the workers consisted of working. I never had any trouble like this in any other year. I guess I don't need to do this next year since it is of no value. She finally gave me one but left shaking her head. This made me think that I didn’t need the ticket so I gave it back. One of the other ladies, bless her heart, caught me outside and apologized for her behavior. I just thanked her and refused her offer of a breakfast. I then went to the flea market and worked my table until I had to go pass the flags to the second shift. The lady in charge of the tickets had brought my ticket to one of the parkers, but I just took it back into the hall. I sold some items but not the things I thought people would want. I still have a set of six glasses and a card table and chairs. Perhaps I can sell them next month. I came home and cleaned myself up while Evelyn went to the Bible study. When she came home, we had lunch of leftover sesame chicken from yesterday. During the afternoon we went to the new super Wal-Mart in Weslaco. We bought some groceries and came home. I tried to move things from the Jeep to the Saturn. It took some time and then I went on line to list the Jeep for sale. We decided to take a bicycle ride but soon learned that my back tire has a large hole in it. I will have to take it to French’s repair shop tomorrow while Evelyn goes to the Christian Women’s Club luncheon. We had a light dinner and got a call from Bonny alerting us to the choir practice scheduled for tonight. We went and had a long practice because we have several songs scheduled for Christmas Eve and Day. We came home and Evelyn wrote some cards while I worked on the computer. Strangely enough, I was not as tired as I thought I would be. I still had energy enough to write this. Also this is our eldest grandson's 12 birthday. This young man (and the rest of the grandchildren) is truly a gift from God. We called him and talked with him on the telephone. We will see him next April if the Lord's will permits.

WE DID IT!

We slept in but Evelyn went up and tried to walk on the treadmill but all three of them are broken. What a disgrace! They have been broken for more than two weeks. The users plan to organize and complain at the morning meeting. We had to speak and rush off to the doctor where Evelyn learned her medicine seems to be controlling her blood pressure. One problem remains: potassium is too low. We returned home and went to McAllen to bring our new Saturn Vue home. We first went to have lunch of sesame chicken, using a two for one coupon. We brought one of them home. We also went to K-Mart and bought several things including some liquid aloe vera. Our friends last night convinced Evelyn to try some to alleviate her indigestion. We then went to Penny’s and bought a shirt and sweater with a coupon that gave us $10 off any purchase of $10 or more. I also had some links removed from my watch that we bought many weeks ago. Then to the dealership. The salesman was salivating at the door and ushered us into the finance manager’s office. We financed the purchase because it included a $500 down payment assistance from GMAC. We plan to pay it off in January probably using money from my 403b account. We then called for insurance increase, followed by a staff presentation of our car. 10 people lined up for the presentation of our car. It was an interesting ordeal for us and the staff. They really try to be a customer oriented company. We received an envelope that included some elegant Saturn key chains and 10 free car washes. The salesman then tried to show us how to run the Onstar feature and the XM radio. We will eventually learn. We left for home, but Evelyn refused to drive the chili pepper red Saturn home. I somehow got far ahead of her even though I drove as slow as I dared. Even so, I only beat her by a bit. We unloaded the Jeep and had cereal for dinner. I then priced many items we will try to sell at the flea market tomorrow at our park. I have to get to the hall early to hand out the flags and jackets to my volunteers.

Rest and concert

I arose earlier than usual because John Hamel, our pianist at Trail’s End came so he could ride to worship with us. His wife went to Immanuel to help prepare for the taco lunch and auction. We went to worship and had 31 in attendance. We had more people but less in offering, but we had our first ever Bible study. Ironically, we studied 1 Thessalonians 5:16 ff: ...give thanks in all things for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. So we give thanks for the money God gave us. I brought Evelyn home because she has had an upset stomach for several days. I then took John to Immanuel and picked up two taco salads to bring home. Evelyn was asleep when I arrived so I counted the money and began to think about the next sermon. Just before she wakened, I began to eat my taco salad and watch a video of an Agatha Christy/Hercule Poirot mystery. We ate together and finished watching the movie. I then switched to the football game but got very tired and took a nap. When I wakened, we went for a walk to the other park. It was a cool, sunny day and walking was very pleasant. We then returned home and dressed for our trip to Rio Hondo to attend the Baptist church choir concert. It was very inspiring called the color of Christmas. It featured green for new life, silver for value, white for purity, gold for royalty, and red for the redeeming blood. We sat with Don Waters and met his son Bruce and children. Janice was in the choir and joined us for our trip to Jason’s Deli. I thought we would go to Boob-a-dee-boos, what turned out to be a sports bar, in Harlingen. I had bought a $25 coupon over the Internet for $5, but none of us wanted to stay there to eat. We got home just before the 10 o’clock news. Tomorrow we go to the doctor and pick up the new Saturn in McAllen.

golfing for food

I had set the alarm for 6:15 yesterday in case the fellow Gideon in the park called me to ask for a ride to the prayer breakfast. I saw him several times at Hidalgo, giving him plenty of opportunity to approach me but he didn’t so I turned it off. This meant that it didn’t come on at 7 either, but the one in the Texas room did. I just lay there, however, since Evelyn was still asleep. I finally got up and went down to work on the computer for a while. I heard her up and when I went up later she was surprised, thinking I must be out walking. She went to exercise and I took a shower and cleaned up. I continued working and she came home later to fix lunch. I called the Saturn dealer, giving permission to install the XM satellite radio into the Vue we will pick up Monday around noon. I also called a man from Iowa who wants to rent our Harlingen lot for the month of January. We agreed on the terms and I booked him. Shortly thereafter a woman called wanting to rent for three months. She couldn’t do that but I did tell her she could have it the first of February. She will call back if interested. There is another man interested a bit but is concerned about the mattress on the bed. I really don’t think he is interested, but no one has ever complained about the bed to my recollection. I went back to the computer and ordered a Q-grill for barbecuing. The unit folds up and can be transported easily without taking too much space. The January renters enjoying barbecuing and I promised to get them a grill to use. I also went on the K-Mart website and found that the shoes I bought yesterday are on sale next week. I will take them back and repurchase them Monday. I suggested we not eat too much because we were going to the golf club carry-in at 3. We rested a bit and went to the hall at three. They were passing out prizes and had beverages in coolers. They asked a blessing and we enjoyed the appetizers followed by the meal of turkey and ham and other carry-in dishes. They were good as usual. We took a cheese/Rotel dip that didn’t go too well but there were too many other things. We were home by 5:15 and snuggled in for the night. We watched a little TV and went to bed early.

New car buying and bright lights

We went off to exercise again. I walked to the adjoining park and Evelyn worked out to the exercise tape with a friend. We came home and took showers. I posted the blog for yesterday and relaxed for the afternoon. We had lunch here and then drove to McAllen to the Saturn dealership. We looked at the Vues in stock and chose a red one but Evelyn wanted XM satellite radio. They did not have one in stock that had it so we left him with the job of finding one that did. The salesman told us that we could get a $500 credit if we financed through GMAC, even though we could pay the balance in February. We completed the loan application and went on to Sun Harvest to get some tofu, soy milk, and white chocolate. I saw some great looking ground beef and bought a pound. We left there and went to K-Mart to get some shoes for me. I like their McGregor shoes and found a pair that fit. We also got some pretzels because Evelyn wanted to coat them with white chocolate. We left there for Linen and Things to get a memory foam mattress cover and two contour pillows. There is a 20% discount offer and the manager gave me a coupon so I bought the set for $80. We put in into the car and took off for Hildago where we met the rest of the Southern Comfort group for dinner. I was thoroughly discombobulated and would have gone the opposite way had Evelyn not sensed the correct direction. We arrived a bit late and ate our roast beef dinner from a Styrofoam carryout boxes. There was only iced tea and coffee as beverage, no water, etc., but the meal was pretty good. After there was to be a trolley ride around the town to see the rest of the Christmas lights. They were impressive but the trolley wouldn’t run at first so we had to load into open air trams and were cold because of the wind from moving. We could not hear a word of the narration accompanying the trip. We went back to the city hall where there was a concert by some boys from a school in San Luis Potosi. We had heard them before in past years and liked them so we stayed. They range widely in ages and some of the younger ones are quite cute and talented. They sing a few carols in English although I don’t think they understand much of what they are singing. I can sing in Spanish and German but don’t really know much of those languages. We came home by 8:30, and I worked on the computer. Evelyn wasn’t feeling well so she took some Maalox and went to bed.

A night at the theater

We go up to rain and 36 degrees. Evelyn went to exercise, and I started to walk but got too cold so I went to the hall for coffee. It was a good time with the other coffee drinkers. It wasn’t raining much but later in the day and the evening we had quite a bit. We spent some time dusting and cleaning for the visit with Don and Janice. We recovered the garden because it was not likely to get much warmer during the day. Evelyn went to her partner in Ladies Leisure during the afternoon and planned the January meeting events. I went to the grocery to get some vanilla ice cream and bought some eggnog. I also got a large box for ladies to put a gift into for the ladies in Mexico. I also went to the pharmacy to get some colonoscopy prep solution and nearly went into shock at the bill for two treatments: $96.98. We are certain that we did not pay anywhere near that much the previous time we had a colonoscopy. I brought them home, stopping on the way at the hall to put signs on the box. When I got home, Evelyn came back from her meeting and laid down to rest. We dressed and waited for the guests. They were a bit late, but Don and I enjoyed a beer before we went to the Courtyard Restaurant for the special: two chicken fried steak dinners for $12. Afterward we went to the Tower Theater to see if there were any cancellations for the production of The Foreigner, the story of a shy man who passes himself off as a foreigner by pretending to not speak any English. The general idea was that Don had never been to a play before and was dreading our going tonight. He went along and seemed to enjoy it a bit. The play was funny and that helped. After we came back here for cherry cobbler and eggnog with a little rum added. It was late when we went to bed.

golf, buffet and worship

I got up and cleaned out the back of the Jeep so I could load the golf clubs. My cart has a problem, and I had to hammer two rods in place to get it to be towable. I finally did and drove to the Executive par three Golf (joke) Course. Our park goes there and another place each Wednesday. I was put into a group with two others, and we played the entire nine, walking. They did not too badly, but I was 19 over par (31) and lost two balls. As a sucker play, I pared the final hole. Perhaps I will improve if I continue to play more. I got an e-mail from another friend wanting to play at Tierra Santa next week after his back improves. He wants to play with Ray too but the coupon to play for $35 expires at the end of December. I think Ray may arrive the 27th or so. Perhaps we can play then. I came home and went through the mail before lunch in which we finished off the casserole from Saturday. Evelyn had been baking a cake and some Christmas cookies while I was golfing and had begun cleaning up. While she was cleaning the kitchen, a shock occurred; a Christmas wreath arrived from Emily. This was a shock because the Beeli family had decided years ago that it would not participate in Christmas exchanges or gift giving. They wanted to focus on whose birthday it is. Suddenly a gift arrived: a real evergreen wreath. We hanged it on our balustrade on the front porch. After lunch Evelyn rested and I dried the dishes, putting them away. We rested in the afternoon and then put our table service together for the buffet prepared by the Canadians in our park. The plan this year is for different regional groups to prepare the buffet servings each fortnight. Tonight’s menu was Polish sausage, pirogues (a pastry like ravioli stuffed with cheese and potatoes) and cabbage rolls filled with potatoes and hamburger. They served a small date cake and ice cream for dessert. The meal was rather bland but not unexpected. We left there and went to church for Advent service. After we stayed for choir. I did not want to go to church at Immanuel much this year and certainly did not want to sing in the choir all season. I didn’t even want to go to the taco lunch after worship this Sunday but will likely be there anyway. The weather report keeps predicting colder weather. The morning should start in the 30s and stay in the lower 50s. I sent 17 e-mail cards to friends and went to bed.

A narrow miss

Tuesday is geezer softball day, and I got up debating whether to go play or not. I decided to go despite the cold weather (not cold for those of you in the north). But, alas, the Lord had other plans. I started the car and the check engine light stayed on. Worse, it began to blink. I drove to the hall and parked. I looked in the owner’s manual and saw that blinking means see a mechanic quickly. I drove to Robert’s garage, where I have gone in the past, but there was nothing going on there. I went to my friend Joe’s office and was referred to Nunn’s garage. I called and they were able to take me right away. I drove there but the light had not blinked since the first time. They found that one spark plug was not gapped correctly and some strip on the side of the engine block was not connected properly. They reset the check engine light and seemed to correct the problem. The car ran well all the way home. It was too late for softball so I just came home. Evelyn had gone to the park Bible study. I worked on the computer until she came home and made lunch. After lunch we took a nap. For some reason we were both tired. I then cut the grass and rode to a widow friend of ours and asked her to go to the welcome back winter Texan party. We will take her. I also, due to the expertise of my friend Ray in Kansas, made a folder for my sermons, moved them from works to word and put them into the sermons folder. This will make it easier to find them and easier to write them. The weather forecasters keep talking about the weather getting colder and colder but discount much chance of rain. I am thinking of playing golf tomorrow morning before it gets too cold. I haven’t played since we arrived. We had a light dinner and picked up Fanny at 6:30 and went to the RGV stock yards grounds. There were many people there and we saw several we knew. One of the members from our church had a country/western band called Overland Express. They play music each year between the giveaways from the local merchants. Our friend with us won a set of four mugs from the local Texas State Bank. The party features free beer and pretzels and punch and cookies also. We didn’t win anything but we had a good time anyway. We went to the HEB in Mercedes to get some things for us and Fanny. We took her home and stopped at the Outback so I could sign up for golf at the Executive junk course. I will play tomorrow morning.

Can we remember as we once could?

We got up and Evelyn went to exercise while I showered, called AARP to order teaching materials for the Drive Safely class, and prepared for the town meeting. We both had to speak: Evelyn about Ladies Leisure and I about volunteers for parking at the garage sale next Tuesday. I also asked if anyone would be interested in having a driver class before Christmas. No one was so I met with the activities coordinator after the meeting and established the class on January 24 and 25. Those were days the Outback was available. We have many activities here every day. I had to return home and call AARP to cancel the original dates for the class and register the new dates. The class will be posted on the Internet and the dates need to be posted. I came back and waited for Evelyn. When she returned, it was time to go to the hospital for what we thought would be 15 minutes of training. It was nearly 1 before we left there--two hours. And we were not finished. The job is quite complicated. We came home for lunch before running the errands I thought we would run earlier. We ate casserole leftover from Saturday night. It was still delicious, and Evelyn took a nap after. We then went to the bank to cash a check I had received Sunday. Then we went to see if I could get the Kahlua into the UPS delivery queue. I did and it should be on its way to Indiana by now. We then went on to the grocery to buy some things with which to make cookies for Christmas and an appetizer for the golf club party Saturday afternoon. We came home and prepared to return to the gift shop at the hospital where we think we will volunteer. We packed some peanut butter and peach butter to spread on the hazelnut/poppy seed bread we had made. We went back at 5 and stayed until 8:30. There is a great many things to remember. We had even forgotten some of the things we had done at noon. We may be able to remember some things but we worry that we are just too old to remember those things from week to week. We had a nice pair of young people to help train us on the night shift. But they are young and can remember many things that we might not be able to. The problem is that when we are there alone we might not remember what to do and have no one to bail us out. I am concerned. Did I say that? We came home and Evelyn worked on making chocolate bon bons. All this without her recipe book that she left in North Carolina. She is quite a talent in the kitchen (among other places) so I am certain all the cookies will be delicious regardless. I spent my time writing this blog and worrying a bit. I think it is obvious what concerns me.

Leading Worship

Sunday found us resuming our worship at Trail’s End. The service went smoothly although the sermon was too deep and complicated. There were 15 people in attendance, and they were very generous in their offering. We went to the brunch that is served every fortnight. I saw many others at the brunch who didn’t know we had resumed services. They said they would be there next week. We came home and changed clothes but ate no lunch because we had eaten a large omelet. I worked on next weeks sermon and watched some of the football games. It was in the 80s and humid so we stayed inside much of the day. We did go for a bike ride later in the afternoon. I had to call my computer technician, Ray, in Kansas to get help with my Microsoft Works because I could not get page numbers to insert where I wanted them. I still can’t exactly, but he did figure out how to get them into the header and repeat. I am eager to have him arrive here for the winter. They will come after Christmas. I also updated the format for service and chose the hymns. I tried to send them via e-mail to the pianist for next week but don’t have the correct address. I made popcorn for our evening meal and watched Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy. I did switch back and forth to the Chargers/Raiders football game but stuck with the shows that Evelyn likes. I watch the things I want most of the week but Sundays are hers. It is good to have most of the sermon so far along because we have a demanding social schedule this week. J We have to start by attending the park meeting tomorrow morning and make announcements about volunteers we need. I am in charge of parking at the upcoming craft sale, and Evelyn needs gifts for the women in the colonia that our park is adopting for the season.

Christmas party

Up to exercise and walk before taking Evelyn to the Palm Aire at the Best Western for the LWML Christmas party. I went to the motor home and dropped off more things before going to the recycle center. I was hoping against hope that I would find a paper shredder box with a UPC code but no success. I came back and worked on the sermon. During my earlier walk, I saw a man from Trail’s End who said he was planning to help with the set up tomorrow. We will have to wait to see how many will come to fill the seats. I also went to the UPS and learned that I might be able to ship the Kahlua to Shirley on Monday. I was surprised when Evelyn came home about half an hour early. I was just heating the leftover pizza for my lunch. I ate and then we relaxed and watched a movie I had rented. We took a walk to Country Sunshine to see the new double wide trailer they have for sale. What a rip-off. We were told the asking price is $70,000. There isn’t even a place to park a vehicle bigger than a golf cart on the pad. If it sells for that, we should ask $100,000 for ours. Bonny called and asked us to come to Progreso Lakes for tacos. I took some Merlot that was terrible, but the pico de gallo that Frances, her mother’s former house maid, made was good as were the tacos and rice. We came home and went to bed relatively early to be fresh for the worship in the morning.

disappointment and good news

We got up at 7, and Evelyn went to exercise. She couldn’t take too long because she had an appointment with the oncologist at 8:45. We rode out bicycles, and I stopped at Dr. McDougal’s office to get a referral to Dr. Badiga, the gastroenterologist Tom Jones recommended for out colonoscopy. McDougal referred us to a different one. Surprisingly, I got the referral without incident. I joined Evelyn at the oncologist who gave her a good report. She has completed three years of remission and has only two to go to get to the point where it is unlikely for the cancer to return. We thank God for those years. We left there happy and decided to go on to Dr. Badiga’s to make the arrangements for the colonoscopy. It took more than an hour to fill out papers and get instructions. We wanted to stick with this doctor because he provides transportation to and from the hospital. We will go to McAllen rather than Knapp, the local hospital. The transportation takes us door to door if we go to McAllen, but we would have to drive to Knapp. It is less than a mile, but we have had one of these before and were not in any shape to drive anywhere, no matter how close. We came home and had a sandwich for lunch. I found an appropriate box for the Kahlua I wanted to send to Shirley, packed it with bubble pack and peanuts, and drove to Progreso to mail it. When we found the post office in a trailer (the brand new one built last year had burned down during the summer), I tried to mail the box but couldn’t: the Postal Service does not allow liquor to be mailed. I had told Shirley I was going to mail it but didn’t count on the clerk asking what was inside. I guess she will have to pick up the bottles when they come to visit in January. We spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for our guests for dinner. They have been married only three years, and we met them at one of the dances in our park. They are very friendly. After dinner, we went downtown for the “Festival of Lights” parade. What a bummer. There were very few brightly lighted floats and they were spaced too far apart, making the parade about half an hour longer than it should have been. To make it even worse, we sat at the very end of the parade route. This is the worst location to view a parade: all the bands have finished playing and any performances have been completed far back up the parade route. We came home and watched Mr. Deeds, a pretty good but silly movie. Oh yes, Evelyn’s brother called and told that Mom’s doctor plans to move her back to Swiss Village, her nursing home, next Monday. What a tough old gal! What a gracious God!

Blessings galore

Thursday was the day Evelyn had been hoping would be over. She began by exercising as usual but then readied herself and went off to Harlingen for lunch and a tour of a historic bed and breakfast. She brought photos of the rooms, and they were old and rich looking. They had a nice lunch included in the trip and tour. In the meantime I went to the house of a couple who was going to Mexico. I gave them a note to my dentist telling her that I would not be able to make my appointment for 12:30 today. I asked her to call me but never heard from her. I also asked the couple to buy some Kahlua for our friend Shirley from Indiana. She is a black Russian addict. I will mail the booze to her. I had lunch and then rode around to get the mail and look for some people to invite for dinner tomorrow or Saturday. Tom Crouch and his wife are entertaining her brothers so they couldn’t come. I did see the Derrs who had just arrived and they accepted. We will go to the parade of lights in downtown Weslaco after dinner. I also began packing clothes in case we had to go north for Mom’s funeral. Evelyn got home around 2, and we took a bike ride around the park after she took a short nap. To my surprise, the couple had brought the Kahlua. We rode home and made dinner. After dinner we went to the HEB again to get more food to put into the chicken casserole for tomorrow night. We came home and finished making the casserole and cleaning the kitchen. I am the souse chef as I cut up and chop up all the ingredients. We added one drop of Dave’s Ultimate Insanity to the dish. We may have added too much because it is quite spicy. Perhaps baking the casserole will cool it down. After 9 Evelyn called the hospital to check on her mom. She was told that she was maintaining her health and might be moved from the ICU into a room or even back to Swiss Village for therapy. We had received an e-mail from Stacy saying she would be going to visit Mom on the 9th. She may be blessed to visit her in her home. We stayed up far too late and went to bed tired. I have neglected to mention the weather here which has been wonderful: high 70s and low humidity. It is usually humid, but has been more temperate this year. I keep commenting on how disgusting the weather is, especially compared to the weather in Indiana and Ohio. We are truly blessed to be here.

church serving

Wednesday took Evelyn to the exercise room where she tried to kill herself exercising to the Cindy Crawford exercise video. She finally had to give up and come home. I am still dealing with the shed and its excesses, after walking around the park. I remembered to get our plants from the lady down the street. She had cared for them all summer and was willing to let me drive her golf cart to transport the four large plants back here. In return, I walked her Chihuahua for her. The little “dog” was very strong and energetic as he pulled me along. I took a sign to the hall offering to sell the card table and chairs we got from the unit at 320. It is a Cosco in good shape so we are asking 25-30 for it. I also put a sign on it since it is setting our front of our unit. Many people walk by here everyday. If no one calls, I will take it to the flea market the 13th. When we finished lunch, we took some items out to the motor home since we want to take them back to NC. We then went to HEB to buy groceries for our after caroling party the 17th and the chicken casserole we plan to make together. We also looked for some supplies for the auction at church. We are to make a basket of some food items that people can bid on to supply money for the church. We are certainly doing more for that church than I want: they refused to rehire me last year. We are still singing in the choir although only through Advent. We went to church and sang tonight. We came home and watched TV a while. After church I talked with Randy Winston about the computer. He told me that Kodak has a free feature that will store digital photographs for free. I will try to use that as a back up for mine.