Taking over the back yard work

I got up and worked on skimming some of the back yard and threw the dirt over the fence. I am really disappointed in Enrique. I really thought he was responsible and would return to finish his promise. I guess, as Christians, we should expect people to disappoint us, especially since we have disappointed many others in the past not to mention how deeply we have all disappointed our God and Savior. I didn’t work too long because it gets hot quickly here. I also went around spraying the weeks with 2-4-D and then cut the grass on our side of the lot. Evelyn returned from exercise and got ready for Bible study. I made some changes to the sermon and made some phone calls: LuAnn, our former neighbor, Stacy and Barry Conover, our lay minister friend in Franklin, NC. I left LuAnn a message, talked with Jackie Conover, and talked with Tom, Stacy’s husband. The kids have had strep infection but are recovering. We had a south beach pizza for lunch. We might go on that diet if we can find a copy of the book. Evelyn began cutting out the material for Elizabeth’s dress. She got it all cut out and we napped for a while. Afterward we rode our bikes about a mile to a rehab center to take a sermon to our Friend Janet. We also stopped to see Lionell at another facility on our way back. We had supper of salad and chili soup. We are trying to find another couple to go with us to the banquet tomorrow evening. We hope we get a return call.

Great tamales

I got up early to work a short time skimming some sod from the back since it appears that Enrique is not coming back any time soon. I only cleared a small portion and found it to be very difficult. Monday is the park meeting. We learned about many end of the season events. There is a party honoring the people who have volunteered to help at various events. There will also be a going away party for all the residents in March. We also have a bike club meeting because we have to find someone to replace the organizing couple who will not be returning next year. This Wednesday is the awards banquet for the participants in the Encore games. My partner and should have won the egg toss but were disqualified. After the meeting, we dropped off my medicine vial at the local pharmacist to be refilled and followed Tom and Diesta to McAllen to treat them to some tamales at a small restaurant that serves only tamales. They must have had more than a dozen varieties and we enjoyed three of them. Evelyn doesn’t especially like tamales but seemed to enjoy these. They went on to San Antonio so Tom can have reconstructive surgery on his nose tomorrow morning early. He had some cancer cut out last week. We went to the Saturn dealership in hopes of having our car washed. It would have meant a two hour wait so we went to Hancock Fabrics for some material and came home. On the way we stopped and got some Cyprus mulch for the back yard. We were tired and took a nap. It was late afternoon so we took a bike ride and invited the Van Wells to come to play cards. We finished the last of our leftovers and played until 9:30. We had popcorn and wine for treats.

Many states dinner

Sunday was another blessing. The sermon seemed to be well received and Holy Communion was also a blessing as always. We had our Bible study after with the same couple as usual. I don’t know why no one else ever comes. Perhaps I don’t push it enough. Regardless we were home by 11:00 and finished preparation for the states east of Illinois dinner. It is a tradition for people who come south from the same geographic area hold a dinner each winter. The Canadian dinner was today also. We were host and hostess for our event this year. We put table coverings on the tables and various people provided table decorations for each state they represented. We enjoyed a potluck dinner and then heard comments from the attenders. The theme of the discussion was “What sites would you take visitors to see in your home state? There were many good things revealed about many things in each state of MI, PA, GA, OH, IN and NC. We represented NC and told all about the attractions in our area. The next best place to visit seemed to be MI. I mentioned when I gave my presentation that I promise not to take anyone up on their invitation because there were too many places in our area to visit. We finished the dinner and program about 3, cleaned up the room we used, and came home. We couldn’t find our camera for a while but found it in Evelyn’s purse. She tried to nap but couldn’t so we took a walk around the park. I made popcorn in the evening and we relaxed watching the Travel Channel. The feature was cruise ships: Freedom of the Seas and the Queen Mary 2. We are interested because we will cruising through the Panama Canal in the spring on Norwegian Cruise Lines‘ Norwegian Sun. We are somewhat apprehensive because there have been many cautions about the medical care on board. There have been some horror stories, and we hope we aren’t one of them.

Golf and crabs

I was up early Saturday to play in the CanAm golf tournament. I rode to Stuart Place Country Club with a neighbor. We had a shotgun start at 8 AM and my group started on the 3rd hole. I pared the first hole we played and bogeyed the second. Things went back to normal from there and ended with a 60 which was not as bad as some others. One man shot 77. I left early with him and came home to learn that the barbecue dinner we wanted to attend was last night. I had put it on the calendars wrong. Evelyn was disappointed (so was I) but was a bit mollified by my offer to take her to Joe’s Crab Shack for dinner this evening. We invited one of the men who works with us at the hospital and his wife to go with us. We had also been invited to Van Wells to play cards after we had made plans to go out. I went to the golf party after lunch to ask the blessing on the pizza dinner that they were having. I had not signed for the party, thinking we would be going to the RGV barbecue party. We went to Joe’s and we shared a shrimp dinner. Paul and I also like beer a lot so we shared a pitcher. We finished our dinner but I was not satisfied with our server. Unfortunately, I had to leave after telling Evelyn to tip him the minimum 15%. She tipped him $4.50 instead of $3.60. As Evelyn left the booth, she didn’t notice a small step down and feel flat on the floor. We walked out slowly in case something serious showed up in her wrist or hip or something. She seemed to be fine despite a bruise on her ankle. We thank God for his protecting her in this mishap. We went to the Marble Slab Creamery for ice cream before returning home for the evening. I practiced the sermon after printing it.

Wandering in Mexico

Friday Janice arrived at 9 and off we went. Evelyn had an appointment for a haircut and couldn’t go. Janice got into the dentist, had her teeth cleaned, the eye tooth pulled, and got an appointment for more work next week. I wandered around town and drank only one beer. I waited to have lunch with her when she was finished. She likes to go to Arturo’s to eat so we went there and she had tortilla soup and ice cream. I had stuffed poblano pepper. Both were delicious. We came home by 2:30 and I had time to go to the hospital but decided that I should go to bed and get some rest. I did. Evelyn came home at 5 and we made final preparations for our evening guests. We enjoyed visiting with them, a retired LCMS pastor and his wife. I was wondering what he thought of our services and was pleased that he was blessed by them and even had some “liberal” suggestions for me. We played hand and foot after supper of barbecue sandwiches.

Exhaustion

Thursday Evelyn exercised and I got a call from Peggy saying that there was an announcement in the Town Crier about a play about winter Texans to be performed in Weslaco on March 9. By the time I walked to their home, she had learned that the date was a misprint and was sold out. Actually, we can just go to our social hall, drink coffee and see everything in that play without the plot.J We went to Elsa so I could have an eye exam. My eyes have weakened slightly, and I ordered new glasses and frames. I wanted transitions with a brown tint but received a call saying only grey was available. I will call tomorrow and argue. We brought home some Burger King for lunch and then took our $140 to a woman in Siesta Village who will take the money to Harlingen to buy the concert series tickets for us. For some reason I was really exhausted and lay on the couch much of the afternoon saying, “I have to get up!” without much energy to do it. I did walk to the Bible study and was three sheets to the wind most of the time. I came home and made some popcorn and blogged. Janice called with a severe toothache and wants me to take her to our dentist in Mexico. I will have to cancel my duty at the hospital.

Meet the student.

Wednesday was mild hangover day. I had consumed a bit too much wine at the Fat Tuesday party. The wine sort of sneaked up on me last night. We had a great time dancing and laughing with friends. We prepared to go to Mexico to meet the young man that we sponsor in his studies. We went to the parking lot outside the bridge where we went to the school with another couple who sponsors a different student. When we arrived at the school, we learned that neither of our students was there. The ladies had prepared a huge lunch of Mexican food which we ate. We had our friends drop us off in the town so we could buy more Kahlua, and I could stop at the dentist to have her look at my fillingless tooth. She determined that I needed a crown and had several small cavities. I didn’t want Evelyn to have to sit and wait for me, so I just made an appointment for March 5 at 11:30. We came home and we both took short naps. We left for Ash Wednesday service and choir practice. We learned that one of the soprano’s father had died and she and her mother in law were not there. We decided not to practice for that reason and the fact that our director would not be here next Wednesday. On the way home, we stopped at Grondohl’s so Evelyn could make an appointment for a haircut. We also went to Crouch’s to get a sticker so we could order tickets for the concert series during the next season. We got it and will order the tickets. There was a slight misunderstanding: the tickets are $70 each, not $40 as I thought. We will buy them anyway. Off to bed after the news.

Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday)

Fat Tuesday was a day of blessings. Evelyn exercised while I prepared to go to the Mayor’s Prayer Luncheon. Before I left the man form our park came to clean the carpet in the Texas room. He did a great job. I helped Evelyn move the furniture on to the screen porch. He uses a “buffer” to clean with and I helped him move all the furniture that needed to be moved for cleaning. There were many chameleon “turds” all over the hidden places he cleaned. When he finished, I got him to help move the furniture back when he finished. I had to leave to pick up Don and drive to McAllen. Evelyn went to the Bible study in the park. Don and I rode to the Civic Center using the Magellan 360. I will learn to use that thing yet. It did get us there and back. We heard Pat Sommerall, former NFL and CBS broadcaster celebrity. He had a great testimony. We had a good “box” lunch with the price of or ticket. We came home and the painter came to say that Enrique has not been available for several days. He had to hire someone else to replace Enrique and doesn’t know where he is. He will try to find him via his girlfriend. I called Mike after 9 as he requested and he said that the girl friend told him that E. planned to come to work here Saturday. I am not extremely optimistic. We went to the Mardi Gras party and dance at the hall. There were many people in costume for the Mardi Gras and a sandwich meal. I was blessed to have been asked to request the blessing. One of the residents, a retired doctor, was the MC for the coronation and gift exchange. Many park residents dressed in costume and brought “gifts” to the “king and queen” of the Mardi Gras. It was really fun and funny. After the dinner, there was a dance featuring 13 pieces that played Big Band music for the dancing pleasure of the people who attended. We had beer and wine to drink as well as sodas. You may guess I drank more than my share of beer and wine. We came home before the end of the dance because Evelyn wanted to come home. I wrote this and watched TV and the news.

Guests and Bible study

Monday was the town meeting. I asked for people to sign up for the driver safety class. There are only two at present and we need 10. We came home because I couldn’t go to the bank with my deposits: President’s Day. I worked on the sermon and surprised myself in that I think it is ready to give. Evelyn needed some things from the grocery so I left for Wal-Mart hoping to get some vials for my quarters and some calcium and baby aspirin. I got the groceries and drugs but no vials. I am afraid my friend Sylvia will let me down. I came home and had lunch. We cleaned the kitchen, and Evelyn was ready for a nap. I wrote some e-mails and then went to Reddels to invite them to the Bible study tonight. As I was walking there, I saw the guy who installed our floor covering. He was coming to our house to fix our wall and while there he was kind enough to put felt pads on our washer, dryer, and stove. Then I was tired and went in for a nap myself. We got up and began to get organized for our dinner guests. They came at 5:30 and we had snacks while the steaks cooked. We had the delicious meal including a broccoli salad and scalloped potatoes and crescent rolls. We finished our cherry pie alamode and left for the Bible study. The Bauknechts were kind enough to go with us, a good thing because there were only 7 of us. It was a great disappointment in light of how many were invited. We watched the Max Lucado video and I was blessed by it as were the others. We will not meet next week because the Winstons, our hosts, will be out of town. We came home and played Hand and Foot until after 10:30. I finished this and went to bed.

Another blessed Sunday

Sunday was another blessing. We had 54 worship with us at Trail’s End and 385 heard God’s message through me at Llano Grande. On the way from TE I developed a nose bleed. It was severe and I bled all the way to LG. I had dropped Evelyn off first to prepare dinner for our guest, Fanny Crampton. I finally stopped the bleeding when I arrived at LG, washed my nose off and proceeded to the stage. I noticed while listening to the choir that I had dripped some blood on the front of my trousers. I don’t think anyone noticed because I stood behind a “pulpit”. The people there were gracious in their compliments on the message at the coffee gathering afterward. I stayed because our friend Paul and his wife Donna were there to talk with. I came home and enjoyed the pork chop dinner with our guest. After she left Evelyn took a nap and I organized some materials on the computer. I took my hat and went to the hall to serve ice cream. I thought it would be cancelled because of so many park “outsiders” being there, but we served everyone. The ice cream is $.50 for all we can get into a 2 cup bowl. Another guy and I served the Rocky Road, and we served the better part of 3 gallons. After this we were entertained by the “Men of A-chord”, a men’s barbershop chorus made up of geezers from the Valley. They were very good and charged only $2 for the performance. We returned home and had popcorn as we watched “The Glenn Miller Story”. We had ourselves in pickle for a while. We have guests coming for steaks tomorrow evening, and Bonny thinks she has about 7 people coming to the Monday evening Bible study and I had agreed to lead it. We called the dinner guests and got them to agree to go to the Bible study with us. That solved the problem.

Sleeping all day

Saturday we must have been exhausted because we slept until 9:00! We had two alarms set and slept through both of them. We cleaned ourselves up and went out to the restaurant with the good breakfast tacos and charro beans. Unfortunately Evelyn doesn’t like either of those things so she just enjoyed orange juice. We left there and went to Wal-Mart where I thought my friend in the pharmacy would have a sack of medicine vials for me. No one could find them. Evelyn also bought some other things, and we went to the Ace Hardware bag sale--everything that fits into a big grocery bag is marked down 20%. We each filled a bag but we really needed a new faucet for the kitchen which didn’t fit into the bag. We did find several things that we needed, including a faucet set for the bathroom. We left there and went to the leather factory where Evelyn had some metal put onto a new belt she bought in Mexico. We came home and she ate a small snack because we weren’t going to eat another meal until later in the day. I worked on straightening the shed for an hour and worked on the sermon most of the afternoon. We took a bike ride and arranged a ride to Mexico with another couple from here for next Wednesday. They sponsor a student in school also. We came home and had supper. I walked to the Van Wells and asked them to come to play cards at 7. I also went to our Canadian friend, Fanny, to see if she would come tomorrow after worship for a pork chop dinner. She agreed to come. We played Hand and Foot until 9 and then spent the rest of the evening reading and waiting for the weather report.

Familiar Friday

Friday was exercise and preparing to go to the hospital. We had the leftover meat loaf from the CWC on Wednesday. We went to the Thomson orchard on the way and ordered some grapefruit to send to WA. We went to the hospital and had a good time serving. This is a wonderful rewarding way to serve the Lord. After work we went to a local car dealer to look at a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country on a local car lot. Our friend in Fort Wayne is looking at one for us and suggested we look at one here. From there we went to Willy’s barbecue in Alamo. A neighbor had told us that they had good catfish on Friday. We normally eat their baked potato loaded with brisket and everything else. But tonight we had the catfish which was very good. While in line one of our neighbors and friends were ordering so we saved seats with them to eat with us. As it turned out, the new couple are Lutherans, and we told them about the churches in Alamo and Mercedes. We also told them about Trail’s End and they implied they would worship with us Sunday. They will only be in the Valley for a week or two. We came home and Evelyn took a nap, and then we went to the Valentines dance featuring Lyle Beaver. Lo and behold the new couple came to check out the dance. We tried to persuade them to stay and dance because the dance was half over and the cash box had been closed. They chose not to stay. We left before the ending and were home in time to watch the 10 o’clock news.

Mabel's breakfast

I got up and rushed to the hall to help park cars for the normally bustling Mabel’s breakfast. Unfortunately, the weather must have kept many people away. There was never any need for parkers at all, so we all came home. Evelyn met me after exercise, and I donated some money and ate breakfast. We came home and prepared for lunch. After that we rested and gathered ourselves for the performance of the kitchen band. Eight of us went to the closest nursing home to entertain the residents. We wear aprons and silly hats. One man plays the violin and a woman plays the piano. The rest of us play kazoos and shake maracas. We also give many maracas to the residents who are brought into the cafeteria. One man plays a bass made of a stick and a five gallon bucket. I have seen those used in some of the jams in North Carolina. I took our squeeze horn to play. We “play” and sing many old songs while trying to give a brief Christian witness. It is fun for us and the residents. We came home and Evelyn iced some small cupcakes for tomorrows birthday party. I grilled some Omaha hamburgers for dinner and did not get them cooked quite enough. I am very concerned about overcooking them. After we ate and cleaned up, we both prepared for our Bible studies. She hosted the ladies here and I went to Reddel’s. I came home and learned that Purdue had beaten IU in basketball. ! Whoopee! I watched the end of CSI and then, since nothing good was on, we watched the classic movie, “Stagecoach” starring John Wayne. We were ready to relax.

Valentines Day

Wednesday is Valentine’s Day. We gave each other cards because we have the blessing of buying each other gifts whenever we want. Evelyn exercised and then we dressed for the Christian Women’s Club luncheon. We picked June up at 11:15 and drove to the country club. We had a good time and the meal was fair but something went wrong. There were 8 of us at our table but only 5 meals were brought in the beginning. We all thought the other 3 would be right behind so we ate. We were completely finished when they finally got their meals. There was another table near us that received no meals until the end. The man who gave the testimony was a man who used to work with the Stonecroft lodge where we used to volunteer. He and his wife were good friends of the Durkins and really were disappointed they had missed them. They weren’t there. We returned home and took a nap because it was now 3. We had leftovers for supper. We could have had a meatloaf sandwich with meat we brought from the lunch, but we had things older than that. I worked a bit on preparing for the Max Lucado Bible study Bonny has set up for Monday evening. Evelyn finished the dress for Rosalie and then dressed for bed. I am also satisfied with the sermon but will probably change it more before Sunday.

Off to McAllen

Tuesday was the craft sale and flea market. I had to call Clayton about an investment. We decided to put some money into a UIT that is located in Latin America. While talking on the phone, I saw a vegetable mandolin for sale at the flea market and bought it for $.50 and two hummingbird feeders for $.10. I took them home and went to Home Depot for some hooks and felt pads for the table. I also went to Wal-Mart for some potatoes for Evelyn. She had made some pork chops and wanted some mashed potatoes to go with them. I also found some frozen crawfish etouffee for us to try. We ate the pork chops and drove to McAllen. I wanted to exchange the DVD player that wouldn’t work and get the car washed after the mud bath we gave it Saturday night. We dropped the car of and caught a ride with a Saturn employee to Target. We made the exchange and then Evelyn wanted to go to Mervyns to buy me some shorts and shirts. Most of mine are old and faded. We were picked up and taken back for our car. I tried to set the GPS to find JJ’s Party Place but couldn’t get it to work right. We found it anyway. Evelyn has wanted to find some costume for the Mardi Gras next week. We couldn’t find anything reasonable. We came back to Weslaco and tried to look at a Chrysler Town and Country SUV like the one Darrell is thinking about buying for us. The Chrysler dealer didn’t have one. We came home and had supper before picking up John to go to choir practice. We returned home earlier than usual and Evelyn began sewing and I tried to get some e-mail but the connection was not good. We also tried to clean the grate of the stove fan. It was dirty but our main problem is that we have some small insects that are dropping all over the stove. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to be coming out of the grate as we first thought. I wrote this and we went to bed after the news.

A party in Mexico

Monday is another town meeting. But before I went I received a call from my ecstatic daughter in Roswell. I won’t go into all the detail here, but their family is being used by our Lord to bring some people from Iraq into faith. I haven’t heard her that excited for many years. Our meeting went well, and Evelyn won one of the door prizes but, as usual, wouldn’t go forward to get it. I went and chose a teddy bear but didn’t notice the box of chocolate she would have wanted. Perhaps she will learn to go for herself. We came home and Charley was working on the roof that leaks. He kept his promise. He put some more caulking into the seams that could be leaking. While he worked, I took things to the recycling center, deposited a check, took an announcement to Earl Neuhaus, and an explanation about Easter to Dr. Ghaddar, before returning for lunch. Afterward I had Evelyn lie down to rest while I cleaned up the kitchen. We left for Mexico at 2:15 and went to the party at Gloria’s. We stopped before leaving the U. S. to get some perfume. We arrived at the barber shop and were quickly loaded into a car and taken to Carmelo’s home. He and his mother own the barbershop. They have one of the nicest homes in Neuvo Progreso. There must have been at least 100 customers at the party. It is given out of gratitude for the business provided by the winter Texans. They served beans, tamales, fajitas, and nopalitos (cooked cactus) and cake. All of the food was very good. We walked back to the bridge and bought one bottle of Kahlua and one of Crown Royal. They are for friends in NC. We returned home and I worked on some orders of service. I have only two to go and will be finished making them for the season. I still have to work on the sermons, however. During the evening we watched a Movie, “Hero” starring Dustin Hoffman and Geena Davis. We thought it was very entertaining although it was full of blasphemies.

Relaxing Sunday

Sunday brought 48 people to our worship and Holy Communion. When we do certain things that come from our liturgy, it is always a surprise as to how many of those attending know what to do. They can’t all be Lutherans but certainly know much of what we do. Perhaps other traditions use many of the same things. We had our short Bible study, and then we took Communion to Janet. I thought we might as well take it to Lionell too. When finished there, we went to the grocery and bought a roasted chicken for lunch. The HEB has various meal deals. This one gave us a baugette (long loaf of bread), a two liter of soda, and a bottle of salad dressing if we bought a chicken and a package of salad. We bought some other things and came home to eat some of the chicken for lunch. We changed clothes and Evelyn went to rest while I cleaned up the kitchen. I then worked on next week’s message and then got into bed for a nap. She got up when I laid down. We both slept for more than an hour. When I got up, she was working on sewing a dress for Rosalie. She took a break and went for a bike ride with me. It was misty so we went just once around the park. I stopped at the house of the man who does much work around the park and told him that the furniture was wet again after Friday night’s rain storm. He promised to come tomorrow to work on it. Rain is predicted for Wednesday and we have to get this repaired. We tried to watch one of the movies I had recorded but Evelyn could not make up her mind as to which she wanted to watch so I just gave her the remote and came to write the blog for today.

Friday and Saturday

Friday we returned to normal--sort of. Evelyn exercised, and I worked on the orders of service. I like to keep two weeks ahead so I can give the accompanists the music ahead of time. Evelyn rode her bicycle to her appointment with Dr. McDougal at 10. Surprisingly, she returned within an hour. He couldn’t even remember why she had the appointment, but he did tell her to stop taking Vytorin because her liver enzymes have elevated. She went to the kitchen and made a salad and a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. The large grocery chain, HEB, has meal deals each week and one of them around Christmas was a spiral cut ham. It is still delicious. We rode our bikes to the hospital on our volunteer day. We came home afterward, had dinner and rested before going to the Barbara Fairchild concert. She and her husband come from Branson, where they perform in the summer, in their 45 foot Prevost and stay in our park. They go to different venues and give performances in the Valley. I guess they get cold too. They always seem to have a good time together and give a good show. We came home and hoped to get a call from Enrique who didn’t come today either. He did imply he would come Saturday. The future’s not ours to see. Ke sara, sara.
The men from R&A did come and fixed our CD player and discovered that the DVD player we bought in January did not work properly. We will have to exchange it at Target in McAllen.

Saturday was quite a change. It was cool in the morning and misty, but it had rained and stormed all night. I went up for pancakes (I try to go once each season) in shorts. By the time I came home it was 10 degrees colder. I put on a sweatshirt and Jeans so I could comfortably work on the sermon. We had leftovers for lunch and Evelyn decided to cut out the costumes for the girls in California. I continued working and got drowsy so I took a nap. Evelyn went to prepare the elements for Holy Communion tomorrow. When she returned she joined me. We slept for more than an hour each. It was so cold and rainy that Evelyn decided to not go to the flea market. Enrique didn’t come again which was understandable but very disappointing that he didn’t even call. We left for the Neuhaus’ where we enjoyed the annual Gonnerman steak fry. They are winter Texans that don’t have enough space to accommodate the number of people they invite. The steaks this year were the best of the four years we have been attending. We used our Magellan GPS to get there. We didn’t get to the exact location because we could not register the exact address. As a blessing, we had our cell phone and called Earl for directions. We got home without incident. During the rain last night, our couch in the Texas room got very wet. We must push the repair man to get this roof repaired immediately or find someone else who will do it.

A funny mistake

Thursday was another busy day for the retired. We were up and off to load the bikes to go with the club to South Padre Island. We rode with another man. We left around 9 and arrived around 10. The transporting trailer arrived shortly after that and we unloaded. We learned before we went riding that the water had been stopped in the area of the restaurant we planned to return to for lunch. We rode off on a two mile trip and decided that we and three others needed to leave the island earlier than the others. We ate with a woman and two other men at a place called “Dirty Al’s”. It has been recommended as a great sea food restaurant. The recommendations were good. We shared a shrimp and fish basket and were both plentiful and delicious. We arrived at 11:30 and by the time we were served there was a line nearly out the door. We rode back, left our bikes and drove back. We took a housewarming gift to the Reddels, picked up our bikes when they returned and then came home for a nap. After that we dressed for the Gideon Pastor Appreciation Banquet. The speakers give testimonies regarding the miracles God works through His Word. They are always inspiring to us. We came home and relaxed a bit before going to bed. I was hoping to get a call from Enrique about tomorrow morning. Perhaps he will get a ride here and just let me take him home. I had a little scare on Padre Island. I had my cell phone and tried to clip it to the belt on my butt pack. When we got out of the car, I went to the bathroom and noticed it missing. I looked in the bathroom and on the paths I had taken from the car. I looked in the car but couldn’t find it. I was worried. One of the men who came with us offered to call our number to help us locate it. I heard it ring and found it clipped not to my butt pack strap but to the seat belt I was wearing. What a hoot!

A funny mistake

Thursday was another busy day for the retired. We were up and off to load the bikes to go with the club to South Padre Island. We rode with another man. We left around 9 and arrived around 10. The transporting trailer arrived shortly after that and we unloaded. We learned before we went riding that the water had been stopped in the area of the restaurant we planned to return to for lunch. We rode off on a two mile trip and decided that we and three others needed to leave the island earlier than the others. We ate with a woman and two other men at a place called “Dirty Al’s”. It has been recommended as a great sea food restaurant. The recommendations were good. We shared a shrimp and fish basket and were both plentiful and delicious. We arrived at 11:30 and by the time we were served there was a line nearly out the door. We rode back, left our bikes and drove back. We took a housewarming gift to the Reddels, picked up our bikes when they returned and then came home for a nap. After that we dressed for the Gideon Pastor Appreciation Banquet. The speakers give testimonies regarding the miracles God works through His Word. They are always inspiring to us. We came home and relaxed a bit before going to bed. I was hoping to get a call from Enrique about tomorrow morning. Perhaps he will get a ride here and just let me take him home. I had a little scare on Padre Island. I had my cell phone and tried to clip it to the belt on my butt pack. When we got out of the car, I went to the bathroom and noticed it missing. I looked in the bathroom and on the paths I had taken from the car. I looked in the car but couldn’t find it. I was worried. One of the men who came with us offered to call our number to help us locate it. I heard it ring and found it clipped not to my butt pack strap but to the seat belt I was wearing. What a hoot!

Tweaking the sermon

Wednesday was beautiful again. But Enrique didn’t come again. Evelyn exercised and then dressed up to go to McAllen. She made a salad and we ate earlier than usual at 11:00. She wanted to go. While she exercised, I went to R&A to see if they would come over to hook our things up. Rene was not there but his wife, Aurora, was. She said he might come over after 1:00. I tried to call again but neither was there. I also went to Valley Grande Manor to visit Lionell and Janet. I prayed with each of them and left a copy of last week’s sermon with Janet. I also took a small booklet published by the chaplain’s association for each of them. I wanted to go with Evelyn if she felt uncomfortable going alone but had to stay in case R&A showed up. I also needed to work on my sermon. It just didn’t feel right so I rewrote a great deal of it and feel better. The good news is that I still have time to tweak it further. I mixed up some 2-4-D and sprayed the weeds around the unit. I also went to the neighbor’s and used the mower to mow what little “grass” we have left. There is still more to skim but I couldn’t get to it because it was covered with some that has been skimmed. Evelyn came home, rested and we went to the hall for the buffet. It was served by the people from Iowa and was pork loin, instant mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, and strawberry shortcake. It was very good and cost only $4 apiece. We stayed for the entertainment which was also very good. A guy named Tucker was in the Valley from Branson. He was a great entertainer. He was also with a 79 year old man and his wife. The man had a great “crooning” voice and was also good. We came home and I followed the Purdue basketball game on the Gametracker. We also watched the Duke/North Carolina game. We will go with the bike club to South Padre Island tomorrow. Oh, yes. When we returned, we found a note from Enrique. He has had no transportation to get here. He left the phone number of a friend so I called him. He will tell Enrique that I will come to get him from Donna (a town), bring him here and take him home if necessary on Friday. We will be too busy tomorrow.

House jobs

Tuesday was a beautiful day. Unfortunately, Enrique didn’t come again. I began to work on the little jobs that I needed to finish. I looked at the doorknob again and understood why I couldn’t get it fastened together last night. I put it into the door. I then took the back off the entertainment center in the living room. I can’t find the other connection that belongs on the portable CD player we have used for years. I need to have the guys from R&A come and connect it and the DVD player. There are around 60 screws to wrestle with. I went on to the job of installing the weather stripping on the back door. The flooring installer found a place where water has been coming in and has rotted a small piece of molding. Hopefully this will stop the water from coming in. We had planned for Janice to come for lunch, but she called saying her car wouldn’t start. We ate at noon, and she called back and said she was on her way. She came and we served her some King’s casserole. She paid for and took the medicine we had bought for her in Mexico two weeks ago. We showed her our back yard, and she loved it. After she left, I went out and treated the back step with some water seal. It was late in the afternoon so we went to join the bike club on their ride around the two parks. We came home and snacked for supper. We left for choir practice. We took John Hamel and worked on songs for Lent. We came home and I made popcorn for Evelyn. I made real popcorn instead of microwave. I should have used the smaller amount because I have to eat most of what I make: Evelyn only eats a smaller bowl full. I worked on this blog through the 10 O’clock news.

working around the house

Monday is park meeting day, and Barbara Fairchild and her husband talked. They are staying here and will give a concert Friday night. We bought tickets for that performance and for the Mardi Gras on February 20. We had parked our car near the hall last night so we drove home. Unfortunately, Enrique did not come today. We just pray that he returns tomorrow. I asked Tom to come to help me recover the back step. He used a ratchet strap to pull the frame together so we could get the bolts through the frame. It worked just fine. We then went to the hardware store to get some supplies, especially a doorknob since I had to tear one apart the other night. I also bought some weather stripping and some water seal for the back step. We had lunch and then Evelyn cleaned the kitchen and went for a nap. She had just gone to sleep when the man came to collect for the flooring. He was well pleased. I paid him the remaining $1482, and he left. After my portion of the nap, we went outside and swept sand into the cracks in the pavers and reassembled the archway Evelyn had painted. We had the last of the potato soup she made last week and then went for a walk. We stopped in to talk with Tom and Diesta Crouch. We learned that they are taking a cruise through Alaska in August. We think that it will be cold when they are on the ship. We enjoyed the visit and came home to watch TV.

Super Bowl party

Sunday was another blessing. We left for worship and found the Trailblazers, the men’s chorus from Trail’s End, seated along with several others. I began setting up the lectern area but people Kept coming. When we began worship, there were 81 in the congregation. This was almost more than the library where we meet could hold. It is a real blessing to have so many people willing to come to worship with us. We had our usual small Bible study and then went to Immanuel to sing with the choir. We were in time for the sermon and the serving of Holy Communion. We were home by 12:30 and ate lunch. We spent much of the afternoon preparing for the party this evening. The disappointing thing was that Don and Janice called to say they were not coming. We had planned the party so we could be with them. We were upset but went ahead with the party of course. We called two other couples but could not find a replacement. I worked on the back step for a while and messed up the job. I will have to find a back up. The guests arrived on time and we enjoyed the game won by the Colts. Everyone was gone by 9:30 and we relaxed with Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christy‘s detective.

 
 
Here is the finished interior product.

A work day

Saturday was a bit warmer but still overcast. We slept a bit later and then we went to get some supplies for the party. We went together because Enrique said he needed 4 bags of sand, 8 pavers, and 4 bags of topsoil. I dropped Evelyn at Wal-Mart to shop while I went on to Home Depot. I got all the things loaded and was back to get her before she had checked out. I was certainly surprised. We brought things back and I tried to drill the holes in the planks for the back step, but the drill battery was weak. I connected the charger and left it to recharge overnight. Enrique needed money so I paid him the balance of money for the entire job. It is not finished, but I trusted the Lord would bring him back to finish. Evelyn finished painting the wrought iron archway for the back walk. That takes a lot of time and patience. I was tweaking the sermon for tomorrow. We went to walk in the afternoon and came home for the evening. We watched the showing of “The Stepford Wives”. We also called Emily, and I talked with her. Normally Evelyn does that but didn’t think the phone was working correctly. We talked mostly about investments and retirement money. I finally had to hang up to practice the service for tomorrow.

New floors and fewer brain cells

Up at 7 as usual. Evelyn to exercise, I outdoors to remove the newspaper stuck to the back step frame. I was going to assemble it but too much moisture from the fog. Evelyn returned and went directly to the shower. Within 10 minutes both the outside worker and the carpet team arrived. When she was dressed, we approved the carpet/floor laying plan. We also learned that we need 30 more bags of sand for the outside. That will be another $100. The carpet guys had to go to Home Depot for some felt pads for the appliances to prevent scratching the new wood floor, so they agreed to get the sand in their van. I went to the hall to talk with the lady who takes carpet to Mexico so she would know the carpet would be available later today. We dressed for the hospital but had nowhere to go so we relaxed, listening to the noise of the workers. We planned to have a Burger King special at the hospital since E. has to go in earlier than usual and the kitchen is torn up so we can’t get to the refrigerator or the stove or microwave. We buy a mustard burger combo and get a mustard burger free. We eat just like we need the food. I took her to the hospital and went on to the Burger King. While on the way, I pulled in front of our former friends, Ray and Genny. I thought they were going to Burger King too and they were. I waved and Ray waved back. We went into the restaurant together and I said, “I thought you were coming here.” They were in line behind me but never said a word. I thought they would at least make some small talk, but they said nothing. I guess they won’t even talk to me. At least Ray waved but Genny said nothing. Perhaps she is the one I offended. I don’t think I will ever know what is wrong. I took our whopper to the hospital, and we ate it before we went to work. It was an average day for me but quite busy for Evelyn. After work we went to a “kill brain cells” party at Paul’s. They had a lot of food and drinks and friends. We left there and came home to our new floors. We really liked them. We had to sweep the floors to clean up the shreds of the new carpet and put many things back in place. We then just dressed for bed and watched “Groundhog Day,” an appropriate day doe watching it. Today is Groundhog Day. The funniest thing my former son-in-law ever said while watching this years ago: “If I see this movie one more time....”

Happy February

There was no need to have parking help this morning because there were not many shufflers. I walked with Evelyn to her exercise class but stopped at the hall to find a diamond bit for cutting masonry. I borrowed on and took it to Enrique to use on the pavers. I took it home and left it in the back. I worked on the church service some. Evelyn came home and we went to deposit some checks, shop for groceries we needed at Wal-Mart. Strangely enough, they had some items that HEB didn’t. We got those items and mailed a package to CA. On the way home we stopped and borrowed a DVD player from R&A electronic repair. When we tried to play the DVD that Evelyn needed to play for her Bible study tonight, it would not play in our machine. Rene said that had happened to him before. We took the one he loaned us home and it played but there was no way to move it to the second program. I took the loaner back when I had to go get 30 more bags of sand for the back yard. I didn’t have to wait nearly as long as yesterday. When I came home, I tried to re-hook our DVD but couldn’t get it to play. That meant that the ladies’ study had to meet at a different home. She went there, and I went to the home we had always planned to meet in. We were home by 8:30 and went to bed early.

Working on the back yard at last

It was up early again. I had volunteered to help park cars for the shuffle tournament continuing in our park today. I used to line up the parkers but resigned after an insult last year. I did find a man to replace me though. We had everyone parked by 8:45 so we came home (Evelyn was at exercise) and met Enricka to go shopping. It was just beginning to drop a fine rain in earnest so there was not much else to do. We went to the nursery and bought some plants for the pergola. We bought four Mandeville plants.
We then went to Home Depot to buy some pavers, fertilizer, etc. to use for the project. We came home around 1:30 and went to the hall to help with the lunch project. The shufflers have to come back to our hall to get their afternoon assignments so they need lunch. I dropped Evelyn at the hall, came home and made some coffee for the workers, and returned to the hall to help bus tables. We earned a lunch and then returned. Enricke was to return to Home Depot and bring some of the pavers back. He had not returned despite leaving around 11:45. When he did return, he told of having to wait 2 hours for the load. He unloaded what he had and we went back together because the clerk had miscalculated and sold us 38 more than we needed. We also needed to buy some bags of sand. We did this and then waited 45 minutes for them to be delivered to the loading point. We put the 25 bags of sand into my Saturn and the pavers into Enricka’s truck. I learned that he and his helper had had not real lunch, so we heated the three enchiladas we had left from yesterday and gave them to them. They finished unloading things and ate the food before they left for today. We finished the delicious tortilla soup and then prepared to go to a dance with the Hamels to hear a band composed of people he jams with on different occasions. They were barely acceptable, but we could dance to their music. We didn’t stay until the end and came home so I could blog and Evelyn could crochet.