What is wrong with my printer?

Friday is always a short morning. I finished the back yard area while Evelyn exercised. She brought her exercise partners to see the project. She didn’t know it would be finished. We took our showers and waited for the men to come to install the new furnace. They were late but did come just as we were finishing lunch. We had to leave on our bikes to get to the hospital for our tour of duty. I rode to the doctor’s office and got the samples of Toprol to take on our cruise. We both had pretty slow days (we don’t work at the same location in the hospital) but made it to 5. We rode home into a strong headwind but made it too. We have made arrangements with Bonny and Joe to meet for lunch tomorrow. We thought of going to the lake for brunch, but I got a call that my new glasses have come in. We have to go to Elsa tomorrow morning to get them. Elsa is a small town north of here where our ocular insurance is accepted. We rested after we came home and had some stuffed poblano peppers for dinner. Evelyn makes such good and interesting meals. I only take her out to eat to give her a little rest. I washed three day’s worth of dishes, and then she ironed some clothes for us. I tried to print some calling cards but still can’t get the sheets to print correctly on the sheets. It is making me crazy! We took a walk around 9 and stopped at Newcomer’s to see if Tom wants to play golf next Wednesday. The golf club season is over and he has few people to play with who want to walk and play only 9 holes. I have to find someone to help me get this printer to work properly. Did I say it is making me crazy?!

errand day

Up to do the usual. I didn’t walk far but Evelyn exercised. I worked on the computer a bit. I took the Turbo Tax disc back to Peggy and she put our tax return on my computer. I came home and we left for McAllen to run some errands. We returned an item to Hancock Fabric, went to JC Penny to exchange the pants we bought a week ago. They were shorter than we had thought so we got some longer ones. We also bought me a shirt and tie that will go with my new sport jacket. With the exchange and the two new items we only paid $23 more. The trousers we finally bought were cheaper than the ones we couldn’t keep. We then went to Target to get some labels to be used to forward our mail to NC this coming summer. While there I talked with one of the clerks who told me how to use the speaker function and the camera function on our new Nokia telephone. Evelyn looked around the next door Mervyns to see if she could find some basic black shorts but couldn’t. I didn’t have to go to the Cingular store after the new info about working the phone, so we just went to Mr. Gattis for lunch as we had planned. We had gone there over a month ago with the bike club and Evelyn had won a two for one coupon. We really like their buffet because of the great salad bar. It was nearly 2 O’clock by the time we started eating. We returned home around 3 and rested a bit. We rode to the nearby pharmacy to get Evelyn’s new medicine. We were surprised to learn that they had us down as having AARP supplemental insurance. We never had that and won’t. We came home and had popcorn for dinner. I called the representative from MASA and made an appointment with him for next Monday morning at 10. We are going to shuffle in the mornings next week or else.

cholesterol problems

Evelyn went to exercise and I walked around our park. I haven’t done that much this winter and need to get back into walking shape. We decided to go deliver our last link of boudin to our former friend, Genny. She acted as though nothing had ever happened between us. We really miss being friends with them. We still don't know a year later what I did to make them angry enough to just drop us as friends. We gave her the boudin, chatted for just a while and then came home to work on the sermon and the cheesecake for Sunday’s dinner. I showered and then came out for lunch after which I cut the sirloin into chunks to be used in the beef stroganoff that will be the entree Sunday. We remembered that Evelyn had a doctor appointment to deal with her dramatic increase in her cholesterol level. She had to abort her medicine for control of it because her liver is suffering from the side effects. The new doctor, an endocrinologist, put her on some that is not as effective but have no side effects. We rode our bicycles and had to come back against a 30 mph wind. We took a short nap and then had supper before going to choir practice and Lenten service with John. He came to pick us up. Afterward we had him come here for some cherry cobbler left over from last night’s party. When he left, I watched the news and wrote this blog. We have a big day of errands planned for tomorrow.

Canadian winter Texans

Our friends Heinz and Alice Bauknecht from Winnepeg, Manitiba, Canada. We play hand and foot a few times each season.

These are the dresses Evelyn made for the granddaughters in California. They will wear them to an Elizabethan festival sometime later in the year.

A new furnace

Tuesday was a bit hotter than yesterday. During exercise, I had a severe intestinal problem that I struggled with for more than an hour. After that we worked on the backyard. We moreless finished what we needed to do. We have just one more timber and some more mulch to spread and we will quit. I also went to a friend to tell get his advice regarding our heater/air conditioner. Ours had lost Freon and the coils were covered with a three inch case of ice. He told me about the unit he has. I had wanted to get a heat pump when the current furnace expires. We decided to buy a package unit that is larger than our current one and will be entirely outside the unit, eliminating the noise of the fan that sometimes wakens Evelyn. The new unit and some repair on the ductwork will cost $3200 but will be guaranteed for 10 years. The company will begin installation tomorrow. We had lunch and then showered and napped for a few minutes. I went to Wal-Mart to get some label sheets to copy our NC address for the forwarding of our mail. I got some groceries for Sunday and some empty medicine vials to contain quarters I collect and came home--without the label sheets that I had forgotten. I also forgot to get any Roundup. We have some Bermuda grass that we have to kill so it doesn’t spread into the mulch. I also stopped to get the medicine from the pharmacy. The Wal-Mart in Waynesville had filled the prescriptions even though I never ordered them. They had to reverse the order before I could get the medicine I needed. I can’t get enough to last through he cruise, so I will ask the doctor for some samples. I came home for supper and then we had our friends from Winnipeg come to play hand and foot. We had a late dessert and then they left for the season.

no corination

Monday bought the final all group park meeting of the season. There was some kind of contest that we may have entered worth $1,000. We didn’t win but did win the final door prize of the year. We then came home and went to Wal-Mart to spend the $10 we won last week in the “oldywed game” at the going away party. We also bought some groceries for the dinner next Sunday. We brought them home and had lunch. Evelyn rested and then we went off to the dentist at 2:30. I was disappointed that her staff had forgotten to send my crown to the lab. I will have to return next Tuesday. Evelyn did get her teeth cleaned and then we went around looking for a white purse. We found one for $15 and bought it. We came home just in time to entertain our new Canadian friends that really loved the “Texas Caviar” that Evelyn had made for them for our party two months ago. We enjoyed them and learned about some of the herbs we had bought. Marilyn had taken notes and told us what the lab analyst had said about the herbs he recommended a few months ago. We had other horsdoerves and almost two bottles of white wine. I was feeling little pain when we parted. I rode the golf cart around the park and came home to watch “Dancing with the Stars” and write this blog. I called Janice who has another appointment with our dentist at 10 on April 3, the same time as we have ours. We are supposed to ride with her then.

more blessings

I got up at 6:30 so I could practice the service. We left for the worship and talked about our Easter service. We learned that at least 13 plan to be here for that service. We needed to know to see if we needed to buy more wine for Holy Communion. We had Communion this morning and 48 people commune with us. I know that many will leave this week but I praise God for the support and loyalty that our service is shown. We invited the people on the church committee for dinner next Sunday at our place as a token of appreciation. We had out Bible study after worship and one of the men was really emotional about the message in the sermon and the study. We came home and readied for our lunch with John and Joe, two friends who are without their wives. We had a nice dinner and they left very soon after we finished. I had received a notice that I am being considered for jury duty. I have to call tomorrow to tell them that I will be out of the state until November. We rested in the afternoon and then began packing for our cruise. We never get as far as we should because we get distracted and leave things in midstream. We went to the hall for the final ice cream of the season. I served again but came home to watch the Purdue women win their basketball game in the NCAA tournament. If they can win again, they will be in final four. We relaxed in the evening by taking a walk around the park. We had popcorn and watched part of a movie “One Fine Day” starring George Clooney and Michele Pfeiffer. We will finish it later. We have to go to Mexico for dental work tomorrow but rain is predicted--perhaps even storms. We have heard these predictions before and have been disappointed before.

more golf tragedy

I was up and off with Ken Eilers to play golf at Mission with a group from St. Paul’s Lutheran. We went off at 9 and played with two excellent golfers who could drive the ball “a mile”. I played my usual disastrous game. Fortunately we played best ball on the first shot of every hole. This didn’t prevent a disaster but helped. We stopped at Red Lobster on the way home for the soup and salad lunch. I arrived home at 3 and tried to take a nap. Unfortunately, some friends wanted us to go to Logan’s Steak House for dinner. I reluctantly agreed. We left around 5 and ate too many peanuts and had an appetizer of spinach and artichokes. After that we shared a catfish dinner and brought some home. I printed the sermon and some cards to invite our helpers to our house for dinner on Palm Sunday. Evelyn prepared Holy Communion this morning and also started some more eggs for pickling for me. We went to bed before the news because I was tired.

serious medical problems

Pictures of our bike club's hauling trailer, us in front of the trailer in our chartruse bike club shirts, and the pavillion where we had our carry in lunch.



We did the usual this morning but had to go to the doctor at 10:45. This caused a slight problem because we were due at the hospital at 12:30. We rode to the office and Evelyn received bad reports on her cholesterol and blood pressure. The doctor wants her to see a specialist because “this is serious.” I was given a geriatric test to establish a base line for future reference when I begin to fail. Evelyn had done this test last month. It consisted of a hearing test and answering some test questions. I spelled doctor wrong when asked to spell it backward. I hurried and left out the “c”. I had sent Evelyn home and rode home to find her dressed with a sandwich on the table for lunch. We had to drive to the hospital because of time and were still late. I was the only man on the information desk because both Paul and Lionel are gone. Afterward we came home and Evelyn napped while I went to the hall for the mail. The people are setting up their tables for the park wide garage sale tomorrow morning. When I returned we had supper and Evelyn finished Elizabeth’s dress and I finished the sermon. I will play golf tomorrow morning.

Here are pictures of us receiving our awards for service to Knapp Medical Center.

eat-a-thon continued

Thursday was a continuation of Wednesday. I loaded the recyclables into the car and went off to the center, took a sermon to Janet in the rehab center, and cashed a few small checks and put some of my $5 bills into$20 for our trip. We came home and cleaned up for our bike ride. We finally got to drive and take someone else with us. We arrived at the Anzadula park before the others so we waited a while. The trailer with the bicycles arrived and was unloaded. People in their cars arrived too carrying the salads and desserts. The hot dogs had beaten us there. We rode around the park but it was very windy so we didn’t go as far as we could have. We returned and ate hot dogs and many salads and desserts. This is the continuation of the feasts we began yesterday. Eating is quite a special event in the Valley. We rode again after lunch despite the wind. We rode to the dam that creates a small wide spot in the river. The road was gravel and had one down hill portion that had caused one woman to slide into a barbed wire fence when the club came here two years ago. We were more careful. One interesting thing was that we were at the one spot where Mexico is north of the Rio Grande River. That was an eerie feeling. We then packed up the bikes and everyone headed home. We went to Hancock Fabrics to get something for Elizabeth’s dress and still beat the bicycles home. We got or bikes and returned home just in time to entertain three people wanting to buy our fold up bikes and one interested in looking at our Saturn. We sold the bikes for $100. Evelyn took a nap and then prepared to go the Mercedes to lead the LWML devotion. She is always contentious and does a great job. I practiced the service for next Sunday and watched the NCAA tournament.

My group is of those giving 100 hours; Evelyn's group has given 250 hours.

an eat-a-thon

Wednesday we rode the bikes to the Doctor to have blood drawn for Friday’s appointment. We rode back and Evelyn went to exercise while I talked with people at the coffee table. We both came home, cleaned up and went to the volunteer awards luncheon at the hospital. We sat with Lionell and some other ladies who volunteer. The meal was chicken fried chicken, rice, and vegetable medly followed with a dessert bar. It was prepared by the hotel’s executive chef and was delicious. I received a pin for serving 100 hours (147) and Evelyn for 250 hours. We had ridden our bikes to that also. The ceremony lasted for 2 ½ hours, and we came home to get ready for the going away party. We also rested before going to the hall for the hamburger picnic. We could barely find a place to sit even though we were 20 minutes early. There were two game contests and we entered the second, How well do you know your spouse? We won. This was quite a surprise to us but we won fair and square. While we were answering questions, John Hamel called and wanted to pick us up to go to church. It was funny because I was on the phone when it was almost time for me to answer a question. We got home just in time to get into John’s car. The choir director was not there so we didn’t sing or rehearse for Palm Sunday and Easter. We did learn how many of us would be there to sing so she can decide what she wants to do. We came home, John had a beer, Evelyn went to the grocery and I had some wine while we listened to music. He left and Evelyn made a dessert for tomorrow’s bike ride/going home picnic. I finally got the new phone charged this afternoon and now must read the book to see how to make the features work. We have 30 days to decide whether we want to keep it. We did decide to keep the golf cart which cost $975--a bargain.

More meat

These are our friends from Winnipeg, Lionel and Fran Moore. He volunteers with us at the hospital Friday afternoons. He was a newscaster on the Canadian Broadcasting Company for years and has been an extra in many Hollywood movies shot in Winnipeg.



Tuesday was as windy as yesterday. Evelyn exercised and I worked in the back and cut the grass. I also trimmed the big cactus in the back, and, while picking up the paddles, I received many of the invisible stickers in my hands. They were not as bad as I have had before but are bad enough. At 11 Lionel and Fran came so we could go to Donna and eat at Gonzalez Hamburgers. They were surprised to see how many people were there and how huge the burgers are. The restaurant used to serve chicken, tacos, ribs and other things but just don’t have time to serve anything but hamburgers because the demand is so high. We brought our friends back to see our house before they went home. Evelyn then had some ironing to do and I began tweaking the sermon. We wore down and took a nap. I got a call from a friend from church inviting me to play golf Saturday morning. I will go. I worked more on the sermon and then we went on a ride with the bike club. We returned home for dinner of Red Lobster leftovers from yesterday. We then went in a ride in the cart and decided to go to help the Iversons with their house cleaning. He had open heart surgery three weeks ago. They weren’t home but were in their hall listening to the jam session in their park. We talked with them a while and then returned home. We didn’t want to take them from their entertainment. We worked on a response to one of two e-mails we need to respond to. Evelyn received a call wanting her to lead the devotion for LWML meeting this Thursday. She was scheduled to do it in February, but that meeting was cancelled. I watched some women’s NCAA tournament and then the news before bed.

shopping

This is Hector who sold us the new memory stick for our cruise camera.

I was up and off to Mexico to get my permanent crown. Evelyn exercised and attended the park meeting. I learned that the dentist was not satisfied with the way the permanent crown fit, so she will send it back to the laboratory for refitting. I then bought a bottle of Kahlua and came home. On the way I stopped to visit our friend Lionell from MN. He is recovering from open heart surgery and is only doing fair. His wife is trying to care for him but will be relieved of the duty because they are trying to sell their home so they can move into an assisted living institution in MN. I had to leave because I can’t carry on a conversation with him because she talks all the time and rambles too much to follow. We left for McAllen to shop for clothes, etc. We dropped the car off to be washed and went to Target. We bought a larger memory chip for our camera because we will likely not have our computer to transfer our pictures. We can now keep 490 pictures. We picked up the car and went to Red Lobster for lunch. We went back to JC Penny to shop for clothes and pay a bill. We bought a pair of black dress pants for me and a sports coat to take on the cruise. We then came home and found the stakes for our back yard. Actually they are larger than we need but better than none. We ate some of our delicious left over crawfish etouffee for dinner. We will eat what was left over from lunch later in the week. We have meals coming up almost all week.

Purdue makes a great showing

We were blessed with 38 people attending our worship service. Sadly, it was the final Sunday for many of our regular friends. They will be returning to the north this week. Some will be staying until after Easter but not too many. The 38 people were very generous in giving $88. After the service we had a speaker from the Gideon’s International, and he collected $45. We praise God for the generosity of our worshippers. We had our Bible study after and I was very pleased with our discussion. We then rushed home to prepare for our dinner guests. I do the grunt work while Evelyn does the skill work. One couple arrived about 10 minutes early and the other arrived 30 minutes late. We had a good time with them anyway. They stayed quite a long time but left in time for me to watch the second half of the Purdue/Florida basketball game in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Purdue played very well but eventually lost to last year’s national champions. This was not unexpected. I did the dishes while Evelyn relaxed a bit while talking with Stacy and her brother John. I went to the hall to see if I was needed to help serve ice cream. They did so I served. I brought my free dish of ice cream home to share with my sweetheart. I made popcorn we ate while we watched a program on what to expect on our cruise. We finished the evening and went to bed. We have an extremely busy week coming up next week.

gardening advice

Saturday was heavenly. We laid in bed until almost 10! We both needed some recovery sleep. Evelyn went to walk the treadmill but I went to work. I also seasoned some meat for our lunch tacos. We had a visitor who looked at our back yard and our plants. He is a master gardener and gave us many good tips. He did stay almost two hours, much longer than was needed. Charlie also came and treated our roof in an attempt to stop the insidious leaks that have bothered us all winter. Not that it has rained all that much. We then went to Mercedes to look for some stakes and then on to the new outlet mall for some Glucosomine/chondroitin with MSM. There was a two for one special at the Vitamin World. We also looked for a blazer without luck and a special back supporting girdle for Evelyn. No luck there either. We came home and washed the car after supper. We took a ride in our golf cart to dispose of some trash. A mystery: when we got to the dumpster we couldn’t find the bag of weeds. I backtracked and still couldn’t find it. We came home and watered all the plants before my working on tomorrow’s message and Evelyn working on preparing for tomorrow’s guests and the cruise. Purdue’s women also won in the tournament; no surprise there as in the case of the men.

Posted pictures!

These are pictures of our backyard work still in progress. One is from our back door while the other two are from the neighbor's toward our house.

Purdue wins!

Friday always has short mornings. While Evelyn exercised, I rode my bike to the hardware store, hoping to buy some all purpose stakes for the back yard. They didn’t have any so I rode the 1 ½ miles back home. I wanted to take the golf cart to make a delivery and I found a man who is a master gardener who agreed to come over to give some advice about our back yard project. It was time to clean up for our hospital work so we did and had lunch of ribs and chicken. We rode our bikes to the hospital and put in our 4 ½ hours. One of our regular partners is leaving for his home in Canada, making this his last day until next season. We will see him again because we are taking him and his wife to Gonzalez hamburgers next Tuesday. We had a good day and then came home for rest and dinner before going to the final dance of the season. We had a good time there and came home to learn that the Purdue men’s basketball team had beaten Arizona. I never even thought they would get a bid. I am a bit more convinced they deserved one. It is strange that a team would struggle for the right to play last year’s national champion--Florida. At least they will stay in the tournament until Sunday.

Preparing for the "states east of Illinois" dinner.

Working at the information booth at the stock show. Janice has taken my place.

stock show fun

Thursday found us outside working in the mulch area. I had begun, knowing I was short of the necessary stakes. I went to the nursery to get some more but none were available. I returned and we used what we had to anchor the paver edges. We then spread the remaining bags of mulch. We had to quit because we had to meet Don and Janice for lunch at the stock show. He insisted on buying for us. He and I had a sausage while the ladies split one. I don’t remember ever seeing a sausage that long or that thick. I wish I had shared one with him. We had to begin our tour of serving at noon, and I worked 30 more minutes to finish my taco. Our job is to distribute programs to people coming in to the show. We also try to get them to participate in a scavenger hunt designed to get them to go somewhere other than the carnival or food areas. We had been concerned that the temperature would be in the high 80s but it was really pleasant with a nice breeze. We took turns going to the volunteer room and watching some of the free acts. We were relieved early once again and went back to the pig area where Don and Janice were waiting for their grandson, Bruce, to compete in the showmanship competition. He had already won his division and was third in best in show. He did not do well in the showmanship division. He couldn’t control his pig. We went to George Erchinger’s to get the table he had repaired for us and then drove back to Weslaco for dinner. Don wanted Mexican food so we treated them to dinner this time. The food was good but Evelyn found many things objectionable about everything else. We came home and watched “Tora, Tora, Tora” and some of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

A new toy

This morning I measured the back yard area for some items and went to
Home Depot to buy them. I decided to get a breakfast taco and found a group of the Llano Grande church committee ordering breakfast and they
invited me to join them. I enjoyed the fellowship and went to buy supplies. I got the mulch and paver borders but they don't carry the stakes that I want any longer. This has happened to me previously. I brought the things home, showered and went off to Peggy's to work on our tax return. I spent 5 hours there but finally filed electronically. Evelyn spent the morning ironing the new bedspread and valance covers among other things. I returned home for lunch and then back to Peg's. On the way I passed Bob Garrity, a friend in the park who found a golf cart for us. It is not the kind we wanted but will work. After finishing the taxes, I returned home and rode to the Reddel's where we had been invited to dinner. We had a nice visit with them after and they came over to see our back yard. We went off to Lenten service but were a bit late. The choir had decided there were not enough members there to sing so we didn't. We didn't even practice for Palm Sunday or Easter. We talked with Joe and Bonny a while and then came home to hang the valances. We watched part of a movie and the news before retiring.

finishing the landscaping

I was up and off to LaFeria for an AARP meeting. The Area coordinator and his wife drove. Evelyn did not go with me because she had a date to go to lunch with the Tuesday Bible study group since this was their last meeting of the season. She ordered tortilla soup and the group waited for 1 ½ hours to be served. Meanwhile I was attending a good meeting. There was quite a large number of driver safety instructors there. We had a great buffet lunch of barbecue ribs and chicken. I brought some home to share with Evelyn sometime soon. She took a nap while I talked with Cingular about getting two phones for our family. It will cost almost twice the current price but we would have more minutes and be able to call each other. I did order another phone that takes pictures and have 30 days to decide to keep or return. We rode around the park with the bike club until 5 or so. We ate barbecue sandwiches and vegetables for super and then worked out back. We laid some of the weed barrier, plastic edging, and mulch. We also planted some dianthus in a small area near the pergola. We worked until dark and were satisfied with what we finished, but we have more to do tomorrow. I went over the service for Sunday until the news.

Heavy rain and the Gatlin Brothers

We were up and off to a regular morning. Evelyn exercised and I went to deliver my past two sermons to Janet in the rehab center. I also went to the bank to deposit the check I earned yesterday. I came back for the town meeting and then came home to see what we had in the Alamo Bank. I was surprised to realize how much had been paid out and how little was left. I will have to deposit more to cover our electric bills that are withdrawn automatically. We came home and prepared an early lunch because we were scheduled to work at the stock show from 11 to 3. We ate some hamburger and hot dogs from Saturday and then went to the information booth to hand out event schedules. It turned cold and rainy so we didn’t have much to do. Our relief came early and urged us to go home since few people were coming to the show at that time. As it turned out, there was much more rain near Harlingen and the east. There were many places suffering flash floods. We changed clothes when we returned home because we had tickets to the Gatlin Brothers concert. We had to eat an early dinner and board the bus to ride to the concert. We had more of the delicious leftover etouffee from yesterday. The ride was pleasant and the concert very entertaining. The Gatlins had to cancel the afternoon show because they couldn’t fly out of Houston because of bad weather. They were not dressed as usual because their clothes didn’t arrive with them, but they performed anyway. They did one interesting thing we had never seen before. They stopped playing and called everyone with cameras to come to the stage where the band posed for pictures. I guess the flashes distracted them and they just took control, moving the problem out of the way before continuing to play. We were home slightly before 9 and had some ice cream while watching the news.

"Cajun" guests

Sunday brought another blessing in worship. When I changed the time last night for DST, I forgot to check the alarm setting and the blessing was that I have a back up alarm set for 7:30. It went off and saved us. We rushed to dress and got to the RV park in plenty of time. 45 came to worship and we were all blessed by Holy Communion. The bad news is that people are beginning to return to their homes in the north. It will only get worse from here on. I don’t know how many will be left for our Easter celebration. We finished a tad late so I rushed Evelyn home so she could prepare for our dinner guests. I went on to Llano Grande to preach at their park. There were 343 in attendance today and they seemed to be blessed by the message. I returned home to help with the final preparations. The guests came at 12:30 and we served them crawfish etouffee. One couple is from Wisconsin Rapids, WI while the other lived in Lafayette, LA for several years. They were delighted with the dinner my sweetheart prepared. We began with boudin and finished with fudge pecan pie topped with French vanilla cool whip. We talked until about 3:45. We showed them all the things we were doing to the house and then finally I hinted that they leave. I washed all the dishes while Evelyn dried them. I then made her lie down to rest. I watched the NCAA pairings and was surprised not that Purdue was selected but that they were selected as a 9th seed. I thought they would be in double digits. I then went to the hall to help dip ice cream. We had a large crowd but finished early. There were many younger people visiting and were more polite than the people who live here. One of the perks for serving is that we get our ice cream free. Others must pay a whopping $.50 for a huge bowl of the stuff. I brought mine home so we could share it. I then tried to call the NCL cruise line to learn where our ports of call are. They weren’t in although the web site said they would be. I also tried calling Cingular to update our plan but they weren’t there either. I did get through to our former neighbor LuAnn. She had little to say. I made some microwave popcorn and then we watched what Evelyn wanted to see on TV.

golf party

Saturday found me up at 6 and off to the final golf outing for the season at 7. We played at Stuart Place Golf Course as usual. I had a good time and shot 56 despite many balls in the water and a 10 on one hole. Afterward we met in the clubhouse for popcorn and beer. After getting home I was tired and napped. I didn’t eat lunch because of the popcorn, but Evelyn ate. We both napped a bit and I watched some of the Purdue/Ohio State basketball game. I thought played well against the team rated number 1 in the country. We went to the hall for the wind up dinner of hot dogs and hamburgers. The golf committee spent the afternoon cooking them. I led the group in asking the blessing on the food again. We came home and napped some more before going to Van Well’s for cards. We came home at 9:30 and went to bed because we will lose an hour of sleep since DST begins at 2 AM

volunteer mania

Friday led to exercise, but I went to Bonny and Joe’s for soil and to the Thomson orchard to get our free ½ gallon of orange juice. When Evelyn returned we began preparing for the etouffee dinner on Sunday. I am the souche chef so I chopped parsley, onions, celery, and scallions. I also cooked the boudin that will be an appetizer. We had lunch on our porch, and, on the way back into the house, Evelyn dropped a half full jar of Vidalia onion relish. It made a mess, but we cleaned it up in fairly short order. We used our hose to clean up the mess. Fortunately we had no time to cry at the loss because we had to jump on our bikes and ride to the hospital for our afternoon of volunteering. We rode back home at 5 and Evelyn went to bed before our next volunteering stint at the stock show. We went to Mercedes at 6:30, shared a stuffed baked potato, and worked at the Lutheran Laymen’s League booth until 9:15. We gave out free tracts and Bibles to anyone who wanted them. We left and went to Wal-Mart on the way home because we need rice for the etouffee. When we came home, Evelyn began a load of white laundry. Somehow I use my underwear and socks pretty fast.

busy day

This morning I got serious and devoted time to writing the sermon for Sunday. That is after I finished skimming the area in the back yard. Now we have to find someone who knows how to spread the black barrier and outline the area with landscape timbers we have. I did fairly well on the sermon and had to stop for lunch. While I was working, Evelyn went to the nursery for some plants. The man who works there promised to come and give us suggestions for the yard but never showed up. After lunch I went to finish the class. Ironically I found the certificates I had been looking for. I thought I might after I got the replacements. They were in an easy location but I had been searching in the hidden places. The class went well and we finished early as usual. I then came home and worked some more while Evelyn rode with the bike club. I went to a Medical Air Services Association(MASA) meeting that provided pizza for our supper. We are interested in joining this group because it flies injured of seriously ill people to hospitals and their winter homes. The cost for both of us is $3,490 and pays us up for life. It also pays to fly a relative down to visit or drive our vehicle back to where we are being treated. We have been reading horror stories about people who have been injured or become ill on cruises. Since we are going through the Panama Canal in April, I think we will buy in before we leave. We left there and went to the local Gideon camp meeting. They have a dinner with the camp meeting but Evelyn didn’t like the most recent meal we had at the restaurant where it meets. She went to the auxiliary meeting and I stayed with the men. The topic was recruiting new Gideons. I agreed to allow a Gideon speaker to come to Trail's End on March 18. We came home and Evelyn went to bed early.

Plans for crawfish

We started the day by taking my materials to the outback and setting up for the AARP class. Evelyn went on to exercise and I began the class at 8. I had 12 people show up and was happy. I went as fast as I could but still didn’t finish until 12:05. I came home and my sweet wife had lunch ready. She had a sandwich, but I couldn’t eat it all. I then helped clean the kitchen and went for the mail. I then came home and joined E. For a nap. For some reason I am getting drowsy in the afternoons. She has good cause, having had cancer, but I don’t know what is causing my lethargy. I worked on completing the driver safety certificates until dinner time when we had another sandwich. Earlier today we had ridden to the park next door to invite some friends for crawfish etouffee next Sunday at noon. After dinner we went to Lenten service, but on the way invited another couple too. They live here in our park but had lived in Lafayette, LA for some time. We reasoned that they would really like having crawfish and boudin. They were very happy that we invited them. We then went to church, and I had to round up the choir members to sing. The organist/choir director had been gone until today but had not planned for us to sing. We did ok and were all glad we had sung. We had rehearsal after and we took our friend John home on our way to HEB for some supplies for Sunday’s dinner. We came home and I talked with Direct TV because I have not been able to get onto their website. I put us on an automatic payment plan. I also talked with our friend, Don Waters, who had his defibulator go off yesterday. He said he was fine but was knocked back onto the bed when it went off. It did save his life.

biking and Chinese food

Tuesday was usual. Evelyn went to the Tuesday Bible study. I don’t go because we have been studying the same material in our Thursday evening group. She came and had lunch. She was not feeling very well, so I heated some leftover chicken and noodles. I had some of the Charro beans she had made. Evelyn went to bed to see if she could recover while I worked on the sermon for Sunday. I will have to do a lot of work because the ideas have been slow in coming. I also learned our Thursday Bible study has been cancelled. We took a short bike ride with the bike club at 4:30 and she was feeling better. We were finished by 5:30. In the evening we took our friends, the Newcomers, to dinner. We started for a new “grill and bar” but didn’t stay because it was just what I thought it would be: a kind of pool hall/sports bar. It was similar to Boog-a-de-Boo in Harlingen except it had no restaurant portion. Instead we went to Lin’s Chinese Buffet. None of us had been there but all thought it was a clean restaurant with a good selection of food. It was also well prepared. We had a good visit with our friends that we really haven’t seen all season.

Crown, movie and a dinner

Today is town meeting. Many of the winter activities are drawing to a close. After we finished we bolted for Mexico. We went to Gloria’s for me to get a haircut and Evelyn to get a pedicure. Our main objective was to get fitted for a crown for my upper rear molar. I was worried that I would be late for my 11:30 appointment. I made it in time to complete the customary 20 minute waiting period. I had the work done and still respect our dentist, Veronica. She has been a good friend as well as a fine dentist. Actually most of the dentists in Neuvo Progreso as very good. It is hard to find someone who has had a bad experience or doesn’t think that their dentist is not the best. We had decided yesterday that if the Monday Bible study was cancelled, we would go to McAllen to pick up my prize from KURV. Remember: I was the 5th caller in a contest. We got the tickets to “The Astronaut Farmer” and our two $10 gift certificates to Tony Roma’s. We went to the movie and enjoyed it. It got one thumbs up and one down. From there we went to have our dinner. We both enjoyed sumptuous sandwiches and brought much of them home. Restaurants nearly always provide enough meals for four in any two entrees. We came home and thanked God in our hearts for the wonderful lives He has allowed us to live.

plans for the week

Sunday was another blessing. We had 58 worship with us because the Trailblazers, the men’s chorus, sang for us. We had our Bible study and then came home for lunch. We laid around during the afternoon and then went for a walk. We made a date with the Newcomer’s for dinner on Tuesday and tried to get our passes for the stock show but couldn’t get into the gated community where they are. We returned to the hall and played some shuffleboard. Evelyn is usually not interested in trying that but was willing today. She beat me so perhaps she will be willing to play more often. I called Bonny to learn that she will be gone for the first part of the week, necessitating the postponing of the Bible study for tomorrow night. We also agreed to work at the LLL booth at the stock show next Friday evening. We stayed home and watched “Zorro, the Gay Blade” starring George Hamilton and Evelyn made some brown bag caramel corn. We had no peanuts so she added hazelnuts to the mixture. Neither of us liked it.

Walking and afternoon mass

Saturday we were up and off to Mercedes to walk. We had no pledges but did make a contribution to the food band for ourselves. We then ran many errands. We went to get a picture frame at Tony’s. We found one that was very rustic for the Boutwell picture of his horses. We then went to the outlet mall. Evelyn wanted some clothes and I went to a health food store and bought some herbs to take. We went back to Mercedes and got some Bible study materials from Pastor Edge and checked about getting a camp stool repaired. We came home for lunch and then took naps. We were to go to a party for volunteers in the park but chose to rest up instead. We went to the hall but the party was over. Our friends picked us up and we went to their Roman Catholic church for the afternoon mass. I was especially blessed by the service and even took Holy Communion with them. Neither Evelyn or I heard any reference to Mary or the Pope. After mass the church had an appreciation dinner for winter Texans. This is why we went. We were riding with our RC friends and we left there to go to the last of the concert series. It was a brass band consisting of two trumpets, a trombone, French horn, and tuba. They were good but not my favorite of the series. We came home and I practiced the message for tomorrow.

Regular Friday

Friday mornings are short. After exercise I worked a bit in the back yard and finished the sermon. I also did my vacuuming and consolidated the trash into the large kitchen bag. It still wasn’t quite full so I didn’t throw it away. I also went to pay for the two new wheels for my golf cart. The new ones fit perfectly. We ate our lunch and drove to the hospital. Paul, one of the regulars I work with, has left for CA so Lionel and I worked with a different woman. We all got along very well but learned that Lionel will be leaving in a couple of weeks. We finished our shift and came home to rest a while before going to dinner. Evelyn slept for at least ½ an hour. We went looking for a fish restaurant and stayed in Weslaco since it was already 6:30. We don’t like to eat very late. We came home and did not go to the dance. I tried to clean the coffee pots but the dance workers said they would do it after the dance. We went to bed a bit early. We will go to Mercedes tomorrow to walk in a fund raiser for Basketsful, the local food bank.

These are pictures of the school in Nueva Progreso, Tamalipas, Mexico.
They gave us a lunch that we ate on a concrete platform outside the
"cafeteria" the students eat in. The school is surrounded by a field
containing hundreds of goats.
In His Grace,
Bob and Evelyn Waters
Psalms 37:4
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desire of your
heart.

Biking into the wind

As the alarm went off, the radio station was announcing the giveaway of two tickets to see “The Astronaut Farmer” and something at Tony Roma’s restaurant. I had previously set my telephone to the appropriate number on the giveaway line. Lo and behold, I was the 5th caller and won the prize. Next week we will go to the movie and dinner at Tony Romas! We completed our morning routine and then prepared for the ride with the bike club. We rode a bit over 8 miles, much of it into a stiff wind. We stopped at a park on the way back for lunch. We had “brown bagged” it. We came home after and took naps. Evelyn was hungry for pizza so we asked the neighbors and went to the Pizza Hut. The pizza was very good but the place was dirty, had virtually no salad bar, and did not accept my discount card. I won’t be going back there again. We got home in time to go to our respective Bible studies. It was our last in the series “In the Dust of the Rabbi”. We could not make much of a plan for next week so someone will check on something Sunday night from Bibleville. I cleaned the coffee pots as it is my week to do that. I came home and watched a little basketball. Earlier I had gone to a golfer in the park to buy some new wheels for my cart. They fit and cost only $5 for the pair. Mine had eaten up the bearings.

Awards dinner

We followed the usual morning routine. I am old and lazy so I decided to spray the grass in the back instead of skimming it all. I wish I knew how to use the weed barrier and edging. I would just do it myself. I guess I will just have to pray that Enrique will return since he knows what he is doing. We ate lunch a bit earlier than usual because we wanted to go to Lenten service at noon because we had an awards banquet in the evening. We returned home by 1:00 and rested until 3:30. We learned that the banquet began at 4, not at 6 as we thought. We had to drive alone because we couldn’t find anyone to go with that was planning to stay for the dance. The program was first and took about 20 minutes longer than it should have. The meal followed and was delicious. While at Sunshine I tried to find the man who watered some of our plants last summer. The head custodian said he remembered our paying him in advance. We didn’t remember but so what? There were some goofy games after the dinner that were fun. There was also a dance contest and we entered. I don’t think the judges ever looked at us so we didn’t even make the finals. I don’t know how they could evaluate 30 couples in one dance anyway. We stayed to dance after that but hardly anyone else did. We stayed for only a couple of numbers and then were the last ones out. We went across the street to see if our friends, Byron and Shirley Pierce, were there. They are full timers and were returning to their 5th wheel as we arrived. We visited with them for an hour and then came home.