Pictures of the fight against cancer

Here are some of the teams. Each has its own theme. These are pictures are just two of more than 30 teams. The middle picture includes Evelyn's oncologist. He is on the left, holding the banner. Then all of the teams gathered for a large group picture.

We will survive!

This is Evelyn just before the survivor's lap. They walk around the track at the local high school. Here she is coming around the fourth turn, heading for the finish line.

Relay for Life

Here it is: the last entry before the cruise. We wakened as usual and exercised and shuffled. We then came home for our morning clean up. We spent some time checking the suitcases to see that we had everything. If we do, it will be a surprise. Evelyn decided she was hungry for fish again, so we went to Ciro’s restaurant and shared a HUGE seafood platter. She had 6 (the menu said 2) pieces of breaded fish while I had 3 pieces of grilled trout. There was also 2 pieces of bread several French fries, onion rings, rice and a salad. All this for $11.99. We brought most of it home to eat tomorrow when we have to take our lunch on the Southwest Airline flight. Oh, yes. I tried to get our boarding passes for tomorrow by going on line as suggested by many. We couldn’t, however, because we have to prove that we are senior citizens first. This means we won’t be in the first tier of passengers gone and won’t get the best seats. Southwest has this unique procedure. Well we came home after lunch and spent a lot of time “piggybacking” our suitcases for pulling along the airports and to the cruise ship. We have done almost all we can do before the packing of the make up tomorrow morning. We relaxed in the late afternoon and then ate dinner before going to participate in the Relay for Life. Oh, did I mention it was hot today. It was in the 90s and the air was calm. It was similar to yesterday afternoon. As a blessing, the wind picked up at 40 mph, making it quite comfortable. We came home before 9, after stopping at HEB to buy some protein bars for my lunch tomorrow. I took several pictures of the Relay and tried to post them here.

one day to go

Thursday is lift off minus 2.
Byron and Shirley inspect our back yard.




We still had time to shuffle this morning and the man I beat yesterday beat me this morning. We came home and showered for the day. Bonny came to get Evelyn for the dresses comparison at her son’s home. I worked some in the shed, got the mail and pumped the tire on the golf cart. I thought I might get to talk with Tom Crouch about making a closet for us, but he was busy. We were just about to go to Joe and Bonny’s for dinner when Byron and Shirley Pierce came to visit. She had been sick and weighed only 84 pounds. She weighs less than 100 most of the time. When they left we went for dinner. Bonny had prepared a delicious combination of chicken breast and Italian sausage. I had jello for dessert while the others finished the delicious cheesecake Evelyn made last week. We played "shut the box" and Rummycube for a couple of hours and left because Joe gets tired after radiation. We came home and prepared our medicine for the rest of the week and went to bed.

lunch with friends

Wednesday Janice came and received her mandolin. We said our goodbyes for the season, and I went to meet Evelyn for shuffleboard at 9. I actually beat the man I was playing against! I know he is better and more experienced than I, but I beat him. We came home and I put the cardboard boxes into the car with the other recyclables and took them to the center while Evelyn showered. When I came home, I washed the car and then it was time to dress for lunch. Tom and LuAnn came early and looked at our back yard. Tom was impressed with the work that had been done: both the pergola and the patio floor. We left, picked up Tom Newcomer, and drove to Joe’s Crab Shack to meet Sharon. We enjoyed our free appetizers and the steak and shrimp dinner. I ate all of the steak to hold to my low carb diet. We left there with the Joneses and came back to our house. They came in for some wine and then left because they have to take care of their dogs. They did give us some suggestions for our cruise but we will have to try things for ourselves. We napped a short while and then got up for supper. We talked with Bonny who invited us for dinner tomorrow. She wants Evelyn to take the dresses out to Progreso Lakes and compare them with Christian’s. She is her granddaughter. After our supper, we went out and took things back into the shed, throwing some into a trash bag. We still have many more things to clean through but it was dark. We went on a bike something worth watching and finally settled on Jeff Foxworthy who is a cut above trash talker. We went to bed after the news. It was 90 today and will be for the next two days.ride around the park and came home for TV. We struggled to find something to watch and finally settled on Jeff Foxworthy. He is only a few feet from the dumpster but is better than the shows extolling sodomites.

cleaning the shed

We were up and ready to go to Mexico with Janice but when she didn’t come, I called her and learned her appointment is tomorrow. I thought we would do something else, but Evelyn wanted to go to get a pedicure. We were in Nuevo Progresso by 9:30. We met some friends from the park and talked with them for a while before going to Gloria’s. We bought a couple of bottles of liquor and some bracelets for the grandchildren. We were home a little after noon, and I grilled some gourmet hamburgers. I am trying to avoid eating many carbohydrates. After lunch I began taking things out of the shed to clean it. It was hot but I worked for an hour and then Evelyn and I rode to the renal doctor to check on the use of the niacin tablets she bought at the health food store. They are 250 milligrams and her prescribed medicine is 500. She is supposed to take one pill per day and thought she could take two with the same result. The doctor said no. We went to the pharmacy and the pharmacist said yes. We have always thought the pharmacists knew more about pharmaceuticals than doctors. We came home and rode around the parks with Tom Newcomer, the only other member of the bike club. We must have ridden 5 miles. We returned home and had dinner before finishing part of the shed cleaning. We had decided to wait until it had cooled down. We worked another hour, learning that a mouse had chewed a hole in our jungle carry-on duffle bag. We have to throw it away. We also are making a list of things we will try to sell at next year’s flea markets. We had to leave some things on the back patio because we needed to go to the outlet mall to buy a mandolin (for slicing food) for Janice. We will not go with her tomorrow but want to give her a gift before we leave for the summer.

new diet

Monday was cold and rainy again despite predictions of 78 degrees. We had decided yesterday to go to McAllen to do some shopping and use a 2 for 1 breakfast buffet coupon we had. We drove there in rain and enjoyed the buffet. I am trying to go on a high protein/low carb diet today. I had only eggs, bacon and sausage. It was good because later in the day I learned that I weigh 228 pounds. This is far too heavy for me. I feel good but know this is not boding well with my insides. Anyway we found some of the things we wanted: a couple of shorts for me,two tank tops, a pair of black shorts for Evelyn, some tanning ointment, a black belt, and a black skirt. We found these on sale at Mervyn’s. We came home just prior to time for Evelyn’s appointment with her oncologist. She got another glowing report and we learned that she will be taken off her Arimidex after Thanksgiving. We really thank God for this news. Now, we pray that He will do something to reduce her cholesterol and triglycerides. We were hungry when we came home because we had eaten before 10 so we had an early dinner. Evelyn had put some country style ribs that I had smoked in NC into the toaster oven before we went to the doctor. We took so long that the ribs became crisp like cracklins before we returned. We ate them anyway. We went for a walk and Evelyn went to walk the treadmill in the exercise room. I came home and played with our new flash drives. I think I put some of our pictures in it for a back up but didn’t get all of them. I don’t know what happened. I will have to ask someone for help.

Resurrection Day

Easter morning was cold and rainy again. We decided to forego attending the outside sunrise services we could have attended. Being in charge of worship, we would have to be dressed up. Those that went probably were dressed in sweatshirts and coats or raincoats. I was disappointed that no one came from any of the other parks even though I had called most of them to let them know we would be worshipping. Most parks have discontinued services for the season. I pray everyone went somewhere to worship. The Lord draws those He wants to where He wants. We had a short Bible study and came home to heat the dishes for the potluck dinner at Ranchero Village. In the process, we exploded a reheatable packet that goes into John Hamel’s hot dish carrier. Our microwave oven must be a higher power than the bag will stand. We went to the dinner and were surprised to see Joe Durkin was the MC. I thought he would have gone north by now. John had volunteered me to ask the blessing which I did. We enjoyed the dinner which was less expensive and certainly as various and delicious as the $17 buffet at the Echo Hotel. John didn’t seem to be upset with the fact that the bag was burst, so we went home and took naps because we were quite tired. When we wakened, we took a walk around the park. The air was still heavy but the temperature is on the rise. The prediction is 88 for next Saturday. I watched the finish of the Master’s Tournament. It was a real Easter blessing to see a devout Christian win it and not be hesitant about Who should get the real credit. He was a young man from Iowa, Zach Johnson. Praise God for His testimony! We called John Hamel to come over to play Rummikube with us. We had learned this game from our former friends, Ray and Genny Durkin, but haven’t played it since they broke off our relationship. It was good to play it and relearn it. We watched the 10 O’clock news and went to bed.

cold and rainy again.

Saturday morning didn’t bring the promised rain. We went to the shuffle court to play and while there received a call from the Ambassador Hotel in New Orleans giving us reservations for less than Dave had found at the other hotel. Depending on who decides the ratings, this hotel is a 3 star while the other was a 2 ½ star. We thank God for His mercy in giving us this hotel. Our shuffle game was poor. Perhaps because we were thinking about our possibility of sleeping on the streets next Saturday night. We came home and ran some errands to exchange an air filter for the new package unit and pay for our fumigation. We found the headquarters but no one was there so I just left a check. We also mailed a book to Stacy and bought a box to use for mailing the dresses to Rosalie and Elizabeth. I couldn’t believe Evelyn would pay for a box that required folding the dresses (exactly what she was trying to avoid by not using boxes that we had). We came home and she packed the box that now must be cut down for mailing. What a deal! We spent the afternoon and evening chedking to see that we have everything we want to take on the cruise. We decided we should take the suitcases to the exercise room and weigh them. Southwest Airlines has a limit of 50 pounds per suitcase. Unfortunately, the rain promised earlier in the day arrived around noon and continued most of the night. It was also cold and windy so we will weigh them later in the week. We have our “new” golf cart for transporting them but the seats were wet and it was too cold. We relaxed the rest of the evening, watching the Easter special presented by Direct TV. It featured songs by various choirs and Christian artists singing praise songs for the most part. We went to bed anticipating the great celebration tomorrow.

Good Friday, 2007

Friday we both wakened earlier than usual. I worked on the service for an hour. We shuffled from 9-10. I think we have improved but there is so much more strategy to the game than I ever realized that we may never be very good. We came home and dressed for our final volunteer session at the hospital. It was an especially slow day for Evelyn and not too swift for me. One of the women we work with recommended a restaurant in Mercedes that had good fish. We decided to go there for dinner and then on to church. We thought the fish was ok (although plentiful) but the French fries were too greasy. I told the waitress how to correct the problem. We did go on to church that featured the reading of the passion. The pastor did another portrayal of Peter that was longer than the one of Judas last night. Both were well done. We then went to HEB to buy a lily for Sunday’s service. Earlier in the day, Dave Marsh, our travel agent, acknowledged he had made a mistake and booked our hotel for February 14 instead of April 14. We are now looking for a hotel for that night.

beautiful backyard

These are pictures of the finished backyard "resort" project. It will get little use but brings a fleeting moment of pleasure to my sweetheart.

busy day

Thursday was disappointing in that there was no rain. While Evelyn exercised, I went between the fences and tried to distribute the dirt from our back yard more evenly. I couldn’t do as much as I wanted to because the space between the fences is too narrow and I can’t shovel the dirt as far as I want. I was upset with the way Enrique had tossed it over anyway. When I finished, I met Evelyn at the shuffle court. We are both playing better with the kind coaching of those who have more experience. When finished, we came home, grabbed our bicycles and rode (into the wind) to the hospital for E’s annual “boob crushing”. She also needed a two view X-ray. I went into Danny’s office (one of the registration clerks) to joke with him, and he brought us in to get us started early. Evelyn volunteers in the outpatient area Friday afternoons. She got professional courtesy. She finished her mammogram and X-ray in good time, and we came home to get the car so we could go to Long John Silver’s for lunch. She has wanted to go there most of the winter so it finally happened. We both enjoyed it. We went to the grocery for some small items since we were across the street. We came home and I washed the car while Evelyn vacuumed it out. I also hooked up the battery charger to the golf cart. We rested and then had the remaining grilled hot dogs for lunch. We heated some chili to put on them. They were good. We dressed for Maundy Thursday service and went for worship and Holy Communion. The pastor portrayed Judas for the sermon and did a good job. I offered to take Joe, Bonny, and their grandchildren to the airport tomorrow morning and then bring their car home. They are going to do that for us next week, but they probably won’t use us since they will be gone only three days. We relaxed and then called to see if Dan Merryfield remembered he is to supply the wine for our Communion Sunday.

big sale

Wednesday was fun day. Evelyn to exercise and I to golf with Tom Newcomer. We went to the Palms at Mid Valley. Tom doesn’t pay for a cart so we walked the front nine. I shot a 52--the best score I have had in many years. I also got some exercise. We had a beer and came home for lunch. Evelyn had prepared one of the rock Cornish hens I had smoked last fall. It was delicious. Evelyn had been to the woman who cuts her hair in the park. In the course of the procedure, she learned that a couple who had bought a unit near them and were having troubles with their AC. I went there and told him we had taken our old unit out and would sell it to him. He came with a man who would install it and later in the evening he came back and offered $200 for it. I wanted more but took it because I had originally thought that the installer of our new unit would just remove it. At least this way we have the $200. We rested in the afternoon, but I did cut the grass. I usually like to do that in the morning because I use the neighbor’s mower as per an agreement we made years ago. I don’t think his wife approves of the deal, and she usually works in the morning. She hasn’t been going for the past two days and the lawn needed to be mowed. We had “gourmet” hot dogs for dinner that we got with some Omaha Steaks we ordered some time ago. After that the Grondahl’s came for hand and foot and some coconut pineapple dessert. We had a good time with them although Mrs. G. Always takes over and runs everything. She means well but comes from a military background. We watched the news to learn about the weather. Rain has been predicted for the rest of the week but little fell today. We are also continuing our packing for our cruise. We have less than two weeks to go.

guests and dentists

Monday was different in that we had no park meeting. Therefore, after exercise, we participated in the morning friendly shuffle. We aren’t very good but it was fun. The men came to finish installing the new package unit for our mobile. I complained about the way they had left their work last Friday. They finished and we paid the bill. I was not totally satisfied because they left other things around on the floor. We had invited a widower for lunch, and he came to help us finish the beef stroganoff from yesterday. He is a large man but gentle and friendly. He was a small farmer and worked as a prison guard in Iowa. When he left we took naps and had a light supper before going for a bike ride. When we finished we drove the golf cart to Newcomer’s to watch the NCAA finals with the Jones’ from San Antonio. We had heavy hors doerves and beer as we visited and watched Florida win the title for the second year in a row. We were home after 11 and I was too tired to blog.

Tuesday we were up and off to Mexico to finish our dental work. We went with Janice and two of her friends. We all had 10 o’clock appointments so Evelyn was second to go in and I was third, entering at 11. Evelyn had two fillings put in and I had my permanent crown inserted. Our dentist is very particular and mad my crown fit perfectly. Janice needed the most work but was called in last around 12. I decided to go for a haircut and walked to Gloria’s but couldn’t wait my turn because I had agreed to meet the three ladies for lunch at Arturo’s at 12:30. The four of us split two Arturo’s deluxe plates: tamales, two tacos, rice and beans. We had plenty to eat. I returned to the barber shop and got my haircut before returning to the dentist. Janice was nearly finished for the day but was hungry because she had not eaten and it was 2:30. She had a bowl of tortilla soup, and we left for home. We had driven across the river and had to sit in line for over 45 minutes. It was hot and the AC didn’t work well while we sat still. We finally got through after Janice ticked off the border patrol officer. He held us up longer than we would have been normally. We came home and were pleased to find that the pest control man had sprayed under our unit. We had invited two couples for happy hour at 5 and had a good time with them. They left and we just had leftover snacks for dinner. Around 9 we took a walk and met a couple from New Orleans. We came home and I tried to catch up on the blogging.

Palm Sunday

This is only half of the people so valuable to our worship service at Trail's End. I thank God for each of them.



It was a muggy Sunday morning. The great difference was that our new clock radio pulled a trick on us. The clock is one that sets itself to the time of day. We learned it also changes itself to daylight savings time. Unfortunately no one told the radio that the DST change was moved back to the middle of March. Nevertheless, it changed itself this morning. Since we have our alarm set for 7, it wakened us at 6. We never caught on to this change until it really was 7. We went to worship and there were 20 people left to be with us. We drove to Immanuel Mercedes so we could sing praises to God with the choir. This will be our final singing of the year. We left before the sermon so we could make final preparations for the dinner. We invited the people who had helped by setting up the chairs and playing the piano to accompany our hymn singing. We sat six in the screen porch and three outside on the driveway because we had parked our car at a neighbor’s pad. Evelyn had made beef stroganoff and a marvelous cheesecake. Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal. They all left and we cleaned up the dishes before taking a nap. We then took a bike ride and invited a man who became a widower just this season for lunch tomorrow. We had just enough stroganoff left for three but he is a big man. We hope he will have enough to eat. We spent the evening relaxing and had popcorn to eat. Evelyn talked with Emily on the telephone for quite a while, and then to Pauline Flynn. She invited her to come to stay here while we are on our cruise. I guess she might come. I watched the second semifinals of the women’s NCAA tournament and then retired.

rain at last

We got up Saturday and continued preparing for Sunday’s dinner. We left for Elsa to get my new glasses at around 10. It was raining fairly hard all the way there. I was disappointed to learn that my new lenses are grey in tint instead of brown. We were finished a bit early so we went to the HEB in Elsa to buy some more dinner supplies. As we left Elsa, we called Bonny to tell her we were on our way to Fat Daddy’s where we were to meet her and Joe for lunch. I had to leave a message on their machine. We went on to the restaurant and called again. Still no answer. I went home to get Bonny’s cell number and found her at church. She called Joe and they made it to the restaurant. We always enjoy being with them. We then invited them to see our finished back yard. They didn’t stay long because we had taken a long lunch period and Joe needed to get back to his office. He is beginning to realize that his radiation treatments are using up his energy. He should be slowing down in his work schedule. After they left, we rested and then continued in preparation. I also worked at the computer and watched Chevy Chase as “Fetch”. We are ready for tomorrow but have invited too many people. It will be a somewhat disorganized party, but we want to honor the people who have helped us with the worship services this year.