Cake and charge cards.

We slept in a bit as is our Saturday custom. I was up at 8:15 and cutting the grass and finished before 9. We both went to the kitchen band practice in the hall until 9:45. We came home and decided to skip breakfast because it was so late. Evelyn ironed while Jack Head and I worked on hooking up a portable phone he had given me. If it works, it will enable Evelyn to walk around while talking on the MagicJack. We finally got it to work but had to wait for the battery to recharge. It might take an entire day. We had lunch and cleaned up the kitchen before taking a nap. I worked on the service for tomorrow before I joined her in bed. We arose at 4 and got ready to go to the chili supper at Immanuel. Evelyn had baked an upside down cake using mixed fruit with extra cherries. She had 2 cakes so we ate a piece, gave 2 to Brueshaber's because of her knee replacement, 1 to Bob Breseman because he is alone, and 2 to Jack and Jodie Revels because he had open heart surgery a month ago. We had to do the latter after finishing the chili and going to the grocery for milk, etc. We are concerned that I couldn't find my credit card at the grocery. I may have left it at the restaurant yesterday (I don't think I did) or at the chili supper. I may have pulled it out while paying Goerge for a light at the chili supper. I called the church but only got the answer machine. We will have to offer this to God in prayer and check the charge sheets on line.

A good dance

We wakened as usual, and Evelyn did the morning routine. I went out and helped the neighbor cut down our Sega palm in front of the house. It looks quite different now. I did go over to the site of the pictures against my better judgement and contacted the photographer about the group pictures. He came over, and we loaded them onto a memory stick that he took with him. We went to pick up Don and Donna Reddel to go to McAllen with us. We first went to the Doctor to get the paper to send to Houston for a second opinion about Evelyn's thyroid surgery. We then took them to the seafood buffet at the Remington Steak House. We enjoyed the buffet but discovered that one of the items was calamari. Unfortunately I liked it. It was prepared so that it was quite spicy, and I liked it. We left there and mailed the items to Houston. We returned home and took a nap. I also learned that the park manager is willing to reroute the water line for us. I may have to like her for being fair after all. Armond came over and invited me for a beer and I went to his house--20 feet away. I was not feeling well enough to drink a beer but did enjoy talking with him and drinking a soda. I came back and we ate a salad for dinner and ate a bun Rose had made for us. We dressed and went to the dance in the hall. It featured a young man called Diego. It is rumored he is a Mexican citizen but speaks eloquent English. He was excellent and the crowd was large. He will play several of our dances next year. We left shortly before it was over but had a good time dancing.

Busy Thursday

We were up as usual and went to the kitchen band performance after breakfast. In the meantime I went to the location where the pictures are being taken for the directory. I left a note because the photographer was not there. I told him when we would be home, but he never came all day. I am not going to chase him around. We went to the Weslaco Rehab Center and had one of our best performances. The people in the audience are often quite vacant looking but seem to enjoy the music and antics. We came home and worked outside a bit. We then ate lunch on the screen porch for one of the few times this season. It was very pleasant. We took a nap again (when does this qualify as a habit?) before going on a poker ride with the bike club. The object is to ride around the park 5 times. After each round the rider takes a card, building a poker hand. The top 3 hands get a prize. Evelyn won the booby prize becaused she had the worst hand of all. We always have some snack items and drinks after the ride. We came home and had no suppper. The women in Evelyn's Bible study met here this evening, and I went to another home to meet with some of the husbands for a different study. I came home at 8:20 and the ladies were just finishing. I came to the television and watched the taped second half of trhe basket ball game while Evelyn continued working on the prayer shawl. Purdue held out to win the game despite a very sloppy finish to the game. We watched the news and went off to bed.

Wednesday.

I was up waiting for the photographer to come to get some pictures of the groups that I had taken. He never showed up. Evelyn returned and left for the Red Hat Mamas luncheon/style show. I rode my bike to the hospital to deliver a card to a Christian friend who had had her knee replaced the day before. I rode back and worked on getting a room in Los Angeles. I contacted NCL, the cruise line, and booked through them because the booking includes a shuttle to the pier. I now have to get us from the railway station to the hotel and from the pier to the railway station after we dock. Evelyn returned and we took a nap. For some reason we get tired in the afternoon. We ate supper and worked on the sermon and her prayer shawl she is making for a friend in Hoagland. This was after choir practice at the church in Mercedes. We stopped in to hear the band for a minute playing for the German dinner. I went to bed after the news.

A day in the gift shop

Up as usual but I took a paper asking for a donation from Holiday Liquors to the office. Bev is angry with them but said she would complete the form. I also delivered a copy of our discussion with Melissa on her desk. I returned home for breakfast before returning to the exercise room for the Bible study. It was picture day and I took it. We had agood lesson but learned that one of the regular couples was leaving for the season. We came home and dressed for our volunteer shift in the gift shop. We decided not to eat too early so we took peanut butter and jelly with us. We enjoyed working in the gift shop even though I had a small rift with the manager. Otherwise we had a good time. We ate our meal around 2:30 and filled the shelves for tomorrow. We left at 5 and went to the Presbyterian church for Evelyn's January weigh in. We left there for the Paradise Roadhouse to meet Schwinghammers and Hamels at the Paradise Roadhouse to hear and dance to the music of 12 string Dan and Sharon. He plays and siongs a variety of music and she does a few costume numbers. The most outstanding is "New York, New York" in which she does high leg kicks and finishes with a drop down split. She has to be in her 40s and makes my groin muscles hurt. we stayed from 6 until 7:30 and left for a sandwich at the Burger King. I was feeling a bit wierd because of the beer on an empty stomach so Evelyn drove us home from the club. I worked on this until after the news.

Planting and planning

Off to the park meeting which was rather dull. gave the Bible study materials to the office worker to be copied. They had them finished by the time the meeting closed. I happened to be there when Melissa, the park manager, was there. I talked with her about the plan to run the water line around the shed. She seems willing to try that but is quite concerned about who will pay. She has never offered any ideas, but I keep offering to go 50/50. I also offered to do the trenching for the new line if she will pay for the materials. I will put something in writing for her to consider. I also went to deliver the memory stick to the photographer to put into the park directory but she needs an adaptor to fit the stick. I came home and we watched the video for tomorrow. We planned the procedure using the study guide. Evelyn had to do some ironing while I began tweaking the sermon. We heated pizza for lunch. After cleanup, Evelyn took a nap while I went to the bank. I returned and joined her for a nap too. Our friend, Klossing, brought us 7 tomato plants and went around the yard recommending some thinning, trimming and disposal. He is very good about doing that when he comes over. I took our small portable CD player for electronic repair, left it, asked the owner to call but never got the call. I came home and we planted 3 new tomato plants, gave two to the neighbor and took 2 to Bonny. I tried to finalize some plans for dinner before the concert Sunday evening but couldn't get anyone to listen or focus on the location or the time. I get frustrated about this when it happens--often. I know it will happen and am only mad at myself because I set myself up for this often. We came home and ate casserole left from yesterday plus a fresh Raman noodle salad. Evelyn wanted to go to a movie so we left a bit before 8 to see "It's Complicated". It was no longer playing. We came back and stopped at Holiday Liquors to ask for a donation for our Mexican Fiesta dance on February 5. We will have to to on line to ask. We came home and relaxed for the evening.

Many great meals, both physical and spiritual

We had a warm morning and a great worship. 56 people attended and were blessed with Holy Communion. I was hot while preaching but the women in the congregation were cold. Go figure. The man from our park who is recovering from open heart surgery and his wife joined us for worship. We neglected to invite them to join us for lunch but learned later that they had other plans for noon anyway. We prepared for the 2 couples we expected for lunch and waited. Dan and Linda Servais came followed by Joe and Bonny. They didn't know each other but seemed to get along well. We enjoyed the King Ranch casserole Evelyn had made and the cheesecake was pretty good. She didn't think much of either creation but that is normal. She is pretty humble despite her talent. Dan and Linda stayed until 3:30, longer than I wanted. The division championship games were played today featuring 3 of my favorite quarterbacks. Unfortunately, only 2 of the 3 could win. Fortunately, the 2winners are my favorites. Payton Manning and Drew Brees will oppose each other in the Super Bowl in 2 weeks. Evelyn spent the entire second half talking with Emily who had a blessed worship with her family at a home church in Xenia. We are so extremely blessed in our extended families and thank God for this and many other undeserved blessings.

Keeping things loose

Evelyn leads the park exercise class at 8 each morning. They watch exercise DVDs and try to emulate the excessively young, trim and merciless exercise leader.

Western night at the dance

Our 2 man band, Lyle Beaver, played for our dance. People are tired of hearing him but he is still good. The 4 members of the committee posed in the kitchen. The prettiest member of the committee posed with the saddle decoration from our Texas room.

A day on the town.

We slept very late this morning but were out of the house immediately at the crack of 10. We planned to go out for breakfast for me and lunch for her. We drove to the local I-Hop but found it full. Since we have both always lovede pizza, we went to the Pizza Hut, shared a salad and a large supreme pizza. We each ate 1 piece and shared another before taking the rest home. We went to the DonWes flea market to look for some purple outfit for Evelyn to wear to the style show next Wednesday. We looked at several ugly dress shops there and across the street but found nothing she was interested in. We came home around 2 and I worked on the sermon while Evelyn napped. I decided to invite the neighbors here to grill their meat this evening. Judy had been very sick and was too weak to go to the cook out at the hall. I thought we could do them a favor by inviting them here. They accepted. I watched the Purdue basketball game before they arrived. Evelyn gathered some greens from our garden and I chopped some vegetables for the party tomorrow and this evening. I heated our electric grill and we were cooking by 5:30. We were eating by 6:10. We cooked the meat a bit too long but enjoyed it anyway. The neighbors stayed longer than we wanted or expected. She arrived feeling much better and was stronger than we thought. We watched TV until the news came on. Evelyn has been knitting a prayer shawl for Bonita Baker and tries to do 3 rows each evening. She has been doing well all week.

Hail, Hail, the gang's all here.

Here is the picture of the 2010 Kitchen Band.

Health returning

I felt completely recovered this morning but went to the doctor anyway to see if he could tell me what I had. He could only assume it was a viral infection in the bowel because I recovered so quickly. He did note that I was low in B12 so he gave me a shot. He failed to note that my glucose was very high and only Evelyn caught it. I still have 2 more antibiotic pills to take before Sunday. I returned home, and we went to the homes of the invited guests from this past Wednesday but only found one. They agreed to come Sunday at noon. We dressed for the volunteer luncheon and arrived at 12. We enjoyed a nice Mexican meal and dessert before seeing a long video presentation selling Knapp Medical Center to the public in the area. It was well done but too long. We saw another of the couples at lunch but got no answer until we returned to the park. They agreed to come but later remembered a possible conflict. We may end up inviting other couples. After the luncheon we rested until 6 when we left to help set up for the Ropa dance. We had another small crowd but enjoyed having a third couple help because the clean up went very rapidly. We were home by 10:30. We had talked briefly with Emily before the dance. We are still without transportation in Los Angeles in April but will still search to solve the problem as soon as possible. It was very pleasant but windy today. This is why we come here.

Better at last

I was feeling better this morning so I didn't go to the doctor. Evelyn exercised, and I showered before going to the hall to take the picture of the kitchen band for the new directory. Evelyn went to the performance, but I came home to try to get the printer to work on this new computer. Evelyn returned, and we enjoyed the first lunch I have wanted for several days. Evelyn had to go check on her glasses, get her nails filled and do other errands. She also looked for some old clothes to wear to the ropa dance tomorrow night but found nothing. I laid on the couch most of the day but had to vacate the Texas room so Evelyn could host the Bible study. I spent the 2 hours in the bedroom trying to find a shuttle service in Los Angeles. Evelyn wants me to conslute a travel agent. I did but also asked Emily to use one of Pieder's brothers to check out a reliable company. We ate some eggs in a tortilla after the ladies left because we didn't want to go out as we had considered. I must go to the doctor early tomorrow to let him know that the antibiotic seems to be working.

I told you I was sick

Monday, after going to Mexico for teeth cleaning and pedicures, we ate lunch and then the trouble began. I began to feel like a large churning in my bowels. I went to bed early and didn't feel all that well in the morning. I went to the doctor for the expected blood draw. For some reason my blood was flowing slowly. I returned home and spent all day Tuesday in bed experiencing chills often. I sweat profusely in the down times. I lost all semblance of energy. I tried to eat something in the evening but cast it aside within an hour. Back to bed and the chills and sweats. I had already scheduled an appointment to check my cholesterol and tryglicerides but was able to talk about the flu that I think I have. My appointment was for 10:30 and I went to see the doctor around 12:30 but wasn't leaving for another 2 hours. He gave me a prescription for an antibiotic and gave me an EKG. He sees himself as a geriatic specialist. I am to go see him at 8 in the morning if I don't feel any better so he can decide whether to admit me to the hospital. At this writing, I am feeling better so I won't have to go until Friday morning. I am tired of being in bed but will, hoping for a better night. We had to cancel our dinner party for this evening due to the illness. We will try again for Saturday at noon.

Monday I went to the exercise class to take a picture of the group for the new park directory. It was fun to do that. I returned home and set the table for breakfast. When Evelyn arrived, we ate and left for Mexico. We missed the park meeting. We got our teeth cleaned, got a pedicure, bought 4 bottles of vanilla, a small bottle of amaretto, a 5th of vodka (to make some fruit liquor), and a bottle of Kahlua. We left there around 1:30 and stopped at a dress shop on the American side but found nothing. We finally ate lunch at home around 2, cleaned the kitchen and went to bed. We both slept like logs for an hour. When I got up I felt bad in the lower bowel but continued to work on the dinner for Wednesday. I am the souse chef and chopped many veggies and took chicken off the bone for the King Ranch casserole. I took the bones to the dumpster and invited the 3rd couple for dinner. They accepted and I came home. We finally were able to talk with Emily and found more things about their life in Ohio. We now know all of their phone numbers and their address. Tomorrow we can mail the box to them. The post office was closed today. We had a light supper and I didn’t feel well after. We watched the DVD for tomorrow’s lesson and then I finished the blog before going to bed very early. We have a carpet cleaner coming tomorrow and will have to move some furniture before we go to the hospital. I received an e-mail about my friend, Lionel, from Canada. He had a valve replacement and is doing well as of now. We volunteered at the hospital together for 3 years.

A glorious day

Sunday was a blessing. Last night we went to a small Nazarene church in Weslaco for a gospel jam. One of our friends from Trail’s End had invited us because he plays drums for them. To our surprise John Hamel was playing keyboard and another who worships with us, Billie Lovelace, sang a couple of songs. He surprised us by introducing us to the small group in attendance. Back to today. He sang for us during the offering. We decided to give the offering above my pay to the Haitian Relief fund. We collected $75 including the $5 I gave. We will give much more through Lutheran Hour Ministries, Compassion International and World Vision. We had 55 in attendance and 3 regular couples were missing. The Lord must be using my messages to His glory. I pray that is the case. We came home and ate some of our meal left from our carry-out Thursday. We have enough left for 4 delicious meals. It was a sunny day and Evelyn sat in the sun for a while as I began preparation for next Sunday. We are planning a dinner for some friends but must make the final plans soon because we are relatively Evelyn will need the thyroid surgery. We took a nap before taking a bike ride. We decided to invite 3 couples for supper on Wednesday. They cook all of the time for the hall, and we thought it would be nice to entertain them. We got an affirmation from 2 couples but haven’t seen the other. Evelyn mopped the floor so I went out and lopped off many branches from the poinsettia tree that had frozen last week and also some hibiscus and bougainvillea that had suffered the same end. I got a nice scratch and gouge on my right hand while working. I popped corn for our supper while Evelyn washed out the refrigerator so we could shop for the ingredients we will need for the King Ranch casserole we will serve. The grocery was not as full as often so we got home around 9:30. We plan to go to Mexico tomorrow morning for teeth cleaning, etc. We were disappointed that Emily didn’t call us today, but we did get to talk with Stacy.

Saturday sports

We slept late as is the custom on Saturday. We had a late breakfast before Evelyn went shopping to find some items to blend with the things she had bought at the Ropa Usada for the Beelis. She found material for the blanket (number 3) Noah needs. He is too big for blanket 3. She found material for $26.51 and spent the afternoon sewing the binding on it. I worked on the service for tomorrow and watched New Orleans (Drew Brees) beat Arizona to advance to the NFC championship game. I hated to see Curt Warned lose because he is a fine Christian brother, but not everyone can win. Purdue men played during that game but lost to Northwestern. I begin to wonder if they will make the “Big Dance” in March. While Evelyn shopped I walked to the pharmacy to renew a prescription and stopped to talk with Schwinghammers on the way. We plan to go dancing with them on Tuesday. Their daughter and son-in-law were visiting. During the evening I watched the Colts beat the Ravens to advance in the tournament also. We went to bed earlier to be rested for tomorrow. We boxed and taped the items to send to Xenia and will do that tomorrow.

busy day on the phone

When the alarm went off, I got up. I waited for 20 minutes and noticed no movement from the other side of the bed. I decided to leave the non movement alone and took the key to the exercise room to Judy. I returned and worked a while trying to contact someone from AARP to try to get some books for the class. I finally got a number to call. I went to contact the people we work the dance with to let them know we will not be attending the dance on February 26 because we will attend the free barbecue for stock show volunteers at that time. I returned home and wakened Evelyn. I tried to call the Beelis but learned that their MagicJack is not working. Evelyn called M. D. Anderson and found how to send the slides of her needle biopsy there for a second opinion. She was worried about the cost even though I kept telling her to ignore that. This is a health expense, and we have plenty of money for that. It will be over $1300. So what. She then prepared lunch out of some of the chicken left from Tuesday’s lunch and went off to get some tomato plants from the master gardener who lives in our park. Ours were frozen. The heavy rains predicted for last night and today never materialized. I cleaned up the kitchen so Evelyn could rest. She is worried about being tired all the time. I called the AARP number and found that I could get a limited number of books instead of the standard 30. I tentatively set the date for the class as February 13. I wanted to play a short round of golf, but Armond was not at home. I just watched some TV and started this blog until time to go to the Oldies dance.

Much fun

Despite the prediction of rain, I got up and drove to La Feria to give our application for title to the Golf Ala Cart people. I drove from there to the Stuart Place Golf Course where we used to play and found it closed, possibly for good. I returned, filled up with gas and went through a car wash. It stopped while the car was just finished washing but not dried or coated with wax. I went to the manager and received a free carwash for another day. I arrived home just as Evelyn arrived from exercise. We ate breakfast and then we went to perform with the kitchen band for the residents of Ratama Manor, a nursing home just down the street. We keep gaining members and have a good time bringing joy and the love of God to the elderly. We left there and went to mail a package to Rosalie. Then we went to the oncologist’s and hospital to get the slides of her biopsy and the phone number of the lab at M. D. Anderson in Houston. We plan to send the results there for a second opinion on the need for surgery. We returned home for lunch and then Evelyn had her afternoon rest. I talked with Tom Jones and Tom Georges on Skype for a short time. We got ready and went with Joe and Bonny to the concert in McAllen. We went to the Rio Grande Grill across the street from the auditorium and enjoyed a dinner. We brought one of ours home and shared a pizza for our dinner. The concert was about 8 very young people doing a Celtic Review. I enjoyed it immensely. There was a variety of instruments and music, including 2 tap dancers. We were able to talk with some of the performers after the show. We had thought it might be raining when we left but it didn’t happen while we were inside. We came home and enjoyed ice cream and a raspberry liquor that had been given to us. We are blessed in that there is a man in the park that has several tomato plants he wants to give away. Ours froze last week as did a neighbor 2 doors down and Bonny. I will try to get some early next week because it is to be very stormy tomorrow morning.

A day of hard work at the computer.

We were up with our usual routine. I did walk today which is irregular for me. It was moderate enough to wear shorts. After breakfast Evelyn did some sewing and made herself another shrug that fits her. I began work on the computer to develop orders of service for the remainder of the season. At 9:45 PM, I finished all but the Easter service. I wasn't tied to the computer but did spend a great deal of time there. After lunch, Evelyn and 3 other women drove quite a distance west to go to several "Ropa Usadas" to get some clothes for our dance on the 22nd. She left at 1 and was gone until after 5. She returned with some clothes to give away. I took a break during the afternoon to get a haircut and pick up the mail, but I was hard at it all day and evening. We enjoyed a smoked country style rib for supper. Evelyn spent most of the evening in bed reading while I continued working. We have decided to volunteer at the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show. We will likely work at the same station we always have. I also called Tom Jones to explore ways to schedule transportation from the hotel in Los Angeles to the pier where we catch the cruise and back to the railroad station. We will contribute to some fund to help victims in Haiti sometime soon. We have also decided go to Mexico tomorrow for some dental work--mostly teeth cleaning. We will also pick up some items for Emily. I also have to go to La Feria to turn in our application for the title to our new golf cart.

Bad thyroid news

It was much warmer this morning. After exercise and breakfast, we went to the Bible study we lead. We had a new couple new to our park. I don’t know what they believe because he seemed to be confused as to why Islam and Christianity are different. Hopefully he will understand in a few weeks. We drove to the oncologist to see what he recommended in light of the data we had left with him yesterday. It was God’s will that he also recommended surgery. We drove to the endocrinologist but had plenty of time before the appointment. Evelyn wanted to wait for lunch until after the appointment so we stopped at a couple of places on the way. We mailed some packages and looked for some kitchen washing tools. We were early to the doctor but were able to get in early. She reinforced the suggestion saying the thyroid could be cancerous even though the needle biopsy did not show cancer it might be there. The nodule seems to be quite large and the needle can only take small portions. The doctor said there was an 85% chance that there was no cancer but didn’t think it was a good idea to take the chance. It might spread to the lymph nodes if it is there. We left certainly depressed. There was a thought that we might send the slides to MD Anderson for a second opinion. It is something to consider. We went to Taco Cabana for lunch and had a half chicken flame ante. It was delicious but too much to eat at once. We found our kitchen tools on the way home. Evelyn went straight to bed and slept for a couple of hours. We watched Purdue lose its second game in a row. Perhaps they aren’t as good as we thought. We ate peanuts and had some soup for our meal. Evelyn wrote some thank you notes and birthday cards before going to bed. I went to bed early too. Evelyn did buy a couple of blouses at the craft sale this morning, making her feel a little bit better. We will be praying for guidance and God’s mercy on the thyroid problem.

Golf at last

Although it was around 40 degrees, I played golf with some other men from the park. I had a terrible round and was very tired after walking just 9 holes. There were many on the course because they had been caged for some time due to the weather, and rain is predicted for the remainder of the week. Evelyn exercised and went to the park meeting. I don’t know if I will teach any driver safety courses this year. Few people in the park seem interested. We ate lunch when I returned and then uncovered our garden. To our disappointment, all the tomato plants and the pepper plant had frozen. We don’t know whether they will recover but they looked pretty bad. We stored the Christmas tree and then rode our bikes to the hospital to get the results from the bloodwork done Sunday. We took it to the oncologist for an opinion. We also signed up to work in the gift shop at the hospital on Tuesday afternoons beginning next week. Tomorrow we have to keep an appointment with the endocrinologist in McAllen. We returned home and took a short nap before split pea soup and popcorn for supper. I finally made reservations in a hotel in Los Angeles for April 9, the day before our cruise. I wonder about the quality of the hotel but it is only for 1 night. We watched and recorded “Madam Bovary” on the Ovation channel, but I went to bed before it was over.

Contacting many friends

We wakened to cold again but should be warmer for the rest of the week. We were blessed again by 45 worshipping with us and the Lord offering His Body and Blood. We had to go to the hospital for Evelyn’s blood draw. I then went to Llano Grande to talk to Paul Zopfi about his and Donna’s coming for supper tonight. He sings with Men of Accord and the group is singing here tonight. They will come but want to wait until after the performance which should end around 7:30. That is late for us but will work for one evening. I then took Holy Communion to Jack and Jodi Revels. He is recovering from by pass surgery a couple of weeks ago and can’t go out to worship. I came home and we enjoyed a brunch of an green chile casserole Evelyn had made. It was good and we still have half left to enjoy later. She went to bed to rest, and I worked on recording things in our computer calendar. She also talked with Stacy on the telephone before napping. She also spent time talking with Bonita Baker about cancer while I was chatting on gmail with Elizabeth, our granddaughter. They can’t get their Skype to work and their MagicJack is breaking up. It is a nice device but doesn’t work perfectly. We also talked briefly with Shirley Oefinger in Shelbyville. She is undergoing chemotherapy. I went to WalMart to get some ice cream for tonight and got an automatic can opener as well. We went to the hall for the Sunday night entertainment and returned home with Paul and Donna for our light supper. They left around 9:45 and we went to bed after the news.

Hopefully a day of recovery.

It was very cold again this morning. Since it was Saturday, we stayed in bed until just before 9. Evelyn needed the sleep and I must have too. She has didn’t cough as much as the previous night. We both had trouble going to sleep at first. She coughed and my legs ached until I took 3 Tylenol. We noticed that one of our special Texan napkins is missing from last night’s dance, so I went to the hall to see if I anyone had found it. No one had. We will be very upset if someone has taken it. I came home for oatmeal and then Evelyn went off to mail a return to the company and get her new eyeglasses. The UPS was closed but she did get the glasses. The longer she was gone, the worse she felt. She went right to bed. I watched the Purdue/Wisconsin basketball game. Unfortunately, they failed in their bid for the 15th straight victory. I then took a bicycle rack and DVD layer to the trailer at Winston’s and then talked with Bonny about going to the concert series next Thursday. This means the women’s Bible study will not be able to meet at our house next week. Evelyn spent some time preparing some vegetables for the meal we might serve our company if they come tomorrow. He sings with the Men of Accord who will perform here tomorrow. I chopped all the tomatoes, bell pepper, green onions, and squash. We stayed in for the evening so Evelyn could rest more. I neglected to mention in yesterday’s blog that the endocrinologist had called while we were at the trade show. She wants to see Evelyn Tuesday afternoon to review possible thyroid surgery. The results of the biopsy we got seemed to indicate no carcinoma. She rightfully upset and will most certainly want a second opinion. We will try to get a response from her oncologist, Dr. Ghaddar on Monday.

Our western dance

It was very cold this morning. In fact the temperature topped out at 39 and the prediction is for 26 tonight and tomorrow night. Evelyn went to exercise anyway while I went to the grocery. I had driven her to the exercise room and picked her up after the trip to the grocery. We came home and picked up our neighbors, Armond and Rose, and went to the travel show in McAllen. There were many booths from different areas of the country hoping we will come to visit their area. We did find some of interest but will not likely go many of the places. From there we went to the Remington Steak House for their Friday seafood buffet. We bought lunch for our neighbors because of all the digging and help he has done for us and they are nice to be with. The offerings were both boiled and deep fried shrimp, baked salmon and salmon croquettes, vegetables and the desserts including carrot cake and strawberry cheese cake. We took them to Sun Harvest for meat and bought 2 fillet mignons for us. We have had them before. We came home and took a nap until 4 when we began preparing for the dance. I had to take many things to be used as decorations to the car. The theme was a western dance, and we have many decorative items around the house. I grudgingly loaded the car, and we were there by 6 since the dance started at 7. The other 6 we work with were already there making popcorn. There is no way I want to be at these places more than an hour early. We were all set up with nothing left to do by 6:30. The dance went well although there were only 54 attending. We packed things up after the dance and were home by 10:30.

Preparing for the big freeze

We wakened with the alarm, but Evelyn was too ill to go to exercise. I took the key to the ladies who showed up. I brought the man who does work in the park to look at our water problem. He agreed with Armand who also came out to look at things. I was especially concerned about the exposed pipes we had uncovered. I shoveled dirt into some holes that we want covered permanently and put a plastic into the hole containing the shutoff valves and piled some dirt on top of it so we could just lift it out when we begin to talk with the park manager about rerouting the water line. I came in and found Evelyn up and ready for breakfast. The kitchen band had a performance at a local nursing home scheduled for 10. I went but Evelyn didn’t. The residents always seem to enjoy the silly outfits and instruments we play. After I returned, we went out to cover our garden with the tarps we have. I think we did a good job but only time will confirm that. I worked a bit on the computer before taking a nap until around 4. The park system gives a “Welcome Back” dinner. This year it was spaghetti. I went a bit early with a bottle of wine and visited with a friend from the kitchen band. I had intended to bring Evelyn’s home but was surprised that my friend suggested that I take them both home. I did and we enjoyed our supper together. Evelyn walked to a friend’s house to a women’s Bible study and was gone until 9. I finally walked over to get her. She didn’t have any business being out that late having the cold that she does. We came home and enjoyed the ice cream bar that had come with the dinner and watched the college championship game.

Blessed Epiphany for the Gentiles

Wednesday is Epiphany! It is the day we remove our Christmas decorations each year. I thought it would take all day to put things away because we had to clean out the shed to have places to put much of the decorations. Therefore, I didn't walk but jumped right into the cleaning. I took everything out of the shed and was joined by Evelyn when she returned from exercise. She had taken some Zicam to ward off a cold so I thought she might be too sick to help. Instead she helped me clean off shelves before I swept the floor. We were able to throw many things away. She began boxing the Christmas items while I finished cleaning and returning things to the shed. The couple we work the dances with came and Evelyn talked with them because I had to finish the shed. Rain was predicted and I felt a periodic sprinkle, making me in a hurry to get the cardboard boxes back into the shed. We then removed the Nativity scene and star as well as the lights on the Sega Palm tree, allowing us to move everything under roof. To our amazement, it was barely past noon when we finished. We ate lunch and then Evelyn was wearing out and went to bed. I took items to the recycling center before going to the grocery for milk. I returned and talked with Armond who was outside talking with our other neighbors about the water shut off valve and what I could do about the water line problem. I think I will go to talk to the park manager now that we have located the waterline and see if she will agree to my running the water line around the shed. It should not be a major problem for her. I lay down for a while before supper time and then we watched another movie I had recorded: Taledega Nights. What a ludicrous piece of trash that was. We will have to cover all our our garden tomorrow because the rain--it never arrived today--and the forecasted freezing weather will arrive throughout the day and we want to save our garden. Evelyn is definitely getting a cold and will have to be miserable for over a week.

Water puzzle solved

Another cold morning. I walked and took a devotional over to the sick Jack and returned home. Evelyn returned after exercise and we ate breakfast before going to the Bible study. There were 13 of us there, the most ever. We returned home and went to the pharmacy to see if Evelyn’s cutting her new pills in half would be sufficient to keep the level of medicine for her. The answer was no. We then went to the doctor to get some samples of the correct dosage. From there we went to the hospital where we found the volunteer coordinator, Denise, outside crying while talking on the phone. I brought her coat out to her and went back inside. Evelyn went to see why she had a blood draw scheduled for Sunday. She found out that the doctor had wanted that. We tried to schedule a day to volunteer with Denise when she returned and agreed to Tuesday. Foolish. On the way home I realized that we can’t because of our Bible study. We ate lunch and then Evelyn went to order some eye glasses and have her nails filled in before returning home. She immediately went to bed and to sleep. I called Darrell on the MajicJack and talked with him and Doug Holle. I hadn't talked with him for years. We had a good visit and he sent a page of Saturns for sale to me. Perhaps we will be interested in one. I noticed Armond digging outside and went out to learn that he had found the water lines leading to our house, his house and Lemke’s. I know now that we can re-route the water line around our shed but must keep the presence of the line from Armond’s under the corner of our shed. He doesn’t mind the risk of the line’s breaking so I will propose that to Melissa. Evelyn wakened and we finished off more leftovers for supper. Then We watched Purdue basketball. They have won 12 games without a loss. We really hope this is the year they can make it to the Final Four. We then watched the finish of “Crimes and Misdemeanors” from a couple of nights ago. Tomorrow is Epiphany, and we planned to take our Christmas decorations down and clean the shed to put them away. It is also supposed to be cold and somewhat rainy so I wonder if we will get everything done. Emily and Evelyn had a long talk on the MagicJack and we learned about the situation in Ohio. Things are going well for them at the moment. We praise God for His mercy.

Anointing the ill; finding the purse

We began the week in the usual way: exercise and park meeting. Evelyn is trying to get some interest in the coming dance. She wants to have a contest for the best belt buckle, hat or anything else to wear. I don’t think it will draw more people but who knows? We came home and ate some steel cut oatmeal before leaving for the day. We went to the hospital to see the results of Evelyn’s needle biopsy. It has been 2 weeks and we still don’t know the results. We finally got them. This is not the first time we have had this trouble. We think we might have figured out where things get lost. We went on to McAllen and bought some paper at Staples before going to Carino’s for lunch. Guess what! We had a coupon for a free appetizer with 1 entree. We bought 2 salads and shared the entree, bringing some of it home. We went on to 2 sports stores looking for exercise mats. They were all more expensive than the park manager will probably approve. We drove back toward home and stopped at Tropic Star to get the purse left there. We got it and continued to the big HEB in San Juan to get some more exotic supplies than we can get in Weslaco. We also bought a case of Rotel from the factory in Donna. We put them into the house, and then I took my anointing oil to a motor home that has been in our park for 2 weeks. The day it moved in, the owner, Jack Revels, had undergone by pass surgery. A couple we had met Sunday asked me to make a call on him. He has had to sit in a lazy boy chair all day. The irony is that his wife had fallen and broken her nose in San Antonio, forcing him to take her to the hospital when they arrived here. In the process, his heart had begun to hurt. He went one way and his wife went another for treatment. He was eventually sent to McAllen where the surgery was done. I anointed him and his wife and returned home for supper of chili Evelyn had taken from a can. It was not as good as hers. We watched a Mark Lowry video in the evening before going to bed.

a purse is missing

We had worship at 8:30 again this Sunday and were blessed with 44 people in attendance. I received many compliments on the message, but of course the glory goes to our Lord and Savior. We didn’t get home until around 10:30. We met some people walking in front of our house and invited them to worship next Sunday. I got the impression they would. They mentioned a friend who was forced to have bypass surgery when they arrived in the Valley. I must make a visit to him. We had a light breakfast and a bit later lunch because we planned to go to a country western dance at 5:30. We contacted the people in our park that introduced us to square dancing. We enjoyed the dance but were surprised that it lasted only an hour. We did get a ticket for 1 free square dance lesson next week. We were home by 7:30, just in time for me to make popcorn. I did and we watched about half of a movie I had taped: “Crimes and Misdemeanors” written and directed by Woody Allen. As she went to bed, Evelyn couldn’t find her purse. She thought she must have left it at the dance hall at Tropic Star. I called and the young man at the guard house looked for it in the dance hall but couldn’t find it. We will have to call the office tomorrow morning. It had begun to drizzle early in the evening, making it unlikely that we will play golf in the morning.

Guests for the new year.

We weren’t able to sleep as late as usual. I was up walking by 8 and went to friends in the neighboring park. We wanted to invite them to lunch of homemade pizza. I found them at breakfast in their hall, and they accepted. I came home and showered before helping Evelyn make the pizza. I also finished up the sermon for tomorrow. They arrived at noon and we enjoyed the pizza and some adult beverage. We went to the Texas room and talked while watching some basketball. They left and we went for a bike ride to the pharmacy but found it closed. We will have to get medicine next week. We rode through both parks and returned home. It was still light so I took a couple of golf clubs and went to the driving cages for half an hour. I was home by dark. We ate some leftovers for supper and watched several episodes of “House” before going to bed. It will be cold tomorrow morning and even most of next week.

Relaxing to start the 2010

We slept late this morning because we had retired around 1. For some reason I can’t explain, Evelyn agreed to have exercise class at 10. She went and found 6 new people making a total of 10. She was excited. She came home, and we had a really great lunch of steak from the Sun Harvest. I just watched football and Purdue basketball most of the day while Evelyn read. I had intended to power wash the driveway, but it was too cold: 62. I planned to take a nap but pursued other interests. We decided to take a walk around the park. We stopped at the Reddel’s who had just arrived Tuesday. We also stopped at Schwinghammer’s to see how the New Year’s Eve party at the Horseman was. They said they loved it because they had paid to ride a small bus to and from the site. There was good music and dancing, but I would still be hesitant about going there. Some local rowdies might show up. We will look into it next year. We also went to Newcomer’s to ask for help in planning a style show for one of our dances. We contacted other women who agreed to think about conducting the show. We returned home and ate a light supper. We are trying to reduce the intake of calories. We also dusted and vacuumed the house before previewing the content of the next Bible study lesson. We are somewhat disappointed in the narrator in the DVD we are using. Evelyn also had a long talk with Emily about their trip to Ohio and their temporary home in Xenia. The children are all sick with some stomach disorder causing them to vomit for most of the past week.

A great finish to a great year

We began the morning as usual, and after breakfast, we rode our bikes to Ranchero Village to see the Hamels and give Sue a pin she had wanted to use. We rode from there to the hospital to sign up to work. We found the only day open was Friday afternoon, but we don’t want that slot because we have dances many Fridays. We rode back home, and I drove to inquire about a golf cart. I made a deal with the guy and drove to La Feria to do the government paperwork. Supposedly, Obama will give us a $4114 tax credit for buying a road worthy cart. I had to pay $6700+ but that will be reduced by the government. The cart will not be ready for 2 weeks but will be gold and black--Purdue colors. The guys even gave me a beer after the deal. I returned home for lunch and then took a nap. I had bought some pork tamales a week ago but had forgotten that I had ordered spicy pork. Evelyn could not eat them. I was sleepy because I have not been getting the sleep I need. I have been staying up too late. We got ready and went to church where we were blessed with Holy Communion. The pastor even had a good service for a change. From there we went to the New Year’s Eve dance at the park. There was a DJ who played good oldies from our active decades. Our next door neighbors joined us, and we sat together. We didn’t stay past 11 because Evelyn’s hip hurt, and we always leave before the drunks get kiss happy at midnight. Perhaps they don’t here, but we have never stayed to find out. Years ago, that happened to Evelyn so we have not stayed until midnight since. We had a very good time and danced as well as we have in recent memory. Many have had difficult years but ours has been pretty good except for Evelyn’s bout with skin disease during the summer. We remember the “trip of a lifetime” to South America with our dear friends Tom and Luanne. We thank Jesus for allowing us to live as we do. It is sad to see so many of our friends ignore the free forgiveness that He died to earn for them. We thank Him for His love.