WHAT A STORM

We were warned it could be bad storm heading our way so we put down the sat. dish, laid the bicycles on the ground and made sure everything was secure. We did some additional storing of outside gear as we needed to go to Ford first thing in the morning.

Tuesday night there was a heck of a storm after we returned from Family Feud but it was mild. The wind blew very hard for about 20 minutes and there was additional passing thunder and lightning storms through the night. We could feel the coach rocking back and forth. The coach weighs just over 11 tons. I started thinking about the wind hitting the back side of the trailer and possibly pushing it into the back of the coach. So I got dressed again to double check how the wheel chocks were doing and adjusted one which was loose. Everything was fine in the morning.

Heading over to the Ford dealer which does coach maintenance I noticed the engine light was not on (that figures) but the code was still in the computer indicating the issue. We arrived at  10 o’clock and met Jeff and they started on the coach right away. It did show the same code. They checked the connections and decided to replace the sensor at the catalytic converter and cleared the code. So we are good to continue our journey but Jeff said we will have to travel some mileage to see if it is corrected. We were on our way by 1 o’clock. One thing we notice here in Texas, where ever we go everyone is very friendly and when it comes to customer service it is all top notch, from the store clerks to the customer service staff. While waiting in the waiting room we had a couple start talking to us about our coach and their travels – this would not happen in Canada.

They even had a large awning for us to drive under when arriving. This was good as it was raining.

We were home in plenty of time to re-setup and do some relaxing, waiting for Happy Hour. “Doc” a retired Air Force Pilot who flew B52 Bombers and after his retirement flew Commercial Transatlantic flights mainly to Paris dropped by. He was telling me about the Arizona sites he and his wife Nancy have visited.

Happy Hour had another great turn out which took up some of the street behind Dale and Linda’s unit.

While chatting we all noticed a beautiful glow from the setting sun.

For dinner I BBQ’d one of the steaks and it was the best steak we have had in a long time. Now we wish we bought more.   

   

Til tomorrow....

MORE RAIN

Monday night was warm, a low around 14C and yesterday‘s high was 24C. It rained on and off through the night with a few thunderstorms passing by. It cleared enough in the afternoon for us to sit out and have happy hour with Don and Tonya.

Since it is going to rain again tomorrow we decided to call the Ford Dealer 15 miles away and see if they could do something with the engine light. Hopefully they will be able to correct the problem.

We had a quick dinner and were off to the Family Feud Show the Resort was putting on with people from the resort being the contestants. It was a great time and very entertaining.

 This family was all brothers named Darrell and sisters named BettySue. One Darrell was proud of the pregnant sister having his child. 

More rain tonight and tomorrow apparently.

All for now.

SHOPPING AGAIN

Yesterday was a very nice day, the high reached 22 but it was cloudy in the afternoon. The low Sunday night was 7C again.

It was great having freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast. Cathy was away early to go to exercise class. She said it was busy with about 150 people attending. After lunch we needed a few more groceries so we went to the H.E.B. store. They had t-bone steaks on for $2.97/Ib. We have had some beef in the past and I find it very chewy but it may be because it is thinner sliced. These steaks were thicker so we thought we would try them.   

Happy hour had a large turn out with about 20 people showing up. The formed circle, the women on one half of the circle and the men on the other as the topics discussed are quite different. Then once and awhile a common topic comes up and everyone gets involved. The get together went on a little later than usual (6:30) and we had to have a fast dinner as we were invited over to Janet and Ron’s for coffee and cake to celebrate Ron’s birthday at 7 o’clock. I fired up the BBQ and I quickly cooked some burgers. By this time it was dark and Don seeing the flames came over and offered to help me put out the fire and thought the burgers should be cooked. I said they are fine and they were an offering to the Gods.

Sorry, no pictures. (Don took one of the flames on the BBQ but it didn’t turn out.)

Til tomorrow....

FINALLY, A REALLY NICE DAY

The weather is improving, Saturday night reached a low of 7C but the high reached a nice 20C on Sunday. It was great!

We congregated in the a.m. with a number of the neighbours who we hadn't seen for awhile due to the weather. Everyone was out enjoying the sun we missed.

In the afternoon, Cathy and I went to the flea market again. It is starting to get busy since more Winter Texans are arriving. It sure is surprising what people will try and sell, if were my stuff, it would be a trip to the dump. We ended up buying a bag of fresh oranges to eat and make some juice. They are smaller, and more of a yellow colour than the ones at home. They are quite sweet. The price was 13 for a dollar. After a sample we selected the bag for $2.50.

                                                       I think there are about 42 oranges.

We made another stop at Home Depot and then bought gas at $3.15/gal which apparently goes up for the weekend. It was $3.09.   

We got home just in time for happy hour and had another great visit with the neighbours.

I tried a different procedure to get into the blog so I can add picture now. Some will be of the Football game Cathy had a bet on with Dale between the Oregon Ducks and Kansas.

 This was a sign we printed off and Cathy sneaked over to Dale's and posted in the morning of the game.

The duck horn Cathy was able to get from Bernie which Cathy blew every time the ducks got points.

Dale paying off his debt with a Canadian Loonie he had from the last time he visited Canada.

This is the container everyone buys to put their liquor in to take to the dances. It come in two sizes, this is the small one. Mine seams to have evaporated. I am sure it was full??


All for now.

ANOTHER BORING DAY

The weather was a little better Friday, the low was 7C but the high reached all the way to 12C. I shouldn't be complaining knowing what the temperatures and weather are in Ontario. Wayne, my brother living near Owen Sound said he has 12 inches of snow.      

By the way, we are starting to see some changes in our water, more suds and a smoother feeling to the water. Cathy says the water spots are gone on the glasses.

We did a little running around here in the resort getting water and handing in our empty aluminium cans which are used in the stone jewellery classes. Cathy tried to sign up for a portrayed art class but it was full.

Later in the afternoon Linda asked us if we wanted to go to a dance at another resort in the evening. We said sure and off we went at 6:30.  The music was preformed by one fellow playing two key boards and an accordion. He was very good and does a circuit all winter long at various resorts. He is booked every day of the week! All the dances end at 10 o'clock which gives us time to get home and take our Geritol and Absorbine Jr. after such a work out. After the dance we were invited back to Rick and Connie's for a night cap.

On our way home we noticed Don and Tonya were still up so we sneeked up to their windows with the duck horn Cathy still had and started blowing it. It took some time for them to figure out were the noise was coming from but they eventually turned on the light and came out to see what was there. We now have to wait for the other shoe to drop as Don says he doesn't get mad he gets even.

I found out the problem with me not being able to send pictures is a goggle blog problem. Great news as I thought it was something I did . So I will have to catch up on the pictures once this is fixed. Hopefully soon!


Til tomorrow.......  

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY!

It continues to be cool, cloudy and wet here. The forecast says only one more day to go. By Sunday it is suppose to improve.  It was cool again Thurs. night reaching 5C and the high was 8 during the day yesterday.

 

Cathy wanted to go to the Resort meeting which they have every month to see what that was all about. Don was going so invited her to come along with him. Cathy said it was run by the Resort manager (Linda) who happens to be our neighbour on the left.  The topics covered the planning of a new Recreation Center, the selling of two other Resorts nearby by the owner, a roadway repair to the entrance and answering complaints about cats being at large and messing on other people’s yards. Linda indicated cats have to be leashed just like the dogs. The meeting ran for an hour and provides a great two way communication tool.

 

When Cathy got back we received an email from Tonya/Don saying they were going shopping after lunch and asked if we wanted to join them. Of course we said yes as we are starting to climb the walls due to the weather.

 

 They have a lot of stores here which we do not have in Ontario such as Academy Sports + Outdoors. This is like the Bass store I talked about earlier with a lot of sports gear and clothing. Since the weather has been quite cool I picked up a nice long sleeved shirt with two Velcro breast pockets regular $20.00 for $13.99 plus 8.25 % tax. Cathy also spotted a top she needed to go with a previous top she bought??   

 

We also picked up a few needed groceries and then decided to go out for dinner at a wing place. They had a selection of at least 15 different wing sauces that ranged from mild to very hot.  I stayed with the mild one. Don tried a medium hot and said it had a pretty good bite to it and Tonya went even hotter with Caribbean Jerk. Cathy had a shrimp dish with a sauce but found it very salty.

 

It was a great day even though the weather didn’t cooperate. We always have a great time when we are with Tonya and Don. 

 For some reason I am not able to uplaod pictures. Sorry, trying to work on it.

All for now....

 

 

STILL CRAPPY WEATHER

It didn't rain much yesterday but it was cool with a high of 9C. Wed. night dropped down to 5C.

We were invited over to Ron and Janet's for a 9:30 coffee in the morning just to socialise, since everyone has been cooped up for awhile. It just happened their neighbours John and Catherine just arrived form Buckhorn Lake, Ontario so they joined us.

We decided to bicycle over to the Rec. Hall for lunch and had a burger and fries for $5.00 each.

Everyone was tried of staying inside so they all dressed for the cooler weather and had neighbourhood group meeting on the street. There are now 3 remote control cars terrorising our street with a fourth on back order. This entertained a few of us for some time. It seamed like it was a demolition derby for awhile with Gene and his new truck running into the other two guys and every tree on the street.

After dinner we went over to Dale and Linda's to watch the Oregon/Kansas football game that Cathy wagered a bet on with Dale for a dollar. Cathy had managed to get a Duck bill quacker that fits over your mouth and when blown in makes a duck sound. So each time during the game when The Oregon Ducks scored she blew this quacker. It made everyone laugh, even Dale. The game ended with the Ducks winning and Dale paying off is bet. It was a great time.

Sorry, I can't uplaod any pictures for some reason. Will try tomorrow.


Til tomorrow.....

MORE RAIN!

Yesterday, was a wet one with rain pretty well all day. The low reached 7C on Tuesday night and the high was 15C.

It is pretty sad when you have a blog and the most important thing you have to put on it is getting the garbage out before the truck comes.

Cathy vacuumed the coach as I did some computer work in the a.m. During the afternoon we watched TV and checked out some locations we wanted to see and camp sites we might possibly stay at in our next leg of our journey. We are trying to select at least two sites as you never know some could be booked up.

All for now - we have been invited over for morning coffee at Ron and Janet's home.


Sorry no pictures.

A BORING DAY

I have a feeling this is going to be the start of a boring few days as it started raining Monday night and has been raining on and off since then. It is currently raining now. The forecast is calling for more of the same for the next three days.  The low reached 13C on Monday night and it did reach 14C yesterday for a high. This could be a test to see if we will get cabin fever.

Yesterday, we just took it easy and watched a couple of TV movies while Cathy did a couple of loads of laundry. It is really convenient having the washer/dryer in the coach. Another great item on the coach which I thought would not be used very much is the fireplace. It sure has been handy.

We have noticed a few more units arriving each day to spend the winter. This is typical as a lot of people wait until after Christmas, then leave for the south.

Hoping for clearing weather .....

LAST DAY OF 2012

It was a nice day Monday with the high reaching 28C and the low for Sunday night was 17C.

Don is noticing a difference in their water in their home already and Cathy says she is starting to notice a difference in our cold water. The hot will take a little longer as the water in out hot water tank will have to be refreshed with new water. It looks positive at this point.

Cathy and I had a talk about out future plans and decided to extend our stay here in Llano for an additional week since we like it here so much and the people don't get any better. We also know the weather will be cooler when we move further north. So no real big rush to get into it, but we do want to continue our exploring.

We really didn't do anything exciting in the a.m. In the afternoon Cathy called her brother Alan and wife Linda in Portland Oregon and had a great discussion. Later on we had to get ready for the pot luck dinner which Gene and Carol, Bernie and Tom hosted , who are all from Kansas. It was a really great spread with about 27 people attending. We sampled bacon wrapped water chestnuts, a rice payaya  and a cauliflower and shrimp casserole which were good.

                                                       Don checking out the food.    

                                                                   Some of the gang.

We also celebrated Dale' s  71st birthday, he is from Kansas as well. Cathy was talking to Dale later and asked if he would be watching football on New Year's Day and he said he was more interested on Thursday's game with Kansas playing Oregon. Cathy said she would have to support the Oregon Ducks so Dale asked if she wanted to wager a dollar on the game . After asking if it would be Canadian or U.S. Cathy said yes.

 Dale had to try and  blow out the sparkler candles on the cheese cake. His partner Linda, from Winnipeg bringing it over to him.

After dinner we had time to change clothes and do a little relaxing before going to the New Year's Dance at the rec. hall. It was a great dance with Elvis making an appearance who interacted with the crowd. There was a great turn out with champagne, hats and horns provided.

 Right after the dance we went to the river bank and watched the fireworks from nearby Progresso. The Mexicans are big into fireworks to celebrate events and you can tell a lot are sold. When driving around town there are lots of little sheds along the road selling them. The signs say buy 1 and get 5 free. Not sure what the free ones would consist of.

As it turned out we missed a really great display of fireworks that started just before 12 and went on for about 1/2 hour. We were told the whole horizon looking in that direction was fully illuminated with colour.

We went back to Gene and Carol's for a night cap and ended getting home at 1:30. This is the first New Years we have seen in many years and the latest we have been up for some time as well.

We still can't get over being in short sleeves and sitting out on New Year's Eve.

Looking forward to relaxing today.    

LAST DAY OF 2012

Friday night it was cool again dropping down to 6C, but Saturday did warm up to a high of 24 getting cloudy in the afternoon.

We ended up just sitting around and talking with Ron and Janet all afternoon and later being joined by Tonya and Don. Our get together actually included the happy hour running up to dinner time. These guys are great!  We had a lot of good laughs and and covered a lot of topics. They are making little comments to Cathy and I, about how we should be staying longer and it will colder where we plan on going next, which is further north. It will be hard to leave this great bunch of friends and resort.

After dinner Cathy and I were just relaxing, watching tv when Don banged on the side of our coach saying He and Tonya, Ron and Janet were heading for the swimming pool/hot tub and for us to get our suits on. So, off we went and we returned at 9 o'clock. It was a great night with lots of stars. It seemed to help us sleep as well.

"Happy New Year" to all of you and we hope 2013 finds you well and safe. Each year just seems to fly by faster and faster. 

Til tomorrow...

WAITING FOR SOFT WATER

Friday night's low reached 6C and the wind blew stronger than we normally get through Saturday. Still cool with a high of 17, better than it is in Ontario however. I understand there was snow going through the area there yesterday.

There have been 4 people in the park that have installed this water softener on their RVs or homes and said they have felt the change in the water. So I decided to buy two of them. One for the coach and one to put on the house. I am hoping we will be able to do away with the salt softener we have at home.

It is a very simple installation, you just need a 4 inch section of pipe on the water line as it comes into your house/RV to wrap the wire onto and a near by receptacle to plug into. The complete package contains the power box, a cable to plug into the power source to the power box, a length of wire to wrap around the pipe, 4 nylon ties and mounting screws for the power box.

The instructions are to connect the middle of the wire with a tie on the pipe and wrap one half  around the pipe in one direction 18 times. Then use another tie to fasten at the end of the wrapping. Then go back to the other wire half and wrap it on the pipe in the other direction over the previous wire wrapped. Tie it to the pipe when there are 18 wraps around the pipe. Strip enough wire coating off the two wire ends and connect them into the individual wire clips on the power box which is mounted nearby. Plug one end of the power cable in the power box and the other into the receptacle. That's it, just wait for the soft water. It apparently will vary how long it will take to create the soft water due to the amount of mineral build up in the water system. Hopefully it will not take too long with our newer coach. The idea behind it is, it creates an electrically charged zone around the pipe which will bind the hard minerals running through the pipe in the water and they are flushed right through the system. 

                   Before installation set up.White hose is the water line coming into coach.            

After installation: I used a quick connection so it can be removed went travelling to eliminate stress on the connection. White power box in top left corner mounted on panel. The blue wire wrapping goes in behind the panel to the power box for neatness. The electrical outlet was nice and handy to get at. 

In the afternoon Cathy and I went grocery shopping and that was pretty much it for the day. It was too cool to sit out and have happy hour. Didn't even see any of the neighbours out. I think they were all doing their running around chores.

Til tomorrow... 

  

SHE'S GONE SHOPPING AGAIN!!

We are still having a cool spell here, last night's temp. went down to 6C and it was quite windy. Friday's high was 23C under partial clouds.

Yesterday, Cathy was invited to go shopping with Tonya at the discount mall again. You should have seen the smile on Cathy's face. She was ready and out the door in no time.

So I stayed with the coach and did some tasks on it. Started the generator to lubricate all of its' seals and make sure everything is operational and exercised. The manual says it needs to run every month. I checked the coach batteries to make sure they are not running down in water. If they get too far down in water they will not regain their charge.

Don, Tonya's husband came over and asked if I wanted to help him install his water softener on their home. He really didn't need it, but it gave me something else to do. It kept us busy until the girls came back with their several bags of items. Then Don and I took off in his truck to go to Lowes and Home Depot to get some parts to install my softener. The installation will take place tomorrow as it was too close to happy hour when we got back and we could not miss it.

                                                                    The evening sky

Happy hour was under the new awning Ron and Janet had installed on their home on Thursday. Towards the end of our social hour Don brought out his Christmas gift. A remote control truck. (Boy's and their toys.) He provided some entertainment with his truck and is even starting to be envied by Tom. Right now the truck will do 40 mph, it is set in "training mode" and will due 60 when he switches it to the standard setting. It was starting to get dark so Cathy went to our coach and grabbed our little lights we clip on the back of our bicycles when we are out at night and clipped them on his truck. Don thought that was cool and I am sure he will be out looking for some in the near future. Apparently, the resort is going to make a track for these toys to run on since there are about 12 people that own them already. Right now they get together over at the Golf Course parking lot.

                                                                       The Toy           

                                               Don and his truck ( in centre left of picture)


All for now...

WATCHING OTHERS WORK

Yesterday had a lot of cloud, the low Wed. night dropped to 6C but it did get to 21C in the afternoon.


Cathy and I thought we would go over to the Rec. centre today for lunch. The menu has a selection of a soup of the day, hamburger, chicken and bbq beef sandwiches, club house and blt's. Cathy tried the blt with the home made beef barley soup. I went with the bbq. beef sandwich a with fries. Along with this we can help our selves to fresh rye and wheat bread, various veg. and fruit salads. All for $5.00 each.

After lunch we sat out, Ron and Janet came over and we watched as their contractor was installing their awning. Just two doors down from them our other friends from happy hour Don and Tonya (from South Dakota) were getting their yard dug up to expand their cement surface. Then, they too are going to have an awning installed. These contractors seem to be some where in the park doing a project for the property owners. Since there was already a few of us sitting out at our place the happy hour congregated here.

                                                                       New awning

                                                   Digging out for cement expansion

 The properties in our area are all for sale except the already purchased ones. On average they are 40 feet by 72 feet and have all the services at the site. They were selling for $26,000.00 but are now going for $19,900.00. You have to pay about $800.00 in taxes, your own hydro and $140.00 /month for maintenance - gas cutting and all the amenities in the park including two tickets with 20 rounds of golf for the year. Some sites are currently being sold by the current owners already and they have expanded the cement area and added a cacita. For more $ of  course.

As we sat out we saw some of the happy hour gang arriving back from their family Christmas visits. Doc and Nancy from Kansas and Tom and Bernie who were visiting family in northern Texas. We are told there will be others arriving soon whom we have not met coming from Ontario.

                                                                      Mocking bird
Til tomorrow...