What’s new in the RGV?

Kind of fighting off a cold and sore throat. Yuk! Could be worse I ‘spect. Could be doing it where it is cold instead of down here where it’s 80o and sunny today. Maybe I’ll do something constructive today…….or maybe I won’t? Carving on the picnic table sounds good. That reminds me of a conversation at carving a few days ago. We were talking about our carvings and what we do with them; sell them, give them to friends, use them as designer firewood, whatever? I said that I give some to family and friends after much arm twisting and exchange of money. That’s me paying family members and friends to take the stuff off my hands, not me receiving any kind of remuneration. I said when I can’t coerce family any longer I decorate picnic tables and shelters. I started getting strange looks and silence and I realized that they thought I was carving into picnic tables, instead what I do, which is leave my finished carvings on picnic tables when we leave. A big difference! So be checking those picnic tables. And after some laughter I finally got the carving group believing that I wasn’t defacing picnic tables.
Here is L’il Britches And a start on something else?
These ‘hot flashes’ are getting ridiculous! I mentioned a couple of posts back that I get them as a result of the hormone therapy I’m on. But Damn !!!!!! After playing Pickleball I’m like a big ol’ willow tree after a rainstorm or somethin’. I have my own #@*&% drip line! And I get no sympathy from the ladies. I know paybacks are tough, but I never picked on anybody who was having hot flashes. “Give me a break.”
Friday night we went to see the VSO down at the McAllen Civic Center. That’s the Valley Symphony Orchestra. Bet you didn’t think they had any culture down here? I’ll admit you’re more likely to hear something more likely heard in Branson or maybe a Mariachi Band. But the fact is there is a rich history of music of all types in Mexico, mariachi included. There are differing opinions to the origin of the word. Some say it comes from the French word for marriage because that is the type of music played at weddings. But that seems unlikely because the word was in use before the French got here. More likely it comes from a native language, Coca; in this language mariachi is the name of the type of wood used to make the platform on which musicians would stand to perform. Betcha’ didn’t know that. Anyway there is an orchestra and they were pretty good. It was a night of show tunes. Mostly Mancini and Williams but some others mixed in. Star Wars, the Sound of Music, Pink Panther, Peter Gunn, etc.
But the Big News is that we……….. drum roll here…………….. got a new car! Hot Damn! Yup, the old Escort is/was getting old. Fifteen faithful years of towing was enough. We’d been thinking about it for a while. Had it down to a Honda CR-V and Ford Escape. We happened to drive by a Ford dealer on the way to Harlingen and decided to stop by on the way back. As happens with us when we do that kind of thing, all to often we come home with what they’re selling. But it wasn’t total impulse buying. Our questions and concerns were answered and they made us an offer we could hardly refuse. I’ve had good luck with Fords and they can be serviced anywhere. That is important to us because we’re all over the country and don’t want to be looking high and low for a service center. ( I know, you Ford haters are thinking, “that’s because they need it all the time”). It is towable four wheels down without any modification. That was a must! It is a real cool color. Gold Leaf to match the MH, and that was a huge. All kinds of bells and whistles that are foreign to me. I’m still learning automatic door locks and windows. The neighbors hope I learn not to hit the panic button, instead of the unlock button real soon (actually its kinda’ fun). Like I said, the Escort was 15 years old, what do I know of automatic door locks?

Holy Crap !!!!!!!! Now I think I’ve done it! I just got back from woodcarving and ask Kat how many teaspoons of sugar she put in my tea. I have a big ‘to go’ Starbucks container for coffee and tea and Kat is sweet and makes tea or coffee sometimes for me when she knows I’m leaving. Anyway, she says two teaspoons. “Two teaspoons!”, says I. “Sweetie I says, you know it’s a rather large cup and requires three! That was rather niggardly don’t you think?”! And now I’ve heard a terrible screeching of tires on pavement, the growling and barking of dogs and men. I think I hear the rattle of handcuffs and chains, and the beating of truncheons on hardened and calloused palms. I really fear it is the ‘thought police’ coming to drag me into the street and away to God only knows where never to be seen again or until their promise of ‘getting my mind right’ is complete. Keep me in your thoughts. I will return !! Whew!, that was close! It was just a couple of pinheaded bureaucratic pencil necks and Jade and I cleaned up on’em.
Ain’t I awful ???

Jenga

OK:  who hasn’t played Jenga with the kids or grandkids?  It’s the one where you unstack blocks until they fall over and you shout Jenga and the one who made the stack fall is the loser.  Usually the end of the game is accompanied by some pouting, gnashing of teeth, or crying or something by the loser because they are teased by the winner(s).  Especially if it’s a youngster or dad.  That’s Jenga!  But we play a different variety here in the RV.  Kat has become quite the crafter.  She knits, beads, and sews now.  She just got a new sewing machine and has already made some cool stuff.  PJ’s for her and a carving tool roll-up holder for me.  And she is making pin cushions that look like flowers.  Well all of this stuff requires some thought and organization when it comes to storage.  Especially the beading.  We have lots and lots of assorted containers for all those little beads, pins, wire, hooks, loops and who knows what all that are needed for all that crafting.  You’ll just have to imagine what it looked like and why I shouted JENGA!, the first time I saw it.  Just not something I can duplicate. 

Winter is still making an effort to hang on here.  We’re only going to have a high of 66 today with a low of 51.  I know.  Tough break!  But it did get down to 39 last night.  I woke up between the cat and the Kat this morning with a ‘hot flash’.  I said something about being between them and Kat said you never had it so good.  I said that’s “hard to argue but I’m still hot”.  So Kat started fanning me with her book, just to make a point.  But my discomfort from the ‘hot flash’ didn’t last long after I got up.  39 is cold in a tin box.  But coffee and the furnace took care of it.  We never had it so good!
I’m still doing lots of carving although I don’t have the luxury to do my crafting inside like some people I know.  I keep telling Kat that Jack gets to carve inside but it doesn’t seem to ‘cut any ice’ with her.  But I’m not suffering.  I have a key to the wood carving room over at the Hanger.  The Hanger is kind of a hanger looking metal all purpose building.  It houses the tennis/Pickleball court, a rock club room, Ping Pong, a couple of all purpose rooms and the woodcarvers/stained glass room.  Sometimes I even do some carving while waiting to play a game of Pickleball.  I also do lots of carving outside the RV at our picnic table. We bought that not too long ago for the primary purpose of woodcarving and of course brushing the Jade and providing her a place to nap, and knock off anything that happens to be on the table while she is up there on her string.  One of the unintended consequences was the extra benefit of the exercise we get running up and down the RV steps to untangle the stupid cat who has her string wrapped several times around the table leg.  We just finished staining it yesterday and then we went to Lowe’s and got a 6” wood vice so I can clamp wood well enough to make carving cut-outs with my various saws.   I would like a jig saw but really don’t have lots of room.  I probably could put one in the shed but then it would just stay here and the wood vice is very portable and I made it so I can clamp it to any picnic table for our travels.  I have lots more time than money anyway.  I’ll just do my cut-outs the old fashion way.  By hand.  We just went to “The Rally on the Rio’, another woodcarving show, and I checked out the price of cut-outs and rough-outs and it was ridiculous.  Another reason to do my own.  I just trace a pattern on wood and then start sawing away.    I’m also helping Tom, our Master Carver, with a beginners class we’re doing her in the park.  He does most of the teaching but I’m able to help out some with sharpening or individual instruction.  Maybe show somebody which end of the knife to hold, or how not to cut off a finger and dispense Band-Aids if they try.  It’s fun.  Helping out I mean, not dispensing Band-Aids.   
Damn!  I could swear I just saw a hawk or maybe a merlin on our outside window shade.  Heard a commotion and saw a large banded tail and then it was gone.  Because we’re always feeding the birds, sometimes it happens that a predator like that passes by in an attempt to find an easy meal.  Sometimes they’re successful and sometime they’re not.  This time it wasn’t a great commotion so it must have been unsuccessful or just some other large bird.   Oh!!!  I did get a pic of the Buff Bellied Hummingbird you didn’t see in the previous post.

Today I am going with Bill over to Tropic Star or Treasure Island or some RV resort over in Pharr, Texas, to help put on a Pickleball demonstration.  This will be my second.  Pickleball is really taking off down here.  Thanks in large part to Bill and Karen Hopkins from here at Bentsen Grove and who I’m proud to say are good friends of ours from Memphis.  I believe I mentioned Bill and Karen in a previous post from Memphis.  Bill is responsible for organizing play at the Mission Rec Center and really helping get Pickleball off the ground here in the RGV.  Let’s here it for Bill and Karen. 

Jade, the Buff Bellied, and Football

Jade likes her new RV parking spot pretty much. That is if she doesn’t have an encounter with motorhome jacks and shocks and things. But we check on her once in a while and she’ll let us know if she really gets in trouble. She has a real telltale scream if necessary.

And here you can see that she is determined to find the @#%&#  #$% cat that we’re trying to get off the table.
If you look real close at this picture you will see where the Buff Bellied hummingbird was just before I snapped this picture. Pretty cool huh ?? And you won’t see one at your feeder for sure. But as you can tell from this picture that they are quite common down here at the tip of Texas and on into old Mexico.
A word about football if you will? Maybe two.
So if you are inclined to not like football you can stop reading here. At least until the next posting.
First the National Championship game. Me and Wendy (oldest daughter and expert on football) pretty much agree that if the Oregon Ducks and Auburn Tigers played 22 more times this year Oregon would win 19 of them. You might ask yourself how we came up with those numbers? Well, I told you, Wendy and I pretty much agree. Nuff said !!! OK, I’ll elaborate a bit. Oregon didn’t play real well. No excuses really, they just didn’t go through with the game plan and hurry up offense like they had all year. Then they made some mistakes and penalties in real bad places. One of them resulting in a safety and a nine point turnaround. And some bad decisions on 4^th down really hurt. That you can put on coach Chip. Then there is Auburn, I’m not trying to take anything away form Auburn, they won and should have that night. But they certainly weren’t impressive either. The Ducks handled Newton very well. If not for #5 and the offensive line they wouldn’t have been close even given the way Oregon played. Cam aside they just weren’t that good. I saw a couple of their games and more than once they should have been beaten. What I don’t want to hear is how great they were against Alabama. I watched that and Alabama folded and that was it. I mean the Crimson Tide couldn’t find their collective ass with both hands and a flashlight in the second half. That was purely a case of who was worst and that day it was Alabama. So I got that off my chest! And #2 ain’t bad!
For the second word I would only say “go Seahawks”!!!! OK that’s more than another word. Sorry! But since the Seahawks were only 7 and 9 they don’t belong there anyway none of this counts. And it’s just the NFL so who really cares anyway. Maybe they’ll go on strike and we can all lead productive lives this fall. Well, on second thought that might be taking it a little too far………….

Back in the RGV

           

One of the Hill Folk                        A whimsical house in cottonwood bark

So we’ve been swimming, over to Mission West (an RV park just next to us) for their delicious burgers, Pickleballing, woodcarving and that was just the first three days. When I went to woodcarving I got a welcome like a Rock Star. At least that’s what it felt like. I guess they were surprised we escaped from up north and weren’t expecting us just yet. Good group! Unfortunately one of the group didn’t make it this year. One of the dangers of getting old. But he may make it next year. It’s kind of a morbid little joke down here that every time you hear a siren somebody says, “well there’s another trailer for sale”. But it’s an old population and there are lots of sirens. Still……….. It’s good to be back.
I am feeling good and it’s good to be back among friends and have things to do. Nina from woodcarving brought me a bunch of cottonwood bark for carving. Cool! She wanted to buy a piece that I was making last year and I wouldn’t sell it to her. I just don’t do that. But she kept after me and I finally finished it and just gave it to her. She asked what a wanted for it and I said two good pieces of bark. So she worried all summer about that bark and wasn’t finding any. Just before they left up north, a tornado touched down in a state park near Erie PA, where they’re from and knocked down a bunch of cottonwood trees. She got permission and gathered up a bunch and brought it down. So now she’s saying that God is/was looking out for me. I don’t know about that, but she gave me first pick and I have a bunch of good bark. And more than just a couple of pieces.
Now we’ve settled down to enjoy winter in the RGV. Actually winter may have arrived today and will be here until the weekend it looks like. Only 50 today and tomorrow with lows in the lower 40’s and then back to the 80’s for the weekend. Hopefully that will be it. But the rule of thumb is that ‘we’re not out of the woods’ as far as cold weather is concerned until January 15^th. After that winter is reliably over. Hope so! I know I shouldn’t complain when I consider what you folks go through for winter, but we come down here to avoid it! You can be sure that if winter lasts more than 3 days I’ll be complaining.
We went to entertainment a couple of nights ago at the rec hall to see the Link Family. They do gospel and bluegrass on tour from Branson I think. I like to hear the theme from Deliverance and Orange Blossom Express and a couple of others. They’re very good! Seen them 3 times now. Anyway we stood for “God Bless America and when we sat down I happened to see the guy in front of me sit down in kind of the old guy squat thing and I thought aawww crap……… That’s what I do. Ya’ kind of do a ¼ squat, stick your butt out, put your hands on your knees, look between your legs for the chair, and then groan and sit down and say aaaahhhhhh!!! Getting old ain’t for sissy’s !!!!!! Am I right, or am I right !!!!!!
Some of you may be worried about us going to Mexico because of all the stories you’ve heard recently. You can put your mind at ease. Not because we’re not going, but because we don’t think it’s as bad as you hear. We were going anyway and then yesterday we had a talk from a Border Patrol agent who said its OK to go to Progresso. That is where we go. Most all of the incidents in Texas are in El-Paso/Juarez. He said just use your head, we do, stay with others, we do, don’t go too far into town, we don’t, and don’t piss off the cartel…… huh? He didn’t really say that last part. I just was seeing if you were awake???? And here is a thought. The cartels don’t want the bad publicity, the merchants want our business, what is the motivation for keeping us away? I guess there are people on the other side of the border who just don’t like gringos. But would you rather go to Progresso where you have never experienced any trouble or inner city Detroit? Even Portland for that matter. I don’t know you pick the major inner city urban area. I’ll take Nuevo Progresso, Mexico. Besides we found a spot with good shrimp tacos and we need some 800 mg ibuprofen.
Damn it’s cold!!! I hate winter!!! Even if it is three days long.
Recently I was doing some genealogy and got to thinking of one of my fantasies. Wait, you don’t have to run kids off, I said genealogy. And remember it is my blog. Some of you know that my fathers side of the family has a remarkable Civil War history. My GG Grandfather Absalom and six of his sons volunteered from Ohio for service in the Northern Army. He and three sons did not return. Food rations during the war, even for the North were pretty slim. It was not uncommon for a soldier to receive about a ½ lb. of pork fat and a cup of dry beans, plus found, for a days rations. So my fantasy is to walk GG Grandpa through an upscale grocery store just to see the look on his face. Can you imagine? How much could a person from the hills of Ohio in 1860 even identify. Well, it’s just a thought. But it brings a smile to my face. And then I begin to think of all the other possibilities………..

Did you notice the date on this posting?  Cool!