Today I am Thankful for ... the little things

Today I am thankful for the little things.  One of the gals here in the park volunteers at the local senior center/nutrition center on Monday, Wednesday & Fridays.  And the nutrition center posts a monthly calendar.  If there is something on the menu that sounds pretty good Jan will pick up lunch for us.  Well it lunch at the nutrition center but dinner for us. And all for $3 for each meal.

Last week the menu for November came out and today's lunch was chicken fried steak and all the trimmings.  So we sent our $6 to Jan and she brought lunch/dinner home for us.  And what  a blessing it was for us.  Ron is still battling that cold and he took a two hour nap after work.  I went to the clubhouse and visited for a little while and then came back.  Ron was still sleeping so I quietly heated up the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and broccoli...it was yummy.

Thank you Jan for picking up our lunch/dinner.  You always say it is nothing, just a little thing you can do...but for us today it was a big thing.  Thank you for being a blessing for/to us today.

Today I am Thankful for ...naps

Today has been a kinda different day: woke up early, made sausage rolls for breakfast and then went to Sunday School.  Sunday School was interesting and we talked about "our calling."  And through it all hubby coughed, coughed, and coughed some more.  After Sunday School we looked at each other and said at the same time "maybe we should go home."  And that is what we did.  We came home.

Hubby took some cough drops and a small nap in the recliner and I goofed around on the computer and watched some Dateline ID shows and then made lunch: homemade pizza with Dutch apple pie (leftover from last night) and then decided a nap sounded wonderful.  I tried to sleep on the couch but couldn't settle down between the knock on the door (thanks Jim for the newspaper) and Gordon, the assistant manager, coming and going in the golf cart (the negative of living so close to the office) and so I finally moved to the bed about 2:15 p.m.  And then I took a nap ~ slept till 5:23 ~ guess I was pretty tired.  Changing the clocks back/forward always throw me off for a day or two.

I woke feeling very refreshed ~ thank you Lord for the gift of a nap, the gift of sleep. 

Today I am Thankful for...a day of relaxation.

Today I am thankful for a day of relaxation.  I woke up at 6:11 this morning - was so looking forward to sleeping in but that was not to be.  So I had a caramel hot cocoa and read some emails.  And then Ron got up about 9:30 and after chatting for a little while decided we would go into Castroville to go to some garage sales.  About 1:00 we went to Sammy's for lunch.  We had heard good things ~ our thoughts "it was okay, but nothing to write home about."  And then we decided to go for a ride...we went to Moore, Devine, Yancey and then back to Hondo for some grocery shopping.

Then home for a dinner of hodge podge - actually left overs and a cleaning out of the fridge.  And I baked a Dutch apple pie.  I am letting it cool for a little while before we dig into it.

It has been a great day ~ no demands, a nice drive through some pretty countryside and a few stops along the way.  In Devine they were having a Fall Harvest Festival so we stopped and walked around checking out the different vendors, listened to some good country music and watched some clogging.  After that we stopped at the Yancey General Store.  And what an interesting store it is  ~ kinda like a yard sale, kinda like a 7-11 and a little like a gift shop.  

Thank you Lord for a great day of rest!!!

Today I am Thankful for...Friends

Today I am thankful for friends.

Ron and I have been so blessed through our lives by friends.  Just today a friend blessed me by leaving me a gift at the door to the motor home.  Another friend provided our dinner tonight by sending us a package from Frontier Soups.  Tonight's dinner was White Bean Chili ~ it was scrumptious.  And we shared that dinner with friends from here at Lone Star Corral.

We have been blessed by friends every where we have lived.  We have been blessed by friends we have met through the internet and met along the road in our travels.  We have been blessed with words of encouragement, a card in the mail, a surprise phone call, gifts of love, surprise visits and so much more.

I hope you too have been blessed by friends.

Today I am Thankful for...

Today I am thankful for our work.  We really like our jobs, being in Texas and the members in the park who have become our friends.

We have been here at the Lone Star Corral just over 8 months.  We like our work.  Ron enjoys being outside so much of the time.  And being outside here is a lot different then at home in Whatcom County - the biggest being no rain.  It has rained three times since we arrived here last February.  We are definitely in a drought and never thought we would be praying for rain ~ yet we do just that each night when we go to bed.

I enjoy being in the office.  I like being able to organize things, design and make forms, flyers and handouts.  One of my responsibilities is to keep the books for the campground and that includes balancing all the different checking/savings account.  What amazes me is that they usually balance the first time ~ what I don't get is why my home accounts don't do that??? 

One of the things we both enjoy is being able to visit and engage in conversations with so many different people.  Just yesterday one of the members shared with Ron about quite a few places to see around here.  So I think we are going on a drive this Saturday or Sunday to check out some new places.  I like hearing where the campers have been before they arrived here and where they are heading when they leave.  For instance, last night a couple left to go work as gate guards for a few months.  We enjoyed talking with them before they left as that is something we have talked about possibly doing in the future.

We look forward to finishing out our contract here at the Lone Star Corral.  Right now our contract ends on April 13, 2012.  But that date may change as we have been asked to stay for a second year.  Right now the Board of Directors are working on a contract to offer us.  We would ask that you join us in prayer ~ that if this is where we are to be for another year that the contract will be one we can accept and is agreeable to all of us.  We will keep you updated on our plans.

Today I am Thankful for My Hubby

Today I am thankful for my hubby!  Well every day I am thankful for him but today is extra...he is such a sweet man and loves me in many ways.

He told me this morning about my birthday present.  He got us a room at the Drury Suites on the Riverwalk in San Antonio for December 2nd & 3rd.  What a fun weekend to celebrate my birthday and our 36th anniversary (Dec. 20th that is!).  And the room has a private jacuzzi in it!!  Now how fun will that be.  He knows one of the things I miss being in the motor home is not being able to take long, relaxing bubble baths...now how sweet is that he got a jacuzzi just for us.  Bring on the bubble bath, candles and a glass of wine - yippee!!

I have thought about ways Ron shows his love for me...we have a couple of good deals.  If I do the cooking he does the clean up.  If I do the laundry he cleans up the motor home ~ you know stuff like cleaning the bathroom and sweeping...stuff that he knows are not my favorite things to do when it comes to cleaning.

When I have had rough night of sleep, he will let me sleep in if it is a weekend and till 7:30 a.m. if it is a work day (thank goodness we live only 25 feet from the office).  He is always willing to make me coffee or stop at McDonald's (no Starbucks or Woods here in D'Hanis) to pick me up an iced mocha.

Ron and I joke that he married me to get lower insurance rates and a pay raise (he was 20 and in the Air Force) and I married him to get away from home but the truth is that he wrote his dad a letter the day we met and told him he had met the girl he was going to marry.  I think it took me a couple of weeks to know I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.  And it has definitely been a journey.

We have had some real rough roads to climb and some great mountain top experiences together.  We have cried together and laughed together.  We have moved 34 times before moving into the motor home.  Some of those moves have been within the same apartment complex to across town to across the ocean and back.  And through it all he has been right along side of me.

We have faced some major medical hurdles and celebrated with some wonderful parties with friends and family.  We have been blessed with two wonderful son's and together we have parented through the good and the bad times.  We have celebrated many mile stones with our boys - birthday's, school achievements, girl friends and wives, and the birth of 4 wonderful grandchildren and mourned the loss of two grandbabies together.

Through all of our married life journey Ron has been my rock, my stronghold, encourager and even a pain in the rear at times but through it all we have walked together.  I am so thankful for a husband who loves me through thick and thin, the good and the bad, the fun and the sad.

Thank you Ron for your unselfish love for me!!  I love you 'mensly!  I love you more!!!

Being Thankful

As I woke this morning I thought about November and Thanksgiving and being thankful.  I am thankful for the many blessings I have in my life: friends, a loving husband, two wonderful sons and their precious families and so much more.  I thought about the decision I made last November to write about being thankful for specific things each day in November.  Don't get me wrong - I thank the Lord each day for things that I am thankful for but last November I was diligent to write a post each day on thankfulness.  And as I woke at 5:03 this morning I thought "I should do that again!" And so here I am today on November 1 ~~~

Today I am thankful for the gift of friendship and unexpected visits with special friends.  Yesterday afternoon I received an email from Pastor Charles (our pastor from our home church of Northwood Alliance Church in Blaine, WA) asking if we could get together for dinner and a visit?  Well of course!!!  So I chatted with Ron and then called Pastor Charles on his cell phone and he said he would be at our place in a couple of hours.  I was so excited to spend time with him.  One of the things I miss about not being in Blaine is being able to walk into Charles' office and ask questions or share something special with him.  Email and phone calls are just not the same.

Charles arrived about 5:30 and after lots of hugs and hello's we gave him a tour of the office here at Lone Star Corral and then walked over to the clubhouse.  We then drove around the park and introduced him to a few of the friends we have made here.  And then we were off to dinner at El Charro's and lots of visiting and catching up.  And before we knew it it was time for him to head back to Seguin where he was staying.  But before he left we spent some time in prayer - another thing we have missed - sharing in prayer time with special friends.  And with more hugs he was back on the road.

Thank you Charles for taking time out of your busy schedule to spend a few hours with us and for the delicious dinner and most importantly for spending time in prayer with us.  We are so thankful for the blessing of friendship, love and care that Pastor Charles brings into our lives.

Stay tuned for more thoughts on thankfulness in the coming days.  And don't forget to find something to be thankful for in your own life.

Sunday Evening 10/9/11

We are home now...sounds funny since our home always travels with us :)  We had a good time with Cindy & Walker Brewer.  And the rain last night and today was refreshing even with the leak around the window.

And of course no trip with The Wandering Workentins is ever uneventful.  Hubby pulled into the HEB in Hondo to get gas before we returned to the Lone Star Corral.  While waiting for a pump to empty I decided to go into HEB and get some bananas for smoothies in the morning.  Just as I started to step out of the motor home there was a huge bang and jolt and I said SH...!  And quickly stepped out of the rig to see a lady in a pickup towing a horse trailer hooked onto our motor home.  Yes, we had been hit.  Ron told her to back up a little and let's see what the damage was.  Fortunately she only pulled the metal and rubber end off the rig!!  And Ron put it all back together.  Not her trailer though - she had to take a hammer to get it pulled away from the tire. 

As we were driving home (before the little incident at HEB) we were talking about maybe looking for a new motor home to purchase as we continue to plan for where we go after we are done in Texas...on Ron's bucket list is to drive to Alaska and work up there for a summer...so the wheels are turning....and then after the incident we both commented if the gal had ripped off the back end of the motor home it would have been totaled...hmm can we go back and have her hit us a little harder :)  just kidding we really are glad the damage was little and no one was hurt.

Now to start thinking/planning/figuring for the future!.

On a sad note, we got word this morning that Ed, the previous Assistant Manager died of a massive heart attack late last night...please keep Jeannette and their kids in your prayers.

6 AM on Sunday, October 9, 2011

Got woken up at 4:21 a.m. due to the door slamming shut from the wind.  Laid in bed and watched the lightening, listening to the thunder and then hearing a drip, drip, drip on the bedroom window.  We haven't had much rain here in drought stricken Texas but this morning is different.  It is coming down and hard at that.  Just checked radar and there are flash flood warnings in Bexar and Guadalupe County (where we currently are visiting friends).  I do love the sound of the rain though (can you believe this Washington transplant girl is saying that?)

Anyway, thought I would just check in and let y'all know we are fine.  Hope to be able to update more tonight once we are back in D'Hanis.  Have a great day today!!

Ramblin'

Thought I would just write about what we have been doing and what is on the horizon ~ hopefully not too boring for y'all.

Work is going well.  New Assistant Managers, Gordon & Diana arrived on Friday, September 16th and started working on Monday, September 19th.  They seem to be catching on pretty well.  Training has been very uneventful.  Tomorrow and Friday we are going to be hanging in the motor home and let them do their jobs without us hovering.  We will be close by though in case they have problems.  Then next week they are working on Wednesday as I have a doctor's appointment with the cardiologist ~ Dr. Emily, here in Hondo is concerned about my high pulse rate - it is beating between 100 & 144 beats pretty consistently.  And then they start working on Saturday & Sunday's, October 8th &  9th so the office will be open 7 days a week ~ the start of our winter hours.


We have good friends arriving on Friday. They are going to stay in the little B&B about a mile from us here in the park. I am looking forward to seeing the inside ~ have thought of doing a weekend retreat there all by myself so I can take a couple of long hot baths ~ sure miss my tub and a long soak with a good book and a glass of wine

Patrick & Patricia will be here till Monday morning. On Saturday we are going into San Antonio. Will go to the Alamo and the Riverwalk. When we took our grandson to the Alamo he was not interested in reading all the history and stuff. We know we can do that with P&P. And of course we will go for some BBQ somewhere. Any of you who have visited San Antonio know of a good BBQ place?

I am going to use Thursday as a day to do some cleaning and sorting of the rig. They (the park) have a big flea market/yard sale on the 12th of November so I am want to see if I can gather enough stuff to have a table or else I will donate it to the park table. I have also decided to go through all my clothes that I have in the rig and also in two big totes in the storage shed here - I don't need to keep carrying all these clothes that I don't wear very often or at all any more. And then I need to get busy and clean out all the cupboards in the rig. Feel free to ask me how the cleaning/purging/sorting is going - a little accountability never hurt!!

And of course pictures are always fun to show.  Sure hope you enjoy them.

Opal - she looks so much like her daddy!

Grandpa asked to be slapped when he said "just like a typical woman - yakking on the phone"

Danayln, Max, Brandon, Treyson and Christopher - we love how Danalyn always coordinates their clothes for family pictures.  Grandpa thought she should have picked something besides Carolina Blue.

Brandon with Treyson.  I took this picture while we were on Skype together just a couple of weeks ago.

Well I guess that's all for now.  Hope you enjoyed catching up with us.  Take care and have a great day!!!

A Productive Weekend

We have had a good and productive weekend.

Saturday found us going to San Antonio for a Costco run.  We had not been since the end of June.  Usually when we go we only buy bottled water like Propel or Gatorade, toilet paper, paper towels, dry goods and of course, Ron's beer.  But this time was different.  A couple here at the Lone Star Corral have offered us the use of their side by side fridge/freezer so this time we were able to buy some meat and frozen fruit & vegi's.  This will help me so much with meal planning and saving money. 

One of my goals for the month of September is for us NOT to go out to eat unless it is a special occasion.  We ate out way too much in July & August.  Like last week I went out Friday night with a group of gals from here in the park.  And this next week, we are taking Jared out for dinner to say thank you for all his hard work this summer and for covering while Ron was in Idaho & Oregon.  So far we are up to 16 of us going to H.ermann's & Sons.  It should be a good time.  But I digress - so after grocery shopping and figuring what all we had in the shed, the storage bins and added what we bought I am now planning our meals for the month.  After all that shopping we had a quiet evening at home.

Today was a busy day.  After sleeping till about 8:30 I got up and decided to do some cleaning today.  I did some deep cleaning of the kitchen and bathroom, and organizing my books and cleaning off my nightstand I tackled the dining room table, benches and underneath the table.  And swept the motor home - I can't believe how dusty things get even with the windows closed up - with running the air conditioner 24/7 for almost three months straight I was really surprised but the dust bunnies are all gone now - at least for a little while.  I then went and did six loads of laundry - usually we have two loads.  Thank goodness for  having six washer & dryers in the laundry room - took me just over 2 hours but it is done for now.

I then spent a few hours on the computer before Ron started scrounging around for something to eat.  It was after 5:00 p.m.  So I put together dinner - roasted chicken with green beans w/mushrooms, fried potatoes with onions and something new.  Hank & Euona Rathjen had made us a plate of okra w/onions and bacon.  Ron and I had never had it - we were pleasantly surprised - it tasted really good.  Definitely going to add that to our menu. 

We ended the evening watching John Wayne in McClintock.  So fun to see a well made movie and so many famous actors. 

So as  Ron's mom used to say - "we had a perfect day."  Hope you did too.

Mini Update

Am really struggling with knowing what to write and telling myself I should just write whatever.  And then I ask myself who am I writing for - I write because I like to write, I like to talk and I like to share what is going on in our lives so this raises the question - Why then don't I just write a small post each day just for me???  So that is what I am going to do - just write something, anything and write for me not for others.  If others like what I write that is great, if not, so be it.

The last couple of weeks have been frustrating here in the park.  While Ron and Jared were working on the drain/water system surrounding the clubhouse last week Ron broke a propane line.  This meant the water and propane to the clubhouse had to be turned off.  Thinking it would not take long to fix we put a sign up on the laundry room explaining the laundry room was closed till further notice and put the same notice on the sign board outside the office.  Well two days turned into five, turned into eight days.  

Needless to say we had some unhappy campers.  Especially the one who went into use the laundry room and didn't know it was closed.  Seems someone opened the door to the laundry room (the sign was on the outside of the door) and this person didn't know the laundry room was closed.  OK, no big deal right - well no, we had to refund their money and while Ron was climbing on top of the washer to disconnect it from the electricity so he could get the washer open so she could get her dry spinning dirty laundry out he smacked his head a good one against a nail sticking out of the wall!!  A nice  1 1/2" gash on his head.  My question was "why would someone open the dang door to the laundry room if it was closed?"  of course no one could answer me and of course no one would fess up to doing it.

So after multiple trips to Hondo (16 miles round trip), one trip to Uvalde (66 miles round trip) and trying multiple fixes it was successfully repaired late Wednesday morning.  I have 5 or 6 loads of laundry to do but wanted to wait for the rush to die down - think I am going to try to do laundry tomorrow late afternoon.

And of course we are on fire alert.  Earlier this week we had a large fire in San Antonio about 45 miles from us.  Today has been a bit more scary as there is one burning about 25 miles from the Lone Star Corral.  You can see the smoke from that fire all the way into Hondo.  We have talked about an evacuation plan.  Ron figures we would need 30 minutes notice to hit the road ~ in that 30 minutes we would just toss things from the shed into the rig, move stuff around in the rig so we can have access to the driver/passenger seats, hook up the Jeep and hit the road.  Besides getting all our stuff in the rig I have made a list of what I need to grab from the office: the Emergency Contact Book, the money, the checkbook and the little safe.  If I have the time I would also grab the desktop computer - it is only the hard drive and the screen.

So we pray:

1.  For rain - we desperately need rain.

2.  For safety for all the firemen/women responding to these fires

3.  For 45 minutes notice to evacuate if it comes to that

4.   For peace of mind no matter what comes our way

If you are a praying person, please join us in praying for Texas and the weather/fire danger and I would also ask for your prayers for those on the East Coast who are dealing with floods, with no end in sight.  For people to remain calm and not let their emotions rule what happens.

So that's it for tonight.  Talk to y'all soon.

Where Have I Been?

Why can't I get my act together to keep this blog and my other one  "Alice's Restaurant" updated on a regular basis???  I think of all the things I want to write about but time just gets away from me....so here I go again.

We are doing fine.   Ron made it safely home from Idaho and Oregon...he took 535 pictures and I finally got them onto the computer.  Now to get them into a post or two or three....they are in my head, just have to get them onto the computer.  Today I finally wrote a letter that I have been needing to write for almost 3 months...what is with that????

I think I need to go back to carrying a daytimer of some sort.  I have been looking at them to start in January but what to do in the meantime???  Suggestions.  I have made lists, lots of lists and where are they - on my desk in the office when I am in the motor home or in the motor home when I am in the office.  Agh....I just need to get my act together.  Not only about writing and keeping them up to date but also stuff aIround here.  I feel like I am just being a slug....and I don't like this slug that I am turning into.

 I have been doing two things that were missing in my life.  I am now getting up at 6 a.m. and exercising...I have got to lose some weight.  First goal is 7.2 lbs down and I am down 2 of that 7!  Then the next goal is down 25 lbs and then another 25 lbs.  Timeline wise I want to be down 20 lbs by 11/14 when my friend Dee arrives for a week.  So I only have 18 more to go to reach that goal.

The other thing is spending time in the Word every morning.  Right now it is about 15 to 20 minutes a day.  I would like to be able to spend 45 to 60 minutes each morning in the Word and in prayer.  And I know that will improve as I get connected to a Bible study that begins the middle of September.  More directed study is the best and easiest way for me to spend more time in God's Word.

Our motor home feels crowded and cluttered.  I need to purge and get rid of stuff but don't even know where to begin.  I need to get my monthly menus back on track.  I have done pretty good this week with meal planning by day.  But I do so much better eating wise, grocery shopping wise, spending wise and not eating out wise.  

I need help, some plans, some ideas - please share, please ask me if I am doing "xyz" - what do you do to keep your home organized and simplified?  How do you do monthly meal planning?  How do you keep motivated to keep a clean and tidy home?  Yes we live in our motor home but it is our home...it's not just a place to go camping and play in???

So to close I will share the one movie Ron took while he was with Brandon and his family.  The background noise you here is Max playing a Wii shooting game.  The baby is Treyson and it is so fun to watch his little movements.

Hope you have enjoyed catching up with us even if it is just a little bit.

And the Bathroom is Finished!!!

Let me begin this post with an order:

IF ANYONE HEARS ME MENTION PAINTING ANYTHING IN THE MOTOR HOME - TELL ME NO!!!!

This is what it looked like before I started painting.  The wallpaper is an avocado green with white.  Took 3 coats of paint to cover the green so it would not show.  The cabinets were an off white and they took 2 coats of paint.

And this was just after I had been at it for about 45 minutes and I was asking myself "why did I want to paint the  bathroom?"  You may also be wondering why I didn't take the wooden cabinet down.  Because I couldn't ~ it had two screws inside and they came right out but that cabinet was stuck to the wall.  I have no idea what we did to get that cabinet to stay up there but it is there for good!  Also giving credit where due - my cousin Mike Stortroen and his girlfriend Betsy Cook are the ones who made that cabinet for me many years ago for Christmas.

And this is the finished bathroom.  I went with a blue to compliment the yellow.  What I originally thought was off white was really a lite yellow and the yellow of the cabinets is actually 3 shades of yellow above the light yellow on the color strip.  What do you think of my earring holder?  I took a piece of corkboard and put it in a 8x10 picture frame and then thought it would be nice to add some pictures of our kids and grandkids.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the project of painting the bathroom in our motor home.  I really like how it turned out but again

IF YOU HEAR ME MENTION PAINTING ANYTHING ELSE IN THE MOTOR HOME TELL ME NO!!!!

Taking a Break

It is hot!!! here in D'Hanis and things are slow in the park so Jared (Ron's assistant and who is working Ron's regular schedule while Grandpa is off playing in Molalla, OR) and I decided to shampoo the carpet in the office.  It really needed it...after the 3" of rain we got on May 26th in less than an hour which leaked into the office through the window the carpet was looking pretty dingy.

So yesterday Jared left a little early and went to H.E.B. and rented a rug doctor shampooer.  This morning after the regular stuff was done: reading the water meters, compiling the rental pool book and checking work emails we got a moving.  First we moved everything off the floor and all the chairs into the membership office.  Then I vacuumed and vacuumed again.  And then we scurried around and picked up all the little rocks off the carpet that the vacuum would not pick up.

Then Jared started shampooing the carpet.  Took him about an hour and as he was pulling the shampooer out the back door he turned and laughed and said "we forgot to turn the lights out."  No problem, I walked around to the front of the office and opened the door between the lobby and the office, reached in and turned the lights out.  We had already put the radio and a sign that said we were shampooing the carpet and would be in the library, cruising the park or in the motor home.

Then Jared went to hang out in the library and I took advantage of the break from the office a.nd painted the first coat of the yellow paint on the cupboards in the bathroom.  Boy does it look bright!!  And it was very clear it will need a second coat :(  I will do that tonight after dinner.  Hopefully the brightness will tone down after it dries and I get the blue towels hung up in there.*

And then I had lunch - leftovers from my dinner last night with Mindi.  She made chicken spaghetti.  I had never had chicken spaghetti but boy was it delicious!!  I am definitely going to have to get the recipe as I know Ron would enjoy it as well.

After lunch I mozied over to the library to see how things were going there.  Watched a group play bridge for awhile - seemed like Greek to me :)  And then I delivered some of the mail packages that came - since the office is closed it is important to make sure people get their mail.  Plus it gets me outside and I really don't mind driving around the park with the golf cart :)

Jared and I then went back to the office to see how the carpet looked.  It looked pretty good but some spots were still noticeable so we decided to go over those spots again.  Took us another hour or so to get that done.  Then Jared drove around the park and then went back to the library for awhile. 

So I am hanging out in the motor home, have the radio handy and making use  of my time writing some blog posts.  Nothing exciting but at least I am writing :)

*Pictures will follow as soon as it is all done - hopefully by the end of the day on Saturday.

Yes, We are Still Alive

Yes we are still alive...thought I had better check in here before y'all started sending out the tracker dogs to find us.  Here is a small recap of what we have been doing ~ told in reporter format :)

~ Ali had her scheduled eye surgery on 7/11 - all went well and she returned to work on Thursday of that week.  She has one more follow up appointment and then will get her new glasses.  She is just amazed at how bright things are, how things are clearer and the headaches seem to be gone.

~ Max arrived on 7/16 and we were very busy.  7/16 & 17 we were in San Antonio, went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not, Guinness Book of World Records, the Wax Museum and Grandpa & Max went in the haunted house.  We went swimming and ate dinner at Chili's.*

~ the first week Max was here we went to bingo, went to Bill & Rosa's for dinner, did laundry one night; the next weekend we went camping in Bandera, attended the rodeo, went to Flying L Ranch water park (Grandma got sunburned), went to OST (Old Settler Trail restaurant), went to Brick's cafe, went swimming;

~ in between we celebrated Grandpa's birthday with cake and laughter at Social Hour AFTER Grandma made a quick trip to the ER taking Grandpa who decided the way to get out of workk for a few days was to cut his hand with a light fixture while working in the clubhouse kitchen with Jared.  Grandpa is fine though his ego is a bit bruised for the accident happening even though we all have told him it was an accident.

~ the last weekend Max was here we went swimming, went to the Snake Farm, the Wild Life Ranch, swimming and met new RV friends & shared a delightful dinner.  And then we got up at 3 a.m. to get to the airport and get Max on that 6:00 a.m.  flight and then two very tired grandparents went back to the hotel and took a much needed nap.*


And then last weekend we went to San Antonio so Ron could fly to Lewiston on Sunday morning.  On Saturday we went swimming, took a nap, had appetizers and then went out to dinner at the Texas Land & Cattle Restaurant.  And on Sunday Alice drove back to D'Hanis and the campground.  Other than driving to the previously mentioned ER, Alice had not done any driving since early April.  She arrived safely back at the campground.


~ Monday Alice started a new project ~ painting the bathroom in the motor home.  Before and during pictures have been taken.  After pictures will also be taken and posted at a later date.  All she is asking if anyone, and she means anyone, hears her talking about another painting job remind her that she does not like to paint!!!*


~ the other thing Alice has been doing is writing posts for Alice's Restaurant ~ Dishin' Up Food for Thought.  Check it out here to see what has been on her heart and mind the last few days.  There will probably be 7 or 8 posts in this series of posts.


Guests that's all for now.  I have made a commitment to write at least one blog post a day either here on Wandering Workentins or at Alice's Restaurant.  Thanks for being patient with me as I got my head wrapped around a few things.


* More detailed posts with pictures to follow.

Week in Review ` Planning for the New Week

Have had a good week.  After last weekend of being sick and laying low it was good to get back to work and being with friends.

Tuesday morning I had my pre-op appointment for my upcoming surgery.  Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow (7/11).  We have to be at the hospital at 7:00 a.m.  No eating or drinking after midnight tonight.  Stopped the baby aspirin as of last Monday.  No meds in the morning till after surgery.  

 Had a great week at work.  No major problems though our hearts are heavy at the park this week as two of our residents have been in the hospital.  If you think of them, say a prayer for Ellie & Stan as they fight the good fight and that they feel the presence of the Lord in these difficult days.

We were able to enjoy a dinner of great conversation and good food with Walker & Evelyn.  Always fun to do is to go out to eat with another couple.  On Friday night after work, Ron took an almost two hour nap and then wanted to do something so off we went to Bill & Rosa's for appetizers, a beer (for Ron) and ice tea and listening to some great country music.  Too bad they don't have a dance floor.

Saturday I made a deal with Ron.  He could choose - clean the motor home including the bathroom or do the laundry.    Now I know Ron hates! to do laundry and I really didn't want to clean that toilet :( ~ so yeah, you could say I stacked the deck...but hey, he did have a choice.  He chose to clean the motor home so I went off to do the three loads of laundry.  While doing laundry I visited with the Busy Bee's (the knitting and crocheting group that meets weekly here at the park).  When I was done folding all the laundry I loaded up the golf cart and came back to the motor home.  It was so nice and clean and smelled so good.  And the bathroom just sparkled.  Yep, I think I got the best end of that deal.

For the rest of the weekend we have just relaxed.  So enjoy having down time to just read and enjoy the life we are blessed with.

Today we went to church and celebrated with little Jessica who accepted the Lord as her Savior - what a joyous occasion.   After a nap we went over to a new friends, Shanna (her, her hubby and a girlfriend own The Family Dawg, the best place to get hot dogs, sandwiches or gyros locally) who French braided my hair so I don't have to worry or figure out how to comb it while I can't see as I recuperate from my surgery.  Thanks Shanna!  We also did lots of reading, watching The Ax Man (one of Ron's favorite shows) and some blogging.  Check out my new post at Alice's Restaurant where I talk about Special Friendships.

Now to settle down for the night and get ready for surgery tomorrow.  Since I can't eat or drink after midnight till after my surgery I have set the alarm for 11:30 p.m. tonight so I can get up and drink a glass of orange juice - want to do everything I can to avoid having my blood sugar drop in the night or early morning.

Talk to y'all soon.  And looking forward to seeing the world in a bright new way on Tuesday!!!

What We Have Been Doing

Here is a picture blog of different things we have been doing in the last month.  Hope you enjoy traveling along with us.

 

As you may remember we went to Medina Lake Thousand Trails which is about 52 miles from the Lone Star Corral.  We had a good time just relaxing, swimming, reading and more relaxing.

We decided to go back up the weekend before Father's Day with another couple from LSC.  Hank & Euona went up on Wednesday and we joined them on Friday night.  We did a lot of visiting Friday night and Saturday.  In the afternoon we went to the ice cream social - not a bad deal $1 a bowl and each bowl had 3 or 4 scoops of ice cream.  You had your choice of vanilla, strawberry or chocolate or a mixture of all three.  I forgot the camera so there are no pictures ~ will try to remember the next time.

Saturday evening we bbq'd ribs and Euona made potato salad, coleslaw and corn-on-the-cob.  It was a great dinner and  of course, more visiting. Below is Ron grilling those ribs and Hank and Euona as we visited in their rig.

Ooops, wrote Father's Day weekend on the picture, but it was actually the weekend before.

Below is a collage of pictures (thanks Rick for me how to do this) of the many deer roaming through the park.  Many people pick up deer corn and feed them.  We heard one little boy say he counted 32 deer and Hank stopped counting when he hit 70.  It is not easy to keep track of them as they kept moving trying to get corn.  Some of the larger bucks could get quite mean, shoving the does and fawns out of the way.

The rig in the background belongs to Hank & Euona.

 A couple of weeks ago we were driving down the road in front of park.  Ron swerved out of the way and pulled over.  Found this little guy in the middle of the road.  We  brought him back to the park to get some pictures and put him in a safe place and not the middle of the road.  That all happened at lunch time.  By the time we were done with work, our turtle friend was long gone.  Too bad, it would have been nice to have him visit for awhile.

I have been sick the last few days.  This evening feeling a bit of cabin fever we decided to go into D'Hanis for the annual 4th of July Parade.  It went in front of the Country Mart, past the bank and local B&B and then around the block and down the main road for about a half mile and then turned to go down one of the side road and then back to Bill & Rosa's and the Country Mart.  We met Judge Bubba - he was out greeting the citizens of D'Hanis also Deputy Jeff.  Someone was hosting a free hot dog feed but we decided to head back to the motor home.  I was wiped  out.  Below is a movie of the parade.  And a picture of Judge Bubba and Deputy Jeff.

 Judge Bubba and his wife Sharon (not the lady in the picture) attend First Baptist Church in Hondo.  After church last Sunday we joined them at the Jade Buffet for some good food and great conversation.  It feels good to connecting with some of people from church.

Hope you have enjoyed traveling along with us on our short jaunts here in the Hondo area.

What a Week

Boy did we have an unexpected week here at the Lone Star Corral.

Tuesday morning we found out we had been robbed here at the park.  The person or persons had cut the lock off the door to the tool shed and taken about $750 worth of tools, cut a huge hole in the fence and messed up some stuff in the tool shed.  

Ron and I were so thankful that in early April we started doing a full inventory of the park.  Along with tagging and listing of items, Ron took pictures of everything in each area.  We only have the clubhouse and the library to do yet.  And we plan on working on that in the next week.  Back to the robbery.  We called the police and the sheriff showed up about 20 minutes later.  Ron gave him pictures and list of what was stolen and the sheriff said he would stay in touch with us.

Our day went on and Tuesday evening about 7:30 we had a knock on the door.  Ron was told that someone wanted to talk to him on the phone.  So off to one of our members lot.  After talking to this man we now know who robbed the park.  Another call to the sheriff and about 20 minutes later here came the sheriff (he just lives about a half mile from the park).  After taking the members statement, talking to a man on the phone and Ron filling out a statement The sheriff was off to check out some things and gather a couple more statements.  About 10:15 p.m. the sheriff stopped by the motor home and said he would get a warrant in the morning and we would go from there.

Without going into a lot of details, about 9:30 the warrant was served and one of the people involved was arrested.  The sheriff said he would keep us updated on how things progress.  Friday morning we were again visited by the sheriff saying another warrant was going to be executed.  So the case is moving along.

On Monday we started the process of looking for new Assistant Managers.   The couple who had accepted the job sent a letter stating they could not work on weekends so they would not be coming in September.  They had been told that they work on our days off.  When they find out it was Saturday and Sunday they decided that was not for them.  So along with dealing with the robbery I was busy placing an ad on Workamper News and then looking at resumes.  Tuesday morning when I came into work I had 21 emails in my office - all resumes of couples wanting us to consider them for the position.  So lots of our time this past week has been reading emails, answering questions on the phone, replying to emails all in regards to the open position.  Saturday one of the couples came for an interview - it just happened they are currently working just outside Austin so they made a day of it to come here so we could meet and interview them.  There were five of us interviewing the two of them.  Things went pretty well and a decision will be made soon about how we proceed.

Saturday afternoon we just hung out, watched a movie on TV, recorded lots of movies on the Encore channels (we get it free this weekend) and did  some grocery shopping.  In the evening Ron went to the Mud Drag Races in Dunlay.  He had a good time.  He did notice that many of the people carried in their coolers with their beer and wine coolers - something we would never see in Washington!  I stayed home and had a quiet evening to myself.  I did some reading, some writing and enjoyed the quiet and peacefulness of some alone time ~ something I think we all need once in awhile.

Today we were off to church.  Heard a good sermon on pride and were entertained by the VBS kids who sang in words and signs some cute songs.  After church we went to the Jade Dragon for lunch.  As we walked in we were invited to join three people from church.  We ate lunch with Judge Bubba and his wife Sharon, and Carol (she leads a Zumba class at the church 4 nights a week) ~ I am thinking of maybe trying that out but not too sure yet.  Have to think on that one.  We were later joined by Al & Yvonne, the first couple we met at FBC of Hondo.  We enjoyed the company and getting to know more people on a personal level.  Found out Judge Bubba lives almost across the street from the park and he is the judge who signed the arrests warrants from our robbery.  In talking we found out that a reserve deputy lives just around the corner from the park and the judges secretary lives just down the street.  Never thought we would be getting to know the locals in the judicial system. 

After lunch we came back to the motor home and I made Hawaiian meatballs for Hawaiian night at church this evening.  And then I took a much needed nap!  This evening we went to FBC and had a great time.  Ate dinner with the local district attorney ~ he won't be handling our case as he does felony cases only.  Also found out we have quite a bit in common with them.  His wife had HELLPS - which is what Suzanne had and which caused the early arrival of Opal.  Their little guy arrived at 28 weeks just under two pounds as well.  He is almost 5 and doing real well.

It feels so good to finally making some connections at church.  God is good and does guide us every step of the way.  

I would ask that you keep us in your prayers as I go for my final pre-op appointment on July 5th and have my eye surgery on July 11th.    Ron and I are both trying not to worry but sometimes those negative thoughts have a way of just bouncing into our minds.  Again we have to put our trust in God's hands and remind ourselves that He is the one in control and He knows what we will be dealing with and that He will never give us more than we can handle.

Take care and have a great week.

Checking in ~

Thought I had better check in and let y'all know that we are alive and well.

Memorial Day weekend found us camping at Medina Lake Thousand Trails, about 50 miles from D'Hanis.  We went swimming, slept, read, rested, ate bbq, went to a parade, rested and read some more.  It was a great relaxing time.

The first weekend in June we went for about a 5 hour ride in the Jeep.  We enjoy doing that kind of thing.

The second weekend in June we were back at Medina Lake Thousand Trails, this time with Hank & Euona Rathjen, a couple from here at Lone Star Corral.  We visited with each other and found out what a small world we live in.  In 1968 I hurt my eye on Gerber Road, in Sacramento, CA and in 1971 Hank & Euona lived on Gerber Road.  Small world indeed.  Saturday afternoon we went to the ice cream social at the clubhouse.  In the evening we bbq'd ribs and had potato salad, coleslaw and fresh corn on the cob.  It was delicious.  And we followed up dinner with peach pie and vanilla ice cream.  It was another great weekend here in Texas.

This weekend we ran errands, went grocery shopping, stopped at a Farmer's Market and went to church this morning.  Chatted with the pastor about our frustration of having such a difficult time to connect with people.  He seemed to understand and was a good encouragement to Ron and I.  He prayed with us about my upcoming surgery and said he would like to join us at the hospital before I go in and sit with Ron during the surgery.  It felt so good to pray with someone else, I have missed being able to pop into Pastor Charles' office and have him pray with me and talk about life and life's happening's.

After church we went to JB's BBQ - do you see a theme here?  So far we have eaten at about six different places.  Our favorite so far is Busbee's in Bandera.  Maybe I should make a running list of all the places we go for BBQ and rate them.  What do you think?

After lunch we went to Tractor Supply to return a denim shirt I had bought Ron ~ the snaps did not stay snapped :(  We bought Ron two more short-sleeved western shirts (with snaps ~ he hates buttons) and I bought a sleeveless western style shirt to wear with my denim skort.  We are definitely getting into the Texas wear here.

That's about it here ~ oh, and yes it is HOT here - we are experiencing 100'+ days.  Lots of them!  We are told this is very unusual for this time of year.  Yes 100'+ days in August not June.

That's about it from here.  Hope you are all doing great!!!