Friday, February 20, 2015

• Breezy, clear & warm, temp: 61, high: 80. 
• Today was not a very good day. Everything that could go wrong, did.
• Jim had committed me to chauffeur a neighbor, Norma, someplace tonight. Knocked on her door at 9 AM, no answer. Knocked again at 1 PM, no answer. Finally at 3:30 after I talked to her sister, Mary, Norma came by to tell me that the event is next Friday. Ugh.
• Jim drove to PT at 9:30.
• Candy had asked me to sharpen 50 pencils for the Minnesota Picnic tomorrow and that there was a pencil sharpener in the library.
• At about 9, I went to the library, located the sharpener, but it was an El Cheapo that would have taken hours to sharpen 50 wooden pencils. So I went to the office to borrow their electric sharpener. It burnt out after sharpening about 6. 
• During all of this, I should have been helping to set up chairs for this evening's auction. Instead I was wasting time on poor pencil sharpeners.
• After Jim got home from PT, I drove up to Staples to purchase an electric pencil sharpener.
• Around noon, Jim & Diane drove down to Riverside Club for lunch & the associated polka jam. I declined their kind invitation.
• After unpacking my new sharpener, I sharpened the 50 pencils in about 20 minutes.
• The wind is blowing in excess of 30 MPH today, so I walked to Burger King for lunch.
• After lunch I took the new sharpener to the office to replace the one I had wrecked.
• About 3, Dave called to brief me on his appointment at the VA for his back. He was fairly upset as they did some very painful procedures. Thanks Dave, for keeping me up to speed on your health.
• This evening I'm attending the spaghetti dinner & auction at the Hall. Jim's on the dish washing crew. See picture below.
• The spaghetti was great. The auction is still progressing and will probably continue for at least a couple more hours.
• Jim & Diane left afterward to go to Bingo at Paradise Park in McAllen.
• Finally, the wind was just to high (over 40 mph) all day to ride bike. Ugh.
• The pictures below were taken at the Spaghetti Dinner & Auction at the Hall (& kitchen) this evening.

Everyone eating spaghetti in The Hall

Look who's doing dishes in the kitchen 

 Several up front examining the contributions to be auctioned later.

More contributions to be auctioned later

He looks like he's experienced at this job

Monday, February 16, 2015

• Breezy, cloudy, warm, temp:68, high: 82.
• This morning, Amy, Tim, Mavis, Beth, & Brad have to return to Minnesota. They were up at 4 as Tim had to drive his Mom over to the McAllen airport for her 6 AM flight. Then he returned to pick up the others to take all of them to the Harlingen airport for their 8 AM flight. 
• Had breakfast with our Canadian friends at Taco Fiesta this morning. Had 8 in our group.
• Mid morning, I biked nearly 5 miles through The Plantation. Nice day for it.
• It is a very warm day today with the high nearing 90. Tomorrow's high only 63. Weird weather.
• Late morning nap.
• Today for the first time, Jim drove himself to PT. I think he's happy to be able to do that. Doctor says he's making very good progress. (But he cannot lift seed corn bags this Spring!)
• As mentioned above, early afternoon was very warm. However, a front come through and by 5 o'clock, the temp has fallen to 65. Feels cold.
• After supper, Phil stopped by saying he thought he had a virus on his laptop. So I went over, and indeed he did; in fact, he had 2 viruses. We removed them and now he's doing a full scan which may take several hours.
• Diane & Jim are playing Bingo & Cards, respectively.
• Sorry to tell you that I have no pictures tonight. But I'll take some tomorrow.

Monday, February 9, 2015

• Absolutely clear sky, moonlit, light breeze, nice morning, temp: 59, high: 81. 
• Had our regular Monday breakfast at Taco Fiesta with our Canadian friends, but only had 5 this morning. Since Jim had a 9:30 PT appointment, he missed the breakfast.
• Such a nice morning today, temp: 71, calm, sunny, I changed my complete biking routine.
1. I went in the morning rather than the afternoon.
2. I biked all around the adjoining housing development & golf course called The Plantation & Tierra del Sol.
3. I biked a mile further than previous, over 3 miles.
4. But it was a good trip and more relaxing with the change in the variety of surroundings.
• After lunch, Jim went to a polka jam with some guys. 
• Mid afternoon, I was to set up chair for the evening's amateur talent show, but the chairman just came by and said someone else had done it. That's okay.
• Mid afternoon, temp is 83, sunny, with a light breeze. Nice!
• Tonight we had our Amateur Talent show consisting of everything from instrumentalists to vocalists to dancers to poets to cowboys to bands. The Hall was completely filled using every chair that we own and then some. I'd guess 300 or more in the audience. All had a good time.
• Late this evening I called Kath & later Dan. I got caught up on family news and had a nice conversation with each. Thanks, Kath. Thanks, Dan.
• Finally, tonight I have some more pictures for you to guess who they are. As with many of these, they were taken at our tenant house on Grandpa Coulter's farm near Delavan. These you should guess right off as they're beginning to look more like their adult features. I'm guessing these pictures were taken in about 1944. Anyway, have fun.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

• Another cool morning, high clouds, breezy, temp: 47, high: 51.
• While Diane attended the 9:00 AM Residents Meeting, I drove Jim to PT for his 9 AM appointment, stopping at the shop where Dan & Candy were getting their van fixed.
• I drove Dan & Jim to the shop as it was fixed. Yeah.
• After lunch, took a little catnap; got quite a bit of rain in the early afternoon.
• Mid afternoon, Ruth came by during our heavy rain, took us over to her place to fix her clothes dryer that was stuck on. Fixed it.
• Hard rain most of the afternoon & into the evening.
• With the temp never reaching 50 and the hard rain, biking was out of the question. Maybe tomorrow?
• Had to get out the umbrella to walk over to the Hall for supper (and Bingo for others).
• Got a surprise for you tomorrow, a new kind of blog item, mmm . . . what could that be? Keep watching!

Friday, January 30, 2015

• Quiet morning, high fog, calm, temp: 62, high: 73
• Diane took Jim to PT for his 9 AM appointment.
• Took a early afternoon nap.
• Went biking for 2 1/2 miles mid afternoon.
• I helped Jim fix the lights on Jan's golf cart.
• This evening we attended a Black & White dinner at the hall. Social hour was followed by a stuffed pork dinner. Ralph Kuster performed a Sinatra theme during both dinner and the 2 hour show following dinner. Enjoyable.
• After the dinner, we drive up to Harlingen airport to pick up Diane's sister who's staying with us for the next several days.
• Below are pictures from last night. First 2 are taken at the Texas Roadhouse where we had delicious steaks. The last 2 are taken at Candy & Dan's where we gathered for birthday cake and ice cream.

Monday, January 19, 2015

• Another pleasant morning, calm, high clouds, temp: 55, high: 72.
• Had regular Monday breakfast with Canadian friends at Taco Fiesta. Had 11 this morning.
• Dan & Dawn made it to Reno this morning. I tracked them all the way through the mountains. Amtrak was on schedule. Hope they send me more pictures today.
• J&D and C&D drove up to Bertha's Salon to get their haircuts. I stayed home to research a project since I had one recently.
• Biked over to Dollar General to get something, stopping at Burger King on my way home for lunch
• I drove Jim to PT at 3 PM
• Got my 2 mile bike ride in at 4:30 on a lovely evening: clear, calm, bright sun, temp: 68. Perfecto!
• Here's some pictures from Dan sent from Reno. Thanks for the pictures, Dan & Dawn. Say hello from us to Mike & Mary.

Don't know who this belongs to nor the significance

Mike & Mary in the woods (probably near their Lake Tahoe home)

Mary & Mike (clowning)

Beautiful mountain peak

Friday, January 16, 2015

• Calm, moonlit, high clouds, cool morning, temp: 45, high: 63 (that's almost 10 degrees warmer than yesterday).
• Beautiful day today. At noon, temp is 60 and sun is shining bright with only light breeze.
• Mid afternoon, I finally got in my 2 mile bike ride for the first time in several days. Rain & cold kept off the bike.
• Late afternoon, we drove up to Pharr South for their fish fry. It was very good. Bingo followed.
• And to continue my Christmas parade of pictures, when Dan & Dawn were here over Christmas, they wanted to go view & photograph the Christmas lights at the Hidalgo Festival of Lights. But of course they had to do that after dark. So it was 9 or 10 o'clock when they'd leave. I was just too tired to go out that late. So I'd stay home. But they brought me lots of pictures, some of which are shown below. (These photos were also taken Christmas night.) Thanks Dan & Dawn for the great memories.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

• Another cool morning, high clouds, light breeze, temp: 46, high: 48. Drizzle forecasted.
• And the drizzle has started (as of 8:30).
• By 10:30, it a really "yucky", drizzly, cloudy day, . . . but we don't have to shovel "yuck".
• Called Kath & got caught up on all the family news. Thanks Kath, hope I didn't take too much of your time.
• Went to regular Wednesday afternoon jam, but had to leave early for Jim to go to PT at 2.
• Regular Wednesday evening entertainment was the Gold Wing Express. They consisted of 3 guys about 50 and their dad. Very entertaining evening.
• And to continue my Christmas parade of pictures, when Dan & Dawn were here, they wanted to go view & photograph the Christmas lights at the Hidalgo Festival of Lights. But of course they had to do that after dark. So it was 9 or 10 o'clock when they'd leave. I was just too tired to go out that late. So I'd stay home. But they brought me lots of pictures, some of which are shown below. (These photos were also taken Christmas night.) Thanks Dan & Dawn for the great memories.

Monday, January 12, 2015

• Calm, cool, clear, moonlit morning, temp: 43, high: 63. Nice.
• Went to Coco's for breakfast with our Canadian friends.
• Beautiful day, clear, calm, but rain tomorrow.
• Had lunch on the veranda in the shade from the very warm sun.
• After lunch, with the temp at 66, a beautiful clear blue sky, a light breeze, & bright warm sun, I biked nearly 3 miles traversing every road in the park.
• Diane drove Jim up to McAllen for his PT appointment at 3:00 PM.
• After supper, J&D rode with D&C over to Paradise Park in McAllen to play Bingo. I stayed home to watch the Finals of the College football playoffs.
• Cooled off very quickly after supper. At 8 o'clock, the temp is already down to 55. Guess we're now due for several days of light rain & coolness.

The picture today is of the Sweet Adelines chorus that we saw in concert yesterday. We enjoyed their performance. The second picture is our clear blue sunrise today.

Friday, January 9, 2015

• Cool morning, high clouds, light breeze, temp:44, high: 48.
• Rode along with Diane & Jim for his 3rd PT session.
• After, Dan & Jim went over to a Polka jam at Enchanted Village while Diane went to H-E-B. I napped.
• The afternoon turned out to be not very nice outside. Temp is only 46, it's blustery & windy, and it raining quite hard. Yuk!
• This evening, with Dan & Candy home sick, Jim & Diane drove over to Paradise Park of McAllen to play Bingo. Good luck!
• When Dan & Dawn were here, they wanted to go view & photograph the Christmas lights at the Hidalgo Festival of Lights. But of course they had to do that after dark. So it was 9 or 10 o'clock when they'd leave. I was just too tired to go out that late. So I'd stay home. But they brought me lots of pictures, some of which are shown below. (These photos were also taken Christmas night.) Thanks Dan & Dawn for the great memories.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

• Another pleasant morning, although we're in for a big change today - getting much cooler and rainy. Now warm, calm, high clouds, temp: 59, high: 61.
• Dan & Jim left right after breakfast for a Polka jam over at the Peppermint Palace park.
• With the warm temp in the morning, I went for my bike ride at 10 when temp was already 61. And on the ride I watched a crew take a 60' X 12' park model mobile home out of the park, a real undertaking. Big event. Lots of spectators. See pictures below.
• Diane went to a women's luncheon at Cheddar's. Said it was delicious.
• One of Jim's Blue Earth friends, Glen Kuchemeister, stopped by late morning for a visit. They're at a park about 5 miles East of here.
• Jim & I attended the 1st hour of the Jam. Doesn't seem to be much better that before Christmas, except that the crowd was bigger. Musta nearly filled the Hall.
• Diane drove Jim to PT for his 3 o'clock appointment.
• Dan & Candy joined us for supper at Taco Fiesta.
• This evening we begin the Wednesday night entertainer shows, this evening featuring Southern Anthem. A family of 4 performers put on a fine show.