Everything Is Now The Last Time This Year

After ice cream on Sunday night, we hooked up with Maurice and Linda and Pam and Mike for a round of canasta.  The men beat us by at least 6000.  It's hard when you can't get the right cards.  They were happy since they have been on a short losing streak.

Monday our friend John drove down from Houston to golf with Mark, Wray, Mike, Maurice, and me.  John and Wray rode in a cart while the rest of us walked.  The ground is so hard now, the ball gets lots of roll, but just can't get through the trees any longer.  Mark golfed his best round yet on this course - 80.  I also did quite well, in fact, it was my lowest score ever, on any course - 94.    

Today while I was at the final ladies lunch for the season at Red Lobster, Mark biked around the park and chatted with all the other guys. 

The rocking chairs where we all spent a lot of time talking today since the weather was perfect and we're all getting ready to head our separate ways in the next week.

We managed to put some stuff away to start the process of getting ready to head up the road on Thursday.  Of course, nothing ever goes as planned.  The mechanism that latches the door to the trailer when you want to let in the sunshine, broke off.  This mean another trip up to Camper City - the same place that finally admitted that they would not be getting in the part we special ordered for the hitch.  We went to visit Will yesterday after golf.  He was at lunch (always) so we returned 20 minutes later.  He apologized profusely, and scratched through our credit card number on his order form.  This meant we had to go to plan B - a trip to Harbor Freight to get a very large crescent wrench to operate the slide mechanism on the hitch if necessary.  I personally can't stand going into this place, but Mark likes it, and they had the cheapest wrench.  Instead of spending $100 with Will, we spent $14 at Harbor Frieght. (Hopefully Jerry can fabricate a replacement part for us when we get home.)  At least today Will did had the replacement part we needed for the door.  It was cheap, and easy for Mark to install.

Tomorrow I'm off to get a hair cut while Mark golfs his final round this season with Maurice and Mike.  Luckily they will both be here next season when we return. 

Our next post will be from Fredericksburg later in the week.  Here's hoping for a safe, and uneventful journey.

Final Beach Visit of 2010

I ended up golfing on Friday.  At the last minute Mark came in the trailer and said, come on - Maurice is here, we're leaving.  I wasn't mentally prepared, but it was the perfect day to golf.  Mark shot 83! 

Since we're leaving here on Thursday, I wanted to get down to the beach one last time.  Saturday morning we headed to Mustang Island.  Along the way we stopped at a couple of brand new RV parks that some friends had recommended.  One was very nice, and had there been a golf course within 20 miles, we would probably put down a deposit for next year.  

We finally made it to the beach around noon.  There were lots of RVs camped on the beach.

One trailer, not with this group, was 10 feet from the water's edge, and the tide was out.  Since it was in the 80s, there were lots of people on the beach, but only a few brave kids in the water.  I managed to get a finger in, and it was cold.

My favorite homemade rig.  A fairly new pick up truck, towing a flat trailer, but a truck camper mounted on top.  If you look closely, you can see the dachsund dog on the back bumper.  What you can't see on the other side of this trailer - the Dad was boiling or steaming whole fish in a large kettle of water.  We peeked inside the back where the door is open - a woman and a child were both inside.  I think these people are living in this rig.

We walked the beach and then the pier watching the people fishing - none were "catching."

Today we lounged around the park.  Mark washed the trailer while I supervised.   Tonight is the final ice cream social of the season.  The park is empying out as everyone is starting to meander back home to the northern states and Canada.

We're Tired of Waiting

You can probably tell by the lack of a blog the last several days, that nothing new has been going.  We're anxious to leave here, but know we can't until next Thursday.  We're still waiting for the part on order for the 5th wheel hitch.  "Will" said it would be in two weeks ago; then two weeks ago it was going to be in "in a few days."  Almost a month has gone by, and we still have no part.  Will, however, has our credit card number.  On Monday we'll be paying Will a visit.

Monday started out cool, but warmed up nicely while we were golfing.  It was the first time I got to unzip the legs off my nylon pants, making them into shorts.  What a great thing to have for strange weather days. 

Erik finally ordered the replacement pump for the pool and hot tub.  We really miss having those.  It doesn't seem critical to him, because Mark and I are the only Winter Texans who have used them all year.  The part came in today, but won't be installed to sometime next week - probably after we leave.

Yesterday it rained and was very cool.  We finally went out for a walk around 6:30pm.  I had made pork chops for dinner, but apparently I cooked the life out of them.  They ended up in the trash can and we ended up at the Marble Slab ice cream joint for dessert.  I've given up cooking pork chops for the rest of my life.

One highlight of the week - Norm and Sherl, who were here in January and February, returned to the park on Tuesday for a few days.  They always participated in the afternoon happy hours.  Today we had a happy hour.  Woohoo.  It turns out, they'll be up in the same park in Fredericksburg that we will be in for all of April.  

Today was the final potluck dinner for the season.  Tania, the owner, bought these gigantic baked potatoes for everyone who signed up (we had to pay $2 a piece) while the rest of us brought salad or dessert.  I swear, each potato weighed at least 4 lbs.  She had lots of toppings - butter, cheese, bacon, sour cream, chives, chili, and broccoli (?).  I left the chili and broccoli alone, but loaded up on all the rest.  I could only eat half of it. 

This meant that I had to make fudge cake once again.  And that also meant that we now have one cake here in the RV, since the recipe makes 1 large cake, or two small ones that will cook in the RV oven.  I was too full after the potato to sample the desserts, but managed one small piece before going to bed.  That probably explains why, at 11:28pm. I am still up and blogging! 

Tomorrow Maurice made a tee time for 10:15, so I suspect Mark and maybe me, will be golfing.  It's gonna be sunny and almost 80. 

Slice,Dice and Julienne Fries!

It must be El Nino; what else could it be?  Down into the 30s last night!  This is just not right.  The furnace ran all night, even though it was set on 55.  The first day of Spring came in like the first day of Winter.  40mph, gusting to 55mph.  At least the sun was out today.

It was a rainy crappy day yesterday.  To pass the time we headed to the local "Home Builder's Show" at the convention center.  There's a couple in the RV park that we met last week who happen to be parked right next to our friends Merv and Pat.  They operate a booth at RV/boat/home shows all over the country.  They sold their house in Virgina, bought a very big motorcoach, took six weeks of training in Yuma, AZ and are now on their way to making a six figure income selling "waterless cookware". 

Merv, Pat, Mark, and I had all agreed to sit in front of his booth so others would join in, just to make it look like a big crowd was watching his presentation.  We were very impressed with Chuck's presentation.  He made a salad, veggies, potatoes and chicken.  I personally was not impressed with the taste - because there was no butter or grease on anything.  Of course - he's pushing "healthy" cooking.  How can we keep on our Ard ounces if we were to eat healthy?

The highlight of sitting through Chuck's presentation was, every couple listening got a paring knife.  In addition, one lucky person got their seat number drawn to see who would win a Ginsu knife.  Yep - it was me!  Mark said Chuck rigged it so I would win - I prefer to think that I was just lucky.  We didn't buy anything - the cheapest set was over $1000.  If one were to buy everything he had on display, it came to almost $4500.  We can do a lot of camping in a lot of different places for that kind of money.  I'll just make do with my five year old, $35 set from Walmart.

There really wasn't a lot to see, but I believe we got our money's worth out of the $5/apiece entrance fee.  Every booth had out bowls of candy, ink pens, etc.  We were very happy to talk to the Census 2010 people.  We're curious whether our census will be forwarded to Dennis & Ann's while we're gone.  She didn't seen to think the post office would forward them, but we'll see.  I know they won't give up on us for a few months.  The Census lady gave us travel coffee mugs and a backpack since we were from Missouri.

Our goodies from the home show.

The only neat thing to look at at this show was right inside the front door.  There was this "Antique Nickelodeon" on display.  It had a price tag of a mere $28,500.

I guess that made the automatic accordion next to it a real bargan at $8,500.

Today we didn't do much.  The sun came out but it was still 30+mph winds.  Mark got the final roman shade hung in the bedroom and I got all the laundry done.  We're ready for new week and golf tomorrow.    

Back On The Winning Track

I'm trying to remember this week.  The days fly by so fast.  The best part of this week - it's 7:43pm, and still daylight! 

Tuesday it rained so we just hung around the park and worked on a puzzle.  Unfortunately the boiler for the hot tub has been broken for a week now, and the owner of the park has been on vacation with his family so nothing has been done about it.  There are a few brave kids in the park (spring break) who have gotten in the pool, but we are not this stupid.  The boiler heats both the pool and hot tub.  Even though it's been 80 degrees out and the air inside the pool bubble is probably 95, the water is down to the 70s.  We prefer 85.

We've been playing cards most every night.  Gene and Charlene are back from their six weeks of missionary work and are ready to play canasta and joker.  The gals have been winning most nights but are now on a two-day losing streak. We're gonna miss the card playing when we leave here. 

Wednesday Mark got on the roof to give it a good washing.  He paid his $10 to wash the trailer on the day we arrived here (January 17), but is just now getting around to washing.  Next week the rest of the trailer will get a good washing.  It's gotta look nice before we head up to Fredericksburg.

Yesterday Wray, Maurice, Mark, and I went golfing.  A perfect day, but bad golf was had by all.  Mark and Maurice were so disgusted, they had to go back today to try and improve.  Mark says they both did much much better (Mark-81).  While he golfed, I cleaned from top to bottom on the inside.  The pollen is everywhere.  The trees are just about done leafing out now so that will be good.  It seems that everyone in the park was washing off pollen today.

Tonight the ten of us who went to the Blessing Hotel on Sunday, headed to a BBQ restaurant none of us had ever tried.  Two other couples in the park went last night and raved about it, so we thought we'd give it a try.  In our opinion, the only good part, besides being with our friends, was that we bought a $20 coupon for $10 last night.  The BBQ sauce tasted like vinegar, and the special dessert - ice cream with funnel cake fingers sprinkled with cinnamon and hot fudge, was just too bizarre. 

My opinion of tonight's dinner.

We walked five laps around the park upon returning.  That, added to the five laps I walked this morning - I guess I burned off part of the meal.

There's nothing on TV tonight (not into NCAA tournament), and no cards, so I guess we're going out walking again.  Can't be gaining any "Ard Ounces."

An Historic Meal

At 10:00am Sunday morning, ten of us headed to the city of Blessing for an all-you-can-eat homecooked meal at the Hotel Blessing.  Mark and I drove ourselves since we wanted to sightsee around the coast since the weather was just about perfect. 

This quaint hotel was built in 1906, and is still has rooms available for overnight stays.  The Coffee Shop is open for lunch buffet seven days a week.  The dining area seats about 40 people and is always crowded, which is why we got there at 11:00a to beat the folks coming after church.  Sunday's meal is always turkey and dressing, along with ham, fried chicken, beef, potatoes, yams, cabbage, veggies, salads, along with all the trimmings.  For $9, you get coffee or tea, dessert, and all you can eat.  It was well worth the hour's drive to get here.

Mark and Linda filling their plates.

Here we are, stuffed after filling our bellies.

This place reminded us of Wittmond's Hotel in Brussels, IL where we had Dennis and Ann's rehearsal dinner.  The only difference was, the IL hotel served us at the table instead of us going through a buffet line.  Both places were fabulous.

We had told the group that we were taking the scenic route back and started heading off to the coast.  We stopped off first in Palacios at a roadside park right on the bay.  It seems the other two vehicles were game for us being tour guides, as they followed us and we all walked around a while. 

The next stop a few miles down the road was a marina full of shrimping boats.

                             

This stop concluded our tour so the others left to return to the park.  Mark then stopped by the "bait" guy to ask a few questions about the shrimping industry; when's the season, why aren't the boats out, etc.  The guys was very informative and even offered to give us a tour on one of the boats.  Mark declined but was happy to get all the info.

We got back to the park in time to walk a couple of miles before ice cream.  I was still full from lunch, so this Sunday I only got one scoop (free because of my bingo on Friday night).

Today Mark, Maurice, and I once again headed to the golf course.  Today there was a horrible stench on the course. (Mark didn't notice the smell, but Maurice and I sure did.)  It was so bad that it was one of the lead stories on this evening's news.  It seems that some rice farmer in Inez, TX fertilized his fields with "chicken excrement."  Because of the 15-20mph winds, it apparently blew the stuff into Victoria. 

Here's hoping for no winds tomorrow!

Roasted Corn...MMMMMM

I'm happy to report I won $10.50 plus a free scoop of ice cream at BINGO last night.  Mark didn't win a darn thing (I know the feeling as I never win.)

Yesterday the air conditioner was on in the trailer all day - mid '80s.  Last night it got down to 42, therefore I switched on the furnace this morning because it was only 52 inside.  This is really bizarre weather.  No wonder my nose doesn't know whether to be stuffed up or running.

I took this picture in the park yesterday while I was grilling dinner.  The guy across the street was taking a nap on the picnic table on his spot.

This does not look comfortable.  The table is only 4' long.

It was so nice out, I guess he just wanted an outdoor nap.  Since they were only stopping over for the night, he probably didn't want to drag out his lawn chairs.  He and his wife spent the winter in the Valley, but are slooooowwwwly making their way back to Nova Scotia - by way of casino campgrounds.  

Today we headed to the town of Goliad, about 25 miles south of us.  It was the Goliad Market Days - quite a large affair with loads of people.  We walked through all the booths, but craft stuff just doesn't do anything for us.  However, we did come across the roasted corn booth. This stuff is wonderful and with any luck low calorie. We had some at the Illinois State Fair last year that was a little better but only because they dunked the whole ear in melted butter (not lo-cal).

                                     

It was very messy, but we managed to keep it all off of ourselves.  Next we stopped at the Methodist church smoked brisket booth.  We split a sandwich which was delicious!

After walking around the town square, and checking out the famous "Hanging Tree" (sorry - no pics, too many peoply lounging under it) we headed back to the park.  We then realized we needed to go to Home Depot.  Here we ran into what really peeves us about this town:

Shopping carts all around the parking lot, even though there are 15 cart corrals in the parking lot.

This happens at every single shopping establishment in this city.  It's worse at Walmart and the "little" HEB.  The people in Victoria are without a doubt, the rudest around regarding shopping carts.  Yesterday when we were at HEB, this LARGE woman just moved her cart 1' to get it away from her car, even though the cart corral was a mere 8' farther away!  I yelled at her; in turn, Mark yelled at me because he did not want to be shot when the gal missed while aiming at me.  Ok, but really - there outta be a law.

The Dinner That Keeps On Giving

Since we golfed on Tuesday, and had nothing planned for Wednesday, we headed to the closest coastal community around lunch time.  Seadrift is about 35 miles away, and really has nothing in it except a coastline that we didn't even go visit.  We kept on driving to get to Port O'Connor which was another 15 miles down the road.  The closer we got, the foggier it was, at noon.  We drove around trying to find Clark's Restaurant that we had visited in the past, but found out it was closed "for the season."  The only inhabitants were the pelicans.

The dilapidated dock behind this guy had about 15 other pelicans hanging out in the fog.

We found this "boat" parked right behind the restaurant.  I don't believe it's left the dock in many, many years. 

I always wonder how these things even stay afloat.

Since the restaurant was closed and we couldn't find another one, we headed back to the RV Park.  Going through Seadrift on the way back to the park, Mark pulled over to take a phone call.  The Sheriff of Seadrift was kind enough to yell over at him that he was parked in a "No Parking" zone, and to get a move on!  Too funny - Seadrift has a population of about 100, and there's nothing there. 

Once back to Victoria, we headed to Mumphord's for some smoked shredded beef.  I've finally run out of coupons so I'm not sure how many more times we'll go there.

Thursday, Mark, Maurice, and I went golfing.  We got back to the park in time to swim before the potluck dinner we had signed up for.  I had put together baked spaghetti in the morning, so all I had to do was throw it in the oven at 5:15.

While Mark was cleaning out the tanks, I was researching our next campground.  We will be relocating to Fredericksburg in the "Hill Country" the first of April.  I tried to get us in the end of next week, but the park we want to stay in is completely booked until April 1.  We've been wanting to go through this part of Texas for a couple of years - now I can't wait to get there.  My sis will be there next week; we can't wait to hear about it.  It's the park where all the "happy hour folks" are staying.  It'll be fun to catch up with them in a few weeks. 

Potluck was delicious.  One of the ladies made sauerkraut with pork - it reminded me of what my Mom made when we were growing up.  I had two helpings! 

Mark and Maurice are back at the course today - I just can't walk 18 holes two days in a row.  Besides, I had to make a Walmart, Sam's, and HEB run, plus a trip to the post office for some stamps.  The closest post office is about a mile away, in downtown Victoria.  Unfortunately, all the streets leading to the PO are under construction.  I tried twice today and gave up.  I came back to the park and got directions to the other PO.  Finally I got the darn stamps.

There's an interesting motorhome that's been coming into the park the past couple of nights.  I finally snapped a picture of it this morning.  This is just too bizarre.  A Michael Jackson impersonator tour bus.

                          

Mark just got back and had a good round (84). 

It's popcorn time now, plus bingo tonight - wish us luck.

Here Comes Summer

We did absolutely nothing all weekend, but I sure was tired.  I got 11 hours of sleep Sunday night.  I can't ever remember sleeping this long, but it sure was nice.  

Monday we shopped for a few hours.  Mark has been wearing these really old blue shorts with the frayed hem for the entire winter.  Even though I kept asking him to pitch them because he had at least six other pairs, he refused until I replaced them in the exact same color.  Fortunately, Sam's Club in Victoria still stocks his favorite shorts for under $11, and in the blue.  Needless to say, the old ones went out in the trash immediately.  We also made a trip to Kohl's for another belt - we're on a mission to find the perfect black belt for Mark.  Hopefully this one will be the one.

It's amazing what one night will do for the weather.  Yesterday was upper 60s and rain; today was upper 80s, high humidity, and loads of sunshine.  We headed to the golf course with Mike and Maurice around 9:30 this morning, even though it was dreary, but warm.  The course was empty until noon.  By 10:30 we were complaining about the heat and humidity.  The rain and heat made the course green-up nicely, even if it is just green weeds.

We had originally signed up for the first and only Lazy Longhorn RV Park shuffle board tournament today, but we decided on Sunday that we would rather golf (plus we really don't like to play shuffleboard, unless it's on the deck of a cruise ship in the Caribbean).  Somehow Maurice, who was supposed to be work kampering today, managed to get Mike's wife to cover for him, so he could golf with us also.  Mike also bowed out of the tournament because he, too, would rather golf.  I started off having a wonderful round - par on the first and third holes.  It was ok until I had to take a 13 on the 5th hole.  Yikes!  What a way to ruin a good game.

Once back in the park, the A/C went on and we headed to the pool to cool off.  The bubble is still on the pool for a couple more weeks, but it was refreshing nonetheless. After we swam Mark helped the park owner fix the hot tub blower and as in past years this led to them drinking beer at the fire pit and discussing how hard they worked.

Saturday Musings

It's Saturday afternoon, and we're still battling the bird crap on the back of the trailer.  Today its windy so a lot more is ending up on our humble abode.  What's good is that the wind is also blowing the brown berries out of the tree and onto the ground, plus the tree is starting to leaf out so hopefully those birds will be gone soon.

Mark went with the men for Saturday breakfast. The choice today was El Vaquera the place that has a wonderful lunch buffet. They must put so much effort into the lunch buffet that there's none left for breakfast. Hard to believe that a resturaunt could be so good for one meal but so bad for another!

While he was gone I noticed the black tank valve was open. For those of you with rv'ing experience you know this is a bad idea. When Mark got back he spent an hour at least filling and flushing the tank. Hopefully no piled up surprise hiding in there!

Thursday we played bunko again in the park.  I was slightly better this time, Mark had a much worse score.  That's the last bunko game until next season.  There's a lot of turnover in the park right now.  People are starting to head north, or just changing locations before going home.  More and more empty spots, or one-nighters floating in and out.  We had this extremely nice couple next to us for a few days.  There were at least 80 years old.  We can only hope to be that active when we're they're age.  The old guy wore ironed jeans, and starched blue chambray shirts every single day.  Their rig was also almost a half mil. 

Friday I golfed with Mark and the guys.  I was cold most of the day.  The sun never did come out, and I believe it only got to about 65, plus it was windy.  It was a slow round since there were five of us, but a good time was had by all.

Mark finally got the price on the replacement part for the Reese hitch.  $100!  The guy ordered it, and it should arrive late next week.  Since we're not leaving for a while, it's ok. 

We just finished up with the popcorn - now I must start thinking about dinner before we play canasta at 6:45.  Last night the women redeemed themselves after being trounced the night before. 

We're Sure Glad That Cows Can't Fly

Sunday we packed up the four bikes and headed to Riverside Park to ride.

The weather was perfect for an afternoon in the park.  We got to watch a Disc Golf tournament going on throughout the park. 

At one point we stumbled upon the "Senior" exercise area - I'm here to tell you, none of us "seniors" were able to do a chin up or pull up that we used to do in high school.

Mark says this was harder to do than it looks.

After riding in the park, we headed to Ramsey's Restaurant for a 2:30pm lunch/dinner.  Fortunately, we still had room for ice cream at 6:00pm.  Then it was Joker for the last time with Pam and Dennis.  Men won 1; women won 1.

Monday Big Dennis wanted to go one last time to the Mexican Buffet restaurant.  Of course we said yes!  While they tell us that we Pattons cause them to gain "Patton Pounds", we, too, have problems with the "Ard Ounces." 

This morning we had to say goodbye to Pam and Dennis.  I'm very sorry to see them go, as we won't meet up again until they come to St. Louis for Michael's wedding in October.  Hopefully by then we will had rid ourselves of the dreaded Patton pounds and Ard ounces.

They left the park around 8:00am, headed farther south.

After they left, I immediately started walking to get in 3 miles before I went to ladies lunch at Olive Garden.  While I did that, Mark golfed with the guys. 

As I was sitting inside this afternoon, I noticed all this bird crap on the window.  Much to my dismay, further investigation showed that the entire back end of our 5th wheel was covered in crap! 

We washed it off 4 different times this afternoon.  We choose to place the blame on the Ards as they are the ones who put the "bird balm" on the tree to attract the birds!  (Just kidding P & D - the 40mph winds helped to blow it onto the trailer.)  Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.  Mark even cut off several branches to the tree.  This particular tree has these small brown berries on it that apparently some migrating birds discovered today, as we've never had this problem before.

Canasta tonight - men beat us by 6000 points.  Yikes.