Backing Into Problems

Mark agreed to move Charlotte's new trailer on Sunday.  Charlotte got a new trailer a last week, but the guy who delivered it to her didn't allow her space to park her Bronco, so she asked Mark if he could move it for her.  While Mark was driving his truck over to Charlotte's spot, Butch and I were walking.  Butch was not happy - he just wanted a ride.  Once Mark got around the park I threw Butch in the truck.  He sat in the truck, not making a peep, for at least a half hour.  He didn't care, he was in the big truck.

Butch along for the ride.

While Mark was doing this, I was up in the office helping the other girls decorate the office Christmas trees.  One of the trees is decorated as a Texas tree.

Check out the ornaments - "sheriff" stars, cowboy boots and hats, horses and guitars, one yellow cutout of the State of Texas.  Yeehah! 

There's another tree in the hallway.  This one comes with a control box.  The balls all change colors, but the tree also plays Christmas songs and the lights change colors according to the sounds on the song.  Very cool.  Fortunately, we keep the volume turned off as it is more obnoxious than those dancing Santas that everyone just had to have several years ago.

I forgot to take a picture of the big tree, but it's mostly normal, except for a train that's mounted in the middle.  Unfortunately the train quit working so it's just a track with a train sitting on it.  Again, it would probably be obnoxious while running, but still a fun tree.

We had to work today, and knew that it would be extremely busy - 10 units were arriving with reservations, but 5 others showed up unannounced.  Luckily we had room for everyone. One of the folks that came in had been here last year and needed one of the workampers to back their trailer onto the site. They hadn't practiced since then and Mark had to back their rig onto the site this year. (Maybe they are smarter than we know!)

One young man showed up this afternoon, having never seen or been around a trailer in his life.  He got a new job in this area so he bought an RV.  He brought in a friend with him to help.  Unfortunately, Mark said this guy was no help, and Mark ended up agreeing to back the trailer into his spot for him. When he started backing up there was a loud noise and the front wheels would no longer turn. It seems that the guy just had $1200 worth of work done on the front end and they forgot to tighten up the steering arm causing it to fall off.  Mark put it back together temporarily so he could finish backing in the trailer and the truck could be moved out of the street. Tonight as we were walking Butch after playing canasta (the women finally won, by 40 points!!), we see this same kid outside his trailer with several of his new neighbors, all with flashlights, trying to figure out why the water won't come out of the faucets but will come out in one of the storage areas. We wished them good luck and immediately walked on. We will have to wait 'til tomorrow to find out what was wrong.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day was wonderful.  As always, we ate way too much.  We only had 20 people for the 1:00pm meal.  Erik and Tania provided the turkey and ham and everyone else brought a dish.  We had dressing, green bean casserole, corn casserole, mashed potatoes, two sweet potato casserole, rolls, jello salad, cranberry sauce, and finally, pecan and pumpkin pies.

What you can't see from these pictures is that 95% of us were wearing shorts because it was so hot yesterday. Unfortunately, the warm spell (85) came to an end last night.

We all agreed to meet back at the clubhouse at 6:00p for leftovers.  There is no way that any of us could have been hungry, but 11 of us showed up again.  After two rounds of 3-13, we all waddled back to our trailers for the evening.  It's amazing that at 8:30 last night, the temperature was down to 44.  We had to come back and put the electric blanket on the bed.  Note - we did not turn it on, but got it ready just in case.  Unfortunately, tonight we're gonna need it.  Supposed to be around 28 tonight.

This morning we decided to be two of those crazies, and headed uptown to shop.  There was only one item we were after.  Mark was sure that they would be sold out since the sale started at 4am, but we lucked out.  We ran in, found the item, paid for it, and were back out of the store in less than 10 minutes.  Now if all the rest of our Christmas shopping could be that easy.

Today I put up the Christmas tree.  It's very small, but I love it.  I remembered to bring a small plastic tub with ornaments from home; all I had to buy was a bow for the top, and a strand of lights.

 
Gotta end this post - Happy Feet is on!

Getting Ready For Christmas

When we got off work Saturday at 7:00pm, we headed to the HEB for a few groceries.  We were out of milk and bread, and anything to make sandwiches out of on Sunday when we had to work again.  There's a problem with going to the store when you're hungry (even though we ate dinner before going).

We came back with cherry pie (plus whipped cream), strawberry cheese stolen, and cranberry walnut muffins - oh so good!

Sunday was another long slow day at work.  Not many people coming into the park or moving farther south this weekend.  Sunday was our first Ice Cream Social that we had to work.  I guess we did ok - no complaints.  I think we filled the scoops a lot larger than other workampers, but no one said anything about it. 

There was this very strange couple that checked in on Saturday when we worked.  The lady means well, but she just won't leave whoever is working in the office alone.  I think she'd be perfectly happy just hanging out with anyone all day long.  The problem is, none of us want, or can do that.  How do you tell a paying customer to just get away?  We sometimes dread going to popcorn for fear of what she wants next.  Only time will tell if she and her husband will show up for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.

After ice cream we learned a new game called Farkle.  It's a dice game with individual scoring. There's no skill to this, and between the two of us we decided there's not much fun either.  By the time we got back to the trailer, it was 8:30pm.  Butch doesn't like staying alone so long but we have enough down time that he got lots of visits from us, as well as a ride on the golf cart and a visit to the fire pit for an hour.

Yesterday I got my new kayak out of the box, inflated it, and tested it in the pool.  All is well and we can't wait to use them out on the lake.  Maybe next week if the weather holds.  It's still in the 80s.

Since Erik is anxiously awaiting for us all to take them out on the lake, we headed to Walmart to get life jackets so we'll have something to grab onto if we happen to fall in.  Since we don't really plan on wearing them, we bought the cheap ones for $19.99.  The $49.99 ones were very lightweight and comfy, but why waste money on something we don't play on using.

The hubbub with our card-playing friends - Bristol Palin on Dancing With The Stars.  I'm sick to death of hearing about her (and her mother as well!)  Luckily tonight's the finale. 

Since we cleaned out the basement of the trailer today to make room for the bags of kayaks, we decided to get out the Christmas lights and palm trees.

Mark hanging the balls in the tree on our site.  (His back is definitely better - last week he wouldn't have been able to be in this position.)

Several weeks ago I blogged that the problem with Texas trees, we never get to see the leaves change colors.  I was wrong, we have this one right next to where Mark is standing on the ladder.

It's not much, but those green leaves are changing to red.

The lights really look much better than this picture shows.  We're the first in the park to have up "lit" Christmas decorations.  Someone in the back of the park put a wreath up last week.  We need more. 

Next up - start Christmas shopping.  This year I'm buying on-line, and shipping to the kids back home to hold until we'll be hope in a few weeks.

Wii Are Holding Firm

We've discovered a place to take Butch to run crazy without a leash.  There's a new athletic complex about 2 miles from the RV park.  They have numerous baseball fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, skate park, and a large conference center.  A couple of weeks ago we tried to get him onto one of the baseball fields, but the city keeps them all locked up since they play baseball all winter long, and these are very nice fields.  We did discover a pair of older tennis courts that don't get used any longer and there's a fence surrounding them with a gate to close.  He loves to run as fast as he can for about five minutes to work out all that energy.  After working all this weekend, we'll be heading there on Monday morning.

Mark has still been visiting the chiropractor a couple of times a week.  We're praying for pain relief.  We've had some interesting nights trying to sleep with those darn spasms. 

The park is still empty of winter Texans so not much activity except for Wii exercising and cards at night.  The women still have not won a game.

Two of the couples we play cards with are military retirees so they visit the PX in San Antonio or Corpus Christi occasionally.  They all went to San Antonio on Thursday to stock up.  Gene and Charlene ended up buying a Wii since Gene says Charlene's butt is "firmer than it's ever been" since doing the Wii exercises.  Gene and Charlene will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks! 

Our other kayak showed up on Thursday.  We're gonna inflate and try it out in the pool next week.  Not sure when we'll head to the lake since we have no life jackets. 

Mark and Butch enjoying the nice outdoors while we were working yesterday.  After we got all of our duties completed, we headed outside.  It was an extremely slow day in the office.  I'm hoping today is the same since it's gonna be pushing 80 degrees again.

Staff Meeting 2 of 6

The sun finally came out today.  After 3 days of some rain but mostly just clouds and cool (50s), we had to search for the sunglasses once again.  Since we haven't worked, Mark's been resting his back.  Saturday and Sunday were the "do absolutely nothing" days for him. Thursday will probably be his final visit to the chiropractor. 

Yesterday we headed out to do errands.  My sister wanted me to investigate whether we could buy Creme de Taquila in Victoria.  She had some in Mexico a few weeks ago and was told it could only be purchased in Mexico or Texas.  Maybe so, but not in this town.

We were also looking for Ugly Christmas Sweater attire for an upcoming party when we get home.  So far, I've been an unsuccessful but will not be giving up.  We did find a pair of leather hot pants with four zippers (too small for Mark) at the local Goodwill store. We are always amazed at what people donate or sell although the two artificial legs we saw at a Florida flea market still top the list. There are lots more thrift shops to visit, only I'll be shopping by myself.  That's not Mark's thing.

My legs have been killing me since we've been doing the Wii workout three days a week.  Last night I had leg cramps so bad, I kicked Butch off the bed with both feet.  Scared the crap out of him; he's probably still wondering why I did it.  Mark was kind enough to get out of bed and pick him up.

Today started with the monthly staff meeting. We look forward to these meetings because breakfast is provided by the owners. As our good friend Al used to say "If it's free it's for me!" The main topic was the upcoming Christmas Parade. We are supposed to build and then ride on a float in the parade and it has to be completed by December 5. We haven't started yet.

Today was Ladies Lunch out day; we headed to Jason's Deli and then Hancock Fabrics.  While we did this, the men headed to Mumphords BBQ.  We're been here over a month and I still haven't had that great smoked meat. 

The women still have not won in playing Canasta.  We're taking a break from it.  Last night we learned a new game called 3-13.  It's an individual scoring game; I won 2 games and Linda won 2 games.  It's a start!

Hurry, I Think I Hear Banjos

Thursday was our long day to work.  When we work, the first duties are to count the money and then start cleaning.  I clean two inside restrooms and showers plus six washers and six dryers.  Mark cleans the two outside restrooms and one shower.  The office opens at 10:00am during the winter hours.  I didn't get around to cleaning the laundry area until almost noon.  Everyone wants to get their wash done before the weekend when all the workers do their laundry.

The park has many workers this year.  It seems that two or three rigs come in each day.  It makes us wonder where all the winter Texans will be. 

By the time we got done with popcorn yesterday, we had to set up for the first potluck of the season.  Sadly, there were only 17 people there, and 4 of those were the owners and their 2 kids, and 6 of us were workampers.  We're anxiously awaiting more people.  The workers never participate in activities, except for   Rebecca.  Her husband is an oil field worker who works very long hours while she stays in the park all day in a 19' Hi-Lo trailer with her adorable 9 month old daughter, Audrey and 3 dogs.  She's also pregnant again.  We haven't asked her yet, but we're sure Rebecca is not yet 20 years old.  Regardless, she makes a mean slab of ribs on the grill.  They were some of the best ribs I've ever eaten.  The slab broke apart using a plastic fork. Sadly, there weren't enough to go around - Mark and I got the last two pieces. 

Yesterday the Fedex man brought Mark's new toy.

No, it's not another musical instrument!

After his chiropractor appointment today, he came back to the park to open up the new toy.

Wray investigating Mark's new inflatable Kayak.

Next stop - the swimming pool to see how Mark handles the darn thing.

So far so good.  (That's our truck in the background - our trailer is just to the right of the truck.  It's good to be close to the pool.)

He tried to tip it over, and it just wouldn't tip.  He jumped out to see if he could get back in, and was successful. 

The pool is just wide enough to turn around in.

We liked this kayak so much that we ordered another one for me this afternoon.  It should be here next week.  Then we'll head to a nearby small lake to try them out.  Next stop - the bay down on the coast.  We have to get good at this before meeting up with Pam and Dennis in Gulf Shores next September.

Those Devil Eyes

Monday we had to work.  There was one really strange couple that came in from Ontario.  All the lady was concerned about was getting her satellite up and running so she could watch Canadian TV.  All this for just one night.  When we work, the office closes at 5:00pm, but the couple working is on call until 7:00pm when the owners take over.  At 5:00 we headed over to our trailer to eat since we knew we would be playing canasta at 6:30 that night and really had to be on call until 8:00 because the owners were out of the park at their son's basketball game.  Unfortunately, the lady from Ontario came over just as we were getting ready to sit down at eat.  Apparently she had been imbibing rather heavily for several hours, and she just wanted someone to talk to (Mark).  When we were playing cards, she stopped in for another visit to the clubhouse; by this time she could barely speak.  We meet all kinds in this business.

Butch hard at work with Mark

Since Mark's back has been killing him, he's trying a new approach to pain relief - a local chiropractor who says he can have him up and playing golf soon.  We're hoping for the best.  He went for an hour visit on Tuesday, again today, and has another appointment on Friday.  He warned Mark that it would be painful for a while, and to quit using a heating pad - he needs to be applying ice, not heat.

Yesterday after the chiropractor, we had to visit Walmart, Sam's, HEB, and lunch at the Buffet City.  Now we're getting tired of it; hopefully we'll stay away for several weeks. 

The heat is now on in the pool so we got to lounge around for an hour or so yesterday before popcorn and soda at 3p.  No cards Tuesday night since two of the couples are addicted to Dancing With The Stars and had to see it.  It's ok, since the women still haven't won.

This morning was the first day of Wii exercise.  Linda hooks her Wii Fitness up in the clubhouse and four of us women gave it a try.  I was leery since I figured it wouldn't be much of a workout.  I'm happy to say I was wrong.  It was a great workout and we had lots of laughs.  We started with the strength training and moved onto hula hoops and ski jumping.  After an hour, we were all beat.

We had time to give Butch a much-needed bath before the first men's water volleyball at 1:00p. 

The men's volleyball turned into co-ed since there aren't enough winter Texan men here in the park to play.  Linda, Charlene, and I joined in.  I'm happy to say, the team I was on won 4 times.  Then I traded places with Charlene, and my new team then lost. Hopefully the weather will stay nice so we can continue without the bubble.  The eight of us then crammed into the hot tub to relax before popcorn.

Wray and Emily from last year showed up today for a four-day visit.  We didn't have a lot of time to catch up today, but we'll make up for it on Friday and Saturday.

Early to bed tonight - gotta work tomorrow.

Butch hiding underneath his bed.  I wonder who he thinks he's hiding from?

What Are Those Brown Things?

We've been busy and not real diligent about updating, so here goes.  Hopefully I can remember what we've done since Thursday.  We haven't worked!  We are now in the routine of popcorn and soda in the clubhouse at 3:00pm. and then a quick dinner before cards at 6:30pm.   Thursday night we (the women) suffered our worse loss ever playing canasta.  They beat us by almost 20,000 points. 

Friday night we went to dinner with Gene and Linda and Gene and Charlene to a fairly new pizza joint in town.  The pizza was good, but service was not.  The other couples got their pizzas; ours was wrong, and then the replacement was raw.  They finally credited us back what we paid, and we left somewhat hungry (they let us eat the first wrong one while we waited for the right (but raw) one.  We'll probably return, but only for the buffet that's served at lunchtime.  We made it back to the park in time for yet another defeat in canasta.

Mark went to the first men's breakfast of the season while I cleaned the trailer.  The pool is now below 80 degrees so we're not getting in until the heater comes on. 

Last night we headed up town to check out the local sporting goods store, Academy.  Then we tried out the new Cherry Berry Yogurt Bar.  It's a self-serve place where you get a cup, load up on any of the 20 flavors and 20 toppings, and pay .38 per ounce.  I tried the strawberry and the cheesecake in a twist with no toppings.  Mark had the peach with no toppings either.  Ours came to almost $8.50.  Slightly higher than Mr. Wizards at home, but very good.  I checked out their website - there are none in Missouri, but ones coming soon to Joplin and to Springfield, MO.

Saturday afternoon a couple from Lubbock arrived to stay a couple of nights.  They were in town for a wedding last night, but Noble wanted to golf today before heading home Monday.  We agreed to golf this morning.  He got the father of the bride (David) to join us as well.  It was a perfect day for golf with lots of laughs, and a lot of time spent looking for lost balls.  David lives in town, but never has time to golf, and Noble just took up the game a year ago.

There's a small lake on the course where all the geese and ducks hang out, along with the occasional alligator.  Today there were about 6 small brown animals underneath the bush.  While I was taking the picture with my phone, all the geese were chasing me and making very loud squawks at me.

I think they look like baby beavers, but the locals say no.

Mark's back gave out and I had to help him off the ground and into the cart with orders to just sit.  It's been spasming up all night.  We're gonna have to do something - just not sure what that is.  The golf clubs will be going into hibernation for a few weeks. 

It's back to work tomorrow and then again on Thursday. 

A Dog Among Dogs

Monday it was extremely nice not to go into work, especially since we were up in the middle of the night when storms came rolling through.  Our big chicken dog doesn't like thunder and lightning.  When it quit raining we packed up Butch and headed to Long John Silver for a drive-thru lunch that we took to the park to eat.  Butch loved the picnic - especially all the fries we gave him.  Not sure if he's ever had then, but since they were mushy and we didn't like them, he got about half an order(and you probably know what they turned into).

We went to one of the many local Mexican restaurants for dinner later that evening with Gene and Linda and Gene and Charlene before a round of canasta.  I wish I could say the women won, but that would be a lie.  The food was so-so at the Hacienda Cafe so we're taking that one off the list.

Tuesday we hung around waiting for the RV Service & Repair guy to show up.  Our hot water heater has been making a loud noise since we got here so we decided it was time to do something about it. Turns out the backflow valve was bad. Mark also bought some kind of roof treatment from the guy.  Now we're set until something else happens.  It was too windy to golf so we headed to Walmart to stock up before I started laundry and before "happy hour" which is soda and popcorn.  We tried our luck with Joker last night, and again, the men beat us 2 out of 3 games. 

The weather has turned bad today.  The high was supposed to be in the low 60s, with wind all day at 15-20mph.  Luckily I was inside working all day and didn't have to be out in it.  Mark wasn't so lucky.  We only had two rigs come in today, but one of them had never backed up a 5th wheel in his life.  Mark was with the guy for about an hour helping him get set up.  

Butch hiding on the "dog" blanket with Mark.