A Happy Thanksgiving To You All

I Have had a very happy day here in the valley. I seems my favorite person is here and we had our usual turkey and the fixings at Luby's as usual. If we had been some place else we would still have made it to the local cafeteria for dinner. The food was good and the company was better. The weather even was fantastic. It was 83* upon arrival and she went from jacket, jeans and sweater to shorts, tee and sandals when she hit the door to the rv. We did have a bit of the usual wind but that's to be expected.

Since today is Friday, we went and looked at the park models and the single and double wide mobile homes here. The new ones are nice and the double wides are huge inside. The park models, homes on wheels, are small around the 399 sq ft range. About as much space as we have in the motor home. We are 8 ft 6 inches wide x 36 foot long. Our living area is less 3 inches in width and around 6 foot less in length. Add another 30 inches x 11 feet for the living room slide and 24" x 6 feet for the bedroom slide. That's all folks.

I did find out that diesel was $2.62 per gallon with gas at $1.69 per gallon. The park is about 95% full in the east rent spaces, About 60% full in the west rent space, where I'm at by the west pool, and 35% full on the north rent spaces. We did find prices for the rv spaces on the north area about $27,900 for a nice lot about 40 foot wide x 70 foot long and a concrete pad to park and patio. I say about as we did not write it down. That price includes 5 years of free golf at the course. An additional fee of $135 per month for the HOA fee of year round yard care, water, wireless internet, cable tv (cable modem availabel for about a $100 purchase) and twicw a week trach pickup. Electric is billed to the park and then sub billed to you. My rate for a 4 month rental site was $0.15 per kwh. If you lease a lease only spot the above applies and a monthly lease rate is as shown on the park website. Other sites the buy price varies.

All in all its a nice place to be but for a single person with a partner who is working and living 531 miles away, it does get lonely. I may have to pull up the jackes and head north. But I will be here through the end of the year. A monthly visit is nice and I could stay here till the end of February as paid for before heading back north.

I hope all of you had a very happy holiday as I did and be careful if you have to travel on the days to come. If your an rv family we know then email me and I will give you my phone number to call and maybe get together when your here or even there.

To my family have a happy Thanksgiving even if it is a day late.

It Got Warmer And Now Its Cool Again

The weather for Saturday thru yesterday was just picture perfect. Cool nights in the low mid 60's and warm days in the mid to upper 70's. Absolutely wonderful. I played golf for nearly all of those days. As of early this morning we had a good bit of rain. It makes quite a pounding sound when it comes down heavy. Some time this early morning it started raining and I had the windows open and had to get up and close them and one vent. On nights like these I'm not exactly covered all over. But I do wear a T shirt. Oops maybe that's to much information. But you get the idea just how nice it has been.

Today on this Tuesday its still cloudy with the appearance of rain threatening but its not suppose to rain. The day is forecast to be partly cloudy and light winds of 10 mph with a high of 75 from the low of 59. I hope it does as forecast as I have a tee time in the mixed doubles at 1:18 pm. I will play with three people I do not know again. Last week one of the women it a 213 yard drive to an elevated green and stopped about 10 feet from the pin. I measured the drive yesterday from the front tee to the pin and then to her approx ball location. The pin was at 217 yards and she could have been that close if it had just rolled straight. Yes we did make the eagle and Cindy just screamed with delight. Made our score a -4 going to the ninth and final hole. We did not win the first three paying places thought. Darn we tried.

This week will be nice to Friday night when a front comes thru and the high for Saturday and Sunday is mid 60's. I will have a guest in on Thursday and she will have to go back on Sunday. She is looking forward to getting away from the office and doing something different. This year the weather will be nice for her short stay.

Things are finally moving on the lawsuit and papers should be served when all the necessary pre-trial prep is complete. There is still a few items to obtain and then a review to be sure all is in order. I have advised my attorney that we will be ready for filing and getting a court date very soon once all the basic ground papers are received. Its a very good probably that the other party could pay a heavy price in money and time for their exploits. I will be pushing my attorney to have the other party punished to the full extent of the law which could include serious jail time. The other party does not want to settle out of court so it will be up to the judge to make final disposition. All of the information and final disposition will be made public in a blog to be released for your viewing at time of final court action. So, be patient and all will be fully explained then.

Baby Its Cold Outside

On this day in history let it be well known that the front came through this early am and the wind came up. It has blown from the 4 am hour and its dropped from 52 to 49 and the chill has got to be cold out there. The high at midnight was 69 with the low so far at 49. The winds are north from 15-20 with gusts to 30 so far. There has been some mist but no real rain since daybreak. Before that we did get some showers.

The golf course security camera on the TV is not working. I have wondered how many have made the trip to the course. Far to cold and windy to be enjoyable. I don't like winds above 35 and cold below 60. And hot above 90. If its not fun, I don't go. Speaking of TV, we have two of the none digital type in the rv. Since the antenna wire to the switch box feeds both TV's, I'm going to get just one digital converter box and put in before the switch box. the switch box is a multi-assignment type for antenna, satellite, cable or outside source. Should this RV sell when i get it back, the next owner can add the 2nd converter box at $50 plus tax. I am on local park cable so all i get is digital to my TV.

No other news from here. I will have a guest next turkey day thru Sunday morning. She will be glad to get away from the office to a more relaxed way of life. If you can call being forced inside today any fun. But I am getting some work done for the lawsuit and that's important. A court date will be announced soon. The results of the suit will be published for public reading at the time of the court decision. Till then the blog is for attorney-client only. Doing it this way frees up his and my email and makes everything available as it happens. Just be patient on this.

Gas here is $1.76.9 yesterday and that's what it was in 2005 when we started this RV lifestyle.

Our Lazy Days Here

I caught the cat being a "bum". Instead of working to keep the place free of unwanted guest, if we should have any, he just lays down on the job. Literally rolls over and snoozes. My kind of guy!

Our mornings have been cool as in the low to mid 40's so far with days in the low 70's, sunny and very light winds. Absolutely perfect is the best I can say. I get up around 6:30 to 7:00 am and have coffee while reading the electronic news. Sometimes I turn up the heater to warm up the house and take the chill off.

With the nice temps, golf has been a everyday event this week. Played Monday with a nice couple and then again with the hubby Tuesday morning. That afternoon was the mixed couples and our team has a lady that I call her a "golfer". She hit a drive from the front tees onto the green and we made an Eagle. That's a two under par. She drove the eightth green from about 230 yards up hill and about two yards short of the pin if the ball had rolled straight. I'm going to measure the drive with my igolf gps and see just how far it went. We ended up at -3 with a boogie on nine. We were out of the money for sure.

The winning score should have been the seven birdies and a bogie from a team that I had played with one of the men last week. He could hit the ball close to 300 yards. My best drive might get 250. All in all it was a fun day and hopefully many more yet to come. Winter her is about two weeks in Jan and them in is spring again.

My Evening Stuck At Home

It has been one of those days. The wind was blowing out of the north and it was cool for most of the day It finally slacked off and the temp rose to 71 which is not to bad.


So I have stayed inside and still in my pajamas for the day. Just did not want to get dressed while I'm the house. I guess that's what you would call "Retirement". IE, I don't have to get ready if I don't want to.



For breakfast I had oatmeal and toast with OJ. Something warm for a cool morning. This is my evening meal of fish, FF, and Texas toast. I do like my convection oven.

And then there is the last chore of the KP to do. Yep, its the dirt dishes that are in the sink awaiting me to finish this post. They can just wait a sec.

Ok, I got the events of the day done, nearly. I did stay on the laptop playing runescape.com game. If you play the game I'm texasguy028 so come find me. If you need some quality computer time then this is it, FREE.

The Pretty Fog This Morning

The morning coffee was accompamied with this morning pic of the fog. It was thick and wet and chilly with a little wind.


There will be more morning like this and I will try to get pics of each of them


The 2nd pic is of the evening clouds after all the rain of yesterday. Its just barely visible but can you see the sunset. Look just over the top of the carport and there it is.

We got lots of rain but none today. It is and will be wet tomorrow too. With that and the passing of the cool front tomorrow afternoon it will been more seasonably temp wise. Its been 7-8 degrees above normal. With much humidity it can be real muggy like today. And I got all the laundry done including the sheets.

More as it developes in the days to come.

On A Raining Thursday

What do you do on a rainy day? Hummmmm!
I have to do this!


But as you can see my cat does his usual thing, nothing.







I got the clothes sorted but not the towels yet. And its wash the sheets. I was going to the laundry close by but its raining. So I will put them off till the last and see if it gets better.


I have four shirts in the washer, 4 shirts and shorts to be washed and that pile of towels. I still have a bath towel to add to the mix yet.




This is the outside with wet street and standing water. It has not rained much but its needed here with the ground cracked.

This is Gorden and Jerri's place next door. They are from MN and are friends with the other MN neighbors.

He does water his small yard. The water is free to use and we only pay for the electricity. Not a bad deal. Power this year is $0.19 per kwh. So far its been nice days except for a very few.




And here is the first load in the washer. Its not very big. Holds a few items and then its full.


But it works and gets the clothes clean and I dont have to go to a commercial laundry. That's the best part. It does take a little longer in this than your home model.




When we were traveling, this was the only washer nearby for miles. And some times it was the only washer at all. So it does its job slowely but it gets it done. You just learn to not get in a hurry.

Anyway, ya'll have a nice day and drive safe and do stop and enjoy the sights.

The Monday Post

A typical evening meal. Last year I cooked Lean Cuisine tv dinners. I did that all four months I was here. This year I decided to eat less sodium and preservative and all that goes with tv dinners.


This year I am cooking all my meals and having real veggies. And this is a pic of an evening meal of pork chops with cut green beans and sliced bread.




This is a pick of the laundry room with the pool beyond to the right and the showers to the left. The door to the left is to one of the shower rooms.



The tower beyond the shower is the wireless tower that went out and had to have a new board replaced.





I posted the panorama of the park and asked if you could see the rv. If you could not find the rv in the panaroma then here is the pic of the rv used in the panorama.

Today has been a windy day. Sustained winds in the 20-25 mph range with gusts to 37 mph. Definitely not a golf day with winds that high.

I have made an appointment to have an eye exam for more contact lens. My current Rx is out of date as of May, 08. and not renewable. And thats at 11:000 am and I am suppose to play golf with the mixed league at 1:00 pm. The weather may be the same as today so it could be windy again.

Posting on A Sunday of The Park

Pictures of this year park and a general idea of those that have arrived to date. There has been a price increase over last year for the park. And a significant increase on the golf course rates.

I was asked by Shirley to take a pic of the park to show what it looked like with those that had arrived to date. And there it is as the first pic panorama. See if you can find our motor home in the pic. The second is what is the other direction. The pic of the park is looking north taken from atop of the berm. The second pic is taken from the same location but looking south of the park Mexico is about 5 miles do south.

The park rates for 2008 are linked on the website that I posted earlier. But nothing is available for the prospective guest to know about the cost of golf. Other than making a phone call to the course there is no web golf rates posted. As I had earlier posted, they went up significantly. I talked to a volunteer from last year and it was told to me that the owner, yes it is privately owned, felt the course was overplayed in 07 and he was going to increase the rates for 08. The rates that now are in effect are below what he had first decided to charge. There are no crowds, dozens of cars etc to golf. I would guess that the average daily round total under 75. Most afternoons there are a hand full or less. And that's like 5 players. I might add I like it, no crowds.

I bought a 4 month membership for $650 plus tax as it is cheaper than paying per round at $30. This is not a $30 per round course either. For 3 times a week its affordable.


The water and the farm land beyond are whats called a Resaca (Ra-sock-a). From my understanding its a flood control area to allow the local creeks and maybe the Rio Grand River a place for the excess water to flow in times of flood. Probably when a hurricane comes through or when they keep those heavy tropical rains. Anyway its flood control. The golf course is built in the flood plain and has been there since the 1920's. It use to be a 12 hole course. There are some nasty restrictions regarding its use and most of it is no you cant do that.

The park is built in the horseshoe formed by the Resaca. All around the park is orange trees, lots of them. On the park property is orange, grapefruit, lime, and some lemon trees. They are all free for the picking and better hurry as the birds get first choice.

The Wireless Is Up and Running

The guy that keeps the cable tv and internet working came by about 6:30 pm last night and told me the wireless was now working. I switched to wireless and yes it is, YEA. I now have a cable modem as backup and will use the wireless as its much faster.

Now all I got to do is get over this cold and everything will be fine. Our forcast is for rain today so cross your fingers that it happens. I will be inside for the day and work on the spread sheets I need to look at. There are many errors already but it will be up to the Judge to make the final decision.

We Have a NEW President Elect

Whether you voted for him or not, he is the next President. Wish him the best as he has a difficult job ahead.

I have a cold. It seems I slept at night with the windows open and I got cold, hence a head cold. I'm better but not over it. Last night I had no chills or sweats so the fever is behind me I hope. I'm in the wrong place to get sick. My head is better but I still have a sinus drip and cough. When I get back to being better I will get more pics to post. And I did get my hair cut, $8.00 here.

Its been mid to upper 80's with mid 60's at night. Last night was warm at 69 for a low. I have started running the back a/c unit to sleep better. Its just to muggy. The clouds are coming in for 40% rain tomorrow. With the rain is cooler temps maybe.

Gas is now at $1.79.9 due to the gas war here. Yea! If you want cheaper gas, come on down! Still don't have a diesel price to post. Stars, Sonic from where I'm from, has burgers, small fries and drink for $1.99. What a deal, that's for lunch. More later!

Well, lets add to this post. I have had further problems with the cable modem. This is the 2nd one for me and I had problems with it today. A little background. The first modem numbers matched the box it came in but when it was installed it had a 2nd set of numbers. By doing this it would never find itself and thus never work. So, it got boxed up and taken back to the office for another.

The 2nd modem installed as it should as new equipment wich the 1st modem never did. This was Saturday afternoon and into mid Sunday afternoon. The modem worked with some disconnects that I assumed to be the park system. Today around 11:30 am the modem stopped and wuld not connect at all. I did everything but install the driver again. It was a no go. Finally about 30 minutes ago I uninstalled the drivers and reconnected the modem and it installed as new equipment as it should. So far its working and hopefully it will stay that way.

I have no other way to get onto the internet as the wifi tower is still down. For "us" that would be using that tower, no wifi. That is why I have this cable modem. It was suppose to be my backup but its now my only and therfor primary access to the internet and all that I do there, including this blog and the Runescape game that I play. If this modem failes, off to the office for another and 3rd attempt.

And for lunch it was the burger deal at $2.15 including tax. What a deal!

Beginning of a New Week and Its Election Day

Its election day and I voted my choice for office and yes/no on the other issues. Did you Vote?
















And what I had for breakfast one day, hot oatmeal with toast, honey and OJ. Oh yea, and all of many many pills and inhalers.

The other pic is of my furr ball traveling companion, Tom Cat or stinky for short. He is actually a very good traveler: hides, hides, and never complains.

He remembered being in the rv from times past. He ran to the passenger chair to hide, likes to lay down on his side and scratch the raised slide carpet. And he knows which windows he can get the best view of the outside.

I hope Janis post a few pics of her new window shades. I want to see what they look like and if thats what we need as ours are coming apart.

Gas here is $1.83.9. Don't have a price for diesel yet. And its sunny with upper 80's today you snowbirds.

A Panaroma of My Space

This will give you and idea of what my side of the street looks like aith all my neighbors. Ill have an inside panaroma when I get a few more fill in pics tomorrow afternoon.


And an inside look at where me and the cat reside. Its a bit distorted but you get the idea, cozy is the word.

Posting Some Pictures of The Park

Some pics of the space we have this year. This is 450 Donna which faces the south and get the west afternoon sun. For a motor home not the best as its sloping to the street and to the drivers side. I ended up putting wood blocks under the jacks to get it level without the jacks being fully extended.

The 4th pic showing the car and other side of the RV i renumbered and the pc forgot which one it is. Each pic I bring in is the wrong one.



Not a bad spot, in fact very few of them are bad spots. It is the neighbors that will make a spot bad. What you can't see in theses pics is the new tires. It was an "ouch" to the bank account.

The coach got a Saturday morning wash and windows cleaned in and out. Even washed the screens. The suv also got a wash and its windows cleaned os only. I got to get some tar remover when I go to the store.



This is a pic of the side with the water/sewer connections. This is actually my neighbors front yard. They are about 15 feet away on the west property rv parking.

I got to get a new board for the water filter that you can barely see leaning over. The wood is 3 years old and finally broke. That's on my list of parts to get.


Now to answer Jan Chilson of Snackmaster (Wes) and Jan, we put the rv up for sale last March but there were no offers. Partly because of the current economy and the spring gas prices and its an 8 year old motor home. Me and the cat are spending the winter in the valley to get away from the cold of north Texas. Shirley is working and staying behind. When I go back this coming March, plans are to keep the rv and find a storage unit. We can then use the rv on weekends and holidays. It is for sale as long as I'm in the valley. When you guys get settled, send me an email and I'll come see ya. Do look at the Martin Valley area of Mission where Terry and Dale stay.