Sunday Pre-New Year Dance

A cold dreary day

It was a cold dreary day, it didn't get out of 40s. We stayed around the Minnie all day keeping warm. We read and watched a few YouTube videos.

Every year Joe Saltel has a Pre New Year Eve dance at the Tropic Star. Ron Woolcock cues the round dancing. You purchase a ticket and you're assigned a table to sit at. There are 10 people at each table and each person got a New Years hat, horns and candy. This year' dance theme was Broadway Shows, Joe called to different Broadway show songs. Everyone also got a plate with a ham sandwich, bag of chips, pudding with an Oreo cookie and punch. While the dancers ate Joe sang Broadway Show songs. After the meal everyone went in the middle of the hall and pretended that it was midnight on New Year Eve and welcomed in the new year. Then Joe did a singing call. We danced every tip of square dancing. There were almost 20 squares of dancers and quite a few round dancers. We had a super time dancing with friends and meeting new people.

     

Joe entertaining us while we ate

Ron cuing the round dancers

Round dancing to Ron cuing

Friends enjoying round dancing to Ron

Friends having fun round dancing

Saturday 12-29 A Chilly Day

We woke up to a chilly morning and a bit of wind. It didn't get out of the low 50s.

We went over to the club house around 8:00 to attend the park's Saturday morning get together. They served coffee and donuts and then had announcements. They talk about events that have happened and events coming up. They also announce who has arrived in the park, everyone gave us a warm welcome back. There were a lot of extra donuts so when we were leaving we took another donut with us. 

We spent the day reading. A couple of the guys I played cards with invited me to join them tonight, I accepted the invitation but when it was time to go I wimped out, not sure why, guess I just didn't feel like going.

LIFE IS GOOD!!!!

Relaxing with a book

Friday 12-28 Freaky Friday Dancing

Awesome Day

Today was another beautiful day. a few degrees cooler and a bit of a breeze.

We spent the day dancing with Randy Doughtery. At 10:00 we danced DBD Plus with seven couples, one couple shy of having two squares. Every third tip Randy had six couples dancing. Two Hexagon tips, where there were three head couples and three side couples. The other tip was where there were four head couples and two side couples. Randy put us in weird positions which made it challenging and fun. We had a super morning laughing and having fun. 

We had an hour break before the next dance. For lunch we went to Diaz Diner with a group from the dance. They serve breakfast items and Mexican food. We ordered a beef enchilada and beef taco. They served chips and salsa for us to snack on while we waited for our meal. The chips were different than other places because they had both the regular tortilla chips and some type of a deep fried bread chip that was excellent. The service was good and the food was delicious.

After lunch the group went back to the hall and danced A with Randy. We had two squares and two extra couples. Once again Randy made the dance very challenging by putting us in positions we weren't used to being in. We spent the afternoon laughing and having fun.

Larry enjoying watching Randy calling

Friends waiting for the next call from Randy

Having fun dancing with Randy

In the evening I went down to the club house and played Pinochle. There were only four of us. I tried to play last year so tonight the guys had to reteach me the rules. I still don't know how to play too good. I don't know what each card is worth in points. I'm slowly learning. The guys said I did very well but I'm not sure. But I had fun.

We had an awesome day!!!

Thursday 12-27 First Day of Dancing

The day started out with blue skies and no wind but by the afternoon the wind had come up a bit, nothing like yesterday, we didn't have to hold on tight to the car doors. It got up to 80 degrees. A beautiful day.

We started the day by going to Tropic Star to attend an A Workshop with Joe Saltel. We had exactly two squares. The first tip was a warm up for Joe to see what to work on. Joe worked on facing recycling, motivate, split transfer, peel and trail and trail off. We had a warm welcome from people we hadn't seen since last year in the Valley. We had a super time laughing and dancing.

In the afternoon we went to the Peppermint Palace to attend an A dance with Bronc Wise. We had enough people for two squares and an extra couple. Bronc walked us through a few moves using the four couples concept and all eight concepts that people were having trouble with. Once again we had a warm welcome from dancers we hadn't seen since last year. We had an outstanding time.

Bronc Wise calling the A dance

Our friends Janet and Roger

Friends having fun dancing to Bronc

More friends enjoying the dance

In the evening I went over to the club house at J-Five to play card bingo. We had sixteen people playing. I won a couple of games that gave me $2 each so I doubled what I paid to play. Everyone was happy to see us back this year. I had a great time playing.

    

Wednesday 12-26 Windy Day

Windy Day

It was windy all day. When we opened the door of the Minnie we had to hold on to it so the wind wouldn't blow it out of your hands.

When we woke up this morning we walked over to HEB and bought doughnuts for breakfast. We arrived at J-Five RV Park about 9:00. Donna gave Larry a map of the park and highlighted the available sites. This is our third year to stay here, as we walked around people welcomed us back. J5 has two weekly get togethers where they serve coffee and donuts along with discussing the activities going on around the park, we attend these and I participate in some of the evening games, doing these two things has allowed us to get to know many of the people who stay here. Quite a few of the residents live here year round. This is a real friendly park and it is nice to have people welcome us back. We decided on site 20, it was perfect because it was close to the bathrooms, laundry room, office and clubhouse. The site has a nice sized concrete slab and a big tree to give us some shade. We will have to trim a couple of branches so they don't hit the roof in a big storm. J-Five will be our home for at least a month.

J-Five welcome sign

We usually bring a fan with us to help keep cool but we forgot it. After we settled in we went to Walmart but they didn't have what we wanted. We went down the block to Target, they had exactly what we wanted. When we got back to the Minnie Larry assembled the fan. We will leave this fan in the Minnie and won't have to worry about forgetting one.

We spent the afternoon and evening reading. We had a relaxing day.   

Reading is fun

Tuesday 12-25-18 Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas. I hope everyone had a great day. 

On the way to the Valley

We spent the day driving to the Rio Grande Valley. We started out in the fog, at times it was very thick. Once the fog lifted it sprinkled on and off. We drove interstate and divided highway the whole time. Because it was Christmas the traffic was very lite, it didn't take long to get through Austin and the loop around San Antonio was almost empty. During the drive I dozed off now and then, I got up about 6:30, a bit early for me. We stopped a few times, one time was at a picnic area to have lunch. We arrived in the Valley around 3:30 and found a Home Depot to stay for the night. For the last two years we have been staying at J-Five RV Park and we didn't want to disturb the lady who works the office, Donna on Christmas. We had a super Christmas.

Monday 12-24 Christmas Eve

We had a super day. 

Last night before I went to bed I put a loaf of Rhodes frozen white bread in a bread pan so it would be thawed out by morning but I forgot that the granite countertops are cold so when Larry got up the bread hadn't risen. Larry put it in the microwave, he didn't turn it on but left the light on to help it to raise. It took about six hours before I baked it. I baked it for 25 minutes, let it cool for a couple of minutes and sliced it up. It came out perfect. The only problem with fresh baked bread is that we eat the whole loaf in one day. When it comes to fresh baked bread I simply have no self control.

Freshly baked bread

After lunch we went to town to fill car up with gas and to check our mail the last time before our trip. When we got home I finished loading the Minnie, we're going to be on the road tomorrow.

Tonight we had a nice Christmas Eve dinner. We had coconut shrimp and fried potatoes. 

Coconut Shrimp

Fried Potatoes

In the evening we watched The Polar Express. We own the DVD and it has kind of become a tradition to watch it every Christmas. I still enjoy it very much. Afterwards we watched an episode of Miss Marple. Larry called his mom in Tucson to wish her, Louise and his brother Ray a Merry Christmas. We had a super Christmas Eve. 

Sunday 12-23 Temple Trains

Cold windy day

Today was sunny and beautiful but it stayed cool due to a cold north wind. The temperature stayed in the high 50s and low 60s. 

A few weeks ago Larry read in the newspaper that the City of Temple bought some train engines to promote the city. Local organizations were given a engine to paint, once they are painted they will be placed in different places around Temple. Three of the engines have now been painted and installed. This morning we went to town and see if we could find them. We parked the truck by city hall and walked around downtown, we located all of them. Two of the engines were real close to city hall. They were easy to find because they were painted bright. The other one was painted dark. We walked around for a bit and found it by the Federal Building. The engines were very nicely done and cute. I can hardly wait to see how the other ones will come out.

Next we went to our storage unit to pick up the car dolly. We will use it to tow the car behind the Minnie on the way to The Valley. 

In the afternoon I did a few loads of clothes. Once the clothes were done I started loading them in the Minnie. The Minnie is almost ready to go. 

In the evening we watched another James Bond movie, Goldfinger. Then we started watching The Agatha Christie Hour. We weren't sure if we would like it because in was done in 1982. But I ended up liking it because it was cute and funny. We had a very good day.

Saturday 12-22 Let's Go for a Walk

Let's go for a walk

We woke up to sunshine and a light breeze. The temperature was 50 degrees, perfect, weather, let's go for a walk. We went to Belton to walk Nolan Creek Trail. We started our walk at our normal spot, Yettie Polk Park, we walked to the loop and then headed back toward the car. While we were in town we picked up our mail at the UPS Store. Larry let them know we were going out of town. On the way home we stopped at Jack 'n' Jill Donuts and bought a couple of donuts.

The water pad at Harris Community Park

Larry installed our Google Home and Mobley in the Minnie so we will have internet when we're in the Rio Grande Valley. I made our bed, this took awhile, it's located above the cab which makes it challenging. Then I did some Sudoku puzzles and worked on my annual book.

In the evening we watched another James Bond movie called From Russia with Love. Then we watched an episode of Miss Marple. While watching television I did a couple of loads of laundry. We had an awesome day. 

Watching television

   

Friday 12-21 First Day of Winter

First Day of Winter

Today was the first day of Winter but it seemed more like Spring. The sun was shining and it got to the low 60s. There was no wind.

We started out the day by doing a few errands. The first stop was at Dollar Tree, then Aldi's we don't go to Aldi often. Aldi carries different products than other grocery stores and we find products that sound good to try. We like their shredded pork with barbecue sauce so we bought a few packs of it. WE also bought a pack of dates wrapped in bacon because it sounded good.

The final stop was at Academy to buy a pair of shoes for Larry. It's always hard to find a shoe you like, once you find one when you go back to get another pair the store is either out of stock or the supplier has discontinued the style. Today Larry found the shoe he currently wears in black but they didn't have white. We bought the black pair and when we got home he checked Academy's website and found that the white color was being discontinued. Now we'll have to find another style of shoes.

For dinner we had the date wraps with bacon, they were delicious. We had potatoes and gravy to go with them.

In the evening we went to the Killeen Kickers dance. We had three squares of dancers. The club served a lot of delicious food. Dan Clairmont, their caller called seven tips and Christina Wiggins cued line dancing in between the tips. They both did great job. We had fun dancing with friends. 

Concentrating on listening to Christina cuing

Barb line dancing with friends

Line dancing with Christina

Friends having fun promenading home

Having a great time dancing

Having a super time dancing to Dan

   

Thursday 12-20 Happy Thursday

We had a cold windy day.

Remember yesterday when I wrote that Louise gave us a trick gift, well, here are a few pictures.

Oatmeal box

No oatmeal packages

Surprise Heath bars

I spent part of the day doing Sudoku puzzles and working on my annual book. I did my weekly housecleaning. Larry did a bit of maintenance on the garage doors and a couple of things on the Minnie. 

In the evening Larry and Patrica showed up to go to our weekly A2 dance in Sun City. We had exactly two squares. Nancy Smith made some Christmas snacks. They were made out of pretzels and Hershey Kisses, some were chocolate and peppermint. She also made drop cookies with Rice Krispies. They were delicious. We had a super time dancing to tapes and with friends.

When we got home I watched a couple of episodes of House and The Brokenwood Mysteries. We had a super day.  

Relaxing in front of the television

  

Wednesday 12-19 Running Errands

Running Errands

Yesterday while I was loading things into the Minnie I loaded all of our oatmeal except for one box. It was a mixed box of Quaker instant oatmeal. This morning I asked Larry which flavor he wanted, when I opened the box I found it contained Heath candy bars. Louise had given us oatmeal for a Christmas present and I assumed the box really contained oatmeal but she had replaced the oatmeal with candy bars, too funny. I had to go out to the Minnie and retrieve another box.

We spent the morning running errands in town. The first stop was at the Motor Vehicle Registration building to pay for the Minnie tags. Next stop was the post office to stop our mail. Then we went to HEB to do our weekly grocery shopping. Afterwards we went to the UPS Store to pick up our mail. The final stop was the Dollar Tree. Back to the house we went.

Grocery shopping

We spent the rest of the day hanging around the house. I loaded up the Minnie with some of the food we're taking with us. Then I took a nap for a couple of hours.

In the evening we watched a couple of James Bond movies; Dr. No and Diamonds Are Forever. Then I watched an episode of The Brokenwood Mysteries and House. We had a very good day.

Tuesday 12-18 Getting the Minnie Ready

I'm excited

Today started out with a little fog.

We haven't had cable TV for many years, for our local TV we use an antenna in the attic, it allows us to receive both local and Austin stations. When we moved in Larry installed two antennas in the attic but could not get them to work together so we only use the one. This has worked sufficiently but at times the wind will knock out some of the Austin stations, normally PBS. The other day Larry saw a YouTube video from a gentleman who made two antennas work in his home, today Larry spent most of today trying to get our antennas to work together. He had limited success but he learned a bit, maybe he will work on it a bit more after we are back from The Valley. 

While Larry worked on the antennas I started to get the Minnie ready for our Rio Grande Valley trip. Then I worked on some Sudoku puzzles and my annual book. After Larry finished working on the antennas I worked out a half hour with Gold's Gym and a half hour with Just Dance.

In the evening we watched TV via Amazon and Acorn. We had a great day.