Wednesday 1-30 A Dreary Day

Dreary Day

It was cold and dreary all day. By the afternoon it started to sprinkle. We really can't complain since we know lots of places are below 0 right now and we got to 58.

We started the day out by going to Darryl Lipscomb's A2 dance. He had nine squares and an extra couple. At the end of the dance Darryl called a C1 class level tip. Today we had two couples from the class and two experienced C1 couples to help us out. We are doing good. We had a great morning of dancing with friends and to Darryl.

Darryl Lipscomb calling his A2 Dance

Our friends Donna having fun dancing with friends

Our friends enjoying themselves

More friends having fun

After lunch we went over to Peppermint Palace for our C1 class with Bronc Wise. There were only five couples so we tapped in and out. Bronc reviewed the moves Darryl taught us last night and introduced us to seven more moves.

 
In the evening we went to Alamo Rec. Veh for our C1 class with Randy. We had six couples, one of them was an experienced couple. Randy spent most of the night going over moves we already had using a six couple square. He also did a couple of four couples squares and introduced us to a couple new moves.

We had a marvelous day of dancing. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!  

Tuesday 1/29/19 January Summary

Just having fun

We have been in the Rio Grande Valley a little over a month and are still having fun. We normally dance 10 times a week all to outstanding callers: Darryl Lipscomb, Bronc Wise, Joe Saltel and Randy Dougherty. We also danced to Ron Beltzelberger when he covered for Joe. We're in our fourth week of learning C1 moves. Learning something new takes time. The more floor time we get the better we will be, that's why we're taking lessons from three callers Darryl, Bronc and Randy.

We attended five different entertainment shows (Helen Russel & Company, Dale & Gail, Adam Pope, Billy Droze and Darren & Shelly).

At J5 we have participated in a few things (Garage/Bake Sale, Sloppy Joe Lunch, New Year Hamburger Dinner, Movie Night, Island Time Party and Card Bingo Thursday nights).

We walked around the Wetlands, McAllen Nature Trails and Don Wes Flee Market. We attended a Pancake Breakfast and McAllen Carfest. We have been having fun with friends and meeting new friends. 

Adam Pope

Helen Russel & Company

Billy Droze

Edinburg Scenic Wetlands blind

Dancing with friends and to Bronc Wise

Dancing with friends and to Randy Dougherty

Ron Beltzelberger, me and Ron Woolcock

Monday 1-28 Darren and Shelly

Ready for some entertainment

Today was gorgeous, it started out a little nippy but ended up getting to 80 degrees. 

In the afternoon we attended Bronc Wise's A dance/workshop. He went over Chain Reaction, Mix and Turn and Deal from different positions. We had three squares.

Friends having fun dancing to Bronc

More friends enjoying the workshop

In the evening we went over to the clubhouse for a show. It was Darren and Shelly, they were very good. They sang Country & Rock 'n' Roll and they did little skits. We had a great night.

Darren and Shelly

Sunday 1-27 Carfest and Island Time Party

Smile and have fun

We had a wonderful day. It was a little cool because of a light breeze but the sun came out.

We started the day out by going to the McAllen Convention Center for the annual Carfest. They had over 300 cars on display, vendors selling knickknacks and a food court. We walked around the show for about an hour and a half. We saw some great looking cars. One display was cool, they had a garage and a couple of old vehicles to work on and a lot of other stuff. We walked by it a couple of times and each time you saw stuff you didn't see the first time. They had a bat mobile, a vehicle with spiderman stuff and another one with smurfs in the vehicle. The car show was very nice and they had a lot of security guards.

Annual Carfest

Spiderman display

His and Her car on display

One of the vehicle with a beautiful paint job

Afterwards we walked around the grounds. There is a big pond with a water fountain and giant ducks in it, the ducks are actually peddle boats. In front of the Performing Arts building they had statues of a vaquero cowboy and a longhorn cow and her calf. In front of the Embassy Suite Motel there was a fountain with horses in it. The city of McAllen also has a bicycle rental station. You can rent a bicycle for 24 hours for $6. There are other rates. Overall it is a great program. We enjoyed walking around the grounds.

McAllen Convention Center

Ducks in the pond

The cow and her calf statue

The vaquero cowboy statue

We spent the afternoon hanging around the Minnie and reading.

In the evening I went over to clubhouse to attended the Island Time Party. It was free and you were asked to bring snacks for your table. They did serve a slush drink for $1. There was music all night. We played games such as coconut bowling, beach ball relay and played with beach balls. The coconut bowl was cool. They setup ten water bottles half full with a blue cleaner and the people who participated threw two coconuts. They counted each bottle you knocked down. The winner had knocked down 17 bottles. There were two runner ups with 8 bottles. The winner got a prize. The relay was a four person team, one couple was on one side of room and the other one was on the opposite side. The couple are back to back and the beach ball was place between their shoulder. They had to shuffle across the room to give the ball to their teammates. The winning team got a $5 Walmart gift card. People danced, I participated in the group dancing and line dancing. They had Karaoke and the singers were all great. I was glad Larry convinced me to go because I had fun. 

Mary announcing activities during the Island Time Party

Friends dancing to the music

Our Disc Jockey

       

       

Saturday 1-26 Supporting Local RV Parks

Having fun in the rain

It rained on and off all day, never hard, at times it was sprinkling and other times it was actually raining. The rainy weather kept it cool.

This morning J-Five was having their annual garage and bake sale so the Saturday morning get together was cancelled. We decided to go to El Valley Del Sol RV Park for their weekly pancake breakfast. You get a choose from pancakes or biscuit and gravy, it also comes with two sausage patties or ham. apple sauce and coffee, all for only $4. While enjoying your breakfast a live band is playing. The band was a jam sessions with folks singing old country songs. The band consisted of a drummer, guitar players, harmonica, steel guitar and a young girl playing a fiddle. If you want to you can get up and dance or just sit back and listen to the music. Lots of folks got up and danced. We knew a few people there because we dance with them. The breakfast was well organized and you got your food fast. It's from 7:30 to 9:00. There was a lot of people there. We had fun.

People dancing to the live band at El Valley Del Sol

Part of the band playing at El Valley Del Sol

J-Five's garage and bake sale was from 8:00 to 12:00. We didn't go to the garage sale but we did go to the bake sale. We bought a bowl of brownies, a piece of apple pie and a cup full of chocolate candy. At lunchtime we went back and bought a sloppy Joe sandwich, chips, pie, and a soda. When we were there they were auctioning off the rest of the bake sale items. There were a lot of people in the hall but we went back to the Minnie to eat our lunch. The apple pie and bake sale goodies we bought were delicious. 

The goodies we bought at J-Five bake sale

We spent the rest of the day and evening in the Minnie reading and relaxing. It was too nasty to be driving around and doing anything outdoors. We had a very nice day.

   

Friday 1-25 Saying Good-bye to Friends

We had a wonderful day. The wind was down, it was mostly cloudy. 

We spent the morning and early afternoon dancing to Randy Dougherty. The morning dance was his plus DBD Dance. We had four squares plus a couple extra couples. Randy put us in weird positions. Sometimes we didn't make it and sometimes he confused himself. We all had a great time laughing and dancing.

Having fun dancing to Randy

Friends enjoying the dance

Waiting for the next call

Randy calling the dance

After lunch was Randy's Freaky Friday Dance, which is an A2 DBD Dance. We had exactly six squares. Once again Randy tried to put us in weird positions. Sometimes we succeeded and other times we failed. Everyone was laughing and having a good time.

Today we said good-bye to our friends from Florida, Patrica and Art, they were heading back home. We also said good-bye to Beverly and Gary from Marble Falls. 

On the way home we stopped at Walmart to do our weekly grocery shopping.

Grocery shopping

Once we were at home we didn't leave the Minnie. We relaxed with a book for the rest of the day. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!   

Thursday 1-24 Card Bingo and Dancing

What a beautiful Day. The morning was chilly but the sun was shining and it warmed up.

We started the day out by going to Randy Dougherty's A2 DBD Workshop. We were shy one couple to make five squares. During the workshop Randy worked on moves we know how to dance but he cut them in parts. He explained the parts of the move and then he would call how much of the move he wanted you to do. For example: Linear Cycle has three parts and Randy would call 2/3's linear cycle. We worked on Explore and Anything, All Four Couples moves and All Eight moves. We had fun dancing the Randy.

Friends enjoying Randy's A2 DBD Workshop

Janet having fun

Randy Doughtery explaining a move during the workshop

Larry dancing with friends

In the afternoon we went to Peppermint Palace to dance A2 to Bronc Wise. We had five squares plus a couple extra couples. Some of our friends from the Marble Falls area that are new A dancers were there. They did very well and we had fun dancing with them. We had a great afternoon of dancing with friends and Bronc.

At 7:00 I went over to the clubhouse and played card bingo. We had twenty people playing and I won one hand that was $2. So it didn't cost me anything for bingo but I did buy a coke. We played twelve hands and after six of them we took a break. During the break coffee and cookies were served. I had a great evening playing card bingo with friends at J-5. 

Wednesday 1-23 Dancing, Dancing and More Dancing

Awesome Day of Dancing

We woke up to another windy day with gusts of wind out of the north. Burr, it was cold but in the afternoon it warmed up a bit. The wind didn't go down until the evening. Good thing the lot we're camped on is fairly well protected from the wind.

We started the day out by going to The get together at the clubhouse. Usually, we have a get together on Wednesdays and Saturdays. But this week we're only meeting today because the park is having a garage sale on Saturday. They went over a lot of stuff today. On Saturday the park is having a garage and bake sale to raise money for the activities in the park. Sunday night there's going to be Island time party where you bring your own snack, it's free and there will be music. Monday night there's going to be entertainment, Darren and Shelly. At our next get together on Wednesday, Sky Med is going to serve breakfast, which is going to be bagels. The park is also going to have their normal activities. It's going to be a busy week in the park.

This morning we headed to Pharr South to dance A2 with Darryl Lipscomb. We had eleven and a half squares. Overall the dancers were very good. Once again Darryl did a Star Tip for the C1 class. We were the only couple from the class so we had three experienced couples fill in. Funny how well you can dance when everyone else knows what they are doing. We had a super morning dancing to Darryl and friends.

Friends having fun dancing to Darryl

More friends having a good time dancing to Darryl

Our friends Patrica and Art from Florida

The next two dances were C1 classes. One was at 1:30 with Bronc Wise, we had two squares and two extra couple to be angels if needed.

Randy Dougherty did a C1 class at 7:00. We were shy one couple to make two squares so Randy called a couple to come and fill in. While we were waiting for the couple to show up we did a couple of six couples tips. We had a great time. We have now gone through the first 40 calls. The classes are going very well and we're having a great time.  

Tuesday 1-22 Dancing A2 to Joe Saltel

Laugh and have fun

It was another really windy day. It got up to 80 degrees.

We started the day out by going to Tropical Star to dance A2 with Joe Saltel. He called to ten squares, he was shy one couple to make an eleventh square. He is a very talented caller who really sees the floor. He does an outstanding job of cuing people through the moves that give them trouble. He is always a joy to dance to because of his enthusiasm. He's always laughing and having a great time. 

We took the afternoon off and in the evening we went to Pharr South to do a C1 class with Darryl Lipscomb. We had five new couples and three angel couples, which made two squares. Regina and Charlie brought a cake to celebrate another lady's birthday. This was  very nice of them. We have gone through a lot of moves so at times I get confused on where to go but I know it takes time to learn something new. The classes are going great.

  

Monday 1-21 Billy Droze Concert

Doing Errands

We woke up to another cool morning with the temperature in the low 40s. All day the wind blew strongly out of the south. I had to keep a hold on the door or it would slam shut. 

Yesterday Larry had noticed our security cameras and the internet at home were offline. He called Grande Communications to see if they could reset our cable modem, they found it was offline so they could not reset it. Larry emailed our neighbor Thomas to ask him if we could go to the house and reset it. He responded and said he would. We then headed out to do errands.

The first errand was to go to the office at J5 to pay for another month. Donna was very happy to hear we were staying longer, she even gave us a discount. What a pleasant surprise. Next we went to the car wash to give the Equinox a bath. We had a few days of rain and it was getting pretty dirty. Also we have been dragging grass onto the carpet. After going through the car wash we vacuumed it out and wiped it down. It looked a lot better. The last errand was to find Blue Bonnet RV Resort because Billy Droze is playing there tonight. After finding the RV Park we went home to have lunch.

In the afternoon we went to Bronc Wise's A2 Workshop/Dance. He walked us through different positions of Motivate and Mix. We had four squares and no one sitting out. A few more of our friends from around Texas showed up. It was nice to see them. We had a great afternoon dancing with friends and to Bronc calling.

When we got home from the dance we had received an e-mail from Thomas letting us know he fixed the problem and we were ready to Rock 'n' Roll. He found it wasn't our modem, it was our battery backup UPS. He bypassed the UPS and plugged the devices into an extension cord. We can once again get to all of our devices remotely. Larry called him and thanked him. It's nice to have great neighbors.

Neighbors

 

In the evening we went to see Billy Droze. Billy sings Country, Bluegrass and Gospel. He sang mainly old country songs and few of his own songs. He sang with his dad and his dad sang a few songs. Dad did a great job. His keyboard player, Howard is also a great musician. Billy did an excellent job of entertaining the audience with his singing and playing the guitar. He performed for an hour and a half before he took a fifteen minutes break. When he came back he sang and had a couple of people from the RV Park sing for another half hour. We had a super night.

Billy Droze enjoying himself

Billy and his dad performing together

Billy and Howard having fun