Sunday the 2nd the resort had a talent show that Patty participated in. Patty sang 2 songs and, of course, one was White Rabbit by Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane (her signature song). The other was the acappella version of Mercedes Benz by Janis Joplin. Patty received many compliments on her singing and especially for singing that song without music. She did a great job on both!
Monday the 3rd I took the truck into the Ford dealer near here in Edinburg and had the steering gearbox replaced under warranty. I dropped it off at 7:30 am and they took me back to the resort. Then at about 3:30 pm it was done and they came back and got me. I was really hoping that the steering would be dramatically better, but it wasn’t. It is better and probably like it should be, it’s just not super tight. It’s probably just the way big trucks drive.
During the day, Patty and ,I with some help from others at the resort, decorated the clubhouse for the Mardi Gras party we were hosting on Tuesday night. Most of the decorations we used were already at the resort in the storage room. We added a large Mexican Piñata we purchased back in November in Mexico. We originally thought we would take it to Indiana and give it to the grandkids. It was just too big to transport in the RV so we donated it to the resort. We added a couple of themed items to each side so it looked more like it should for a Mardi Gras party.
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| The Clubhouse after we decorated for Mardi Gras. The pinata is hanging from the chandelier. |
Tuesday the 4th, Fat Tuesday, we hosted a Mardi Gras party from 7 – 10 pm in the clubhouse. We both did a lot of running around giving out door prize tickets and playing cards; more on the playing cards later. Patty did all of the announcing with the DJ. Patty is good at that sort of thing. Patty also recruited a few guys to stand in the balcony and toss beads to the women. That worked out well too!
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| A selfie of us dressed for the party. Patty was the emcee. |
We used the playing cards to pick a King and Queen for the party. We tore two decks of cards in half, removed the jokers and all of the Kings and Queens except for one from each pile. The decks were blue and red. We left a black King in the blue deck and a red Queen in the red deck. Then we handed out blue cards to males and red cards to females. We had to make sure that the queen and king were given out as we didn’t know how many people would attend. We had around 110 show up for the party so we just made sure that the king and queen were closer to the top than the bottom. It worked and the couple did a great job of leading everyone around the clubhouse in a conga line dance.
Wednesday the 5th we had happy hour and decided to bring cheese fondue. The weather was a little cool again at around 68 so we had the happy hour in the clubhouse instead of outside since it was cooling quickly. This was perfect for making and having fondue as appetizer. We made a 3 cheese fondue with Swiss, cheddar, and smoked Gruyere. It was good but not fantastic. We love fondue but a little goes a long ways. We made way too much fondue though.
Seems everybody had the same idea as us and brought lots of food. There was pizza, chicken nuggets, key lime pie, egg rolls, and much, much, more stuff.
Thursday the 6th we went on another bike ride with a group from the resort. This time we went to the Palo Alto Battlefield in Brownsville TX. The battlefield is where the first battle of the US-Mexican war took place in 1846. There isn't much there but it has been preserved as it was during the battle. The area is in a low lying flat area covered in thorny mesquite bushes and cactus. It must have been very hard to maneuver in such terrain with someone shooting at you.
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| A scenic view on our bike ride |
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| Note the pink flowers blooming from the cactus. They are trumpet shaped. |
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| Patty cruising on the trail |
We really only spent a little time in the park and then rode out and into Brownsville on an old railroad path that has been converted to a foot and bicycle path. We rode for 8 miles and then stopped for lunch at a cafeteria near the trail. After lunch we rode back to the battlefield for a total of 16 miles on our bikes. It was good ride but not very exciting scenery along the way.
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| A huge sugar cane plant in the area |
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| A sugar cane field. When those stacks are in full cycle they produce "Texas snow", black flakes floating even in our resort! |
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| San Benito, home of Freddy Fender as written on the water tower with his likeness |
Friday the 7th I washed the truck. The valley is very windy and dusty making it very hard to keep a vehicle clean. If we can keep from driving when it is wet out then the truck stays sort of clean. We have had rain every week we have been here in South Texas so the truck gets real dirty. When I wash a vehicle I really wash it. This is probably the only thing I am obsessive about, a clean vehicle and cleaning it. Well, it took me 3 hours to wash and dry it!
Saturday the 8th I played water volleyball in the afternoon and we both played darts in the evening. This was the first time I played volleyball in a few days. I wanted to make sure that I played as the next few days are going to be cold and wet again.
Sunday the 9th is cold at only 51 as a high. It is also raining on and off. We seem to have had way too many of these type days this year here. Keyport NJ 1500 miles away is 45 and sunny! Patty and I just decided to stay inside and veg all day! We are doing a fine job of this too!
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| The site we reserved for next year, 5,000 sq ft |
Tomorrow is to be just like today. I have a golf outing at 8:30 in the morning and the temperature is to be 50 and raining. I really don’t believe we will be going.
Stay Tuned!
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