Here Comes March ??? 1 Mar 17

I guess I can say "Here comes March " and in Weslaco, TX;  March doesn't come in like a Lion or a Lamb because it it 95 F ( 33 C ) today with a slight breeze. 

We dropped in to visit our friends ( Bya and Roy ) at another park to confirm our timings for Sunday breakfast. The were have a drink with other friends and once we were introduce we realized that we actually had met in this park 3 years ago and in fact went to a "Hawaiian" party together. So much for our memory. 

 

After that couple left another couple dropped in. That's what happens in these parks... if you are outside having a drink someone is going to drop in. Happy Hours are like a magnet! Cheers 

Where did Feb Go!!!!!! 28 Feb 17

Man oh Man, two month has flew by and we have 30 days left before we head home. Today were where invited to a Happy Hour at our friends , Larry and Holly's place. They are leaving for home on the 5 th of March  and as I mentioned earlier , they sold their home in here in TX. They have invited several friends from another park including a couple that we knew from  Shilo,  so it was nice to see them again. I recall that I had hired their son as an Apprentice Electrician in 1977 so I ask how he was doing and they said that he  retired several years ago which made me realize how old I am. 

We are going to miss Larry and Holly as we did travel around with them and met at least twice a week for a beer or card game or a trip to see a Show. Now we have to visit them in Brandon. Cheers

Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side of the fence because it is fertilized with B. S.

Lazy Dayz 25,26 and 27 th Feb dated 28 Feb

25 th Feb:
Guess what ? We watch the Scottie's for most of the day. We did however call a timeout and when to the show, " A Dog's Purpose " with our friends. This movie was shot in Virden, Brandon and Minnidosa and demonstrates how a dog effects the life of a family in a most enjoyable way. It does display a little bit of a love story and doesn't take any intensive thinking to follow the plot. 

After the show we convinced our friends to go to Mr. Gattis for supper since they had never been there. It is a Buffet style Pizza " Joint " that also serves Bake potato, Pasta, Salad Bar and several desserts. 
Unfortunately , this happens to be Saturday night and every Hispanic family within 100 miles  also chose Mr. Gattis as their choice of Venue for tonight. I believe that all  young Hispanic couples have made a pact with the " Lord " to produce at least 5 "screaming" kids and to bring them to Mr. Gattis  just to  piss-off us  Gringos. 
Because this is a Buffet, lots of the food is wasted but I notice that 3 young guys  in their early 20's each took two plates of pizza and pasta and they each left 1 plate that was never touch. I ask the young girl Busing the tables, how much food was wasted and she said , not counting the adults, she said the rest of the customers probably waste 1/2 of what they take which is dam sin. And price for Kids is 4. 99  and for Seniors.... 5.99. Cheers

26  Feb: 
This morning we had breakfast with our friends Larry and Holly as this is the last Sunday for them as they leave next Sunday for home as they sold their home in Texas. They have been coming to Weslaco, TX for 23 years so it will be sad for them but due to their age they decided to sell now as they had a "willing " buyer. 

The rest of the day was committed to watching both the Bronze medal and the Gold Medal curling game of the Scottie's. Any of the 4 finalist would be a good representative for Canada at the World's but I feel the Holman team is the best. However, we are in enemy territory in this Park as the majority are from Manitoba.   Cheers 

27 Feb: 

This was a totally wasted day in our life. I did nothing all day and Carroll helped me. 
After supper Carroll's friend talked her in to going to Bingo, which she detest but had nothing better to do.  I also figure that Bingo is right there with watching the rinse cycle in the washing machine. 

I , on the other hand, went to play cards " euchre " where at least you have to think a little. Although, there was a few times when some folks had a Senior moment but it helps to kill 2 hours and the Oilers where on a day off. Cheers

Stop trying to make everyone Happy ; You are not on Tequila.

Happenings 21 to 24 Feb... dated 25 Feb 17

21 Feb: 
Actually, nothing got done today because we saturated ourselves with watching  the Scottie's. We were away on Sun and Mon on the Casino Trip so we had to get caught up on the Ladies curling. Oh yes, there were at least two hockey games in the evening. Boy,  I'm sure glad we brought a second TV. cheers


22 Feb:
Again the Scottie's took up most of the day but we took a " Timeout" in the afternoon and invited 3 friends over for a Happy Hour. Sam and Mary are from Winnipeg and own a home in this Park. Sam had a most interesting career as a Policeman in  Winnipeg for 34 Years. He entered the Police Force as a 17 year old Cadet but he was mentored for three years before he could carry a weapon. I don't know if the training for the  police is done this way  anymore but it sounded like a great idea.  Our other friend Dan , who lost his wife 3 years ago, was also a Policeman in Winnipeg. I guess the Cops stick together.
The temperature on our deck  was about 95 F (33 C )  but there was a slight breeze but we made sure that we drank sufficient liquids so we did not suffer from dehydration.  cheer


Praying will get you in touch with the Lord; Having an affair with someone's wife will get you there faster.

23 Feb: A new restaurant open across the street from our Park this year.  Actually the old one burnt down last year and the cause of the fire has never been determined. My guess is a gallon of gas and a match was the probable cause.


Our friends , Larry and Holly had never eaten there and since they were busy  pre-packing as they sold their home and have to be out by the 6  of March we invited them to meet us their for lunch. All Hamburg's are 1/2 a lb and the French Fries are real potatoes , not McCains, and you get to dress up your own burger from a salad bar. I never thought a Hamburger joint would be such an attraction. The wait time is usually 15 to 20 minutes so I drum up a conversation with the guy next to me and he was from London , ON. Naturally,  we had enough in common to keep the conversation going until he got called for his table.


Tonight we went to another Music night with a quartet called the December 63. The music was Frankie Vallie and the Jersey Boys. They were good enough that Carroll purchased their CD for ten bucks. Cheers

24 Feb:
Today was a really really hot day as it reached 95F ( 33 C )  on our deck and our deck is covered. I found a tarp in the shed so I hung it up on the west side to protect us against the Sun as we had invited 5 people over for Happy Hour. The tarp did deflect some of the heat however. We had a slight breeze so that also helped to make it bearable. Again we made sure that everyone drank lots of healthy liquid sure as wine,beer and iced tea for Carroll.

One of the ladies is our friend  ( Terry ) from Medicine Hat and she had her sister and partner  ( Margret  Ann and Tom ) visiting from Nova Scotia . Tom is an interesting person as he owns several Subway Franchise in NS and in the USA  and he also  said he had at least one Taco Franchise.
The other couple are from Dauphin, MT ( Bya and Roy ) and we have known them for several years as we met then here in TX about 6 years ago. The are moving to a condo in Brandon later is year.

As a snack , Carroll whipped up a feast of Tacos and " Subway Tom " said that Carroll's Taco mix tasted better than they severe at his Taco store and that he needed her recipe. She said I bought the Knorr mix from Wal-Mart.

The forecast for tomorrow is for a cold ( cool ) front  to move in and the temp should be from 72 to 75 F. Thank you Mr. Weatherman. Cheers

If you have a Gun you can rob a Bank;  If you have a Bank you can rob everyone. 

The Casino at Egale Pass .. 19 and 20 Feb 17

Our friends Larry and Holly ask us if we were interested in going to a Casino and before he finished the question Carroll said yes. I said where is and what's the story because I never heard of a Casino in our area. As a point of interest, I have been told that the Great state of Texas has one  Casino and we are going to visit it. However,  to get there we will be taking a 6 hour Bus trip ( one way ) for a cost of 80.00 PP which includes our room in a 4.5 star hotel which is part of the Casino.


Then to entice new folks like us , they give you 45.00 to feed the Slots or as one guy says he calls them " Sluts " because you feed them money, you get screwed and you go home broke. 


Back to the Bus trip: This is a 2 day, overnight trip and we departed at 7:30 AM.  The bus ride takes us thru several small cities/ town until we reach Laredo ( I'm sure you have heard of Laredo) where we stopped at a truck stop for lunch. This was the biggest truck stop I have ever seen and believe me I have seen many truck stop in the past 18 years that we have been on the road. And there was a second truck stop across the freeway which was the same size. We stopped in Laredo in 1998 for fuel and I thought of it as a small border town probably with a Pop. of 20 or 30 thousand but man, what a surprise when we see it as it now has a bypass to get around the city. The Pop in 2013 was 230,000 so I would guess that it is well over 300, 000 today.


Once on the road the Guide ( a lady ) ask if we would like to watch a movie or play Bingo. The vote was for Bingo so she charged 5.00 for a card. About 40 people  ( not us ) bought cards and I guessed that 40 people played which was 200.00 . The prizes that I seen where about 10.00 or less ( coffee Mugs ) and there was 10 games so I would guess that the guide pocket the other 100.00.
We arrived at the " Kickapoo " Casino which is on the Kickapoo Indian  land ( that is a surprise ) at 2 PM but our rooms were not available until 4 PM so guess what we did for 2 hours using our own money. Incidentally I did not gamble one penny. I took a good book, my iPad and my iphone.


Then we had to get a Players Card which they loaded with 45.00 and that  was appreciated. I will say that it was a great  Hotel/ Casino with  3 restaurants with reasonable prices which is great because the town is 15 miles away and I don't think I would want to visit it. Eagle Pass is also an International Border crossing.


Carroll played with her money on Sunday and when she finished at 10 PM she had 55.00 which was basically House Money.  On Monday she played with my Players Card and was up 50.00 and again this   House Money which was OK with me  since  we did lose any  money.


20 Feb: We left the Casino at noon and stopped at the same Truck Stop in Laredo, mostly to stretch our legs. The guide put on a comedy movie on the way home.  The trip was OK but I can assure you that we made two bus trips to a Casino .... first and last. cheers

The Scotties start today ; 18 Feb 17

I got up around 6:30 and it was  foggy (18 C )  as it has been a few mornings in Feb. But today it was really thick with sight distance of 500 feet. However, once the Sun rises it burns off quite fast and it was clear by 10 AM.


The Scottie's started today so were welded to the TV and will be for the week.  Since we have  "His  and Hers TVs " I will be bouncing between the curling and the hockey games in the evening on my TV.
However, we took  a break in the evening as went   to see the show " Hidden Figures "  with Larry and Holly and then a stop at the Olive Gardens for supper. If you have not seen this show you must put it on your "To Do List ". It is about 3 Black Ladies  that worked for NASA and if the story is factual it is doubtful that John Glen would have safely been launched and return to earth. A real enjoyable movie. cheers

Mexico Run 17 Feb 17

17 Feb: Mexico Run
While visiting with Larry and Holly earlier this week , the ladies decided it was time for a Run to MX as they needed their nails done. After checking our schedules,  Friday was the only day that we both had available. The plan was for the ladies to get their nails done and for Larry and I do get a hair cut and a shoe shine which we did. This will Larry and Holly's trip to MX as they sold there mobile home that they purchased 18 years ago. The new owners will take ownership on 5 March so L and H are going home to Brandon.


I always go to the Salon with Carroll so I have some idea when she will be done because I am not sitting in a Salon , watching the ladies file nails.  So Carroll spoke to the "Boss " lady and she said that Carroll was "next". Mexican's have a different   definition of words then we do and the word next just means after someone else so I challenged her on if  next means next and she said I will do Carroll's nails right after I finish cutting this ladies hair. Great, I be back in an hour,   but I did notice that several other Winter Texan ladies in the Salon giving me a "Indifferent"  look as if I did something wrong.


I then went for a hair cut while Larry chased down his Shoeshine guy. I always ask the price of a hair cut so they can't change their mine and of course I ask for a trim which usually ends up somewhere between a "scalp job " and too short but I reminded the barber if it is too short I will not be back. Then I found Larry and I had his "guy " shine my shoe also.


We knew the ladies would be at least an hour so we visited a bar for a quiet place for a beer. However, they were warning up a band for a dance so we walked out. We then checked out 2 more bars before we settled on the Red Snapper. Beer was 1.00 if you drank Sol so we took up the challenge but after the 1 st swig I recalled why I never drink Sol.


We finally recued the girls and stayed at the Red Snapper for lunch. Then the girls did some unnecessary  shopping  before we headed home. cheers