2009

Well...we didn't win anything in Bingo on the 22nd. Oh well - had fun anyway!! Had a nice night; 60° and we slept with the windows open so that we could hear the surf! Nice sleeping sound!!

On Wednesday the 23rd, we worked on computer in the morning. Then after lunch we headed for the beach. It was a bit windy and cloudy but with 70° how could we do otherwise? All of the skimmers were gone, only gulls and a few terns. And, of course, pelicans, cormorants, and a Reddish Egret in his white morph phase. We had quite a night! The weatherman said that the front would come in as a blast around 2 AM; it did and the wind blew and blew. At noon it was 38 mph with gusts to 51 mph! Our power was off for an hour or so sometime after the wind hit.

Christmas Eve, we went to the jetty for a few minutes and just about got blown into the gulf. There were a few other vehicles but no birds. It was interesting to see the white caps being blown backwards into the gulf. We tried to shop at IGA but their power was off so they were closed. We did get some shrimp at another store but had to pay cash since their power was also off. We did go back down later and were able to get what we needed at the IGA.

We watched "It's a Wonderful Life" until 10:00 and then opened our gifts. I bought AJAX book for Don since he had put it on his wish list. He says it looks like it is going to be a challenge, for sure! He got me a scrap quilting book - now to find time to put it to use!!

Bev & Don	Our little buffet	more buffet
Bev	Don	Our little Christmas Tree

Christmas Day we had dinner in the Rec Center. Ham was furnished and we each brought a dish to share. We had quite a crowd there! That evening we went back down for leftovers and a game of Mexican Train. It is such a long game that we ended up being the last people to leave the rec hall about 10:30. Good day even though we were not with our kids or grandkids.

Saturday we spent most of the day on the computer still trying to figure out parts of this website we just took over. After burgers for suppers we went to the rec hall and played bingo. Don won $10 which paid for our evening and $2 to boot.

Sunday after church we went to Pelican's Landing for their lunch special: shrimp and flounder. It was very good! Then we spent quite a bit of time at the jetty watching a group of dolphins playing in the ship channel. We had never seen so many of them out playing! After Sunday evening ice cream, we again played Mexican train.

Monday afternoon was bridge - I went down and made the 5th player so came back home to work. There was a new couple in the park for a few days who wanted to play, so we set a time for Tuesday. Pot luck dinner this evening; I Took a crockpot of meatballs. Afterward we played the dime bingo but did not win any rounds this time.

Tuesday, we worked again in the morning and then I took the afternoon off and played bridge. In the evening we played bingo and I won 3 times!!! Now we can continue playing on winnings and not have to take it out of our budget :)

We actually had some sunshine Wednesday; its been a while since we seen it! After lunch we made a trip to the bank and Walmart. We also were in great need of some gasoline and while at Walmart we had them do an oil change on the car. After getting things put away, we took a walk down on the beach. My feet started to hurt badly which kept me from walking as far as I would have liked but did walk from MM35 to MM37 and back. Don went a bit further running about 3/10 miles. As we walked in the park, we noticed that the sites are beginning to fill in. That is, more folks are coming in than are leaving each day.

Thursday, New Year's Eve, we woke to a very wet morning; heavy dew. However the predicted fog was not to be seen until a bit later. The fog must be fairly light because by 7:30, blue sky was appearing and there was a bit of sunshine. Don walked along the beach this morning and actually ran 8/10 miles of it. Then around the park added another mile for a total of about 2.5 miles. He is beginning to get back in shape!

We had a wonderful New Year's Eve party! Quite a number of people attended. We danced many times and enjoyed several line dances as well. We volunteered to help clean up so it was about 12:30 by the time we got home. By the time we actually got to bed it was close to 2 am!

December 17, we noticed a lot of the black-bellied whistling ducks in the field across the street from us. They are the strangest ducks!

Friday we had sunshine for a change!! Yeah!! We ran some errands in the morning, went to the beach for a little while and then I played bridge. On our way to run errands we noticed a huge flock of white pelicans - it must have been time for their return south! We went down to the rec center in the evening for a game of pass the trash.

Arrival of White Pelicans	The Beach!	Don & Bev

We somehow didn't get our Christmas decorations back in the coach _ not sure why they got taken out! But, I did remember my Christmas Quilt! So our bedroom looks Christmasy!! We did bring out Christmas tree, but it is quite small, so we bought a new, taller one at WalMart and I am going to make some seashell ornaments to put on it. It is a fiber-optics tree like our other one was but doesn't have the balls on it that the other one had.

Saturday, Dec 19, was a nice day so we went to the birding center. There weren't many critters around - did see a cute grebe, a few shovlers, blue winged teals, cormerants, and a couple of white pelicans. Then we stopped at the DQ so I could get one of their peppermint chocolate blizzards - YUM! We took our goodies down to the jetty to see what was happening down there - not much! But this cute brown pelican was napping in the parking area and kept his eye on us!

Then we came home and spent some time on the computers until time for supper and then went down to the rec center to play bingo. I did take some time in the afternoon to make peppermint bark and peanut butter fudge for our Christmas party Sunday. Didn't win, but had fun!

Sunday, we went to church and then to the Cancun restaurant for dinner We worked on a new website in the afternoon for awhile. Our Christmas party was in the evening - lots of goodies and fun!! We had a gift exchange and I got some pretty Christmas towels and Don got a cute snowman mug with hot chocolate mix.

Yesterday, I actually got out for a morning walk on the beach - great way to spend the first day of winter! Don has been walking about every morning, but somehow, I just don't get there!! We spent the rest of the morning working on the new website, then I went down to play bridge. We had a beautiful sunset - I took this picture out of our front window. In the evening we went down to the rec center to play dime bingo and I actually won a couple of games! Now we have enough dimes to keep us playing for a few more weeks!

Today, we needed to go to WalMart so we went to the big Fisherman for their lunch special with some others from our park. Tonight is bingo....we need to win because we have about used up my last winnings :)

Tuesday, December 8 started out foggy, but did clear up in the afternoon so we went down to the beach driving along looking at the birds and shells. We walked for some distance from south of the pier to just beyond it. I (Bev) found 2 sand dollars and MANY pieces of them. There is an area less than 200 feet long where the sand dollars are washed up on the beach, most of them in little pieces. Then we went to the channel to watch the boats awhile before heading home. We did see quite a few different birds along the beach this visit. After supper, it was time to go play bingo and I actually won a couple of times, so now we have funds for a couple of weeks of playing.

Wednesday, it was blowing too hard to go walk on the beach, so we went to the bank in Ingleside, then to the Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart in Aransas Pass. It seems like we have to make it to Wal-Mart at least once a week!!! that evening we had a spaghetti dinner in the rec hall - delicious as always - and then a game of pass the trash. That game seems to be a regular a couple of times a week. It's a good time to socialize and meet new people and have lots of fun.

Thursday, we decided it was time to get our Christmas shopping done so we can mail our packages. So, we took a trip into Corpus Christi mall and JC Penneys. We got most of the things we were looking for, then went to On the Border for lunch. After a few more stops on the way back, we returned home to rest from all the shopping!!

Friday, we spent some time working on the computer as it was another cold and windy day...not nice enough to go on the beach! Friday evening was the Welcome Back dance and we had a good time. We have missed dancing! It looks like we will start leading the line dancing lessons in January until Dorri (the usual teacher) arrives, then she can take over and we can have fun learning from her!

Saturday, another cold, windy day, we stayed home and spent most of the day on the computers. I face a window when at my desk and saw several rosette spoonbills fly over. They are so pretty! We went down to Whataburger for supper - have to have hamburgers on Saturday night!! And - they do have good ones! Then it was time to go down to the rec hall for bingo again - didn't win anything this trip!!

Sunday, we went to church, then to Pelican's Landing for a delicious seafood dinner. Then we went down to the jetty to see what was happening - there were hundreds of skimmers down there! They are such strange looking birds!! Of course, my camera was here at home - at least that's what I thought. The next day, I remembered that I had left it in the car in the glove box. Oh well........ another senior moment!!! We came home and spent the afternoon wrapping Christmas presents so we can get them in the mail. The fog rolled in really thinck in the afternoon - couldn't see the Rvs across the pond from us! In the evening, it was ice cream down at the rec hall and then, you guessed it, pass the trash!!

Monday, we made a trip into Port A for a couple more little gifts and then finished wrapping packages and mailed some of them and got the rest ready to mail. We drove down the beach a bit and found a group of willets snoozing on the beach - we didn't bother them a bit!

I found a new recipe for crockpot tamale pie and got it cooking, then I played bridge in the afternoon. We had our first potluck dinner - everything was delicious, as usual. Then we visited awhile and then played dime bingo before heading home.

Tuesday, another very windy day, a group from here decided to go up to Rockport to the Big Fisherman for their Tuesday special lunch. So, we joined them and had a delicious chicken-fried steak dinner for $2.25 each!!! Can't beat that price and it was very good and very tender. Then, we went to Wal-Mart for our weekly shopping trip, a trip to the bank and mailed our last package on the way home. I had to stop at Dairy Queen for one of their peppermint chocolate blizzards - it was wonderful!!! In the evening, we braved the winds and went down to the rec hall for Tuesday night bingo. I won one game - all of $5! There weren't many people brave enough to come out!! But, we had fun! It was a challenge walking home, though, as we had to walk into the wind!! It started raining about an hour after we got home and rained and blew all night!

Heather shared some new pictures of the girls on Facebook, so I have to show off our great-granddaughters!!

Today is another cold, rainy, windy day so we decided not to venture out! I spent the day at the computer, catching up with email that had been piling up and doing a little web work. They are promising sunshine tomorrow afternoon and Friday - sure hope it makes it! I need sunshine!!!! I put chili in the crockpot for supper tonight - it definitely is a chili day!!! We were supposed to go caroling in the park this evening - but we aren't brave enough to venture out in the cold rain even though they said if it is raining they will stayin the rec hall for caroling and then have hot chocolate & cookies.

Tuesday, Dec 1, it was raining and we had one more day paid for in San Antonio, so decided to wait another day to travel. I worked on scrapbooking a bit - am clear up to the end of last August!!

Wednesday was a pretty day for travel down to Port Aransas where we will stay until sometime in March. We arrived about 2:30 pm, stopped to get propane and then settled into our site. Once we got settled, we wandered down to the rec center. It was great to see our friends again since we didn't make it down here last winter!

A pretty day for a drive	Our winter home	A beautiful sunset our first evening here!

Thursday, since rain was forecast for Friday, we decided we had better go to Wal-Mart after stopping in the Rec center to buy tickets for upcoming events and on the beach for our first visit there. So, we simply had to go to the Big Fisherman for lunch!! It was as good as we remembered, although they have increased their lunch prices. We got our shopping done at WalMart and the Collar Tree and headed home. We did see several dolphin on the trip over to Aransas Pass, but none on the way home. There were quite a few Osprey on the wires along the way home.

The wind and rain hit during the night and Friday was not a pretty day! At least it is better than home where it is VERY Cold! I spent the day working on genealogy and staying in where it was warm. It was very nasty outside - we even got a little bit of icy rain - YUK! At 6:00 we went down to the Rec center for Burgers and then a game of - what else - Pass the Trash!

Saturday, Don worked on getting our DSL up and running, with no success - they had set it up for the wrong site - so we had to wait until a repairman could come out on Monday. There was a craft fair down in the rec center, so I went down and enjoyed seeing all the neat things. We went down to the beach, to the jetty, the park and then to Paradise Pond but there simply were not many birds around! In the evening, we went down for Bingo.

Sunday, Don got to walk his morning walk on the beach. Then we went to church and then to our favorite restaurant - Trout Street Grill splitting a lunch of Calamari, salad, rice, veggies and yellow fin tuna. It was our first time with the tuna and were pleasantly surprised as to how good it tasted. We stopped at the jetty and the park to see what was going on - but not many critters around so we came home and relaxed awhile until it was time to go down for ice cream social and another game of Pass the Trash.

This morning the produce truck from the valley came by and I got some great stuff! A 10 lb bag of oranges for $6 (and they are delicious!), a head of cauliflower for $1, avocados 2/$1, and a small watermelon for $2. In the afternoon, I went down to play bridge but there were only 3 of us so it didn't happen. We did go down for dime (card) bingo this evening. Didn't win, but had a good time!

Tuesday, we spent the day at home getting some work done. I had some website work to do and then spent some time trying to get some scrapbooking done. I haven't printed the pages yet, but am at least getting them designed and ready to print!

Wednesday, Marie came over to see our home away from home and we went to the Mexican restaurant across the street for lunch. We had a nice visit with her and a delicious lunch. Then we started working on our Christmas calendars so we can get them bound while we are here fairly close to Office Depot.

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we missed being with family but were "adopted" by Marie's family for dinner at her daughter's house. It was fun getting to know her family and dinner was delicious! We had also been invited to dinner with the Knesel's but Marie asked first. Maybe we can get together with them next time we are here for Thanksgiving!

Friday - we did not go shopping!! Don took the calendars down to be bound. Yeah! It is good to have that done!! Wish all my shopping was done!! We went down to the clubhouse for social time at 5 and had fun visiting with some new people who are here for the winter.

Saturday, we picked up the calendars, went shopping in the Dollar Tree near Office Depot and got a couple of cute wine glasses with white snowflakes painted on them. Then we wandered around the HEB Superstore awhile - you could spend lots of time and $$s there!! Then we came home and relaxed a bit in the afternoon. That evening was a dance down at the clubhouse. We always love to take advantage of any chance to go dancing. It was fun and we got to know some new people, but left a little early when the music got too loud and was not our kind of music any more.

Sunday, we went to church and then had dinner at the restaurant across the street from the RV park. We thought about going downtown to the Riverwalk one last time, but it was cloudy and threatening rain, so decided not to go down there. However, it didn't rain, so we could have gone - oh well.....

Today, we had to go to the post office, stopped at HEB and then it started raining as we came home. It is a cloudy, cool day with rain off & on. A good day to stay home!! Tomorrow we leave for Port Aransas for the rest of the winter. It will be fun to see our friends down there!

On the 17th, we went to the Riverwalk in the morning and ate lunch at the Original Mexican; splitting a relleño plate. It was good to have done that because we both had plenty to eat. It was a bit warm but very good eating. Then we went to the River Center Mall to check it out. We considered going to the IMAX but they wanted $12 for a 1 hour show; too much on our budget. Decided to have a Marble Slab ice cream and listen to the Peruvian music. They have the Christmas Decorations up - very pretty!! We stopped at the La Villita which we now know is really mostly art shops.

Wednesday, the 18th, Another cold night; 39 at 7 am. There was a bit of light frost on the car this morning. We are supposed to have mild days for the next ten with possible rain Thur and Fri. We stayed home today; I worked on Paige's quilt (finished except for label) and Don studied Ajax and worked a bit on the MTT Catalog.

Thursday, We went down to the Mexican Market (El Mercado) in the morning and wandered around a bit. Didn't buy anything but had fun looking! Had a delicious lunch at La Margarita. Then it was time for Wal-Mart!

Friday and Saturday, we spent at home, Don working on the computer and I did some website work and quilting, Got the quilt done but think I will wait until we get to Port A to mail it since we are close to the Post Office there and don't know where one is around here. I will post pictures after the package is received in Oregon. Don't want to spoil the surprise!

Sunday, we went back to the same church we went to last week. This week the service was in Spanish and English - was interesting trying to sing the praise songs in Spanish!! They had a guest speaker who gave a very good message. Then, we came home, changed clothes and took the bus downtown for lunch. The bus is free on the weekends for seniors with passes (which we got right after arriving here in San Antonio and are good for 5 years). We split a delicious lunch at the Zuni - black bean soup and shrimp and spinach quesadillas - yum! Then, we wandered down to the mall and got frappaccinos at Starbucks (of course) and sat on the patio enjoying the music for awhile. We got home about 5 pm - a very enjoyable but tiring afternoon. We got our walking done!!!

Today was spent at home working on the computers and getting started on our Christmas calendars. They take a lot of printing. We did have to go out for a bit to go to the bank and Wal-Mart. This evening we have a potluck supper down at the rec center.

We have to use Tengo internet here in the park and certainly are not happy with their service. We have many outages during the day, sometimes just a very short time, but it does interrupt our work. This afternoon we have been off for quite some time. We hope we never have to use them again!

About 2 am, it started raining and rained rather hard for about an hour or so. Then the wind started blowing; not real strong but enough. The wind was expected to be around today and it was rather cool this morning; about 53. Don spent most of the day working on the Missionary TECH Team catalog while I sewed.

Sunday, we found a Baptist church not too far away so went there for morning service. Everyone was very friendly! Then we came home and went to the restaurant across the street for dinner and spent the afternoon relaxing.

I decided since we would be staying home for the next couple of days, at least, I would get my sewing out and get the baby quilt done for Paige. So we turned our living room/office into a sewing room! It works quite well and doesn't make it too crowded with our small folding table put up. Then I spent most of the week sewing. It was fun to get back to it.

Don got up on the 10th with his sinusitis so called our Dr at home and had him call in an antibiotic for him. So, Tuesday I had to go down to Wal-Mart and get it for him. I don't like driving in big cities - but made it OK.

The mockingbird is singing nearby again this morning. We do miss them in Colorado!! We had clouds early this morning but they are becoming more scattered as the day goes on and it is supposed to get up to 76 degrees. Then it is supposed to be warm & sunny the rest of the week!

Yesterday, we went downtown to First Baptist Church of San Antonio - it is a beautiful huge church. The service was nice but we may look for somewhere closer for next week (especially since they said next Sunday is the San Antonio Marathon and most of the streets to the church will be closed off.). We had rain all day and just as we got to church, it was really coming down. Fortunately, they had a covered spot for Don to let me out and then he had to dodge the flooded parking lot to get in himself. By the time we left, it had pretty well stopped. We went to the mexican restaurant across the street for a delicious and inexpensive lunch and then came home and took it easy the rest of the day while it rained off and on.

Saturday night, there was a Halloween dance in the rec hall. Not a lot of room to dance, but there weren't too many people out on the dance floor. We had a good time - it was nice to have a chance to dance again!

Friday, November 6, before our Wal-Mart run, we toured the Mission San José, founded in 1720, which is just down the street from us. It was very interesting and is a huge compound with very thick walls all around it containing rooms for the indians who came in for protection.

Monday, November 1, we came on down to San Antonio where we will be for the next month. We are at Traveler's World where we have stayed before. However, they put us clear down in the south end - a great big site but way too close to the Fed-Ex distribution center where they start banging around at 5 am!!! Since I am not an early morning person, it is rather annoying!!! We don't have the constant acorns falling on our roof like we did at Big Hill but we do still have a few of them hitting us!

Tuesday, we went down to the Riverwalk for lunch and to meet Marie, my best friend from college days who we had lost track of for over 30 years! So we had a great time catching up!! We had a delicious lunch at the Zuni and then wandered around a bit along the Riverwalk and up to the Alamo but didn't tour it this time as we have been there in past years. It was so neat to see all the flowers blooming along the Riverwalk - after all, this is November! We also had to go to the city bus information center to get senior bus passes which will give us much cheaper rides on the bus and since it stops right here at the RV park it is so much nicer to take it down to the Riverwalk rather than trying to find parking downtown (and cheaper too).

San Antonio Riverwalk	One of the pretty Fountains on the Riverwalk	Flowers on the Riverwalk	Hibiscus along the Riverwalk

The bus information center was close to San Fernando Cathredal which was founded in 1731 and is the oldest, continuously functioning religious community in the State of Texas. It is a beautiful building! After touring it, we went to the bus stop to go home before my poor feet really started screaming as we had walked quite a long ways!!

Wednesday & Thursday, we stayed home and got some website work done and enjoyed just staying home for awhile. We had lunch out on the picnic table in our front yard and took walks around the RV park before supper. Don has also been able to resume his morning walks. The weather has been wonderful - sunny skies and up in the 70's during the day but it does cool down at night.

The week of Oct 25, we spent at MTT getting caught up on some website work including work on their website. Sunday after church, we went to Jim & Ruth Wood's home for dinner and had a nice visit with them. We had nice weather most of the time there - but did have one big storm that made a mess a few miles east of us with a couple of tornados and enough rain to break records. I believe one town got 13" from the storm!! Lots of flooding!!

It was nice to see everyone at MTT again and see the remodeling work being done on their headquarters building which will give them lots more room.

Saturday, October 31, we decided against taking the shortcut across to Round Rock since it was a 2-lane road and we weren't sure about flooding along it with all the rain. So, we took the interstate through south Dallas and down to just north of Waco for the weekend. We went to church in Elm Mott (where we were staying) and then had a delicious dinner at a nearby steak house.

Don has enjoyed being here in Big Hill campground where he can do his morning walks. Monday morning he walked about 2.5 miles and saw two deer along the way. I looked out the window to see at least a zillion snow geese out on the lake! We drove over to the other side of the lake but couldn't find them from there and were too far away from our side to really see them good. Then we spent some time working on some genealogy. We drove up to Erie, the county seat, to look at some land records and then drove over to the Thayer cemetery to get pictures of some Coe tombstones. Then we went back to Ken & Ann's for a little while to tell them good-bye for this trip.

Tuesday we drove down to Claremore OK (a suburb of Tulsa) and then went over to see Don & Barb Sweeney in Owasso. It has been several years since we have seen them and we had a good visit. They have a nice home in a retirement community there in Owasso. We were supposed to go back over for dinner on Wednesday after we visited the aquarium in Jenks but I (Bev) got up with a neck/headache so we decided it best to stay home and rest, put heat on it and try to get rid of it before driving on south.

Heading on south on Thursday, we saw lots of pretty fall colors! But noticed that the further south we got, especially once we got in TX, there wasn't near as much color in the trees.

We spent Thursday night in Powderly TX which left us only 120 miles to Longview, but made a shorter day Thursday. We saw quite a bit of flooding along the highway - they have had almost as much rain this month as we get in a year at home! We arrived here in Longview about 2 pm and got settled in time to go to a dinner and celebration of Missionary TECH's 40th Anniversary. It is hard to believe that we have been associated with them for over 11 years! How time flies!!

Today, we are trying to catch up on things around here. It took some time to get our internet working and it is good to be back online as I have some websites waiting for work to be done on them.

Tuesday, Oct 13, we went over to WestPlex Church so Don could work on their network and we could discuss the website with Pastor Dave. Then we went over to Jim & Nancy Kane's to work on their computer. I had a nice visit with Nancy while Don worked on the computer and it was nice to meet their daughter, Sue, from Colorado Springs. That evening we took Randolphs out for dinner at the Allen Grill in old Wentzville. We all have Baby Back Ribs which were just about as fine eating as we have ever had; tasty and tender. Back at their house, we had ice cream and a good time of visiting for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, we worked awhile and got things ready to head out Thursday morning. Then Bob & Mila and Jim & Betty came out for lunch - bringing the food! Worman's brought KFC and all the fixings and Mila brought a delicious apple pie. It was wonderful spending our last few hours in town with such great friends!!! And - they left the leftovers for our dinner on the road.

Thursday morning it was time to head on south and we were ready to go find some warmer weather!! It was drizzly as we left but made for some interesting pictures! We had a rather narrow road on the way down to I-44 but it saved quite a few miles. We were wishing for sunshine as the trees were very pretty. Our stop that night was Marshfield MO and there was a Mexican restaurant right next door so we saved our leftovers for our first night at Big Hill Campground as it is out in the country - no restaurants there!!

We arrived at Big Hill Reservoir Campground late Friday afternoon and were thankful not to have to cook! We will be here 4 nights so we can visit with Don's Brother, Ken and his wife, Ann, who live just a few miles from here.

Saturday morning we went over to Ken & Ann's and spent the day visiting with them. It was good to see them as it has been 2 years since we have been here. Ann & I played some board games while the guys visited. She enjoys games, but I guess Ken isn't much of a game person so she doesn't get much chance to play!

Sunday, we went to church in Cherryvale where Don's folks had gone while they lived here. Then we met Ken & Ann at the Just Us restaurant there in town. They had a very nice buffet and live music - we told them all they needed now is a dance floor!! The owner said they were thinking about putting one in. Then we went back over to Ken & Ann's. Ann & I played Sequence while the guys worked on Ken's computer. We got home just about sunset and it was so pretty over the lake! This picture was taken from our doorway. We are going through withdrawals - no internet and no TV out here in the woods!!

We have actually had sunshine the past couple of days and it even warmed up a bit today!! We have had enough cold and rain for awhile, so do pray it lasts!

Friday night we went to a fundraiser Swing Dance sponsored by Aimee's American Heritage girls. It advertised to bring your grandparents - "it's their kind of music" - well, not quite. We did manage a few dances but it was fun watching the kids dance. We don't have the energy for their kind of swing!!!

Saturday, I went with Cindy to a scrapbook crop from 9 am until about 3 pm. This is quite different from my style of scrapbooking, but it was fun to spend time with her. I worked on the Calvary Reunion Picnic scrapbook and got several pages done for her. She has taken charge of doing the scrapbooks for that event. While I (Bev) was out having fun, poor Don stayed home and cleaned the motorhome and vacuumed out the car stored several items away (Thank you - I certainly appreciate him doing the vacuuming!). He picked me up about 3 pm and we went over to visit Bob & Mila Leach and see their new home. It is very nice and quite a bit more room than their other home. It was fun to spend time with them - we do miss being able to get together with them. We went up to Steak 'n Shake for supper - after all it was Saturday night!!

Sunday, we went to church at Chapel of the Lake. There aren't too many people still there from when we attended but it was fun to see them and hear Keith preach. We then went to Cindy's for flautas for lunch (YUM!) and spent the afternoon with her & her family.

Today we actually stayed home for a change. I had several websites waiting for work and managed to get caught up! Amazing!!!

Saturday, Oct 3, was the Chili Cookoff in Monroe, so we went downtown with Pam & Tracy to check it out. There were quite a few booths, but we didn't find any we really liked, and it started raining, so we went to Taco Bell for lunch and then visited 3 of the cheese factories there in town. Monroe is known as the "Swiss Cheese Capital of U.S.A." The Swiss Colony has its headquarters there and we had a great time in their outlet store!! YUM!!

Monroe is in Green Co. which is known for having 400 dairy farms. About 57 barns have or will have a quilt pattern on them. So, Sunday after church we went exploring the countryside looking for the barns. We had a pretty afternoon for a drive and found quite a few of the barns. Pam & Tracy will have fun finding all of them! Then we went back to their house to play Mexican Train and enjoy cheese & crackers. We even had time for a movie before bedtime!

Monday morning it was time to leave. We had a fun weekend and hated to see it end! We headed down to Galena IL, but noticed we were going close to Lena (where my g-grandmother was born) so decided to go there first. We found that there wasn't much information there and we needed to go to the county seat in Freeport. We did find some interesting information there - my g-g-grandfather, Franklin Weary, who was supposedly married in OH, was actually married in Freeport and we got a copy of their marriage certificate. We did find some other information there and then headed to Galena to spend the night.

We were disappointed to find that the history library there in Galena didn't open until 3 pm. But, we toured around the town - they have restored the downtown area to look like it did in the 1800's and it was fun wandering around and looking in the shop windows. We found the ME church and were surprised to find that no Fiegenbaums were listed in their list of pastors. However, when we finally got into the history library, we found that there was also a German ME church back in the 1800's and that is where they pastored. We were able to get a picture of it as it was then...it has now been turned into apartments so we didn't go find it. We enjoyed the museum there in Galena where we found that Ulysses Grant had lived there about the same time my ancestors were living there.

We went on to Cedar Rapids that night so we would have a nicer place to stay and have a shorter trip on home the next day. We got home Wednesday afternoon after stopping in Hannibal for lunch and a visit to the waterfront. It had been many years since we had been there.

It started raining Wednesday night and rained all day Thursday and Friday morning. We were ready for sunshine!! Thursday, we met Ransom and Ruth Tedrick for lunch and enjoyed visiting with them and catching up. Friday it was time to catch up on some computer work!

Sunday, Sept 27, we went to church with Cindy & family to Calvary. It is amazing how that church has grown since we left it!!! We did see a few people we knew - but very few!! Then we went home with them for dinner. After dinner, Cindy & I went to the fabric store to get some quilt material - for the quilt I can't seem to find time to work on!! Then the girls wanted to go to Petco - that is quite a store! How things have changed since we had pets!!! It was nice spending the day with them. We do hate living so far from all of our kids!! But with them so strung out across the country, it makes it very difficult!

Monday, we did some work here at home and then met Jim & Betty Worman for lunch. It was great to get together with them and catch up since we last saw them 2 years ago!

Tuesday, we met with Pastor Dave at WestPlex to go over some changes on their website and then took a drive around and looked at a retirement community in Lake St Louis. If, at some point, we decide to move back here (and leave Colorado???) we decided this would be a good place to live.

Wednesday, we dropped the car off at Sears for new tires and Warren & Dolores Denton picked us up to go to lunch with them. Then we went down to Old Towne St Charles. We always try to go down there when we are in town - our favorite place and we had a beautiful day for it. We wandered around a bit and then it was time to go pick up our car. It wasn't quite ready when we got there, wo we went upstairs to see what we could find and I actually found the purse I have been looking all over for!! So it was a profitable trip all around. Don loves the new tires - says the car drives SO much better. And there is MUCH less road noise!!!

Thursday, we met the Kanes for lunch and then went back to their house to do some work on their computer. Her monitor had died and she needed help getting the new one up and running. She also wanted a couple of programs put on the computer - our Book Tracker program and a journal program that I found for her.

Friday - another week almost gone!!!! We left Friday morning with just the car and headed up to visit Pam & Tracy's new home in Monroe WI. It was a cloudy day with rain about half of the drive. We were glad we had new tires!! Their condo is nice - smaller than they are used to, but should work out fine once they decide what to unpack and what to leave packed away. Monroe seems to be a very nice, clean little town with lots of friendly people.

Our second Great-granddaughter, Paige Elizabeth Brougher, was born today in Eugene OR. It is terrible being so far away from them! But we are thankful for Facebook and a granddaughter that keeps us updated!! With our kids and grandkids so scattered across the country, there is no way to be near all of them!

Last Friday afternoon, our son, Ron, made a weekend stopover in Mo on his way home from IN. It was great to see him! We actually had 3 of our 4 kids together for the weekend - wonderful! But - we did miss Chris and wish he could have been here also!! Ed, Sam and Aimee left Friday afternoon on camping trips and the rest of us went out for dinner and then sat around and visited awhile.

Saturday, the 19th was our annual Calvary Reunion. It was a small group this year, but was nice to visit with everyone. We only are able to make it every couple of years and it is great to catch up with all of our friends from yester-year! We had a beautiful afternoon for the picnic. Then we went back to Cindy's for some more family time!

We had a pretty good rain Saturday night and Cindy called Sunday morning to say that she had wet kids coming home about 10:30, so probably wouldn't make the 10:45 church service. So, we decided to visit WestPlex Community Church just a few miles from us. We have been working with them on their website for several years, so it was nice to visit the church.

Monday, we went over to Jim & Nancy Kane's for lunch and had a wonderful visit with them. Jim was the pastor who helped start the WestPlex church a few years ago and have been friends of ours for many years. I helped Nancy with some computer problems while we were there and will take over our BookTracker program for her to use before we leave the area.

Tuesday morning, we met with Pastor Dave at WestPlex to get to know him better and do some work on the website. Then we came back to the coach and got some work done around here.

Wednesday, Don took the car in to see why we have a wobble, thinking maybe we needed a tire balancing, only to find out that we need new tires!!! We certainly didn't need that expense right now!!!! His new computer arrived, so now he has the fun of getting everything on it and working.

Thursday, we met Bob & Mila for lunch and had a great time visiting and catching up with them. It is great how the years seem to disappear when you get together with old friends! Friday, I met Karen Etheridge for lunch and a great visit.

Today, we were going to go down to Octoberfest in St Charles with Warren & Dolores Denton, but I strained my back yesterday doing some of the stretches the physical therapist gave me to do before we left and it was hurting so decided I had better stay home and put heat on it. We will try to get together with them on Wednesday. We had quite a thunderstorm this morning and haven't been able to get back on the internet as of 2 pm. Hopefully, the problem will be solved before much longer!

Monday, Sept 14, we moved on to Columbia MO for two nights. We noticed that the trees are beginning to show some fall colors already!

We had a very nice spot in the Cottonwoods RV Park in Columbia. We faced a very pretty field of goldenrod! Wednesday, we met friends, Chuck & Bonnie Modlin, who we hadn't seen in about 33 years, for lunch. We had a wonderful time of visiting and catching up with them!! It is so neat to get together with old friends and seems like old times. We are looking forward to much more of this while we are here in MO.

Yesterday, Sept 16, we moved a whole 84 miles to our friends, Lonnie & Phyllis Randolph's place in Foreistell MO where we will stay for nearly a month. They have several acres here with full hook-ups for us alongside their barn and graciously offered to let us use the spot. They even provided a picnic table in the shade in back of our coach! I put a pork loin and potatoes in the crockpot as soon as we got settled, and both of our girls, Pam & Cindy came out to see us and have supper with us. It was wonderful to visit with them since it has been 2 years since we have seen them!!

Today, we are relaxing a bit and Don cleaned the layer of bugs off the front of the coach - the window is clean!! Yeah!! We certainly collected a bunch of them on the way here even though we cleaned the windshield every chance we got! It is very nice to be away from the interstate traffic noise for the first time since we left home! So nice and quiet!!!

We are on our way to MO. We left Wednesday around 11 am - for some reason it took us much longer to load the coach this trip!! We had a beautiful day and it was very pretty going through the mountains. We were kinda' surprised to see so much color already! We made it through Denver during rush hour and spent the night in Strasburg.

Thursday it was across eastern Colorado and western KS... not nearly as pretty as going over the mountains! We saw lots of corn fields, sunflower fields and prairie. We spent the night in Colby KS. We chose there because we knew the RV park had a wonderful restaurant only to find that they had closed the restaurant!! She said it was getting to be too much work. Next time we will go on farther east to stop!!

Friday we made it to Topeka KS. We planned to spend the weekend here so we could go to the genealogy library and do some research. Saturday Don spent most of the day working on his computer only to finally decide it was beyond help. Chris helped him for quite some time trying to revive it and then pointed him to a place he can get a refurbished one at a reasonable price. Of course, we didn't need that extra expense right now, but he has to have a computer!!

Saturday I looked out the front of the coach to see a Scissor Tailed Flycatcher sitting on the fence! They are such a pretty bird and only live in KS, OK and TX, so it was a treat to see him. We did see some down near Del Rio a few years ago.

We didn't make it to the library Saturday, but the brochure said it was open Sunday 1-4 and we decided that would work. We went to church at a small Baptist church just a little ways from the KOA campground where we are staying and then came back to get a snack and head to the library. We got there at 1:15 to find that the museum was open but the research section is open Tues-Sat!!! So much for that!! We made a Wal-Mart stop and found an On the Border restaurant on the way back to the RV park and had a delicious lunch. Then spent the afternoon relaxing.

We leave here tomorrow and go to Columbia MO for two nights so we can meet some friends we haven't seen for many, many years and have lunch with them and catch up!! We are looking forward to seeing them!

Don finished the remodeling of the front room in the coach so now we have 2 desk areas, I have a comfortable chair to sit in instead of sitting sideways on the couch to watch TV, and we have a dinette to eat at! It looks so nice and should be very convenient.

The time is flying by! The past couple of weeks have been busy starting to get ready to leave next Wednesday. Had to get my annual physical - everything "normal" and a visit to the neurologist about my feet. he gave me a new med to try - we will see... Also had to take the coach in for oil change - ouch!! Prices of that keep going up!!!

Don has just about finished the remodeling and it looks great! Should be much more workable since our business goes with us. Now to figure out what clothes to take and what I want from my sewing room!!!

Things are now back to "normal" here - line dancing on Mondays, coffee on Wednesdays, Bridge on Friday afternoons, and dominos on Sunday evenings! Don is teaching a weekend class again this month so is keeping busy with preparation and grading. He has the desk for the coach about done and ready to install. It is really looking good!! It will be nice to have our table to use as well as for me to have a nice chair to sit on rather than the uncomfortable couch! I got pillow shams finished yesterday for the bed in the coach using two of the fabrics in the quilt - the same ones that we used to recover the window frames.

We had our annual Arts & Crafts Show here in the clubhouse Saturday. We have many very talented people here and it is always fun to see their latest creations!

The hummingbirds have been keeping us entertained - we have a feeder on the office window and they are constantly fighting over it! We have to fill it about every other day. Of course, even though there are perches for two, they cannot share!!

The week after we got back from Bailey, my sister, Cookie, came over for almost 2 weeks to get some quilting done. We got 3 receiving blankets done for their grandson due any day now and got his quilt sewn together ready for her to quilt! It was fun having her here, although I think it was kinda' hard on her not having her own bed to sleep in!

July is getting to be a very busy month for us! We decided to not only remodel the couch area of the coach, but to redo the window coverings and headboard in the bedroom! The window coverings were very stained (before we got it) and I was tired of looking at them! We took them apart and recovered them with fabric to match the quilt I made a couple of years ago. We also replaced the headboard with a white picket fence - cute!! It was a lot of work, but the results are so much better looking.

We left on the 9th to go to Gunnison with the Western Slope Rovers FMCA group for a few days. We went a day early and stayed a couple of days later so we could do some sightseeing in that area. Friday, the 10th we went up to Crested Butte where they were holding their Wildflower Festival. We didn't take in any of their events but had a great time wandering around the pretty little town. Many residents have wonderful flower gardens!! The poppies were fantastic and some were larger and different colors than we had ever seen.

We had lunch and then drove part way up Keebler Pass where we saw fields of columbine - absolutely gorgeous!! It was a beautiful day and we had a great time looking at all the wildflowers in bloom!

Friday evening we got acquainted with others in the group over evening hor-d'oeurves in the RV park clubhouse. Saturday, we had breakfast with the group and then several of us went to the Gunnison Pioneer Museum. It has several buildings and lots and lots of stuff to reminisce over! That evening we went to the Palisades Restaurant for dinner and ate out on the patio - very nice!

Sunday morning we had a potluck breakfast and then many left for home. We went to church and then came back and relaxed for the afternoon.

Monday we went to Taylor Park (haven't been there in many years!) and Tin Cup. We were very disappointed to find that Tin Cup is no longer a cute little ghost town! It is now a summer vacation spot for many people and lots of ATV's! The wildflowers were beautiful and we had a very nice drive and did some birdwatching. We stopped at the Palisades Restaurant on the way home for one of their buffalo burgers - yum!!

We came home Tuesday and got the coach all unpacked. We decided that my new recliner is going to work great in the RV, now Don has to get the desk and book shelves build around it before we leave in Sept!

Thursday morning we left (with just the car) to visit our granddaughter, Megan's new home near Bailey. Our son and daughter-in-law (Chris & Carol) came over to her house for dinner that evening and we had a nice visit. Her home is very nice with beautiful views in all directions! They have almost 10 acres of mostly woods - wonderful! They are about 10-15 miles from her folks, which is nice for all of them. We came home over Boreas Pass - another place we haven't been in years - and had a beautiful drive home. Again, we saw lots and lots of wildflowers! The wet spring was good for the flowers this year!

It did it again! Another month flew by too quickly!!! Our weeks seem to disappear....we are still leading line-dancing on Mondays here in the clubhouse. We are taking dance lessons, first ballroom (waltz, fox trot, etc.) and now West Coast Swing on Wednesday evenings. We have coffee hour in the clubhouse on Wednesday mornings and when I (or we) can make it, lunch with the "Lunch Bunch" on Wednesday noon at various restaurants around town. Friday afternoons are bridge, whenever we can find a foursome and Sunday evenings are dominos. And - Social Time at 4 pm two Thursdays a month as well as ladies' Bunco once a month. So we do keep busy! In between, we have our websites to keep up and I try to get in some quilting here and there. Oh yes - Saturday nights several times a week there are dances downtown GJ at our instructor's studio. Do we get to practice what we are learning and try to learn more new dances!

Don is remodeling the coach, taking out the couch and replacing it with a recliner/rocker and desk for me so we can have our dinette to use for something besides an office! We bought some fabric and want to replace the window coverings in the bedroom of the coach. I am not looking forward to that job but it needs to be done - they are stained and faded! He also took the door off our bedroom closet (it was always in the way) and added some clothes hooks on either side.

We did take one day recently and took a drive up on Glade Park - south of Colorado National Monument - an area we hadn't explored. We had a very nice day and saw lots & lots of wildflowers! Not many columbine, but fields and fields of wild iris.

This morning, Don had his second 5K run. Fortunately, the weather was beautiful - yesterday we had lots of rain - but they ran on grass in one of the parks, which didn't make it easy. He got 3rd place in the men over 60!! The park is so pretty with the mountains all around!!

Well....lets see - Sunday, May 10, was Mother's Day....we went to church and then decided on Mexican food since they probably wouldn't be crowded and were able to walk right in and have a delicious lunch. After that we returned home and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon.

The rest of the week flew by, as usual! Monday afternoon was line dancing; Tuesday, Don had his annual physical (everything is going well there) and then we did some shopping while we were in town. Wednesday, we went to coffee in the morning and had Rumba lessons in the evening - now to get our feet going in the right direction for this!! Friday afternoon was bridge here at our house.

Saturday, May 16, was a VERY BUSY day! This weekend was the Mike the Headless Chicken Festival. Don had to be downtown at 8:30 am for the 5k race. He did great - didn't win but was not the last one in either - there were many coming in after him (lots of them a lot younger!!) - He did his best time: 36:38!! Pretty good!! Then we took our lawn chairs to a shady spot in the park to "people watch" awhile and visit the booths and antique car show. We had lunch and listened to the polka band awhile and came home about 2:30 pm. At 5:30 pm we had a progressive dinner here in the Village and had a beautiful evening for it. Then at 7 we went to friends to play Mexican Train and got home about 10:30!

Sunday, May 17, we returned to the Alliance Church we had visited the past two weeks. Ron had called us on Saturday to say that Rodger Peck would be in town on Sunday at the church. We had a nice visit with him - it was a blessing to hear about his work with the denomination. We have enjoyed our visits at the church and plan to return there this next Sunday. Then, we went up to Eckert to my Sister's for dinner since Marc & Norma were in town and we hadn't seen them for a couple of years. We had a nice visit with everyone there and got home about 8:30.

Monday morning I had an appointment with the Dr to have some pre-cancerous spots taken off my face, we did some shopping and then home in time for Line Dancing. Tuesday was another Dr appointment to discuss my arthritis and neuropathy problems. He wants some tests done for my feet and wants me to see a neurologist....it would be nice if someone could help my poor feet!!!

Today we missed coffee - just couldn't get going in time! Don has been up working on the coach, doing some cleaning of the skylights - not a fun job as he has to remove the covers to get to them!!

Along with all this, Don gets in his 3-4 mile walks every morning and I try to get my measly 1 mile walk done every day (but don't always make it - he does so much better!!) and I have a routine I am supposed to do 3 times a week over on the weight machines at the clubhouse. And - we still have database and website work to do!!! At least we never get bored

Our weeks do go by too fast! Monday afternoon we had our line dancing class - had a good group there this week. Everyone seems to enjoy it and appreciate our leading it. Tuesday, I had physical therapy (trying to get my back & neck in better shape) then in the evening we had card bingo in the clubhouse. Wednesday morning was coffee in the clubhouse and we started taking ballroom dancing lessons in the evening put on by the city Rec dept. There was only one other couple and us - almost individual instruction!! Thursday we had social time at 4 pm for an hour or so in the clubhouse. Friday morning we went to GJ and Friday afternoon I played bridge. This morning Don worked up on the Colorado national Monument in the visitors center all morning. That is about the way our weeks go - although many Saturday evenings find us playing Mexican Train with neighbors. The time sure does fly by!!! In between all this, we do try to get some database and website work done.

Don has been training for a 5k race here next week, but hurt his knee, so may not be able to make it after all. He does get his hour-long walks in most mornings. I am trying to get back to walking every day, but it sure is hard to get going!!

Amazing! April is almost over already! How can the time go by so quickly???

The weekend of the 17-19, we went to a campground south of Montrose with a local RV club. When we got to Montrose, there was a light snow on the grass. By the time we got to the campground 10 miles south of Montrose there was 8" on the ground! We could hardly tell where to drive or where to park! Saturday, it started melting and we had some snow and lots of mud! By Sunday morning - when it was time to go home - the snow was all gone!! We did have a nice time and met many nice people. Don't think we will go on their rally next month but probably will in July when they go to Gunnison.

We enjoyed birdwatching at the campground - many robins and bluebirds flitting around. The field across from where we parked was filled with cattle - and lots of babies! We hated to see them lying down in the snow - poor things!

Other than that trip, we have pretty much been staying home and working. I have just finished another new website and Don has been busy on the big database.

Wow! I can't believe it is almost the middle of March already! But - my chives are up and the willows are starting to turn greenish - so it does look like spring is close-by!!

We have been very busy working lately! Haven't even taken any new pictures. I did finish the big website I was reworking and was glad to have completion. It does seem like there are always changes to be made for someone, though! We are in the process of getting a large database to design for a company overseas which will keep us very busy for quite some time!

I still make time for bridge about once a week and we try to get over for coffee in the clubhouse on Wednesday mornings. We still have line dancing once a week and enjoy playing Mexican train with neighbors about once a week. So, do have some play time! We also manage to squeeze in some computer games here and there!! We have bible study every other week and are taking a New Testament Survey class on Sunday evenings.

Since I don't have any new pictures we have taken, I decided it was time to put in one of our adorable great-granddaughter, Kaitlyn, who just turned 2!

Gee - February is over half gone already!! At least it is beginning to warm up a bit! Clear up to 50°!!!

Valentine's Day evening we had a pie social and party in the clubhouse. The pies were wonderful and the fellowship was fun! Not a big crowd, but we all had a good time!

I can't believe how quickly the weeks go by - here it is Friday again already! Which means Bridge this afternoon! We have been really busy on websites, but , hopefully, my area is slowing down so I can do some sewing. I have decided to make small quilts to put up over the windows over the fireplace because in the afternoons the sun comes in there and shines right in our eyes if we are sitting out there. We were trying to figure out how to cover them (they are about 21" square) and decided that small quilts would work great - and I can make some for each season!! All I have to do is figure out patterns and find the time to make them!

We stopped by Kohl's Sunday afternoon and found some wonderful sales. Since I have lost so much weight (30 lbs - and seem to be stuck!) I needed some things that fit! So found me a couple of tops and a shirt for Don. They were marked down 75% plus I had a 30% off coupon. Fun!!!

The past week went by quickly with the website work, line dancing, bridge, etc. We had a busy day yesterday....went out to Living Hope Church for the Senior luncheon. We don't attend there any longer because it is about 18 miles and we found a good church ½ mile from us, but we do try to go out for their monthly luncheons so we can see everyone and catch up! Had a delicious potluck and fried chicken - yum! Then, we took a drive up over Colorado National Monument. We haven't been up there for awhile and wanted to submit my pictures for the 2010 calendar. Don't know if they will use any of them, but decided to give it a try this year. It had been cloudy in the morning, but cleared up in the afternoon and we had a nice drive.

Funny Clouds	Monument Canyon

Last night was the Senior Citizens Sweetheart Dance at the high school. We don't get the opportunity to go dancing much around here, so took advantage of it. We had a good time and shared a table with a couple and had a nice visit with them. Many of the people that go to these know each other, so we need to find someone else who likes to dance to go with us!!

Wow! That month certainly went by quickly - in spite of all the snow!!! It is finally beginning to melt but there is still quite a coating out on the field north of our house. It has actually been getting up in the lower 40°s. And - we look at the weather down in Port A and it has been 60°'s & 70°'s. Boo hoo!! Oh well....

We have been able to get together with a couple, who lives in our neighborhood, a couple of evenings to play Mexican Train. It is a fun game and it has been nice getting to know them! We discovered that they lived close to us many years ago - in Vetsville in Boulder!! However, apparently our paths never crossed back then.

Four of us gals have been getting together almost weekly to play bridge! We need to get Don playing again. We almost have enough people here now to get two tables going!

We have been keeping quite busy on a some websites...Don has been working on a storefront for the Colorado National Monument Association while I have been making lots of changes on railpassengerusa.com and finishing a newly designed website for Missionary TECH Team. One of their people had started it and ran out of time, so Don volunteered me to finish it. It has been a challenge picking up where someone else had started but it is now about ready to go online.

I am anxious to have time to get to my sewing room! I cleaned it up before Christmas and haven't even had time to get it set up for sewing again!!

We do miss being in TX this winter! We had the 5th snowiest December on record here in our area!!! And - it has been in the 70's in Port A!! Oh well....maybe next year we can go back. We also miss all the fun down there, although we seem to keep quite busy here with work, line dancing & coffee hour once a week, bridge whenever we can get enough players and other activities here and at church.

Christmas this year was kinda' quite - Bev's sister & her husband (Cookie & Roy) came down from Eckert on Christmas eve. So there were just the four of us (and their pup, Zek). They stayed overnight and then Roy went home Christmas afternoon and Cookie stayed until he came back for her on Saturday. So we had a nice visit. Now that they have moved 60 miles away, we aren't able to get together as much as when they were in town.