Sunday, December 12, 2010

Merry Christmas!

Hi y'all :) 

We have had much beautiful weather here - some frosty mornings, but ALWAYS into the 60's in the daytime - and more often than not into the 70's...can't beat it!

We had a marvelous Thanksgiving...and yesterday were invited to our friends, Walker & Evelyn Lane for a repeat of Thanksgiving dinner!  Walker got an electric turkey fryer he wanted to try out, so Evelyn pulled out all the stops and made potatoes, yams, ham, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and a wonderful million dollar cake - I took a green bean casserole (told ya it eas a repeat!) and enjoyed their company as well as Ernie & Barb Richardson...we were stuffed to the max!

Thursday evening about 15 of us from the park when caroling through the park - we had a great time and several people came up to me the past couple days saying how much they enjoyed it.  We will be caroling again either on Wed or Thurs night this week.  Fun fun fun!  Nice to go Caroling when you don't have to wear boots and mittens!!!

Friday evening we went to San Antonio - we've been waiting to pay for the boat tour until the Christmas lights were lit...and it was time :)  We went into town, found a great parking place for $4...and walked down to the riverwalk.  We walked through the shops at LaVillita, then on down...had a wonderful dinner at Texas Republic (I had queso and fantastic Chicken Tortilla Soup - David had Enchilada's and shared my queso), and when it was just getting dark (about 5:45) we got on our boat.  40 minutes of fantastic history and gorgeous christmas displays!  Well worth the $14.25 price for the two of us :)

We did manage to take the camera, but I don't have the pics downloaded yet! 

Thanks for the prayers for Dawn's safety in Afghanistan - please continue to remember her in your prayers.

Thanks to all for some great memories - and David, as always thanks for being the love of my life!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

November doings...

Hi all!  It has been a very very busy November for us!  The folks have rolled in steadily here at the Lone Star Corral, and it has been wonderful greeting many of these folks that we haven't seen since March/April...and we were so busy learning how to manage this park that we really didn't get to know them very well - which we are trying very quickly to remedy!!!

We've made several more trips to the Va for David - hopefully the last one until April will be tomorrow, when he sees the Ear Nose & Throat specialist regarding his hearing problem.  He's had a scan, so the results will be talked about tomorrow! 

We've taken the motor home to Class A RV Repairs in Pipe Creek TX, and must say they have a very nice facility.  They did everything we needed and it wasn't a huge bill!

Last night, I was honored to ride the SKP float in the Hondo, God's Country Christmas parade!  We took a third place ribbon and were very excited!



The bad news this month is that our daughter, a Captain in the Air Force, has started a 1 year tour of duty in Afghanistan.  We're devastated - she is at a forward operating base with very limited amenities - not even buildings, just tents.  If you're reading this blog, please remember her in your daily prayers...her name is Dawn.  Please also remember her family - it is hard to be without the mama in the family.  Thank you!

All for now - have a very happy Thanksgiving and may you shop 'til you drop on black Friday :)

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Oct 2010

It has been quite a while since I updated the blog – so here goes with just some highlights!


Several trips to Kerrville for VA appointments. Always fun when we stay at Kerrville-Scheiner City park – great camping right along the Guadalupe river and across from the VA – makes for a great weekend!

Wonderful Labor Day celebration – we did NOTHING :)

Sept 11 – 26th we went to PA to visit my folks – I’ll try to post some pictures that David took of the fall foliage. They certainly don’t do it justice, but they are pretty! There was a picnic in our honor (David say’s my family will jump on any excuse to have a picnic) and lots of great food was prepared and eaten by all.

This trip was to see Mom and Dad, as well as evaluate how their health is holding up, and unfortunately, not as well as we’d hoped. They are 81 and 82 years old, and Dad is mom’s caregiver although they both lean on each other since they’ve been married over 60 years. Mother is a diabetic – Dad has rheumatoid arthritis and it has decimated his hands and is now working on his feet.

We are under contract here until end of April, 2011, and we sincerely hope that we can stay here until then and finish up our contract.

If all is well, we will be taking a circuitous route back to PA, arriving there in August…we hope to stop and see David’s brother Johnny in St George UT, Grand Junction CO to see our first great grandchild, as well as the rest of the family, spend some time in Cheyenne, WY and Longmont CO, seeing friends and saying goodbye since once the MH is on the east coast, there is no telling how long it will be until we get back out here.

The plan is to attend National at Holyoke, CO with the Red Dale Wagon Train the end of June, on to Pender NE to get our Blue Ox tow system refurbished, on into Charlotte MI to see our friend Wendy, then moseying our way to PA. Should take us about 3 months if nothing goes terribly wrong!

Our friends Ron & Kathy Bernard arrived Friday, Oct 15th for a week, and we’ve been having a great time – we went into San Antonio and shopped at the Mercado for hours…we topped off the day at Johnny Carino’s – yum!  It was a great way to celebrate our 1 year anniversary on the road!

All for now – I’ll try to get some pics posted soon!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

July 17, 2010 Hondo TX

Once again it is over a month since I blogged!  For some reason it is awfully hard to blog when we are sitting still - we are doing fun and exciting stuff, new experiences and new friends...but it doesn't seem like I have anything to write about...and that is just plain silly!

We've had several trips to Kerrville to the VA for David - things being poked and prodded, stuck down and up, and the prognosis right now is favorable :)  He does still have COPD, but here, at this altitude, he is doing well.  Of course the hot and humid temps aren't helping, but still, he is functioning without the oxygen tank except at night. 

We took the MH two of the times we went to Kerrville, once we camped at the Kerrville Scheiner park, and it was very nice, $27 per night, full hookups, no wifi, no cable...second time we stayed at Riverside RV park in Bandera - NICE.  $20 per night, full hookups, cable and free wifi, also right along the Medina river with miles of trails to walk...Cinder and I took full advantage in the early mornings and late evenings! 

We continue to love being here at the park - I'm enjoying being able to do some mowing/weedeating as well as the office work (in the summer I can put up a sign, and leave a radio...anyone needs me they just call).  Last week and this week we concentrated on working in the clubhouse - we took all the 'stuff' off the laundry room walls, spackled, painted, added corkboards and new signs, wiped down all equipment, and just generally spiffed it up!



Today, we did a long hall-way the same way - and it looks pretty sharp too!  Next week we will work in the main room of the clubhouse, followed by the library, then, hopefully by mid-August we will be working in the office.  It has been more than 10 years since it was painted, so it is way past time!



Our trees and flowers here are absolutely gorgeous, and I'll leave you with some pictures of them. 

Thanks for having patience with me as I try to update the blog.

Friday, June 4, 2010

June 4, 2010

Wow, it's been almost a month since I posted - shame on me!  Just to bring you up to date...

We had a big water project that needed done, so we rented a backhoe, bought many feet of pipe, replaced valves, hoses, etc., and people now have lots of water pressure in the East side of the park...yaaay!

We have a new Manager's Assistant that started 3 weeks ago, his name is Brian and he is a good worker and a very nice man.  He is interested in all sports (at least it seems that way) and rides his bike 15 - 20 miles at a time.  I have no desire to ride a bike that far :) 

David and I have done several things that merit a mention:

  • Attended a Missions baseball game - they are the AAA team for the Dodgers I think - it was dollar night so lots of people and $beer, soda, hot dogs, popcorn - a great inexpensive evening!
  • Had a terrific Memorial day picnic with about 40 of our friends here in the park.
  • Attended Funtier Day in Bandera - what a hoot!  Took the scenic route home and ended up in Sabinal
  • Every Friday afternoon either root beer floats, sundae's or banana splits...fun!
  • Every Tuesday night - Pizza Hut with the gang
  • FRESH corn on the cob...omg, so good!  The farmer's here are picking their first crop...yum!
There are pictures at http://www.lonestarcorral.com/ of the memorial day picnic, and the park where we are.  Have a wonderful day! 

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Mother's Day 2010

It's Mother's Day weekend - and we decided we were going to visit Bracketville TX - Ft Clark Springs RV park and community.  However, before we left on Saturday evenng, I got a delivey of beautiful flowers from my daughter and her family in Okinawa, Japan.  They are spectacular - thanks Dawn, Daryl, Devon, Braden and Ariel.


We left LSC on the dot of 5 - arrived at Ft Clark about 6:30ish, was set up and out to dinner by 7:15.  We came back and saw lots of deer here in the campground - I took Cinder for a nice walk and then we booter up the 'puters.  I just got on the net and SKYPE rang - and that was my best present -I got to see and talk to Dawn, Daryl and Ariel - we chatted about an hour - love to see and talk to you all!  Next time I'll get to see Dev and Branden! 

We got up this morning, had a poptart, then headed out - the plan was to go to tour "The Alamo" - no not the one in San Antonio (we did that in Nov 2009) but the movie set that John Wayne and crew that made the Alamo movie.  When we drove over here a couple weeks ago, the sign said open Fri, Sat and Sun...NOW the sign says Thurs, Fri and Sat...so they were not open today :(   This is one of the motor home houses that are here!

So, plan B - we had a nice buffet lunch, then took a round about drive around the community of Ft Clark Springs.  This is a unique community, an old fort that has been turned into many different 'neighborhoods'.  You can google Ft Clark  - but their pool is one of the largest in Texas - it holds over a million gallons of natural spring fed water - it is 68 degrees year round - here is a pic - very nice.  We visited the museum which is very nice and FREE! 

Then this evening we had heard about a wonderful italian restaurant in Del Rio named Avanti's - so off we went - well, we found the address but the restaurant was closed for good :(  we ended up at a place called Gatti's - good chicken alfredo, but so so on everything else.  We came home - stopping to take some more flower pics.

One of the amazing things here is that the deer are very tame and all over the park - it was too dusk to get good pictures but we sure enjoyed watching them. 

Tomorrow we'll head back to Hondo - we'll leave here about noon, stop in Uvalde at Walmart, and probably get back about 5 pm. 

May 2, 2010

Happy Birthday...LSC! I'll let the pictures tell the story :)

Saturday, May 1, 2010

May 1, 2010 Goodbye to more friends

Yes - the Sabinal Grill is wonderful.  It is sure to be on our 'stop' list when we are driving through Sabinal!  David had an enchilada plate that he said was good, I had tilapia, baked potatoe and salad bar...yum!  We shared a piece of lemon merengue pie!  Then we took advantage of having our home with us, and pulled into a rest area to take a nap :)  We had started our generator to 'exercise it' (you are supposed to do that every month), and had the air conditioner on - it was heavenly taking a nice nap before going on down the road!

We got set up on our lot around 6ish, and had an early night.  The past couple days have been very busy - end of month stuff in the office, and much mowing, weeding, and spiffing up for the co-op since we are having our 23rd birthday celebration tomorrow!  The club is furnishing 'speedies' (a wonderful marinated grilled sandwich) and everyone is bringing side salads...oh yeah, there will be cake and ice cream too!  I'm making a big tossed salad with homemade dressing.

Last night 8 of us went to Bill & Rosa's for a goodbye dinner with some wonderful people, Mike and Caryn Drew.  They've been work campers here at the park since November, 2009 and although we didn't get to know them over a long periof of time, we enjoyed their company while we did, and look forward to seeing them come back next fall!  I've got some pics to add later at this spot!


Tonight we are going for groceries and having dinner at the Jade Buffet - David actually likes it - 'cause he loves their shrimp and fried rice...me, I like it all! 

All for now - I'll try to post pics tonight or tomorrow!


Mike and Caryn, Bonnie & Ed, Bob & Jan...thanks for the memories!

Monday, April 26, 2010

April 24 - 26 Garner State Park

We packed up and left D'Hanis Sat evening at 5:25 pm.  We headed up to Garner State Park for the first time - it is about 38 miles from Lone Star Corral...what a jewel this park is! 


The only fly in the ointment is that you can't reserve specific sites, so by the time we get here on Sat all the good 'shade' spots are taken :(  However, even the ones in full sun are nice...they have over 400 sites - with about 250 of them with electric and water, and 45 full hookups - there is several dump stations as well.


We decided on Sunday to go for a drive around the area - we went to Leakey, then up to Camp Woods, circled down to Uvalde and then back past the park and on to Utopia.  We had lunch at Camp Woods at a place called 'The Sweet Shop' and we do NOT recommend it.  I ordered a Patty Melt that was not grilled, but put on toast - and 'crisp' french fries that were limp and dripping grease...no way was the grease hot enough to fry them in.  David got the chili and cornbread - the chili was like sloppy joes - and the cornbread was so dry that it was like eating sawdust.  We each had ordered a milkshake, expecting a big tin container and a glass full - since it was $3.50 each...instead we got a 16 oz styrofoam cup.  What a disapointment!    If we go back to Camp Woods we will NOT be eating there!

We took lots more wildflower pictures - I'll post a couple here, but they simply do not do justice to the scenery!  This park also has swimming in the Nueces River - paddle boats and kayaks too!  We will definitely come back here again - and in the not too distant future! 


Sunday evening we celebrated our anniversary - it's been 1 year since we lived in a stix and brix house :)  We are still loving living in the motorhome - and each other :)  We had a lovely spaghetti & meatballs dinner with salad and garlic toast - and a lovely bottle of white zin as well...yum!

This morning Cinder and I took a nice long walk, then I made a good breakfast - pancakes, sausage and eggs - about 10 which will hold us until about 3 when we should have an early dinner at the Sabinal Cafe - I'll report on that next time!


We've had a marvelous couple of days - David, darling, thanks for some more wonderful memories!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

April 21, 2010 Lone Star Corral

Hello all!  As usual, the busier I am the less time I have to blog, and I've been very busy!

Some of the things we've done since I last updated:

Met some internet friends, Phyllis and Len at Little Red Barn steakhouse, which was not little but was RED in San Antonio for a wonderful lunch.  It is so nice to be able to put faces with names.  Wonderful lunch with terrific people!  Unfortunately, shortly after our lunch they were called back to Louisiana to tend to Len's mother who is very ill.  Our prayers are with you my friends!


We had a fantastic Easter potluck here at the campground - and I cooked :)  Yep, I roasted 7 hams for the dinner.  One of the things that they do here that should be implemented more places is that after every event they do a write up on what it was, what was served, the cost and what was charged for the meal, including recipes.  What a great way to help future generations of people preparing events!  We had an Easter Parade with all who wore bonnets - you can see pictures at http://www.lonestarcorral.com/

We said good-bye for now to good friends Walker and Evelyn Lane who left April 2 to head back to WA for the summer - we'll see them again in the fall.  Evelyn, I'm using your fridge and freezer - thanks so much for allowing us to do that!

We've traveled all over on our days off looking at lovely wildflowers - both David and myself have never been in a state where there are so many - looks like God just dipped his paintbrush and spread it around.  I'll put some pics up later if I can.

The other 'big' news is that we have our first 'great' grandchild.  Aaliyah Marie was born 6 days ago, and we will put some pictures of her up as well - as soon as we can!  Unfortunately mama (Kelsey) and baby are in Grand Junction, CO and we are in D'Hanis, TX...so it will be a while until we get to hold her and see her in person.

On Monday we took a long drive, to Eagle Pass where there is a casino and we made a small donation, then to Del Rio, Bracketville (where they filmed the movie The Alamo then explored Garner State Park.  We have reservations there for Sat and Sun nights - we have the Texas State Parks pass so it will be very inexpensive for us - yaaaayyy, we're going camping :) 


All for now - have a great day, we sure will!

To all our friends both far and near - thanks for the memories!

Monday, March 22, 2010

March 22

Just wanted to check in after another wonderful day in paradise :)  We had a leisurely morning, starting off the day by catching up on emails, and doing a little personal work on the computers. 

Then I used Skype to finally talk to a groomer for Cinder that I actually liked over the phone!  This is a relief, since I've talked to at least 5 different ones, and either they were too expensive or they treated me like 'trailer trash'...which I am most asuredly NOT!  At any rate, she has an appt on April 14th...yaaayyy! 

Then we decided that we'd better go find the place so we'll know where it is, since we were thinking about it!!!  We drove towards Castroville and found ourselves at the Dunlay Seafood Cafe, where David had a great burger and homemade fries, I had wonderful fried fish, and we split a piece of homemade buttermilk pie...oh my, heaven on a plate :)

We came home and relaxed until 'Social hour' and Monday munchies where we enjoyed ourselves - we came home and had dinner - a little late for St Patrick's Day but we had corned beef, cabbage, potatos and carrots...yum!

I took Cinder for a walk and now we are just relaxing - tomorrow we start 7 days in a row - so you probably won't see me for a while!

I'll leave you with a couple pictures :)




Sunday, March 21, 2010

March 3 through March 21 D'Hanis TX

I have been rather unfaithful at this blog ever since we came to D'Hanis...or Hondo (mailing address is Hondo...but we are only 1.5 miles to D'Hanis - and 8 miles to Hondo...go figure :)

We've been busy busy busy - David is learning all about the Texas grasses, water and maintenance issues involved in the park. 

I've been learning all about quickbooks and the million and one things you need to keep track of to keep a 130 site RV Co-op park running.  Whew, it's a lot of completely different things, but I love learning new things, and this is so much fun!  The people are what make it so very fun and interesting! 

On Thursday mornings (when we have off), we go with a group of Escapee's to Bill and Rosa's Saloon - for breakfast!  What a blast - here are a few pics you can see we have a good time - the gals sit at one table and the guys sit at another...the waitress if phenomenal - she remembers which couple goes on one ticket!!!  There are usually 10 - 15 at each table...much fun!


On Tuesday evenings whomever wants to shows up at the Pizza Hut, where they offer an SKP special - buffet and salad bar PLUS drink for $6.00...can't beat that! 

Some wonderful friends of ours from Cheyenne WY stopped to visit with us for a couple days, Pam and Gary Wisecup.  They got in onTuesday afternoon and of course we went out for pizza!!!  Wednesday we went driving around - first to look for bluebonnets - but we ended up having a history lesson in Castroville.  It is a quaint small town with tons of history - it was settled by folks from the Alsatian region in France.  Very interesting, some lovely old buildings and nice signage to get around.  In our quest for bluebonnets we then drove to Devine TX, and although we did see 'some' BB's, not enough to suit me!  We had a fantastic lunch at Rocky's Grill - I highly recommend it!  Great food, nice atmosphere...definietely NOT texmex :)


Pam and Gary moved on the morning of the 18th - It was wonderful seeing you and sharing some sightseeing - next time plan to stay a bit longer and we'll do something really exciting (maybe we'll go to San Antonio and see a show!).

Then about 11 o'clock on the 18th, Ron and Kathy Bernard, our dear friends from Colorado came to visit.  Once again we put on our tour hats and off we went - we had a wonderful lunch at Bill & Rosa's (see pic of the 'lunch portion' of country fried steak), drove by D'Hanis brick foundry which still produces after all these years, as well as the church ruins and the old cemetary.  All too soon these good friends went up the road too.  Hey guys, we loved the tamales - and David loved the sauce.  When you come to the valley next year we'll order some ahead of time :) 


Today, David and I once again set off to find bluebonnets - and find them we did.  Here are just a few of the many many pictures we took - none of which do justice to the acres and acres of beautiful wildflowers we saw!



We've done much more this month - went to San Antonio with Walker and Evelyn Lane, where we shopped at Costco and had an early dinner at Golden Corral (talk about a huge buffet, wow), then we took Fran and Rich Tilgner in to have dinner at Johnny Carino's - it was as usual fabulous!  Since we will be here at least a year, we bought a BBQ grill on sale for $75.00...and that thing took us 3 hours to put together!  Why oh why don't they put clear directions on things...and mark the 'things' as well.  We've also participated in Ice Cream Socials, Card Bingo, regular Friday night Bingo, dog park playtime with Cinder every day, and lots of socializing!

Our friends Dave and Janet from Covington VA are on their way home - I think they are in New Orleans right now, but maybe they've already left there - safe travels our friends. 

I've volunteered to cook the hams for Easter dinner here, and I promise to get pictures - sounds like there will be a lot - so far we have 37 signed up - so lots of ham!

I won't promise to update more frequently - somehow the days are just flying by, and I have so much to learn, that by the time I get settled in the evening, the last thing I want to do is THINK !!! 

I would be remiss if I didn't say that the weather here has been gorgeous - we've sat out several evenings for 'happy hour' without jackets - 75 degrees and NO mosquitos.  Love it!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Feb 22 through Mar 2

Ok, lots has happened, and I'm going to plead that we've been so busy that I haven't had time to do this, and that is true.  However, we would be very remiss if we didn't recognize a couple events:

We treated Dave, Janet, Teresa, Rex, (Clara and Barbara were invited, but they just had coffee) to my sausage gravy and biscuits...and of course Janet made a wonderful fruit bowl, and Teresa made biscuits...it was all so good!

Lots of talking to Post Office, banks, etc., to get stuff straightened out - whew, I'm maybe halfway through.

A wonderful good bye dinner given to us by our friends, Janet and Dave - thanks guys, it was terrific.  We'll see you again, down the road. 

Two of the very hard things we had to do was to call Mom and Dad and tell them we would not be in PA for the summer - and to let Dawn and family (especially Ariel) know that we won't be in Okinawa over the holidays..  Both made me cry...

We're now in Hondo, and have two days under our belts - and we're still glad we came :) 

I'll try to get better about keeping this up - we'll see how it goes.
Joe getting a free H1N1 shot at Big Fisherman!
Here's a couple of mixed pictures - no particular order.
Last big group at Big Fisherman
Roseate Spoonbill in middle of pic!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Feb 19 - 21 Fredericksburg, Uvalde

On Friday, 19th, we had a good day - went to Wal Mart and got some needed supplies, talked to the people at the post office about changing our address, went to Social Hour, met with the current managers and worked out our schedule for the month of March. 

We made arrangements to drive up to Fredricksburg to meet Jim/Joan and go to the Nimitz Museum on Sat.  We had a wonderful breakfast buffet at the Azteca Mexican restaurant in Hondo (rice pudding to die for), and so our day started at 7:30 am.  By the time we got to Fredricksburg it was 10:30, and we were off to the museum.  I can't say enough about it - it was fabulous.  We took many many pictures, which don't do it justice - suffice to say we spent about 4.5 hours there. 

When we left there, we stopped at the book and gift shop, and the lady there said the best 'german' food was at Der Lindenbaum, about 3 doors down from there.  We went there for an early dinner - David had goulash that was fantastic!  I had a special which was a frankfurter, local sausage, saurkraut, german potato salad, homemade rye bread...yum yum!  We topped off this feast with a slice of lemon merengue cake that we shared...WOW!

Here are some of the flowers in pots along the streets there...Janet, these are for you :) 
When we got ready to leave (at 3:30) we discovered I had a flat tire.  We called Good Sam ERS and waited and waited and waited.  We finally got back on the road at 5:30...I was pretty unhappy, because I don't like to drive on roads I don't know after dark!  We got home about 7:30, so it wasn't too bad.

We got up to a spectacularly nice day - high was to be 76 (although it got up to 79!), and had a leisurely breakfast - I made french toast, sausage and eggs.  We took Cinder with us and set off to explore Uvalde, about 40 miles away.  It was a great trip, the town population is about 15,000 so bigger than Hondo, and they have a lovely park and the usual stores.  There is a place called The Oasis - which is kind of like a miniature Cabela's, with a fabulous restaurant with terrific BBQ! 

We came home and just vegged out in the shade by the MH...this evening I went over to the clubhouse and played card bingo - I won 1 game which put me 80 cents ahead...I'm rich!