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 :)

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!

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!