February 1, 2006

February 1, 2006

La Feria, Texas

YEAR 2 DAY 229

 

Today was sunny and very warm again.

This morning I did regular morning chores, then took Bo for an obedience training session. Good work, Bo, good dog ! I spent the rest of the morning washing the truck. I washed it a week or so ago, but it was coated with a layer of grimy ash. The local sugar cane farmers burn the sugar cane crops while they're still on the field, to burn off some of the organic matter, like leaves, that interfere with the processing at the sugar mill. I learned that from the farming lecture last night. The result of the field burning is a grimy ash that floats downwind from the field.

We had lunch, then set off for the huge flea market between the towns of Weslaco and Donna, west of here about 20 minutes or so. It's open on Wednesdays and weekends. Finding a parking spot was quite a challenge. I wasn't all that keen on the flea market outing, as we have been to quite a few large flea markets in the last couple of months, but Joanne really wanted to go. I must confess, that each time we've gone to a flea market, I've found something that I absolutely had to have. And it's usually something that I didn't even realize existed until I saw it at a flea market. Today was no exception. Well, well, well ... look at that ! Hanging on a peg board display was a package labelled "KOOLMAT® starter cover shield". A fiberglass and silicone starter heat shield blanket. And me with a brand new starter, replacing the fourth one in 2 years that burned out from excessive, external heat. How serendipitous, and fortuitous ! And it's on sale for half price! ! ! My, my, my ... my good fortune must be a result of all that clean living I did in the early 70's. HA HA HA HA HA < SNORT CHOKE >.

Did you notice how my sense of humour improves when I stop feeling like there's a blow torch up my ass ? !

We browsed around the flea market for a couple of hours, buying a few items. Joanne's big score of the day was RV bed linens, to fit RV "short queen" size beds, which are 6 inches shorter than regular queen size beds. We crossed the highway, rather difficult and dangerous on foot, to the farmer's market on the other side of the highway. WOW ... great, local fruits and vegetables. I bought huge Texas oranges, 5 for a dollar, huge Texas Rio Ruby grapefruits, 4 for a dollar, a huge watermelon, $2, and Joanne bought vegetables. We had driven to the flea market on Business 83, and I decided to take the freeway, Hwy. 83, back to La Feria. There was so much construction on the freeway frontage road and entrance and exit ramps, we drove half way back to La Feria through construction before getting to an open entrance ramp onto the freeway. We've come to the realization that no matter where we travel, it's road construction season. When we're back in Canada during the summer, it's road construction season, because obviously it's too cold for road construction in the winter. When we're in the southern U.S. for the winter, it's road construction season, because it's much too hot here in the summer for road construction. We're trapped in perpetual road construction season.

We got back to la Feria RV Park just in time to head for tonight's potluck dinner in the clubhouse. MMMMM ... good cooks in this park. We usually enjoy the potluck dinners that are common in RV parks, but tonight's dishes were particularly appealing. We sat beside, and chatted with a couple from Indiana who have been full timing for 6 months. HMPH ! Rookies ! HA HA HA ! After the dinner was a presentation by a businessman "pitching" his deep sea fishing business on South Padre Island nearby. Following his "pitch" was a presentation by a woman promoting her dolphin watching expeditions. The man seated beside us at dinner won a deep sea fishing trip presented as a door prize, to the raffle ticket number one number higher than mine. Darn !

Back at the trailer, I dug out the printer and printed the investment data updates I retrieved yesterday. Then I did today's accounting, and started today's journal. We watched a bit of TV, while I worked on updating the investment files. It's now 10:30 P.M., and we're watching the weather report on the late news. It's raining at Livingston, north of here, where we're headed next. Just east of Livingston, in Louisiana, where we're headed after Livingston, there are tornadoes tonight. Oh, screw that ... we' re going to stay here another week. The current humidity here is 96 %. No wonder it feels a bit muggy !

DSK