December 18 to 24, 2008 ; La Feria, Texas
Thursday ; Today was cloudy, warm, and humid as a sauna.
This afternoon we went into Harlingen to buy some groceries at H-E-B and some pet foods and supplies at PetsMart. Bo loooooves shopping at PetsMart ! He's been feeling a bit "drivey" deprived lately. He's getting "hitch itch", eager to move on. So am I ! At sunset we went to the pool and hot tub, something we haven't done for the last two days because of cold weather. I find it rather unusual that in this area the temperature can rise or fall 50 to 60 degrees in a one or two day period.
Astounding ! We were very unpleasantly surprised to discover, that despite this issue had been the beginning of the end of a friendship, Buppy is still being presented with opportunities, which, being a dog, he is quick to take advantage of, to run over to our trailer and piss on our stuff !
Friday ; Today was partially sunny, very warm, and humid. This morning I helped Joanne a little bit with laundry chores. I chatted with neighbours. I did obedience training with Bo. I sat outside reading, with Bo on his tie-out, and Teddy in his tent. Hey ... it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. HA HA HA !
This afternoon we headed for Hidalgo, about 45 minutes southwest of here. First stop in Hidalgo was City Hall, to buy tickets for tonight's Hidalgo Festival Of Lights guided trolley tour. We had about an hour to kill before the trolley tour, so we drove over to the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse to see the Christmas Villages display. The Old Hidalgo Pumphouse is no longer functional and has been turned into a museum. During the Christmas season they have a Christmas Villages exhibition, about a dozen or so miniature village displays incorporating over 200 little ceramic buildings. We were surprised to find that that the elderly gentleman who was giving guided tours of the Christmas Villages displays was the creator of the displays, along with his wife. Old affluent men surely can find a variety of ways to spend their time and money. HA HA HA !
At dusk we returned to Hidalgo City Hall for our guided trolley tour. It was a 45 minute drive around the city of Hidalgo to see all the many huge and elaborate lighted Christmas displays, many of them done on city property by city employees. The most elaborate of all was a private residence owned by a locally famous Grammy award winning musician by the name of Ramón Ayala. Sorry ... never heard of him. On the way back home afterwards we stopped for dinner at Cici's Pizza Buffet Restaurant in Weslaco. As we drove back to La Feria after supper Joanne asked me if I could remember how little pizza she was able to eat 35 years ago when we were dating, as compared to now. Yeah ... you've come a long way, baby ! HA HA HA ( SNORT ) HA HA !
Saturday ; Today was mostly sunny, very warm, and very humid. This afternoon I removed the fifth wheel hitch out of the back of the truck, in preparation for hauling a load of rice and beans down into Mexico for the Amigos de los Niños de Mexico Fiesta de Navidad. Joanne did more laundry. She hadn't finished yesterday. I downloaded and processed the photos I took yesterday at the Hidalgo Festival Of Lights. Of course, I read and napped. We chatted with neighbours. We went to the pool and hot tub. Geeeeezzzzz ... I gotta get a life ! HA HA HA ... hitch itch is setting in !
I did Internet research to find out who is Ramón Ayala, the owner of the elaborately decorated home in Hidalgo we were admiring last night. He is a Grammy award winning Mexican musician, song writer, accordionist, and band leader with a career spanning more than 45 years. He is considered to be the grandfather of “Norteño” ( pronounced “Norr TAIN yo” ) music, a genre of northern Mexico “cantina” music. I’m not really sure, but I think Norteño music is a fusion between Mexican Mariachi and American country & western.
There was nothing on TV tonight that we were interested in, so we watched a video DVD that Joanne's brother-in-law Doug gave us entitled Grizzly Man, a sort of biography documentary. What a ****ing nut job !
Sunday ; This morning was cloudy, warm, and humid, with occasional strong gusts of wind. After preparing a late morning brunch of French Toast ( MMMMM ... Teddy loooooves maple syrup ) we headed off for Hidalgo to meet Kevin and Sandy at Dodge Arena for an afternoon performance of Saltimbanco by Cirque du Soleil.
WOW ! ! ! Did I mention ... WOW ! ! ! The concept of "circus" has certainly evolved !
Thursday ; Today was cloudy, warm, and humid as a sauna.
This afternoon we went into Harlingen to buy some groceries at H-E-B and some pet foods and supplies at PetsMart. Bo loooooves shopping at PetsMart ! He's been feeling a bit "drivey" deprived lately. He's getting "hitch itch", eager to move on. So am I ! At sunset we went to the pool and hot tub, something we haven't done for the last two days because of cold weather. I find it rather unusual that in this area the temperature can rise or fall 50 to 60 degrees in a one or two day period.
Astounding ! We were very unpleasantly surprised to discover, that despite this issue had been the beginning of the end of a friendship, Buppy is still being presented with opportunities, which, being a dog, he is quick to take advantage of, to run over to our trailer and piss on our stuff !
Friday ; Today was partially sunny, very warm, and humid. This morning I helped Joanne a little bit with laundry chores. I chatted with neighbours. I did obedience training with Bo. I sat outside reading, with Bo on his tie-out, and Teddy in his tent. Hey ... it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. HA HA HA !
This afternoon we headed for Hidalgo, about 45 minutes southwest of here. First stop in Hidalgo was City Hall, to buy tickets for tonight's Hidalgo Festival Of Lights guided trolley tour. We had about an hour to kill before the trolley tour, so we drove over to the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse to see the Christmas Villages display. The Old Hidalgo Pumphouse is no longer functional and has been turned into a museum. During the Christmas season they have a Christmas Villages exhibition, about a dozen or so miniature village displays incorporating over 200 little ceramic buildings. We were surprised to find that that the elderly gentleman who was giving guided tours of the Christmas Villages displays was the creator of the displays, along with his wife. Old affluent men surely can find a variety of ways to spend their time and money. HA HA HA !
At dusk we returned to Hidalgo City Hall for our guided trolley tour. It was a 45 minute drive around the city of Hidalgo to see all the many huge and elaborate lighted Christmas displays, many of them done on city property by city employees. The most elaborate of all was a private residence owned by a locally famous Grammy award winning musician by the name of Ramón Ayala. Sorry ... never heard of him. On the way back home afterwards we stopped for dinner at Cici's Pizza Buffet Restaurant in Weslaco. As we drove back to La Feria after supper Joanne asked me if I could remember how little pizza she was able to eat 35 years ago when we were dating, as compared to now. Yeah ... you've come a long way, baby ! HA HA HA ( SNORT ) HA HA !
Saturday ; Today was mostly sunny, very warm, and very humid. This afternoon I removed the fifth wheel hitch out of the back of the truck, in preparation for hauling a load of rice and beans down into Mexico for the Amigos de los Niños de Mexico Fiesta de Navidad. Joanne did more laundry. She hadn't finished yesterday. I downloaded and processed the photos I took yesterday at the Hidalgo Festival Of Lights. Of course, I read and napped. We chatted with neighbours. We went to the pool and hot tub. Geeeeezzzzz ... I gotta get a life ! HA HA HA ... hitch itch is setting in !
I did Internet research to find out who is Ramón Ayala, the owner of the elaborately decorated home in Hidalgo we were admiring last night. He is a Grammy award winning Mexican musician, song writer, accordionist, and band leader with a career spanning more than 45 years. He is considered to be the grandfather of “Norteño” ( pronounced “Norr TAIN yo” ) music, a genre of northern Mexico “cantina” music. I’m not really sure, but I think Norteño music is a fusion between Mexican Mariachi and American country & western.
There was nothing on TV tonight that we were interested in, so we watched a video DVD that Joanne's brother-in-law Doug gave us entitled Grizzly Man, a sort of biography documentary. What a ****ing nut job !
Sunday ; This morning was cloudy, warm, and humid, with occasional strong gusts of wind. After preparing a late morning brunch of French Toast ( MMMMM ... Teddy loooooves maple syrup ) we headed off for Hidalgo to meet Kevin and Sandy at Dodge Arena for an afternoon performance of Saltimbanco by Cirque du Soleil.
WOW ! ! ! Did I mention ... WOW ! ! ! The concept of "circus" has certainly evolved !
Today was one of those strange Rio Grande Valley days where the temperature changed about 50 degrees in about 10 hours. This morning I was doing chores outside wearing shorts and no shirt. This evening to walk to the ice cream social at the clubhouse I had to wear my heavy wool sweater coat.
MMMMM ... Joanne baked my favourite cookies tonight. Lots of them ! Thank you !
Monday ; Today was cloudy and cold. This morning we headed into Harlingen to pick up a load of rice and beans, for the Amigos de los Niños de Mexico Fiesta de Navidad. After loading up our truck, another truck, and two trucks with trailers, with 120 boxes / 6000 pounds of rice and beans, we went ... ( huge sigh ) ... Wal-Martin'. Doesn't anybody in Harlingen have jobs ? Are they all at Wal-Mart ? ? ?
This afternoon we went to Kenwood RV Resort's first "social hour with entertainment" of the season. The entertainment was The Lone Ranger. Some old guy playing the guitar, singing country & western songs. Oh, goody ! We sat and chatted with a couple from Hamilton, Ontario who have just arrived here. Friendly enough, but not exactly our type of people. Big, expensive motorhome, usually go to Florida and stay in one spot for the entire winter, afraid to go into Mexico, not much of a sense of adventure. In the evening I retrieved, printed, and reconciled this month's MasterCard statements, then did the monthly backup of all my computer files.
Tuesday ; You know, one of the problems with this lifestyle is there are too many old people who think that going to bed by 9:00 P.M. and getting up at 5:00 A.M. is the norm. The Amigos de los Niños de Mexico "caravan" to haul everything across the border into Nuevo Progreso was scheduled to meet at the border crossing at 7:00 A.M. this morning ( mumble & grumble ). My own personal rebellion against this kind of nonsense was to show up half an hour late, knowing that this "caravan" process was going to be a lot of "hurry up and wait".
Today was partially sunny, cold in the morning, but warming throughout the day. There must have been about 40 vehicles, mostly pickup trucks, some vans, a few cars, almost all with Canadian license plates, hauling Amigos de los Niños de Mexico stuff across the border to the school in Nuevo Progreso where the Fiesta de Navidad will take place on Christmas morning. We unloaded the beans from our truck, found a place to park, then helped haul boxes from the curbside into the school. Then we went looking for something else productive to do. There were a number of classrooms that were busy with repackaging chores. We spent the rest of the morning filling 3000 paper bags with peanuts. While filling bags of peanuts I chatted with a woman from Summerland, B.C., just north of Penticton.
MMMMM ... Joanne baked my favourite cookies tonight. Lots of them ! Thank you !
Monday ; Today was cloudy and cold. This morning we headed into Harlingen to pick up a load of rice and beans, for the Amigos de los Niños de Mexico Fiesta de Navidad. After loading up our truck, another truck, and two trucks with trailers, with 120 boxes / 6000 pounds of rice and beans, we went ... ( huge sigh ) ... Wal-Martin'. Doesn't anybody in Harlingen have jobs ? Are they all at Wal-Mart ? ? ?
This afternoon we went to Kenwood RV Resort's first "social hour with entertainment" of the season. The entertainment was The Lone Ranger. Some old guy playing the guitar, singing country & western songs. Oh, goody ! We sat and chatted with a couple from Hamilton, Ontario who have just arrived here. Friendly enough, but not exactly our type of people. Big, expensive motorhome, usually go to Florida and stay in one spot for the entire winter, afraid to go into Mexico, not much of a sense of adventure. In the evening I retrieved, printed, and reconciled this month's MasterCard statements, then did the monthly backup of all my computer files.
Tuesday ; You know, one of the problems with this lifestyle is there are too many old people who think that going to bed by 9:00 P.M. and getting up at 5:00 A.M. is the norm. The Amigos de los Niños de Mexico "caravan" to haul everything across the border into Nuevo Progreso was scheduled to meet at the border crossing at 7:00 A.M. this morning ( mumble & grumble ). My own personal rebellion against this kind of nonsense was to show up half an hour late, knowing that this "caravan" process was going to be a lot of "hurry up and wait".
Today was partially sunny, cold in the morning, but warming throughout the day. There must have been about 40 vehicles, mostly pickup trucks, some vans, a few cars, almost all with Canadian license plates, hauling Amigos de los Niños de Mexico stuff across the border to the school in Nuevo Progreso where the Fiesta de Navidad will take place on Christmas morning. We unloaded the beans from our truck, found a place to park, then helped haul boxes from the curbside into the school. Then we went looking for something else productive to do. There were a number of classrooms that were busy with repackaging chores. We spent the rest of the morning filling 3000 paper bags with peanuts. While filling bags of peanuts I chatted with a woman from Summerland, B.C., just north of Penticton.
Before leaving Nuevo Progreso we went to "our" dentist's office and made appointments for cleanings and examinations early in January. We have a dentist here in Nuevo Progreso and another in Los Algodones across the border from Yuma, Arizona. We were going to have dental cleanings and examinations done in Los Algodones in March, but since we’re starting our Mexico trip 11 days later than initially planned, we’ve decided to get it done here.
On the way home we stopped at H-E-B to buy a turkey. We have decided to have our own private Christmas dinner, since we will miss the Kenwood RV Resort's communal Christmas luncheon. This is our fifth Christmas on the road. The previous four Christmases we've had communal Christmas dinners in Escapee parks. I'm feeling a bit of self-pity that we're missing that this year. After a very late lunch, I had a long, well deserved nap. I did some minor maintenance chores, did an obedience session with Bo, then we went to the pool and hot tub before supper.
Christmas Eve ; Today was sunny, hot, and very humid. Christmas Eve reminds me of the death of my father, 13 years ago on this date.
Today started out badly. While I was taking care of morning routines, before Joanne was even out of bed, I knocked over a Damp Rid container in the bedroom, sending the greasy fluid contents splashing all over the bedroom counter, and floor, and shoes, and computer case, and Bo's toys, and ... ( sigh ) ! While cleaning the mess Joanne and I found excuses to squabble and snipe at each other. That continued intermittently throughout the day. I felt crappy all day !
This afternoon I prepared magic to have in my pockets at tomorrow's Fiesta de Navidad. We took Bo for a walk, and I practiced juggling while walking, to prepare for tomorrow morning's Fiesta de Navidad parade from the border to the school. Joanne baked more cookies. I gave Bo a bath. We spent time in the pool and hot tub, a new Christmas Eve and / or Christmas Day family tradition that started with our full time RV life.
Joanne made tourtiére ( French Canadian meat pie ) for supper, her family's Christmas Eve tradition carried forward to us. Kenwood RV Resort had scheduled a Christmas Eve party tonight, but as the planning for it unfolded, it evolved into a Christmas Eve religious service. We did not attend. After supper we went for a walk with Bo, enjoying the warm evening. I visited with the two little feral dumpster kittens. Earlier this week their mother was trapped and taken to the local SPCA. The grey one is becoming bolder, allowing me within a foot. Merry Christmas little dumpster kitties ! Maybe tomorrow night I'll bring you some turkey.
DSK
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