Week before Christmas Evre

59º, partly cloudy with high of 74º predicted for today.  Had great day yesterday in lower 70's and bright sunshine, and the wind finally went down to tolerable level.

One long-hair from the 60's did a little dozing during the sermon.

Rev Baker gave his first sermon for the season.
We got a choir together, though few in number.

Nephew Steven Miles with his platoon in fghanistan

Saturday we drove to the west edge of Pharr, TX to eat at
"On the Grill" - it was a scouting run to see the restaurant
where Phyllis is taking a group of women in January.

Saturday evening we played Cribbage with Darlene Winslow

Saturday evening we played Cribbage with Darlene Winslow

 Must post these pictures of my nephew's daughter's graduation from the University of Nebraska.

Proud to see how successful Keith and Becky are at raising their girls!

Have been sending out e-mail Christmas letters to all friends and relatives who are on the net.

Phyllis has a "cookie exchange" with quite a group of ladies today at the Rec Hall.  They all bring cookies, eat some and then take back a collection of each others cookies.  LaRhoda is working on getting  Christmas Eve program together for a week from tonight.  I am going over the reading I am to perform.

GROANERS CORNER:(( A Few Old Words and Phrases from our Past::

Mergatroyd!... Do you remember that word? Would you believe the email spell checker did not recognize the word Mergatroyd?
Heavens to Mergatroyd!  The other day a not so elderly lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy and he looked at her quizzically and said "What the heck is a Jalopy?"  She knew she was old but not that old. 
Back in the olden days we had a lot of 'moxie.' We'd put on our best 'bib and tucker' to' straighten up and fly right'.  Heavens to Betsy! Gee whillikers! Jumping Jehoshaphat! Holy moley!  We were 'in like Flynn' and 'living the life of Riley'', and even a regular guy couldn't accuse us of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop or a pill. Not for all the tea in China!
Back in the olden days, life used to be swell, but when's the last time anything was swell?
Swell has gone the way of beehives, pageboys, spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes and pedal pushers...AND DON'T FORGET.... Saddle Stitched Pants.
Oh, my aching back! Kilroy was here, but he isn't anymore.  We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, Well, I'll be 'a monkey's uncle!' Or,  This is a 'fine kettle of fish' we suddenly realize everything is Hunky Dory.
We discover that the words we grew up with, the words that seemed omnipresent, as oxygen, have vanished with scarcely a notice from our tongues and our pens and our keyboards.
Poof, go the words of our youth, the words we've left behind. We blink, and they’ve vanished.
Where have all those great phrases gone?
Pshaw, The milkman did it. Hey! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper.  Well, Fiddlesticks! Going like sixty. I'll see you in the funny papers. Don't take any wooden nickels. Wake up and smell the roses.
It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter has liver pills. This can be disturbing stuff! ("Carter's Little Liver Pills" are gone too!)  We of a certain age have been blessed to live in changeable times. For a child each new word is like a shiny toy, a
toy that has no age. We at the other end of the chronological arc have the advantage of remembering there are words that once did not exist and there were words that once strutted their hour upon the earthly stage and now are heard no more, except in our collective memory. It's one of the greatest advantages of aging.
Leaves us to wonder where Superman will find a phone booth...See ya later, alligator!

Okidoki….After awhile Crocodile……………..

Till next time, Lynn

High winds in the Valley

32 degrees in Clarinda, IA and 61 degrees in La Feria, TX at 10:30 am Saturday.  We have had very strong winds the last couple days - in the 40 mph and above.

A lot of palm trees were trimmed by the high and gusty winds.

Thursday at Meet & Greet.

Took a few pictures at the Sew & Share morning Thursday
The ladies work at different phases of putting quilts together

I played a 12-bass accordion as a youngster,
but I don't recall this type of music!

 Friday the ladies had "Red Hat" (Not the real ones, but a pretend group) had a gathering in the Rec Hall, and seven of the men went together to JC Wing Company - a bar and hamburger/chicken wing place - at the south edge of La Feria to eat.

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Went over to Donna, TX last night (about 18 miles) to
Palm Shadow RV where they have an RV Band Jam
each Friday night.  First time we had gone and it was
good, different than some of the strictly string jams.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A family had twin boys whose only resemblance to each other were their looks. Opposite in every way, one was an eternal optimist, the other a doom and gloom pessimist.
Just to see what would happen, on Christmas day their father loaded the pessimist’s room with every imaginable toy and game. The optimist’s room he loaded with horse manure.
That night the father passed by the pessimist’s room and found him sitting amid his new gifts crying bitterly.   “Why are you crying?” the father asked.   “Because my friends will be jealous, I’ll have to read all these instructions before I can do anything with this stuff, I’ll constantly need batteries, and my toys will eventually get broken.” answered the pessimist twin.
Passing the optimist twin’s room, the father found him dancing for joy in the pile of manure. “What are you so happy about?” he asked.
To which his optimist twin replied, “There’s got to be a pony in here somewhere!”
-------------------------
- STRESSED is just DESSERTS spelled backward.

Later, Lynn

Removed old A/C

67º here in La Feria, TX at 10:00 am Wednesday with heavy overcast.

Today I removed the old A/C Condenser unit.  Now Possums or armadillos can run between us and the Nehers!

Gettin' the low-down, before exercises.

I played partner with Harold Neher yesterday at Shuffleboard.
I held him back to only one win out of three games.

Our director was in California yesterday so Bob Weise led the
practice for Men of A Chord barbershop group.

Things are really growing.  This cactus
was just above the cements when we
got here in October!

I haven't played horseshoes for probably 20 years, but will try after lunch today.  Had 11 at our exercises this morning.

Phyllis is kept quite busy all day during the week, and some evenings, with her job.

32 years ago today we buried my Mother at Callaway, Nebraska.  73 years ago today my  younger brother Darrell was born near Callaway, Nebraska.

Phil - thanks for this:

Mildred, the church gossip and self-appointed monitor of the church's morals, kept sticking her nose into other people's business. Several members did not approve of her activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence & distance.

She made a mistake, however, when she accused Frank, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his old pickup parked in front of the town's only bar one afternoon.   She emphatically told Frank, (and several others), that everyone seeing it there would know what he was doing!

Frank, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just turned and walked away. He didn't explain, defend, or deny. He simply said nothing.

Later that evening, Frank quietly parked his pickup in front of Mildred's house, walked home and left it there all night.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Things You Should Never Say To A Police Officer::
1. I can't reach my license unless you hold my beer

2. Sorry, Officer, I didn't realize my radar detector wasn't plugged in.

3. Aren't you the guy from the Village People?

4. Hey, you must've been doin' about 125 mph to keep up with me! Good job!

5. I thought you had to be in relatively good physical condition to be a police officer.

6. I was going to be a cop, but I decided to finish high school instead.

7. Bad cop! No doughnut!

8. You're not gonna check the trunk, are you?

9. Gee, that gut sure doesn't inspire confidence.

10. Didn't I see you get your butt kicked on the T.V show Cops?

More later, Lynn

'nuther Monday

52º and bright sunshine as I start this at 10:20 am.  Was 39º when we got up at 6:30 am.

Which one of these should I use on our Christmas stuff?  We are wearing our Welcome Back Winter Texans t-shirts.

Had our first, of the season, Association meeting this morning.

Staff was introduced.

My great-niece Melissa with her daughter Emma.  They are staying in
the Boulder, CO area with her folks while husband Steve is in Afghanistan.

Heading out to Mr. Gatti's Pizza for park bingo and lunch.  Will finish this when get back.

Well, 47 or so out of the 53 that had signed up came to Gatti's.  Bingo then eating.  Didn't take any pictures.  Got my two full glasses of cucumber water while there.

Here are the five things about forgetfulness:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Next time - Lynn

'nuther week in paradise

48º here in La Feria at 8:45 am - was 43º at 7 am, real heavy dew.  (Is 62º with bright sunshine as I finish this at 3:30 pm)

What you see here is our great granddaughter helping her grandmother make Christmas Cookies. Don't know if she can wield that rolling pin at anybody trying to take her cookies!  

Ever see a snowman sitting on someone?  This blow-up snowman wasn't keeping up and
the owner, a guy from Canada, was underneath trying to see what was wrong, either with the air pump
or if there were leaks in the fabric.  Looked like it had him down!

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Worked much of Friday morning putting together a float for the park to use in the La Feria Christmas Parade Saturday evening.

This is Sunday morning after float returned

This is Sunday morning after float returned

These three photos are pictures of my computer screen, playing a video taken last night of the parade:

We did not attend the parade as Phyllis had an RGV Activity Directors Christmas dinner in Donna, some 18 miles to the west at Countryside RV Park.

Very active KAI performing

KAI is from Hawaii and sang many Hawaiian versions of popular
songs.  His wife did hula dance to one of them.

Saturday morning I help serve at the sausage-gravy and biscuits
with scrambled egg and cheese breakfast.  Phyllis took money.

Have been trying to get a picture we can put on whatever we send out
for end of year -- this one won't be on it.

Rev Jim Payden filled in for our first church service of the season this morning,
as Rev Baker is in Houston, waiting for repair part for his motor home.

Bobbi and Bob Raab - eating brunch at Santa Rosa today

Me and Bob Raab eating brunch at Santa Rosa today

Darlene, Harold and LaRhoda eating brunch at Santa Rosa

Phyllis with Darlene behind her eating brunch at Santa Rosa today

Thought Merv and Pat were going to show up after lunch to disassemble the float.  Turned out I and Toni took it all apart and never saw the other two guys.  Have all the recycled lumber back in my Texas Room.

Seems like it has been a busy week.  Will start over tomorrow.

In case anyone wants our address down here (if you want to send a Christmas card, especially one with money in it) here is all our information.

Till next time - Lynn