Super Bowl Sunday 2025

 77 degrees with 12 mph wind out of SE at 7:00 pm Sunday.

Was up to Rec Hall for some vittles and watched start of the Super Bowl with maybe 30 others from the park.  I got done watching before the rest did.

This last week was spent recuperating from the Texas Crud or whatever the local flu running around this part of Texas is called.  Both of us had it and I have been pained the last 2 weeks with a back disc problem.  Since we got back from our trip I have been riding the Teeter (where you hang from your ankles to stretch out the back) every day for 10 to 20 minutes and it is much improved.

Here is a link to a video that was made at our Barbershop Chorus practice in mid-January and aired on local TV 5 on their Take 5 program where they weekly interview many people, organizations, businesses, etc.  Click HERE

And Click right HERE for quite a few photos taken at our first, of this season, performance of the Men & Women of A-Chord last Friday.

Back from our 8-day cruise to the Bahamas

88 degrees with bright sunshine here in La Feria, TX at 1:10 pm Monday.  After a long ride on the bus, leaving Port at Galveston about 9:30 am, we got to our place at 6:45 pm last night.  I have pulled up a few photos to put on here.  Will take days to sort and edit all the ones, with videos later.

Goldwing Express entertainment -- separate from
the ship entertainment.

In Freeport, Bahamas

Here are some interesting videos I found.

June Carter and Tennessee Ernie Ford  

Science

Just off ship.

 8 nights on Carnival Dream and just now on bus to Rio Grande Valley at 9:30 am Sunday. 

Will sort photos on computer over next few days. 

Here is some knowledge I got off internet 

Boost Your Knowledge! DID YOU KNOW?❓

Birds do not urinate.

Horses and cows sleep while standing.

The bat is the only mammal capable of flight. Its leg bones are so thin that it cannot walk.

Even when a snake’s eyes are closed, it can still see through its eyelids.

Despite their fluffy white fur, Polar Bears actually have black skin.

The average housefly lives only 2 to 3 weeks.

For every human, there are approximately one million ants.

A small amount of alcohol on a scorpion will drive it insane and cause it to sting itself to death.

Alligators and sharks can live for up to 100 years.

A honeybee has two stomachs: one for honey and one for food.

Elephants weigh less than the tongue of a blue whale. A blue whale’s heart is the size of a car.

Blue whales are the largest creatures to ever roam the Earth.

A cockroach can survive for about a week without its head before dying of starvation.

When a dolphin is sick or injured, its cries of distress prompt other dolphins to assist, helping it surface to breathe.

A snail can sleep for up to 3 years.

The fastest bird, the spine-tailed swift, can fly at speeds of up to 106 mph. (The peregrine falcon is even faster at 390 km/h or 108 mph.)

A cow produces nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.

The leech has 32 brains.

The average outdoor cat lives only 3 years, while indoor-only cats can live 16 years or longer.

Sharks are immune to every disease, including cancer.

A mosquito’s proboscis has 47 sharp edges to help it cut through skin and even protective clothing.

The human brain has a memory capacity of over 2.5 million petabytes, equivalent to 2,500,500 gigabytes.

Knowledge is Power!

What is the biological phenomenon responsible for the gradual loss of muscle mass, strength, and function as we age? This is known as Sarcopenia!

Sarcopenia refers to the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength due to aging. The impact of this condition can be severe, depending on the individual.

How to prevent Sarcopenia?

Stay Active: If you can stand, don’t sit—if you can sit, don’t lie down! Movement is key to preventing muscle loss.

Encourage Movement in the Elderly: When an elderly person is sick or hospitalized, avoid encouraging them to rest or remain in bed. Help them walk, unless they are too weak to do so. Lying in bed for just a week can cause a 5% loss in muscle mass, and seniors often cannot fully recover this loss.

Sarcopenia is more concerning than osteoporosis: With osteoporosis, the primary risk is falling, but sarcopenia not only affects quality of life but also contributes to high blood sugar due to reduced muscle mass.

Idle muscles lead to faster muscle loss: Muscles in the legs deteriorate quickly when not used. Sitting or lying down limits leg movement, weakening muscles. Activities like walking, running, and cycling are excellent ways to build and maintain muscle mass.

Aging Starts from the Feet Up! Keep your legs active and strong as you age. If you don’t move your legs for just two weeks, you’ll lose the strength of a decade! Regular exercises like walking and cycling are vital for maintaining muscle strength.

The feet support the entire body’s weight, making them critical for mobility. So, walk every day to maintain strength and mobility.

Credit goes to original owner

Largest tanker on earth

Went through the "cold spell" - 28º yesterday morning but in the 50's today.  Didn't suffer any freeze damage to plants we covered up, but lost leaves on several other-bigger ones.  Assume they will come out of it.  Only two days until we step on board in Galveston, then on to Key West, FL and the Bahamas.  Back on February 5th.

The largest tanker on Earth is the Hellespont_Alhambra

It is capable of carrying 441,893 tons of crude oil, which is equivalent to the production of some countries. Its crew consists of only 37 people.....

The ship's deadweight tonnage is 441,893 tons,

Its total length is 380 meters,

Its width is 68 meters.

Its draft is 24.5 meters, and it can carry up to 3.2 million barrels of crude oil.

The ship is powered by an HSD-Sulzer 9RTA84T-D engine, which produces 36,900 kW at 76 rpm, allowing it to achieve a service speed of 16.5 knots when loaded and 17.5 knots in ballast. Classified by both Lloyd’s Register (LR) and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), the Hellespont Alhambra features a double hull for enhanced safety. Ballast tanks are emptied to reduce corrosion, and a unique white paint system above the waterline helps reflect sunlight, keeping cargo cooler and reducing hydrocarbon emissions.

Cold in the Valley

We are doing fine here in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.  A bit cool here - 41º now at 9:00 pm Sunday, in fact predicted to get down into the 20's for several hours on Tuesday with rain/sleet/ice. 

Our waterline comes up to a shutoff and a hydrant then goes back underground under the trailer.  So have blanketed and tarped over it.  Have also covered three plants outdoors and brought several potted ones into the Texas Room.

  

Keeping busy with the Men & Women of A-Chord Barbershop Chorus. Here is our schedule for this season for barbershop singing:

Thought below is interesting about Yogi

 YOGI BERRA'S TOP 35 QUOTES:

1. “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

2. “It’s deja vu all over again.”

3. “I usually take a two-hour nap from 1 to 4.”

4. “Never answer an anonymous letter.”

5. “We made too many wrong mistakes.”

6. “You can observe a lot by watching.”

7. “The future ain’t what it used to be.”

8. “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”

9. “It gets late early out here.”

10. “If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.”

11. “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.”

12. “Pair up in threes.”

13. “Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.”

14. “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”

15. “All pitchers are liars or crybabies.”

16. “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.”

17. “Bill Dickey is learning me his experience.”

18. “He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.”

19. “I always thought that record would stand until it was broken.”

20. “I can see how he (Sandy Koufax) won 25 games. What I don’t understand is how he lost five.”

Modal Trigger

Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra in 1955.

21. “I don’t know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.”

22. “I’m a lucky guy and I’m happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.”

23. “I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.”

24. “In baseball, you don’t know nothing.”

25. “I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?”

26. “I never said most of the things I said.”

27. “It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.”

28. “I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house.”

29. “I wish everybody had the drive he (Joe DiMaggio) had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field.”

30. “So I’m ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face.”

31. “Take it with a grin of salt.”

32. (On the 1973 Mets) “We were overwhelming underdogs.”

33. “The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.”

34. “You should always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise, they won’t come to yours.”

35. “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

(Sources: Los Angeles Times, Baseball Almanac, Baseball Digest, Catcher in the Wry (Bob Uecker), Sports Illustrated)

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Some "old" thoughts

 Have had a "cold" spell here - lows in the 40's and highs in the 50's, & 60's.  We are doing well.

Here is something I found on Facebook.  Not all of this applies to my growing up, much much does.:

If you were born between 1930 and 1946, you belong to an incredibly rare group: only 1% of your generation is still alive today. At ages ranging from 77 to 93, your era is a unique time capsule in human history.

Here’s why:

You were born into hardship. Your generation climbed out of the Great Depression and bore witness to a world at war. You lived through ration books, saved tin foil, and reused everything—nothing was wasted.

You remember the milkman. Fresh milk was delivered to your door. Life was simpler and centered around the basics. Discipline came from both parents and teachers, with no room for excuses.

Your imagination was your playground. Without TVs, you played outside and created entire worlds in your mind from what you heard on the radio. The family gathered around the radio for news or entertainment.

Technology was in its infancy. Phones were communal, calculators were hand-cranked, and newspapers were the primary source of information. Typewriters, not computers, recorded thoughts.

Your childhood was secure. Post-WWII brought a bright future—no terrorism, no internet, no global warming debates. It was a golden era of optimism, innovation, and growth.

You are the last generation to live through a time when:

Black-and-white TVs were cutting-edge.

Highways weren’t motorways.

Shopping meant visiting downtown stores.

Polio was a feared disease.

While your parents worked hard to rebuild their lives, you grew up in a world of endless possibilities. You thrived in a time of peace, progress, and security that the world may never see again.

If you’re over 77 years old, take pride in having lived through these extraordinary times. You are one of the lucky 1% who can say, "I lived through the best of times."

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Here is another, earlier history story:

In the early afternoon of 1902, two young ladies made a striking appearance as they glided down a country lane in a Lawson’s Motor Wheel vehicle. The driver, wearing a tailored coat and gloves, held the rudimentary tiller with an air of determination. Her wide-brimmed hat, adorned with feathers, was secured tightly against the gentle breeze, a testament to the ingenuity of fashion in the age of innovation. Beside her, the passenger, dressed in a delicate lace-trimmed blouse and skirt, clutched her parasol, her face glowing with excitement at the novelty of the ride.

The Lawson’s Motor Wheel, an early motorized contraption, was a marvel of its time. Mounted on the back of a lightweight cart, its small single-cylinder engine emitted rhythmic puffs of smoke and a soft mechanical chugging. The wooden-spoked wheels rattled over the uneven road, yet the vehicle held steady, its clever engineering overcoming the primitive infrastructure.

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In the early afternoon of 1902, two young ladies made a striking appearance as they glided down a country lane in a Lawson’s Motor Wheel vehicle. The driver, wearing a tailored coat and gloves, held the rudimentary tiller with an air of determination. Her wide-brimmed hat, adorned with feathers, was secured tightly against the gentle breeze, a testament to the ingenuity of fashion in the age of innovation. Beside her, the passenger, dressed in a delicate lace-trimmed blouse and skirt, clutched her parasol, her face glowing with excitement at the novelty of the ride.

The Lawson’s Motor Wheel, an early motorized contraption, was a marvel of its time. Mounted on the back of a lightweight cart, its small single-cylinder engine emitted rhythmic puffs of smoke and a soft mechanical chugging. The wooden-spoked wheels rattled over the uneven road, yet the vehicle held steady, its clever engineering overcoming the primitive infrastructure.

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