Out with the old in with the new and being a sponsor

Our friends Terry and Arlene had previously told us about adopting a Mexican child, for the purpose of sending them to school. No sponsor...no school for them! A nun who works at the Basilica in San Juan, on the Texas side, runs the program. Basically you pay $180 per year to send a child to school. They get uniforms, the necessities that we all take for granted...books, pens, pencils and all the school supplies they need. Katie and I decided pretty quickly we would do the same thing.

Katie phoned the sister before we left for Don-West and arranged for us to sponsor a little girl. Sister said she would send us all the material and instructions where to meet her etc. We decided the date would be St. Patrick's day, March 17th...we will meet Sister and get a chance to meet "Our Little Girl" in Progresso. We are really looking forward to it.

Unfortunately Terry and Arlene, and other winter texans in the park are unable to go to Mexico anymore, without risk...they are not covered by their travel insurance. The Government has a Type 3 travel warning out which is the 2nd highest. There is a clause in most travel insurance policies that cancels coverage in that
case...so Terry and Arlene will not be able to go and see their girl Carla for the time being.

Katie has Blue Cross Coverage through her work, She pays for it monthly...she phoned and they said we could still go. Whew!....regardless I think we would have gone anyway...but it is a risk if you are not covered, and is a personal decision.

We were expecting our new furniture today, they phoned and said they would be there after 2PM.

We decided to go to Don-West Flea Market...so off we went. We took our cedar sign that we got last year back to the guy who makes them. They have a lifetime warranty so he refinishes them for free every year as long as there is enough wood for him to sand down, and put lacquer on. He was so busy as usual, we had to leave it until Saturday as we had to be back home by 2.

Then we saw a stand with lots of area rugs...all kinds and sizes. We almost immediately found one we both liked, and was a decent price for the quality...so we took it on the proviso that we could bring it back if we didn't like it in our setting. No problem.

We made it back home about 1:30, and within ten minutes the phone range to say the furniture truck was in the park by the pool. Good thing we came home early. Got the chesterfield in, the coffee and end tables. Got everything set up, put the rug down...yes! we both liked everything. No more running around.

After supper Steve and Janet our former renters and now mobile home owners, dropped by. We had a glass of wine, and lots of laughs, they are a fun couple both with a good sense of humor.

Then a little TV and off to bed.

more later....

It was hot!

After breakfast with the Wps Vets, Katie and I decided to go to the driving range. As usual she was hitting well...I struggled a bit at the beginning, and then was fine. Don't know why I am having so many problems at the beginning...that usually doesn't happen on the range...only on the golf course...hahaha.

It was hot while we were hitting balls, after we left, we decided to go to Sam's Club and have a look around. It was very busy, we didn't buy much...a roasted chicken for $4.95 which sells in Wpg for $7.98.

Then we went to Mattress Firm to get a mattress topper for our bed at home. We got one last year for the trailer when we bought the new King size bed...and we like the mattress cover so much, we decided to get one for home...expensive but worth it and guaranteed for 10 years. Then we walked over to Best Buy and had a look around.

When we got back in the car it registered 41C...hot hot hot....when we turned onto the street leading to the park, we looked at the digital sign at the Burger King on the corner and it said 103F...hot hot hot.

Watched a bit of TV and around 9 we went to the hot tub. At least it was back to regular temperature...not cold as it was last night due to cleaning.

Then off to bed...tomorrow we have to hang around for awhile as our new chesterfield will be delivered.

more later....

Breakfast with the Winnipeg Police Service Vets today

First...I mentioned yesterday, about the great deal we got on a 7 piece bedding set at Big lots.

and with our travelling Blue Bomber Gnome

Today was breakfast day at Victoria Palms, where all us retired guys get to see each other in person, and swap some stories, and exchange embellishments. Good to see everyone...George Walker brought along his friend Ole Larsen, who Terry and I golfed with last year in the Happy Hackers Group. It was good to see him, and I always enjoy seeing George...he always has this really great smile on his face, and you just know he is genuinely glad to see you.

Good to see all the guys....there were 17 in all...18 with Ole...and so many, we had to have separated tables. Would have been better to be all together, but it was still good anyway. A couple of the attendees are still working....now why would anyone want to do that?

Some pictures for you viewing pleasure....

Terry McGregor, Ole Larsen and Myself

more later....

The Sofa Bed is gone....Bye Bye!

After all the time we spent running around, buying and returning area rugs, we decided to get rid of the Blue tartan sofa bed. Yesterday morning we took a picture and I posted an ad on Craig's List for the McAllen and surrounding areas. Within an hour we had a phone call from people who said they would have look but would have to borrow a truck. They phoned again about an hour later to say they were on the way from Harlingen. We met them at the gate and led them to our place.

They are full time residents of the valley having been here for 15 years. The man was a fireman for a long time. They decided they would take it, so between the two of us we got it outside to the truck. As the truck drove down the road, Katie and I waved goodbye with NO tears of sorrow. Now we have two outside plastic chairs in our living room for guests until we get the new sofa.

Katie and I went to Cracker barrel for Lupper...that's our word for combination of lunch and supper...mmmm good home cooked type meal.

Then we went to "Big Lots". It was 20% off day and we had a coupon from a previous purchase. We found a 7 piece King Comforter Set which had been $70 but was marked down to $39...then we got the 20% off so it cost $31, what a deal! Bought a few other odds and ends.

Then we went to HEB grocery store, bought what we needed. As many of you know Katie and I did a Vegan experiment last year which lasted 4 months. Since that time we rarely eat Red meat in particular. We decided though we would like to have one barbeque with a good steak. We bought two T bones...how much?....$2.95 for both. Unbelievable! Only hope is that they are tender.

After we got home Terry and Arlene came over and we had a nice chat. Then Nancy and Neta dropped by, friends from last year.

Then it was some TV watching and off to bed.

We took some pictures of the new floor going in, so here they are....

Today was supposed to be a golf day

We had a tee time this morning for 9:30 with Lorraine and Raymond from Thunder Bay...unfortunately it was raining this morning and the clouds were pretty dark looking. Seeing as it hardly ever rains we decided it would be best to wait for another day.

Katie and I have been looking for an area rug to put in front of our good shape but kind of ugly looking blue tartan sleeper sofa. We have tried several but anything with a pattern does not look good, so they have all gone back. We picked up a couple this morning that are just plain, but only we can't get a patterned one. We also wanted to find a coffee table but you have to take coffee and end tables as a set.

We went to Ashley's Furniture and found a coffee table set we liked and were prepared to take it. Then they told us the delivery fee would be $59. We said we wanted to pick them up ourselves. They said we couldn't. We said then there is no deal. They said...I'll talk to the Manager. We said good. They came back and said delivery will be $29. We said...what part of we want to pick them up ourselves don't you understand? They said that's the way it is. We said.......Goodbye!

We had to run some other errands and checked a couple of other furniture stores but no luck. Then as we were driving we saw a Lack's furniture, not the one near us but another one, and that is where we bought our recliners last year. Now this is more like it...we had several sets to choose from. I sat on a chesterfield in front of the set we liked. It said $699 on it. The sales lady said it is reduced and the price is $399....I said Katie!!! maybe we should just get rid of the Tartan devil couch...it is causing us nothing but trouble and running around all over the place. To make a long story short we picked another for $450 that we liked better, and ended up scratching one of their scratch and save tickets...all in all we saved 26%....so the coffee table set and sofa will be delivered Wednesday....and we will be able to buy an area rug we really like...and no more running around.

We went to Rudy's BarBeQue and had a smoked turkey sandwich and potato salad...so good!

Then we took the two plain area rugs back that we were going to try out...bye bye good riddance.

Off to the driving range...Katie is hitting the ball so well! I am having some problems which I normally don't have...but....Katie knows my swing and habits so much, she is able to correct any mistakes I am making to get me back on track. One thing I have been doing well is hitting with my driver. Last few years I have had a tendency to pull too many drives left...some badly. It is a very hard thing to correct, but I have been working on it and finally I seem to have that cured. Golf is golf though and it can leave again in a minute.

Got a couple of Cactus cuttings from our friend Arlene which we will try and nurse along before we leave.

When we got home, there was a card stuck in the door from the guys who are going to level the mobile...too bad we missed them...will have to phone them.

Also got my Netalk phone all fixed up...it would dial when connected to the modem but not the router. Upgraded the firmware on the router...and it now works the way it is supposed to....free calls to Canada.

Watched some taped American Idol tonight, Most of the guys were awesome...not finished the girls yet, but so far not as good as the guys.

more later...

ahhh...the floor is finished

Remi came over this morning and put all the baseboards on...the project is now finished except for getting some paintable wood filler to fill in the nail holes on the baseboards. It looks terrific and Remi did an awesome job!

Katie and I finally made it to the driving range, I was having a few problems at first until I remembered some of the keys to hitting well from last fall. Katie didn't seem to have the same problems, she didn't play all last year because of her back problems, but was hitting the ball really well.

The golf certificate that our renter Steve pointed us to for $250 for 15 games with an expiry date of March 21st...turned out to be a great thing. We exchanged that at the pro shop for a punch card for 25 games with no expiry date for no extra money. What a good thing...now the pressure is off to get a certain number of games in by a certain time...if we don't use them all this year, we can use them next year.

We saw our friend Ron at the range, haven't seem him for a couple of years, so it was great to see him.

Being on my feet for 3 days turned out to be a bad thing for me. I had a previous episode of Plantar fasciitis...a painful inflammatory process of the plantar fascia. Longstanding cases of plantar fasciitis often demonstrate more degenerative changes than inflammatory changes, in which case they are termed plantar fasciosis.[1] The plantar fascia is a thick fibrous band of connective tissue originating on the bottom surface of the calcaneus (heel bone) and extending along the sole of the foot towards the five toes. It has been reported that plantar fasciitis occurs in two million Americans a year and 10% of the population over a lifetime.[2] It is commonly associated with long periods of weight bearing.

In the previous episode I got inserts for my runners and after a short time I was back to normal. I made the mistake of wearing my comfortable Crocs for 3 days when I should have been wearing my runners with the inserts and I probably would have been fine. I could hardly move at all last night...with my feet and legs being extremely painful. Even a session in the hot tub didn't help. I took an anti-inflammatory and this morning, although not fully recovered, feel a lot better than last night. The pain actually makes you feel like you are about 90 years old.

Spent a bit of time in the afternoon with Terry and Arlene, and got a change to see their new furniture....nice!.

We're going to take it easy today for a change, we have been constantly on the go since last Friday, what with driving for 3 days, running around getting groceries and supplies, and doing the floor.

Must hit the driving range again though as we are supposed to play golf tomorrow with Lorraine and Raymond who we have played golf with in the past.

more later....

finally have a minute

Have been extremely busy for the last couple of days, as we are having laminate flooring put in the hallway, living room, and kitchen.

Had to move most of our furniture out, so not easy to use the computer. Have also been helping Remi our friend who is doing the installation. Remi also did engineered flooring in our Condo in Winnipg and did an awesome job!

Now he finished doing the floor here, all that remains is the baseboard tomorrow. He also did an awesome job here!

Weather has been great, beautiful days for the last couple of days with little or no wind. So far we have not stopped...with doing the floor, getting groceries etc. Pretty tired at the end of each day, but that will calm down once the work we want to get done...gets completed. Yesterday...after Remi finished for the day, Katie and I wasted no time getting to the hot tub and pool...ahhh....so good!

The carpet and linoleum that came of our mobile home was donated to "Helping Hands" who give it to Mexican Families who cannot afford to put those items on their dirt floors.

We have a golf game scheduled for Saturday with friends Elaine and Raymond who we have played some games with the last couple of years. Raymond is a very good golfer and carries a 5 handicap.

We were going to go to the driving range today, but we were just too tired so will likely go tomorrow.

It's a beautiful evening and it has cooled down considerably.

more later....