Days 48 & 49 - Sunday & Monday, December 28 & 29 - Sunday & More Groceries

Sunday Kathy played and sang during the campground church service. When she arrived home we headed up to the Cowboy Church. I think I mentioned last week that attendance at the Cowboy Church seemed to be down, it was back up this week. As the service started Chris asked people to pack together because there were people still coming in who needed seats. We have 250 chairs, 90-95% of them ended up full. I didn't think to look to see if there were people standing in the back.

His message was about Christians needing to Reach Out, Train Up and Send Out. This is the job of all Christians, not just Pastors. Most of us want to see change in the direction our world is headed, what are we, as individuals, doing to bring that change about?

On our way home we stopped at Burger King for lunch.

In the afternoon we headed over for the 4PM Ice Cream Social at the clubhouse. About 25 people showed up to eat ice cream. While we were visiting New Years Eve activities were discussed. There will be entertainment starting around 7PM. Somehow Kathy ended up volunteering to fix pork and sauerkraut for a New Years Eve afternoon meal. Another lady will bring mashed potatoes and others volunteered for salads and deserts.

This morning Kathy went to the 9:30 Information Meeting, I stayed home. Later we went to Golden Corral for lunch. It's amazing that the buffet, including drinks, only costs $25 for two seniors. After lunch we headed to Walmart and bought a 10# pork roast and 5 jars of sauerkraut.

I did something to my back. It started hurting last Thursday and still isn't right. I thought maybe I had another kidney stone, but now I think maybe I did something to aggravate a disc. While I was at Planet Fitness Friday nothing I did seemed to make the pain worse. Saturday I was up and down a ladder numerous times as I washed and waxed the front of the coach and cleaned the windshield. PTL, today it seems to be getting better, only 2 ibuprofen so far today.

Yesterday the high was 84, today it was 74, and no way did it feel that warm. The wind really started blowing during the night. At 4:30 this morning I went out and rolled up an awning we had out. A little later I pulled in the living room slide, I was concerned that the winds would rip the slide topper. Weatherbug reported steady winds of 25 mph with 45 mph gusts. The winds kept up until around 3:00 this afternoon.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

PS. If interested you can read my take on President Trumps supposed offer to guarantee the security of the Ukraine for 15 years. It is basically the body of an email I sent my Senators and Representative, and submitted to the Jefferson City News Tribune as a Letter to the Editor.

https://bertspoliticalviews.blogspot.com/2025/12/tell-europe-to-defend-themselves.html 

Days 46 & 47 - Friday & Saturday, December 26 & 27 - Grocery Shopping

 Yesterday the weather was great. The high was a partly cloudy 85. I took the photo below while I was sitting on our patio. God made such a beautiful planet for us.

In the early afternoon I put in 100 minutes at Planet Fitness. In the evening I did a 3.5 mile bicycle ride around the campground.

 Today the weather was great again. The high was a partly cloudy 84. It was quite windy. We went to Walmart to buy groceries and then went to Taco Bell for lunch. (10 miles from Mexico and we eat tacos at Taco Bell, hard to imagine). In the afternoon I washed and waxed the front of the coach, only 90% of it to go.

God is good. I  pray  that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 45 - Thursday, December 25 - Merry Christmas

 Today was mostly cloudy with a high in the mid 70's.

Kathy cooked/baked in the morning. I did a little troubleshooting on our dishwasher. Her food was excellent, as always, and the dishwasher only required a power down reset.

The campground Christmas Potluck started at 1 PM.

The right side of the clubhouse.

The leftt side of the clubhouse. Our table is the one on the left. Kathy is sitting at the far corner.

There were at least 10 table groups, with 12 people in each group. Each group had their own food table. After everyone had time to make several trips to their food table it was time to graze, see if you still had room for something on some other groups food table.

Below are most of the leftovers, from Kathy's cooking, that we brought home. Cranberry salad, some type of creme pie, date pudding, some white cake someone else had made, some rolls someone else had made. The broccoli salad, that someone else made, was already in the refrigerator when I took the photo. 

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The afternoon was naps and sitting outside. Several people out walking stopped to visit for a while.

It was a pleasant Christmas Day. 

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Days 43 & 44 - Tuesday & Wednesday, December 23 & 24 - Kind of Boring

About the most "exciting" thing in the last two days was that I rode my bicycle 8 miles doing laps around the campground. Also, today I rode my motorcycle for only the 2nd time since arriving. I rode over to the Post Office and mailed some letters, about a 10 mile round trip.

This evening Kathy played piano for the campground Christmas Eve service so we went to it rather than going to the Cowboy Church service. 

The weather was great both days; mostly sunny with highs in the mid 80's.

I recently read John 1:1-5 (NLT) [1] In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. [2] He was in the beginning with God. [3] He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make. [4] Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. [5] The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

The Word, Jesus Christ, existed before the beginning of the world. "He was with God, and he was God."; yet he chose to become a human baby so that He could teach us more about God. He did this knowing that the majority of us would reject Him, and crucify Him. He paid the debt for our sins, all we have to do is accept His free gift. 

Day 42 - Monday, December 22 - Nothing Special

 This morning we both went to the 9:30 campground Monday Information Meeting. There are lots of things going on during the week, but nothing that exciting.

A lady across the street has a Class C and no vehicle to run errands. Kathy took her to the grocery store.

We went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. Kathy said her meal was very good, mine was okay. 

After lunch I dropped Kathy off at the coach and went to Sam's to pick some prescriptions. As usual there were a LOT of people at Sam's. It was around 3 PM and there were at least 20 people in line waiting to get food or ice cream. There was only one guy in front of me picking up prescriptions. After Sam's I went to Planet Fitness and got in a 90 minute workout.

Back home I regened our water softener and then sat outside. Today's high was a mostly sunny 83. Clouds rolled in in the afternoon and by late afternoon sitting outside was very comfortable.

One of the ladies whose bicycle I fixed last year dropped off some homemade cookies. 

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 41 - Son Day, December 21 - The Shortest Day of the Year

 We look forward to the days getting longer again. Weather was great today, a mostly sunny high of 86.

Kathy played for the campground church service. When she got home we headed up to the Cowboy Church. Pastor Chris had an interesting message about Joseph, the step-father of Jesus. Attendance was down, I think we had less than 150 people. Two ladies Kathy knows at the campground came up for the service. They said they really enjoyed it.

We had lunch after we got back home. Kathy went up and practiced playing for a couple of ladies who are going to be singing. I took a nap. Later she went back up to the puzzle room and I spent 30 minutes on the treadmill in the campground fitness center.

We sat outside until dark. With the breeze it was nice. 

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 40 - Saturday, December 20 - Chicken Cooking

 The morning was a pleasant one. We were still sitting inside, with the door open, when one of the ladies knocked. She gave us a Christmas present of  a fresh warm cinnamon roll and some homemade candy. Between her handing it to us and my taking a photo it coffee got made and it was sampled. It is good.

I got the roaster out of the storage bay, under the coach and Kathy cooked chicken for some dish that they would serve during the afternoon entertainment. While she was doing that I dumped the tanks, flushed the black tank, cleaned the seal in the toilet and walked the trash and recycle over to the dumpster (the joys of RV living).

In the early afternoon we took the food over to the clubhouse. While Kathy finished preparations I sat in the puzzle room and played with my phone, while using the campground hotspot. While there I noticed an OLD aerial photo of the campground. When the photo was taken the "occupancy rate" must have been over 90%. In the 4 years we have been coming here I don't think we have seen it as high as 50%.

Diego and Edith, a couple who regularly perform at local campgrounds, provided the entertainment this afternoon.

Today's high was a mostly sunny 84 degrees.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.