Days 55, 56 & 57 - Saturday, Sunday & Monday, January 27, 28 & 29 - Mostly Slow Days, but Enjoyable

Weather has been great the past several days.

Saturday morning there was a car show at the campground, 30-35 cars and trucks.

This was the smallest car in the show. It was actually an entry.

There were lots of trucks.

The truck on the left is the one I saw at Johnny's Hardware a week ago

I don't know if you will be able to read the sign, it says: 535HP, LT, GEN 5, 6.2 Liter L86, C8 LT2 INTAKE MANIFOLD, BTR 220 STAGE 2 CAM, 8L90E 8 SPEED AUTO TRANSMISSION, DYNACOAT MIST GREEN BASECOAT, SNOWDEN INTERIOR, CPP PERFORMANCE SUSPENSION, RACELINE 20 INCH WHEELS. OWNERS ARNOLD & CATHY RODRIGUEZ, HARLINGEN, TX

In the afternoon I regened the softener and dumped and flushed tanks, as well as spent time sitting outside enjoying the weather.

Sunday it was off to Cowboy Church. Kathy wasn't feeling well so she stayed home. Chris & Tracy were gone. Mike Leichner provided most of the music and delivered a good message. https://mikeleichner.com/  

I've mentioned previously how the used bike I bought has provided me with hours of "entertainment", working on it. One of our neighbor ladies saw me working on it and asked if I would consider putting new tires on another neighbor lady's (a widow) three wheeler. The back tires were shot and would no longer hold air. I put them on in the afternoon, while keeping track of both KC's & the Lions football games. The tubes she bought were "pre-treated" with Slime. She said the two tires and "pre-Slimed" tubes cost her almost $100, FOR BICYCLE TIRES. Once I got them together and put a little air in them the stems were really crooked in the rims. I couldn't find my tool to remove the cores so that I could let the air out and straighten up the stems.

Monday - We went to the 9:30 information meeting at the clubhouse. A couple of guys said they would check to see if they had valve core removal tools with them, everybody had one at home. One guy brought one of the nice Tee shaped ones over but the skewed valve stems were so close to the spokes that I couldn't get the cores out. A trip to Johnny's Hardware to get a straight core removal tool solved the problem. I had to actually take the tire partially off the rim before I could rotate it enough to straighten the stem. Anyway, done now, delivered and the lady is happy. She has had to start working part time because of financial issues after her husband's death. She asked me for suggestions about removing some rust from the bike since it has to last her. I lubed the chain and cables while I had it. I'm going to look at it tomorrow and see what I can do about the rust.

Kathy spent a couple of hours this morning and afternoon over at the clubhouse, working on the current puzzle.

I came to the conclusion that the derailleur support on the frame of my bike had somehow been bent and that was why I was having so much trouble adjusting the shifting. I bent the support back to where I thought if should be and rode it 7 miles this afternoon. It still isn't perfect but its better. I have hope that I can finally get it adjusted so that it shifts even better.

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

Days 53 & 54 - Thursday & Friday, January 25 & 26 - Strawberries

 We didn't leave the campground either of these two days. Kathy's back was still bothering her yesterday and today it was nice to just enjoy the beautiful day.

The last time we went grocery shopping Kathy bought some steaks to give Texas beef a try. The past several times she bought steaks in Missouri they were so tough, or had so much gristle in them, that they were hardly worth eating. I cooked these on our little charcoal grill and they were good.

At the potluck dinner earlier this week one of the ladies was giving away strawberries. She must volunteer at a local food pantry. They had more than they  could give away and she brought a bunch back to the campground and handed them out. This is the container of them we brought home, minus several we already ate.

During the fall I bought a bike from a guy from a guy in Missouri. I can't remember if I paid $35 or $50 for it. It has given me hours and hours of entertainment, working on it to get it to shift correctly. I've even ridden it a little.😀

I suspect that the reason the guy got rid of it was because he couldn't get the shift mechanism to work either. As annoying as it has been I have been riding laps around the campground. Monday 5.4 miles, Tuesday 2.6 miles, Thursday 3.2 miles and today 5.1 miles. 

Kathy did some cooking yesterday and today, making some stuff for tomorrows bake sale at the car show. The proceeds go to a local kids organization.

We did find time to enjoy sitting out in the glorious weather this afternoon.

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

Days 51 & 52, Tuesday & Wednesday, January 23 & 24 - Slow Days

 There hasn't been a lot going on in the Dirschell south Texas household the past several days. The weather has been cool and rainy. Any rain is good news for local farmers. Below is the drought map of the US, updated January 23.

Big reservoirs on the Lower Rio Grande fell from 33% to 23% full over the last 12 months. 

Wednesday we planned on going to the morning Cowboy Church Bible Study at Victoria Palms in Donna, about 20 miles west of us. Kathy's back was bothering her so I went alone. We have not attended one of the Wednesday AM studies this year and I had in my head that it started at 11 AM, I arrived just as they were finishing up, maybe I will make it on time next week.

The trip wasn't wasted, I went to the Donna flea market and bought another $4 bag of grapefruit. While there I browsed a couple of the stands for a belt. As a kid I can remember people coming back from trips to Mexico with  all types of leather goods. One stand had belts made in India and another one had belts made in China. I didn't buy one. I still make a day excursion across the border. Maybe I can find a belt made in North America.

Wednesday afternoon we attended a campground wide potluck dinner, with maybe 30 other folks. The food was good, as was the fellowship. In the evening I watched a couple of disappointing episodes of Reacher. I've read all the Jack Reacher books, I think there are 28 of them. The Jack Reacher character  is 6'5" and weighs 250#. In the movie that came out a couple of years ago they cast 5'7", 150# Tom Cruise as Reacher. If you were a Tom Cruise junkie who had never read any of the books I suppose it was OK. I just couldn't get my head around Tom Cruise being Jack Reacher. Alan Richson, who play Reacher in the TV series, is 6'2" and a muscled 235#. He does as good a job of being Reacher as the script allows. I enjoyed the first season, not so much the second season. It seems like the level of profanity increased a lot between seasons 1 & 2 (are Hollywood writers so immersed in a culture of profanity that they think the entire US can't say 20 words without cursing?), the level of sex increased (although nothing drastic, yet) and the plot was so changed from the book it was supposed to be based on that it was almost comical. If there is a Season 3 I hope that author Lee Child yanks back hard on the reins of the producer and director to get back closer to the book.

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

Days 49 & 50 - Sunday & Monday, January 21 & 22 - Cowboy Church

 Sunday we went to the Cowboy Church again. The music was led by Naomi Bristow, a Canadian who comes to south Texas to be a "winter" entertainer for all the snow birds. https://naomibristow.com/ She performed several gospel songs. The word performed is to cold but I can't think of a better one. When she sang Hallejuah (her spelling) the I felt the Spirit so strongly that I though my feet might leave the ground. She didn't yodel for us 😀 but I listened to several of her songs online, that girl can yodel. For an added bonus God delivered another good message to us through Pastor Chris. 

Monday we went over to the clubhouse for the 9:30 weekly informational meeting. A guy representing a local tour company gave a talk about some of the available tours. Several of them include flying into Mexico. I'm NOT flying into Mexico for any reason, but the tour where you see hundreds of thousands of Monarch butterflies would be interesting. They also offer a tour of the Brownsville area that includes minor access to SpaceX's facility at Boca Chica beach. I will probably check into that.

It has been a little rainy here, for which the locals are glad. It cleared up after lunch for a mostly sunny, but breezy, high of 76 today, much better than yesterday's high of only 49.

I am getting in some bike riding, laps around the campground. I got in 4.5 miles Friday (plus 30 min on the treadmill) and 5.1 miles today. (Riding on the level asphalt streets in the campground is SO much easier than riding in hilly Missouri.) I've still got a long ways to go to get back to where I was before I stopped exercising for over a month while I was having the radiation treatments. (No real reason to have stopped, I was just being lazy. The radiation for prostate cancer is not a big deal.)

Sometimes I question my commitment to Christ, I'm often (usually) not a very good servant. I love it when He gives me words of encouragement. This week, part of my daily devotional reading was the Apostle Paul's words of encouragement to the Philippians 2:12 (New Living Translation) Dearest friends, you were always so careful to follow my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away you must be even more careful to put into action God's saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. [13] For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him. (highlight by me). Rather than thinking I must work to change myself my "job" is to focus on Him and He will increase my desire to obey and give the power to please Him. WOW! PTL! 

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

Day 48 - Saturday, January 20 - Cold for Here

The overnight low was 41 and today's high was a windy, cloudy, misty 48.

This person walked was out walking laps around the campground this morning. They were wearing a mask so I don't know if it was a guy or a gal. I do know they were tough to be out walking.

I saw this truck while I was at the big hardware store in Harlingen, love that store. The guy had just gotten into it and started it as I was walking into the store. It sounded GOOD. The shine isn't because it was wet. I think it must have been clear coated.

You might wonder what occurred that gave me an opportunity to go to the hardware store... We have a 4 door Norcold refrigerator. The past couple of days it has become more difficult to get the left refrigerator door to latch when closing it. There is a vertical pin at the bottom of the door that acts as a hinge. Apparently there used to be some type of spacer/washer on the pin, under the door. Without the spacer the door dropped a little and the latch no longer lines up. I bought some nylon washers/bushings at the hardware store. When I got home Kathy and I took the door off, a very simple task, I stacked two of the washers on the bottom pin, we put the door back on and it seems just like new PTL.

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

Days 46 & 47 - Thursday & Friday, January 18 & 19 - Two Slow Days

 Not much going on. Yesterday we enjoyed the return of warm weather, with a high of 77. Folks, including us, who had been holed up for a few days got out and got some exercise. I managed a 4 mile bike ride.

Today the high was only 62, and it was windy. Today was the campgrounds appreciation day. They provided a catered lunch for all who wanted to attend, and gave away some door prizes. The meal was good. We had a nice visit with the folks at our table. 

One NW Iowa couple told about their son's family dealing with all the snow. They have a hog confinement operation that is about 15 miles from their home. The snow was deep enough that the roads were impassible. Their son had to drive a tractor to get from their home to the confinement operation. Once there he was staying there until the roads were clear.

Kathy worked on puzzles both days and I read a lot. Our son Drew got me hooked on Martha Wells' Murderbot series. Most of the books are available for "free" with a Kindle Unlimited membership.

Kathy's nephew put some photos of TN on Facebook. Their 7 acre lake is frozen over. There are dozens of ducks and geese walking around on the ice.

My brother, in Coldwater, MI, sent me a video of him catching a fish while ice fishing.

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

Day 45 - Wednesday, January 17 - Warmer

 Temperatures improved today after a couple of cold days. Last nights low was only 27 but it warmed up to a high of 54.

This morning we made a grocery shopping trip to Walmart, yes Kathy has actually gone to Walmart several times since we have been down here. We then stopped at Golden Corral for lunch and headed home.

In the afternoon she went over and worked on a puzzle while I took a nice nap.

At 6 we headed up to the Cowboy Church for another Evangelism video that is being shown and discussed during the adult bible study sessions. Last year we attended Cowboy Church Bible Study at Victoria Palms Resort, where we were staying. We assumed that Pastor Chris was using the same material at both places. Tonight we learned that he is teaching on James during the 10 AM Victoria Palms bible study. We think next week we will attend both the Wednesday sessions. Chris is a good teacher and so is Rev David Arrol Macfarlane, the man on the Evangelism videos we have been watching.

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

Days 43 & 44, Monday & Tuesday, January 15 & 16 - Cold Days for the Rio Grande Valley

 I know some of you folks reading this have been experiencing real cold weather but for south Texas it has been cold here the past few days.

Normal high/low temps here are 71/54 this time of year. Yesterday the high was 58 and the low Sunday night was 30. Last night the low was 26 and todays high was 40. Tonights low is forecast to be 27. When combined with 20-25 mph winds, with 30-35 mph gusts, it feels cold.

About all I accomplished yesterday was filling our onboard water tanks, dumping our waste tanks, unhooking our water hose and storing it, along with our softener. The seals around RV slides do an OK job of keeping the wind out but not so good when the wind is 25-35 mph and the temperatures are around freezing. We pulled in our living room slide, and have left it in, to minimize wind infiltration. Our heat pumps keep the temperature comfortable until the outside temp gets below 40 when the winds are this strong. Once they can't keep the temperature up to the setting on the thermostat it automatically switches us over to the two small propane furnaces. They don't have any  problem keeping it warm inside.

Today we forced ourselves out of the coach to attend the 9:30 campground meeting where the upcoming activities are discussed. Management had cancelled the meeting. They put out a notice on Facebook but Kathy did not see it, and I don't use Facebook. We did learn that the electricity was off in some of the park model units (no doubt another problem with the campground electrical distribution system) and that at least one person waterlines had frozen. 

Rather than come directly back to the camper we went to the puzzle room and worked on the current puzzle. After a half hour I gave up and went back to the coach, and read. Kathy came home around 11.

Next it was off to HEB for some grocery shopping. After having lunch back at home I drove 20 miles over to Donna, TX, to a big RV place. When we had our annual maintenance done on the way down Bryan )Lakeshore Custom RV in Iuka, MS) told us that we had a small leak in a valve on the suspension system. It would have taken him a week to get the part, and he said we would be okay delaying the repair until we got down here. I went to the RV place to talk to them about doing the work. They don't do any chassis work. I need to get on Tiffin's website and find the closest facility that does chassis work. I'm considering just calling Bryan and telling him to get the part and that we will drive the extra 400 miles to go back through Iuka on our way home, so that he can do the work. His hourly rates are much better, and I trust his work.

Yesterday I talked to David, my brother who lives near Coldwater, MI, he is on pins and needles waiting for their cold weather to freeze the lakes hard enough so that he can get on the ice to go ice fishing.

I talked to Tom, Kathy's brother, this morning. They have 7" of heavy snow on the ground at their house near Crossville, TN. Their driveway is a quarter mile long, uphill, to get to the county road. The first section of his driveway is steeper than the driveway we had on Black Rock Lane. They won't be going anywhere for a few days, actually it wouldn't surprise me to learn that a neighbor came by and plowed the drive.

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

Day 42 - Sunday, January 14 - Cowboy Church

 We attended a good service at the Cowboy Church this morning. I enjoy the music and the message, Kathy enjoys the message.😀. Pastor Chris gives a good message.

After church we stopped at the La Feria Cafe for lunch. We ate there once last year, and won't go back again this trip.

The waitress took our order soon after we arrived. It was at least 40 minutes before our food arrived. Kathy said hers was fine, even though she had ordered chicken and they gave her hamburger for the meat. Mine had plenty of meat, but it was so tough that it was hardly worth the effort to chew it. I would rather they gave me half the meat, but meat of a decent quality. Flavor was mediocre.

Then it was on home. When we parked behind our coach we got a surprise. A cat was laying on the engine looking out through the louvers.

I fully agree with my Dad's philosophy that the only reason for having cats is for target practice. I chased it away. At 7 PM we just heard one howling near us. Kathy bought a plant and has had it sitting outside for over a week, most of which was when we were in the back of the campground. Since moving up here her plant has tipped over at least 3 times. We wonder if the cat thinks the soil is kitty litter. I need to do some target practice but people in the campground would probably be upset if I started shooting at their cats. Animals are supposed to be on leashes but of course rules only apply to others. Time to go out and see if the cat is back.

James 1:2 Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. [3] For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. [4] So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.

The cat is obviously an opportunity for me to learn patience and see that as joy, I just have to gain enough maturity to see it that way. I say that in a tongue-in-cheek manner, but it is actually true. Maybe someone's wandering cat is an opportunity for me to meet someone and invite them to church. 

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

Days 40 & 41 - Friday & Saturday, January 12 & 13 - Lazy Day and Ranch Sorting

 Friday - We pretty much took the day off.

Saturday - Kathy stayed at the campground. She worked on puzzles, did laundry, cooked, etc. I went to the church event area and watched kids learning how to sort cattle. 

What is ranch sorting - https://americancowboy.com/lifestyle/ranch-sorting-101-25811/ 

Also, as the competitors are ready to break the plane between the two pens a the number of the first cow to be "sorted" is called out. If its number 4 then the sorter needs to move cow #4 between the pens first, then #5, then #6, etc. They have 60 seconds to move as many cows as possible between the pens. It is amazing how some of these beginning sorter teams moved as many as 6 cows between pens in only 60 seconds.

The "competitors.

The cattle with their numbers. There were actually two full groups of cattle. After about 20 "sorts" they moved the tired ones out and brought in fresh ones.

Some of the competitors had obviously ridden a lot and had some level of experience.

Some were just beginning.

Some needed some help. Pastor Chris is mounted in the back. His older daughter is leading the young girls horse around to sort the cattle.

This young man did not compete in the sorting but I think he was out back practicing roping. I left after a couple of hours, maybe half way through the program. As I  was leaving I noticed several fiberglass "cows" out in the back. I think kids were back there practicing roping. I wished I had turned around and seen some of that. 

Before they started Pastor Chris moved the cattle back an forth between the pens. The red you see is padding on the edges of the opening between the pens. Some of the cattle were spooked by it. Watching this dog was a hoot. He constantly ran around the perimeter of the pen as the cattle were moved back and forth between the pens. You could see that he could hardly keep from getting in the pen to help, but he never did. He wasn't around when the kids started practicing. I bet he was penned/tied up back at the house. He is one of the multiple dogs that greets people as they arrive for church Sunday morning and as they arrive for Bible Study on Wednesday evening.

One surprise was the size of the horses. They were the same size as the saddle horses I was around as a kid. I expected to see a bunch of quarter horses, which were significantly larger that the ones we had.

It was a fun day. The weather was good for the event. Last nights low was 45 and today's high was a mostly cloudy, 72, with a light breeze.

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

Day 39 - Thursday, January 11 - Shrimp Boil Boat Trip

 We had a busy day today. This morning I added water to the four 6v house batteries. I do it every 4 months. They lose about 24 oz of water during that time period, but the level is still well above the top of the plates. 

Next I regened our portable water softener. With the campground waters level of hardness I needed to do that about every 6 days.

A little after noon we headed for Padre Island, a 50 minute drive.

Note highway 48 in both photos and note the channel that parallels it in the photo below. The channel is the shipping channel from the Gulf to the Port of Brownsville. The left end of the channel is the port. It is much larger that the photo makes it appear. About midway along the channel construction for a facility to load liquified natural gas onto ships, for export, has recently started. The construction extends from the water to the highway. From the highway you can see some of the ships on the channel.

We had to be checked in by 1:30 and the boat left the dock at 2:00, It was almost 6:00 when we finally returned. Note the sky in the photos below. Most of them look like a storm is ready to break at any moment. In others the sun is out and the sky is blue. Weather changes quickly. The 20-35 mph winds most of the day, and at 11:00 they are still blowing that hard, probably help move things along.

Note the haze as we cross the bridge to Padre Island. I think it is just moisture in the air.

Sign at check in for other boat rental costs.

The line to board.

An aerostat (blimp) that the Coast Guard and other federal agencies use to watch the coastline. It is normally tethered 800' above the surface but today's winds were high enough that it was grounded. 

Coast Guard facility near the blimp.

Heading into the shipping channel.

There were 5 track hoes working in a line maybe a quarter mile long. I saw at least another 15 track hoes on the site. I scanned several articles about  the LNG terminal. It is being privately funded. Different articles mentioned costs ranging from $11-18 billion.

I think these are some type of soil consolidation rigs. There were 4 or 5 of them.

There were at least 3 dolphins that swam along with the boat for maybe a half mile. For some reason they just like to swim along side of the boats. They are beautiful to watch glide along near the surface of the water and then pop up for a breath.

This is laying floating pipe that the dredge will use to pump spoil to the shore.

There was a lot of pipe before we finally got to the dredge.

The dredge. With the 20-35 mph winds I couldn't hear much but I think the tour guide said that when the dredging is completed 17 miles of the shipping channel will be deepened from 42' to 52'.

These 2 boats are undergoing a Coast Guard safety inspection. It looked like some of the bow plates have been replaces on the right one.

These are a few of the hundreds of shrimp (?) boats we saw. The tour guide made an interesting comment. He said that these boats are normally manned by men from Mexico and all the problems at the border have made it difficult for the men to go back and forth. He said this is a real problem because, and I quote, "Americans are to lazy to work on the boats."

It was amazing to see the number of old ships (WWII vintage) being scrapped. I think the tour guide said that a company at the Brownsville port is the only one in the US approved to scrap decommissioned US military vessels. Note how part of the front of this ship has already been cut away. He said it takes 18-24 months to scrap one of them.

Blow up  of gun turret from the above ship.

I think he said this was a oil drilling rig. I don't know if it is being refurbished or scrapped.

We knew that the tour included a "shrimp boil". It was pretty much all the shrimp, sausage, corn on the cob, boiled potatoes and fruit that you could eat. The trick is that how much can you eat while on an upper deck travelling 15 mph into a 20-35 mph wind. Try peeling a shrimp while holding on to your plate under those circumstances, it was interesting. The food was good.

One thing we didn't realize was that the tour had an open (free) bar (water, sodas, beer, wine and some hard stuff). Note the guy below is crushing one empty beer can while he had another open one in his other hand. 

There were five couples on the upper deck who seemed to know one another. The guys stayed relatively well behaved but 3 of the old senior ladies were drunk and loud. I wouldn't have though much about such behavior 45 years ago, because I probably would have been one of the drunk loud people. Praise God that I no longer feel compelled to lower my inhibitions with alcohol. I still remember the Holy  Spirit speaking to me (not in an audible voice but speaking to my spirit and asking the question, "Why do you feel the need to modify your behavior with alcohol?"  I pray that these ladies are open to hearing the Spirit speak to them. Full disclosure - I did have a two beers during the 4 hour cruise. First time in a long time that I drank two beers in one day.

The husbands of the 3 loud women seemed to stay remarkably restrained.

On the way back we stopped at Pirates Landing in Port Isabel, Kathy's favorite restaurant down here. She had her favorite crab louie and I had my favorite dirty dave's beef philly. Gooood.

It is now midnight and it seems like the wind has finally died down a little even though Weatherbug still shows 28 mph winds with 38 mph gusts. Today's high was 81. It's still 70.

I'm to sleepy to proof read this, please forgive my typos and any other nonsense.

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