2/27/2012 The Doctor Finally!

It was him or me. One of us was not going to make it through the day if Bob did not get to the doctor today.

I called the clinic in McAllen and they said they took walk-ins to come on over. Great!

We get there and are told they booked solid for the day. Come back tomorrow. There was no arguing with them, believe me.

So Bob decides to go to the doctor I went to. I couldn’t remember where he was located. I knew the general area but that’s about it and Bob wasn’t in the mood for a wild goose chase. I went to the Internet and found his website and called to make sure he was in and the receptionist told me he was no longer with that practice and she didn’t know where he went and didn’t have a phone number for him. Come on lady, Mission isn’t that big!

So we went to the local pharmacy and asked if they had an address for him. They did and off we went. After we got there we realized it wouldn’t have been that much of a wild goose chase after all.

So Bob goes in while I waited in the truck. There were sick people in there and I didn’t want it again! He was back in five minutes only to say the doctor wasn’t in and would be back at 2:30. Back home we go.

At quarter after two he leaves to go to the doctor and again and 20 minutes later he’s back. The doctor will now return at 3:30.

This is not a good day, are you feelin’ that vibe?

Finally at 3:20 we both got in the truck to go once again. We decided that after the doctor visit we would go out and get something to eat.

Bob came out ten minutes later and all I could think was OH NO! not again. Surprisingly, he had seen the doctor. For a whole five minutes. The doctor listened to his chest and wrote out a prescription. No needles in the backside like I had. No cough medicine. No steroids. Just one scrip for amoxicillin and an over the counter decongestant.

It took a lot longer to get the prescription filled than he spent with the doctor.

After a dinner of Mexican food it was home for the night to get this medicine started.

He finally went to the doctor!

2/24-2/26/12 A Little This, A Little That, A Whole Lotta Other

We were off during this period and as usual we didn’t do anything because Bob is still down with the Texas Crud or whatever it is he has. He IS going to the doctor on Monday if it kills me, or him, whichever falls first.

Spring has sprung here in the Valley. We have temps in 90’s one day and the low 70’s the next. The rain system we were in for so long seems to have moved out.

We still have oranges on the trees.

When I go to the grocery store I always have to park way in the back of the parking lot because of the size of our truck. As I walk towards the store I can’t help but notice my surroundings and the cars coming towards me. I would lay dollars to donuts that one out of every four cars has a long horizontal crack across the windshield. I imagine it is from the intense heat here in the summer. We’ll have to remember to keep the windows cracked the temps climb these next few weeks. On second thought, do windows crack due to intense interior heat? Anybody?

You may have noticed that I’ve added some more blogs to the list of the ones we follow. One, in particular, I would like to point out to you. Especially if you are new to RV’ing, a newbie fulltimer or are still a wannabe. The site, RVRoadTrip belongs to our friends Jerry and Cynthia (Bama) who are in this park with us just a few doors (sites) down. This website is LOADED with information on everything Rv’ing. They put their whole lives out there for you including how to RV on less than $1500.00 a month. Yes, it can be done, they’re doing it! Want to install solar panels? Jerry did it and gives you step by step instructions on how to do it. They even have a cute video about their dog but you’ll have to check it out for yourself. I’ll only say that I didn’t know dogs got embarrassed! (Look in February’s blog entries)

I’ve got several more blogs I’m going to add and when I get them up I’ll let you know. If you are an RV’er and write a blog and want to link to this blog just send me your link,,,,and I’ll send you mine.

As I mentioned earlier, spring has sprung here in southern Texas. Here is something I’ve never seen before and in fact never even gave it a thought until Bama pointed it out. I’m sure you’ve all heard of an aloe plant. You may have one growing in your home and when you get a mild burn or minor scrape or cut you might break off a piece and spread the juice over the wound to precipitate healing. I’ve seen dozens of these plants and have even grown one or two myself. What I didn’t know is that they flower.

They haven’t opened yet but when they do the flowers will be orange, pink, red or yellow. These buds are still pretty tight so I don’t how long it will take but I’m hoping to be here long enough to see them bloom.

To tickle your funny bone…..

This is a story which is perfectly logical to all males:

A wife asks her husband, "Could you please go shopping for me and buy one carton of milk, and if they have eggs, get 6." A short time later the husband comes back with 6 cartons of milk. The wife asks him, "Why did you buy 6 cartons of milk?" He replied, "They had eggs." (I'm sure you're going back to read this again!)

2/23/2012 Is That You Snookie???

We enjoyed a sunny day in the neighborhood today. Any day it doesn’t rain is a good one. We didn’t do much of anything today as Bob is still down with the crud.

In the later afternoon I decided to go for a walk around the block just to get outside for awhile. I didn’t get far, just enough that I had walked around the corner and was on the back road that our place faces. Just walking along, minding my own business when I hear, “Snookie? Is that you Snookie?” I looked over to a woman now getting out of her car and I know who she is and I know where I know her from but the name is nowhere to be found. She told me that she and her husband, who is now out of the car too, are going to be workamping here next year and they were here to check it out and pick out what spot they want to be in.

I had met this couple last year in Quail Run. In fact, we had talked quite often and now I can’t think of her name! Ugh, I am so bad at names. So we talked for awhile and she tells me they had just gotten back from Mexico with none other than George and Jo Becker, more friends from Quail Run. She went on that they were in the neighborhood at a local motel and would be leaving in the morning,

We bid each other farewell and I went home to tell Bob that his buddy, George, was in town. I thought for sure Bob would say to hop in the truck and let’s go see them but he reminded me that he’s sick and that he didn’t think it was a good idea to go visiting. I was disappointed because I would have liked to have gone.

Well, I sat here and ran through the alphabet trying to put a letter to a name that would spark something so that I could remember this woman’s name. Nothing worked. I finally called the office and told the manager that a workamping couple for next year was just looking at the site behind us and she replied, “Oh, you mean Ron and Judy?” YES! Ron and Judy, now I remember! That was going to drive me crazy if I hadn’t called the office.

I got dinner on and was waiting for the potatoes to cook when there was a knock at the door. I turned around and who’s standing there, none other than George and Jo. They had called Judy for something and she told them that they had run into me and where we were.

We had a wonderful visit for about two hours. We ate waaayyyy late tonight but it was so worth it to see these two friends again.

You just never know when you are going to run into people you know when you are a full time RV’er,

2/22/2012 I’ve Got An Overabundance Of……

ADDRESS LABELS!

In the past few months I have been overwhelmed with address labels. I get them from the VFW, Disabled Veterans, and another military organization whose name slips my mind right now.

It started with the Disabled Veterans. With Bob being a Viet Nam and Desert Shield/Storm veteran and holding a Lifetime Membership in the VFW, we support these organizations when they ask for donations.

I had fallen off their radar screen in the last few years somehow and I hadn’t gotten any solicitations in several years.

The first one was Disabled Veterans, I got a few address labels with their solicitation for a check from me. Nice labels. All is good. I wrote out a check and sent if off.

The word got out, the Quinn’s are an easy mark. The address labels started pouring in.

Along with address labels came the requests for checks. No problem, we support these organizations anyway, we believe in what they do. I added their labels to my stockpile and wrote out a check.

And then…..

I started getting labels from organizations I’d never heard of before. I kept their labels, they got no check.

Now not only are we getting these handy-dandy labels for which I have very little use in this age of online bill paying and email but now I’m getting notepads too. Actually, I like the notepads, keep sending them!

A couple of days ago I got a very patriotic keychain, with a request for yet another donation. Granted, we didn’t write a six figure check to the VFW, heck it was equal to what I spend in laundry a month if the truth be known, but come on, I just sent you a check two months ago!

We also get fancy labels to seal our letters with!

Now they are really playing on my emotions. I got the card yesterday, it even had an American flag on it. Oh yes, I’m a sucker for anything with our country’s banner on it. I am a now an official, card carrying, ::drum roll please:: GOLD CIRCLE MEMBER for 2012! I’ve even got my own ten digit supporter number!

While I think all these little incentives are nice to receive, kinda, sorta, I have to wonder how much money these organizations spend on these freebies. Shouldn’t all the money spent on getting these cards bought, printed and mailed, not to mention all the correspondence that comes with it, couldn’t that money be spent on the cause?

Anybody need an address label? I’ve got an overabundance of them!

2/21/2012 Are We in Mission……or Mayberry???

As the title asks, Mission or Mayberry? It was hard to tell today and I’ll explain why in just a little bit.

As I’ve mentioned previously Bob has been hit yet again with the Texas Crud and I think this is worst bout yet. Has he been to a doctor? No. “Why not?” you ask. I’d have to answer that with, “Good question!”. He gives me lip service every evening, “Yeah, I’ll go to the doctor tomorrow” but somehow he never seems to get there. It’s really starting to get on my nerves, I can tell you that.

Needless to say we didn’t do anything with him feeling this bad. I did attend another show over at the other park with “Bama” in the evening. I’ll explain that name. We have two Cynthia’s who work in the office and to differentiate between the two, workamper Cynthia, who hails from Alabama, is called Alabama or Bama for short.

So Bama, her husband Jerry and I went to see the Gomer and Patsy Show. This is a couple that do a comedy routine, sing and the fellow does impersonations. He has Gomer, of The Andy Griffith Show, down to a T! If you shut your eyes and just listened you would swear Jim Nabors was standing in front of you.

“Gomer” even dressed the part in his fillin’ station uniform of khaki pants and shirt, grease rag hanging out of the his back pocket and and a keychain attached to his belt loop and he wore the ball cap, cocked just so, just like Gomer.

He had lots of fun with Gomer, Goober and Barney. Oh yeah, he has ol’ Barney Fife down too, including facial expressions.

Now Patsy, actually her name, Patsy sings, well, Patsy as in Patsy Cline. She has a very nice voice and is a pleasure to listen to.

Gary (Gomer) does several other impressions that are spot on. Bill Clinton graced our stage as did Mr. Haney from Green Acres. Crazy Guggenheim also made an appearance as did Foster Brooks.

Mission Bell can also say ELVIS IS IN THE BUILDING! Oh wait, make that GOMER IS IN THE BUILDING!

Actually, he does Elvis very well.

He certainly had the women swooning!

They did a couple of duet numbers and before we knew it the show was over and we were left wanting more.

It’s easy to understand why they one of the most popular acts in the Rio Grande Valley.

They hope to break into the Arizona snowbird circuit soon. I hope they do because Arizona, you’re gonna love ‘em!

2/20/2012 Round 3 – Down for the Count!

The Texas Crud has returned to Site # 187. Bob woke up this morning feeling horrible! Neither one of us got much sleep with all the coughing, hacking, choking. Sore throat, aches and he feels like he’s been through the ringer. It’s a workday for us and I told him to stay home, that I could cover what we need to do but he wouldn’t hear of it.

Luckily, there was a huge craft sale going on in the sister park so we really couldn’t do too much there because of the increased traffic. It made our day somewhat easier.

The shuffleboard players met us around ten o’clock this morning at the courts so a special cleaning could be done. The shuffleboard courts here have large mats made of hard interlocking plastic on them which is the playing field.

The old cement courts were deteriorating and these were laid on top. The players here seem to really like playing on these courts but there is one drawback. Next to the courts is a very large tree. A dirty tree if you will. November, December and most of January it dropped thousands and thousands of leaves on the courts. The stems would get caught in the holes of the court and get broken when someone walked on the courts or if it rained and we took a broom to the courts to clear them.

Over time, this debris built up and it was getting harder to blow the junk out of the holes. Today was the day to clean underneath. There were a half dozen of us or so that stood on one side and lifted the courts straight up on their sides so that Bob could take the leaf blower and get all the junk off the court underneath. We couldn’t believe how much dirt was under the courts!

If you want more info on these shuffleboard courts check out this site. Allen R. Shuffleboard Company (Pictures taken from this site)

Bob was glad when our morning work hours were over. He settled in for the afternoon but did manage to rally to go to the Golden Oldies Show over at the other park in the evening.

We had front row seats and we sang along and danced in our seats with the three singers who came to entertain us. Let me clarify that, we sang along, I danced in my seat. The singers, 1 woman and 2 men brought back lots of memories for everyone as they sang their way through the 50’s and 60’s. Nope, didn’t take the camera. I wish I had but I wasn’t thinking that there would have been costumes. After all, who can resist taking a picture of an Elvis wannabe, especially a height challenged, bald, paunchy, sixty something Elvis wannabe.

It was good show and we’re glad we went, however, Bob was really glad to get home as he was feeling pretty bad.

2/18-2/19/2011 My Little Brother Turns 50!

Note: I added more to this post.

We started back to work for another 4 days and skies are threatening to open up and pour buckets down any minute.

On Sunday, my little brother, Billy, turned 50.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY!

I like this time of year. There are six months that I can say I am eight years older than him. Once my birthday hits I am nine years older and he doesn’t let me forget it!

Bob woke up this morning with a scratchy throat, I hope we’re not headed towards round three with the Texas Crud with him. Bob has NEVER been sick this much. This is someone who rarely gets a cold.

We finally put our deep fryer to use. I had taken a 10 pound turkey out earlier in the week and now that it was finally thawed and the wind had died enough to get a flame to stay, today was the day!

Bob took charge of this whole operation and I made the side dishes.

I’d like to say this was without error but I can’t. It was our first time and it was a learning experience. Bob learned how to deep fry a turkey and I learned a whole new string of cuss words.

The turkey is ready.

Now I have to admit, I’m not real comfortable around these deep fryers. I have this fear of stumbling and falling into and knocking it over and being terribly burned. I keep my distance. This is definitely going to be a Bob project.

Slowly it gets lowered into the hot oil.

I stood back, even the sizzling sound as it gets lowered into the oil makes me nervous.

Some time later, we won’t talk about how much time later, this was a learning experience after all,,,,darn timer that couldn’t be allowed to run out ‘cuz you had to wait to re-light the burner.

Anyway, my side dishes were done and were cooling on the stove (take that as a hint) when Bob announced the bird was done. I quickly warmed things up and he brought the beautifully browned bird in. Did I take a picture? Heck no! I was so hungry the camera was the last thing on my mind!

Oh did that turkey ever taste good! I don’t think I will ever, ever, cook a turkey in the oven again. Bob never eats the turkey skin whereas I have no problem peeling that off in strips and gobbling it down. That changed! I had to practically fight him for it. Lucky for me he was satisfied quickly and left the rest alone. No, I didn’t eat it all, I know better, but darn if it wasn’t good!

Overall, I’d rate this a huge success!