Roofing Being Done Everywhere!!

John and I have been keeping pretty busy over these last several weeks.  Our weather has turned quite warm, but the nights cool down very nicely.  The Winter Texans are starting to pull out and head north--Jim and Kathy are leaving tomorrow and several other couples have already left.  I think just about everyone will be gone by the first week of April.  We are tentatively heading out April 3rd as I called today and got an appointment with pain management for the 7th of the month.  It doesn't seem possible the Tuesday night potluck dinners and Saturday breakfasts are coming to an end with only a couple left this season.  The winter has gone by very quickly.

Last Saturday was the second annual H.O.P.E. tournament and John and I teamed up with Jim H. and Gina F.  Much to our surprise, we were the winners of the second flight.  Our play wasn't too great until the last six holes where we made four birdies in a row which gave us a score of 5 under par.

The fort is extremely busy with roofing crews and glass installers running all over the place.  We had met with the insurance adjuster, signed a contract with a roofing contractor, and this Sunday our new metal roof was installed.  The contractor called Saturday night and told us he generally doesn't work on Sunday, but there are so many people needing a new roof, they are working seven days a week.  The crew that did our house was great--very professional and fast.  Our new roof was done in seven hours and John and I are extremely pleased with their work.  John is busy now painting our new shutters, scrubbing up the screens and the outside of the house.  He also needs to do some paint touch-up and re-stain the deck where the hail stones rubbed off the deck finish.

 Our nice new metal roof.  Notice satellite dish hanging down

side of house.  Without TV for a week until Direct TV

comes next Monday to set it back up on side of house.

Since the roof was being done on Sunday, after church and lunch at Burger and Shake, John and I took a golf cart ride with Gene, Jeanne, Chuck, Lois, and Marvin and Penny (Lois and Chuck's daughter and son-in-law visiting from Indiana).  We drove down to the red bridge and along the creek before coming back to our place for some visiting.

  Yesterday afternoon a group of us drove to Eagle Pass where we visited a pecan farm and learned quite a bit about growing pecans and enjoyed delicious pecan cake and ice cold tea.  The farm also raises goats for milking and to sell for meat.

 This morning John and I were up early for our walk and then headed off to play nine holes before the day got too hot.  The afternoon was spent doing laundry and continuing with repair work.  Instead of attending the potluck this evening, we were invited to supper with Chuck and Lois, Marvin and Penny, and Gene and Jeanne.  Chuck cooked chicken legs on the grill and Penny made a wonderful potato salad.  The meal was topped off with Jeanne's famous coconut cream dessert.  A little before 7 p.m. we headed over to the RV kitchen for cards.  John and I were both winners this evening. 

Insect Trouble and Fort Clark Days

Last week our weather turned quite warm so we decided it was time to get the air conditioner uncovered and ready to run.  After removing the cover, cleaning the filter, and plugging it in, John pushed the power button.  All we could hear was a slight hum--the fan wasn't able to rotate.  John looked through the back grill and found that an insect had built a mud nest on the fan.  After taking the front off the AC, scraping the fan, and re-assembling everything, we had cool air.

This weekend was the annual Fort Clark Days.  Following breakfast at the RV park, John and I headed off the explore the festival.  We enjoyed the many different historical displays and visiting with the exhibitors.  After walking around for an hour or so, we met up with a few friends for lunch.  

 Today was our usual Sunday routine of church, lunch at Burger and Shake, and then a round of golf.  This evening we met up with Chuck, Lois, Gene, and Jeanne to play a marble card game.  We are expecting to get our new roof on this week and hope it'll get done before we get any rain. 

 

Spring Is Here

February just flew by and now it's the first week of March.  It doesn't seem possible that in a little over five weeks we'll be heading home to Minnesota.   As I have posted before, our weeks have been filled with many activities and pretty much followed the same routine.  Since the weather has been so nice, John and I have been golfing just about everyday.  With the crash of our laptop and purchase of a new one, I have been busy learning the Windows 10 operating system and getting software reinstalled and operating.  I finally purchased new and updated photo software and can now place photos onto the blog.

Last Monday evening our area experienced a severe hail storm with hail the size of golf balls and larger.  We were without power for about 10 hours and were glad when daylight arrived.  Most of our neighbors were outside bright and early to assess what damage had been done.  With hail that size, it was a foregone conclusion that every roof was totaled along with broken windows and damaged vehicles. The RV park took a major hit with every vehicle having broken windows and body damage along with damage to motor homes and campers.  We called our insurance company and was told a claims adjuster would be out this week.  Well, the adjuster came yesterday and declared our roof a total loss and made note of our broken shutters, dented grill, broken porch chair, and several other items.  We have already made contact with a roofer and our new one should be started next week.  We were very fortunate that our windows and vehicle escaped any damage.  

 Golf ball sized hail

 Example of some of the larger pieces of hail

 Hail driven right through cactus by deck

Wildflowers beginning to bloom on our lawn

Back Online Again

I have been offline lately due to the fact that our computer's hard drive crashed and after taking it to a repair service and learning that it would have to be replaced, decided to purchase a new laptop.  I'm sorry to say that nothing could be retrieved from the old one, so I've lost some important emails and photos.  I have been busy getting the new computer set up with our email accounts and downloading  and installing the programs we had on the old laptop.  I still have a few more left to install.

Our weather has been very typical for winter here in southwest Texas.  The overnight lows have been near freezing with the daytime highs in the low 60's.  The winds have been a little on the stiff side which makes it feel even colder. 

We have been playing golf just about every day and have won couples for the last two weeks.  This Thursday we were paired with Garth and Rosie (they are the best golfers on the fort) and ended up 12 under par.  John finished his relief carving and is now starting on a snowman project.  As soon as I get my photo programs back on the computer I'll post pictures of his latest work.

This Sunday we'll host our 5th Annual Super Bowl party.  Most of the folks will be rooting for the Broncos.

 

Catching Up Again

Last Friday morning John and I headed to Del Rio where we met up with Mark and Elaine Netland, friends of ours from home.  We ate breakfast at IHop and then returned to the fort where we gave them a guided tour and spent a couple of hours visiting before they left for Austin to spend time with their daughter's family.  Once they hit the road we went over to the RV park for washers and then hosted card night at our house.

Very strong winds were in the forecast for Saturday, so following breakfast at the RV park, John and I headed out for a round of golf.  We were about half way through when the winds began to blow.  In the afternoon John, Paul, and Dean went out to play, but gave up as the winds got even stronger.

We are now into the Texas winter with lows near freezing at night and day time highs ranging from high 50's to low 70's.  With mostly sunny days, it's very enjoyable spending time outside and our golf games are improving slowly but surely.  This week John is taking part in a three day carving seminar to learn about relief carving.  Before taking the course he did a relief carving of an apple.  He is also finishing up a leaf dish carving.  Today was couples' golf and since John was at the seminar, I played with Paul.  We were teamed up with Dean and Linda and ended up two over par.  The winds were over 20 mph which made it quite an adventure to be out on the course.

 

Slight Improvement In The Weather

Our weather has been improving over the past several days.  The sun has been shining and the highs are reaching more tolerable temperatures.  Morning lows are still quite chilly (mid 30's) so John and I need to bundle up for our walks around the golf course.  The last of our Winter Texan friends have returned to the fort for the season and things have pretty much settled into a predictable routine which keeps us active and very busy.

Saturday evening we had a delicious Chili supper with the Miners' and, following the meal, played cards.  The ladies beat the men quite handily.  Sunday morning was church followed by lunch at Burger and Shake with the Bevins and Endris.  Since it was still a little on the cool side, I opted out of golfing to watch football while John played a round with Paul.  In the evening, we headed back to church to watch the movie "War Room".

Monday morning John was back at carvers while I worked on getting a new password program installed on our laptop and taking care of the laundry that had somehow managed to pile up once again.  In the afternoon John played in a scramble at the golf course while I enjoyed some quiet reading time.  Our evening was spent watching the college football national championship game.

Even though Tuesday stated off quite chilly, the day turned out to be very nice.  I played golf in the morning with Kathy, Mary Ellen, and Linda.  We all started off bundled up with several layers of clothing, but by the third hole we were down to a single layer.  It was much more enjoyable playing in sunshine and warm temps compared to last week's cold.  John played a round of 18 holes with Paul, John B. and Dean.  They split into two teams and John and Dean were the winners by quite a few strokes.  Last night a good crowd showed up for the potluck supper and cards.  John and I were both losers once again. 

Today, Wednesday, was a busy one.  John headed out following breakfast for men's golf where 12 guys showed up to play a round of nine holes.  This afternoon we went to the RV park for the first annual RV Park Tournament.  Sixteen folks were divided into two member teams and then each team participated in chipping and putting, washers, and shuffle board.  Each team member accumulated individual points which were then added together to total team points.  I was teamed up with Jim Runger and due to our outstanding shuffle board play, were the first place team.  I also got fourth place in the individual scoring.  Everyone had a blast and are looking forward to having another RV Tournament next year.

This evening we played cards with Chuck and Lois--Chuck and I partnered up and were the winners.

Super Busy Friday

John and I skipped our morning walk in order to get an early start on our day.  We left the house before 8 a.m. and headed to Del Rio to take care of some shopping and a few errands.  Our first stop, of course, was McDonald's for some breakfast.  It seems like quite a few folks also wanted an early start to their day as we had to stand in line to order and there were only a few spaces open for seating. Following a leisurely meal, we headed to Wal Mart to restock the pantry and pick up a birthday card and a few other household items. Next stop was Stripes to top off the gas tank and then on to HEB to purchase some fresh fruit.

One zipper on the golf cart cover was missing some teeth which made it difficult to open and close.  Chuck gave us one of his extra zippers and told us the name of an upholstery shop right outside of Del Rio where we could get it repaired.  We took the new zipper and side cover with us and stopped at the shop on our way back out of town. Joe, the owner, said he could have it repaired in one hour, so back we went into Del Rio and spent an hour at the mall.  Unfortunately, we did not escape without spending some money.  In one hour Joe called and said the repair was done and we could pick up the side cover.  It's now back on the golf cart and operating good as new.  

Once back home, we unloaded the car, ate a quick lunch, and headed off to play a round of nine holes before going over to the RV park for washers.  John was one of the winners this afternoon.  This evening we met up with Chuck, Lois, Barb, and John for some cards.  Tonight the ladies were the winners for a change!!