BB Gun Shoot

The temperature was 47 degrees with overcast skies and light fog when we left the house for our morning walk.  After breakfast, John headed down to the clubhouse where he met up with Tim and Paul for a round of golf.  By the time there were done playing the skies had cleared and we had a beautiful afternoon.

A little before 3 p.m. we went over to the RV park for the first annual BB Gun Shootout.  John B. supplied the gun and there were three different events with each person getting one shot in each one. The final event was a two person team with a total for each of their shots.  We drew numbers to find our partners and I was teamed up with Rose from the RV park.  We were team number ten out of 15.  I shot first and scored 30 points, then Rose shot and scored 25.  A team of men scored 60 points, so we came in second and each won a nice Hershey bar.  Everyone was impressed that two gals were able to beat all the other men.

We got home just in time for me to get cleaned up and off to Friday night Bingo.  Several of the ladies at our table were winners this evening and, as usual, we all had a fun time.  Tomorrow promises to be another busy day.

Warmer Weather Today

Wednesday stayed on the chilly side so the men's golf was canceled.  When the temps warmed up a little in the afternoon, John met up with John B., Paul, and Tim for a round of 18 holes.  I headed into town for a haircut and then did a little work on the finances.  Once John got back from golfing, we headed into Del Rio for some supper and grocery shopping.

There was a big change in the weather overnight with the morning temps about 15 degrees warmer.  John and I got in our usual morning walk and then did some cleaning and organizing in our storage area.  This afternoon was couples golf and we were paired with Wes and Shirley C.  We all struggled on the first four holes and then played par golf with two birdie holes.  We weren't in the money today, but we had a good time.  It felt good to have the sunshine with warmer temps and it was a beautiful afternoon for golf.

John headed off to wood carvers after supper and I watched some of the TV shows I had recorded over the past week.  Tomorrow afternoon we're going to a BB gun shoot.  Should be interesting.

The Cold Continues

The cold weather continued Monday and today which means nothing is happening around the fort.  Since the golf course is closed on Mondays, John and I decided it was a good day to give our floor a good mopping since there was quite a bit of dust under the furniture.  It looked like things hadn't been moved since last spring when we last did the floor.  We have a good system when it comes to this chore, we move everything to one side of the big room, get that side mopped, let it dry, move the furniture to the clean side, and then repeat the process on the dirty side.  Our floor is shiny and clean right now, but it won't be long before the Texas dust returns.

Today was ladies golf, but everyone decided 37 degrees was just too cold for playing.  John spent his morning and early afternoon working with some folks from the church clearing out a gentleman's house in preparation for the Nomads to come in and do some repair work.  The Nomads is a Christian organization of retired folks that travel around the country and help churches with building and repair projects. 

While John was gone, I did some laundry, changed the bed linens, and made a casserole for tonight's potluck at the RV park.  The cold kept some folks away and our crowd was a little smaller this evening.  We played "31" after the meal and I was very lucky tonight--won both of the games I played.  John has lost his touch--he lost both of his. 

Chili Cook-off and Hot Dog Roast

Saturday morning was on the chilly side with a temp of 25 degrees.  John and I decided to skip the walk and just head over to RV park for breakfast.  I spent the day taking care of laundry and baking cookies.  It was end of the month scramble today, so John had to wait until much later in the afternoon to play a couple of holes of golf. 

Saturday evening was the fort's annual chili cook-off with at least 12 entries.  When you paid your admission you were given a bowl and then you went around and sampled the different chilies.  Once you finished all the sampling you wanted to do, you then voted for the one you liked best.  This vote was called the People's Choice Award.  There were also three judges who picked the first, second, and third place winners.  I only sampled the milder chilies on offer as I didn't want to have heart burn all night.

Today there was a big change in the temperature.  It was at least 15 degrees warmer this morning when we took our walk.  Following church, we went out to dinner with Lloyd and Ginny and then John dropped my home before going on a tour of Brackettville with a group headed up by Mary Ellen.  This evening we attended a hotdog roast at the RV park before calling it a day.  Our high temp for today was 83 degrees; however, the cold is suppose to return by Tuesday.   

Cold in Texas

Thursday morning started off quite promising.  When John and I headed out for our walk, the temps were in the mid 50's with overcast skies and a light misting.  Couples golf was that afternoon and we kept debating if we should play as the forecast called for a change in the weather.  John saw John and Paul go by our place later in the morning on their way to the third tee and they told him they canceled out of couples because of the forecast.  John decided to play a few holes with them and no sooner left the house, when he returned.  The temperature dropped by about 15 degrees, the winds came up, and the rains started falling.  Guess we weren't going to play couples.

The cold, rainy weather looked to be here for the rest of the day, so we decided to head to Del Rio for lunch and to pick up a few grocery items.  We returned home just in time to head down to the clubhouse where we met up with about 20 other folks to celebrate John B.'s birthday.  

This morning John and I slept in as it was below freezing and we decided to wait until later in the day to walk.  I worked on the finances while John did some re-caulking around our shower.  Once the sun came out and the temps warmed up after lunch, we took our usual walk around the loop--it takes us about 45 minutes to walk this route.  We didn't see anyone playing golf or out walking--must have been too cold.

We just hung out the rest of the afternoon and this evening I went to play Bingo with several other ladies.  Even though I lost, I had a good time visiting.  John stayed home and watched some college basketball.  Our weekend promises to be a busy one, so we hope the weather will warm up so we can enjoy all the activities.

  

Beautiful Weather Continues

Even though our mornings are on the chilly side, the afternoons have been just about perfect.  John and I were up and out the door just as the sun was coming up and walked about half of the golf course.  Walking in the morning really helps loosen up the joints and works the stiffness out of my back.

Following breakfast, John got cleaned up and headed off to the club house for the Men's Nine Holers.  Eleven guys showed up to play and got divided into three teams.  Two of the teams shot even par and John's was three under, so they were the big winners.

John ate a quick lunch and then we headed back to the club house where we met up with Mark Larson for another round of golf.  I thought we were just going to play nine holes, but we ended up doing all 18.  I am pretty stiff and sore tonight--hopefully I didn't do any damage and will feel okay tomorrow.  We are both pretty tired to night.

This evening we were invited over to Mary Ellen and Tim's house, along with Nancy, Randy, Andrea, and Bob, to see the video she made of the historical buildings, ruins, and early settlers in Brackettville.  I can't believe the amount of research and work she did in preparing the presentation.  She'll be showing it in the Bracketville school and several other places over the next week or so.  John and I sure learned a lot about the area we call home for five months out of the year.  Mary Ellen answered some of our questions and then we spent some time just chatting and visiting.  As usual, it was another fun evening. 

Golf and Potluck Dinner

Tuesday is ladies day on the golf course.  This morning I played nine holes with Mary Ellen, Ginny, and Kathy--a fun group of gals.  I really enjoyed playing with them as we are all at about the same level of play and enjoy each others company.  We walked the nine holes and I was pretty tired by the time we reached the end;  however, my back held up and felt pretty good.

After lunch, John met up with Paul and Tim to play a round of 18 holes.  He said all three of them really struggled today and had a bad day on the course.  While John was gone, I went into town to pay our real estate taxes for the last year and then made a quick stop at the post office to pick up our mail.  Once I got back to the house, I started making a casserole for tonight's RV Park potluck supper.  As usual, we played a couple of games of 31--we were both losers this evening.  Once all three tables finished, a couple from Canada taught all of us a new game called Pass the Aces.  It was a good time with a lot of laughs.

Family Update:  Talked to Amy today and Noah has been a pretty sick little guy.  They seem to think he might be lactose intolerate and will be taking him to an allergy specialist for some testing next week.  Please keep him in your prayers.

Beautiful Warm Weather

The weather here in southwest Texas has warmed up very nicely with the temps reaching into the high 70's.  Mary Ellen and Tm Miner invited us to attend the Methodist church with them on Sunday.  We found many of our Winter Texan friends in the congregation and really enjoyed the service.  A potluck dinner followed and we enjoyed a delicious meal and more fellowship.

John and I took advantage of the beautiful afternoon and played 9 nines with the Miners.  I finally felt comfortable enough about my back to tee off and managed to play the nine holes with no problem.  It sure felt good to be back on the golf course.

John and Tim teeing off

 

This is the fifth fairway where they playing

Today being Monday, John headed off to wood carvers this morning.  Since the weather was so nice, he rode over using the golf cart.  While he was gone, I did some cleaning and organizing--I think everything is finally put away and we are completely settled in. We decided to have another Super Bowl party this year, so this afternoon we took a golf cart ride over to Unit 37 to deliver a few invitations.  On our first stop we visited with Chuck, Lois, Everett, and Darlene Endris. This was our first time seeing them since we've been back.  After visiting with them for an hour or so, we headed down the street and saw the Sandwicks and Ralph sitting outside enjoying the nice weather.  John and I then stopped there for a little visit before heading over to the RV park to deliver more invites to the party.  We spent a pretty quiet evening watching "Gold Rush" and "The Big Bang Theory".    

 

Unpacking, Potluck, Visiting, and Golf

The title of this blog entry just about tells it all.  We arrived here at Fort Clark a little after noon on Monday and quickly got the car unloaded.  Since we had rented our house for the last eight months, we had many things stored out in the shed, so John got busy bringing in the many crates and boxes.  While he kept busy hauling things in, I dealt with AT&T and managed to get our internet back up and running.  Since we had no food in the house, we ran into town and picked up a couple of items to hold us over until our big restocking trip.  On the way, we stopped and visited with the Sandwicks and Ralph R.

Tuesday morning we were up bright and early and headed into Del Rio to restock the kitchen.  The grocery bill just about broke the bank.  Paul E. had called John yesterday about playing golf this afternoon, so after getting the bags of food unloaded, John headed off to the club house where he met up with Paul, John B. and Tim M. for a round of 18 holes.  Tuesday night was potluck at the RV park, so I spent some time making a casserole for the meal.  We also play "31" after eating and I came away a winner.

We are getting back into a routine and slowly, but surely, getting the house in order.  It has taken most of the week to get everything back in place.  John and I went to the Del Rio Winter Texan event on Thursday morning and did a little more shopping afterwards.  I have managed to play a little golf--just chipping and putting--trying to work my way back into the game.  I am being very cautious regarding my back.

This morning we went over to the RV park for the Saturday morning breakfast and then John left for the day to hike in the White Shaman Preserve with about 15 other folks from the fort.  I had done this hike before and thought it would be too strenuous for my back since my procedure was only a week ago.  

 

Heading South

John and I will be leaving for Texas bright and early tomorrow morning.  My procedure went well--Dr. says I will still have pain for three or four weeks as the nerves remember pain and then things should improve.  They will check with me in six weeks.

After John and I left the Pain Management center, we stopped at Applebee's for a very late lunch.  Due to having a light sedation, I hadn't eaten anything since last night.  From there we headed home and finished packing last minute items and then headed up to Clearbrook to watch Sam play basketball.  The Bears won an exciting game.  We'll miss seeing the kids play ball, but both of us need to get out of this cold.  Next blog entry will hopefully be from Texas.

Better Today

Haven't been posting everyday since nothing much is hapening around here.  Our main focus right now (along with half the country) is trying to keep warm, keep our vehicles running, and to make sure the water pipes don't freeze up.  

John and I have kept busy packing for our trip south and we are all ready to go.  Just need to get through Friday and hopefully will get the "all clear" to head out on Saturday morning.  The temps have actually improved with the highs for today expected to reach 15 degrees above zero.  Suppose to reach the mid 30's by Sunday.

I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon to check my eyes out again.  Have been having trouble with redness and itching.  Not sure if it's allergies, or what.  From there we will head out of town to watch Hanna play basketball.  Will sure feel good to get out of the house.  We're all suffering from "cabin fever".

Suffering Through The Cold

Not much new around here.  Just trying to survive the extreme cold.  Just about everything in Minnesota was shut down today--no school, no activities, and many meetings canceled.  John and I stayed hunkered down in the house with John only venturing outside to put wood in the stove.  We even had ice form along the bottom edges of our windows--that's never happened since we built the house 16 years ago.  Tomorrow is suppose to be a little better with the temps reaching 28 degrees above zero by Friday. That will be a 60 degree swing upward in the temps.  

Still Frigid

Well, as you can see from the title, we are still in the deep freeze here.  In fact, the weather for this weekend and the first part of next week is suppose to reach 30 below zero with highs at 20 below. When you add wind to those temps, you just have to stay inside and keep safe. The governor has closed all schools on Monday due to the cold and all sports and other school activities were canceled on Friday.

John and I did managed to get out to watch Hanna and Sam play basketball on Thursday evening.  The girls varsity won while the boys lost.  We had planned to go back on Friday night to watch another game, but freezing rain came into our area and all the schools closed early and activities were canceled.

As I had mentioned in an earlier posting, guys from SD were suppose to get here mid-afternoon on Thursday to start removing the dust collection system.  They called around 2 p.m. and told John they were just leaving Fargo.  That's an hour a half away, so he told them to just come Friday morning to do the job as it would be getting dark by the time they got here.  Elias and his helpers arrived around 10 a.m., got the system loaded, and were on their way back to SD a little before 1 p.m.  Matt and John had worked most of the day Thursday taking the piping down and getting the unit ready to move, so they were able to get everything loaded fairly fast.

Since it's not advisable to be outside for any reason, we have spent most of today sorting and packing for the trip south.  I went through all the kitchen cabinets and picked out what we want to take in the way of food items, so now that's ready to go.  Since the NFL playoffs started today, we have also been watching those games.  With such dangerous temps, I think John and I will be staying put until Tuesday when the weather is suppose to warm up a little.

Happy New Year!!

John and I have spent a pretty quiet week and New Year's so far.  With the brutally cold weather, neither one of us has ventured too far from the house.  John goes outside a couple of times a day to put wood on the stove and that's about it.  We have kept busy watching movies and all the bowl games.  However, we are now ten days from my back procedure, and since we hope to leave right afterward, we have to get busy sorting and packing to head south.  I went though all the files in the office and got them cleaned out and have what needs to go with us.  Tomorrow I'll probably start on clothing.  Also, the folks from SD should be here around 2 p.m. to start dismantling the dust collection system.  That will be a cold job as it's not suppose to get above zero tomorrow.  They think it will take two days and will be spending the night in Fosston and then return here to finish up on Friday.  This is going to be fun to watch.