Over the past several days we have noticed more and more people on the fort--the Winter Texans are returning in full force. The day started off with cooler temperatures, but by the afternoon we had one beautiful day.

After our walk, we ate breakfast and got cleaned up. John decided to ride his bike down to the post office to pick up the mail. While he was gone, I made a Jello salad to take to this evening's New Year's party at our church. When John got back, we headed down to the Par 3 for one more round of golf in 2010. There was a group playing the second hole, so we crossed the street and started our round on the 6th. By the time we finished the 9th hole, they were done on the first five, so we had that all to ourselves. I pared the last hole I played, so I ended up the year on a high note. Hopefully that will continue the next time we play.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching a couple of college football games, and then left for the church. Everyone brought a dish to share so there was plenty to eat. It was a fun evening visiting and playing games. We called it a night a little before 10p.m. and came home to watch the new year come in. We wish you all a very happy and blessed New Year!!

We were up and out early for our morning walk. John had a 9 a.m. appointment for a haircut, so we had to take our shorter route so he would have time to eat breakfast and get cleaned up before leaving.

While John was gone, I changed the bed linens, started some laundry, and began making bread. When he returned home, John did a few maintenance jobs around the house--one was spaying Home Defense around the windows, doors, and foundation so the insects stay outside where they belong. He then took a walk over to the driving range where he found 30 golf balls and talked with a border patrol agent who was on the lookout for some illegals in the area.

After lunch John went over to Sam's and the guys loaded up a bed and delivered it for some folks who are coming into the fort tomorrow. That job didn't take very long, so after John got home we headed off to the Par 3 for some golf. Neither one of us had a very good game but we sure had a good time playing.



This evening after supper, John went to wood carvers. Due to delivering the paper for the past two weeks, he has missed attending on Monday mornings. He was anxious to get back to his carving. We spent the remainder of the evening watching some TV and reading.

It was cloudy, 61 degrees, and a little on the humid side when we left the house for our walk. After being on the run for the past two days, we thought we would have a nice quiet day at home to get some laundry done along with some other chores.

After breakfast, John worked on the golf cart still trying to figure out why the batteries won't charge. While we were in Uvalde on Monday, we dropped the charger off with a guy who works repairing golf carts. He called and told John that the charger is fine, so the problem must be with the cart. He rechecked the wires once again, and replaced a couple connectors. We'll have to wait until we get the charger back and see if what he has done corrected the problem. While he was working on the cart, Jan called with an SOS--her kitchen sink was leaking. John ran over to her house, worked his magic, and stopped the leak; however, a new faucet is needed.

The sky cleared off by mid-morning, so after lunch John and I headed down to the Par 3 to play some golf. We had just finished the 2nd hole, when Stan Metcalf called and asked if we would like to take a run to Eagle Pass and the Lowe's store with him and Jan. We said "yes" and that we would be ready to leave after we finished our game. Sam Lark hailed us as we were playing the 4th hole, and asked John if he could help with another project. John told him he would stop over this evening when we got home.

The Metcalf's picked us up and we were off to Eagle Pass and Lowe's. After much discussion, we all finally agreed on the right faucet for Jan's sink. John picked up a few other supplies needed for installation and then we were off to Fuddruckers for supper. This was our first time eating there and I must say we will definitely be trying it again. They served one delicious hamburger.

We got back home around 7:30 p.m. and John headed over to Sam's to get the details settled for their next project--moving and setting up a bed for folks who will be arriving on Friday. John returned from Sam's with a bag full of fresh oranges--his neighbor brought them back from somewhere in Texas. We ended our "quiet" day watching some college basketball--hopefully tomorrow I will finally get some chores done.

It was almost 20 degrees warmer this morning when we left the house for our walk--if felt like a heatwave compared to the below freezing temps of the past two mornings. We kept waiting for the sun to break through the clouds, but we had one of our rare cloudy days.

First thing this morning we had a surprise visit from Everett and Darlene Endris--we didn't think they would be back at the fort until after the first of the year. It was so good to see them and to catch up on what they have been doing. They will be leaving again in a day or so to head to Arizona for their grand-daughter's wedding.

I headed off to town for a much needed haircut and then we left for Del Rio. We made deliveries at about four or five places, and then stopped for lunch at Wendy's. From there we finished with the paper--our final stop was right next to the grocery store, so John and I did some food shopping. John has another project to do for our neighbor, so we made one last stop at the lumber yard and Home Depot to check out some gutter material.

John and I unloaded the groceries when we got back home and while I stored everything away, he went over to Stan's to drop off the leftover papers. Looks like Stan will be back on the job next week--he is on the mend.

We spent the evening watching the Eagles lose to the Vikings. We were rooting for the Eagles, but were glad to see the Vikes play such a good game.

Today was paper delivery day again, so we had to be up and out of the house by 7 a.m. It was another very chilly morning as we headed off to Hondo to pick up the Kinney County News. Our first stop of the morning was McDonald's in Uvalde get some breakfast--the hot meal sure hit the spot. From there it was on to Hondo and the printing shop. They were just starting to print the paper when we got there, so we had about a 20 minute wait until it was finished and loaded into the car.

We delivered all the papers in Uvalde and then stopped at Wendy's for lunch before heading back to Brackettville to drop off papers at the post office, library, and other businesses. John and I made much better time this week as we knew where all the drop off spots were located and didn't have to do any back tracking. After delivering a few papers in Unit 37, we were done for the day. We deliver in Del Rio some time tomorrow.

A couple of weeks ago we received an invitation from Ken and Ruth Spencer inviting us to an after Christmas gathering at their home this afternoon. We got back to our place with an hour to spare--just enough time to rest for a little bit and then change clothes and head off to Spencer's. Ruth had quite a spread of snacks and beverages--everyone seemed to get plenty to eat and had a good time visiting. Our evening was pretty quiet watching Monday Night Football.

Brrrrr!! It was 27 degrees outside when we woke up around 7 a.m. John took one look at the temperature and asked me if I wanted to skip the walk this morning. I said "yes", I didn't even have to think about it. We spent a leisurely morning eating breakfast, doing some reading, and then getting ready for church. Frontier Baptist had a guest speaker this morning as our pastor was out of town visiting with family for Christmas. Our numbers were way down as many of the folks were also away.

Following lunch, we decided to play some golf, so we got in the cart and headed off down the road. If you'll recall, we haven't been able to recharge the batteries in the cart, and today they finally gave out about half way to the course. We pulled off the main road onto a side pathway and walked back to the house. John called Stan and asked to borrow his cart to tow ours home. We got Stan's cart and a chain and then went back to get our golf cart. John hooked up the chain and while I steered our cart, towed it back to our place. Stan gave John the name of a place in Uvalde that can check out the charger--it's a mystery why it won't charge, everything has checked out. Hopefully we will find an answer to this problem real soon.

Stan told us to keep his cart until we can figure out what the problem is with ours, so John loaded our clubs onto Stan's cart and we went back down to the Par 3 and played a round of golf. We got done in time to watch the Packers defeat the Giants. The Eagles have clinched first place in their division. Yea!!

Stan is still not fully recovered from his surgery, so tomorrow John and I will once again be delivering papers in Uvalde and Brackettville. Since there was no Sunday night football due to the big snow storm in Philadelphia, we spent the evening watching movies.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We started off the day with our usual morning walk. The temps were much lower this morning, and a strong breeze keep the day cool even though the sun shining.

After breakfast, John started on the gravy for today's dinner while I finished up the jello salad. When everything was finished and ready to go, we had some time before we had to leave for Sandwick's, so we took a plate of Christmas cookies across the street and visited with our neighbor, Neva. She is such a sweet little lady and we enjoyed spending some time with her. Neva told us she would be sharing Christmas with her son's family here in Brackettville.

When we got back from Neva's it was time to load up the food and head off to Sandwick's. We enjoyed a delicious meal of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, beans, jello salad, and much more. An apple pie finished off the meal--we were all stuffed by the end of the afternoon.


John called his Dad and Sister to wish them a Merry Christmas, and we received calls from our kids. We really miss being home at this time of year, but when we we hear about all the snow (24 inches) and temps in the single digits, we are happy to be here in warmer, sunny Texas.