Looking out the window this morning, we saw the cloudy skies and rain and knew our morning walk was off. We just had a leisurely morning eating breakfast and getting ready for church. Since the rain lasted most of the day, we just spent a lazy day watching golf, reading, and taking a short nap. After supper, the rains finally stopped, so we took a nice brisk walk around the golf course. It felt good to get outside and get some exercise after a day of inactivity. We were just ending our walk when we saw Sam Lark sitting out on his deck. We stopped for a short visit and then headed home where we found Mary Ellen pulling into our driveway. She just stopped to let us know about Tim's birthday party next Sunday. We ended the evening watching The Amazing Race and some news. Since there was not much happening today, I decided to post some more of the photos I took at the festival yesterday.

Even though the day was cloudy and cool with a few sprinkles of rain, it did not put a damper on our Fort Clark Festival. Tim picked up John around 7:15 a.m. and they headed off to help set up the wood carvers display. They certainly did a good job and many people enjoyed seeing some of the beautiful work done by the carvers. Several of the members took turns sitting around the display tables and actually doing some carving while talking to people and answering their questions.


When John returned home from setting up, we had breakfast and then headed out to spend the day at the festival. Our first stop after checking in with the carvers, was to visit a family who had set up a chuck wagon camp. This wagon was totally original, down to the paint. The only thing restored on it were the brake pads. In their "real" life, these people run a 22,000 acre cattle ranch with over 700 head of cattle. They attend different festivals around the state showing people a piece of "living history"

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From the chuck wagon we headed off to see the camels. That's right--camels. We learned that the US Army did an experiment with camels to see if they would work out better than horses and mules in the arid southwest. This trial only lasted a short time, but it is an interesting part of the west's history.



Today we also saw demonstrations of a cannon and Gatling gun being fired as well as many other "living history" folks. It was very interesting hearing them talk about how things were done in the past and especially how the US Army operated and the Texas Rangers maintained law and order. It was a very tough justice system.




John and I spent the whole day walking around the festival enjoying the live music, visiting with friends, and eating the good food that seems to be part of any festival. When we reached home, we just took some time to rest and relax. This evening the Old Quarry Theater group put on an old fashioned melodrama entitled "The Inventor's Daughter". The audience participated by cheering the hero and booing the villain. It was a lot of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy the play. We ended the evening watching a little TV before heading off to bed. I took many other photos of today's activities and will post more next week. Good night!
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Cool weather returned today. The temp was 56 degrees with cloudy skies and a strong breeze when we started out on our morning walk. The weather did not improve much beyond that the entire day.

Bruce and Marilyn Nelson picked us up mid-morning and we headed off for a tour of the Del Rio area. We took them past the new Port of Entry facility that we toured last week and from there we headed west out of Del Rio so they could see Amistad Lake where ESPN holds it professional bass tournament. That was followed by a some shopping at Wal Mart and a very nice lunch at I HOP.

After we arrived home John headed off to the post office to pick up our mail and to send off a late birthday card. Stan then called and asked John to give him a hand with a little job over at the Condo's. That pretty much used up the afternoon. We were just getting ready for a quiet evening in front of the TV when Tim and Mary Ellen dropped by asking if we wanted to play cards. As we are always ready for a good card game we welcomed them in and played a game of "Golf", the new game we recently learned. We have several new card games that we will have to teach the folks back home. Tomorrow promises to be a busy day with all the Fort Clark Festival activities. We will be up and out pretty early. Better call it a night and get to bed.

Today we got proof positive that spring is officially here. The Mesquite trees in our yard are starting to bud. Native Texans tell us that these trees do not bud until after the last frost of the winter. So it looks like we won't be having anymore 32 degree mornings. We took our walk bright and early this morning and saw many deer on the golf course munching on the nice green grass.

John headed over to Sam Lark's after breakfast to help him insulate his front window against the summer heat. After finishing up that job, he spent the rest of the morning putting the finishing touches on the cranes he has been carving. They will be ready to display at the festival this weekend along with a couple of other projects he completed this winter.

The morning seemed to fly by and before we knew it lunch time was upon us. After a quick lunch of leftovers, we headed to the Par 3 for another round of golf. Neither one of us had a very good game. It seems like that's the way it is with golf--one good day followed by several bad ones. On our way home, we saw the Nelson's cruising around in their golf cart. We made plans to meet tomorrow morning and take a trip to Del Rio to show them the town and go out for lunch. We also stopped in to see the Sandwick's and to check up on Dave who has been under the weather.

When we finally returned home, it was almost time for supper. Tonight was carvers, so after eating John packed up his gear and left to pick up Tim. I got the kitchen cleaned up, watched the news, and then taped Survivor so John could watch it later in the evening. It was a great episode with such a surprise ending. Hope all you Survivor fans enjoyed it as much as I did. Ended the evening watching the show with John--was worth watching a second time.

Today was another beautiful Texas spring day. When we walked early this morning the sun was shining and there was only a slight breeze. You can really tell spring is on the way--we noticed today that some of the trees are starting to bud.

This morning John and Wallace went over to Metcalf's to see if they could find the source of their electrical problem. After testing many different outlets they still had no luck in finding the source of the problem. John will have to go back another day and try to find the answer. Today was Weight Watchers for me, so I took off for Del Rio early this morning and did some shopping at Wal Mart before the meeting. Afterward, I stopped for a little lunch before heading home.

This weekend is the Fort Clark Springs Festival and everyone at the fort is busy getting ready for the big weekend. The carvers will have a booth in one of the buildings where they will display their work for people to see. They all have been busy trying to get some of their projects completed. John went over to Wallace's this afternoon to do more work on his crane project. I think it will be very nice when finished.

Since the day was so great, we decided to head down to the Par 3 for a quick round of golf. Many other folks had the same idea. We finished up late in the afternoon and headed home for supper. Sam Lark stopped over this evening to talk to John about a little project he would like help with tomorrow and stayed to visit for a while. After he left I watched a little TV while John was on the computer listening to Rush Limbaugh. It's getting late--time for bed.

The strong winds of yesterday died down over night and this morning was bright and sunny though a little colder than yesterday--temp was 35 degrees when we started off on our walk around the golf course. John spent much of his time during the walk looking for golf balls. He found several really nice ones to add to his collection. We noticed that the grass on the course is really starting to green up and there seemed to be more birds singing in the trees.

Today was John's day to finish up all the little jobs he had lined up. First he went over to Dee and Jerry's and fixed their plumbing problem. From there he went to Metcalf's and finished hanging the shelves they wanted, and lastly, over to Sam Lark's to finish up with his little job. As tonight was the RV potluck, I prepared a hot dish to take and continued catching up with the laundry.

Tim and Mary Ellen stopped to pick us up for the ride over to the RV park. There was a smaller group tonight as many of the regulars were absent. However, there was quite a new group of people from Minnesota, including the Nelson's from Clearbrook. After the meal, we played our usual card game of 31. Both John and I were among the winnners this evening. This was my 4th win this year and John's first. Tim was also a winner tonight--his 1st of this year. It was a very happy ride home. We ended up the evening with a little TV before heading off to bed.

The first day of March (also Texas Independence Day) dawned nice and sunny after some overnight rain showers. We managed to get our morning walk in before the strong winds arrived and lasted the entire day. After breakfast, John headed off to wood carvers where is he getting close to finishing up his cranes. We were having company for supper this evening, so I spent the morning cleaning up around the house and starting dinner preparations. I realized I was missing a couple of ingredients, so after lunch we made a quick trip into town to the grocery store.

Since it was so windy today, nothing much was happening out of doors. We spent the afternoon just doing things around the house and catching up on some reading. Gene and Jeannie Bevens arrived around 6 p.m. and we had an enjoyable evening sharing a meal and visiting. They taught us a new card game called "Golf". It was a fun game and John was the winner. They left for the RV Park around 9:30p.m. and we ended the evening with a little TV. There are definite signs of spring--our cactus plant next to the deck is starting to bud. There is hope for our friends and family in the north.