Monday December 5 thru Sunday December 11, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

Monday morning was rainy and cold. I went down for coffee but there weren't too many of the regulars there. Guess the weather kept them home. The rain finally let up and we all walked home. It remained cold and damp for the rest of the day. It was a good day to turn the fireplace on and stay inside.

Tuesday morning was just cold. No rain this morning, but the temps were in the high 30's but we had a good turnout for coffee. We went to Tewbeleaux for lunch. They have a special of 20 wings (mixed flavors) for $10. I don't really care for wings that much but they were pretty good and best of all, Jerry and Diane picked up the tab for everyone. We stopped at Kroger and picked up some essentials and came back home. Another afternoon of fireplace and furnace.

Wednesday was another cold morning, 29 degrees here! At least it wasn't a hard freeze- down in the 20's -so hopefully no one will have any broken pipes. Our neighbors, Mark and Rebecca, have been having trouble with their propane heater in their Montana. Our friend Mack has been coming over to help them and has replaced their propane regulator which made the heater work again but they still have a propane smell. Today we got it fixed. There is another regulator on the other side of the trailer on the second propane bottle, that we discovered was bad. I took Mark and Mack up to Lone Star RV and bought the parts needed to make the repair, and now it seems that all is well! Mack had also worked on Roy and June's motorhome heater that had stopped working. He found that a reset switch on the CO detector had been kicked and was keeping the propane from coming on to light the heater. Friends have certainly been keeping him busy!

Stella and I went to eat with our Heartland club friends Tom and Marti at El Palenque. They are interested in taking over the south Texas chapter when we are ready to step down so we talked about it and decided to let them be the wagonmasters of the October rally next year. It will give them a chance to "test the waters" of organizing and putting on a rally. We are looking forward to working with them on the rally. I hope they will have as much fun as we have in being chapter leaders.

Thursday was another cold morning, below freezing which is unusual for this area this early. We typically see these temps in late January and February but not in December. After coffee and breakfast at home, I took the clothes down to the washateria for Stella. It turned out to be another cold and dreary day, so we just stayed inside and tried to stay warm. That evening we went out to eat with Jim and Reta and met Ed and Sharon at Tewbeleaux for their chicken-fried steak night dinner. We all had plenty to eat and had a fine time together.

Friday morning wasn't as cold as it has been but still chilly outside. We were invited out to eat with our neighbors Mark and Rebecca at Furr's buffet and had a very nice time with them. Mark is a retired US Marine, so he got his military discount as well as the senior discount, so he graciously bought our lunch. That made our meal even better!

Saturday morning the temp was a little warmer and I slept in this morning. We went to breakfast with the group to El Bosque mexican food for their buffet breakfast. We had a really good time at this outing and hope that there will be another one before we leave. After breakfast we went shopping for some of the Christmas gifts that we have to buy. I say "we" went shopping when it was Stella that went to the stores. I stayed in the truck to make sure that the truck didn't get stolen or broken into and read in the Kindle.

Sunday we ate a quick breakfast before leaving for Bill and Alena's house in Fulshear. They had stayed at Timber Ridge and Rayford after moving down here from Chicago. They bought a huge house and got moved in during the past summer and have been making improvements since then. They put in a beautiful pool and hot tub and just finished up on their outdoor kitchen. Tommy and Susan came up from Deer Park and we all had a great time visiting after touring their house. We took our doggies with us to play with Bill and Alena's dog Anya. Anya has recently been diagnosed with a tumor, so it was a bittersweet visit. Cassie and Tramp enjoyed exploring the new house and yard and were tired out when we left. While there we watched the Houston Texans triumph over the Cincinnati Bengals in a real nail biter of a game. Congratulations to the Texans for their best season record and winning their division. We hope to see Bill and Alena again when we return from our summer trip. Bill wants to go to the valley with us in January and I hope this works out. I will introduce him to my dentist over there. I am looking forward to getting mine finished up.

So long.