Retired?

I wish that we could determine the best time to arrive in Memphis each spring.
We have arrived the end of February and the 1st week of March. we have been snowed on both times.This year we arrived on the 20th of March, and jumped into work with both feet running. We had a trade show last weekend and we worked 6 straight days preparing and attending the show.
The Spring Fling show was not as productive as we had hoped, but the weather was cool and the economy is, well, you know.Hopefully, the next 2 shows will be more profitable.
We took Sunday off and I am pooped. No snow but cool temperatures. We have had lots of rain. Thank you Mike for the concrete pad.We have 2 more shows to do in the next 3 weeks and a lot of the preparation is done. We will not have to work as hard or as long as we did last week. Jen and Alan worked yesterday, so there were 4 of us. We got a lot accomplished.
Brenda is busy visiting her sisters and friends. It is nice to return to family on both sides. She has been out almost everyday.
Yesterday she took Nancy in for her treatment, so Mike could work at the nursery. Nancy no longer drives, so someone has to take her for her medical appointments. Mike has been doing all of that, so it is nice that Brenda can take her at times.

I am so impressed this year. Normally we don't see Adam and Crissy for at least 2 weeks after we arrive in the spring. This year we have seen them 3 times in the 1st week.Rachel is 3 y/o and so cute. She is into everything so she has to be watched carefully. She doesn't remember us from last year so she hasn't warmed up to us, yet, but I'm sure she will soon.
We went to breakfast with the 'Breakfast Club' Sunday and we had a great time. This group is so loving. We never know who will show up, so the number of people fluctuates. this Sunday I think there were 21 or 22 folks. We were spread out so conversation was limited.

Cleo has adjusted to her new environs, but she misses her 'Aunt Sally'. We just don't give her enough treats.


Ta ta for now.

Memphis

We arrived here at Mike & Nancy's house about 12:15 yesterday after an uneventful trip from Benton, AR, where we had spent the night.
We had wanted to stay at Arkadelphia, where we normally stop, but it was full. I guess there is a lot of traveling going on this time of year. The snow birds are returning home to the north and Spring Break (at least in the Houston area).
Friday, we saw many RVs on the road. We were on US 59 most of the day and we saw lots of RVs heading south.
After we got on I30, we were passed by a few motor homes and 5th wheels. We are not often in a hurry and I drive about 62 or 63 mph, so we get passed a lot.
We finally got to measure the mpg on the coach, and we averaged 9 mpg on 59 with all of it speed changes and stops. On the freeway, it increased to 10.5 mpg . When we get to the mountains we'll see what the fuel mileage is then.

We got all settled on our new pad next to Mike's house and got set up. The utilities are on the passenger side of the coach, so the hoses and power cord were extended underneath the coach.
Everything reached without extensions, so it will work out fine.
It is soooooo nice to park on concrete, and we have a small PATIO, life is sweet.

Brian came here and we got to spend time with him.
It was decided to cook steaks on the grill and have dinner at the house.
Brian cooked the steaks to perfection. We ate the steaks that I got at the meat market in Magnolia. I am glad that I only bought the 2 as we both said that we had had better from the grocery store for a lot less money.

We will attend church today and we hope that we will see everyone from the 'Breakfast Club'.
Mike wants to work today, so no breakfast out for us. But, it will be nice seeing those folks again.

We have a trade show next weekend and we need to prepare for it. Alan is coming to work today, so hopefully, we can get a good start in the preparations for the show.
This is one of my favorite activities in the ornamental grass nursery business. I really like the Spring Fling show. I get to reacquaint myself with people,who are Mater Gardeners, I only see 2 times a year. This why we arrived a few days earlier than planned.


Ta ta for now.

Willis, TX

We decided to return to the Houston area a few days early. We came back to Castaways RV park on Friday. The park is much improved since the last time we were here.
They have hired more staff and repaired the roads. They are still gravel , but a lot fewer ruts than before.

Sunday we got together with Ted and Donna. Last year we tried to go to the Funeral Museum, but they are closed on Mondays. We went on Sunday and were a little apprehensive that the place might be macabre. It wasn't at all, but very interesting.There are all kinds of hearses, from horse drawn carts and sleighs to very expensive automobiles. There are Packards to Rolls Royces. There is a 1973 Mercedes Benz that carried Princess Grace of Monaco. There are areas of remembrance of different presidents Such as Lincoln, Kennedy and Reagan.
There is an area with a film of the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Very interesting, as we have witnessed that ceremony at Arlington Cemetery.
There is a whole area dedicated to the ceremony concerning the deaths of the Popes.
There is a lot of Pomp and ceremony involved.
The picture below is the British Popemobile that was used on Pope John Paul II's visit to England. I didn't know that the popes are buried in 3 coffins. The first is Cedar which is on display in the Vatican. Next, that coffin is placed in a lead coffin, which is soldered shut with a wax seal. It is then placed in a Douglas Fir coffin and then placed in the crypt in the Vatican.
All in all a very interesting afternoon.

We then went to Cheddars for 'lupper'. The food was delicious and plenty of it and the prices were good too. It was very crowded for a Sunday at 3:45 pm. If we hadn't taken a tall table in the bar, there was a 45 minute wait for the main dining room. The service was great and well worth afternoon. it was very noisy as you might expect in a restaurant that crowded.
We then went over to Ted and Donna's home to visit. We stayed until dark the headed home.

Yesterday, Neal and his son, Andrew came over for a visit and to say goodbye.
We thoroughly enjoyed their visit. We have stopped by at Neals work to see him multiple times this winter, but he was not there for different reasons.
Today, we went to visit Val and Tony. We wanted to spend the afternoon with them.
When we arrived Michelle and Dannie were there.
Tony was fixing Putanesca for lunch. He knows how much I like it and it prevented Brenda from having to fix dinner tonight. How sweet he is.
We had a lovely visit with them and left about 4:30 to miss much of the traffic.

We leave early tomorrow for Livingston and head for Memphis on Friday.

Ta ta for now

Oysterfest

This being lent, we were surprised that the people of Fulton/Rockport are having a festival now.
I guess that they wanted to have it before all of the 'Winter Texans' leave for home.
The Oysterfest is for the benefit of the Fulton Volunteer Fire Department.

We went Friday night to the festival itself and to the parade on Saturday.
Brenda found 2 tickets for 12oz beer or 3 oysters while we were picking up our mail at the post office on Friday.
There was a huge arts and crafts tent set up and there were a lot of hand maid crafts for sale.
The food tent was large enough for many tables as well as a stage for the different entertainers that were brought in for the event.The parade was fun. A lot of well thought out floats and some hurriedly put together floats. All seemed to have a good time and we had some great seats. We brought our own chairs and were near the start of the parade.
There were lots of beads and candy. The float participants were throwing mostly to the kids, but we got our share. The kids in Memphis will enjoy the beads.
Being on the Gulf Coast, this is Navy territory as might be expected. The Navy JROTC marched in the parade as well as the VFW color guard.The Coast Guard Auxiliary as well as the CG Color Guard was represented as well.
I was wearing a Navy Veteran hat & was thanked for my service by several people. A very nice experience.

There were clowns, and Brenda even clowned with one of them.
The Shriners were well represented in the parade and had their little 'tin lizzies' all over the road on the parade route.
This was a good time and you sure couldn't beat the price.

We have met some 'Winter Texans' from Alaska and they said that there are parades and festivals all winter down here.
There are a dozen or more RV parks along here and they just look for any excuse to have a parade and/or festival.

We are here leaving early (Friday) and will get to Memphis earlier than originally planned.
We have 2 stops to make along the way, Willis and Livingston. I need to get my drivers license renewed, as we won't be in Texas in August. I need to have my picture retaken. Then head onto Memphis with an overnight stop at Arkadelphia.
We will arrive at Mikes on Saturday 3/20 and stay until about the 3rd week in June.

The connection here is so slow that I was unable to post pictures. I will try again when I have a better connection.

We are now in Willis, so here are the pictures as promised. (3/12/2010)

Ta ta for now.

Gulf Coast

We left Timber Ridge a little later than we wanted to, but saying goodbye to friends is sometimes not easy.
We arrived at Bay View Rv park without too much difficulty. The park could be marked better. It takes a good eye to see the sign for the park. We passed it twice before we recognized the entrance.This is not a bad park, but, the roads are hard sand and dirt and washboards. The sites are level but on dirt.We are told that they have had a very wet winter here and the roads sure do show it. There was a large amount of pot holes and standing water when we arrived. The wind blows almost constantly here, as expected, so the roads have dried out nicely.

Yesterday, we drove over to Corpus Christi to tour the Lexington. We spent over 4 hours going on the 5 marked tours. In places we had great tour guides (all Volunteers) who were very knowledgeable of the ship and her history.
They have a 4500 book library, and the volunteer librarian said that some of the ships WWII crew and pilots still live in the area and are somewhat active in the activities of the ship. Although most are in their 80's now.Some scenes from the movie Pearl Harbor were filmed on the ship and the ship was transformed into the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi for the movie.
The Japanese 'rising sun' flag was raised on ship for the filming and some of the old crew came aboard and protested the flying of that flag over the Lex. They said that it was a dishonor to the sailors who had died on that ship due to Japanese action. They demanded and got the flag removed.I don't know why that could not have been done digitally during the editing process. There could have been a lot less hurt feelings if that had been done.
We were told that the Navy is still involved in the maintenance of the ship, although in an advisory role only, and I'm surprised that the Navy allowed that to happen.

We are going to just kick back today. We have nothing planned.
We are just a few miles from Aransas pass and we may go to the beach if it warms up.

The internet connection here is terrible. We can't our air card and Tengointernet is most unreliable. We can only use it on one computer and the pictures from the Lex is on the other computer. So I will post pictures when we can.

Today (Friday), we got up to the library so that I could upload some pictures.
I think Brenda enjoyed the Lex as much as I did.

Ta ta for now.