To Each His Own

I noticed an ad in the local newspaper for the 39th Annual Antique Show & Sale put on by The Women of St Alban's in Harlingen, Texas, which is about 25 miles from here. Carole is very "into" antiques, so on Saturday afternoon we jumped into the Blazer for the trip to Harlingen.



It was a pretty good size show with a large variety of antiques and collectibles, although I thought there was a preponderance of glassware, pottery and jewelery. Carole spends a lot of time at such shows "talking antiques" with the people there, which is over my head. I spend the time wandering around admiring the historic significance the of items on display.

















Carole did find a set of eight demitasse cups and saucers which she couldn't live without . . . so she made her big purchase of the day. I don't know what she will use them for, but she's happy to have them. I told our neighbor they were shot glasses with handles, but Carole didn't think that was funny.

"To each his own."

Bus Wash & Wax

When we first arrived in Texas, the weather was a little cool and I hadn't washed "The Bus" since we left Kansas. The "highway grime" was still evident, so I hired a couple of Mexicans who were in the Park washing another unit to wash "The Bus".

They started on the roof scrubbing it with soap and water using a brush, then rinsing it off with the hose.


















They then washed the sides with soap and water using a brush, followed by scrubbing the wheels and tires by hand. They then wiped down the whole Bus by hand and washed and wiped all of the windows using Windex window cleaner.









"The Bus" looked so good . . . but a little dull. It hadn't been waxed in about a year, so while they were here, I had them also wax "The Bus". They waxed and polished the whole rig by hand.

As you can see in this picture, "The Bus" now has a shine again.

It's nice to be in the Rio Grande Valley when we need to hire labor for a job like this. The whole job of washing and waxing "The Bus" by hand only cost $85.

Hair in Texas

Carole has to have her hair done no matter where we are. The biggest problem always seems to be finding a beauty shop or hair salon who does her hair the way she likes it.



Adela's was recommended by a neighbor here in Palm Shadows RV Park. Carole was so pleased with the results that she stayed for a manicure and a pedicure. So I guess that solves the "Hair in Texas" problem as long as we're here.

Tacos and Margarettas

After my experience with "Margaretta Dentistry", it was time for lunch. We had parked the Blazer on the Texas side of the border and walked across the bridge to Mexico. Carole didn't want to walk much further. So we only walked about a half block from the dental clinic, then took an elevator to a third floor restaurant for lunch.




I had a typical Mexican lunch of "Tacos and Margarettas"; Carole had an American lunch of fried shrimp and vodka. My motto is "When in Mexico, do as the Mexicans do" . . . or does that only apply to Rome?

The restaurant was on the third floor and had interesting views of the main street of Nuevo Progreso to the South and the border bridge to the North.


















On the left above is the main street lined with pharmacies, dental offices, touristy shops, and street vendors. On the right above is Mexican customs and the bridge to Texas beyond.

This is a great place to go for "Tacos and Margarettas".

Margaretta Dentistry

Shortly before we left home in November, I had a dental examination. My Kansas dentist told me I "had a crack in #5" and he would put a crown on it in the Spring when we returned from Texas. I told him that as long as I would be in the Rio Grande Valley near the Mexican border, I would just go to Mexico and have a crown put on at a far lessor cost. Of course, he proceeded to tell me all of the "bad things" that could happen to me in a dental chair in Mexico.

Well, here we are in Southern Texas about 3 miles from the border. The Mexican border town of Nuevo Progreso has many pharmacies and dental clinics, in addition to numerous tourist attractions. It's where all of the Winter Texans go for medications and dental work. I inquired of several residents here in Palm Shadows RV Park about having dental work done across the border and found several had work done by Dr Ileana Sanchez Vega, a female dentist at Pena-Renya Dental Clinic just across the bridge in Nuevo Progreso, and all were very pleased with the care they received.




I called and made an appointment with Dr. Ileana for Tuesday morning. When I arrived at the clinic, I was pleasantly surprised (and admittedly somewhat relieved) that the dental facilities and equipment was comparable to anything in Kansas. The dentist had a mask on, wore rubber gloves, and unwrapped every instrument from a sterile package as needed. After what seemed to be a very thorough examination, she flipped a switch on the overhead TV I was watching while in the dental chair and proceeded to show me on the TV every tooth in my mouth using a small hand-held TV camera about the size of a pen.

As she displayed each tooth on the TV screen, she gave me a detained description of the status of each. No dentist in Kansas ever did that! She pointed out that there was no crack in #5; the crack was in the filling, not the tooth. I didn't need a crown; all I needed was a replacement of the filling. So that's what I had done at a cost of about 20% of what it would have been in Kansas.


After the dental work was completed, I had my picture taken in the lobby with "my dentist", Dr Ileana. I was very pleased and fully satisfied with the dental work she did and would not hesitate to return for additional dental work if that becomes necessary; nor would I hesitate to recommend her to anyone who needed dental work.

Not only was the work very good, but afterward they gave both Carole and I free Margarettas . . . so that's why I refer to this as "Margaretta Dentistry". No dentist in Kansas ever did that!




I am now a great advocate of "Margaretta Dentistry" . . . besides, Dr Ileana was not too bad to look at!

No New RV in Our Future!

This weekend, the Rio Grande Valley Chapter of the Texas Recreational Vehicle Association produced the All Valley RV Show at the RGV Livestock Showgrounds in Mercedes, Texas, a town about 10 miles East of here. Carole and I decided to go see what's new.

We looked at travel trailers, 5th wheels, and Class C and Class A motor homes. However, we didn't see anything of comparable quality to our Allegro Bus.


















In addition to the RV's, a number of Park Models were on display, units built similar to RV's, but intended to be parked stationary. Again, we were disappointed in the quality of the units on display. Some of the Park Models even had a "second story", but the ceiling was so low that you could only crawl around on your hands and knees. What good is that?

















The kitchens were so small with really cheap cabinetry . . . no more space than we have in our kitchen in "The Bus".


Of course, no RV show would be complete without "adult toys" and "local transportation". They had on display a number of "Four-wheelers" and golf carts. However, I was surprised that there were no "Toy Haulers" on display as those are a very hot RV item right now. A "toy hauler" is an RV with storage in back for hauling four-wheelers, motor cycles, or golf carts.

In total, we were quite disappointed in this RV Show and the units on display. So, we see "No New RV in Our Future!"






We'll just keep our Allegro Bus. We're happy with our high quality unit . . . even if it is nine years old, it's still far better quality than any of the offerings we've seen available today.

Get a Grip

Although I have never been an outstanding golfer and I don't play frequently, I have always enjoyed the game. I have, however, become more frustrated lately with my scores being even worse than they used to be.

I know I would play better if I played more often, but one of my problems has been the club turning in my hands when impacting the ball. I just couldn't seem to hold the club tight enough. The grips on my clubs were actually smooth and slippery. I asked one of the guys I was playing with the other day if he knew of a dressing for golf club grips that would make them more sticky and easier to hold. Maybe something like the gooey stuff football receivers used to put on their hands so they could better grab the ball.

He looked at my clubs and told me the grips were old and dried out. What I needed to do was replace the grips. Maybe I should have thought of that, but I was much too naive about golf to realize my grips were worn out and should or even could be replaced.

Nevertheless, I looked up a golf booth at the large flea market nearby, the Don-Wes Flea Market, and talked to the proprietor about new grips on my irons. He acknowledged my grips were dried out and my clubs needed to be re-gripped. So I selected the best he had to offer and left my irons with him to put the new grips on.


On Wednesday morning early, I excitedly drove over to the flea market to pick up my "new" irons. Wow! They sure looked nice with the new larger grips, kind of soft and cushioned, and with a little bit of a sticky feel. Another golf booth at the flea market saw my new grips and referred to them as "arthritic grips". If so, that's probably what an old guy like me needs and I should certainly be able to hang on to these grips.







I was so excited to try them out. I had signed up for mixed play with other residents of Palm Shadows RV Park and eagerly went to the clubhouse to join everyone else for the trip to the golf course. But it was a cool, cloudy day with a little mist in the air. Of the 26 golfers who had signed up to play, all but one other golfer and myself cancelled. They were obviously a bunch of "fair weather golfers", but I was not to be denied . . . I was determined to try out my new grips.


One of my neighbor here in the Park, Harold Crabtree, and I were the only die hard golfers still willing to play in the misty air. Other than one other twosome, we had the whole course all to ourselves. The weather was tolerable through the first several holes, although the faster we drove the golf cart, the wetter we got, as our cart had a roof but no windshield.








However, when we had only three holes to go the mist turned to light rain. We were determined to complete our round, which we did, and returned to the clubhouse pretty wet.

But most importantly, I was able to grip my "new" irons. They didn't turn in my hands!

I must report, however, that the wet weather was not conducive to good play and I didn't improve my score. I'll wait until a dry, sunny day to give my "new" irons a fair test. I can hardly wait for another chance to "Get a Grip" soon.

Guns Galore

I saw an ad in the local newspaper, The Monitor, for a Gun Show this weekend in Pharr, Texas; a nearby town about 6-7 miles down the road. I was excited (as always) to have the opportunity to see all of the offerings . . . and dream about building a big gun collection . . . again.


I chuckled to myself about the "mis-print" in the ad, which displayed a map of the State of Texas . . . backwards! I thought they ought to be more careful in proofreading before an ad goes to press. Boy, was I surprised when I arrived at the Pharr Convention Center and saw a truck of the show's producer, Saxet, with the company's name on the side along with their company logo . . . including a State of Texas map backwards! I don't understand the significance of displaying a Texas map backwards, but it obviously has some meaning to the proprietors of this company.







However, once inside the Convention Center, there was nothing "backwards" about the show. They had a pretty good display of guns and related items offered for sale, especially for a gun show in a small town like Pharr.

I saw several guns I may have been tempted to buy if I had been a Texas resident. Of course, out-of-state purchases are illegal so I all I could do was drool over some of the guns.






But since out-of-state purchases of ammunition are legal, and my kids/grandkids and I shot up all of my 9mm ammunition on Thanksgiving Day, I did pick up a couple hundred rounds of 9mm ammo. Now I'm ready for the next opportunity when I locate a shooting range or a place to shoot.

Avatar

Boy, it was cold outside today . . . temperature in the 30's most of the day. It looked like a good time to go hang out in a movie theater for a few hours. So we checked out the local offerings and settled on the science fiction movie, Avatar.

We had heard about the advanced computer technologies used in making this film, but we were amazed at the graphics. For those of you who haven't seen the film, it takes place on the planet of Pandora, where Earth people have a mining operation and develop a conflict with the local population of "Avatars".

We were greatly impressed with the story line as well as the video graphics. If you have any interest in state-of-the-art computer graphics or science fiction, I strongly recommend this film.

Plus . . . it was a great way to spend a cold day inside!

Too Cold to Swim

The Mission Mexico Group from Minnesota finished their work at the orphanage in Mexico and headed home on New Years Day. But on the way home, they had scheduled a stop at the beach for a swim in the Gulf at South Padre Island.

But Mother Nature didn't cooperate . . .

They drove to South Padre Island , all right, and we drove over to spend the time with them. We met at the Pizza Hut for lunch, then drove down to the beach. The air temperature was 55 degrees, the wind was about 15 MPH, the waves in the Gulf were about five feet high, and the water temperature was 54 degrees. Maybe OK for a polar bear swim, but for normal people, it was not a good day to be at the beach . . .

In the left photo below, John (in the hooded poncho he picked up in Mexico) and some of the grandkids are shown huddling against the cold. Becky is shown shivering in the right photo.

















It was "Too Cold to Swim", it was too cold to build sand castles, it was even too cold for a walk on the beach. So we said our goodbyes to the kids and grandkids and returned to "The Bus" while the Mission Mexico group got in their church bus for the return trip to Kansas and Minnesota.