It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Stupidity!

 

It’s been unseasonably hot in the Rio Grande Valley lately. Not that we’re complaining. At least I’m not. Jim is the one who complains about everything. Heat is not really a problem for us as long as we can run the air to get some relief from it. But we have been having trouble with low voltage which causes our Progressive EMS to shut off the power. After a week or so of moderate temperatures, we stupidly forgot about the problem.

Last week we went out for a pleasant long lunch with Paul and Marsha from Where’s Weaver, then did some shopping. It was in the low 90s. When we got home 5 hours later our power had been off and it was almost 96 in the rig. The kittens were prostrate on the kitchen floor, but seemed fine once we cranked up the generator and got the air running again. There was no vacancy in the park, but a couple days later two sites came open, so after checking the voltage to make sure it was an improvement, we moved on down to the next circle. So far the voltage dropped low only once and shut down the air for a short time during the afternoon heat of another 90 degree day.

Since I haven’t been blogging much this winter, I know many of you are dying to know what we’ve been up to. Working in Activities is still keeping us very busy. Take this week for example. Last night was a dance with The Country Roland Band.  I almost hate to admit this, but we have learned to like at least some country music over the past few months. I am even taking line dance classes! We are off today, but tomorrow is Margarita night, Thursday we have a Valentine’s dance. Friday we have 2 shows by Wade Landry, a Cajun fiddler. We are planning to attend one of the shows since we saw him at the Showcase and he was very good, but we rotate working at them and this is our off week. Saturday we have a pancake breakfast and bingo, Sunday a beer tasting, pizza party and movie, and a wine tasting on Monday. It will be a busy weekend.

Those activities are just a small number of the things that go on here at Bentsen Palm Village, but we don’t have to work at the others. There are line dance classes, daily exercise classes, horseshoes, poker, crafts, sewing and quilting, woodworking, computer and photography workshops, golf, Spanish lessons, kayaking, bicycle rides, target shooting, pool, nightly cards and games, bird watching trips, and I’m sure I’m forgetting something. If you like to stay busy and enjoy hanging out with other people, this is the place to be.

Chuck and Carla, our Iowa Lazy Daze friends who spent a month with us in Colorado last summer, arrived last weekend with their friend Regina. It’s been a little too warm for them here, but it beats the single digits and snow they left behind in Iowa.

Chuck said he would boycott our blog if we posted this picture. Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.

Another Lazy Daze friend, Pam, from Traveling With Pam, has been here almost a month now. She’s the one who told us about this place, and this is her third time here.

The kitties are growing up, almost 5 pounds now. Elvis gets a treat on Valentine’s Day, when we take him to get neutered. The Harlingen Spay/Neuter Clinic is running a special during February. Only $10 for cat neutering. Since they are only 4 months old, Sophie will have to wait a few more weeks before getting spayed. Once we get that out of the way, we shouldn’t have to make any more vet visits for awhile.

This is when I love them the most. When they are awake the constant motion makes it hard to get good pictures.

In other animal news, our friend Debbie broke down and adopted another dog from Cinderella Pet Rescue. She saw him last week when we went to take care of the cats, and it was love at first sight. Elliot needed a playmate, so now he has Rupert. What a sweetie!

They cut his hair when they found him since he was full of burrs, but he will probably look a lot like Elliot when it grows out.

Saturday was the annual Pet Parade at the park. All proceeds benefit Cinderella. There were several winners, and I think Houdi got the most votes. He was a Cinderella dog adopted last spring by a Canadian couple. He is a very nice dog that was a stray and very frightened by people when he was found. He’s come a long way.

Some of the other contestants.

 

Volunteers brought a bunch of dogs from Cinderella.

Besides Rupert, Moose also found a home at the parade.

It was a big success, and we will find out tomorrow at Margarita hour how much money was raised for the shelter.

Today we plan to check out the Pulga, a local flea market. In case I don’t write about it, you can read the Weaver’s experience here. Thanks for telling us about it.