How I spent my summer and other stories
Well, first I guess I should correct the title a bit...I guess it should be "How I spent my WINTER..." but, as you know, it's kind of temperate down here in Weslaco, so it is very body-confusing and people often refer to these as "summer" months. Oh, what a wonderful way to winter, too......we got very very cold a couple of times, and there was a LOT of rain, and oh, yes, the wind could be ferocious, BUT...we didn't shovel a thing!! Now, up in Dallas & Houston, there was a very different story. They had several snowstorms, and lots MORE rain, but, even so, none of their snow really stuck around more 'n a day, so while it hampered traffic, and made people crazy - well, it just wasn't all that bad, at least not for any length of time.
A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Lipizzan Stallion show in the next county over. The arena was the one they used for playing ice hockey, so you know the room was COLD. And the acoustics just weren't set up for sound, so we lost a bunch of what the ringmaster was tring to say.
BUT...the horses were still very beautiful and spirited. We went with Di & Jack, Carl & Sharon and Harv & Marg, and a good time was had by all! The still pictures can be seen in our gallery out on photoshop.com, and I believe we currently have ONE video out on kcallander989 on YouTube. There were signs all over, and they even "searched' my pocketbook, in an effort to prohibit videotaping....sooooo, even tho the security dude said "itty bitty camers are OK" i was a bit nervous. Didn't seem to bother the dude in front of us, tho. He was pretty blatant & upfront about taping almost the entire show. And while there are several clips out on YouTube, I didn't really want to challenge them or pay any fines or penalties. Sooooo, we have the one clip out there, and I may or may not get to publish the rest. Suffice it to say, we had a great time & enjoyed the ponies very very much.
The next day, we held our very own, very first geo-vent. See what monsters you've created Tim & Staples?? We pitted the girls against the guys and went after SEVEN caches in an area none of us had yet explored. The girls had the advantage, tho - we had Rusty, the trusty puppy with us, so we always had a great cover-story (walking the dog), and then there's the fact that both Di & I serve as navigators for our respective men, so even tho they are more "toy-oriented," we were more experienced in getting around. They had a GPS that talked to 'em and told them turn-by-turn where to go, and we had only our sense of direction and Streets & Trips. Must have been a winning combination, 'cuz we had an hour to shop at Hobby Lobby before meeting the boys at Red Lobster. I think everyone had a terrific time, and apparently, two more couples are now hooked on the sport!
OK, so that was Tuesday & Wednesday, then on Saturday, Weslaco (our little town) held their 25th Onion Festival, where the 1015 onion was celebrated. Of course, this winter was cooler than usual, so our local onions were not quite ready for harvest, but, lucky for us, the Mexican ones were available. The name comes from the Oct 16 planting date, and with any luck, they'll be ready here real soon. Dick says they are very sweet & mild, much tastier than the usual ones. Anyway, they must have been somethig, because Dick & Carl spent ONE AND A HALF HOURS, oh, yes, you read that right, standing in line to get a bloomin' onion. Yup, just like Outback - split open, battered & deep fried. And in addition to that one and a half HOURS, also spent $6.50 on the bloomin' thing! They were supposed to split one, but after waiting all that time, they each got one! Then they had to eat it!! Sharon had a nibble off of Carl's, but I don't like onions and they don't like ME, so Dick had to eat his all by himself. UGH. While they were waiting on line, Sharon & I had wandered off & saw all the vendors & exhibitors and gotten all the handouts we needed or wanted, and I even held the baby alligator. He was about 8 inches long and cute as could be! Here we ARE! (Click there to see the picture of us)
But, the really FANTASTIC part of the day was yet to come. There are Spanish-Portugese dancing horses, similar to the Lipizzan stallions, but they are different in the sense that they are even more spirited and perform in much heavier tack & costumes. They also performed to a live Mariachi band. You can see our album by clicking here —> http://www.photoshop.com/user/thecallanders/?rlang=en_US&galleryid=5dcbea5b4ae449198edbd4f4745692c9&wf=shareslideshow&trackingid=BTAGC
Video of this show was permitted, and yup, I was able to capture just about every minute of the splendor and you can view it on our YouTube video channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8M9YlHR984&feature=channel (this is their entrance, but you can use it to get to the entire performance)
And, so that's what we've done since the weather turned nice. That, and went to Mexico again, got teeth cleaned & ate (and drank) well for under $20, went to the VA THREE TIMES, trying to get Jose's new eyeglasses and just generally hung out (when we weren't getting shots in the Arse & going to physical therapy for 2 hours at a whack). I know it's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it. Might as well be us!
We are getting ready to leave here next Sunday and head up to San Antonio area for a full-timers' rally. Co-workers John & Lora are Escapees (another camping club) members, and they are organizing a group campout up in a little town called Boerne (pronounced Burn-ee). We've been up that way once before & really enjoyed it, and we're looking forward to meeting some new friends. Jack & Di (our friends from Georgia) are going to go up there with us, then they'll travel back to Georgia to visit with their (and our) friends at Twin Oaks. That's what THEY're gonna do. What're WE gonna do? God knows, and He ain't tellin! We dunno!!! And, actually, we don't really care!!
All we know fer sure is that there will be a pool in our plans!
Before we settle in somewhere for the summer, we're gonna think about heading East, so all y'all better watch out! Airfare is coming down, and I still need serger lessons! Don't EVEN get me started on what a ripoff the Picket Fence's serger class was - suffice it to say, I was fully torked coming out of it! The "instructor" didn't show up until 10 minutes into class, and the next 20 minutes were spent admiring the outfit she was making for her daughter's rodeo performance the following week. ARRRGH. That was just the tip of the iceberg, and since I'm almost over it, I don't really wish to dwell on it anylonger.....but, Cathy, I need your HELP!
Plus, it'll be really nice to visit with old friends (that friends we've had a while, not necessarily old farts!) And, on that note, I think I'll sign off for now! Y'all take care and travel safe. And this time, when I say "see ya soon," hopefully, soon will be sooner than later.
A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Lipizzan Stallion show in the next county over. The arena was the one they used for playing ice hockey, so you know the room was COLD. And the acoustics just weren't set up for sound, so we lost a bunch of what the ringmaster was tring to say.
BUT...the horses were still very beautiful and spirited. We went with Di & Jack, Carl & Sharon and Harv & Marg, and a good time was had by all! The still pictures can be seen in our gallery out on photoshop.com, and I believe we currently have ONE video out on kcallander989 on YouTube. There were signs all over, and they even "searched' my pocketbook, in an effort to prohibit videotaping....sooooo, even tho the security dude said "itty bitty camers are OK" i was a bit nervous. Didn't seem to bother the dude in front of us, tho. He was pretty blatant & upfront about taping almost the entire show. And while there are several clips out on YouTube, I didn't really want to challenge them or pay any fines or penalties. Sooooo, we have the one clip out there, and I may or may not get to publish the rest. Suffice it to say, we had a great time & enjoyed the ponies very very much.The next day, we held our very own, very first geo-vent. See what monsters you've created Tim & Staples?? We pitted the girls against the guys and went after SEVEN caches in an area none of us had yet explored. The girls had the advantage, tho - we had Rusty, the trusty puppy with us, so we always had a great cover-story (walking the dog), and then there's the fact that both Di & I serve as navigators for our respective men, so even tho they are more "toy-oriented," we were more experienced in getting around. They had a GPS that talked to 'em and told them turn-by-turn where to go, and we had only our sense of direction and Streets & Trips. Must have been a winning combination, 'cuz we had an hour to shop at Hobby Lobby before meeting the boys at Red Lobster. I think everyone had a terrific time, and apparently, two more couples are now hooked on the sport!
OK, so that was Tuesday & Wednesday, then on Saturday, Weslaco (our little town) held their 25th Onion Festival, where the 1015 onion was celebrated. Of course, this winter was cooler than usual, so our local onions were not quite ready for harvest, but, lucky for us, the Mexican ones were available. The name comes from the Oct 16 planting date, and with any luck, they'll be ready here real soon. Dick says they are very sweet & mild, much tastier than the usual ones. Anyway, they must have been somethig, because Dick & Carl spent ONE AND A HALF HOURS, oh, yes, you read that right, standing in line to get a bloomin' onion. Yup, just like Outback - split open, battered & deep fried. And in addition to that one and a half HOURS, also spent $6.50 on the bloomin' thing! They were supposed to split one, but after waiting all that time, they each got one! Then they had to eat it!! Sharon had a nibble off of Carl's, but I don't like onions and they don't like ME, so Dick had to eat his all by himself. UGH. While they were waiting on line, Sharon & I had wandered off & saw all the vendors & exhibitors and gotten all the handouts we needed or wanted, and I even held the baby alligator. He was about 8 inches long and cute as could be! Here we ARE! (Click there to see the picture of us)
But, the really FANTASTIC part of the day was yet to come. There are Spanish-Portugese dancing horses, similar to the Lipizzan stallions, but they are different in the sense that they are even more spirited and perform in much heavier tack & costumes. They also performed to a live Mariachi band. You can see our album by clicking here —> http://www.photoshop.com/user/thecallanders/?rlang=en_US&galleryid=5dcbea5b4ae449198edbd4f4745692c9&wf=shareslideshow&trackingid=BTAGC
Video of this show was permitted, and yup, I was able to capture just about every minute of the splendor and you can view it on our YouTube video channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8M9YlHR984&feature=channel (this is their entrance, but you can use it to get to the entire performance)
And, so that's what we've done since the weather turned nice. That, and went to Mexico again, got teeth cleaned & ate (and drank) well for under $20, went to the VA THREE TIMES, trying to get Jose's new eyeglasses and just generally hung out (when we weren't getting shots in the Arse & going to physical therapy for 2 hours at a whack). I know it's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it. Might as well be us!
We are getting ready to leave here next Sunday and head up to San Antonio area for a full-timers' rally. Co-workers John & Lora are Escapees (another camping club) members, and they are organizing a group campout up in a little town called Boerne (pronounced Burn-ee). We've been up that way once before & really enjoyed it, and we're looking forward to meeting some new friends. Jack & Di (our friends from Georgia) are going to go up there with us, then they'll travel back to Georgia to visit with their (and our) friends at Twin Oaks. That's what THEY're gonna do. What're WE gonna do? God knows, and He ain't tellin! We dunno!!! And, actually, we don't really care!!
All we know fer sure is that there will be a pool in our plans! Before we settle in somewhere for the summer, we're gonna think about heading East, so all y'all better watch out! Airfare is coming down, and I still need serger lessons! Don't EVEN get me started on what a ripoff the Picket Fence's serger class was - suffice it to say, I was fully torked coming out of it! The "instructor" didn't show up until 10 minutes into class, and the next 20 minutes were spent admiring the outfit she was making for her daughter's rodeo performance the following week. ARRRGH. That was just the tip of the iceberg, and since I'm almost over it, I don't really wish to dwell on it anylonger.....but, Cathy, I need your HELP!
Plus, it'll be really nice to visit with old friends (that friends we've had a while, not necessarily old farts!) And, on that note, I think I'll sign off for now! Y'all take care and travel safe. And this time, when I say "see ya soon," hopefully, soon will be sooner than later.
You guys coming up Virginia way???
We have a pool!
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