Today was pretty much a typical day—different activities, but busy, and definitely more stress.  Back home in northern Arkansas, rain, freezing rain, sleet, and then snow is forecast for the next couple of days, along with below freezing weather expected for the next 8 days—temperatures are not forecast to rise above 32°  for the next week!  We were on pins and needles wondering whether the area would experience a power outage similar to one in 2008 that forced us to return home from the RGV for a few days.  This morning, we prepared ourselves for the worst, and if neighbor Wayne calls with bad news, I will return to Arkansas as soon as road conditions permit to take care of business.  With this scenario looming, Kay was off to exercise “class” in the Activities Center while Van and I walked a short route, about 5.0 km (3.6 miles), taking advantage of the road from the resort past the National Butterfly Center to the southern terminus of the Mission Nature Park trail (aka the Roadrunner Trail), and back to the resort.  Back at the resort, I phoned Wayne and he informed me that temperatures had dropped below freezing and freezing rain was coming down.  He promised to let me know if I needed to return home.  He’s such a great friend to take care of us!

Grapefruit harvest is in full swing and pickers were busy in a field near us.  The grapefruit are picked by hand, and the workers use long ladders to reach the top of trees.  The illegals must find it difficult to hide with all the harvest activity!

Since there was nothing we could do about the weather back home, Kay and I drove to Mission West RV Resort for dance lessons with Robert Bataglia.  Bob does dance lessons throughout the week at different RV parks and Mission West is relative near to us, less than 4 miles.  We began taking lessons from him in January 2008 and really like his teaching style.  We practiced the Texas 2-step, waltz, and cha-cha.  While there, we met and visited with a couple from Siloam Springs, Arkansas, who were winter residents there.  This was their third year in the RGV, and they plan to stay 6 months this year, arriving October 1, and remaining until April 1.  Much of our talk was about the winter weather forecast for northern Arkansas.  After dance lessons, Kay brought me back to Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort, and she drove to her scheduled appointment for a cut and color, which looks great!  We visited with Regie, Jim, Bonnie, and Van in lieu of happy hour at the palapa.  Wayne phoned to let us know that our area of Arkansas had escaped much of the freezing rain that had been forecast, and that there were no power outages—great news for us, and we breathed a long sigh of relief.  Still coming down from the stress of the day, we spent a quiet rest-of-the-evening in the RV.