Early to bed, early to rise—2:30 AM was wake-up hour Friday morning!  At least the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Baxter Bulletin were ready to download and read, and the early hour provided time to continue work on The BOOK, an autobiography with emphasis on fly fishing, and including a section on favorite fly patterns and recipes.  A very rough draft of the section on fly patterns and recipes was emailed to John Simank for his use in tying some of the patterns; however, John is an incredible fly tier in his own right, and has created countless patterns which are real “killers”.  He has given permission to include these in The BOOK, so more to come.  We were off early to Kay’sendodontist, and at 8 AM it was 33°, the coldest temperature we’ve ever seen in the RGV.  The root canal took about an hour, and the endodontist believes he saved the tooth—yea!  Kay was really impressed with him, his office, etc.  At my insistence, she went to bed when we arrived back at the RV, and after the numbness wore off, felt fine, even chewing food on that side of her mouth.  We’ll keep our fingers crossed that the tooth’s integrity remains intact for many, many years.  I rushed off to the BPVRV Resort Photography Club meeting, and it was packed.  Joe, a BPVRV Resort resident and retired photojournalist, gave a presentation on telling a story with photographs.  He was very good, and quite demonstrative.  The cool, wet weather persisted through the afternoon, and was not fit for bicycling without follow-up washing, drying, and oiling the bike, a chore not being looked forward to.  Consequently, I did not ride.  Rather, I spent the afternoon downloading Keynote, an Apple application similar to PowerPoint, but not having as much capability.  Because of the different keystrokes, file management, etc., it was a bit cumbersome to learn, but what the heck.  Our entertainment Friday evening was Doug and Daphne, a duo from Nashville.  He played guitar for Barbara Mandrell and she sang backup for the traveling Gaither show.  He was the best instrumentalist we’ve seen in the RGV and she was the best vocalist.  Together, they put on a great show, and we’ll vote for them as “Duo of the Year.”

Still unseasonably cool, no bicycle ride occurred Saturday morning.  Our weather here has been cool then warm, windy then calm, etc., and fitting in a bike ride among other activities and decent weather has proved challenging.  That’s not a big problem except for the Jalapeño 100 coming up on February 22; will the legs and butt be in shape? While I waited on warm temperatures for riding, Kay drove to near Progresso to check on a yard sign (which wasn’t ready), then to Costco, and back to the RV.  Temperatures didn’t moderate until mid-afternoon, and by then it was too late to ride any significant distance.  Happy hour at the palapa was packed as most came out of their RVs after several days of cool/cold weather.  Kay watched the Olympics Saturday evening, while I caught up on sleep!

Derby Day at BPVRV Resort was on Sunday.  After church, we returned to the RV to read the newspaper, and rest briefly before attending and participating in Derby Day.  This is a fun activity, complete with mint juleps, wagers, colorful hats, etc.  Kay was an entrant in the first race, after which she donned her Derby hat.  I assisted in preparing mint juleps, though I’ve never drunk one (and still haven’t)!  If only our kids and grandkids could see us at Derby Day!  Oh well, it’s something to do. 

We enjoyed another good crowd at the palapa, and Kay again watched the Olympics.  (NOTE:  I do not watch the JUDGED events in the Olympics because of the political nature of the judging, and the tremendous bias introduced by some countries or bloc of countries, generally disfavoring the US.  I believe it is unjust and unfair to the amateur athletes who give up a lot of their youth to train and participate.  Just my opinion!)  Here are a few photos of Derby Day.