Al and Sharon, our friends and neighbors in the Rio Grande Valley, stopped by Sunday afternoon on their way back to Ontario, Canada.  We so much enjoyed their visit.  Al and I played golf on soggy courses both Monday and Tuesday, and we all played bridge every night.  What a life style!  We said goodbyes on Wednesday morning as they departed for near Hamilton, Ontario, via Cincinnati, OH.

Kay drove into Little Rock and Maumelle Wednesday afternoon to take care of business related to the Hot Springs Village House.  Thursday and Friday were relatively quiet. 

We drove to Memphis on Saturday in snow flurries to see Harper and visit with Jenny and Brian.  She was so much fun.  Her KK took her an Easter basket and she enjoyed the eggs and candy!  We had “high” tea, read about Princesses, sang, and danced the Texas Two Step.

Sunday, the Christ of the Hills United Methodist Church had their Easter cantata, complete with orchestra.  It was awesome. 

We successfully made the shift from RVing, and are now focusing on completing construction of and furnishing and decorating the Hot Springs Village house.  We had a bit of a setback on the schedule as our move-in date has now delayed to the end of April.  The domino effect is that we have to move out of the rental house on April 20, our former move-in date, and could not find a reasonable alternative.  We were able to reserve the efficiency one room casita we have stayed in several times previously.  However, we’ll have to move a lot of the stuff from the rental house to storage, and then to the new house—not a good week. On the bright side, progress was made on the HSV house (see Our HSV House blog).  And, we’re acquiring things for the house each time we go to Little Rock or Hot Springs.  This week we bought some bedding for one of the guest bedrooms and some yard art.

We did play golf this week, in between the almost daily showers; I took a lesson Monday, we hit balls several times at the driving range, and I played a round at Coronado.  

On Saturday, we visited briefly with Karyn, Matt, Ridge, and Aker, and were there when the kids were dressed for their Easter photo.  Kay so enjoys all four of our grandkids—and they adore her!  My oh my, the kids are really growing.

This was a busy week for us.  Rain resulted in the cancellation of golf Monday, and made outdoor activities near impossible.  We continued to pack for the trip home, though we’re just about finished; motorhomes are so self-contained that not a lot of packing is required—just enough to keep things from breaking.  Kay arranged an RV resort ladies’ luncheon Tuesday, and many old and new friends attended.  This marked our last “official” act in the Valley.  At the palapa happy hour Tuesday afternoon, we said our goodbyes for the season, and year, as we don’t plan to return until January 2016.

We departed Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort in Mission, TX, on Wednesday morning under overcast skies and against a 10-15 mph headwind.  Both stayed with us the entire day, but no rain.  We drove to Aggieland RV Park in Bryan, TX, for overnighting (thanks, John, for the recommendation).  Chuck, the owner, played football at Baylor at the same time I attended the University of Arkansas, playing against the Razorbacks in Fayetteville while I was there—small world!  He is a retired cardiologist, and works full time operating the RV park.  He said that out of the 7 docs in the practice, 6 retired and of those 6 cardiologists, two own and operate RV parks and one builds custom doors.  Go figure!  We drove the remaining 400+ miles home Thursday in light rain, arriving at Hot Springs Village about 4:30 PM.  

We had planned to overnight at Hot Springs Village’s RV park, but the rental house (our residence where until the HSV house is finished) was vacant.  We couldn’t pass up good clean water, wide open spaces, and a large shower.  We drove straight to Walmart on the west side of the Village, unhooked the Honda, and Kay left to pick up keys to the rental unit.  We parked the motorhome at the RV park, hooked up to 50 A shore power, set the stabilizing jacks, and opened the slides before driving to the new house to see progress since our last visit (Kay’s was three weeks ago, mine was 6 weeks ago)—we’ll have a separate post in Our HSV House blog in a few days.

We spent most of Friday, again in the rain, unpacking the motorhome—with three full car loads of stuff.  We are removing most stuff from the RV, and will do a reset to eliminate things we don’t use, or use so infrequently that it’s not worth the trouble carrying it, e.g. alternative down comforter.  Also, while in the Valley, we purchased some accessories for the new house and brought those with us. The wet and dirty roads left lots of grime on the Honda, the bicycles, and the motorhome so Friday evening during a lull in the rain, I washed the Honda.  Saturday morning, again in the rain, I washed the bicycles, the tow bar, and the bicycle rack, and Kay and I cleaned the inside and washed the exterior of motorhome.  Tired, we finished just after lunch, having essentially finished all the chores.  Sitting on the covered porch of the rental house, overlooking the 6th green of Coronado Golf Course, enticed us to play golf.  With chores finished, it’s time for GOLF—when the rain quits!

As we enter March, our time in the RGV is winding down—and, we’re anxious to go home, i.e. Hot Springs Village.  It’s our first time since beginning to RV in 2007 that we’ll return to a different city and house.  The weather here in the Valley has still been substandard, with cool, windy, and sometimes wet days most of the time; we just can’t get a break, but won’t complain too loudly as folks north of us are having a worse weather winter.  

Kay continues to exercise on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of each week, and weather permitting, I play golf on Monday and Wednesday.  Kay also continues Swedish weaving with time permits, and is becoming quite the artist.  We met Jim and Cheryl Watts at The Ranch House for delicious hamburgers and great conversation.  Our visits are too seldom and too brief.

I continue to tie flies for bream (bluegills) fly fishing this coming spring and early summer, having tied some 6 dozen the last three weeks, including popping bugs, bream killers, and foam spiders; that should help stock the fly box!

And we both began packing about the middle of the week for our return to Arkansas, and we are essentially ready to depart when the appointed time arrives Wednesday morning.  

We attended our next to last dance in the Valley Thursday afternoon, and while it was fun, the smoke was too much for our allergies, and I’m still suffering with stuffiness, headache, and itching!

Lastly, with respect to the HSV house, Brandon Tedder, owner of Renaissance Homes, Inc. and our builder, gave us a 45-day out finish date of around April 20 to coincide with the last day of the house rental in HSV.  

Sunday, Chris Tenney and I drove to Resaca de la Palma State Park to capture photos of some unique butterflies.  Chris is on a quest for a “Big Butterfly Year” in 2015—to identify and photograph as many species of butterflies in the US in 365 days; you may read his on-going efforts in this regard in his blog, http://www.butterflybigyear.net/  His wife passed away 2 years ago in January, and last year he was still in deep mourning.  His specific target on this Sunday was the Gemmed Satyr, and he was able to identify and photograph it before noon.  Additionally, he identified and photographed a White-scrubbed Hairstreak, a life butterfly for him, i.e. the first time he has ever observed one, and allowing him to add two to his “big year”.

As for me, I have been chasing the elusive Mexican Bluewing Butterfly for three seasons, a species I have seen twice, but never photographed.  I was able to see several of these butterflies on Sunday, and capture a decent photograph.  I also saw many Blue Metalmarks, a species I had never seen, and was able to get several photographs of the butterfly, a lifer for me.  We saw over 25 species on an overcast windy day—not too bad!

Coincident with Kay returning from 10 days in Arkansas, this week has been a “coming out” week for me, as the funk I’ve been in since last March 2014 seems to finally be dissipating.  With the new house progressing, and no commitments for the future, it seems like we’ve finally retired, though neither has worked full time for over 10 years.  It seems as if I’ve been going ninety to nothing the entire 10 years, and speeding up even more when Ronnie died, I was diagnosed with cancer, and had the mild heart attack this past summer.  It feels good, actually great, to be cool, calm, and collected again, finally!  I resumed fly tying, the first time tying in the RV since 2009, and the first time tying for fun in several years, I have really enjoyed it.  It sure seems like the older one gets, the more one returns to the things truly enjoyed and loved.  So, I returned to my first love in fly tying—popping bugs and bream flies—readying for a great spring and early summer of fly fishing for bream and bass, a first love in fly fishing.

Overall, the week was quiet, with cold, wet weather predominating—no golf, no dancin’, and bridge only once—resulting in a quiet, indoor week.