It didn’t take long to get back in the routine of spending winter in the Rio Grande Valley.  And, the rain and cold weather upon our arrival helped as we were able to recharge our batteries.

New Year’s Day was uneventful as we stayed in the RV most of the day because of cool and wet weather.  Kay ventured out long enough to photograph the Polar Plunge, but only 4 brave souls participated; I had planned to, but had already been in the hot tub in the morning!

Saturday afternoon we ventured out to the Ranch House’s new location with Al, Sharon, Chuck, and Sue, and their burgers were just as good as always., though too much red meat for the health conscious. 

Up early Sunday morning, we attended church, and, since it’s our fifth year there, felt like home—same pastor and same music leader. 

While Kay was off to exercise Monday morning, I joined Al for golf at Los Lagos Golf Course in Edinburg, my favorite in the Valley.  The fairways were green, and the greens were fast and consistent.  We played Court Whist in the evening, though neither of us did well.

No activities were planned for Tuesday, but the weather was good for a bike ride, though a little cool.  Chuck and I road the “Roadrunner” Trail comprising an almost 9 mile route, and true to form, we spotted a couple of Roadrunners.  We made our first visit to Costco, purchasing food and other items not readily available at home.  Kay visited the “beauty” shop in the afternoon and got a really short haircut; the stylist began talking about her new expected grandbaby, and clipped right through the conversation!  Tuesday night is game night here in Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort (BPVRV), and along with Al and Sharon, we played bridge. I drew good cards and had great partner fits, ending up with high score for the evening.

Wednesday was golf at Meadow Creek, my least favorite course in the Valley.  The fairways are sparsely sodded, and the greens are uneven and inconsistent, though better than last year—excuses for a bad score!  Kay, Loretta (former neighbor from Norfork), and Sharon spent the afternoon viewing the new Star Wars movie.  Back at the resort, it was “Margarita Night” though neither of us attended.

Kay and I went different directions again on Thursday.  Chuck and I bicycled the “Roadrunner” trail again—8.9 miles in 1:03 hours—and it proved to be quite fortuitous as we say two roadrunners, one javelina , and one Bobwhite Quail.  It was the first javelina and quail we’ve seen on this trail.  Kay went to the Swedish weaving class only to find out she had to remove a whole line of weaving she had done previously.  This is her fourth project, and the other three looked fantastic.  It was game night, and Sandy Muscat joined us for bridge.  With 5 players, we alternated playing hands. The cards were not so kind.

The early part of the year was spent traveling between Arkansas and the Rio Grande Valley.  Having begun the year in the Rio Grande Valley, we returned to Arkansas in late January for the birth of our 4th grandchild, Aker Elizabeth Adams.  After a quick trip back to the Valley, Kay again returned to Arkansas a couple weeks later to assist with Aker’s care.  Back in the Valley for only three weeks, we both returned to Arkansas, in mid-March, awaiting completion of the new house—much of the early part of 2015 was spent focusing on construction of the new house! It seemingly took forever—when weather was bad, no work was done, and when weather was good, no work was done.  Finally on April 27, tired of living in the motorhome for 5 months and in rental property for 6 weeks, we moved in.  So, with a new house, all new furniture and furnishings, a new local church, and a few great old friends, life’s reset button was activated, and one of the last great adventures for us began (not as glamorous as it might appear).

Shortly after our moving in to the new house, Kay’s son Ron married Cheryl Williams, and she and daughter Jordan were joyfully welcomed into the family in early May. 

More than likely exacerbated by all the moving, my back finally gave out, leaving me unable to walk or stand for any length of time.  I was diagnosed with lumbar spinal stenosis in early July, and began receiving spinal injections, just in time for our next “adventure”.

In early August we accomplished another “life list” item via a 22-day Viking Grand European river cruise, visiting Amsterdam, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.  We met Canadian friends Chuck and Sue Mercer in Amsterdam, and spent 22 great days in Western and Middle Europe.  Germany was our favorite country and Prague was our favorite city.  The people were friendly, and the food, wine, and beer were great; Viking was 1st class all the way.  One of the highlights of the trip was meeting Syd and Karen Graveline from Ontario, Canada, with whom we shared many meals and conversations.

Kay injured her right wrist in late summer and spent the last half of the year being treated for tendonitis.  In addition, she had minor surgery for skin cancer on each side of her nose, and was bandaged for several days, looking like she had come out on the wrong end of a fight.

For the first time in several years, Thanksgiving and Christmas were at home in Arkansas, and we got to have lots of time with the grandkids.  Speaking of kids and grandkids, our older grandson, Kaden, is a sophomore in college, studying mechanical engineering, and our new step granddaughter, Jordan, just started college, playing softball for U of A Monticello. Karyn and Matt are busy with two little ones, with Aker growing like a weed while big brother Ridge, who turned 4 in October, is maturing into a busy young lad.  Jenny and Brian are doing well, and Harper turned 3 in July—a precocious little princess.  

In between all these exciting times, we continued furnishing and decorating the house, playing golf, and taking advantage of much that Hot Springs Village offers.

We ended the year traveling back to the Rio Grande Valley, our winter home, renewing relationships with many friends there.

Over the course of the year, many of you have directly touched our lives, and for that we are grateful; we are so blessed to have lots of great folks as friends and acquaintances.

With the holiday over, we used Saturday morning to “deconstruct” Christmas decorations, and it sure took less time to deconstruct—3 1/2 house—than for Kay to decorate.  With the house back to normal and looking empty, we concentrated on getting the motorhome ready for travel to south Texas for our abbreviated winter there.  Most of the packing had been done prior to the holiday, and since we’re packing light this year, we lacked only last minute items.  When de-winterizing, a leak revealed itself above the the potable water pump compartment when the pump was activated.  Consequently, we didn’t know whether or not we would have water, without leaks, when hooked up to “city” water, and packed several gallons of water for cooking and flushing.  Also, we noted the chassis battery was weak (the motorhome has three batteries, two for the coach or house part of the motorhome, and one for the chassis, or engine and drive train part of the motorhome); oh well, it could be replaced upon arrival in the Rio Grande Valley since we could start the engine using the auxiliary start button (taking advantage of the coach batteries).   Also, three wireless security cameras were installed in the house.

We delayed our departure until the forecast showed a low probability of rain 20% or less, and Monday morning the persistent rain finally stopped, or at least we thought.  We hooked up the Honda, and departed the storage facility, headed to Texas.  Just as we passed the gate exiting the Village, I realized my hearing aids were still in the house bedroom, so the motorhome was turned around, driven to the house, and the hearing aids recovered.  On the way back out, we passed friend Jim Passe who had drive over to say good-bye.  We pulled over, and exchanged good-byes, and were off for the Rio Grande Valley.  The first day’s travel was slightly less than 200 miles, all in a misting rain with 20-25 mph headwinds, as we stopped at Johnson Creek Campground, Lake O’ The Pines, Texas, about an hour south of Texarkana.  This is a US Army Corps of Engineers campground heavily used by locals, and they seem to occupy spaces even without reservations or paying.  Consequently, after being assigned a space, we found it to be occupied, and we drove around the campground with the motorhome 3 times before finally being assigned another spot.  Electrical connections were made and the hose was hooked-up, and voila, the leak did not appear—hallelujah and praise the Lord!

Our second day’s travel took us further south almost 300 miles with partly sunny skies and little to no wind.  We arrived just after noon at Colorado Landing RV and Mobile Home park at LaGrange, Texas.  We have stopped there many times enroute to and from the Valley.  Many of the RV sites were empty when we arrived but quickly filled as the afternoon wore on.  We had a late lunch at Las Fuentes Mexican restaurant near the RV park, and it was great; enough food was left over for another meal or two.  

A light rain fell through the night, forcing us to load up for the final day’s travel in wet conditions.  The light rain and a slight tailwind continued throughout the day, otherwise the trip was uneventful.  Gasoline was relatively inexpensive for the trip down, as we payed $1.699 per gallon for 93 octane at one stop and $1.519 per gallon at Victoria, Texas.  Other prices were in the $1.70+ per gallon.  We arrived at Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort, our winter home, at about 1:30 PM, welcomed by all our neighbors in “Circle 3”.  It really feels good to be here, despite the cool, wet weather.

This reporting period began with one of the most important events of the year for Kay, Book Club Christmas party.  As has become typical, when Book Club meets in Hot Springs Village, most of the ladies arrive a day early and spend the evening at Oaklawn, enjoying the games of chance—some more than others!  And then the big day arrives and they eat, drink, and exchange gifts; they are truly sisters from another mother. Jackie hosted this year’s Christmas Book Club meeting.

We wrapped up the remaining medical appointments for the year; I’ve been cancer free for 5 years, the cardiologist said he didn’t need to see me for another year, and Kay’s wrist has almost returned to normal from the tendonitis she’s suffered for several months—life’s good!

This time before Christmas also provided an opportunity to have breakfast with old friends, Ron and Ginger Hicks, and dinner with new friends, Mike and Susan Cigleman.

As the week before Christmas progressed, Kay had minor surgery for skin cancer, with accompanying bandages around her nose; people will think I’m an evil husband.

The Adams came to celebrate Christmas on December 23, spending the night.  We had a great time with them;   made fried apricot pies for Karyn, her favorite, and Ridge and Aker were full of life, having a great time at KK and DDs.  Santa called Ridge, and Mrs. Claus informed him that he made the “nice” list.  

He fist pumped at the news, as there was some doubt after the previous few days!  Watching his reaction was priceless.  On Christmas Eve we celebrated gift giving with a brunch and gift opening including Karyn, Matt, Ridge, and Aker, and Ron, Cheryl, and Kaden.  It was delightful!  We spent a quiet Christmas Eve afternoon, and enjoyed a packed Carols and Candlelight ceremony at church. 

We awoke early Christmas morning and made the trip to Memphis to celebrate gift opening with Jenny, Harper, and Brian.  And then, Jenny prepared a great dinner for us all, including her mother and her mother’s husband.  A good time was had by all.  We drove back to Hot Springs Village, took it easy for the evening, and said goodbye to another holiday, at least at home this time, our first in 4 years.

The holiday season is in full swing in Hot Springs Village, with musical performances seemingly every night.  And, as the year draws to a close, semi-annual medical appointments abound.  In between are social events for Kay and golf for Donald, weather permitting.  Speaking of weather, temperatures have been above normal for much of early December, with rain scattered every few days.

We began the month taking care of of Ridge and Aker for a couple of days while their parents were working out of town—not sure how young working families do it these days—returning to the Village during the daytime for Kay’s initiation into P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization) an organization whose mission is the furtherance of education for women.  We returned to north Arkansas early in the month for semi-annual dentist visits, having lunch with former neighbors and good friends, Wayne and Loretta, along the way.  Kay returned to central Arkansas to baby-sit Aker, away from school for a few days because of an illness.  Sandwiched in between all these activities, she attended numerous luncheons and other social activities—she’s obviously the social butterfly of the family—while I played an occasional round of golf.  I even dug the bicycles out for cleaning and lubricating, and managed a ride or two.  The hills here in the Village kicked butt and tested lungs and legs, making for short rides.

This is our first Christmas season at home since 2011, and Kay has done a super job decorating the house (photos in next week’s blog).  She has wrapped seemingly tons of presents, so there are lots of packages under the tree.  It will be fun watching Ridge and Harper open presents this year.  We had looked forward to baking, but we don’t need the empty calories and there is no one to give the food too as our neighbors are in similar eating straits—what a shame.

The suet feeders hanging off the deck are attracting a few birds, and along with Lake Estrella behind the house, provide some decent photo opportunities for the usual array of suspects:  Eastern Bluebirds, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Wrens, Crows, White-breasted Nuthatches, Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers, Mallards, and Buffleheads.  Our first Yellow-rumped Warbler appeared at the sunroom window on December 14, but as typical with warblers, didn’t stay in enough for a photo.

Notable among the various Christmas musical performances in the Village were the HSV Mens’ Chorus/P.E.O. Singers and the cantata at our church.The Village Men’s Chorus is the first musical group to be formed in the Village, 1971, and currently has 35 members.  The P.E.O. Singers is made up of members from the 6 chapters of P.E.O. in the Village.  The Christmas cantata at Christ of the Hills United Methodist Church was the best we’ve ever attended.  The choir was comprised of 60+ members and was complemented by a 17 piece orchestra.  Despite some songs having ranges difficult for professional singers, the choir handled them well.  And the symphony added a huge value to the performance.  Well done!

With respect to medical appointments, we’ve had more medical-related visits since living in the Village than at any other similar time in our marriage—wonder if it is something in the water!  Actually, several of them were “new” patient visits, and others simply because we’re aging; no one told us it was going to be like this.

One other item worth mentioning is that we’re going to have new neighbors.  The lot next door, across the common area/boat launch, has been cleared and the footings were placed.  The house will go up fast.

The Apple Store in Little Rock made short work of replacing the hard drive in the MacBook, but I did lose some music because of a failure to frequently backup iTunes—lesson learned, and lost a lot of financial data.  Apple allows the hard drive to be partitioned to run Windows, and I had done that in order to run Quicken.  Kay and I have all of our non-cash transactions recorded via Quicken back to when we first married.  As it so happens, when I ran a “complete” backup for the MacBook Pro, it only ran the “complete” backup for the MacBook side of the computer.  Consequently, all the data on the Windows side of the hard drive was lost.  Our most recent backup of Quicken was June 2013.  We opted not to partition the new hard drive, meaning that we had to acquire new Apple OS based personal financial software.  After loading iBooks 5 and populating the accounts, it crashed twice, resulting in a reboot.  I finally acquiesced and bought Quicken 2016 for Mac, and spent from the better part of 3 days populating accounts via recovering data from financial institutions’ download sites and hard copies, finally accepting that there were going to be gaps—hard for an OCD personality type—and entered a one-line item adjustment for a couple of credit card accounts.  Anyway, bottomline is that we are close to being back “whole”.  And the weather cooperated by being rainy and cold, foreclosing outdoor activities.
The cold weather brought new ducks to the lake behind the house and lots of birds to the suet feeders hanging off the deck rail including Eastern Bluebirds, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Wrens, Crows, White-breasted Nuthatches, and Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers; ducks included Mallards, American Coots, Buffleheads, and some I’ve yet to identify.  Squirrels are still a nuisance, but almost tolerable.




With the approaching holiday season, Hot Springs Village abounds with activities.  Early in the month, we saw The Hit Men Live, former performers with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Tommy James and the Shondells, The Critters, Cat Stevens, Carly Simon, Jim Croce, Barry Manilow, and Elton John and Kiki Dee—wow, were they awesome, with old women and men dancing in the isles!  We also saw the Village Big Band perform to open Garvin Gardens Christmas lights, and the lights along the 1+ mile trail were outstanding.  There are several other concerts scheduled between this writing and Christmas.
Golf has slowed considerably with the combination of almost 10 inches of rain, and then cold weather with some sub-freezing temperatures.  With relatively dry weather I played on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, joined by good friend, Jim Morris.  The fairways were green, but by Saturday they had all gone into dormancy, perhaps helped with the addition of another 5+ inches of rain right after Thanksgiving.

We opted to remain in Arkansas through December of this year in order to celebrate the holidays with family in the new house.  In that regard, we hosted Jenny, Harper, and Brian on Wednesday and Thursday nights,  and on Thanksgiving, enjoyed a brief visit from Karyn, Ridge, Aker, and Matt, including a great dinner for the family.  For me, particularly, it was very gratifying to have the kids and grandkids interact, and particularly to watch Ridge and Harper play outside.  In addition, Kay set up a tree in the sunroom just for them and had a box of ornaments for them to place on the tree—awesome—and we couldn’t be more blessed!  We are so blessed that in our blended family, Ron, Karyn, and Jenny, and their respective spouses are really good parents.  Praise the Lord.  With this being Ron and Cheryl’s first Thanksgiving as husband and wife, they opted to have Thanksgiving with their blended family.  We visited them on Saturday, especially to see Kayden, home from college for the long weekend.

Kay really got serious about Christmas decorating on Friday evening and Saturday despite the steady rain which continued through Sunday, keeping us indoors.

With Kay’s help in the glazing department, I made apricot fried pies Sunday afternoon, using dried fruit no less.  Though I only took a bite or two, they were pretty awesome.  A good way to end the month.

The last half of October was quite busy for us.  Kay has begun playing bridge once a month with a group of ladies, and mid-October was their playing date.  She really enjoyed the game, and as always, came out on top.

Continuing our family-filled week, we drove to Bryant on October 17 to visit with Kaden a day after his 20th birthday; he was home for fall break from college.  And then that evening, we attended a marriage celebration in Little Rock; it was at the Crowne Plaza in west Little Rock, and the food was fabulous.  Our final birthday of the month was Ridge’s; we returned back to central Arkansas for his 4th birthday party a few days early.  No more birthdays this month.
October 21, while Kay was at Bookclub, Jerry and Karen Smith, birding friends from Rio Grande Valley, stopped over for a few days on their way to the Valley from Wisconsin.  We had a great visit, and enjoyed showing them Hot Springs Village, Hot Springs, and the mineral mines west of the Village.  They invested in the area by visiting Oaklawn and Jerry found some coins at a local shop to add to his collection.
Upon checking on the motorhome, we were advised that the dash air conditioner had a leak and that it would require about $2,000 parts and labor to repair it.  I called good friend and former neighbor Wayne, and he volunteered to repair it this coming spring.  We sure miss him and Loretta, one of our few big-time regrets of leaving north Arkansas.  He was always available to help me with mechanical repairs, etc.

On October 23, we had our first substantial rain since early July.  Kay, Jerry, Karen, and I attended a fantastic concert at the Woodlands Auditorium. Ricky Skaggs and his 6 piece band, Kentucky Thunder, put on a really good concert.  Of course, he has won 14 Grammy awards.  The following morning, Jerry and Karen departed for the RGV,.  We had a really good visit, and look forward to seeing them in January.  Kay used the afternoon for a long shopping trip, and the rain continued.
The last Sunday of the month, we tried the new service—The Gathering—at Christ of the Hills United Methodist Church and really enjoyed the music and the preaching.  The service was rough around the edges, but spirit-filled.  Rain continued throughout the day.
Late in the month, I had yet another spinal injection, the third.  This time, I took it easy that afternoon.   Again, rain continued.
We picked up the motorhome from Russellville on October 27, almost 3 weeks after it was towed there for repair.  It was good to get it home, and in our driveway, though the drive back was a bit cautious wondering whether or not the brakes would work.  It barely fit on the driveway, with a couple feet to spare.  Rain continued.  With the motorhome back, we took advantage of a break in the rain, and winterized it for the first time since its first winter in 2011—we have been in the Rio Grande Valley every year before the first hard freeze, and didn’t return until the chances of freezing weather were slim.  We also discovered that the “house” batteries were dead, so we made a quick trip to Sam’s Club to get new batteries, and had them installed just after lunch.  After finishing with the motorhome, we hung suet from the deck bird feeding stations, and the squirrels immediately “found” them, but so did a few Carolina Chickadees and Tufted Titmice.  And then, it began raining, very hard, again.
Late in the month, Kay accompanied other women from church to the Holiday House in Little Rock, but only purchased a gift or two for Ridge and Harper.  After all the hoopla from the previous 4 weeks, life it beginning to return to “normal” for us.
Normalcy lasted only a day or two; on October 30, the University of South Alabama women’s golf team arrived in the Village to play in the Diamante Classic, and we hosted the team’s graduate assistant.  Members of the team are staying with host families in our neighborhood, and there are events planned each evening of the tournament.

Maybe things will settle down next month.  Yeah, sure!

The month of October began with warm temperatures.  In an attempt to get to know neighbors better, we “hosted” an happy hour at the ramp next door to the house, and had several neighbors show up.  Seemed like everyone had a good time.  Perhaps this is something we can continue when weather and schedules allow. 

September 23 through October 21 is birthday month for our family, beginning with Kay on September 23, Karyn on October 6, Jenny on October 13, Kayden on October 16, and Ridge on October 21—whew!

In early October, I had a second spinal injection, and followed up with high dose flue and pneumonia injections—not a fun day—and I overdid it as usual, resulting in “quiet” time for the next few days.  And then, remember the motorhome issue with the brakes?  We finally made arrangements to have it towed to the nearest Ford, and the humongous tow truck hauled it away on October 7.  The next day, I was fitted for a new CPAP mask.

Ridge and baby sister Aker visited us for an overnight stay early in the month.  We sure enjoy them, and getting on the floor to play is a piece of cake; it is the getting up that is becoming harder and harder!

On October 13 we traveled to Memphis to celebrate Jenny’s birthday, and of course, visit with Harper.  She was quite animated, and her vocabulary is increasing everyday.  

While there, we went to Costco to shop and have my hearing aids adjusted, and lo and behold if the guy didn’t change receivers, and completely screw up my ability to hear with the hearing aids.  I kept telling him that I couldn’t hear out of my left ear, but he seemed not to hear me.  We will wait until we get back in the Rio GrandeValley and get them re-adjusted.

When we last posted, we were spending our last evening in Prague, Czech Republic.  The plane was delayed in arriving and leaving Prague for the US, and to make a long story short, we ended up spending the night in New York City, courtesy of Delta Airlines.  Suffice to say, they are not even close to being our favorite company, and we will look for other airlines in the future.  We arrived home Tuesday, a few hours later than originally planned, tired from the air travel and lack of sleep in New York.  And, on Wednesday, we quietly celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.  We had house guests—Jenny, Harper, Brian, and Brian’s parents—over Labor Day weekend, but we were poor hosts, too tired to do much of anything except cook and do dishes.  Anyway, they all seemed to have a good time, but we missed getting to spend quality time with Harper.  On Sunday, Karyn, Ridge, Aker, and Matt came for lunch, and we had all the little ones together for the first time in a couple of years.  How good is that!  The rest of the month sort of got away from us as we settled into a non-routine routine engaging in some of the many social activities in the Village, catching up with old friends, attending a myriad of medical appointments, and taking care of personal business.

We did have a bit of a harrowing experience while “exercising” the motorhome.  After filling up with gasoline at the Walmart on the west side of the Village, we began smelling something burning, like electrical wires, clutch, or brakes near the RV storage facility.  We stopped the motorhome outside the storage building, and noted smoke coming from the front passenger wheel.  Upon further examination, the bottom part of the wheel was glowing red and a small flame was observed.  I put out the fire, and felt the other front wheel, and it too was very hot and smoking.  We backed the motorhome back into its space, and allowed the wheels to cool.  Because the chassis is a Ford, I phoned their motorhome number, relayed the story, and will now make arrangements to have it towed to the nearest dealer with a lift large enough to handle a 35 foot, 24,000 pound motorhome.  Ain’t life fun?  Harry is right in that the more toys one has, the more work there is to do!