Kay is still in central Arkansas, and I’m still recovering from an infection—no long distance bicycle riding today.  Neighbor Lorna and I drove the short distance to the National Butterfly Center (NBC) since she had only been once and I not been in almost two weeks because of cool and otherwise inclement weather.  Our goal was to view the West Coast Lady, a butterfly than makes an infrequent visit to the NBC.  Lorna had seen one two weeks before in an old tree-covered, but now dry ditch, and viewed one yesterday near the office building.  We spent considerable time walking through the gardens around the office building, but did not see the West Coast Lady.  We did, however, see many other great butterflies including a Monarch , Malachite, Buckeye, an assortment of Skippers, and several species of Fritillaries, in addition to the plethora of small white and yellow butterflies that frequent the gardens, and while there met old birding friends from last year’s birding trips.  We drove to the main gardens, and spotted the normal cast of characters including Red Admirals and Tropical Leafwings before deciding to walk down the tree-covered dry ditch bank back to the office gardens in hopes of spotting a West Coast Lady.  We were surprised by the number of birds using the tree-covered area, particularly warblers.  Shortly after arriving back at the office gardens, we received word that a rare Blonfild’s Beauty had been spotted back at the main gardens, so we hoofed it back there to be rewarded by great views of this rare Beauty, shown on the right.  After the appropriate “oohs and ahhs,” we drove back to the RV resort for happy hour at the palapa.

Court Whist tonight was filled with lousy hands, but it was fun nevertheless as there is a lot of visiting going on between hands and games.  It will be even more fun when Al and Sharon Crawford arrive after Christmas.

This is my last full day of being in charge as Kay returns tomorrow morning.

I slept late today, awakening just as Kay was calling from central Arkansas.  Church was not the same today, without Kay, but the message was good.  Afterwards, I returned to the motorhome and had breakfast. Van and I rode bikes this afternoon (here’s an over the shoulder shot of Van) despite the 15-20 mph winds.  It is hard to escape winds down here in the RGV, especially as the sun begins to heat the ground.  We rode a somewhat different route; here are the stats:

Ride Time: 1:57:37

Stopped Time: 57:38

Distance: 23.28 miles

Average: 11.87 mph

Fastest Speed: 19.43 mph

Ascent: 240 feet

Descent: 243 feet

Calories: 1601

Arriving back at the RV resort, we noted Jim and Ruth Alexander had arrived for the winter; we stopped by to say welcome them “home.”  Jim is a mechanical engineer, enjoys flying RC airplanes ,and is an avid birder.   Happy hour at the palapa was packed today with 21 folks present; Kay was conspicuous by her absence.  I wrapped up the evening updating the blog, and posted new entries just before midnight.

It is still cold and windy (temperatures in the low 50s and winds steady at 15 mph), and with the remnants of the cold, a stomach virus, and a couple of other maladies, I opted not to ride today.  About mid-morning, I was off to Walmart for some OTC meds and a mooring of Christmas shopping, only to realize at the parking lot that I had left my wallet in the motorhome.  So, I drove back to the motorhome, retrieved the wallet, and drove back to Walmart where OTC meds were purchased along with wrapping paper, tape, bags, and other Christmas present wrapping paraphernalia—Kay usually does all this, but she’s not here, and these things are to be used to wrap her presents—and no, I don’t take her for granted.  After several hours of shopping—I NOW know where all of Kay’s favorite stores are in the RGV, and how to get there—I returned to the motorhome exhausted; shopping is hard work!  

This afternoon, a senior ranger from the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park next door spoke to a light crowd at the Activities Center.  He talked about the impacts of the flood of 2010, and provided a good overview of activities and programs at the park.

One of the monthly events at the resort is Karaoke, but the couple who hosted it did not return this year.  A neighbor asked (pleaded) if I would help her host Karaoke this year, and I agreed.  After the state park presentation, her husband transported the equipment to the Activities Center, and we spent the next 45 minutes hooking it up and testing it—not bad considering we had never used the resorts sound board, microphones, and speakers.  Karaoke night began at 7 PM with a sparse crowd, and there were not enough “singers” to fill the time.  Consequently, Shar and I sung more than our share of songs, mixed in with sing-along Christmas songs.  The crowd began to pick up, and folks were feeling more comfortable singing in front of others, and the evening ended successfully at 10 PM.  There is a lot of talent among the residents here, along with a few people willing make people laugh at their own expense.  We received many positive comments, and will do it again next month.

No exercise or bike riding this morning!  One of Kay’s Christmas presents was a short trip home to attend her “book club” Christmas party.  We left Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort at 9:15 AM, to usher her off to the McAllen Airport for the flight to Little Rock.  Because we spend the winter in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) and only spend a couple of days with the kids and grandkids at Christmas in Arkansas and Tennessee, Kay gives up Christmas at home—decorating the house; making cookies, candies, cakes, and pies; attending parties; and hosting parties at the house—and she gives this all up for me as I don’t handle cold weather well, particularly since “surgery” in December 2010, and enjoy the warmth and outdoor activities in the RGV.  Consequently, on our way down to the RGV in November, I ask her what one thing she missed most about Christmas at home.    Her response surprised me as she said it was attending her “book club” Christmas party with a group of ladies, some of whom have been together for 35 years.  I said, “Okay, why don’t you fly home for the party?”  Without much discussion, if any, she calls and finds out that the price of a roundtrip ticket is not exorbitant and makes reservations and buys the ticket!  So, she’s off today and will spend all or part of the next 6 days in central Arkanasas.  I’ll be batching it for a while, but down here in the RGV, we have great friends and neighbors who will keep a close eye on me, and there’s more than enough to do to keep busy!

After dropping her off at the airport, I drove to Costco to pick up a year’s supply of contact lens, though they are not much less expensive than at the clinic at home, and to do some Christmas shopping for Kay (can’t say where, as she’ll read this).  Back at the RV resort, I cleaned the “house”, dumped the tanks, attended the happy hour (though it wasn’t the same without Kay), and recharged the water softener.  I waked to the Activities Room for bridge, but none of the other players showed up, so I learned to play Mexican Train dominoes with the Pilkingtons.  It is a hoot of a game, and I had a good time; can’t wait for Kay to play.  We quit at 9 PM, close enough to bedtime that I didn’t have a desire to watch television.

Kay’s insistence on my taking Zicam was a blessing as I awoke Tuesday feeling much better.  Typically, when one of these head colds takes hold, it’s a week and a half of misery, stuffiness, and generally not feeling well.  However, this time there were only short spurts of not feeling well, though I certainly did not feel good, and the stuffiness was sufferable.  I did stay in, continuing to convalesce, though the motorhome gets exponentially smaller the longer one stays in it without getting outside, i.e. I’m going stir crazy!  Kay shopped for groceries, made shrimp creole sauce, and busied herself around the RV.  Despite the cool temperatures, happy hour at the palapa was fun, and there was a big crowd, all glad to escape the confines of their RVs.  As evening approached, we sauntered over to the Activities Center and played bridge with a couple of ladies with whom we played last year.  Our bridge lessons this past summer has decimated our game, and we are practically starting over, but nevertheless it was an informal game, and we all laughed and enjoyed the evening.  Once again, our evening ended with a couple of episodes of Bomb Girls.

Another cold front blew in last night; seems these are happening every three weeks.  We arrived in the RGV on the tail end of one on November 13, then experienced another beginning November 26.  Fortunately, these don’t last too long, about 4 or 5 days, and temps rarely get below 40°.  Nevertheless, the cool temps and high winds severely hamper outdoor activities such as birding biking, and butterfly watching.  Van and I did go for a 5-mile walk this morning (Saturday), after which Kay and I pretty much hung out around the motorhome.  Bentsen Palm Village is normally “busy” with people scurrying here and there, but even with all the Canadians and upper mid-western folks wintering here, most seem to stay in when one of these fronts comes through.  We sure hope this “winter” weather bodes well for a warm January and February!

Bill Duke preached another great sermon Sunday, the subject being repentance. He is able to say a lot in a short time, and make it both interesting and relatable.  As more and more Winter Texans arrive in the RGV, attendance at church increases dramatically.  We returned to the motorhome after church, only to find a small pool of water under where the potable water hooks up to the RV.  A further check revealed a slow drip, and a change of hoses, pressure regulators, and connectors did nothing to resolve the drip.  Neighbor Jim Miles and I drove to Walmart to pick up another hose, and the leak was still present when the new hose was installed.  The pressure regulator was removed from adjacent to the motorhome, and reconnected to the outlet of the water softener, and lo and behold, the drip ceased.  We now have several extra potable water hoses.  With milder, near 60° temperatures, the palapa was packed for happy hour, and we all talked and laughed—happy to be outside.  As evening approached, I began sneezing and had a runny nose—hmmm.  Kay and I continued watching Bomb Girls in the evening until bedtime. 

Perhaps because of riding and walking amidst the cold and windy weather late last week, or running around in a tee shirt yesterday fixing the drip, I awoke feeling stuffy, and sneezing and coughing—a cold—urghh.  I advised Van that I would not be riding bicycles today, came back to the motorhome, put on pajamas and a sweatshirt, and generally felt lousy.  Kay began feeding me Zicam every 3 hours, and I took advantage of the down time to write and print our Christmas newsletter, and sort and print mailing labels for Christmas cards; do folks still send out Christmas cards?  A bowl of hot, homemade chicken noodle soup in the evening, in combination with the Zicam, worked well to ease the cold symptoms.  We closed out the night watching more commercial-free episodes of Bomb Girls on Netflix.

Just after dark last night, winter weather began catching up with us here in the RGV as high winds brought in our second cold front of the season, dropping temperatures into the low 50s—not what we signed up for, but it beats what is happening at home.  I checked the internet for power outages at home and was relieved to see that North Arkansas Electric Cooperative had none in our service area, though Kay and I were still prepared for the worst, i.e. my returning home. 

As Kay left for exercise “class” at the Activities Center, I put on all the warm clothes I had in the motorhome (looking like a swelled-up frog) and Van and I departed for our now regular “every other day” bicycle ride with temperatures in the low 50s and wind howling at up to 30 miles per hour.  At the southern terminus of the Roadrunner Trail, about 2 miles from the RV resort, I received a call from Wayne letting us know our area of Arkansas had escaped much of the freezing rain that had been forecast, that it was still snowing, and that there were no power outages—great news for us, and I breathed a long sigh of relief.  Regrettably, he had come down with what appeared to be a really nasty upper respiratory problem.  With that good news, Van and I continued our bike ride to Anzulduas Park and return, some 17 miles, with high winds at our backs on the way, and into our faces returning, and temperatures dropping from the low 50s to the high 40s.  About two-thirds of the way back to the resort, Van saw that my rear bike wheel was wobbling; a check showed another broken spoke.  We “limped” back to the resort. 

Kay and I had lunch, loaded the bike on the rack, and drove to BikeMasters for repair.  They called about 4 PM saying that the bike was ready to be picked up.  I asked what could be causing the problem, and their response was pothole, bumps, etc.  The only things similar to these that we travel on are the dried mud clumps on the trail left by the Border Patrol trucks seeking out illegals.  There is about a 1-mile long stretch on the Roadrunner trail with lots of these “mud bumps”.  If the problem persists, I’ll seek warranty coverage since the bike is only a few weeks old.  After her exercise “class”, Kay made a large pot of chicken noodle soup, and we enjoyed a bowl (or two in my case) for dinner, and watched a new-to-us series on Netflix, Bomb Girls. Bomb Girls is a Canadian series set in a bomb-making plant during World War II.  We watched the first 3 episodes, and really enjoyed the series.

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.