Thank goodness life has settled down a bit, though we seem to stay busy with family and friends, and are involved in some of the many activities available at Hot Springs Village.  Again thankfully, we are slowly transitioning into a routine.

We really enjoyed John and Sandy’s visit.  John and I opened the month with a “mountain” drive over the Quachita Mountains.  The Winona Scenic Drive had many sections over 1,700 feet, which is high for Arkansas, and several great vistas.  Hoping to see a Diana’s Fritillary butterfly, we captured a photo (via cell phone so quality is poor) of this beauty instead.  I’ve asked for help with identity.
Our additional big events for this blog entry included lunch with Kaden (Kay’s 19-year old grandson), dinner and bridge with Jim and Jackie, Kay’s high school class (50-year) reunion, and attending Ridge’s (Kay’s 3 1/2-year old grandson) T-ball game.
Also, we selected new doctors in Hot Springs, and made appointments.  This was a big deal, and sounds easier than it actually was.  Many doctors in this area are not accepting new patients, and of those that do, several do not accept Medicare patients.  And of those few that do, the earliest available appointments are in October at the soonest.  We’re hopeful that the doctors selected are good—at least they have good ratings—and we were able to get appointments to for them to see us within a few weeks; time will tell.
As for our routine, Kay works out at Christ of the Hills UMC on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and at the Coronado Fitness Center on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, time permitting.  I work out at the Coronado Fitness Center three times a week as well, and rarely miss.  And, I have signed up to play the Tuesday golf scramble with the men at Christ of the Hills.  In fact, I managed 3 rounds this last week, including a hot, muggy round with Kay at Ponce de Leon Golf Course—95° and high humidity, too.

We are working hard to get to know folks in Hot Springs Village, particularly neighbors, and catching up on old friendships.  The Village is somewhat unique in that each resident has several things in common with every other resident, whether it be faith, religion, pastimes, sports, and culture, and though there are some significant differences in affluence, most everyone in the Village has had a successful career, and moved here for many of the same reasons.

For all intents and purposes, we have finished moving!  All the boxes have been emptied, and “stuff” that doesn’t fit or belong in the house is stored in the attic (said I’d never do that again) and crawlspace.  A significant water issue remains in the crawlspace, perhaps because of the recent heavy rains, or perhaps otherwise, but it is severely limiting what can be stored there.  Kay ordered several framed prints to complete the basic decor, and those have been hung.  Wow, did she ever do a good job in selecting them as they are very nice pieces of art.  And, she picked out a rug for the breakfast area and a long runner for the hallway, and they too are quite attractive.  Bassett Furniture is in the process of replacing the breakfast table and one chair, and adding an occasional table in lieu of one we delivered but did not order.  They have been very cooperative and exceeding expectations in their business dealings with us, particularly since “our” decorator left the store for another job just after delivering our furniture.  All that said,, we have essentially transitioned from building and moving to housekeeping and maintenance.  We immensely enjoy watching the sunrise from our bedroom, watching a pair of Green Herons, a pair of Mississippi Kites, and several female hummingbirds from the sunroom and the deck, and having a good soak in the hot tub every evening.

On Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, Karyn, Matt, Ridge, and Acker visited for the first time.  As they were pulling onto the driveway, Ridge said it was his new house with DD and KK!  Kids say the darnedest things.  He had a blast playing in the gravel with his cars, and enjoyed getting a “power surge” from the crystals embedded in the decorative landscape rocks.  The Big Green Egg was used for the first time to smoke ribs, and while everyone was complimentary, they were a bit dry.  We cooked hamburgers on the Egg on Memorial Day for a few guests, and the hamburgers were also a bit dry.  I’m having trouble getting the Egg up to temperature.

 We returned to northern Arkansas on Tuesday after Memorial Day for a blood workup for me, and my first Medicare appointment.  Of all things, I forgot my wallet, which had driver’s license and Medicare card.  Fortunately, Kay’s quick thinking baled me out and the cardiologist’s office faxed a copy to the doctor’s office.  While in northern Arkansas, Kay took care of some real estate business, and we both enjoyed a visit with Wayne and Loretta.  Many thanks to John and Sandy Simank for the use of their house.  Wednesday morning we chased down a prescription for Nitro that was forgotten Tuesday, and had a semi-annual visit to the hygienist and dentist in Calico Rock.  Though only living in Hot Springs Village a short while, we were glad to return to our house and home here.

On Thursday, we hopefully finished our recent buying spree with a 2015 Toyota Avalon.  We hope to do some car road trips over the next few years and wanted a more comfortable ride than either of our old autos provided.

We ended the month with a bang, as Karyn and the kids visited over the weekend.  We so much enjoyed having them here, and for the first time in a long time it truly seemed like family in our house.  Ridge and I visited the European national car show at the Ponce de Leon Center in the Village in the morning to see the valve cover races, and some of the restored European cars being shown. The first car we saw was owned and showed by an old acquaintance, Don Wiseman, formerly of Memphis; he was kind enough to let Ridge sit behind the wheel for a photo.

We returned to the house where we spent lots of hours picking up sticks and rocks so he could throw them into the lake.  And Acker was a real joy as well, as she is beginning to develop her own little personality.  We can’t wait for Harper, Jenny, and Brian to visit in the next few weeks, and hopefully we can get all the little ones together for a few hours.  On Sunday afternoon, we attended our second Estrella Lake party, and welcomed John and Sandy Simank for an overnight visit.

We have been unpacking boxes at a hectic pace.  Kay is much more organized and systematic, taking her time and finding places for things while I am unpacking and consolidating in rooms.  And it should be the other way around as I am a firm believer in “moving things only once.”  As packing paper, bubble wrap, and empty boxes mount, we accumulate a load and then take the paper and boxes to the recycling center.  In the period covered by this entry, we made 5 trips!
On May 4-6, we traveled to Five Lakes Outing Club near Hughes, Arkansas, as guests of Ed and Linda Richmond for what has become an annual reunion of participants of the Quetico Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, smallmouth fishing trip.  In addition to Kay and me, John and Sandy Simank and Dave and Joann Teffetellar were guests.  We had a super good time, enjoying friends, fishing, and fabulous food.  Of all the years we’ve attended this gathering, this one may have been my favorite.
Being close to Memphis, we arranged to visit with Jenny, Brian, and Harper, never wanting to miss an opportunity to spend time with our grandkids.  After an early dinner, we met at Shelby Farms and enjoyed watching Harper play at one of the very nice playgrounds.  Despite being a little under the weather, she was quite gregarious, and going “ninety miles an hour.”



Back at home, we continued unpacking for a couple of days, and then spent Saturday and Sunday morning in Maumelle, babysitting Ridge and Acker while their parents enjoyed a night out.  Ridge and I played lots of games, and spent some time doing chalk art on the driveway (he directed, I did the drawing).  He really likes trains, and we created a long train with lots of cars.  Acker is beginning to develop her little personality, and we enticed several grins from her.  Plans were to go to the Clinton Presidential Library for Mother’s Day lunch for Kay, but she developed a severe stomach disorder, and we left fairly early Sunday morning to return home.


Finally, back home again, well, and recuperated, we essentially completed unpacking.  Several things are “missing” and we obviously either misplaced them or didn’t bring them with us.  But, things are coming together, and it’s beginning to look more like a home than an house.  As for the house, the irrigation system was installed this past week, and the propane has been turned on.  Hopefully, next week will see completion as the generator will be activated and the the dock and walkway constructed.  One of the most frustrating things we did the last few days was hang a large mirror in the great room.  Though we measured twice, the wall anchors were slightly off, and removing them left significant holes in the wall.  The patching, sanding, smoothing, and painting took 4 days, but the error was undetectable, and using different hangers, the mirror got hung.  We have been spending money like crazy furnishing and decorating the house, but still “need” a few more rugs, wall hangings, and pieces of furniture.  Today, Saturday, we drove to Hot Springs to purchase a few small items and new tires for the Honda.  Among the items purchases were bird feeder hangers made to fit our wrought iron deck railing.  We installed those, Kay made hummingbird nectar water, and we hung hummingbird feeders, and were rewarded within a few minutes with our first hummingbird.  Life is good.

At the time it seemed like a good idea, i.e. selling everything and starting over.

A combination of circumstances set us to thinking that perhaps living in Norfork, Arkansas, wasn’t such a good idea.  First, several weather extremes in a short period of time—an ice storm and two unprecedented floods on the river—revealed just how vulnerable we were in terms of security, reliability of electrical power, and ingress and egress.  Next, commercial development entered our little piece of heaven, forever disrupting the privacy our subdivision was supposed to allow.  And then, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission began tinkering with the river, changing it from a world class wading river to a more readily navigable waterway via channelization.  Cancer struck in 2010, and the isolation was conspicuous as few friends or family visited or assisted; of course, we did not seek help, but expected otherwise as we, especially Kay, had done so much for so many of our “friends”.  Perhaps that was the last straw, because after that, my desire to live there, and concern for Kay’s isolation in the event something happened to me, stirred significant feelings of discontent.  And, my brother’s death in late 2011 gave rise to a sense of urgency for “living” never before experienced.

Each year, as we traveled to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas for winter, we would extol the virtues of moving to and living in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, where Kay has many friends, the golf is great, and many small lakes provide almost unlimited warmwater fishing opportunities, and it is closer to two of our three kids.  And then, when we arrived back to our house and 4 acres in Norfork in the spring, we would take a deep breath and recognize how blessed we were with our little piece of heaven on earth.  In fact, on our return trip in 2013, we made a conscious decision to remain in Norfork the remainder of our useful lives, bought new furniture, and made further “improvements” to the property.  But, the urge to resettle did not go away, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission continued “tinkering” with the Norfork River, and just a few short months later, on our trip to the Rio Grande Valley in early November, we made what seemed like our 4th decision to put the Norfork house on the market.  Through the winter, our desire to relocate became even stronger, and we did indeed put the house on the market when we returned in the Spring of 2014.  Not only did we sell the house and extra lot, we sold furniture, furnishings, and the lake pontoon boat, keeping only our clothes and a few personal things.  And then, unable to find an already built house that suited us, we contracted to have a house built while we were in Texas for the winter. 

 We packed our few remaining belongings, moved them to storage in Hot Springs Village, and left for the Rio Grande Valley,

After a long, cool, wet winter in the Rio Grande Valley (13 days of full sunshine), we arrived back in Hot Springs Village in mid-March, awaiting completion of the new house. And, the rest of the story will follow in future blog entries.

Spring has fully arrived in Hot Springs Village as the trees have all leaved out, golf fairways are greening, dogwoods are blooming, turkeys are gobbling, more butterflies are arriving. In this last regard, we have seen several Falcate Orange Tips, several Easter Tiger Swallowtails, one Giant Swallowtail, and perhaps a Zebra Swallowtail (couldn’t get an identifying look).  But, except for the lone male Ruby-throated Hummingbird we saw last week, no others have been seen.

Our week was full, but uneventful.  We walked about 10 miles of trails as part of the HSV April trail marathon event, worked out at the fitness center several times, and made trips to Hot Springs and Little Rock, the latter for Kay to pick up a Big Green Egg from Sam’s Club, about $300 cheaper than the nearest retail outlet!  In addition to the Big Green Egg purchase—part of our SKI Club activities (SKI Club:  Spend Kids’ Inheritance)—we were hit by a deer in the Expedition on Saturday, without any significant damage to either the SUV or the deer.  Fortunately, we were not in the Honda as it may have done considerable damage, and the deer hit us, not the other way around.  The deer hit the driver’s door as we were traveling about 40 mph.

We also attended the HSV Two-Steppers dance on Friday night; we met some very nice folks, but the dance was just okay as a play list of canned music was used, and it wasn’t really our kind of CW music.  Also, we hosted son Ron for a few nights as he sold his house and is homeless for a few days.  Kay, Karyn, and Acker—three generations—visited Garvin Gardens on Thursday enjoying a beautiful display of flowers.

The HSV house is progressing ever so slowly, but actually nearing completion—not uncommon—as we are literally watching paint dry.  Last minute items are underway and minor fixes, repairs, additions, and changes are being made.  The cleaning folks were there Friday and Saturday morning, doing a great job, and the house looks different.  Kay thinks it looks larger, but I think it looks smaller.

This week saw March come to an end and April begin, along with a fast-starting spring.  Winter struck here the last 3 weeks in February, completion of the Hot Springs Village House has consequently been delayed.  Of course, the domino affects have rearranged all our plans as well.  Much to our dismay, we’re getting booted out of the rental house before our house is finished, and Kay struggled to find another place to live for a few days—we ultimately resorted to our standby, a one room efficiency apartment that won’t even hold our clothes from the motorhome—as this is the heart of golf season with lots of corporate rentals of houses.  And all the stuff we’ve been accumulating at the rental house to go in the new house has to be moved again, now to an almost overflowing storage room, before it is moved once more to the new house. Combined with Kay’s son selling his house this week, buying a new house in a couple of weeks, and getting married on May 2, seems like everything is happening at the same time.  Out of desperation, Kay called Brandon Tedder, owner of Renaissance Homes, Inc. on Monday morning requesting a closing date no later than April 28 to accommodate delivery of furniture from two different companies and moving two storage facilities’ worth of personal goods, all before Kay’s son’s wedding on May 2.  Brandon completely understood and offered a completion date and closing for April 24.  It was a tremendous relief for us, and one could see the months of built-up stress disappear from each of us.  And as a bonus, with the end of spring break, we saw significant action at the house by the subcontractors.

As if to signal that all was well with the world, a  dogwood tree near the new house burst out in bloom on Wednesday, April 1, no foolin’.  To continue with signs of spring, we saw our first Ruby-throated Hummingbird, a male, on the morning of April 2, and leaves are appearing on many of the trees in the area, it is a sign that spring is definitely here. 

We are focusing most of our energy these days on getting ready to move in to the new Hot Springs Village house; so golf has taken a backseat.  It’s just as well since springtime work is ongoing on most of the courses, and there are still wet spots on many of the fairways.  Greens were aerated and sanded on the course adjacent to the rental house, and the other courses will soon follow.  We bought televisions at Sam’s Club in Hot Springs on Wednesday evening and drove to Little Rock on Thursday to take care of business and continue purchasing things for the new house.  We also dropped by Maumelle to visit Karyn, Acker, Ridge, and Matt.  Friday, I drove to Hot Springs to have new brakes installed on the ’04 Expedition, pick up a mattress at the UPS store shipped from Costco, make returns from shopping the day before, and visit Sam’s Club.

Saturday, Ridge came to hunt eggs at the Hot Springs Village sponsored egg hunt, and was accompanied by mom, dad, and little sister; he had a blast and picked up two-thirds of a bucket of plastic eggs.  He came prepared to stay with KK and DD, but regrettably we had commitments on Sunday morning.

And finally on Easter Sunday, we joined our fourth church together, Christ of the Hills United Methodist Church, here in Hot Springs Village.  After a lunch of leftovers, we hiked 3.1 miles on one of the many great trails in the Village.

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.