After our morning walk, Kay did laundry, while I cleaned the interior of the motorhome. We do these two chores about twice a week, minimizing the amount of clothes we pack ridding the motorhome of dust brought in by the almost constant winds over the Mexican desert just south of us.

We joined our neighbors at 4:00 PM for happy hour at the palapa.  The photo shows us today, circling up, and talking about everything, including the weather.  Typically, the men have one or more conversations and the women have conversations.

We all were entertained by a parade of mostly bicycles celebrating Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras.  It seems that residents of BPVRV Resort are always looking for any excuse to have a party or enjoy good times. We even got beads and candy tossed our direction.

Several of us attended the Vipers basketball game later in the evening. The Vipers are a “”D” league professional basketball team. Royce White, a first-round draft choice of the Houston Rockets had been sent down to this minor-league team after an absence of several months, playing basketball. His is an interesting story—he suffers from mental illness, i.e. OCD and anxiety disorder. He first refused to fly to games, then refused an assignment to the minor leagues; he finally acquiesced and is traveling in a highly customized bus, i.e. a $1,000,000+ motorhome. He was not that impressive, but must be awesome to have been the #19 pick overall. We immensely enjoyed the night, however, and there was far more going on outside the court than on the court.

After a day’s rest, we’re ready for some action!

Kay typically goes to exercise class at the clubhouse at 8:30 AM on Monday’s, Wednesdays, and Fridays. This morning, while she was exercising, I did a walking circuit through BPVRV Resort, about 2 1/2 miles. With some energy left over, I invited Chuck for a bicycle ride, and we pedaled to Anzulduas Dam Park, returning via Conaway Avenue to the bike path trailhead, then back to BPVRV Resort, a distance of about 18 miles. A soak in the hot tub helped relax overused muscles.

BPVRV Resort hosted Roland Garcia, Jr. again tonight for a dance. It was not a sellout, which allowed for more space on the dance floor. At some of the dances, the line dancers take up so much room that there is little room left for couples dancing. We dressed up in our best Western wear—Wrangler jeans, Resistol hat, and Tony Lama boots, and danced the night away—or at least until Quiet Hour at 10:00 PM.

No cards, no dancin’, no birding, no butterflyin’, no airplanes, no entertainment—we spent a leisurely day, today, going to church, shopping at Costco’s and Cavender’s (a western store), and generally doing a whole lot of nothing.  A day like this was really needed.  It has been too windy to do any birding or butterfly watching.  Sorry, no photos today, but we’ll make up for it later in the week.

Another beautiful day in paradise.

Yesterday was so filled with activities that I forgot to mention installing the Phoenix RC flight simulator on the new computer. After installing the software and hooking up the transmitter, I took off and crashed several times before switching to a training model. Flying RC airplanes is something I have wanted to do since college, and maybe, at 63 years old, I can finally begin.

Shortly before nine we saw people heading towards the clubhouse, and remembered the pet Parade was today. This is a big deal at Bentsen Palm Village, and the proceeds, about $1500/year, go to a no-kill pet shelter. People were gathered everywhere, and volunteers were selling hot dogs, sodas, beer, and cookies and cakes. Pets of all shapes and sizes were dressed in various costumes as were some owners. Bentsen Palm Village is a pet friendly RV resort and most residents have pets. We enjoyed mingling with pet owners and watched them parade around the circle twice, and of course voted for neighbor Tim and Deb’s standard poodles, shown on the left.  The lady in the bottom photo has 3 boxes of outfits and glasses for her dog, and we’ve never seen the dog on the ground!

After a quiet afternoon we joined the neighbors in the palapa for happy hour, Kay played card bingo, and I remained at the motorhome playing with the RC flight simulator.

We were so happy this morning to accompany Missouri friends, Jim and Cheryl Watts, to the National Butterfly Center (NBC) and Bentsen Rio Grande State Park.

We discovered the NBC last year, but only visited a couple of times. Vast improvements and additions have been made since then, including the addition of a well-maintained bird feeding station. Consequently, a number of different species are attracted to the area, and provides for great birdwatching and photography.

Since the the feeders are typically filled at approximately 8:30 AM, we arrived about 9:00 AM and were quite disappointed and concerned as no birds could be seen or heard. After a few minutes, however, the birds began trickling in and remained steady through the morning. It was cool and only a couple of other birders were present, making for an outstanding morning. We saw Green Jays, Greater Kiskadees, Olive Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Altamira Orioles, Clay-colored Thrush, Golden-fronted woodpeckers, Ladder-backed woodpeckers, Long-billed Thrashers, Common House Sparrows, Inca Doves, White-winged Doves, and a RAT!

We were not fortunate enough to see many butterflies because of the cool temperatures and heavy winds, but did manage to see a few of God’s colorful, fluttering creatures.

We then drove to Bentsen Rio Grande State Park, acquired our wrist bands, and walked to the first couple of feeding stations near the gatehouse where we observed chachalacas. Feeding station #3 did not yield any birds, and only a few wading birds were observed in the resaca. Resacas are old bendways of the Rio Grande River, and are analogous to oxbow lakes in the Midsouth. We scored a major victory at the Green Jay blind, where we were able to get up close and personal to Green Jays, Greater Kiskadees, Olive Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Altamira Orioles, Red-winged Blackbird’s, and Golden-fronted woodpeckers. It was an absolutely awesome morning.

We topped the great morning off with lunch at El tio Chuys, our favorite family-owned Mexican restaurant near Bentsen Palm Village.

Friday night is typically entertainment night at Bentsen Palm Village and tonight Cross Strung performed. Cross Strung is Utah’s new and upcoming Bluegrass, Celtic and Contemporary folk band. They travel all over the states performing for all types of audiences.  Their vocal talents left a bit to be desired, but they more than made up for it with their fantastic instrumentals.

As if this wasn’t a busy enough day, Kay wrapped up the evening sitting around the campfire listening to pickin’ and grinnin’.

All of our Winter Texan photos can be viewed at:  https://picasaweb.google.com/DunnGoneTravels/WinterTexans20122013?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCID41uiC4OrOGw&feat=directlink

Today was quite busy. Kay and I drove to the Estero Llano Grande State Park where she dropped me off to join other birders from Bentsen Palm Village for the morning, while she shopped in Weslaco. Estero Llano Grande State Park is one of the best birding areas in the RGV. There were 20 of us this morning; we finished with 69 species including many ducks and wading birds. the lady on the left is Lorna, our neighbor, and a very good birder; the next lady is Karen Smith, one of our co-leaders; and the gentleman in the blue shirt is the retired manager of Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get the hang of differentiating among these various ducks, shore birds, and wading bird species as they are all very similar. After birding and shopping, we met the group at Willie B’s for barbecue and baked potato. Willie B’s is famous for their huge, loaded baked potatoes. We are glad that we ate at this well known eatery, but frankly, the food was average at best.

Thursday evening we joined a few of our neighbors for the Quidam perfomance of Cirque Du Soleil. Kay, Karyn, Jenny, and I saw Cirque Du Soleil in Las Vegas over 10 years ago and it was one of most phenomenal shows we’ve ever seen. The traveling performance of Quidam was not quite as breathtaking, but nevertheless awesome and jaw dropping. The combination of comedy, strength, timing, aerial acrobatics, and stage acrobatics was almost unbelievable. We highly recommend this.

All of our Winter Texan photos can be viewed at:  https://picasaweb.google.com/DunnGoneTravels/WinterTexans20122013?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCID41uiC4OrOGw&feat=directlink

Tuesday was pretty much a lost day.  After our morning routine, Kay washed a couple of loads of clothes. She went to the jam session in the afternoon, we joined neighbors for happy hour at the palapa, and played bridge in the clubhouse in the evening.  It was a good bridge night, but neither of us won total points for the evening.

After our Wednesday breakfast and our morning walk, I installed an odometer/speedometer on the bicycle mainly to monitor distance traveled. Chuck Mercer and I went on a bicycle ride on the “Road Runner” trail; there were a number of riders today, and even some Chachalacas, but no roadrunners (Chachalacas are large, noisy, mainly brown birds from the genus Ortalis found in wooded habitats in the Rio Grande Valley, Mexico, and Central and South America). Chuck and I rode a total of 10 miles, averaging just over 9 miles per hour—not too bad when one considers that we had a very strong headwind against us about half the way, and almost no wind assist the other half.

Al and Sharon invited us to play bridge in the evening, and I had the worst hands of the season. Obviously, I finished last but Kay had outrageously good hands and finished with five points.

Maintaining a daily blog is proving difficult; not so much because of the effort involved, but because we do so many things that it’s difficult to find time to actually write the blog and incorporate photos.

After waking, coffee, email, and newspapers, Kay left for exercise class in the Clubhouse and I walked a couple of miles in the resort. While not feeling bad, I have not been 100% for a few days—perhaps too much sun, perhaps just going full blast for too long. Consequently, I have not ventured out on the bicycle nor have I been going to the pool and spa; I haven’t even been to the National Butterfly Center or the Bentsen Rio Grande State Park.

We played Court Whist tonight in the clubhouse—Kay’s first time to play this game. Regrettably, she got really bad hands and was unable to score many points. I however got good hands and had good partners and finished with five points for the night, getting the ante of quarters deposited by the players—a grand total of about $7.00.

We finished playing cards early enough to watch a couple of recorded television shows before calling it a night.

February is the month of love, and Valentines Day is right around the corner.  Kay and I have given much thought to the scripture found in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”  While the meaning of this may be discussed and debated, there is no question that Jesus places a high value on love—and especially loving one another.  The Carpenter’s said it all with their hit song, What the World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love.  Oh, if only our local, state, and country’s leadership could acknowledge this!

The message this Sunday morning was on the 5 aspects of love. Pastor Bill Duke, FUMC, Mission, Texas, preached a great sermon again, and gave pause to the subject of love.  (Dr. Sam and Annette Bailey preached on a similar series when we attended Twin Lakes Baptist Church.) I sure wish these ministers would quit preaching directly to me!

• Eros—Romantic side of love
• Storge—Trust, stability, secure love
• Epithumia—Love making, sexual relations kept sacred and holy
• Phileo—Friendship, soulmate love
• Agape—Unconditional, umerited love

Agape love is best described in the words of the Apostle Paul, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” (I Corinthians 13:4-8)

After church, we stopped by Sam’s Club to pick up some “play” coffee for Kay, and then drove to Costco for a few items.  It is so nice to have Costco close by.

I cleaned the RV while Kay did laundry, and then met Al, Sharon, Wayne, and Betsy at Crazy Joe’s for some Texas 2-step dancing to the sound of Roland Garcia, Jr.  Back at Bentsen Palm Village, Kay watched part of the Super Bowl, and I watched other stuff on TV, not having an interest in football since Peyton Manning was not playing. We caught the latest episode of Downton Abby, the hot BBC Masterpiece series on PBS, and then tuned back to the Super Bowl to watch the final minute.

It was a pretty great Sunday here in the RGV.

An early start this morning with Al, Sharon, Wayne, and Bessie took us to South Padre Island for their Kite Festival; it is to be their last. The hour and a half ride was quite pleasant, with lots of conversation among the six of us in Al’s van. We arrived early enough to get great seats along the rope just before the kite flying began; from left to right, sitting, are Al Crawford, and Bessie and Wayne Nickerson. Kites of all shapes, sizes, and colors were visible; some were so large that they had to be anchored by automobiles.

Apparently, kite flying is very competitive, and we were privileged to see some of the best flyers in the US. Also, much of the competition is between teams, and we saw two world champion teams flying as many as six kites simultaneously, doing unbelievable aerial maneuvers and acrobatics with a kites. The kites danced at the end of the lines, and the flyers could softly touch each other’s kites in the sophisticated formations. Each of the demonstrations was set to music and the maneuvers and acrobatics were synchronized with the various tunes. Watching the experts fly their kites gave this sport new meaning, and made it look simple.

With over 5,000 people in attendance at the Kite Festival, all the restaurants on the Island were overwhelmed; we opted to try our luck across the bay in Port Isabel. Traffic on the bridge between Port Isabel and South Padre Island was congested with the roadwork forcing three lanes of traffic into one. After the slow trip on the bridge, we stopped at Dirty Al’s on the bay for a late lunch and were met with a one-hour wait. Nevertheless, the food was very good and not too expensive.

We made our way back to Bentsen Palm Village, all having had too much sun. In fact, Kay and I skipped card bingo.

More kite photos, and our entire Winter Texas album, can be seen at: https://picasaweb.google.com/DunnGoneTravels/WinterTexans20122013?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCID41uiC4OrOGw&feat=directlink