ANOTHER YEAR GONE BY. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Saturday, December 31 - With 2016 coming to a close, we are preparing to leave the Houston Elks Lodge and head West.

Marsha spent most of December in Ohio visiting family and friends. Canton had a very cold, snowy and icy December. Paul and Carrie only spent five days at Christmas in Ohio and escaped without having to slosh around in any snow. We celebrated a wonderful Christmas day with our family. Santa was very good to us all. Even though we had an enjoyable time with family, it was sure nice to get back to the eighty degree temperatures in Houston.

Our traditional Christmas photo.

Carrie, Dave and Kelly

Carrie and her date for the day.

The family showing how much fun we had on Christmas day.

The table is set. Let’s eat.

Time to open gifts.

Marsha always grabs a window seat when she flies. She loves taking photos out the window. She had a beautiful day for flying back to Houston from Canton.

Flying over Houston Medical Center.

Sunset over Houston.

We depart for points West on January 5, if all goes well. Paul has some last minute medical appointments we are hoping will not delay our departure. We hope to spend several weeks touring El Paso, Las Cruces, Deming, Willcox, Bisbee, Benson, Why, and Casa Grande before finally reaching Yuma, AZ, around the beginning of February.

We plan a couple weeks stay in Tucson, then up to Sedona, AZ, before settling in the Phoenix area for Cleveland Indians Baseball Spring Training for the month of March. It's going to be a busy and event-filled winter for us in the American Southwest.

We would like to wish all our family and friends a 2017 filled with love, laughter and adventure.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION

Tuesday, November 29 – We had our annual Thanksgiving gathering at our daughter, Carrie's, house. She's been having Thanksgiving at her place every year but one since she moved to Houston. Some years, nearly thirty or more friends attended. This year was a little more subdue with a small group of eight.

Her new digs, a loft in downtown Houston, was a perfect location and with plenty of room to set-up two long tables for dinner. But before dinner we had to have our traditional corn hole game. Nick brought over his game boards, and we set them up on the roof patio. A perfect location with perfect weather to enjoy some pre-dinner games and drinks.

Looks like Paul may have made a perfect shot.

Marsha shows off her form.

Corn hole participants.

Once Carrie signaled that the turkey should be done, it was all hands to the kitchen to finish up the many side dishes. Everyone chips it to help get the food on the table. Paul is the official turkey carver and dirty dishes washer, and they keep him busy with all the food preparations.

Of course, we had plenty of food and everyone sure enjoyed themselves.

Lots of toasting going on. We had lots to be thankful for.

After dinner and a little clean-up, we watched some football on TV, enjoyed a few beverages, and played board games. Carrie has a collection of games, and we always have a fun time with the “youngins.”

Eventually, we gave-up trying to keep up with the “kids” and headed home to the Houston Elks Lodge RV area to relax. It's hard work trying to be young again!

Marsha will be flying back to Ohio on Saturday, December 3, to spend some time with her dad, family and friends. Paul flies later in the month for a few days over Christmas. Bella will be well taken care of by a friend from the Elks Lodge.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

IT'S A COLORFUL WORLD, HOUSTON!

Sunday, November 20 - We got together with our daughter, Carrie, today to attend the Houston Via Colori Street Painting Festival. With more than 200 artists, it has become one of the city's signature art festivals. The artists transform the streets of downtown into mind-blowing murals.

Via Colori is a fundraiser for the Center for Hearing and Speech (CHS). CHS is the only full-service resource in Houston to teach children with hearing loss to listen, speak and read without the use of sign language. The Center has been dedicated to improving the lives of children with hearing loss through clinical, education and support services. Last year, CHS provided services to more than 8,600 children from 31 countries across Texas.

This year's theme, A Colorful World, celebrates different cultures through art, food, beverages and activities. Entertainers also perform on three stages throughout the festival.

We missed the opening event – Yoga & Mimosas presented by Barefoot Wine & Bubbly. Dang! So we had to enjoy strolling down the streets enjoying the 200 artists using mostly chalk to create absolute works of art. These artists were very talented. Even the street dedicated to children had some wonder works of art.

We took a break from the street art to enjoy Soaring Phoenix. This group of young people perform all across the USA raising money to benefit kids. I guess you would call them a dance-acrobat group that uses Chinese style dragons to entertain the crowd.

After a unique balancing act on pedestals about six feet high, the dragons danced among the crowd accepting cash donations for CHS. A fun way of donating....you put a dollar or more in the dragon's mouth. Neat!

Carrie making a donation.

Marsha showing her appreciation.

The dragons then posed for photographs with kids, mom's and dad's and anyone wanting a picture. It was a fun way to spend an hour and very enjoyable to see the kids’ reaction to this colorful group.

Marsha had the biggest time watching these guys.

We then continued our walk among the artists to see the progress they were making on their street art. The time and energy these artists put into their creations is amazing. And to think it is only temporary. Luckily, it doesn't rain much in Houston so the art work should last at least until the streets are re-opened to vehicular traffic.

This is one of our favorites. Look at those eyes.

A look from the elevated walkway.

There was an entire section of one street dedicated to 3-D art. Amazing.

There was a wonderful section for children to show off their artistic side. We kept commenting how we couldn’t do anything close to what some of these kids were doing. They were having a ball.

It was a fun day. We finished it off with a late lunch at a small family-run Mexican restaurant and a little work around Carrie's apartment. She recently moved so she had a few pictures and mirrors for Paul to hang. With that done, we called it a day and headed back to the Houston Elks Lodge Campground for a little card playing in the Lodge.

Carrie and Paul enjoying the sunshine.

We wish all our family and friends a very blessed Thanksgiving day.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

WORKING ON THE “HONEY-DO” LIST

Monday, November 7 – After finishing the installation of a door window, there was one more item we've always wanted on our 5^th wheel – a window awning over our livingroom windows. We have a large patio awning on that side of the trailer, but it doesn't extend down to cover these two windows. The sun really beats in and heats up the livingroom, so we need to keep the blinds closed. That tends to darken things inside the 5^th wheel and blocks our view of the outside world.

The front two windows need the awning.

An awning would block the sun while allowing us to enjoy the view outside. It would also give us some privacy without having to close the blinds. So once again, since we are just around the corner from PPL RV Sales and Parts here at the Houston Elks Lodge, Paul ordered an awning large enough to cover both windows.

The installation was pretty simple. There were no instructions in the awning package, so Paul Googled the installation and found several YouTube videos on installing an awning.

After measuring carefully to find the center of the windows, Paul added butyl tape (caulk) to the back of the mounting bracket and screwed it above the windows.

The next step was to fasten the arms to the awning roller.

Then with the help from his assistant, Marsha, we slid the awning into the slot provided in the bracket. This is definitely a two person step and with Marsha stretching to the fullest extent of her 5' frame, we were able to get the awning roller with the two arms into the proper slot.

It was then a simple matter of removing the two pins from the awning roller to release the lock and add tension to the roller. Again with the help of his able assistant, Paul screwed the bottom of the arms to the side of the trailer.

We had to borrow a “pull-down” wand from the neighbor to unroll the awning. Surprised a pull-down wand is not included with the new awning. After attaching the hold-down clip below the windows and doing some clean-up the job was completed.

Happy that the installation went as easily as it did, Paul relaxed the rest of the day. Marsha, his able assistant wasn't done. She spent several hours trimming the shrubbery around the Lodge. Wild weed type trees are growing up through the bushes, and Marsha just hates the lawn guys don't do something about them. So she borrowed a limb lopper and did some trimming. She has so many limbs that we'll have to put them in the dumpster on two or more occasions so there will still be room for camper's trash.

When we went up to Livingston to vote on Tuesday, we were taking a walk with friends and saw this sight. Paul and Dave discussed this strange looking thing.

So that is how he tows his 5th wheel.

We have been having a super time vising with Carrie. We are almost always multi-tasking….watching football games and playing corn hole.

Good friend, Nick, and Paul.

Carrie

Mom and daughter.

We have a new visitor this year. And he is a big one.

Bella now enjoys sleeping on a blanket pillow. What a hoot.

Stop back again to see if we can find other jobs to do around the 5th wheel or the Houston Elks. Idle hands tend to get in trouble, so I'm sure we'll find things to do!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day.