ENJOYING OUR STAY IN MISSION, TEXAS

Saturday, January 23 – This past Wednesday, we had lunch with our dear friend, John. You may not recognize the name John, but we bet you may know him better as former blogger, “Shoeless Joe.” For the last several years, we’ve arranged to have lunch with him at the Riverside Club. It’s become an annual event for us. The Club has two buildings and music just about every day. We were in the large hall. And when we say large…it is a huge barn.

Largest fan we have ever seen. Of course, everything is bigger in Texas.

The band was very good, and the place was packed.

The boys love the HUGE pork tenderloin sandwhiches that they serve. We had the privilege of meeting John’s brother-in-law and wife. What a very nice couple. We asked Angie/Rick and Jan/Barry to join us. Another great time spent with very good friends.

Yep, that is John, third one in.

On Thursday morning, we returned to the dentist in Nuevo Progresso, Mexico. It's about a forty minute drive from our RV site at Leisure Valley Ranch in Mission, Texas. We are having old crowns replaced that needed attention. Marsha had two replaced, and Paul had four. Guess we're doing something right because we're out living our dental crowns...LOL.

We had the initial prep work done at Dr. De La Rosa Saenz's clinic last week. The dentist removed the old crowns and prepared the teeth for a new crown. A temporary crown was installed while the new crowns were prepared. We returned today to have the permanent crowns installed. Paul needs an extra visit because the two pair of crowns he is having replaced are above and below each other so, one pair needs to be done first allowing for a proper fit of the second pair.

Notice all the platic covering knobs, etc. Does your dentist have this much cleaniness?

We also received cleanings while we were in the dental chair. For those who like to compare dental costs, we received 6 crowns and 2 cleanings for about $1200. We've been visiting Dr. De La Rosa for several years and consider his work as good, if not superior, to the work we receive back in Ohio at a fraction of the cost. Interestingly, Dr. De La Rosa was educated in the USA and actually lives in Mission, TX. He speaks very good English, but his 3 dental assistants speak only limited English. That eliminates the need to carry on a conversation with the assistants as they clean our teeth, etc.....LOL

Dr. De La Rosa Sanez, Paul and one of the three dental assistants.

We have one more visit to the dentist next week to finish Paul's crowns. Paul is eager to get a haircut, $5, at his favorite barbershop. We also hope to do a little shopping and maybe enjoy a margarita…or two.

The weather has been very nice in South Texas. Temperatures have been in the mid-70's during the day and dip into the 50's at night. We've only had one day of “Texas breeze” - strong enough to blow over our satellite dish. Locals call it a breeze, but we consider it a windy day.

Marsha wanted to share what she made everyone for Christmas. She has made a homemade gift for family and friends each of the last many years. She said this year was the most fun. She was cracking herself up while she made this year’s gift….snowmen. She actually made so many, it looked like a little snowman village.

Her first one lead to a village of snowmen.

Part of the village.

Mr. and Mrs. Weaver.

She also found time to make our daughter, Carrie, a special basket. She always does something new with each basket. She said this was the first time she tried doing the diamond stitch. She posted it on her Pine Needle Basket Facebook group, and it seems that the FB group really like her basket.

We only have one more week here in the Valley, and it is back to Houston. Paul has his knee surgery pretesting scheduled for February 3.

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