A Winter Garden

First of all you need to know that raising a garden for Winter Texans is a challenge .. All the locals tend to think you are basically nuts. the workers in the garden departments of the stores tell you ," no pots , no spray or fertilizer", "we have put away all of the gardening items until spring". "Growing season is over.".

Gee, don't they know 65 - 80 degrees is all we get in Michigan and if the frost is gone out of the ground it is time to plant!!!!!! Oh well , we scavenge up what is hidden in the corner out of sight and forgotten..Bring it home and plant what homely little plant we rescued.. Failing to find one of these we resort to SEEDS..

Watching , watering and comparing ,,hurrah there are results.. Observe the

fruits of our labor...

And for our 8 month project . Bob discovered a beautiful flower called a Bird of Paradise and bought a plant last March. It was carried back to Michigan in the Motor Home and watered and moved around following the sun all summer but no flower. Just a green leafy potted plant. So back to Texas with the pot strapped back in the motor home with the idea it will go in the ground somewhere in the yard. After a month in the southern sun look what we have. And another flower is on its way. I guess you should never give up..

Many things to do in Texas

On Saturday nights Mary and Bob have become regulars at the Dairy Queen for the local Car Show. The number of cars that show up runs from 15 -30 and every week we get to see 2-4 different ones. The group of owners is a mixed group from retirees to younger Mexican men. They start arriving in the parking lot at 7 PM and by 9 PM most are gone .
The red car with the flames is a 32 Ford fiber glass body car from Indiana. It was trailered down to Texas by a retiree and is for sale for 45,000.00. Bob said it is a nice car.. As you can see there is a wide variety of cars to look at and talk about , either in English or Spanish.
[Bob checking out the cars]














Winter Texans try to stay busy .. And sometimes we do not even leave the park. There are cards and games on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. We all gather at the game room and Lavonne takes charge of dividing us up fairly, at least that is her story.. We must draw for our table and wait to see who we will be playing with. Much good natured grumbling goes on..

Games of "65" and Joker are the most likely to be played. Monday is Bingo.[Waiting for the lesson to begin]

Kathy and Will [aka- Vango] have visited a couple of times and Bob and Mary gave them lessons in the basics of Joker. We played on the porch until supper and after supper Gene and Joy were called to meet and play with us so Kathy and Will could see the difference in playing with a larger group at the game room. I think they enjoyed the fun. We plan on more competition very soon.

The next day they returned with the Van to fill up with water as this is their home as they travel all over the USA.

Golf carts are everywhere.. Evelyn and Bud even acquired one this year and Mary is envious.. People decorate the carts for every holiday but Christmas is the most colorful and always has lots of lights blinking..