Friends, Wal-Mart, and Turkey ~ What do they have in common?

Last Tuesday, Walker came into the office and said Wal-Mart was having an unadvertised special on turkeys for 39 cents a pound.  He and Evelyn had bought 4 and were thinking of deep fat frying one but wondered what to do with the all the oil.  

Bonnie was in the office and said you could use it to cook up to 4 turkeys.  The conversation continued with the three of us deciding we could have a Turkey Frying Party.  So Bonnie made the trip to Wal~Mart.  Picked up a couple of turkeys for them and one for Ron and I.  Having no room in our motor home we decided to let ours thaw in the bathroom sink in the office.  We will cook them up once they are all thawed.

Wednesday, Margie & Ed bought a turkey as well.  Now we were up to four couples cooking at least 5 turkeys.

All the turkeys were thawed by Friday afternoon so the cooking commenced.  Ron and I were busy working so we could not participate in the cooking so we sent some cheese and crackers over to the cooks would not get too hungry and start munching on the turkeys as they were cooked.

About 4:30 p.m. Walker arrived and handed me this:

Now isn't that one pretty turkey.  I put it on the counter in the motor home and let it sit while I closed up the office.  Once the office was closed I made a Risotta (type of rice) dish with Italian seasoning to enjoy with our turkey.  Both of us exclaimed "delicious."  The turkey was so moist, melt in the mouth and filling.  After dinner Ron de-boned the turkey.  We ended up with enough meat for at least four meals all for less than $6.  

Side note: while Ron was busy working hard de-boning the turkey, I was off to play bingo in the clubhouse ~ and I won!  Two $4 wins!!  Not big dollar amounts but still lots of fun.

Thank you Bonnie, Ed, Walker, Evelyn, Ed (yes there are two of them) and Margie for doing all the cooking.  We will definitely have to do this again, but hopefully next time it will be on a Saturday or a Sunday so we can be included in all the fun.

A Beautiful Sunset

 One evening a few weeks ago we had the most beautiful sunset and viewing of the moon.  Hope you enjoy these views taken from our front door or deck here in Lone Star Corral.

Dreams

I have been having lots of weird, different, confusing dreams in the last week or so.  Let me share one of them:

The scene:  I am working at Lone Star Corral as Office Manager.

What happened:  I am checking the mail.  In the mail is an envelope with familiar writing,  The owner of Lot #3.  The writing on the outside of the envelope says "You + 2 = 3 which is Me."  And I am livid...I am bothered by the fact this man keeps sending me these cards and letters hinting, quite broadly to say the least, that he wants a relationship with me.  And so I decide I am going to go and tell Bonnie, my boss, "Enough is Enough" and I head to the door.   In reality I wake up, ready to bound out the door ready to raise a fuss demanding this stuff to stop.  I sat on the bed and just laughed...boy was that dream vivid.  

Wonder what that is all about?  By the way, the owners of Lot #3 are a sweet couple and not even here in the park right now.

And so this got me to thinking.  What causes dreams?  Do they really have any reflection on life and what is happening in our lives.  Why do I remember some so vividly and others I tell myself I want to remember and just a few minutes after waking up I can't remember a thing.

Along with dreams are nightmares.  I used to have nightmares, some several times a night.  I am so happy that the Lord has healed me from having those nightmares.   I am thankful I do not wake screaming or crying or even hitting out at people who are not there.  I guess I will take having dreams, even ones that don't make much sense to a nightmare any night of the week.

What about you ~ do you dream?  Do you remember your dreams?  Do you put any stock into them?

A Good Day

Today has been a good day.  Slept in till about 8:00 this morning and then got up and got ready for church.  We decided to go to Sunday School and the worship service at First Baptist Church in Hondo.  We have attended three different churches in the area and this is the one that feels most like home.  So we decided if we were going to give it a fair chance we needed to attend Sunday School and see if we can connect with some people.

One of the first people to greet us was Alan.  He is the man we met that Saturday we were out checking out when the service was.  He shook Ron's hand and then while shaking mine he said "that's the last handshake you get from me, I give the ladies hugs"  and that is just what he did and then he turned to Ron and said he gives the guys hugs too!  We both laughed and made us think of Gerald - we so miss his big hugs!!!   Sunday School was pretty good.  We laughed a lot, shared prayer requests and studied God's word from II Corinthians 1:1-11.  We talked about how we receive and give compassion to others and how it looks compared to how Jesus shares compassion with us.  What a great reminder to be open to sharing with others when they are struggling whether it be in words or deeds or a listening ear.

We then went into the Worship service.  It was such a great time of worship in music.  We so enjoy the music - all aspects of it, the blending of voices as we sing hymns and praise chorus'  The sermon was good.  It is refreshing to hear a pastor preaching from the Bible, using scripture and stories to share what has been laid on his heart.  (That has not been the case at all the churches we have visited here in Texas).  The sermon was on choices.  We make choices/decisions all the time.  And the question he asked at the end of the service: "Are the choices/decisions I make a reflection of God's teachings?"  Makes me stop and think and evaluate how I react and do things.

After church we stopped at the Lions Club fundraiser and picked up BBQ'd chicken for lunch.    The lunch was a fundraiser for the club.  It was held at the Hondo City Park #1.  You drove through the park, paid your money ($7 per plate) and then drove a little further and were handed the dinner in a to-go pack.  And then we drove home and ate lunch.  It was pretty tasty.  Though I think Ron is getting tired of beans and coleslaw, neither of which is his favorite.  Now on the other hand I really like coleslaw and beans.  I did give Ron half my chicken since he gave me his beans and slaw.

We both took naps later in the day.  All in all it was a great day and now we are rested to start back at work tomorrow.

Have a great day!!!

The Middle of April Already

Thought I had better pop in here and give an update on what we are doing.  I have been struggling with what to write about on my blog since we are stationary right now.  And I don't want to bore people but I think some of you like to know what we are doing.  So here is an update of what we have been doing the first 17 days of April 2011...

...Ron was sick for 4 1/2 days.  He got the crud that I had had in March.  He spent 3 1/2 days either in the bed or sleeping on the couch, drinking lots of liquids, taking Nyquil, Dayquil, hot water with lemon and local honey.  I knew he was feeling better when he started complaining about what I was watching on TV :).

...We have gone on a few day trips.  We drove around for about 3 hours the other day and never was more than 20 miles from the SKP park.    We went on paved roads, gravel roads and dirt roads.  Saw a house out in the middle of what we thought was nowhere and then drove right through the middle of one ranch just from following the turns in the road.  We saw some beautiful flowers (pictures to follow later) and even a yellow butterfly (no picture).  Saw a brand new baby calf, estimate it was just a few hours old.  She was just the sweetest honey brown color.  We saw lots of deer.  Even one fawn that just stood by the fence for the longest time.  She was beautiful.

...And we have eaten out way too many times.  Ron has wanted BBQ since we have been here and yesterday he got his wish.  We ate at Heavy's BBQ in Hondo.  I had a beef sandwich with beans and coleslaw and Ron had a 3 meat plate with brisket, ribs and sausage with beans and coleslaw.  Ron shared his beans and slaw with me as they are not his favorite things to eat.  Today the Lion's Club was having a chicken dinner fundraiser.  for $7 you got a bbq'd half chicken with beans and slaw.  We can honestly say this was a first for us.  The fundraiser was at Hondo City Park #1.  You drove in one gate, drove up to the table, ordered the number of meals you wanted, paid the server (in our case a young girl of about 10) and she brought us two to-go dinners and we drove out of the park.  And then we drove home and ate.  The food was great and it put a new name on drive through diner.  Ron ate his chicken about half of my chicken and I ate his beans and slaw along with my beans and slaw. 

And how many different ways can you make coleslaw...I think I have had it four or five different ways since we have been here in Texas.  From creamy to some with like an oil/vinegar dressing, one with lots of pepper and one with lots of carrot strips.  All have been tasty, even the one with lots of pepper.

...We have been participating in some of the activities here in the park.  I have played Bingo a couple of times, haven't won but have had fun.  We have gone to the ice cream socials a few times and yesterday I went to a yard sale here in the Park...I sure miss going garage saleing...Ron sees no need to do that since we don't have room for anything.  But I think it's still a lot of fun to go and look.

...Today we attended First Baptist Church in Hondo again.  We went to Sunday School and felt very welcome.  In fact, one of the men, Alan, shook Ron's hand and then told me he won't give me a handshake anymore...now it's hugs...made me feel like I was home.  The service was good, such great singing and praise time.  And the message was good - from Luke 23:32-33; it was on decision's we make.  One thing that Pastor Dennis said really struck home with me "even if we don't make a decision we are making a decision, it is just not a yes or no decision." 

I was hoping they would have a Good Friday service but they are not.  I always enjoyed the Good Friday service at Northwood and sharing in communion.  I will check the paper this week to see if there is a Good Friday service we can attend.

...We are so enjoying our jobs.  This last week Ron hired a helper for the summer.  Mario is 18 years old and just lives down the road from the park.  He is working on Tuesdays, Wednesday's and Thursday's.  He seems like a hard worker which is good.  I have been going through the Office Procedure book updating directions and making them easy to follow.  As well as making any changes that have been instituted since they were written.    Two weeks ago we did rearrange the office.  Yes I enjoyed moving and rearranging things and Ron was such a willing helper.  I will take some pictures of the changes and get them posted soon.

Prayer request ~~~

Last week I had my eyes checked for new glasses and found out that I have a double cataract on my right eye.  This was troubling since I only have one eye and to think I need to have surgery on it is very scary.  I talked with my doctor from Bellingham last week and he said I need to get it taken care of sooner than later.  So I have talked to a couple of people and gotten a couple of names of doctors in the area.  I will be calling them this week to talk about what I need and then make an appointment and go from there.  Please pray that my anxiety will not climb during this proc.ess and that things can be taken care of quickly and correctly and that the financial aspect of it can be worked out.  Since we don't have insurance the financial piece alone causes extra stress.

Guess that's all from here in D'Hanis, TX.   If anyone has any questions about what we are doing or you have suggestions on things we should make sure we see while here please don't hesitate to drop us a line.