Dec 23 - 28 Christmas in Texas

Dec 23 - The clouds and the rain are behind us now. It's a sunny morning and expected to get up to about 28C/82F today and continue that pattern right through Christmas! It really doesn't feel like Christmas. It's not cold and there is no snow and ice to deal with but we will be okay lol. Thankfully I am getting some pics from Bonnyville so we remember what it could be like. Yeah, palm trees are okay instead.

Thanks for the pic Blainer! Makes us feel Christmasy-er lol.

I was first up today with Margaret and as soon as I looked at the kitchen floor I saw water laying on the floor? WTH? It took a couple seconds but I figured out that Leslie had overfilled the Berkey water filter last night and it leaked off the counter and across the floor. She got up to help with the clean up. It's just water. It will be okay. We're both up now so with our morning coffee in hand we started our day. Leslie is prepping some stuff for supper tonight and then she's going to pickleball. I want to go to the RV place and get parts to fix the fridge properly. Turns out they don't stock a temperature sensor so we ordered it for delivery tomorrow. At least they do have 5 amp fuses. The lady will call me when the parts get in. For now I can just climb the ladder and plug in the jumper in the morning then unplug it at night. Not terribly hard but likely running those fans longer than needed.
In the afternoon we both worked on the outside of the rig again. I have a couple more places to replace caulking and Leslie is cleaning and treating the slide rubbers. Haven't cleaned them at all this year so it's definitely time. When we finished those jobs we just relaxed until supper time. When it cooled off I climbed the ladder and unhooked the jumper to the fridge fan and then parked in my lazy boy.
Dec 24 - Remember I said it didn't feel like Christmas? I have completely forgot to get something for Leslie for Christmas! We are just getting something small to open Christmas morning for each other. I know what I want to get her so now to just go find it. Shouldn't be too busy on Christmas eve, right? Ha, not even going into Walmart parking lot. Leslie will love something from Home Depot, right?
Leslie went to line dancing this morning while I was out shopping. She is enjoying the activities here in the park and she's meeting a few people which is great. We really haven't connected with anyone here this time. Everyone is super friendly and we wave and say hi but we just haven't found someone to hang out with? Even the other Canadians from Ontario and Quebec seem friendly but distant. We have been busy fixing stuff but we are usually sitting out in the afternoon on the patio for happy hour. Not many people do happy hour here. Weird. The ones that do are happy with there own group and don't seem to invite others over. Maybe we smell bad after working on the rig?? I used deodorant? Maybe it's Leslie lol. One thing we have noticed is that most folks are here for the entire season and have been coming here for many years so they have an established group.
I got back from shopping a little bit defeated. First problem is the fridge sensor is not in and they close at 2:00 for Christmas. I'll be ladder climbing for a couple days. Second problem; Leslie wants a couple of food plates or trays that have the divisions in them. I call them prison trays. lol Lots of people use them for all the potlucks, which are really frequent in the RV world. I had called Bed, Bath & Beyond and a girl said they had them. Not today they don't and the store is closing out so they won't be getting them. I bought some new dish towels but even I can't just give her dish towels for Christmas! That's just not right. 
This is how awesome Leslie can be. We are going for lunch at Longhorn Steakhouse, awesome place, and then over to Bass Pro Shop to look at sandals!! Bass Pro Shop! I don't even hate going shopping there. Leslie found some new sandals with good arch support for her Christmas present. I'll surprise her with the towels tomorrow. Thanks Leslie for letting me off the hook so easy. I suck at shopping. 

We went to one in Ft Collins too. Very good food!

Keto friendly margarita.

Yeah, we can shop here.

We headed back to the rig and just relaxed for the rest of the day. We texted and called some people back home to say Merry Christmas. Didn't need a big supper after the huge lunch so it was an easy night.

She liked her Christmas present!

Leslie got a text from Julie, the folks we had a fire with a few nights ago. They are in Pennsylvania visiting family. It seems Julie tried out a hover board that her grandkids had. It ended badly and she texted Leslie with the medical report because she knew Leslie is an X-Ray Tech. It's bad news; she broke both wrists and will be getting surgery on the left one Friday. That sucks. 

Right arm will heal with a cast, left arm will need surgery. So bad.

No pickleball or swimming for you for a bit.

Dec 25 - Merry Christmas everyone!! We started our day with Bailey's and coffee and I got to open my awesome gifts from Leslie. She does not suck at shopping. She got me awesome shorts, mechanics gloves and sweat pants for lounging. Perfect. I gave her the dish towels in the gift wrap that she gave me my presents in :(  I hid the towels in the truck and didn't wrap them. 

Some flavour in our coffee.

She bought me nice stuff and wrapped it. 

I borrowed the wrapping paper :(

We have a potluck at 2 pm at the main hall so Leslie is prepping a Greek salad as our dish. We just put our names on a random table so we got to meet Mark & Linda who own a park model here at the park for the winter. They summer in Iowa. Also at our table was Art & Linda from Arkansas. Leslie knows Linda from line dancing. Art is a man of few words. It was a fantastic dinner; so much food it was overwhelming. The park supplied ham and scalloped potatoes. The rest was potluck. They set it up in six different stations so that only 3-4 tables were dishing up from one station. It made the lineups so much smaller. Then if there was something on another table that you wanted you could go up after the first serving and help yourself. Of course I did go with my plate and check out the other tables. Scored my Christmas fave, sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping! The desserts were also fabulous and we both enjoyed our favourites from all the tables. Down here they make unbelievable pecan pie. Leslie even broke the keto plan for some pineapple upside down cake. It was a really nice dinner and we really enjoyed chatting with the folks at our table. We waddled back to the trailer and relaxed for a bit with our books. Fat and happy.

Lots of hungry people but many stations to feed them.

Leslie won some candle holders from Santa haha.

Everyone got a picture with Santa if they wanted.

Later that evening we got a surprise Facetime call from Rachelle. She is hosting Christmas dinner for our family in Bonnyville and she called us so we got a chance to say hi to everyone at the dinner. So awesome. What a great surprise. Thanks Rachelle.
That's the great thing about the technology now is that we can see and talk with people at home. It makes things a little nicer. Leslie still gets a little sad that she can't be there but hey we have a Christmas tan!
Dec 26 - Happy Birthday Rylan!! It's tough with a birthday at Christmas time but it does make it easier to remember. He's a whopping 9 years old already! Wow time flies. We messaged Graham to set up a facetime call for later. We're a little ahead of them on the clock so we'll wait for a bit. We did get that call and got to see everyone which was so nice. G and his family are heading to Vancouver for the holidays tomorrow which always concerns me. The drive through all those mountains can be a real bear. They made it safe and sound. Perfect. 
Back to work. Christmas is over. Leslie went to pickleball and I started on the last two strips of caulking that I will do for now. I have decided that this summer I will start at the front and do everything that I haven't done so far. This Proflex caulking is a better product than what the factory used I think. When Leslie got back from pickleball she took the laundry down in the truck. I called the RV place and the lady is telling me their truck broke down in Corpus Christi so they won't get the part again today. Wow really? I'm just leaving the ladder beside the fridge vent now so I can hook and unhook the jumper every day. That was our day really. 
Margaret has been having these bad coughing spells at night so we are keeping an eye on her. She is breathing weird and then hacks pretty hard almost sounds like she barks. The vet has told us for the past couple years that they hear a heart murmur and these symptoms line up with congestive heart failure. She still wants to walk and run during the day though. Poor old girl. Getting old sucks. 
Dec 27 - Leslie is off to line dancing and I am taking a wheel off of the trailer to take to a tire shop. We noticed back in Ft. Collins Colorado that there is a nail in the tire and I think we have tempted fate long enough. We are traveling on I-10 soon and I would hate to have a blowout on that highway. I chose a Discount Tire shop not too far from us and they said they can get it done in about an hour. I drove back to the rig to drop Margaret off. It's getting too hot out to leave her in the truck for any length of time. As I was driving back to the shop I got a call from RV Mobile Home Repair and my new sensor is in! Perfect timing as they are just a short distance past the tire shop. I went there and got the sensor and then back to Discount Tire. Nestor, the rep I was working with, gave me the awesome news that it was a piece of a screw in the tire but it only penetrated the tread, not the tire. They had already separated the tire from the rim before they pulled the screw so they remounted and balanced the tire for free!! He said it was their mistake so no charge. That's great news.

A free tire repair! Awesome.

I was a happy guy when I got back and told Leslie about the tire deal. I put the wheel back on and then we decided we should go out for lunch. We want to try a Chick-Fil-A for lunch. We have never been there before. We are happy to say that for a fast food choice it was really good. Leslie got a grilled chicken lettuce wrapped for her keto choice and I had a spicy chicken with the coating and they were both pretty good. It looks like a real piece of chicken and tasted good too. Margaret was a fan when we shared little bites of chicken too.

For fast food it was pretty good. We will go back again.

I waited until the sun was less intense around 4 pm to install the new temp sensor and 5 amp fuse on the fridge. Leslie is helping me by holding the ladder and reading the procedure for getting at the fuse in the control board. Like an idiot I forgot to use the 12 volt disconnect and grounded the 12 volt wires on the metal on the back of the fridge. We changed the 5 amp fuse and put the cover back on the board but now we have no power to the fridge again. WTH? Of course I thought of how I had touched the 12 volt supply to ground and hoped that it was just another fuse. Luckily that was the case. I had blown a 20 amp fuse in the panel with my stupidity. I have fuses and we soon had power again. This time I powered down properly and reinstalled the temp sensor. It is so cramped to get your hands in there and there are two tiny screws holding it on the fins. With Leslie holding the ladder still I got it done after leaving a little knuckle meat up there. Yayy this should be the last time I need to go up there.

Leslie held on when I had to go up a step.

I needed my reading glasses to see in there. Tough spot to reach.

Our neighbours from across the road walked by just as I got finished so we chatted about the job for a bit. They have a residential fridge so they won't have that problem to worry about. We felt we earned a drink after our successful repair. I heard the fan start afterwards, so we cleaned up and grabbed a drink to take outside. It was 33C/91F earlier today. It's cooler now of course but still plenty warm. We walked over to Carl & Judy's place across the street and continued our chat with them. They are from Oklahoma and don't drink but they were happy to sit and chat. Carl worked 42 years for Mobil Oil/ Exxon Mobil which is the parent company for Imperial Oil in Canada. Cool coincidence. We came home after our chat and made supper. I could hear the fridge fan running again.  Yayy!

Dec 28 - Margaret had a really bad night. Not only is her breathing rough but she needed to go outside three times for stomach issues. Poor old girl is having a rough couple days. Lots of trips outside today too unfortunately. It's concerning but we feel a trip to the vet is not going to gain us much knowledge. She's slowly getting better today. She's eating again so that's a great sign. She even joined me for a short run while Leslie had her out for a walk.

Leslie rode her bike around the park and then played a few games of pickleball while I did a 5k run around the park. We had showers after and then drove downtown to a place recommended earlier, New York Deli 2. OMG the sandwiches are huge and really good. Leslie got a turkey club salad and it was so big we brought some home for later. 

They're fixing up the exterior a bit.

Big buckets of tea while we check out the menu.

Really cool interior with tons of Beatles stuff on the walls.

Now that's a salad! 

My sandwich was called Big G ;)  Roast beef and turkey club.

Fantastic place with a really large menu. I wanted to order a different sandwich to go but I am so full already I didn't do it. I think we'll hit this place again before we go. I need to do more research on this menu lol.

We drove back to the rig so I can keep an eye on Margaret and then Leslie is going to Walmart for groceries. She prefers shopping without me. It's less stressful for both of us. Margaret is sleeping lots so I just chilled on the couch with a book. Got the better part of this deal for sure. I helped Les unpack all the groceries and then we sat outside with a beverage. We just watched TV for the evening and then crashed early. We're all tired after getting up so many times last night. Thankfully it seems we're past the roughest part of whatever was making her sick.

Dec 29 - Margaret needed to go outside around midnight but then we all slept the rest of the night thankfully. Margaret wanted outside around 7:30 which is her usual time and she only needed to pee. That makes us feel better already. We'll see how the day goes. It will be a quiet day and just let her get better again. It's cloudy and cool but really muggy. Good chore day. Leslie is baking keto muffins and cleaning while I work on the blog. Hopefully all goes well today.

Cheers everybody.

Dec 16 - Dec 22, 2019 Christmas is coming??

Dec16 - The wind has been crazy the last few days. Gusts have been up to 60 km/h or 40 mph and it just never stops. The trailer rocks you to sleep just a little so that's nice but it's also hot outside and opening the window is super noisy. We're running a small fan all night to stay cool. Not the worst problem, I know.
Leslie was all smiles when she saw Facebook today. Ryan & Ashtyn had been to a Christmas party on the weekend and shared a picture. Looking great you two!

Look at these two beauties!

Leslie is going to pickleball and I took the truck over to Arroyo Park for a run but I waited too late and it's smokin' hot out. It's muggy too so I kept it pretty short for today. 
After we showered and cleaned up we got in the truck and headed over to Bert Ogden Chrysler (Bert owns most of the dealerships here) for an oil change on the truck. They took it right in but the service guy said it would be about 45 minutes as his tech was at lunch. I asked about a close restaurant and they offered us a ride to a place that was close. Perfect! We pulled into a small shopping plaza and Leslie noticed a sign that said wings, burgers and beer! Three of our favourite food items. Let's stop here. The place is called Wing Barn and it turned out to be really good. They have a large menu and only bottle beer but it's clean and smells good. We ordered our choices and sat down with our drinks and then they bring your food. I had a burger and wing combo while Leslie did wings and a salad. Not fancy but a great lunch.

It was as good as it looks. The burger was really good!

Leslie's lunch. She would have preferred regular wings instead of breaded boneless.

I checked how far it was to get back and it was just over a mile so we decided to walk. Shake down that yummy lunch a little on the way back. The dealership called while we were walking back that the truck was ready. That worked out perfectly. We had a quick stop at Walmart on the way home for some groceries and then back to Tropic Winds.
We got message from Graham that he had the new picture of the kids with Santa. Yeah buddy! Send them to us and let's see them two cuties with Santa this year. Rylan didn't used to like Santa and I have a pic from years ago where he is crying and just wants away from him. Katelyn never did get scared I don't think. They both look way happier now.

Fantastic pic! Miss these little munchkins.

So cute.

There is a regular potluck dinner here at the park and we are meeting up with the crew from the northeast for dinner. There weren't too many people there tonight so supper was a lighter meal. That's okay after our heavy lunch. Leslie and I brought a batch of brussel sprouts fried with bacon and onions to the meal. One fella came up to me at the table and said he had spent many evenings as a kid at the table because he wouldn't eat those things but he really enjoyed them with all the bacon in there lol. Another lady had made a pumpkin cake for dessert. Yeah, I had a few pieces of that bad boy. Even Leslie had some. It was so moist and delicious. After dinner we took our stuff home and picked up Margaret. Greg and Julie are having a "fire" beside their rig. They have a small firetable that they bring with them so we'll pour a drink and head over for a bit. It turned out to be just us at the fire so the four of us had a nice chat and got to know each other better.
Dec 17 - Leslie has line dancing this morning and I'm working on the blog and doing a few easy chores at home. It's fairly cool and windy today so a good day for some chores. When Les got back she took the truck down to the laundry and I worked on more exterior caulking. It seems the more I do the more I find that needs doing. The trailer is just five years old but the caulking is cracking and separating all over the place. On the positive side; I am getting way better at replacing it and the new flat razor scraper I bought is great for cutting out the old stuff.
We both took a little break after laundry and read a book lying down. We're retired...that's how this works now lol. When we got back up I took Margaret for a long walk around the park and Leslie cleaned the interior windows. See, that little recharge is the key. It's too windy for the barbecue and we have a steak out for supper tonight. We decided to try our convection oven. In all the years we have owned this rig I think we have used convection maybe three times. Well we lowered the time setting from the book by a minute to try for medium rare and we are happy to say it worked really good! The steak turned out nice and brown on the outside and tender and juicy inside at just a touch past medium rare. Great dinner!
( A thing we learned on the news tonight: "breezy" in Harlingen is less than 30 mph/ 50 kmh while windy is 30+. Really?? So the past few days with gusts over 40 mph is windy)

We messaged our buddy at High Chaparral, Randy, to wish him a happy birthday! I don't want to say his age today but let's just say the ol' grey stud ain't what he used to be haha. Happy birthday buddy! Cheers.
Dec 18 - We woke up in the dark this morning to Margaret whining to get outside. We know to move quickly when she is shaking and whining like that on the bed at 6 am. I took her out in just enough time to avoid a problem. Leslie had a rough night too it seems with some sort of stomach bug. Both her and Margaret getting up more than once this morning. What the heck? I gladly felt fine.
It's a really nice sunny morning so I headed out for a run at McKelvey Park after breakfast and making sure my girls were alright for a bit. Leslie is skipping pickleball and just hanging out at home this morning with the dog. The temperature is about 15C/59F and it's less "breezy" than the past few days so I managed a decent distance at McKelvey Park. It's a really nice cement path that winds along beside the channel and connects to some other parks and playgrounds. There were several other people enjoying the walking path and 2 other runners.

The map of the path. Joins 3 parks together.

Beauty path to run with a mix of asphalt and cement.

 I stopped on the way home to check how my bike is doing at bicycle world and it should be ready today. They said they will call but I doubt it. They have said that a couple times before and never did call so I called them.
Not much else for today. I did a little more caulking but gave up after a bit. I'm just not into it today. Leslie is up and moving around but just doesn't feel very good and Margaret is better now. We put together a bunch of leftovers for supper and watched the Survivor Finale.
Dec 19 - Leslie feels way better today so she is off to pickleball with the girls. I am going up on the roof to do more caulking. That's another spot I found while I was doing the sides of the rig. I have a partial tube of Dicor left from earlier this year so I'll get up there and get that sealed before the rain hits tomorrow and Saturday. Luckily it's just small cracks in the sealant so I'm not seeing a bunch of damage. Dicor is self levelling so it's actually easier to do in my opinion. Still takes time to properly clean the old stuff before adding the new. I'm happy the tube still works after being resealed. The product doesn't seem as fluid as when it was new but it's working alright.
When the roof was done I kept the ball rolling and got right at the kitchen slide joints. Slow but sure I'm getting this all done.
Leslie took the truck out for some Christmas shopping after she got back. We're buying something small for each other for Christmas day. It's really busy in all the stores and she was glad to be home afterwards. That was about it for the day really. Had a couple drinks before supper and then just a quiet night at home.

Quick game of chase the lazer with Margaret. Behind you !!

Look at the tail blur lol.

Don't touch that remote, I'm watching Animal channel

Dec 20 - Leslie has line dancing today so she is off and running. I am staying inside because the previously mentioned rain is here. It's a constant mist so not too bad. I took Margaret for walk/run around the park. When we got back I noticed the propane truck doing his rounds. This is another nice service in Tropic Winds. The truck is here 3-4 times per week filling tanks at your site. We need one of our tanks filled finally. It's been along time since we needed any because we haven't needed heat for a while. I met the truck outside and for $22.50 he filled our 30 pounder. 
We decided to go out for lunch when Leslie got back so took the long way around to Applebee's. Haven't been to an Applebee's since last year with Barry & Ailsa and it was good then.

Haven't been here for a while.

Didn't turn out as good this time unfortunately. Leslie's chicken & shrimp with a salad was okay but my club sandwich wasn't very good. It was just packaged ham and a thin overcooked piece of chicken on fried white bread. It was edible but not great (the fries were good though). The server was okay but with four other tables on the go he was seeming overwhelmed. Oh well, they can't all be winners.
When we got back I was showing Leslie the work I had done on the kitchen slide and noticed that the caulking was pushing out in one spot. WTH? I pushed on the bulging sealant and a few drops of water came out.  Great... I missed something and water is getting in behind the bead. Of course because it was raining I had put everything back in the storage compartment so now I get to pull it all out again. At least it stopped raining for a little bit.
It turned out to be a bad seal right above where I had caulked where the roof membrane is tucked into the flange piece on the edge of the slide. The rain got in behind the flange and ran down until it had to force it's way out. With more rain coming I have no choice but using the universal fix it tool.... Gorilla tape. I can dry it off and tape it until Sunday when it is supposed to be nice again. I am more than a little ticked that I didn't see this before but what can I do right? There is about a foot of sealant that I am taking out on the kitchen slide that will need to be done again after I get the top fixed up. I'll double check the same spots on all the slides but I think this is the only bad one.

This is where the rain was getting in the top.

Had to replace this much of the caulking.

Here comes the rain so it's time to go inside. We enjoyed a nice lie down and a quiet afternoon inside listening to the rain until supper. Leslie made us a fantastic supper and then we sat in front of the TV to watch a 20/20 show about Jim & Tammy Fae Bakker. Unreal how much they had and subsequently lost. Like watching a bad car wreck. You just had to look.
Dec 21- The weather forecast was accurate; it's pouring rain this morning and has been most of the night. It's not getting cold though just super damp. I worked on the blog at the table and Leslie just stayed in bed with her phone checking social media and playing games. No hurry today for sure. I actually managed to catch a good picture of the jack rabbits that live here. There's two of them that run by everyday and they are pretty big. 

The elusive rabbits.

The rain slacked off before noon and it's supposed to break today to just a few clouds. We can get back to work. Leslie wants to get some groceries so she got cleaned up and took off with the truck and the dog. Margaret is bored and jumped at the chance to go for a ride. While she was gone I decided to give myself a haircut with the clippers and then vacuum the house. Leslie can finish the haircut when she gets home but I can handle the first part. When Leslie got back we put away all the groceries and she finished what I had started. We had decided earlier that we will have the Costco turkey breast for supper tonight. We've been doing so good with the convection oven that we want to put the turkey in there too. It turned out really good but just a little dry on the edges.  All good, we have gravy! It was a fantastic dinner on a rainy day.

Another awesome Costco purchase.

Of course Leslie had more gravy and no potatoes.

Really good supper.

Dec 22 - We're making a big breakfast today and then I want to try a 10k run at McKelvey Park. The weather today is perfect with almost no wind and about 16C. Want to prove to myself I can make the distance before the race on January 19. Leslie is coming to the park with Margaret for a nice walk while I run. We headed down there around 11:00 and got at it. I like the path at this park as it follows the channel and there are a couple bridges and other things to look at while you're running. Leslie didn't get the cardio workout because with Margaret you have to stop so often for her to sniff and mark the spot. They still managed 2.5k out and back though. To make 10k I had to go out and back and then get Leslie to meet me at the other end by the Ford dealer which she did. I was happy to see her and yeah it was 10.29k when I finished. I know I can do it so now just work on the pace and a faster finish time. Leslie drove us back to the rig for a shower and a sandwich; turkey, of course. They are the best.

Leslie has been chatting with Sam this morning and Graham sent her some pictures of the kids out playing in the snow from yesterday. Leslie misses her kids and the grand kids at this time of year so she is a little misty looking at pics. They're playing in snow and we're wearing shorts and tee shirts, we win.

Christmas at Bob's in Edmonton.

Jessica, Lorin, Ashtyn, Ryan, Richard & Sam in a blanket??

Rosy cheeks and a big smile, nice!

Okay yeah it looks like fun. She looks pretty happy.

Brrr! I have to go outside where it's warm. I want to fix up the caulking that failed the other day and we have noticed that the fan on the fridge hasn't been running lately even when it's really warm. I googled that and it is possibly a failed temperature sensor so I will check that out too. I pulled the tape off the missing caulking and cleaned that up so I can put on a new bead. While on the ladder I removed the upper vent cover for the fridge to locate the sensor. Of corse it is behind a board and hard to reach, they don't make things easy to reach on these rigs.

Imaging both my big hands trying to reach behind there to get to a small switch...not fun.

I built a wire jumper to test the bad temp sensor and sure enough the fans started right up! Okay cool.  I'll just leave the jumper on and remove the sensor so I can find a new one tomorrow. I can unplug the jumper tonight when the sun goes down and we'll be okay overnight. In the small space where I am working with a screwdriver I pushed the jumper wire up against the cooling fin body and a little spark shot out and then silence! No fan, no nothing. Oh man this can't be good. Leslie shouted from inside that the fridge has no power, it's black. Oh no did I just smoke the mother board for the fridge! More mild panic googling on how to reset a fridge board. They want me to use another jumper. Yikes this is not good. I have to take the cover off the board to get a look in there anyway so let's go see. I had Leslie look for a mobile repair guy while I started on the cover. We just bought $120 worth of groceries. It's hot out... at 4:30 pm... on a Sunday...and we have no power to the fridge.

Nothing is easy to reach on this fridge.

With the cover off and Leslie reading from my phone about a reset we started the procedure. I was not comfortable with the wire jumper thing and was about to give up when I noticed a 5 amp fuse in the board. Do you suppose it blew the fuse? We put a light through the fuse and it does kind of look blown? It's hard to see through brown plastic.

Failed sensor on the left, 5 amp fuse right. You can't see through that??

Of course I have 10, 20 & 30 amp fuses, no 5's. I'll try a 10 just to see. As soon as I plugged in the fuse we heard clicking and the fridge lit on propane! Yayyy! We have power again. I will leave the 10 amp overnight and get a new one tomorrow. I can't tell you how relieved we both are. We put everything back together and went inside. Boy that was close. We both had a drink and then supper. Could you imagine trying to find a mobile tech at 5:15 (the time we finished up) on a Sunday and then he replaces a fuse! The RV gods smiled on me this time.

We just watched a little TV and called it an early night. That was a stressful little episode that could have turned out so much worse than it did. RV parts stores are open tomorrow so I'll get a new sensor and some 5 amp fuses for my parts kit. 

After the couple rainy days the forecast looks amazing through Christmas! Daytime hime highs in the mid 20'sC/ high 70's F. Not hard to take. Well that's another week here in Harlingen. Getting lots done and learning new things about our fridge, sweet!

Cheers everybody.

Dec 9 -15, 2019 A slower pace but enjoying Tropic Winds.

Dec 9 - We're not doing as much "fun" stuff but we're ticking jobs off the list and mixing in lots of downtime. Afternoon naps are awesome! Even to just go lie down with the fan on and read for a half hour is a really good thing. Not how we usually roll.
Leslie is taking the truck down to the laundry this morning. We have two baskets full and she's doing all the bedding too. After I do a little blog reading and writing I'm getting at the caulking on the shady side of the rig. I'll need a cloudy day for the drivers side. It's a really windy day today. Wind is fairly constant here in Harlingen but some days it really gets going. The gusts are are over 50k or 30 mph this morning. Our neighbours Christmas tree is taking a beating. Ornaments are in a pile around it. They'll get it fixed up I'm sure. They have quite the display at night. Leslie can see it clearly on the mirror of our bedroom closet doors lol.
We worked for a while and then Brian and Mary stopped by our site to let us know the gang is meeting at the pool a little later. That's nice of them to tell us about it. We cleaned up and put on swimming gear and headed down to the pool. There were eight of them this time so we pulled up a chair and hung out for a couple hours with some frosty drinks by the pool. It's windy but plenty warm out. The gang had all arranged a steak dinner previously so we parted ways for supper but joined up again after supper for another drink. We shared some of the Maple Crown Royal we brought down. How Canadian is Maple Crown?? They shared some Tennessee Moonshine. We slept pretty good afterwards.

Beautiful sunset in Harlingen.

Dec 10 - On the local news they are warning everyone about a "cold front" that is coming this morning. We have been checking Edmonton and Bonnyville weather and it's a different cold front here to say the least. While we were having coffee it was muggy and about 22C/75F at 8 am. Not long after that a strong wind kicked up and the temperature instantly dropped along with the humidity to about 16C/60F by about 10 am. Sure enough it feels cold. I had to pull out a sweatshirt and put on jeans. Leslie is in a sweater and has the blanket over her on the couch. WTH? 

In front of the fireplace staying warm.

Needed a sweater while working on the blog!

It really did get nasty for here, it's -30C/-22F in Bonnyville.

We braved the cold for a trip to Walmart and our first ever visit to Cracker Barrel restaurant for lunch. Country fried turkey brings a whole new dimension to life my friends. Wow. Leslie had trout and a salad, not as life altering. Country fried turkey with gravy on top, yeah that's food. I need one of those previously mentioned naps.

Our first time to Cracker Barrel. It's pretty good.

We are real close to a city park that we want to check out so we stopped at Arroyo Park right after for a short walk with Margaret. There are three parks connected by a cement path that I wanted to look at for a run tomorrow. We checked it out briefly and then back to the rig for a rest. We didn't do much after that except supper and TV for the evening. It was about 10C/50F that night. We put the blanket back on the bed!
Dec 11- It was cool overnight for sure. The furnace kicked in a couple times while set at 58F. It's still quite windy today but the clouds have gone mostly and it is supposed to warm up to 16C/60F this afternoon; nice enough for a run for sure. One more night of cool weather and we're back into the heat again. We made it through the cold front!
Leslie made us an amazing breakfast; scrambled eggs with spinach, peppers, onions and bacon bits in them. Then she put guacamole and pico de gallo on the table for toppings. So good and good for you! A bit later I headed out to the park for a run and Leslie stayed at the rig and walked around here. By the time I got there the wind had died down and it was a great day. I got to do some cement path and then switched shoes and did the trails in the park. Awesome.

Really nice park with trails and interpretive signs about the birds and the trees/shrubs.

Nice trails to run and only a couple other people.

The channel through the park, pretty funky smelling unfortunately.

Leslie was busy ordering some business cards from Vistaprint when I got back. Quite a few people have cards to share contact info and we wanted to get some too. They're pretty cheap really. We took a long time choosing a picture but Les got them ordered and they will be here in about 10 days. Also while I was gone she stopped at the office and signed us up for Christmas dinner and she bought tickets for a cod fish fry on Friday. Good stuff Leslie!

Dec 12 - Today is Leslie's line dancing day so she headed to the main hall while I hung out and worked on the blog. She really likes her line dancing group and she enjoys the dancing. She got back to the rig with a big smile and got busy making a big batch of dog food. We plan to do a driving tour of Edinburgh to the west of us and then stop at Costco in Pharr, to the south. From Costco we can get out to the freeway and come back home.

We got cleaned up and plugged Edinburgh into the GPS. I wonder what route we'll take to get there? It chose a road to the north of us and then west which turned out to be a great drive. Lots of agriculture along the way with sugar cane and cotton fields. We have been told that the huge fires we're seeing are the farmers burning the cane fields to clean them up. We were told they burn them and then harvest but that's not what we saw today. They drove a harvester through the field and then a separate machine comes along and picks up the stalks in a huge basket. I'm assuming that's what they burn is the dry stalks. Makes for massive fires and if the wind is right we get chunks of black ash floating into the park and landing all over the rig and truck. It was an interesting drive, we went through another fair size community called Edcouch? Odd name I thought. 

Never seen one of these before; cane harvester.

These fires burn quite often right now. They are huge!

Sugar cane processing plant.

They use lots of heat in the process by the look of it.

There are lots of RV Parks in Edinburgh and we checked out a few but they are not what we would choose over where we are at Tropic Winds. It's fun to look though. Well we like to do that at least. Never know for sure until you see it.

Time to head for Costco and I'm already thinking about my Costco hot dog and a Pepsi for $1.50 lol. Leslie had a hot dog with no bun which didn't look as good. I had the dog plus a piece of pepperoni pizza! They make pretty good pizza too. I had no idea. That stopped me from trying all the samples in the food aisles. I was too full. We didn't have a big list of stuff and were soon on our way back to Harlingen on the freeway. A nice circle drive and we got to see some new places. Good stuff.

The community with the Costco about 30 miles from us.

Hot dog heaven lol.

I polished another section of the trailer while Leslie put away our groceries then we both sat outside for a bit with a cold drink. Not a thrill a minute type day but it was fun.

Leslie got a nice sunset shot here at Tropic Winds.

Dec 13 - Leslie has more line dancing this morning and I'm switching it up a little and going for a bike ride instead of running. I found a bike lane and followed it to a bike path that went past the park I ran earlier this week. I got back just before Leslie got home from line dance. I noticed when I got back that my bike was hard to push around. The brakes are dragging both front and back? I have a new project to check out my bike now. We took Margaret for a nice walk around the park and then Leslie got out the clippers to give her a trim. She's getting a little shaggy. Can't have that lol. I put my bike on the stand and took the wheels off to check the brakes. Doesn't seem to be an issue there but the bearings in the front wheel feel chunky. I took that apart and there is a ball bearing missing on one side? Have no idea how that could have happened. There is a bike shop not far from here so I'll just take it there and get it repacked with new bearings. Ended up taking the whole bike there actually and will get a tune up done. Everything is covered in salt and road dust from the drive down here. We'll see how that turns out. 

Leslie has Margaret on the tailgate for her haircut so it's easier on her back. She worked on her for about a half hour until Margaret didn't want to stand still anymore. Leslie did a great job again and now Margaret just wants to roll in the grass. So much for the clean dog.

Before, side view.

She's pretty scruffy looking.

There we go, such a pretty girl lol.

Next up is putting up our Christmas lights on the rig. Leslie bought a couple strings to give our trailer a little colour over the holidays. There are quite a few really nice displays here in the park. Ours is weak but better than nothing at all. We got them hung on the front but we'll need to wait a bit for dark so we can get the show going.

The light show at dusk!

We have tickets for a fish fry tonight at the main hall so we need to wash up and walk to the hall. It's a great deal at $7 for one piece and $9 for two pieces of cod; baked or fried. They include slaw, baked potato and a bun with chocolate cake for dessert. It's also just a good chance to meet some other people here. We sat at a table with Terry & Carol, the couple that helped us the first day here. It was a good dinner and nice to chat with them for a bit. We did another walk around after dinner with Margaret and that was about it. Time for a lazy boy.

Dec 14 - Today is another really hot one. Sorry to all our friends up north but it's crazy hot here. It's a little muggy and only gets down to 22C/75F at night. Forecast high today, 35C/95F !!

Yeah it's pretty warm outside.

I want to drop off the bike wheel today and Terry told us about a Mexican restaurant called Los Asados that is on the same road so we'll head over there. Lunch was first and Terry was right, Los Asados is good food and lots of it.

Good place here in Harlingen.

Leslie's plate didn't look as full because she asked for the beans and rice to go so she only has meat, peppers and onions,  lettuce, tomatoes and cheese on her plate with salsa and guacamole. Mine is a big plate that's totally full of chalupas, beans and rice for $9. The service was really good and the food was great. We'll go back again no doubt.

Wow I could look happier with all that food to eat.

I have my phone at this point.

Next stop is Bicycle World to drop off my front wheel. After chatting with the mechanics and finding out they can fit in my whole bike for a tune up we jumped back in the truck to go back to the rig. We had almost got back to the park and I looked for my phone in the truck. I quickly realized I had left it behind either at the restaurant or bike shop. I hate it when I do stupid stuff like that so I started winding up into a little snap-show and of course Leslie had to listen to my rant. She tried being calm and reasonable but I was already losing it so it was a rough half hour. We grabbed the rest of the bike and we burned back to the restaurant. Not there! The manager said he would check the video cameras and call Leslie's phone to see if I picked it up or someone else. At least we'll know if I had it when I left. I can't remember at this point. We continued to the bike shop and I wheeled the rest of the bike into the shop. As I set the bike down by the service counter I looked on the counter where the work order was and there is my phone!! So relieved to find it. We keep so much information on our phones and being down here I use it way more than at home. I told Leslie right away that it was here and apologized for losing my,,, um stuff. Good thing she can deal with my stuff. Thanks Les! 

We called the restaurant and thanked them for trying to help find the phone. I am much more aware of what I'm carrying again. With the bike at the shop we headed to HEB for a couple groceries and then back to Tropic Winds. 

We took Margaret for a walk around our area and met some new neighbours two sites over. Rusty and Gemma are winter Texans from the northeast corner of Texas. I jokingly told Rusty that I was super jealous of him already because of his rig and toys. He's driving a beautiful mini Peterbuilt, pulling a Voltage Toyhauler with, get this, not one but 2 Harleys (his and hers) and a custom golf cart. His Harley is a 2015 Road Glide with a ton of custom work done to it. It is just spectacular! We didn't get pics that day but I'll try to get some before too long. Gemma took the overgrown golf cart with ostrich leather seats to the laundry while we visited with Rusty. He loves ostrich leather; the golf cart, the bike seats and all the seats in the Peterbuilt are black ostrich leather. It looks amazing!

We chatted with Rusty for a bit and then Gemma too when she got back. They are super friendly and we'll try to get together for a happy hour soon. Rusty offered a ride in the Pete sometime which I will gladly accept. Beautiful rig.

Rusty's Peterbuilt! 4 ostrich leather captains chairs and a fold down 

bench seat in back that makes a bed. Yes I have truck envy.

We walked back to our site and I looked at my Ram with disgust lol. I thought my truck was nice but it pales beside that Pete haha. We sat outside with a cold drink after our stressful afternoon. Rusty fired up and went to park the truck at the end of the park in the storage area. Oh don't worry. He also has a half ton pickup here so they can drive around easier. I'm not sure I like them anymore lol. So jealous.

Dec 15 - We woke up to a major wind today. There is another cold front coming down this way so the wind is stronger than usual. It's still forecast for 32C today but wind gusts will hit 60 km/h or 40 mph. We're doing a couple chores today. Leslie is going to defrost the freezer and I'm working on fixing more caulking on the shady side of the rig which is out of the wind. The wind is actually shaking the rig a little bit it's so strong. We went for a walk around the park with the dog and then just hung out inside out of the wind. Forecast says the wind is continuing for the next few days and it's getting cold. Well I mean south Texas cold so it will be around 10C/50F at night and in the teens during the day. Not too hard to handle.

That almost brings us up to date!! Yay. It's not a thrill a minute while we're here but that's just what we wanted. There are still some sites we want to look at over the next couple of weeks, we'll get there. For now we'll just keep doing the little repairs and enjoy Tropic Winds and the folks we have met. We both are starting to get "itchy" to get back on the road again. Looking forward to all the friends and fun ahead of us in Arizona too. 

Cheers everybody.