Hellllooo everybodee, as Elmo would say...

I am using grandpa's computer so I now have wifi internet access. It took me about three days to get it up and running(god only knows what a 91 year old brain thinks and then DOES when using this thing, lol!). Everything is now updated and is running a lot faster thank goodness. Problem is my puter is off to the big kahuna Geek at Gateway in the sky...perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. They have assured me that they can recover all my files and docs plus my precious pix

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last blogged. It has been a strange and frustrating journey to establish domicile here in Texas. I was led to believe that Texas welcomed us full time RVer's with open arms, making things easy and quick to get drivers licenses', vehicle registration, ect. Bullshit. I will write more on our experiences at a later time, maybe when I can write coherently without using all kinds of cuss words.

Of course, as planned, after leaving Indiana and the Escapade Rally, we headed down to Pigeon Forge, TN to check out future employment at Dollywood. I was awestruck at this town. It is like Branson tenfold. Paul thought Dollywood was hokey, I thought it was neat, kinda like a southern Silver Dollar City. Plus, I love the little shops, the bakeries and homemade candies. You know that will never change. We left on Saturday, I think and got into Weslaco on Monday. The trip was long,almost 1400 miles, and of course, the part of Texas we traveled thru was just so scenic (oh yeah, so many cacti to look at an of course the well kept homes along SR77. )

I think the trip took a lot out of me...plus the relief of being back in the Valley for a couple of months, all the stuff we had to do here, kinda stressed me out. Then I was hit with the mother of all bladder infections which knocked me on my ass for almost two weeks. Paul went down to Mexico to get me some antibiotics which I am now taking faithfully...did you know that e.coli is the culprit for bladder infections. I must be full of that bacteria as I get at least one a month due to my Fibro. It is a common side effect/added bonus of that wonderful disease.

The weather here is warm...Thursday in McAllen it was 104 and yesterday we went to the Island for the Master's Sand sculpting competetion. It was quite warm, even with the breeze off the water. Amazing things to see...I did take pictures, but won't be able to post until I get my laptop back. No softward on this one, and I don't want to clutter grandpa's computer since it is a dinosaur to begin with.

What I will prolly do is just recap the last three or so weeks with the pictures when I get my pc back.

FYI, Paul's cousin in CA, Tommy Ash was critically injured several weeks ago in a freak motorcycle accident, but is well on his way to recovery and is now recouping at home. Paul and grandpa are itching to call him and give him the business...60+ years old and he still can't ride that thing, LOL! We can laugh now but we were all praying very hard for him. We had some terrible news from our girlfriend in Chicago...our former neighbors, the Ryans, who lost their youngest daughter ten years ago to a brain tumor, just lost another son to suicide. Patrick was only 24, just two years older than Zack. Patrick and Annie were Zack's best buds when they were little monsters. I have many fond and funny memories of all the trouble the three of them got into. Its amazing what a 4, 5 and 6 year old can accomplish when they work well together as a terrorist team. It breaks my heart that Patrick was suffering from several issues that forced him to give up. I know in my heart that God is taking care of him now...Zack of course was devastated...Annie died when he was 12 and he had a rough time with her death too. Sometimes God's plan doesn't come into focus too well when we keep our eyes looking down instead of up.

Zack is swamped with projects for his senior year. Lots of analytical stuff about writers from the beginning of time, his prep for student teaching, etc. Well, yanno...you EARN a degree, it's not like you just show up and graduate like you did in HS. His schedule has seriously impacted his ability to work many hours, which then puts the squeeze on us. But, we did say we would support him for his four years of college and this is year four. We can't just very well pull the rug out from under him and tell him he's on his own cause we are retired. That was a family decision made at a time when it made sense. We will have some issues to deal with mostly health insurance and car insurance since we have moved to Texas as our domicile. *Sigh*. More bureaucracy. Crap. It never ends.

Well, I gotta get going...I am getting the evil eye from Paulie...I have laundry to do....

hugs

Dee