2012.02.28 W & I Water Break

This photo could be titled "How many males does it take to fix a broken water pipe." ;-D
The answer is "6 + a male dog - one guy to do the dirty work and 5 + the dog to watch him do it!" Naturally, our Homer had to supervise it all to make sure the guys did it right!
The story behind this:
The guys in the park are working on replacing and moving the water hook-ups in the common area behind the lots. On the last hole to be dug for the day and on the last shovel full of dirt for the day, the old water pipe burst and water started running everywhere. Isn't that how it always is!




John is the brains behind this whole operation and he is the one getting wet and dirty. The rest of the guys are lending a hand when needed and also some moral support.

2012.02.27 Doug's first play-off game

Today was the first game of the play-offs in the Winter Texan Softball League. Doug's team made it into the play-offs and won their game 13 - 7 today. It was touch and go for awhile both because it was raining early and they were behind early. Twice they scored 5 runs in an inning.
Here are some photos of the game.
Above, Doug is stretching as he is the next batter up. Below, I was a little late catching him hitting. ;-)



Above, he is on third base hoping to get home (he did get home)!



Above and below is our friend Eddy from Arkansas. Eddy has been playing 4 games a week since they asked him to come up from the Leisure League to fill in for some injured players in the Recreation League. So he has been playing two games in Leisure and 2 games in Rec League.



Above, Doug on third again with Ed Martins coaching at third base.







Catching his wind after scoring!


Game is over!


Now they play the #1 seed on Wednesday 10 AM. If they win that game then they play the championship game at 11 AM.

2012.02.26 Trip to South Padre Island

Well, one thing of many that Texas does right is how they market the state. Even the eggs are stamped with a "Grown in Texas" stamp with the shape of the state!




Today, we decided to take a drive to South Padre Island. It is just an hour's drive and since it was sunny but cool, Homer could go along with us. We went to the Shrimp Haus at Schlitterbahn. The restaurant is on the second floor and looks out over the Gulf of Mexico. Schlitterbahn is a waterpark that will be really hopping in another month but now it is closed with no water running through it. We enjoyed delicious seafood in a calm quiet atmosphere looking out on the gulf. We could tell that this place must really get crowded during the warm weather and summer vacations!

Some of the beautiful flowers along the walkway.




Beyond the outside rail is the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, my camera did not catch the waves when shooting through the restaurant windows.


Now you can see the dunes and the gulf.

02.14.2012 Valentine's Day

We had a lovely dinner at The Patio on Guerra for Valentine's Day. These photos aren't very good quality. My iPhone 4 camera is an improvement over the camera in the 3G phone but it still doesn't do so great in low light and I didn't want to use the flash.



The strolling guitarist had a quite interesting guitar as it was wireless and also body-less. Look closely. The music was beautiful as it came over the speaker system as he strolled through the dining room.

Our appetiser of a portobella mushroom with lump crab meat in a creamy sauce. It was superb!


We chose to eat inside in the air-conditioning since it was still in the upper 70's and quite humid outside in the courtyard. Seems strange to say that Valentine's Day because as a northern, Valentine's Day meant cold weather.

They had a single rose on each table and gave me a long-stemmed rose to take home. I added it to my vase of roses Doug got for me last week.

02.11.2012 Roofing our shed

We discovered our storage shed had a leaking roof. Gary, our next door neighbor, helped Doug get the old shingles off, replace some rotten wood, and put on a new metal roof. Here are some photos of the two guys hard at work. ;-)

Doug's softball team & John Wayne

Hey, isn't that John Wayne with Doug above!

And below, you have Doug's softball team this year.

02.02.2012 Lunch with Mike Richardson & boys

We had the pleasure of meeting some of our missionary friends for lunch on 2/2. Mike Richardson and three of his boys: Samuel, Isaac, and Joshua had come to McAllen to deliver some Spanish materials for our homeschool convention in Pennsylvania.




When we arrived back at our place, we discovered someone from the weekly jam session had apparently turned around in our driveway and ran off the concrete smashing a solar light into the ground, running over one of our irrigation sprindlers breaking the underground pipe and cracking the new protection donut that that surrounds the sprinkler and tore up our lawn as they sped away. As soon as we got out of the car, we saw the damage and our neighbors converge on us. They hadn't seen the culprit but they saw the damage. They all came to our rescue. Two of them brought spare parts they had on hand and all helped Doug make the repairs to the irrigation and to clean the glass up from the solar light. The next day, Barb, our one neighbor gave us some sod to fill the tire track and patch the grass. Voila! you can hardly tell we had a problem!