Mistaken Idea

Somewhere I got the mistaken idea that at the end of the season here at Bentsen Grove the activities were supposed to start slowing down. I think that I have gotten busier and have more things that I need to do. Still I believe that in a day or two things will slow down enough for me to think about catching up. I have spent the last three nights up late getting CDs and DVDs recorded and printed for the last of the dancers that wanted them to dance with for the summer. People are leaving Bentsen Grove in droves, whole rows that were full a couple weeks ago are basically empty.

There is a side to all the people leaving that I had never considered. The homes are stocked with food just like a normal home is stocked. But when the resident is going to go north suddenly there is a lot of items that cannot be left like leaving on a normal vacation and they cannot take it with them because they will be on the road for several days and the perishable food would spoil. So what do they do with it? They give it to those people that are staying or have a refrigerator that will travel with them. For at least three of them we are the people that that can take the food. Any food that can be left at room temperature for a few days or a week can be given to the food bank, which they also do. We are very lucky that we did not go to the grocery store today to get some items that we need. As of this evening our refrigerator is crammed as full as it has ever been. If I hear another knock on the door I think I will just ignore it.

Last night we decided that we did not want to cook so we went out to eat. After several a discussion in which several places did not sound good we went to Pizza Hut. They are running a promotion of buy a large and get a medium for one cent. We did that and took the medium and almost half the large home. So what do we do? We had guests in this evening to share the take-home. Since they are planning to leave tomorrow they did not want to cook at home. Also they helped eat some of the food they were planning to give us.

I went with friends to the World Birding Center about three miles from us late last week. It is on the Rio Grande River with Mexico across the water. I wanted to take pictures of birds or the collared peccaries or most any other animals that live there. There was a group of bird watchers at a place they call the Hawk Tower. They were as noisy as a bunch of preteen kids on a school outing. There were no birds within a hundred yards of the tower. To see anything required binoculars or a spotting scope and of course I had neither. I want to be close enough that I can get a picture in which you can tell that the reason for taking the picture was the bird. We have been there at the blinds and seen a lot of birds, but it has been so quiet that a pin falling on the floor could be heard. I will go back to those quiet spots, but I think I might just as well avoid the crowed areas totally.

It was a week ago tomorrow that we had to move my Mother In Law to an Alzheimer assisted living home. It has not been an east time for my wife. She has the normal feelings of guilt of doing something terrible to her mother, but that will become easier to accept in time. It really was getting to the point that the care we could provide was not enough for her needs. Under certain circumstances it might have actually been dangerous for her and for one or both of us. Getting her into or out of the motor home was the most dangerous due to the potential of falling out the door. I have never thought about the seven steps up into the house as "dangerous" until I basically had to lift another person in or out through the narrow opening. If we had a single level house, with wide doors and halls and a large bathroom we could have cared for her better but those are things that we do not have. So far she seems to be doing well, even better than she was at home. I really believe that it was a good decision or at least the better of several choices.

One of the things that we wanted to do before our line dance instructor left for the north was to take him to a restaurant called Haysachi Habachi Restaurant for lunch. Today was absolutely the last day that we could go. So for lunch we went to the restaurant and had a great lunch. If you have never eaten in a habachi restaurant you owe yourself a treat. It may well be the best food and show that you will ever experience. We also suddenly remembered that today was the volunteer appreciation lunch here at the park. Erma had signed us for that so we had to go. They had sandwiches and finger foods so at least we could take it home for later. We figured supper would be the sandwiches but as it turned out supper was pizza

It is almost a relief to be able to sit down to the computer and write something that is not required to fulfill a promise to another person. But on the other hand it is just a few minutes before midnight and if I hurry I can get this posted before tomorrow.

Till Later This is Uncle Duck

Dance Party

The Bentsen Grove Line Dancing Class decided that this last Thursday was the proper day to do the oneryness that we were going to pull on our dance instructor. Class started just like any normal day. It was planned that as soon as he played the song Magic Moments every member of the class would totally get mixed up as to how the dance started. We have shirts that say "I know this dance... Now how does it start?" So it was an appropriate thing to do. He counted off the starting beat and it went down hill from there. During the chaos several people slipped out to another room. Roger finally stopped the music, I think it was difficult because he was laughing so hard. So he started another song and it was going well. The dancers were actually dancing the right steps. I had positioned myself close to him in the front row of dancers. I also had my phone turned up to high volume. When the phone rang there was no way that everybody in the hall missed the fact that I had to rush out the door to answer the call. I went around the building and into another door. Then when the "special dancers" were ready I went busting into the dancing area, calling out that we had to "Stop the Music!" because we had a bunch of new people that wanted to be taught to dance and they even had their own music. The "special dancers" were those that had slipped out and put on some crazy clothes and were using walkers, canes and crutches to be able to walk. The music I had gotten just the day before in an e-mail that I had received. It actually was music that could be danced to but it was weird to say the least.

So while the song was playing the "special dancers" were staggering and cavorting around and really putting on quite a show. Then when we got through with the fun we had a presentation of a card that was filled with "appreciation" money that the dancers had contributed. And of course there was suddenly a table full of food to eat and drinks to go with it. We had a ball. After that we even had some time left for some serious dancing.


BEFORE INSTRUCTIONS


BEFORE INSTRUCTIONS


AFTER INSTRUCTIONS BY ROGER PETERS


AFTER INSTRUCTIONS BY ROGER PETERS

It is hard to believe that it has been a week since we had that "ornery" party. I have been working with people nearly day on their computers. I have been able to create a bunch of DVDs for the dance class participant. There is a lady from another park that created the first DVD from a VHS and then I copied them to blank discs and put on a fancy label so they look very nice. Now not only do people have a copy of the songs they have danced to they have a DVD that show how the steps are done, and they can show people that they really do dance.

I have often heard from people that retired that their lives have become busier after they retired than it had been before. I sure am finding that to be true. If I had to do all this, maintain a house, take care of the lawn and work forty hours I do not know how I would keep up. Retirement is good and I recommend to any one who can do it.

Till Later This is Uncle Duck