Thanks (giving)

Thanksgiving Day is now past a couple of days. The leftovers have a little left than yesterday. The shoppers have had their day of what I call craziness and things are pretty much normal again. Even though the day is past I don't think that it is too late to think about those things that we we are thankful about. I don't know that I have more to appreciate than most people but at times I think I do. My life has been good in many ways and at the moment I have a good life that not everybody has. I was born shortly after WWII began, so I missed knowing about much of the hardship of that time. And being on a farm there were things there that made my early life better than some. I was young enough to miss going to Korea, and old enough to miss being called for Viet Nam. I did try to join the service but they were being very picky about who was taken into the service and a skin rash kept me out. I have often wondered what I would have done if I had gotten into the Air Force. The jobs that I have held over the years have been good. Sometimes miserable and extremely dirty and hard, but I was one of the workers that did suffer the annual layoff, at least until the company way sliding to total closure. And then I got an even better job that set me up for retirement. During those years I had as good a wife as any one could hope to have, and she presented me a daughter that has given me joy and made me proud to be called Dad and she continues to do that.

Now that I am retired I can move from location to location as I am inclined. I have a nice home, in many respects better than any I have ever had. I stay out of the area in winter that has the freezing weather and the snow and then in summer I go to where the weather is not so hot and that is nice. I have a bonus that I would never have considered. I am not sure how to define friends. I can think of a half dozen definitions that that vary from one that would exclude nearly all people to one that would include nearly all people. I will use a definition that includes those people that I enjoy talking to, spending time with, and would be glad to work with. So I have met many new people that I would consider friends. One of the reasons is the change lifestyle that I live. I spend time class with some, some I help with computer problems, some are neighbors part of the year. All of them share a more common lifestyle today than many of working years. There is more opportunity here to develop friendships. It is funny that I have friends that I actually never seen again, or no more that a short time once every couple years, and ones that I will see daily for three to five months of the years. No matter how long or how short I have known them I a thankful for their existence in my life.

In the years that we have been full timing this is the first time that we have spent Thanksgiving in Bentsen Grove. Our first one full timing was at the home of some very gracious friends of our daughter in New York the next four were in whatever campground we happened to be in for the week. This sixth Thanksgiving Day we planned to be here in Texas. The dinner was an experience to remember. Like most community dinners it was partly pot luck. The turkeys were provided by the park and each person brought a dish to share and some brought two. There were so many people that the dinner had to be held in two large buildings. I heard that 405 people signed up for the dinner. In the hall where we ate there were five groups that each had a set of tables for putting out food. There was so much food it was hard to believe. Another thing to be thankful for. There was so much left that the group that I was with came back for supper a few hours later and there was lots still.


PART OF THE PEOPLE IN THE MAIN HALL

In the process of helping people with their computers I come across some strange things and I have learned a lot. One of the things that I have learned is never say "All computers -------", because as soon as I say that I see a computer that 'does not have' or 'does not do' whatever I have said "All computer ----". I will change the statement to "All computer should -----", and I am safe because it is more of an opinion. Thus I can say that "All computers should have a keyboard that shows the letter or number that will appear on the screen when a particular key is pressed." I went to a house where the computer would not allow access to programs and administrative functions. A password had to be typed into the computer to allowed. The problem was one I had never heard about. If all the keys were removed from the keyboard, put into a bag, mixed and withdrawn at random and placed back on the keyboard it could not be any more mixed up than it was. When "p" was struck '6' would print, when "6" was struck 'm' would print. To get the letter "t" it was necessary to strike the '\', all the other keys were fouled up just as bad. I finally was able to open up the on-screen keyboard which displayed the letter or number that would be printed. Thus I was able to figure out how to correctly type in his passwords and get access to the administrative function. I ran a system restore and that fixed the problem. At least for that I did not need the key board. There is so much to learn about computers, but they are so much fun.
Now if I could just figure out some of the other things that I need to know about them to help people.

Till later this is Uncle Duck

Cacophony

Today is more like fall than I have seen so far this year. The temperature is down to 68 degrees, there is a mist in the air, the skies are gray and there is just a bit of a breeze. A bit earlier there were some leaves that were blowing down the street and it was so much like a Colorado mountain back road that it made me have a flashback to a few years ago. Every Friday there is a truck that comes into the park with vegetables and fruits. Some of the produce is kept in ice. After the truck left I walked by and saw a pile of the ice that they had thrown out. With the temperature and the gray skies the ice looked so much like snow that it was almost spooky. I would not want you to get the idea that I miss the snow and the cold, but I have to say that I have many good times in the fall and in the snow.

I wonder why birds will gather at a specific location for years and years. In McAllen there is a certain intersection that the green parrots have gathered every year since we have been coming to the Rio Grande Valley, and my understanding is that the same has happened for many years before. It is pretty obvious that there has been a lot of building in the area fairly recently. So the birds have come back in spite of the construction and changes that have been made. I have been able to find any person who knew the area back in the time that the area was more farm than city. I will make a guess that the parrots came to the same place years ago. Perhaps the construction has actually given them more trees to roost in and more power lines to rest on.



I would say that the show lasts about an hour. During that time there are more birds coming in to land on the lines and then slowly they will move to trees where they spend the night. Every once in a while every parrot that in the area will suddenly take flight and circle around for a while then land back on the lines. Or they may circle a few times then fly into the trees where they spend the night. When they are in the trees there is such a cacophony that it almost hurts the ears.




I did meet some people who had an apartment next to the gathering area. they indicated that the sound was not too bad in the evening when they were still up. But it was somewhat irritating early in the morning when the parrots awoke and started their chatter. It was impossible to sleep late.

Thanksgiving is almost here. There is a very easy way to tell, the stores are all full of Christmas displays, the TV is showing Christmas stories and the radio has started playing Christmas songs. Aw, yes, it is almost Thanksgiving.

Till later this is Uncle Duck

Changing Priorities

Some years (a whole bunch) ago my brother told me about a fellow that lived in Ft. Collins, CO. As I remember the story the fellow had bought three building lots in various areas of the city. His plan was to design and build the best house he could on the least desirable lot, live in it a few years and sell it. Then he would take the same design and make changes that he determined desirable based upon his experience. Then again sell the house and repeat the process, building the perfect house on the lot which was the most desirable. By the time he retired he would have a house that served all his desires and it would be paid in full. This story floated around in my mind for many years and I often wondered how the final chapter turned out. I always thought that it was such a great plan and I think it was always in the back of my mind that I hoped it worked for him. About a year ago I had the opportunity to ask my brother if the fellow had been able to build his perfect house. I was disappointed but not too surprised to hear that the plan was not an absolute success. He said, "As you age your needs and your desires change." I have a feeling that anyone that is over fifty, or maybe younger, can likely relate to those feelings.

I sure understand that. When I was younger by twenty or forty years I did not think about it. I had thoughts that there were certain things that I would want to do as long as I had any physical abilities left. I think it would be proper to say that I was partly right about some things and wrong about all the rest. I grew up on a farm and I thought that I would always want to own my own land and have a space between myself and the nearest neighbor, at least a large building lot in the city. So here I am living in a forty foot motor home, with very little space over to the neighbors and I am very happy with that. At least I don't have to mow the grass. And as long as we winter in Texas or somewhere south I don't have to shovel snow either. I have heard comments from a lot of other people that indicate that their priorities have changed also.

There are a lot of activities here in Bentsen Grove that anyone can get involved in. Those can get a person into trouble, sort of, if care is not taken. As one couple put it they had been too busy the year before and wanted to change things a bit. So they added a couple more activities. They did not say how that was working out but it a common happening I think. This year we have done about the same thing. Every week while we are here I will be taking pictures of the new arrivals in the park. I think I have the template set up now so that I can select, crop and print the pictures very quickly. It seemed like it should be easy to do. Just hit print on the computer and a few seconds later it is done. I am trying to do a bit better than that and give a good picture for posting on the board that is consistent for the whole park. I have had two Wednesdays to get photographs to work with so I am hoping that next week I will be able to get it done the way I think it should be in a few minutes.

I thought that the amount of dancing we did last year was either enough or perhaps a bit too much. So this year an additional day was added to the schedule. And in addition to that I am learning (I hope) how to make a instructional video of the dances we do for the class. Maybe when I get too tired to dance I can go run the camera and take a break. We will see how that goes. We have something scheduled every day. Sunday is of course church, then four days with dancing, computer club and park meeting pictures. There will be a few more activities that we add as soon as those start which could be in a week or two.

There are more people coming into the park every day and new faces from last year show up. It is good to see friends from last year getting here. There will be rush of a lot more will be coming after Thanksgiving.

One of the things that we enjoy down here a lot is the green parrots (or green parakeets if you prefer) that gather every evening. We have gone to the area that they gather every evening at least in the winter and they are back. The truth is that they may gather there in the summer also but I have not seen them. When I have been up in the area it has been too dark to see them very well but there is no question about hearing them clearly. I tried to video them one evening and a person that knows exactly where to look, in other words the videographer, can see them in the trees. I will go back one of these evenings before the light fades and get a movie to post here.


GREEN PARROTS TAKEN WITH A FLASH


A few weeks ago I caught my foot in an earphone cord going to my computer and I damaged the plug that it goes into. I talked to a friend down here and he told me what I might encounter if I tried to fix it myself. I was told I would not do more damage so I tore my laptop computer apart and found where the problem. With some assistance by a fellow that is a LOT better on the Internet than I am I was able to order a part and should be back in business in a few days when the part is shipped to me. I have never taken a computer apart but I have heard that a laptop is a lot harder to work on than a computer with an external tower. There must be nearly twenty tiny screws that have to be taken out to get access to anything. But as a bonus I learned how to put in a second hard drive in my computer if I should desire, or I can easily replace the no. 1 hard drive if I ever need to do that.

I appreciate the comments that have been made about this blog. I know that it is being read and enjoyed.

Till later this is Uncle Duck

Butterflies In The Park

This is the earliest that we have been in Texas in our five years of travel. From what I have heard of the weather up north we picked a good year to be south. We have had a few days that were in the 90's here in Mission while there are places where we were exactly a year ago that have seen temperatures in the teens. I am sure glad that I have not seen those temperatures. It appears to me that many other Winter Texans are arriving earlier this year that in years past. I do not have a doubt that the cold is a factor.

This part of Texas is supposed to be along the migration path of many butterflies. I really believe that to be true based on what I have seen in the last ten days or so. In driving between Rockport and Mission it seemed that the air was constantly filled with butterflies crossing the highways. I hate to hit any kind of bugs because they make such a mess on the windshield. But I feel even worse when the bugs are butterflies because they are such beautiful insects. I would not hazard a guess as to how many were killed by my motor home, but I saw another motor home that had a screen in front of the grill that had so many on it that the bodies must have blocked the airflow to the engine. At least my engine is in the rear

There are several gardens here in Bentsen Grove that attract numerous varieties of butterfly that vary from a half inch wingspan to a wingspan of perhaps three or four inches. When I have tried to photograph them they show me the meaning of flit like a butterfly. I very much believe that the great pictures of really high quality were the result of hours of patience with a camera just waiting for the perfect shot while the camera is pointed at a single blossom. The rest are the product of good luck.


BUTTERFLY IN A GARDEN ON "B" STREET


BUTTERFLY IN BENTSEN GROVE


"B" STREET BUTTERFLIES

The activities that we want to be involved in are starting. Line dancing will be available every day, more than I can handle. The computer club is back on a weekly schedule as of today (Monday) and the sessions were a bit rough but I am sure things will smooth out. I hope that we are providing the information needed by the attendees. I am going to be the photographer for the picture board which displays a picture of each resident. There were people from eight sites last Wednesday and it is still early in the year. It took me a couple hours to figure out how to print the pictures so I could get a print the size I need for the board. Next Wednesday it should be a lot faster to complete.

This year was the first time that we have been able to attend the Halloween Party at Bentsen Grove. There were a lot of people who came for an evening of entertainment and fellowship and they got plenty of entertainment. There were fourteen people who dressed up in costume to participate in a contest. As always the costumes were good. I especially liked a couple and one of them got the first prize. But of course I have liked the story of the Invisible Man ever since I first read it probably more than fifty-five years ago.


THE INVISIBLE MAN

We have been here a bit over a week. I feel as if it is impossible for us to have been here that long already and it also feels like it is just a continuation of the time when we were here last May. It is an odd feeling if I take the time to think about it.

Till later this is Uncle Duck