John and Val Arrive

WHERE ARE WE?           Magnolia Beach, Texas for a couple weeks              

NEXT DESTINATION?     Kickapoo Casino, North Falcon Heights, Texas

Last evening we were happy to see John and Val pull in to join us on the beach.  We are now 5 strong here and have circled the wagons in a nice straight line.  If you remember we left John and Val stranded on the highway back near Beaumont TX the other day with some brake problems.  They found a shop to fix them up and so they made it here today.  Its always nice when the caravan is complete.

In the morning all the girls headed out for a scavenger hunt.  They are searching for coral and they are finding quite a lot. I dont have the patience to look for very long so I never find anything.

Even Charlie found a treasure or at least he thought it was.  We had to keep him from rolling in it.

In the afternoon I went up on the roof to check how dirty the solar panels were.  They were in better shape than I thought.  While I was up there I took a picture of the gang all sitting around chatting in front of the Ponderosa.

On my way to the back again to get down I noticed a little black something stick its head out from under the AC unit.  At first glance I thought it was a mouse.

So I stood there real quiet and after a bit it crawled out farther.  Thats when I realized it was a gecko or small lizard.  It was sunning itself on the rood.  I'm not sure how it got up there nor why it wanted to be up there but we now have a gecko living in our AC unit.  I'm not aware of them being destructive in any way so he can stay there.  He will want down soon when we start heading north and run into some cool weather.

Sue and I headed over to Tom and Norma's house to let them know that we are back at the beach.  We met them last year when we were here and enjoy their company.  We originally met them through our friends Brian and Gloria who did not come south this year for medical reasons.  We hear they are on the mend and maybe we will see them next time we are here.  We had a nice visit with Tom and Norma and their friends from down the street.  They have a tree outside with what we thought were kumquats but Norma told us that it is a loquat.

For anyone that cares, here is the difference between the two fruits.

Kumquats closely resemble the orange in color and shape but are much smaller, being approximately the size of a large olive.  Kumquat is a fairly cold hardy citrus.

Loquats which grow in clusters, are oval, rounded or pear shaped with a smooth or downy yellow or orange, sometimes red-blushed skin.  The succulent tangy flesh is white, yellow or orange and sweet to sub acid or acid, depending on where it is grown.

Sue tasted one and said that they were quite tasty.  I will have to try one when we are over by their house again.  Lots of people make jam or jelly out of both of them.  That was about all we accomplished today.

Here is the view from our window today looking at Deb and Jerry who have move in beside us so they have a better view of the ocean.