Survivor Finale

WHERE ARE WE? Numero Uno RV Park, La Penita, Mexico

A couple of things got fixed around here today.  First was one of the hanging lights in the garden suite.  The lamp shade is quite old and has the lead type frame holding the stained glass together.  Very nice light. This was when it was still broken.  The banana is for size reference.  lol

down to bare wires

Then a new pretty toilet seat for the upstairs suite. 

Fany, Jeff and Max dropped by this afternoon for a wee visit.  Before they left we asked them if they would like to join us for supper at Sergio's.  They thought about it for about 2 seconds and then said yes they would.  Great!

Shortly afterward, George and Henny answered our invitation text that they would join us as well.  So the whole gang met at Las Korita's for a great supper.  Most of us had shrimp.

Max got tired of waiting for us to be done, so he jumped in the buggy and watched movies.  Snug as a bug!!

That was a great evening and when we got home, we watched the Finale of Survivor 47.  Pretty predictable season with not a lot of controversy.  Nice to see a final tribal where there was no one accusing anyone of anything.  I think the right person won so I went to bed happy.  Good Nite!!

A Santa Claus Parade

WHERE ARE WE? Numero Uno RV Park, La Penita, Mexico

Today was all about a parade.  If you remember me saying before that I was not going to attend any more parades because they are so long and drawn out.  Well today was the Christmas parade and guess what.  Yup, I went.  I decided I would just sit at Kenia's Cafecito and watch it because a good portion of it comes right by her place.  The bigger vehicles turn and go back up the Avenida but I get to see them when they turn.  So I had a comfy spot and good company for the whole thing.

Because it is the Christmas parade, there were lots of little ones in their buggies and on their bikes.

Paw Patrol exists down here too.

Cotton Candy anyone?

The Square filled up quite quickly with all sorts of entertainment.

And Santa Claus came as well.  He has lost a lot of weight though.  And of course the Grinch was right there looking to steal what he could.

They had an igloo for the kids to go in to make their Santa wish, and later they had a movie on the big blow up screen.

The parade only took like and hour and a half and was very good.  I left Kenia's and wandered down a back street where there was a brass band playing in the street.  Lots of older Mexican men were there and it seemed like a bit of Karaoke.  Different guys would get up and sing.  They were quite fueled by Cervesa but it was neat to listen to.  I think it was a group like our Legion back home.  I hung around there for half and hour before heading home to bed.  Good Nite!

There were a couple ladies there and they got lots of dances.

No More Coconuts Falling on Our Roof

WHERE ARE WE? Numero Uno RV Park, La Penita, Mexico

Horhay (Jorge) was hanging around on the beach this morning so I grabbed him to get the coconuts out of the palm tree that overhangs RRV.  Remember we got hit by one the other night and it scared the daylights out of us.  He shinnied up there like nothing and cut down 15 or 20 coconuts.  We will be able to sleep well tonight.

Archie and I went for our morning walk and watched some fishermen with a net bringing in a big bunch of fish.  There was only 2 of them in the boat and they could hardly drag the net with all the fish into the boat.  They will be happy.

Later in the afternoon I spent some time talking to our friend Randy at home.  He is looking after one of the Manitoba Housing properties we are contracted with and he has had a rough time with ice and snow.  There is lots of snow on the roof's this year and then the temperatures rise to above freezing and poof, you have ice.  Not a fun thing to deal with but he is winning the battle I think.  I sometimes feel a little guilty dealing with these problems while sitting on the beach in Mexico, but then the feeling passes.

Sue is under the weather today, but I am feeling better after having an afternoon in bed, so I headed downtown for some taco's for supper.  Mmmm they are so good.  Spent a little time visiting with Kenia as well.  The town is quite busy for a Tuesday night. 

When I got home, everyone was playing cards so I joined in for a game of Rumoli!  It's been a long time since I played that game.

We were just finishing up when Brad and Julie showed up with a bottle of Mezcal under their arm.  This is their last night in Mexico and they wanted to have a toast with everyone.  We have enjoyed having them around for a few weeks and wished them a safe trip home tomorrow.  That was about the end of my evening and I went in to relax.  Good Nite!!

Looks like we drank the WHOLE thing!!!

Where Did Archie Go?

WHERE ARE WE? Numero Uno RV Park, La Penita, Mexico

This was the Archie we woke up to this morning.  He is tough and scruffy and his face matches his personality.  He bites my nose to wake me up, (not hard) and sticks to a pretty rugged schedule for feeding and walking.  Lately we have been sleeping on a beach it seems, cause he is full of sand all the time and then he crawls in with us.  We have to shake out the sheets every day before going to bed. 

So we decided that it was time to take him for a trim.  Our Mexican groomer has a set of clippers and thats it.  Making an artistic statement with the grooming is not even a thought in her mind.  Just get rid of the hair.  We told her not to touch the tufts on his ears but the rest is gone!!  Our rough tough Archie has disappeared!!!  But is he ever soft, and there will be no sand in the bed for a while.  

Even though it is the dry season here, the grass still grows a bit so Joel had to do some mowing today.  I guess I should have wet the lawn down before but oh well, the grass is done.  

My heart goes out to those involved in the Madison School shooting today, and for some reason I was touched by it. Today's shooting marked the 61st school shooting at an elementary or secondary school this year in the USA.  It is also the 487th mass shooting of the year in general.  A mass shooting is defined as one with four or more victims wounded or deceased. It's hard to get your head around those statistics isn't it?  A student of a Christian school used a hand gun to end the life of  2 others before ending his or her own life.  I point to the fact that it was a Christian school, only to point out that these things can happen anywhere.  I would hope that Christian schools uphold higher moral values as a whole, however, no place is immune to violence if the right circumstances present themselves.  My thoughts were of the shooter and what would have motived her to do such a terrible thing.  This was an violent act in which a young person did something that most of us could not even think about doing.  I don't believe she did it to be violent, but rather as a last resort to deal with issues in her life.  To end someone's life is a very harsh and terminal decision to make and for me to even start to understand what the motivation would be, is far beyond my understanding.  Without even mentioning problems in our society as a whole, our youth have some pretty big burdens placed on their backs by our society, and have not yet developed the skills to cope with some of those things.  When I witness the games they play, which put zero value on human life, and the movies they watch which are disturbing to most adults, I say shame on us for creating this world for them.  Most of these mediums teach that termination is the way to solve the problem.  To say that this was a guns fault is far beyond reasonable, although a gun did aid in this tragic event.  Guns are bad things in the wrong hands, but there will always be a way for someone to access a gun if they want it bad enough.  Rather than concentrating only on banning the weapon, we need to concentrate on cleaning up our world of all of the things that tend make people believe in their altered minds that it is ok to just nonchalantly solve their problem by inflicting death on a person in real life.  Start by banning all violent games and movies maybe.  Why do we need to be entertained by violence!! Perhaps make movies that make people aware of the absolute hell a family goes through when grieving the loss of a loved one.  We talk about the increase in mental illness among our youth!  Duh, you think so?  It would be hard not to be affected mentally when exposed to what our world has to offer youth daily.  Shame on us.  I'm sure this situation will turn to another round of fights on whether to ban guns or not.  Metal detectors in schools have been discussed and the Police Chief of Madison said it best when asked about installing them in schools.  He said "Would you want metal detectors in your child's school?"  The room full of reporters went silent and a ladies voice in the back replied in a quiet voice "No"  If we come to that, we really need to do some radical cleaning up of what we offer our kids as their mentors.  We all grew up knowing there was no place at school for a gun, why can't we continue to teach our kids that too.  At the end of the day, how can we start the process of healing our broken world and creating a warm safe environment for our children to grow up in.  Each one of us can play a small part, perhaps by just being kind.  If we are kind, we can show that there is real value to the life of every human being, and if we can make one person see that, we have succeeded.  I'm not sure why this event hit me so hard, but today I feel real grief for our world.  I feel grief not only for the victims families, but also for the family of the shooter.  They must be in absolute anguish wondering what went wrong and how they could have corrected it.  I believe that the return of Christ is near because it seems like that is the only way this mess will be cleaned up. Make sure your right with your creator, because things will change in the twinkling of an eye.  No time to decide then.  Rant over.  Good Nite!!

Pat and Harold Come for a Visit

WHERE ARE WE? Numero Uno RV Park, La Penita, Mexico

We had a good sleep last night without any coconuts falling on us.  Today is Sunday so kind of a do nothing day.  Lauren and Sue decorated a couple of Christmas trees today and here is Laurens.  That should get us in the spirit!!

Pat and Harold came for a visit today and had lunch with us.  We all spent some time in the pool playing Flyball in the afternoon about 4:30 they headed back home.  It was great to see them again.  Murphey had a great time wandering with all the dogs around here.

A quick supper and then a movie before bed.  Another successful day in paradise.  Good Nite!

We Lost Another RV Friend

WHERE ARE WE? Numero Uno RV Park, La Penita, Mexico

Today we received news of the passing of another RV friend.  We had the privilege of spend a good portion of one winter boondocking in a Wildlife Management Area south of Orlando Fl with Ron and Julie and a large group of friends.  Ron was a down home, could I say even a redneck type that possessed the mechanical talents of MacGyver along with the wisdom of a very reasonable thinking man.  He always had a smile on his face and a good word to say.  I was drawn to him immediately and he and Julie left a lasting impression on Sue and I.  We send our sympathies to Julie and their family as they learn to live with the loss of Ron.  

Well last night as we were sleeping there was a horrendous bang that shook RRV.  I immediately thought that Sue had fell out of bed, but nope, she had bolted upright there beside me.  So if you remember a few weeks ago, I mentioned about the palm tree with all the coconuts right beside RRV and how I had mentioned that I had surveyed the situation and pretty much guaranteed Sue that none would fall on the RRV.  Well I guess I was wrong. No sense looking tonight!!  I was dark!!  When I got up in the morning and went out to look, there were actually 3 coconuts but it was the biggest one that hit RRV.  I used a banana to show how big it was!!  I will have to get Horhay to come and trim all the rest of the coconuts and the palm fronds so we don't get hit with any more. 

After the sting of being wrong wore off a bit, Sue and I headed up town to the mini mart to get a few things.  I love this little store and they have some awesome veggies and fruit.

After that we all got together for a rousing game or 3 of Flyball.  It is good exercise for us old folk.  We don't allow for anything but fun when playing this game.  At the end of 3 games we probably don't even remember who won the first 2.  

Our net is colourful Mexican papel picado only they are plastico

We had been invited to join John, Lauren, Brad and Julie for sushi.  Now I am not a big sushi fan, but I must admit this was good.   I had a surf and turf and sue had something else.  I would do it again for sure.  It was nice to get to know Brad and Julie a little better.  

 The groomer and vet were right across the street so we all went in to book grooming for our dogs.  Archie has a Monday appointment.

Then a quick stop at the Churro place on the way home.  Sue is a lover of Churro's in case you hadn't figured that out. 

After we came back from supper, John, Lauren, Julie and I played a few games of Skipbo.  It actually got cool enough that I had to put a shirt on!!  We had a great day and no, I didn't win any games nor did I take a picture. Good Nite!!