November 4th

Our first club meeting We have coffee and donuts before our Monday meetings which start at 9:00 a.m. This Monday the donuts were furnished by Mark & Linda Engleman in memory of their Daughter who passed this Summer. Anyone may purchase donuts for Monday meetings, if no one volunteers they will be bought by the Club _________________________________ Ice machine is down and has been down for some time. Understand that Dan is going to charge for the water and electricity to run it. discussing some about buying a new one or getting this one fixed. It was said the drain is plugged, so I dont know a whole lot about it, we will table discussion when more folks get back. We were told by a repairman that if the ice machine sits outside it will only last us 3 yrs. and no way will we be allowed one in the Hall, Dan said ___________________________________________ Nov. 16th Ken Barnhart says we will have a Free Hot Dog and Marshmellow roast, it will be where the extra golf cart parking is, a D.J. will be here and a pass the hat to pay him, otherwse all is free Also Ken said we will have a Chuck Wagon Party Jan. 30th so bring your Western Duds and get ready for a really fun time ___________________________________________ Thanksgiving will be chaired by Craig and Cindy Laakkomen, they are new and would like some help with this.It will be buffet style so we all need to bring a dish to share, details coming soon and a sign up sheet with food columns to help you decide what you might want to bring, such as, salad, vegy, dessert etc. ___________________________________________ We will be needing a new Chairperson and also one on Properties and one on Finance ___________________________________________ I wish to thank Alice Skillern for doing cards this Summer. If you know of someone who could use a card besure to call me at 956-968-6684. Cards up to sign are for Mardel Blom, her Son, Bruce passed away suddenly and a card to Dean Ricke, his wife Millie died ___________________________________________ My blog now has a mind of its own in that it decides when I should start a new pragraph,if I dont use lines to try to seperate paragraphs it will just run all the paragrahs together _________________________________________ Maybe I will need to start a new blog

October 29th

So sorry to hear about Mardel Blom in 148 her Son passed away and she will head back to Minnesota she just had stints put in her heart not long ago and is still recovering from that, so praying for strength and safe travels back home and back to the park soon ______________________________________________________________________ Sorry I did not do a blog this Summer as I was in Minnesota most of the Summer. getting back here to the park its not easy to find out anything that would be of interest to report to you all. I do know no drinks or no smoking in the pool area, but The Mgr. found some guys smoking so everyone had to get out of the pool and the gate to the pool got locked with a huge chain and paddlock and I saw the lock still on the next day. ______________________________________________________________________ The new gas station should open soon, they're pouring cement for the drives and a huge 8 ft. fence was put up between the station and our park, I think it looks real nice. ______________________________________________________________________ I am doing the cards again but was greatful to Alice for putting up cards this Summer for me ______________________________________________________________________

This machine being pulled by Al Jacobs golf cart LOL He pulled it up to work on it, I think it rakes the newly mowed hay into rows to be bailed....I have learned a lot about farming Ha Ha ______________________________________________________________________ I know now that a farmer has to be a very smart guy to know about cows and calves, fertilizers, and fixing machinery etc etc. _________________________________________________

I got to view the Fall foliage for the first time in over 30 years. When I went to Iowa it was always in the summer, so never got to see the changing seasons for years ___________________________________ Well, I dont call my blog Donnas Ramblings for nothing and I have rambled long enuff, so wont bore ya'll any more. Happy to be back in the Valley with 90 degree temps almost every day compared to 70's and lows of 20's and 30's in the mornings _______________________________ Our first meeting will be Nov. 4th and there may be much discussing about our ice machine, need a new one. Most used by workers to fill their coolers in the Summer, some parks dont even have an ice maker, Southern Comfort does not have one as they said it was outside and broke down all the time, also at Ranchero Bingo a guy said they dont have one there.lots of people have icemakers and they still make icecube trays lol buying a few bags of ice for some of the events would sure be a lot cheaper than paying to keep an ice machine running. My opinion only ___________________________________________________________

Happy Halloween

My husband,Bobby loved Halloween, he always came up with some of the coolest costumes, he actually started making up his costume 3 weeks before our Halloween party and he took 1st prize several times during our years at the park, (32yrs) This year the Halloween Party sounds like a hoot, first off a golfcart parade, , fun games, costume contest, Karoke, 50/50 draws, folks bringing finger food, pop corn, Iced tea and Lemonade

Sept. 19, 2024

So sorry to hear that Ione Hayungs (Ritter) passed away, she was on lot 245 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This Friday I will furnish donuts.Jack and Donna Haney furnished donuts last Friday. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ We are going to do another park photo directory. We have so many new folks and it's due. I wont start taking appointments until mid Nov. or so as the first photo session will be on Dec. 3rd. Now if you wish you may use your picture from last time. I will set you up an appointment to come in during one of the photo shoots to do that, you may wish to order an album and pay for it then. no credir cards only check or cash.Be prepared to pay for your album aand cd when you come to be photographed. Please let me know if there are any changes in your info from the last directory, such as phone nos. emails whatever. the photo albums will be $20.00, if you would like extra pictures you may purchase a cd for $20.00 and take it anywhere and order what ever pictures you wish. Getting your photo in the directory is free, and you dont have to buy the directory. Hopefully I will get the list of new folks and all their info so I can put it in my data base.

My Yorkie "Mia" is Queen of everything. Having a terrible time trying to get her a spade appt ____________________________________________________________________________________________ There are 4 cards up to sign: To Marlene & Dan McKinnon who live at lot 407, there Daughter passed away A card for Emily Armistead, lot 406, knee sugery A card for Ed Sanders, lot 292 Hernia repair A card to Patty Lamp, lot 86, knee surgery____ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Nichols in lot 224 has been doing mobile home washing for folks, I just talked to him and he is doing 2 over in Ranchero Park today, I am going to have him wash mine If you would like to try him, let me know. I just saw that his No. is not in the book ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Enjoyied playing Mexican Train with a new lady in 227, her name is Viola, "Vi" and I am fixing her husbands picture for the Veterans wall I know there are quite a few of you that were Vets and need to give me a picture for our "Veterans Wall" So bring one with you this Fall!!! _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As of right now I think we will have a photo album this year, I just need to get with our Photographer, Rod Grayham and decide what days would be good for taking pictures. We got some nice rains but no flooding that I know of around Weslaco _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I am having problems with writing my blog, it won't do paragrahs so trying to seperate with lines, helps some until I can figure the problem out

Potluck on Labor Day Nice turnout for the potluck When I got home after being gone 2 months, I was curious as to what some interesting things may have gone on in the park. One thing is just before I left the pool was drained and it appeared they were sanding the pool and thats all I saw, so when I got home, went to the office to maybe ask what had gone on while I was gone, was just told go look at the pool, take pictures if you want for your blog, well, so I went to the pool, looks just like it always looked so no info about what was done or a dang thing. Some other people said they finally got the message that the pool and steps were slick and decided they needed to repaint and texture the bottom and steps. No other improvements were told to me. I do know every time they hire the palm cutters, they only remove a few frawns and in know time the palms are all shaggy and earlier when they were trimmed, since they only trimmed a few, seed pods were coming out and spewing seeds all over. I just came from a park I go to a lot and they only keep about 4 to 5 frawns and cut all the rest, I asked one time why they didnt cut off more and was told the Mgr said he wanted them cut like at 3 o"clock. Meaning very few got cut, just the lower ones this was several years ago so dont know what mgr they were talking about.

June 7th

Former resident Virgil Mittleberg passed away, June 5th. Virgil and Aileen first came to our park in 2004 and were on J-9, then the next year bought park model #423. They owned park model 423 until 2021 or 2022. they were from Quincy,ILL Address is 6331 Ellington Rd, Quincy, ILL. 62305. I hope this is still a good address for Ailene if you would want to send a card.

I remember them working at Don Wes Flea Maeket selling popcorn, then opened a little building at Don Wes, called the "Bean Barn" I am blessed to have Aileen's wonderful recipe for Bean Barn Corn meal muffins, a very sweet corn bread recipe.

May 31st

A pretty Cactus at Marylyn Masons

Lots of pictures being taken of the motel getting bulldozed. It's been said Murphys gas station is going in

May 29th

Of course you all know how terribly hot it is here in the Valley. I have been here since 1987 and never saw such hot temps. day after day the same A few showers the last couple days did not bring much relief. I did not attend the Memorial Day Potluck but there are quite a few pictures on Facebook. Ken did a great job on the chicken and the Mariachi band that entertained was really neat. Here is what I read today on my computer about our water supply down here

As the spring sunshine continues to scorch, the combined storage at the two international reservoirs that supply the bulk of the Rio Grande Valley’s freshwater has done something it hasn’t done in decades — fallen below 20%. “Everything that we had forecast is happening. We’re dwindling in our supply. There’s no indication that Mexico will do anything for us,” Sonny Hinojosa, general manager for Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 2, said Tuesday. “It’s pretty bleak,” he said. Together, the United States’ share of water stored at the Falcon and Amistad international reservoirs stood at just 19.7% total conservation capacity as of May 18, according to data published by the International Boundary and Water Commission, or IBWC. The IBWC publishes the report every Saturday using data that are about a week old. That’s how much time it takes for the commission — which oversees a binational 1944 water sharing treaty between the U.S. and Mexico — to figure out how much of that water belongs to the Valley. That May 18 figure is a worrying number for Hinojosa. It represents the second-lowest volume of American water in nearly 30 years. The last time the levels fell below 20% was in August 1998, according to Jim Darling, former McAllen mayor and president of the Region M Water Planning Group. It’s been a tough year for Valley water. The binational treaty obligates Mexico to deliver some 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the U.S. in five-year cycles. But well into the fourth year of the current cycle, Mexico has delivered only about 384,000 acre feet, or about one year’s worth, of water. That has, in turn, caused the two reservoirs to hover at dangerously low levels for months. Each week the reservoirs continue to plummet at a rate of about four-tenths of a percent per week, Hinojosa said.

Note

Just a note to show you all our "privacy" fence

The word is it was mandatory to put up. We had 11 for a game of "tic" last night Mexican Train tonite, may be hard to find enough players. Ken and Sue got the donuts last Friday. Not much else going on, some of the palms were trimmed last week. The park looks nice

Yesterday I furnished donuts and made coffee, we had about 14-16 , last week Jack & Donna Haney furnished them. New folks that bought Pat and Bills mobile were there. Kay and David. I hope you all don't think we are getting rain and storms down here. We have not had any rain at all. North of here they really got some bad weather, tornados and rain, and N. of Houston terrible flooding. We are having lows in the 70's and highs over 90 every day and of course the wind has never stopped!!! I had the dog out this morning and noticed how nice the Park looks. Even the 99"s are mowed so nice and everywhere looks great. but need rain so bad or our nice green yards are going to start getting brown We have been playing tic Mon. Wed. and Fri. nights we had 2 tables last night But soon Sharon and Paul will be leaving and several others for the Summer. But I am sure we will be able to get a table up most nights I don't think we will do a photo album next Fall. We just did one for 22-23

Lucy Johnson

We are sorry to hear of Lucy Johnson's passing

 This day started out beautiful. Light breeze and sunny skies. 

We had our first coffee and donuts. The office bought this Friday!

Remember 2 years ago Matts Cash and Carry burned down? Well they are now opening a new one in the same place in Alamo.

Badges

This coming season if you want a new badge with your name enscribed on it, let me know. You can always use your old one or I will put up a sign up sheet to get badges

You will need to put down your names of course and if you want  a pin on or magnet.

the pin ons are $9.60 and  if you want the magnet ones it's a $1.75 more. I will ask for the total on the magnetic ones including the tax and let you know, looks like it would run $11.25 ? not sure

You can even go to Weslaco Trophys and order the badges yourself. It just takes a couple days to get them.

It is so crazy to have to order our park badges ourselves......like I said before all parks provide them for their people but not here. the first badge I made was in 2020 , so I have been making those for a long time. It's not that I mind but the hard badges with engraved names are very nice, I think!

Steve St.Clairs mobile is now moved out

 

Our Last Club Meeting

 

Our last club meeting was short and sweet. 

We did decide on getting the new engraved badges from Weslaco Trophys. When telling the Mgr. he remarked that the office won"t supply them and to let the "Club" deal with that, Jan's Asst. in the office, Reggie said she's too busy.  Isn't it weird that all the Parks in the Valley supply their people with the name tags? But not our Park. It was so easy to have Weslaco Trophys do our new badges, I just sent them our logo from my computer and emailed it to them. So now they have our logo. And actually if one wanted to they could go over there and order their new badges.

I will make a list of those wanting the new badges and pay me at the time and if they want the pin ons or the magnetic. To round off the cost, the pin ons will be $7.60 and the magnet ones, $9.50. I will go over there when I get a few, it only takes a few days for them to make them.

Alice is supposed to be the new card lady. Her phone no. is 928-240-0296 but if you call me or email me, I can give her a call. Don't hesitate  to let us know of a death or illness or whatever reason someone needs a card.

Weslaco is getting new businesses all the time. I will try to keep on top of that to let you know. One is Texas Roadhouse. 

April 12th will be our Coffee and Donuts get-to-gether. We will take turns supplying the donuts. The first time , the Office supplies them, and the last donut Friday the Office provides them and I am getting a sign up sheet put up right away for those who wish to provide them. It's at 8:00 every Friday morning until late in October.

That's about it for now, will try to keep blogging to let you know what craziness is going on down here while ya'll are gone

March 6th

 Sorry to hear that Ken Borah passed away. Remembering him and also Dorothy who passed quite a few years ago. Ken was 94.

Saturday was the last breakfast. I understand they ran out of everything, which is good. they did a great job with Pancakes  and with Biscuits and Gravy

At the meeting Monday

Marilyn Mason thanked everyone for supporting our Friday night entertainment. and the next year 3/4 booked already

Monday night dance was Steven May and the last dance will be  South Texas Ramblers

March 7th is the Ladies Luncheon cost is $1.00 we bring a salad, dessert or meat or cheese dish to share

March 8th is the Wine Party open this year to both men and women. cost is $4.00, we will bring our favorite wine to share, a wrapped wine glass to exchange. Drawings and door prizes

We are having an End of Season Picnic!! March 9th at 1 p.m. Grilled burgers, chicken breast, potato salad, beans, and chips, free to all

Thursday, March 14th game night, will be "Pass Word" $1 at the door

Sunday will be the last icecream Sundaes, $2.00.  Also will be the last "Card Bingo"St. Patricks dinner will be on the 17th and will serve Corn beef and cabbage, Irish stew 

We will hold election for 2 board members next Monday

This Season seemed to go by  so fast!!

Next Fall we will be taking pictures again for a park photo album, we want all our residents to get photographed. The first settings will be in Oct. for the "year around" residents and "Early bird" Winter Texans

Feb. 29th

Last Monday we had our yearly memorial service with names of those passed away this year this was the list f folks who will be missed so much by all of us Jim Ales Darlene Griffin Karen Tuttle Donna Goodwin Marlys Hicks James Jennings Johnny McDaniel Wayne Daniels Jackie Jacobs Betty Wieners Monica Paca Our Minister Steve St. Clair led a beautiful memorial service Thanks to Charlotte Therrien for reminding me that I haven't been keeping up with my blog, I strive to do better..... Just to let you all know we have had a fun Winter here at R.V.E. Just a few things we did this Winter were: In Oct our Halloween Party In November we had a Bonfire and roasted Hot dogs And of course our Thanksgiving Dinner December Had a wonderful meal with our favorite "Chef" Mark Kunkel aka Mabel several Christmas parties and Christmas Dinner In January we had another meal at "Mabel" diner, and we had a Hawaiian Pig Roast besides all the usual activities February Around 40 people went on a crise out of Galveston, Had a craft sale, Anniversay Party, and had a meatloaf dinner at Mabels Diner!! March we will be having a patio sale this Sat. a Salad Luncheon coming up, Wine party St Pat's Dinner and Easter dinner Already folks are started to leave for the Summer, Just when our weather gets really beautiful people up and leave, but this year we had great temperatures ( a lot of 70's and 80's ) only one really cold snap as far as a little freeze which did destroy a lot of our plants that didnt get covered. I have a different computer and its totally weird! I hope you all can even read this I wrote this in paragraphs and lists of the folks who passed but for some reason this is how it came out, so sorry