RGV Livestock Show

I actually forgot to do this before I went to bed last night...sorry.

Today we did something we never do at home even though we could, and that was go to a livestock show.  The Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show was happening this week in Mercedes, so we thought we would go and check it out.



A lot of young people groom cattle, sheep, lambs, hogs, etc., for purposes of the show.  I don't know everything the judges look for as they all look the same to me.  Here's a Brahma contest.  They parade them around the pen for the judges to look at.



There are photography and art contests with ribbons for 1st through 10th, there are contests for building BBQs from scratch, for creative wood products, like this unique dog house.



Gerard likes the tractors - reminds him of growing up on the farm.



He apparently also likes puppet shows.  He was the only one watching.



This guy was carving things with a chainsaw.  Interesting.



Kinda how we felt when the day was done.



It was a fun day.  We went early and there weren't that many people there.

Just Tooting Around

The last couple of days we've just been about tooting around the area.  Nothing in particular happening.  We've driven as far west as the eastern edge of McAllen and as far east as the east side of Mercedes.  Nothing too exciting.

We were supposed to go golfing today, but there was an apparent misunderstanding with the group we were with last week at the casino event.  They invited us out to join their golfing group, but it's a group thing where they have no room, and there's a waiting list.  So that didn't work.  We probably could have gone ourselves, but the wind was crazy, and of course it was hot.  I think we have to put up with the heat though if we want to golf at all.  It just is.  Bottom line, we didn't golf after all.  We might get out yet.  If this were 10 years ago, we'd be golfing almost every day!  What a change.

We had a late lunch today at Chili's Bar & Grill.  This was on their menu as a new thing.  So we tried them.  They were actually quite good.  (Only you wing-night people would get the significance of this.)



Tonight we biked up on top of the levee and the pond behind attracts these pelicans.  They're white pelicans and they come here to fish.  I think we moved them along here.



This is a photo of the pond and fountain in the original part of the RV park as seen from the levee.



Tibby's doing MUCH better, pretty much back to his old self, being very demanding, barking at other dogs, eating well, etc.  He looks hot though, even in the air-conditioning.  Maybe next week I'll take him for a trim.

Dinner Cruise

We had an easy day this morning.  Picked up a few things and relaxed until about 2:30.  We then headed over to South Padre Island for a dinner cruise.  This had originally been booked through our RV resort, but there weren't enough signed up to make it strictly a Llano Grande cruise.  For the same price though, we could go on our own, so we did.

We left in plenty of time in order that we could explore a little.  The last point on the mainland is Port Isabel.  There's an historic lighthouse here.



Also, the largest fly fishing rod in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.



There's a bridge/causeway about 2 miles long called the Queen Isabella Memorial Bridge (the Spanish queen, I assume).



We landed on South Padre Island.  I guess these people had to get out of their vehicles to see where they were!



We checked in with the cruise and got our tickets, then went off to have a brew by the ocean.  The spring-breakers are all here, and they welcome them.  The place is busy.  It kills me to see this sign - ID and no alcohol if born after March 13, 1995!!!  Ugh.



Here we are on the sunset cruise.  We could take our own drinks.



We puttered northward up the shore while they served us shrimp appetizers then fajitas for dinner, and fruit for dessert.  All was tasty.  On the way back was the sunset.  It looked like this.



Then like this after another glass of wine.



Then like this after another glass of wine.


Hee hee.

By the way, Tibby is doing much better.  Still not back to normal, but certainly much better than he was.  We'll see what the next couple of days bring.

Progress and Progreso

Today we went to Mexico!  It took us all of 15 minutes to drive there from our RV park.  Just down the road is a bridge over the Rio Grande, and a controlled border crossing.  The town of Nuevo Progreso abuts the river and is ready and waiting to take your money as soon as you cross the river.

The Rio Grande looks more formidable than when we saw it last year in New Mexico.  But then, a lot of rain came down in the area the past week.



What you do is leave your vehicle on the U.S. side of the border in a parking lot (said parking lots are right there - for $2 for the day).  Then you just hoof it across the bridge for 50 cents per person going over, and 25 cents per person coming back.  There's no security going over, but you go through U.S. customs coming back.

No resorts there, but lots of pharmacies and shops, flogging drugs, veterinarian drugs (we thought about it), hair cuts and dos, shoe shining, aesthetics, boots, and of course the obligatory resort-type bling, clothes, and bags, and the big one - dentist offices.  There are something like 125-150 dentists here.  People from the U.S. go there because they're so much cheaper, and they apparently do a good job.



And this dude was dancing up a storm on the street trying to get people into his pharmacy.



I thought this was humorous.

We went over in the morning and by the time we left to come back, the place was crawling with people.  I doubt they take a siesta here while business is booming.

We received a recommendation from someone for a restaurant we went to.  It's on the 4th floor of a shop.  Quite a nice restaurant, and the food wasn't bad.  The waiters were all in tuxes, and the beer was cold.  What more could one want?  So I got a shot of the border bridge from up there, in the background.



Gerard got his hair cut for $6.  He needed a trim.



Tonight we went to the Saturday night dance they have here at the resort.  This was a country band.  It was interesting watching people dance.  There are a whole lot of dance steps out there I've never learned.  We sat at a table with some people from Sarnia, and met some others from Winnipeg, Kansas, and Port Severn (nearly Orillian).  We were invited to join in their happy hour whenever we liked.  We'll probably take them up on that.

The update on Tibby is that he still has the issue but at least we have some medication for him now.  There was still no word from the vet in town.  Gerard discovered through talking to people that there's a veterinarian here in the RV park who apparently put out a flyer earlier in the season that she was willing to see pets of residents here.  So guess who we visited late this afternoon?  She examined him and prescribed an anti-inflammatory.  Hopefully this helps him.

Not Venturing Far

The last couple of days we haven't wanted to go far from home, so to speak.  Tibby is still not well.  We contacted our vet at home, who speedily faxed his records to a vet here.  I couldn't get him in to see one vet, so I tried another place, and he said we could get medication (he does it all the time), but he has to see his records.  The problem is, he's so darn busy we're not getting anywhere.  So he's got his records, and we've called a couple of times, but he's been out working with cattle, etc.  Aaaarggh!!!  It restricts us being able to go anywhere for any length of time, or very far from here.  It's not that we have to stay with Tibby, but if the vet calls, we want to get the medication and give it to Tibby ASAP.

Alas, at least we got out for a while today to La Feria Natural Preserve to do some walking.  Nice little trails here.  Not very long, and quite open, but still better than not doing it.

Located someone among the sunflowers.

Whenever we see turtles in water, they hang out with us, expecting us to feed them.  This happened in the DR too.  There were 3 of them here.

We went to a place called "The Blue Onion" for lunch on the way to the grocery store.  Nice spot with good food.  I don't know what this little statement is about.

We have plans in the works - of places we want to go - but we're a little grounded.

The weather has been funny.  Nice enough, just windy.  Someone told us last year that this area of Texas has a lot of wind.  I think they were right.  There hasn't been a day go by hardly where wind hasn't been a factor.  I can count on one hand the number of times we've had the awning out.  It's just  been too windy to leave it there.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Rainy Day

Thunderstorms and rain in the night, and this morning, and this afternoon, and this evening.  There were breaks enough to get out and do some laundry, and to do a bit of shopping.  But that's about it.  It even cooled off enough I put long pants on to go out.  But it won't stay this way for long.

Needless to say, we didn't do much today.  Some reading, caught up on our finances, etc.

Tibby has had no change.  Thinking of taking him to a vet if he's not better by tomorrow.

And another neighbour left.  Is it something we said?  We're now pretty much surrounded by empty lots.

Off to bed now - I don't mind listening to the rain while I'm going to sleep.

Casino Day

Today was an appreciation day for long-termers here at Llano Grande.  Even though we just got here, we're considered a long-termer as we're here for a month.  Nice.  And it was still too windy to go to the beach, although it's calmed down a lot.  Maybe tomorrow.

The casino appreciation event was held at the new recreation complex just up the road from us.  It's huge.



Just for signing up, we got lunch, beer, and funny money chips to play casino games.  There were auction draws for all kinds of things (of which we won nothing, but hey...it was still fun).  It lasted for several hours.

Here are a couple of photos from around the RV park.  This is the main office.



And this is the main boulevard going through the north section (where we are).  All the little side streets go off this boulevard.  We're about half way down.  The tennis courts are at the start on the right-hand side.



We also met some people at lunch who invited us to sit with them at the Saturday night dances, and also to golf next Tuesday afternoon.  We'll take them up on both those things.

Tibby had one of his "incidents" early this morning, so I went out to get him some baby Advil.  Not sure if it's helping yet, or not.  He seems a little better at times.  He has a problem with his left shoulder/spine getting inflamed if he does anything to irritate it.  Jumping off things, or turning the wrong way suddenly, it will cause him discomfort.  I don't know what he did last night, but he was hurting this morning.  It sometimes takes a while to inflame.  Poor little guy.

We're supposed to get a Texas thunderstorm overnight tonight.  So we put outside stuff away.  I'll let you know how that goes.