Greetings from Mission, Texas

We arrived in Mission to 74 degrees and sunshine. It was a welcome change from the cool temps and rainy weather we've had most of this winter. We got set up and called Jay and Stella to let them know we were in town. They came by to see our new trailer. By this time it was 4:30 and Ted and I had not eaten all day. They suggested we go to Tio Chuy restaurant because it was close by. If you want authentic Mexican food, this is the area to find it in.

We had a nice dinner and turned down an invitation to attend a dance at the park where they are staying. Ted has been fighting a cold and was ready to just put his feet up. In fact, he was sleeping by 7:30 in his new electric leather theater recliner.

This morning we went to church and it was an experience to say the least. As we approached church I noticed speakers instead of bells in the tower. They were playing a song about "the child in the manger" which I thought unusual for February. Imagine my shock when we found two Christmas trees (with cowboy hats as some of the ornaments) and a manger still up in the church. According to the church calendar we are in what they call Ordinary Time until we start the season of Lent.

Next the priest walked up the aisle with his dog! The first thing he said was he realized this is the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time but he chose to celebrate the Presentation of Our Lord in the temple 40 days after Christmas. This is the story of Simeon and Anna in the Bible.

When it was time for the reading of the gospel story of the Presentation, Jesus, Mary and Joseph walked up the aisle ... with a live donkey! On the altar Simeon and Anna joined the play. After the homily they played a country music song about a dirt poor farm family and their son. The lady in front of me was doing an in-place two step! Then another dog walked right up the aisle to the altar. By the time church was over there were three dogs on the altar. I guess this is one of those "whatever floats your boat" occasions. It was certainly different.

We stopped at Home Depot and Wal-Mart before returning to the park. We stopped to get the gate code and Jay pulled in right behind us. We went next door to Retama Village to take pictures of the homes with the RV ports attached to show Susan and Tommy. Then we visited for awhile with their friend Kathy. She owns a Super RV Site that consists of a large concrete patio to park your RV, your vehicle, have a patio and a shed. She turned the 12 x 20 "shed" into an entire apartment with LR, kitchen, bath including a washer & dryer in a closet! It was amazing. Then we decided to go to the flea market over in Weslaco. I bought valentines for the grandkids, a rug for the RV and Ted bought two pineapples. We had to get back because we had signed up to attend the BBQ and Super Bowl party at our park.

We had another good meal and watched the game on the big screen TV. Stella was rooting for the Colts and Jay for the Saints. Ted and I had "no horse in this race" and just enjoyed a really good game.

We are attending the Hitchhiker Owners monthly luncheon tomorrow. Jay and Stella are waiting to hear from an installer so we don't know what plans, if any, we'll have for tomorrow.

Ted is flying to Fort Worth Tuesday and back Wednesday. He'll also take the McAllen paper people to lunch on Thursday or Friday. So Jay and Stella are going to babysit me while he's gone. We usually stay down here longer than the 10 days we'll be here this year. But we need to get ready for our trip to Michigan.

More later ...