Sunday at Magnolia

Sunday at Magnolia means that Church was held in the morning for all that wish to attend...It was a good turn out this morning for services...The weather was cool out side but the message was enough to warm the soul for Church goers...The message was" Sinners need to be obedient and follow the word"..Pastor Stacey gave a great message that was very enlightening that all could understand...Any time we can learn and understand what GOD wants us to do and live by is very welcome to the heart...We had a good attendance but some of the congregation was missing because of various illnesses that seem to be running in the park in the coolest part of the WINTER in Deep South Texas (colds and flu)...Pastor Stacey lead the prayers for all those that were sick and their familys...It's great to have a Pastor that cares for ALL the Magnolia Family...

Allen Hall Podium

Many sweaty nervous hands have gripped the edges of the podium in Allen Hall.

Sugar cane harvesting

Today we watched as sugar cane was being harvested. It is quite a process to see. We did not catch them burning a field today, but I will try to get pictures of that in a couple of days. I did get a few pictures to share with you, however.

Notice the semi being unloaded----the whole semi goes up in the air, tractor cab and all!

The sugar cane comes to this plant NE of Harligen to be proccessed.

A wagon with cut sugar cane gets unloaded into a semi by lifting the entire wagon over the semi! 3 dumps and the semi is loaded.

When you see these orange signs and that the edges of the field are dug---this is a sign that the field is soon to be burned.

Notice how thick and tangled the sugar cane field is. They try to burn the fields to get rid of some of the trash. The machines only cut 2 rows at a time.

This cane field was not burned because it was too wet. The sugar cane goes thru a machine like a corn combine, only 2 rows at a time as the cane is very trashy, especially when the field has not been burned. There are rotating blades to cut off the top....then the rest goes into the machine. Wicked looking machine!

Here comes the sugar cane harvestor....notice the sharp whirling cutting blades in front of the machine! WOW that would give you a haircut!

Jan and Joe Stinchfield (33 Aspen) have been busy planting flowers!

From MSNBC

Whiteout wipeout

Several vehicles are piled up in the southbound lane of U.S. 65, one mile south of Mason City, Iowa, on Jan. 25 during a snow and wind storm. The National Weather Service said snowfall ranged from 1 to 4 inches, but winds were blowing up to 35 mph, with gusts near 45 mph.

Quilters

My camera is doing funky things as you can see in this picture of Judy Hunt working on her quilt top. At least we can tell what is happening. I could have cropped it but decided to share my camera difficulties with you. And if anyone has any idea why this is happening I would be glad to know.

Here we have L. to R. Irma Johnson, Kathryn Hodges, Suzanne Stoner and Doris Moritz pictured with their quilts. More camera woes.

Mary Bruun, Pat Leber, Eula Henderson, Joan Kent, Arleen Beach

Dorothy Wendt, Judy Lowary, Judy Hunt, Mary Urbonovic

Sheka and the boys...

Jon, Sheka, and Jim on a garbage run!

Boat Trip at Brownsville

Tuesday we had a group of 46 from the Park travel to Brownsville for a boat trip to see the ships being taken apart. What an interesting trip! I took a few pictures from a distance, as we were told not to take pictures of the restricted areas. (aftermath of 911)

The ships and oil / gas rigs are so big, I just got a picture in the distance, but you should get the idea of it....there were piles and piles of metal scraps from the ships. Quite a business of tearing apart and selling the scrap. The metal is loaded and sent to China, they own the yards anyway. We saw big shrimp ponds, quite a profitable venture. The problem is that only immigrants are allowed by our government to own them! Guess the government figures that will give them a head start when they come here.....

The Siagon carrier (left), an oil rig (middle), and a gas rig (right). The rigs are being repaired, when finished they are floated back to the Gulf to start work again.

This is the Siagon Aircraft carrier, slowly being dismanteled.

We started our boat trip by going thru a swing bridge.

Lil enjoyed sitting at the wheel of our boat!!!

meal after the boat trip...

We had over 40 people that enjoyed a fine meal at the White Sands after our boat trip. We all ordered off the menu---Jim and I had "all you can eat fish"....and neither of us could finish it all! Yummy!

Steak Fry

Pictured left to right is Bill Sturgeon, President Larry Ergen and Esther Sturgeon. The steaks were delicious, well cooked and tender. A job well done by all.

Server Delbert Wiese is ready to lift the lid on those steaks.

Shirley Wiese is ready to serve up the baked potatoes.

Chairman Dick is making sure everything is ready to go.

The steak fry takes organization, dedication and hard work by many people. Pictured here is Chairman Dick Cleaveland with server Edie Bauer. Server Don Mueller is ready at the next table.

Way to go Kay

Could not let this go without comment. It is so refreshing to have new input!! Anyone else who would like to post just let me know. Great job Kay! Now I must get back to the directory.

Well, if you can stand more pictures of our day----we also went to the livestock barn today. We enjoy the little cafe there, very good hamburgers! We also like to walk the catwalk above the cattle. The cattle here are interesting, much different that those in Minnesota. I can't remember the names of all the breeds, but they are bred to withstand the heat. Long ears.....

The cattle are very noisy---mammas and babies are separated, so none are happy. Most are scared of humans, plus they don't like pens! Some are really skinny, I guess catcus is "diet food"! They sell the cows one at a time, but it goes really fast.

Of course, I couldn't just pass by these flowers. The lady strips sticks of maple twigs to make them. She gave samples to the crowd.

This is a Ford tractor. Amazing what can be done with a block of wood.

This muthical scene was done by our own park resident, Dave Hughes!!! Way to go, Dave!

Isn't this a pretty fish!