This and That

Some of you are wondering who the people are who Barb mentioned in the last post. I do remember them and they owned Magnolia Park at one time. They sold to Mark, the first Canadian who owned Magnolia. They at first lived where Roy and Shirley Benner lived and then back in the doublewide on Cummings. They bought Magnolia from Mary and I believe would have been the last private owners before corporations and investment groups took over. Lots of changes since then that is for sure.

Covid is still going full throttle here in the RGV and there are many people here in Trails End who either have it or had it. Most of them are fully vaccinated and most were not very sick at all. Some presented as a cold with a bad cough. The only ones who I have heard were very sick are the very few who aren't vaccinated. One is still in the hospital with very low oxygen levels. 

We are still on the up and down weather roller coaster. First cold and rain for days on end and yesterday was pleasant as was today. Today the sun was out pretty much all day but it just got up to around 70 degrees. Tomorrow and Tuesday are supposed to be warmer but by Thursday on into the weekend a sharp cold front is supposed to come through and highs on Friday will be in the low to mid 40s. For those of you up north that probably sounds warm but keep in mind you also are living in well-insulated homes which are built for cold weather, unlike the mobiles and RVs down here. 

If you have news to share, please let me know.

News from Sandi Greer

 Sandi Greer <randysandi@gmail.com>

I get some blog & I always thought it was you.  But today I noticed
the person talked about you & Butch being a Trophy Gardens.  She said
you had been sick.  I hope you are better.  And we have been watching
the weather & it sure looks terrible for all of you.  We get cold
weather but I guess we are used to it.  And we are just thankful that
we are not from North Dakota.  haha  Randy had a stroke last April &
it has left him in Afib.  He's taking a lot of medicine & he's had 2
Cardios.  The last one seemed to do better.  Right now our area (we
live in Idaho - our kids are about 60 miles from us; better than it
used to be) has lots of COVID.  Idaho seems to have a lot of
independent thinkers that think they don't need the vaccine.  We have
all our vaccines & boosters.  But we also are careful about being
around a lot of people & we wear masks.  Well, I hope you get this so I
can read your blogs.  Sandi & Randy

My reply to her:

We too are vaccinated and boosted but we both did get covid. However, it was a mild case, lasted about 3 days, and was very much like a mild cold. 

Magnolia as we knew it is no more. It has become a family park and not one a winter Texan would look at twice. We keep the blog going because we like to stay in touch with all of our old friends. The bulk of Magnolia people landed in Trails End. Deon Spangler is one of them and between the two of us we try to keep the Magnolia Blog active. People send us info and we post it. Since she is where most of them are she gets more news than I do. I do not mind at all because I have a number of blogs I keep going.

Our personal blog is www.brooker3.blogspot.com.

Then I now do www.trophygardens.blogspot.com

And then good old Magnolia www.magnolianews.blogspot.com

It used to be that you could sign up to receive each of those in your email but they stopped that for some reason. If you were signed up eons ago it still works but not for new ones.

It is so good to hear from you and I know there are so many old friends who would like to hear from you too. Hoping

 you do not mind I will add our correspondence to the Magnolia blog.

Stay in touch!

Barb Brooker

Not Much to Talk About

 There really isn't a whole lot to talk about right now. It is pretty cold for Texas, lows last night just above freezing but tomorrow is supposed to be just a bit warmer. We are all hoping that there will not be a repeat of last year when we were without power for four full days. It was supposed to be a rolling blackout, but right here, it didn't roll. It went out on Monday and didn't come back until late Thursday or maybe it was Friday, it's hard to remember. There were billions of dollars worth of crops damaged and from what I can see, the orange trees that managed to survive aren't really producing any fruit or if they are, the fruit is small, hard and mostly brown.  We have had our electric fireplace on along with the furnace for the last two days. If the sun shines at all tomorrow it will help. Yesterday it rained off and on and it rained all night and until lunchtime today. Just north of us they had sleet and freezing rain. Yuck! Double yuck because Texans down here so far south don't really know how to navigate slippery roads so it's best to stay home.

This too shall pass and we will once again be enjoying nice weather. If we were home it would be ever so much colder so I think I won't whine too much.

Our park has lots of sick people, many with Covid from what I understand. A few really sick ones including at least one who is not vaccinated. We are being as careful as we can be and hope we don't get it. A few park activities have been cancelled because of sickness and also the cold weather.

I am busy doing a new park directory for Trails End. I'm not quite sure how that came about, well that really isn't true. They were looking for someone to do it and I volunteered. It gives me a chance to meet people I haven't come across yet as I am also taking their photos. This first time will be the worst and if they ask me to do it again it will be much easier. There are still people arriving so not quite sure when it will be printed. This one will be in color, which is different from our Magnolia directory. The last one cost $10 which is also different from the $3 we used to charge for the Magnolia one.

I think most Magnolia folks are pretty healthy right now although some have been sick and now days who knows if it was just a bad cold or was it covid. Everyone I know tries to stay home if they suspect they may have it. Barb and Butch, over at Trophy Gardens have made a full recovery and if you follow Barb's blog you know that they weren't really very sick - as I've said many times, thank goodness for vaccines and boosters. Apparently it is the booster which really does help to protect us.

We have been birding several times but it is a strange birding year, kind of like it was back in Neillsville last summer. Not much going on, haven't even seen an Altamira Oriole yet which is odd. They are a beautiful bird and I do have lots of pictures from prior years but always want more.

I was looking back at my Magnolia bird file and came across these two photos. The camera I have now takes slightly better photos than these but the first is a Yellow-headed Parrot and the second is a Pyrrhuloxia, sometimes called a Desert Cardinal. We have never seen these two species anywhere else but Magnolia Park. I think the parrot was perched over in the vicinity of the pool hall on a wire and the Pyrrhuloxia was back by where Sandy Williams once lived. They actually had a nest in one of the shrubs there or at least so it seemed. I'm sure they haven't been back for many years. Once in a great while the Pyrrhuloxia would be on the ground under a bush on our spot on the corner of Center and Magnolia. Good memories! 

If you have news to share, please let me know and I'd be happy to post it.

This and That

 The New Year is well under way down here in deep south Texas and like many years in the past it is quite warm (hot) for a few days and then a cold front comes rolling in and it is cold for a few days, and then back to warm. Yesterday was very pleasant and today it is rather chilly. In any case, it certainly is better than it is up north as it barely got above zero back home today and as I understand it the wind chill last night was 40 below, or at least that is the story I heard! We'll take this warm - cool cycle any time compared to that!

We went over to HEB on Westgate this morning and as long as we were so close we drove by the old park, in fact, three times just to make sure we saw it all. The front gate was closed but the back gate was wide open and we certainly could have gone in and drove around but we really didn't want to do that. It is truly a very sad state of affairs. The fence on the east side is partially down as well as the fence back on Cummings. I really don't know why they bother with the front gate as anyone could get in at any time. Once in a while a former resident will drive through just for old times sake but we are all of us who are not there anymore so glad. I think we have all settled down in our new parks and for the most part I think most are completely satisfied. I know we certainly like it here at Trails End and the others we have run across here and there are also happy with the parks they have chosen. Time moves on and with that change comes along. The older we get change can be difficult but it is inevitable that's for sure. 

Most everyone down here wears masks in the stores and so do we. At this point, I guess one can't be too careful. We have managed to stay healthy thus far and certainly hope it stays that way!

We've been birding a few times but really haven't seen much. It seems to be a rather odd birding year. The other morning though the parrots dropped by and I did get lots of pictures of them. Such fun!! I remember well when they used to land in the tree by Liz and Andrea back on Pecos especially in the spring. They are as noisy as ever!!

If you have news you'd like to share, please let me know.

Happy New Year!! 2022

 

It hardly seems possible but here we are again. Wishing all of you the best of whatever 2022 holds for us.

Butch and I spent the evening at home ...in the MoHo. I went to bed at my usual time-10:00 pm and Butch joined me soon after. One of the joys of old age is a big heavy sigh of satisfaction as we settle in for a long winter's nap. Wishing all of you a healthy and happy new year.