This and That

 I just wanted to let you know that Chris is doing wonderfully well with her healing process and will be starting therapy to get get full use of her hand back. Darlene has been Chris and Ron's shoulder to lean on in this process and I know they appreciate it. I told her I wasn't going to mention her name but I think it is only fair to say that Darlene and Peaches (her dog) have been a rock to lean on and more and I know that Chris and Ron are so appreciative of that. Let's hope that no more mishaps happen. Yesterday when I chatted with the three of them I told Chris to behave herself especially when it comes to ladders!

We are experiencing a few days of wet, nasty cold weather. Yesterday was very warm and then about 3:00 in the afternoon the cold front blew in. Today it never got out of the 40s and that is how tomorrow and I think Thursday, are going to be along with showers. It has been very dry so the rain is badly needed. We are lucky as the ice will stay north of us this time but the Dallas/Ft. Forth area was very badly hit. Lots of ice and lots of accidents. It's a good time to stay off the roads as the people down here, with the exception of us Winter Texans have no idea how to drive on ice and it's "driver beware" because if anyone touches their brakes they will be in for a surprise. But, as I said that is all staying north of us thank goodness.

The weather this winter over all has been very pleasant, much like years ago when we first started coming to the RGV. Then the last several years the weather has been dotted with extremes including "the big freeze" of 2021 which none of us who were down here will ever forget. We have been assured that the power grid is stable and ready, we will see. So far, no outages which is good. When we are back home the power rarely goes out although earlier this winter it did go out due to heavy wet snow and trees coming down all over.

Not much else new that I am aware of. As always, if you have news you would like to share, please let me know so I can post it.

Chris Update

 A few more details. Chris was on a ladder putting Christmas stuff away and getting Valentine things out. The ladder went over with Chris on it, or so I've been told. She landed on her left side and is badly bruised. Someone said she also has broken ribs but not sure about that. Her arm or wrist was the most affected. I believe she has a radial fracture (closest to wrist) and she had surgery yesterday to repair that. By the way the terms fracture and broken are used interchangeably and mean exactly the same thing. I think she will be coming home today which will make Ron happy. I'm sure in a few days she would appreciate hearing from you. Her address here is 770 North Bermuda, Weslaco TX 78596. I believe her phone is the same as it was in Magnolia and if you don't have it, contact me and I will give it to you.

Sad News

Yesterday Cindy Peterson called to tell me that Kathy Gonzales had passed and I told her I would put it on the blog last night. I just didn't get it done last night but today Darlene Jansen and Mary Bruun also contacted me.

I did look at the death notice, right now there really isn't an obituary available. Kathy Gonzales and her husband, who passed many years ago lived at 342 Fir, right next to Tuffy and Char. They were involved with the flea market. 

Some time later Kathy and Vladimir Swirynsky were married and as far as I know still lived in the same spot.

Weslaco- Katherine Marie Swirynsky, 63, went to be with the Lord on Monday, January 16, 2023 at Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco.

Funeral Services have been entrusted to Salinas Funeral Home of Weslaco.

Today Darlene also told me of the passing of Ken Pavelko. Ken and Letty lived back on Cummins and he often played his trumpet when we had our veteran recognition day. By the way, he played that trumpet beautifully and the program often would end, after the singing and program put on usually by Larry, with Ken playing Taps. From what I found he died at the McAllen Medical Center

Kenneth Richard Pavelko age 95 of Pharr, Texas (formerly of Lakefield, Minnesota) entered into rest on Sunday, June 5, 2022. A Funeral Mass was  held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 11, 2022, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Lakefield, with Father Jonathan Fasnacht officiating, with a visitation one hour prior to Mass.

Burial was to be at St. John the Baptist Cemetery in Minneota Township, with full Military Honors performed by Lakefield American Legion Post.

They sometimes say bad news comes in threes and tonight I found out that Chris Pearce fell today and broke her arm. She is currently in the hospital having it attended to and may be there for a few days as tomorrow starts the weekend and sometimes medical care is hard to find on the weekends. There will be Magnolia people watching our for Ron so that he is not alone tonight.

Maybe ending on an up note, tomorrow here at Trails End in Weslaco we will be having our craft sale and also our patio sale from 8 AM to noon. If you have some free time, stop in.

Please read!!

 If you get a message via Facebook messenger that says Look Who Died, Do NOT click on it. If you click on it, it will not open but if you don't have a strong password you will be hacked. I received the message and did click on it but I have a very strong password and at this point don't believe I've been hacked. Change your password immediately and make very sure it's strong. Upper and lower case letters, a couple of numbers and at least one symbol. Make it so you can't remember it and write it down. ALL your passwords should be like this and no two alike. Do it now.

And I add this is very true. It has turned from an irritation to a major problem. You almost cannot change your password often enough. Do not cave to curiosity!!! It isn't worth it.

From your friend- Barbara Brooker

This and That

We are well into the New Year, I wonder how long it will take to remember to write 2023 instead of 2022. We are enjoying beautiful weather here in the Rio Grande Valley which has been really nice. It has been very much like the winters down here that we enjoyed when we first started coming down which was in 2000 when we came for just a week, visited Chet & Irma and stayed at the Super 8. After that we came for increasingly longer visits until I retired from printing and we bought our first RV, our little Safari Trek. The winters back then were so nice and then we started having the winters with big changes every few days, hot, cold, sunny, rainy etc. This winter has been very pleasant, yes we have a cold front come through now and then and except for the one before Christmas which was really cold and in fact below freezing, the cold fronts are really only cool fronts and the temps stay comfortable.

We visited with the Brookers the other day over at Trophy Gardens and of course, here at Trails End we see Magnolia people every day. Joe and Cheryl Raleigh have arrived and it was good to see them again as they hadn't been here for the winter since their mobile was moved over from Magnolia. Terry Froseth has grown a big bushy beard and has just a bit longer hair. I hardly recognized him but as soon as he speaks, you know it's Terry.

Believe it or not we've been birding only once as we have been busy in our mobile getting it the way we want it. We have to go again very soon as there is a rare bird over at Estero Llano World Birding Center which is our favorite place to go anyway and very handy as it's just a couple of miles away.

If you have news you want to share to the Magnolia family about yourself or about any of our former neighbors in Magnolia, please do let me know. We do wonder about a lot of people that we no longer see and wonder how they all are. We are all getting older so one does wonder.

If you are here in the Valley or back home "up north" we would love to hear from you.