This and that

This very unusual "winter season" is drawing to a close and many of us have left the Rio Grande Valley to return to our homes "up north." There are more leaving soon and as far as I know thus far, everyone has made it safely.

Many of us have received our covid vaccine shots either in the valley or after arriving back home for which we are thankful. Back here in Wisconsin, just like in Texas there is no statewide mask mandate but individual businesses can mandate masks if they wish. We have discovered that most folks are wearing face coverings of some sort but here and there some are not. We wear ours and plan to do so for some time.

We enjoyed record setting temperatures earlier this week but now things are headed back down to normal which means highs in the 50s instead of 80s. It was nice while it lasted.

There are very few of the original Magnolia residents still left in the park, less than a handful. Everyone else has sold or pulled their unit out to go to another park. 

In our back yard we once again have a resident Red Fox family and just like last year, there are at least seven kits. They are so cute I thought I would share a couple of  photos of them.

Magnolia Happy Hour on Gail's patio at Trails End

 Most of the former Magnolia people who now live at Trails End get together every once in a while on a Sunday morning and usually at Gail's because she has a large enough area under a roof to accommodate everyone.

Here are some pictures that Susan Van Houweling sent me from the gathering yesterday.

Don and Marty Harper, Margaret and Don Schmaltz, Gail Lubinsky

Darlene Jansen, Mike Jordan, Chet & Irma Johnson, Don & Marty, Margaret & Don, Gail, Andy Harper,

 Pat Jordan, partly hidden Ron and Chris Pearce, Janet & Jim Rader, Randy & Cindy Tarrence

The ones on this end show up better in this picture. Obviously Susan was taking the photos because she is missing in all of them.

Everyone always has a good time and there is always a lot of good food to share. As you can see, some are missing as they had already left for home or for one reason or another couldn't make it. Randy and Cindy just flew down to help Susan get her motorhome and car home and Jim and Janet Rader who are at Rio Valley Estates just arrived in the valley. Janet has had some health issues and we wish her the best.

Carmen's 90th Birthday Party

 Today was Carmen Friesen's 90th birthday and former Magnolia residents gathered together at Trails End where most reside to help her celebrate. I'm sorry we were already on our way home as I'm sure everyone had a good time and it would have been fun.

Here are some pictures that Pat Jordan and Mary Bruun sent. The first two photos are very similar taken by two different cameras and in the one there are a couple of folks missing so I posted both.

This quilt was from the Magnolia Park Quilting Grandmothers that Mary presented to her.

Happy Birthday Carmen from all of us!

St. Patrick's Day Fun

 Here are some familiar faces having fun in this year's St. Patrick's Day golf cart parade over here at Trail's End.

Susan Van Houweling and Gail Lubinsky

Terry Froseth (recognize the "buggy"?)

Irma Johnson and Marty Harper

Darlene Jansen (sorry Darlene, I was busy picking up candy and you got away before I could get the front view)

Ron and Chris Pearce

Northern Lights

Donna Stevens's niece took these pics of the Northern Lights. She said they have been spectacular this year.

(snipped from Facebook)

Quilts, Garage Sale and Hamburgers!

 Things are winding down at Magnolia Park (now Magnolia Village) but to most of us who were a part of Magnolia for so many years it will most likely always be Magnolia Park.

Mary sent me a bunch of photos to put on and I will start with the quilts. This season Barb Kent, Thelma Domer, Mamie Havelka & Mary Bruun turned out over 40 quilts. Linda Bleess, who now resides in Siesta Village, also had sewn 14 more quilts over the summer to add to the collection.

They also presented Ken Pavelka with a quilt. Ken served in the Korean War. Cathy Nagel accepted a quilt for Bernie's service.

The garage sale was held last Saturday.

Here are a few more pictures from coffee hour where it would appear they were having fun and also from the Hamburger Fry.

George Meirhofer

 George Meirhofer passed away on Sunday February 21, 2021 Texas where he and his wife Shirley have spent the winter months for many years, first in Donna and now in Weslaco. George was born in 1938 and in April would have turned 83. He was originally from Rhinelander Wisconsin and attended the Rhinelander High School. He was a Muscatine Iowa resident except for the winter months when he became one of many Winter Texans. 

Condolences may be sent to Shirley at 444 Tampico Street, Weslaco TX 78596. In this park mail is delivered directly to resident's street address and should NOT be addressed to the park.

Sad News

 I am sorry to have to tell you that George Meirhofer has passed. George and Shirley were long-time residents of Magnolia Park, first in their motorhome and then in the house they purchased from the Gordons on Peach Street. George and Shirley and their dog Teddy would often be out for walks and we would meet them often. They had moved their mobile over to Trails End last spring and live in the same general neighborhood as other former Magnolia residents. When I have more information I will post it.

Worst is Over edited

 I do believe that the worst of the weather is past us with tonight being the last night for a possible freeze. We did not unhook our water hose but did cover up the pipe where is comes out of the ground and where we hook on to it. Our plants are covered up for the last time we hope! We still do not have any water issues over here in Weslaco but we have quite a few jugs filled just in case. At this point, it's better to be prepared. When we see the utter destruction in other parts of Texas we are fortunate. They are talking about more than $300 million in citrus losses alone and that is just the beginning. We see the houses in Houston, which is not that far away from us, with columns of ice hanging from the ceiling to the floor in the houses and it is hard to believe that  could happen. Where would a homeowner even start. I think I would call in a bulldozer and start over!

Our park, Trails End has bent over backwards to be helpful. There are still about four homes that don't have power, mostly due to transformers or perhaps transformer fuses and they have opened up their little rental units for the residents to use. Today at noon they had a wood-fired pizza oven food truck in and provided pizza to the residents, free of charge, and that was not a slice, but one whole pizza per household. 

Margaret & Don Schmaltz returned this morning, they had spent this week in a motel, Don & Marty Harper are still in their motorhome as they are one of those without power yet. I talked to DeWayne Friesen this noon and he said that he and his mom Carmen are okay. I saw Keith Gilbertson in the laundry and he said he was okay. I think his church had told him he could come over there but I believe he chose to stay in his mobile. Gail Lubinsky waved when I walked by like she does nearly every morning. We used to wave at each other almost every morning when I walked in Magnolia too. A nice way to start the day. I did not see Susan, Ron and Chris, or Shirley but I'm assuming they are all okay. I am not sure if George is still in the hospital but will find out. I talked to Andy Harper a couple of minutes and he's fine. I did not see Jordans or Terry Froseth but Pat & Mike had lights tonight when we walked by and I'm sure Terry is okay too. Darlene was  outside enjoying the sunshine and Darrel and Kathy Forsgren returned from South Padre which they had been in a motel. Chet & Irma are okay and enjoying all the things that electricity provides. Just being able to watch TV and hear the news is something to be thankful for. They had no idea that the whole country is talking about Texas to the extent that they are even though I had told them that it was all over the news. We are all grateful for electricity and water and sincerely hope it does not go away again. When I walked around this morning I took the camera and took some pictures of some of the frozen plants. It is really hard to imagine unless you actually see it in person but you will get the idea.

This last picture shows what were Irma's Canna Lilies. Mary had shared some of hers and they were beautiful but not anymore. I think that all of the Cannas which are or were in Magnolia Park started from Irma's. They had looked really good but not now! We are going to cut them down and see if they will come back, after all, the ground did not freeze so maybe?? Time will tell.

This crisis is over and we are all hoping to get back to normal, or at least what we now call normal.

Latest Valley News

 Things are very slowly improving down here and by next week it is supposed to be back in the 80s. One more really cold night as they are predicting a hard freeze tonight and maybe a light frost tomorrow night, and then again, maybe not. This whole week has been pretty unbelievable. One week ago today on Thursday when we got up the temperature was 71 and by late afternoon it was 40 and it never did warm up much above that. Then Monday things really got bad when the power went off and at least here, stayed off until tonight at 7:00 when it came back on. Some areas have had sporadic power for the last several days, on and then off which is what a rolling blackout is supposed to be. Over in this area, it didn't roll, it just stayed off for a total of 83 hours which is a heck of a long time without lights or heat which is the situation most people found themselves in. 

We met Shirley Meirhofer in the neighborhood Walmart this morning and she told me George had fallen and was in the hospital. I'm not quite sure when he will be coming home. Speaking of Walmart the shelves are pretty bare but I think that will be remedied soon. It is similar to how it was when people started hoarding all kinds of things - remember the toilet paper shortage last spring. The lines to get into fast food places are L O N G as are the lines to get into gas stations. As I said on my Facebook page we found propane, yes, another tank, over at the place not far from Magnolia, paid through the nose but at least we found some and we got gas to run the generator down on 281 again at the same place we did yesterday. No lines at either place. Hopefully we won't need the gas for the generator and we will just dump it in the Johnson's car as by the time we leave it will be old and Jim likes "fresh" gas for the generator. This whole situation has taught us that we will never leave home without the generator. We had talked about leaving it home because some times we never Walmart camp on the way down or home as we've taken to staying more and more in RV parks and then a generator is not needed. Thank goodness we have it, as it was a lifesaver to say the least.

There are still people at motels but I suspect everyone will return tomorrow and try to get back to normal. The park shut the water off one night which I think was a good thing as it kept everything from freezing. The Weslaco water supply has not been compromised but it has in other places, just one more misery for people to endure.

Dollar General across the road is all lit up but still closed. I imagine they are disposing of spoiled food in their freezer and refrigerator cases or perhaps they donated it to some of the shelters that abound down here.

This whole situation has affected the vaccinations being given but I believe that will also get back on schedule shortly. We are scheduled for our second Pfizer shot on March 2. Hope the weather is behaving by then.

We have all complained and whined a whole lot this past week but actually, most of us are pretty fortunate compared to the people living in some of the colonias that are all around down here where there is sometimes neither lights nor running water.

Stay warm, stay safe and let's think SPRING!

Weather!!!

 A quick update on what is happening down here in the Rio Grande Valley. Unheard of record low temperatures, no power and now a potential gas shortage!

This is historic to say the least. It was in the low 20s this morning and the power in our park has been off for 36 hours. It is supposed to be a rolling power outage but this has not rolled, just been a steady no-power situation. The Dollar General across the street was closed yesterday and today and if the power doesn't come back on will be closed tomorrow too.

We have our generator which has provided us power to have plenty of heat from the gas furnace, lights, TV, etc. We got one of our propane tanks filled again this morning (had filled one yesterday too) and after driving around for two hours this morning finally found a gas station that we could manage to get into to fill our gas can to keep the generator running. They are now saying there is, or will be, a gas shortage as people are using their cars to go out and sit in to try to get warm.

Some of the Magnolia people I think may have found a motel that had rooms and power. Both are in short supply that's for sure. Harpers are in their motor home as that has a generator. Susan Van Houweling is here in her motor home which I'm sure also has a generator. I think Carmen Friesen is over at her son, DeWayne's house as he lives just across the street from her. As far as the rest of the Magnolia people, I do not know how they are faring. Chet & Irma are managing quite well and everyone is very hopeful that we will power restored at least for a while tomorrow.

We took a quick walk up to the dumpster area and noticed that a few of the mobiles now have large generators sitting outside and running and those people have lights on, otherwise it is totally dark although when I look out one of our windows I can see lights over to the west of us. It is interesting where the outages are as there does not seem to be any reason why one spot has power and the next one doesn't.

As far as I know, Magnolia Village over in Donna has power and water, or at least the last I heard, they did.

The store shelves in Walmart are empty of bread and milk and I imagine short on other things too. 

This event will be talked about for a very long time and the news is saying there will be an investigation into why there are many hundreds of thousands of Texans without power.

I hope that wherever you are, whether up north or down here in the valley somewhere, that you are staying warm and safe. 

This and that

 On this Valentine Sunday the weather in the Rio Grande Valley has become much more like it would be back in Iowa, Minnesota or Wisconsin in a normal year. It is very cold down here and we are currently under a Winter Storm Warning if you can believe that. But, this is not a normal year in any shape or form and the weather back home is just as terrible as it is down here with extremely cold temps. I just heard from a Facebook friend who lives a bit north of San Antonio and they have had at least 1/4 inch of ice and they are stranded in their house. He has his hummingbird feeder on a heating pad to try to keep it from freezing. We are going to have freezing temps tonight and tomorrow night and then it will be somewhat warmer. It has been raining/drizzling all day so tomorrow morning the roads and sidewalks are going to be slick. They do not have salt, salt/sand, or brine down here so I'm expecting many reports of accidents because people do not know how to drive on ice. We have covered up the plants that are on our lot some of which are not going to withstand freezing temperatures and have also covered up the ones we just recently planted over on Chet & Irma's lot. I think before we go to bed we (translation, Jim) will go out and unhook the water hose from the RV just to be on the safe side.

Several of us received our first Covid-19 Vaccine shot with the second one scheduled for March 2. We were very fortunate to have been able to register on line, have an appointment at 9:00, show up, go in, get the shot, wait 15 minutes for any reactions and go home. We left about 7:30 in the morning because it was very foggy and it was about 24 miles from here and we were back home at 10:00. No long lines either in cars or standing outside, just very well organized. As I said, we were very fortunate. None of us had any serious side effects but the second one may prove to be a different story as I've read that one may have a bit more reaction than the first. Time will tell.

I have been seriously considering perhaps doing some sort of Magnolia directory more or less as a way to keep in touch with names, current address no matter what park any of us are in, home address, phone and email. It would not be printed but saved as a PDF file which most everyone is able to open and read either on their computer or on their phone or both and most people should be able to actually print it out if they have access to a printer. I would be interested to know if there would be enough people interested in such a document to make it worthwhile. If you are interested, let me know via email at:

deonsp43@gmail.com

Stay warm, stay safe and think SPRING!!

Laurance Gordon William Josie

 

Laurance Gordon William Josie, age 72, passed away on Friday, January 29, 2021. Laurance was born July 9, 1948 in Sutton West, Ontario, Canada.

He is survived by his wife, Catherine Toms.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.heavenlygracergv.com for the Josie family.

I have been asked for Cathy's address and thanks to Darlene for getting it for me. Cathy is over at Leisure World just a little ways away from this park and her address is:

Cathy Toms
400 E 18th Street, Lot 324
Weslaco TX 78596

New Address for Dick Nelson

 

Dick is settled in back in Minnesota and in spite of it being winter likes it a lot. His new address is

            Dick Nelson

            2680 Lexington Ave N

            Apt 303

            Roseville MN 55113

I'm sure Dick would enjoy hearing from his Magnolia friends. The Nelsons spent many years in Magnolia Park and I remember back when we first started coming to Magnolia we would meet him in the pool hall pretty often. He is a very good pool shooter and didn't lose many games. We certainly wish him well in his new residence. I did inquire as to what happened to his home and as I understand it, it is listed with a realtor.

             

Sad News

 I am sorry to have to tell you that I have been informed of the passing of Larry Josie, down here in Texas, a few days ago. He and Cathy Toms were relatively new residents of Magnolia Park. They bought Nelson and Mable Zoot's house a few years ago and very quickly became active members of the Senior Citizens of Magnolia Park Association. We called him Larry II because we already had Larry Ergen and that way it was easy to know which Larry we meant. At the end of last season he and Cathy moved their mobile over to Leisure World which is a sister park to Trails End. Our sincere sympathies to Cathy and his entire family. He will be missed by all who knew him. If I can find an obituary I will post it here.

On a lighter note I keep forgetting to mention that Dick Nelson has moved back up north (to the land of ice and snow) and I might add that information came down through the usual channels - the grapevine! I understand that Fred Rabe is doing well and I think he calls Ron and Chris to chat pretty often. We have seen Joe and Linda Bleess a couple of times and they are settled in over at Siesta Village. That is a park over on 1015 where you can buy your own lot, not just rent a spot. They join a couple of others who left Magnolia several years ago and they tell me that they like it a lot. There are only a very few original Magnolia residents left over there. I believe the garage sale will be this Saturday as it is the first Saturday of the month.

Some of us have registered down here to get the Covid Vaccine and are hopeful that we may be called soon. It is a mammoth undertaking getting everyone vaccinated and if we don't get it while down here it is available back home at our local pharmacy, believe it or not. In the meantime, we continue to wear our masks, wash our hands and socially distance. Jim and I aren't great socializers as most of you know so that is not too much of a hardship for us! We haven't been out to eat for ages so don't miss that either but I know most people do miss the ability to eat out safely. That day will come again.

We are enjoying meeting new people even though nothing much is going on in our park. So far no covid in here and the buildings are open with very limited numbers of people able to be in them - it all depends on the square footage available and what the city of Weslaco dictates are the rules to be followed. We see "Magnolia" people every day and it is so nice to stay connected!

Remember, if you have news you'd like to share, please let me know and I will put it on.

Stay Safe!!

More Birds

I have to admit yesterday was a wonderful birding day and I know that a lot of you Magnolia Blog followers also enjoy the birds that are down here. Many of you have already seen this on my own Facebook page but for those who are not on Facebook I want to share this with you.

Yesterday, in the early morning when I was out for my usual morning walk the parrots once again arrived and this time a few landed just down the street from our RV so I came back and got the camera. It was a dark cloudy morning but still, they showed up pretty well.

Then yesterday afternoon after the sun came out we went birding over at Estero Llano World Birding Center in Weslaco. I'm sure some of you have been there. This entire winter there has been a very rare bird there which until now had never been seen in Texas anywhere. It is a female Elegant Trogon and she has been very hard to catch sight of. We have been there several times without finding her but yesterday was different and I happened to catch sight of her and she cooperated beautifully. I got a bunch of photos and they do show her off really well. This is a good-sized bird with a very long tail and it was a thrill to be able to actually get some pretty good pictures. There were lots of other birds out to so it really was a great day!!

Just like Old Times

 Remember the days when the parrots would land in Magnolia Park?? They did and it happened pretty often, early morning and then again late afternoon or early evening. They had some favorite trees down on Pecos where they found something to their liking. Well, this morning we were over at Chet & Irma's here in Trails End and the parrots finally landed. We were busy planting some plants but I ran (yes, ran) back to our RV and got the camera and managed to get some pictures. They aren't great but they are better than nothing. It did remind us of the good old days. They were as noisy as ever and you can hear them coming and going for quite some time. It was a huge flock, one of the biggest I have ever seen and it was fun!! It was a very cloudy, dark day for picture taking but it was better than nothing.

Having Fun!

 Last Thursday here at Trails End where many former Magnolia Park residents now live some of the Red Hat ladies got together and had a golf cart/bicycle parade. It was fun to watch them. Every so often they would stop their carts or bikes and get out and do the Hokey-Pokey. They went up and down every street and brought back many memories of our Christmas Parades. I asked someone if they were going to throw candy but they didn't. Maybe next time!

If you can figure out who these are, you are pretty darn good.

 Chris Pearce

Irma Johnson

Marty Harper

This and That

 January 5, 2021 already, hard to believe! We have been down here in the Rio Grande Valley since Thanksgiving Day and even though in this park, Trails End, everything is locked down the days still seem to fly by. It is a very friendly park and there are lots of Magnolia people here so it's almost like being in Magnolia (in the old days when it was still Magnolia Park). I see Magnolia people every day sometimes, several times and that is good because it is hard to get to know new people when everyone has to be so darn careful. We figure we've made it this long without contracting the virus and we sure don't want to get lax now that the end may be in sight. We have registered to get the vaccine down here and some people who registered just a day of us have already been called and gotten their first dose so there is some hope that we may get them before we leave for home at the end of March. Like most other places it is a slow roll-out down here but it is happening.

The Covid 19 numbers are going back up just like in other parts of the country, actually in most of the world. We just have to all hang in there a bit longer and not do anything foolish.

I think there will be one or two more Magnolia residents or former residents, who will end up over here at Trails End sooner or later and there will be a very few of the original Magnolia people who for one reason or another will not be moving but staying put.

For the last week or so I have been hearing and seeing the parrots go over in the morning and sometimes they come back in the evening, just like they did over Magnolia Park. Some settled down across the highway and I did get a photo but very far away so really not good enough to put on here. They still make a whole lot of noise as they come and go.

I have not heard about anyone having the virus lately, at least none of the former Magnolia people down here have had it as far as I know.

The weather has been typical, quite warm most days, windy and then a cold front will blow in for a few days and the furnace will run and then in a few days it changes back to typical warm/hot. The weather people are saying that for the most part, the temps are way above normal for this time of year. I have a lot of sweatshirts along but have had one on only in the morning a couple of times. It is very dry and we could use a good rain. I do need a light jacket in the morning  when I walk but not for long as when the sun is up it usually warms up in a hurry.

We went birding today and saw that cabbage is being harvested along 281 and we thought of Dave Greening who liked to go out to see what kind of vegetables he could find that were left laying in the fields to be gleaned.

Stay safe and if you have news you would like posted, let me know and I will put it on.

Good-bye 2020 and WELCOME, to a brand new year!