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1 to 15 February 2020 16 to 28 February 2020

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Yesterday, our neighbor John and Joan invited us for breakfast with some friends. They are right behind us.
Here is John frying bread dough.

It is very good.

What a breakfast.

Joan, Dora, Kathy and in the distance Jim and Terry.

From L to R. Jim, Terry, Lopy, Patrice, Manon, Michele and me.

We had a very good brunch with good people, lots of fun.

Jeremy sent us a couple of photos of Natasha.
The happy one.

And not so happy.

Michele can't wait to see her on March 17 when she goes to see them in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Monday, February 17, 2020

Michele is out going around the thrift stores this morning.
Patrice and I are at the Harbor Freight Tools to have a look around.
When we all were back home, Michele mentioned that it was crazy the number of people in stores. We said the same thing!

A taco lunch for all of us.

Funny faces from Michele and Patrice.

It is hot and humid today, time for the pool!
The wind is blowing hard again today.

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

We have the same weather as yesterday, hot, humid and windy.
To day at the club house, we have a representative from the Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers doing a presentation on the sugar cane from start to finish.

This gentleman was great. He told us everything about the sugar cane. From the growing of the sugar cane, harvesting of the sugar cane and the transformation of the cane into a finish product, sugar. That sugar is pure at 98 %. He got our attention for over one hour and half.

The afternoon was spent at the pool followed by some margaritas before supper.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Another cold front is upon us. By 10 am it is only 12° C.

Made a quick stop at Walmart.

During the afternoon while we were talking to John, our neighbor, he mentioned that the flea market at Mercadome has the same generator as Harbor Freight Tools ($699.00) bu only for $300.00.
Off we go, Patrice and me, to the flea market. We found one with only 34 hours on the meter, in good condition for only $280.00.

So Patrice bought the generator. When we arrived home, we put that generator through its pace. We plugged in the 5th wheel, turned on everything electric. The generator performed very well.

Manon invited us for supper. We will be having chicken shish kababs.

Patrice also helped.

A very good meal.
I must be very tired, I went to bed at 9:30 h.

Thursday, February 20, 2020

WOW! I woke up at 9 am! I almost went around the clock!

I am well rested, but the weather is not as nice.
It rains. A fine, but constant light rain for the rest of the day. It is not that warm either.

Patrice has a few items he wants to check the price on. First at Lowes and The Tractor Supply Company (TSC).
With that out of the way, we stopped at Lin's for lunch. The food was good, but on the cool side.

A quick stop at Walmart for Manon and Patrice and we are back home, under the rain!
No petanque this evening.

Friday, February 21, 2020

Almost the same temperature as yesterday, but no rain.

The forecast for the next 10 days.

Patrice and I decided to go for a drive in the near neighborhood.
It is almost like being in a semi third-world country. Most of the people living in the Valley are from Hispanic origin. Most, if not all the houses have at least 1 and up to 5 cars in the yard. I am talking about cars on blocks.

Patrice bought some gas stabilizer for the generator.
He makes it run for about 10 minutes to get the stabilizer in the complete fuel system.

The temperature goes up a few degrees and we go for a walk in the Mercadome outdoor flea market.
In the afternoon, lots of vendors are leaving early because of the cool temperature.

Patrice in front of one of the many generator vendors.

Overall, a good day.

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Another cold night, oh well!
Today we are off to visit the 77 flea market near Brownsville.
Close to our RV Park, there is a Big Top tent! We wonder what is going on.

The 77 flea market is bout 75 km from our Park.
It is divided into two parts, one outdoor and one covered.
This is the outside part.

And the covered part.

A flea market is a flea market no matter where you are. The new stuff stays the same on the junk stays junk!

I am cooking something I never cooked, a Ham Pot Pie.

Patrice and Manon are with us for supper. They are our guinea-pigs.
Weird pictures!!!

I thing it was good because most of it is gone. The left overs were a lot less that what you see.

Kristin, Jeremy and Natasha went to see Gabriel play hockey in a tournament in Leduc, Alberta.
Gabriel on the ice, what number is he?

Natasha knows his number. She even knows the team's name.

This is the first time Gabriel seen his little sister Natasha.

A nice family!

We love them and we are very lucky to have them in our life.

Sunday, February 23, 2020

I am still looking for a DVD recorder. I found one about 90 km away for a good price. We took my car to get it. On the way back, the check engine light came on. The car runs well even at high speed (the speed limit is 70 mph.) , but when we get to a stop sign, it runs weird. More to follow.

Back to the DVD recorder. I connect all the wires and... It does not work!

I contact the seller and he offer to reimburse me. This time we meet at the half-way point. The Bass Pro Shop store in Harlingen. We use Patrice's truck.

With my money back in my pocket, we went inside the store. WOW!

It was time for margaritas when we got back home.

Hummm! It will taste good.

Tomorrow I will take my car to the Chevrolet dealer to get it fixed.

Monday, February 24, 2020

First thing first, take the car to the Chevrolet dealer and find out what is the problem with our car. I should get more info later this afternoon.

I got a call just before lunch and it is not good news.
The oil pressure sensor on the camshaft is faulty.

This means the engine could stop at any moments. The estimate comes to $1,175 Canadian. Darn!
If we look at this in a different way, we could just say it is only two car payments and not 48 months of payments!

Since I am in the spending money moment, I went with Patrice to pay our next month rent at BOH.
For me it was only $270 for the month of March. The longer you stay, the cheaper it gets.

Tonight, only Michele won money at bingo. A nice $10.

The car should be repaired tomorrow, late morning.

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

At 11 I got a call that the car is ready for pickup.

It is with a lighter wallet that I come out of the dealer, but the car is fixed.

Every Tuesday afternoon the "veggies trailer" comes to the Park.

The majority, if not all the produce comes from the valley.

I finally decided to drop off the Geocaching Travel Bug that I took from a cache near my brother's place in Quebec.
Michele and I found this cache years ago, so this time it is just to drop off the TB.

Is the cache here? No!

Here? Yes and the TB has a home now.

So many monsters...

It is hot and muggy, so we spent part of the afternoon in the pool.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

A cold front is upon us again.
Yesterday we had 29° C, and this morning we have +13° C.
Today being Wednesday, we go for a walk in the Val Verde flea market.
Tonnes of oranges and illegal movies for sale.

After lunch, we went to the other flea market. The Don-Wes to buy some curd cheese.

Next, we cross the Hwy 83 to get to the awning guy and get some pop-rivets for when we change the end caps on our awnings.

The awning store is at the end of the very long building.

Michele did not come, she went to the thrift stores.

The sun is shinning, but it is on the cool side.

Thursday, February 27, 2020

Another cold morning.

The filtered air vents for Patrice came today. In the next few days we will install them.

Since it is on the cool side, I decided to replace the black water gate valve. it had 5 years old and used every few days, time to change it before it breaks when the tank is full.

It should take about 20 minutes.

Darn! Everything goes wrong. To be able to remove the black water valve, I need to remove the gray water valve. It does not smell nice in the compartment.

I had rinsed the black water tank before I started, but I forgot that I left some water in here. To make it easier to work, I disconnected the sewer hose. After I had changed the valve, I decided to try it. I forgot the sewer hose is disconnected! I pulled the handle and bam! 2 gallons of rinse water from the black water tank come rushing at me!!! SH*T!
So, after one and half-hour, the valve is changed, not 20 minutes.
Let me tell you, the beer was some good after that.

The sun is nice, but the wind still has a bite to it. We do not complain because right now Ontario and Quebec are getting a foot of snow.

Patrice borrowed my "California Duster" to clean his truck.

Flick cannot believe Patrice is dusting his truck!

Friday, February 28, 2020

Our Friday morning walk in the Mercadome flea market.

At one o'clock, Michele and I had to be at the clubhouse to participate at the BOH "Olympic Recognition Meeting."

Some of the petanque players.

Me with my bronze medal and Michele with her gold medal.

We had free ice cream after the presentation. Say "FREE" and all the old people rush to get ice cream.

Michele is fixing up supper.

We watched Manon and Patrice eating as we eat our meal!!!

We did spend some time at the pool this afternoon.

Saturday, February 29, 2020

This is going to be a windy day.
Patrice and I went to Harbor Freight Tools this morning.

Michele, Manon and I went to see a Mariachi show at a local High School near Mission.
In the Rio Grande Valley, art programs are in every school.
On our way to the amphitheater of La Joya High School.