March 2009

There are a few things to do to get ready...
This is the map where we left it last November. Colorado has been a "hole" for quite some time and now West Virginia is one too. Not on purpose, just happened. We will be filling in Colorado this year, if all goes well, mostly meaning the weather. We will be there sometime in May visiting Mesa Verde Nat'l Park. I am looking forward to our trip this year. Until we start, here is what is going on in our lives in March...

We have had some great sunsets, this is from Monday the 2nd...	looking out across the street from our front porch over our neighbors house, you can see one of their lights shining to the left... I caught this one at the end of the color.

March 3rd, we knew there was going to be another great sunset, so we were watching for it this time.	So many trees, but the colors were glorious...
We are doing lots of Square Dancing before we head out to say Hi and Goodbye to all of our friends. The first weekend in March we enjoyed the company of many RV'rs and Square Dancing all at once! We belong to the Sam Houston Camping Squares and we hosted the Texas State Camping Squares campout and dance in Corsicana, TX. We danced two nights and enjoyed a concert from the Malone Brothers (their older brother is a dancer).

There was some serious card playing going on, we are playing Hand and Foot here. It's the boys versus the girls. The boys won 2 out of 3 games :P	Over here, they are playing Mexican Train Dominoes.

And there was Round Dancing, this is Shirley and Ron Alexander, friends in our group.	Always food to be found...

Good friends are easy to make, Earl and Jim.	And the "casual" night of dancing started...

Pick my number, pick my number! nope...	Allemande left with your corner...

I'm always dragging him around :) Head couples travel half way around...	Saturday, the boys hangin' and drinking coffee. There were donuts to be found, but I think they had already had their fill.

Then you turn around and it is time for the Potluck Lunch. Remember, you are in the south, nothing better than fried chicken...	There is always a huge turnout for a potluck, we are sitting right in front of the glass doors in the back, on the right...

Now you can see us a little better... I am not a good potluck person, I can never figure out what to make and bring so I tend to go the easy way out and purchase something...	And then the real dance got under way... Here is the brown paper bag auction, I won a necklace.

More ladies putting their tickets into the items they want to win...	Hazel and Frank, turning over their presidency to the next Presidents of the Texas Camping Squares...

and we're dancing! Square Thru Four in the center...	Swing your partner and promenade...

more swingin'! we love to swing our partners :) Don't you love our SHCS outfits?	Finally, we get to rest our feet and get ready for our promised entertainment :)

All four of the Malone Brothers, they sang gospel/bluegrass for us after the Friday Night dance.	Here's a video that I took of them...
	I want to thank Hugh (to the left and Zan too) for many of the pictures that I used from the dance. I was so busy dancing, I didn't have time to take pictures during the dance. Hugh was busy taking many pictures that he posts for the Camping Squares. Also, thanks to Lorraine for taking a few pictures for me too.
We danced again Monday night at the Huntsville Promenaders, they had their annual Chili cook-off. We always enjoy that dance. Hugh & Zan (above) belong to the Huntsville club besides the camping squares. We get to meet so many great and wonderful people as we travel to different clubs to dance. My feet are sore this morning after having danced 3 night out of 4. Yowzer! so, no dancing tonight, just fun and games with friends here in the park. We are going to help belatedly celebrate a birthday that we missed while out camping and dancing...
I am pretty sure you are tired of dancing pictures, so here are a few of the dogwood trees by the house... it is weird to think that the daffodils and tulip trees bloom in mid February here... then it's the red bud trees, and now the dogwoods and azaleas. I have no redbud tree any longer, so no pictures of that this year.

Dogwoods across the street at Dottie's house.	Dottie's is a really nice log cabin, here is the main dogwood and if you look close enough, you can see the azaleas in bloom along the front porch.

This is my fig tree, it was raining as I took these pictures. There are actually little figs on the tree already!	My two dogwood trees; hopefully they will grow up to be big and strong now that we took out the two oak trees that were keeping them stunted and not blooming very much.
We aren't doing too much, still dancing, but we are getting ready to head out! I have cleaned the inside of the RV, Jim has done his wash and polish on the outside. I am starting to load clothes and staples inside, so that is a sure sign we are getting close! We even had a few rock dings in the windshield repaired (which usually means we will get a few more on the road before we get back home :P ) We had a few activities that we stayed around for, friends are very important!

On Jim's birthday (3/15) we went to a friends 80th birthday, M.E. (on left) turned 80 on 3/16. We are heading into the house and had to chat with more friends on our way in.	M.E.'s birthday cake, we should all be so lucky to make it to our 80th birthday! (it's really interesting, his wife Mary Ann's b-day is the day before mine).

Speaking of ME & MaryAnn, here they are again, the following Thursday at our monthly meeting of the Backyard Wine Sippers :)	Here's part of the group, we chat, we eat, we share wine and just have fun.

Then, Saturday afternoon (3/21) we have a wedding to go to, friends from square dancing. The groom, Bill Koperna, getting ready to help the bride and her family out of the limo.	The happy, soon to be married couple, Bill and Sheila. Congratulations!

Saturday evening, we went over to the girls for dinner, their next door neighbors got home early from their winter in Mexico (they are RV'rs too). Here is Graydon, Jim and Kris cooking the meat	And it was a huge plate of meat!

Shilo & Meika don't get table scraps, so they got a treat. Meika is staring at hers to make sure no one takes it before given the command that they can eat.	Finally, we are all eating, check out all that food on my plate! It was a great dinner with wonderful friends.
On the Road! Official date March 22, 2009

and then, we are on the road on Sunday, 3/22. Trying to take pictures of the Texas Bluebonnets along the side of the road.	Here is a huge patch of bluebonnets, there were cars along the side of the road with families taking pictures of themselves in the bluebonnets.
San Antonio, Texas

We went down to the Riverwalk for dinner and accidentally parked right down the road from Coyote Ugly Saloon. Who knew there are now 11 locations?	Looking into the bar from street level, there are several levels in the bar.

Our destination was dinner and I found B oudro's Texas Bistro on the web. It was packed, even at 5:30pm, but we got lucky and got a sidewalk seat.	Our view of the river and the restaurants across the water.

Go figure, the lady that took our picture for us was from Puyallup, WA :) small world...	We enjoyed one of their signature meals, blackened prime rib with roasted vegetables... we had salmon bruchetta for an appetizer with a glass of bubbly, while enjoying a cabernet from CA with dinner.

We watched the boat rides & taxi's pass as we enjoyed our dinner.	Here they are loading up the boat for a private dinner...

	Enjoying some time with Celi, Scott and Kelsey, we went to dinner at the Olive Garden...

We went wine tasting on Wednesday in the Texas Hill Country and then went back with the kids and grandkids on Saturday. We had the gr-kids in the car with us while Mike & Celi rode their motorcycle. We had a great day other than it was just a tad windy. We all went out to the Butterfly Haus at Wildseed Farms.

Scott & Kelsey goofing off at lunch	Mike & Celi on their bike as they followed us to Dairy Queen for dessert :)

Now, we do I want for my DQ treat...	I had a chocolate extreme blizzard, but it wasn't made correctly :( so I didn't finish it. Mike had the HUGE sundae you see here.

Mike & Celi on their bike...	now, you can really tell it's them.
We had a great week in San Antonio, but it was time to move on. Next stop was Sweetwater, TX so that I could do a little genealogy research, but mostly take pictures of headstones of family members long gone. While driving into the Sweetwater area, all we could see where wind farms! They are everywhere...

you looked down the road, all you could see were windmills...	you looked at the side of the road, all you could see were windmills for miles...

Old and new, still so many oil pumps going (and quite a few not) standing side by side with the new, cleaner, windmills.	Well, and they are still drilling! I don't know if this is for gas or oil, but still drilling.
I spent a day in Sweetwater (Nolan county) and in Roby (Fisher county) at their respective courthouses and in cemeteries. I truly enjoy looking for long lost relatives. In this case, I knew where they were, just trying to find out more. The next day I drove to Abilene for more pictures and then down to Winters (Runnels count) for a little more research and pictures. It was worth it to me...

Perry Lucian Meeks, gr-gr-uncle :)	Frances Delores Montgomery Meeks, gr-gr-aunt (sister to John Fletcher Montgomery). She and Perry (her husband) were both 1st cousins (scary) and step-siblings. Her mom married his dad the second time around! but her mom was sister to the first wife of their step-dad. Can you figure that one out?

My gr-gr-grandparents from Fisher county, TX	Lilla Alice Montgomery Supulver, gr-aunt; sister to my great grandfather Brooks Montgomery (John's kids :)

Oh, look! more windmills and oil pumps, they were everywhere!	We went out to dinner on my birthday, this BBQ place was just around the corner so we gave it a try.

Since it was buffet style, I had chicken and brisket...	Jim had ribs and sausage. We shared so that we could have a little of everything. I couldn't even go back for seconds...
We packed in a lot of stuff into March, didn't we? I must be exhausted, but I don't think so. We leave Texas tomorrow, so it will really feel like being on the road. If you didn't already, hope you remembered to check out the wine tasting and the butterflies :) Hope you had a great March too! Kim & Jim

There are a few things to do to get ready...