My First and Possibly last Post

Running into some "scattered showers"

Summer 2017 RV Trip

Summer is here and that means an RV trip is in the near future. Check back here if you want to follow along with "Travels with Barry".

The Tale of the Snake

This is another tale of Barry trying to kill me and make it look like an accident. In his defense, I do follow him around and set myself up for trouble. 

During all the recent rains, we were getting out of the car in the garage. My golf shoe bag was open on the floor of the garage (drying out from another rain). As Barry was getting out of the car in the dim garage, he said "There is a snake in that bag." Keep in mind, this is the guy that cannot see a six foot exit sign on the freeway in the best of light, so I do not know how he noticed a dark snake, in a dark bag, in a dark garage. It's one of those things he does to baffle me. 

The snake noticed Barry too and tried to slither away. But Barry corralled him. 

We had a discussion on what kind of snake it was, and my intelligent comment was it was too big for the garage. Only little garter snakes are allowed in the garage. Rule breaker!!

Barry set off to set him free. I thought I might film the release. Little did I know that Barry planned to release the snake just a few feet away in our bushes. I was thinking the golf course would be better. 

So as I stopped Barry from releasing the snake, somehow the snake flew off backwards toward me. 

See how this works? It looks like an accident, but....it only happened when I was telling him what to do.  

I am attaching the recording. It is pretty awful, as I was keeping my eye on the snake and Barry. But, you can hear what happened. It's always good to have proof-just in case.  (PS- no snakes were injured in the making of the video. The snake escaped, possibly scared, also.)

Smacks of Old Fart

Smacks of Old Fart

I received a wonderful Smacks of Old Fart from our contributor, Pat. He seems to enjoy the OF stories about his wonderful wife. Here's the latest.

Jennifer was working a crossword puzzle. The clue was a Perry. The answer consisted of four letters.
So, of course, Jennifer wrote in Como.

Perry Como

But, then, the other answers were not fitting in the puzzle. Depending on your age, 

you know the correct answer. 

Katy Perry

Classic, Pat and Jennifer!  Thank you for sharing.

The Texas Ranger Pepitos

We have been in Surprise, Arizona several days now. About an hour after we checked in to the resort,  we met our friends C and E and headed to the Ranger Stadium. E is the optometrist for the Rangers. We drove to the team parking lot and E introduced himself to the police guards. . He said "I don't have my credentials yet, " and we said we're with him. But who wouldn't let these guys in?

Without the credentials, we ended up in the Ranger clubhouse.

Got pants? 

However a few days later with his credentials in hand, E found the senior citizen volunteers at the main gate tougher to get by.

"But I have credentials!"

As I feared our presence didn't bode well for the Rangers the first day. There was discussion on the mound. Hopefully, not about keeping us from attending games.

But the next day we headed to Maryvale and brought  them more luck.
To be honest their support came from the Chi Chi Gonzalez family. They were sitting in front of us. Since Chi Chi wasn't pitching, he was with his family. Because as his mom said"They need their family. " Before we all became BFFs, I had Barry sneak a photo of me and Chi Chi.

Shortly thereafter,  Chi Chi's mom, N, engaged us in conversation.  That's when we become BFFs. She's the players' cheerleader. The players are her Pepitos. Chi Chi shared his Kettle Korn with us, and the Rangers won. The Gonzalez family made their dinner plans ( forgetting to invite their new friends) and we all said good-bye.  The next morning C went to the clubhouse with E. Chi Chi saw her and came over to give her a hug and kiss on the cheek. Can we all just agree that Chi Chi needs to be the Ranger Poster player for 2016? He really is a sweetheart.  Saturday we sat with Mrs. Bannister.She was very pretty, nice, and fist pumped Barry when he called a home run. 

Here some photos of the Pepitos from the past few days.

Hopefully, Desmond will win that left field spot 

Fielder pondering where to hit that ball. 

"I'll just hit it out of the park", he decides. 

Pitchers showing their stuff.

Sliding

Gallo had some big hits, but made a lot of fielding errors, so 

My verdict is still out on him. His mother was very nice, also.  

Everyday flyovers.

Darvish did a walk by.  

An observation- Thr Rangers are the only team that has everyone's name on their jersey.  

All the other teams just have names on their roster players' jerseys. 

Pretty nice of the Rangers. GoTexas Ranges! 

Surprise! Eres Viejo

We are staying at an RV resort for Winter Snowbirds. . It's nice, has all the amenities, Pickle Ball, Tennis,

 

 a golf course, other things listed on stones We arrived and got set up. This is how I always feel when we are backing into a space.

Then, we headed to the check-in. We were presented the rules. It took Barry about 24 hours to get over that list. Basically, the rules are probably the same as in your community, the ones that keep your neighborhood attractive. But, seeing the pages long document all at once, in print, almost sent Barry over the edge.
The lady at the receptionist desk then asked for an emergency contact. That in itself was not unusual. It was when she added, " We have found people dead in their RV before and did not know who to contact", that we were a little taken aback. She then went on to point out all the Urgent Care facilities in the area. Lady! How old do we look?

I should have noticed that the activity stone resembled a tombstone. 

We're Baaaack!

Since we are traveling, it seemed like a good time to start the blog back. Thank you for coming along with us. I had so many kind comments about the return. I'm really nervous about living up to expectations. (Spoiler alert- unfortunately this may not be the most riveting comeback blog.) We are heading to Surprise, AZ. to meet some friends at the Texas Ranger Spring training. We will then stay awhile, play some golf and sightsee. So, as you can tell, this whole serious will be earth shattering.

First we headed to Balmorhea, TX. There is a spring fed pool there that was dug by hand by the CCC. It fills with fresh water daily and stays at a constant 72-76 degrees. People, ducks, coots, turtles, and fish enjoy it. I am sure on a hot day it is refreshing, but that's too cold for me right now.

Barry swam about 1/2 mile with his snorkel and half wet suit. Impressive for someone hooked to four chemo drugs a couple of years ago.  He did admit he never really felt warm. So, kudos to him for the admission and the swim. 

We got in full gear to ride our bikes around the little park. 

We stopped in Wilcox, AZ last night. I went into the Safeway for ice and water, but did not take my phone. Lo and behold, there was a teenager in the store carrying a goat. Yep, a little white goat with a bandana around his neck. Let this be a lesson to us all-always have a camera. You never know when you are going to have a photo op that could have taken an ordinary blog post to new heights. Another travel tip, when you leave your Fitbit in a drawer in the RV while traveling, it will register 17,000 steps and 99 floors climbed. I have done that twice now. I'm racking up some Fitbit badges. Again, thanks for being here. The end