Mission - UFO Completion

In quilting, we refer to our unfinished objects as UFOs.

Since summer is coming and I won't be quilting as much, I made it my goal to finish 5 UFO's this month.

This is UFO 1. In its state at the beginning of the month and how it looks now - COMPLETE.

The Yellow Rose of Texas!

Cheaper pet medication

Did you know that you may be able to get your pet's medication from the pharmacy instead of the vet?

We tried this with Benson's latest medication and it was considerably cheaper.

We asked the vet for the prescription and he phoned it in to Shopper's Drug Mart near us.

For 5 months of pills, we saved over 50%. The vet's bill last time just for the pills was $141.70. The pharmacy's total for the same amount was $73.45, for a savings of $85.26!!

And at the vet you pay both PST and GST but only GST from the pharmacy.

My tip of the day!

We're Backkkkkk

Even though bad weather was predicted all the way, the roads were fine coming home. When we arrived in Oklahoma City, there was a tornado watch out, but the storms didn't reach us. Thank goodness.

But we did have to stay an extra night in Sioux City, Iowa because the roads were closed in North Dakota and the roads in South Dakota were all black ice. A good excuse to check out the local quilt shops and get our window washer fixed (it froze). The next day though everything was clear and we didn't get stopped at customs. That is amazing, as we never have over the limit but somehow they like to check us. And with our fully packed car I was dreading having to repack.

After 3 months in a warmer climate, I certainly forgot how cold 'cold' is!

Shoulda, coulda, woulda, but didn't!

Yes, I shoulda taken the time each day to post a 'view from our deck' or written about something Texas-y, but I didn't.

I suppose since I made my living for 9 months doing documentation I had no inkling to write every day.

I could have written about the cold fronts - how one minute it is beautiful and calm and the next minute, when the cold front moves in, the temperature drops 20 degrees and the winds howl. I didn't because most of you really know what a cold front is and you would have just laughed at me.

I could have written about how peaceful it is in the morning when the birds are waking up and the water is calm and you can hear the fish jump. They do jump right off our deck and yes you can hear them.

I could have written how on these calm mornings, when it is low tide especially, I can see the dolphins playing. I finally thought about videoing them, but each second of taping is 1MG of space, so I couldn't even compress it enough to post or send.

I could have written about the sky at night, when you can see the constellations and Venus - about how peaceful it is then, too.

I could have written about the pelicans and seagulls and the fighting that goes on when our neighbour, a fisherman, guts his fish and throws the remains to the birds.

I could have written about the friends we have made and the fun we have had. But I didn't.

Maybe next winter.

I love being a Winter Texan. I love the park and the people and the activities. I love the beach and the sand and the shells and the smells.

We'll be home next week. Til then, I am going to scoop up every minute of sun and fun that I can.

Rio Grande Valley Quilt Show

We went on a trek yesterday to the outlets in Mercedes, the quilt show in Pharr and then to McAllen.

Blaine wanted to get some casual shoes so we went to the Clark's and Rockport stores at the Rio Grande Outlets. There are 140 shops in this mall, but we went to only about a dozen or so. And we bumped into some friends that are staying on South Padre Island - how amazing is that?

After that we went to the quilt show: Blaine stayed in the car and relaxed while I shopped and looked at all the quilts. I bought 3 kits and one pattern.

The pattern, High Tech Tucks, by Caryl Bryer Fallert looks fun. The kits are a floral one I saw last year, an African lady for the family room and a Texas stain glass.




There were lots of fabulous quilts, but this one stood out.

Camels and hippos and gorillas!

It's not often I get to see zebras, hippos, camels, and giraffes. But we saw all of them and more at the zoo in Brownsville today.


The gorillas were so funny; we watched them for about half an hour!


I wonder what they did with the animals during the hurricane. I wanted to find out but of course the workers we did see did not know.

Kitefest

Last week-end, we went to the Kite Festival on South Padre Island. There were so many kites and it was so cool to see 4 of them flying to music, moving in and out of each other. The team is called IQuad and 2 of the members are from B.C.! I also loved the scuba diver flying in the wind.

One of the photos shows the 'big' kites. In the background is an unfinished high rise. It is unfinished because it started sinking and so it sits waiting for someone to come up with a solution!