Here Comes the Weekend

We are enjoying our stay here in Arrey.  The weather has mostly been wonderful.  The daytime highs are mostly in the mid 80's and night-time lows in low 50's.  Yesterday the winds were wild, and Jim had to take down the awning.  Before long it began to rain, so he helped our neighbor quickly pull his outdoor gear under the canopy of his picnic table.  This neighbor goes panning for gold almost everyday.  Jim says Steve told him it has to be his hobby because he'll never make money at it.  He said the gold he has found probably cost him about $6,000/ounce.  Anyway, by the time they got his gear out of the rain.....the rain had stopped!  That's life here in Arrey. 

 Here is the RV sitting in our site.  Can anyone identify the tree on the left side of this picture?  What you see on our outdoor mat is what falls off that tree constantly, and there are several of those trees here in the park.  One day I tried to sweep them up, so we don't track them inside.  It was a lost cause!  Now Jim uses his blower to try to get rid of some of them, but more are blown off the trees all the time.  Alas, such is life.
We took the car to Big Al's on Wednesday morning, and have not yet heard from him on when it will be finished.  I tried to get everything I would need from the store before we dropped the car off.  His helper, Diamond, brought us back home.  
Now here is the story of the week.  Last Friday we invited Ric over for a traditional Irish dinner in honor of St. Patrick's day.  When he arrived he brought steaks for us to use for a dinner on another day.  It was decided that we would grill them outside on Thursday (yesterday) and he would come to dinner again.  I gave him three choices of dessert: spice cake with raisins, yellow cake with chocolate frosting or black forest cherry cola cake.  Being the bugger that he can be, he chose the black forest cherry cola cake because he figured that would be the most work for me to make.  Anyway, I got the cake made and then I realized I didn't have any cool whip to top the cake with, and we had no car to go get it.  I knew Ric was going into town, so I sent him a text message asking if he could pick up a carton of cool whip for me.  He answered that he would, so all was well................until he arrived!  He had decided to play a prank on me, so he came inside with two packets of Kool-Aid, saying that was what I had asked for.  He was adamant that I never asked for cool whip.  He and Jim laughed themselves silly as I insisted I never asked for Kool-Aid.  He wouldn't take back the packets, so I have to find a way to get it back to him without him knowing it!  But in reality, he DID bring the cool whip too.  All evening he kept saying things like "I don't understand why Sue wanted Kool-Aid on her nice cake."  Finally I had to smack him upside of his head to get him to stop!
Here are some pictures we took Wednesday in Truth or Consequences.

 This is one of the Hot Springs in town.  I believe the name of it is Pelican Spa.  There are almost a dozen natural hot springs in town, and they do an amazing business, with people coming all the way from El Paso, TX and down from Albuquerque to soak in the springs.  We've soaked a few times, but it's not a big deal to us.

 
We saw this truck along side of the main street in town.  Really cool to see.  When is the last time you say a long horned steer on the main street in town?

I don't know if this is used as an RV or not, but we thought it was a pretty cool "covered wagon" style trailer.
Later I took some pictures of what is here in the park too.

 This is the office, clubhouse, laundry room and public showers building here.

 This is a vintage trailer that some folks are camping in. 

The park has some wild life here too, like this raccoon. 

I don't think this guy is native to the area, but he sure is good looking.  Millie did a second take and barked at him.  I don't think she was amused when we laughed at her.

 I'm glad we weren't here when this "spider" was roaming the grounds!

I'm not sure what this is supposed to be, but we thought it looks a little like a praying mantis....maybe.  anyway, in the evening many of the folks in the park congregate in front of the office to chat and share their day.  It's a very pleasant way to get to know these folks.......and they don't pick on me like Ric does.  
I forgot to take my camera with me Sunday when Ric took us to a local church service.  It was at the First Baptist Church, which is very beautiful.  The message was excellent and we enjoyed it.  Then we went over to Elephant Butt, oops I mean Elephant Butte for a brunch.  It was a wonderful day.  On the way home, Ric stopped at a local winery so we could taste some of the local wines.  Since I prefer sweeter wines, he didn't have anything I wanted to buy, but that's OK.  Maybe another winery will have one I like.
Today Jim gave Willie a bath, and Millie hid under the bed because she was afraid she might be next.  I did five loads of wash.......which means ten loads to spin dry..........but I still love being able to do my laundry at home, instead of hauling it to and from a laundromat.  
Life is great, and the problems along the way are just little bumps in the road.  I think they come our way to remind us of just how blessed we are.  If you look around you, you will always see people who are less fortunate than you are.  Please let that keep you both grateful, and humble, because whatever you have is a gift from our wonderful Father in heaven.  As I always say, He knows what you need, and He will provide it for you if you just ask.
Keep the rubber side down and enjoy every day of this life we are experiencing!  Bye bye for now.