JANUARY 3 - 8

56 degrees here Monday AM - air was heavy - no fog, no wind, no sun! Went to town and then had lunch with Kathy at Los Comales. As usual, I had my fried avocado and brought most of it home!

I didn’t even let Elke get to Germany and Deryl and I were going out to eat! She emailed last week and told me that he doesn't like to cook for himself so I’ll go keep him company. Just twist my arm a little! Went to Jalisco's (Mexican food - good). Guess I had enough Mexican food for awhile! I was afraid I was going to wake up speaking Spanish! Of course, for me, I don’t think there is such a thing as ‘too much’ Mexican Dining!

59 degrees on Tuesday - 50% chance of rain. Ladies coffee 9AM. More and more RVers are pulling into the park. I love watching them fiddle with their TV satellite. Watching and listening to a couple try to 'zoom in' their satellite dish reminds me, every time, why I'm not married!

My 'rent' here is paid until end of March. I'm thinking of extending my stay until mid-April. Just found out that one of my favorite 'chic-lit' mystery authors is going to be speaking at the Herb Festival here in town on April 10. Might stick around for that.

Off to a late start on Wednesday. Didn't crawl out of bed until nearly 7:30. Foggy, overcast, 66 degrees....have the dehumidifier going!

Deryl had wanted a steak Monday when we went to eat, but all of the steak places are closed on Monday. So it was Hammerheads for Wednesday supper. Robert joined us. As usual, company was great – food was edible.

This colder weather seems to be hanging on, 46 degrees but sunny and no wind on Thursday. In craft class we are making jackets out of sweat shirts. This will definitely come in handy with this weather. Thursday night was friendship supper (pot luck). Casserole in the oven was smelling really good!

While at WallyWorld, I spent some of my Christmas $$$ on a new hand mixer. Mine has been in the process of dying for some time. The beaters wouldn't stay in and, finally, it totally died! The beaters fell out and wouldn't go back in! Looked like some kinda spring inside broke and I wasn't about to mess with it. Planned on going to Castaways to see if they had a used one for a buck or two, but when I saw this one, just knew I had to have it. Hope it works as good as it looks. Comes in its own carrying case. There will be no excuse for not finding the beaters any longer!

Friday the 7th was I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore Day (according to the book of holidays). Too bad they didn’t celebrate that when I was still working. 49 degrees and sunny. Lunch with the gang from town. Hammerheads is quickly becoming NOT my favorite place to eat. Food was OK today if you like greasy salty mushroom swiss burgers! But if I'm going to pay some decent prices for food (and have the gratuity automatically added), I'm going to go to a 'classier' place! Of course, with these lunch-time get-togethers, I go more for the company than the food anyway. The company is always great!

Survived the wind and hail storm that blew in about 4 AM Sunday. I thought I was in Iowa in the springtime! When I'm there, I'm used to having storms blow thru so I'm prepared, weather radio, my "get out" bag and portable radio by the bed! I knew the front was coming, but sure don't recall the weatherman warning me about the high winds & hail! When the hail hit, it sounded like someone dropped a truck load of gravel on my roof and kept dumping for about 30 minutes! My bathroom vent cover was shattered. Cleo went up on the roof with a roll of duct tape and all is well! And today I offer up a prayer of thanksgiving for the inventor of duct tape!

I saw a huge blob of red/orange on the weather map going right across central TX! Hope everyone in Gatesville is OK.