Lillian's Birthday

Lillian had her big 8-0 birthday party on Sunday. It was a fun afternoon with many laughs. Some Birthday cards were a hoot.

This beautiful cake was made by her daughter.

The candles are lit on Lillian's cake. Her granddaughter had to help blow them out.

A really cute gift was from Lillian's daughter. She taped 80 one-dollar bills together; rolled them up and put them in a box with a slit cut out on top. The first dollar bill was taped to a ribbon. When Lillian pulled on the ribbon, the dollar bills started coming out.
Clever idea. Happy Birthday Lillian!!

Bunco Night

The 4th Wednesday of the month is our usual Bunco night here in Rancho Grande MH Park; except for November and December, then it may be a different night so it doesn't interfere with the holidays. We play in the clubhouse.

Betty is the hostess for August. She decorated the food table with a pretty purple table cloth, lavender napkins and purple flowers.

These four ladies started out at Table number one. From the left is Millie, Lillian, Joan and Marge. Marge and her various partners had a lot of wins, so she was able to stay at Table #1 for a long time.

Starting out at Table #2 is Yvonne, Barbara, Fran and Lorraine.

These four ladies rushed over to Table #3 because they said there is only one way to go from there: UP.
From the left is Betty, Pat, the other Yvonne and the other Barbara.
Of the 12 women who play, 9 of us live in the park. It's a good group of friends. We don't really play for money. It's only $4.00 to play once a month. There are money prizes for the most Buncos, the most wins, (1st, 2nd and 3rd place), the most losses and whoever has Rover at the end of the night. That red blur in Barbara's hand is Rover.
These pictures didn't turn out too great!! Sorry Ladies.

Birthday Party

Leona lives at Rancho Grande and yesterday her son and daughter-in-law hosted a birthday party for her in the clubhouse. Leona was 100 years old on February 1st. She is the one standing in the picture. Seated is her sister-in-law, Mildred.
It was a very nice party. Relatives from out-of-state were there; local relatives and friends from church, etc. Her son, Dale gave a presentation of family pictures on the overhead projector. Very interesting. I enjoyed seeing the old pictures of their family with Dale telling us who they were and where it was taken.
The lunch consisted of good homemade dishes, including zwieback! I wonder who made those. The meal was delicious. There were two birthday cakes. Here is a picture of one of them.
Leona had to renew her driver's license, so on Friday, someone, probably her son, took her to Merced to the DMV. She only missed one question on the written test. Then she had to take the driving test. They were gone for 30 minutes, driving around Merced; on the freeway and everywhere. Leona passed with flying colors and had her license renewed for another 5 years!
Not bad for someone who just celebrated her 100th Birthday!
Did I mention that Leona has been the oldest woman at the Winton Old Timers for at least the last 6 years? Way to go, Leona.

Fruit Trees are Here ~

The last 5 fruit trees came in that I special ordered, so after the fog lifted a bit, I drove to Turlock to pick them up. I am so excited to have all my favorite fruit trees here. I thought that was something I would have to give up when I sold my house, but lucky me, they are growing in my yard again.
In the picture is Tilton apricot, Flavor Crest peach, Fantasia nectarine and Sun Crest peach, this is in the backyard, looking towards the road. It may be 3 years before I get any fruit from them. But in 3 years, I'll be glad I planted them.
On the side yard, next to the road is where the 3 dwarf cherry trees will be planted, the Bing, Rainier and Stella. I am expecting Joe to show up tomorrow to dig the holes for the cherry trees. I hope he doesn't find any hard-pan. Cherry trees need good drainage. These trees were all grown by Dave Wilson Nursery.
Also today I bought 2 citrus trees, one dwarf Washington Navel with 3 oranges on it and a semi-dwarf Satsuma Mandarin, both in 5 gallon cans. These won't be planted right away. I have two orange trees now, one in the front and one in the backyard, but the oranges are not very sweet. The trees will be taken out and the ones I bought today will be planted in their place.
All the fruit trees I bought from The Greenery Nursery in Turlock are the same varieties that we had in Merced, so I know they are good.

Planting Rose Bushes

Joe planted 8 rose bushes today. One rose bush is in the middle and that will give me room to plant other little plants in and around the roses. It should be colorful this spring.
The local stores still haven't received their Jackson and Perkins rose order yet, Lowe's said they are expecting the next shipment of bare root roses on January 10th.
I won't have room for more than four more bushes. Three roses are new to me: Cherry Parfait, Rainbow Sorbet and Pink Promise. The pictures on the packages of course are beautiful.
I'll probably plant annuals in around the roses.
Can't wait for spring to arrive!

Shed Renovation

Marty and crew were here this morning. They completely revamped the inside of my shed. I should have taken a 'before' picture, but it was such a mess.
They pulled everything out, made shelves in the back and one side. The opposite side has an old work bench.
Now there is room to put everything back with space for more!!
I really like it. They made a special area for all the garden tools. I'll have to get the hoe out right away as you can see in the next picture.
The Irises are doing good. I did give them a little liquid Miracle Grow the other day. Gotta remember I now have the Atwater sand to grow plants in. Sure is different than what I've been used to.
It's easier to work in, but have to remember to feed the plants and water more often.
The sidewalk that leads up to the door belongs to my neighbors. They sure have a cute place. The door goes to their utility room. (aka shed?) Like I said their place is really cute and she is lucky her husband is such a handyman!

New Kitchen

My kitchen is finally done. There were so many problems that came up with working on an old (1982) mobile home. Everything from changing the locks on the doors to the tile on the wall behind the stove, etc. not being even. Something was uneven, maybe it was the wall. Any way, lots of problems to be resolved.
Marty did a great job of coming up with solutions that not only worked, but looked wonderful.
To cover up the uneven space between the new back splash and the tile on the wall, he deicded to remove all the tiles and have the copper tin squares installed.
I had never heard of the tin walls before, so I thought it came in one big sheet!
I depended on Marty to come up with good ideas and I trusted his expertise to make it look good. He came up with the idea to put wood around the window, covering the white wall with a crack in it.
His worker, Mike did an expert job of fitting the tin squares together. You have to start at one end and make it over-lap. Having an uneven wall to work on was an extra challenge.
I'm impressed on how it all turned out.
So, now I have the normal height counter tops in the kitchen AND the bathroom.
I couldn't get a good picture in the bathroom; I don't have a wide-angle lens on my camera. But you can see the nice cabinets Marty and crew made for the bathroom. A tall cabinet with shelves for towels and 3 drawers below. It's all lined with vinyl so I don't have to line it with anything.
The black marble top on the vanity is very pretty. I love the new look this has made to the master bathroom.

Thursday Night Bingo

Last night, Joan was our "money-changer" at Bingo because Lillian wasn't able to be there.
At first I thought my cards were duds, but each time I won, it was better than a straight Bingo, so I came out ahead again.
There are a couple of women who play 15 or 16 cards during Black-out. In the first picture is Jennie, the next one is Robyn.
The pictures were taken during our break; our treat last night was ice cream drumsticks. I haven't had one of those in years. And guess what? The chopped peanuts on top didn't even bother my stomach. Maybe I can tolerate a few peanuts now and then.
This is Jennie with her 16 Bingo cards. She plays 12 cards (I think) during regular games. I can barely keep up with 6 cards. Everyone playing Bingo lives in the mobile home park. Not sure if that's a requirement. It's a good way to get to know the residents. Maybe more will come when summer is over.
Next time I'll take a picture of a table of players.
Everyone seems to enjoy playing Bingo.

New Kitchen Stove

Last Friday night I got my kitchen sink reinstalled and my New Stove!! Just in time to make Macaroni salad for the potluck on Saturday. I was so thrilled to have a kitchen sink again, even enjoyed washing dishes. Really good to have a stove again; eating fast foods gets old in a very short time.
The next time I post a picture of the kitchen, it will look very different!! Marty has some cool ideas. Things I would never have thought of.
The kitchen and bathroom should be finished the first part of next week. Yipee!!!

Tomorrow I get to start putting dishes in the cupboards. No more rummaging around in the boxes on the porch to find something to cook in.
I know, I could have been more organized, but I'm not an organized person. Anyway it will be great when it's all done.

Kitchen Renovation

The kitchen was tore up today. I really didn't like the high counter tops; they were a good five inches higher than average. So, all that came out today, along with the tall, small island counter. Then I told Marty that I really wanted a new stove. The oven especially looked so old!!! So, I bought a one piece stove at Sears Monday. Marty (my sister's son-in-law) will re-do the cabinets to make it fit; make cabinets to fill the space where the double oven was. He will also build an island type counter for my microwave, etc. I know it will be very nice when it's done.
The vanity in the master bath was removed today also. It was raised to 37 inches; a good 5 inches above normal. Good grief. I will be glad to have average size counters.

A cat door was installed yesterday for Maggie. It didn't take long for her to make use of it. She is settling in now and seems much happier than at first.
I have met several of my neighbors. This was a good move for me.
I do miss picking fresh peaches from the back yard, but I hope to find some fast growing Ultra Dwarf fruit trees this winter.

Bingo Nights

Thursday is Bingo night here at Rancho Grande MH Park. I went last night for the first time. There were 17 of us, which is the average number of people who come to play. Pictured is Lillian, who collects the money, checks the Bingo winners and pays out the money. Her friend, Hop is the caller. They both do a good job of running the Bingo games.
I haven't played Bingo for years and years. It looked like everyone played with 6 Bingo cards, so I thought I would too. My problem was if I was trying to listen to the conversations around me, I would forget the number that was called. hmmm, I wonder if I will get used to that and be able to talk and check my cards at the same time. I missed out a couple of times; didn't notice I had all four corners one time and also missed a diagonal win. You have to hollar Bingo before the next number is called. Oh well, nobody gets rich or goes broke there. It's only a quarter a card to play. I won a few times and only lost one quarter when the night was over.
Guess I'll be a regular, same as my sister. At least now I have a DVR from Dish Network, so when Survivor starts up again on Thursday nights, I can record it and watch it later.