Strange Farming Method in the Rio Grande Valley

In this dry region of  South Texas water is precious and closely regulated.  Instead of mechanical irrigation systems that spray water on fields and crops, they irrigate another way.

Most fields are table-top flat.  First a small trench is dug around the parameter of a field like you see happening above.

 Above you see a field being prepared for irrigation.  Next smaller furrows are dug down the middle of the fields.

Next water is poured into the perimeter trenches from hydrants through large tubes.

(Note:  In the background you can see smoke from a sugar cane crop being burned off.)

 The filling water is clear and pure.  It must me coming from a deep well or water tower.  It is too clean to be coming from the river or a nearby canal.

When the perimeter furrows are full,  the water then flows into the middle furrows so the entire field gets moisture.  We have not figured out what purpose the small black tubes serve?

anyway.....

There is no crops planted yet, and we do not know what will be planted.  The dirt will soon dry up again, but apparently this early bath of water will help the future crops.

🌾🌿🍀

A Saturday Night Winner!

A very popular event at our RV park every Saturday evening is Card Bingo at the clubhouse.It costs every player $4.40 to play eleven games of Bingo. Each player is instructed to bring four dimes, four quarters, and three dollar bills to get in on the action.

The rules are very simple.  Each foursome gets a deck of cards that is dealt between the four for each game: or thirteen cards each.  The callers up front have a deck of big cards that are shuffled each game and then turned over one at a time.  If they call out a card that you have you turn it over.  The first person in the hall to turn over all his/her cards gets the money from everyone for that round.

Our friends, Phil and Nancy Smoker from Vicksburg, have been coming over to play Bingo with us and recently Nancy got lucky - real lucky!  She won one of the dollar games, and split another dollar game with two other players.  She brought home $106 dollars!  Above you can see her counting up her winnings over a cool glass of wine back in our travel trailer.

Who needs casinos to have a little gambling fun?

♠♣♥♦

San Antonio Trip - Part 2

Unlike Tuesday, that was very warm, Wednesday turned out to be chilly in the big city.  We had to dig out our coats and hats.

We started our day in a 3-story antique shop but found no treasures to bring home this time

Our second stop was the Buckhorn Tavern and Texas Ranger Museum.  The museum is a gem. We spent a lot of time looking at the interesting displays and reading about days long past in Texas history.

This two-headed calf was on display.

This is the car in which Bonnie and Clyde were killed.  It has been cleaned up but the bullet holes are still obvious. 

This is the letter that Clyde Barrow sent to Henry Ford praising  him about the Ford cars that Clyde loved to drive while he was robbing banks.  An excellent movie about Frank Hammer, who came out of retirement as a Texas Ranger to catch Bonnie and Clyde, is The Highwaymen.

This poster of a prominent Texas family is laid out, and spelled out, in Rattlesnake rattles.

We loved the Texas Ranger Museum and recommend it to anyone who visits San Antonio.

Back on the river walk, before supper, Karen posed for a picture with San Antonio (Saint Anthony) himself.

About the only negative thing we have to report about San Antonio is that hundreds, maybe thousands, of Blackbirds and Grackles roost on the wires and trees at night.  This car at the hotel picked a bad place to park for a few days under this tree.

This large mural on a building was well done.

We loved our San Antonio visit and just may return again.

People are friendly, the food is great, and there is plenty to see.

 🏢 🏨 🏫 🏬

We Take A Side-Trip to San Antonio - Part 1

We really enjoyed San Antonio when we visited it previously, so we decided to take the 3-1/2 hour drive north and visit the city again.  So on Tuesday morning we departed from Mission.

We checked into the Comfort Suites near the Alamo for a two-nights stay.

As we tend to do in large cities, we bought tickets for a hop-on-hop-off tour bus to see the route and get out bearings.  The weather was in the low 80's and sunny so we could sit on the upper deck.

We passed this main attraction, but we had visited the Alamo before and did not go in.

At one stop Karen liked this cute Texas Ranger so she tried to flirt with him.

 Besides, the Alamo, San Antonio is known for its River Walk.

We rode a river boat previously, so this trip we did most of our exploring by foot.

The restaurant district is always busy and the food is excellent.

Karen felt right at home with a glass of red wine with supper as she overlooks the river walk.

Bill posed for this picture with a statue of Teddy Roosevelt before we headed back to the hotel.

More exciting pictures to come tomorrow in part 2.

Ha!

📷

The Chiefs Win -- and We Didn't

We joined the small crowd at the clubhouse for the Super Bowl Bash Sunday afternoon.  There was plenty of beer, food, and gambling so we fit right in.

This was one of the two game boards for sale.  A square was $1.00 so we each bought five.  Instead of names they put down your RV site number when you paid.

When full, the boards were posted below the TV for all to see.  Each board paid $25 per quarter.  Above is Karen checking our numbers before the game started.

The party was simple but fun.  The burgers were tasty and the beer was cold.  Above top right you can see the keg being pumped for the $2 beers being sold.  The Chiefs beat the 49ers 31-20 and we did not win a square. 

Darn.

 Maybe next time.

💰

It's A Super Sunday

Today Super Bowl #54 is being played.  That is LIV for all you Romans out there.  You know you are getting old when you remember the first super bowl like we do.

Anyway....

We have a few campers in our RV park from the state of Missouri so this flag is flying nearby.

and

this flag can be seen down the road as well as the Kansas City Chiefs are playing the SF 49ers.

🍔🍔

The park is hosing a Super Bowl party that we plan to attend and we will cheer for the Chiefs.  The menu at the party is supposed to be hamburgers, beans, chips, and beer.  It doesn't get much fancier than that!  There will be gambling sheets being passed around so maybe we will get lucky.

Go Chiefs!

🏈🏆🏈

Critters in the Park

This is a cool time of year in Texas so snakes are seldom seen.

However -

This poor snake was flattened in the road where it had probably crawled on because the asphalt was warm and the morning air was cold.  It was a small hognose snake or puff adder.  Harmless.

These ducks are heading for the dog dish for a swim, but just do not seem to make any progress.

🐍