We had an unscheduled but enjoyable summer, once again at Woodland Trails. It was great to spend some time with our good friends Wayne & Betty, and Lon & Nancy, and , of course, the Sullivans. Dawn & Dan were gracious to allow us to return at the last minute this spring.
Got back into the routine pretty easily, especially fishing. Last year the fishing wasn’t too good in the second half of the summer, but this year it was much better. Bass, sunfish, and occasional northern pike seemed to be anxious to take our bait. We were able to refill our freezer for the winter!
Then the drought set in. For about a month during July and August we received no rain. By mid-August most of the unshaded grass was light brown. The weather was hot, dry and the fish quit biting. Finally in the latter part of August the rains came and things started to green up again, but it will be some time before the grass is back to normal.
In August, Mary discovered a sore bump on her upper arm that she initially thought was an insect bite. When it didn’t get better she decided to have it looked at. Good thing she did because it was a minor carcinoma of the same type that I had on my lip. After outpatient surgery and some healing time, everything is healed and well again.
This winter we have decided to return to the Rio Grande of south Texas. We will be in La Feria near Harlingen until April. We have stepped up our search for a “permanent” place to settle down and during our trip south we hope to get a better idea of where we want to go. Stay tuned.
We left Woodland Trails on September 19th, a day early to try and beat a coming storm, spending the night at our usual stop in Summit, South Dakota. We are due in La Feria around the middle of October and will do some relaxing sight-seeing before then. More on our trip later.