CELEBRATE THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

At Winter Ranch there are many ways to get into the spirit of the season.  Enjoy the season, the love, and the companionship of this terrific park!

Holiday Lighting Contest – Let's light up our park!  See the bulletin board or the blog archive page for November 29^th for the contest rules. 

Deck the Halls – help decorate Friendship Hall on December 3^rd at 9 AM.  Nora Minor is Coordinator for the Decorating Committee.

Sewing Christmas Stockings for the Needy on December 5^th in the Arts & Crafts Room. 

Attend the Ladies Luncheon on December 18^th at noon in Friendship Hall.  The cost is $8 and tickets are being sold before and after the Wednesday morning meetings.  It is a Christmas theme.

Caroling – Each year we go as a group singing Christmas Carols and try to visit all the shut-ins in the park.  Watch for information on this event.  (Darlene Peters, Coordinator).

Stuff the Christmas Stockings for the Needy on December 12^th in Friendship Hall. 

Christmas Party on December 24^th at 2 PM in Friendship Hall.  This is a finger-food potluck!  Winners of the lighting contest will be awarded prizes during this party.

Christmas Golf Cart Parade – watch for announcements on the date and time.

Take one of the Bus Trips to see the Hildalgo Festival of Lights

Christmas Eve Candle Light Service on December 24^th at 7 PM in Friendship Hall.

Christmas Dinner – Will be held on December 25^th at 1:00 PM in Friendship Hall.  Signup sheets are posted in Friendship Hall. 

New Year’s Eve Party and Dance on December 31^st at 8 PM in Friendship Hall.  Jealous Heart will be playing.  Tickets are available in the Activities Office.

Know the joy of giving to those in need.  Donate or help out with any of our charitable projects:

    Salvation Army Bell Ringers (Karen Hockemeir, Coordinator) – We ring on Tuesdays at Walgreens at 510 North Alamo Road.  1 or 2 people can ring for two hour stints.  Signup is on the bulletin board in the restroom hallway of Friendship Hall. Winter Ranch has four Tuesdays with five 2 hour slots.  You can bring a chair and sit as you greet people.   Grab a friend and sign up together.    "Pay it Forward" by helping those in devastated areas from storms on the East coast or other catastrophes where people are in need.  

Angel Tree (Diana Mollerus & Pat Ellison, Coordinators) – Take a tag(s) off the Christmas Tree in Friendship Hall and buy and wrap the gifts.  Return them to the state in Friendship Hall before or after the morning meeting on Wednesday, December 19th.  These gifts to to Arise and they distribute them to needy families in their area in South Alamo.

Christmas Stocking Drive (Barb DeGaramo, Coordinator) – Drop off items in boxes located in several locations in the office and Friendship Hall.  The items for the stockings are needed by Arise Posada which is ahead of Christmas.  Barb will need the stocking stuffers by December 11th.  Donations are needed for the stockings.  Whatever you bring must fit in a stocking.  Things that are needed are stocking caps, mittens, school supplies, Ramen noodles, candy canes, or protein bars.  You can join in this expression of giving by helping sew stockings on December 6^th in the Arts and Crafts Room or helping to stuff them on December 12^th in Friendship Hall.  Both efforts start at 1 PM. 

Good Samaritan Families (Sandy Tester, Coordinator) –   Two families have been selected this year:

The Rodriguez Family (Angel & Bertha) and their four children (Angel age 12; Abraham, Age 5; Hiromy, Age 8; and Nazly, 1½ months.

The Moreno Family (Maria, a single Mother) and her four children (Eloy, Age 13; Sergio, Age 12; Mario, Age 10 and Edna, Age 6.

The money that you donate to the Good Samaritan Fund goes to purchase Christmas gifts for these families.  You received a Good Samaritan envelope in your arrival packet, however, if you lost it then just mark an envelope with Good Samaritan Families #1600 (the mail box reserved for this project).

Quilting For The Needy (Nancy Hutchins, Coordinator) – The Quilters would love to have you join them in making quilts for the needy.  This Christmas they will provide 10 quilts for the Good Samaritan families.  They also provide quilts for the newborns at the hospital and they provide quilts for Easter Seals which use them for handicapped children in day care.  You don’t have to sew to join them.  They also need people to measure, cut and knot.

The Crocheting Group (Sue Walker, Coordinator) recently sent many afghans to the Sandy Hurricane victims and now they are busy crocheting an afghan for each of the members of the Good Samaritan families.   

Come to the Folk Lore Dancers presentation (Sandy Tester, Coordinator) on December 13th at 6:30 PM in Friendship Hall.  The children will dance for us and in turn whatever we give in our free-will offering will go to caring for these children. 

Last, but not least, we all received an envelope to help make the holidays brighter for the Winter Ranch staff:  our maintenance men (Fred, George, Americo and Juan), our housekeepers (Elena and Becky) and our security guards (Jim, Joe, Bill and Bill).

HAVE A HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS! 

ANNOUNCING CHRISTMAS LIGHTING CONTEST

HOLIDAY LIGHTING CONTEST

1.    Light the lights and decorate your site in the spirit

    of the season. 

2.    Sign up in the Activities Office as a participant in the lighting contest by December 14^th. 

3.    The judging will be from December 14-19.  During judging, please keep your lights on until at least 9 p.m. so everyone can enjoy the lights around the park.

4.    Prizes will be donated by various Winter Ranch Groups and will be awarded in the following categories:

·       Silent Night, Holy Night (most religious) Display

·       Martha Stewart Would Be Proud (most elegant) Display

·         Charlie Browniest (most whimsical) Display

·       Clark Griswold (most lights) Award

5.    All residents of Winter Ranch will receive a Judging Sheet in their box about the 15th of December.  Then you can walk or drive around the park and pick your favorites.  There will be a bucket near the Activity Office where you can drop off your ballots.   Ballots must be dropped in the bucket by December 20^th.

6.    The winners will be announced at the Christmas Party on December 24^th.  

November 28th, Wednesday Morning Meeting News

We grew from  400 to 446 residents 

in the park this week.  Welcome home 

Winter Ranch residents!

 Wednesday Morning Meeting Crowd

  

Note from Blog Administrator:  Read this carefully as there are several items on this list that were not discussed during the meeting that you might want to know about.


 Important Info From Park Management:

•  It is time for those that have golf carts to start using the designated golf cart parking to make more room for cars as our parking space is limited.

•  If you are planning on selling your mobile home or park model, you need to list it first in the office.  The sale needs to be approved.  Management needs to be in the loop.  

•  If you are planning on doing any enhancements to your site including:  cement work, installing rock, planting trees or bushes, you need to check with Larry first.  Don't put yourself in the position where you need to remove what you just put in because you did not check! 

• Residents are reporting that some dog walkers are not picking up after their pets.  This makes everyone look bad.  You need to pick up after your pets on the pet walks, roads and your own lots.  Thanks!

• We are finding cigarette butts on the golf course.  If you smoke, please take the cigarette butts with you and dispose of them properly.

 Other News:

• Congratulations to Bob Wilson who made a hole in one on Hole 9 using a 9 iron on February 19th.  He was presented with a certificate at the meeting.

• Lynn reported that the Winter Ranch Website (www.winterranchrv.com) is being updated.  She would like you to look at it with a critical eye, as if you've never been here before, and give her suggestions on how it could be improved.  She has added a page to the website where you can advertise the sale of your park model.  It will be free to advertise if you just have one picture of the outside, your lot number, phone and the price .  If you want a description and/or interior pictures posted, there will be a charge of $10.   The money raised from this will go to the Media fund. 

•  Recycling -Wanda Wheeler and Ron Doerschug have arranged for San Juan Recyling to put a Recyling Bin near the dumpster area.   It will, hopefully, arrive by next week.  This is a totally voluntary program but you can put all recycles except glass or motor oil in the bin.  Anything that has the triangle for recycling can be put in the bins.  Containers must be rinsed out.  

• The Newspaper Recycling Bins will still be available on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month.  The bins are placed next to the Big Hall.  Please put the newspapers inside the bins.  Don't just sit it near them.

• Ron Doershug is taking over the Prayer Request Website.  Charles Kroll remains very ill and is not able to keep the site up-to-date.  You can give Ron information that you want posted by e-mailing him, placing information in his mail box and, lastly, phoning him.  He is  not always available by phone and sometimes won't have a pen or paper with him so he would prefer it if you would use one of the other methods.

• The Computer Group will begin their Trouble Shooting Help Sessions next Wednesday, December 5th, after the morning meeting.  This first week we will have it in the Big Hall.  Beginning Wednesday, December 12th, it will be in Activity Room #3.  If you have a problem with your laptop or computer, stop in and talk to Ron or one of the Computer Group and they will try to assist you. 

•  Sandy Tester gave us some information on the Christmas families that the church is supporting this year.  The Church will deliver the gifts on December 20th.   

• The Rodriguiz Family has four children, two boys and two girls.  They are in desparate need this Christmas and did not have a Christmas last year at all.  
• Mrs. Morena has three boys and one girl.

•  The Video Room will be open on Wednesdays right after the meeting until 11 and on Mondays from 10-11 and Fridays from 10 to 11:30.

• The Picture Directories are in and if you purchased one last year, you can pick them up in the Activity Office.  There are also some pictures that were ordered last year in the Activity Office.

• HB Hulsey, our Veterans' Advocate, reported that the drive for the post-traumatic stress military has been very successful.  He also told us that he reported that the Veterans Meeting normally meets the third Wednesday of the month after the park meeting, however, it is really the 4th Wednesday after the meeting.  

• Name The Social Hour Contest - put your thinking caps on.  We need a catchy name for our Social Hour.  More info to come.

• The Ladies Luncheon group is having a fund-raiser that will go through February.  They will be selling raffle tickets for a Garmin GPS that has lifetime updates.  Tickets are $1 and are available for sale after the Wednesday morning meetings. 

•  Sewing of Christmas Stockings will be on December 5th at 1 PM in the Craft Room.

• Stuffing of Christmas Stockings will be on December 12th at 1 PM in Friendship Hall.
  

  Event News: 

• White Elephant Auction - will be held sometime at the end of January.  Please save some of your items from the garage sale for this event.  The money raised from this will go to offset the expenses for the Shuffle Board Court.  See JD to donate your items and he will find a place for them.
  

• Folk Lore Dancers - These youngsters will be performing in the Big Hall on December 13th at 6:30 PM.  This is a free-will offering. 

• Park Garage Sales:  (Note that this is a change since the last meeting!)
•  In park Garage Sale on December 4th from 8 to Noon at your site.
• In-park Garage Sale on January (date pending) from 8 to Noon at your site,
• Garage Sale - Open to the Public on February 15 from 8 to Noon.

•  Symphonic Band Tickets for December 18th at 7 PM are available in the Business Office.  Cost of tickets is $5.  The bus is now full for this event so you would need to drive yourselves at this point. 

• You can sign up for tables for the New Year's Party now in the Activities Office and buy your tickets.  Admission to the New Year's Party will be $10 each.

• Barb DeGarmo is doing the Christmas Stockings Drive again this year.  For information see the postings that are in several locations in the office and Friendship Hall.  The items for the stockings are needed by Posada which is ahead of Christmas.  Barb will need the stocking stuffers by December 11th.

• The donations for the victims of Hurricane Sandy will be picked up on December 3rd.

• The Activities Office will be sponsoring a Holiday Lighting Contest.  Watch for more details. 

•  Sam's Club is having a Winter Texan Festival at the club at 1400 E Jackson Avenue in McAllen.  The dates are Friday, November 30th, Saturday, December 1st and Sunday, December 2nd.  All are from 10AM to 4 PM.

Calendar Updates: 

• The Ladies Luncheon with a Christmas theme is scheduled for December 18th at noon in the Big Hall.  Jan Wilson is selling tickets after the Wednesday morning meetings.  Tickets are $8.

• Dirty Board starts Tuesday at 6:30 PM.  Signup sheets for all the card and board games are in Friendship Hall at the card tables by the door.

• Zumba Gold exercising will begin on December 10th from noon to 1 PM in Friendship Hall.  This exercise class is for seniors so it won't be as fast as other Zumba classes you may have encountered.  Cost for December is $6 for the month.  January, February, March is $8 per month.  There will be no refunds for classes missed.

• Line Dancing classes will start after the morning meeting in the Big Hall starting next week. The cost is $1 per person per session and the money is donated to support children in Mexico.

•  Breakfast will be Biscuits and Gravy this Saturday from 7:30 to 8:30 AM. 

• The Dance this week is with the Horns  on November 30 at 7 PM.

•  This Sunday is Sundae Sunday at 5 PM in the Big Hall.  Bring your own bowls!

•  The Monday night Park Potlucks begin on December 3rd.  5:00 PM in the Big Hall. Iced tea and water are provided.   Just bring your own place settings and a dish to share.

•  Don DeKeyrel will be offering  AARP Safe Driving Classes on January 10th, February 7th and March 7th.  All classes are from 8 to Noon in the Big Hall. This course is for those who have not taken the safety course for 55+ to qualify for the insurance discount.  Participants 55 and over will receive a 10% discount (required by state) on their insurance premiums which is good for a three year period.  No testing is required.  Class fee includes all materials  Participants must attend the full 8 hours to qualify for an insurance discount.  You can talk to Don De Keyrel for more information.  Cost is $12 for AARP members and $14 for non-members. 
  

• Social Hour is every Tuesday at  3:30 PM.  The next few weeks we have Phil Brunette as the entertainment.  He's a terrific singer.  We pass the hat for the entertainment on Tuesday and Phil donates his earnings to help pay for the Christmas Party that is given for the children in Progreso, Mexico on Christmas Day.  The children are fed a nice meal and then they go home with rice and beans and school supplies.  It is a very worthwhile event and they feed over 1000 children that day!

Volunteers Needed:

• JD is looking for a couple more volunteers to held bus and clean up after the Tuesday afternoon Socials.  Rosie Ewald, Vicky Mullin and Bob and Marie French have been assisting but a couple more people would really make things run smoothly. 

• Nora Minor is looking for volunteers to help decorate Friendship Hall for Christmas.  They will be decorating on December 3rd starting at 9 AM.   You can just show up to help or call Nora if you have questions.

• See Lynn in the Activities Office is you would like to be the Chair for Winter Ranch at the Golden Age Olympics.  There are events for everything from tennis to bakeoffs.  Lynn would really like to see our park participate.   

•  Lynn still needs a Chair for the Christmas Eve Party that is held on December 24th in the afternoon.  This is a finger-food potluck.

• The Salvation Army has requested some bell ringers from the Ranch.  You can volunteer for this event by signing up on the Signup Sheets on the Wall by the restrooms in Friendship Hall.  If you have questions, see  Karen Hockemeir, the Salvation Army Volunteer Coordinator, at Lot 563.  Thanks, Karen, for volunteering!

•  JD said he noticed that several people had signed up to help with setting up tables and chairs.  He'll be calling on you shortly as the first craft sale is coming up.  He would like a group that would set up the craft sale four times a year.

• We are still looking for a couple of leads for the Friday night dances.   See Mary Benfield at Lot 501 if you are interested.  If you can count money, turn on the lights and aren't afraid of a microphone, then you are an ideal candidate!  We are only needing Leads to volunteer for two dances per season.

• Lynn would like a Coordinator to lead a new Garden Club group that would assist in beautifying the public areas of the park.  Talk to Lynn about what would be involved.

Bus Trips & Tours:

• Bus Trips - signups are held after the Wednesday morning meetings.  Today we signed up for a shopping trip to Mercedes and two trips to the Hidalgo Festival of Lights. You can start signing up for The Kings Ranch and the Mystery Trip Bus Trip in the Activities Office starting at 1 PM today.  There were still seats available as of 2 PM Wednesday!

• One note on the Bus Trips - please remember to compensate the driver - he is not a paid employee of Winter Ranch!

• Tours - Our Tour Director, Gail Field,  has several Bus Trips listed on her Bulletin Board in Friendship Hall along with her business cards.  She has a few open spaces for the New Orleans Trip.  It sounds grand!  Let her know if you are interested in any of them.  Since there are many trips available, she has posted a booklet of the tours on her bulletin board.  She just posted three new trips!

 The 50/50 for today was $64 and was for the Alamo Parade Group.  

Note from the Blog Administrator:  If you have pictures from any of the events or bus trips trips that you would like to share on the blog, you can send them to me and I'll post them on the blog.  Just send them to my e-mail at :  blogwinterranch@yahoo.com

Wrangler - November 2012

 Nov 2012

Vol. 1, Edition 6

We arrived back here at the Ranch late Friday evening, October 26 to find preparations well underway for another big Halloween celebration. 

Costume Contest Participants

Golf Scramble Participants

Winter Ranch won the beanbag baseball competition again with the talented team pictured below.

 

As usual, a delicious lunch was prepared by Donna Lewis and served by her loyal band of volunteers.

If you were here and didn't participate, you missed a great day!

1^st place in golf cart parade

BUS TRIPS Out of the three Wilder buses, only ours is running at this moment. Big bucks are required to get the other two on the road, so we don't know for sure what's going to be happening. A trip to the symphony was planned and completed on Tuesday, Nov. 13, and a Border Patrol trip went out on the 15^th. JD and Lynn continue to plan trips, so we will just proceed day by day. Keep your eyes on the board. New trips will be posted before the meeting on Wednesdays. Again, you may only sign up your spouse and yourself. The next trip is on Nov 29^th and is to Wink's Saloon and calf-roping. Then on Dec. 2 will be the Holiday Boat Parade on South Padre Island. Both great fun.

PARK YARD SALES Some changes have occurred since last season. We will have one large open to the public sale on February 16^th from 8 AM to noon. There will be an in-park sale on December 4^th from 8 to noon, and another on January 8^th from 8 to noon. More details will be forthcoming.

ALAMO PRAYER BREAKFAST will be on Tuesday, November 20^th at 7 A.M., in the big hall. This

annual event is sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and Cathy would like to see a bigger turnout. Breakfast is free to all who attend.

NEW YEAR'S EVE tickets are being sold. See JD if you want to reserve a table for yourself and your friends. Jealous Heart will be playing. Tickets are $10 per person.

BOOT CAMP FOR ACTIVITY DIRECTORS

Kristi and the “Welcome Home RGV” group hosted several days of activities for park activity directors. Since JD and Lynn were busy last Friday with the Veteran's Day brunch they sent Jack and me in their place. We registered on Friday at Louie's Backyard; followed by a tour of the South Padre

Island Birding and Nature Center. This was very interesting and I think people will enjoy a bus trip to this and the Turtle Sanctuary, as well. 

 

After lunch we embarked on a Brownsville Channel trip that combined dolphin watching and an Eco-lesson for us. Also, free beer, soda and snacks! Who could ask for anything more? After the cruise we all returned to Louie's Backyard, where we were treated to a seafood buffet and entertainment by Leslie. She is a great singer and personality and the crowd loved her. I'm hoping JD & Lynn can persuade her to come to a happy hour so you all can meet her. 

Free beer came in pitchers and flowed freely!

And believe it or not – Dolphins

The lovely and entertaining Leslie.

Part of our “catch”, a starfish and some other slimy thing.

The next morning we met on Port Isabel for registration. Then we split into three groups and toured the three museums that are in Lighthouse Square. After another great lunch at Pirates Landing, we had our choice of the Pirate ship or the Thriller Speed boat. Since Jack has done the Pirate ship about five times, and I've done it once, we chose the speed boat ride. Just a reminder, however, that the Pirate ship entertainment changes throughout the season, so now I wish we had gone on that. The speed boat ride was very fast and very WET. Oh, before I forget, the three museums involved a lot of walking, which is a challenge for some of us. Keep that in mind if this is offered as a bus trip. There are plenty of places to sit and rest, though, so that helps.

Before the boat ride we were entertained by one of the Pirates. He was excellent and very funny. He did some dangerous tricks with fire, and warned a child in the audience never to play with fire.

 He lights these torches and extinguishes them with his hands. In this one, he lights his tongue on fire!

Then he puts the lighting fluid in his mouth and blows it out as he lights it. I am proud of this picture!

 This is the Thriller Speed Boat. You had a choice of seats – wet, wetter and wettest! If you have grandchildren visiting this winter, they would enjoy this, probably. At least boys would. The boat seats about 40, I think. Here we are waiting for the old swinging bridge to let us through. I think it's about 1500 HP, so it does go extremely fast. We saw dolphins on this trip too. Hang on to your hats, glasses and hearing aids!

After this ride, we hauled our wet and tired bodies into the Saturn and headed home. It was tons of fun, but we were pooped. We slept for three days! We met some neat people and learned a few things – one, that it doesn't matter much what park you are in – the problems are pretty much the same. We are happy to be here at Winter Ranch because this is where our friends are.

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING AND GIRD YOUR LOINS – THE SEASON IS ABOUT TO BEGIN.

Donna Hulsey, Editor