Retama Walk-Through and More Doggie Fun

Hi all, Dianne here.  This will be a short post just to update you on the goings-on.  You might recognize the guy in the Panama Jack hat driving the golf cart -- yes, it is Roger.  He had way too much fun driving one of the "trolley shuttles" for the annual Retama Walk Through the Village Open House.  Our long-time readers will remember our post from February, 2010 after Roger and I visited Retama from Bentsen Palm Village RV Park next door.  I took a zillion photos that day, because we had decided to purchase a lot at Retama.  Those photos came in very handy when we were designing the interior of our coach house!  If you're interested in seeing that old post, I've provided a link.  


February 2010 Retama Coach House Tour

Last year we didn't open our coach house for the tour, because it was still very much under construction.  If you want to read past blogs about the progress on our coach house construction, click on the label "Coach House Remodel" on the left side of the blog to go to the posts written during the construction.  We started out with an empty shell, as you would see from the earlier photos.

This year we opened our tiny house up for "inspection" by the visitors.  I should have kept count; we had lots of visitors.  Poor Bandido had a rough day, because he was relegated to the inside of the motor home during the tour.  I'm sure Charlie the Cat had an even worse day being shut inside with an energetic Bandido!  

The day began with free hot dogs, bottled water and popcorn for the volunteers at 11:00 a.m.  The open house began at 1:00, with the visitors also being offered the same refreshments before starting the trek around the neighborhood.  

Since I was stationed at our place all afternoon I couldn't take many photos.  Here's a long shot of visitors checking out Dave and Marilyn's beautiful little place down the block:

Here's another link to a site showing tours of several homes in the neighborhood:

"It's Only a Shed"



It's amazing how different folks use their tiny coach houses.  If you check out that blog, be sure to click on "older posts" at the bottom when you get the last one on the first page; some of the ones on page 2 are not to be missed!

Today was tomato harvest day.  We had enough to share with our friends Jim and Sue (payback for some delicious homemade bread they have shared with us).

You might remember from our last post that we had to take drastic measures to fend off our mockingbirds:  


It worked and didn't seem to affect the ripening; if anything, I think it speeded it up.


Walking to the dog park next door is an everyday ritual for us.  Bandido gets so excited that he feels he has to lead us over there:

We don't let him do it, for it would take less than 5 minutes for him to demolish a leash, but I took a photo with my iPhone, 'cause it is cute!




You'll see why he gets so excited to get there in the next two photos.  A favorite game for Bandido and his "Buds" is 

"Who's got the ball?" Which turns into 

"Catch me if you Can!"


As I've said before, life is g-o-o-d here in South Texas.  To illustrate this, I'm logging off to head down the street for an impromptu happy hour!  See ya!