Posting for Saint John's Church, Episcopal - Auction Prize

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BED AND BRUNCH ADVENTURE

Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre

A SPECIAL OFFER TO BENEFIT 
SAINT JOHN'S CHURCH - EPISCOPAL,

McALLEN, TEXAS

 IN FURTHERANCE OF ITS GOOD WORKS

Entrance to the Quinta

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The multi-purpose parlour of the Quinta

     This package offers to the bidder a stay of at the little adobe home of Diana and David Newton in the outback of a rustic and charming part of rural Mexico.  The little place is located about 24 miles northwest of Ciudad Victoria adjacent to the high Sierra Madre Oriental ranges.  It is a picturesque and somewhat antiquated, intensely farmed area, yet adjacent to great stretches of the "forest primeval".  Your home will be found situated on the spring-fed Rio Corona, lined by 500 to 1,200 year old cypress trees.

A view from your little adobe home

     It is on the very edge of an ejido community named Francisco I. Madero and it traces its history back to the days of opulence represented by the Hacienda de Santa Engracia during the Spanish Colonial period.  That hacienda compound still exists and will be visited, in that it is less than a mile from your adobe home.

     This offering is well directed to those who are serious to somewhat serious about birdwatching.  The grouns of your home are heavily wooded and structured to attract birds coming in from near and far. Our area's annualized bird specie count is in the vicinity of 450.

     Butterflies abound as well.  We happened to have built right on a major flyway of the Monarch Butterfly.   Dragonflies and all nature of interesting beasties call the Quinta's grounds and surrounding Home.

El Gringo Viejo,
surveying his "estate"

      Your home is truly adobe, built by fellow Episcopalians, selfishly to enjoy, along with those who deign to "come down the road" to our little place.   It is built in the ancient, Spanish Colonial, somewhat Spartan, military style.  You have a private entrance and a private bath. And full run of the rest of the house....refrigerator, television, etc.  We even have a telephone!
 Foregoing or including such things as birds and butterflies, this offering is excellent for a couple who would appreciate some of the above, and a lot of time just to amble, relax, and do nothing.   Perhaps relaxing on our famous "long, west-facing corridor" imbibing in any number and presentations of liquids, and eating a couple of really nice meals each day would be reward enough.

     This is the perfect place to sit in your huge rocking chair (mesadora) and read your Agatha Christi or whatever  and let things pass by without need of attention.     At night the lightning bugs and the  Milky Way are always ready to put on a good show.  During the afternoons and early evenings you might even see a bobcat or some foxes;  one can even be content that the bears have managed to recover their populations, but they remain up in the mountains.
    Your home is truly adobe, built by fellow Episcopalians, but selfishly to enjoy along with those who "come down the road" to our little "mud hut".  It was built in the ancient Spanish Colonial, somewhat Spartan military style.  You do have a private entrance and, of course, a private bath.   And, you have full run of the casa, including the refrigerator, the satellite television(SKY). We even have a telephone that can connect the guest to "back home'' on an at cost basis.

The famous long,
 west-facing corridor

      We offer a stay of at least three nights.  There are things to do and see, or not, as the guest wishes.   Days can be full, or totally relaxed, or any combination thereof.  It is recommended that the guest(s) choose dates between 10 February and 1 June or between  20  September - 10 December so as to avoid heat of Summer or the worst of what Winter has to offer.  If the prospective guest does not have "climate issues" then any time is fine.

     We do request a minimum of two weeks notice before your arrival, and we would need to know how the winner of this very pleasant "estancia" would prefer to arrive.   Arrangements can be made for transportation to and from.  The highways are adequate to excellent for those accustomed to driving in Mexico.
  We would like to hear from the winner at the earliest possible time concerning what kind of travel arrangement would be to the clients' liking.

     Also we have excellent water, and bottled water, and we have electricity of the same kind used in McAllen.   Alcohol and soda pops will be sold at the lowest price in North America.  Smoking is permitted, outside only.   For more about the Quinta click here:

https://sites.google.com/site/quintatesorodelasierramadrecom/

The Rio Corona
About 220 yards from your front door

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The Long Way Home-The Pacific Clipper.m4v

Contributed by our spies on the range...in extreme Central Texas.   A love
affair with the sea probably caused this entry.  That's another story.
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So You all Will Know El Gringo Viejo when he was El Gringo Nuevo

     So that all will know.....this is El Gringo Viejo when he was still "nuevo".  He is the squirt at the far left on the first row (all boys kneeling).  I cannot remember my middle name, but I can name every person in the picture, including the dumbo teacher, Mr. Eugene Tuthill who was a zero during the best of times.

   We were pretty much self and parent, and in my case, by eldest brother educated.   And, yes, Virginia, the girls all wore dresses or blouse & skirt "go-together" outfits.....and they looked, how should one say......?   Oh, yes....HUMAN!!!

     This picture was taken on the south side of the north-most wing of David Crockett School....at that time the northernmost primary in McAllen.   Four of these squirts had farm background.   The rest were all children of professionals or business people.   This class scored 11.4 grade level on whatever aptitude test was given at that time at the end of primary.  This was a tie for the Republic of Texas for public schools....with three other schools.  All four of those schools exceed all private and religious schools at that time.  (Good gossip because my Godmother was president of the school board)

     The boy to El Gringo Viejo's left...the viewer's right...was my number two bud throughout school years in McAllen....probably El Zorro's number three or four....we were pretty tight.   This is the Thomas Dale Traylor who died during by-pass surgery recently.

More about all of this later.

El Gringo Viejo

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We are not alone.

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    Take faith.  We are not alone.  Let us gird our loins and strike forth and continue the good fight.   Below please consider another voice in the wilderness.  This is a friend of our spies in Extreme Central Texas.   You all will notice that our cobweb is becoming increasingly, and pleasantly, congested.  We can also notice that the message is pleasantly brief, offers a slightly different angle that complements our understanding and reassures our assumption that our path is the correct and virtuous one.   It is a part of a running conversation about the lunacy known as The Waltz of Obama and the Persians.  To wit:

Ron, Bruce and all,

I couldn’t disagree more. That puts me (and many others) at odds with these experts, but surely this letter was solicited by the administration from friendly academia. Like climate change, both sides have no difficulty lining up ‘expert’ endorsements.

More to the point, this matter has little to do with scientific expertise - it resolves down to common sense. We give away economic pressure, our only means of influencing Iran’s behavior - once that’s gone, it matters not at all what we find, or suspect, about their progress toward in-place nuclear weaponry, because there’s nothing we can do about it. Iran has made it completely clear that they could care less about world opinion. The ‘snapback’ assertions are obviously nonsense - there is no way on earth we can unbaked this cake. Chances that Iran will give back $150B, that they and other nations will courteously cancel multi-billion business deals?

This is roughly like un-handcuffing the mugger in the back alley and then telling him ‘don’t pick up that gun! You promised! I’m watching you!’ 

The very sad news is that we’re already way down the track in giving up our leverage, thanks to the administration premature - and surely intentional - release of the ‘framework’ to the UN. The P5+1 is effectively unraveled. There is no way that should have happened without approval of our US government (not just Obama). That’s a weak argument for going ahead - too late, damage is already done - but no reason in my view not to throw good money after bad and to legitimize Iran’s path.

Final point - if you read Feinstein and others supporting statements, they are loaded with caveats like ‘if this deal does what President Obama and Secretary Kerry say…’  - lots of cya here.

Best regards,

Jack

jcdevine@me.com

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     Jack Devine is a freelance opinion writer who blogs and is published in local and regional outlets in places removed from the Republic of Texas.  In this case, the coverage is in the Southeastern part of the United States.

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Shopping information

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This submission comes from our favorite Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat man who just happens to despise latter day Bolsheviks and  Crony Capitalists.

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Hello, WalMart!!!  So-long, COSTCO!!!!!!!!! Americans Can Now Determine Where To Shop And Spend Their Money Election Cycle political donations, as reported by the Center for Responsive Politics. Shopping à        Price Club/  Costco     donated $225K,   99% went to Democrats à        Rite Aid donated $517K,   60% went to Democrats à        Magla Products (Stanley tools, Mr. Clean) donated $22K,   100% went to Democrats à        Warnaco (undergarments) donated $55K,   73% went to Democrats à        Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia donated $153K,   99% went to Democrats à        Estee Lauder donated $448K,   95% went to Democrats à        Guess, Inc. Donated $145K,   98% went to Democrats à        Calvin Klein donated $78K,   100% went to Democrats à        Liz Claiborne, Inc. Donated $34K,   97% went to Democrats à        Levi Straus donated $26K,   97% went to Democrats à        Olan Mills donated $175K,   99% went to Democrats à        WalMart donated $467K,   97% went to Republicans à        K-Mart donated $524K,   86% went to Republicans à        Home Depot donated $298K,   89% went to Republicans à        Target donated $226K,   70% went to Republicans à        Circuit City Stores donated $261K,   95% went to Republicans à       3M Co. Donated  $281K,   87% went to Republicans à        Hallmark Cards donated $319K,   92% went to Republicans à        Amway donated $391K,   100% Republicans à        Kohler Co. (plumbing fixtures) donated $283K,   100% Republicans à        B.F. Goodrich (tires) donated $215K,   97% went to Republicans à        Proctor & Gamble donated $243K,   79% went to Republicans Spirits à        Southern Wine and Spirits donated $213K,   73% went to Democrats à        Joseph E. Seagrams and Sons (incl. Beverage Business and considerable media interests) donated $2M+, 67% went          to Democrats à        Gallo Winery donated $337K,   95% went to Democrats à        Coors and Budweiser donated $174K,   92% went to Republicans à        Brown-Forman Corp. (Southern Comfort, Jack Daniels, Bushmills,Korbel Wines, Lenox China, Dansk and Gorham Silver) donated $644 K --   80% went to Republicans Hungry    ? à        Sonic Corporation donated $83K,   98% went to Democrats à        Triarc Companies (Arby's, T.J. Cinnamon's, Pasta Connections) donated $112K,   96% went to Democrats à        Pilgrim's Pride Corp. (chicken) donated $366K,   100% went to Republicans à        Outback Steakhouse donated $641K,   95% went to Republicans à        Tricon Global Restaurants (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell) donated $133K,   87% went to Republicans à        Brinker International (Maggiano's, Brinker Cafe, Chili's, On the Border, Macaroni Grill, Crazymel's, Corner    Baker, EatZis) donated $242K,   83% went to Republicans à        Waffle House donated $279K,   100% went to Republicans à        McDonald's Corp. Donated $197K,   86% went to Republicans à        Darden Restaurants (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Smokey Bones,Bahama Breeze) donated $121K, 89% went to Republicans à       Heinz   Republicans $64,000   Democrats $21,300!        John Kerry's wife's company!!! Hello, WalMart!!!  So-long, COSTCO!!!!!!!!! Travel and Dining à        Hyatt Corporation donated $187K of which   80% went to Democrats à        Marriott International $323K,   81% went to Republicans à        Holiday Inns donated $38K,   71% went to Republicans ______________________________________________________________________________ Please forward to your conservative friends.

Thinking too much, about too much!! - El Zorro weighs in

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Thinking too much about too much:

   For my money, there are two sane people in the contest for leader of the free world… Ted Cruz and Dr. Ben Carson.  There are a couple of others that I could stomach without holding my nose but realistically the only ones who really are capable of original thought are the two mentioned above but not necessarily in that order.

    There is some pleasure to be had watching Chris and Rand stumbling all over each other like two of the three stooges coming through the door of a mob card game.  The third stooge, Jebster is knocking himself off (also tied with Lindsey Graham who thinks he is somebody).  Unfortunately there are other clear thinkers who should be, but are not, really in the contest.  Those would be Bobby Jindal and Rick Santorum.

   There are too many more with something in mind to take time with here but get mention because they come to mind e.g. Marco Rubio, George Pataki, Scott Walker, John Kasich, Megan Kelly (Oh wait, she hasn’t declared yet), Carly Fiorina, et al.  I did not mention Donald Trump or Mike Huckabee but I guess I am now.  There is one in the pack I don’t know but heard him once, Jim Gilmore.  He sounded kind of smart but I don’t think anybody knows him.  Bringing up the rear would be Rick “I Don’t Know When to Quit” Perry.

   But the bottom line would be anybody, of those with name recognition, but Rand Paul, Chris Christi, Lindsey Graham or the Democrats.  

    I am okay with Trump for now but should he get the nomination, things could get ugly.  For now he is keeping the pack pointed in the right direction but as President,
no mas no!!!

 I agree with El Gringo.

                    El Zorro

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