NELSON'S NOTES #86

Fun N Sun, San Benito, Texas, July 8, 2011

BRUCE GIVES OUR WEB PAGE A NEW LOOK

Bruce's new computer does not support "AOL Press," the uncomplicated program with which he created our Web page in 2002 and one that he used to upload files to the Internet. Recently, he bought a complex program called "Web Expressions" and is learning to use its many features. The new look of our web page is a result.

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HARLINGEN, TEXAS: CHEAPEST PLACE TO LIVE IN AMERICA

According to a Bloomberg Businessweek report last month, the cost of living in Harlingen, a city of about 65,000, is the cheapest in the nation, about 18% lower than the national average. This makes Harlingen a good place to retire but not to earn a living because wages are much lower than the national average.

We live about a half mile from the city line so it is convenient for us to shop and eat out in Harlingen. Without being congested or overly developed, Harlingen has almost everything we need. I especially like the Farmers Market on A Street between Grimsell's Nursery and the New York Deli. This is the first year (I think) that the market will be open all summer. It will be open all year from 3 - 4:30 every Saturday afternoon. At the Market I find unusual produce like these string beans.

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JACKSON STREET

Jackson Street is the heart of Harlingen's original Downtown. The office for the Harlingen Downtown Improvement District headed by Cheryl LeBerge is very active in bringing new life and businesses to downtown. In 2008, damage from Hurricane Dolly forced the Office to move out of the Planters Bank building so that repairs could be done.

Last month, after moving back to its former location at 209 W. Jackson on the corner of Commerce Street, the Office held an Open House. Goodie bags with this colorful T-shirt were passed out to visitors.

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CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY ON BASS PRO SHOP

Expected to attract restaurants and other businesses and be a boon to Harlingen, the outdoor retail complex is going up west of the city, in the Y where U.S. 77 and 83 join. Photo was taken on July 7.

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SAD SAGA OF FUN N SUN'S BIG, BEAUTIFUL FICUS TREE

For many years, the much-beloved tree spread its big branches from its spot next to the Activity Building. The tree's glossy, dark green leaves looked cool and provided a welcome shady spot.

I'm guessing the tree was planted soon after 1983, the year the Activity Building was put up. Joan Stanley Cocozza, long-time park owner with her husband Hank Stanley, remembers this story about the tree: "A man [John Bax] stayed with us for a number of years. He was a "birder" and took wonderful photos and had several movies he had made showing the birds of the valley. He found a humming bird nest in that tree. The nest was about the size of a thimble and it had 3 very very tiny eggs in it. They finally hatched and no more humming birds."

In February 2011, the tree was a victim of an ice storm. For a while it looked like the tree might be coming back to life. However, an environmental consultant brought into the park said that the new green leaves were not healthy growth but "sucker vines," indicative of a dead tree that needed to be taken down.

It took a crew from a Tree Trimming and Removal Company two days to cut down all the limbs and grind them to sawdust. All that remains is part of the tree trunk which I assume will be taken down soon.

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PALM TREE TRIMMING: A SUMMER RITUAL

Workers from the same company are removing most of the top branches from the park's many palm trees. This year's crew is exceptionally fast and efficient.

All that remain on the trees are a few green fronds which look like top-knots at the very top of the trimmed trees (note the two on the right). The trees will soon sprout new growth. In fact, before all the trees are trimmed, the first ones will already have new branches.

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SAND BAGS

The pile of sand in the photo above is for residents to fill sand bags like these. If a hurricane threatens, people with ground-level Texas rooms can put out sand bags to block rising rain water.

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RAINFALL

So far there have been no hurricanes, but Tropical Storm Arlene which came through northern Mexico on June 21 dumped 3.5 inches of much-needed rain here.

This rain gauge is on the wooden fence between Palm Dr. (in the park) and Turner Rd. (outside the park). It shows our first measureable rainfall since March 6. Two to three inches fell a week or two after that. Cotton and sorghum farmers are crying, "Enough is enough."

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CROP DUSTER

Meanwhile, cotton farmers are guarding against boll weevil infestations. A daily sound and sight is a crop duster zooming overhead, then diving down to spray a nearby cotton field.

click the triangle to play the video

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TWO VOLUNTEERS GIVE FUN N SUN CHAPEL A NEW CROSS AND A NEW LOOK

In 1992, the Fun N Sun Prayer Chapel was lovingly planned and built by volunteers. After all their work and dedication, Mike Green didn't want anything to happen to the Chapel. When he noticed that the wood on the cross had rotted, he and Bobby Durham teamed up to make a new one and paint it to match their freshly painted trim and door.

The Chapel is always open for people to pray and meditate . . .

. . . or even to get married like Marie and Kelly Dunham did in 2006.

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TRANQUILITY POND

Al Wasielewski, electrician at Fun N Sun, reflects in front of Tranquility Pond which he built for his wife Maria when she was suffering from cancer. A while after Maria died, Al donated the pool, a pump and decorative rocks to Fun N Sun and brought them here to make a memorial for Maria. People pitched in to install the pond: Fun N Sun grounds crew workers Ricardo Martinez, Angel Camacho and Chuy Cisneros dug holes for plants that were donated by Fun N Sun residents. Irma Guzman and Janie Paz who work in the Registration Office made a pleasing arrangement of plants, rocks, and little statues around the pond.

Tom O'Connell, Activity Director, arranged to have Army Boot Camp boys put a layer of decorative stones around the pond. Tom said they worked real hard removing all the stones (down to the last one) from the side garden and moving them to the front garden in wheelbarrows, in buckets, and even in their hands.

Al has ordered a brass plaque for the memorial. The pond will be dedicated to Maria at the beginning of the winter season.

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FITNESS ROOM

Winter Texans, when you return to Fun N Sun next season and are ready to hop on one of the treadmills in the Fitness Room, be prepared for a change: the treadmills are now on the other side of the room after Al put in a new electrical system and outlets.

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MORE CHANGES

Besides being the park electrician, Al also does a lot of sprucing up and painting in the summer.

Upon seeing these photos, you might do a double take and ask, "Wasn't that building on the right a different color last year? And, the Gatehouse wasn't that color when we left last spring, was it?"

You're right. The former Sales Office was tan and the Gatehouse was white (well, I think it was white).

Now tell me: do you think you would notice the changes next winter if you hadn't been alerted first in Nelson's Notes?

Marianna Nelson

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