Our first Memorial Day in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas

This is the week before Memorial Day, I'm experiencing more about summer here at Tropical Winds RV Park, Harlingen, TX. I expected it to be really hot - maybe even a little miserable, but I have been pleasantly surprised. The temperature is in the 80 - 90's range, but the wind here makes a whole new overall picture. From about noon to 5:00 PM you don't want to go outside for any extended period of time, but the rest of the time it's actually quite comfortable. The humidity is fine, and we get a little rain occasionally. Right now the grass is a lovely green, but don't expect it will stay that way through the summer. We have a lot of wild flowers here. They are small in size, about the size of a quarter to a silver dollar, and are very vivid colors. Really dress the place up nice.


I plan on going to the Iwo Jima Memorial on Memorial Day. They always have patriotic, interesting activities going on there. It's only about a mile from here, and I go by there on a pretty regular basis. The monument itself is the original plaster model that the one in Washington, DC was cast from. They take great pains to preserve it in original condition with TLC, appropriate colors of paint & sealers, and of course, security. It is located on the grounds of the Harlingen US Marine Academy. It's a military prep school and very impressive, complete with all the usual courses including full dress parades, inspections, shooting ranges, martial arts, etc. There is a museum and souvenir store on the grounds, and they are manned by volunteers who are veterans. We have one man here in the park that actually remembers first hand when the famous pictures were taken. The monument area is busy, but somehow seems almost to be your personal remembrance spot. The grounds are all landscaped and well maintained. In front of the museum are several WWII vintage heavy armored vehicles and field artillery. The museum itself is filled with artifacts by the hundreds of war souvenirs and memorabilia donated by veterans or their families. If you were to peruse every item, you would be there for the better part of a day. I've seen the memorial in DC and this one is every bit as impressive.
Ronnie is still in Stockholm, Sweden, but she'll be back in the states in about five weeks. I know that she is enjoying her time over there, but I sure do miss her! She, Mary B & Donesha went on a weekend cruise to Helsinki, Finland. It was over Mothers Day so most of the shops were closed, but they still had a very enjoyable time. When wifey gets back, she'll probably put together some blog postings with some pictures of her trip on them. We both send our love to all and will do our best to keep in contact with everyone.
I'll send an email with a hot link in it to everyone whenever I put up a new post. That way you won't waste your time checking to see if anything new has been put up - unless you want to check for any new comments from anyone. Incidentally, if you want to leave a comment about the posting or anything, all you have to do is click on, "Comments", at the bottom of the posting, and it will take you to the spot to leave one. It won't show up immediately because I have to personally approve all comments before they are posted. This is necessary due to the possibility of Junk, malicious mischief, etc., etc. I check email almost constantly so it won't be too long before posting.
Please remember all of our veterans. Make some kind of effort to visit memorials, cemeteries, community Honor Rolls, Parades, or anything else that will help instill in our youngest generation, the importance and great significance of the sacrifices made by so many and their families. We, in the Schutz family have quite an extensive heritage of serving our great country, not only here, but in distant lands, also. Make this Memorial Day one to stand out and be remembered by our children and us.

Life's best to you,

Papa Schutz