It's Someone's Birthday!

First of all, I want to say Happy Birthday to our oldest grandson, Charley, he turns 16 today. Secondly, I want to wish you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day. This year is going by quickly, but last week was a very long week to me.

Here he is! This year he was on the wrestling team and next

 year will play football as well as wrestle.

I don't have a St. Patrick's Day gnome yet, but it is on my list. Fun fact: St. Patrick's Day was originally celebrated in Ireland with religious services and feasts in honor of St. Patrick, one of Ireland's patron saints. When Irish immigrants brought St. Patrick's Day traditions to the United States, the day evolved into a secular celebration of Irish culture. Also interesting to note that St. Patrick was actually Irish he was born in Britain in 385 AD and his parents Calpurnius and Conches were both Roman citizens. Slavery was what brought St. Patrick to Ireland.  

Ireland, it's national quote is Erin go Bragh (Ireland Forever).

As a teenager, St. Patrick was kidnapped by a pirate raiding party and sold into slavery. As a slave, he looked after and herded sheep for many years before fleeing to a monastery in England. While there, he became a devout follower of Christianity and ordained a Bishop, after which he returned to Ireland as a missionary.

St. Patrick

As the stories go, St. Patrick supposedly used the iconic shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity while preaching. With each leaf representing Christianity's Holy Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it was a symbol that showed how they could be three different spiritual entitles and yet all the part of the same whole.

"I and my Father are One." John 10:30 "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me," John 15:26 (NASB).

Patrick was not St. Patrick's given name; his given name was Maewyn Succat. It wasn't until he became a priest that he adopted a new name, Patrick, after Patricius (which relates to the Latin root father). While St. Patrick was the patron Saint of Ireland, he was never canonized by the Catholic Church. This was simply due to the era he lived in. 

Monday, hubby had a dr appointment and when he arrived, he found out that it had been cancelled. He went back on Friday. "Keeping it real" I am not a fan of doctors any longer. The past three years have brought to many things to light and my last check up in 2020 was a good one. I will really need to find a doctor I trust if I am ever to go back. We also borrowed Tressa's car and took the truck to get a new cattle guard. Living in West Texas you will see deer on the side of the road, and we didn't want to hit a deer without that protection. We went back to the same place where we had the truck bed cover installed. Bruce, the owner, is a great guy and if you need more gadgets on your vehicle, he is the one for the job.

On 249 in Tomball, Texas

Our truck bed cover.

This is an older picture, but I wanted you 

to see what the truck looked like before.

Here she is in all her glory. New light bar as well.

We were supposed to pick it up on Tuesday, but Bruce called and said he had some bad news. My mind started racing, is our truck broken? Did the guard fall off of it? What was happening? Then he explained that the light bar missed the delivery truck, and the fog lights weren't going to work with this guard. We already knew that Tressa was ok with us having the car longer than one day, so we were ok. Hubby and I were all, wow, no worries. We told him not a problem and we had new fog lights ordered, well the light bar didn't come in on the next day, so he cancelled that order and went with another company, and all was well. We picked up the truck on Wednesday and hubby couldn't wait to see how the light bar worked. 
 
Thursday, hubby's contacts came in, the part for the Polaris was in and we went to Harbor Freight to get an impact wrench with more torque. He couldn't get six lug nuts off one of our tires. Oh, we also had new tires for the RV put on last Monday. Hubby charged up the battery and was able to get those six stubborn lugs nuts off and took the tire to Discount after his doctor appointment. 

Here is what it looks like without a tire.

Friday, after we picked up the new tire, we met with Tim in Tomball for dinner. We tried a new place (to us) Bonfire Grill. It was pretty good, and we had a fun time. I almost took a picture, but wasn’t at the right angle and then I forgot.

 

Saturday, we did errands, hubby put the tire on, we had dinner with Tressa, Andrew, Earl and Kim (they are Andrew's parents).

It is a good place and I love their baked potatoes.

Being in Magnolia has been fun, the RV park is ok, mostly people live here, and they only have five open spots for RVers like us. The year 1840 may have been the turning point in the history of what is now known as Magnolia, Texas. That was the year that the southern boundary of Montgomery County was extended to Spring Creek. This area was officially named Mink, Texas on September 3, 1885. The first known application for "Magnolia" was dated January 17, 1885, however; the official name change to Magnolia did not occur until July 28, 1903. 

Mink, Texas Almanac.

By 1924 it was a thriving community. Several large sawmills were open as well as several general stores, saloons, barbershop, ice cream store, telephone office, livery stable, bank, hotel, boarding house, doctor’s office, pharmacy, blacksmith shop, syrup and grist mills, churches, school, land office, railroad depot, telegraph station, cotton gin, tanning yard, feed store and garage. Magnolia became a shipping center for lumber, farm products and cattle. 

The park

100-year-old house with a historical marker.

The Depot is in the heart of downtown Magnolia at 426 Melton Street, Magnolia, Texas 77353. The Depot has been made a habitable building without compromising its historic integrity. In October 2005 The Depot was moved to a new location directly across the railroad tracks due to highway expansion plans, therefore, rendering The Depot ineligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

 

The Depot. 

The Depot provides an active link to the City’s past and a focal point for its future.  Today, The Depot serves as a public facility for meetings, receptions, activities and parties. The Magnolia Historical Society maintains and operates The Depot and makes it available to groups for a nominal fee.  Everyone who enters The Depot, with its exposed wood trusses, plank flooring and sliding freight doors, is reminded of the glory days of train travel.  The Depot and its adjacent railroad tracks were vital players in Magnolia’s early days.  Restoring The Depot not only preserved that history for future generations, but also gave the community a project to share and a beautiful structure to use and enjoy. 

Another view of The Depot.

The Historical Society member’s determination and success have fostered a can-do attitude toward other preservation projects such as the addition of the first doctor’s office in Mink, Texas (now Magnolia) and plans for a sawmill in the future.

Today. we will head out to church and later hubby will grill a tri-tip for dinner. I was going to make twice baked potatoes, but changed my mind and I made small potatoes with onions. I use the seasoning that I make on them as well as avocado oil. They are yummy.
 
This week will be fun, Thursday, we head off to Lake Charles, Louisiana. I finally made a hair appointment and that will take place on Tuesday, and I will attend a webinar for work on Wednesday. More about Lake Charles on the next blog. Thank you for joining us on our journey.

If there is something special you would like me to take a picture of, please let me know!
 
Drop a comment for me and let me know your thoughts on the blog.
 
God, the RV & me...