Can you hear me, Noah?

Enough already! Never wish for rain, your wish may come true!

We are on day 5, or is it day 6, of steady, neverending, all day, downpouring RAIN!

There are lots of puddles in the low spots, but the good news is that Karen has had an endless stream of dumptrucks bringing in fill dirt for the sites, so just about all of them are high and dry... and with all this rain the grass squares that are everywhere, and I do mean everywhere, are really taking hold.

Now, you may be asking, "How is the construction of the new shower house and bathrooms going?"

Sad to say, because of a certain resident's fondness for litagation, the building permits have been held up. Racial politics has reared it's ugly head and the local 'powers-that-be' are feeling cautious ... so, no building, yet.

The frustration levels are rising just as fast as the flood waters. But they will soon seep away, and we can only hope our other problem will drain away, too.

Water VolleyBall Reigns Supreme!

4th of July was a little soggy but that didn't stop the fun. Despite the drizzle we set up the nets and had two large teams, 18 players, laughing hysterically in the rain. We had so much fun we almost forgot about the hamburger lunch we had promised everybody. At 12:25 the cooks hustled over to the community room to turn on the grills and found a large crowd patiently awaiting their burgers. Everybody brought such good food that we all ate way too much. The burgers were juicy and delicious, the beans spicy with just the right amount of kick, and the salads and sides...well you all know Sandpiper's has some great cooks! One of these days we really need to put together a cookbook!

Garland surprised Patsy with a couple of really yummy chocolate desserts to celebrate her 4th of July birthday.

It is raining pretty hard today so even though it is a Saturday nobody is playing. We are giving our broken bodies a rest.

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So...another poll is finished. I find them fun, don't you? Oh, I know there aren't really enough people voting to get a truly accurate result, but still...fun.

The water volleyball poll results do show that everyone really like the laissez-faire method of government when it comes to volleyball control. That means hands off; let it be self correcting. If it is too crowded for you, go home, try again another day.

Which brings me to good news for you volleyball enthusiasts. We have permission from Karen to play SEVEN days a week if we choose to! Now nobody, except maybe Lisette, can play seven days a week! But...golfers are gone on Monday, bicyclist on an occasional Tuesday, Thursdays have once a month Red Hat Society, and Friday sees a big bowling crowd. Book club is in there somewhere, plus doctor's appointments, grocery shopping, and your occasional margarita fix in Nuevo Progresso.

We propose to play from 11am-2pm. Wednesday's for ladies-only volleyball until 12:30, followed by men-only until 2. The other six days will be co-ed jungle ball.

We have had upwards of 70 players for such big events as the Nude Olympics, and more people who want to play than we can easily accommodate during the winter season. The people who just want to float will still have access to the pool while the game is in progress and we promise not to work them too hard retrieving balls.

With a little tweaking and some patience I think we can satisfy just about everyone...until a new volleyball pool is built. Nothing is chisled in stone and we can adjust these plans as needed.

Long Awaited Article is Here!

As many know management of the past, and now Karen, has been battling Gene Diaz over a variety of reasons. Recently he was interviewed by a local reporter, as was Karen, giving their sides of the argument. Here is the article, from South Texas Nation, July-Sept, 2008. It is a free advertising newspaper handout.

Nudist Vietnam Veteran Gene Diaz's preference for wearing his birthday suit 365 days a year at Edinburg's Sandpiper nudist resort is being threatened. Gene, a Mexican-American, is in the minority of nudists with skin that's darker than white at Sandpipers. In fact, he's the only Hispanic male who lives there, one of three Hispanic's in the club's 300 or so members.

Gene has sued Sandpipers before for racial discrimination, and secured the right to remain a resident. But management's attempts to evict him continue. Sandpipers' new owner, Karen Willis, says that race isn't a factor in her attempts to evict him. Gene refuses to adhere to new rules meant to improve the park's cosmetic appearances and safety, she said.

"I'm in the process of cleaning up a 20-year-old-park from levels that were not right." Willis explained in an interview with South Texas Nation.

"People are cleaning up their units, removing garbage...but as soon as I say something (to Gene), he says I am picking on him because he is Hispanic...He's just one of those people who doesn't get along. There's always someone who doesn't fit in, for some reason.

His Own Private Idaho

It's not simply Gene's skin color that sets him apart at Sandpiper. Most residents sport dream RV's, sprawling testaments to America's big highway days, driven often by retired nudists who span the country visiting nudist RV parks in cross country nudist vacations. Other trailers seem almost permanent, like miniature model homes with picket fences and paved driveways...small shrubs groomed tidily along walkways.


Gene's lot is a peasant's abode by comparison. His space, about 15 yards wide and long, is dense with vegetation...orange trees, fig, avocado, and other fruit bearing trees that help keep Gene fed and alive. And the shade from his trees is essential. On a fixed U.S. Veteran's disability check of about $600 a month, Gene guards his pennies. His trailer has no air conditioning. He's rather sweat it out in the Rio Grande Valley's hot summers, consoled by the shade of his fruit trees, than pay the price for an electrically-cooled dwelling, he said.

He spends most of his time on a rustic porch, painted brightly like barrio homes.

His trailer is painted, too...pink, yellow and green. It used to be the color of the Mexican flag but Gene was required to re-paint the trailer as part of an earlier settlement that allowed him to remain at Sandpiper. There is a broken down motorcycle on Gene's porch. A tenuous shelf balancing motor oil, a weed-whacker, and other house and garden paraphernalia. In effect, Gene's trailer is the rattiest trailer in the park. Like Willis said, there is always someone who doesn't fit in. At Sandpipers, that someone is Gene.

Find A Penny

"Can you believe I bought it for $300?" Gene brags about his 1998 Ford LTD that pulls to the left and whose electric windows don't roll down.

He navigates the LTD, also with no air conditioning, through Sandpipers 22 acres of clothing optional resort space...which, except for the occasional roaming nudist, seems like a typical gated trailer park. And overweight Anglo, love handles resting against his thighs, cruises past Gene in a golf cart. There is no golf course here, but residents use carts for easy access to the swimming pool, tennis courts or shuffle-board facility. Now, at the start of the summer, the park is almost empty. But come September, October for sure, the park will filled with hundreds of nudist winter Texans. And they'll all be white.

Still, though Sandpipers, and the nudist business throughout the U.S., caters to a predominately Anglo clientele, ethnic minorities are a growing demographic.

"It's obvious. You can see the change in parks, in trade magazines...everywhere that there is nudism," explained a Hispanic female member of Sandpipers who spoke with STN on the condition of anonymity. In her 40's and born in Starr county, she said that she suffered no discrimination as a Hispanic nudist at Sandpipers or other nudist venues. Willis agrees that ethnic minorities are a growing nudist demographic, a statement that is proven by existing research.

Willis in fact argues that she is embracing this fact, recently approving residence for a Mexican couple from Monterrey. Her attempts to remove Gene stem from his failure to meet park requirements, she said, new rules that she put in place last year after she bought the park.

The park will no longer allow cats to roam free, Willis said. Not coincidentally, Gen has cats that roam. With no air conditioning, he leaves his trailer door open, allowing his cats to come and go as they please. The park will no longer allow porches, Willis said. With no air conditioning, the use of a porch is vital for Gene.

Playing The Race Card

Gene said that Willis' new rules are directed at him.

Feeling the victim, Gene has complained to the authorities against Sandpipers on numerous occasions...for operating the kitchen without the proper health inspections, and for new construction without permits. Most of all, when Willis last year sent out a memo ordering Gene to secure his cats, Gene complained to the U.S. Dept. of Housing. A Vietnam-era Veteran with mental health issues, Gene's doctor has suggested that he live with cats. Gene's argument held it's ground, and the Dept. of Housing decided that Gene should be able to keep the cats.

Now, with an eviction notice in hand, Gene said he thinks Willis is retaliating against him for using his legal right to file complaints.

"She trying to make it impossible for me to remain here. I need my cats. They help me emotionally," Gene said.

In eviction papers handed to Gene in June, Willis list Gene's lack of trailer insurance as the reason. But Gene has lived at Sandpipers for 17 years without trailer insurance. At best, his old trailer is worth several hundred dollars. Insurance doesn't make sense for him, he said. The yearly fee would cost as much or more than his trailer's value.

Attorney Linley Boone from Weslaco's Texas Rio Grande Legal Aide, a non-profit law firm serving the economically disadvantaged, said that Gene can stay put at least until his case is heard by a Justice of the Peace.

Boone, however, explained that Gene is willing to pay for trailer insurance.

At this point, though, the second time that Gene has sought counsel against Sandpipers, and after Gene's filling numerous complaints with government entities, Willis said it's too little, too late.

She said that she , too, has consulted attorneys, who have advise her that she has the legal right to evict Gene for failing to conform to lease requirements. This case is heading for a court room battle, Willis said. And she's confident that she'll win.

As a nudist in the Rio Grande Valley, there aren't many options for Gene. Though there is another nudist trailer park north of Weslaco, that park is filled. Unlike many nudists whose way of life is intertwined with travel...visiting nudist resorts, nudist beaches, and public nudist sites that dot the U.S., Gene's income makes such a bare-skinned wanderlust impossible.

Gene said he was born a nudist. But with eviction papers in hand, and a landlord willing to fight the case in court, this U.S. Veteran, the only male Hispanic nudist resort member in the region, maybe forced to pick himself up by his bootstraps, and slip on some pants and a shirt while he's at it.

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Bruce & Theresa's 1st Time!

Bruce & Theresa, Lot 118, would like to share how they ended up living at Sanpipers Resort.

We had made reservations for three months at the Park Place in Harlingen where we had stayed before we retired. Bruce found the Nudist Recreation book in Denver and we saw Sandpipers in there plus enjoyed reading all about the resorts, so when we came down in 1995 we stopped before we got to Harlingen.

In our motorhome we went down 2812 and thought "Oh Boy, what kind of place is this, old trailer in the field, terrible road." etc.

We got to the office and we were met by the manager and she was so friendly and explained the works. So we parked for a few days and loved it, didn't want to go to Park Place, but we had to because we paid for it.

Everyone was so friendly. Drove back and forth for a couple months. Finally we decided the heck with the last month at the Park Place; we stayed at Sandpipers instead.

Before we left Harlingen we went on a wonderful trip with Sandpiper people into Mexico, where there was ice on all the cactus, and all the on and off ramps were closed because of the ice. It was a great trip in spite of that. Couldn't believe how friendly everyone was.

This was our second experience at a nudist park. Have loved it ever since.

And we love you both, too! One of the reasons they love it here so much is that they particpate in so many things. They work hard and they play hard. Whether it is Red Hat Society or gardening, water volleyball or petanque, line dancing or water aerobics...Bruce & Theresa are right up there in the front lines. And how many people have been fooled by his Halloween costumes?

113 degrees in Turkey!

Tony & Helen are half way around the world but still in touch with their Sandpiper family.

Thought you'ld like to see what they are up to.

Here is her latest email message:

After a very hot journey ınto the South Eastern part of Turkey, a few km from the Syrıan border we are back ın the caves of Cappadoccıa. What an hıstorıcal country....I was actually ın Abrahams cave....where he lıved 4000 years ago. And ın the vıllage where the humans planted the fırst seeds to become an agrıculutal socıety 9000 years BC. The cradle of cıvılızatıon for sure.
We met some arabs that lent us some clothes to beat the desert heat....ınsıde theır mud beehıve houses was actually cool even though ıt was 45 degrees outsıde.
I cant use my laptop here and am havıng a bıg problem wıth thıs turkısh keyboard, so wıll update my yahoo 360 some other tıme. ç ö £ ş i ğ ü

4th of July

We had a big turn out today for water volleyball. Three teams of 6-7 players. There were several day visitors, and some renters, too.

One of the perks for new renters is a free beach towel. Karen brought them over to the renters while they were poolside. Gorgeous, thick, luxurious towels.

We are planning a 4th of July celebration for Friday. Karen is providing hamburgers and beans, and we'll all play an extra day of volleyball.

VolleyBall Dilemma

What are we gonna do? As winter residents have left there has been a die hard group still playing water volleyball four times a week. In the hot, brutal sun and heat. Occasionally three teams, but lately two teams of five or six or seven is the norm.

When we take a break after three games (standard summer policy), much lively discussion ensues about how to manage the hoards who want to play volleyball come winter.

The input ranges from a laissez-faire attitude to downright Nazi-ism.

I personally lean towards the theory of self leveling. Just keep adding teams and people until it get so crowded that players go home in disgust. A matter of 'who breaks first'.


Jim on the other hand has a tendency to want to micro manage the problem to death. Probably a managment style left over from his
employed days.


Several players have chimed in with ideas:

1. Adding more days (H-less is working on that),


2. Having a sign-up sheet for the next players after the first 24 have formed three teams. Sign-ups rotate in as there is room from attrition.


3. Having individually assigned days to play.


4. Expanding the size of teams to 12 per side.


5. Letting whatever happens, happen. A no regulation policy.

Now, let me tell you about why control won't work. Earlier this week Jim brought up an idea that we should cancel VB on Thursdays for awhile 'cause it was getting hard to have enough players show up at 11am to begin play. Oh, usually there are 6 or 7 people per side, but they straggle in, over a couple of hours. We all discussed it and the thought was, yes, it would probably force a commitment to play on Wednesdays, and we'd have enough players to start play at 11. Decision made, note put on the board.

What happened you ask?

Jim & I went shopping Thursday morning. Entering back into the park we see a game of VB in the pool! OK! So they want to play, no problem. We have learned a lesson. If the net is up, they will come.

After all is said and done, nudists are an individualistic group of adventurers, so we shouldn't be surprised that they rebel against rules.

I am putting up a VB poll. Highly unscientific, with a small sample of voters so we won't learn much. Vote anyway!

(Google may be having problems with the poll feature. If it doesn't work just think about it...or email me your thoughts.)