Quiet Day...

We worked yesterday and today. Sunday's are nice because we close at 3 so it feels like you have half of the day off. Saturday was busy and some people were crabby about having the shovel the snow from in front of their units. We set out three shovels for the tenants to use but about six people came in and demanded that we shovel the snow from in front of their door. All were women...they probably were worried they'd break a fingernail. I shoveled out several but the snow keeps sliding off the metal roof and it doesn't even look like you shoveled. One woman who wanted hers shoveled came in and said we hadn't done it but I had. Linda told her about the continuous push of snow coming off the roof but she insisted we hadn't done it. Trust me...from the way Linda's and my neck and shoulder felt last night.....we did them ! After lathering up with Tiger Balm last night, before bed, I felt pretty good this morning. That was until I got hit with an avalanche of snow from the roof while getting into one of the company units today. It was like a karate chop to the back of my neck.

We have off the next two days although we need to hang around here on Tuesday because the President of the company is coming for a site visit. We're hoping he comes here early so we don't have to wait around all day. We have a few errands to do in the area.

It has warmed up a little bit the last two days so it's helping the snow to melt. I'd love to see it keep on climbing and melt it ALL away......

Look What We Found When We Woke Up....

Oh My....what a mess we woke up to this morning. We are sure glad we got in Wednesday and got set up cause there is no way we could have done it today with all of the snow that was on-site. We figure we got around 24"...the winds were horrible blowing the snow into drifts around our rig and the storage buildings. The snowplow guy arrived around 6 a.m. and worked all day, with a little break, finally finishing up at 4:30 p.m. He was exhausted when he got done. Running out of places to put the snow as the snowbanks are so high that the plow can't push it any higher. We are hoping that this is the last snowfall of the winter !

We went out to dinner with friends tonight to Arthur's....a local restaurant. Linda had Coconut Shrimp and I had the Seafood Platter.On the way out I saw this cake in the dessert cooler. I asked the hostess about it and she said it's their Black and White Cake....it was huge !! Our friends said that it gets served on a big platter.....$15 a slice. That's some dessert !! We had a great time....a pleasant end to a day with cold, wind and just plain miserable weather.

In Ahead of The Storm

Wednesday morning we started discussing the news that the Northeast had a storm coming in at the end of the week and decided to pack up and head for New Jersey. Our site was a giant mud hole (worse than it was when we got there). Backing out was the easiest way to get off the site since there was very little space at the end of the site to make a turn (I think the guy with the van next door would have noticed if the rear half of his van was missing).

We hit a little rain but had an
uneventful trip north, which is a wonderful thing. We stopped at Linda's brother's house to pick up our car. They were kind enough to watch it for us while we were down south. Kathie had a wonderful dinner waiting for us when we arrived. After eating, I headed out for our work site to check things out...making sure we could get in and get our rig in where it needed to go. Some of the Mini U sites are very tight and impossible to navigate with our rig.. This one had ample room to make it around the end of the buildings but the space where we needed to park was really tight to get in to. Linda and the current manager tried their best to get it in as tight to the building as they could but being pinned in between buildings on three sides made it impossible to get as close as they wanted. It will work for the time we are here but when we went to hook up to the power, found that even with 60' of cord, we didn't reach. Ughhhhh!!!!! No way to get closer either. Problem is that the usual RV parking spot is where the snowplow has to push the snow off the site. Dang snow and winter anyway. Soooo....we plugged a 110 v. cord into a nearby receptacle and fed the end into our bedroom window so we could plug the heated mattress pad in on our bed and stay warm. With the severe cold and winds, there is no way the batteries would have held with the on/off of the furnace all night. We ran the furnace till the inside temp was 70, then shut the furnace off till morning and climbed into our toasty bed. When we got up at 7:00 it was 49 in the rig..Brrrrrr.... Grabbed the computer...located the closest Camping World and off we went to get another 50 amp extension cord. The roads were slippery....snowy slush on them. Took us 1.5 hours to get there (usually a 57 min trip according to GPS). Got back and plugged in....Ahhhhh....heat, lights, all the comforts of home. Just in time for the huge storm coming our way. Possibly 14" of snow and 20-40 m.p.h. winds. Yuck !! Apparently my order for springtime temps and no snow fell on deaf ears with the goddess upstairs.....

We went into work and worked a few hours today. First official day is Saturday.

Ila Grace

Yesterday we spent the day at Linda's daughter's house with the new grand baby. She is so precious ! We got to hold her, feed her and watch all of her cute expressions while she slept. Also got to see Teagan once he came home from daycare and spend time with him. Linda's youngest daughter and her partner came over after work too. We'll have a few more days here to see them before we head north to work.

Was rainy overnight so our site turned into a giant mudpit. Didn't know we had a waterfront site. Cloudy today so water is receding.....maybe I can put my boots away by the end of the day. Linda is off to a doctor's appointment while Boomer and I hold down the fort. We'll see what mischief we can get into.

It's A New Day...

Yesterday we left Walterboro, SC about 8:30 and headed out for Virginia Beach. Our GPS was telling us that we'd arrive there around 4:30. It was a gorgeous day...blue skies and light traffic. It was a pretty uneventful trip until we pulled off at the Virginia border...at the Welcome Center. I took Boomer for a walk when Linda yelled, "Come here right now". I came around the rig and she said, "All of the tread is gone off of the tire". Sure enough....it had and I never felt a thing in the handling of the rig while I was driving it. With this being a passenger side tire, no one would have seen anything going on with it either. Based on the light damage to the fender, around the tire, it appears that the tread probably came off like ribbon candy and slapped against the fiberglass.

Our first call was to the company that sold us the tire hazard policy but being a Saturday they weren't open. Linda then called the guy that sold us the policy and he was very nice and said he'd e-mail us the form to complete for reimbursement of the cost of a new tire. We've printed that form and we'll call tomorrow and put in a claim and see how that whole thing pans out.

Next we called our Good Sam Emergency roadside service folks. Derrick took all of our info and said he'd dispatch someone. Within 45 minutes Chris showed up, from nearby Rocky Mount and in 15 minute he was all done. I had gotten the spare down out of the holder in the rear of the RV, checked the tire pressure so it would be ready for the repair person. We were back on the road in exactly an hour from when we placed the call. Good Sam came through again for us ! They have been terrific to deal with anytime we've had to call them. We are SO LUCKY that we didn't have a blow-out with that tire. I think it was hanging on by a steel belt. Who knows how many more miles we could have gone on it before it would have blown out and probably taken the wheel wheel and surrounding area with it. We breathed a big sigh of relief !

Got back on the road and made it to the campground 10 minutes before they closed. The young lady, in the office, rang us up and then proceeded to draw on the campground map where our site would be. Wow, talk about over the hill and through the woods ! I asked if there was anyone who could escort us to the site since it seemed  a ways to get to it and not sure what the lighting would be like, if we could see all of the turns. The "security guard" (I use that term loosely) was sitting at a table nearby and got up and came over but didn't offer to take us to the site. So off we went....OK, we always like to get to a campground while it's still light so we can see what things look like. In this instance we would have made it if not for the tire mishap. Some warning signs to keep in mind that might make you decide to choose a different campground. If you see a large sign in the office that says: "No beer or pot parties allowed in the campground" you might want to reconsider. If there's a sign that says: "No refunds on camping fees" you might want to reconsider. If you have to drive THROUGH the RV storage lot to get to your campsite, you might want to reconsider. If you need to leave a trail of bread crumbs to find your way out, you might want to reconsider. Not that any of these are bad things...Just sayin'

The site they sent us to was in an area with no lighting and the light from the bonfire where all the people were gathered around (probably one of those beer or pot parties we were warned about) didn't throw a whole lot of light on the subject. I walked the site and blacktop approach. Now maybe it was just us, but we didn't have a good result in swinging out and hitting that landing strip. The rear tires of the truck were hanging off the blacktop and the ass end of the rig was in the mud.  Rather than risk it settling over night and not being able to reposition it in the morning I told Linda to pull out and we'd wait for daylight to try it again. We went to the parking lot, up by the office, and parked there for the night (thank god for glow in the dark bread crumbs). It got mighty cold overnight here....it was 43 in the rig when we woke up. We didn't want to run the furnace so it wouldn't pull down the batteries and then we wouldn't be able to get the dining room slide in. Linda's nephew and brother-in-law do cold weather camping....my hats are off to them. No way !

This morning we talked to the office people and since there are no refunds, they told us to go to the 50 amp area and we should have better luck with a site there. It was much better....probably will be pulling out through mud to get out (as the prior person did) but we'll get out of here. At least we will be warm...

Our Verizon air card reset last night at midnight so we can get on-line again. Linda called yesterday while we were driving and the over usage of time wasn't due to any downloads, etc. ...just time being logged on. Guess that it what happens when we're unemployed for 7 weeks....haha....time to get back to work and off the computer. We'll need to work to pay for the extra time we racked up for this next bill. Ouch !

Linda's a new grammie. Ila Grace was born around 9:30 p.m. on Friday. She is adorable and mom and baby should come home from the hospital today. We'll post some pictures soon.

It's a new day....sun is shining. We're alive and well and hope you all are doing the same. We'll be here for five more nights before we leave next Friday for work in New Jersey.

On The Move....

Yesterday we spent the day with our friend Jan. She had a doctor's appointment in the morning that we took her to and then we met up with our friend Carolyn for lunch, at Cinnamon Sticks. After lunch we went to Rutabagas, a health food store in Inverness. They had great prices on Mangosteen juice (saved $24) so we bought several bottles. After that, off to Wal-Mart to get a few things and fill up with diesel fuel.

Wednesday night we discovered that we had exceeded our monthly allowance for internet usage with our Verizon USB card so we started a "cease and desist" of all internet usage until it resets on Sunday. This post is coming to you courtesy of wireless here at the campground. Oh, that brings me to the next point. While we were at Jan's, we thought we'd check our e-mails since we can't use our computer. Lo and behold there was an e-mail from our corporate office that we need to report to work on the 27th in New Jersey. Thus creating a drastic change of plans for us. I'm writing this post from Waltersboro, SC....Green Acres RV park. Today is the day that Linda's oldest daughter was to have her baby. Our appointment, to get our RV worked on, was to have been the 24th. Our original plan was to get the rig worked on....drive up to Virginia Beach to see the new baby and hang out till we got called to our next assignment. The part about "reporting to our next assignment" got fast forwarded so we had to change our plans. We've canceled our appointment at Tri-Am and we're headed to Virginia Beach so Linda can see the her new grand-daughter Ila Grace and her kids before we need to be at work next Saturday. So, we're on the road...bound for Virgina. Should be there tomorrow evening.

Yesterday we had to take Boomer back to a vet as he is not himself at all and his face is very swollen. The vet feels that he probably has an abscessed rear tooth. He said that particular tooth has very long roots...they extend clear up to the eye. This can cause watering of the eye, which is what we saw a little of Monday evening. The vet gave us enough pain killers and antibiotics to give him some relief but we'll need to find a vet when we get to NJ so he can get the tooth x-rayed and most likely pulled. Tonight he's had his 3rd dose of the antibiotic and 2nd dose of pain meds so hopefully he's getting a little relief. He's still laying around a lot but seems a little perkier at times. We feel so sorry for the poor guy.

We're waiting for Ila Grace to come into the world. As of this writing, her mom is still in labor and I think Ila is protesting leaving her warm, cozy surroundings to come out and join us. Everyone is anxious to meet her....hope to see her soon !

Memories...

Today Linda and I watched a really interesting show on the PBS channel. It was about animals and the way they help humans. One segment of the show was how dolphins are used for training with physically and mentally impaired children. Dolphins have an inherent sense of how to interact with children, depending on the severity of their disability. They know when to be gentle, as in the case of a little boy who had some severe physical disabilities. One family, who had a little boy with a rare neurological disorder, lives in England but they make the trip to the Florida Keys every year for two weeks of dolphin therapy for their son. The father tapes the sessions so that his son can watch the tapes when they return home. The boy is mesmerized by the dolphins and has a unique connection with them that has brought him out of his world of silence and he has learned to speak. It was pretty amazing.

Another segment of the show talked about chimpanzees who live at Lion Safari in Florida. These chimpanzees were instrumental in research projects in the 60's that led to vaccinations for hepatitis and polio. Many chimps were used early on in the space program, before it was deemed safe for men to travel into space. They were shot into space and then studied once they returned to earth to learn the physiological affects on a body so similar to that of humans. A woman who was one of the researchers, and worked with these chimps, went to Lion Safari to see her old buddies. She had not seen them in 18 years. Once the research had been completed on these particular chimps, they had been moved to this facility in Florida to live out the rest of their lives. It was very touching to see how all of these chimps remembered her and greeted her return with big smiles and hugs. It was very apparent, that even after such a long time, they still remembered her. One of the oldest chimps that she visited was in the hospital when she visited. She said that he had been very instrumental in the research on hepatitis and humanity owed a lot of thanks to him for giving his life for medical science. He died two days after she visited with him.

This woman's dream was to create a place for the hundreds of other research chimps that are throughout the country and have no place to go....now that they are no longer used in the labs. She has been given 200 hundred acres in Shreveport, Louisiana to create an environment where these chimpanzees can live out the rest of their lives in their normal habitat instead of in a cage. What a wonderful thing that will be for these chimps that have given so much to mankind. Seems like the least we can do for them, don't you think ?

Boomer's Trip to Vet

Yesterday we took Boomer to the vet to get the shots he needed. The place we went to is part of a national chain. Despite having a coupon to get the exam for free, it still cost us a little over $100 for two shots and the parasite test. Linda has all of our receipts from our past visits to our vet up home and this place was considerably more expensive than our old vet. They even charge a "hazardous waste disposal fee" to discard your dog's poop that you take in to them for the parasite test. Oh brother !

As I mentioned last time, Boomer's eye was swollen and partially closed. It looked much better yesterday when he went to the vet but I had the vet look at it anyway. She said his eye was fine but perhaps it had something to do with a tooth or his jaw and to keep an eye on it. If he continued to have swelling, it would require an x-ray to see what the problem was. The woman vet was nice but I wasn't real crazy about the technicians. They needed to take Boomer's temperature before giving him a vaccination and I told them that he'd never had his temp taken ever but they insisted it had to be done. He had the same reaction to them trying to insert that thermometer as he does to getting his nails trimmed....pandemonium ! Finally I told them to "skip it" as someone was gonna get hurt. The tech got kind of snippy and said she couldn't "skip it" as he can't have a vaccination if he has a fever. By the time the woman vet came in, he was all out of sorts and didn't want any one near him...no way..no how. She was able to get his temp, after much coaxing and soothing and bribing him with treats. She was worried he would be prancing around too much to inject him with the vaccinations so she called a woman in to help her. Luckily it was a different one than the one I dealt with earlier. For some reason they felt it necessary to give him the shots in his butt after all the hoopla of JUST chasing him around with a thermometer for that same part of his anatomy. Our other vet always would grab the loose skin on the top of his neck and inject him here without any problems from Boomer. Poor Boomer felt like he was being assaulted from all ends yesterday and he didn't like any of it. His annual check-ups have always been hassle free but these people don't seem to "have the canine touch". They certainly know how to jack up someone's bill for their visit though. When I first got in the room with him they asked if I wanted him to have a heartworm test. I asked her how much it was. "I'll have them work that up for you". In she came with a whole litany of possible tests that he could/should have and the associated charge. All said and done, if I'd had all of those tests done, it would have come to $380 !! Yep, they are real big on up selling....and to think it only cost us $102 (and the exam was free). Don't think we'll be going back to that place.

Boomer still has swelling today. Seems a bit lethargic but I imagine his butt might be sore and maybe he has some discomfort under his eye. He doesn't seem to have any pain when I press on it and we've looked at his teeth and gums and they are fine. Not sure what it could be but we'll keep an eye on him.

Trip To The Dog Park

While we were at the clubhouse Sunday, watching the NASCAR race, a lady came up and asked if I was "one of the Linda's". I said "Yes, I am". Apparently Linda had told someone that we were looking for a dog park and this woman wanted to give us info on a dog park she had found. The weather report said it was going to be a nice day today so Linda and I wanted to take Boomer to the dog park so he could run and get some exercise.

As we learned from one of the guys at the park, this park is pretty new. It was located near Spring Hill, in a suburban section of town. The rotary club had built it and there are several different sections, based on the size of the dogs. Boomer's weight categorizes him as a large dog but compared to the dogs in that area today, he was small. It must have been Great Dane Day at the park as there were four or five Great Danes there and Boomer was very small in comparison to them. He found one or two dogs to run with but the Danes stayed together in their own little group (thank goodness). As we were walking back through the park to a picnic table a boxer approached a man that was sitting there and jumped up on him. When we got closer to this gentleman, we saw that this dog had cut his forearm with his toe nails. It left a pretty long gash so Linda went to the truck and got our first aid kit and bandaged his arm up. It was a good thing we had some gauze and disinfectant wipes with us as this guys arm was bleeding and needed protection from germs and dirt in the area. He was thankful for her help.

When Boomer started hiding under the table from some of the dogs, we could tell he had enough and wanted to go home. It wasn't until we got home that we noticed his one eye seems swollen and isn't open as far as the other one. I've wiped it several times with a wet, warm washcloth but we'll see how it looks in the morning. We can't see any scratches or any problem with it but perhaps one of the dogs scratched him when they were roughhousing at the park. When we first arrived down here we had researched vets in the area as Boomer missed getting two of his shots, which we typically get done in Williamsport over the Christmas holiday. Since we didn't make it home for the holidays he didn't get to go to his regular vet for his annual checkup so we called this afternoon and made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon for him. That way he can get his shots and if his eye is still bothering him, we can get that looked at. We're hoping it's nothing serious....he's such a sweet guy. He doesn't act like he's in any discomfort but something isn't "right" with him....he's a little clingy and wants a lot of lap time. Tomorrow we'll get him fixed up and if he's OK we'll go back to the park after our appointment and let him run some more. Maybe this time we'll sneak him into the little dog side and let him run with the zippy Jack Russell's and the other ones that aren't as aggressive.

Undercover Boss

There is a new show on CBS called Undercover Boss. CEO's from top companies go undercover within their organizations to see how their companies are being run and to see if there are improvements that can be made to make them better. Tonight's segment was on Hooters, a worldwide restaurant chain. It was interesting to watch this episode, having spent thirty plus years in the food industry. I've never stepped foot in a Hooters restaurant because I think it is degrading to women and based on the lawsuits over the years, they have discriminatory hiring practices.

The CEO, Coby Brooks went undercover at several of their restaurants in Texas. Mr. Brooks stepped into the role of CEO when his father appointed him to the position (having not discussed it with him prior to the announcement). The assignments that he took on, over the one week that he was undercover, was that of assistant manager, entry level kitchen worker, worker in the processing plant and marketing team member. As part of the marketing team, he went out on the street with the marketing team to find out what people thought of Hooters. Two women told him that they felt the restaurant was degrading to women and they'd never bring their daughters into a place like that. Ya think ? And he seemed very surprised by those revelations. When the "Hooter girls" are given t-shirts as their uniform, they are available in sizes from extra small to small. Hmmmm.... The manager at one of the stores was trying to decide what waitresses to send home, due to business slowing down on their shift. The manager held "reindeer games", which involved a contest to determine which one of the waitresses could eat a plate of baked beans the fastest with their hands behind their backs. How degrading ! The CEO, Mr. Brooks was really upset by this manager's action and at the end of the show admonished the manager and told him that he needed to publicly apologize to his staff for his actions. What do you think the patrons of that restaurant thought as the contest took place in that restaurant ? Probably the same as I feel about this restaurant chain. Nothing I saw tonight changed my mind.

The last place the CEO visited was to the processing plant where the sauces and dressings are made for the chain. He had worked there as a young man but had not visited there much since his father's death. His father's office was at the processing facility and his father was often seen walking throughout the plant, talking to the employees about their families and their jobs. This CEO, heavily disguised with a beard cover, safety glasses and a hat over his hair, worked with a young man who was filling buckets with wing sauce. While chatting with the employee, he discovered that morale had declined in the plant due to the boss's lack of interaction with the employees. The employees didn't feel that he cared about them and it had affected morale. I found out, firsthand as a supervisor, how important morale and keeping a connection with all of your employees is to having a cohesive, productive work environment. When I first started as a food service director, and had only one unit to oversee, I made it a point to walk through the facility every morning and talk to the workers. As our operations grew and more and more units were added to our department, I did not always have the time to walk around to talk to everyone in the units on a daily basis. This bothered the workers to the point that they called Human Resources and told them about it. Back then I found it frustrating that I had to discuss this with HR but in looking back on it, I realize that my discussions with my employees made a real connection with them and that they missed that interaction and direct contact with me. It truly makes a difference in your staff and I once again made it a point to get out to all the units, at least weekly, to talk to the people who were "the face of our business".  I think that Mr. Brooks learned how important that interaction is when he visited the processing plant and hopefully he'll try to visit there more often.

While he's at it, with positive changes and all...he might want to have a sanitation course for his employees. I found it really disgusting that the kitchen workers, who were prepping chicken wings one minute, took out the garbage the next minute and never removed their aprons as they slung the yucky bags of garbage into the compactor. Ewwwww....And if you could have seen how gross those kitchen floors were after a busy spell....Oh My... I think a little more emphasis should be placed on clean, sanitary facilities than on making sure the "Hooter Girls" have their make-up on, hair styled, nice tight shirt in place, etc. And as far as helping your sagging sales in a slow economy....sadly I'm sure there will always be a steady stream of testosterone driven young (and old) men at their door to buy wings and beer. Such was a week at Hooter's....next week it's 7-Eleven. Wonder what wonderful things we'll learn about Slurpies....

Vroom Vroom.....

Didn't do much of anything today. Linda's nephew is out in Las Vagas for a pyrotechnics show (Winter Blast) and our friends Bobbie and Jim are nearby so they are going to see the fireworks display tonight. Last night her nephew, Bryan, put on the opening act and posted a video of it on Facebook and it was really cool. We can't wait  to hear or see how the show tonight goes.

Really hoping it will warm up a little here. Today I had shorts on but when we went up to the clubhouse, it was pretty chilly. We went up to the clubhouse to check out what channels the TV there gets. We were hoping to watch some of the Nationwide race today, to see how Danica Patrick did, but they don't get ESPN on their TV. They do, however, get FOX, so that is where we will watch tomorrow's Daytona 500. There are two comfy recliners right in front of the TV that have our names all over them for 1:00 p.m...Ha ! Friends of ours have kidded us that we need to "come into the 21st century" and break down and get satellite TV. Believe you me I've researched it to death.....Several folks around us have VuQubes....the portable, automatic satellite dishes that you can take anywhere. They love them and said they got a great deal at the Tampa RV show. This is probably the type of system that we'll go with when we do get something. Lord knows if we get a dish that needs to be aligned to a satellite, it won't be as easy as some make it appear. Would probably be a "divorce maker" and it's not worth it so we'll go the easy route and get one that does all the aligning for us. We'll get something in the near future.We're just waiting to see when we get back to work and get a paycheck coming in on a regular basis again. We're not dying without it....we've lived three and a half years without relying on cable and one off these days we'll get it again. That's why tomorrow you'll find us at the clubhouse when the flag drops......

Summary of the Week

I forgot to mention that on Tuesday morning we went to Denny's for their free breakfast. All the waitstaff had these t-shirts on which we thought were cute. The line, outside the restaurant, wasn't too long so we only had to wait about 15 minutes before we got in. The couple that was ahead of us in line was the same couple we had chatted with last year for this same event. Weird, huh ? Inside they were a lot more organized than they had been last year and we waited just a few minutes for our free Grand Slam. There was a balloon artist making neat animals out of balloons while people waited for their food. It was a fun event and hey, ya can't beat free food.

I mentioned in an earlier post about the cranes here in the park and the day after I put that post on,I realized my error in calling them whooping cranes because we went to the bird sanctuary and got to see Sand Hill cranes, like we have here, at their facility. Our friend Cindy let us know about the mistake...Anyway, there is one missing and I'm worried that something has happened to it. There is only one wandering around now...Don't know where the other one went to. Hoping nothing bad has happened. Is this the time of year for sitting on a nest or raising young ? Guess I need to study up on sand hill cranes.

Today we took our friend Jan to the hospital to get some blood work done. By the time she finished up there it was around noontime and since she had to fast for her test and we drove her to the hospital, none of us had eaten and we were starving. We went to Cinnamon Sticks and had breakfast. I had french toast stuffed with a strawberry cream cheese mixture. Very good ! We got our bellies full, got some propane and came on home.

In an earlier post I spoke of the windmills that are going up near my mom in Pennsylvania. Well, I heard on the news the other night that the new clean energy initiative (which I think is great) is not creating jobs in the US but that 80% of the money is going to companies overseas to build these products. Grrrrr......How is that going to create jobs here ? The news report said it was congress's fault because no specific provisions were put in the energy bill that the materials/jobs, etc. should be "American". Come On, Congress...get with it ! Isn't that the point of trying to jump start our economy and "create" jobs in our country....not send all our money to China so they can send the manpower and equipment back to us ? Duh !!

It's been chilly here...in the 50's. Tonight they are expecting 1-3" of snow through the panhandle area of Florida. Safe here...whew ! Friends and family up north are saying it's horrible up there. High winds and lots of snow. Oh no, I just heard where there is a possibility of ANOTHER storm next week for these same areas. And to think that Vancouver has had to truck snow in for the Olympics....they didn't have enough snow on the slopes. Hah...Maybe they need to move the Olympics to Maryland.

Bored.....

Ok, now we're starting to get a wee bit bored. Linda talked to our home office and nothing looming on the horizon for us so they told us to enjoy ourselves and just hang out. Been doing that for just about a month now and we're getting antsy.

We will continue to hang around since we still have our appointment at Tr-Am RV Center on the 24th. I have the phone number for the local Habitat build going on in Dade City so want to call them and see if you can check it out or even help them out while we are here. It's not too far away so would be neat to see how it all comes together. Once we get our rig worked on we'll probably head north as Linda's new grand-daughter will have arrived in Virginia Beach and she'll want to go spend some time with her daughter and the new baby. As of today's ultra sound, Ila is almost 6 pounds...just ten days before she'll arrive. Linda is excited to see her ! We're hoping that the snow that Virginia Beach got last week will be gone soon and that no more arrives before or once we get there. No sirree, no snow is allowed once we start northward. Only springtime temps. :)

Cool temps arriving overnight....temps will only be in the mid 50's tomorrow. We definitely have it better than our families up north. They are bracing for more snow. Schools have been canceled in some areas already for tomorrow....poor kids will be making up school days into the middle of summer after this winter. Yuck ! Well, off to bed for us.....see y'all tomorrow.

Weekend is Over....

On Saturday we went to our friend Jan's house and spent some time with her. We ran to the store and got some groceries. Picked up some crab legs that were on sale ($4.99/lb - wow !) and went back to her place and cooked them up...melted some butter...Yummy !! Boy, were they good.

Sunday we watched the Super Bowl. I thought the game was going to be a runaway in the Colts' favor initially but then in the second half, the Saints came alive. What a great second half it was and it was so exciting to see them win and bring the victory home to New Orleans. Linda and I still think about our time in New Orleans a month before Katrina hit and how much the city has changed as a result of that devastating hurricane. I wish I could find the pics that we took of the city back then. It would be fun to look at them again.

Today we did laundry, hung out around here and then left to take Jan to her doctor's appointment. She had a follow-up appt. so the doctor could see how she is recovering from her cold. She still has some lingering sinus stuff going on but is on the mend. We're glad to see her better...it's been a long, slow recovery.

Weather is cool at night....high 30's this morning when we awoke. Got up to almost 70 today. Rain moving in tomorrow afternoon but temps through the week should be in the high 60's. Better here than in the northeast where they are expecting another big snow storm. Oh my....how I'm glad we aren't up there right now. We'll enjoy this weather as long as we can.

Exploring The Area...

Yesterday we drove over to Old Town to check it out. It had been 10 years since I'd been there last. Best time to visit must be on a Saturday evening as it was really dead for mid-day on a Thursday. Thursday is bike night so probably later in the evening there would be a large number of bikes there to look at but none when we were there. A sign said the largest number of bikes they've had was 1275....not too bad.

This switchboard was in the General Store. My
great aunt was a switch board operator at one point.

When we left the Kissimmee area we decided to take rt 50 west back towards Bushnell. If you think that all of Florida is heavily populated, it isn't. We drove through some very barren areas of nothing but fields and very few houses. Not what I would typically think of for Florida. We drove to Weeki Wachee area, along the coast. They boast that they are the only town with real live mermaids...yep, sure. Drove out to a park area so we could catch a glimpse of the water and then headed home. It made for a very nice drive through the non-touristy areas of Florida. Boomer loved riding with his head out the window, breathing in all the smells and seeing the cows grazing in the fields as we drove by.

Today we wanted to check out the Florida National Cemetery that we keep seeing signs for. It's very close to our RV park and as soon as we drove in we could tell it was going to be a gigantic place. We picked up literature at the visitor center and found out that this particular one has been open since 1988 and is the second most active national cemetery of all of them. They do 7000 burials a year here. It is a cemetery for those who served in the military for at least 24 months and is completely free for the veteran and his spouse. The plot, marker, opening of the grave and perpetual care is completely free to the family. This facility is huge...there's 517 acres here.

Open areas for today's burials (by cremation)

They have services on the half hour but services can only be held at committal shelters throughout the cemetery. There are no graveside services. There were a number of groups gathering at various locations throughout the cemetery for these services to take place...it was very busy. I've always heard of Arlington as a National Cemetery but didn't realize there are so many others. There are seven of them in Florida, serving 1.9 million Florida veterans. It was a dignified and fitting burial place for those who have served our country.
On the way back to the RV park we went to the Wild Cow cemetery to see what that was all about. In the shadow of I-75's overpass, there is this little, old cemetery with only about a dozen plots in it.I was glad to see that it wasn't a final resting place for wild cows, as I thought that would be a rather extravagant gesture. The majority of the headstones are very old....most around a hundred years old....weather worn, with that ornateness that you see on ancient headstones. There was a recent plot, a woman who passed away in 2007 and would have been around 54 years old. She must have had a fondness for this place...tucked away at the end of a dirt road, under a canopy of oak trees.

It's now raining...a cold front is moving in from the coast. The area where we were yesterday in Weeki Wachee was an area of concern a short while ago when a tornado warning was posted...Our area is under the watch until 8 p.m. tonight. Linda went up to the club house around 2:00 to watch the last hour of the "Jam Session" - when musicians gather to play and sing together. She said the place was crowded and it was a good time. Now we're hanging out at the house while it pours outside. Gonna be a quiet night..

Cinnamon Sticks

Today we met our friends Carolyn and Roy at a restaurant in Inverness for lunch. Cinnamon Sticks is known for its home-made meals and every time Linda and I have gone there, they are packed. Linda and Carolyn had the lunch special....pot roast. Roy had the Soprano sandwich which was gigantic. There were several types of meat piled high on a bread that looked like sourdough, with provolone cheese and a special sauce. Wow, was that thing huge. Roy could only finish half of it and the rest was destined for a later meal. I had the veggie panini with fresh cut fries. It was very good. Linda and Carolyn also tried the 15 bean soup, which created lots of oohs and aahs from them as they ate it. The food was great, the company outstanding. We laughed about "Rv'ing antics" and had a great time. We're making plans to meet their again before we leave the area.

After lunch Linda and I went to check on our friend Jan. She looks much better and sounds better until she starts coughing. The sidewalk out in front of her apartment was all ripped up and they were building forms today to put in a new sidewalk. Should look pretty spiffy once they get it all done. We've always been impressed with her housing development and how nice things look there. They seem to really try hard to keep everything looking nice....from fresh asphalt in the parking lot recently and now new sidewalks leading to the tenants entrances. I'm anxious to see how it looks when we go back in a few days.

Rain continued through the morning hours but finally subsided around mid-day. No known plans for tomorrow. We're thinking about going to Old Town on Thursday.

Let's Save $734 million...

Our friend Vicki sent us an e-mail with an excellent idea for trimming money out of the President's proposed budget. There's so much controversy over the full body scanners and whether they are an "invasion of our privacy". There's a much easier solution to the whole airport security problem and you won't have to take anything off. We'll just have everyone walk, one by one, with all their luggage through a detonation booth to see if they are carrying any explosives. Don't have to worry about your civil liberties with a frisk...they'll merely activate any live explosives and the problem will be solved.

Bump In The Road

Originally the weather forecast said that rain was going to be here this afternoon. We left, for the Webster Flea Market this morning around 10:30. While driving there my phone rang and turns out it was the repair shop calling...the place we were supposed to take our rig on Wednesday. Seems the main mechanic there went in the hospital over the weekend and won't be back to work for several weeks. UGH !! Can you believe it ? Unbelievable but there has been a full moon out and ya know that things go awry when there's a full moon. So.....we called Tri-Am RV Center, in Ocala and scheduled an appt there only we can't get in till Feb. 24th. Great, huh ? We had called them previously when we learned that the RV tech couldn't handle this large a job but they couldn't get us in till Feb 15th....guess we should have put ourselves on the schedule then. Now it'll be even later unless we get a call from our work to ship out to a new assignment and then we'll leave without getting the repairs completed. I think the thing that is really disappointing is that when Linda originally called Peterson Industries, our manufacturer, on the day the tech was here a guy in the service dept said he would do some calling around and see who might be able to get us in to work on the problem. You'll be surprised to know (or not)that we didn't get a call back from him. I feel like now that the original bumper to bumper warranty has expired, owners are left on their own to fend for themselves. Either that or that customer service isn't what it used to be in this business. Neither reason is acceptable. Businesses can make or break their business with the customer loyalty that they create. Pointing a customer in the direction of another service center is a reasonable expectation from a manufacturer.

In the meantime, we're hangin' out here. A lot of rain coming in this week. The weather man says it's an El Nino year which means rain comes in every five days. We're planning to go over to Old Town sometime this week which should be fun. I was there ten years ago and I really liked all the unique shops and the setting. Just need to time it right to get there in between rainy spells. We'll post more on that once we get there..