Counting our Blessings

Just for your information:  Cows release some one hundred million TONS of hydrocarbon annually, by releasing gas.  To give you an idea of how much gas a cow emits; if the gas of ten cows could be captured - just 10 - it would provide heating for a small house for an entire year.  This sounds like an opportunity to me.  Honey, can we get a cow?

Country Tonight was the regular show for the first half, but after the intermission, the Christmas part kicked in and it was really beautiful and Christmasy.  Glad we went one more time. 

Monday was departure day for Donna and Ron.  Sad faces all around, but 6 weeks will go faster than 6 months and we will see them again in S. Padre Island in January if all goes to according to plan. One blessing...

Tuesday was our Jeep travel day to Raleigh, NC, but we weren't expecting much traffic, so we didn't leave until 9 am.  The whole drive was uneventful, but the traffic was a little heavier than expected.  We arrived in time for dinner to our daughter, Mandy's home just after dark.  It was so great to see the kids again.  We hadn't seen them or Gary's mom since Memorial Day and they had grown again!  Jack is now 7 and in second grade and Ainsley is 4 and in preschool. 

Jack has a BB gun and Gary brought his BB pistol and they spent the next afternoon hitting the target and knocking cans over.  Can you see the can falling?  Then Gary helped Ainsley put on her new nail polish with sparkles and glitter.

There was lots of preparation for Turkey day as 18 people would be sharing a meal with us, so two pies and black raspberry bars were made for dessert.  The turkey was ready to go in after Joe and Mandy participated in the Turkey Trot, a 5 K race for MS.  Here they are with their TT shirts, and happy with their finish time.  Proud blessings.

We cooked the turkey, made mashed potatoes, made a table centerpiece with a pumpkin or two:

When the guests arrived we ate and ate till we busted, took some photos and then relaxed.  Mandy and Joe do not waste time.  They are always busy, and on Black Friday, Mandy was up and gone by 7:30, while I took my time getting up.  When she came home around 10, we were ready for Gary to drop us off at the mall, while Joe took the kids to his dad's nursery to choose a Christmas tree.  By the time we got home, it was up and watered so he could go out hunting for deer.  Here's Ainsley helping mom decorate it.  Precious blessings.

Gary was a happy camper:  he had breakfast at Bruegger's on Wednesday, Thanksgiving Day, Friday for lunch and on our way home.  The boy loves his bagels, fortunately, so does Jack.  Fun blessings.

On saturday we needed to check out the Bull Chute for western wear and Jack wanted to go too.  He tried on his first cowboy boots and hat.  Cute little dude.  We didn't buy, just looked.  I did get all my Christmas shopping done for the Raleigh crowd - hooray!  A couple of blessings.

By the time we arrived back at Mandy's, the whole outside was decorated with bows and wreaths, and later that night we went to visit our dear friends, Dick and Diane Auxer.  I worked with Dick in 1998 for a few years and we became good friends.  We always make it a point to visit when we're in Raleigh.  More blessings.

Joe went hunting, so missed our Ruby Tuesday dinner out on Saturday night.  I wish we could be with our families for Christmas, but at least we will get to see them before we leave for the West.  We're hoping they can come out to visit us for some fun times on a school break perhaps.

Sunday came all too soon, and bad weather is forecasted for west Tennessee - with snow and ice!  We scooted home, but took a detour to see my Mom and Dad's old house in Columbus, NC.  It was sold in 2005 and is for sale again!  (Just a little curious to know what the asking price is.)  Entering Tennessee we decided to take a shortcut onto the Foothills Parkway where we took this picture of the Smokies from yet another angle.  We love the Smokies and we will return someday.  They wiggled into our hearts.

Before I could get my camera ready, we saw a bear foraging for his Thanksgiving leftovers,  but we didn't see any more.  After 9 hours on the road, we entered our campground driveway.  Home sweet home.  Bella looked good from the outside, but when we entered we heard a warning beep.  Something was wrong with the fridge.  It was flashing a 'no AC' 'no FL' warning.  Huh?  The inside was cold, the frozen food was still frozen, so we were perplexed.  The power hadn't gone off, and we had propane.  Gary checked the AC connection, the fuses and other stuff while I asked our neighbor, Graham, to come and take a look.  He brought his current detector tool, and everything checked out OK.  We messed around, checked the manual, and got it to run on LP for tonight.  I'll call Norcold tomorrow to see if they can help.  We are supposed to leave for Florida on Tuesday, but you know, the best laid plans get messed up, but plans made in pencil just get erased.  Hopefully we can figure this out and not have to call an RV repairman. 

So as not to use any propane, we had soup and toast for dinner.  It will be so good to sleep in our own bed, but we sure had a great time in Raleigh!  Thank you, dear daughter and family.  You are our best blessings.

Getting Ready to Go

Yesterday morning was drizzly and C-O-L-D (at least for Floridians).  We waited until afternoon to work in the 'yard' vacuuming the basement and washing chairs, the bird seeder, the rug and the grill.  We put them in the sun to dry while we had a little lunch.

After lunch I wanted to take a few photos of the solution to our sewer hose dilemma.  When we arrived in April, it was a long way from the valve to the sewer outlet.  And it went uphill.  We used our little accordion hose holder, but the weight of the grey water kept forcing the hose off the holder.  Anyway, when Ron arrived he saw the problem and solved it like this:

Yes, those are rocks near the outlet as the holder is too short to make it to the top of the outlet.  This ingenious idea is a 4 inch PVC pipe cut in half lengthwise and hollowed out on the end like so:

This allows the pipe to get right up to the elbow.  So at our daughter's house, we will use our son-in-law's saw to do just this.  But how to fit it into the Jeep?  Cut the halves in half again.  Then they will fit in our coach easier and we can use up to four pieces if needed.  Brilliant!

We were wet and muddy, and it was time to head inside to make dinner for Ron and Donna tonight.  I chose a crockpot meal recipe, but didn't know it used the crockpot until I read the whole recipe.  It was 4:30, but if I put it on high, it would be ready by 6:30 or so.  No problem.  I threw all kinds of stuff in the pot, boiled some angel hair and ta-da, dinner was ready. 

After dinner we talked about gate guarding again, weighing the pros and cons.  Personally I am looking forward to doing whatever I want whenever I want for weeks.  Donna is scared of the snakes, and Gary is a little wary of 'travelling Mexicans'.  Ron is fine with it.  Donna and Ron have done this before filling in for a couple who had cancelled last minute.  Our hesitation is of course Gary's treatments.  We don't know if he will still be having them, and if he is, a center will be far away from where we will be parked.  We don't even know where we will be parked at this point, and won't know until we are ready to start work in March.  Then we will be assigned a gate, and probably not with Ron and Donna.  But hopefully we could be.  Even if we are, we will probably be a few miles apart.  We'll keep you posted.  Right now we need to fill in the application, take tests and get finger printed.


Friday was treatment day, so we went through that.  It was a long morning waiting though so we didn't get out until noon.  We found out that our Physician's Assistant, Sonya, had been the greeter belle at Dixie Stampede for years.  We're glad she decided to go into medicine - she's a sweetheart here, too.  We stopped at Walmart to drop off prescriptions and pick up some more phone minutes.  Although we'd like smart phones, we opted for Tracfones.  You buy the phone with double the minutes for life for $30, and purchase minutes when you need them.  This works out to about $40 per month for 400 minutes and lasts about a month depending on how many people I talk to.  We have internet and text available on the phone if we need it, but that uses up more minutes .  For as long as we've been on the east coast, we've never had no signal, but I'm sure that will change once we head out west.  So far, so good.

Saturday was a work day for me at the office, and six people came in - two couples for a tent site!  Brrrrr - too cold for me!  Gary did some more work on the coach, checking fluids and batteries, etc.  We are checking our departure list daily to make sure we will be ready to go.  Five o'clock came around finally, and I locked up and headed home.  The CG owner assured me that I'd have a job next year if we chose to come back.  Nice to know that I can use her as a reference.  We had a little dinner and tried to make some more plans in pencil, then headed to bed.

Sunday we woke up and wanted Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  It's down the parkway some, right next to Krispy Kreme Donuts - and the HOT NOW sign was lit!  First time we've ever seen it lit up!  Did we want donuts before breakfast??  Noooo.  I might as well have just smeared them on my hips.    Cracker Barrel was delicious and we did some Christmas shopping, too!

Since that put us in the shopping mood (much to the chagrin of the boys) Gatlinburg was our next stop.  We enjoy parking in the Welcome Center and having the Trolley drive us into the center of town.  We walked on the far side of the street and the arts and crafts stores had some delectable items.  A little more shopping done, we decided we needed a cheap lunch at McDonald's.  The McChicken sandwich for $1 is plenty big and just the right price.  The boys did a lot of sitting on benches as we walked around and around looking and buying. 

As soon as we got home, we put away our new purchases and our neighbor, Kelly, came over to ask if we were ready to have our fingerprints done for our gate guarding job.  Kelly is a retired Police Detective from California and offered to help.  It was fun and very messy, and we appreciate Kelly's expertise enormously. 

After a quick dinner we are going to see Country Tonight's Christmas show.  We'll let you know how that was tomorrow.  

Another great day in the Smokies.  We will really miss those beautiful mountains, but look forward to some bigger ones!   Thanks for visiting!

Dixie Stampede and New Friends

Monday was a work day at the campground office and it was windy and cloudy all day.  It is so slow here that I had three phone calls all day and made one reservation.  A lot of people choose the weekdays to travel so we had 8 checkouts this morning.  Gary and I choose to travel  Mondays through Thursdays, too; the traffic being a little lighter after the morning rush hour.  We plan to leave this campground on the 29th if the weather is good.  If not, we have a couple days leeway before we have to be in Florida on December 5th.  Travelling over mountains demands good weather, doncha know. 

We're very excited to get back home (home meaning warm weather, palm trees and the beach).  But we don't plan to stay very long.  Just a few million things to do, and then we'll be on our way to TEXAS!  We don't know where we'll be spending Christmas this year,but it will be the first one we've ever had without family. 

Tuesday was a better day to return my wedding outfit that I didn't use, and everyone sat in the Jeep while I ran into two stores and convinced the salesgirls to please take them back.  They were both understanding and gave me a refund.  Of course we were hungry again and since it was a cool day decided on our favorite sandwich/soup shop McAlister's.  After a really good feed, we returned to Stage West western wear so we could check out belts and stuff.  A company named Justin makes western wear and Donna and Ron got a cool belt and buckle with Justin printed on it for their grandson, Justin.  He will be the envy of all in school.

After that, we headed home to rest for Dixie Stampede's Christmas show.  It had started raining, so Gary dropped us off at the front door, and got to park just 25 yards away near the buses.  The place was jammed - every seat was taken and for a good reason.  The show was great as it had a lot more Christmas in it including sheep, goats, donkeys and three Wiseman camels!  There were the regular games with the audience: kids chasing chickens, and dads throwing toilet seat covers as giant horseshoes to determine whether the North or the South pole teams were winning.  Since you eat dinner completely with your hands (no utensils) sometimes it's impossible to applaud.  Therefore you stamp your feet - thus Dixie Stamp-ede.  It was a lot of fun and we got out around 8 but stopped at the French's Boot store to check out their footwear.  Gary found another pair he liked but we didn't buy them - that 10% tax is tough to swallow.

Donna and Ron's neighbors Judy and Norm Black from Texas came to visit on Wednesday around lunch time.  They moved from California to Tennessee a few years ago as a retirement place and love it.  We talked and talked, ate subs, talked some more, went to No Way Jose's for dinner, returned home and we said goodnight. 

Judy and Norm and us

Thursday Ron had to work in the CG office instead of Sunday and I only have a few days left to work there, too.  I can't believe how fast 7 months has gone, but April does seem like a hundred years ago.  When having fun...doncha know.   Friday we will return our outfits to Wardrobe and turn in our ID cards to Dollywood.  We don't know if we'll be back, but the Smokies have gotten into our blood.  It was a good experience working for Dollywood, and I'm glad we did it just to see the Smokies and the beautiful area of East Tennessee.

We are looking forward to getting back on the road, visiting Grandchildren and our children before heading west and brand new adventures.  Stay with us!

Over the Bump in the Road

Wednesday we watched the CMA awards and were surprised at a few winners, but generally enjoyed the show.  Didn't line dance after all.  Gary was doing well and enjoyed humming along.  I asked him if he could play some country on his guitar and he said he would try. 

Thursday we did a little work around the coach and then followed Donna over to Dollywood for a day of shows.  It promised to be chilly with a high of only 54, but the sun was out and in our first line up for Christmas on Ice, a little butterfly landed on Ron's hat and Donna for got her hat so made one out of the program.  Smart girl!

The show was very good, the cast from NY and there was real ice on the stage.  We saw the Appalacian Christmas, also great using a few of the singers from the award winning show "Dreamland Drive-in" that we saw this summer.  Very entertaining.  Then we had lunch/dinner at Aunt Granny's all you can eat buffet.  It was Thanksgiving Dinner early!  Turkey, and all the sides that were delicious.  We saw Santa there (who is actually one of our CG residents) handing out candycanes and entertaining young and old alike. 

On to  the train!  It was a 20 minute ride around Dolly property with little shacks and outhouses all in lights.  I didn't have my Canon with me, so because we were moving, they photos didn't come out well.  But these did:

The sun was setting, and soon we would be able to see all the lights, so we headed to one more show, Christmas in the Smokies, also very nice.  When we came out, it was dark and the first thing we saw was this tree that literally sparkled.  We took a video, too.

Truly beautiful.  And this one that had long ice cicles that 'dripped'.  A light traveled the length of the 'icecicle' then started over.  Really unique and we loved them.  They are OK for a large tree, but not our teeny one.

It was time for the parade, which is very short and mostly floats and we enjoyed it while purchasing tickets to Dixie Stampede for Tuesday night.  Gary did really well, except he did not dress warm enough.  (I told him so, nag that I am).  We cozied up in bed with hot chocolate and thought about Friday. 

Set the alarm, and get out by 8:15 heading for the Cancer Center to see the Docs.  First, they were impressed with Gary's face progress - yay.  They were not so impressed with his blood clot, but we had seen improvement.  The blood test revealed that his blood was not thin enough yet, so they increased the Warfarin, and tried to say no treatment.  But Gary said he felt great except for the pain in his elbow, so after checking the white count, said OK, let's rock.  He got hooked up and we had breakfast from Chic-Fil-A. chicken minis, and I had oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts.  Yummy.

He felt a little tired, so we came home and he rested so that we could go see the Smith Family show again.  Donna and I were planning to hit the mall to return some things, but the traffic was horendous.  Of course, we forgot it was Veteran's Day and everyone was off.  So we stopped at Sonic for a late lunch then headed home to get ready to go out.  We expected more of a Christmas show, but there were only a few trees, and only a few carols sung.  Not so impressed. 

Saturday I had to work, and it was a slow day.  Brenda was leaving for business on the west coast Sunday morning, and was not planning to return until after we left, so we had to see Larry and her one more time.  Calhoun's was jammed, so we waited at the bar for 45 minutes, and then had a great delicious meal enjoying each other's comany.  Hugs goodbye, promises of staying in touch, and we headed home and hung out at Ron's for a little while.  I felt like I was getting a cold, so dosed up on Nyquil and Vicks.

Sunday was cloudy, windy but a warm 64 degrees.  Time to start getting ready to leave in a couple weeks.  Start at the top, so that meant I climbed up to wash the roof.  It was filthy because we are parked under two trees for 7 months.  But now it sparkles (well, nearly).  While I was up there, I was noting places that needed a little more caulking and anything broken or missing.  Since our coach is a 2003, fiberglass covers are getting a little brittle, and I actually cracked a piece on a vent cover.  So tomorrow, Gary is going to get up there and caulk before we wash and wax her.  Ooooh, I'm just a little sore...but a job well done.  When we get to Florida, we will need to wash the roof of the house - oh, joy!

A woman's work is never done, right?

Coming Home

Sunday I arrived at the hospital to find Gary in good spirits, but bored.  He was still receiving round the clock antibiotics and warfarin (yes, rat poison).  There wasn't a whole lot of improvement, so by Monday he asked about getting out.  His doctor agreed as long as we agreed to use Lovenox (injections into his tummy) to hurry the blood thinning.  That was a new experience for me, but it wasn't difficult.  He was very brave even though my hands were shaking just a little. 

Discharge is a lengthy procedure, so it was 6:30 when we left the hospital.  A stop at Walmart to pick up drugs, and off to home where Ron was picking up pizza for all of us.  Donna was not feeling well, so they decided to eat in their place and then she'd put on a mask to come and visit.  We visited about an hour and 1/2 and then Gary's yawns gave the signal to head home.

Tuesday dawned bright and beautiful, but we slept in a little.  Donna and Ron went to see a production of Fiddler on the Roof with friends for the day, so we decided to start our engine and let it run to get the oil and diesel circulating and mess around sorting, cleaning and thinking about things in general.


There's lots to think about as fulltimers in general.  But with health challenges, it is even more think-provoking.  I'm not sure if most fulltimers have lots of freedom to go and do whatever whenever, but right now, we are tied to medical schedules and Doctor schedules.  Not what we planned when we started out 19 months ago.  It has been a sure test of our resolve to have this lifestyle.  We were, I'm pleased to say, smart not to give up our house.  If we need to stay in Florida for a while or forever, we can do that.  But I'd be just as happy to park our motorhome for an extended time and live in it.  We figure that we don't need anything a house can give us that we don't have in our motorhome.  But time will tell, and at least we have a choice.


Wednesday I made pancakes for breakfast which were not only delicious, but gave me energy to get up on our roof to get the last of the leaves off the slide toppers and from around the heat pumps/air conditioners.  The roof is really filthy and needs a good scrubbing, but no time today.  Donna came over and we talked about the scarf I am knitting for her.  It's pretty, but the yarn is too heavy for her taste.  We looked up some yarn stores in the area.  Terri's Yarn & Crafts store was just up at Dollywood Parkway, but had more craft items than yarn.  While Donna was looking up Butler Street, I drove over to JoAnne's and we found a pretty sock weight yarn that we're going to try. 

Tonight we have plans to run over to the Brewery for their fabulous hamburger special then watch the CMA show while line dancing.  We'll let you know how that works out.  Yee ha!

South Padre Duds

Wednesday was a warm and pretty day, so we decided to get a cheapo lunch at Arby's.  And it wasn't bad at all!  After that we were driving up the parkway and stopped at the Three Bears Country Store.  And believe it or not, I found my Rooster Lamp. 

He's actually prettier in person

We wandered all around looking at the new Christmas merchandise and spent a good hour in there.  The boys were ready to move on - we figured that out when we couldn't find them in the store and discovered they had gone to the truck to rest.  Further up the Parkway was a Western Wear store.  Well, we had to check that out.  Oooooo, cowboy boots!  I love cowboy boots. And hats, and clothes and stuff!  We all spent time trying on our Texas duds that we are planning to wear every day in Texas.  Maybe not on South Padre Island, but out on the range.  With the deer and antelope.  Yeeha.  Walked out with nothing, but sure had fun.  Donna found a shirt she fell in love with and Ron found a new wallet. 

We had some leftover chile at Donna's and hung out a while. 

Thursday it was going to rain, but it sure was sunny in the morning.  I finished my pumpkins that JoAnn and Rodney helped me cut.  I still want to add some berries and/or leaves to dress them up a bit more. 

 But before it rains - what to do?  Let's go to the Bush's Bean Factory in Chestnut Hill.  The place was decked out in fall decor,  

and we had our photos taken with Duke and Jay:

Ron wanted to know how much he weighed in beans.  That's a lot of beans, Ron!

We found a few gifts for Christmas in the General Store, and watched the 'factory tour' movie which was quite entertaining, and, of course, informative.  It was pouring when we left and continued to rain all night.

We picked up a movie for after dinner at the Red Box but Gary was not feeling really well, so we left in the middle of it.  His elbow area was hurting, red and swollen and by 10:30 he had a high fever.  We called the Dr. (twice) and he finally returned our call.  We got dressed and headed to the Emergency Room.  We arrived there at 12:30 and was finally seen at 2:30 am.  The ER Dr. took gallons of blood, gave him some antibiotics using his port, and admitted him.  We thought it was cellulitis, and were surprised that he was to be admitted.  Around 6:30 am we were brought up to his room where we met all kinds of nurses.  He got bionic boots, a heating pad for his arm with instructions to keep his elbow above his heart, and more antibiotics.  Around 5 pm, his oncologist arrived and said that Gary was looking good, but may have to miss a treatment or two till he is better. After 39 hours since we had slept, I tucked him in and kissed him good night.  I drove home in the rainy dark to an empty bed.  The first time we have slept apart since we began RVing 19 months ago.  I was one sad puppy.  And a very tired one, so fell asleep quickly and woke up at 8:45. 

I called my DH to see how his night was, and of course, everyone knows you don't sleep in a hospital, you are awakened every 10 minutes for one thing or another.  Well, they had interrupted his breakfast for an ultra sound of his arm to determine if there was a clot.  I arrived around 11 am, and around 4 pm we found out that it was a blood clot and that he was to start on Warfarin (a blood thinner) to dissolve it.  

Waiting around in a hospital rates up there with watching paint dry. If you're allowed to eat, you look forward to meal time.  The food is so-so, but the cake is good.  The staff is very friendly and sweet, so we enjoy when they come in and chat about how we are missing our daughter's wedding in South Carolina this weekend (huge bummer) and RVing  plans and stuff. 

Ron was so nice and worked for me at the CG office today, while Donna worked at Dollywood. 

So that's where we stand right now.  A couple of prayers would be appreciated.  Thanks so much.

Friday through Tuesday - LATE

Friday was chemo day, and Cindy, Gary's nurse, had a cold so gave Gary a mask to wear.  She had one on, too, when she connected his port to the juice.  I felt left out, so they gave me one, too!  I suppose we looked really funny to everyone walking by.
By the time we left, it was raining steadily and was only going to reach a high of 50 - yuck.  So we decided it was tomato soup and grilled cheese day inside our nice warm coach.  Gary took a nap, but I was going to get my hair cut after 8 weeks.  I wanted something new, as the humidity will wane over the winter, so my curls will wilt.  This is the new cut Cindy gave me.  A little sleeker.

Gary was still napping, so I wandered over to JoAnne's for some yarn to go with some eyelash yarn Donna and I had chosen for a scarf.  They had the perfect color combination, but I didn't have my 40% off coupon.  So I left it there and came home with nothing.  I found the coupon on line, printed it and tucked it in my purse to use on Saturday after work. 
Instead I finished my punchneedle chicken and now I have two fowl pieces finished.  Here they are:

I plan to incorporate them into my new window treatments.  In the mean time, I love this new needle craft and plan to make lots of other things that are useful as well as decorative using my own designs.

Saturday I worked from 9 to 7 at the CG office, closed a little early, and ran over to JoAnne's for the yarn.  It will be perfect. 
Sunday Ron worked at the office while Donna and I (darn, I can't remember).  Around 5 pm Ron called from the office to say that he had received one phone call all day and it was from our friends Don and Lois White whom we had met at the first RV Dreams Rally in April 2010.  They were planning to stop here on their way back home to Virginia.  They had been on a mission trip to Arizona with Bill and Linda Napier but a leak had prevented them from stopping by on their way to Arizona as it put them a few days behind schedule.  They arrived around 6:30 and we all went to the Blue Moose for dinner. 
I had to work on Monday, and Don and Lois came in to register for another night.  We planned to grill some burgers that evening, and then Donna and Ron came over some some pie and ginger snap cookies Donna had baked - mmmm, still warm from the oven! 
We walked back and forth between rigs talking about what could be done here and there, and isn't that a good idea - I wish I had that - we can do that, etc.  Finally we called it a night.
Tuesday morning, Lois and Don were hitching up, so we took a few photos: 

The afternoon was going to be warm and sunny, so we drove to the Smokies and parked at the Welcome Center to catch the trolley into Gatlinburg.  The trees are still beautiful as you can see:

The trolley drops you off at Ripley's Aquarium, where we discovered that we were hungry (what else is new) and so we hoofed it up hill to the new Mellow Mushroom for some delicious pizza:

After our pizza splurge, we walked up and down the Parkway stopping at little boutiques and stores.  We both found beautiful gifts and I found a silver log cabin charm for my charm bracelet.  Unfortunately I left my gift in a store, but realized it before we arrived at the trolley stop, so walked all the way back hoping they had found it and kept it in a safe place.  Sure enough, they had it, but that meant we had to scurry to get the last trolley.  No worries, we made it in plenty of time.  Great fun.

And I'm going to end here, because something happened that will take a longer blog and I don't want you to think we fell into a hole or something.  Between computer issues and lack of time (having too much fun) this is VERY late.  So tune back in soon.