Congratulate the Newest WDW Employee

Well, say hello to a new employee of Walt Disney World – Gary Moore! His interview only took about 30 minutes, and he will be working in the Magic Kingdom as a food vendor. We felt sure that the job would be in Security, and it would have been if he made a year’s commitment. But, we have places to go and things to see, so we decided that he might move into another 3 month position at the end of January (when this job ends). We’ll see. We are fond of the saying ‘whatever’. It’s very liberating.

Tuesday we were in St. Pete to celebrate my son’s 24th birthday and our grandson’s 4th birthday. It is so much fun visiting grandchildren – extremely hectic and noisy – but so much fun being grandparents. We took pictures of the three of them in gymnastics class, took them to school, picked them up, Gary and Tristan got in 9 holes, shopped in Target and sang Happy Birthday as Graham tried to blow out the candles all during the song. On all family birthdays we talk about their special day. Often we remember something new that had happened or our feelings about a particular instance. We love reminiscing because it draws our family closer.

Cake and ice cream, photos and then our quiet drive home. I don’t think we said twenty words the whole way. I do remember asking Gary if he had fun, and after he said yes, I said I did, too. We can hardly wait until Henry (or Henrietta) is born on the 21st. Gary starts training on the 25th, and his job begins on Nov. 1. Oh, and I checked my email this morning and I have an interview next week. More on that when I have some information. YAY!

Gary’s Dr. appointment was great, too. The Dr. doesn’t think MF has reappeared, but would like to do a biopsy just to make sure. That will happen next week. Our jeep has just turned 110,000 miles and most likely turn 120,000 before we leave Florida at this rate…

We continue to meet and talk with other residents of our CG and they are a wealth of information. After I scrubbed and scrubbed to get those lovebugs off the jeep, Bob comes over and says that if you wet a Bounce dryer sheet, they come right off. Also, if you add 3 oz. of water to 1 T. Woolite and spray in on the bugs, wait a little, they wash right off. Where was he an hour before???

Tony is 94 years old and stopped in his golf cart to expound on the beauty of Alaska (to which he has been three times) and then Yuma, Mexico where his dentist had been kidnapped on a bridge and held 6 weeks for 3 ½ million dollars (which was paid after they threatened to cut off a finger a day for non-compliance). He was beaten badly and cannot work anymore, but still goes to his practice where his son has taken over. Sheesh. We were going to get our teeth done in Mexico, but we’ll need to think about that. A wealth of information within RVers. They’ve seen and done so many different things! Can’t wait to add to our repertoire. Tony’s advice: TAKE IT SLOW. We intend to enjoy every single moment. Like Tasha is.

Cats, Dogs and Other Wildlife

It was a beautiful day for yard sales. Only about 6 people participated in this impromptu sale, but there is a large one in February when the snowbirds have finally arrived. As I said yesterday, I was looking for a large fan for the patio. Well, we met our friends at one house with a large fan in the back of their golf cart. He had just bought it from the house we were headed to next. He needed it for his workshop but mentioned that there might have been another one. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, it had been sold, too. Oh, well. Wasn’t meant to be. We did have fun meeting some new neighbors and we did pick up a couple CDs. The rest of the day Gary puttered while I worked on some red bean soup. But Mary and Bob came over with some extra halibut fish he had cooked for us. Yummy! Tasha was curious about Princess, Bob and Mary’s mini schnauzer. She didn’t run away and hiss, but got this close before turning up her nose and walking away. Remember: cats rule, dogs drool.

Sunday we skipped the pancake breakfast for Gary’s much-needed bagel at Panera. There is actually a Bruegger’s Bagel store here but it’s north of Orlando. So we spent an hour enjoying the sunshine and cool breeze while munching on a bagel. The love bugs are still hanging around messing up the Jeep on a daily basis. Thank goodness we are not driving the coach around. If you don’t know what a love bug is, they are actually small black flies with red thoraxes. Males are 1/4 inch, and females are 1/3 inch in length. They connect their ‘back ends’ and fly around like that until the female lays 350 eggs and dies. They have very few natural predators except vehicles. They stink when they’re wet and will take the paint off your car if you don’t wash them off immediately. Needless to say, most vehicles are very clean during love-bug season. We’re all hoping they go away like – yesterday.

Gary needs a short-sleeved shirt for his interview, but Marshall’s, Target, Belk’s and TJ’s didn’t have one. Our last effort was Penney’s where we were met by a young man who handed us a scratch-off card for up to 30% off our entire purchase until 1:30. Well, immediately, Gary found a shirt, and since we both needed new sneakers, we each found a pair of Nikes for 34 bucks. When we scratched off our card, we had 30% off, so we ended up saving $56! Gary’s keeping his in the box until he finds out [if he gets the job] what color shoes he needs to go with his uniform.

Later Gary thought the fish might be biting, and threw his line out a few times, but all we saw was a green heron. They are pretty birds and love to eat dragonflies as well as fish. We watched this one catch fly after fly by leaning and almost falling off his branch as they flew near him.

Early this morning the phone rang at 5:30. I got up to answer it because it rang twice, so I knew it must have been important. I called Tristan back to see what was wrong. He wanted my advice as to what to do about the 11 x 4 foot piece of ceiling that fell in his bedroom – fortunately not on him. He called his landlord who sent her son over to clean it up. I suggested that he not sleep in that room until he finds out what the examiner says made it fall. I don't like phone calls in the middle of the dark. It usually means trouble. Am I right?

Since we were up extra early today, we wanted to see where we could go boating. I found Lake Kissimmee State Park that we drove down to check out. It was about 35 miles away and the drive was on the Scenic Highway which consisted of grove after grove of orange trees. The park looks great for trails, RVs and boating. As we entered the drive, two little bob-whites crossed the road in front of us. Checking out the RV sites, we saw a couple of deer feeding and reaching the boat launch, we looked down as a baby alligator scrambled into the water. The cicadas must have totaled in the hundreds as their song was deafening during their crescendo. On the way out of the park, a tortoise hurried away from my camera, but I got him just as he ducked into the underbrush.

We are going to St. Pete tomorrow to celebrate Tristan’s 24th birthday (the 8th) and Graham’s 4th birthday (the 9th), so I’ll be back on Thursday with some good news, I hope! Wish us luck!

Epcot and Exciting News

Thursday, we were invited to Epcot by Bob and Mary. Bob works at the Food and Wine Festival, and he gets free passes. Lucky us! We drove (they squished into the back of the Jeep) and we even got free parking! It was a perfect day, breezy, no humidity and light, fluffy clouds. The Food and Wine festival happens every year for 6 weeks during October and November, and this year was it's 15 year anniversary. About 18 countries offer samples of their food and wine and beer from small kiosks located around the World Showcase. We'd get there eventually, but the first item on the agenda was Spaceship Earth. There were very few people in line and we only had to wait 5 minutes. After that ride, we headed over to “The Land” to get Fast Passes for “Soarin’”, a very popular ride. A fast pass allows you to come back within a specified hour to bypass the people waiting in line. We had an hour and a half before our allotted time. So Gary wanted to see the Living Seas, where we dove a couple years ago with a program called ‘DiveQuest'. DiveQuest is a scuba diving experience inside their 5.7-million-gallon saltwater tank. Scuba-certified guests can swim with over 6,000 sea creatures representing over 60 species—including sea turtles, angelfish, dolphins, eagle rays and sharks. It was so awesome to wave hi to our grandchildren from under water through the 8 inch thick glass wall.

The Festival was at the preview stage, but all the kiosks were open and serving their fares. We visited various countries to have fun on the rides, Bob stopped at Norway to check his schedule for next week, but then our tummies were rumbling. Off to England for fish and chips. It was good and crispy even with the malt vinegar sprinkled on it – very British, don’t you know.

We walked around some more, enjoyed the people and asked questions from many workers. Finally, we grabbed an ice cream bar on our way out, and headed home. What a great day. Thank you, Bob!

Gary completed his on-line web interview, and at the end, they asked him to set up a time and date convenient for a face-to-face interview at Casting! He’ll be wowing them on Thursday, Oct. 7th at 10 am. Wish him luck! (I haven’t heard yet)
Yesterday we went on a search for a shirt for his interview and met some more people in our park. Some of these people have been here 26 years after planning to stay about 3 months. Imagine that! I wonder if that will happen to us somewhere.

Last night was dollar-a-dog/movie night. For a dollar you get a hot dog with all the fixin’s, a bag of chips, a drink and a movie! Even though we had seen Seven Nights, Six Days before, it was fun to meet some more residents, Disney workers and enjoy the evening.

It was cool enough to open the windows all night, and tomorrow after donut/coffee morning is Garage Sale day for some of the locals. We’ll be looking for a big floor fan to put on our patio to keep away those pesky love-bugs.