A New Expense

I can’t believe that we have been full-timing for 5 months already. Time really does go by when you’re having fun!

It finally dried up today. We had our last thunderstorm last night and shouldn’t see another one until Sunday. On our way to sushi Saturday night I took some shots of the clouds. I love Florida because of the wide open skies. There are some pretty impressive cumulonimbus formations up there. Yep, we’re driving right into this one. I can’t wait until we get out west next year. The skies are even bigger!

Some things are just so coincidental. For example, my lawn chair was rusting on the bottom. This is a chair Tristan gave me from his back yard last fall. It is the really popular style most RVers have and they run about $50. But the paint was scratched, and it was constantly wet, so rust lines were marking our rug. I decided to paint the bottom because we had one little can of paint with us that Gary had bought to paint our ‘sign’ that is still a work in progress. As I was sanding the bottom rail, I thought that it would be difficult to conceal the new color. I knew it was green, but not what shade. Can you believe that when I put it on, it was EXACTLY the same color as the chair? I love it when that happens.

Yesterday we were doing some errands, and we heard a knocking under the Jeep. Hmmm.
This morning, Gary took the Mesa to Jeep to have her looked at. We had had her oil fixed before leaving, so they remembered him and he only had to wait an hour. Unfortunately, it was the torque bar that was just about broken through.
Fortunately, it wasn’t broken through or we would have needed a flat bed towtruck to get her there. Unfortunately, it will cost about $700 and we are without four wheels. Fortunately, we don’t need to go anywhere and she will be fixed tomorrow.

I did wash all day hanging it out in the sunshine and breeze. Shades of memories from my childhood (we didn’t have a dryer – just a washline). Those sheets smell sooooo gooood. Can hardly wait to get in them.

What on earth will happen tomorrow???

Doctors and Sunshine

All this week we were helping Michelle get chores done. Brian is trying to sell his house on Tiera Verde, so Gary and I did some weeding and garden cleanup with a little planting of flowers for the Realtors’ Open House. Oh, I knew I was going to feel that. Yup. Aleve to the rescue.

It rained all week until yesterday. When we came home Thursday, the stream (Frog Creek) had overflowed, flooding the boat ramp and fire ring. Fortunately we are at the other side of the campground. It’s amazing we aren’t turning into solid mold because things are not drying out. Of course, we lose satellite service when it rains or storms, too.

Friday was Gary’s Dr. appointment with Dr. Eakle, and she gave him his blood test results. There is a 3% invasion of T-cells in his bloodstream. She is not worried about that, but ordered the usual CAT scans that we arranged for Wednesday. While he is doing that, I’m getting my haircut. (I’ve been cutting the front myself, but the back is a little more difficult). Then we see his radiologist to see if his spot can be erased.

Today, I finally cleaned the coach from top to bottom. It really does take a couple of hours. I wash every surface, vacuum the sofa and floor, and wash the floor on my hands and knees. It’s the fastest way considering there are so many twists and turns and little tiny corners everywhere. Hey, it’s exercise. Gary worked on the outside of the coach, exchanging the holy sewer hose for a new one, rearranged the bays and moved the picnic table. Yesterday we secured the awning with guy-wires to keep it secure during a sudden gust of wind. Dirk, the CG Manager stopped by and Gary mentioned that we would be interested in WorkCamping if we didn’t get a job at WDW. He explained what the job entailed, which was basically manual labor. Raking the millions of oak tree leaves and running the Honey Wagon. This is a truck that is used for non-sewer sites. One’s black and grey tanks are emptied into the truck, then disposed into an in-ground sewer. I would probably work in the office, but wouldn’t mind doing other things as well. In exchange, you get a free site, free food, free entrance to events and 5 days off a week. Free equals money. Even though this site is costing us now, by renting for a month, it is less expensive than by the day. If we could save hundreds by working two days a week, I’d say that’s a pretty good exchange. That’s what workcamping is.

It’s a nice day, our chores are finished, we’re going to have sushi for dinner and only need to pick up Gary’s prescription at Walmart. I think I’ll read something. Then after sushi, I’m challenging Gary to two out of three at pool. Not the swimming pool, but the pool table in the lodge. Naturally, he needed his pool cue from storage, and we found that. Naturally. Wish me luck!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I haven’t blogged in a couple of days. We’re drowning here. It has rained non-stop since Sunday evening. The Myakka River is in danger of flooding being 4 inches below a 1996 flood record. Oh, joy. We are far enough away as to not be affected, but there are plenty of deep puddles we have to drive through. I know, I know. “Don’t drown – turn around!” If there were any THAT deep, even with our big wheels, we would not be stupid.

The sunny day was Sunday morning when we headed to our storage units to put a few things in – believe it or not – and take a few things out. Putting Gary’s long-sleeved shirts in was easy, finding things that we needed to take out, was NOT. We climbed all over stuff to find necessities, and only managed to discover a few. The bikes and carrier were easy. We had planned to take those on our original departure, but I knew that the northeast was not flat, and that we probably wouldn’t use them as much as on flat ground. We stored them at the last minute. So they were easy to extricate. The bike carrier was bought for the Ford Escape, so we had to be creative to attach it to the Jeep securely. We did it, and stopped at the Red Barn Flea Market on the way home. Gary is in there somewhere. Yes, that's the front of the jeep.

We got a tarp and lots of veggies and fruit, Gary got his golf club re-gripped, and a pair of readers for a bargain! Love this place.

It began to sprinkle on the way, so when we pulled into our ‘driveway’, we noticed Tasha’s legs sticking out under the curtain. A dog, she is not. If she wants to greet you, she will. Most of the time she ignores us. Wonderful pet. Really.

Monday we woke up to clouds and rain, so decided to do our Walt Disney World applications . In the middle of Gary’s we received a call from my daughter, Michelle. She was in the hospital because Henry (baby in utero) decided he’d like to arrive early. Much tooooo early. He’s only 30 weeks, so the doctor was planning to try a contraction-stopping drug (I forget the name) and Brian wanted to be there with her. We waiting until we could see out the window for the thunderstorm going by, then jumped in the Jeep and drove to St. Pete. We got a really wonderful greeting from our three grandchildren and Brian, then he left. We had a great evening with the kids, having so much fun that we kept them up way past their bedtime. Oooo, bad grandma. Michelle was released from the hospital arriving home at 9:30. The kids were excited to see her, and all went upstairs to bed. We promised to come back the next day.

Today we had breakfast and headed up to St. Pete. Michelle had a list of chores to accomplish, so Gary and I drove her around enjoying Graham’s (3) antics. Tomorrow we will go up to do some manual labor as she really should be resting. It’s good to have a purpose to get up out of bed again. It seems as though we are totally helping others this year. It feels good.

Gary had his lab work done on Monday, and sees the Dr on Friday. I will keep you all informed. We love our little campsite, but have not had a moment to meet any other campers. Now, if it would just stop raining!