Strawberry Festival & Start of Renovations

On Saturday we went to the strawberry festival here in town.  It was a poor attempt at a festival and they charged $10 a head to get in.  It wasn’t worth it.  There were many food booths, 1 booth that had loads of strawberries and then maybe a dozen booths with vendors, mostly people flogging their own crafts etc.  We grabbed a bite to eat which was forgettable, bought some strawberries and some local honey.  There was a fellow there who was selling the berries and he was going on and on about how wonderful they were and how sweet.  They were neither.  I’ve had better berries from my local supermarket.  These were claimed to come from Plant City, famous for their strawberries here in Florida.   They were not sweet at all, and I must have had to throw out at least half a dozen due to them being rotten.  We were very disappointed.  The honey is good though, expensive, but I find that local honey usually is, but I love it.  Oh well it did kill a couple hours and it was a lovely day weather-wise.  We then drove down to the beach area that has been designated as dog friendly.  The area was so small we decided it’s not worth it to put the dogs in the car and drive down there and they have to be leashed too.  The Pier Park Mall is right there so we walked around there.  It’s an outside mall.  Very interesting shops, a tad on the pricey side, but different. 

Ken always has to have a hotdog, his favourite.

Today the fellow was here at 8:30 to start the new floor installation.  Good thing we were up and at ‘em early today.  They said they would be here between 9 and 9:30 AM.  Could have caught me in my jammies, fortunately I had showered and dressed.   What a mess it is.  I hate renovations of any kind.  And with ripping up the carpet there’s dust and bits everywhere.  But the end result will be well worth it.  I just keep telling myself that.  Thankfully it’s a lovely day and Ken can sit outside with the dogs while this initial part is done.  Once the old carpet is removed and the area swept up, it won’t be so bad. 

He finished removing all the carpet that’s coming up and will be back tomorrow morning.  He should be finished by end of day tomorrow.

Until later..take care.

Don’t want to bore you

As we haven’t done much of anything, I haven’t blogged just because I didn’t want to put you all to sleep.  We really have been a couple of slugs.  But as much as I hate to mention the weather, it’s mainly because of the weather.  It’s been cold and we have actually been wearing our winter coats when we go out.  The temperature in the mornings has been hovering around freezing.  But the weatherperson has said that it’s warming up.  Yeah right, like I haven’t heard that before.

They are coming Tuesday morning to start on our carpet removal/new tile installed project.  I will document in pictures as we go along.  And none too soon, so fed up with this darn carpet.

There is a lovely dog park here, that is totally fenced and very large.  The dogs can really run in there.  It’s Jackson’s favourite place to be especially when his buddy Cooper, who is a black standard poodle, is there.  Sometimes Lady, a labradoodle is there too, but she just loves to run and Jackson loves to wrestle.  And fortunately, so does Cooper.  Sometimes a little Yorkie, Reggie, joins them.  He’s a feisty little bugger and has no fear of the big dogs.  And he loves to play with them too.  Amazingly the big dogs are very careful around him when they are playing.  Jackson is really going to miss Cooper when we leave, he’s never had such a buddy before.  Cooper is a young dog, just a year and has a very sweet personality.  The playing is so great for Jack as Maggie just can’t and won’t play like that. 

I see that my blogging pal, Al & Kelly, are on the move.  Even if it is only 1/2 mile down the road.  A change of scenery is a change of scenery.  Looks like a new camera is in Al’s future.  Can’t be all bad Al if you get a new camera out of the deal.  And Willy, take care out there.  You’re very lucky that all your truck got was some scratches.  Very lucky.  Rick and Paulette bid goodbye to their daughter, but had a lovely visit.  Appears the stores have all had to restock after she left. Sam and Donna are still riding out the cold.  Fortunately they are in their stick house and not the RV.  Judy and Emma are also still braving the cold.  And Laurie and Odel should be back in their newly renovated MH.  That must be exciting and a real treat.  Enjoy guys.

Until later..take care

A leaky A/C gets me a new floor

It seems that just about everyone is talking about the weather these days.  Whether it’s on the blogs, or forums, or e-mails.  It appears to be the topic of choice and that is because it seems to be somewhat abnormal in some areas.  I mean people are experiencing severe cold where it should be warm, snow where there should be none, wind, rain, you name it, it’s happening.  Willy and Al were having problems with their water lines due to the cold.  Fortunately, it doesn’t appear it was too serious.  Weird and wacky weather all over.

And on the topic of weather one of our roof top A/C units has had a persistent water leak.  It was just a drip here and there and it only seemed to happen if the rain was blowing and falling heavy and coming in at a angle.  Just a couple nights ago we had a typhoon here (just joking) but it really rained hard.  There was a lot of water dripping around the edges of one of the  A/C units and even the other one had some drips.  So much so that we had to set up something underneath it to soak up the drips.  So I’m thinking, ok this is going to be big bucks to fix.  Ken had gone up on the roof before to check to see if there was anything to see that would explain the problem but there wasn’t.  There is a mobile RV service here that comes highly recommended so I phoned them bright and early the next morning and explained the problem.  He came over right away and seemed to think that it was just a minor fix.  He removed the inside cover of the A/C units and there are 4 bolts the secure the unit to the roof and all of them were loose, on both of the units.  That might explain the squeaking noise when we travel too.  So he tightened them all down.  We had another typhoon last night and not a drop of water came in.  YAHOO.  And he only charged $50 to come out and do the job.  I thought that was excellent.

But….he also does renovations and we starting discussing having the carpet removed and tile put down, something we have wanted done since we got the rig.  With 2 big dogs, carpets are just not practical.  Every single time we get home from a trip I have to shampoo the carpet.  And they are so hard to keep clean when living in the rig.  He gave us a great price and we don’t have to move out of the rig to have it done.  It will be somewhat of an inconvenience for a few days, about 3, but it will be worth it in the long run to finally get rid of the carpet.  I think Ken was really relieved as it was his job this summer to replace the carpet.   So I will take some before and after shots and post them.  It will be such a treat to just have to quickly mop the floor instead of vacuuming and shampooing the carpet.  So much easier to keep clean.  I know that it will be a little colder under foot and a little more slippery for the dogs, but we have throw rugs that we put down now and will continue to do so.  We just pick them up and take outside for a good shake.  That is not a big deal.  The product he uses is the same product that I had researched, it’s called Allure and is only available at Home Depot.   

Well until later..take care.

Rain, lazy days, and a sick dog

We’ve had a fair amount of rain lately, but the temperature has been warm.  It keeps us house bound or should I say RV bound.  But between, books, TV and computer we’re not bored.  Rain is in the forecast on and off over the next few days.  Today cabin fever has set in and we’re headed off to the store.

On Saturday night I discovered Maggie sleeping out in the living room on the couch in the middle of the night.  She never does that, prefers to sleep on her memory foam mattress in the bedroom.  Found that odd and I don’t like it when our animals do something ‘different’.  It’s always a warning sign.  Sure enough the next morning, she did not want to go out and ate her breakfast only with some coaxing.  And it took her several tries.  Ken finally got her outside to do her business, but she really didn’t want to go out.  She seemed to be having a difficult time putting her head down to sleep.  She’d put it down then up again like it was making her dizzy.  It worries me to death when one of them is ill.  And Maggie is getting on in years and has been a worry now for several years since she required cruciat surgery 4 years ago and then the other leg 2 years ago.  I knew she felt like a bag of ‘who know what’.  Now I know it might seem odd to some people, but she also suffers from heartburn (go figure) and has to take Zantac once a day.  And she takes various supplements for her arthritis.  We call her our ‘Six Million $ Dog’.  So I’m wondering What Now?  I gave her a Gravol and when it took effect I could see she felt a little better and was able to finally put her head down and sleep soundly.  She was a tad better the next day, didn’t want her breakfast but was interested in biscuits.  Gave her another Gravol and she slept most of the day away.  Ken took her out a couple times by herself and she just did her business and came back in.  By end of day yesterday she looked much better.  She did spend the night on her own bed though.  This morning she needed no encouragement from Ken to go for their morning walk.  Came back ate her breakfast and appears to be her old self.  So I am hoping it was a one off thing.  She has had this sort of thing before but not quite so severe.  Like Al said ‘it’s sad watching our best friends age’.  Where they once used to run and jump they now just saunter.  They give us so much love and joy and ask nothing in return, except maybe a belly rub or scratch behind the ears, and of course a treat now and then, mostly now.  They steal our hearts and just never seem to let go of them.  There is always a place in my heart for those critters that I have loved and lost.  Always.
She looks every bit her 11 years in this picture..

Anyhow that’s enough of that as I’m getting all teary.

Hard to believe that it’s almost 1 month ago that we left home.  I know one of my sister’s will tell you that it seems like many months.  Unfortunately she couldn’t join Ken and I and my other sister and her husband in Myrtle Beach this year.  We’ll be heading over there in another 6 weeks.  For the last few years all of us have spent time there together.  We have a great time.  We’ll really miss you Marlene this year but you’re never far from our thoughts.

Until later..take care.

Woodpecker ?? and Arthur gets a new toy

We had some heavy rain yesterday morning.  The weatherperson had predicted it to go on all day, but they were wrong.  This is one time I was so glad they were.  It only rained for about a couple hours then stopped.  The day never got nice, overcast all day, but warm and no more rain.  So that was just fine with us.  When you have 2 big dogs that want out all the time rain is not a good thing.  It appeared that the whole park was taking advantage of the weather to hole up in their rigs.  Didn’t see too many out and about,  just the occasional person with a dog who ‘had a need’.  Guess people were catching up on e-mail, bill paying, blogging and surfing along with some TV and probably some much need housework.

Today dawned sunny and clear albeit a tad chilly.  There’s a lovely breeze just the right kind to dry clothes on the line.  So that is just what I did, popped a load in the washer and hung it outside. 

We took off to pick up a few odds and sods and some more dog food.  When we got home I could here this tap tap tapping.  Thought it was the work guys doing some kind of repair, but it appeared to be right overhead.  I looked up and saw (I think) a woodpecker.  Very small, but doing woodpecker things, like tapping on the truck of this palm tree.  I didn’t have time to change my lens so quickly zoomed in as best I could and took a picture.
That’s him right in the middle.

While we were shopping I picked up a scrunchy tunnel for Arthur.  He’s always looking for things to play with, I have a laser light which he loves.  He was a bit wary of it at first, then got a little braver until he went in head first and scared himself.  He then got in a huff,  walked away and climbed into his bed without a backward glance.  It was quite funny.

He’d had enough!!

Until later..take care.

Not Much of Anything

And that just about describes what we’ve been up too.

First I want to welcome (although a little late) Chuck and Anneke and Kate.  Welcome aboard.

We really haven’t been doing much, after all it is a vacation and we are retired.  Right?  We had some nasty rain showers the other night.  It came down in torrents.  It would seem to lessen then build up again.  I’m always so concerned about leaks, which I’m sure anyone who has a motorhome of some kind is.  But the rest of the days have been sunny and bright although a tad chilly.  One night I turned off the water and put the lamps in the bins, but according to my weather ‘Oscar’ it didn’t get cold long enough to freeze.  So I’ve just been watching the temps in the bins and outside.  I bought several of those small inside/outside temperature monitors at Wal-Mart for $9 each and installed 1 in each of the bins where water resides.  Also put one in the fridge just to check the temp in there too.  Once the weather gets warmer and I don’t have to worry about freezing I can remove then from the bins. 

The campground had a BBQ on Saturday to thank people for being for understanding about their water problem.  (think it was mentioned in a previous blog) It really wasn’t a problem far as I could see, just fill up your tank.  Anyhow, it was a very nice gesture and it was really good.  They had ‘dog’ and hamburgers, salads, beans, what no grits?  They serve grits with everything down here.  To me they taste like Cream of Wheat without any brown sugar or milk.

Checked out THE mall here.  I guess it’s the biggest mall around.  Nothing spectacular, didn’t buy a thing.  I’m surprised that there are no outlet malls here or at least I haven’t found any.  Must Google and see what I find.

Has anyone out there ever tried a product called ‘Baconaise’?  My daughter asked me to try and get some when we were in the Southwest a few months ago, but I couldn’t find it anyway.  Finally went to their site to see where it is sold.  Apparently only Winn-Dixie and Publix carry it.  Anyhow I found some the other day and bought her a jar of it.  It’s supposed to replace the bacon part of a say, bacon and tomato sandwich.  It’s bacon flavoured mayonnaise.  Just wondered if anyone tried it and what they thought of it.  I told her the thought of it grosses me out for some reason.  I prefer a slice of the real stuff, thank you very much.  I didn’t buy myself a jar.

I am enjoying this new site location so much.  We get the sun and it’s wonderful.  How dreary it is when the sun doesn’t shine down on you.  And it just warms things up so much especially here in the motorhome.

Ken got the bikes out yesterday and was filling up the tires.  We will be using them very soon, but unfortunately there really isn’t too many places to ride them.  We will just have to go round and round the campground.  It’s not a big place and the roads outside of the campground are too busy to ride them there.   It’s just been too darn cold to even think about riding them.  Kind of spoils the fun when you have to don a winter jacket just to ride your bike. 

Well another day has dawn bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky.  I think rain is on the forecast for tomorrow though.

Sorry no pictures today.

Until later..take care.

It’s a Zoo out there !!!

The new heading picture is our new site at the CG.   This is a picture looking up the street from our site.

Today dawned sunny, warm and beautiful.  Right now it’s 64 degrees F out there, clean blue sky.  Wonderful. 
I have never seen so many dogs in one RV park as this one.  99% of them are little, what I call ‘pocket dogs’.  There are a couple other big hulking goofs like ours.  Ken takes them over to the fenced in dog park and they have a ball.  Especially, Jackson if there is another dog in there.  There are 2 other big dogs here, a standard poodle, Cooper and a Labradoodle, Lady, and Jackson and them tear around like mad men.  He comes home and flops.  So good for him. 
Today we decided to visit the zoo that’s directly behind us.  It’s very small, probably set on only a couple acres.  Had to see for myself this lion that was making all the noise before.  It’s 2 female lions, apparently they lost their male last year, he was old.  These girls are getting on in years too.  They have a small petting zoo there with some goats, chickens (our 5 AM alarm), mule, pony, pot bellied pig, camel, giraffe.  We walked through the enclosure but didn’t feed them.   They appear to take very good care of the animals, but can’t help feeling that they should be running free in their native wild lands.
  
This guy would wave bye bye                   Anyone for Thanksgiving Dinner

                                                                   A white peacock??

Ok Joyce, don’t look…..

                                                               
I was actually able to hang some of my laundry outside today.  I have a clothesline that sits on the ladder on the back of the rig.  First time I’ve been able to do that. 
They are doing some major construction here at the park, they are adding another huge pond, tennis courts and I don’t know what else.  Consequently, the water down at this end of the park has been shut off periodically.  When we switched sites, we were told the water would be off until end of the work day.  So before we left the other site I just made sure I filled up the onboard water tank.  It was off again yesterday for about 2 hours.  And will be off tomorrow for a few hours.  It’s not a big deal, if you have water in your tank.  But because of the inconvenience to their patrons, they gave each of us a $25 gift certificate for Wal-Mart.  That works for me!!  Then today they came around and said they will be having a BBQ, on them, on Saturday, just bring your chairs and yourselves.  That works for me too.  Nice people and this place is so clean.  I love having concrete sites and the road is concrete also.  So even when it rains there is no mud.  Dogs get wet feet but that’s it.    What a bonus that is especially with having 2 big dogs.

Until later..take care