No, we haven’t fallen off the face of the earth

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We’re still here.  It’s been hectic to say the least.  I don’t know where summer has gone, seems like we were just opening the pool, planting flowers and now poof, it’s almost gone.
We took delivery of our new 5th wheel.  It’s beautiful or so we think anyhow.  It’s like a small 1 bedroom apartment.  There is so much more cupboard space in the kitchen.  Less so in the bedroom, but that’s ok much prefer to have more space in the kitchen.  Now learning how to park this monstrosity of rig is a whole ‘nother’ ballgame.  Not so much park as back it up.  Oh lots and lots of fun.  We had the fellow at the RV place who takes care of parking all the RV’s there on the lot to give Ken a lesson.  It was very helpful but nothing is going to be better than just experience.  It just fits in our driveway, just.  But we only park it there when parking it up for a trip.  Otherwise we store it at the RV security lot.
We had a shakedown trip planned for the 14th, 15th, 16th of August, but on the 11th I had to take Ken to the emergency at the hospital.  Turns out he had to have an emergency appendectomy.  Good grief, that was a surprise.  He was in there for 3 days.  The horrible part was that from the time he entered the emergency entrance to the time he was diagnosed was 8 hours!!!  8 freaking hours it took them to find out he had appendicitis.  They could have ruptured in the mean time.  Gee Whiz !!!!!  As soon as he was diagnosed he was whisked away to surgery where they found they were close to rupturing.  That put the kibosh on our shakedown trip.  So  I rescheduled it fro the 28th, 29th, 30th of August instead.  We just got back today.  It was grand, just grand.  So much room.  We’re getting better at hitching it up, takes time but we’re getting there.
Just a couple shots of inside…
  Excuse the mess
Jackson and one of his ‘babies’
Couple of lazy guys!!
and this is Jackson’s favourite spot..watching the world go by the door.
This year we are here for Christmas.  But leaving right after for Florida.  Sure hope the weather is as good as it was last year.  It’s always iffy at that time of year.  Could run into a snow storm.  YUK !!
Until later then..take care.

It’s been a longgggggggg time!!!

Yes it’s been a long time since I blogged.  We have been busy up to our ying yangs.  But I always do find the time to read up on those blogs I follow.

First we decided to trade in our Class A and get a 5er.  And yes, we did just that.  We wanted a Jayco Pinnacle, and hoped to get a slightly used one but since they have only made the Pinnacle’s since 2011, chances were slim to none.  And it was none.  So we ordered a brand spanking new one.  Which of course meant that we had to wait for it to be built but the beauty of that was we could change a couple things we really wanted changed.  Such as…we did not want carpet in the living area so we now will have vinyl tile.  YEAH!!!  And strange to some people I know, we did not want a king size bed.  So YEAH they are putting in a queen.  We find that we just don’t use all that bed space, and also I would have to go out and buy all new sheets, blankets, comforters etc.  PLUS it does give us a little more space in the bedroom area.  The part I don’t like is that I had to buy it without actually seeing one first.  Mind you I hit every web site going that was advertising one so I could see what it looked like.  The model is the Pinnacle 36REQS. 

Now of course we need a truck.  Having never owned a truck I had absolutely no idea what we needed etc. but the good guy at where we bought our 5er filled us in.  We need a 1 ton diesel, dually not required but would give us a better ride.  We also need a crew cab due to a very large golden retriever who calls us Mom and Dad.  We really didn’t want a new one, due to the cost $$$$$$$ kaching!!! so went looking for a 2009.  We looked, and looked, we had a car dealer looking, they looked, and looked, the RV people looked and looked.  Lots and lots of gas 3/4 ton.  NOPE, not going to happen.  Finally spotted a 2011, Ford F350XLT that already had a 5er hitch installed.  It was significantly more than we wanted to pay, but it fit the bill.  We haggled and got him down a little bit.  It’s a dually.  It is one honking big truck!!!

Now all we have to do is wait for the 5er to arrive.  We already had a planned trip (if you follow my blog you should remember my yearly July trip to celebrate my sister’s BD with her) and really didn’t want to cancel it.  So we don’t know what rig we’ll be taking.  If the new one hasn’t arrived by then we’ll take our old one.  Feel sad about our ‘old beast’ but we need some more room and this 5er fit the bill.  I must go out and take a picture of the honking truck sitting in our driveway to show you, but the picture of the rig will have to wait.

We have a lot of work ahead of us to get things out of the old and into the new.  They said they would park them beside each other and we just have to shift everything from the old to the new.  The RV place is going to show Ken how to hitch, park, backup all that good stuff you have to do with a 5er.  He’s a good driver so I’m sure he’ll pick it up really quickly.  And I’m a good backup director so between us, we should, hopefully, have no problems.  I thought our Class A was tall but this guy is even taller.  A little anyway.

Friends that we met while in Emerald Beach RV resort who fulltime have come up to Canada for a month.  We have had then over for dinner a couple times, went to Black Creek Pioneer Village, the CN Tower and we’re going to Niagara Falls in a couple days.
 

Well that’s just about caught up.  In between all that we had a bathroom gutted and 4 week renovation done.  Worth it though, very pleased with the outcome.

Well until later then..take care.  Drive safe. 

Updates

Not a lot has been happening since we got home.  You tend to very quickly settle into the routine that you had before you left for parts ‘unknown’.  Which, in my books, is just fine.  It’s still a little cool to be doing any real yard work such as planting.  Did some cleaning up but that’s it.  Jackson keeps looking at the pool with great longing.  Poor bugger.

The rig is now back on the storage lot.  We are very seriously looking into trading in the motorhome and buying a fifth wheel.  We are in negotiations right now so it depends on the price.  We are looking at the Jayco Pinnacle either the 35 LKTS or the 36 REGS.  Of course that means we have to purchase a truck to haul it.  Also looking at a 2009 vehicle.  We would like a GMC, diesel, double cab.  Must be a big double cab for Jackson.  We love our motorhome, but we also realize that a fifth wheel does have more room inside and also more storage room.  As our motorhome is gas it tends to not have as much ‘basement’ storage as a diesel tends to have and we feel that we really need more room.  We’re at capacity now when we go south for several months.  Inside it’s pretty good for storage, not great, but pretty good.  And after being stranded a couple years ago in Flagstaff while they did some mechanical repairs on the rig, at least if something like that happened again, they can take the truck and we’ll still have our home.  Also the gas motorhome doesn’t handle mountains well and we want to go back to the US southwest.  But we won’t take the motorhome, it really struggles on some of those mountains.  I know diesel doesn’t because I have seen them go flying by us on the hills!!!!  So we just have to sit tight and see what kind of prices they come up with.  It will be very hard to say goodbye to our ‘beast’.  She is really beautiful (at least we think so)  and she has sheltered us from major rain storms, snow, major wind storms, umpteen tornado warnings and watches, cold weather, very, very hot weather.  And she has handled them all well and kept us cozy.  I hope she is loved as much by any new owners she will have as we have lover her.

One of my good friends passed away almost a month ago.  Karen was just 55 and full of beans and life.  She developed lung cancer, fought it bravely for a few years, thought she’d won, but it came back and she was gone very quickly.  Her cancer was the kind caused by inhaling herbicides.  She, as a child, had been stationed at one of Canada’s military bases with her family and the government was doing some ‘testing’ with agent orange.  You can read about it here http://agentorangecanada.com/.  I didn’t have a clue about any of this as I also was stationed there during that time period with my ex husband.  Now we didn’t live on the base as she did, we lived in Fredericton which is several miles away.  She lived right on the base.  There are all sorts of actions going on now with that due to so many people getting sick and dying.   There was no funeral, just a grand celebration of life for her.  There had to be around 250 people there which spoke well about how people felt about her.  Much, much better than a morbid funeral, in my opinion.

Also my nephew, my sister’s son, who is 49 has been diagnosed with non Hodgkin's Lymphoma and has been given 2 months to live.  So sad, so terrible.  I don’t know what to say to my sister to comfort her.  It’s very difficult.  We just have to be there for her.  He never married and has no children so he’s going home with them to spend what time he has left.  We come to expect the order of things that our children are still here when we leave this earth.  This is not the order of things.  It’s something I hope that I never have to live through. 

On a brighter note, Ken and I have booked a 2 week bus tour to France in September.  We are going to be taking my 23 year old granddaughter, Danielle.  She has just finished college and I think this will be a wonderful trip for her.  We took a bus tour several years ago to Italy and it was the best vacation we have ever had.  So great to leave the driving, hotel bookings, luggage, tours and everything else to someone else.  We walked our buns off on that tour which was great because we ate like pigs and didn’t put on 1 ounce.  As Italian food is our favourite, you can just imagine the meals.  I fell in love with Italy and hope to go back, but there are just too many other wonderful places to see first.  I will probably say the same thing about France after we return!! We’re all looking forward to it.

Some friends that we know from Panama City Beach and who fulltime are slowly heading this way for the month of June.  Tom and Linda and their Yorkie Reggie will be staying in a campground just a few miles from here.  They have never been to Canada and have a list of things they want to see.  #1 on that list is Niagara Falls, I’m told.  It will be nice to see them again.

Well my brain seems to have dried up, I can’t think of anything else.  We’re patiently waiting for somewhat warmer weather so we can start our planting.  The yard looks forlorn and naked without flowers and blue sparkling water in the pool. 

Until later then…take care.

HOME!!!!

We left Monroe, Michigan on Sunday morning just before 830AM.  After stopping for gas first thing we were on our way.  We stopped once for Jackson to go potty and that was it.  We rolled up into our driveway just past 130PM.  It was a good drive,  no rain, traffic was great.  The stop at the border hardly was that.  The fellow asked us when we had left Canada, (November 27) how many people on board (2 people, 1 cat, 1 dog) any liquor (bottle of wine in the fridge) and we got a Have a good day.  Thanks mate, Ken said and we were through.  Gotta love those Canadians, a lot easier coming home that’s for sure.

At first I was just going to empty the contents of the fridge and do the other stuff another day, but once we got going just couldn’t seem to stop.  Took us around 4 hours to empty the rig.  I have a process, fill a huge bag, bring it in and put that bag away before loading up again.  Works well for us as there isn’t tons of stuff hanging around then it’s a ‘where do I start’ moment.  I had laundry up to the yinyang.  Thank goodness I have those huge front loaders. 

Now all that is left is to give it a good cleaning and we can drive it over to the storage lot.  Tonight it’s going to be cold and I really don’t want to winterize again, so I’m going to put heat lamps in the water bins and turn the gas furnace on low. 

Sure is just wonderful to be home.  Jackson just about went out of his mind and Arthur acted like he’d never left.  Fun to get away but there really is ‘no place like home’.

Till later then…take care.

On Our Way

We left Foley, Alabama just after 8 AM on the morning of Wednesday, the 21st.  Our first stop for the night was Calera, Alabama.  Tonight we are just outside of Nashville.  It rained on and off on the way, and just after we settled in here, the skies opened up.  Right now it is just dreary and not raining, but there is more in the forecast.  Tomorrow night our planned stop is just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio.

I think we’re all glad to be heading home.  Jackson is bored out of his cotton pickin’ mind.  Even Arthur appears to be bored.  It was difficult for me after being home for a few days to attend my Dad’s funeral to return back down to Foley.  Ken said I should stay home and he’d drive home by himself, but I think that would be just plain stupid.  I am the navigator, the dog settler, the double and triple checker of things.  As it was the 3 of them were very lonely and very glad to see me.  Nice to be needed….

There will be an awful lot of unloading once we get this baby in the driveway.  Many, many trips in and out.

Well, until, later…take care.

A Trip Home to say Good-Bye

It’s been a very hectic week to say the least.  Last Friday the 9th I received a phone call from my sister to tell me that my Dad had a massive heart attack.  My Dad would have been 97 on May 7th of this year.  He lasted 24 hours on equipment and when they removed it his heart was so badly damaged that it just couldn’t go on and he passed away very peacefully.  I made flight reservations from Pensacola to Toronto and went home.  After the funeral I flew back down here.  Ken stayed with the fur kids. 

My Mother passed away 15 years ago and it didn’t take Dad long to meet a lovely lady and marry her.  We all loved Mary, she was a gem.  Unfortunately, she developed cancer and 7 years or so after they married she was gone.  My Mom, bless her heart, was a homebody, but not Dad, he was the social butterfly of the family.  He was extremely active all his life.  My sister compared him to the Energizer bunny and that he was.  But Mary, well Mary loved to do all the things Dad loved to do.  Dad was a fanatical fisherman and Mary loved to fish.  They took many fishing trips together.  They loved to hike and walk and both kept very active.  Until she got sick. 

After Mary passed away, again it didn’t take Dad long to meet someone else and marry her too.  Unfortunately, she was no Mary.  None of us really warmed up to her, but that’s another story.

They moved into a seniors complex, not a old age home but an apartment complex for seniors.  Dad helped run all the social events, which was absolutely no surprise to us.  He had thousands of movies, so he arranged movie nights for the seniors.  They played lawn bowling, bean bag baseball, I think they even had nights out.  He ran the bingo and called the numbers.  And Dad helped or completely ran them all.  He just had to keep busy.  And he loved it.

There are 4 of us, I have 2 older sisters and 1 younger brother.  We all said that we hoped that when it was Dad’s time that he went quick because it would have just killed his spirit if he was any sort of an invalid.  Dad was a healthy man all his life.   He had a couple illnesses the last couple years but he bounced right back.  He had no arthritis, no major aches or pains.  He was an incredible man.  He led a charmed life, he really did. 

My Mom &  Dad were missionaries in the West Indies, on a small island called Dominica.  I was the only one born there, but other than my brother, who was born in Canada, we 3 girls were raised there.  My Dad never stopped for a second down there, preaching, helping the people with things, just go go go.  I do believe it was the happiest time in my Dad’s life.  He loved it there, but we came home in 1958 and stayed home.  But Dad continued his go go go.  He never stopped for a second, couldn’t sit still, loved bowling, fishing, tennis anything that kept him busy.  He would walk into a room where he knew no one and within 10 minutes was friends with all of them.  Not a shy bone in his body. 

Up until about 10 years ago he was an avid tennis player. One of the reasons he stopped playing was because he told us all his player friends had passed away AND they were all younger than him and when he found new players he didn’t think they gave him a good game.

So it was not a mourning, but a celebration of 97 years of a life that was well spent and well enjoyed.  There were few tears, much laughter at the funeral home and service.  You cannot mourn a man who lived so long and so well.  I’m sure that where ever his spirit his, he is running something, playing something and absolutely, taping movies. 

As they say, God’s speed Dad. 

New Home

On March 1, we arrived here in Foley, Alabama.  We are staying in Bella Terra RV Resort.  It is a beautiful ownership resort, but we are just renting a spot.  It is a very beautiful resort.  The heading photo is our site here.  This is what we see out of our front window.

The evening we arrived the owner, who has his rig and a cute casita here on his lot, had a cocktail party.  Although we were tired from the trip and setting up, we walked over.  People are very friendly, and we spent about an hour or so socializing there then headed back home.  Then last night they had a singer and open bar and snacks over at the clubhouse.  We walked over and it was nice.  We left at intermission.  Jackson is not a happy camper being left along.  He hates it.  So we try not to leave him too long.  Tomorrow afternoon they are having a Bloody Mary Bash.  I’d prefer it to be a Bloody Caesar Bash but I’ll take the Bloody Mary’s.

We arrived to beautiful hot weather.  It was lovely, and the very first time this whole trip that I have put shorts on.  But alas, it wasn’t to last.  We have since been plagued with foul weather.  I’m sure you’re heard about the tornadoes in northern Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky.  It was awful.  We have several tornado watches and warnings along with severe thunderstorm warnings.  Thankfully only the thunderstorms have materialized and RAIN.   Also it’s quite windy, all awnings have been in for a couple days now.  We are RV bound today as the weather is just too nasty.

Yesterday we drove down to Gulf Shores.  A very pretty place and one of the most beautiful beaches we have ever seen.  I have never seen or felt sand so white and so fine.  It’s so soft on your feet.

Well hopefully you are all safe and weren’t in the path of the tornadoes.  Until later …. take care.