Decisions

Again - brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I awoke to 44 degrees on the INSIDE of our trailer. Not wanting to wake Mark, I just bundled up and waited. Fortunately his phone rang around 8:30 - Joe wanted to tell me Marilyn wasn't going to exercise class or golf either.

The cold was due to us not turning on the spare propane tank after having it refilled a couple of weeks ago. Every day is a learning experience.

Since I missed exercise for the past week, I forced myself to go - also, it was warm in the rally hall where classes are held. After an hour of stretching and toning, Mark, Joe, and I were off to Gainesville for a BRUTAL round of golf. I'm not giving up on the clubs, because I sucked even before the new ones came. Mark and Joe are quite patient with me and offer much needed help. Now if my thick head could just digest some of it!

Joe came back for the fish fry while we went to the sleazy Wal*Mart in Gainesville. We got the necessary items and headed back. Still parched from not drinking anything on the course, we stopped at a gas station/market/BBQ joint. The pulled pork sandwich was fabulous. We'll be back there again.

After making two trips over to the gulf side of the state in Port Richey where we thought we were going to stay next year, we believe we have changed our minds and will stay in this same park for one more winter. The park in Port Richey doesn't allow any alcohol unless it is being consumed in your own trailer. No walking around with a beverage, or listening to music, dances, etc. in any public area. Also - no WiFi except in the main office. While we first thought this would not be a problem, I believe it would be a huge one! Also, the golf near Tampa is very expensive. After wavering for the past week, we've convinced ourselves we'd like it better here. We talked to the office here this afternoon and got the pricing, etc. I feel better about this decision to stay in Orange Lake.

Maybe by next year the lake will actually be full and we could fish in it. Of course, we've never seen anyone catch a fish while many have tried.

Bits and Pieces

February is almost over and that means just one more month to enjoy Florida until next November. The time flies by when you don't use snowfalls and ice storms to mark the days of winter. We are in the midst of what the local forecasters are calling the last bit of cold weather. Last night the temp was 32 and the high today was 59. This is considered winter down here. Tomorrow will be 72 and we should reach the 80's by the weekend.

We had two ambulance runs in the park last night. Unfortunately one was to pick up yet another RV'er who passed away in his motor home. We never know when our time will come but there seems to be an increasing number of folks out here that have retired early to make sure they enjoy as much of life as they can.

Our friends Tom and Deanna returned from taking their new (2009) fifth wheel back to the dealer for service. The washing machine was replaced, a defective GFI was replaced and the dealer tried (unsuccesfully so far) to rewire the coax so both televisions would work. It seems that even if you pay nearly 100K for a trailer the quality control is just not very good.

Tomorrow should be a more normal day. We are playing golf at Ironwood with Joe and Marilyn followed by a return trip to the local Catholic church for fish. Life is Good!

No Brainer

Today was a no-brainer. Stay inside where it is nice and warm. At least that's what I had in mind. Mark wanted to walk this morning so we bundled up - I in my fleece jacket, gloves, and hat; Mark in his windshirt - and off we went. We found another limb from a tree had fallen on someone else's trailer. The couple had put a tarp over half of their trailer to keep out last night's rain. The park had quite a storm yesterday while we were basking in the sun in Tampa. The power had been off for four hours, tons of spanish moss, mangled gazebos, storage buildings, and limbs of trees on the ground.

I put a pot of chicken noodle soup on the stove and read a book most of the afternoon. Marilyn and Joe had come down for cherry pie and ice cream this afternoon. It was 3:00 before we ventured out for yet another walk, trying to walk off at least a few pie calories.

An ambulance has just left the park. This is the second one we've seen in the park tonight. Fortunately they don't come blazing in with sirens; just lights. I guess this is commonplace in RV parks full of snowbirds. Last week a man had a fatal heart attack after taking his awning down in the middle of the night. You gotta hand it to the older folks - they don't give up RVing just because they are old and sick!

I talked to Kathy tonight and she had wonderful news. She is going to be a grandmother for the second time. Congratulations Erica and Jake.

The furnace is running, and I've just put the electric blanket back on the bed. I refuse to get the controls out from under the bed. I'll just load my heavy STL Cardinals blanket on that I use while watching tv, or snuggle just a bit closer to Mark. Again, not sure it's supposed to be like this in FL.

Visit with Bill & Carole

After trying for a month to set up a visit, we finally made it down to Largo, which is just north of Tampa to visit Bill and Carole. We used to vacation in Gulf Shores, AL with them over 25 years ago. Then one of their sons married Mark's youngest sister. They were also at the lake for years, but have been living in the Tampa area for the past eight years. They live in a 55+ community about 5 miles from the beaches. I'm terribly jealous! After Carole made us sandwiches, we hopped in their van and headed off for a tour of the area.

We got to see several beaches. The first was Redington Beach, where they used to rent numerous houses for several years before buying their current house. The houses they always rented were within a very short walk - as in just about 100 yards of this beach.

While we don't have a picture - I at least took my shoes off and got ankle deep in the water. It was NOT warm.

We then hopped back in the van and headed farther south to St. Pete beach in St. Petersburg. Again, very beautiful, but full of shells. It would be impossible to go barefoot at this particular beach. Mark and Bill checking out the shells right next to the jetty.

After driving around for a couple of hours, we headed back to their house to get our truck to head north. We ended up staying too long and got stuck in the downtown Tampa traffic, but it didn't matter - we had no where to go. Fortunately we filled up - found a cheap station for $3.59/gallon. We've seen diesel as high as $3.79.

Our return trip turned into a four-hour trip due to traffic, a spectacular rain/wind/lightning storm, a stop at Chili's for dinner, and a stop at the grocery store. We finally made it back to the trailer just after 8:00pm. It's been a long day, but a good one. It's always nice to visit with old acquaintances. Fortunately, next year when we visit we'll be just an hour north of them.

While we were fearing what was going to be awaiting us because of the storms and the power outages across the state today, the floor was dry, and the power which had been off at some time, was back on.

Decisions

It's becoming a habit - I failed to attend exercise class yet again. Mark was still sleeping and I didn't want to wake him (at least that's the excuse I'm using). Instead we each put on our iPods and walked for a mile and a half. We just couldn't decide whether to golf or to lounge about today. The weather was perfect for either, but our hearts just weren't into golf; and no, we aren't sick either!

Instead, we climbed in the car with friends and headed off to Sam's for a few items. After loading up on water, coffee, and yet more munchies, we came back and then got into the pool. It was a whole different crowd at the pool today. We could only figure that the regulars were either golfing, watching the end of the "race", or had other things to do. Lots of people are talking about heading back home this weekend. We think they are all a bit crazy for leaving so early in the year, but lots of them got here in October or November. Too much bad weather up north for us.

We spent a couple of hours with Tom and Deanna Stake checking out their new this week 2009 Excel fifth wheel. Tom is one of the three band members from last nights country dance. They own property near our past lake home. Plans are already being hatched for a get together this summer near Branson.

The bald eagle that hangs out in the park:

All In The Park

Saturday morning started out rainy but by noon the skies had cleared and we headed to the pool. While it was quite chilly getting out the water was wonderful.

After dinner Joe came down to visit and we rode out bikes around the park after dark. Luckily Mark bought me a flashing red light for the back of my bike so cars and golf carts coming up behind us could see at least me.

Today was beautiful as was the pool. Tonight we went to listen to Tom, Donny, and Paul play country music. One of the big parts of this evening is the 50/50 drawing (which, by the way, we have NEVER won). Most people leave after the drawing, but we stay till the end.

While not much was going on this weekend - we've decided to include pictures of what's happening in the park, starting with our favorite sign in the whole park - it belongs to John and Francis who are just down the street from us.:

We stumbled upon this quaint cemetery down a dirt road behind the sewage treatment facility in the park. Most headstones have deaths in the late 1800s or early 1900s. It appears to be just a couple of families. It was a very peaceful area, but this morning our visit was disturbed by a woman walking her dog back here.

One of several military gravesites:

A very old tree in the cemetery that was missing over half of the trunk. Don't know how it was still standing:

And an unpleasant, but very necessary part of the park:

Fried before five

I just couldn't get motivated this morning to go to exercise class. Hopefully this will not become a habit - sometimes a person just needs to lounge about in the morning with that pot of coffee. We were also out of milk so that ruled out most breakfast foods so we decided to drive down to Ocala to possibly golf if the clouds cleared out and the rain stayed away.

After a pecan waffle and scattered and chunked at Waffle House, we headed to the course. It was crowded, but we got on. I'm still working on the new clubs, but did a lot better today. We also walked - something we haven't done in about two weeks. How did we get so out of shape? On the back nine we played with a 74 year old gentleman from Michigan who also winters in Florida. That man was in better shape than we were - of course, he had one of those fancy remote controlled carts; we have to pull ours (at least that's my reasoning.)

While we don't usually walk in the mornings because it's $10 after 2pm, we had prior plans for 4:00pm. We did something for which we usually make fun of others - yep - we ate at 4:20pm - dinner!! AAAAHHHHH - we've turned into old retirees (at least for the day.) We've been looking forward to the fish fry at the local Catholic church since last week Friday when friends let us know how good it was. For $7.00 apiece, we got all you can eat slaw, fries, grits (we passed), hush puppies, fried or baked white fish, along with dessert and iced tea. The posted times were 4:30-6:30, but at 4:20, the place was 1/3 full. By the time we finished eating, the line was 100 people long. While we won't go back every Friday during Lent, we will probably go back at least once more.

I don't know what the situation is back at home, but the price of gasoline and diesel took a very BIG jump yesterday - diesel now is $3.63 a gallon. Gas was $3.29 for regular. What in the world happened?

We went to the grocery store after the fish fry to stock up on munchies. Since we ate so early, we're sure we'll need snacks by about 9:00 tonight. We spent $26 on milk, soap, pepper, and the rest of just junk - chips, cookies and candy.

Cabin Fever

The clouds cleared off last night in time for us to watch the lunar eclipse. At 9:00pm EST Mark called into me that the eclipse was going on, and we had a great view. Since we are in the middle of nowhere, there are no bright city lights. The moon and stars are always spectacular. Once we got out in the street, everyone started coming out. Our neighbor Ed brought out his high-powered binoculars for everyone to see. (Hint to our kids - maybe for Christmas next year we could get some good binoculars.) After two hours, the street party began to break up. The old folks needed to get some shut-eye.

We got in just in time for the 11:00pm news item that the missile hit the satellite. Yippee. Pretty neat visuals of that on TV.

We had rain most of the day. I did, however, enjoy a two hour nap. After waking with a killer sinus headache that just wouldn't go away, I took one "non-drowsy" pill, and it was nighty-night time for a couple of hours. I'm happy to report that 12.5 hours after waking with it early this morning - it is gone!

Since we were inside most of the day, Mark got to watch a LOT of tv. One of channels he frequently surfed to was The Weather Channel. This was exciting for us, because one of the reporters, Jim Cantori, happened to be televising from St. Louis all day. We got to witness secondhand the bad weather friends and family had to endure today. Jim informed us just an hour ago, that you all will have to put up with the bad weather again tomorrow. Be safe everyone.

Once the rain stopped around 5:00pm, it was like someone opened the flood gates, and everyone came outside. Everyone had cabin fever - except me of course. We got to walk around the park and visit with friends for a while before grilling steaks for dinner.

Silenced No More

The Dell contracted repairman showed up late yesterday afternoon as promised. After replacing the screen portion of our laptop, it was once again up and running. This allowed me to get our tax spreadsheets printed and all the info sent off to the tax man yesterday. Hope Uncle Sam is good to us and sends a check.

While I don't remember much of what we did this weekend, two items stick out in my mind. One - the weather was fabulous and we swam on Saturday. Two - Saturday evening a group of us went to the "Mary and Terri Sing-a-long." A couple of weeks ago we walked by to hear what was going on - at that time we decided we would NEVER sit through that. Our friends managed to persuade us to go due to lack of any better entertainment (or so we thought). Oh my - nothing like one elderly woman singing love songs to her girlfriend in front of 150 retirees. After an hour of this, there was a "Newlywed Game" played with four couples who were married anywhere from seven to 35 years. We've seen this before on cruise ships. This was the G-rated version, and not so funny. Alcohol did not help the evening. This we swear to - we will not be back. Pam and Dennis - you two are on your own if you want to go in March.

Last evening was our belated Valentine's Day dinner at the St. John's Seafood restaurant for all-you-can-eat crab legs. One more trip for this delicacy when Pam and Dennis come for a week in March with their new trailer. Our stomachs should be sufficiently stretched out by then for another pig-out.

The morning's local news out of Orlando was great. They showed the Atlantis shuttle landing at the Kennedy Space Center after being in orbit for 10 days. Since we got to see it lift off in person, I wanted to see it land safe and sound (at least on TV). It was a beautiful sight.

Today we tried out a different golf course in Gainesville. Even though it got mediocre reviews on-line, we decided to give it a try anyway for something new. Joe and Marilyn and Mark and I were off. The course was not great, and neither was my score. I'm still trying to figure out the new clubs. At times it feels like I've never golfed a day in my life. Mark assures me that eventually everything will just "click" and I'll do much better. It's still fun though - how can it not be when riding with Marilyn. We both love to laugh a lot.

I'm not sure we'll be able to see the lunar eclipse tonight - much too cloudy to see anything. Can't wait to hear about the spy satellite being shot down tonight. Sounds like the makings of another Bruce Willis action thriller in the near future.

We're having a SEVERE WEATHER ALERT here in Orange Lake. It's for dry air/low humidity which can result in fires if smokers are careless with their butts. We're sorry for all of you back home who will be dealing with WINTER STORM WARNINGS tomorrow. Drive safely.

And one final note to our oldest son and his fiance - we are happy and thankful you are feeling better; you gave us quite the scare. It just proves that no matter how old your kids are, you still worry to death about them. You two have fun in Tucson next week.

Disaster has struck!

On Saturday morning Diane was attempting to respond to her sister's e-mail when the computer screen went dark. After several tries at powering down and restatring we realized that the laptop was broken. We called Dell support and after an hour on hold listening to wonderful on hold music we were connected to Joshua. After several false starts both us and Joshua decided that the laptop really was broke. The part is ordered, field service is gearing up and hopefully we will be back on line by Thursday. Until that time the blog will be silent.

This entry is courtesy of Joe and Marilyn's computer

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr

This was actually Thursday's blog, but the internet has been down since last night.

While we know that our weather in no way compares to everyone at home - we woke to 30s this morning. This is not how Florida should be. Luckily tomorrow will be 76!

After making one heart-shaped pancake in honor of Valentine's Day (they were just too hard to make into hearts) and numerous plain old pancakes, we bundled up to take our morning walk to get a newspaper. A local RV dealer is hosting an RV show in our park this week, so we decided to check out a few of the rigs. I tend to walk away from the salespeople, so Mark got stuck with an over-anxious salesman who thought he had a sure-sale in the bag. Hah! Fooled him.

Gary and Anne came over to see if we wanted to go to one of their favorite restaurants in downtown Ocala for lunch. Since it was too cold to golf as we had originally planned, we followed them to Harry's restauant. Even at 2:00pm there was a wait - we knew it had to be good, and it was. They serve lots of Cajun dishes. Mark got Chicken Louisianne (blackened chicken over spicy pasta); I opted for crab cakes with red beans and rice. As Rachel Ray says - "Yummo."

Afterwards I took a few pictures of the painted horses on the town square - kinda like the cows that were in Chicago, but these are permanent art.

In the News

Our normal quiet morning routine of Mark reading the St. Louis news online and me reading a book and drinking our coffee was interrupted this morning by the buzz of chainsaws. After an hour we couldn't stand it any more. We threw on walking clothes and went to investigate the noise. Last night during the storm, a very large oak tree fell between a 5th wheel trailer and a park model (a very small mobile home). The tree limb crushed the Ford F-150, left a limb sticking out of the park model roof, but fortunately for the owners of the truck, it didn't damage their 5th wheel. They are from Ontario - probably not going to have a good time dealing with their insurance company back home. Nothing like someone's tragedy to bring out the masses on a cool cloudy morning!

While reading the Ocala FL newspaper, Mark found an article of interest. It seems a 64 year-old man was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after pointing a 22-caliber semi-automatic handgun at two people at the local Sam's store because he didn't like where they left their cart. The man chased the cart-leavers down the highway waving the gun and shouting obscenities at him! We were just at this Sam's today and we put our cart in the cart corral!

Another item of interest in all the news - one which I happened to be watching on TV last night - the 15" beagle named Uno won the "Best in Show" at the Westminster Kennel Club. He was my vote all along.

I got my valentine's day gift from Mark a day early:

A new set of golf clubs! Mark ordered them from a friend in Phoenix, who had them shipped to us here. We went to the range to try them out; tomorrow I'll try them on the course if the weather warms up. Can't wait - they can only improve my game.

Storm Watching

Catching up since Sunday. Monday was golf at Williston CC with Joe, Marilyn, Gary and Ann. This has become one of the more interesting places to play down here. It's just an average golf course in typical Florida fashion, few elevation changes, lots of dogleg holes, worn out golf carts and no tee times needed. But the one thing keeps bringing us back is the wonderful greens. They are unbelievably fast and not very flat. We just can't figure out how this place that can't grow grass on the fairways or in the rough can maintain the best greens in the area. The weather was great and a good time was had by all.

Tuesday was a day to hang around the resort. The weather forecasters started by predicting rain early in the day then rain at mid day and finally they predicted big storms for the evening. If you keep changing your prognostications eventually you will get it right. We went to the produce market while the weather was still good and picked up a few items and another one of those monster grapefruits ( raised near an nuclear power plant we guess.) About four this afternoon the weather arrived. There has been a possible tornado in Titusville, about 100 miles from us and another tornado southeast of Orlando. The problem with this kind of weather passing near an RV resort is the lack of suitable storm shelter in the event of needing to leave your rig. We took a good look at the main recreation building today with this in mind and decided that we would prefer to ride out a major storm in our fifth wheel. Hopefully the only weather problems we suffer is a cable tv outage or the worst.....no internet.

Veg Out Day?

Sunday was a supposed to be a lazy lounge-about day. Mark washed the 5th wheel today- it started getting those nasty black streaks down the sides. Also, the trees are all starting to leaf out and the pollen is caked onto the vehicles and outside furniture. Lots of fellow campers are coughing and sneezing. This is strange to us, because we don't usually see this until around April back home. Guess we'll get to experience it twice this year.

While he worked outside, I was balancing the checkbook (send money!) and cleaning the inside. Then it was time to tackle the laundry. I don't understand why doing the laundry is so confrontational here, but it is. As I was walking my basket of dirty clothes to the laundry facility, Mark was finishing up at the driving range, so he drove me the rest of the 300 yard walk. At the same time, two elderly women in a golf cart filled with laundry bags were heading in the same direction. Mark sped up and drove on the other street; I jumped out while we were still rolling and ran into the room, and immediately started throwing clothes into three of the four washers. They came in and started putting their dirty clothes into one of the washers, on top of mine! That just wasn't going to fly.

After I nicely tried to explain that I was using the machines, I put my headphones on and proceeded to sing while they were taking their clothes out of my washer. What nerve! Then they stood there and talked about me as if I wasn't even standing there. (Maybe it was my singing.) Can't wait for the next laundry day.

It seems that some rainy weather in northern Florida is finally starting to fill up our Orange Lake right on the property. We've noticed about a 3" rise in the past week. It still has a very long way to go to get to where the dock is, but I guess every little bit helps.

Some cool trees on water's edge. We've been told an alligator likes to hang out here on warm sunny days. We've never seen it, but we're hoping to.

After bike riding for over an hour this afternoon, cooking not one, not two, but three meals today (this just doesn't happen very often - I hate to cook), cleaning, and laundry, I'm done in for the day. We're watching Saving Private Ryan now. Of course we've seen it numerous times, but it's still a great movie, even if it has 50 commercials in it - wish I had brought the DVD from home.

Weekend Update

We were just too tired to update the blog yesterday after golf. The fabulous weather brought out the extremely s-l-o-w golfers Friday afternoon. We went with Joe and Marilyn (who gave up after 9 holes). Mark and I finished the last nine with Michael, a course employee on the weekends.

We stopped at one of the many local produce stands on our way back to the RV park yesterday. Steve's produce had the biggest selection of any we had seen. He claims he has the best nuts of anyone in town - that would be the boiled mushy kind previously discussed on this blog. We opted out of those. We did however pick up strawberries, cantelope, corn on the cob, tomatoes, lettuce, and a grapefruit. Check out this picture of the grapefruit compared to the head of lettuce.

Mark had the grapefruit this morning for breakfast. He claims it was delicious, and there was no need to add sugar to it. I tried a small piece, but it's just not my thing. The strawberries, however, were delicious.

Today we decided to check out the Ocala RV show. Even though our 5th wheel is only 7 months old, we still like to look at other rigs. We didn't find any that we would want.

After a trip to Sams we tried the El Torro mexican restaurant we've been wanting to try. While service was terrible, the food was fabulous. We'll definitely try it again.

Tonight's entertainment was a dance at the main hall by Paul, Donnie, and Tom. Tom and his wife Deanna, are the couple from right near our former lake house at Pomme de Terre. He and Mark know a lot of the same people. Tom also used to play in Merle Haggard's band 35 years ago.

While this isn't the music we know and love, it's good to get together with friends. There's also the hope of winning the 50/50 raffle. While we did not win, Francis at our table did. She and her adorable husband John are right down the street from us. Quite funny people for an older couple. They are how I want to be when I'm in my late 60s/70s. Check out the shirt and hat! Everyone at the table agreed before the drawing that if the winner was from our table, they had to treat everyone for a meal. After winning, John said the fried baloney sandwiches were being served at 2:30am tomorrow! (I would have splurged on burgers and brats.)

One other thing Mark and I realized after tonight's gathering - we're gonna have to make a trip to the "Super Flea Market" to get the perfect cowboy hat!

Lift Off!!

Upon crawling out of bed this morning before my first cup of coffee, Mark said, "Let's go." The morning weather report gave the launch a 50/50 chance of going off. Armed with two chairs, two cameras, and two apples, we headed southeast to Titusville, FL to watch the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis for its mission to the International Space Station. We made the 150 mile trip in 2.5 hours and $10.00 in toll charges. Parking was easy since we were early. We then had to kill 3 hours before the launch time.

After lunch, Mark made a few phone calls to non-retiree friends back home while I sat in my chair in the parking lot. About an hour before launch time we walked up the street and sat in the yard of some restaurant - along with about 200 other people.

This is from our viewing point.

Fortunately a local couple of veteran launch watchers sat down next to us, and were willing to answer all of our questions. These people were all used to these things being scrubbed at the last minute, so no one was really sure if it was a go. We really didn't want to return on Friday afternoon for a rescheduled launch. Because it was an absolutely beautiful day with bright blue sky and just a few puffy clouds, everyone was just sure it would go.

At exactly 2:45EST, we had lift off. Mark had the digital camera and I had the other one with the better zoom. It was fabulous! We just kept snapping pictures, while trying to look with our own eyes. We thought it would be louder, but the locals said the wind was blowing the wrong way.

This was just seconds after liftoff.

And just a few seconds later.

Once I get the film developed and put on a CD, I might post more photos later.

The whole "show" lasted less than a minute. What lasted a whole lot longer was the journey to get out of Titusville, FL. The scenic and toll-free trip back to Orange Lake took 3.5 hours.

While it was a very long way to go, for just a minute of action, it was well worth it! A great day - and we get to check one more item off that life list.

Got Milk?

The guys were all set to drive up to Gainesville this morning for a round of golf, but in the end they opted to stay home. The weather was somewhat iffy, and the wind was 20-30mph. They'll try again on Friday.

I finally got my haircut today. It's always a crap shoot getting a haircut from a total unknown. Fortunately it turned out ok for me - cheap too! I'll be going back next month.

We then had to go to two different grocery stores to get milk. It seems that neither of the local (17 miles away) stores can keep milk on their shelves. Since we were out shopping, we stopped for some chinese takeout. Our first try at Floridian chinese food a month ago didn't turn out so well. This was a little better - at least my hunan chicken was good. Mark's sweet and sour pork was half cooked, and was only pork - no veggies.

We're keeping our eyes out on tomorrow's weather. There a 2:45pm shuttle launch scheduled at the Kennedy Space Center about two hours away. We'd really like to see a launch, but there's lots of weather issues involved. Wind speed, cloud cover, rain within 35 miles, etc. etc. etc. Even the weather forecasters say it isn't looking real good, but NASA hasn't cancelled yet. Hopefully lots more on this tomorrow.

Now a special note to my friend Michelle, whom I had a very humorous conversation with this evening: The issued we laughed about turned out to be a non-issue. No embarrassment was had! LOL

Don't Make Us Get Out of the Pool

Just another beautiful day in central Florida. We got to the pool early today because we wanted to make sure we had our spots in the water before the new water aerobics class started at 1:30pm. Most of us are still trying to figure out why there is a class in the middle of the day when everyone is wanting to cool off. We stood our ground (or water) and stayed in the pool while the class was going on. We got lots of dirty looks - mostly because we had the noodles that they wanted to use.

The evening's free entertainment was an elderly couple who came in and sang/played the keyboards to 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s music. While we weren't expecting much, it was really quite entertaining. Of course, I love watching people dance. We did get out there ourselves - gotta get practice in before the big wedding later this year. This entertainment also spared us from having to watch the day's election results blasted all over the TV.

Our winter residence! This was taken one day last week. We've got the awning up, since it's been nice weather. Note the small WeberQ grill. This is something new for me this year. I've always been a charcoal and chimney Qer before this winter. Mark says if I can't live without it, we can get the "real" thing. So far, I'm liking the gas grill. I will not, however, be giving up the Weber Kettle at home.

A 15,876 Step Day

I did not want to get up and at 'em this morning for the Stretch and Tone session, but I forced myself. After way too much food and drink this weekend, I need all the help I can. Mark walked to his iPod while I was in the group session. This warmed us up for the first golf game of the week. It was rather warm to be walking 18, but we survived. Fortunately I had dinner in the crockpot so I didn't have to work too hard on dinner when we got back home at 6:30.

We went with the regulars, along with a new couple, Jim & Betty, who haven't golfed in over 20 years. Marilyn, Betty, and I were one group; Joe, Gary, Jim, and Mark were the foursome behind us. I can't speak for the guys, but we had a great time and laughed a lot. We just don't take it too seriously.

Marilyn is on the left; Betty on the right.

No wildlife was found today. Still searching for that alligator.

All of the native New Yorkers are happy, and hungover today after celebrating the NY Superbowl win. We're happy for them. Maybe the Rams will get there again in our lifetimes!

We frequently check into the messages on our phone back home. Since we've left on December 26, we've had only 2 messages -- until today. We had eight messages since Saturday. Imagine, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Mrs. John McCain, Jim Talent, and other yeahoos called wanting us to vote for them. I guess the Democrats don't want our votes. It doesn't matter - we failed to absentee vote for the election tomorrow. We're happy to be gone from those obnoxious calls.

It's In The News

This morning we slept in and then lounged about for a few hours before going outside into the dense fog. Usually the fog is gone by 9:00am, but this morning it was almost noon. This gave us time to watch Tiger come from behind to win in Dubai.

We treated ourselves to the Gainesville Sunday newspaper while walking this morning. That's something that's greatly missed - the daily newspaper. We try to catch up with the St. Louis news via the internet, but it's not the same. Local news is a lot different here. Some concerns in today's paper included the transgender rights issues and are they being discriminated against in the housing markets. Also - why some geese from Canada haven't arrived yet - they are now a week late. Are geese that regular in migrating south?

We did get to see the bald eagle that has a nest on this property. What a beautiful sight seeing it soar over the pool (while we were in the pool).

The Super Bowl game is not on here, at least not in our 5th wheel, but then, we don't really care about it either. FOX is not on the local cable company's list of channels we receive in this area. I guess we'll hear the final score when we watch the news tonight.

Saturday Ramblings

Friday was restock the 5th wheel day with visits to Sam's, K-Mart, Florida Golf (new STL Cardinal red putter grip for me), and the grocery store. We later took Joe with us to the OTB at the Jai Alai joint for a bit of fun. Fortunately Joe has horse racing in Arkansas, and has more experience at reading the racing forms than we do. After losing most of the races they bet on, Joe and Mark finally won the last two before we left. A cheap evening's entertainment, and a wonderful place to people watch.

We received several phone calls the last two days describing the latest snowfall at home. We especially enjoyed the picture we got showing us the snow that Michael's "buddies" had stacked up in front of his garage so he couldn't get in. Gee, with friends like that ....

While the weather in STL is frightful, Orange Lake, FL is delightful:
Since we are missing Bob & Jen's wedding and reception today, we decided to celebrate their wedding day by taking a dip in the pool.

We had to say goodbye to a couple we've come to enjoy down here, Mo and Dick. They have the same 5th wheel that we do, only a year older than ours. Their's comes with an extra though - someone who just loves to visit us - Lacy:


Another friendly four-legged friend in the park is Sinjin. She's a 140 lb. Mastiff - and she's in a 5th wheel smaller than ours. I can't even imagine. Sinjin's owner sounds exactly like my Uncle Jim, and even looks like him.

After visiting others in the park, four loads of laundry (I had Mark's help today; no balancing act), and BBQ burgers at 8:30 tonight, we decided to walk to the main hall to listen to the "Singalong With Mary and Terri." We now know that we have not missed one single thing by missing the last four Saturday evening singalongs. We have to find some decent entertainment!