The Drought Is Over!

Before we left to go home for a visit, we went to the Fat Tuesday parade in Gulf Shores.  This was a much bigger parade than the previous one we visited in Orange Beach.

Thousands waiting for the beginning of the parade, hoping the rains will hold off.  Luckily, only a few sprinkles at the start.  The downpour came at the end.

The Luxury RV Resort float.  We hope to be riding on it next year, as we'll be staying in that park.

Just some of the beads Mark got.  

One rider on a float personally handed Mark a pair of black, lacy, thong underwear!  What's up with that??

We picked up our rental car and drove the 11.5 hours back to St. Louis for a quick visit.  Thanks to our son and daughter-in-law, we got to see Matthew everyday we were home.  We had him all day on Monday, and  most of Tuesday.  He's gotten so big.  

Matthew loved all the new toys we brought home for him.

We squeezed in visits to all the family and our friends before making a mad dash back to Alabama to beat the winter storm coming in to St. Louis.  

Since arriving back here, all it has done is rain and storm.  In the past three days, we have had over 9 inches of rain.  Our five year old RV is starting to leak in places it has never done before.  The bedroom slide leaks so much, we had to make an appointment to take it to Indiana in May for a slide adjustment.  After yesterday's two inches, the slide in the kitchen now leaks also.    

 This swing is normally 10 feet away from the lake.

Parking lot with a foot of water in it.  

The forecast for the next ten days is sun!  We are looking forward to Pam and Dennis' arrival in the park.  They should be here Saturday or Sunday.  Hopefully they will bring warm weather with them.

Parade Season

Last week was pretty busy.  We had rain a few times, but this sunset was the best we've had so far.

In the past winters, especially in Florida, we've seen people biking with their dogs in a basket.  We tried to put Butch in - he didn't fit.  I think if he did, he would have been happy.  He'll be walking on his own four feet forever.

The window in the door of the trailer has been bugging Mark for quite a while.  It leaks water when there's a heavy storm and the awning is not out.  What a mess this was to try and fix.  After two trips to Camping World, a trip to two different hardware stores, and about two hours of labor from us - we returned all the parts because "universal" does not always mean what it says when buying replacement parts.  We now have the old window back in and reassembled.  Unfortunately, that window is now covered with about half a tube of silicone that we just can't get off the window.  We can't buy a new piece of tempered glass either.  Next step is replacing the whole window ($150!!).  We'll be holding off on that for a while.

Mardi Gras is a very big deal in Alabama.  There are at least eight or nine parades in the area, and many more if we were willing to drive up to Mobile.  We finally made it to one on Saturday evening in Orange Beach.  The parade was supposed to start at 5:30p, so we arrived around 4:00p because we weren't sure where to park or how crowded it would be.  We ended up backing into a spot right next to the road in a WalMart parking lot.  We ended up meeting another couple from Wisconsin as they were parked right next to us.  We had a great time comparing RV parks.  They are in the only park that has a heated indoor pool in this area.  It was a great way to pass the time waiting.

Looks are deceiving here.  This guy is freezing.  The wind was about 30mph, right off the beach.  Too bad we didn't get a picture of the four of us.  We were all bundled up.  Steve and Dianne wore shorts, but had a blanket.  Mark found me a blanket in the truck to make it tolerable.

I didn't get any pictures close up of the floats because I was too busy chasing beads.

Besides the loads of beads we got, we also nabbed a few moon pies and Mark got the extra large pacifier??

Yesterday it was supposed to rain all day, so we decided to drive over to the Greyhound track near Pensacola.  We ended up winning $19.50 on the first race so we stayed for one more, took our winnings and left.  Dog races are very boring!

 

Last night we were under a tornado warning for most of the day.  Fortunately, all we got was some rain.  The tornadoes that hit Hattiesburg were a couple hundred miles north of us.  I guess we'll see all the damage when we drive home on Friday.

We're headed back to St. Louis on Friday for a short visit.  We need some time with Matthew, the kids, parents, and friends.

Catching Up

I realized I've left a few things out of the previous postings, so I'm going to catch up now.  When we moved to our new spot last week, there was also another couple who moved in behind us.  There had been a large bottle of vodka sitting on the picnic table at their site.  Lynn brought the bottle over to me because they don't drink, and did I want it?  Sure - why not?

A note was left from the previous RV - they didn't like vanilla vodka.  Now I must find something good to drink with this gigantic bottle.

This pigeon hangs out staring into the RV of a single guy.  He's a self-proclaimed suicidal risk, and his nurse says this is his guardian angel, in the form of a pigeon.  Very strange. Too bad the guy that owns this trailer doesn't realize there's about a pound of pigeon poop on his slide topper.  

One rainy day last week we decided we needed to change the password for our email account.  Oh my gosh - we won't be doing that again!  After messing with it for about an hour ourselves, I finally called AT&T for help.  After spending 55 minutes on the phone with Seth, he finally got our email up and running.  It's really hard when you have extremely slow internet service, but he did it.  Afterwards he put his boss on the line for me so I could load on the praises for him.  Hopefully he'll get some much-deserved recognition for his work.  

We usually end up at George and Patty's RV at least once a day. Peggy next door is always making dessert in the crockpot to share with us all.  Yesterday it was cherry.  We've already scheduled our next green egg meal for Thursday.  Can't wait.

  Sadie was scared to death, so she hid behind George.

Friday morning we met our friends Al and Shelly from Sheboygan, Wisconsin for breakfast.  They had spent the night near by with friends because they were on their way to Tampa to get on a cruise ship.  We met Al and Shelly eight years ago on our first winter away from home in Victoria, TX.  We've kept in touch via emails over the years so it was lots of fun to catch up in person.

 They look the exact same as they did when we last saw them 7 years ago.

Sunday we rode bikes along the beach road and then stopped in to see the fishing pier.  Not much catching was going on, but these pelicans were very friendly.  They let you walk right up to them.

After riding, we headed to our favorite restaurant, Cosmos, for lunch.  Mark had wanted a Burger King fish sandwich, I wanted something more filling.  Since we still had money left on our gift card from Michael and Angie, plus a coupon for $5 off, we went to Cosmos.  Mark got his fish sandwich with cheese - I'm sure the chef was cringing when the waiter put in an order for the grouper sandwich with cheese, but he said it was fabulous.  My seafood pasta with shrimp and crab was great.  Now I am reassured that I am not allergic to shrimp because I had no reaction.  

Yesterday we dropped Butch off to get a haircut.  He was very happy to see us.  They had him from 9:30a until 2:30p, and I know he was in a cage a great deal of that time.  

Butch looks so cute with his new haircut - he's half the shaggy dog now!