| Friday, October 31, 2008 "Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!" Yup, October has rolled right on by and now it is the night of ghouls, goblins and gremlins. Unbelievable, only two more months of 2008 left. Next month is Thanksgiving month and then it is Christmas month. Miss Judy loves Christmas. She likes shopping for gifts, making gifts, decorating the house, and making yummy Christmas treats. But absolutely nothing surpasses the expression on a three year old's face as she tears into her Christmas presents. So that means that we will be finishing up our Christmas shopping during the coming month then we will celebrate Christmas with Matt, Jackie, Catia, and Kalina in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way!" I love Thanksgiving. That time of year gives me a warm feeling especially when remembering all of the Thanksgivings past. I can vividly recall celebrating Thanksgiving at my grand parents house when I was just a youngster. My mom was one of ten children and the families would come together twice a year (fourth of July and Thanksgiving). What mayhem that would bring with no less than eight families showing up each having from 2 to 8 children. In later years Thanksgiving was celebrated at home with mom, dad, Mike, and myself (and, oh yes, the katt). It would be feasting and football with an afternoon nap thrown in just for good measure. As time continued to move on and we had our own little family of four children we would celebrate Thanksgiving at home with food choices blended from both Miss Judy's and my past. Once we moved back to Maine we would celebrate Thanksgiving with my folks and my brother and his family. Now the time has flown by with us celebrating Thanksgiving with who ever we happen to be with when that time of the year rolls around. Last year it was with our Escapees family at Rainbow Plantation and this year it will be with our daughter, her boy friend, and his parents here in Tennessee. Thanksgiving is always about family and the great thing about this fulltime lifestyle is that there will always be family around at Thanksgiving time. This economy hit close to home yesterday. Bankston, who is an RV dealership out of Huntsville, Alabama, has been leasing about one third of the Nashville KOA for displaying their RVs. They maintain an office in a travel trailer set up in Camping World's parking lot and have a service crew that works out of trucks. Well, they are pretty much closing down operations in the Nashville area. They will continue to maintain an office at Camping World with about 10 to 12 RVs on display and one salesman/woman but they are giving up the lease at KOA and laying off the service crew. It is just the sign of the times in the Recreational Vehicle Industry - with high fuel prices, tight credit, and shrinking investments discretionary spending is drying up for most middle class Americans. Music City RV, who is just a few "doors" down from us, closed up operations last summer (they were the Prevost dealer in this area). Bankston sells primarily Tiffin motorhomes and Doubletree fifthwheels at this location. This certainly will put a crimp in Nashville KOA's budget for the coming months. Four more weeks and we'll be heading home. It certainly has seemed like a long haul since we began workamping at Lake George Escape back in May. We've only taken three weeks off for traveling since then. Boy, do I envy our fulltiming buddies who were able to walk away from a J-O-B and not "w*rked a minute" since that time. Oh well, we could have done that too if we had waited for three more years before "hitting the road". But I'm glad we didn't. We have been able to "move about the country" and see our grand children more often than we could have if we had kept w*rking. That's worth it's weight in gold. Thursday, October 30, 2008 Yesterday was just one of those days - somehow I managed to type "Friday, October 29, 2008" in the date line of my journal entry. Several nice folks emailed me and gently let me know that I had err'd. Oh well, what can I say? I have a day clock but forgot to wind it so I have no clue as to what day it is. I pretty much function on daytime or nighttime - sunny, partly cloudy, cloudy, or rainy (no snow - we don't do snow anymore). I could lie to you and tell you that I was just testing to see if anyone was paying attention or I could tell you that I might have put a little to much additive in my coffee trying to keep warm in this chilly weather. Anyway, yes, I do know if I am a foot or horse back (most of the time that is) I just don't know what day it is. In any event, I hope that all of you had a great Friday. It's exciting to hear that someone has finally sold their home and is hitting the road. Congratulations to a couple of our readers, Larry and Arlene, on their accomplishment. They are already feeling the freedom that this lifestyle can bring. Freedom from being out from under a house and all of the work that it brings, freedom from being out from under all that "stuff" (baggage) that you have carried for a long, long time. Come December they will celebrate liberation day when Larry finally retires. Judy and I wish you happy trails and a safe journey. We hope to meet you guys somewhere down the road as we continue Wandering America. I've continued working on my new Toshiba computer - tweaking it so that it does my bidding. I keep seeking out the junk and deleting or removing it from the hard drive. I think I've got it pretty close to where I like it. As you can tell, I've been "tweaking" From Darrell's Chair. I think this new green background is a little more soothing on the eyes. Also, I've used a darker red in the date line. I'm not planning on making any more changes so I hope you like it. I'd be glad to hear your comments so email me and let me know your thoughts. Boy, I wish we were traveling and sharing a lot more interesting news. There's not too much to report on when we sit still for a long period of time. The grass keeps growing and the leaves keep falling. You all know how a lawn mower works and I'm still having a problem finding the motor on the rake (I've looked high and low and can't seem to get the darn thing running). So that doesn't leave me much to write about. I could write about politics but we've all heard enough of that (two years worth - yuck). I could write about the economy but I've already done enough of that; besides I like to focus on more pleasant thoughts. Therefore, I'm stuck - if any of you have any questions that I could answer then email me and I could post my answers here (sort of a Dear Blabby thang). Wednesday, October 29, 2008 Brrrrrrr! It's gotten down right coooooold over the past two days but relief is on the way. Tomorrow will be back in the high 60's and Friday, Saturday, Sunday will be back into the mid 70's - Yay!!! My knees are screaming for relief. Other than that I have been continuing with the yard work (mowing lawns, mulching leaves, weed whacking) while Miss Judy continues w*rking in the office (reservations, check-ins, store purchases). Life is exciting, isn't it? At least we are making a few bucks. This weekend is Halloween and the campground will be having events taking place. On Friday evening Miss J and I will be doing smores and assisting with games; then on Saturday morning we are going to help with the pan cake breakfast. Friday and Saturday are usually our days off but we agreed to help out for a few hours each day. It should be fun. Well, in another week it will all be over - thank God! I am so sick of all the political ads and rhetoric. They (who ever they are - demons or bureaucrats in Washington) must think that "we the people" are stupid. Personally I don't think either candidate is the right person for the job. The problem is that the "right person" to be President of the United States is hiding - he/she is waaaay to smart to let themselves get roped into that job. Like I said before, in looking at this country's finances, we can't afford a president and vice president - we're broke!!! In any event, no matter who you are for or against, get out there and cast your ballot - Miss J and I mailed ours in last week. Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Pretty much same ol', same ol'!! We didn't go shopping yesterday but will go today. I spent most of my time yesterday morning working on my new computer. I have removed all of the programs and icons from the computer that I don't want, downloaded some programs that I do use, and reconstructed my favorites. There was a lot more than I thought there would be. Next I will need to remove the hard drive from the Gateway so I can retrieve some "stuff" from that and then I will reformat it to be used as an external back-up drive for our pictures. It has turned cooooold here in Nashville and my knees don't care much for that. They ache and get get extremely stiff. Here's some words of wisdom for you - don't get older, stay young. Miss J and I are going to continue working on that. There are some things that we (you) can do to remain young. Eat healthy foods. We have added "super foods" to our diets and have eliminated the "white" stuff (sugar, salt, enriched flour) from our food list. Another thing is exercise. This summer we were getting plenty of exercise (biking, kayaking, walking) but we need to make that more consistent in our lives. One last thing that I will mention is stretching. We need to work on that one. Tai Chi is a great way to stretch and we have a couple of DVDs from our past life - just need to get started. By just doing those three things we can lower our "Real Age" (that is, keep ourselves younger than our chronological age). Miss Judy says it's time to get going so we can get to Wally World and get home to put the groceries away before it is time to go to w*rk. Take care! Monday, October 27, 2008 The new computer is doing just fine, especially considering it has Windows Vista as its operating system. I've heard nothing but nightmares about Vista but it doesn't appear that I'll have very many issues with it as the "stuff" that I do is pretty basic. One thing that I haven't appreciated is the amount of "junk" they have preloaded onto this computer. There are a "ton" of icons on the screen that are there for no other reason than to sell you something. I've already "uninstalled" the Norton programs (60 day trial and then they want you to buy the program) and the 2007 Microsoft Office package (same deal as Norton). AVG and Open Office 3.0 are both free programs so I have already downloaded them along with Kompozer (which is what I use in creating this website) and Oscar's Thumb Maker (which is what I use to resize our photographs for the website). I will be uninstalling more "junk" over the next few days in hopes of cleaning up the "clutter" on my desktop. Yesterday was absolutely a beautiful fall day with temps in the 70's but that ain't gonna hold much longer. Today the temps aren't supposed to get out of the 50's and tonight dropping to the low 30's (gotta pull in the hose tonight). We've gotten so we don't like temperatures below 65 (maybe even 70); actually we love the high seventies to the mid eighties - You know, shorts and sandals weather. This past weekend there was BBQ cook off in Lynchburg, Tennessee (home of Jack Daniel's Distillery). Some of the contestants showed up here at Nashville KOA and brought us a big pan full of BBQ ribs. Yum, Yum. They were good and tasty but didn't win any awards at the cook off. There must have been some really yummy ribs there if these didn't even get recognized. Anyway, thanks guys for the ribs - we think they were just great. Other than that I guess there's not much else happening. We're going grocery shopping this morning and w*rking this afternoon. Then we'll come home and I will continue working on the computer this evening; I have to restructure all of my favorites (and I have a lot). I still have a few things left on my Ta Do List which I hope to finish up this week. A lot of busy work but just nothing to exciting. Hope you all are having a great day. Sunday, October 26, 2008 Who'da thunk? Yesterday morning was one of those times that I just should have "stood" in bed. We started out in a bad way after Friday's continued slide in the stock market and things went downhill after that. First of all my Gateway computer s--- the bed again and I'm not about to pour any more money into it so that means a new computer. The Gateway is 5 years old which makes it 135 years old in computer years and this is the third time this year that it has bit the dust - three strikes and you're out. Next Miss Judy is beginning to have a problem with her gums right under the new bridge work that she had done last summer. This is the third time this year that Miss Judy has had problems with her teeth - no comments. That could mean more doctor expenses; but, hang in there, things began to improve from that point on. I got busy and got three more items crossed off the Ta Do List and then used Miss Judy's computer to go on line and look for new computers at Walmart* and Best Buy. It turned out that Best Buy had the best buy - a 2008 model Toshiba on sale for $499.99 (that's really $500 no matter how you slice it). With a quick phone call to ensure that they had some in the store (yep, they did and today is the last day of the sale) and quick trip to the store, I now have a new 'puter to bring you your daily journal entry. Judy and I are not much for watching television but we are addicted to our 'puters and we each need one - we don't share or play well with others when it comes to 'puters. So it was imperative that we replace the Gateway so that we won't have to fight each other off just for computer time. Can you imagine me getting up at 5:00 in the morning to beat Miss Judy to the 'puter? Then the next morning Miss Judy getting up at 4:45 to beat me to the 'puter? At that rate we'd eventually be sitting up all night just to be first - yep, buying a new 'puter was the only solution. :-) Last night we had a pot luck snack and Wii night with the Nashville KOA team. Wii is a fun toy and I can see how that could become very addicting. There was baseball, bowling, tennis, golf, etc. etc. We had a fun time with our w*rkmates and plenty of good snacks to munch on (as if my waistline needed them). It's nice to have fun times with the people you are workamping with - makes workamping just a little bit more enjoyable. So you see, all's well that ends well. Otherwise it was a quiet day in the hollow - see ya tomorrow! Saturday, October 25, 2008 Well, let's see. We didn't even open the door yesterday. Miss Judy lounged around in her PJs while I put on a pair of shorts with a tee shirt for lounging. It was a cool rainy day outside which was just great for playing inside. A short nap even "snuck" its way into the mix. Katie and Alex liked having mom and dad home for the day and joined us for the short nap. I got a couple of items crossed off the Ta Do List while Judy finished up laying out her twentieth page on the Grand Daughter Coffee Table Book. Also, I began writing the October Travelogue so hopefully it will be ready to publish by Election Day. While it was damp and cool outside we were snug and dry inside. The Vornado heater is working just as advertised. There are three "modes" that it operates on: One is FAN only, one is fan with LO heat, and the other is fan with HI heat. We can, also, set the temperature that we wish to maintain. I have the Vornado set on HI heat and 72 degrees (setting the unit at 72 keeps the actual room temperature between 70 to 72 degrees). The unit continually monitors the room temperature and automatically switches from one mode to another as required to maintain our desired temperature. That eliminates the "peeks and valleys" experienced with most other heaters which makes it more efficient and save on electric usage - we'll be able to determine that once we get to Alabama where we pay our own electric bill. Also, the Vornado is "whisper quiet" so we don't even realize it is running and it is cool to the touch so we don't have to worry about the katts or grand kids getting near it. In any event, we were just as snug as a bug in a rug all day yesterday and are extremely happy with our purchase. It was nice to just do almost nothing for a day. Today, however, I need to get a few more items crossed off the Ta Do List especially since the sun is shinning and the birds are singing and the squirrels are gathering nuts for the winter. So I must "make hay while the sun shines". I'll pretty much have the short term list finished - I have another list of things Ta Do once we get to 'bama. Speaking of squirrels, Katie and Alex just love watching the squirrels running around gathering nuts. The campground is loaded with oak trees and this year there's a bumper crop of nuts (and I'm not even referring to "gummint" which also has a bumper crop of nuts). Fortunately for us we are not under an oak tree with all those nuts falling on top of our rig. I'm sure it would sound like a machine gun going off at times. Alex will sit on the table and chatter at the squirrels but they pay him no mind what so ever. Katie sits on the back of the sofa and occasionally will "meow" if a squirrel comes to close. Both of them sit there wide eyed with their ears perked right up just wanting to pounce on a squirrel. Maybe, if things slow down :-), I'll give it a try - I wonder what I'd look like sitting on the back of the sofa with my ears perked up? Friday, October 24, 2008 Ya know how our children's generation just loves computer games? I suppose our grand children's generation will as well. Well, yesterday I played computer games or should I say a computer game. It's called "Beat the Budget"! I have put our budgets in an Excel spread sheet with the items down the left and the months across the top. Then I have a total at the bottom of each month and at the end of each item with a grand total in the lower right hand corner. That way as I play "Beat the Budget" I can immediately see how changes in any given item and/or month impact the entire annual budget. Pretty neat, huh? Instead of doing my "Ta Do" List items yesterday, like I was supposed to, I played "Beat the Budget" and found that we can "Survive the Budget" by going into various "bare bones modes" (but that wouldn't be any fun, would it?). We can actually "Meet the budget" by just making some minor adjustments here and there and if we introduce a little income into the equation we can actually "Beat the Budget". An interactive spread sheet is the only way to go in this kind of an economy. As things improve (or, heaven forbid, deteriorate) we can "plug" in the new figures and see the outcome immediately so we will know how to adjust our spending. Yes, it is possible to spend too much time playing computer games - especially "Beat the Budget". You can drive yourself silly (I know, that's just a short putt for me). But, right now there isn't much else happening so it occupies some of my time and gives us a little peace of mind (maybe, in my case it's a little "piece" of mind). I don't like surprises when it comes to our finances and September brought us a whopping surprise indeed with the "economic meltdown crisis catastrophic plunge" in the stock market. So at least, for now, I have a handle on our overall financial picture with some escape routes if need be (i.e., the Survive the Budget Mode) but let's hope we don't need them. This ends week five here at Nashville KOA. With five more weeks left we are now at our half way mark. Now that we know we'll be leaving by the end of November we are getting antsy to "get along home, Cindy, Cindy, get along home". It will be nice to set up "camp" on our site in 'bama and see all of our friends again. We'll be glad to just sit and not w*rk for awhile - it has sure seemed like a long haul this year but the income has certainly helped. But we look forward to playing outside with our amigos, sitting around evening fires with a glass of wine, cook outs, baggie omelets, social events at the club house, day trips here and there, etc.. Our social life is probably more important to us than our traveling life so if we have to give up one or the other then we would just hunker down in Alabama. Hopefully it doesn't come to that 'cause we went fulltime to go Wandering America and see the sights. Oh well, I'm rambling but it is my Chair, after all, and I'm sharing my thoughts with you as I sit and contemplate the daily events of this fulltiming lifestyle. Be sure to have some fun today - Miss Judy and I are off so we surely will!!! Thursday, October 23, 2008 Wow, what lazy bums. We slept in until after seven o'clock this morning. Our alarm katt didn't go off until 7:08 when he decided that it was well past time for his breakfast. Meow, meow, purr, purr, walk, walk - very effective alarm katt when he goes off. What will today bring? Well, let's see, Miss Judy wants to go to the market and pick up a few items. I have a short "Ta Do" List that I want to accomplish over the next few days. Other than that, not too much at all. I suppose Miss J will work on her scrapbooking - she wants to get her grand daughter coffee table book done. She currently has sixteen of the twenty pages done. There is still plenty on the Ta Do List for me to finish but I have designated a lot of the items for Rainbow Plantation. We'll have plenty of time for projects once we get "home" for the winter. So, this morning I'm going to work on a couple of outside items since the weather is supposed to be coooooold and rainy tomorrow. There are black streaks that need to be washed off (might as well wait until after the rain), there are two slide seals that need some attention, and the awning over the large slide is pulling out of its track on one end ( I thought it was tearing but, thankfully, it's not). None of these are big jobs, just maintenance items that need to be tended to before we roll. Okay, enough is enough. Life is more exciting when we are traveling. There is more to write about but, at least, you can catch a glimpse of a day in the fulltiming life through these dribblings. Hope you have a great day. Wednesday, October 22, 2008 Now that we know when we'll be cut loose from Nashville KOA, we are looking forward to getting to Rainbow Plantation. Judy has a "whole pile" of basket weaving projects to work on and I have several projects on the house that I want to finish. We'll be hunkering down for five or six months as money is going to be tight this year. I may look for some part time w*rk as we have a $3,500 short fall between January through July. But, it will be nice to be "home" and spend time with our neighbors while "putzing" around the house. This sudden downturn in our economy has sure impacted our plans for 2009 but we are still glad that we decided to go fulltime when we did - no regrets. We are in the best possible position to ride out this "economic crisis" that we could possibly be in. Lower Alabama is one of our favorite spots with plenty of things that we like to do - our church, the beach, bike trails, library, Rainbow Plantation, two Walmarts*, our doctors, etc.. Getting our ERPU site is one of the best things that could have happened to us. If we need to "stay put" for awhile this is the place to do it. As you can tell, this is a slow news day. There's just not a lot to write about while sitting still and workamping at Nashville KOA. The leafs continue to fall, the grass continues to grow, there's tree trimming to be done - you know, all of those exciting things in life. But, if one has to workamp, this is not a bad place to be. Fred, our manager, is a great guy to w*rk with and the w*rk is not hard. We have fun with Ray and Diane (another workamping couple) so there are plenty of positives - it's just not "home" with lots of club house activities and lots of playmates. Tuesday, October 21, 2008 Will wonders ever cease? I published September's Travelogue yesterday morning. Man, it was only October 20th after all. Any way, it's out there for your reading pleasure - finally. That's one more thing I can cross of the "Ta Do List". "Knowing is half the battle" and now we know. Our last day at Nashville KOA will be Wednesday, November 26th. We will celebrate Thanksgiving with our daughter (Mary), her boy friend (Joel), and his parents at Joel's house. Then will depart Nashville on Friday the 28th. That means we'll be "home" on the 29th, "home" being Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale, Alabama. We have been getting "home sick" lately and missing all our playmates so this is good news for us. Now we will just have to go over our 2009 budget and see what we'll need to do to make it to August 1st - Pension Day. If the stock market begins to go up a little then we may be alright to just sit tight (no that doesn't mean that we're taking up drinking). The worst that can happen is that we'll need to find J-O-Bs while we're in Alabama. We have pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that we'll need to return to Lake George Escape next summer but that's no big deal. We had hoped to travel next summer but that will have to wait just one more year - A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do!!!! "This too shall pass." I must say, that in spite of all of the leaves that are falling here at Nashville KOA, the campground looks great. I have been using the lawn mower to mulch leaves and then using the leave blower to blow the residue out of the roads. This time of year it is a never ending battle because there are a lot of trees in the campground. I would have to guess that only about a third of the leaves have fallen so there's still a lot to do (J-O-B security). Miss Judy had a slow day yesterday with only around a dozen check ins. That tends to make things boring and time move ever so slowly. It seems like it's either feast or famine in her world. When things happen, they all happen at once - a check in arrives, phone rings, someone is ready to check out their purchases from the store, another check-in arrives, the phone rings again. Then all of sudden you're standing there all by yourself with absolutely nothing happening; yesterday was one of those days where there was a lot of standing by yourself going on. Monday, October 20, 2008 Sort of, kind of, same ol', same ol'. I've been working on the September Travelogue and am almost through. Miss Judy has been working on her digital scrapbooking and is making good progress on her Grand Daughter Book. Yesterday, later in the afternoon, it was time to go to w*rk. Nothing but fun, fun, fun!!! :-) It's a small world after all. Way back when, in 2003, we met a couple who were staying at the Cartersville KOA in Cartersville, Georgia - Kurt and Carolyn. Well, guess who showed up here at Nashville KOA? Yep, Kurt and Carolyn!!! Carolyn is from the area and they had come up here from Florida to visit her sister. They now have a 2007 Allegro Open Road instead of the Titanium fifthwheel. We stopped by after w*rk, sat by the fire, and chatted for a while before retiring for the evening. Yes, it is a small, small world after all!! Yesterday morning I watched Meet The Press because they were having one of my favorite people on, Colin Powell. I've always been a "fan" of him and was interested in his perspective on the state of our country. But, while being interviewed by Tom Brokaw he said something that I found to be very disturbing. When asked if he would serve in an Obama administration he stated that he wasn't looking to "rule" again. Now, I ask you, when was the last time we elected officials to go to Washington, D. C. to "rule" us? This is one of the biggest problem that this country is facing - elected officials who think they have a mandate to "rule" instead of "serving". I know it was just a word that Powell used and that he may not have meant anything by it, but I think it is a predominant attitude in Washington that "we the people" need to get rid of. Our elected officials must be accountable to "we the people" and realized that they are in Washington to "serve" us and not be "served" by us. After all, this is supposed to be a democracy not a monarchy. Oh well, back to working on the September Travelogue - if I don't get going it will be time to do the October Travelogue and we can't have that so it's coming, it's on its way, it will be here soon. Sunday, October 19, 2008 Yup, it's all about grand daughters!! They arrived at our house yesterday afternoon. We had the fire burning, the marshmallows ready, and the outside television tuned into the football game so we could spend the afternoon outside. Miss Judy took Miss Catia to the playground where she managed to get totally dirty - so dirty that she had to have her clothes washed. There nothing better than sitting back in your easy chair while holding both grand daughters. Miss Kalina is so alert while she just sits in grandpa's lap and smiles. Miss Catia mainly wants to play but that's what grandpa's lap is for. One of these fine days Catia will come and spend the night with grandpa and grandma - that oughta just about do us in!!! We watched football, played outside, and had hamburgers, baked beans, potato salad, Jello salad, and apple pie for dinner. Then it was time to toast some marshmallows over the open fire - one of Miss Catia's favorite things to do. 'Twas a "great day at Nashville KOA" indeed!!! Saturday, October 18, 2008 Miss Judy is slowly mastering her digital scrapbooking "basket weaving" program. She is working on a grand daughter book. When she bought the program she got a certificate for a free twenty page book (this is an actual bound hard cover book) which will make a nice "coffee table" book. The only glitch is that she only has until the end of the year to redeem the certificate. That's why she has been working so diligently at mastering the program. Nothing like having an incentive!!!! I continued working on the September Travelogue, it doesn't pay to procrastinate because I'm at the stage of life where I get to meet new people everyday (even though I met them yesterday). In other words, it taxes the old mind to recall the events that took place a month ago. In any event, it's coming together and I should finish soon. Then I better get going on October's while things are still fresh in my mind. We made a quick run to Kroger's to pick up a few items 'cause the grand daughters are coming for a cookout this afternoon. We needed some 'taters, marshmallows, and something for a desert. Yay, another grand daughter fix - it's all about grand daughters, but you already knew that!! Last night we went to the Nashville Nightlife Dinner Theater with Ray and Diane. It was a fun evening with a decent meal and socializing with Ray and Diane, good music, and side splitting comedy. Steve Hall with his puppet sidekick Shotgun Red kept us in "stitches" with their act. You may remember Shotgun Red who was featured on the old Hee Haw Show - I didn't, but, then again, I'm not really old enough to remember the show :-) !!! We all agreed that our favorite part of the show was the comedy. We haven't laughed like that in a long time. Good weather, good friends, and a good evening out - life can't get much better than that!!!! Friday, October 17, 2008 Boy, am I late or what? I haven't finished the September Travelogue - that's the next job from the Job Jar. So today I'll see if I can finish writing the travelogue and then it will just be a matter of selecting the pictures, resizing them, and publishing. Hopefully I will get it published this weekend. Have you noticed how some one can burp and the price of gas or diesel goes up in price before the end of the day but when the cost of a barrel of oil drops from the high of $148 to $70 the price of gas or diesel just inches its way down? I just want to assure you that you're not being gouged. By the way, what ever happened to the "oil shortage"? You'd think that if there was a real shortage the cost of a barrel wouldn't be back down to $70. It's waaaay past time that we Americans gain independence from oil. At least both our presidential candidates agree on that fact, now if we can get our Senators and Congressmen/women on board maybe we'll start heading in that direction. We're only about 35 years too late but at least there's a little hope this time. Last night the temperatures dropped into the high 50's so we used the Vornado and it maintained the inside temperature right at 70 degrees. So far it is working just as advertised. Unlike other electric heaters that have temperature swings (from hot to cold then hot again and cold again) the Vornado holds the temperature steady and heats the entire room. Yup, we are making our little nest nice and cozy. Today is election day for us. Yep, we have our ballots and must cast them by getting them to the Post Office. Personally I'm not overly pleased with our choices - I am tired of voting for the lesser of two evils but vote I will. Then, I promise, I will get working on the September Travelogue. Miss Judy will be working on her digital scrapbooking (I will need to give her a hand here and there - she needs her pictures which are stored in the basement and may need some help with the scanner). Tonight we may go to the Nitelife Dinner Theater with Ray and Diane (fellow workampers). As Nashville KOA "employees" we get discounted tickets ($10 a piece) for the dinner and the show. We went last time we workamped here and it is a great meal with an excellent show. We decided to put another tour off for another week or two. So much to do, so little time. Thursday, October 16, 2008 Here are the before and after pictures that I promised you. In the first set of pictures you can see the boo-boo and the repair.   Now, in this picture you can see what the back living room wall looked like before we painted it.  And here is the living room wall painted in "Sweet Annie" - I've actually renamed it "Sweet Judy" (always looking for brownie points). The picture doesn't really do it justice, believe me, it looks great.  The new color (Sweet
Judy) actually breaks up the monotonous color scheme in the coach. With the
bead board wainscoting on the front wall and the paint on the back wall it's
beginning to feel real "Down Home(y)". Next I will trim all the windows in wood
and then we will replace the day/night shades with Bali Blinds. We are still
deciding whether to go with new curtains (remember the Alex factor) or oak
lambrequins - we have plenty of time to think about it 'cause we ain't got no
money to do nothing about it right now.
Speaking of money, Wally World got some of our money yesterday - the food prices in Tennessee are definitely higher than in other parts of the country and then, to add insult to injury, they charge seven and a half per cent sales tax on food (9-1/4% on non food items). I guess the state has to get it's income from somewhere since they have no income tax. Oh well, we were still under budget and got two weeks worth of groceries. No matter what happens in the next two weeks, at least we can still eat. W*rk was the typical - I did some mowing, picking up trash, escorting RVers to their sites, and providing customer service. The biggest issue is "our cable doesn't work" which has always been that they have either hooked up incorrectly or failed to change their television from air to cable. There is so much yard work to be done that I never lack for something to work on. This is an old campground but has been very well maintained so it's fairly nice - just expensive (KOAs tend to be expensive and not places that fulltimers migrate toward). Miss Judy w*rks the front desk - reservations (not her favorite), check-ins, and store check outs. She misses her Lake George Escape assignments, but then again so do I. Today is a rainy day so when I went to the "Job Jar" I decided to leave the cover on and just sit on my derriere today. We will do a little housekeeping but that will be enough. Wednesday, October 15, 2008 It's done!!! Ahead of schedule even!!! I started early enough yesterday and the paint dried quickly enough that I was able to put on both coats. Miss Judy and I finished putting up the valance, curtains, and day/night shade last night after w*rk. We think it looks great; we could easily be "inferior" decorators. There will be pictures tomorrow - I want to wait for the sun light to shine in before I take the pictures. While we were sitting back and watching the paint dry, we continued to work on our 2009 budget. We made a spread sheet with the line items down the left side and the months across the top. Then we looked at every line item and projected the cost for each month based on the actual expenditures for 2007 and 2008. For instance, we will need $750 in June for the annual cost of our site at Rainbow Plantation and our auto insurance payments are due in February and August. Doctor appointments will be in March and the bill for lab work will be due in April and on and on. We could just divide $42,500 by twelve and spread it equally across each month but we would come up short before the end of June because we will need to spend 62.5% of our annual budget during the first six months of the year. That's why we break it down by month. The bottom line is that we will have enough money to make it through the year but will still need to earn close to $5,000 during the first seven months of the year to cover our projected budget. Yuck, that means w*rk, but it's a fact of life and we will just have to deal with it. Should our investments turn around a little between now and then, then we wouldn't have to w*rk as much - but we are always looking to create a buffer. We may have an opportunity to stay here at Nashville KOA until the end of March. It's certainly not what we would like to do but it sure beats getting a real J-O-B. When we started out we had planned to workamp eight months of the year and have four months for traveling. We actually workamped for about nine months out of the first two years so we are ahead of the game. Well, that's enough about budgets and money - I include this information so you can see that this lifestyle is doable if you remain flexible and become a little creative. Now that the "registers" are done and the back wall is done, what next? I will just have to go to the job jar and pull out the next project - I'll keep ya posted. In the meantime, we are thinking of another Nashville tour, maybe Friday. As "employees" of Nashville KOA, we get free admission to the Greyline Tours, so we'll make up our minds before Thursday and, again, we'll have to keep ya posted on that one, too. Today is our bi-weekly grocery shopping / Walmart* day - sheesh, I can't wait!!! But, the cupboards are getting pretty bare and I like to eat occasionally (alright, more than just occasionally). So, I guess, I'd better wash my bod, put on some glad rags, and get going - my bride is waiting. See ya tomorrow. Tuesday, October 14, 2008 I wasn't sure if I would pull it off or not but I made it. The living room wall is primed and ready for the first coat of paint this morning. Yey for my team. It took me over two hours to remove all the valance, curtains, and day/night shade, sand the patched area, tape around all of the "stuff", apply the primer, then clean everything up. It should only take a few minutes to apply the first coat of "Sweet Annie" paint. Miss Judy is working diligently on her new "basket weaving" hobby of digital scrapbooking. I think she should go to her corner and write a little about it. She could tell about encountering Creative Memories at the Gypsy Journal rally, buying and learning the software, and what she's working on now. She could give you some details on how the software is performing for her; you know, some of her frustrations as well as some of her victories. I'll see if I can corral her into the corner for awhile. The stock market rebounded yesterday which was good news. We've lost so much money on paper that we needed some relief. Hopefully things will continue to improve so that the ol' budget won't look so much like a menacing beast. I do anticipate some more ups and downs in the market before this is all over. It took a long time to get to this point and it will take some time to "return to normalcy". Anyway, the immediate relief felt good. Well, it's off to get the painting done so take care. I promise to include some before and after pictures by the end of the week. Monday, October 13, 2008 After church yesterday morning it was back to our routine - eat, w*rk, sleep. We did spend a little time working on 2009's budget so that we can get a good handle on what has to be done to get us to August 1st. It's important that we have a good understanding of what our expenditures will be between January and July. It would be nice to just take the projected annual expenses and divide by twelve but it doesn't work that way. Most all of our annual payments come due in the first half of the year (Insurances, memberships, medical expenses, etc.) so we need to project our expenses for each month. Yesterday and today are busy days here at Nashville KOA with an Foretravel Owners Rally taking place. There are around 35 reservations for arrival this afternoon which is a lot considering that it will be just Miss Judy and me on duty so we'll be a busy little girl and boy. I will tape off the living room wall and sand the "patch" work that I have already done. Hopefully I will get a coat of primer on as well - that very well may cause me to "do the hustle". I will get done what I get done and tomorrow is another day, however, it will be all done by Thursday night. I'm not sure what Miss Judy is going to be up to this morning, she'll probably work on some of her scrapbooking. She woke up with severe pain in her left foot during the night. The pain is still there this morning but not as intense as it was last night; hopefully it will go away completely before she has to go to w*rk. Sunday, October 12, 2008 It was another wonderful day; not just because the weather has been phenomenal, which it has been; but, it was another wonderful day because it was grand daughter fix day. Matthew called on Friday evening asking if Grandpa and Grandma could babysit our two adorable little grand daughters. Well, of course we could, after all, that's why we're here - it's all about grand daughters, ya know? We arrived at around 9:30 and there was Catia all full of smiles; excited to think that she had a whole other set of adults to cater to her every whim . Miss Kalina was wide awake and full of smiles just by being held by Grandma and Grandpa (she's now three months old). Kalina can be a little wiggle worm especially when she thinks it's time to chow down. Miss Catia flitters about like a little butterfly going from one thing to another; she has the attention span of a three year old - Oh, that's because she is three years old (unbelievable!). The highlight of my day was when Miss Catia crawled up in my lap, with book in hand, wanting Grandpa to read to her. It was one of those alphabet books and by the time we got to Z, she was Z-ing in my lap. We both ended up taking a little snoozer right then and there - that's my grand daughter!!!! We visited a little bit after Matthew and Jackie returned and then headed for home where I put the last coat of "mud" on the living room wall. Tomorrow I will tape off the wall, sand the patch work, and apply a coat of primer - right on schedule. Hey, what are we doing with a schedule? This morning it's off to church and this afternoon it's back to w*rk so I guess that pretty much rounds out our weekend. Hopefully you had a great weekend as well. Until next time, take care. Saturday, October 11, 2008 Thursday our new Vornado electric heater arrived. We had been toying with the idea of installing a gas hook up for a catalytic heater but after reading the reviews for the Vornado we decided to give it a try (much less costly). We ran it though the night to see if it would perform as advertised which it did. It was 67 outside so I set the Vornado at 72 (ugh, that's too warm) and it held the temperature right at 72 all night. The real test will come when the temperatures drop into the 40's. The grates look great!!! Actually, they are called grilles but I call them registers. What ever they are called, they look wonderful. I replaced all five of them - two in the living room, one in the kitchen, and two in the bathroom area. I had to elongate the present holes in the floor by one and three quarter inches to accommodate the new "grilles". Until the old registers broke we never paid much attention to them but these new ones really add a "richness" to the look and feel of our home.   Yesterday, I started the back wall repair but that is going to take a few days as I have to wait for things to dry out. I put on the first coat of "mud" to start filling in the indentation in the wall in the morning and was able to put a second coat on in the afternoon. This morning I will put on one more coat and once it's dry I'll have to hand sand it. Hopefully I will be able to apply a coat of primer to the wall on Monday and the first coat of paint on Tuesday. By Thursday that project should be history and our living room will have a new look. Our next project will be adding wood trim to all of the windows. We, also, want to upgrade our window treatments (that's curtains for you men). The ones we have are just too bland and we want to add a little bit more color. One issue that we have is Alex likes to chew on the bottom of the curtains which leaves little kitty katt teeth holes in them so we are not sure what we are going to do at this point. We were thinking of oak lambrequins, however, we think that might be too much wood but Alex would leave those alone. I'm sure we'll think of something before we finish trimming the windows (there are a total of 14 windows in our rig. There's still the counter under the kitchen sink left to rebuild and the new counter extension (see May 2008 entry) to be installed. As you can tell, we are making our little nest comfortable because we think we will be spending a lot of time at home over the next couple of years. Our investments have dropped soooooo much in the past two weeks that we can't even afford to go to the poor house. So it will be "Home, Sweet Home" as we continue to workamp and we sit for long periods of time in one spot; therefore, we want our home to be very comfortable and feel nice and homey. With this economy are we ever glad that we went fulltime when we did and the best thing we ever did was to become debt free. Being debt free will allow us to hunker down while we w*rk $7.00 to $10.00 per hour J-O-Bs to make ends meet; who knows, maybe we'll be able to make them overlap just a little. Right now we are planning to go back to Alabama to our leased site by the end of the year. We'll need to get part time w*rk there to generate $$$ to get us through until August 1st. Hopefully the stock market will turn around and start heading back up by then which would help to make up some of the loss. Time will tell; "it is what it is!!!!!" Friday, October 10, 2008 I just love it when a plan comes together!!! I had figured out in my mind the steps I would take to rehang the closet doors and the whole project went exactly per plan - the job was finished in under two hours. Amish workmanship leaves a lot to be desired; at least when it comes to the wood working in a Cedar Creek. There was a "nailer" installed using only four screws and they were too close to the edge causing the nailer to split. There should have been no less than six screws so I added eight - that should do it. Next the header was stapled from the top and no glue was used that's why the doors managed to pull the header away from the nailer. I glued and screwed the header to the nailer using, you guessed it, eight screws. Next the rail that the doors hang on was only held on by six screws with the last six inches on one side having no screw at all so I added eight more screws making a total of 14. The closets doors should not come down again on my watch. I'm not all that mechanical - I just want things to work whenever I go to start them. But, when it comes to house construction, why that's my forte. I may have to pay someone to change a light bulb in a microwave but rehanging closet doors, installing registers, rebuilding cabinets, installing bead board, trimming out windows, and refinishing a broken living room wall is no problem at all for me. Today I will start working on the living room wall. I hope to get the "hole" patched so we can sand and prime the wall tomorrow. Also, I will install the five new registers which will add some "class" to our interior decor. We are slowly redecorating our RV to make it "Home, Sweet Home" so if you are in the neighborhood stop by and sit for a spell. We'll make you a cup of tea or pour you a glass of wine and make you feel right at home. The katt will even be curled up and sleeping in front of the fireplace to add to the ambiance. Speaking of stopping by, yesterday we got a surprise visit from Tom and Paula - our friends that we stayed with in the Scranton area a month ago. Thanks, guys, for stopping by and making our day. It was nice to see you again; we look forward to our next meeting and, hopefully, next time we can share a meal together. Thursday, October 9, 2008 Yesterday morning I was planning to fix the closet doors but that will require me to go in and out of the rig for tools and other "whatevers". Because it was pouring rain outside we decided to go to Lowes and pick up the "stuff" required to fix the back wall as well as some replacement floor registers instead. We will fix the damaged portion of the wall using spackling compound and then paint the entire wall. I'm not sure how the spackling compound will hold up during traveling but time will tell. The paint we chose, called Sweet Annie (it's kind of a light olive green), will be just enough of a contrast with the other wall covering while blending in nicely with the rest of the room's decor in order to present a nice homey feeling in the living room. Cedar Creek uses cheap odd sized floor registers which keep breaking whenever someone steps directly on them. It is difficult to find replacements so while at Lowes we purchased some standard sized registers that are quite stylish. I will have to lengthen the holes in the floor and the heat duct by 1 and 1/2" in order to install them but, again, it will look much "richer" when I complete the job. There will be before and after pictures of both of the projects that I hope to start and finish this weekend. That will be two more items off the "Ta Do" list. Today I will tackle the closet doors. It "should" only take a couple of hours since there are no lights that need to be changed and the doors "should" work just fine when I'm finished. Can you imagine? By Saturday afternoon I should have three, count them, three items crossed off the "Ta Do" list. Oh yes, I got another item crossed of the list yesterday - I canceled the extended warranty useless insurance policy and will get more than enough money back to pay of the repairs on the microwave. All in all, I am making progress with no new items being added to the list yesterday. Last night we went to the Music Barn, which is located right here at Nashville KOA, to listen to Kenny and the Krooners. They were very good presenting music from the fifties and sixties. Kenny does a great job with Roy Orbison and Frankie Valley (four seasons) hits. Kenny performs every Wednesday evening at the KOA and the whole show was well worth the price of admission which is free for KOA employees. These days "free" is a good word - our budget can almost handle that!!! :-) Wednesday, October 8, 2008 The microwave is officially scratched off the list. It was just a fuse but with the service call and labor the bill came to $149.35. Guess what? The insurance doesn't cover fuses even though they are internal to the microwave and require a service tech to get to them - surprise, surprise. Add to list: Cancel bloody insurance policy as it is useless. If you are purchasing a new RV and they ask about an extended warranty tell them to put it where the sun doesn't shine. Then put about $3,000 in a savings account and that will cover just about everything that will break down in the seven year period. You just don't need the hassle or frustration of dealing with crooks. The insurance industry has to be the biggest rip off in this country. By the way, our insurance company is Heritage which Camping World told me is one of the worst to deal with. The definition of heritage is property that is or can be inherited. This company will "inherit" your premium and that's about it. I was told that none of them are very cooperative but CSP and Road Works (I think) are slightly better than the rest. But, all of them will hassle you when it comes time for a claim so I am just going to cancel the policy and get some of the premium back - there should be more than enough to pay for the repairs done to the microwave. So, that was an expensive light - $5.00 for the light and $149.35 for my stupidity. That light should burn brightly for a long, long time. But I was able to enjoy a nice hot cup of tea made in the microwave while sitting under the awning watching my investments head south for the winter. If this keeps up much longer Miss Judy and I are going to have to get real J-O-Bs just so we can afford to pay our insurance premiums. Way back in November of 2007 I had a premonition that we should sell some of our stocks and put the money into an IRA. I failed to act, that was a bad decision - I wonder if I can get a "gummint" bailout for that bad decision? Oh, that's right, I am a member of "we the people" who live on "Main Street" and we just get the privilege of paying for the bailout. Silly me!!! The rains started earlier than fore casted yesterday and continued throughout the night. It was nice to see some water falling from the sky as this place is drier than a sand dune in the desert. Along with the falling water came a whole bunch of falling leaves. Yes, it is fall her in "Nashvull" even though the temperatures are still in the high seventies and eighties. The leaves will give us some J-O-B security here at KOA land. "Sales are down" so they (management) are not bringing on any additional workampers. That means that there is only one of us w*rking outside most of the time (there is an overlap from 1:00 to 2:30 on three days) which keeps us busy trying to keep up with the yard work while escorting guests. The good news is that Fred (the manager) doesn't expect miracles and allows us to w*rk at our own pace. This morning I will tackle the closet doors. Right now they are being held in place by using some "C" clamps. I will take the doors down, cut off the staples that were used to keep the header in place, and then screw the header back in place (like it should have been done in the first place). Each day I try to scratch something off the list but the list keeps growing. Yesterday Miss Judy added two more items to the list so I "took one step forward and two steps back". It's hard to make any progress at that rate. Here's a little tid bit of good news. If you are 60 years old (or older) you qualify for a 10% discount at Kroger grocery stores on the first Wednesday of the month. Here in "Nashvull" we have noticed that there is not much of a price difference between Walmart* and Kroger; therefore, a 10% discount will make quite a difference so the first Wednesday of each month will become a shopping day for the Wandering America Pattersons. Tuesday, October 7, 2008 Yeah. Alright. I heard ya snickering all the way down here in Nashville, Tennessee. Y'all knew it wasn't going to be a "piece of cake" to find the fuse in the microwave, didncha? I managed to get it off the wall without any problems and was certain that it was going to be an easy fix when I saw a panel door on the top of the unit. Only one screw to access the panel, I just knew that was where the fuse would be hiding, NOT. Then I saw another small panel that held the power cord going into the top; there just has to be an in line fuse in there, NOT. There were no other panels to be opened and only 18 screws stood between me and removing the entire shroud. A couple of those screws just read "problem" in that I could just hear something going clunk inside the microwave as I removed them. So, wisdom become the better part of valor and I called the service tech. The woman doing the scheduling told me that the earliest she could get someone out to us would be tomorrow - would I prefer 8 to 12 or 1 to 5. Hallelujah!!! "Why, I'll take 8 to 12, thank you." Now all I have to do is arm wrestle the insurance company - y'all know that that will be a hassle. The weather here in Nashville has been absolutely phenomenal with bright sun shinny days and temperatures in the 80's but there has been no rain which leaves them (us) in drought conditions. However, some rain is heading our way for tonight and tomorrow. Hopefully, it will be a nice gentle rain that will last for 8 or more hours - the earth needs a good drink of water. Here at Nashville KOA I do mainly yard w*rk as well as escorting guests to their sites. Yesterday I did some lawn mowing (even though the grass is dried up - the "weeds" continue to grow) and I did some leaf mulching with the riding mower. What a dirty dusty job that is with everything being this dry. I was totally covered in dust from head to toe. I was so bad that Miss Judy wouldn't even let me into the house. I had to take all my clothes off outside - hope no one was lookin'!!! Then it was straight to the shower - do not pass go, do not collect $200. Once I was squeaky clean we sat outside for awhile and sipped a little fruit of the vine, had a little snack, and then hit the sack. Today I am in hopes that I can scratch "fix the microwave" off the list and move onto the next item, "fix the closet doors". Monday, October 6, 2008 I thought we were young enough to handle a busy weekend but our bodies have shown us differently. After going, going, going for two days we are now sleeping, sleeping, sleeping. Like I have stated before, "You know you're getting old when it takes longer to rest up than it did to get tired in the first place." Maybe by tomorrow we'll be all rested up and ready to go again. Today is tackle the microwave day. That means that I'll take it off the wall and hopefully locate the fuse easily without having to have parts strewn from one end of the house to the other. It should be a "piece of cake"!!! :-) The key to fixing the microwave is to be smarter than I was when I broke it. After talking with several different "fix it" type of guys I think a got a handle on it - a loose handle but a handle none the less. It won't no more than not work when I get finished with it which is what it is doing right now. The worse that can happen is that I will need to sweep it up, put it in a Glad Bag, and sit it out front of the RV for a ride to the dumpster. In any case, it will be one more item crossed off the list, of course, there maybe another item added to the list - go buy a new microwave oven. So, y'all pray for me, ya hear? Miss Judy is planning to continue working on her digit scrapbooking. We are going to have to come to a compromise - the scrapbooking program likes the digital photos to be taken at the highest resolution while my website likes the digital photos to be taken at the lowest resolution. Most of our digital pictures are taken at the 640 x480 setting which sends her scrapbooking program into a frenzy screaming "low pixel strength" and gives her pictures the "grainy" look. I am using Oscar's JPEG Thumb Maker to resize my pictures for the website so I'll have to resize some of our older pictures that I took at the highest resolution to see what the pixel count will look like. High pixel counts causes slower loading times on your computer when opening our website that's why it is important to maintain a low pixel count. I guess I had better get going; the microwave is waiting for me. Right now the score is microwave - 1, Darrell - 0. Here's hoping for a different outcome by this afternoon. Stay tuned to see the results. Sunday, October 5, 2008 The weather continues to be just outstanding. Yesterday we were going to visit with our grand daughters in the morning and then get together with Mary and her boyfriend Joel for lunch but Miss Catia was sick and had to go to the doctor. She has bronchitis and a touch of pneumonia and is now on antibiotics. Hope she gets to feeling better soon as grandma owes her some brownies which she didn't get yesterday as planned. We drove to Arrington, Tennessee where we met up with Mary and Joel at the Arrington Winery. This is the best little set up that I have ever seen at a winery. They have free tastings after which you can purchase your wine and then head out to one of their many tables to have a picnic lunch. The winery sells no food so you have to bring your own. Mary brought sub sandwiches from Lenny's (they were yummy) and we brought coleslaw, potato chips, and Catia's brownies which, of course, we enjoyed with the wine that we purchased at the winery. We sat out on the patio which has beautiful views out across the meadows and rolling hills. It was a wonderful afternoon as we just sat there enjoying our picnic lunch, sipping our wine, chatting, and taking in the view. It was so peaceful and we really enjoyed ourselves so we hope to do this again sometime soon. After we left the winery we headed for Mary's so we could meet Shiloh, her katt. What a sweet little kitty, she just stretched out on my chest and let me pet her. She stayed there as long as I kept tending to her but finally left to go upstairs and get away from Joel's dawg (she doesn't like the dawg and the dawg is afraid of her - make for a good avoidance policy on both sides). Shiloh is about half the size of Katie so she looks like a little kitten to us (Katie is around 14 pounds and Alex is close to 20 pounds - big katts). Well, it had been a good and busy weekend for us which left us ready for beddy last night - we slept like babies. This afternoon it's back to w*rk for us so ta-ta for now. Saturday, October 4, 2008 We departed the campground on a Grayline Tour Bus at 11 o'clock heading for the Hermitage (home of President Andrew Jackson) and Belle Meade (home of fine race horses whose blood lines include Sea Biscuit, Secretariat, etc.). It was absolutely a beautiful day with a bright blue sky overhead and temperatures in the high seventies. Both of these homes have been beautifully persevered for our benefit; we can highly recommend this tour if you are in the Nashville area. The brochure listed the tour as four and a half hours but we didn't get back until 5 o'clock due to a traffic accident on I-440. The Hermitage (which means Rural Retreat) sits on over 1,100 acres of beautifully persevered property with rolling hills which are still being used for raising livestock and the growing of crops to this day. The home is far more than just a mansion; it is dedication to the life of Andrew Jackson who was the seventh President of the United States. Both Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel are buried on the property along with his son, Andrew Jackson, Jr., and other family members. We spent about an hour and a half touring the Hermitage but I could have easily spent another hour and a half walking about the property and learning more about the life of President Jackson. Belle Meade (which is French for Beautiful Meadows) began on 250 acres and grew too 5,400 acres at its prime. Today the mansion sits on only 30 acres with most of the farm's acreage having been developed into Belle Meade Park which became the finest and wealthiest suburb in Nashville. Belle Meade was the home of the Harding-Jackson family (no relation to President Harding or President Jackson or Stonewall Jackson). The homestead was founded by John Harding and expanded by his son General William G. Harding. General Harding had two daughters one of whom married General William H. Jackson and it was he, with his purchase of a stallion named Iroquois (the first American winner of the English derby), who turned the Plantation into a thoroughbred nursery famous for breeding and training championship race horses. There will be more about both of these historic sites along with pictures in our October travelogue. Today we are off for another grand daughter fix day and then lunch with our daughter and her beau at a local winery. So, as always, Take Care, Have Fun, and God Bless. Friday, October 3, 2008 One more item off the list. We had borrowed Matthew and Jackie's steam vac to shampoo the carpets and yesterday I got the job done. I was impressed with the Hoover Steam Vac. We had a Bissell Steam Vac when we had sticks and bricks and it didn't perform anywhere close to the Hoover. Both Katie and Alex are happy with the nice clean carpets to prance their kitty paws on. Purr - Purrr. We have decided to paint the rear wall as soon as I repair the damage done by the "slide episode" in New Hampshire. We have chosen a color and now need to decide whether to just paint it or to use a sponge to put a pattern in it. In any event, it will be necessary to prime the wall first. Once we finish that project then I will start trimming out the windows in wood. Slowly but surely we are making this place "Home Sweet Home". Today Miss Judy and I are going on a Grayline tour. It's a historic tour and will take four and half hours visiting the Belle Meade Mansion and the Hermitage as well as several other historical sites around the Nashville area. We will have pictures and more information about our tour in our October travelogue. Speaking of travelogues, September's is on my list of things to do and almost complete. What do I do first? September's travelogue or work on the microwave? I think the travelogue will win but I need to get at the microwave fairly soon in order to keep the wife factor in the happy zone. After we got home from w*rk last night we watched the vice presidential debate. Probably Joe Biden will be proclaimed the winner but Sarah Palin certainly redeemed herself. The next presidential debate is taking place Tuesday night right in our own backyard (wonder if we can get tickets - I'll have to call Grayline to find out). This year we will do the "absentee ballot" thing having already registered to have our ballots sent to us here at Nashville KOA. Nothing like being able to cast your ballot in the comfort of your own home. Thursday, October 2, 2008 Yesterday was grocery shopping day and the prices here in the Nashville area are certainly a lot higher than they were in the Adirondacks. On top of that the sales tax is almost 10% so we "blew the budget" (not by much) but we had a large shopping list; the next bi-weekly shopping list will be significantly shorter which will allow us to get back on track for the month. The Wall Street Bailout Plan has now become the Financial Rescue Plan - a rose by any other name is still a rose. It has now passed the Senate and being sent back to the House with "enhancements". The news organizations are saying that this is the only way to "rescue" the economy but the bottom line is no one really knows if this will work or not. We can only hope that this in not a rush to judgment knee jerk reaction, which it probably is. Ummmm, I wonder, if we go over our budget this year will we be entitled to a bailout and/or a rescue? Yesterday, Andrea Mitchell referred to the "no" vote in the House on Monday as a debacle. Come on, Andrea, it's not a debacle, it's just democracy at work. Democracy is not a fine tuned Swiss watch. Democracy is just plain messy at best. It was designed that way by our founding fathers, remember "Checks and Balances"? Proposals are presented, they are debated, other options are presented, more debates take place, and finally the votes are counted. Just because the outcome is not what we personally desire doesn't mean it is a debacle. The news organizations are saying that we must "act now" but this mess took at least eight years to come to fruition and it's going to take more than eight days to resolve it. Andrea Mitchell, more than any other reporter, should have a strong understanding of the financial workings of our country - after all, she's married to Alan Greenspan the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve. It's going to take time to turn this financial ship around and this bailout rescue plan, as I see it, is pretty much like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. I wish the news organizations would use a little restrain and stop all the sensationalizing which is inducing fear and causing people to react instead of taking action. It is going to take more wisdom to get us out of this mess than it took to get us into it in the first place. It will take more time for our representatives to understand the problem and use sound judgement in their decision making. But the news organizations are "running out of time" so let's "wrap it up" so we can get to the next commercial. By the way, the Wall Street Bailout Financial Rescue Plan is no longer $700 billion but now closer to $850 billion - before all is said and done it will go over $1 trillion (so ante up American family, once this passes the House you will owe over $100,000 toward the National Debt). Therefore, American Families, you must act now with only three monthly payments of $33,333.33 each!!!! Now, what does all of this have to do with fulltime RVing? Well, fulltime RVers are still American citizens and as citizens it is our responsibility to keep an eye on what's happening in our government and to participate in the process by expressing our views, writing our representatives, and voting. Anyway, back to RVing. Yesterday all we did was go shopping and then go to w*rk - boring! Speaking of w*rk, both Judy and I liked the type of w*rk we did at Lake George Escape better than the w*rk we are doing at Nashville KOA but it is nice to come home with at least some energy left - last summer we would come home and just flop from being sooooo tired. Tending to two to three thousand people everyday has a way of draining the energy right out of you. Wednesday, October 1, 2008 We are now entering the last quarter of 2008 and after reviewing our long range budget for 2009 and 2010 we took a look at our actuals vs. budget for 2008. The good news is that we will come in on budget; possibly about $1,000 under budget for the year. That's not bad considering our medical expenses were higher than we had budgeted (both for us and for the truck). I included an alignment and two new tires for the truck as well as money to fix the broken microwave (I wonder how that happened?). Speaking of microwave, why is it you feel like you've accomplished absolutely nothing except run in circles when dealing with insurance companies? I checked with Camping World and Bankston RV and neither of them have service techs that work on mircrowaves. So I contacted Amana (Maytag) to find the nearest service representative but when I contacted them they refuse to deal with Heritage who holds our extended warranty. So I contacted Heritage but they have their "set procedures" and won't budge. When I asked them for local service representatives that they deal with the only one they had was Music City RV. Music City RV was where all the "stars" used to buy their Prevost buses but I guess they didn't buy enough because Music City RV is no more. Now where does that leave me? An hour and a half later and the microwave still won't heat water (just put that cup of water on my forehead because it is close to boiling right about now). Needless to say I didn't get my project (vacuuming and shampooing the carpets) done because I spent the time trying figure out how to get the microwave fixed. The first thing I'm going to do is cancel the insurance policy and either find one that I can work with or become "self insured". We have an emergency saving account so I'll just have to stuff some more money in that account. Then when Stuff Happens I'll be able to go right to the top and deal with the CEO - "that be me". I'm sure he'll be much more agreeable to deal with as future needs arise. |