| Saturday, January 31, 2009 This is the last day of January and I haven't even started the December travelogue - what's up with that? I'm definitely getting slack. On top of that, I'm getting a late start this morning. Boy have I got to get disciplined - NOT!! The best part of the fulltiming life is freedom. Freedom to get up when you feel like it, freedom to go to bed when you feel like it, freedom to eat when you're hungry, etc.. The old rules go out the window, you start with a clean slate everyday and have the freedom to fill it in as you go. Anyhow, I still gotta get going on my travelogues and try to keep them up to date. Yesterday was an interesting day at w*rk to say the least. Let me put it this way, the lifestyle that some of the people in the deep south live is certainly different than anything I've been exposed to up until now. I'm not going to say it is the wrong way to live, who am I to judge, but I am saying that it is certainly different. It is an eye opening experience for me to say the least. Ron and I arrived at the "office" at noon time and there were "tons" of people waiting to have their taxes done. Once I got logged on it was none stop until 8 o'clock last night. Their wasn't one simple or routine tax return in the bunch. I was swimming in the deep end of the pool, barely knowing how to dawg paddle, with no life preservers anywhere in site. Every "tax professional" in the office was flat out busy and each of us had our own "unique" little set for problems to deal with. A couple of phone calls to other branch managers got me "straightened out" and back on the right track. I'm not going to say it was fun, but I was up to the challenge and will be ready to do it again on Monday. This is just another form of workamping and in some respects is better than the physical workamping jobs that we've had in the past. Once I get my feet on the ground I think this will work out just fine for future winter workamping assignments thereby eliminating the need to workamp in the summer; which, after all, is the goal. On top of that, once I'm a seasoned "tax professional" I will be able to w*rk in just about any H&R Block franchise across this great country of ours which will add to our overall flexibility. While I was swimming through tax returns (in the deep end of the pool), Miss J went to Hobby Lobby with Linda and Gloria, worked on some of her basket weaving projects, cleaned the house, made dinner for her w*rking hubby, and went to social hour. These projects that she is working on is all part of our expense reduction plan as she will use them as gifts. That kills two stones with one bird - she gets to work on her basket weaving while, at the same time, adding to the gift box. Well, that pretty much wraps up another day, as well as another month, in the fulltime adventures of the Pattersons - where does the time go? Friday, January 30, 2009 Another beautiful morning here at Rainbow Plantation, a little cold but nice clear skies with little to no wind. It will be a brisk walk this morning but not like yesterday where the wind was cutting. Yesterday we just stayed in the Park and did things at the clubhouse finishing the day by volunteering in the kitchen and eating dinner with our friends (85 of them). This is one happening park with activities taking place at the clubhouse all day long. There is absolutely something for everyone so that there is no need to be bored. If you have to hunker down for the winter (like we have to this year) then this is a great place to be. Don Martin and Norm Payne have been hosting some of our 4 o'clock Social Hours. Both of them have been doing a great job presenting both humorous and useful information. Gary Small, our park manager, also fills in with good presentations as well. There are generally around 40 people who show up for the Social Hour which is a great place to meet new people coming into the park as well as "fellowshipping" with the regulars. So, if you are reading this and are in the park stop over to join in the fun with us. Last night I got a call from H&R Block asking if I would be available for w*rk this afternoon. Not really, I want to stay home and play, however, I said I would be available. I need all the "on hands" experience I can get plus I want to be on the top of their hiring list for next year (have to keep the long term goal in mind). On top of her quilting projects and scrapbooking projects, Miss Judy is now working on several crocheting projects. Yep, she is one busy little girl. She has learned to crochet using Walmart bags along with several new yarn patterns. Katie and Alex are generally on hand to "help" her with any yarn projects that she wants to start. I think it might be a good idea to take them over to the clubhouse for the crocheting get togethers - they would be a great "help" to all the crocheters. One hobby that I had hoped to master was watercolors but that hasn't happened. I did a little water painting while we were at Mecosta Pines Campground in Morley, Michigan waaaay back in the summer of 2006. It is still something that I would like to learn but I'm not sure if I will ever spend the time on it. I have all the supplies needed (over $100 worth) but to date haven't produced one picture. Maybe this is something I can pursue once I retire from workamping. Well, two of our friends are leaving the park this weekend. Dick and Jodi LaBarre are leaving tomorrow heading for Florida while Randy and Terry Guiler (Guiler Travels) are departing Sunday for parts west. We'll miss seeing their smiling faces around the Plantation but traveling is what the fulltime lifestyle is all about. Our paths will cross many times in the next few years so as you go - Be Safe, Have Fun, and God Bless. Thursday, January 29, 2009 After a week or so of warm weather it is now back to refrigerator temperatures - great for keeping your beer cold but Brrrrr for sitting outside. The next few nights we will see temps around the 30 degree mark with daytime temps in the mid to high 50's. I guess that's close to "seasonal" temperatures for L.A. If there is little or no wind then it will be nice outside but certainly not beach weather, that's for sure. Well, the first day at w*rk (H&R Block) went just fine. I still need to become more familiar with the software and settlement products to feel really comfortable, but that will come with time. At this time I'm not sure what my schedule will be for next week. The game plan for this year (and next) is to gain experience and complete some more training courses in preparation for the 2011 tax season. That's when I will be able to go on commission thereby earning a decent salary which will be used to increase our savings and buy some toys. The ultimate goal is to get away from workamping during the summer months so that we can travel in the northern states. The sun is up brightly this morning with some clouds that will be clearing away as the day goes on. We don't have any plans at this time but there is more than enough on our "Ta Do List" to keep us busy. One thing that we absolutely want to accomplish over the next few weeks is to go through every closet, cupboard, and drawer in order to clean out "stuff" that we are no longer needing or using. Just like any home, an RV can accumulate "stuff" which just adds to the overall weight plus it tends to "clutter up" our 8' by 38' box as well as congest the storage spaces. This is a task that we need to accomplish every year; you'd be surprised what jumps out - "Gee, honey, I didn't know we had one of these!" Well, my bride is just about ready to go for a walk so I need to "get a move on'. See y'all tomorrow! Wednesday, January 28, 2009 "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to w*rk I go!" Yep, I'm "fixinto" go to w*rk today so gather up your papers and head to H&R Block in Robertsdale to witness first hand me at w*rk. "Whistle while you w*rk!" Probably not, it would be quite annoying to the clients. If you've read this web site for very long you'll know that I hate black streaks on the RV. Yesterday I got the ladder out and went to work on ridding the rig of black streaks. Being that our RV has a clear coat finish the black streaks come off easily, however, they still appear. I sure would like to find a way to keep them from showing up at all, but at least the house shines again. It's that time of the year to start thinking about an entire hand wash and wax job. I like to do it twice a year but because we workamped at KOA Nashville this past fall I didn't get it done. Shame on me! Judy J. worked on her quilting project in the morning then we both sat outside in our recliners for a little while in the afternoon. Mr. Alex joined me outside for awhile; he likes to sit in my lap while listening to the wind and watching the birds. He is not allowed to get down out of my lap while he is outside so he is really good about staying put. Our friends, Randy and Terry, are getting ready to head out on Sunday morning so we decided that we should go out to dinner with them. Dick and Pat joined us at Market by the Bay restaurant for great sea food at very reasonable prices. Judy and I had a combo plate with shrimp and oysters; they we absolutely yummy. Randy had a combo Po-Boy with shrimp and white fish while Terry had a grilled shrimp dinner. Dick had a combo plate with cat fish and oysters while Pat enjoyed a seafood platter with shrimp, oysters, and white fish. Each meal came with two sides; Judy and I had the hush puppies and cole slaw. Everyone said their meal was excellent with more than enough food (Dick and Pat had to take some of their food home). We'll go back there again. We finished the day off by watching an old classic movie - "Barefoot In The Park" with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda (way back when they were in their twenty-somethings). It was a cute movie that I hadn't seen before (me thinks that Miss J may have watched it with her eyes closed). So, yesterday was a great day. The kind of day that we really enjoy - working on hobbies, doing a few housekeeping chores, sitting outside reading, dinner with friends, and finishing off with a movie. Pop corn would have been very appropriate for the movie but we were too full from our dinner. Oh well, next time. Tuesday, January 27, 2009 Okay, I must say a few things in my defense. My name is Katie and I'm a pure bred mitted seal point Ragdoll katt. There is absolutely no better katt than I am. After reading yesterday's entry I think I'm getting a bad rap. Yes, I am a female katt and, no, I don't like humanoids grooming me. I'm well able to groom myself and am a very beautiful katt at that. My mother won ribbons and I'm prettier than she is, so I don't think that I need any humanoid assistance in grooming myself. Now for the hissy fit thing - I NEVER have hissy fits!! I may let humanoids know when I want to be left alone, but I don't have hissy fits. I'm so beautiful that it is almost impossible for them to keep their paws off me. Why can't they just "look and not touch"? They should just oooh and aaah from a distance, toss kat nip before my feet, and bow down before leaving my presence then we'd get along just fine. After all, I'm a katt not a dawg so treat me with dignity and there will be no issues. So there you have it; let's not go there again!! Yesterday mom went to a couple of what dad calls basket weaving activities. She is learning to knit as well as learning different crocheting crafts. Alex and I just love to help mom with any craft that involves yarn. Dad stayed home and vacuumed the house - Alex hates the vacuum cleaner. He thinks it's related to the devil; after all, it is called a Dirt Devil. Then dad worked on another H&R Block training course. I sure hope he does well so that he can earn enough money in order for me to maintain my princess lifestyle - it's not cheap to maintain a katt palace, ya know! Later they went for a bike ride over to say good bye to Jim and Linda as they are getting Myrddrin (the motorhome) underway this morning. They enjoyed meeting Jim and Linda and said they were really nice folks, but they don't have any katts so I'm not so sure about that. Mom and dad look forward to bumping into them again in the near future; not literally, that's just a figure of speech that humanoids use. Last night mom and dad went to their weekly Bible Study group. Finally I was able to get some peace and quite; well, I would have 'cept Alex can be a PITA at times. I'm gonna have to teach that katt a thing or two about remaining aloof whenever humanoids are present; sometimes he acts more like a dawg than a katt. He comes when he's called, he acts like he enjoys being petted, and he even lets them hold him from time to time. Shame on him, he's giving us Ragdoll katts a bad name; pray for him, will ya!! Oh well, that's it for today - dad will be back tomorrow. Hope you have a purr-fect day, Katie Monday, January 26, 2009 Saturday we went over to Robertsdale to pick up our food box from Angel Food Ministries. You certainly get your money's worth but it's not exactly what we would have purchased at the grocery store. Further, when we purchase our meats at the store we bring them home and repackage them in smaller portions before freezing. What we got in our food box was about four meals worth of chicken frozen in one package so that we will have to thaw it out, cook it, package it, and refreeze it. That's too way too much work plus it is mostly chicken legs and thighs with the skin on; we normally buy skinless, boneless chicken breast. However, most of the meats appear to be quality cuts and the veggies look good, but I don't think we'll purchase another food box in the future. The rest of the day we played inside as it was an overcast day with periods of rain. Saturday evening we were invited to dinner at Dave and Sharyl Tholen's "house" along with Don and Gloria Martin and Norm and Linda Payne. Sharyl was the hostess with the mostess in that she served each one of us. We started with a garden salad followed by beef stroganoff with corn and pound cake with ice cream and blueberries on top for desert. Needless to say, there was plenty of wine as we each brought a bottle. As always, we enjoyed each other's company with lots of enjoyable conversation. It's evenings like these that make our experience here at Rainbow Plantation complete. Thanks Dave and Sharyl for a great evening and good food. Yesterday was pretty much a typical Sunday with church in the morning and the ice cream social in the evening. It was another overcast day so we "stood" inside and read with the ice skating competitions on in the back ground. Also, a short katt nap got inserted into the early afternoon as well. So that pretty much rounds out another weekend at the Plantation. Oh yes, the highlight of the weekend was giving Alex a bath. For some reason katts don't like baths but I did find that it is a whole lot easier to give him a bath in the shower rather than the kitchen sink. Now that he has dried out he's a nice looking young man again; I won't go into the reason why the bath was necessary in the first place. "Just don't do that again very soon, dad!" When it's Katie's turn for a bath it will be a big fight - Talk about a "hissy fit"; I'll definitely need to trim her nails first and she doesn't like that either. Alex loves to be brushed but Katie just doesn't like to be groomed. That pretty much wraps up another weekend at the Patterson household here at Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale, Alabama. So, stay healthy and keep warm. The temperatures here in Lower Alabama are only going to get into the low 70's - guess we'll have put on the ol' sweater! Until tomorrow. . . . . . . Saturday, January 24, 2009 So, just what was your big adventure, you may ask? Well, the biggest part was that we did not do the "routine" things that we have been doing day after day. We did not do any basket weaving, we did not do any training courses, we did not do any budgeting, we did not do any extra cleaning, etc. etc.. We just got away from the house and did something different. We did stop at H&R Block in Robertsdale to drop off some paper work and get my schedule for next week, then we headed for Camping World for a free lunch. Anyone who says there isn't any such thing as a free lunch didn't go to Camping World yesterday. We looked around the store and then went out into the RV lot and kicked the tires on a few motorhomes. It is finally nice to know that there isn't anything that we needed to buy at Camping World so we enjoyed our hot dawg, some chips, and a couple of chocolate chip cookies and we were on our way. Next stop was the Gulf Shores beach. The temperatures were in the low 70's inland and were around 68 degrees on the beach itself. We had taken a couple of lawn chairs, some books and magazines, snacks, and water with us. It was nice to just sit there listening to the waves roll ashore as the tide was coming in and the seagulls squawked in the background to add to the ambiance. The wind was coming in off the ocean which brought with it the pleasant salt water aroma to help round out the total experience. We sat there for over two hours reading, talking, and just taking in the atmosphere. Gulf Shores, Alabama is located right on the Gulf of Mexico with miles and miles of white sandy beaches. During the off season there is plenty of parking available and the beaches are not the least bit crowded. They, who ever they are, rake the beaches each day, using some sort of tractor dragging a rake behind it, leaving the sand nice and smooth for us to enjoy. The sand is so fine that it feels so good to just walk around barefooted. I can imagine, however, that during a hot summer's day the sand could be a little hot on the bare feet, but certainly not on a nice warm January day. Being that Judy is from Traverse City, Michigan and I am from Belfast, Maine we both grew up near the water. She on Lake Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay and me on the Atlantic Ocean's Penobscot Bay. Most of our married life we have lived near either the ocean or the Great Lakes so it is no wonder that we enjoy spending time on the beach. We arrived back at Rainbow Plantation just in time to join in a celebration. Our neighbor, Ron, had broken his arm a few weeks back and is now free from his cast so he and his wife, Connie, threw a party in celebration of his new found freedom. The celebration was kicked off with the sling being burned in effigy followed by the feast. There was BBQ'd pork sandwiches with all sorts of finger foods available. Bob and Pam along with J. and Hiedi had concocted their own brew made with whiskey, black berries, sugar, and time which they brought along to share. The "soused" blackberries were saved to later be served on French vanilla ice cream - Yum, Yum. The celebration lasted into the wee hours of the evening but the Wandering Americans wandered on home around six o'clock. As you can see, it is not difficult for the East Traveler Street bunch to find a reason to celebrate. Thanks Ron and Connie for all of your hard work (Ron, next time don't go to such extremes just to have a party - I'm sure we can find an easier excuse!!!). Wow, all that fresh air sure makes one sleepy so it was off to bed early last night. So, there you have it! Darrell and Judy's big adventure for January 23rd, two thousand and nine. Friday, January 23, 2009 Yesterday I went for an interview and testing for a U. S. Census Taker's position and am now in "the pool". This spring they will be validating addresses for the census questionnaires that will be mailed out next year. This opportunity adds to our "multiple streams of income" plan that we are developing. Two thousand and nine will be a "w*rking" year but it will be on our terms. The thought of getting a "fulltime" J-O-B just isn't appealing to us as it would limit our grand daughter fixes as well as tie us down to one place and "that dawg just won't hunt". So this winter and spring I will w*rk for H&R Block doing taxes and the U. S. Census Bureau validating addresses. This summer Miss Judy and I will return to LGE to w*rk in the Fun & Games Department and this fall we a lining up another "seasonal" position for a couple of months. The good news is that these are all "part time and/or seasonal" J-O-Bs which enables us to maintain our freedom and flexibility. I'm sharing all this information with you so that you can see that this lifestyle is attainable even in bad economic times - "where there's a will, there's a way". However, the lifestyle may not look exactly like you had anticipated or expected, but "A man's (or woman's) gotta do what a man's (or woman's) gotta do!" It sure beats w*rking for a living. Miss Judy continued to work on her basket weaving endeavors both at home and at the clubhouse. Now this too is part of the above plan in that she will be able to make some of this year's birthday and/or Christmas gifts, so she is "killing two stones with one bird" (say what?). I finished another H&R Block training course and registered for another one. We went for a walk which finished up at the clubhouse for the social hour. Then it was home for dinner, a little reading, some television, and beddy bye. Today is going to be one of the top ten days this week so Judy J. and I are heading out for an adventure. No w*rking, no training courses, and no basket weaving. And, guess what? We aren't about to tell you what we are up to today; you're just going to have to tune in again tomorrow to find out what we did. Thursday, January 22, 2009 Another day in the life at Rainbow Plantation. Miss Judy went into town to get her hair cut while I stayed home and worked on another H&R Block training course. Yesterday afternoon we played cards with our neighbors, Gil and Orma Ames. We haven't played cards in what seems like forever so it was fun to learn a new card game as well as spend some time with our neighbors (we played Mexican Train with Gil and Orma last spring when we bumped into them on the Natchez Trace Parkway). They are a fun couple and we had lots of laughs while playing a game called Thirteen. We all agreed that we need to get together more often, after all, we are next door neighbors. Then it was home for BBQ'd chicken. We have a 2 quart crock pot and it did a great job cooking our chicken leaving it nice and tender, but the best part is that you can just throw the ingredients in the pot and forget about it until it is time to eat. To round out the day we spent a little time on the computer/internet followed by watching some TV. Miss Judy says we need to find something else to do in the evenings as there is never much on television that we are really interested in watching; we just watch it because it's there and that's not a good reason. Last night was another below freezing night so it meant another night of leaving the water disconnected, however, we have nice weather in the making with temps heading for the 70's - hip, hip, hooray!! I'll hook up the water again today and shouldn't have to worry about it again for awhile. Hopefully winter has past but I wouldn't count on it since it's still January. Wednesday, January 21, 2009 We took off really early yesterday morning to round up some grub. That seems to be a good time to be at Wally World, however, Tuesday morning may not be the best day to shop. There were several items that we had on our list that were no longer on the shelves, but there were many employees working like Santa's little elves attempting to restock the shelves; we just didn't feel like waiting around to see if our items would appear on the shelves. We spent the day with the television on witnessing this great historic moment of transitioning from one administration to another. We are one of the few countries in the world that can transition power without a single shot being fired. Truly, we live in the best country in the world and whether we are Democrats, Independents, or Republicans we can certainly have hope that this new Administration will work toward restoring unity in our country. Like I said yesterday, coming together and uniting as Americans is the very starting point for the recovery out of our economic woes. It was absolutely amazing to witness our nation coming together with an estimated 2 million people in Washington, D.C. as well as many other gatherings taking place all around this country expressing hope in our future. Now it is up to all of us to hold onto the faith that "Yes We Can!" Note that it is We and not You. President Obama cannot and will not be able to do it by himself; it will take the "We" working together to overcome our current problems. Myrddin (pronounced Murthen) arrived yesterday bringing with him Jim and Linda Smith. Judy and I did a stop by at their site to welcome them to Rainbow Plantation and, in the tradition of no cooking on travel day, to invite them to dinner. We all got together at our place after the social hour for the meal. It was nice to get to know Jim and Linda and we look forward to seeing them again during their stay at Rainbow Plantation. They will be staying for a week. Tuesday, January 20, 2009 This is it! Today is the day that the new President gets sworn at. Come noon time (11:00 central) Mr. Obama will become the forty-fourth President of the United States. I hope (and pray) that he will continue to generate the goodwill that he has already begun as President-Elect. To me that is the starting point for our economic return. It is going to require that we Americans set aside their greed, live within their means, and somewhat simplify their lifestyle - yes, my friends, Americans are going to have to become fulltime RVers. Well, not exactly, but they will need to embrace some of our fundamental beliefs. But the key to it all goes all the way back to 2000 years ago when Jesus said that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. The Bible has a lot to say about "one another" and now it is time to put it into practice. We would be surprised how fast things would turn around if we followed the Bible's advice. "When all else fails, read the instructions!" Yesterday was another one of those days that just seemed to scream past with us sitting at the edge of the bed wondering what the heck happened. What is it that we did? We you get to researching stuff on the 'puter (i.e. the internet) the time just seems to disappear. I was doing research to determine the pros and cons of changing our residency to South Dakota in order to qualify for VA benefits. It certainly looks like it would be very advantageous for us to make that change. Secondly, I was looking at another opportunity for making a few bucks before we hit the road again. I will most likely not get a lot of hours this year with H&R Block. I knew that this is something that I will have to "pay my dues" for a couple of years before it will generate any "real" money. So I'm looking at another avenue to help fill in the gap. More about that later. Miss Judy went to a knitting class at the clubhouse in the morning. She was going to a crocheting class in the afternoon but didn't feel real well so she took a nap instead, after which, she worked on her digital scrapbooking for awhile. We did manage to squeeze in a walk in the early morning and I helped several of the guys assemble a handicapped walk for one of our neighbors. We finished the day at our Home Bible Study Group at Bob and Anita's home in Fairhope - no their home doesn't have wheels. This is another avenue for us to get to know people who we worship with a little better as well as Zinc the katt (Zinc? Their son is a geologist). Well, Miss Judy has the truck running. This is our bi-weekly Wally World shopping day so I best "get a wiggle on" before I get a "whack upside the head". Monday, January 19, 2009 We kept ourselves pretty busy yesterday. It began with church. Judy and I have volunteered to be greeters and yesterday was our first day. It's a great way to get to meet more of the people who attend our church each Sunday. We enjoyed doing it and are now on the schedule for once or twice a month. On our way home from church we did a "drop in" to meet up with Gary and Vicki Watts who are staying at a campground right next to the church. Gary and Vicki are from the Nashville area and I came across their website one evening while I was perusing the Hitch Itch dot com. We had a good visit and will be planning an outing or two with them over the next couple of months. After lunch we visited with Dave and Sharyl Tholen for a little while. They just got back from a cruise and we wanted to hear about it, also we wanted to drop off a CD with pictures of the Gulf Posse trip to Baton Rouge last spring. Something happened to their computer and they lost all of their pictures so these will replace some of them. They had a great cruise and it was enjoyable listening to them tell us about it. Then we went for a "walk and chat" - that's Miss Judy's term for it. We have several walking routes laid out around the park that provides us with different length of walks. One for a mile and a half walk, one for a two mile walk, and one for a three mile walk. If we get out early enough in the morning then we get in a good walk where we maintain 3 miles per hour, but if we go later in the day we end up stopping several times around the route to talk with people - thus a "walk and chat". Once we got home from our walk it was time to join the East Traveler Street neighbors around the campfire with a glass of wine. We hadn't done that for awhile and it was nice to join in with the group again. We enjoyed one another's company while chatting and laughing the rest of the afternoon away. We came home to grab a small dinner and then it was off to the clubhouse for the Ice Cream Social. Last night it was social time but no ice cream for us, however, we did treat ourselves to a couple of delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies that the Red Hat Ladies were selling - yum, yum. We socialized with many of our friends before sitting with Don and Gloria Martin and Norm and Linda Payne for the rest of the evening. Finally we came home to reacquaint ourselves with our pussy katts while gawking at a little television before hitting the hay. Some days I wonder if Katie and Alex remember who we are but as long as their food dish is full and they have plenty of water they seem to be able to deal with our absences. So, as you see, we can manage to keep ourselves busy - just another day in the life! Saturday, January 17, 2009 Okay, Mikey, I'll quit whining about the cold weather, but it's still Brrrrrrr no matter how you slice it. By the way, Maine may have been at 10 degrees the other morning but it was 9 degrees at our son's house in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. So, us "sutherns" do have sumpin' to 'plain about. This morning I'm heading over to the clubhouse to help Larry the Cook (not Joe the Plumber) with the Saturday morning breakfast. Today it's biscuits and gravy with sausage; a real "suthern" favorite. Miss Judy and I are gonna pass on this one as we are on a waist line reduction mission, however, I do enjoy volunteering in the kitchen. Yesterday we stayed inside most of the day. Even though it was a beautiful day it was too coooold (sorry Mikey) to play outside. Miss Judy has now picked up "anuthah" basket weaving activity. This time it is called "Wire Rapped Jewelery". I must admit that it results in some mighty fine looking "stuff". I stood inside and did some reading both on the internet and my Christmas book (Dewey). I finished reading about Spencer, Iowa's special library katt (which resulted in a few tears at the end of the book). He was quite a katt; I'm thinking about sitting Katie and Alex down and reading them the book to see if it might help change them. They think that they are King and Queen around here and act as if we should be grateful that they allow us to live here with them. They certainly could use a few lessons from Dewey. Well, time is moving on and I have to be at the clubhouse by 7 o'clock so I had better "get a wiggle on". See ya tomorrow. Friday, January 16, 2009 How low can it go? Whoever left the barn door open in Canada please go back and close it. Enough is enough already. It was 28 when we got up at 5 o'clock this morning and by 6 it had dropped another degree. Hopefully it has bottomed out and will start to reverse the trend, however, tomorrow morning is predicted to be colder than this morning. This is Brrrrrr to the fourth power. Yesterday was a nice sunny day and it did get up to 54 degrees with little to no wind; therefore I could wear my shorts with "tennyrunners" instead of sandals. Some thought I was half nuts but that is only half true - I am totally nuts! But I like my shorts, actually I don't like clothes at all. I think they are a waste of money and most of them are very uncomfortable to wear. But the thought of me running around naked is not very appealing either and with this weather it would be very, very cooooold. How did I get there? I'd better move on to more pleasant thoughts. Finally we were able to get together with Dick and Jodi LaBarre. They have been in the park for over a week and we had not caught up with them yet. We met Dick and Jodi on our very first visit to Rainbow Plantation back in October of 2006. They are from Manton, Michigan, a small town up near Traverse City which is where Judy grew up. We met up with them again in January of 2007 when we both returned to Rainbow Plantation to "come in out of the cold". We did some biking with them at that time as well as just sitting around chatting and getting to know them better. Since then we have kept in touch with them via email. Last spring, as we were traveling to Red Stick, Louisiana (i.e. Baton Rouge), we bumped into them at a rest stop in Mississippi. Anyway, we had a lot of catching up to do as they had taken a trip to Alaska this past summer and it was certainly nice to visit with them again. Hopefully we'll get to do another bike trip with them before they leave at the end of the month. Miss Judy was a busy little girl yesterday. She went to a quilting "show and tell" meeting, a scrapbooking get together, and a crocheting class. This year Judy is adding knitting and crocheting to her repertoire of basket weaving activities. If this keeps up we'll have to move her bed over to the clubhouse, but she doesn't hold a candle to Linda Payne. Norm says they're going to have to get on the road again just so he can see her again (he's beginning to forget what she looks like). I, on the other hand, stayed home and worked on some computer stuff. I was looking at my eligibility to receive VA medical benefits. What I found out is that Polk county in Texas is one of the poorest counties in the country. The VA has what they call "means thresholds" which is the maximum gross income (earned and unearned income before deductions) that a veteran can have in order to enroll for "priority groups" 1 through 7. The "means threshold" for a veteran with one dependent is $35,284 for 2008, but that is not the end of the story. That threshold is adjusted to align with what they refer to as "geographic means thresholds" which reflects the cost of living for various counties throughout the United States. Polk county in Texas is adjusted to $27,900 which means that I do not qualify to enroll. Now, there are eight different "priority groups" all of which have other requirements that have to be met in order to qualify (these are over and above the "means thresholds"). Right now to become enrolled a veteran has to qualify in priority groups 1 through 7. Priority group 8 is for those who exceed the means thresholds, however, due to budget constraints the VA has not been accepting enrollments in that group since 2003, but after June 30th of this year they will be accepting enrollments in group 8 for veterans who do not exceed the GMT by more than 10%. That would be $30,690 for Polk county Texas. Needless to say, if we remain residents of Texas I would still not qualify to enroll. But, if we became residents of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who currently has a GMT of $41,700, I would be able to qualify for enrollment with the additional 10% allowance which would increase the GMT to $45,800. So now we have a decision to make: should we change our residency to South Dakota. In order to answer that question we are going to have to do some further research which includes truck and RV registration, insurance costs (fulltimer insurance, auto insurance, health insurance for Judy), and taxes. We have time to fill in all of the blanks because I can't apply until after June 30th anyhow. At this time I can tell you that it appears that we would save money by becoming residents of South Dakota, but that is after just taking a cursory look. I will create a matrix to evaluate all of the pros and cons including what the VA benefits would be (would they be worth all the efforts associated with changing residency?). In any event, I will keep you posted. Today I need to get back to finishing the H&R Block 2009 Tax Update training course. This is a long one and will take a few days to complete. Miss Judy will be going to the clubhouse this afternoon. We both need to get our pudgy bodies out for a two mile walk - it's been a week since we last walked. This cooooold weather doesn't do much to entice us to get out and walk. Well, that's enough for today. Don't forget to hug your katt. Thursday, January 15, 2009 "Baby it's cold outside!" It's Brrrrrr, Brrrrrr, Brrrrrr down here in the deep south, but our friends up in the northlands think we have bathing suit weather down here. We don't think the low 30's are anything but down right cooooold whereas they think it would be a heat wave. I remember well living with temperatures like that. I started w*rking for Bath Iron Works in January of 1988 and lived with my brother in Yarmouth, Maine until March while waiting for our home in Connecticut to sell. In February of that year the morning temperatures ran around -10 for about a week and a half. Nothing wants to work in temps like that. The cars hate to start and when they do it takes a good half hour before things warm up. Tires are hard, springs are stiff, and other things just don't want to function properly. Let alone scrapping ice off the windshields and shoveling snow out of the driveways - those are things that you just can't do from inside the house. My brother had what they called a raised ranch and supplemented the electric heat with two wood stoves, one in the livingroom upstairs and one in the family room downstairs. The temperature in the house stayed at around 65 degrees (that seemed awfully warm after coming in from below zero temperatures) which meant that we wore sweaters and covered up with blankets while sitting around watching the Winter Olympics. It was just plain cooold with lots of snow; we were all happy to see the daffodils break through with their smiling faces in the spring. It was cold indeed, however, even the cold weather can bring warm memories when you are spending time with your family. Yesterday was another day of doing the routine things; Miss J worked on her basket weaving stuff and attended a crocheting class at the clubhouse. I went into the Foley H&R Block office and finished my practice set; now I have everything done and am ready for the tax season to begin. I was also able to do a little reading in the book that my daughter-in-law got me for Christmas. The book is Dewey; it's about the library katt in Spencer, Iowa who "touched the world". In case you haven't figured it out I'm a katt person - I never met a katt I didn't like. From the time I was a toddler to this very day I have always had a katt (or two). We finished the day off with a group of our friends celebrating Ron Phinney's birthday at El Toro restaurant in Gulf Shores. This a very good Mexican restaurant with a very extensive menu - it was hard to choose what to order. The food was very good as well and Wednesday night is 99 cent margaritas; you can't beat that with a stick. There were fifteen of us there and, needless to say, a good time was had by all. Wednesday, January 14, 2009 It was "unhook the hose" night here in the deep south. Yep, we got below freezing temps last night (or should I say just before dawn when it is always the coldest). The temperature got down to 30 degrees, but then we turned on the television to find that the coooold temperatures are covering pretty much the entire country. Isn't that exciting? Don't you just love gifts from the north? Brrrrrr. The forecast for tonight is even lower - into the teens. That's a double Brrrrrr! This is going to be a big week for us. We have friends from all corners arriving in the area over the next few days. Jim and Linda Smith are on their way from Texas, Ray and Pat Faber are on their way from Michigan, and Gary and Vicki Watts are on their way from Tennessee. It will be nice to see Ray and Pat again (if you remember, we spent a week at their place in Michigan last spring) and we look forward to meeting Jim and Linda as well as Gary and Vicki for the first time. We are also looking forward to the arrival of Mike and Peggy Ervingham, our good friends from Maine. Mike was at T minus 35 days and counting the other day. Hopefully they'll be able to find their motorhome in all that snow that they been getting. Let's put it this way, if I had invested in snow shovels last August we be sitting pretty right now - hind sight is always twenty-twenty. Anywhoo, it will be great to see them again. Yesterday was actually a very nice day in which I was able to wear shorts and sandals. I spent the morning cleaning the house while Miss J worked on her quilting (don't think that I'm the slave around here 'cause I insisted that Judy work on her quilting project and wouldn't let her do any housekeeping). We did make a trip into town to get some propane and pick up a few items. Then Miss J went to the clubhouse to learn how to crochet using Walmart bags, another basket weaving endeavor, while I worked on another H&R Block Training course. At four we both went to the social hour after which I helped in the kitchen serving up the Tuesday evening meal (we didn't stay to eat since we are both trying to shed a few pounds). We ended the day watching television, then it was lights out at 10 o'clock. Me thinketh that we might be getting into a rut so it's time to shake things up a bit. Our new friends Gene and Judi are involved in the American Volksport Association which has organized walks all over the country. These walks are designed to be more like tours than just "power walking". Through the AVA and listening to other RVers at the Social Hour I am starting to take note of various places in the area that we would like to visit. Also, a lot of cities and towns have mapped walking tours that introduce you to historical events, architectural designs, and scenic views throughout their communities. On top of that there's the hi-tech hobby called geocaching. I wouldn't be interested in just finding little caches with trinkets in them but would be very interested in those that highlight points of interests, scenic views, and/or historical places. There are, also, several bike trails in the area for when the weather warms up a might. The bottom line is that Miss Judy and I need to pick one day a week for an outing and start "getting out more" just to keep us from growing stale and boring. Stay tuned to see how we make this transition over the next few weeks - that ought to be entertaining. Tuesday, January 13, 2009 Did I ever tell you that one of the best parts of this lifestyle is the people you meet? I think I may have once or twice - anyway, that is also the best part of the Social Hour that is held at all the Escapee Parks at 4 o'clock each afternoon except for Sunday (Sunday is at 6 o'clock and called the Ice Cream Social). Every so often you meet another couple that you really click with and know right away that they will become more than just acquaintances. Yesterday's Social Hour was one of those times when we met Gene and Judi Curp from Nashville, Tennessee. Gene and Judi have been fulltiming with their katt since last spring in a Montana fifthwheel. You can read about their travels at Gene and Judi's Journey. They will be here at Rainbow Plantation until Sunday so Miss Judy and I are planning to get together with them and share some wine, RV tips, and travel information. They are interested in our Habitat for Humanity build that we did almost two years ago (Wow, time goes by fast). So, we look forward to getting together with them later this week and getting to know them a lot better. Speaking of the Social Hour, our good friend Norm Payne has hosted it a couple of times over the past week and has done such a good job that I think we should "Norm-inate" him as the permanent host. He has been very entertaining with excellent stories that end with lots of laughter and applause. We certainly have a lot of talented people making Rainbow Plantation a "must stop at" Escapee Park. There is so many things going on here at the Park that if you find yourself bored then it's your fault. You go to the clubhouse where you'll find two tables covered with sign up sheets for all sorts of arts and crafts, trips, training classes, and sporting events. There are three meals each week with other social events scheduled throughout the week. With Mardi Gras coming up there are all types of activities scheduled in many of the local communities. Also, there are many "must see" sightseeing opportunities along with biking trails, hiking trails, and canoing/kayaking spots (oh, can't forget fishing) in the area. If you are passing by the Mobile, Alabama or Pensacola, Florida area you owe it to yourself to spend a few days (or weeks) at Rainbow Plantation. You'll not be sorry you did and you'll get to meet some of the nicest people in the RVing world. Hope to see ya here real soon!!!!! Monday, January 12, 2009 I did it, I stayed focused and finished November's Travelogue. Now I am going to try to get the December Travelogue completed by the end of the week. It certainly won't be as long because we haven't traveled except for a quick trip to Murfreesboro, Tennessee for Christmas. But I have some things to share with you about KOA Nashville and Rainbow Plantation as well as some grand daughter pictures. Saturday it rained off and on all day long so it made it a little easier for me to stay inside and get the travelogue finished. Judy J worked on a quilting project while Katie napped and Alex attempted to help with quilting (he's a great help!!!). Miss J is also learning to knit so she has plenty of basket weaving endeavors to keep her busy for the next 15 and a half months or years. Yesterday we attended church in the morning and then I did some reading, watched some football, and started the December Travelogue. Miss J practiced on some knitting, played on her 'puter, and watched a little football. Now, regarding football - there are a few things that tend to irritate me. Number one is some of the sports casters. Greg Bumble is one of the worst play by play commentators on television with John Maddenmouth being right up there. Bumble is lost for words most of the time which makes him just plain boring while Maddenmouth can say more about nothing than anybody I know. I wish that there were two sound tracks on the television; one of which would only broadcast the background noises so you could feel more like you were at the game while being able to shut the announcers off altogether. I either have the sound muted or turned down real low while watching football. Another is the players who think they are the referees. They think that it is their job to call touchdowns, possessions whenever there's a fumble, and/or incomplete passes. The problem is that they are not very good at it. Often their call doesn't match that of the ref's so why they don't just head back to the huddle and leave the play calling to the referees is beyond me. Lastly, what's with all the body jerks and arm pumping when they do their job? They are way over paid in the first place and are only doing what they are paid to do so why all physical antics? Anyhow, that's why I don't just sit and watch football but have it on in the background while I'm doing something else. Besides, I don't have to worry about missing a great play because with instant (and repetitive) replay I can see it over and over and over again from about six different angles before the next play even takes place. Okay, enough of the sarcasm. Today is supposed to be a nice sunny day but the cold weather has set in. Yesterday we started the day in the low 50's and lost ground by ending up in the 40's before the afternoon was over. Today is starting in the low 30's and may get into the high 50's. That's just a tad bit colder than the Wandering America crew desires - but it is winter after all and these are seasonal temps. Being that we (Miss J and I) are both trying to lose some weight we stayed away from the Souper Supper last night. You go to the clubhouse and pay $3 for a cup and then get to sample as many soups as you wish (as many times as you wish) They had 22 different soups to be tasted and that would have been waaaaaay tooooooo tempting; therefore, we stayed to home. I suppose it would be far better to be disciplined enough to just sample a few soups and socialize but, knowing myself, that ain't happening so I hid out in my bunker until the temptation had past. Better to be safe than sorry!!! Saturday, January 10, 2009 It's incredible to think that a "retired person" with nothing but time on his hands can't seem to get his Ta-Do List completed. That darned Ta-Do List seems to be a never ending bottomless pit with more items floating to the top each time I look into it. I think that the first thing on the list should be to get a cover large enough to put on the top of the never ending bottomless pit. Then I wouldn't have to look at it any more. Who needs something to do anyway? If I didn't have anything Ta-Do then, if I had a rocking chair, I could sit in my rocking chair on the front porch all day, if I had a front porch. Oh well, I don't seem to have a cover large enough for the pit so I guess I had better get a wiggle on. Today is supposed to be a rainy day so it means that Miss Judy and I will need to play inside. She wants to work on her quilting and I want to finalize the November 2008 travelogue. Yep, that's right, I have still been procrastinating. I was ribbing my good friend Norm about not updating his website for such a long time and he told me that he has just been way too busy since arriving at Rainbow Plantation. You see, he's another "retired person" with nothing but time on his hands who can't seem to get to the bottom of his Ta-Do List either. Anyway, I haven't mentioned it to him anymore because I have seen the light. God needs to readjust the time spectrum to give us 30 hour days and 8 day weeks so that us "retired persons" can get our work done. Anyway, I will make a concentrated effort to post the November Travelogue before day's end. Only time will tell if I make it or not, but I will sit my ADD dyslexic self down and attempt to stay focused long enough to finish the project at hand. That's not an easy task for a "retired person" with nothing but time on his hands who has a never ending bottomless pit Ta-Do List looming over his head. Oh well, onto the task at hand!!! Friday, January 9, 2009 Yesterday was an absolutely marvelous day. The temperatures were in the high 70's with low humidity and clear skies, however, this kind of weather is unusual for January but we'll take it none the less. Today promises to be just as nice - yippee, hooray, yabba dabba doo!!! I continued to "play" with my camera to learn how to use some of the features that are available. The "Auto" setting is supposed to eliminate a lot of manual effort in making pictures but what I am seeing, after playing with other settings, is that by using the manual setting I can improve the sharpness and crispness of my pictures. It will take me some time and effort to become proficient at using this camera to its fullness. Miss Judy went to a couple of workshops at the clubhouse. In the morning she attended a quilting workshop on the "whack and stack" technique. Her afternoon workshop was on scrapbooking. She took some of her scrapbooks over to the clubhouse to give others some new ideas. Our good friend, Don Martin, hosted the 4 o'clock social hour after which Judy and I assisted with the preparation and serving of the Thursday evening meal. Last night's menu was a garden salad, stuffed pork, potato casserole, spiced apples, and a peach cobbler desert. We served 118 people which is a lot more than normally shows up during the week. It is fun working in the kitchen with Larry (the cook) and our friends - the Martins and the Paynes. Larry is a great cook and is doing a superb job especially with the large turnouts that are being experienced. We spent our evening surfing the web and watching a little TV. When, oh when, are they going to get some decent programming on television - it's either cop shows, unreal reality shows, or stupid situation comedies that hardly raise a chuckle. We need some good ol' fashion variety type of shows (Ed Sullivan Show, Dean Martin Show, or Carol Burnett Show) that provide real entertainment and laugh out loud comedy. The stuff that they are broadcasting between commercials these days is absolutely ridiculous - just my opinion. One last thing - A correction on yesterday's journal entry. I stated that we ordered a food box from Angle Tree Ministries; that should have been Angle Food Ministries. Well, now it is time for us to go for our morning walk so bye bye for now. If any of you are coming through L.A. (Lower Alabama) be sure to look us up. Thursday, January 8, 2009 Today is going to be one of the top ten best days this week with a nice warm bright sunshiny day. It's incredible to believe that we are already entering the second week of the new year. The days are just slipping away faster than greased lightening. This is going to be a different kind of year for us but if it keeps going by this fast it will be over before we know it. Miss J and I have been having some intense discussions about the state of our finances. Like many others we have taken a major hit to our 401ks (which are now 201ks) and are now forced to make different plans. I will be w*rking for H&R Block this winter and we'll be returning to Lake George Escape again this summer but that's not going to be enough to get us completely back on track; therefore, we have considered seeking fulltime employment (that means J-O-Bs). If we were to do that it would be in the recreation industry (i.e. campground management). There are a couple of opportunities available that we are checking into, but we really don't want to give up the freedoms that this fulltime lifestyle provides. Yesterday I spoke with an employment agency about seasonal work next fall. It sounds promising and we will know more within the month. The assignment would be for two to three months with long hours but the pay and benefits would be very good. Between that J-O-B and w*rking for H&R Block next winter we should make enough to get us through 2010. We will still have to do some sort w*rk in 2010 but not quite as much as we'll have to do this year. We like this plan better than fulltime J-O-Bs because it would allow us to maintain some of our freedoms, however, we need to look at all the avenues at this time. As I have said before, this lifestyle gives us opportunities that we could never have had if we were tied down to a sticks and bricks house. First of all being debt free eliminates the stress of having to make monthly payments and reduces the amount of money required to live on. It enables us to w*rk seasonal part time low paying J-O-Bs to get by instead of being forced to seek out higher paying J-O-Bs which are not very plentiful at this time. Secondly having wheels on our house gives us the opportunity to go where the w*rk is available rather than being tied to one area of the country. Yes, the overall economy maybe bad but there are still a lot of opportunities out there if you're willing to relocate and accept less money. So, the fulltime RVing lifestyle is probably one of the best ways we know of to weather this storm. However, no matter how much planning and scheming we do it all still hinges on the Lord's providence. His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So the old saying, "Man plans, God Laughs", will probably hold true. We will go there and we will do that only if God allows us to go there and do that. Actually, that's just the way we want it. There is an uncertainty with it all so we'll embrace that uncertainty while exercising our faith in the Lord. The Bible tells us to ask, seek, and knock knowing that God takes care of the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field. We may not get what we think we want but our needs will be provided for through our "Father who art in Heaven" and we can take a lot of comfort in that. Further more, we'll rejoice in the Lord always (and again I say rejoice) in what ever circumstances that we find ourselves. I didn't say we wouldn't grumble, but we will trust God. Yesterday we went to Robertsdale Feed and Seed to pick up some Taste of Wild katt food (see, their faith was rewarded) and then we stopped by the Catholic Social Services to order a box of food through the Angel Tree Ministries. I'm not sure that it is a whole lot cheaper than purchasing the items at Wally World but it helps support their food pantry ministry and we have been told that the food is very good with fresh meats and vegetables. This is our first time so we'll have to see once we pick up our food box on the 24th. I did some reading up on digital photography while playing with our camera and, later, I completed another H&R Block training course. Miss Judy worked on some of her basket weaving endeavors and we both attended the 4 o'clock social hour. That's always fun and gives us an opportunity to meet new folks coming into the park. Then it was back home to watch the news and a movie. We watched "Lost in America" which is about a young couple who opted out of the mainstream to live fulltime in an RV - what a bizarre idea. The movie was shot back in the 80's so the concept was rather anti-establishment back then. In any event, the movie itself was not all that good. After that Miss J went to La-La land while I watched Law and Order - I'm not really into TV. I find so many commercial irritating and they ruin the show. Then it was lights out for me and the katts; another day gone by. Well, that's it for now - we'll see ya on the flip side. Wednesday, January 7, 2009 Disaster averted. We are running low on katt food and thought that we could get some more at the Old Time Feed and Seed in Fairhope. When we stopped by yesterday, while on our way to Wally World to get some feed and seed for ourselves, we discovered that they carry the dawg food but not the katt food. Oh, oh - katts aren't going to be happy with this tid bit of news - they may have to change brands again and that would not be to their liking. They feast on a brand called Taste of Wild which is a premium brand with no by-products or fillers (actually it is very healthy and would be a good diet for humans as well - that would help us to cut back on the ol' budget). Well, this morning I went on the Taste of Wild website and did a search for dealers in our area which listed another local feed store. A quick phone call resulted with a positive response thereby alleviating a Katt-astrophe. One thing that I discovered through this little dilemma is that katts have more faith than I do. They weren't the least bit concerned, worried, or frustrated - they just exercised their faith that God, through His (and their) servants, would provide their needed sustenance; after all, He supplies the birds of the air with their daily feed would He do any less for them? What faith - we should be so faithful. In the meantime, we continue to live the same ol, same ol fulltiming lifestyle here at Rainbow Plantation. We did our bi-weekly shopping and then just hung around the house reading, doing some chores, and socializing. Randy and Terry returned from their three week Christmas trip so we had them over for a meal. Judy made Hamburger Taco Pie for dinner with some chocolate chip brownies for desert. It was yummy for the tummy - not quite as healthy as Taste of Wild but yummy none the less. We visited for a while sharing grand daughter stories (they have one grand daughter and we have four; so we trumped them). It's always a joyful time whenever the four of us get together. Nice to have you back home Randy and Terry. I guess that about sums up the adventures of the non-Wandering Americans. Tune in again tomorrow to see if anything else exciting happens. Listen, I think I can hear the grass growing!!!! Tuesday, January 6, 2009 Seeing, reading, hearing about all of the snow on the east and west coasts of this country I can't help but think back to when I wore a younger man's clothes. I used to love the snow and couldn't imagine living in an area where there was no snow. As a matter of fact, I hated the hot, humid, hazy days of summer and welcomed the cool weather of the fall followed by the frigid winter weather. But as I've aged, how things have changed. As kids there would be nothing more welcomed than a fresh cover of snow. Out would come the sleds, toboggans, skis, snow shoes, etc., to provide many a day of entertainment in the winter wonderland. We would spend hours playing outside - walking across the meadows and riding down the hills. There would be snow forts to be built and snow ball battles to be fought. In the evenings we would gather up some fire wood and have a small campfire in one of our forts while we just laid there in the snow watching the stars in the cool crisp sky above. It's amazing just how warm it is to be surrounded with snow while sitting next to a fire. It sounds as if both ends of the country are experiencing the kind of winters that we had as kids. There was always a white Christmas with lots of snow to follow. Come the end of January the driveways looked like tunnels with the snow banks piled up so high. We would dig igloos and/or tunnels in the snowbanks - often it would be two igloos connected by a tunnel and then we would have to protect them from all sorts of imaginary enemies (I guess that would be equivalent to today's computer games only a whole lot more physical). There would be reconnaissance missions on snow shoes through the woods where we would seek out new snow drifts to build some more igloos or for some more good skiing and tobogganing. One of my favorite memories of winter, however, was coming in to my best friend's kitchen after a hard morning's work of play out in the cold of winter. It seemed like his mom always had some hot chocolate and fresh homemade plain doughnuts (hot off the stove mind you) ready for our pleasure and partaking. From that day on I have been a huge fan of plain doughnuts but I can't say that I have ever found one any better than William's mom made. Sitting around in that country kitchen sipping our hot chocolate and devouring a couple of those hot doughnuts - um, um; life couldn't be any better than that. Then it would be outside again to embark on another adventure in the snow. Now that I am older I have great memories of the winters in Maine but have very little desire to experience them again. Life is going down hill fast enough that I don't need a pair of skis to accelerate it and I can't say that I would enjoy digging in the snow with my knees hurting. As for sitting around the campfire - we do just fine down here in 'Bama with our shorts and sandals while sitting in our comfy lawn chairs and reminiscing about the good ol' days. Those are fond memories that I cherish and I am glad that I was able to grow up in snow country. (Did I say grow up - I'm not really sure that I have grown up yet!!!) Monday, January 5, 2009 Have you ever had a brain storm that seemed like a great idea, the best idea since sliced bread, just to have it pass over like most storms do with little or no significant outcome? Well, I did!! I thought it would be a great idea to write my "From Darrell's Chair" entries before going to bed each day. The thought was that I could get up in the morning, do my Bible studies and then get ready for our morning walk. That would allow us to get our daily chores out of the way sooner giving us an earlier start to what ever we had planned (or unplanned) for the rest of the day. The only problem is that I am a morning person - my brain is pretty mush after 8 o'clock in the evening. Essentially I have little to no writing creativity or ability at night; therefore, that dawg just ain't gonna hunt. So, it's back to writing in the morning while my brain is sharp as a tack (and no comments needed from the peanut gallery). Yesterday morning it was off to church and as usual Pastor Bill has a great way of going from preaching to meddling in a hurry. His key scripture passage was Philippians 3:10-11 - "I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead." (ALT). This was the key verse of the "One on One" discipleship program that we used to lead many, many moons ago. The personal goal of "One on One" was - To know Christ, to glorify Him, and to become like Him. Listening to Pastor Bill brought back many good memories of our past and the closeness that we had with Jesus at that time. Reflection is always good as we make the transition into a new year; reflection challenges us to return to our first love (see Revelation 2:4). The rest of the day was taken up with going for a power walk, socializing with our neighbors, sitting outside reading, attending the Sunday evening Ice Cream Social, and watching a movie (same old, same old). It's absolutely amazing how each day passes so quickly - again, I have no idea what we do all day but we never seem to get finished. I still have a half a dozen books that I want to read and a long list of Ta Do items that never seem to get done plus getting myself ready for the H&R Block tax season. Busy, busy, busy!! Oh well, it will all get accomplished in due time. If not, then it probably doesn't need to be done!!!! How's that for logic? Saturday, January 3, 2009 We got up this morning and did our Bible reading then went for a nice two mile walk around the park. Jack Mayer and his puppy, Poppi, joined us on the walk - it was nice to have a chance to get to know Jack a little better. Then we headed home to do our daily chores followed by finalizing our 2009 budget; it's ugly and a little depressing, to say the least, so that's all I have to say about that. This afternoon I completed another H&R Block course which means that I now have all three of the required courses completed. Judy J worked for a while on her digital scrapbooking and then took a little katt nap. Ron and Ruth dropped over for a short visit and before we knew it the day was gone. This evening we sat around and caught up on some reading with football on in the background. I have several books that I have checked out of the library on digital photography. I would like to work toward putting more effort into my pictures making them more appealing for the website. It's going to take a couple of things; one is to "develop an eye" for capturing the beauty that surrounds us. The other is to "master" the camera by learning all of its features and how to use them. Miss J and I will spend the rest of the evening chit chatting for a while, maybe watching a little TV and then hit the hay. And that's another day in the life - how'd that happen so fast? Friday, January 2, 2009 Yesterday we celebrated the New Year by joining together with our neighbors in a progressive dinner. Now this progressive dinner was a little different in that we didn't travel anywhere but just scheduled the meal to progress throughout the day. The day began with Ron building a fire in his fireplace early in the morning so it would be ready for the breakfast crowd at 9 o'clock. There were about 24 of us for breakfast which consisted of "baggy omelets", sweet rolls, muffins, egg casserole, etc.. Baggy omelets are always a favorite of the East Traveler Street bunch. If you remember right, Miss Judy wrote about them in her "Judy's Corner" November 19, 2007 entry. Well, it certainly didn't end there; at 1 o'clock hors d'oeuvres were served and there was more than enough yummy appetizers available for munching (I won't even go into trying to list everything that was spread out on the tables). Salads were going to be served at 2 o'clock but everyone was full and it was decided to wait and serve them with the main entrees at three. In the mean time we were entertained by seven dulcimer players (five hammer dulcimers and two lap dulcimers). It was very soothing, relaxing, and enjoyable music - they have become very accomplished musicians over the past few years. And, yes, the fire was being stoked all day long which certainly added to the ambiance. What can be better than sitting in front of a nice campfire with a full belly while listening to dulcimer music? Around 3 o'clock we began cooking brats and hot dawgs over the open fire to have with Hoppin' Jon and macaroni and cheese. The "salad bar" consisted of potato salad, peas and peanut salad, broccoli salad, pasta salad, and baked beans. Now we were starting to get really full and the deserts hadn't even been put out yet. Ah, deserts!!! We should have started with them first. Next year I'm going to suggest a reverse progressive dinner so we can eat desert first. There was apple squares, carrot cake, a banana/pineapple pie, and a three layer lemon cake. Oh my, this was just plain too good to pass up so we all let our belts out a couple of notches and dug in. Yum, Yum, Yum. Around 6 o'clock Judy and I rolled on home and laid back in our easy chairs exclaiming. "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!" What a great way to start the new year; sitting around with your friends eating, talking, laughing, and just enjoying each other's company for the entire day. I haven't had this much fun since the Riley family reunions that we used to have when I was a kid. Today we got up and did our Bible reading then went for a walk. I went over to the H&R Block office to do some more practice sets while Judy J did some cleaning and the laundry, ordered some more beads, and did some reading. This afternoon we did computer "stuff" and a little more reading before going on a short bike ride around the park ending up at the social hour at the clubhouse. Then it was home to watch the news, eat some dinner, and watch a movie. Now it's beddy bye time so that's pretty much it for today. Good nite all!!! Thursday, January 1, 2009 This is it, it is here!!!! Two thousand and nine has finally arrived!!!! Happy
New Year
We rounded out the year with a New Year's Eve party at the clubhouse. There was music by a local group called the Shanielles, a group of ladies from the park who dress up in their bath robes and sing waaaay off key - they are extremely funny and very entertaining. Then there was "live music" with dancing until the Escapee RVer's midnight (9:00) followed by karaoke; boy, I hope those karaoke people don't give up their day jobs! We came home at quarter after ten and welcomed in the new year in the horizontal position with eyes closed. Now, me thinks that 2008 will get a bad wrap due to the greed of oil speculators, unscrupulous banking practices, and Wall Street shenanigans. However, outside of the financial issues it wasn't all that bad of a year for the Wandering Americans (Darrell and Judy). We hung around Rainbow Plantation enjoying life with our friends and neighbors through the end of March. Then we traveled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for a mini-rally with the Alabama Chapter of the Escapees. We did several sightseeing trips around the capitol city and Rich and Diane Emond joined us there for a couple of days. After the rally it was onto Natchez, Mississippi where we spent three days of sightseeing (and visiting some eateries) including a horse and buggy tour of downtown. Next we started our trip up the Natchez Trace Parkway (bumping into Gil and Orma Ames who are our next door neighbors on East Traveler Street) taking a little over a week to cover the entire 444 miles from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. We visited our children and grand children in the Nashville, Tennessee area for a few days before heading to Louisville, Kentucky where we spent time with Norm and Linda Payne. Norm and Linda took us on a nice sightseeing trip around the Kentucky Derby city as well as Clarksville, Indiana. From Louisville it was off to MeCosta, Michigan where we spent a week and a half at Ray and Pat Faber's house (fellow Escapees who have a full RV hookup). MeCosta is near Morley where we had our seasonal site when we lived in Mount Pleasant, Michigan so we did a lot of visiting from there. Next we moved a little further down the state to Judy's sister's house for family visits and some wood working projects on the RV (they have a 30 amp hookup available). Warren has one of the most complete woodworking shops I have ever been in and he is a great resource when it comes to my woodworking projects. After that we began our trek east to New Hampshire for a visit with our kids and grand kids before a summer of workamping at Lake George Escape in New York. In the fall we returned to New Hampshire for another grand daughter fix before turning our eyes south. We stopped over in the Scranton, Pennsylvania area where we met up with Tom and Paula (fellow fulltimer's whom we had never met but had corresponded with). From there we went to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where we spent almost a week. We attended the Hershey RV Show with Randy and Terry Guiler as well as spending time at the National Battlefield in Gettysburg. We found where my great-great grandfather served with the First Maine Calvary at East Calvary Battlefield just outside of Gettysburg. Then it was onto the Gypsy Journal Rally in Celina, Ohio where we met up with Randy and Terry again. We had a great time meeting new folks and participating in the rally activities. Judy bought her Creative Memories scrapbooking software at the rally. After the rally we made a bee-line to KOA Nashville where we spent 10 weeks workamping as well as spending time with Mary and Joel and Matt, Jackie, Catia, and Kalina (our newest grand daughter). While we were there we did several Gray Line tours and spent an evening at the Nashville Nightlife Dinner Theater with fellow workampers Ray and Diane. Then is was back "home" to Rainbow Plantation with a quick visit back to Murfreesboro, Tennessee for Christmas Day with our grand daughters. We finished the year with our friends and neighbors here at Rainbow Plantation having all sorts of get togethers around the park and dancing in the New Year at the clubhouse. So, that was one loooong paragraph saying that 2008 was a pretty good year after all. Actually, 2009 is going to be a more challenging year for us in that we need to conserve dollars to make up for the losses in our investments. We were planning on going to the Escapade in Missouri this May but that idea got scratched after the refrigerator went and we had the pinion gear bearings replaced in the truck. Instead we'll go to Judy's sister's house and spend more time in Michigan (I have a couple more wood working projects to accomplish on the RV). Then we'll go to New Hampshire to see our new grand son as well as our two grand daughters (and their parents) before spending the summer w*rking at Lake George Escape again. In the fall we'll go to Maine and spend a week or two at my brother's house, spend some more time in New Hampshire (maybe volunteering at a Bible Conference in the area for a couple of weeks), and spend some time on the Cape with my aunt if she is still there (she may sell the house since my uncle passed away). Finally we will make a bee-line back to Rainbow Plantation arriving somewhere from mid October to the 1st of November. So basically we will be visiting family and w*rking while attempting to hold down expenses in this coming year. Even though we are not able to travel as much as we had wanted we are still happy with our lifestyle. There isn't any other lifestyle that would afford us the opportunities we have to spend this much time with all of our children and grand children. We a very fortunate to be able to live as we do and enjoy this much freedom. We hope and pray that you all have a very Happy New Year. Remember, being happy has more to do with your attitude than it does with your circumstances. Like the old Roger Miller song said, "You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd but you can be happy if you have a mind to!" So, in this coming year let's have a "mind to"!!!!! |