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| "From Darrell's Chair" Archives |
| This page will be used to share my thoughts
with you as I sit in my chair and contemplate the daily events that take place during our fulltiming journey.
Hopefully
you will enjoy the entries, learn a thing or two, and have some
chuckles along the way as Judy and I continue "Wandering America". |
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Tuesday, March 31, 2009
I told you that the katts were not going to be happy about their little trip yesterday. Well, that was totally understated. Dr. Julie came in and both Katie and Alex liked her; no growling, no hissing, they let her pet them and make over them. Alex went first. Dr. Julie listened to his heart, looked in his mouth, and gave him his shot. Next came Katie. Katie squirmed a little while the doc listened to her heart but when it was time to look in her mouth she was having no part of it. Dr. Julie holds the katt by the scruff of the neck while she looks at his/her teeth; well let me tell you, Katie does not like to be restrained. She began screaming, and when I say screaming I mean screaming. Not only was she screaming but she was fighting to get away. That is some strong pussy katt - she was screaming at the top of her lungs and fighting for all she was worth. That upset Alex and he began hissing and getting into the "attack" mode so Judy scoffed him up and took him to the truck. The doctor had to leave the room for awhile while I calmed Katie down. Dr. Julie brought back an aid with a towel to wrap Katie in so she could give her a shot. That wasn't really necessary but it made the doc feel more comfortable. Katie just laid there and let Dr. Julie give her her shot but still wasn't about to let the doc look in her mouth. Doctor Julie made a note in Katie's file stating that they should not attempt to hold her by the scruff of the neck. Well, after that little excitement we came home and continued working our Ta Do List. We now have everything cleaned out of the RV except the two file drawers. Yesterday, while cleaning out the basement we found the rest of our wedding slides. Miss Judy had put them in with her scrapbooking "stuff" so we will be going through them to get a few of them to Walgreens to be made into a DVD. I, also, cleaned out the tool box on the back of the truck so everyday brings us closer to the end of the TA DO LIST!!! Last evening Ron and Ruth held a "Farewell" get together in their back yard. Everyone brought a covered dish and joined together for a final banquet before everyone hits the road. Many have already departed but there are many more leaving over the next week or so. It was a huge gathering. It's amazing how many friends we have made here at Rainbow Plantation over the past three years. These are really great people and most of them will be returning again next fall. We are not sure when we'll return as we plan to start traveling next fall, however, we do have the Gulf Posse fall rally at the end of October scratched in on our calendar. We have noticed that we are getting slower and slower in the morning - now it takes us until the crack of ten before we are ready to get started with the day. Miss J generally gets up between 6 and 6:30 and I get out of bed between 6:30 and 7. After drinking several cups of coffee, spending time on our computers, and watching the headlines on TV it's close to nine. We still need to get out of our jammies, take showers, get dressed, and eat breakfast. At this rate pretty soon we'll need to quit eating breakfast and just eat lunch - sheesh!!!! Monday, March 30, 2009 March came in like a lion and it may go out like a lion. We are predicted to have another severe weather condition here in Lower Alabama tomorrow, i. e., heavy rains, wind, thunder/lighting, and tornado watches. But, today is already starting out with the sun shining and lightly cloudy skies. We'll take it. Katie and Alex are all excited (NOT!!!), today is the day that they get to go to the Vet. They will both get a check up and two shots. I suppose there will be some crying (howling) and, maybe, some hissing. We'll have to watch Alex because he can get very defensive if his sister starts carrying on. He thinks it's his duty to protect her and will attack if provoked. We may have to take him out of the room while Katie gets her shots. They will see Dr. Julie this time, last year Alex saw Dr. Jeff who appeared to be a little afraid him after he hissed. When it comes to strangers they both do better with women than men. Saturday the rain moved out by ten in the morning. It was hot and muggy for the rest of the day so we didn't do a whole lot. We did go for a short drive. We have some friends, Butch and Jean, who purchased a mobile home in a retirement park not far from the Plantation so we did a drive by. Butch was out in the yard and invited us in for a tour. It's a nice home in a nice park and we're happy for them. From there we went to Lacy's Quilting so Miss J could see if there was anything she "needed". Lacy's is going out of business at the end of the month so their prices were greatly reduced but, JJ didn't find anything that she couldn't live without - Yey for the budget!!! Yesterday we got the basement cleaned out, there were only three items in there that we took to the storage shed. Today I will do the "shed" which is the front compartment in the rig. I may find a couple of things to take out but there won't be much. Next it will be onto the storage shed to clean out, re-pack a few items, and rearrange. We hope to finish that today. Tomorrow, while it is raining, we'll clean out the desk drawers and the cabinets above the desk. Then, over the next two weeks, I will start waxing the truck and the rig, airing the tires, setting up the Pressure Pro. We'll be ready to roll in two weeks from today. There is one last thing that I need to do before we leave here. I need to go over my retirement packages and start the paperwork for applying for my pensions. I can't apply until May but it's time to make sure I have all of the required paperwork and review the various payment options. One more step to becoming fully retired - As you know, I turn Golden Age Pass this year. We have a general travel plan for making our way to Lake George Escape which you can read about in "Judy's Corner" (I can't link to it until I finish restoring the entire website but you can get to it from the Wandering America Homepage). We don't generally make reservations, however, we have made one for the KOA in New York since it is Mother's Day Weekend and they are offering two nights for the price of one special; there would have been "no room in the inn" otherwise. Saturday, March 28, 2009 After three days of rain we are ready to go back to our sunshiny weather. Supposedly we are about to do that this afternoon as soon as this last round of "showers" pass by. The last two nights have been rather sleepless with one thunder storm after another passing over head. It was loud enough to keep waking us up - last night we had four such storms pass through - I think we may do a little nap today. We did manage to get all of the closets and drawers sorted out in the bedroom, bath, and laundry area. Now we only have two cabinets in the kitchen and one over the desk left to do which we hope to do this morning. Maybe this afternoon I can get through the basement storage areas which would almost finish up the job - we have the two file drawers left to go through. Monday and Tuesday I would like to finish the shed and then I will begin waxing the truck and RV. Then, that will be that. Monday morning Katie and Alex go to the Vet to have their shots updated; they will not be happy kitties, to say the least. Their shots need to be updated every three years and it was the fall of 2006 when they got their last shots. We want to do it here and now since we don't know when we will return to Rainbow Plantation. Judy has some routine medical appointments to take care of during the first week of April and I have a meeting with Social Security scheduled on the 8th, then we will be "Good To Go". We are definitely looking forward to getting "On The Road Again"! Fifteen days and a wake up left to go, but who's counting. Friday, March 27, 2009 The rain continues. It is supposed to start clearing out tomorrow afternoon. There have been some severe thunderstorms but other than that it has been off and on spring showers which is bringing everything to life here in the southland. We just continue to play inside while working on our "stuff". Yesterday was picture organization day. We managed to find some of our wedding slides that we want to get made into a DVD and we got all of our digital pictures loaded onto the new hard drive so that we can start editing them. The pictures have been "filed" into subject related folders so that we can go through each folder deciding which pictures we want to keep and which ones we want to delete. There's no way that we will get all of that completed before we leave here but it is something that we can work at a little bit at a time. The main thing is that we got the all pictures in one place and on to one drive so we can start reviewing them. Also, we got another cabinet in the bedroom cleaned out. We're not finding a lot of "stuff" that we're not using but every little bit helps. Today we'll start going through our "dresser" drawers to see what can be eliminated and then it is onto the kitchen / livingroom cabinets. Monday I plan to clean out the "basement" compartments and then we'll head for the storage shed. Fortunately we travel light so a couple of afternoons should take care of most of it. Once we get everything organized in the rig I want to get it weighed again. The last time we "weighed in" we were pretty close to our maximum combined vehicle weight rating of 22,000 pounds as well as our rear axle weight on the truck of 6,100 pounds. The rig was about 800 pounds over the GVWR but under the axle weight. Since then we have replaced the heavy TV's with LCD HD televisions which are half the weight, taken out the ladder and the tri-pod which we leave in the shed as well as quite a few other items that we wanted to keep but don't need while we're traveling. Hopefully we have "made room" to add 125 pounds for kayaks and a rack to carry them. When we were planning to go fulltime we had looked at the Mobile Suites fifthwheels but they were too heavy for our GMC 2500 HD Duramax Diesel truck. We couldn't afford to buy a new rig and a new truck so we purchased the Cedar Creek since it was around 4,000 lighter than the Mobile Suites. We had owned two Cedar Creeks (a 26' travel trailer and a 33' fifthwheel) so we were familiar with the product. It is a good product but not finished quite as nicely as the Mobile Suites. Anyway, since we "took this route" we have had to remain weight conscience. The truck could certainly tow the Mobile Suites but stopping would be another issue. Also, it is not wise (actually, it is dangerous) to overload the axles or tires on the tow vehicle so that is why we do a clean out of the rig at least once a year. You'd be surprised how much weight you add to you rig each year - new clothes, new appliances, craft supplies, books, magazines, household supplies, etc.. It all adds up and if you're not careful you'll find yourself over weight. Well, I guess I had better get going and start cleaning out those drawers. Hope you are having fun and enjoying your travels. Thursday, March 26, 2009 It certainly wasn't all that bad of a day considering it was supposed to be a rainy day, but this morning it was definitely raining - pouring with thunder and lighting thrown in to enhance the effects. Even though yesterday was mild and overcast, we stayed in most of the day working on our Ta Do List and we made a dent in it. We'll keep at it again today as well. Then, at 4:30, we went out to dinner at Lambert's (Home of the Throwed Rolls) with Dave and Sharyl Tholen, Norm and Linda Payne, and Don and Gloria Martin. We all came home with enough food for two more meals as there were about a half dozen pass arounds. For instance, Miss Judy got the Charcoal Broiled Chicken which came with two sides and it arrived with two huge chicken breast (she could only eat half of one). Pass arounds consisted of fried okra, home fried 'taters, black eyed peas, macaroni in a tomato sauce, and all the hot out of the oven Throwed Rolls that you could catch and eat. Needless to say, we all got enough to eat. There are three Lambert's restaurants - the original in Sikeston, Missouri, one just north of Branson, Missouri, and the one we went to in Foley, Alabama. So, if you ever get a chance to visit one be sure and do so. It is a fun experience and you will get more than enough to eat. Our only complaint was that the music was too loud, but they turned it down a little for us (the speakers were right above our heads and it was very difficult to talk). Spring Break has broke loose here in L. A. (Lower Alabama). When we arrived at Lambert's at 4:30 on a Wednesday afternoon the parking lot was full. Once we went inside we discovered large groups of pre-teens and early teens with their chaperons all having fun catching the Throwed Rolls (I think they enjoyed catching them more than eating them). The staff did a great job serving everyone in spite of the large numbers. In any event, "me thinkth" we'll stay off the beaches for a while until all of the little Yahoos are all back in school. Wednesday, March 25, 2009 Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you, dear - - - -! Happy Birthday to you! Yep, today is Birthday Day for someone who remains anonymous. Here's a hint though, she's 29 again and lives in an RV with two katts named Katie and Alex. Yesterday we got a reprieve from the rain so we did our walking outside before working on our Ta Do List. Two and a half weeks from today we'll be on the road again so we need to get ourselves busy. The two main things left to do are to get the rest of the cupboards, drawers, and basement of the RV cleaned out and get all of our "paperwork" stuff done. Even in the simplistic lifestyle there still seems to be a lot of "paperwork" details to stay on top of. The hardest part is that due to the incompetency that permeates our society you can't just complete an item and be done with it - it requires follow-up which often requires starting all over and then following up again. Being that it is raining out this morning we will do our walk with Leslie this morning using our new DVD for walking in place. We'll walk three miles without ever leaving our livingroom - isn't technology great? The next step will be Aerobics Imagery - I'll be able to just sit in my chair and imagine myself doing aerobics. After our three mile walk and cool down we will get back to work on our inside Ta Do List. We still have 18 Travelogues to restore, digital pictures to organize, and our wedding slides ("What are slides?" asked the young clerk) to convert into a DVD. So, we'll make the best of the next four days of rain and put a big dent in all of it. Pretty boring stuff but all part of the lifestyle none the less. We are more than ready to start traveling again so that I will have something more interesting to write about. It is that time of year here at Rainbow Plantation and each day another group of RVers leave the park. There are more than enough spaces available so if you're passing by this area drop by and say "hi". Tuesday, March 24, 2009 We get a reprieve, one more great day of weather before the rain sets in so I guess I wax the truck - fun, huh? We wanted to go to the Blue Angels training demonstration this morning but decided not to due to the weather forecast. There will be several more before we leave here in three weeks so hopefully we'll get to go. The first time I ever saw a precision flight team was waaaaay back when I was a kid and today's antiques were not antiques but everyday household items. We (Dad, Mom, Mike, and I) went to Dow Air Force Base in Bangor, Maine to the annual air show where the Thunderbirds performed. I was smitten and, even though I've seen the demonstrations several times before, I can't get enough of them. The Blue Angels used to come to Brunswick Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine ever other year while our kids were growing up - yes, we used to wade through the traffic just to get to the air show to watch them. What fun!!! Pensacola Air Station here in Pensacola, Florida is the summer home of the Blue Angels with demonstrations taking place a couple of times a week; one, of which, is a "meet the pilots" demonstration where the pilots actually come over and talk with the crowd - just gotta get there soon!!!! Well, it's time to walk my bride so I had better get going. We are working at loosing a few pounds while increasing our exercise but, I have to tell you, it is not an easy task. My friend Don says he has to eat to keep up his weight - Oh my, I should have that problem. My last check up and blood work indicate that I am "pre-diabetic" which means that if I don't reverse that trend in the next year or so I will end up on more medications - that's not good. But, with daily exercise and weight loss I can most likely stave diabetes off, however, as always, it's easier said than done!! Monday, March 23, 2009 Our lawn is mowed (Gil's lawn as well) and the truck is washed. Today is our last day of good weather before the rain sets in tomorrow (it may hold off until Wednesday, depending on which weather person you listen to). In any event, we are planning to do most of our outdoor activities for the week today. Yesterday we attended church in which our Pastor delivered an excellent sermon on the Lord's Prayer. Then we stopped at Wally world on our way home to pick up a few items. We spent the rest of the day doing our routine Rainbow Plantation events; biking, socializing, Ice Cream Social, reading, basket weaving, etc.. The rest of the week will be spent doing inside stuff such as cleaning out the rest of the cupboards and drawers, finishing up the website restoration, paperwork, and starting to organize all of our digital pictures. All of our wedding pictures are on slides so Miss J wants to go through them and pick out the ones we want saved to a DVD - Walgreen's Drug Stores will convert them for us. So, we will have plenty to do while we are "stuck" inside for a few days. We bought an aerobic walking video entitled "Walk Away Your Waistline" to use inside on rainy days (or when we just don't feel like walking outside). It certainly isn't something that one "must" have but it was cheap enough and does help you set the pace when walking in place to get your heart rate up and provides a few other moves to help break up the monotony. The video is about 50 minutes long with a warm up followed by a three mile walk (it lets you know when you have walked a mile and two miles as well). While on our bike ride yesterday afternoon we stopped by and talked with a couple who are boondocking here at the park (Ted and Stella from British Columbia). I was interested in his solar system that he has on a 25' Artic Fox travel trailer. They "live off the grid" most of the time using two solar panels and two 6 volt "golf cart" batteries along with a 1500 watt inverter and converter. Rather than wire the system into the existing converter Ted just plugs it into his 30 amp connection just as if he was plugging into shore power. He just has to remember to turn the hot water heater to gas and turn off the disconnect switch on the converter. Ted has kept his system simple. I will continue to look at various options before deciding exactly what I'm going to do with our rig. We are basically looking for something that will enable us to survive one or two nights off the grid while we are traveling. We would like to be able to use the televisions, computers, and coffee maker (possibly the toaster and Foreman grill) all of which Ted says his system will support. One of the books that I am currently reading is "A Short History of the United States" by Robert V. Remini. Each time I review the history of our Nation I am totally amazed that this "New Country" ever survived. There were simply unsurmountable circumstances that had to be overcome all along the way. It is most definitely a miracle of God that the United States of America even exists. We see the current economic situation as a major crisis but in the scheme of things it is in reality just another speed bump in our Nation's history. Events like the first winter at Jamestown (and Plymouth for that matter), the Revolutionary War, and the formation of our Nation at the end of that war far out weigh our current situation. If you think politics is bad now just take a look at what transpired from the end of the Revolutionary War until 1790 when the last state ratified the Constitution. After reading history again I'm very confident that the United States of America will survive and continue to be a World leader. Saturday, March 21, 2009 The RV is washed!!! Norm had some 2 by 12's left over so I went over to his house and got two five footers and one four footer. These will replace the ones that I use to level the rig which are dry rotted, however, I will use them on my ladder to wax the rig (I have one of those ladders that folds into a platform). But, before I start waxing I have to mow the lawn; my neighbor, Gil, underwent surgery recently and it will be a week or so before he can get out to mow his lawn so I'm going to do his as well. After I finish waxing the rig I will wash and wax the truck; we've only got a little over three weeks before we hit the road. The weather has been excellent for doing outside work so I have been making hay while the sun shines. Being that it has been way too nice to be inside, I haven't done any more on restoring of the website; I still have 24 Travelogues to rebuild. We are predicted to have several days of rain beginning on Wednesday so I will finish updating the website then. We will also start getting our pictures organized. On Tuesday we bought a portable hard drive at Best Buy which we will use as the working drive while doing our back ups on the D: drive on one or both of our computers. I've come to the conclusion that the little memory sticks are good for backing up but are not "substantial" enough for everyday use. We still have cupboards and storage spaces to go through in order to clean out the "stuff" that we are not using. There is very little that we don't want to keep so most of what comes out of the RV will go into the shed which means a little reorganizing in there as well. Then we'll be ready to roll once more. I can't wait for September to arrive; not that I am wishing my life away, but then we'll be even more freer than we are now - we'll not be rich but will be free to roam. Friday, March 20, 2009 We managed to get our clothes closet and the storage under the bed cleaned out. Miss Judy worked on a quilting project. I started washing the RV while Miss J did some crocheting. We sat outside in the nice warm sunny weather and read (and held Alex). We walked, we talked, and we went to dinner over at the clubhouse. After dinner we visited with Don and Gloria in the library. Then we came home and read a little more before hitting the hay. Then the rooster crowed and here we are - looking at another great day. Happy Spring everyone!!!!!! Thursday, March 19, 2009 After finishing our bi-weekly shopping trip it was same ol', same ol'. We are all well and enjoying this great weather that we are getting in the south by walking about and socializing. Katie and Alex are enjoying their bird watching but we only have a few birds coming to the feeder - Katie wants to know "how come?" She surprises me at times as to how intelligent she is. There was a bird in the feeder the other day while she was up on the bed. I yelled at her saying, "Katie, bird!". She jumped down and came running heading right for the back of the sofa where she can watch the feeder. At night when it's bed time we'll tell her, "Katie, bed time" or "Katie, go to bed" and she will jump up onto the bed and lay down. She loves to watch the TV and generally comes when she is called. She just doesn't like to be held - loves being petted but "just don't hold me". Alex, on the other hand, is such a boy. He's just the typical "little" brother. Pesters his sister, gets into stuff, and just generally gets into mischief. He's a smart katt though; whenever I take him outside he knows that he is not allowed to get down so he just sits in my lap or in a chair next to me without trying to get down. He knows when he is doing something that he's not supposed to and will give us that look whenever we tell him "No", however, he generally quits doing whatever it is that invoked the "No" command, Today promises to be even a better day than yesterday with temperatures heading for the low 80's so we are planning to be outside most of the day so I must get going and get my inside chores done so I can do my outside work - wash the RV (lots of pine pollen that left the RV a mess after the rain) and mow the lawn. So, that's it for today. Wednesday, March 18, 2009 Today is the first day of our thirty seventh year of marriage - Miss J must have been two years old when I married her. Other than that, we will begin the year by doing our bi-weekly shopping; then we plan to clean out the wardrobe closet before going outside to just sit and read. I picked up five books at the library yesterday, two novels, one history book, and two non-fiction books. I won't read them all word for word but am very interested to see how "easily" the history book reads. It's entitled "A Short History of the United States" by Robert V. Remini. After going to the Library we stopped by the Fairhope Boat Company to look at kayaks. The had all of the kayaks on hand that we have been looking at on line. The one on the top of our list is the Tarpon 120 by Wilderness Systems, but they also had the Tarpon 100 on hand as well. The 120 would track better being 12' long but the 100 had good lines and is 15 pounds lighter; weight is an issue and we need to get the truck weighed again before adding anymore weight to it - the 120 is 60# and the 100 is 45#. The good thing is that we could try each of the kayaks at Five Rivers Outfitters to see how well does or does not Tarpon 100 handle. Isn't looking at kayaks just what every woman wants to do on her anniversary? Then we went off to Olive Garden for "lupper" and a good "lupper" it was. Miss J had the Chicken Scampi which was marinated chicken on top of angel hair spaghetti topped with a garlic cream sauce while I had the Classic Spaghetti with meat balls and Italian sausage. Both meals were very tasty. On our way home we stopped off at Best Buy to pick up a portable hard drive for our computer. The "memory sticks" that we've been using are not very effective. The one that contained my web site and budgets has something wrong with it as it corrupts the files. Is it the memory stick with bad sectors or virus from the computer - I don't know but it has corrupted files that I sent to it from Judy's computer as well. I have been using the old memory stick as well and none of the files on it have become corrupted so I'm fairly sure that it is the memory stick. The old memory stick has been bumped a couple of times is is slightly damaged so it is only a matter of time before it breaks. We will use the portable hard drive to store the files that we share on both computers while using our D: drives on our computers to back up our data. That way we will have our working files and two back ups; nothing like backing up the back up. I now have 24 Travelogues to reconstruct; I still hope to complete the task before the end of the week but it is tedious monotonous work. However, when I finish it will be a nicely organized and very workable folder. Next Miss Judy and I are going to start organizing all of our photographs - that will only take a year and half to finish!!! We have pictures stored on the hard drives of both computers, on CD's, on DVD's, and on memory sticks. I have folders all set up on one of our memory sticks and want to gather all the photographs into those files; then my computer has a nice program for editing our photographs where we can look at each picture (full sized) and make a decision as to whether it stays or goes. Once we get the pictures sorted we will use Judy's Creative Memory software to organized them. Well, I've been a chatty enough this morning and enough is enough so that's all I got to say about that!!!!! Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Happy St. Patty's ta ya!! And, Happy Anniversary to my bride (today's her 36th anniversary). Yep, she has put up with the same ol' man for 37 years now (that includes one year of courting). We are more than just lovers, we are best friends too. You just can't live this lifestyle unless you are best friends. I'm such a romantic that I have a great day planned out for her. First we are going to the library and then we are going to Best Buy - now, just how much more romantic can you get than that. Well, as if that isn't enough, I'm going to take her to one of her favorites eateries for dinner, Olive Garden. We love Italian food and Olive Garden is always good; they're not the best but they are consistently good. Anyway, Happy Anniversary JJ, I love you. It rained all day yesterday so we "stood" inside. I continued to work on restoring the website and made quite a bit of progress. All of the picture files have been restored, saved, and backed up and I began working on the Travelogues getting 12 out of 39 completed leaving me with 27 left to rebuild. With any luck I will have the entire site rebuilt by the end of the week. Miss J continued working on her basket weaving projects - I'm waiting for her to finish my wine tote that is crocheted out of Walmart bags. We really needed the rain and now everything looks so green for St. Patrick's Day which means I will get to mow the lawn a couple of times before we leave here. Just one more "thang" to add to the "Ta Do List". Now we have two lists, the "Ta Do List" and the "Bucket List" of places we want to visit. Well, that's it for today; here's an Irish Blessing to think about: "May you live all the days of your life." Monday, March 16, 2009 The rain began on Saturday evening and it has been raining off and on ever since then. We need the rain and it has mostly been the nice gentle kind of rain that the lawns, flowers, and trees love to see. The temps have stayed in the high 60's to the mid 70's so, to us, it seems like a nice mild summer rain even though it is still only springtime here in the south. Speaking of springtime, the azaleas are just exploding in color along with a few other bushes that are showing their colors as well - it's just beautiful to see as we are driving about the area. Yesterday we went to church in the morning and then attended the annual the Escapees Chapter 26 (Gulf Posse) St. Patrick's Day dinner and business meeting. The "Posse" provides the meat, bread, drinks, and condiments while each couple brings a dish to pass. Our table consisted of Al and Joyce, Norm and Linda, Don and Gloria, Butch and Jean as well as Miss Judy and I. It was a great meal followed by a short meeting and then the birthday cake was handed out - the Gulf Posse is now twenty years old. Judy and I went to the six o'clock Ice Cream Social Hour but didn't have any ice cream (too full from dinner). Then we went for a walk and ended up stopping by for a visit with Norm and Linda. It was nice to just talk with them as they have been very busy with their house being built. The house will be pretty much completed this week with just the finishing touches being left to do. By month's end the house will officially be theirs. Ray and Pat left yesterday morning, our playmates are slowly leaving and our countdown has begun. We're ready, hitch itch set in a few weeks back - with spring in the air the visions of travel dance in our heads. It won't be long now. Being that the rain will continue through the day we will play inside. Judy has a couple of basket weaving groups that she will attend while I'll continue working on restoring the website. I found two more picture files that were lost so I now have four to recreate; that's what I'll work on while Judy is away since I will need to use both computers. Then I will start with the first travelogue rebuilding them one at a time until all 37 are completed. In the words of the late Paul Harvey: " Good Day!" Sunday, March 15, 2009 I spent several hours yesterday restoring the website. I've gotten all of the files downloaded and everything other than the Travelogues fully restored. There are 37 Travelogues and each one has to have the background color restored, all of the links reconnected, and all of the pictures reinstalled. As I have been restoring the website files I have been renaming them in order to better organize the Wandering America folder, that's why all of the links have to be verified and/or reconnected. Further, I have to rebuild two picture files that were lost which means building them just like I did when I first published the Travelogue (that is, selecting each picture, saving it to a "working file", reformatting the pictures, and move them to a file in the Wandering America folder. Bottom line is that I have another couple of weeks worth of work before I can republish the website which should be transparent to the website reader (emphasis on the word "should"). My goal is to have it all done by the end of March. While I was working on the website Judy J was working on her crocheting project and Mike and Peggy were on their way to Georgia. It was a quite day at home with over cast skies - we need the rain. We did manage to get a walk and chat in as well as a nap. All in all, not a bad day. Today is going to be a full day for us (more about that tomorrow) so I had better get going. Saturday, March 14, 2009 Judy and I are bummed - after almost a two week visit our playmates are leaving us heading for the FMCA Rally in Perry, Georgia. Yep, Mikee and Peggy made it out of snow country indeed and came here to Rainbow Plantation for their mid winter get-ta-way; we've enjoyed every minute of their stay. The weather has been very nice for them and they have gotten to do and see quite a bit while in this area. Last night they took us out to Outback Steakhouse for Judy's anniversary which is coming up next week - they had steak dishes while we had chicken dishes. As is always the case at Outback, the meals we very good. Thanks guys, we're gonna miss you; have a safe journey. You can follow their exploits on their blog, Maineiacs In Motion. Yesterday we went to Camping World to pick up a few items. Fantastic Fan has come out with new screens that just snap into place instead of having to remove ten to twelve screws to get them out - this way makes it much easier to clean them. Also, we needed vacuum cleaner bags for our central vac system and haven't found them anywhere else which is the same for some light bulbs that we needed for our lamps over the sofa. Mike and Peggy went with us and set a record being that they left Camping World without spending a dime. It's nice when you get to the stage of RV life when there's nothing you need or want at Camping World - that takes many, many years. Starting Monday we'll start getting the rig ready to roll. We have cleaned out a couple of cupboards but still have a few left to do as well as our closet. I want to go through the basement items as well and unload anything that we are not using. Weight is always an issue and we want to take out as much as possible. Other than that, I need to wash and wax both the RV and truck one more time before hitting the road. The goal is to wax twice a year - once in the spring and once in the fall. The rest of the time I just wash with the exception of the front of the RV which gets waxed more often to help with bug removal. We need to go through our shed as well and do some reorganizing - we still have too much "stuff". Hard to believe, isn't it? Everything we own sits right here on our lot at Rainbow Plantation and we still have too much "stuff". It's amazing how little one really needs to survive in this life; this lifestyle certainly simplifies your way of living. Well, enough is enough and I have written enough for today so "may the road rise up to meet you and the wind be ever at your back". Happy travels. Friday, March 13, 2009 I've begun the long tedious job of restoring all of my files for the website - each page on the website is a separate file. As I download them from "outer space" I am renaming them in order to better organize the Wandering America folder. After all of the files have been downloaded (I still have a long way to go) then they will have to be rebuilt by re-inserting the pictures and re-connecting all of the links. It will take me another couple of weeks to complete the task; after working at it for a couple of hours it's time to go find something else to do. At 1 o'clock I met with my primary care physician at the VA outpatient clinic and was able to get all of my prescriptions renewed. If all VA facilities are run as efficient as this one then it will prove to have been a good decision to drop Blue Cross / Blue Shield and utilize the VA health benefits. I arrived at 12:48 and by 12:50 I was called by the nurse who did all of the preliminaries. By 1 o'clock the doctor came in and went through my lab work, updated my prescriptions, and talked to me about the VA system. After a stop by the pharmacy to talk to them about getting future prescriptions I was out of there by 1:45. Gummint does have some bureaucratic requirements that seem peculiar but they aren't any worse than the "rules" at community hospitals. I had expected that I would have to have some follow up appointments because of my increased blood pressure so I took Judy's calendar with me for scheduling purposes. Well, my blood pressure was pretty much back to normal and no further appointments are required, however, I did manage to loose her calendar somewhere along the line. It must have fallen out of my folder without me realizing it. Yep, I have lost some more files that have to be downloaded only this time there aren't any files in "outer space" to download from. Fortunately for me there wasn't a lot in the calendar as Miss J had just bought it a couple of weeks ago so she was able to restore it quite quickly, but I did have to take her to Wally World to get another one. Bottom line - don't allow me any where near important files because it seems that I can lose them faster than greased lighting. My blushing bride prepared another great meal for Mike, Peggy, and I. She made her world famous lasagna and it was yummy. There was garlic bread, wine, and a gelatin dessert to accompany it which made for another great meal, good company, and a very pleasant evening. We ended the evening with a little TV before heading for snooze land. Judy J says she tired of seeing rape and murder and I have to agree. That and a few lousy sitcoms with sexual "in-de-windows" is all that seems to be on television. I like NCIS and Bones because they are a little more light hearted but it's still rape and murder. We do get the Retrofit Television Network that is running some of the oldie shows and we'll occasionally watch the A-Team, however, the acting leaves a little to be desired. Oh well, it was still a good end to another great day. Thursday, March 12, 2009 Yesterday I got up at oh-dark thirty and was on the road before 6 o'clock heading for the VA out patient clinic in Pensacola to get my lab work done. The appointment was scheduled for 7:15 but, as luck would have it, even though I had an appointment, the lab didn't have a doctor's order for the lab work. So I was sent over to primary care where they had to schedule me for a doctor's appointment. The earliest appointment time was 9 o'clock which meant an hour and a half wait time. Just before nine I was called into the doctor's office which resulted in an "intake" interview. After going through the preliminaries I was sent back to the lab to have blood drawn. The doctor gave me a prescription for my high blood pressure as well and I was able to pick that up at the pharmacy after leaving the lab. I was out of the clinic around 10:30 so, other than the little glitch of scheduling a lab appointment without a doctor's appointment first, I was very happy with the care I received. I have to go back again today at 1:00 to meet with my primary care physician who will review the lab work and issue my prescriptions - due to my increased blood pressure he'll have to make some changes to those meds and will most likely "spank" me about my weight. Miss J and I ran some errands; one of which was to stop by Social Security to schedule an appointment in April for me to "sign up" for my retirement benefits - Yep, I turn Golden Age Pass in July!!!! Once we got home we hopped onto our bikes and did a ride about stopping by Norm and Linda's as well as Mike and Peggy's. Norm and Linda's house has been painted and the cabinets have been installed; the house is really shaping up and is quickly closing in on the completion date. We came home and sat outside to suck up some more of the great weather - each day just keeps getting better than the day before. Bill and Kathy brought their chairs over to join us for a visit. They just got back a week ago from a two month volunteer work assignment in Florida with SOWERS. After a nice visit with them it was time for dinner and settling in for the evening. Mike and Peggy stopped by for a short visit and after they left our "jammies" were calling us. We watched a couple of oldie TV shows before welcoming the "sand man" in for the evening. So, as you can see, we keep ourselves busy each day even if it is just doing a little socializing. Next week we'll start getting things ready to roll which means waxing the RV and the truck, cleaning out all the closets, cupboards, and basement in the rig, and doing a little reorganizing in the shed. Oh yes, I still have the website to rebuild and our pictures to go through and organize. There will be plenty to keep us busy over the next month and then it's "on the road again": Hooray for my team - I just love it when a plan comes together!!! Tuesday, March 10, 2009 Now I've gone and done it!!!!! But before that, yesterday started out with a lot of fog but slowly developed into a great day. I attempted to do another water painting but have pretty much decided that I need some numbers to follow. Amie, get ready for some new supplies - two things that you need to be a painter is an eye for the picture and the skill to paint it. I seem to have neither but could possibly acquire the skill given enough time and money. Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained. Judy and I went over to Mike and Peggy's for dinner last night. Peggy made us a pasta dish with garlic shrimp and snow peas - it was yummy. There was fresh bread with real "live" butter and a nice chardonnay wine followed by dessert. After dinner we all went for a walk around the park to get in a little exercise. Another day with great friends, good food, and lots of fun. Now for the "I've gone and done it" part. Judy and I have been talking about redesigning the website so yesterday afternoon I created a possible new look for our travelogues. I saved it, closed down the 'puter, and we went to dinner. When we returned I went to retrieve it and the entire memory stick was corrupted - all of the files for the website were gone and the all but one of the files for our budget were corrupted. Everything was backed up through the end of the year on another memory stick so it wasn't that big of problem but a little disconcerning none the less. I got out the back up memory stick and commenced to retrieve all the information posted since January 8th, the last time I backed up. While creating a new folder for February's "From Darrell's Chair" entries Vista decided to save it under "documents" in the "C:" drive. Since I didn't want it there I proceeded to delete the new folder and when I did Vista started deleting all of my files for the website that were on the memory stick. It got through about 60 or 70% of the files before I was able to stop it. Needless to say, I was pi----, oops, I mean a little upset. I tried to recover the files and was unable to do so; therefore, the website will be getting a new look sooner than I had anticipated. Right now, everything that is online is still intact and I can retrieve the contents by using "select all", "copy", and "save as" commands but I will have to rebuild the entire website. As you can see I have been able to reconstruct this page in order to publish today but I don't dare publish an updated Travelogue Menu because I suspect it would loose all of the links and you wouldn't be able to call up any of the travelogues of which I have no files. So, I guess over the next few weeks I will be working on the website. While I'm at it I will look at some new software for creating the website as "Kompozer" can be a little difficult to get along with at times (any suggestions?). Also, I will be playing with some new layouts and figuring out how to back up the back up. I, also, need to figure out what happened to ensure that what ever it was that I did, I won't ever do again. In the meantime I won't be touching anything in the website other than this page. I'll keep you posted as to how I'm making out as it is going to be a lot of work to recover from this boo-boo. Monday, March 9, 2009 Saturday began with biscuits and gravy at the clubhouse
after which I helped Norm and Don move some Tennessee River Bed gravel around
Norm's new house. Then it was just a quite day at the Plantation with a couple
of visits with Mike and Peggy who joined us for dinner (Judy's Taco Casserole)
followed by dessert at their house (a nice dish of Tin Roof Sundae ice cream).
Yesterday Mike and Peggy went to church with us and then we went to Dauphin Island where we visited Fort Gaines (there will be more about that in our next travelogue). We ate Lupper at the Common Loon Grille - Judy said it was one of the best Oyster Po-Boys she's ever had. Peggy had a roast beef Po-Boy while Mike and I both had Shrimp and Oyster Baskets. We've certainly met our monthly grease level with all of the fried food we've eaten over the past week. Last evening was the Decadent Chocolate Festival in the clubhouse followed by the Sunday evening Ice Cream Social. Miss "Give Me Chocolate and Nobody Gets Hurt" (that can apply to both Judy and Peggy) went to the Festival to get their chocolate fix while Mike and I did the ice cream "thang" - there was some nice hot fudge ice cream topping available last night; a nice touch. Good friends, good food, good times - it just doesn't get any better than that!!!!! Saturday, March 7, 2009 Mike and Shauna left around 8 o'clock making their way to Texas. It was sure nice to see them and we hope that they will plan their trip to stay longer next year. We'll be seeing them again in September when Miss J and I head to Maine for rest and relaxation after a long summer at Lake George Escape. We got in our walk and finished up by stopping in at Mike and Peggy's. Then it was home to do a little housework before Judy took off for Wally World. I attended my water painting class and must say that I'm starting to learn a thing or two. I still may donate all of my supplies to our daughter-in-law, Amie, but it's still too early to tell. I do enjoy it, the question is whether I enjoy it enough to dedicate enough time to it to make it worth while. Judy and I went for a bike ride where we stopped in at Norm and Linda's to see the progress on their new home. It's really taking shape in a hurry and, before they know it, they will be home owners with no furniture. But Mr. Obama will see to it so that they won't have to sit on the buckets left behind by the spackling crew with his $8,000 gift to first time home buyers - thanks Mr. President! Then we came home and sat around the campfire with our neighbors for a little while before retiring for the evening. I didn't get my nap so I was tired and cranky (at least according to the love of my life) so I laid down for an hour. My dad used to take a nap in the evening so that he wouldn't have to got to bed tire - doesn't sound like a bad idea to me. Which reminds me that my brother used to eat a couple of cookies before dinner so he wouldn't have to eat on an empty stomach. Anyway, I didn't really sleep but I did feel better after resting from all my hard work. The weather over the past few days has been fantastic but today will be one of the top ten days this week. We don't know what the plans are for the day but will just let it unfold before us. Something will jump out at us, I'm sure, so I hope all of you will have a great weekend as well. Friday, March 6, 2009 There's a term that Maine fishermen use that means trying out different spots looking for a good fishing hole - gunk holing. Well, that's what my brother calls what we did yesterday; Mike and Peggy joined us and we went gunk holing. That is, we drove down different roads just to see where they would take us. Actually we started by going to Gulf Shores to walk on the beach and dip our toes into the Gulf waters - well Peggy did, anyhow. Then we took back roads heading to Fairhope, Alabama. Along the way we stopped off at Moore Bros. General Store in Magnolia Springs. The last time we were in there it was a nice little general store, but time has taken it's toll and a lot of the shelving that contained unique "stuff" has been replaced by little tables for people to sit and drink their coffee or eat a sandwich. What a disappointment. The next stop was at Punta Clara Candies where you can taste their wares which, of course, leads to a sale or two. They have some real yummy candies and, as you all know, you just can't get enough sweetness in this life time. Miss Judy, who never met a chocolate that she didn't like, bought a package of white chocolate covered pecans. I wonder if her mother taught her to share? We finally made our way into Fairhope where, after a pit stop, we strolled out the pier that extends well into the Mobile Bay. It was windy but we preserved in spite of the wind. From there we drove into town where we visited the brand new (still under development) Fairhope Museum of History. It is very nicely done and well worth the visit. After that we congregated around to decide, what next? Mikee said; "Feed me," so we made our way to Big Daddy's Grill for a nice seafood dinner. Mikee had an oyster Po-Boy and some gumbo while Shauna, Peggy, and Judy all had the grilled shrimp basket. Mike had the grilled white fish basket and I had the fried oyster basket. The baskets come with coleslaw, hush puppies, french fries, and onion rings. We all enjoyed our "luppers" and were still licking our chops for a few hours after. Then we came home where we set fire to some wood and sat around drinking wine and swapping stories. Gil and Orma joined us for a little while and Gil provided us with some entertainment - he likes to spin tales. The day finally rolled to an end with Mike, Shauna, Judy and I coming inside for some dessert of Punta Clara candies. Yep, Miss Judy did share and it was Yum, Yum, Yum, Gooooood! Thursday, March 5, 2009 Well, life couldn't get any better. My brother, Mike, and his wife, Shauna, stopped by for a visit on their way to the Rio Grande. They'll be here for a couple of days so we're planning a little sightseeing for today followed by some fine dining at Big Daddy's. Mike and Shauna are Maine Guides and will be guiding canoe trips on the Rio Grande in Texas, the Verde in Arizona, and the San Juan in Utah before returning to the great state of Maine for the summer canoeing season. Being that Shauna is allergic to katts they are camping in our backyard - that's right folks, they carry their RV on their backs (or in their canoe). Mike and Peggy are still here as well and hopefully they will be able to join us for some of our outings today. Judy and I are so envious of all of them in hearing about all of the snow that they have had in Maine this year (yeah, right!!). Shauna showed us the pictures of their house in Belfast with snow half way up the windows (keep in mind that I don't come close to standing half way up their windows). The driveway is nothing but a snow tunnel getting into the house. Do we miss it? Yes and no, we would enjoy a couple of snow storms but five months of it would be a little much, don't you think? We are still in the planning stages for today so you'll have to check in tomorrow to see what we did, but I think it will involve the beach. The temps today are heading for the seventies without a cloud in the skies so it will be an excellent beach day and, as you know, the beach is one of Miss Judy's and my favorite things to do. Wednesday, March 4, 2009 Yesterday was our bi-weekly shopping day, a neighborhood hot dawg cookout, the crafters display festival, and the volunteer thank you dinner. Needless to say, we kept busy all day long. Clyde and Sarita hosted a hot dawg cookout at their place here on East Traveler Street (thanks Clyde and Sarita). They supplied the hot dawgs and everyone else who attended brought a dish to pass (or in this case place on the tables). The entire park was invited and close to a fifty people showed up. Mike and Peggy met us just a little after noon and we made our way across the street to join in the festivities. It was fun and typical of all Escapee functions there was more than enough to eat. The hot dawg cookout was followed by a two hour wine and cheese gathering at the clubhouse where crafters displayed their various "basket weaving" endeavors that they have been working on all winter. Judy didn't display any of her wares but she and Peggy went over to socialize and view the displays. From what I heard, it was a fun day for all involved - we really have some very talented people here in the park. We attended the social hour where I told another one of my "stories" - part of the Maine heritage is to be a story teller in the tradition of our fore fathers (no, I only had one father but he was a good story teller). The annual Volunteer Thank You dinner followed social hour with a potato bar (both regular and sweet potatoes). There were plenty of other sides available as well; baked spaghetti, pulled pork, baked beans, baked apples, and soups (vegetable and pea). There were around a hundred and forty people in attendance - one guy said he had eaten his way through the day and I guess that was a good explanation of what took place here at Rainbow Plantation. If you don't like to eat then this is probably not the spot for you. Tuesday, March 3, 2009 Yesterday morning we drove over to the VA outpatient clinic in Pensacola so I could make some doctor appointments. The VA was supposed to mail me some information and phone me regarding the appointments but it was taking too long, I am running out of meds, and we only have six weeks left here in Alabama so I decided that a personal visit was in order. It was a good thing that I went because I wasn't even on their appointment list yet but I was able to leave with appointments for both my lab work and the doctor - Mission Accomplished. Mike and Peggy arrived at Rainbow Plantation around one o'clock (we thought that they would show up between 2 and 3 but had forgotten about the change from Eastern to Central time). Miss J and I hopped onto our bikes and peddled right over for a short visit. We met up with them again at the 4 o'clock social and then came over to our place for a spagetti dinner with garlic bread and wine. For dessert we had a nice home made right out of the container cheese cake with fresh Plant City, Florida strawberries on top - Yum, Yum. Other than that, we just spent some time doing our chores and playing on the 'puters. I'm still drooling over kayaks in hopes of purchasing a couple this fall while we are in New Hampshire. The ones we want are a little pricey though so we'll just have to see how our finances play out over the next six months. Maybe we can find some used ones that we can latch onto for a reasonable price. Monday, March 2, 2009 Dawg-gonit Mikee, I told you to close that darn door when you left Maine, but noooo, you had to leave it open so all that cold air came back in. Yep, March is coming in like a lion with mid to northern Alabama getting 2 to 3" of sn*w - enough to build a sn*wman and have a sn*wball fight. Someone up north pleeeeze close that darn door so we can go back to enjoying the spring weather. Being that I posted late yesterday and in case you didn't catch it, Miss Judy has been in her corner again. No, she wasn't a bad little girl but you can read all about it in "Judy's Corner". Other than going to church, yesterday was a stay inside day being that it was cold and very windy outside. We spent most of the day on the internet working on our "bucket list" for traveling out west. Along with the list of "must see and do" things we are also looking for volunteering opportunities along the way. We're getting excited at the prospect of traveling again - biking, hiking, kayaking, and eating our way across America. God permitting we'll actually be Wandering America. The weather promises to improve and we are having company arrive this afternoon so we'll be getting out and about more over the next week and a half. We're going to be doing some museums, a little eating out, and a few day trips so I'll have something more interesting to write about. Sunday, March 1, 2009 Just another weekend at the Plantation. I went to my water painting class Friday afternoon while JJ worked on one of her basket weaving projects (I can't say what it is 'cause I've been sworn in to secrecy). Anyway, regarding the painting; I have two more classes then I'll decide whether my daughter-in-law gets some more art supplies or not. I'll definitely know for sure after the next two lessons. Right now I have to sketch another picture to attempt to paint. I'm sure I could master this if I invested enough time but that is the issue - I'm not sure if I want to invest that much time in painting. Another thing I would like to master is digital photography plus there's biking to do, kayaking to do, sightseeing to do, etc., etc. and it all takes time. Other than that, I have pretty much hit writer's block. It's hard coming up with something new and fresh to write each day when all we are doing is "hunkering down, pinching pennies". But Miss Judy J has gone to her corner and written another entry to make up for my lack of creativity. We have been planning our trip east so I'll let her tell you all about it as well as leave you with a nice mouth watering recipe. Go to "Judy's Corner" to read all about it. Take Care, Have Fun, and God Bless. |
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