Time Flies When You're Having Fun

I hate to repeat myself, but another week has come and gone.  Time flies by so fast, yet when I reflect on this last week, it was full of adventures.  I worked every day, we had a couple of afternoons at the beach and we visited with family and friends.

On Sunday, we met up with Doug's niece, Mandy, her husband, Mark, and their two boys.  We had dinner at Famous Dave's and had a nice visit.  I only realized now that we didn't get a new photo with them.  Here's one we took back in September when we saw them at our sister-in-law's house in South Carolina.

On Tuesday, we had a SW Florida IBEW Local 252 Retirees Reunion at the Fish House in Bonita Springs.  Tom and Michelle Pahl, Jeanne and Stan Kasprzycki, Stan's sister and brother-in-law (their names escape me now) and Doug and I all met for dinner and story telling.

Rick Murphy is in the area but wasn't able to join us because of a prior commitment.  If you are a 252 retiree and reading this, please let me know if you are in this area in the winter and we'll be sure to include you next time.

On Thursday, we drove to the Ft. Myers satellite office of Local 349, Miami.  Those of you that know Doug know that he almost always wears an IBEW shirt.  Whenever we are travelling, we always stop at a Union hall so he can buy a shirt (or five).  Local 349's jurisdiction stretches from coast to coast down here which is why they have an office in Ft. Myers.  This office is not only the business office, but also has a training facility.  When we got there, we met Adrian who is the instructor.  As I recall, he topped out in 2002 and became the apprenticeship instructor in December, 2013.  He's been to the NTI in Ann Arbor.  Small world, huh?

We spent about 45 minutes talking with him.  He is energetic, well spoken and truly understands the meaning of brotherhood.  We meet the nicest people when we visit Union halls across the country and Adrian is a great example.

We did grab a few hours at the beach a couple of afternoons to get the proverbial "bump"on our tans.

When we go to the beach, we always take sandwiches.  For those of you who worked with Doug, yes, he still loves his Lay's potato chips and always takes them with us.  One particular day, he had them in a baggie and had left it laying on the blanket.  We were wading in the shallow water looking for shells,  When I turned around, there was a seagull pecking away at the baggie trying to get to the chips.  I informed the gull that chips weren't good for him and he should go look for some fish.  Even though I put the chips up, he stayed close by.  I don't know if he wasn't giving up on the chips or if he liked the fact that I was talking to him.

It's been a good week and the weather has been great.  That is, until now.  With the dip in the jet stream that is bringing snow to the north, it is pulling up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico which is bringing us some rain today and cooler temperatures.  But that's okay with me.  It will give me a Saturday to sit with my book and my ever present cup of coffee.

SW Florida

Another week has gone by and I can hardly believe it.  I've been busy working, we've kicked back and relaxed and hit the beach a couple of times.

Last Sunday was nice enough that we went to the beach for a couple of hours.

It wasn't long after this photo when I turned around and here come the dark clouds.  We packed up and headed back to the RV park.  We got back right before the rain cut loose.  Doug laid down for a nap and I watched the rain.  It only rained for about 15 minutes and after it was done, I went outside with my book.  As the sun came out, I turned my head and look what what I saw!

I made a wish (well, actually two because it was a double rainbow) and went back to my book.

Because I usually start working around 5:30 am, I'm almost always done by noon.  Even though the RV park has free WI-FI and one of the repeaters is right in front of our site, it's not very dependable.  That's why I've been using our Virgin Mobile Hot Spot but it also gives me trouble unless I start early in the morning.  I know that Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint network, but I sure can't figure out why the connection with them gets spotty as the day goes on.

Monday through Friday, we stayed here at the site.  It's so nice to just sit outside and breathe the fresh air.

There always seems to be a bird sitting under the fountain.

This sign kind of freaked me out when we got here, but we haven't seen any gator nor any evidence of a gator.

I sure miss the open sky, over the water sunset, but we do see some clouds light up.

The hibiscus bushes are on all sides of our site.

One night this week I made a sandwich ring from Pillsbury crescent rolls.  It was an adaptation of a recipe that's been making the rounds on Facebook lately.  I modified it by using ham, hard salami, Swiss cheese, green pepper rings, thinly sliced red onion and sprinkled with pepper and garlic powder.  It was really good!

When we got this rig I wasn't sure how often I would really use an oven but it ends up that I use it quite a bit.

Yesterday was nice so we packed a lunch and headed out to the Sanibel Islands Causeway Park.  The beach is narrow there, but it's not crowded, there are a lot of birds, parking is easy and there's always a fisherman or two to watch.

This was a very large Great Blue Heron and he stood there for quite awhile.

Sanibel Causeway bridge.

It's cloudy this morning, but the weather forecast is for clearing this afternoon, and a high of 74 with winds NW of 10-20 mph.  That makes it time to pour a fresh cup of coffee and sit outside to enjoy this beautiful morning.

Kicking Back

I worked online Friday morning and then it was time to relax.  It was a bit windy so we decided to hang out here with the dogs.  This site is perfect for our dogs.  It's a pull-in spot, the front faces a pond and the dogs don't see people walking by with other dogs.  You hardly notice the neighbors on either side because of the landscaping.  I've only seen the people to our left two times and I've never seen the people to the right of us.

This morning we found some pin hole leaks in our sewer hose,  These hoses don't even last a year.  The sunlight degrades them.  Off we went to Camping World for a new one.  It was warmer today than yesterday but the wind was out of the northeast.  We hadn't been to the beach yet, so we packed a lunch and took the causeway out to Sanibel to look around.  I wanted to see the lighthouse, but the parking lot was full, so we drove by and turned around.  Sort of an odd lighthouse anyway.  It's metal and looks sort of like a water tower.  I didn't take this photo, but here it is.

Even though the weather wasn't that great today, it was still pretty crowded out there.  I guess because it's the weekend.  We headed back to the causeway where there is a large park and places to pull off.  We had lunch, Doug got a nap and I read for awhile.

It's been a great day.  Tomorrow the forecast is a high of 82 with winds 10-15 mph out of the ENE.  I see a beach day in my future.  For now, a coffee refill and back to doing laundry.

As The Weather Turns

We arrived in Port Richey on Sunday intending to stay there for four weeks.  They had serious amounts of rain in the two weeks before we got there and about a dozen sites were swamp pits, including the one we were supposed to occupy.  They put us in a different spot (to be temporary) until the other spots were dried out or until they leveled the mud ruts and filled them with pine needles.  They were going to move us in a couple of days.  We never got moved and they hadn't done anything about the mud ruts by the time we left there this morning.

Even though it was cloudy and cool most of the time there, we did pack a lunch and headed out to Howard Park yesterday.

I'm not sure what kind of bird this is but it resembled a grackle, except he was brown.

Shore birds

Looking towards the causeway.

Black jelly fish kite.

It was so cool watching the "legs" of this kite.

On Tuesday when we looked at the future weather forecast, it didn't look that great and we were ready for sun so we decided to pull up stakes and head further south.  We're in Ft. Myers Beach at a very nice RV Resort where most of the sites are purchased.  Some owners rent their sites when they aren't here and that's the kind of spot we are in.  Photos to follow in the next blog.

The temperatures are about 10 degrees warmer than where we were, we're on concrete so we are level, the landscaping is beautiful and the sites are wide so we are once again happy campers.

For now, I need a fresh cup of coffee so I can kick up my feet and relax with a book.

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been nearly three weeks since my last post but it feels like yesterday.  Well, maybe not yesterday but the day before yesterday.  Anyways, much has happened in three weeks.

We celebrated Christmas with Doug's brother, Pat, and his wife Shelley on December 20.  They were on their way back to Michigan for a week to have Christmas at home.  We had a great visit with them.  They brought us some goodies and gave us a sign to hang on our RV site.  We've tried a couple of different hangers but haven't found one to support the weight.  I'm searching for one online.

On Christmas Day, there was a potluck dinner.  The park supplied the ham and everyone brought a dish to pass.  Wonderful food!

On Saturday, December  27, my two sisters, Gloria and Karen, and Gloria's grand-daughter (my great niece), Megan, arrived in Navarre.  They stayed in a condo on Navarre Beach with a gulf front view.  We had an adventure every single day.  We went to the Gulf Breeze Zoo on Sunday, we visited the Fort Pickens Civil War Fort on Monday, we went to the Gulfarium in Ft. Walton Beach on Tuesday, met up with an old high school friend of Karen's Tuesday evening, drove Highway 30A to see all the unique beach towns east of Destin, drove to Pensacola Beach for fireworks and had a girls only slumber party at the condo on New Year's Eve, and on New Year's Day, drove the beach road through the Gulf Islands National Seashore.  No wonder I'm so tired!

In the morning of New Year's Eve, Doug and I were sitting inside waiting for Gloria, Karen and Megan.  Doug looks out the window and says "There goes Dave Murphy".  I said "No way, what would Dave Murphy be doing here?"  Doug asks me to holler at him and sure enough, it WAS Dave Murphy!

It's a small world!

On New Year's Day, we all went down to the beach for the last sunset at Navarre.  Beck and Frodo joined us.

We decided to meet down at the beach again around 7:00 to light the wish lanterns.  We ordered pizza and wings and ate the "Sin in a Tin" that I had bought for this special occasion.  This is a chocolate pate that is made in Pensacola.  I happened to meet the owner while he was in a grocery store promoting his product.  Check it out and if you order one, you will not be disappointed.  Sin in a Tin

We gathered up some lap throws, the lanterns and the fire sticks to light them.  Then the unthinkable happened.  As Gloria exited the motor home, she missed the last step and fell down on the concrete.  After we got her up, it was evident that she needed the ER.  Karen and I drove her to Gulf Breeze (actually, the west end of Gulf Breeze, which means it might as well have been Pensacola).  When we got to the hospital, we got a wheelchair out to the car, got her to triage and they took her back to an examining room quickly.  About 10 minutes later, the doc came in and even before the x-rays were taken, he said it appeared that she had a broken wrist.  They gave her something for the pain, took x-rays and put the arm in a splint from above the elbow to the tips of her fingers.  They directed us to a 24 hour pharmacy for her pain meds and then we made our way back to Navarre.  She was a trooper!  Gloria will see the ortho doc on Monday to find out the next step.  She will likely be in a cast for 6-8 weeks.

Gloria, Karen and Megan headed home to Indy on Friday and Doug and I took off for The Villages to visit his brother Pat and Pat's wife, Shelley.  Pat and Shelley just retired in May and they are spending the winter there.

We've heard about The Villages, but we had never been there.  It is a master-planned, age-restricted community.  It's a HUGE development with 39 golf courses that residents can play for FREE for LIFE.  There are numerous rec centers, a polo stadium and four town squares.  Seven nights a week, each town square has nightly activities.  They have their own TV station, a newspaper and a radio station.  There are churches, schools, public transportation (although a popular method of transportation is a golf cart), restaurants, grocery stores and pharmacies.  It was just amazing.

While we were there, Shelley and I went to an art fair/craft show in one of the town squares.  I felt like were at the Ann Arbor Art Fair.  There were tons of vendors.  We had a great time.

Pat took us to a place outside of The Villages where a guy restores old oil and gas stuff.  He was closed so we only got to look through the windows and browse some stuff outside.  Doug says he knows who the guy is and that he sells on eBay.

We then went to dinner at Cody's Roadhouse.  Great food and great atmosphere.

 After dinner, we walked to one of the town squares and listened to a little live music.

We left there Sunday morning for a short drive over to Port Richey where we are staying at Suncoast RV Resort.  We've stayed here before and really like this park.  It's close to one of our favorite beaches, Howard  Park.  We're here for four weeks.  

Oh my, this was a long blog post.  I really need to write more often than every three weeks.  I'll put that on my "to do" list.  Stay tuned for more adventures.