RV Blog--Life in a Box. This just ain't 'camping' any more....

For once, I had all my shopping done a loooong time ago! Now, if I want 'hustle and bustle', I can go walk around the stores and watch the buying frenzy and listen to Christmas music and Salvation Army bells.... No pressure! :)

Winter has finally arrived in Florida! :) Cool nites and notsohot days. We've even had to put on jackets a few mornings! Keith had to wear his jacket all morning on the dozer the other day!

Life has settled into a routine, and I've been able to find and re-organize all the stuff I crammed into any vacant space before we left Illinois! It's nice to be able to find things again! Heck, I found stuff that I hadn't seen since we moved into the new trailer in May! :)

So, I still can't adapt to spending the Holidays without "family". Christmas had become fun again, once we got Connor--and now there's Dawn, too. Granted, she will be clueless about THIS Christmas, but Connor is at such a fun age...and slipping fast toward that gangly, pre-teen period! Hopefully, this will be the last year we have to be far away during the Holidays.... But hey! I got to be the grandma who sent the big box of Christmas goodies in the mail! I remember how cool that was when I was a kid--after all, ya don't have save the packages until Christmas morning! Or, at least, that's how *I* see it.....

Okay, I'm blathering. I'll quit. Just wanted to check in and say howdee.

Right now, Florida is under the influence of a 'cold front' and the temps are struggling to make a high of 70 degrees. LOL! Perfect weather for hanging xmas lights....

Yesterday, some biker-turned-fulltime-rvers friends turned up for a visit. (Yes, Marie--Charlie and Coralie! They're a long way from Yuma!!!) Lucky for them, there was an empty site here! Only one. This place doesn't actually cater to the transient crowd. Most of the rvs here have been sitting here for a few years! One couple from Michigan traded off their rv for a 'park model' and set it up here permanently! The rest of the units sit here year round and belong to the park--and get rented out, fully furnished for, like $800 a month! Imagine! Paying that much to rent an rv!!! At that rate, it wouldn't take long to buy your own!

The old Ford Esquire wagon is still in excellent condition--except that the speedometer is dead and the gas gauge quit working.... LOL! Gotta fill the tank once a week and keep track of how much driving we do! But we're not spending any money on a $500 car!!! Unless it's for something 'important', like brakes or tires.... LOL! Luckily, it seems to get pretty good gas mileage for a big car..... Just gotta keep it rolling for 4 months and then it's someone else's old car! :)

Time to go sit in the sun and sip my second cuppa coffee.... Ya'll enjoy your day.....

Every one of us has so much to be thankful for! The things I'm thankful for will, no doubt, be different from yours--but we are all more blessed than we realize!

I'm thankful that I live in the US of A! I'm thankful for 2 beautiful, bright children, for the wonderful people they married, for our 2 fantastic grandkids! I'm grateful that my hubby was in the right place at the right time so that he didn't have the fatal heart attack! I'm thankful for my friends--there aren't a lot of them, but every one would hide me, if need be! :)

Once in a while, it occurs to me to wonder why on earth we live in this rolling box, instead of a real house, like regular people! Yeah, so, it's probably because we've never been 'regular people'! LOL! It sucks to have to leave our kids and grandkids--bigtime. But, we don't take them for granted BECAUSE we have to leave. And hey! When we travel, we get to make cool choices--like where we'll spend the nite. And then we get to sleep in our own bed, shower in our own shower and get a change of scenery when we walk the dogs! A few days ago, we were toasting our 'buns' in front of our little fireplace--last nite we ran the exhaust fan all nite and slept with the windows open! Variety!

So, this afternoon we should be settling onto the same site we spent last winter on! And tomorrow, instead of stuffing ourselves on an embarrassingly over-abundance of food, we'll be helping our friends relocate their home into our neighborhood! Is that cool, or what? We even get to pick who's going to live across the street from us!

And now, it's time to pack up and make ready to leave the great state of Georgia and head on South.... Enjoy your holiday!

The Big Bird seems to perform properly. Chugs right down the road, dragging that monster 5th wheel. We went across the elevator scales before we left, and THAT was scary! Somewhere, we packed on an extra 4000#!!! Too much crap, I guess! LOL! Of course, it must be HUBBIE'S stuff. Not the 4 sq. cu. feet of photos, negatives and albums.... Couldn't be the 2 huge Rubbermaid boxes full of quilting fabric.... Or the 3 1/2 cu. ft. of frozen food in the little freezer! We'll save a lot of cash on groceries this winter, but I fear we're paying for it at the pump! Takes $100 to fill the tank! We're working on calculating the fuel mileage right now....

So, we only got as far as Louisville, KY yesterday. Didn't 'get outa Dodge' until 2:30 in the afternoon! Got in here way after dark, but we knew where we were going to park, and how to get here, so it wasn't to difficult--and the traffic was a lot better than it woulda been earlier. After a 'lightning' visit with our good friends, we'll head out tomorrow morning. Got a reservation at a KOA in southern TN tomorrow nite, and friends coming out from Knoxville, with a pizza! :)

Tune later for pics and more, "On the Road Coverage".....

Of course, as usual, it's been revised! Like, we were supposed to leave Nov. 2, but it'll be more like the 5th or 6th before we get outa here! The 'dog box' for the truck isn't due to be finished being painted until tomorrow, and then it still has to have the windows installed, rear window has to come out of the truck cab and a 'boot' installed between the cab and the sleeper, the generator is ready to be installed, finally...and then we were blessed yesterday by 'unexpected' meat to process quickly, thanks to the unusually warm weather! Not that I'm complaining! I'd been telling everyone that we couldn't leave here with an empty freezer..... LOL! Guess they want us to leave????

Meanwhile, I've been slowly filling every little nook and cranny in this 'box'! Took out a bunch of unnecessary clothes, brought in a mountain of quilting fabric--priorities, ya know! :) I've about decided that the Christmas tree will have to be wrapped in plastic and tied to the rear ladder on the fifth wheel tho..... LOL! I'm thinking that we can probably put the down parkas and the boots in storage for the winter, tho... along with the insulated gloves, stocking caps, long underwear, wool socks (I love my handmade wool socks!), and the arctic weight down comforter.... Put all that in a box marked SOUTH DAKOTA! And then filled the space with all the accumulated photos, negatives, and old albums which are going to be my winter project. Gotta sort, and put stuff into new, acid-free albums and throw away or send to friends a lot of the pics that won't mean a thing to our kids....

Do ya remember the singing "Billy Bass" from a few years ago? "Don't Worry, Be Happy"! "Take Me To The River"! Our grandson had to have one when he was about 3--only his daddy made us bring it back to our place for him to play with. So, it's been hanging in the garage and he plays with it some. The other day he took it out to the storage 'shed' (read-- old mobile home)and carefully set it up so that the next time I went out there to store something away and opened the door--I was greeted by a singing fish! I nearly dropped the stuff I was carrying! Decided to leave it for anyone who gets nosy and wants to see what we've got stored in there this winter..... lol! He's only 7. I wonder what teenage has in store for us......!

Time to turn the jerky in the dehydrator and then make ready to go to the nursing home and visit Mom on her 77th birthday.

Don't worry--be happy now.....

Oh my gosh! A whole paragraph without a single mention of our beautiful little granddaughter! She's 3 weeks old today! And beginning to focus on faces and wave her arms and show hints of her personality! It is going to be soooooo hard to leave here!!!

Meanwhile, the truck 'sleeper' is in the process of getting windows installed, so the driver can see behind him and the dogs can see to bark at anyone and anything! Truck itself is pretty much functional, and by the weekend we should begin piling stuff into all those lovely, expensive aluminum storage boxes! Even got a spot for our 2-year-old-never-had-gas-in-it generator!

Our talented daughter and s-i-l are going to smuggle us into their band's big gig on the 30th. A block party! We'll get to see the "vintage people" in action, hear some old tunes and watch Josh work his magic with the sound equipment before we leave town!

And now, off to put more chatchkees into boxes and find a place to put the boxes....

Meanwhile, hubby is temporarily employed driving one of the above trucks. He's also working frantically on finishing his Big Bird. It now has a fifthwheel hitch!!! Now he's overhauling the sleeper that will sit behind the cab and give the 'girls' a place to snooze while we're on the road.

My job is to overhaul the inside of this 'box' and make it ready for travel. After the summer we've had, that's a CHORE! Today's project is to find a place to store the massive piles of albums and boxes of unmounted pictures. That's my "winter project". I plan to return in the Spring with everything sorted and stuck into albums for each of the kids, complete with names and dates. We'll see how that goes.....

And now, hubby is spending his afternoons and evenings driving old, junky grain trucks for a local farmer. And coming home wanting sympathy for the hardships he has to endure. Boo hoo. Came to the wrong ex-farmwife for sympathy! LOL! I spent 30 years driving 2 ton trucks, with no power steering, no radio, no air conditioning, sometimes very little brakes, sometimes no lights...and mostly had to dump them myself!!! While he sat in his air conditioned (or heated) combine, with his radio blaring, getting impatient when I couldn't keep up. Shoe is on the other foot, now! I'm lovin' it! So is our son!

This is my first Fall in Illinois since we quit farming, and I am enjoying it! I've picked up persimmons and rubbed them through and frozen lots of pulp, I've been out raking and gathering walnuts and just generally doing what other people do in the Fall. :) Can't say that I miss spending my days and nites hauling grain from the field to the bin, unloading, racing back to the field--or babysitting the finicky grain dryer, or climbing a bin to put duct tape over a hole where grain was pouring out on the ground..... And then dragging home, dog tired and hungry--to fix a meal!!!!! Aaaah. Retirement is a wonderful thing. :)

A word of advice. Don't have an auction and get rid of all your stuff--leave it until you die and your kids will have to deal with it! LOL! I am sooooo sick of wading through all that stuff that we just HAD to own over the years! In about 10 days it'll all be gone, and a couple of days after that, most of the leftover farming debris will follow. :)

This is where I heap praise on my daughter-in-law's head: I have to be one of the luckiest mothers-in-law of all time! She's 3 weeks away from "baby" and still wading right into mountains of stuff and sorting right along side of me!

Meanwhile, our son-in-law, the Math Professor, finally got Instant Messaging on his laptop. So, the other day I logged on and saw that he was also online--and naturally I sent him an IM...which seems to have popped up right in the middle of his showing his class something on his laptop. His students got a good laugh out of the Prof getting IMs from his mother-in-law!

And in central Florida, our friends are hiding under their bed and wishing they'd left the state in May, when we did! They were tossed around by Charley and are now hunkered down hoping Frances leaves them a place to live! They picked the wrong summer to stay over in Florida, that's for sure! :(

And so it goes...

The truck is under reconstruction, most of the camping gear has been stowed away where it belongs, laundry is still being done...life goes on.

Well, there WAS this little glitch, where the pump on the water well faded away and K discovered that something-or-other had frozen and cracked last winter and the wellhouse was partially full of water, red wasps and colonies of ants.... After a trip to Rural King and installation of a new what's-it, we have running water again.

The truck is under reconstruction, most of the camping gear has been stowed away where it belongs, laundry is still being done...life goes on.

Well, there WAS this little glitch, where the pump on the water well faded away and K discovered that something-or-other had frozen and cracked last winter and the wellhouse was partially full of water, red wasps and colonies of ants.... After a trip to Rural King and installation of a new what's-it, we have running water again.

Now, you're thinking that I got on the phone and called "Roadside Assistance"? I did. And "due to an unusually high call volume" was on hold for 20 minutes, in the sun, in an un-airconditioned truck with 2 little dogs--before a tow truck passed by on it's way to nowhere in particular! It had a lovely flatbed to put our pickup on, and a bumper hitch to hook our trailer (still loaded with 80# of frozen meat (we hoped), and AIR CONDITIONING! :) So we're home now, the meat and the last of the dry ice are in the freezer, our 'box on wheels' is cool and our featherbed awaits...

Life is good.

So, by now you've seen the big camper-moving operation.  We've been living in this little box since Thursday, with 2 dogs, and haven't killed each other yet.... !  I have to admit that as slide-in truck campers go, this one is a dandy!  It's an S & S, made in Kalispell, MT and it's not happy sitting on anything smaller than a one ton dually...so it's quite roomy!  Except for the bathroom, of course.  That little cubicle looks a whole lot bigger from the outside looking in than it is when you go in and shut the door!  Basic functions in a 2' square, confined space are challenging--and as for trying to SHOWER????  But, that seems to be it's only drawback.  Normally, folks park these things in campgrounds where there's a nice, big bath house--it's just that this place is not a campground so we're stuck using what facilities we have on board!  This is really and truly "life in a box"!

  Tomorrow we're off to the Prairie to close the deal on our little lot, unload a trailer full of furniture into our neighbors' mobile home and scope out our new property.  Yeeee haw!

My baby brother lost his fight with cancer yesterday.  Only 48 years old--and had spent the last 30 years trying to destroy himself.  I have to believe that he has finally found the peace he searched for and is free of the demons that pursued him.

Here we are, in Louisville, in the rain. Seems like it eiter snows or rains when we're here--and since it's July, it must be rain!

Tomorrow we hook on and head back North to load the pickup with genuine camping gear, so we can head out for the Hills on Thursday. Promises to be a busy week! Keith's scheduled to see the dentist in Rapid next Monday!

Life, as usual, is a bit hectic, here in the Schnauzer Cloud headquarters! LOL! (Our friends are part of the Schnauzer Rescue and always seem to have 8-10 dogs circling their feet. Add our two and it's an awesome pack! Which brings to mind the fact that the Mom of our dear, departed Scruffy is up for adoption--and she's coming to live with us--as soon as we get to Florida again! Sure hope she fits into the "Ladies' Circle" in our 'box'. :)

Don't know when I'll be able to update here--gotta get to Rapid and find my cell phone guru and get back to being able to go online with the cell.... Otherwise, it'll be the first of August before I'm back among you! Ya'll have a safe July....

So, that’s where we stand at the moment. We were going to start out yesterday, but after seeing the weather forecast for Louisville, where was heading for a heat index of 105, we opted to wait until Wednesday to leave—weather is supposed to be a lot more comfortable the rest of the week.

Progress is being made on the new RV hauler—there are new pics in the Big Bird album, ya’ll! Its chassis is now 12’ shorter! And we have a red fiberglass sleeper to install behind the cab for the dogs—Keith is calling it the ‘doghouse’…. There’s room under the frame to build a generator box, so the generator he bought 2 years ago can finally get some use! Our son is currently campaigning for a stereo system to install in the cab, but I’ve had to squash that plan! He doesn’t just mount a new receiver in the dash—he wants lots of speakers and and amp and all that jazz! NOT GONNA HAPPEN!

And now you’ve heard “the rest of the story”….

Now that we're back on our little hill, the high temp today was 73 and it's supposed to drop into the 40s tonite!!! First day of Summer in Illinios--you just never know....

Well, summer seems to have settled in here in the muggy midwest, and we are NOT enjoying it! Keith is still recovering from all that Interstate travel or we'd be on our way to Rapid City--where the highs are in the 70s and the lows are in the 40s! Sure sounds good....

Tomorrow we're hooking onto our house and heading 70 miles west of here to park it in a state park where our old 'biker buddies' are having the National campout next week. All those years when I campaigned for tolerance among the bike-camping crowd when it comes to folks who just cannot show up on bikes and sleep in tents are about to be put to the test. :) There will be a lot of (I hate to use the word "old") cool people that we used to camp with and we're pretty excited! And at the end of the day, we can walk back to our air conditioned home to sleep--instead of lying in a pool of sweat in a little nylon tent, with half the mosquitoes in the world humming around the door, waiting for one of us to have to crawl out to hike to the bathroom! Been there--done that!

Yesterday Keith finally got the old green riding mower to fire up and actually RUN again! He was so pleased with himself while he was scalping the yard to within a 1/2 inch of its life--I'm advocating buying a big FOR SALE sign and putting the thing out in the front yard immediately! That overpriced piece of green junk has never, in the 5 years we've owned it, run an entire season! Last summer it ran ONCE for the guy who was coming over to keep the grass cut! And that was right after we'd spent $100 on parts. Always the same parts, every year! I was content to push my new Walmart mower around the yard once a week.... :)

Aside from that, we're planning to pull out after the 4th and go West, if Keith has caught up on his rest and rehabilitation by then. Got stuff to do deal with in SD. Of course, by then it'll be full-blown summer out there--100 in the daytime and 60 at nite...

Ya'll enjoy the weekend....

So finally, they got the blasted thing ordered and in and we took off on Saturday. Did I mention that I-75 is rough as the proverbial cob? But the trip went well, we stopped off to see friends in KY, drove through some serious rain and finally made it back here last Wednesday--just in time to take the kids and make Family Nite supper at the Elks. Connor took his wooden snake and scared the waitress.... Friday we went to Connor's ballgame, where he hit a double and then got a run. Saturday we crawled out at 5 AM and did the garage sale at Lana's. Then Keith had to take me to the clinic to have my ear examined (no, not the whole head, just the ear!) Seems the combined pollen from who-knows-what, plus the mothballs in the storage trailer, and the cottonwood fluff and the blooming honeysuckle at Lana's had taken their toll and caused fluid to build up. I was getting some cheap "highs" from that, every time I bent down or looked up or tilted my head--the world went a spinning! Ugh.

Today Jared enticed his dad out to do "tractor things" and I spent the day shlepping boxes OUT of the garage and into the new trailer, sorted and washed and found places for much of the contents! The pile dwindled a bit, but there's plenty more boxes to be dealt with! But I have my good pots and pans and cutlery and such--and the George Foreman grill!!! :) The cabinets are beginning to bulge at the seams! Came across the boxes of Longaberger baskets that I had scattered all over the old trailer and discovered that they're going to have to make their way onto eBay, 'cause there's no room for them here!!!

DID I MENTION THAT I HATE MOVING?

NOW, we're back in our little spot in Florida--finally!!! Got to the dealership on Friday and didn't get outa there til noon today!!! Bless 'em, they hadn't started doing the stuff they were supposed t! Heck, they hadn't even ordered the things they needed to do it WITH! ARGGGG! We'll have to arrange our trip back North around a stop back at the dealership for them to install our Mt. Rushmore decalf. :(

But, hey! We're in our new "high-end 'box'" and all's well with our world.....

Let's see....the trip up went well. Picked up the tractor and kept on coming this way. Stopped North of Ocala in a little place called McIntosh--which we later learned is the town where the movie "Doc Hollywood" ( I think that's the name of it...), starring Michael J. Fox, was filmed. Beautiful victorian houses! Great campground too--except they had mosquitos that hum in basso profundo! LOL! Huge skeeters, worthy of the huge frogs along the edge of the lake/marsh.

Wednesday we chugged our way clear through the state of Georgia and landed in Madisonville, TN for the nite--in our friend Lester's driveway. :) "Camp among friends--cheap!" is our motto! LOL!

Thursday we got out on I-75, realized we were near Suzi and met her at the truckstop for breakfast. Then crawled around Knoxville at an asphalt-eating 2 MPH, and headed North some more. Uuuuuuup and down we went, with the truck groaning and Keith cussing his malfunctioning dual-speed axle, all the way to Louisville. Spent a great evening there with Bill & Pam, and at least 14 dogs! :)

Friday, the weather was starting to get hot--Florida style. Ugh. But we loaded Pam's dead JD lawn tractor on behind Keith's big shiny tractor and made it to the 'farm' in good time. :) Once #1 son got home from work, they unloaded the tractor, pulled the big RV out from under it's pole barn roof and we collapsed, ate our leftovers from the great Italian restaurant the nite before and slept where we sat!

Saturday was 'boxing' day. Ugh. The kids fetched a couple of young missionaries to do the toting and we got most of our 'stuff' stacked up in temporary piles out of the weather. All that remains is to get that little pop-up lifted off the truck, drag the last of the 'stuff' out of here, do some cleanup, batten down the hatches, rest all day tomorrow, and hit the road again! WE ARE NOT EXCITED ABOUT ANY KIND OF ROADS!!! Going to try the I-65 option this trip, to see if it's any better.... By Friday, God willing, we'll be moving into the new digs and Saturday will be back in our quiet little campground--exhausted! Not going to move from there for DAYS!!! (Gotta get that axle-thingy cured before we head north again!)

OKAY READERS--YOU CAN WAKE UP NOW! Have yourselves a great day and be kind to all the mothers in your lives! I'm going to go find some Tylenol and put my feet up and watch Charles Osgood......

Monday went well. Finished up and were ready to hit the road on Tuesday morning. Which we did. :) Tuesday went well. Put in a big day and made great time! Made it to the Sweetwater Valley KOA, south of Knoxville. Beautiful campground! Out of sight of the Interstate, in the woods. In fact, it's one of those rare campgrounds where you wouldn't mind hanging out for a few days--if there were time...

Yeah, so yesterday we noticed this little bitty antifreeze leak, bought a bottle of Stop Leak and before we hit the road this morning, Keith added it and a little water to the radiator and away we went...

Uh, so to backtrack a bit, just before we began this oddessy, it occured to me that our Good Sam membership had expired, so I went online, re-joined, and as soon as they'd given me a membership #, I called their affiliated Emergency Roadside Assistance and bought road insurance. :) Those of you who know me well, know my views on the entire "Insurance Industry"--but I did it anyhoo.

Back to today's adventures: 10 miles down the Interstate, just as we blew past the Athens, TN exit, huge clouds began to billow forth from our truck. HUGE clouds! Long story shorter--the radiator basically puked up it's entire contents, right there with traffic roaring past, rocking our 'boat' almost constantly! Not a happy event, but *very big grin*, I dialed up the Good Sam ERA #, and a nice lady took down all our info and after a short wait, a tow truck pulled up, hooked onto our incapacitated bigass truck--still with 36' 5th wheel in tow--and dragged the whole works to a campground, where we unhooked the trailer and then away went the bigass truck and Keith, to the radiator shop which was expecting it. :) No charge for that tow service, by the way! :) Eventually the radiator guy brought Keith back and now we wait until the new radiator arrives in a big brown truck tomorrow.....and is installed. And we should be good to go about noon tomorrow. Methinks we might have to reschedule the 'pickup time' on our new rig....

Meanwhile, here we sit in a lovely wooded campground, overlooking a mountain stream and within walking distance of Wendy's, Applebee's, Lowe's, a convenience store, and, right up the street....Wally World. It's cloudy and a light rain is falling, off and on. Keith and the dogs are snoozing.... Life is Good.

I was thinking about my old station wagon yesterday....wouldn't it be a hoot to put a "Free Car" sign in the window, a signed title on the front seat, park it next to the road and see what happens? LOL! I wonder how long it would take before anyone actually stopped? And how much longer before someone actually got in and drove it away? LOL! Think of the photo ops! Or, maybe leave it in a parking lot all day and watch.... :) If I didn't already know 2 different people who could really use it and would like to have it for free, I'd do it!!!

Today is the day for packing up the little "Box" and getting it ready to pull to the dealership when we get back to Florida--so we can have our NEW HOME! :) This involves the usual, mundane things, like defrosting the fridge, shampoo-ing the carpet, putting away the the loose things.... When we get it to the dealership, they will direct us to our new unit, park the old one next to it, and we'll have to transfer our "stuff" and say goodbye to our little winter home. And goodbye to tripping over our own feet trying to navigate amongst our pack of puppies and turn sideways to get into and out of the bathroom!!! LOL!

We've come up against an unexpected annoyance in the midst of all this organized chaos. Kizzee, the 'high-strung' rat terrier, has freeked out. Totally gone nutso on us. Terrified we're going to leave her, I guess. At first I thought she was being vindictive by soaking our bed when we leave them alone for any length of time, but all the experts claim there is no such thing as a vindictive dog??? Which leaves us with "hysterical" behaviour. The second time she soaked our down comforter, featherbed and sheets, I was pretty sure I could wring her skinny little neck, but I guess the thing to do is haul her to the vet today and get some anti-anxiety meds.... Tried the herbal stuff, and got no visible results already. *sigh* I know she'll be calmer once we're on the road--she understands that, and travels well. Molly B is staying here with our friends--becasue she is content wherever she is, if there is food, a place to run and someone to pat her head and tell her she's wonderful. :) The scruffy little puppy is the unknown, but he rides well in the car, so he's going along--since he cries a lot when we leave him behind. We really wanted to be able to farm the lot of them out while we make this run, but kennels suck and there's only so much we'll ask our friends to do!!! LOL!

And now, with no further adieu, I'm off to commence to begin...

So, I'm sittin' here last nite, thinking about the pictures I need to snap of this adventure, and it occurred to me, somewhat belatedly, that if Sony made a camera that records onto floppies, then they probably made a nifty printer that prints off floppies.... duh. And off to eBay I went, where, sure enough, there were 9 identical ones, factory re-conditioned and just waiting for me! LOL! I really like technology..... :) Even if I'm about 5 years behind--at least I get to buy my stuff for 1/4 of what it cost when it was 'cutting edge'!!!

Ya'll take care now...I still have cleaning and sorting to do!

Today Keith is off to New Smyrna to try to buy a utility tractor for us to haul back to IL and use on the farm. DON'T ASK ME!!! I don't understand why on earth he and Jared can't wait and look for one up in the Midwest?????????? But that's what he's doin'. If he buys it, then he has to buy a trailer to haul it! AND get it licensed and insured. And all this so there'll be a utility tractor for his favorite son to use! That boy doesn't know how good he's got it! LOL!

Me? Oh, I'm going to clean and sort and pack stuff all day.... We're moving, ya know.....

So, today, for giggles, we went and wandered around an RV lot with friends. They'd gone there to look at and buy a used trailer, but someone beat them to it. But, we had an amusing day in the sunshine..... :)

The trip to the surgeon in Orlando went well. It's a good thing I'd arranged to spent the nite up there. Keith was ready for a long nap after 2 hours in that traffic! Imagine having to get a room for a 60 mile trip!
The surgeon was quite pleased with him and assured him that he's lookin' good. And told us there is no reason to have to keep making the trip up to see him--the cardiologist who started the whole chain of events is a lot closer to where we live! So Keith will be reporting to him from now on. Which means that *I* don't have to do downtown Orlando again! YIPPPEE! We're still stuck here until after he sees the VA doctor on the 4th of May, and gets an official release from the cardio, but we're counting down!

Meanwhile, this little 'box' is getting smaller and smaller and smaller.... It was never meant to be a permanent home for 2 adults and 3 little dogs! We have just about maxed out our ability to cope with the lack of space! The minute we close it up and kick on the AC, it becomes a TINY little RV! We've really been enjoying our 'Florida Room'--if we could get tv reception out there, we could spend even more time in it! We still have to light the mosquito repellent thingies, but then we can sit out there unmolested. :)

TODAY is Lana & Josh's wedding anniversary. I'm ashamed to say I've lost track of which one...but I know it's got to be at least 8 years!!! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Scruffy the puppy went for his last set of shots on Wednesday, and weighed in at 12 1/2 pounds! He was a little over 7 pounds when we got him, 2 months ago! He's such a funny little guy, very independent, fierce, cuddly and just plain silly. He's been so much fun to watch grow!

And so, as the medical bills continue to dribble in, and the total climbs higher, we're doing well and staying afloat...marking time until we can head north again. Most of our Snowbird neighbors are packing up and leaving and we figure by next week a simple trip to the grocery will be less of an obstacle course.... Kind of looking forward to THAT! LOL! Today we're going to head West--take the 'Gun Boat' and go have a look at the RVs on the "biggest RV lot in the Country" over by Tampa. Ya gotta wonder what the salesmen will be saying when we pull up in our rolling storage shed..... LOL!

Ya'll have a great holiday weekend.....

Big outing yesterday--took Keith along to the RV store to pick up a new awning de-flapper and have a look at a big 5th wheel that was listed on their website. Only, of course, they'd SOLD it and not bothered to update the website. Then on to the Bartow Walmart (still a favorite place to go--NOT), to buy a fan for the Florida room. Keith was very good. He let me drive WITHOUT picking my lane, picking where I was going to park, telling me where to turn.... I think he's realized that if he po's the driver, he goes nowhere! Hehehehe!

We got new neighbors last nite. What a circus! When he finally got that little bumper-pull camper where he wanted it, he couldn't get it unhitched! Took him, his lady, her brother, the neighbor on the other side an hour of beating a banging around on that hitch. Of course, those of us with experience know that all he needed to do was roll the tow vehicle forward a tiny bit to relieve the stress on the ball..... but, no one asked us! LOL! We are soooo easily amused......

Time for me to go be a thorn in Keith's side.... :) Dinah

Taking Lana to the Orlando airport was the easiest trip in Central Florida, as it turned out! Less than 3 hours, up and back! Amazing! Of course, now she's gone and it's just us--with no activity director! LOL!

After much consideration, we've decided that this cute little box has got to be replaced by a larger one! The search is on!!! Our 'family' is just too large for life in a 28' box! Armed with my list of RV dealers, I'll start out by calling all the ones with toll free numbers to see what's out there. This operation could take a while, since Keith has decreed that only another Holiday Rambler will do! We'll see what's out there..... After all, we're stuck here for another 6 weeks or more--how hard can it be???? LOL!

Weather in Florida promises to be another sticky one--it's already 61, with the humidity at 87% and headed for an 80 degree high. Meanwhile, we hear that back in IL it was 75 degrees yesterday! Beautiful March weather--to be followed, no doubt, by a snowstorm..... LOL!

#1 son called last nite to share that he has now experienced his very first kidney stone and now appreciates the phrase... "GIVE ME DRUGS!!!" Methinks he has learned a whole new appreciate of what it was like to produce that son he's so proud of! He's certainly not impressed with the kidney stone gene that his dad seems to have passed on to his kids. I hope they didn't get the 'clogged arteries gene' , too.... But I suspect that Jared is now ready to accept that it could be there and to nip it in the bud!

'Nuff rambling.... Ya'll take care!

Keith is doing great. Sleeping a lot, eating a lot and walking around the park as much as he can.

Lana is still here, and we're off in search of the nearest Super Walmart.... (I know--I hate them too, but sometimes ya gotta go....) Later....

Lana is still here, bossing us around--which is a good thing! She's staying a while--depending on how long she can stand us and vise versa. She's sorta settled into the rental trailer here in the park--a bigger version of OUR box. Now to get settled into a routine. Funniest thing...food quit appearing out of the air, and dirty dishes now pile up instead of being picked up and carted away.... '

Thank you to all of you who sent up prayers and emailed words of encouragement to us both!

This weekend will no doubt be filled to the brim with settling Keith into our little 'Box' and getting our puppies back home and settled down! The landlord is working on getting Lana into an empty rental unit close to us, so we won't have to all sleep in a pile in the little 'box' while she's here! :) So everything is under control and we're working toward 'the new normal'. Catch ya'll later....

With all that said, it's time for me to get a shower and some clean clothes and get back to the hospital. More later.....

Keith went to the doctor to seek treatment for worsening gallbladder attacks. Not the gallbladder. He has to get lab work today and see a cardiologist tomorrow. There are "abnormalities" on the EKG they ran yesterday. Naturally, our first instinct was to run for home and family, but that's just not practical! He doesn't need the stress of packing up, spending 2 days on the road, at least, and then trying to set things up where it's still cold, muddy and Winter!

Our little 'pack' of dogs has settled down. It's fun to watch the puppy running as hard as he can to keep up with the 'big dogs'! We had some 'moments' when Kizzee had to put him in his place, but now he's their favorite toy! :)

We got a visit from a pair of bikers, down from Michigan for Bike Week. Hadn't met them before, but they're part of our one-and-only bike club. Had a nice little chat, and then they road off on their nice, QUIET Harleys.... Sunday we've got folks biking in from Georgia that we haven't seen for a couple of years! Guess I'd better start de-cluttering our living space! LOL

Yesterday was laundry day. Took the dirty stuff over to Shirley's and washed it and hung it out, while the puppies played in the sun and Keith sat in the sun and coughed. I brought them all back here at naptime and when we went back to get the dry stuff, and toss the rest into the washer--Shirley had already done it all. The last of it was on the line for me to get today. I guess she got bored!

So, while everyone was napping, I got out the 'new' laptop and made another attempt to figure out how to get "IN" again. And somehow, finally, managed to pull it off--still not sure how, but I don't care! It's up and running and I've installed what software I thought to bring along.... Can't say that I'm real thrilled with Windows 2000 Pro--too much 'security' for me. I don't quite understand why they can't just have a 'user friendly' version for us smucks who AREN'T terrified that someone else will get into our computers??? *sigh*

Today is Farmers Market--fresh strawberries!!!

The dogs seem to love their new 'digs'. No sand burrs--just sand and pine needles. They spend a lot more time outdoors now--which is very nice! Today we're going to finally meet the little guy who is probably going to be the newest member of our menagerie... It's been a month since Snowball went back to her owner, and we still want a Westie, so he'll probably come home with us..... :)

Watched Survivor last nite. I'm getting soooo tired of Richard. But he's good. Obnoxious, but good.

And that's the latest....

K got up and drank coffee while I got all our 'stuff' out away from the trailer--you know, lawn chairs, table, tools, dog toys, rugs, windchimes--and rolled up the awnings and basically got things ready. Then he staggered out, unhooked the electric and sewer, attached the trailer to the truck, moved it next door, leveled it, re-attached things, unattached it from the truck, and went back to bed. (new folks coming today, so it HAD to be done!) Then I spent a couple of hours shlepping stuff from the old site to the new one, putting the puppy yard back up, and basically re-settling. So, here we sit, under both pine trees.... :) Watched "Jr." win at Daytona, went to the grocery, watched "It must be Love", or whatever they called that movie and went to bed. Big, exciting weekend!

For our next challenge--we have to see if K can get himself to work today....

The kids next door pulled out yesterday morning, headed NORTH. (The things we will do for our children.....!) Left a blank lot and a big hole in our 'social calendar'! They took their grill, and their turkey fryer, and their outdoor fireplace.... *sigh* Toys all gone and no one to play with! We're planning on moving our rig over to their old site--it has SHADE! Best site in the park! Now, if K could only get to feeling well enough for us to do it....

I know--moving sounds silly, maybe. But, it's a simple matter of unhooking the plumbing, raising the jacks, latching onto the truck and doing it. Won't take much prep work inside, and we can move the puppy fence and othe outdoor stuff at our leisure, sort of! :) A far cry from packing up to actually MOVE!

Well, the sun is up--another warm, muggy day in Florida! Rained hard last nite, and supposed to get colder, later..... But first--there's the Daytona 500 to be run..... :) See ya....

Our neighbor gave up after a week of working in Tiajuana and flew back here. Now they're packing up to head back North... Gonna take their fireplace/chimney, their grill, and the turkey frier--we're sure gonna miss them!!! LOL! (Only kidding, of course! They're great kids and have been a real blessing to have as neighbors.)

Found out that Sara's due date is sometime in mid-September. She also mentioned that I'd better REALLY appreciate having another grandchild, because she'd forgotten just how sick she is when she's pregnant. Poor thing. I do appreciate her sacrifice......

Still no sighting on the puppy. We keep getting messages that he's going to come.....

Keith took today off, in honor of his birthday and to go fill out an ap for a real operator's job. He's officially had enough 'flagging' and leaning on shovels.... The birthday bash will wait until this weekend. Gonna be food--topped off by my famous lemon-lime refrigerator sheet cake. :)

I'm still working on the attempt at a flea market booth. Got a shipment of marbles in the other day--kt sent some really cool ones! I made a big mistake by not bringing my little quilts along, and I am going to try to get someone to send me a few beanies to add to the mix and get a booth set up sometime later this month. I'll have all of March to snag some of those tourist dollars before we head back North..... :)

Meanwhile, we're still awaiting the arrival of Snowball's brother--which, I'm told, is a 'sure thing'. The woman who has him keeps telling my ex-neighbor that she's going to bring him to us--just as soon as she gets a chance! At the rate she's going, he'll be full grown by the time he gets here! No we don't NEED 3 dogs! Nobody NEEDS 3 dogs--or 4 cats, or any other number of pets larger than 1..... :)

Have a great day.....

We gassed up the wagon and went exploring again today. Finally found the mondo shopping mall--didn't go in! Stopped at a Mexican fruit market and stocked up on fresh veggies and bananas, stopped off at Shirley and LD's place so the puppies could get out and run in their one acre fenced yard. Not a bad Sunday afternoon and evening..... :)

Tonite I called a dear friend in Indiana that we hadn't talked to in ages and spent an hour catching up! Teresa is finally, FINALLY online!!! And quilting, in her spare time! Now I'll have to go update my quilting blog, and start adding quilt links to the website.... Funny how much nearer our friends get when we can keep in touch online!

Well, I finally broke down and bought a new (reconditioned) laptop on eBay. It came Friday and I was thrilled. But then I plugged it in and booted up. Half the keyboard is sluggish--the apostrophe doesn't work at all! And the touchpad moves the curser around, but won't "drag" anything! I finally dug out my cheapy keyboard and mouse and plugged them into the new computer and THEY work great--so now I'm in negotiations with the seller. They promised 2 month hardware guarantee, etc., etc. And I think they'll come through in the end...it's just a hassle. I got spoiled by my first laptop purchase on eBay--which got me a wonderful little Dell that I have dragged all over the Country and used and abused! But I've spent the weekend hassling with this one and sending emails back and forth. I'll be really glad when it's all straightenend out and I don't have 2 laptops, an external keyboard and mouse and power and phone cords running all over our tiny livingroom!!!

That's it for today..... Gotta go check my kid's blog....:)