Schitzaflyin

Incomplete

2010-01-09T20:45:00.003-06:00

I bet you were wondering when I was going to update this blog. So was I! I am getting lazy I guess. Since being back at Fountainebleau we have been busy catching up with friends.
So now I will start from the beginning. Some of it is fuzzy but I will try to sweep the fuzzy out.
We left home on December 2 at 8:30a.m.. Believe it or not we were up before 10. We headed south on I39/51. We decided to take a different route, so , once into IL., we made a left turn and headed toward IN.. The sun was shinning, traffic was good, we were warm and things were going great. We pulled into the 1st rest area in In.so we could make something to eat and it all fell apart. Not literally. As we slowed we noticed the coach would surge. It keep doing this. We tried speeding up the idle but it would not stop. Mel went out to the rest area and talked to a trucker who told him about a CAT (our engine ) place in Indianapolis. We called John and had him go on the internet and get a phone number. Mel called and talked to them. They would send a tow truck if we needed it. We had to call our road service first to see if they would pay for it. Called them, and no, they only pay to tow to the closest repair facility. They gave Mel some numbers for places that were closer. One did not do repairs and the other was closing for the day. Mel decided to see if we would start and if the problem was still there. It started and was running perfect. He called Indianapolis back and got directions. We headed out for the 75 miles to Indianapolis. The problem came back and it was running really, and I mean really, bad by the time we got there.They had us pull in to the back of the building. It was about 10 p.m. by then. We went to get something to eat. At about 1a.m. they hooked the coach up to the computer. Nothing! They had pull it into the building so they could do more diagnostic stuff. Time moves very slow and so do repair men. Around 5 a.m. they "think" they have the problem but can not put parts in until the lead guy comes in at 6:30 a.m.. Mean while, we are in this waiting room, an ugly waiting room, and no sleep. At 6:30 the lead come in along with a new crew. Something about a fuel valve and something else. It takes until 9:30 a.m.to get everything done, and we still have not had any sleep. We pay the bill. Dang, labor is expensive! Most of the bill. We head out and drive about 30 miles. Pull into a Flying J travel center, park and fall into bed.We awoke about 4 p.m.. We ate something, watched Survivor and went back to bed. In the morning we headed south again. We are purring like a kitten.

Can you believe I wrote this about a week ago. We have been here for almost 2 weeks and I am having a hard time finding the time to write. Almost daily someone from last year pulls in and then it is a group get together and which means we are all going out to dinner. We are eating out way to often. The seafood here is awfully good.
We plan to leave here Monday and head west. We just might make Arizona. I do not know when we will have WIFI again. When I do I will try to finish telling you about our trip so far.
Sorry!

6 Weeks and counting down!

2009-10-20T19:31:00.002-05:00

I checked out the calendar today... in about 6 weeks we will be heading south for the winter. I always get excited about leaving, but then come February, I am ready to go home. I miss my kids.
I have started to get some things ready to pack. I don't like the packing in the cold. Most items can not go in till the day before we leave. I am trying to figure out how to take my sewing machine along and fabric. I got a rolling travel case for the sewing machine but I don't know where I can store it in the coach. Hmmmm!
Our fall has been cold. This has been an awful cold October. (14 degrees below normal) Another weird thing about it is that the leaves turn brown and then stay on the trees. What's that all about?
I got a good start on Christmas shopping done. We have Christmas at Thanksgiving with the family. I am still waiting for a list from our oldest son.
Yesterday was our 30th anniversary. WOW! Where oh where did that time go? And did we have fun?
No other boring news here.
Take care

Festival

2009-09-09T12:04:00.005-05:00

This week end Wausau will host it's 45th annual Festival of the Arts. At Marathon Park we have Art in Park. I think they said over 200 vendors for this event. Crafts that include woodworking, pottery, jewelry and anything else you can imagine. Downtown we have Festival of the Arts. Artist sell their wares. Over 100 artists. A bit more pricey than the park, but still fun. We have also Birds in Art at the Woodson Art Museum. It will be a fun and full week end.
Come join us! So much to see, do and eat!

The trip

2009-09-09T09:39:00.001-05:00

In my last blog I said I would not bore you with details of our summer. I got a comment from Ron and Barbara that I we traveled and I should write about it. OK!
Towards the end of August we ventured up to the north woods of Minnesota. The camp hosts from Fountainebleau live in Gilbert,MN. They had visited us in July and invited us up to see them. We traveled so we would go through Ladysmith, so we could also stop and see Roger and Delores. We also met them at Fountainebleau last winter and then we saw them again at Potter's Creek in Texas. We stopped but they were not home. We did leave a note for them. Since we are rolling in the dough (haha) we decided this trip we would stay at the high class campgrounds. (Walmart) We made it to Rice Lake, found the Walmart, parked for the night. Another man was also parked there. He was in his 80's, traveling with his dog. His wife does not want to travel, so he goes by himself.
In the morning we headed north on Hwy 53 to our next stop... Walmart, Superior,WI.. We arrived quite early in the afternoon. Mel went and asked if it was alright to park for the night, as we always do. We explored the town by car. Also drove into Duluth and did some exploring. We had found a farmer's market so we picked up some vegetables and headed back to the coach. After dinner we rented a movie,Grand Torino, from the Redbox in the Walmart. Good movie. In the morning we got fuel, propane, and dumped our tanks and hit the road. As we driving and about to turn back on to Hwy 2 Mel mentioned that the coach in front of us was really leaning to the right. As that coach turned onto hwy 2 it hit me.. that was Ron and Barbara form the blog I read...."The Road Less Traveled"! WOW! We got into the left lane as they were about to turn right we passed them,and sure enough it was them. I waved but I don't know if they saw it. Onward we went to Gilbert,MN.. This was our longest day of driving,almost 2 hours. Can we do it? We arrived in time for lunch. We stayed at LeRoy and Jess's house for 4 days and had a wonderful time. They took us all over and showed the mining in the area. They both worked at the mines. Jess only a few years but if I remember right LeRoy worked the mines until his retirement. Everyplace we went they were known. Even 50 miles form there house! Jess took us to see her friend, Ila's, flower gardens. Beautiful. They were so beautiful that I forgot to take pictures. Ila gave me some seeds pods form some of her poppies. Thank you Ila. Ila and her husband,Charles, also met us for a fish fry on Friday night. I know one thing for sure... people up in northern Minnesota sure do eat a lot. If they aren't drinking coffee, they are eating. We have never seen nor eaten so much in our whole lives. In fact when we left on Saturday, we did not eat until that night. The day we left them we drove all the way to Ladysmith. Whew! That was a long one. We took a different route back and discovered thrift shops that we stopped at. We spent the night at the Pamida storein Ladysmith. We did not know they had a Walmart. In the morning we stopped back to see Roger and Delores. They were home! Delores just had a knee replacement done. OUCH! She is doing well. We visited for over an hour then headed back home. We probably would of stayed out on the road longer but On Friday I got a call that my uncle had passed out and was in the hospital. He passed out at the car wash. When I went to get his car and keys the lady said he just fell backwards. He cracked his head pretty good. Had stitches. He has a history of heart failure and that is what happened. On Tuesday he had a pacemaker/defibrillator put in. On Wednesday he had to go back in because a wire came lose. He agreed to go to a rehab for a few weeks before going home. I am so thankful for that.
Ok, that was our trip and the excitement that followed. Boring, eh?

Time Flies

2009-09-07T14:43:00.004-05:00

It has been a long time since I blogged. I am not going to recap our summer. It would just be boring stuff about a whole bunch of nothing.
Today is Labor Day...already. This summer has just flown by. Today is a quiet day. Mel is working on a project in the coach. I did some laundry. John usually comes over every Monday night for dinner. Since it is Labor Day he came for lunch with Sara. I made Italian sausage's, an Italian pasta salad and baked beans. It was so good. I made a compound butter with oregano and thyme. I spread that on the buns and toasted them on the grill. I also had sauteed' onions, green and yellow peppers with mushrooms to put on them. Everything was so good. We had a nice lunch and a short visit. Off they went to do some shopping.
I don't know what I will do for the rest of the day. I do need to get some new plants into the ground, finish going through boxes in the basement for a garage sale in 2 weeks. All that sounds like to much work. I think I will just do a whole bunch of nothing.

Ask your doctor if medical advice from a television commerical is right for you!

4th of July

2009-07-05T16:12:00.008-05:00

We had a wonderful 4th and we hope you did also.

We were invited up to a friends home on Lake Nokomis in Tomahawk, Wisconsin. We had not seen there new home yet so this was exciting. They have a lovely home. The weather was perfect. Shortly after we arrived 2 other couples came. After introductions the pontoon was loaded with coolers and food and away we went.

Our hosts: Jeff and Patty

We cruised our way around the lake and about half way we docked on a sandy shore and pulled out all the goodies that were brought along. We had enough hord de orves for 20 people! We ate well. The usual cheese, crackers, sausage, ham roll ups and we also had shrimp. Lots of shrimp. Everything was so good. After we packed the food away, we were off again to finish our trip around the lake. We were on the lake for almost 5 hours. We did run into some loonies though.

Our day was finished off sitting out on the deck waiting for the sun to set and then watching the fireworks.

It was very relaxing day and a good time was had by all.

Test of a rose

2009-07-05T16:01:00.002-05:00

I trying to add a picture I took and yet add text. this is a test.

I think this may work...finally. Thanks Dee, you are my hero of the day!

The fun never ends

2009-06-09T22:16:00.002-05:00

We got the results form the ultrasound......nothing! They found nothing. So why is his wind pipe pushed over to the right? We saw the x-ray that started the concern and his trac is diffently push over to the right. SO, now he will have a CT Scan. This just gets scarier the further we go.

It has been raining here since Saturday. I thought it was going to be sunny today. Well, it was for about 10 minutes. I am hoping tomorrow will be better. We have Nova coming tomorrow to wash the house. If it rains then they will come on Thursday. How is that for excitement!! We really know how to live it up.

I have been having problems with chipmunks in my flower beds. We set up a live trap and so far we caught 7 and 1 mole. Gosh, those moles are weird looking things. We have been taking the chippies about 8 miles from here and letting them go. Mel wonders if they find their way back and we just keep catching them over and over. This adds another excitement factor into our lives.

Our gas fireplace stopped working so we had them come to repair it. The guy spent most of his time on the phone with the manufactor trying to figure out what was wrong. After an hour and a half it was decided the board was bad. It has to be ordered and when it comes in they will come out again to install it. This is not gonna be cheap. I wonder.. would it have been cheaper to just buy a new gas fireplace???? Oh, the excitement.

My computer is slowly dying. It locks up and spits and sputters worse than an old hen. So this Thursday I will be off to Best Buy with son John to see what I can get with the 50 cents I have left after getting the house washed, the fireplace fixed and putting gas in my car so I can haul chipmunks away.

The fun never ends! Stay tuned. You never know what we may do to make you jealous!
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

We'll be friends until we are old and senile. Then we'll be NEW friends!

Stress test

2009-06-06T22:41:00.002-05:00

Gosh, I must be busy! It has been a long time since I wrote and so much has happened.
Mel had his pre-op and the next morning the phone was a ringing. Seems his EKG had some glitches in it and the doctors all went crazy. They canceled the surgery and he had an emergency stress test that afternoon. The doctor told me to make sure I went along. Hmmm, I know this routine. I have had friends and family that had that call. During the stress test things go bad and away to the hospital they go. Well, we fooled them.... He did the stress test, although he only made through a little over 2 minutes. We saw the cardiologist after. He was surprised to hear that the surgery was canceled but would not have results till late afternoon. He would call and let us know. The call came and his test was normal. Now if you know Mel I know you are saying WHAT? Well it was normal. Wednesday Mel was on the phone all morning getting his surgery back on the schedule for Thursday. He got it done! Surgery went well, but boy was he a crab that night. I was glad he staying at the hospital. I went up early the next morning. About 11:00 they decided to keep him another night because he had to much blood in his urine. That was the longest day. It seemed to go on forever. He did come home on Saturday and all has been good with the procedure.
This past week we got more calls from doctors. One about those glitches in his EKG. They want to do another test to make sure he has not had a heart attack in the past. His chest x-ray also became a concern. He has chronic pulmonary disease, due to his smoking. Hasn't made him stop yet...darn! The x-ray also showed that his thyroid is pushing into his wind pipe. He had an ultrasound on Thursday and we will see the doc on Monday afternoon. Mel thinks they are out to get him.
I have been staying busy just working around the house. Between housework, laundry, yard work, the flower gardens and cooking I am beat. I spent 12 hours in the yard yesterday just mowing and mowing , oh and mowing, weed whacking, working in my flower beds and finished planting. I ached so bad I could not sleep. Today I got caught up on all the paperwork. It had been 4 months since I did any. Lazy! Now we are up to date and we still have some money left.
Tomorrow I want to just relax but I will probably get into something. It is rainy and cool.. maybe I will bake bread and some other goodies for us. A pot of chili to warm us up!
Stay well ,be happy and smile!
Toodles

All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand!

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T20:49:00.002-05:00

Happy Mother's Day everyone! How was your day? Mine was great! I slept in. (till 9) Mel got us a Sunday paper and breakfast. I sat around reading the paper in my jammies. About noon I decided I had better get cleaned up and dressed. John came over at 2:00. He brought Sara's motorcycle over for us to see. He and Mel gave me a gift card for a one hour massage at my favorite spa! I will need that after this week is over. Then they took me out to eat at Texas Roadhouse. I cheated the whole day on my meals. It was great, but, tomorrow it is back to the veges, fruit and fiber. Oh brother! John stayed till almost 6. His friend Jeff from work stopped by also while he was here. We had a good time visiting with them.

The week went by so fast. I did my Curves everyday. I go first thing in the morning. Then the rest of the day is mine. It was not an exciting week. I did go to some garage sales. I found some items that John was needing for camping. Sara wanted some bamboo shades and I found them. Chelsea, a friend of John's needed shorts for her son. That was the most difficult item to find. Every sale I went to had lots of girl clothes. Girl clothes, girl toys everything girl! I called Chelsea and told her if she wanted a girl next time, she needed to move across town. It has to be in the water! Shortly after calling her I hit upon a sale that had boy clothes and in the right size and best of all FREE. It was picked over but I did manage to find some shorts the right size. So with my list complete I went home.

Saturday I had lunch with a friend, Sondra. It was so nice to see her and catch up with her life. Afterwards Lois and I went plant shopping. I picked up the plants I needed to make my hanging baskets and some of my planters. Later John and Sara stopped by to pick up the shades for her patio.

This week is going fly by. Mel has his pre-op appointment tomorrow, along with blood work and an EKG. The garden club plant sale is the end of this week. I need to go help set up Tuesday and possibly Wednesday. Thursday is Mel's surgery. Friday Mel will come home from the hospital. I hope he is not to uncomfortable. It will be a stressful time but we will get through it. I will need that massage once this all over.

That's all for now.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Illegal aliens have always been a problem in this country. Just ask any Indian!

Just another day

2009-05-06T20:07:00.004-05:00

The week is half over, can you believe it? I didn't even do anything exciting.
Monday I ran errands to pick up fertilizer for the flower beds. Stopped at T J Max to "look" around and walked out a little poorer. Tuesday I worked outside putting down that fertilizer, raking it in and then watering everything down good. I wish we would get a good soaking rain. Everything is so dry. Today I did my laundry, cleaned my house and made a nice dinner of ham, au gratin potatoes, and corn. John stopped in right at dinner and had a little to eat with us. He was more interested in getting to Mikey's Red Hots and getting a Chicago dog. He had stopped over to borrow a card table and chairs for a gathering he is having this week end at his apartment. I also gave him a pile of paper plates. Oh yeah, on Tuesday I also went to get groceries and stopped at Sam' Club. Came home a whole lot poorer that day.
Tomorrow I will worked outside again unless it is raining. I have a couple of hosta's that need splitting real bad. I will probably get about 12 plants form the 3 I am splitting up.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

If you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem!

No news

2009-05-03T11:49:00.003-05:00

I am either very busy or just lazy. Probably just lazy. It has been over a week since I made a post.
I'll start with the meeting of John's girlfriend. We had a nice visit with them and a good dinner also. She is very nice and has a great sense of humor. We had a very nice time. Yes, Chelsea, she is Paula approved and Mel approved too. ;-)

The day before, Sunday, I took Mel to the Walk-In clinic. He was having blood in his urine for 3 days. They didn't do much about it. They did do blood tests to check his blood count and look for infection. That was alright. She did put him on blood pressure meds. On Monday we saw the urologist. He said the prostate was enlarged and pushing up into his bladder. The doctor flushed out a lot of blood and clots. He could take medication but, that would take up to 9 months to start working. Surgery would be the best option. He is scheduled for it on May 14. He has to have a regular doctor, which he did not have. He will see him for his pre-op exam. We both know more will come out of this than just the prostate. He knows he probably has high blood sugars and I suspect congestive heart failure. We will see what happens. He stopped passing blood Friday morning and now thinks he does not need the surgery. He is not liking this and does not want to see doctors. So, we will see if he follows through. Although he has to see a doctor to get his blood pressure medication. Why are men so difficult?
The rest of the week was quiet. I got the finished area of the basement cleaned and organized. Also got my laundry room cleaned up again. It sure gets messy when we get home. After I wash I make piles of what has to go back in the coach. Well, I had piles all over. I got it all in laundry baskets now and ready to go back in the coach. Now I have to clean the coach!
I went to some garage sales this week. I didn't find any real treasures though.
While visiting a neighbor she asked if I wanted something to drink. Sure. She came back and said all she had was Coke and if that was alright. Sure. I hadn't had a soda for awhile so that sounded good. She brought me a glass of soda. I was thirsty so I took a big drink. Hmm, tasted strange. I thought maybe because I had not had a soda for a while that was why. Took another drink and then it hit me.... it was diet! I can't have artificial sweeteners. I asked of it was diet. Yes,Coke Zero. I didn't drink anymore and didn't think I had enough to get my usual headache and nausea. After I got home boy did I get sick. I got the headache from hell and nausea. I would say I only had maybe 4 ounces but, it sure hit me. I was down for the rest of the day. About 3 am the headache finally left. I am in that small population of the world that has a reaction from artificial sweeteners. I was surprised that I got sick from such a small amount! I forget that not everyone knows I have this problem. I am thankful to those who do know and tell me when a cake, pie or what ever is sugar free. I guess I need to ask first.
So goes another week. How totally boring, eh?
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Red meat isn't bad for you......green, fuzzy meat is bad for you!

Wausau, WI

2009-04-25T21:03:00.004-05:00

First I need to mention where we are......Wausau, WI.. I did that because while reading one of my blogs they said it frustrating to not know where a person is. So now that we have that cleared up....
My week has remained about the same as the past one. I finished cleaning my kitchen on Monday. I did the cupboards with Murphy's Oil and boy do they look nice. I stripped the kitchen floor and resealed it. It looks so nice. Mel had said when we bought this house we would put in laminate flooring so I did not deep clean the kitchen when we moved in. Well, the same ole flooring is still there so it finally got done. It took about 5 hours all together to do. I was really sore by the time I was done. Now everything on the main floor is clean. I will start on the basement soon..... I do need to recover some first!
On Thursday and friend Margo and I went out for lunch. We hit our usual Johanna's Tea Room. Wonderful lunch and good company too. Friday I went to the mall with my neighbor. We also went to the library for the book sale. I found some nice cookbooks and another book to a series I have been reading.
Our weather has been quite strange. Perhaps, mother nature is going through menopause or something. We have a day in the 70's and then 4 days in the 40's or 50's. We had some good ole thunderstorms the last few days. We sat out on our veranda and watched the light show last night. Lightning can be so spectacular sometimes. Today was a quiet day. I did regular housecleaning while Mel finished up working on the coach. After that we went to Sam's Club for laundry soap, gum, cheese and few other items. We came home and I made chicken breast on the grill.
This next week will be exciting. John will be bringing over his girlfriend, Sara, for us to meet. We have heard so many nice things about her and we are anxious to met her. As long as he is happy, that is all that matters. We will have a cook out. Hamburgers, brats, homemade coleslaw and homemade beans, peachy ice cream jello and lemon fluff. A number off years ago I found a recipe for KFC coleslaw and tried it. It was just like KFC coleslaw! Anyway, lets hope for good weather.
So that brings another week to a close.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Everytime I say the word "diet", I wash my mouth out with chocolate!

All Work and No Play

2009-04-18T13:03:00.002-05:00

Being home is wonderful but.... the work is killing me!
It all started with unloading the coach. Not bad. I got it done in about 4 hours. We didn't need to unload freezable items, such as, shampoo, body wash, window cleaner,etc., so it was not to bad. Now that it was unloaded.. the house was a disaster! I had everything piled everywhere. Every room had a pile of something in it. That took another day just to sort and put stuff away.
I couldn't believe how dusty the house was. It was never this dusty when John lived here in the winter, and he didn't clean the main level. I started cleaning and decided to get spring cleaning done while I was at it. I have been washing woodwork, polishing woodwork, washing windows, edge cleaning and moving furniture. When John moved out last fall and took his cat I didn't get to moving the furniture and vacuuming. I now have enough fur for 6 cats in my vacuum! That cat should be bald! That's a creepy thought! As of today all I have left to do is my kitchen. Clean and wipe put cupboards, wash down cabinets and polish and do the floor. When we bought this house we did not like the kitchen flooring and Mel said we would put in laminate. Well, 3 years later and I still do not see any laminate. So I am going to to do the Armstrong heavy duty cleaning of no wax floors. That involves a stripper and then applying the polish. It is a very time consuming job. I did it at the house we rented after the fire. That kitchen was a quarter of the size we have now and it took me almost 4 hours to do that one. I am planning on a whole day for this one. I was going to do it last year but with a cat in the house that just didn't work out. So now, no cat and I will get it done.
Today we have 2 young guys here cleaning up our yard. One is 17 and the other is 20. They passed flyer's around the neighborhood. We decided to give them a try. So far , they are doing a great job.
We have not done anything real exciting since coming home. We had a wonderful Easter with our son. Way to much to eat! Lois and I went to Steven Point one day to shop the greenhouses. I got a few plants and some trays for my starter seeds.
Mel has been busy working on the coach. Our recovery tank sprung a leak on the way home. He removed it and got another one. He is making a new way for it to mount. He will be working on that for a while.
Once the work is all done around here we can play! Till then..
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Happiness is good health and a bad memory!

Home again, home again......

2009-04-12T18:11:00.003-05:00

Our trip home was an adventure. We left Manndeville, LA on Monday March 30. We headed up to Natchez,MS to drive the Natchez Trace. The Trace is a wonderful drive. The speed limit is 50 so it is a very leisure drive. We arrived at the Rockey Springs camping area about 4:30. It is one the free camping areas along the Trace. It was full! Well, the host site was open and another site that was in about 6 inches of water. Since we are not hosts we did not feel we could go into that site. We did notice people were doubling up in sites. A couple from Ontario pulled in and took the host site. We went to talk to them. They were not hosts but felt they could use the site since it was not being used by a host. Hmmm! He said we should go ask a couple from Quebec if we could share that site. He told us that people from Ontario and Quebec do not get along so he could not ask but we could. After driving through the campground we noticed all but 2 sites had Canadians in them. We went and asked the couple from Quebec if we could share the site . They agreed. Now I am not ranting, but think about this: Why do I have to ask someone from another country if I can camp by them, when I pay taxes for this federal parkway and campground!? Anyway, it is a nice little campground. It is just boon docking but quite nice.
In the morning we moved on. We drove to a visitor center on the Trace and stopped. The people were very nice and we had some good conversation with them. Shortly there after we left the Trace and got on the interstate. We stopped at a COE campground in Coldwater, MS for the night. Hernando Point campground. Another very nice COE campground. It was not very full so we had a nice choice of sites. We got settled in and we went out for dinner. We had a nice quiet evening. In the morning we got ready to head out. Upon doing our light check on the tow car Mel said we had no brakes! Yikes! We drove out to the boat launch area parking lot. No brakes! Now what? We got out and did a walk around to see if we could see fluid on the ground anywhere. That would tell us where a brake line may have broken. As I walked around the back I saw pink fluid on the fins by the radiator. We were also leaking radiator fluid! We could not find any fluid on the ground that was brake fluid. Mel went back in and did the brakes again while I stayed out and walked around. I saw it! When he pushed the brake I saw fluid by the drivers front wheel. We unhooked the car and drove into town. Coldwater is a very, very small town. Can you even call it a town? Mel saw a place that had school buses by it and men working on them. He pulled in. After a bit he came back and said the man was coming with us back to the coach. He said he could fix it but we had to get it to his shop. He would drive it if Mel was afraid to. Mel drove and I followed in the car. It took about 3 hours to get the brake line fixed. The man spend much of that time talking to other people that stopped by. We had a hard time understanding him. He not only talked southern but black southern. Well, over $200.00 later we were fix and on our way. We do believe we were ripped off on the price but what can we do when we had no other choices. We drove on to Sikeston,MO.. We stayed the night in the Walmart. Of course we had to go to Lamberts's Home of the Throwed Roll for dinner. A person just gets to much food at this place. We knew that from past experience but did that stop us....no! We ordered the smallest thing we could find on the menu. I had smoked sausage and Mel had a hamburger. Mel had french fries that came with his and I had my choice of 2 sides. If you have been to a Lambert's you know that they come around with different pass arounds. Such as: fried potatoes, fried okra, black eyed peas, tomato noodles and then all the throwed rolls you can eat. Mel's hamburger was huge! My dinner was way to much. We left so stuffed we did not eat again till late afternoon the next day. This is the first time were at Lambert's that they were really throwing the rolls instead of tossing them. This young man was whipping them across the dinning room and people were having a blast catching them. I missed my first one, it was to high. I don't know where it went or if it hit anyone behind me! We have decided that we will probably never go to one again... too much food! Also, we think it is pricey.
The next day we drove to another COE campground in southern IL. We pulled into a site and Mel got the satellite hooked up. We saw that bad storms were headed right for us. Mel decided we were outta there! We drove about 80 miles north to Lake Carlyle COE and spent the night. We had a little rain. All the bad weather was south of us. I was surprised at how full this campground was. It was a very nice COE. We left in the morning and headed for Wisconsin. Mel decided he would like a Famous Daves for dinner that night. We stopped in Janesville, WI and went to the Famous Daves. Mel was in heaven and stuffed when we left. He had the combo plate of ribs and brisket. I had half of a BBQ chicken. We waddled our way back to the coach. Although Mel wanted to quit driving for the day I wanted to get home. We were 2 hours away and I could almost feel it so I wanted it. About a mile from our exit I saw a skunk crossing the road and thought "OH NO!" It made to the side of the road just as we passed it but, it sprayed us anyway! Coach and car no less! We made it home! Another winter behind us. Although the neighbors wish we would not have brought that smell with us. It took about 3 days before the smell was gone. We stayed in the house so the neighbors couldn't say anything to us.
Ahhhh, it is good to be home. So good I couldn't wait to bake cookies!, and I did just that on Monday.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles!

HAPPINESS IS GOOD HEALTH AND A BAD MEMORY!

What a day!

2009-03-28T19:46:00.002-05:00

The storms have finally passed. We have had heavy rains and bad storms since wednesday night and it is so good that they are gone now. We had a lovely day with lots of sunshine, a light breeze and much less humid conditions. The high today was around 71 and 41% humidity.
Sandy, Jessie and I went over to the farmers market at the trailhead in Mandeville. Not as many vendors as last week and mostly jewelry, crafts and made up food stuffs. I did buy a Raspberry Haberno jelly. Jessie and I split a volcano...which is a bread bowl filled with a filling of shrimp, crawfish, spinach in a light cheese white sauce. It was quite tasty.
Later, Sandy and I went down to Lakeshore Drive and did our walk along the walkway by Lake Ponchatrain. It was very windy but we found the new area a fun place to walk. The homes are huge and quite expensive. After our walk we just had to go to McDonalds and get a sundae. ( Sandy's idea... honest!)
Mel and I sat outside for a while today and just enjoyed the wonderful day.
I made potatoes and steaks on the grill for dinner. After dinner I went and washed rugs. Tomorrow I will do the rest of the laundry and clean. I also need to pack things away since we will leave here on Monday. We will be starting the trip home. YEAH! I am homesick I will admit. I do not think I would make a good full timer at this. I miss my family and friends to much.
It is so wonderful to not have the air conditioner running. ( and quiet too)
I will try to do another post tomorrow before we do not have internet again.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Memories? Can I remember?

2009-03-22T14:27:00.007-05:00

If you think I can remember every little detail from the past 8 weeks, you are reading the wrong blog!

We left Fountainebleau State Park on Feb 2 and returned here March 15. How is that? The in between stuff is a fog!

We stayed at Sam Houston Jones State Park in Lake Charles,LA. for 2 nights. Why? I dunno know! Sandy and I made a fleece tied blanket. We went out to eat at BBQ place but I can't remember the name. It was good though. We tried the dirty rice and it was spicey hot!, but so good. On Thursday the 5th we dorve to Port Lavaca,TX. Cute little town on the gulf. We stayed at the city park. Price went up from 18/night to 30/night! Whoa! While at Sam Houston Jones SP we noticed our water heater was not working all the time. Hmmm. When we got to Port Lavaca a moble rv repair truck was next door. Mel went over to talk to the man. He came and tested the board and found it was bad. For 100.00 we got a new board installed and we were good to go. It was very windy at Port Lavaca. Sandy and I took a walk out on the pier and almost got blown away.

Friday it was on to Port Aransas. We waited 45 minutes or more to load the ferry. Hard to believe they take us big rv's across. I saw a semi come off one also. Once across it was on to the beach we went. Dave and Sandy noticed that the beach sand was much softer than usual. Hmm. I think you know what is coming ...right? We pulled out onto the beach after paying and getting our permit. Another Safari was on the beach just like ours only 2 years older. Shortly after getting set up a Class B pulled up by us and sunk into the sand ! We did manage to get him pushed out. It was nice when we arrived... sun shining and not to windy. We saw this new Fleetwood coach pull onto the beach. He came in quite fast and stopped quite fast. Although we did not think to much about it till about an hour later when we saw it was sunk down to his frame. Boy, was he sunk! The guy from the other Safari worked for 4 hours trying to dig him out. He would dig and then make a path out of logs. He would back up onto the logs and then sink again. He would do this over and over. Of course the local young guys were watching all this and just waiting for the chance to pull the guy out. For $500.00! They said a tow truck would charge anywhere from $1000.00 to $1200.00. Geez, lets rip off the tourists!at about 6:00 pm the guy finally gave him and had the local boys pull him out. They brought a huge, I mean huge rope. Attached it to the back of the coach. Took off his mud flap. They got the rope tight...then on 3 he pulled the coach out with his pick up truck. It came out so slick. The guy drove his coach right in the campground behind the dunes of the beach. He paid the kid the $500.00. Later we learned that the kid could not charge the man because he had no business license, no insurance to tow ans was a legal contractor for the park. The guy that got pulled out also called a local tow company and found out he would of only charged him $250.00. Seems many people get taken by these local boys that get stuck on the beach. Oh yeah, and guys wife sat in the tow car the whole time drinking beer and getting totally wasted!

Weather changes and boy did it. The next morning the winds had picked up. If we wanted to be outside we had to sit behind the coach out of the wind. Not just wind but salty, sandy wind. We decided it was time to get off the beach. The sands were shifting, people getting stuck and I did not want to take the chance of getting stuck. We got off the beach and went into the campground behind the dunes. The whole time we were at Port Aransas it was windy. We washed the car almost daily just so we could see out of it. We went out to a place called Moby Dicks for dinner one night. We had shrimp that were huge!, and so good. Sandy and I went on the hunt for sand dollars one morning. We found a few small ones. We noticed a lady a head of us with a bunch of big ones that she and her husband were picking up. We still had fun and a good time. We left the island on Tuesday Feb 10. We drove to just north of San Antonio to a rest area for the night. We had bad storms go around us. Heavy rain and small hail. Although we washed the car again before we left the island, we had sand that washed out of the car form somewhere in the morning after the storm. In the morning we headed to a COE park north west of New Braunfels called Potter's Creek. I love this park. We got a nice site. Weather was nice, no wind! we sat outside until we decided we had best wash the coach. It had salty sand all it also. We washed, cleaned windows and rinsed off the car again. We went for a drive around the park. While driving through the 2nd loop we saw that Roger and Delores were there! We had met them at Fountainebleau State Park in January. We had a nice visit with them. While in the area we drove to Lockhart to go to Smitty's BBQ. Smitty's is on the food network and also in Forbes magazine, we are told. It was interesting and good. We also went to the outlet mall in San Marco's. Hugh outlet mall. Roger and Delores came over a few times to visit while they were at the park. They left a day before us. They were starting their trek home. Roger wanted to be home by March 1 to make maple syrup.
Next we went to Lake Georgetown and to COE Jim Hogg Park. We didn't do anything real exciting the week or so we were there that I can remember.
Onto Lake Sommerville in Sommerville, TX. Another COE park. Not much around in this area. Drove to College Station for groceries and also saw the George Bush Library! Not a whole lot of excitement here either.
March 1 we went to Cagle Rec area in the Sam Houston Nat'l Forest. What a beautiful park! We had full hook ups. (50 amp, water and sewer) We also got 1/2 price with Mel's Golden Age Passport. (10.00/night for us) We stayed for 10 days and loved every minute of it. We drove into Houston one day and had lunch. Traveled around the area. Got a haircut in Conroe. On day while driving back to the campground we came around a curve and saw smoke. Lots of smoke! Like forest fire smoke. My heart fell down to my toes. The closer we got the more smoke we saw. It appeared to be coming from the campground. I was about in tears when we saw the sign that told us it was prescribed burn and once we made the last curve we saw it was on the other side of the main road from us. WHEW! Let me tell you... we had a rush and almost a heart attack when we first saw that smoke.
After 10 days we went the Sam Rayburn COE park. Spring breakers had the park almost full. We got one of the last 2 sites. That was luck. We stayed for 2 nights. It was another one that out in the middle of no where. We left and drove to Orange ,Tx.. We got a WIFI signal at a Flying J truck stop. We checked into sites available at Fountainebleau. It was booked for the next 3 nights. We made a reservation for Sunday March 15. We stayed at the Flying J that night. (Thursday)The next day(Friday) we drive to Gonzales, La and stayed at the Walmart. YIPPEE! On Saturday we drove to Hammond, LA and stayed in another Walmart. These last 2 nights were quite humid and rainy. We could not open the windows and we had no electric. We could of started the generator but being in a parking lot we were not comfortable with that. Although we did start it in the morning for a short period of time. Finally it was Sunday and on to Fountainebleau State Park. We got registered and into the campground we went. Jes and LeRoy were quite surprised to see us. As we turned the corner to get to our site I looked and could not believe it... there was Dave and Sandy! (the people we went to port aransas with) What a surprise! We got parked and settled. Lots of hugs form everyone. We talked a while and then I had to get into the shower. After dinner we went over to LeRoy and Jess's to sit around a campfire. This was just like coming home! We had a quite week just veging out and visiting with friends. Us girls did a get away day. We went to craft and farmers market and to Cafe de Monde for bienets.
Today, Friday, March 27 Mel and I drove to Madisonville and went to the Maritime museum. Had a great time.
So now you are up to date and I am exhausted and have a headache. We plan to leave here Monday, March 30 and start our trek home. I want to be home by the 5th.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Oh by the way.. I have removed the music from the blog.

Leaving Fontainebleau for Port Aransas!

2009-02-01T20:03:00.004-06:00

We leave Fontainebleau State Park tomorrow. I must tell you that this is a wonderful park. It is not only beautiful here but the park is maintained quite well. I would recommend this park to anyone. Any campground can have it's problems, but we have not had any real "major" problems here with the park. I am sure we will be back.

Saturday we went to dinner with both camp host couples. We went to Applebees and had an just "alright" meal. We were all disappointed with the service and then the food.

Today I went a did 2 loads of laundry. I won't have to worry about laundry for a week.

We were going to go to a Mardi Gras parade today but laundry took to long.

Sandy and I went to Barnes and Noble and then to get groceries. I hope we are stocked up and I have not forgotten anything.

I do not know when we will have an internet connection again. So, all I can say is, keep checking back.

Stay well, be happy and smile!

Toodles

Suds, lunch and shopping

2009-01-30T09:24:00.002-06:00

Oh no , It's Friday already! The days just fly by and now I will try to download my memory and see just what we did this week!
Tuesday was a work day. Time to suds my duds! After brunch I headed out to the the laundry. They only have 2 washers here so 4 loads take awhile. Took my book along. After I got the second round going I came back for the sheets I had forgotten to take off the bed. I started laundry at about 1 and got done at almost 5. Someone needs to invent the 5 minute wash and dry! I threw some potatoes in the oven and we headed off for showers. We had meal in peel for dinner then just sacked out with the tv.
Wednesday...now this was a fun day! First off Mel and LeRoy headed off to an Rv place in Hamilton to pick up parts LeRoy ordered as did Mel. They left about 8:45 in our car. At noon us "girls" ( Jessie, Sandy and Judy) planned to go to lunch. The guys also went to another rv place and got back at 11:45. We thought they would be back by 11. I think they went to the mall and went shoe shopping and just don't want to admit it. ;~o The girls headed off to Slidell to Bayou Country for lunch. This place was huge. We walked in and they had a store with all Louisiana products. That took up about 90% of the place. We finally found the cafe in the back. Ordered our lunches. I had the soup and 1/2 sandwich. Smoked chicken and a crab bisque. Oh my! That bisque was so good, and the sandwich wasn't bad either. After we ate we just had to walk around the store and shop. I picked up some goodies for gifts to bring home, along with some pralines for ME! I guess I will share a little with Mel. We all had our goodies and left so happy with our treasures. We tried to find the Barnes and Noble in Shildell but no luck. We got back around 3.
We had the leftover soup I made for dinner. I wished I had some crusty bread to go with it.
Thursday was a nothing day. We dumped tanks. Thought I would share that happy thought with you. I cleaned and vacuumed. We grilled steaks, and potatoes and also a pack of sweet potatoes. Mel loves potatoes cooked in a grill pack. I love the sweet potatoes grill packed. They were all so good.
Today, Friday, is still up in the air. I think we will go and get groceries. We leave here Monday with Dave and Sandy. We will follow them to Port Aransas,TX and camp on the beach. I will need to get groceries before we leave. I am looking forward to seeing an area we have not really been to before. A number of years ago we did got to Padre Islands while John was on spring break. We don't remember much of that trip, except John was awful sick.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles!

Prevost,cake and cooling off

2009-01-27T10:02:00.006-06:00

Sunday was cloudy and rain so we just stayed in for the most part. I made my hamburger, vegetable and barley soup. It makes so much that I took some over to LeRoy and Jessie. I have no room in the freezer.

Sandy and went for a walk and ended up in the Prevost that is here in the campground. (Charolette and Dennis) Very interesting couple. I could listen to the stories they told for hours.They lived fulltime on a yacht for 9 years and a motorhome for 5 years. They were anchored on the Potomac River on Sept 11.(911) They told of the mayham in Washington that day. A very interesting couple.

When I got back we were invited to LeRoy and Jessie's for cake. Dave and Sandy were there also. We had a good time face flappin with everyone we talked to all day, everyday!

We got back home and finally had dinner. The soup was so good. I was tired by them so dishes waited till Monday while I veg'd out.

Monday we woke up to sun. By noon I had on a tee shirt and was out walking. By the time I got back it was cloudy, windy and I had to put on a sweatshirt. We decided to go out to Backyard Hamburger for dinner. Pretty good!
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Reservations and a jolt!

2009-01-25T08:52:00.003-06:00

Another week has passed! I must have been busy doing something. I'll work on jogging my memory.
Monday I finally got a haircut. We drove into Slidell and went to the Walmart. Mel browsed the store while I got my ears lowered. We stopped at Taco Bell for some lunch. That was just ok. We drove about Slidell and Mel stopped at boating store and picked up something for the coach. Replaced a broken cup holder. Cheaper than an rv store.
Mel went back to Danny's Auto repair today. They were the first to try and fix our alternator problem. He talked to Danny about the charges and how they did not fix our problem. After much talk and stuff he gave us 100.00 back! A check of course. Banks were closed Monday so Tuesday morning Mel headed the bank that the check was written from. He had to put his thumb print on the check. It was cashed.
Tuesday was spent doing laundry. We had to move to Fairview on Wednesday so I wanted to get the laundry done here. I don't like the laundry at Fairview. After laundry I started to get things put away for the move. Tuesday evening LeRoy and Jessie came over for some face flappin.
Wednesday we said farewell, dumped our tanks and headed out for Fairview for our 7 days. Louisiana State Parks only allow you to stay for 14 days and then you have to out for 7 days. That is why we keep moving back and forth. Mel had made our reservations at Fairview and then back here at Fontainebleau. We arrived at fairview, went to the office and....no reservation! What? I went back to the coach to get confirmation number. The girl in the office checked it and it was for Fontainebleau as was the one after the 7days there. Rats! They could not transfer the reservation or the payment. we would have to call headquarters and see if we could get our money back. Instead, Mel called Fontinebleau and talked to the manager. Told him of our mistake and if we could have an extension so we would not loose our payment. He told Mel he has to be more careful when using the internet but he would allow us to extend for the 12 more days we needed. Whew! So back to Fontainebleau we came. We drove in and I think LeRoys mouth dropped to the ground. He asks whats going on? we told him of Mel's error in reservations. We would rather be here anyway! We don't care for Fairview as much as here.
So are parked in our spot till the 2nd of Feb.. Then we hit the road!
Thursday was a quiet day. Jessie and I along with Sandy were going to go to quilting but Jessie was sick. She thought she had a flu but later thought it might be food poisoning. I went for my walk and we just chilled out for the day.
Friday was a jolting day. Mel was outside putting some tools of his away and got a shock from the coach. Hmmm. We thought it may be stray voltage. Mel told LeRoy about it and together they started to check things out. Then Dave came over to help. He is the other host. It finally came down to our electric cord... it had a bad end on it. We drove over to Slidell again to find ends for the cord and replace them. We hit the Lowes, Home Depot and Walmart. We also went to an electrical store. Mel finally found one of the ends he needed. He dropped me off at Pennys while he went to another store. I wanted to go to Pennys because they were having a buy one get one free sale on all clearance items. My neighbor from home told me about it when she called Thursday evening. She got almost 250.00 of clothes for a little over 40.00. I spent a half hour in the store and found....nothing! I did find one top but I could not another that I liked. So I put it back. Mel and I stopped and had a sandwich before heading home.
Saturday we were off to RV stores to look for the female cord end that Mel could not find on Friday. We also had a list from LeRoy and Jessie of a few items they wanted. We stopped at Berryland Campers and Camping World. Found almost everything we needed. Mel found the end we needed and a few more items. We got what L & J wanted except the camping directory. Back home again.
Just a quiet week in the life of a snowbird!
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Shrimp, campfire and dumplings

2009-01-19T09:01:00.003-06:00

I have been doing so well at getting a walk in everyday. I am usually gone about an hour. I have been walking the 2 campgrounds here but I need to get over by the lake and check out that area. A horned owl has a home in the park and has has a baby. It is interesting to check it out daily.
Friday we did groceries. Mel also went to talk to the place that "tried" to fix the alternator for 200 plus dollars, and failed. The owner was not in. Friday night we went out to eat with both camp hosts ( LeRoy, Jessie, Sandy and Dave) also another couple from the park. (Mick and Ann) We went to Louie and the Redheaded Lady. Food was good but the service was terrible. I had AYCE shrimp. They were very good. After that the camp hosts came over for dessert. I made strawberry shortcake. We has a fun evening with much laughter.
Saturday was just another day around here. We putts around here. I went for my walk. We went over to check out the visitor center. Quite interesting. Displays on the history of the park. A man was whittling in the center. It was a small paddle. About 6 inches long. I was watching him and noticed another one laying by him. I wondered what he was making. So, I asked! I though he was making something for a display or something. He handed me the paddle and said I could have it. It was made from cypress shingles that were on a building in the park. The shingles were put on in the 30's by the CCC. The roof was replaced about a year ago. He carves different items from the shingles. I also bought a tee shirt. After dinner we went to LeRoy and Jessie's for a camp fire. Many couples attended and it was interesting to listen to the many tales.
Sunday was just a lazy day. Mel putted around doing and checking different things on the coach. I went for my walk and visited with Dave and Sandy for awhile. Our neighbors are a family traveling with there children. The dad is an insurance adjuster. They travel where ever he is needed. The children are home schooled. They worked as relief workers here after Katrina. The stories she told me are just horrible. They are leaving today and we wish them many safe travels. In the late afternoon I went over to show Jessie how to make dumplings. She has tried and tried to make them and they never turn out quite right. She made them with me showing her how we make ours. She did very well and they were delicious. She made chicken and dumplings. I had made that earlier in the week. After dinner we came home and had a quiet evening watching tv.
So goes the life of an RVer.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

John's Day

2009-01-16T17:20:00.003-06:00

Today is our son John's birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We love ya and wish you a great day.

Life goes on!

2009-01-16T08:36:00.002-06:00

It seems so boring around here now that we are repaired. With nothing to worry about I had go and do laundry. I had quite a bit to do. I am not sure how we had so much already. I think someone else added to it. I got it all done including the rugs. Took 2 1/2 hours but then I had nothing else to do.
When I got back Mel was at the neighbors. A gathering of the minds! Looked like a union meeting going on! The gathering was by Roger and Delores' trailer. Delores brought out King Cake for everyone. King Cake is a big thing here during Mardi Gras. It is like a cinnamon bread only in an oval and is filled with cream cheese or a pudding. A baby is baked inside. A little plastic baby doll. Whoever gets the baby has to buy the next King Cake and host the party. Both King Cakes we have partaken in had the baby on the outside of the cake. We think that may be for liability reasons. Someone could choke on that baby doll. The cake has a heavy glaze on it and then colored sugar. The sugar is almost as thick as the glaze. You would surely have sugar fix if you have a piece. I scrape most of the glaze and sugar off. We have not gone into New Orleans for any Mardi Gras events yet. I really don't think we will. We have events going on around this area also. Every weekend many different "balls" are going on all around New Orleans and the area. I was told a woman never wears the same gown twice to a ball during Madri Gras. Each "ball" she wears a NEW gown. How come a man can wear the same tux but a woman has to wear a new gown? Now I know why I see so many Gown Shops here.
After our visit and King Cake I drove to Slidell with Sandy. Sandy and her husband Dave are the hosts on the other side of the campground. We went over to go to Hancock Fabrics. She had been wanting to go for a while but didn't know where it was. I had seen it on a couple of our trips to and through Slidell. I took her and she was so happy. She wanted to get fabric to make fleece throw blankets. The kind that does not need to be sewn. You just cut and tie. I have seen them but never made one so I got some fabric also. Sandy and I will make throws.
Sandy and Dave will leave here the end of the month for Port Aransas Texas. We are going to go with them. They camp on the beach. This will be a new adventure for us and we are looking forward to it.
We got back in time for CSI. Grissom's last show. I think he made the whole show. It will be interesting to see how the show goes without him.
We were in bed by 9:45!
Stay well, be Happy and smile!
Toodles

Energized!!

2009-01-14T19:07:00.003-06:00

We carefully brought out of her coma. She awoke slowly. At first no sign of charging! Arghhhhhhhh! Then it happen. The needle jumped up and it was charging. Hooray! We went out for a ride. The last time we thought it was fixed it broke 12 miles down the road. So, the big test. We got on the interstate. Drove into MS. We drove about 40 miles. All is fine. We stopped at a casino and went in to have the buffet. Came back out. Started her back up. At first she did not start charging right away. Again, all of sudden she started charging. We drove home. After 80 miles it is decided that we may finally be mobile again. We were gone so long that LeRoy called to see if we were alright. Once we got back to our camp site we had quite a gathering. Seems many people were concerned about us.
We are feeling so good that we are both exhausted! It will be an early bed night.
Thanks to everyone for advice and good wishes.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Transplant update

2009-01-13T20:13:00.003-06:00

So far the transplant has been a success. The alternator is charging. Tomorrow a test drive will be done and that should tell us the outcome.
It has been a terrible 13 days. So many "fixes" and then the let down. So far this has been the best result we have had. This one was done on our own also. So other than parts we did not have to pay anyone. Whew! It was getting expensive!
Today I went with Jessie and Sandy to the quilt club at Jessie's church. We tied a couple of quilts that they give out to Hospice and such. It was a good time and relaxing. When I returned Mel had everything taken care of with the alternator. Moods are much better here tonight. It was getting pretty crabby around here and it got worse each day.
Last night Jessie and LeRoy had us over for dinner. She made pea soup from scratch and it was wonderful.
The weather has turned cooler here. High the past few days has only been around 59. That is alright with me. Better than the humidity. We sleep much better also when it is cooler. We like the bedroom around 60.
Stay well, be happy and smile.
Toodles

Day 13, appendage

2009-01-13T07:37:00.002-06:00

Day 13 and the appendage has been removed. During a highly skilled procedure yesterday in Slidell an unusual growth was apparent. Along with a non responsive internal organ. A donor was found and new organ is being transferred here. We should know by later today if the transplant was a success and if the patient will survive.

Prosthesis or not? This is a question!

2009-01-12T08:52:00.003-06:00

It is day 12 of the on going drama of the alternator. What will happen today? Mel is off to Slidell to another Alternator and Starter business. Also, a stop at Oscar's. Oscar is an older man that does repair at his home. He told Mel on Friday that he could get it running. So... can it repaired or will we have to amputate? Prosthesis?

Handicappped

2009-01-09T10:23:00.002-06:00

Just to let everyone know. We are still handicapped! we had 3 fixes done to the alternator and it is still broken. Argh! Mel is totally stressed out and I am worried about him and the stupid alternator. We did get moved back to Fountainebleau State Park. LeRoy and Jessie are helping us as much as they can. What will happen next is a darn good question. We are off to find a alternator place in Shildell. I pray for answers.

Good, bad and yummy!

2009-01-01T20:40:00.002-06:00

Started out to be a nice day. It was sunny and a little cool.
I went to get groceries. Many shelves were empty. A lot of people must of had house parties. I got most of what was on my list. The few things that were out of stock I can wait on.
When I got back Mel was checking into things on the coach. He noticed that when we drove over here yesterday, the batteries were not charging. He checked out the isolator, it was good. Checked fuses... those were good. Went on line and checked some other things. When he went back to look at the engine area again..well, that is where it all went bad. He saw a wire off of the alternator. I found it he says. Thinking he would just have to wire the wire back up. Wrong! The connector was broke also. Drats! We don't know if the wire can be fixed or if the alternator shorted out form the broken wire. So we will look for a repair place tomorrow. We did go online and found some places to call tomorrow. I get so stressed out whenever something happens and then I just want to sell this RV and stay home. Well, we will see what tomorrow brings.
On a good note. We had a wonderful dinner tonight. I made baby back ribs and baked potatoes. The ribs were so good. I mix up a rub that we just love. The ribs come out so tender and full of flavor.
More fireworks are going off tonight along the river. Have not gone out to see any though.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Fireworks

2009-01-01T09:48:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year everyone!
We moved over to Fairview State Park yesterday. Such a long drive! (11 miles) We got set up but no Direct TV. To many trees in our way. Local tv only. Do you think Mel will survive?
We were invited back to Fontainebleau for a camp fire last night. We went over around 6 ish. Leroy, Jessie, Sandy and Dave. We could hear fireworks going off. Lots of them. Jessie served King cake. Yummy! She got the piece with the baby in it. Well, actually, the baby was on top instead of in the cake. She decided she would take it. Tradition is that who ever gets the baby has to buy the next King cake and host the party. We had a nice time sitting around the campfire and just talking and laughing with some very nice new friends. We left about 9 and then drove down to the lake front. Thought we might we see some fireworks. Only a family with children in the park and sparklers.
On the drive home we could see fireworks in the sky all over in different sub-divisions. Once we got back here we had lots fireworks. The homes around the park were shooting off some pretty nice big ones. The park is along the Tchefuncte River. At midnight I think every home along the river was shooting off fireworks of some kind. We went outside and everywhere we looked we saw the sky lit up. Unbelievable! It was so pretty!
It was cooler this morning when we got up..42! Kind of an overcast day with little peaks of sun so far.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Haircut, carmel rolls and chocolates

2008-12-30T18:17:00.002-06:00

Another beautiful day. Sunny, light breeze and about 69 degrees.
After coffee this morning and reading blogs it was time to get into the shower. I was barely out of the shower when Jessie came over. I trimed her hair. We chatted for a while and she invited us for carmel rolls and coffee once they were out of the oven.
I was doing my hair when the neighbor, Judy, came over with chocolates. They (her and Sid) made them yesterday. She wanted me to have some for helping her yesterday when she had laundry going and needed to help Sid with the candy. All I did was empty her dryer, fold the clothes and bring them back to her. The chocolates were/are so wonderful. Wonderful raspberry filling in some. Sid really knows how to make chocolates and I will appreciate every one of them.
After lunch Leroy came over to say rolls are ready. we were not very hungry since we just had lunch. Jessie brought out those rolls and they looked so good both Mel and I had to have one. The other camp hosts were also invited. A nice couple but I don't remember her name. His was Dave. We all sat around and talked and joked for awhile afterwards.
Back at the RV, Mel was reading. I went for a walk over to the other campground and back. Once I got back I read for awhile and then started dinner. Grilled hamburgers, fries,and pickles.
I got dishes cleaned up and now here I am.
We leave here tomorrow. Our 14 day limit is up. We will move to Fairview- Riverside SP for a week and we may come back here another 14 days. Leroy and Jessie want us to come back tomorrow night for a camp fire. ( New Years Eve)We may just do that since we are only a few miles down the road.
Stay well, be happy and smile
Toodles

A whole bunch of nothing!!

2008-12-29T18:18:00.003-06:00

It sure is hard to write something when we don't do anything! Well, we do stuff, but is talking to the neighbor of interest to you? Rather boring I'd say. I could talk about the weather. Sunday was cloudy all day with sprinkles on and off. Sunday night the rain came along with thunder and lightning. We got a total of 1 1/8 inch. We have small lakes all around the campground. The humidity has finally dropped. It had been at 96-98% and today was 58%. I actually had a good hair day. With the humidity I had wavey, stick em up curls and frizz. I wondered.... hmmm when did I get this bad perm? Thankfully it is back to normal.
Today I cleaned house and got the laundry done. Laundry is always a fun chore. They have 2 washers here. They are very nice when there are only 10 campers. With the campground almost full one almost has to take a number to get into the laundry room. I waited 45 minutes for a washer. Then another 20 minutes for the other washer. The people with the first washer decided to go dry the clothes at there daughter's house. The second one came back to empty the washer about 20 minutes after it was done. I had no problems getting a dryer. With laundry done and the house clean I thought I could finally sit down. It was 3:45 and Mel wanted dinner. Since we had a late breakfast we did not have lunch. So I started dinner. We brought a mix to make onion rings and decided to try those tonight along with Italian sausage. Those onion rings were so good. Not something we would eat a lot of,( not good for our health) but they were super.
Jessie and Leroy (our hosts) were over today. We leave here Wednesday because our 14 days are up. We will move to Fairview State Park just down the road for 7 days and then we will probably come back here for a while. We were discussing reservations with them and checking out different sites. We kinda like the site next to them. Gives a view of the whole campground and we can see what is going on. They want us to come back so we can all go out to dinner at Louie and the Redheaded Lady. It is closed till next week for the holidays. Sounds good to me. They have seafood..yum!
Tomorrow I will trim Jessie's hair. She saw me giving Mel a haircut and asked if I cut hair. I told her "Only in the movies!". Sounded good enough to her so I will just give her a trim tomorrow.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Beignets,Fairview and Slidell

2008-12-27T18:05:00.004-06:00

We ventured out today! We went to the farmers market. It is held on the Tammany Trailhead. Only produce we saw was grapefruit! The rest was all crafts. Nice crafts but I was not looking for them. We browsed about but did not purchase anything. On to Cafe De Monde and beignets! Oh they were so good! Fried dough puffs with lots of powdered sugar. Three bienets for 1.82. It was enough for both of us. A cup of coffee and we were set. On to the French Market. A produce store, along with shrimp, crawdads and all that other seafood stuff. Finally got some produce. Onions, grapefruit, pears and peaches. Nice sweet onions for making onion rings! Mmmmmm!
Stopped at Ace hardware to check propane prices. $3.33 with the tax.
Drove to Fairview State Park to check if they had openings starting the 31st. NO! We have been here for 14 days and need to move on the 31st. We didn't want to travel on a holiday so we thought we would move about 10 miles down the road to Fairview. Now what? Don't know!
We went Times Grill for lunch. Home of the world's best hamburger. Mel had a hamburger and said it was very good. I had a grilled chicken pasta bowl that was wonderful.
We headed back to the campground but drove past it. Mel drove to Slidell. We drove down by the bridge area that was hit quite badly by Katrina. It has been 3 years (and of course Gustav went through) and it still looks devastated! So many houses gone and so many being worked on. Yet, many lots and homes for sale. In the marsh area we saw boats overturned, an outhouse, and a car! I asked Mel if he could imagine coming home to nothing? He gave me a weird look. Oh yeah, we did that once! Our home burned down and all we had was the clothes on our backs. My heart really goes out to all the people here.
Time to go home. We got home and took a walk around the campground. Lots of famlies here and lots of kids on bicycles. Chatted with the hosts again.
I don't think we need dinner tonight. we ate far to much already today. Maybe just a salad.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Oh, we went online and got a reservation at Fairview!
Toodles!

Hot, humid and the guy next door

2008-12-26T19:52:00.002-06:00

Another record day here. It was 80 again. High humidity and we get lots of fog.

Our Christmas was quiet. Christmas eve we watched tv. I grilled steaks for us for dinner. Christmas day we stayed home. We sat outside most of the day and read our books. Talked to the neighbors and the hosts. We were going to go and see the fires along the Mississippi on Christmas eve but it was so foggy we just stayed home. It is a cajun thing that happens along the river. I made ham, potatoes, yams, corn and rolls for our dinner. We talked to John and he was going to his friends later in the day. After dinner Mel watched tv while reading his book and I was on the computer. I went into an rv chat room. Quite interesting, Nice people. We hit the sheets around midnight.

Today was another quiet day. I cleaned up around the coach and put the Christmas stuff away. We had to empty our holding tanks so that was done. Took showers and then sat outside. Talked with the hosts again. About 3:00 the activity increased around the campground. More and more campers arriving. Mostly from LA and families. We had a 5th wheel pull in next us. When he was letting his slides out his brackets broke off the slide. First the front one, he stopped and while looking at what happen the other one broke off. It is a new 5 th wheel. He was not a happy camper. Later, Mel noticed he turned on his a/c and it made a lot of noise and off it went. I think they are having the camping trip from hell. I feel bad for them. He is outside now doing something with his propane tanks..again. Hmmm, poor guy!

I made meal-in-a-peel for us for dinner. It was so good. We still have cake left so we will have that later.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Christ-mas NOT Present-mas

2008-12-24T09:49:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas!
Take time to remember the real reason for this holiday...the baby Jesus.
I saw this sign at a church and it says it all:

Christ -mas
NOT
Present-mas

How true is that?

Take time to enjoy your loved ones.
Don't get wrapped up in the wrapping paper.

Enjoy the day.
Happy Birthday Jesus!

Laundry, cookies and po boys

2008-12-23T18:45:00.003-06:00

It was cloudy most of the day. Our high was in the low 60's. The humidity rolled in about noon.
After my shower I went and did laundry. Just 2 loads. Sheets and whites. Came back and cleaned the coach. Oh how exciting!
About 2 we went to the camp hosts site for cookies and cheer. I now know the names of the hosts: Leroy and Jessie. About 25-30 people were there at different times. We chatted with quite a few and learned of some and interesting spots to go to. We learned of a place that we can camp right on the beach of the gulf. It costs 70.00 a week. No hook-ups and you get 2 dumps and 2 water fill ups. I think we just may go and check it out. One couple we met have been full time rving for 29 years. (18 of which they worked, which involved travel in the rv) Quite an interesting couple. We also heard of some of the good places to eat in the area. One is a Po Boy place down the road. It made us so hungry hearing about it we had to go try it. We got a huge roast beef po boy for 4.99. I want to try the shrimp po boy next. The one we had tonight was delicious!
Again tonight we drove through some neighborhoods to see the lights. It was just after 5 so many were not on yet. I think tomorrow night we may go out again. That will give us something to do.
We are getting to know our way around Mandeville quite well I think.
Till next time.....
Merry Christmas my friends
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

St Bernard Parish, cookies and cheer!

2008-12-22T20:18:00.002-06:00

It was 33 when we got up and cloudy. Soon the sun pokes his head through and decided to stay. How sweet of him. We went exploring today. We drove down towards New Orleans but went east and into St Bernard Parish. Katrina had hit here hard and I believe this the area of much flooding also. After 3 years a lot has been repaired but many reminders still remain. We did see houses that still had the painted X on them. I forget what all went into the X but I do remember that the date it was searched was at the top, I think the right side told if any bodies, the bottom may have said if people were rescued. Now remember, I am not real sure on that or the order it was in. We saw homes with roofs gone, half a home and lots of debris. We drove in to check out St Bernard State Park. A nice park.They had many sites open. After we left the park we drove to Port Nickel, I think that was the name of the town, and we took the free ferry across the Mississippi. How cool is that! We drove north to Business 90 and went west into Westwego. We stayed in Westwego last 2 times we were here at the state park. We took 90 across the river again. We crossed on the Huey P. Long Bridge. A old bridge that scares the you know what out of me. It was not to bad in the car but, in the coach...Yikes! I did not like that. We stopped on the other side and ate. We had Raising Cane, which is a chicken strip fast food. The strips are the tenderloin part of the breast and are they ever yummie. We drove north and took the causeway across the Lake back to the northshore area where we are camped. We stopped for paper towels in Mandeville. That area is always so busy. On our way back to the campground we took a side road and went into neighborhoods to look at the lights. We saw some beautiful decorations. We like to drive around and see the Christmas decorations. When we got home we had note on the door from the host and his wife. They invited us over for cookies and cheer tomorrow afternoon. Sounds good to me. I am all for cheer. One of the homes we drove past tonight, a lady was out in the yard, and I was going to ask if we could come for Christmas dinner, but I was nice and didn't.
I did buy a ham to cook for us.
John seems to be improving a little everyday. I am always happy to hear from him and know that he is doing well. The closer we get to Christmas I get depressed. I always worry about John and his being alone. On Christmas day, later in the day, he does go over to a friends. I just get so sad thinking about him alone on Christmas eve and the day. I always want to stay home till after Christmas but we never do.
Tomorrow I think I will strip the bed and wash the sheets before we go to our cookies and cheer.
Till then..
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Cold front, groceries and a cake

2008-12-21T19:33:00.002-06:00

It rained about 4 am for a half hour. It was cloudy when we got up and the temps were dropping. Our high today was 58. Right now it is 46. Tonight's low is in the 30's.
The host and his wife brought our paper over around 11am. After lunch I went for a walk. It was quite windy. When I came back the hosts wife was here and we talked for over a good hour. After she left Mel and I went for a walk. We decided to stay for 9 more days. They have a 14 day max here so that will put us at 14 days. We went to the office to pay and after that we went out for milk. Went for milk and came back with 6 bags full of more groceries! I just can not take Mel to the store with me. It took over an hour in the store to just get milk.
I baked a cake tonight. All I have in the coach is micro/convection oven. I have made corn bread and baked cookies but never a cake. It is about 4 inches in the center and tapers down to the side. Kinda like a ski hill. Hopefully it will be good.
I talked with our granddaughter, Rachel, last night. It was her birthday.....Happy Birthday again Rachel. She turned 13. I asked how much snow they got yesterday. Her reply "A lot". Sounds like she had a nice birthday and I am thankful for that.
Not much else new here.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Clouds, store closings, stew and pistolettes!

2008-12-20T20:08:00.004-06:00

We woke to a cloudy day. I think the high was 68 and again, very humid. All this humidity has caused problems for the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. A 29 mile bridge that crosses the lake from north to south and the other way around. Fog has been so heavy that they have closed the causeway at times or escorted vehicles across. We are waiting for weather to clear so we can cross and see it all. The cold front is to come in tomorrow morning. Our temps will drop 20 degrees. Yikes! I guess we will turn off the a/c and turn on the heaters. Atleast it may be dryier! I am tired of the humidity.
After we had breakfast I did dishes and Mel went out to finish reading his book. I took a walk around the campground. Stopped to visit with the host and find out about any Christmas lights in any of the neighborhoods. Nothing that she knew of. She advised us that we NOT go into New Orleans after dark. She said it is still very dangerous. Alot of shootings and murders. Of course Mel thinks that means we should go just so he can prove her wrong.
We drove over to Covington to the Camping World. Mel wanted to look at a camping book. He decided not to buy it. Said it wasn't a very informative book. After that we drove to Madisonville to check out a Linens and Things Store that is going out of business. Last 3 days and nothing was left! Shucks! Throughout our travel this trip we have seen many stores that are closing the doors.
I had made a stew for dinner in the crock pot. When we got home I baked some pistolettes to go along with the stew. Everything was so good. OH, we found this bag of pistolette at the store yesterday. They are a bake and serve roll. A very crusty roll and very good! Yummmy!
After dinner I did dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. I took another walk around the campground and gave the host money to pick us up a paper tomorrow. I think the hosts like us. They are over here a lot and always want to do something for us. I don't see them around the other campers. Hmmmm! They are nice people and fun to talk to.
Time to get ready for bed and veg out with the tv.
Stay well, be happy and smile

Laundry and strange foods

2008-12-19T20:45:00.003-06:00

Another nice sunny day and it was 80! One more nice day and then the cold front comes in and the weather will be normal for this time of the year. Highs in the 50's and lows in the 30's.
We stayed home today. I went and did 2 loads of laundry. They have 2 washers and dryers at this state park. Brand new Maytags. I came back, put laundry away and cleaned the coach and vacuumed. Mel decided to take a nap and I forgot to wash towels. So while he napped I went back and did the towels. Later we went and got groceries. It took us almost 2hours. Why? So many foods we had never heard of and we were just having fun finding them. On our drive home we hit another neighborhood to see the Christmas lights.
We had pizza for dinner and then I did my ironing.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Resurrection

2008-12-18T20:21:00.003-06:00

We awoke to sunshine today. A nice change from the cloudy days we have had all week. We drove around the neighborhoods here that are by the Lake. The houses are huge! I would say the houses are about 6 times the size of ours. Most all of them built on pillars. Beautiful homes. Although I would not want to live in a house that big, nor heat or a/c it. Let alone clean it. I suppose that if you have a home that big you probably have a maid or cleaning people come in.
Tonight we drove back to that neighborhood to see the Christmas lights. Not many very lit up much to my surprise. A park along the lake had all the trees wrapped in lights, the gazebo was all in lights and lights along the walk path. That was very pretty.
John made it through a whole day of work today and was actually hungry when he got home. With mono the doctor said he would not have much of an appetite. So far he has not eaten much but tonight he said he ate well. His best bet for getting over this soon is to eat, sleep and not get stressed. Hopefully, he will get over this fast.
My back is much better tonight, as long as I keep taking drugs! I did not sleep well last night. Every move caused me pain. I think tonight will be much better.
It was 77 here today. A record high for this time of the year. We still have a very high humidity. A cold front is on the way. I checked weather at home this morning and it was -15! Brrrrrrrrrrrrr! Tomorrow they get snow.
Time for me to get ready for bed. Till tomorrow, and hopefully a more exciting day...
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles
Oh, on the trees here a plant called "resurrection fern" grows on the bark. When it is dry it turns brown and looks dead. After a rain it gets green again. The camp host brought us some. I now need to look for something to put it in. It is a dainty fern and quite interesting.

Can I remember it all?

2008-12-17T17:23:00.003-06:00

Well it has been 11 days since we left home. Now I will try to remember it all. The first day will be easy. We left home at 8:30 a.m. and headed south. We drove straight through the day and into the night. We arrived at the first rest area in Mississippi at 12:30 A.M.. It took us 16 hours .

We had stopped for breakfast in Westfield, WI., and then had sandwiches along the rest of the way. We pretty much fell into bed that night.

In the morning we drove to Enid Lake. A Corp. of Engineers, campground. We stayed at Wallace Creek campground. This is a very nice campground. We had 50 amp electric, water and a level concrete pad. About 6 other campers were in the campground. We could look out on to the lake from our site. That evening we had the most awesome sunset either of us had ever seen.

On Sunday (7th) we drove into Batesville ,MS., and explored the town. Went to a little cafe we had stopped at last year. I had a BBQ pork sandwich and Mel had the catfish. The catfish were not as good as last year. Mel said they were mushy! After we ate we picked up some milk and headed back home.

Monday we drove south to Grenada, MS to check out another COE campground on Grenada Lake. The lake was dried up! The campground was not much at all. Explored Grenada some and then went back home.

Tuesday we just veg'd out at home. Cleaned up and vaccumed.

Wednesday we went for a drive and discoverd another COE campground the other side of the dam. Again it is very nice and a COE campground. We like the COE's because with Mel's National Parks Golden Age Passport we pay half price. At Wallace Creek we paid 5.00 a night.

Wednesday we moved the other side of the dam to Persimmon Hill and paid 5.00 a night. We veg'd out for the next 2 days.

Saturday (13th) we drove to Collinsville, MS to another COE campground. This is just north of Meridan, MS.

Sunday (14th) we explored Meridan. Got groceries and gas for the car. (1.30/gal) Diesel prices for the coach have been 2.59- 1.99. Yup, we got diesel in Meridan for 1.99. We were so happy.

Monday (15) we moved to a campground in Poplarville, MS.. It seems like all the towns in MS have a "ville" on the name. Anyway, we stayed at Haas-cienda in Poplarville. It is a Passport America campground, a membership camping club. We get half price sites with this membership. In the book this campground sounded so wonderful. We needed to do laundry and it had a "laundry mat". We stayed 2 nights but it was not as grand as we thought. The laundry: had 6 washers, 2 worked. It had 6 dryers, 2 worked. The washers that did work, leaked. So the floors were wet and had puddles. I did the heavy stuff at the "laundry mat"and then did the rest in my washer in the coach. The floors were dirty and they had dogs and cats running loose everywhere.

On Tuesday we drove to the the Northshore area of Lake Pontchartrain to check it out for camping. We stopped in Slidell and had lunch at Raising Cain. They are fast food chicken strips. We had not been to one so decided to try it. They use the tenderloin part of the breast and they are wonderful. We had dinners that came with 3 strips, coleslaw, toast, and fries. Everything was good. After that we to Fairview-Riverside State Park. Checked out the park and the sites. Then we went to Foutainebleau State Park to check it out and the sites. We decided which one we move to and headed back home. We were going to check out the BBQ place in poplarville for dinner but it was closed. We came back home and I threw in the last of my laundry and we went to Pizza Hut. Bad pizza! Over cooked and no one cared except us!

Today, Wednesday, we moved to Fontainebleau State Park. It is beautiful here. We also have free WIFI. Thus the update. We are settled in and I have dinner cooking on the grill. Tonight is chicken, baked potatoes, and corn. When we were leaving the other campground this morning I threw my back out. We were hooking up the car and out it went. I can hurts so bad but with the help of some pain pills I am doing alright. Louisiana State Parks honor the Golden Age Passport also so we pay half price at the State Parks also. We have 50 amp electric, water and the free wifi. Tomorrow we go exploring around here. During our stay we will also go into New Orleans.
Dinner should be ready so I write again soon.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

We are hitting the road!

2008-12-03T19:12:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow we leave..finally! Hopefully we will be out of here by 8:00. I have everything packed. Just have to grab my make up bag, some soda's, and a few things off the counter and we are gone.
We had planned to leave today but it snowed in southern Wisconsin, IL, MO, TN, along with sleet and rain. Tomorrow it looks clear all the way to MS.
I don't know when we will have an internet connection, so , bear with me.
Till then, Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

2008-12-01T22:32:00.002-06:00

I am getting everything ready to go. I have loaded items that will not freeze and cloth items.It looks like snow through Wednesday. We plan to go straight south through IL and down into MS. Thursday looks clear all the way down. On our first day we drive till we are just into MS. Pull into a rest area and call it a day. We left here at 8am last year and got into the rest area about 11pm. After that we take our time and meander around. We will probably check out more of MS this year and go into LA and mosie around for a while before heading into Texas. We will probably hit AZ in January sometime. Tomorrow I want to do a quick cleaning around the house. Get our clothes together and loaded. Load whatever I can before we turn on the furnace. I will turn on electric heater while I run in and out tomorrow. We will turn on the furnace on Wednesday then load the freezables. On Thursday we will load the frig, and we are off!
I do not know about an internet connection. We will look for WIFI so if we find it I will post. I think it may sparse between posts.
I am tired so I guess I best head off for bed. Tomorrow will be another busy day.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

What is wrong with this turkey?

2008-11-29T19:12:00.003-06:00

HI! Come on in and let's chat. I'll tell you all about our Thanksgiving. I got the turkey ready and into the oven by 9:00. I was given a new roaster to try. A nice new open one like you see on all those cooking shows. Usually, I do the turkey in my Nesco roaster. So, alright, I will try this "new" roaster. About 11:00 I thought, I should be smelling that turkey by now. I went to check on it. It was cooking but did not look much different then when I put it in. Hmmm. I put the oven thermometer in to check the oven. It read 350, just like I had it set. A 12 pound turkey should cook in 4 hours and it was in for 2 already and not much of a change. Went back to getting other things done and ready for dinner. About 12:15 I check the turkey again, thinking I need to start basting this bird. The darn thing still looks the same as when I put it the oven. What the heck is going on? I, again, check the temp in the oven with a different thermometer. Reads 350. I'm thinking that my 2:00 meal is just not gonna happen. At 12:45 everybody is here and hungry. My daughter-in-law, Rose, and I go check the bird again. Doesn't look good. We keep basting it. At 1:30, it is getting brown but still looks undone. We check it with a meat thermometer. It is about 150. At 2:00 I could not take it anymore. I got out the Nesco, put the turkey in it. We kept on basting it. Rose was standing by the roaster, with hands over it, encouraging the turkey to cook. Telling it how nice it was and how good it was going to be. Finally, at 3:00 it was done. It took 6 hours to cook a 12 pound turkey. It was not frozen, I buy fresh. We sat down to eat about 3:20-30. The turkey was good but not as tender as usual. Note to self: cook turkey in Nesco, always. You got to wonder: how long did it take to kill this turkey? In the 30 years I have cooked a turkey,I have never had this happen. Do you know what could have gone wrong?
After the clean up we had our Christmas. Presents were opened. Then the boys got into the X-box and games. Last we will hear from them for a few hours!
About 8:00 we had ham and a bunch of snack foods. The ham cooked just fine in the very same oven as that darn turkey. With our tummies full for the second time it was time to call it a night.

Black Friday! I went to Walmart around 2 pm to get a haircut. Thankfully I had an appointment. The parking lot was beyond full. I parked over by the Sam's Club gas station. After I was done I went to pick up coffee. I was lucky and a check out opened up just as I was walking up. That was luck. I could have used that luck while cooking that turkey. We stayed in the rest of the day.

Today, we met Mel's cousins at Wausau Mine for lunch. We had a nice visit and a just ok lunch. I mailed out my Christmas cards today. I cleaned up around the house, did laundry, and started gathering clothes to take along. I think we may leave on Wednesday. We still have to check out the weather for this week. Once we are on the road I do not know when or where I will have internet service. Thus, my posts may become quite sparse at times.
Tomorrow we take our granddaughter to lunch and then shopping for her birthday. Her birthday is Dec 20, but we will not be here. I will also drop my house plants off at a friends for the winter.
Till next time.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Shits and giggles

2008-11-26T22:44:00.003-06:00

I have spent the last 2 days in the kitchen getting ready for the big day. I baked 7 dozen yeast rolls, made 3 different kinds of pies, the stuffing is ready for the oven and sweet potatoes are ready. Washed up the china, the wine glasses and set the table. All I have to do tomorrow is pop the ole boy (Tom) in the oven, make the mashed potatoes, gravy and warm up some other foods.
After we clean up from stuffing our selves we will open Christmas presents. Later, about 6:30 we will have ham and other goodies to snack on. Then I will probably collapse! This is the first I have really sat down all day. My legs hurt, my back hurts...well I just hurt.

After my shower tonight I got on the scale. Just for shits and giggles. Wow, I lost 5 pounds. I looked all over and I just can not find them! I hope I lost them for good. :>) This past August I refused to do my weekly weights because it was so depressing to see nothing happen. Then, one day, I got couragous and stepped on the evil scale... low and behold.. I lost 18 pounds! It has been a slow battle but, don't you worry, tomorrow the food will win again! For those who do not know why I have this battle... I quit smoking about _ _ pounds ago! I knew I would gain weight but come on...it can stop now. Once we get in the south-south west I can do more walking and jogging. I have been walking here but we now have snow and some icy spots, so, no jogging.
Happy Thanksgiving! Don't gobble to much! (ya, right)
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Senior Discount?

2008-11-24T22:51:00.003-06:00

I got the sugar cookies baked and that was about all. My back was killing me from standing so much. Cleaned up the kitchen and then I just veg'ed out in front of the tv.
Today I went to Sam's Club and got the goodies for Thanksgiving dinner. I have a few items to get at the IGA tomorrow that Sam's did not have. Tomorrow is senior day at the IGA so I have to wait till then.
Speaking of seniors... we were discussing senior discounts today and the places that offer them.I wondered... do funeral homes offer senior discounts? LOL
John came for dinner tonight. I made chop suey and crusty bread. Then he hit the cookies.... he took a bite of the sugar cookie, melted to the floor and said "you make the best sugar cookies." He can be quite dramatic sometimes.
I believe we should be able to blow this pop stand next Tuesday. For the past 5 years we have tried to get out of here right after Thanksgiving, only to leave around the 15th of Dec. Maybe this year will be different...maybe!
Mel wanted to go to Target to look at the grill they have on sale. We need a new grill because ours moved away from home. ( John took it when he moved. It actually was his.) It is a very nice grill. An amanna with 3 burners. We didn't buy it. Why? Idunno!
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Survival

2008-11-22T20:18:00.003-06:00

I survived the weather! I don't think it got to 5 below last night. It was awful cold though. It did warm up today... 33! A real heat wave.
I went out this morning to craft sales. I brought a glass block with different colored Christmas lights in it. It is so pretty. I wish I had a camera to take a picture of it. I also hit a used rubber stamp sale. Woo who! I got a bunch of stamps for 20.00.
I have been baking the rest of the day. More cookies! Today I mixed the dough for the sugar cookies that I will make tomorrow. I baked pumpkin and ricotta cookies today. After the sugar cookies tomorrow I will make more butter cookies since they seem to be disappearing. Hmmm.
I am getting tired so...
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

5 BELOW!!!

2008-11-21T20:05:00.003-06:00

Yup, you read the title right. Tonight's low temp is going to be minus 5! It is cold outside, baby! I went for my walk this afternoon and thought my ears were going to fall off. I had put on a neck scarf along with my other winter garb, but no hat. Geez, walking west, I thought I was going to freeze to death. I only managed half of my usual walk. In 2 weeks we should be out of here and heading into warmer weather.
It has been quite here otherwise. I have gone to lunch again this week with a few friends to say "good-bye" for the winter. It is always hard to tell them good bye, but, at the same time I am thinking" I'M going where it is warm!" Brat, that is what I am!
I have been baking cookies but, Mel keeps eating them up. I am trying to get them done so I can give some to the kids and our neighbor. Oh well, I will just keep baking for a few more days. Next Tuesday I will start baking pies for Thanksgiving. Wednesday will get my sweet potatoes and salads going, along with the rolls. Thursday morning throw in the turkey and we are all set. Sounds so easy when I say it like that. If only it was!
Well I guess I better go put on my winter woolies to sleep in.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Busy

2008-11-18T21:53:00.003-06:00

The last few days have been busy. On Saturday I went to a Stamp and Scrap convention. That is for persons that either rubber stamp or make scrapbooks. I rubber stamp and make cards. It was so much fun seeing new products and how to use them. Many make and takes. I made 4 different cards. The only problem was.. I wanted everything I saw! It was a lot of fun. I met my friends Margo and Judy. I got home late afternoon. Mel said friends of ours called about going to dinner that evening. So I freshened up and they picked us up and we went out to Golden Coral. They had never been to one. We all ate quite well. Perhaps to well. We left Golden Coral and went to Lowe's and walked around some. Or should I say we waddled! That worked to help wear off some of fullness. They visited at our house for awhile. It was a very enjoyable day.
On Sunday we did more Christmas shopping. When we got home Mel took a nap and cleaned up around the house and did more laundry! I think I am done washing bedding, towels and such for the coach. I got my ironing done also. We had a lite dinner. I made chopped sirloin patties, rice and a salad. No dessert!
Monday I had an appointment and then met Lois for lunch. We had a nice lunch and then did some shopping. She had something to return to Target and also wanted to pick up a toy for her grandchildren. I stopped at Hallmark and we came home. We exchanged gifts. She gave me a really nice book on card making, a plaque to hang on my wall and a cross necklace. How nice is that! I also got her a necklace and she liked my towels at the house so I got her some. She was very happy also. While we were out it snowed. During lunch I looked out and it was like a blizzard! It did that for about 20 minutes then the sun came out. It kept doing that all day.
Today we went and brought an electric heater for the coach. Mel finally found one that puts out the 1500 watts it says it does. Cleaned up around the house and made dinner. We had pork chops, potatoes and peas. After that I went to get items I needed for baking cookies. Later Mel came to Best Buy with me to get the last present we have to buy!! Hooray! We are done. Now I have to wrap. :(
It has been cold here. I think todays high was 27. I did go for a walk with my neighbor Marlene. We get double exercise because we laugh so hard about stupid stuff when we are together. I just love her.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring. I do hope to get started on my cookies.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Memory test!

2008-11-14T20:15:00.002-06:00

Time to test my memory skills and see if I can remember what I did the past 4 days. Hahaha!
Tuesday... I got caught up on my paperwork. I have been lazy and did not do any for 2 months! It took 5 hours to get it all done but I kept at it. We are still in the green and good to go! ;) That evening we went out to dinner with friends Steve and Barb. We ate at Freddy's Mexican food. Yum-o! We all have chimi's of some sort and they were excellent. It was snowing while we were driving to Freddy's and by the time we left the snow was piling up. Wednesday.... I had my dentist appointment. Got the filling done on the tooth I broke. After that I did some shopping. I managed to get a few more presents and cross off another name on my list. Wednesday night John came for dinner and to move his fish around. Not move them out, move them around. He put his piranha in a separate 30 gallon tank. He is selling the tank, filter and piranha. Hopefully it sells for him. The other fish are still in the 50 gallon and I do not know what he plans to do with them. The 50 gallon he took to his apartment he has smaller,schools of fish in. A bit more exciting then the big fish he has here. Thursday.... cleaned house. Then we went on the hunt for a new electric heater for in the coach. I got Mel a Kill A Watt and he was checking the wattage on the heaters we have now. He was surprised to find that a 1500 watt heater does not put out 1500 watts. One put out 680 and the other 1100. Hmmm, so he started testing other heaters we have and the same thing. None put out the 1500 watts they said they do. We bought 2 differrent ones and checked them when we got home. Same story. So, the search is on for a heater that puts out 1500 watts! After dinner we settled in and watched Survivor and CSI. Today (Friday)..
I cleaned the office and went through the stuff I brought in from the coach that could freeze. I really down sized that stuff. Reorganized it all in boxes. Went through baskets I had in here loaded for the coach. Took some of the dishes and other things that could go out, out to the coach. All the while I was doing laundry. Got the filing done and now the office is nice and clean.
I have been working to downsize the items we take in the coach with us. This summer I went through everything in the coach and I took out stuff that has never been used and never will be used. Why was it in there? I have lots of storage now. We ran out to Home Depot and Menards to look at heaters and grabbed a sandwich for dinner. Came home to finish laundry and play on the computer!
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

More laundry

2008-11-10T23:36:00.002-06:00

It was cold today. The high was 32.9. The sun tried to peak out in the late afternoon but the clouds won. My neighbor and I were going to do our walk but it was 25 and windy. Forget that! So instead, we talked on the phone for almost an hour. Well, our jaws got a workout atleast!
We did go out today and do some Christmas shopping. Picked up a few gifts for the boys. After that I started laundry and made a quick run to the grocery store. I sure was surprised when I got home to find I had not only my items but someone elses also. So back to the store I went to return the bag that was not mine.
John came for dinner and to pick up the cat. We had marinated chicken, mashed taters, and corn. For dessert ..strawberry creme bars. We had a nice visit with John and heard all about his boring conference he attended.
This evening was spent finishing laundry, and watching television. I also did my nails.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

The "Wall"

2008-11-09T19:05:00.005-06:00

It was 27 degrees when we got up this morning. The warmest it got today was 30. I think it is time we moved Thanksgiving to the middle of October! We celebrate our Thanksgiving and Christmas that day and then we leave. I do not like loading in the cold and snow. On a good note... we did not get the 3 inches of snow they said we were going to get.
I baked banana muffins today and got chicken marinating for tomorrow. After that I read a new cook book. For dinner we had spaghetti and meatballs. I guess the cook book did not inspire me much. :p
We watched a program today about the "The Wall" . The Vietnam memorial. I was surprised to learn that a group of vets from Wisconsin built a motorcycle and took it to the memorial and left it. The motorcycle was a memorial to the 14 missing in the war from Wisconsin. On the gas tank the name of all 14 men is painted on. The dog tags from the missing men are also hanging on the handlebars. How cool is that? I think the guys that did this have done a wonderful job. They are also building or have built a museum with everything people have left at the Wall. We have been to the Wall twice. It is an amazing place and it really plays on ones emotions. I look forward to going back and visiting both. Tuesday is Veterans Day and it is an honor to thank everyone of those brave men.
John should be arriving back home tonight from Chicago. I don't know if he is picking up the cat tonight or tomorrow. I hope tomorrow. After we hear from him I will go to Walmart to return some books. Walmart won't be busy at 9:00 at night, will it? LOL!
Till next time.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Slow week

2008-11-08T15:55:00.003-06:00

It has not been a very exciting week. Not much in news here.
We had snow this morning!! Yes, snow! It was staying on the ground too. As of now it is gone. I heard on the radio we could get up to 3 inches tonight.
I drove to Stevens Point today to go to a Holiday Boutique.(craft sale) Margo and I were to go but she had called this morning to say she was to sick to go. She has a really bad cold and did not sleep all night. So, off I went by myself. It was a 30 minute drive but it was relaxing. I didn't buy much. A snowflake necklace and earrings for me, a pottery garlic keeper for John and some almonds for Mel. Big spender, I am! I ran into my cousin and she told me about another sale in that town. It was a "home party sale". Products that you buy at home Parties such as Tupperware, pampered chef,stampin up etc.. I went to that and brought some Tupperware I had been looking for to use in the coach. It was cash and carry and no taxes. Such a deal! The tupperware was half price and with no sales tax. I also bought some hand lotion from a company called BeautiControl. They do home spa parties. Interesting products. Then I went over to the K Mart. Since ours closed I kinda miss that store. Didn't really buy anything but had fun looking around.
On my way home I stopped at Kitchens Collections and picked a few items. I wanted to get an oven mat for my toaster oven. I got the toaster oven yesterday at Sam's Club. We had gone to check out X-box games for our grandson and found this oven in the close outs. The box was damaged but the oven was fine and it was marked down half price. It is a nice Black and Decker one that is also a convention oven and big enough to cook a pizza!
That wraps up this week. Only 4 more weeks and we are out of here!
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

3 days in the life of...?

2008-11-05T18:34:00.003-06:00

I had a dentist appointment on Monday. I had a tooth chip and called and they made the appointment for Monday. Well , I thought it was an appointment. I arrived and they put me into the ER room. Dentist came in, looked at tooth and said it needed a small filling and they could that next week. What!? ( I saw the dentist for maybe 2 minutes) I was disappointed. I am tired of this sharp molar.
After that I ran some errands and picked up some groceries. Margo came over and we made cards till about 4:00. That is always fun and relaxing. John came for dinner. He wanted tuna casserole. It was so good and comforting. Cleaned up dishes and went for a walk with my neighbor.

Tuesday...Election Day! We had voted last week so no need for us to go out. I cleaned out all my flower pots and put them away. Put rose cones over the roses and raked leaves over the beds. Then we started cleaning the rest of leaves in the yard. Our yard is just to darn big! We worked for 5 hours and got it done!! Hooray! I took my aching body into the house and made Mel a hamburger and reheated tuna casserole for me. Watch the returns until my aching back was killing me and Idecided to try an epsom salt bath. I soaked for 30 minutes and felt like a new woman. Back to the results. Can anyone remember back when they would show the map of the US and all the southern states would be red and northern states were blue? (maybe I am aging myself!) Well we sure have come a long way baby. I could not believe that Obama had so many states. Wow! Now let us hope he will be a decent president. Maybe we better pray and not hope.

Wednesday.. Not much exciting today. We went to garage sale and found....nothing. Stopped and got milk and a few other items and came home. The rest of the day I cleaned house or tried. The phone just kept ringing. I think more people called today then in a whole month!! I got about half of the house clean. Made minute steaks, buttered noodles and corn for dinner. Fruit for dessert.

I think both Mel and I are getting anxious to get out of here and go south for the winter. I keep filling laundry baskets with things we will need and Mel asks what he can put out in the coach. I like to stage it all, look it over to see what I may have forgotten before we take anything out. Right now the office looks like a laundry with baskets full of clothes, bathroom items, kitchen stuff and whatever else. And lists... I make lists. Mel thinks I need lists for my lists. Maybe I have OCD?
Till next time.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Boring day

2008-11-02T17:34:00.003-06:00

Today was cloudy and windy. Not much happened today.
Started washing up things that need to go in the coach with us when we leave. That meant more laundry. Finished ironing.
Cleaned up downstairs. Now that John moved out I made the area a craft room. Have everything I need in one place again.
I am making meal in a peel for dinner. For dessert I made homemade pudding, yum!
I am tired today and my back has really been bothering me.
That's all for today.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

2008-11-01T21:29:00.003-05:00

Another beautiful day. I met my friends at the craft sale. I didn't buy much of anything. I got a bracelet, some scrubbies and those towels that hand from a kitchen drawer handle. I got the towel for the coach. Just trying to go "green" and not use as many paper towels. We had lunch at the sale. Chicken dumpling soup and a chicken and gravy sandwich. It was good. We checked out the desserts but none of them appealed to us. After that we said our good byes and they will come over Monday to make cards again. I went to Shopko ( like a Walmart) and surrendered myself to buying some jeans in a size that fits better. Yes, I have put on a few pounds...ok maybe a few more! I am walking 45 minutes to an hour everyday and can not shed an pound let alone a ounce but, boy they sure do jump on for a ride. After that I came home. Shortly after arriving home my neighbor called and needed my help. She bought a chair for her husband for Christmas and needed help to get into the house before he saw it. So I went helped her carry it into the house and out to the enclosed patio. We covered it with a sheet ( It is in a box) and put other stuff around it. Shortly after I got back home again John arrived. He came to empty his 50 gallon fish tank and clean it. He has all his fish in the other 50 gallon tank right now. He got that done and Mel and I helped him load my van and take the tank and stand to his apartment. He will get it set up this week and then take his fish over. That means I don't have to feed those fish anymore!
He will be going to Chicago next Friday for work. Some week end conference for something. I imagine he will do the fish after that. Next Thursday he will bring Peanut (cat) here for us the take care of while he is gone. We are so happy to have Peanut here. We miss him so much since John moved on Sept.1.
After we got back from moving the tank and stand John cleaned up some down stairs and then left. I went to the grocery store and got rotisserie chicken for us for dinner. I took the left overs and made a nutty chicken salad for tomorrow's lunch.
In between all that I did some laundry. Where does all that laundry come from? I thought with John gone it would be much less. I am still not done. Although, I had more than usual because I had sheets and towels and such from the coach to do.
We did go and fuel up the coach today. $3.07 at Sam's Club. Now we are ready to roll after Thanksgiving.
Stay well, be happy and smile!
Toodles

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T16:25:00.002-05:00

Another beautiful day! Sunny and in the 60's. We started out our day by going to vote. Yuppers, we did the early voting thing. After that we were off to to get additive for the fuel for the coach. Also got some black top patch for the driveway. Back at home again I went out to the coach to get all the freezables out. Then I vaccumed. So now when we pull out after Thanksgiving, it will be clean, and all I will have to do is load it up.
We have also turned into wimps. Yup, that's right. You see we had a waterbed in the house. It sprung a leak about 2 months ago. So, we bit the bullet and bought a new mattress. We were so use to getting into a warm bed that when it cooled off here, we got cold crawling into that plain ole bed. We have a bed warmer in the coach and love it. So, off to Sam's Club for a heated mattress pad. We are in heaven. He has his control and I have mine. No arguing over how hot or cold it is.
The trick and treaters will start soon. I just love seeing the kids and hearing about what they are.
Tomorrow I am off to a craft sale with friends and then lunch. We have our Christmas at Thanksgiving so I need to get my shopping done. Everyone gave some pretty basic lists this year. We hope to get out of here this year as soon as we can after Thanksgiving. I don't know where we will start our adventure this year. We always end up in AZ during January. Perhaps we can explore some of MS, LA and more of Texas before heading into AZ.
Well you have a good Halloween and watch out for those goblins!!
Stay well, be happy and smile.
Toodles

Oh yeah....BOO!

A week in review!

2008-10-30T22:32:00.003-05:00

It has been a while but I will try to update this past week.
I was quite achey after the yard work. I also have managed quite well to avoid it since. I will have to get out and do more yet but , as I said I am doing quite well at avoiding it.
Last Friday I attended the funeral of John's friend grandmother. She was a special lady to all who knew her. John had built a fence for her last year. Her fence around her patio was needing to be replaced. Since no one else was in any hurry to get it done for her, John stepped up to the plate and got it done. It was a job he did very well. She was thrilled! It was a sad funeral but I saw how much she was loved by all. May she rest in peace.
After that I came home and finished packing the coach and off we went on our "snowball" camping trip with friends. It was raining on Friday and cold! We arrived at the campground about 4:30. Got set up and had dinner. About 6:30 our friends pulled in. After they were set up and settled we sat and talked in there trailer. We were all tired and called it a night quite early. We were in bed by 9:50!!! Even more of a surprise.. we did not get up till almost 10 the next morning. We had breakfast and Pete started a fire. The rain had stopped and we had a breeze. I think the high was 45 or so. We sat around the fire to stay warm and talked. It really was quite boring but yet we enjoyed it. Sunday Pete and Jeannie pulled out about 10:30. They wanted to get home and have some time to get ready for another work week. We left about noon. We took a different route home. Traveling the back roads to Shawano. A nice ride. Once on Hwy 29 we were moving right along. we stopped at the truck stop in Wittenberg to eat. Bad choice! I had ordered a roast beef dinner. It had no taste at all. I sent it back and had a bowl of soup. We got home about 4 and unloaded the coach.
Monday my friend Margo came over and we made Christmas cards. I made lunch for us (manicotti) and she brought dessert( lemon poppy seed bread w/lemon frosting) We made cards till around 4:30. The rubber stamps were getting a work out! After that, we made a quick trip to Michaels Crafts, for some supplies for some new ideas we had.
I warmed up the leftover manicotti for Mel and I for dinner. Then put the rest in a container to take to John. I went out for my walk with my neighbor.
Today was sunny and warm. We ran some errands and stopped at Rick's. He told us about his last robot event he was at in Austin,TX.. Alex and Rachel were home. No school, teachers convention. I noticed this brace thing on Rachels hand and asked what happened. The day before at school, while having a wheelbarrow race, she tumbled, and broke her hand. She did not appear to be in pain but I was thinking " that had to hurt." I feel bad for her.
Tonight after dinner we settled in to watch Survivor and CSI.
Tomorrow I need to get all the freezeables out of the coach. That will also give me a chance to go through it all and take out what we do not need.
That's all here. Just a boring life but fun none the less.
Take care. Toodles

Hard days night

2008-10-20T21:37:00.002-05:00

We had a pretty nice day weather wise. It was sunny and about 55. I decided it was time to get out in the yard and dig up my flower bulbs for the winter. Got them all dug up, washed off and now they are out on the patio drying. Our low tonight is suppose to be 27! So,out I went to cover the bulbs. I took a pot of plants to Lois. The flower pot was hers. She had brought over a year ago for me to save a plant that was in it. This spring I could not figure out where the pot came from. So, I filled with flowers and put on our front step. Sometime in July I find out it is Lois's flower pot. She said I should just keep it till my flowers die down. I took it over to her today and the flowers are still going strong in it. She wants to take it to the school she works at and keep it going over winter. I hope it works for her. After that I started to clean up the leaves in the yard. I got the leaf blower and went to work. Mel came out after a while to help. Our neighbors, Meryl and Betty, came walking by and we talked to them for a while. Then Meryl came back with his leaf blower and gave it to Mel to use. About this time I was ready to quit. It was almost 5:00 and time to get dinner going. We kept on blowing till Meryl's ran out of gas. Then we were just about to quit and Meryl pulled up in his truck. Walkes around to the back. I asked " You got a load of Mexicans in there?" He laughed, pulled out a gas can, filled the blower up, started it up and handed it to Mel again. Well, I guess we are gonna keep on blowing leaves! :p We worked till 5:30 then we did quit. Put everything away and I went in to get dinner done. I had put steak and gravy in the crockpot this morning so all I had left to do was make some rice, corn and bread. John comes over for dinner on Mondays. He loves steak and gravy. We had a wonderful dinner. I cleaned up the kitchen. I was aching from the work today but, never fear, I still did my 45 minute walk after dishes. I really do ache. I took a shower and now I am ready for bed,but, I think it will be hard days night. I ache so bad. Tomorrow is laundry and housecleaning. Am I punishing myself or what?
Have a good night. Stay safe.
Toodles

It worked!

2008-10-19T20:28:00.001-05:00

So I made a post. Then went to my page and it all came up the way I set it up. The right template everything. Hooray! Well, enjoy the blog. I will try to post as often as I can but it may not be everyday.
Toodles

I think I did it!

2008-10-19T19:49:00.000-05:00

Well, I think I started a blog. I am not sure about a number of things. One being that this is not the template I chose. I have tried to change it twice but it keeps coming back to this one. Hmmmm.
Another is that when I enter my web address it does not come up. Hmmmm. So I thought I would try a post and see what happens when I do that.
So I will tell you about my day or perhaps my week end. It started with the promise to a friend that I would attend her house party. She just said it was a party that sold just about anything but she did not know the name of it. Well, I went , as promised. When I arrived I noticed a few items on a table and went to check them out. About 15 items. Dolls, ornaments, dragon figures, candles and a plant stand. A few people were late so we waited for them to arrive. The party started. The lady told us her name and the name of her company and the company she purchases items from. She then picked up each item and told us what it was. ( This is a candle. I have many candles for you to chose from. These are Christmas ornaments and if you want to view them all you can come up and see them on your own.) Well, she did this with all 15 items and then told us we could view more items in the catalog. Ok. The catalog was 2 iches thick!! It basically was over priced junk. I ordered a candle and a flower pot and left. Shortly after arriving back home John arrived. I had made an apple pandowdy for him and applesauce. He had come over to pick them up and feed his fish he still has here. (He moved out 7 weeks ago and still has his fish tanks here) We visited with him for awhile. It is always good to see him and visit. After he left, Mel and I went out for pizza. We called ahead so it was ready when we got there. Ran into friends of ours. They want us to go pick apples with them and then go out to eat at a place they know up north that has a chicken buffet on Sundays. Sounds good to me! With tummies full and a good visit with friends we headed home.
Sunday was about as boring. It is our anniversary so we went out to dinner at Texas Road House. The first time we went to this place we had horrible food. We tried it again this past summer and it was wonderful so we went back today. Todays meal was great. The steaks were tender,and the sides were good also. After we ate we went for a ride about the town. Just riding and talking. As we were about home our son called to tell us that his friends grandma passed on. This was sad news. We call her grandma also. She was the sweetest lady and everyone loved her. She had cancer and even though we knew it was comming we are very sad about losing her. May she rest in peace.
After we got home I went for a long walk. Thats my week end.
Have good evening. Stay well, be happy and smile!