Dec 31st - New Years Eve

Cool and a little damp here today, minimal sunshine. The highs were in the 50's.

I caned this morning and Kathy worked on a puzzle part of the time. This chair is progressing, but slower than I thought. I will be close to finishing it after the next session.

We went to Hunan's Chinese restaurant for lunch. It was cheap and good, can't beat that combination. Lunch buffet for 2 cost us $11.77.

After lunch we drove around the area some and got quite a shock. Everything we had seen so far was nice, but we found an good sized fairly rural area that was definitely the slums. REALLY shacky houses and mobile homes, junk everywhere, trash strewn ditches, etc. It was common to see 4 or 5 cars parked at one mobile home, or at one house.

This evening we went over to the club house for the New Years Eve party. There were probably 60-70 people.

We set next to a couple who live here now, in a house. He is 92 an was a full-timer for many years. Recently he decided he was just to old to be driving a motorhome around the country. His wife, she is his 6th wife, looked quite a bit younger. They have been together the past 14 years.

On the other side of us was a guy who has an apartment on Manhattan. He has lived in the same apartment for 40 years and the only way he can afford it is because of New Yorks rent controls. Because he has lived there continually his landlords have only been able to raise his rent a small amount. He said that today is apartment would sell for over a million dollars. He got divorced a year ago, Kathy told him she was sorry to hear that and he told her not to be sorry because it has been the happiest year of his life. He recently bought a used Class C and hit the road for the winter.

Good night. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 30th - Dragonfly

Worked 3 hours adding more cane to my chair this morning. Kathy came over to the clubhouse for awhile. She visited around a little and spent some time working on one of the puzzles.

Originally we were going to go to the Oyster House for lunch, but we decided we didn't want to drive the extra 10 miles to go to the coast when the weather was yucky. We thought we would hit the Chinese restaurant in Foley but on the way to it we noticed that a restaurant that had been a drive-in, a long time ago, was open. We drive by it regularly but usually it is not open.

We decided to try it out. WHAT A SHOCK!!! I knew I was out of my element when I saw that the menu included lobster corn dogs. There was no "normal" food on the menu. I finally settled for a $6 steak & blue cheese taco. Kathy had green curry tempura shrimp with citrus aioli sauce (I don't even know what that is). My taco was decent. Kathy said her shrimp was very good. The place did have nice napkins, but don't spend much money on anything else. You don't even get silverware and the taco was served on a paper plate. The taco was edible. While we were there another couple walked in, took one look at the menu and walked out. We were the only ones in the place when we finished and about had to pry the bill from the waitress. We finally left cash because she didn't come back to take our credit card, to busy shooting the bull with other restaurant workers. Glad we stopped there. We can cross it off our list and warn others at the campground not to bother with the place. The restaurant's was named the Dragonfly.

After lunch it was off to Walgreens. Kathy got a shingles vaccination and I got a pneumonia shot. Both of us have had flu shots and I had a shingles shot about 5 years ago, they are supposed to last a long time.

Later we stopped at McDonald's to use the WiFi and I got a quarter pounder and fries, for dessert.

This evening we went over to the clubhouse for supper. They started off with good vegetable beef soup. We knew the main course was supposed to be chicken pot pie, but we didn't expect them to be store bought. They actually weren't bad. Dessert was a form of peach cobbler with ice cream. It consisted of hot peach slices on a biscuit with a small scoop of ice cream. Not bad, but not like real cobbler.

Weather today wasn't that nice. Temps in the high 50's but cloudy, windy and damp. Not to bad for the end of December. When we walked back and forth to the clubhouse for supper I had on jeans and a tee shirt and denim shirt.

Good night. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 29th - More Caning

I started caning a new chair this morning. I am pretty happy with the amount I finished in one morning.

Bob taught me how to overlap pieces of cane to form friction splices, rather than tying knots at the ends. The bottom of the first chair I did looked a little messy with all the knots, but as Bob said, "Chairs are for sitting on, not turning upside down to look at the bottoms."

This is the bottom of the chair I started this morning. Eventually there will be some knots but it looks much cleaner.

After caning Kathy & I went to Bid Daddy's for lunch. She had a shrimp basket and I had a fish basket. Oh so good.

Didn't do much this afternoon. Kathy did some laundry. I worked some more on the removable counter section that goes over the stove. My JB Weld held on one side but the other side failed. I will have to try it again. At least I have the new holes drilled and I know the hinges will function as intended. Have to get some more JB Weld and redo the one side. Also replaced one of the "unbreakable" radio antennas on the roof. It snapped off high enough so that I could unscrew the stub that remained and screw on a new antenna.

It was cool and damp with minimal sun today. Not cold, I set outside in shorts and a tee shirt for nearly an hour before I got cold enough to come in.

All in all it was another good day. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 28th - Sunday - Mobile Bay

It has been a little rainy here the past couple of days. Nothing heavy, just occasional light drizzle.

Saturday morning, as I was on my way over to the clubhouse for breakfast, the sun was out and it was beautiful.

Breakfast was biscuits with sausage gravy, orange juice & coffee. The sausage gravy might have been as good as Kathy makes. It was excellent.

Later we stopped at Xplor, a liquidation store about 6 miles from us. Below is just one of 3 huge rooms.

Then it was on to the farmers market where we bought some farm fresh eggs, some farm fresh roasted peanuts and some homemade salsa. The salsa was just OK, but the 2 guys selling it put on a show. I thought the entertainment was worth a sale.

This morning we went to church and then stopped at Ryan's buffet for brunch. Then it was back home to change clothes and over to Mobile bay for a walk along the waterfront. The bay was shrouded in fog, it was humid but nice on land.

The next 2 photos are looking up and down the shore from out on one of the piers.

There is a nice paved walkway along the shoreline, up in the grassy area. We thought is was going to start raining so we walked back to the car and drove along the shore for a couple of miles. The paved walkway ended at the edge of a park, but unpaved walkway continued. At the edge of the park there was a sign warning to be on the lookout for snakes and alligators.

We spent the rest of the afternoon back home. One of the neighbors across the street has been to New Orleans for the weekend. They pulled back it about dusk and brought us over some type of very sugary pecan candy.

It finally did drizzle some after we got back home.

Goodnight, may God bless you and yours.

Dec 26th - Post Christmas

We had a good Christmas day. Maybe not that "Christmacy", since I am pretty bah humbug during the season (I am that way because I think it is way to commercialized).

Kelsey called us and we "face timed" with them while Lydia opened her presents. It was great to "see" them.  Mid-morning I took my laptop outside but had to move to the back of the motorhome to use it. The sun was to bright to see the screen. At the back of the motorhome I could set the laptop in the shade while my back was in the sun.

Christmas dinner at the clubhouse started at 2:00. I tried taking a "selfie" of us as we started our walk over to the clubhouse. I obviously need a lot more practice.

No flash needed. Kathy squinting because of the bright sun.

There were well over 100 people at dinner, probably close to 200. We each paid $2/person for the meat, ham or turkey, paper goods, etc., and people brought passing dishes. When we signed up we signed up to set at a certain table and each person noted what they were bringing.

This evening we went back over for a supper of "left overs". We were surprised at how few people showed up, maybe as few as 50. Lots of left over ham, side dishes and deserts.

We have met quite a few interesting people while down here. Some a "snow birds" but most are full timers. The couple we set next to last night have been full timers for 18 years. They are on their 3rd 5th wheel and 3rd truck. David told me that they have put over 250,000 miles on their 5th wheels and over 500,000 on their 3 trucks. All the trucks have been Dodge Cummins, with 6 speed manual transmissions. The current truck is approaching 250,000 miles and he said he doesn't know what he will do if he starts having problems with it. It was one of the last 5.9's. He and his wife lived in Connecticut when they retired.

The couple we set next to tonight lived in Vermont before they started full timing 4 years ago. They have been to Alaska for one of the summers and are going back for 3 months again next summer.

Another couple who are full timers travel with a teen age son. He is home schooled and just graduated from high school. The guy, can't remember his name, had to retire on disability. I'm not sure what is wrong with him. He seems to be able to get around OK. They used to live in Colorado.

All 3 couples seem to be nice folks.

One guy I talked to a couple of days ago told me they were also full timers. He said they went full time because he was tired of raising his adult kids. I don't think he was kidding.

As warm as it was Christmas day it sure cooled down last night. By about 10 PM it got down to 37 and then started warming back up. It warmed back up to where it was comfortable to be out in a tee shirt and jeans.

Good night. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 24th - Christmas Eve

The weather has cooled down a lot in the past 24 hours. Kathy went to bed last night and in about an hour she came out and said that she was so hot that she couldn't go to sleep. I told her to turn the AC on but she didn't, we toughed it out. The temperatures were only in the low 70's, but the humidity was near 100%. It is 48 degrees now and supposed to get down to 38 tonight. What a change!

I finished the caning my chair this morning.

 

The chair, and others that have been restored and "re-caned", will be auctioned off in March. Proceeds from the auction will be donated to CARE, an assisted living facility in Livingston, TX that caters to RV'ers with health issues.

Caners at work.

The past two mornings there have been 8 people caning. Some are doing their own chairs, which they will keep, but most are caning chairs for the auction. Bob, the guy in the blue shirt, facing forward, is the guy who teaches we novices. I think I will start another chair on Monday.

We went to Whataburger for lunch. They have good hamburgers. After that Kathy did some grocery shopping and then it was back home. She stayed at the motorhome, preparing snacks for tonights get together while I went over and listened to the jam session. There were only 4 guys today. One of them must be, or must have been, a professional. He is just awesome. I listened to them for about an hour and a half, same as last time. This guy played every song they did both times I was there, and never looked at one piece of music.

This evening we attended a get together at the club house. There were well over 100 people in attendance. There was singing and lots of snacks.

I've been working on the  folding section of countertop that covers the stove burners when they aren't in use. It is hinged, or at least it used to be. The screws have pulled out of the countertop. Since the countertop is less than a half inch thick there isn't much to hold a screw. I thought only one side was bad but once I had it off and started repairs on the one side I noticed that the hinge on the other side was close to failing. This is what was left after I took the hinge off the side that had not yet failed.

This is the other side. I filled the holes and chipped out area with JB Weld. I let it set 24 hours, filed off the excess, and added a little more JB Weld to the low spots. After a little more work with the file the plan is to drill new pilot holes for the screws that hold the hinge in place. I think I will put some JB Weld between the countertop and hinge before screwing the hinge in place. Hopefully the JB Weld will hold the hinge in place without stressing the screws.

Merry Christmas. Don't forget the "Reason for the Season." May God bless you and yours.

Dec 23rd - Rainy

It rained on and off most of the day, but the temps were in the low 70's. I set outside, in shorts, when it wasn't raining.

I went to caning this morning and Kathy went over for quilting. The quilting ladies decided to have a bull session and never even started quilting. Kathy went home and did some cleaning. I finished weaving the cane in my chair.

Hopefully tomorrow I will learn how to do the binding around the perimeter.

We went to the post office to pick up some mail and mailed a couple of letters. Then it was off to lunch at Goo Roo's again. After lunch we went several places looking for an antenna to replace the broken one on the top of the motorhome. No luck, after stops at Camping World, 2 Radio Shacks, AutoZone and NAPA. One of the Radio Shacks normally has them but, even though he had 2 on his "books" there were none on the rack (shoplifters).

Some time ago the screws pulled out of one of the hinges on the section of counter that covers the stovetop. I tried filling the holes with JB Weld. Tomorrow I will see if I can drill some pilot holes and re-install the screws.

We have been under a threat of heavy rain since yesterday afternoon but so far it has been relatively light.

Thank you Lord for another good day. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 22nd - Warm & Humid

We sat outside in the afternoon. I wore a tee shirt and shorts and was almost to warm, when the sun was shining. Supposed to get some heavy rain tonight and tomorrow.

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that we filled up the CR-V with $1.999 gas. It was the first time we have seen gas for less than $2 here. I think diesel at the same station was $2.599. 60 cents a gallon difference is nuts. I can't imagine why there is so much difference.

I worked at caning some more this morning. You can finally see the pattern.

We extended our campground reservations by 3 weeks. Part of that time we will be in MO. We will leave the motorhome at the campground. We are going back to see Kelsey and Lydia and will be there when Kelsey goes to Washington to march in the March for Life on January 22nd. Yah Kelsey!!

I went to a movie theater to watch the movie Interstellar. $17.50 for a senior ticket, a large popcorn that wasn't all that large and a large ice tea. Kathy didn't go because she doesn't like Matthew McConaughey and he was one of the stars. The movie was pretty bad. I would not recommend it to anybody.

Doug had his hernia surgery today. Last report was that he was doing fine.

I did research for a Letter to the Editor last night and didn't get to bed until about 3AM. I think it is time for bed tonight.

May God bless you and yours, he sure has blessed me.

Dec 21st - Sunday - Shortest Day

Yah! Longer days start tomorrow.

We went to church this morning. The youth did a good job with a skit and the Pastor gave another good message.

After church we went to Ryans for brunch and then back home. The day was rather dreary. No sunshine and it didn’t get out of the 50’s. We were really getting used to having sunshine every day. Other than walking around the campground a little we didn’t do much, just kind of a lazy day.

May God bless you and yours, He has certainly blessed me.

Dec 19th PM - Moe's

Weather has not been so nice today. Light to moderate rain, on and off, most of the day. A couple of hours of nice sunshine around noon.

First thing this morning we took the motorhome back to the garage to have new tires put on the front. I can't imagine how a trucker can afford to put tires on and "18 wheeler". We went over to a nearby McDonalds for breakfast, so that we could get on their WiFi to install updates our computers and phones. We stayed there until they called us to let us know the motorhome was ready, then it was back to the campground for lunch.

After lunch I went to the club house to listen to the musicians "jamb". There were 7 guys. 2 of them were good, another was really good and another was really, really good. Everything they played was old. Some country, and a lot of gospel.

This evening we, and 9 others from the campground, went to Moe's BBQ in Daphne, AL, about a half hour drive from the campground. They were supposed to have great BBQ and live blues music. It was definitely not what we expected. The menu was written on a big chalk board in the room where you went to a counter and ordered your food. We put some tables together in another room, the room where you went to a different counter to pick up your food, so that we could at least sit in 2 groups. The room was so small that I blocked part of the entry door. I'm not a fan of BBQ but the food was good.

We learned that the live band would be in the bar later. We moved to the bar, where we filled up half the tables, and waited. After about 15 minutes a guy came up and told us that our tables were sitting in the place where the band would be playing. The other tables were full.

Now is the time to mention the weather again; 48 degrees, raining with a slight breeze. We moved outside under a shed roof where there was barely enough room for all of us to stay out of the rain. The guy running the place wheeled up a propane heater and dropped down a tarp to block the wind. Below is part of our crowd. The rest were inside getting drinks when I took this photo. We set outside at least a half hour before the music started. I'm not sure what it was, but it wasn't what I think about when I think blues. It wasn't bad, just not blues.

I think all of us had a good time, I know I did. We left the campground at 5:30 and got back at 10. A long excursion for us old farts. We will probably all have pneumonia tomorrow <grin>.

Good night and may God bless you and yours.

Dec 18th - Nothing Exciting

Weather was nice again.

I forgot to mention that yesterday when we went to Pensacola, FL the gas prices in FL are 17 cents a gallon more than here in AL. You notice it as soon as you cross the state line. I'd hate to own a FL gas station located close to the line. I can't imagine why anyone who lives close to the state line buys their gas in FL.

Went over to the club house in the morning and Kathy quilted while I caned. Making progress, but it is slow, or at least I am slow.

We went to the Chinese buffet for lunch. It was good as usual. Then stopped at the DishTV place, where I had bought the receiver, to discuss their "no refund" policy. Told them the receiver would not work and that I got a different model from Dish, that did work. The lady was nice and refunded our money. I think I have the electronics stuff all stowed back the way it is supposed to be, and ready for travel.

 We noticed this "RV" when we were walking around the campground the other night.

Santa actually opens the door, sticks his head out and then closes the door.

May God bless you and yours.

Dec 17th - Pensacola

We unhooked our utilities, packed up the motorhome and headed up to B&D for routine maintenance on our motorhome. Engine oil change, transmission fluid change, drain and replace anti-freeze, generator oil change, fuel filters and a few other miscellaneous items. I was hoping the guy at the shop would tell me that we had another year left on our front tires. Instead he said, "I was almost afraid to take it out for a test drive when we done with the work. I thought one of the front tires might blow out before I got back." I don't think they look quite that bad but they aren't great. There is all kinds of tread left but there is some sidewall cracking due to age. He gave me a good price on a new pair of Michelins. We go back in a couple of days and have them installed. Truck tires are EXPENSIVE, over $1,100 for the pair. A little more than today's work. We probably still need an alignment, he recommended a place in Pensacola; then we should be good.

After dropping off the motorhome we had breakfast as the Foley Coffee Shop.

Not a fancy place but good food at reasonable prices. The mural was a nice touch.

After breakfast we headed to Pensacola. First stop was Joe Patti's seafood place. Note the little black building with the white sign, between the orange cones. More about it later.

It is right on the Gulf. Fishing boats are docked along side the store.

Inside this is just one of the rows of counters with seafood. The also have a deli and small gourmet food shop inside.

Walking around inside the store is interesting but the real reason we stopped was so that Kathy could buy some beignets (I think it is pronounced "ben yahs") from the little black building that is outside the store.

We drove out to one of the piers and walked around for awhile. I'd never seen sea gulls this close before.

This was one honking crane on this ship. I wonder if it might be used at oil rigs.

We drove around downtown Pensacola for awhile. We saw some beautiful old homes, many of them are huge. Then it was back to the Summerdale area. We a late lunch, or early supper, at GooRoo's. I had a great half pound hamburger with onion rings. Kathy had a fish sandwich and potato salad. She said both were outstanding.

After that we picked up the motorhome, drove back to the campground (no blown tires) and got things set back up.

I forgot to mention that it got COLD last night. I think the official low was 35, the coldest since we have been here. The dew on the car windshield was actually ice and had to be scraped off. The day was sunny but cool enough that a light jacket felt good. No more lows are forecast to be in the 30's.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 16th -- DishTV Day

Another nice, sunny day here in Summerdale.

The DishTV tech was supposed to come this afternoon. I made the appointment for the afternoon so that I could go to the morning caning class. I was at the class for maybe a half hour, just finishing up repairing the strand that I broke at the end of yesterdays class, when Kathy called me to say the tech would be here in 20 minutes. Ed, the tech, was a nice guy and got our replacement receiver installed without any difficulty. He had gotten his appointments mixed up. He was supposed to go somewhere else in the morning and then come here in the afternoon, he came here in the morning. We may get a lot more channels but the picture quality isn't as good as what we were getting when using the regular RV antenna. I will have to see if there is some way to adjust the picture.

I did go back and do a little more work on my chair, but didn't make much progress.

Several new folks pulled into the park today. One couple has a home base in Vermont. The other couple (Frank & Ruth) have been on the road full-time for over 10 years. He grew up in Florida and she grew up in Washington. They met while in the military. Ruth said that full-time life in an RV suited them well because it gave them a chance to spend time with all their kids & grand-kids, who are spread across the nation. They have been visiting their kids who live in Utah & Texas and, after a week here, are heading to Florida to spend time with their son who lives there. We ate supper with them at the club house.

We had lasagna, salad, a desert for supper tonight. The lasagna was OK, but not as good as Kathy's.

Tomorrow morning we take the motor home in for an oil change and transmission fluid change. We may head to Pensacola for the day, while the work is being done.

May God bless you and yours.

Dec 15th - Yet Another Beautiful Day

Overnight low was 37, lower than forecast. High today was a sunny 68. 68 seems hotter here, I was almost to warm with just a tee shirt & jeans. I think a tee shirt and shorts would have been more comfortable. By noon we had windows and vents open to cool down the motor home.

This morning was my first caning "class". Bob, the instructor, pulled this chair out of their stock and told me to start caning.

It took me 2 hours to get this far

 The "class" is very informal. Bob walks around helping folks, there were 3 other relative beginners. Often you have to wait several minutes for his assistance. I could probably get this far in a half hour if I started again. Getting started in the morning will take some time. The last thing that happened to me was that when I was knotting loose cane ends I broke one of the pieces and will have to splice in a new piece in the morning. I don't think it will be very difficult. After that the "weaving" starts.

Below is a photo of the rocking horse one of the "experts" is re-caning. I can't wait to watch him start on the "saddle".

After caning I did a 3 mile walk around the campground.

Yesterday we paid $2.249 for gas. This afternoon we saw a station selling regular for $2.239.

Kathy did some "junking" and grocery shopping while I was caning and walking.

Todays appointment with DishTV didn't happen, their incompetence is amazing. When I made the appointment Saturday I specifically told the guy that the appointment was for our RV, not our house. I gave him the campground address and he repeated it back to me. Later I received an email "confirming" that a technician would be coming to our house to work on our system. I replied to the email stating that the technician was supposed to come to our RV and included the address. I got a reply telling me that my email had been received. About 12:30 I received a phone call from a Dish tech telling me that he was on his way to our house in Centertown. Supposedly the appointment is now scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, at the campground.

I had a good phone visit with a couple of the Staley/Tate&Lyle guys this afternoon. I miss them a little, but I not missing the increasing level of crap piled on them.

Kathy was talking to Kelsey last night. I think Kelsey had her phone on speaker because we could hear Lydia chattering away. We both talked to her a little. When she asked if she could come to our house we both were near tears. She didn't care about coming to the house, just seeing us. I still tear up just thinking about it. I'm not sure if we will be able to wait until mid-Feb to see her in Texas. We are so blessed. Thank you Lord!

May God bless you and yours.

Dec 14th - Sunday

It got colder than forecast last night, down into the high 30's again. We aren't supposed to have any more lows in the 30's for a week. The high was a sunny 63. 63 here seems warmer than it does in the north, must be the sun. About noon we had the windows open and the roof vents open to cool it off a little.

We attended Liberty Church this morning. It was as good as we remembered from last year. http://www.libertychurch.net/foley-campus It appears that they are still growing. My guess is 300-400 at the 9 AM service. Pastor JT had a thought provoking message leading into the Christmas Season; Jesus is inside all Christians, waiting to be "born".

There is a Ryan's buffet next door to the church so we stopped there for brunch. Then a stop at Walmart, which was across the street, for celery to make potato soup, and it was back home.

We sat outside reading for awhile, until I got hot and went back inside. Our "neighbor" lady came home from a 3 day trip and came over to meet us. She just went out for a few days with friends. Her husband is on his way back from San Francisco. He was out there to help their daughter cook some huge dinner for the daughter's church. The neighbor lady doesn't get around well and I'm guessing that was why she didn't go to San Francisco with him.

Tonight was a Soup Supper at the campground. Kathy made two crock pots full of potato soup. While she slaved away making soup I took a wonderful Sunday afternoon nap. (We brought home a partially full crock pot, so I get to enjoy potato soup left overs for a couple of days.)

There were about 30 different types of soup. The $3/person donation will go to a VFW children's home. They raised $305. The crock pot to the right of Kathy contained a venison soup. The people across the street from us made it. We had only nodded at them and said hello until the supper. Imagine our surprise when we found out that they lived in Stryker, OH. They have only lived there 7 years.

Everyone got a bowl and spoon and was turned loose to try whatever soups they wanted. We even had entertainment to start the evening.

Good night. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 13th - On the Roof

Another beautiful day here; sunny with a high in the mid-60’s, last nights low was 40.

This morning I went over to the club house for breakfast. Every Saturday they have breakfast. 2 eggs, grits, bacon or sausage, a biscuit, orange juice and coffee for $4. Kathy isn’t a breakfast eater and stayed home. Did a 2.8 mile walk around the campground after breakfast.

Kathy did some laundry. She hung out towels. It was amazing how quickly they dried.

I’m still trying to get the satellite dish working. After 3 trips to the RV roof I learned that a switch inside the RV was bad. I jumpered the switch and the dish started trying to aim itself. The new receiver needed to be activated so I called Dish to activate it. I must have been on the phone for over an hour. The first guy ended up telling me that the new receiver I bought would not work with our DishTV service, since we had HD service. I had him transfer me to his boss and finally the boss agreed to send a Dish tech out Monday to install a different receiver, which they are going to trade for mine.

 

Tomorrow we plan on attending church at Liberty Church, where we went when we were here last year. It will be interesting to go back after almost a year.

 

May God bless you and yours. 

Dec 12th - Big Daddy's

Another beautiful day, overnight low 36 but high was a very sunny 61.

Yesterday Kathy went over to the clubhouse in the morning and helped tie a quilt. I took a 2.25 mile walk around the campground. We then went over to Sam's club, about 15 miles from us, and had hot dogs for lunch. Kathy loves Sam's hot dogs and I also like them. She bought a crock pot and I bought a 4# container of "deluxe" nuts. On the way home we stopped at a place that was supposed to have fresh fruits and vegetables. The only thing we bought was a bag of "new crop" pecans. They are good.

In the afternoon we went over to the social hour again.

This morning, as I took my walk, I noticed that the Smart Car was loaded.

Later I learned that these people were pulling out today to head to a big RV show in Florida.

After my walk I went to the club house and watched them cane chairs. One guy is re-caning an old rocking horse. I watched him for a long time. He spent quite a bit of time studying the old caning as he removed it. I've got to take a photo of it next time I'm over there, it is such an interesting piece. Someone just dropped it off at the RV of the guy who "teaches" caning, Bob Derflinger. As I was watching the cane chairs Bob showed be an album containing photos of many of the chairs they have done over the years. He showed me over a dozen chairs waiting, in the club house. to be re-caned. They have more stored in another building. People donate many of the chairs, or the folks pick them up cheap from flea markets. Some of the guys make any needed repairs, strip off  old paint/varnish and get them ready for re-caning. Every year they have an auction to raise money for an assisted living facility that caters to RV'ers. They cane every weekday. I think I will give it a try Monday morning.

While there I also spent time visiting with a guy who used to live less than 15 miles from us when we lived in Niantic. He and his wife have been "full-timers" for quite a few years but they still spend some time in central Illinois every year, to visit their adult children and grandchildren.

We finally made it to Big Daddy's for lunch. I had a hamburger basket and Kathy had an oyster basket.

The hamburger is at least a half pound. It comes with fries for onion rings and a drink. I ordered mine cooked medium and it was pretty red in the center. It was a lot better than it looks in the photo, so juicy that it is very messy to eat. The price increased from last year. The basket and drink cost a whopping $7.25.

After leaving lunch we drove back over to the DishTV place. On the way we saw a partially harvested cotton field. Next time we go by it I need to grab a piece of the cotton. All the white you see in the foreground is loose cotton balls.

At the DishTV place I bought the receiver they told me I needed to work with our satellite. I spent several hours trying to get it to work and finally gave up for the day. I talked to a Tech guy at Winegard (the company that made the satellite) and the next step is going up on the roof, taking the cover off the satellite and checking to make sure there is power at the dish. I may get brave and do that tomorrow.

I had purchased a new sewer hose a couple of days ago. I bought just the hose because I like the end connections on my existing hose, the hose that has several small leaks. When I tried to put them on the new hose I found out that my old hose is a counter-clockwise spiral and the new hose is a clockwise spiral. They wouldn't work. I had another old fitting that would work to connect the hose at the RV but needed to make another trip to the RV store to buy a new fitting to connect to the sewer. AARGH!! Everything is back connected and I dumped the tanks with no leaks.

Kathy made goulash for supper. She had canned, or maybe frozen, some tomatoes from her garden and used them in the goulash. It was GOOOOOD.

Not sure what we are doing tomorrow. Plans are to go to the beach Monday or Tuesday. It is supposed to be sunny and in the high 60's both of those days.

May God bless you and yours.

Dec 11th - Shopping Day

Weather - Today was another beautiful sunny day, with only a few clouds. The overnight low was 36 but todays high was only 54, significantly cooler than yesterday. Not hot but still pretty darn nice.

We did some shopping today. Bought some miscellaneous electric stuff from Radio Shack, a new sewer hose from an RV place and stopped at an RV repair/maintenance place and talked to the guy about getting our oil and transmission fluid changed.

Then it was time for lunch at an Oriental buffet place that we frequented last year. The food was good but would have been better if they had turned up the heat on their steam table. After lunch we stopped at Winn-Dixie for some grocery shopping. Kathy said the grocery prices are really high, $4.39 for a gallon of milk. Fuel is less expensive

In the afternoon I repaired the switch that controls the movements of the drivers seat. It quit working right after we left Crossville. The power wire broke loose from the backside of switch mechanism. I "superglued" it back in place. it works now but we will see how long it lasts.

I brought our Dish Network receiver with us to see if we could get satellite TV while on the road. Our satellite dish, which we have never used, cost the original owner of our motorhome over $1,100. I couldn't get it to work so I went over to a local Dish installer place. They told me that our receiver is a high definition receiver and our 10 year old satellite can't handle high def.  They were nice folks. We can buy an $80 receiver that should work with our satellite, we just won't have high definition. Our 10 year old TV is an analog TV, which can't take advantage of high definition, so that isn't a big issue. I think I will get one of the receivers the next time I go by the place and see if I can get it to work. Since we get all the major networks here it isn't a big deal but our experience has been that we are lucky to get 1 or 2 of the major networks at many places.

We walked over to the clubhouse for this afternoon's Social Hour. It is basically a notification time to let everyone know what is going on at the campground, and in the surrounding area. I asked about the place where I had inquired about the oil/transmission work and had several guys tell me they thought the guy did good work.

After getting back from the clubhouse (it is 0.18 miles over to the clubhouse) we decided to walk one of the small loops (a mile long) around the campground. While walking we saw a motorhome with Missouri plates. The guy was just hooking up his sewer hose and we stopped to chat. He is from the Branson. MO area. He is heading to Florida for the winter. He left Branson 10 days ago and has been wandering around, sightseeing, on his way this far.

It was almost dark when we got back to the motorhome but I took a photo of our lot anyway. I think I earlier said the lots were 40-50' wide, I think they are actually more like 50-60' wide. The post at the left of the photo marks our "lot line".

Time for supper. Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 10th - Bright & Sunny

Looks like we will have another nice day here.

Yesterday I hooked the battery charger back up and it seemed to charge the battery OK, never started the car so don't know for sure. I'm still not sure why the "boost start" feature didn't seem to work the other night.

Yesterday's high was I the high 60's, with only a few clouds. We finished hooking up utilities, got formally checked into the campground, and basically settled in. We took several walks around the campground but didn't do much else. It was a great day just to be lazy. Had the motor home window open in the afternoon to air it out. We also spend some time just setting out in lawn chairs. It was breeze and when the sun went behind an occasional cloud it was a little cool with just a long sleeve shirt. When the sun was fully out, which was most of the time, and the wind wasn't blowing it was almost to warm. Felt good!

I think these people were here when we were here last year. The 5th wheel RV is a triple axle (BIG) unit. The "Dot" car load crosswise on the truck, right up next to the sleeper, and then they hook up the 5th wheel unit behind the car. The guy has ramps and just drives the car up onto the truck bed, at least that is what the guy did last year.

We are in campsite 78, note that north is down on the map below.

The campsites here are huge, 40-50' wide and at least 100' deep. Last year we were in either campsite 19 or 20. I think we are going to like 78 better. We have a big shade tree on our east side but not one of the west side, like we did last year. We like being able to sit outside, in the sun, in the afternoon. If it gets to warm, which I doubt, we can put out our awning for some shade.

Below is a Google map of the campground, north is up on it so it is reversed from the one above. Our campsite is located with a blue dot. I took an early morning walk, during sunrise, and walked the loop around the entire campground. The places at the behind the club house, at the top of the map, are all private dwellings, owned by RV'ers. You can tell the club house because you can see the pool.

Hope you all have a great day. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 8th - Safe & Sound in Alabama

We arrived at the campground around 6:30 this evening. No problems on the trip down, about 500 miles. We stopped several times to stretch our legs and get the kinks out.

We stopped twice for fuel. The first time, near Rising Fawn, GA, we paid $3.389 per gallon. The 2nd time, near Atmore, AL, we paid $3.099/gallon. I'm not sure why the price was so low in Atmore. The 2nd place was the Creek Travel Plaza. The run a shuttle bus to a casino that is 3 miles from them. Maybe that has something to do with the cheap fuel prices. It was the cheapest fuel we saw during our trip. After leaving there fuel prices were back up to $3.38-3.47/gallon.

While fueling Kathy tried to start the car and the battery was dead. Not a shock, Honda must put in the cheapest batteries in the universe. I had started the car during an earlier stop and ran it for 5 minutes at 2,000 rpm, just to charge the battery. This has been a normal occurrence when towing the CR-V. It is my fault for not rigging a charging line from the motor home. Normally I have a battery charger with me but I forgot to pack mine when leaving Missouri. About 7 miles from the campground we saw a new Walmart. We stopped and I bought a $70 battery charger. When we got to the campground, in the DARK, I dug out an extension cord and hooked up the battery charger. I could not get it to charge the battery, haven't figured out why. I have a long set of jumper cables and was able to jump start the car, from the motor home batteries. That allowed us to get it unhooked and get the motor home backed into our space. I will try the charger in the morning but will probably have to ask one of the neighbors to help me with a jump start again. (I should have parked the CR-V next to the back of the motor home so that I could reach the batteries with the jumper cables. Guess I was tired and just didn't think of it before shutting the car off. Don't know why I was tired, Kathy drove 350 of the 500 miles.)

We got in our space in the dark and have the electricity hooked up. We will need to do a little repositioning in the morning before hooking up the water and sewer. We have plenty of "on-board" water and sewer capacity so it isn't a problem.

After finally getting situated we went out and a 20 minute walk around part of the campground. Kathy had on a hoody but it was warm enough that with a heavy shirt I didn't need one. Overnight low is forecast to be 43 but the next 3 nights lows are forecast to be in the high 30's. Most days the highs are forecast to be in the 60's with lots of sunshine.

Kathy called Kelsey and we "Facetimed" with her and Lydia tonight. It worked quite well, although it would be better with a larger screen. I've tethered my laptop to my phone to send this message. It is a little slow but is OK. I doubt that the speeds are high enough for us to use Skype but won't know until we try. The campground has pay Tengonet, but my experiences with Tengonet have all been bad. I will have to ask around tomorrow and check out the experiences of others who are here. The place appears to be more full than when we were here in Feb.

Time for bed for me, Kathy is watching Castle on TV. With just the antenna on our motor home we get all 4 networks and a couple of PBS stations.

Thank you Lord for your many blessing. May He bless you and yours.

Dec 5th - Damp Here in Tennessee Today

The high here today was near 60 but it felt cooler because the humidity was near 100%. There was a 40% chance of rain and I thought it was going to rain several times, but it didn't.

This morning we walked down to Tom, Mary Lou's and spent time visiting with them and Merv. Kathy made Merv salmon patties for lunch, one of his favorites. She made me chili, one of my favorites. After lunch she took him over to Lillians for the afternoon.

Kathy cleaned, did laundry, cooked meals and made pies (a woman's work is never done). Our new (used) TN washer and dryer work great.

I got a little exercise by cutting down and splitting a medium size dead oak tree.

 Other chores for the day included replacing two water filters on the motor home and re-installing the under sink drinking water filter (I had taken the old one out last fall, when I winterized the motor home, and never replaced it). The two main filters, similar to typical house filters, are easy to get to and replace the filters. The one under the sink is hard to access for an old fat guy. So far I don't think I have any leaks. I do think that replacing the "O" rings on the large filters should be a task on my "to do" list.

I also continued the process of becoming a Tennessean <grin>. Out with the old,

and in with the new,

by changing the license plate on the motor home.

I hope you a great day. May God bless you and yours.