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.