CHAMPAIGN BREAKFAST….

One morning we….
all went to Nan’s new home and Margie cooked us a pancakes / bacon breakfast…and it was delish…Sandy sitting, Margie and Nan in foreground…..
And the cooking begins…Linda and Nan getting into the pancakes….

Eating … around the table from left to right…Nan, Sandy, Louise, CArol, and Lisa…new member…

Some chatting went along with the good food….

And we also …..
had this…Louise brought this along to mix with the orange juice…and they made a drink by the name of Mimosa …I have not had this drink before this ...but found out I like it…even for breakfast …lol…

And here is Margie,..holding the cork that almost blew a hole in her forehead..The story goes like this…she was trying to open the bottle of Champaign, was having a little problem..she was leaning over the bottle while doing this…when all of a sudden we heard a fire cracker pop and a yelp….looked up to see Margie feeling her forehead area and looking up…then the cork landed on the awning of Nan’s rig and rolled off…it was funny after we found out she was ok …she said she could feel the air rush by her bangs as the cork blew past…close call but she averted a hole in the head…

So that was it for the breakfast ….always an exciting time with this bunch…I will post but not in any order…as the days get away from me and I don’t remember what happened when…thanks for looking and come back soon…
blessings G&M

A MAGGIE KIND OF DAY….

Maggie's day….
This was a very rainy day…Harley dog gave Maggie a yellow rain slicker…you know the kind…. all us oldies wore back in the day…anyway she was not to sure about this slicker…as you can tell by her ears pointing back and tail hanging down…she usually does not care what I put on her…but not so sure this time…so pathetic looking….lol…

Then after walking a few feet she was ok with it…guess she figured it was not going to eat her…

Not only was it raining but the wind was blowing up a storm…at some points her tail was blowing totally side ways…the slicker has a cute little hat that goes with it but her ears are to big….

Maggie on Christmas day….I got her and Joey a Christmas present bag…A ball, a home made doggie cookie…and a little plastic dog bone thingy with poopie bags in it ..that attaches to the walking leash…Joey is my DD dog…

When Maggie wants to play ball she will grab a ball and come over to where ever I am drop it and sit and stair at me…until I play with her…here is one of those times…stair down..lol….

I am over at Wickham park …spent the night so I could empty my tanks…just an over night’er…Last night my neighbors lost their kitty..she slipped her harness and ran off….I helped them look for her…Maggie and I walked in the woods behind the RV…all the while I was calling here kitty,kitty,kitty…Maggie was going bonkers looking for this illusive kitty I was calling…she knows what a kitty is and really wants to get up and close with one…it stopped raining so maybe we will go for a walk before check out time…not sure what I will be doing the rest of the day…anyway thanks for looking and come back soon ..blessings to all G&M

FIRST DAY …ST. CLOUD….

The first leg of trip ….
was an over night stop in St. Cloud…to meet up with Linda…in pic below we are camped at camp Linda/Sandy ( sisters)….they have a 30 amp hook up for visitors…this is where Linda use to have a 5th wheel parked…there is a little pavilion/barn like building behind my rig…it is so nice here…out in the country..(I miss that.. lot of country in PA) ….

Linda and Sandy’s home …beautiful large home with 6 bedrooms …I was amazed at how big it is…wrap around porch on 2 sides…so very nice…

Woke up to ….
the crowing of a rooster and a little fog…and a temp of 58….brrr…but it felt good to me…after all this hot weather…and it has been like forever since I heard a rooster at sunrise…cool beans…Linda and I sat around and chatted for a couple hrs.…then she had to finished packing her trailer…so Maggie and I did a few things in the rig…then for dinner time we went to a neat little diner here in St. Cloud..was an old gas station at one time…they make the best burgers …all fresh food no frozen …I had a burger and sweet potato fries…the fries were cut supper thin and were sweet and crispy..some of the best I have ever had..sorry not pic…yakking and eating I forgot all about pics …I will try and do better…will be getting ready now to leave around 11 or 12 …headed to the GTG…as I am sitting her the local news is one and they were talking about Silver Springs St Park..something about monkeys that live there..I was typing and missed what it was about…So off we go now …first stop at Wal Mart to get ice for the black tank… I will talk about that another time…lets just say the sad smiley face says it all..so thanks for looking and come back soon ..blessing to all G&M

WICKHAM PARK GEOCHACING…

Maggie and I …..
Took the RV and headed over to the park to do a little Geocaching..I figured we could do some there with plenty of room for parking..This cache was located along the road in this pine forest…

This was an easy find for us..seen these before ….wonder how many people drive by these caches and don’t know they are there…any cache for that matter…

And on to the….
the next one…when I walked up to GZ (ground zero) on a slight hill I seen the back end of a large turtle at the entrance to this large hole…I guess there a quite a few Gopher tortoises around this park…this was the largest turtle I have ever seen…pretty cool beans to me… By the time I got my camera out it was long gone down the hole..

So I was not surprised when I saw this was the geocache when I uncovered it (not in the hole) but close…

Too cute..a green plastic turtle…with a bison tube attached to his underside holding the log to sign...

Another cute one we found was this cute little face when I turned a rock over…the red nose is a plastic container…you unscrew the red lid and the log is in there…

Maggie and I ….
spent the whole day at the park…walking around and looking for caches and anything else we found that caught our eye…took a walk around the camp ground…to get a camping fix…the campground is pretty empty right now…but last weekend it was full with mostly tents..maybe something special with them was going on…my leg and back are almost better…Sat I went yard saleing with friend Pearl and her friend…got a couple of things to do in the art world…back at dads by noon…to hot for me to do more…
And now to ….

answer some comments..sorry it has taken so long but having problems with my internet ..that’s a whole other post…first to Judy…I will be glad to share my ideas and my Fantacy Football team…why don’t you email me and we can work on your team so you can kick b*tt …lol…but I am not sure that I will do that again…. but I do have some good players…and Evelyn I do have some plans on getting to some campgrounds here in FL..but everything depends on my dads health… so I am not able to go for extended periods of time…I was pushing it this summer..Renee made a good point you should join in or at least go and take a look at the Women RV group I belong to…these girls are great and full of tons of info on RV’ing..I have learned sooooo  much..here is a link to the forum…

http://www.womenrv.com/forum/

Well that’s if for now thanks for looking and come back soon..

blessing M&G

WHAT’S UP…..

Well as I said…
I am back in Florida…and it is still way to hot for me…I have to do what ever I want out side or in the rig early in the morning then spend the rest of the day in the house…I am not a happy camper spending the day in a house…but that said…it isn’t so bad right now as I have been have a big problem with my back and right leg…spending a lot of time resting my leg…and it is getting better…it is most bothersome when sitting…not good for some one that has an RV..driving is the worst..that is what started the whole thing to begin with…but I feel I am on the mend now…
A cool tree we seen on our hike…

Looked out my craft/art room…
this morning and saw this…

Ibis in the back yard

So I slipped out the door hoping to get a better look…


I followed them around the yard….
I have found that you never know what you will find in your yard here in Florida…Remember the Pelican that came for a drink of water I posted about …funny things happen…Well my leg is getting much better…glad for that…I think it was all from my back..Also I booked a site at Silver River ST. Park here in Florida for a week at the end of Oct…some of my Women RV friends are going to be there for a mini GTG before the big one in Jan…and on the Fantasy Football scene …Grammy kicked bu**…lol, lol, I beat them all this week…So on that note I will see ya later…have a great day and stay safe…thanks for looking and come back soon..
blessing G&M

THURS. HAPPENINGS

Did one last load of laundry…
on Thurs…and hung them out to dry..Maggie loves her toys and plays with them everyday..and they really get kinda dirty..so they get washed often..some of them have no stuffing left but she still wants them and plays with them…check out her “purse” lol..cute…

My son came to help me also..he unhooked the new hot water tank and drained it..we will be moving it next summer…then we moved out the two pieces of furniture to the RV…the ones I am taking with me to FL…

Then he helped me wash the RV..I have a problem with high places and can not do the roof..so he checked it out for me and washed it….and when the dirty water flowed over the sides…well that meant we had to wash the rest of it..I was planning on doing that anyway…took this pic from the bathroom window…

The other day I was…
arranging things in the rig for our trip…I moved Maggie's bed and toys..up between the seats…where it and she will ride…when ever you do anything to her “stuff” she has to immediately  go over and check it all out…make sure it is ok I guess..lol…anyway here she is checking it all out after I moved it…

Another thing that my son..
helped me with …he explained about my electrical system in the RV…I have been struggling with this since I got it…as we went around the rig he explained it simply so this old lady could understand …he is an electrician so that made it easy for me…one thing that has been bugging me is the “invertor” thing…I could not find anything in my manual about it..could not find any 12 volt outlets…well he showed me where it was…but he called it a “conversion pack” when he said that …I had an ah ah moment and ask a few other questions…and knew what he was showing me was the invertor thing…then we went looking for 12volt outlets..I have been searching all over for one…found one in the bed room by where the TV goes…but a few days before this…I figured out that there was one on my dash…long story spanning over the last year…but there it was I found it..he also explained about breakers and fusses…so that I knew what did what…anyway I am so very grateful to my son for all this info.. knowledge gives you confidence..and makes you feel better about what your are doing.. So Maggie and I are off on our way south in the morning…first stop Winchester VA….so will keep you posted…about our adventures…thanks for looking and come back soon …blessings G&M

MISH-MASH OF STUFF….

When I stepped out…

of the rig the other day…and looked down I saw all this water …it had not rained and when I saw it…scared the heck out of me..I thought for sure something was leaking…Ohh Noooooo!!!! then I looked around and saw it was coming from a drain under the side walk..it was a drain that went up an old alley back in the day to the next street …and if you drain things in your back yard…like a swimming pool it will flow into that drain…and that was what happened…neighbor was draining their pool…Whew…

And this is…
One of the pieces of furniture that I am taking with me…it is a desk that my brother got a couple years ago and ask me to paint it for him..so I painted the color he wanted then sanded the edges and such …and put on some stain and wiped it off to give an antique look…I did that with a lot of furniture that I sold in my store…black being the most popular color…I traded this one out from his estate sale with one that I had for over 45 years…so they had a desk to sell…

Here is a tip….
instead of buying those expensive gardening glove in the garden dept. of any store…go to the sports dept and look in the fishing part…they have these fishing gloves rubber and cloth…they are much better and cheaper…and last forever…

Well it is now 2 days and counting…I think I have just about everything I am taking this trip loaded …all but the last min. stuff..I have some errands to run this afternoon. bank, WM etc…will walk down and get my sisters van and use that one more time…well all for now thanks for looking and come back soon..blessings G&M

NICE DAY…

A good day…
with my sister today ( on Sat)…she just had her hip repair surg. two weeks ago..but was ready to go with her cane to some yard sales with me today…she got the bad hips a few years ago…you know the ones that you see advertised on TV…luckily she did not have to replace the whole shebang…just the ball …so made her recovery much better than when she had the whole thing replaced…now in about a month she has to have the other one done…
Thought I would throw in a few more pics of the Roadside America Attraction…

Don’t forget to right click on the pic…to open for a larger look see…

Sticking these  pics in because I don’t have any others for the blog at this time…and besides I think they are so cool…right click to enlarge…

And now moving on….
To Sunday…it is still hot here so wanted to get started working on sorting (again) what I want to take with me and cleaning out the RV.. I took everything out of the storage bay in the back…put it in the garage when I figure out what all I want to take I will then put stuff back in along with other stuff…like I said..I am having a hard time letting go of stupid stuff..small craft stuff and sentimental things…not sure what to do…took Maggie girl for a couple walks but missed our big one early…I did not sleep good last night and didn’t feel like going…
I did something else on Sat…
I joined a Fantasy Football League that my oldest grandson started…This is a first for me and I think it will be a fun thing to do….Last night was our draft…we had to pic our team..you get $200 play money and you have to bid on the players you want…well I did some home work and made a list of the ones I wanted…got some of them but not all by a long shot… most everyone else wanted same ones …and I was having problems with the site and kept getting kicked off…so after it was all over (about two hrs.) I was one tired puppy and so was Maggie..Dad has the NFL ticket with Direct TV..and I got a new receiver before I left and now I will be able to watch all the football games..anyway this has been my weekend so far…will be planning my trip this week also…now that will be fun… And then late Sunday from about 6 to 8 pm the storms and rain came in bucket fulls Maggie was wiggly and dancing around wanting out..but she held it and we finally go out…street and side walk was flooded…all for now thanks for looking and come back soon
blessings G&M

GETTING READY….

Started today ….
Doing outside prep for winter…I will be leaving in about 3 weeks…and time goes fast so thought I better get busy…and besides my garbage pick up ends this week so needed to get it done so they will take it on Thru.Working on trimming my butterfly bushes… Got that done and lawn mowed by 11:30 when it started to pour down rain…

While it was raining…
I worked on the front porch …stacking up the couple lawn chairs  I had there and one little lawn table…after rain..took them to the shed. The one little chair left goes in the RV..and table goes in the house…so I can still sit out there until I leave...and of course Maggie girl’s leash…so she can guard her domain…


Also need …
to finish up the trimming of the rose bushes ..but cant find my gloves…might have to go buy a new pair…the roses really grew “leggy” this summer so going to cut them way back…they should be moved not enough sun by the porch…this pic was taken early in the summer…

Hope to be doing….
some of this..(pic below) soon  (camping)…like on the way back to Florida…I have things to take with me..like a couple pieces of furniture…that might make things tight in the rig…

The rest of the story…
There is more storms and rain on the way…just sitting here in the RV..trying to figure out what to do next…only 1pm and I am tired…need to go get some Maggie food..either today or tomorrow..pet store is in a town 20 min. away so need to make a list of anything else I might need in that area…like getting some things at the Wal-Mart there that our WM does not have…It is nice that my sister is letting me user her van while she is recuperating from hip surg.

Maggie taking a nap…all for now thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings G&M

LOOK WHAT IS….

Left after the moving sale…
This is the dinning room…I had card tables set up all around the room with furniture and other large items in the middle…this looks wonderful to me….the desk in the front right corner is the one I am taking with me….

And this is what is left in the living room…the totes and boxes mostly have what was left from  outside on the tables… if you remember I could not walk thru these rooms before sale…

And again I forgot…
to take pics before the sale started…I think it is because people start coming before the time you state in the paper… then it is to late….so this is at the end of the sale…

This patio set did not sell…I was selling it all separate and it was cheap…the chairs are original 1950’s not repos..they had few paint chips…the table is of a newer variety with a glass top…few rusty paint chips…the umbrella is new…this is a shabby chippy set…but next year I am going to sand and paint it..the chairs will be pastel colors..like pink, green, yellow or blue..what ever I fancy at the time…and I will sell it…and not cheap either…I had about 6 of these chairs when I had my store..painted them each a different pastel color and put them out in the yard at the store…and with in an hour they were gone…sometimes I really miss my store and refurbing (if that is a word) furniture …but it is really way to much work for me now…very hard.. you work all the time even when store hrs are over…I am retired now..lol… 

And the rest of the story….
This has been  a very busy summer…and a few weeks ago I was up set with myself that I was not getting enough done…even tho I did not meet my goals…I can now look back at it and see that I sure got enough done that now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel…that being next summer I can wrap it up and still have some travel fun time in the north…in fact I feel pretty good about everything…want to do two more things this week…rest of dry lock on and paint the lower hall way…then the next week and 1/2 ..pack up RV…close up house inside and outside…and get on the road to the south….I am sooooooo glad there are not more yard sales, moving sales, or flea market set ups….for this year…!!!!!!!!! Also next week I will make up a list of what is left to do…can you believe I am almost done with this…all in all I have been working on getting rid of stuff starting with getting rid of what was in my store when I closed it up , down sizing, fixing up house for the last 6 YEARS!! WOW  is all I can say…Even tho the house is not sold yet I feel like a 10 ton elephant has been lifted of my back…Well this is it for now …thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings G&M

TAPPING A NEW WATER LINE

Here is how they….
tapped into my new water line…first they dug up the side walk and drive way (again)…don’t mind my garbage can it was the pick up day…I didn’t have to move the RV because they said it would be done in one day…
I took a lot more pics but figured you all pretty bored with all this junk that has been going on all summer…but I am doing this for my info…so moving on..see that copper pipe?…boy was I ever glad to see that…as apposed to galvanized pipe…that means the galvanized was replaced at some point in time…but not since I have owned the house…36 year…a few people have had problems after hook up with the old galvanized pipe after being disturbed clogging up and having to be replaced at the home owners expense!! Not fair I say but water co is not going to pay for it…..so glad I will not have that problem..this copper pipe goes clear to my basement…
As you can see they had to dig thru some sold rock in order to find the new blue water line..The pic below is how they tap into the new line…that already has the water flowing thru it…they attach that valve you see that has a shut off on it ..then drill thru the pipe, shut the valve off while they hook up  the new copper tubing…

Below they have it all hooked up and turned on…they then had me go in and test the water buy turning on all the cold water taps in the house..make sure it worked and get all the air out… I don’t think they did this with everyone but since I was standing there watching all this and asking questions.. they had me do it…I have kept my eye on everything they have done at my house….

And after that was all ok..they filled in the hole…with dirt..not gravel that I thought they might do…after each layer the tamped it down with the back hoe shovel you see on the top right of pic…they worker spread it around first….

Rest of the story….

Personally I found this whole process very interesting…I know I am weird…but I cant help it I have always been very curious …makes me an adventures person..good for the RV life stile…the part that was most interesting was how they push that new blue water pipe thru the earth under the side walks…moving on…I got the add in the paper for the sale…suppose to rain today so will wait until tomorrow to set up tables outside…might go out to the garage and see what needs to be sold from there…lots I am sure…soon I will posting about my travel back to Florida…not sure how many stops I can make to look around and explore…as I will have a few pieces of furniture to take back making for tight quarters in the RV…well all for now thanks for looking and come back soon…