GOOD/BAD DAY AT THE PARK…

My Home Park…(good)
my refuge …I go here to get away and be alone…I am so use to living alone (35yrs.) it has been very hard moving in with my elderly father…that I have not lived with since I was 18..I  am soon to be 69…in the pic below is the view out my front door the other day…

On this day it was very busy must have been a weekend…Sat. I think…a lot of boats…big boats and little boats shown in the pic below…

This is the second time I seen this …a couple 12/13 year old boys out for a day of kayaking and fishing…mostly its all about the fishing by looking at their  gear….they were gone all day…

The (bad)….
My heart had a sad sinking feeling when I seen this boat towing this gray thing behind it…I have seen this a couple times before ….

and my thoughts were right…I dead Manatee…it was so awful…so sad…poor little thing…was not an adult…but not a baby …was floating on his/her back  with little flippers across chest…made me cry….

The lady (seen her before also) from the Florida Wild Life came with this pick up truck to get him/her… the truck had a wench on it …so she was able to lift the Manatee out of the water and on to the truck alone…as sad as it was it was a very interesting process..
I did not take anymore pix of this…it was just to sad..I had to walk away and watch from the other side of the boat launch…there was a crowed of people watching…this is the fourth one I have seen that died in this area in the last 6 months…they do an autopsy on all of them…but what the news is saying all along the intercostal water way (the Indian River) it is probably pollution that is killing Manatee, dolphin, fish, birds and water animals…there is a big push to clean it up..I hope it succeeds and works… I haven't been posting because of the IE thing..but decided to bite the bullet   and down load a different browser…old habits die hard…any way did the Google Chrome and it works ok…but having problems with email with it…I will leave it here…thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings to all G&M

OIL…AND OLDIES …

Needed to get the….
oil changed the other day…in prep for our trip to PA…I was walking around the RV repair shop and looked at few old RVs …they also have RV storage…it looks like this fellow has been here awhile…there were things growing out the back side of it…obviously it has not been moved in many many years…I wonder if someone is still paying to store this or …if it were me and no one was it would be gone cause the way I look at it …that’s a rental spot …look how far the wheels have sunk in the sand!

And here is an oldie but goodie…looks like it still can move and is used….

Another useable oldie but goodie…when I was looking I looked at the names of these rigs…but now I don’t remember them I know I recognized them at the time…old names…

Here is a row of newer RV’s in the storage area…

and another row…they had about 5 very long rows of rigs in storage….I should have counted them…I was there long enough!!!…RV storage is at a premium in Florida in the winter…in summer not so bad because the peeps that live here take them out and head for cooler climate…what kind of birds would you call them?? lol

Here is SweetDream with her mouth open waiting for her drink of oil…it was a 5 hr. wait!! Grrrrrrr…..

I was hanging around the oil change and work area ..watching and looking…and found this lying on the engine….What! ….a peanut!!!…

And the rest of the story….
I have decided that when my rig is being serviced or worked on I will be watching and paying attention to what they are doing…I was not happy with the last oil and lube so this time went to another place…he did some caulking for me and I was happy with the work…and I was happy …the other guy charged me $200 for oil change and I am not sure but what they put the same oil back in….I check my oil all the time and this time it was much darker than normal and didn’t even have the 3,000 miles on it…so made me wonder…my appointment was fore 9 am…got there they took it right out back…lifted the hood and it stood like that for about45 min…finally after walking around I went over and took a look…they had the dip stick out lying on top of the engine…bugs were flying all over the place I could just imagine one falling down the hole or something else falling down it….so I put it back in…I did this twice…finally seen a guy doing the lube and other stuff….there were about 4 guys working on and off various rigs…. finally got to the point I was going to be late for my quilt block class at JoAnn’s on the other side of town…if they didn’t get a move on…finally seen the man come with a case of oil…started to put the first can in and stopped…looked and said it was wrong oil…now keep this in mind…they do not keep many cases of oil on stock…for what reason I don’t know…maybe they don’t do many..he went to talk to the boss …boss called the distributer said they would send case right over…20 min no oil…30 min no oil…finally went into office …they called again…its on the way…finally came…and I was out of there after 5 hrs.…walked into the class at 1pm…straight from the garage…no lunch …no change clothes…very rushed…and not happy camper….and oh…I found a peanut on the engine…thought maybe the workman was eating them…he said no wasn’t him…he wondered where it came from also…I think a squirrel down at the home park put it there…peeps feed them…I will be on the look out for them…don’t need a squirrel in my engine wrecking havoc…all for now..thanks for looking and come back soon…
blessings to all G&M

THE LAST FEW DAYS….

Monday:  got lab work done finally…after office messed up with the billing codes….ins was not going to pay anything…then did 4 loads of laundry and did a little trimming on the bushes on side of back yard…did not get that finished…so another days work sometime this week…it is getting to hot for me here most days…this afternoon will work on re-arranging the rig and getting rid of some stuff…Storm warnings going on all day…right now mid afternoon we have tornado watch…

Sunday: got up and out the door early…Took Maggie and went over to the Strawberry Fest….here in Melbourne..it starts at 8 AM an since I was taking the RV I needed to go early and get parking where no one could park me in that seems to happen if you don’t pay attention…I went mostly to see the craft show…I talked to a couple crafters and they were not too happy…business was not good and they are not happy with the people running the show…one of the crafters even said that they treat the craft people as 3rd class citizens …I have noticed every year there is a big turn over…I seen a lot of empty spaces…they told me that some vendors left after only one day it was so bad…

Sat… after going to a few yard sales…I  tried to get the lawn mower stared…tried for several hrs.…enlisting dads help…finally figured we were not going to get it started…so we loaded into the trunk of dads car and he took it to get fixed,..never again will I go thru that …it really bothered my arm and shoulder that was finally getting better and ended up with sharp pains going thru the middle of my back …all from pulling the string and lifting it into trunk…told dad he will have to either buy a new mower or hire someone to mow… I am pushing 70 here and can not do the things I use to….I think I pretty much look the same as I did 10 years ago…so people think I can still do all that hard physical work… (and sometimes I have to remind my self I cant either)… when in the real world that’s over for me…that pretty much shot the day…but I did find time to give Maggie girl a bath…So that was the weekend ….will leave it here and be back later..thanks for looking and come back soon….blessings to all G&M

2ND DAY -

My site at….
at Wickham Campground was in the over flow area this time….I had to pull in the front way instead of backing in….I think most hook ups are on the driver side of the RV…why a lot of campgrounds put their hook ups on the opposite side for convince is beyond me….

I did like the view out the door at this site…had sun all day tho…if I could have backed in would have shade all day…

Wed. night we had a small pot luck…MM, Sarah and me…the food was delish…just enough for the 3 of us…I made Hawaiian ham and cheese sliders. Sarah made cuke and tomatoe salad and MM made artichoke, olive and pepper salad…and a little fruit…

Sarah enjoying the evening before the rain..

Sarah enjoying the rain…..

And the rest of the story….
We had a very nice day today…took a couple walks …had some visiting time and just took it easy….after the rain started about 6 (we had our pot luck at 5) we all broke up for the rest of the night…Today no rain so far but gray, damp and cool morning…I will pack it up and go back to dads…get ready to leave for ST. Cloud on Friday to the L&S resort… (Linda and Sandy’s place) We are going to do a few fun things over there…no rain and slow warm up will be 80 by Sun. Better get going have a lot to do..so thanks for looking and come back soon
blessings to all G&M

3 DAY GET AWAY…

On the first….
Morning walk a foggy sunrise over one of the ponds…it was more colorful than my camera is showing in the pix below…

Got this pix of the foggy spider webs that dotted the walk way…at times like this wish I had a better camera…I was able to take it on an angle and get it…

And on our….
walk last evening, Sarah, MM, and me…plus the doggies…we saw this pair of Sandhill Cranes….putting on what I think might be a mating dance…it was really fun to watch…she did not seam to impressed at this point…

Here is Sarah and I…lounging at MM site…she doesn’t want her pix taken so you wont see her…

And the rest of the story…
The weather has been great this first day…but this afternoon it might fall apart…rain on the way ..suppose to last until late tomorrow and I will be leaving by then…will take a break and referbish the rig with food and clothing and then head over to the L&S Resort…(Linda/Sandy…for a few days…Sarah is headed there also…so will have a lot to talk about then…later I will post about my site with pic here…going to have a pot luck here at my site for diner..so will have more pix…all for now thanks for looking and come back soon…
blessings  G&M
PS …would love to hear from anyone reading my blog…so leave a comment…Maggie and I say thanks…
 

ON MY WALK…...

Melbourne FL…. High 68 Low 48
On my walk around the park
here are some of the Florida floral and fauna that Maggie and I seen…this is the pond that we park by a lot when we are at the day use part of the park…not the campgrounds…but on the way to the camp grounds…

More of the same pond… there was a lady came by and threw a lot of bread at the edge and in the pond…(not sure that was a good idea) anyway…she attracted birds galore…and I was trying to get some pix of them…but those pix are for another blog…but a few birds in the pix above…

In this part of the park there are no marked trails…just open wooded areas…this bridge is not on a trail but put where you can cross over the creek…

Looking down the creek… I did not see any fish , bugs , frogs in the creek…maybe they just don’t hang around the bridge area….

Looking up the creek from the bridge..I was trying to figure out where the creek came from and where it went…I think it just flows between two ponds…but next walk that way I am going follow it and find out…

The rest of the story…
Not much going on as usual…anything of interest that is…doing some cleaning for DD and SIL that will be here over Christmas day…we had a bunch of rain today (Sun)…now for a cool down…laundry and football day today…my Fantasy Football…I did not win any $$ but did  come in third …so for a rookie grammy was good to me…congrats to Judy (blog bird lady) she won playing FF on her son’s league….link to Judy’s blog ….http://travels-with-emma.blogspot.com/ I don’t know how to do a blog roll so hence the link….all for now 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

SOME CHANGES AND MODS TO RV…

Sofa change….
I was thinking I need to put something on the sofa to keep it clean..doggie always jumping on it…so I found this old quilt my brother gave me…(in good condition) put it on over the whole sofa that way it wont slip off….. as it hangs down the back to the floor…then put the throw over the back…and my pillows and I have a new sofa!! More homey looking than the standard brown/tan RV décor ….

Close up of the quilting and pattern on the quilt..this is an old one and hand quilted..I know some would say I should not use it…but why not…what is the use of having something if it is packed away…then given to the next person to pack away so on and so forth…

Some mods….
Some mods in the kitchen…the white spice hangers are great…they not only hold the clear spice  jars (in middle) but also the ones you buy in the stores so you don’t have to take them out and transfer to the other jars…in the clear jars I am going to put the herbs that I plan on growing this winter , dry them and put them in the jars..

And also on the other side are three more…just enough for me to put my meds in the cupboard …they slip right in place..just fit …

Got this step up at Home Depot..a couple weeks ago..I forgot the one I had when I left PA …my step stopped working just before I left in the spring and I had no way of getting it looked at in PA…I think that the sensor is not working…the step stopped working after the door got slammed real hard.. …I like this new two step stool..much easer for me to get in and out of…so I am in no hurry at this time to fix it….when I got the other single step they did not have these ones…glad I forgot the other one when I found this one…Maggie can even use it…

The rest of the story…..
There is suppose to be a cold front coming thru tonight and tomorrow and Thur. so I think I will wait until storms all over.. then go over to Wickham Park to dump the tanks …decided I will spend the night and flush it out real good…I still having problems with a smell…I thought I had it figured out the other day but …NOT…it is exasperating …. excited to be going on a GTG…Dad has to get a new A/C for the house …coming Wed  to put it in..I will be relieved with some cooler weather…Maggie too…for some reason she is not doing well with the heat this year…will work in the rig again today…so this is it for now thanks for looking and come back soon…have a great day and stay safe…blessings to all..G&M

MAKING IT LIVABLE…

Looking a little homey…..
I have been moving things out to the rig…making ready for living in it…I got that little fan from dad…but got me  the one in the house that is a larger round occulting fan…not in pic..and I have a small battery operated one for boon docking…had it for the van…

Moved all my spices and bottles of stuff out yesterday…I have been trying to figure out where I was going to put everything…not near enough cupboard space…so found this box ..was my dads from his gun shop…put about 50 coats of clear acrylic on it…and this is what it looks like filled up…I might paint it later…

The American box I got at a yard sale and the basket is one my brother kept on his table filled with plastic silver ware and napkins…the vintage kool-aid box holds Maggie treats…vintage green Morton salt spoon rest…I think I will paint the box… it doesn't fit…


Making it livable…move a lot of spices, cooking utensils and setting up my kitchen…these things will ride in a tote on the floor when we travel is that what you all do when on the move…I sure don’t have cupboard room to store them in..

Well it is football Sunday and this is my game day snacks and lunch…before pic…

The after pic…I should have show the tiny peppers before…I got them at a yard sale 10 for a dollar…they are hot peppers…but not much or I could not eat them..less hot than a jalapeno..I mixed a little cream cheese, plain greek yogurt, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and made my own cracker crumbs crushing multi grain crackers…and some Jimmy Dean fully cooked turkey sausage…mixed it all up and stuffed them and some mushrooms…put in toaster oven…Mmmmm good…delish…fresh corn on the cob…my game day food…since I am in Fantasy Football…I now watch as many games as I can…so I can keep up…I am having fun with it…only problem with today I have to watch the Browns and not my fav team Steelers…

I did this post on Sunday…but won’t post until Mon….seems like I am always a day behind…this is all for now thanks for looking and come back soon…5 days and counting !!!!
Blessings G&M