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

THE BACK YARD….

A few ….
before pix of the back yard…sometime this year I hope to do some “fixing up” of said back yard….This is looking thru the window in my craft/art room…rain drops on the window… it was raining and wind blowing that day …That little brown patch is where I want to have herb garden…it will be in pots as dad put weed killer on it and sorry to say I don’t think that it would be wise to plant in it…don’t think anything would grow…

One day when I first came to FL ..I was walking at the home park..and found a section of cactus about the size and shape if my hand I stuck it in a pot too see if it would grow and now 4 years later..it is about 8ft. tall and has a base of at least 6 in around…and many arms…and this year a ton of blooms…this pix is just one of the arms with blooms I want to show you..some are spent and some are just budding and coming out…don’t know what kind it is…anyone?

All his life…
My dad was a hunter and fisherman…total outdoors guy…when he moved to Florida he got rid of all his hunting gear…except these two duck decoy’s …they are in the back yard at the base of a palm tree…the other day I was sitting in my craft room and into the middle of the yard flew two female mallard ducks…they were looking at these male mallard decoys…and let me tell you the strutted or should I say waddled right  in that direction…they were women with a one track mind…it was so funny I could not take my eyes of them…when they got close they then made a circle around them keeping their eyes on them the whole time…they did this for about 5 min…then guess they figured they were dead beat ducks and flew off…I tried to get a good pic but too many shadows …but here are the decoys…and gezzz I did not notice until I was putting labels on this post and checking it for typos...there is what looks like a peanut in that air plant...good grief I am over being attack by run away peanuts!!

Well that’s it for the back yard for now…I have my frog garden to show you some time and will up date the herb garden…if it makes it thru the summer…going to ask dad to water but not sure he will…sometimes I am not sure what to post about on this blog…I am not sure I will even make it to  PA this year…I have had a couple incidents with my dad this winter…the last one a couple weeks ago ending up with …he will no longer be driving…I am really stressed out at this time..I pray and trust in Jesus …and try not to worry…I guess I should say “don’t worry” .. I better go for now thanks for looking and come back soon..
blessings to all G&M

QUILT STUFF….

After the fiasco ….
of the oil changing…I went directly over to JoAnne Fabric & Craft to a quilt block class I signed up for a few days before.. did not have time to even eat..The two girls next to the wall are fellow students and the lady in yellow is the teacher Aggie…

Hard at work…I forget their names…but they were a nice couple girls to play quilting with…my seat is beside the lady in the foreground.. you can see my cute little vintage sewing basket on the table…

This is the quilt block we made….this one is mine in pic below…I was so stressed out that I did not get it finished at the allotted class time…Aggie was telling us about her crafty church ladies that meet every Tues.  evening to work on various project that they have going..not a church project but something of their own…she invited me to come over and she would help me finish up…so that’s what I did…I also went the next week and took my baby quilt blocks I am working on for my new GGD…also on Wed. all day they work on items for the church bazar held every Nov. I think I will be joining that this week also…you bring stuff to make and donate the finished product to the bazar…I am still looking for a church to attend this might be the one…

This last year…
I have been thinking a lot about doing some sewing…I even broke out my 35 yr. old sewing machine…no luck with it seems to have died…so I went out and got one on sale at JoAnne’s..
My sister has been talking about a crazy quilt she is repairing for one of her girls…that made me want to check out a bag of material scraps I brought with me…(I have many more in PA) so found those and started to iron them so I would know what I have..

Some of these are a little on the old side could call them vintage…found on dotted blue swiss that I had made a blue dress for my DD back in the early 70’s when she and DS were in a Tom Thumb Wedding at the rec. center…she was the mother of groom and he was an usher..I will dig out some pix sometime and post…so cute…

Doing some …
laundry this AM…have ham bone in the crock pot for ham and bean soup…then at 5 I will go over to the church and craft with the ladies…so better get at it…
blessings to all G&M

HAPPY EASTER..

Good morning everyone…Happy Easter…Not much of a sunrise this morning at the home park…just clouds..so I leave you with a picture of last years service..have a blessed day …

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

INTERESTING DAY….

Went to a large…

plaza not to far from dad’s…parked here at the end of the parking lot in a nice shady area near Panera Bread so I could use their free WiFi and get a cinnamon crusted bagel…I could get addicted to those things…got my puter all set up and stepped  out to run over and get the bagel shut the door and new the moment the door went shut…the keys were on the table…..this is not the first time I have done this…. LOCKED OUT!!!

I knew what I had to do…(as I have done it before)…so looked around to see who might have the object I was in need of…spied this place (in pix below) was my first choice…very nice man manning the phone…said didn’t think they had one…then thought about it and said wait I will look in the janitor closet…bingo had one in my hot little hand in just a few minutes after the door slamming shut!!!

So went over to the rig and set the ladder up where it was needed…my side window was unlocked so all I had to do was open it ..lean in and get the grabber tucked at one end of the sofa and grab the extra set off keys hanging beside the door…I bought this grabber just for these occasions…before the grabber I had to slide my self in the window onto the sofa and get the keys..now if that wasn’t a pretty site…lol…I know , I know a key hidden out side is what is needed here but I don’t know where to hide on and afraid I might loose it while bouncing down the highway…any ideas out there send me an email…would not want to announce to the whole WWW where my key might be hidden…well that’s the end of that tale…

After that ….

excitement and got my on line work done…check for any geocaches that might be handy…well low and behold the map looked like I was setting on top of  one…and sure enough about 50 feet away there was one hiding in some bushes…now it took me a few min. to find the right bushes as there were many around and my GPS was jumping around hither and yon…but narrowed it down to these pretty green ones…

and not long after find the bushes I found the cute little marsupial hiding with the cache attached…you never know what a cache might be hanging around with….opened the bison tube singed the log and that was it…

And the rest of the story….

l am back at Panera bread again..for the same reason…but not locked door this time…I have run out of GB’s with Verizon again…I have been thinking about this and I believe when email my photos taken with my phone then I have to down load from email to puter is when I use up a huge amount of my data…so I will have to be more watchful of this in the future..I have yet to get my bagel but will before I leave here …next stop think I will be going over to Wickham to walk and spend the afternoon…dad has his friend Ron at the house fixing a leak in kitchen drain…I will post about that later….not a  pretty sight…so this is it for now thanks for looking and come back soon

blessings to all G&M

 

MARCH 29 2014

On Sat…..
this showed up in the afternoon on the TV screen…a very nasty storm system was coming thru central Florida…tornado watches and warnings all over the place..including Melbourne…I know this is old but had to wait for some free wifi…out of GB’s with Verizon again…grrrrr at Panera Bread hope it works

In the middle of the storm I opened the front door and tried to take a pix of the wind,rain, and lighting…but it did not show up…maybe if I had a better camera might have got a better pix…anyway thought it was a cool pix of the rig..looking like it might be parked in a camp site….oh..I forgot it is..camp drive way….

Sun.  morning….
I borrowed dads car …had a few errands to run including getting some flea med for Maggie…it was to hot for her to stay in the car so she stayed at dads…While I was out with the car I decided to look for a couple geocaches close by.. I cant cache much in the RV because of parking…in the pix below is one on the cause way…there are more but on out farther on the bridge… but you wont find me out there…I am lucky I can get across by vehicle…let alone walk...

I found the little bison tube pretty quick…

A pix of the log inside the tube…signed it and put it all back for the next cacher….all together I found 3 of the 3 I looked for…the other two were park & grab …on guard rails…I like it that they do hide some like this for old Grammy's like me that cant hike and climb things….I can hike flat trails..and find those but not some of the ones that are hard to get at….

Awww….
Two cuties…Maggie and Joey…Joey is my daughters dog..he has a little Papillon in him…he is a rescue and is the biggest mama’s baby there ever was….

I will leave you with this…while I go find something else to blog about…thanks for looking and come back soon…
blessings to all…G&M

A FLOWER KIND OF DAY….

It is a gray cloudy….
with rain in the forecast day…so I thought I might brighten up the day with some flowers…Here is Maggie on the front porch in PA hiding behind the roses…the porch is one thing I will miss when the house sells….thinking positive the house will sell….not sure what these will look like this year ….I really cut them back before I left…

And my beautiful vintage Holly Hocks… these were hiding when I moved here and they were dormant for over 30 years while I was in work mode…then when I retired I let them grow and I love how they turned out…but since I have been in Florida they are back in the dormant stage….I wonder if HH grow in Florida? These grow on both sides of my basement door …the main door I use…

And these are roses that my daughter had growing over her kitchen window…what a beautiful site while doing dishes at her home…but they are no longer…one winter the ice and snow broke them down…sad…

She woke up!!

And the rest of the story….
I guess this is a pretty lame blog..but I have free WiFi at Wickham CG so thought I needed to up load something….not traveling or camping there really is not much to blog about…I did stay last night here at the CG to do the tank thing but that is really not blogging material…the CG is only about 1/2 full…it was mostly empty when I drove thru on Tues. because of the music festival they had here last weekend…I expect it will not be that full again until the snowbirds come back ….I got the results of the ultrasound of my legs…I have bad veins in both legs…probably will need surg. at some point but Medicare says not now..have to do other things first….ware stockings, elevate legs, more exercise  etc, etc…first…so will do that…glad I know that I don’t have blood clot or something really bad like that… and all my blood work was very good that made me happy..I will keep on trying to eat better to keep it that way…guess I will hang around here until check out time then go look for a couple geocaches…they are still taking down the buildings and stuff from the festival…so the caching might not happen… will leave it here for now thanks for looking and come back soon…
blessings to all G&M

OUT WITH THE OLD… AND IN WITH THE OLD…..

When my electric step….

stopped working last year…I got this step stool thingy at Home Depot …the label said it would hold 300 lbs. well I am over wt. but no where 300…and after about a month or so it broke…the slot where you pick it up on the top cracked one day when I stepped down on it from the rig naturally it would be week there a slot in the middle of the step…give me a break…

then a few weeks later this back “brace thing” snapped…I was still able to use it but had to remember and be very carful…I spent many months looking for a new step…that did not cost an arm and a leg…I wanted at least a 2 stepper…

Then last week….

at a yard sale ( where else)…I found this very old step ..now it did not look like this when I got it….I had a pic but it is lost somewhere in my puter…anyway it is from way back…I remember having one just like it when I was doing some remodeling work with a friend in the 80’s…this one was used evidently for the same thing as it had dry wall putty and a ton of paint on it …some was even all globed up on it…now this stool is very strong and sturdy…the construction looks the same but believe me it is much much stronger…not made with cheap plastic….

Any way I scrubbed it up a couple times even sanded it trying to get the globy paint down a little…it was mostly yellow so I just got a new spray can of yellow paint and used the whole thing on it….then painted the top step white with my acrylic craft paint (acrylic paint is really tough)…then painted on the sunflower…looked at for a few days…then thought of all the sun sets and sunrises I hope to see while traveling (when ever that happens)…so got out the orange and did the second step…then just did some doodling on the rest of it…who knows it still might get more doodles….any way I like it and I smile every time I open the door and step out of the rig…

And just inside the…

lives this old whisk broom…I have a couple of these things…I like to keep this one on the bottom step beside the fire extinguisher …I use it to sweep the tons of sand that gets tracked in and to sweep of the little yellow step…it comes in handy ..when it is raining and wet …I will sweep of the bottom of my shoes with it before entering the rig….

And here is ….

another thing I need to do something with…its Maggie's box…all filled with “her stuff” except the bottle of sunscreen…she even has her rain slicker in there and a little Steeler coat she ware’s when it gets cold…what to do with it all…I want to get the basked off the floor and out of there…but want handy access to here leash and poopie bags and such…any ideas…what do you all do with puppy stuff to keep it handy??

And speaking of Maggie here she is sound a sleep in “her seat”…looks like she is going to fall off….think she would move over a bit…lol well that’s all for now thanks for looking and come back soon

blessings to all …G&M

THIS & THAT…..

My strawberry short cake …
I ate at the festival last weekend…there is cake under all that….was good…but there is no strawberry like the ones up north in PA…homegrown…sorry Florida…..

This is a trail …
we took from the parking lot at the festival…I was thinking it would take me to the camp ground and I was right…

We also then took a walk around part of the main park…they were setting up for the Run Away Country music festival they were having this weekend…they put up this chain link fence around the main stage area…today I road by Wickham Park main gate and the whole place as far in as I could see was jam packed with RV’s all boondocking….the campground and park  was closed to the public,…only ticket holders could camp there or enter the park..….first come first serve…hence the boondocking ..this is one of two events they close the park to the public each year.…

Today Sat (22nd)….
I used dads car today and did a little exploring…I want to find some other day camp parks that Maggie and I can spend time at…I was looking at Google maps and seen some south on US-1 …while on the way I ran into this…..

but when we got out and checked it out..found it was more of a mini craft show…seen these cute Fairy Gardens…I have been wanting to make these for a couple years…

Click the pix to check out the details….

I talked to a couple of vendors and they said it was well attended each weekend and they did pretty good..only $20 a day or $30 for the weekend…this is something I might try and make some extra $$$ this next winter…they said lot of snow birds come every weekend…at this point in time I cant afford to set up at a reg. craft show…so this might be the answer for me…I did find some other parks along the intercostal water way that I plan on checking out…I will post pix and tell about them when I do….hopefully next week…as usual I am really tired of camp driveway ….looks like all my RV friends are on the road…happy for them but makes me sad …as it stands now I will be heading to PA…the middle of May or first of June depending on weather…I cant wait…on the medical front I have appointment on Monday morning to find results of test….I will leave it here for now…thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings to all G&M