Where do I start? Friday Jan 30, 2009

Aren't retired people suppose to rest sometime? Well guess what we have not stopped since we arrived in Naples. Wednesday was an experience. We left for a day of looking for alligators. We went into the Big Cypress Preserve and drove down the "loop road" for about 23 miles. Now the loop road is gravel, somewhat one lane with water on both sides sometimes and plenty of Gators. Some were little, medium, big and LARGE. They were swimming, sunning on logs, on the side of the road , in the road actually wherever they wanted to be. We stayed in the car most of time and made sure when we got out that there was nothing close to us. We had never seen them in their natural habitat so it really was quite amazing. We saw one come out of the water and back up on the bank like he was parallel parking. We saw singles, groups of 2, 3, 4 and 7 and some very small babies. After that we ATE again at Cracklin Jacks which is family style with "vittles", that being, greens, mac and cheese, beans, cole slaw, corn bread mashed potatoes, gravy and fried chicken.
Thursday was a shopping day at Bealls, clothing store, and then on to The Best of Everything, which is jewelry of most any kind.
Friday found the Tolsons and us heading to Ft. Myers to the Flea Market and we stayed all day. Actually the guys saw Denny and Betty Raymond but Donna and I were in a shoe store and missed seeing them.Later we stopped by Cypress Woods to see the Newtons, Discovery Club members, and then on to Sweet Tomatoes to eat yet again.
Now it is time to relax and get some sleep.

Mullett Festival and Buzzard Queen Contest

Sunday Jan 25, 2009

Okay, okay I have not lost my mind completely but we did go to the Mullett(which is a fish in case you did not know that)Festival. They have music, people, more music and more people, about 2000 to be exact. Stans is a restaurant in Goodland, Florida which is described as a "Drinking Village with a fishing problem" and once a year they have this all day PARTY and then crown a Buzzard Queen. Trust me there were some people there that looked like old buzzards and by the end of the day were acting like ones too.
Monday was a beautiful day. Larry was determined to wash the Big A Bus so we just let him do his thing. Donna and I did a few errands, later I had some "downtime". After that Larry and I rode our bikes around the park and the met Tolsons and Parsons and went to dinner. Larry wanted his fix of "ribs" and we knew just the place to go, Michaelbobs, which we had been to when we were here in 2006. It was just as good as he remembered. After that Chuck treated us all to ice cream at Sweet Treats.
Today, Tuesday is manicure and pedicure day for the girls. Don't know where or what is dinner tonight but trust me it will be good. Here we go talking about food again.
There are so many things we want to do and see here but I am afraid time is not going to let us do all so I guess we will just have to COME BACK.

Moving On to Play for a While

We left Dade City Florida on Saturday morning heading down to Naples. We were greeted at the gate to Crystal Lake by the Tolsons on their golf cart. I don't know who was the most excited us or them. We got the Big A Bus all set up and Donna and I went shopping. Can you believe it?? Hey the only shopping I have done since leaving home has been groceries.
Went for pizza with Parsons, Tolson and Jim and Lois Campbell(Indiana friends). Today we are going to Goodland to the Mullet Festival. Yea, I know, you are thinking these "old people" do funny things. We do.
Donna has my life planned for the next 12 days but that is fine because I know fun will be had by all.

Would you Believe????????????? 01-21-09

Wow, it is Wednesday again. Where has the time gone? We had a long weekend since Monday was a Holiday and so all of us took advantage to either go sightseeing, do work around our "rigs" or whatever.
Friday night we went to a Cuban Restaurant with several of our group and had wonderful food, but the best part was the flam for dessert. Oh my!!!!!
On Saturday, Larry and I just sort of took it easy with a "little" cleaning in the motorhome and just plain relaxing. I caught up on some TV programs that I had recorded and Larry enjoyed a nap.
Sunday we took a road trip to Tarpon Springs, which is a Greek settlment. We enjoyed wonderful food there. You may notice that we talk about food a lot. Larry and I had been there about 9 years ago but neither the Settles or Taylors had been so we were happy to introduce them to the history of the sponge industry from the Gulf of Mexico.
Monday took us to the "biggest flea market" I have ever been too. It was so overwhelming that believe it or not I really did not buy anything to speak of. Did get a few vegetables and one or two little things. I thought a lot of the things were overpriced such as the "knock off" purses which were much cheaper in Mexico.
Tuesday found us back to work with some little breaks to watch History in the Making with the swearing in of our new President. It was so cold and windy that when work was over we all adjourned to our "rigs" and stayed in for the night. Actually we went to bed around 9:30 pm.
Today was better but still cold. It is hard to believe that the two weeks are almost up and that we will be moving on to Naples and then back here on the 5th of Feb. Then I am going to head to the cold country for a week to visit Ally and her children while Doug is out of town . Something tells me I will wish I am back in Florida pounding nails before that week is over unless it does some warming up in Indiana.
Hope you are enjoyig the blog.

Wednesday Already

We must be having fun as it is hard to believe it is Wednesday night already. We started out on Monday morning with a group meeting and the site manager and our team leader deciding what and where we would be working.Our group, RV CareAVanners ,got the job of framing a house. We start work at 8 am and end the day around 2:30 with a break at 10 am and lunch at noon. It was amazing at the end of Monday to see that we had almost all the framing of the outside walls done. It was a joint effort on everyone's part and needless to say at the end of the day we were tired and by Tuesday morning had a few sore muscles.

Larry took me to Lowe's on Monday afternoon and purchased me my own toolbelt and hammer. I now am " Mimi the Tool Lady".

Tuesday we worked on the house more and today I worked with 5 other women on a "Women's Project". We wanted something of our own to do. We built a platform and shelf to hold a deep sink. Several of the men came over to see if we were doing it right and we promptly sent them back to their work. Tomorrow we will be building "can houses" to be placed in downtown to collect aluminum cans. We were told today that another complete framing package would be delivered tomorrow for us to start another house. This is only our second Habitat Build but from all the fun we are having it certainly will not be our last. One of the" new homeowners to be" was here working on his hours today and they are so appreciative of us "old people" out here working with them. We have been invited to go to church with Irma on Sunday but I understand if you go you need to pack a lunch.As some of you probably know African American Church services can be rather lengthy.
We actually are going to the Greek town of Tarpoon Springs on Sunday and then on Monday, since it is a holiday we have the day off and we are going to Webster to a HUGH Flea Market.

Until next time.

Restful Day before starting Work

We had a nice relaxing day before we start work tomorrow. We think we will be framing a house but just not sure yet. We have met all the other Care a Vanners and it is going to be fun group. We had a potluck this afternoon and have already planned a couple of dinners for the week. There is never a shortage of food on these builds. Someone described the builds as 5 or 10 pounders. There is also a group of college students from Wisconsin here to work this week.
We just finished watching the Steelers and Chargers game and were happy to see the Steelers win. Hopefully they can do well next week against Baltimore and go on to the Super Bowl. We have been Steeler fans since the 1970's when a friend of ours ,Bobby Walden played for them. We got to attend several games in the old Three Rivers Staduim and now it is fun to hear our grandaughters talk about the Steelers. In fact I had to purchase "steeler stuff" for christmas and birthday presents.
I will try and keep this up this week but it depends on how tired I am after working. It may become a weekly thing.Larry took some pictures of our campsite so I will try and post some later.

The Big "A" Bus is settled for a while in Dade City Florida

We have arrived at the site of the Habitat Build in Dade City Florida and hopefully won't be moving for a couple of weeks.The weather is great, rather warm and I need to find the cooler clothes. I understand it is suppose to get a little cooler this week but that will work out fine for working outside building houses.
We had a great trip after all the rain and wind decided to move out to sea. Had a great visit with my neice and her family in Rincon, Georgia. Larry and I enjoyed meeting her children for the first time. She has and eleven and nine year old and 4 month of old baby. We tired to catch up 8 years in a day and a half and we did a pretty good job of it.
Already found some fresh vegetables and fruit so we will be set to eat well, like we never do.
The picture is of Susanne's children, Madison, Hunter, Cade and (Great) Uncle Larry.

On the Road Again Jan. 2009

The Big "A" Bus left Virginia today, Jan. 6, 2009, with rain and cold. Most of the day was rainy but by the time we hit South Carolina I had managed to get warm and took off the socks(my feet are my temperature control) then I got rid of the sweatshirt(I did have a shirt under it) so I cooled off since the temperature was 71 degrees. Larry was laughing since several hours before I was wrapped in a blanket.
We are stopped for the night and plan to meet a cousin of mine ,tomorrow at the Cracker Barrel in Santee S.C. for lunch and visiting. We haven't seen Mary in several years.
We will keep you updated on our travels later.

Mem