Love my life!

I love my life.  Granted, I have a little gin & tonic buzzzzzzz, but it makes me so aware of how lucky we are.
Scott is in his element, making some tomato sauce & searching for new destinations.
We have a change in plans.  Our bedroom TV is in Lady Lake Best Buy for repair. So we have to hang around Florida for another 3 weeks, instead of heading to Louisiana in two weeks.

PETS: The dogs are behaving beautifully. Devin is now more content to spend time with us in the RV. He doesn't need as much exercise as before.  He has actually let me sleep past 7am yesterday! That is HUGE!
I've been training him on a 30' light rope and calling him to me.  He's doing pretty good.  I think at this point he would not run away, BUT, if there was a cat or deer, he would "not hear" us and chase after them.  That is not a chance I'm willing to take.
Scott is doing surprisingly well with riding his bike with Devin along side.

Well, that is until..."ooooooh, at cat!".....

Never fear, all is well.  No one was harmed in taking this photo.

BOOKS: Because I stayed up so late last night FINISHING "Whitney, My Love", I ended up taking a two hour nap today. We were supposed to take a bike ride along the  Withlacoochee Trail, but, hey, who cares? I'm retired and there's tomorrow.
Started "Messiah" by Boris Starling (the author of "Silence of the Lambs").

CRAFTS: The camp Wi-Fi is FAST!!! I've been enjoying surfing RAVELRY for how to possibly make my t-shirts look nicer with a knitted or crocheted collar & sleeves. I have so many t-shirts. That is my main wardrobe and it's not the most flattering, but I like the sayings and dog images on them.

RV: This is our first Christmas in the RV. No big deal.  We stopped with the whole holiday Christmas celebration about 5 yrs. ago.  It got to the point, that if Scott wanted something, he would just buy it, making it very difficult to surprise him with any gifts & the same for me.  So now, really, all the holidays are "just another day"... even our birthdays and anniversaries.  We held out by still insisting on cards for birthdays, etc., but really, why bother.  I KNOW my husband loves me and he KNOWS I love him. It is gift enough to relieve each other of the stress of having to go out to find a card and gift.
Here is our ONLY Christmas decoration.

It's a little (4" high) LED Christmas tree that plugs into the USB port of the computer.  Got it at Big Lots.  Even THAT tree, Devin wanted to get at. We haven't had a Christmas tree for 7 yrs, since we adopted Lyla. Yes, pets as children do change our lives.  The pets are well worth it. Children? I wouldn't know and don't want to find out.

Time

It's amazing how much time we have when free of most of our responsibilities. No house to clean, maintain, no yard to maintain, no job commitments, no children.  I am so thankful that we were able to retire so young (Deb at 53 and Scott at just under 55). I never took my job for granted, as many of the younger employees did. I was thankful I had a good job that was secure with benefits. I worked 32 yrs. for the Post Office in case you weren't aware. 10 of those years was on the midnight shift. But even though I did not hate my job &  did appreciate the job I had, I also resented HAVING to be there 40+ hours a week. The time it took out of my day, my life. It felt like a jail sentence, counting the years, months, days until I would have the freedom to do what I WANTED to do, and not what I HAD to do.

"For disappearing acts, it's hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work."  ~Doug Larson

 I can't say it enough. I am so thankful and lucky to have been able to retire while I hopefully still have a long quality of life ahead.


I'm so happy! I just had to jump up and give hubby a hug.
Weather is great, dogs are well and mostly behaving, haven't heard about any issues with the house in NJ (yet), my husband is happy because he doesn't have to work on the Turnpike, I'm really enjoying the book I'm reading.
 I have TIME to do my crafts, I have TIME to watch a movie, I have TIME  to read,  I have TIME to organize files on the computer, I have TIME to keep up with grooming the dogs, I have TIME to exercise, I have TIME to clean what is needed, I have TIME to explore the country, I have TIME to keep up with this blog.
TIME IS PRECIOUS.

"One must learn a different... sense of time, one that depends more on small amounts than big ones."  ~Sister Mary Paul

RV: I found myself today trying to decide what to do instead of trying to squeeze what needed to be done into the day. Such an odd feeling.  I'm actually now looking for chores to do!  Cleaning of the RV is quite simple. Not much here.  So I'll start working on putting a coat of protectant on the outside little by little.
Scott also is looking for things to do. Don't think for one second we are bored! No way! Just need to give ourselves permission to do things we want instead of chores. To realize it's ok to watch a lot of TV, or knit a lot, or read a lot.

RV MOD: Scott decided to put an outlet in the ceiling of the bedroom. Our RV has the wiring for a 2nd AC unit, but we seem to do just fine with just the one in the living area. We've found that when it gets cold, we need a heater in both the bedroom and the living area. We have a little square ceramic type heater for the bedroom and a flat MICA PANEL HEATER in the living room. These work fine in cooler weather.  When we were in NJ and it was freezing & below, we used the propane RV heat to get up to 66 - 68° degrees and then switch to electric to maintain. But, if I wanted to make coffee in the morning, I had to make sure to turn off the bedroom heater. Not a big deal, but just a nuisance.
Scott wanted me to mention that he used a "heavy duty" extension cord and a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) outlet. I guess that means he knew what he was doing.
Here are the results

The ceiling outlet goes towards the wall and then down the side of the cabinet. See the white female end by the TV. That is where we will plug in our heater (as long as we have 50amp service).

FOOD:  Went into Crystal River & found NATALIA'S PIZZA & PASTA. It wasn't the pizza & pasta that caught my eye, but the Cuban menu! Picked up some Cuban style pork roast...delicious.

CRAFTS: I've caught up with rescue work.
I'm starting a new knit project. THIS  is what I hope to knit.
While traveling in the truck from site to site, I work on crocheting or something else that does not take detailed work. The truck can be quite bumpy at times and I don't want to lose a knit stitch. I'm not experienced enough to correct my dropped stitch easily. So previously I was making Shamrock potholders.

Now I'm working on a plastic canvas project. I'm designing a tote for our plates, utensils, etc when we go to pot luck dinners. Below is the "in progress".

Also, with all this TIME on my hands, I brought out my counted cross stitch that I haven't touched in years. This I do outside at the picnic table with the fabulous bright sunlight. Now that I've aged since last working on it, I not only need glasses, but good, bright, true light.

INGLIS, FL 34449

Shoulda, coulda, woulda....

RV LIFE: Lesson learned: relax, slow down, enjoy the present.

RV PARK REVIEW:
Dec. 8 - Dec. 15, 2011
RIVER LODGE RV RESORT Inglis, FL 34449
$27./day (w/Good Sam) Site #30
Our rating: 3.5 out of 5 Would return for overnight, or if no where else.
+Free Wi-fi: Excellent speed
+Clean modern bath house & laundry
+Nice sized enclosed dog play area
We are currently at RIVER LODGE RV RESORT. Nice enough place, but not Highlands Hammock! I didn't realize how good I had it until "it's gone". We "shoulda" stayed another week, we "coulda" stayed another week. In hind site we "woulda" stayed another week. I'm done rushing to make it to Canada in July. As the time draws near and we need to rush then, so be it. But for now, I will relax and if we especially like where we are, we'll extend our stay.
I'm not saying this place is not nice.  It's just your typical private RV campground.
At least it's not just an open field. But there is no breath taking view, even though we do have woods behind us.

View from rear window

There are no squirrels running around all day to entertain and and keep our setters on their toes, but there is a seasonal tenant's cat that is free to roam and excite our setter, Devin.
There is a nice fenced in dog area, but sigh, no other large dogs to play with.  There are just a bunch of little yappy dogs, that charge the windows of their motor homes, and bark & growl as I walk our well behaved QUIET dogs around the park.
This park has EXCELLENT free Wi-Fi! It's the fastest since living at home. But, I rather be outside at Highlands Hammock than inside with a quick computer.
There is nothing around here. We are right off Rt. 19 which has just been expanded, so is quite a busy highway.
There's a nice sound barrier wall, that really does a nice job of blocking the traffic view & noise. The greenery that is growing up the wall is pretty cool.  It looks like a Donna Dewberry One-Stroke painting mural.

By the office are a couple of these bushes (below), that I've never seen in NJ.

Nice swimming pool, 2 bathroom/laundry buildings.  Paved roads.
I believe this is a new RV resort and they plan to expand in the future.

FOOD: Our eating habits have changed since RV'ing F/T.
Scott has lost at least 30 pounds, me? well, uh, maybe 3 pounds? I don't get on the scale anymore. All my life I have had to carefully watch what I eat and exercise to keep my weight where it should be. When I hit 50 and stopped dieting, I gained 30-40 pounds!
I'm hoping now that I don't have cookies & ice cream in the RV, that I'll lose weight without really trying.  I've gotten into the habit of having a bowl of cereal for lunch, which does a very nice job of keeping me satisfied until dinner. If I want something sweet, I eat Malt-o-Meal Tootie Fruities, which are very similar to Fruit Loops. If I'm just hungry, I'll eat a bowl of Malt-o-Meal Mini Spooners, which are similar to mini wheat squares.  Good way to squeeze in a glass of milk. This replaces COOKIES & milk.
For a snack at night, I have a glass of milk with chocolate or caramel syrup in it. This replaces a large bowl of ice cream and now I'm getting some more calcium & vitamin D.
We're also more active between bike riding, hiking and HAVING to walk the dogs several times a day.

CURRENTLY READING: I think I'll add this segment as I start a new book.
The last two books I read were true story books.
The Godmother by Richard Smitten.  This was about a really evil, cold woman who moved up to be a powerful Colombian cocain dealer. No regard for life if it got in her way. Interesting.
The Blooding by Joseph Wambaugh. About trying to solve a couple of cold case child murders just when DNA was discovered. This wasn't worth the read.
Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught. Yes, it is exactly what you think it is. A girly romance and it is set in the 1800's. I needed a break from the sad, but true stories.  I am loving this book! I picked it up at Highlands Hammock book exchange, by the laundry.

PETS: Devin is coming along with his training.  He is not so absorbed with the wildlife that he doesn't listen. After a little whistle, he turns to look at us and we say come and 90% of the time he comes.
He seems to have regressed into more puppy behavior as far as chewing.  He has begun to grab our shoes, chew on the furniture, & counter surf.  He did not do any of this until now. Sigh...another thing to work on.  We'd love to get rid of the crate, but if we want to keep him safe and our RV intact, then he needs to be crated.
Although Devin is more pup than we really wanted, he is still a good dog and has many endearing habits.
See the video below. He loves his squeeky toys!

All our pets have transitioned to RV living very well.
Our African Grey Parrot, Swayze who has plucked her feathers for 15 yrs, is actually growing some back now.
Lyla has found her spot

Devin has found his spot

The good news is they have chosen separate chairs, so there is no fighting for the chair, well....
The bad news is, where do we sit????

Devin has also learned how to open the screen door.  He slides the plastic part over and then rests his head on the opening, which in turn pushes the handle down and magic, it's open!

Sebring, FL continued

Our final day at Highlands Hammock State Park. We considered staying a second week, but I said we may need that week to get North for our Alaska trip in July 2012.
Most of our time was spent at the campground.
FOOD: We did go one day food shopping. Never been to a Sweet Bay grocery store. We bought a pound of their broccoli salad. Yum! Broccoli, raisins, bacon, onion, sweet mayo, sunflower seeds. Great combo. Anyone have a recipe, please link it in the comments.
We also went to DON JOSE MEXICAN RESTAURANT. I had done a Google search for eateries in the area. Don Jose received rave reviews.  We went on a Tuesday early evening.  Large restaurant with a large deck for outside eating, with a view of Lake Jackson.
They gave us the typical nacho chips and salsa. The salsa was very good with just a hint of heat to make your lips tingle.
We both started with Black Bean soup.  At first I didn't care much for it. It seemed bland. I'm used to some heavier spicyness to it. But as I continued, it just blossomed in your mouth. Very creamy with bits of cilantro and onion. I would order again.
Scott ordered Salmon that was smothered with tomatoes and zuccini.  He enjoyed it but when he saw my Chicken Fajitas, he wished he'd ordered that. The Fajitas were truly delicious.  The chicken mildly seasons and char cooked nicely. Served with 4 flour tortillas, guacamole, sour cream and tomato salad. I put that all on the tortilla and rolled it up. Wonderful! Served with spanish rice and black beans. The spanish rice was light & almost fluffy which was a nice change from the sticky mess you usually get at mexican restaurants. I left the black beans. They just tasted like they were straight from the can with no seasoning added.
Heaven...I'm, in Heaven! I had the flan for desert. Probably the best I have ever had!!!!! Scott had Tres Leches, which he said was delicious also.
I will be craving that Flan for a loooooong time!
HIKING & BIKING:  Although I preferred staying at the campsite to read & craft, Scott enjoyed exploring the bike trails. My bike is made for long distance road riding, Scott's new bike is for both road & trail. So he took off quite a few times on his own.

On our last day, we both took a bike ride and a hike through a looped trail. What an adventure for such a short hike.  We are used to NJ vegetation and bugs and wildlife.
The Florida vegetation reminds you of Jurassic park. So of course, Scott had to play that up.  First he tells me I'm awful brave for wearing sandals when there are scorpions in Florida! Then he starts with stories of the wild boar in the area. Well pay back's are a you know what.
While I was walking ahead of Scott, I spotted low hanging spider webs connected from tree to tree across our path.  I warned him, but he still was quite stressed. He is somewhat phobic of spiders. Well, my always inventive husband came up with a "web wacker"!

Scott using Palm Frond stem to wack spider webs

But AGAIN, Scott's "eagle eye wife", saved the day. Ahead, just above our heads was a huge spider web. We probably would have been fine passing under, but I just had to point the spider out to Scott. Like I said...pay back's a b____! His reaction was priceless.  He acted as if he was about to throw up or run when I pointed the spider out to him.

Black & Yellow spider 3-3.5" long with dragon fly

Above is what I pointed out to him.  Just a little itty bitty spider who web had captured a dragon fly. Anyone know what kind of spider? Let me know in the comments section.
**UPDATE May 25, 2012: I believe I found out what kind of spider this is! A BANANA SPIDER! I was reading some old posts from BOB AND LINDA'S RV TRAVELS. They were in a hammock forest when they saw the spider. We were also walking through a hammock, when we saw our spider.
Here is a photo of a Banana Spider. From what I read they are pretty harmless, just scary looking.

Miss you

RV: This is the start of our adventure. We have no obligations until our Alaska trip in July. We know where we're headed in general, along the Gulf coast north, then west. But no reservations and no time frames yet.
Very weird feeling, not knowing where we'll be next week.
Also, very weird feeling knowing we not heading back to NJ in the near future. This makes me begin to truly miss my friends.
No evenings eating ice cream, knitting, & getting into laughing fits with the ladies at WHAT'S THE SCOOP.
No evenings knitting at Barnes & Noble, although I do miss the days of meeting at Border's.
No Sundays at Shirley's getting lost in knitting machine instruction.
No relaxing with Petra and drinking wine and letting the stress release.
Other than that, this full time RV lifestyle is quite nice.
Scott & my roles seemed to have changed.  While living in NJ in a stick house, I did most of the cleaning & working around the house.  Scott worked F/T and had a few honey dos, but mainly was able to relax and spend time on his computer while at home.
Now, I'm more relaxed and Scott is working on the "house"/RV.  I refuse to feel guilty about sitting around and knitting or crocheting.
CRAFTS: I find myself playing more games on the computer, I read a book about every 3 days. I'm also finally starting to knit or crochet on a regular basis.
My goal for crafting is to not have any leftover yarn from a project.  I recently made a mobius cape and had about 3/4 skein left.  I made an kerchief and still had yarn left, so then made a summer skull cap.  Have a very small amount left and plan to make a simple necklace with the rest.
COOKING: We've been so busy with Cedar Creek Owners Club rallys, cleaning out the house, visiting my parents, that Scott hasn't really cooked much.  So now he'll be able to renew his hobby of cooking.

SEBRING, FL 33872

Location: HIGHLANDS HAMMOCK STATE PARK, Sebring, FL 33872

So this is how our week in a Hammock (The hammocks found in northern Florida contain "the largest numbers of species of trees and shrubs per unit area in the continental United States" Platt and Schwartz 1990:194) began...

Arriving at Highlands Hammock State Park, we were greeting by a friendly creature who wanted to find a new home in our kitchen. Scott was kind enough to gently escort our unwanted guest outside, where he took a rest on our tire rim.

RV: We almost took out our roof AC by a low hanging branch from a LIVE OAK TREE.  Thank goodness for Scott's eagle eye Wife! I don't understand why Scott can't maneuver an RV around a campground and keep a look out above for low branches also.  (Sarcastic remark). Luckily I was doing my part and looking up and screamed STOP!!! If I hadn't, we would have been back to the repair shop. 

RV PARK REVIEW:
Dec. 1-Dec. 8, 2011
HIGHLANDS HAMMOND STATE PARK Sebring, FL 33872 
$24./day
Our rating: 4 out of 5 Would definitely revisit!
+Beautiful setting
+Bathrooms close & clean
+Many trails and bike paths
+Dog poopy bags provided if you ask
-Sites close together
-No sewer (dump station)

We spent this past week at Highlands Hammock State Park.  BEAUTIFUL park.  Here is our view driving into the park.

There are a few paved sites, but most are soil, covered in pine needles.  There is dense wood all around which makes for a beautiful view when the campground is close to empty.
The sites are squished together to fit as many sites in as possible. But this is only a problem on weekends or the busy season. This place packed up full on the weekend. The sites are so close that it looked like we were all one big group together. Come Monday, it was back to the quiet, empty campground we so enjoy.
The bathrooms were modern and clean. There are 2 washers & dryers by the bathrooms with a table for a book exchange.
Here is the view outside our RV on a weekday. Our Irish Setter, Devin is actually in the next site. That is how close they are. Where ever there is a picnic table, that is a site.

The weather was absolutely perfect! If I could have weather like this all year round, I may not miss snow. I'd rather have snow, than hot & humid. But the temps were around 65 to 70 every day.  I spent most of my time outside.
Here's my busy schedule
Devin still gets me up anywhere from 6:30 - 7:00am. I take the dogs for a 45 minute walk and thoroughly enjoy the scenery, the smells, the wildlife.  Deer and squirrels all over the place.
After our walk, I eat breakfast (toast & coffee) at the picnic table and read for an hour.
Then I move to the outdoor recliner chair and have another cup of coffee and read for a couple of hours.
Take the dogs for another walk.
Now an hour or two on the computer "working". Which means doing my volunteer work for Above & Beyond English Setter Rescue. 
Maybe do some crafts in the afternoon. Presently making a plastic canvas tote to carry supplies for the pot luck dinners we enjoy.
Take the dogs for a walk.
Go for a bike ride or hike.
Now time to head inside do more volunteer work on the rescue applications & also web surf.
Dinner
Computer
Read during commercials in bed, while watching TV.
Zzzzzzzzzz......
Very relaxing way of life.

ALTOONA, FL 32702

Love you Mom & Dad

Had an enjoyable 2 weeks with my parents at their Continuing Care Retirement Community. We're only 55 but we seem to fit right in.  I see our future.

RV: We were able to set up our RV right on the community property with 30amp service & water.  We did quite a bit of bicycle riding the short distance to my parent's home, so as not to fill up our black water during our 2 week stay.
A small dog park was right behind our site. The Par 3 (chip & putt) golf course was in front of us.  Below is a photo of a beautiful sunrise over the golf course (thank you Devin).

We also heard this really weird noise quite often. Found out it came from the flock of cranes (I think Sandhill Cranes) in front of our RV in the golf course.

FAMILY & FRIENDS: Pat, our parents dining companion shared her extra credits with us. Between her credits and my parents credits, we were able to eat in the Community dining room almost every night.
We did go to Pizza Hut one night and Scott made his Chunky Pasta Sauce one night. (See July 16, 2011 post)
We enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner in the Community dining room. All you can eat served family style. Ham, Turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing w/sausage, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and mince meat or pumpkin pie for desert. No cooking and no cleaning up for any of us!!!
My very frugal Dad treated us to a evening of musical entertainment at a local high school.  Great seats close to the stage and very entertaining. It was great to see my father clapping & swaying to the music.
A couple of evenings we played Bingo with other residents.  I won the big final pot of $8.00! We would spend a couple of evening playing Dominos with my parents.

PETS: We took lots of walks around the lake to try to tire Devin out. Most times it didn't work.
Devin & Lyla met my parents' cat, Sandy. Lyla just sniffed, but of course, Devin wanted to play. Sandy wanted no part of it and hid most of the time.
As soon as we'd bring the dogs into our parents' home, my father would jump up to move the cat food.  My father didn't appreciate feeding our large dogs, Sandy's breakfast.
All in all, our dogs were good and we all had a wonderful relaxed two weeks with my parents.

House for Sale!

Our house if finally up for sale. Here's the listing. 2 calls the first day.
Haven't been writing much because really not much going on.
Enjoying time with my parents. We've played dominoes a couple of nights.
Lots of walks around the lake with our setters.
Planning our next stop further south in Florida.
Our life right now  is relaxed & pretty much stress free, and I like it that way.

Proof that NJ stinks!!!!!

The more we are away from NJ, the more we hate NJ!
Just spent 2 weeks at a wonderful campground, Willow Tree RV Resort with paved roads, clean campsites, everything working, a lovely lake, etc., all for between $30.-$35. per night. As said before, our NJ site was $52. per night with dirt roads.
Just before arriving at Willow Tree, the GPS said turn left, so we did...right onto a dirt road with a gate a couple hundred feet ahead.  This can't be Willow Tree, so we had to back out, passed a private home with an old Akita loose in the front yard. I'm sure we gave that old guy a little entertainment.
So we (Scott) had to back the RV and turn onto the road.  I'm in the rear making sure no cars came, which not a one the whole time. Scott made such a sharp turn that the wheels started skidding and twisted. I yelled to stop. Scott eventually got us on the road and another 500 feet and there is Willow Tree RV Resort.

We had a wonderful time with the Cedar Creek Owners Club. Lots of pot luck dinners, a beautiful campfire going every evening.
Willow Tree was a great RV resort with a paved path around the lake.
During some of our down time, Scott decided to look UNDER the RV and lo and behold...our frame was bent! What a great excuse to gather all the men around and discuss what can be done.
We ended up with Randy's huge diesel pusher pulling our rig one way, then the other and it seemed to work.  

When we left Willow Tree, our frame was straight and aligned.
We drove about an hour to check how things were and damn! The frame went back to almost it's original bent position. Can we make it to our planned overnight near Savannah, GA? We drove slower than usual and I looked at the tires a lot but we made it to Camping World near Savannah.
  CW said they couldn't do the work on our suspension hanger, but they referred us to a local guy that does all their welding and frame work.
SO FAR SO GOOD! This guy came to CW within 5 min. of being called. His shop is 2 miles down the road. George C. mentioned that the best place to bring our rig was to a person that works on trucks/suspensions etc., not to an RV place. We this guy is exactly that! We really lucked out.
We spent the night in CW lot and brought our rig to Dwain at WALKER WELDING & TRAILER REPAIR in Pooler, GA  at 8am. It was done by 3pm! Only costs $550!!! We thought it was going to run around $1500. (NJ prices). So another reason we hate NJ.
He reinforced the hangers with welded brackets and he put a whole piece of angle iron? across the whole width of the rig. He even tested out a sharp 90 degree turn to see how it held. He said we can push it to the limit now. I hope we don't have to. Now for some new tires and we're ready for Alaska.
Scott will post photos eventually.
While we were "homeless" waiting for the RV repair, we spent our time at a beautiful park in Savannah, GA.
We stopped for coffee at THE SENTIENT BEAN. Coffee was great, but their pastries were better!  I had a fruit scone that was fabulous! We walked with the dogs around the park for a while, and then nature called me. So back to the the coffee shop to use the facilities & while there to buy another scone or two for later. THEY RAN OUT! Oh the horror! So we settled for a couple of snickerdoodles that were pretty good, but HUGE. I love cookies with coffee or tea. I couldn't eat the whole snickerdoodle in one sitting.
Below is the park we hung out in while "homeless". Lots of walkers, joggers, dogs. Great place to people watch.  Notice the maroon dog crate on our bench? Our African Grey Parrot, Swayze is in there.  We couldn't leave her in the hot car.

Cedar Creek Rally

What a fabulous group of people are the CCRVOC (Cedar Creek RV Owners Club).  This is our 2nd rally, the first being in PA this past June and our maiden voyage in our 5th wheel.
Now that we feel more a part of the group, we were much more relaxed.
We enjoyed their company and hopefully they enjoyed ours.
AG was kind enough to dog sit for me while I snooped around his RV.

Someone else crawled under our RV to see if it REALLY was bent.

We ate & drank together.

You should never MIX drinks!

And a final a melancholy goodbye.

Daylight Savings...

When told the reason for Daylight Saving time the old Indian said, "Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket."  ~Author Unknown

LONGS, SC 29568 (Near Myrtle Beach)

Location: WILLOW TREE RV RESORT, Longs, SC 29568 (Day 3)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Get thee behind me satan aka NJ!!!!

I swear, NJ is following us...at least the weather! We arrived at beautiful WILLOW TREE RV RESORT on Wednesday, Nov. 2. And yes, THIS IS A RESORT! How Pine Cone RV "Resort" in NJ can call itself a resort is a sin. Pine Cone has a great swimming pool, & a couple of weathered tennis courts. That's as much of resort as there is there.  The roads are sandy dirt, you have to take your trash to the dumpster. Many of the sites don't have sewer. (The have a "honey pot" truck (as Scott calls it) that comes to your site to dump your tank.  Their electric absolutely sucks. They won't spend the $ to fix/upgrade.  30amp is fine for us, but we need it to WORK! Pine Cone should be called a campground, not an RV resort.  This is a very nice place to camp with a pop up or tent.  Fairly private sites with lots of trees around.

Nov. 2-Nov 16, 2011
WILLOW TREE RV RESORT  Longs, SC 29568
$28./day (group rate) Site #99
Our Rating 4.5 out of 5 Would revisit.
Cedar Creek RV Owners Club are having a Rally here. We met quite a few people at the 2011 Nat'l Rally earlier this year. Great group of people

Willow Tree is a joy (at least for an RV'r). All paved (clean) roads. No tracking sand continually into the RV. Beautiful lake with a 1 mile paved walk/bike/dog walk path around it. You can rent boats to use on the lake.  Large laundry room. Gym, banquet hall, huge store. Golf carts & bike to rent also.
Our evolution of camping:

Funny, how our tastes in "campgrounds" have changed.  

We started out motorcycle camping, with each of our bikes packed and bungeed high.  For our honeymoon, we slept in a 2 person tent, with a 1" foam roll up pad for comfort (not much comfort). We cooked on a single propane stove. We did not require electric. We rode in rain (Nor'easter in Oct), fog (on the Blue Ridge Pkwy) and sun.
We then graduated to a motorcycle pop-up camper. We did not use it much, but when we did, it was enjoyable. Our 800 Suzuki Intruder could pull it. When we would set up camp, this pop up would not only pop up, but also, fold out and out and out.  It opened high enough to stand up in and when open, the length was 14' long! We had a queen sized (off the floor) air mattress and were able to fit a table, chair and 2 dog crates in there! Ahhh, the dog crates...that was our motorcycle demise.
Once we started bringing the dogs camping with us, we decided to purchase a large tent. Many years camping  in a large tent.  Now that we were camping with a tent and a van, we packed it to the brim. We now required electric for our electric cooker and crock pot. We camped many years at Nickerson Family Campground in CT. They had a nice huge site near the creek that we had all to ourselves. Unfortunately, there was no grass, so it was very dirty. I tired of all the dirt and our tent camping subsided.
Retirement and 5th Wheel is not camping. This is our home and totally different attitude.  I was a clean, grassy or paved site. We still like trees but need to get satellite line of sky, and no branches in the way of roof or slide outs.  We may stay in the RV all day. So what? This is our home. We are not on vacation, we are not trying to cram the tourist attractions in.  We are finally relaxing and really enjoying life, free of a full time job (that was like a 32 yr prison sentence).

Weather:
What a pleasure arriving here near Myrtle Beach, with temps in the high 60's. Cooled to high 40's the first night, then...NJ FOUND US! Damn! Double Damn! The clouds smirked at us overhead, the temp dropped to 50, then 40 and hit a low during the night of 38! It was raining all day yesterday and chilly. Today, has been a NJ bitter cold wind. I have no desire to set foot outside. But the pups gotta "go", so I layer myself up and put on my knitted by me "howl" (a cowl & hat combo), and try to not let our setters know how much I'm hating walking them in this weather.  They still need their play time and sniffing all the visitors' spots around.
PETS: Who knew? Part of our travels is learning about the wildlife, plant life, and pests that are foreign to us being from NJ.
Poor Lyla, laying comfortably on the grass, moves her leg near a dirt pile and FIRE ANTS! We had no idea. We thought they were just ants (like in NJ), so we just casually brushed some off of her. Well if you read the link about fire ants, they swarm and sting. Unfortunately Lyla paid the price for our ignorance.

**Update: It took about THREE WEEKS for this to clear up.  She was licking and pulling out her hair there. We had to keep a close watch on it to keep from becoming raw and/or infected. She's all better now.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Freehold, NJ 07728

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RV: While in NC, we did hit a low temp of 38° and did just fine.  Now we are 3/4 through our 10 days in NJ and we are experiencing the good ol' Noreaster.  Temp dropped to 33°, 50 mph winds expected and we had sleet this morning and now a dusting of SNOW!!!

Our furnace is working fine.  We just use it to get the RV up to 68° and then use two electric heaters that work pretty well.  

Our windows have condensation, but no dripping.  I'm comfortable and plan to cuddle up in the easy chair later with an afghan and knit and watch some TV.

Just finished a nice cup of white hot chocolate. Hubby is cooking chili. 

We sold our Ford Focus today, put our motorcycle in storage and up for consignment.  Ahhhh....things are starting to fall into place for now.

House should be up for sale next week. Hope the Cert. of Occupancy doesn't cause us too much trouble. But we'll deal when we have to.

Since taking the last bit of things out of the house and into storage or the RV, the RV is a mess. I planned on putting things in their place today, but with this lousy weather, the awning is not up and I can't get into the "basement" without getting freezing rain all over me.

RV PARK REVIEW:
Oct. 21-Nov. 1, 2011 (11 days)
PINE CONE RESORT  Freehold, NJ 07728 
$49./day
Our rating: 2.5 out of 5  Will avoid.
+Rustic atmosphere.
+Quiet campground even during busy Labor Day weekend when full.
+Pets allowed
+Wi-fi  +Verizon internet worked fine
-Sandy roads and dirt sites, so always tracking dirt into RV.
-Electric needs updating. We had to move from an older 30amp site to a newly renovated 50amp site. The 30amp site kept shutting off on us.
After being at real RV resorts, I have downgraded the this campground.
 -Too much dirt.

PETS: Although Lyla seemed to have enjoyed being an only dog, since Ryley's passing, we still prefer to have two dogs.  Lyla and Devin seem to be getting along well. Lyla will go into his crate when he gets to rowdy for her.

Two nights ago, we let Devin sleep in bed with us. He did fine. The next night, he chose to sleep in his own dog bed and did fine. In fact letting him sleep out of the crate, enables us to get an hour or two extra sleep in the morning!

LYLA                              DEVIN

Funny thing...I definitely consider the RV home now.  The weather is miserable, cold and wet.  We packed the dogs into the truck and when we got to the house, I proceeded to walk in the miserable freezing rain with the dogs, around the neighborhood, for them to "do their business". Well duh!!!! I forgot...the house has a fenced in backyard.  Why should the 3 of us get all wet & cold, when I can just let the 2 dogs run around the backyard, while I stay cozy in the house!

And the winner is...

This weekend Four Paws hosted a Vintage Tin Can Rally.  Great little rally with really interesting RV's., ranging from a 35' to teeny tiny and a home made one.
In keeping with the vintage feel, there was a pot luck dinner in which we were to make an "american" dish like Mom used to make.  Lots of chicken pot pies and mac & cheese. Delicious!
Afterward we played a trivia game, which I normally detest, but wanted to be social that evening, so stuck around.  We guess whose group one! Ours.  Below is the certificate to prove it!

Here are a few of the Tin Can Rv's

Dead man walking

Location:  FOUR PAWS KINGDOM, Rutherfordton, NC 28139

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I feel like a dead man walking, the final walk before the end of it all.
I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE THIS CAMPGROUND!!!!!
We've already extended our month stay by 3 more days. Now we just got word that this site is open until the end of the season!
Here's a lesson...there are consequences to procrastination.  Because we were lazy and didn't get started on clearing out our stick house and getting it ready for sale to the last minute, we are FORCED to head back to NJ to do the finishing cleaning of the house and yard and put it in the hands of a real estate agent. I just want to be done with it!!! I don't want to go back to NJ.
We may really push our time schedule and stay another week here at Four Paws Kingdom.  Then we will only be in NJ for a week, and we will HAVE to keep busy finishing up the house.
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PETS:
Had a crying spell because I miss Ryley so much.  We were eating breakfast at Denny's and I was reading "The Social Lives of Dogs".  In the book they were talking about the ranks of people & pets in the home.  The owners are usually #1 & #2, then the most dominate pet, etc.  While in the car they spoke of when the #1 person left the vehicle, the #1 pet would move up to the empty driver's seat, because that was the person of the highest ranking being in the household.  I just lost it.  That is exactly what Ryley would do.  If we were to leave the dogs in the van (on cool days only of course), we'd find Ryley sitting up in the driver's seat when we returned.  Even after he went blind, he would still find his way up there.
The honeymoon period is over with Devin.  Time for some training.

Busy, Busy...

Location:  FOUR PAWS KINGDOM, Rutherfordton, NC 28139

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RV MOD:
How did I ever have time to work a 40 hr week?
Been working on organizing the RV, instead of everything just thrown in and not knowing where it all is.
The past couple of days I worked on our kitchen pantry.  Our 2007 Cedar Creek 33LCDTS Silverback has pantry doors in between the stove and the fridge. Lots of storage, BUT...the are 11" wide and 24" long.  That's a very dark and long drawer.  It has been difficult to make use of the rear of the drawers.  It was very frustrating. I knew we were using these drawers as best we could. So, I put drawer sliders in 5 drawer/cabinets.
I'm very happy with the end result.  Now, before you comment on the finished job, keep in mind, I just wanted to get this completed. I did not finish or paint the wood.  So maybe down the road, I'll pull them out and paint them all the same.

Before 24" deep

 

I purchased the material at Lowe's. I think each slider was about $7.00. Only one needed per drawer. They are center slides.

Really quite an easy project. Once you get the hang of one, you just do assembly line and finish off the rest.

Feels like home...ONLY BETTER!!

Location:  FOUR PAWS KINGDOM, Rutherfordton, NC 28139

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 We are feeling very comfortable living in our RV.  As I write, Scott is outside sawing wood to brace some extra cabinets.  The honey do's don't end just because we are on the road!
As you can see below, Lyla has claimed SCOTT'S recliner chair as hers.

Devin (formerly Breslin) is fitting in EXTREMELY well!  You can read more about Devin at our pet blog,

Calm before the storm

Location:  FOUR PAWS KINGDOM, Rutherfordton, NC 28139

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Today will be a day of just lazing around. I'm going to thoroughly enjoy this day of calmness and relaxation.  It's 2:30pm and I'm still in my jammies and on my 3rd cup of coffee. Ahhhhhh.
It has been very nice with just 1 calm & healthy dog.  We take turns taking Lyla out. She can hold "it" for many hours and she doesn't really need to expel any energy with exercise. She's a very laid back dog.
All this calmness will end on Wednesday 10/5/11.
Tues, 10/4/11, we will be making the 8 hr drive to my parents and also Magnolia Setter Rescue in FL.  We are picking up Breslin, a 9mth old male Irish Setter/English Setter mix. Let the activity begin!

We are at the perfect place to introduce a new young dog into our home. Four Paws Kingdom  has 3 dog parks to play in and hiking trails.
We are considering changing Breslin's name. We like that it is Irish, but don't like the name itself.

PLEASE LIST ANY NAME SUGGESTIONS IN THE 

COMMENTS SECTION BELOW!!!!! 

We'd like it to rhyme with Breslin, so he's not too confused.
You can read more about Breslin here.

RUTHERFORDTON, NC 28139

 FOUR PAWS KINGDOM 

"A Campground for YOU and Your Best Friend Too!"

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RV PARK REVIEW:

FOUR PAWS KINGDOM Rutherfordton, NC 28139  

Our rating: 5 out of 5

"Catering exclusively to adults & their canine companions"

VERY PET FRIENDLY (dog parks)

Level sites

Very friendly staff

Free WiFi

Saturday morning Lyla competed in wiener bobbing.  Out of about 20 dogs, she came in 2nd! She is such dainty girl, I didn't think she would dive in the pan of water and wieners with so much gusto.
Saturday night we took a trip to Germany! We enjoyed Octoberfest at Four Paws Kingdom campground. The owners of the campground are from Germany and Meik is a real chef.  He cooked up a wonderful German dinner to 65 of the guest registered at the campground. Birgit made a delicious Black Forest Cake. Her cake was so light and refreshing. Very different than the Black Forest Cakes found in the US. The US Black Forest Cake is basically a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and cherry in between the layers.  Very heavy and very sweet. Birgit's cake were thinner layers of a less dense chocolate and instead of heavy, sweet chocolate icing, she had whipped cream in between the layers with cherry filling. Mmmm, mmm, YUMMY!
The main menu was Home made Sauerbraten, Spaetzle (Swabian Noodles), Knockwurst, Brats, Kraut and Grandma's Red Cabbage, & warm German Potato Salad. We were actually served 2 plates full of food.  I took the knockwurst and brats home and had for lunch today. Delicious!
Also a cash bar available for purchase bottled German beers, wine and schnapps! 

After dinner there was entertainment. Both Meik and Birgit sang some German songs for us...

we heard some risque Octoberfest jokes, we played some games, some of which involved shots!
One game was to make a human Weisswurst!

 Scott was glad no one volunteered him for this game!

Very, very enjoyable evening. We'll be signing up for a repeat next weekend!

We arrived at Four Paws Kingdom on Wed, Sept. 14, 2011. This was one day later than planned.  We had a doggie emgergency on Sunday, Sept. 11 evening. Get details HERE & go to post dated 9/11/11.

I could live at this campground.  I already feel like I have family here.
If you have an RV and love to bring your dogs along with you...THIS IS THE PLACE TO VISIT!!!!