Thursday, December 31, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

Today, Dec 21 is my 70th birthday. We were supposed to go To Disney for the day. Here is what actually happened. After believing there was some relief in the knee, we went to Dr Dews office for an appointment previously scheduled. They took new x-rays of the knee implant, which were fine. They drained 75-100 ccs of fluid from the knee. The fluid was yellowish, but basically normal looking. Samples were sent to the hospital lab, and if some kind of crystal was found, it mean't infection and into the hospital I go. From there we went to the St Johns Imaging Lab for an ultra sound on the knee/leg looking for a blood clot. everything fine there.

We were then sent to the little medical lab, in front of the Drs office for some
routine testing, in case the above referenced crystals showed up. They do an EKG, other tests and then tell me, I have an arrtthymic(?) irregular heart beat, and am doing 155 beats/min. Since I do not have a regular physcian, they are looking for someone at the hospital who can take me on so as to admit me. Dr Miguel Limeres is found and agrees to take me on. About 4:30PM we are going over to the HOSPITAL.

In the Hospital, they change my clothes, hook me up to all the monitors, hook up an iv, etc, and leave me alone for the night, fortunately they have pain pills but I have to ask for them, and wait to get them. Laura gets to go home and take care of the cat, plus deal with the many phone calls. Somthing tells me this is not a good situation to be in. Anyway, Happy Birthday to Me.

Friday, December 18, 2009

cruising along

The night did not go real well, although we survived it.As far as I was concerned there was no improvement. We did not have enough pain pills to last the weekend, so we called the Dr again and they got us in at 2:15 in St Augustine. At this time it did appear that the cortisone might be starting to work. Anyway we got a new prescription for a more powerful pain pill, and they applied an ace bandage followed by a velcro with steel knee brace. This does not let the knee move which gets away from the very painful moments when the knee exceeds the range where it is comfortable. The next appointment remains Monday the21st. We shall see what happens.

I have been sitting here for several hours, in a fairly comfortable position so that part is ok. However, the brace makes my leg longer which makes it very difficult to get in and out of the car, plus getting up or down on a chair.

The good thing is I am home with my stuff, my cook, and my best friend.

Now for a little story about what happened two weeks ago. Norma had a motion detector light that was not working. We had one that also was not working, so I bought 2 new ones and installed ours first. We came from a play(more about it later)and it was dark so the light came on, like it was supposed to. There, right in front of us ,at the base of the steps , was a large full grown oppossum. Naturally, we made noises and he went away. Now what would have happened if we had walked into the opossum. Would he have bitten or clawed us? we don't know. Probably he would have yowled or screamed or whatever they do and run away, leaving us to wonder what the hell was that. Anyway , thanks to Norma we had an operating light and no mystery.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

a Big bump in the road

Wow, what a bump we hit.

As I am writing this(thursday afternoon) I am using crutches to get around and apparently will be for a little while.

after reporting all is well, things changed. Tuesday afternoon, my left knee ( surgery was last Jan 8th) stated to hurt, which is not totally unusual. In this case it continued and it was impossible to sleep. Very much like before the surgery. In the morning the pain was excruciating, and I could neither bend it or put weight on it. Out came the crutches.We were able to get an appointment with the Dr, and had to go St Augustine to do it, but OK. all kinds of thoughts raced through the mind, including something happening to the partial replacement, to infection from the the previous weeks cytoscopy. After a difficult ride to the Dr, we had x-rays which were encouraging, because they showed no problem with the replacement apparatus. Hooray, no return trip to the hospital? The Dr said if it was infection it would be red. He did not know what the problem was so he put in a shot of cortisone and a prescription for a strong pain killer, and we go back to see him on Monday, the day we were going to go to Disney on my birthday.

After one day of cortisone and pain killer, the situation appears to be getting better. I was able to sleep last night and there is no pain unless the knee is moved or wt put on it. The swelling appears to be the same. We shall have to wait and see what happens. It is of course, great concern to me that he does not know what it is.

now back to the routine stuff. We had planned to go to Seaworld abd Busch Gardens this past Monday and Tuesday. While checking their schedules we learned the Christmas programs at Seaworld do not start until this Sat the 19th. So we rescheduled to Disney the 21st and Seaworld and Busch Gardens after that. Now we know Monday at Disney will probably not happen, nor will the others.

This was considered to be good because now we had a cool spell coming and about a week of no scheduled events. So we loaded up the trailer with $200 worth of lumber, and screws, determined to start construction of the shed and repair the holes in the floor, during the cool weather. Well we started building one wall of the shed Tuesday, the last Day I could walk without crutches. And here we are. We were able to complete the first one today, but no more until??? and the plywood on the floor. good luck with that. So now we may not get to any of these places until later in the sason.

It is not all bad here, the weather is much better than yours in the Buffalo area. We still get an ocasional boat ride. We have not had a freeze yet, though that may change in a few days.

On Sunday past, we went to Normas to help move some furniture to her house and some to Janices house. We then went to Ruby Tuesday to meet Greg Folts, who had just arrived to do some work in Ormond Beach. Greg took a group photo and sent it to facebook. So if you know how, look us up in facebook.

There was some other stuff we were going to tell you about, but you have enough to read already.

Norma has decided to host Christmas at her house, so that should be a nice affair. Merry Christmas to you all and a Happy New Year

So as we leave you at this time, where we once had a plan, we now have no clue as what we will be doing in the next few weeks/months.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Good News

As you may recall, we have been undergoing a series of questions concerning blood/ or sugar in my urine. The urologist always finds "blood" in my urine and upon further tests determines everything is OK. This time he found "sugar" in the urine and he said it was wildly out of control. This , despite not having any of the normal symptoms of diabetes. So we did a blood test, and came back to the Dr yesterday.

He said everything was fine with the "sugar" and proceeded to check my kidneys with ultra sound and my urethra and bladder with a "cytoscopy procedure."(look it up). anyway, he wound up by saying "come back in 6 months, you are fine". So off we went to The Outback in Ormond Beach(buy one, get one free, and their Ribs are great as is everyhing else) to join Janice and Don and Norma to celebrate birthdays (again).

So it looks like I am OK and ready to go another 70 years.

Anyway it appears the the sugar scare was from a bad sample(maple sugar cream on toast, shortly before sample time). Oh, and the cytoscopy is simply inserting a tube with a camera into the penis, and looking around on a screen. In this case there was a very small "stone" imbedded in the prostate, which the Dr could not remove, but did break it up some, and it should be flushed out in time. The Dr noted that the prostate is slightly enlarged, but not a problem. A psa test done earlier this fall actually showed lower numbers than before.

one last comment. Although the cytoscopy procedure is not actually painful, it is certainly uncomfortable. Today, there is still blood in the urine but it is ok and going away.

Liza and the 3 kids are in Naples for a short break with her Mom and this explains the lack of any new postings on her blog. She will catch up very shortly.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Time to work?

The weather has been somewhat un co-operative, with lots of rain and some cool days. Saturday was to have been numerous christmas/or lighted boat parades which we enjoy attending. most of them were wiped out or postponed due to the weather. We had 39 degrees Sunday morning and about 55 during the day. So we traveled in the car to Bronson, Florida, a place we have never been. it is on the west side of Gainesville, which was quiet rather than celebrating. Mighty Casey(the Gators) struck out on Saturday, losing to Alabama.

Anyway in Bronson we looked at and bought a 6x8ft utility trailer with the built in back that drops to make a ramp. We bought it primarily to transport our golf cart and riding lawn mowers in New York, but it will come in handy down here for hauling wood and construction materials for several sheds and other projects that are scheduled for this winter here in Florida. It will also make it easier to transport the windows, we bought back up to nY.

Thursday we went to the flea market at Eustis, and then went to Leesburg to buy a new door for our back door which has broken hinges. On the way we encountered a yard sale that had 3 aluminum framed, glass covered desks. we could have bought all 3 cheap, but were concerned about getting all three plus the door into the van, so we took just one. It fit nicely into my office, so Friday was consumed with re-arranging and neatening up the computer stuff, and the assorted DVD players and recorders.

enough for now.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

December Already

As I write this, we are under a tornado watch until 10:00 tonite. It is 3:45 pm now.

We are all alone down here now as Sue and Lester left for home yesteday morning, and Gary and Connie won't be here until Christmas(for a short while), but we will be OK.

Yesterday we went to Port Orange to visit Wally and Joan Tanner(we needed haircuts). Wally is having a bout with prostate cancer and will be undergoing radiation treatment after they get back from their trip North for Christmas. Hopefully he will come out of this ok. we wound up meeting Norma, and Janice and Don for supper at Outback. it seems we had 2 for 1 coupons to use. We followed Norma home to check on her motion light, which is not working properly. She wants to the little piggies when they show up. We will put in a new light that works.

We had an appointment with Dr Dew, who took x-rays of the knee and told us to come back in 2-3 months, or if we have a problem. The knee is slowly getting better.

Our Thanksgiving was very nice, with Sue putting on the Dinner with help from others. Norma was here, along with Virgil and Helen Jarrett, Steve Johnson, Sues' niece, her friend and two daughters, with Les , Laura and myself. We took them all on a boat ride and saw a few alligators.

Last Tuesday, we went to Seaworld again, because Steve wanted to go. So since we have been here, this fall, we have been to Seaworld twice, Busch Gardens once and Magic Kingdom once. We are scheduled to do Epcot for my birthday, and Seaworld and Busch Gardens one more time before the end of the year. Sunday we went to the Waldo Flea Market and now we have been to all of the local flea markets at least once, with the exception of Daytona Beach.

Last Saturday, we spent time in Jacksonville and watched their annual lighted boat parade in the St Johns River. They had about 50 boats, mostly 25 ft or bigger, and almost all were very well decorated and lighted. Following the parade, they had a spectacular fireworks display, using three barges spread out in the river. They had done the same thing the night before when they had the official lighting of the 64 ft Christmas tree, which is filled with computer controlled lights to provide musically choregraphed lights and sounds.

It is time for a few minutes of rest and awwwwayyyyy we go again.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

faster aand faster

another week and where has it gone? This week we started to do some work, including delayed cleanup and other things. lots of little details that have been neglected. We went to the Volusia County Fair which does not have much for non thrill seeking older people. The one thing they do have is entainment that seniors can relate to. This year it was Bill Haley and the Comets. Even though Bill died 30 years ago, this group of remaining, replacement musicians did an excellent job of playing the music of our younger years, with many standing ovations.

We went to this big 7 mile yard sale in St Augustine which was quite dissapointing, and followed that up with a flea market in Romona(Jacksonville). This one is interesting because it has a heavy hispanic influence. Then we went to the JacksonvilleFair and as we suspected, it is more of a carnival, featuring many large rides but little of any thing else.

Last Monday, we went with Lester and Sue to Disney World. It was Sues's birthday and she got to go free and chose Magic Kingdom. We hadn't been there for many years and had forgotten what is there for adults. There is plenty. We have become blase' about it, but the animation specialists at Disney are fantastic. Where else can you watch bears playing country music, and all the presidents talking to you. We were able to do most of the attractions with minimal waiting time, because it was a small crowd. We had good time, and I was able to walk the whole thing without assistance, though my knees were happy to get back to the car at the end.

About two weeks ago my knees became much better, and I have started to walk more normally, and i am happy about that. There are still periods of soreness, and they are usually quite stiff when I f irst get out of bed, but they limber up quickly. For the first time since last January, I have hope that this continuing saga is soon going to be over. I can now get down on my knees and get back up, without assistance, and overall am doing much better.

Wednesday nights, we are still playing at Lou Cartrights place in Pomona Park, down the road.

I think I mentioned he is dying from cancer of the stomach, and is living at home, rather than in hospice, although it may eventually happen. Anyway, he wants those of us that are willing, to play at his place as often as we can, as this is his last pleasure in life. So we do the best that we can.

Last Thursday, we went back to Dr Ashouri, and instead of blood in the urine, he was concerned about sugar in the urine, so now we have a blood test scheduled, and on Dec 8th, he is going to look at something, bladder, kidney, we are not sure.


We continue to enjoy the boat, going many afternoons. The weather has been generally great and it has been beautiful out on the river.

Yesterday we went to a turkey dinner at a local church and tomorrow (Monday) we are going to the senior center Thanksgiving Party. Is somewhat amazing how many people we have met that are now our friends here in Florida.

Steve, Lester and Sues son arrived here last night and went to the bills game today. The Jaquars played badly enough for the Bills to appear to be in the game, but won at the end, We were going to Port Orange on Tuesday, but now Steve wants to go to Seaworld on Tuesday, so guess where we are going Tuesday. We have only been there once so far this season, but we have 2 year passes, including free parking($12), so what the heck. When Lester went to Disney for his(free)Birthday, he go hung up in I-4 traffic, so he did some research and tried a different route that includes some toll roads. What a difference, virtually no traffic in the Orlando area, so will try this modified route for Seaworld. Hang in there, we are almost done here.

Yesterday, we were in Ormond Beach for the first Annual Riverfest, which was(is) being held at a newly developed Park on Granada at the East End of the Bridge. A lot of our musician friends were performing, and it was a very nice affair. They should do it again next year.

Today we went to the Superflea in Ocala, and Market in Marion in Bellevue. It really rained there. We still flea marlets in Waldo and Daytona we have not been to, but these are coming up

Sue has more company coming from Mayville, and so is staying here for Thanksgiving, when normally they would be home. As a result, we are going to be having Thanksgiving with them, and will be cooking a garbage can turkey. Norma and Jane hve been invited, along with Bob and Sherry and Annie Kanouff(Lakeside campground owners). Several others have been invited, so we will how big this gets.

Lester and Sue leave next Tuesday to go back to Mayville for Chrismas, and we hope to build a new larger shed, add to our deck and get some things done to the motorhome as we are going to a bluegrass festival in Jekyl Island, Ga over New Years. We also plan to spend my Birthday at Epcot, and maybe Busch Gardens again.

Enough for now.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Spin, World, Spin

almost two weeks since last we spoke. We just concluded a whirlwind episode that started Wednesday afternoon, with the arrival of Jerry and Shirley Burkley, fellow fiddle club members who live in orchard Park. They are interested in purchasing a property across the road from us. Since they come down in Feb/March with their camper, they brought the camper down early, looked at the property and attended the Jamboree at Barberville. We started out by playing at Lou's, which is something that will end soon as Lou is now terminally ill with cancer. The next day we went to Jacksonville to look at a GMC Suburban, which Lester bought. Then it was garage saleing in St Augustine, where I bought about 20 windows from a florida room that was having double pane windows installed . These are mostly sliders with dark film on them and are like brand new. We got them home to Satsuma and now most of them are going to Ripley. They cost a whopping $50. The weekend just passed we were at Barberville, and Jerry and Shirley left for home just a few minutes ago. Of course, every nite it was games of sme kind. Now that they are gone we can try to get some work done.

The previous weekend, as Norma mentioned, we went to visit her for the first time since arriving in Florida. We tried to do some things for her. We visited Jane and joined Janice and Don and Norma at Alfies for supper.

We went back to Dr Ashouri who said thepsa test was good, having gone down a little. But they found blood in the urine and we "have to look into that". They always find blood, and we did a battery of tests several years ago. So we shall see what we have to do.

We went to the Deland flea market and continued on to Pats Mobile Home Supplies in Leesburg, and bought 3 new windows for the mobile home. While there we met Dick and Bobby Rackl for lunch at Ruby Tuesdays. (of course, we had coupons!) Installed one of the windows, which replaces the one, the invaders used to get inside. Have started to replace 2 in the bedroom, which are jalousie type that do not seal very well. they let lots of unwanted cold or hot air in, depending upon the season.

We have lots of detail work and stuff to do before the next wave of visitors comes next door to Sue and Lesters. Jerry and Shirley really liked the place across the street, and now it is a matter of agreeing on a price(if they can). We shall see.

For those who are interested in this kind of stuff, Laura had a birthday in October, and there was some kind of anniversary, with the number 48 in it.

See you all, sooner this time.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

busy as usual

I should have prefaced the last entry by explaining it was Tuesday morning. We arrived here Monday afternoon and left again the next morning. Tuesday, Wed and Thursday were in Kissimmee or on the road. It is now Friday the 16th.

Checked phone ok, dsl not on, checked, later today. Very Muggy, 88 degrees until evening when serious rain and cold front started."Herman", our friend from the local gas company stopped by. He was in the neighborhood and saw our work order for gas restoration on Monday. He said, with the cold front coming we might like our furnace to operate. With temps in the 80's we pooh-poohed him but at least we would have hot water for showers etc. He lit all the gas appliances and checked out the a/c which is part of our gas pac unit. He said the unit is running but is low on refrigerant. He used to be able to do that, but now we have to call someone else.

It turned out that Herman was prophetic, in that we were using the furnace by Monday morning.

Hooked the dish receiver, which was a little different, and easier, now that some equipment had been removed by our invaders. called dish to switch to local channels.

During the day, we finally unloaded most of the stuff that we brought down in the motorhome.

Now we go to Saturday. We have a standing rule that we do not work on weekends, unless absolutely necessary. not necessary.

So we went to Deland to partake in some large community yard sales, then to Daytona to see some motorcycles, sinc it was Bike OCTOBERFEST weekend. There were quite a few bikes, but most of them were concentrated at Destination Daytona, where Bruce Rossmeyer built a huge motorcycle facility including the largest Harley dealership in the world. This location is on highway 1, right at the exit from 95 in Ormond Beach. There is regular traffic trying to get on and off I-95, combined with regular traffic trying to go straight thru on one, combined with thousands of motorcycles coming and going from Destination Daytona plus the setup across the road requiring lot of police officers to stop traffic to allow the throngs of bikers to cross the street and prevent total gridlock. I am sure the city fathers of Ormand Beach would like a second chance to approve/disapprove this project. It took about 30 minutes to pass through this area, which was no problem for us, since we knew about the situation.

Anyway, Bruce was killed this summer on a ride in Montana where he was passing a truck making a left turn. He owned several of the largest Harley dealerships, including Daytona, West Palm, Ft Lauderdale, along with several car dealerships.

Any, we picked up a new 27" tv, bought supples from Aldies, etc and returned home. Still no locals on dish. The temperature range was 59-74.

Sunday morning was 51 degrees, with a high of 54, quite a difference. We went to the local flea market, and then violated the above referenced rule, since it was nice cool working weather. I started to uncover the boat, dumped the motorhome holding tanks, and finally got Dish to change my local channels. It took 3 or 4 calls, one to Denver, one to W. Virginia, and one to India. The girl in India got it done within minutes.

Since we still have cable that was shut off years ago, we got to watch most of the Bills game against the jets, which had a surprise ending.

Now we go to Monday morning. We went to the pool for our aoerbics, but due to heater problems, it was too cold, so aborted. Upon leaving, we had a flat tire, so went to Walmart to leave the old tire and have a new one mounted. Then went to appointment with Dr Dew.
He did not like the way I was walking. He called it a "bent knee gait", because apparently I do not straighten the (previously repaired) knee enough. x-rays were good of the newly repaired knee and he gave me a cortisone shot to help loosen the joint. Back in a month.

At &T syas my internet will be ton sometime Wednesday. So Jim, next door, gave the password to his system , so I sat in the car outside his place, using our laptop to make our first report, since leaving Tennessee. Played cards with Bill and Sherry Levy, who arrived just hours after we did.

Tuesday, had an early appointment with Dr Ashouri, who wants me to have another PSA test. so will do that next week., then completed dis-assembling the boat cover frame and started preparations for boat to go in water. battery installed, lower unit filled, started motor.

Laura called AT & T. They promised to expedite so it would be on by 6:00 PM. sure!

Wednesday, we went to the flea market at Deland. Bought new plugs for the boat, came home and finished the boat and plopped it in the water. only had time for a short ride, but it is in.
I tried the dsl and it was not on. called again, and talked to a technical person, entered some info and after a short while, we were back in the computer age again.


Thursday was a working day, don't remember what we did, other than trying to get our printer system going. it seems we have a different printer at home and could not find the driver for the one here. So got on the internet and finally downloaded the correct driver so now we can print things.

Friday we went to St Augustine to do some garage sales, but primarily to visit the large RV facility to learn what we could about our problem with the motorhome propane system. They had some familiarity with the situation. but needed some info about the tank involved.
On the way back we stopped at the St Johns county Fair to watch the Robinson Family perform.

Saturday, we went back to St Augustine to deliver the info, have to wait until Monday to learn anything. More garage sales.

Now to finally catch up. We went to a flea market in Ocala. found some things we cannot live without. Discovered a new store called Humdingers, which is a lot like the old Don Gage operation. all kinds of stuff, at low prices. We have to go back to fully check it out, as we had to move on to Silver Springs. We renewed our passes at Silver springs and rode the 3 boat rides, and looked at some of the halloween stuff have set up. We pass by the Ocala National Forest and there are signs indicating bear crossings. For 21 years, we have never seen a bear. But Today was different. LAURA SAW TWO (2) GOOD SIZE BEAR(S) by the side of the road. They were alive and moving. I turned around as quickly as I could, but when we got back to them, I only saw the rear end of one of them going over the bank. Still we both saw a real live bear in the wild, if you will.

The other good thing about today is that, fot the first time in a long time I was walking quite well today. At the flea market I did very well. At silver springs. I was obviously getting sore, but walked the whole thing with no problem. Right now, at 11:26 PM my knees are sore, but I am excited that maybe the worst is finally over and I can walk normally again.

So now, after what seems an eternity, we have all our systems up and running, Lester and Sue are due in on Tuesday, and we should be able to visit Jane and Norma, and Janice and Don.

Friday, October 23, 2009

riding the roller coaster

After a nice air conditioned night, we called AT & T, to have the phone and dsl turned on. no problem, would be done the next day. On the way to Orlando, stopped at Crescent City Gas to discuss the lackof gas. "oh no, you are not on the list of shutoffs, wait, we did shut it off for non payment in June". "whats that, you have been making minimum monthly payments for gas that was not available, sorry". $58.12 later and they will turn it on whenever we can be home. A strong letter will be sent to the highest ranking officer of the company we can find, complaining of this process. Next year we will just shut it off and pay the $50 to turn it back on, 6 months @$8=$48 and on bills to pay against $50. same difference. We went to Kissimmee to join up with Bob and Laverne at their time share condo. Mystic Landing Golf Resort was the location. $145 to play around of golf. The temp was only about 95. The condo was like two huge apartments. Ours was the smaller one, and we had two tvs, a full kitchen, a hot tub in the bedroom. it was rough!.

We went to visit Old Town to walk around. Found a charger/battery for my camcorder so we could take pictures at Busch Gardens, the next day. Problems with my right side hearing aid started. These Italian versions sem to not like the hot, humid weather.

We leaned that the new charger was ok, but the battery was the wrong size, so will have to go back to Old Town in a week or so to exchange batteries

Wednesday, we went to Busch Gardens in Tampa. This was about a 65 mile one trip. We arrived about 10 am and left about 4:30. Temp was about 93. We rode the Rhino Rally, train ride, overhead cable car, and the raft ride. it felt good to get wet . Dennys on the way home and cards at the condo.

Thursday, we went to Seaworld, about 13 miles away. Went to Blue Horizon, Clyde and Seamore, Pets Ahoy, and Shamu. Left about 3PM when rain started. Bob was willing to ride in one of the wheelchairs, but I walked both parks with no major problems.

We left Bob and Laverne about 4:30pm and drove through heavy traffic in Orlando, arriving home about 8:30PM The temp was a mere 85-88 degrees.The phone is on but no dsl yet.

we are slowly catching up ,but more to come. Hang in there.
.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Back on Line

It only took AT &T 8 days, but we are back on the Internet. Time to catch up a little. Sunday the 11th, we had enough music and decided to head down the road. We left about 2:00 and traveled about 300 miles down the road to Jackson , Ga. Spent the night in a Flying J truck stop.

Monday morning, we got going and arrived in Satsuma about 3:00 PM. It was about 88degrees and very humid. We started unloading, when we discovered the house had been entered and some things were missing.The screen in my office window was on the floor and the jalousie windows had been forced open enough that a child or small person could get through.

They took our 25" tv, a crummy sound system, a vcr-dvd combo player, a computer monitor, an old dvd player/recorder, some pocket change and do not know what else, if anything. We have no idea when it happened or who did it. Charlene thinks it was a scuzz family that is renting nearby. We called the sherriff and reported it. They left the musical instruments, amplifiers, several 19" tvs, several 13" tvs.

The water was on but the gas had been turned off in June. The nice gas company was letting us make minimum payments for gas we could not use.

I quickly put the room a/c unit in the bedroom so we could sleep ok. Since we had run out of propane and could not refill due to a faulty reset button, our freezer/rerfigerator had warmed up some but the food that was in was still frozen cold enough to be ok. Some food in the cooler was spoiled and had to be thrown out.

The house refrigerator started ok, as did the freezer in the shed. The car started right up and ran well. continued unloading in the heat. Will catch up tomorrow.

Monday, October 19, 2009

wheels are spinning

our last post was the 11th, when we still had internet service at the campround. to summarize, we made it successfully to Florida, with no major problems, but some minor ones. We went to Orlando for a few days and then back to Satsuma on Friday the 16th. We finally started get some unloading and other things done. Since we still do have our internet service, we are using our neighbors. Wednesday, we are supposed to get our service back and then we will backtrack and fill you in on all the events of the last 10-12 days. What has been amazing is the temperature differential. We have ranged from 97 degrees to 49 degrees in the 9 days we have been here. much more later, after internet service comes back.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

the odessey continues

I t has been great here in Tennessee.The weather is now cool, but we had serious rain only on Friday afternoon, and it was for a short time. We did have tornado warnings but they evaporated, without harm. Themusic here has been phenomenal. Over 90 different musical groups of all types, mostly bluegrass, some country. One harmonica player is unbelievable, he is so good.

Realistically, there is almost too much music. There are 5 different stages, and sometimes, they only play for 15 minutes at a time. Since most of the groups are unknown to us, we have to go to the different stages to check them out and then decide who who you like and who you don't, and decide where to from there. There are four days of the festival, running from 8:30 AM to 6:00 PM. There is a fifth day, which we attended for a while, which is geared to children. There are activities and programs and music directed to the children.

There are old buildings, museums, old time crafts and vendors and all kinds of food at reasonable prices. This happens to be the 30th annual event. They must agree with the "too much" thought as next year it is going to be 3 days.s

The campground is called Volunteer Park and it is technically located in North Knoxville. They have a nice facility, including what they call an opry building. During this period of the "Homecoming", they have "jam" sessions every night in this building. There are an amazing number of very good amateur musicians here in the park. Usually these sessions run from about 7 to 9. This week, they have been running until 11, but last night, they went to almost midnight. I finally decided to join in and did "Grandfathers clock" on the Banjo and "Believe me if all those endearing young charms" on the fiddle. Happily both came out well. There is a woman, that sketches the performers, and did mine and it is going to join the others on the wall along with Don Tober, from Buffalo who was here in Oct 2007.

We learned that some of the people know Chuck Hardwick from Satsuma very well. Their names are Don Norris and Jan, and Jim Koffman.

The cat has not enjoyed all aspects of the trip, but is getting antsys.She figures something is up. We plan to leave the festival about 3-4, and head for Florida. Maybe 200 miles toay, and the rest Monday, getting into Satsuma by daylight Monday. Will report in then, after we get our dsl back on.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

on the road to Florida

so much has taken place lately, it is all a blur. We presently are in a campground in Knoxville North, which is about 15 miles North of Knoxville. The trip down was about 600 miles, almost exactly half of the trip to Florida, when going on I-75. The weather was great until late in the day when light rain began to fall.

The motorhome ran great, the cat was good, and now we get a chance to slow down. We have four days of music, and old time crafts, etc. Also here with us is Jerry and Shirley Burkley and Roger and Claudine Vaillancourt of the fiddle club.

Prior to leaving we completed the closing of Lakeside, the Vikings, and Tuesday morning, Ripley. We worked all day Monday, took time off in the evening to visit the casino in Erie, with Lester and Sue then spent all morning Tuesday until we were ready to leave about 11:00 AM, so we did.

On Saturday, Janice and Don went with us to Dereks' house to celebrate our annual early Christmas. Greg and Judy showed up, which was great, as some of us were not sure he really existed(refer to earlier blog). Jerry and Alison and Shawn and Cheyenne were there as were Derek, Liza, Charlotte, Grace and Eli(Duh!) everybody seemed to have good time.

Sunday was the day we completed the Viking Shutdown, then attended the Viking Trailer Association fund raiser. Lester and Sue, and Sues' mother, Ray and Luella and Betty Jean Rideout Johnson. Janice won $50, and Derek won $100, otherwise the rest of us were "losers". Following the fundraiser everyone except Ray and Luella came to Ripley where we were fed by , who else? Laura. It was great to see Janice and Don up north. They flew up to assist Norma in her trip down to Florida. They left Monday morning and arrived in Raleigh on Tuesday afternoon. you will to go to Normas blog for detail

The rest of the time was a blur, as we had to bring in the tractor, golfcart, and Windstar batteries to keep from freezing, check tire pressures on the motorhome, load the wheelchair on top, load the motorhome with all the stuff and food going to florida, secure all the doors, shut down the upstairs furnace, set the downstairs furnace, disconnect all the electrical devices, remove all three computers and the dish receiver, and numerous other details. Is it all worth doing. After arriving in Florida, it sure is!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

one day less to go

I did not complete yesterdays entry, so am starting another.I mentioned that Lakeside is pretty well ready for winter, and work has been started on the Vikings and Ripley. We have spent some time making temporary repairs to the roof, as last winter (which was severe) we had several small leaks. The new real roof will have to wait until next year.

We coated part of the roof with pliable acrylic elastomer, and then put some rubberized material that I kept from my Carborundum days. Any body remember Carborundum? How about Norton. How about St Gobain? I will end this and start another as Ray and Luella just stopped.

I am back, and will try to catch up. Last weekend we went to Waterford, Pa to visit the closest thing to a Florida flea market, then to Erie to check out several stores, then to Fredonia Opera House to experience a program with musicians from the Fredonia area.

A couple with the last name of Gilmores was in charge of the event. It turns out they both play multiple instruments, guitar, fiddle, banjo, etc. and sing and teach at Fredonia State. It also turns out that they were at our "turkeyjam" last year. They knew about this years event but had something else they had to do.

Monday, we got serious about moving stuff into the polebarn, then had to go play the last golf of the season. I don't like golf enough to play in the rain, but my partner, Steve Johnson wanted to play, so we did. Fortunately, the rain stopped and it turned out ok. We played two man best ball, which means we both would shoot from the spot of the best shot previous. As a result we both shot 50. Anyway, we had 12th spot sewn up before the end of the season. It turns out that there were only 12 teams. Better luck next year.

Last Tuesday, we went to Dr John Bodkin III, for our annual pre Florida checkup. We both received flu shots and pneumonia shots. Apparently, we cannot have any more pneumonia shots, I do not know why. Laura already had her mammogram, and pap smear and everthing looks good. So we are nearing 70 and still in fairly good condition. So off we go to Florida to enjoy winter.

The last several days we have been preparing to go, with some work on the motorhome, moving stuff into the polebarn, roto tilling the garden areas. We still have lots to do, but we are moving forward.

Earlier today, we discussed putting one of our two furnaces in service, and decided not, we would tough it out. After it got cold and after looking at next weeks weather forecast, we changed our mind and now it is warm and toasty in the living area. So much for toughing out the cold weather. See you all next .

Friday, September 25, 2009

less than two weeks to go

Since we last talked, we have shut down Lakeside . Blew out water lines, moved bikes and stuff inside shut off power, removed perishables, pulled catwalk and boat from the water. The boat has been winterized and is safe in the polebarn. The Vikings has begun to be shutdown with the deck awning taken down and some stuff moved inside. This will be completed within the week. got to go now. am saving, so can complete later.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

three weeks to go

Three weeks from now, we will be on the road to Florida, via Norris , Tennessee. We are presently working to close down the Vikings and Lakeside. Today, Ray got back on his mower and stayed on, so my career as a professional lawn mower is ended, after 3 weeks. It is good that Ray is sufficiently healed to resume more normal life. Today, after learning I was not needed to mow, we went to the vikings and took down the awning. When we got back to Ripley, we worked on some maintenance items on the motorhome. Tomorrow, the boat comes home from the lake, the catwalk comes out, and the camper gets shut down for the winter. We have already shut down the water.

We have been so busy, it has been hard to keep up, with what we did.. Last Thursday, I had part two of my root canal, plus a filling on the other side, so for a while I had novacaine numbness on both sides of my mouth. Then Laura had a mammogram, which I hear are always lots of fun. The report on that was very good, no lumps or problems encountered.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, we took little trips to Amherst. Sunday, we went to the Viking Trailer Association meeting and then picked up Lester and Sue and went to Uncle G's in Pendleton. The Mohr kids knew this place as Cappys, when they were young. Presently they have musical entertainment and sell lots of ice cream. The NFFC group had free ice cream.

Back to the Viking Trailer Association. Who decided to use the name "Trailer"? wouldn"t "Camper or Camping" sound better?

Monday, we went to Rizzos in amherst for Laura to join the North Amherst Ladies Aux for their annual Dinner. We were supposed to spend the night at Dereks' , but he was coming down with something, possibly Swine flu, so we redirected back to Ripley. We could have stayed with several people, but chose to go back to Ripley. Tuesday, we went back to Amherst to meet Jean and Mike Caputi and Dick and Elaine Weber for Brunch. Jeannie and Elaine and Laura all drove school bus for years, and shared many memories. Oh and Laura had a pap smear. We picked up some parts for the motorhome, and met Jerry and Alison, Shawn and Cheyenne at Burger King.

Shawn is in Middle School, Cheyenne is doing well, Charlotte is really enjoying Kindergarten. They are all growing up. More later

Monday, September 7, 2009

approaching the landing, wheels down?

Today, Labor Day Monday completes most of our self inflicted projects. We went to the "Clucks and Bucks" fund raiser at the Vikings. We did not win any of many prizes, but then did win a container which had 55 of the states scratchoff lottery tickets. The cost of the tickets was $103.00, and included prizes of $1 to $2000/ week for life. So for a $100 investment, what do you suppose the return payout was? Are we anxiously awaiting the opportunity to go to the nearest lottery station and cash in? Raise your hand if you think we are getting $500 or more. Raise your hand if you think we are getting $50 or less.

After scratching off all of the appropriate areas and double checking, we had one $20 winner, one $10 winner and several $1 and $2 winners totaling $40. Wow, what a deal, spend $100 to get $40.00. Oh well, we spent $45, and each had a chicken dinner out of it, so we basically broke even.

Yesterday, we had the Pancake Breakfast at Lakeside Campground. Fed about 150 people, were blessed with good weather, and everything went well. Donations and 50/50 covered costs with some money left over.

Derek and girls came to vikings, where girls played, thenwent to Bemus to play, have ice cream and go home to fireworks in Clarence.

We went to FindleyLake to check out their Idol program, etc and came back to Bemus to Watch the Fireworks. We watched from the Stow side. The fireworks were fired from the ferry, which was about 1/3 of the way across towards Bemus. This was part of a program to "Light up the Lake" with flares and multiple fireworks locations, which included Bemus, Jamestown, Findley Lake, Westfield and Mayville. Part of the plan was to be observed by the the space station, and airplanes in the sky. We never heard how it came out.

Thursday and Friday were primarily occupied, along with Saturday , with getting ready for the Sunday Breakfast, which as mentioned , went very well. Did I mention that, I am undergoing a ROOT CANAL. We have to deal with this, along with another round of lawn mowing this week.

Next week, we have a fiddle gig in Amherst, Laura is going to Supper with the Ladies Aux, Laura has an appointment with her eye Dr, and we may or may not hve to mow again.

Other complications are at the end of the month, When Janice and Don are coming up to help Norma get back to Florida. We are trying to work out a condensed version of a family Christmas before we leave Oct 6. If possible we are going to try and include Janice and Don in this.

So all we have to do is shut down Lakeside, shut down the Vikings , check out the motorhome, shut down Ripley. Sort out what stuff has to go back to Florida, all in days that seem like 4 hours long. We are not complaining, considering all of the alternatives. It is getting to be time to start lowering the landing gear. see you soon.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

spinning, spinning, spinning!

We went to Darien Lake with Derek, Charlotte, Grace, Shawn and Cheyenne. Everybody seemed to have a good time. It was Shawn and Cheyennes first exposure to a wave pool and they loved that.

We spent the rest of that week getting the Pole Barn ready for the Sunday Party.Meanwhile, Bill and Sherry , from Chicago and Satsuma showed up. They were very helpful getting set up and during the Party.

About 60 people , mostly NFFC people came. The weather was iffy, with some light showers, forcing all the musicians inside. Two 20 lb turkeys, both turned out well. Overall, the event turned out well.

Picking up stuff and returning to rightfull places. Played golf on Monday, while Laura took Bill and Sherrry to tour Chautauqua Institution, which offically closed last Sat.

Bill snd Sherry left Tuesday morning heading for Toronto on their way back. Lester and I did the mowing thing again, did Chedwells, 4 hours plus equipment travel time. Went to Wattsburg Fair in Pa. to see the Robinson Family, a marvelous family band.

Yesterday, we mowed again, 3 hours plus travel time. Ray is healing well, so might be able do some mowing late next week.

Now we shift into our schedule, which includes a lot things we wanted to do/get done before our Oct 6 departure date for Florida. Was looking at Lizas Mohr Life blog and agreed with her picture of Charlotte and her lament "where did her little baby go?"

More later

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

we are still spinning

Sunday, we went to Christina Watson's graduation Party at the War Vets in Fluvanna. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Did you ever notice how much noise rain makes on a steel roof?

Yesterday, and today, Lester and I entered the world of professional lawn mowing. We both agreed we don't like it. Yesterday, we did about 8 large lawns on the shores of Lake Chautauqua, across from Chautauqua Institution. I think these people all have money. Huge homes on large expanses of shoreline and several big boats at the docks. I guess they cannot afford lawn mowers, or they do not how to operate them, or possibly they have enough money to pay someone else to do it. Anyway, the poor mowers took about 4 hours of mowing to complete the job. Two mower operators, two mid size Kubota tractors with 60 inch mowers, combined with very wet and long grass, equals some pretty messy lawns. But they got mowed. Combined with the mowing time, is travel time, as each tractor has to be loaded on the trailer, chained down and transported to the site , which in this case was about 7-8 miles.

Today, we did only 6 lawns, which were big but easier with fewer treees and shrubs and other obstacles to work around. It was close to 4 hours each, with the same loading and unloading process, and slighty shorter travel distance. The grass was considerably drier, which yielded in some better looking lawns.

Remember that Ray has only one tractor to use so his mowing times are slightly less than double ours. Anyway, Ray came home today, and last night stated he would be on a tractor by this weekend. By the time he got home today, he had changed his mind about being ready this weekend. So I guess we will have to do it again next week sometime, depending upon weather and schedules.

We have our "TurkeyFest Jam" coming up this Sunday and will have to focus on it for the rest of the week.

The scab came off Lauras nose today and it looks ok. We are waiting awhile before we decide what to do with this situation. We have 2 years to file a claim.

To make life more interesting ,we have visitors from Chicago coming in Friday. This would be Bill and Sherry Levy, who also live in Hermits Cove during the Winter months. Unknown how long they are staying.

Thursday is supposed to be our fun day, as we are scheduled to go to Darien Lake with Derek and his kids, and Shawn and Cheyenne.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

spinning around, out of control, getting ready to crash

Virgil got home safely to Florida. Derek stayed at the Vikings from Tuesday to Friday, the weather was good and I think it helped him some in his recovery. He was still pretty sore when he went back. He was so sore, he could not handle the relative soft bouncing of the Golf Cart.


Ray was back in Erie last weekend and while riding "Shotgun" to make sure Luella got back home after visiting him, we went to "Celebrate Erie". While visiting Mc Donalds, Laura had an encounter with a Stainless steel toilet paper dispenser. The dispenser won. The dispenser came off the wall and hit her in the face and cut the bridge of her nose. She bled well, but the Mc Donalds people were not impressed, they were busy selling french fries and stuff. To simplfy the story, we went to the Westfield Hospital, where they have a very nice emergency room and for 2-1/2 hrs, shared it with numerous other individuals who went crazy with the nice weather. When we left there, it had been determined that the nose was probably not broken, (could not do anything for it anyhow), the wound was peroxided(have to watch for infection), and a tetanus shot was administered. Do you remember when you had your last tetanus shot?


Laura did imply she felt a little "funny", but nothing has come from this yet. we took pictures for informational purposes, sent Mc Donalds an e-mail, which they have acknowledged, The store manager has called and expressed disbelief that her people perfomed so dismally, and now people from the insurance company are calling, but Laura wants to know what a personal injury lawyer has to say. we are now attempting to contact a lawyer who is licensed to work in NY and Pa. Where this goes depends upon what others say and do. Meanwhile, we went back today to visit Ray and to take pictures of the combative tissue holder. It has been lowered quite a bit from where it was.So maybe this incident will have a positive effect in the future.


You know Kat was two on the 15th, and we do not know what to get her, so she will have to be happy with a savings bond, after she gets her new official Social Security number.


We have been to the Erie county fair twice, both preceeding a fiddle gig somewhere in the Buffalo area.


On Monday, we had a visit from Betty and Dale Higgs, who were classmates of Lauras' so many, many years ago Bemus Point. They live in Tennesee now.


Remember, we were visiting Ray on Sunday? They decided to operate, to cut out a lower section of his colon. This was done yesterday morning, and was , at this point, quite successful. He will be in the hospital for 5 to 15 days and then 4-6 weeks(or more) recovery. Now Ray has a mowing business, which normally takes 2 days aweek to complete. Now guess who is going to be mowing until they go to Florida. Actually, it will be two of us, with Lester as part of the team. Fortunately(ha-ha) Lester has just purchased a mowing tractor similar to Rays'. So there will be two machines running. Hopefully we will get squared away as to who gets mowed and who doesn't.


Read the title for this segment.


We decided to have our 2nd Annual Northern "TurkeyBashJam" here in Ripley, on the 30th of August. All fiddlers have been invited, and many have indicated they are coming. Also invited are some musicians from Pa. Along with friends and neighbors, we may have as many as 100 people.


get your hankerchiefs out. We still have to mow Ripley, Lakeside and The Vikings. We already have numerous projects planned for September, now I don't know if we will make it that far.


There is more, but I am tired of writing, and you are tired of reading, so until next time, stay cool.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

summer? blahs?

well we have seen a couple days of warmer weather, but the wetherman continues to plague us with rainstorm after rainstorm. At this moment much of the area East and South East is recovering from substantial flooding. Jamestown, Gowanda, Silver Creek, Collins, North Collins, Springville and other areas. We tried to play golf yesterday, but after teeing off the first hole, the skies opened up and that was that.

The last two weeka has been a blur. Virgil and Helen were here about a week and Laura fed them two meals and a breakfast of sticky buns. Jerry Burkley and Shirley came out for the Weekend and stayed in Lesters' motorhome.

Ray had another bout with his bleeding problem, and we took him to St Vincents in Erie on Thurdsay. After several days of not solving the problem, we brought him home yesterday. I guess we have to wait until the problem flares up again, then go to the hospital, while notifying the Dr he is going. They have to be able to isolate the exact point of the bleeding, in order to rectify the problem.

Derek had his hernia surgery yesterday and is ok. He is coming to stay at the Vikings, for a few days to recuperate without having to pick up children.(no heavy lifting).

The fiddle club played at Cattaraugus county Fair last Saturday. Good response from the fiddlers, bur very little audience. We were not listed anywhere as being part of the fair.

I cannot remember anything else from the last two weeks, but if it is important, it should come up.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

moving forward

Yesterday, we had friends from Florida show up in their newly acquired motorhome, along with their dog and cat. Virgil and Helen Jarrett are from W. Virginia, but currently live in Pomona Park. Virgil is an excellent folk singer and Helen is an artist(painter). They will be here about a week. So naturally, Laura had to make a double batch of sticky buns which we took over to Lester and Sues to bake and eat. While they went touring, we went to lakeside to check out the boat.

It was a big day today. The sun was shining, no rain was falling. The boat lift let the boat settle gently into the water, both engines fired up, and we took a nice ride about the upper part of the lake. We stopped at the Vikings so Laura could retrieve some stuff she had forgotten. Then the lift gently picked the boat out of the water again. a successful water day. Now we can take boat rides, or fish. We recently got fishing licenses for life in NY State for $50.00. All this before the end of July. Although we were late with the boat, we did not miss much usage as we are enjoying one of the coldest, wettest Julys in recorded weather history(about 130 Years). Many of the other boats have not been used much because of the weather.

last Saturday, was town wide garage sale day in Sugar Grove,PA. Guess who bought a bass guitar , two amplifiers, and a an old guitar? I still do not know how many banjos, fiddles, guitars, etc that Laura has>

Sunday was family picnic day at the Vikings. Jerry, Alison, Shawn and Cheyenne were all here, along with Derek, Liza, Charlotte, Grace and Eli. Eli is a walker now. Everybody had a good time, with numerous games and prizes. Charlotte did very well in the money scramble, and won some money, winning one of the foot races for her age group where she won quite easily. She is fast.

When time permits,we continue to filter through some of the stuff we brought from Amherst, moving stuff from the solarium to the pole barn, and starting to organize the pole barn. It seems like we are never going to finish these jobs, and get into our rocking chairs on the porch

last Monday, I played golf(51) and we went to the Chautauqua Idol program at Bemus Point. We stayed overnight for our 7th nite. We have to stay at least 10 nites to fulfill part of the requirements to retain the right to keep the viking site.

Did I mention that in between the rainy periods, we have to mow lawns. Fortunately, Dick Hiam at Lakeside mows there. Laura and I did the Vikings monday, and today I got Ripley done.

We continue to burn up the roads, traveling to Sardinia (about 90 miles) to play with the Fiddle Club.

The weather man just reported that we have warmer weather coming next week, but predicts rain every other day. Poor Heidi is living with the high 90's in Seattle. At least we do not have to use our ac units., enough for now.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

what happened to summer?

Today is the 19th of July, yesterday was the 4th of July. Where is the summer weather?

This week we got the boat all together, both motors running well, some cleanup, etc, and Friday, it went to the lake and is now resting on the lift. If ever we get some nice boating wether, we will go to the lake and enjoy it. When we put it in, it was cold, windy, choppy and rain threatening, but it went in anyway.

Wednesday, we went to Magnolia Springs area on Chautauqua Lake to visit with Donna and Sandy. Sandy and Tony Triscari had rented a cottage on the Lake and Donna was passing through on her way to the East Coast to visit her sons and families. She is retiring and plans to leave Minnesota for the East Coast. Doug is in Georgia working with the University of Georgia.

Tony and Sandy are doing well, with growing families. We missed Gloria, who had been there the night before.

We are struggling to catch up with sifting through all of the stuff we brought from Amherst, with some stuff finding a home in the new building, some stuff going to the curb as "free", and some stuff being placed in another pile for further evaluation. Very shortly, I will be assembling all of the musical instruments together, and I will be able to tell how many banjoes, fiddles, guitars, fiddles and other misc. I have. Then maybe, I can begin to eliminate some of them.

Last Sunday, Derek and Charlotte, and Grace and Eli came to visit at the Vikings, and they are expected again today, so have to go.

Speaking of the Vikings, they had their second annual pig roast for the Trailer Association last night. We missed the first one last year because we were in Seattle. The event was well attended, and was complete with a live band. The band was good, but definitely too loud.

enough for now, more later.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

musings and reflections

Today is an anniversary of sorts. Six months ago today, I had my partial replacement of my left knee. Although the hospital stay is short, being only two days, and there is no re-hab in a nursing home, there is a long healing process. At this time, I am finally getting to the point that I can take longer steps, bend the knee when walking, start walking shortly after exiting a car or sitting for long periods, go up or down steps using both knees. I also have longer periods where I can walk more or less normally. However, after a workout or heavy usage, there is some discomfort. Oerall, I would put my recovery at about 75-80%, but gaining steadily. There does appear to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Hoo-ray.

Although summer has yet to show up, the weather has not been too bad. If you discount the week of rain in late June. Erie had 5 inches of rain that severely flooded the Millcreek Mall area. We had several days where we traveled around the county, and it would be raining hard here and not at all somewhere else. Anyway, we put the room air conditioners in, but have yet to use them. Decent days followed by cool nights work out well. We have secret info from Florida, that our area has been enjoying 90-100 degrees.

Speaking of Satsuma, we were wondering about the abduction of Hailey. We called Lavern who indicated that nothing has changed, and the situation is slowly fading away. Someday, we will hopefully learn the whole story and it probably will not be pretty.

It has been about 11 days since the last blog update, and we have been somewhat busy.

Despite our distance from Buffalo, we continue to participate in the doings of the Niagara Frontier Fiddle Club, when we can. On Sunday, June 28, we traveled to (hold on, News alert, Today, July 8th, ABC News did not mention the name of Michael Jackson even once, poor Michael, so soon he is forgotten), back to June 28th, we traveled to West Seneca( did you know there is a East West Seneca?) anyway we went to a fiddle club meeting, and practice. Naturally the club is not the same as it used to be, due to the passing of the older members. They do have a good core of members, including lots of new,younger members, so they should be ok in time.

Monday, it was back to Buffalo, for a Dr visit. Laura did not like the Lady Dr in Westfield, so we make the trip to Amherst ot see our old Dr. I figure this will work until one of us develops a real problem, needing more attention and care. Anyway, our blood work is ok, we still need to get our wts down, and we received our shingles shots. They cost $210 each, but Independent Health will reimburse us $206 each. not too bad. With the completion of this trip, we have logged almost 3000 miles since we returned in late April. Laura does need a mammogram, so we have been practicing, using the leaves of our dining room table.

During late June and early July, we were involved with maintenance at Ripley and the Vikings. Things like lawn mowing, cleaning up, minor repair to the Ripley roof.

July 4th , we had a picnic lunch at Lakeside, a tradition we helped start and continue to assist with. Norma, Ray and Luella came, along with Derek and the girls. The girls enjoyed the games and winning small prizes.That night, we went to Bemus Point, where "Elvis" sang and the girls enjoyed their first close up fireworks. We went to Lakeside and Derek had the misfortune of somebody opening their driver door right in front of him. no one hurt, but a major annoyance.

Sunday morning we assisted the Viking Trailer Association with their annual fund raising pancake breakfast.,Then we went home to Ripley to crash

Monday the 6th was golf day(57)( I miss the chipper I lost) as well as Chautauqua Idol night.They have 12 singers, with 2 being eliminated that night.They are all very good and the balance of the program should be very intersting. We became very famous as a result of the program. It seems the Post Journal had a picture of the judges on the front page of Tuesdays paper. and guess who was clearly visible sitting behind the judges? yep, it was us. We are still waiting for all the phone calls and letters that should be coming our way.

Tuesday, yesterday was a momentous day. The boat came out of its storage building where it has been warm and dry. (You all should remember "Mohr-Fun". It is a 1964 Glastron V-184, currently with a 65 hp Mercury).We have owned it since about 1973. It used to go to Florida every year until the trailer started to break up. We had some problems with the gas line, that needed some parts etc, so today we went to aoerbics at Harborcreek, then Harbor Freight, CVS, Walmart, cherry picking, etc.

Tomorrow, we will try to get the boat ready for introduction to the water. I hope it remembers how to float.

Now we have to deal with Birthdays, Luella and Eli on the 10th, Shawn and Cheyenne on the 12th and 14th.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Reunion and other stuff

In no particular order, this is what has happened to us during the last 10 days.

We spent considerable time getting ready for the reunion, and it went very well. The weather recovered nicely from the rain on Saturday. We had family members come from Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, Michigan, Buffalo, and Seattle. During the introductory session, we managed to lose part of the John Mohr Family. We went through Jane, Ronald, Norma, then went to Greg and finally Melanie. What happened to Janice? Don?, Annette?,Melissa?, Debby?, Blair?, Kayla? Hanna? Jenna?, Blair Jr?. Somehow, no one noticed this oversight at the time. I guess Janice and Don will have to come up next year to prove they exist. Sorry about that.

Monday was busy. Golf (55), mowing the Vikings lawn, learning about the new digital TV situation. It seems we can get 7 channels from Erie, but all but one disappeared at 10:00 at night. In the morning they all came back. We were told informally, that the rule about satellite dishes being on your own site site is more flexible now. So we are going to determine where a dish could be placed and then ask the Trailer association for permission to do it. Maybe there is hope for Dish TV in the future. We spent our first night at the Vikings, only 9 more to go.

Tuesday was collapse day. We trimmed one of our trees, so we can get the motorhome into the back yard with out rubbing trees all the way in.

Today was water aoerbics, plus shopping in Erie, for items needed at Ripley and the Vikings. Tomorrow is patch the roof a little bit, and drag the boat out for preparation to go to the lake.

Monday, June 15, 2009

where does the time go? part 199?

It is hard to believe that it has been 11 days since the last posting. The Windstar has been repaired to the tune of about $2100, $1400 for a rebuilt transmission and aproximately $500 for labor plus taxes. It behaves very well, as the miles continue to add up.

Heidi, Dan and Kat are in WNY right now , having arrived last Friday night. We met them at the airport , and brought them the Ford Focus that Lester and Sue are lending them for the duration of their visit. We all spent the night at John Adams house on Anderson Place. Saturday, Dan went to Rochester to play golf with family members, while Heidi and Kat joined the rest of Derek and Lizas family to attend Graces' fourth Birthday Party.

Sunday was a picnic at Clarence Town Park for friends and family from WNY. Kat continues to amaze with her ability to adjust to her surroundings. She is a real live wire.

We spent Friday night at John Adams and Saturday night at Derek and Lizas. Sunday night we were back in our own bed in Ripley. Be it so humble there is still no place like home.

Today was work day at the Vikings. About 80% of the railing is now up and the rest should be done tomorrow. The deck should be safe for the children that may show up this weekend, as part of the Reunion.

Golf today, with a 51 score. The knee is still troublesome at times but overall continues to improve.Some day, I hope!

While we were in the Buffalo area for the weekend, we went to watch Shawn participate in a civil war re-enactment, put on by his scout troop and some scouts from Canada. all of the boys had long guns that were cap guns. The battle was quieter than anticipated. "Soldiers" from both sides "died" and fell to the ground at appropriate times. We wondered how the boys felt about this but did not get to discuss this with Shawn.

You can read her blog, but Norma is back in town.

Time to go, see you next time.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

another week

In no particular order, here is what happened during the last week. The boat lift is in at lakeside and the lawn has been mowed.

The deck is mostly complete (32 x 10 ft) and part of the step railing is up at the vikings. The lawn has been cleaned up and mowed. The golf cart has been repaired(engine overhauled, new piston, cylinder sleeve, some other stuff. Done by TNT in Busti. Cost was $200. runs good now.

The rototiller was just returned. some carburetor work, new exhaust, some other adjustments, and it too runs well now . it cost $76 and was done by Harris in Sherman. Now I have to use it so Laura can start her garden.

Laura and I played golf at Pt Chautauqua today. Senior special consisting of 9 holes and a cart for $10. can't beat that. I had a 50, my lowest score this year. Laura had a few more. It was fun and the course is overlooking the lake. It is really beautiful there.

For the last two years, we have been nursing the Windstar, as it has been losing transmission fluid. Well, yesterday, it gave up. AAA came to take it away to Dunkirk for repair. $2000 to rebuild it with one year warrantee. We decided to do it because, the rest of it is still in good condition, and we do not want to buy another one at this time. When we decided to leave the Dodge in Florida and bring the motorhome up, we set ourselves up for this. Did you know that we have put 2300 miles on the Windstar since we got back late April? Anyway, Ray came to get us, and gave us his Blazer to drive. Today, we gave the Blazer back and are driving Lesters Honda Cr-V until Monday or Tuesday, when the Windstar is supposed to be done.

The weather has been nice, but cool. We still have both furnaces on for some morning(and evening) heat when neccessary. Maybe soon, we can shut them down.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

where does the time go?

The last 8 days has been a blur. Friday we did get together with Jerry(and Alison and Shawn and Cheyenne) and acquired a new Verizon cellphone to replace the one with the broken charging port. We also acquired a second verizon phone, figuring two verizons is better than one verizon and one Tracfone. anyway , our primary cell phone remains 716-390-8738, while the new number for the secondary phone is 716- 955-0800. all you verizon people can now talk to both of us at the same time. Since the old phone totally died, we could not have them transfer all the contact numbers, so I have been busy recreating and inputing all the phone numbers into two phones.

We have been busy working on the deck at the vikings.It lacks about 5 ft of completing the actual deck. Derek donated metal railing material that came from his dismantled swimming pool. We found some wrought iron stairway railings that will work well with Dereks' material.

Today, we repaired the lakeside catwalk and put it into place. This weekend, the boat lift will probably go in .Then the boat. Last year the boat never made it to the lake.

Memorial day was different this year. We heard that Ripley had a sizable parade, and since the route was near by, we decided to check it out. It was a typical small town parade, with lots of old cars and motorcyles, and tractor drawn wagons with local veterans and seniors, etc. After that we went to Erie and checked out the Presque Isle Pennisula, which is a beautiful public facility. It is about 10 miles long, out into Lake Erie. It has paved trails for bikes, walkers, roller bladers, etc. It has numerous beaches, and hiking trails along with volleyball courts. There is a water taxi available that will transport you and your bike. It is just a beautiful setting to enjoy and Erie area people are lucky to have such a facility.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

It has been very difficult keeping up with our activities in the North. We go to aeorbics in North EAST , Pa. Twice since last writing. I have played golf two more times and am unsure of its effect on my knees. Anyway, on a par 35 course, I have shot 51 and 52. I usually have decent drives and putts, but have trouble getting to the green after the drive.

We have been working at the Vikings, where we have cleared out and mowed a large area around the site. Including community property , our usable site is probably 3 times as big as a normal site. We are also working on the deck. This week, we added about 10 more ft of additional deck, with about 7-9 ft yet to go. then have to figure out the railing system and add another stairway on the back end. There will not be any awning until next year. Until then we will put up our 10 x 10 awnings when needed.

We have to do some work at Lakeside, to get the catwalk and lift into the water. The boat did not make it in last year, but will this year. We are sort of looking for a pontoon boat for the vikings.

Laura is getting ready to do her garden, but our rototiller is being repaired. We have offers of others to use and probably will take somebody up on their offer.. I have started to implement some shelving and stuff to better utilize our beautiful new building.

Our verizon phone broke at the charging port, so it can not be charged, nor can it be used. We expect to get a new one on Friday, when we go in to Buffalo to play a Fiddle gig and meet Jerry at a verizon store.

My knee is gradually getting better but still has aways to go. The other day at K Mart I was walking along, really nic , when suddenly 3 severe spasms nearly took me down. As I am writing this it is quite sore. Of course, today was aoerbics and lawnmowing and some pushing things around in the building.

The Ripley Girls softball team has a super pitcher and several other super players and as a result they are sporting a record of something like 18 wins and no losses. So we went over to watch 2 of their recent games. Brings back some memories.

Sue had her surgery and despite some setbacks is progressing. Lester is busy taking care of her and doing his thing too.

Of course, we still do our garage sale thing. Last Saturday, we went to about 60 of them in North East. That means we missed about 25 as they had 85 advertised. picked up a nice microwave for the Vikings, as the other one only worked when it wanted to. also picked up another lawnmower to leave at the Vikings. Can you believe we only have 3 lawns to take care of?

So far, the Windstar has been behaving for us. We put 1000 miles on it the first two weeks.

Tomorrow the golf cart goes to see a doctor to see if its performance can be improved, plus Laura needs to obtain some supplies for her three places.

We are starting to work on reunion planning and scouting for the best deals on pop, hot dogs and hamburgs, etc.

I think this is enough for now.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

When do we get to rest?

Monday started out with the aerobics at Northeast, some lawn mowing, some bike riding and then golf. With a few bloopers here and there, I shot a 58 on a par 35 course. Then Laura had supper for Ray and Luella, Lester and Sue and me at the vikings.

Tuesday, we did some work at the vikings. cleaning up branches, cutting down skunk cabbage, etc. we are working at increasing the usable area of our site.

Wed, we are tired of working, so off to Erie with Lester and Sue, visiting Ollies, Walmart and the Erie casino.

Thursday was a big day for Sue, as she checked in to Mercy Hospsital`for surgery to repair a duosomething hernia. While they made the trip to Lackawanna, we made the rounds of our satellite locations, the Vikings and Lakeside. we resupplied the locations with supplies that had been removed fo safe keeping during the winter months. we did some shopping in Jamestown.

Friday was a trip to Mercy Hospital to visit Sue, who was doing fairly well, along with some dumpster diving for Laura. Not much luck in the dumpster department.

Today was a quick mowing day, worked on the other lawn tractor, worked on settting up the new building which is certainly a joy to have.

Tomorrrow is Mothers Day. Happy Mothers day to everybody.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

We Made it Home to NY

It was with some trepidation that we left friendly little Satsuma last Wed morning. We had some key problems that kept us from leaving as early as desired. Once we did hook up, we discovered the trailer hitch on the motorhome was really too high, so we left and stopped at Rochester Import in Palatka and bought a device that dropped the ball height by 6 inches, which was a huge improvement. Thanks to the later start we had to wait only a few minutes for the store to open. Then we were on our way, committed to our big adventure of driving an unknown, unproven motorhome 1000 miles.

After about 35 miles, there was a new noise,that was definitely speed related. We stopped to check it out and found a rear wheel cover had come loose. We removed it and the noise was gone, hoorah. We proceeded North at a fairly leisurely rate, about 55-60 mph. which was a comfortable speed, because we were greatly afffected by the wind and by every passing truck. Anyway, we were eventually out of Florida, through Georgia, and South Carolina, mostly through NorthCarolina and were shooting for Ft Chiswell in Virginia, when it got dark, started to rain, with lightning. We had never used the wipers, and they seemed adequate, but the lights did not seem to be too bright,so we stopped in Elkin, NC, in a walmart parking lot. We often wondered about doing this, but it worked out ok.

The next morning we left about 6:00 and worked our way through N.C. into W. Virginia, and we began to think "we might make this trip". The "Monster" had to work hard in the hills of Virginia and W. Virginia, but continued onward. Then we reached Pennsylvania and knew we had done it. We arrived in our driveway about 6:10 in the afternoon. Foolish or not, we had done it.

So we had to turn on utilities, etc and learned we a water leak that could not be repaired immediatley. Our house is set up so that we can isolate different parts of it, and not shut everything down because of a problem. We learned to do this a long time ago. Every sink, toilet, whatever, has its own shutoff, plus as I mentioned the house has separate runs that can be controlled by use of appropriate valves. So we do have running hot and cold water in our bathroom , but not the rest of the house. We have been to busy to worry about it but tomorrow it will be fixed.

Friday, Lester loaned us a car so we could get the Windstar back on the road. and we all went to the Fiddle Club at Good Shepherd Church in Wendelville. We got to see Jerry, Alison,Shawn and Cheyenne, as they came to pick up some camping gear that we had .

Saturday, we went to Norheast Walmart to stock up on some supplies, and on the way back, a tire blew out. we had some help, got the little iity bitty one on and got home, but now it is Sat afternoon, and we have no spare. So we got the lawnmowers going, cut the grass and headed for Lakewood Walmart, get 2 new tires, and stop at Lester and Sues' on the way home to play cards.

Sunday, Derek and Liza and kids are coming to visit us at the Vikings. We get there and find the tarp we had put over it in the fall had mostly blown off. it had survived the winter but not the spring winds.others had the same problem but it was not a big deal. one of the campers had put up a new aluminum awning last summer, but it did not survive the heavy snowfall of the winter. Anyway, we survived the winter ok, and it was good to see Charlotte, Gracie and the little guy, Eli. We visited for a while, had lunch, and the kids played at the playground some. After they left we did some picking up of branches, cut down some skunk cabbage, and went back home to Ripley .We finished unloading the trailer , put up some new clotheslines,etc.

I finally got a chance to practice some guitar, and to bring this blog up to date. I also got my golf clubs out as I am going to try to play tomorrrow. enough for now. We are back in NY and loving it.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Going North to cold and rain

after two very busy days, it looks like we are ready to go in the morning. The trailer only needs the perishables from the freezer. The motorhome is about ready. The boat is protected from the summer rain, the car is in its resting position for the next 5-6 months. We will find out how this adventure turns out. we will be out of computer contact for the next two days, but the cell phone works most of the time.

yesterday, Doctor visit to check out my knee. x-rays are good, still some swelling, but progressing ok. yesterday was last aoerbic workout for season in Florida. When we get back to Ripley, we will go to the "Y" in Northeast.

see you all in New York!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Going Home?, where is Home?

It is Sunday night and we are recovering from an interesting, exciting weekend at Barberville's annual Spring Frolic. We got there and back with no problems with the motorhome which is presently having its oil changed, multiple grease fittings lubed, and the tensions on all the new belts being checked and adjusted, if needed.

The motorhome served as our home for the weekend, and, generally was quite successful as such. We enjoyed our duties at Barberville and enjoyed a lot of great music. We are also getting to know more of our fellow? musicians which adds to the overall enjoyment of being here in Florida.

Tomorrow starts a very busy two days, getting ready for departure Wed morning, the earlier the better.The middle 80's is a great temperature, but being so dry is rapidly creating fire danger again throughout Florida.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Seaworld again?

Yesterday, we went to Seaworld again. It was low 90s, but not uncomfortable. We saw all of the shows, which are basically the same, but do evolve over time. We actually rode a roller coaster. I convinced Laura to ride the new small kiddy roller coaster. I walked some, rode some. When we left, we converted our one year funpasses to SeaWorld and Busch Gardens into 2 year passports for both parks. It was $85 for each of us and the effective expiration date is 2 years from yesterday. Included in the package is free parking(presently $12) and 10% reduction on food and souvenirs purchased in the park.

Today, we pulled the boat, started to assemble the frame for the cover, etc. We filled the motorhome with propane(20 gal tank) and 46 gal of gas(exactly $10.0.00). We must have an 80 or 90 gal tank. We did numerous other things as we are getting ready to go North on Wednesday. Tomorow it is off to BarberVille, where we have agreed to volunteer at the "petting zoo", which is where they have set up numerous instruments for the general public, including kids to handle, and learn about. We get free entrance, free camping, free meal in return for 3 hours each day.

We will have a very busy Monday and Tuesday getting ready for Tuesday.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

correction

I noted that with the passing of Herbie Mohr, there were only five male Mohrs left, but it appears that I forgot someone. Sorry Greg, I don't know why I did not think of you. But anyway welcome to the Club.

We are working every day towards getting ready to go back to New York, and making good progress, however, it is not all work. We were going to Seaworld on Monday, but held off because of the rain threat. We wound up at Bob and Lavernes for supper and UNO. We probably will not see them again until October. They have a wonderful summer planned. They have a chance to ride the Intracoastal North from Jacksonville to Maryland in Darlene and Jeffs 68 ft yacht. They do not want to do this but they are going to spend 6 weeks on the "boat" touring The Northeast.

We hope their health holds out for them to do this .

Yesterday, we went to see our favorite urologist. The psa numbers are going up, but not seriously. We will look at this again in October. We took another short boat ride, The weather has been beautiful, 80s during the day , cooling down at night. No heating or cooling needed.

Today we went to Deland Flea Market, where I was able to walk the whole thing(1-3/4 hrs), which please me. My knees were quite sore, but we are finally getting there. Tomorrow, it is Seaworld, and the wheelchair will be going .

The other night, Ki-Ki did not come in at night, and did not show up until 2:30 in the afternoon. She appears to be injured in the tail area, but basically is ok. We will keep an eye on her.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Busy times in Florida

Friday was an unusual day, in that we were informed of the passing of two of our friends. First was Bob Graf, one of the senior members of the Fiddle Club. Bob was about 75, and finished his life in Hospice. Later, we learned that Victor (Herbie) Mohr had died in the morning. Herbie was 75 and in poor health the last several years.

I am not sure butI think that leaves 5 male Mohr named survivors of the Clara Mohr family. That would be myself, Jerry, Derek, Shawn and Eli.

Anyway, Friday found us in St Augustine, garage sale-ing and touring. Lester and Sue arrived safely home in Mayville during the evening.

Saturday, we went to the air show at Cecil Field. It was very interesting, with lots of acrobatic stunt flying, including wing walking. The best parts (to me) were the comparison of the Air Force planes, with a prop driven Mustang P-51, the first jet fighter, the Sabre F-86 and the F -15 Strike Eagle. The Navy had a prop driven Corsair and The current F-18 Hornet. The planes were flown individually, and in formation.

Today, being Sunday, we went to the St Johns Flea Market, and then to K-Mart, where Laura used coupons at K-Mart, to purchase $88 worth of stuff, for $19.20. She loves to do this. Then we went to the pier where a "duck " race was in progess. You pay $5 for a duck and are assigned a rubber duck with a number. They take all the ducks out to the end of the pier and dump them into the ocean. The first 22 ducks to arrive at shore receive prizes. We got there too late to get a duck.

We came home and went for one of our last boat rides for this season. We found about 50 gators, including "Huey", whom we haven't seen for several years." Huey" is probably the largest gator we have ever seen in the wilds of the St Johns.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

catching up again

Lester and Sue left for home this morning. Took their motorhome and car and left. That means we are all alone for the next two weeks.

We have a lot to do, because we have to pull the boat and prepare it for summer storage, including covering it. We have to load the motorhome and the trailer, and prepare the car for summer storage. We have to store things and give the lawn a last mowing, raking, with the lawn tractor. We have to go through all our stuff and decide what stays and what goes North.

It would be a lot easier to just stay here, but then we would miss seeing everybody at the reunion, which is to be June 21, at the Vikings. I have been told that Heidi/Dan/Kat may be coming. Also, Mike/Leslie/Zach, and Mel and Greg. with Scott and Chris. We have 2 Park model campers at the lake to use, plus our motorhome and Les and Sue have agreed to make their motorhome available.

Now, while we are doing all of the above to get ready, we have 2 Dr appointments to keep, one for the knee, the other with my favorite urologist. no problems , just checkups before we leave.

We also have to go to Cecil Field in Jacksonville, either Sat or Sun for a big airshow that is featuring about 15 different stunt pilots and stunt teams. I did not know there were that many, but we have information on all of them. We also have to go to Seaworld on Monday. Norma may be going with us,

Did I mention that last Monday, we (Sue, Lester,Laura and I) went to Busch Gardens in Tampa? A short one day hop.

Lester and Sues' oldest son, Tim arrived here on the 4th. He brought his Daughter, Lavanni, his friend Doris, and her son, Cody. They enjoyed a cool week, by going to the beach, to the flea market at Webster, to Seaworld, and other places such as St Augustine. They left Saturday, morning towing their boat back North. They followed us to the Ramona Flea market in Jacksonville and continued on home from there. We went on to the Johnson flea market, and then to the new Riverside Art Festival under the Fuller Warren Bridge. This was quite interesting and enjoyable, with music and entertainment.

Wed, we all went to the Deland Flea Market, and then we went on to Wally and Joanies place in Port Orange, where Laura and I had our hair cut.

Thursday, we went to the Clay County Fair for Senior(free) Day. Then Friday, it was off to St Augustine to tour, but Easter traffic was very bad. Saturday was the above referenced trip to Ramona Flea Market.

Easter Sunday was off to Normas' house, for a very nice get together of the Florida Family. Four of the original Six Mohrs were there. Jane, Ronald, Norma and Janice. Also, Don, Laura, Sue and Lester. Mike and Leslie and Zach, Annette and Melissa and Debby, Kayla, Jenna, Hanna and Remy. Normas' friend Patti, and Ann and Frank from Jamestown. A friend of Annettes family, Mr Murray was also there.

Just as an aside, one of the stunt pilots to perform this weekend is named John Mohr.

As mentioned, we went to Busch Gardens on this last Monday, took Tuesday and Wednesday off from traveling and today was our last Senior Center Jam session. Despite only a few participants, it worked out fairly well.

If all of this is confusing to you, it is also confusing to us. Sometimes we do not know if we are coming or going. But we are definitely enjoying ourselves. We do monitor Normas' World and Mohr Life, along with KatNaps. It is great to see pictures of the kids. The latest one of Charlotte asleep on her ball is fantastic.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Rambling on

Bea and Cliff arrived last Wednesday, and had to eat leftovers, due to a miscomunication between somebody. They got to go to the Senior Center on Thursday for a scintillating period of amateur music, and then to Ruby Tuesday in Palm Coast to take advantage of their 2 for 1 specials. On the way out, we saw some people that looked a lot like Janice and Don and Norma, but it couldn't be could it?

Friday was boat riding day. We did not see too many alligators, but there was one really big one on shore. he was so mad that we saw him, that he left his perch on shore and tried to tip us over. It did not work, and we were not afraid of him.

Saturday was Catfish Festival Day in Crescent City. this is an annual event that has grown over the years. They have a large Shriner Parade, followed by various music. It was hot(85), but we had some shade, so watched our mucial friend, Dan Molinski, from Michigan. play with the River Rangers, A Blast of Grass, a bluegrass group, and the Robinson Family Band from Kentucky. This is a very talented family group consisting of Mother/Father, 3 grown up siblings and several grandchildren. They put on a high energy show, and meet with the audience after. Cliff and Bea said they really enjoyed the whole day.

Cliff and Bea left for N. Carolina in the morning, and we went to Daytona to cover Harbor Freight, aldies and some others. Sunday night, we went to Crescent City to hear Michael Shill(?) who plays dulcimers very well.

Sat night, Tim Johnson, daughter Lavanni, friend Doris and her son Cody all showed up for a week of Florida Sunshine. Sunday, was beach day for them.

Yesterday(Monday), they all went to the Webster Flea Market, and took our car so they could all ride together. The right rear tire lost its belt, so they had to change a tire and spend some time at a Walmart, so they could get a new tire. We spent the day at aoerbics, Senior Center
Easter Luncheon, Dr visit for Laura, so her earwax could be removed, and some shopping in between.

Today is Tuesday, and went to the Dr for check up on psa bloodwork, but after waiting for an hour, we informed, the doc had an emergency and had to leave. Meanwhole, Laura had her one hearing aid checked out and adjusted , so things are better for her.

I forgot to mention: Last Monday, I received a shot of cortisone in my knee, but it did not seem effective. Yesterday, after aoerbics, and the rest of the day, the knee felt pretty good , so maybe i am over the hump, finally. Again today, so far, it feels petty good. Hurray!

until next time!

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

More catching up











Motorhome pictures?
I did it. Some views of our "new" motorhome. It is a 1988 Pace Arrow, 32 ft long with basement storage and most of the options available then. 43,00 miles, mostly very good condition.
As I already stated we gave it a 143 mile trial run Saturday and it did very well.
Sunday we went to a local Church picnic, which had music, a flea market, food, and other entertainment.
Yesterday, Monday, after water aoerbics, it was back to the orthopedic surgeon for three week checkup. Basically, I am doing well, but have episodes of not being able to put weight on the knee for 45 seconds or so after sitting for long periods. After hearing this the good Doctor the gave me a cortisone shot. at this point nothing has changed but soon it will(I hope). We also had blood drawn for a PSA test for the other Dr.
Today, Tuesday, we went to the Miracle Ear specialist to check out a problem with one of Lauras' hearing aids. It turns out to be wax, which we have to remove with hydrogen proxide.
We are now awaiting the arrival of a motorhome from Brocton,NY, which would be Bea and Clifford Lee. Bea is a former co-worker of Lauras' from many years ago at the Jamestown Stamp Company. They are on the Nothern swing from their Florida vacation.
Nothing new on the local abduction of Haleigh Cummings of Satsuma. Lots of mud slinging going on between parents, but no Haleigh, nor anything new about the case. There, finally caught up.

Monday, March 30, 2009

catching up

I have been trying to put in some motorhome pictures but so far, no luck.

Since we did not have company last weekend, we decided to do something we have talked about but never done, that is to be tourists at St Augustine. (I was just handed a glass of wine for health reasons) so better finish this quick.

Anyway, we went to St Augustine and signed up for the Red Train Tour. $15.99 each for seniors and good for 3 consecutive days. This is really a good deal as it takes you a 22 stop tour through the area, and allows you to get off when desired and back on when ready. We went Sunday, Monday(half day) and tuesday. The weather was not totally co-operative but was ok. Some of did the Ripley museum($13.00), which was ok(for some).
We all did the Fountain of Youth which is very good($7.00). The movie at $2.50 was so-so. The Flagler College tour at $6.00 is worth doing.We all did the Jail, which was built in 1908 by Henry Flagler to relocate it from being near his new Hotel(which is now the College.) the jail cost $9.00 which is far more than it is worth. It was interesting as they would take a group through, actually placing you in a cell for awhile, and indicating in many ways that being a prisoner in Joe Perrys' jail in 1908 waould not be a pleasant experience.It all went so fast. there were things we did not do, but can do them on our own if we wish.

There is more to catch up on, but it is time to go to supper, so will add to this later today

I am sitting outside on the porch, enjoying 83 Degrees, light wind, and the smell of orange blossoms. I guess it is not all that bad.

This past week, we went to the Putnam County Fair on Senior Day, which is of course, Free to Seniors. They provided entertainment, fed us hot dogs and hamburgers, and gave some of us $25 gift certificates to local grocery stores. This fair is about the size of Cattaraugus county fair.

Thursday, we went to the Clay Electric Co-op annual picnic at their main office in Keystone Heights. They provide music, have a health fair, give all the fried chicken we want, and then after a formal meeting and a humorous motivation speaker, they too give out prizes, about, 125 of them. We were lucky enough to win a 4 qt crock pot. we did not win the 37' tv or the pickup truck. Bob and Laverne went with us.

It has been very dry here recently, with the area being about 11" behind normal. as a result numerous grass and woods fires have popped up here and there but not too serious yet. We did just have a storm pass through, but not much rain.

I might mention that on Wednesday, I got on a bike for the first time since the surgery. I ride every day now and it seems to be helping.

Friday, we went to Daytona for some dumpster diving, Aldi's, Harbor Freight, and Alfies(with Norma).

I should mention that we brought home the motorhome. It had been at Bob Dentons', a local mechanic in Pomona Park who has a reputation for being honest, etc. Bob replaced all the engine belts, checked all the fluids, made adjustments to various systems, replaced all 3 batteries. When we brought it home we were confident that everything was in good working order

Saturday, we decided to test it, so took it on a trip to Ocala, where we put 145 miles ont. everthing worked well. It was 85 degrees, but no overheating problems, etc. we intend to run another trip in a week or so and stay overnight to further check it out. assuming it behaves ok, it will go back to Bob to have the belt tensions checked, and have its oil changed and some 25 grease fittings lubricated, and then I guess it will be our transportation home to Ripley. our plans are to take the trailer and leave the car.

while we were in Ocala, we went to the Super Flea, and then to Silver Springs to see/hear Glen Campbell. He put on a very good show, singing many of his hits, and overall, being very entertaining.