Tuesday February 5- Well its the start of our work week and it was a good day. No big problems and the campers were timely in leaving there sites. It's warming up and the sun was out today. While we were out today we invited Tom and Michelle over for a drink. They brought there friends Ken and Janna. We sat outside and visited a bit. Tom and Michelle are leaving tomorrow so we told them we would see them next year. They left to go out for dinner.
After our company left I left to walk up to the Pinegrove pavillion to our rock painting party. Oh did I mention that we all brought finger foods to share? Ranger Jane is the pro at this. She brought all her painting supplies. She had a lot of stuff...paint, markers, etc etc etc. We had a nice group show up. It was rather fun.
This was a fun time and I think we have some artists in the group. I think my grand daughter Hailey would really love to do this. So I will probably have to get some supplies for her and I.
Wednesday February 6- It was a real pretty morning. The winds are low and the temps are more seasonal. We had a good day at work again. I'm getting used to this.
After work we drove to the other side of the park. Down to the river area. We just went to look around and do some exploring. It is really pretty there. They have a concession area, bike, kayak and boat rentals. They have really nice picnic areas and lots of paths to roam around on. Miss Ruby came with and explored as well. Here are some pictures of what we saw.
We decided to head towards home. On the way we spotted a couple along the road with a big camera and binoculars. We stopped to see what they were looking at. There was a bald eagle nest. There is one baby and the mother or father was standing guard. I didn't have my camera just my phone. It was so far away that a picture didn't really work....I tried.
You can just barely see the huge nest in the dead tree. I will be back with my camera, that's for sure. Oh just a little update on our hot water heater...it is on the way, suppose to be here on Friday.
Thursday February 7- Last day of work. Jeffrey and Maren made it back to the park late last night. While we were working I received a text from Lynn. She and her husband stopped by a couple weeks ago while riding there bikes through the park. We got to talking and they had lots of questions about full time rving. Well we invited them in to look at our rig but asked them to excuse the crappy couch. Well she was texting me to see if we wanted her old love seat. They are getting something new and are going to give it away. She sent a picture and the measurements. Well after talking about it Jeff and I decided to take it and hope it would fit in the door. We got Jeffrey to come with after work to pick it up. Well when we got it back and brought it in we were both very pleased. It looks good, it matches, and Miss Ruby loves it too. What a deal. Things are starting to look up.
To celebrate we went for pizza with Jeffrey and Maren. They just got back but have to leave tomorrow. So we made our way to Crafty Crust for supper. But before that we made our way back down to the eagle nest to show them...I brought my camera but we didn't have much time. I will go back when I have more time.
 |
| A parent standing guard |
 |
| look close....baby eagle in there |
Friday February 8- It's cleaning day around here. I walked down to do the laundry. We stayed around here most of the day. Jeff is waiting for the hot water heater, we also have a package from Amazon arriving today. While he was waiting for the packages, Jeff decided to get rid of our old love seat. He
had quite the time tearing it apart for removal.
When they finally got here it was very late in the day. We picked up our packages as we left the park. We went to get fuel and the fittings we will need to install the new hot water heater. Instead of coming home we stopped at Blue Point to get a bite to eat and to listen to some live music. Our dinner was good and as we were waiting for the music to start a group from Jonathan Dickinson showed up so we joined them for a bit. The music was really good. It was 2 guys, they even had a drum. That is kind of unusual. The singers name was Jason Colannino. They did a wonderful job.
Saturday February 9- Today is the day....we are going to tackle installing the new hot water heater. Well the fittings we got yesterday were the wrong thread. So we had to go back and get them replaced before starting. Well this simple project turned into a little more than that. The problem here was the little bitty space we are working in. It was nearly impossible to get in there to do anything. Well after getting the right size fittings we put it in. It is a really tight fit. Then Jeff went to fill it up and it leaks. He watched to see where it was leaking from. We had to drain it and pull it out to work on the fittings. I think we did that 2 times. Then he wanted me to reach in and get the electrical box....well guess what, its wedged in and can't stay like that. So again we drain it and try to reach it....I got it. Then filled it up and it looks like it is not leaking. Jeff went outside to put the board on and the trim piece. Well it moved somewhere in the process. So one more time we will have to drain it. We are going to wait til tomorrow. On a positive note, I took a shower here and could do the dishes without boiling water first. It was wonderful.
While Jeff was working on the hot water heater I cleaned out the car. Then I had a visitor come across our driveway. Sorry, I don't like snakes.
We had planned to meet some of the volunteers down at the concession area for happy hour at 2. With all of our set backs we were a bit late. Better late than never.
Sunday February 10- Up and off to church. Some of our visiting campers came today. Rita and Frank were there. We told them about the service but we had already sat down when they arrived. After church came home and I made breakfast. Then back to the hot water heater. We got it in and turned it on with electric. It didn't leak, it heated the water, we was thinking success. Then Jeff went to put the frame around the outside. It had moved and he couldn't get everything lined up. So guess what? We had to drain it so we could move it in to proper position. The only thing we haven't done is try it using propane. We are on a happy note so we thought we would wait and do it tomorrow. We had a surprise visit. Don and Debbie Reach stopped by for a visit. They were our neighbors on volunteer road a couple times. They aren't here this year but it was nice catching up with them. Hailey, our grand daughter had a gymnastics meet today in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Katie, he mom kept us up on her scores. She also sent some videos so we could watch her. She really improved this time on the bars. We are very proud of her. We have really watched her improve. It so fun to watch.
Monday February 11- Well today we finished up the hot water heater. It works on propane too. We are so over this project. I did a load of laundry and ran to Aldi's. We went for a walk with Ruby and we stopped by to talk to Priscilla and Peter. They frequent the park. We invited them over for coffee later on this afternoon. We had some rain on and off this afternoon and evening. Our friends showed up and we had a nice visit.
 |
| Peter and Priscilla |
The rain continued all day and didn't stop for our steak and shrimp potluck. We had a good crowd and the food was good. I was surprised with the crowd. It is always fun to get together.
Thursday February 14- Happy Valentines Day!! We worked today and boy you can always tell when it has rained all day here. The next day everyone comes out of there rigs and are ready to visit. Another bonus was it was so bad yesterday that nobody came out to use the shower houses. They were the cleanest I've ever seen. We were just finishing up the last shower house and came out to see a guy walking with a bird on each shoulder. Well we definitely had to ask about that. So we met Chico and Prince. Chico is not crazy about girls but Prince was very friendly.
After work we stopped by Ken and Mary's. We are going to Carlin Park amphitheater tonight to watch a Chicago tribute band. We got there early but so had a whole bunch of others. It was really quite full already. We saw Ron and Ann, they are volunteers at the park too. We sat our chairs down by them and watched more and more people come in. It was crazy busy. The band was really good. The weather was really good too. It was a perfect night...a lot of fun.
The show started at 7 and went to 9. They have strict noise ordinances here so they need to stop right at 9. We left a bit early to avoid the traffic. We got out of there with no problem.
Friday February 15- It was a busy morning. I needed to defrost the freezer because my ice maker is froze up. I also did some general cleaning. Really nice day so I sat outside a bit. We are suppose to meet a group of volunteers in Stuart for a sunset cruise on the Island Princess. We went a bit early because we didn't get our tickets ahead on line. We went to the tiki bar at the Marriott, that's where you depart from. We ran in to Mike and Pam, volunteers at Jonathan Dickinson.
We headed down the boat to meet up with the other volunteers. We had 14 of us. We boarded the boat and was ready to enjoy. It cost $28.00 per person. It was a sunset sail. We boarded at 4 and set sail at 4:30 with returning at 6:30. They did have some snacks available to purchase along with drinks. They also had some snacks for everyone to enjoy. The boat trip was narrated for the first part. It was a nice evening. Here are a few pictures of who went and what we saw.
We had a great evening. Jeff and I headed for home but we stopped at 5 Guys for a french fry to share on the way home. Best fry's in a really long time....we should have gotten a large fry.
Saturday February 16- Another busy day. We have had such weird weather that we haven't many chances to go to the beach. This morning the weather was perfect for that. So Jeff and I loaded up our chairs and headed to Coral Cove beach. We got there late morning. It wasn't really windy and not smoking hot. It was a great day. The water was pretty calm. I looked for more shells and even the water felt warm. It was a nice morning.
While we were there we waited to hear how Hailey did at her gymnastic meet. We were very excited that today she got her first, first place on the beam. She was very excited. She got 5th on the floor routine, and 6th all around. She was very proud and so were we. Way to go Hailey!!
Well that was a pretty big day but we still had one more event planned for the day. We are heading over to Wellington to listen to a Foreigner tribute band. We left early and had supper at Outback. It was a perfect dinner. Everything was cooked right and very tasty. We made our way over to the amphitheater. We had never been to this one before. It has a really nice set up. You bring your own chairs, coolers and snacks. If you don't want to they also have lots of food trucks you can enjoy. The band started a bit late. They actually did an hour of Bad Company music with a break then they did Foreigner music. I thought they were really good but the lead singer spent to much time talking.
We left this show a little early to avoid the traffic as well. It was super easy to get out of there and home.
Sunday February 17- Boy I think all this running is starting to catch up with us. Off to church this morning. We had to get there early because we are greeting. We had an extra special message today. It was brought to us by both Ben and Melissa Pierce. It was really good. We even had a couple friends from the park come today. After church we headed back to the park. We had to get stuff ready for our life group lunch. We are having taco Sunday. Everything there was super good. It was nice to visit with new folks. We came back home and hung around the park. We got together with Maren and Jeffrey because they just got back to the park today. Wow what a couple of weeks. I don't think I can keep up this pace. We will see what comes.......til next time......
