Today is Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2009. I’m sure most of you already know that, but I have to put it in for my benefit! Today I’m planning to kind of sum up our stay here at Encore Campground in beautiful Bradenton Florida. We arrived here about the middle of the month. We set up the essentials including electric, sewer and water and then settled in to wait out the existing cold weather. Now I know I will be subjecting myself to criticism for talking about cold weather when it really wasn’t cold compared to the weather our family and friends are experiencing up north. I recognize this and the only defense I can propose is that our reaction to the weather is a relative thing which is framed by our expectations for Florida. Psychologically we expected sunny skies, and mid 70s when we got here. Instead we got low 60s for highs and sometimes it was down to below freezing at night. When you add to that the winds, it was a pretty miserable experience. Keep in mind that a camper can get really, really small when it is cold outside and you might be able to imagine our state of mind.
Not to belabor that point, let’s move on. The weather here has gotten better and we typically have mid 70s and sunny during the day and mid 50s at night. This is certainly a LOT better than what we have had. Again, I am not minimizing the miserable conditions up north, and I feel badly for those folks and what they are going through.
During the several weeks we have been here, I have been busy taking care of some maintenance items on the motorhome. I had to rebuild the commode to eliminate a bad gasket. I will leave it to your imagination to determine how important that one was. I also fixed a shower head hook, am working on the icemaker, replaced a broken basement door latch and did some cleaning on the exterior. The porch light was burnt out and when we first got here the chassis batteries were bad so I got new ones and replaced them. Additionally we got a screen room to install outside to add to our living space and I am in the process of installing that. I also had to beef up the bracing on the picnic table here on our site so we would feel safe sitting on it.
Shortly after we arrived here I noticed the front brakes on the Jeep were very hot and even smoking. The next day I noticed that the transmission was leaking fluid and finally the steering was, to put it mildly, scarey! So, it was off to the repair shop to have things corrected. Now, before you start “tsk, tsking” me, everything described above was stuff I had fixed just before we left for Florida. Now I had to get it fixed again. The repair shop had our car for three days and when I picked it up the steering was still not right so it was back to the repair shop for another day. Finally it was close enough that I was able to adjust the toe-in myself and I finally have a car I feel safe driving.
Now, we don’t want to forget about the puppies. As anyone who knows us will attest, we love our pups, and value their company. However, shortly after we got here, Larry Jr. noticed they were showing signs of the return of the giardia parasite they had when we first got them. So it was off to the vet for more treatment. That seems to have gone away now, thanks to the medication.
Of course we can’t forget about Linda’s knee. A while back she tore some cartilage in her left knee and it was not responding to treatment and was quite painful. So, Larry jr. introduced us to a local orthopedic surgeon he works with and Linda scheduled her arthroscopic surgery for last Wednesday. Unfortunately her progress hasn’t been smooth and we went back to the Dr. yesterday for a recheck. Linda is having a lot of pain and some other problems but we are hoping that it is just a matter of time before she is doing a jig as she runs around the campground.
I don’t mean to complain, and please don’t take it as complaining. I just wanted to get everyone up to date on happenings in our little family.
On a bright side, our campground here is beautiful and I have included some photos to show that here. We are enjoying the time we get to spend with Larry and Krista and their pups, and also the time we spend with Mom and Dad Hodson.
We will get back to more pleasant topics tomorrow, and in the meantime, here are some photos for those who prefer visual input!
Not to belabor that point, let’s move on. The weather here has gotten better and we typically have mid 70s and sunny during the day and mid 50s at night. This is certainly a LOT better than what we have had. Again, I am not minimizing the miserable conditions up north, and I feel badly for those folks and what they are going through.
During the several weeks we have been here, I have been busy taking care of some maintenance items on the motorhome. I had to rebuild the commode to eliminate a bad gasket. I will leave it to your imagination to determine how important that one was. I also fixed a shower head hook, am working on the icemaker, replaced a broken basement door latch and did some cleaning on the exterior. The porch light was burnt out and when we first got here the chassis batteries were bad so I got new ones and replaced them. Additionally we got a screen room to install outside to add to our living space and I am in the process of installing that. I also had to beef up the bracing on the picnic table here on our site so we would feel safe sitting on it.
Shortly after we arrived here I noticed the front brakes on the Jeep were very hot and even smoking. The next day I noticed that the transmission was leaking fluid and finally the steering was, to put it mildly, scarey! So, it was off to the repair shop to have things corrected. Now, before you start “tsk, tsking” me, everything described above was stuff I had fixed just before we left for Florida. Now I had to get it fixed again. The repair shop had our car for three days and when I picked it up the steering was still not right so it was back to the repair shop for another day. Finally it was close enough that I was able to adjust the toe-in myself and I finally have a car I feel safe driving.
Now, we don’t want to forget about the puppies. As anyone who knows us will attest, we love our pups, and value their company. However, shortly after we got here, Larry Jr. noticed they were showing signs of the return of the giardia parasite they had when we first got them. So it was off to the vet for more treatment. That seems to have gone away now, thanks to the medication.
Of course we can’t forget about Linda’s knee. A while back she tore some cartilage in her left knee and it was not responding to treatment and was quite painful. So, Larry jr. introduced us to a local orthopedic surgeon he works with and Linda scheduled her arthroscopic surgery for last Wednesday. Unfortunately her progress hasn’t been smooth and we went back to the Dr. yesterday for a recheck. Linda is having a lot of pain and some other problems but we are hoping that it is just a matter of time before she is doing a jig as she runs around the campground.
I don’t mean to complain, and please don’t take it as complaining. I just wanted to get everyone up to date on happenings in our little family.
On a bright side, our campground here is beautiful and I have included some photos to show that here. We are enjoying the time we get to spend with Larry and Krista and their pups, and also the time we spend with Mom and Dad Hodson.
We will get back to more pleasant topics tomorrow, and in the meantime, here are some photos for those who prefer visual input!
7 comments:
I'm happy that I get to spend time with my Mom and Dad and their puppies in beautiful Florida.
Here is a list of things we have done together since they have arrived:
1. Attended a Celine Dion concert
2. Ate breakfast together at Peaches
3. Had Lunch together on Siesta Key
4. Watched the first two NASCAR races together
5. Figured out what was causing the poopies in the dogs (ended up being allergies to certain foods)
6. Mom got her knee fixed where they wouldn't do it up north
7. Dad is lowering his cholesterol and raising his HDL by exercising and drinking a glass of red wine every day.
8. Multiple family dinners at Larry and Krista's
9. Participated in some house hunting on Siesta key
10. Played some Disc Golf
11. All four dogs have played and got along great!
12. Had take out Thai food one night (it was delicious)
13. Spent time at Grandpa and Grandma Hodson's house
14. one on one talks between all four of us to help with the transitions we are making in life.
15. Michael Buble concert on DVD
16. Listened to some old Jazz (My Dad brought from OHIO) records on my new record player.
All this in a month!
Larry Jr.
Wow- we REALLY miss you guys up north... counting down the days till Spring Break...
Yo- FIL- since you are exercising and drinking wine- I guess I will be seeing you one day crossing the finish line with me... Just remember 5 miles = 1 bottle of wine! Words to live by...
jr. just think, we still have over 2 months to go!!
DIL, just think, if you lived here.............:-)
BTW, saw a car the other day with a sticker on the back, "12.1". I assume that means they only ran half way???
DIL, actually I meant to type, "13.1"
fingers slipped
DIL, actually I meant to type, "13.1"
fingers slipped
13.1= 1/2 a marathon- THE BEST RACE!
26.2= full marathon- The not so fun race after the first 13.1!
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