More Photos (stupid blog won’t let me move down)

The “girls.”

Now the cursor moves to the left!  Oh well.  Ted teaching Texas Hold ‘Em with Gus, his son Dennis and the three boys Ethan, Isaac and Peter.

Ted and Marilyn in Savannah.

A beautiful very old live oak in Johnson square.

Photos

Not in the right order but here goes!  

Early dinner in Beaufort, SC after a terrific tour with a wonderful guide.

Harbortown lighthouse and Ted

The group!  Melissa, Gus, Donna, Ted, Sheri, Dave

Hilton Head Island SC

We had a most delightful trip on Delta to Hilton Head Island through Atlanta.  Ted has Silver/Elite status for life based on his 3 million miles with Northwest when Delta took over close to his retirement.  Once I put his FF number in (I didn’t have it when I made the reservation) we were upgraded to Delta Comfort with better spacing between seats.  We also each were allowed to check a suitcase for free.  Not a tremendous thing but it was appreciated.  Our flights were on time with just enough connection time to get a bite and then wing our way to Hilton Head Island.

We picked up our car, stopped at Kroger to get some breakfast and lunch things before going to the house.  Google 18 Audubon Pond, Hilton Head to see this gorgeous home that is in a rental program.  The bedroom with the blue bedspread was ours and included a huge bathroom and even bigger walk in closet.  The owner is our hosts’ son and we were invited for a week of vacation with them.  Their Denver neighbors came too.

We learned the owner’s family was coming Thursday evening with their three boys for the weekend.  Since we were in the owner’s suite we offered to move to the smaller bedroom but they insisted we stay put.  The boys were such a delight!  Personable, polite, quiet, accomplished.  They won state in a piano duet competition, swim like fishes, and in the morning we would find them in the living room quietly playing poker.  They also eat what is put in front of them.  Ted decided they needed to learn Texas Hold ‘Em and they had a great time.  We also taught the two other couples to play Shanghai.  The boys are not allowed to have tablets but the night we stayed home with them while Mom and Dad had an anniversary date they "helped" me play Cookie Jam!  The only time the TV was turned on all week was to watch golf.

We all helped out with the cooking and cleaning up.  Everyone did their thing - biking, pool, beach, nature preserve, etc.  When the boys left, the six of us spent a day in Beaufort and another one in Savannah.  The week went by so quickly!  We rode all three trolley lines to see more of the island.  Four of us went to check out the two RV parks located there. 

We ate at Salty Dog’s in Sea Pines, The Old Oyster Factory where Gus hosted us all to celebrate his son’s anniversary, at a restaurant in Beaufort and at Paula Deen’s in Savannah.   Other than that we ate at home.  I cooked a pork tenderloin dinner on our last night.

We learned another of Ted’s nieces, Amy, died on Saturday night.  She had battled breast cancer ferociously for five years only to have it spread to her lungs, then bones and finally her brain.  She leaves her husband of 20 years and four children aged from grade school to high school.  At Lynn’s funeral in Cleveland Ted’s brother told us when Amy passes not to feel obligated to come.  He said it is an expense that is not necessary and plenty of family would be there.  When we received the call, the message was the same, so we honored his wishes.
Our flights back were just as easy as the week before.  However, I have flown internationally repeatedly and never had such a thorough pat down at Security.  I guess they have more time than in Houston.  They were polite, the agent pointed out to Ted that he should watch my things.  I gave them no grief, and got none in return.

We are home for three days and then we leave for Elk City, OK to have our bedroom slide floor repaired on the RV.  A seal had ripped and water intrusion has made the floor soft and will rot if not taken care of.  We learned this in Indiana but didn’t have time to have it taken care of there.  Rolling Retreats has the best reputation in repairing Mobile Suites so our Labor Day weekend will be spent heading there for an 8 am Tuesday morning appointment. 

I am going to attempt to post some photos of our trip.  Wish me luck.

Before We Take Off Again

More than a week has gone by and I haven’t written a thing!  It is mostly due to writing about men stripping your roof off and banging for days overhead is not too interesting.   I did play cards Tuesday which was a nice reprieve from the noise.  

Unfortunately that afternoon Carol was involved in an accident.  Her three passengers sustained injuries.  Ted immediately went to the scene to be with Terry.  When Terry followed the ambulance, Ted took John, who was with Terry, to get his truck so he could go home.  Then he went to the hospital, took Terry some food and then came home once Carol’s tests showed bumps and bruises but nothing broken.  

One lady had 4 broken ribs and a punctured lung, another a hairline hip fracture and another a broken elbow.  It cast a pall over our whole group of friends.  Everyone was released by the weekend and are home recovering.  We have offered to help if needed but they were all getting along ok and knew we were dealing with the roofers and getting ready to leave again.

Saturday was church and dinner out by ourselves.  The Astros were less than entertaining this week and cabin fever was setting in.  Monday the roof job was finished.  The house was in order, laundry done and clothes ready for packing.

We leave tomorrow morning for a week.  If I have a chance I will give you a shout out from Hilton Head.  And if this site cooperates, maybe a few photos of the group.

I Got The Message!

We had been looking at motorhomes and twice came within a hair’s breath of buying one.  They were both 2016 Newmar Ventanas.  The one in Florida just presented too many logistics problems along with timing issues but the one here by home looked promising.  We had made a deal, put $5000 down to hold it until we returned.

We went to see it and found it very nice so we had to have an earnest discussion about parting with that much money on a depreciating asset this late in life.  I had prayed about it and I took it as a good sign when a couple who looked a bit older than us were on the Newmar factory tour and were buying a brand new one.  However, the next day our 68 year old friend who was just retired and was preparing to "head out" after cataract surgery went to bed and never woke up.  Talk about mixed messages!

We have had no debt since 2003 and I didn’t want to start.  But this outlay would take all my liquid "emergency/big ticket items/vacation" money and that made me uncomfortable.  In the end we decided to pass.  Then God sent the reminder.  RV repair, maintenance and tires, balance due on Ireland trip, a new house roof.  And now I am headed for a big dental bill.  Listen up, Lord!  Thank you for showing me we made the right decision but enough is enough.  I got it!  

Saturday we drove to the campground Susan and Tommy were staying in.  They were heading out for a two month trip to Colorado.  We had four Newmar books for them to look at from the factory in case they decide to replace their Allegro bus.  They will both be retired next spring, have time on their side and would get use out of a new unit over the next decade or two.

They had their kitchen faucet replaced but were not getting water.  They had a call into a plumber but Ted crawled around looking to be sure the line was turned on at the manifold and tried to find a problem but couldn’t.  He stood up, pushed the faucet handle sideways, the way ours works, and the water came on.  They had been pushing it back and forth, for hot or cold, versus sideways to turn it on!  We all had a good laugh.

We wished them safe travels and left for church. Afterwards we went to Landry’s for dinner with Terry and Carol.  Our meals were excellent and the only problem was the waitress paired me with Terry and Carol with Ted on the checks.  It only took a few minutes to get it squared away.

By Sunday morning I knew I had a dental problem.  I had two bridges put in sometime in the late 90s.  Several years ago, the back molar on the right side where the bridge was attached gave out.  They had to remove the bridge, remove the root that was left of the molar and made me a partial since I was not a good implant prospect.  Now the front tooth holding the left bridge is hurting big time.  I have a call in to the dentist since today is Sunday and am expecting a similar outcome.  Once again our travel schedule may get in the way.  

We’re Back!

We drove to Forrest City, AR on Thursday, then Carthage, TX on Friday.  That allowed us to pull into Woodlands Lake about 11 am on Saturday.  We took about three loads of food and clothes home and I started laundry right away.  I had stripped the bed down to the mattress pad so all that was three loads before I did another three loads of our clothes.

We stopped at 3:00 to shower and dress for church.  I didn’t write a check because I didn’t have my mail that would include our church envelopes.  Afterwards we went to dinner with Terry and Carol.

We finished up on Sunday and cleaned the rig from top to bottom but waited until Monday to put it away.  We have an appointment in Elk City, OK the day after Labor Day to have a repair made on the bedroom slide.  We didn’t know about it until we were ready to leave and we didn’t have time to stay.  Elk City is closer than Knoxville or LaGrange!

Tuesday was mail day and I spent quite some time in the office clearing my desk.  Nancy does such a great job on the mail so it doesn’t take nearly as long to go through it.  But there is always the pouch of paper I take with me and spend time emptying on our return.

By Wednesday things settled down so I had my nails and toes done.  I need to call for a haircut now.

I followed Ted to the Brake Shop on Thursday so I could bring him home while they looked at his ABS sensor.  It kept turning itself off and even turned itself on when it shouldn’t have.  The Ford dealer in Indiana identified which tire it was but didn’t have time to pull the tire to look at it.

Then I met Jody for lunch to catch up since our last breakfast date.  We had a delicious lunch and 2.5 hours of visiting.  It was an enjoyable afternoon.

We will only be here for two weeks before taking off to Hilton Head.  Then it will be a 6-7 day trip to Oklahoma after our return from there.  I will be glad to have close to two months at home eventually.  

I had seen a wasp so went out on the deck to knock down the nest with the broom.  I noticed a crack in the Hardy Plank and some paint bubbled.  We called our roofer and the news was not good.  That whole edge where the diverter is set could be lifted up.  Since the roof is over 16 years old and has been through 3-4 hurricanes it seems it would be sending good money after bad to just repair it.  So next week we will have lots of banging going on around here.  He is going to run a gutter and drain pipes on either end rather than replacing the current diverter system.  

After picking up the truck with a new ABS sensor, we went to Sam’s for a few things and were home the rest of the day.  Ted is having to do coverage of Houston, San Antonio and Lufkin where newsprint is being shipped again.  He spent a lot of time on the telephone discussing preliminaries.  I guess he will be making a few road trips when the paper arrives.

And another weekend is upon us.  Hope you have a good one.  We are just trying to stay cool and I worry about the men putting the shingles on next week.  

Casey, IL

Wednesday morning we left Shipshewana headed to Casey, IL.  It was a new campground for us.  Our trip was uneventful, thank God,  We were delighted with the park.  It had long, pull thru spots, nice grass and huge shade trees.  The grounds and pool were impeccable.  I decided to do laundry in their laundry and the owner invited us to sit out front in the rockers and enjoy the delightful weather.  She gave us a map of Casey and told us it was the Little Town with the most Biggests.

We had dinner then took her advise and drove into town.  Here are some of the Biggests that we found.

Pitchfork

Tee

Birdcage

 Mailbox

Catching Up

I have no recollection of what we did Thursday but we took Sam and Morgan to Red Robin for dinner when their parents went to a class reunion dinner.   They were also picking up Kristin at the airport.  I was spending the night so Ted could go shooting while we girls attended the baby shower.  It was a nice affair.  Here is the mother to be, a grandma and two great grandmas!

The gift that touched Ally most was a smaller version of her Bun-Bun!  She received the bunny when she was 10 months old and it was bigger than she was.  It was her constant companion and she rubbed its one cheek until she created a hole.  It has been in the cedar closet at her mother’s.  The new Bun-Bun Jr. has his name embroidered in his ear.  It made Ally cry!

We went to church at our old parish and saw a few ladies that remembered us.  We have been gone since 1996 so it is amazing anyone remembers us.  We all went to Kelly’s and some of the young folks that were at the shower came over.  We threw a bunch of stuff together to feed everyone and it was a fun time!

Sunday we hit the road again.  We were not in a big hurry because the Amish town of Shipshewana is closed up tighter than a drum on Sunday.  We were anxious to see Tom and Eileen, our old FL neighbors, though.  We set up the RV next to the repair facility and then went to the park where they were.  We decided to drive to Nappanee to determine how long it would take Monday morning and also to find a place to eat.  We found the RV tours gathering spot and ate
 at an Italian restaurant,

The next morning we closed up the RV so they could pull it inside.  The routine maintenance and repairs were going to take two days because two panels would need painting because our blown tire damaged them.

We went back to the Newmar plant to take the tour.  It was so thorough and well done, and lasted 3.5 hours.  Their motorhomes are well built and beautiful.  On the way home we stopped in Middlebury to eat at Das Dutchmen Essenhaus.   We had a great lunch. The Amish are outstanding cooks!

Tuesday we all went to the flea market until we needed to pick up the trailer.  We then took it to Lambright where we bought our new furniture to have the couch “stops” increased in height because it had repeatedly hopped out and jammed itself against the wall.  We them checked into the same park as Eileen and Tom.

Dinner was back at the Essenhaus for their dinner buffet.  The food is that good.  We all walked around the campground in the pleasant weather until 8:00 when I went in to watch the Bachelorette finale.  Dumb ending!

I am ending here because I have some photos and don’t want this to get too big.