Shopping

Sarah arrived on time at Tampa International on Sunday night, well actually the wee hours of Monday morning! The drive there and back were uneventful. We didn't get back to the motorhome until almost 02:30 am, so we left Buddy with Jim and Jane. It felt great to finally lay our heads on our pillows. Sleep was certainly no problem that night.


We were all up early yesterday. I played pickleball while Sarah and Chris went for a run around the nature trail. Temps were a little cooler than they have been but Sarah was determined to go home darker than when she arrived here.


I spent the afternoon sorting out runnng Outlook 2007 on Chris's computer. I think it is working properly now. Chris and Sarah went fossil hunting in the river with Jane and others. Chris looks like she has an "Indiana Jones" thing going wearing her new hat.


We enjoyed a mexican supper outside on the picnic table last night and then sat in front of the fire watching our outside TV. We never thought we would make much use of the outside TV on our Bounder but we seem to use it a fair bit.

Jane and Julie accompanied Chris and Sarah on a shopping trip this morning. They'll be back later today, just in time for a beading session over at Jane's. Jim will be outnumbered over there, so I have invited him over here if he wants to come. Four women, possibly five once Barb and Dennis arrive later today, in one motorhome....beading....now there's trouble.

More people leaving today after the Easter weekend. Even some of the member/worker staff employed by the park over the winter are starting to pull out now.

The Fridge Is Full

Things are definitely thinning out here at Peace River. Our new friends, the Gundys, packed up and headed for Orlando. We'll see them again in early April before heading home. Seeing their kayaks, has Chris resolved to buy two of our own once we get home. There is certainly lots of places to use them down here.

Saturday turned out to be a wet and dreary day in most of Florida. Pickleball was rained out in the morning. We went for a run around the nature trail instead between rain showers and then stopped by the to see the dedication of the new mini golf course, aptly named "Puttersville". The workers have done a great job putting the 9 hole course together. There must have been 100 people at the dedication. We all enjoyed cake and watched Debbie shed more than a few tears as she gets closer still to her last day as manager.

I played pickleball for an hour after lunch until the skies opened up yet again. Chris went to Sweet Bay to load up on groceries ahead of Sarah's arrival at Tampa airport tonight. Turns out her flight has been changed and she won't arrive until after midnight! Ugh!! Thankfully, Jim and Jane have agreed to look after Buddy during our absence.

Jane and Chris have planned our Easter feast for later today. Turkey with all the fixings! Yahoo! Hoping it dries out long enough for us to be able to eat outside.

I spent alot of time on the computer yesterday. When I synced my smartphone to Chris's laptop, I lost all my contacts and phone numbers on my phone. Thankfully, I eventually found a backup copy of my address book and have managed to reinstall all the names, phew! Now if I could just figure out how to use activesync via bluetooth......

Chris spent the afternoon beading. She enjoys being creative and has made some very nice necklaces and bracelets. Barb, Jane and Julie are also into it. Look out when they all get together!

Thousand Trails Orlando

We set up our awning sunshade yesterday afternoon and enjoyed sitting outside out of the sun. I also helped Bob Krisby set up his new clown blog using blogger while Chris continued working on a new pine needle basket. This will be her second basket. She completed her first in Peace River and gave it to Jane as a birthday present. I neglected to photograph it before the presentation but I see Jane has a photo on her blog, BritsOnTour. I have copied the photo here. Hope thats okay, Jane.

Despite threatening skies and some wind, we managed to play pickleball again yesterday afternoon. There were some intense games with some incredible volleys back and forth. We love the competition and the social aspect of this game. We played until the skies opened up and we all got soaked, including Buddy, who is always on the sidelines as our cheerleader. Nothing sadder looking than a wet, 14 year old Bichon. Once back at the RV, he scurried inside to the comfort of his dry, warm bed while I BBQ'd under the shelter of our awning.

This afternoon the mobile RV repair service came by. Turns out there is indeed a burned out capacitor in the front air conditioner. The capacitor is only about $20 but because our Bounder is new, he didn't have one in stock. We should have a new one by Monday, Tuesday at the latest. Given that the air conditioner compressor still functions properly, this repair is relatively simple, just unplug the old capacitor and plug in the new one. At least we don't have to drive all the way to Lazydays in Tampa to get it fixed.

More pickleball this afternoon with the usual gang. Humidity was quite high so we really went through the water. We enjoyed an after game beer before supper.

We met another Ontario couple also from Ottawa after our walk this morning. They also bought a motorhome in Florida and are at Thousand Trails for the 3 day, 2 night marketing stay. They had lots of questions about whether the cost was worth it or not. We tried our best to answer all their questions. Bottom line for Chris and I is that Thousand Trails works for our RVing needs, but that certainly doesn't mean it is for everyone. We promised to speak with them again after they attend the marketing presentation on Saturday afternoon.

Blog Stuff

I spent yesterday afternoon outside in the shade under our awning, sipping on a beer and categorizing all our blog posts. It took some time but you will now see a list of categories in the right margin. Each entry is categorized accordingly based on the subject of the entry. This way anyone looking for a specific topic can click on that particular category and all related entries will be displayed. Makes it a little easier than having to scroll through all the entries looking for a specific entry.

I have also added an RSS feed button and email suscription button. Those of you with a Reader can simply subcribe to my blog feed by clicking the button and you will receive any new blog entries in your Reader automatically. Likewise, for those with no Reader or those who prefer to subscribe via email. Simply add your email address and you will receive an email whenever the blog is updated. Hopefully, it will save regular readers a little time.

We took a little trip into Wauchula to the Walmart and also ACE Hardware. We picked up some groceries as well as a few bits for our new sunshade. We needed bungy cords and some tie down stakes as well before we could put up the sunshade. The sunshade is in two pieces. The first piece is two feet wide and feeds into the length of our awning roller. The second piece is seven feet wide and attaches to the first piece with S-hooks. The bottom is then staked to the ground with bungy cords. The awning roller is also staked to the ground with a rope, so that it will not move up and down in the wind. I sat out under it all yesterday afternoon. It was bright sunshine and 84F outside but shady and much cooler under the sunshade. All seem to be working well.

While I was under the sunshade, Chris went to her pine needle weaving class in the club house. She has been working on a basket and wanted to check with the instructor on how to move from the bottom part to the side wall of the basket. She spent a couple of hours in class and her basket is coming on nicely.

Chris played pickleball yesterday afternoon but I took the day off. Playing twice the day before in very hot sunshine was a little much. Hard to drink enough water here sometimes.

There were some tornados that went through parts of Arkansas and Tennessee last night causing significant damage but there was nothing her in Florida at all. Another hot, sunny day today with a nice breeze blowing. Think I will sit outside and start my new Jeffrey Archer paperback.