Air Conditioners Again

A beautiful day here in Florida!  When Michael fixed the air conditioners yesterday we noticed the one located in the living room had a rattle, rather noisy rattle.  Today he was back up on the roof and now we are rattle-less. 

Bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches for lunch as we knew we were having a big dinner tonight.  Then off to Chiefland for me—a much needed haircut and groceries at Wal Mart which was a zoo.  Parking lot was kind of empty, not many people in the store but the check-out lines were long with few cashiers.  The young woman who had cut my hair twice while I’ve been in Cedar Key once again did a great job.

Tonight we had our first potluck of the winter.  Many of you RVers know about RV park potlucks—the process can get out of hand!  This was the first one we’ve attended all winter long and as is normal there was too much food and we ate too much!  I made cornbread salad and as usual when I prepare this dish it was a success—I sent the small amount of leftovers home with Gail and with Connie—the park manager along with her husband Cliff.  Somehow I managed to marry the only non-cornbread eating human in the USA! 

Matt and Gail’s pooch, Freeway also hates to be left home alone.  When we all come home between Freeway and Emmi howling we have quite the chorus! 

Another good day in Florida.

No Air Conditioning!!

Let me just say up front it’s a good thing we live most of the time in a climate where air conditioning is not required.  Otherwise Michael and I might have separate houses!  He hates air conditioning, it makes him feel stuffy.  In Montana our house isn’t air conditioned as it is rarely needed.  We usually go to Arizona in the winter and during the time frame we are there it is usually cool enough, no air conditioning needed.

Last night we needed air conditioning!  It was so hot and muggy when we went to bed Michael even suggested I turn on the fans from the air conditioners.  OK, yes!!!  Anything was better than the stickiness!  Went to the thermostat up front in the living area which controls our entire climate control system, pushed all the right buttons—nothing!!!  What????  All three air conditioners worked this past fall when we were in Canada with John and Brenda!!!!  Nothing, nada, got the book out, read the directions, still nothing.  Went to bed and sweated, UGH!

Today Michael tore into the system, nothing, nada!  Last thing he suggested before giving up was replacing the phone type cable which allows the thermostat to communicate with each air conditioner requiring a trip to Wal Mart or Radio Shack.  He sat down on the couch, turned on his computer and within about 15 minutes got up from the couch, went over to the thermostat and asked me to read him the directions from the computer he had found for re-setting the thermostat.  Walla—we have air conditioning!  We don’t need it tonight!!!!  The clouds went away today, the sun came out, we have a cool breeze and very little humidity!

Have I said lately how grateful I am for my handy husband??

I spent the day cooking, made a batch of pizza dough for the freezer, made bread dough baking one loaf and freezing two loaves of dough for later.  Taco salad for lunch and for dinner tonight we enjoyed some fresh Florida shrimp, marinated in orange juice, soy sauce and garlic then grilled with onion, peppers and grape tomatoes.  Served with a lime/cayenne pepper butter.  YUM! 

Elaine and Rick headed down the road today, their plan was to stay at Ho Hum RV Park in Carrabelle tonight. 

A commenter asked us about sand spurs—also referred to as goats-heads, burrs and a host of other not nice words when we step on one brought in on our shoes or by Emmi.  We take our shoes off at the door but the rug by the door collects the dang things from our shoes.  This RV park is new having opened only two years ago so the blasted things haven’t really taken root yet but yes, Emmi does get them in her feet sometimes.  But she has a solution, she stops, holds up the offended paw and looks pitiful until we pull the nasty thing off. 

And another commenter said my hibiscus is really a camellia.  Can’t recognize birds, can’t recognize flowers!  Thank goodness I have you guys keeping me straight!

More photos from yesterday.

Enjoyed visiting on the phone with friends from the past today, Cheryl and Mary.  And we enjoyed celebrating our working air conditioners with Gail and Matt and my world famous margaritas. 

Paynes Prairie and Micanopy

Although it was still raining some when we got up this morning our resolve was to get out of the motorhome for the day.  Neither of us could decide where to go—while eating breakfast I took out the map book, turned to a page and the first thing I saw was Paynes Prairie State Park, about 60 miles from here.  Someone had mentioned this park to us when we first arrived in Florida and today was the day.

Paynes Prairie is a 21,000 acre natural resource with incredible diversity and lots of wildlife—wild horses, bison (reintroduced in the 1970’s), alligators and over 271 species of birds.  William Bartram in 1774 described the prairie in his book Travels.  The prairie basin was formed when a number of sinkholes close together eventually merged.  The grasses act as a filter purifying the water in the vast wetland—Alachua Sink works as the drain in the floor of the basin providing an essential “recharge” of the Florida aquifer.  During the history of the basin, there has been little change except for periods when the area flooded enough to be considered a lake.  Wikipedia states the last time it flooded enough to be considered a lake was in 1871 to 1886. 

As is most of Florida, the prairie is very, very dry.  Wildlife sightings are reduced although we saw three of the wild horses, an alligator and a bald eagle.  A great day!

Here are some of our Paynes Prairie photos:

After visiting Paynes Prairie we headed to the little town of Micanopy (mick-a-no-pee).  One day while walking around in the Cedar Key bookstore I found a book titled Visiting Small Town Florida.  Micanopy is listed in this book--what a cool little town!

When I75 interstate was routed through Florida it missed this little town, freezing it in time.  The entire “downtown”, 4 blocks of Cholokka Blvd. was declared a National Register Historical District in 1983.  Beautiful old buildings housing art galleries, antique stores, a couple small restaurants and a bookstore filled with new and old, old books—some rare editions.  We enjoyed an ice cream cone while strolling through the little town.

This beautiful old mansion is a bed and breakfast.

Tangerines and hibiscus I think.

We had a great day in Florida.

Rainy Sunday

Rainy, cool day—it rained off and on all day—Ms Emmi was not pleased that she had to go outside in the rain, maybe she thought she would melt??? 

We took periodic walks throughout the day when the rain would let up a little, the rest of the time we were cozy in the rig with the heater going!  Yep, we are in Florida with the heater going, what’s up with that???

I bet all of you cooks out there have a drawer, notebook, or space of some sort filled with recipes you scratched onto a scrap of paper, tore from a magazine.  Me, I had this:A notebook bursting at the seams, literally!  Filled with magazine recipes, entire magazines (must have liked every recipe in that one), recipes I’ve tried and recipes I looked at today and wondered why in the world I thought Michael would ever eat that???  Each year when we head south I gather all these pieces of paper and think, “this is the year, I’m going to get all these recipes scanned into the computer and organized.”  And each year I bring the same mess back home in the spring.  Well, the tide turned today and the rainy weather gave me a good excuse—all my recipes are scanned into my computer and printed—what a great feeling!  Now, if I can just not collect any more! 

We received an exciting telephone call today, our granddaughter Laci, stationed in Italy with the USAF called to tell us she and Kevin (also in the USAF) are engaged.  She posted a photo of the ring on Facebook—beautiful!  Congratulations Laci and Kevin, we wish you all the best.

Last night when we were all sitting at the Tiki Bar, a woman came out of the bar, wandered over to our table, looked at Michael and said, “I love your hat!”  Women are always telling him they love his hat—his wife loves his hat, too! 

A productive Sunday.

One Lazy Saturday

Sometime during the night the weather changed for the better.  We woke to wind, much cooler temps and no humidity.  The day warmed nicely although we spent most of it inside being couch potatoes.

Made Michael a batch of granola and for lunch a Mexican casserole which Michael pronounced as delicious—it was good, a little on the spicy side.

The rest of our day was spent reading, walking Emmi and using the computers.  Michael is researching routes for our journey home.

About 5pm we headed into town with Gail, Matt, Rick and Elaine to the Tiki Bar for a quick drink.  The Tiki Bar is a laid back spot—open when the managers want to open, no set schedule, usually open Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday expect when the managers want to go somewhere.  Tonight we all had other things to do so didn’t stay long but Pat (I think that was his name) came out, offered to set us up with another round of drinks as he was leaving to attend a downtown function.  What can I say, Cedar Key is a laid back little spot of Florida and we still love it!

Buddy the alligator was barely sticking his eyes and nose above water when we took Emmi around the park for a walk

Pre-sunset was gorgeous tonight:

Discovering The Tiki Bar and New Friends

Oh, my—even though I grew up in Arkansas and spent several years living in the Houston area, I’ve never experienced humidity like we had today.  The very surfaces of counter tops, stair railings, your skin were wet to the touch, not damp, wet!!!  I could have gotten some soap and a towel, having myself a shower right outside! 

After our morning walk around the RV park Michael busied himself erecting our screened tent with a little supervision from Matt—installed our chairs and tables—we are good to go.  Michael and Emmi spent some time looking at the back of their eyelids out there this afternoon.

On the agenda tonight was going with Matt and Gail to the Tiki Bar at the Low Key Hideaway Motel in Cedar Key.  Gail and Matt have followed a blog, RV-A-GoGo for a while.  Betsy and Nancy had arrived in Cedar Key a couple days ago, were parked at Low Key Hideaway and we were off to meet them, experience the Tiki Bar and watch the sunset.

What a wonderful evening—Betsy and Nancy have enjoyed such interesting lives and travels—I could have sat and talked to them for hours.  They have an adorable 4 month old lab puppy, Spirit, who lives up to her name.  The Tiki Bar (which we learned about from Linda and Howard of RV Dreams) was just a special place, unique, quaint, right on the water.  It was busy, Friday night, and we were able to sit outside on the lawn.  The sunset started out to be spectacular and then fizzled but our laughs and conversation with these four new found friends went on and on! 

Just one of those great days for the memory book, thanks Gail and Matt for inviting us along!

I will end this post tonight with a hilarious comment made by the woman who is Betsy and Nancy’s neighbor in the RV park.  She and her husband stopped by our table on the way home tonight, they swam with the manatees today.  Here is what she said, “when I got this body (gesturing to her self) into a wetsuit I looked like a full grown mama manatee.  I was afraid the babies were going to try and nurse!!!.”  Talk about laugh, we all just about died! 

Fog and Tents

Whew, someone took away our great weather and gave us wind, rain and lots of fog.  But, the best thing is we have no “no-see-um’s”!!!  Instead of walking in our normal spot getting wet and sandy we decided to just walk several loops around the campground. 

Otherwise it was a very slow day in in Cedar Key RV Resort—bacon wrapped scallops on the grill for lunch and tonight our resident chef prepared jambalaya up at the clubhouse—spectacular! 

Our neighbors Matt and Gail came home yesterday from Wal Mart with a screen tent, $48.  Michael went over and supervised the setting up process, decided the mesh was tight enough to keep out most bugs and off to Wal Mart we went.  The resident chef and his wife were also strolling by as the tent was going up—we picked one up for them, too.  A regular little tent city around here but maybe we will all, including Emmi, be less bug bitten!  We enjoyed happy hour with Matt and Gail this afternoon to christen the new tent.

I managed to cast on all my stitches and knit four rows today with no mistakes so far—probably shouldn’t say anything—half the stitches will fall off the needles tomorrow! 

We watched the DaVinci Code last night—good but long movie.  To bed late and didn’t sleep well, may be a very early night for me!

Yea, It Rained and Rained

This afternoon we both were all set up to knit and paint outsidewhen it started spitting rain which after we got inside again turned into a downpour for a couple hours.  I knitted and ripped, knitted and ripped—I’m starting to think this knitting business may not be for me!!  Or maybe I need some more hands on lessons??  Michael refuses to paint inside, he is afraid he will drop oil paint onto the carpet !

Parts of Florida are really, really dry and this area is one of them—it was great to see it rain for that long, maybe the pond Buddy the alligator lives in will fill up some.  When the rain stopped we decided to take Emmi out for a stroll around the park.  Gail and Freeway joined us and we were not two rows from our rigs when the skies opened up and drenched all of us—the dogs were not impressed!  Neither was I until we spotted the rainbows.  I don’t think I have ever seen a rainbow that vividly colored—it was a double rainbow which stretched out across the entire eastern sky—made me happy just seeing it!  We stood under a couple trees for a while until the rain stopped again then slogged home—all our wet clothes are in the dryer now.

Our good friend Mike remarked in his blog today,  “Janna, I don't know how you manage to keep Emmi out of your bed, Ms Megabyte would never stand for that!  :-)”  Well, Mike, Emmi is too short to jump on the bed by herself so that effectively keeps her off the bed and she seems to be perfectly content on the couch for some strange reason.

We waved goodbye to Joe and Carolyn this morning, we will see them again I bet!

Took our walk in town this morning in the Cemetery Point park—it was low, low tide!   

I made bread today and remembered the salt this time—much better!  Took one loaf to Blair and Evelyn, our neighbors when we were here before—they’ve purchased a house and will be leaving tomorrow.  Gail and Matt got the other extra loaf and pronounced it great! 

Emmi seems more comfortable today, not as restless.  A good day in Florida.

Dinner At Treasure Camp

Tonight Joe chauffeured us all out to the Treasure Camp restaurant at Fowler’s Bluff.  Best food around without a doubt!  We spent a very enjoyable two hours just eating and visiting with these two people we feel as if we’ve known forever.  We hate to see them head down the road tomorrow but I bet our paths cross again—rumor has it they are headed out west this summer to get all their South Dakota paperwork in order.

Carolyn noticed the “ya’ll mart” sign as we were going in—I had missed that when we were there before.  This little guy was just sitting on the dock waiting for his owner to come back—I love dogs!

Rick and Elaine arrived today and are parked right behind us—we went over to meet them along with Tucker and Lily, the furkids, before heading off to dinner.  They like our little park!

Our neighbors Matt and Gail who are Freeway’s mom and dad went to swim with the manatees today—left at 6am and it is a 2 hour drive.  I offered to walk Freeway in case they were gone longer than they thought.  About 11am I went over, unlocked the door, called to Freeway and she came but she was having absolutely no part of my walking her!  She growled and barked at me—I thought OK, I’ll go away for now!  Went back about 1pm, Mike took Emmi thinking that might entice Freeway to at least come out into her fenced yard—nope, this time she wouldn’t even get off the bed!  Matt and Gail drove up about that time and Freeway was so glad to see them instead of that strange woman who kept coming to her door! 

Emmi has this rash on her back halfway up her back starting at her tail—rough bumps that seem to itch—last night and this morning she is shaking her whole body frequently.  I’ve bathed the rash with water and baking soda, used a little of Michael’s Bigeloil and some cortisone cream.  Her itching seems to be better tonight but the rash is still there.  Do no-see-um’s bite dogs?? 

We have kicked Emmi out of our bed—a couple weeks ago—any literature you read about sleep problems states, “do not sleep with pets.”  Well, the experts are right—since we started making Emmi sleep on the couch on her little bed we both are sleeping much better!   But about 5am we hear her get off the couch then we feel her jump up on the side of the bed wanting to be picked up—geez, worse than a kid! 

Another great day in Florida!

Breezy Florida

Yep, we woke to much cooler temps and a stiff breeze—made our walk much nicer this morning.  Blue skies, cooler temps—much better than all that mugginess! 

Not much going on around here today, we are just enjoying “being”—not sightseeing, not running around looking at campgrounds, just “being.”  We did manage to head over to Chiefland and purchase some groceries—eggs being one of the things we needed. 

The first time I shopped at a Winn Dixie in Florida the cashier asked if I had one of their discount cards—no I didn’t so she fixed me up.  When the receipt was handed to me she said, “you earned $.05 a gallon off on your next gasoline purchase.”  Well, the grocery store does not have a gas station so I didn’t think too much about it.  Today same thing, “you’ve now earned $.10 off per gallon.”  Michael was with me so we asked the cashier how the process worked.  At the local Chevron you insert your Winn Dixie discount card into the pump before inserting your credit card and low and behold the price was $.10 less than the pump price.  By buying enough groceries at Winn Dixie you can get up to $.50 off per gallon.  Michael has decided all our groceries will be purchased at this grocery chain for the rest of the time we are in Florida—maybe by the time we leave and need to fill the motorhome with diesel we will be at the $.50 off level!!

OK ladies, tell me what you would have done—on the way back from Chiefland (we had a happy hour invitation) I said, “which would you like to do, unload and put away groceries or walk Emmi because we don’t have much time before we have to be at Joe and Carolyn’s.”  His reply, “well, I thought I would sit on my butt and let you do both.”  Of course he was joking but the comment earned him a slug in the arm! 

He chose to walk Emmi but maybe he should have put away the groceries—I dropped the eggs breaking four—and didn’t drop them very far but granite floor tiles are rough on eggs! 

We enjoyed a delightful time at Joe and Carolyn’s getting to know them a little better—they have a beautiful coach!  Carolyn had fixed several delicious appetizers and when we came back to our rig we decided the steak we had planned to grill was too much—settled for baked potatoes and salad!

Another wonderful day in Florida.

Mass Exodus

Our full RV park went to half empty in a short space of time this morning, beginning before 8am it was a mass exodus of fifth wheels, trailers and motorhomes.  It is nice to have the park a little quieter (sorry Mr. Banker) 

After our 4 mile hike this morning we proceeded to be basically Sunday vegetables!  Leftovers for lunch, a little laundry—I’ve discovered if I do a small load every day the washer/dryer works very well—and bread baking.  My bread turned out awful—forgot the salt and before I remembered I had forgotten to add the salt I took a loaf over to our neighbors Gail and Matt.  They were gracious with their praise and Gail saved the day coffee wise, look what she brought me

They’ve recently had to stop drinking caffeinated coffee and we get to enjoy the results!  Thanks guys!!!

Aunt Margaret called all the way from Arkansas today to make sure we were OK—seems the weather man was predicting strong storms for our area.  We didn’t get any storms per se but we have had a tremendous amount of strong wind gusts.  Everyone took in their awnings and lawn furniture including us. 

It was so incredibly foggy and humid this morning in spite of the wind.  Michael remarked it was  unusual to have both fog and wind at the same time.  In our Montana country if you have wind you definitely don’t have fog.

Going to try this movie streaming business again.

Emmi Gets A Haircut

The moisture was once again just hanging in the air—last night you could see it in the street lamp lighting.  This afternoon the wind picked up, blew away the moisture and the no-see-um’s.  And it is cooler.  We cut our walk short this morning only doing about 2 miles as it was so humid and hot. 

When we got back from walking I gave poor Miss Emmi a haircut—her hair seems to grow really fast and she gets hot—time for a haircut. 

The rest of the day was spent doing laundry, reading, ordering stuff from Amazon.  Having owned a coffee shop at one time I am a bit of a coffee snob—we have run out of our normal Costco espresso roast beans I brought from Montana.  I purchased some brand of coffee beans at Wal Mart the other day and used it for the first time this morning—UGH!!!  Found some suitable beans on Amazon I think and ordered those, receiving free two day shipping with our Amazon Prime membership.  We also needed some of Emmi’s dog food—couldn’t find the Petsmart in Ocala the other day so I ordered dog food from Amazon again with free shipping—too cool!

A book I ordered from Amazon arrived today, too—The Principles of Knitting by June Hiatt.  The book was originally published in 1988, revised and re-released this year. Judy from Patchwork Times recommended the book on her blog the other day—I need all the help I can get! 

Tonight we had hamburgers on the grill, YUM—haven’t done that in a while, then ran into town for sunset photos—beautiful evening and little Cedar Key is hopping on this holiday weekend.

And back to laundry again, Laurie of Semi-True Tales of Our Life On The Road had a great suggestion for drying damp towels and dishcloths—worked like a charm Laurie!!  Mary Lou suggested shaking the wrinkles our of the clothes before starting the dryer cycle—I do this and it does help the wrinkling a lot!  And yes Mary Lou, Michael does know the Stuckey’s featured in that Lonely Planet show, The Last American Cowboy—he ran cattle for the Stuckey’s in the 1970’s and has some great stories to tell about them. 

Another great day in Cedar Key!

Muggy, Muggy

When we got up this morning and after Michael had taken Emmi out I said something about how nothing would dry, my dishcloths stay damp and start to smell—something that doesn’t happen in Montana or Arizona’s low humidity.  Michael’s comment, “the damp is in the air” is an understatement today—it feels as if the air is heavy with moisture.  Haven’t needed much moisturizer here in Florida!!

We took our four mile hike this morning sweating buckets—Emmi was even dragging.  We spotted this bird who stayed still long enough for a couple shots—an eastern towhee (how am I doing Judy??)

The rest of our day was spent in going through the mountain of mail we received from home, thanks LoraLee!!  Lots of newspapers and magazine—reading material!  I bathed Miss Emmi, she was a grubby puppy!  I am loving using the washer/dryer in the coach this season—yes it takes a long time to dry clothes but what do I have other than time????  The RV park is full with a line forming every day to use the TWO washer/dryers on the porch—I am thankful I have my own!

This afternoon I walked across the lawn to give our neighbors a business card with the blog address so she could see a photo of her Freeway dog.  We ended up staying for an adult beverage and visiting.  I love hearing stories of how people got into RVing—they are fulltimers using a huge toyhauler with the garage space as an office.  Matt still works some as an architect. 

Delicious Cedar Key raised clams for dinner—life is good!

We’ve Been Educated

In a 21rst century practice that I’m sure many of you are all ready doing, especially Rick!!  We live streamed a movie last night through the computer onto the TV screen!!  Whoo Hoo!! 

While doing our taxes Michael noticed we (meaning me) spent an inordinate amount of money on shipping.  I do ship customer quilts one way—after the quilt top has been quilted with batting and backing making it heavier.  But I also have an entire family that lives in Arkansas and I love to give presents. 

Amazon.com has a service called Amazon Prime—for $79 you get a year of free two day shipping on eligible products, unlimited instant streaming of TV shows and movies plus access to thousands of Kindle books for borrowing.  OK, the free shipping was my draw and as a heads up to my family—expect a lot of your gifts to come from Amazon!! 

Several days ago I purchased a HDMI cable at Wal Mart—last night we hooked my laptop to the TV using that cable and surprise—a movie—Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant.  We may just be hooked and I felt so incredibly smart—we figured it out without having to call someone such as Lonn or Rollie for help! 

Michael took Emmi for a walk this morning while I puttered and made lunch.  Shortly after lunch we made a flying trip to Ocala—flying because we left Emmi at home and we don’t leave her alone for longer than 4-5 hours.

I had a most frustrating experience in Dillards—tried on 12 pair of jeans, YES 12 pairs and came home with none—who wears these jeans the manufacturers are making these days????  Certainly not a 56 year old woman with weight gain in all the wrong places I can assure you!  The makers of these jeans are saving lots of money on zippers—all the zippers were way too short!!   Glad there was no one else in the dressing room area—the air was a might blue!  Geez!!!

We managed a Lowe’s stop and a Wal Mart one.  Missed finding Petsmart so Emmi got a new

Wal Mart toy instead:

Emmi was thrilled when we got home—our closest neighbors were out walking Freeway and we had the opportunity of asking them if Emmi howled or barked while we were gone.  Nope, quiet as a mouse over at our place all afternoon. 

My Valentine’s present:for which I purchased a new pot and soil for repotting today.