Saturday, October 29, 2016

Happy Hour

We have a happy hour here at the park from 4:00 P.M. to about 6:00.  Right now it's a small group but will grow as more people come in. It's a time to chat about our day, plan for things to do or just sit quietly and have a glass of wine. Tonight we were joined by Glen and Mike. Glen is our resident fisherman and he bought Mike's motor home.


I had to take a photo because the night was wonderful stories of fishing 250 miles out and earning a living being a professional fisherman. If you ever watched the Deadliest Catch then you know what we were hearing. Glen is the Captain and the goal is to make money. The crew has to work hard 24/7 but on land Glen is hysterical. Nice guy and funny, the stories were great. He told us his life changes as he heads out first light with a cup of coffee in hand heading out to open waters. His passion. That's when Mike said that was how he felt riding Bulls!!!  I think we all screamed, "Riding Bulls??" His first time on a bull he climbed right off, smart man, but then climbed right back on. His longest time was 8 seconds. Sounds short but I bet it was the longest 8 seconds of his life.

Tonight Glen, his girlfriend and Mike are heading out to a Halloween party at a restaurant/pub on the St. John River. So Glen, what are you going as I asked. A pirate, he responded. Mike? A Cowboy!

I have to say the time flew by and my face hurts from laughing. Thinking now that if we were still living in our sticks and bricks house we never would have met these guys or heard their stories. Hmm, so maybe during the season, if people don't mind, I'll introduce you to others that are here. I love hearing the stories. We are all so connected and there are no coincidences. It will be fun to discover why this group of people are in our lives.

So it's time to slow down and watch our Saturday night shows and kick back with the furkids. Have a great night and see you tomorrow!

Warmly,
Sheila


Tuesday, October 25, 2016

A Fun Surprise

One of the new full time people here in the park is Glen. A tall willowy guy that looks like he just walked out of the 60's. Soft spoken, kind and a commercial fisherman. Oh, and he loves Lola and she likes him but still sits on my feet and presses her back against me. After a few weeks of his not being able to go out and fish due to the hurricane then the weather out in the ocean, he was finally able to go out today. The weather out there is still 8' seas so he fished more towards land and caught Spanish Mackerel.

The other day Roger helped him move his refrigerator into his rig so I guess we have bonded.


Glen brought them over to the porch we sit on for Happy Hour and just said divide them up. He did laugh when he saw my face when I saw the whole fish and said, "If I fillet the fish, I eat it".  Got it Glen, we are filleting!! Jack, our other neighbor stopped over and sat on the cooler to chat for a bit.  The conversation finally got around to Glen's catch of the day and the fish that were too small to sell, or the ones damaged from the dolphin eating part of them, and how he was sitting on said booty! Jack was last seen over on his picnic table filleting away.

Now guess what we are having for dinner!! Roger is preparing our feast as we speak. I'll let you know how it is tomorrow! I will say it's good to have a commercial fisherman in the park!

So a good end to the day with good friends, wine and laughs, and thankful Glen didn't catch an undersized tuna!!

See you all tomorrow and have a great night!
Warmly,
Sheila

Monday, October 24, 2016

Playing Catch Up

The hurricane totally threw me off balance. We had stuff everywhere trying to get things into the coach to leave without getting some outside dirt off. As you know, this means getting the things plus dirt out.  When did CiCiBlue get so small?? (Silent Scream face here!!) Our stash of wine bottles stuffed in the slide out, my art stuff, stuffed everywhere...Blog?? I couldn't think. Nor paint. I did however, Crochet.


Still a long way to go but it's been therapeutic. 


Our friends, Betty and Bob, returned and so did our daily happy hour. You can see this is from the Rec Hall porch and CiCiBlue is the 4th from the left peeking out. I know Ozzie is in the front window watching our every move!!


Around 2:45 P.M. I try and stretch out and do my leg exercises. Stop laughing, I did them just before Sammy and I curled up together. Honest!

Roger and I went to the Flea Market yesterday to reserve a table for November. Sunday is said to be the busiest so we signed for that day. My daughter will be here on the 20th so we did skip that one. Testing the market for our glass recycled wine planters and things so keep your fingers crossed.  We are hoping that it turns out to be something we can do to bring in an income as we travel. We WILL travel at some point..honest!!  Other friends that were here last year and needed work done on their rig gave me the number of another mobile engine repair man. Just called him but he's not taking new customers until November 1st. I know he's north of us so I bet he's dealing with hurricane repairs there. We had an issue with our oil pressure gauge last year and hopefully he can find out the cause. The consensuses is that it's wiring under our rig.

I'm thankful for new commission work that is coming in! I have my eye set on a new easel that will make life so much easier.

Time to throw in laundry..the washer/dryer only takes a bit at a time then takes 6 days to do it. Not really, a few hours but not as fast as your house washer /dryer. Thanks for hanging in there with me and I'll be back tomorrow for more tantalizing news. (ok, I saw you all roll your eyes....;-) )

Warmly,
Sheila



Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Busy Working Day

Monday is a work day at the park. Bathrooms plus getting stuff we put into the rec hall for the hurricane needed to come back out. Their are 5 rigs here from a club and they will be using the rec hall for their functions. It seemed like a long day but we did meet up with our friends for happy hour at 4:00 P.M. Home now at 6:30 for dinner, Jeopardy and take the dogs out for their nightly jaunt and cookie from our neighbor Bob.

Yes, I'm tired. Tomorrow is massage therapy, badly needed, so I'm looking forward to it.  Also a day to buy a small tarp for our A/C until our rv guys come up. Roger "volunteered" to climb up onto the roof to cover it.


I don't know about you but this sounds really yummy. Amazing what one finds on line while looking for glasses for a class!!!

Well dinner came then walked the kids, then fell into bed to watch a bit of TV and fall asleep.  It's Tuesday now and I'm getting ready to go buy a tarp and have my massage. Depending on how I'm feeling after I may stop by Goodwill and look for sweaters. Just in case!!!


This is Lola giving me the "woof" to get their breakfast! You can see Sammy looking very alert because he speaks fluent Woof and he knows better than to be forward in the morning!

Have a great day and see you later on, maybe with pics of Roger securing the tarp and not sliding off the roof. :-)

Warmly,
Sheila


Sunday, October 16, 2016

It's Taking A Week

Yes, a whole week since Matthew came by to shake off the "shock".  I did finish a painting so that's being mailed tomorrow but other than that the energy level has been low.  I have been crocheting a blanket for us and for our oldest Granddaughter Morgan.  So relaxing and mindless. I am needing that during our election campaigns. Egads!!


I had an appointment with my primary doctor this past week and she ordered a MRI for my hip. I was telling her that it was my psoas muscle and if I lay on the bed and hang my leg down, the pain stops and I actually can walk without a limp. No,No,No...I needed an MRI.  This past Friday was MRI day for me and even though it was an open machine I needed Xanax to stop me from running down the street screaming. The tech was lovely and calming and even told me to just keep my eyes closed til it was over.  It took about 50 minutes with great music playing and her asking me if I was ok after every session. Finally it ended and she said "ok, look". The machine stopped at the bridge to my nose and a higher piece further up went out over my head. Smart lady telling me to keep my eyes shut. ;-).

During the week I did leave a message on our RV repair guys...and so it begins. Haven't heard from them as yet but last night it poured and it rained inside our bedroom. I'm thinking our roof area is getting wet and will start to sag. Roger did say he would bravely climb up on top of CiCi Blue tomorrow and wrap the air conditioner unit in a trash bag. All and all I think we are doing ok. The woman who is behind us has a Class C, new to her, and had two blow outs on the road as she left for the hurricane. She was disheartened but said she was able to get two "new" used tired for $25.00 each. (My look right now is that deer in headlights look) . One afternoon I'll go visit and chat about how spending for new and good tires will save her a a lot of heartache. We have two years to go before we need to replace any tire on our rig. The 6 year rule no matter how good they look.


I received a package the other day from a woman I did a painting for. She had won a gift certificate and asked if I would paint her dog being greeted by Jesus as he went to the Bridge. I did and she loves it. This towel and a gift certificate for Petco came nicely wrapped with a card in thanks. Needless to say I was blown away.


Our friends, Betty and Bob returned the other day and we have started our 4 o'clock happy hour routine. What we didn't realize is that we are out of "shape" for said activity, so we decided today we would rest!! Sammy is showing you how we do that here, especially when Mum left her pillow out here from last night after she slept on the couch. The a/c is over the foot of our bed and it was coming in pretty good. We got up t grab towels and a bucket and Ozzie and Sam saw their opportunity to move to the higher ground. Roger was able to scootch Sam over to my side and there I was..bedless. Roger did offer to take the couch from his curled up cozy spot in bed...but I decided I could really stretch out on the couch. Ozzie followed and Lola took her position on the floor next to me. I slept well!!!

So, a new week..new ideas and a new outlook. We put our mat outside so it's looking like home once again.

Have a great night and I will be back tomorrow!!

Warmly,
Sheila

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Our Story Of Matthew

We can say God, we can say the Collective Consciousness or my spirit Mum and Dad watching over us, but somehow that storm wobbled and turned, staying at a Cat 3-4 instead of turning into a Category 5. Last Wednesday we were packing a few things I couldn't part with. Sophie and Fergus's remains, our passports and insurance papers and of course dog papers along with 3 paintings.


The rest would stay with CiCiBlue. Here's a picture of of our stairs. You need to imagine Ben Hur now in that Chariot race bumping up against the other contenders...


They stick out pretty far and we had no idea how to "unlock" them to even push them back in manually and no time to google it. She was staying. I asked friends on FB to put the white light of protection around her, packed the car with water, dog food, a few clothes, the dogs and us and off we drove late Wednesday to Lake Mary and Roger's cousins home.  Thank you Vitas!!! We hugged our friends at the park and left.

At this time our Governor Rick Scott was warning people that the storm was going to be a Category 5, possibly coming onto land and travel up RT 95. (Our camp ground is right next to 95.) "If you stay you will die" was his message. Years ago as my Dad was preparing to have surgery for colon Cancer he told me he couldn't pray, that it just wasn't coming out. Wednesday as we were driving away, I understood. We were going to loose everything, as well as our son loosing his and our friends. I tried the Our Father but it was way too many words for me to think at that point. Hail Mary Full of Grace...no, I'd pray that if we were going down in a ship... Needless to say my brain was fried by this point and my prayer was simply "help" from that point on and just relied on years of Faith.

Vitas opened his home to all 5 of us saying the kids could sleep anywhere and get up on any furniture as long as they felt safe and secure.  I crocheted!


It was relaxing and I didn't have to think.  About 9:00 P.M. I had to go to bed and was followed by my trusty group.


Lola the Comforter! Or, the Comfortee, not sure which. Sweet girl. I couldn't sleep well at all and found myself wandering to the couch then to the other bedroom trying to relax. Still going to be a Cat 5.

Cape Canaveral and the Space Coast. There has always been a rumor of sorts that people say that NASA would never build anything so expensive and so needed if they thought it could be totally demolished.  The thought is that the point of land has the ocean and the winds going in different directions? That would keep storms away from that area. I feel asleep around 5:00 A.M. and woke at 8:30 to hear Roger say..."The storm wobbled, it slowed and moved out a bit and it's in Titusville right now", faster than we had heard. It was to be a two day event where we lived and now it's on it's way to where we live. If you look at the path, it follows the coast and followed the coast out onto and around the point of Cape Canaveral bringing it further away from land and our park.  All I could say was Thank you God! The news said the winds at the point of land was 100 MPH which meant for CiCiBlue, less. For all of us, less. No one will ever convince me this wasn't a miracle pure and simple. So many people along the coast praying for the same result. 


Vitas's backyard. The same yard in the pouring rain and crazed wind that Lola heard a barking dog and pulled me flying half way across. I'm still sore but ok. The grass is about 4 inches high, St Augustine grass?, so I slid on a wet cushion.


Coming home. Our friend Jack gave me updates and I also got them from Wendy, one of the owners. 


This is how lucky we were. We have palm fronds down but this the only tree that the park lost. Of course power and water but that's everyone. Yes, that's our coach in the distance standing proudly. The winds must have come in from the rear since we lost our rear A/C Cover. Nothing tipped over inside. 



Our battery was dead. We do know now that we should have turned off the entire coach by hitting the "display" button at the front entrance. We also found that buying a good set of jumper cables and battery charger would help too. Our neighbor Arnie came over and gave us a hand. It was few hours before we could get the generator going smoothly and enough to get the slides open and the a/c on. Lord the kids were happy!!


Saturday night..hail, hail the gangs all here and thank God we all are. Other things we learned, not to forget to silicon spray the slides. Lord they were creaky. 

I haven't been able to get back to my art as yet..we just got back power and water to the park, I know..no excuses..I think I'm just drained from all the emotion, but so grateful, so thankful for everyone for their prayers, concerns and good wishes. So thankful and grateful no one in the park had damage to the trailers of rvs. (I am waiting for one friend, Paul to come back. We saw him before we all left and he said he was taking his paperwork, but leaving his clothes. He was however, are you ready??, taking his 32 pairs of shoes!!!!! I have a friend Diane who lives full time in a 40' Pheaton and has that many shoes, bless her, but Paul?? I want to SEE these shoes!! They actually made me laugh during some stressful times though. Are they dancing shoes? Gold shoes?? Steppin on down the road shoes?? Actually I see a painting in this!!!)

Thanks Mum and Dad for watching over Jamie..you certainly were busy that night..

The power of prayer, of your thoughts, even if it can only come out as "help".  Matthew came back in and hit above us and did a lot of damage to the coastline ,went up the coast and back out to sea and for a bit threatened to come back to us.  I made my call into the RV repair guys about our stairs. The awnings, the a/c cover all can wait. I need to feel secure that we can bring those babies in and leave. Hurricane season doesn't end until November.

Ok..that's our story..I'm feeling better just getting it out..thanks for listening...for my friends close by, so happy you are safe, for my friends far and wide, thank you for your positive energy!! It worked!!

See you tomorrow...did I tell you I love this Coach!!! 

Warmly,
Sheila



Monday, October 10, 2016

Quick Update Until Tomorrow

We are home! Yes, CiCiBlue made it through. The Park made it. Today we got our electric, water and sewer back.

All I want to say right now is Thank you God!

Have a great night and I'll give you the crazy details tomorrow. I think we are all still in stress mode!!

Warmly,
Sheila

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Last Post Before We Are Hit

Spent all day yesterday cleaning around our area. Lord we collected a bunch of junk.  Got it cleaned and slides in ending by putting the white light of protection around our girl.


She had to stay. See the stairs? They are way out and won't go in due to not being fully repaired when the guys were up. We would look like a scene from Ben Hur's chariot race with the spikey wheels. Not a good thing on the highway.  She WILL be fine.

Everyone has left the park. We are so close to Cape Canaveral and that's where they say it will come really close to. I will be surprised though since everyone has said through the years that the way the land goes is why NASA built the space program out there. We have had tropical storms but never a hurricane there. What is Mathew thinking!


Our friends,Lois and Bobs 5th wheel. The picnic tables are all tipped over so they don't fly.

So we drove off about 4 pm yesterday and drove about 30 miles inland to Roger's cousin Vitas house.


After living in a mini space this is huge!! It's also cement block with a huge back yard that for now is fenced in so the kids can go out and run.



Finally, before we left, Roger and I both took photos of our belongings inside and out.  Insurance purposes. We WILL be fine.

So there you have it. We have cases of water, food and safe haven. What more could we ask for. Maybe less stress would be good though. LOL

Stay safe and I'll blog again when I can. Charging the phone and computer now so hopefully I can give you an update.

Warmly,
Sheila

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Holding Our Collective Breaths

I started off today having a chiropractic app't and massage therapy then the plan was to get water and essentials for preparation for Hurricane Mathew. I have been in stress mode so the massage was so welcomed. As I drove out of the park this morning I took this picture of CiCiBlue.


CiCIBlue, all 52,000 pounds of her. Gassed, water tank full, ready.  A few people pulled out this morning, because they could and were fearful. Our stairs are extended and we have no clue how to un-extend them at this point since they still need a part to work correctly.  We will stay, plus I really don't want to be rolling down the road and have our "shut the engine" down light appear. We need that looked at after the storm.


Roger getting our weather radio working so we can keep up with everything. 

After the Doctors I went to the local Publix . So did everyone else in Florida!! All the water was gone, batteries, gone. People were grabbing things off the shelf like the end of the world was upon us. I did beat out a guy on the last flashlight though. He hesitated!!! Next stop was to get gas and fill up the car, just in case. The lines were out into the street so I drove back down to near where we live and the station there was pretty much empty and...they had 3 cases of water left!! Bonus..I got two. 

I got essentials at the store. Donuts, chips and salsa. Stuff I usually don't eat but it's a stressful time! I also bought huge Contractor bags and duck tape. You never know if something leaks so you need to be prepared for that too. When I got home, hours later, I stopped to chat with our neighbor Jack. He told me he had worked for the Gov. Weather at one time and said that if the storm stays on the track it is on now we should just get 40- 60 MPH winds. Yes I'm happy. That's a normal afternoon storm for us here except more rain and probably a bit longer time slot. So, what will I do ??


Teeny tiny balls of yarn. I plan on crocheting teeny tiny little squares so I can put them towards my new blanket that Ozzie won't chew on.  I figure at 2:30 AM I can crochet if we are rocking and rolling in the coach rather that paint. Such fun!!!

Ok, I'll see you tomorrow and give you the latest update on the storm and the fun we are having here preparing!!

Have a great night!!

Warmly,
Sheila

Monday, October 3, 2016

Monday Monday

The day started with taking the kids out then cleaning the park bathrooms, then off to have blood work done. Nothing serious, just checking on cholesterol and other levels. I've been watching what I eat closely so I'm confident that my levels are going down to safe numbers. I arrived at Lab Corp and..waited...and waited. It seems like there's a lot of fun things going on in back but nothing to do with the 7 people waiting with me out front. When I finally was called to see what I was there for then to wait again, I had the wrong paperwork.   The Scream face here please. Thankfully I had a mug of coffee in the car waiting for me.

Home to paint. I can't do the show and tell as yet because it's a surprise for my clients husband. Next week it will be there so I can show you then. I'm pleased.


I missed National Black Dog Day and Sammy was crushed that his picture wasn't posted. So, in honor of the NBDD, here is Sammy!! Can't you tell he's much happier now.


This is the latest report from the 4 o'clock news on Hurricane Mathew.  See the little bump just above "Orlando"? That's Cape Canaveral. A bit above that bump is us. The worst winds always go to the right of the storm but we will get tropical storm winds on our side.  At times those winds equal strong winds. My mind is racing to remember what I have in storage and if I should go and get somethings out, but then, where would I put said things.  Remembering they are just "Things".  It's all good. My mother's antique chair is in there and if I know my Mum, her spirit will be hovering over it protecting it. ;-)

So time now for the kids dinner!! Lola tells me when her alarm clock goes off on her "wrist". Have a great night and see you tomorrow!! 

Warmly,
Sheila

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Football Sunday And Cleaning

The original plan was to go to the "bah" and watch the Patriots play. Thankfully we didn't since they were shut out and it was an awful game. Roger was sick last night and not back to snuff today so we stayed home.

This is everything off the floor or hiding in the closet after leaping off their hangers. Some is bound for laundry, some for trash.  Vacuuming dog hair, starting laundry then heading to our bathroom and on hands and knees,washing the floor.  Ok, that was not fun but right now it sparkles. The order is out, no shedding, no throwing clothes just anywhere, and Lola, no splatting drool on our wall to wall mirror or tv.  (Figure the odds on that happening)


The stuff is gone or clean, but now I'm seeing a blah bedroom. Ozzie likes to gnaw on the bedspread and it has holes in it and I also see that our A/C is leaking.  What you are also seeing is where I went to lay after everything because my back was just screaming.  So every comforter we have had, Ozzie has tasted. The only thing he does not chew on is my crocheted blanket so I'm thinking..in my spare time... to crochet a bright colorful granny square blanket for the bed.  I'm also wanting to paint that area by my pillows and the sconce a cool pale green.  I think the brown and beige is getting to me.  We also need new wall sconces  because, Ozzie, yes..with his tail, knocked the one on Roger's side and broke it.  :-(   Did I get to paint??
No.



The parks Sandhill Crane family. 
 We witnessed their mating dance then met the baby! The "baby" is the one standing and doesn't have his red markings on his head as yet. Mum is laying down and resting. Across the road stands "Dad" watching that his family is safe. They do take turns in the watching part as two may eat. It has really been quite wonderful to watch the whole event unfold!




We are watching Hurricane Mathew quite closely. We are close to the cone of uncertainty being only a few miles from the coast here. Hoping just wind and rain.

Just about time for a glass of wine and just kick back for the night so please have a great night yourselves.

See you tomorrow.
Warmly,
Sheila

Saturday, October 1, 2016

A Play Day

Yes, I got to play but wow, the day flew by. I started first by reading about painting flowers on wine glasses then watching a zillion you tube videos. One video was gorgeous but took about 45 minutes to paint two glasses. Then the persons camera stopped working and we missed the second part of what to do.  Picture here The Scream.  So,  decided to just jump in and do it. 


First attempt. Took a photo then washed it off. Cleaned the glass with alcohol then started again.


Next attempt. Soon to be washed off.  You can see the blobs in the greens and I'm really not excited about the flower, plus, it's too close to the rim of the glass.  At least it's an attempt.   Once I get the simplicity of the strokes though I'll be able to convey those easily to students plus I'm also seeing how long it takes for the paint to dry in between coats. The rose I did wet on wet adding a bit of white after but the leaves..ah..the leaves, they need to dry in between so they will be more opaque.

Tomorrow is football Sunday but I'm behind in my commission work so I may stay home and listen to it on the radio. Roger will go to our football "bah" and watch it there. Go Patriots!!! Oh yes, I grew up in Boston!

Off now to make a list of more fun colors in enamel to get!! (evil grin) So have a great night and I'll see you tomorrow!!

Warmly,
Sheila