We’ve Adopted !!!

Do you remember our blog from last Saturday entitled “More Busy Days?” In the last paragraph, I spoke of us going to Inverness to the Pet Supermarket for our weekly “puppy fix” and having an eight year old female terrier mix, Scooter, nearly stealing our hearts. But, we resisted the temptation. Well, today after having our somewhat traditional Saturday breakfast at Kim’s Cafe, this time with Charley and Sherry, we headed over once again for our puppy fix at Pet Supermarket. As unbelievable as it seemed, we walked in and their was Scooter once again. Well my friends, the rest is history. Barbie filled out the application for the Humane Society of Central Florida Pet Rescue of Beverly Hills Organization and we were approved on the spot. So now, it is my extreme pleasure to present to you the newest Boldt’s RV Castle occupant, Kozmo “Scooter” Boldt.

Now you can see why  there was NO WAY we were leaving there without her today. She is about 12 pounds and about seven + years old. We’re making July 4th as her birthday. And how perfect, she is housebroken! Her owner was admitted to hospice and she was actually adopted previously but the gentleman found out he was allergic to her hair so he returned her. She has been with a foster family for the last couple of weeks. Barbie actually called the foster mom and they spoke about her for about 20 minutes.  It was meant to be I suppose that our paths crossed. She is adorable. She is so calm and lovable. I took her out to the truck as Barbie did some “shopping” for her before we left. We got her back here to RCC and spent awhile outside to let her get used to her surroundings. She loves to take walks we learned. While on the patio, Barbie gave her a little dog treat and she took it, walked off the patio, took her paw and dug a little hole, dropped the treat and then took her nose and covered it with leaves. We were amused I’m telling ya. Once we went inside, she sat next to Barbie on the sofa most of the evening while we did computer stuff and watched tv. She did eat her dinner and had 2 bites of a cookie Barbie had. Can you say spoiled? Whenever either of us gets up to go anywhere in the “Castle”, she’s right behind like a shadow. “Shadow” would be an appropriate name but we said if and when we adopted, we were going to name the puppy, “Kozmo.” We’ll see how long it is ‘til she recognizes that new name. So with that, it’s time to go to bed. Hopefully, she’ll have a good night.

‘Til next time……….

Days Flying By….

It must be because we are on a run of some gorgeous weather here on the Nature Coast of Florida, but the days are flying by it seems. It’s not because we’ve been that busy but we are flat enjoying everyday life to the fullest. A little tv in the evenings, some computer time in the mornings (and at intervals during the evening when tv bores us), a trip to the store for groceries or some odds and ends, a little time reading,  a trip thru the rv park that ends up in conversations with others or a round or two of golf (that would be on the computer) seems to just about fill most days.

We did accomplish two necessary tasks this week. We picked up the new recliner from Badcock on Monday. I’m tellin’ ya it is comfortable. It looks good in the “Castle” and I’ve got “my” slide set up just right. Check it out.

  

As you can see, I have the chair, my laptop w/stand, printer, end table and reading light in “my” slide--oh yes, AND the tv remote. Plus, in “my” slide I have windows on 3 sides that have delivered great breezes during the magnificent weather. The beautiful thing is with the 5er I can recline in the chair and not interfere with Barbie walking around or anything like it did in the motorhome. We really are enjoying the extra floor space. It’s a great home!

The second task accomplished was we both went to the Lab Corp here in Crystal River this morning. We both had our yearly doctor check –ups down in Valrico a couple of weeks ago and our doctors wanted both of us to have some bloodwork done-no issues just part of a yearly schedule. After the Lab Corp trip (we only waited 45 minutes and we didn’t have an appointment), we ate lunch at Mama Sallys.  Having had nothing to eat since last evening’s dinner, we were both quite hungry.

We did make another “lupper” trip to Marguerita Grill, with our neighbors Russ and Jim from Michigan. Russ and Jim have come to RCC for the past few years and always have the site next to ours. I enjoyed another of the medium margaritas but check out this patron. They call that one a “fishbowl.” When I’ve seen them in the past there have been a least 2 straws sipping on it.

And you think that is large, this one is unbelievable – NO, this is NOT from Marguerita Grill! Can you say… GIANT Margarita!

I’d have to say the ONLY disappointment we encountered this week was we were part of maybe 50 rvers from the park that had positioned ourselves to watch the space shuttle launch yesterday afternoon. Well, we “heard” the liftoff on Sirius Radio’s CNN channel but because of cloud cover, we didn’t see the first vapor trail or anything. Oh well, we’ve got two more opportunities I suppose.

Well, another Saturday morning is upon us tomorrow so that means our traditional run to Kim’s Cafe for breakfast. The plan is for Charley and Sherry to join us. We’ve enjoyed each chance we’ve had to eat and chat with them. I believe there are also plans in the works for Duane and Debbie to travel to the Nature Coast area in the near future and the four of us will join them as we did in Leesburg last week for another great rvers “feed and gab” session.

‘Til next time…..I think it’s happy (margarita) hour…..

More Busy Days

Let’s see, where to start?

Wednesday, we rode with Charley and Sherry over to Leesburg to meet Duane and Debbie for lunch at the Olive Garden. This was our third lunch with rv blogger buddies and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed the concept. Anyone else wanting to meet-let us know. We love to eat and we love to talk the rv lifestyle. We all enjoyed our food selections and especially enjoyed the conversation and fellowship.

Can you tell the food was good?

Read the other couples blogs for their take on the day for more info. It was a most enjoyable day for certain.

Sherry & Charley

Debbie & Duane

We occupied the table for three hours. If we each had shared one more rv tale, we could have ordered dinner. The a little over an hour’s drive over and back to Leesburg was filled with more getting to know Charley and Sherry and vice versa.

Thursday, we had a 1:00pm appointment at Jerry Ohm Dodge in Tampa to finalize the acquisition of our new truck. We had researched and test drove the Ford, Chevy and Dodge one ton diesel trucks. Quite honestly, any of the three would have done a great job for us I’m certain, but for the $$$ we felt that the Dodge 3500 Big Horn SLT Crew Cab 4X2 (say that 5 times fast) with the 6.7L I6 Cummins Turbo Diesel Engine with the 6-speed automatic 68RFE transmission would be the best deal.

  

We are extremely pleased with the truck. We previously owned a first generation Dodge 2500 Cummins Diesel back in the early 90’s and pulled a 32 foot travel trailer. That truck was terrific and we only parted with it because we moved to a motorhome.

We rode the Suncoast Parkway from just south of Homosassa all the way to the Tampa Airport exit which is a mile from the Jerry Ohm dealership. Once there, since we had cleaned out the Silverado we traded and they had the Dodge ready to go, it only took a short time before we were headed back north for Crystal River. Instead of just hopping on the Suncoast again, I decided to ride over into Clearwater and catch US 19 and travel north. It wasn’t nearly as easy or as quick a drive as the parkway because of the many lights and stop and go traffic. We stopped for dinner at the Pit Boss, a barbeque restaurant in Spring Hill. We both had chopped pork dinners and it was really quite good.

We weren’t home long when we got a phone call from another couple in the park asking if we still had the recliners for sale. When we bought the Alpine “Castle”, we had decided to sell the matching rocker recliners and purchase a new wall hugger recliner. I do not care for the rocker type recliners. So we decided to put an ad in the clubhouse to see if we could sell them. Bottomline, Greg and Mary bought our recliners so we went chair shopping Friday. We visited 4 furniture stores in the Citrus County area and were surprised that we may have to wait 4-6 weeks to get a new chair we wanted. Fortunately, Badcock had a perfect wall-hugger and their warehouse is in Lakeland so we can pick our new chair up Monday afternoon here at the Crystal River store. It’s a good thing, I’m sitting here watching the Daytona 500 in an outdoor lawn chair. Speaking of the Daytona 500, there was just a huge wreck that ruined the day for 10-15 drivers, including my favorite. Oh well, it’s just the first race of the year.

Saturday morning started with a breakfast in the clubhouse made by our park chefs, Bruce, Carol and Florie. Once again a great meal of scrambled eggs, home fries, hash browns, bacon, sausage gravy and biscuits, grits, fruit salad, oj and coffee was served. We sat with Charley and Sherry and made plans to go out for dinner at a local eatery, Cozy Country Kitchen later that evening. Saturday wouldn’t have been complete without a stop at Pet Supermarket in Inverness for another “puppy fix”. We enjoy visiting the adoptable dogs that a couple of groups bring each Saturday in hopes of finding them a loving home. This week “Scooter” nearly stole our hearts. She was an 8 year old terrier mix that was very calm and subdued. Could have been because her owner went into hospice care and her 15 year old sister was separated from her. We spent some quality time with her, Barbie even held her, but we resisted the urge and headed back home. One of these days???????

‘Til next time…… 

Catching Up

I’m telling ya that when you “seem” to be busy, time “seems” to pass by quickly between blog entries. I just glanced at my last blog entry which was last Thursday and today is Tuesday. So its time to get caught up.

Friday was a “lost day”---all Barbie and I can remember was that she went to Publix to pick up some groceries. That means it was a computer-reading-television type day.

Saturday started early as we went to breakfast at our favorite breakfast spot, Kim’s Cafe, in Homosassa. Nowhere else can I get two eggs over medium, crispy bacon, home fries and wheat toast for $3.00. The coffee is another $1.25 and they’ll keep bringing it as long as you drink it. The service is fast too. We love the place as it is a gathering spot for the locals. We see the same folks there every Saturday morning it seems. We enjoy the food and the conversation but the bonus is the group of amateur musicians that gather and play just outside of the restaurant each Saturday morning for a couple of hours.

Sometimes they’ll be just a couple of guitars , a banjo and a bass fiddle. But, we’ve seen the group blossom to 10-12 on occasion. They do it because they enjoy playing they say. They play predominantly bluegrass style music. It is quite a happening.

About 3:00pm  we headed for Cedar Key which is about 60 minutes north of Crystal River. For you followers of our blog, you may remember we made the same trip just before the new year began. We, once again, had lunch at Tony’s World Champion Chowder Spot and then went to Black Dog Bar & Tables, a beer, wine and cigar bar right on the water. It was the One Year Anniversary Party at BDB&T. The party began at 5pm and we headed back home at 7:30pm. The party went on until after midnight I understand. The food was great, the beer was cold, the music was awesome, the conversation was stimulating and Otis ( the black labradoodle, as in Black Dog Bar & Tables) weaved around the establishment continuously. We enjoy that place –wish it was closer to us in Crystal River.

Sunday we drove down to Valrico (just east of Tampa) to our stix-n-brix home to spend the evening as Barbie had her doctor’s appointment Monday morn. We also wanted to do some truck shopping on Valentine’s Day as well. Gotta get the new truck to pull the new 5er you know! Barbie had a successful doctor’s visit, she did some laundry at the house Sunday night and we visited 3 dealerships and test drove 3, one ton, single rear wheel pick-up trucks. We didn’t get back here to Rock Crusher Canyon until 6:30pm. It certainly was a busy Monday.

On Monday, blogger friends, Charley and Sherry, and Cheyenne, their furkid travel buddy, checked in to Rock Crusher for a month, so we wanted to visit them this morning and welcome them to the neighborhood. We spent some time chatting with them and finalizing our plans to have lunch with them and meeting fellow bloggers, Debbie and Duane.

The six of us planned to meet for lunch tomorrow, Wednesday, in Leesburg, midpoint between Crystal River and Orange City where Duane and Debbie are set up. So, we plan to leave at 10:00am, with Charley driving. It surely will be a nice trip with great weather and fellowship.

After welcoming Charley and Sherry to the neighborhood and getting our “puppy fix” we went and met more “bloggin’ buddies”, Carolyn and Margie, for lunch.  Carolyn and Margie drove over from Davenport where they are set up to visit the Nature Coast today. We met them at Marguerita Grill in Homosassa, where we enjoyed seafood lunches  and margaritas. Did I mention the margaritas? :-)~ Margie enjoyed a small one, I had a medium, Barbie had a draft beer and Carolyn sampled both a small and medium margarita – at the same time.

   

We had good conversation, good food, and really good drinks on the patio looking out onto the Halls River. A good time was had by all!

After lunch we came back to our site in RCC and chatted for awhile before Margie and Carolyn took off for Davenport. It was a great day in paradise I’m tellin’ ya!

Well, so much for “catching up”

‘Til next time…..

Ramblin’

Since the last post there have been no earth shattering events yet I’ll share a few of the past days highlights. Last Sunday, we had a visit from friends Bill and Linda who drove up from Auburndale to spend a few hours with us before the Super Bowl. Linda and Barbie are best buddies after meeting as teachers at Mann Middle School in Brandon years ago.

Linda is still educating those youngsters while Barbie enjoys retirement. Bill and Linda are seriously looking at rvs as they are ready to trade their Class B. They seem to have settled on a Class A. They showed us plans of a new Thor Hurricane they are considering. Linda described our new Alpine 5er as more like an apartment than an rv. After we chatted for awhile we took them to Marguerita Grill, one of our favorite eateries in Homosassa.

Marguerita Grill sits right on the Halls River which flows into the Homosassa River a couple hundred yards from the restaurant. The Marguerita Grill's atmosphere is fun and lively. The restaurant is decorated with a variety of patriotic pictures and decorations. Its waterfront location allows for boat docking and a porch with waterfront seating. On Friday and Saturday nights at 9 P.M. there is September 11^th memorial film, followed by the waving of American flags and singing of a patriotic song. This salute can be quite moving and emotional. While patrons don't have to agree with the owners political views, they will be asked to leave if they speak negatively about the United States. In fact, anything French is banned from the restaurant, French fries are dubbed American fries. The menu is mostly seafood but they have great burgers, gyros and steaks as well.

    

The house margaritas are something. Their small size is what we traditionally see but their regular size (see above) is quite a site. I’d say the lady at the next table was enjoying it! They also have a “fish bowl” version that would have to be shared by several folks. Linda, Bill, Barbie and I had a great meal and afterwards drove them by “The Shed” and “The Freezer.” We’ll make those stops on a later visit.

Monday it was cool outside, so we got some cores done around the Alpine. We hung the toilet paper holder we purchased to match the bathroom hardware and also installed a couple of hooks. For lupper (lunch/supper)  Barbie prepared homemade chili, with cheese, onions and sour cream toppings, and garlic bread. Ummm great meal!

We’ve watched some tv in the evenings this week, like our favorites: Bones, NCIS, Human Target, Mike & Molly, Hawaii Five-O and Big Bang Theory. I also must confess getting hooked on an online golf game. It is free, very realistic graphics and you can play by yourself or others online in a variety of formats on some of the world’s most famous courses.

Tuesday we went out to eat at Chilis here in Crystal River and used some of the gift cards we still have that were given to me when I retired.

Wednesday Barbie cooked a beef stew in the crock pot all day then made some cornbread. Yummy, I’m here to tell ya.

I also installed a new vacuum breaker on the toilet in the rig. It had a pesky little leak and when we mentioned it to the dealership they said to bring it on in or since we have not yet bought our new truck, they gave me they part to install.

Well, I guess that about gets us caught up. Think I’ll go online and see if I can get into a golf match and play the famous St. Andrews course in Scotland. Aren’t computers amazing!

‘Til next time…….

FMCA Rally & Puppy Fix

The past couple of days we’ve spent getting settled in the new Alpine 5er. All of the boxes we (Barbie predominantly) had packed in the motorhome and transferred to the 5er, are emptied, contents put in their places and the boxes disposed of. We’ve got a few more items out in our storage “utility trailer” to bring in but for the most part we are settled in. We went to Walmart to pick up a couple of items for the 5er. Interestingly, the bathroom in the new 5er had no toilet paper holder hung anywhere. So we picked that up along with a couple of hand towel holders. Again, there were NO towel holders anywhere. Of course, we noticed that up front and it actually allowed us to buy the style we wanted and mount them where we wanted them. Barbie also got some new king size sheets at Belks yesterday for the new bed. Over the course of the last few days we’ve also had the chance to test out the heat pump to take the chill off the other morning when in dipped into the upper 40’s. Then yesterday afternoon it was in the upper 70’s and muggy so we turned on the A/C briefly. Yeah, I know, eat your heart out our northern friends and those in Texas that have had the cold, ice and snow! As I write this, it is a cool, damp 60 degrees outside here at RCC so the windows are open and it is comfortable inside.

Thursday we drove down to Brooksville to spend a few hours down at the FMCA’s Southeast Area Rally being held at the Hernando County Airport until Sunday. As I said in the previous post, we have been regulars at the rally for the past 6 years and have worked the rally as volunteers in the past. We paid the $7 per person fee for the day pass. We primarily wanted to visit the vendors tent and check in with some friends that still volunteer during the rally. We didn’t need to walk through the coach display obviously, having just made our “jump” to the new Alpine 5er. We also passed on attending any of the seminars and it’s probably was a good thing because we surely would have gone thru the same hassle that Karen and Al went through. For an organization concerned about declining memberships they certainly need to change some policies I’d say. I do know that the philosophy changed for an upcoming rally as they have announced that the FMCA will welcome not only motorhome owners but also owners of other types of self-contained RVs when the group meets in Perry, Georgia, in March 2011 for FMCA's 85th Family Reunion & Motorhome Showcase, which will be held at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter in Perry, Ga., from March 14 to 17, 2011. We made it through the vendors tent without dropping too many $$$. We did buy an RV Power Protection device like we had in our motorhome that will protect the rv from power surges, improper grounded systems and low power. It will not allow the problems into your rv where it could cause major damages. In the 6 years we had it in the motorhome it saved us on several occasions and more than paid for itself. We also picked up a couple of small canvas fabric “pouches” that can be velcroed to any type of surface. We also stopped at their booth and chatted briefly with folks from River Vista Mountain Village in Dillard, GA, where we own an rv site. It was good seeing Richard, Jim & Mary, and Steve & Judy. They seemed pleased they weren’t up there dealing with the snow, ice and cold temps. We also saw Roamin’ Rigs chapter members, Sandie, Pat, Jim, Wilma, and Ted, as well as former members Gary and Arlene. We then drove down the two runways where the vast majority of motorhomes are parked. It is always interesting to us to look at the rigs and some of the folks set-ups. These two folks cause you to do a double take as there are NO hook-ups at all on the runways. Maybe they just want to believe….?

     

I also marvel at some of the custom paint jobs… Click on them for a larger view.

   

   

   

We still managed to get out before the annual “parade” was to begin. My favorite part of these large rallies was to walk or ride around with my camera and check out the people-there are all kinds of folks for sure.

   

 

 

 

Ah, we have had fun at rallies. If you’ve never attended one you need to for sure.

Good friends, Pat and Sandie, who are working the rally drove up to RCC yesterday to see our new Alpine. They stayed and chatted for a couple of hours. We may not see them until spring as they will go work the Perry rally and then they work for a couple of months at Dollywood. They own an rv site in Franklin, NC, just about 20 miles north of us in Dillard. So we will see them up “north” in the spring at Dollywood, or Franklin, or Dillard.

Finally, as some of you know, we had dogs for many years but after our corgi, Korkey,  died in 1996 we have resisted getting any more pets. With both of us working we didn’t think we could put the time in to train a new pet etc. Well, since we are both retired, we always take note of dogs pictures in the papers and announcements of animal adoptions everywhere we go and visit shelters, humane societies and the like. Barbie calls it “getting a puppy fix.’ Well, we got another puppy fix this morning at the Pet Supermarket store in Inverness. Each Saturday for a few hours an adoption organization brings some dogs there to be adopted. A few weeks ago “Matti” stole Barbie’s heart and today it was “Scooter’s” turn. Don’t know how many more “fixes” there will be before we rescue one of the dogs. Oh well, that’s what we’ve been up to.

‘Til next time……

RVers Luncheon in Lakeland

Monday was one of those special days we are lucky to enjoy as rvers gathering together, sharing stories and good food. You see a group of nearly 30 rvers, some full-timers, some wannabee full-timers, some part-timers, many bloggers, and ALL rv enthusiasts gathered  for a  planned lunch. We came from Wauchula, Zephryhills, Crystal River, Davenport, Clermont, Sebring, Largo, Inverness and a couple of other central Florida locales. I again want to recognize and thank the planner of this event- Donna (AKA Froggi) McNicol. Many of us in attendance were familiar with one another’s  blogs but had not met in person. This blog entry is missing pictures to capture the event only because the camera we DID remember to bring had NOT been charged. Yeah, I know –pretty lame huh? Soooo.. with that being said I’ve waited for most of those in attendance to make their posts, with pictures, so I can provide the links to see the various pictures taken by the persons with cameras (with charged batteries) by clicking their names: Froggi Donna, Margie W, Dee W, Donna H, and Sherry D.  The Smokey Bones in Lakeland was a central location and certainly provided a menu where we all found something tasty to our liking. The conversation was non-stop, only stopping to insert food in our mouths. The two and a half hour gathering hardly seemed like enough time to chat with everyone – which we couldn’t. All the more reason to do it again-and we Boldts hope that will happen.

The 100 minute drive from Crystal River to Lakeland and back, and the lunch was a great “break” in our unpacking of boxes as we move in to our new Alpine 5er. Barbie had done a super job labeling the boxes as we packed up the Kountry Star motorhome so when we transferred them to the Alpine we knew what room to put them in. But, deciding which cabinets, drawers etc to put the items in took some careful deliberations. As of today we have most, not all, things in a place. We have a few items out in the “Prince”, our 12 foot utility trailer, we use for storage, to bring in the 5er. The new “Castle” is coming together. We’ll take another break tomorrow or Thursday to travel to Brooksville to the FMCA Southeast Area Rally as day guests to check out the vendors and see if we can run into a few of our motorhoming friends. It will be strange as we have attended, as registered rally-goers for the past 6 or so years, and enjoyed all the seminars, entertainment, coach displays and vendors with friends. We have even worked the rally in past years as the rally photographer and daily newsletter writer, making many new friends along the way.

   

‘Til next time……..