Hodge Podge

Barbie writing here today……

We traveled to our Valrico, Florida home on Sept. 6. We just took the truck and left the 5th wheel in Dillard. The trip went smooth. We left at 7 A.M. and got in Valrico at 6:20 P.M. after stopping for gas twice and food to eat. Jeff drove the whole way down so I got to vegetate and watch the scenery while playing with Kozmo. Jeff had a dentist appointment on Wednesday, which went very well. He has to get a crown on a tooth when we get back down to Florida in late November. On Thursday, he had his doctor’s appointment, which also went very well. He is good until December; when he will need his annual blood work done. That will be about the time that I will have to see my doctor for my 6 month checkup.

When we were in Florida, I spent Wednesday and Thursday mornings pulling up weeds that had grown through the rocks while we were gone. I had sprayed down some great Round-up Extended 4 month spray and it did work in most of the spots. However, we were gone a little over 4 months and the rain and sunshine took its toll on the little suckers that wanted to grow through the rocks. I was thankful that it had rained and the weather wasn’t excruciatingly hot so the weeds were easy to pull up. I sprayed some more of that “love potion” on the rocks again. Hopefully the rain will stop and and so will the weeds. We also cleaned the leaves out of the gutters.

Weeds Gone !

I tried to clean up the inside of the house since it was a bit dusty, but time wasn’t on our side for this trip. I took Kozmo to Pet Smart to buy her whatever “she” wanted. She put her nose up at all the squeaky toys and chews. She did like the new halter I bought for her. I asked her if she wanted blue or pink in color and she pawed at the pink one. Now that she has it, she doesn’t like it too much. But she understands that “Mommy” and “Daddy” need her to wear it whenever other puppies are around so she doesn’t pull and crush her vocal chords and make her cough or slide the collar off her neck and over her head. Whenever we are down at the stream here in the park we let her roam the area without a leash since she just loves it down there. Whenever we see other puppies coming, we put the halter on. While at Pet Smart she wanted her favorite little soft biscuits. Kozmo was a bit upset because there was only one other puppy in the store and that puppies’ owner was a snob and didn’t want her dog associating with my dog. I felt sorry for the little puppy because she really wanted to make friends with Kozmo and so did Kozmo. We spent 40 minutes in the store while “Daddy” was at the dentist. After I picked up Jeff from the dentist, we went to Tijuana Flats for our supper. We love that place. We each got our favorite chimichanga with black beans and rice. The weather would have made it impossible to sit outside with Kozmo since it was drizzling off and on.

We also managed to get take out from a Brandon favorite of ours, La Septima, on Thursday. We both enjoyed a pressed Cuban sandwich with a deviled crab. The place was not crowded since they now close at 3:00 at their Parsons Avenue location and it was 2:20 in the afternoon. They opened up a newer place about 2 miles away on Lumsden and Kings Avenue , also in Brandon, which has outdoor seating in addition to a larger inside dining room.

I did manage to bring back some “much needed things” from the Valrico residence to our 5^th wheel. Things like a food processor ( I have two of them in the house), spices, foot tub massager, more candles, Gatlinburg wine, and some books that I have to read so that I can read more on the Kindle when I get done with them. Haha We also brought back a dog bed that Kozmo didn’t like when we got it for her and had left it at the house. She was laying in it at the house, so we figured we’d bring it back. Now since we have it in the 5th wheel she has slept in it three times during the day. She mainly hides her biscuits in it and wipes her face on it after she eats. At least it has a purpose for her. LOL

We are now getting ready for our three week trip. We still haven’t decided on where we are going other than to Selma, NC to see my sister, NJ to see my parents and my sister who lives in Unionville, NY, and Jeff’s cousins who live in Claysburg, PA. We thought about going to the Lancaster area again since we loved it there when we visited it about 10 years ago. So, we are up in the air, but will make a decision before we leave hopefully this coming Thursday, Sept. 22. After our trip, we are headed back to Dillard for about two weeks. Jeff has to DJ the Halloween Dance on Oct. 29^th.

After that we definitely know we want to leave November 1 and head down and spend a few days on the  Alabama Gulf Coast before getting to Crystal River for the winter.

Wish us well in our planning of the trip…. Until next time….

Busy Having Fun

We finally got our landscaping completed on Tuesday of last week. Our landscaper, Brian Cabe, put 6 “little evergreen trees” in along the side of our site. There is a proper name for the little trees that will only grow to 8 feet tall in about 10 years or so and not be but 30 inches in diameter-but I don’t remember it. Brian also added new mulch to refresh what was already on the site. He also laid down some more gravel to the front of the lot where we park the truck and golf cart. Below are some before and after pictures.

Before AFTER

Before AFTER

We were planning on taking a day trip to Gatlinburg on Tuesday but postponed it until Wednesday. The weather was nice but hot in Tennessee. We bought 6 candles at 3 different places in the Crafters Loop to see what kind we really like so that we can go back in October and buy some more. Another stop on the loop, Misty Mountain Soap Company, has very nice lotions and soaps for sale in their new facility in the Crafters Loop. Their Mountain Energy lotion is very good for softening up the skin and just smells great! We bought a present there for Barbie’s friend Linda whose birthday was Sept. 4. Next door to this place is More Than Just Candles. They sell a soap that you use to wash dogs with and it is supposed to leave in all the great oils that dogs are supposed to possess. We will see if that works. Barbie usually uses baby shampoo to wash Kozmo.

After leaving the Crafters Loop we headed for Pigeon Forge. We didn’t have enough time to tour Cades Cove this trip or visit freinds Tom and Wendy, formerly of Rock Crusher Canyon where we winter. We did stop for a big treat at A & W Root Beer in Sevierville. We both got root beer floats for our lunch and nothing more. They were delicious! Next time we head up there we will have to call Wendy and Tom in advance to be sure they aren’t working at Dollywood and have some lunch with them. This trip was so busy that we knew we wouldn’t have enough time to see them. If you are reading this Wendy and Tom, see you in October.

The only “disgusting” thing on the trip was a stop in Cherokee at a picnic area. Kozmo had to go “take care of business” and the area was just as we were going into the Smoky Mountain Park. The smell was terrible. It smelled like garbage had been strewn across the area and never cleaned up. We hurried up and got out of there after she did her business, but will never stop there again.

I was getting ready during the week for the DJ’ing I was doing here in River Vista on Saturday, Sept. 3. My play list is getting very extensive. It took a few hours to go through it and pick my songs for the Street Dance. I stopped on Friday evening long enough for us to head to Clayton to see Brad Garrett play at the Rock House Park, which is next door to Praters Books. Brad, during the days this summer, has been working on remodeling the cabin next to us. He and his band played from 6 to 8 P.M. and they were GREAT!!! They were going to play at Main Street Bar and Grill from 9 to midnight that same night. Brad has a very nice voice and played many good country songs. There wasn’t much of a crowd but the atmosphere was neat.

Brad Barrett & Band

We ate at Zaxby’s for dinner before heading for the concert. We just love Zaxby’s! When we head back to Crystal River in November, I guess we will have withdrawal symptoms until we find one close by. I think the closest one is in Ocala, an hour’s drive. :-( We probably would go that distance, since another favorite  restaurant of ours is Tijuana Flats and that is located in Ocala, also.

Saturday, Sept. 3 was a great day. The campground was almost full. We counted 8 empty sites. Children were everywhere with adults either cooking out or just enjoying the pool area. There was a barbeque supplied by River Vista from 6 to 7. They served grilled chicken, baked beans, potato salad and a roll plus iced tea. It was very good! I DJed from 6 to 10 that night.

Big Daddy w/new banner

It started to rain about 6:10 but it didn’t last that long. How do you like my new banner? You wouldn’t believe how many dancers there were in the street during the night. Of the four “Street Dances” we’ve done this summer, this was the largest crowd with the most dancers.

“Locals “line-up

We had kids and adults dancing to the oldies, country and dance favorites. I think the Cha Cha Slide drew the largest crowd. Everyone was having a great time. It was really funny that little kids come up to request Justin Bieber or Miley Cyrus songs, which I don’t have in my repertoire.

  

 

People were starting to leave the campground on Sunday because of the threat of Tropical Storm Lee and the rains on the way. It did start to rain last night around 11. We put all of our things away since we are leaving for Valrico Tuesday morning. It has been raining off and on today. Poor Kozmo got drenched the two times Barbie took her out, but she loves to get dried off. I have a dentist and doctors’ appointments on Wednesday and Thursday of this week in Valrico. We hope to leave Valrico on Friday and head back up to Dillard so we can start getting ready for our vacation to PA, NJ, NY, and NC.

Until next time….