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….