Busy 12 Days

The past twelve days have flown by. We’ve traveled about 1200 miles down to the sticks-n-bricks home in Valrico, FL and back up to our site here in Dillard, GA. Actually the trip down and back was made from Sunday, August 19, and we pulled back in up here in our Falls View site in River Vista Mountain Village Friday, the 24th at 5:30PM. It is about a 9 hour and 15 minute drive but with a gas stop and a stop to get a bite to eat and a quick walk for Kozmo, it is a 10 and 1/2 hour journey each way. I (Jeff) drove the entire way down, but on the way back I drove the first three hours, then Barbie took the wheel for 6 hours before I drove the last hour and a half.

The main reason for the trip down was that I had my regularly scheduled 6 month check-up with my doctor.  On the last blog entry, we mentioned I had done my blood work up here in Seneca, SC, 9 days before my doctor’s appointment. The appointment went well. All of the results were good, so I’m good to go for another 6 months. HOORAY! Barbie really worked hard in the four days we had there. She pulled the wild grass and weeds from our yard areas and sprayed the area with Round-Up Extended Control. That should keep the area looking ok until we return in November. She also went through cabinets in the kitchen and did a lot of “purging”. Let’s put it this way- 5 large green garbage bags were placed out for the garbage truck Tuesday and another 4 were left for the Saturday pick-up. We also attacked my “old” clothes that were on the bed in the second bedroom. We went through them and filled 4 of the large green bags with my not needed big men’s clothing and donated them to Goodwill. So we did make a dent in some work we needed to do around the house. Barbie also managed to have lunch and spent an afternoon visiting with her BFF, Linda. We didn’t buy groceries so we ate out at some of our favorites in the area, Chipoltes, Tijuana Flats, Romanos and La Septima. So we managed to get some good Mexican food, Greek food and Cuban/Spanish food while in town. We also stocked up on Dunkin Donuts coffee by getting a deal on 4 – one pound bags of our favorite coffee for $25.99. There are NO Dunkin Donuts’ stores anywhere near Dillard so we’d have to pay somewhere around $8.00 for only 12 ounces at the local Ingles Supermarket where Barbie loves to shop.

I do know TWO things that I certainly do NOT miss about the Valrico area. One, the traffic. OMG, the traffic is crazy in that area and I think it has gotten worse since we left to fulltime in our rv in June 2010. The second thing is the humidity of Florida in the summer. Geez, it was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Plus, there were the daily afternoon thundershowers. And, if Kozmo could talk, she’d give you a piece of her mind about them. Poor thing, she shook more in 4 days than she has all summer in Dillard. Then of course, the icing on the cake, a storm named Isaac was projected to head straight for Florida and for certain impact the Tampa Bay area. Since then the storm has steered further west so the Tampa Bay area was spared of the major effects of the storm. So between Isaac and the Republican National Convention coming to Tampa, we were glad to head north early Friday morning.

We did hear some tragic news the day before we left to head back to Dillard. We got a call from one of our Falls View neighbors and he informed us that one of the members of our community took his own life. Needless to say we were shocked and saddened by the news. I plan to attend the memorial service tomorrow.

We were surprised to discover that two of our winter neighbors at Rock Crusher Canyon in Crystal River were camping here at River Vista when we returned. So, we had a great visit with Lee and Mary Saturday afternoon before they moved on Sunday. We’ll see them again when they return to Rock Crusher Canyon in January.

This weekend is Labor Day weekend and the campground has a waiting list for sites. So with a full campground Big Daddy DJ hopes to have a great crowd for our “Street Dance” Saturday evening. I’ll let you know how it went and have pictures in the next post.

So, ‘til next time……

Winery Visits

We had a lovely time this past Saturday, August 11, at a new 12 Sisters Winery in Dillard, Georgia. We started out our day at Annette’s Café by eating a great lunch. Jeff had the chicken fried steak, collard greens and a salad. I had the country fried steak sandwich with squash. I had made a small carrot cake the day before to bring a piece to the waiter named Kenneth. He loved the wacky cake I had made Jeff on his birthday and Jeff told him that I make a “mean” carrot cake. So we took a piece to him and he was very appreciative of it. After lunch, we headed to the winery. Apparently from 1 to 4 PM that day, three wineries in Rabun County were offering a sampling of their wines. We chose the 12 Sisters Winery since it was their grand opening. The place was very nice with beautiful views.

    

They have a small shop inside a barn that had a beautiful bar area. We paid $5.00 to sample up to four wines and we got to keep the glass. All of their wines are dry except for one which is slightly sweet. Since I don’t like dry wines I told the server to give me the slightly sweet one. It was a nice wine but not something I would buy. Jeff tried the dry rose type and he didn’t like it. Then he tried the same wine as I did and felt the same way about it. It was OK but definitely not one we would buy. We sat outside under a table umbrella and enjoyed the scenery.

   

They had a canopy with seating under it plus a couple of chairs out in the open. The temperature was in the low 80’s and the place was not crowded. As a matter of fact, we saw more people who worked there than customers while we were there. We did find out from our server that she lived in the Forest Hills section of Tampa and her children graduated from Chamberlain High School. As we were leaving we spoke with one of the graduates and she was there when Jeff was an Assistant Principal, but she didn’t remember him. The other graduated after Jeff left Chamberlain for Riverview in 2001.  Needless to say, we won’t be going back to the winery since we didn’t really enjoy the wines. Their price for a bottle was $14.00 which wasn’t too bad a price. You just need to love dry wines.

We traveled to South Carolina on Monday, August 13, for Jeff’s 11:45 appointment at Lab Corp. Since he has his six month check-up in Valrico on August 23, he needed to get his lab work done up here so the results would be to his doctor when Jeff arrives for his appointment. What a challenge it was to find a Lab Corp business in this NE Georgia mountains area. There was one in Hiawassee, GA, but we think that was at the hospital, so we ruled that one out. The one in Seneca, South Carolina, was only an hour away. We had not been to that area for over 11 years, so it was a great trip. We left at 9:20 and got there at 10:25. As we were going through Seneca we noticed that there were many chain restaurants, retail stores and of course a Super Wal-Mart. The place was very nice! We went to the Lab Corp first in hopes of maybe getting in before the appointment time since we were early. Jeff took one step in and noticed the place was packed. He decided to wait until his appointment time. So we headed back on the By Pass 123 road and stopped at Pet Smart. We had Kozmo with us, of course, and she stayed in the truck with Jeff while I shopped for her. I picked up some new dog food for her since she got tired of the Rachel Ray food she had been eating for a month. I also got her something called Boo Bars, a snack treat, which has pumpkin and cinnamon in it. She loves it! It is made by Blue Buffalo. After shopping there we went to the Bank of America. The Bank of America that is closest to us is in Highlands, North Carolina, which is about a half hour away. This bank is beautiful and I could tell it is brand new. There was no waiting line and the people were very friendly. By the time that task was done we headed back to Lab Corp and got there at 11:17. Jeff came back out at 12:10. Apparently there was only one technician working in there. She had to sign people in, and then take them back on an individual basis to draw their blood. Jeff inquired and found that the other person who usually works there had broken her hand over the weekend, so this lady was on her own. Poor thing! Jeff said she was already tired by noon but was very friendly and upbeat. We will definitely go back there when blood work has to be done again while we are here in Dillard.

Since Jeff had to fast for his blood work to be done, we headed to get something to eat. We wanted to eat at Chick Fil-A but I could not believe the lines inside and out. So we headed down the road to Zaxbys. The food is always good at any Zaxbys that we have visited.

After lunch, we headed back towards Dillard. On the way back we stopped in Long Creek, South Carolina, at another winery called Chatooga Belle Farm. This place is outstanding! The views are magnificent! See for yourselves.

   

They have a small “farm” store inside a gigantic new barn. They have been here for three years and the place is immaculate. We bought two wines. One is a muscadine and the other is a scuppernong. Since they are dog friendly we walked Kozmo around the premises and sat down and just enjoyed the view.

   

The temperature was about 79 degrees and very comfortable. Apples are in season and although they had some there we opted to not get any this time. They had fresh raspberries you could pick yourselves as well. The place can also be rented for events like weddings, parties etc. We tried the muscadine wine last night and it was quite good! The price on it was $16 and we would definitely go back there and buy some. They also had some canned vegetables, jellies, ciders, souvenir items and literature about the area.

Well, as much as we dread the thought of it, we are headed to Valrico this coming Sunday and will stay there about 4 – 5 nights. It is time for Jeff’s six month check-up. We are not looking forward to the humidity in Florida this time of year. But, I will be able to see my great friend Linda while we are there and probably have some house cleaning to do while we are there.

‘Til next time…

Just Chillin’…AKA Not Doin’ Much

Yeah, I know, it has been awhile since we posted so we’ll try to update you on our summer laid back, retirement lifestyle.

Since we last posted, I suppose the biggest news is that Jeff celebrated his 60^th birthday. We went out to eat at Fatz Café in Franklin, North Carolina on July 22, his birthday. They have Sunday “old fashioned” specials so Jeff ordered pot roast that came with mashed potatoes, green beans, cole slaw, and their great rolls. It was very good! I had the basa fish with a baked potato and a salad. We were very good …..we passed on dessert. :-) Well, we weren’t that good,  because I had made Jeff a chocolate “wacky cake” with chocolate peanut butter icing that he loves so much. We actually gave the last piece a few days later to the waiter  that serves us regularly at Annette’s Café . Kenneth is a good fellow who always clowns around and serves us well when we eat there. Overall, Jeff‘s  birthday was a quiet one. I think his 60^th birthday was an awakening that, yes, we are getting a bit older.

A couple days before Jeff’s 60th, we went to our neighbor’s retirement party in Franklin, North Carolina at a place called Chris and Charlie’s on July 19. Our neighbor, Charlie, was the postmaster at the Rabun Gap post office in Rabun Gap, Georgia, which is about 5 minutes away from us. About 42 people from River Vista were there. The service and food was excellent! They have about a dozen beers on tap from regional micro-breweries. We tried one from Raleigh, NC that had a hint of cherry taste to it. It was quite tasty! I had a delicious salad and Jeff had something called the Fat Italian flatbread sandwich. It was very good. As a result of the retirement party Jeff decided to develop a Facebook page for the Falls View Community (which is the name of our owners section in River Vista). You can view it on Facebook, if you have a Facebook account, under “Falls View Community, Dillard, GA”. Jeff has placed information and pictures on the site for anyone to enjoy. He did a great job of it, too! Go check it out!

We went to Lowe’s this week and purchased some equipment for me to use when I tie-dye shirts and bandanas. I have two shirts that I want to do and have three bandanas to make for Jeff. I hope I don’t mess it up but if I do, the material that I buy at WalMart is cheap. We have found many designs on-line that help us decide how to create something “far out” but nice. I just have to get more nerve and try them out. I have seen some shirts that lost their color and I don’t want mine to look like that. So I have to research a bit more before trying some more.

I bought a book that is called EBAY for Dummies and am really enjoying it. As soon as I have finished it, by not only reading it but highlighting and making notes on it, I will try to sell some items that we don’t need anymore. My first item will be a “Giggles Doll” that I made about 12 years ago. I made four dolls. I gave one to my mother and grandmother and kept the other two. I got my grandmother’s back after she passed on and that one is going to be a keeper because it is so cute. I had also purchased clothes from consignment shops that sell baby items at very reasonable prices. I will post some of the pictures later on after we take a few, so you can see how cute these dolls are. Here they are:

  

A neighbor where our house is in Valrico taught me how to make the dolls. She made over 200 of them a long time ago. She has since moved out of StrawBerry Ridge due to her health. She was selling them for over $100 a piece back then. I won’t do that in this market now because I know they won’t sell for that. Anyone out there ever make dolls? Oh yes, my mother has a collection of various dolls. I think she must have close to 200 or so. They were all bought or were gifts. Some of them she bought in Germany since she was born and raised over there.

The big excitement in Dillard this weekend is the Dillard Barbeque and Bluegrass Festival. We’ll check it out tomorrow. This event is the Kansas City Barbeque Society Georgia State Championship. Held adjacent to the Dillard House, the Dillard Barbecue and Bluegrass Festival started in 1997 and has grown to what it is today through the hard work, dedication, and efforts of many volunteers and BBQ enthusiasts from around the country. Each year people come from across the nation to compete in this once a year event, and to listen to real Bluegrass music played by numerous bands from all over, and to savor the mouth watering smells and sights of smoking meats of all kinds. There also are crafters who set up booths and sell their wares. There are always lots to do and things to see for the whole family at this wonderful event. The cooking rigs are a sight to behold, and the vendors serving the many foods and delicasies are some of the best in the world. And, needless to say, the smells are wonderful. Nearly $10,000 in prize money is awarded in categories involving beef brisket, chicken, pork and pork ribs. They even award desserts. Needless to say attendees may pay to “sample” the teams entries. It’s making me hungry writing about it! We’ll follow up with this story next time.

‘Til next time…..

Dancin’ AND the Rain

The title of this entry is correct- “Dancin’ AND the Rain”, not “Dancin’ IN the Rain.” You’ll see why momentarily.

It has been awhile since we posted, since before the July 4th holiday. On July 3, Jeff was in charge in the Mountain Village Center in River Vista of the game “Name That Tune” contest. About 25 people showed up and they had a great time.

    

Jeff played about 30 seconds of 25 songs (plus one tie-breaker), that people had to guess the song’s title. He included songs from the sixties to current Billboard #1 songs, including rock and country hits. Many people were guessing the groups who sang the songs but there was one family (Mom, Dad, and daughter) who had 23 correct out of the 25 and won the grand prize ribbon. There were two second place winners with 19 correct answers. The third place winner had 10 correct.  The campground was probably a little over half full for the days before and after the fourth of July. We think that folks had to work either the first two days of the week or the last two days. The 4th being in the middle of the week kept the campground from being full. The pool was actually doing a big business with kids and their parents because it was extremely hot up here in Dillard. We had three days straight where the temps were at 100. The high here was 100 for two of those days. We were using both air conditioners in the rig which made it very nice inside. We couldn’t even stay outside on our covered deck because of the heat.

The campground hosted a barbeque dinner on July 4th and a covered dish meal on the 5th where they supplied meatballs and hoagie rolls for sandwiches and everyone else needed to bring a covered dish to share. Both of those meals were quite tasty and enjoyed by all.

The week of the 4th was also filled with lots of activities for kids and adults to enjoy. Plus, a golf cart & bicycle parade is always a tradition at River Vista on the 4th.

   

Jeff DJ’ed the dance that was held on Saturday, July 7. It was held outside and people had a blast dancing in the street in front of the Mountain Village Center. You see the Mountain Village Center has heat but no air conditioning inside. It was cooler outside for sure. There were lots of people dancing and having a great time. We had Kozmo with us even though it was warm outside. She stays under the table and watches everything going on.

  

 

 

The managers put a huge fan on us and that helped us out. Jeff DJ’ed for three hours and the work campers and managers helped us put the equipment away in less than 10 minutes. They even gave us some free ice cream during the dance. Our work campers are the greatest this season.

This past week we have been swamped with rain. We managed to go out on Sunday to Clayton to eat at Mishima Express and then stopped at Dairy Queen for their peanut butter bash sundae. We are trying to limit the amount of times a month we have sweets and it seems to be working. On Monday, I spoke with my great friend Linda, who lives in Auburndale, Florida, for over an hour. She and her husband Bill are getting ready to head to Siesta Key for a week in their time share that they own. After talking to her we headed for Highlands, North Carolina to do some banking. We decided to head to Franklin on our way back and stopped at a restaurant called Livingstons. They advertise great Cuban sandwiches. Well, we didn’t care for them. Apparently they have pork that is barbequed and it was strange tasting. We won’t go back there again. I guess if we want a good cuban sandwich we’ll have to get it in the Tampa area when we are back in Florida.

The heavy rains came from Tuesday through this Saturday morning. I was headed by myself to Ingles to grocery shop on Tuesday afternoon and almost turned around because of the terrible storm that I was going through. However, since it was only a ten minute drive I continued on hoping that it would be better in Clayton. It was much better when I arrived. Jeff said that it was a terrible storm in Dillard. Of course, Kozmo stuck to him like glue since she doesn’t like thunder. There were reports of 60 mile per hour winds in the area. Luckily nothing was damaged by us. During the morning hours Saturday, a strong thunder storm came through and lasted from 3AM to about 6AM. If you had ever been in a motel years ago and put in a quarter in a machine to get the bed to vibrate, then you know how we felt because Kozmo was the “little vibrating machine”. After walking around this morning we found lots of water down by the stream. We even have water behind our site that looks like a small stream. It is actually only a drainage ditch between our property and the road. We are on a severe flood warning for the area. Below are pictures uphill from our site and downhill.

     

We had a fantastic country fried steak sandwich at Annettes’ Café on Thursday of this week. The waiter, Kenneth, said he thinks it is the best sandwich around, and he was right. Jeff put swiss cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, mayo and bacon on his and I had it without the bacon and cheese and it was delicious! The bun was toasted which made it even better tasting. The café folks all know our names now and they even know what we like to drink when we come in. They make you feel like family and that makes for a nice atmosphere.

Other news, we bought Kozmo a stuffed animal that looks like a rabbit since she loves to go rabbit “hunting” at dusk. Since she doesn’t play with toys, we are slowly introducing her to “Rudy the Rabbit” in hopes she takes a liking to him. So far she doesn’t dislike him but we figured she must not have had toys with her previous owner.  We have tried rawhide chews as well, but she doesn’t seem to like them either. She just loves to be rubbed and gets all of our attention whenever she looks at us. Yes, she is spoiled!

Lastly, we are expecting a short visit from one of Jeff’s former guidance counselors Thursday of this week. She is heading back home to Tampa after attending another former co-workers wedding in Ohio. We will visit and share a lunch with her. She stopped by for a short visit last summer as well.

We hope you are having great weather and enjoying yourselves wherever you are. We are getting lots of reading done. As a matter of fact, I finally finished the 820 page novel, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson. That was a difficult one to read, but I really enjoyed it. Has anyone read his three books? Has anyone read the Fifty Shades of Gray books? I haven’t and wondered if somebody out there is brave enough to say how they feel about it. I’d like to know what all the fuss is about.

‘Til next time….

Just Watchin’ the Flowers Grow

We haven’t posted since June 5 because we really haven’t been doing much except growing flowers and vegetables. The pictures below are evidence of our work. Check out the before and after photos of the herbs and veggie garden, The first picture was taken June 3 and the second June 24.

   

   

Next, check out the tomatoes and flowers.

   

   

Hanging ferns on coach house.

The swallows that built the nest in the corner of the deck roof on a beam, have fledged. But the funny thing is three out of the four come back at night to where the nest “used” to be. I moved it to a tree after noticing that they didn’t come back one night. I figured they were done with the nest and I wanted to move it and clean the area-they do make a mess. Well, they are still coming back. We guess they are so young and don’t know where else to go to sleep. When I moved the nest I was so amazed at how intricate it was built. My surprise was there was an egg in it. It was probably one that didn’t make it to hatch. After they fledged I cleaned off the deck so that almost all of the bird droppings were gone. We don’t want any more nests in the coach house area because they make big messes. Plus, we are afraid they might get into the ceiling fan and kill themselves. Now the only thing we have to be a little concerned about are the rabbits that are going under the deck. We know they are there because Kozmo smells them and is on point before and after our walks. She just loves going on “rabbit hunts” even though she just looks at them.

You know we have to eat to survive, so we have still been going out about three to four times a week to our favorite places. Since Annette’s’ Café was closed for vacation for 11 days, we got our fix twice this past week on Wednesday and Friday. Last night I grilled some chicken and had crispy, fried okra with a salad. It was so delicious! Today, Sunday, we went to La Cabana in Dillard. It is a Mexican place that we haven’t been to this season. We shared chicken fajitas for two and they were very good.

I got very motivated this past week and made homemade bread. On Monday, I made a white bread. It came out small but it was good. On Wednesday I made two loaves of Amish White Bread and reduced the amount of sugar to 1/3 of a cup instead of the 2/3 cup it called for and it was absolutely delicious!

Amish White Bread

When we toasted it, it was out of this world. But, of course, I must try my hand at honey wheat bread which is healthier for us in the next day or two. As you can see by the picture, the bread looked great! I used to make bread in my bread maker when we lived at the Valrico house. No room for a bread maker in the rv. I made beer cheese bread, rye bread and of course white bread with it. It always seemed to not last due to getting spoiled. But with this bread that I knead by hand, it has lasted four days and has not gone bad at all. Any frustrations that I have can be taken out on the kneading, which is hard on the hands for ten minutes. But, the outcome is worth it.

I finally went to the tie-dye activity on Saturday here in the park. It costs $2 to use their dyes and I bought my own white t-shirt from Fred’s Discount Store that cost $7, so I got a good deal. As you can see from the picture, I didn’t do too badly.

   

I read on the internet some other methods that I might try next time. The only stupid thing I did this time was to put my bare hand in the dye and not use a latex glove. After one of the work campers told me she had gloves, I put them on and wore them. But my right hand was all purple. She said it would eventually go away within two days. Well, after using soap and baking soda, and also bathing Kozmo yesterday, the dye is gone. About 10 people showed up to make the shirts and it got very hot from 10am to noon. I actually had to stop and towel dry my face because the sweat was just running down onto my glasses. We are amazed that it is that hot up here, like 93 degrees in the mountains. But, we wouldn’t trade it for Florida because even though it is hot it is not humid. We enjoy sitting on the deck in the evenings and with the ceiling fan on, it is quite comfortable.

Jeff will be DJ’ing on July 3 and July 7. He is going to do a Name That Tune game on July 3 by playing about 10 songs or so and people have to guess the songs. A prize will be awarded for the winner(s). On July 7, he is playing for three hours from 7 to 10. We hope there will be lots of people around for the activities.

We hope the weather is fine for your travels or wherever you are parked for the summer. Right now we are concerned about our friends in Florida watching Tropical Storm Debby create havoc.

‘Til next time……

Just Another Birthday

I woke up at 7:30am, yesterday June 4, 2012, to Kozmo licking my face, a daily ritual in our bed. After Jeff and I played with Kozmo I took her out for her morning walk. When I came back, Jeff was playing a birthday song on his computer for me. The song was a jazzy version of “Happy Birthday” sung by Justin Timberlake, of all people. It was really great! We don’t give each other cards anymore for our birthdays. We sometimes go to the store and stand in the card aisle and pick out cards that we would have given each other for anniversaries or birthdays and then show them to each other and give each other a kiss in the store. That is more priceless than buying the card. LOL

Today was an ordinary day. So what if I turned 57 years old? It is just a number. I felt terrible when I turned 40 and was totally depressed for a couple of days. But I got over it. When I turned 50, I felt proud to be a half-century old and happy. Every day I wake up and can stand up is a happy day. I still can’t believe I am coming up on being retired for two years. Now that is more amazing than birthdays. I love being retired!

My parents called me up about noon time and talked to me for an hour. They live in New Jersey. My father is into nutrition now and I heard everything there is to hear about what you should eat and what vitamins you should take. He bought a book about two months ago called Eat for Life and is now acting like their unofficial spokesman. Since he used to be a scientist he knows what is good and not good for you, according to him. If I ate all that he says he eats and take all the vitamins and supplements that he takes, I wouldn’t have any money left over in my pension. LOL

After talking to my parents my sister, Linda, from Selma, North Carolina called. We spoke for 45 minutes. It was nice hearing her voice. She still gets my birthdate confused with our grandmother’s birthdate which was on June 9. But she took a chance and sang to me after confirming it was my birthday. I am five years older than her. So all the talk about being “old” was not a downer to me. She will get to 57 years old and then I will tell her how “old” she really is. LOL

We went out to Franklin, North Carolina to eat our lupper at 3:40. It had been a day where there was rain off and on but when we left it was sunny. I wore my sunglasses so I looked younger than 57. :-) We headed for Fatz Café, which is a great place to eat. We started with an appetizer called Cajun Firecracker Sticks, which had fresh, hand-selected spicy shrimp, Andouille sausage, seared onions and peppers, spinach and melted jalapeno jack cheese, hand rolled in tomato-basil tortillas. They are fried crisp and served with a spicy ranch and Fatz onyum sauce. They gave us six of them and we ate four and took the other two home. I had a parmesan encrusted basa fish meal, which was lightly sautéed with broccoli and a baked potato. Absolutely delicious! I couldn’t eat it all so we brought that home too. Jeff had a very good house salad followed by the Hard Cider Sirloin Sampler which contained a six ounce sirloin marinated in their house made cider blend complemented with their world famous Calabash fried chicken and golden shrimp with a baked potato. He also had blue cheese and peppercorn topping for his steak. He enjoyed it all. I was surprised how tender the steak was after I had tasted it. I would definitely get the steak whenever we go back. No dessert even after the waiter mentioned all the delicious stuff they had. It was a very nice birthday dinner.

After getting back home Kozmo greeted us like we had been gone all night. We were only gone an hour and a half. We took her for a quick golf cart ride because it was about to rain again. My closest friend Linda, from Auburndale, Florida called about 7:50 and we spoke for about 40 minutes or so. It was great hearing her voice. I will be calling her next Monday as she will be finishing her career as a teacher that day. I also got a text message from my other sister, Cindy, who lives in Unionville, NY. She will be calling me tonight.

After watching some television, I decided to read for an hour before finally turning off the lights at 11:45. It was a great day even though it seemed like another common day in the life of Barbie Boldt. How do you celebrate your birthdays? I have always been the type to stay out of the limelight when birthdays came around. I don’t like being the center of attention. I knew one time that someone was going to give me a surprise party at work. After finding out about it I took off work that day and told my friend that I wouldn’t be there. She didn’t like that, but she knew I didn’t like surprises. That is one reason why I didn’t attend my own retirement reception. I didn’t want people being forced to attend and say meaningless things. They always say “we will keep in touch”, and two years later only one person who is my best friend regularly “keeps in touch” with me. To me, it is a façade that people put on to make you feel good. Today the people we meet while travelling keep in touch with us and bring a new meaning to the word “friend”. No “put-ons” just genuine friends in which we all have a common bond which is rving.

Til next time…

Life is Grand !

Well, the Memorial Day weekend passed and it was a success for us at Falls View and River Vista RV Resort. The campground was full-well actually only 3 of the about 150 sites were open. We had a delicious grilled hamburger, beans, chips, and drinks on Saturday, May 26, in the Mountain Center of River Vista. This was part of the campgrounds activities. The workkampers and managers prepared it all and it was delicious! We went to the music event in the Mountain Center at 7pm and listened to the Ram Cats perform.

They were very good! They are a local Rabun County band and play mostly blues music. A slide guitar and the harmonica played  integral parts in all tunes. And, the musicians that played both were quite good. We only stayed an hour since we were tired from the day’s events. There was a large turnout for the meal portion of the day but there was a small crowd of many 40 or so folks present for the music. It could have been that the campers didn’t want to pay the additional $4 to attend the Ram Cats performance.

On Memorial Day the Falls View owners had a pot luck and barbeque at the Mud Creek Pavilion, which is down by the stream. It is a covered pavilion with picnic tables, a grill, and electrical hookups.

We brought pea salad and it was OK. I made it with Laura Lynn brand sweet peas and they were mushy compared to Libby’s peas. The flavor was good but I didn’t like the mushiness. Jason Rambo, a resident of Falls View, made the pork and it was great! He also asked Jeff if he would bring some music down for us to enjoy. So instead of taking out the big speakers and all the equipment, we took our Bose speaker box and Jeff prepared an IPOD full of great hits. The music that most everyone enjoyed was a tribute to Memorial Day veterans. People were singing and just enjoying themselves. Some people did dance to the rock and country music, too. We sure do have some great cooks here. It was a nice turnout of about 46 people. We left at about 7:40pm just before the sprinkling of rain began.

We got some work done by our handyman, Kevin, on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Kevin has built our deck on our site 4 years ago and last year built the coach house cover over the deck. He does great work and is very reasonable with his fees. We have had some trouble with the long sewer hose not having a great slope to it when we have to empty the tanks. From where our dump valves on the fifth wheel to the sewer outlet that enters the ground was about 25 feet. We had to pick up the hose and “walk it” towards the sewer outlet to make sure it empties into the sewer properly.  So, Kevin raked the mulch away and dug up the dirt and put a sewer extension into the ground with the new sewer outlet being 3 feet from our rig. He then covered the extension with the dirt and replaced the mulch. It now has a great slope and it looks so much nicer.

  

After he finished that job on Tuesday, he came back on Wednesday and installed an outdoor ceiling fan with a light attached to it in the coach house above our table. We bought a remote to go along with it and now we can control the three fan speeds on warm days and  we can sit outside in the dark and read if we wanted to under the fan’s light. Below are pictures of before and after the ceiling fan addition.

  

He also hardwired an outlet onto the outside of the shed. We had been using an extension cord which was very inconvenient. After he finished that job, he extended the deck over a planter area we had adjacent to the shed area. You see now that we have the roof over the deck that planter area was really of no use. We now have more room to put our storage unit that houses our stereo system and other stuff at the rear of the deck against the shed. 

  

As they were working on it they had to contend with our barn swallows as they were coming in regularly to take care of their nest. (Thanks Judy for identifying the birds). We are very pleased with the results of all of the work Kevin and his son did. Now I will get the stain and apply it to the deck extension to match the rest of the deck so it will be beautiful!

Thursday we bit the bullet and spent a chunk of cash! You see our golf cart batteries have not been holding a charge well since we arrived in April. They are the original batteries and since our cart is a 2005 model, the batteries are 7 years old. We’ve been fortunate, I guess, as we were told about 5 years is what you can expect on their service life. Our cart is a fully electric 48 volt Club Car. It has 4, 12 volt deep cycle golf cart batteries. Until Jeff started researching them online we didn’t realize their cost. Most of them go for between $210 and $300 A PIECE! One of our neighbors heard we were looking into getting new ones, he needed some new ones, as did one other owner. The fortunate part for us is that another one of the Falls View owners is in the golf cart business in South Carolina. He was contacted and gave the four of us (another owner needed them) great prices on the batteries. Plus, he would send a man with our batteries from SC to Falls View, install our new ones, and take the old ones away. We hit the jackpot and saved roughly between $50 and $140 PER battery. We feel really good about that deal even though it cost a chunk as it was. No more battery concerns for 5 years or so….we hope.

We ate out four times this week. We went to Mountain Man on Tuesday. I had a delicious blue cheese hamburger with their homemade fries and Jeff had their gyro with fries. Very good indeed! On Wednesday, we ordered a pizza from Main Street Pizzeria along with some teriyaki wings. They were also great! On Thursday for lunch we ate at Annette’s Café in Dillard, which is out favorite place to eat at now since it is so good and inexpensive. Plus, it takes us all of 5 minutes to get there. We both had the country fried steak with a salad and another vegetable along with a piece of cake. Jeff had the German Chocolate cake and I had the lemon cake. Very Good!!! To think it costs only $6.49 a piece, that includes dessert AND beverage, it is a steal. I don’t know how they do it. Can you tell….we LOVE to eat!

We got some needed showers on Friday throughout the day. Nothing really to brag about but it meant I didn’t have to water my tomato plant or the flowers. It actually lowered the temperature to a low of 48 degrees on Saturday morning.

We left on a beautiful Saturday morning for the “bigger” mountains of North Carolina. The day was a beautiful one with some light breezes and a high of 77 degrees. Kozmo, of course, came along for the ride and enjoyed herself. She sometimes acts like a baby because she gets irritable when she is tired. She wants Jeff to rub her and talk to her. She loves his attention but doesn’t mess with me since I am driving. We travelled to Franklin, Waynesville, Maggie Valley, and Cherokee. There seemed to be many people in Cherokee in the water  fishing or just tubing. It was a nice site to see. I love driving the truck in the mountains, especially down the mountains that have an 8% slope. I just put the truck in third gear and let the beautiful engine and jake brakes take control. Plus, we yawn so much to clear our ears going up and down the mountains due to the elevation changes that our jaws get tired. I don’t know how Kozmo adjusts to the elevation changes.

We headed out to the Valley Cafe  in Dillard for some dinner after resting a couple of hours from our drive through the mountains. Both of us ordered fried chicken salads. I had ranch dressing, Jeff had his with bleu cheese dressing. But, then we both succumbed to a piece of the “Cake of the Month”….would you believe Key Lime Cake. Now that’s cake NOT key lime pie. It was truly awesome. I brought back some of mine…Jeff polished his off at the restaurant.

Today is a stay at home day. I did finally get my 2 foot by 4 foot above ground garden put together and planted. I planted squash, cucumbers, lettuce, green onions and carrots. Now to nurture them and hope they grow. We do have some tomatoes beginning to grow.

  

WHEW, That’s it for now….’Til next time……