Normal Stuff and A Call From Jenny

Orange City, FL
54 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 76 deg. partly cloudy, NE wind @ 10 to 20 mph.

Not a whole lot been happening around here the last few days. Jim's allergies have been really bad lately, so he's been staying inside most of the time. Hopefully whatever he's allergic to will be done pollinating soon.

Laura stopped by for a little while Friday afternoon. She had been out and about, so she stopped by on her way home. I think this is her weekend to work, so we won't be seeing her in the next few days.

Jim dumped my tanks yesterday, took the garbage to the dumpster and then went to the office and picked up the mail. Other than that, he got caught up on some blogs and e-mails, watched part of the NASCAR race on TV and took a nap.

Meanwhile, Linda did a load of laundry, worked on an embroidery project, checked a bank statement and made a tuna casserole for dinner.

Oh, and Jenny e-mailed him and then after Jim responded with his phone number, she called him on the phone! :-)  They had a nice conversation and tentative plans were made to get together in April, after the Rally up in Tennessee.

Jim and Linda sure are looking forward to seeing her again, (they haven't seen her since the 2008 Rally in Branson, MO), and meeting Don.

Should be fun. ;-)

Today, there's nothing much planned. The inside of me needs a cleaning and I'm sure Jim and Linda will be watching the NASCAR race on TV.

Did you know that New York was the first state to require the licensing of motor vehicles? The law was adopted in 1901.

Finally Got The Photo Posted and It's Time To Head South!

37 Deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast today = high temp. 65 deg. sunny, SW wind @ 5 mph.

Well, as you can see, I finally got the photo of Gin and Syl to load. It sure was good seeing them and getting to know them better. Jim, Linda and I will be looking forward to seeing them and Wanda at the Rally.:-)

It was fairly cool and windy for a good part of the day yesterday, so Jim wasn't out and about much, but he did manage to take the table cloth and seat covers off of the picnic table and get them hung up on my awning arms to dry.

About 4:30 he and Linda took CLT and headed over to Mike and Gina's where they had a nice pork roast dinner. Then, as usual, they headed back here when the kids started getting ready for bed.

Did you happen to notice the current temperature here? Well, we went from setting record high temperatures in the mid to upper 80's on Thursday to frost in some areas this morning!!!!

You know what? I think it's time for us to start heading South!!!

Mike, Gina and the kids are going to be busy today, so I think Jim and Linda are going to do some shopping. I know for a fact that they need to get some groceries before we leave here on Tuesday.

Oh, I don't think I told you, Jim and Linda decided to try out a different RV Park down in Florida this year. It's called the Highbanks Marina & Campresort .  It's a CG that Jim and Linda stayed at many years ago with their previous MH. It's actually closer to Laura and Lindsey's and, the monthly rates are less that that of the Orange City RV Resort where we have been staying. It's a smaller park, it's down by the St. John's River, and depending where you are in the park, the sites can be pretty small, so we'll have to see how it goes.

So, anyway, Jim called and made a one month, (with the possibility of a second month),  reservation for me the other day. .  He did have to e-mail them a photo of me because they have age and condition restrictions on RVs, but after they saw my photo, they called him back and said that I looked good and they would be glad to rent me a site. :-) 

You know, I really don't mind the age and condition restrictions if they base it on the actual condition of the RV and not just on age. I've seen some RVs that are much newer than me that looked so junky that I wouldn't blame the RV Park if they didn't want to rent them a site. But, if the owners have maintained their RVs and they look nice, I can't see anything wrong with renting them a site, no matter how old they are.

OK, OK, I'm up on my soap box again, I'll get off  now. ;-)

So, the reservation is for the 15th of November, but Jim told the lady that he didn't know if we could get there right on the 15th or not because before we go there, we're going down to Lakeland to see my mechanic.

OK, I can hear you asking, "Why are you going to see your mechanic now? I thought you went in February!" Well, a couple of things. First, my microwave / convection oven is starting to act up. It goes completely dead at times, and other times the turntable doesn't turn. So, being that it's the only oven I have, it would be very inconvenient if it should quit altogether. The second thing is my toilet. Jim has been fighting problems with it for the last year, and it's getting worse. The valve doesn't hold water in the bowl any longer, the pedal sticks most of the time, and if you hold the pedal down too long, water comes out of the back of the toilet. :-(

 So, on the 8th of November, I have an appointment to get those 2 things repaired / replaced, and hopefully they can get it all taken care of so we can get to the CG on the 15th. If not, the lady at the CG said that Jim should just call her and let her know when we would be getting there. That was nice of them. :-)

Whew!!! I hope this all works out!!! :-o

Did you know that Jack o’ Lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday?

Weather, Economy, E-Mail and Oh Oh!!!

Rantoul, IL.
68 deg. clear, SE wind @ 4 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 90 deg. mostly sunny, S. wind @ 10 to 15 mph.

It got pretty warm here in Rantoul again yesterday. I though we might me past the time when we had temperatures in the 90's, but by mid afternoon, the thermometer on my shady side said that it was 93 deg out there. :-{ 

Again nothing happened here at the CG yesterday. A couple RVs left, and if I remember right, only one came in.

You know, they can say all they want about the economy getting better, but from what I've seen, it's still pretty bad and people are not traveling near as much as they did a few years ago. The only time I've seen a Campground anywhere near full, was on a holiday weekend. That's not bad for me though, I can pull into almost any CG without even thinking about making reservations. I'm curious to see how full the parks down in Florida will be this winter.

Oh, Jim got an e-mail from Jodi and Mike yesterday. (Remember Mike stopped by on his way home from work a couple weeks ago?), and they would like to get together Monday evening. Well, Jim sent a reply back telling them that Monday would work fine and asked them to call to discuss what everyone wanted to do. They could meet at a restaurant somewhere or Mike and Jodi could come here for a cookout.

I guess I'll just have to wait and see what everyone decides to do. 

Today promises to be another slow day with temperatures, (depending on what TV station or web site you are looking at), anywhere from the upper 80's to the mid 90's, and higher humidity than we've been having. I'm sure there won't be many, if any RVs coming into the park, and probably a few will be leaving.

So, I'll just sit here in my site and watch the grass grow. ;-(

Oh Oh!!! I think my left rear inside tire is starting to itch!!!

Did you know that Elephants are the only animals that can't jump?

Sanity? and More About The Weather

Rantoul, IL.
74 deg. clear, S. wind @ 7 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 94 deg., humid, mixed sun and clouds, 40% chance of t-storms today and a 90% chance of t-storms tonight.

Yesterday, Jim got an e-mail from Dave, (one of the "Illinois Bunch"), who lives a little South of here. He was questioning Jim's sanity for even wanting to come back from Michigan by the end of July or the 1st part of Aug. In fact he's thinking of stowing away in the back of CLT when we head up there to escape this heat and humidity we've been having. ;-)

I just checked the 7 day forecast for the town that we'll be going to up in Michigan, and the highest temperature they're going to have is 74 deg. today, with highs in the upper 60's and low 70, for the rest of the 7 day period.

Hmmm!!! Maybe Dave's suggestion that we just stay up there isn't so bad!!! ;-)

Jim took a little ride on his bike early yesterday morning, but other than that, absolutely nothing interesting happened around here. We had another heavy shower go through here during the day and the clouds stayed around for awhile so it didn't get quite as hot as fore-casted, but with the rain, the humidity was sky high. :-(  So..... Jim and Linda just stayed inside of me and worked on the CG program, took naps and watched TV. For dinner, they just had BLT sandwiches because neither one of them was very hungry.

Oh, and because of all the rain we've been having, we're now getting a bumper crop of mosquitoes!!! If it ever does cool down enough to be outside, those little buggers will probably be driving everyone back inside!! :-(

OK!! OK!!! I know you're tired of hearing about the weather!!! I'll try to do better tomorrow and write about something else. It's really hard though, it really has a huge effect on what everyone is doing.

Did you know that Female mosquitoes will obtain blood from humans and animals, but only to nourish their eggs? Their food actually consists of nectar and other plant juices.

Hey Dave!! Maybe if Jim moves things around a little, you could get into the back of CLT!!! ;-)

Rain, E-Mails and Phone Calls

Rantoul, IL.
70 deg. cloudy, W. wind @ 7 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 82 deg. partly cloudy, W winds @ 10 to 20 mph.

It rained or looked like it was going to rain all day yesterday. The weather people on TV were calling for severe storms, but they never happened, and then finally last night, the skies opened up and it poured for a good part of the night. In fact I just checked Jim's rain gauge and it has 1.3 inches of rain in it.

Being that it sprinkled off and on all day, not a whole lot happened here. During mid-afternoon, Jim and Linda took CLT and went to the CVS Drug Store and picked up some much needed items, and then went into the IGA grocery store next door and pick up a few grocery items there.

The rest of the day was spent with Linda working on an embroidery project and working with her Family Tree and Recipe programs on the desktop computer. While she was doing that, Jim was trying to catch up on some of the blogs he follows, read, answer and send a few e-mails, and take a little nap.

One of the e-mails he read, was from Dave, (one of the "Illinois Bunch" that we get together with a couple of times a year), who was talking about making plans to come here to the CG to see me sometime this month. He's going to call or e-mail the rest of the people and see if they can figure out a time when everyone can get here.

Then, about 11:00 Jim got a call from Denny and Bev, (more of the Illinois Bunch), and they wanted to know if we were going to be here later in the summer as their schedule is all filled up for June. Well, Jim told them that we are planning on being here for the most of August, and possibly the first part of September, and told them that Dave would probably be contacting them and trying to set up a date.

So..... I'll just have to wait and see when everyone can come. Hopefully they can all come at the same time, but maybe they'll be able to come separately if nothing else.

For dinner, Jim and Linda decided to head over to the local Arby's restaurant for a sandwich. Then they came back here and watched re-runs on TV until bedtime.

Did you know that Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy and Alton, IL all hosted the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates that stirred interest all over the country in the slavery issue?

So You Think Your Had A Bad Christmas?

Orange City, FL.
40 deg. Clear, NW wind @ 9 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 61 deg, mostly sunny, N wind @ 5 to 10 mph.

I don't have much to write about today. There seems to be kind of a lull between Christmas and New Year, and nothing much is happening.

Jim got an e-mail from Dave, (One of the Illinois bunch that we meet up with a couple tires of year), and he and Dee Dee did not have a very good Christmas. Their problems started a little before Christmas when Dave had a flat tire on his truck, (A chunk of steel in a relatively new tire) on a day when it was pouring down rain. Then the day before Christmas, their dog, (Sadie) got sick and couldn't control her bodily functions and made a mess wherever she went. Christmas day, they got a call from Dee Dee's brother, and he was taking Dee Dee's mother to the hospital with stomach pains. Then, while they were there, she had a heart attack!!

Sunday, Dave and Dee Dee were supposed to leave Illinois to come down here to Florida where they have reservations. Well, with Dee Dee's mother in the hospital and Sadie still sick, those plans had to canceled.

Yesterday, Jim got another e-mail from Dave, and he said that they had to have Sadie put to sleep. She was quite old and there was nothing the vet could do for her. Then, he went on to say that Dee Dee is with her mother who is still in the hospital, and they have no idea what will happen as far as their Florida plans go.

Hopefully everything will turn out OK and we'll be able to meet up with them again in about a month. Our thoughts and prayers are with Dave, Dee Dee and Dee Dee's mother.

Oh, and Sadie too. She was a good dog.

Did you know that the tradition of a ball drop to signal the passing of time began at England's Royal Observatory in Greenwich in 1833?

A Three Yeaaa!!!! Day

Rantoul, IL.
62 deg. cloudy, E. wind @ 8 mph.
Forecast today =high temp. 83 deg. becoming partly cloudy, light East winds.

As soon as my roof dried off a little yesterday morning, Jim took the new antenna head and a few tools up on my roof and changed it out. The whole process (including gathering the proper tools), took less than 1/2 hour and soon he was back inside of me to check if the new head helped my TV reception. Well, I'm happy to inform you that I now have better reception that I've had for at least a year!!!!

Yeaaa!!!!

Then, about 10:30, Greg, the Geeky Guy www.geekyguys.com called and said that he had brought his wife home from the hospital, (they had kept her overnight), and he could come and work on the computer around 11:30, if it was all right. Well, Jim and Linda didn't have anything planned, so Jim told him that he should come.

A little after 11:30, Greg, rolled up in front of me in his car and proceeded to try to find out what was wrong with the desktop computer. It took him about 1/2 hour, and now the computer is humming along just like Linda's sewing machine and all programs are working great.

Another Yeaaa!!!!

Then, Jim told Greg about the problem he was having with G-mail on this computer, so Greg started working on it. Come to find out, the G-mail problem was tougher to fix than the Word problem on the other computer. But, after about an hour, Greg had this computer repaired also, and in the process, installed a newer version of Internet Explorer, and also downloaded some other things off of the Internet. Then, he helped Jim install the new external hard drive that he had bought to back-up the files on this computer. Now, this computer is working great, and Jim's G-mail is working again, so you can contact him that way if you want.

Still another Yeaaa!!!!

So, if you're in central Illinois, and need some computer repair, give Greg a call. He's very reasonably priced and is more than willing to tell you what he is doing or has done to repair your problem. He will also give you advice on just about anything to do with computers, if you ask. And best of all, he really knows what he is doing!!!

Definitely a "Good Guy"

Did you know that the first online version of an Encyclopedia and the first one on CD was Grolier?

Jim's e-mail and No Geeks

Rantoul, IL.
64 deg. cloudy, E wind @ 6 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 79 deg, partly sunny, 40% chance of showers, E. wind @ 5 to 10 mph.

First of all, if any of you readers have sent Jim an e-mail using his G-mail address, there's a problem and Jim has not been able to access G-mail at all. So, if you would, please resend your e-mails to Jim's Yahoo account. The e-mail address is the same, just put in yahoo.com after the @ sign instead of gmail.com.

Jim went to the post office to pick up mail yesterday morning, and then stopped by the IGA store and picked up bread, milk and a few other items. By the time he got back here, it was getting hot already, (actually more muggy than hot), so he closed everything up and turned on my AC.

The new TV antenna head didn't get here until late afternoon, and by that time it was too hot, (and threatening rain), for Jim to go up on my roof to install it. So, that will be a project for today, if my roof ever dries off from the rain we've had.

Oh, the Geeky Guy that was supposed to come and work on the desktop computer last night, called and canceled because his wife was sick and he had to take her to the hospital. He apologized and told Jim that as soon as he found out more about her condition, he would call back and reschedule.

So, not much got done yesterday. Jim was going to cook some pork chops out on the grill, but the skies were very dark and it looked like rain, so Linda cooked them on my stove. In fact, it started raining just as they sat down to eat, so maybe he could have got them done outside, but maybe not.

Did you know that grapes explode when you put them in he microwave?