P & H come to visit

After all of the walking at Disney yesterday, (22,000 steps) we wanted to relax today.  Harold and Pat were coming to see us and the kids today.  We were going to go ride some more boats and buses today and tour some.  We headed by bus to Fort Wilderness Lodge which is just down the road from us.  The lobby of the hotel is quite interesting and is all done in logs.

A Day at Magic Kingdom

A person is never too old to feel the Magic of Disney when you lay your eyes on the Castle.  You can almost sense that Cinderella and a lot of other Princes and Princesses live there along with the odd wicked witch.  We arrived early and walked down the street toward the Castle.

They are here!

The kids arrived late last night.  It was almost 2 when we got to bed so today was just a lazy day.  We did some swimming and some other fun things around Fort Wilderness.

Disney with Family

This entire week was spent at Disney with our Daughter Kaitlyn and her husband Greg along with our grandchildren, Grace and Max.  They will not be arriving until after midnight so Sue and I headed in to Fort Wilderness Campground to get set up.  While I was walking around I was thinking how I like the fact that the Ponderosa has the ability to sit right down on the ground.  Lots of other units are way up in the air and that just adds steps that you have to go up.

In God We Trust

It has been raining most all day here.  Not a heavy rain but just continuous enough it was hard to get outside at all.  We even had the heat on for a while just to keep the humidity in check.  Of course there was no sun either so no solar charging the batteries.  That meant starting the generator for a couple hours.  We have forgotten what that sounds like.

The Vomotron!!

Today was a lot cooler.  There is storm a brewin me thinks.  The clouds are heavy grey and they are forecasting lots of rain for the next couple days.  Gary and Jean were in Saint Cloud this morning so they bought donuts for us all again.  They were so yummy, thanks guys!!  We may not get morning happy hour for a couple days.

Silas is 4!!!

Today is our Grandson Sila's 4th birthday!  He is getting sooo big so fast.  He has a wonderful soul and I think will have his dads sense of humour.  The grin on his face gives you some indication what he is like.  Hope he has a wonderful Birthday and we look forward to seeing him with ice cream on his face in May when we get CJ's open for business again. Love you bud!!!

Need a Boost?

One of the things that is interesting of Facebook is the Memories thingy.  Every day it brings up something from the past for you to see.  Today was a picture of me from our trip to Mexico back in 2015.  I had just had my ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator) put in my chest and I wanted to get a tattoo of a pair of jumper cables on it.  So a vendor on the beach gave me a henna tattoo so I could try it out.  This is what it looked like.  He put it right around the scar where it was implanted.   I still have not got a real tattoo yet, but maybe this memory will spur me on to get at it.  Sorry you have to endure looking at my chest again!!!

The Escapees are camped next to us!!

This morning we had happy hour on our porch and everyone came with their coffee's.  One of the new guys, Tom, came over to join us.  He is an Escapee like we are (if our membership hasn't run out) so we all got talking Escapee stuff.  He is a friend of our good friend Kyra, so there were a few stories going around.  I think they will fit right in here.

A New Elk

A flu bug has gone through P & H's Motorhome.  Have I ever mentioned that they have named their home "Miss Daisy"?  Also they have their family with them so being sick in cramped quarters is not fun.  So they quickly rented a place in a resort in Orlando for a few days so that they will not have to travel as much to get to the things they want to do with the kids in Orlando.  Catch to the move is that dogs are not allowed on the resort, so we are Lexi sitting for a few days.

Work day

The company I work for in the summer time back in Canada is growing quickly and because of that there is work for me to do even in the winter months.  Our safety program is young and needs lots of attention, so I am the guy that got nominated to do some of it!!   That was how I spent the entire day today.  This is my desk and I love sitting here because I can see all around me.

Blood Moon

Today we experienced a little Florida winter.  It is funny how one becomes climatized and forgets what they have endured all their lives with bitter cold and snow.  Around here it was windy and cool and you would think by all the whining that we were going to have a good old Manitoba Blizzard.  Now I know how all our friends over in Quartzsite have felt up until now.

Beach Day

It was another nice warm Florida day so we decided to go to the beach.  It is about an hour drive to Melbourne Beach which is on the Atlantic side of Florida.  The breeze was blowing but it was still a beautiful day.  We joined Pat and Harold and their kids and granddaughter there.  This was the first time Ava had been to the ocean.  We got all set up to enjoy the afternoon and Ava got right down and dirty in the sand.

Someone call the Fire Truck!

Last night Pat and Harold's daughter Kaitlyn and her husband Tanner and their cute little girl Ava arrived in Florida from Manitoba.  They flew into Orlando and P & H picked them up there. They didn't get back to Three Lakes until after I was tucked up in bed so I had to wait till this morning to say hello.   Little Ava sure has grown since we saw her in October.  They are ready to enjoy some Florida sun.

Pat, Kaitlyn, Ava, and Tanner and of course Charlie

A Free Day!!!

Today we decided not to go back to the RV Show,  but rather find some neat stuff to do around Tampa.  First order of business was to take in the FREE continental breakfast at the hotel.  It was a great breakfast with waffles, boiled eggs, biscuits and gravy and cereal and fruit.  And of course coffee or juice.  Now one could argue that this is not free but rather added into the price of the room.  Work with me here just for a few moments and let me think it was FREE.  While we were eating we looked out the window and the front desk guy was having a Vape break.  For a minute I thought he was on fire.  I'm not sure how vaping works, but this can't be good for the lungs.

Mouse in the House

The past few days we have been hearing a lot of scurrying and chewing going on in the Ponderosa.  We are not surprised because where we are parked there is a lot of longer grass and we are actually out in the woods.  So I decided it was time to start a trap line.  I got a trap all slathered up with peanut butter and set in the cupboard where the little varmint was last heard.  It didn't take long before "snap"! and we had one.  The poor wee thing even hanged itself to boot.

Cool day but Blood was going to Boil

It was a cool day in Florida.  When I listened to the radio on my way into St Cloud at 10 this morning they were talking about how everyone should dress for the winter weather we are having.  I guess I didn't get the memo because I was wearing shorts and a tee shirt and I was not cold.  Everyone I saw on the street had on a coat and some were wearing touques.  The word winter tends to stir a thought of something waaaaaay colder than what it is today.  Check out these temperatures back home.

Disney on his mind

I could bore you with our trip to Costco today but I won't.  Instead I will give you a little chuckle that I saw today.

Friends Return

Last evening we were hanging around the circle and we noticed a 5er pull in across the way.  It was Janice back from the Everglades.  She had left us a week or so ago to head south and see what was there.  We had thought about going there for a while but she said it wasn't that great.  Where they had been was about 40 miles from town and there was nothing out there.  So she came back, I think it was mostly cause she missed us. Ha Ha.   Welcome back Janice.

Fire in the Hole!!

The other day when we went to town we saw a huge plume of smoke across the lake from the marina.  When we see smoke like this it is always worry some because out here, although there is are lots of wet lands, there are also great expanses of grass lands and forests.  Some of the locals seemed to think it was a farmer burning off some of his land.  No one seemed too concerned so we went about our business.

More Power!

The two additional batteries that I bought the other day seem to be working out really well.  Instead of starting to run low on power if we watch TV until midnight, we now have lots left over. Even with only 4 solar panels, our 6 batteries are generally full by noon if the sun is shining.  So today I had to permanently mount them which meant removing the old metal tray and replacing it with a simple plywood shelf.
 

Old Tray

Who's having a Birthday??

Today was a trip to Kissimmee to get some stuff.  We had to pick up some things at the Amazon locker.  Amazon shipments are like having Christmas all over.  Today I lucked out and ended up with a pair of sandals.
 

Too Nice today to do anything

We are having some great weather here in Florida.  Even the cooler days are perfect.  Laurence was having some troubles today with her generator.  It shuts itself for what appears to be no reason at all.  Well of course that is not true because there is generally a reason.  In this case there seem to be a lot of possible causes.  Bottom line is that after waiting a while it fired up as if nothing had happened.

Movie Night in Florida

Another really beautiful day here in Three Lakes.  We loaded up our garbage and took it to the waste disposal in Kenansville.  Then off to the Post Office and Hardware store to pick up lots of parcels for everyone in camp.  Laurence got a shipment of 6 Lithium batteries and her new Victron controller for the 12 solar panels she picked up yesterday.  She is excited to get this solar array all up and running.

6 Lithium Batteries in there

Odd Job Squad

We have settled in here to the point where we are getting into a day by day work list.  We are saving our tour time to when we start our trek over to Texas.  Thats when we will stop at the museums and interesting stuff but for now its time to do chores.  First I climbed up on Harold's roof where he is busy changing out his fantastic fan.  Now that got my mind thinking and guess what?  I am going to install one in our bedroom instead of putting in a ceiling fan.  Think it might work?

Fear Less vs. Fearless

Its hard to believe that this is our 4th winter in the southern US and we have been living full time in the Ponderosa as long.  It took a great leap of faith for us to decide to sell everything we have and move into our Class A motorhome.  We had to make a lot of decisions based on pure faith mixed with a little research, but the final decision was made by following the lead of some people who we knew only from social media, and who later became real friends.  It takes a lot of guts to pack up and head out into the wild yonder not knowing what tomorrow will bring.  A good friend of ours has written a book about her life and the decisions she had to make as she moved through life following her dreams.  A lot of what she writes about, is what brought us full time RVers to where we are today.  The fact that she was by herself just compounded the fear I'm sure, because those with partners at least have someone to discuss important day to day decisions with and she didn't have that luxury.  I encourage anyone to get her book which is available on Amazon for your Kindle.  You can order it by simply clicking on our link to Amazon up on the left side bar of this blog page, and searching for the name of the book.  Fear Less vs Fearless   It only costs $6.00 to get it and the money will go to maintain Malia's travel journal long after she is not in this world to share it.

A Dog Day Afternoon

Today was a cooler day.  We have been seeing temperatures in the high 80's F lately and today we didn't make it to 70F and the wind was blowing so it was chilly for us Floridians.  We felt bad for ourselves until someone mentioned that the temp in Quartzsite AZ was 25F this morning and that Tombstone had lots of snow. We definitely made the right decision to turn left instead of right.  Although it will not be hot here in the near future, it will certainly be nice.  We have always said that we like to chase 24C so we are accomplishing that.

A Touch of France

A couple weeks ago some of our friends stumbled across a cute little restaurant in Melbourne FL called La Crepe De France.  They fell in love with the food and have made plans for us to revisit it today.  The neat thing about it is that our newest friend Laurence is from France originally and is living in a Motorhome now and we have come to adore her and her French ways.  We are excited because this will be like a little walk back into her culture roots.  So off we went to La Crepe for brunch.

A Drive in Three Lakes WMA

Since we have arrived here I have always been curious what there is if you followed the hunt trail that starts here.  So today was the day to explore.  It was a hot day so the coolest place to be was in the Jeep with the AC on.  So Laurence and her dog Paul loaded up and came with us as well.  The road was narrow but very interesting.

Laura leaves, Pat and Harold return

Today Laura decided it was time to head up to Cape Canaveral for a while.  She is going to stay at the Moose Lodge up there which is on Merritt Island right next to the Cape.  We may drop in to visit her later this month when there is a rocket launch.  We will miss her and Sara Jane and Bean.

Let me tell you about Three Lakes WMA Florida

I thought today I would tell you a little about where we are staying.  First of all to everyone that says you can't find any cheap places to hang out in Florida....."Hold My Beer".   There are lots of spots if you do a little research.  We probably could find a half dozen spots within an hour of Disney World.