We’ve Got Georgia on Our Minds

Sorry for being such a slacker on getting this post up but….. yeah, I know there is no excuses but really, we have been busy living our life and it is a good one.

When are you head’n north? - that’s the usual first sentence when a group of us Plantationers get together. Many fellow RVers are heading back to their summer spots, be it a home or another campground this time of the year and we’re no exception. Time zips by way too fast – it seems we have just arrived down here and got set up and now we’re talking and planning about going north. The activities here at the Plantation have slowed to a crawl. The Sunday Ice Cream Social is still busy and of course the ladies find ways to be together – whether it’s a luncheon or a shop hop for more fabric.

The yard work even has to be done in the south in winter. Since we have a wooden deck, we need to protect it from the summer sun down here. I accidently spilled some bleach on the deck doing something else and noticed how nice the deck ‘cleaned’ up so I took an old vehicle wash brush, a bucket and bleach and ‘swabbed’ the deck to clean all the black and grey off. It turned out better than expected so then we used a roller and smothered it with a sealant. Now when it rains, the water beads nicely instead of soaking in. We also had to trim our Sago Palms to remove the dead fronds caused by the ice storm in January. I tried to get by without cutting the lawn but the warm weather just pushed the grass and weeds out of the ground so I had to do it. Oh the woes of having a dedicated site!

As the season draws to a close, we eat out more often. To name a few, we had cherry pie for happy hour at Larry & Marti’s, dinner at Ann & Bill’s, a Mexican lunch out and a last lunch at one of our favs, Big Daddy’s Grill. The ladies went to a quilt show in Pensacola so the guys broke down and met them at McGuires for lunch! What a final couple of weeks and yes, I am a little bigger for it!

 

Here are some pictures of the quilts that inspired the ladies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It seems that a local election is coming up and while Barb & I were out and about, we saw this sign. This guy is a shoe in for sheriff, with a name like this, he can’t miss!

Our departure was Apr 12th and several of our buds came by to wish us well – I know they only came by to make sure we actually did leave! And we’re off to visit with Lydia for a few days but we did not realize this was Masters weekend and we just had to get to a Walmart by 3PM so we could watch at least part of the third round. We have celebrated The Masters since the mid 80’s and not about to stop now. We knew we would be at Lydia’s for the final round.

Lydia arranged a parking place for us to leave the rig for the few days we were with her. We pulled in there late in the morning on Apr 13th, called Lydia and she met us and announced, hey we’re going to the golf club for lunch! It was great seeing her again and we looked forward to the few days we were there. After lunch, we settled in front of her TV for the final round, a few beverages, some snacks and good entertainment. Not that we need to eat more but if you know Lydia, you do not go hungry.

We had a wonderful time with Lydia and could have stayed longer but our ‘hobby house’ was calling us. On the cool and windy Tuesday, we took Lydia on a Geocache adventure and found 4 of 6. Before we left the plantation, we ‘cached’ a couple of times and found a travel bug. The ‘owners’ were full timers so we felt committed to give this bug a trip so we left it at one of the caches we found with Lydia.

Wednesday AM, we stopped at Roland’s tire to check a slow leaking tire before we hitched up. The tech read the work order incorrectly and broke down the wrong tire, cleaned the rim bead and replaced the valve stem then he had to do it again to the correct tire! No hole or leak was found but all good with both tires and all this for $15.00! Off to Walmart for some wine to import but they had just completed a software up date and their system would not accept our Canadian debit card – this could be a real problem next year! Back to the storage and connect and head’n north.

Wow, I75 was rougher than we remembered it to be. This leads me to thinking about the abuse that we put our tires through. They have to be the most important part of our vehicles – they connect us to the road and get us to where we’re going safely. I’m really glad now that the tire place took the time to break down the tire and rim to ensure everything was ok even though the tech did not see a leak.

Our next blog entry should have some info on our progress on the hobby house so stay tuned….

It Appears to be Spring–Finally

In our last post, we mentioned that our weather has been all over the map but ever since the last cold spell, we have been having beautiful sunny skies and warm temps. Of course, as I write this entry, we are planning our drive home with mixed emotions. Sad because the weather is so wonderful, going to miss many of the friends we have here and of course, the activities. But happy because we are stopping off in Tate Georgia to spend a few nice days with Lydia. And of course, we are getting excited to start the reno on our ‘hobby house’. We have been shopping for tools, price comparisons on lumber and appliances – we have purchased our first appliance, a cooktop for the kitchen. The prices in Canada could not come close to the deal we found here. I am going to RANT a bit here – we have opened accounts with all the utilities (Electricity, Water/Sewer and Gas) and we pay about $100.00/month with zero – yes, zero consumption! The $100 bucks pays for the stuff in the ground, the men in the trucks and the administration. Of course, if you know me, I called to whine and complain and they offered to cancel our accounts and services! Wow, glad to be a home owner again!

 

Ok, so back to what we’ve been up to. Barb held a craft class in the rig, teaching Ann & Cheryl (a friend of Ann’s) how to create a pine needle basket. I don’t know how they have any fun when there is no wine involved but they did get something accomplished which is more than I can say about the little craft class I tried to conduct last fall! Anyway, I digress here, Barb has been busy trying to finish up some of her on going quilt projects while I try to keep ahead of the yard work.

 

We spent an afternoon with Jerry & Diane at their home in Foley. They had completed the flooring – it wasn’t down last year and we wanted to see the finished look. They have decorated nicely and we consider they are the king and queen of garage sales and auctions! They have acquired some very nice furnishings through these ‘shopping experiences’.

 

We finally broke out the bean bag toss game that we picked up last summer. We also learned that it is called ‘corn hole’ down here. Doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling when I tell people we play corn hole! Anyway, Bill and Ann came over for the afternoon and we set up the game and of course broke out some brewskis to wash down the dust .

On Mar 22, Barb & I were wandering around Wal-Mart and found some lawn chairs from last years stock that were very grimy and looked awful but they were half price at $8 bucks! I spoke to a sales person and he said they tried to clean them when the new stock came in. Now I know you know how tight I can be so we decided to take a risk and see if we can clean them up and bought 2. We brought them home and used a secret cleaning recipe that Marti passed onto us and voila, they came up like new! To end our day, we went over to Dick & Marcia’s for happy hour that last into the evening. Everyone brought ‘horse doovers’ and their beverages. Again, too much fun with lots of laughs.

I have been leaking oil on the truck and took it around to 3 shops for a ‘second opinion’ and estimates. The first shop located the leak in minutes and explained what needed to be done and told me that it was a 6 hour job plus parts. The second and third shops considered it to be more than a days job and estimated that $1,000.00 should be a realistic estimate! Ouch, so I set an appointment for the first shop and they got the job done to the estimate they stated! Thanks Wilson Automotive in Foley!

 

As the season here winds down, we try to celebrate with our friends and this day is no different. We have decided to go to Felix’s Fish Camp on the causeway to Mobile. It’s a bit of a drive but well worth it. The ambiance is ‘rustic coastal’ and the food is excellent and the service is like no other.  We even had some wildlife entertain us while we had lunch. What an experience! Sometimes Barb & I have to pinch ourselves, we can not believe how good life is…..

 

 

 

We hope all is good where you are and please enjoy these blossom shots of the Wisteria bush in our yard that Barb has captured…..