Monday, February 24, 2014

I got up this morning with no Olympics to watch or catch up on.  This was the first time in two and a half weeks.  It was quite refreshing for a change.  The sun was out from the get-go this morning and this was threatening to be a very nice day indeed.

I still had my little friend, the kidney stone, aggravating the hell out of me.  I got up and took my pill early this morning.

Instead of going out for Breakfast this morning, we’d be staying pretty close to home for most of the day.  This afternoon I went over to Ken’s, the computer guru, to see if he would come back and check out my problems again.  I got one video finished but I’m having problems downloading another video tape to the computer.  It’s not good if I have to have the computer fixed after each video.  Ken was at the casino today and expected back about 5 or so.

I didn’t feel much like eating anytime today so I just had something when I felt like it, which included 2 Peanut Butter and Banana sandwiches for lunch today.  That held me over until supper when I ate a cup of Chili that Sharon had made yesterday.  We didn’t eat it yesterday because I didn’t feel like eating at suppertime.  These kidney stones can be very unpredictable.  I should know since I’ve had more than a dozen of them at different times.

We settled in front of the tube tonight for our entertainment.  All new programming on tonight and that was refreshing also.  The new programming has been so chopped up this year you don’t know from week to week whether you’ll be watching a rerun or original programming.  As of now it looks like we’ll be back to original programming for awhile.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

I was up at my usual time this morning and headed toward the coffee pot for a little refreshment.  I got up with the kidney stone pain still bothering me so I took my medication and headed for my recliner for the day.  I never feel much like doing anything when I’m nursing a stone that I need to pass.  Even with the medication it makes you sleepy and not too ambitious.

Corky stopped over just before lunch and asked us if we wanted to go to Mikee’s today.  Mikee’s is a seafood place that sells a nice shrimp combo for half price on Tuesdays.  Of course the “stick in the mud” didn’t feel like going but I told Sharon she should go anyway.  She decided not to go without me.

Just after lunch, my computer expert, Ken Brumbalough stopped over and checked my computer again.  It seems that I might have done “something” because it wasn’t downloading video again.  I hate it when that happens.

Sharon was determined to have Playmoor Burgers for Supper tonight.  Playmoors are 1 patty of ground beef and 1 patty of Bratwurst topped with Cheese, Onions and creamy horseradish sauce.  They are and were quite yummy even though I couldn’t finish mine.

After Supper we camped out in front of the tube for the night.  This would be one of the first nights that we had all original programming to watch.  The DVR was running full time and recording some of the programs we’d watch later.  We stayed up tonight until the cows came home around 11.  We locked up the barn and headed for the bunkhouse.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Another rainstorm last night left us with big puddles all over the campground and elsewhere.  I got up with no pain so I’m hoping that the stone I’ve been battling has passed and I’m over it for the time being.

Ken Brumbalough, my “computer guy”, stopped over with my camera this morning and he managed to find the driver again for my camera.  It was working just fine again.  For how long, I just don’t know, because in my mind, I didn’t do anything to lose the driver in the first place.  However, he did give me explicit instructions how to hook up, and disconnect the camera when downloading the video.  I couldn’t remember if I did it that exact way or not.  In any event he also left me with an extra copy of the driver on a flash drive.

By lunchtime Corky and Deb picked us up to go for Chinese food at the Jade Garden restaurant.  As usual, the food was great and we had our fill from the buffet.  We were sure that we would be at home for much of the afternoon napping but that didn’t happen.  I worked on my new video for the next three hours getting it downloaded to the computer.  I barely finished in time to get my clothes changed, because of the cold weather, to go to the Elks for trivia tonight.

We were driving tonight so we picked up the Zimmermanns at the usual time, 5:45, and headed out for the Elks Club.  Mort and Joanne, and their daughter Kathy who was visiting, and the four of us made up our team for the night.  We definitely had an off night tonight, not even finishing in the top three for the night.  Sharon and I will be missing this get together for the next few weeks.  We’ll be leaving on Friday for Styx River campground up in Robertsdale which is near I-10, and then on to Florida.

By the time we got home we still had a couple of hours to watch the tube before heading for bed.  Sharon gave up at 10 but I hung in there until 11 before I gave it up for the night.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

It was a bit nippy out this morning when I got up and it wasn’t expected to get much warmer for any portion of the day.  It was only in the low 40's even though the sun was out.  It actually warmed up into the 50's but the wind was also blowing today.  Brrr!

Right after Breakfast Sharon was off to the grocery store to pick up some things for next week.  While she was gone, I started cleaning up our site and getting ready to leave tomorrow.  We had chairs and tables, grill and table and last but not least the scooter had to be put in the car.  I’d have to wait on the scooter until Sharon gets back with the car.

When Sharon got back she was loaded down with McD’s meals for the both of us.  I had told her that it would be a nice surprise for both of us when she got back.  The actual surprise came in the form of two apple pies for me and a hot fudge sundae for her.  It was a lovely lunch indeed.

By this afternoon I realized that my movie was not going to fit on my new flash drive.  Why 6GB wouldn’t fit on a 16GB stick I didn’t know.  I checked with everybody I knew and failed to get an answer.  Ken even stopped over to try to figure it out and had no luck.  My only solution, at this point, is to download the video again and cut it in half when it downloads.  I’m learning new lessons everyday with this new Pinnacle.

Later this afternoon we were going to the Legion tonight for Dinner.  Our usual Fish Fry night was tonight and we picked up Corky and Deb at the usual time and headed over to the Club.  We had overflow attendance from the park tonight and we were sequestered into the big dining room for the night.  There is quite the contingent that comes for Thursday fish night.  As usual the Shrimp that I had was delicious again.

We got home in time for a full night of “tube.”  We even had a couple of episodes of Jeopardy to play tonight having missed last night.  We both managed to stay up until 11 tonight before calling it a night.

Friday, February 28, 2014

The sun was out this morning and it would be out all day until we got a couple of sprinkles later on this evening.  Is this an omen or not.   If it is, Gulf Breeze will not be anxious to see us again later on next month.

We were off this morning headed north to Styx River RV Resort just on the other side of I-10.  We cleaned up most of our stuff yesterday so we only had the inside stuff to put away.  We got a leisurely start since we only had about 50 miles to drive today.  As soon as we got on the road we realized that stopping for gas would probably be a wise decision before we got to Styx River.  We knew there was a gas station near our campground but we had no idea what the price might be.  So we stopped at Dodge’s before we really got on the road.  The gas pump there turned out to be quite the video game with the hoops you had to jump through to buy gas.  And then it would only give me one charge before I got the message, “see the cashier.”  We left.

Since we stopped for gas we missed our road that we were going to take to get to the Foley Beach Express, a bypass to avoid downtown Foley.  So we just took a random road that turned out not to intersect with the Express.  So we wrangled around a bit until we found a road that intersected.  We had plenty of time so we weren’t worried about being late for anything.

We managed to check in around noon and got settled into our site shortly after that.  We settled in near the office in a site that was “satellite friendly”.  It was also near enough to the sales office to walk over there tomorrow morning.  They want to “show us the campground” tomorrow hoping they can sell us something.  We ain’t buying.  We’ve already got what they’ll be trying to sell.  We’re only here for the free camping and the $50 gift card to Camping World.

We settled in front of the tube for the night and watched a couple of our favorite programs.  We managed to stay up until 11 tonight without much trouble.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

We were up and ready for our 9 AM appointment so the sales people could show us the campground this morning.  We were scheduled for a 90 minute meeting that turned into 3½ hours.  It really didn’t matter to us since they were giving us a $50 gift card to Camping World in exchange.  We had no place better to be and the tour was quite good.  We were impressed with the campground and buildings but not willing to spend $6900 for a membership at this point.  We made it back home this afternoon in time for lunch.

After lunch we could see at the end of the road that there was a “golf cart Mardi Gras parade” forming, to have a go through the park.  About 30 minutes later they managed to drive right past our and passed us again on their way back.  It was quite hokey.  But a parade is a parade.

Sharon grabbed our clothes and took off for the laundry as soon as we got finished with lunch.  It took a few hours before she got back but she did have a story to go along with it.  It wasn’t a fun story, but a story never-the-less.  Apparently she had 3 people ahead of her to use the machines and one of the dryers wasn’t working.  Not an earthshaking experience but it did rattle her cage.

I worked on the Newsletter for the entire afternoon and got what I figured was a representative offering considering the weather we had this month prevented us from doing anything outdoors.  Sometimes you just have to make a boring month interesting.

We had leftover Rigatoni’s for supper tonight along with a salad.  Pasta is always better the second time around.  At least this pasta was.

After Dinner we settled in front of the TV for the night.  Saturday is notorious for lousy TV and reruns and tonight was no different.  We had enough to watch to keep us up til 11, however, before we finally decided enough was enough.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

We had planned to go to the Clubhouse Grill this morning for Breakfast and we were over there about 9:30 all ready to go.  We both had a scrambled egg omelette which we had never encountered before.  All the ingredients were mixed up in scramble eggs.  They were quite good, but also a little pricey.  Our bill came to $17 plus tip which was the most we’ve paid for Breakfast this year.

After Breakfast we came home and sat for awhile before we took off for Office Depot in Foley.  All of a sudden we needed a new memory card for the camcorder.  We thought as long as we were going past it anyway we’d stop at Camping World for a couple of things.  We discovered we needed a new card on the way over here on Friday.  We tried to take movies and the camera notified us that the internal memory was full.  Not realizing what that meant since there was a 16 GB memory in the camera, I had to dig into the directions.  It may be 16GB but it will only record for about an hour and a half before it’s full. Hence we needed another card, or two, to make it through the winter.  It’s a new camera so there will be adjustments for us.

We got back home about mid-afternoon after a quick stop at McD’s for a cheeseburger and a cone for me and a Hot fudge Sundae for the Mrs.  We ate the ice cream on the way home.

By the time we got home the only thing of interest was a NASCAR race that was almost half over.  We sat and watched that for awhile until Sharon started getting our steaks ready for Supper.  We were having basic steaks and Baked Potato tonight.  No salad, no spaghetti only chunk Crab with Hollandaise Sauce spread over the steaks.  It was a lovely supper and one that we thoroughly enjoy.

After Dinner tonight we found that the only thing on TV tonight was the Oscars.  We don’t usually watch them because there is always someone trying to make a name for themselves with their political stupidity.  But I didn’t hear it happen tonight.

We folded up our tents at 11 when the show was over.  Twelve Years a Slave was the politically correct choice for Best Picture since it hadn’t won anything else, but it was done by a black Director.