Monday, January 22, 2018

This cold, for both of us, has been like a Marathon to get over with.  We used to get sick like this from allergies in California until we started taking Citrizine, an OTC medication recommended by a friend.  Yet I’ve been taking it since we got here to no apparent avail.

Over the last week to 10 days we’ve been almost paralyzed with whatever we’ve managed to contract.  It seems like just a cold because all the symptoms mirror the actual symptoms of a cold.  But the toll it takes on your body makes you wonder if it’s just that simple.

Sharon took off with the laundry today just to catch us up for the week.  Today she had a load of “clean” clothes to wash cause we haven’t been anywhere to get dirty.  But I guess that’s not the way it works.

There’s still not any food being cooked in this house yet so anything to eat is being ad-libbed for the time being.  Even if she felt like cooking, I don’t know of anybody that would feel like eating it.  By the time Supper rolled around the feeling was still the same.  Nobody to cook it, and nobody to eat it.  We haven’t even had the energy to go and pick something up and bring it home.

We’ve barely had the energy to plant ourselves in front of the TV each evening.  But that’s the only thing that’s really been consistent over the past two weeks.  At least we’ve had our TV to watch.  Even though we seem to go to bed earlier and earlier we never get more sleep.  We still spend half the night hacking and coughing before we finally settle in.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

We got up this morning with no serious breakthrough with regard to our colds.  They’re still hanging on like grim death, but we did actually feel somewhat better today.  We felt better to make some plans for the end of the week.

We were waiting for LP Gas today and trying to get our lives together again.  The wait for gas turned out to be a Red Herring since the guy with the gas truck never did show up.  We waited til late afternoon before Sharon finally called the office to find out the situation.  They weren’t coming today.......maybe tomorrow.......maybe Thursday.

We called friends today to make plans for later on in the week.  Sharon had sent texts but we needed to follow up.  After talking to Diana Brown, she and Terry will meet us in Punta Gorda to have lunch on Friday.  After that successful call we rang up Bill and Carole Lawson and arranged another get together for Saturday.  Now we have the end of the week arranged and our plans seems to be coming together, at least for the end of this week.

As mentioned, we spent the afternoon waiting for the guy with the LP, who never showed.

By the time we got around to Dinner tonight Sharon decided to make BLT’s and chase them down with chips.  It would be the first “meal” that had been cooked in over a week.  The sandwiches were good and just about all that either of us could eat at this time.

We settled into our usual positions in front of the TV for the night.  We stayed up until 11 tonight, catching the last show of the night.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

We were both up early this morning with relatively nothing to do except wait for the LP Gas guy.  I’ll tell you there’s no competition for gas sales here, because if there was, this asswipe who delivers gas would be in another profession.  Needless to say we sat and waited another full day for the delivery which never came.

We seem to be getting warm weather during the day now, but the nights keep dropping and using our gas.  And our tank seems to be only 16 gallons, a bit smaller than our previous ones.

We both seem to be really coming around for the last couple of days.  At least we’re starting to sleep at night for a change, thanks to an old wive’s remedy.  Nighttime coughing can be eliminated with Vick’s Vap-o-Rub.  You just rub it on the bottom of your feet.  I’ve used it the last 2 nights and it works magnificently.  We’ve been coughing and hacking and choking at night keeping each other awake for most of the night.  Thanks to the Vick’s it’s been quiet so we can sleep.

We pretty much sat around waiting again today for the gas man to show up.  I guess we’ll be waiting again tomorrow since he never showed again today.  It makes you furious to know that this business cares so little about providing an effective service.

We had a happening here today.  The first meal in a week was being cooked tonight.  We had Meatloaf and Fried Potatoes and it was quite good indeed.  It was nice to be able to just sit down and have a familiar meal for a change.

After Dinner we camped out in front of the Telly for the night.  It wasn’t that great a night for TV but we managed to find enough to watch to carry us through to slumber time.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

We woke up this morning to a wind that wouldn’t seem to quit.  We heard it before we got up and then saw it from then on.

We were on the waiting list again from the minute we got up.  We already lost 2 tourist days waiting for this clown from the gas delivery company.  Since we were sick for 3 solid weeks the time we have left is dwindling for sightseeing.  So we ended up sitting and waiting again for him to show up.

We sat and waited until mid-afternoon we he finally decided to show.  By this time it was too late to drive up to Ona, FL and Solomon’s Castle.

We closed up shop and took off for town to do a little grocery shopping.  We hadn’t needed groceries since we weren’t eating anything anyway.  We stopped at Wal-Mart and picked up some chicken wings and potatoes for Supper tonight.  We also picked up a load of our usual snacks to hold us for a few days.

By the time we got back home it was time to sit down for Dinner with our chicken wings.  Along with our roasted potatoes we also picked up some salted caramel pudding with pretzel pieces for dessert.  It was a lovely change of pace for Supper tonight.

Our usual entertainment was on tap for the night.  Even though we had to search for programs we finally settled on a movie called, “Jarhead.”  It kept us up until bedtime when we finally gave it up and collapsed.

Friday, January 26, 2018

We awoke this morning with the first plan that we’ve had in 3 weeks.  We were headed over to Punta Gorda today to meet up with friends Terry and Diana Brown, from Lower Michigan, who we met several years ago, in California, at Catalina Spa where we both were members.

We took off from here about 11 and it was almost a straight shot to get to our destination in Punta Gorda.  Our destination was at the end of the highway that we were on.

We parked our car and sat in the parking lot for about 10 minutes and the Browns came walking by right in front of us.  We wondered if we’d be able to find each other easily or not.

In any event we managed to find each other easily and got together for a very nice lunch, sitting in a “closed-windows open air café, were a welcome relief. ”  The wind was a little brisk so the windows were a welcome respite.

After lunch we decided to follow Terry and Diana back to their house in Port Charlotte.  It took us about an hour to get there realizing all the time that we met in Punta Gorda as a favor to Sharon and I.  Their house is a beautiful 2 bedroom bungalow situated in front of a large run-off pond.  We sat in the large rear mounted screen room overlooking the pond for a while before we left and hit the road back home.  It would take us an hour before we got back and got a chance to sit and rest.  We had a great visit with the Browns and were sorry to see it end so soon.

We got back just before Dinnertime but neither of us was hungry for anything at that time.  We both waited for a couple of hours before we decided to have something to eat.  A quick Meatloaf sandwich satisfied my urges and I don’t know what Sharon had.

After eating we settled back in front of the Telly again to watch for the night.  It was Saturday and a lousy night for TV but we managed to surf enough to watch.  We hung in there until our usual 10:30 bedtime tonight before we called it a day.  We were still Vicksing the bottom of our feet and it was still working.

Saturday, January 27, 2018

We were off this morning to Nokomis, Fl to visit Bill and Carole Lawson, friends we met several years ago while we were taking a tour through the Lowell National Historic Park in Massachusetts.  Bill, a former Mass State Trooper, was driving a boat through the park when we met him.  And we just happened to be on his boat for the tour.

We got kind of a late start this morning because we had to stop for gas on the way over.  We were supposed to get there early to make sure we got a seat in the restaurant.  We actually arrived later than we thought we would but had no trouble finding a seat in the place.  We sat down to a very nice lunch and some sparkling conversation for at least an hour and a half.  It didn’t take us that long to eat but we were enjoying the conversation.

After lunch we took the tour of Venice and the beaches and jetties.  We spent the greater part of a couple of hours driving around the town.  We enjoyed it thoroughly.

On the way home, we stopped at Lettuce Lake RV Park just to see where we made our previous reservations.  It was a nice little park but it was somewhat out of the way for socializing with people at Toby’s, east of Arcadia.  And it was also about 20 minutes away by car.

We got back home right around Dinnertime but neither of us felt like having anything to eat. It seemed like we were still satisfied from lunch.  Of course we later had something to eat but Sharon was more interested in a nap before that happened.  She went down for about an hour before she got up.  We’re still not completely back healthwise and a half day’s activity can seriously drag us down.  I napped in my recliner while she was gone to the bed.

After we regained consciousness we settled into our usual positions in front of the idiot box for the night.  I think we stayed up late tonight from pure exhaustion.  In any event we headed south tonight at about 11 o’clock.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

We woke up this morning pretty much tuckered out from the last two days. Sharon got up late but was off to church after getting ready.  I on the other hand was positioned for my Sunday morning political shows.  It’s really getting sickening listening to them because none of them are interested in reporting the news.  It’s full-time “Trump Bashing” from start to finish.  I wish these people would just get used to the idea that TRUMP WON the election and he’s the President.

Our day turned out to be overcast and gloomy for most of the day with rain predicted.  The rain didn’t come until late afternoon but it was a beauty when it finally did arrive.  We even experienced “rain fade” on the dome when it interrupted

tv reception.

We sat outside for awhile today before Dinner.  It was dark and gloomy but no rain until later.

Sharon whipped up some Philly Steak Sandwiches and Fried Potatoes for Supper tonight.  They were quite good indeed.  Every once in a while Sharon makes something that really hits the spot.  Tonight was the answer.

We settled in for TV tonight and that’s when the s— hit the fan.  The rain fell out of the sky in buckets tonight.  We lost our TV signal a couple of times but it came right back again.  We settled into a movie, “The Cheyenne Social Club” for the night even though it was an oldie.

After retiring tonight we both saw fit to get up and sit for awhile.  For some reason neither of us could sleep when we first went to bed.  We were back up for about 30 minutes and then we settled back again.  We were fine for the rest of the night.