Our Last Full Day at Harbor Lakes

   We got up this morning just amazed at how fast these last 2 weeks went here at Harbor Lakes and we would be moving tomorrow.  It's most likely because we like it here so much!  John did part of his morning routine and I did my exercises in bed while watching all the old shows from my childhood.  It sure makes the drudgery of exercising go a lot faster!! When he got back he cooked us some eggs.  I called Bonnie to see what was on their schedule today and to let her know that John left his Air Force hat in their rig last night.  I wanted to know what a good time would be to stop over and pick it up.  She said they would be there all day because they were preparing for their move tomorrow.  About a half hour later she called to ask if they could come over to us instead and play some shuffleboard.  They had to go to Walmart, anyway, which is fairly close to us.  That worked out great for us!  I took a shower and did a few preparatory things for our move tomorrow.  Just as John was finishing his walking he spotted a mobile dog grooming van at the office.  The groomer had time to do Kylie (she has been really stinky) so John came right back and delivered the dog.  She only charged $20 for a bath and nail cutting... what a deal!!  They got back about 45 minutes later and John got his shower.  By that time Bonnie and Ken were on their way.  They brought their lunches along and we all sat out at the picnic table while they ate.  Then we headed to the shuffleboard courts or should I say... the SLAUGHTER HOUSE!!  That's exactly what they did... slaughter us!  Bonnie and I just couldn't stay out of the minus 10 space.  Both games were a blood bath with the score of the 2nd game something like 75 to minus 30.  It was awful!  And it was hot and humid... the sweat was just pouring off of me.  That HAD to have something to do with it!!  



American "Shuffleboard" Gothic






Bonnie's form looks good, so why are we losing?

 



Bonnie: "what the heck is going on?"
Ken:  "Oh, yeah, another minus 10 for the women!"
He looks pretty pleased with himself, doesn't he?!?



I'm pretty sure John just tapped me into the minus 10 space!



I look like I know what I'm doing, don't I?

Look at that...2 minus 10's for the women and 7 puts for the men!
At least the women have 7 puts, too, so we only end up with minus 13!!

Dog gone you, John!!

At least we were still smiling!!

Notice that Bonnie took her sunglasses off...
that must be the problem...NOT!!

The forecast for the day was cloudy with possible scattered showers, but it never did rain till later.  Bonnie and Ken had to leave about 3:30 and on the way back to Harvey, Ernie and Noela drove up.  It was nice to be able to talk with them a bit before we leave tomorrow.  We said our good-byes to Bonnie and Ken because we might not get a chance to see them again until they get back from their trip out West in July.  We decided to go right out to Sonny's for an early supper because we hadn't had any lunch.  We had our usual.  It was so yummy!

These are the 2 barbecue sauces we use

These are Red Neck Egg Rolls filled with
pulled pork, coleslaw and cheese

John's favorite... chopped brisket, baked beans,
potato and cornbread

Cindy's favorite... sliced pork sandwich and fries

  When we got back we played Nerts and I got slaughtered again.  Then we played Racko and you guessed it... the 3rd slaughter in one day.  Nothing left to do but go to bed.  John fell asleep and I  did some reading.

These are 2 cormorant ducks getting their daily sprinkling
under the fountain at the entrance to Harbor Lakes.
They look like statues that are part of the fountain!

Shop, Eat and Karaoke

   John did his routine and we had breakfast when he got back.  I met my sister,
Bonnie at Beall's Outlet at 10:00.  It's a great strip mall about 15 minutes from our CG.  Some of the stores are Beall's, Hobby Lobby, TJ Maxx, Ross, Dress Barn, and Chico's Outlet.  We spent 2 hrs and 45 minutes in Beall's trying on lots and lots of stuff.  It was fun to share a dressing room w/Bonnie and be able to critique everything for each other!  We hit Ross's next and did a little more damage.  Bonnie had a haircut appt next door at Ultra at 2:00, so we parted ways and I went to TJ Maxx.  I didn't do near as much damage there... they were quite a bit more expensive than the other 2 stores.  I checked on Bonnie about 3:00 and she still had another half hour till she was done, so I went to the car to unload my purchases, rest my foot and return a call to Gloria, my dear friend from home.  We talked for about a half hour and then Bonnie called to let me know she was done.  We decided to leave to get back to her place to prepare for supper.  John had planned to hitch a ride with Ernie and Noela because they were joining all of us for supper, too.  But Ken had joined them earlier in the day for a hike so he brought John along with him to Waldo (Ken and Bonnie's RV).  After some yummy Sex on the Beach drinks that Ken made for us women we had a wonderful dinner... chicken, pork, salmon, green beans,  salad, and mixed fresh fruit.  We had a great time with everyone and the food was delicious!  We left for Karaoke about 6:45.  We were hoping the rest of the group would join us later, but they never did.  I sang 5 songs and the surprise of the evening was when John got up to sing.  He sang Bruce Springsteen's, Human Touch.  He did a good job for his first time.  I was so proud of him!!

John's "virgin" karaoke performance.
Look how comfortable he seems to be...
Truth be told, he was nervous as heck!!

   After my 4th song Ian, the host, had me tell everyone about myself, and after saying I was PA Dutch country, John encouraged me to tell my "Jakey and Sadie" joke.  They really enjoyed it!  It was a very fun evening.  We didn't leave till after 10:00.

I really wasn't "giving the finger" to John!!

 

Ian joined me for "Amazing Grace"

  Don't know if we'll make it back or not because of leaving for a more northern CG on Sunday.  We stopped at McDonald's on the way home for some ice cream.  (we had to leave for karaoke before dessert at Bonnie and Ken's).  That's our story and we're sticking to it.  We got home about 11:10, watched a little TV and then went to bed.  Not sure what we're doing tomorrow because the weather is "iffy".

Travel Day for us Today

   John was out doing his walking and weights when I climbed out of bed.  I decided to do my exercises, too, even though I didn't feel like it!  He came back a bit early because of the misty weather and then we had leftovers from yesterday's breakfast.  John emptied all the tanks and then we both got showers. The phone I just had replaced is giving me problems.  When I call out it causes a delay and an echo of the person's voice on the other end.  My end is fine, but it's very annoying for the other person and almost impossible for them to communicate.  After a phone call to an AT&T store they said I would have to take it to the warranty center in Ft Myers.  We have to head that direction anyway today for my podiatrist appt in Estero so we decided to leave early and go there first.  We left about 12:30 and stopped down at Ernie and Noela's rig to ask them if they wanted to get together this evening when we get home around 6:00.  They said, "sure".  Off we went to Ft Myers to the AT&T store.  We arrived about 1:30 and by 2:30 Andrew still didn't know how to solve the problem.  He tried everything including a new refurbished phone but the echo was still there.  He was stumped.  We had to leave for my dr appt, so we left everything there and said we would return later.  The dr was pleased with my progress even though the xrays were inconclusive.  He fitted me with the new brace that I had been casted for, went over what I should and should not do, and sent me on my way without the Trilock brace and cumbersome boot.  My new brace should give me all the support I need.  Then we stopped at  the Sweet Tomato Salad Buffet and had a delicious dinner.  We also stopped at Costco to get new beach chairs because one of our very old ones broke earlier this week. Then back to the AT&T store.  We really had no choice but to have another refurbished phone sent to us.  But when he checked the computer, the old phone I had sent back earlier this week hasn't arrived at the warranty center yet, so he could do nothing. He said he would check tomorrow and Monday if had arrived and then he will have the new one sent.  So now I still have the old new phone that doesn't work right.  Hopefully, the new one won't have the same problem.  I don't know what I'll do then!!  I called Arlena on the way home to find out how the insemination went.  This is her third attempt at trying to help a couple in Connecticut have a baby... she is the surrogate.  All went well.  Just have to wait a couple of weeks to find out if it was successful or not.  We didn't get back until 7:30 and when we checked in with Ernie and Noela they were tired and passed on getting together.  We were tired, too, so it worked out all right.  Mom kindly called to find out how I made out at the dr.  She had been at the eye dr because of some pain and concerns about possible elevated pressure in her eyes, but everything was OK...just extremely dry eye syndrome.    We played Hand and Foot and I was victorious again.  We watched a little TV and went to bed.  It was a yucky weather day today... very overcast, times of short lived heavy rain, and temps in the low to mid 60's.  Tomorrow morning I'm meeting Bonnie for a few hours of shopping and then we're going over to their CG for dinner and karaoke.  Ernie and Noela are joining us, too.

Fun Day Today!

   We woke to fog and overcast skies but mild temps.  I made breakfast while John went for a walk that was shortened by a wet mist.  After breakfast I decided to touch up my gray roots and then we did laundry.  While waiting for the laundry to finish we played 2 games of shuffleboard.  We each won a game so we'll have to play the "bully" some other time.

 

I took these pictures while John was taking the laundry
back to Harvey during our shuffleboard match.  This,
of course, is the pool here at the CG

 

These are blooms on some of the palm trees.  They resemble
bird of paradise without the color.

 

  We came back and put the laundry away and both took a nap.  The sun finally came out so we went outside to the picnic table to play Hand and Foot, but it was too breezy, so we opted for Racko.  I won.  We had just gotten hamburgers out of the freezer when Bonnie called and invited us to have dinner with her and Ken, Ernie and Noela.  They had all spent the day together.  I cut up a batch of fresh fruit and some veggies and dip to take along and we headed down to Ernie and Noela's fifth wheel.  They are only 14 sites down from us.  We had a great time chatting, watching the birds on the little waterway out back, and eating the delicious meal Ernie and Noela provided.  Ken shared with us on his phone the tribute Lady Gaga did on the Oscars honoring the 50th anniversary of The Sound of Music.  I don't usually care for her, but she gave an amazing performance of a medley of songs from the movie.  Watch it on YouTube if you get a chance!!   We spent all evening there, returning back to Harvey about 9:30.  It was so nice of everyone to include us. 

Ernie, Ken, Bonnie and Noela out back chatting
by the water and watching the blue heron and woodstork

The blue heron posed so nicely for us!

The wood stork showed up as soon as it saw us setting up

He watched as Ernie and Ken grilled the meat and veggies.
I'm sure he was hoping or a hand-out.

Bonnie guarding the door of the fifth wheel... woodstorks
will come right in if they think they can grab some food!

The Weatherman Got it All Wrong Today!

   John got up early to do his "chores"... condition the toilets, empty the tanks, pay those nasty bills and do his exercise routine.  I got up about 8:15 and did my exercises.  We had breakfast and decided to go to Manasota beach since the weather was supposed to be gorgeous after the predicted fog lifted.  We ate breakfast, packed our lunches and were on the way to the beach by 9:45.  I called my friend, Jane and we sang "Happy Birthday" to her.  She thanked us but told us that her birthday isn't until next month!  (When we got home I realized I had flipped the calendar to March).  Oh, well, it's one of the few times I have been EARLY for something!!  It was overcast the whole way to the beach and when we arrived there was a lot of misty fog and a stiff breeze.

The walkway beside the bath house is embedded with sharks teeth!
We've been told that people try to chisel them out!!

 

 


 


Lots of "sea fog" on the beach and over the water!

 

  We "set up shop" and John scooped up about 4 or 5 shovels of shells for me to look through for sharks teeth.

My honey getting my bin of water for me

See, Terry, John has to do some shoveling, too!!
That's the gal from Ephrata behind John

  While he was at the edge of the ocean he struck up a conversation with 2 older women who were looking for teeth also.  One was from Hershey and the other one was from Ephrata.  I talked with the gal from Ephrata and turns out we bought bathroom cabinets from her son-in-law.  He has a shop behind the Pizza Hut in Ephrata and we were sent there by Landmark to match the cabinets already in our home.  What a small world!!  I continued sifting through my shells while John took a walk.  The fog was getting heavier and it seemed to be getting colder and breezier but we attempted to tough it out thinking that the sun would soon have to pop through as the weatherman had promised.  But it didn't, so we gave up about 2:00.

See how much worse the "sea fog" got

 

  By the time we got to the bath house area, away from the beach, the temp seemed to go up 10 degrees.  We stopped at Publix on the way home to restock.  When we got home I ate the sandwich we had packed and John ate his leftovers from Sonny's.  Then he took a nap... the poor guy was tuckered out from all his "chores"!  I'm watching TV right now and the weatherman is calling the fog, "sea fog" and apparently it's all over the area beaches today.  John woke up about 5:30 and we went down to the club house to play shuffleboard.  Honestly, he couldn't miss!!  And on top of that he kept knocking my puck into the minus 10 space.  Of course, the fact that I kept doing it, too, didn't help. Both games were a slaughter.  Thank goodness we were forced to stop playing due to a couples league.  I couldn't have taken any more humiliation.  Congratulations, Honey!!   When we got back I showered and got into my jammies.  John took another walk.  We're going to hang out in Harvey tonight so I can watch The Voice.  John tried to do the laundry, but he didn't have enough credit on the laundry card and the only place you can add credit is in the office which is closed.  Guess we'll do it tomorrow.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better weather day!

Another Relaxing Day at Harbor Lakes

When we got up this morning John and I decided to just hang out here at the CG.  I talked with Bonnie and she and Ken had decided to do the same thing.  We hope to get together sometime this week.  Bonnie and I would also like to take a day to go shopping.  As Cooper (our grandson) would say..." Oh, Boy".  I called Doloris and Fred who are on their way home to PA to apologize for not getting a chance to say good-bye to them yesterday.  It was about 11:00 when I talked with them and they were already in Georgia.  They must have left very early!  We hope they have a safe trip!!  John made pancakes for breakfast and then went for a walk.  I worked on adding pictures to yesterday's blog posts.  He got back from his walk at 11:30 and I was still in my jammies!!  Why not... I'm retired and I'm in Florida!  We changed into our bathing suits and headed for the pool.  It was very hot...the sun burned our skin within minutes.  It was good to be able to jump in the pool!  I called the podiatrist in Esteos to make an appt for my follow up and to pick up the brace I was casted for.  I see him on Thursday afternoon.  I'm hoping for good news!!  We were at the pool for about two and a half hours and then played 2 games of shuffleboard.  I won the first, John won the second.  We came back and got our showers and left for the Great Wall Chinese buffet toward Englewood.  It was still pretty warm, so we took the top off of the Jeep.

This was the first time we had the top off the Jeep
since we have been in Florida

  As we got closer to the restaurant we noticed what looked like smoke ahead.  As we drove farther we realized it was low flying clouds and they looked very threatening.  We couldn't help thinking that it would be just our luck to have the top off the Jeep for the first time since in Florida and now we're going to get rained on.  Well, the rain held off but after we left the restaurant (which was yummy) it got foggy and cool.  We were forced to put the top back up on the Jeep, but the sides were still off.  I needed to run the heat on the way home. When we got back I organized my craft supplies to go down to the library to join "the Crafty Ladies" from 7-9.  You can bring your own stuff or sometimes one of the ladies will lead a class.  Tonight one of the gals showed us how to make earrings.  I worked on my pins because I certainly don't need to buy any more craft supplies!!  All the ladies were very nice and encouraged me to come back next year to join them again.

The pins I made

I had a great time with all the ladies!  I even
told my "Jakey and Sadie joke.

  John walked while I was there and took a bunch of pictures.

These are the froggie lights at night

He has over 20,000 steps today!! Good job, honey!

This "lady" was in front of a rig. 
Looks like snow but it's the fog!

  I came back to Harvey and watched The Voice and Night Shift while John watched TV in the bedroom.  I also talked with my daughter, Heather and our grandson, Cooper.  She said another pipe burst at her house from the cold, but she didn't lose her heat this time.  Thank goodness for that!!  John turned in about 10:00 and I worked on my blog post.        

A Perfect Beach Day!

    I woke up about 7:30 and John was already up.  We planned on meeting Bonnie, Ken, Doloris, and Fred at Manasota Beach around 10:00, so we ate breakfast, packed lunches and were out the door by 9:30.  What a beautiful morning!  It was already in the mid 60's and we were able to open up the sides of the Jeep.  We were at the beach by 10:15 and the parking lots were FULL!!  John had to drive over the bridge that brings you into the area and park on the other side!  That's one way to get his steps in!!  Instead of waiting for John to get back, I called Ken to ask for help getting all our "stuff" onto the beach and he was happy to oblige.  We were finally BOTH on the beach by 11:00.  And so was everyone else... the beach was packed! 

 

 

Told you it was full!!

 

But the beach is big enough for ALL of us!

It was absolutely gorgeous...bright sunshine, slight breeze, and high 70's with no humidity.  While everyone else was either out walking or "shoveling" for shells and sharks teeth down by the water I sat in my chair sifting through the sand looking for treasures.  I'm not complaining or feeling sorry for myself, really, I was having a ball!  Later, John brought about half a dozen shovel loads to me to go through.

See the pile of shells in front of me that I have already gone through.
John came up with the idea of the water filled tub at my left foot
to help sift out the sand... he's a genius!!

  It was a good day for sharks teeth and shells.

Not bad for a few hours of work, huh?

  About 3:00 I went down to the water to sit for a while.  It felt good to get my tootsies wet!  We left about 4:00 and, unfortunately, Fred and Doloris were out searching for goodies, so we didn't get to say "good-bye".  They are heading back to PA early tomorrow morning.  It was nice to spend some time with them again.  We haven't seen them since the 6 of us were in Cape May together last September.  Don't envy them going back to the "real" world.  Sure hope they have a safe trip!!  John dropped me off at the pool and he went back to Harvey to let Kylie out and then he joined me.

She doesn't look too interested in going out, does she!?!

 


Ah, now, John has her attention, but she still needs some coaxing!

  Ernie and Noela were at the pool and we made plans with them to come back to the pool later to play some shuffleboard.  We played couple against couple and Ernie and Noela won pretty handily.  Of course, all my minus 10's made it pretty easy for them.  In one of my turns I got a minus 10 with every single one of my "pucks".  Every time I knocked one off, the one I knocked it off with stayed in the space!  I think I should get some sort of special recognition for that!!  We returned to Harvey and had leftovers for supper.  After supper we strung the froggie lights up on to the awning.  They look so cute.  Of course, we failed to get a picture, so I'll get one tomorrow and add it.

The froggie lights during the day

 

  We also put the new cover on the Jeep so we didn't have to close it all up.   I watched a little bit of the Oscars, although I truly can only WATCH it because for some reason we get no sound on that channel.  I had the closed caption on so I would know who won.  If I'm honest, I really only watch it anyway to see the beautiful or weird dresses the actresses are wearing for the event.  We were in bed by 10:30.