2012 March 19 Monday

            Let’s see … Monday … This is a day that we babysit.   Only … we didn’t.  And we won’t be babysitting tomorrow.   We have to wait until Wednesday to see our little girls.  This has thrown my whole week off.  (I’m only partially kidding.)

            Tom and Sue, friends of ours from Perry, stopped by to visit and go to lunch with us.  They are on the way to Missouri to visit with their kids and grandkids.  Tom and Sue also have a fifth wheel on a seasonal site here at Cutty’s.  While they were here, Tom did a quick check of   their trailer to make sure it was going to be ready for camping when they are.

            The four of us went to Ryan’s for a buffet lunch.  When we finished, they headed for Missouri and we left to go to Sam’s Club.  We picked up some items that we’ll need as we split our household goods between the Summer home and the Winter home. I’m hesitant to purchase much at this point.  We will not be leaving for Texas until at least October.  Ella, on the other hand, is anxious to get things divided and purchased.  She has begun splitting bedclothes, towels, and kitchen utensils.

            Over the last couple of weeks, more and more ‘snow birds’ are finding their way back North.  It is good to see our seasonal friends as they are seeking to cure their spring fever.  The campground is coming back to life with wood smoke and children’s laughter. Golf carts and bicycles are sharing the roads with the ‘lookers’. 

Lookers are the people who are considering getting a seasonal site.  They start driving around looking at any currently empty sites every year about this time.  We did the same thing several years ago.  The funny part is, sites that are empty now may already be paid for by people that haven’t pulled their units onto them yet.  And sites that are currently occupied may be empty on April first when people decide to not renew their site rent for the coming season.  In other words, it is really a waste of time and gas to go ‘looking’ yet.  But it is fun!

2012 March 13

Wow!  Temperatures in the mid to upper seventies!  In March!  In Iowa!  This is not exactly typical for us.  But we’re lovin’ it!

            Ella and I are getting excited about swapping our fifth wheels.  We will be pulling the Hitch Hiker off of our seasonal site and setting the Excel in its place.  Then we will go about the task of outfitting both trailers for fulltime living.

Excell

Hitch Hiker

            The plan is for the Excel to become our summer home in Iowa and the Hitch Hiker to be our winter home in Texas.  We have enough household “stuff” that can be split between the two trailers.  Ella has begun the process of dividing bedding, sheets, pillowcases, blankets, towels etc.   I believe Ella is most excited about buying more duplicates of things like coffee pots and George Forman grills.

            For my part, I’ll start separating my duplicate tools.  Even though I got rid of a lot of them when we sold the house and became fulltime RVers, I still have more than enough pliers and screwdrivers to split between trailers.  My complete tool box will stay in the truck and travel between the two.

            It just occurred to me that when we take position of the Excel, we will now own three big, old, non-digital ready TVs.  Does anybody even want those dinosaurs anymore?  I’ll post them on a local online swap board.  I don’t know if even Goodwill will take them anymore.  I want to be rid of those and purchase another fl at screen TV.

Road Ranger

            Of course all this purchasing means I’ll need to get off my butt and do some work camping this summer.  Money!  I’d like to be able to live without it, but other people seem to expect me to give them money in exchange for the goods and services they provide for me. (Grin)  Purchasing an fifth wheel wasn’t really planned into our budget and having the truck’s radiator crack wasn’t either.  We’ve dipped deeper into our saving than I’m comfortable with.  This means I need to start putting money back into the account.  (Donations are cheerfully accepted! Grin)

                 Our poor ol' Road Ranger has been retired to become a storage trailer and a source of parts.  I'm hoping to sell the appliances from it.  It has a nearly new twenty foot awning that I'll advertise.  We had just rebuilt the furnace a year ago and the water pump was replaced two years ago.  I'm hoping that I can find buyers for some of those items as well as the furnishings.

2012 March 08

We babysat for a while this morning.

We stopped by the campground office on our way home.  I wanted to sign up for workcamping this summer.  I also wanted to ask about when we were supposed to have the skirting insulation removed from around our RV.  We were told that it will be removed by the first of April.  This will help us determine when we will move the Hitch Hiker off of our seasonal site and when to bring the Excel home and put it on the site.  The dealer wants at least a week’s notice to get all the systems checked and all the prep work done.  They are also going to install a rear ladder.

By now, it was almost time for me to leave for Emeritus to lead the Bible study.  Ella decided to do our laundry while I was away.  We loaded the laundry into the truck and drove to the clubhouse (where the washer / dryers are).  After unloading laundry and wife, I went to Emeritus.

At Emeritus I did a very short Bible reading and devotional and then we sang songs.  Read that as I sang songs and they moved their lips or just listened.  My throat is still a little rough from the cold I’m just getting over.  As usual we sang “Jesus Loves Me” several times.  I don’t know if ANY of them realize that we just sang it a couple of minutes ago.  Their Alzheimer’s and dementia makes it hard for me to know I make a difference in their lives or not.

I returned home just in time to help Ella fold the last of our clothes.  Now while she is putting clothes away, I am updating the blogs.