Another Box Checked Off the List / Campground Comedy!

I can now check my MRI off the list! I am so glad that is over, talk about something that gives ya a headache!  Those ear plugs they give you don't work so well,  it was still very noisy! That is the first time I ever had one on my hand.  By the time it was done my whole arm was a mass of pins and needles.  I had to lay on my stomach on the table, with my hand above my head for over 45 minutes, and not move!  Right!  Ever notice when ya can't do something that is when you need to do it the most?  LOL!    Isn't it ironic  that your nose itches when ya can't itch it, or ya need to go somewhere when your car won't start, and you have no electric when everything ya need to do takes electric!  How many times have you tried to turn a light on by flipping the wall switch when there was no electric because of a storm?  I can't even imagine how many times I have done that!  lol !  So naturally my nose was itching like crazy during the MRI, is it just human nature that we try to do something when we can't ?  So, that was my big experience today, I just hope that they were able to find out what kind of arthritis I have so treatment can be started.  Guess how many times I have to do something so simple as make a note when I can't get my hand to grasp a pen?  Only about 3 dozen ha ha!  There we are right back to human nature, and in my case extreme stubbornness!  I insist on working at it until I do it, even if I am in worse  pain afterward, or I get frustrated because I can't make my fingers tighten up enough to hold the pen and throw it like a child.   I guess we never really outgrow tantrums!  I may have to buy some of those fat pencils like they use in Kindergarten, so I can grip it, I wonder if they make pens with fat barrels on them for griping?  Have any of you had to make changes in the way you do things in order to still Rv?  Ok, I think I've gotten all the mileage that I can get out of this subject so onward to the next!

I have been sitting here thinking about some of the funny things that have happened when we get ready for a trip and when we reach our destination.  Granted some of them weren't funny at the time, but we can laugh about them now!  I have only listed a couple of them, believe me the list  has become endless, and you may eventually hear about a lot of them! When we get ready to go for a trip, we both, (Mike and I) have a checklist that we go through before we pull in the slides and hitch up.  Mine are usually inside the fiver and Mike's are outside.  Then when we get there we go over  the other checklist to set up the fiver.  Heaven help us if we try to help the other one and do something on their list!  Some funny things have happened over the years when we tried to help each other.One time Mike decided to put the slides out before I had checked everything, oops some bottled water was sitting by the slide and it got crushed when the slide went out and tore the molding off the inside of the slide!  It had moved during travel and he didn't know to check that stuff.  Another time, I thought I'd help Mr Perfectionist with the chocks for the tires.  Only thing was I didn't realize he wasn't done trying to get the fiver as straight as he wanted it!  Oops, chocks don't bend very well, as a matter of fact they break when ya back over them!  He he!  Have you unknowingly put on a comedy show when setting up camp or breaking camp for your camping neighbors?  I know we have, and then how many of us take great delight in watching other people set up and break camp? You can see some pretty funny stuff!  Come on,ya know we all do it!  It's always better to watch than be watched, right?! 
Mike loves to sit outside on Sunday's and watch everyone break camp cos they have to go back home and get ready for work the next day!  He says, "That's one of the perks of being retired!"  He always has a cheery little wave for them when they pull out! 
We once actually set up camp in front of people, and when we were done, they came over and complimented us on how easy we made it look!  Now I did only say it happened ONCE!  Ha ha!
How many wives try to help Hubby guide the fiver into the campsite?  Believe me that can cause divorces!  We have tried the handheld walkie talkies (which only work if ya can chew gum and walk at the same time),and I always forget to push the button to talk! Then there are the hand signals, which don't always end up being very nice!  I'm sure ya know how yelling works out! (which only adds to the comedy show) and  now I usually try, and remember I did say  I try, to only say something if he is getting too close to something with the fiver.  He usually always does better if I just keep my mouth shut and let him do it!  When I do that he gets the fiver in the site on the first try, and when I try to help, it usually takes 2 or 3 tries.  Do ya see a pattern here?
I just know now with the 2 dogs we have, there is gonna be a lot of comedy going on !  We just got them in August, so they haven't been rving yet. I'm sure that means we're in for some more funny mishaps this year!  So stay tuned, we may be appearing at a campground near you with engagements throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall ! 

March Roars Into Ohio On The 6th!

Sorry I have been MIA for a few days.  Our Grand Daughters Autumn   and Tehya were here yesterday.  They had a snow day so they spent the day with us, and we were busy making memories. :)  The snow was very pretty as you can see from the pics I put on here.  It looked like a winter wonderland!  I have to say though, I hope that this is the last time that we get any more of the White stuff, that is measurable anyway.  Not only is it a pain in the butt, and dangerous for driving on, it is COLD!  It would be nice if it didn't have to be so cold when we have it! Why can't we get it only a few days before Christmas and then be done with the stuff?  Now that would work for me!  Of course I would like for it to be 75 degrees year round! Hehe!  Well, that is what I'd wish for if I had my way, but I'm sure ya'll know what they say about wishes!  Anyway, I hope that this means that Spring is going to be just around the corner.  Doesn't the saying go in like a lion and out like a lamb, and in like a lamb out like a lion?  Something like that or vice versa.
  

Now this is what I want to see  -------->

Spring is my favorite time of the year.  I am so excited for it to get here this year!  I think I have a serious super bad case of Spring Fever for some reason!  Lilacs are my favorite spring flower and probably one, if not my favorite flower all together.  They smell so good and, come in such pretty colors.
 I have a favorite quote, that I keep on my nightstand that says, " Life is a Blank Canvas Made For Me to Add the Colors", the author is unknown.  To me that is what spring is all about, a rebirth of the earth.  Going from drab colorless Winter to to Spring with all it's pretty colors. 

I found this quote in a magazine at a very low point in my life, and cut it out because it spoke to me.  I had just been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure at age 46!  My whole life changed then a complete 180 degrees, I was very sick and they thought I would need a heart transplant to live.  I ended up not needing one, because of meds, many wonderful Doctors, and wanting to get better.  Most important, I think God had more lessons to teach me, and had many colors he wanted me to add to my canvas!   I think finding that quote helped save my life back in 2001.  It sort of made me think that my life is just like that blank canvas now, I'm just existing, I'm not adding any colors!  I thought that even if I was sick I still needed, and wanted to add lots of colors to my canvas.  It made me want to get better, to live, and not give up so I could add more colors!  I am not saying that this quote was the only thing that helped, but I think that my will to live had a lot to do with that, and it made me realize that I wanted to live!  Would this quote mean the same to you, maybe not, but at the time it was what I needed to think about, and it struck a chord in me!  God does indeed work in mysterious ways, Thank You God!  I have come a long way since that time, and I think that I have added many colors along the way!  My life is what it is, not what it was, what it was didn't define me!   Do I miss my before life, yes, but I have the memories, and I am happy.  Is my life different, yes, but I also enjoy my life now, and Rving is just one of the ways I keep adding colors to my life. I feel like I was given a miracle, not too many people get to start over !  I am very Thankful and Blessed !  A rebirth just like Spring is with the seasons!

Wow, that certainly got DEEP!  Not what I intended to write at all!   I sort of got off track when I mentioned that quote.
Oh well, maybe someone out there needed to hear what happened to me, so healing could take place in them!  I am happy to tell you that my heart function  has improved and is only 10% away from being normal!  After taking so many medications, I only now take two of the medications that I started out taking when I got sick.

Like I said earlier, Spring is like that to me.  So COME ON SPRING!  :) I think I have written enough for today and need to get busy instead of sitting in this chair. So I'll  be seeing ya's right here next time...



            

Lazy Day Sunday/Busy Day Monday

Today was a lazy day for us with not too much going on!  After a trip to Wally World and Meijer's we came home and messed around mostly on our computers.  We did buy new cooling mats for our laptops, because our other ones gave up the ghost.  :)  Tomorrow will be busy with a Dr appointment and then a trip to Sam's.  

Speaking of Computers, what do you use, or how do you get on the internet when you are traveling?  For the last 4 years we have used MiFi from Verizon.  We have had very little trouble with it and it has been much cheaper than installing a system on the fiver.  Of course once we decide to go full time that may change, and we might look into a permanent system for the fiver.  When you are in a campground that has Wifi do you hook up to their Wifi or do you use your own?  One nice thing about having your own Wifi is that it is a secure network, and not a public one like most of the campgrounds have.  We use our MiFi most of the time unless we have a lot of pictures to download etc... cos we have a limited amount of data that we can download.  We have only went over our limit once, and we didn't like the outcome so now we are very careful!  The $ amount was not cheap lol!  For surfing the web and doing the blog it is fine, but then we don't have a lot of stuff that we do on the computer, or use it for a job.  I love to play hidden object games, but I usually have them on disc so I don't have to use the internet for them.  That way I can play when our Mifi won't connect.  Which has happened a few times when we were too far away from phone towers.  Also we spend lots of time outside and usually only get on the internet in the evening or if it is raining.  I don't know what would happen if I wanted to download books for my Kindle.  Since I just got it in January, I have only downloaded books at home.  So I'll have to see what happens this summer, or else download a bunch before we go somewhere.  I usually take some library books with me too when we're traveling, if we're not going to be out more than a month.  I do like my Kindle very much, it is great to use when the electric is out, because it has its own light.  I have a Kindle Paperwhite, because the only thing I use it for is to read books.  I couldn't see spending the extra money for one of the fancy ones that are almost like a computer, when I already have a laptop.  I don't buy  many books for it, because there are a lot of romance books and novels free on Amazon so that is usually what I read.  If it is a series I will buy one or two, but it can get expensive to buy them, if ya read as much as I do.  That is why I also take the library books, so it's the best of both worlds for me! I save most of my magazines throughout the year without reading them, and as soon as the cover is off the fiver they go inside.  The magazines that I get aren't date related so it doesn't matter when I read them. 

Today I had a Dr's appointment and xrays.  Then we went to Sam's.  I like going to Sam's and enjoy just browsing, and seeing new products.  One thing that makes me so mad about Sam's though, is they have something and ya try it and decide ya like it, and then you never see it again!   You  buy it for several months, and all of a sudden they don't have it anymore,it just disappears never to be seen again!!  Case in point, I used to buy the Honey Chipotle Salman, frozen.  It was so good, and I loved the flavor, kind of a sweet spicy flavor and it didn't have that fishy taste some  salmon has.  The spice to me was fairly mild, but then I like spices.  It certainly wasn't so hot that you couldn't eat it, and it was portioned just right.  I could put it in the  convection toaster oven frozen for 18 minutes on 375 degrees and it was perfect.  That is what I always had when Mike had pizza for dinner, cos I don't do pizza very well.  They have several kinds of seasoned salmon now, but I didn't want to take a chance on an off brand.  I sure do miss it!  I wish I could remember the brand of it, then I would look it up on the internet and see if I could order it myself.  By chance if any of you are at a Sam's somewhere, and see a box of Honey Chipotle Salmon for around $15 to $17.00, please send me the brand name of it, I would be so grateful if someone found it!  If ya do , please just leave me a comment!  I hope that one day I'll either remember or see it somewhere.  I figure I have about as good of a chance of one as the other!  :)  Well good friends, I wish you safe journeys as you are truckin' down the road, so until next time...

So What Do Ya Write About, When You Have Spring Fever?

Well as my title suggests there is not much happening here! I  have had several Doctor appointments due to my arthritis starting to flare up again!  I have to have a MRI on my right hand next Friday.  The Rheumatologist  is trying to find out what kind of arthritis I have, so she knows what kind of medication to put me on.  She is looking at inflammatory osteo arthritis,vs early rheumatoid arthritis, vs early psoriatic arthritis.  Man that was a lot to type, and I don't know much about any of them.  We just know that I have really bad arthritis, because I have had both knees and my left hip replaced because of it.  Long story short, I can't even grip a pen to write with or hold a coffee cup in my right hand, and  can only type for short periods of time.  Hence no blog yesterday, but I am trying my best to keep at this blog and stay upbeat about everything.  I guess you could say, that Arthritis has it in for me!  Bottom line, it's hell getting older! LOL!

So any way what do you write about when ya have writers block?  It's not like we don't have a life, I just don't  know that  any one would find our daily activities interesting enough to want to read about everyday.  I don't want to get into the habit of saying well today we went here, today we had this for dinner etc... if ya know what I mean. The closer to spring it gets the more I will have to talk about.   I also don't like to talk about our health, like I did at the top of this post.  I'll try not to do that again!

We need to start planing a trip or something.  We know we'll probably end up at Indian Lake state park here in Ohio our first time out this spring.  We like the campground,and the lake and it is a good place to walk the dogs.  It is just a great place to sit and relax and watch nature with lots of geese, duck, raccoon, and squirrel etc...I'm sure you get the picture.  We have a few favorite campsites that we always try to get, that are pretty close to the lake.  I bet they already have reservations for some of them.  I guess we need to sit down and take a look at the calendar.  Then decide when we want to go the first time so we can make reservations.  Do you have a favorite  local place you like to go to around where you lived?  We have been going to Indian Lake state park, since the 80's  and still love to go, although it is a lot more crowded now.

Sitting still during the winter without being outside really gets to me, because I can't handle the cold.  The older I get the worse it is, and the less I like it.  I hope that next winter we will be able to go some place that at least stays in the 50's and up, cos I love being outside!  Of course with our luck where ever we go would probably have their worst winter on record!  LOL!  I have often thought of starting a business, and having  towns or even states pay us not to come if they don't want bad weather.  Ha ha!   Usually if we go somewhere they have rain, storms you name it  when we're there and then when we leave their weather is fantastic!  Just think if there was a drought, and we went there they would probably be deluged with rain.  So it could work both ways they could pay us to visit or to stay away!  If you were ever some place and the weather was bad, we were probably near!  Ha ha!  That's the way I feel sometimes, and a business like that might just be a money maker!  Any way I'm just kidding, if we planned on it working  then in would come our wonderful luck and mess it up again!  Lol!  Has that ever happened to you, you made plans for a trip in your Rv and it was  terrible weather the whole time you were there, and the day you left was beautiful?  Then perhaps you too, have luck like us!   Lady luck can sure be fickle to  deal with sometimes!

Wow, I am sorry I didn't know that this was going to turn into a rant about our luck!  He he!  I just said at the top of this I was going to try to keep this positive.  See how bored I am, gotta make myself get up and do something!  So until next time ya all be careful headin' down the road...

We Got Fur Babies!

Bella

 Our Grand Daughter Tehya, and Bella and below you see Tehya and Lilly.

                                         

                Lilly

             Bella and Lilly

                                                         Paco





          Jake

 

In August of 2012 we decided to give a home to a couple of rescue dogs.  We got Lilly at the Humane Society of Clark County, in Springfield, Ohio.  Then a week later we got Bella at Sicsa in Dayton,Ohio.  Lilly is part black lab and we think part Springer Spaniel, but  we're not sure.  Bella is part Dalmation, and maybe part Pit, but again we're not really sure.  They could be part anything so we'll just say they are our dogs!  If we wanted to be sure, and we really cared, we could pay $75.00 a piece for each dog to have a DNA test.  I don't know about you, but I can think of  a lot of better things I could spend that kind of money on! As long as they do what we want, are well behaved, and are good companions it doesn't matter to us what they are!  We will be taking the dogs in the fiver with us so we're anxious for Spring to get here.  We want to get them back in the fiver so they can get used to it again. They are both a year old now, and we got them house trained about 3 weeks after we got them.  They do very well riding in the Beast. The back seat lays down and when we put them in they both are very well behaved.  We are still  working on mastering the walk with them, instead of them walking us!  Where is the Dog Whisperer when ya need him?  Lol!  It's a work in progress so I hope by time spring gets here and it's time for Rving we'll  both have it worked out.  They are loads of company, and really keep us on our toes!  Actually it's like having a couple of kids again, sometimes we're ready to pull our hair out, and sometimes we love them to death.  Lets hope the walking will also help us lose a few pounds!  Mike is not too excited about the prospect of doing all that walking !

So we now have the 2 dogs and 2 birds who will travel with us when we go full time.  Our 2 birds are both parrots, and we have had them since 2001.  One is a Yellow Nape Amazon, and Jake is mostly green with some yellow on the back of his head.  The other one is a Mollucan Cockatoo, and  Paco has white feathers with peach on the back of his head.  That is Cockatoo not a Cockatiel, which is the little gray bird with orange on it's cheeks.  Cockatoos or  Toos as they are sometimes called, are also known as velcro birds because they want to be very close to their owners sitting on their shoulder if possible.  They are sometimes clowns and a little naughty ( they love to chew on wood ) and if upset will scream the house down. So like kids they need to be watched when they are out of their cages.  They are not quiet birds, when I say loud I mean very loud. Not very many people can handle it when they scream!  Luckily usually they only have a period of greeting the day (very early) lol, and saying goodnight when it starts getting dark !  The are both tame, with Paco being tamer than Jake.  Jake probably has about a 200 word vocabulary and thinks he is quite the singer!  So we will have quite a crew when we are out and about. People will certainly know we are there!  LOL!   Right now the birds don't like the dogs to much, so we'll see how it goes.  For short trips or trips with our 4 Grand Daughters, the birds can stay with one of our 3 sons.  The girls always look forward to going for a couple of short trips during the summer with us.

I'm sorry about all the spaces between the pics, I'm not used to this new system on here. Things have changed since I was posting everyday so I will read up on it and try to improve the look of the blog when I post pictures.  Wish me luck!

Where do all of you spend the winter at if you full time in your RV?  We are looking for some campgrounds somewhere warm.  I would like to know about any campgrounds that any of you use in the winter. What kinds of activities they offer, and where they are.  We don't need a campground that is advertised as a resort, just one that is mid priced and that allows pets. Please let us know if you have a favorite!  Just as long as it is someplace warm!  I hate Winter and so does my arthritis! Lol!  Well until next time friends...

Rest in Peace Dodge and Hello to the Beast

This is what was left of our 2001 Dodge truck!  The frame was bent and the inside of the cab was messed up where we bounced around and hit the dash and the console. The truck was in very good condition for a 2001, with low miles, but we still only got the blue book value which was $9,000.  Not enough to replace it without payments so now we have to make payments for the Beast.  As you all know that leaves less money to travel on, combined with the cost of diesel so our trips will be confined to  Ohio and Indiana this year.  Along with  the  regular camping season which will run from Spring to Fall until we get our lawsuit settled, and back on our feet .Oh how we hated to winterize our fiver and cover it up this year, but it just wasn't in the cards for us to go south this winter.


                                      Meet the Beast

This is the first truck that Mike did a test drive in and we kept going back to this one.  None of the other trucks could compare with all the options that this one had,the way it looked, and the fact that it was a diesel.  Mike liked the tow package it had, I loved the interior, (leather with heated seats  ooh la la ), and low miles!  It was like it was meant to be!!  We wanted a diesel because our Dodge was gas, and only got 6 to 10 mpg when towing the fiver.  Our only concern and question on it was, it's a Ford, an unknown entity to us.  We had never owned a Ford or driven one.  We decided to just go for it and we're glad we did!  I know I shouldn't say this, especially with our luck, but it has been awesome!   So Mike , (of course lol) had to make a few upgrades, he said they were really needed, (ha ha)  extra gauges towing stuff, new hitch,cos we weren't able to get the one out of the Dodge ect...  So far Mike has been the only one to feed the Beast,  (put  diesel in) but I imagine I will do so at some point ,if he ever lets it get below a half of a tank! 

So now we have the Beast and the Bear!  You see our fiver is called a Silverback, by Cedar Creek and it has a pic of a big bear on the sides and the front and back.  So it makes perfect sense to us.  Here are a couple of pics of the Beast and the Bear.  Sorry I don't have a pick of them hooked up to tow, but I will get one on our first outing this year.We think they look like they were made for each other!  What do you think ?
Well  time to get this posted  so I will save the rest for tomorrow, until then Happy Travels Everyone!

Almost Three Years Have Gone By!

Hello All,
I don't know if ya'll still remember us or not it has been almost 3 years since I have written on my blog.  Lot's of things have happened, some good and some bad!  So I thought I'd bring ya up to date and see if I can still remember how to do this!  :)

We were in an accident, this is the bad, (with our Dodge Ram only) on November 22, 2011.  We were headed to Circleville, Ohio for Thanksgiving, and at the intersection of Routes 104 and 56 a car ran the red light going at least 55 mph, and broadsided us!  We were lucky we were in our 1 ton truck otherwise we would have been hurt so much worse than we were.  We had to say goodbye to our beloved white Dodge Ram truck that day because it was totaled!  Since the impact was on  the driver's side the Sheriff said had we been in a van or a regular car that Mike would not have made it out of the accident alive.  They had to cut him out of the door with the jaws of life.  As it was, his back was jammed and twisted on impact, his knees were rammed up into the dash, and he had a broken ankle and broken little finger, and a concussion with concussion syndrome lasting for approximately 3 months!  He is still recovering from the injuries to his back since it had already been fused in two places several years before the accident.  So that was not good for his back.

My injuries were much less severe.  I ended up with a separated shoulder, two fractured ribs, and a seat belt injury  to my chest area.  We were both taken to the hospital and released about 10:00 p.m. that night. We were without a car or a truck for over a month because our truck was totaled by the insurance company the next week.  The bad thing about that was we had just paid it off in October of 2011!  Do you have luck like that, we always do lol.  So the other insurance company didn't have to give us a loaner car because of our vehicle being totaled.  That is when we decided to get a lawyer because the accident wasn't our fault.  We had to borrow our son's cars or neighbors cars until we got the check from the insurance company, so we could look for another truck!  Needless to say our plans to go to Florida last January had to be cancelled, so I kind of got discouraged and didn't write on my blog.  So that is the bad.  We still haven't settled the lawsuit with the other insurance company, but I imagine it will be sometime this year.

The good part:  We found a truck!  The bad part: we have a payment again!  LOL!  We ended up with a Ford F 350 super duty, 1 ton  Larriet diesel dually double cab truck!   Wow that was a mouthful to type!  Haha!   We just call it The Beast!  It is a lot longer and bigger than our Dodge dually was.   Mike took to it right away, but it took me about 2 and a half months to get up the courage to try to drive it!  The Beast and I get along very well now, and from what Mike says it tows the fiver like a dream!  I leave the towing to Mike, I know when I am out of my league!  We took several short trips last summer. Just in and around Ohio, and Indiana, but it sure felt good to be back on the road again!

Well that is enough for now, as they say always leave them guessing, so you'll have to check back to see what else has happened during our time off.  I'll try to finish getting you the rest of the way up to date tomorrow or at least this week! I hope  I will be able to post a picture of the Beast then!