A very old stray {The Old Fella Story}

Good mornings Burch and fellow FOOFs! Merry Christmas to all! Brendon (my Scotty) and I unwrapped our presents at home and then got in the car and drove the 92 miles to Brandon's in Melbourne. Normally this is a 2+ hour drive with multiple slowdowns on I-4 due to Disney, but it was smooth sailing yesterday. I actually made the drive in 90 minutes. . . a record for me, but just what it should be.

The kids opened their presents from me and we had dinner around 4 o'clock. It was delicious. Brandon did a tenderloin on the green egg and he has done it so many times that now it is second nature to him. It was perfectly medium rare. We had lots of vegetables and salad and grilled pineapple with cinnamon (tastes like pineappole upside down cake). I had brought a pumpkin pie per Brandon's request. Great meal and great family. I will likely go back home today some time. Might stay an extra day, but will see. We were just together at Thanksgiving when we all went to Turks and Caicos. They have lots going on with Brynlee's activities. 

Hope you are all well.

Dale

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, Burch and all the fellow FOOF's!  I totally agree with you about this site. It is really cumbersome to negotiate and I rarely see anything written by "old" friends. 

I went with my son and his family to Turks and Caicos for Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time. We left on Wednesday and got back last night. We flew from Orlando which was great as it's the closest airport to me. So I just got reserved parking and drove over and my car was waiting for me when we arrived last night. It was an all-inclusive trip and I took money and credit cards and didn't spend a cent! LOL My kind of vacay!

We walked a lot, going from place to place and the grounds at the Sandals Beaches were beautiful. We spent our days in the pool, then also took in some excursions. Went out on a catamaran and snorkeled, visited iguana island. . . where we. . . wait for it. . . saw IGUANAS! Then they stopped so we could go off the slide and swim a bit on our own. I went down the slide twice! We also rode those big pedal trikes and kayaked. It was a busy few days and I had a great time. So glad at age 74, I could still join in on those things. We ate Thanksgiving dinner at one of the restaurants, but I was the only one who had the traditional menu. Everyone else got something else. But I love turkey and all the fixings. It was very good, but believe it or not, I like having leftovers. So I had to take one for the team there!

I had thought that the islands, being owned by Great Britain, would be well appointed and nicely developed. But once you leave the resort, it was almost like a third world country.  The airport was not what I was expecting. So many people, a small space and not enough seats for everyone and, of course, you had to get there 3 hours before your flight. And no A/C. Then our flight was delayed, but we did get out about 45 minutes late. It was still early enough I could stop at my friend's, who dogsat for Brendon. He was excited to see me. I love him so much and it is such a blessing to have someone greet you like a dog does when you return!

My big trips that have been planned for a year are now all completed. I must say, that they have been great experiences, but I love my RV above all and enjoy the RVing lifestyle more than any of these other trips. One friend told me it's because I'm a control freak and want to be in control. She said that like that's a bad thing. LOL I know Terry would never have done either of the two trips I made this year, so I did have some fun doing them with friends and family on my own. Like I said, I'm glad my health has allowed me to do things that others prolly cannot do at my age. My son wants me to go to Greece with them in a few years, a combination belated anniversary trip posponed from Covid times and a gift for their daughter. He wants me to go to "chaperone" my granddaughter as my son and his wife want to do some stuff independently. I hope I can do that. In the meantime, it will be the RV. LOL

Well, enough rambling. But I do hope you are all well and enjoying your families this holiday season.

Dale

There's a lot of cleanup to do yet down here as well, Burch. In our motorhome community, we had about 20 houses damaged. Considering that we are all manufactured houses, we only lost ports. Most homes have RV ports and carports. The ones that were damaged typically didn't have anything under them, like RV's. There was one port that was twisted all to heck and the one next to it got the same treatment. The one was a total loss. From the looks of it, that may actually have been a small tornado that ripped it up. The people were not there. That would have been scary. The only damage to homes themselves was mainly facia, skirting, but no windows blown out or anything. The residents who stayed said it was the worst they had every seen, and many have lived here for 30+ years. I lost some panels up high at the transition from the carport to the RV Port. Most of the panels were laying on the floor of the port and my neighbor picked them up for me. I had a guy put them back up for me, but about half of the panels are totally missing, so I will have to have someone finish that for me. At least with what was put back up, the rain cannot blow through down onto my cars. We were flooded and I had water on two sides, but since I am not sitting on the ground, it did not get into my house or my shed. That was lucky. The canal is right behind my house. I don't think any house was flooded inside. My neighbor lost all his ductwork underneath his house. His was the flexible pipe with insulation and it all got saturated from the water under his house. It took him a couple days to get it all pulled out and replaced. We have some trees in the community, but only lost branches. Our white plastic fencing around our community was damaged and some residents  got together and got it all fixed back up. There are some posts that need replacing which we will have to do, but at least we are all enclosed again. We only lost power for about 9 hours one day, then 3 the next, so all the food in my freezers is okay. I keep a pan of ice cubes in each freezer, so I know if there has been a big thaw, but all was good. One neighbor down the street lucked out and had no damage, but their house in Augusta, Georgia, got hit by Helene the week before. They lost 15 trees in the back yard and almost as many in the front. In the front yard, uprooted trees pulled up their water pipes, so they had no water, and no power. A tree fell on their one garage and destroyed his shop and a car. The bus garage, however, that has his Tiffin Allegro Bus and his custom Prevost was not damaged. They were on a cruise at the time and it took 3 weeks of nonstop work with heavy equipment to get things back in order once they got back. Their house itself was spared. 

I was in Virginia with my daughter, but had I been in Florida, I would have gone to my son's over in Melbourne. His house is concrete and his roof is strapped down. After a certain year here in Florida, all new houses built had to meet stronger standards. They did get the storm there, mainly tornados, but he fared well. Hopefully we won't see any more storms of that magnitude any time soon.

Glad you and yours were safe, Burch. Hug those furbabies!

Dale

Hope you and Burch came through okay.  Cousin and uncle were fine.  A number of Army buddies checked in, some out of power for a few days, but otherwise fine.

I am not evacuating.  I have 3 dogs and have an 82 year old father in law in a mobile home and my mom is 77 and lives in Zone A flood zone so they come to my house when we have a storm.  I am zone E which is 33' or above so I don't have to worry about storm surge.  However, this thing is a monster right now at 180mph winds with 200+ gust.  It's still a long way off but it's starting to concern me.  I have plenty of supplies and have a generator with plenty of fuel so I should be good as long as the roof doesn't blow off.  

I have lived all of my 53 years of life in this general area of Florida and have lived though many storms but this one could be bad.

I have a weather station on top of a 30' tower here at my house and it updates every 3 seconds.  You can monitor it by going to www.k4qxx.com.  It runs 24/7/365 days a year unless the power and internet go out which is a possibility but anyone can look at it if they are interested in the local weather at my house.

Burch

Burch, how are you doing up there? We are still waiting down here in Polk City, but I think you are further north and may be closer to the path of this monstrous storm. Stay safe. I was supposed to leave for a rally today going to St. Augustine. Cancelled for today, but going to try and go tomorrow.

Dale

Dale hope you get your hearing back.

Patty had an episode a few months back where she was dizzy and lost hearing in her one ear a few months ago.

i took her to the emergency room and they totally missed diagnosed her.

We also called and ENT and of course it was almost 2 months before she could see someone. After about 10 days I called the ENT to see if she could get in earlier. The had a cancellation so we got in the next day. The ent said she had a virus that affected the ear and she needed to be treated with in 2 weeks. This was now 4 or 5 weeks after the initial emergency room visit.

i asked the Ent if that was the case why did it take 2 months at the original phone call for an appointment.

he sent her to a specialist to get a steroid injection into the ear drum to see if hearing would return. But he explained because it had been over 4 weeks there was little chance her hearing would come back. So she opted not to get the shot and go with oral steroids. To this day she has lost her hearing completely in that ear.

Glad the dogs got a good report from the vet, Burch. My Brendon is still doing well. I have finally found a dog food he likes and seems to be helping him shed a pound or two. I got home from my British Isles cruise a week ago. The gift I got from the airport was Covid. Been on Paxlovid. Don't feel badly anymore except I still wake up coughing. Also had an ear infection and sinus infections, so it's been slow going trying to shake it all. I was so very disappointed with the trip. I don't think cruising is the way to go see landmarks and sites. So little time. Spent a lot of the time on motorcoaches flying by. . . "If you look out the left you will see Loch Ness as we fly by at 50 kph." The one monument we did get time at was Stonehenge and I was happy for that. I guess I'm not a cruise person. Had to get up each morning early to eat, dress, get ready to hop on the tender or motorcoach, then join other groups trying to do the same thing. It didn't help that August is vacation time for the entire U.K., so in addition to tourists, there were locals trying to see things. I bet they hate tourists in August. Then after sitting at Heathrow for 11 hours for our flight back, it was cancelled after multiple delays. Spent two days in a hotel, then finally flew back. Had to reschedule my flight from Norfolk to Orlando, plus my rental car. What a mess. I didn't think I would ever get home. But I did and Brendon was glad to see me. He is sleeping every night on the bed now. LOL Wants to keep an eye on me. 

Next week I have scheduled an oil change/service for The Silver Fox. The garage I used to use change owners and haven't been as reliable, so I am taking her to the Ford dealer in Bartow. The service manager there was very nice to me when I called. Not every dealership will work on the little motorhomes, so I hope this works out. They have a mobile service, but he though I would be better bringing it in. Has to do with the size. Could be after seeing it, they would use the mobile after that. I don't mind taking it down. . . I just hope it's not an all day thing.

Sorry to hear Monty's heart is slowing down.  That's the problem with most pets: they love us intensely for too short a time.

Safe travels. I hope your dogs aren't bothered by fireworks. My Brendon could care less. Thunder doesn't bother him either. I'm thankful for that. In three weeks I leave for my British Isles cruise. I'm first flying to Virginia to meet up with my travel friend (my daughter's MIL), then our little group of 4 is driving a rental to Dulles for the flight overseas. I'm starting to get excited. I have already packed everything, decided my suitcase was too small, so went out and bought a bigger one. Repacked and then hung everything back up. Just wanted to make sure it all fit.
Brendon will be staying with a friend. She is also a widow lady who helped me a lot after Terry died. She had 2 dogs at that time. They have both since died, so instead of getting another, she takes care of other people's dogs. She's keeping him at her house in our community. I know he will be well cared for, but it is going to be hard to leave him.

Have a great week, Burch!

Dale

I just find it so cumbersome and difficult trying to navigate this forum. When I try to find something, it takes me forever and then I often have no luck. I hate it. I used to spend a lot of time on the forum because it was easy to see what threads were active, etc., but now you can't see anything at a glance. 

I am on my way home from Virginia, visiting with my daughter and her family. I also visited friends in Chesapeake. In July I am doing a 12-day cruise around the British Isles. Looking forward to it.

Dale

Burch,

I applaud you for your efforts to keep this thread alive, but I agree with your conclusion that the software update doomed the effort.  Of course, other factors are involved as well, such as the death of several original, core members, and the general tendency of clubs and groups to lose members due to new interests and lifestyle changes.  A lot of people I know seem to enjoy Facebook groups, and I am a member of several groups catering to my interests at present.  If you're feeling ambitious, maybe you can start a Facebook group and post a link to it here.  Maybe the few foof members who have figured this new forum will see it and join, you never know.  In any case, best of luck and maybe we'll see you down the road.