Sunday

I usually try to post something each day, its easier for me to remember what we're doing that way.  My brain doesn't retain things after a few days and then doing the blog becomes a time consuming chore - no fun for me.   If its not fun, I'm not doing it at this stage of my life.

So, having said that, the reason I didn't post on Saturday was because there was absolutely nothing, not one single thing, to say or show you.    weather, bla bla bla, second cup inside or out, bla bla bla, Lewis playing ball, bla bla bla, Sasha snoozing in various places, bla bla bla, reading bla bla bla, dinner at home, bla bla bla....

Dave's eye continues to be pain free, and healing nicely.   From the moment the Eye doc. placed the medicine laden contact in it, the whole event  smoothed right down.  I put one eye drop in the left eye, twice a day and that's it!   He goes back on Wednesday afternoon for the contact removal and recheck, but we're expecting that it has healed completely.   Thanks for all your calls and emails, I didn't mean to worry you by staying silent.

I didn't post yesterday (Sunday) because we enjoyed a pleasant evening at Pam and Vic's that didn't get us home until late, and we went straight to bed. zzzzzzzz

After a couple nice phone conversations with Cindy P and JoAnn and a quick 9 holes at a local golf course,  we headed to the beach for a short walk before baking our contribution to Pam and Vic's dinner - a quick peach/coconut cobbler with whipped cream.

This is what beautiful Holmes Beach looked like yesterday afternoon.  Never mind the low, grey clouds, the scheduled beach renourishment was in full swing.   Lots of people were watching the activities.  

A huge barge sits off shore (I think I showed you a long distance picture of it as it was being towed past us at 3015 - our Christmas beach condo).   It sucks up sand and pumps it, via huge pipes, to the beaches where the sand is blown through a screened box (to catch all the larger, undesirable shells) and nicely leveled by laser/GPS directed bulldozers.   Phew!   If the weather was warmer, I think it would be interesting to set up our chairs and watch the process for awhile.

brrrr, I wouldn't want his job!

these diggers reminded us of a huge mutant crab on the beach

Later, when the cobbler came out of the oven we headed over to Pam and Vic's site to watch the SanFrancisco/Seattle game on their outside TV.

A sudden shower chased us inside but not before showing us this beautiful rainbow in the eastern sky.  I had a few better pictures of the double rainbow, but decided to use this one because it included a Sunnybrook 5th wheel that is close to the heart of one of my dearest friends....

No pictures of our delish meal, sorry.   We were way too busy chowing down on gooey ribs, sweet potato fries, cobbler and much wine to remember the camera.     After dinner we watched  more football and,  thanks to their TWO TV's,  some of us were able to watch Downton Abbey simultaneously.   Wonders never cease.




Rico and his mom, Jetta were perfect angels, as always.   Hard to get a picture of both of them sitting still at the same time though.   Perhaps next time you'll see Rico sitting still and Jetta being a silly girl...

Pain

Lewis says "Thanks Pam" for the new blue squeaky baby from Tampa

Pain, eye pain.    It started last night at dinner, Dave had serious pain and copious water pouring out of his left eye.    It kept him awake most of the night.  His eye was still throbbing and leaking this morning so we hightailed it off to an Urgent Care center in Bradenton.    The nurse practitioner determined that it wasn't a simple conjunctivitis, that it most probably was an abraded cornea - ewwww.     He was given a prescription for antibiotic ointment and a narcotic pain killer along with  a strong suggestion to call the Eye Associates for a complete evaluation asap.       Curses....it was Friday afternoon!      I walked into the parking lot to make that call but couldn't get through.   The calls kept dropping even though my phone showed good signal.   The clock was ticking towards the weekend so I went back in and asked, in the nicest possible way, if they could try their phones.    Bingo!   They were able to reach the Eye Associates people and squeeze Dave in later in the afternoon.     I'm sure that they wouldn't have been that amenable if I had made the contact myself.  

We raced back to Beluga, took care of the dogs, gulped down lunch and drove back over to the next appointment.   In the interim we found out that Verizon service had been knocked out for the entire area and that is why my calls fell through - the universe was smiling at me today.   I'm thankful.

Already long story short, Dave has a severely abraded cornea and the Optometrist performed absolute magic stopping the pain by spreading medication on a contact and installing it in Dave's terrible, red, oozing eye.    The man fairly skipped out of the office and I distinctly heard him singing Zippity Do Da under his breath.

Pictures?    Not on your life.   Dave was not in the mood for me to ask him to pose for a pain collage.
I know I said I'd show you what I was seeing, but you didn't want to see this!

Bed early tonight to make up for Thursday's tossy turny hours.

it was quite a day

a day of rest

After our busy time yesterday we needed a day of rest, besides it was really cold outside.   I planned on staying indoors and reading all day, and I almost did that.      Dave was a bit more energetic than I, he took his normal brisk walk, then he took Lewis for another fairly long brisk walk.   Sasha had her final vet's appointment to have the staples removed.   The histopathy results were no surprise.

We both cleaned up the frantic mess we made outside last night (around 9 p.m.) while trying to unhook our outdoor lights and get the wildly flapping awning rolled up and secured.   I don't know where it came from, but a crazy wind suddenly blew up as we were watching Modern Family last night.  The big awning started heaving and flapping and we raced outside to find a strong, gusting wind spitting rain and pulling down palm fronds all around us.      The awning is staying put for awhile.    We're tired of late night, panic trips outside to secure things in the face of bad weather.   The pretty white lights will be stowed, the lit palm tree is in an inside window - we've had enough!

calm before the storm

We managed to do a few interesting (for us, that is) things in between reading and briskly walking....
We walked over to Pam and Vic's motorhome a couple of times to take care of their sweet Portuguese Water Dogs (Jetta and Rico) while they were at the Tampa RV show.   What cuties they are, and such fun dogs.    We also went to the nearby municipal golf course to hit a bucket of balls for the first time this year.    Dave wondered if he could still hold the club after his fall hand surgery, and was happy to find that he's officially ready to play.

see the nest on the right?

I spent way too much time, camera in hand, trying to capture the inhabitant of the large nest in this pine on the course.  

I just couldn't get a shot of her peering down at me, no matter how I tried

She teased me, again and again peeking over the side to steal a glance, then tucking back down just as I focused on her.   Ah well, it was a nicely constructed nest all the same.

RV Show

Today we went to the Tampa RV Supershow at the Florida State Fairground's huge campus.  This is an enormous venue with over 1000 recreational vehicles on display and vendors hawking everything even remotely relevant to RV's.   Campgrounds showcasing their resorts, glue to stick things down while traveling down the road, outdoor mats, chairs, knives, rv parts, tire monitors, clothing, jewelry, cleaning liquids and applicators, ladders, insurance, loans, furniture, LED lights, tow bars, etc., etc., etc.    My head was spinning.   Too many people and too much noise.      I only took one picture inside the expo hall, because it was too good to ignore......

We spent most of our time at the show marveling at the variety of ways people choose to "get away from it all".    I took lots of pictures in the beginning, but tired myself out in about an hour, so here are some shots I managed while I still had energy and enthusiasm....

Dave admires his reflection in this Prevost's paint job

huge and complex

tiny and simple

the compact outdoor kitchen - a place for everything

a line of shiny Airstreams

Cindy P, we found the perfect 5th wheel for you and Walter.   This toy hauler could easily hold the horses in the rear and even give them a little "paddock" to stretch their legs, complete with fencing!
What more could you ask for?   Shall we have it delivered?

Toy Hauler with a back porch!

Dave finds another fan blade he designed in his "other life"

lunch

patiently waiting for his dad to come out of the 50th motorhome

It was a long day, and we were glad we went.   We found out that there wasn't anything in Tampa that we liked better than our old Beluga......a good thing, being satisfied.

this and that

Cool and rainy in the morning, sunny and cool in the afternoon.   I sound like a broken record.  I'm not complaining, bad weather here is certainly better than bad weather elsewhere, but I'd really like a run of sunny and warm days.  

We had another relatively uneventful day.    We drove into Sarasota, found a really nice Garden Center and bought a bit of bright color for Beluga, hit Publix, then home again.   Yawn...    Tomorrow we'll drive up to Tampa to walk around the huge Tampa RV Supershow.     I'll make sure to leave my checkbook back home.

a bird and a beaver.....

We found ourselves at the Sarasota Botanical Gardens this afternoon, but the rain started up again in earnest, so we'll return on a better day.

I don't know what kind of tree this is, but it certainly is showy

its apricot colored blossoms are huge

another interesting specimen tree outside the Botanical Gardens

my colorful pot on its way to its new home.  it smells divine!

Here is a preliminary rendering of the cottage from Jesse.   Beluga will park on the flagstones to the right of house.    Its coming along nicely.    A sweet, little place for us (or guests) when we're back in Geneseo.    We'll also have another RV spot along the driveway for any "mobile visitors".   Fun, fun, fun.

another BCA I'm afraid

Beautiful day, laying by the pool while the laundry did its thing (until the clouds rolled in around 4). The only bad thing that happened is that my beloved kindle bit the dust, so to speak.   I've had a lovely chat with Mushkat at Amazon.com and he has promised to send me a replacement,  post-haste.   I was right in the middle of a good Louise Penney book!

view from my poolside chair

Last night we had a good Facetime conversation with Jesse.   He and Erin are designing a tiny house on our lake property back home.   We're going to head back to Geneseo in April, ready the big house for sale and Mr. David's A-1 General Contracting Company will move in and build the aforementioned cottage to give us a cozy place to hang out when we're in town.

I tried to upload one of the images he sent but the file is too big for this blog to open.  Sorry. 

BCA

We followed the sun this morning for second cup.   After last night's foggy, thundery, windy weather, the morning dawned clear and cool.  We kept moving our chairs into the warm sunshine, it felt really good.    The unintended consequence was that we found ourselves audience to our neighbor's little dogs morning constitutional ( think - morning poop).   Ah well, nature calls for us all.

After that, nothing of any consequence occurred.   Oh, a little laundry, a brisk walk over the bridge, short trip to return a redbox selection, cocktails at sunset, left overs for dinner.      Thats all folks!