Catching Up

We’ve been back for a month now and are pretty much living the daily routine.  Things are beginning to ramp up “in these here parts” at the Plantation.  The “Stitch and Chat” group has already started meeting on Tuesdays and the Quilters are getting together on Thursdays.  Bagels and Coffee has been taking place on Saturday mornings with the Ice Cream Social on Sunday evenings.  Gary and Millie will be returning this coming weekend so the four o’clock social should be getting underway soon.  Larry and Babs will be returning shortly after Election Day so the Tuesday and Thursday evening meals will taking place real soon.

We’ve continued to work on The Old Ta Do List; it’s unbelievable how many items are on that list and the list just keeps growing.  The temperatures have dropped a little bit here in the southland over the past few days so we’ve been concentrating on our “indoor” chores.  The refrigerator needs to be defrosted and we want to vacuum on top of all the cabinets throughout the house.  Once the old temps climb back to normal, by the end of the week, we will get outside and wash the exterior of all the windows (the interiors have already been done).

Sunday afternoon our church held the annual Tail Gate event.  Tail Gate takes place in the area behind the church where the home groups set up booths with various themes along with lots of food, fun, and fellowship.  There are big bouncy houses set up for the kids, drawings for door prizes, and an award for the most popular booth.  It was estimated that 2,000 people attended this year’s event and everyone seemed to have had a good time.  Our group’s booth was an old fashioned Barn Wedding; here’s  a couple of photos.

 

Tomorrow will be the first of November; unbelievable, ten months of 2012 is already gone leaving Thanksgiving on the horizon.  Also, this coming Sunday marks the end of Daylight Savings Time – Oh, Yuck.  That means it will be dark before five thirty each evening.  I just hate getting up at two in the morning to tinker with the clocks twice a year.  Changing time has got to be one of the stupidest thing that we Americans do.  Just pick a time and leave the clocks alone.  Besides, the farmers hate Daylight Savings Time because the extra hour of sunlight burns up their crops.

For Trick or Treat, I’m taking taking my bride to Big Daddy’s for lunch.  Big D’s has a nice Philly Cheese sandwich lunch plate served with fries and coleslaw; it’s one of our favorites.  Also, their Big Daddy Burger is among the best.  Being that we’re not big into the Halloween things, we’ll just call it a nice day for a nice lunch and that will be our nice Treat.

I guess that brings you pretty much up to date.  Hope your all doing well and keeping dry.  Hurricane Sandy has certainly made a mess of New Jersey and New York City.  So, in the meantime . . . .

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (I Thessalonians 5:28)

La Cucarachas, La Cucarachas

My dear wife has a phrase that she uses to describe the “yucky” in life; it’s “Gross and Disgusting”.  Well, I’ve been battling the “Gross and Disgusting” this past week.  I started out on my crusade to do battle with a colony of ants that decided they liked our home better than theirs.  It began in the basement and moved to the interior of our “little house on the highway”.  In battling the ant population, I had almost drawn as many battle lines as in the Civil War and, I was winning more battles than I was losing. 

Then the “Gross and Disgusting” occurred.  We discovered that we had an infestation of German Cockroaches.  “Ewwww, Big Time Gross and Disgusting” indeed.  Well, I mean to tell you that the battle immediately turned into a full-fledged war and, unfortunately, it was not on enemy soil; it was on our very own turf.  Now, you think that ants are a bitch (excuse the euphemism) to get rid of, try convincing a family of cockroaches that your not going to sublet your quarters to them.  They cry out ethnic discrimination and I can assure you that it is. 

They were attempting to implement squatter’s rights and were quite well entrenched, however, we entered into full combat; Combat Source Kill, that is.  With the strategic placement of six “bait stations” and the utilization of some Boric Acid powder in our basement, cabinets, and cupboards, the victory was ours.  Also, I crawled under the coach and sprayed the entire undersides with Ortho’s Home Defense.  Hopefully, we’ll not see the whites of their eyes ever again.  Ugly little buggers they are.

We have no idea where we picked these little vagabonds up, but before we depart Alabama again next spring, we’ll be sure to crawl back under the coach and spray the undersides with Home Defense once again in an attempt to discourage ants, bugs, and roaches from thinking they have found the high rent district.  We hates them creepy crawly things to pieces and have no plans to share our humble abode with any of them.  Victory is sweet indeed.

Now onto the more pleasant things in life.  Randy and Terry arrived right on schedule Monday afternoon.  Once they set up house keeping they came over to our house for an enjoyable evening of catching up and of sharing a meal together.  Judy had whipped up one of her famous homemade lasagnas.  We served a garden salad and some Cuban bread with a dipping sauce.  We always enjoy our times with the Guilers; you can follow their travels on their blog - Guiler Travels.

Tuesday evening Randy, Terry, Judy, and I headed to Big Daddy’s for some nice Shrimp Baskets although Randy enjoys his Big Daddy Burger.  Again, another fine dining experience with lots of chatting, chewing, and chuckling taking place.

Yesterday Randy, Terry, Judy, and I met up with Jim, Ellie, and JoAnn at Panini Pete’s to sample some more of their fantastic muffaletta sandwiches.  They were just as good as ever.  This was Jim, Ellie, and JoAnn’s first visit to this little sandwich emporium and all left satisfied.  As always, the fellowship is the best and it was especially good to see JoAnn once again.

This morning we are going to pick up Randy and Terry to go to breakfast at the Foley Diner.  As you can well see, we are eating our way through our whole monthly “eat out” allotment in one fall swoop.  It’s a good thing that it’s the end of the month.  Well, thar ya have it, another day (or two) in the life.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. (2 Thessalonians 3:18)

Amazon.com Brings Smiles

You talk about living in the twenty-first century?  In order to do that, we need to have the right toys.  A computer is a must; it can be a desk model, a laptop, or an I-Pad, but you gotta have a computer.  Now a days your phone can be a computer as well.  Dang, phones are replacing everything.  You can watch TV, you can answer e-mail, you can surf the internet, you can take pictures, and you can turn on things around the house while you’re anywhere in the world.  You can text, you can tweet, you can twist, twitch, and turn over with your “smart” phone.  No matter what, you need to have at least one of these devices in order to survive in the twenty-first century.

Now, I said all that just to say this; my baby got a brand spanking new Toshiba 15” screen 8 gig laptop computer for seventy-eight bucks.  Well, it ain’t  ‘xactly brand new in that it’s my old Toshiba that the hard drive crashed in back in July of twenty-eleven.  We just went to our favorite retailer, Amazon.com, and ordered a new hard drive.  When it showed up on our door step with a smiling delivery gal, we were all over it like white on rice (the hard drive that is, not the delivery gal).  With a little help from our friends, we managed to load the original software which rendered the computer practically brand spanking new.  Now my baby sits in her recliner with a great big smile on her face looking kinda like the Cheshire Katt.  You see, her Dell computer, that we purchased back in the fall of ought six, is slowly giving up the ghost.  It’s always nice to have a replacement before your old computer goes belly up.  Yes, Amazon.com does bring smiles.

Randy and Terry are on their way to Rainbow Plantation and will arrive this afternoon.  We have a travel day meal planned for them; they’ll need it after three days on the road.  But, even as great as the meal will be (Judy’s world famous lasagna with a salad and “dipping” bread), the “spending time with family” will even be greater.  We always pick up right where we left off; it’s as if we just saw each other yesterday, but it has been a long time since we last dined together – waaaay toooo loooong.  Two of the best parts of living this lifestyle are the freedom you have and the friends you make along the journey.

Speaking of the journey, we need to get a life.  We’ve been here for three weeks and other than a trip to the Original Oyster House, Summerdale library, and Walmart we haven’t gotten out much.  Oh yes, there was the trip to Pensacola to JoAnn Fabrics, Joe Patti’s, and Walmart, however, we’ve not even been to Big Daddy’s or Panini Pete’s or even to the beach since we’ve returned back home.  Just chores, chores, and more chores.  We are slowly making progress and getting on top of things.  Hopefully we’ll “get out” a little more often in the near future.  Then we’ll have something with pictures to share with you.  Until then . . . .

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. (2 Thessalonians 3:18)

Rain, Chores, And Good News

Yay, a rainy day.  That meant that we could spend the entire day inside taking it easy, however, we continued on clearing some “inside” items off the “Ol’ Ta Do List”.  Here is a picture of the storm clouds gathering at sunrise on Thursday morning.  By the way, I had spread some fire ant “food” over our site on Wednesday in anticipation of some rain to soak it into the ground.

As you know, once one begins working on “Ta Do” lists, they have a tendency to grow.  You strike one item off and two more appear – it’s magic.  Somewhere in our travels this past summer we picked up a “family” of ants and have been trying to evict them ever since.  Being that they feel that they have squatter’s rights, we’ve had to employ the services of an eviction attorney – Home Defense.  We began with the basement; took everything out, vacuumed, and washed the compartment before spraying it with Home Defense.  Then, on our “stay inside because it’s raining” day, we cleaned out and sprayed the cabinet under the vanity, the furnace compartment under the refrigerator, and a couple of pantry cupboards.  Hopefully, the ant “family” will take the hint and move on over to Hank and Sandy’s house.

The other day I came inside while Judy was on the phone with Terry Guiler.  She was as giddy as a freshman girl being invited to the Senior Prom by the star football quarterback.  I told her I hadn’t seen that much giggling since our daughter’s news of a new grandbaby and asked if Terry was pregnant.  As it turns out she is not, or at least she’s not admitting to any such thing, but she and Randy are pointing their sights in our direction and will be stopping by Rainbow Plantation for a few days on their way to Bonifay, Florida.  Wahooo!!  That means I get to taste some more of Judy’s world famous lasagna once again; one of Randy’s favorites.  We look forward to seeing them and getting to spend some time with them once again.  It’s been waaaaay tooooo looooong!!!!   

Well, that pretty well wraps it up from Rainbow Plantation for now.  May God Bless  - - - - - - - -

Keeping Up With The Pattersons

There is really nothing new to report.  We’re continuing to work on the “Ol’ Ta Do List”.  The rig has been scrubbed clean, next the truck needs a bath.  We still have several day/night shades to restring, fireplace to repair, rugs to shampoo, and a few other little things to fix.  The routine of the day is to get up, do some “w*rk” in the morning, and take the afternoons off. 

For relaxation, we spend time sitting outside in our loungers and sipping our iced tea while reading.  Then there’s the occasional game of Bocce Ball.  One of these fine afternoons we’d like to make a trip to the park/pier in Fairhope and spend some time enjoying the beach.

Yesterday was our typical Sunday; worship, football, and Ice Cream Social.  Today will be a trip to Pensacola so Judy can pick up some fabric for her Christmas projects.  While over there, we plan to do our grocery shopping in order to avoid the 8+% sales tax on food here in Alabama and, oh yes, we’ll be making a stop by Joe Patti’s Seafood for some nice Royal Red Shrimp and fresh Maine Haddock.

So, that’s it for the time being – May God Bless - - - - - - - -

Just Doing It, Doing It

Monday, we attended the first of the year’s Gulf Posse chapter meeting at the Original Oyster House.  Along with the meeting we have lunch and I must say that the food was mediocre at best.  Jim and I ordered a cup of clam chowder and we couldn’t eat it because it was waaaaay tooooo salty.  We swapped it out for the gumbo which was alright, however, it was lukewarm instead of being served hot.  The dinner itself was nothing to write home about.  Both Judy and I felt that they have tumbled downhill since last year.  We don’t know if it was new management or what, but it’s not worth the prices they charge for a nice seafood meal.  The Original Oyster House doesn’t hold a candle to Big Daddy’s in food, prices, or service.

We’re still working through our “Ta Do List”.  The roof of the RV was soooo dirty that it took me three days to get it washed.  It looks as if we had parked the rig under some trees and left it there for several years.  I had to get down on my hands and knees to scrub it first with a rag and then with a brush.  The dirt just rolled off (and down across the sides) as I rinsed it.

While I was dancing on the roof, Miss Judy was inside cleaning, organizing, and sewing – not necessarily in that order.  Her goal is to go through all of the closets, cabinets, and storage spaces pulling out what we don’t use and rearranging the rest of our “stuff”.  This is almost an annual event as things tend to shift around as we are going down the road. 

Wednesday afternoon, while we were sitting in our loungers with one arm as long as the other, Paul and Diane stopped in for a visit.  They have been following our website and blog for the past five plus years.  It was so nice to meet them and spend some time getting to know a little about them.  They left Rainbow Plantation on Thursday morning, but it was a very special surprise.  We always enjoy it when people stop by and introduce themselves; we didn’t even think to make a picture of them – shame on us.  There are no strangers here, just friends we haven’t met yet.  Thanks guys for thinking of us.

Then, Wednesday evening we attended our 242 Home Group get together.  This is the first one we’ve attended since we’ve been back.  It was nice to see everyone and there are some “new people” in our group this year.  It was a great evening of faith, food, fun, and fellowship.  Upon returning home we noted that our next door neighbors, Gil and Orma, had returned home.

Thursday morning, after welcoming Gil and Orma back, I climbed up on the roof and finished washing/scrubbing the black sh--, err, stuff off.  It only took me about seven hours of “werk” spread over three days to get it clean.  Today I’ll start washing the front and starboard side of the coach.  Saturday I’ll wash the back and port side.  It will still need a nice hand washing before I start waxing, but I have a couple other projects to accomplish before starting that task.  Did I tell you how nice it is to be back home?

Here’s our latest Josiah picture.  Just like his grandpa; falls asleep while reading a good book .

May God Bless  - - - - - - - - - -

The Resting Place

Just as we promised, we’d check in once in a while with a post just to let you know that we are still alive and well.  Our life at Rainbow Plantation is pretty much as we predicted it would be.  We spend the mornings doing our “chores” and then attempt to take the afternoon off to play.  Being that we are going to be here for awhile, we are just taking our time and pacing ourselves.

Our church has started a new service on the first Wednesday of each month so we attended that.  It was a great time of worship with singing, teaching, and communion.  On the other Wednesday evenings each week we’ll be attending our 242 home group where we share a dinner, have a Bible study, and end with prayer.

I began the RV washing regimen and have washed the bugs off the front, the black streaks off the four corners, and the road dirt off back of the rig (those were the dirties places).  There’s no sense to do anymore washing until after I spend a couple of days washing the roof which I’ll do this week.  It’s dirtier than I have ever seen it and will streak the sides of the coach as I rinse it.  Once the roof is nice and clean, then I can wash the entire rig.  We want to start inviting people over for visits so we want a nice clean home – inside and out.

Friday, Judy did some more inside cleaning and she also made a nice egg plant dinner (if there is any such thing – yes, there is!!) while I fed grass to the lawn mower and weed whacker.  While I was at it, I mowed an area behind our lot where we can layout the Bocce Ball Court.  It was too hot play Bocce Ball right then, but the weather is turning cooler this week so, “let the games begin”.

On one of our days out to run errands, we stopped by the the Summerdale library where both of us picked up a couple of books.  It’s been nice summer like weather around here so we enjoy sitting outside to read.  Here is a picture of “The Resting Place”.   It used to be a very pretty view until the neighbor hacked up the trees so that dang fence could be installed to contain his dawg, but it’s still not too shabby a view and is nice and private.  The neighbor and his dawg have since moved away.

As always, if it’s Sunday then it’s worship.  Our church is growing by leaps and bounds.  Judy and I serve on the Connection Team each Sunday so we spend pretty much the entire morning at church.  Then, last evening, the Baldwin Pops were performing a “Concert in the Park” in Fairhope.  Ellie joined us the for the concert while Jim stayed home to cheer on the Broncos (we knew the Patriots didn’t need our support so we were “good to go”).  Here are some pictures from around the concert while the sun was setting in the background.

Today is the first monthly luncheon meeting of the Gulf Posse (Escapees Chapter 26) at the Original Oyster House in Gulf Shores.  Norm and Linda are picking us up this morning to make our way south from the Plantation.  Jim and Ellie are going to join us at the Oyster House as well.

So there you have it for the time being.  May God Bless  - - - - - - - -

Taking A Hiatus

Yesterday unfolded just as we had predicted.  It sure was nice to be back in our own church and see all of our friends once again.  Our new pastor, Pastor Chris Bell, is awesome.  His sermon was right on the mark and very convicting; just what you go to church for, to be challenged.  It was on getting a new perspective about the people we encounter in our lives.  Yep, President Obama and Mitt Romney are both people Jesus died for regardless of how we feel about them.  So is that slow poke who decided to go for a walk and took his car with him, even though he is in our way.  I won’t preach the whole sermon, but basically, we need to get Jesus’ perspective on life.

We joined Norm and Linda around three o’clock for another chat, chew, and chuckle.  Norm and Linda aren’t just friends, they’re family.  It was nice to be back in their home and spending an evening with them.  Norm is a master cook and he had grilled a nice pork roast along with asparagus, potatoes, and coleslaw.  All that along with a fine wine and some ice water followed by a brownie with ice cream and a special treat on top.  It feels so nice to be home again, home again.

Today it’s all about clothes.  My first chore is to reinstall the clothes rack in the closet followed by my second chore which is taking the bikes off the back of the rig and attaching the clothes line.  Then, tomorrow is all about washing the bugs off the RV and the truck.  I didn’t run away from home, so let the chores begin.

Well, being that we are now back at Rainbow Plantation for the next several months, we’re going to take a hiatus from publishing a daily blog.  Afterall, who wants to read that “I washed the tires on the truck today” or “we vacuumed the livingroom this morning”.  Basically, we’ll be doing chores, maintenance, and just plain living our “abnormal” daily lifestyle.  Our big outing will be a trip to Wally World to pick up the three Bs - bacon, beans, and bread.  Oh, we can’t forget that we’ll get out once in awhile for worship and there’ll be activities at the clubhouse.  But, all in all, we will be pretty much living a routine lifestyle.

We’ll publish something occasionally just to let you know that we’re still alive and/or when we do something exciting.  There are still places around this area that we haven’t visited yet, so when we do, we’ll snap some pictures and tell you about the outing.  And there’s always grandkid pictures to publish every now and then.  However, in the meantime, thanks for following along and . . . . .

May God Bless  - - - - - - - -