where have i been

Where have i been? What have i been doing?

This past weekend was spent doing laundry, grocery shopping and just the day to day routine.

The weather has been mostly wonderful all week here! There was one day that we got some rain and my swamp returned. In the morning and late evenings it's a bit cool and during the day it warms back up but not to hot. My kind of weather.

I was without internet for 3 days! So i had to fill my time with other things. I've been doing my normal morning routine of getting up, taking the dogs on a walk to potty. Then do my dishes from the day before and pick up Ms. Southwind.

So this week, i have accomplished, finished a romance book i was reading and of course started a new one. dug out my embroidry I started a baby quilt last winter for my grandson and haven't finished it (bad grandma) I have to get it finished before this winter. I am on my last row and then i have to go back and do the fill in, which won't take long (i hope). Then i will add some material and i'm going to try to quilt it on my sewing machine.




Ms. Southwind has had a couple visitors this week and they were not humans. After the rain, i was sitting under the awning when i spotted this little guy/gal. I put the turtle on my deck to get a better picture. Of course as you see here, the lil fellow was heading as fast as he/she could to get away and back into his swamp.


As you see in the picture, the lil fellow made to back to the swamp
and was much happier. This lil guy was so tiny, much bigger then nickle. Ms. Southwind enjoyed the visit and of course i did as well.






The other night i was on the computer doing some reading and surfering and this lil creature decided to visit me. I have no clue what it is? It was yellow and looked kinda like a grass hopper. Of course it wasn't.
After looking the fellow over, i released the fellow back outside.






I got up this morning and visited with my neighbor a bit, then went inside and did my dishes, picked up the camper and then i decided to tackle the job of installing the window tint i bought last night. It actually went on pretty good and i got most of the bubbles out. I love it, not only does it keep the sun out, it gives me more privacy! After that i had bought the stuff this weekend at Dollar Tree to make a fall wreath to hang on my door. So i got the stuff together and made a wreath. Here is the final results, i'm happy with it and thinks it gives Ms. Southwind a nice touch.







I also bought a cover for my new freezer to keep the weather off of it. I bought a grill cover and it works great!

Here a picture of my flowers, don't they look great? I moved them to my patio, so i can enjoy them.

After all mly work it was time to start dinner. My neighbor brougt me over some gator sausage links, so i cut them in half and fried them. I also fried gizzards, made scollap potatoes and stuffing. The gator sausage was okay, a bit more spicy then i prefer. Gabe loved it.

After dinner, i took my nightly walk, showered and i'm gonna watch the debate ..... Night all ... Until later .........

Wonderful Weather!

Wow the temps have been great here!!!!!!!!! This week we've been having some great weather! I've spent most of my time sitting in my lawn chair, embroiding and enjoy a cold glass of tea or pepsi. Wednesday was spent visiting some neighbors. It's nice to have some friendly people around. One couple is older and very friendly, they've been outside working on their yard. They've got it looking pretty good. They went and got the mower and mowed their yard, they bought clippers to clip where the mower doesn't get. The lady down the street that moved in a week or so does the same. Wow, no way am i going to mow my yard, that is why i pay campground fee's and moved from a stick home. The cool weather has been bringing people outdoors.





As promised in an earlier blog, i got a picture of the Love Bug today. Most of them are de attaching, but there are still a few that are doing their thing. These bugs are horrible and you see cars with them splattered all over the front of them and i'm not talking a few here of them, i'm talking huge blotch's of them. They are as bad as the lady bugs we have in the north!

Tonight for dinner i'm going to grill some burgers and deep fry french fries.

Hope your all having a great day and until later ...................

A Beautiful Day!

I had a ruff night last night. My back hurt most of the day and night. I did take a small walk later in the evening. I shouldn't of ... So the rest of the evening was spent resting on the couch! I went to bed early for me. I slept about an hour and then my back woke me up. I got back up and read some email. About an hour later i went back to bed. It was a ruff night off and on. Sometimes i forget just how bad back pain and my disability can be. I guess it has to bring me back to reality at times .. and boy does it ever!!

I woke up to a beautiful day outside. This morning it was 67 degrees! I took the dogs out to potty and then opened up all of the windows in Ms.Southwind! I love being able to have my windows open and let fresh inside. I turned off the AC that hasn't been turned off much since May! It feels so good to have my blinds all the way up, windows open, vents open & the door open. It was cloudy most of the morning but now the sun has come out and it's warmed up to 72 degrees!

I plan to most of the day sitting outside and enjoying the fresh air. I am going to either read a book or do some embroidry.

Hope your all having a great day ....

Survived Ike!!

Well Ike has finally passed and Ms.Southwind has survived. I spent Friday glued to the news on TV to see weather or not we were advised to evacuate for hurricane Ike. I had Ms.Southwind and everything ready to where it would only takes a matter of minutes to be on the road to higher ground. The only thing that would of needed done, was TV put in the floor in front of the couch, the freezer outside put in front of the sink and the electric and cable unhooked. Luckily that warning never came.

There was some wind and every once in awhile Ms. Southwind received a little rock. But, I've actually felt more rocking from the winds in Illinois. Several others here in the park said that their campers really rocked. One guy here strapped his camper down with ratchet straps. He bought these long things he screwed into the ground and hooked them to that. Several complained that they were almost sea sick from all the rocking. They seem to think that because Ms. Southwind is older, she is heavier and i have her packed to the hilt. LOL They also said the way Ms. Southwind is parked that most of the wind was blocked by her behind! I actually feel more movement when the dogs jump off the bed or couch then i did from Ike. Our power and cable flickered on and off most of the day. But we never really totally lost power. The cable did go out for about 20 minutes at one time. I did have to put a bungee cord around the freezer i bought. It's sitting outside and i got up Saturday morning and the wind had blown the door open. That is how strong the wind was!

Several roads are closed here. The surge wasn't as big as they thought it would be, but most roads near the Gulf are closed. I thought about going out this weekend and getting some pictures but then i didn't want to be in the way of those trying to clean up. There are people at this time who are homeless and most of their belongings gone. The news has shown pictures of flooding and destruction. But this area was very lucky. Poor Texas has been hit hard! We were lucky because we were only on the tail end of the right side of the storm. Those who were closer to the right side were hit very hard. Most flooding here was from the surge of water Ike brought in.

Saturday afternoon was spent doing laundry, going grocery shopping and just relaxing. My allergies have been running wild lately. I guess i have hay fever here as i did in Illinois. My sinus are causing headaches, stuffed up nose, my eyes, ears and throat itches. So most the weekend was spent inside in the air.

Sunday was spent watching football and racing. The Jets lost ... and so did Kyle Busch!

This morning I'm still fighting my allergies and my back is bothering me, so it's just gonna be a day that will be spent lazying around. Even though it's only 75 degrees outside the humidity is 94%!

I spent most of the morning watching these clouds move closer and closer and finally this afternoon they got here!!

It's funny how clouds work the clouds on the driver side of the RV were kinda dark and the clouds in front of the RV were really dark and then the clouds on the passenger side were just as clear. I snapped these pictures about 5 mins before ......

The rain started pouring down and when it came ... it came down fast & hard! It didn't last long and then once it was over i got to watch a kodak moment!

I watched this bird outside my window as i was sitting at the table. The bird would fly down on the ground pick up something and then land on our electric box. It would eat what it picked up and then it would bath in the water holding in the tube. I probably watched this bird for 3-4 mins ....... finally it dawned on me snap a picture. Sorry the bird turned it's head as snapped the picture. I assume the bird doesn't like it's picture taken just like i don't.

I'm still down in my back and it's been a day of just relaxing .... Hope you all had a great weekend and until next time .....

Nothing much Happening...

Not much has been going on in my life these past few days. Earlier in the week i had the blues, but i think i am slowly coming out of it. I'm not really happy with the park i'm at. It's a blue collar park and most people in here have their nose way to far in the air. I'm so restricted here. The park is mostly construction workers and they come and go. Because of a the situation that occurred a few aweeks ago i no longer go out for my night time walks with the dogs i enjoyed.

I don't walk my dogs during the daytime either as their getting older and a couple of them are getting fraile. I worry about other dogs hurting them by accident. I got up and tried walking the dogs around 7.30 am after all the workers had left, but that didn't work either. Several others walk their dogs before it gets warm. I've been missing my grand kids big time and was looking forward to seeing them this month. But, now that isn't going to happen. My son's wife grandpa is very ill and so she is helping take care of him. He is now on life support. Plus my son has more work then he thought he would because of all the rain they've had north. He has to get this work done before winter. So it's looking like it will be a few more months before i get to see my grand children.

Ive basicily been doing my daily routine. Getting up, getting the dishes done, picking up the RV, checking the blogs that i follow and reading email from the RV groups i belong to. The rest of the time is spent relaxing and watching the tube. Lately mostly the weather station to see where Ike is headed. It's appears that Ike is heading to Texas but may get the edge of Lousiana. So far we have not been told to evacuate. We are in a tropical storm warning and the wind has picked up a bit. Today i am going to put away the lawn chairs and secure anything that can blow. They say we are likely to have tropical winds & tornado's with lots of rain causing flooding.

Today the sun will come out and shine and then the clouds cover and it's cloudy. Last night we got a surprise little rain storm. The wind blew a bit and it poured. Once again i was in a swamp but at least with the pallets i didn't have to stand in it! There is still evidence of rain and water holding in the streets.

Well i hope you all have a great day and until later .............

Settling back down to the comforts of home

The campground had a few campers in it when pulled in. The older run down motor home in the first picture didn't end up leaving during the storm. Apparently they waited until last minute and had trouble with the engine and of course no tow truck was risking being caught. So they rode it out. I talk to the couple in it and the lady said she was scared and was worried it would turn over. The man of course said it wasn't that bad.


Here is a few campers that were here when we arrived, they pulled back in on before we did.

Here is Ms. Southwind safely parked back in her spot. Swamp and all! I was not happy to see the swamp back and iI'm not going to continue to put up with this muddy swamp. It tracks in the camper, it draws mosquito's and it stinks big time!

There are many spots still open from evacuee's who haven't returned yet.

Okay so what i have been doing .... Not really much of anything....

Wednesday i did a bit of re-arranging the camper so I can move around. The rest of the week, i played lazy. I need to just relax and take it easy. With my disability i find that it doesn't take much to wear me out anymore. This weekend was spent doing errands.

Here are some pictures i took today, as you can see the campground is filling back up. Several pulled in on Wednesday and this weekend.




Our neighbor Steve who got stuck in Mobile because he waited to long to leave finally arrived back Wednesday afternoon.



There are still some spots today that campers have not arrived back, This spot behind us is where Tammy & Robert were, but they have found another park. They were not happy here and have decided to move to another park. I hated to see them leave as Tammy and I had so much fun together. I will miss Tammy so much. Tammy did stop by Sunday to see me, she is about 15 miles away, so hopefully we can get together from time to time. She wanted us to move over where they are but hubby doesn't want to be that far from work.



The campers parked on the same row all moved back in yesterday.

There is still a spot across the street that is empty and the couple there are not coming back either. The couple on the end that was in a fifth wheel didn't come back and another camper that was on the other side moved into their spot yesterday. One lady here has birds that she puts outside and they are so noisy! Tried to sit outside yesterday and those birds were so noisy all they do is bicker at each other. I'm not sure how that will go over here since our part of the campsite is a quiet area and we like it that way!

Here is what Ms. Southwind looks like as she is snuggling back in. I got some pallets & crates and had to dig my rug back out of the dumpster. I was upset when i found out that they threw my pallets and rug away when i got back. I don't understand this park, it's a clickish park. Some people they left their pallets alone and others of us they threw them away. As you can see i lost the ply wood on one pallet. Although i did get a bigger pallet, the motor home behind, where the green & white truck was, had to pull back out on Saturday. The man is going in the hospital. He offered his pallet and had his 2 friends help carry it to my site. It's not in the best of shape but it's much better then the swamp i was in. Doesn't it look better then all that mud?

See what i have on my porch, yes i finally found a freezer like I'd been looking for! Some K-marts have them now. I got a good deal too! It's a Kenmore (Sears) and they sale for $279.99. Of course being the cheap person i am, i held out long enough that i found one and guess the best part??






They had them on sale for $230 and since they were all sold out and only had the display. I negotiated an additional 30 % off the selling price. With tax it was a total of $164! What a great buy and I'm so happy! See how much stuff it will hold?


See how small my refrigerator freezer is?? I've been fighting it for 19 months! I had seen these freezers from other Rver's but had never been able to find one anywhere. Recently i found that Wal-mart has then in their online store, but didn't want to spend $282 for one (Wal-mart cost) so i held out and it finally paid off.





Here is a picture of one the dogs enjoying looking out this morning. Actually she was being nosey and making sure i wasn't leaving her. See all the bugs on the window? Their all over the front of the RV. We got into a patch of them coming back Wednesday. They call them Love Bugs and they are starting to really come out here. In Florida they talked about them being horrible. I never knew what they were talking about, now i do. If I can i will try to get a picture of them sometime and post. Well I'm off for my afternoon of having to much fun ... actually i have to vacuum and get the RV all cleaned up before it's time to start dinner. Then I'm done for the day!

Until next time .............

Heading back

Several campers have left and others are packing and getting ready. Decided to pack up and try to head back today. Hopefully they will let us back into Louisiana. I know that some parish's are not allowing the residents back in yet but my area wasn't suppose to be hit to badly.

The park I'm at is not going to open until tomorrow so have no where to return to. We will either park at Wal-mart or where ever we can find a spot for now. I'm hoping the campground is open to those of us who left it. Before leaving the owner said that everyone could return as soon as the storm was over. Guess only one way to find out ....

There are areas that are still having severe weather and praying not to be caught into any of it. Please pray for a safe return and I'm not sure how long i will be offline. I will let you all know as soon as i can.

Update ....... Pulled out of the park around 10.30 am and arrived back to destination around 7 pm. It's been a long and crazy drive. Saw some really bad wrecks. Were almost involved in a couple. It was raining so hard and wind blowing that everyone was going slow in bumper to bumper traffic and a stupid semi-driver comes flying up the interstate and about takes out a pick up truck. Luckily saw him coming up beside Ms. Southwind and slowed down and the semi-turned his truck side ways to keep from hitting the truck.

Then a lady coming off a exit decides that she is going to make traffic get over and let her out, so she speeds up beside and starts coming in our lane and the lane next to us has a car in it and we had no where to go. The semi behind us almost rolled his truck trying to get out of her way. It's amazing how stupid some people are when they get behind a wheel. The don't care that the weather is bad or traffic is bumper to bumper. You couldn't get off any of the exits as they were long lines of people getting off. All could do was take time and drive slow and watch out for the idiots.

Had a convoy of campers heading back. Several in front, there were more ahead of these, but they were out of view in this picture. There were also some behind.

The dogs were comfy in their favorite riding spots. Don't these dogs look stressed living this lifestyle?

Am now safe and one piece and parked back in same space. Exhausted from stress. It's been a long 4 days!!

I took a few pictures when i wasn't clamping my fingers to the dash. I will try to post them tomorrow when i'm not too tired.

Take care .... until later ...........

Update on Gustav!

Haven't had any really bad weather. A bit of wind this morning and some nice little rain showers off and on during the day. Were now in a tornado watch.


Here is some more pictures i took yesterday. The kids and a few adults were taking advantage of the pool on a hot humid day!

Here is a picture of the office. Several campers pulled out this morning. Some going to head where they could find full hookups.


This house has a beautiful view, it sits up above the pond they have. The owners live in this home.



Here is the pond with campers parked around it.





Of course you can't have a pond without ducks! These little fellows are very friendly and don't seem to be afraid of humans.




I could of probably petted this one, but i didn't know if it would bite or not and I've been bitten by a duck before and it's not fun at all!


These 2 were heading back to the pond to cool off.


It's raining here now but it's just a nice little rain, no down pours, no wind and all is calm in the park. I think it will be crazy here tomorrow as several say they are going to try to head back home tomorrow. It should be interesting.

I asked yesterday how many campsites they normally have here and they said that 80 is usually pushing it and there is 180 in the campground right now. They said last night was around 200!

I will keep you informed as i can but we are safe and comfy. Until next time .......