Great Weekend

This past weekend was a good one. My nephew Roy and his gf Tina came down to New Johnsonville, TN and we went out on the boat for the day and then had a great pot roast I had put in the crock pot. Then we watched the ending of shark week. How exciting can you get?

While we were out on the TN River we saw an ospry nest and there were 2 birds in it. As we got closer they flew the coop but I was able to capture one of them in flight.

Theda and I both got haircuts. Rita went a little overboard with mine but hey, it'll grow and it's so easy with just a little bit of product, it's spikes very well.

Theda took advantage of the no sales tax weekend and got a Dell computer. It is set up with Skype so if she can get a good signal we can talk to each other when I'm on the road. However so far, Skype has been a good idea but I haven't had anyone to talk to me that much. Guess it will get better.

I also decided to sell my dulcimer. I took pictures and put it on Craigslist. I've had three hits and it looks like a sell. On Wednesday when I go to Nashville to have lunch with my friend Margie, I'll meet the guy and he will buy it. I decided it was taking up too much room in Somewhere and I really have lost the enthusiasm for it. I'll just clap my hands and tap my foot when I hear that kind of music. I'm over it!

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Doing Stuff

I thought I would take advantage of my down time and the hot weather and do some piddling around Somewhere. Thanks to an idea from my friend, Nan, I decided I needed some curtains for the bedroom in Somewhere. I purchased a panel of black out/thermal insulated curtain and went to town. These enable it to be darker in the bedroom and cooler/warmer too. Not any sewing involved. I had found on Home Shopping Network a product called LiquiSew. No sewing needed and works on any fabric. It cost $9.95 w/free shipping. So far it's holding great, even on the thermal backing. I bought 2 tension rods, 1 top & 1 bottom and it fits snuggly in the window area. When I want more light in the bedroom then I can easily take it off.





Yesterday I drove Somewhere to Nashville to get the microwave pulled out and had them check the converter just in case something happened when the electrical problems hit. Found out that the engine battery was not charging the house batteries. That would explain why when I unplugged or turned the engine off I would not have enough juice to turn the generator on or run the refrigerator on LP and I sure was not comfortable staying overnight in a parking lot with nothing but the generator if I could even get it on. Well, anyway, a selinoid was bad so they fixed that and I got 2 new batteries so I'm good to go.

Found out that the ice maker was covered under my warranty and they were checking about the microwave, fix it or get a new one and the warranty company will decide that for me, otherwise I'd get a new one. But it will be covered either way. I drove back to New Johnsonville and will wait here until I have to go back and get the microwave and ice maker installed. As far as I'm concerned I liked the space I had in the freezer w/out the ice maker and if I had to pay to replace it, I wouldn't have but since it's covered by warranty, I'll get a new ice maker.

Here is where I'm parked at the park. It's up at the house next to Theda since this park is a day use only park but I'm getting all the perks of being in a park. Nice setting.

Now, I'll soon be ready to hit the road again but it is sure nice getting family and friends down here to visit.

I've also been helping out around the house and have been busy cleaning the refrigerator, washing walls, cleaning closets and I have some other things on my "list" but it's too hot to work outside right now.
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Ann's visit

One of my friends from "old" work, Ann, came for a visit to New Johnsonville TN. She came for some fishing but as it turned out the fish said "it's too hot, let's dive to cooler water." So she and Theda didn't catch anything. Hated it as I was looking forward to a fish fry. Oh well, maybe later in the year when things get cooler.

On Saturday we decided to go to McEwen, TN for an Irish Picnic. This is a picnic put on by St Patrick's church and school. Now my idea of an Irish Picnic was not what I got. There was bluegrass music and barbecue and lots and lots of games for the kiddes. We ate a barbecue sandwich and milled around to look at things. We had stopped earlier and voted and got the little stickers that said I voted today and it was a good thing because there were all kinds of politics going on. Every possible candidate was represented. I was a little disappointed in the picnic but we still had a good time.

We came back and I fixed my salmon dish and we played dominoes into the evening. Got a surprise few texts from my BFF, Becky. She was at a casino in Henderson NV celebrating her 40th wedding anniversary. As the texts continued it was clear that Becky may have been indulging in some Long Island Ice Teas. Yep, sure enough she gave us a call so we could celebrate with her. Wow, 40 years is a very long time. Congratulations to Becky and Ron.

Ann and Theda tried their hand again on Sunday morning to fish. They went out on the boat but the fish were not biting there either. Oh well! We had a good time visiting with each other and getting caught up. Ann is changing jobs and is really looking forward to doing something different in a better work environment. WTG, Ann.
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Jerry's New J'ville Perspective

As promised here are pictures of our day spa experience. Took forever to upload from my destination. Too many pictures have been taken so I decided to put it in a slide show. These pictures give you a perspective of the surroundings of New Johnsonville from the water and in "town." It was good to have company visiting for a few days.

We also went over to Loretta Lynn's Ranch to see how much work had been done since their flooding and all looks back to normal except for one area of road yet to be paved. They are having some Motocross Championship races this week so it was very busy. Lots of RVs around.

Of course Kentucky Lake/TN River was our favorite place during the hot July TN days, just a little way to stay cool.
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Back to New Johnsonville TN

Sister Shirley is doing much better after her rotator cuff surgery. She is going to therapy and working on her exercises. She is doing so well I decided I could go back to my "home place" in New Johnsonville, back to my little Sedona. I have missed her so much I couldn't wait to see her. I had talked to her on the phone one day and she said "come home mommy," I just know she did.

She was so happy to see me and I was her too. I was happy to see Somewhere too. I have missed being home.

I've done a few jobs Theda had planned for me and there are still some items on her list that I need to complete. The biggie was her closets. Lots and lots of clothes are going to the local charity on Thursday. I'm afraid if I don't get them there, she may change her mind. LOL I'll have to say that I inherited a few pairs of capris and a jacket so I had to go out to Somewhere and find something to take out so I could put those new to me clothes in there.

Nephew Jerry came down on Tuesday to visit for a few days. Today we went out on the pontoon boat as Theda slaved away at the park. Since the flood she has had some FEMA workers working and they had piled debris up so she could go behind them with backhoe and put all the debris in a TDOT dump truck. She will be working hard for the days that Jerry is her so I drive by on the boat and blow the horn to let her know we are at least thinking of her. Oh my, how curel am I?

Tomorrow Jerry and I are planning another boating day and then the three of us are going for pedicures. Oh yes, I'll take my camera for that, should be a good photo op that doesn't need to get by us.

My RV friend, Beth, has a new kayak. If you want to see pictures and read a little about it, click on this link. This is a cute kayak. Different than mine but can't wait until we all get to the Arkansas Get Together so we can get in the water together.

I have made plans to go to the Arkansas Women's RV forum get together in September and then some of us will go up to Branson MO. Should be lots of fun. I've invited BFF, Becky to fly into Little Rock and come join us. She is still pondering and I hope she decided to. Lots of the women want to see her. This gtg should be interesting as we are going to have about 4-5 husbands/significant others joining us. Some have come before but never this many. Will bring a good dynamic to our group. I've never been to Branson and I'm looking forward to that.

Good update and if I have a good connection tomorrow, you will see pedicure pictures.

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Reservations made for AR Get together

I'm still in Etowah TN but it looks like my nursing days are slowly coming to an end. Shirley heads to therapy tomorrow so I suppose I'll probably head on back to New Johnsonville TN on Saturday.

I made my reservations to attend the women's RV forum in Arkansas. There should be about 17 of us there some of whom I haven't met before. I always enjoy meeting the women who share my love of RVing, the stories that happen around that campfire! Well, just let me say "what goes on with the sistahs, stay with the sistahs.

Can't wait to get back to Somewhere and Sedona.
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A Day at the Surgery Center

Yesterday was the big day for Sister Shirley's shoulder surgery. She got there at 11:00 am, was told surgery would be at 3:30 pm, and would be going home before 6:00pm. Wow, my rotator cuff surgery lasted 2 hrs and I was at the hospital 23 1/2 hours. Wonder if Medicare is responsible for the rush, rush, rush?

Shirley and Doug have many friends. Bobby and Willa and Judy and Larry along with sister Wanda and BIL Don were up at the surgery center. They have received many calls and prayers of support.

Surgery went well. They repaired 2 tendons, added 4 anchors and removed a bone spur. She will be as good as new when she heals. However the road will be long and painful for a few months.

When we got her home, Wanda and I put the cold water circulator on her to serve as ice packs. This little contraption was put on me right after surgery when I had my rotator cuff repaired and it works miracles. Glad I kept it as we have had two other rotator cuff repairs in the family since mine. Recycling serves a good purpose.

BIL Doug and I took shifts. I took the night shift since I'm a night owl and he went off to get some rest. Shirley slept most of my shift except for the times she would need to get up for the bathroom. Everytime she would get up she would get sick at her stomach. When she was at the emergency room after the accident they had some barf bags and they picked up a few extra and I'll say they have certainly have come in handy. (Hope you aren't reading this at breakfast! LOL)

I went to sleep about 7:30 and awoke about 10:30 when my telephone wouldn't quit ringing. Got plenty of rest and Shirley's anesthesia is wearing off some. She is more alert this morning.

Thanks for all the calls and emails about her condition but most importantly, thanks for the prayers.

I'll be here until at least the weekend or until they get tired of me. I am glad that I can be flexible enough to be here for them.
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Jello Plans

The great thing about being retired and having jello plans is that they can be changed! My sister, Shirley, had a bad fall recently and tore her rotator cuff and will be having surgery on it tomorrow. Shirley is not like me, she can count on one hand how many times she has had surgery, me, I have to write a book to list mine. Anyway, she is certainly not looking forward to her experience tomorrow but wants to be good as new soon.

Those jello plans? I get to stay in Etowah TN and aid in her care giving. Her husband will do a great job but I know from experience there are some things that a woman needs to do for a woman. Since I had this surgery six years ago and remember it like it was yesterday, I'll be helping her out. It's truly a blessing that I can change my plans to reflect my need to be with family during this time.

I figure New York is not going anywhere and I'll plan that for another time.

So now, what am I gonna do? There are a few options, the woman's forum is having an Arkansas gtg that I may make plans to go, I could stay put at Theda's and help her get some things done around the house or who knows??? Jello, baby. When I figure it out, I'll post and let you know. I want someplace cooler than here.

Later...

Another great week at Parksville Lake

Here we are. We decided to come down to Parksville on Sunday afternoon. Once we got down here and loaded the boat of everything; luggage, food, computers, etc., and then the five of us the boat was quite loaded.

It looked like it was going to rain and we were hoping that we would make it to the cabin before the bottom dropped out. We did. We made it with everything in tow except 2 coolers and then the heavens opened. What a nice sounding rain on the tin roof.

The signals to the Verizon air card are terrible even with my antenna. It shows 2 bars but won’t get out on the network somewhere in the air. Haven’t been able to check emails, upload to the blog or check out the women’s forum.
Saturday and Sunday the Kings came down. Roy brought the pontoon boat and we enjoyed that for the afternoon.

We went to Copper Hill to eat at the Copper Kettle on Monday night and met nephew David and his wife Jan. David has received a promotion at BB&T bank and has bought a house up there so we went by to see all he had done to fix it up. Oh my, what a beautiful place. He has even put in a heated pool on the side of the mountain. He has built a man-cave in the basement and it looks like a great place for hanging out. I told him I would house trade with him. They could use Somewhere and I would stay in their house for a week or so. Sounds like a good plan to me. Of course we would have to meet some place for the exchange because I sure couldn't’t get up his drive.

Monday night we had a good rain. Just about the time we went to bed and again the bottom dropped out and it rained, rained, rained.

The sunsets have been beautiful. We have made homemade ice cream every night we have been here. We have had rain at night and it makes for such good sleeping. My nieces and nephews and their families have been down here. Such fun just relaxing and chillin’.

Only thing I miss is Sedona. She is with Theda as we have the potential for having black bears show up down here around the cabin and Sedona wouldn’t stand a chance. She is better off with Theda.

Sister Shirley fell at the boat dock a few weeks ago and she is going to have to have rotator cuff surgery on the 20th. I’ll stay in Etowah a few days after her surgery to help out. I had surgery on mine about six years ago and can still remember what it was like. Hopefully she will recover quickly and get back to her old self and possibly better with the old shoulder.

When I went to shore on Monday night I got to check voice mail and I had a message from Nan wanting to know where I was. She said the ladies on the Women’s forum were asking about me since I had not checked in lately. I checked in on the forum and let them know where I was and why I hadn’t checked in with them. It sure is nice to be missed and know that people are making sure I’m okay.
I did have an email from my new friends from FL, Bobby and Sharon. They have informed me that they are preparing to go full-time in their RV. They said I was a good example for them. I am happy for them but I sure know how difficult it is to get ready for full-timing. Lots of sales, giving away and sorting. I’m happy for them. They are just right for this lifestyle. I would like to know how he will pull the RV and the boat! LOL

Tuesday was a lazy rainy day so we just sat around the cabin and read and ate. Shirley and Doug went into Etowah because Shirley had a physical therapy session but they came back for the evening.

Wednesday we had a lot of the kids come down. Michael Slack and his family except Teri, Charles, Rita, Heath Slack came down and then there were the King boys. It was fun eating and tubing and swimming. The day sure slips away when lots of people are down here. We counted that there were about 15 down for this day. Got a little too much sun but was okay the next morning.

Thursday we went into Cleveland. We went shopping at different stores and then ate at Cracker Barrel. There were a few things we needed to pick up at the grocery to get ready for the big weekend when everyone will be down here. I was able to pick up a book for Jonathan’s birthday, Foreign Influence, by Brad Taylor. The Kings’ came down and set their tent up on the island where they will stay for the weekend.

Friday was Jonathan’s 35th birthday. He and Taylor drove up from Kingsland, Ga. Also with them is Jonathan’s friend, Dena, and her son, Josh, and daughter, Meghan. They stopped by on their way to my nephew’s David’s house where they will stay for the night. Lucky them, air conditioning. As I’m writing these notes it is raining and I’m feeling sorry for the Kings. I’m sure they are getting wet. Hope they got to put their rain guard on the top of their tent. They said it was nice sleeping in the tent last night watching the shooting stars. Wanda fixed us pizza tonight for dinner and they were all eaten. We decided for the morning we would have a big breakfast. I know I have told you all this before but our big breakfasts consist of, biscuits, sausage gravy, chocolate syrup (gravy), eggs, bacon. We have had that several mornings this week but because Saturday is going to be a busy day we will not cook a “big” breakfast but you can bet we will have one on Sunday. Once everyone was gone Don decided he wanted so homemade ice cream. So about 10:00 pm we made homemade ice cream and then moaned & groaned all night. LOL I had sent a text to the family camping on the island that we were making ice cream but they didn't get it until the next morning. Oh well...

Saturday was a big day for the family. We got up to an overcast day but that was okay because it kept the heat down. We decided to have a "clean-up" breakfast where we cleaned up all the leftovers in the frig, you know, biscuits, pancakes, made fresh gravy, eggs, chocolate syrup, sausage and bacon. Now that I've written this, it was a big breakfast once again. No complaints here. People started coming in early. Saturday was the family day for cooking hamburgers, hot dogs and the fixins. Ended up with about 42 there on this day so for the week, guess there were about 50 of us around. Everything was so hectic I didn't get one picture. I know, hard to believe. If you look at last years' post on this topic, you will see most of the same people.

Jonathan's Dena took some pictures of their adventures so I'll borrow some of them off FaceBook.




Yep, typical fashion of all the boys fighting and trying to out do one another. Do you think they will every grow up? Probably not. It's all in fun.

Sunday was leaving day. Jonathan and his crew got off the island about 10:00 in the morning and prepared for their 6 hour drive back home. Of course they had to be sent off with a good breakfast. Saturday night we played SkipBo and Sunday afternoon was no exception. We played SkipBo and talked about our family and how much fun the week had been.

Loading up was hot but we made it in one trip and got back home to Etowah to the nice cool air conditioning and cell/broadband service. How spoiled are we?

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What Am Up To?

No, I not still on the mountain top in Huntsville, AL. I made it down just fine going the "new" way. The grade was a little steep but down shifting and a little braking got me down with out any problems. When I began my decent my ABS light went on, so that made me a little worried but I knew I was having Somewhere checked out at the Workhorse Carl Black Chevrolet as soon as I got to Nashville. I called Shaun, service rep, and asked him if I was doing damage by driving it. He said no but he would check it when I got there.

Turns out there were two shields gone bad on the ABS system. So by the time I got my oil changed, tires rotated and balanced and the two shields (I may not be calling this by the technical term but it's the way I understood what they were) Carl Black got $450 of my money. Somewhere drives so much better now.

I had already decided that before all this that I was going to buy an Even Brake to supplement braking with my tow vehicle the Grey Goose. The way the Even Brake works is it hooks onto the brake peddle in the car and when the momentum shifts downward, it applies the brakes in the tow vehicle. There is a sensor on the dash of Somewhere showing me when it's working. Camping World installed it at a price of $1500.00 Yes, I've had some high dollar expenditures lately but needed to be done.

Good news, when in Nashville, I had my annual eye exam and nothing had changed in a year so I'm good to go and don't have to buy new glasses.

After all that it was time to head to New Johnsonville TN to Theda's. This is where I'll be parking until I head north to New York and beyond. Theda had had an electrician come over and install a 30 amp service so I could run A/C, refrigerator, etc. while it was parked here.

Wellllll, guess what! The electrician hooked up a 30 amp 220 service which fried my microwave and if I had not had a very good surge protector for my TV, DVD and electronic management system, they too would have fried. The surge protector did it's job but it's fried too. So I'll have to get another one of those. I could have kicked myself because I have a surge guard (Camping World) that I didn't plug in first because I thought, what the heck if it's new it should be good. WRONG! STUPID!! Why do I have it if I'm not going to use it EVERY time???

I'll contact Cullum & Maxey and find out if my warranty will cover the microwave and if I can upgrade to convection/microwave then that would be all the better.

So, that's what I'm up to! Looking forward to celebrating my birthday and the 4th on Kentucky Lake.

Later...