February 16 - 22, 2026 - Fat Tuesday/Shareholder's Mtg/Beach/Driveway Glue/Der Dutchman/House #s/Garage Sales/Biscotti/Social Sunday

My Blog Reflection

The effect you have on others is the most valuable currency there is.

Jim Carrey

February 16, 2026:

The day started off with the electric going off and on quickly several times then off for about an hour. With no electric I had Cheerios for breakfast. There is nothing going on today. Tomorrow is a different story.

February 17, 2026:

Kelly had her weekly ladies coffee klatch this morning. Men aren't excluded so I joined her once last year. It was clear I wasn't fitting in so I never went back. I don't know if any other guys have ever gone.  

Today being "Fat Tuesday" Kelly purchased "Paczki" (pronounced poonch-key) donuts for the coffee klatch ladies to enjoy. They are a traditional Polish pastry associated with pre-Lenten celebrations. They are richer, denser, and more indulgent than standard American donuts. They are fried dough balls typically filled with jams or custard and coated in sugar or glaze. Here is a picture of a two Kelly saved back for us. 

At 10:00 a.m. the park's "Annual Shareholders Meeting" was held in the clubroom. This meeting needs to be well-attended to have a quorum in order to conduct business. To help generate attendance they provide free coffee and donuts. Nothing like "free" to attract old people. I took the granddaughters with me to the meeting last year and it was a "sleeper". While the girls were really well-behaved, we all had had enough after an hour and left. Most of the meeting consisted of old people bitching or talking to hear their heads rattle.

Today's meeting was no improvement. The big issue was the Post Office requiring that all new residents put mailboxes out at the curb rather than on the house. We had to comply with this directive three years ago when we bought. In conjunction with this requirement the Post Office noted that if there is not a clear path for the mail carrier to drive up to the street-side mail box, the mail will not be delivered. This really put all the residents in a tizzy and they have a valid point. The houses are close together and there is often not enough room to park on the street and leave room for the mail carrier to pull up to each mailbox. As more new residents move in there will be more of these street-side mailboxes and thus even less room to park and more of a problem.  

In my mind the answer to mail delivery is to eliminate all house mail delivery and install a mail "cluster box" for the entire community near the clubhouse. The complaint about that idea was that this is a 55 plus community and many residents cannot get out to go to a cluster box. Interestingly these same people can get out to get groceries, to play cards, to go to the doctor, to go to activities, etc. Obviously, now, if they really can't get out, they have someone go for them. It could be same for picking up their mail. When the Post Office first recommended a cluster box to the park the Post Office would have paid the bulk of the expense, which is in the tens of thousands of dollars for 341 boxes. The community turned the idea down. I believe in the future a cluster box will be mandated and then the park will have to pay the entire cost. Not too smart but old people don't like change, or to be inconvenienced in anyway.

The other big issue at the meeting was about a Canadian couple flying a Canadian flag on their home. Someone "complained" about it. The Board President took it upon himself to tell the couple that they couldn't do that. He told them they had to fly an American flag on top with the Canadian flag below. Of course, this upset these people greatly, as well as many other Canadians in the park. 

A community member obtained the U.S. flag regulations and they state that anyone can fly any country flag they like. However, if they fly an American flag AND another country's flag, the American flag must be on top. The Board President was told by the attendees, and by the rest of the board, who apologized to the couple involved, that he was wrong. This whole issue reminded me of Trump unnecessarily pissing off the Canadians with his antics. Just stupid. About a third of the park is owned by Canadians. We all get along wonderfully. Canadian flags have been flying here for years. We fly a "Friendship Flag", which is half U.S. and Canadian.

The weather is beautiful today. I was going to play Cornhole this afternoon but Kelly's ultrasound appointment got moved up so I missed it this week.

February 18, 2026:

It is another beautiful day and there is nothing on the agenda so we decided to pack some drinks and head to Fort DeSoto Beach. It is not the closest beach but we like it because it is huge, not crowded, and always has lots of parking. 

I don't know what it costs to get in now. As we entered the park there was no attendant. A picture was taken of our license plate and it stated they will send a bill. In years past you paid an entry fee per car and that included your parking. Now, in addition to the entry fee, parking is $6.00 for the day. You pay it a kiosk. This is all new. 

It was a little windy on the beach but quite pleasant to sit out and enjoy watching the water.  

Kelly put her feet in the water for a very short period of time. The water was cold.

The tide was coming in all afternoon and kept us entertained.

When I got home I realized I may have gotten a little too much sun on this first time out. I never learn.

After supper we ended the day by watching some more of the Olympics.

February 19, 2026:

The pea gravel in the golf cart driveway tends to roll out on to the carport and sidewalk, particularly after a heavy rain. They make a mulch and rock glue to help with this problem. I thought this product was pricey so I looked for an alternative. I read that you can dilute Elmer's glue two to one and it will serve the same purpose. I bought a gallon and a cheap pump sprayer and yesterday sprayed the outside edge two times. I mixed the first batch of glue and water in the pump sprayer. It didn't mix properly. The glue came out in an eighth inch stream and laid on the gravel like icing on a Hostess Cup Cake. I waited an hour to spray a second coat. This time I mixed the hot water and glue in a gallon jug and shook it a long time before pouring it into the sprayer. It worked better but not the wide spray I would like. It might just be the nature of the beast. I will spray one more time before we leave. I am hoping this glue will also help slow down weed growth in the gravel.

At 4:00 p.m. I went up to the Bocci Ball Court to try playing for the first time. There were two ladies and me were the only ones there. A lady from across the street came up and said there were no games today because there was a party instead. Maybe next week.

    

February 20, 2026:

When I bought our old golf cart one rear shock was broken and one was hanging loose. I purchased four new shocks and installed them, along with new wheels and tires for the back because the ones that came with the cart had slow leaks.

Ever since I installed the wheels and shocks there has been a problem with the cart bouncing as if the shocks were totally worn out. It has been aggravating. I double-checked and I had bought the correct shocks for this cart. I could not understand what could be the problem. 

This morning I was riding around in the cart and spotted Dave, who is an excellent mechanic and jack-of-all trades guy, out working on his cart. I asked if he had a minute for me to pick his brain about my bouncing problem. I explained it to him. He got in the cart and we went for a ride. His thought was that the rear axle may be bent or the tires out of round. Back at his place he jacked the cart up and couldn't see anything mechanically that may be a problem. I told him I had the old wheels and tires in the shed. He sent me get them. 

When I came back he put one of the old wheels and tires on and we took another ride. The bouncing was cut in about half! We came back and he jacked up the cart slightly and he had me give it a little throttle while he looked at the other wheel. He said it appeared to him that the other tire was out-of-round as well. We installed the other old wheel and tire and went for another ride. MUCH LESS BOUNCING! We doubted that the new wheels were out of round but certainly the new tires were. If the old tires don't hold air I will buy two different ones off of Facebook Marketplace. We can then install them on the new wheels. A fix I never would have thought of. It's good to have smart friends.

      

Around noon we drove to Sarasota to have lunch with the members of our Illinois-Missouri RV Club who winter in Florida. We meet in Sarasota because it is about half way for those of us further North and those members further South. We have lunch at "Der Dutchman Restaurant and Bakery", which we have found to work out well. It is a huge facility and there is no problem with us sitting around and visiting after eating. There is a menu but the big draw for all of us is the smorgasbord with many choices of excellent Amish food and desserts. No one goes away hungry. Here are a couple of pictures of folks visiting outside after chowing down. It was good to visit with everyone. Hopefully we will get a couple of campouts scheduled this summer with everyone.

Sarasota is a major winter destination for the Amish. They stay all around the area where the restaurant is located. They ride their bikes everywhere. Most bikes are three-wheelers which they bring down with them on buses. 

A quite different part of Sarasota, is St. Armands Circle, which consists of many upscale shops and restaurants. It is always crowded with locals and tourists. We have been there several times. It is something to see the first time but I have no desire to go back. 

House Number:

Our park rules require that each house have the lot number displayed on the house for emergency purposes. When we bought the house there was a sign on it with numbers and the prior owner's name. She took that with her, which was fine with us. We have our address number on the curbside mailbox but that does not comply with the park rule that the numbers be on the house. To remedy that we purchased a new metal number sign. It arrived this afternoon so I attached it to the house. We love it. It is a little more upscale than Walmart plastic numbers.

February 21, 2026:

A Saturday passtime for us when down here is going to garage and rummage sales. We found a couple and headed out about 8:00 a.m. I have made some great buys in the past - a Keurig coffee maker, a Mexican fish sculpture, an Instapot, tools, etc. 

Today we struck out. The garage sales we went to did not have items that interested us. Kelly did buy a mixing bowl for $1.00. We then stopped for breakfast at Perkins. The big breakfast filled us up until supper. For supper I grilled a rib steak that we brought from home and Kelly made a nice salad to go with it. Both turned out well. We then settled in to watch more of the Olympics.  

February 22, 2026:

We started the day off early watching the U.S. Hockey Team win gold at the Olympics in overtime. What a great game and a great outcome!!!!!

Later in the day I decided to bake some biscotti. We didn't have any raisins nor craisins so I cut up some dried mango we had on hand. Here is a picture of the backed loaf.

Once the loaf cools it is sliced, put back in the oven for another five minutes on each side, and then it is done. Here is a picture of this treat ready for consumption. We like a piece with our coffee in the morning.

I got into making biscotti a couple of years back after buying some from Costco and really liking it. Each time I bake it I vary the recipe a little. Sometimes that works out, sometimes not. This looks to be a good batch.

Social Sunday:

We went to the "Social Sunday" here at the park. It takes place on a Sunday once per month from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. For the price of admission your get a sub sandwich, chips, an ice cream, your choice of beer, wine, or soda, and music. It lasts from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. It is always fun. Here are a couple of pictures of the dancers.

The evening ends by everyone getting in a circle and holding hands while the Canadian and U. S. National Anthems are sung. A nice ending. The weather has turned colder so we wasted no time in getting home.

 

  

 

 

 

  

February 7 - February 14, 2026 - Dehumidifier - Art Festival - Valentine Dance - Happy Hour - Black Music - Greek Festival - Candlelight Concert

My Blog Reflection

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of others.

Charles Dickens

February 7, 2026:

The new dehumidifier arrived late yesterday afternoon and we got busy unpacking it today. In reading the directions it was obvious that we could not place it in the hallway as we did the old one. It needs to have fifteen inches of air flow on the back side. It would take up too much room where the old one sat. This machine is much more sophisticated than the old one. We placed it in the guest bedroom near the door. We will turn it off when we have guests because it is a little noisy.

Today is the 11th Annual St. Petersburg Fine Art Festival. It is a sunny and a much warmer day so we headed down to the waterfront park to check it out. By the time we got there the crowd was huge. We had to drive around for quite awhile to find a parking space. I finally found a parking meter - $2.50 per hour to park at a meter. Times have changed. I remember putting a quarter in for an hour.

We walked all through the art booths, admiring many pieces which were quite appealing. From there we headed to the waterfront to find a place to sit and enjoy the water. To our surprise there were very few benches provided but we lucked out and found one after walking away from the park. We sat for an hour people watching, enjoying the weather, and watching the sea birds in the water as well as a dolphin or two swimming around. 

We then headed to the "Fourth Street Fish Store" for a late seafood lunch. We have been to this place a number of times over the years and have never been disappointed with the food. Kelly's clam chowder and shrimp were excellent as was my shrimp basket with new potatoes. We will be back.

Once back home we settled in to enjoy the Olympics.

February 8, 2026:

This afternoon we attended a performance of "The Roots of Black Music in America" at the Seminole Library. It was a performance of 100 years of black music in America from 1850 through 1950 performed by Karlus Trapp. Here is Mr. Trapp on the guitar. Additionally he played the piano for certain songs. Chuck Berry, from St. Louis, was one of the last music influences he performed.

I estimated about sixty people were in attendance made up of about fifty women and ten men. I thought that dichotomy was interesting. There were no young people in the crowd. The Seminole Library has these free musical performances once a month. Next month there will be a performance of "Women in Country" music. We plan on attending.

Once home we watched the Superbowl. We were rooting for the Seahawks and weren't disappointed. 

February 9, 2026:

I headed back to the podiatrist while Kelly attended the ladies "Red Hats" meeting at Roberts RV Park. The "Red Hats" are a group of ladies who do service projects, visit with one another, and have lunch once per month. 

February 11, 2026:

We took a drive with Celine and Joann to check on Celina's property near Naples, Florida. She inherited a residential lot many years go from her uncle and hangs on to it as prices escalate. It is a total jungle. I'm sure the neighbors would like to see her sell it to get it cleaned up.

In the evening we attended the "Valentine's Day Dance" here at the park. The music was decent. It consisted of a guy who sang along on many songs with his sound system. There was a nice-sized crowd with a lot of dancers. The room was much darker but I enhanced the picture so you could see people better. Lots of people wore red.

We sat at a table with people we had never met before. They were all quite friendly. I hope I remember their names for future encounters.

I coerced Kelly into getting our picture taken in front of the Valentine decoration backdrop. I think it is a good picture.

We enjoyed the evening. This is something we never do at home - go to dances. The charge is $10.00 per person to pay for the music and decorations. You bring your own bottle and snacks. 

February 12, 2026:

This afternoon we hosted a "Happy Hour" by inviting two couples over who live nearby. One thing we've learned to accept is that in a mobile home park like this there are no "impromptu" gatherings like we had almost every day as RVers. Rvers are out and about, park dwellers are not. We miss that. We had a lovely visit for almost three hours. Mike and Susan are retired teachers. Their home is one a lake in Maine. Dave was a master welder and Renee was an RN. They live on a small lake in Southern Illinois on the Indiana side of the state. We had lots to talk about because they are all anti-MAGA, a respite from the majority of the folks in the park. 

February 13, 2026:

While cleaning the bathroom yesterday one of the plastic brackets holding on the shower door handrail broke. It is plastic. It had broken before and I superglued it. It held for about a year. I was surprised to realize that I had no superglue on hand. A quick trip to Walmart next door took care of that problem. 

The bracket attaches to the door on one end and the handrail on the other. It broke on the edge. The arrows point to the point to where it broke. 

I took the broken pieces off and superglued them to hold them in position so I could melt some additional plastic over the edge to reinforce it. The edge is now a little rougher but much stronger.

Instead of reinstalling it on the same handrail I moved it to the other handrail, which is used much less. It should last forever, but then again it is plastic.

Kelly went clothes shopping with Celina and Joann. She should buy nothing but shopping is a compulsive activity for women. She didn't buy much but had a nice "girls day out". Kelly bought me a bag of Gummy Bears for Valentine's Day. I will share them with her since I didn't buy her anything. I only got her a card.

Today our oldest daughter, Alexa, turned 50 years old and our youngest daughter, Annie, turned 45 years old. They were both born on Friday the 13th, five years apart. A 50th birthday is a big deal and we didn't want Alexa observing it by herself since we are in Florida and her sisters are in California. A few weeks back Annie, Erin, and Kelly and I, pooled our money and sent Alexa on a trip to Sweden where her friend, Aaron, is residing for a while. She will be there a week. We talked with her in the evening and she is having a great visit both in Sweden and Denmark. She noted it is quite cold there. She said a saying there is that "There is no bad weather, only bad clothes". Luckily she took the warm clothes she needed.

Annie's 45th birthday was supposed to be spent in France with her husband, Adam, who was going over on business. Due to tearing her ACL skiing in Tahoe in January, and getting it operated on, that plan went out the window. We talked with her and she was having a relaxing day hanging out with her two girls. They celebrated with an ice cream cake. We sent her a nice "techy" carry-on suitcase for her birthday. It is high tech for today's business travelers. There is a place for your laptop, it has a charging station built in, and a cup holder that folds out. It is much nicer than the carry-on that I purchased for us at the Salvation Army last year.

For several days I have been trying to get in touch with a Canadian friend, Ralph Ross, an RV neighbor we met at Avon Park when we were there a few years ago. We have been visiting with each other ever since. I called and left a message and I emailed him to see if he was in Florida so we could visit. I received no response to either. This was unusual and it gave me a bad feeling. I got online and found that he passed away at age seventy-seven in November of 2025. I have no idea what happened to him and have no one to contact about it. He was a widower with a step-son in Florida for whom I have no contact information. It was a sad ending of the day. I am losing too many friends. 

February 14, 2026:

St. Stefanos Greek Orthodox Church in St. Petersburg held their annual "Super Greek Festival" this weekend. It was a beautiful day so we headed there to get some great Greek food and watch some entertainment.

The festival is all about Greek food and Greek culture. There were a few food and trinket vendors under a huge tent.

The entertainment, and full Greek meals, were inside the auditorium. We wondered around outside for awhile and then went inside where we purchased a couple of Greek beers. The pull tab beer bottles were the first I had ever seen. The beer was quite good.

We found a table and sat to enjoy our beers as we waited for the dancers to begin. 

The first to dance were the children, who did about three different dances. Here are a couple of videos. It is tradition to throw money at the dancers to express appreciation.

For the last dance they encouraged parents, grandparents, and siblings to come up and join in the dancing.

After the children finished their program the adults performed several different dances. Here are some videos. The dancing was quite entertaining and worth the wait. 

After the dancing finished we bought some Greek food from the "Greek Taverna". Here is the menu. It was quite impressive for an event like this. I can't imagine the amount of work that goes into this.

I ordered a "Pastitsio Platter" (Greek style Lasagna) with Greek Salad and Lemon Potatoes sides. All were delicious. Here is a picture before I dug in.

Kelly had "Avgolemono Soup" (chicken, lemon, egg, orzo) and a "Spanakopita" (spinach and cheese phyllo pie). Her items were delicious as well.

Although the many fabulous desserts were tempting, we had left no room. Upon finishing our meal we headed back to the house to sit and digest the great food. LOL

For Valentine's Day Kelly purchased tickets to an evening Candlelight Concert. All lighting was by candlelight, including the steps to the balcony where we sat.

The venue was the "First Baptist Church of St. Petersburg". The church is huge, has all theater seating, a large balcony, and interestingly an industrial feel to it. It must hold a thousand people. Here is a picture of the stage as the musicians played.

The playlist consisted of music from the last thirty years played by a string quartet of three women and one man. 

The church was about half full. I was surprised at how young the audience was but Kelly attributed that to "date night" on Valentine's Day. It was interesting that the dress code ranged from "dressed to the nines" to blue jeans and shorts.

It was an enjoyable evening but not exceptional.

 

 

 

 

January 28 - February 6, 2026 - Golf Carts - Rock Polishing - Drawer Painting - Fan - Bloodwork - Dehumidifier - Lunch - Edging - Potluck

My Blog Reflection

Liberty is not doing whatever you want - it's being free to choose what is right.

John Locke

January 28, 2026:

It is too cold to do much outside. You know it's a little boring when I post something about Walmart, but here it is anyway. There is a dedicated concrete walking/golf cart path, from our park and the one next door, to Walmart. When you reach Walmart there is a designated area for golf cart parking. Yesterday I went to pick up some juice and found that I occupied the last golf cart parking space available. I had never run into that before and found it interesting that so many people had driven their golf carts to Walmart on a Wednesday afternoon. Usually there are no more than a half dozen carts parked. It's hard to see "Buster" because he's down on the end. 

In the afternoon Kelly broke out the rock polishing machine I bought her for her birthday and selected some rocks to polish. Here is a picture of the rocks before polishing. Due to their shapes, the ones on the left will be tumbled through more grit. Since the ones on the right are rounded they will need less tumbling to be polished. I think the process takes about two weeks.

After the rocks and grit were loaded we found a shelf in the shop for the machine to sit. We want it out there because it makes a considerable noise 24/7 as it tumbles the rocks. When we were first married we lived in a three-room shotgun apartment. I bought Kelly a rock polisher for Christmas and we ended up putting it in the bedroom closet so we could close the door to cut down on the noise it made for weeks on end. No such problem this time. We don't hear it at all inside.

January 31, 2026:

Most of the furniture came with the house. The bedroom set is a rattan dresser, a chest, and two end tables. The previous owner put mothballs in all of the drawers and after three years the smell still has not gone away. It permeated the wooden drawers. Kelly hates the mothball smell on her clothes so she decided to paint all of the drawers with KILZ to get rid of the odor. It was either that or purchase a new bedroom set. I gladly agreed to the KILZ treatment.

We went to Home Depot and purchased a quart of KILZ. We picked out a latex version of KILZ and luckily Kelly asked the attendant about it. He said that to eliminate smells she must use the oil based, original version. Glad she asked. 

Here is the dresser with the drawers removed for painting and clothes piled on top. The dresser itself does not smell. To be safe Kelly sprayed the inside wood with vinegar, which she read online will help get rid of mothball odor.

I removed all of the hardware and Kelly painted all of the drawers out in the Florida Room. She painted them out there to contain the smell from the KILZ. Here is a picture of the painted drawers lined up to dry.

While Kelly was painting I worked on removing the bathroom fan cover so I could clean the squirrel cage fan. The prior owner had painted the cover to the wall. I carefully cut along the edge of the cover before trying to pry it loose. The cover is held on by a spring clip top and bottom. You pry the cover from the wall and then reach in and squeeze the spring clips to release the cover. In theory this works. I found that it would not come out enough for me to get a hand in there to release the spring clips. 

There was no squeezing the clips with my hand nor with a needle nose pliers. On my second attempt the bottom spring clip broke. Once I got the bottom off I was able to get the top spring clip off. With a broken bottom clip the cover was never going to stay tight again. I decided to purchase two screws to attach the cover to the fan frame. 

Even with carefully cutting along the cover's edge, the cover did not come off without tearing a little paint and drywall paper away. So while at Home Depot I purchased some spackling to make a repair. 

Here is a picture of the fan squirrel cage. It certainly needed a good cleaning. I'm sure it hadn't been cleaned since installed, whenever that was. Two different sized brushes and a straw taped on the end of the small shop vac cleaned everything up satisfactorily. I forgot to take an "after" picture.

I purchased a product called "spackling" at Home Depot but it is really dry wall mud in a small container. Spackling is for plaster and is much harder. This product is really better for a project like this. It is pink going on and dries white. Luckily I have some matching paint.

February 1, 2026:

Last night the wind picked up and the temperature dropped significantly. This morning it was 35 degrees and felt like 25 degrees. The high is only going to be 45 degrees today. Not the Florida weather we like. I brought in the flag and laid the front porch rocking chairs on their side due to the wind.

The drawers were dry so they were reinstalled. Kelly then painted the two drawers in her end table. While she did that I sanded the patch around the fan cover and then painted the area. The paint matched well. I then installed the fan cover. The cover will be easier to take off in the future for cleaning.

February 2, 2026:

Kelly's turn for doctors. She saw her Florida cardiologist today and has to go back for a follow-up in a couple of weeks. It is still relatively cold here. It is down in the 30s at night and only up into the 50s during day. We are watching a lot of TV. The furnace is getting a good workout. I'm going to hate to see the electric bill.

February 3, 2026:

I had to go to Quest to get my blood drawn for two different doctors. Luckily the orders were both there so I only had to be stuck once.

Yesterday the dehumidifier that came with the house crapped out. I have no idea of its age. The fan blew air but the compressor wouldn't kick on so it was doing nothing. I banged on it a few times and the compressor started. Unfortunately, once it stopped the compressor would not come back on. I put it out in the trash this morning. 

We really don't need the dehumidifier right now because of the cold temperature but hopefully that won't last much longer. We purchased a replacement from Amazon after trying for an hour to order one online from Costco. Costco's online ordering leaves a lot to be desired plus they add shipping costs to the store where you then have to go to pick it up. We got a lower price and free shipping to our door from Amazon. It will be here by the 10th.

February 4, 2026:

It remains "cold" here but hopefully up to 70 degrees this afternoon. With warmer temperatures I need to wash the green mold off the back of the house which never gets sun.  I also need to squirt off the front porch and the car which both have layer of black dust that permeates everything down here. 

I talked a few days ago about the freezer needing to be colder in order for the icemaker to work properly. I never would have thought of that as a problem with low ice production until I read it on the internet as a fix. Turning the temperature down in the freezer did the trick. Here is the icemaker today. Since it is cooler we haven't been using much ice so I turned it off until we use it down. Totally cool!

There is a "Valentine's Day Dance" on the 11th. I went up this morning and purchased tickets. We always enjoy the dances here even though we don't dance much anymore. For "Valentine's Day" Kelly purchased tickets for a candlelight classical music concert at a church in St. Petersburg. It will be nice evening I'm sure.

A Florida activity Kelly started last year was been to seek out a different cultural cuisine restaurant for lunch on Wednesdays. Today we went to "bb.q chicken", a Korean BBQ chicken restaurant about a half mile away. The entire menu is fried chicken wings. Most Korean BBQ is spicy hot. I got the original wings, Kelly got the "medium" spicy ones. I tasted one of her medium spicy wings and it was too hot for me. I can't imagine what the "hot spicy" wings would be like. The wait staff were two Korean gentlemen who were very friendly and great at explaining everything on the menu to us. We greatly enjoyed the meal, which was our late lunch and early supper.   

Edging:

Last year brother-in-law, Jim, and I installed some 12 x 12 inch pavers in back of the house for a convenient spot for the grill to sit. I didn't like it in the grass. While doing so we found that to the right of where we were working there were two rows of pavers which were completely covered by viney weeds and dirt. We had absolutely no idea they were there when we started. We uncovered them and I painted the entire area with some leftover paint from the shed.  

This year I returned to find that the viney weeds had once again grown over the pavers, along with a coating of sandy mud. The mud washes on to the pavers from the grass because the grass is about two inches higher. The viney weeds are what we have for "grass" here in the park. The only way to correct this problem is to install some type of edging. 

We went to Lowes and purchased metal edging which comes in eight foot lengths. Here are pictures of the area after I cleared off the weeds and most of the mud. The arrows point to where the grass and dirt gravitate on to the pavers. The metal edging we purchased is laying there waiting to be installed tomorrow.

February 5, 2026:

  

Rain and strong winds moved into the area. At 10:30 a.m. the rain stopped. It is 51 degrees but feels like 45 degrees with the wind. The strong wind actually makes it feel much colder than that to me. Despite the weather I installed the edging. I am having trouble getting it deep enough into the ground due to the dry weather conditions. I have found that when sand is dry and packed it is as hard as the clay we have back in Missouri. I soaked the area, which helped, but I will still need to work on it a little. Future weeds and dirt should be limited.

February 6, 2026:

The colder weather continues with a high of 59 degrees today. 

Today we participated in our first "event" here in the park. There was a potluck upper with rolled pork loin as the provided meat. Everyone brings a side dish to feed about six people. I made candied sweet potatoes which have been a hit. All were consumed. The potluck suppers are an easy way to interact and meet others here in the park while getting plenty to eat.

 

  

 

January 17 - 27, 2026 Shop Wall Painted - Trip South - Roberts RV Park - Outlet Replaced - Happy Hour - Car to Shop - Specks - Podiatrist

My Blog Reflection

Everything you have in life is the product of someone else’s struggle. 

Josh Johnson

January 17, 2026:

Alexa is getting ready to paint her basement walls which have been neglected for many years. The prior owner walled off an area in the basement using 2 x 4s and wafer board. Alexa is using this area as a shop so that dust and debris from projects can be somewhat contained. The wafer board was unpainted and it will absorb a lot of paint.

I gave her some old latex paint I had to use for a base coat for the wafer board. She painted and it is now ready for a coat of paint on the entire basement in a color she picks out. I would go with white but she thinks that is too stark.

January 20, 2026:

I woke up this morning to find that our furnace is off and the thermostat is bright red with a notation that a service technician is needed. I changed the filter and punched around on the buttons. The furnace came on and then appeared to be operating correctly. I called for a service call just to check it out. I have medical appointments in St. Louis today and thereafter visiting my sister who is recovering from surgery, so I will just have to leave the door unlocked for the repairman. I know him so that is not a concern.

At my doctor visit the field study team wanted me back in St. Louis on March 14th for another full body bone scan and CT scan. Telling them of our desire to spend some time in Florida, they pushed it back until April 1st. I also have to be back at the oncologist on April 14th for an oncology visit and a Lupron shot. My liver enzymes were very high so in two weeks I have to have another blood draw in Florida. It's always something.

January 21, 2026:

Snow is predicted in Perryville and throughout the South this weekend. To get ahead of the weather we are heading to Florida tomorrow. Rather than driving through the Atlanta traffic nightmare we are going to go through Alabama. This route is an hour longer but with the long traffic delays around Atlanta it may be about the same time. 

Today is packing day. Since we plan on flying home we can't take more than we can bring back on the plane. We already have all the clothes we need in Florida. We will take a lot of food down that we have on hand so it doesn't go to waste.

January 22, 2026:

We left Perryville at 5:15 a.m. headed to Florida. While driving through Tennessee we saw highway trucks in a number of areas spreading brine to keep the roads from freezing. All through Alabama we drove in a light misty rain. The sky looked like something was coming all day.

We drove eleven hours and stopped for the night in Dothan, Alabama. Using the “Hoteltonight” app, which I highly recommend, we found a nice room at a Clarion Inn  for $69.00 including all taxes and fees. The hotel had a bar and grill so we ordered wings and fries for supper. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast so we were ready to chow down. Our room was very nice. We watched some news and checked all of our emails using the free wi-fi.

January 23, 2026:

The free breakfast at the the Clarion Inn didn’t materialize. We went down and all they had out were waffles and yogurt. We checked out and stopped down the road for a huge breakfast at Denny's. As the outside weather warmed up on the drive it was obvious the car A/C was not working. It was 80 degrees outside so a little A/C would have felt great.

We arrived at the house at 2:00 p.m. Everything seemed to be in order, more on that later. We unpacked the car, turned on the dehumidifier, and threw out the DampRid liquids. We then went to Spectrum to get TV and internet equipment. From there we headed to a local repair shop to see when they could check out the A/C. He scheduled it for first thing Monday morning. I could drop it off and walk the two miles home but my plantar fasciitis won’t allow that. My plan is to load my bike in the back of Bart and ride my bike back.

We decided to wait until tomorrow to hook up the internet because it never seems to go smoothly. I changed the furnace filter, which wasn’t bad for eight months. Of course the AC was set to run very little, just to get some humidity out. I also turned on the dehumidifier since it was 67 percent humidity. Humidity is a big issue in Florida. 

We decided to contact a podiatrist about my plantar fasciitis. We found one nearby who takes my insurance so I made an appointment online for Tuesday morning. It is MUCH easier to get into a specialist quickly down here than in Missouri.

January 24, 2026:

Of course I was up early. I had turned on the ice maker last night and it made one set of cubes and stopped. I thought there may be a little air in the water line due to the water having been turned off. I got online and learned that the freezer has to be 10 degrees or colder for the ice maker to work. The freezer was 10 degrees by my room thermometer so I turned the freezer down. Hopefully it will start working now.

I then uncovered the golf cart, hooked up the battery wires, checked all of the water levels in the batteries, and put it on the charger. This is the outlet I installed on the carport last year for charging the golf cart. For some reason this GFI outlet was dead. 

I ran an extension cord from another outlet on the side of the house and plugged in the charger. I’ll deal with the bad outlet later.

While the batteries were charging I sprayed the weeds growing in the gravel golf cart driveway. After they have died I’m going to pull all of the dead weeds, spray a bunch of weed killer, and pour mulch glue all over the rocks. Hopefully this will slow down weed growth and keep the gravel from washing out in hard rains.

The kitchen clock that came with the house had an off white ceramic ring around it. It was no surprise that the battery was dead. Kelly said she wanted to paint the decorative clock surround green to match the accent walls. I did that as well as putting in a new battery. Here is a picture. It does provide a nice additional accent for the wall.

We then tackled connecting the Spectrum equipment for internet and TV. I was following the written instructions and all was going pretty well but there was nothing at all in the instructions about the TV receiver they had given us. Not one word.

In the printed instructions there was a reference to their app for installation. I downloaded it and it visually walked me through every step of the installation indicating percent of each software download. It was a dream to use. The only issue now is that we don’t seem to have the TV and Spectrum TV synced. Moving from one to the other is convoluted. We will figure it out.

We drove to Home Depot and purchased a new carport electric outlet. Kelly wanted to drive through Roberts RV Park, where we stayed each winter for six years. We always had to reserve a year in advance to get a spot. The street we liked was “Audrey” and there was never an empty space. Here are two pictures of a part of Audrey Street now, just three years later, in the height of the season. It is less than half full. How things change in a short time.

Part of this vacancy is due to the hateful management, who ran off many multi-year winter residents like us. You may remember that three years ago he told me I couldn't come back because I posted on Facebook how many machines were not working in the laundry. It is also partly due to Trump pissing off the Canadians who haven’t come back. Florida has taken a major tourism hit, not just at the RV parks.

Back at the house I proceeded to install the new carport electric outlet. I had put in a GFI outlet last year, which for some reason quit working. GFI outlets are a pain like that. I realized that this outlet was downstream from a GFI outlet so I didn’t need this one to be a GFI. A new, regular outlet was installed and works fine.

It was now Happy Hour. At the RV park every evening that meant dozens of folks gathered around with a drink and visited until everyone went in for supper. We really miss that interaction and the great friends we made over the years. All activities in this park are organized. People stay inside most of the time. People don't mossie around and talk to people because people aren't sitting out.

We made a "new to us" adult beverage - Whiskey and Ginger Ale, known as a Whiskey Ginger. We enjoyed it while sitting on the front porch soaking up some sun. There was a record high temperature here today - 83 degrees - while much of the country was experiencing extreme cold. Here’s a picture of Kelly taking it all in around five in the evening.

Our across-the-street neighbor, John, came over and visited for about a half hour. A nice end to the day.

January 25, 2026:

My plan to get back home after dropping off the car for the AC repair was to throw my bike in the back of the HHR and ride it home. It is about two miles away. I aired up the tires for the trip but when I came back an hour later the front tire had lost most of its air. Apparently the forty year old inner tube had given up the ghost. I took the tube out, checked the tire closely for any possible puncture, and double checked the inner tube size. I then hopped on the golf cart and rode over to Walmart to purchase a new inner tube. Unfortunately, they did not have the size I needed. I came back home and ordered one from Amazon. Of course it will get here to late for me to use tomorrow. I called Celina and she was glad to give me a ride.

The rest of the day was spent watching the NFL playoffs. I hated that the Broncos lost but glad the Seahawks won.

January 26, 2026:

I dropped the HHR off at the shop at 8:00 a.m.  I laughed because I wanted to tell Celina the name of the repair shop so she could meet me there and realized I didn't know the name. I just knew where it was located. Luckily, Celina was familiar with the shop and gave me a ride home. I made a contact in my phone - Suncoast Auto and Tire - for any future issues.  At 9:10 a.m. the shop called and had already diagnosed the problem. The cooling fan was not working, which caused the AC system to build up pressure, which caused the pressure valve to blow off and release Freon. A new cooling fan, new Freon, and labor would be $679.00. I authorized them to fix it. This is the first repair on this car in about 8 years so I'm not complaining. Additionally, you need AC in a car in Florida.

While the house seemed to be in order when we first arrived, Kelly noticed some sawdust like specks on the window sills in the master bedroom and in the master bath. We had been told to watch for this because it is evidence of termites. Termites are a real issue down here. Here is a picture.

I got in touch with our bug guy who came over immediately. He verified that the specks are in fact evidence of termites and showed me at least one hole in the molding above where they came through. The house has to be tented and gassed  to get rid of them. The house was tented in 2018 so this is a constant problem. If we purchased his insurance for $190.00 per year, tenting would be free. If we did not he will give us a cut rate of $1,400.00 because we are current customers. I don't remember if we have been paying for the insurance. He will let me know. He said these termites are not fast acting so they will wait to tent the house when we leave. Alway something.

January 27, 2026:

I had an appointment today with a podiatrist to see if something could be done with my plantar fasciitis, which has been an issue since before Christmas. It is much easier to get in to see a specialist here than in Missouri. 

Upon feeling my foot he immediately noted that: I had a bone spur, the ligament on the top of my foot had stretched thus putting more strain on the bottom ligaments, and my foot moves too far in either direction, thus not providing needed support. 

He took an x-ray and I could clearly see the bone spur, which he said was of no significance. It was also easy to see that due to the stretched top ligament the bone joints in my foot were not "meshing" like they should. He said all of this has developed over a long period of time. Since I've had pain for six weeks he suggested an anti-inflammatory drug for thirty days. He said it had a 50/50 chance of eliminating the pain. He also suggested I roll my foot over a frozen water bottle for fifteen minutes every day. He then discussed various options if the medication didn't work. Unfortunately, due to my bone cancer, most of these options are not available to me. That being the case his next suggestion would be to have a custom shoe insert made, at what we both thought is an astronomical cost. The insert would help provide the support my foot needs and is not getting due to the stretched top ligament. He made an appointment to come back in two weeks to see if the medication worked. My medical problems never seem to have easy fixes. I am looking forward to some relief so I can get back to walking without a limp.

Early in the afternoon the moving van for our neighbors, Doug and Judy, was packed and they were heading to their new home in South Carolina. I got to hug them both and told them how much I enjoyed them as neighbors and appreciated their watching our place when we were not there. It is so sad to realize you will never see people you enjoy again.