Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day
Maggie's Drawers
Base Housing
Base Housing
Base Housing
View of St. Petersburg - Across from Base Housing

March 17th - Beautiful - Sunny

Yesterday we were up early and left for Plant City with the idea of purchasing fresh strawberries, as we left our camp site, Lou turned on the windshield wipers to brush the pollen off the windshield, we noticed that one of the wipers needed to be replaced, so we made a mental note to stop at a Walmart to get new bladed en-route.

As we left we noticed that "Maggie's Drawers" were hanging out, that indicates that there will be all kinds of shooting taking place on that day and to stay clear of the designated area, this area is just below our camp ground, so we pay attention to Maggie's Drawers!

We drove out Bayshore Drive and I took pictures of some of the base housing, which I think is beautiful, and right across the street is the water and on the horizon in St. Petersburg. There are beautiful playgrounds, tennis courts and such in this area also. You always, see young mothers and children out walking with strollers and little folks on bikes, all seem to be having a good time and enjoying the sunshine and the breeze from the water.

We stopped at Walmart and found wiper blades that fit the Malibu and Lou struggled to put them on and just couldn't get them on, a man stopped to try and help him and he couldn't get them on either, and he suggested taking them to the auto department and asking them for assistance and Lou did that and Lou drove around to the side of Walmart to the Lube and Tire area and a guy came out and it only took a minute and he had it on. Problem solved and we continued our journey.

We did get fresh strawberries, we bought a flat of berries for $5.99 and they are just beautiful and so very sweet. We stopped at our favorite place and Lou got strawberry shortcake and I got a strawberry milkshake. We also picked up fresh produce to bring home with us. We had sausage, biscuits, gravy and sliced tomatoes for breakfast this morning and they were delicious.

We stopped at Lazydays on our way home, as June and Steve were there, and they had just purchased a new RV and were transferring all of their possessions from their old motor home to their new home. So we got a tour of their new home and were able to catch up with them on happenings since we last saw them. We are so happy for them, as we know they will enjoy their new home as much as we enjoy our new one. They also took the driving course and found it very helpful also.

We arrived home in time to let Estee out and feed her and get to the Clubhouse for our St. Patrick's Day celebration. We met our new friends from Pennsylvania there and spent the evening with them enjoying our dinner, music and conversation.

It was indeed a very full day. Now today, need to accomplish a few things and want to get into the sunshine before it gets to the forecasted 87 degrees. Actually, the temperatures that Krista is telling me about in Pennsylvania sound pretty good to me.

Birding

Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron as he landed
Assorted shore birds
Roseate Spoonbill
Great White Heron and Spoonbill
Anhinga (drying his wings)
Another view of the Anhinga
Tri-Colored Heron
Common Moorhen Duck
Roseate Spoonbill
Anhinga

Young Osprey

March 16th - Friday - Sunny and very warm 87 degrees

Lou and I set out for a walk and took our camera and decided we would just take a picture of the different birds that we saw as we walked along and post that, so that is what you will see today are just a few of the pictures that we took.

The Great Blue Heron flew into the bay and just kept walking towards Lou and I took many pictures thinking that he soon would frighten and fly away, but he walked right up to Lou and there were many Brown Pelicans and we were so busy watching them fish, that I didn't take pictures of them. We were gone for two hours, so you see when we take off it isn't just a short walk, we go for at least two hours and seems like it is the hottest time of the day, but there is always a breeze so we still enjoy it, but by the time we get back I am ready to sit and read my book before I start dinner.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

A Walk to Lewis Lake

We are walking back toward our motor home, on the sidewalk. We are number six from the entrance. There are over 280 sites here with full hook ups
I think this is a female Anhinga hanging here to dry her wings.
American Coot Duck

Snowy Egrets and Double-Crested Cormorant
Kris, you tell me!
Lou and Estee enjoying the day
Our computer desk

March 11th - Sunday Very Warm with Thundershowers forecasted 84 degrees

Thankfully, we remembered to turn our clocks ahead and we were up in time to arrive at church on time. Once again, our FamCamp church was packed full, even though many of the folks our FamCamp have started their journey home. We are also having very unusually warm weather, which is 10 to 15 degrees warmer than usual for this time of the year. Yesterday Lou and I gave up and came in and enjoyed a good western on television and took our walk a little later.

It is very dry here; therefore, the mosquitoes that were suck a problem last year are not a problem this year and we are enjoying being outside. Our walk was very enjoyable and we love walking along the lake and you can see from the pictures, we always see lots of wildlife and I am slowly learning the names of the different birds. We also have many of the familiar birds that we have at home. We have a pair of Mockingbirds that stay here in the tree by the RV and we really are enjoying them. The squirrels in the woods really give Estee a fit, but the sand spurs are horrible, so she tries to stay on the pavement. Today we noted a man walking a Yorkie and his little dog has on little tiny slipper that looked to be leather so the next time I see him, I will run him down and see where he got them. Estee has boots, but the spurs stick to them also. In fact they even stick into out sneaker soles.

We went back to Mamma's for breakfast after church this morning and Lou ordered his favorite breakfast food "Western Omelet" but once again nobody's omelets compares to Gene Heck's at Heck of a Place in Middlebury Center, PA and Lou is anxious to have one from home. I am anxious as is Lou to hear one of Pastor Keith's sermons also. We are so fortunate to have Pastor Keith, Kathy and Pastor Sandi and Alan at home and we pray for them daily.

We have had lovely e-mails from our two grand-daughter in-laws this week and it was so good to get caught up on what is going on in their lives and the great grand-kids and will be anxious to see all of them when we get back. Internet and blogs are great for that purpose and both of them follow our travels.

Picture of New Site

View out our front window - exit our door
View to the left - shows the main road and the office
View out of front window - street going past RV

March 8th - Thursday - 86 degrees and very windy

I guess we took advantage of getting on a permanent site and died when we went to bed, we slept until 9:00 this morning. We were up at 6:30 and let Estee out to go potty and turned on the electric blanket and crawled back into bed and fell back to sleep and slept hard. So by the time we were up and around we enjoyed brunch and had only two meals.

Lou walked up to check on our mail and found that Krista had mailed lots of goodies, and he was delighted to open a box of mail and in it was new Johnstone books along with all of his magazines along with his Airforce Times, so we never got to go for our walk. I had subscribed to a new magazine before we left home and the first issue had arrived and Kris told me that she thought I would enjoy it, it is called Interweave Knits, Noell or Sue have you heard of it? Well, I can't wait to try some of the things. There is a sweater in it that you can wear upside down or inside out that sounds fun. Lots of lacy things also.

Had an e-mail from Scott today and we are going to meet he and his family next week for lunch in Tampa, Gregory is going to have his cast replaced, so this works out great to get to see all of them again. Also, a phone call from June and Steve and we are going to meet up with them also, so once again, our time is going to go by so quickly.

We have had nice chats with Janet, Michelle and Preston so it has been good to get caught up with the news from home. We seem to have better cellphone connections at this location. Tried to talk to Kris several times while dry camping and really had a rough time.

Thankfully, we have gotten all of the bugs worked out of our dish network and all is working well there, sure has been a long process with many, many phone calls and service calls. We also have cable here so many things to chose from to watch. Hopefully, tomorrow we will get an earlier start and get out and accomplish a few things.