It Only Takes One

Above normal hurricane season?

Gert wrote the article below.
He owns StormCarib.com where Dear Miss Mermaid volunteered as a Caribbean Weather Correspondent from 1994 to 2010 and then some...

NOAA's Climate Prediction Center issued its hurricane forecast for the season. They say that it is most likely to be an above-normal season. However, when I look at their plots (see the media release) I don't see it that way.

It shows that there is only a 45% chance of an above-normal season but a 55% chance of a near-normal or below-normal season. They also predict that there is a 70% chance of 11 to 17 named storms, of which 5-9 could become a hurricane and 2-4 a major hurricane. Since 12, 6, 3, resp. is normal, that would indeed indicate an above normal season. A bit confusing...

It will depend if (and how strong) an El Nino will be forming. El Nino conditions means below normal seasons. Also, NOAA indicates above average sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic, while the people at Colorado State noted below average in April. Currently it is actually a bit above normal (see for example here). In any case, like we always say, we will have to be prepared regardless, it only takes one! -Gert

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Gert is so right, it only takes one hurricane to catch you unprepared and your life can suddenly be a train wreck. 

In the days I went through hurricanes (and other disasters) we didn't have ready made kits available such as this one:

Be prepared for at least the first 72 hours after a disaster, Ready America has developed this 4-Person Deluxe Emergency Kit. Survival experts have included all the life-saving supplies that a family of four would need for those critical 3 days, in one convenient grab-and-go backpack.

The 4-Person Deluxe Emergency Kit includes food, water, Duct Tape, a Multi-Function Pocket Tool, and a 4-function, hand-crank Emergency Power Station. The Power Station produces either 30 minutes of bright light, 2 minutes of talk time on a cell phone, or 15 minutes of radio from one minute of cranking.


So get cranking! Keep one in your home, office, or car. Click here for more details and pricing.

This kit seems to have it all except the quintessential Caribbean hurricane supply; RUM!

Morning company. I was so lucky to capture this! 

I am staying at a discounted RV park. Sites are super tight, but the canal birds are fantastic indeed. 

Today's Quote:

I'm a professional photographer of 17 years; when I eventually grow up I want to be an astronaut - but until then capturing life on this planet is keeping me pretty damn busy. Life is so intense, beautiful and heart-wrenching that to live without some means of recording it would be unimaginable. Thank goodness for cameras ... and ketchup!

Peter Creighton

Author of

How To Take Great Photographs On Any Camera

Gotcha!

Almost every morning this bird drops by for a visit. By the time I flail around, find my camera, steady my hand, turn it on, get it in focus and click the shutter, she flies away. I end up with a picture of an invisible bird.

Try, try and try again.

The bird and I have played this hilarious game every morning for a few weeks now. She sits there and stares at me, I try to photograph her and she flies away a nanosecond before the shutter clicks open.

Try, try and try again.

Today, I managed to actually sneak up on the bird and snap several pictures with my camera.

I know most folks reading this have cell phones that take outstanding pictures and your phone is often right there with you. I am a tad envious, but I forget to carry my phone around. It doesn't really do much but occasionally ring with a live caller. Sometimes I get a text and I usually reply back with yes, no or call. It takes me about 5 minutes to figure out how to text one word, so I don't find it very efficient.


My budget is such I have an old flip phone that takes teeny tiny pictures smaller than a postage stamp. I have NO idea why they included this ridiculous feature on my phone. Below is the size of the phone picture after enlarging it.

I have figured out how to disguise myself to sneak up on wildlife and take pictures.

Today's supa dupa bargain.
For only  $64.99 you get not one, but TWO zero gravity chairs delivered free to your door.
Comes in light blue, navy blue, brown, black, burgundy and heather gray.

Click here for Best Choice Products Zero Gravity Chairs Case Of (2)

Hurry before supplies run out and prices change.

They Missed Me!

I sure showed them. They missed me after all!

Tomorrow is $5 coupon day at Dollar General. Spend $25, get $5 off. If you need food and general household supplies, enjoy this 20%  break. In my opinion it's one of the best deals around. Dollar General are small stores cram packed with useful goodies. Typically the cashier line is swift moving, fast in, fast out.

Even in my RV, I can usually find parking on the side of their buiding where they get truck deliveries. I can go back there, turn around and park heading out again  in spots most folks don't want because they are too far from the door. It seems everyone wants up front parking, heaven forbid they should walk. Save that for the air conditioned gym!

Sometimes I am in bicycling distance. It's an old funny joke to me and the dog. Many Dollar General stores are out in the country where there is no other shopping. Typically I will pass one on my way to a far flung campground. This is super handy because you can pick up whatever you need in food and supplies. They even carry camping supplies.

When I am lost and see a Dollar General, I say "Well the campground must be nearby cause there is a Dollar General in the middle of nowhere!" And usually we find it. The campground that is.

Sometimes I have 2 coupons, one digital one and one paper one. in that case, I can give one away if someone wants to go shopping with me and save themselves $5.

Well, a few months ago, Dollar General stopped offering these $5 coupons. I used to think, they are going to miss me so badly! yes, there prices are good otherwise, cheaper than Walmart and certainly a lot less hassle getting in and out in a hurry. But still, I always waited until $5 day to go to Dollar General, trying to be super friendly to my shrinking budget.

So in a nutshell, I have darkened their door in quite awhile since they stopped the $5 coupons.

Well *ahem* I guess they do miss me! Recently they started up the $5 coupons again. See?  A little boycotting goes a long way...

(Yeah, little old me, here to save the world!)

Sometimes you get the coupon at the bottom of the receipt, like last week I used a $5 coupon and the receipt had another one for 2 weeks later. Otherwise you techno spiffy folks can go to their website with your phone and get the coupons.

At checkout, you enter your phone number and your coupons kick in.

Of course, Amazon, my favorite mail order site also has coupons! Click here to see their coupons you can use online for ordering the things you need or want.

 I don't know how or why a lucky froggy seems to be living with me all the time. It's always a different frog too. How does that work? I heard a thwap thwack thwap thwack and there outside, stuck to my window was a lucky froggy again.

That green thing is a pool noodle that I cut up to place on my ladder in back of the motorhome. I had a chair riding back there and didn't want it banging the ladder.

Life is goof!

Ship Happens

My attempt at artsy fartsy.

I love mirrored images on lakes.

I used to upload and sell many pictures, photos and artwork on variousproducts at
http://www.cafepress.com/dearmissmermaid

I still have products for sale there, but I haven't marketed them in a long time and the company changed their generous commissions to not-so-generous so  my checks dwindled down to next to nothing, but I could change that by with a ton of hard work.

I need to update the pages and add new stuff. Easier said than done! They've changed their system all over again, so I have to relearn and restart. Add that to my list of things to do in a busy crazy world.

Organized people are just too lazy to look for things...

Here is one my favorites, it's available on many products besides the hat.

Click here to see details. 

Lake Okeechobee

Another grand day.
Woke up alive on the right side of the grass.
No matter how bad things get, being grateful and smiling doesn't make it any worse.
Might even make it better.
Life is goof.
Laugh about it!

Sunset over Taylor Creek, Okeechobee, Florida

Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail is also known as LOST

Lake Okeechobee is unique in many ways including  the 143 mile Herbet Hoover Dike is an earthen dam that surrounds it. 

Lake Okeechobee Waterproof Chart

Well, that's today's trivia for ya. 

Thank you for the awesome comments and for stopping by here today. You rock my world. 

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Froggy Gone Camping

Another stowaway!

Frogs like to find me and stow away with me for the ride. This has happened for years. I have started collecting pictures of froggy whenever he/she turns up. Now I just need to tag and find them all. But here are a few for starters.

Sometimes by the time I go grab the camera, froggy is hiding again. I find froggy inside and outside.

TO make matters a bit more complex is that someone near and dear to me who is now deceased, had a froggy collection. Every time I see a forggy traveling with me, I think of her and wonder if she had come back as a froggy to ride around with me. She always had a yin for travel but never got to go near the places she wanted to. She was taken from earth way too soon and that is just how it goes sometimes.

She explained (before her death) that she never was interested in collecting frogs. Her froggy collection was a big accident. She really wasn't the collecting type at all. But she was a gracious lady, very generous in her community and the type to never ever want to offend or hurt a friend, even when they gave her a porcelain frog. I should say she just wasn't the bric-a-brac type.

But one day someone gave her a porcelain frog that could sit on the edge of something. She thanked them for the gift and sat him on a window ledge above her kitchen sink. She could look out the window while washing dishes or look at the silly porcelain frog. It should be noted her dining table was adjacent to her kitchen and that is where she most often visited with her friends. They had a clear view of her kitchen and the kitchen window.

She was always feeding her company or offering them icy cold drinks or steamy hot coffee. Yepper, a southern gal transplanted from Connecticut around age 7 she embraced the south and the penchant southerners have to feed and drink anyone that darkens their door. If you visit a southerner and refuse their drink or food you might come close to darn well insulting them!

Friends saw her lonely froggy sitting on the window sill. Over the next few years, people began giving her frog gifts! From coffee mugs to figurines to hand towels. They all came with a froggy.

More frogs beget more frog gifts and suddenly she had this massive froggy collection yet she never spent one penny on one frog.

Well, here's toast to my dear departed loved one "Beware of the crazy frog lady!"

Even though she was an accidentally collector, this frog mug would have made her laugh!

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Hideous

Say YES to trees!

Say MORE to trees!

This looks like something I was told about 40 years ago... if we kept letting the developers destroy all the trees in the name of progress that one day a precious few would be on display behind tall guarded fences.

I thought that was scary stuff then and now... it's still scary stuff!

Speaking of ugly walls... wouldn't a stand of trees or hedges or both look so much nicer than that hideous wall?

Swallowed What?

I like to be outside and attempt to get things done before sticky humid heat sets in.

Apparently I am often rewarded with bug protein at this new campground. These suicidal bugs that dive into my coffee or water then mask themselves invisibly until I take a great big gulp.

So that is why I am washing my ancient laptop computer screen and keyboard.

To get the splattered coffee off of it.

Nothing like a bug tickling your throat to cause an unintentional reaction.

Now I am trying to remember to keep drinks covered up when outdoors. As if my tiny brain didn't already have enough to remember.

Camping is so much fun.

Most dogs ride in a vehicle with their head and tongue hanging out the window.

Not my pooch. He looks so stoic on the bicycle or in a car or RV riding with his head out. He keeps his mouth firmly closed.

Long ago, he swallowed a bug the first or second time he tried to stick his head out in the wind while riding. Yanking his head back inside, he coughed and hacked and looked oh so worried and scared.

Since then he keeps his mouth closed when he sticks his head out the window or on the bicycle. Once in a blue moon, I catch a picture of him with his mouth open and tongue hanging out. He looks so cute like he is smiling.

Today he looked at me deeply concerned as I coughed, hacked and splattered coffee because I swallowed a bug unexpectedly.

He had that look in his eye. "Uh huh, been there, done that, got the Tshirt..."

Life is goof.

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A Doggy Life

Doggy evidence.

There must be a doggy somewhere. How can one 6 pound dog hog so much? He has taken over the camping chair, outfitted it with his blankie then stuffed not one, not two but three toys in it.

To add insult to injury, he grew tired of his crowded chair and left!

He is the first dog I have ever owned that was toy happy. Oh sure I had a black lab mix once that loved his Frisbee, but other toys didn't inspire him at all.

Harley on the other hand, is over 7 years old, barely six-and-a-half pounds, yet continues to spend a good  half of his day exercising his toys, fighting with his toys, unstuffing his toys, chasing his toys, squeaking his toys, rearranging his toys, tossing his toys, ripping his toys, dragging his toys, shaking his toys, carrying his toys, chewing  his toys. When all is said and done, he often self-soothes with a toy by sucking on it while putting himself to sleep.

Other than that, the dog doesn't do much at all.

Many of his toys come to him for free from fans or friends. Lucky dog! He does wear his toys out with his chronic knack for staying busy busy busy.

Some campgrounds have a give-away place for unwanted items. If there is a stuffed animal there, I usually bring it home for the dog.

Sometimes I get to review products provided for free from Amazon and other vendors, if they send over a dog toy or stuffed animal, then you-know-who gets to test it out.

Recently I was walking the dog at a rest area on the Florida turnpike. Well actually they call their rest areas the service plaza. Anyhow, there on the ground with an amazing amount of scattered garbage was a brand new stuffed squeaky dog toy. Didn't appear to be dirty or have any drool on it or anything. It was as if it had been dropped there brand new 30 seconds earlier.

I looked all around for another dog walker, but not a canine in sight anywhere. It was by the road, so maybe a doggy was holding his new toy out the window when he dropped it. Maybe it was a squeaky human child toy and he tossed it out the window. Who knows?

Harley spotted it and was ecstatic. So now he had another free new toy. Good grief.

Well, if anything, that makes it easy on the budget. Zero spent for the dog toys he craves (and destroys!)

I often study the garbage too, it's amazing the amount of dropped money I occasionally find. My last jackpot was four folded one dollar bills. Usually it's just spare change I find, but sometimes paper money is among the debris.

When I find all this scattered garbage, I just want to get my picker-upper stick and tidy up the place. I don't understand when or why it became fashionable to disburse garbage everywhere while ignoring nearby trash bins. In this case, the service plaza did have some garbage bins, not near enough in convenient spots, but still with a little effort, folks could have put their refuse in the provided cans, not all over the struggling thin piece of landscape in the parking area. Oh well, I should shut up about garbage.I just wish we had a tidier world to live in.

As a workamper I used to litter pick every speck of garbage out of the parks I volunteered in. The rangers in most cases didn't care because they didn't see it. Many rangers don't ever leave their trucks unless forced too. So unless it's a big chunk of garbage they don't see the little bits scattered everywhere that a pedestrian sees. Garbage for some reason just sticks out at me no matter how tiny. Just walking around most any park or campground, I see bottle tops, straws, candy wrappers, cigarette butts, all the tiny garbage folks leave behind. Of course folks often leave bigger garbage too but most camps keep the bigger stuff more or less picked up.

I have rarely set up camp in a place that didn't need tidying up. Usually someone shows up and removes the bigger pieces of garbage, but the little bits tend to be left behind for the next camper. When I leave a campground or RV park, I make sure my site is spotless with nothing but nature left behind.

At least I hope that is the way I am leaving it! I sure try.

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Mother's Day

Mother's Day is this Sunday.

I truly miss my mother each and every day. She is deceased, so sad to say.

The world is so big. But  I am so small.

My mother taught me a wealth of information including how to do numerous useful things. She wanted to make sure I had loads of great experiences when I was young. Best of all, she taught me to have a lifelong love and respect for books.

She was convinced anyone could learn anything from books.

It was because of her, that I was crazy enough to buy a hurricane ravaged sailboat, mailorder a bunch of how-to books, then rebuild it to like-new condition.  She sent me a drill as a "boat warming" present.

I cried when I opened it, because she had also given me a drill when I bought a home, years earlier. When I sold that home, to go sailing, books were shelved, stacked and stored in every room of the house. Even the hallway and bathroom had book shelves. I was a serious book-o-holic.

My friends carted off books on a variety of subjects, still there were books everywhere. Finally I called the prison.  I offered to donate the remaining books if they wouldn't censor them. I figured a lot of people in prison wind of there often for lack of a education. Others do have an education, but find themselves going crazy with few intellectual outlets. Maybe books would help. I still remember many of the books, wishing I had them now to paw through. I did get a really nice letter from the prison, thanking me for the 3,189 books.

A former (accounting) client of mine, had served time in prison for leaving the country with his daughter. He knew his wife was going to spirit her away where he couldn't see her, out of sheer spite in their messy divorce. He knew it would break his heart.  So he moved to another continent, taking his precious child with him. Years later, he ended up in prison over his decision. When he was transferred to a halfway house, I went to see him. I took him luggage  because he had joked about how when you leave prison, they give you a garbage bag to pack your stuff in. He said he had read every book in the library's prison, was starting to read some again twice, when they finally released him.

My last book, Hurricanes and Hangovers, is dedicated in loving memory to  four people, who now rest in peace. My mother is  listed first, for teaching me to read.

How I wish she could be here now. She worked with me on my first book; a cookbook no longer in print, "Fine Fare With Flair".  She was immensely proud of me.  Oh how I miss her so much.

***Above reposted from May 2011

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another article about my mom:

Miss Marian and The Crippled Children

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

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Get Up and Go!

What are you waiting for?

Get up and do it now because tomorrow may never happen.

I think I sometimes just try to cram so much life into so little day. My body may not cooperate but my mind races at top speed daydreaming when I can't actually go out and do.

Much of my life was built on daydreaming and hard work. Now  my body balks stubbornly and I just want it to straighten up and fly right. I have things to do, so why doesn't my body just cooperate and let me do?

Envision.

If I can constantly see myself doing the things I want to do, then eventually I am doing them. The biggest caveat is it's hard work no matter what.

One day riding my bicycle seems like the easiest thing in the world. The next day it seems like the toughest thing I ever tried. What is the mystery? How does that happen?

Life is goof.

Tiny home living!

When I left my rig recently, I dropped the awning in case the winds perked up. My patio mat reaches all the way to my neighbor's spot. On the other side you can see my other neighbor's car and RV. Lot rents were almost half price for the summer, but they are minimally sized. This was the only one available with some tree shade. The rest are full sun with no trees.

I don't want to imagine life without trees.

Pass the shoe horn!

THANKS for using my Amazon links. It's a huge help for a girl, her dog and their bicycle. 

Rambunctiousness

Thank you for the wonderful comments on the blog and the emails.YOU make me  feel TERRIFIC! And I owe it all to you, my readers and angels and supporters and cheer leaders.

Mind over matter, I meditate the pain away and try to keep my big mouth shut and not be grumpy. It ain't easy... but super glue helps!

The spirit is willing the body is failing or flailing. Life is goof.

I had to bust up camp in Melbourne, Florida and move my wheel estate to Okeechobee. I found a place with HALF price rent since they aren't busy once the snowbirds left. Most places do not discount their rates, so this was a lucky find indeed. Then I had an invitation to go celebrate my close friend's BIG ONE, his 70th birthday.

He used to live in the Florida Keys and wanted to return there for a revisit to celebrate. For some fool reason, I said YES!

For the first time ever since moving into my wittle old wheel estate, I left her all alone for a few days. Actually 11 days! Oh my gosh was that ever HARD on me. She is my only home, my security blanket. I've slept in her every night for over 7 years. The Florida Keys were booked up solid and there wasn't room to take my rig and the prices were crazy high. Well, some of the pricier places, I found out later, had space available but at (you better SIT DOWN) $100-$200 per night for camping. I kid you not.

I've lived in far flung islands so I understand the ridiculous pricing. If you want to visit the Keys, pack double the cash and half the junk.

From my old sailing days when boats were "female" I still think of my rolling rig, the RV, as a "she".

I packed up the dog, my bicycle and a small backpack to go celebrate rather than take my rig, we took their rig, which is even smaller than mine! They already had state park reservations which generally take a year to get. Sheesh. Florida Keys is super popular.

I've sailed through the Florida Keys a few times when I was professional crew on yachts, but it's been awhile. I also bareboated there back in the mid 80's with some friends on a vacation trip. When I was about 3-4-5 years old, I have a vague recollection of my family driving to the Keys and me throwing up all over the old 50-something Chevy and making them mad at me. But I remember the long bridges the near crystal clear waters. They aren't as clear now, but clear enough I actually got in the ocean.

Since living in the Virgin islands where the water with clear, it's been hard on me to return to "dark" waters. I visited rivers and lakes in America I used to swim in and now I won't. Too funny! In the 90's I went tubing down a river near the SC and NC border on a vacation from my work in the Caribbean. The waters were not clear. I saw a snake, I think it was a water moccasin. I don't do snakes. I screamed and got out of the river so fast, my friend's swear I walked on water. They had to go chase my inner tube down and bring it back to me.

So funny.

Packing for the Keys...

The dog took MORE than anybody cause he wanted dry food, wet food, his feed bowls, his water bowl, his bicycle basket, his cheap treats, his special treats, his blankie, his toys, his bath towel, his poop bags, his regular dog leash, his flexi-leash, his vet papers to prove he had state law required shots,  his tether, his pillow, a spare harness in case he went swimming  or broke his (and he did!) Well be didn't break his harness (he has done this before due to his chronic rambunctiousness) but he did go ocean swimming and got his harness soaking wet then he ran ashore where he was shivering like a drowned rat. I had to drop what I was doing, giving him a fresh water bath at the people outdoor showers, wrap him up in his towel until he stopped shaking, then put on his spare harness with his dog tags. Oh my gosh. He was one happy pup.

Harley dog wanted to know if his allowance was big enough to get him a new bicycle so he could ride in back in style. 

Most beaches would not allow dogs, and that was super sad. But we found a few out of the way ones where canines were welcome. Even went to the dog park in Key West on a day trip. Oh the crazy things we do for our canine companions. The day we drove to Key West parking was $20 and up. At the dog park, we could park for free. Go figure.

How can one 6 pound dog require so much STUFF for a trip? He took more than I did. But he did get to go sightseeing by bicycle most days and he stuck his little dog nose in the air when we passed doggies walking. Such a brat!

At an outdoor eatery with a bar, I asked if the doggy could sit under the table outdoors and turns out many restaurants do allow this. The dog ordered a "Salty Dog" which is grapefruit and vodka, but I told the waitress NO. Oh my gosh,next she  brought him a water bowl big enough to be his bathtub. We told him it was a Salty Dog so he would shut up. Now the little fellow brags he went bar hopping. Sheesh.

Speaking of nasty snakes I don't care for... Did you know a 2 foot deadly cobra escaped in a suburban neighborhood in mid March in Orlando? That snake has not been found yet. YUCK! I feel so sorry for the neighbors that had no idea that Fish and Wildlife had issued an exotic permit to a homeowner in their neighborhood. Me personally, I would sure like to know if my neighbors are legally being granted permission to keep deadly exotic reptiles in their home. More yuck!

Enough of this, I have to unpack the dog's stuff and clean up my rig. I left in such a hurry, I think ghosties made a mess in my absense.

Sunset from Lake Hartwell the year I escaped from the hospital to go recuperate with my shattered wrist. Um, I think that was 2014 or 2015?

I had a friend with me helping out, thank goodness, I couldn't drive and was in screaming pain. I was so frustrated with the nightmare of having a surgery followup appointment at 11 but told to show up at 1030 for paperwork and arriving at 10 to be nice then being forced to wait until past 2pm to get any attention. Paperwork? More paperwork?

I was wildly hungry as the clock ticked onwards. That made me even grumpier.

There was no desk to sit down to fill out this mountain of paperwork and I couldn't do it on my lap with the other arm in a hot sweaty black brace up in the air to keep the swelling down. I was trying to stand up at the reception desk and fill it out but they kept telling me to go sit down. I asked for a desk and they looked at me like I had asked for a trip to the moon.

The waiting room stunk something awful, that very old very moldy dirty laundry smell that was nauseating.  A blaring TV was nerve wracking and the chairs were most uncomfortable. Why aren't there beds in a waiting room? We could all just snooze until they got around to seeing us.

The surgeon that eventually saw me 4 hours later knew nothing about my past surgery because he didn't perform it, and he couldn't seem to answer any of my questions about future physical therapy. He couldn't access my records on the computer. It was just a huge waste of time all around. He looked like he wasn't old enough to finish high school. No credentials on the wall to show he had passed anything anywhere, just his word he was a surgeon. He could have been the janitor for all I knew.

I am old fashioned. I like to see the doctor's credentials hung on the wall.

A lady with a volunteer tag did all my vitals. They were billing my insurance company ridiculous amounts and a volunteer was doing most of the work? She spent more time with me than the surgeon did.

Incredulously five hours later because they still couldn't access my computer records they told me to come back for another appointment in two days to start all over again. Appointment for 9, but come at 830 for paperwork and maybe the doc see me by 3pm. By then I had lost all faith in the medical treatment I wasn't getting. Hard to have faith when nobody seems to know a thing.

Anyhow, when we left that nightmare I was frustrated and wildly cranky. On a scale of one to ten, my pain was at a twelve. They gave us directions to a drug store and when we got there, they didn't accept my insurance card, later I found out if we had gone to the grocery store, the pain meds would have been covered by the insurance. Life is complicated! We were from out of town in an RV, my crystal ball just wasn't forthcoming with such critical information.

We had a cramped spot in an RV park that was bordered on one side by a trucking lot, another side by a major highway, a third side had an airport and the 4th  had a train track. It was maybe 10-15 minutes from the hospital and surgeon's office.

With one determined finger in a haze of extreme pain, I managed to punch out on the internet and discover that 60 miles away Lake Hartwell State Park had large water front campsites open for rent, out in nature, I begged my friend to drive us there. He pointed out that if we went, I would be 60 miles from the doctor when my appointment rolled around again. I said, well I am never going back. I've had enough abuse, thank you very much.

I need to heal with nature. Meditate and pray.

I took this picture from my bedroom window in the RV just before drifting off into la-la land.

Funny how one picture brings out a long winded story.

Eventually I found wrist and finger exercises on the internet because I never was able to get the proper paperwork from the surgeon's office to get real therapy. They acted like I was asking them to climb Mount Everest and check for flowers.

Life is goof.

Sunset in Melbourne Florida (through the mosquito screen) April 2017.

I spent a lot of time with this book recently trying to cobble my old wheel estate back together. I don't know what I am doing, but this Bob Livingston book makes me feel like an educated featherbrain.

A girl can do it. All you need is books and deluded determination plus some duct tape, a paper clip and a rubber band will  help speed repairs along too.

If all else fails and a hammer still can't fix it, then what you have is probably an electrical problem.

Yes Virginia, there really is a hammer museum in Alaska.

Life is goof.

I just spent nearly 2 weeks without internet or wifi.

It was heaven on earth! I only talked on the phone twice in 2 weeks as well. It was fun to unplug!

I jumped ship, leaving my little old wheel estate to fend for herself. It was the first time in over 7 years that I have not slept in my own bed, in my own rig. I almost cried leaving my little old home all alone.

An old friend from my Caribbean sailing days bought a van camper inviting me to run off to the Florida Keys to celebrate their 70th birthday. So off we went, doggy and bicycles in tow.

Once we set up camp, we mostly toured on bicycles checking out the area while Harley dog rode shotgun in the front basket of my bicycle. All that bicycling worked up a mighty appetite, so when we stumbled into a Chinese restaurant, we loaded up my rear bicycle basket with take-away food to go back to the camp and set up an Asian picnic. Turns out doggy loves spicy curry.  We also had seaweed salad (delectable!) and the house fried rice which had seafood, chicken, pork, beef and veggies plus on the side we had a couple of egg rolls thrown in for good measure.

Who knew biking could be such fun?

On another note, nothing to do with the Florida Keys, I just noticed that Amazon has decreased the cost of my compact portable washing machine by over $100 from what I paid in 2010 when I bought mine. That washing machine has bounced around many highways and byways for 7 years in my little old motorhome. When I need to wash, I just use the included quick-connect plumbing to hook the washer to my bathroom sink, then I wash my clothes for hang drying out back on a rack that dangles off my rear ladder when I am parked.

I paid nearly $300 for my washer, and now as of today when I write this, Amazon is selling it for $173.22 with 2 day Prime delivery. WOW.

It washes, spins, rinses, spins and does an incredible job of cleaning my clothes, towels, sheets, rugs and rags. It has several water level settings and heavy duty washing as well as light washing to choose from. It can be plumbed direct like a regular washer or quick connect to kitchen or bath like I do.

Mine is about 17 inches square, taking up about the same space as a laundry hamper. While the loads are small, it's easy enough to do 2-3-4 loads at a time. I have never seen it priced this low before. See more details here Haier HLP21N Pulsator 1-Cubic-Foot Portable Washer.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to be posting more often now that I am back at the Lake Okeechobee area where my rig stayed in my absence.

Which now I have a smelly bag of clothes to wash as I never took time in the Florida Keys to do any on my trip.

Life is goof.

Sunrise at the beach in October of 2011 at Hunting Island in South Carolina.

This is an automated post, I hope to be back live on here soon.

Thanks for your patience.

Written on April 22, to be posted on May 5th.



Thank you for shopping 
Amazon with my links
It helps feed a dog and his pet human.


Life is goof.

My first Halloween in 2010 and I was trying to look SCARY.

My pet human wrote this in advance. Live postings will continue in a few days.



Thank you for shopping 
Amazon with my links
It helps feed a dog and his pet human.


Life is goof.

Here's my baby picture from 2010. I was so wittle my ear didn't even stick up yet.

My pet human isn't able to write today, so this is an automated post written in advance.

Thank you for shopping 
Amazon with my links
It helps feed a dog and his pet human.


Life is goof.

Harley keeps guard in one chair while his toys relax in another chair.

Picture from May 2014, 3 years ago, my how time flies. 

I will be back writing again soon. 

I don't know where we are, but I can misbehave anywhere. 

Regular posts will continue here in a few more days. 

Thanks for your patience and patronage.




Thank you for shopping 
Amazon with my links
It helps feed a dog and his pet human.


Life is goof.