CARL'S MASTER PIECE ON THE STEPS
















#2 Looking towards the second deck


























A big improvement and a big deck!

Mother's Day Weekend

Hi,

We are in the motorhome visiting with Rick and Lori. Carl is helping to put on a new deck at their house. We worked yesterday preparing to get ready to build the deck.

Carl and I with the help of our Tracker pulled out shrubs along the old deck so we could start the new deck! That little Tracker has some pulling power. It was fun!

You know the old saying, if it starts to rain before 7:00 am it will quit by 11:00. Guess what that is what happened! Pretty cool. At this time which is 12:40, there are still some rain clouds! Let's hope and pray that it doesn't rain. We have a lot of work to do yet!

Today, after it quit raining, Rob and Marty, Lori's brothers came by and helped put the deck boards on the deck. That was a big help. We thank them for all their work!

Yesterday was funny....I tied Sadie to Higgie's collar and he took Sadie for a walk.....I laughed so darn hard. It was too cute! Of course it didn't last long.

So, hopefully, we will have a good day tomorrow with sunshine! We have to finish the deck and do landscaping done before Amber's Open House which is in two weeks.

Hooray!

Sharon and Larry Smades

12 years ago Larry and Sharon moved to Madisonville, Tn. They feel they made the right move!
They love Tennessee! These people are friends from way back when!

GAR'S ROADSTER

Gar has a roadster and we got to take ride! Fun, Fun in the Sun!

Gar and Shirley Wilson

My cousins live in Woodruff, South Carolina. A great place to call home!
We arrive on April 9, 2009 and parked in their back yard for a week!
We played dominoes, ate good food and laughed and laughed! A very
memorable week to say the least! We traveled to Greenville, Spartansburg and
up to the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. They showed us around and enjoyed their
company.

We left there on Thursday April 16 and drove back to Larry and Sharon Smades in Madisonville,
South Carolina. We drove to Strawberry Plains, Tn to see our niece Sheila Rhode (Roger's daughter). We had a delightful visit with Sheila and her wonderful daughter's Nicole and Brea.
We had to say good bye in a few hours and headed back to Madisonville, Tn. (about 1 1/2 hrs away) We spent the night at Sharon and Larry's and left early heading towards Michigan.

12 1/2 hrs later we were at Rick and Lori's. Had a short visit with them. We left Sunday afternoon after breakfast and headed for home. We haven't seen our home for 4 1/2 months!

Wonder what the furry kids will think when they can romp in a big house?

Paula Deen's Restaurant

We left this morning early to go to Savannah to get our place in line at the"Lady and Son's Restaurant". Story goes you have to get there early to get a time for lunch or dinner. We abided by the story and we did get a 12:00 lunch date.

We toured downtown Savannah. Went to Riverfront, very cool place. Savannah is a beautiful place!

Went back to Paul Deen's Store wanted to pick up her new book. We shopped around, went upstairs to look at more stuff...and I ran right into Bobby Deen, Paula Deen's youngest son! Boy, I was so excited I could hardly talk!

For those of you who do not know who Paula Deen is....she is on the foodnet work with her own show. She has two son's who also cook and they appear on her cooking show. I love her southern cooking! I think Carl does too!

The Restauant is awesome! It is in an old run down building at 102 Congress in Savannah! It is 3 stories with a restauant on each floor.

The food is total awesome! I ate so much! Yes, when I get home it will be

time to get the "South Beach" out!

We had a totally fabulous day with our friends John and Carol and the Deen's!

Thank you Hilton Head for some decent sunshine and warm weather!

Tiger's Won 6/3

Sorry Tampa Bay Rays!

Granderson and Inge both posted a home run!

Great game!

Large crowd at Joker Marchant Field!

Cute Art on back of RV

Here is some cute art on the back of motorhome. I think Carl and I should do this on our new motorhome someday.....when that day comes!

Knowing when to STOP and PLAY....PRICELESS!

Lakeland, Florida Today

We are heading out to the Baseball Game. Detroit Tigers vs Tampa Bay Ray's.
It is a 6:05 game. Weather should be about 89 degrees at the ball park.

Will post pictures later.

Weather today is sunny a little breezy and mild to hot heat!

Lovin it!

Recession at Lazy Days

Folks it is true that Lazy Day's in Seffner, Florida is feeling a little pinch with this recession. Not only are they not selling 300 coaches in a month they have cut back on their breakfast's! Not all that bad when you can get a bowl of cereal to fill you up! We love it anyway!

2 little sausage pieces and 2 french sticks! But all the coffee you can drink.

Not bad for 39.14 a day includes a beautiful hot tub and pool! Did I mention you get lunch too!

Our plans are to leave here on Sunday morning and head
to Hilton Head Island! Hope it isn't raining!

Miss everyone back home.

Bat Boy on St. Pat's Day!

Ice Cold Beer and Lemonade!!

Ice cold Beer
Lemonade for sale!

Baseball, Apple Pie, Chevrolet....

We have been to Spring Training twice this week. We want to go on Friday!

Saturday we went to the game Detroit played Toronto on Saturday. The Tigers won 10 to 4.
On Tuesday, St. Patty's Day, they played Houston Astro's. They played 11 innings with a tied score 1-1. In Spring training they only play11 innings incase of a tie.

Weather on Tuesday was a little cloudy, temperature was 77! It made for a perfect day at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland.

Thanks to Mike Paradis he got us some great tickets and we sure do thank him! On Tuesday, a man caught a ball right in the face, the same place we were on Saturday! Ouch!

I got some great pictures of some of the greats! Like the General Manager Dave Dombrowski, back head view of Willie Horton, Verlander, Jim Leyland.

Scott Sizemore got a home run! That was special.

Today, March 18, we met our neigbors in our back yard. Bill and Debbie are from Michigan. We enjoyed lunch with them, then we went to Sam's Club and Costco and back over to Amy's. Did I tell you she has gone to Las Vegas for a few days with Faith Belcher, Amy's friend. So, we are kitty kat sitting for LeRoy and Moses. They were happy to see their Grandma and Grandpa today.

So, tomorrow is going to be hot and sunny and that means sun fun and pool time!

March 14 Joker Marchant Stadium Lakeland Fl

We traveled to Lakeland, met with Mike and Sheila Paradis from Elk Rapids, Michigan. Mike got us great seats to watch the game Detroit Tigers vs Toronto Blue Jays. We were just left of the Tiger's dugout! 5 Row back! Great seats, could see the players really good. The Tig's won 10-4!
Needless to say it was a great game, lots of excitement.

Game time the temperature was 81 degrees, partly sunny! Most of the time sunny! It was a beautiful day at the baseball park! Hot dogs, big soft pretzels and water, oh wait I had a Starbucks Frappe, Moca with chips! Had to do it, it was so hot! A prefect day at Joker Marchant!

We came back to the RV sat around and then finally went to the pool and hot tub to end the day!

Thank you Florida for the wonderful weather!

March 12, 2009

We have been in Florida for 3 months today!

We love Rally Park.

I walked 4 miles this morning. I have to start training for the 1/2 Marathon next January!
I am feeling it tonight. Gotta get in the groove!

This afternoon I made a couple batches of rice krispie treats some peanut butter cookies and white chocolate macadamina nut cookies for Amy to take to her bake sale tomorrow. Hope she sells a lot of the goodies.

Well, Saturday we are off to Lakeland for a Tiger Game.

March 10, 2009

Well, when I finally crawled out of bed at 8:30am this morning we got ready and drove to the Village Diner in Old Englewood for breakfast. Yummy. We had 2 eggs, ham or bacon and potatoes.
I forgot to mention that this restaurant makes all their bread! So, homemade bread with the breakfast. It was very good.

Then we drove to the factory outlet of Tervis Tumblers. Tervis Tumbler's are made right here in Venice, Florida. Tervis Tumbler's work like magic. They keep cold drinks cold for a very long time. Keep hot stuff Hot for a long time. We have now invested in a few mugs! They are worth the money!

Then we came back to the motor home and I caught a few "rays" and then we went to the pool and hot tub, where I met up with Pat the friend I met on Thursday. We exchanged in a conversation, we did the hot tub thing then I went to the shower room, Carl and I ate dinner then we walked over to Pat and Rob's place at C24 just around the corner from us, we sat and chatted then we exchanged addresses etc and said our good byes and hope that we come back next year to see them!

We came back to the motor home at 8:45pm!

Honestly, we have met so many nice people on this trip!

Well, tomorrow is move day back to Rally Park in Seffner, Florida. We are going to miss Rambler's Rest!

More later.........................

Lunch at Village Diner, Englewood

We met Sharon and Roy at this quaint little restaurant called Village Diner! We had a nice table outside and a great lunch. We all had the Reuben sandwich with fries! Yummy!

We are finding this area some great restaurant's and great food!

Another beautiful sunny day with a very mild breeze! Couldn't get much better than this!

Alligators at Rambler's Rest RV Park

The sign says there are alligator's in the ponds! By george there are alligators in the ponds.
I was walking Sadie this afternoon and saw some fellows out by the pond pointing and talking. So, being the person I am I had to go ask what they were looking at. Sure enough alligator's in the pond! Had my cell phone with me, so I called Carl to bring the camera.

I have to tell you Sadie loves to wade in water when she is hot, like Lake Michigan in the summer.
In Key West she waded in the gulf, she didn't like the salty water at all! But she wanted to wade in the Rambler's Rest pond, and a fellow told me don't let her go near that water, there are alligator's in the pond. So, it is true and Sadie still wants to wade in the water! She would much rather be back in Michigan in the snow!

Playing cards with friends

We had a fun afternoon playing a card game called Hand and Foot with Sharon and Roy Warner.

We had a few drinks and a some great nachos! Had a birthday cake! A nice day to celebrate another day of my birthday.


Sharon and Roy rented a house in Englewood or the Rotundra. A very nice house. They are about 12 miles from us at Rambler' Rest in Venice. Did I tell you about Rambler's Rest? It is a very nice park. I will tell you more later.