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My last post was about my first RVW rally. I'm now in Crystal River getting ready for my second rally with "the girls" that starts tomorrow. It's been a long month. A long, LONESOME month. Most of it was spent hanging out at Suncoast RV Resort in Port Richey. Suncoast is a beautiful campground with lots of pines and palms. The sunsets are spectacular. I had company for a few days in that Larrie came down for some tests on his back. I hated when he had to leave and I actually miss him a lot. I told him he needs to quit his job and either sell his house or rent it out so he can come be with me. We get along so well. Of course, I get along with everybody so there ya go.
I've turned to the internet again to try to find a man. David and I have decided that he'll never leave Delaware and so we are now just good friends. I made a trip to Jax over the weekend to get my mail and to meet with someone I met online. Real nice guy. We went out a couple times but, again, he's someone who has a job and a house and a life. Doesn't look like that will go anywhere.
I'm looking forward to next week when I travel to Melbourne for my first event in six weeks. At least it will keep me busy and I'll be making $$$$ again. Doug promises that I'll get three events a month from now on. Lets hope so as I won't be able to survive another downtime like this again.
So now I'm in Crystal River at Crystal Isles RV Resort. It has been raining all day and it suits my mood. Again, the surroundings are lovely. Lots of pines and palms and big trees with Spanish moss hanging from them. Again, the sunsets are spectacular. And again, I watch them alone.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Taking it easy
It's been a quiet couple of weeks. After my stint as a 'greeter' at Courtesy Ford, I spent a week in Dunedin at my first RVing Women rally. They are a really friendly bunch of women and I felt very welcome. The campground where we stayed was immaculate (Dunedin RV Resort) and it was good to have some shade for a change. During our rally, we participated in a murder mystery. The premise was that we were attending a high school reunion and one of our classmates, Helen, had been murdered. The plot was introduced Friday night and the mystery solved at our Saturday night get-together. It was great fun as the 'suspects' dressed up and really bought into their characters. We were given a list of questions to ask the suspects and based on their answers, we were supposed to deduce who the culprit was. I didn't do so well so I guess it's a good thing I didn't go into a career of private investigating.
Friday night I joined in on a poker game and from what I understand I was the big winner. It's hard to tell as I just emptied out my piggy bank so I have no idea how much I started with. But one of the women told me that she'd lost about $10 and most of the others broke even more or less. I did win $6 from the last hand which was a showdown so that was a fun evening. Looking forward to doing that again (if they let me play!). At least my piggy bank still weighs what it did before.
The group traveled to Tarpon Springs for lunch Saturday afternoon. It was the first time I had eaten in an authentic Greek restaurant. Tarpon Springs should be called Greek town as all the businesses in the area are owned by Greeks. I had flaming cheese and some kind of meatballs. They bring what looks like a cheese pancake out on a sizzling plate, like what they use for fajitas, and then they pour a couple ounces of probably brandy and light it up. The flames go up a couple feet in the air and as they do everyone yells "OPA!" The waitress sprinkles something on it (lemon juice?) and then the flames go out and you have fried cheese. This is spread on bread and it tastes great. So that was pretty cool.
When the rally was over, I drove 20 miles up the road to Port Richey to stay in Suncoast RV Resort for a couple weeks. This is also a nice park and I have a good, shady spot. I also have cable TV here (which I didn't have at Dunedin) and the rates are not too bad with Passport America. It is much cheaper to stay here than to stay at Dunedin, that's for sure. I have an appointment on the 17th with an RV place down the road to get my awning fixed. The claws at the end of one of the rafters broke off and, although it works ok, it's not very sturdy and the rafter can slip out of the arm very easily. So that will be warranty work.
My friend, Larrie Sheldon, came down to visit for a few days last week. It was amazing that he had scheduled an appointment with a spine specialist at the very time I was in this part of the state. He flew in to Tampa on Tuesday and spent all day Wednesday getting tests done on his back. We had a great visit and it was nice to have some company. I played chauffeur and carted him to his appointments. He had an old friend in Orlando, Sonya, and we made arrangements to have dinner with her and her boyfriend, Bill. Originally we had decided to have dinner at this seafood place in Tarpon Springs but it got to be late and they were wanting to close the kitchen. Sonya and Bill were still enroute so we decided to try this place down in Clearwater. We managed to meet there at the same time but when we went in, they had just closed the kitchen 15 minutes before. So we drove back toward Tampa to go to the Crab Shack on Route 60. When we got there, it was closed too. There was a Bennigan's right next door so we finally were able to get some food there. What a fiasco that was. But Sonya was really cool and I have her phone number for the next time I'm in the Orlando area. Thursday was Larrie's last day and we went back to the seafood place in Tarpon Springs to have lunch after he was done with that day's appointment. The shrimp I had was ok but the breading was a tad too spicy for me. Then we made a pit stop on the way to the airport for some Sonic Blasts and I dropped him off for his flight home.
On the way back home I made a 40-mile run up to Zephyrhills to get my mail. Aussy was up there at a sale and Doug was there washing cars. He'd brought a bag full of mail to me so now I had all my bills I needed to pay. Most of them I can get online but there are one or two that I still need the invoices. When I got back, the boys were glad to see me after being gone all day but, man, the house sure was quiet. You get used to having somebody around and when they're not there anymore, it's kind of hard. Every once in a while this huge wave of lonliness washes over me and it takes me a while to shake it off. I just try to stay busy.
I got some bad news from my mom in that the doctors think she may have chronic lymphoma leukemia (CLL). They will know for sure after some blood tests are run. I feel so bad for my mom. She is trying to take care of Daddy while they are constantly cutting plugs out of her skin for skin cancer and now this. I went online to see if there is any work in the area where I could make enough money to meet my expenses but after a couple hours of looking, I didn't see anything. I need to make about $17 an hour and nothing came close to that (that I had the skills for). I told Tammie that I have lost so much already, I absolutely refuse to lose what I have left.
I'm in a pretty long down time for D2W at the moment. I'm thinking that this had better be the last one and I'm guessing that it probably will be since Doug let one of the workampers go. That means that their events will be picked up by me, Aussy, and George & Phyllis. I have three events in a row starting the last week in September so after that I expect that work will be more plentiful. If not, then I have been seriously looking at maybe going with Schnieder International. If my old school friend, Debbie, can drive a truck, then so can I.
Friday night I joined in on a poker game and from what I understand I was the big winner. It's hard to tell as I just emptied out my piggy bank so I have no idea how much I started with. But one of the women told me that she'd lost about $10 and most of the others broke even more or less. I did win $6 from the last hand which was a showdown so that was a fun evening. Looking forward to doing that again (if they let me play!). At least my piggy bank still weighs what it did before.
The group traveled to Tarpon Springs for lunch Saturday afternoon. It was the first time I had eaten in an authentic Greek restaurant. Tarpon Springs should be called Greek town as all the businesses in the area are owned by Greeks. I had flaming cheese and some kind of meatballs. They bring what looks like a cheese pancake out on a sizzling plate, like what they use for fajitas, and then they pour a couple ounces of probably brandy and light it up. The flames go up a couple feet in the air and as they do everyone yells "OPA!" The waitress sprinkles something on it (lemon juice?) and then the flames go out and you have fried cheese. This is spread on bread and it tastes great. So that was pretty cool.
When the rally was over, I drove 20 miles up the road to Port Richey to stay in Suncoast RV Resort for a couple weeks. This is also a nice park and I have a good, shady spot. I also have cable TV here (which I didn't have at Dunedin) and the rates are not too bad with Passport America. It is much cheaper to stay here than to stay at Dunedin, that's for sure. I have an appointment on the 17th with an RV place down the road to get my awning fixed. The claws at the end of one of the rafters broke off and, although it works ok, it's not very sturdy and the rafter can slip out of the arm very easily. So that will be warranty work.
My friend, Larrie Sheldon, came down to visit for a few days last week. It was amazing that he had scheduled an appointment with a spine specialist at the very time I was in this part of the state. He flew in to Tampa on Tuesday and spent all day Wednesday getting tests done on his back. We had a great visit and it was nice to have some company. I played chauffeur and carted him to his appointments. He had an old friend in Orlando, Sonya, and we made arrangements to have dinner with her and her boyfriend, Bill. Originally we had decided to have dinner at this seafood place in Tarpon Springs but it got to be late and they were wanting to close the kitchen. Sonya and Bill were still enroute so we decided to try this place down in Clearwater. We managed to meet there at the same time but when we went in, they had just closed the kitchen 15 minutes before. So we drove back toward Tampa to go to the Crab Shack on Route 60. When we got there, it was closed too. There was a Bennigan's right next door so we finally were able to get some food there. What a fiasco that was. But Sonya was really cool and I have her phone number for the next time I'm in the Orlando area. Thursday was Larrie's last day and we went back to the seafood place in Tarpon Springs to have lunch after he was done with that day's appointment. The shrimp I had was ok but the breading was a tad too spicy for me. Then we made a pit stop on the way to the airport for some Sonic Blasts and I dropped him off for his flight home.
On the way back home I made a 40-mile run up to Zephyrhills to get my mail. Aussy was up there at a sale and Doug was there washing cars. He'd brought a bag full of mail to me so now I had all my bills I needed to pay. Most of them I can get online but there are one or two that I still need the invoices. When I got back, the boys were glad to see me after being gone all day but, man, the house sure was quiet. You get used to having somebody around and when they're not there anymore, it's kind of hard. Every once in a while this huge wave of lonliness washes over me and it takes me a while to shake it off. I just try to stay busy.
I got some bad news from my mom in that the doctors think she may have chronic lymphoma leukemia (CLL). They will know for sure after some blood tests are run. I feel so bad for my mom. She is trying to take care of Daddy while they are constantly cutting plugs out of her skin for skin cancer and now this. I went online to see if there is any work in the area where I could make enough money to meet my expenses but after a couple hours of looking, I didn't see anything. I need to make about $17 an hour and nothing came close to that (that I had the skills for). I told Tammie that I have lost so much already, I absolutely refuse to lose what I have left.
I'm in a pretty long down time for D2W at the moment. I'm thinking that this had better be the last one and I'm guessing that it probably will be since Doug let one of the workampers go. That means that their events will be picked up by me, Aussy, and George & Phyllis. I have three events in a row starting the last week in September so after that I expect that work will be more plentiful. If not, then I have been seriously looking at maybe going with Schnieder International. If my old school friend, Debbie, can drive a truck, then so can I.
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