RARE DAY TODAY!

Ok, I know I said I would try to not take so long to post, so much for that effort! This is a rare day, I am off from work and even more rare I was wondering what to do next!! I signed on the dusty ole computer to read some blogs and the realization hit me, I have a blog too! Thanks Penny for the reminder .

I actually called in this morning, I am not feeling "up to speed" (no pun intended Speedy). I have plenty of sick leave so why not? Needless to say I have been doing hardly anything besides working lately and it is beginning to take its toll on my energy levels. Gee I am still a young man I am not supposed to "run out of gas" so quickly!!

In my last post I told of our rescueing "Boid", a wayward Cockatiel that found the sanctuary of our home. Boid has had a hard time adjusting to her new environment and at most times seems a little unfriendly. I do hold her some, she bites me but with little force, seeming to just tell me she doesn't like being held! Cheryl doesn't even try to hold her, especially since Boid caused her much pain in the rescueing of Boid!! Boid does keep us entertained sometimes with her whistling and mimicking, however after discussing what we will do with her during our travels I think we may be looking for a good home for Boid :(

We will be heading to Hickory Creek COE campground on the 16th of September and while we are there (only about 3 days) we will be attending the RV Show in Dallas. We will also be able to visit with Joe and Sherri, Rollie and Gina, possibly Mike and Leslie and hopefully more (the more the better!). We will be in site 44 if anyone wants to visit, just knock first so you won't catch me in my boxers!

We are getting very close to meeting our financial goals and we are ready to start some serious looking for the RV setup for our fulltime lifestyle. I believe we could buy within this next year, depending on if we decide to sell the house or not. Sometimes it seems like a "no-brainer" then traditional thinking intervenes and we doubt our decisions once again!

Well I guess I had better get ready to go meet Cheryl for lunch. She is working today, bless her heart. I will post again! Until then God Bless you all....

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

Well, as for the title of this post, that is my story and I am sticking to it! Cheryl and I have been working, painting, visiting with family, rescuing Cockatiels, more working and more painting. We have not been out in the rv in so long, I think I may have forgotten everything I ever knew about rving.. .. We did stay in the rv for two nights, sitting in our driveway, while we painted our bedroom. Cheryl said it was just not the same for some reason?

The last time I posted (ages ago) we had family visiting from Kentucky. We had a great time visiting with them and they left after a long weekend with us. They were headed to San Francisco with a lot of interesting stops in between. It would be great if they would blog about their travels, but they are too busy having fun! Anyway after spending some time with them on their motorhome, Cheryl made the comment. “I could live in this!”. Wow, I thought we were set on a Mobile Suites or an Excel (thanks Rollie), but now the better half is thinking about motorhomes! I hope it becomes clear to us soon, I think we may be buying within the next year!
Well I don’t have a lot of time, things are getting crazy here at work. Global Strike Command is setting up headquarters at Barksdale and a lot of the contracts needed for required services in preparation are on my desk for action. Wow, life is interesting to put it nicely!

From 2WILDFLOWERS

From 2WILDFLOWERS

Before I go I really need to tell you about our Cockatiel we rescued. We spotted her (or him?) sitting on the side of pool, unsuccessfully trying to get a drink of water. I took her out a bowl of water and got close, but she would not let me touch her. We spent the better part of 2 hours trying to lure her to us. I had dug up a travel carrier we had for our puppy and was going to try to lure her into it. Cheryl was standing on the pool deck and suddenly the bird flew and landed on her shoulder! Cheryl without giving it much thought, reached very quickly to her shoulder and “grabbed” the Cockatiel. The scared to death Cockatiel, without giving it much thought, latched on to one of Cheryl’s fingers with a death grip!! She did manage to get the bird in the carrier before bleeding to death! It was not funny to either Cheryl or the Cockatiel, at that time, however I had a real good laugh after we determined both would live!

From Boid

I had intended to save the bird, keep it in the carrier until the owner could be found. It has been a couple of weeks and after looking at the local vet offices, watching the newspapers and looking for posters, still no owner. I broke down and bought a cage, feeders, toys, etc. and started calling the cockatiel “Boid” (borrowed from Tioga George). Boid is over his initial trauma of “meeting” Cheryl, , wellll for the most part, she still will not sit on my finger, but at least she doesn’t take it off.. ..



Anyway, looks like our guest, Boid, may be with us for a while. It is not bad, we keep discovering that she is entertaining. We were sitting watching TV one night, when out of the blue, Boid starts whistling the theme from the “Andy Griffith Show”. ! We have not had the show on lately, so she had to learn that from her former owners! She wolf whistles a lot, dances on the perch a lot, but no one can touch her as of yet. I do get her to use my finger as quick step on her way to the other side of her cage. She only threatens to bite me once in a while, but if I don’t back off, she doesn’t bite hard.. ..

Well enough about Boid, although she is one of the few exciting things to happen in our lives lately. I will try to not be so long in posting, but remember, I am not free of those chains called work …. Yet!
….. Till next time God Bless.

RELATIVELY SPEAKING

From CAR MUSEUM

Alright a little excitement (for us anyway), Aunt Margaret and Uncle Donald are visiting from Corbin, Kentucky! We have not seen them since September. They are traveling across country in thier Winnebago Adventurer and we were on thier list of "must see" people, places and things :) .. Donald and Margaret Flowers are two extraordinary people who have lived fascinating and extradordinary lives. Both are former military, Uncle Donald is retired USAF and Aunt Margaret did not stay in to retire. Margaret is a registered nurse and retired from the state of Kentucky. They have raised thier children, three of them, and now they are traveling and enjoying life (sounds like they should be part of the RV-DREAMS family. :)



Saturday we decided to visit Jefferson, Texas and shop for antiques. It was a good time all round, but I thought the highlight of the trip was a visit to a car museum. Here are a few pictures I took (my favorite is the 57 chevy).







We also stopped at a little cafe that specialized in "cornbread sandwiches". Everyone tried some cornbread sandwich and the conclusion was that they are good! The bowl of chicken and dumplings were good also :) .. It took an awful lot of will power to reign in my appetite, but moderation prevailed!

After returning to Shrevport, we visited with them to around 11pm and didn't get to bed until almost midnight. We are getting together a little later for a family cookout with all the kids and grandkids here to visit with them. I guess I better get off the computer, go take a nerve pill :) and get ready for the crowd to arrive! Until next time......... GBY

INDECISION

I spent 24 years in the military and in my mind indecision is a bad thing! Lately though I am having trouble making a decision. Which RV do I want to live in for a few years of my retirement life?

I thought we had decided on the Mobile Suites, but more information has come to light and I am again researching fifth wheels. I am currently trying to find out all that I can about Excel fifth wheels. All of you that own Excels please let me know how you like them, what you like about them and what you aren't that fond of about them. I need all the information and help I can get!

My brother in arms, Rollie Thurston decided on the Excel (he has no problem with indecision) He and his better half, Gina seem to be well satisfies with the choice. Check out there adventures at All Because Two People Fell In Love. Don't you just love the title?

If there are other choices out there that you would like to recommend, please let me know. At this point I am getting closer to that time to buy and still no firm decision.

Enough whining for today, till next time, God Bless You All.........

REFLECTIONS AND DAYDREAMS

I guess everything is back to “normal”, I am back at work, Cheryl is back to work and our little mini vacation is just a memory. :( … It was a great weekend that began because of a phone call to the DRV factory in Indiana. We have been wanting to look at some Mobile Suites fifth wheels to price and scope out the features, but could not find any in our local area. I decided to call the factory to see if I could locate the nearest dealer and spoke with the regional sales manager for this area. He informed me that the nation’s largest Mobile Suites dealer was Gauthier’s RV in Lafayette, Louisiana. I planned this past weekend trip and we after setting up at Poches’ Fish n Camp, we found Gauthier’s RV. Now I was told this was the nation’s largest Mobile Suites dealer, but he only had one Mobile Suites on the lot and it was sold! He informed that particular floor plan did not sit on the lot very long. He was kind enough to allow us to tour that one and we carefully proceeded to take a look. We loved the unit, it has all the features we are looking for and more. It even has a leveling system that they call the “level up system” that is hydraulic and levels the unit side to side. Cheryl and I both are thinking that we have found our fulltiming home, but wait a minute, there is a downside; the unit list for $120,000…….. !! There still may be hope though, the sales manager told us the unit we were looking at went for $85,000. How can that be? Either someone is very good at negotiations or our sales manager is using a little psychology in trying to sale us a unit!
After looking at the unit, inside and out, we sat for a little bit and talked with Rocky, the sales manager. He seemed like a nice guy and genuine. I told him I was a while away from buying and that I have get the proper sized truck first, then draw a few more paychecks, then I can talk serious about buying. He told me that was typical and that a lot of folks do it the same way. He said he could order ours from the factory, with our options and choices, then it would probably take a while to come in anyway. I think that Cheryl and I will be ready to buy sometime after October of 2010. :) ….. In the meantime I have to plan and look for a truck that will easily tow the 14,300lb (dry wt) fifth wheel (and look good doin it!) Any suggestions?


Once we had toured the Mobile Suites, we just settled down to some fishing and relaxing at Poches’. It turned out to be a fantastic weekend and I am hoping to return one weekend real soon to fish and relax. In the meantime we are working, preparing the house to sell and daydreaming about being on the road fulltime! ;)….. Till next time God Bless.

FINALLY, SOME TIME OFF

Well I finally get a break! Cheryl and I have been so busy with work over the past couple of months, we are more than ready for a relaxation weekend. Recently I had called the DRV factory in Indiana to get the names of some local dealers for Mobile Suites. The regional rep told me the nations largest Mobile Suites dealer is in Lafayette, Louisiana. We decided that we are interested enough in looking to take the four hour trip to check it out. So we were looking at places to stay near Lafayette and we found one I recognized from previous blogs I had read by fellow dreamers. This is where we are:

From Poches Fish n Camp

We are at POCHES FISH N CAMP. It seems like a great place to relax, fish and unwind. Speaking of fishing, I am going to grab my gear, sit out back and fish a while. I will post more later. GBY

AIRSHOW AT BARKSDALE AFB

Hi all, I am alive and well! I have been just snowed under with work lately. Last weekend was airshow weekend at Barksdale AFB and I was heavily involved in the preparations! We have an airshow every year to coincide with the "Holiday In Dixie" festival here in Shreveport. The Navy Blue Angels were here again this year and put on a spectacular airshow. I did not get pictures of the show itself, however I did get some pictures up close while they were on the parking apron.






Well that is not the only excitement I have had in my life recently, My grandson, Nicholas was baptized! I am elated that he knows and accepts our savior! :)

From NICK'S BAPTISM

Well till next time, God Bless you .......

SATURDAY CARTOONS

It is another Saturday morning and I love my Saturday mornings. I mean what is there not to love? I get to sleep late, if i can sleep :) .... then I get to sit in the recliner, drink coffee and read RV blogs! :).... This morning I also get to watch cartoons, the grandboys are with us for the weekend, so it is cartoon Saturday. Now I normally don't watch cartoons, but when the grands are around and they are on the tube, I realize they are fun to watch :) A little levity and nonsense can be rejuvenating........

Other than my watching cartoons this morning there is not much else to report, except we are both still working hard. We were off yesterday though, Cheryl had an endoscopy procedure. She got sedated with Demarol and had a pretty restful day after the whole "camera down the throat" thing! :) .... Anyway since I was her escort, I had a restful day too, after the "sit in the waiting room" thing...

Well I have goofed off long enough, time to get up and start some yard work... Till next time, GBY .............

TORNADOS AND TOMATOES

Wheeew, I know this post is long overdue, but man have I ever been busy. . A little violin music please and maybe some cheese with this wine! :) .... I was busy enough as it is, but on April 9th tornados came to Shreveport/Bossier and made my life a good bit more hectic... I knew from watching the weather that morning that we had a possibility of some severe thunderstorms, but in the evening it didn’t look that bad outside, so I dismissed it from my mind... Cheryl and I sat down to watch a movie we had on DVD and know the title wasn’t “Gone With The Wind”! ... Well the movie ended and I switched back to regular local tv and lo and behold the weatherman was on and showing a tornado warning for our area. .. The warning cone looked as if it were in familiar territory and after looking at it more closely, I realized our house was right in the center of the warning cone path!! :( ... We started to head to a bathroom in the center of our house, but I cannot stand the thought of being shutup in the bathroom and not knowing what is going on outside and around me.... I headed for the back door and looked out to see a lot of wind, and nickel sized hail (some nickels and some dimes), but no tornado... After a little while it calmed a bit and there was nothing but hard rain and plenty of it! ..
Thank you father for watching over us and keeping us safe.

After continuing to watch the weather we were warned twice more of tornados and one of those decided to visit Barksdale AFB... It seems the one in our area kind of skipped right over us and touched down again a little further down the road, but the one at Barksdale touched down in a couple of places on the base. ... Although the tornado downed a lot of trees, especially on the golf course, there was not a whole lot of major damage to facilities. ... Unfortunately it was our service contractors that have to take care of the tree removal and debris cleanup, so I have been real busy lately.

I did not have my camera with me when I was out and about, but I did get a couple of pictures taken by a friend three days after the tornado hit the base and cleanup was in progress:

From Tornado Damage

From Tornado Damage

Our house did not sustain any damage, other that a few limbs down in the yard. At least I will have a good supply of camp firewood for a while. :) .. ..

I was able to take time out from tornado recovery to visit with the grand kids and kids for Easter. I needed the break and the kids were great, Thank God for my family.

From 2009-04-11-1826-42

From 2009-04-11-1826-42

The littlest one hunted those eggs real hard and soon after he was out for the count!

From Drop Box

I have also been able to plant a few tomatoes after the Easter break. I planted some in five gallon buckets, along with some peppers. I also planted three plants in “Topsy Turvey “ planters. I don’t know if you have ever seen them on TV or not, but the plant grows out of the bottom of the container. I will let you know how that turns out. ;) ..

From 2009-04-11-1826-42

On top of all that I continued to get the house ready to sell. I painted one of our bedrooms, changed the light switches and receptacles to bright white ones. I still need to replace the out-dated light fixture and hang new closet doors (we removed them long ago). As slow as I am working it will take another year to have the house ready! At least I am working toward my dream :)

Well I need to get busy….. till next time……. God Bless us all.

ANOTHER SATURDAY AND CHORES

Well it is Saturday and once more the weekend is upon us. I have a lot of chores to get done today, but so far I am sitting here reading blogs, drinking coffee and daydreaming! This week was not so tough at work as I am waiting on some of the contracts that I have written to be reviewed before I can continue the process. It has been a long week of things going wrong at the ole sticks and bricks though. One day Cheryl returned home and tried to open the garage door, when it failed to open she tried the button on the opener another couple of times. I pulled in behind her and tried my opener a couple of times also. We both assumed the power was out and I proceeded to search for the hardly ever used front door key. I found the key, unlocked the door, but it would not open. The treshold seal on the bottom of the door was bind the door. Between twisting the door knob and "shouldering" the door to get it open, I broke the throw bolt on the door :( .. I finally got in the blooming house though! It turns out the power was not off, the spring on the garage door had broken! Not only that but all the trying to open the door without the support of the spring had pulled the motor loose from the brackets and tore the arm loose! :( .. Now I know how to install a spring, but between finding the spring, buying it, then installing it (especially the tensioning part) and trying not to fall off another ladder, I decided to call Overhead Door to repair it. A few hours and $145.00 later, my garage door is now working. :) I got the front door closed and deadbolted, I have to replace the lockset on it today.

The morning after those mis-adventures, I went to fill the coffee pot and behold no water! I thought it was a water outage (notice a trend of blaming public utilities?) but soon found the water to be working in the rest of the house. It is something stopping the flow on the kitchen faucet. I will find out here in a few minutes as I go down my chore list! :0

Now I would rather spend my day getting things ready for us to go fulltime. I guess in a way (or at least I feel better thinking so) we are still getting the house ready, we can't sell a house with a broken faucet or front door lock now can we?
GBY