V-Day, Anniversary, New Washer, Gators, Birds and THE DESTROYER

 

It has been since before the Hurricanes that I had seen the Gator at the pond at the Library.  Well...it is still there, and a little bigger than the last time I saw it.

Saw this guy who had fish bits to feed them...reminded me of the fishermen in Alaska who tossed fish bits out of their boats and the Eagles would catch them mid-flight and soar off.  Here (above) about a dozen pelicans gather around this lone fisherman.

 Of course, our little girl is always looking out to see what is going on.

One day I see this crane on a barge with two non-survivors of the hurricane.  

    

A few days later THE DESTROYER, ummm, barge had moved over to the other side of the boat ramp, and chewed up and removed boat rubbish to this garbage/rubbish for disposal. On its way over it must have swung by and got that boat that was run aground that I showed in my last blog and got it back into the water, or loaded onto a boat trailer...either way, it is gone.

Although I only got a picture of one Juvenile Eagle, there are two, and boy do they grow fast.  Google AI (artificial intelligence) says, "A young eagle, or eaglet, typically takes around 10-12 weeks after hatching before it can fly, a process called fledging, where a bird leaves the nest and takes its first flight; this involves a period of practicing on branches near the nest before fully taking to the air."  Well, I have seen other photos and clips of these two Fledging Eagles sitting on the nest flapping their wings, but nothing yet of actual flight...but that is coming real soon.

  

Of course, we always have a healthy population of Osprey around.  This nest has at least two, if not three, birds in it, as I can here them chirping when mom and dad are out looking for food.  I thought in the one picture had captured them bringing a fish to the nest, but it was nest repair material, or perhaps bugs in the Spanish Moss it has in its claws.

This is our Fisher & Paykel washer, with the dryer sitting to the left.  On Friday (10 days ago or so) Marcia was doing a load of rags/towels and the washer would not empty the water out.  Called a repair company that had fixed it before, and they said they would be out first thing Monday morning...which they did.  Bad news, the pump is no longer available as a OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and although cheap (his words) pumps are available on Amazon and other places, his company will not allow the repairmen put any parts in that are not OEM.  The washer has been good to us, it is around 20 years old, so we decided to replace it.  I had asked the repair man, a real nice man who even Indy liked, what type of washer he would get and without hesitation he said, "Speed Queen...they just don't breakdown."

 DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH A WASHER IS NOW DAYS????  Well, the low end, on sale, are about $500-$600.  The Speed Queen's are running $1,000-$1,600, depending on model.  GULP.  Bit the bullet, went to Famous Tate's, and got the middle level Speed Queen for just over $1,300 including taxes, delivery, and taking old one away, and a 5 year guarantee.  Saturday (4 days ago, 8 days after the breakdown) it was delivered.  Glad I didn't have my ICE t-shirt on or it never would have made it through the front door.  Because we did not need inlet hoses, they would not hook up washer with the old hose, but they did allow me, reluctantly, to attach the hose before he pushed it in.  I offered him $10 to screw on the two hose lines...no go...go figure...forget that tip!  Yes, that is how rude he/they were, AND, the dryer exhaust hose came loose and blew warm damp air into the condo as Marcia washed clothes yesterday.  Good news, our neighbor Mary had her two boys coming out, and today John was nice enough (and young and thin enough) to get it hooked up for us.  Now, as long as that dryer does not break, we are in good shape for years.  If the dryer needs to be replaced, we are in deep crap because finding a top loading dryer (easier for Marcia to use) will be a hard thing to do.

Yesterday we celebrated our 14th Anniversary!  Around 150,000 miles in a RV.  About 1,400 loads of laundry.  Over 5,000 dinners, same for breakfast, 50% less for lunches which we don't eat each day.  Oh, the list goes on and on...but we made it through the big unlucky "13" years, and headed for number 15!  For V-Day (valentines) we had a leg of lamb, and still have some left overs in the freezer of that...so we decided to have something we don't have very often...PIZZA!  My guess is that of those 5,000 dinners, maybe 100 of them included Pizza!

 

Flowers Surprise ‘Again’

At home in Holiday / Tarpon Springs area

Every year, this being the 8th Valentines Day that we have known each other, I have surprised Marcia with flowers…although one year we were out-of-town so the surprise happened a few days later on our anniversary.  I had the flowers delivered on the 13th, 1-800-Flowers again.  It was perfect…Marcia took her afternoon nap around 3 pm, the flowers came around 4 pm, when she came out she saw the ‘box’ and nearly fainted again.  Earlier she said, “WOW, it's nearly Valentines Day!”  I said, “Oh, that one snuck up on both of us this time….”, and just went about my business.  It worked…she had no clue that I knew it was Valentines day...I had ordered her flowers 10 days earlier.  😀

The next day the flowers always look better…as she says, “Hey, I just got up, you have no business taking my picture!”  Hey, it’s Valentines Day, pictures are in order!

Can you see it in Skruffy's eyes?    “Hey, mom got flowers, don’t I get anything?????”

Of course, the day was soured by the senseless shooting down in southern Florida.  Our hearts go out to those who lost love ones, prayers for those who are still fighting for their life. 

Went by the motorhome today, took out the elbow running from the Vacuum Generator towards the Black Tank.  (If you missed my work on rebuilding the Vacuum Generator Pump, see these blog postings….A 'Dirty' Job but Someone Has to Do It;  Up to my Neck in …; and Dirty Deed is Done, AND IT WAS … ) Took it over to the ACE Hardware, and to my disappointment, they did not have the right gasket.  They did have an “O-Ring”, which was the right size, but not really what I needed.  I bought it anyway, 85 cents, just in case.  Went over to another ACE Hardware, and they had the same collection as the first ACE Hardware…but I decided to try a slip joint washer…it was only 59 cents, and it was 1/4 inch too small.  I got to thinking about it, I decided to go back home, get on the Internet, and try and find what I really needed.  Did some research, found what to search for, and found that Amazon has what I need, it is called a “Union Washer”, and it looks just like the one I took out a few weeks ago when I did the original work.  It measures 1-1/8 inches on the inner diameter, and 1-5/8 inches on the outer diameter…perfect!  Should be in on Monday or Tuesday, and then we will be in business. 

Marcia had her first visit with her new Neurologist, and we came away from that appointment feeling like we had really scored.  We both really like this Neurologist, and he suggested that we have another set of MRI tests done, along with some X-Rays, and some tests in his office “just to get a snap-shot” of how she is doing.  Results of the MRI and X-Rays are in, and he said that her MS has not progressed and all he saw in her neck was a bit of arthritis.  The office test are next week, and then she just has her mammogram in early March followed by another meeting with the Neurologist for a short “results of your test” meeting, and we are done for the year...then we start packing up the motorhome, and we plan to leave on Wednesday, March21st after church.

Valentines Day, Countdown to Alaska Begins...again

Last year 18 Roses and a box of chocolate, this year 24 Roses…and both times Marcia was surprised as heck.  Like last year, I had the flowers delivered a few days early.  This time it was a Thursday delivery.  I was headed out the door to see about getting our HHR interior and exterior its annual super cleaning on Friday and a quick stop at the store.  At the door was a delivery of some of her vitamins, and then I see the Fedex truck drive by.  Sometimes they deliver things to our neighbor by mistake, but he breaks, turns around, and drives back.  The lady three doors down had a flower delivery too, and he did not realize our place was so close.  So I walk in with the flowers, and the only thing that makes her face look happier is holding that new Great Grand-baby…

Love 1800flowers…their flowers are fresh, last a long time, and delivered quick.  Wednesday night they left Miami, and about 18 hours later they are delivered to our door.

Well, there is the recipient right there…wondering why I am taking so many pictures of the flowers, and just realizing that she is in the picture too. 

  

Someone else gets her feelings hurt as she looks over at the flowers, and then refuses to look at me.  A nice rib bone from Longhorn Restaurant would make her happy…but we go out last night to Mama Maria's, so that didn’t help (until she got some leftovers this morning for breakfast.)

I hate the look…where is Bubba when you need him??

The Countdown Begins..
	We leave on our next trip in 32 days … heading out after church on Wednesday, March 16th.
It will be nice to be back out on the road, seeing friends and family, and seeing some wonderful parts of God’s Green Earth, put here for our use and enjoyment.

And for the third year…yes, we are putting Alaska at the top of our agenda.  Plan to cross into Canada in late May after a month in California, and some time in Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, etc.   And this time I feel we are going to make it there and back…after all, what could go wrong????

The Things One Does to Get Marcia in a Picture

There you go, no other words needed…..

For you travelers who have lost track of “the days”, and it does happen, flowers and candy is not because I did something wrong, it is because Saturday is Valentines Day.  After hearing the 1800-FLOWERS commercials last week, especially the ones that advertised getting TWO dozen for the price of ONE if you order by Tuesday (which was February 3rd), so I decided to skip the local florist and give them a try.  Did it all through the Internet, did not talk to a sole.  Picked delivery for Thursday so that on Saturday the buds will be fully blooming, and she will be able to enjoy them ALL DAY LONG instead of from when they were delivered on.  

The day after my order was placed I received the UPS tracking number, and then last night it showed the order was processed and they had departed Hialeah, Florida, which is north of Miami, and the flower industry is very large down in that area.  Before I went to bed I saw they had made there way to Orlando, and in the morning I saw they were out for delivery.  And yes, they did not come until 6:25 pm, as I was making Stir Fry for dinner.  However, I was impressed in the container they were shipped in, very secure…I had a vase included, and they threw in the chocolates due to the early delivery.  (All I knew was that there would be something special…very glad it was chocolate! )

Tomorrow we are going to “beat the crowds” and go to Mama Maria’s for a very early dinner, and then on Valentines Day I am going to broil up some New York steaks, she is going to cook some shrimp and veggies, and we will enjoy Valentines Day to ourselves.  

Well…. almost by ourselves.

In the background of the very first picture above you can see the top of this chair, and it reminded me that I never did talk about or show Marcia’s Christmas present, the  Zyllion ZMA-14-BK Shiatsu Massage Cushion with Heat.  She said that it is wonderful to use, but it is something that one would not want to constantly sit on, so it is on a second chair next to where she sits and since both chairs are on wheels, it is easy to change in and out of when she uses it.  We got it through Amazon, and here are the advertised features:

• 4 Adjustable Moving Shiatsu Massage Nodes for the Neck Area with soothing Heating Function that can be turned on and off separately.
• 4 Shiatsu Massages Nodes for the Back/Lumber Area performs Deep-Kneading & Rolling Massages with adjustable positions, focus areas, height, & width.
• 3 levels of vibration massage on the seat cushion.
• Impressive Customizability gives you total control to create unique massage experiences that fits your needs. Attach easily to any chair with its adjustable back strap.
• 15 Minute Auto Shut-Off.

And I close with this special card for my first Valentine…..

(CLICK HERE MOM, IT WILL PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE)