Moving right along. . .

Hard to believe we were at Brandon's for a week and we are gone again. I hated to leave that new little baby. She is such a sweetie and Grandma sure loves holding her. Even if she's fussy and squirming, she is still a delight.

We generally spent our evenings at their house catching up with them and the baby and Jax, the dog. We tried to bring our two new dogs into the mix, but they would have none of that. Believe it or not, our little wheaten Scottie, Butterscotch, may have previously been known as a "sweetie wheatie," but she nailed Jax twice on the nose. We tried a couple techniques that I thought would allow the dogs to coexist compatibly, but she wanted to tear into Jax. We can't let that happen, because Jax is part pit and he is way too strong. He is a very sweet, mellow dog, but very excitable and he would definitely be the victor. As it was, even after being nipped, he just wanted to play. Duchess, I believe, would be in harmony with the situation were she by herself, but she was terrified of the excitement. So there were no fights and we immediately removed the girls back to the comfort of our motorhome. I certainly did not want to stress either of them and they were happy where they were. We had hoped we could have them all together so we could spend a longer window of time with the kids, but it's okay. I am going to research the dog behavior and hope to work on socializing the girls with other dogs. In the Texas park, we have lots of dogs that get walked daily, so we are hoping they will learn to like the company of other dogs. If it doesn't work, though, not a problem. We love them dearly just like they are. We are enjoying the many walks we take them on every day. They love people and insist on being petted by people they meet!

We went to eat last Sunday with the kids and Megan's parents. We usually try to see them for dinner at least once when we are there. We always enjoy getting together and having good food!

The kids asked us to babysit on Monday night since it was their second anniversary. Wow. Hard to believe two years have passed since we all went to Florida for the wedding. What a happy time that was because of both the wedding and because we had found out not long before that Jocelyn and Tom were adding a second child to the mix. Little did we all know what route little Aenea would take into the world. . . being born at 28 weeks, etc. But she is now one and a half and absolutely perfect.

Megan and I went down to the outlet stores in Vero Beach one afternoon and did some shopping. She got some bargains for the baby and I got some ideas for Christmas. Of course we took Brynlee so I got to help with her as well.

Yesterday we packed up and headed out for the Naples area. We planned to meet up with a former fulltimer with whom we had exchanged correspondence over the internet. He and his wife had traveled with multiple complicated health issues and he had a lot of information for people like us who were just starting out our travels and dealing with health issues on the road. He lost his wife a couple years ago and no longer fulltimes; instead he has settled into a condo in Naples at Port of the Islands. What a lovely place. We drove down to Collier-Seminole State Park and yesterday afternoon, he and his daughter came by and picked us up. He gave us the tour of the Naples area and took us passed multi-million dollar estates which I'm sure rival anything Hollywood. Eventually we worked our way down to Marco Island where we had dinner at Porky's. It was a lovely restaurant and good times with good people. Afterwards, we went back to his condo and were treated to pumpkin pie for dessert. We are going back over today to see what Port of the Islands looks like during the day. It was too dark to see the development last night and I have only seen it from Google Maps, but it looks spectacular.

The state park here is pretty crowded with trees. At first glance at our site, I said I was sure we couldn't get in there. Nothing else was available so I took another look. Terry is always the one who parks with me directing. I told him I could get him in there. . . wasn't sure if our slides could be deployed, but we'd give it a shot. Well, we are GOOD, what can I say. We slid into that site like a knife through warm butter and had room for the slides as well. Pretty good tree cover, so we were totally blown away by the satellite coming in on all 3 satellites. Whoo hoo. Life is good.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Another tequila sunrise. . .

Well. . . minus the tequila. . . but just as impressive. . .

I never get tired of watching the sunrise over the ocean. Just gorgeous. We checked the time for today's event and it was 7:32 a.m., quite do-able for us. So at 7 a.m. we hopped in the car and drove to the park at the end of our road. We are actually across the Indian river at this camp and not far from the ocean. We waited until it got a bit lighter out and then went out and strolled along the beach. We walked and walked. Close to the water, the sand was packed hard, so it was a fairly easy walk.

I took several pictures. It was quite overcast, but the sun managed to peek through the clouds long enough to give us a decent look.

Last evening Brandon and Jax came over for supper. We picked up some BBQ from Memaw's across the road and enjoyed a nice supper with them. Jax thought he needed some BBQ, but he didn't get any. Hah. Tonight we are going out to eat with Brandon and Megan and her parents, Diane and Percy. We are going to Ruby Tuesdays.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Meet my new Granddog, Jax!

Our son Brandon has been waiting until he was no longer traveling with his job to get a dog. He wanted to make certain he would be able to spend time with one and not have to leave it for long periods of time.

He began scouring the petfinder ads as we have always done rescue. There are so many animals out there that need homes and he was certain he would be able to find a suitable pet. He had already picked out a name, Jax. He found a dog, a lab mix, who was being fostered by a family in Melbourne, where he lives. It just so happens the dog's name was Jackson. He called the family who had him and arranged to go meet him. He went two different times and really fell in love with Jackson, now called Jax.

He applied to the Humane Society and he brought Jax home two days before Christmas. Jax and Brandon have a huge house to themselves and when it gets warmer, they will be swimming in the pool. Jax was on his good behavior when Brandon had friends over the other day. He did fall into the pool, but Brian coaxed him to the shallow end where he could easily climb the steps out. He and Brian get along well which is good, because Brian sometimes comes in to let Jax out when Brandon has to be gone for an extended time.

Brandon has taken Jax to a friend's house where he can run and romp with their two dogs and he enjoys the time there. But he seems ready to jump in the car and head back home. He sleeps in Brandon's room on his own bed.

We are glad Brandon has found such a perfect match for him and Jax. Hopefully Jax will provide many years of companionship and comic relief!

Yesterday Terry wanted to go to the flea market at Donna, so we invited Mom and Dad to go along as well. We treated them to lunch at Gonzales Burgers in Donna. They are huge, probably half pound burgers, which are super good. The restaurant is a famous one to the Winter Texans and I read where the locals don't go much during the winter but pick up when the Winter Texans go home in the spring. It is a family restaurant and just exceptional food. We went to the flea market from there and picked up a couple items, but not what Terry was looking for. On the way home, we stopped at Home Depot so Terry could get the rake he wanted.

Last evening we were standing out on our new pad working on our solar lights when a car drove up and someone yelled something about looking for some hicks from Indiana. I couldn't have been more surprised! It was Tab and Deanna from Ohio along with mutual friends Ken and Kathy Adams. We knew they were in San Antonio and in fact, Terry had called and talked with Tab earlier in the day. They were on their way down here to the RGV when Terry called. Course, they didn't tell us that, they surprised us by showing up at our place! Hah. We grabbed chairs and sat out on the new pad when we started seeing some lightning. Then it got worse and there was a lot of thunder. We decided to move over under Mom and Dad's awning and the sky really opened up and the rain started pounding down on us. It was so noisy and the wind started blowing and we all started getting wet, so we had to move into the house. Mom and Dad went back to the motorhome to sit with Bailey and Neal, which was a good thing because they get a little worried during storms. We all sat and talked for awhile and enjoyed the get-together while the storm continued outside. Eventually the storm died out and our friends went on their way. We plan to get together again before they leave the Valley, so that will be fun. We are looking forward to it.

Till next time. . .

Dale