Quarantine!

We are counting down to Monday when we drive to the Tampa airport to pick up a rental car. We will come back home and pack it with all the gear we are taking north. Then later Monday or more likely Tuesday, we will leave Polk City and head to Indiana. It is time to break out of quarantine and go back to Indiana and pick up a trailer load of stuff and bring it back here.

We bought this place in December and made a trip to Texas to pick up some stuff there we wanted to have here. We will eventually get the Texas palace cleaned out of stuff we want and then we will put it up for sale. But until then we will keep it and probably spend a few weeks there every winter. . . or not. . . whatever strikes our fancy.

This first load we are bringing back includes MinnieMee, the little motorhome, and the enclosed cargo trailer. The trailer is currently stuffed full and in a storage unit in Nappanee, Indiana. It is there with the rest of the household stuff that is all boxed and waiting on a ride to Florida. Also in there is the Miata, my sweet little ride. We first have to get the Miata running and get some new tires on it. The ones on it are original and nine years old. Then we will return the rental car to the South Bend airport.

Then we head to the storage warehouse where MinnieMee is stored. We will get her running and take her to the Elkhart Campground near there. We will camp in her there, but we will first have to empty it into the storage locker in Nappanee. We put all our electronics in MinnieMee so they could be in climate controlled storage, but we need the stuff out so we can live in it. We also have to empty the cargo trailer because we are going to get my organ which is in a different climate controlled storage in Elkhart. We are going to go pick it up and then we will load the trailer with anything else we can fit in around the organ.

We will visit mom while we are there, observing social distancing, but it will be good to see her and Nita. We plan to spend some time sorting through the household stuff in storage and visit with some friends in the camp. We have to get new tires on the Miata, so may do that at that time.

Eventually we will start the trek back to Florida with MinnieMee and the trailer in tow. We plan on going to Mississippi to the family reunion on the way back, if they are going to have it. Haven't heard from anyone if they plan on going. We have lost three more members of the family since last year. Only one still came regularly, but he was there last year and we knew he had some health challenges then. So it will be bittersweet if we are able to connect with the rest of the family.

We have been trying to get things ready for the trip. Getting packed and cleaned out the refrigerator/freezers in the motorhome. We have been raiding it regularly, but we didn't want to leave it running while we were gone, so we got it cleaned out today. It is thawing overnight, and I will get it cleaned up tomorrow.

We have found some people who want our furniture. We bought the house furnished, but didn't want the furniture. We have changed all the beds with new mattresses and foundations, but kept that furniture as it was suitable. They are bringing a truck this weekend some time and taking the rest of what they want. We have new furniture being delivered mid-June when we return back to Florida. That will be the living room furniture. Then the only thing left is the dining room furniture and some bookcases, etc. We intend to get that all from IKEA, but they are currently closed and aren't saying when they will reopen. We hope they will be open by the time we get back and then we can finish up the furniture in the house.

We have been staying home mostly during this quarantine time. Trying to follow instructions to keep us safe. We did our doctor visits by telehealth and will follow up in the fall. We have our masks and our antibacterial wipes to take with us to try and keep things clean, so I'm hoping all will go smoothly and we will stay safe on our trip.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Busy times!

We have been busy working on fixing up our house. We finally got our new furniture we ordered for the veranda room, which is like a sun room/Florida room, etc. It's on one end of the house away from the bedrooms and seems to be where we are spending a lot of time relaxing, etc. It has windows all the way around.

We went furniture shopping because there wasn't much furniture in there except for a couple chairs and they were not the best. We settled on a reclining loveseat and a reclining chair. They have an overstuffed looked to them and are extremely comfortable for both of us. We have no trouble sitting back and dozing off, that's for sure. So after working hard all day, it's nice to kick back and relax.

I had to make a quick trip to Melbourne this week to help with Brynlee. Megan had to take her Mom to a new hospital to take (kidney) transplant education and Brandon was facing multiple trips to Miami, so I went on Wednesday so I could take her and pick her up from school. As it turned out, Brandon didn't have to go, but I was still a big help to them. And I played "elf" and wrapped some of their Christmas presents for them. So that kept me busy. I had planned to stay over for Friday, but they didn't need me, so I came home Thursday night.

Friday morning I was up early and the new "starliner" was launched over at the Cape. Brandon had said I might be able to see the launches from our house. I went out once it launched on TV and sure enough! I was able to see it for quite a while right from our driveway! We did have clouds, so once it got to the clouds, I couldn't see much more, but it was pretty cool and I know I will be able to see other launches.

Yesterday we went shopping for food and anything else I needed for our holiday comfort. We are going to Brandon's again and he is doing prime rib, so we aren't going to be doing the traditional holiday dishes. We are taking a veggie tray and some salads, so it will be a great dinner.

We are slowly getting things finished up around the house that we wanted to do. We were to have the outside powerwashed last week, but the guy messed up his schedule, so we got moved back to the 30th. No problems and we hadn't moved the motorhome out, so we are good. We also were missing the bathroom fan lights and trim rings. We looked all over for them and couldn't find them, but did find what they looked like. So I ordered them online. They came yesterday and Terry put them up. They were perfect, fit well and look great. Now we don't have those ugly fans mechanisms exposed. We have had a leaking sprinkler head and Terry has wracked his brain trying to figure out how to get that stopped. He was going to have an irrigation guy stop by to look at it. But yesterday he opened up under the house and found the shut offs! So he got that taken care of. He will still have the leaking valve replaced, but it's not an urgent need anymore.

We have been emptying out the motorhome of stuff we don't need so that we have room to pack stuff we have in the Texas place that we want to keep.

The weather has been pleasant her and we are enjoying our new home.

Till next time. . .

Dale