Unfinished business

 We saw a flock of birds in the morning that were circling around above us. The were soaring and it seemed odd they would be doing that. A closer look revealed they were pelicans. They soared in circles for several minutes before moving on.

We had paperwork we needed to finish on the Flex. Our mail forwarding service helps us get our vehicles registered and I had a phone appointment with "Karen" to get that accomplished. She called right on time and we filled out the paperwork. Next up was finding a bank or a credit union where I could take money from my account in order to purchase a cashier's check. We have been surrounded by Wells Fargo banks coming across Florida and Alabama, but now that we're in Mississippi, they cannot be found. And we needed a credit union service center if there were no banks and there wasn't one of those either. So once I got everything ready to mail, we drove back east to Gulfport to a Wells Fargo, got our cashier's check, then went next door to the post office and mailed off the paperwork to South Dakota. Our stickers for the plate transfer should be to us within the week.

Getting back to Gulfport, we took the road along the beach, not sure what it's called. . .perhaps the Beach Highway. I took a lot of pictures. The water was so calm and the sky really bright blue. The sun was shining. . . oh my. . . I could live here, except during hurricanes! We stopped at Bay St. Louis and took pictures of the harbor and the Angel Tree, where some residents and one dog, a Scottish Terrier, took refuge from Hurricane Katrina and survived! It wasn't on the waterfront then. We crossed the bridge at Pass Christian and before long we were in Gulfport. It was a beautiful drive.

Till next time. . .

Dale

And on we roll. . .

I hate the process of buying anything big, and that includes cars. This particular deal was stressful just because the toad we  had was failing fast and we needed to make a decision and make it fast. And not only that, but it had to be something that could be towed behind the motorhome, the right weight, able to carry what we had, etc. We really wanted to buy another small truck, but none fit the bill. So we started looking at cars. The one main criteria was that we had to be able to put the spare motorhome tire in the back. It is 39 inches and very few cars have that kind of space.

But we found it in a Ford Flex. The one we found was even the right color. There are a few things it is lacking, but we actually can add those items on, so we are good to go. We didn't want brand new because it's going to be towed behind the motorhome and get dirt and rocks thrown at it, so we were lucky finding a 2014.

Today was the day. The mechanic had installed a base plate and did the wiring, so when we left the campground, we drove to his shop so we could hook it up. Everything worked! Lights worked, auxiliary brake, etc. So we started up and headed out. We drove about 80 miles to Waveland, Mississippi, and are camped at Buccaneer State Park. We have been here before and there aren't too many people here, but it is the middle of the week.

So we are happy to report that all is working well and the toad performed well. We ran over to the casino for dinner. Buffet for $27.95, but tonight was HALF OFF! Whoo hoo! So we ate and then played some slots. Nothing was happening for me. Terry was up a bit when we left, but we had some fun.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Prayers for family. . .

This summer we learned (about the same time that Daddy died) that our daughter-in-law's father had been diagnosed with lung cancer. The stage and the fact that it had already spread did not bode well for Percy. While we are here in Mobile we received word that he had passed away.

While we were there in Melbourne, we were able to see him. He was obviously thinner, but we were surprised he took such a bad turn and died just a week later. We were all at the pumpkin patch to help Brynlee pick out her pumpkin.

Please keep Megan and her brother and mother in your prayers as they transition life without their patriarch.

R.I.P. Percy.

We are surely hoping for a better year next year. Starting in July, we lost my Dad, then my niece's dog, then our Butterscotch, then my sister's father-in-law and now my daughter-in-law's father. We've paid our dues this year, I think. Here's hoping for a better 2017.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Mobil in Mobile!

We are at a very nice campground by the name of "All About Relaxing." An odd name for a campground, but it fits. It was built by a couple who were fulltimers and set down roots here and built a campground. It is very nice, very upscale with a price to match. But they are exceptionally nice people and they have a great little campground. It's very clean and with a lot of different amenities. . . swings, hammocks, shelters nicely appointed, etc. Everything is very clean and they do keep some workcampers busy. They are in the process of retrofitting their large building for an activity center which will be nice when it's done.

We came here on the recommendation of Mike who is going to install the base plate and the wiring on the Ford Flex. We were there Friday and he ordered all the parts and said they would be in on Monday. Then on Tuesday morning, he will do it all. He said it would be done by noon.  We are staying here till the job is done, then planning on heading out Wednesday. We hope to visit with Terry's cousin Gary and wife Jo in Zachary. They are still recovering from that horrific wreck they were in on September 10. We won't be staying with them this time, but will visit for an afternoon. From there we head to Houston for Terry's cardiology appointment and to pick up Mom at the airport.

We are still in the Mobile area, but are on the east side, so when we leave here Wednesday, we shouldn't have a lot of traffic. Well, I mean it should be better since we are west of town proper.

We lounged around yesterday and today and spent some time with Duchess since we've felt like we abandoned her those hectic days when we were negotiating for that car. She's a sweetie and continues to do well now that she is all alone.

Till next time. . .

Dale

THOUSANDS SLAUGHTERED IN MASS POISONING!

Terry says that's what the newspaper in the "ant world" will read once they discover what we did to them!

When we arrived at the Meaher State Park in Spanish Fort, Alabama, we knew there was an ant problem. Hey, we've dealt with fire ants before and had poison with us. But these weren't fire ants. They were not "mound builders." So there is no place to lay down the poison. Well, we did mark the wheels on the motorhome, then pull forward so Terry could lay down grit around the tire area, then I backed into position so the tires were protected.

BUT, those little devils crawled up the electric post and the water pipe and crawled in on the electric cord. Sheesh. And let me tell you, COMET does not work. That's what everyone was using, but we found active ant trails making a path right through the stuff. We had thousands of them in the bathrooms, so I put Terro traps out for them. My goodness, they loved the stuff, but there were just too many that I couldn't stand it. I found an ant trail on the carpet in the bedroom, so I decided action was needed. We went out and looked all around. We found two trails and they were headed up the mudflap in back at the only point where it touches the ground. Then they crawled up the flap and along the top of it to the two chains attaching it to the motorhome, then into the coach. Grrrrrr. They are resourceful, I'll give them that. So we decided since we hadn't eaten yet, we would go out and grab a bit to eat and buy some spray. When we got back, we sprayed all those areas. A decrease in inside activity was already noticed from our earlier efforts and we continued sweeping them up till 11 p.m. when we went to bed. In the morning, they were all but gone.

Today we will be moving across town to another camp closer to where we are having the base plate installed on the Flex.

Till next time. . .

Dale

A new TOAD!

In "RV'er" talk, a "toad" is a vehicle you tow behind your motorhome so that once you reach your destination, you have transportation. For 10 years, we have towed our faithful 2003 Sport Trac behind the motorhome and she has not given us a bit of trouble. But when we had the final tuneup before leaving northern Indiana, our mechanic said it was time to look for another vehicle "in earnest." It seems the little truck has three timing chains and they were rattling. He said it was impossible to tell how long it would last, but if the chains broke, it's expensive to fix. . . like REAL expensive. The only way to replace them is to pull the engine. That is about a $2-3000 job. A new engine is about $5-6000. So ever since Bruce told Terry that he has been on pins and needles hoping that the truck would last. All the time, that noise the chains make is getting louder and louder and lasting longer and longer.

So once we left Brandon's, we have been scouting around the larger cities where we stop and checking out vehicles. We really wanted another small truck, but there just is not one on the market today that fits our needs. So we started looking at cars. The problem is that we carry a spare tire for the motorhome in the truck, so it has to fit in the backend of the car. What we found that fits the bill is a Ford Flex. We test drove one in Mobile and ending up buying it. We feel like they made us a fair trade on our Sport Trac and we brought it back to camp and starting putting everything in it that had been in the truck. Amazingly, it all fits. We will be making a space for the tire in the basement of the motorhome, but that won't happen till next summer.

It's a very nice car, an SUV actually, with 3rd row seating. So we can carry the grandkids now, which makes me happy. We have found a few things that we want to add to it. It isn't brand new, it's a 2014, but we didn't want new to tow behind the motorhome. It looks like new inside/out, so we are very happy with it.

Our salesman had a friend from high school who has an RV shop with his parents and he is going to put the baseplate on the Flex and wire it for lights as well. He cannot do it till Tuesday, so we are moving across town to be closer to his shop.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Fun with the Kids!

We spent the week at Brandon and Megan's and babysitting some, so the grownups could go out. We always enjoy doing this for our kids.

One day I went with Brynlee and Megan and Megan's Mom, Diane, to Orlando to the Discovery Science Center. It is a children's science museum and is probably the largest one I have been in. It was really nice and there were many activities for the kids to get involved in. There was an archeology dig that Brynlee liked, but she didn't like the dinosaur skeletons that were on display. Those scared her so she had to hide her eyes when we moved!

We also went to the pumpkin patch on our last weekend there. It was fun to see the kids picking out pumpkins. Brynlee couldn't make up her mind, but she ended up with a small white one I think.

It was a treat because her Grandpa Percy came. He has been taking chemo for cancer as hasn't felt like getting out, but he wanted to come. He told me it was an annual tradition and he couldn't miss it.  I think he enjoyed getting out and we enjoyed seeing him.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Boo at the Zoo!

On Sunday, October 23, I went with the kids and Brynlee to the Brevard County Zoo's annual "Boo at the Zoo!" This is actually the second time I had gone and it was a lot of fun. A lot of the animals are in their huts for the night, but we did get to see a few.

The big event is to get families into the zoo and the kids all come dressed up in costumes. They have a path to follow and they have people passing out candy. They walk through the entire zoo and visit with other trick or treaters and gather candy in their baskets. It was a lot of fun for Brynlee and her friends. Because there is consider walking, they do get tired and we eventually started for home.

I'm glad that the kids include me in these kinds of things when we come because I enjoy seeing Brynlee participate in these activities and having fun.

Till next time. . .

Dale

A/C is so overrated!

The last night or two we were in Charlottesville, we noticed our heat pump in the front was not working. It was putting out cold air. We had some nights that it got down to 48 degrees, so we need warmth, not cool. It would warm up during the day and when we would turn on the A/C, the unit would hummmm loudly but not cool. Terry suspected a locked up compressor. But there wasn't anything we could do about it in C-ville, so when we hit the road we started to brainstorm about fixing it. We still had heat, because we have gas furnaces, one in the front and one in the back. Keeping warm was not a problem, except we were running low on propane. But the A/C would be a problem once we got further south and the temps would start to rise.

I contacted a friend, Marsha, who for years ran the Tiffin Campground in Red Bay with her husband. I knew they wintered now in central Florida and were already there. She recommended Camping Connection in Clermont, next door to Kissimee, Florida. We called on Tuesday and got an appointment on Friday. Terry told them what he suspected with the compressor. He had already changed out the hard start capacitor with a spare he had and that didn't work.

We took three days to get to Florida from Charlottesville driving through North and South Carolina. We went down our alternate route of 321 which was inland from the coast. We had hoped to go down I-95 this time as we haven't done the coast for quite some time, but Hurricane Matthew wreaked havoc on the coast and parts of the interstate were closed. Bummer. So we changed our route. We saw considerable damage even 50 miles further west, most of which consisted of downed trees. A lot of trees had been across the road, but the route was clear when we passed through. Terry said a lot of the traffic was being diverted to the route we chose. There were a lot of trucks. But with the exception of one stretch, it was quite smooth.

Our third night found us in Clermont, Florida, and we parked at Lake Magic Campground. It is a Thousand Trails camp and also Passport America, so we camped for $23 a night. Camping Connection was a short 1/4 mile to the east of us on the same side of the road, so that was handy.

It was a hot night and we closed up the back bedroom and cranked up the air. At least we were comfortable for sleeping and it was cool enough when we woke up that we were comfortable in the living room as well. It just started heating up later.

We closed up and moved over to the repair place for our 2 p.m. appointment and they were ready for us. They had actually ordered in a new A/C unit based on what Terry thought. They still did their diagnostics, but they came to the same conclusion. So they swapped out the bad upper unit and 2 1/2 hours later we were done! Oh Happy Day! AND our extended warranty covered their part, so we only paid our deductible. It is a quieter unit than before and it is cooling nicely!

Friday evening we had a visitor! Doesn't happen often, but our friend Susan came by to visit. She lives in Leesburg, Florida, and just lost her husband a year or so ago. We had planned to visit her several times, but it just didn't happen, so it was great that she took time to come see us. We visited for several hours and enjoyed it very much. She sold her big Class A Dutch Star and has bought a smaller B+ for her and her three Boston Terriers. She is enjoying traveling in it.

So yesterday we left Clermont and drove to Melbourne. Traffic was an absolute mess. It was bumper to bumper on I-4 which we were taking for only a short distance to get on the toll road that would take us to I-95. I was so thankful that Camping Connection had seen to ordering in a replacement A/C unit so that we didn't have to make a return trip to get it taken care of.

We arrived in Melbourne around 12:30 p.m. and got all set up, had lunch, walked the dog and then went to Brandon's. We visit for a couple hours before Brynlee and Megan left to go to a birthday party. We went with Brandon out to eat and returned to his house in time for Megan and Brynlee to get home. It was a great evening and we were tired by the time we got home.




Till next time. . .

Dale

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is my dear Daddy's birthday. Love you so much, Dad. He would have been 92 years old today, but he is celebrating his birthday in Heaven. I know he is there and he is celebrating with my sister, Connie, who left us almost 40 years ago.

You left a big hold in our hearts as we now celebrate these special days without you, but we know you are whole again and not in any pain.

We love you Daddy!

Sadly missed and always in our thoughts and prayers.

Fall in Virginia

Fall in Virginia means apples!

We usually take a trip with the grandkids up Carter's Mountain to the apple orchard. There is a lookout and beautiful scenery all around.

We met Jocelyn, Ronan and Aenea up there and took some pictures and ate some wonderful warm cinnamon donuts. Ronan had never had one before because he has had allergies to the ingredients, but he is outgrowing those little by little and today he got to have a warm donut for the first time! AND. .. he LOVED it! Whoo hoo! I knew he would.

We walked through the Apple Barn and checked out all the pumpkins and the dogs people brought with them. The kids like going up to the "tower" and looked out over the apple orchards up and down the mountain. It was a very clear sunny day and you could see Charlottesville and UVA near where the kids live.

We all got something to drink and sat out on the deck and people watched for a bit. The kids enjoyed their cider. We took some pictures before heading back down the mountain. It was a great time and I'm glad we were able to share the time together again.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Rolling, rolling, rolling. . .

Before we left Indiana, we had a lovely dinner with friends Dave and Mark and "Baxter," their black Scottie. Duchess gets along well with Baxter and they shared some squirrel hunting. It was great seeing them and we compared travel stories from the summer.

We left on Thursday, September 29, and headed east toward Charlottesville. We drove to Huntington, West Virginia, where friends Smokey and Pam are camphosting at the KOA. They had just arrived and didn't have to work yet, so we were able to visit with them. We went to dinner at Cracker Barrel and spent some time visiting with them. They took us to the Blenko glass factory in nearby Milton, West Virginia, where hand blown glass is fashioned into beautiful glassware. We didn't find anything we needed, but they did have beautiful pieces. I just can't justify putting any glassware in my coach!

We enjoyed our visit with Smokey and Pam as it has been several years since we had seen them. It is always good to reconnect with old friends. They started fulltiming when we did and we are going on our twelfth year! They are getting ready to change RV's. They are going to downsize from a truck and fifth wheel to a motorhome. Wishing them well in their "new" adventure!

When we left Huntington, we drove to Buena Vista, Virginia, and camped in the Glen Maury city park. They have a campground with water and electric and were hosting a Blue Grass event on the weekend. Some people came in a little early and one evening they were playing some music and singing.  We did a little driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway, but we didn't stop but just a time or two for pictures. The sun was in the west and that made for poor pictures as we were looking into the sun.

We moved on a few days later and moved into the Charlottesville, Virginia, KOA on Tuesday, October 4. We spent a week visiting with Jocelyn, Tom, Ronan and Aenea. What a wonderful week it has been seeing my sweet, sweet grandchildren and their parents. We spent some time at parks, their house and the motorhome. We had met them one day at Sherando Lake where the big kids were kayaking. Ronan enjoyed that a lot and it's fun to watch them paddling away on the small lake.

Today we went to Carter's Mountain Apple Barn. We didn't think that one through too well because there were lots of kids and their parents. Apparently a lot of schools were closed today due to Columbus Day observance and the place was packed. Not my kind of fun. I like my space. Ronan ate some cinnamon donuts, which were the first ones he had tried. He enjoyed them. We walked around a little and then left because it was just way too crowded.

When we left there, we took the kids to get pizza at Lelo's, which used to be Christian's. Since it's egg free, both kids can eat it. We ate with them and then we came back to the motorhome to let Duchess out and feed her supper. Afterwards we went back into their house and visited with them. The picture of Pepper McPoodlePants looks like her legs are broken! But rest assured, she must be double-jointed or something because that's just the way she lays!

Tomorrow morning we head south to Florida. Hurricane Matthew has just gone through so we are having to alter our route a bit due to some closed roads. But we plan to take at least three days to get to Melbourne and then we will stay a week to visit with Brandon, Megan and Brynlee. Can't wait to see them.

Till next time. . .

Dale

On the move, well sort of.

Terry here.

Left Warsaw Indiana after visiting Dale's family for two nights, we departed the fairgrounds this morning at 9:15 and arrived at Summit Lake State Park close to New Castle Indiana at 12 noon.  Summit Lake has been upgraded to supply 50amp power also, so we're back since we can run both of our AC/heatpumps without worrying about low voltage.  We are located near the small town we lived in for over 30 years and we return each spring and fall for various medical appointments, hair, veterinarian, broker and the like. Tomorrow it all kicks off with a early morning visit to the local vampires at the New Castle Clinic, after 3 rather full days we'll be done. We'll finish up our visit with  dinner and a play date for Duchess in Muncie at Dave and Mark's with Baxter a fellow Scottie. Thursday morning we will have 5 days to cover the 600+ miles to Charlottesville VA to visit Jocelyn, Tom, Ronan and Aenea for a week. So begins our trek to Mission Texas for the winter.

Winding down. . .

The bad summer that would never end is about to close for us. We will be leaving northern Indiana on Friday and traveling south to visit with Mom for a day or two before we head to central Indiana and doctor appointments. Hopefully there won't be any more problems and we will be able to get the storage condo all closed up this week.

We were over yesterday to drop off Duchess while we went out to dinner with friends. When we got there the garage door was open. We are quite certain we did not leave it that way, but when Uncle Dan stopped by, he said it had been up for two days. While we were talking, Terry got to checking things and found a loose wire on the keypad. He fixed that and then changed the code to be sure no one had the combination for it. He's rather handy to have around.

I don't think that I mentioned the result of the neurosurgeon appointment. We had a good meeting and I was able to report that this epidural I had barely worked. I do feel better, but it doesn't cover all my activities. . . still had some breakthrough pain doing things like vacuuming. . . I know, I know. . .just don't do it. He believes that surgery will help me. I have spondylolisthesis, which refers to the forward displacement of a vertebral bone in relation to the natural curve of the spine, most commonly occurring after a fracture, and most often the fifth lumbar vertebra. I have two of these in my back. One I knew about when it was diagnosed at age 20 and another higher up in my back. It will require fusion of 4 vertebrae. They will also use "cages" and rods to stabilize it. It will take a year to heal and the fusions to adhere. We're thinking I will do this when I return to Indy in the spring for our doctor appointments. I think it would be a good move for me. I should be able to straighten up and to walk without a limp.

Sunday morning we got word that Terry's first cousins, Gary and Marty and their wives, Jo and Betty, we in a serious auto accident near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They were in Gary's truck, a Ford F-250 heavy duty crew cab diesel pickup with a long bed. They were stopped in traffic on I-12, ironically for an accident, when they were rear-ended by a tow truck. The tow truck was a flat bed, that they winch vehicles up on it. It was a much larger commercial truck and was doing 60 mph, never hitting his brakes. He ran over and pushed Gary's truck off to the side and another 450 yards (yes, I said that correctly) before it all came to a stop. The air bags did not deploy for some reason. The truck bed was smashed all the way to the back seat of the truck. Three of them had to be cut out of the truck. It is unbelievable that anyone survived when you see the pictures of the wreck. They have a variety of injuries, broken wrist, broken nose, multiple broken ribs, cuts, contusions and abrasions. They are all home from the hospital now and Marty and Betty have flown back to Michigan. In fact, we went to see them Friday night. Their daughter, who is a nurse, was there caring for them. They are recovering.

Meanwhile in Louisiana, Gary's sister, Shirley, drove down from Missisippi to care for them. It is wonderful they have family to help them in this time of need. They are doing okay now, but Gary has revisited the hospital twice, once for blood clots  and once for arm pain. They still have many doctor appointments and tests to go yet and some things that haven't been resolved, but we just have to wait till they heal and recover from this devastating wreck. There may be some surgeries yet to come depending on the findings of the tests. Please keep them in your prayers, please.

We have been trying to find a different vehicle to two behind our motorhome. We really like our little Sport Trac, but would like to retire it. We still would like a little truck to tow but there are only two lightweight trucks and we didn't like the one we test drove. So we will keep looking and hope we find something. The little truck is still running fine, but she is 13 years old.

We have enjoyed dinner dates with friends and relatives recently. We try to touch base with everyone when we are here in the summer. This year was a little more difficult with so many things happening.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Busy, busy, busy

When we got back from Amish country, we were able to park at Elkhart Campground once again. They have had so many rallies coming in and they are getting bigger and bigger, so it is hard to get a spot for a few weeks. If you can rent a spot for a month that is better and we are settled in nice and cozy. We have nice neighbors that are here for a while as well and we have made a lot of new acquaintances.

Duchess is making the transition to being an "only" dog. It's obvious she misses Butterscotch, but she is not exhibiting a lot of anxiety that Neal did when Bailey died. I think it really helped that she was there and with her friend when she died. She seems to understand that she isn't coming back. That has helped immensely.

We have spent some time down in Warsaw with Mom and helping rid her of some food stuffs she wants out of her trailer for the winter. Happy to oblige Mom! She now has bought her plane ticket and will be flying to Houston in November while we are there for Terry's cardiology appointment. We will then take her down to the valley with us. It will be a good trip.

Our little truck got sick and puked all over its engine a couple weeks ago. Since we were concerned that it happened in the manner it did, we didn't want to drive it, so we had her towed over to Bruce's. He was covered up and didn't get to it right away, but the news is mostly good. The puke was green and while most people screamed "antifreeze," it wasn't actually that. It was gelled which was a mystery to us, but not to Bruce. It was the dye he had earlier put into the A/C system to trace a leak. A pressure relief valve had popped off and that was what allowed the dye to escape. We actually could have driven it anywhere, but wouldn't have had A/C, which would not have been good the past few weeks. So we got her back the other day and all is well.

Speaking of the weather, we have had some hot, stormy weather, but mostly tons of rain. We are now enjoying some relief from the heat and yesterday and the next few days promise to be cooler and sunny days. Cooler, but still nice and warm during the day.

Unfortunately, there has been another death in the family. My brother-in-law Jim's father passed away last week. He was 96 and while no one was surprised, it is still hard to adjust to life without a parent. There will be a lot of decisions and changes to make in the next few months for the family. His calling and funeral will be Monday, the 12th. So starting in July when Daddy died, my niece's dog died, then our dog died, Jim's dad died and his little dog died as well. That's a lot for any family, so we hope we are done for awhile. We have stayed close to northern Indiana to try and be with and around family. It's been a bad few months.

We are ready to head south. . .

Till next time. . .

Dale

Amish

We camped for two days this week in Quabache State Park near Bluffton, Indiana, in Amish country. If I need to "regroup" for any reason, we head for Amish country. My family roots are intertwined with the Amish and I find the country to be serene, peaceful and therapeutic. If we were out west, I would head for the desert, which I find spiritual and inspirational, but in the midwest, it is Amish country.

Wednesday night at 6 p.m. storms rolled through the area and tornadoes were sighted. We were evacuated to the comfort stations which are considerably more safe than our RV's. When we visited our favorite bakery on Thursday morning, we discovered a tornado had passed between the Graber's home and shop. The end of the shop was peppered with leaves and debris and a door was torn off. The wooden bench out in front of the store was shattered and left in the field, but the rest of their property was largely unscathed. 

However, right next door a large Amish home and barn was ravaged by the tornado. Siding and roofs were blown away and one shed was blown to pieces. Another newer large shed was left completely intact and no lives (animal or human) were lost and no one was injured. I told Marie that we had seen that house when we drove in, but the lack of debris around led us to believe it was just a work in progress. She said, "No, it happened at 6 p.m. and was totally cleaned up last night. Then the repair work started this morning." The Amish do not buy insurance, but you have to think. Insurance is just money we put into a pool to be paid out when there is a loss. After adjusters, reports, etc., are all filed, materials ordered, contractors hired, etc, etc, etc. The Amish have their own insurance. It's called helping one another. They all come together to help a friend in need. They bring their tools, their equipment, their supplies, their labor and food is prepared to feed the workers. One field was set aside for all the buggies and horses with someone attending them. Terry was amazed that at just 10 a.m. trailers full of lumber and supplies were already there and 50-60 men were swarming all over the barn and the house. It was a wonderful sight.

Never is one family ever left to fend for themselves. They all move in and help. Everyone had a job to do and they were working hard to get things back in order for this family. This is their religion and this is who they are.

Till next time. . . 

Dale

Amish country

Visited some Amish shops around Berne, Indiana, today. Interesting, but didn't buy much. We did happen upon these camels out in the middle of the country though!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Goodbye Miss. Butter-Scotch of Killdeer 9/23/2005-08/22/2016

 

Our sweet sweet Butterscotch has lost her battle with TCC, aka transitional cell carcinoma, a deadly form of bladder cancer.  She died just shy of her 11th birthday. We loved her till the end and will forever love and miss her.

She started a year and a half ago with recurrent bladder infections and if I had known more about TCC then, I would have taken her straight to Purdue's chief researcher and world reknowned authority on the disease. When we left the Rio Grande Valley this spring, that is where we took her and Dr. Knapp officially confirmed what our little gal was facing. They offered us chemo, etc., and we declined, opting for a more palliative medicine, but one which has shown promise against this deadly disease. We were told May 12 we could expect about 160 days, or about 5 months. But just a short three months later, she is gone.

We were camped for the weekend in Ohio with friends Tab and Deanna. On Saturday, she quit eating and couldn't pee the first half of the day. That is the big sign. . . if they can't pee, they will be in extreme pain and their kidneys fail and the fluid fills their systems. I had so worried we had waited too long, but then later in the day, she was able to pass some fluid besides just blood. She still wouldn't eat or drink and I couldn't give her the medicines that would help. Sunday was a repeat of Saturday, so I contacted our vet tech and she said to bring her in on Monday when our regular vet was working. We were 85 miles from our vet of 30 years and I am glad for that. He and his office are the most kind, compassionate people and know us and our pets very well.

We drove over Monday
in the morning and allowed Butterscotch one last attempt to pee outside. When we took her in she seemed scared, something she never is at the vets. I held her for some time and then put her up on the table. I continued to hold her and we put Duchess up on the table with her. Nathan, the newest vet in the practice came in and talked with us at length. Such a kind man. He went through school when I taught at New Castle, but I didn't have him. He gave Butterscotch a sedation shot which really put her at ease. . . not asleep, but no more pain. She was laying on her side and Duchess put her head very close to Butterscotch's muzzle and kept it there. I truly think she was trying to understand what was happening. She had to know she wasn't well. They had not walked together for months, because Butterscotch could not walk any distance. Dr. Wisecup came in a delivered the shot in her hind leg so as not to disturb Duchess' vigil over her friend. Then she was gone.

We've had to do this with all but one of our dogs and it is never easy. Even when we know it is the right thing to do. Dr. Wisecup says that ending our pet's suffering is the final act of love we can do for them and I believe that. It would not have been long before her systems would have shut down and I didn't want to wait for that to happen. That becomes an emergency and then we would not have been able to make the two hour trip to our long-time vet. He will be cremating her and scattering her ashes around his apple trees. All my dogs are there so they are all together.

Butterscotch and Duchess lived most of their lives in West Virginia on a farm. They chased every rodent known to man and killed as many as they could. I know there was a skunk they got and a large ground hog. There were five Scotties running free and doing the job they were bred for. We got the girls just three years ago. They retired and spent their time traveling with us in our motorhome. They regularly visit Virginia, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. In the summer they spend time in Indiana and loved their special visits with my Mom and Dad.

By having Duchess there with Butterscotch at the end we are hoping to avoid the kinds of anxiety and other problems we had with Neal after Bailey died. So far Duchess seems to be doing okay. She and Butterscotch used to sleep a lot of the time, but now Duchess sits in the middle of the room and watches us, not sleeping all that much. But she doesn't seem to be anxious or nervous or anything. I know she misses her sister, they have been together since Duchess was born. We are taking good care of her and hoping she is able to get past losing her best friend.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Not much direction. . .

It's been hard trying to get interested in doing anything in the way of travel since Daddy died. We just kind of waiver between where to go and what to do. We have spent several weekends down in Warsaw seeing Mom and trying to keep all our spirits up. She is fortunate to have a network of kids and grandkids and great-grandkids who visit and spend quality time with her. She is so loved and she tells me she certainly feels that.

She plans to go to Texas this winter. Her thoughts are that she will clean out the trailer there and sort through stuff to keep. The plan is to sell the place there in Texas. Then in the spring she will go back to her place in Claypool. Her traveling back and forth to Texas will come to an end, but she has a lovely place in Nita's woods, so she will have family near her at all times. She is thinking of flying to Houston and we will pick her up there on our way through and head on down to the valley.

I had to go to Indianapolis last week and get a shot in my back. The surgeon I went to didn't want to start with surgery; he thought I should try the shot first. I had an epidural 12 years ago and it really helped but I consider that a band-aid. I have a condition in my back known as spondylolisthesis. It's where the vertebrae shift enough that the bones in the back are no longer aligned. I knew about the spot at the base, which is the result of a Pars defect, but xrays show I actually have another spot as well. It would require fusing about 5 vertebrae.  So I went to get a shot to help ease my pain. I don't think I will have to have another one because it's been a week and so far I can't even tell I had one. This shot was done a lot differently than my first one and the first one helped a great deal. So not sure the next step. I have to wait two months between appointments with this doctor, so even though I started in May, the summer is shot and I can't have anything done now before we leave the state.

When we left Indy, we drove over to Saint Marys, Ohio, and camped at the Grand Lake State Park. We have a friend who workcamps here and he was anxious to see us. We met Dan and his wife Dee when we had our first big campout of fulltimers back in 2005. They were in the same camp, had just gone full time and joined out little group. They have been part of us every since and we have made lifelong friends. Unfortunately, Dan's wife Dee passed away two years ago and this was the first we had seen him since. He seems to be doing well and has quite the support group of workcampers and family in the area. Tab and Deanna were coming in the next day to camp with us for the weekend, so we had a great time seeing them. They visited with Dan as well, being part of the same fulltiming group.

We had quite a storm come through the camp on Saturday night. They were talking 70 mph winds and I believe it. I have never seen it like that, but it was straight line winds and our motorhome was sitting with the back pointing toward the wind direction, so offered the least resistance. We didn't rock and roll too much. So many stupid campers though. Our loop got hit the worse and almost every travel trailer had left their awning out. First hint of a storm, and our stuff all comes in. But most of the awnings were ripped up and the arms broken and thrown up and over the trailers. I'm not sure why they think those flimsy things are gonna withstand some heavy winds. Idiots. The park rangers and watercraft personnel were out immediately writing up accidents reports for insurance claims. They were certainly busy in our loop and it was nice that they were there to do that for the campers. There was only one large limb that came down and that fell right onto an empty campsite. Other than that, there were a lot of smaller limbs, but I don't think there was any damage from limbs coming down.

Tab and Deanna left on Sunday and we stayed over till Tuesday and then headed to the Berne, Indiana, Amish country. We enjoy shopping at the Amish businesses over there.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Shipshewana!

After visiting Mom for a few days, we left on Sunday morning and drove to Shipshewana and camped in the flea market campground. It is a no frills campground but has full hookups with good power. We park in the row next to the flea market and the market is just about 25 feet away. So it is an easy walk to the venue. There was a guy flying an ultralight over the area every day. He may have been taking pictures.

We normally come in on Sunday because the flea market doesn't start till Tuesday. So we move in and relax on Sunday afternoon. On Monday, we normally walk around the town and visit the shops we like and spend as much time looking as we like. We also made a trip out of town a few miles to visit Leon at National RV Refrigeration and set up an appointment to have an ARC installed in our Norcold Refrigerator. It is an Absorption Refrigerator Controller and works by monitoring the temperature of the fluid in the boiler. When it reaches a certain degree, it shuts off the boiler, restarting it when it cools down. This may happen in the course of driving it over hilly terrain or sitting in an unlevel condition. At any rate, it is the best device for maintaining the integrity of the system and one which will prevent fires. We made our appointment for Thursday morning.

The week was really hot, reaching the 90's every day, so we really monitored our time outdoors. Monday was okay as we were shopping in town and the shops are all air-conditioned. The motorhome stayed cool and we took breaks and returned to the rig for lunch and naps. LOL

Tuesday and Wednesday were flea market days and it was awfully hot. We got started early and the day did take awhile to heat up. We went back home at noon and had lunch. When we got back out it had turned really hot, so we only lasted an hour and came back in, leaving about three rows to do on Wednesday. That was a good thing, because Wednesday started out very hot and when we quit at 11:30; it was close to unbearable for us anyway. Attendance was really down as you can see from the pictures. Made it easy to get through the aisles, but it was miserable. We just hung out, walked the dogs, and visited with some of the neighbors. One of the people we met had a new fifth wheel. They pulled it with a Kenworth tractor and put a Smart Car up behind the cab in front of the trailer. I stopped and talked with him and commented that a friend of ours had had a similar setup when they were fulltiming, but had since left that life and sold their rig. Turns out, the tractor and Smart car were our friends and this guy had bought them from them. Wow. What a small world. Very nice couple.

Thursday we got around and left about 9:30 and headed up to Leon's to get the ARC installed. Took less than 30 minutes, but then he explained to us how it worked and what to watch for. Very nice young man who really knows gas absorption refrigerators. He replaced the coils in ours four years ago when our boiler ruptured. At four years now, it has lasted longer than any of the Norcold fixes we ever had done. So glad we went with his system. You gotta' remember that the Amish have been working with gas absorption refrigeration and freezing longer than Norcold or Dometic. Our fridge continues to work as it should.

After having that done, we headed over to the house and are here today relaxing from the heat of the past week. Normally we would be up north in cooler climes at this point, but with the family situation, we are trying to stay closer to Mom. We are leaving here tomorrow and heading back down to Warsaw to spend a few more days with her, then we head to Indianapolis for the appointment with my neurosurgeon to see what's going on with my back. This appointment was rescheduled by the doctor last month, so hopefully we can get it done this time.

Till next time. . .

Dale