Houston,TX high: seeing my grandson Low: forgetting my iphone charger
I had a great flight from Orlando to Houston today. Seats were comfortable, flight was on time. Just a couple of snafus....Kerry is her mother's daughter. In other words, she is directionally and spatially challenged. She only knows how to drive into the Houston Airport to terminal C. Sparky landed at terminal A. So Sparky had to take a tram to get to terminal C so Sparky Jr. could do the passenger pickup thing.
We connected! Yay! And guess who was in the back seat waiting to meet his grandma! Little Barron! He had not seen me since he was 6 months old. He's not quite sure about this lady who is sitting in the back seat with him making goofy and silly sounds!
But he quickly warmed up to his grandma.
It was late afternoon when Sparky arrived so Kerry and Barron helped her check in at the hotel. Barron and grandma played "Wrestle With the Pillows" for quite awhile Barron rolled around and around with the five pillows on the big bed. He would take a diving jump on one, tackle grandma and laugh as she gently shoved him backwards so he would fall against another pillow. Then he'd get up and come at her for more! After a bit, grandma read him a story, "Goodnight Moon."
(You said a couple of snafus,Sparky?) Yeah,Sparky lost her cellphone charger between home and Houston. So now, until Sparky gets another charger, maybe tomorrow, she has to try and do the blog with one fat finger on her Kindle. Arrrrrggghhh! Not an easy thing to do!
It was easier doing it on the iphone actually!
Tomorrow it's a play day at the mall! Grandma is pooped! It's early to bed tonight!
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Test Post from an IPhone
If this post is short and sweet, and riddled with grammar errors, it's because Sparky did the entire post photos and all with one thumb on the keyboard of her little iPhone. (I always said my woman is multitalented! Says a proud E.) Sparky wanted to see if she could leave her computer at home and still blog from Houston.
Unique RV Digest It. Our sensors had quit working about two months ago and some RVing friends, Kay and Larry Leamon recommended it. We've tried other methods but nothing worked. After ONE time, RV Digest-It cleared the black sensor!
We shall see how this works and how it looks.
Hey! Need a new product that really works to clean your black and gray tanks AND your sensors? Here it is!
The gray is not cleared yet but the product labeling says it may take 2-3 times of application before they are clean enough to register.
It contains NO formaldehyde and is made in Colorado. It has a very pleasant mild scent. This is a great product!
We've got the black working. Hopefully the gray will be working shortly. This is just the second time we've used it so we think it will.
Sparky checked her blog post and it looks like this one worked just fine from doing it on the phone. The only problem appears that you can't schedule it when and what time, it's just NOW time, which is ok. So for the next few days, Sparky will be totally blogging on her little iPhone until she gets back to Sarasota. OR, she might be able to borrow her daughter's computer, which doesn't have a camera slot. Hmmmmm, think maybe the iphone will be it for now....That's pretty amazing, isn't it? To do an entire blog on a little phone, photos and all?! Cool! (Sparky is easily impressed, explains E.) :-)
See you in Houston!
See you in Houston!
Friday, May 17, 2013
Biking to the Celery Fields
Sarasota, FL High: 86 Low: 65
Sparky hopped on her bike today and rode over to the Celery Fields just around the corner from Sun 'n' Fun. It's about five miles there and back...The celery fields were cultivated for---- wait for it----celery! :-) ---back in the 1920's all the way through the 1990's......It's now a collection of wetlands, marshes, ponds and shallow pools and is a water management district for the city of Sarasota. The Audubon Society has recognized it's a valuable resource and habitat for over 216 species of birds. So this is a great place to bike over to from the park to just sit and watch the birds.....
There's an observation boardwalk and gazebo structure to sit in some shade while you bird watch...Or you can walk the perimeter of some of the marshes.....
Sparky saw lots of birds today, but no roseate spoonbills, her favorite....Just a beautiful Great Blue heron with his beautiful reflection in the water.....
A pair of ducks....Sparky is not sure of what kind even though she consulted this website:
http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfowl-id
A big ole turtle sunning himself....
This white ibis....
And this brown bird...Sparky thinks it's a limpkin....
Sparky needs a bird guide to Florida! She knows ibis, most herons and the spoonbills, but not completely sure about these....Thank you in advance for your help if she missed in identifying these, as there are definitely more knowledgable birders out there!
Other than a wonderful bike ride today for Sparky, we spent a quiet day running errands and figuring out when we are going to go to Red Bay...You can tell we aren't in a hurry to get there to sit and wait...It's the busiest time of the year for Tiffin's facility/factory at Red Bay so we're kind of stalling until the crowd thins out. :-) The service department says towards the end of June is when things start to calm down. We might stay at Sun 'n' Fun for part of June! Sparky wouldn't mind......
Tomorrow, Sparky flies out of Orland to head for Houston for six days! Grandbaby and daughter, here we come! Sparky is not taking her computer, so she will be blogging on her iPhone and using her camera phone mostly for photos for the blog. So if there's a dip in quality and quantity for a few days, that will be the reason. See you in Houston!
Sparky hopped on her bike today and rode over to the Celery Fields just around the corner from Sun 'n' Fun. It's about five miles there and back...The celery fields were cultivated for---- wait for it----celery! :-) ---back in the 1920's all the way through the 1990's......It's now a collection of wetlands, marshes, ponds and shallow pools and is a water management district for the city of Sarasota. The Audubon Society has recognized it's a valuable resource and habitat for over 216 species of birds. So this is a great place to bike over to from the park to just sit and watch the birds.....
There's an observation boardwalk and gazebo structure to sit in some shade while you bird watch...Or you can walk the perimeter of some of the marshes.....
Sparky saw lots of birds today, but no roseate spoonbills, her favorite....Just a beautiful Great Blue heron with his beautiful reflection in the water.....
http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfowl-id
This white ibis....
And this brown bird...Sparky thinks it's a limpkin....
Sparky needs a bird guide to Florida! She knows ibis, most herons and the spoonbills, but not completely sure about these....Thank you in advance for your help if she missed in identifying these, as there are definitely more knowledgable birders out there!
Other than a wonderful bike ride today for Sparky, we spent a quiet day running errands and figuring out when we are going to go to Red Bay...You can tell we aren't in a hurry to get there to sit and wait...It's the busiest time of the year for Tiffin's facility/factory at Red Bay so we're kind of stalling until the crowd thins out. :-) The service department says towards the end of June is when things start to calm down. We might stay at Sun 'n' Fun for part of June! Sparky wouldn't mind......
Tomorrow, Sparky flies out of Orland to head for Houston for six days! Grandbaby and daughter, here we come! Sparky is not taking her computer, so she will be blogging on her iPhone and using her camera phone mostly for photos for the blog. So if there's a dip in quality and quantity for a few days, that will be the reason. See you in Houston!
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Pressure, Pressure....
Sarasota, FL High: 91 (ugh!) Low: 69
Sparky and Eldo have not been doing much lately...We're stayed put in Sarasota, because Sparky is headed to Houston soon to see her little grandson and her daughter for a week. After doing some number crunching, Eldy decided to stay put and do some maintenance things on the RV. It would be cheaper to have Sparky fly out and back, than to spend a lot on fuel there and back in the motorhome. A trip to Red Bay needs to happen one of these days...It didn't make much sense to drive the motorhome out to Houston, then back to Red Bay and then back out to Colorado, which was our original plan....We're not sure what we are doing now except just enjoying Sarasota some more and seeing if we can handle the Florida summer weather which is upon us, even thought it's early May. Sarasota skipped spring altogether, and moved right into summer temperatures. Sparky wants to get some kayaking in one of these days, too, before leaving Sarasota! She's halfway afraid to unpack it and find out if any little critters have made nests or eaten holes in it after being stored under the motorhome for a couple of months. It's now back in the car waiting to be used. Better check it out on land before getting it back into the water!
The pressure is on to find something to blog every day when the days are slow! Sparky has not missed a single day since June, 2010 when we started out, so the pressure is on herself to keep writing every day....Laurie Owens laughed and made a comment that Sparky must have "run out of things to blog about" and it's kinda true! We have done just about everything we wanted to do here in Sarasota. we are missing the more cultured side of things---ballet, symphony, art galleries...those kind of things...We are not into that as much as we are other types of activities and music...But it's all here for any Sarasota resident....
Sparky checked out the indoor pool today...With all the snowbirds just about gone, it's empty much of the time. BUT--Sun 'n' Fun runs a heckuva summer camp program all summer long, and they are gearing up to receive LOTS of daily campers in to use their facilities. It's starting now....The park has the indoor pool set up with the Wibit activities--that inflatable obstacle course and fun objects to climb, slide, and "puddle jump" on. Hard to see in this photo, but it's on the left.
She thinks she might try one of these water bikes soon. These bikes are immersed IN the water and THEN you pedal like crazy. That would be quite the workout, Sparky thinks!
Until Sparky gets to Houston next week, we don't have too much going on...No festivals to speak of close by, no new restaurants to report that we've tried...OH! wait a minute! We decided to test SRQ Magazines's "Best Burger" at Square One restaurant this evening. Overrated, we think...Sparky had a VERY bad-for-you blue (they spell it the French way, "bleu") cheese crumbles Angus burger with lettuce, bacon, tomato, mayo, and red onions on a special type of brioche bun. Good, but the burger wasn't very flavorful.
The onion rings were good, but the "Sooner" sauce was so spicy, it set your mouth on fire! For some, the hotter the better, but when all you can feel and taste is the fire, it takes a little away from the appetizer, we think.
Eldy had a more traditional burger, and it was fine, he said...but nothing out of the ordinary. The restaurant has an upscale, edgy, modern feel to the decor...
If you want a fancy place for a fancy pricey burger, this is it...12.99 for Sparky's blue cheese burger, 8.99 for Eldy's traditional burger.
Sparky thinks the Hob Knob, a little outdoor diner that serves burgers on Washington Street in Sarasota might the the place to check out for burgers. It's always busy!
So Sparky wants to apologize for a slowdown in blog activity lately....We've just slowed down from exploratory mode into relaxation mode and hope you'll still stick with us, but will understand if you get bored and decide to move on....The blog might evolve into a little different style blog if we stay longer here in Sarasota, that might be interesting to see what that might look like!
Stay tuned.....We'll keep you posted! And we'll keep posting.... :-) Sparky is leaving for Houston soon to see her daughter and little grandson who will be one year old soon...Where has the time gone?????
It seems like it flies faster now that we're retired.....See you later....
Sparky and Eldo have not been doing much lately...We're stayed put in Sarasota, because Sparky is headed to Houston soon to see her little grandson and her daughter for a week. After doing some number crunching, Eldy decided to stay put and do some maintenance things on the RV. It would be cheaper to have Sparky fly out and back, than to spend a lot on fuel there and back in the motorhome. A trip to Red Bay needs to happen one of these days...It didn't make much sense to drive the motorhome out to Houston, then back to Red Bay and then back out to Colorado, which was our original plan....We're not sure what we are doing now except just enjoying Sarasota some more and seeing if we can handle the Florida summer weather which is upon us, even thought it's early May. Sarasota skipped spring altogether, and moved right into summer temperatures. Sparky wants to get some kayaking in one of these days, too, before leaving Sarasota! She's halfway afraid to unpack it and find out if any little critters have made nests or eaten holes in it after being stored under the motorhome for a couple of months. It's now back in the car waiting to be used. Better check it out on land before getting it back into the water!
The pressure is on to find something to blog every day when the days are slow! Sparky has not missed a single day since June, 2010 when we started out, so the pressure is on herself to keep writing every day....Laurie Owens laughed and made a comment that Sparky must have "run out of things to blog about" and it's kinda true! We have done just about everything we wanted to do here in Sarasota. we are missing the more cultured side of things---ballet, symphony, art galleries...those kind of things...We are not into that as much as we are other types of activities and music...But it's all here for any Sarasota resident....
Sparky checked out the indoor pool today...With all the snowbirds just about gone, it's empty much of the time. BUT--Sun 'n' Fun runs a heckuva summer camp program all summer long, and they are gearing up to receive LOTS of daily campers in to use their facilities. It's starting now....The park has the indoor pool set up with the Wibit activities--that inflatable obstacle course and fun objects to climb, slide, and "puddle jump" on. Hard to see in this photo, but it's on the left.
She thinks she might try one of these water bikes soon. These bikes are immersed IN the water and THEN you pedal like crazy. That would be quite the workout, Sparky thinks!
The onion rings were good, but the "Sooner" sauce was so spicy, it set your mouth on fire! For some, the hotter the better, but when all you can feel and taste is the fire, it takes a little away from the appetizer, we think.
Eldy had a more traditional burger, and it was fine, he said...but nothing out of the ordinary. The restaurant has an upscale, edgy, modern feel to the decor...
Sparky thinks the Hob Knob, a little outdoor diner that serves burgers on Washington Street in Sarasota might the the place to check out for burgers. It's always busy!
So Sparky wants to apologize for a slowdown in blog activity lately....We've just slowed down from exploratory mode into relaxation mode and hope you'll still stick with us, but will understand if you get bored and decide to move on....The blog might evolve into a little different style blog if we stay longer here in Sarasota, that might be interesting to see what that might look like!
Stay tuned.....We'll keep you posted! And we'll keep posting.... :-) Sparky is leaving for Houston soon to see her daughter and little grandson who will be one year old soon...Where has the time gone?????
It seems like it flies faster now that we're retired.....See you later....
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Keepin' Busy....
Sarasota, FL High: 86 Low: 69
Sparky made a trip to North Port, FL today....about half an hour from Sarasota. It's the home of the only Hobby Lobby in the area, and Sparky needed some more breast cancer pink ribbon enamel charms for her bracelets and people pins. They are building TWO Hobby Lobbies in the area which will be coming soon...one in Sarasota, and one in Bradenton. Sparky is happy to hear that! Eldo, not so much so....lol.
We are still playing pickleball most mornings this week. There are a dedicated few left to play with, and so each morning, we say, "Are you going to come down tomorrow morning?" And they, like us, say, "Sure! If you are coming, I'll come..." There have only been enough people to play one court of doubles, but that's ok, we get at least three or four games in, and that's how we've been spending our mornings this week. One of the gals we play with invited us to dinner last night! It was a pickleball player dinner night. We got to know everyone a lot better at supper....What a wonderful, friendly group of people...Several are from the east coast---Massachusetts, New Jersey...Their accents and sense of humor were delightful!
Our hosts, Connie and Frank, made a terrific dinner together for us...
A fantastic lasagna...(Sparky, did you take notes? asks E.) :-) Yep, but Stouffer's is Sparky's "go-to" lasagna recipe, haha....Connie and Frank have a park model and managed to fit everybody (8 people) in at the table, no small feat! A park model at Sun 'n' Fun is about like an RV as far as square footage...400 square feet. You add a lanai on the side, and you get another 400 square feet. It's small, but cozy. We had a great time with everybody.
The weather has been fabulous here in Sarasota, with temperatures in the high seventies most of the week, but now they are starting to climb upwards again....Sparky is getting excited about going to Houston next week to see her daughter and little grandson . Eldy is going to stay in Sarasota and work on polishing the rig and doing some trip planning....
A little crafting, a little TV watching this evening with an "Abby" marathon of C.S.I.....not much else going on today....We'll see you tomorrow.....
Sparky made a trip to North Port, FL today....about half an hour from Sarasota. It's the home of the only Hobby Lobby in the area, and Sparky needed some more breast cancer pink ribbon enamel charms for her bracelets and people pins. They are building TWO Hobby Lobbies in the area which will be coming soon...one in Sarasota, and one in Bradenton. Sparky is happy to hear that! Eldo, not so much so....lol.
We are still playing pickleball most mornings this week. There are a dedicated few left to play with, and so each morning, we say, "Are you going to come down tomorrow morning?" And they, like us, say, "Sure! If you are coming, I'll come..." There have only been enough people to play one court of doubles, but that's ok, we get at least three or four games in, and that's how we've been spending our mornings this week. One of the gals we play with invited us to dinner last night! It was a pickleball player dinner night. We got to know everyone a lot better at supper....What a wonderful, friendly group of people...Several are from the east coast---Massachusetts, New Jersey...Their accents and sense of humor were delightful!
Our hosts, Connie and Frank, made a terrific dinner together for us...
A fantastic lasagna...(Sparky, did you take notes? asks E.) :-) Yep, but Stouffer's is Sparky's "go-to" lasagna recipe, haha....Connie and Frank have a park model and managed to fit everybody (8 people) in at the table, no small feat! A park model at Sun 'n' Fun is about like an RV as far as square footage...400 square feet. You add a lanai on the side, and you get another 400 square feet. It's small, but cozy. We had a great time with everybody.
The weather has been fabulous here in Sarasota, with temperatures in the high seventies most of the week, but now they are starting to climb upwards again....Sparky is getting excited about going to Houston next week to see her daughter and little grandson . Eldy is going to stay in Sarasota and work on polishing the rig and doing some trip planning....
A little crafting, a little TV watching this evening with an "Abby" marathon of C.S.I.....not much else going on today....We'll see you tomorrow.....
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Only in Florida.....Odds and Ends and Tidbits
Sarasota, FL High: 85 Low: 71
Well...you remember that Sparky said things are kinda slow and there's not much to write about? That's still the case...but Sparky found some stuff she wanted to share....
On the Florida news channel today..."Florida's Dumb Criminal Award" or JAWS OF JUSTICE TAKE A BITE OUT OF CRIME....A Florida man, in Pinellas County escaped a traffic stop cop recently, but got caught by an alligator....After dumping his car, he jumped into a retention pond, where an alligator lurking below the surface promptly bit him several times. He was arrested at a nearby hospital where he was being treated for alligator puncture wounds. Most Floridians know that alligators can be found in most retention ponds and ditches. Even Sparky knows that!
*************************************
A Florida school bus driver got sick and tired of having girl fights on her bus, so she told the kids they were going to fight it out. She skipped the rest of her stops, made all the kids get off the bus, went and tried to get Vaseline from her house so they wouldn't scratch their faces, couldn't find any, then egged the girls on to fight each other. The kids videoed the fight on their phones....
*************************************
Flori-DUH Headlines....."Nude Dude Fleeing the Beach Leaves Behind ID, Cellphone, and Shorts".....
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Another notable story...A woman attacked her boyfriend with an 8" knife because he farted in her face on the way to the kitchen.....
*************************************
Where did Sparky find this stuff which is all true? From a column written by Barbara Hijek in the Sun Sentinel online newspaper called "Floriduh".....Sparky is gonna become a regular reader from here on out. She doesn't want to miss ANYTHING going on in this beautiful sunshine state!
And while we are talking weird and wacky, here's a link to Roadside America...the website for the country's weirdest travel attractions. Sparky earmarked the Florida page. We used to check this all the time wherever we traveled. That's how we found out about Solomon's Castle, home of a VERY creative inventor who built a castle in the middle of nowhere out of all recycled materials. It's VERY cool and it's not too far from Sarasota, on Solomon Road in Ona, Florida. Where the heck is that, you ask? You'll have to Mapquest it or Google it for directions. Sparky blogged about it two years ago, you can find it in her blog, too.
Well, how about that?! Sparky thought she had nothing to say today, and look what happened! A blog post! Stay tuned for more nonsensical musings, guaranteed!
Well...you remember that Sparky said things are kinda slow and there's not much to write about? That's still the case...but Sparky found some stuff she wanted to share....
On the Florida news channel today..."Florida's Dumb Criminal Award" or JAWS OF JUSTICE TAKE A BITE OUT OF CRIME....A Florida man, in Pinellas County escaped a traffic stop cop recently, but got caught by an alligator....After dumping his car, he jumped into a retention pond, where an alligator lurking below the surface promptly bit him several times. He was arrested at a nearby hospital where he was being treated for alligator puncture wounds. Most Floridians know that alligators can be found in most retention ponds and ditches. Even Sparky knows that!
*************************************
A Florida school bus driver got sick and tired of having girl fights on her bus, so she told the kids they were going to fight it out. She skipped the rest of her stops, made all the kids get off the bus, went and tried to get Vaseline from her house so they wouldn't scratch their faces, couldn't find any, then egged the girls on to fight each other. The kids videoed the fight on their phones....
*************************************
Flori-DUH Headlines....."Nude Dude Fleeing the Beach Leaves Behind ID, Cellphone, and Shorts".....
*************************************
Another notable story...A woman attacked her boyfriend with an 8" knife because he farted in her face on the way to the kitchen.....
*************************************
Where did Sparky find this stuff which is all true? From a column written by Barbara Hijek in the Sun Sentinel online newspaper called "Floriduh".....Sparky is gonna become a regular reader from here on out. She doesn't want to miss ANYTHING going on in this beautiful sunshine state!
And while we are talking weird and wacky, here's a link to Roadside America...the website for the country's weirdest travel attractions. Sparky earmarked the Florida page. We used to check this all the time wherever we traveled. That's how we found out about Solomon's Castle, home of a VERY creative inventor who built a castle in the middle of nowhere out of all recycled materials. It's VERY cool and it's not too far from Sarasota, on Solomon Road in Ona, Florida. Where the heck is that, you ask? You'll have to Mapquest it or Google it for directions. Sparky blogged about it two years ago, you can find it in her blog, too.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Why We Love Sarasota
Sarasota, FL High: 80 Low: 65
You never know what you are going to see in Sarasota....We were driving on our way somewhere when we saw this....Sparky just had to stop!
This is a set of tree sculptures by Patrick Dougherty, a sculptor that specializes in using trees and twigs as his canvas and medium.
He designed this sculpture especially for Sarasota and the historical Sarasota high school that stands in the background. The high school is going to become the Sarasota Museum of Art. He envisioned his sculpture as the entry way into the museum.
It took a crew of 100 volunteers and about three weeks to build this Sarasota tree sculpture....The branches are cut from crape myrtle trees, vines, and twigs collected from a Palmetto, FL farm. It cost about 50,000-60,000 dollars to create!
It just begs for you to some inside and look...So Sparky did!
She could see that it would be so fun for her little grandson to run around and play hide and seek in. Sparky thought it was cool the way the sun shone through the branches. You couldn't see any wires or string, it looked as though it was totally naturally constructed.
He has done many other such sculptures all over the country and the world.....These next two photos are from the internet....
Sparky thinks this is so cool!
There are a lot more sculptures and artwork to see in Sarasota...This is one area we just haven't explored as much and hope to do more in the future......
You never know what you are going to see in Sarasota....We were driving on our way somewhere when we saw this....Sparky just had to stop!
 |
| from the internet |
It took a crew of 100 volunteers and about three weeks to build this Sarasota tree sculpture....The branches are cut from crape myrtle trees, vines, and twigs collected from a Palmetto, FL farm. It cost about 50,000-60,000 dollars to create!
It just begs for you to some inside and look...So Sparky did!
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