The Retired Life--We Could Get Used to This! Or NOT This!

Eldo was off and running errands today...So Sparky got into the pool. She hasn't done that but a couple of times since we've moved in, because she was sick for awhile. Now that she's back to normal, it's time to get those foam barbells and weight belt in hand and hop in the pool for some exercise! Being that Eldy was running errands, no embarrassing photos of Sparky in her swimsuit, just the equipment.
:-)

Sparky had to hurry up and get in the pool because just about every afternoon from mid-afternoon on, the clouds roll in, the alarm for possible thunderstorms with lightning goes off on the golf course, and it's no time to be in a body of water! Cloudbursts roll in faster than you can say, "Is it raining yet?" 'cuz it probably is....It rains hard but briefly, usually. Wonder when the rainy season is over in Bradenton/Sarasota? However, we don't mind it at all. Eldy likes to sit out on the deck and watch it roll in. Today's storm was a lot of noise and light, but very little rain.....

But HOLD ON A SECOND! There's an uninvited guest on the patio!

Sparky is not going OUT until this little visitor is GONE! So she went and did a couple other things, came back, and he was gone. Whew! Sparky just does NOT like anything slimy with webby, sticky little feet. And this was a TINY little dude. He just looks big in the camera lens. But, darned if there wasn't something else to worrry about-- a lizard, a little gecko, anole or something like that INSIDE the caged lanai when she went out to the pool...The little critters are getting inside the lanai somehow. Sparky is going to have to go on critter watch every day. It's only a matter of time till something gets in the house. We do have palmetto bugs that show up inside the house. Palmetto bugs are just a nice name for Florida cockroaches, BIG cockroaches. UGH!  AL, of Travels with Karen and Al, HELP!  :-)  Just kidding, Al, we'll have to call some kind of pest control, though. Insects and bugs definitely thrive in the Florida sunshine and warm weather, all year round. Oh, the joys of home ownership!

We had to get a plumber out to fix our hot water line to the washer. It was leaking badly. Eldy felt that we needed an expert to handle this job as we weren't quite sure what was causing the leak, nor do we have the tools necessary to do the job. (And that's why I need to start stocking my tool supplies and get a workbench set up in the garage, says E.) Sigh.....We consulted Angie's List, now that we are homeowners, for a reputable business. Angie's List is a paid for service that has thousands of ratings for  local businesses in your area zip code that offer repair services. If you need an electrician, plumber, roofer, etc. this is a great referral service. You can sign up for one main list or several ones, depending on your choice of what you need, whether it be just house/repair services or health or pet or all of them. We just wanted the basic house service list for who to call when we have problems with appliances and stuff like that. It normally costs 35.00 a year, but Sparky found a promotional code and got the service for around 11.00 a year. It's a consumer driven rating service--companies are rated A-F, (Sparky likes that). The ratings are checked for legitimacy, in case companies try to rate themselves, so you can be sure you are getting legitimate reviews from people who have tried the service provider--no fake or anonymous reviews. In addition to a grade rating, people tell what service was performed and how much they were charged for it. Businesses can't pay to be on the list, which is another good thing! It's a great place to find local businesses and reviews, from what we can tell. Sort of like a digital Better Business Bureau, only better.

There's a lot more to Angie's List, and a lot more options and helpful information on their website. They also have a friendly help desk. We found a plumber with good ratings, and will report back on our experience soon...

OK, here's the report...good company, ridiculous price for replacing two faucet handles and stems. Anybody want to guess how much the plumbing company (which had a B rating overall) charged to replace two handle supply stem/faucets? Not having had to have a plumber in for ANYTHING in YEARS, we were shocked at the charges...We're just going to leave it at it was ridiculous. And we understand plumbers are highly trained, have one of the dirtiest and least appreciated jobs in the service/repair home field, but a job that takes about 15 minutes shouldn't cost an arm and a leg. Next time, we go with a smaller, family owned company for plumbing!

So what's so nice about retired life? Living here in Bradenton, having no schedule, having no timetable, swimming in your own pool, having the most beautiful home we've ever lived in, and just enjoying the area permanently! Sparky has even started cooking more!  (GASP!) I'm sure that was a collective gasp from Eldy and everybody else reading, too.  Here's a little recipe for ya! Courtesy of Publix Grocery Stores....Title is my own....

Sorta Salsa Corn Salad
1/4 c.  chopped green onions
1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
4 ears fresh sweet corn--cooked--I like to do mine in the microwave wrapped in damp paper towel for about 2 min. per ear, but not if you do them all at once
juice of 1 lime
1 (4.5 oz. can) chopped green chilies
1/2 c. Hidden Ranch Spicy ranch dressing
crispy corn taco shells broken into pieces or your favorite brand taco corn chips

Combine green onions and cilantro
Warm the taco chips in the oven or microwave for a few seconds
Cut corn off the cob and place in medium bowl.
Squeeze lime, add spicy ranch dressing, chilis, green onions and cilantro, mix...Spoon mix over warm taco chips or taco shells. Yum!

Later......

An UNwanted Guest

We have a tree frog on board, not inside but somewhere under the rig. Sparky hasn't seen him yet, Eldo has...He's BIG! About six inches. That's big for a tree frog, right? We've heard him for weeks around the rear wheel well. First we thought it was DUCKS! It sort of sounded like ducks quacking....Then, after listening more carefully, and hearing the same sound in the woods around the RV park, we knew it was the sound of a tree frog.

web photo

Sparky is nervous, she does NOT want to encounter a tree frog in the house like she did the one time we were driving down the road and a slimy little frog (which seemed HUGE at the time) was in the hallway staring at her with its big eyes as she went to use the bathroom. She screamed "E-E-E-K!" The frog screamed. Sparky jumped back. The frog jumped to the fridge with his webby little feet and stuck himself to the door. Eldy was hollering, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON BACK THERE!?" as he was driving. Sparky was frantically trying to find a cup to capture the frog. Which she did. We let him out later in a small town. Or rather, Sparky unceremoniously flung him out the door into a nearby grassy knoll as we rolled to a stop at an intersection.

Where is this latest tree frog sighting? Last seen this morning climbing up the outside side of the bedroom slide, where he disappeared into the top opening between the topper and the slide.....ugh.....Sparky did a really reading on tree frogs this morning. They normally reside in trees..."HELLO-O-O, FROG! Time to get back to your habitat!" They spend most of their time in trees UNLESS THEY ARE MATING....Oh, crap! Hope a froggie family is not in residence in and around the rig! And hope it is NOT a Cuban tree frog which has become yet another invasive species here in Florida. The Cuban tree frogs are BIGGER and make more noise.. ugh again!  We're going to see if we can find him today. Eldy has previously spotted him climbing the rig and knocked him off the side of the motorhome twice. Wonder what the attraction is on the RV? Must look like a big ole tree to him and it's easy climbing for his webby little feet......UGH! (Can you tell Sparky doesn't like those cute little tree frogs? asks E.)

haha, can't find me, can you?

We have other unwanted guests now and then...Like tiny little ants...In Alabama, they told us they were sugar ants. Somebody else here in Florida said when we asked about little tiny ants around here, "Oh, those are probably Caribbean crazy ants." They call them that because they are so erratic in their traveling patterns....They are a smallish 2.5-3mm in size, golden brown, reddish brown ant. According to pest control companies, they are hard to control and hard to get rid of! Somebody told us they were brought into Florida to control the fire ant problem, that crazy ants eat fire ants, but Sparky can't find any information on that. We're just glad they don't bite and spraying around our site seems to take care of them! So maybe they are sugar ants after all!

So far, in our travels in the past three years, we have encountered: tree frogs, sugar ants, crazy Caribbean ants (?), fire ants, stink bugs, palmetto bugs (aren't they the same as stink bugs? wonders E.) Not sure but add box elder bugs, no see-ums, and the usual black flies and mosquitoes to the list. Eldo says he can't think of anything else. Sparky says, that's enough of a list, for sure!

Enough bug talk for now...Bye-bye and see you later.....

Settlin' In....

Gulf Shores, AL     High:  67    Low:  48

Sparky REALLY wants to go swimming in the huge Olympic size pool here at Gulf State Park, but it's too dang cool outside and in the water-- both still about 64 degrees...The weather is not supposed to warm up till Friday, temps in the low seventies, maybe she can go swimming then.

In the meantime, it's take care of business today--laundry and some errands...Ever see so many machines available in a campground laundromat? Two dollars to wash, 1.25 to dry...a common price in campgrounds that we have been in.

Next we headed up to Camping World to get a zero gravity chair, one of those chairs where you push back on the lower bar and it moves back into a nap position :-). It's a little pricey but nice. We looked them all over very carefully and this one was the most well made, the most comfortable, had the best locking levers and seemed like it would hold up the best. We purchased the warranty with it for two years..normally, we don't do that, but sunlight really does a number on fabric chairs even with protective UV stuff in the fabric. The grommets start to pull away from the fabric as the UV rays beat down on the fabric, weakening it, the elastic starts to give and shred after awhile. After rethreading our last chairs twice, and the grommets ripping, we were ready for a new chair. Why not paid a few extra dollars for the protection plan and get a new chair if something goes wrong? Eldy goes through his rocker chair about every two years, so it's been well worth it to get the warranty plan. Sparky loves the chair and will be spending more time relaxing in it...(HA! We'll see if that happens, but that's part of the reason we got the chair, to make Sparky slow down a bit, explains E.)

We've been riding our bikes around the park...It's so big that if you go around all the streets in the park, you get about 6 1/2 miles for a bike ride just riding in the park! It's one of people's favorite things to do here in the park....We like riding around seeing if there are any fellow "Hoosiers" here (that's people from Indiana). There are a few, but not as many as you would think in a park this size. Tons of Michiganders, lots of people from Illinois, LOTS of Canadians--Ottowa, especially, and smattering of Kentuckians, Vermonters, Illinois people, :-)  and of course Alabamians. Eldy enjoyed  riding around so much yesterday, he says he might try to ride the park every day. You heard it here, first, folks..(Great...says E., with a BIG sigh..) Nothing like a little loving, encouraging pressure to help our guys stay in shape, right, ladies?

Love the little animals around the signs in the park....

There are definitely quite a few walking trails within the park....

And quite a few alligator warning signs, "DON'T FEED OR AGGRAVATE THE ALLIGATORS"--REALLY? Like somebody would be dumb enough to aggravate an alligator? (Uh, Sparky?.......) Who, me? Naw......I'm not THAT crazy....

But Sparky hasn't seen a single alligator in the park....Just lots of birds and this little tree frog, if that's what he is.

Hope he stays outside and doesn't want to come in, like the last little dude Sparky encountered staring at her from the bedroom floor while going down the road a few months ago. That last little frog, no, wait, he was BIG-- jumped onto the fridge with his sticky little webby feet, and Sparky just about had a heart attack and screamed, and Eldy just about slammed on the brakes with all the commotion going on in the back of the rig. That was the "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON BACK THERE??!!" story in case you missed it. The little hitchhiker was safely disposed of by trapping him in a paper cup and let outside as soon as it was safe to do so......

That's it for now.....see ya later.....