PICKLEBALL WINDING DOWN AT TT PEACE RIVER

April 07 – Our Pickleball group at Peace River is dwindling!! Our group is small, but still Pickleball is a lot of fun.

This is all who played this morning!!

Tom, Ken, Gena, Bruce.

Faye, Sally came over from Torrey Oaks, Gena and Dee.

Bruce, Donna, Stan and Rich.

After the games, about eight of us went over to El Tacoriendo for a quick lunch of Tacos, Enchiladas, and Burritos. That was fun!!

NEW FRIENDS AT TT PEACE RIVER

April 06 - This is a First for us! After Pickleball we headed to the grocery store. Dee and Rich’s site was on the way out of the campground, so we stopped to see if they needed anything from Sweetbay. Marie, whom we have seen around the campground but have never met, was talking with them. She came over to our car and, in her enthusiastic manner, she invited us to an impromptu dinner get together that she was putting together for some of her friends and anyone else in the park who wished to come. Please come at 4 o’clock this afternoon!! Bring chairs, beverage, your meat to cook on the grill, and something to share. She was so excited, we could not say no.


Here's Rich and Dee at the cookout. They are the reason we got invited!!



We had so much left over from the BBQ ribs we had at Smokey Joe’s that we wrapped them in foil to be heated on the grill. It turned out to be a great idea. As a side to share, I took Pam and Joe’s Jalapeno Poppers.


Fellow line dancer, Jerry and his wife Lynn, were at the party, too. In chatting with them, they mentioned that some friends of theirs had bought a site at Torrey Oaks. The friends turned out to be Joe and Cis!! Jerry said about four years ago, Cis came knocking on their door. She just had to see who was from Franklin, PA. We told them we have been friends of Joe and Cis about that long, too. We met them on the Pickleball court at Peace River and have been good friends ever since. What a coincidence!!

Here is the group of New Friends!!

Thanks, Marie!! What a good idea!! Thanks for inviting us!!

WONDERFUL FLORIDA WEATHER AT LAST!!

April is the perfect time to be in Florida!! The weather has finally warmed up and it’s not rainy!! There’s a nice breeze blowing!! And everywhere the sweet fragrance of Orange Blossoms is on the air. It’s Heaven!! Come on down!!!

It seems impossible!! How can there be Orange blossoms on the trees and at the same time, in the same grove, trees still have oranges on them!!! In fact, the same tree can have both oranges and blossoms!! But, I guess God knows what he is doing!!

The weather is so good now that our plants have finally come alive!! Our Purple Shamrock was looking really sad a few weeks ago. Ken had bought some white pansies and another flowering plant and some basil. They looked as sad as the shamrock. Now, with this beautiful Florida weather, everything is beautiful!!!

CIS AND JOE'S LAST SUPPER AT SMOKEY JOE'S

April 5 – Joe and Cis are leaving Florida on Tuesday morning. Ken and I and Sally and Stan told them we had to do something special to say Good Bye. They suggested going to Smokey Joe’s for ribs. Great idea!! Smokey Joe’s is just up the road a few miles, the food is good and plentiful, and we would not have to prepare dinner!!


Cute picture from the front of Smokey Joe's. I just noticed Sexy Mamma!!


We bowlers had to race to get to Smokey Joe's at the designated time!! Joe and Cis invited some of their other friends at Torrey Oaks to join us as well.

Here are the Ladies!!


And here are the Men!!

We ordered the rib platters. UUMMMMMM Man!! One platter was enough for both of us. We had one big doggie bag to take home!!

We all had a great time at dinner and wish Joe and Cis a safe and pleasant journey home!!

ANOTHER AFTERNOON OF BOWLING AT BOWL-OF-FUN LANES!!

April 5 – Stan has been coordinating the weekly bowling all season and arranged for group rates for bowlers from Torrey Oaks and Peace River at Bowl Of Fun Lanes. Ken and I go bowling with the group every Monday afternoon when we are back in the Wauchula area. Today we had only nine bowlers, so Stan put all of us bowlers on one lane. We Had A Ball!!!




As in previous weeks of bowling, when ever someone got a strike we took their picture with arms crossed overhead to signify the strike!

Here are pictures showing the proud strikers!!

Ken started the first game with a STRIKE!!

And Rich D. got a STRIKE. His aim was to bowl 300!! (In three games!!)

And Stan, of course, bowled a STRIKE!! He looks so proud you would never know he bowls strikes all the time!!

Dee bowled a STRIKE!!

Rich P. wanted his picture taken even though he bowled a Spare!! Guess he thought he would never strike!!

Ken didn't stop at one Strike -- Here he is looking at his TURKEY!!

And Tom bowled a STRIKE!!

Ah, Rich P. did bowl a STRIKE after all!!

Here's Sally after her STRIKE!!

Stan scores another STRIKE!

And here is Marge after getting a STRIKE!

Everyone has scored a STRIKE except Faye!! I can't even break 100!!

Here is Dee with her second STRIKE!!

And Stan with - how many is that??

And Rich P. gets STRIKE number two!! Stan can't believe it!!

FINALLY!!! I get a STRIKE! That helped me to just break 100 in the second game!

Stan gets another STRIKE! See what I mean!

What!!! I got another STRIKE!!!

Group pictures between the second and third games. Stan is having a hard time handling his Big Balls!!

Here we are a little more organized!!

Ken continues to bowl STRIKES!! This is his second in the third game!

Here is the gentleman who runs the bowling alley. He's retrieving a couple of our balls. What happened is that there was a loose pin in the gutter. Rich P. bowled his ball so hard that it somehow knocked the stray pin into the ball return!! That messed things up!!

Looks like the third game is a charm for me!! Stan was so excited for me he wanted to pose in the picture, too!!

And yet another STRIKE for me!!

Sally gets another STRIKE, too!!

Stan cutting up on Ken's next STRIKE!! Sooooooo Many!!!

Rich gets another STRIKE, too. And Donna was not even there is see him score his highest game he has bowled in years.

And yet another STRIKE for ME!! I would end up with a TURKEY of my own and one other Strike. That was four strikes in the third game.

And I was High Bowler for the day!! 199

Wow!! What a great feeling!!!

EASTER WITH FRIENDS AT TORREY OAKS

April 04 – We had been invited to join our friends for Ester Dinner at Torrey Oaks. The club was preparing ham and scalloped potatoes, attendees brought side dishes. I prepared Sherried Sweet Potatoes, using a recipe I had gotten from Toni (and Peter) a few years ago when we were out west.

Dinner, as usual, was delicious. There was so much variety – so many choices among the side dishes. Here we are enjoying dinner.

Around the table: Faye, Ken, Joe, Cis, Ray, Jan, Sally and Stan.

Cis and Joe are leaving to go back to Pennsylvania on Tuesday. We had only played Euchre a couple of times with them during the season, so we invited ourselves to their place for a game of Euchre before they leave. We played two games. Cis and I were ahead in both games, but the guys won!! Congratulations guys!!

Sally was running the weekly Card Bingo Games at the Rec Center. After Euchre the four of us went over to join the group for the games. We were lucky tonight!! Ken and I each won 90 Cents!!

It was a fun Easter Sunday!!

FRIDAY BUFFET AT HOMER’S, SEBRING, FL

While we were having our washer dryer changed out at Longview RV (see article below), Sally called. She and Stan were going out to Homer’s famous Friday night buffet with Cis and Joe and Jan and Bill. Would we be getting to TT Peace River in time to go with them?? Dah!! Of course!!!

We left Longview RV at about noon following the saga of the washer dryer, drove the 65 miles to TT Peace River and quickly set up. We drove over to Torrey Oaks and met up with the group at 4:00. Six of us drove over to Sebring in Joe’s truck. Jan and Bill had shopping to do in Sebring, so they drove separately. (Actually, Cis road over with them and came back with us.)

Homer’s is one of Joe and Cis’ favorite on Friday because of all the seafood served. Here is the group enjoying our buffet! UUMMMMMM!!

Around the table, left to right: Bill, Joe, Cis, Faye, Sally, Jan, Stan and Ken.

I had forgotten my camera. This is our solution to the problem. The picture was taken by the waitress on Bill’s cell phone. They could not send the picture to me by e-mail, so Jan texted the picture to her daughter who e-mailed it back to her. Then Jan e-mailed the picture to me for inclusion in this article!!! Brilliant!! Thanks, Jan, for your idea!! Guess this will teach me to always carry my camera!!!

Something happened at dinner that you will not believe!! I finished eating before Joe did!!! Everyone who goes out to eat with us knows I’m always the last to finish eating. I am teased mercilessly!! Today at the end of the meal I was eating my dessert. Everyone else had finished but I noticed Joe still had a few bites left on his dessert plate. I quickly stuck my strawberry in my mouth and pointed out to everyone at the table – Look who’s still eating – Joe!! That was a first! Of course, Joe will never live it down!! HA HA

THE SAGA OF THE SPLENDIDE WASHER DRYER

When we were at the Tiffin Motor Home Factory, Red Bay, AL in early November, we bought a new Splendide washer dryer from Tiffin to replace our old one that had given us many years of service, but was down to operating in only one cycle. The Service Department there removed the old machine and installed a new washer dryer.

Well, on February 3, when I turned on the new washer, ALL the lights on the control panel started blinking. There are five lights across the top and four down the side of the control panel, and they were ALL blinking. I called Splendide and explained the problem. I tried all the diagnostic tests they could suggest but to no avail. They had never heard of that happening before, and authorized repair by one of their service centers in the area. We were going to move to the TT Orlando campground in mid-February and set up an appointment with Camping Connection on February 19. They checked it out and determined we needed not one, but two new Circuit Boards which they replaced on March 1.

Everything seemed to be OK when they ran the machine through all the cycles, but that afternoon when I washed a load of clothes, there was no heat in the dryer!!

It was March 19 before we would be back at TT Orlando and arranged another appointment with Camping Connection. This time they determined the heater coil would have to be replaced. We were really upset!!

I called and left messages with everybody that this was a new washer dryer we bought in November and had only used it a few times, and now it has had two major problems!! It appeared to be a Lemon and we did not want to keep it. We wanted another machine!! Lad at Splendide said they understood our dilemma but they would repair it, but could not replace it.

Turner at Tiffin said, if Splendide will not replace it, Tiffin will change it out when we come to the factory again. I pointed out to him that we did not plan to go to the factory; could we possibly have it changed out at Lazy Days near Tamps?? As it happened, Tiffin has a representative at Lazy Days (J. Bush). We all worked together to make it happen!!

Tiffin shipped a new Splendide washer dryer to J. Bush, but Lazy Days could not work us into their work schedule, so Mr. Bush arranged for Longview RV about 4 miles up I-4 to handle the change out.

We checked out of TT Orlando on Thursday and drove west on I-4 to Dover, FL where we stayed overnight at Tampa East RV Resort so we would be in convenient to Longview RV.

Early Friday morning, April 2, we went to Longview RV where they removed the old washer dryer, installed the new one, and ran it through its cycles. Everything seems to be working OK again – AT LAST!!


Doug with the Lemon he removed from our motor home.

The new washer dryer in place!!

All costs for the change over were covered by Tiffin Motor Home!!! Thank You, Turner and Bush and Bob Tiffin!! This is why we keep telling everybody how great Tiffin Motor Homes is!!