FRIENDS COME FOR DINNER

December 27 – Eating Again??? HA HA We wanted to finish the ham I had cooked for Stacey’s visit on Christmas Eve. It made a good reason to have a little impromptu dinner with ham, string beans, Toni and Peter’s sherried sweet potatoes, etc. We invited Stan and Sally to share with us. And, some friends, Kathryn and Ron, from back home at TT Chesapeake Bay who are at Peace River for a couple of weeks, joined us, too. It was a good opportunity for them all to meet each other. As we were preparing dinner, we saw another friend, Travis, just arriving at Peace River. We met Travis years ago on a Pickleball court in Arizona, and have met up with him many times in many places. We gave him a quick call and invited him to join us, too. He did stop by for a glass of wine and a piece of Sally’s Dump Cake with ice cream. UMMMMM!! I think we all had a pretty good time and enough to eat! We grabbed a couple walking by to take this picture!

Around the table: Travis, Ron and Kat, Stan and Ken, Me, Sally.

FRIED FISH AT PIONEER RESTAURANT

December 26 - Like we haven’t had enough to eat already – a group of us got together and went to the Pioneer Restaurant for the Friday Fried Fish. Pioneer is a nice little family diner only about a mile down the road. The fried fish was great, I suppose, but a number of us chose the Prime Rib dinner instead, and that was good, for sure!!

Around the table: Mark and Chris, Jane, Jane’s Friend, Stan, Ken, Bob (with Jane's Friend), Jim (with Jane), Sally (with Stan), and Me (with Ken, of course). [A nice lady offered to take a picture of the whole group when she saw that Ken could not take the picture and be in it too!!]

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We wish you all a

Very Merry Christmas!!!

Here we are with Santa at the Peace River Christmas Dinner!! And, we were thinking about YOU!!

PICKLEBALLERS DO KARAOKE AT TT PEACE RIVER

December 25 - Our friend, Ron Walker, whom we met on the Pickleball court at TT Chesapeake Bay, led Karaoke at Peace River on Christmas day following our big Christmas dinner. Girl friends Sally and Catherine “sing” The Twelve Days of Christmas. Seems they play Pickleball better than they sing! Sorry Girls!!

STACEY COMES TO VISIT AT TT PEACE RIVER

December 24 – Ken’s daughter, Stacey, lives in Englewood, FL, about 75 miles from Peace River. She works as a Paralegal in Bradenton, only 50 miles away. So, since she got off work at noon on Christmas Eve, she drove over from Bradenton to visit us and have dinner. Our friends, Sally and Stan, joined us for dinner, too. It was great to see Stacey again.

Sally, Stan, Faye, Stacey (Ken's youngest) and Ken

PICKLEBALL SCRAMBLE AT TORREY OAKS

December 20 - A large group of Pickleball Players from several resorts in the area gathered at nearby Torrey Oaks RV Resort for the first Pickleball Scramble on Saturday Dec. 20. The event was organized by Jean Mulder who is heading up the Pickleball program at Torrey Oaks this year. There were players from Torrey Oaks, TT Peace River, Tanglewood, and Sun City Center (maybe even more). Although Ken and I did not play, we had fun watching the games and partaking of the great hors d’oeuvres!! Prizes were awarded to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners for male and female participants. A great time was had by all. Good job, Jean!!

1st and 3rd Place for the women were won by friends Sally and Donna. Don't know the men, but here stand 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place winners. Congratulations to all!!!

Among the spectators at the Torrey Oaks Pickleball Scramble, Faye and Ken, join friend Stan who played a good game in the tournament, although he's not shown in the picture above.

OUR TWO WEEKS AT TT ORLANDO CONTINUED FOR ONE LAST NIGHT

December 17 – On our last night at TT Orlando, the four of us went out to the rib special at Oakwood Smokehouse and Grill in Clermont. We each had a full rack of ribs with all the trimmings with a pitcher of beer and lots of laughs!! Ummmmm!!

Ken, Faye, Sally, Stan

Diggin' In!!!

TWO WEEKS AT TT ORLANDO, FL

December 4 - 18 - We left Virginia on December 3rd and arrived in Florida on December 4th. Following is a synopsis (backwards) of our time at TT Orlando.

HAPPY HOUR AT STAN AND SALLY'S

December 16 – Leave it to Sally to get something going!! She had a group of us Pickleball players over for Happy Hour one afternoon at Orlando . Even though Ken and I are not exactly what you would call “Players” at this time (due to injury), we were invited, too!!

Jose, Jill and Ken

Going backwards: Catherine, Linda, Catherine's Husband

(You can tell because they are Twins!!)

For those who have not met her,

here is Faye without an "e"also from Virginia;

with Sally and Stan

PICKLE PINNING CEREMONY

There were a few Pickleball Players at the Happy Hour who had not been pinned; so we, of course, had a Ceremony for them!!

Jill, Jose, Catherine, Faye with an "e", Husband, and

Faye without an "e"

Wear your Pickle proudly!!

KEN'S BIRTHDAY!!

December 14 – Can you believe it!!! Ken is having another Birthday. It could not possibly be a whole year since all of the hullaballoo over his 75th!!

We invited several good friends over to help him celebrate his 76th!!

Ken, Barb and Mitch

Sally, John, Pat and Stan

NOW BLOW!!

May all of your birthday wishes come true!!

VISIT FROM VICKI AND NIKI

December 12-14 – Vickie, Ken’s daughter, and his granddaughter, Niki, drove up from Miami for a weekend visit. It was great to see them again. The Highway Runner is still made to only sleep two, but we made out OK with four!! We had some of Ken marvelous Chili Soup for dinner Friday night and his even more delicious fajitas on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, we took them to the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet at Ponderosa. Ummmm.

In between eating, Vickie and I hit a few Pickleballs. Vickie is pretty good for someone who does not get to play. She has that all-important eye-hand coordination. On Saturday afternoon, we took them to our secret orchards and picked buckets full of tangerines and pink grapefruit!! I forgot my camera so this picture will have to suffice as a reminder of the afternoon.




Here is Niki working on her laptop. She paid the $4.95 to use the “tengo” WIFI offered throughout the park at Orlando. After a couple of hours she was “kicked off” and never was able to connect again. She called the problem telephone number at the top corner of the Activities Sheet (took us forever to even find the number because it is not on the tengo WIFI flyer). They told her there were just too many people logged on at the same time. Also, her Apple computer did not have enough strength to get a good signal. However, she tried to log on using my Toshiba (now repaired and working fine). That did not work either. Tengo told her she could go to the lodge and log on to their website and complete a refund form. Well, that defeated the purpose of paying for service!! Funny, I had no trouble using tengo last season when it was FREE!! Just a "Word to the Wise"!!

FULL MOON OVER ORLANDO!!

December 12 - Here is our picture of that awesome Full Long Night Moon on December 12th. This is the biggest, brightest, fullest Moon seen in 15 years. That is because it is the closest the Full Moon has been to the earth since March 8, 1993, and will not repeat until 2016. There is no guarantee that we will be able to see it again then!!

I called our friend Mark and told him about the phenomena. He is an expert photographer, but he would have missed the whole thing if not for my call. He captured a fab picture of the historic Full Moon and posted it on his Blog, Have Bounder Will Travel (See link under Blogs I Follow on the side panel).

I also had to call my daughter, Stasia. She is kooky about such things, and I knew she would be watching. I pointed out to her that here we were, hundreds of miles apart and watching the same Full Moon at the same time!! Togetherness!!! Her husband and Ken just say “UGGH”!!

LINE DANCING INSTEAD OF PICKLEBALL

December 12 - For some reason, my right hip has been bothering me a great deal. Had it X-rayed in Richmond and was told I have a little arthritis and a little inflammation in that area. Take some pain pills. Anyway, it was still bothering me too much to try Pickleball while at Orlando. So – I decided to further my Line Dancing skills!!

I really did enjoy it. In fact, I taught the group to do the new Alan Jackson line dance, “Good Times”!!! Still have a lot to learn!!!

HAND AND FOOT

December 10 – Vicki and Bob are new friends. We taught them to play Pickleball at TT Chesapeake Bay. I also invited Vicki to play Hand and Foot with some of the ladies several afternoons while we were there. Vicki is not only a very enthusiastic Pickleball Player; she is also wild about Hand and Foot. Before they arrived in Orlando, Vicki had E-Mailed me and asked if we could get some Hand and Foot going. That’s exactly what we did!!

Here is the group of 10 playing one evening. It was easy to get the group to show me their HANDS, but could not get them to show off their FOOTS!!

From front around the table: Denise, Vicki, Barb, John (unseen), Pat, Mitch, Ken, Cheryl, Rich's hand in the foreground, and me behind the camera.

TRIP TO SARCOM AND TO TRACY’S

December 4 - Just before we left Virginia, my laptop developed a red down the monitor. I had bought a 3-year extended warrantee that, believe it or not, expires January 2009!!! Oh Happy Day!!! There is a Toshiba service center in the Orlando, Sarcom. I called them early the afternoon we arrived at TT Orlando. They said we could bring the laptop in that afternoon. We did a quick set-up and got to Sarcom about 4:30 PM. They checked the computer and said they would order the part(s) needed. Since the laptop was still useable, we took with us and went to visit Ken’s daughter Tracy in Lake Mary.

It was fun meeting Tracy at the Country Club where she works. Afterwards we stopped for dinner of Nachos and Fajitas at Chili’s. Very good!! Then Tracy showed us the new condo she is renting within a bike ride of the Club. Very nice!


Her puppy dog did some of his favorite tricks for us and sent us on our way.

It was amazing that Sarcom called before noon the next day. The part was in!! We dashed over and they replaced the monitor within a half hour. That’s the fastest service I have ever, ever gotten!!! We can highly recommend Sarcom of Orlando!!

SCHEDULE ADDED TO OUR BLOG

If you have not noticed, we have now posted our schedule on the Blog. Now, all we have to do is keep it up to date!!! (See right column following Blog Achieve.) If you are going to be at the same place as we, please let us know!! We’d love to see YOU!!!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We left TT Chesapeake Bay Wednesday morning, heading south on I-95 – going to TT Orlando, FL. Everything checked out A-OK with Ken’s doctor on Tuesday, and we left with his blessings!!

A good stopping off point on the way down is the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Waltersboro, SC. It’s great for a quick overnight stay. We have been stopping here for several years, since the new Wal-Mart was first built.

We recommended it to Mark and Chris earlier this year when they were traveling south on I-95. Mark mentioned it in his Blog (Have Bounder Will Travel). He said the night they were here there were 30 rigs in the parking lot. That’s probably what prompted this sign!!

Paying for FREE overnight at Wal-Mart!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE

Mike’s birthday was on Thanksgiving Day!! Since we were not going to see him on Thanksgiving Day, we decided to celebrate his birthday with some special friends on the weekend before while we were all at TT Chesapeake Bay.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE!!

THANKSGIVING DINNER WITH THE FAMILY!!

We just got home from enjoying a Happy Thanksgiving at my sister, Jean’s, in Mechancisville, VA – not far from our Chesapeake Bay campground. Food was abundant and delicious and the company was delightful!! We ate and drank too much, of course, but it was wonderful!!

Ken and me with my sister, Jean, and Bob.

Note the stack of Thanksgiving Pies (and there were more)!!

My niece, Deb and Jeff!

Deb and Jeff's sons, Jim and Mark (or Mark and Jim)!!

Jean and Bob's son, Troy, 2nd from the right, and a group of his friends. What a nice lookiing group of young people.

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving, too!!

FREE AT LAST!!!

Ken saw his orthopaedic surgeon Thursday November 20. X-rays showed that Ken is healing perfectly. We were amazed when Dr. McGlynn said Ken is free to DRIVE!!

Free to Drive the Suzuki!!

Free to drive the Motorhome!!

AND, Free at Last of this ##$$%%@@ BRACE!!

I couldn’t get Ken to pose in the brace, but know you’d all like to see what it looks like. The section on the table went around his waist. The part hanging down went around his left thigh down to his knee. The part holding the two sections together is a metal rod with an adjustable hinge in the middle. It was set for 60 degrees movement. Ken wore it 24/7!!! What a monster!!

We left the Elk’s lodge in Richmond that afternoon and came back to TT Chesapeake Bay for a couple of weeks. And Ken drove all the way.

Ken has another appointment with Dr. McGlynn next Tuesday. After that our plans are to get on the road to Sunny Florida ASAP!!

KEN'S HOME!!

Ken came home from Rehab today!!

YEPPEE!!!

A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!

KEN’S COMING HOME FRIDAY!! That is the recommendation of all of his therapists. The doctor for the rehab facility still has to approve, but we think it’s a done deal. Looks like he did not practice going home any too soon. He will still be confined to that Big Hip Brace for 4-5 more weeks.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and concern. We love you all!!!

FLYING-J HAS A CHANGE OF HEART!! AND POLICY!!

After reading our article about Flying-J (October 23) requiring cash payment to grant the “Cash” price, and no longer treating payment with credit cards the same as cash for RVers, our friends Stan and Sally of Michigan wrote to F-J. The gist of their correspondence was that most RVers do not wish to carry cash enough to fill up our rigs several times on a trip. There is now no reason for RVers to drive out of our way to seek out the Flying-J truck stops to fill up our rigs. (Wish I’d thought of that!!)

Stan and Sally said they received a reply from Flying-J to the effect that they have rescinded that change in policy. They do now recognize credit cards same as cash if you use the RV lane. S &S were not certain if this policy applies to using the truck lanes as well.

We suggest that until this is clarified to your own satisfaction, that you check it out at the station before paying, but be prepared to pay cash. Let us know what you experience.

KEN MAKES FAST PROGRESS IN THERAPY!!

Ken has been making a lot of progress in his therapy sessions. I think this is due to the really great therapists who help him each day! They are: Jonell, Dianne, Carmen, and Lindsay! A great bunch of girls!!! You’ll meet them in the pictures of Ken’s progress.


TODAY IS MONDAY -- BACK TO WORK!!

Here Jonell instructs Ken in using the Arm Bicycle to build up upper body strength. “You have to do this for 20minutes!” What!!! And me with no shoulders??? And no TV???

Ken really got to moving -- FAST!! Dianne thought he was ready for Crutches. Look at that sadistic smile on her face as she tosses that gauntlet!!

With Dianne’s help, Ken put aside the Walker and took up the tall underarm Crutches. No Problem!!

But I thought he should use the Crutches we brought from home!! I got to work assembling them as fast as I could.

It was Carmen who stepped in and in no time she had Ken walking the line, using only our Forearm Crushes!!!

But the Girls had another challenge in store!! Could Ken get along with only a CANE??? Yes!! He Can!!!

Ken did so well with the Cane that Dianne came up with yet another challenge! Climb these steps using only the Cane!!

Now, come back down. Watch your step!!


It’s finally time for some fun!!! MEXICAN TRAIN!!! (Not!). In this game, all players have stand while they play, to help improve balance.

Susan said she used to play Mexican Train but couldn’t remember how. She decided she wanted to be in the BLOG! (Ken later took her the Mexican Train rules.)

TUESDAY, ANOTHER DAY AT OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY.

Toady was Carmen’s day with Ken. First she had him standing while pushing a weighted box up a ramp and back down. Push, Pull, Push, Pull. Five sets of twenty. Helps with strength and balance.

Next its triceps work out. Raise, Press, Raise, Press. Four sets of twenty-five.

Here Ken is working with a Band. Pulling and Stretching, Stretching, Stretching!!! UGH!!!

But the most fun of the day was when the two of us played Five Card Draw with Carmen, while standing. Still working on the balance, while having a good time. Ken won, of course. He said it was a good thing we were not playing Strip Poker == we girls would be down to our panties!!”

NOW IT'S TIME TO PRACTICE GETTING OUT OF HERE!!

Lindsay worked with Ken this afternoon. The task – getting into and out of our car. They are racing for the door!

Stepping off a curb using the Forearm Crutches.

Getting into the car. Seat pushed back as far as it will go. Lay the back of the seat back, but not too far. Put the cruches aside. Sit down. Put your feet inside the car, first the bad leg, then the good leg. Always keep your legs apart and your knees bent.

Getting out of the car. Swing legs out, first good leg, then bad leg. Push on the seat and pull on the hand pull above your head. Stand. Take up the cruches.

Good Job!! It won't be long before you'll be doing it for REAL!!

What a great feeling!!!