“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY -- FAYE, JIMMY, AND DIANE (Absent)!!!”

Hate to say it, but, I’m having ANOTHER birthday coming up on October 2nd!! Our daughter-in-law, Diane, celebrated her much younger birthday last week. And, our friend Jimmy recently had a birthday, too. We decided to have a joint birthday party.

Diane was going to bring soup. I was providing grilled cheese sandwiches, and Jimmy’s wife, Delores, bought the Birthday Cake.


And then it RAINED!! Delores and Jimmy and Ken and I were the only ones from our group at the Campground. All of our other friends stayed at home. What to do?????

Delores had a great idea. Let’s cut the cake anyway!! OK!!!






I brought the makings for grill cheese sandwiches (perfectly grilled by Delores)!!











And Ken made his delicious Tomato Basil Soup.



We four had a fun and tasty dinner together.














Followed by delicious Birthday Cake.







Then I had a HUGH surprise!! Delores had made a birthday present for me!! You will never guess what it is!! All of you Pickleball players will be SO JEALOUS!!!




She had printed a tee shirt for me. The picture came from our BLOG -- The 2008 Thousand Trails 1st Annual Pickleball Tournament!! What a surprise!!



THANK YOU, Delores, for the birthday celebration and the perfect memento!!!

KEN LOOKS AT KNEE REPLACEMENT SURGERY!!

We have had great pickleball at TT Chesapeake Bay recently. However, it has taken it's toll on the Ewbank's!!

I've developed what feels like Arthur in my right hip and I have to hobble onto the courts. My play has not been very good lately

Ken, however, is worse off than I. He has had arthritis in his right knee for years. With playing so much pickleball, his knee has been killing him!! Today we saw his orthopedic surgeon and scheduled knee replacement surgery for Friday, October 17. Assuming all goes well with surgery and recovery, we will begin on our tentative schedule on November 18th, when we hope to leave for Florida again!!

Wish us luck!!

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

DATE IN DATE OUT LOCATION
(Revised 10/11/2008)

10/07/08 10/16/08 TTN Chesapeake Bay, VA
10/17/08 10/17/08 Ken has Knee Replacement Surgery, Richmond
10/16/08 10/27/08 Elk’s Lodge, Richmond, VA (Faye staying in RV; Ken in Rehab??)
10/27/08 12/01/08 TTN Chesapeake Bay, VA
12/01/08 12/04/08 Traveling
12/04/08 12/15/08 TTN Orlando, FL
12/15/08 12/18/08 Extend at TTN Orlando, FL
12/18/08 01/01/09 TTN Peace River, FL
01/01/09 02/01/09 TTN Peace River, FL RENT JANUARY
02/01/09 02/15/09 TTN Orlando, FL
02/15/09 03/01/09 TTN Peace River, FL
03/01/09 03/15/09 TTN Orlando, FL
03/15/09 03/29/09 TTN Peace River, FL

2008 BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL AT TT CHESAPEAKE BAY

This weekend our campground sponsored their 2nd Annual Bluegrass and Bluegrass Gospel Festival. Groups from all over the state and North Carolina played all afternoon and evening.






























I went to the evening performances. (That’s why my pictures are sooo dark.)
























Then I remembered – my flash has a setting to make the background bright. I tried that one. Now, I see. The camera should have been on a tripod!!







All of the performances were great and enjoyed by all. We look forward to the 3rd Annual!!

MORE “TRANSIENTS” PLAY PICKLEBALL AT TT CHESAPEAKE BAY

We have been having more fun playing Pickleball every morning. There are six transients here at the same time!!

Sam & Barbara learned Pickleball in Texas last Thanksgiving. They really enjoy the game!!
Bill, Charlotte, and Dennis are all “A” players. We know them best from playing at TT Orlando.
Wayne is a great player, too. He is stopping here after being at Hershey.

We are thrilled to welcome them all!!!

DEL AND JERRY BRING HANNA TO TT CHESAPEAK BAY

Del and Jerry, really good Pickleball friends from the West, came to TT Chesapeake Bay the weekend that Hanna came to town. We were able to play three great games of Pickleball with them on Friday morning before going to the Manager’s “Hurricane Meeting”. At the meeting, it was recommended that everyone evacuate the campground, just to be on the safe side. They were expecting trees down and possible loss of electric and water. The four of us decided to evacuate to the Richmond Elk’s Lodge for the weekend. Fortunately, Hanna was downgraded and caused little damage in our area. After the storm, Del and Jerry decided not to return to Chesapeake Bay. Instead, they went to tour Williamsburg for a couple of days and then went to TT Forest Lakes, NC. We never saw them again!

And now, here comes Morgan to Chesapeake Bay. He came from Forest Lakes where HE had been playing Pickleball every day with OUR friends, Del and Jerry!!! So now, we’ll enjoy playing with our new friend, Morgan!!

UPGRADING TO DIGITAL TV

(A "JERRY-RIGGER'S" HOW TO GUIDE)

[Thursday, July 18, 2008] We have been talking about this for awhile. Analog is OUT – Digital is IN. So – today we decided to replace our old 1999 Analog TV in the bedroom with a new flat screen LCD. We have been looking at TVs at Sam’s, Costco, Circuit City, and Wal-Mart every time we were in the stores. Finally, we compromised on a 19” LCD Television. (Ken wanted a 22”.)








We went FROM THIS --

TO THIS!!!
















First, Ken removed the old TV from its built-in frame.

After taking measurements, we went to Wal-Mart and made the purchase.

Then, next door to Home Depot where we had them cut a piece of plywood and support strips to proper size to fit into the frame opening.










While Ken screwed in the support strips,

I sprayed the plywood black.

Ken then screwed the plywood onto the support strips.

Next, we installed the TV Wall Mount onto the plywood.

After a Pizza break -

We connected the electric cord and the TV cable and mounted the TV onto the Wall Mount,.

This evening we are lying in bed watching our new Sanyo 19” LCD High Definition Digital Television.

Da Dah!!!