Made it Through Another Christmas

Wasn’t nearly like the old days, when the kids were home and the lights went up.  The lights began to be too much hassle when they would only work on the ground when you tested them.  Seemed a function of altitude.  Once they were elevated to the lofty heights of the roof they would take turns not working.  I used them as a excuse to scale down the extravaganza to one wreath last year and nothing this year.  Leaving Teri to settle for interior decorations.  Here is what is was like one of the last years the lights still worked.

 

This year Molly and Spencer got their first two wheel bikes.

Those training wheels will be gone soon.

First was the walk to the park

This was taken right before we started out for Florida

Christmas day 2010

Not really during the Christmas season, but this was the last photos we got of Jake and Annie before we left the state.

So this year Teri had to settle for separate photos with the kids and nothing getting done in time for the annual letter.  So here are the little ones with Grandma and Grandpa sometime during the season.  My apologies to Jake and Annie for not including them in their “puppy years”.  That is when they are so cute (at least when they are asleep) that you can’t bring yourself to sell them to the Gypsies like you keep threatening.

This year Amy said she couldn’t understand why I celebrated Christmas, being an atheist and all.  I said that I haven’t “celebrated” the religious aspect of Christmas in a long time, but the traditions around the season (good will, food, gift giving and the gathering of family) were worth keeping.  The rest of my comments were censored by the Editor-in-Chief, guess who.

Tomorrow we resume the out-fitting for the first trip in the trailer.  Hope to make a practice run around the local parking lots soon.

Stay safe, more later from down the road.

WHAHAPPENED!

 I haven’t watched a newscast in ages.  Then we turn on the NBC Nightly News for grins and find a lame duck congress has passed a whole bunch of laws; go figure.  Did the Dems finally grow a pair and shove all that legislation through in a last (and only) hurrah?   If only.  I figure that after the elections were over the politicians could actually do something other than chest pounding and posturing for the electorate.  The Republicans no longer had to look over their shoulders to see if Sarah and her fellow idiots were approving, so they could actually compromise and get things done. After all, they have two more years for people to forget.  See, elections and the resulting playing to the “base” only clouds their minds so I’m still not going to vote.  We need something different, something that gets the job done all year long.  Still waiting.

Stay Warm.

Have a great Holiday season

After all, tis the season

Been watching the rest of the nation getting hammered by the weather.  Glad to be south of it all, just rain here.  Cleared up today in time for the carolers that came by Amy & Derek's tonight.  Wish I'd thought to take some photos of the 60 or so neighbors (including Molly's favorite baby sitter) in the group.  We'd spent the last two days baking cookies to pass out, in fact the last batch was still in the oven when they came by.  The whole thing reminded us of the Romberg family that lives across the street from us in Soldotna.  Their kids could always look forward to their mom dragging them out for caroling and then passing out a plate of home made Christmas goodies.

The Christmas season is in full swing around here, that means serious shopping going on and major crowds at the big stores.  Don't know how it is in the rest of the country, but it looks like a big retail season here.  We still have lots to acquire before we are ready for the road, so we plan to do our part.  Oh Joy, I feel a rant coming on! But I'll spare y'all for now; after all, tis the season.

Stay safe out there.

Floridizing

After over two months of living at someone else's place we are finally nesting into a space of our own.  We are grateful to all of our wonderful friends and family that have literally supported us this year.  It has been quite a transition and you haven’t seen the last of our wanderings.

We are still working out the routine of life in a RV.  You know, the little things, like make sure that the dump valves are CLOSED before you remove the discharge cap to hook up the dump hose.  And you think someone who has spent the last 20 winters in Alaska (often laughing at those Floridians whining about slightly below freezing temps) would know enough to disconnect the garden hose supply when it is forecasted to drop below 25 before dawn.  The RV has an Arctic Pack with insulated tanks but I neglected to think about the garden hose supply line.  Oh well, I needed practice unhooking a frozen hose at 6 AM to thaw it out in the shower.  You sure get some weird looks when you are asking for Frost-Tex cable at the local Lowe’s.

We are looking forward to Christmas with Amy, Derek and the grand kids.  I’ll try to post often, hope the season treats you all well.

Stay safe.

Money, Money, Money

It seems that the frequency of my posts in inversely proportional to the amount of money we are spending.  Since we hit Tuscaloosa the flow has looked like an Al Gore global warming chart.

We bought the Truck just outside of Tuscaloosa and have been throwing small amounts of money at it to get it ready for the trailer.  Got it ready with the hitch installed, new spray-in bed liner, electrical hook up in the bed and a new trailer brake controller, just in time to pick up the new (to us, it’s an ’05) fifth wheel trailer and take it to the camp ground to set up until the first trip (currently being planned for just after the new year).

Now the painful part of buying stuff to make it a home when we have everything we would need back in Alaska.  We got the essentials and are starting to shop the thrift stores for the rest.

The only big item left is the sliding bed cover for the truck and storage boxes to use the space around the fifth wheel hitch.  We’re going to let the credit card cool down a bit before getting that.

Tallahassee RV Park, home for the rest of the year

Meanwhile, Amy and Derek have added another member to their family.  Higgins, a 2 year old yellow lab mix, recently graduated from the DAWGS in prison program in Port St. Joe, FL.  He in settling in nicely and should graduate from his new cell (the kennel/crate in the master bedroom) soon.  Photos to follow, soon, really.

WE MADE IT!

Monday evening found our caravan pulling into Shantelle’s in Acworth, GA, just northwest of Atlanta.  We aren’t used to long solo drives after two months of dual across the country.  The resulting frequent stops and detours made us a little late but we had it figured out by today when we drove down to Tallahassee.  We stopped at an RV dealer in Jonesboro to check out one we are interested in an had no problems on into Tallahassee.  Here’s a link to one on the Denver dealer’s web site.


CrossRoads_Cruiser_31REP

A word about Shantelle with apologies to her in advance for embarrassing her.

I am proud of my kids.  They have both grown up to be adults I am proud and thankful to know.  But Shantelle is the only young person (without any of my genes) I had given advice to that actually followed it.  She was fresh out of high school, not too thrilled with college or satisfied with building rail road tie retaining walls for me on my construction sites.  So, I suggested that she consider Army Warrant Officer Flight School.  The only place where you can walk in off the street and test your way into a guaranteed slot in flight school without a degree (this was in the ‘80s but I believe a similar path is still possible today). 

To say that she took the ball and ran with it would be a rather large understatement.  She flew for 12 years on active duty all over he world, including Desert Storm, and earned a retirement finishing in the Guard as a W4.  Along the way she married Phillip (another Army helicopter pilot) and they have three incredible boys.  She managed to beat cancer along the way too.  Today she is a hockey, baseball and lacrosse mom among a few other pursuits.  I look forward to following the boys accomplishments.  And maybe someday actually meting Phillip (we missed him this time and it was the first time we’d seen her in over 20 years).  When I finally write my memoirs, she’ll get a chapter or two.

I could go on (as you all too well know) but I must apologize, no pictures.  Things were a little hectic and it was raining most of the time we were there.  When it stopped we were a little antsy to get our last leg done.

Time now to get busy on Amy’s list (not even a little bit like Angie’s List, except maybe in length) and finish acquiring our RV set up.  I’ll try to keep up the chatter in the meantime.  See you down the road.

Stay safe!