Fri, Nov 25, Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  This morning dawned sunny and breezy.  Harbinger of a beautiful day.  After our morning ablutions and some breakfast, we cleaned out our planters of dead plants and pulled some weeds.  We don’t do this much work at home (sigh).  Some of the succulents survived.  On our walk around the lake today we saw some pretty purple flowers and pulled them out by the roots and brought them back and planted them in our planters.  They’re probably weeds, but they have a pretty flower anyway.  They’ll probably be dead by tomorrow morning.  Anyway, a nice walk around the lake.  Saw a few more friends we hadn’t seen yet.  Craig stopped by and told us he’s showing a Ron Howard documentary about the Beetles tonight at the clubhouse.  I may go.  Mike is not a fan of the Beetles.  82 today and beautiful. 

Our site.

Mike watching the Missouri/Arkansas football game.

Our new little grandbaby, Andrew.  Is he adorable or what?

Laurie and Andrew about to go for a walk in his new hat I knitted him.

Thu, Nov 24, Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  Rain off and on today.  We headed over to the clubhouse at 2:00 for our dinner.  Only about 20 people, but a great group of fun people.  And the dinner was outstanding.  One of the best we’ve had here at the park.  We stuffed ourselves and stumbled home at 4:00.  One of the girls invited me over for Sunday morning mimosas.  You gotta love these people.  If it’s not too early, I may do it. Rained off and on in the morning, but cleared by early afternoon.  81 today and breezy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The girls made Thanksgiving mimosas.  Cranberry juice instead of orange juice.  And they rim the glass with sugar.  Yum!

Wed, Nov 23, Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  Another beautiful day today.  We didn’t do much.  Neither one of us is feeling too swift.  A lot of people in here have been sick.  So, we’ll probably get it too.  Our maintenance guy, Mike, came over and finished hooking up the living area TV to Direct TV.  So, we’re finally all set up—TV-wise anyway.  Even though we were invited over to the guy’s house that cuts my hair for Thanksgiving, we’re just going to the dinner here at the park, since we’re not fit to be around right now. Then we can just stumble over there, eat, and stumble back.  82 here today.  Nice!

Doors of Key West

Tue, Nov 22, Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  Up early and off to the dentist this morning.  Not sure what they’re going to do yet.  Had lunch at Big John’s Pizza and then back home.  Tried to set up Direct TV on the one in the living area—no luck.  We’ll get someone to help with that tomorrow.  A few more people stopped by to say hello.  Low 70s and breezy today.  Nice in the sun, but chilly in the shade. 

Dining al fresco at Lazy Days in Marathon.

Mon, Nov 21, Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  Well, we spent two days in Homestead with our Canadian friends.  We stayed in an overflow lot across from their sites—no hook-ups.  Solar panels kept the batteries charged as we had lots of sun.  Left there this morning and headed down to the Keys.  Got here around 12:30 and managed to get into our site okay with lots of backing and filling.  We had lots of good help.  The park now has Direct TV instead of Comcast.  So, hooking up the thing was different and we had to access the back of the TV.  No problem with the bedroom TV.  Our neighbor, Larry, hooked that up for us.  As for the living room TV we couldn’t get to the back of the thing.  Nothing in the Owner’s Manual or the Furrion manual.  Not sure what we’re going to do about that.  At least we’re here and will deal with it later.  Tomorrow I have to get up early for a dentist appointment in Key West.  Does the fun ever end?  HBM!

Esther & Gerald

Charlie & Johanne

Fri, Nov 18, Lake Manatee State Park, Sarasota, FL:  Up early this morning for a change.  After our morning ablutions, we drove to the laundromat and took care of the laundry.  Had a lot.  I was running out of underwear.  After that we headed to the Red Barn, a huge flea market.  I can’t believe how much stuff is in there.  We’ve only covered a fraction of the place.  You can even get your teeth whitened in there!  Left there and had wanted to drive out to Anna Maria Island for lunch, but was now starving.  I love this little island.  It doesn’t have any of the pretentious aspects as the other barrier islands—like Long Boat Key. I love all the cute little cottages out there, the remoteness and the beaches.  Anyway, we ended up eating at Sonny’s Barbeque and then fueled up and hit the grocery store one last time.  We leave tomorrow morning for Homestead to visit our Canadian friends for a couple of days who winter at a charming little RV park there.  We stay in their “overflow” area, which is a big empty field.  No hookups.  We’ll see how our solar panels perform.  Luckily, we’re supposed to have sun.  We finally got ahold of the miscreant parts guy at Jayco who will ship the part we need to the Keys and we’ll find someone to install the thing.  81 today and beautiful.

So long Lake Manatee--until next time.

Thu, Nov 17, Lake Manatee State Park, Sarasota, FL:  This morning dawned sunny and beautiful again.  A chilly morning, but it warmed up fast.  Finished the book I was reading about mountain climbers and their near-death experiences (crazy people) and started the Ron Chernow book, “Alexander Hamilton”, which the musical “Hamilton” is based on.  And a huge tome it is.  Did a few maintenance chores this morning—like change the sheets and a mani/pedi.  Tried calling the guy at Jayco again.  But of course he didn’t call back.  After lunch we tried to decide whether to go to the Red Barn, a huge flea market in the area, or go for a walk.  Such a beautiful day, we opted for a walk.  Down to the lake we went and sat for a while enjoying this beautiful day.  Then took a different trail which ended up at the boat ramp.  A longer walk than we expected.  I’m glad we went though.  We spotted a tortoise on the path.  Around 80 today.  Left-over spaghetti for dinner.

Someone left a bell jar full of water on the path.  Really?

I had a hard time keeping up with this guy.  He was trucking right along.