Maggie May

Maggie May
Maggie May

Monday, June 21, 2010

Summer Fun

Wow! Had a blast with those two grandsons visiting here last week. We went to the beach before the tar balls arrived and had fun in the sun, sand and surf. Phil caught a few big catfish in the backyard while his dad “tried” to hook and reel in our resident alligator. The operative word is “tried” as Sam hooked it and pulled him up far enough for a good photo op and then the line broke and little gator swam merrily away. This guy is only about 4 feet in length and hardly big enough to threaten my ducks; however, we still have to keep a close eye on him when we are in the back yard. Unfortunately, the DNR gator hunters aren’t interested in trapping an alligator under 6 feet in length. We went across the street and swam in the bay; then returned home to make homemade ice cream. Made a quick trip to Pier Park to go out for dinner and let Phil ride the balloons and ferris wheel. Phil had a grand time while we all roasted in the heat. Sam and Billy took a day and went on a ten hour fishing charter offshore. They caught their limit of red snapper, and Sam and Caroline were able to take home 40 lbs of fresh caught fish. A good time was had by all, and our house seems to be way too quiet for now. Some of Caroline and Sam’s neighbors are in Apalachicola for a summer fishing trip, but were disappointed to find that the fishing charters in that area are not opened for business. Think they are probably out working for BP at the moment. We had planned to take Caroline and Sam’s friends out fishing this morning, but Billy contracted a 24 hour virus from Phil and is currently toes up in the bed. With good fortune I will stay well, the oil will stay away and we can take them out fishing tomorrow. BP telephoned Billy this morning to verify and update his information. Apparently, the larger boats are offshore working and for the time being they have not launched the smaller vessels. Seems there may be a tropical storm brewing down south so who knows what that system may do to our oil spill. Life is one big question mark right now! We may postpone our RV travels for the time being while Billy works for BP. BP pays much better than Workamping. Thanks for stopping in.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Grandsons to Visit

Caroline, Sam and our two grandsons arrive about 3:00 am tomorrow and wouldn’t you know that we awoke with a gator in the pond. Our ducks are hunkered down in the back yard glaring at the gator in their aquatic environment, while the gator circled up under the automatic fish feeder to have his breakfast. Not knowing quite how to solve this problem now, I ignored it and went ahead and refilled the bird feeders in the front yard. Twiddly dee….will worry about the gator later.

Billy and Mike dutifully attended their BP class on Monday but have yet to be called in to work. The media is predicting that the oil itself may arrive on our beaches by the end of today. No problem, Caroline and I can take the boys to Mexico Beach and probably be oil free until the weekend. The RV is cleaned and ready for Mike to move into should he be called back by BP while the kids are here visiting. Life goes on in spite of this nasty oil.

Among other things, our 4 year old grandson equates Memaw with strawberry shortcake so after cleaning the house today I plan on making a cream cheese pound cake. Got that grocery shopping done yesterday and stocked up on fruit/vegetable juices and yogurt so life is good!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

The oil is creeping closer

The atmosphere around our house is picking it up a notch as we start making preparations for Caroline’s visit this week. Can’t wait to see those grandsons EARLY Thursday morning. The four year old said that he likes to sleep next to Memaw, but “I like to fish with Big Daddy.” Gotta love these babies. He told his mom that he wants to stay at Memaw’s house all by himself. Hoping we can talk Caroline into letting him stay here with us for a week or so. Ideally, I would like to keep him until we pack up the camper to depart, but I know that Caroline cannot live without him for that length of time.

When I went into town yesterday for a few items I picked up the Space bags for the RV. I think the use of Space Bags is the answer for packing summer and winter clothes into 2 feet of closet space. We will just put our winter clothes in the bags, suck the air out of the bag and then store them down in the “basement” of the camper until we need them.
We made our second failed attempt at night flounder gigging in the boat last night. We just can’t seem to get those lights working correctly. “We?” I should say Billy because I don’t know a thing about connecting those lights, so I just sat in the boat as lookout for looming docks as Billy tried over and over to produce light. While we were towing to the boat the launch it occurred to me that I should be practicing at driving that monster of a truck. Billy put extra little mirrors on the side mirrors so that I hopefully won’t have a total blind spot on each side of the truck. The little mirrors should help with the blind spot but they don’t do a thing to reduce the reach on those side mirrors. Any pedestrian or bicyclist is still in great danger of being bowled over by those far reaching mirrors as I pass by them.

A large container of hazardous material landed on our beach yesterday. Since it has BP written on the side the media assumes it is our first sign of incoming oil. BP finally contacted Billy and he takes his last class tomorrow to be ready for deployment. Our friend from Atlanta who will be Billy’s deckhand will be arriving today to take the class, also. Got to get out there and clean the RV so he will have a place to sleep after Caroline and her family arrive early Thursday morning. So, as our Southern speech dictates….I’m “fixin” to become really busy for the next week. Thanks for stopping in to share in our preparation.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Life in the Slow Lane

Everything around here seems to be in slow motion. Possibly this means that the spread of the dreaded oil will remain slow. Think that posting every few days until we actually start to depart will be the best plan. There is only so much of our laid back life here in the Panhandle that is worth sharing. Yesterday Billy eagerly waited for the Federal Express truck all day. He was like a kid waiting for Christmas as he said the brackets for hanging his satellite receiver inside the camper were “really going to look nice.” What? A new comforter, a new plant, a properly placed do dad looks nice, but only the male species would think that a satellite receiver looks nice! It finally arrived and he promptly went to work hanging it with love and care under the television in the camper. I think that he is satisfied with his decorating skills.

BP has still not made contact with Billy regarding a final class before Billy can deploy with his boat. I believe that he finally determined that it is useless to attempt to contact BP about the logistics of the next class. Each phone call results in reaching a person on the other end of the line who hasn’t a clue about what is taking place. So, we will just wait. My daughter and her husband are coming for a visit next Wednesday with our two little grandsons, so I think we will have plenty to keep us busy.

Thankfully, our nine ducks seem to be on the road to survival. For a time last week a bobcat was planning on having a duck for dinner every night. The bobcat killed one duck and slightly injured another, but I think the cat has gone to look elsewhere for dinner. Wishing our friends and family a wonderful weekend and hopefully only six more weeks before we depart.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Still working on communications

After being consumed yet another day trying to get the Dish satellite to work on the RV, Billy gave up the ghost and called a technician for a house call. Bear in mind, that folks are never thrilled to make a house call all the way out here in “bumble.” After a short while we were rewarded with a working satellite dish and Billy was empowered with the knowledge of how to set it up without assistance. Life is Good. Today we wait for the mail to deliver the gizmo to mount the satellite receiver in the camper so that we don’t have wires conveniently dropping from the ceiling for Maggie to hang herself. On Sunday the sofa in the RV collapsed so now we have to place a call to have warranty work on the sofa. Thankfully, the sofa collapsed while the RV was sitting in our driveway rather than out in the dessert somewhere.

We are getting little chores done around our sticks and bricks house so we can be on the road for an extended period of time. Have to schedule a few Drs. appointments for routine care and change our dental appointments. Then after the air conditioner/heater technician comes to service our sticks and brickss unit today we hope to take a break and catch a few of these Redfish hanging around the bay.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Communication Issues

Billy has been working in the camper all day today again doing “stuff” I don’t understand to improve our three communication issues – internet access, cell phone coverage and satellite TV service. We all who know Billy know that he cannot live without internet access and satellite TV complete with at least 250 channels. I, on the other hand, need that cell phone service to “reach out and touch” our children, grandchildren, family and friends. Myself, I am still in the list-making and planning mode…..how to prepare simple meals while boondocking, how to pack winter & summer clothes, how to keep the weight down in the camper, how to get a GOOD cup of coffee…the list is endless.

The oil is reaching its long ugly fingers closer and closer to our beautiful Panhandle beaches. With the wind blowing in from the South for the next 8 days, the outlook is not good for our little slice of paradise. Billy is on BP’s contract employee rolls and just received a telephone call regarding an upcoming “deployment.” I feel more depressed the closer the oil comes. Our seafood industry, our precious wildlife, our beautiful shoreline, our clean fresh air…it is all so sad to contemplate the outcome. Thanks for visiting and leave us a comment.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Still Planning

There is a lot of planning involved in taking an “extended vacation” in a RV, but we are not leaving here for at least another six weeks. We have much to do, and we are looking forward to three more sets of children and grandchildren visiting here with us before we depart. We got much accomplished yesterday. Had a truck liner installed on the truck and put mud flaps on the truck to prevent gravel from hitting the camper. I made a point of checking those mud flaps to be certain they weren’t the bare naked lady kind. Billy purchased some “techno gizmos” to boost our cell phone and satellite TV reception. Guess I need to get a better understanding of that STUFF. We are bringing our satellite receiver box, if that is what you call it, from home and had to find a better solution of where to place it in the camper. Where we had it previously left wires hanging down over the kitchen table and Maggie made a flying leap over the table and almost hung herself by getting caught up in the wires. I think we finally got that problem solved. For now, we will stop blogging until closer to our departure time. Thanks for stopping by to visit.