Almost ready to leave for Tampa

Billy has the truck loaded to the gills to take to Tampa tomorrow, and we are both so tired that we are almost useless today.   I am cutting the blog short today, but did want to post the beautiful photos of the family in Dothan.  Life is Good Today.  GO DAWGS!

Suppose to be in Tampa today! Arghhhhhhhhh!

Billy and I are sooooooooooooo tired, and we can't sleep at night.  We had planned to leave for Tampa today, but there is still too much to do around the house here.  Cleaning the "stuff" out of this house is more work than we had expected.  I am certain that Billy is befuddled by the amount of "stuff" that he is cleaning out of the garage and sheds because he is of the nature to want to keep "stuff."   It is unbelievable the amount of worthless "stuff" one can accumulate.  Enough said about "stuff."  I am sick of it.  Sam is coming weekend after next to pick up a trailer load to take to Caroline and Brandon!  Brandon has already taken a truck load out.  I have a small box of photos/bibles/yearbooks to go to some body's home for safekeeping.  I fear that Billy has too much "stuff" packed up to go to Marianne's for safekeeping.  The motor home is just about packed.....just a few more cabinets to add shelf paper.  I have reached the point of removing as much as I can from the motor home, because I really don't want us to be overweight!  Each of us is allowed one indulgence - Billy is taking his golf clubs and I am taking my sewing and sewing machine.  I can't put my sewing machine in the motor home until we have the air cranked up, because the machine cannot be exposed to extreme temperatures.

I have almost finished washing the outside of the house and cleaning out the kitchen cabinets.  I think that I failed to mention that the poor housing market today is not a good time to sell our home.  I think we have it rented to a good friend of ours who we know will love it the way we do.  He needs it to be mostly furnished so that is a good thing.  We can leave most of our "stuff" (there's that word again.  I mean - furniture) in the house.  "Stuff?"  Did I mention that I found not one but two bedspreads that were lovingly packed up by me, and I don't remember using either one of them?  Ouch! 

I haven't forgotten that I have not added the photos that we took in Dothan at Bradley's football game.  They are really good, and we had a wonderful time visiting with family again.  Been missing everybody and Billy's mom is doing great.  It means a lot to see her smiling and laughing again.  Calling it a day.

Still Working on that "To Do" List

Still accomplishing small tasks each day.  After a trip to the fabric store I finally finished making the quilt to cover the dashboard.  I am hoping that the quilt protects the dashboard from cracking under the glare of the sun, and of course gives Maggie a cushy place to curl up and sleep.  We have reached the point where we have more of our belongings in the motor home than we do in the house.   So exciting, we are almost "there."   After a visit with Sue, Billy's mother, we plan to line the cabinets in the motor home with the "foam" to keep things from sliding around, and of course the cabinets each need to be rearranged.  There are a few final items that need to find a resting place in the motor home which will leave us with the chore of cleaning this sticks and bricks house.  Oh yes, and an update on the cassette player/radio, cassettes, electric typewriter and record albums.  The cassette player/radio and cassettes found their resting place at Goodwill.  The very evening after Billy discarded these beloved possessions, we had to make an emergency run into town to Radio Shack to get help with outfitting our Bose Radio with ear plugs.  When it looked like an impossible task I started shopping around Radio Shack for a cheap radio.  What the heck!  Can't buy a simple radio at RADIO Shack!  They are all MP3 players.  Billy's mother wants his cherished electric typewriter .........so.........Life is Good Today.  Least you think that I am poking too much fun at Billy I will admit my obsession.  I love candles and have a cabinet full of candles to fit every occasion.  I have given away many and will take the large/heavy Yankee Candles to Billy's mom today.

Much love to my brother and sister who have recently been diagnosed with a rare genetic disease.  I always knew that my family is special; just didn't know how special we were.  Love you both and I've got dibs on the bed by the window in the Nursing Home!   Life is Good Today!

Still "packing" in the house......

I am beginning to wonder if this will never end.  At least for the time being it seems endless.  I finally made all of the "cuts" and have all of my shoes and hanging clothes in the closet.  I tried to put my spice rack in the motor home but it wouldn't fit, so it goes to Caroline's.  All day today I feel like I just keep moving "stuff" back and forth between the house and the motor home.  I bought the plastic shoe boxes with lids at the Dollar Store to stack my shoes away in.  It makes it much easier to place your shoes in the bottom of the closet that way.  I still like the idea of securing a bungee cord all the way around the base of our bed.  Then you just slide your shoes under the cord and ala!  More shoes!!!!  I made a pattern of the 747-sized dash board and had planned to make a quilted cover for the dash, but I didn't have enough material.  Billy took a truck load in to Goodwill today.  I think he disposed of the record albums and cassettes, because I don't see them in the middle of our living room floor; however, the electric typewriter is now in the middle of the dining room floor.  I inquired a few days ago if "typewriter" is still a word in Webster's Dictionary.  Today I wonder if we could sell it as an antique.  When I took typing in the 9th grade we still used manual typewriters.  I had never even heard of an electric typewriter at that time.  I have begun to clean out and organize my "sewing stash."  Thankfully, my niece, Taylor, likes to sew so I will have a box in the mail to her in a few days.  For the past 40 years I have had my sewing notions packed away in my sister's Art Bins from UGA.  I plan to send one of those bins on to Taylor and hope that she enjoys it as much as I have. 

I just took a look around the house, garage and trash and it occurred to me that we have already gotten rid of a lot of "junk."  The emphasis is on the word "junk," because we haven't even begun to think about most of the BIG stuff.  Our house is not very large, but it is ridiculous to pay for, heat, and air condition a house this size to store "JUNK."  Now before anyone out there begins to feel sorry for us, we removed the valuable and sentimental items from the house after a tornado from Hurricane Ivan collided with us.

It's a good day to be a Georgia Bulldawg!  Welcome to Athens Big Bad Bruce!  Ain't he pretty?  Life is Good Today!

Bye Bye to My Piano

Oh my gosh.....Amber and Lee came by with the children last night and purchased my piano.  I truly hated to see it go, but I am thankful that Amber wanted it.  I swelled with pride when Billy finally parted with his cassette players and gave them to Lee.  If Billy had only packed up his boat load of cassette tapes and given them to Lee also, I would know that he is cured of his "pack rat" affliction.  As Lee and Amber were about to drive away I noticed the lonely Rubbermaid trunk on the front porch crying out to go home as a toy box with Amber and Lee.  They are now the lucky recipients of a fantastic and useful plastic trunk!!!!  I had great fun with the kids feeding the fish and ducks, and after the men finished hoisting the piano out the door we all enjoyed a steak/seafood dinner at Rodeo's. 

I performed "cut" number two on my clothes/shoes yesterday.  I finally think that I have it down to the final cut.  Today I plan to tidy up the pile to donate to Goodwill!  Every time I open a cabinet or drawer I end up "downsizing" it.  How and why in the world do we accumulate so much junk?  Gee!  I just unloaded a whole trash can full of motel courtesy sundries that I at one time thought were great for travel.  A note to our children......We have ALL of our photos that we have not already given to you consolidated into ONE giant photo album that will be safely stowed for us at B & L's house.  My computer entertains me daily while it sleeps and slowly scrolls through our family photos over the years, and we are going to try to hang the digital photo album in the motor home.  What I am saying is that we cherish all of our photos of the family; however, we cannot display them in the motor home.

Wrapping this up for the day....."Life is Good Today"

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jog

Sorry we haven't blogged in a week.  Brandon and Lori visited with us for five days and we had a great time.  Went fishing twice and had oysters and shrimp at Joey's Oyster Bar in Callaway.  A great place to sit out in the fresh air on the water and enjoy seafood.  Made the required trip out to Pier Park, but we mostly just lounged around the house and laughed a lot! 

We did pack up a truck full of boxes for them to take home.  They bought 7 acres on a lake in SC and plan on building a cabin there soon.  We sent them away with pots, pans, casserole dishes, bowls, knives, "bless us all great and small cross stitch," dessert plates, drinking glasses, coffee cups, peculator, crock pot, George Foreman.  After Brandon and Lori left I closed the door to my bedroom and made peace with my closet.  It is a humbling experience to try on in one day every pair of jeans, swim suits, and formals that have not graced your body in years.  I have started a huge pile to go to Goodwill.  I believe that I am going to have to live with my closet being 1/4 full for a few days and then do "cut" number two.  We will not talk about paring down the shoes.  I am having a difficult time with that.  Do flip flops count as a pair of shoes?   I sorted through all of our CD's and DVD's and placed the discs in notebooks.  In the process I found some items that Billy needs to "come to terms" with.  He has a pile of record albums, VCR tapes and an old electric typewriter in the middle of the living room floor.  Heck, is the word "typewriter" still included in Webster's Dictionary?  Amber and Lee are coming tonight to pick up the piano!  Now, I don't care who you are - that's sad.  It is difficult for me to be without my piano, but I am thankful that Amber wants it.

We have thousands of things to do on our "To Do" list, but it will somehow get done.  Billy and I both miss our little house on wheels and are ready to get going with our new lifestyle.  Life is Good Today!

Blue Angel Naval Recreational Area - Pensacola, FL

We have been neglectful with the blog for the last few days.  If the truth were known we are both bummed out because we have to go home tomorrow.  First time in my entire life that I have been away from home and not itching to get back.  Everything went well at Carpenters RV service center in Pensacola.  With a "little bit of luck" all of our motor home repairs will go that smoothly.  Although that was not a repair, just getting the truck outfitted to be towed by the motor home.  We highly recommend them for service.  Billy says that it makes a world of difference, and he is much happier.  He says he is ready for me to start driving now.  I must admit that driving his big truck doesn't seem so difficult now after I have been riding around in this 747 sized motor home.  We returned to the Blue Angel Naval Recreational Area and parked in the site next to where we parked previously.  Maggie and I took three long walks yesterday; one through the woods.  We tried to walk this afternoon; however, it was too hot.  How I miss the west!!!!!  We went to the PX and commissary yesterday to pick up a few things for Brandon and Lori when they come tomorrow night.  Lori came to Panama City to camp with us a long time ago, and I had put the refrigerated items, including the homemade pimento cheese, in a cooler outside overnight while the refrigerator cooled off.  You guessed it.  The raccoons opened the cooler and helped themselves to everything.  Must have had a big old raccoon party for they ate it all, but licked on the pimento cheese and dragged it around the park.  Lori didn't fret over the lost meats, but she couldn't get over losing the homemade pimento cheese.  She was determined to try to save it, but I wouldn't allow it.  YUCK!  She was broken hearted.  So pimento cheese is the only thing she asks for when she comes to visit.  Brandon, naturally only asks for sliced cucumbers and onions marinated in vinegar/sugar/water/salt and pepper.  Thank goodness they are easy to please.

Billy's appointment at the VA was supposed to be today according to him, but we found out this morning the appointment is tomorrow.  Back to those plans being made in jello again.  We were planning on getting an early start for home tomorrow, but now we won't be able to depart here until late afternoon.  We haven't been home in three months and the outside "stuff" is all crammed in the house in case a hurricane decided to blow through while we were away.  My point is, I have much to do at home and many groceries to shop for before Brandon and Lori arrive tomorrow night.  Guess that it is another reason we have been lazy these past few days.  We have started making plans for the remainder of the year, but they are definitely made in jello since the house sell/rent is up in the air.  We are both itching to kiss and cuddle on Jackson so a trip to Tampa for a week or so is in order as soon as we can get away.  Billy's mom, Sue, is feeling better now so we want to see her right away.  It feels like it has been a year and a half since we have seen her.  Bradley is playing in a football game on October 19th, so we are reaching for that time to spend a few days in Dothan so we can see Bradley's ball game.  Got us a couple of new nieces to meet, too!  It has been WAY too long.  After our trip to Tampa we plan to spend a few months at the Ft. Gordon recreation area because it is halfway between Brandon and Caroline.  That way we will be there for Xmas and hopefully get to keep Phil with us in the motor home some.  Need to see our little Lincoln, because he is growing fast.  Right after Xmas we plan to break camp and head to McDill in Tampa to spend a few months.  That way we get to keep Jackson and will be there for his first birthday.  I am second guessing our plans to travel to Alaska in the Spring.  Not ready to take the chance of damaging the motor home on the bad roads and really hate to put that many miles on it.  Instead, we may travel up the east coast to visit my sister and on toward Bruce and Fran in New Hampshire and then to Maine.  If I talk real sweet maybe Billy will stop and let me visit New York City along the way.  Oh yes, and a stop to see Cindy in Washington, DC.  Billy reminded me that I told him before we got married that I hated DC, but I think I would like it staying in the motor home and just going into town to visit Cindy and the museums.

Words can't tell you how much we have enjoyed this trip.  We are like goldfish.  We adapt to the size of our bowl.  We have managed to carry dirty laundry over 21 state lines and enjoyed every mile.  Today's photos are again of Maggie dragging her toys to the dashboard of the motor home.  I never think to take these pictures in the morning before the sun is shining on the windows, but my brother wanted a picture of Maggie's "den."  LIFE IS GOOD TODAY!

Carpenters RV - Pensacola, FL

We missed checking into the blog yesterday because we were enjoying yet another lazy day.  Ain't life grand?  We went to the Navy PX.  That was fun.  Some may disagree with me, but I like the Navy Px's much better than the Air Force.  We purchased two big notebooks - one for our CD's and one for our DVD's.  I know that CD's are a thing of the past, but I like to hold on to the ones I have in case my ipod or my computer fails.  After our shopping escapade we went to Seville Square in downtown Pensacola and had brunch on the water at The Fish House.  Everything looked really good and we had an Oyster Po Boy, Grouper Sandwich and Jambalaya.  After returning to the RV park we took a long walk along the water and through the trails in the woods and called it an early evening.

Today, Billy drove the motor home and I followed in the truck to Carpenters RV Center in Pensacola.  We are spending the night in our motor home at the service center while they outfit the truck and motor home for towing.  I took Maggie for a walk around the outside neighborhood and came back to find that they had just locked up the fenced in area for the evening and locked me out.  Thankfully, I was able to catch them before they left for the night to let me in.  HEHEHEHE!  Hopefully, they will be finished with the work tomorrow and we can return to the campground.

The photo for today is the Iron Horse who resides in a pasture in Greene County, GA.  Thank you Teresa and Mike Cumuze for sharing this first photo with me.  The infamous 12-foot-tall Iron Horse is an abstract sculpture that was created by Abbott Pattison at UGA's Lamar Dodd School of Art and placed in front of Reed Hall in 1954. The horse was not well received by the students and just hours after its placement, students gathered around the iron creature, placed straw in its mouth and in front of it, manure at its back, and painted the word "front" on its neck. Balloons were tied underneath the rear legs to resemble I can only imagine, and attempts were made to set the horse on fire. When the fire department arrived, the students refused to back away until eventually the fire hoses were turned on the students.

The day after the incident, the university moved the sculpture to a secret hiding place.   In 1959, the Iron Horse was moved to its current location on a farm in Greene County, where it now safely sits in the middle of a corn field, facing south and away from UGA, visible from GA 15 only in the winter. Jack Curtis, owner of the farm, says they are now judging the corn crops on whether or not they can see the horse.

There have been several attempts to bring the Iron Horse back to campus but they all failed.  The Iron Horse has always been a part of the Athens lore that we grew up enjoying.  So for those of you who wondered - this is where we got the idea to call our blog - Iron Horse!

Yeah for Pensacola, FL and a lazy day!

Lounged around most of the morning.  Cooked Billy sausage and pancakes for breakfast, then he went out to wash the truck.  I took Maggie on a long walk on what I assume was the old Blue Angels landing strip.  It was great this morning to open the curtains by the bed and gaze out at the water.  "Life is Good Today!"  After our walk, I played on the computer for a while and then went out to help Billy scrape the Florida bugs off the front of the motor home.  Didn't have all those bugs while we were out west.  Really have enjoyed our lazy day, but I'm ready for some SEC football.

Took a few photos of our front window.  I was trying to get Maggie up in the window, but the reflection on the window obscures her silhouette.  She likes to empty her toy box and carry her toys one by one up on the dash board.  Thanks for stopping by.  GO DAWGS!

Blue Angels Naval Recreational Area - Pensacola, FL

Crawled out of bed before daylight this morning to take Maggie out for a potty break.  Made and drank a cup of coffee and then wrapped up in a blankie for another quick snooze before we broke camp.  We had lots of trouble getting the truck up on the tow dolly correctly, so I think Billy is done with it.  We have reservations at a repair center in Pensacola on Tuesday to have the motor home and truck outfitted to tow.  We have decided that we will sell the Hyundai when we get home next week.  They have hook ups at the repair center for us to stay there in the motor home while it is being repaired.  We will leave our campground at the Blue Angels Naval Recreational Area Monday afternoon and spend the night at the repair center Monday night so they can get started on it early Monday morning.

Enjoyed a peaceful and easy drive into Pensacola.  We stopped halfway at the Welcome Center and fixed a lunch of turkey wraps.  It sure felt strange to see a couple of alligators in the water as we drove to the Florida line.  We are now back in Fl. and can see Perdido Bay from our dining room window.  I am currently watching the beautiful sunset on the bay and remembering how much I enjoy the sunsets on the bay at home.  We have seen beautiful sunsets in so many different places during this trip.  The campers here have plenty of room between them and everybody is super friendly.  "Life is Good Today!"  For the first time we are able to keep the curtains opened on our 747 sized wind shield in hopes of seeing a big buck walk out of the wooded area in front of us. 

As we crossed the Florida line back into our home state today after having been gone nearly three months, we counted that we have driven dirty laundry across 21 state lines this trip.  Wow!  And there are so many more states to see and so much that we missed in the places we visited.  This trip is not over yet and we are already looking forward to being on the road again.  Need to wrap this typing up and call it a night.  Tomorrow is a big day for SEC football.  My GA bulldawgs are in a little learning curve right now but they still have my support.  They'll work it out - always do.  Roll Tide Roll over those FL Gators tomorrow.  "Life is Good Today."