Thursday, January 31, 2013

Painting and Thanks Laura And Lindsey

DeBary, FL.

56 deg. showers, W wind @ 7 mph.

Forecast = Mostly sunny. Highs around 63°F. North northwest wind 8 to 17 MPH, gusting to 24 MPH.


Jim and Linda headed over to the house yesterday morning to start getting things ready for painting the living room and hallway. About an hour after they arrived, Laura and Lindsey came and soon after, everyone was either masking or painting.

Jim did all of the masking, Lindsey and Linda painted the larger areas with rollers, Laura painted areas where the rollers couldn't reach with a brush, and then when Jim was done with the masking, he helped Laura.

By early afternoon, the living room and the hallway were painted and the clean-up process was begun.

Soon all the plastic protective floor covers were picked up, the old bed sheets used to cover the furniture were folded up, the tools and brushes cleaned and Laura and Lindsey were on their way back home.

It was so good of Laura and Lindsey to come over and help with the painting. It would have taken Jim and Linda a very long time to get this job done. Thank you so much!!!!!

After they left, Linda called the used furniture place and inquired about the delivery time of Jim's Barcalounger and the chest of drawers. The lady told her that they would be there a little after 5:00 so Jim and Linda decided to head over to Gram's Kitchen to get a bite to eat before they came.

As promised, the furniture arrived on time, and soon Jim and Linda were back on there way back here to the park. It was a long hard day for someone who is not used to working but it was very productive, (with the help of Laura and Lindsey), and Jim and Linda are really glad that the job is done.

Today, they will go back over there to remove the masking tape, stop in at the office to sign some papers and pay the lot rent for February. Hopefully, Jim will take some photos so I can post them here for all to see.  ; )

Did you know that on this date in 1893 - The trademark "Coca-Cola" was first registered in the United States Patent Office?


Wednesday, January 30, 2013

A Problem?

DeBary, FL.

64 deg. partly cloudy, SE breeze @ 5 mph.

Forecast = Partly cloudy. Highs around 84°F. South wind 13 to 18 MPH, gusting to 25 MPH.


One of my faithful readers, Retired Rod , posted a comment on yesterday's blog. He said that he could see a problem coming concerning this blog. He pointed out that if I turn the blog over to the house when Jim and Linda trade me off for a smaller RV, the house won't have a clue of what's happening when Jim and Linda are traveling during the summer months. On the other hand, if I turn the blog over to the new smaller RV, it will be in storage during the winter months and will not have a clue as to what Jim and Linda are doing during that period of time.

Hmmmm!!!! Retired Rod is right!!!! This may be a big problem!!!!

I suppose that the house could do the blog for 1/2 of the year and the RV do the blog for the other 1/2, but that may get really confusing and may cause more problems during the back and forth transitions. Jim or Linda could take over the blog, but I don't think either one of them have any desire to take the time to post on a regular basis.

Or, the blog would just end when Jim and Linda trade me off. After all, they won't be full-timing any more.

Hmmmm!!!! What to do????

I guess I'll have to ponder on this to see if I can come up with something.

Not a whole lot happened yesterday. Jim and Linda went over to the house for awhile. Jim went to ACE Hardware and bought a few more painting supplies, some light bulbs and a new switch for one of the small lamps that they bought the other day. He also went to Lowe's and purchased a motion detector thing that he'll screw into a light socket on the shed so that there will be some light as he and Linda go out of the kitchen door at night.

The plan this morning is to meet Laura over at the house and get going on the painting. They're wanting to get the living room done so that they can get the furniture arranged.

Did you know that on this date in 1933 - "The Lone Ranger" was heard on radio for the first time? The program ran for 2,956 episodes and ended in 1955.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

A Little Job and A Barcalounger For Jim

DeBary, FL.

63 deg. overcast, no wind.

Forecast = Partly cloudy with patchy fog. Highs around 82°F. South southeast wind 5 to 13 MPH. Chance of precipitation near 20%.


When Jim and Linda went over to the house yesterday morning, Jim took some tools along because he had a little job he wanted to do.

You see, the refrigerator doors opened from the left side of the refrigerator and that made it very unhandy to put food in and out as all the cabinets/ stove/sink are on the right side. So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  he took the doors off, reversed the hinges and handles and now the doors open from the right side.

Much handier.

After that little job, he patched some more nail holes in the walls while Linda put some things away that they had brought from inside of me. After finishing those tasks, they decided to head over to the used furniture store to see if they had any lamps that they could use, both in the living room and in the bedroom.

Well, they found some very nice lamps that they purchased, but while they were looking around Linda spotted a large recliner in between a bunch of other chairs and brought it to Jim's attention. It turned out to be a very nice leather Barcalounger that was actually very comfortable for Jim. You see, Jim is 6'4" tall and most of the recliners are too short for him.The biggest problem he has with most recliners is that the footrest catches him right in the middle of his calf's and causes his lower legs and feet to "fall asleep".

They also found a very nice chest of drawers that they purchased to be used for storage and to set the TV on. (When they get a TV).  ; )

Both of these large items will be delivered either Wednesday evening or sometime Thursday, after the living room is painted.

Again all of the items they purchased from the used furniture store were very reasonably priced. In fact because it is the end of the month, they are giving an additional 25% off of most items in the store.

Because they were both tired by this time, Jim and Linda stopped at the Lotus Garden Chinese Restaurant and picked up some food to bring back here to the park. Neither of them had eaten food from this restaurant before, but they both thought the food was quite good and will more than likely return in the future.

After eating, the rest of the evening was spent watching TV, napping, reading and just relaxing.

Did you know that Barcalounger has been producing recliners in America since the 1940's?




Monday, January 28, 2013

Prepping For Paint and Moving Some Stuff

DeBary, FL.

60 deg. partly cloudy, E. wind @ 6 mph.

Forecast =  Partly cloudy with isolated showers. Highs around 81°F. East southeast wind 6 to 13 MPH.


Not a lot to report today. Jim and Linda have been going over to the house and prepping the walls that are to be painted. Emily had a lot of things hung on the walls so there were a lot of nails and screws to remove. Then of course when they are removed, there's little holes all over that have to be patched.

Also, every time that they go over there, they take a box or 2 of stuff. So far, it's been mostly tote boxes out of my basement compartments. Once they get the boxes over there, they either find a place to put the tote boxes or empty the boxes onto shelves or cabinets, thus leaving the tote boxes available for packing other things that are in my cabinets or drawers.

Today, Jim will be going back over to the house again, there's still a little more patching to do. Then tomorrow, Laura is planning on coming over to help with some of the painting.

Like I said, not a lot to report.

Did you know that today is "National Kazoo Day" ?

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Insurance, Dinner and Buying Paint

DeBary, FL.

46 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Mostly sunny. Highs around 75°F. West northwest wind 5 to 9 MPH.


Jim and Linda met Laura and Lindsey over at the house yesterday morning. Laura wanted to see the furniture that Jim and Linda had bought and Lindsey helped Jim measure the rooms that Linda is considering painting.

It was about noon when Jim and Linda came back here to the park. When they got back, Linda called the insurance agent to see what was happening with the insurance on the house. Well, the news wasn't good. The agent told her that he had contacted the company and they had told him that it would be at least another week before they would even look at the application!!! : (

When Linda told Jim what the agent had said, Jim said, "Enough is enough, we're going with the back-up plan". !!!!!!!

Linda told the agent what they wanted to do and he said to come on over to the office and he'd get it set up.

So,  ,  ,  ,  after Linda grabbed a bite to eat, they headed over there and purchased a policy that gives them very good liability insurance but no insurance at all on the house or anything in it.

Now I know that to some of you this may seem crazy, but being that Jim and Linda didn't pay much at all for the house, (they could buy 4 or 5 of these houses for what it would cost to replace me), and they're planning on having almost all used furniture inside of it, the risk of losing a lot of money in case of a total loss is minimal. As far as personal "things", Jim and Linda don't have too much of that, and have no intention of collecting a lot of "stuff" in the future.

Also, because just the liability insurance is much less expensive than home insurance, they will be able to save some money to put in the bank in case they need or want to buy another house in the future.

This is not an ideal situation but it seems like one of the only options available for a manufactured home this old. (Built in 1976).  I can't stress too much to anyone who is considering buying property or a home in FL. Make absolutely sure that you can get insurance on anything you buy, before you sign anything!!!!!!  Insurancewise, (I don't think that's a real word), there are some crazy thing happening down here in FL and the rules are changing from day to day. It's not like buying insurance in any other state!!!!!!

For dinner, Jim and Linda met Laura and Lindsey over at the Arby's restaurant in Orange City and then went to Home Depot to pick out and buy paint and supplies for the house. Laura is very good with colors and decorating and Linda really wanted her opinion.

After purchasing (just the right color paint),  Laura and Lindsey headed home and Jim and Linda came back here.

So, ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  Jim and Lind have made the insurance decision and they have decided that they're not going to "look back".  If something happens, Jim and Linda will still be all right. They have enough resources right now that they could go out and buy another house like this one. And, they're still planning on having a medium sized RV for the foreseeable future, so they'll also have that option.

Today, Jim and Linda will be going over to the house and will start the "prep" work for the painting. Then when there's time, Laura will come over and help with the painting.

Did you know that on this date in 1950 - The American Associated Insurance Companies, of St. Louis, MO, issued the first baby sitter’s insurance policy?



Friday, January 25, 2013

A Call To Laura and A Call From Denny

DeBary, FL.

50 deg. overcast, light mist, no wind.

Forecast = Mostly sunny. Highs around 75°F. Northeast wind 3 to 7 MPH.


Nothing too exciting happened yesterday. After lunch, Jim and Linda took CLT (Cute Little Truck), and headed to Walgreen's to pick up some much needed items and then went to Win Dixie and bought a few groceries that they were out of.

Oh, Linda called Laura and asked her if she would help do some painting and decorating over at the house. It probably would have been better to get that stuff done before getting the furniture, but sometimes you just can't make everything happen in just the right order.

Anyway, Laura said that she'd be glad to help and in fact, I think that today, she may come over and "survey the situation" to see what paint and supplies will be needed.

Later in the day, Denny, (one of the Illinois Bunch), called. He and Bev are at Denny's sister's house in Lakeland right now and are on their way to Thonotosassa for the month of February. They were fooling around with a computer and Denny was wanting to know the address of the house so that they could look up the location.

The way things stand right now, we won't be able to get down to Thonotosassa while they're there, so they are trying to figure out a way that they could stop by here for a day or so when they leave there and start their return trip back to Illinois.

That would be great!!! I hope they can work it out!!! : )

Jim called the Insurance Agent yesterday and he told them that he still hadn't heard back from the insurance company. So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  still more waiting on that issue.  : (

Did you know that on this date in 1949, the first Emmys were presented at the Hollywood Athletic Club?

Thursday, January 24, 2013

A Little Shopping Trip And A Big Shopping Trip

DeBary, FL.

41 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Mostly sunny. Highs around 73°F. West northwest wind 5 to 11 MPH.


Jim took CLT yesterday morning and went shopping for some supplies that will be needed at the house. You know, things like a broom, dust pan, light bulbs and plastic garbage bags. He also bought one of those water pitchers with the filter in it so that they could have some drinking water at the house that didn't taste like chlorine.

Then after he returned, he and Linda headed over to one of the used furniture stores that they had found a couple weeks ago. It's called "All In One Resale" and because they're well known in the area, they have a large turn-over of furniture. So, what they have in stock today may be completely different from what they had 2 weeks ago.

This was the case when Jim and Linda went there yesterday. They had just received a very nice living room set that consisted of a sofa, love seat, chair, ottoman and 2 end tables.

After looking through more of the inventory, Jim and Linda also found 2  nice dressers and night stand for the bedroom and a nice table and chairs for Linda to use as a sewing/craft table in the small bedroom. The table and chairs are metal but the table top is hardwood and the chairs have nice padded seats.

After doing some "dealing" with the owners, Jim and Linda decided to purchase all of the above and have it delivered to the house. The store owners said that they could deliver it yesterday evening, so from the resale shop, they headed right over to the house.

I can't remember if I mentioned it or not, but Jim and Linda had purchased a "secretary" when they were there and the store was holding it for them until they could move it into the house, so they would deliver that also.

Oh, and also a table lamp that the store owners threw in for free!. : )

About 5:45, the resale shop truck pulled up in front of the house and the owners brought all of the items inside and into the proper rooms. Normally there is a delivery charge but being that Jim bought so much from them, they delivered everything for free.

You might think that all of the furniture that Jim and Linda bought cost a lot of money. Well, it didn't. So far, for all the furniture mentioned above, they are still well under $1,000. They still need to buy a bed, TV and something to put the TV onto, but other than that, the house is almost completely furnished.

As you can imagine, all of this furniture is not in perfect condition, but that's OK with Jim and Linda. You see, their attitude about "stuff" has changed a lot over the last 12 years. It is no longer so important to have many of the things that they had when they owned their previous stix and brix house, and everything doesn't have to be in perfect condition.

I'm hoping that Jim will take some photos of the furniture one of these days so I can show it to you. : )

Did you know that on this date in 1964 - CBS-TV acquired the rights to televise the National Football League’s 1964-1965 regular season? The move cost CBS $14.1 million a year.





Wednesday, January 23, 2013

House Photos

DeBary, FL

40 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Mostly sunny. Highs around 68°F. North wind 7 to 9 MPH.

While Jim and Linda were over at the house the other day, Jim took some photos of the inside of the house. This first one is of the "screen room" that you enter as you go into the house from the back of the car port. That's the storage shed with a washer and dryer, workbench and shelves in it straight ahead and off to the left is the screen door going out to the back yard.
After you enter the screen room this is the view looking back at the car port. You can see CLT parked out there.

                                      

After you go up the steps and through the door, you are in the kitchen.

Looking off to the left through the kitchen, you see the dining area.

This is a view from the living room looking into the dining area.

Hi Linda!!

From the dining area, this is the living room. As you can see, there's no furniture except a few small cabinets that Emily left because she won't have room for them in her apartment.


Looking towards the front of the house from the living room you look out onto the "Florida room", which runs all the way across the front of the house.

Looking to your left as you come out of the living room and out into the Florida room you see the front door of the house.

This is the view looking back into the Florida room from the front door.

About half of the windows open and have screens, so it should be a nice place to sit and enjoy the nice weather.  This room is also heated and Air conditioned, so it is usable in all but the coldest or hottest weather.

At the rear of the house is the Master bedroom. it is fairly large and has a door going outside that Emily and her husband had installed because they wanted an exit at the rear of the house in case of an emergency, (such as a fire).
                                     
Looking back at the other end of the bedroom you can see the bathroom door to the left, one of 2 large closets to the center of the photo and the door going into the hallway to the right.

                                     

There is another smaller bedroom, but Jim didn't get a good photo of it. Linda will use that room for a sewing/craft room.

It's not a fancy home but Jim and Linda think that with a little painting, decorating and some furniture, it should be very comfortable.

Did you know that today is "National Pie Day"?

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Waiting

DeBary, FL.

54 deg. clear, N. wind @ 8 mph.

Forecast = Partly cloudy. Highs around 68°F. North northeast wind 11 to 15 MPH.


It's been awhile since my last post so I thought I'd bring you up to date on what's been happening.

WAITING!!!!!!

Yep. waiting on inspectors, insurance agents and insurance companies. Right now, the ball is in the insurance companies court and by Wednesday or Thursday, Jim and Linda should know for sure what they're going to do. Their agent seems pretty confident that everything will go through, but if it doesn't, Jim and Linda now have developed a back-up plan. (Just in case.)

Sunday, Laura, Lindsey and Ashley met Jim and Linda over at the house. CLT, (Cute Little Truck), says that  from what he heard, it sounded like they really liked it. They spent an hour or so looking at things and Laura had some good suggestions as to how to arrange furniture etc., when they do finally buy some.

Jim and Linda have also started moving a few things out of me and into the house. Yesterday, Jim took a few totes out of my basement and CLT says that he took some stuff out of the back of him and put it into the storage shed.

One other thing they have done is to start making lists of items they need to purchase, such as cleaning supplies, light bulbs and paper products. (Especially TP)  ; )  They also started a list of a few food and drink items they want to take over there so that they can have a snack and a drink.

I'm sure there will be more lists and items on them, but this is a start. : )

Today, I expect that they will take a few more items over to the house. Linda's getting real "itchy" to go looking at furniture so they may do some of that too.

Did you know that on this date in 1947 - KTLA, Channel 5, in Hollywood, CA, began operation as the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River?



Saturday, January 19, 2013

More About Insurance

DeBary, FL.

54 deg. cloudy, N. wind @ 9 mph.

Forecast = Mostly cloudy with isolated showers. Highs around 75°F. Northeast wind 9 to 14 MPH. Chance of precipitation near 20%. Precipitation amounts of 0.02 in. possible.


The insurance company that Jim and Linda found to insure the double wide have not been making it easy. First they wanted a roof inspection, so Jim and Linda had to hire an inspector to come out and check it out and to take photos of the roof and all 4 sides of the house.

Of course this all takes time. You have to make an appointment with the inspector to come out to the house to inspect it, then, you have to wait for the results to be sent to the agent.

Yesterday, Jim and Linda went to the agent's office and though that everything was set.  But,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,   now the insurance company has decided that they want what they are calling a "4 point inspection"!!! Now, I don't know what all of this involves, (I think electric and plumbing are 2 of the 4 items), but I do know that Jim and Linda had to call the inspector again and make another appointment for him to come out again!! : (

So, today, the inspector is supposed to call Jim and Linda. He says that he should have time to preform the inspection sometime between 10 AM and 2 PM and will tell them what time he'll be able to make it over there when he calls.

Of course all of this costs money. Not a whole lot, but still!! : (

IF the inspector finds that everything is OK, and IF he gets the results to the insurance agent in a timely manner, everything should be taken care of by the first part of next week.

The insurance companies down here in Florida are making it more and more difficult to get insurance on homes, especially the older ones. (They do not want to insure them, but are being forced to by the state), In fact one of the terms that Jim and Linda have heard a lot lately is "Self Insured"!!!! Basically what that means is that you buy liability insurance and don't have any insurance on the home at all. Then if something happens to the home, you just absorb the cost and buy something else to replace it. 

Not a very attractive thought!! : (

So,  ,  ,  ,  the wait continues. Hopefully this inspection will satisfy the insurance company and everything will move along. All of this is becoming very stressful!!!!!

Did you know that Dolly Parton was born on this date in 1946?


Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Insurance, A Word Of Caution

DeBary, FL.

61 deg. partly cloudy, no wind.

Forecast = Partly cloudy. Highs around 81°F. South southwest wind 5 to 9 MPH.


The last few days have been spent getting utilities for the house switched over to Jim and Linda's name, (not hard but very time consuming), and finding insurance. The utilities were not difficult at all, but the insurance was something else.

Just a word of caution to anyone who is planning on buying a home down here in Florida. You see, since the last hurricane hit Florida, the insurance companies down here are very picky as to what they are willing to insure.

Even though Emily had insurance on the home, that insurance company would not continue to insure it and Jim and Linda had a very difficult time finding a company who would!!  They will not insure some homes if they're "Too close to the Ocean" or "Too Old". They give other reasons too but those two are what Jim and Linda heard the most.

Jim and Linda did finally find insurance, but it is more expensive and the coverage not all that good.

So, if you're planning on purchasing any home down here in Florida, Jim and Linda highly recommend that you check with some insurance companies to see if they have any problems with insuring the property before you make the deal. It may make a difference as to what you purchase and where it is located.

Not much else to report. As soon as the movers come and get Emily's furniture out of the house this weekend, Jim and Linda can start looking for furniture and start moving things out of me and into the home.

A Point to Ponder : If a cat always lands on its feet, and buttered bread always lands butter side down, what would happen if you tied buttered bread on top of a cat?

.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

A Big Change For Jim and Linda Part 6 My Future

DeBary, FL.

60 deg. light fog, no wind.

Forecast = Partly cloudy. Fog early. High of 81F. Winds from the SE at 5 to 10 mph.


I know that many of you have more questions about this big change for Jim and Linda. Today, I'm going to try to address a question that I know many of you are asking. This question concerns my future.  

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  What does this big change mean for me?  Well, I’ve known for at least a year that Jim has not been happy with the choice that he and Linda made to purchase a 45 foot Motorhome.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, Jim really likes the way I cruise down the Interstate highways and how well I handle the crosswinds and rough roads. And, he and Linda really enjoy all the room inside of me and the solidness of my construction.  But soon after he and Linda purchased me, they realized that they had sized themselves out of many of the national parks, state parks, county, city parks and COE parks that they really enjoy.

They also can’t get me into a few of the commercial RV Parks that they really like, including a few of the Escapees Club parks. 

Jim and Linda are figuring that at this time, (and this may change in future years), they will be spending 6 or 7 months out of the year at the house down here in Florida, and travel the other 5 or 6 months. They still have family and friends up North that they will want to see as well as doctors, their financial advisor, and they definitely will still want to see Mike and his family in NC and Joe and his family in VA each year. And, they also want to be able to go back out to Portland to see Jeff and Heather again in a couple years.

There's also the problem of where to store me when they're living in the house. There's a storage lot at Highland Country Estates where the house is, but there's not enough room for an RV my size. All of this means that they will be selling or trading me off on a smaller RV. Right now, they’re thinking a Class C or B+ motor home, but a small Class A is not out of the question. 

As of right now, the plan is to keep me at least until Jim and Linda take possession of the double wide. The reason being that once they take possession, they can move a lot of what I, Myrddin before me and Mariah before that, have been carrying around for the past 12 years. 

They will take all of the off season clothes, extra bedding, towels, and anything else that they’ll not need for the next few months and put it in the double wide. Then, when they’ve unloaded everything out of me that they can, they’ll start looking for a much smaller RV. 

Being that they’ll need an RV for their summer travels, (beginning on or about the 1st of May), they’ll need to either trade me off on a different RV, sell me and buy another RV, or keep me until they return to Florida in the fall.

It will all depend on what kind of a deal they can get.

A Point to Ponder : Why do grocery stores buy so many checkout line registers if they only keep 3 or 4 open?


Friday, January 11, 2013

Stuff

DeBary, FL.

60 deg. partly cloudy, no wind.

Forecast = Partly cloudy. High of 81F. Winds from the SE at 5 to 15 mph.



Jim and Linda knew that one day they would have to deal with this, but one of the little hurdles that they have encountered is replenishing some of the”Stuff” that they got rid of when they moved out of their stix and brix home and went full-timing.

You see, they didn’t keep anything that wouldn’t fit into their 35’ Winnebago Chieftain MH or the back of their little pick-up truck. Nothing in storage, (Can you imagine what the cost of storing all their stuff for 12 years would have been?), and only one set of dishes and a few books at Linda’s sister’s house.

Now, they have a double wide home with no furniture at all except a kitchen table and 4 chairs.  There’s no bed to sleep on, no chairs to sit on and no TV to watch.

The kitchen cabinets will be basically empty because the pots, pans, dishes and small appliances they have will be needed in their RV. There’s no silverware, glasses, cups or dishes to put into the cabinets.

Beside there not being a bed for the bedroom, there’s no dressers to put clothes in, no night stands to put a light or a clock on and not even a clock to put on a night stand if they had one.

In other words, they need almost everything!!!!  : O

It’s not possible, nor do they want to go out and buy all new furniture, so,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , what to do??????

Well, Jim has been searching the Internet and has found a few used furniture stores on the area, and Nancy, the Community Manager of the park, has given them a few suggestions, but to completely furnish this home will take quite awhile.

But, being that Jim and Linda don’t really expect to spend any time living in this house until they return this fall, they have some time to get “stuff” for the house, but they would like to have it “livable” by the time they leave this spring.

After some thought, Jim and Linda have started a list of “must have” items. During the month of February, they'll be looking for, (at a minimum),  a couple of  comfortable chairs, a TV, a few lamps, some curtains, (there are blinds on almost all the windows), a few kitchen appliances like a coffee pot, toaster, a microwave and a few pots and pans.

They’ll also need a bed and a couple dressers, but the dressers are not essential as they can manage if they can’t find anything they like right away.

I’m sure the list of things to buy will get longer, but that’s what is on it right now.

Anyway, being that Jim and Linda were out and about yesterday, they stopped by a couple of the used furniture stores, just to see what was available. They found that there’s some items that they’ll probably be able to buy at one of those stores, but some of the items they need will have to be bought new.

I can understand how many of you may think that this is a very stressful time for Jim and Linda, but really, it’s not. They both seem to be looking at purchasing the house and everything that goes with it as another adventure.  Except for getting those few essentials, there really isn’t any pressure.

And, if push comes to shove, they always have their RV to live in. ; )


Did you know that January is "National Polka Music Month"?


Wednesday, January 9, 2013

A Big Change For Jim And Linda Part 5 The Signing

DeBary, FL.

65 deg. fog, no wind.

Forecast = Partly cloudy. High of 82F. Winds from the SE at 5 to 15 mph.


Nancy from Highland Country Estates called about 10:00 yesterday morning and told Jim that Emily had agreed to all the terms of the sale and that she had the papers ready to be signed. So, after lunch, Jim and Linda took CLT (Cute Little Truck), and headed over there.

When they got there, Jim told Nancy that he wanted to do a final walk-through and check out the operation of the heat pump and other appliances and fixtures before signing the papers, so, he and Linda headed over to the house, did the walk-through, chatted with Emily for awhile and then came back to the office and signed the purchase agreement.

So, now it's really official!!!! Jim and Linda will take possession of the home sometime during the last week in January!!!! The exact date, yet to be determined.

Oh, Thought I'd post a few more photos of the double wide here this morning. This 1st one is of the right side of the house, looking from the street.

And, of course, this is of the left side of the house.

This one is of the back side of the house, showing the new heat pump that was just installed in the spring of 2012.

Jim took a bunch of photos inside of the house too, but being that Emily is packing up, there's lots of clutter around and in most of them, you can't really tell too much about the rooms.

I'll check though. Maybe I can find a few to post.

A Point to Ponder : By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

A Big Change For Jim And Linda Part 4

DeBary, FL.

61 deg. overcast, no wind.

Forecast = Partly cloudy with a chance of rain. High of 79F. Winds from the SE at 5 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 20%.


Jim called Nancy about 10:00 yesterday morning and asked if she had been able to contact Emily. She said that she had not because Emily was gone for the weekend, but would contact her and get back to him right after lunch.

About 12:30 Nancy called back and said that she had talked to Emily and had the answers to some of the questions that Jim and Linda had about the house. So, around 1:00 Jim and Linda took CLT and headed over there.

After talking to Nancy for a little while and telling Nancy that they felt the price of the home was still too high, they all headed over to the house to check out the items that Jim and Linda wanted to see again. While Jim and Linda were checking things out, Nancy talked to Emily and was able to get the price reduced more.

Oh, this time, Jim took his camera along and took a bunch of photos of the house. The photo below is the first one I've seen and is of the front of the house, taken from across the street.

It looks pretty nice to me and CLT said that he felt nice and comfortable in the carport. : )


Don't forget, you can click on the photo to enlarge if if you want.

After their inspection and talking to Emily for awhile, Jim, Linda and Nancy headed back to the office. After talking to Nancy for awhile and asking even more questions, Jim and Linda told Nancy they they would accept the new price and buy the home.

So,  ,  ,  ,  unless something very unforeseen happens, around the 1st of February, Jim and Linda will be the proud owners of a 44 foot long, 48 foot wide, 2 bedroom, 2 bath, double wide manufactured home!!!!

Now, I know many of you have a lot of questions. I'll try to cover most of them in future posts. One of the main questions that I've been asked already is, "Are Jim and Linda going to hang up the keys?"

The short answer to that question is "NO"!!!! In fact they still have plans to head up to VA and NC to see the boys this spring, Spend a good part of the summer in Rantoul, IL and go to the Family Reunion in WI in July. Then the plan is to stay at Rantoul until sometime in September, before heading East and then South for the winter.

Just like they normally would.

They plan is to stay in the home while they are in Florida for the winter but still travel during the summer months when it's very hot in Florida.

Jim says that there's still things he and Linda want to see and do!! ; )

A Point to Ponder : Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.

Monday, January 7, 2013

A Big Change For Jim And Linda Part 3


DeBary, FL

52 deg. overcast, no wind.

Forecast = Mostly cloudy with rain showers. High of 70F. Winds from the NE at 5 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.


My last post had Jim and Linda checking out the double wide unit that had all the work done on it.

After much more discussion and thought, it was pretty much decided that this double wide would be right for their needs so Jim and Linda told Nancy, ( the Community Manager), that they would like to try to make a deal with Emily for the home.

So, they made an offer.

Now, at this time Emily was at her daughter’s house for the Holiday so it took awhile for her to get back to Nancy, but on Friday, the 4th of January, she called back and gave them her reply.

Now, Jim and Linda have a few more questions and concerns, but after even more conversation, checking on finances and other technicalities, it was decided that if their questions and concerns were answered, and they didn’t find any problems with the home after another viewing, either today or tomorrow, they would go ahead and accept Emily’s price.

So, as of right now, there have been no papers signed but unless something happens, it sure looks like Jim and Linda are going to do this.

I should know what’s going to be happening for sure in the next couple days.

A Point to Ponder : One nice thing about egotists: They don't talk about other people.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

A Big Change For Jim And Linda Part 2

DeBary, FL.

60 deg. overcast, no wind.

Forecast = Overcast with a chance of rain, then a chance of a thunderstorm and rain showers in the afternoon. High of 79F. Winds from the NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.


In my last post, Jim and Linda had stopped at the Office of the Manufactured Home Park in DeBary.


Upon entering the office, they met Nancy, the Community Manager of the park. After talking to her for a little while and telling her what they were generally looking for in a home, she told them that she had a few that she thought they might like, and offered to show them to them.

Nancy showed Jim and Linda 4 different homes that day. 2 of them were single wide, (which Jim and Linda thought would be large enough for their purposes),  but soon realized that the storage in most single wide units was almost non existent. In fact, there was such a small amount of storage that they didn’t think that they’d even be able to find a place for the things that I’ve been carrying around.

The double wide units had much more storage room, but seemed way too big to them after living in an RV for 12 years. But, they pretty much decided that it was the way they needed to go.

Of the 2 double wide homes, one was much nicer than the other. It’s owned by an elderly lady who had lost her husband a year or so ago. Before he passed, they had done a lot of work on the home and since then, she has had even more work done.

After Christmas, and after thinking about the home over the Holiday, Jim and Linda decided that they wanted to go back and see the house again. So, on the 28th of  December, they called Nancy and made arrangements to go back and closely check it out.

After talking to Nancy for awhile about park regulations and other things about the park itself, they went over to the house.

The owner is a lady named Emily and she is in the process of packing up all her belongings and moving so that she is near where her daughter lives. She has a lot of items packed up already and it doesn’t look like it would take her too long to pack up the rest.

The home is an older home, (as are all of the homes in this community), but has been very well maintained and, like I said, has had a lot of work done on it.

The carpeting is fairly new, (less than 2 years), the flooring in the kitchen has just been replaced, there are new plumbing fixtures and sink basins in the bathrooms, the refrigerator is only about 2 years old, (as are the washer and drier), the steps leading into the kitchen have been replaced with wide and very sturdy steps with strong railings and the heat pump that heats and cools the house was replaced just this last spring.

Jim and Linda said that you can tell that the home was very well cared for and so far, only found a few small items that would need attention.

A Point to Ponder : Where in the nursery rhyme does it say humpty dumpty is an egg?

Saturday, January 5, 2013

A Big Change For Jim And Linda Part 1

DeBary, FL.

50 deg. overcast, no wind.

Forecast = Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain. Fog early. High of 73F. Winds from the NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.


Well, here's the news you've been waiting for. As of today, 1/5/2013, this is what I know. There's still a few "t's" to cross and "i's" to dot, but I'm 99% sure that this is going to happen.

Jim and Linda are going to be making a big change in their lifestyle. I’ve known about it for a long time but was nothing definite and I know Jim and Linda didn't want me to say anything until they were sure that they were really going to do this.

They have decided to stop Full-Timing. Yep, you read that right. As early as last fall, Jim started to look on the Internet to find possible places to settle down. He did searches on different areas of the country to try to get an idea of what the climate would be like year round. He checked on cost of living, home prices, rent prices, taxes, insurance, licenses fees, and even crime rates. He did searches on stix and brix homes for sale, apartments to rent, Park models, and single wide and double wide manufactured homes for sale.

The location was the first thing that had to be determined. They wanted to be close to at least one of their kids and after much research and thought, both decided that Florida would probably be the best location for them.

The pros:  A state where the weather is good during the winter months.
                A state that is fairly close to some of their kids and grandkids. (3 of their   Children  along the East Coast,)
Low taxes
Low housing costs at this time.
Close to Laura and her family.

The cons: Very hot and humid summers.
Hurricanes.
Possible high insurance costs.
Almost as far away from Jeff in Portland Oregon as they can be.  : (

And, I’m sure there’s more pros and cons, but you get the idea. It’s just like everything else, there ain’t  no 10’s!!!!

So, the location was determined. Now they had to decide on what kind of home they wanted and could afford.

They looked at prices of stix and brix homes, some park models here at the Highbanks CampResort, Checked on rent prices and finally decided that a single wide or double wide manufactured home was within their budget and best met their needs.

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  between Thanksgiving and Christmas they started driving around to the manufactured home parks in this area and started looking at used single and double wide models.

The parks in this area range all the way from “trashy” to very “upscale”, so that cut down somewhat on the parks that would be of interest to them. (They were interested in a park that was somewhere in the middle).  ; )

Now, at all of these parks, you own the manufactured home, but you lease or rent the land, (or site), and pay a monthly or yearly fee. You pay for your own electricity at all of the parks and at some, the water, sewer, cable TV and other amenities are included.  But, at others, some or all of the amenities are paid for by the home owner. Of course prices vary widely, so you have to do your homework.

One of the first parks that they checked out up by DeLand and was kind of nice, but after doing some research and talking to some people, it was determined that they have a real problem with their water supply. (lots of rust and bad tasting.)  And, the park also has their own sewage plant, and it is right up to capacity. Soon the owners of this park will be forced to make major improvements so that will undoubtedly raise the prices at that park.

The next park was nice, but after talking to the sales lady they determined that their homes were quite high priced. It is in Orange city, so the location would have been very good. They also had some very strict “rules and regulations” in the park, so that was also a negative.

The next park was in DeBary. It is very nice, but Jim said that he didn't feel comfortable there. It’s a newer park and most of the homes have large yards with lots of landscaping. He and Linda both felt that it was too “upscale” for them to be comfortable at so they turned around and drove back out.

DeBary was also the location of the next park that they visited. It’s an older park that is well established. The homes are older but both the homes and the park appear to be very well maintained. They have a few single wide and a few double wide homes for sale, the lots are fairly small but the homes don’t seem to be too crowded together.

After driving through the park and doing a quick drive-by look at the homes that are for sale, Jim and Linda stopped at the office to get more information.

Did you know that on this date in 1933 - Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began?






Friday, January 4, 2013

A Screeching Halt

DeBary, FL.

53 deg, rain, N. breeze @ 2 mph.

Forecast = Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain. Fog early. High of 68F. Winds from the North at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.


There has been absolutely nothing going on here in DeBary since I last posted. I know that many of you are sitting there on the edge of your seats waiting for me to post about the big change that I wrote about, but all of that seems to have come to a screeching halt!!! : (  I'm still quite sure that the change is going to come about and I was sure that I'd have some information by now, but now, looking back, I guess I jumped the gun a little when I mentioned it. : O   Hopefully I'll get some news either today or the first part of next week.

Laura stopped by on New Year's Day, and then that evening, she, Lindsey, Ashley, Jim and Linda all went to Gram's Kitchen for dinner. CLT (Cute Little Truck), says that he thinks that they did more talking than eating but thinks everyone really enjoyed their meals. Since then, Jim and Linda have gone to the grocery store to pick up a few "essentials" and last night, they went to Steak & Shake for a sandwich.

Other than that, they've just been doing everyday things.

Did you know that January is "National Soup Month"?