Moncure, NC

40 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Clear in the morning, then overcast. High of 72F. Winds from the SSW at 5 to 10 mph.


Almost the whole day, Friday, was spent going through old picture albums. I didn't know that there were so many photos of Jim, Linda, their kids, grand kids, parents and ancestors!! Altogether, there are 5 large boxes of albums with probably, on an average of 12 to 15 albums per box!!!  Some of them are very large with many pages and some are smaller with fewer pages. Most of the photos are from the 1940's to present but there are some with photos going way back to the time of Jim and Linda's great grandparents!!!

Of course, not all the photos are labeled, so then they have to try to figure out who the people in the photos are. This is especially hard with the very old photos, and there's really no way to find out because there's no one left who could identify them. : (

So far, Jim and Linda have gone through 4 of the boxes and have just the one more to do.

So what do Jim and Linda do with the photos when they find some that they want to use?  Well, first they tried scanning them, but that was taking forever and was almost impossible to do without destroying some of the older albums. Then Jim got the idea of taking digital photos of the photos with his camera. This seems to work pretty well. They are laid on the kitchen table where there is natural light coming in through the window, and then as long as he can rest his arms/hands on something to steady the camera, the digital photos come out quite well.

Of course if they don't turn out well, he can quickly delete them and try again.

Once he gets the photos, he downloads them  onto the computer using Picasa, crops and edits the photos if necessary, and then saves them in a file for Linda to use later in her Family Tree program.

Yesterday, Mike and Dillon came out here to the RV Park to see me. Jim forgot to take pictures again, so these photos are from earlier in the week and taken at Mike and Gina's house.

Friday, was Dillon's birthday, so Jim and Linda gave him the "Batmobile" that they had bought and a book.

He seemed to really enjoy both presents and even had Mike read the book to him while they were here. ; ) They also walked over to the little playground that they have here at the park so that Dillon could swing on the swings and bang the tether ball around. ; )  

Today, the weather is supposed to be nice, so Jim is planning on doing some things outside. He needs to check me out to make sure I'm ready to leave here on Wednesday, check the air pressure in CLT's (Cute Little Truck's), tires and check on a leak up at my front clearance lights.

Then, this evening, the plan is to meet Mike and his family at the Perkins Restaurant in Apex for dinner.

Did you know that on this date in 1926, the book "Winnie-the-Pooh," by A.A. Milne, made its debut?

What A Windy Day!!

Tecopa, CA.

44 deg. partly cloudy, SE wind @ 10 mph.

Forecast = Partly cloudy. High of 64F. Winds less than 5 mph.


Whew!!!! What a windy day yesterday!!! Dust everywhere, things being blown around in the park and at the same time, people trying to do things, like get ready to leave the park for the season or just get over to the clubhouse for the hot dog roast the CG owners had yesterday.

It wasn't too bad in the morning and Jim was out and about talking to the neighbors. He's become pretty good friends with Andy and Mary who have the old Midas Motor Home parked on my right side.

They leave the MH here and come back every year for 6 months. Mary does things with stones and rocks and Andy helps her scour the desert to find the stones and gems she wants. When they're not here, they have a house up in the mountains, someplace near Sacramento, CA.

Many, many years ago, Andy used to do a lot of  motocross racing and now he's paying for it with bad hips and knees.

In fact, Jim and Andy spent some of the day over at the clubhouse watching the NASCAR race on TV. I never did find out how the race turned out after it was stopped for rain.

I guess I'll have to check on the Internet after I get done writing this.

Anyway, it was about noon when the wind started picking up and it just kept getting stronger and stronger as the day went on. (I'm sure we had gusts in the 50 mph range).  It was still blowing at 10:00 pm but died down sometime during the night.

Oh, and I mentioned the hot dog roast over at the clubhouse. Well, Mike and Marie, (the park owners), decided that they were going to roast hot dogs on the grill and invited everyone in the park to come over and have some. Some people brought relish, mustard and catchup, and someone even brought some beans.

Luckily the wind hadn't picked up too much by noon and it sounds like a good time was had by all. : ) 

While Jim and Andy were over at the clubhouse watching the race, Linda was doing laundry and reading. By mid-afternoon, no one was outside except a few RVers who had to walk their dogs.

Today, I don't think Jim and Linda have much planned. I'm pretty sure that tomorrow they're going back to Death Valley again to see more of the sights, and then on Wednesday or Thursday, they're planning on going to get groceries.

A Point to Ponder : Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.

Warming Up, An Errand and A Little Shopping

DeBary, FL.

42 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast:

Widespread dense fog early in the morning then becoming mostly sunny. Highs around 70. West winds around 5 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon.

Still not a whole lot happening around here. Laura and Ashley stopped by for a little while Wednesday afternoon. Then, after another chilly start to the day yesterday, it warmed up nicely to close to 70 degrees. Since it was nice out, Jim and Linda decided to run some errands and do a little shopping.

The first thing they did was to have CLT (Cute Little Truck), take them over to Sanford, FL. where there is a big mall. Linda had a couple pairs of moccasins that needed repairs, so they took them to a shoe repair place in the mall.

After dropping them off, they headed to a book store where they bought a book that both of them have been wanting to read. Next was a Batteries + store where Jim tried to find a little battery for a remote control for my electric cord reel and basement door locks, but alas, it looks like that battery has been discontinued and is no longer available. : ( 

From Batteries +, they stopped at a Steak & Shake for a sandwich before having CLT bring them back here to the park.

After they returned, Jim went out and hooked me back up to the city water supply, since they're not forecasting freezing temperatures for this area for at least the next 7 days. : )

I don't know what the plans are for today. I was looking at the calendar yesterday and realized that we only have 17 more days before we leave DeBary, so if Jim and Linda have stuff to do before we leave, they had better get going and get it done!!

A Point to Ponder : How did the headless horseman know where he was going? 

They Were Right and Getting Ready

DeBary, FL.

39 deg. clear, gusty west wind @ 10 mph.

Forecasts

Today

Sunny...windy. Highs in the upper 40s. Northwest winds 15 to 20 mph and gusty.

Tonight

Clear and very cold. Lows in the upper 20s. Locally colder across rural areas. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph decreasing to around 5 mph after midnight.

 

Yep, they were right. The temperature just kept dropping yesterday and now the wind is picking up, so being that it's only supposed to get into the upper 40's today, it's going to feel really cold with the 15 to 20 mph winds!!! : (

 

Jim took CLT and went to Home Depot yesterday morning. There were a few things he needed and he wanted to get a couple water filters for me. Then on the way back here, he stopped at the Winn Dixie grocery store and pick up a few items that he and Linda needed.

 

After lunch, he went out and put some water in my fresh water tank and then put the fresh water hose away to get ready for the freezing temperatures. The hoses can usually stand some freezing without bursting, but if the fittings freeze, they usually end up broken or cracked.

 

Everyone here in the park who has plants outside were either taking them inside, if they were potted, or covering them up if they were too big or planted in the ground. Many were also draining water hoses and putting them and anything else that could freeze away.

 

Linda hasn't been feeling real well the last few days, so she spent most of the day reading one of the books she got for Christmas. For dinner, she just heated up some chicken and got out some potato salad. That, along with some veggies made a nice meal.

 

I don't think there are any plans for today. If the weather is as nasty as they're forecasting most everyone will be staying indoors. Besides, by the weekend it's supposed to be back into the 70's again, so why go out today if you can wait a day or two?  ; )

 

Did you know that today is "National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day"?