Decorations and Christmas Plans

DeBary, FL.

45 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Clear. High of 77F. Winds less than 5 mph.


It's been pretty quiet around here lately. Oh, people have been out and about, doing things to get ready for the holidays but nothing much else happening. Jim's allergies have really been bothering him the last few days. He has to be very careful about what medications he takes for his allergies as many of the meds cause him some very undesirable side effects.  : (

He did go out one day and take some more photos of the decorations here in the park. These were taken just before it got dark, but they had already turned on the lights for the evening.

In this photo of me, you can see the little Christmas tree that is sitting on my dash.

The weather around here has been really nice for the most part. The temperatures have been in the 70's and even into the lower 80's a few days. Jim and Linda haven't been outside too much though because the mosquitoes have been really bad this year. If there isn't a pretty strong breeze blowing, it's almost impossible to sit outside without covering yourself with bug spray.

Plans are starting to come together for Christmas. As of now, it' looks like Jim and Linda will be going to Marv and Inez's (Lindsey's parents) house the Sunday before Christmas and then go to Laura and Lindsey's on Christmas Eve. As of right now, there are no plans for Christmas day. They're having a Christmas dinner here at the park. but neither Jim or Linda seem too interested in going to it.

Linda suggested that maybe they could go out to eat someplace, but they're finding out that most of the restaurants in the area will be closed.

Oh well, they can always stay here and eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  ; )

Did you know that the first president to decorate the white house Christmas tree in the United States was Franklin Pierce?

Wandering North And Then West To Another Great RV Park

Nice, CA.

42 deg. cloudy, no wind.

Forecast = Partly cloudy. High of 72F. Winds from the WNW at 5 to 15 mph.


Jim woke up earlier than usual yesterday morning, so instead of just sitting around, he woke up Linda and we left the Dos Reis Park at 10 minutes after nine, (almost an hour earlier than usual).

Once back on I-5, we continued heading in a northerly direction, through Stockton, Sacramento and up to exit 578 at Williams where we turned West on Rt 20.

Now, I'd like to make a comment about a comment I received yesterday from Paul and Marsha Weaver, I don't know about the condition of I-5 through the whole state of California, but the section that I was on, (exit 403 to exit 578), was in good condition with only a few rough spots. There were a few construction areas but nothing that even slowed down the flow of traffic.

Anyway, after turning off of I-5 onto Rt. 20, our average speed dropped considerably. You see, 20 is a 2 lane road that heads up into the mountains. As you might suspect, it's a twisty route that is very hilly with lots of sharp turns, so it was slow going! : (   It was about 50 miles from I-5 to Nice, CA and the Aurora RV Marina & Park and I'm not sure, but I think that section took us close to an hour and a half.

It was 1:35 when we pulled into the park, so it took us 4 hours and 25 minutes to travel 167 miles.

As we were pulling into the park, both Jim and Linda remarked that everything looked very familiar, and sure enough, I looked it up on the computer and they had been to this park before, back in November of 2003!!!!  In their comments about the park back then, they said how much they liked this park, and I can understand why.

As soon as I was parked in my site, Jim got out his camera and took some pictures. The first 3 photos below were taken out of my windshield just after we arrived here. It was kind of overcast and there were bugs on my windshield, so please excuse the quality, but I wanted to show you the view of Clear Lake that Jim and Linda have from inside of me. 

And, what a view it is!!!! ; )

View straight ahead.

View off to the right.

View to the left.

As you can see by the photo below, there's only a few trees on the shore of the lake, so the view is almost unobstructed.

Jim took this photo from near my site, looking across the lake.

Oh, as soon as Jim found out that we were going to get a site overlooking the lake, he payed for 3 nights, so we'll be here until Friday. : )

For dinner last night, Jim and Linda took CLT and went to a little restaurant in town called the Marina Grill, which the campground host said was a good place to eat. The restaurant is nothing special, but both the food and service were good. Jim said that he thinks it's one of those places where the "locals" go to eat. ; )

When they returned, they watched TV, played with the computers and read until bedtime.

Did you know that Clear Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake entirely in California, and has the largest surface area of any freshwater lake entirely in California?

Not Much Happening

DeBary, FL.

54 deg. clear, SE wind @ 7 mph.

Forecast = Sunny in the morning then becoming partly sunny. Highs in the mid 70s. East winds 5 to 10 mph becoming southeast 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon.

 

 

Not much been happening the last few days. Laura, Ashley and Anna stopped by for awhile Saturday and then yesterday, They stopped by to pick up Linda and take her to Marv and Inez's house in DeLand where they made gingerbread houses.

 

Jim hasn't been doing a whole lot. The mosquitoes have been really bad and have made it difficult to be outside unless you want to cover yourself with bug spray. He has however, taken bicycle rides and has managed to visit with the neighbors some.

 

Oh, he has been fooling around with trip plans for our proposed trip out West. The way it looks now, We'll leave Florida the first part of February, but as you know, it's all written in pencil and he's got that big eraser, so there's a good chance it will change again. ; )

 

Today or tomorrow, Laura wants to go and see the new Sherlock Holmes movie and has asked Linda and Jim to go along. I'm sure Linda will go, but I doubt if Jim will.

 

He's not a big fan of movie theaters.

 

Like I said, not much happening around here.

 

Did you know that before settling on the name of Tiny Tim for his character in "A Christmas Carol," three other alliterative names were considered by Charles Dickens? They were Little Larry, Puny Pete, and Small Sam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Packages Sent and Visitors To The Park

DeBary, FL.

57 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Partly sunny. Highs in the mid 70s. East winds 5 to 10 mph.


About 9:30 Jim took those packages to the Post Office to mail them. He said that he was really lucky because when he got there, there was a parking spot right in front of the Post Office and when he went inside, there were only about 5 or 6 people waiting in line.

But, by the time he left the Post office, (about 15 minutes later), the parking lot was completely full, there were about 30 people waiting and they were lined up all the way out of the door!!!

Linda spent much of the day yesterday writing out Christmas cards and getting them addressed. She and Jim also worked on a grocery list of stuff they needed that Jim didn't pick up the other day when he went to Winn Dixie for some necessities that they were out of.

About 4:00, Jim and Linda took CLT and headed first to the Post Office to mail those Christmas cards that Linda had finished, then to Walgreen's to pick up a prescription and finally to Arby's for sandwiches for dinner.

So, all the presents and cards are mailed and both Linda and Jim were talking about how good it felt to get that done. Now, the pressure is off and except for doing some baking, all they have to do is wait for Christmas to come. : )

Oh, we had some visitors to the park yesterday. As you can see by the photo below, there were 4 blue herons looking for bugs/ insects/ or whatever it is that they eat in that grassy "island" area where the park has all the decorations set up.

I didn't mind them being there, but they sure were noisy at times.

Today, I think Jim and Linda are going to go to a grocery store. Linda wants to buy some stuff for baking cookies and some other goodies for Christmas. She also needs to get all the "makings" for the TV mix that I understand she makes every year.

I'll bet it's going to be smelling really good inside of me when she's doing all that baking! ; )

Did you know that on this date in 1854 - In Philadelphia, the first street cleaning machine was put into use?

Another Beautiful Day, A Rough Time For Marshall and A Present For Linda

DeBary, FL.

60 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Partly sunny in the morning...then mostly cloudy with isolated afternoon showers. Highs around 80. Southwest winds 15 mph becoming northwest late in the afternoon. Chance of rain 20 percent.


It was another beautiful day here in DeBary yesterday, but Jim didn't spend much time outside because for the last couple days, the mosquitoes have been just really bad. Even though there has been a little breeze, they've still been out and biting anyone who is outside. : (

Jim did spend about an hour and a half talking to Marshall, (the man who lives in the park model behind me). Just one year ago today, he lost his wife due to sickness, and he was needing someone to talk to. Today and this whole Holiday season is probably going to be very rough for him.

Jim says that he remembers when it happened and it was a very sad time in this park.

On a brighter note, Jim gave Linda a present yesterday.

You see, when Jim and Linda got married back in 1985, neither one of them had any money. In fact, Jim likes to tell everyone that he married Linda for her money.

She had $12.95 in the bank. ; ) 

Anyway, there was no money for an engagement ring and all these years, Lind has worn just a wedding band. Well, they talked about getting her a ring but Linda said that she didn't want Jim to spend the money for a ring, so yesterday, Jim gave Linda his mother's diamond ring that he had since she passed.

Wow!!! Talk about happy!!!! Linda cried and cried and I thought Jim was going to have to get out a mop!!  ; ) 

Later on, when Laura stopped by for a few minutes to bring Jim and Linda's mail, Linda couldn't wait to show her the ring.  : )

Yep!! I think Linda really likes her present!!!  : )

Did you remember that it was on this date in 1941 that Pearl Harbor, located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu was attacked by nearly 200 Japanese warplanes? The attack resulted in the U.S. entering into World War II.