MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI

As you can see the Big River! On our way to Branson it was amazing to see how it flooded.

If you look to the lower right you can see how it came over the banks.

As we were going on secondary roads, there were some picnic areas ... that the only way you could tell they were picnic areas was you could see the covers for the picnic tables.
Up next Branson visit.

VISIT WITH KATE

Isn't she cute. She now has a full year of college under her belt and she just LOVED it. In fact she loved it so much, she is going to change to a school in Baltimore,MD. We enjoyed our visit so much with her.

She came over for lunch and she took us to a restaurant (I can't remember the name) that we had no idea how to order. Kate tried to explain it to us, but sounded weird. The long and short of it was the waiter gave you a bowl, you started thru the line, picked out your choice of meat (or all of them) I had shrimp. Then you picked out seasonings, sauces, rice - noodles- potatoe. THEN you handed the bowl to a cook, he threw it on the grill and cooked it. As wierd as it sounds it was good. The name had Kahn (as in Mongolia)in it as I remember. (I thought of you Barb and Mitch when we were ordering and how funny you would think it was)

Kate and John went to KFC for dinner. We were familiar with that. Kate stayed all afternoon and part of the evening. She is very interested in her background, so we got out pictures of her dad, Johns parents, my parents etc. We enjoyed telling funny stories (and true) and she enjoyed it.

Yes, when we left Hendersonville, Tenn. it was in the rain. Headed for Branson

HEADING NORTH

This is what it looked like when we left Monday the 18th. Of course I'm not complaining, as Fl needs the rain really bad ..... but gosh all at once and all week long! We had made reservations at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park for 7 days, but finally gave up and left on Sunday.

We were about the only people there until Thursday and then several came in. On Friday we went to the Fl Folk festival held at the Steven Foster State Park. It rained, but we went prepared as we kept our rain gear from our motorcycling days. As it turned out we only needed jackets and umbrellas as it was very warm. Kind of different when we first showed up, had to get sweatshirts and blanket back out. ANYWAY the park had set up about 6 stages and each stage had different performers about every 30 minutes. There were groups, singles, families, trios. I was glad to see several young people involved. All in all it was a very good day. We got there about 8:30 and gave up about 4. For lunch, besides the usual fare of hot dogs etc. about 5 churches with black congregations were serving. Choices of fried chicken, rice, all sorts of veggies,corn bread. Needless to say we weren't really good for anything after that meal except a nap.
The only thing with folk music is the song is usually too long and usually sad, and that pretty well held up the whole day.

This is what the camp looked like when we came home, I guess most everyone took off early from work and came to the park. We noticed most everyone loaded their golf cart and brought it. Saturday they had a parade and John counted 61.

Sunny when we left .... go figure (but didn't last long)

RAINBOWS AND BALLOONS

I am hoping that you can see this rainbow. It finally rained, actually stormed, hailed etc. So that meant several places needed calking. The sky light leaked, fantastic fan leaked, and the cable from the antena leaked. Oh, I forgot the bedroom slide leaked. Anyway this rainbow showed up after the storm and was beautiful. My lens was not wide angle enough to get the whole thing.

The pinkish color you see is kind of unusual looking.

I took this picture of a hot air balloon in the reflection of the living room slide. Came out pretty good.

There were several balloons that morning and this one was really low. I never get tired of watching them.
Well one more day of pickleball. The guys need to step up, as Debbie and I beat them 5-3 today. That is very unusual as we usually loose. Don't get me wrong we give them a run for their money, but mostly come up short. So we will enjoy our last day, win or lose!!

OOPS

Now what in the world could John be unhappy about. He and Dave just won in pickleball and we are going to Sams.

Oh ..... now you can see why he is not happy. So he got the air compressor out and aired it up, then off to Wal-Mart where bad news awaited us. It so happens that the leak came from the outer wall and was not plugable. After looking at the rest of the tires they didn't look good either, so replacement for all! We were thankful it happened here and not on the road! We did make it to Sams, finally. Didn't get home until 8pm!

I was beginning to wonder about the sand hill crane baby, but they finally show up one day.

He is in the ugly stage, about now, but shows a lot of promise.

NEW AWNINGS!

Well the awning fabric finally came in and it is very nice. Was worth the wait and all the stress. This shows
the contrast. The color doesn't quite match, but looks ok.

The smaller awning was suppose to be the easiest, but ran into a BIG (what else is new) problem, the spring was broken. We remembered that it had broken before, but John fixed it with some zip ties. No luck there, so a run was made to rv parts place and lo and behold they had just what he needed.

The small bedroom window was the only one we didn't have a problem with. The slide topper took 2 hours and should have taken 30 minutes (what else is new). A inset screw had broken off and he couldn't get the arm out. So had to drill out a BIG hole to get it lose. BUT John perservered (middle name) and got the job done. A neighbor offered his ladder and help, which we accepted, and over the course of 3 days 3 more neighbors came by and offered help and suggestions. We welcomed all!!

That will be all of our home improvements for awhile.

There are only 4 of us playing pickleball, so needless to say it doesn't take very long for us to wear out.
But what fun!

VISIT WITH SON DAVE/BACK AT TT

We had a great time visiting with Dave and Kelly. Kept busy going to the horse sales and chiropractor. Yes I did something to my back playing pickleball on Saturday and we left on Monday. So spent M-W-F at the docs then went to the sales. Love sitting at the sales listening to the auctioneers, most of them are really good. No, I didn't buy anything. This is Dave walking a filly they were going to sell, but she went lame.

Our little family. I was looking at this picture and realized I did not do very good on background, as usual. But one of these days will think of everything and will have the perfect picture!

Hmmmmm ... I believe that the last person in this rv site fed this guy. How could you not, he seems to have such manners. As you can tell we are back in TT Orlando. How fortunate we are that there are still pickleball players here. Saturday might be the last day as most everyone that plays in the am are leaving.
But believe there will be some coming in that play in the afternoon. We plan to be here until the 18th and then head for Hendersonville, Tenn to visit our granddaughter.
Did I mention we ordered awning fabric and has been sent back twice. MONDAY is suppose to be the day it comes in and supposed to be correct. This has been going on since April 6 and when ordered was suppose to take "3 or 4 days". The thing I hate is all the tall people are leaving that I was planning on helping us install them.

THEY'RE BACK !!

I was helping John wash the suv (well, ok I was watching for spots he missed) and come the sand hill crane family strolling thru.

Is he (or she) the cutest thing you have ever seen? I was kind of surprised how close they came to us, as usually they are kind of shy with their young.

Will keep you posted and my camera handy if and when they come back thru.

EASTER

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday. First we went to Sunday service then headed on over to Bill and Marilyn's for dinner. It was good to see them, as usual John and Bill sat around.

This is Miss Happy Homemaker and what a job she did for dinner. You should have seen the dessert. I wish I had taken a picture of it.

If Bill ever gets thru eating, we are getting ready to continue our hand and foot game. Can you believe we played 2 hands and still tied up?
Great day, great food, and being with friends ...... special.

ALIVE AND WELL

Today is Sunday April 5. I had my neighbor come over and take our picture before we went to church, just so you would know we are alive and well. Below the pictures show what we have been doing.

EATING

PLAYING PICKLEBALL



I forgot about sleeping and doing laundry. We did go to a college baseball game that was playing near here. U-Conn playing against Toledo of Ohio. Great game.
Then we journed over to the Houston Astros spring training stadium and watched them play Florida Marlins. A funny note .... the Astros pitcher threw a pitch and first baseman had to get off base to stop it, so the pitcher ran over to cover first base and dropped the ball, so runner was safe. John heard an older man say "He's an all around player, can't pitch and can't catch." Also at that game, former president H.Bush came. He looks really good, belive he is about 85. I was so aggravated - FORGOT MY CAMERA!

We are having fun and trying to stay ahead of the great food being consumed by playing pickleball everyday, sometimes twice a day.

AND THE WINNER IS:

There was a pickleball tournament in a rv park near Avon Park about 18 miles from us. Womens doubles, mens doubles on Friday and then mixed doubles on Saturday. Sally had a partner all lined out and then the partner 's husband got sick and she couldn't play, so Sally asked me. We won silver and had a great time. The rv park is Tanglewood and what a beautiful park it is. Has 6 pickleball courts, and they converted the tennis courts so that made 8 courts.

Glen wanted to play and asked John to be his partner. They didn't win, but said that it was a great experience and would like to do it again.
So that is what we have been doing while at Peace River, playing pickleball am and pm. Only now this week it is too hot to play in the evening. This week has been in the 80's and last week, had some mornings in the low 30's. Go figure
Will head into TT Orlando on the 16th.

FUN ON AND AT PEACE RIVER

What a motley crew! Feel like saying "Ahoy Mates". Several of TT members went on a canoe trip. The weather was beautiful and we all had a lot of fun.

Ken, John, Stan, Pat and Sally. Faye was taking the picture, thanks Faye.


Now this is what river canoeing is all about. It just isn't a canoe trip unless someone tips over. ..... it was NOT my fault, I know what you are thinking. All I said was (and really not that loud) "John let's speed up a little and see if we can splash Stan and Sally. Well evidently Stan heard me and said "I"m going to get you first!" Really one would think as much as he has canoed (he said anyway) he would have realized you can't really do it sideways. As everyone knows there is an art to splashing with an oar. So anyway over they go, thank goodness it was a really nice and warm day.


Later on in the week, Stan put on a putt-putt golf tournament, John Sally and I were on one team. Sally was on our team because Stan blamed her for making them tip over. Of course I told everyone whose fault it really was.
We came in last, but I believe we had more fun than anyone.