Thanksgiving & More!

Again it's been a busy week starting off Mon. night with the ice cream social followed by hot dogs at the bonfire Tues. night! The weather was a little chillier this week so not as many attendees at the bonfire (yeah, I know, you'd think they'd come cause the bonfire would keep them warm!)

We also put up our Christmas decorations this week! Since space was limited, I only brought a couple small decorations for each of the holidays...a small jack-o-lantern for Halloween, a small scarecrow for Fall/Thanksgiving, and a small wooden snowman and nativity for Christmas. When I was in St. Louis my friend, Gloria, had given me a small, plush snowman with a St. Louis Cardinals scarf and cap so I planned on adding that to the "decorations". Additionally I had brought along a couple dish towels representing each of the holidays. I figured we'd get a very small fake tree to complete the decor. Well, my husband surprised me when we were at Wal-mart and headed to the Christmas section where he proceeded to buy a 32" tree with fiber optic lights, snowman window clings, cotton blanket for the snow, a string of icicle lights, and green garland to hide the wiring! So as you can see from the photos, we're all set for Christmas! Since Jo likes to lay on the dashboard to get some sun, we cut out a section so she could look out, but she seems to prefer laying on the "snow blanket" under the tree!

Thursday we drove down to Rick and Jill's house in Ft. Walton Beach to spend Thanksgiving. This time not only did Mikey and Abby get to go, but so did Jo. They were our neighbors when Jo adopted us in Lancaster so they were looking forward to seeing her again and said that Romeo liked kitties. As expected, Jo initially spit at Romeo but then just made herself at home. Jill was busy preparing the Oyster Dressing New Orleans Style, so Russ and Rick spent their time trying to find an easy way to cleanly open the pecans we had brought, which were given to us by a campground neighbor. They tried several pliers, vices, and clamps but couldn't find anything that made it easy to get the meat out once opened. But it kept them busy. :-) A couple hours later we headed to Jean's house (Jill's mom) for the Thanksgiving feast. Mikey, Abby, and Romeo came along so Jean's dog, Rags, would have company. Russ and Rick were in charge of deep frying the two turkeys while Jill, Jean, and I went over to a friend of Jean's for hors d'oeuvres and some yummy homemade Sangria. When we returned, the turkeys were done, and it was time to eat and what a feast! Jill and Jean had prepared everything they had learned in a cooking class a couple weeks before, and all was incredibly delicious.

Crazy as we are, we ventured out on Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year....what were we thinking! Jill wanted us to see Old Tyme Pottery, one of her favorite stores in Destin. It was crowded but not nearly as bad as the Bass Pro Shop! Good grief, what a nightmare! Then we stopped at the Lucky Snapper Bar & Grill (http://www.luckysnapper.com/) for a Bloody Mary and a bite to eat. We had planned to sit outside on the deck overlooking Destin Harbor, but there was a bit of a breeze which made it a little too chilly. So we sat in the bar and still had a nice view. Of course, I forgot to bring my camera! Friday night Jill and I went to a Beaujolais wine party being held by Jean's friend, Sara, while the guys stayed home and watched football.

Saturday was a big day for football as far as Russ was concerned, but the only things I was really interested in watching was ESPN Game Day at 9am, which was being done live from Kansas City, the scene of that night's Border War, and of course, the BIG game at 7pm!! So after Game Day and breakfast, Rick, Jill, and I went over to Jean's so I could use her sewing machine and they could help her with some stuff. But then it was back to their house to get ready for the BIG game!! (Have I mentioned that it was a BIG game?!!?) For those of you who may not follow college football, what made this game even BIGGER than what it already was is the fact that LSU, the #1 team in America, had lost their game to the unranked Arkansas team on Friday, which meant the winner of the Missouri/Kansas game on Saturday could potentially become #1 in the nation! So we were fired up come game time (as if we needed extra incentive), wearing our Missouri shirts, and ready for a great game. Rick and Jill are loyal to their own college teams but cheered along for Mizzou as did their friend, Steve, who came over initially to watch the Florida game beforehand. In the end our Missouri team prevailed winning 38-26!! And the BCS poll came out yesterday, and Missouri is #1!!!!!!!! Next Saturday they play Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game being held in San Antonio. The winner of that game will more than likely get to play in the national championship in January. So we've got our fingers crossed and are ready for another really BIG game!!

After breakfast Sunday, we returned to DeFuniak Springs and vegged out the rest of the day. Today it's raining pretty good so am spending the day writing the blog, painting ceramic ornaments for next Saturday's yard sale, and doing laundry. Don't think I mentioned that we finally decided to give the built-in washer/dryer a try a few weeks ago. I had put it off because we had read and heard that they use a lot of amps, a lot of water, and hold very small loads. Well, we decided that while we're parked at a place where electricity and water are supplied as part of our fee, we might as well give it a go (besides it's probably cheaper than spending $10 at the laundromat!) The machine uses only 1-1/2 tablespoon each of detergent and fabric softener, and it takes about 2 to 2-1/2 hours to do a "load", but it can run in the background while doing other stuff. Hey, guess it fills up the time! LOL

Well, that's all for now until next week. Don't forget to watch the next BIG game Saturday at 7pm and root for Mizzou! (Of course, I don't expect that from our Oklahoma friends.) GO TIGERS!!!!!!!!

De Funiak Springs, FL

Another week (or so) has passed so must be time for a Folly update!

As you may recall from a previous post when we were in NJ, we had taken on the task of washing the RV, top to bottom, and it only took us 4 hours. Well, there's a guy here at the resort who will do the same thing for no more than $100, and it seemed like a bargain to us! So last Thursday, BJ came by and did a fine job. Probably any job would have been fine as long as we didn't have to do it!

Friday was Movie Night. They have an outdoor "screen" here with some benches and show a movie every Friday night. It was supposed to be a little chilly out so we armed ourselves with monster mugs of hot chocolate (with a wee bit of Kahlua) and headed down to see Ratatouille, a Disney/Pixar film. It's a very cute movie about a rat who aspires to be a gourmet chef. I know...it may sound strange, but Disney and Pixar do such an excellent job of having their movies appeal to adults as well as kids with lots of attention to detail.

Saturday was a busy day. We finally got some neighbors on the other side of us and learned they were from Denmark, but more on Henrik and Anne later. Our day had been scheduled for about a week planning to start with watching the Missouri football game at 11:30. They were playing Texas A & M and a chance to move up in the national rankings, which they did! Because of the game, we were a few minutes late for the fish fry we had been invited to by Russ' golfing buddy, Bill, and his wife, Lanna. Bill and Jim (another guy here at the resort) had caught a boatload of fish near the Florida/Alabama border, and evidently this fish fry is an annual tradition. There was salmon, croppie, bass, and more. Lanna made homemade hush puppies, and everyone brought a side dish. There were about 15 of us, and all the food was really good especially the fish. Jim uses a combination of two different flours for the batter, making it very light and delicious, and cooked it up fresh right there at Bill's site.

A pot luck is held every Sunday with the resort owners supplying the meat. This week was fried chicken, and we invited our new friends, Henrik and Anne, to join us. We had been chatting with them again in the morning, and since they had never been to a pot luck, we thought they might enjoy it. There were about 50 people in attendance and quite the array of food and lots of desserts!

Over the next couple days we spent a good deal of time with them. Anne went to exercise class with me on Monday and line dancing on Tuesday. They invited us for dinner one night starting with tapas (appetizers) and served pork kabobs, homemade potato salad, and a delicious traditional Danish dessert similar to rice pudding, all served with a couple bottles of an Australian wine, Lindeman's Shiraz. What a meal! And of course, we reciprocated by inviting them to dinner one night where I served my homemade lasagna, garlic bread, and apple pie, also served with a couple bottles of Merlot, of course! Both nights we finished our evening with a glass of port from a bottle Russ had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to open and share. One of these nights I had mentioned that I like black licorice, and Henrik brought out a bag of what is known as Denmark's most popular candy. It is black licorice coins but with a very salty taste. They're not meant to be chewed but rather let them sort of melt in your mouth. Russ spit his out pretty quickly even though he loves salt. I kept hoping the salt taste would dissipate, but it didn't, and finally even I had to get rid of mine. It was an interesting experience, and Henrik said it's something one needs to acquire a taste for.

Henrik and Anne have traveled all over the world, and recently (along with a Canadian friend) purchased a 40 foot motorhome. They take a 6 month leave from their respective jobs and travel all over the U.S. in the motorhome, and then they return to Denmark, while their friend uses it for the next 6 months. They have worked out quite an arrangement that seems to work for all concerned, and if you'd like to learn more about their travels, you can visit their website at http://www.winnebago.dk/ . It is chock full of excellent information about the RV lifestyle.

Henrik and Russ spent many hours discussing all manner of subjects from computers to world politics. Henrik told us that the tax rate in Denmark is 60%, and even though they have free medical and free college education, it is paid for through the high taxes. He was continually amazed at the "low cost" of items here in the U.S. They had seen their first American football game in Atlanta (playing San Francisco), so had questions about the game, and were surprised at how the fans didn't seem very excited and how many empty seats there were. Russ told them that first of all they had seen two teams that are not very good, and secondly that they needed to see a college football game to really experience the excitement and pageantry of the game. There's nothing like seeing a college football game live!

Last year Anne and Henrik had to put their cat to sleep, and you could tell how much Anne missed her when she saw our cat, Jo. I brought her outside one day so Anne could hold her, and Jo seemed quite content with the extra attention. The next day Anne was going to sit outside and read, and she asked if Jo could come out and visit for a bit. So I put her harness on and took her over to their rig. As you can see, Jo was quite comfortable in her own padded chair! Henrik asked if I'd mind if she went with them, and Anne asked if she'd ever been flying! LOL Of all the traveling Jo has done, she has never been on a plane so that would have been quite an experience for her, but I wouldn't let her go anyway. At 13-1/2 years old, I don't think such a major change would be good for her. At least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

We so thoroughly enjoyed their company and sincerely hope that our paths will cross again.

The weather had been really nice most of the week, with highs in the 80s, but then Wed. night it rained and a cold front moved in. For the next couple days, the temperature didn't get much above 60, and the nights were really chilly with temps around 35 when we awoke each morning! Again we ask....isn't it supposed to be warm in Florida!!?!?!

We finished up the week watching another Missouri victory over Kansas State, and the Tigers are now 10-1 heading into the Border War against Kansas next Saturday. As we have mentioned before, Missouri has a rich tradition in football, but it was 1969 when the Tigers last won 10 regular season games. This is one of those rivalry matchups that you throw the records out and is the first time that each school is ranked in the top 10 for this game. The BCS standings have been announced, and Kansas is #2 and Missouri #4! The winner will play in the Big 12 Championship game in San Antonio, TX, and with a victory there, should end up with at least the #2 ranking. Of course, not having an actual playoff in Division I is totally ridiculous and leaves a tremendous advantage for "name" teams to be given the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Notre Dame can still get in a BCS bowl game with their 2-9 season. :-) We ran across an interesting article on just how deep the passion runs between these two universities in the Kansas City Star, which you should be able to access through this link: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/365823.html

By the way, today's potluck featured lasagna (not homemade though), and I took baked beans. Oh, well, if they'd tell us in advance what the main course is going to be, we'd be better able to bring an "appropriate" side dish. But then again, the bowl was empty when it was all over!

So until next week, have a great Thanksgiving, and as a quote I ran across by Brother David Steindl-Rast said, "Love wholeheartedly, be surprised, give thanks and praise… then you will discover the fullness of your life."

Ft. Walton & More

The main reason that we ended up in this neck of the woods was our plan to stop by and see Rick and Jill Strama, who now live in Ft. Walton Beach. Rick and Jill used to be our neighbors for over 6 years in Lancaster, CA, along with their yellow lab, Roxanne (Mikey's first girlfriend.) Over those years we spent a lot of time with them doing all the things that friends do. From holidays to garage sales, Vegas trips, and just hanging out, they were constant companions over the last few years of our stay.

When they let us know that they were now located in the Florida panhandle, we made plans to stop by and see them. When we arrived here on Monday, we contacted them and of course, they asked us down for the weekend. So Friday afternoon we headed down, arriving around 6pm and looking forward to spending time with our friends who we hadn't seen in about 9 years. Our first evening was spent grilling steaks, drinking wine and beer, and talking about old times. Roxanne passed away a couple years ago, and they rescued a miniature Dachshund/Chihuahua mix named Romeo, who really thinks he's king of the hill! Abby and Romeo seemed to hit it off, but Romeo seemed to have "issues" with Mikey...must have been that male/macho thing! They basically got along well, but every so often Romeo would growl and show his teeth to let Mikey know it was his house, and it was really quite funny.

Their house is located on a large bayou leading to the Ft. Walton Bay and out to the Gulf. One of the first things we noticed when we arrived was their boat, and we made plans to cruise the waters on Saturday. So after a hearty breakfast at IHOP, we headed out on the boat. The weather was great as we marveled at the homes and boats along our ride. We ended up taking Abby and Mikey with us (Romeo decided he didn't want to go), and both enjoyed the ride, especially Abby. We were able to anchor on a beach near the opening to the Gulf, and let the dogs run, and Abby spent a lot of time retrieving a stick thrown into the water. From there we headed into the harbor passing the many restaurants and yachts in Destin. We were out for about 4 hours and enjoyed the swimming, both planned and unplanned as Russ fell into the water as we were leaving the beach! The rest of the day was spent relaxing, having KFC, and watching some college football. Jill's mom stopped for a brief visit with her dog, Rags, who Mikey took an instant liking to! He made little yipping sounds towards her that we've never heard him make!












After we made a hearty breakfast Sunday morning, we relaxed a bit and then headed home. They plan to come here for a visit and have invited us to their place for Thanksgiving. It's great spending time with them again.

When we returned home on Sunday, some mail had caught up with us, and a letter from our neighbor in Denham Springs let us know that his wife, Bonnie, had passed away on Oct. 23. Although we had only spent about a year and a half as their neighbor, Donald and Bonnie became good friends of ours. We had spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve at their home. Many an evening were spent with Donald and Russ fishing in the lake behind our home. Although Bonnie had been going through various treatments of chemo during the last year, she was always upbeat and gracious, a true Southern lady. We will miss Bonnie, and we ask all of our friends to pray for Donald as he continues to raise their 11-year-old granddaughter, Mia. She is a beautiful young lady, and Donald is a good and caring role model for her. We hope to see both of them when we return to Baton Rouge, and like them we will never forget the opportunity we had in getting to know Bonnie.

With all the activities going on here, we have decided that unless something extraordinary happens, we will only be updating the blog once a week. Right now we are shooting for Mondays. So far this week we have done the ice cream social, roasted hot dogs and s'mores around the campfire, played golf (Russ), and I've checked out the line dancing class and the exercise class twice. We have yet to make it down to play Holey Boards, which happens everyday at 2pm, nor have we played any of the nightly card games, where each night 20-30 people gather in the clubhouse. Tonight is Card Bingo, and we may mosey down or we may not. On average we are probably 10-15 years younger than most of the other people staying here, but we are already finding that we are having a hard time keeping up with them!

By the way when we awoke this morning, it was 39 degrees! Thought Florida was supposed to be warm!!

Last Days of October

Shortly after we arrived at the campground here in Titusville, we heard about Dixie Crossroads Seafood Restaurant, or as it was described to us, "the world famous Dixie Crossroads". Dixie Crossroads specializes in unique "Wild Ocean Shrimp" caught by a fleet of commercial shrimp boats and is known as "The Home of Rock Shrimp".

So what are rock shrimp, you ask? They are small shrimp (sometimes referred to as "peanuts" or "hardheads") that have an extremely hard shell and a large sand vein. The hard shells can make them difficult to clean, and if the vein is not taken out, it's said that chewing the rock shrimp is like eating a mouthful of beach sand. (Sound appetizing so far?) Well, Rodney Thompson, now the owner of Dixie Crossroads, invented a machine back in 1969 making it easier to crack open the shrimp and remove the large sand vein. They are considered a delicacy and commonly referred to as the "shrimp that tastes like lobster."
Wednesday afternoon we decided to go check it out for ourselves. On the outside walls are wildlife murals, fishponds, fountains, waterfalls, and butterflies. Inside the dining rooms Dixie Crossroads is a virtual art gallery; large wildlife murals, photography, stained and etched glass, and even concrete sculptures that portray this region's unique habitats, plants and animals. The menu is quite extensive, but Russ and I ended up ordering the same thing, the Cape Canaveral Special. This "sampler" consists of 1 dozen shrimp, 2 dozen Rock Shrimp, and 1/4 lb. scallops, but Russ took the option of adding a 1 lb. Maine lobster to his. And let's not forget that two side items come with this plus a batch of corn fritters PLUS we had a coupon for a free order of Fried Krabby Bites as an appetizer! Trust me, we had more than enough food! We brought home nearly half of it for another meal including the lobster that Russ never even touched! It all made a nice meal for Friday night's dinner.

Later Friday night the campground was holding a Halloween party so we thought we'd check it out. One of the maintenance guys has all his own musical equipment and provided the entertainment. We were told that he has about 15 guitars and an entire recording studio in his trailer. In fact he gave everyone a copy of his new CD. It was BYOB, and there were about 20 - 25 people in attendance. We stayed a couple hours, danced a little, and drank two bottles of wine. One of the older gentlemen even asked Russ' permission to dance with me. He was such a sweet guy (though kind of looked and sounded like George Carlin!), works here Sept.-April, and then returns to his home in Connecticut. The party was nothing special but something to do, and we had a nice time.

We never made it to the beach last week as the rains started and a cool front came through. So Monday we left for our next destination, De Funiak Springs, located in the Florida panhandle. We plan to be at Sunset King Lake RV Resort (http://www.sunsetking.com/ ), our home through the first of the year. Upon arriving we met a guy while we were registering at the office, who lives here half the year, and is quite involved with the resort (was the Activities Director last year). Turns out Bill's a member of De Funiak Springs Country Club and invited Russ to play with his group on Tuesday mornings. He also informed us that Monday night was the weekly ice cream social, and we should be sure to stop by. Afterwards several stay around to play Pegs and Jokers, a combination card and board game. We decided we'd check it out so about 6pm headed over to the Clubhouse. There was already a good crowd (about 30) and had already run out of chocolate ice cream....bummer! But the vanilla with chocolate syrup and the mini chocolate kisses was just as good, and only $1!

We joined a couple at a table who had just arrived to the resort a few minutes before and were only staying a couple nights, but what a fun couple! Dottie and Cliff are from Ozark, AL, and have a business teaching folks to ride motorcycles. They just recently bought a 30 year old, 24 foot Winnebago on eBay! This was their first trip out with it, and although it was probably state-of-the-art when new, they are now stripping everything out and remodeling it. Although they seem to be having fun, I sure am glad Russ didn't talk me into doing that!! The next night they came by and we cooked up kielbasa on the grill with some sides and talked late into the evening. They plan on coming back this way before the end of the year, and we look forward to their return.

Yesterday Russ played golf with Bill, and another gentleman named Bill, and shot an 85. The wife of one of the Bills called during the round and plans were made to have lunch at the club. I was surprised when Russ called and said I was invited, so off we went to meet the men after they finished their round. The clubhouse is nothing special, but the food was good and very reasonable. We definitely would not hesitate to eat there again. Afterwards we drove around town a little bit and passed this house decorated to the max for Halloween!

Last night was the Halloween party hosted by the owners of the resort that included a vast array of finger food and non-alcoholic beverages to wash it down. They played music for dancing and a costume contest. While Russ was outside smoking, somehow I got picked to be a judge for the contest! And unbeknownst to me, the winners actually went to the same high school as Russ back in St. Louis and one of them graduated with his brother and sister-in-law (they're in the black plastic). Not only was there reminiescing about Ritenour High but also the surrounding communities and hangouts like Steak N' Shake and the St. Charles Rock Road. Talk about a small world!

We did set a couple records on the drive here. Most miles in one day - 418; highest diesel price paid - $3.12 (includes 1 cent/gallon discount); most gallons purchased at one time - 72.03; and largest amount paid at one time- $225.39. UGH!!! At least it will be awhile before our next purchase.

On our travels, Jo generally sleeps on the bed, the floor, or lays in my lap, but this time she decided she wanted to lay in the window for a bit, and I snapped this picture as a big truck was passing. We also passed this sign for the Historic Suwannee River, which as a music person, I thought was so cool. We've passed it several times before on our treks across Florida, but I never had the camera on and ready at the right moment. And one last photo I wanted to share before I sign off for the day....Mikey seems to be enjoying it here, napping in the sun.