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Published: January 25th 2017
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Beautiful rainbow one morning. Not often you get to see the whole thing A very lazy week here at Florilow Oaks. Just what the old body wanted and needed. The week was filled with crocheting, riding my bike, sweeping inside and out, talking with friends, and bingeing on The Walking Dead. (Now midway thru Season 4).
Florilow Oaks is a campground started many years ago by members of Loners on Wheels, my camping club. There are some permanent structures (Park Models, or travel trailers that have been permanently mounted on platforms) and many sites for transient like me. Many are shareholders in the campground and lie here either full or part time. There are mostly single men and women here, but over the years, the amount of transient couples has increased. My site is ‘along the fence’. Now, this is a good place and a bad place to be. I am nose in, which means front end faces the fence. I have no view of the rest of the campground. I see a farm. Now that’s not all bad, right, except I miss the comings and goings of the other campers. The sites ‘along the fence’ are very narrow. The travel trailers on either side of me are backed in (you cannot put
And, it was a double rainbow - 2 complete rainbows!! a trailer in nose first….). The campsites are designed so the utility sides face each other on one side, and doors face on the other. I don’t know the people on my utility side. I know Jeff, on my door side. He’s from Tennessee, lives on top of a mountain has a wonderful hound type black dog, Cletus, and loves to fish. Cletus is a Heinz 57 puppy, and surprisingly he and Winston really do get along. No barks on either side, and they actually lay down next to each other. A first for Winston. Jim is here for the winter. The good news about my site is I have excellent wifi, good enough to stream, and free satellite. I caught up on many of my TV shows. There are lots of daily activities, walking, hiking, bike riding, knitting, exercise, games, trips, and a daily happy hour. It was great to catch up with old friends Trena and Dave, and Anita was here as well. Anita took me to the stores a few times and we at out a bit, too.
One day I took resident, Jim, to Zephyrhills for his colonoscopy and endoscopy. Ugh, in the same day.
I have never seen such a vibrantly colored one either His rides dried up and I heard about it so I took him. Had a great breakfast at a local joint, went to Lowes to buy a new shower head, and they called me he was done. Very fast.
There are water issues this season at Florilow. I am not sure I have all my facts correct, but……A new well pump was put in, creating an increase in pressure in the system, requiring each camper to use a flow restrictor on their water intake. The pump keeps breaking down, repairs are frequent, and the water goes off regularly. After one brief outage, I filled up my fresh water tank with water. I did not know that the line actually broke a leak. Leaks require water testing which takes 2 days. We were put on ‘boil water’ restrictions for those 2 days. Well, those 2 days turned into 5, and here I was with a fresh water tank of questionably contaminated water. The residents and transients were notified by phone and word of mouth, but I never got it. Fortunately I have 6 gallons of filtered water stowed in the rear compartment. I figured I would use only water from my hot water tank, as that stuff is so hot it should kill anything. Winston and I only drank the filtered water, and we are still healthy. Water restrictions were lifted today and the office lady came over and told me.
Nursing school classmate, Joanna Krieger, came down from Dunellon, FL, on Friday, (near The Villages) and we went to River Ratz café for lunch. Just what it sounds like, River Ratz is a jump in place for your own or rented kayaks or canoes. They have a cute, limited restaurant riverside, and great music on the weekends. We had excellent hamburgers. I forgot to take our annual selfie. Always good to catch up with Joanna.
Another day some high school classmates met up at the nearby Beef “O” Brady’s for lunch. Maureen Kelly came from Holiday; she recently moved into a new condo. She was pretty sick not too long ago, requiring surgery and a stay in the SICU. She’s on the mend now, but he had a tough go of it for a while. Linda Jacobsen came without husband Kai Ewald. Things are well with them; Kai is waiting for his defibrillator to alarm so he can go have the battery changed. That must get on your nerves, that waiting. Christine Folde Relay and her significant other, Larry, joined us. They are on their winter snowbird camping trip like me and are staying nearby. After lunch we came back to Florilow Oaks and chatted some more. Next year I will plan more ahead so we can get a better turn out. I heard from multiple classmates who sent their best regards and it is always good catching up with them. I forgot to take a selfie. What do you think the chances of forgetting to take 2 selfies is. When you’re 70, very high.
Many of my long time readers and others who have camped here at Florilow might remember Margie. Margie is my hero. She is now 94, and until she was 92 she RV’d regularly. She lives in a permanent structure here in the winter, and goes ‘home’ to Minnesota in the summer. Margie was home at Thanksgiving and saw the doctor for numerous bladder infections. Unfortunately her sickness is much worse than repeated bladder infections. She remembers me from camping at the space launch a few years ago with Judy Bazler. That was a fun time for sure. Such a full of life spirit. Her daughter is staying with her for a bit. She had her dog in the dog park (a large fenced in area); the dog got out and ran onto US301 highway out front and was killed by a passing vehicle. It was a very sad day. Prayers to Margie.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, I break camp and go to Thousand Trails in Clermont, only about an hour south of here. I meet up with Ginnie, Kim and Kathy and Joanne will meet us for lunch at Disney Springs as she enjoys her stay at Disney’s Fort Wilderness.
Kat Out
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