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Published: January 26th 2015
Sandhill Crane
It is mating season. The one about laziness has settled in.
Another camping girlie, Kathy, arrived on Wednesday. She left the Poconos a week ago, got out before the ice came, and took a slow trip south stopping at her son’s house and to see some friends in GA along the way. The only campsite available to her was in the woods, where she generally likes to be, but this year she wanted to be near us in the main part of the campground. She checked again on Thursday and was able to move to Easy Street, just a few away from me and Ginnie. Good to have her in the neighborhood for the next 2 weeks.
It has been a quietly busy week here at Thousand Trails, Orlando. The weather has not been wonderfully warm. The only time I turn on my air conditioning is when I plan on going out for a few hours and leaving Winston inside. I have to close the windows since he barks so much, and that can make this metal box hot. So, sometimes it goes on, sometimes it doesn’t. We had one night and part of the next day of very blustery, March like, wind and driving rain. Winston wouldn’t step foot outside first thing in the morning that day. Fortunately it stopped enough by 10 for us to venture out for a walk. The weather for the upcoming week looks like 45 to 65 will be the temperature swing. 50 to 70 would be better, but I can live with a high of 65, especially when I see what will be happening in the northeast. It seems surreal that the weather system that will give us more wind and a passing shower tonight will cause so much snow elsewhere. Be safe my NJ peeps.
We ate at Miller Ale House on Wednesday. Their lobster special went up $1, now $14.95 for a really nice sized lobster, baked potato and cold slaw. It was $2 Bud night as well. (Bud specials at a place called miller Ale House?) So, for under $20, including tax and tip, we had a great meal. We got there at 4:30 and there was no crowd. By the time we left at 6 or so, the line was very long! Popular spot. They also do a taco night and a prime rib night.
I generally bike ride every morning. It is a wonderful thing to do here, the roads are flat and mostly smooth. Early in the morning, there is no traffic and the only other people you see are the early risers with their dogs. It is easy to go 1.5 miles at a pretty fast pace, and now I can do over 2 miles. I know that doesn’t seem like much, but when you have a dog leashed to your left hand who wants to stop and smell everything in sight….it can be challenging. Then I have to worry about the occasional dog that is not on a leash who runs out as we pass. Damn annoying.
One morning, after Winston’s morning bowel evacuation, I realized I did not have any poopy bags in the holder on his leash. Now this is a dilemma. If I leave to go get one, someone might have seen me and start yelling at me. I can’t use my hands. I can’t cover it with dirt. What to do, what to do. I see a man coming out of his rig with his dog, and I ride over to tell him my problem and he laughed, with his hand in front of his mouth. He gave me a bag, I went back, scooped and bagged, and rode back to thank him again. Again, he had his hand in front of his mouth. His wife came out to see what was going on (what did she think I was doing? Flirting? NOT! Anyway, he finally apologized to me, telling me he didn’t have his teeth in yet, and that’s why he was covering his mouth. Oh Lordy. It was then that I realized that his red hair had very long white roots. Groan. He ought to go talk to the flute playing guy with no shirt on.
One night was “Chicken Pot Pie” night at the rec hall. Decent Pot Pie, not great not bad, decent salad, iced tea or coffee (I had both.) It gave us all time to sit in the rec hall with their wifi and update everything we needed to.
Ginnie has been having some issues with her ipad, so we went to a nearby ‘corporate’ Verizon store to see if we could get her some help. She needs to update to IOS8, and doesn’t have enough room to do it without plugging into itunes on a computer, which she doesn’t have. We were hoping Verizon could do it for her. NOT. Apple won’t let Verizon do that. We have to visit an Apple store to do it. The technicians did evaluate her plan for her, and gave her a one bill situation and 5G data plan which will make her very happy. She made an appointment for Tuesday at Apple at the Millenia Mall. Did you read that? MALL!!! It has a Macy’s! It is right next to the Orlando Premium Outlets. I hope we have time to visit either one for just a little bit, but every time we pass by the outlets, the parking lot looks so crowded!
While at Verizon, I confirmed what I already knew, I can get a new phone 1/29. I was there on the 23. No early renewals. GROWL. The good news is, if I turn in my iphone 5S at the time I purchase my new one, they will give me $180 credit. That’s a no brainer! Of course I will do it. They will back it up for me when I arrive, or, I can call ‘my technician,’ Juan, and he will build it for me the day before and I can just walk in and give him my credit card. Amazing technology.
Speaking of amazing technology, TengoInternet sucks. Their internet went out to my section of the campgrouind 2 hours after I paid for it. Tomorrow it will be a week. Their customer service sucks. All they can tell me is that ‘we are working with Thousand Trails management to fix the issue. WTF does that mean. Anyway, I will call them again tomorrow morning and finally ask for my refund. Then I will increase the data plan on my iphone and use my hotspot. Not like having unlimited wifi, but it will do. I have spoken to the TT manager, and he tells me he is in contact with his rep at Tengo. Am I getting the run around? Do ya think?
Random observation and whining. We have noticed many children here this winter. We have done a little investigating, and long term living in a motorhome or trailer seems to be coming more popular for large families who home school their kids, and TT Orlando seems to be coming a hub for this activity. We have noticed an abundance of trailers with a few tents ‘attached’ with a large number of bikes and plastic ride on toys crowded around. Their multiple dogs leashed up outside look like curs, and dirty ones at that. The pools and rec hall have kids in them all the time. If I had to guess, I would say there are about 20 in this pack of kids. Their parents look like hippies. Some of the parents are work campers, meaning they get free or reduced camping based on the number of hours they work. Now, is the increase in kids a bad thing or a good thing? I don’t know. Many of the 55 and older crowd are distressed that these kids are everywhere. This is not a designated 55+ community, kids are allowed, after all, it is a campground. I think what everyone sees but no one has spoken about is the lack of respect these kids have for anyone. They skate board and ride their scooters everywhere – not good in a community overrun by seniors and some of them very frail. The kids drop their bikes wherever they want, often blocking walkways and doorways. They play their music loudly. They are just over all a rude bunch. There is no wonder these kids are home schooled, they probably got thrown out of regular school!! It certainly is not the fault of the children they act like that; their parents are to blame for sure. And, the campground, for not enforcing the rules they have made for all our safety. End of rant.
We went to the movies and saw Imitation Game. We all thought it was pretty awesome, but sad. Benedict Cumberbatch was great. Go see it.
Sundays are Flea Market days. Anyone who wants can set up a table in the rec hall land sell their unwanted items, or crafted goods, or Tupperware, etc. Kathy and I went this morning. It was not very good. The aforementioned home school kids were selling rainbow loom jewelry (my grandkids made a whole lot better looking stuff than theirs) and home made valentine cards that actually had some decent artwork on the front. But, no envelopes. Many senior ladies were selling crocheted loopy scarves and dish cloths. That was about it. So, we decided to take off for a real flea market that Kim told us about, on Lake Eola in downtown Orlando, about 45 minutes away. It was a lovely day for a goonie adventure like this. This area of downtown is just beautiful. Nice looking apartment and office buildings surround this smallish lake that has a beautiful fountain in the middle of it. The vendors had nice looking crafts – jewelry, soap, lotions, orchids (no small $4 ones, but some $8 and $9, but not as nice as mine) and lots of food vendors. It was very crowded, and food lines were long. We opted for a short line, Hawaiian noodle bowls, I opted for no meat, Ginnie and Kathy had chicken. Our only other purchase was some cupcakes. This park is dog friendly, and we seemed to be the only ones without our dogs. We talked about it, I certainly could have brought Winston, Kathy could have brought Oscar her Dachshund, and Ginnie could have brought her 2 Dobermans, but the car ride would have been obnoxious, and Winston would have tried to pee on everything and everyone, and Oscar would have tried to eat all the food he saw everywhere. Linus and Alfie probably would have been ok, l they are just large. We saw every type of dog imagineable. From St. Bernard to mini poodle from greyhound to rat terriers. They were all there. Not many mutts, not many large dogs. I was happy I opted to leave Winston home. He would have been so anxious and hyper in the crowd. We saw one large white ?German Shepherd? lift his leg and almost pee on Track and Field coach. Nasty.
Funny people story. I was sitting outside yesterday enjoying the afternoon sun, when I spied one of the frail seniors I was just talking about, shuffling along in his plaid shorts and plaid shirt with socks and sandals, walking his two dachshunds. My view got obstructed by a car, but I heard the man shout and one of his leashes was empty and one dachshund was seen running up the street. I then see the man, now shuffling a little quicker after this monster who was now nipping at the heels of one of the resident pair of sandhill cranes. It is their mating season, and they are all over the place, doing the nasty wherever they want. And, often. Jealous. So, what was funnier? The coitus interruptus of the sandhills? The shuffling ill dressed senior? Or, the free at last yapping dachsie?
Another funny people story. Last night Ginnie and I went to the rec hall to play Skipbo. There was karaoke music in one room, others, like us, playing games, and lots of kids of all ages doing their thing. A 50ish looking man came in and sat down at a nearby table. He pulled food out of what looked like a Wonder Bread bag and ate it. He was carrying on a conversation with someone at the other end of his hand held device that looked like an old fashioned external hard drive, about 8”x6”by1”. It didn’t look like any phone I had ever seen before. While he was talking on this device, he pulled a toothbrush out of the Wonder Bread bag and started to brush his teeth. He put his feet up on another chair and sat there talking and brushing. For about 15 minutes. He was in my direct line of view. Ginnie had to turn to see him. This was a very strange sight for sure. He left eventually passing us by and mumbling something about being done with dinner. So happy he didn’t talk to us, because I would have laughed.
And, finally, two people stories from the Lake Eola Flea Market.
The places to sit to eat was minimal. We opted to sit with a family who had some room until a table opened up. Then the same thing happened to us. A frail man with his pretty spry wife and daughter came up asking to let him sit while they shop. I noticed he had a walker. Sure. I noticed his college ring. Red Stone with an emblem on it, and I saw how worn with age the whole ring was. I did not hear exactly what he said, but it was a college in Indianapolis. I asked what the emblem was for, and he said Track and Field – it was a championship ring. Condensing the long conversation……he participated in college track there, but the ring was for coaching his team to the State Championsip in the 80s. He was very proud of this – one of his players from that team made the Olympics for discus in 88.
Turning my attention to the table next to me. Two very overweight black ladies sitting with two equally overweight white ladies. Several white kids, several mixed kids. I didn’t think they knew each other, they were just sharing a table like us. Black Lady 1 stated she was homeless. White lady 1 gave her names of shelters to call…..off her smartphone. Black lady 1 started adding them to her smart phone. Uh huh. These were places she, White lady 1, had stayed herself. Uh huh. I noticed Black lady 1 had a bag between her legs. I couldn’t figure out what was in it, so I asked Kathy to check it out. She realized it was a clear plastic bag with handles. The contents seemed to be everything they give you when you check out of the hospital – the basin, cup, throw away toothbrush, tissues, etc. Strange.
Kat out
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denise
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miss you
why didn't you think of me at the fiesta sale? your blogs are great as usual. sound like you're having fun??? be careful and be good