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Published: April 26th 2019
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I’m afraid this is so. Our sons & grandsons are heading home early tomorrow morning. This week went by like a flash. It seems like they just arrived. Our son, Cory, took our granddaughter, Rachael, to the Orlando airport on Wednesday for her flight back to Alabama. We all miss her already. She is such a delight to be around. She is working very hard towards her PhD in cancer research. The guys have kept themselves busy and certainly made good use of our condo. The pool will probably dry up once they are gone. They are going to conclude their visit by going to the movies to see the latest Avengers movie at 10:45 PM tonight! Seats sold out fast!! We shall miss them and all the laughter and fun they brought to the table. We are blessed! Fortunately, we’ll be rejoining them in a month.
In between times with our family, we were able to share brief festivities with Sandy on her birthday. The melodious threesome sang Happy Birthday while Lulu did back up. She is always pitch perfect. Happy Birthday, Sandy.
More friends continue to leave Tropical Palms for their homes. I said to Cory it
is like the air has been exhaled from the park with all their departures. We wish all of them safe travels and a wonderful summer. Until we meet again.....
Sailing around the park on our golf cart, we noted an awning problem with Diane & Walt’s RV. They were gone....being part of the exodus heading for home. I took photos of their doorway awning and sent them to Diane. She asked if we could go inside their RV and retract the awning. For security reasons, I cannot reveal the process used for entering. It was special. Once inside, Sandy tried the awning retraction button. Nothing! Could hear the motor running but nothing moved.....in or out. The fabric was rolled out too far.....floppy. Cory tried everything he knew to do....nothing. He finally figured out something was wrong with the gear mechanism. Maybe Art could come up with a suggestion with his electronic knowledge. I sought him out and he joined our work crew. He climbed the ladder and agreed about the gear. He roped together the two braces, bringing them together in order to push them in...all while manually rolling the fabric back in. Now it was dark outside and
the bugs were chewing us up like fresh served meat. Art was working by flashlight...Debby Boone would be singing “You Light Up My Life”. I think we could hear her in the distance. Yikes. Art had the awning anchored. We would return in the morning when we could see. Hopefully the nasty bugs would be hibernating. And we did return....with more in our work party. Ray & Sam we’re now on the payroll. Art assumed his high position and retied the awning securely. It’s tight and will be secure until Walt & Diane’s return. Remember how I told you that the folks here at this park are all like family and always willing to help one another. Truth be told! Lulu stayed back....she knew her limitations would prevent her from lending a hand (you know...no hands).
Our friend, George, planted his corn crop on his RV site. I think I recently showed you how well it was doing even in his absence. As we continue to monitor his cash crop, we remain amazed at its growth. No water, no attention...nothing and still these hearty stalks keep growing. Amazing. They even have real, full cobs on them. They are going
to be higher than knee high by the 4th of July. Carole said to harvest their crop before we leave. We’ll save their bounty for a corn roast when everyone returns. Maybe we can even get some popcorn out of them. Good job, Farmer George.
New things are happening here at Tropical Palms. We knew that the management was going to bring in more Sand Castle cottages. Some of our friends who had RV’s sites near the present cottages have to return to new sites this coming year. New cottages are being placed on their old sites. The cottages have been arriving over the past couple days. Seven have been brought in by a huge truck. How the driver maneuvers these over-sized loads is beyond me. He does it easy peasy! A real pro. They have stored 5 cottages out back in the compound. They have placed 2 cottages along the lower edge of the Sand Castles (where the deer feed). Don’t think that’s their permanent spot. Supposedly, one more cottage to be delivered. The workmen have been moving rapidly in getting the cottage sites ready. One day they cut the trees down and into sawdust. Today, sand and
clay dirt was was delivered and placed on the cottage sites. These new cottages will be placed at the top side of the Sand Castle area next to the big white fence (parallel to Holiday Trail.) I did speak to a man who seems interested (but not committed) in investing in some Sand Castle cottages to be used as Air B&B’s. Word doesn’t take long to get out. We will be having a population explosion before you know it...maybe.
One population that has really grown here has been the herd of deer. They were enjoying their free grub as we passed by them. They kept their eyes on me while I snapped their pictures. Howdy, Deer!
One critter that we don’t want in our population at TP is a pathetic looking raccoon. We saw it yesterday and today.....during the daytime. It walks very funny and looks sickly. Rabid? I wouldn’t be surprised. I reported it to Mercedes at the desk so hopefully something will be done to remove it. It’s a danger to people and pets. No one wants to get rabies shots! I can hear everyone who has left TP giving a big sigh of relief. The
rest of us have to dress ourselves in a suit of armor for protection. It’s HOT! Very HOT!
It fascinating to see all the various modes of “camping” here in the park. Of course, there are the cottages. Now there are even permanent destination cottages/lodges. You find the 5th wheelers, the class A, C and B motor homes, travel trailers, the rental Class C’s, huge, fancy trucks converted into RV’s. Right now we have Boy Scouts camping in their pop up tents....lots of them! The big red bus has returned. Remember I told you about them before. It is called a Rotel and please, google it. It is very fascinating. The one leader/co-driver is the same fellow who I took a picture of 3 years ago. Tonight when we drove past, one lady stopped and chatted with us. She said her name was Maria and she was from Hungary. It was her first trip on the Rotel. She stated most of the group was from Germany. There was one woman from Russia. And, of course, she was from Hungary. She said they started out from New York City, came to Florida, going to Las Vegas & California and back
to NYC. She said it isn’t the most comfortable vehicle to travel in. The tiny berths are like a coffin even though they can hold 2 people. No fans, no air conditioning just a window they can open in the sleeping quarters. They have to use the park showers, etc. Not sure about a toilet on the bus...but you would think it would have at least one anyway. All cooking and eating is done outside. When they are done doing their tourist stuff, they sit outside the bus or in the park’s lobby until bedtime. I did see lights on in our community room so maybe they gather there for awhile. You have to goggle it to get the whole scenario. Please do it.
Well, we’ve reach the conclusion of this blog. Please no applauding! We catch all of you next time around. Toot-A-loo. Lulu is throwing kisses. ???
Lots of photos this time (37) so remember to scroll and scroll and scroll and then go to another page. Happy viewing!
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