Saturday, October 24, 2009

#28 Do We Know How To Retire?!?!?

Well, we have been back in FL about 3 weeks and have we been having fun! First we arrived at our old site, then we decided to move to another site, had to do some re-arranging, tree trimming, and leveling on the new site. I hurt my back and had to get an appointment for a spinal injection. A week of nothing until the shot and then some relief. Mary has been having some foot issues for a while and it was coming to a head. It was time to take care of that. Schedule the foot surgery and live with her nerves until the big day. Finally the day is here and she is dreading having her toe "CUT OFF"! Not quite, it was an ingrown toe nail that was getting very painful and needed to be dealt with. Surgery was a success but she is not able to wear shoes for a little while. Let's see what else we can dream up for fun. Oh yeah, Mary has developed "trigger thumb" and needed a shot of cortisone and possibly surgery for that down the road. Next we have dentist appointments, annual physicals(with all the appropriate tests), and we might as well throw in a colonoscopy just for giggles!!!!

I always laughed about the T-shirt that made fun of the "Golden Years". You know the one that talks about bladder issues, prostrate problems, vision, memory and hair loss,not to mention the aches, pains and all the other joys of aging. Right now I am not laughing. I AM accepting, but not laughing about the fact that we are getting older. When did that happen? Really our health is reasonably good, but things happen and they have to be taken care of. It just seems that it all happened at once. The good thing is it will all be taken care of at the same time so we can get back to enjoying life.

We saw the kids and grand kids and are looking forward to spending time with them throughout the holidays. The Snow Birds are starting to arrive and there will be good times to be had with them also. And then there are our friends whom we have missed while we were gone. The time will fly and it will be April before we know it and we will be on the road again to seek out more adventures. If you have been following us on line and are in the area I hope we see you soon. But if that doesn't happen I will keep in touch with the blog and Mary on Face Book and you can join us through the Internet in our home where ever it maybe because.....

Home is where we park it,
Fran & Mary

Sunday, October 11, 2009

#27 October??

I know when you retire that days and weeks sometimes run together. You wake up and don't know what day it is or the week gets away from you, but I think I have lost track of the seasons! We headed back to Florida figuring that it would be October and the weather would be cooling down some. Instead we are greeted by highs in the 90's and overnight lows in the mid 80's. What's going on? Is it still summer or did we miss winter completely? I am tempted to hook up and head north for another month or two. 10 days ago we are enjoying highs in the low 70's and lows in the low 40's and now I am sweating so much I am showering 3 times a day!!!!! In the future we may spend less time in Florida than we planned.

Anyway, we are here and are getting together with friends and family. We are looking forward to our "snow bird" friends returning and being able to participate in more of the activities that go on during their stay. The holidays are always highly anticipated and more so now that as retirees we can spend more time with our family, especially the grandchildren. There are a few things I would like to look into as hobbies to fill in some of the down time as well as some things that just need to be done.

Speaking of things that need to be done, we are going to start a diet. Yes I am going to try to lose some of the blubber but that is not what I am talking about. We are going to put the rig on a "diet". There are too many "things" that we carry around that we don't need. They take up much need space and add too much weight, all of which makes for inefficient RVing. Less weight means better fuel mileage and safer traveling. Being overloaded is one of the most common problems facing RVers. Having more space will make it easier and more efficient to set up and tear down camp as we travel. So this is a win-win situation. Full time RVers are known for their freeing themselves from being slaves to "stuff", so this will probably be an on going process as we travel. Well we have work to do, so until next time.

Home with our friends & family in Largo FL because....
Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

Saturday, October 3, 2009

#26 Heading to Florida

We are heading back to FL for the winter. This will be home for the next 6 months. We spent the last 6 days in Celina OH. The high during that time was 70 degrees and the low was 38 degrees. Now we are in FL and the temperature is in the 90's. PEOPLE, it's October! I was hoping it would be a little cooler by now. Oh well that's what AC is for.

Ohio was the last state that seemed to be taken over by corn. I don't know if anyone has coined the term but with that much corn growing over your head I think I was suffering from "Corn Claustrophobia". When I left Florida I had a case of "Flatland Fever". This country is so big that it is possible to overdose on it. It's a classic case of too much of a good thing and I am going to enjoy every bit of it!

Our time in FL will be spent getting in touch with friends and family. We will also be cleaning and working on the rig to make it more efficient on the road. There will be some day trips around the state to some of our favorite spots and others we just never seemed to have the time for. Other than that we will be doing the hum drum routine of being retired. So for now, even though our home is not permanently in Florida, we are now home in Florida because....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary