I started building the Ark today...

Wow... someone up there in the rain department, must be a little up set at Florida for something...

For the second straight day, we had nothing but rain! Oh, and not just an easy rain today, it was pouring for most of the day...

So, with all the rain, not a lot was going on here today... Cheryl and Tom, and I, all hit the gym first thing this morning, as we cannot walk outside, we hit the treadmills. There are 3 of them in he gym, plus a bunch of other equipment. Judy was off to Zumba!

Ok, so I might have gone a bit overboard on the Zumba picture, especially since we are in a 55+ Resort, but you get the drift. Judy reports the Zumba Class just keeps on growing each week as everyone tries to get into, or stay in shape!

This afternoon, Judy and I needed a fix, so we were off to the Eagle Ridge Mall up in Lake Wales, and tried to help J C Penny, Sears, and Dillards from going into bankruptcy! With the lousy weather, we were there for the whole afternoon, and the pocket book is a chunk lighter tonight for some reason...

Weather is supposed to pick up tomorrow...

Till tomorrow...

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Happy Birthday Emmie...

Yes, our first Grandchild turns 6 years old today! Happy Birthday Emmie!!!!

6 years ago, Judy and I were in Gravenhurst, working, when we got the big call that Emmie had been born down in London, Ontario. Shawn had gone to London for an interview at the Hospital for the Residency Program, and Jenn joined him on the 2 day trip, that turned into a Hospital stay for Jenn!

All went well in London 6 years ago, and Emmie has turned into quite the young Lady! It is amazing how fast time flies Emmie, and we hope to see you soon when we get back up into Canada! (Just make sure the snow is gone....lol)

Judy shipped some gifts up to Emmie a while ago, and we will get together with her and the Family tonight on Facetime to watch her open them up!

Not much of a day here... it rained all day, and most of last night. The only one excited about this is our lawn, as it was turning a bit brown lately.

Found a couple of pictures on Kristina's blog I thought I would share... check out what Charlie has been up to lately!

It seems that every time he crawls over to some piece of furniture, he picks himself up to a standing position! Won't be long and we know what he will be doing!

 

If you check the picture above, it seems Charlie has taken to bugging his big sister... poor old Gwenny, she will have to learn to escape his big grasp on her legs!

Till tomorrow...

 

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CSA Snowbird Extraveganza!

I am sure each and everyone of you will remember a year ago when I blogged about this big Snowbird Show in Lakeland...right? Well, we took it in again this year, with Tom and Cheryl in tow.

It is the 20th Anniversary of this show which is sponsored by the CSA, (Canadian Snowbird Association). One thing about this show... it is really very Canadianish...

Above is a small section of the Lakeland Centre, home of the show... there is a very large Theatre as part of the Complex.

There are two big halls full of booths that you can visit, and buy everything from t-shirts to cookware.... lots of promotion of various Resorts go on here as well.

We met this young gal above, from Sea World, who had this bird with her... it looks like an owl, but it is not. Forget what she called it now... can you tell I was at a snowbird convention?????

Of course they had a hockey challenge... you had to shoot out the lights on the board behind me...I did not do that great... it has been a while since I had a hockey stick in my hands, and the Leaf Helmet didn't help... but I had a large Canadian Crowd cheering me on!

After I took off my Helmet, Judy pointed out to me that Walter Gretzky was signing autographs! Alright! Cheryl and I were right there, as she is a hockey fan as well. Walter looked terrific, and for those of you who are not Hockey Fans, Walter is the Father of Wayne Gretzky, and a famous Canadian. It was great to talk to Walter, and we got a photo op with him below...

I had a picture of Judy and I with Walter, but it turned out very fuzzy as the step in photographer did not focus properly... rats!

After we covered all the booths, we headed to the main theatre, where we caught some great Canadian Acts. The Theatre was packed, probably 3,000 plus people

 

The first act we saw was Leona Boyd. She is a well known entertainer, with her Classical Guitar! She did not dissapoint at all, and sings now, where she did not sing earlier in her Career.

Next up was a performance by Juno Award Winner, Michelle Wright! She was Canadian Country and Western Female Singer of the year a couple times! She put on an amazing show for us all, with a very strong voice.

The show ended with a great performance by John McDermott, with his Irish Roots! He did a terrific job as well. Great show overall, and we enjoyed every minute of it!

 

While we spent the past week over in Venice with the kids, Tom and Cherl were our caregivers for our cat, Patra! No pets allowed in the Vacation Home. We took Tom and Cherl out tonight for dinner at Chilis Restaurant in Lake Wales, on the way home from the Snowbird Show to show our appreciation of the fine care Patra received! This is a great place to eat, and we all enjoyed a nice steak dinner tonight...

Till tomorrow...

 

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Alligator Hunting on the Peace River today!

Wow... what a spectacular day here in Central Florida! 82 deg. F. meant it was time to get outside and today we put the kayaks to work. I wanted a new pair of alligator shoes, so we needed to do a bit of hunting!

Now my good Friend Gerard, up in Waterloo sent me this picture today, which I assume is the top entrance to Florida, probably along the I 75 Hwy. The jet stream had really dipped low, but not near as low as Frostproof, so we are all good to go for you up coming visit Gerard!

The Peace River pretty near cuts Florida in half, running North, South. We gained access today over at a nice Park Area, at Fort Meade. (45 minute drive west for us from Frostproof.)

We simply loaded the 4 kayaks into the back of Big Moe... Tom and Cheryl's big 3500 GMC Truck. No muss, no fuss.

 

Tom is overseeing the launches above...this River is just perfect for doing what we were doing today... and Judy and Cheryl are putting on their game faces above...

Yup, got all our ducks in a row above...

Yikes, five minutes into our ride, and we found an obstacle to overcome...

Judy caught me going underneath this tree with her camera... just made it! Good thing I am a big loser!

 

This short video shows what we were faced with on the tree...

There was lots of wildlife on the river today, including this guy sitting up in the tree watching us...

Finally I found the gator I was looking for above...oh, wait, that was the turtle I found...rats!

There were a lot of these big turtles, which are actually gator food, but the gators were hiding...

 

We found a little fast water above, and Tom demonstrates how to run it...

We packed a nice lunch today, and we all sat out on the river enjoying the nature and filling our stomachs!

We found an old bridge that is used to cross the river, and went under... in all we travelled 4.8 miles on the water today, as I brought my trail GPS with me. There was a bit of a current in spots, but nothing to worry about. Great way to spend the day!

Made it back to the Resort in time for a swim and hot tub... followed by Happy Hour of course. Great day, other than I did not bag my gator! Have to continue wearing my old shoes...

Till tomorrow...

 

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So, you wanna watch some TV...

 

Since we have been RVing for a living... we have used the TV Services of Shaw Direct, which bought out Star Choice, who we originally set up our service with. The fun part of RVing has always been setting up your satelite dish to enjoy some programs in the evening, or whenever you want. When we first started travelling, I remember a couple nights trying to set up the dish to watch a hockey game or something, only to be denied the pleasure due to not being able to find a signal. Over the years, I have gotten better at it, with a little help from good old modern technology. Today I found even a better way!

How many people have used one of these babies above... it is the el cheapo way of finding your satelite, which is one of hundreds up in the sky! Problem is finding the one you want! I used this device at first, but lost too many battles with the dish, so looked for a better way...

So, this is what I use now... The First Strike Meter! I bought this device about 2 1/2 years ago and have never looked back. It works great, but they are a bit expensive... around $250.00. If you ask me though, one of the best $250.00 I have ever spent. Very helpful when you move around a lot. I can normally set up the dish and find the satelite in less than 15 minutes each time. This includes setting up my tripod and doing the cables.

Above is one of the screens shots off the device that you use to select your satelite. It is very easy to pick you satelite, and then when you do, it is set in memory for future use. It tells you the elevation angle, and approximate area of the sky to sweep, and also the slant, or azamuth to set you dish at. The key with this device, is once you program you satelite into it's memory, it ignores all other satelites in the sky and only looks for yours! Makes it very easy when you make your sweep of the south west sky, as it only beeps when it comes across your satelite! Easy peassy!

Once you find you satelite, the device shows by the bars you see above, the signal strength. The more fine tuning you do to the dish, the higher the signal until it locks on.

I was having problems here in Frostproof, as I was not getting a strong signal at all... causing some problems with reception on some channels. Shaw Direct dishes need to be tuned to specific channels.Today I found a great do it youself guide put out by Shaw which I found very useful! Here is the LINK:

I found this document very helpful in doing the very fine tuning of the dish today. First you have to determine what LNB you have, and there is a sticker on your LNB out on your dish. Then you determine the size of your dish, in my case we have the larger, 75 cm. dish as opposed to the regular 60 cm. dish. It is easier to get a signal with the larger dish while down south. Next you have to determine the Model Number of the Receiver that you are using, in my case we have the HDPVR 630. Tune the receiver to channel 711, and then switch to channel 700 if you receiver has been in use. Different channels for brand new receivers... it is in the document.

Then just bring up the satelite alignment meter under Options. I was able to get mine from 45%, (which still gives you some channels...) to 70% on the fine tune. Perfect... and offers a great picture.

If you use Shaw Direct, check out this document, it may save you some grief! Remember, Shaw no longer supports users south of the Border, so you are on your own once you leave Canada. Bell has already stopped it's signal down here in Florida, as they now use new satelites with a more defined signal only available in Canada. Shaw also has a new satelite only available in Canada, however they are putting only new HD programming on it, and plan on leaving the existing 2 satelites in place... for now anyways.

Just thought I would share this for any Shaw Direct users out there... if you have Bell... don't ask me!

More than a few times, I have been approached to do Shaw set ups, for fellow RV'ers who cannot find a signal... very frustrating for them unable to find it! I don't mind helping out at all, as I have been there! Last year, a guy from Quebec gave me a big hug once I set his dish up, as he only spoke French, and missed his French TV. Not sure what his Wife thought of me setting it up! lol... she was the one who asked me.

Hey, if I keep doing post like this one, soon everyone will call me Rick!

Till tomorrow...

 

 

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Canada Day...Eeh!

Typing up this blog at 7:15 this evening, back in Frostproof. Pleased to say the Kids are all safe and sound back in Woodstock tonight, after a long day of travel. They woke up at 4:00 this morning, and all they had to do was moved the kids into the car, and then they took off for Orlando! It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive to where they returned the rental car, and then took the shuttle over to Orlando's Airport. The big plane took off somewhere around 9:30, and before 1:00 p.m. they were back in Toronto. Now, the real good news was the weather was a bit better in Toronto today than what it has been, and they were able to make the 1 1/2 hour trip back home safe and sound, despite all the snow and cold up there. Anyways, glad they made it home safe, after a terrrific week long vacation.

By 10:30 this morning, Judy and I had our Jeep all packed up with our bags of stuff, and were heading back home to Frostproof. Had to make a stop back at the Dome Market to return a defective wallet I had bought on Friday. They took the one that ripped on me, and gave me a new one in return.

We made it back to our Resort, by 12:45 p.m., just in time for Canada Day Party! I guess they do this every year at our park...

It was a sea of red in our main Rec Hall this afternoon. You can see the Band playing above... although they were Americans... lol.... This was billed as a lunch and party.

This couple above took to dancing... and were all decked out... it is a little fuzzy as I was about a mile and a half away from them at the back of the hall.

They had catered a lunch in from the local Publix Grocery Store. Salads and Chicken. Now this may sound real good, however when our table got to go up to pick up our plate of food, we were told they were simply out of food! What???? Yup, out of food. Seems Publix may have made a bit of a boo boo or something... oh well. They were gracious about it and gave us our money back. Kind of put a bit of a damper on things, but that is the way it goes.

Judy and I had a bunch of work to do back at the RV anyways, as we had just arrived, and did not bother unpacking the Jeep, as we were hungry, and wanted our lunch. They did end up giving us a bit of salad and a bun, so we did not go away hungry. Maybe next time!

We met up with Tom and Cheryl, as you guessed it, it was weigh in day for our Biggest Loser contest. Now, this is where things get ugly... seems I enjoyed myself too much with all the kids around, and put on 2.6 lbs... OUCH! Oh well, have to report the bad with the good you know, no sense hiding it! Not to worry, I will make up for it this week as we get back to a more normal routine! Judy managed to stay exactly the same as last week, good for her!

Till tomorrow...

 

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The Suncoast Primate Preserve...

Had more touring to do today... yes, the kids last day here in Sunny Florida, or "Floridada" as Gwenny would tell you!

Judy picked up some Groupons on the internet, to visit the Suncoast Primate Preserve, up at Tarpon Springs on the Gulf Coast. This is kind of a neat Primate Preserve/Hospital/Rescue Center. They are not for profit and only for the benefit of the animals. The front entrance does not look like much, but a lot is happening inside this place.

 

The Animals inside this Sanctuary have all been donated/returned/rescued...you name it. They do not collect animals, only offer santuary to those in need. For example, there was one monkey that was a "service monkey" for most of his life, but is now retired in this santuary.

In talking with the owner of the property, she was telling me there were 10 monkeys given to the Santuary by a very large Pharmaceutical Company. They were used for medical research involving diabetes. The Company no longer had a use for them, so they actually paid to have 10 very large pens built for these monkeys to live the rest of their lives in, and also donated $250,000.00 to the Santuary to ensure their continued good fortunes at the Centre. A lot better than putting the monkeys down, from what I could see.

Above are some of those pens built for monkey housing...they sure give them all lots of toys to play with.

This Lemur above, was one of the Pharm Monkeys... he is doing quite well and appeared pretty happy as he was climbing all over the place just acting like a monkey.

Check out this encounter below...

Yes, for the first time in my life, I was hanging on to an Alligator! He is 1 1/2 years old, and lives in the Santuary. He had a piece of tape around his mouth, so it was safe for Gwenny to come and give him a pet. Gwenny kind of liked him, and gave him a few rubs!

 

This turtle was leading the easy life inside the Sanctuary...

 

Some of my pictures are a little blurry tonight, sorry... they had to be emailed to my iPad for posting, and lost something in the translation from the laptop. Also I know I am having problems with people clicking on my pics and getting sent to the Flickr Sign Up page... Will have to wait till I get back to the RV to fix that one.

There was no shortage of monkey business going on this afternoon. Check out this video I shot of this one monkey below...

It kind of reminded me of Charlie laughing all the way home in the car when we left the Sanctuary...

No, I am not comparing Charlie to a monkey...lol... but I thought they both were pretty funny...

We stopped on the way home at the Sunshine Bridge on Highway 275, east of Tampa. There is a great waterfront rest area we enjoyed while Charlie had his dinner!

Unfortunately, all the good times come to an end, and Chris and Kristina along with the crew, will be leaving for the flight back home to Toronto tomorrow afternoon. They will leave here first thing in the morning! Will be 3 months till we catch up with them again, not counting Facetime!!!!!

Safe trip home you guys!

Till tomorrow...

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