It can be done!!!!

Yes, you can do it! Thank you "You Tube", could not have done it without you!

Beautiful day here in Frostproof today, with nothing but sun, sun and then some more sun! Tom and I put in our 4 1/2 miles of walking at 7:30 this morning, and then got serious! I put him to work.

It was time to replace our main awning on our RV and I figured out we could install it ourselves! I ordered the new fabric on the internet and it was delivered to our site by Mr. Shades for $128.00.

These pictures were taken to remind me how it all came apart... but I did not really need them, the You Tube Video I had was excellent and we followed it to a T.

The most important part to a good installation is a capable assistant, and that ended up being my buddy Tom. He worked good, and cheap!

We started at 10:00 a.m. and we were finished by 12:15 p.m. Hard to believe. The biggest job was removing the end caps off the tube, and releasing the tension on the big springs, and then having to put the tension back on, but we had no problem doing so... all went well following the You Tube instructions.

Once installed, I was able to put our sun screens back on, and make our "man cave" once again... Judy is enjoying her book on her iPad mini above on a great Florida afternoon.

Our neighbour Mark, supplied the pop rivet gun we needed, and also helped us install the finished assembly back up on the RV. Thanks Mark! All is good again in RV Land!

We enjoyed a great night this evening under the new canopy enjoying some refreshments and a couple of Hungry Howies Pizzas! EEEHAWWWWW!!!!

Till tomorrow...

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Keeping the Florida Economy going...

Every person who lives in Canada or the United States, has the responsiblilty to keep the economies going in both these great Countries, and we just did our part today.

It was not a great day weather wise, started off OK, but by this afternoon, the weatherman was right with his forecast of rain. This is why we decided to take the day shopping, and head over to Sarasota.

I had mentioned to Tom and I really like going to Harbor Freight in Sarasota. I was introduced to it last week while visiting Howard and Teri. They have some really good deals and we both walked out with our arms full of deals. I got a nice soldering gun kit for only $12.00 along with some glue I needed, and a stone for sharpening your knife blades for only $1.00.

We had the energy to shop as we stopped and had lunch at Der Dutchman Restaurant! Love the place.

Next on the list was a trip over to Costco which is located in a great big mall in Sarasota... We did a bunch of shopping here, with Judy buying some new clothes at J.C. Penny. Tom and Cheryl did their part at keeping things running at Costco, picking up all kinds of stuff that was needed!

Check out this real short video I made while we were walking through the mall.

To keep the kids occupied while Mom and Dad are shopping, you can put them on the train, and it takes them on a big trip all around the mall. Don't ever remember seeing this before. Gotta love it!

Till tomorrow...

 

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Family Dinner Night...

We had terrific temperatures up into the 80's F. today, so we spent most of the day outside enjoying. Tom and I did our 4 1/2 mile walk this morning, and then headed right over to the pool complex and relaxed in the hot tub! Why not!

Judy was complaining about riding her bicycle and it making too much noise when you hit the brakes and while just riding down the road... so I looked at that. Turned out it needed an adjustment to the back brake of the bike, and soon, all was good again and Judy was back to her happy normal self! Piece of cake!

Feeling like I was on top of the world, I next set out and removed the two new house batteries I installed a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to check them out to make sure everything was OK with them, (it was...) and I wanted to top off the water levels with a new bottle of distilled water Judy picked up for me. Done! Good to go and lots of power in those new batteries.

I was going to carry on with my neighbour Mark and Tom, and have them help me install a new awning on our RV! I know, just a small job! I ordered the new fabric and it arrived. Problem was, at 1:00 this afternoon the wind picked up big time, and no way were we going to start horsing around with a new awning installation in the wind, so that will have to wait for a better day.

Off to Sebring this afternoon at 4:00 to attend the weekly Family Dinner with our neighbours...

We hit Don Jose's Mexican Restaurant, which is right on the shores of Jackson Lake at Sebring. Seemed like a great spot...(it is!)

There was a whole group of us out tonight, but some of our regulars were not there, as I think the Mexican Cusine kept some of them away... oh well, next time.

No, I am not using a special flilter on my iPhone camera, I shot the pic through the screened in enclosure. You can walk out on the dock to check for alligators if you want.... better watch it though, as I am told March is mating season for them, and the males tend to get a bit more aggresive it seems...

Check out the picture above... yes, they have a water volleyball court, just outside the restaurant - can't remember ever seeing this before in my life. No takers tonight for volleyball!

Till tomorrow...

 

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Anna Maria Island... time to ride!

Beautiful day here in Florida, with temperatures heading into the 80's F. Just perfect to get the motorcycles out and dust them off!

Anna Maria Island is a great spot to visit, especially on the motorcycles. It took a little over two hours to get there this morning... just in time to eat our picnic lunch on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico!

There was kind of a haze hanging in the air at the beach, but this beach has that really white fine fine sand that seems to find it's way into everything! When we finished lunch, I had to field a call from the Scotia Private Client Group up in Ontario, in regards to updating our wills! It was hard to try and disguise the sound of the Gulf Waves hitting the beach shore while discussing business! They did tell me to enjoy my afternoon! We did!

I do not have a clue what they are mining out in the Gulf, but they were pretty busy.

We moved over to the inland waterway side of the Island, and enjoyed the Anna Maria Wharf. This was built way back when Steamships let people off here to enjoy the warm weather! One of the two guys that originally promoted and built the wharf, was the guy who invented the Fig Newton Cookie of all things.

This is a neat wharf, but they forgot to put the hand rails on the sides Judy said...???... Oh well... Busy restaurant out on the end!

Lots of people busy fishing on the end of the wharf... catching fish too! Even had live entertainment to woo the fish onto the hooks! We enjoyed watching for a while.

A bunch of real nice homes along the waterway... OK, so we did stop and enjoyed a small small ice cream cone each at the beach... there, I said it!

This guy was hoping I would throw in my ice cream cone, but it was not happening!

Till tomorrow...

 

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Mother Nature Wins Daytona!!!!!

What an experience that was...my first Daytona 500, however it turned into about the Daytona 70 instead!

As we flew into Daytona in our private helicopter, I snapped this pic above...ya, right, dreaming again John... get real!

We were on our bus is more like it, around 8:45 am heading for Daytona, we knew we were in a bit of trouble when the Highway was clogged up about 20 miles outside of Daytona! Took us 3 1/2 hours for a 2 hour drive... however we made it to our seats about 15 minutes ahead of the start! The weather was a bit overcast but very warm!

Right after the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner, we were buzzed by the famous Blue Angels! What a performance as they did a low speed fly over timed to the last of the anthem, and then did a starburst type of manouver right over the field! Really impressive and the crowd went right nuts!

Hard to get a good picture of these guys with an iPhone... however this is my attempt! Judy and I were able to watch all 7 of them launch as we walked into the Stadium, as the Daytona Airport is right next to the Stadium.... it was simply awesome to watch them launch!

All 42 drivers were introduced and driven around the track before the start, including Danika Patrick above... who drives the Go Daddy Car #10. (She crashed out near the end, but was taken out by another car...)

The pace car had all the ducks lined up in a row behind it... check out the video of this below...

The race started on time, and WOW... loud and fast, just the way everyone wants it! We were sitting right in the middle of the backstretch...not bad seats with views of the corners at each end of the track. The racing was great for 38 laps and then..........

Mother Nature reared her ugly head!

It started to rain! Just a bit at first... they told us the race would soon start again, as you simply cannot race at 200 MPH in the rain!

Well, the rain got harder... and harder... and harder... and then got crazy hard and stayed that way for well over 1 1/2 hours!!! Every one had to take cover under the grand stands... we are talking well over 100,000 people! We had light rain coats on but they were soon deemed useless and we got wet, I am not talking just a bit wet, we were soaked! Right through... and then it happened....

I could feel my iPhone 5 vibrating like mad against my hip in it's case, so I pulled it out, and it was flashing, and screaming and vibrating like I have never saw before... I opened it up, and it said it great big letters, (DANGER, you are in an area where a possible TORNADO is heading... take cover immediately!!!" WHAT??? What is this???? Soon after we heard the track announcer warning people but you could not hear him very good due to the loud rain! We were currently under the biggest mechano set I have ever seen in my life... the grandstand. Judy and Cheryl took immediate cover in a cement block women's bathroom, while Tom and I went to look outside... it was bad weather, but we could not detect any sign of a tornado, and the warning was soon lifted, THANKFULLY!

The rain lasted over 4 hours! They do have equipment to deal with it... check this out...

The machine above creates compressed air and blows water off the track. They also have 1/2 ton trucks with jet engines on the back to dry the track... I took a video below...

After 4 hours of solid rain, out Tour and Bus Company apologized and with no complaints we all decided to take off for home... the bus was needed for a trip today and could not stay late.

They did end up starting the race again at about 8:30 last night. We were home and watched it on the TV with Dale Enhardt Jr. being the eventual winner! Great race!

Turned out to be quite the experience... certainly not the one I expected! You learn that you cannot mess with Mother Nature! I did enjoy what we saw, including the great fly over and the cars... they are something else! Maybe next year...

Till tomorrow...

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Just one big Happy Hour today...

Things continue to stay nice a warm here in Florida, allowing us lots of outdoor time. Today we hosted John and Sheila to our Resort, and they happened to bring a car load of Friends with them.

 

We met John and Sheila a couple years ago at our Park in Woodstock. They stay most of the summer for the same reason we do... they have Family members close by. It is a convienent spot for them to spend the summer.

They stay at a Resort just south of Orlando, about a 40 minute drive from us. They all came to visit this afternoon, and to enjoy happy hour with us, prior to a night out at the Ramon Theatre in Frostproof.

 

Tom and Cheryl joined us, and we had a group of 12 Canadians. Judy arranged to reserve our picnic shelter in our Resort for the happy hour, as there were some rolling showers that passed through prior to their arrival. The rain stayed up, and we all had a terrific time talking a lot about everything! We made reservation at the Orange Grove Family Restaurant in Frostproof and all went out and enjoyed dinner.

We were in Frostproof earlier today, and Judy found this Magnolia Tree in full bloom! Yes, spring has sprung in Florida! There is hope to all of you still up in Canada, we are trying to send the weather your way!

Till tomorrow...

 

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SSSSHHHHHHHHHHH.....Canada won...

Yes, of course I watched the Canadian Men's Hockey Team beat the United States Team today, 1 - 0 in a pretty exciting game! With the Women's Gold Medal in hand yesterday, the Men must have been inspired, as they played by far the best game so far in these Olympics.

Our Captain, Sidney Crosby has yet to score in the Olympics, but "Hey", it is a Team Sport... you can depend on your fellow players, can't you???

So, after the big win today, I had to keep a low profile, as we are in the U.S.A. you know... I had a couple comments thrown at me from my American Neighbours about the Game, but hey, it was all in good fun! To most Americans down here, I don't think they believe hockey means all that much anyways... gotta be Football, Baseball, or Basketball to mean anything...

Next up is Sunday Morning at 7:00 a.m. ET, (Eastern Time Zone) when Canada will take on the Swedes for the rights to have a gold medal hung around your neck!

Not much on the go here today, taking life pretty easy. Judy and Cheryl were out together shopping for most of the afternoon keeping the Florida economy going.

Sunday morning we are heading up to Daytona Beach to take in the Daytona 500 Race, so we will have to let Canada win the gold on their own!

Till tomorrow...

 

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Sabastian Inlet with the kayaks!

When Judy and I were visiting over in Cocoa Beach, we did some scouting for a future kayak trip with Tom and Cheryl, and today was the day. Sabastian Inlet was our designated spot to take off, right for the Sabastian Inlet State Park. $8.00 gives you a day pass in the Park for up to 8 people in you vehicle, and you get to use all the facilities. This was a no brainer, as it is a great park, and had a boat launch area.

Now, we will not talk too much about the trip over to Sabastian Inlet... yikes.... We had the 4 kayaks loaded into the back of Tom's GMC Truck, and strapped down. We were going about 60 miles per hour on a four lane divided section of Hwy. 60. Somehow, one of our kayaks actually slipped out of the back bed of the truck and landed on the highway! Ouch... We were told by a passing motorist and went back to where it came off. A Park Attendant had stopped and picked it up in his truck. We were able to recouver the kayak and put it back in Tom's truck. Yup, it has a couple scars on it that it did not have before, but it is amazingly intact, with no holes. Enough said...

Tom and I are getting ready above to take on the inland waterway...

Nice calm waters, however we did end up with a bit of a wind later, but it did not cause too many problems.

Check out the pic above... that is a stingray under the water between Tom and Cheryl... Cheryl is taking picture of it... cool, he was swimming all over the place.

We found a starfish, and a hermit crab above...

Above are the facilities inside the State Park... picnic shelters and washrooms.... great spot, great day!

We left the Park after a few hours, and parked again, just on the other side of the A1A highway we were on, and walked down to the Atlantic Ocean and did the beach... the waves here were a lot higher than in the inland waterway. Not too many people on the beach here today.

What a day...

This is a neat area of Florida, and hopefully we will be back!

We stopped in Vero Beach on the way home, and we all enjoyed dinner at one of my favourite Restaurants, the Olive Garden.

Being the grand prize winner of the $100.00 from the Biggest Looser Contest, I decided to treat all the participants to a dinner! It was worth it, we all enjoyed!

Till tomorrow...

 

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